Armie Buff |
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Sergeant Buff |
Youuuu maggots! Whattaya think yer doin', invading Buff airspace?! It'll be a scorching day in Siberia before you get past me, ya yellow-bellied yahoos! |
Armie Buff is the military-obsessed daughter of Archie Buff. After the extremely traumatic death of her mother, Armie became a shut-in who was so terrified of the outside world that she communicated with other people exclusively via a remote-controlled helicopter drone in the manner of a drill sergeant. The drone also featured a voice modulation system that made her sound like a male in his early or late 20's. Armie appeared as a witness during the civil trial over custody of the Founder's Orb.
The arson attack
Born to Archie Buff and his Russian ex-military wife, Armie and her parents lived together in an apartment in the city. However, their lives drastically changed one day when their home was set ablaze in an act of arson, leaving Armie and her mother trapped inside. In desperation, Armie's mother broke down a window, grabbed her daughter, and leapt out of the apartment, which resulted in her death. Armie herself suffered severe damage to her legs, confining her to a wheelchair, but she otherwise remained physically unharmed thanks to her mother's sacrifice.
Surviving such a traumatic experience also left Armie with psychological scars, including a case of pyrophobia that was so severe that she would collapse upon seeing, smelling, or even just hearing about fire. In addition to this, she also became agoraphobic, shutting herself in her room in an attempt to avoid the outside world.
In an attempt to help his daughter overcome her fears, Archie resigned from his position as a professor of archaeology and moved them to a new home in Kurain Village. However, Armie's condition did not improve, as she spent all her time shut in her bedroom. She even created a modified helicopter drone to perform anything she needed to do outside her room. Said drone also featured a voice modulation system that made her sound like a male in his twenties.
Although she recovered from her physical injuries only a few months after the arson attack, Armie continued to fake her disability, as she knew that she would be homeschooled, and thus not have to venture outside her home to school, if she kept up the facade.
Another loss
- Main article: Turnabout Revolution
On the day of her father's death, Armie overheard Archie arguing with Datz Are'bal. The exchanged ended with Are'bal being evicted from the house, as seen by Armie through her drone. Armie kept watch from her room as Archie continued investigating an artifact he had acquired that was known as the Founder's Orb before suddenly setting it on fire; seeing this, Armie's pyrophobia was triggered and she fell unconscious. Later, while milling about in the corridor outside her room on the first floor, she felt a stranger grasp her wheelchair and move it. Terrified, she fled back to her room.
After her father was found dead in his study, Armie's paranoia worsened to the point that she refused to meet anyone in person and kept as much of her identity and past a secret as possible, including claiming that her self-imposed isolation was "siege defense". When Apollo Justice and Dhurke Sahdmadhi arrived to look into the fate of the Founder's Orb, she initially sent out her "Sergeant Buff" drone to harass them, as she viewed them as nothing but intruders in her home. However, after Justice opened up about his own past, she opened up a little bit and become somewhat more friendly towards them.
After Justice and Sahdmadhi discovered the location Archie had hidden the Founder's Orb, a local politician claimed that it belonged to him and had renown defense attorney Phoenix Wright represent him in a civil trial against Justice and Sahdmadhi. After being called as a witness for the trial, Armie related to leaving her home for the courtroom, but insisted on staying in the lobby and testifying via "Sergeant Buff" instead.
She initially turned on Justice, believing him to be defending Are'bal, the man she blamed for killing her father, and proved extremely reluctant to remember the events of the night, even at one point stealing Athena Cykes's Widget device to stop a Mood Matrix session on her in its tracks. After the presiding judge ordered her to continue, a minor firefight broke out while the purloined items were pried from the drone. Cykes was eventually able to help Armie regain the confidence she lost after her mother's death, leading to the girl summoning the nerve to appear in the flesh at the witness stand, surprising everyone present with her true age and gender in the process.
Armie's testimony proved critical in the case being ruled in the defense's favor and Paul Atishon being charged with Archie's murder, as he had been the stranger who moved her wheelchair, leaving his fingerprints on it in the process. Following the trial, Armie admitted the truth behind her "disability" and, for the first time in months, stood up on her own two feet.
After the trial's resolution, Armie received an invitation to participate in an archaeological dig from the university her father used to work at. She hoped to find an ancient ruin to name in her father's honor, as well as the opportunity to visit Justice in Khura'in.
Personality
Armie Buff |
Careful, soldier! Don't forget I could blow you away at a moment's notice! |
Owing to her age, Armie has a rather child-like personality, referring to her parents as "mama" and "papa", respectively. As a result of her trauma, she became intentionally withdrawn and espoused a philosophy of self-protection, although she admitted to feeling remorse about the sacrifices her father had made for her, as well as sadness at his death.
In her "Sergeant Buff" persona, Armie demonstrated many traits and mannerisms of a typical drill sergeant, such as giving people military ranks and referring to situations with various tactical terms. She also possessed a degree of technical skill and somewhat childish, violent tendencies, outfitting her drone with both surveillance capabilities and functioning (if harmless) weaponry, the latter of which she had a tendency to use when angered.
Name
- "Sanagi", her Japanese surname, means "pupa". This may be a reference to her initial shut-in nature metamorphosing into someone able to better take care of herself.
- Her full English name is a play on "army buff", in reference to her military obsession.
Note
- Armie initially testifies via her drone, due to her agoraphobia. This makes her the third witness in the series to give testimony without being physically present, the previous two being Shelly de Killer (who testified via a two-way radio transceiver in Farewell, My Turnabout), and Orla Shipley (who "testified" via video conference in Turnabout Reclaimed).