Refinement

As it discusses in the bio, Laelynn received a strange gem that will glow with light one day to give her the strength of her heart's desire (entirely plot/development driven of course). When this happens there will be a fabulous costume change because why not. What the gem is actually doing is slowly drawing her soul inside of it and once complete will grant her this power and her heart's wish. The hope created from nothing by the wish has to be balanced however and will attempt this by creating an equal amount of despair in Laelynn which could lead to all sorts of things. We'll see when/if we get there. Anyway here's the costume change while using the power:

Laelynn is the product of crossing French and British nobility. Though neither house has had any real political power for some time now, they have maintained the social standing and the wealth that accompanied the once meaningful titles. The families were good business partners and so naturally when it came time for Jean Beauchene, Laelynn's father, of the French Beauchene family to be married he was arranged to marry Laelynn's mother Elizabeth North of the British North family. Laelynn was their first born child and was followed by a younger brother.

A noble woman's main role is to be a connection to marry into, and thus create more formal alliances, with yet other noble families. Though there is little power outside of what money the businesses of the various estates produce they still think to play this sort of game with each other of making friends and enemies and trying to out-do each other at essentially nothing. As such, from as early as she can remember Laelynn was trained to be the "perfect woman" so that when the time came she could be married into another French family. She spent much of her childhood going back and forth between England and France as both she and her parents became duel citizens of the two nations.

Laelynn of course always wanted what normal children wanted. She wanted to have friends and to play and to be silly. But the more she tried to express what she wanted, the more she learned that what she wanted simply wasn't acceptable. Eventually she stopped complaining about her "education" and strove to earn her parent's approval in that regard. But nothing ever seemed good enough. Day after day she was lectured by various tutors and experts on the subject of how to be a proper lady and what would be expected of her when she was married.

This wasn't to say the wide and varied experiences of a noble's education didn't occasionally prove to be enjoyable. Laelynn especially took to fencing. She had loved watching it and when offered a chance to try herself she could hardly contain herself. It proved to become quite the serious hobby and her parents quickly acted and provided her a private tutor so she could begin entering tournaments. And though she couldn't help but feel they only did it to gain further recognition for the family name, it made Laelynn happy that her parents supported her in something that she actually wanted.

There was another hobby she never spoke to her parents about however. Through what contact she did have with other children Laelynn found out about a game called duel monsters. At first she really liked the cards for how they looked and didn't pay much mind to the game. One of the boys playing the game threw a card on the ground one day saying it was useless. This is where Laelynn first saw the Harpie Lady card. For whatever reason she really liked it and asked if she could have it. This shortly led to her playing the game and trying to build a deck. She's since built a deck based around that first card that interested her in the game and it is what she currently duels with. She views the Harpies as noble women like herself only they aren't afraid to be themselves, however ferocious that might make them. In a way it was a source of inspiration to her.

She took whatever opportunities she could to play this game with other children. With all of the classes she was part of it proved hard to slip away at times. But she was able to get a solid idea of the mechanics of the game and how to do well at it. And though she really enjoyed the game, she knew there was no way she could talk to her parents about it. No proper lady could be using her time on such a silly thing they would no doubt say to her. So it remained a secret that she kept in her heart.

Things were not generally sad or bitter between the family members. No parents could be truly heartless towards their children. Laelynn could honestly say and felt that her parents did love her and she loved them. It was just their position in society that demanded the unpleasant circumstances she found herself in. That was how she used to think growing up. But that idea of things changed one day. When Laelynn was fifteen her parents announced to her that they had arranged her marriage and that it would take place in four years time. While outwardly accepting of what they said her heart broke inside. A picture of the man she would marry was placed in the house and looking at it only ever reminded her that she wanted nothing to do with him.

When she was seventeen Laelynn decided she needed to talk to her parents about it. She had long since learned to keep her opinions to herself but this marriage subject tortured her mentally so that despite her past experience she approached her father. Needless to say her attempts proved to be futile. Her father flew into a rage at the idea that they try to call off a marriage that had been set for two years. Doing so would ruin the family he told her. He presented her once again with the many great accomplishments of their family line and asked the one question he always did to break Laelynn's heart. "Do you want to be the one who ruins all of this greatness? Or do you expect me to let you do as you wish knowing I would have to disown you for it?". How often had she heard those words in her life time? How many times would they threaten her for wanting to be herself? Who was she really anyway? True to her training Laelynn exited her father's room composed but broke into tears immediately afterwards.

This was really the beginning of the internal conflict Laelynn still faces today. She consigned herself to what was expected of her but secretly yearned for freedom from the upper class life she found herself in. She wanted to figure out who she was instead of just being who everyone had taught her to be. But despite all of this, the marriage did still occur though it was pushed back a year. So at the age of twenty Laelynn found herself in a relationship she wanted no part of. As it turned out her new husband wasn't particularly interested in loving her either. So while they're currently married they're hardly ever together and hardly communicate with each other. But things like that don't matter to nobles. The piece of paper saying they're married is what matters to them because it represents the ties between their families. And so she carries herself well as the daughter of a noble but still wants something else.

On the night of her wedding however a very unusual thing happened. Laelynn had the strangest dream of her life that night. She caught quick glimpses of many things and faces of people she'd never met before. Before long it was completely dark and she found herself alone looking for a way out of the darkness. Panic began to set in as it seemed there was nothing to be done. She let out a cry for help. Then a voice came almost as though inside her own mind.

"Dost thou desire a way out of this place?" the voice questioned her. She immediately confirmed that she did. And then a strange sphere of light appeared in front of her floating in the air. "Then reach into that light and lay hold upon thine path." the voice replied. And yet Laelynn hesitated. The whole experience had a very odd feeling to it and she wanted to know more of what was happening. "If thou desirest knowledge than I shall impart what I have. Thou art living in great darkness and need power if thou wilt ever remove thine self from it. The light thou beholdest is the path towards that end. If thou shouldst take hold of it, it will begin to grow within thee. When it's light is complete thou wilt receive the power of your heart's desire." the voice concluded. No matter whatever else she said, Laelynn got no more replies.

She was confused from what had been said and what was happening in general. Then she fixed her gaze on the light and thought she saw a small shape inside. As she moved her hand closer the light grew brighter and harder to look at directly. As her fingers made contact with the small object inside the light engulfed the entirety of the place she was in and obscured her vision of what she had touched. Almost pushing back against the light she took hold of the object.

And then she woke up. She sat up in bed sweating. Everything from her dream had felt so real. And as she moved to put her hand on her forehead she felt something in her grip. It was the most curious thing she had ever seen. It appeared to be almost egg like in shape. There was a little circular stand at the bottom that appeared to be made of gold or some metal like it. From the base four bars of metal rose to the top of the egg shape perfectly dividing the shape into fourths. The inside appeared to be made of glass and was perfectly clear. As she continued to stare however she soon saw a small glimpse of light toward the base of the glass part of the object. There was a small bit of color in the glass now.

She had no idea what this object could be other than what the voice had told her. It was hard to believe it was even there. But it was very much a fact that she had seen it in her dream and now had it in real life. To her surprise as she touched the top of it she was suddenly holding a ring in her hand. There was a small gem in it that showed a proportionate amount of color the larger gem had. The ring fit her fingers perfectly. So despite not knowing what it was she decided to keep it on herself at all times. She found she could get it to turn back into the larger shape as well. At nights she would sometimes gaze at it wondering what it could be.

Over the next five years Laelynn moved to England at one of her mother's family's estates. Her husband preferred France so she left France. She almost didn't know it but upon arriving in England the strange gem she had obtained received another small fragment of color. Having the social status she was born with it was easy to start obtaining government jobs and things. Due to her skill as a fencer she was eventually made a sort of friend and body guard to one of the princesses. It was sad to her to see in this young princess what her childhood was. And yet it was so much more than she had experienced as this was royalty. But in a way Laelynn found some happiness like this. Her and the princess became great friends and taking care of another person gave Laelynn a beginning to a real sense of self and purpose. She soon began to note of the speed at which the strange gem was gaining more of it's golden yellow color.

That momentary happiness too came to an end one day. The princess wanted had wanted to visit with the queen in the palace so Laelynn had accompanied her there. While waiting on the queen to be available from her various meetings that day all hell broke loose. Armed people charged into the palace with such speed and strength that it was all Laelynn could do to get the princess out of harm's way. They hid together and didn't find out what all had happened until they were found by some other British soldiers.

At first Laelynn couldn't believe the Queen had decided to side with these terrorists. But it was quickly confirmed this was in fact the case. As more was explained to her of the details behind the group known as Ryuusei her initial disgust turned into a sort of admiration. Here was a group of people trying to change not just their lives but the very system that she had been raised in. She may not have approved of their methods but something about what they believed was inspiring. The idea of a world where you could be yourself and express you feelings sunk deeply into her heart.

Eventually Laelynn while visiting the queen with the princess one day began speaking with the queen about Ryuusei and what all had happened. She then acted on her desires and asked the queen if she could be assigned to assist the group. The queen smiled and agreed and on the spot drafted a hand written letter to Homura, the leader of the group. This she handed to Laelynn and sent her on her way.

It was only upon meeting Homura of the Ryuusei revolution that Laelynn heard the contents of that letter wherein the Queen had stated Homura would receive a new body guard as part of their support for their cause. This assignment startled Laelynn. In her mind she could only imagine some ulterior motive was in mind. The queen had given a set time frame for Ryuusei to prove their worth after which England would turn on them. Could the Queen have sent her to this position as a possible assassin were that time to come? Despite her natural tendency to doubt other's motives she was glad to be given this opportunity. She figured it would be a lot like guarding the Princess. Homura was even a few years younger than her. And in a lot of ways it was a lot like taking care of the princess. Homura seemed to ignore every basic human need in favor of working longer and harder at something or other. Laelynn has since been very on top of Homura's schedule making sure she eats at the proper times and gets what rest she can every night. Initially it felt a lot like babysitting more than guarding some great revolutionary leader.

Early on the two distrusted each other to an extent. Despite her own feelings Laelynn still recalled the violent invasion of the palace and wondered how much she could really trust these people. Eventually they began to warm up to each other. Initially Homura took interest in the fact that Laelynn always carried a sword. After quite a few questions about it Laelynn finally told Homura about her skill and history with fencing adding in that it was really the only reason she was ever made anyone's body guard. This quickly led to Homura wanted to fence with her to see how good she really was. They had a match of fencing with Laelynn won as it was her specialty. Then they fought with Homura's weapon of choice and of course Homura won. Then as a tie breaker they played a round of duel monsters. Though a close match, Homura won in the end. They were both in great spirits however and it was then that Homura handed Laelynn a copy of the card Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon and officially welcomed her to Ryuusei. And though Laelynn didn't notice it until that evening, the mysterious gem had suddenly received coloring in its entirety. But there was no light, just the color.

These contests with each other really started their friendship and from there Laelynn began opening up to Homura. She was able to share how she really felt. She didn't have to act like a noble, she could just try to be herself. That was what the whole Ryuusei movement was founded on in the first place. So while Laelynn looked after Homura in terms of physical things, she felt that Homura was really teaching her about herself. It was so amazing to her. It was like she had a real friend. The two began to act more like they were sisters than allies in a revolution. Laelynn made other friends in the rebellion especially among Homura's other body guards, or the group Homura herself named Asura.

Now she fights alongside the Revolution. As she learned of their convictions her own sense of what she wanted in life began to awaken within. This Revolution defies all logic in that it unites those of varied dreams and desires under one goal. As Laelynn fights for it she feels a fight against herself and the way she's been raised and hopes to one day overcome it.