Real Name: Kalastra (Kala to friends)
Appearance: Kala stands at about 6'4" tall and sports a fit build, though she does not appear musclebound. Her dark brown hair reaches about halfway down her back and she either keeps it in a long braid or, if time doesn't permit, in a long ponytail. Her skin has only the barest hints of a tan and it lacks blemishes aside from a light scar from a blade cut running down her left cheek and across her jawline. The second scar, a continuation of the same cut, resumes along her collarbone for a few inches where the blade glanced off of her jaw. If she aligns her face properly, one could readily see the whole cut. She wears combat boots, long khaki colored cargo pants, and a black tank top. Over her tank top, if she is not elbow deep in some machine, she wears a khaki colored jacket over the tank top, keeping it unzipped and open. On her hands, she wears brown leather sap gloves with a kevlar layer to protect from lacerations. The gloves cover to the knuckle closest the fingertips. Her boots follow similar form, having a kevlar layer and an articulated steel plate over the kevlar. Both are made to have the fabric conceal the metal and kevlar portions, thus looking like normal gloves and boots to the casual observer. When at home, Kala never wears the jacket, gloves, or boots, and she tends to walk around in a tank top and loose fitting capris. She wears her hair loose and down, not bothering to style it.
Shell Name: R.O.U.S
Shell Appearance: Appears as an anthropomorphic rat with black fur covering her head and running in a wide line down her back. The rest of her fur is white and her eyes are a deep, dark red. She wears clothes and mostly looks like a furry human with a rat head and tail. Wears the same clothing as she does at work.
Age: 24
Gender: Female
Occupation: Mechanic/Tech
Weapon: Modified exoskeleton (Bio has its abilities)
Bio: Kala was born mute. Her parents had not opted for genetic engineering and she was born with the condition. However, she did thrive in her childhood. Her parents worked with her and she developed a means to communicate, taking to writing as easily as most humans take to speaking. In addition, she is fully ambidextrous and sometimes plays tricks with well-known customers by switching what hand she writes with just to see if they notice. Her childhood was not easy, though. School was a problem. Kids bullied her since she couldn't make any noise to get the attention of an adult. After one day of bad beatings, she came home covered in bruises. Her mother promptly began teaching her how to fight after that. She learned how to punch and kick as well as grapple. Her mother was not formally trained, but she was a skilled and experienced brawler. That fighting style passed on to Kala and she used it to stave off bullies. Occasionally, teachers would try to get her in trouble, but the administrators would not allow it as she had no way to vocalize the events, so she needed a way to defend herself until staff saw it.
Her mother also trained her to not be violent, to only use her skills in defense of something. Kala does not seek fights, instead she simply ends them to prevent even more damage. In addition to fighting and writing, she displayed early aptitude in mechanical engineering. She could disassemble and reassemble items easily as well as enhance some items. She was by no means a savant or prodigy, but she simply had an affinity for technology. This led to her going and learning the trade of being a mechanic as well as training under a programmer. She took the training and began a career as a freelance mechanic and tech. Despite her lack of speech, her skills brought customers back. She even charged only enough for payments and a slight profit, which gave her customers more incentive to go back since they knew she would not ask for unfair prices.
To this day, she still owns and works the shop. She finally made the last payment and now truly owns the building, so she lowered her prices slightly to reflect her change in financial needs. Her expendable income went into her getting her beloved pet rat and also in buying a scrapped industrial exoskeleton. This exo became her pet project. She modified its chassis to move more fluidly and gave it increased flexibility. She even modified it to be completely enclosed and provide a HUD for her. Sensors in it indicate where damage is sustained and it is fitted to her specifically.
Until one night where she was almost robbed, the exo existed only as a novelty. It had no weapons or armor. It was simply an exo that worked like a second skin that enhanced her strength and speed. Then, the attempted robbery took place. She had locked up for the night and was finishing up a few things in her books. The robbers assumed she had left and broke through the front door. She assumed they wanted her money, though she knew weapons were possibly involved. She looked at her exo and decided quickly that she needed to set up an ambush to prevent losses. She hopped in and did all preparatory actions to get it ready to act. She left its silent until her HUD detected a robber in front of her. He called back for the others to take a look and she jumped on the lack of attention. She revved it up and delivered a bone-crushing punch to his face. The first robber crumpled to the ground with a grunt of pain. She stepped over him and dashed into the next room, blindsiding another one, knocking him unconscious easily. The third tried to run, but she quickly caught up with him and swept his legs, catching him mid-air and throwing him into the nearby wall. With all the perpetrators unconscious, she walked back to her desk and exited the suit, hog-tying the would be robbers. The police arrived soon after her call and the robbers had since woken up, one of them unable to speak properly due to the crushed jaw. All three would not say what happened and were identified as psychologically traumatized. Kala herself could not speak, so the officers simply took the perps away to be jailed.
After that night, she began to develop her suit into an armored fighting suit. She added ballistic armor to it and enclosed vital areas. She gave it retractable built-in claws on the fingers and added extra reinforcement to the knuckles and feet to add more power to her punches and kicks. For added utility, she added grapple cables to each arm, allowing her to shoot and then retract the cables as she climbed up an object. The motors cannot pull her up without her climbing, but they do have strong brakes to allow her to freely swing if her grip is lost. She can wield firearms in the suit and added targeting functionality to its HUD, but she has to either use specially modified guns or rip off the trigger guard as her exo fingers are too large. She does not carry firearms by default and prefers to beat enemies to a pulp. The most recent addition, though it is still a prototype in testing, is a shock absorption system she developed to mitigate falls. Currently, she can consistently reduce shock from 25ft drops to safe levels, but it is unpredictable beyond that height. The exo itself looks sleek and has specially formed armor to mostly confrom to her body, granting it the appearance of a heavily armored soldier. She gave it a special paint job that made it a deep, almost black purple. The face of it is stylized to look like an African elephant with long tusks that can be used to ram and impale if needed. She figured the elephant face fit the massive bulk and brute strength of her exoskeleton, in addition to its added weapon in the form of foot long tusks that curve upwards near the ends.
Relationships: None
Other: Mute. Incapable of any vocal noise at all. Tends to communicate through motions, writing, and expressions. In exo, she has macros that the suit will project in a robotic voice, but she still mostly motions to get points across.
Has a pet rat that has fur color and markings matching her Shell avatar. Rat's name is Felix and he tends to be carried in her jacket pocket. if she goes to fight, she normally cages him with food and water. If not fighting, she hand feeds him and he likes to perch on her shoulder or on her chest if she is laying down.
