Varik Yule

CHARACTER

Name: Varik Yule

Age: 18

Gender: Male

Symbol: Chaos Star

Spoiler:

Occupation:Beacon Student

Appearance: 5' 11". 175lb. Black hair with a streak of white that forms a small pony tail down the back and cloud grey eyes. Typically wears a black armored hooded cloak that bears his symbol on the back in silver. The cloak is made of a light and flexible carbon-steel alloy that protects well against blades and claws, and fair against projectiles such as bullets. A soft cloth was used along with the metal to cut down on the noise that would be made when he moved. The draw back to the cloak is that even though the material is relatively light, it's still metal and tends to slow him down, compared to if he took it off. He wears simple black steel toed boots that have been modified with spring loaded knife in the sole of the toe, activated by a pressure switch in the heel. Once the knife is out, pressing the switch again will retract it. Black or dark brown cargo pants with a black or grey and white t-shirt is his normal style, with a black, multi-pocket vest over the shirt. The vest is what the sheath of his Odachi and the chain loops are fastened to, so if he needs to ditch them fast he can simply slip off the vest. Most of the pockets are empty, aside from interesting shiny things he found, his MP3 player., and spare clips for his weapon's rifle form. He will always wear the hood of his cloak up, rain or shine, indoors or out. If the cloak is on, the hood is up. If for some reason he isn't wearing the cloak, he will wear a black beret with his symbol on the front of it. The reason he always keeps his head covered is to hide his black and white tipped wolf ears, his tail is easier: he keeps it tucked down the back of his pants leg.

History: Born overseas to a land that didn't take kindly to anyone that wasn't human. He learned from an early age to hide what he was, a halfling (same as Faunus in Vale). Half human and half wolf. His mother was a technical genius, and where he got his wolf blood, always working on some kind of new project or gadget for various companies. His father however was an explorer, and wasn't there for a fair portion of Varik's childhood. He would always bring back old or interesting things from his explorations for his son and wife, such as Varik's original odachi.

Going through school was a challenge for Varik, since he was forced to keep him ears, tails, and claws hidden at all times, lest he be subjected to cruel and humiliating things by his peers. The day that stuck out most in his mind was when, in the middle of class, another halfling was discovered and forced to the front of the class, stripped, and then ridiculed. Eventually a small mob formed from other classes. She was taken away, and the next time Varik saw her she was hanging from the flagpole outside by her ankles.

When he told this to his parents they decided to pull him from normal school and enroll him in the Guardian academy, where he would learn to defend against and fight the creatures that lay outside his city's walls. They didn't do this as a service to the city, but because any halfling that became a Guardian was protected by law against violence and  persecution. The catch was that they actually had to become a Guardian, and any time a halfling enrolled in the Guardian academy they were almost certain to die within the first week, since they weren't protected under the Guardian laws yet, the instructors and students could do what they liked to them in the name of training, but it was a chance that Varik and his parents wanted to take.

In order to help him better protect himself, his mother crafted Zyla, his weapon, for him. Students of Guardian were issued weapons, unless they brought their own, and usually a halfling was given less-than-suitable equipment to ensure their failure. Varik attended Guardian and, through several near-death experiences, became the first half-ling Guardian his land had seen. At his graduation he was presented with the armored cloak of the Guardians, with his own symbol in silver on it. At the same time, he was informed that the law protecting him for being a Guardian had been revoked that same day. The fight that broke out was one of the largest in Guardian history.

How Varik escaped the massive brawl he still doesn't know, but he worked his way home and told his parents they had to leave, but they were already packing. They were moving to a place called Vale, where they had things called Faunas, which were the same as halflings. They weren't exactly accepted, but it was safer there than where they were. The down side is that he would have to re-enroll in school there, but he would be allowed to skip the primary training at a place called Signal and go to Beacon, since he had trained at Guardian.  Within the week they had managed to get aboard a ship and make their way to Vale.

Personality:Varik is wary of people, and has a tendency to sit back and observe before allowing himself to approach someone. It's a creepy habit, he knows, but one that he's developed out of necessity. He isn't used to working with others, since at Guardian he was always left alone on training missions, so he's adapted to fight well solo. That isn't to say he doesn't like to work with others, but just isn't used to it. He can nearly always be found with ear phones in his ears, listening to anything from Hardstyle techno, to heavy metal. He enjoys reading fantasy novels when he can and drawing some of the things out of the books. His secret hobby is to dance, preferably alone. He gets embarrassed if he's caught dancing. (He shuffles and breakdances. Link to example of shuffling in spoiler). He's pretty quick to anger, but slow to show it. He doesn't express his negative emotions around people because he doesn't want to be seen as weak. Trustworthy and loyal to those he feels deserve it, nearly to a fault. He would follow a friend into a fire if they asked. However, if you get on his bad side, sleep with both eyes open and a gun under your pillow. If he's around friends he's a different person, not quiet and closed off, but open and fun loving. Hates cats, loves dogs, and listens to his music loud. Favorite food is anything red meat, the less green leafyness the better. The quickest way to catch is attention, or at least divert it, is to put something shiny in front of his face.

Link to Youtube:

Afflictions and explanations:

Strength: Fights well solo, quick witted, adaptable, quick reflexes, flexible, good in all ranges of combat (close, med, long), strong (enough to wield the odachi 1 handed effectively), light on his feet.

Weakness:Finds working in a group difficult and unnecessary, questions authority, is easily distracted, quick to anger and become one-track-minded, stubborn, afflictions.

Skills/Abilities:
Sharpshooter - can hit anything bigger than a soda can from .5 miles (.9 kilometers) with a shot group about the size of a dime, if using his scope.
Swordsman - Odachi's are typically a two-hand only weapon, but Varik has developed a 1-handed style so he can use the chain scythe with it.
Enhanced night vision and hearing - Being a Faunus, he had better vision at night and more sensitive hearing than humans do.
Dancing - He's a good shuffle and breakdancer, even if he doesn't like to show it. He has a tendency to use his semblance when he dances.
Artist - He isn't Da Vinci, but he's pretty good at drawing what he reading about in books.

Weapons/Items: Things he will almost always have on him, or near by.
Zyla
Boot knife
Claws
Armored Cloak
MP3 player
Extra ammo for rifle
Random shiny things

Semblance: Friction Controller
Varik discovered his Semblance while he attended Guardian, as well as various uses for it. With it he can increase or decrease his own friction against things around him, increase/decrease of things that he is touching, or create a square of high-friction/frictionless area around him, up to an area of 8 by 8 foot (2.5 meters) that can vary in shape, such as instead of a square, it could be an L shape to reach around a corner, but he must stay within the area and it may not exceed the same area as an 8 by 8 foot (2.5 meters) square. The amount of friction can range from none at all, to nearly impossible to slide across. When applying it to himself it can allow him to scale vertical walls easier, slide over the ground to evade an attack, make it seem as if he is gliding over the ground, or reduce the friction of his skin to none to avoid damage from a cutting blade. He would still be susceptible to a stab, projectile or blunt force. When applied to something he is in contact with, the same can be applied as before. He can reduce the friction of his blades so they cut easier, or the ammo of his rifle to fly faster and straighter due to less wind resistance.

WEAPON

Name: Zyla

Primary Form: Odachi. 35 inch/90cm blade.  Black and white hilt with matte black scabbard, worn across his back under his cloak. A chain extends from the hilt, down where it's kept in a coil by Varik's side. On the end of the chain is a small scythe blade that acts as Varik's primary form of attack so he doesn't have to unsheath his sword.

Spoiler:

Secondary Form: Long range sniper rifle. The blade and sheath combine to form the barrel and stock of the gun, while the chain is shortened to a sling length so he can wear it and not have to carry it around. The scythe end draws up to the barrel of the gun and can split in two to act as as bi-pod for steady aiming. They double as close ranged hack 'n slash weapons if needed. He also has the option of using an electronic sight, which was in the sheath previously, that has a variable zoom up to x12.

Ammo Types:

Tertiary Form: Long, double scythe bladed staff.  The sniper rifle closes itself up and lengthens until it's just a little taller than Varik, or the sheath and sword combine and straighten. The scythe blades spilt and go to either end of the staff with the chain kept inside the staff. The scythes can be launched and retracted from the staff by the chain.

History: The original Odachi was just a sword and was given to him by his father after he came back from an expedition to a foreign country. The chain and scythe was modeled after a weapon his mother's father had used. His mother created it, and several others that were similar, and worked it into the Odachi. Later on his mother made Zyla for him, giving it it's three forms. She taught him to work on all three forms as well as how to make the different ammo types the rifle forms can use. He knows how to do maintenance but not upgrade or change anything about it.

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Approved.