Beryl Mariana

''Note: This character is currently a WIP. All feedback is welcomed and appreciated.''

Appearance
Beryl is a young lady of average build and height, with somewhat short, light brown hair that stops just above her shoulders. Her eyes are a light shade of green. Her Faunus traits are also seen on top of her head in the form of two small, wolf-like ears. The upper portion of her left arm has several scars resembling claw marks on it, which are generally shown off with her standard outfit. Her primary choice of upper attire is a plain, black tank-top. On certain occasions however, she has been known to wear a dark blue coat with white fur trimmings around the sleeve loops and the edges of the frontal zipper. Her lower attire consists of a pair of white, strap-style boots, along with a pair of black pants with a gray camouflage pattern. She is also known to wear black, finger-less gloves. Around her pants is also a belt with small pouch on the side, which she uses to holster and carry her weapon in its condensed form. Her most prominent piece of clothing however is a long, light blue/green scarf that was handed down to her by her older sister. Given the history behind the scarf and sentimental value Beryl attributes to it, she rarely ever takes it off.

Personality
A soft spoken individual, Beryl strives to be as kind-hearted of a person as she can be. Her older sister, Naia, was her main influence for this behavior, as she had exhibited several selfless acts in Beryl's defense when they were younger. At her core, Beryl is somewhat of an optimist who believes everyone can have good in them. While this has gotten her into several debates before, she knows full well that not everyone is capable of changing. She is willing to give people second chances, but is in no way naive when it comes to certain situations, such as when people are clearly lying or doing a terrible job of playing out info just to seem like they've changed their ways.

Beyond her calm demeanor, the people who know her best tend to describe her in that she "knows how to have fun, but can overdo it sometimes." She loves interacting with and getting to know new people, along with trying new things and activities. At the same time however, she has been known to over-exert herself when doing so. Having lived most of her life in an orphanage and taking rudimentary side-jobs when she was older, Beryl never really had much of a chance to hang out casually with others her own age. During the brief time she joined Atlas Academy however, she became very involved with social activity, resulting in her very invested nature when it comes to simply hanging out with friends. After meeting Shula Carinae, Beryl has since learned from her how to be a bit more laid back, but can still become quite excited at the idea of trying something new.

Because of her Faunus traits, Beryl has faced some forms of discrimination before, most of which occurred when she was living in an orphanage with her sister. As she grew up however, she began to face less problems, though still had the occasional insults flung her way. Usually she tends to brush these off, and will try her best to keep her philosophy of finding the best in people. More often than not however, this is where her primary emotional weakness lies. There are times where she wonders if she ruined her own/her sister's chances of being adopted simply because she was a Faunus, and sometimes ponders what their life might have been like if they had actually been brought into a new home. Shula has done her best to reaffirm that none of that is Beryl's fault, and although Beryl has felt somewhat better since talking with her, these doubts still linger in her mind.

However, Beryl feels at least some appreciation for her Faunus attributes when it comes to her respective trait: She is capable of tolerating cold weather far more than any normal person would. Given this trait, there has been some confusion among her friends as to why she bothers wearing a winter coat. In truth, Beryl had actually won the coat in a small contest before joining Atlas Academy. She stated that "I've never won anything before in my life, at least up until then," and quickly came to cherish the coat almost as much as her sister's scarf. This event also caused her to take more of an interest in different fashions and other people's attire choices. When meeting others, Beryl will often ask questions about their outfits. In Shula's case, she has even asked if they could swap clothes at some point, to which Shula quickly refused in a flustered manner.

History
Born and abandoned in the kingdom of Atlas, Beryl grew up as an orphan with her older sister, Naia. Under the care of a local orphanage, the two looked out for each other on a near constant basis. This was especially so when it came to potential adoptions. Though Naia was considered for adoption on several occasions, Beryl wasn't as lucky, and was often shunned for her Faunus nature. Naia vowed to never leave the orphanage unless Beryl came with her, which resulted in many failed adoption attempts. This eventually caused both Beryl and Naia to strive for the ability to look after themselves. Each and every day, the two would practice fighting techniques together, aiming to hone their skills and eventually become fully recognized as Huntresses.

Eventually however, Beryl became bored with simply practicing, and felt the urge to test her skills against a real opponent. Sneaking out of the orphanage one night, Beryl made her way to the limits of the city and scoped out the land to fight the local Grimm. Unfortunately, she got herself into more trouble than she had bargained for, as she quickly became surrounded by a large pack of Beowolves. Despite her previous training with her sister, she quickly became overwhelmed at the sheer number of enemies surrounding her. While attempting to fight back, she suffered a nasty amount of blows to her left arm, which inevitably scarred it for life. Just as she was about to be finished off by the Beowolves, Naia emerged - having noticed that Beryl was missing and followed her trail - and proceeded to slay several of the Beowolves, rescue Beryl, and flee to safety. Feeling an overwhelming sense of grief for worrying her sister, Beryl promised that she would never sneak out again, and vowed to repay Naia for saving her life. While Naia herself wasn't completely upset with her younger sister, she still made certain that Beryl took this as a learning experience, and continued to help her in preparation for any future fights against the Grimm.

Four years later, Naia and Beryl's dreams of becoming Huntresses were beginning to become a reality. Naia was accepted into Atlas Academy after meeting the necessary requirements, though Beryl was left behind once again, but this time due to age restrictions. At the time, Beryl was 15, while her sister was 17. While Naia initially wanted to stay with her sister once more, Beryl urged her older sister to go on without her this time - not wanting Naia's dream of becoming a Huntress to be hindered simply because she'd be alone for a while. With a heartfelt hug and an exchange of farewells, the two promised they would see each-other again once Beryl was old enough to be accepted into the academy. It was at this point that Naia gave her blue/green scarf to Beryl, an item she had held onto and treasured since the two were younger. Making a promise to keep the scarf safe until they met again, Beryl gave her sister one more hug before seeing her off. With this, the two sisters were separated for the first time in their lives. While both experienced strong feelings of loneliness afterwards, the two year long time-span between Naia joining Atlas Academy and Beryl becoming old enough to join allowed the two a pause for deep thought on the situation; with both eventually coming to terms that there were going to be times where they wouldn't always be there for each-other.

During those two years, Beryl was mainly stuck with attempting to find side-jobs from anyone who would accept her, along with continuing to train on her own time for her future enrollment. Upon turning 17 years old, Beryl was finally able to join Atlas Academy and meet back up with her older sister - or in the very least, this is what she had hoped. Shortly after entering the academy and finding no trace of her sister, Beryl eventually learned that two weeks prior to her enrollment, Naia had volunteered for a collaborative investigation mission outside the kingdom. Unfortunately, the vessel her sister boarded hadn't come back yet, even though it was well overdue for its return by that point. While the authorities of the kingdom were investigating the matter, the process had unfortunately slowed down after the first week. The reason for this seemed to be due to Atlas focusing more of its efforts on eliminating a sudden, massive emergence of Grimm on the eastern side of the kingdom. After a long night of going over her options, Beryl eventually took matters into her own hands. Boarding a fishing vessel early the next morning, Beryl set off on a route over the ocean in search of any leads to her sister's whereabouts.

Upon arriving at Naia's supposed destination of the northern shores of Vale, Beryl began her search for any evidence or hints towards her sister's location, though quickly turned up nothing. It was here that she was eventually came across Shula Carinae - a runaway from the kingdom of Vacuo - as she was fighting off a local pack of Grimm. Seeing this, Beryl quickly jumped in to help. The two were able to easily dispatch the Grimm while working together, though Shula had suffered very minor injuries to her leg prior to Beryl showing up. Although Shula thanked her and insisted that her leg was fine, Beryl insisted on making sure she was fine. They eventually began conversing even more, which lead to Beryl explaining why she was there and asked about any potential leads on her sister.

Rather than giving an answer, Shula became conflicted and angry, primarily due to her own outlooks and past experiences when it came to family members. She attempted to argue that if Beryl's sister truly cared about her, then she wouldn't have left so close to a time when the two could have been back together. Beryl became greatly upset by this, and quickly argued with Shula. Going back and forth for quite some time, Beryl eventually countered Shula's argument by showing the scars on her left arm and explaining how she had been saved by Naia when they were younger. Feeling that she could finally repay Naia, Beryl expressed that holding onto her scarf as well as investigating her disappearance was her first chance to do so in 6 years.

Seeing how sincere her devotion was, Shula soon apologized afterwards along with offering to help Beryl look for her sister. At the same time however, Shula noted on and understood if Beryl didn't want her help, especially after the way she spoke to her. Despite this, Beryl happily accepted Shula's offer, which surprised her at first. Beryl explained that she followed a philosophy that her sister once taught her:"I want to believe there's good in everyone. Sure, there's going to be some real nasty people out there from time to time...but if someone sincerely wants to make amends? That's got to count for something." From that point on, Beryl and Shula began forming a bond of trust and friendship. The two eventually set out to trek across the kingdom, searching for any clues or leads as to the whereabouts of Naia.

Fall of Beacon
During the fall of Beacon Academy, Beryl and Shula were relatively close to the city of Vale. Due to the large amount of incoming Grimm, the two were essentially caught up in a large scale skirmish with the creatures. Though they were able to fight off and destroy many of them, the sheer number of Grimm caused a widespread panic. During the confusion, the two were separated due to an onslaught of attacks from incoming stronger Grimm variations. When the chaos finally settled, Beryl was left alone with no traces of her friend in sight. Knowing that Shula was strong enough to survive in such a situation, Beryl quickly set out to look for her after resting and mending her wounds. She now travels the local areas and aims to make it back to Shula's "base" at the north side of Vale, not only for the potential to meet back up with her friend, but also seeking any possible hints to her sister's whereabouts.

Tiamat
Beryl's primary weapon is a glaive spear, which she has named "Tiamat." The spear itself is roughly 6'5" in height, and has a curved blade with a somewhat jagged backside. The pole portion of the spear has a dust container with two slots embedded in the center. This allows for up to two dust effects or one combined effect to be transferred into the blade. Additionally, these elements can be expelled from the blade in the form of short range bursts of energy, but doing so drains dust at a quicker rate. The spear itself can also be condensed in height, thereby making it much smaller and easier to carry. Though unintentional by its initial design, the condensed form can be used as a makeshift stabbing weapon. However, due to Beryl's lack of training with other weapon types, she rarely ever uses her spear this way. Beyond these attributes, the Tiamat Glaive has no other special properties.

When in combat, Beryl focuses on quick precision and distance. She'll often observe her opponents movements when fighting, focusing on defense first and countering when the opportunity presents itself. Beryl's reflexes are rather quick, especially when it comes to her spear; employing very fast swings and spinning motions to counter and directly strike her enemies. She often uses rapid thrusting motions as well, both as a means of quickly attacking and pressuring the opponent. While she can utilize dust to add elemental properties to her attacks, she generally avoids doing this unless she's either forced into a critical position, or is certain that the element will be effective against her foe.

Despite Beryl being very proficient in the use of her spear, this primary focus can also be a weak point. Her choice of weapon essentially makes her attacks only effective at semi-close range. Although her speed allows her to chase down most opponents, her cautious nature in battle can sometimes dissuade her from doing so. Additionally, Beryl has only ever trained using polearms and motions associated with said weapon-type. This makes her very vulnerable if put in a position where she's required to use any other type of weapon. In relation to this, it is possible for her to use the condensed form of her glaive as a rather crude, makeshift knife. Given her lack of training in shorter weapons however, she will only ever use this as a last resort.

Semblance: "Revetment"
Beryl's semblance is known as "Revetment." In order to use this semblance, Beryl must first focus on one target or enemy before channeling its primary ability. Afterwards, she generally activates her semblance by either stomping at the ground or striking it with the end of her spear. Upon activating, a circular field of light blue-green energy is projected on the ground, with Beryl's current position being the center. This energy field extends to 9.1 meters (30 ft) around her, and is only capable of being used on stable surfaces. This energy field serves as a restrictive boundary for both Beryl and her opponent, as neither can move outside it. Objects and other people may still pass through the semblance's zone, however.

Beryl's semblance does have a few restrictions as well. First, she is only capable of encasing one target along with herself. Additionally, because the projection of the energy field is not instantaneous, it is possible for her foe to get away from the effected area before it reaches them. Beryl herself must also be on the ground or a stable surface to even use it as well. Notably, the restrictive boundaries last roughly 5 minutes before deactivating. After this, Beryl will need 5 more minutes to recharge before she can use her semblance again. Should her target escape the initial usage of the semblance, the field itself will deactivate, but still takes up energy and requires Beryl to wait 5 more minutes before she can attempt to use it again. The boundaries can also be disabled if Beryl becomes too exhausted to fight, gets knocked unconscious, or is killed off.

Trivia
- Beryl's name is derived from the mineral of the same name. While there are different varieties of this mineral, Beryl's primary color attribution is Aquamarine, which is mainly present in her eye color and her scarf.

- Beryl's last name is a reference to the Mariana Trench, which is home to the "Challenger Deep," the deepest known point in the world's ocean.

- Her weapon, the Tiamat, is named after the goddess of water from ancient Babylonian mythos.

- Her semblance, Revetment, is named after a form of retaining wall generally used near embankments or shore structures.

- Many of Beryl's attributes serve as parallels to her best friend, Shula: Beryl's primary color is aquamarine and has an affinity for cold environments. Shula's primary color is red (which is green's complementary color), along with having an affinity for warmer climates. Additionally, there is a variant of aquamarine gems called "maxixe," which are known to change to white when exposed to heat or sunlight. In relation to this, Shula rubs off on Beryl by teaching her how to be more calm and clear when it comes to certain casual situations.