BoilingWriter
Roleplay Enthusiast
NAME
Variella Halyn
NICKNAME(S)
Vari, Ella, El
AGE
17
SPECIES
Shapeshifter / Witch
GENDER
Cis-Female
SEXUALITY
Pansexual
YEARS AT DFA
1
(this is her first)
PERSONALITY
Variella's favorite transformation is a dog, and her personality matches.
Variella is loyal to those she cares about, and does not lose faith easily. She is very caring and protective, and friendly to everyone she meets. She loves making new friends, but also calls everyone who is nice to her a "friend"- both because she wants it to be true and because she believes it to be true.
While fun loving and playful, Variella can be territorial about her stuff- especially food. Kind as she may be, she loves eating. And not sharing.
Additionally, Variella is known to be quick-tempered when she thinks it's necessary (and, as previously stated, when her stuff is stolen). If someone is picking on her friends or family, Variella will show no mercy in retaliation. Because she is not very quick-witted, she almost always will jump straight to invitations for fisticuffs. (Call her family poor... one more time!)
Variella is high energy, always on the move. She exercises a lot, more due to having excess energy than caring anything about her health. Because of her high energy level, she tends to be very loud and obnoxious.
HISTORY
Variella grew up with both her mother and father in a relatively happy home. The two are self sustaining farmers, and don't see any appeal in material goods, leading many to believe that Variella is poor. Her attitude towards wealth is similar to her parents- money can't buy happiness!- but she is rubbed the wrong way by people who poke fun at her for being "poor."
Variella never had any formal schooling; only her parents' unconventional homeschooling. She made plenty of trips into town, theoretically to make sure she got her share of outside interaction, but because of the small town they live in Variella learned to trust everyone.
Raised as a shapeshifter, Variella only learned of her witchcraft around age 10. When her parents realized what the powers meant, they sent her to live with her grandmother for a year so that Variella could be taught by a full-blooded witch how to use her powers correctly. This extended vacation taught her that she may have more abilities than she expects, but that the extent of her power is entirely unknown.
Going back to live with her parents, she was given plenty a loving environment to grow up in, but one that didn't help her powers grow in any way. Luckily, a Dark Forest Academy "brochure" made itself available at just the right time...
POWERS/ ABILITIES
-change into any* animal/magical creature-
Seeing as both of Variella's parents were shapeshifters, she is technically a full-blood and can become any animal or creature that she is familiar with. However, as with any ability, these things take time and practice. Variella is a fan of canines, and thus can easily shift into most breeds of dogs, including wolves and foxes. She also learned- as many shifters do early on- to turn into a small bird for easy travelling.
As you can imagine, it's easier for her to shift into smaller animals and animals that she's interacted with before. If she tries to shift into something she hasn't seen in real life before, or something complicated and large, her failure will most likely be both painful and exhausting for her.
Recently, she has been trying to learn how to shift into a baby dragon, but as they are ancient, complicated and a form of shifter themselves, Variella has been having a very tough time, and even if she masters the ability she would be very small and probably unable to even breathe fire. But hey, a dragon is a dragon.
-acquiring traits of any animal/magical creature-
Understandably, since Variella can become any creature she is familiar with, she can also take on singular traits of any animal she is familiar with.
She can take on the night vision of cats, the smelling of dogs, and so on. Again, she can only really do this with animal traits that she is familiar with, so while she has impeccable night vision and pretty sharp claws when she wants to, she doesn't often use the dogs' smell so it wouldn't be as developed.
-basic magical abilities-
Variella has some witch blood on her mother's side, so she has a number of abilities that other shifters don't necessarily have. These abilities- however minor- are what lead her parents to submit her application to this academy. She doesn't know how great her powers are, but she agrees that a power left unattended is dangerous, so she hopes to hone whatever skills she may have.
STRENGTHS
Because of her history on the farm, Variella has a significant amount of physical strength.
Variella is incredibly friendly and happy, so she is liked by a number of people, which can be quite useful when she needs help.
Variella is very brave, but not in the sense that she has no fears- only that she is willing to face any fear if it means protecting the people who need protection.
Variella is very energetic, and while she does like to doze, she runs at full capacity while she's awake.
WEAKNESSES
Variella does have a significant amount of physical strength, but she doesn't realize that it's so unnatural. For this reason, she "plays rough" a lot, thinking that she's being gentle and simply not realizing that she is being harmful.
Although she's incredibly friendly, since Variella didn't have much interaction with people outside of her home and the small town nearby, she doesn't know how to deal with different types of people very well. She probably doesn't know what the word "emo" means, much less how to interact with one.
Another downfall of Variella being "too friendly" is that she is too trusting, and takes the phrase "innocent until proven guilty" to heart. However, even when people prove themselves to be less than perfect, Variella is difficult to lose as a friend- her morals are somewhat loose, so as long as you aren't mean to other people or animals, she will probably trust you unconventionally.
Variella can seem very selfish when you try and ask her for a bite of her food, but when it counts she puts everyone else before her. Because of this viewpoint, she will often overestimate herself and get into sticky situations on behalf of her friends.
Variella is very high energy, but this can be a downfall when she needs to focus or when she needs to be calm.
LIKES
Variella loves being outdoors, and certainly never minds getting messy when she's out there. Falling under the category of outside, Variella loves animals and can enjoy gardening- when she can slow down long enough to tend for the plants carefully.
Variella loves people, and loves to make friends even more. Variella tries to be helpful as much as she can, and prides herself in doing so- making her very easy to exploit.
Variella loves exercise and sports, anything to keep her on the move. Specifically, she enjoys activities that teach her self defense, because she wants to be able to use those skills to aid others.
Variella loves to learn about just about anything- but she has a hard time sitting still and focusing on what she's hearing/reading/etc.
Variella LOVES to swim. She is quite the water bug, and never minds diving into lakes and ponds for a short little swim. Although she can transform into a fish (technically she prefers changing into an otter), Variella usually keeps her human form while in water.
DISLIKES
Variella hates sitting still. She will always be either on the move, bouncing her leg crazily, or sleeping. But when she falls asleep, she is out.
Variella doesn't like reading. Although she loves to learn and loves to listen to stories, she can never sit still long enough to enjoy a good book.
Variella doesn't like cooking. While she loves to eat, Variella can never seem to make the food herself, so she no longer likes trying.
Variella HATES jerks. Anyone who can be rude to someone else for no reason is not worthy of her friendship, and she won't mind telling you. Variella's anger lights even faster if you're mean to her friends, and she will bare her teeth at even the slightest hint of aggression.
FEARS
Although she would never admit to it, Variella has a number of fears.
Variella is afraid of fire. Although she enjoys basking in its warmth, she was burned pretty badly once as a child and thus is very careful around flames that she cannot control.
Variella is, of course, terrifies of losing the people she loves the most. It's probable that her courage stemmed from her fear of losing her friends and family, but because she is so afraid of the hurt from losing them she doesn't think about how they would hurt from losing her.
Variella is claustrophobic. Not only in tight spaces, but also in big crowds. If she notices either situation approaching, she will immediately begin looking for an exit and bee-lining towards it.
CLUBS/TEAMS
Sword Fighting Team
(Although she is not a part of the dragon riding team, she is often found loitering around when they practice so that she can study the dragons in hopes of improving her transformation ability)
DORM
Unassigned
CLASSES
Unassigned