Name: Elle
Alias/Title:n/a
Race:Human
Age:19
Appearance:
Since being blinded Elle's eyes have become a milky white, though this is not often seen as she mostly leaves them closed. Her outfit consists of her scarf, a coat which ends just below her waist and plain black pants which she often keeps tucked into brown boots. Beneath her coat she wears a plain gray long sleeve shirt.
Weapon Appearance:
Weapon Name:Ebb and Flow
Combat Abilities: Elle is decently skilled in close combat with a very good reaction time at mid to close range to back it up. She is a quick and maneuverable fighter who makes effective use of evasion to keep herself in the fight. Elle's weapons training has largely consisted of the use of mid ranged chain weapons to incapacitate or snare foes to allow her to move in close and dispatch an enemy. Though she has begun using her keyblade she still carries a weighted chain in her jacket.
Her weaknesses however rest in her long range combat ability and her endurance. As she can not see Elle has developed a sort of sensory network with her darkness which lets her feel out an area around her. While this gives her excellent perception of things on all sides of her it does not extend far enough for long range attacks to be detected. She would only notice the attack after it enters mid range which may only allow for a very narrow window to block or dodge. This issue also extends to her ability to counterattack at a long range as she could neither 'see' an opponent which is too for away nor could she properly aim an attack.
Non-Combat Abilities:Elle passively has a sensory network formed by darkness around her which gives her a 360 degree awareness of an area around her. Furthermore she has a resistance to darkness and is able to open and cross through corridors of darkness, though currently not without some degree of exhaustion.
Elle is also adept at navigating The Blind and is a fairly decent cook...if she can be trusted to get good ingredients.
Personality:Elle is easily someone who could always be described as tomboyish, with a very casual and laid back demeanor most of the time. While this can keep her level headed most of the time it also tends to make her rather flippant or dismissive to people or problems at hand which can at times make her both frustrating to deal with and end herself in unsafe situations.
History: My names Elle, I never knew my parents, grew up in an upper-city boarding with other kids who lost their parents or just got dumped there one day. Could never say what, I never really gave my situation much thought. Brightwood wasn’t a bad place to live, we all had a room of our own room and three meals a day. The place got donations from the city and the owners watched over an entrance to The Blind we had way out back so it pulled in plenty of money. It seemed to be a legitimate institution, for a long time it probably was, but that place had some of secrets of its own.
The Brightwood boarding house was more than a simple home for lost children. On the outside it looked like it but with that entrance to The Blind set practically in the back yard it was a perfect mid point for smugglers and black market traders lookin' to make some deals with the rich folks in the upper-city. It might seem strange having backroom deals going on in an orphanage but the traders weren't a violent sort. It was the clever, cunning and sly ones that needed to run those deals after all.
That was the place I grew up. Lower-city smugglers and traders showin' up in the dead of night to stash their goods, upper-city businessmen and researchers stopping in the early morning to make their deals. Over the years certain traders became regulars who would stay in the house for several days before returning. As a child I couldn’t help but be curious, they had all sorts of stories about monsters within the blinds or fantastic trinkets and oddities from who knows where. Each night I found myself out on the balcony watching the stars, wondering if those traders would come slipping out of The Blind with their next batch of trade goods. And I only got more and more curious with each visit over the years. By the time I was 11 I grew a rapport with one trader in particular called Lowell who always seemed glad to regale us kids with all sorts of stories.
Was around this time I was getting tired of sitting around my room all the time. I got even more curious so me and some of the more adventurous kids started sneaking off to snoop around The Blind's entrance. We got plenty of scoldings by the staff but that never stopped us for long. Still it wasn’t like a bunch of kids had any chance of getting in there, that door was always sealed tight so I was always stuck back on that balcony waiting and stargazing. But... one night something happened. The smugglers got spotted by upper-city law and it quickly escalated into a full blown battle. I was just a dumb kid so of course I didn't think to get inside and that would come back to bite me in the ass, and quick. It happened too quick for me to tell what happened but I got hit square in the face with a stray spell. In an instant my whole world went black. I can barely remember that night, I can only guess I must have passed out soon after.
The next month... it was one I wish I didn't remember. Fear, depression, anger, frustration. It felt like those were the only things I felt. Suddenly I could barely even make my way around my room let along do anything else. The other kids started avoiding me after the first week, looking back on it I cant really blame them. I wouldn’t have been a blast to hang around. While I was wrapped up with all of this Brightwood was being investigated under suspicion of being involved with the smuggling ring, and there was plenty to link the place to it. Tension was high all around and those days passed with an agonizing crawl until the decision was finally made. Brightwood boarding house was to be shut down and we were all to be shuffled off to wherever they could find a place for us.
It was shortly before the home was set to be cleared out that Lowell and the traders paid one last business to finish up the trade contract that got interrupted. Lowell stopped by my room before they left, I didn't realize it at the time but it must have been obvious how poor shape I was in. I coulden't see a thing and darkness was fixing to wring my heart for all it was worth. If it wasn’t for Lowell's offer I probably would have ended up one of the monsters in The Blind I was always enthralled by. Heartless. But Lowell offered me a place in the smuggling ring, on one condition. If I was gonna travel through The Blind I couldn’t fear the darkness. Didn't know if I could make it back then but I accepted anyway. At least it gave me somthin' to try.
I left Brightwood with the traders and made my first trip through The Blind that night. Felt like I'd be suffocated more than once but they told me something. Remember the stars, tiny points of light against the vast blanket of darkness. If they can shine within it then so can you. Seems so stupid and sappy now but it helped me through that trip. Made me realize that its not really the dark you should be afraid of. When we finally made it to their building in the lower-city I was just stuck with odd jobs for a while, I still couldn’t do much back then. But I kept makin' trips to The Blind, I stopped being afraid of the darkness. It even became calming. And as I got more used to it I started feeling somthin' like a second sense for the world around me coming up.
Things were going well for a while. My senses were getting better and better with each trip to The Blind, soon I didn't even need to see and I could navigate those dark tunnels just as well as any of those vets. They taught me how to fight and take care of myself, started feelin' like I was invincible. So of course before long something would happen to knock that right out. Was around a year ago, we were doing a job bringing some cheap mythil, cheaper then you could ever get in the city to some sculptor in the upper-city. Easy job but we slipped up and got spotted by the law. Tried to run straight back to The Blind but only some of us made it. My luck that I was one they caught. Locked up and questioned damn near that entire year. Turned 19 in there and started to feel like I'd never get out. Then
that happened.
The Fracturing. Seemed to come without warning, the wind howling and the ground shaking. Before I even knew it everything was chaos. I'm still not sure what really happened but this place sure hasn’t been the same since. People were vanishing left and right, like bugs snuffed out in a lantern. I almost bit it too, but I managed to pull off an escape. If you can call it that. Trying to shove the door open I fell backwards but I never hit the ground. All I could feel was darkness, thicker than anything I'd felt before. I blanked out a little and when I came too I was in The Blind. Must have been a full day before I found my way out, tunnels didn’t seem like they were before. The Heartless sure got more aggressive. If it wasn’t for this... weird key showing up I might've even been done for then too. Almost felt like someone was lookin' out for me back then. When I finally fought my way out it must have been a full day and the world already went plenty south. Didn't seem content to stop there either.
Its been six months since then. I've been tryin' to find Lowell or any of those guys since it happened but I haven't seen hide nor hair from any of 'em. Seems like the whole cities become a ghost town, I've barely seen anyone around. Most people seem to have banded up together, guess I'm the crazy one wanderin' all around this place. Plenty of monsters to keep me on my toes though, if thats anything to be thankful for. Don't know why I'm wasting my time recording this anyway. Guess it could be target practice if nothin' else...
Reputation: Before the fracturing Elle was a member of a large smuggling and black market ring who would likely be somewhat known by those who had ties to underground circuits before the fracturing, though how much depend on how involved they would have been. Since the event she has been wandering about, occasionally trading goods when she would encounter someone.
Song:
Based on:
Cosmic Love - Florence + The MachineGeneral:
The Mancer's Dilemma - Bastion OST
