Chari Avem

Appearance
Chari stands slightly taller than the average woman, with a lean and athletic build from years of intensive training and a tanned complexion. Her eyes are a piercing yellow, and her deep red hair is kept short but kempt for practical reasons. As a member of the Avem clan, she has a red tattoo of her clan symbol, a fire in the shape of a feather, on her right upper arm. Chari’s Faunus trait is a red feathered hawk tail which juts from her lower back just above her rear.

"Scorched" Outfit Chari’s original attire consists of a salmon colored top which stops just below her belly button and a crimson jacket with gold trim. Her jacket has two short, rectangular coattails which hang alongside her tail rather than over it. Her jacket sports gold colored armor plates on her shoulders and elbows, with the sleeves rolled up to make room for similarly colored fingerless gauntlets. She wears grey combat pants with gold colored armor on her knees and thighs as well as a black belt with various pouches. For boots she wears her signature weapons, the Igneous Talons, which appear as black greaves with several jets on the sides and soles. For additional jewelry, she wears a golden circlet with a red gem inside, and a golden necklace with a similar red gem inside.

"Conflagrated" Outfit After the Fall of Beacon, Chari’s attire changed drastically. She now wears a black t-shirt with a shorter crimson jacket on top which only has a left sleeve. Her left sleeve now sports a silver colored elbow pad and is rolled up to the elbow. She wears fingerless black gloves on each hand and a silver elbow pad on her right arm. Her exposed arm now shows off her clan tattoo, and her left sleeve sports her personal emblem on the upper arm. She now wears black combat pants with red sash under her grey belt and silver knee pads. She still wears the Igneous Talons as weapons, but no longer wears her jewelry.

Personality
Chari Avem carries herself with a sort of regal reservation and pride, owing to her noble upbringing. Unlike most people raised in the upper class Chari carries herself with unspoken and stoic dignity rather than acting spoiled. She knows she is an Avem, what that means to herself, what that means to others, and has nothing to prove to anyone. She is serious and highly respectful, treating everyone with aloof dignity until they prove otherwise unworthy of her gestures. Despite the respect she shows others, however, she does not intrinsically trust people and her confidence must be continuously earned. Once her trust is earned, however, you are family, and she will defend them with her life. Beneath her cold exterior Chari secretly adores games, both video and board, and plays them with her friends frequently.

While her upbringing is the cause of her queenly disposition, her past has not left her devoid of emotional baggage. First and foremost is her ego, the belief that her Avem heritage and intensive training make her a superior fighter. While she is not openly haughty she has a tendency to underestimate her opponents and can become frustrated easily when a seemingly simple fight drags on. This confidence is not steeped in arrogance, however, but insecurity. She feels the constant weight of her clan’s name and strives to hold herself to an idealized vision of her family. This constant stress does her temper no favors, and when her anger flares up she has a bad habit of recklessly throwing herself at a problem until she can solve it.

Despite her flaws, Chari Avem is a skilled huntress and a true friend, once you can dig through her noble exterior.

Weaponry
Chari’s weapons of choice are a pair of Jet-Propelled Fire Boots called the “Igneous Talons”. The Talons take the form of two black greaves with red, glowing accents running along the sides. There are two small, narrow vents on the soles of the greaves with four small rockets on the sides of the boots, two facing forward and two facing back, and one rocket on the back of each boot facing upward. These vents project fire Dust to enhance Chari’s mobility and striking force, as well as allowing her to perform fiery kick attacks. It should be noted that the Igneous Talons cannot allow Chari to fly or boost her running speed, only provide short bursts to enhance jumps, sprints, or strikes. While Chari can launch fireballs or slashes for ranged attacks, these cannot reach very far and do not move very fast.

In addition she has infused her gauntlets with fire Dust to enhance her melee strikes with flames.

Abilities
In terms of combat, Chari diverts from most normal kick-based fighters as her style is far more brutal and efficient, owing more to mixed martial arts than dance moves. She combines savage chains of strikes with elbows, knees, and grappling attacks to overwhelm her opponent in close-quarters with a combination of speed and strength. While she would never admit it, she does have a favored move, a jet or Semblance enhanced flying knee straight to the jaw often with a simultaneous elbow strike to the top of the head. Chari possesses a fair amount of aura which is a bright red color with a floating ember aesthetic.

Outside her fighting style, Chari is a highly observant and tactical fighter, able to plan out winning maneuvers even under stress. She is also exercises through parkour to keep herself both athletic, acrobatic, and agile in combat. Thanks to training from her uncle she is relatively self-sufficient. She can cook for herself, clean, perform simple first-aid, repair her clothing, and keep her weapons working.

In terms of hobbies, Chari has developed a soft-spot for video and strategy games since coming to Beacon, even if she isn’t very good at them.

Semblance
Chari’s Semblance is referred to as "Firebolt" which increases her mobility and power in combat. Firebolt allows Chari to dash a few feet in any direction in one direction, even while airborne. During the dash her body becomes wreathed in intense flames which do not harm her, but damage anyone who comes into melee range. This allows Chari to strike from multiple angles with extreme fiery force by darting around her opponent with both Igneous Talons and her Semblance. Despite the power Firebolt grants her, it is not without weaknesses. As intimidating as her fiery form is she is still solid while using Firebolt, meaning she can still be struck in this form. In fact, her momentum often makes being hit while using her Semblance feel much harder. Repeated use also drains her stamina, although she has trained to minimize fatigue from continuous use.

History
Chari Avem was born to the prestigious Avem Clan, an all bird-Faunus family famed for its warriors and hunters. Although it was not her parents who taught her the value of her name, as her father had died on a recent mission and her mother died in childbirth. Instead, she was raised by her uncle Carbones Avem, a grizzled old war-hawk who took the orphaned Chari under his wing. Carbones had no children of his own, and despite his best efforts the eager youth soon became the sole crack in his gruff persona.

Under her uncle’s tutelage Chari flourished as a huntress-in-training, learning not only how to fight but how to hunt and survive like an Avem should. He also instilled her with a deep sense of pride for her warrior lineage, and responsibility to uphold that tradition. This drove Chari to push herself harder than even Carbones had intended, and more than once she wore her uncle out through her incessant training. Still, the old hawk could not help but admire her zeal and stoicism, even in the face of adversity Chari found a way to persevere.

Thanks to her intensive training Chari hit the ground running when she became old enough to enroll in combat school. Her marks in class were top-notch and she was the bane of the practice ring, even to older students. Her new environment was not without challenges and trials, however. For most of her life she had lived on her uncle’s modest estate surrounded by servants and family, all of whom adored, respected, and fawned over her. Now out in the real world she was forced to deal with racists and people of greater renown. Even the simple act of making friends was difficult, as Chari’s proud, combative nature and social ineptitude scared most students off.

This unfortunate lack of social contact slowly hardened Chari over the years. Her deep pride and unwavering determination remained, but her openness and enjoyment of life faded, leaving only a desire to fight, and improve her fighting skills. This only compounded her social problems, creating a vicious feedback loop where every potential friend she chased off hardened her further, leading her to chase more people off. So, while she did graduate top of her class, there were no friends there to congratulate her on her successes.

Pushing through her loneliness and driven to improve her skills even further, Chari gained entrance to Beacon Academy and prepared for the next phase of her journey.

Trivia

 * Chari and her life story are largely based on the Phoenix, the legendary bird of fire.
 * In addition to the obvious connections like her species and fiery theme, her mother dying in childbirth ties to the phoenix’s practice of burning itself alive so another can be born from its ashes.
 * In Latin, her name means “Char Bird”.