luceti Application

[moelle]

Mun

Name: Gorse
Livejournal Username: gorsecloud
E-mail: ladygorse@gmail.com
AIM/MSN: gorsethewarrior
Current Characters at Luceti: Lindsay Ballard (magiconcehad)

Character

Name: Noelle
Fandom: Tales of the Abyss
Gender: Female
Age: 17 (no canon age given, this is a guesstimate)
Time Period: After the party has gone inside Eldrant
Wing Color: Light Yellow (matches her scarf)
History: (Given the lack of significant canon backstory beyond logical inferences and hints, this section will be interspersed with headcanon. Said headcanon will be marked with italics. If there's any problems let me know!).

Noelle and Ginji were born and raised in Sheridan, on the desert continent of Radessia. Sheridan is well-known for its craftsmanship, and most of its resources go to supporting that particular trade (while most of the remaining go to supporting the town itself). Between that and the fact that her own grandfather was an important member of many of these projects - a member of the prestigious Class M - their entire family has been highly involved with working with advanced fon machinery, Noelle herself included. (This is how she's able to perform any minor repairs or maintenance the Albiore needs in between flights while the rest of the party is off dungeon crawling or in town.)

When Sheridan first received approval to begin work on the Albiore project and received the hover drives from the Order of Lorelei, it was Ginji who began training to pilot it. His enthusiasm in the following months as he spoke about it at home, however, eventually piqued her own interest, and she began training herself a few months before the project's completion. (She mentions herself - particularly right before the party goes to Eldrant that she's "still so new" at piloting, with the only real known comparison being Ginji, so that's why we believe she hasn't been training as long as he has.)

In the run-up to the point where she meets the party, she and Ginji both have been doing flight tests in the Albiore I, up until the winds over the Meggiora Highlands cause the aircraft to crash. By the time Noelle found out about the crash and came to see what she could do, the party had already met with Iemon and departed to rescue Ginji. In the meantime, the second Albiore II was prepped to recieve the Albiore I's hover drive, and Noelle herself was briefed for the mission that Luke and the party had asked for in return for rescuing Ginji and the the hover drive.

Luke and his friends are successful in rescuing both the hover drive and her brother, and Noelle flies the party to St. Binah, where they succeed in getting the rest of the trapped villagers off, just in time before the land begins to fall. After that point, she takes the party and St. Binah's refugees to Yulia City, where the party discusses what to do next.

Throughout the early game, Noelle is constantly on the move - flying the party where they need to go, or flying others there based on the directions of the main party - such as when she ferries the children and elderly of Engeve to (relative) safety at Chesedonia. Problems arise when the party goes to check the Score to see if there is anything about the Outer Lands falling. While waiting at the Albiore for them, Noelle is taken by surprise and knocked out by Dist, who then uses her as a hostage to force Luke and the party's cooperation when Mohs captures them. After that point, she's held in Daath, likely to prevent any kind of interference (as Mohs was trying to have Luke and Natalia killed so the war between Kimlasca and Malkuth could proceed as planned). It's Asch, (possibly on a tip from Ion), who breaks her out. In order to save time, she offers to fly him in the Albiore to Baticul, only to find that Dist removed the flightstone that controlled the hover drive. Using some quick modifications, she enables the Albiore to move on land and water, and proceeds to ferry Asch to Baticul, and then later proceeds over to Belkend to rendezvous with the party.

Noelle continues her work after that, ferrying the party around, and once the hover drive is reinstalled, flying the world leaders to the summit in Yulia City. After that, the party begins the core entry operation, which she participates in, in order to fly the party out of the core after they settle the Tartarus there.

On the day of the operation, Noelle spends much of her time onboard the Tartarus, preparing the Albiore with its own pressure neutralization glyph and being briefed for the mission. When the commotion of Van's attack on Sheridan and Sheridan Port breaks out, she's told to stay on the ship and guard their work/keep herself safe (since she'll be necessary to getting the party out of the core), and therefore is largely unaware of what exactly transpires until it's over. Despite her grief at having just lost her grandfather and many people was probably quite familiar with, she presses on, in order to make sure their sacrifice is not in vain.

After flying the party successfully out of the core, she continues flying them around. When the Albiore's engine freezes overnight, Noelle prepositions Nephry's help in defrosting it so the party can depart for the Absorption Gate. The process isn't entirely hands-on, so she ends up spending a decent portion of the night resting with everyone else. Early in the morning, however, as she gets up early to go check on the Albiore, she meets Asch, who asks her about what the party plans to do, at which point she informs him they'll be leaving for the Absorption Gate later that day.

She stays behind while the rest of the party descends the Absorption Gate, keeping the ship ready, given that Jade had only informed Tear and Luke that they might need to lower the land right away, and she wanted to make sure they could move quickly. She surprised, therefore, when the land lowers right then, but takes it in stride and flies the party back to their homes afterwards.

In the month following, she returns to Sheridan and resumes work, helping Sheridan to rebuild and work through the loss of the Classes, but especially using her new practical experience with flight to help come up with new innovations for the Albiore II and III, which her brother had begun to pilot. She ends up workng a great deal with the airships on a day-to-day basis, and therefore is one of the first to know when Asch comissions the help of Ginji and the Albiore III.

Shortly afterward, Luke turns up asking to go see his friends, and she agrees to help him by being his pilot again. Her work is fairly straightforward after that, continuing to transport the party to where they need to go. It's only when they attempt to approach Eldrant for the first time that her skill fails her, as she is unable to break through the protective barrier created by the Planet Storm. Her confidence is a little shaken by this event - she doesn't really start making any comments on how Ginji could have done a better job than her until after it.

Despite the increasing risk - particularly an increasing use of anti-aircraft fire - Noelle continues to serve as the party's pilot, even overcoming her lapses in confidence. In the briefing right before the assault on Eldrant, she specifically asks to be the one to fly the party to the floating landmass.

In the assault itself, she is able to dodge Eldrant's anti-aircraft fire expertly, but is unable to land until a risky move by her brother creates a gap in Eldrant's defenses. As the party prepares to go inside, she's told that if there's any sign of danger, even without them, to take Ginji and leave.

Personality:

Noelle is fairly easygoing, perhaps as a result of having grown up around the eccentricities of her grandfather and his colleagues; in the anime, it's she who tells Luke there's no reason to be so uptight, when he seems stiff and formal at meeting the members of the Classes. She's lived her whole life surrounded by people who tend to become wholly invested in their work (to the point where they seem more concerned about the airship that crashed than their grandson piloting it), so she's used to people expressing themselves oddly or indirectly.

Because of this, she's actually fairly perceptive, emotion-wise. She realizes, the night before the assault on Eldrant, that Luke and Tear wish to have time alone together, and arranges for it to happen. It doesn't show itself much, because she's usually interacting with the party on a professional level, but it's there. And to that end, she's overall a rather caring individual, watching out for the members of the party as she likely has to watch out for her own family - in the anime, she's seen giving Tear a blanket when the party has stopped for a rest, after they've found out about Tear's miasma poisoning.

But for her own emotions, Noelle tends to be very reserved, and keeps them under fairly tight control. In the anime (and also in the manga, "special" as that version of Tales of the Abyss is....), while she does get upset, upon hearing about the deaths of her grandfather and the other members of the Classes in the massacre at Sheridan, and even cries, she pushes her feelings aside in order to focus on the task at hand, without any real prompting from any of the others. She herself says that she can't let their sacrifices be in vain. Additionally, she never lets any of her nervous tendencies interfere with her piloting ability. Despite being unsure of her ability to accurately predict the pattern of Eldrant's anti-aircraft fire, she still does so, and dodges it expertly. Because, simply put, she knows that she can't. As a pilot, particularly one who frequently flies in dangerous situations, hesitations and second-guessing herself could be extremely dangerous, even fatal.

Despite this, she is wary of riskier options and courses of action, especially when less risky but still viable options exist. In the "Hopeless Dreamer" sub-event, an optional sub-event after the party has breached Eldrant, she admits that she would prefer not to fly the Albiore through much anti-aircraft fire, despite knowing both she and the ship can handle it. In her opinion, there's too much risk associated with those actions, and especially given the importance of the people whom she was serving as pilot for.

So far as family goes, she has a fairly close attachment to them, probably owing to how close she's worked with them over the years. Her brother is the only other trained pilot that we know for sure exists, so it's likely that their fairly close given that common bond, not to mention the fact that her grandfather was highly involved in the Albiore project.

Strengths:
Having spent almost her entire life growing up in what is essentially a desert (despite Sheridan being a port town; how does Auldrant's geography work anyway), Noelle is fairly used to dealing with the appropriate extremes in temperature - particularly heat. Also, given likely experience working around with fon machinery and other projects, she's fairly strong for someone her size, and is pretty good working with tools and machinery. As a pilot of the Albiore, she has quick reflexes that allow her to react to unexpected situations and perform advanced maneuvers, such as dodging Eldrant's anti-aircraft fire.

Matching her quick reflexes is her quick thinking - she has to have it to have been able to accurately  predict and dodge Eldrant's anti-aircraft fire. She's fairly intelligent and quite knowledgeable, especially about fon machinery. As a result of growing up in Sheridan, she's also probably a very innovative thinker, willing to try out new ideas and come up with new possibilities. There's also some evidence in the game and manga (again, depending how much stock you want to put in the manga) that she isn't a bad teacher - there's implication she shows Guy how to pilot the Albiore in the Hopeless Dreamer sub-event, and in the manga she explains some details about the planet's core to the party. 

Noelle has remarkably good control over her emotions - to the point where she's able to contain her grief over the death of her own grandfather and several of his colleagues - many of whom she was probably very familiar with - in order to focus on the task at hand (including the cause her grandfather had sacrificed his life for). She'll cry, yes, but she'll push it aside for the greater good. The same goes with her doubts. She may have them, and comment on them in discussions, but when it's time to fly? There's no room to second-guess herself, and she realizes this. She also shows a certain selflessness - in the night before the assault on Eldrant, during the 24 hour leave that the party is given, she gives up her own time to take Luke and Tear out in the Albiore and give them time by themselves, even keeping Mieu from interfering.

Weaknesses:
Noelle has practically no known experience in any kind of fight, and would probably be a major liability in those sort of circumstances, unless, say, she had some sort of tool or weapon to use (like that flamethrower Tamara uses). This is evidenced by how Dist was able to knock her out and use her as a hostage against the party. Additionally, she has no abilities beyond her physical ones - which is to say she's not a fonist.

She doesn't set much stock in the whole idea of "tradition" and "traditional thinking," at least on the basis of pure tradition alone. Also, beyond matters spanning fontech and it's construction, she probably isn't too knoweldgable. She's seen in some official meetings - with generals and the party - so she clearly has some experience dealing with authority, but likely not in any sort of formal setting. As a result of her upbringing, Noelle is actually fairly project- and goal-oriented, and she's willing to set things aside and do what she needs to do to achieve those goals - for instance being willing to forego sleep and disregard her own condition to help the party as needed. However, without a goal or task in mind, she feels a little unsettled and confused.

Noelle seems somewhat prone to doubting herself, particularly after a failure, even if the failure is not her own fault - such as when she was unable to break through the protective barrier around Eldrant, and while she admires her brother a great deal, comparing herself to him oftentimes leads to her not giving herself enough credit. She also has a bit of a tendency to hold back on her emotions, even if she's disappointed or something's bothering her.

Samples

First Person:

Hello, everyone, my name is Noelle. You... might have seen me and my older brother Ginji around.

I was wondering if anyone could tell me a little bit more about the barrier. I know it reaches all the way around the community, but... does anyone know how far up it goes? I read the Newcomer's guide, but it didn't say anything specific. <small>[At this, she pauses slightly.]</small> You see, I'm a pilot in my own world, and... If it's something that hasn't been explored before, it might be worth looking into.

I can understand that there might not be much use for an airship here, I suppose. Besides from travelling to beach, everything seems fairly concentrated. <small>[And the teleporters.]</small> I guess I've just been needing something to work on. <small>[Not that she'd try to build an entire airship herself. That's ridiculous. But it might be something others were interested in, maybe.]</small>

In any case, thank you for your time.

((OOC; if this doesn't work then Q&A please...))

Third Person:

Noelle sighed, looking down at the various little sketches she'd done. Schematics, mainly. Ideas for small fon machines and notes about improvements for projects back home, though who knew how long it'd be before they could be put to use. It felt strange, here in Luceti. Everyone felt so scattered here, without a real purpose or driving force. In Sheridan, life revolved around tasks and goals, things you wanted and needed to do - projects, projects, projects. Here, the only real one was to sit here, build a normal life around you. It was so different than being surrounded by the ambitious dreamers - people who often forgot about what was there to focus on what could be and how they could make it happen - that she'd lived her whole life with. Even flying Luke and his friends around Auldrant had a purpose - they were saving the world, and she had to do her part to help that. But there was nothing like that here, not even an airship so she could work on her piloting skills. It left her feeling distinctly unsettled and unsure. A sort of feeling that left her asking "What should I do now?"

There was also the unfamiliarity. Maybe that was something that was normal for here, but in Sheridan you were surrounded by people you knew, really knew. Even while flying around in the Albiore, she'd gotten to know the people she'd flown around. Even if it was only supposed to be a professional relationship, you learned a lot just listening to people talk. But here, even those she knew - besides Ginji - felt a little distant. They'd been here longer, were much more in the way of established in this strange world they'd found themselves in.

Other world... the Rocket Man and his crew had dreamed of reaching other worlds, and here they were on one.

Who knew how long they would be here. It could be weeks, or years, by the sound of it. Nothing was certain - this world apparently never even had a Score (not that they were supposed to use it back on Auldrant, anymore). She could probably try to work on her own things, maybe. Ideas she'd wondered about, that she hadn't really been able to work on, once she'd started training as a pilot. She'd have to find tools and materials and...

She'd adapt. That was just a thing you did. Things changed, and you adapted to them, or made what you needed to do so. Maybe they'd be able to come up with something to help others too. It wasn't idea, no, but it'd work out.