「 application; queenofheartsrp 」
( player Information. )
name: Anya
personal journal: mactation
contact info:
→ email - mactations ( at ) gmail ( dot ) com
→ aim - gnome broski
→ plurk - mactations
other characters: none.
( character information. )
name: Hope Estheim
source canon: Final Fantasy XIII
age: 14
role in canon: Main character, tiniest avenger, tagalong kid, and the wielder of some serious hammerspace.
justification:
As a victim of circumstance, as well as the youngest character in-game makes Hope an interesting character for me to play. I've played him for almost a year now, and have developed him in a few different settings before but I have never had the chance to seriously play out a female Hope, because I have instead been restricted mostly to memes and crack events where he was still male nevertheless. So this is not only the chance at a proper setting in a real game, but it's a chance to explore just what makes her different from her male counterpart beyond just being female.
Frankly, I'm very interested to see just how Hope will develop in this setting where she doesn't have to worry about her brand advancing, and most importantly her being somewhere where she isn't seen as a monster to those around her because of said brand like she was treated back home on Coccon. It'll be especially interesting to see how her characteristics develop, and how she will learn to trust, open up once again and thus her interactions with new people would be without that fear eating in the back of her mind all the time. There is also how she was develop with her castmates here who had known her male counterpart instead of her all this time.
Hope for me, is a character that is always learning. The things that Hope goes through throughout the game, her relationships, and even her way of handling things-it'll all be fascinating to see just how it translates over to her and to this setting.
history:
❝ I decide my fate! ❞
Hope is taken from the start of Chapter 12, following their arrival in Eden and on their way to Edenhall.
By this point, Hope has forgiven Snow for what happened with her mother and has moved toward getting her head on straight. She also faced her Eidolon, Alexander and thus faced her fears about their journey and her worry about the others getting hurt on her account. They have also all come to share the same promise and in a way, a new Focus; to not let anything happen to Cocoon, no matter what.
changes:
Gender differences in Final Fantasy XIII are few and far between, and there are not many differences in Hope's life and much of her personality is the same of her male counterpart.
One change would come with her relationships, such as with her parents. Hope relationship with her father is more disappointment than grudge bearing, and she still clings to her mother for protection and emotional support. After her mother's death, she still almost immediately turns that need on Vanille. Vanille acts almost as a replacement maternal/older sibling figure for her throughout the rest of the Purge and Hope is both drawn in and confused by her kindness and cheerful personality. Vanille is also someone she can relate to, and even open up to more easily than her male counterpart as she is physically not that much younger than Vanille. She is also not so quick to push away Vanille's affection and kindness in the beginning as her male counterpart and instead is very grateful for it for the emotional support in those moments.
Then there is her relationship with Light, which is probably the most important one to Hope in-game outside of her mother and father. Light will have become her biggest role model and someone that she sees almost like an idol, she's someone that Hope would like to be. Not that Hope would want to copy Light with every single little detail, but Hope sees her as a strong woman-someone Hope would want to grow up to be; someone that is capable of not only protecting herself but also capable of doing whatever she can to protect those around her. Their relationship has taken on not only a sort of mentor and student type of relationship, but Hope also sees her as a role model for herself on how she would like to be and as a older sister.
personality:
Hope is, for the most part, a young girl shaped by a lot of really bad things happening in a really short amount of time. It all starts when a simple family vacation to the seaside town of Bodhum suddenly turns into the WORST VACATION EVER. She found herself not only losing everything she had known in life, her normality that is, when they were ordered onto the Purge trains for Pulse, but she was also forced to witness her mother die right in front of her and then experience the magnitude of becoming a l'Cie. These sudden horrific events would come together and not only change her fate and that of the others in the party, but the very fate of the world as well.
At first glance, Hope comes off very unsure, shy, and hesitant in both her speech and her body language. Insecure and non-confrontational, she is not the kind of person that will willing face her problems head-on at first, and instead puts her focus on trying to run away from them. A lot of which stems from the fact that she is usually unable to form the words she needs to express her thoughts. There are also examples that she'll sometimes not confront them simply because she does not want to hurt the feelings of anyone else involved, this is especially noticeable with her parents and her refusal to speak a lot of her negative thoughts on her father because she knows it would upset her mother. Even as a child she was extremely sensitive to the thoughts of others, and even played peace-keeper amongst her friends when things started to get to out of hand. She was taught that promises, no matter how small, were important and if she makes one she will keep these promises no matter what.
Described as being at a “difficult” age, a teenager, she seems to wear her heart of her sleeve and be at odds with her emotions. Coming from a very sheltered existence, she was inexperienced on how the world actually worked and found herself having to learn a lot more quickly than she probably wanted to. It leads to moments of moodiness where she will become withdrawn and upset by it all, possibly even angry, and will try to push away from the others. She is driven my her emotions a number of times, and tends to run at the mouth when this happens but as shown when Snow snapped back at her when she blamed him and Serah for them becoming l'Cie, her anger quickly mellowed out and she slipped back into being scared and withdrawn.
In general, Hope is very much capable of displaying a kind and warm personality to those around her that she trusts. She cares deeply for their emotional wellbeing, and worries over them. Despite her inexperience, she doesn't let this hold her back and is determined to do what she can to help her new family. Her passion to do just this wills her to stop internalizing everything, and instead learn to draw her strength from these people and allow them to draw strength from her. This is shown especially well during a scene with Vanille when she cheers Vanille up by saying that sometimes they all have to lie; be it because they have to keep themselves going or to protect someone, both of which are things Hope and Vanille had done respectively during their journey, and if they just worked hard enough they could make those lies come true.
Despite the aforementioned shyness, she's nevertheless polite to anyone that talks with her and tries to be as respectful as possible. Although she has difficultly just outright approaching someone, once she warms up to them and they've shown her kindness then she will show nothing but kindness in return unless proven otherwise. She'll do what she can for her friends, and seems to strive to measure up to the others in the party to prove she can do just that. She has confidence in her abilities, but knows she's the least experienced in the group and has a lot to learn from each of them.
On the other side of the coin, as mentioned, Hope is someone capable of a lot of anger. She has a number of outbursts throughout canon, moments where her inability to deal with her frustrations end up bubbling over and she ends up lashing out at those around her as a way to ease the stress of when her emotions suddenly get the best of her. She has a very realistic approach to things that can easily be mistaken for being pessimistic and the sarcasm doesn't help. Hope will get upset, she'll blame, and she will hold grudges as shown with her feelings concerning both her father and then with Snow. Once these relationships have been mended however, the change is noticeable as she begins to heal from the wounds she had been holding onto since the death of her mother. It was this anger that seemed to be holding her back in a lot of ways, once she has repaired these relationships she is shown to start toward opening up and displaying how extremely warm and compassionate she truly can be.
Hope is a rather intelligent girl, versed in a number of things about Cocoon and the myths and legends of the fal'Cie, l'Cie and Pulse. She knew and understood that her want for revenge against Snow would do nothing, but it wasn't something she was still able to accept because she knew that it was those horrible feelings that were keeping her moving, keeping her fighting, keeping her alive. There is also her awareness of what they have done, and what they need to continue to do and understands that they will likely not be forgiven for their actions but she also realizes that this, her mission to protect Cocoon, is not something she can just run away from like she did so many other things. Hope also has a strange way with words, especially when it comes to saying what the others need to hear whenever the party's mood starts going south. Although her nervousness and hesitation is sometimes apparent through these inspirational speeches, she nevertheless manages to say the things she feels are right for the group and more often than not is the reason the other's manage to once again take that needed step back in the right direction.
Her motivation throughout the events in canon changes as she does. At first she wanted nothing more than to survive to the next day before moving on to her thoughts of revenge on Snow. Her need for revenge turned into the fuel to keep her going, to keep her fighting. When she gets her head on straight, her motivation becomes not only to protect her new family but to protect Cocoon. It's all something that is not a question of can or can't for her, but instead something she just does.
Hope is, all in all, a good person with a good heart. She is someone that has been shaped by the need to survive and the want to protect. There is nothing more she wants than to make sure this happens, and that she will never again have to experience the pain of losing another loved one. She looks up to her new family for the support, the answers, the learning and the experience in order to do these things and in turn promises to do all she can for them.
abilities:
As a l'Cie, Hope has access to different abilities through roles via the Crystarium. With each role, there is a new set of abilites that focus in and around different physical and magically abilite. Each character has access to all six roles, but only excels in three while the other three are known as secondary roles. As such, Hope is far more powerful in her primary roles - Ravager, Synergist, and Medic - and has more abilities to access in these roles that she does in her secondary roles.
→ Commando; Attacks enemies with the goal of dealing as much damage as possible.
☇ Attack » Deals physical damage to one enemy.
☇ Blitz » Deal physical damage to an enemy and nearby enemies.
☇ Ruin » Deal magical damage to one enemy.
☇ Ruinga » Deal magical damage to an enemy and nearby enemies.
→ Medic; Concentrates on healing and recovering.
☇ Cure → Cura → Curasa → Curaja » Recovers varying amounts of health, cura and curaja effect multiple targets.
☇ Esuna » Removes the last suffered debuff.
☇ Raise » Revives KO'd allies and recovers a small amount of health.
→ Ravager; Offensive elemental magic, unlike the others in the party Hope does not have an affinity toward certain elements and instead has access to the -ga spells in all elements.
☇ Aero → Aerora → Aeroga » Air elemental spells; Aero targets single enemy, Aeroga targets an single enemy and nearby enemies, Aeroga targets a large group of enemies.
☇ Blizzard → Blizzara → Blizzaga » Ice elemental spells; Blizzard targets a single enemy, Blizzara targets an enemy and nearby enemies, Blizzaga targets a large group of enemies.
☇ Fire → Fira → Firaga » Fire elemental spells; Fire targets a single enemy, Fira targets an enemy and nearby enemies, Firaga targets a large group of enemies.
☇ Thunder → Thundara → Thundaga » Lightning elemental spells; Thunder targets a single enemy, Thundara targets an enemy and nearby enemies, Thundaga targets a large group of enemy.
☇ Water → Watera → Waterga » Water elemental spells; Water targets a single enemy, Watera targets an enemy and nearby enemy, Waterga targets a large group of enemies.
☇ Last Resort » A special skill unique to Hope, it deals eight hits of magical damage to all enemies and ignores magical resistance as well as any elemental weakness the enemy might possess.
→ Saboteur; Focuses on weakening enemies by deceasing their resistance and defense and causing negative status effect, all spells she has access to are area of effect.
☇ Deprotectga » Decreases resistance to physical damage.
☇ Deshellga » Decreases resistance to magical damage.
☇ Poisonga » Constantly damages a foe's health over a period of time.
☇ Imperilga » Decreases a target's elemental weaknesses.
☇ Slowga » Slows reaction and spell casting time.
☇ Fogga » Prevents use of all magical related abilities.
☇ Painga » Prevents use of all physical related abilities.
☇ Cursega » Increases chance of interrupting an enemy's actions.
☇ Dazega » The foe is unable to take action, and becomes more susceptible to damage.
→ Sentinel; Draws and defends against the attacks of enemies.
☇ Elude » While guarding, it becomes easier to avoid enemy attacks.
☇ Entrench » Counter attack after guarding; the more time spent guarding, the more damage dealt in return.
☇ Provoke » Makes the target and nearby enemies attack the defender
☇ Vendetta » Counter attack after guarding; the more damage taken, the more damage that is dealt in return.
→ Synergist; Focuses on strengthening allies by increasing their resistance and providing positive status effects.
☇ Protect » Increases resistance to physical attacks by 33%.
☇ Shell » Increases resistance to magical attacks by 33%.
☇ Bravery » Increases physical attack power by 40%.
☇ Faith » Increases magical attack power by 40%.
☇ Haste » Increases reaction and spell casting time.
☇ Veil » Increases resistance to debuffs.
☇ Barfire/Frost/Thunder/Water » Increases resistance to certain elemental damage depending on what is cast, cannot be stacked.
☇ Enfire/Frost/Thunder/Water » All attacks gain the elemental attribute of what is casted, cannot be stacked.
→ Techniques; Varying command skills that help give the party notable tactical advantages.
☇ Dispelga » Removes all buffs and debuffs from all allies and enemies.
☇ Libra » Displays enemy stats, elemental strengths and weaknesses, as well as if they will be effected by certain debuffs.
☇ Quake » Deals earth elemental damage to a large group of enemies.
☇ Renew » Heals half the amount of maximum HP and revives all party members.
☇ Stopga » Cancels out all actions, foe and player party alike.
☇ Summon » Eidolons are spirits belonging to a single l'Cie whom they reflect in some matter, and are capable of being summoned into battle through use of a summoning crystal that comes from inside the summoner and a summoning symbol. Usually first appearing when l'Cie fall into deep despair, they were first believed to be brought about in order to put helpless l'Cie out of their misery, but in truth they are there "to deliver hope when all was lost" and set their summoner back on the right path.
☈ Alexander is Hope's personal Eidolon. He uses strong non-elemental phsyical attacks and is capable of drawing enemy attack to himself. He is the strongest Eidolon in-game, and has the highest starting SP of all -- meaning he is able to stay in battle longer. A drawback though, is that he is also the slowest moving.
→ Primary Mode abilities
☇ Steelcrusher » Inflicts physical damage on one opponent.
☇ Obliterator » Inflicts major physical damage on one opponent.
☇ Soaring Uppercut » Inflicts physical damage on one opponent and launches them into the air.
☇ Blast Punch » Inflicts physical damage on one opponent from long range.
☇ Explosive Fist » Inflicts physical damage on opponents in a wide radius.
☇ Lofty Challenge » Provokes nearby enemies.
☇ Curaga » Restores health to the summoner.
☇ Arise » Revives one ally, with all health - instantly dismisses the Eidolon.
→ Gestalt Mode abilities
☇ Purification » Deals physical damage to opponents directly in front of alexander, capable of inflicting deshell.
☇ Earthquake » Deals proximity-based damage, capable of launching weaker targets into the air.
☇ Brutal Sanction » Deals magical damage to nearby enemies.
☇ Retributive Blast » Damages enemies in a wide radius, capable of launching weaker targets into the air and inflicting deprotect.
☇ Divine Judgement » Deals weakness-specific damage to all enemies.
Hope's weapon of choice throughout the course of the game is a futuristic boomerang that she is seemingly capable of remotely controlling in order to hit multiple targets or a single targets multiple times. Hope is also capable of walking long distance without a whole lot of rest, though her stamina is still lacking compared to some of the more experienced members of the party. She was also shown once, in a moment of both extreme anger and despair, of being able to channel her magic into a powerful blast capable of knocking Snow of his feet.
sample:
( audio. )
Hello... ? Uh, I... I really thought I heard voices come from this thing, and the scroll did say... ( hope's voice comes out meek and uneasy, a fact that causes her to pause and take in a deep breath. despite the fact she talking to a vine, she'll push aside those unsure feelings in order to focus on the most important thing in her mind currently.
one beat passes, then two and finally she speaks: ) I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you... whoever is listening, that is. My name is Hope Estheim and I would really like to ask something . It doesn't seem to be one these cats seem capable of answering and you probably still get this a lot, but; ( a pause. ) I'm looking for some of my friends. Their names are Lightning, Snow, Sazh, Vanille and Fang. Though... I guess if no men are allowed, Sazh and Snow won't be here. If any of them are here, I'd really like to know. Thank you.
( there's another pause, but movement can be heard and then a sigh. )
This place though, it's nice. Peaceful even despite everything. But... I really can't stay here.
----
( text. )
This might be strange to ask, but to anyone else that has friends here in the gardens from where you're home world. Has any of them ever been really convinced that they knew you as a boy back home? And when I say convinced, I mean really super positive in this thought despite you saying otherwise.
It's really a little bit unsettling to think about...
----
( video. )
( when the video clicks on, hope seems unsure as she reaches up and pulls a strand of hair hanging in her face before brushing it aside and out of her face. )
Hello, um, I was wondering something. ( there's a pause as her hand falls from her hair, and she slowly laces her fingers together and appears to start rocking on her feet. ) Would anyone be willing to help me cut my hair? I didn't think much of it back home, not while everything was going on anyway... but it's gotten longer while I've been here. All I need is help with the back and, um, my bangs really.
( she gives a small smile, to both the video and the vine. ) Thank you for listening.