Varila Na'tara

No Mira, I'm not going to 'give you an insightful quote'. If you really want my input, just write down whatever comes to mind and slap my name on it. Otherwise, just- hey, what the Hells are you writing?!

-- excerpt from Mira's Fantastical Words of Wisdom, Vol. III

Varila, often dubbed 'Vari' by those she has grown close to, is a tall, bunny-eared woman of the Leporian race from her homeworld of Merydia. In combat, she tends to brandish a very unique fighting style which combines her skill with a katana along with her visor's ability to teleport its wearer - both to locations within the user's current dimension and outside the immediate realm. This has served Vari greatly when it comes to prevailing in a fight, but ironically enough, the device she relies on in combat also serves as the root source of what is perhaps her greatest pain.

In many regards, Vari is indeed unusually strong when compared to other members of her race. A lifetime of training, spelunking, and mercenary work has ensured this to be true, though despite her durable exterior, those who have met her will oftentimes recall the ardent persistence with which she searches for her lost wife - Mira. Even when examining her from a mere surface-level perspective, Vari's love for Mira is most certainly an obvious soft-spot for her; and it is that very same love which has served as an opportunity for those around her to catch a glance at the undeniable warmth which lies deeply buried underneath multiple layers of emotional armor. Unfortunately, it is also a soft-spot which many of her foes have attempted to exploit in days past with varying degrees of success. However, it has always been a stern will and a keen ability to adapt that has allowed Vari to survive as long as she has - despite the scars she has sustained along the way.

Backstory

Named after the village from which she hails, Varila of the Na'tara has always yearned for a life of love and freedom. Like most Leporian girls her age, she was a huntress for her home village. She provided food for her family, protected her younger sisters, and dispatched threats to her people's safety whenever her assistance was called for. She was gifted - a true prodigy with a spear, not to mention quick on her feet. Still, despite the accolades she accrued from her deeds, the commendations she received for her skill in battle, or the praise that was given in honor of her dedication, Vari had always bore reservations about spending her life as a mere sentinel for her village. Even as a child, she desired a life of freedom. A life that she could truly call her own without being subdued by the demands of her parents, her village elders, or the Goddess that her people believed in.

It was the very same people who honored her, however, that never would have allowed her to decide such a fate. Members of her race are oftentimes confined to the forests they were born in for life - their highly religious culture only ever allowing Leporians the chance to visit the outside world on sacred pilgrimages on one or two occasions. Needless to say, it was difficult for her to stand by and simply allow cultural norms to dictate the rest of her days for her. After all, how could her life be one well-lived if she remained stuck in place against her wishes? Despite her protests, however, it was the thought of leaving her sisters that had urged her to stay put. She loved them with all of her heart, and, for a while, Vari was fully prepared to reserve her days as a protector for both her friends and her family if it meant ensuring their happiness.

Until, one day, her parents arranged Vari's marriage for her.

Vari is certainly not the only girl to have ever thought of running away from home. Many within her culture have tried and often succeeded in escaping the confines of their respective homes, willing to risk complete and total exile in order to receive a chance at living a more fulfilling life. For the longest time, Vari rejected such a path. It was upon learning that she was to be married to someone whom she did not love, however, that Vari finally decided to take up the mantle of one of these outliers. She packed what she could fit in her knapsack, quickly said her goodbyes, and caught the first boat she could find to freedom... all without the faintest idea of where she would be headed.

Hence, she was brought to the continent of Zircodia. For a while, life in Zircodia was the life she had always wanted. She made new acquaintances, took up the art of the sword, and happily performed whatever odd jobs were available for reckless runaways such as herself. Perhaps more notably, Vari even had a knack for finding treasure - allowing her to rack up quite the fortune while she honed the skills she'd need in order to protect it. It was difficult work, but for perhaps the first time in her life, she was living out her days just as she had always dreamt them. Even in a foreign land far away from home, Vari was gifted... but she was still a stranger. Cultural differences and language barriers aside, Vari's abrasive attitude largely prevented her from making many friends. This, in a way, left Vari feeling just as isolated from the world as she did back home - and it was a feeling that would stick with her for many of those days she spent wandering freely in the cities of Alak'an.

That is, until she met Mira. 

Everything changed once she met Mira. The two were opposite from each other in nearly every single way, and yet there was an undeniable connection between the two of them which nevertheless persisted as the pair spent more time with one another. Mira, a girl of the Felynian race, often kept to herself along with most of her people. She was a bookworm who spent most of her days reading in shops and libraries, and while Vari preferred to spend her time sparring in the sun or exploring old tombs, she preferred the quiet company that a good story could keep her. They were an odd couple, perhaps - and one brought together moreso by circumstance rather than mutual interest. And yet, they complemented each other quite well. Mira was the calm and sense of security that Vari desperately needed in her life, while Vari was the danger and sense of excitement that Mira had long-since yearned for. It was not even one year before they were wed.

Unfortunately, the consequences of Vari's reckless nature would eventually catch up to her. Amidst the ruins of a particularly ancient tomb lied the secrets of a people long-since deceased... a people that Vari had taken a rather keen interest in during the months leading up to her 'greatest and final' expedition. Within those ruins lied technological wonders beyond Vari's wildest dreams: holographic weaponry that felt just as real as any blade, androids that felt just as alive as any other being, and gear which granted its users various arrays of interdimensional abilities. The third amongst these wonders was what piqued Vari's curiosity the most, however - the All Dimensional Travel-visor (ADT-v).

It was exactly what it sounded like, really; a simple visor along with its glove-like counterpart which allowed the user to input dimensional 'coordinates' and hop between realities. Smitten with the technological marvel she had obtained, Vari  swiftly brought the device home to Mira as a mild way to boast her findings. She quickly explained the purpose of the device, all the while enamoring her wife with the prospect of multiversal vacations, interstellar trips, and adventure unending. It was a great idea, she thought; she could spend the rest of her days travelling the universe with her wife and granting her the very same fulfillment that Vari herself once desired. Unbeknownst to Vari, however, the visor that she had taken home with her was, in fact, a mere prototype. Operational, but still very much unfinished. This led to a rare malfunction which no amount of prior knowledge could have prepared them for...

Mira, in all her curiosity and in a bid to impress her wife with how quickly she could discern the visor's technological workings, was transported out of her own reality and sent straight into another at complete random.

All without the visor itself.

Ever since then, Vari has searched for Mira with desperation in her heart and guilt in her soul. Though the database within the ADT-v bore no trace of where Mira had gone, Vari figured the device to work almost exclusively with alternate versions of universes which mirrored her own. Though the hope was small, Vari could feasibly find her wife if given enough time... but by the end of her first year of searching, Vari had already done the math.

Time was not on her side.

Fate, probability - both had turned against her.

It was only when she received an invitation to the Crossroads that a new spark of hope found its way into Vari's heart...

Personality

In her earlier days, Vari was known to have a rather harsh exterior that she frequently presented towards strangers. She was brash, abrasive, even crude to a degree. This has changed, however, ever since the loss of her wife. Though she is much calmer than she might have been a few years ago, she is in turn much more emotionally distant. She is cold, reticent, and even somewhat unforgiving to those who wrong her... but within her damaged heart still remains a fragment of the warm and loving person she was once capable of being.