Ruby Sforza [Updated]

[odango]

Ruby Sforza

Other Names: 'Iza' but no one has called her that since childhood
Epithet: none yet
Height: 179cm
Build: lean and athletic
Age: 24
Gender: female
Race: human
Occupation: pirate
Bounty/Rank: -

Total X-Poinz: 300
Used X-Poinz: 100

Personality

Ruby is tough. She feels as if she needs to fight her way through life to stay alive and sometimes it shows more than necessary. The redhead has no apparent sympathy for others but she can feel respect towards people. In her opinion, the world is a violent place and those who can be violent enough in return can live full lives. That being said, she also believes that trouble breeds trouble but has accepted that her life would be one intertwined with it.

Pride is a big part of her personality. While she had to work really hard to survive all of her life, the girl developed a strong sense of self-worth. She can come across arrogant and uninterested but that’s because she believes some people aren’t worth the breath. It was probably her will to show the world she can be on top that kept her alive. If truly insulted, Ruby can be quite vindictive and patient. Sometimes payback can’t be served straight away due to her being at some disadvantage but she can wait – wait for an opening to strike without mercy in mind. Her pride doesn’t let her act like a cruel coward so she wouldn’t hurt someone very vulnerable to hurt someone else – Ruby believes that a true victory is one where she stands over the enemy’s body because of physical effort.

The crimson haired pirate is very goal oriented. She finds no trouble devoting herself to a singular goal and working towards it little by little for years. The goal, however, has to be something that would grant her more power of sorts. If serving some regime could feed her greed and lust for power, she would sign up immediately and wait for an opportunity to get something better.

At times Ruby can have a short fuse. She’s not the forgiving type and when she’s set her mind on hurting someone, there is barely any chance of making her change her mind. Ruby wouldn’t wear her heart on her sleeve but there would be cases when she’d go a blind with blood-lust and wouldn’t be able to stop fighting. At other times, if she starts getting annoyed with anyone, she could start making fun of them.

She’s often alone by choice because she doesn’t believe friends are worth it or, perhaps, hasn’t met a single person who was worth it. Over the years, the adventurous little girl accumulated a very thick coat of skepticism and anger. The only time she becomes more chipper is when she drinks. There is no harm in ale and the girl sometimes ends up in a brawl or two. She can be very vocal and reckless when she loosens up and is often the life of a very rough party.

Besides a list of questionably difficult qualities, Ruby likes to plot. She is very good at planning and can read people quite well. She doesn’t believe in sympathy but fighting most of her life taught her that most actions are controlled by fear and she had seen a lot of it to know the signs. Also, she can be very creative and is quick to make decisions.

Quirk: Ruby loves milk. She has an unreasonable liking to it and, if she doesn’t have a cup of alcohol in her hand, you could often find her with a milkshake.

Appearance

The first thing to notice about Ruby is her hair – it’s a crimson red color with lighter overtones from her time in the sun and it gleams depending on the lighting. She always has her hair relatively short, only down to her shoulders and the cut is rather messy. It looks almost as if she would cut her hair herself whenever it got too long or strands of it would get nipped off during knife fights. There isn’t a specific style she wears them in. Most days the wind decides her hair style but it generally looks of full volume yet straight.

Her eyes are very dark. The irises look black most of the time but if you were to shine a light in her eyes they would prove to be of an amber color. The features of her face seem delicate but she frowns and scowls a lot so she’d be often seen with her brows knotting in an annoyed manner. Her skin is often a bit tan and looks flawless at first but, under closer inspection, some old scars can be seen. Ruby never had any serious injuries but she has been through thousands of cuts and scratches so faded scars can be found on her arms, legs and back.

She doesn’t have any tattoos but both of her ears are pierced three times. The regular attire includes a variety of tube tops and tank tops and an open leather or denim jacket over that. The redhead doesn’t wear skirts usually because she sees no point in flashing someone while fighting so she’s usually in short trousers of some kind. The preferred footwear is boots or anything that would make running everywhere easier. Her figure is lean and years of training have built muscle but she doesn’t look buff and it’s still obvious she’s a woman due to a hourglass shape to her body. Lastly, she wears tape or gauze wrapped around her knuckles often for fighting purposes.

Traits

Inhuman strength free human trait
This has been a product of having to fight for her life since she was a child. Due to incredible willpower and training constantly, the young woman has reached a level where she's easily stronger than an average person.

Inhuman speed free human trait
This skill came from living in constant panic and having to rely on being faster than her opponent. Her body is used to the adrenaline after so many years and, while it will certainly take a toll on her longevity, it has helped her become quick and react quickly. The way of her fighting helped train this as well since she has to keep light on her feet.

Fighting Styles

Name: Hunter's Oath
Focus: trench knife boxing
Class: E class
Description: It's a dirty boxing style that incorporates two brass knuckle trench knives. Ruby does utilize all of her body when necessary but she tries to stay quick on her feet constantly. She packs quite a punch but it takes some energy so she prefers to bob and weave until she has a clear shot and then aim to kill or immobilize her opponent. She always comes on strong at the beginning of a fight and the entire style is focused on finishing the battle as quickly as possible by slicing up her enemies.

Techniques:

Name: Mark of prey
Fighting Style: Hunter's Oath
Rank: 1 (50Xpz)
Description: Ruby gets close and low to her opponent and delivers a large cross slash with both blades to either her opponent's chest or back (depending on the situation).

Weapons:

Name: King fangs
Fighting Style: Hunter's Oath
Rank: 1 (100Xpz)

Description: A pair of knuckle knives that have slightly curved blades resembling a karambit knife. The blades are identical mirror images and are both slightly over twelve inches long. The backs of the blades are quite sturdy and the blade itself extends to over the forth ring of the knuckles. The other rings have a central spike each. The color of the weapons is metallic silver. No other coloring or design has been added.

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Threads

Active:

        Slayers and Ruby

            - Eric, Anya and Ruby; Open Seas, Gecko Route

        The struggle for coin

            - Gideon and Ruby; Rondure, Gecko Route

Finished:

            -/-

Logs:

            -/-

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Background

Ruby was born in Rainbase, Alabasta on the Sandy Island in Paradise. Her father is passed away before she was born and her mother died at childbirth so, without any intermediate family left, she spent her first seven years in an orphanage. They were never cold and it could be quite fun. Ruby had made a few friends and, while she could get in trouble for being reckless, the immense weight of being an orphan didn’t seem that heavy. The crimson haired child was a relatively happy one and dreamed of big adventures. She together with a worn down doll would explore the earth and go on an adventure on every island – the adults had told her that there’s islands everywhere but they are all different from the one she was born on.

There was a lot she didn’t know when she was a child. Whenever some of the kids disappeared, everyone assumed they were adopted and sometimes they were but now and then some kids at the age of seven or eight would be taken from orphanages and used for different purposes. It’s unclear how many institutions had an annual reaping but Ruby was one of a couple hundred children gathered her year. It started as the day she was to be collected by her new parents who lived in Tamarisk but when she got there, she was put on a ship with a bunch of other kids. Ruby isn’t exactly sure where they were taken for the first couple of years but one thing was for sure – they were there for entertainment.

All the children would have to fight each other in arenas visited by whoever had enough money to get in and bet on one of them. The tournaments would happen weekly and most of them would die very quickly. Sometimes the loser survived but they would try to patch them up to fight again next week or, if the injuries were too severe, they would dispose of the contestant. The children were given weapons and dropped in a mechanical square cage that had huge metal spikes on two opposing walls. They would be told to kill each other or both of them would be killed by enclosing the walls. Some of the matches wouldn’t lead anywhere because both of the children would be terrified and thus both would die and Ruby saw this happen right before she was supposed to go fight next. It’s impossible to explain the fear the child felt at that moment but from that day on she didn’t miss her doll anymore nor did she dream of adventure. The roar of the audience seemed very far away when she first stepped in the ring. The redhead didn’t blink once throughout the entire experience. All she thought about was that she didn’t to die and so, after a struggle and then having her opponent collapse out of fear, she took his life.

The organization she was fighting for had different age groups and it mostly depended on luck if one would survive if they entered a new age group. By the time she was 12, Ruby chose to not talk with any of the other kids. They were there to kill each other so she spent her time in her shared cell by training her body as she had seen other kids do. Once a year they would be pulled out of tournaments for a month of training – this would give the fights more flair if the fighters were more skilled. Ruby studied as hard as physically possible because she saw training a good way to not die in the ring.

When she reached 16, she upgraded to a new group for 16 – 20 and she had to move again. Some of her colleagues were recruited in different ways by then. Some came to the tournaments because of a crime they had committed or a debt they couldn’t pay. This group was of a different calibre and most of them were a lot more social. This is where she met a couple of kids who tried to form plans of escape. It was not a new idea. There was always someone who wanted to escape and was certain their plan would work. In Ruby’s experience, they never did and everyone who tried would be put on death row. At the organization it meant that they would be placed in back-to-back battles until they died. The customers would place bets on how many battles they would survive and they always started by pitting the guilty parties against each other. Needless to say, it was a good way to destroy any morale of future escape artists.

However, over time she got approached by two other fighters – Torin and Rouland – from her group and they wanted to escape with her. The two figured she’d be able to help and they felt that Ruby’s skills could aid them. The read-haired teenager turned them down immediately and figured that this topic would not be raised again. It was idiotic to make friends in a setting where they might have to kill each other.

The other two were persistent - they would start looking for excuses to spend time with Ruby as much as possible. The fighters would get seriously hurt if they fought outside of the ring so Ruby couldn’t make them leave but she made it pretty clear that she wishes nothing to do with them. By this age, there were multiple tournaments and there was a possibility of not fighting each other at all depending on their gender or weight. Every year they would mix up a couple bigger tournaments in different underground venues and about six months after Torin and Rouland started to edge their ways into Ruby’s life, Rouland had died in a fight. Torin felt outraged and hurt and it clouded his judgement. They had told Ruby about the escape plan and joked that everyone would assume she helped them if they escaped, since they were together often, so she was better off coming with the boys. There might have been a part of the crimson haired teen that considered escaping but she also remained strong with the view that she should go through life alone because other people are vulnerable and they all die in the end. That being said, Torin and Rouland had shown her a fragment of friendship and they had given her some bright moments. She hadn’t asked for them but they were now part of her history.

If there was any belief in friendship surviving obstacles, it was destroyed when Torin tried to escape on his own and was caught around the time of Ruby’s seventeenth birthday. He was put on death row as all the ones before him and, while proved to have no part of it, Ruby was put in the ring with him about four battles down the road. The presenter introduced them as star-struck lovers and Torin hesitated. Perhaps, the feeling of relief she had felt when she saw him in one piece was that of affection. Maybe the couple times of laughter that ran through her head when she looked at the opponent in front of her were a sign of feelings towards him. If that was affection then Ruby chose to push it aside for a better goal – survival. There was no way of get out of the situation together. Only one would survive and, with that thought in mind, she rushed the bigger, taller male. He couldn’t attack her and so the brunette fell to the red-head. There was a moment at the end where Ruby hesitated to finish it. Flashbacks of her first fight came back to her and she had to force every joint and muscle of her body to use her knuckle knives for what was necessary.

She changed to the next age group when she turned twenty and the years started to flow by quicker. Her life was a routine but she got to learn a little more about the outside world. They would get treated to a lounge if they won their fights and some of the foods and clothes there were quite interesting. They had been given some money at the end of each tournament that they could spend on books, clothes or any training equipment that was offered by the organization. Ruby was certain that she would die while part of the organization. Running was futile. Everyone was outmanned and outgunned.

It was only by luck that one day, when twenty of them were being transported to a different island for a tournament, did pirates attack them. The young fighter was twenty two at the time. Ruby didn’t know who exactly did it but the ship she was on was riddled with cannon balls and the twenty of the fighters on board could escape. She didn’t know who did it and, frankly, didn’t care but eighteen out of twenty of them managed to survive by choosing to hop on a bigger piece of wreckage and gamble with fate. They were floating on a big piece of wood for a day and a half before a fishing vessel spotted them and brought them to the shores of Lulusia Kingdom close to the G-2 Marine base and Momoiro Island in Paradise.

Ruby found some work there amongst the fishermen and some inns for a year and few months and this is where she could indulge in her love of milk. She learned how to drink properly and found out what she likes to do for fun. It was such a surreal feeling to not have to fight constantly but she knew she was good at it and still trained every day. However, her ambition started growing and she felt she needed to find a spot of more power. There was hunger forming and she felt the only way to soothe it was to go out in the world. A part of her thought it’s her time to take from the world as much as she wanted. Lulusia taught her that not everyone has to fight for a living and that most people are truly weak. There was no excitement to be had on the island and Ruby thought they don’t need any. So, on the day of her 24th birthday, after having one last go with the regulars at the pub in her coastal town, Ruby stole a boat, some equipment, enough food and money to last a couple months and went out to sea.