Teresa of the Faint Smile

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PLAYER INFO

Name: Yuff
Contact Information: Plurk is Randomtology, Email is Yuffie99k@gmail.com
Time Zone: US Central Time
Characters Played: Sora from Kingdom Hearts (heartstorage)

CHARACTER INFO

Character Name: Teresa (no canon last name, I'm not making one up since she would've ditched it anyway)
Character Canon: Claymore

History:
Here on Claymore Wiki

AU History:
Teresa was born in Union City near the Industrial District. She can't recall too much about this early stage of her life, but she remembers having long black hair that she viewed to be her best feature. When she was about four or five, before she could forge strong memories of them, her parents died. She was given to surviving relatives to be cared for, and had no reason to believe that she couldn't trust them.

However it had turned out her relatives had acclimated heinous amounts of debts. The debt was enough that when they discovered Teresa was an Enlightened (and a shifter no less), they sold her off to have their debts forgiven. She was held by the buyer for several years, until she escaped and was found by some guards- covered in blood and a claymore in hand, her appearance changed as well to match her shifter powers. Her memories of the incident were mostly missing, other than it was the feeling that terrible things had happened.

From there, she was taken in to stay in the barracks of the Guard since they felt she was ill-suited for orphanages or foster homes. Her power and skill as a warrior were quickly seen as unmatched, but her social skills left much to be desired. When she came of age, she joined the Rangers and almost immediately got into the Survey Corps/higher ranks as one of their strongest members. She's been working for them ever since, keeping mostly to solo missions when she has the choice. While she holds no animosity for her fellow comrades (and even helps them out from time to time), she hasn't done much to forge friendships with them either.

For a long time, she traveled with no Pokemon. However on a recent mission she saved a Cubone that was being abused. Sensing that she had the same loneliness it did, the Cubone started following her around no matter how much Teresa tried to lose it. Over time she grew attached to it, and named it Clare.

Canon Personality:
Teresa is a monster. She would be among the first to tell you this much, and many others would agree. She's not ashamed of it, instead she seems to use it sometimes to scare people for her own amusement. She knows how powerful she is and there is very little she fears. One could easily perceive it as arrogance, however it's arrogance rooted in truth as she truly was the best of the best.

Teresa is very honest as well. She doesn't lie because she doesn't see the point. She says what she wants and placates no one. This comes as both a positive or negative, because on one hand it definitely makes her blunt and cold sounding. On the other hand, she has no ulterior motives when she acts kind and is sincere in her acts.

For a long time, Teresa was a loner. Her early life fostered a sense of mistrust towards people, and made her rather cold-hearted to the world. People used and betrayed you, she had little faith in them. While she held no animosity towards her fellow warriors and they respected her, she forged no strong bonds with them. She knew very well how corrupt the Organization was and detested them, but unlike Miria she saw little point in fighting against it because she didn't see humans unaffiliated with the Organization as any better. And so for years she kept up her job as a warrior for the Organization, holding no love for it but having no point in her life without it.

However the presence of Clare in her life changed things a lot. Clare's persistence in being with Teresa managed to make the coldhearted warrior open up and accept connections with people. Looking after Clare gave her a true meaning in her life, one she would do anything to achieve. This holds true to any bonds she's able to make. She will protect those she feels close to, and do anything to look after them. In turn connections with people make her cold-hearted ways start to melt. In the beginning of her arc, she coldly kicked away an orphan child that was looking for affection. By the end of her development, she was unable to kill a young warrior that was out for her head because all she could think of was her bonds with Clare.

Sure, that choice ended up costing her her life, but the point still stands bonds with people make her a nicer person!

It can be said that she is more able to sympathize with those who are outcasts or discriminated against as she was. She doesn't like seeing it happen, and may stand against it if she feels she should. Though again, this tends to be in more small, impulsive acts than overall ideals and plans. Meaning she might interfere if she comes across an injustice being done, but she wouldn't be one to seek them out to stop them like some other characters. But even so, her acts of kindness tend to be sincere in their own right.

It should be remarked that Teresa is a troll. She enjoys scaring people with her strength, and saying strange things to see their reactions. It's her way of testing people, and for amusing herself. She takes most things people say in stride, and usually comes back with amusement and sarcasm. However she isn't without her temper and does have a snapping point. She has a violent side and enjoys bloodshed like many of the warriors, and if you push her far enough she'd be willing to kill a human even if it's normally taboo to her.

Teresa for the most part is comfortable about who she is. She's not happy she became a Claymore and sees it better to be human, but she has accepted it as who she is and embraces it instead of feeling sorry for herself. She recognizes that she is capable of human emotions and has a human mind, which she has no intention of ever giving up.


AU Deviation:
Well she probably doesn't kick orphans in the street anymore.

The main difference would be that with the Union City government not being nearly as corrupt as the Organization in Claymore- her mistrust in her occupation has gone way down. I think she'd still be wary of people and institutions, but she would be generally surprised if she found out the government was doing something as abhorrent as kidnapping little girls to experiment on.

It's also safer to say there's a better chance she could have formed friendships, at least casual ones, with her comrades in the Rangers. this is mostly because she would have interacted with them more than she did with her comrades in canon.

Enlightened shifters aren't as feared as Claymores, so the whole monster aspect might have gone down some. However, that probably wouldn't stop her from playing with any fears or apprehensions that do exist of Shifters. What? It's funny because Teresa is a terrible person.

She's not given an age in canon, but I'd probably put her in her early to mid 30's in game- so she's been with the Rangers quite awhile now.

Canon Abilities:
Teresa is a half-human, half-yoma hybrid- frequently called "Claymores" or "Silver-Eyed Witches" by the general population. Claymores are faster and stronger than humans, have better reflexes and senses, can regenerate limbs and they have the ability to sense yoki - energy given off by yoma and claymores alike. They also require only a little food to survive and can walk for days on end. When they sleep, it's sitting up as it's the only way for them to get comfortable.

Claymores can also become more powerful by releasing yoki energy that's within them. However, this comes at serious cost as if they use too much power or for too long, they could "awaken" - meaning they transform into crazed guts eating monsters of strong power. For this reason, all Claymore warriors are female as males are discovered to be less capable of controlling the urges of awakening.

Among the Claymores, Teresa is considered to be the strongest that ever lived. In her generation she was ranked number 1, and many believe that there has been no stronger Claymore since. Her specialty was her acute yoki sensing capabilities, that allowed her to detect the smallest of changes in a yoma or claymore's power. However she was so well rounded in other categories (except...teamwork...) that when she was given a special title meant to advertise her signature and strongest trait (an example is Quicksword Irene for her - the only thing they could come up with was "Teresa of the Faint Smile" for the mysterious smile she wore while fighting.

She was so powerful that she almost never needed to tap into her yoki energy. The only time she's shown doing so when she is facing off a former number one who had become an Awaken Being. And even then she only needed to use 10% of her power to beat the foe easily, even going so far to say she only did it because if she doesn't tap into her power every once and awhile- she might forget how.

Enlightened Abilities:
Teresa will be an Absol Shifter, marking her as a pure Dark-Type, a reflection of the Yoma-hybrid she is in canon. Since she's spent so many years honing her fighting skills as a human, she rarely sees the need to transform.

She may evolve eventually into a Mega-Absol, but that will probably be awhile off.

Appearance wise her hair has taken on a pale-blond/white shade like Absol fur, she's very pale and her silver eyes have a glow to them that turn red when she taps into enough of her power. All in all she appears pretty human compared to most shifters when she's wearing clothes. However catching sight of her abdomen and chest shows a different story. Between years of abuse and being a shifter- it's a mixture of literally-black skin, scars and fur. This is a call back to her canon scar, which is so hideous that it caused bandits to throw up when she showed it.

In human form (which she stays in most of the time), she wields a claymore that's been infused with steel-type power- making it extra effective on fairy, ice and rock. This is a call back to the claymore swords in canon that were strong enough to cut through rock and never dull.

Starter Pokémon: A Cubone named Clare.

Notes/Special Considerations:
Nothing much other than making sure she'd had a nice high position in the Rangers/Survey Corps. She doesn't have to be number 1 like she is in canon, but I'd definitely like her to have some of her rep as a higher up for her fighting power. She's not someone who would take the reigns in a lot in plots, so I'm not too concerned about her stealing fun from folks.

SAMPLES

First-Person: What would you say the role of Pokémon is in your life?
[Said in a cheerful way that makes it hard to tell if she's joking] Much the same as humans, really. Sometimes I work with or for them, and sometimes they are obstacles to cut through. I see no difference.

What would you say the most important occupation is within Union?
[She smiles, seeming quite amused] Do people argue about this often? I thought everyone would agree it's the jobs that prevent rampaging Pokemon from attacking. Why just imagine what would happen if we stopped doing it. [Not that she sounds all around concerned about it]

What do you look for in the Pokémon with whom you bond?
I don't bond with Pokemon. They require too much work to care for and I'm strong enough on my own not to have to put up with that.

To what lengths would you go to rescue your allies if they were lost in the wilderness?
Just enough to keep me out of trouble. It's their own fault they got themselves lost, a Ranger should know better.

You are alone and bereft of your Pokémon allies, upon what strengths do you rely on to see yourself safely home?
My own. I have more than enough that it shouldn't be a problem.


Third-Person:
Her home was sparse, even bare. A simple studio apartment with the bare necessities. With her years in the Survery Corps, she was paid well enough that she could afford better if she wished. But she saw little need to decorate or fill it full of things that she didn't need. It was only a place to rest when she wasn't doing her duties, after all.

The Cubone that followed her home was possibly the first guest she's ever had. That thought rang funny to her, even if she knew it was a little sad too. It wasn't like she wanted the Cubone there, she had no desire to bond or collect Pokemon like others. But no matter what she did- the creature seemed to follow her. It was rather annoying, especially when it spent the previous night giving an awful sounding cry.

She tried not to think about how she could relate a little, how she could sympathize.

But that didn't matter. Now that she was back in Union from her mission, she could see if she could find the creature a proper home. That should be good enough to keep her out of trouble, shouldn't it? It would be better for both of them, she concluded to herself.

And yet, she couldn't help but wonder as she watched the Cubone settle down for a nap on her worn down mattress, if it would be such a bad idea to check how much beds for Pokemon cost.