Zaffre Perrault

""Why should I fear the Faunus' ability to kill when Humans and the Grimm can do the same?""

- Zaffre on the subject of White Fang

Zaffre Perrault is a second year student and weapons maker of Beacon Academy, and has recently been assigned to Team LAPZ. She owns a small weapon shop within the academy.

Appearance
Zaffre appears as a fit teenage girl, around 5'5" with shoulder blade length, honey blonde hair tied back with a blue bow and blue eyes but she has sectoral heterochromia, a condition that has her right eye containing a small brown section. She possesses a burn scar on her back as punishment from her first runaway attempt. Normally she is seen wearing earplugs in to lower the sound around her, however she will take them out if the sound is moderate wherever she is.

Zaffre is usually dressed in a blue jacket with bell shaped sleeves, each bearing a cross like marking on them, a sky blue buttoned vest covering a white dress shirt, a silver, knee-cap length waist cape, black shorts, cyan stockings cover her legs and zaffre mid thigh boots. When fighting she will use her arm belts to hold her sleeves higher of she has the time to make the adjustments.

As a maid she wears an apron over her outfit and a bandana on her head.

While working on weapons, depending on the level of craftsmanship she needs to do, she will wear either brown overalls over a black shirt or a black apron, her jacket and waist cape off to prevent it form getting in her way. However when out and about and unable to have access with her other clothes, she will wrap her waist cape so that it protects her front legs and use the belts on her arms to hold her sleeves higher like she does when fighting.

Personality
Zaffre is a kind-hearted soul; self-sacrificing, never bad mouthing a person behind their back and always willing to give a chance to someone. She is kind to all living things and believes that a person should be hated by their personality, not by how they look, their social status or race. She is also strong-willed and always believes in hope, never giving up on her dreams. To this end she immerses herself in studies to become a Civil Rights Activist for the Fauna, believing that if she did she would be able to see her parents once more. As such she also possesses a strong will to live, to survive to obtain that chance.

Due to being taken away from the Faunus that raised her, she has a silent hatred for the family that took her in. Despite being part of the family she is treated like dirt by her Step-Sisters and they always abuse her kindness and force her to do chores. Also, her family intended to replace her 'non-existing one', declaring that she had no family before all of this when in fact she had a Faunus family she loved. She has come to despise the term and doesn't believe in replacing things unless absolutely necessary. However her Step-Father did show her kindness, enough for her to respect him. Because of what she has been through she has a strong desire to help others in anyway possible and hates to see anyone cry out of sadness. Unfortunately she has a bad habit of looking at other peoples weapons and determining if they are good or not and improving the weapon without permission. She also doesn't have an issue with fighting, so long as weapons are used against The Grimm instead of fellow human beings and Faunus.

There are days when she wonders if she will see her parents again and prays everyday for the chance, but the hope in her is wavering, and even though she tries to hide this behind a smile her tears will tell a different tale.

The cause of her non-discriminatory views comes not only from being raised by Faunus but also seeing how they act. Learning of the White Fang, and having been attacked be a member once caused her to rethink her views on society as a whole. She knew what the heart was capable of feeling, and doubted that Faunus and Humans in general didn't feel the same emotions. As such, seeing that both Faunus and Humans can act the same has caused her to see everyone on the same level, neither good nor evil. In essence she has developed a philosophy; why should she hate Faunus' ability to kill when Humans and Grimm can do the same? As such she has desensitized herself about the issue and finds others foolish for their black and white views on the issue. Even so this won't stop her from defending friends for the same ability, making her somewhat hypocritical.

And there are times when Zaffre can be scary. For example, she needs a clean room. If the room isn't clean, it WILL be cleaned, no matter what. OCD makes her an easy target for cleaning sprees. Cleaning is a way for her to fight her anxiety and negative thoughts, but even SHE can take it to far, as once she waxed the floors of the Beacon Academy...three times...each...and it took her the entire night to do so. Professor Ozpin was NOT happy his students were gaining more injuries from a waxed floor than from the The Grimm, or is he secretly laughing on the inside?

After surviving the incident of the trip that landed her in a coma, Zaffre has grown a fear of Nevermores, given the one she faced to save her teammates and has left a rather nasty effect on her, so much so she freezes on sigh when she sees a Nevermore, even though they are regular sized ones.

While good with weapons, she is not a pro and acknowledges the fact she cannot repair all weapons or help to forge any kind. She only took the job as a means to survive, but has come to learn recently that she is not in love with her work.

Backstory
Zaffre was abandoned by her human parents as a baby and found in a forest by two Faunus. She was cared for and raised by them in a small village nearby. During her time with the Faunus she was heavily despised for being human and casted away from the people she tried to be friends with. One day while playing in the forest, she befriended a little boy the same age as her and managed to become friends with him due to their similar liking for books and puzzles.

Shortly after she turned eight, a pair of Hunters found her and assumed she was lost and tried to lead her back to civilization, but she resisted and told them her parents were Faunus. The word got out of a human child being raised by the beasts and representatives of the government came and took custody away from the Lupinus family, forcing to accept that Zaffre could never belong with them and would be happy with a human family since she was human. Before she left, her friend and her made a promise to reunite one day and that they would never forget, sealing the deal by keeping one precious item of the other. For the child it was his favorite book; a fairy tale about a bird who wanted to escape the cage, and for Zaffre; a stuffed wolf her mother made her. Zaffre added that she would return to her real parents and both parents told her one thing: "Survive", as they were positive they wouldn't but couldn't tell the girl she made an empty promise.

She was taken from the people she considered her parents and adopted by a high class family. Her Step-Mother is a governess, and her Step-Father the CEO of the "Perrault Weapons", a business in weapon making to battle the The Grimm. Despite being part of the family she was treated like dirt by her Step-Sisters and they always abuse her kindness and forced her to do chores.

During her time adopted, she was forced to study and learn how to create and assemble weapons as part of the family business and attended a school, where she was infamous for the story surrounding her. A year after her adoption, her Step-Father, who made her a promise that she would see her family again if she proved herself worthy to take over the family business, died due to being trapped in a burning warehouse. As such her Step-Mother took over the company and the three women began to abuse Zaffre by treating her as a maid instead of a daughter, believing those who were raised by Faunus should be treated as such. Because of the harsh treatment she has tried numerous attempts to run away, only to be caught again and again and confined to her room in the basement. Even so she kept believing she would escape and waited patiently for her chance.

One night her family attended a party of the elite but did not invite Zaffre, having her confined to her room and guarded. By a miracle she managed to escape and ran away successfully. Even so she knew if she were to return to where her Faunus parents reside the Perraults would find her again, as such she ran attended Sanctum, and began her education under the alias "Cindy Glass" to become a huntress to run away from her family. Later she attended Beacon Academy.

One day Professor Ozpin learned of her true identity by finding errors in her transcript and after learning of the girl's story, agreed to allow her to stay, as long as she also worked as a janitor part-time and Weapon Specialist/maker to pay for her tuition, as she had been doing since her time at Sanctum.

Year 1
Due to a lost transcript, Zaffre ended up attending Beacon in her second semester, transferring there as a way to escape the Perrault family grasp. Ozpin allowed the transaction as the Perraults were helping White Fang in secret, and Zaffre was a key witness who needed protection. Going under the name Cindy Glass, Ozpin intended for her to join a team of three students as soon as possible, but situations kept arising that prevented the girl from joining, ranging from her Step Mother nearly finding her, to being abducted. There was also a problem with her schedule. Since she was allowed to open a Weapon Shop in the school, her classes wee cut short and she could only attend a certain number at a time before doing her job at the shop or her work as a maid/janitor for the school. Ozpin decided that, until she was ready to cope with everything, he wouldn't place her on a team, especially since the team she would be placed on was a bit...much to handle.

Year 2
The start of the second year would prove to be useless on placing Zaffre on a team as well. Melira "Goldstein" requested the use of the Weapon Smith and the student with her at the time to help her escort a Dust statue to a far away region. Joining her would be another student that would become her closest friend. After the first test, they docked at a nearby town filled with Faunus. The sight of the people made her recall the events of her past and make silent remarks about her back story, some hints Melira took into account to try and edge the girl into revealing herself. Eventually an attack by White Fang forced their hands and they had to fight. Zaffre was happy to know they won but was naive to think no one had died in the ensuing battle, believing her teammates didn't do anything wrong and left on neutral terms with the town.

A child snuck on board and Zaffre played with her and Saffron, the child Melira brought with her. Melira remarked about needing to dock for supplies and suggested Charlestown, despite it being the same town that the Governess Perrault resided, she believed the town best to restock as it was close and easy to get to. Once arriving, Zaffre talked about the town and reunited with her old friend Calco Tildrum. The meeting, and when Black's twin Clay was revealed to be spying on them, causes Zaffre to relapse and her body to succumb to the injuries she sustained during the last fight to help develop a fever. With Urdin's help she was able to get the necessary medicine in her body and taken to the hotel. The next day however, once she had recovered, Melira asked Zaffre to reveal the truth as Calco called the girl by her real name instead of her alias. She revealed to her temporary team the past she had to endure, but only the basic information, afraid to bring up any memories that would cause another relapse.

This earned her Melira's trust and the woman commissioned for the girl to create a weapon for her adoptive daughter Saffron. After creating the basic design, she was ready to show Melira until it was learned the statue was stolen. Zaffre and Black gave haste and met up with Calco along the way. They followed the White Fang members to a warehouse and a battle for the statue erupted. Zaffre and the others managed to recover the statue, but the girl took too many injures including a massive concussion to her head. Seeing Melira Caclo revealed his true objective; capturing the Dust Statue as a Captain for a small division of White Fang. The shock of the new formation, and of her injuries forces Zaffre unconscious and her being kidnapped by her friend.

Zaffre awoke in a hospital that is used by White Fang and Calco reveals his connection to White Fang, and Zaffre reveals that she and her parents were once part of it when she was living with them, when White Fang was peaceful. But she never took part in the protests on the front lines. Once Calco left, Zaffre began trying to escape, completely unaware the others were searching for her and the dust statue. Zaffre used a basic bobby pin she had in her coat to unlock the door given it was a rather poor hospital and could only use mundane and not electrical things. Knocking the two guards out she threw then inside the room, locked the door and began making her way outside till she came face to face with Melira's acquaintance, Aki Tokuhana.

He helped locate her weapons unintentionally and went with her and Black back to the airship. Once she returned she learned about Melira placing a time limit on the group. This sparked the girl to stand up for her beliefs.

Present
Due to there being an uneven amount of people in her school year, she was added to a group of three and made a member of Team LAPC (LAPZ), using her fake name, but her real name is used in certain situations.

She, along with the rest of LAPZ, have gone rogue and are now a band of traveling mercenaries.

Team LAPZ
Liadan Dormant: The Leader of Team LAPZ. Zaffre had some difficulties on the first week she was assigned to LAPZ but came to respect Liadan's quick thinking and ingenuity. Though at times she finds herself having to stop Liadan from participating in her...questionable activities.

Auburn Radcliff: Another of Team LAPZ, Zaffre finds herself often exasperated with him due to his annoying ability to lock his weapon and be unable to activated the gun feature. Since it is a rather old weapon Zaffre is constantly having to make improvements, making her short on money due to the metal and other items she uses to try and lessen the damage to the weapon and prevent Auburn from constantly coming to her for help. Even so, she trusts Auburn to have her back in a fight and she teases him on a constant basis for being the youngest member of the team, despite them all being the same age.

Putrea Zedong: Zaffre's partner and the one most often seen with her. Zaffre was shocked when she fell for the trap Putrea laid out, but likes Putrea for following what he likes and respects his wisdom. Often at times she goes to him for advice, especially concerning her relationship with Urdin. Their friendship is rather stable, and both respect the other for their abilities in combat. Zaffre often finds herself at the receiving end of Putrea's teases.

Friends
Urdin Meadows: A young man she met during the man's first day at beacon. Due to circumstances they became part of a temporary team with him as leader. Currently she is in a relationship with him.

Black Weston: Another young man she met alongside Urdin. As well as herself and Urdin he joined on a quest to deliver a Dust Statue to another region. While she may question his actions at times, in a fight she trusts Black with her life.

Clay "Razor" Weston: A temporary teammate during Zaffre's mission with Melira, she respects Clay's abilities in a fight, and can easily tell the difference between Clay and Black despite them being twins. While they did interact she doesn't feel as close to him as she does Black.

Royce Blenheim: A bartender she met during her time off in her Freshman Year second semester. He made an impression on her for being calm during a situation and respects him greatly. In her second year second semester, she returned to the bar he owned and sadly got him involved with a mercenary hired to kill her.

Angelina Zain: A friend she made one day at a small cafe in vale.

Maki Kuronami: Zaffre is responsible for helping reforge a new weapon for Maki and has since been on good terms with her.

Calco Tildrum: Zaffre's childhood friend. When she still lived with her Faunus parents Calco was her only friend and both shared a lot of similar personality quirks. When she was forced to leave, Calco ran after her to try and save her but failed. When she finally met up with Calco ten years later, she was shocked to find him a part of White Fang as it is now, and is now forced to be on opposite sides of him to finish her mission, something that bothers her to no end and leaves her thinking she won't be able to enforce her own beliefs. Even so she still believes in Calco.

Allies
Melira "Goldstein": The woman who hired Zaffre, Urdin and Black for the mission of delivering the dust statue to another region. During the quest her respect for Melira withered slightly, but she still trusts her.

Aki Tokuhana: A late comer to the temporary team, Zaffre appreciates Aki for finding her beloved weapon when she was kidnapped by White Fang. For some reason Aki believes that Zaffre could help Melira believe in humans once more, but Zaffre is just a student at Beacon...

Foster Family
Mr. Perrault: Despite them taking her in, Zaffre couldn't despise a family anymore. The only person in the whole family she had respect for was her foster father, who was a Faunus sympathizer. Once he learned of the girl's circumstances, he promised that he would take her home. Due to the fact he had a mistress at the time, who was also a Faunus, his wife killed him and made the incident seem like an accident. As such all hope of Zaffre seeing her family again was crushed.

Governess Medea Perrault: The one person in the world Zaffre despises the most. Medea was nothing but cruel and harsh towards the girl, always treating her as something less than human, placing her on the same level as the Faunus for being raised by them. Because of Zaffre constantly running away, Medea would find a way to bring her back and punish her for it, ranging form clocking her in a small room to physical abuse.

For some reason, Medea wants Zaffre dead and the poor girl doesn't know why. Medea believes Zaffre may have found out the truth about how Mr. Perrault was killed and constantly sends out assassins and mercenaries out after the girl. She is the reason Zaffre goes by the name Cindy Glass and wears a color contact lens to hide the sectoral heterchromia in her right eye.

Perrault Siblings: Iracebeth and Mirana were Zaffre's foster sisters, and like their mother would abuse Zaffre's kindness and treat her poorly. While Iracebeth would do it because she could, Mirana started doing it once she was told that Zaffre was responsible for their father's death. While both sisters were cruel to Zaffre, they didn't understand why they should chase after Zaffre since she ran away, glad they didn't have to deal with the Faunus filth anymore, but their mother forced them to go after the girl themselves.

They would come to find her as Cindy Glass, but not realize it was Zaffre and only attacked her because of the similarity, and engage in a battle with her, but both would lose. Even so, Mirana would let lose to the 'double' that she hated Zaffre for killing their father, and Cindy would ask her how she did it. The questions boggled Mirana and would cause her to rethink her alliance and eventual come to realize she was far too cruel to Zaffre, and now searches for her to apologize. Mirana is possible the only person Zaffre would try to mend a relationship with.

Quotes
"It's okay...I'll see them again, I know it. I won't lose hope..." - Zaffre on the subject of her parents

"We sheathe our real selves in the darkness, afraid of what could happen if the truth got out about us." - Day One at Beacon Academy RP, Zaffre on why humans attack the Faunus.

"Okay...to begin with...Cindy Glass...as you all might know is an alias...my real name is...Zaffre Perrault..." - Day One at Beacon Academy RP, Zaffre reveals her true name.

"Why should I fear the Faunus' ability to kill when Humans and the Grimm can do the same?" - Zaffre on the subject of the White Fang. Voice sample below of quote.



Abilities & Weapon
Zaffre is an incredible craftsman and sometimes trains with the weapons she creates, as such she is a weapons expert and is rather flexible and adaptable with any weapon, though she mostly practices with her favored dust claw gauntlets Lupinus that she created in honor of her parents.

Lupinus is refereed to as a Dual Action Grappling Blades (DAGB). The claws are silver gauntlets with claws attached on the gauntlets that can extend into a grappling hook. The section where the Claws are located can pop out, a thin but durable rope round around a wheel. The length of the rope can extend to about 1 meter. However she mostly relies on bullets to either deal damage or increase her mobility. There can only fit about twelve bullets at a time on each gauntlet due to a revolver mechanism that moves inside the gauntlet. Despite her bullets being Dust filled, and dust can be filled into the gauntlet to activate different effects through her claws, she utilizes her Gauntlets to enhance her Aura.

Due to her life she is rather swift, possesses above-average strength and incredibly durable. She focuses on using Ba Gua Zhang to assist with evasion and uses various martial arts, ranging from Kung Fu to Wing Chun, to use her claws. She learned some of her martial arts from her short time in Sanctum and has done private training since then, but recently has gained a teacher through a professor at Beacon. However because she doesn't specialize in one form she can't use the multiple styles to their full potential.

Her knowledge of weapons is what makes her dangerous as she can pinpoint a weapons weak spot and use that to destroy the weapon. If given the chance to fully analyze her opponent she can defeat them, so the best way to fight against her is to keep moving and keep her guessing. As such her main style of fighting is normally grab the weapon and dismantle it while defeating her enemies.

She can take on multiple Grimm creatures, ranging from Basilisk to Ursa, but will have trouble against flying foes if she can't get to them.

She has talent in using Aura as her Faunus parents taught her how to shield herself, knowing that the forest they lived by contained Grimm, as such she excels at using her Aura more than anything in her battles. This is especially good when it comes to her Semblance, Regeneration. While Aura already grants a human the ability to heal wounds faster than the norm, Zaffre's can do so at nearly an instant. But sadly the pain that is more tolerable when healing at a more normal pace Zaffre is forced to feel the pain that comes from a rapid heal. While this allows her to mend bones within a few minutes compared to a few days or weeks for other, Zaffre still has to deal with that pain. This however has given her a high endurance factor and a tolerance for pain. Also, her Semblance can only seal wounds, not regenerate lost organs or limbs, but the Semblance will try to alleviate for it.

Zaffre's senses are rather strong to the point certain noises such as the intercom of the school is enough to make her cringe and the light's in the classroom is enough to blind temporary until she can get use to it. As such her enhanced senses are both a blessing and a curse.

In TV Trope terms she would be a Lightning Bruiser as she can hit fast and hard, yet her weakness to loud sounds makes her vulnerable unless she has earplugs in. Also, due to the scar on her back, she becomes extremely vulnerable if hit in that spot, and due to its easy access its enough to incapacitate her due to the pain.

RPG Stats

 * Class: Weaponsmith
 * Strength: B
 * Defense: B
 * Dust Usage: B
 * Aura Usage: S
 * Dust Resistance: B
 * Speed: B
 * Evasion: A
 * Luck: C

Trivia

 * Zaffre is based off of the fairy tale character "Cinderella." the concept of the "Wild Child".
 * Her weapon name, Lupinus, is the name of a flower that is also called Bluebonnet, which also comes in other colors besides blue.
 * While she may be on a team she still works as a weaponsmith at Beacon with her own shop.
 * One of her job perks grants her a master key that allows her entrance to any room in the building, either for cleaning purposes or waking up students who have yet to rise for school, something she takes to full advantage.
 * She mostly practices with the weapons she creates to test their stats and see if she created a weapon that would survive a battle.
 * Zaffre's last name is a shout out to the creator of "The Glass Slipper" aka "Cinderella", Charles Perrault.
 * Zaffre is Bisexual.
 * Zaffre's emblem was done by the magnificent Demetri Anacona!