Ciarán Abraham

 "Have you ever wondered why people fear the night?  Have you ever wondered what lurks in the dark?  And, have you ever wondered what to do if you found it?  Well, that's where I come in."

Ciarán, on his training.

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Profile

 * Name: Ciarán Abraham


 * Nickname: Broody, Sunshine (Both come from Silver), The Bat (from his reputation)


 * Species: Faunus (Bat)
 * Ethnicity (Relative): Irish


 * Age: 17


 * Gender: Male


 * Height: 6'3"


 * Weight: 180 lbs.


 * Hair: Black


 * Eye: Black
 * Alignment: Chaotic Good


 * Emblem Color: Black and Silver
 * Emblem: Side profile of a bat in flight silhouetted against the moon (Not his personal design, rather the official seal of the Vale chapter of the Brotherhood of the Night)


 * Birthday: November 1st


 * Profession: Beacon Academy Student (Currently), Member of the Brotherhood of the Night (Lifetime)


 * Likes: Killing monsters, being alone, riding his motorcycle, weapons training, the night, drawing, collecting new weapons, infiltration, intimidating his targets, learning more about monsters


 * Dislikes: Letting targets get away, retreating from a fight, the day, extended interaction with other people


 * Weapon: Nocturne Cross (Longsword Semi-Automatic Compact Crossbow)


 * Semblence: Phantom Escape


 * Affiliation: Team SCRM (Leader)


 * Partner: Midori Victor


 * Theme Song: Van Helsing theme http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dyfDq9w0ac


 * Battle Theme: Vampire Killer (HD remastered) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb9XFXdmb2U

Appearance
"You want a sign that just says 'I'm dark and mysterious'?  Because I don't think you made it obvious enough."

''Silver, on Ciarán's appearance[[File:Bat_Symbol.png|thumb|Ciarán's emblem

For better view, http://static1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140109145149/rwbyfanon/images/0/0b/Bat_Symbol.png]]''

Ciarán's body seems almost custom-made to blend into the night. Black hair, black eyes, black clothes, everything that makes him harder to find at night, but in the day, he just sticks out in a crowd. His black leather coat has pointed ridges along the bottom, giving it a more cape-like appearance. He has an X-shaped scar on his face from a Beowulf attack, right under his left eye. Naturally, as this tends give a pretty memorable face, Ciarán wears a black scarf over the lower half of his face. He also a hood on his coat, specially made such that his bat ears protrude from it when the hood is up, the idea being showing the ears makes himself more intimidating to people he's trying to scare. His only other distinguishable article of clothing is a small necklace wears with his emblem on it.

Personality
"I don't brood.  I skulk.  Big difference."

Ciarán, on his social prowess

Ciarán is the quiet loner. He likes to spend his time studying and planning to learn more about Grimm and Nightmare agents he faces, as if the Hunt is the only thing that matters to him. As such, his two greatest interests are training to kill monsters and criminals more efficiently, and discovering new kinds of monsters to hunt. His deep hatred of The Nightmare organization and Grimm stems from multiple events from his childhood, both when he narrowly survived an attack from a Beowulf that left his scar, and his older brother losing an eye as a result of a fight with a Nightmare agent in downtown Vale. This was even more traumatic to him than his own attack, since he was raised almost entirely by his brother Reilly, who was 12 years older than him, and their parents died in a car crash when Ciarán was three.

Ciarán prefers to spend his time alone, afraid that if anyone gets too close to him, they will get hurt or even killed. Despite being slow to trust, he is fiercely loyal to those he gets close too, and has undying loyalty to his friends. It's these qualities that made Ozpin choose Ciarán to lead Team SCRM. He puts the needs of his team above his own needs, often put himself in unnecessary danger as a result.

Ciarán has a very dry sense of humor, often acting as the foil for Silver's sarcasm, but will often humorlessly point out the obvious flaws in Midori's experiments and schemes. Since most of the monsters and criminals he hunts come out at night, Ciarán likes to sleep a lot during the day, and go out looking for trouble at night. This also ties into his nature as a bat faunus, spending most of the day inactive. He has told his teammates that he is a Faunus, but doesn't make a big deal of it since he feels they're the only ones who need to know, and making it a widely known fact would just drawn unwanted attention that take time away from his skulking, and we can't very well have that. However, if he sees another Faunus being discriminated against, Ciarán will step in and intervene, and is very likely to respond with violence.

Ciarán is also an absolutist, seeing everyone around him as either an ally or an enemy. As such, he often relies on his teammates for help when making major moral decisions as it is very difficult for him to see shades of gray. However, he doesn't see himself as a judge, but rather a protector against forces that people don't understand or even know about. He also hates to lose, and will easily become obsessive if a target eludes him, and Ciarán will making eliminating that target his only goal in life thereafter, even at disregard for his own safety.

Weapons & Abilities
''"So, what's the point of using it as a sword when you could shoot your targets?" "I need to see my targets.  I need to have a connection with the man whose life I took.  Sure, he may have been a high-ranking Nightmare officer, but he was also a devoted father and husband who will be missed.  What I do, what I've been trained to do, it's necessary and for the greater good.  I believe that fully and truly.  But if I distance myself from my targets, if I convince myself that every Nightmare agent and random mugger is just a blight to be purged, then I'll be a worse monster than the ones we train to fight.  I will NOT allow myself to become that.  That's why I use a sword.  To remind myself that actions have consequences."''

Ciarán, explaining the Nocturne Cross to Rowan


 * Nocturne Cross- Ciarán's signature weapon, and the weapon with which he has had the most training and the highest proficiency.  It has the appearance of a Celtic Cross, with a circle going from the top of the hilt to the bottom of the blade, and the blade itself is pure black. He also specially designed the scabbard, both aesthetically with black flames inlaid on the outside and fitting the circle on the sword, and functionally with sharpening stones on the inside of the scabbard.  It also transforms into a Compact Crossbow, with the blade separating into the "bowstrings" by dividing down the middle, the handle folds under the circle with a trigger coming out, and is loaded by a clip inserted on the right side.  He uses four different types of ammunition with the crossbow: Standard crossbow bolts, bolts that explode on impact, and bolts that are tipped with a poisonous fluid, though he uses only uses those when he is faced with targets that are too much for him in a straight-up fight, and bolts tipped in a powerful tranquilizer created by the Brotherhood, which he uses primarily when fighting Grimm. He uses two different fighting styles, one for humanoids and the other for Grimm, though both are based on stealth.  When fighting humans, Ciarán is very predatory, striking from darkness, and picks his targets off one by one, and when fighting Grimm, Ciarán likes to open with as many tranquilizer bolts from cover as possible to minimize the risk, since the other bolts aren't guaranteed kills for Grimm, then fight off the remaining with his swordplay, and then kill off the tranquilized Grimm afterward.
 * The Pale Horse- Ciarán's motorcycle, with a black and gray color scheme.  It was a gift from his brother Reilly when he became a full member of the Brotherhood at 13, and Ciarán considers it to be his partner in his work.  It's one of the few things Ciarán gets possessive about, besides the Nocturne Cross, and refuses to let anyone touch it besides him.  He learned about motorcycle maintenance specifically for this reason; and he is fully capable of repairing it when it takes damage.  He has also added some practical modifications to it, such as a visual GPS under the windshield, pouches that contain clips with at least two of every type of ammunition he uses, and he removed the headlight, both to make the bike lighter with his other modifications, and since he doesn't need to it see at night (And yes, that is extremely dangerous.  But if that's your take-away as the most dangerous thing he does, you're in a good place.).  He has also modified the bike's performance: It can perform hairpin turns at high speeds, and while The Pale Horse can reach speeds higher than the average motorcycle, the modifications to its handling has slowed down The Pale Horses's acceleration.
 * Tracking- Ciarán's training included learning how to identify leavings by his targets, down to smallest stone out of place.  As such, Ciarán is an expert tracker who can identify tracks up to a week old, and has at longest, spent two months tracking down a target.
 * Stealth- Perhaps the most important part of his training, Ciarán is a master at hiding out in plain sight.  Essentially, unless he's being actively searched for, Ciarán can effectively be invisible.
 * Semblence- Phantom Escape: Ciarán's Semblence allows him to create a cloud of smoke around him, and teleport to a location within his line of sight, within approximately half a mile in any direction.  However, when he teleports, he is in the same position he was in before.  For example, if he was running, he will still be running.  If he was standing still, he will still be standing still, etc.  While using it doesn't tire him out, it requires immense concentration, and he cannot use it more than once in a 30-minute period.

History
"'Don't be afraid of the dark.  Be afraid of what hunts in the dark.  Like me."

Ciarán, on the results of his training

Ciarán was born into an average middle class family in Vale, to a family with both parents and a 12 year-old brother named Reilly. These very early years were relatively healthy and happy for the family, but when Ciarán was 3, both of his parents were killed in a car crash. Ciarán and Reilly were subsequently sent to live in an orphanage, though it wasn't meant to last long. About 3 years after the death of their parents, Reilly became lost in downtown Vale late at night, and had an encounter that changed the lives of the brothers forever. Reilly was attacked by what he believed was a crazed homeless person, who gouged out Reilly's right eye and attempted to eviscerate him. However, a dark shadowy figure appeared and killed the crazed person, narrowly saving Reilly's life. The woman then treated Reilly's wounds, and watched over him until Reilly regained consciousness. The woman, named Mina Westerna, then explained to Reilly that his attacker was in fact a member of an international criminal organization knows as The Nightmare, an organization bent on world domination by those who take full advantages of the powers Dust has given man; which is to say; those who have had Dust tattoos to enhance their Aura and Semblences, and those who use the Dust to get in contact with, and (attempt to) control, supernatural forces. The ultimate goal of The Nightmare is to use their Dust and supernatural enhancements to take over the world in a war of conquest against the Four Kingdoms. She then further explained that she was a member of the Brotherhood of the Night, an elite sect of Huntsman and Huntresses who specialized in tracking and destroying Nightmare agents. Reilly then pleaded with her for he and his brother to be allowed to enter into the order as initiates, since they had little prospects in life. Never one to turn down perfectly good recruits, especially ones so impressionable at a young age, she accepted, and Ciarán and Reilly spent their childhoods at the Brotherhood's underground headquarters in Vale.

The training was very different for the two brothers, with Ciarán being trained by Mina, who became a mother figure for him, as an elite Hunter of the Brotherhood, and Reilly was trained as a the Brotherhood's future librarian; the one responsible for learning and maintaining the Brotherhood's collected knowledge on Nightmare, trying to discern things like chain of command, funding, operational structure, and of course, the Grimm, because the Brotherhood is still made of Hunters and Huntresses, and still need to be prepared to deal with Grimm. One would think that Reilly would grow to be resentful of Ciarán for being trained as a Hunter while he became the bookkeeper, but Reilly confided in his brother that he was too traumatized by his experience to face monsters or Nightmare agents again. Ciarán all but reveled in his training, never showing any true fear, and felt empowered by learning how to strike back against the creatures of the night, like ghosts, humans and faunus who believe themselves to be of a supernatural persuasion and operated independently, and, of course, Nightmare agents. He became a master swordsman, expert marksman, master tracker, and master of stealth over the 11 years he spent training with the Brotherhood.

However, by the Brotherhood's mandate, Ciarán didn't spend the entirety of his training in an underground fortress though; the Brotherhood's connections sent him to Sanctum Academy when he was 13. But before he left, he was finally inducted as a fully active member of the Brotherhood. Ciarán felt fairly alienated from the other students at Sanctum, since the majority of the students there were experiencing the training he'd know most of his life for the first time. As a result, he kept to himself most of the time, and didn't go out of his way to make friends. He was an excellent student, and forged the Nocturne Cross during his time there. Most of the years at Sanctum were relatively uneventful, though he did like to sneak out at night when he could to go Hunting. Naturally, this got him in trouble on several occasions, though he never could be punished for anything more than breaking curfew. Aside from incidents like those, Ciarán's years at Sanctum were relatively peaceful. However, when Ciarán was 16, he was hunting a Nightmare cell in the forest of Forever Fall during his summer break, and during the hunt, Ciarán received his infamous scar in a Beowulf attack. He fought it off, and did eventually killed his targets. However, Ciarán considers this his biggest embarrassment as the scar came from a non-thinking monster.

And now at Beacon to complete his training, Ciarán has become the leader of Team SCRM and looks to lead his team to greatness, and Ciarán hopes to become as close to a perfect Hunter he can become. But even at Beacon, Ciarán is needed when the sun goes down...

Relationships

 * Silver Jameson: Silver and Ciarán have a big friendly rivalry, both of them know that Silver is the unofficial ambassador of the team, while they also both know Silver doesn't have what it takes to be the leader.  Ciarán often acts as Silver's comic foil, while Silver loves to outdo his "fearless leader".  On the flip-side though, there is an unspoken bond between the two, and each sees something in the other that fascinates them.  Ciarán sees in Silver what he could have been like if he hadn't been raised by the Brotherhood (though to clarify,Ciarán has no regrets about being part of the Brotherhood), and Silver sees in Ciarán what it would be like to have a purpose bigger than himself.
 * Midori Victor: As Ciarán's partner, Midori is the teammate Ciarán relies on the most.  They have a mutual trust and respect, and Midori knows the most about the monsters Ciarán hunts (besides Ciarán himself).  Ciarán in turn, brings back "ingredients" from his hunts that Midori needs for her various experiments.  While these experiments tend to scare Silver, Ciarán's training allowed him to see the necessity of Midori's work.
 * Rowan Crusoe: Rowan looks up to Ciarán as a leader, though in reality, Ciarán is only a little more socially competent than Rowan, due to spending most of his childhood in an underground training complex.  However, since Rowan grew up alone in the wilderness most of her life, Ciarán's experience with the Brotherhood are some of the most exciting stories Rowan's ever heard.
 * Reilly Abraham: Ciarán maintains a close relationship with his older brother, and vice versa.  Reilly keeps his brother informed of all the events going on at the Brotherhood while he's at BeIPhone_129.jpg, and Reilly is one of the few people who can get Ciarán to smile, and is one of the few people he trusts unconditionally.  Ciarán is also very protective of Reilly, and his deep hatred of the Nightmare stems from when Reilly was attacked.
 * Mina Westerna: As the woman who recruited Ciarán and Reilly, Ciarán sees Mina as both a mother figure and a mentor, as she trained Ciarán personally.  However, she has always tested Ciarán to keep him at his best, and he appreciates the test.  Mina became the Assassin for the Vale chapter shortly before Ciarán started at Beacon, and is considering sending him as a representative to an upcoming Watcher's Court.

Quotes
"I'm a denizen of darkness, doomed to a team of morning people."

Ciarán on his teammates' morning routines

"There at least four... Seem to be Beowulfs... Average size... And one of them has a deformed ear." "How do you know it has a deformed ear?" "Because it's hiding behind you.  Get down."

Ciarán and Midori during their initiation

"So, what's it like hunting Nightmare agents?" "Well, I'd imagine it's a lot like dating Silver.  They change their tactics based on the target, they're into some really weird tactics during, and they don't call you back in the morning."

Ciarán describing his work to Rowan

"Hey Broody, did you leave this video camera in my hat?" "Yes.  I planned to use the footage as an instructional video for Brotherhood recruits on how not to fight."

Ciarán teasing Silver

"It's very simple.  I see a criminal, I go after him.  And it always ends in one of two ways: Either I scare him enough that he never wants to go outside again, or he dies.  Either way, he's not a problem anymore, and I sleep easier during the day."

Ciarán discussing his methods with Midori

"And while you're off doing your job, I will be out awesoming!" "Go ahead if you're so inclined.  But I'm not posting your bail again."

Ciarán and Silver on their respective nightly habits

"We all have our burdens to bear, Rowan.  I work to make the night safer, Miri works to use her ingenuity to make wondrous creations, and you're looking to find your place in the world after your ordeal." "So, what would Silver's burden be?" "An uphill battle for sobriety."

Ciarán trying to comfort Rowan.

"Suaimhneas síoraí dá anam."

Ciarán to his targets postmortem

"Light and darkness are two sides of the same coin.  There's nothing inherently evil about darkness, just as there's nothing inherently good about light."

Ciarán's philosophy

"Who I am doesn't matter.  What matters is what I am.  And I am your worst fears made real.  Every nightmare, every shadow, every monster that kept you up at night comes alive in me.  So if you're not scared, you REALLY should be."

Ciarán to one of his targets

RFPL
Ciarán Abraham

Type: Flying

Elite Four Number 2

Room Description: A darkly lit room, that looks like a set of rooftops, with Ciarán on one rooftop higher up than the one the challenger arrives on.

Pokemon: Post E4 Quotes: Post E4
 * Honchkrow, Level 69
 * Gliscor, Level 70
 * Noctowl, Level 72
 * Crobat, Level 75
 * Honchkrow, Level 89
 * Gliscor, Level 91
 * Noctowl, Level 93
 * Crobat, Level 95
 * When Challenged: "Most people fear what comes out at night.  The beating of wings against the moon evokes a primal fear in men's hearts.  I instead chose to master to the fear, and take flight with the creatures of the night sky myself.  Do you think you can fly with the night?  Then muster your courage, and face me!"
 * On last Pokemon:   "You think yourself confident, but you have not even begun to feel the fear!"
 * When defeated: "You're made of sterner stuff than I thought.  I tip my hat off to you, but know that your trials are not through yet."
 * Beaten 2: "You have shown that you and your team have a deep bond and courage with each other.  You'll need that bond for what's ahead of you.  You may have tasted fear against me, but the trials ahead will truly test your mettle.  I wish you luck."
 * When challenged: "Welcome back, Champion.  Your battle to claim your title was most impressive.  I have been training myself since that battle.  You emerged triumphant in our previous battle, but you will not prevail against the night sky again!"
 * On last Pokemon: "Hold nothing back!  Face the night with all your strength!"
 * When defeated: "Amazing!  Yet again you face the terror of the night, and again you survive it!  Truly, you are worthy of the title you hold."
 * Beaten 2: "I offer no further challenge for you.  I shall continue to train my partners, and we shall continue to create fear in the night.  But you will never need to fear when the sun goes down again."

Trivia

 * All members of Team SCRM are allusions to one or more characters from adventure and horror novels.  Ciarán is an allusion to Abraham Van Helsing from Dracula.
 * In addition, all members of Team SCRM also have some form of scar or physical deformity.  Ciarán's is the X-shaped scar under his right eye, though he does generally wear the scarf to prevent it being seen.  He usually only takes it off for very intimate events, and even then, he says he feels naked without it.
 * Every member of Team SCRM also identifies themselves with an animal that has had an impact on their identity.  Unsurprisingly, Ciarán identifies with bats.
 * Ciarán is a Gaelic name meaning "little dark one", reflecting his main color being black.
 * "Suaimhneas síoraí dá anam" is a Gaelic translation of "Rest in peace".
 * Tangentially, Ciarán is also a polygot, and has a habit of seamlessly switching from one language to another without noticing it.
 * Ciarán treats his motorcycle, The Pale Horse, like a person, and will have full conversations with it.  It's one of the few times that there are sparks of genuine happiness for Ciarán, and his teammates feel it's better to indulge him on this topic.
 * When Ciarán smiles, his teammates start crying, and they don't know why.
 * Ciaráns alias as a vigilante, The Bat, is considered something of an urban legend in Vale.  Because of how he operates in darkness, is never there when the authorities show up, and leaves his targets dazed and confused, very few people in Vale actually believes he exists.
 * Unlike the other members of the Brotherhood, who only go out when specifically ordered to, Ciarán takes a more proactive approach, and comes much closer to full vigilantism.  While many members of the Brotherhood thinks this risks unnecessary exposure, just as many feel that Ciarán is right in believing it's their duty to use their skills more regularly.