Full Name - Erica Rukeyser
Preferred Name - Erica, Silly Medic Girl (but only by her best friend)
Age - 19-25 (she follows a timeline)
Race - Unnamed.
Height - 4'10"
References - HERE
Description - Erica is a tiny little thing. She's petite, very skinny, and lacks a bust or wide hips. Her small waist is really her defining feminine feature, since without it she could be mistaken for a boy. She's purple, which is a very rare color in her race, and even rarer for girls. Her skin is light purple, her hair is a dark and cool purple, and her freckles are darker than her skin. She has a smattering of freckles on her face and arms. Erica's eyes are a bright orange, and fairly expressive. Her features are feminine, and she has a button nose. Her teeth are pointed, and she has claws on her fingers and toes (though she tries to keep them trimmed). Her hair is straight and a bit wild; Erica usually wears it in a ponytail or bun. It reaches her shoulder blades.
Clothing - Erica has... interesting fashion sense in her earlier years. She can usually be seen in her uniform, in scrubs, or in her training outfit. In the way of casual clothes, Erica loves yellow and tends to wear it.
Personality - Erica is of two personalities. To strangers, she can seem very standoffish and mean, especially if they comment on her skin color, teeth and claws, or her profession. She's quick to lash out with a mean comment of her own and walk off, and that's the end of it.
To those who know her, Erica is actually fairly nice. She's a bit shy and rather sensitive, hence her prickly reactions when her buttons are pressed. She has a talent for sarcasm and loves to tease her friends. She banters quite often with her best friend, and is not prone to violence as some would think. She's not the strongest person around, especially in her own eyes, but when it matters, Erica tries to do what is right. She's a medic for this same reason: Erica's not a fighter, but she wants to do right.
A little recognition wouldn't hurt either. Nothing's black and white about this medic.
Character History - Erica was born on the Rukeyser Ranch, which raises livestock to feed the city, and raises horses for work, riding, and war. The warhorses are only for show since the advent of technology, but they are still trained for battle in case of any threat to the ranch. Erica herself was introduced to such a horse as a toddler, and that day she met her best friend for the length of her childhood: Gem, a stallion (gelding when Erica was 6) of the top warhorse breed, an extremely powerful and temperamental animal who knew how to hurt anyone he didn't like.
That horse loved Erica more than anything, and she loved him.
Erica's early childhood was spent almost exclusively with Gem or with her family (at the time consisting of her parents and her older brother, Mathias); the other children around her age liked to tease her since she was so different. Anyone who hung around her was immediately a social outcast, and soon the children either left her alone or bullied her. Erica became something of a wild child, causing trouble just to alleviate her boredom. She was punished often by her no nonsense mother, grounded, sent to sleep in the guest houses with an adult supervisor (these experiences solidified Erica's fear of ghosts), and given chores upon chores in an attempt to set her straight.
Nothing worked... until Erica heard about one Captain Maren of the IL-2 Task Force. Lily, Erica's mother, saw her chance and quickly used the Captain as an example and role model for Erica to look up to. She explained that while the Captain wasn't well liked, she still did her job and did good for the country. Erica quickly declared the Captain her hero, and from then on tried to emulate her. She stopped being quite such a brat, and gave her bullies as good as she got. Her mother took what ground she could gain, and silently thanked the Captain for indirectly helping with her daughter.
When Erica was 7, she actually got to meet her hero, and that was the happiest day of her life. Captain Maren and her medic, Dr. Tray, actually set Erica on her path to be a military medic in her own right. It was also this encounter that gave Erica one of her favorite hobbies (knitting and sewing) as well as one of her most precious possessions, an eye patch the Captain had had with her that day.
Erica's younger brother, Edgar, was born just a few months after she turned 8. Her older brother was in the Ig-Gamma training program at this point, leaving Erica to her own devices more often than not. Thanks to the military visitors, Erica did not return to her wild child ways. She used the free time to study ahead in her school, and she actually jumped a few grades ahead. The new workload calmed her down, and the rest of her childhood passed with that same calm.
Teenhood brought its own problems, such as Erica's lack of growth in either bust or height. Her teen years were her worst, as her teasing escalated to new proportions and Erica herself was suffering from a lack of self esteem. She clung to her dream of being a military medic (and beyond that, the best medic in CYTOS-I) and studied harder than ever, resulting in an early graduation from secondary school and entrance into a fairly prestigious college with a full scholarship. Since Erica could not enlist until she was a legal adult (and CYTOS-I required at least some medical experience for trainees), she took the opportunity and moved to the city at the tender age of 15.
It was at this time she met Captain Mechnikov. During one particularly vicious bout of teasing from a set of IL-2 recruits who'd overheard her dream, the Captain came up and drove her bullies off. Erica mistakenly thought he was standing up for her, and developed a crush on the man. It persisted through her whole college career and beyond; Erica used her crush as a crutch so she wouldn't have to deal with the rigors of dating.
Three years later Erica had a degree in medical science with a minor in mechanics, and several years experience volunteering at the local hospital. She put in an application to join CYTOS-I... and was promptly denied. Erica applied several more times, only to be denied each time. On her third application, she was admitted for interview, and the reason from her denial became apparent: the recruiters were biased against her age, skin color, and background. It wasn't the first taste of prejudice Erica had ever faced, but it was the most bitter. Erica would never have joined CYTOS-I had it not been for a certain medic catching sight of her application and... 'amending' what he felt were wrongs on the recruiters' part.
Erica joined up immediately, though she fought prejudice at every turn. As the youngest trainee in the program, Erica caught flak from her teachers and fellow trainees. Her skin color, claws, and teeth did not help. Erica developed her shell fully during these years, finally sick of leaving herself open to insults. She lashed out at her fellows, and several times had to be brought in front of superior officers for discipline. One such time was to her idol's office, though Maren did not recognize her.
As a result of her lashings out, Erica was held back a year. She contested this immediately, but the decision was final. Erica spent her second first year studying the second year material, so when she took the end of year exams, she could request to test straight into third year.
Erica was held back again, on vague allegations of 'readiness'. She contested it again, but to no avail. Erica was looking to be starting her third year as a first year again... until the annual tour of the facilities all first years were required to take. Dr. Tray led the tour each year, and he noticed Erica's familiar face. He asked her about it, and so learned about her probation. After some investigation, he cleared up the hold and got Erica sent to second year... where she quickly tested out and started taking third year with her original colleagues.
It was early in this year that Erica met Hans. She bumped into him on the way to her quarterly exam (this year a combination of physical and written exams), and somehow, someway became friends with him. She thought he was funny, and after all the truly vicious words sent her way through her life, his petty insults were amusing. She saw him many times after that first meeting, and they developed a strange sort of friendship. Erica got a crush on him, since he was her first real friend, but that quickly passed when she learned he was asexual. Afterward, she considered him a little brother, and still considers him as such.
Erica continued her training regularly, passing out of her third year first in her class. In the month gap before the summer training session started, there was a training expedition to the nearby wilderness. Erica managed to get separated in the midst of a storm due to a classmate's prank, and had to spend several nights in an abandoned cabin, which did nothing to help her pathological fear of storms. The last night she was joined by several criminals on the run, including a pair of Colony men. It did not pass peacefully, as at the end of the night the IL-2 stormed the cabin. Erica herself was happy with the outcome, though, since Mechnikov led the raid. It only reinforced her feelings for him.
Erica's fourth year passed without consequence, save for her meeting a 'government worker' named Georgette. Georgette was a purple woman like Erica (though she is actually more cybernetics than biological at this point), and as such gained Erica's hero worship. That died down a bit, and they became good friends. Erica graduated from the CYTOS-I training program and went into service.
The only problem was the lack of soldiers who would take her as a partner. Erica was eventually relocated to a nearby military base to work as a field medic. Of course, not long after her assignment there, the Colony, a group of criminals bent on taking over Erica's home (among other goals), targeted the military base. They attempted to blow it up and kill all the personnel there. Their efforts were thwarted after Erica's actions that night, and that landed her on the Colony's long list of people to kill. More worrying, it landed her on Steph's personal list (Steph being the 'Queen' of the Colony, the second in command).
On the plus side, it did get Erica interest from the soldiers, and she finally managed to find a partner in a yellow man named Rudy Hinton. They were partnered up for about six months before a monster attack claimed Rudy's life. Erica went into hysterics, needlessly risking her life to save other soldiers until she was sedated by another medic and admitted to the hospital for her injuries as well as a mental evaluation. She slipped into a deep depression over Rudy's loss. Dr. Tray took some time to speak with her, and his words seemed to help. Erica went on the road to recovery, though she was still off duty for the time being. Her only responsibility at the time was working at the hospital.
She was surprised to learn she'd been assigned to General Maren as a nurse. The General was a horrible patient (which she demonstrated during Erica's first day with her, when she broke the medic's nose with a tray), but Erica refused to be cowed. She took care of the General and found her fire again. She was just about to be put into active duty again when she was kidnapped by the Colony man Teddy Escher. She was taken to the manor of Serge Winogradsky, the leader of the Colony. The visit was both tame and extremely terrifying for Erica. She came out of it unharmed, save for garnering an unhealthy interest from the boss.
When Erica returned to duty about a month after this incident, it was only to be shuffled around between soldiers. Erica couldn't forget Rudy, and she didn't get along with any of her assignments. She quickly gained a reputation for being fierce and unruly, and were it not for her immense talent and ability to provide care for even the most stubborn of soldiers (Maren being one of them), she would have been discharged. As it was, Erica found herself spending most of her time working at the hospital.
A few weeks after her 24th birthday, Erica was approached once again by Serge Winogradsky. He used her to get into the hospital where General Maren was staying, and manipulated Erica into leading him to her room. He had (and has) an obsession with the general, and upon entering her room, quickly showed his insane, manic nature. He learned Erica was Maren's nurse, and decided then and there she had to be eliminated. Erica, not wanting her idol to be harmed in any way, fought Winogradsky to the best of her ability, and eventually managed to throw both him and her out the window. Winogradsky was heavily injured, and Erica nearly died.
She fell into a coma, and for two months was kept in ICU at the hospital. When she woke, it was a fairly short process to take care of her extensive injuries and get her back into active duty. Erica finally found a partner: Charlotte Arthram, who had moved into the country and joined the IL-2. Erica groused at being paired with her, but soon found a friend in the prickly woman. She was set straight by her friend and fellow medic Mitchell about her crush on the captain, and life went on.
Part of Erica's new life was the periodic visits from the Colony, including the leader himself. They were terrifying, and though Erica moved, she was still found. She took to staying with her friends when she could, and simply not going home when she couldn't. Her extended staying out led to her meeting with government worker Georgette far more often, and Erica developed a deep, abiding infatuation for her. That led to a crisis of sexuality; while Erica had nothing against lesbians, she had always been sure she was straight.
Her problem was further compounded by her growing infatuation with Mitchell, her coworker. After a supply mission in a neighboring town, Jack, a hitman from the Colony, ambushed Erica and tried to kill her. Mitchell saved her life, and together they fought him off. On the way home Erica kissed him, equalizing her kiss with Georgette from an earlier date.
Erica did eventually figure out her sexuality (she is now happily bisexual), and as Georgette was more aggressive in pursuing her and responding to her advances, they eventually became a couple.
Currently Erica is happy, if fearful of the Colony coming into her life again. She's enjoying exploring her relationship with Georgette, hanging out with her best friend Hans, and serving with Charlotte and her old crush, the Captain (who is Charlotte's lover). With her penchant for getting into trouble, doubtless her life will be very exciting from here on out.
Companions - Erica is partnered with Charlotte Arthram when said woman moves to her world. She's best friends with an agent named Hans, had a crush on Captain Mechnikov, and has a prospective girlfriend in another agent named Georgette. She's also friends with a fellow medic named Mitchell.
Notes - Erica is part of my friend Clockwork Fox's universe. See her OC Req thread, Dative Cases, to learn more about her characters and the world they're set in. As her character history shows, she is very well developed.
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Character and Writing Archive
My early entries concerned my real life back when I was a teen. Now a days, I find my journal to be a wonderful place to store some of my shorter writings and of course, character profiles. Feel free to look through them, and comment when you see fit
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