yumeshipping is a valid form of therapy

Basic information

Name: Raine Amaranthe Age: 23 (FFXIII) Home: Unknown (before FFXIII), Bodhum (FFXIII) Affiliation: NORA, Pulse l'Cie (FFXIII) Occupation: Bartender, cook, waitress (before FFXIII) Height: 178 cm Hair color: Brown with bleached ends Eye color: Gray Sexuality: Lesbian Laterality: Left-handed Type: Player character Primary roles: Ravager, Saboteur, Synergist Weapon type: Gloves Eidolon: Hades Eidolith: Amaranth flower

Synopsis

Raine Amaranthe is a rookie NORA member who has moved to Bodhum not too long before the Purge at the suggestion of her internet friend, Lebreau (thanks Lebreau). Given the previous experiences that made her leave her hometown in the first place, she's largely distrustful of people, and being new in the seaside town and her group of friends, she struggles with feeling like she doesn't belong.

She displays high proficiency in hand-to-hand combat, proving herself to Snow in person after he doesn't make a good impression and causes her to challenge him to a fight as a way to test her skills instead, to his reluctance. Taken aback by her speed and technique, compared to his reliance on raw strength, he ends up on the ground and welcoming her to the team. Her turbulent start with Snow causes her first days with NORA to be even more stressful than they should be, as she can feel other members' eyes on her.

Charismatic on the outside, reserved on the inside, at first Raine largely relies on Lebreau - now her roommate - for any warmth. At some point she meets Serah, who's already hanging out with Snow and therefore the rest of NORA, and they have a few friendly interactions, one of which marks the beginning of their friendship, which gives her hope that her new life can work out after all.

The day before the official start of the story, Raine gets caught by PSICOM after trying to run away with the other members of NORA, bound to board the same train as Lightning. Recognizing the soldier from her time in Bodhum and Serah's stories, she decides to keep close to her and Sazh, to stay safe and help her save her younger sister while at it, to Lightning's initial dismay.

After the group gets branded Pulse l'Cie, Raine takes it really badly and draws parallels between her current situation and previous experiences related to her identity. Put on a path with Lightning, who she's already acquainted with by this time, and Hope, who she recognizes from a pleasant interaction she had with his mom a few days back, getting progressively more worried about both, she's bound to bond with them and develop romantic feelings for Lightning, hopefully put her own differences with Snow aside, and conquer some of her own long-overstaying demons.

Themes

As a transfem, Raine fits the game's themes of hope and defying fate very well, as well as its themes of friendship and mutual support, though each of them presents itself in a unique manner compared to the canon characters, together creating something very personal for her.

Put on her last legs the moment she becomes a l'Cie, not only is she completely hopeless, but feels robbed of the life she had only started building for herself a few years ago. Having a target painted on her back, she can't help but draw parallels to her place in society as a marginalized person herself, which only emphasizes the hopelessness of her situation. She desperately tries to hold on to what's always been working for her - having a goal in mind and staying focused on it - and she relates to Lightning when she notices the similarities in her way of coping after Serah enters her crystal stasis. Still, all of her efforts are rendered insufficient and lead to further deterioration of her mental health, as seen through the development of her brand, being more accelerated than others', which eventually leads to her dramatic moment in Palumpolum, where alone, stranded and ready to call it quits, she encounters her Eidolon. Only after beating it, she decides to keep fighting as she has been for years by now, fully realizing the familiarity of her situation and settling on trying her best even if it leads to her death in the end.

Similarly, ending up in a new group of people, all branded l'Cie and put in the same situation as her - while at first doesn't mean anything to her, as she grows closer to them, meets Fang who instantly displays care for everyone, sees how Snow's presence positively affects Lightning and the others, and how everyone is there for each other, she's forced to reevaluate her distrust towards people that she's been defaulting to for years. This causes her to grow more hopeful over time, come to terms with her situation and feel like her place is with her new friends, whatever happens. With her newfound strength, later in the story she often becomes the voice of reason when others are in doubt.

Raine's personality and journey are further shown through more subtle things. Though capable of masking well, she becomes even further reserved after becoming a l'Cie. She seems to display maternal instinct when it comes to Hope, becoming another motherly/big sister figure to him as the story progresses, though she denies having it. As a result, she feels for Sazh's situation as well, yet she can't help but side with Hope and trust him when he talks about his father. For all of her history and proficiency in martial arts, she turns out to be a very delicate person - she ended up being quite similar to Tifa Lockhart in this regard - and still, she's disgruntled with Cocoon enough to side with Fang she's ready to destroy it herself to save Vanille and others, and she has her reasons for this as well. Her disdain for Snow put against times when she sees it fair to defend him is also supposed to further provide Lightning with a more level-headed view on NORA and Snow himself.

Her l'Cie brand is placed on the inner part of her right forearm, her Eidolon is Hades - a representation of death, based on an FFVII summon capable of powerful debuffs, for Raine to control it and use to her own benefit as she grows - and yet, mirroring her last name, her Eidolith takes shape of an amaranth flower - a symbol of endurance, immortality and eternal love.

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Here's full body art of Raine by @procyo9 <3