Etheil

Name: Etheil (Will edit in a last name later when my brain actually works >__>)

Nicknames/Alias: None

FF: VII

Age: 17

Height/build: Etheil is just over average height, with a naturally small build that gains no bulk, despite his military training.

DoB: October 25th

Race: Human

Weapon:

Etheil's primary weapon is a standard-issue short sword, but being in SOLDIER has given him other combat training as well - notably with guns, knives, and hand-to-hand combat, as well as supplementary materia usage.

Level: 49

Strength: 147

Physical: 67
Magical: 24
Agility: 56

Special Skill(s):

Darkness:
Command Materia - in exchange for suffering some physical pain and injury, Etheil strikes all nearby enemies with a blow of highly enhanced power. Because of the toll it takes on his body, this generally can't be used in succession, at the risk of weakening himself into inability to fight.

Vital Slash
Command Materia - Allows Etheil to focus on an enemy's weak points more easily in order to deal critical blows.

Magic:

Thundara, Watera, Dark Fire, Poisona, Esuna, Resist, Barrier, MBarrier

Summon: None

Appearance:

Despite his slightly more than average height, Etheil's face retains traces of boyishness that indicate his youth. His relatively short black hair is a little bit messy, framing his face with its choppy layers, and tends to fall into his eyes - the SOLDIER trademarks, they are his most notable feature, with their brilliantly blue mako coloring and faint glow.

More often than not, Etheil wears his uniform, the distinctive purple of a SOLDIER Second Class. He takes a certain pride in that mark of rank; despite the fact that the attire has seen its fair share of combat, the cloth and accompanying armor are clean and largely unmarked.

When he chooses casual clothing, whether for comfort or a desire to be unrecognized, Etheil prefers simple things, more for function than style. A simple black shirt and pants are usually more than sufficient, typically accompanied by a long-sleeved jacket if the weather isn't too warm to permit it.

Personality:

Etheil's age lends itself to his perceptions. The openness which with he views everything makes him both approachable and confident, while his military training tempers these qualities away from straying into over-exuberance. He is quick-minded and curious, warming quickly to both new surroundings and new company; this occasionally comes across as naivete, but has its basis in optimism rather than ignorance.

Maintaining a definite pride in having made SOLDIER, Etheil takes his responsibilities and his orders seriously, his loyalty overridden only by his innate sense of morality. In his mind, however, he sees no reason those would clash, unaware because of his youth of the crimes committed by Shinra in the past.

History:

When Etheil was twelve, the sky caught fire.

That was how he remembered Meteorfall, anyway - he was living in Midgar's sector five with his mother and younger sister, a fairly comfortable life above the plate, with all the conveniences Mako energy and their proximity to Shinra had to offer. Midgar was dark and inelegant, but he liked the city - it was his home, after all, the only one he had ever known.

But then, quite suddenly, it was gone, and the displaced boy was at a loss. He was only a child, after all; the concept that they had been saved despite the destruction was something he couldn't quite comprehend, and often after that awful day, he found himself wandering around the ruins - despite his mother's vehement protests - searching for any semblance of his old life, any little familiarity he may have overlooked. But Midgar, his Midgar, was gone, and outside that ruin, life went on. Gradually, Edge cropped up on the outskirts of the destruction, and like so many others, he and his little family took up residence in the new city.

It didn't take long to adjust to his new life. Edge wasn't as big as Midgar, but it was cleaner and more open, easy to settle into once he had accepted that things were changing. Life calmed down; soon enough, it was back to routine and habit, and little by little, they all began to put Meteorfall behind them. Two years passed, relatively without incident. And then, with no warning, Geostigma struck.

At first it was just a rumor - a case here, an outbreak there, a story that meant nothing to Etheil, only peripherally touching his own life. It came out of nowhere when that changed. His younger sister Rania woke one morning to a black stain on her skin, marking her face, and there was nothing they could do to stop its spread.

He watched, and he did his best to find ways to alleviate the pain, but no matter how much anyone searched, there seemed to be no cure. Though he stubbornly refused to admit it, Geostigma was a death sentence. He was watching his sister slowly die, and he couldn't do a thing about it.

Rania survived, saved by the healing rain that fell over Edge, but Etheil couldn't let go of what had happened so easily. Though he didn't blame himself for the inability to find a way to cure her Geostigma, he grew restless in his day-to-day life, determined that he needed to do something more - something bigger. Shinra gave him his answer when he was fifteen, reopening the SOLDIER program to anyone who met the qualifications to join. Etheil was among the first to sign up.

With the renewed program still in its infancy, the boy spent little time in the regular Shinra infantry before being promoted to the rank of SOLDIER Third Class. Now trained in combat and bearing the mako-hued eyes of his rank, Etheil started to travel almost immediately. The missions accorded to the Third Class were minor, supply runs and aid against local monster populations, mostly, as the company worked to rebuild its image in the wake of the Meteorfall disaster, but he took to the work with enthusiasm, eager for the chance to get out and to prove himself.S till young, and unbiased from the perceptions of others, he looked at Shinra with the same idealism boys the world over had several years before.

The Merge occurred when he was sixteen, and with the resultant fear and unrest, SOLDIER's work doubled. Etheil wasn't as strong as some of the others, but he learned quickly, and he took to whatever was asked of him immediately without complaint or question. His superiors took notice - shortly after he turned seventeen, he was promoted to Second Class.

Now, he goes wherever Shinra tells him, taking what vacation time he finds to visit his family in Edge while keeping his eyes firmly on First Class.