[[Application + Info Post]]
Outdated information! Editing in progress.
Character: Elena
Series: Final Fantasy VII and spinoffs thereof (Advent Children, Before Crisis, Last Order etc.)
Age: 21 on 3/8
Class: Upper
Character Type: Investigation Sector of the General Affairs Department of Shin-Ra Electric Power Company (i.e., Turk); recruit searching and black-ops
Background:
Elena has some short roots. Not really middle-class, not really upper-class, her family wavers on the borderline, trying to make up its mind. No one knows which, actually. She probably gets her own confused disposition from this. Probably.
Technically, she should still be in high school because technically, she's still too young to be doing anything, per se. Not the case. A run-in with certain "bodyguards" of a certain Rufus Shin-Ra left her with a…say, abnormal love of the group, perhaps because she romanticized the profession, perhaps because she's just plain crazy.
So she listed herself as a potential recruit, eagerly waiting for acceptance and a good job of things like espionage or blackmailing or just plain old following the boss's orders. Lucky for her, she was recruited when one of the originals was lost out temporarily (bad kidney, blew his leg off in a mission, something similar, but she didn't care).
Maybe it was a miracle she was recruited though because she certainly isn't very good at her job. She talks too much, she tries too hard, and most of the time, she misses. Her desire to do her best and show her stuff can't be put past her though--it's just that it's often translated into being overly zealous. Potential? Yes. But she's too anxious to please, and a new recruit doesn't always understand the lines that box him in like some seasoned "professionals" know--like Tseng and Rude and the others.
She's impetuous. She's naïve. She's also easily reigned back into place by her peers but ready to talk back about duty and what the important thing is: the job. She's rather like a flighty girl in love, really--in love with her job. If she could just figure out whether she should always listen to the others or just go along with her idea of what duty is...
Currently, she still has her job (somehow. She did something right in two years, seeing as she's not incapable), and for the most part, she works with three others--Tseng, Reno, and Rude. (She would never admit, but she has a thing for Tseng, and Reno's always the one to put her back in line, something that sort of bothers her because he somehow gets by with being the laid-back, jaunty LAZY guy he is. Rude just never talks. How's she supposed to know about him?) For the most part, the four have a mutual agreement not to say anything about anything on their job. It wasn't as if there was much to say, really. Really.
Actually, she doesn't keep track of her family anymore. If you asked, she would say it's part of the profession because everything's part of it now, but even she doesn't know if that's true. And actually, she doesn't really care too much. Family's the Turks now, and damned if she won't do right for them at least. She's getting better, at least, if slowly. Now if she could just learn how to keep her mouth shut and punch straight.
Attitude/Personality:
She may never say it out loud, but Elena is a rookie. The rookie to end all rookies. Even after being in the organization for a good year or two now, she's still learning and she's still incredibly (an understatement beyond all understatements) inexperienced.
But that doesn't mean she's useless. Or incompetent. Because she may look like she can't do anything right a lot of the time, but it's not a fact. Actually, Elena's a lot quicker than she comes off. She has a sharp mind and sharp reflexes, her judgment working best when she relies on her gut instinct. Of course, she doesn't seem to do this enough, considering how she's always thinking about what she has to do to look the part of a Turk. Unfortunately for her (hilariously, for some), she doesn't realize that she could pull off the part plenty fine--if she'd just stop obsessing over doing it.
On first joining the Turks, Elena was a bit purposeless and directionless. After all, her joining didn't have much of a motive behind it at the time. With how she's faring though, she's found her own reasons. Not necessarily reasons she'd tell anyone, but a hidden motive is many times the strongest. So she tries hard anyway, even if it gets her into all sorts of situations that can only be defined as mortifying. Maybe it's her nature (she's positive it isn't), maybe it's just the need to adjust (she thinks it's been too long for that). Or maybe it's just that she needs to learn more.
Overall, Elena is the work hard, work hard type. She's not the deadly serious sort and knows how to take a good joke (or give one--though she might not take them as well from people like Reno), but most of the time, the first thing (and the second, and the third, and the fourth) on her mind is the job. To her, it's about being professional and getting the job done. In fact, maybe it could be said of the Turks in general, but she never sees it that way, especially when she can't seem to detect the attitude and motivation in others (again. Reno.), which frustrates her beyond words. If there is ever one thing she hates, it's the nonchalance some people take in their duty because duty comes before all in her mind. Shirking that meant losing the integrity (if there is any) of being a Turk.
Still, there are times when she worries, of course. She's been on the job long enough to have lost the initial, "Oh, shoot, bail out!" reaction, especially since she's learned to make the job her driving force. Being a Turk isn't an easy occupation though, and considering the riskier, shadier (and more importantly, more dangerous) edges of the profession, she sometimes wonders why she even convinced herself to join. It's never a regret though.
One of the things Elena has going for her is her ability to blur the line between black and white. After all, the characteristic is key to all Turks, whose job would be assailed by all sorts of questions of morality if not for the fact that they're...Turks. Most of the Turks don't show a ruthless, spartan side anyway--they just are underneath their more human selves. But Elena, as rookie as she is, still would never have made it into the division without this trait--and though it's obviously not something she's always inclined to do (canonically speaking, she hesitates before using the word "kill" when she and the others are assigned to get rid of AVALANCHE for good), it's not something she'd favor over the importance of getting the job done.
Example/Excerpt:
Elena wasn't an "oh, goody!" sort of gal. She took this seriously. Very seriously. So seriously that…that even Rude wouldn't be able to out-serious her. Well, probably not, but it would have been a good comparison, she knew it.
The job was important, after all. So it was a black tie deal where she basically stood by and held her hands behind her back until they got "the signal." (She still wasn't sure what "the signal" was, but she was new. She'd figure it out. Generally, it would be obvious when Reno did something. He was good at that.) That wasn't so bad. She was better at this than she was at high school anyway, even though she couldn't really say what "this" was out loud. It would take work to get it right, but Elena was fine with working for it.
The boss made a motion so unnoticeable that she wasn't sure it was there. It might have been "the signal." It had to be "the signal." Well, she wasn't paying as much attention as she should have been, but what else would a motion like that mean?
"I'll take care of this," she said, stepping forward. Even as she said it, she could feel the looks she was getting, and she could practically identify which partner was giving which look. Probably not good. Probably meant she was doing something wrong again. Well, she'd prove them wrong--yeah! She could do this! It was what being a professional was about!
"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to back down," she stated to the man opposite the boss. She completely ignored the waves of disapproval she was getting from his general direction--she was on a roll. And when one is on a roll, one should not, cannot be stopped.
"Elena, what--"
"I'll handle it, sir," she said quickly, still facing the other man, who was now giving her boss a pointed glare. That was, in and of itself, unacceptable. So she did the first thing that came to mind. So much for training.
"If you'll take it the hard way, sir," she acquiesced and pulled her arm back to swing at him.
Not surprisingly, she missed, and she mentally cursed as she lost momentum and toppled the man over anyway, sending him into one of the walls and somewhere nicer, where bodyguards wouldn't be assaulting him. Trying for a graceful save, she stood up as professionally as she could, dusting herself off. At least she hadn't completely missed.
"Well," she heard from behind her. Reno. Never had something good to say. She braced herself. "Don't misunderstand. But I don't think you were supposed to knock out the representative we were negotiating with."
Established Relationships:
Tseng [should he ever enter the game], as leader of the Turks, holds Elena's highest respect. That and she's somewhat infatuated with him. She refers to him as senpai when she speaks with him, though otherwise, she might just go with Tseng. His word is practically law in her book, and she'd do near anything he says, no doubt about it. If there's one person she ever feels the need to prove herself to, it's him.
Rude, of course, she considers another partner in crime (though not really, since the Turks would probably not consider that a very professional name unless this Turk's name starts with R and ends with eno), but he seems to be taciturn enough not to speak with her very much. Elena, of course, never takes offense at this since she knows full well that Rude doesn't like to talk very much. When he does say anything to her, she treats the words just the same as she would have it from any other colleague. So it comes less from Rude. Oh, well.
Reno--Reno gives Elena a hard time about her inexperience--it seems that way to her anyway. A hard time would be harsh reprimands, serious manner of speaking (a strange concept for Reno, so she thinks, seeing as if it's anyone else, he's the loud, cocky fool he acts like he is), and general verbal discipline, per se. She knows how to take him seriously, of course; in the back of her mind, she always reminds herself that he's second-in-command, even if he never seems to be the kind to gain such a position. At the same time, she can't help but get frustrated with him every so often (and often is a sweet word for this specific relationship because it's more like often times infinity), and in her terms, she oversteps her boundaries when her frustration with his attitude gets out of hand. That he can be so laid-back and still be considered one of the best drives her up the wall because he shows not a trace of the professionalism she thinks the job calls for. But he is, if anyone, the person who knows how to snap her back into her place, and she never forgets that.
And she may never say it, but she's sure she could learn a bit from him anyhow.
Isolde (Playable Character A) is a difficult one to handle in Elena's mind. Not because she's…well, difficult. But because she's so serious and so hard-pressed for anything other than the sobering attitude she has. Even Elena gets intimidated by her no-nonsense, all-business stance, and while on one hand, she respects it, she still thinks it's a bit overkill. Nonetheless, Elena makes no move to say so since she's sure that's just something she sees, and after all, some people just have this sort of disposition. Rude's naturally quiet, Reno's naturally a jerk "laid-back," and Isolde's just naturally…stern. That's not a problem to Elena, even if she couldn't ever imagine going out for lunch with Isolde or anything of the sort.
Character: Elena
Series: Final Fantasy VII and spinoffs thereof (Advent Children, Before Crisis, Last Order etc.)
Age: 21 on 3/8
Class: Upper
Character Type: Investigation Sector of the General Affairs Department of Shin-Ra Electric Power Company (i.e., Turk); recruit searching and black-ops
Background:
Elena has some short roots. Not really middle-class, not really upper-class, her family wavers on the borderline, trying to make up its mind. No one knows which, actually. She probably gets her own confused disposition from this. Probably.
Technically, she should still be in high school because technically, she's still too young to be doing anything, per se. Not the case. A run-in with certain "bodyguards" of a certain Rufus Shin-Ra left her with a…say, abnormal love of the group, perhaps because she romanticized the profession, perhaps because she's just plain crazy.
So she listed herself as a potential recruit, eagerly waiting for acceptance and a good job of things like espionage or blackmailing or just plain old following the boss's orders. Lucky for her, she was recruited when one of the originals was lost out temporarily (bad kidney, blew his leg off in a mission, something similar, but she didn't care).
Maybe it was a miracle she was recruited though because she certainly isn't very good at her job. She talks too much, she tries too hard, and most of the time, she misses. Her desire to do her best and show her stuff can't be put past her though--it's just that it's often translated into being overly zealous. Potential? Yes. But she's too anxious to please, and a new recruit doesn't always understand the lines that box him in like some seasoned "professionals" know--like Tseng and Rude and the others.
She's impetuous. She's naïve. She's also easily reigned back into place by her peers but ready to talk back about duty and what the important thing is: the job. She's rather like a flighty girl in love, really--in love with her job. If she could just figure out whether she should always listen to the others or just go along with her idea of what duty is...
Currently, she still has her job (somehow. She did something right in two years, seeing as she's not incapable), and for the most part, she works with three others--Tseng, Reno, and Rude. (She would never admit, but she has a thing for Tseng, and Reno's always the one to put her back in line, something that sort of bothers her because he somehow gets by with being the laid-back, jaunty LAZY guy he is. Rude just never talks. How's she supposed to know about him?) For the most part, the four have a mutual agreement not to say anything about anything on their job. It wasn't as if there was much to say, really. Really.
Actually, she doesn't keep track of her family anymore. If you asked, she would say it's part of the profession because everything's part of it now, but even she doesn't know if that's true. And actually, she doesn't really care too much. Family's the Turks now, and damned if she won't do right for them at least. She's getting better, at least, if slowly. Now if she could just learn how to keep her mouth shut and punch straight.
Attitude/Personality:
She may never say it out loud, but Elena is a rookie. The rookie to end all rookies. Even after being in the organization for a good year or two now, she's still learning and she's still incredibly (an understatement beyond all understatements) inexperienced.
But that doesn't mean she's useless. Or incompetent. Because she may look like she can't do anything right a lot of the time, but it's not a fact. Actually, Elena's a lot quicker than she comes off. She has a sharp mind and sharp reflexes, her judgment working best when she relies on her gut instinct. Of course, she doesn't seem to do this enough, considering how she's always thinking about what she has to do to look the part of a Turk. Unfortunately for her (hilariously, for some), she doesn't realize that she could pull off the part plenty fine--if she'd just stop obsessing over doing it.
On first joining the Turks, Elena was a bit purposeless and directionless. After all, her joining didn't have much of a motive behind it at the time. With how she's faring though, she's found her own reasons. Not necessarily reasons she'd tell anyone, but a hidden motive is many times the strongest. So she tries hard anyway, even if it gets her into all sorts of situations that can only be defined as mortifying. Maybe it's her nature (she's positive it isn't), maybe it's just the need to adjust (she thinks it's been too long for that). Or maybe it's just that she needs to learn more.
Overall, Elena is the work hard, work hard type. She's not the deadly serious sort and knows how to take a good joke (or give one--though she might not take them as well from people like Reno), but most of the time, the first thing (and the second, and the third, and the fourth) on her mind is the job. To her, it's about being professional and getting the job done. In fact, maybe it could be said of the Turks in general, but she never sees it that way, especially when she can't seem to detect the attitude and motivation in others (again. Reno.), which frustrates her beyond words. If there is ever one thing she hates, it's the nonchalance some people take in their duty because duty comes before all in her mind. Shirking that meant losing the integrity (if there is any) of being a Turk.
Still, there are times when she worries, of course. She's been on the job long enough to have lost the initial, "Oh, shoot, bail out!" reaction, especially since she's learned to make the job her driving force. Being a Turk isn't an easy occupation though, and considering the riskier, shadier (and more importantly, more dangerous) edges of the profession, she sometimes wonders why she even convinced herself to join. It's never a regret though.
One of the things Elena has going for her is her ability to blur the line between black and white. After all, the characteristic is key to all Turks, whose job would be assailed by all sorts of questions of morality if not for the fact that they're...Turks. Most of the Turks don't show a ruthless, spartan side anyway--they just are underneath their more human selves. But Elena, as rookie as she is, still would never have made it into the division without this trait--and though it's obviously not something she's always inclined to do (canonically speaking, she hesitates before using the word "kill" when she and the others are assigned to get rid of AVALANCHE for good), it's not something she'd favor over the importance of getting the job done.
Example/Excerpt:
Elena wasn't an "oh, goody!" sort of gal. She took this seriously. Very seriously. So seriously that…that even Rude wouldn't be able to out-serious her. Well, probably not, but it would have been a good comparison, she knew it.
The job was important, after all. So it was a black tie deal where she basically stood by and held her hands behind her back until they got "the signal." (She still wasn't sure what "the signal" was, but she was new. She'd figure it out. Generally, it would be obvious when Reno did something. He was good at that.) That wasn't so bad. She was better at this than she was at high school anyway, even though she couldn't really say what "this" was out loud. It would take work to get it right, but Elena was fine with working for it.
The boss made a motion so unnoticeable that she wasn't sure it was there. It might have been "the signal." It had to be "the signal." Well, she wasn't paying as much attention as she should have been, but what else would a motion like that mean?
"I'll take care of this," she said, stepping forward. Even as she said it, she could feel the looks she was getting, and she could practically identify which partner was giving which look. Probably not good. Probably meant she was doing something wrong again. Well, she'd prove them wrong--yeah! She could do this! It was what being a professional was about!
"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to back down," she stated to the man opposite the boss. She completely ignored the waves of disapproval she was getting from his general direction--she was on a roll. And when one is on a roll, one should not, cannot be stopped.
"Elena, what--"
"I'll handle it, sir," she said quickly, still facing the other man, who was now giving her boss a pointed glare. That was, in and of itself, unacceptable. So she did the first thing that came to mind. So much for training.
"If you'll take it the hard way, sir," she acquiesced and pulled her arm back to swing at him.
Not surprisingly, she missed, and she mentally cursed as she lost momentum and toppled the man over anyway, sending him into one of the walls and somewhere nicer, where bodyguards wouldn't be assaulting him. Trying for a graceful save, she stood up as professionally as she could, dusting herself off. At least she hadn't completely missed.
"Well," she heard from behind her. Reno. Never had something good to say. She braced herself. "Don't misunderstand. But I don't think you were supposed to knock out the representative we were negotiating with."
Established Relationships:
Tseng [should he ever enter the game], as leader of the Turks, holds Elena's highest respect. That and she's somewhat infatuated with him. She refers to him as senpai when she speaks with him, though otherwise, she might just go with Tseng. His word is practically law in her book, and she'd do near anything he says, no doubt about it. If there's one person she ever feels the need to prove herself to, it's him.
Rude, of course, she considers another partner in crime (though not really, since the Turks would probably not consider that a very professional name unless this Turk's name starts with R and ends with eno), but he seems to be taciturn enough not to speak with her very much. Elena, of course, never takes offense at this since she knows full well that Rude doesn't like to talk very much. When he does say anything to her, she treats the words just the same as she would have it from any other colleague. So it comes less from Rude. Oh, well.
Reno--Reno gives Elena a hard time about her inexperience--it seems that way to her anyway. A hard time would be harsh reprimands, serious manner of speaking (a strange concept for Reno, so she thinks, seeing as if it's anyone else, he's the loud, cocky fool he acts like he is), and general verbal discipline, per se. She knows how to take him seriously, of course; in the back of her mind, she always reminds herself that he's second-in-command, even if he never seems to be the kind to gain such a position. At the same time, she can't help but get frustrated with him every so often (and often is a sweet word for this specific relationship because it's more like often times infinity), and in her terms, she oversteps her boundaries when her frustration with his attitude gets out of hand. That he can be so laid-back and still be considered one of the best drives her up the wall because he shows not a trace of the professionalism she thinks the job calls for. But he is, if anyone, the person who knows how to snap her back into her place, and she never forgets that.
And she may never say it, but she's sure she could learn a bit from him anyhow.
Isolde (Playable Character A) is a difficult one to handle in Elena's mind. Not because she's…well, difficult. But because she's so serious and so hard-pressed for anything other than the sobering attitude she has. Even Elena gets intimidated by her no-nonsense, all-business stance, and while on one hand, she respects it, she still thinks it's a bit overkill. Nonetheless, Elena makes no move to say so since she's sure that's just something she sees, and after all, some people just have this sort of disposition. Rude's naturally quiet, Reno's naturally a jerk "laid-back," and Isolde's just naturally…stern. That's not a problem to Elena, even if she couldn't ever imagine going out for lunch with Isolde or anything of the sort.