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Player: Jes
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Age: 20+
Current Characters: n/a
Character: Pyrrha Nikos
Age: 17
Canon: RWBY
Canon Point: Post volume three, after her fight with Cinder
Background: Wiki.
Personality:
Through-out her whole life, Pyrrha has been lauded as the best and strongest. And why shouldn’t she be? On the battlefield, she shines. Quick, capable and guileful. She’s not inspired by the legend of Achilles for nothing. Outside of the battlefield, she’s clever and studious, in the top of her class both physically and intellectually. There’s little reason not to assume Pyrrha hasn’t been gifted with everything.
While this might make some people haughty or unkind, Pyrrha is far from either. Trusting and remarkably generous of spirit, Pyrrha endeavours to make friends with everyone she meets. This is apparent in her early interactions with Weiss and Jaune. In the case of the former, she happily encourages the idea of them being teammates despite not knowing Weiss very well; in the latter’s case, she immediately recognises the potential in Jaune and doesn’t hesitate to voice it, encouraging him without hesitation. There are very few people Pyrrha doesn’t treat kindly or politely, but there are examples. For instance, Cardin Winchester earns her ire for his cruel, bullying ways and she jokingly remarks to Jaune that she will break Cardin’s legs if he continues to harass people. Although warm and friendly, her sense of justice is unflinching.
Despite not being the leader of her team, Pyrrha is seen as the motherly figure within. There are reasons for this. Kind, patient, and a good listener, Pyrrha is most likely to bend over backwards to take care of her teammates’ emotional needs. This is most heavily indicated in her interaction with Jaune, but Word of God is that she would do the same for any of her friends if they needed it. Another reason is her relative isolation prior to the beginning of the series. Held up on a pedestal due to her celebrity status and combat prowess, Pyrrha has had a hard time forming meaningful attachments. People worship her, she says, but they are afraid to get to know her. Befriending Jaune, Ren and Nora is considered a bright spot in her life - as such, she would do anything for them. This includes setting her own feelings aside for their happiness, as proven by Pyrrha willfully disregarding her own pain when Jaune ignores her for another girl. She's saddened by it but she gives him heartfelt advice and does her best to ensure his success regardless.
It is important to point out that, despite Pyrrha’s comparable success, she’s more of a follower than a leader. That’s not to say that she’s incapable of taking initiative or that people don’t look to her for guidance; both are provably untrue statements. However, she is unused to being a part of a larger whole. It can be assumed that part of the reason Pyrrha is so strong is that she never had a team to have her back before and had to learn to rely on her own self very quickly. Interestingly, rather than make her caustic or combative, this has made her somewhat of a pushover. She accepts a sponsorship deal with a company that manufactures and distributes a product she can’t bring herself to compliment - (Weiss, about Pyrrha: “She’s on the cover of every Pumpkin Pete’s Marshmallow Flakes box!” Pyrrha, in response: “Yeah, it was pretty cool. Sadly, the cereal isn’t very good for you.”) - and arguably this is because Pyrrha could not say no when asked. She could not disappoint a hopeful businessman and his employees, okay!!
One interesting, often unseen part of Pyrrha’s personality is her guile. She’s certainly book smart as well as a famed athlete, but Pyrrha has a certain amount of cunning to her advantage. Cleverly, she hides the details of her Semblance (explained below) and uses it very sparingly. This gives her an untouchable mystique in battle. Of this, Cinder remarks, “people assume [Pyrrha is] fated for victory.” It’s very arguable that this is intentional on Pyrrha’s part. She deliberately cultivates a battle strategy to give her a leg-up on her opponents. Like her battle style, it’s done without excess, not a single thing wasted.
She can get quite wrapped up in the mischief of others. There are a few notable times in canon where she goes along with her teammate’s more ridiculous moments without batting an eyelash - such as happily spectating Nora and Yang’s game of cross-cafeteria food toss and then, that same afternoon, serving as one of the unflinching “guards” of Queen Nora’s castle. (I mean, there had to have been a moment where they were all like, “okay, we’ll stand on the overturned tower of tables with our arms crossed, giving Team RWBY the thousand-yard stare, BAM.” And sensible, reliable Pyrrha stands closest to the top. You know what, just watch the scene for yourself.) As well, although Pyrrha is generally composed, that same composure can be unraveled in moments in frustration. One such moment is Pyrrha angrily shouting Nora’s name when her teammate suctions a jarful of sap into her mouth (somehow).
In every day interaction, Pyrrha is formal and gracious, often deferring to a more old fashioned form of speaking. She’s not one to take the lead in conversation, especially with people she doesn’t know that well. Although far from taciturn, it wouldn’t be a stretch to describe Pyrrha as the strong and (relatively) silent type. With her friends, however, Pyrrha is warm and honest. She is a surprising playful streak and doesn’t hesitate to get involved in Nora’s mischief or back Jaune up in his more ridiculous moments. By nature, she longs for social interactions and, at the end of the day, is just another teenage girl who wants to have fun with her friends.
... that is, until volume three. The Vale regional tournament marks a heavy emotional turning point for Pyrrha. Her strength, skill and kindness gets the attention of Headmaster Ozpin and his comrades, who give her a heavy proposition: she is offered the chance to receive the powers of Amber, the fall maiden, which would make her a significant player in the encroaching war--but, possibly, at the cost of her sense of self. This sent her into a tailspin, torn gravely between accepting the abilities and the consequences or refusing and failing to live up to her destiny as a Huntress. Let's talk about that word for a moment, destiny - because it's an important one.
Of it, Pyrrha says, "When I think of destiny, I don't think of a predetermined fate you can't escape, but rather... some sort of final goal, something you work towards your entire life." This says a lot about Pyrrha's overall mindset: hard work over expectant entitlement and a clear responsibility for one's own actions. Her destiny is something she decides for herself; it's something she toils for. When her plans are upended—when she has the chance to cut a corner, possibility at the cost of her own self-possession—she's left confused and frightened. That feeling sits heavily in her, up until the end. When she accidentally murders Penny Polendina, Pyrrha is nearly catatonic with guilt, and even though Jaune encourages her to fight on, her first true careless failure continues to influence her.
All her life, Pyrrha has been careful, decisive, precise and smart. Now she's confused and afraid, saddened by the accidental crimes she's committed and Ozpin's offer making her question her idea of destiny. When Amber is killed before Pyrrha can assume her mantle, things seem truly bleak, but Pyrrha responds the only way she knows how: with unflinching surety, shaking off the uncertainty that's been plaguing her all volume to act. She's wavering on her feet, yes, but she's not knocked down - not even in her last moments.
Abilities:
In-universe, Pyrrha is a very accomplished fighter - even in a school of well-trained combatants, she stands out as a star. In fact, she has been featured as a celebrity endorsement on cereal boxes following her several consecutive wins in the Mistral Regional Tournament. She’s quite skilled and agile, refined at both hand-to-hand combat and use of her weapons: a metallic javelin that transforms into both a short sword and a hunting rifle, with sight, depending on her needs in battle; and a shield. Her accuracy with the javelin is uncontested. Early on in the series, she is able to pin a falling target (Jaune) to a tree several hundred feet away using only her thumb and eyesight to mark the spot. Pyrrha’s weapons are an extension of herself and she uses them as such; armed, she is remarkably fluid and precise, never wasting a single moment or fumbling.
However, there is a significant amount of guile in her infamous battle prowess. Pyrrha’s Semblance - the in-universe special ability all characters in RWBY have - is magnetism. Purposefully, Pyrrha does not advertise this. In combat, she maintains a certain mystique by only applying slight, mechanical adjustments to the movements of the other combatant in order to gain the upper hand. If an opponent is about to get a good hit in, she will use a small magnetic pulse to push away whatever metal is close at hand. This is demonstrated in her battle with Mercury in the second volume. Twice, she manipulates his boots to keep him from striking effectively. Pyrrha can use her Semblance in a more splashy way (such as when she fires an entire barrage of beverage cans at Team RWBY in the second volume opener) but often does not. The illusion of being fated for victory isn’t something to so willingly sacrifice, after all.
Also, she can fight in a corset. Think about that for a second.
Alignment: Daimonia — In the third volume of her source canon, Pyrrha alternates between grief and joy with rather abrupt and frequently changing velocity, for a few reasons. One is the subtle growth of her relationship with her canon love interest. Another is the offer of power made to her, but at a terrible price. And, lastly, is the fact that Pyrrha is indirectly responsible for one person's death, directly responsible for another "person's" death (it's actually a robot girl), and then dies herself, subsequently losing everything she ever wanted and cared about. That grief will stay with her for, at least, her first few weeks in Empatheias.
Other: Pyrrha will be arriving with the clothes on her back, excepting her circlet. No weapons.
General Sample: Here!
Emotion Sample:
[ It rains, faintly, every time she steps outside.
There's no great reason for it, nor is it especially dramatic. An unpresuming drizzle, ugly and grey and cold, darkening the sidewalks and the scrubbed flagstones that may line the streets. Pyrrha doesn't think about it much, doesn't concern herself with the whys or hows, doesn't try to connect it to a vaster pool of meaning — it simply is.
Sometimes, it peters out quickly. The weather on the island feels a lot more like Mistral's — mercurial, changing on the wind — than the more consistent climate of Vale. Nora joins her and the sun deigns to peak out, warming their faces.
Weiss tends to bring a bit of a chill, leaving goose prickles up and down Pyrrha's arms ... but that's not Weiss's fault, and Pyrrha does her best to be engaging regardless.
Jaune joins her and it's a little bit different because Pyrrha is never sure why all the flowers in the vicinity stretch, brighter and taller, healthy and whole, toward the sun. ]