Colette

Appearance

Colette is a girl with light brown hair, hazel eyes, youthful-looking features, and a short stature. She wears a green coat, a green trapper hat, and average-sized boots. She and Palmyra have matching hairpins.

Personality

Colette was initially presented as a recluse with a warm yet wary temperament. Due to the prejudices she faced as a result of her circumstances, she was labelled a “Beast”, and attempted to conform to those expectations until she met Omega and they began to travel together. Her true disposition was quickly shown to be that of a kind and accepting girl who quickly befriends and makes an effort to understand the people she meets. Because of her innocent nature and vulnerability, she is often excluded from discussions on grim matters with her companions, and her friend Palmyra is particularly protective of her.

History

As a young child, Colette's parents were on business outside of their home village and brought back home a bracelet they received during their travels as a memento for her. This bracelet was the Beast Protection bracelet, a meteor that transformed its user into a “Beast” whenever it sensed danger. Due to Colette being a young child, this effect could cause her to feel danger even in a nightmare. As such, she transformed into a “Beast” when the bracelet sensed danger, unwittingly killing her parents in the process. Although taken in by other families, she was eventually outcast from her village after being accused of being a Witch for surviving supposed witchbeast assaults that would kill everyone near her. As a result, she grew a warped belief that she herself was a Witch and tried to perform rituals to become one, turning into the “Beast” and killing animals to do so, with her friend Palmyra making graves for the slain animals.

The Requirements to be a Witch

One day, Colette happened to meet an elven girl being swept along the river she was at and saved her from its currents. She introduced herself as Omega, and the two got to know one another over the course of several days, exchanging stories from their pasts. Omega decided to take a walk on another day, Colette informed her to not travel to the eastern side of the forest to avoid a witchbeast that had been attacking people there, though she visited anyways, meeting Palmyra there. Upon returning, Omega relayed to Colette her intent to leave the forest but take care of the witchbeast first as a show of gratitude for her kindness, which the young girl hesitantly accepted. That night, she travelled to the eastern side of the forest and attempted to murder the beast herself until Palmyra came and revealed that it was Colette. Piecing together the circumstances behind the “Beast” and its attacks, Omega manifested her true form to Palmyra and the unconscious Colette, before deciding to set off for the village in hopes of setting things straight with the villagers. However, this only made things worse for Colette, as she was forced to leave the area as a consequence for being acquainted with an actual Witch. Seeing as how Colette had nowhere else to go and Palmyra had used up all of her courtesy for the village, the two of them were invited by Omega to join her, officially forming their party.

One Wild Night

The trio then proceeded to ironically cross over into Gusteko. One day, they were caught in a severe blizzard and rescued by Noelle Tuérico, an Itinerant Preacher of the Gustekan Church, after Omega launched a fire spell into the distance. They waited for Omega to regain her energy in a makeshift snow house Noelle created and spoke with her in the meantime, learning about the term Silver Blessing, her position in the Gustekan Church, and the nearby church building they can use as a refuge. They visit the church once Omega is rejuvenated and acquaint themselves with Podoso, Admonsah, and Maqueena, each of whom had come to the church to meet the pastor who lives there, Coatl. The trio learns of Coatl's history of having saved a local town from the effects of an avalanche unintentionally caused by the Ice Thieves and how he took up a position of the town's watcher following his charity towards its people, becoming known by the moniker Saint of the Avalanche. Maqueena and Podoso split off from everyone else to visit another part of the church, and another visitor named Trellock arrives while they are out. Eventually, Maqueena discovers something and screams, prompting everyone else to follow after her to find what has caused her fear. They all stumble upon Coatl's corpse, prompting Omega to say that there was a cold-blooded killer among them.

Omega took charge of the situation, using detective work to determine the killer's identity. She heard from Podoso that there had been a string of serial murders, with Coatl being the eighth known victim. The other victims were peddlers and travelers. Querying him about the seventh victim, Omega then sets her sights on Admonsah, whom she was certain was associated with them. They learn Admonsah was a former slave who unexpectedly killed his owner in self-defense. He was unequivocally forgiven by a majority of the group. Omega tries to ascertain why Coatl would be murdered, searching for any hidden savings. Suddenly, everyone but Maqueena in the room fell asleep to the effects of the Muskrim flower, and she made her getaway with Coatl's collection of magic stones, not wanting to stay and fall victim to his murderer, and Noelle chased after her. While Omega, who had woken up, went to deal with them, the culprit responsible for the serial murderers, Trellock, attempted to murder Colette, but her Beast Protection Bracelet activated, severely injuring him. In the end, they pretended that Noelle had apprehended Trellock and left, Podoso decided to take in Admonsah, and Maqueena was forced to stop conning people. With her revenge foiled, Noelle was left aimless. Colette proposed for her to join their group to which she accepted upon Omega's approval.

Omega in Wonderland

The party continued to trudge to the snows of Gusteko, with Palmyra and Omega becoming exhausted. Attempting to give Palmyra some more energy, Colette attempted to let her use her bracelet, but when Palmyra tried, it left her weak and vomiting. Omega explained the reason for this, claiming she allowed it to happen because she wanted to see the look on her face. Afterward, she had Noelle carry Palmyra while Colette carried her. As the got closer to the town of Sylphoa, Omega dispelled a barrier, and eventually they reached the town, where she and Colette fell subject to the Dream Arts spell that had been cast over the town.

Impressed with the size of the space and likening it to her Castle of Dreams, even claiming it as superior to herself, Omega cast Al Shario in order to lure out the caster. The caster, Lilac, appeared shortly after, erasing the star Omega summoned and questioning who they were. After a small dispute, she left convincing her to take down the spell to Colette. Despite her standoffish attitude, Omega claimed that Colette's words were getting through to her. However, upon hearing Omega's use of a loan word, Lilac wanted to know where she heard it, leading to negotiations. Despite becoming frustrated with her and even slapping her, she decided to give Omega a chance to take care of the Temple Knight who had come after her, breaking the seal that she'd placed. The fight that followed was short lived as the Witches of Sin quickly dispatched her, much to Lilac's shock. Shortly after, Palmyra entered the dream space with a message from Lilac's partner, Shion.

Following this, after Omega spoke to the other Temple Knight who had come to retrieve Mikli and had him leave with her and report the death of the heretic, Lilac released the people of Sylphoa from her dream world, and Omega offered Shion and Lilac to join her party. Since she couldn't quite trust the two, having just met them, she would give them a chance to look into her memories with their Dream Arts, giving them a chance to find the person from which the loan words they speak come from. The two accepted her offer and joined the party.

Abilities

Miasma Resistance: Colette seems to have a higher resistance to miasma compared to the average person, as noted by Minerva. Despite having been exposed to the miasma of Omega, which had previously caused numerous fully grown men to go mad and kill themselves, Colette showed no signs of being negatively affected by it.

Equipment: Colette owns the Beast Protection Bracelet (獣護輪, Juugorin), a meteor that allows the user to transform into a beast to protect themselves against danger when the bracelet senses it. As a beast, the user gains a rapid influx of mana making them stronger in combat despite losing most of their capabilities to reason. It is possible to control this effect. Even when not transformed, however, the meteor improves the user's stamina.

Trivia

• In The Requirements to be a Witch, Colette is twelve years old.^[1] However, this was contradicted in the Comic Alive version of One Wild Night, where her age is said to be fifteen.^[2] The adaptation of One Wild Night in Tanpenshuu Volume 10 changes the sentence to avoid any mention of age, thus making Colette's age twelve.

References

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