Haru Nakamura

Ruby Nakamura Original Canon

Ruby was born into a world where gods are real, verifiable to a point where the bones of Zeus lay in a museum - those that weren't pilfered for weapons or elixirs over the centuries. While many of them left to other planes or went to hide within their own hidden sections of the mortal realm, some still interact with humanity, while others still are sealed away for their transgressions against mankind.

Ruby was not born a god, but she was born with a god's boon: The ability to communicate with animals. Less fortuitously however she was also born to a man living a double life. Sho Nakamura, Japanese politician and secret crime boss had decided that he needed an heir specifically for his criminal organization. Rather than do the sensible thing and find a suitable partner within the underworld, this man who has been the death of many people decided unfaithfulness to his wife (Anna Aoyagi) is a line he would not cross and therefore had a second child with her. Then promptly had the child kidnapped by his most trusted people. Thus began the life of Haru Nakamura.

Sho Nakamura lacked wisdom in yet more ways. Rather than risk his daughter being assassinated due to proximity to him he had her spirited away between safe houses. Haru grew up with barely any human interaction other than her tutors, the people tasked with keeping an eye on her, and the occasional visit from her father. While she was learning how to survive in a criminal underworld she was not being taught much in the way of how to exist within society.

Her safety lasted a scant eight years before she was caught up in a police raid of her father's holdings. Soon after she was placed in protective custody she was kidnapped by a cult, The Forge, whose own criminal workings had been thwarted time and time again by Sho Nakamura.

The leader of the cult in question, a man named Korei, had brought her to him with one goal in mind: Revenge against the man who had been a thorn in his side for far too long.

Ruby hadn’t learned much about genuine interaction, but she had learned to manipulate people. By appealing to the leader, Korei’s, ego and acting interested in his organization she was able to manipulate him into bringing her into the cult instead of killing her as a blow against her father.

So began Ruby’s life in The Forge. The training she’d been given as a child gave her a leg up, both in training for future field work and in keeping herself from falling headlong into the ideology of the cult. She learned to game the system, watching what gained the other kids praise and punishment alike, and formatting her public image into one that would keep her safe from anyone looking too closely into her activities.

Due to who her father was she regularly gained the attention of the leader, and with it his company as he tried to personally affect her outlook on the world. He told her grand tales of gods and spirits, locked away by pernicious humans who would later do more damage than the gods ever had. He told her that it was the duty of the holy, of those forged in blood and sacrifice, to bring those deities back into the world, to cleanse it in fire and make it a utopia once more.

Over the coming years ruby found herself becoming more comfortable with those around her. Her position as one of the better trainees brought her attention and praise for her efforts which encouraged her to help the other children, and in turn made her more popular among them. Before long she found herself enjoying their company and learning how to joke around with them, unknowingly internalising ideals that would later come back to haunt her.

At the age of ten she and the other kids in her age group were tasked with a test of loyalty, the taking of a life. While most passed, the price of failure quickly being seen as death, it left no doubts in Ruby's mind of what their future would bring.

Years passed, missions succeeded, and peers were lost.

Eventually the children were sent on to the field, first on simple scouting missions, then as human shields for the most important members of The Forge. In an attempt to keep the others alive Ruby began to train them harder, doing any and everything she could to find what might give her peers a higher chance of survival. This training saw her elevated to a position of authority over the other children.

Ruby is not a trusting child. Due to her lived experience she is very dubious of kindness and those who offer it, whether she shows it or not. She is hypervigilant and constantly on the lookout for tricks or traps, or signs that someone wants to hurt her. While she tries to act like she's just shy, she sometimes fails to hide when she's taking calculated actions.

Normal social interaction is not Ruby's strongsuit. She has no idea what is or is not normal, and simply does her best to blend in. While this may work within her cult, the oddities start to add up quickly in any conversation outside of that environment. She has a bad habit of slipping up and mentioning worrying things because she simply has no idea they are not normal. Additionally, Ruby can be eerie to interact with when she drops the mask of being a harmless ingenue. Not that the act itself is particularly well played.

Due to masking her personality, Ruby has a hard time actually knowing what is her and what is the mask. While this works well for her in the cult, allowing her to better play the role she does for her own protection, it leaves her unable to respond quickly to harmless things well outside of her experience due to being unable to make up her mind.

At her heart Ruby is a clever, deeply awkward child who is just trying to survive. She is also a massive nerd, though she will go above and beyond in order to hide this fact. All in all, her actions are all in service of her goal of survival, and her unconscious goal of learning. Well, excepting when someone is hurting an animal for no good reason. Then she is acting on instinct and ire in equal measure.

It is worth noting that she is not above going feral on people if she feels threatened enough and they seem like easy pickings. She absolutely will not apologize unless she feels it's required.

Secretly, Ruby is desperate for relationships with others, though she is not consciously aware of this.

hair Long, red	height 4'0"
eyes Medium Grey	build Short, athletic

Ruby has long red hair, medium grey eyes, and pale skin. She wears glasses. Ruby has a fair number of scars on her body, including burn scars and some scars from stab wounds. Most of the scars are hidden under her clothing, but there are obvious burn scars present on her legs and arms, as well as a few scars from cuts on her hands - the lattermost look like they could be accidental as they align with what one might expect from kitchen work.

Ruby's hair style changes based on what she's doing or how she's feeling - not magically, mind you. If she is doing something athletic there is a good chance that her hair is in a braid or ponytail. If she knows she's going to be fighting her hair is up in a braided bun on the back of her head to give less of a target to an opponent. sometimes she braids the hair that would otherwise fall over her face. This last style just seems to be for herself.

Ruby is commonly in scruffy, well-worn clothing that is sometimes too large for her. The clothes are mostly neutral colours. It looks like any clothing she didn't come here wearing is bought secondhand, that or she creates holes in her clothes very quickly. Much like her clothing, Ruby's general appearance is often scruffy, as though basic maintenance has been lacking.

On top of looking scruffy, Ruby is quite small. While she insists she is 13 years old, she looks notably younger. It could be forgiven to mistake her for ten or younger, even if she isn't the one who will be doing the forgiving.

Much as is to be expected, Ruby commonly smells like wherever she spent her time recently, which is often somewhere in nature or a location she could take part in training. While it may be clear over an extended period of time that the girl favours baths, it is also clear that she is a very, very active person.

Animal Communication

Out of Character
Backtagging: Always!
Fourthwall: Please ask
Offlimits: Nothing sexual - the character is currently being played as 13 years old.
Threadhopping: Absolutely, just give me a heads up!
Handwaving: Go ahead!
Shipping: Age-appropriate ships are OK!


In Character
Physical/Mental Contact: Go ahead! She may have a negative response, just as a heads up!
Flirting/Affection: If your character is within her age range (she's 13) go ahead. She may be confused, or completely miss it.
Fighting: Have at it! She's been trained to fight, so she'll give as good as she can if engaged in a scuffle!
Injury/Death: Minor injuries are okay. Serious injuries need to be talked over first!