Cerise Fleur

Cerise Fleur is a RWBY fanon character created by Jake Governo in mid February 2016. Her motif is a cherry blossom, Cerise Fleur translating literally as "Cherry flower" in French. She is a second-year student at Beacon Academy, from Northern Mistral.

Info
Nicknames: Riri (Najma Hori), Blossom (Lily Fleur), Folly Butterfly (Stage name)

Characteristics

Race: Human

Weapon: Reprise (Saber Carbine)

Gender: Female

Age: 18 (Second Year)

Appearance
Outfit: Pink, Magenta, White.

Accessories: Veil, White gloves, Cherry blossom earrings in both ears (lobes), three cartilage earrings in both ears (one in right, two in left), Prosthetic left leg with ribbon.

Cerise wears a pink, one piece combat dress with a strapless top and three quarter length combat skirt. The top has no sleeves, but has an overturned curtain draped over Cerise's upper arms and back. The skirt sports a long slit that starts at her hip, where her prosthetic leg begins at mid-thigh. Over this she wears a corset with a cherry tree branches print, and piece of black lace protrudes from her dress at her chest.

She wears thigh-high pantyhose on her right leg, with magenta silk ribbon wrapped around her calf and a matching pump with a 1" kitten heel. Her left leg is prosthetic with red hydraulic tubes and is decorated with a single silk magenta ribbon like those on her right calf. She has many different feet that can be swapped with a simple 5-minute procedure to accommodate different heel-lengths.

She wears a silk choker with lace around her neck, and a small hat with lace veil slightly askew on her head. She wears cherry blossom earrings in both lobes as well as three cartilage earrings and plum eyeshadow on her upper lids, with pink blush.

Pajamas
Cerise wears a pink nightgown with cherry blossom flowers printed on it in a random pattern, the left side of which hangs slightly lower to the ground. She wears multiple curlers in her hair on the right side, and her left foot has no heel.

Traits
Handedness: Right

Complexion: Pale peach with light freckles

Height: 5’7 (5’8 in heeled shoe w/ heeled left foot)

Weight: 118 lbs

Blood Type: A-

Eye color: Golden brown

Hair Color: Strawberry blonde with pink tips

Bust: 32B

Waist: 26”

Hips: 34”

Favorite food: Hot fudge sundaes

Likes: Dancing, long walks, reading on park benches, playing the harpsichord and cello, feeding birds, classical music, fall (season), white grape juice

Dislikes: Confrontation, rambunctious situations, hot weather, personal conversations, the feeling of wet clothing, riding on trains

Semblance: Mass Manipulation. Can alter her mass at the molecular level, increasing or decreasing her own weight and the immediate gravity acting on her, without affecting any other characteristics such as size or durability. She can apply this effect to any inanimate object, but it must be through physical touch, and the connection must be maintained for the effect to continue; if the connection is interrupted, the affected object will gradually return to its normal weight. Maintaining the effect becomes more taxing on Cerise’s aura the longer the effect continues, the more extreme the weight discrepancy, and/or the size of the affected object i.e., the more she has to adjust at the molecular and gravitational level, and to greater extremes, the more exhausting using her semblance becomes. She can also apply this effect to Grimm, as they have no aura that will naturally fight the effects of her semblance as other beings do, though the usefulness of touching a Grimm when she would already be close enough to strike it is situational. Altering the weight of a humanoid through their aura is possible, but requires great concentration. It can become easier if the target individual consciously allows it to happen, and chooses to allow Cerise's aura to alter their own. However, enemy humanoids can resist her easily if they have learned how to control their aura. This makes altering the weight of an enemy an unnecessary risk. It is possible, though still difficult, for Cerise to alter the weight of an enemy's clothing, armor, or weapon, provided she maintains an uninterrupted grip for long enough.

Professional Status

Affiliations: Beacon Academy

Previous Affiliations: Howanaru-Fleur School of Dance, Haven Academy

Relatives: Colombe Fleur (Father), Lily Fleur (Mother), Najma Hori (Childhood friend).

History
Once one of Mistral’s richest noble families, whose ancestors were known as gifted playwrights, actors, and in the case of the great Lilas Fleur, generals in the Great War, the Fleur clan saw their once mighty fortunes dwindling after years of resting on their laurels and losing colossal amounts of Lien investing in the Schnee Dust company around the same time that the White Fang began to grow more violent. Just after the initial deals had been made, Cerise was born in colder, mountainous Northern Mistral, the first and only child of Colombe and Lily Fleur. The young Cerise soon showed both passion and prodigal-level talent for classical dance, even if she was prone to both her attention wandering, and the occasional clumsy accident outside of a ballroom.

The Fleurs supported their only daughter with the full extent of their financial power and familial adoration, and starting when she was four, Cerise Fleur pursued her love of the stage with a successful dance career under the stage name Folly Butterfly that eventually took her to many corners of Remnant, eventually culminating in a role as the Spring Maiden in a youth production of The Tale of the Four Maidens during the 37thVytal Festival.

The Fleur household was one of reservation and etiquette, but the stage was where Cerise found peace, purpose, and quite literally, weightlessness: at the age of 10, she was discovered by her instructors to be naturally gifted in the manipulation and control of aura, which further manifested as a unique semblance allowing her to alter her own weight to become heavy as solid stone or light as a drifting feather.

By age 11 Cerise had honed this ability to execute maneuvers on stage that only she in the world could perform, and briefly, it seemed she was on the path to not only seeing her dreams and happiness bloom, but also redeeming the Fleur name as one of the richest and renowned clans in Mistral, and eventually all Remnant.

En route to a performance in Vale, Cerise’s train came under attack by a pack of marauding Beowolves while outside the city’s walls. A Huntsman by the name of Qrow Branwen had also been present on the train, and had fought off the attack. With the train badly damaged and immobile, a cursory headcount determined several missing passengers, among them the 12-year-old Cerise. After a three hour search, Branwen and a local militia found Cerise flung into a ravine. Bloody, cold, and her left leg severed mid-thigh by a piece of debris that had flown from the wreckage. It was here that she first discovered how to apply her semblance to objects through touch, when she moved the massive piece of metal that would have crushed her otherwise. By the time she was found hours later, shock had set in, and this alone had prevented any nearby Grimm from smelling her agony, and thusly saved her life.

After she recovered, everything Cerise had worked towards for her short life had been stolen away. Though her parents immediately reached out to the best surgeons in Atlas, seeking a cutting-edge cybernetic replacement limb for their maimed daughter, no amount of Lien could buy the passage of time; it would be another four years until Cerise would be 16, or otherwise deemed physically mature enough for the installation of an artificial limb that would not grow with a still-developing body.

Bereft of her limb, and with it her dreams, and the few friends she had acquired through her travels, Cerise spent most of the next four years confined to her bed, or limping with crutches to various physical therapy courses. All eyes of the Fleur family watched her, eager for her to return to the world of dance before Remnant forgot about her, but the effects of the attack on the young Cerise’s mind were considerably farther-reaching.

Time passed in a haze; vivid nightmares of claws and fangs, blood and fire, unfailingly giving way to the reality of withering bedside flowers and the prison of her own crippled body. While the therapists readjusted her balance, assisted her in learning how to dance with one leg and a crutch, Cerise thought of the Grimm that had rended her dreams and flesh; the daily stories of how countless people had likewise lost their aspirations to humanity’s oldest enemy, and of the Huntsman who had hauled her hypothermic body to safety, and she began to see a new path before her.

At 14 she began studying various languages and combat arts, and for the next two years ceaselessly educated herself in the Fleur library. Months after her sixteenth birthday, Cerise went before her parents, knelt on the state-of-the-art leg that had nearly sent the Fleur clan into bankruptcy, and announced that she wished not to dance on a stage, but among the flames of combat as a Huntress; a defender that would make sure not one more person lost their dreams to evil’s claws. She asked to study at a Huntsman academy, and redeem her family's name through being a huntress.

Initially her parents had protested firmly, and the final decision to send her to a Huntsman Academy took a month of tension and deliberation. The last four years had taken their toll on the Fleurs; while Cerise's father Colombe had desperately worked for ways to keep their family's finances stable, her injuries, and their results, had driven her mother Lily to nightly drinking. Relatives who had helped fund her surgeries and prosthetic limb development demanded she dance again, as soon as possible.

Attempts were made to jumpstart Cerise's return to the world of dance, but it was quickly clear to the Fleurs that the world had all but forgotten about Folly Butterfly; in their desperation, and fear, the Fleurs had withdrawn, and disappeared from the public eye. Cerise's name wasn't the heavyweight goldmine they had expected it to be, and soon a career as a huntress, financially viable or not, was the only path forward. Her father expected her to devote herself every day for the next year to combat training, and if she could prove her resolve, promised to allow her to apply to Haven Academy in Central Mistral.

It was months before she fully adjusted to her new leg, but the balance, grace, and focus that Cerise had sharpened all her life proved adaptable for combat. Every day was spent training with some of the best swordsmanship instructors in Mistral, and with their help she forged her own weapon, Reprise.

At 17, Cerise attempted Haven academy's entrance exam. Her unorthodox fighting style, focused on rhythmic aerial motion and precision footwork, was well received, though her hastily acquired dueling capabilities were found to be subpar. Under normal circumstances she would have been rejected, but the instructors were impressed enough to offer a compromise: Cerise would be accepted on a dance scholarship, and would be trained as a Huntress provided she maintained a healthy grade point average, and participate in Mistral's extracurricular drama department; her skill aside, her story of tragedy and redemption would be beneficial for the school's public image. She would not be allowed to join a team at first, but would be when she was proficient enough in combat as to not endanger her teammates or herself. Her parents were relieved their daughter would be dancing again, but Cerise was embarrassed from receiving such specific accommodation. She vowed to work as hard as she could to be allowed to truly join the ranks of novice Huntsmen and Huntresses at her school, bring honor to her family's name, and to herself.

A year and some into her tenure at Haven, and there was trouble assimilating Cerise into a team. Despite her most cordial efforts, her lack of team and field experience made many teams who had lost members to expulsion, illness, or death reluctant to accept her. Consideration had was given the chance to join a team of first-years, but it was deemed unviable due to the age difference and Cerise's steady progress. However, her dancing had garnered a reputation at the previous Vytal Festival, and she was offered a guaranteed spot on a team at Beacon Academy in Vale, on a dance scholarship with similar terms. But she had to decide quickly, as Beacon did not want to leave their teams without at least four members for longer than they had to.

Choosing between transferring overseas or stagnating at her current pace, she accepted, and at 18 she voyaged to Vale's shores to resume her Huntress education at Beacon Academy.

Personality
Despite surviving a Grimm attack and losing her leg at a young age, Cerise usually exhibits a cheerful, positive personality, if aloof and easily distracted. On the outside, her artificial limb doesn’t seem to bother her, and she displays it openly with a slit in her combat skirt and a decorative, magenta ribbon.

She grew up in an emotionally closed-off household, with indirect communication and few friends; though surrounded by support and love, honest conversation without veiled intent is a rarity for her. She speaks eloquently, and is always pleasant and polite, even when insulted, though threats or humiliation can turn her unreceptive and, at worst, passive-aggressive. Though she can get along with most people easily, her inexperience with deep, honest relationships leaves her with introverted tendencies, such as retreating into her own head when anxious, bored, or stressed, and hiding her true opinions about something if she feels they are not agreeable. Her youth was spent constantly on the move, always honing her skills as a dancer and musician, or on the way to various performances, and this results in her displaying a borderline-childlike sense of excitement over simple things. Most of her favorite activities would be considered slow-paced or even boring to most others, such as long walks, reading on park benches, or feeding pigeons. Having a background in dance, Cerise is musically educated and can play the piano and the cello at a competent level, though her singing voice is mediocre.

Loud, busy, or rowdy situations can leave her exhausted and/or flustered. However, while in combat, she becomes calm and focused, even seeming zoned-out or distant. This is a mindset she developed as a dancer, as a way of focusing and shutting out all distractions. Her lingering PTSD from the attack and losing her leg can, when under extreme stress, make her appear to dissociate in loud social situations, or burst into bouts of crying when alone. Though usually calm and pleasant, she becomes nervous and fidgety when riding trains, and highly irritable when her clothes are substantially wet.

Her natural tendency to avoid confrontation and anger is a double-edged sword; if not addressed, lingering negative emotions can eat away at her, disrupting her focus during combat and classes, but it also makes her a natural mediator, usually desiring to see, and work towards, peaceful resolution between herself and others, or even people she does not know very well. She also sees no point in disliking or distrusting Faunus, seeing them no differently than humans and judging each individual on personality alone, though having not had much exposure to Faunus over the course of her noble upbringing leaves her naïve about the prejudice Faunus experience, sometimes painfully so.

She does regular cardio and stretch routines, and has a precise regimen for maintaining her prosthetic leg. It is a model similar to those Possessed by Mercury Black, currently outdated next to Yang Xiao Long's arm, and so requires regular maintenance to continue functioning.

Weapon and Fighting Style
Cerise’s weapon, Reprise, is a Select-Fire Saber Carbine (SC) capable of firing in semi-automatic or automatic fire. Designed for a one-handed sword grip and two-handed aiming, with a forestock, Reprise has cutouts in the blade and a heavy pommel for weight distribution''. The ''barrel runs parallel to the back of the single-edged, curved blade. Reprise feeds from 8-round stripper clips of 6x35mm intermediate rounds, common in arms across Remnant, with detachable magazines in capacities of 8, 16, and 24.

Cerise’s combat ability is adapted from classical dance, and is colored by fencing taught to her by private dueling instructors. Her precise, deft footwork and balance allows her easily evade and counter enemy attacks, as if dancing with a partner, and her aerial control and mobility give her a tactical advantage over large, slow enemies such as Ursai and armored opponents.

She prefers to methodically eliminate one enemy at a time, dodging and flipping through the air as she waits for the perfect opening to strike, or opportunity to counter. She has admirable control of her weight-altering semblance, usually lightening herself to jump great heights and float to the ground, gracefully and without injury. If she makes contact with an enemy with her hand, with enough focus and time she can increase the weight of their armor or body, putting them off-balance and creating an opportunity to strike or retreat.

Cerise’s primary weakness is her relative lack of dueling experience, or traditional combat experience; though proficient with a blade, only two years of rigorous, albeit hasty practice leaves her ill equipped to deal with skilled swordsmen. When pressed into weapon-to-weapon combat, she will only be able to hold her own for a limited time before having to switch to a more evasive strategy, where her skills are far more developed and natural, and her offense is almost negated completely when facing multiple opponents.