#I went back and forth between wanting to describe Rouge and Kanami's dynamic and Tala and Sierra's dynamic

[noirrelite]

So! Of all the Oc's you've created, who's your favorite? Like, is there someone whose backstory or personality or character design that are just so simply sublime that you can't help but giggle when you think about them?

Sorry for the super late reply! To be honest, I took AGES to finish answering this because I couldn't name just a SINGLE one if you put a gun to my head; I can't say I consider any of them full thought-out/developed and I actually love them almost equally Dx ...also I struggle to decouple what I love about them as a character from the narrative.... For the sake of my sanity (and mayhaps yours) I'll try to focus on Sierra for now (I'm still figuring her out tbh) TwT I did my best to omit *some* of the stuff that wasn't directly related to her so this ended up being more like a collection of stuff related to her that I think are neat and are very loosely in chronological order xD Let me just put this under a readmore cuz I'm a bit shy about answering these publicly TLDR: Sierra's a poor little meow meow who puts on a tough front but is an insecure, lonely mess inside and I enjoy that very much.

⦁ It wasn't intentional at first, but I really like that Sierra is a bit of a subversion of how Mesa (the archetype) is usually depicted/seen as? Mesa is generally depicted as this badass that's cool as a cucumber, confident in her abilities to the point that she handicaps herself with a bandana to "give herself a challenge". But the Lotus also introduces her as a vagabond/outcast, and I couldn't help but wonder why and wanted to put that into context.

⦁ Sierra is most of these things, but it's a front she puts on to act tough and reliable. She's lonely and insecure but would sooner gnaw her own leg off than let her vulnerabilities show.

⦁ She's confident in her ability to kill, but she has to be because it's the one and only thing she's good at and she can't stand the thought of making someone suffer. During the Old War, as one of the few sane autonomous warframes, she was often forced to put down her brothers and sisters that were too much trouble to keep alive because her abilities were perfect for the job, and since they were built to be durable, she often witnessed them suffering before dying, and cursed herself for it. The guilt became too much for her to bear and it became part of the reason she eventually lost her sanity and was placed in cryo for the rest of the Old War. As a result, she's very meticulous about modding her pistols, making sure they get the job done as fast and as painlessly as possible. ⦁ On the flip side, she's insecure about her abilities being nowhere as potent and as impressive as other warframes and felt inadequate in comparison to them. But it had never been much of a problem until The New War, when Tala went to face Erra and Ballas in her Excalibur instead of going with Sierra. Tala only intended to protect her, knowing how many Tenno were lost in the War at this point, but Sierra blamed herself for not being strong enough to be relied on, believing she could've saved Tala if she were there.

⦁ Vastly outnumbered by Narmer forces, she was desperate enough to resort to the Helminth system for healing and augmenting herself with abilities that weren't her own out of desperation, which ate away at her sanity over time. She also refused to open up to Drifter Tala, afraid that she'll abandon her (like she thought Tala did) if she perceived her as weak and unreliable.

⦁ She's aloof, distrusting and tries to keep her distance (especially when she first met Operator Tala and Drifter Tala) because she's afraid of becoming attached and going through the pain of losing someone dear to her again.

⦁ Sierra was the bastard child of a Dax and a commoner, and her hard work in honing her marksmanship (which landed her in the Warframe program) was so she could prove herself in the war and hopefully elevate her commoner side of the family to a better station and reunite with them, but the Old War and becoming a warframe made that dream impossible, and the scars it left made her close off emotionally, not wanting to hurt any further.

⦁ When she was rescued by Tala (who only went by "Operator" at the time) from Alad V, Sierra barely remembered anything from the Old War. Tala was convinced she was a Tenno despite their ship Cephalon not detecting any traces of void energy in her, because she was moving on her own despite being cured of the Mutalist infestation (mind you, Tala at this point also barely remembers anything from before the Dream, so she believes the Tenno were just beings that possessed warframes), and also because there was a time where Tala couldn't use her void powers either, so the two dumbasses convinced each other that Sierra was just an amnesic Tenno and she just needed time to remember. Tala would even try to teach her things like switching from one warframe to another, to no avail.

pictured: scrunkly, committer of warcrimes

⦁ In the meantine, Sierra took a liking to Tala's defective, diminutive Kubrow which had been given off to Tala because it was too small to be used for combat, and its presence also set her at ease. She really likes how soft they are to touch. (They'd eventually get more consigned kubrows later on.)

⦁ After some point Sierra recovers enough and warms up enough to the Operator to follow them around, sometimes accompanying them on their missions and observing the ordinary folk in the colonies when off-duty, but she's still afraid to use the guns connected to her forearms. For a while they were just two low-rank Tenno sharing the same barely functional Orbiter, bickering over which missions/bounties to take and arguing over the Tenno's values and their unquestioning loyalty to the Lotus. Still, they help each other earn enough to repair the ship and buy better equipment.

⦁ It's only until the events of the Second Dream happen (Kanami was entrusted with the mission and was personally targeted by the Stalker, but she called Tala and Sierra to assist), when they find out Tala's real identity and they fail to find Sierra's pod that Sierra begins to doubt her identity as a Tenno, but she hesitates to confide in Tala, not that she could find the time to tell her-- Tala's still shaken by the fact that the Lotus kept their real nature from them and struggled to take care of herself as a human after living as a warframe for so long that Sierra had to step in and take care of her, asking Kanami for help and even taking up cooking later on.

⦁ It took a long time for Tala to even transference into Sierra, because Tala always considered Sierra her own person even after she suspected she wasn't a Tenno, and wanted to respect her autonomy, especially knowing that Alad had controlled her against her will in the past. She transferenced for the first time with Sierra as a last resort after Kanami and Rouge tracked them down on Earth and the two of them working separately were no match for the vanguard-class warframe and operator working together. (Tala had gone AWOL earlier after losing all trust in the Lotus.)

⦁ Similarly, Sierra used her Regulators for the first time since she was awoken during the fight after Tala transferences into her, doing her best to deflect Rouge's incoming fire with her own to buy herself and Tala time, and Tala assisting with close quarters combat when Rouge runs out of energy and resorts to melee.

⦁ SIerra's memories only return to her in full when Rouge goes berserk from Kanami trying to stop her from killing both of them, having been kept under a tight leash for so long. Rouge's frenzy during the final confrontation with her reminded her of the crazed warframes she was forced to put down.

⦁ Even if Rouge pursued them relentlessly and nearly killed her and Tala in the past, Sierra couldn't bring herself to fully hate her; at some point, Rouge hesitated long enough for them to escape, and it reminded her of the fact that some of the warframes she had to kill weren't all beyond saving. (honestly the desertion arc and Kanami's complicated relationship with Rouge and their backstories is a whole other post xd)

⦁ While they were AWOL and roaming Earth on their own, they came across the spot that would be called the Drifter Camp later on.

⦁ Both of them returned to the fold when the New War broke out and proved themselves in Operation Scarlet Spear and Operation Orphix Venom, gaining a lot of combat experience in the process.

⦁ When Tala left to take the fight to Ballas and Erra directly and left her, Sierra damaged the Orbiter enough for Ordis to relent and prepare the backup landing craft, but Tala's void energy signature had already been gone by then. They're still making the Orbiter spaceworthy again to this day.

⦁ Sierra was much more ruthless when she was fighting on her lonesome against Narmer, not being able to afford being merciful, but also because she felt like she had lost everything she cared about. ⦁ Narmer never found Sierra despite her proving to be a thorn in their side for some time; Rouge had taught her in guerilla tactics and how to keep her tracks hidden, and she learned from Tala when they did covert operations together, but more importantly, Sierra wasn't a real Tenno and didn't have any void energy signature for Narmer forces to track.

⦁ Sierra was too injured to fight when Drifter Tala made the choice to go to Hunhow for help, but she followed after her anyway despite her weakened state, and she was given a new, stronger set of pistols after Drifter Tala was given the Nataruk.

⦁ When Operator Tala came back, Sierra took a moment to hug her, something she rarely does. ⦁ Sierra and Operator Tala act like rowdy siblings together living on their own, bullying each other, bickering about which missions to take, paying the bills, and repairing the orbiter from time to time, and Sierra appreciates that a lot because it makes her feel like nothing much has changed since she became a warframe. ⦁ Sierra isn't as close-knit with Tala's older self, but Sierra often takes her along on her trips on Earth while she tries to get Drifter Tala acclimated to the Origin System, knowing how it feels like to be in a world that's completely different than the one you know. That's all I can think of for now; if I let myself include more of the story this would be way, WAY longer...