OOC: Shia's history, info, etc

[blanched]

Shia is a demon, her behavior and needs similar to a vampire or succubus. She feeds on the life energy (or blood, which contains that energy) of other living things to survive; if she does not feed regularly, she will become very, very weak, and eventually die. When Shia was very young, there was some kind of “incident” in the underworld that left her stranded, alone, in the human world; she was found and cared for by a human family, the family of a rice merchant, and named Shima. Though well-known among the boys of the village for her beauty, young Shima was an outcast, and she quarantined herself away from others due to her belief that her presence only caused bad things to happen. Whenever anyone around her was in some way injured or subject to any kind of accident, she would apologize, stating that it was her fault.

And then she met a boy named Taro under the apple tree.

Taro was mouthy and hotheaded, completely counter to Shima's quiet crybaby nature, yet he seemed to have a soft spot for her, as he scolded her every time she tried to pin the blame for another's misfortune on herself. The two became friends, but were separated for a very long time shortly after-- by the time they were reunited, Taro had become a young man and was about to enter into the military, and Shima was on her way to becoming a geisha. The two met each other unexpectedly in town one day, and were shocked to see one-another. They began talking, remembering old times; they soon began to meet on occasion, Shima showing him the latest dance or song she'd been learning. However, one day, they met while Taro was with a friend of his, and Shima tearfully informed him that she'd been bought out as a concubine. A man in a black cloak, her “buyer,” stepped between them, and the two were again separated, though not for long this time. Taro and Shima agreed to meet one final time; but, as both of them were making their way to their agreed-upon meeting place, a powerful earthquake struck, severely injuring Shima and burying her in debris. Taro found and attempted to rescue her, but he was struck by a falling piece of debris, breaking his arm; he soon after lost consciousness. Shima panicked. She tapped into her demonic powers and shoved the debris off and away from both of them with a burst of force, burning everything around them in a broad circle.

When her panic faded, she wept over Taro, saying that she was going to leave; but then he woke and caught her arm, refusing to let her go and telling her that he loved her. The two of them eloped together, and they were married.

Years later, they had begun a family, and were raising two young children: Shino, a daughter, and Kotaroh, a son. Shima fell terribly ill, due to the fact that her body was unable to sustain itself for so long on human food alone; she needed to either feed on the life force of a human being, preferably that of her own bloodline, or to return to the underworld to regain her strength. She tried as best she could to remain strong, but, after nearly caving in and taking her own son's life, she fled, allowing an elder demon-- the man in the black cloak who had earlier bought her away-- to take her back to her home in the underworld. Taro first carried her to the apple tree that they had met under years before, and told her that he would be waiting there for her return when she was healthy again. She vowed to return to him. Then the demon that was going to take her home-- Klaus-- erased all of her memories of her time left on earth, effectively deleting the entire identity she'd taken there. “Shima” was destroyed.

Many years later, Shia returned to earth under her true name, her memories of her prior experience on earth still amiss. She stated that she was “looking for something,” although she didn't seem sure of what. There, she discovered a boy, named Kotarou, who “smelled” of what she was searching for; she followed him at a distance, occasionally stepping forward to attempt to kidnap him or confront him, but was unsuccessful. She eventually moved into the apartment next door to him, becoming the friend and roommate of the angel, Misha. The three of them became very close, despite several incidents of Shia losing her strength and feeding from him (or, in one instance, biting him to attempt to form a psychic bond, through which she hoped to learn more about him.)

Many months passed, and Shia seemed to have stalled in her search; she grew weaker and weaker, until, at length, she realized that, if she were to stay there on earth any longer, she would die before ever finding what she was searching for. She disappeared, stopping only to say goodbye to Ayanokoji, a friend of hers and of Kotarou's that had recently confessed his love for her.

She only reappeared once Kotarou had gone to stay with his family for a time-- his grandfather had fallen ill, and was on the edge of passing away. Kotarou encountered Shia and Klaus in the snow outside, after seeing Klaus-- in the body of a cat that he had possessed-- lurking outside of the window, and following the pawprints to the abandoned body of the cat. Klaus attempted to force Shia to feed on Kotarou, but she refused, despite her own severe weakness, and Kotarou was soon after rescued by Misha. Kotarou was then shown the truth about Shia's past through several shared memories of her time spent with Taro; he then realized that his great-grandfather was, in fact, Taro, and that Shia was his great-grandmother. Her son Kotaroh had taken his own life when he was young, and his soul was reincarnated into Kotarou, the grandson of Shia's daughter, Shino. The day his great-grandfather passed away, Kotarou again ventured out into the snow and called for Shia; she reappeared alongside Klaus. Kotarou then informed her that his great-grandfather had passed away that day... and that his name was Taro. Shia's memories came rushing back, whatever magic seal that had been placed on her memories broken, and then she collapsed, mourning her lost love. Kotarou then took her to the apple tree that she had met Taro under, and, digging in the snow at the foot of the tree, discovered a photograph of Shia, Taro, and their family. He gave it to Shia, and she held it close, and then agreed to return home with him and take her place as a member of his family.

After Taro's funeral, Kotarou and Shia boarded the train to return to Kotarou's home; Shia sat, happily thinking over recipes for new years, and Kotarou left her for a moment to purchase their tickets. But before he returned, Shia's body finally became too weak to go on, due to her repeated refusal to harm Kotarou and feed on him; she was so weak that only completely taking his life would have saved her. She peacefully passed away in her seat, where Kotarou then found her. Klaus arrived to claim her body, and he carried her away, commenting that, despite the fact that he'd always thought she was a terrible demon, it turned out that she was the best demon of all-- she won her way into the weakest parts of others' hearts, and then died, destroying them. Himself included.

He disappeared, her body held carefully in his arms. Neither of them were ever seen again.

Shia will discover DDD after having moved in with Misha. She will find a laptop computer there in the apartment, and DDD will be pretty much all it can do. It might even have a duck on it, who knows.

Personality: Depending on how and when Shia is encountered, she can either be warm and gentle, or cold and almost distant. Her core, true personality is the gentle side. She is very sweet-natured, tolerant, patient, and kind, and she would-- and does, in canon-- sacrifice her own well-being to spare from harm those she holds dear. Though she tends to be out of touch with reality, at times, and holds many old-fashioned superstitions-- a consequence of her age and repeated memory wipes-- she always works hard and does the best she can at any job or chore that she's given. Timid and emotionally somewhat fragile, all she truly wants is to make others happy; in the animated adaptation, she once states that she can't bear to see anyone unhappy. Which is possibly why she has constructed the other side of her personality-- a cold mask that she wears, in all likelihood, to keep herself from changing her mind and going back on the things that she knows she must do, despite her reluctance to do harm or to abandon anyone.

Shia is, at every point of her life-- both before and after her various memory wipes-- aware of what she is, and aware that she can't survive for long living a human lifestyle. But she keeps it buried safely away, almost as if she hopes that, maybe, if she tries hard enough to fight it, she can defy her own blood and survive. When she is forced to deal with herself directly, usually through the failure of her very delicate health, she forces herself to take on the aforementioned mask, her face expressionless even as she says goodbye to the friends that she has to leave behind. If pushed hard enough into a corner, or to the brink of death before she is able to regain her memories, she will allow the demonic part of her to show itself; generally, in the latter case, she will allow her fangs to show, and her pupils will narrow to reveal that they're slitted, almost like a cat's. In the former case, if she herself or someone that she loves is trapped or in serious danger, her emotions can overwhelm her, and her full demonic form can be revealed, her ears pointed, her fangs and eyes as described above. In this form, the sweet and gentle nature of her “human” form is overpowered, and she becomes violent, short-tempered, and very dangerous.

Overall, Shia is kind-hearted, doting, maternal, and, above all else, self-sacrificial. She denies herself the one kind of “food” that can sustain her to the point that it destroys her-- and only because she refuses to do harm to those that she loves. Ultimately, to her, the most important thing in the world-- more important to her than her own life-- is protecting those that she holds dear.

Other: She will have many powerful abilities, including the ability to worldhop-- that is, if that's alright with the mods, of course. She is shown in canon to have the ability to psychically interact with others, though how much control she has depends on how recently she's fed, and she can also move between the human world and the underworld, as well as teleporting anywhere. The extent of her psychic ability seems to fluctuate, likely depending on her strength, but she'll have a permissions post just in case. In the anime, she's shown to be able to influence the actions of others, or to bring out the negative intent of a person or cause bad things to happen.