Characters / A More Flawed Gem

Team PINA

In General

The protagonists of A More Flawed Gem. The team consists of Pyrrha Nikos, Indigo Jack, Cielo Noel, and Cards Adler, and is one-half of the Beacon Eight—the first two teams "officially" established after the aborted Initiation.

• Anti-Hero Team: With the exception of Pyrrha Nikos, every member of team PINA is some form of anti-hero. Cards most easily fits the Classical Anti-Hero archetype—plagued with crippling insecurity and a lack of nerve. Jack can easily be called a Nominal Hero, as a petty, fairly shady thief, he doesn't seem to be in the Huntsmen business for any altruistic reasons. Cielo is closer to an Unscrupulous Hero as—despite his rather casual racism and generally crass personality—he does seem to have a heart and is shown going out of his way to defend his allies.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Sans Pyrrha (noticing a pattern yet?) each member seems to be burdened by some emotional baggage regarding their pasts.
• Gender-Equal Ensemble
• Original Character: Of the four protagonists, three of them are completely original characters. Which is a blessing. Imagine how terrible things would be if these guys were actually present in canon.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: You couldn't ask for a less compatible group to put out a kitchen fire, let alone save the world. Unfortunately, these guys were the only ones available.

Pyrrha Nikos

• The Ace: As per canon, Pyrrha is one of the most popular and well-liked students at Beacon. She is highly intelligent, beautiful, generous, courageous, and extraordinarily skilled in combat. Still doesn't keep the rest of her team from occasionally mocking her.
• Action Girl: This is almost a given (see: Cards), considering she's a Beacon attendee. One of the most skilled, at that.
• Butt-Monkey: Not nearly as much as Cards, but the fic's summary does not indicate a bright future for Pyrrha's sanity.
• Endearingly Dorky: She's been trying her damnedest to one-up Jack in in a game of wits. It's worked with mixed results. Her slip ups make her come off endearingly dorky. Even Jack thinks so.
• Only Sane Woman: Pyrrha is (so far) the only member of the group to not have a troubled backstory and personality to go with it, and is comes off as the more normal and mild-mannered member of her team, despite her celebrity status.

Indigo Jack

• Blade Enthusiast: Given who he's an expy of, it makes sense that his weapon of choice would be knives.
• Casanova Wannabe: Jack seems to think of himself as one. His smooth-talking doesn't really work on Yang, and even Ruby calls it cringy. Although his intent was to distract Yang from realizing he'd tried pick-pocketing her. However, several female characters have remarked on him being reall attractive at some point, and he has no problem sleeping with Indigo Arc.
• Deadpan Snarker: He ties with Cielo and Jaune as one of the snarkiest characters in the fic, and that's quite a feat, considering they live in a a world of concentrated snark.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Jack leads a giant swarm of Grimm away from an archealogist camp using a rare, white beowolf as bait. Not much of a spoiler considering he's soon revealed to be alive and well. And not entirely heroic since Pyrrha herself doesn't really believe his motivation was all that altruistic.
• Lovable Rogue: Jack is a sneaky, manipulative, devilishly handsome knife-wielding thief. He was practically created with this trope in mind.
• Mr. Fanservice: An in-universe example. At least Chloe seems to think so. Even Cielo calls him Manlius Maximus.
• Nobody Could Have Survived That: Played with as not even the narrative itself buys into the idea that he might have died leading the Grimm horde away from the Beacon Eight at Forever Fall. And, just as the sun rises every morning, he's revealed to be alive just a couple of chapters later.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: To an extent. He does make a few off-color remarks about Pyrrha. Though considering he only ever does this to Pyrrha, he's more than likely just teasing her.
• Sticky Fingers: He's introduced pick-pocketing Pyrrha Nikos... immediately after stealing a kitten. Jack has awfully sticky fingers and will steal anything of value that isn't nailed to the floor. And if it is, he'll just find away to steal the floor too.

Cielo Noel

• Abusive Parents: Very lightly touched upon, but an earlier chapter indicates that Cielo's grandfather was physically abusive.
• Berserk Button: Raven Branwen. To such an extent that just being around her daughter, Yang is enough to ruffle his feathers.
• Broken Pedestal: It's only been occasionally referenced so far, but Cielo clearly does not hold warm feelings for his old mentor, Zhenwu. Being better than him seems to be a primary motivator for Cielo. This stems from his mentor joining up with Raven, the woman who killed many of his own bandit tribesmen and gave him the scar across his face.
• Deadpan Snarker: It seems like every other line from him is some kind of snarky comment.
• The Determinator: He shows many shades of this, though seems to view it as a prerequisite for being a Huntsman.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Cielo is rude, flippant, and just a little self-serving. However, he's shown going out of his way to protect Cards, both in combat and when she's being accosted by Chloe. He even rushes to help Pyrrha and Jack despite being able to easily use them as bait against the Handyman. Although in that case he was simply trying to disprove to himself the notion that he was too weak to save them himself.
• Ninja: He isn't one (or at least, doesn't appear to be one), but Jack refers to him as such after noting his fighting style and constant awareness.
• Mr. Fanservice: Though it isn't nearly as emphasized as Jack, Cielo is apparently quite fit enough from the way Cards feels him him up.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Cielo doesn't seem to have much of an issue using racial slurs geared towards the Faunus or referencing old, outdated Mistrali aesops regarding them. Not that this extends solely to the Faunus, as he even refers to Northern Mistral as "inferior" compared to the heartland. That said, he doesn't seem to mean any of this in any serious capacity. Given his personality, he's probably just joking.
• Scars Are Forever: Cielo hints at having a few "cool scars" here and there, and is noted by a few to have a distinguishing scar across the bridge of his nose. Turns out Raven put it there.
• Will Not Be a Victim: Implied. Cielo seems to absolutely loathe the idea of being at anyone's or anything's mercy.
• Weak, but Skilled: He's either this or Unskilled, but Strong, or both. Cielo is one of the more combat-seasoned students at Beacon, however, he does not appear to have very refined control over his aura, which makes him prone to taking damage a bit faster than others, forcing him to adopt a fighting style that relies on speed and acrobatics.

Cards Adler

• Abusive Parents: Implied multiple times that Cards' mother abused her both emotionally and physically. That said, Cards seems to go out of her way to earn her approval.
• Action Girl: Played with. Cards very clearly wants to be this. And while she does try her damnedest she is met with very limited success.
• Badass Adorable: Once she manages to get her head in the game. Even when she isn't fighting, she's still a short, adorably awkward teenage girl.
• Butt-Monkey: Played mostly for laughs, but she surpasses Jaune in this area. If something bad happens to someone, it's bound to be Cards.
• Covert Pervert: Aside from coping a feel on Cielo, Cards is very interested in what Pyrrha meant when she mentioned getting a collar for Jack.
• Cowardly Lion: Her overall lack of stones and combat experience means that she tends to spend most of her fights in a partially paralyzed in fear. That said, she's capable of courageous acts once she manages to psyche herself up. So far, she's played a crucial role in every major fight.
• Hiding Your Heritage: Cards is very secretive of her Faunus heritage owing to her mother's worldview.
• Meaningful Appearance: She is very attached to her nifty beret. She also uses it to hide the crest of feathers in her hair.
• Nice Girl: Probably the nicest character barring Pyhrra and Ruby. The only things that keep her from the Only Sane Man alongside Pyrrha are her insecurities and occasional slip of the tongue.
• Skilled, but Naive: According to Word of God, Cards is at least skilled enough to beat Jaune in a one-on-one match. She just lacks experience to be useful in a real fight. She manages to push through from time to time with a little encouragement, however.

Team RWWJ

In General

The ostensible deuteragonists and other half of the Beacon Eight. The team consists of Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Chloe Weaver, and Jaune Arc

Ruby Rose

Weiss Schnee

Chloe Weaver

Jaune Arc

• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Jaune's insecurities over failing to live up to his family's legacy are spotlighted a little harder here, coupled with having an emotionally-distant and abusive father. His sister, Indigo, even reveals he once flirted with alcoholism before joining Beacon.
• Adaptational Badass: A very minor case. While still cheating his way into Beacon, Jaune does have some degree of combat training as well as some experience hunting game. Enough to survive an onslaught of Grimm (albeit with a great deal of help from his classmates). That said, he's still woefully behind his many of his peers in terms of skill and experience. According to Word of God, even resident Butt-Monkey Cards could take him in a fight.
• Adaptational Intelligence: Unlike canon, Jaune has a rudimentary understanding of Aura and its functions, though he still needs to have it unlocked.
• The Determinator: Despite being a mostly untrained civilian, Jaune never backs down from challenges way out of his league.
• Heroic Lineage: The Arc's are descended from a long line of knights and Huntsmen. Jaune being Jaune, his primary goal is to live up to their example. Success has been limited.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: Jaune is one of 'eleven'' siblings. All girls. So far, he has a very close relationship with his Cool Big Sis Indigo. His relationship with Saphron, on the other hand, appears noticeably more strained on his part.
• Straight Man: With his team as a whole, but mostly compared to his companion Chloe, who fulfils the other role.
• The Leader: Of Team RWWJ. Played with, as he's only behaving how he thinks a leader should.
• Only Sane Man: He is to RWWJ, what Pyrrha is to PINA.
• The Strategist: As in canon, Jaune's greatest contribution on the battlefield is his strategic prowess.