OOC: PROFILE
"This feeling... is this what you meant by doing something for someone you care about?"
NAME: Shelke Rui (alternatively, Shelke the Transparent)
FANDOM: Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII
AGE: 19
GENDER: Female
SEXUALITY: Heterosexual
FAMILY: Shalua Rui (sister, deceased); Mother (deceased); Father (deceased)
WEAPON: Dual electromagnetic sabers
HOUSING: Cabin #11 with Zack Fair
CROW: Lin
DEATH COUNT: 0
PERSONALITY: To say that Shelke is socially awkward would be putting it nicely. It isn't that she automatically dislikes people, so much as she regards them with apathy until given reason to justify something more. First impressions generally aren't her strong point, and she can come across as being cold or uncaring in most situations. Shelke became emotionless at a young age thanks to her upbringing in the hell called Deepground; however, thanks to temporarily possessing the wishes and memories of Dr. Lucrecia Crescent, she was able to regain her ability to feel. It's a slow process for her, and there are many things that she doesn't understand about her own emotions, let alone the feelings of others.
Between her monotone way of speaking and often expressionless appearance, it can be difficult to fully understand Shelke's intentions in any given situation. She is calm and cool headed in most means, and can't stand being treated like a child, even if she may happen to look like one. Don't be surprised if she chides you over behaving childishly - though it's just as likely that she'll keep the comment to herself if you're not endangering anyone through said behavior. It's also easy to mistake her for being a little on the snobby side, though in reality she only expects people to be competent in whatever their field of choice (or un-choice, as the case might be) is.
She might also, you know, be prone to rambling when nervous.
Despite her faults and reserved nature, in regard to those that she cares for, she cares deeply, to the point of being willing to take a bullet or worse for them. It's another one of those things that she doesn't fully understand, but is still willing to accept either way. Shelke hates the idea of letting down the people who depend on her, and in that way is fiercely loyal. She can also be stubborn when it comes to a fight, especially if the previously mentioned situation is in play - she won't back out, no matter how dangerous, and no matter how logical running from the situation would seem to an outsider.
BACKGROUND: Shelke, like many, grew up on the outskirts of Midgar. As a child, she was highly sensitive and prone to crying over the smallest of things - a far cry from what she is now. Thanks to a certain war, Shelke lost her father at a very young age, but things didn't begin to go so downhill for her until the age of nine - the year that her mother was killed in an accident. At that point, she and her older sister, Shalua, had only each other to rely on.
Despite all pretenses of normalcy, Shelke just wasn't, as she possessed the rare ability called Synaptic Net Dive - the ability to project ones consciousness into any network system and gather and manipulate the data therein. This, combined with her unnaturally high athleticism, made her a prime target for those who scouted for potential members for SOLDIER. In due time, the Turks came to collect her, much to Shalua's protest.
However, ShinRa found a better use for her than an ordinary member of SOLDIER. The child was soon thrown into the depths beneath Midgar, a place known only to a select few: Deepground. There, she was able to quickly achieve the rank of Tsviet. To say that her existence became hellish at that point is something of an understatement; for years, Shelke endured daily experiments that inevitably left her growth permanently stunted, and gave her a dependency on the substance known as Mako. This, combined with the belief that Shalua wasn't coming to save her, left her emotionally dead.
It wasn't until ten years later, when she conspired with Weiss to stage a coup and overthrow the Restrictors, essentially freeing the members of Deepground, that things began to get any better for Shelke. Soon after, the memories and data of Lucrecia Crescent were uploaded into her mind, to be used to search for and find Vincent Valentine, the carrier of the Chaos gene, and the keeper of the Protomateria.
Shelke was successful in her search, but things didn't quite go as planned. It was at that point that she was reunited with her sister after ten years, and it was fortunate that Vincent was able to sedate her, or the situation would have probably ended in blood and violence. Even after her partner, Azul the Cerulean, attempted to kill her, Shelke was unwilling to return to her sister's side... that is, until things were too late, and Shalua died in the effort to save Shelke's life from the monstrous Tsviet.
After joining Vincent's side under the pretense that she wanted to regain control over her own mind (Lucrecia's data fragments were beginning to mess with her mental state), Shelke's emotions began to slowly but surely return, leaving her in a lost state of confusion. During her stay on Cid's airship, the Shera, one of her former comrades by the name of Nero the Sable attacked and took Shelke captive. Though Vincent was able to free her, he wasn't able to take her to the Mako stations within Deepground in time; Shelke died in her sleep along the way, and was transported to the Village of Sheol.
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