Eira Vanderburgh

Eira Vanderburgh is a graduate of Siren Academy, a former member of Team GEWL, and a minor character in The Coming Storm.

Appearance


Eira is a woman of average height with hair skin and slim buid. Her eyes are light blue, and her lilac hair reaches down to her waist in wavy locks. She has a scar over her nose from previous missions and multiple others like it over her arms and legs. Being a Faunus, Eira sports a long white fox tail.

Her typical attire consists of a white blouse with an ascot, a tailored vest, high-waisted navy blue pants, and white thigh-high boots with stiletto heels. Over her ensemble, Eira dons a pair of black gloves and a white tailcoat with silver accents and a large fur collar.

Personality
Eira for the better part is commonly referred to as polite and reserved, never one to make the first move but certainly to make the last. She keeps her feelings to herself often but uses combat as a means to exercise her stress and vent her frustrations without hurting those directly within her social circle. To say she'd go to the ends of Remnant for the sake of her friends is a huge understatement.

In her earlier days, both on Menagerie and at Siren, Eira was a shy person and someone who preferred to stay on the sidelines and help rather than tackle problems head-on herself. She became most irritated by distracting noises while doing homework or classwork, especially sounds within immediate earshot. She and her friend Eden kept their team in line the majority of the time, as she never would've broken out of her shell if it weren't for teammates more bombastic and headstrong than she would ever be.

Background
Like the rest of her teammates, Eira grew up on Menagerie in Kuo Kuana, among thousands of other Faunus like herself. She was left under the care of her father, with her mother gone not long after birth. She and her father ran a produce stand in the town market where she eventually met the people who would become her lifelong friends and teammates. Despite her ambitions to help and be a good person to the people around her, she was constantly picked on by one Grison Wolfgang. She put up with his antics and got the better of him time and time again, but after bullying her for some time he was finally put in his place by new friends Leila and Wesley. The four formed a clique of their own and spent many of their childhood days playing, fighting, and dreaming about becoming huntsmen and huntresses.

Into their mid-teens, Eira's father had passed away, and she realized there was nothing left for her in Menagerie. She and the three, now a tightly knit friend circle, sought to venture off to other continents and pursue some formal training to forge their own paths. They packed up and set sail, finding themselves in the city of Xervia some months later where they applied to Siren Academy. Despite the lack of training they received prior, the four were accepted and joined the ranks as the newly titled Team GEWL.

By their late teens, Eira had learned to open up to her friends, and found it in herself to pursue the daunting task of taming a brash, never-relenting Grison, who more than often found himself in detention or on the front doorstep of the principal's office.

Combat Eira is a quick witted fighter who won't hesitate when she sees an opening. She keeps light on her feet, analyzes a situation as most she can in a given amount of time, and won't hesitate to put a plan in motion when she comes up with something no matter how little details she has to work with. Naturally her greatest attribute is speed, desiring above all to start and finish a fight as fast as physically possible. Thanks to her Semblance she can dash at great speeds, further enabling the chances of a quick finish. There are times when she gets really in the zone, and as a result she can become much more fluid and precise with her movements, able to switch between weapon forms in a matter of seconds. Mid-battle when she becomes hyper-focused, Eira is ultimately oblivious to certain aspects of her surroundings and doesn't slow down to take in the little details. A well executed hit can throw her horribly off balance.

Semblance
(WIP)

Weapon
Name: Gelida Petalis {or Frozen Petals in Latin}

Primary Type: Mele e

Modeled After: An odachi and a handgun

Capabilities: Gelida Petalis is a decorated gun and blade. Eira's preferred choice for combat is the standard form, with the blade inserted into the end of the gun just above the barrel. In this form it acts as a sword, but with the disadvantage of being unable to use the gun. She generally has more control over her movements this way. The trigger remains locked in this format to prevent malfunctions or accidents.

By removing the blade, a handle pops out allowing it to be used even outside standard form, but the lack of a solid grip makes it  more difficult to maneuver. Eira can fold down the handle with the rose and unlock the trigger in order to open fire, now that the sword part is out.

<p style="font-weight:400;">By turning the handle of the detached sword, two more blades slide out from within the first and position themselves fifteen degrees apart to mimic a set of claws. She has affectionately named this form "Feral Claws," to refer to a looser and less restrained style of fighting.

<p style="font-weight:400;">Gelida Petalis loads with clips that can be inserted via the handle; the rose on the bottom of the handle pops off, allowing for said clip space. The ammo it's able to fire is either standard bullets or shells filled with Dust.

Relationships
<p style="font-weight:400;">Grison Wolfgang: Eira met Grison along with the rest of her team at a young age, and despite some initial personality clashes, the two found common links in due time and became best friends. This relationship later in life blossomed into a romance after they graduated Siren together. After Eden's death, Eira realized she needed to reevaluate her life and morals and departed for lands unknown, subsequently breaking off her engagement to Grison. Her feelings for him remain unchanged, but once she returns they may be thrown into question.

<p style="font-weight:400;">Leilani Palila: The woman was her best friend and most trusted companion in stressful times. Leilani and Eira shared a bond that couldn't easily be broken, as together they made a formidable partnership against any threat. In much later years, Eira was thrown for a loop when it was revealed Leilani had deep romantic feelings for her, to  which she couldn't return due to her ongoing relationship with Grison.

<p style="font-weight:400;">Eden Mayfield: Although they were shy towards each other at first, Eden and Eira found a common bond having to keep Leilani and Grison from butting heads often, as they proved to be the rational and understanding side of their team. She was the one who encouraged him to confess his feelings to Leilani prior to learning she was in love with someone else. To this day, Eira has many things she never got to say to Eden before his death and deeply regrets not acting sooner.

<p style="font-weight:400;">Chrysanthemum Daaelia: Eira doesn't remember too much about Chrysanthemum, but she still holds the memory of the woman close at heart. She has trusted the woman to keep her informed should disaster fall upon Xervia or its people.

Trivia

 * Whinter_Emblem.png's name is of Welsh origin and means "snow."
 * Her last name Vanderburgh is of Germanic origin, van den meaning "from the" and berg meaning "mountain." The full translation of her name means "snow from the mountain."
 * Eira is based off the fox from a fairy tale called The Fox and the Wolf.
 * Eira's Faunus species is the Arctic Fox.