Argent Cloche

"When I see something as beautiful as a flower...I can't help but want to watch it grow."

- Argent, speaking to an unknown person about the Beacon Academy flower gardens.

Argent Maribelle Cloche is an original character created by User: Electric Spark. She is the leader of Team AVLC and is the first character introduced of the group. Her weapon is an Asymmetrical Transforming Shepherd's Crook (ATSC) named Coque Obus. She has yet to make an appearance.

Appearance
The first thing a person notices about Argent is that she's tiny. At just 4'7", it's easy to trip over her when in a crowded Beacon hallway. Her slightly messy silver hair reaches down to her mid-back, with a bit of it splaying out onto her shoulders. She usually wears two micro braids just above and behind her right temple, each accessorized with silverbell flower pins at the roots. Her emerald green eyes are mysterious, owing to the fact that she never maintains eye contact with a person long enough for them to get a good look. Her skin appears to have been pale at one point, but has since been forced into a natural cream color by prolonged outdoor exposure.

Her combat attire consists of a silver open jacket with elbow-length sleeves that stretches down to her waist. Underneath, she wears a simple green v-necked blouse, and her hands are covered by brown fingerless gardening gloves. A pleated skirt of the same shade of silver as her jacket with a green line running just above the hem, along with brown, high-laced boots over silver stockings completes her ensemble. She wears two brown leather belts, one running around her waist that supports a small brown satchel on her lower back, which is divided into two main pockets filled with herbs and small tubes containing shotgun shells. The other belt runs diagonally across her body from her right shoulder to her left waist in the front. This belt is used to transport Coque Obus on her back when she's not using it as a walking stick.

During class, she wears the normal Beacon Academy uniform, but retains her belts and satchel.

Personality
Argent has a severe case of Ophthalmaphobia (fear of being stared at). As such, she's spent a good period of her life avoiding others at all costs. She's not inherently shy, but her lack of social grace has rendered her awkward and unable to hold conversations with anyone other than her parents and a select few individuals. Even if you can get her talking, it will rarely be more than one-word answers and short phrases. She hates being the center of attention, and will even physically run away from confrontations with others. She doesn't distinguish Humans from Faunus, as to her, everyone has eyes.

Underneath her timid exterior, Argent is a caring and nurturing individual. She has spent many years in flower gardens, due to her father's profession, and has come to prefer the company of plants over other people. She takes extreme care with flowers and plants, even apologizing to those she plucks or uproots. Her passion has naturally led into a heightened sense of perception and detail, which she puts to good use as leader. She almost never acts without thinking of all the possible outcomes, a trait she inherited from her mother.

As a combination of all these factors, Argent is extremely empathetic. When it comes to those she loves, she tends to always go the extra mile to make sure everyone is happy. On the rare occasion that she makes a friend, she constantly fears and worries that she will do something to upset them. This, along with her Ophthalmaphobia, stems from an incident in her early childhood where she was publicly ridiculed and ostracized. Ever since, she's been constantly afraid that history will repeat itself. The only way to guarantee nobody would ever despise her again was to never let anyone get close...

Background
Or and Cristal Cloche were accomplished hunters in their own time; they had both graduated from Beacon in their youth and were teammates. However, they were forced into an early retirment after a disasterous battle in which they racked up one of the largest single-battle Grimm kill counts in the academy's long history...and lost the lives of two of their teammates and a then-professor. For a while, their team name became synonymous with failure at their alma mater. But their love of the occupation kept them tied to Beacon. Cristal became a professor, and Or became a groundskeeper. Thus, from the very start of her life, Argent cultivated her two loves: gardening and hunting.

Born in Vale, Argent was an only child. Even her earliest memories consist of the grounds of Beacon Academy. Her path seemed clear to her from the beginning: to attend the prestigious school her parents loved so much, and to make them proud. She began training underneath her parents starting when she was only five years old. Eventually, she mastered the weapon known as Coque Obus while she was still in primary school, and began work to hone her use of Aura, which she finished well before graduation. Finally, Argent began her formal training at Signal Academy. She had been hailed as one of its top prospects; her pedigree alone brought her to its gates, her skill placed her ahead of the other students.

She was extremely talented, earning high marks in all areas with ease. She wasn't arrogant about this fact, though it might have been better if she had. Every time a teacher complimented her, she would simply smile and attribute her strength to her parents. Eventually, talk began of moving her ahead a year at Signal, since she was far outstripping the normal first-year coursework. Everyone seemed to be in agreement...except for the top student of the second-years. When he heard the news that his chance at graduating at the head of his class was in jeopardy, he knew he needed to take some course of action. A little digging into his rival's past scored him a huge hit: the catastophic failure of her parent's mission.

The incident had been one of Beacon's most widely publicized failures of the last decade, so word of her connection with it spread like wildfire throughout the academy. Small sects of disgruntled students, who had before only seen her as a perfect annoyance, took advantage of the situation to begin bullying her. She should be ashamed to even be related to such failures, they jeered. Faunus students especially seemed to take up this role; most likely out of a sort of revenge for their own discrimination. Even some teachers became extremely criticial of her work, pointing out even the smallest of errors, as if to try to correct a mistake they thought should never happen again. The second-year balked at how far his small prank was spreading; he'd only wanted to distract her before a large exam to ensure she wouldn't skip a year. But it was working, so he'd be damned if he let this chance slip by.

Argent initially brushed off the slights, content to focus on her coursework. She knew of her parents' past, but didn't think any less of them for it. In fact, she admired them for their perserverance in the face of such negativity, and tried to emulate their stoicism. But it wasn't long before she simply couldn't ignore her fellow students anymore. It wasn't hard to track the source of the gossip, the second-year was telling everyone he could. Once she found him, she delivered an ultimatum: single combat. Tournament style. The second-year was taken aback. He was intimidated, but there was no way he was going to let the rest of Signal know. He accepted.

The day of the match came just before the end of Argent's first semester at Signal. The faculty had agreed, and the event was highly publicized. The two top representatives from the first and second years...who wouldn't want to see that? The second-year was teetering on edge. He knew he didn't have much of a chance, but there was no way he was going to go down without a fight. The match was extremely one-sided. Argent's training and dedication showed through; she had him on the defensive from the get-go. The second-year knew that if he didn't do something soon, he was going to lose. All he needed was a momentary distraction, so he used the only ammo that came to his mind. He got right in Argent's face and insulted her parents. Bad move. She snapped.

Splitting her weapon into its Obus Forme, she used the sickle portion and snared him around the neck. Spinning the tonfa-shotgun portion around, she used the recoil from its shots to continuously hammer his body with blow after blow. His aura dropped into the red zone, and the buzzer sounded, but Argent didn't care. Months of bullying were coming out all at once, being released in every punch she delivered. It took two professors to pull her off of him, as the second-year gasped for breath, ribs broken, Aura exhausted. Jerking back into reality, Argent looked at him, at the teachers, and at the assembled crowd. She didn't know what kind of reaction from them she was expecting, but a mixture of disgust and fear wasn't at the top of her list. Nobody made a sound. They just stared. Their eyes were cold, menacing. She ran.

From that day, Argent became reclusive. She swore never to use Obus Forme again, and refused to leave her family's house in Vale. She would talk to nobody except her parents. Even on the rare occasion that she ventured outside or attempted to attend school, she could still feel the stares, and hear the people's whispered insults and wild speculation. She even earned the nickname "Hell's Bell", because "If you cross her, your time is up." She couldn't stand the way the students of Signal looked at her...but she couldn't let go of her dream of becoming a huntress.

Her parents felt responsible for her newly-discovered Ophthalmaphobia, as, they reasoned, they were indirectly the cause of her suffering. As such, they appealed to the Beacon Headmaster, asking if Argent might be allowed to live with them in the staff quarters. Under the circumstances, Ozpin, who had been on hand to witness the event, was inclined to agree. He even suggested that she be home-schooled, and stated that he would accept her into Beacon on his own reccomendation at a time he deemed her ready to handle the coursework. Argent would spend the next three years honing her ability to fight with her weapon in only its Coque Forme. She also spent countless hours helping her father around the Beacon grounds, learning the ins and outs of the Academy. Ozpin, impressed by her improvements over such a short time, agreed to let her attend Beacon a year early.

Abilities & Powers
Argent has strong tactical skills, accompanied by the mindset to use them. She can almost instantly take a situation, analyze it, and come up with a strategy. Communicating that strategy, however, is usually the hard part. In a normal battle, her timidness still holds reign, but if things get too hairy, her sensible side takes over and she can bark orders like a drill sergeant.

She's also extremely well-versed in herbal medicine, which she picked up naturally as an extension of her time working in gardens. This doesn't come in much use unless someone's Aura has been exhausted, but survival-wise, her skill is invaluable in foraging for edible food on long missions.

Argent has been practicing with Coque Obus since she was extremely small, so she knows her weapon inside and out. Her fighting style used to integrate both Coque and Obus Formes seamlessly, but after the incident with the Nephele, she concentrated on using only its Coque Forme. In team fights, she's usually directly in the thick of the action, but avoids combat if she can help it, preferring to strategize from the field. If fighting a single enemy, she only attacks if she sees an opening. If there are several enemies, she prefers to play a more defensive role, blocking attacks aimed at weaker teammates and turning foes towards those who are better equipped for close combat.

When fighting alone, one could only liken Argent's battle style to the blooming of a flower. She starts slowly, on the defensive as she analyzes the foe's strategies and looks for weak points. Once she thinks she's hammered out their patterns, she speeds up her attacks using the recoil from Coque Obus, and can even change the direction of an attack midway through. She doesn't have much endurance, so once she decides on a plan of action, she does everything in her power to end the battle as quickly as possible. It may seem like she uses her weapon as little more than a glorified quarterstaff, but when she unexpectedly jabs an enemy that you never saw behind her, one can't help but feel a bit awed.

When active, her aura glows with a silvery sheen. Her aura pool is fairly deep.

Weapon
Argent's weapon of choice is Coque Obus, an Asymmetrical Transforming Shepherd's Crook (ATSC). It has two main forms.


 * Coque Forme: In this form, Coque Obus appears as a normal shepherd's crook, though with a few additions. The lower third of the weapon consists of the shotgun barrel and firing mechanism, which rechambers via momentum when the weapon is spun around. The middle section houses the ammo clip and trigger. A foot-and-a-half section opens on the opposite side of the trigger, allowing for the weapon to be reloaded via specially crafted tubes, rather than the traditional practice of reloading a single shell at a time. In this form, the topmost crook portion serves little purpose other than being a counterweight.


 * Obus Forme: In this form, the weapon splits into two sections. The middle section collapses and forms handles for two separate weapons. One of these is the topmost crook portion, in which the interior of the curve slides back to reveal a sharp blade, creating a sickle. Argent wields this portion in her left hand. The lowermost shotgun portion reforms into a tonfa, with the trigger on the handle for easy firing. The shotgun still rechambers via spinning in this state. Argent carries this portion in her right hand, and it can be used like a traditional gun, or can utilize the recoil to essentially power-up punches from her right hand. It is extremely easy for the wielder to unintentionally shoot themselves in this form, and Argent practiced with blanks for many years before she mastered the timing.

Coque Obus, translated from French, is "Cockle Shell", but Obus has a closer meaning to "Bombshell". This references the drastic style change of the weapon's two forms.

Trivia
Argent's first and last name translate into "Silver Bell".

Argent's inspiration draws from the titular character of the nursery rhyme "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary".
 * Her name and weapon directly reference the line "With silver bells and cockleshells".
 * She's got a "green thumb" and loves gardening, further cementing the connection.

A running gag among Team AVLC is that when photographed in a group setting, her head is usually the only part of her body that makes it into the frame, due to her being... vertically challenged.

Coinciding with her love of flora, Argent's birthday is April 22, Earth Day.

At this point, due to the limited amount of information availible, she does not have a Semblance. However, once more information is availible, she may gain one more defensive and protective in nature, to augment her battle style.