Vani

About

Vani is the leader of Team Starfly, one of the teams within the Artema Hunters---the village's defense force against hostile roaming spirits (wraiths) and other harmful outside forces. Despite her role, she's actually somewhat new to the area. Yet, the village elder seems to find her promising so far, so long as she keeps up the good work.

Due to her magical skills, Vani is considered the team's mage. They specialize in the elements of ice and fire. The magic is sourced from their soul, regulated through their gems, and channeled through their body to create different effects. Vani is able to summon ice and fire using a body part---for example, they can summon an ice crystal in their hands, or shoot fire from their mouth. Since the two have become friends, though, he seems to be nicer and more open.

Personality

Diligent, determined, responsible, caring, outgoing, curious, overperfectionist, competitive, somewhat prideful, sometimes uptight, and can be stubborn.

Vani is usually optimistic and in a good mood. But, they're passive-aggressive when annoyed, or when slightly angry. Depending on who she's around, she may be sassy, and can be ferocious when truly angry. She tends to push through sadness and tears, at least until their in a safer place. They're considered a reliable, kind person by most people in the village.

Vani maintains a kind, yet serious composure most of the time. Recently, though, she's relaxing a bit and letting herself be a little silly from time to time, but she may feel embarrassed when pointed out. Effort was always valued in their family, which further pushed Vani to work hard at everything she does. However, she has a problem with overworking herself, either by working too long or using up all her mana, etc. She's gradually trying to overcome her inner perfectionist. Also, they hate losing/the feeling of failure. If there's a challenge, they will not back down from it. When they have a goal in mind, they will find a way to accomplish it. These qualities cause her to push other people harder, sometimes more than others can handle. She doesn't mean to hurt anyone with this, though, but she's trying to break out of these habits---not just for others, but for her own sake too.

Backstory

Vani had a decent life as a kid, but was much more shy than she is today. This was worse due to her more outspoken family members being pushy and overbearing---mainly her mother and older sister. Her sister was quite bossy, yet talented with magic from a young age. Vani always worked on controlling her ice magic, but felt like it wasn't enough compared to what her sister could do. She hated feeling pushed around like this, and felt like her mother didn't do much to help. One day, after a particularly bad argument with her sister, Vani felt fed up and vowed that she'd become a better mage than her sister (and the whole family) ever was.

Due to their initial shyness, Vani had a hard time making close friends early on. However, they did become good friends with Milo, since their families knew each other. Over time, Vani became more sociable as her confidence grew.

A few years ago, Vani was attacked by a powerful wraith, and died from the injuries. Well, almost. The attack striked her chest and tore her soul in half, and she was hospitalized for a while. Yet, she survived, thanks to the work done on her chest and particularly the "soul surgery" she had. Ever since then, Vani realized two weird things. One: they couldn't remember some aspects of their life like they could before. Two: she can use fire magic now. Though, the fire magic is a cool bonus (but they still wonder how'd that even happen). She wants to discover the reason behind these weird events one day.

Their father looked after them more since that incident. Also since then, the two disconnected themselves farther away from the rest of the family (as well as the Valenias), also partially because of conflict involving the mother's brother (Vani's uncle). Their father hasn't trusted him for a long time as he feels there are ulterior motives to his work.

Eventually, Vani got the chance to move into a new place---Artema Village. They got a job as a wraith hunter there and have been helping to protect the village since. She's been able to make new friends and continues to strengthen her magical abilites. Two people come to mind that they didn't expect to befriend: Connor, whose personality is so far unlike hers yet she enjoys having him around, and Swift, whose optimistic, upbeat nature she really likes. She worked with both of them quite a bit during missions. Later on, the village elder granted her leadership of a new team division within the Artema Hunters (though only because the elder found the three's dynamic and complementing abilities useful). Thus, Team Starfly was officially born.