Aurum Virens

Aurum Virens

Age 17, Hair : Dark blond Eyes : Brown Height : 1,83m (about 6 feet) Origins: Vale

Appearance
In a crowd, Aurum stands out for three reasons : her beautiful dark blond hair, her visible and imposing musculature, and the fact that she is tall...For a human. For a girl, she's a giant, reaching over 6 feet.

When it comes to clothing, unlike some, she doesn't have a fixed style. She has a tendancy to shift between many different things ranging for silly to surprisingly mature : from one day she can go from wearing a jeans that has holes in it and a t-shirt commenting on the latest famous rock band to an impressive and elaborate dress. The only things that stay are firstly her hair style ; a long ponytail, secondly, her headgear, a white twisted headband, thirdly that she never wears high heels, for reasons unknown, fourthly the tools satchel she always have with her, and finally that no matter her clothing choice, she looks impressive, no, cool in it. In battle, however, she tends to be more straightforward, always wearing a suit of armor of a dark blue hue and no helm.But to the best observers, some things are off...Why is it that no matter how assured she looks, she seems to look for other's approbation? And that scar on her left arm, that she tries her best to hide through several artifices, what is the story behind it?

Backstory
"I was born in a family of merchants. My father and mother are caring people, but they had standards. High standards. As such, I was sent to a demanding school when I was a kid. But something was wrong. So very wrong...I was a strange kid : while I started the day energetic, it seemed to fade so quickly...I had chronic and crippling headaches. As well as regular narcolepsia crisis. I was always the weak. The tired one. The slowest one. And as anyone can tell you, children are mean. Thus, I was picked for it. For years, I was sent to doctors without a result. No one could explain my chronic fatigue. And what ended up saving me was...A hunter.

Once, I got lost in the worst part of the city : it was late, I was exhausted and i took the wrong turn, ended near a scrapyard and near the headquarters of a small gang. From my clothes, i looked like a member of a wealthy family, and they planned to kidnap me. And the Hunter interfered. The thing that happened is...Three went down. But there was a fourth set of footprints, that I could barely see, and no fourth fighter in sight. The area was deserted, so it couldn't just be a passerby. And I spotted him trying to sneak behind my protector.That quite possibly saved him. Afterwards, when he interrogated me on how I knew; I realized something : I did not hear that man. Or see him. I SMELLED him. Combining this with the footprints made the Hunter realize something : something had happened when I was way younger. Something that activated my Aura and...Long things short, I had a semblance. An active Semblance that made my senses sharper. And it was triggered, all day long!

And thus, I was sent to a specialist, and trained on how to unleash it and most importantly how to shut it down. Suddenly, the world became simpler for me! The man who helped me said that for some reasons, I generated masses of Aura. He said I could become a great fighter if I learned how to use that gift. At that point, i was sick of my school. Sick of people having fun of me. I wanted a change and a new perspective. So I chose the way of the fighter. Meaning Signal was my next destination.

There, I was...Alone. Or rather, I started alone. I soon met the one who would be my dearest friend, Teal. What can I say? It's hard to stay impassive when someone so small gets beaten up by people 4 years older...They called her her 'freak lover', and hit on her until she fell. And then more. So even if I was as young as her, even, if they were six...Or seven, I can't remember, I just jumped in without thinking twice. As a result, I got ganged up on as well, obviously. But I had no regret, because I had the occasion to break one of these jerk's arm before fainting. That was the most awkward bonding moment I ever lived through.

After that, I was deemed to be courageous, but weak. In other words : deemed unworthy. But I didn't care. I had a friend. That was new. And it was good. After that, she got her father to teach me a few useful things. We grew both in mind and body. The first year ended. And then, we met Verdant.

Verdant is...I just don't know how to define him. He was quite a bit older than us. One day, he just saw two kids training alone, and criticized our stances and way of moving. As the son of well-renowned hunter, he was quite a few steps further than us in terms of training. Two words define his fighting style well : master swordsman. Not just when it came to weapons, but also in the way he moved, with no waste of energy whatsoever, and with a certain elegance. He started as a mentor of some sort, ended up more like a big brother. He was the shoulder we could cry on, the fighter that had our back even at the worse, the sparring partner everybody would dream of. In a few words : he was too cool for us. Yet for some reason; he just sticked with us. Wasn't pity, I've seen it enough to recognize it miles away.

But one day, we were pitted with reality, cold and harsh. He told us we needed practice. Not the kind Signal could offer us. What he proposed was simple : not even hunting, just...Grimm watching. 'Knowing the enemy', he said, 'might actually save your life when you have to fight it for good'. Which is correct. He already did this times and times before. Teal opposed to this, saying she had a bad feeling, that it was too dangerous. I supported Verdant, because...He knew, end of of the line. Never failed us before.

People tend to say the first time is the hardest. And boy are they fucking right. We entered the nearest wild spot, near the city. And it took us little time to realize where our reasonment was at fault, where it was different between a two professionals and their children and one talented amateur and two bumbling teenagers. In short, we were spotted by a dozen of beowolves.

A hunter or a huntress would have made short work of them. Verdant himself could probably have taken them down if he had been alone. But he wasn't. He was with an unexperienced..Blonde! He slew most of them easily, but one passed his guard. And as the idiot I was, I gasped. Not loudly, but just enough for him to turn around. And then, as he tried to reach for us...In his back, the Grimm hit. It was an old and crafty one, and he managed to hit a weak spot in Verdant's Aura. The result...Do I need to fucking describe it? Do I need to speak of the wound, of the blood spilled, of the sound it makes when a child falls on the ground and you just know he won't stand up again, ever? When a man falls alone, it does make a sound, I know it to be a fact.

So then, it was me and Teal against 3 of them. I was cowering in a corner, despite having a weapon. So Teal, who's precious Immortal reach was still a set of blueprints, stood up as the first one charged, sure to have its meal ready. He reached for her, and she just took the arm and slammed the creature to the ground. Like it was so easy. Then, with calm and method, she slammed the skull to the ground until it broke, until the thing finally went limp. I could just see she was as terrified as I was. But she played her move so that both of us could live. The last pair, at first startled that such a little thing could do so much damage, finally got in movement. They aimed for her, obviously. My mind didn't know what to do but my body did. Before I could realize, I stood between her and these suckers. Parried the first strike with my staff, the second with my arm. What good would my arm be if both of my friends were gone? So I took that pain and used it. It fueled my rage. My first strike hit the throat. Then followed by an almost point-blank rocket, completely ravaging it. The horror fell. Teal stood up, kicked the last one one the face,and I blew up its brain as it staggered. Then we fell to the ground. To my horror, I realized that Verdant was staring at us, still alive despite his punctured lung. He had a few words to say...

"Live, please...The two of you."

And then his eyes lost their light. No time for farewells or apologies. Just a brutal end. It just made so little sense for this to happen...We just stayed there, in shock and oblivious to the danger our sorrow exposed us to, until hunters in patrol found us a few minutes later.

What is the sound the thread of destiny makes when it makes? Frankly even to this day I have no idea. Verdant was buried a day later. The worse was the look in his family's eyes...Pity. All I wanted was to scream this to their faces... 'Yes, I'm guilty! I caused all of this! So judge me damn it!'. Yet they just acted like I wasn't to blame, like I was to be cuddled and hugged until I got better.

For weeks, I went deep into depression. Only the memory of his last words shielded me from thoughts of suicide. So instead, I fought my shattered being by actual fighting. I bought a sandbag and a target. And I practiced, each day until I couldn't stand. My shots got more and more accurate, I grew muscles. My one friend sent me letters. Apparently, I was the new cool thing at school. We were barely more than children, and yet we managed to score our first grimm kills. The most sadly hilarious? Most of them were considered to be mine, because 'he' was dead and Teal had no weapon. And they just kept ignoring her, or worse.

So they thought I was cool. Then I'd step up to the role. I rummaged through my mother's sociology books, and built an act. She accepted gladly to go shopping with me, thinking it would help me to finally cope with me. What is there to say...Each day, she and my father tried talking to me. Breaking the silence. Making my favorite food. Being just close enough to me so that whenever I needed to cry, I had someone that would listen, all while not feeling somethered. Smart moves. It worked, somehow. They managed to give me a bit of hope. A bit of light that quite possibly did the difference between sinking and swimming. I had a will. And once I finally came back to school, they loved me.

I just cheered them up and played it cool. I seemed so upbeat and badass and nice to them. People loved to call me 'a friend'. And a few of them actually were. They didn't just ask, they gave. A few among them saw the cracks in the armor I made. As friends, they kept the secret. I got what I hoped. The persona I built caused people to think of me as powerful, and not exactly smart. It impressed, so as long as I was close, they stopped trying to hurt her. We made it through Signal with good grades, and were both accepted into Beacon.

Now we are here, and I kept the act. Just couldn't let an old habie die out. But one day... One day it will fall apart. One day, hopefully...

Personality
At first glance, Aurum seems ridiculously cool, as much in attitude as in her clothing. On second glance...It's exactly the same. She acts warm, flamboyant, elegant and slightly boisterous, and always has a huge smile on her face. From her way of bumping into life at full force and make the best out of it, people tend to think she's careless.From her way of talking and dressing, some believe her to be superficial at best, and 'dumb muscle' at worst,

However, the word 'act' is the key. It takes cautious observation and some logic, but with time one can see a few things : firstly, her speeches are filled with small references to subjects going from mechanics, to physics, to geopolitics...Also, when meeting new people, perceptive ones can see the apprehension in her. While skilled at sneaking around reality with partial truths, she is far from being that skilled when it comes to plain and outright lies. As such, for example, when asked about her past, her greatest errors or burdens, or about why she tries to protect Teal so hard, she's likely to just blurt 'shut up' and run.

The two most important things about that facade of her are...Firstly it includes her never being afraid or sad. Thus, the emotional burden she bears is plain and outright immense. The second is that they are lies, at least most of them. She hates them. As such, it pushes her into a state of permanent anger. An anger that is never directed to people in particular, but to the world in general, and to herself most importantly.

Her passions are far more intellectual than one would expect. As hinted before, she has a knacks for mechanics and physics, the first one being strictly her own while the second has been quite possibly inherited from her mother. Both as well as surprising capacities in psychology stem from her will to understand how this world works. Geopolitics also fascinate her, in the same way one cannot stop looking at a dead body : in a mordbid and disgusted way. She loves strategy games, and is rather good at them. For now, Teal has the upper hand by a few victories, but she swears that one day...

Anyhow. Though she wouldn't dare to do it in public so as to keep the masquerade up, Aurum is also an avid reader of most anything, but particularly loves poetry and historical chronicles. Aside from this, she has some talent in cooking and painting. After being issues a challenge by Teal, she learned how to play the battery, and loves it : her skills on the matter are well-developped, plus it gives her a 'cool' way of letting the anger out. Her favorite styles are rock, which she has in common with her friend, and metal. She learned to dance, not because she likes it but because, yet again, it fits to the image she wants people to see.

On the subject of faunus, she thinks of them as 'people like any other'. Deserving no more, but also no less than them. To her eyes, there ought to be true monsters but also paragons of virtue amongst them. Just like humans.

Her outlook on life is still very much straightforward, and quite a bit honor-based, though in critical cases she has good odds of prioritizing 'good' before 'lawful'.Still, she has somewhat of a tolerant but righteous mind. She usually keeps her beliefs for herself but, if you want to avoid antagonizing her...Do not drag civilians in your mess. Do not strike down those who surrendered or are unable to defend themselves. And for the love of anything holy...DO.NOT. HARM. CHILDREN. The other ones will unleash a pissed Aurum trying to maul you with bears. The last one will cause her to methodically hunt you to the other side of the country if necessary.

In and out of combat, her favorite tactic is obfuscating stupidity. Sure,it only works once unless she plays it really subtle, but the effects tend to be devastating. Plus, she is good at getting people to think she 'just got lucky again', meaning as long as she doesn't abuse of the same effect, which she almost never does, she stays in control.

Fighting style

Aurum's weapon is Void's stare, a two-handed staff that doubles as a rocket launcher. Out of combat, it is collapsed to a more reasonable size to be put in a sheath hanging in her back.

As a staff, she is able to give good hits with it, and is quite apt at parrying blows. As a rocket launcher, it propels small dust rockets that explode on contact and travel in a straight line. Due to her naturally good eyes and the power of her Semblance, she is surprisingly accurate with it.

She also knows to fight well using her fists and feet, with a style based on direct damage and small combos that wouldn't look out of place in a fighting game.

For some unknown reasons, Aurum generates great amounts of Aura, which combined with her armor allows her to endure a great deal of punishment and still stand. Her speed is no more than decent normally, however she limits herself using weighted bracers and keggings. Once removed, she gains the ability to move surprisingly fast in exchange for a bit of protection.

Overall, the amazon is sturdy and, as expected when first seen, strong, but has one big issue : She is honorable; As such, she refuses to use tricks : to back attacks, no camouflage...If she wants to hide, she will. But if she desires to fight, she'll do it in the open. She also tends to be a bit predictable, especially in solo. Unless it gets personal, and then she'll gladly use mind games to break you to the core.

Quotes
'You are now staring into the void. You hurted people I care about. Give me one reason not to shoot'

(Aurum, while holding someone at rocketlauncherpoint ( which is apparently a thing))

'The worst thing is : I don't even like violence. I like fighting because...It's the only moment when I can be me.'

(Quote speaks for itself)

'We miss you here...I'm doing good on my promise, old chum. Hope you're doing well up there'

(Aurum, while standing near Verdant's grave)