app storage

[pawnoffate]

OOC Information:  
Name: Kei (formerly adakie)
Age: 27
AIM: adakiewolf
MSN:  n/a
Y!M:   n/a
E-MAIL: ookameadakie@yahoo.com
Are you new? If not, list your current characters: I play 6

IC Information:  
Name: Hope Estheim
Fandom:  FFXIII
Timeline: just before leaving Oerba and Gran Pulse
Age:  14
Appearance:
Hope isn't short for his age, but he is easily the smallest of the Pulse l'Cie party. He has short silver hair that flares out in the back and light blue-green eyes and he strongly resembles his mother. He prefers to wear yellows and greens and has a yellow band around his right wrist which hides most of his l'Cie brand. He wears a patterned light green bandanna around his neck and two-toned gloves.

Abilities:
As a l'Cie, he has the ability to use magic and summon an eidolon. Hope's primary rolls, the classes which he is best at, are ravager, synergist, and medic. Ravagers are masters of offensive magic, casting elemental spells (all except earth). They also boost chain attacks for themselves and for the rest of the party. Synergists are masters of supplemental magic such as buffs and shields. Medics, obviously are masters of healing magic. Medics also increase the HP recovery rate of the entire party by being in battle. Though all characters can learn all classes, what abilities and spells they can learn for each class differ greatly which means some characters are better at certain classes than others, which is shown in their primary rolls. Hope's primary rolls are all magic users because that's what he is best at. He has the highest magic growth in the party and the lowest HP, casting him firmly in the roll of magic user regardless of if you use him for attack, defense, or healing. (Interestingly, as a synergist he learns defensive spells quicker than others which says something about his personality.) His Full ATB skill (a special skill unique to each character somewhat similar to a Limit Break) is Last Resort, which deals non-elemental magic damage to all enemies. Fitting well with his indirect combat style, his weapon is a futuristic boomerang.

Eidolon's aren't something every l'Cie can use. They were created by the goddess Etro, who took pity on l'Cie forced to fight and die against their will. When a l'Cie is at their lowest, too caught up in their own emotional trauma to see clearly, their eidolon will appear and attack them. The eidolon's cast doom on their l'Cie and the l'Cie must in turn fill their eidolon's gestalt gauge before the doom spell kills them. Once they do this though, they have in essence tamed their eidolon and can summon it to help them fight by calling forth a crystal from their brand. Once an eidolon's gestalt mode is activated, they change into a form which their l'Cie can ride so that the two can fight together more directly.

Hope's eidolon is Alexander, who is classically depicted as the holy guardian in past FF games. However this time he deals non-elemental damage (like Bahamut) despite many of his attack names being indicative of holy magic. His Gestalt Gage goes up when Hope uses healing, enchanting, and dispelling abilities. In Gestalt mode, Alexander transforms into a fortress-like wall. He can't move but can inflict massive damage on the entire battlefield. Alexander can also cast powerful healing magic including Arise, which would dismiss him but fully revive a previously K.O.ed ally. (Oddly, this is the only case where l'Cie and eidolen partners are the same gender.)

Alexander's summon symbol reads -

By the grace of Etro, stand fast your walls of stern judgment. Come forth, fortress of sanctity.
Fortified virtue. Shattered iniquity.
A name in blood, a pact of light. Alexander shall rise, his bond eternal and unyielding.

Personality:  (this involves a lot of history since his personality changes quite a bit)

At the beginning of the game, Hope is very much a normal boy. He is close to his mother, depending on her for most everything, and believes that his father doesn't care about him because the two of them don't have a very good relationship. He doesn't deal well with confrontation and both knows and admits that he's rather helpless. When Nora dies, he can't accept it and is emotionally set adrift. Vanille becomes his only source of comfort and encouragement, and she prompts him to follow Snow so that he can confront the man and get some closure. However, he can't bring himself to say what he wants to and winds up being present for Serah's crystallization when she completes her focus. He can't understand why and how Snow tried so hard to save her when, as he believed, she wasn't even human anymore and had become the enemy of all of Cocoon. That was what he'd been taught all his life, and seeing evidence to the contrary was shocking. He tries to run when Lightning, Snow, and Sazh attack Anima but isn't able to, so when the fal'Cie brands everyone present as Pulse l'Cie he is made one as well. This only makes things worse, as he's been brought to believing that l'Cie are not human. In Hope's mind, he's lost everything, and he lashes out at the others for dragging him into this. Vanille calms him down, and he has to admit that they are all in this together now regardless of whose fault it is.

He clings to his anger and resentment for Snow, letting that motivate him to get stronger. In many ways it is his only reason for living at this time. He also clings to Lightning, because not only does she have a strong resentment for Snow as well but she is also a former soldier. She's the strongest, most capable person he's ever known and he wants to learn from her and be like her. She dislikes having him tag along with her and successfully ditches him once, but he persistently follows her again later and inadvertently causes her to summon her eidolon for the first time and deal with her own complex emotions. After this, the two of them become close. Lightning gives Hope the survival knife her sister gave her for her birthday, and it becomes a symbol for him. She gets him to see that Snow is not the only person at fault for his mother's death, that the Sanctum are just as at fault if not more. She also teaches him to act without sympathy and focus solely on the task at hand if he wants to survive. With Lightning's advice, he starts 'Operation Nora', his strategy for survival and plan for revenge.

But it isn't long before Lightning realizes what she's been doing and comes to regret it. It is Hope that makes her see how blind she was, how resentment and grief made her lash out blindly and how she was corrupting him as well. She was allowing her anger to make her turn an innocent and naive child into a weapon. She tells Hope to abandon his mission, that she was wrong and that there's still hope for them. Fighting blindly isn't the answer. Lightning confides in Hope, telling him about her own tragic past and her regrets. She even comes around about Snow, but the name alone sets off Hope. He admits that he knows no amount of fighting will ever bring his mother back or make what happened right, but without something to fight for he just falls apart. And everything about Snow just makes it all worse. Snow plays the hero, confident and smiling, and Hope resents him for it more and more.

When he winds up alone with Snow, he is at last able to find the words to confront the man about his roll in Nora's death. He questions Snow, making him admit his views on fighting, death, and casualties, and finds the overconfident answers to be completely unacceptable. He says that because Snow just plows on, seeking only his goal of being Serah's hero without showing much care or consideration for those that have died because of his actions, he is running away from the truth. He says the only way for Snow to pay for what he did is to take what he deserves, the same fate as Nora.

He uses Lightning's knife to try and attack Snow, but is hit by a blast from a Sanctum ship and falls. Much to his surprise, Snow saves him and carries him to safety. Snow tells Hope about Nora's last request, about how he really had been running from his guilt but accepted it and the blame for what his actions did, and this makes Hope rethink a lot of things. Snow gives the knife back to Hope, offering him the revenge he wanted so badly, and Hope finds that he can't do it anymore. He admits to himself and to Snow that he just needed to blame someone, to hate someone, in order to go on. He is able to deal with it and let it go, at last finding the peace he actually needed this whole time. He even is able to fight to protect Snow and returns the knife to Lightning. After this point, he truly bonds with Snow much to everyone's surprise.

Lightning convinces Hope to stop by his home, where he is surprised to find that his father not only was worried for him but also accepts him despite the fact that he's become a Pulse l'Cie. His father gives him some measure of peace as well, bringing him around more to the idea of life after becoming a l'Cie, but since the two of them were not close to begin with it's still not quite what he needs. His father is a very reserved individual, which is part of why they never got along as Hope is someone who feels things very strongly and very deeply. He's closer to Lightning than he is to his father despite having not known her long, and it's the other l'Cie's guidance and approval that he needs. It's not like he has a choice in going with them rather than staying, but he still would make that choice even if there was. He does, however, discover that he wants to protect his father from all the dangers that seem to follow him now.

Thanks to these breakthroughs and Lightning's influence, Hope matures into a very strong person. He stops hiding and running from danger, and instead strives to protect the other l'Cie that have become his family. He's learned how to make a choice and take a stand. He also becomes much more open to possibility, surprising everyone (and even himself a bit) by trying to stay positive and look for unconventional solutions. He even is excited about leaving Cocoon, the only home he's ever known, for Pulse, a place he was always told was hell. He can see the good in people and places that he'd previously been blind to and he truly lives up to his name. He is still plagued by nervousness, and even despair, but he can fight through all that and strives to be helpful to others having learned that just because you're scared or may make the wrong decision, that doesn't mean that should stop you.

History:

Floating above the world of Pulse is an orbiting sanctuary called Cocoon, a continent that is in many ways a world unto itself. Pulse and Cocoon have been opposed for ages, and the humans living on each of these worlds fear each other. The creators and keepers of this world are the fal'Cie, god-like beings that provide for humans. On Cocoon they depend on their fal'Cie for everything, where as on Gran Pulse humans are forced to fight for survival. But the fal'Cie have certain rolls to play which they must continue to do, so to extend their reach they look to humans. Fal'Cie brand humans with a mark and grant them power, making them l'Cie. L'Cie are given a focus, a task they must complete within a certain amount of time, but they are only given hints of their task through dreams. If a l'Cie does not complete their focus in time, they become a Cie'th; a mindless monster that will one day turn to stone. They can save themselves by completing their focus, and if they do so they turn to crystal and, according to legend, are granted eternal life. The brand is different depending on where the fal'Cie came from, making it easy to tell if a l'Cie is serving Cocoon or Pulse. They also change over time, indicating how long the l'Cie has to complete their focus. If a brand turns white, it shows that the brand and their time limit has stalled for some reason.

Pulse attacked Cocoon, engaging them in what became known as the War of Transgression. Two Pulse l'Cie were given the focus to transform into Ragnarok and destroy the floating continent, but only succeeded in cracking its protective shell before they were turned to crystal. Cocoon's rulers, the Sanctum, responded by deeming anything and anyone that even interacted with anything from Pulse evil. And what is evil must be purged. Cocoon managed to survive the war but the people of Pulse were not as lucky, and most of that world's population died in the aftermath. This was hundreds of years before the current timeline of FFXIII, when a Pulse fal'Cie is found on Cocoon and sends the world into chaos again.

The Pulse fal'Cie Anima is discovered in Bodhum and as a result its citizens are purged. They are told they will be relocated to Pulse which they all know to be hell on earth, though in reality all those purged are killed before they even leave Cocoon. But the purge train doesn't get very far. It is derailed by Lightning, an ex-soldier fighting for her sister Serah who was turned into a l'Cie by Anima, and Sazh, father of a little boy who became a Cocoon l'Cie. Snow, Serah's fiance, is also trying to save the people being purged and get to where Anima is being kept. The train is derailed and the deportees on it given a choice; run or stand with Snow's resistance and fight. Hope's mother Nora decides to fight with them, and in saving Snow she is shot. She tells him to 'get him home' before she falls to her death.

Hope, helped and guided by fellow deportee Vanille, chases after Snow but doesn't have the courage to confront the man about what he did. Thanks to an accidental crash landing, they wind up in the chamber where the Sanctum have contained Anima. Snow saves them when they are attacked by Cie'th and they go with him both for protection and so that Hope can work up the courage to confront him. They find Serah with Lightning and Sazh, but she quickly turns to crystal after begging them to save everyone. Hope tries to run away when Lightning attacks Anima, seeking revenge on the fal'Cie for what she believes is her sister's death, but he can't escape and all five of them are turned into Pulse l'Cie before Anima dies. The shared focus they have is only told to them through a foggy dream; Ragnarok destroying Cocoon. Snow stays behind to protect Serah and the rest of them head off trying to outrun PSICOM, the Sanctum's special task force. Hope still can't bring himself to confront Snow.

After taking a ship and being chased, they crash on Vile Peak. Lightning leaves, knowing she'll be better on her own because of her soldier training, but Hope chases after her. He asks her about why she got on the train, and after she tells him about her wish to save Serah she leaves him behind where he is later found by Sazh and Vanille. He's ready to give up and just wait for PSICOM to find him, but the others won't let him. They insist that his father must be worried, though he doesn't believe them. Lightning goes off on her own again, planning to go to Eden. Eden is the fal'Cie that controls the Sanctum, the ruler of Cocoon, and she wants to destroy it. The others call her crazy, but she wants revenge against the fal'Cie and the Sanctum so she won't listen. Again, Hope trails after her.

Lightning tries to leave him, tells him that she can't babysit someone who's only ever going to hold her back, but her emotional crisis summons Odin and when the two of them defeat him she sees things in a new light. She starts watching out for Hope, actually trying to help him toughen up and learn to fight. He strives to be like her, and to live by her principles, so that he can survive in this unforgiving new world and take revenge for his mother. Lightning gives Hope her survival knife, a gift from her sister, to keep him safe. It's a gesture of trust on her part, and he lives up to that trust by becoming an observant and careful soldier in training and pushing himself to his limit and beyond. Lightning tells Hope about her general dislike of Snow, and about how his gang's name stands for No Obligations, Rules, or Authority. This only fuels his anger and resentment towards the man. Under Lightning's guidance, Hope tries to turn himself into a cold and efficient soldier capable of defeating Snow and taking down the Sanctum via what he calls Operation Nora.

They arrive in Hope's hometown, Palumpolum, and they use his knowledge of the area to go underground and get past PSICOM. There they find the Sanctum fal'Cie Carbuncle, responsible for providing food to all of Cocoon. Hope tells Lightning that he thinks fal'Cie take care of humans like they're pets, and it makes her realize that she's been letting her grief rule her actions. And this shows her that he is doing the same, but for different reasons. She tries to make Hope give up his quest, to help him the way she knows she should, but he's hurting too badly from all that's happened and only focusing on his mission is keeping him going. When they get out of the tunnels they are ambushed by PSICOM and rescued by Snow and Fang, the woman who found and in many ways rescued him back when the group first split up. Lightning literally shoves Hope at him and tells Snow to protect the boy before she leaves to fight. Hope questions Snow somewhat covertly about his views on fighting and death and responsibility, and his overconfident and often flighty answers fuel the boy's rage all the more. At last he can't take it any more, and tries to kill Snow with the knife. He doesn't get very far though, as he's hit by a blast from one of PSICOM's ships and falls from the top of a skyscraper. Snow saves him though, injuring himself in the process, and carries him to safety. He opens up about his side of things and admits to the feelings of guilt he'd been plagued by. He even offers Hope another chance at his revenge after he wakes up, but Hope just can't do it. All he'd ever really needed was to know that Snow regretted it and accepted the blame for Nora's death. Though he never gets his revenge, it's this closure that gives him strength.

They go to Hope's home to hide out and recover before leaving the city, and much to his surprise his father accepts them willingly and even wants to help and protect him. But the PSICOM forces show up and try to take them, despite the fact that this battle has caused so many civilian casualties, because they knew that every trace of Pulse must be wiped out or else Cocoon will fall into chaos. They fight back and are eventually rescued by friends of Fang's under Cid's command. The same people who first picked up Snow. They go after the PSICOM flagship to try and save Vanille and Sazh who have been captured. Reunited, they fight their way out to freedom, but it doesn't last long. The leader of Sanctum, Primarch Dysley, reveals himself to be the fal'Cie Barthandelus and attacks them. Though they defeat him, they can not kill him. He tells them that their destiny, their focus, is for one of them to become Ragnarok and kill the fal'Cie Orphan which powers Eden and makes it possible for Cocoon to exist. If they do this, and all of Cocoon dies, it will reawaken the sleeping god which created fal'Cie and humans, which is exactly what most fal'Cie want but can not accomplish without using humans to do their will.

The l'Cie escape, or at least they think they do, in a ship which then proceeds to fly itself into a hidden Pulse training ground that the Sanctum had kept hidden for centuries. There they are confronted by Cid Raines who admits that he's a l'Cie who's been working for Barthandelus against his will this whole time. He fights them to try and defeat them before they can fulfill their focus because it's the only thing he can think to do to save them and Cocoon from this fate. When they defeat him, however, he becomes crystal and then vanishes.

They are inspired by Cid's sacrifice and vow to try to protect Cocoon from themselves, all except Fang who winds up summoning Bahumut and then taming him after which she decides to stay with her fellow l'Cie. They go through a gate to Gran Pulse to escape, returning to where Fang and Vanille grew up to temporarily escape Barthandelus. There, they try to find a way to become human again and get rid of their brands. They know that they are running out of time, as is made all too clear when Hope collapses. He tries to get the others to go on without him, scared of what's happening to him and what may happen to the others if they try to protect him, and his fear summons Alexander. He tames his eidolon and restores faith and hope to himself and the others as well in the process. Together, they all head to Fang and Vanille's hometown of Oerba. On the journey, Hope is amazed to find that this place he was always told was hell on earth is actually full of natural beauty the likes of which simply don't exist on Cocoon.

Vanille lies, saying that she alone became Ragnarok and cracked the shell of Cocoon so long ago, but Fang calls her out and reveals the truth. It was Fang who turned into Ragnarok, not Vanille, though they both were turned to crystal and kept in stasis for it. Vanille defeats her own eidolon, accepting that she can no longer lie about the past. They discover that Oerba, which was once full of life, is empty and all the plants have died. Some of them want to just turn back, but Hope implores them to go on and at least look around. What they do find is Serah, seemingly awake again, but when she tells them to destroy Cocoon they know it can't really be her. It's actually just a trick from Barthandelus. He tells them that Cid is alive but under his control, and he has resigned and appointed the man as head of Sanctum as part of a plot to turn the Cocoon citizens against the Sanctum and themselves. He is effectively starting a paranoia induced civil war that will rip Cocoon apart. Yet he still implores the l'Cie to become Ragnarok and end it all. He leaves, and they find a marker of sorts which holds the history of what happened during the War of Transgression from the point of view of Pulse and also a prophecy of Cocoon's end. Again it's Hope that guides the other l'Cie, saying that even if it seems hopeless they need to try and save the people of Cocoon because it's the right thing to do.

(Since I'm taking him from here and this app is nearly six pages long already, I'll stop here and spare you. Besides, it would be mean to spoil the ending.)

Roleplay Sample - Log:  
(F3 event, just because)

This was not at all what he was expecting when he woke up today. Sure this place was always full of surprises, to put a positive spin on things, but not like this. This didn't even look like the space station anymore. It appeared much bigger for one thing, though he was sure that was just because there was one expanse of space with small buildings dotting the landscape rather than the massive labyrinth of rooms and corridors he'd become used to. For another thing, it was a lot greener.

Being in a place like this again reminded him a lot of arriving in Gran Pulse for the first time. At the thought he found himself automatically scanning the area for monsters. He didn't want to admit to himself that he was scared … but he was. He'd never had to fight any strong monsters on his own, and knowing that Alexander was beyond his reach made him miss Lightning all the more. But there were no roaming beasts. Instead, he saw a person. He didn't recognize them, at least at first glance, but he didn't care. Any people bound together against a common threat could be allies or even friends, and he could use a few right now.

“Hey there! Do you know where we are?”

Roleplay Sample - Journal:

[As the video turns on, the picture shows well enough that this boy didn't intend to do that.]

This thing … it's a phone, isn't it? Uh, sorry, I didn't mean to call … whoever this is. I'm just trying to figure out how to get out of here.

[He would say the truth, that he can't remember how he got here and is panicking a bit on the inside, but for the sake of trying not to draw attention he keeps that bit of information to himself. He can't hide the worry in his eyes though. Wherever this is, he probably wound up here thanks to Barthandelus. Another fal'Cie trick. So maybe he's not the only one who was taken here.]

Lightning, can you hear this? Snow? Vanille? Anyone?

[He waits for a moment, the hope clearly fading from his expression as those familiar voices he called for don't answer. But he takes a second to gather his determination again.]

If you can hear me, let's get out of here. We can't let the fal'Cie keep us from helping Cocoon, no matter what they do or where they send us.


This game includes horrible mental and physical torture of your character. After reading the rules/faq for clarification, how do you expect your character to handle this and continue to function?
He's grown and matured enough in his own timeline to be capable of dealing with Facility's tests.

Questions? Comments? Crazed and creative statements?  Those go here. 
Give me my magic restrictions, I am ready~. Though I do want to know if he'd be able to get and keep a boomerang at some point.
Ooh, nearly forgot a big question. >_< His brand. It's advanced pretty far by this point, nearly to making him turn into a Cie'th (clearly, since it knocked him out previously). Will it be stalled for the game with the possible exception of certain events?








Player
Name: Kei
Age: 27
Email: ookameadakie@yahoo.com
AIM/MSN/Skype/etc: adakiewolf
Other Characters in Aegis (if applicable): 'Lai and Finnie
How did you find out about us? you know

Character
Name: Hope Estheim
Source: FFXIII
Age: 14
Species: le'Cie (formerly human)
Requested Department Assignment: field agent

Personality: (At least one good sized paragraph)
At the beginning of the game, Hope is very much a normal boy. He is close to his mother, depending on her for most everything, and believes that his father doesn't care about him because the two of them don't have a very good relationship. He doesn't deal well with confrontation and both knows and admits that he's rather helpless. When Nora dies, he can't accept it and is emotionally set adrift. Vanille becomes his only source of comfort and encouragement, and she prompts him to follow Snow so that he can confront the man and get some closure. However, he can't bring himself to say what he wants to and winds up being present for Serah's crystallization when she completes her focus. He can't understand why and how Snow tried so hard to save her when, as he believed, she wasn't even human anymore and had become the enemy of all of Cocoon. That was what he'd been taught all his life, and seeing evidence to the contrary was shocking. He tries to run when Lightning, Snow, and Sazh attack Anima but isn't able to, so when the fal'Cie brands everyone present as Pulse l'Cie he is made one as well. This only makes things worse, as he's been brought to believing that l'Cie are not human. In Hope's mind, he's lost everything, and he lashes out at the others for dragging him into this. Vanille calms him down, and he has to admit that they are all in this together now regardless of whose fault it is.

He clings to his anger and resentment for Snow, letting that motivate him to get stronger. In many ways it is his only reason for living at this time. He also clings to Lightning, because not only does she have a strong resentment for Snow as well but she is also a former soldier. She's the strongest, most capable person he's ever known and he wants to learn from her and be like her. She dislikes having him tag along with her and successfully ditches him once, but he persistently follows her again later and inadvertently causes her to summon her eidolon for the first time and deal with her own complex emotions. After this, the two of them become close. Lightning gives Hope the survival knife her sister gave her for her birthday, and it becomes a symbol for him. She gets him to see that Snow is not the only person at fault for his mother's death, that the Sanctum are just as at fault if not more. She also teaches him to act without sympathy and focus solely on the task at hand if he wants to survive. With Lightning's advice, he starts 'Operation Nora', his strategy for survival and plan for revenge.

But it isn't long before Lightning realizes what she's been doing and comes to regret it. It is Hope that makes her see how blind she was, how resentment and grief made her lash out blindly and how she was corrupting him as well. She was allowing her anger to make her turn an innocent and naive child into a weapon. She tells Hope to abandon his mission, that she was wrong and that there's still hope for them. Fighting blindly isn't the answer. Lightning confides in Hope, telling him about her own tragic past and her regrets. She even comes around about Snow, but the name alone sets off Hope. He admits that he knows no amount of fighting will ever bring his mother back or make what happened right, but without something to fight for he just falls apart. And everything about Snow just makes it all worse. Snow plays the hero, confident and smiling, and Hope resents him for it more and more.

When he winds up alone with Snow, he is at last able to find the words to confront the man about his roll in Nora's death. He questions Snow, making him admit his views on fighting, death, and casualties, and finds the overconfident answers to be completely unacceptable. He says that because Snow just plows on, seeking only his goal of being Serah's hero without showing much care or consideration for those that have died because of his actions, he is running away from the truth. He says the only way for Snow to pay for what he did is to take what he deserves, the same fate as Nora.

He uses Lightning's knife to try and attack Snow, but is hit by a blast from a Sanctum ship and falls. Much to his surprise, Snow saves him and carries him to safety. Snow tells Hope about Nora's last request, about how he really had been running from his guilt but accepted it and the blame for what his actions did, and this makes Hope rethink a lot of things. Snow gives the knife back to Hope, offering him the revenge he wanted so badly, and Hope finds that he can't do it anymore. He admits to himself and to Snow that he just needed to blame someone, to hate someone, in order to go on. He is able to deal with it and let it go, at last finding the peace he actually needed this whole time. He even is able to fight to protect Snow and returns the knife to Lightning. After this point, he truly bonds with Snow much to everyone's surprise.

Lightning convinces Hope to stop by his home, where he is surprised to find that his father not only was worried for him but also accepts him despite the fact that he's become a Pulse l'Cie. His father gives him some measure of peace as well, bringing him around more to the idea of life after becoming a l'Cie, but since the two of them were not close to begin with it's still not quite what he needs. His father is a very reserved individual, which is part of why they never got along as Hope is someone who feels things very strongly and very deeply. He's closer to Lightning than he is to his father despite having not known her long, and it's the other l'Cie's guidance and approval that he needs. It's not like he has a choice in going with them rather than staying, but he still would make that choice even if there was. He does, however, discover that he wants to protect his father from all the dangers that seem to follow him now.

Thanks to these breakthroughs and Lightning's influence, Hope matures into a very strong person. He stops hiding and running from danger, and instead strives to protect the other l'Cie that have become his family. He's learned how to make a choice and take a stand. He also becomes much more open to possibility, surprising everyone (and even himself a bit) by trying to stay positive and look for unconventional solutions. He even is excited about leaving Cocoon, the only home he's ever known, for Pulse, a place he was always told was hell. He can see the good in people and places that he'd previously been blind to and he truly lives up to his name. He is still plagued by nervousness, and even despair, but he can fight through all that and strives to be helpful to others having learned that just because you're scared or may make the wrong decision, that doesn't mean that should stop you.



History, including how they encountered the Aegis Foundation: (At least two good sized paragraphs)


Floating above the world of Pulse is an orbiting sanctuary called Cocoon, a continent that is in many ways a world unto itself. Pulse and Cocoon have been opposed for ages, and the humans living on each of these worlds fear each other. The creators and keepers of this world are the fal'Cie, god-like beings that provide for humans. On Cocoon they depend on their fal'Cie for everything, where as on Gran Pulse humans are forced to fight for survival. But the fal'Cie have certain rolls to play which they must continue to do, so to extend their reach they look to humans. Fal'Cie brand humans with a mark and grant them power, making them l'Cie. L'Cie are given a focus, a task they must complete within a certain amount of time, but they are only given hints of their task through dreams. If a l'Cie does not complete their focus in time, they become a Cie'th; a mindless monster that will one day turn to stone. They can save themselves by completing their focus, and if they do so they turn to crystal and, according to legend, are granted eternal life. The brand is different depending on where the fal'Cie came from, making it easy to tell if a l'Cie is serving Cocoon or Pulse. They also change over time, indicating how long the l'Cie has to complete their focus. If a brand turns white, it shows that the brand and their time limit has stalled for some reason.

Pulse attacked Cocoon, engaging them in what became known as the War of Transgression. Two Pulse l'Cie were given the focus to transform into Ragnarok and destroy the floating continent, but only succeeded in cracking its protective shell before they were turned to crystal. Cocoon's rulers, the Sanctum, responded by deeming anything and anyone that even interacted with anything from Pulse evil. And what is evil must be purged. Cocoon managed to survive the war but the people of Pulse were not as lucky, and most of that world's population died in the aftermath. This was hundreds of years before the current timeline of FFXIII, when a Pulse fal'Cie is found on Cocoon and sends the world into chaos again.

The Pulse fal'Cie Anima is discovered in Bodhum and as a result its citizens are purged. They are told they will be relocated to Pulse which they all know to be hell on earth, though in reality all those purged are killed before they even leave Cocoon. But the purge train doesn't get very far. It is derailed by Lightning, an ex-soldier fighting for her sister Serah who was turned into a l'Cie by Anima, and Sazh, father of a little boy who became a Cocoon l'Cie. Snow, Serah's fiance, is also trying to save the people being purged and get to where Anima is being kept. The train is derailed and the deportees on it given a choice; run or stand with Snow's resistance and fight. Hope's mother Nora decides to fight with them, and in saving Snow she is shot. She tells him to 'get him home' before she falls to her death.

Hope, helped and guided by fellow deportee Vanille, chases after Snow but doesn't have the courage to confront the man about what he did. Thanks to an accidental crash landing, they wind up in the chamber where the Sanctum have contained Anima. Snow saves them when they are attacked by Cie'th and they go with him both for protection and so that Hope can work up the courage to confront him. They find Serah with Lightning and Sazh, but she quickly turns to crystal after begging them to save everyone. Hope tries to run away when Lightning attacks Anima, seeking revenge on the fal'Cie for what she believes is her sister's death, but he can't escape and all five of them are turned into Pulse l'Cie before Anima dies. The shared focus they have is only told to them through a foggy dream; Ragnarok destroying Cocoon. Snow stays behind to protect Serah and the rest of them head off trying to outrun PSICOM, the Sanctum's special task force. Hope still can't bring himself to confront Snow.

After taking a ship and being chased, they crash on Vile Peak. Lightning leaves, knowing she'll be better on her own because of her soldier training, but Hope chases after her. He asks her about why she got on the train, and after she tells him about her wish to save Serah she leaves him behind where he is later found by Sazh and Vanille. He's ready to give up and just wait for PSICOM to find him, but the others won't let him. They insist that his father must be worried, though he doesn't believe them. Lightning goes off on her own again, planning to go to Eden. Eden is the fal'Cie that controls the Sanctum, the ruler of Cocoon, and she wants to destroy it. The others call her crazy, but she wants revenge against the fal'Cie and the Sanctum so she won't listen. Again, Hope trails after her.

Lightning tries to leave him, tells him that she can't babysit someone who's only ever going to hold her back, but her emotional crisis summons Odin and when the two of them defeat him she sees things in a new light. She starts watching out for Hope, actually trying to help him toughen up and learn to fight. He strives to be like her, and to live by her principles, so that he can survive in this unforgiving new world and take revenge for his mother. Lightning gives Hope her survival knife, a gift from her sister, to keep him safe. It's a gesture of trust on her part, and he lives up to that trust by becoming an observant and careful soldier in training and pushing himself to his limit and beyond. Lightning tells Hope about her general dislike of Snow, and about how his gang's name stands for No Obligations, Rules, or Authority. This only fuels his anger and resentment towards the man. Under Lightning's guidance, Hope tries to turn himself into a cold and efficient soldier capable of defeating Snow and taking down the Sanctum via what he calls Operation Nora.

They arrive in Hope's hometown, Palumpolum, and they use his knowledge of the area to go underground and get past PSICOM. There they find the Sanctum fal'Cie Carbuncle, responsible for providing food to all of Cocoon. Hope tells Lightning that he thinks fal'Cie take care of humans like they're pets, and it makes her realize that she's been letting her grief rule her actions. And this shows her that he is doing the same, but for different reasons. She tries to make Hope give up his quest, to help him the way she knows she should, but he's hurting too badly from all that's happened and only focusing on his mission is keeping him going. When they get out of the tunnels they are ambushed by PSICOM and rescued by Snow and Fang, the woman who found and in many ways rescued him back when the group first split up. Lightning literally shoves Hope at him and tells Snow to protect the boy before she leaves to fight. Hope questions Snow somewhat covertly about his views on fighting and death and responsibility, and his overconfident and often flighty answers fuel the boy's rage all the more. At last he can't take it any more, and tries to kill Snow with the knife. He doesn't get very far though, as he's hit by a blast from one of PSICOM's ships and falls from the top of a skyscraper. Snow saves him though, injuring himself in the process, and carries him to safety. He opens up about his side of things and admits to the feelings of guilt he'd been plagued by. He even offers Hope another chance at his revenge after he wakes up, but Hope just can't do it. All he'd ever really needed was to know that Snow regretted it and accepted the blame for Nora's death. Though he never gets his revenge, it's this closure that gives him strength.

They go to Hope's home to hide out and recover before leaving the city, and much to his surprise his father accepts them willingly and even wants to help and protect him. But the PSICOM forces show up and try to take them, despite the fact that this battle has caused so many civilian casualties, because they knew that every trace of Pulse must be wiped out or else Cocoon will fall into chaos. They fight back and are eventually rescued by friends of Fang's under Cid's command. The same people who first picked up Snow. They go after the PSICOM flagship to try and save Vanille and Sazh who have been captured. Reunited, they fight their way out to freedom, but it doesn't last long. The leader of Sanctum, Primarch Dysley, reveals himself to be the fal'Cie Barthandelus and attacks them. Though they defeat him, they can not kill him. He tells them that their destiny, their focus, is for one of them to become Ragnarok and kill the fal'Cie Orphan which powers Eden and makes it possible for Cocoon to exist. If they do this, and all of Cocoon dies, it will reawaken the sleeping god which created fal'Cie and humans, which is exactly what most fal'Cie want but can not accomplish without using humans to do their will.

The l'Cie escape, or at least they think they do, in a ship which then proceeds to fly itself into a hidden Pulse training ground that the Sanctum had kept hidden for centuries. There they are confronted by Cid Raines who admits that he's a l'Cie who's been working for Barthandelus against his will this whole time. He fights them to try and defeat them before they can fulfill their focus because it's the only thing he can think to do to save them and Cocoon from this fate. When they defeat him, however, he becomes crystal and then vanishes.

They are inspired by Cid's sacrifice and vow to try to protect Cocoon from themselves, all except Fang who winds up summoning Bahumut and then taming him after which she decides to stay with her fellow l'Cie. They go through a gate to Gran Pulse to escape, returning to where Fang and Vanille grew up to temporarily escape Barthandelus. There, they try to find a way to become human again and get rid of their brands. They know that they are running out of time, as is made all too clear when Hope collapses. He tries to get the others to go on without him, scared of what's happening to him and what may happen to the others if they try to protect him, and his fear summons Alexander. He tames his eidolon and restores faith and hope to himself and the others as well in the process. Together, they all head to Fang and Vanille's hometown of Oerba. On the journey, Hope is amazed to find that this place he was always told was hell on earth is actually full of natural beauty the likes of which simply don't exist on Cocoon.

Vanille lies, saying that she alone became Ragnarok and cracked the shell of Cocoon so long ago, but Fang calls her out and reveals the truth. It was Fang who turned into Ragnarok, not Vanille, though they both were turned to crystal and kept in stasis for it. Vanille defeats her own eidolon, accepting that she can no longer lie about the past. They discover that Oerba, which was once full of life, is empty and all the plants have died. Some of them want to just turn back, but Hope implores them to go on and at least look around. What they do find is Serah, seemingly awake again, but when she tells them to destroy Cocoon they know it can't really be her. It's actually just a trick from Barthandelus. He tells them that Cid is alive but under his control, and he has resigned and appointed the man as head of Sanctum as part of a plot to turn the Cocoon citizens against the Sanctum and themselves. He is effectively starting a paranoia induced civil war that will rip Cocoon apart. Yet he still implores the l'Cie to become Ragnarok and end it all. He leaves, and they find a marker of sorts which holds the history of what happened during the War of Transgression from the point of view of Pulse and also a prophecy of Cocoon's end. Again it's Hope that guides the other l'Cie, saying that even if it seems hopeless they need to try and save the people of Cocoon because it's the right thing to do.

Returning to Cocoon, they find out that Barthandelus has carried out his threat. The cavalry have turned against Cid and killed him. Fearing the worst, the l'Cie head towards Orphan's Cradle where they find what remains of the cavalry, sadly all turned into l'Cie with an unachievable focus and thus transformed into Cie'th. Barthandelus confronts them, trying to kill them since they have ceased to be of use to him and promising that there will be others who will take their places. They fight back and kill him, but in death he manages to fuse himself with Orphan. The newly awakened fal'Cie wishes only for death, and tries to transform Fang into Ragnarok. All of the others except for Vanille run out of time, changing into Cie'th that attack Fang. Desperate and grieving, she becomes Ragnarok but doesn't have the strength to kill Orphan and changes back. Despite how the fal'Cie torments her, bringing her to the edge of death and back again, she just can't do it.

However, the other l'Cie didn't really turn Cei'th. It was just an illusion created by Orphan, who tried to send them away. They return, saving Fang, together they defeat that form of Orphan once and for all. However, in doing so, they only managed to free the true Orphan. With no choice but to fight or die, they kill the true Orphan and Cocoon begins to fall from the sky. Sacrificing themselves, Fang and Vanille become Ragnarok as one. With their focus complete, they become crystal and in doing so form a pillar which stops Cocoon from crashing into the ground below. The other l'Cie become crystal as well, forming a circle around the pillar that holds their friends.

That's where the nexus comes in.

The l'Cie, still in crystal stasis, fell through the nexus and into a seemingly normal London museum. You already know the rest.


Any Special Abilities and Notable Skills:
As a l'Cie, he has the ability to use magic and summon an eidolon. Hope's primary rolls, the classes which he is best at, are ravager, synergist, and medic. Ravagers are masters of offensive magic, casting elemental spells (all except earth). They also boost chain attacks for themselves and for the rest of the party. Synergists are masters of supplemental magic such as buffs and shields. Medics, obviously are masters of healing magic. Medics also increase the HP recovery rate of the entire party by being in battle. Though all characters can learn all classes, what abilities and spells they can learn for each class differ greatly which means some characters are better at certain classes than others, which is shown in their primary rolls. Hope's primary rolls are all magic users because that's what he is best at. He has the highest magic growth in the party and the lowest HP, casting him firmly in the roll of magic user regardless of if you use him for attack, defense, or healing. (Interestingly, as a synergist he learns defensive spells quicker than others which says something about his personality.) His Full ATB skill (a special skill unique to each character somewhat similar to a Limit Break) is Last Resort, which deals non-elemental magic damage to all enemies. Fitting well with his indirect combat style, his weapon is a futuristic boomerang.

Eidolon's aren't something every l'Cie can use. They were created by the goddess Etro, who took pity on l'Cie forced to fight and die against their will. When a l'Cie is at their lowest, too caught up in their own emotional trauma to see clearly, their eidolon will appear and attack them. The eidolon's cast doom on their l'Cie and the l'Cie must in turn fill their eidolon's gestalt gauge before the doom spell kills them. Once they do this though, they have in essence tamed their eidolon and can summon it to help them fight by calling forth a crystal from their brand. Once an eidolon's gestalt mode is activated, they change into a form which their l'Cie can ride so that the two can fight together more directly.

Hope's eidolon is Alexander, who is classically depicted as the holy guardian in past FF games. However this time he deals non-elemental damage (like Bahamut) despite many of his attack names being indicative of holy magic. His Gestalt Gage goes up when Hope uses healing, enchanting, and dispelling abilities. In Gestalt mode, Alexander transforms into a fortress-like wall. He can't move but can inflict massive damage on the entire battlefield. Alexander can also cast powerful healing magic including Arise, which would dismiss him but fully revive a previously K.O.ed ally. (Oddly, this is the only case where l'Cie and eidolen partners are the same gender.)

Alexander's summon symbol reads -

By the grace of Etro, stand fast your walls of stern judgment. Come forth, fortress of sanctity.
Fortified virtue. Shattered iniquity.
A name in blood, a pact of light. Alexander shall rise, his bond eternal and unyielding.

Writing Sample: (Third person, at least 150 words please)

Hope spent a lot of his time in the artifact storage room. He didn't do much there, just sat with his fellow l'Cie. Sometimes he would talk to them, hoping that they could hear him somehow, and tell them about what he'd seen and done since waking up. It was a courtesy he'd been allowed, given his peculiar situation, and one he was grateful for. This place wasn't so bad really. At least there weren't any crazy fal'Cie forcing innocent people to be their pawns. He wasn't exactly happy about being confined to this building, but overall he had no reason to complain. They had allowed him to stay here as more of a guest than a prisoner and even let him come here to see the others, so that was enough. And maybe, some day, they would wake up too. It would be nice to know what had happened to everyone who'd been on Cocoon, or even just to know if his father had lived or died, but for now this was enough.

Do you understand that this game is serious, and that horrible and unfair things might happen to your character?
You know I do.

Questions/Thoughts/Comments:
Surprise!