application.

[envisaging]

OOC Information:
Name: Lucy.
Are you over 15? Yep!
Contact: ilovelucille89@gmail.com works best for contacting me if you need me ASAP, but I'm also around at lucylovespluto & fleeting.

IC Information:
Name: Serah Farron --> Sierra Irene Callahan.
Canon and medium: Final Fantasy XIII; video game series.
Age: 18 in XIII-1, 21 in XIII-2. Reincarnated age 20.
Preincarnation Species: Human.
Preincarnation Appearance: Like this.
Any differences: Her hair is currently a light brown instead of pink, and discounting her bangs to the sides of her face and on her forehead, her hair is all one length, rather than the half-short, half-long (in a side pony) thing Serah had going on. Sierra otherwise looks pretty much the same as Serah.
Preincarnated History:

Wiki link! Also see Episode Zero, Episode 1, Fragments Before, and Fragments After.
Serah Farron was born in the singular world of Cocoon. I say "singular" because there was really no place like it. Cocoon was an artificial world built by the fal'Cie, with oceans and land masses within it, home to tens of millions of humans - and some eight million fal'Cie, who maintained the world. Cocoon was a paradise, with all the needs of the humans seen to. The fal'Cie and those who served them protected those from Cocoon from the savage world below - Pulse. While the last big conflict between the two places had been centuries before, that battle had torn Cocoon's shell, and remained etched in the memories of its people, who were raised to hate and fear Pulse. Pulse was the enemy of Cocoon, after all. The fal'Cie were somewhere between spirits and gods, and few questioned this way of life - or did anything about it.

This war and hatred did not touch much of Serah's childhood, all the same - though loss did manage to touch her. She grew up in a small family of four - or at least, she started that way. While she lost her father when she wasn't really old enough to understand death, Serah at least understood she would never see him again. And when she lost her mother to a sickness, she was only twelve. After her mother died, Serah's sister, Claire, took on a new name - Lightning. And Lightning became her guardian. Sometime when she was in middle school Lightning joined the military, and became busy at work. While the two made a point to eat breakfast together (on days Lightning had to leave early, at least), much of Lightning's time was evidently taken up with work. Eventually Serah moved on to high school. She was a straight-A student, and had plans to go to Eden, the capital, for university.

These plans only wavered after she met Snow, although it should be noted that Snow never asked her to stay and just said that Eden wasn't that far away - encouraging her to follow what she'd wanted to do. Snow and Serah began dating, and were nearly inseparable. And Serah did appear to decide that Snow was right, even if Eden wasn't as close as he said.

And then, of course, we hit game plot start, and everything goes to hell in a handbasket.

One day, while waiting for Snow, Serah decides to go visit the Bodham Vestige. The ruins were a place she visited often - and according to a pre-game story, she had gone there before with her father, and then her sister - and were the main reason she'd become interested in history. The mystery of them called to her - because no one knew why the ruins were there, and there was no entrance into them. Until, of course, that day. Finding a door there, Serah decided to go inside to explore - and there she was chosen by the Pulse fal'Cie, Anima, and became a branded l'Cie - humans granted physical and magical power, as well as a "Focus" they must fulfill - or risk becoming monsters known as Cie'th. The reward for completing a Focus is to be turned into crystal and thereby granted eternal life, so the choice was sort of not the greatest either way.

While Serah has a dream of transforming into Ragnarok and destroying Cocoon, she doesn't realize what she saw - or what it means. Without anyone around to tell her, she doesn't realize she saw her Focus. All she knows is that she has become a Pulse l'Cie. Being that Pulse was the enemy of Cocoon, and given what l'Cie were, she believed this made her an enemy to all Cocoon, and that she would be dangerous to all those around her. Her solution to this was to push people away and possibly go far away herself - she hadn't quite figured that part out yet by the time she started the "push people away" phase, which required her to break up with Snow. Snow, being Snow, wanted a reason as to why - and Serah did tell him, although it was perhaps a further attempt to convince him she wasn't safe.

And Snow, being Snow, reacted in a way no one else really would have, and completely believed her. And then, believing her about being a Pulse l'Cie, in a world where Pulse was hated and feared, he told her he didn't care and he would help her to fulfill her Focus, and that it would be okay.

After that, things moved quickly. Serah had a heart-to-heart with Vanille (although she didn't realize that Vanille's tearful apology at the end of their talk was for her, and not a friend who wasn't there), hunted for a gift for Lightning's upcoming birthday with Snow, and attended the annual Bowdam fireworks festival. There Snow proposed to her, to cement the idea that everything would turn out all right, and Serah accepted. This sort of actually worked against them later, because on Lightning's birthday Serah attempted to tell her sister that she had become a l'Cie - and also that she was going to marry Snow. Lightning couldn't believe that after hearing someone had become a Pulse l'Cie anyone would propose after the fact, and the confrontation ends with Serah running off in tears.

At this point the military finally realized "oh shit there's a Pulse l'Cie" and attacked Serah, and Snow and Serah decided to go back towards the Vestige in hopes that the Pulse fal'Cie would reveal something about her Focus, or give them some further clues on how to proceed. Rather than helping them out, though, the Pulse fal'Cie just takes Serah hostage.

While more stuff happens after this outside the Vestige, Serah's pretty much out cold for most of it. It's only when her sister, fiancé, and their assorted hangers-on arrive that Serah comes around again. She speaks to them for a very short time, and ends with: "You can save us. Protect us all. Save Cocoon." While this is very clearly not her Focus (given she apparently received the same Focus as everyone else), the other characters didn't know this, and regardless of that fact Serah then crystallized - which only further emphasized in the minds of the others that she had somehow completed her Focus. She leaves behind a single crystallized tear, which is taken by Snow. Through this tear she could hear Snow and see what he saw, while she dreamed in crystal stasis - which meant that while she wasn't there for most of the first game, she sort of dreamt about a lot of it. However, I'm not going to summarize that overmuch - just suffice it to say that the heroes saved the day.

Serah woke from her crystallized sleep along with Dahj, Sazh's son, and led him to the others. Neither knew where the others would be so much as they felt they ought to go in that direction, and then just rolled with it because Why Not. There Serah reunited with Lightning and Snow. Lightning gave Snow and Serah her blessing, smiling, and Serah spoke about being a school teacher, maybe. To teach children what had happened to them, and build a future. Snow promised to build her a school. Snow wanted to start planning their wedding immediately.

...At least, that was what was supposed to happen. And it did happen, in a sense. But then, you see, we hit Final Fantasy XII-2. And seeing as how everything had just been so neatly rescued from the hell-bound hand basket, it immediately had to turn straight back around and go back there, or else there wouldn't be a reason for a sequel.

As it turned out, everyone was apparently going to stay crystal - until the goddess Etro intervened. This intervention created a huge rift/warping in time and space, and dragged Lightning off to Etro's realm, where she became a guard to the goddess - among other things, because this screwing-the-timeline thing ended up as a huge, huge problem. Everyone but Serah forgot that Lightning had ever made it out of the pillar. The new belief was that Lightning had sacrificed herself along with Fang and Vanille and been crystallized. Serah's insistence that Lightning was out there and alive, and that something had happened, was seen as delusions and grief.

...Except Snow, who, after Serah repeated her belief years later, decided to take her at her word. He gave her his engagement necklace and went off on a quest to find Serah's sister, while Serah waited in New Bodham, where she'd become a teacher. Which neatly explains where Snow was (...kinda) for most of the events of XII-2, because of course Snow didn't actually come back with Lightning. Unfortunately.

Instead, three years after the ending of the first game (or 3 AF, after the fall), Serah had a ~mysterious~ dream about her sister fighting a ~mysterious~ man. While she slept, her game one outfit was magically swapped into her game two outfit (which was more revealing and also more pink) and she only awakened when a meteor crashed outside of New Bodham. Italics for emphasis of wow what even. When she went outside, Serah found New Bodham under attack by monsters. She's nearly attacked herself (calling out for Lightning and Snow on instinct) when she was saved by a mysterious guy named Noel. Noel was sent through time by Lightning to help her and bring her back. He also gave her a nifty bow, which was actually a moogle (but also a bowsword). To go back to Lightning, of course, would mean leaving New Bodham - and also travelling through time. Serah was understandably hesitant about the idea, although she was surprisingly accepting of Noel despite the crazy.

Eventually she did decide to leave with him on this quest to find her sister, though it would take her through time itself. NORA disapproved of the plan - or said they did. Serah pointed out the signs that they actually did approve before they left, and she was spot-on about it, too. Noel and Serah ended up in the Bresha Ruins in Cocoon in 5 AF (and in prison for a little bit before they get sprung by a helpful Alyssa), and there they saw some ruins and dealt with a big machine threat called Atlas, which netted them an artefact (the key to time gates; they actually had to find one to go through the gate that brought them to 5 AF, as well). Important events in this era beyond that were that Serah had a vision of what happened the day Cocoon fell (...the first time), but she hid this from her travel partner.

Next they headed to Yaschas Massif in 10 AF, where there was an eclipse that shouldn't have been happening for a long time (paradox: found). Grown-up Hope popped in to collect them, and dropped some plot details. In the past there used to be a tribe of people called Farseers, and they were led by a seeress called Yeul. He then showed them the Oracle Drive, which was basically a sort of holographic projector thing that showed things from the future (and/or the past), where they saw Lightning fighting in Valhalla. Hope then continued being the most helpful NPC ever by handing over an artefact without any fuss, and the time travel team continued on to their next gate.

They popped out in Oerba in 200 AF, and located another Oracle Drive, which showed the players what happened in THIS timeline's post-fall Cocoon thing - i.e. the thing that happened instead of Lightning congratulating Serah and Snow and being there with everyone. It was super cheerful. They were interrupted by Caius and Yeul, who would be showing up a lot after that. Caius turned out to be the mystery man Lightning was fighting in Serah's dream - while Yeul was unfamiliar to her. Caius wanted to do away with both Serah and Noel, but when Yeul stopped him, he stopped. Yeul then left the two with the cryptic statement that changing the future changes the past, and the heroes went onwards.

The team returned to 10 AF, but this was an ALTERNATE 10 AF, created by the resolution of the eclipse paradox, where Hope never met them. This didn't stop Hope from waiting around for them, though, and Serah and Noel very patiently went through the meet-and-greet with Hope for the second time. They got to see the Oracle Drive images with Lightning fighting in Valhalla again, only this time the pictures weren't grainy as heck. They also saw Cocoon falling (the second time, not the first time where Fang and Vanille stopped it) and the 700-years-into-the-future-dweller Noel mentioned that had happened hundreds of years before his birth. Serah decided this couldn't be allowed to happen, and the team redefined their goals to "Find Lightning" and also "Save Cocoon". Hope promised to assist from his own time, and they had a happy team moment.

After a brief interlude at the Void Beyond where Noel shared a story passed down from father to son in his tribe (Serah remarked it's more like common sense, but it does do the job of cheering her up, which was his goal), the trio (because Mog counts, too!) traveled to the Sunleth Waterscape in 300 AF. Pretty much immediately after their arrival Serah keeled over in pain and repeated the prophecy about the fall of Cocoon. Before Noel could properly finish worrying about that, Serah had a vision about Snow about to be killed by a giant flan, and rushed the hell off because no no no. She did not actually stop to explain why she was rushing off. Serah found Snow, and Noel followed, and the three took on the Flan. And defeated it! ...For about two seconds, before it started reforming itself. Snow, being Snow, decided they should just keep killing it until it was really dead, but Noel pointed out this is a pretty stupid plan, and Serah pulled Snow off with them as they retreated.

It turns out Snow was there (according to him) because of a dream from Lightning where she told him to protect the pillar and Fang and Vanille from the flan monster. This may or may not have been true, but Noel and Serah agreed to help fix the paradox creating it. Snow did try to follow, but the time gate basically said "lol no" and bounced him off, so. After a really brief stop at the Coliseum, Noel and Serah went to the Archylte Steppe in an unknown time. There they completed a lot of miniquests to earn the trust of the people there, and eventually found out what was going on with the flan. They fixed the paradox and returned to the Waterscape, where OF COURSE Snow didn't follow the "wait for us to come back and don't do something crazy" plan, but instead was trying to take on the flan alone. They defeated the flan for good together after rescuing him, but Snow then faded away - he wasn't the proper timeline's Snow, and the paradox they'd fixed had something to do with whatever kept him there. Before he faded away completely, Serah saw that he'd become a l'Cie again.

Team Serah and Noel headed back to the Void Beyond again, and Noel dropped some plot information like candy, managing to break through his plot-amnesia (given to him likely because Noel was generally forthcoming and would have given away all the chunks of plot he knew if not handicapped) to do so. He explained that there was always a Yeul with the same appearance and name, which was pretty important and useful intel. After their break, the party moved on to Academia in 400 AF, where Hope's whole "helping from his time" thing went really tremendously wrong to a pretty spectacular degree. Though they wouldn't figure out that it was Hope's help that caused anything for a bit, so let's ignore that for a moment.

Caius popped up to threaten to kill Serah and Noel as per usual, complaining about their tampering in time. He accused them of being paradoxes themselves, because they were killed for "learning the hidden history within the tower". They managed to evade his threatened death, though, and ran across Yeul again. Yeul was being attacked by Cie'th, and actually ends up dying in Noel's arms, saying she isn't the Yeul he knew but thanking him anyway. She also left them an artefact.

So, given Caius's irritation about the whole tower history thing, Noel and Serah decide the thing to do was to go to Augusta Tower in 200 AF - or rather they just sort of went there unknowingly, since they hadn't been through that gate before. They meet a pretty obviously artificial Alyssa (she's see through, for goodness' sake) who informed them that Hope and the other scientists (Alyssa included) were killed in the tower in 13 AF. She went on to say that since they know this, they of course have to die. They did some battling and headed upstairs, where they saw - who else? - Yeul. Yeul gave them another artefact and asked the party to protect time, also telling them that Caius was actually an immortal guardian, and that he recalled all timeline events. She also confirmed that Lightning disappeared because of the time thing, and that if they fixed all the paradoxes, Serah's remembered past would be returned.

Serah and Noel then went and fought the Proto l'Cie, which was basically Hope's attempt at helping from the past. ...This was obviously not a huge help, although it wasn't all his fault, but more the fault of the paradox (although also kind of his fault). The Proto l'Cie kept sending out prototypes, and eventually Serah shouted that she has a bone to pick with Hope, and his machines were ticking her off. The machine they were fighting promptly disappeared. The team took this as a win and headed back to 400 AF - an ALTERNATE 400 AF, with a resolved paradox.

As it turned out, Hope had seen Serah yelling at him via the Oracle Drive, and had reevaluated his brand of help. Luckily. Because Hope met them there! He said that he had stuck himself and Alyssa in a time capsule (...really) in order to go and help with his New Cocoon project in the future. He told Serah and Noel he needed Graviton Cores in order to make it float, and the time travelers immediately go and collect them all. Upon their return they're given an artefact by Alyssa, and everyone promises to meet a century in the future, in 500 AF.

Unfortunately, that artefact was booby-trapped by Alyssa, who realized that solving all the paradoxes would cause her to cease to exist. The artefact had been given to her by - who else? - Caius, and Caius then used the time gate to split the party. This included splitting poor Mog's soul from his body, and he followed Serah in a creepy ghost-like fashion for the remainder of this portion of the adventure. In the Void Beyond Serah went through a veritable Yeultide, meeting Yeul after Yeul after Yeul. She learned from them that she was also a seeress, like them (explaining what a previous Yeul had meant by "we are the same"). She was told that she was chosen by Etro, and that it was the goddess Etro who had intervened to release Serah and her friends from crystal at the end of the first game. The final Yeul left Serah with a rather final warning: the more Serah changed the timeline, the closer she came to death.

And then that Yeul became Caius, who attacked after finally explaining that his reason for doing all of this was to save Yeul from Etro's blessing, which he saw as a curse. Freeing his charge from her duties would require destroying all of time itself, of course, but, well. He was going to do it anyway. Then, instead of just killing Serah, Caius trapped Serah in a dream world. She found herself in New Bodham in her old clothes, and finds all of NORA waiting for her. More than that, she found Snow, who told her that Lightning had been living with them since they had married. Serah found her sister on the pier, and the dream of her sister told her that Serah had managed to change time, that her journey was almost over.

For an instant, Serah wavered. And then she remembered Lightning fighting in Valhalla, and Snow, and Hope, and Noel and Mog - everyone who was fighting to change their future. She refused to let herself be lost to the dream world, which caused her dream world to twist. Searching for a way out, Serah couldn't find one - until Vanille and Fang appeared to show her the way out. They told her they were, in fact, the real Vanille and Fang, rather than dreams - they were dreaming of her, as she was dreaming of them, and they had come because she needed help. They told Serah that they couldn't have come if she had let the dream overtake her, however - and that someone else needed her help to wake from a dream as well.

Noel hadn't been able to throw off his own dream world, and Serah found herself within it - although Noel wasn't able to see her, and moved through her like she was a ghost. Helpless to do anything at first, Serah trailed after him, and saw scenes from Noel's dream. They were effectively memories, revealing more of the story: Noel had been taught to fight by Caius, who wanted to fight Noel to the death, so Noel could receive the curse of immortality and the task of being the Guardian. It was Yeul's birthday, and Noel refused. Caius left, and soon after Yeul died in Noel's arms, her destiny as a seeress catching up with her. Noel was about to be pulled into a light from the sky - presumably the thing that had taken him to Valhalla - when Serah grabbed his arm and called out to him, waking him from his dream.

The dream world Noel had lived through had reminded him of one thing: if they went onwards, it could cost Serah her life. Each time they changed the future, they changed the past, and the seeress was forced to see the changes they had wrought. Noel was unwilling to sacrifice his partner at first, but Serah wanted to go onwards, saying perhaps they could fix it soon enough that her life wouldn't be forfeit - and resolutely telling Noel she chose to believe she would live to see Valhalla, and her sister. Noel agreed to go on with her, and then Mog's soul reunited with his physical form. Mog told the pair that Lightning had rescued him, and that she had given him a message: Caius had once been a l'Cie, bound to Yeul with the Focus of protecting her. Touched by his undying loyalty to his charge, Etro had intervened, "saving" him from his fate as a l'Cie by making him immortal. Thereafter Caius had watched every Yeul, and had seen them all die, over and over. It had driven him to begin to use his knowledge of the timeline to warp events.

Hopping through the time gate, the party came out in 700 AF, in a ravaged New Bodham. And there, finally, Serah got to see her sister again. Lightning told them this was the future she had failed to save ("a future", at least) and explained everything that hadn't yet been made clear to the party, even if it had been made clear to the players. Finally up to date on Caius' full plans, they suspected Caius had decided to destroy time so that Yeul would never have to die. Which, given Caius' motivations throughout the game, was a pretty legitimate guess. Lightning directed the pair to go to Academia in 500 AF, where Hope's New Cocoon was going to take off - and where Caius planned to smash that new Cocoon into the old one.

The party made it to Academia, and found the place in a state of chaos. Yeul's voice came to them and warned them no to kill Caius, lest they also kill Etro. Noel and Serah fought Caius, before a wormhole opened and Caius went into it. Noel and Serah followed, obviously. They came out into Valhalla, where Caius became Jet Bahamut and caused the party to fall into an abyss - from which Lightning saved them, pulling them up for the final battle and telling them to protect hope. Noel and Caius then argued for a bit about killing Caius (Caius wanted Noel to do so; Noel didn't want to do so) until Caius forced the issue by grabbing Noel's blade and impaling himself on it. His body faded away.

Time gates began to appear in Valhalla, and Mog told Serah and Noel that they had resolved the final paradox. Lightning didn't reappear, but Noel reassured Serah that her sister wasn't dead. He said she would probably be waiting through the gate for them, along with Hope and the others, including Snow. The party then went through the gate to 500 AF, where they saw Bhunivelze, the New Cocoon, rise into the sky. The two were falling, but Sazh managed to catch them with his aircraft. Atop it there appeared to be a happy game moment for about five seconds, with uplifting music and sunshine and happiness, and even Serah thanking Noel for everything.

Then she had another vision of the changed timeline and died in Noel's arms, without even a word. Yeah. Serah's spirit appears one final time to Lightning, in Etro's realm, where her sister watches Serah being bound by chaos, unable to do anything about it. The spirits of Yeul claimed Serah would remain with them until the end of time, for they and she were the same. Serah herself seemed to accept this, and told Lightning that she was aware she would die - but she'd promised to go on, and she had no regrets. She leaves her sister with a final request not to forget her, and then fades away.

And that's where Serah's story wraps up in FF XII-2. It's unknown what her part will be in FF XII-3, so only time will tell if that's the end of her story for eternity.

NOTE: While there are Paradox Endings available to the the game, I only covered the canonical ending. These range from Noel and Serah going back to poison the giant flan-monster, which involves them disguising themselves as monsters (y e a h) to Snow having Alyssa arrested and then taking Serah off on a journey through time to punch Caius, while ditching Noel with Hope to Noel and Serah dying in various horrible ways.

Reincarnated History:

Born and raised in Locke, Sierra Callahan's life has always been fairly ordinary. She was the first (and very planned and adored) child of her parents, who had a cozy little home in the suburbs, and eventually became an older sister when she was just a toddler. She grew up with a notable extended family, as well as a variety of pets (dogs, cats, turtles, fish, snakes, rabbits, birds - at one point or another, the Callahan family managed to have a little bit of everything). She had the usual childhood scrapes and bruises (and one or two broken bones from 1) an ill-advised bike stunt and 2) falling out of a tree after trying to get a balloon back for her younger brother) but was more or less a well-behaved little girl. Sierra took her responsibilities seriously, having had it impressed on her when she was a little girl staring at her tiny new baby brother that she was a Big Sister now, and that she had to make sure to be a good Big Sister. The capital letters were always there in her mind.

Throughout her elementary and high school years, Serah was a model student, sister, and daughter...mostly; she did have her moments, like any child, although she'd always end up with a sick, guilty feeling in her gut after snapping at her brother or lying to her parents, and her idea of a night well spent really did tend to align more with finishing up her homework early and maybe having a family game night than it did with going out and doing typical wild and crazy things. She joined various extracurricular clubs and activities and made friends despite this, and was known for being friendly and sociable, if a bit serious about academics.

Serah Farron often wondered if not growing up around the Bodham Vestige would have made her less interested in history. The answer? Sierra actually isn't that interested in it. She's always been a Straight-A student, yes, but history is just sort of There. It exists. There aren't a lot of mysteries to draw her in and make her read more and more. Not in Locke (at least, there weren't when she was growing up). She did grow up with a liking for animals, though. Like many children, Sierra decided this meant she wanted to be a veterinarian when she grew up.

While some childhood dreams change or disappear with age, that one didn't quite. So when she graduated from high school Sierra actually applied to the vet tech program at Locke U, was accepted, and has since been attending classes for the program (she's in the four-year program rather than the two-year program, so she's only really half done). On the grounds that it might help in the future, she applied for every single job she had the qualifications for at every vet nearby (so basically "secretary" or other non-doctoral help) and managed to snag a front-desk position at a place not too terribly far from the university or her apartment. Despite living away from home, Sierra spends a lot of time at her parents' house, going back for family dinners or game nights and just dropping by to see what's up and checking up on them. She still has a key to the house and everything, although she tries to call ahead of time before just popping in. Usually.

Sierra's life plan is, all things considered, going more or less to schedule. Until, you know, lights in the sky and weirdness that no one ever plans for. She's going to be cautious and a little bit weirded out by everything, and will likely stick to text/writing when she finally gets around to, you know, approaching the crazy instead of ignoring it.

First Echo:

On September 21st, 2013, Sierra happened to see pink lights in the sky. Following that she found remembered wearing her hair in a left-sided ponytail a lot. It's...all in all a pretty useless thing, and Sierra can't actually remember ever wearing her hair like that in her life, but she's found she does think it looks nice. So she's sort of going with it for the moment (as in she wears her hair like that sometimes - Sierra pretty freely changes between braids and other types of ponytails and just leaving her hair down; she's just started wearing the side-ponytail more often). She may or may not rebel against the hairstyle later, but for the moment it's a change of pace.

Following that, of course, she found herself beset by annoying buzzing and a weird compulsory number. Fun times.

Preincarnation Personality:

As one could guess after reading the preincarnation history section, Serah actually goes through a lot of things through the course of her run in the XIII series. And while she does receive character development over the course of the second game in particular (being more of a focus/guiding goal during the first game) there are traits that are clear from both games. One of the first things anyone might notice about Serah is how friendly and upbeat she generally seems to be (as in, how she normally is when there isn't some sort of crisis going on, i.e. something chasing her/trying to kill her/when she's dealing with suddenly being a L'Cie; you know, the usual), especially when comparing her to her elder sister, Lightning. Far from being taciturn and brisk with people, Serah seems to be willing to talk to anyone, and is both open and welcoming in a way Lightning isn't normally. It's clear in some of the first-game flashbacks and events (speaking like old friends to Vanille, and even offering her advice, though the two had only met that day; leading Dahj by the hand to the others, and speaking to him happily, just to name two examples) and is only made more obvious throughout the second game.

She's also very curious and open about that curiosity, which can serve to make her more approachable and more likely to ask questions (even occasionally pretty silly ones). Her curiosity was actually part of her downfall in the first game, in terms of becoming a L'Cie. Serah's visit to the ruins was prompted by her longstanding curiosity about them, as well as the familiarity and comfort they would bring, and it was her curiosity alone that led her to enter the ruins proper. Once inside, she was branded. Her curiosity doesn't seem to have abated overmuch in the second game. She's openly curious about anything new, and willing to ask questions whenever they come up - even if sometimes the questions aren't the more well-advised - although she does at least show a token resistance when Noel goes to ask what year it is after their first time jump (...although she then proceeds to just talk about future stuff in front of people whenever she wants with Noel, because they are Excellent At Stealth).

Serah is also notably dependent on her loved ones at first. Noel, her partner in XII-2, helps to cure her of this by being the sole protector to expect her to carry her own weight and to tell her to stand up and fight for herself, more or less. Think of the people surrounding her: Lightning, who, though she doesn't believe Serah at the beginning of XIII when Serah tells her about becoming a L'Cie, subsequently gives up her career and damns the world in order to try to get her sister back; Snow, who believes pretty much anything out of Serah's mouth (no matter how crazy - "I'm a L'Cie" and "My sister is still alive despite what your memories tell you" are pretty big are you sure, Serah moments for most people, but Snow accepts them with little to no trouble) and goes to ridiculous lengths for her; NORA, who protect Serah in Snow's absence in loyalty to their leader (and friendship to her, admittedly). Noel is pretty much one of the first people to protect her in a more "Okay, you're helping me with this" sort of way from what we've seen, although Lebreau does snap at her that Snow and Lightning aren't around any longer when Serah calls out for them when attacked (...they are both nowhere near her and she knows that, but).

Once Serah decides - during her journey with Noel - that it's her turn to protect those who once protected her, she doesn't fall back on her old ways, and moves forward. In the DLC for Snow's Story at the Coliseum, she even has a little line about wanting to show him how strong she's gotten. Serah actively denies the dream world Caius tries to force upon her (though she admits it was tempting, what with her sister and Snow and everyone being there) and searches for a way home. While she couldn't have left that place without outside assistance, that outside assistance wouldn't have been able to come to her unless Serah had taken the steps to leave and deny it herself. She does this without needing to be prompted, which is a big step for her in terms of the story; by that point Serah's become much more active about solving things and about her role in things. She's the one who helps to snap Noel out of his dream world; at that point in the story, both she and Noel are equal partners in their quest, with both seeking to protect the other - and their loved ones, and the world.

While the original depending-on-others thing was true, Serah was always pretty tough in her own way, and capable of making her own decisions. Lightning noted in Episode Zero that while Serah seemed gentle and weak on the outside, on the inside she was tough - this was because Lightning knew that if she objected to Snow on the grounds she simply didn't like him, her sister would keep arguing until Lightning changed her mind, and decided she didn't want to have to go through the Serah gamut. This implied Lightning knew Serah had the fortitude and willpower to wear her down, and didn't want to chance it (or, really, deal with it). And while Serah had the same vision of Ragnarok for her Focus that all the others did, she chose to tell them to save cocoon when they came to rescue her from the fal'Cie - though she couldn't have realized at the time that this would allow her to beat her Focus and crystallize. Even as a child it was true Serah had inner strength, though. In Fragments After it was noted that once Lightning had chased off a bully who made Serah cry - and Serah had later placated the boy in her own way, reconciling with him. Her sister noted she'd always been like that: taking the "long way around" with people, working through her problems with them and not giving up halfway or trying to take shortcuts by using force.

While Serah is normally gentle and genuinely prefers to solve things peaceably, it should be noted that her nickname from her students is "Meanie Miss Farron", and when angered Serah can snap at people. Or, at least, scold them. Noel even notes that she can go from "a smiling angel to an angry ogre in a flash of lightning". This is after Serah scolds a school of flan for attacking Noel and herself. ...And then it works, because she so thoroughly chastises them that they're afraid of her. Her students also seem pretty willing to tell her anything and behave when threatened with possible scoldings or Serah's anger. She also loses her temper when fighting the Proto fal'Cie in 400 AF, saying "Hope! I've got a bone to pick with you! These machines you built...are driving me nuts!" Which...also works. Serah's anger is at least usually productive, as is her strict side. She doesn't always allow herself to get frustrated to the point of saying something, though. While Serah noted that Snow made her "so mad" after meeting up during the time-travel shenanigans, she never mentioned that to him during any of their conversations at the time, apparently deciding not to broach the topic.

It should also be noted that while Serah tends to caution - she takes the time to get opinions on Noel's story from her trusted friends before acting, and agrees with Noel that fighting the Flan isn't a superb idea and drags Snow off (though there is a Live Trigger after which gives the option of agreeing with Snow and going back to face the flan again, which causes Noel to have a headache with Snow and Serah's combined ridiculousness) - Serah does have a certain amount of recklessness and boldness to her. In her very first time jump to 5 AF, Serah dashes in front of Noel after he's smacked backwards by Adam's hand, bow at the ready. And when a monster appears on the beach of New Bodham, Serah's first instinct is to take charge of and protect the children playing there, hurrying them away and not giving much through to her own safety. Her denial of her Focus was also fairly bold in its own way.

One could say that going along with certain things Snow did were also bold, although that plays into her trust more than it does her spirit. Serah has a lot of faith in people. She's willing to trust that nothing would happen to her, even when Snow took her up close and personal to fireworks (something she likely wouldn't have chosen to do on her own, but which she didn't come to regret, even when one went off directly next to them). She takes a lot of things on faith in both the first and second games. When Serah asks Lightning and Snow to save Cocoon, she trusts they'll do so. When Noel tells her Lightning asked for her to come, she comes to trust it with little proof as to the veracity of the statement. And when Noel tells her about his future, she never questions that he's telling her the truth. When Serah trusts someone, she seems to trust them entirely and without fail, which is perhaps a sign of the naivety that she does display in both games. For while Serah is definitely intelligent, she's not been exposed to as much as she could have been, although she does lose some of her naivety throughout her story, if not any of her optimism.

Any differences:

While Sierra and Serah have their similarities, their differing circumstances and experiences have obviously created differences, as well. Sierra Callahan has always been more indepedent than Serah Farron started out; while Serah had the ability to become independent, without relying on others to save her, Sierra was raised in a very different environment, with very different guardians. She's not the treasured little sister or the beloved fiancée that Serah Farron was. This isn't to say Sierra's family doesn't care for her, though. She has loving parents and a younger brother she's pretty fond of - and she can rely on them to assist her if she needs to, and she knows it. That said, Sierra also never had anyone overprotecting her at any point in her life, and has always been more or less encouraged to do her own thing. She's also had responsibility for her brother pressed onto her, rather than being the responsibility left in the hands of an older sibling herself.

Sierra actually dislikes when she requires outside assistance, although she'll accept it if she can't think of another option. ...She will, of course, try to think of any other possible option that might work before trying that. It's not that Sierra doesn't trust others or that she's too proud to accept help. It's just that she's used to being able to do things on her own. She's used to being the responsible eldest child and older sister, the one who fixes scrapes and bruises and takes charge of the chores and who gets praised for that. Sierra much, much prefers being the one helping or taking care of others, and is ill at ease with the reverse.

Serah already had shown a tendency to conceal her ills and problems (see: being a L'Cie, which took Snow asking directly and possibly involved her thinking he would give up after, and not being able to tell Lightning until she had his support, and then knowing she might die in game two but not telling anyone else about it, etc), and Sierra takes that up to eleven. She doesn't really like telling people about her problems, although she has zero issues listening to the problems of others. She tends to think it would be a bother (even if she's assured it wouldn't be) and also likes to deal with things herself. As a child, she tended to hide illnesses to an annoying (to her parents) degree, and rarely mentions any problems elsewhere. This doesn't mean she's a serious, stoic type - rather, Sierra is fairly cheerful and friendly, though she is slanted towards a mature, serious version of that, and goes out of her way to make sure people don't worry about her, when she can.

Sierra actually ends up being more honestly cheerful than Serah got to be, a lot of times. Her life might have ups and downs, but it does not include dying parents or a doomed death. She did not grow up in a world that raised her to hate and fear all that came from the outside. She didn't have to see people she cared for in pain and dying. She has never been made to go on a quest whose end she knew would be her own death. Sierra's life has been blessedly normal, and it's nice.

While cheerful and friendly (and closed-off and independent, in turn), Sierra's also a bit more selfish than her counterpart. While Serah worried about saying things that made others unhappy, and wouldn't always speak up even if she was upset, and occasionally let herself be dragged into things, Sierra's a lot more likely to dig in her heels and ask for what she wants, or to flat out refuse to do something she doesn't want to do - the exceptions to this tend to be her brother (whom she feels a certain responsibility to and affection for) and her parents. Even with them, Sierra is a lot more willing to be selfish in turn, accommodating their wishes and requests but expecting the same and nothing less.

This was somewhat covered in mentioning her independence, but Sierra is also a lot more decisive than her counterpart. While she is more disposed to caution than she is recklessness (save when she gets angry), Sierra doesn't often feel the need to consult everyone she knows about a decision, and rarely finds it hard to make a choice. Sometimes she regrets her choices, yes, but she doesn't usually find it hard to make them.

Abilities:

A list of Serah's Crystarium abilities can be found here. The leveling system in Final Fantasy XIII-2 means that characters don't have a specific class, but can be built up in multiple ones. The roles are Commando (melee fighters who focus on damage), Ravager (basically a black mage, specializing in offensive and often elemental magic), Sentinel (a defensive role focused on protecting allies), Saboteur (a mage who focuses on debuffs/status effects), Synergist (a mage focuses on casting buffs, basically), and Medic (Which is pretty much what it says on the tin). Serah starts with Commando, Ravager, and Sentinel unlocked, and can unlock the other paradigms later on if the player so chooses. She majors in (is best built for) Ravager and Saboteur, although she also makes a good Medic because her natural growth inclinations are best used towards magic (and her cast rate is good). Despite that, she's not a terrific Synergist because she doesn't learn as many of the spells in that role as she could.

Serah is also able to utilize monsters via the Paradigm Pack feature; monster stuff is a pretty fun side thing that you can do, although it isn't required, and players may choose to ignore the function. Moving on from that gameplay specific talk. Serah is an agile fighter, much like her sister. She preforms gymnastics-level flips and turns, and seems generally quick on her feet. She's also a lot more magically inclined as a fighter, in a natural sense, than she is physically inclined - it's easier to use her in that manner. Her weapon supports that, as her bowsword allows her to become a distance fighter; she uses the bow form from a distance and the sword form for melee battle (unless Paradigm Tuning is a thing).

Aside from combat abilities, Serah has one particular blessing - the Eyes of Etro. This is the ability to have visions of the timeline. ...However, it's also a really horrid blessing, because it drains the seeress of some of her life each time she sees a vision. A strong enough vision will kill her (as would a lot of little ones, admittedly. Life is life).

Roleplay Sample – Third Person: Test drive thread.
Roleplay Sample - Network:

[ At first Sierra had stuck to text and the occasional voice offering. For all that she'd eventually had to admit the Network wasn't just a figment of her imagination -- or the result of far, far too much Math homework and too little sleep and general stress overload, which had been part of her initial suspicion after blearily crumpling up a piece of paper that had become more with the addition of a number and throwing herself into bed back in October -- Sierra didn't feel it was entirely responsible or practical to just go with it entirely, name and face and all.

So she'd gone by her middle name, Irene, and had carefully kept to specific modes of Network entry.

That wasn't going to last forever, though, and this comes after that. Sierra uses video (admittedly still a bit of a rarity, just from habit at this point over anything else) for the time being, and it's pretty immediately apparent why to those who have seen her before: her once light-brown hair is now a light pink.

Sierra looks mildly put out about it, but also a little resigned. ]

I'd thought I was going to manage to avoid anything physical entirely...I'd ask if this were normal, but I have read the Network. And talked to all of you. [ Sierra fiddled with the end of her ponytail, twirling the now-pink strands around her fingers and examining them. ] It's a lucky break that my boss does't mind what we do with our hair as long as it's out of the way, you know? Otherwise I suppose I'd be out of luck. Or I'd have to invest in a lot of hair dye.

I mean, maybe? I've never really bothered to do more than dye my hair blue once for a school thing, and that was the kind of stuff that washes out the next time you wash your hair. I suppose I should google it, but...

...I may just leave it, honestly. I'm not sure I actually want to keep up with that sort of thing. At least it's not neon green, right? Things could be worse.

[ God, she hopes it doesn't change to neon green now that she's said that. Please don't let her have jinxed herself, please don't let her have jinxed herself... ]

But that aside - how is everyone? It's been quiet lately, which is - well, I'd say it's good, but honestly, it worries me a little bit. I suppose I'm getting used to something happening all the time, and the lull is making me a bit suspicious. Does anyone want to tell me I'm being paranoid? If not, I can always call up my brother; he's always happy to call be a worrywart. [ Despite that statement, she smiles, a little, before going to shut off her camera. ]

Any Questions? Nope!