Post by Hope Estheim on Jul 21, 2011 8:49:43 GMT -5
Hope Estheim
"If we have the power to destroy Cocoon, then we have the power to save it!"
Custom Title:
[color=0099FF][font=vijaya]Flourishing Optimism[/color][/font]Age: 14
Gender: Male
Family: Bartholomew Estheim (Father), Nora Estheim (Mother, deceased)
Race: Hume
Sexual Orientation: As he's learned quite thoroughly of late, heterosexual
Home World: Cocoon
Alignment: Unaligned, all-around good guy
Job: None
Items: None of note
Accessories: None of note
Appearance Hope is, obviously, built like a fourteen-year old, still skinny and relatively short though his five-foot-tall frame indicates he has plenty of room to grow. Resembling his mother a good bit, Hope possesses a sharp mop of silvery hair that hangs down into his face and light blue eyes. His attire usually consists of shorts, a simple shirt with a jacket thrown over it, and flat-bottomed shoes. He's lost the scarf thing recently, since he thinks it makes him look too young, but he still occasionally wears some gloves.
Personality: Though originally highly insecure, mama's boy turned overnight sensation Hope Estheim's time as a l'Cie seemed to do wonders for his psyche. Most fourteen year olds would have broken down during such a situation and been shattered for life. Not this young man! Thanks to the influence of the other l'Cie, most notably Lightning, Hope went from a whine about how miserable the world is and flee from everything dangerous kind of fellow into a mature, responsible young warrior over time. Of course, having ever-developing magic powers that allowed him to take down fal'Cie helped a bit in that, too. He thanks Lightning, Vanille, and Snow, especially, for helping him finally live up to his name a bit.
It's not all rosy in his life, though. He's still a teenager with teenager problems, and having finally noticed that all of the women in his life are extremely attractive, Hope's a bit of a confused little howler monkey right now. Some of the angst that showed through during the short time he wished to stab through occasionally rears its ugly head, but it's usually in shorter bursts now. He's also busy mending his relationship with his father, so that adds to his confusion. All of it comes together to make him a bit unpredictable these days, though underneath all of the teenaged blooming, he's still the same kid that helped save the world, so he'll grow out of it.
Eventually.
History: Born in Palumpolum, Hope's early life was....pretty plain. His father worked for the Sanctum, always away on business, and as an only child Hope grew close to his mother. Fast forward fourteen years from his birth, since nothing of particular note happened, and Hope's life would change permanently. On a trip to see the Bodhum fireworks show with his mom, Hope would be caught up in the Purge that resulted from the presence of the Pulse fal'Cie there. Hope and his mother were saved from the PSICOM military by Snow Villiers and his group of NORA vigilantes, and in a surprising move, Hope's mother, also named Nora, took up arms along with Snow's crew. While attempting to save the NORA leader, however, she would be killed in the line of fire, leaving Hope with little more than despair and a desire for vengeance against the man he thought responsible for his mother's death.
At the prodding of another Purge victim, Vanille, Hope would march right up to the Pulse Vestige that housed the fal'Cie, braving a few monsters for the chance to confront Snow. He would basically freeze up when he did so, however, and was forced to tag along with the nutcase, along with a pilot named Sazh and soldier named Lightning, when they took on the fal'Cie. The fal'Cie was killed, but like the rest, it branded Hope a l'Cie before it died.
Devastated, Hope was forced to tag along with the rest, still plotting against Snow even when the party separated from him on Lake Bresha. Eventually, compelled to follow Lightning as she set out on her own, Hope continued to prove how unprepared he was for something like this, only managing to flash his potential on occasion. Once Lightning decided to help him become strong enough to confront Snow, Hope's grief and awkwardness quickly turned into glorious angst, even to the point that Lightning gave him his knife in order to stab the beanie-headed hero. Hope would have done it, too, despite Lightning's admittance that she'd been wrong to lead him down the path towards stabbing Snow. The two of them reached Palumpolum and were eventually saved from a Guardian Corps ambush by Snow and another l'Cie, after which Hope was finally given his alone time with the big lug. Though Lightning tried to warn Snow, Hope was still able to corner the NORA leader while they headed towards Hope's home.
The only thing that stopped Hope from doing....something murderous to Snow was the Sanctum military, and after falling unconscious from an explosion, Hope found himself on a badly injured Snow's back. Still fueled by angst that he had to release on something, he decided, once Snow was incapacitated, that it would be a good idea to take on a Sanctum warship by himself. He held it off until Lightning and the other l'Cie, Fang, arrived, and the four eventually made it to Hope's home, where his father was waiting.
Hope was genuinely shocked to find that his dad held no ill will against him, or against the party for dragging him into the l'Cie mess, or against Snow for Nora's death. In fact, his dad willingly sheltered the entire party for a time before Yaag Rosch's division found them, and even then, he willingly acted as if he were a hostage while his son and his companions escaped. Hope, wondering why it took all this to mend his relationship with his father, was forced to leave reluctantly, though when the party made their way to Cid Raines' ship, he was relieved to hear his father had been secured safely.
With the news that Sazh and Vanille had been made prisoners on the Sanctum flagship, Hope, somewhat renewed by his experiences, willingly tagged along. The group was reunited a time afterwards, eventually taking on Sanctum Primarch Galenth Dysley in the belief that bringing down the head of Cocoon would help them fulfill their apparent focus, the destruction of the entire planet.
Then the old fart turned into a fal'Cie.
Revealing that he had manipulated events to his liking, Dysley fought the party and allowed them to escape to the Fifth Ark, a l'Cie training ground, in order to strengthen themselves and complete their focus. This eventually dragged them down to Gran Pulse, Fang and Vanille's home planet, where Hope would hit another bump in the road.
While out searching for some food, Hope would basically collapse and go on a pity-party about how the group should leave him behind, since he was the weak link. That's when his Eidolon, Alexander, arrived to slap some sense into him. Forced to fight for his life against the Eidolon with Lightning and Fang offering him support, Hope would eventually bring the giant down and find out that maybe he was strong enough to keep up with the rest of the party. During the rest of the party's travels on Gran Pulse, Hope would perform pretty admirably, though he still required the support of the others and Vanille's odd way of playing with his mind on occasion.
Once they reached Oerba and were prepared to return to Cocoon, Dysley showed up again. Another fight, and another ship carried the l'Cie back to Cocoon, where they found Cid Raines, whom had confronted the party in the Fifth Ark and revealed that he was an unfortunate l'Cie pawn of the fal'Cie, in the seat as Primarch. Eden, Cocoon's capital, was completely under assault. Who had to save the day? That's right, the l'Cie, and Hope was right there with them, now as important a member of the party as any of the rest.
They made it to Orphan's Cradle, home of the fal'Cie Orphan, after a good bit of interruption, and after beating up on Dysley yet again, they finally faced Orphan to complete their focus. Then Fang had to go and try to turn into Ragnarok, leaving Hope, along with all the non-Oerbans, to turn into Cieth when they tried to stop her.
But they beat it.
And beat Orphan, too. And basically blew up Cocoon, though Fang and Vanille managed to stop it. Though Hope was thrilled that it was all over and that they were all still intact, having Fang and Vanille trapped in crystalstasis somewhat dampened the situation. Regardless, he learned that his father had escaped, and they eventually settled down not far from where the other l'Cie were staying, with Hope hearing rumors sometime later that the Pulse l'Cie just might be hanging around somewhere.
Abilities:
- Strong magic user - Though he's obviously regressed some from his time as a l'Cie, Hope still knows his way around magic and prefers to strictly use it in combat. He can still cast quite a few spells, but not nearly as many as previous.
- Good athlete - He's fourteen, skinny, and he built up a great deal of stamina while he was running around as a l'Cie fugitive. He's a good climber, a good runner, and very agile and flexible.
- Accurate thrower - Hope got a little extra practice in with his boomerang while he was a l'Cie, and he was already good at throwing it.
- Tactical mind - Time around Light has introduced Hope to the world of military tactics and the best ways to approach an enemy, and ever since losing his brand he's been more interested in this type of thing.
Summons: Alexander - Hope's Eidolon, Alexander is basically....a wall. A wall that shoots cannons of light energy, at that. In his humanoid form, Alexander mainly punches fools into the ground and acts as a Sentinel, absorbing punishment.
Magic:
- Fire/Fira
- Thunder/Thundara
- Cure/Cura
- Shell
Strengths:
- Mature for his age
- Intelligent
- Usually optimistic
Weaknesses:
- TEENAGE-HOOD D: D: D:
- Prone to saying things he doesn't mean
- Physically smallish and unimposing
- Unlucky
Weapon The Mostest Deadliest Boomerang in the World - This impressive, banana-colored boomerang, which Hope seems to pull out of absolutely nowhere in the back of his pants, is somehow capable of slaying vicious monsters without any trouble at all when Hope flings it. Nobody's really sure why anyone would sell a kid a deadly boomerang, but you see now why Hope relies heavily on magic. He's actually in the market for a new weapon.
Crushes:
How did you find us? A singer in a smoky room? The smell of wine and cheap perfume?
Role Play Sample: I kind of forgot to PM the audition to myself, so I can't copy-paste it...... T_T
Password: I'M THE MAAAAAAAN ON THE (removed once accepted)
