[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/dc2FNmJ.jpg[/img]
[h3][color=9966CC]Rui Liú[/color][/h3]
29 February | 145cm[/center]
[i][color=9966CC]Personality[/color][/i]
[indent]There are two kinds of people in the world: those who believe Rui is an angelic sweetheart and those who know Rui’s “other face.” If one were to ask about Rui, a majority of “her” acquaintances would say —with great confidence— that Rui is a sweet, adorable, innocent, and innocuous young woman. Being the social butterfly that she is, it does not take long for people to like Rui. She is, at the very least, popular amongst her peers and school faculty; revered as Oakridge’s teen idol. This can be attributed to the fact that Rui acts equally nice, polite, and friendly to everyone she meets. “Acts,” being the key word.

The unfortunate few who discovered Rui’s “other side”, know that “angelic Rui” is just a façade: zhe only acts that way to make sure zhe gets what zhe wants; to camouflage zher true self and zher less than noble intentions. “Dark Rui” is a foulmouthed, self-centered, manipulative, sadist. Mischievous by nature, Rui will cause various degrees of trouble for the sake of personal entertainment, but it is only when one get’s on her bad side that things can get extremely dangerous. Rui gets ruthless when zhe seeks revenge and will do everything in zher power to make zher target miserable. The more (mental) pain zhe knows zhe inflected on zher target, the more exhilarated Rui becomes. Once Rui is satisfied with the amount of damage zhe has done, then Rui quickly looses interest of the target and leave him/her to whatever fate awaits them. When the target continuously stands triumphant over every “unfortunate event” that occurred to them, Rui becomes increasingly enraged and obsessed over the target. Eventually, Rui would simply snap and resort to old-fashion assault, which usually does the trick. Interestingly, despite how angry Rui gets, zhe is always rational enough to cover zher track; making sure that nothing negative zhe does leads back to zhim. Most of zher victims don’t even know that Rui was the mastermind and no one believes the few that do know it was Rui and attempted to expose zhim. If people saw how brutally Rui fights the Mordrem, they might have been more inclined to believing the claims. 

Although great at pretending to be sympathetic towards others, in truth, Rui is extremely apathetic towards almost everything and everyone, especially if it does no directly affect Rui and those zhe loves. If Rui witnessed a stranger being beaten to death and did absolutely nothing about it (whether it be calling for help or some other form of intervention), Rui could still walk away with a clear conscious. While Rui is capable of caring about others, more often than not, zhe cares because of their usefulness. There are only a hand full of people Rui genuinely cares about and considers to be a friend or family. As one can imagine, it is difficult to become friends with Rui and even harder to become more than that. Not just because of Rui’s darker side, but also because Rui does not trust others easily or willingly. One would not be wrong to assume that this distrust stems from fear of being betrayed and/or abandoned. 

It is difficult to claim with absolute certainty that “angelic Rui” —or even “dark Rui” for that matter— is a completely “fake” or “real” idiosyncrasy of Rui’s for a number of reasons. First off, people who knew Rui when zhe was younger —mainly zher childhood friends— remember little Rui being a soft-spoken child who was well mannered, but was lonely and desperate for love and acceptance. Zhe just simply gave up, one day; as if zhe discovered that the only person who would ever truly care about Rui… was Rui. It has also been confirmed that Rui is capable of being a decent human being even when zhe is not in full “deceptive angelic” mode. This is a rare occurrence for strangers and mere acquaintances, but can be seen more frequently based on how close Rui considers the other person to be to zhim. Zhe is especially nice to those Rui regards as family. Although Rui may still act like an ass, zhe treasures the few friends and family zhe has and is more likely to protect and help them in their time of need; anyone or anything that does harm to Rui’s friends and/or family will become zher enemy… and no one wants to be Rui’s enemy (frenemies are an entirely different story). Lastly, it is possible that Rui’s aggressiveness was induced by and/or accentuated by spirits and the experimental drugs administered as part of a study that Rui is a participant of.[/indent]
[i][color=9966CC]Appearance[/color][/i][indent]At first, second, third, and even fourth glance or more, Rui appears to look like a lady in her adolescence (preadolescence, depending on the person), but zher appearance is just as deceptive as zher personality. Despite Rui’s baby face, petite body, and doe-eyes, zhe is a full-grown 22 year old. Rui’s sex is more of a mystery: many assume that zhe is female, but the truth is that no one actually knows if that is true. The only people who know the answer are bound to doctor-patient confidentiality and every official document or ID simply states that Rui is neither and, at times, both. The fact that Rui has an androgynous body type and no noticeable secondary sex characteristics does not make guessing any easier. It is even more confusing when one sees Rui using both the men’s and women’s room. 

Rui’s natural hair and eye color is jet black, but zhe likes to change their colors. Currently Rui has zher long hair dyed one-quarter brown and the rest blond. Zhe refrained from putting on color contacts since they would be purely troublesome during missions. Normally Rui’s nails would be covered in nail art, but, again, for the sake of the mission, zhe has left them naked. 

As a very social individual, Rui takes great care of zher appearance. Every morning, Rui makes sure that every inch of zher body is clean and will spend a significant amount of time to do hair and makeup to be sure they fit the theme of zher attire that day. Rui tends to wear the most recent fashion trend that does not expose little, if any, skin of the torso. A lot of zher clothes are very girly, but zhe does wear boyish clothes when there is no school or no social event zhe plans to participate in. Zhe wears glasses as a part of fashion, but does not necessarily need them to see things.

The most unusual things on —or rather in— Rui’s person are the two mechanical devices imbedded near the atlas (the topmost vertebra) of the spine. The devices are miniature in size and usually covered by Rui’s hair so no one tends to notice it unless they are looking for it or scrutinizing the general area. Apparently the devices are constantly recording Rui’s vitals and other biological phenomena for research purposes.[/indent]
[i][color=9966CC]Ringtone[/color][/i][center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HlY4TNXXZg[/youtube][/center]
[i][color=9966CC]Background[/color][/i][indent]Rui was the result of a crime lord wanting the perfect baby; one who would grow up to be the heir of his mighty dynasty. However, when genetic modification produced Rui, the family threw the baby away like a defective merchandise. With nowhere to go, Rui has been in foster care; changing caretakers as frequently as one would change clothes. Years of enduring neglect and abuse; playing the “good kid”; waiting for that one day that perhaps someone would actually want Rui as their child. But that day never came. Instead, Rui was sold to the military. Unlike the majority of children who enroll into military schools, Rui is legally the military’s property: zhe is both protected and confined by the military. Thus, anything the military does to Rui and zher fellow “siblings”— however inhumane it maybe to do on “non-military property” —is permitted by law under the belief that “it is for the betterment of mankind.” Before Rui hit zher teens, zhe became a guinea pig for an experimental treatment for Stigma, which has affected zhim in more ways than zhe realized. If that wasn’t enough, the military wanted Rui to fight for mankind as a Guardian in addition to participating in the Stigma Project. Rui wasn’t too surprised though: they planned to use all that they could from zhim until Rui was completely useless or a threat to them or humanity in general. Rui was going to be thrown away like trash, just like zhe was when zhe was born.

Considering Rui’s past with foster and military care and how zhe is the one to be sacrificed for the good of the many, it is no wonder that zhe is empathetic towards most of humanity: they don’t care about Rui, so why should zhe? If they intend to use zhim for their own benefit, then zhe will use them for zher own benefit. Perhaps it is unjustified resentment, but Rui is not selfless enough to think other wise. Rui tries to enjoy zher life to the fullest, because zhe knows zhe most likely would not live long as the others.

The only time in Rui’s life 
[/indent]
[hider=Tropes][list]
[*][url=http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheFakeCutie] The Fake Cutie[/url]
[*][url=http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon]Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon[/url]
[*][url=http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MoreDeadlyThanTheMale]More Deadly Than The Male[/url]
[*][url=http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BitchInSheepsClothing]Bitch in Sheep’s Clothing[/url]
[*][url=http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BeneathTheMask]Beneath the Mask[/url]
[*][url=http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BecomingTheMask]Becoming the Mask[/url][/list][/hider]
[i][color=9966CC]Memories[/color][/i][indent]Rui used to be the shy one who never did anything bold on zher own and was mature beyond zher years. Zhe was especially well mannered in front of adults, but this was most likely 1.) An attempt to get an adult to like Rui (and perhaps even consider adopting zhim) and 2.) A protective measure to decrease the occurrence of abuse and neglect (mostly from zher foster family). It was only when Rui was with Samuel and his gang that zhe could be an adventurous little rascal; a kid.[/indent]
[hider=Relationships][list]
[*][u][b]Olivia Celestine[/b]:[/u] Rui has mixed feelings about Olivia. At times, she is the annoying mother figure zhe can’t help but love; other times zhe simply admires the female incarnation of Samuel; and then there are those times when… something just feels wrong. Rui doesn’t know what it is exactly, but there is something about Olivia that scares zhim.
[*][u][b]Kade Sicario[/b]:[/u] Out of all the childhood friends, Rui is the most distant with Kade. Despite being one of the models for “angelic Rui,” it seems as though Rui is hesitant to be around Kade. This may, however, have to do less with Kade and more with her singing. The more time passes, the harder it is for Rui to listen to Kade sing. Sometimes it gets bad to the point where zhe actually feels ill.
[*][u][b]Elvira Ravenwood[/b]:[/u] Study buddy. They may not be the best of friends, but Elvira is the person Rui trusts the most due to her intelligence and honesty.
[*][u][b]Scout[/b]:[/u] Frenemy and occasional accomplice. One second they might be smiling and hugging each other for successfully executing a scheme they concocted together; the next, they might be duking it out. As a frenemy, Rui will help Scout every now and then, but if it is beneficial for zhim to rat Scout out, zhe would do it... As long as Rui knows Scout won’t die because of the snitching. 
[*][u][b]Alabaster “Al” Zabek[/b]:[/u] Little brother figure. Rui has always seen the same lonely orphan in Alabaster, although they chose very different paths to combat their loneliness. As the one of the few people in the world that Rui considers family, zhe is protective of Alabaster and likes to check in on him periodically, if not to simply hangout with him (zhe claims it’s to take care of him). 
[*][u][b]Eric Wormwood[/b]:[/u] Vitriolic best buds and dueling “buddy.” If these two aren’t bickering like an old married couple, then they are fighting as bitter rivals. Out of all the childhood friends, it is difficult for Rui to be honest towards Eric and is prone to lying over the most trivial of things. Zhe enjoys making his life difficult; every time Rui manages to break Eric’s composure, zhe considers it a personal victory.
[*][u][b]Aaron "Stonewall" Nyles[/b]:[/u] Something about Aaron makes Rui feel exceptionally impish. Perhaps the two have met each other in a past life? Who knows. It doesn’t change the fact that zhe likes messing with him.
[/list][/hider] 
[i][color=9966CC]Weapon[/color][/i][indent]Rui’s preferred weapon of choice is the whip; more specifically, an energy whip that runs on crystals. Depending on the element of the crystal being used, the type of elemental damage the whip does on a target will vary. Rui is also proficient with a blade, so when the situation calls for it zhe will use the pair of single-edged long knives that zhe keeps on zher person. Due to their resemblance to a pair of scissors, Rui’s knives are referred to as “scissor blades.” Since the two knives can be used like scissors when combined, it is likely that it’s appearance was intentional.[/indent]
[i][color=9966CC]Spirits[/color][/i][indent][b]“Misery”[/b]
Effects: [color=ed1c24]Dispel[/color]; [color=ed1c24]Blind[/color]; [color=ed1c24]Silence[/color]; [color=ed1c24]DeProtect[/color]; [color=ed1c24]DeShell[/color]; [color=ed1c24]Imperil[/color]; [color=ed1c24]Slow[/color]; [color=ed1c24]Zombie[/color]; [color=ed1c24]Meltdown[/color]; [color=ed1c24]Pain[/color]; All
Description: Misery is a lonely spirit and loves any company it can get. But when said company is not as equally or more miserable than Misery, Misery only feels lonelier, so it tries to spread misery by inflicting it on others. It does this by manifesting into various torture devices and forcing all enemies to undergo gruesome tortures. If the enemy manages to survive the ordeal, all positive effects would be removed and replaced with negative ones. 

[b]“Knight”[/b]
Effects: [color=0072bc]Protect[/color]; [color=0072bc]Shell[/color]
Description: As one would expect a paragon of chivalry to be, Knight is very protective of it’s host and will materialize as some form of armor or shield to protect Rui. 

[b]“Vigor”[/b]
Effects: [color=0072bc]Might[/color] and/or [color=0072bc]Faith[/color]
Description: When Vigor bestows Rui with Might or Faith, Rui’s hair and eye starts to glow red or blue, respectively. When Vigor blesses Rui with both, Rui’s hair and eye color turns completely purple.

[b]“Tough Love”[/b]
Effects: [color=0072bc]Revive[/color]
Description: When Rui gives a good slap across the face of a fallen ally (although kicks and punches also works) the power of Love helps the alley regain consciousness. Love knows you want to rest, but rest can come later. Now you must fight. If you don’t stand up now, you’ll never be able to get back up later. It’s tough love, but love nonetheless. If Rui didn’t care at all, zhe’d leave you to rot. 

[b]“Malice”[/b]
Effects: [color=f7941d]Darkness[/color]
Description: Unlike the other spirits, it is hard to know when Malice actually surfaces. The best indication for others to know when Malice is used is when Rui suddenly bursts into a maniacal laugh and starts ravaging an enemy without much thought to zher current situation. [/indent]
[i][color=9966CC]Trivia[/color][/i] 
[hider=Trivia][list]
[*]Rui is fond of animals, especially small fluffy ones.
[*]Despite zher claim that zhe detests children, Rui is good at taking care of babies and small children.
[*]Rui may play dumb, but zhe is a straight A student even without manipulating teachers or other students. 
[*]Rui loves playing video games.
[*]Rui is what is known as a “second-class citizen”. Check the Stigma Project codex for details.
[*]Rui doesn’t really like to drink alcohol and tends to avoid it.
[/list][/hider]
[hider=Related Codices]
[hider=The Stigma Project][b]The Stigma Project[/b]

A series of studies and experiments conducted to further humanity’s understanding of Stigma and the Mordrem. The project began soon after the Calamity struck Libra and its ultimate goal is to find an effective treatment against Stigma. However, this does not mean that the project did not attempt to find alternate uses for Stigma or Mordrem; including, but not limited to, biological warfare.

It is common knowledge that there are dark rumors surrounding the Stigma Project and institutions that are officially involved in the project, but even if half of them are true, it is highly likely that the Sanctum and any remaining law enforcement organizations intentionally turn a blind eye to it all. While people may complain, nothing is actually done about it, because all the atrocities that occur as part of the Stigma Project is regarded as a “necessary evil”… or so people tell themselves. The truth of the matter is that some of the questionable things that do happen have nothing to do with the Stigma Project. Rather, the Stigma Project is sometimes used as an excuse to push various agendas and for individuals to indulge in unacceptable behavior. It is undeniable that there are people who take advantage the dire situation to do whatever they want.

One of the most famous and controversial changes the Stigma Project was involved in is the legalization of second-class citizenship. Although there were brave and self-less individuals willing to volunteer as test subjects for the Stigma Project, there were simply not enough to produce significant results. So, in addition to other non-Stigma related reasons, the government decided to legalize second-class citizenship to increase the number of participants in experiments without anyone feeling guilty about doing so.

[hider=Second-class citizens][b]Second-class citizens[/b]

At first glance, there is no difference between second-class and first-class citizenship. There are even some benefits to being a second-class citizen (for example, second-class citizens are guaranteed housing and food; pardoned from certain crimes and civic duties), however, the benefits never out way the cons, because second-class citizens are legally the [i]property[/i] of the government (and by extension, the military) and not really regarded as humans: they cannot disobey anything the government/military does to them, no matter how cruel it may be. They are the first to be abandoned when something goes wrong; they are sacrificed to save first-class citizens; and they are most commonly used as test subjects in the Stigma Project. Simply put, second-class citizens are disposable assets.

A majority of second-class citizens are pariahs (such as convicted criminals), poverty-stricken people who are desperate enough to think that second-class citizenship is preferable, and any other undesirables. Unfortunately, “other undesirables” are commonly unwanted children who were basically sold to the Sanctum or the military. The average life span of a second-class citizen is short compared to other citizens, because they are highly likely to die from unnatural causes; usually a cause related to the experiments the Stigma Project conducts, but this is not always the case. [/hider][/hider] [/hider]