Snowblind App

[lancingintherain]

(added to since submission because I Forgot To Mention Some Things. The revisions don't affect her abilities in-game at all; it's just added detail.)

Player Information

Name: Catie
Age: 24
Contact Info: c_rowles
Other Characters: N/A

Character Information

Name: Freya Crescent
Canon: Final Fantasy IX
Age: 21
Gender: Female
Canon Point: Immediately after joining forces with Beatrix and Steiner to cover Zidane, Garnet, and Vivi’s escape from Alexandria Castle (disc 2)
Background Link: Freya’s page on the Final Fantasy Wiki, and the main FFIX page
Inventory:

Freya arrives with her sturdy, waterproofed coat and hat, as well as her shirt, breeches, and leather leggings. She also wears a stiff fabric shield thing belted around her front, and a scrap of yellow cloth tied around her tail. She won’t arrive with any jewelry (edit 8/08/15: because I'm an idiot and completely forgot about her coral ring and other add-on gear), but her helmet and coat both have ornamental metal pieces attached to them.

Personality:

First and foremost, Freya is a person of action: she’d much rather tackle a problem by doing something rather than stand around talking about it. She throws herself especially readily into action—and, usually, danger—when it’s for a noble cause. A true knight, she views her own life as secondary to whatever worthy cause or person she’s pledged herself to. She can’t imagine living at all without being dedicated to something (or someone), which shows that while she is very brave and loyal, she also views herself as a little bit disposable.

The causes she’s taken up are many: she devoted five years of her life to searching for Sir Fratley, a fellow Dragon Knight who she was in love with and sincerely believed she couldn’t live without, but when the invasion of Burmecia appeared as a much more immediate problem, she detoured from her search and returned at once to protect her country. When Burmecia was overrun despite her efforts, she threw herself into defending the city of Cleyra; and when Cleyra was obliterated, she made defending her companions the next cause to put her life on the line for. When General Beatrix, who’s responsible in a big way for the genocide of Freya’s people, has her own crisis of loyalty, Freya reprimands her, reminding Beatrix about her sworn duty to protect her princess above all else. She even offers herself as an ally to Beatrix in battle, pairing up with her hated enemy for the sake of their common knightly goal: to safeguard their princess’ life, even at the cost of their own.

In a lot of ways, Freya seems more comfortable losing herself in battle than she is dealing with life outside of it. When Fratley, the person she’s sunk half a decade into scouring the world for, turns up with amnesia, she spends only moments in stunned, heartbroken silence before shaking off Zidane’s words of comfort and turning her attention immediately to fighting off invading Black Mages and soldiers. Although it’s mostly worked for her so far, throwing herself into action as a coping mechanism for grief isn’t the most sustainable or healthy option: while she has confidence in her combat abilities and training, she’s not immune to feelings of failure, and she readily sinks into despair when her physical strength and skills aren’t enough to protect the people she cares about.

Seeking refuge in combat isn’t the only way Freya keeps from confronting her feelings. She’s very reluctant to talk about herself to others, even friends: when reuniting with Zidane after three years apart, she barely answers his eager questions about what she’s been up to, even though she’s happy to see him again. She’ll even outright lie if it means avoiding uncomfortable conversational territory: when Zidane in that same encounter asks her if she’ll ever return to Burmecia, she dismisses him by saying “there’s nothing for me there”. However, when her homeland comes under attack, she confesses to him that, in reality, not a day went by on her five-year journey when she didn’t think about her home.

Her reluctance to talk about herself doesn’t mean that she’s an outwardly cold person, although she’s cautious around strangers, and rarely in the mood for teasing (she can dish it out, but doesn’t take it very well). Her impulsive nature sometimes shows itself in outbursts of temper when she feels like she’s being insulted, something that effectively shatters the dignified image she tries to project. She has a good heart, though, and she lets her natural kindness and friendliness come through when talking to people she’s warmed up to. To her friends, she even tries to be a source of emotional support; good luck getting her to talk about her problems, but she’ll offer a patient, fuzzy ear if you need to talk about yours.

That’s not to say that the counsel she gives is always solid stuff. When Vivi confesses that he wants to find out the truth about the Black Mages, where he comes from, and how his own existence is tied to theirs, Freya doesn’t really encourage him: instead, she tries in her own way to bring him down to earth, telling him, “the answers you seek may change your life for the worse”. Obviously, projecting her own doubts and insecurities about her own destiny, especially her ill-fated search for her lost love, onto a scared kid isn’t the most mature move, but under her confident act, Freya’s pretty much a scared kid herself. As someone whose highest calling is to protect and support the people around her, she feels that showing weakness or vulnerability on her own part would lessen her value as a member of the group. It’s no wonder that someone so terrible at admitting her own feelings would be just as terrible helping other people deal with theirs.

On the inside, she’s really a deeply emotional and perceptive person, and worries more about the future than she wishes she did. Sometimes, she does confess to feeling helpless or frightened under her brave exterior—but only to herself, when nobody else is around to hear her, of course.

Flavor Abilities:

Her large ears and long snout give her sharper senses of hearing and smell than what human beings enjoy, and her coat of short fur gives her some built-in resistance to the cold and elements. Also, thanks to sharp teeth and claws, every end of her is a pointy end, giving her natural defenses on top of any weapons she might make or find.

Additionally, she has some healing abilities (that, confusingly, apparently aren't considered "magic" in canon), and can slip into a berserker state known as Trance when pushed emotionally during battle. She’s also had a lifetime of training in a combat style that chiefly involves jumping high into the air to rain death down upon one's enemies. In canon, this means leaping multi-story statues and buildings in a single bound, but she’ll be held to more practical standards in Snowblind. Magic use and Trance are out of the question, and she'll only be able to jump (and fall from heights) within human or near-human limits, which will make her absolutely furious.

Suitability:

While Freya’s lived most of her life in cities, she’s also very widely-traveled, and experienced with camping and trekking on her own in all kinds of terrain and conditions. The outdoor survival skills she’s picked up over the years, as well as her general excellent physical condition, will serve her well in Snowblind and help her avoid becoming a fuzzy popsicle. The isolation she’ll face in the town will be hard to take after becoming so close with her friends back in her world, but she’s not a stranger to self-imposed isolation, either, and she’ll force herself to adjust.

Rather than try to puzzle out the mysteries of Norfinbury right away, she’ll focus on the immediate, more concrete issues of her own survival and then helping out people she comes across, using the “place your own oxygen mask on first before helping others” approach to staying alive in the Worst Town Ever. She’ll want to make a weapon out of the first suitable objects she can find: ideally a spear, since that’s what she’s most comfortable with, but she isn’t picky.

Since magic is commonplace in her world, the more minor supernatural elements of the town wouldn't shake her up too badly on their own, but combined with the whole otherworldly kidnapping business and isolation, she'll be deeply Freaked Out. She'll take great pains to hide that around other people, but that will get increasingly difficult as the creepy atmosphere builds and she realizes she can't stab any of the weird apparitions.

RP Samples:

Network Thread: a little night music

Action Threads: a couple of timely rescues and one rude teenager