Caoimhe /QWEE-va or QEE-va/ O'Rourke
Age - 35
Sex - Female
Occupation - Security
Appearance - 5'6ish, trim and athletic. When not in uniform she prefers comfortable clothing - jeans, Ts, shirts, sneakers, boots. Her favorite color is indigo blue, so she will allways have something of that color on her.
Strengths -
- An accomplished martial artist. Krav Maga among the more expedient and Wing Chun among the more philosophical.
- EMT training.
- Proficient mid-range marksmen.
- Training in weapon maintenance and modifications.
Weaknesses -
- Prone to antisocial bouts.
- Has an almost paralyzing fear of heights or more precisely standing near ledges whit a visible precipice.
- Although usually a good judge of character and situations, sometimes her empathy and desire to help can lead her to misread a person or circumstances.
- Her desire to acknowledge both sides to a story can cause her to overanalyze.
Personality - Usually calm and steady. Very empathetic and considerate. She believes in always trying to improve oneself and constantly seeks ways to better herself. A mediator by nature she tries to avoid conflict if possible and will always play the role of peace-maker. Though quiet and introspective, she is easy to talk to. A very loyal friend, she will try to help often times to her own detriment, but at the same time will not go easy on her friends if she feels they are in the wrong. She is not a fan of tough love, but will give 'grasshopper dzen master style' lectures.
Family - None
Backstory - Single daughter to Irish mother GrĂ¡inne and Swedish father Stellan who raised her to be a bright, inquisitive child. Fond of reading and learning. Attentive towards others and considerate. And although she grew up somewhat quiet and introspective, the friendships she managed to draw to herself were firm and long-lived. She inspired loyalty by offering the same without reservation once she deemed people worthy of it.
As a relatively small and shy kid her parents worried for her so they took her to a couple of martial arts classes. It was a Wing Chung group for self-defense to which the young girl took like fire to a forest. She loved it and kept up with the classes of her own volition. She excelled at it. With her shorter frame she had a low center of gravity and excellent balance. She was also quick and precise in performing the moves and techniques. But more than the strictly technical side of the art, she fell in love with the philosophical teachings. It taught her strength of character, respect for others and the need for inner peace and harmony.
It didn't help much with her socialization as she would only interact with members of the Wing Chun group, but at least she was opening up some so her parents were satisfied. Caoimhe grew into a healthy teen girl, even if a bit quiet and decidedly less wild than other kids her age. Her parents couldn't be happier about that part, of course. Their daughter had her friends, even if they were a few. But they were close, good friends. As the years passed she became more and more interested in stuff like personal safety. She was already an assistant instructor in Wing Chun within her group and took her responsibilities as one very seriously. But she wanted to do more. Help more people feel safe. When they were at work, out and about, at home. So her parents enrolled her in a study program for security specialists. The curriculum provided for any contingency. From personal security and body-guarding, to building and staff security, to law enforcement. The students would learn a wide range of subjects at first and specialize later on.
Caoimhe, of course tried to do it all at first. She wanted to be the best she could, as was her nature. She wanted to excel at everything. But it soon started to weigh her down and her parents insisted she chose a specialty. So she did. She prioritized her EMT training, her weapon maintenance and modification classes, as well as building and staff security and order enforcement. And along with her Wing Chung training she also took up Krav Maga as it was better suited to subdue the more violent assailants.
After graduation she started off as a security officer at different sites. She took up work with security companies, guarding cash shipments. She even accepted the odd job as a personal bodyguard. At twenty-eight she'd accumulated enough experience and it started landing her positions with more responsibilities. Eventually, shortly after her thirty-third birthday, she received an offer to oversee the security of a scientific outpost on a planetoid of no major interest but for the scientists themselves. Her contract was for two years. Unfortunately she didn't make it that far. A couple of months before her first year was up, she received communication that her parents had died in a fire set off by some sick pyromaniac. She'd barely managed to wait for her replacement, before returning home and diving head first into a personal investigation of the incident. She drove all investigators crazy until they relented and allowed her to participate as a private consultant.
Fortunately it didn't take long to find out the perpetrator. Not the brightest among criminals, but certainly one of the crazier. When his capture brought her no satisfaction or relief, she sought it in the only place that had ever managed to center her. Her martial arts training. So she dedicated herself to her Wing Chun group and her work as instructor.
Nearing her thirty-fifth birthday she finally decided she'd licked her wounds long enough and needed to reenter society so she packed her belongings, sold her house and boarded a transport for Hestia Prime.
Her new beginning.