Saint Joseph School

Have you ever spent six months in the same room? Like literally, in that one room the whole time? Sleeping, waking, showering, doing your business, everything in the same room. And the whole time… you’re being watched? And the only people you have real contact with are wearing full body environmental suits? And you can only talk to your family on a little phone thingie while staring at them through unbreakable glass, a few feet away but totally out of reach?

Okay, ‘cause if you know what that’s like, then it’s okay for you to tell me about how lonely and isolated you feel because you’re “different”.

I’m not saying I don’t have sympathy for you. Not at all. I look around this place and I realize that everyone’s got problems. Everyone’s had it hard. Everyone’s got something they have to deal with. Well, maybe not everybody, but a lot of us. I’m just saying… don’t act like you’re the only one.

I mean, we can all sit around and mope and glare at each other and play “who’s got the biggest chip on her shoulder”… or we can realize we’re all pretty much in the same situation and just… be there for each other. I don’t know. I’m just rambling here.

Yeah, so my story…

I grew up in Kincardine, Ontario, Canada. That’s near the Bruce Nuclear Facility. I mention that, because it’s kind of central to why I’m here. Little advice kiddies… nuclear reactors are a bad place to hang out, okay? I’m not going to talk about what actually happened, but yeah, I ended up somewhere I really shouldn’t have been. What can I tell you, except… it wasn’t my idea.

Anyway, I didn’t die, like I should have. Instead, I just got all green and glowy and started making everybody around me sick. Hence, the white room and the six months of quarantine. Worst part of that was how you could see on everybody’s face that they didn’t expect me to live.

But yeah, I didn’t die. Eventually, they brought some guy up from SERAPH to examine me and he figured some stuff out. I’m actually very powerful, you see. I’m like a mini-reactor or something. Of course, I can’t handle that. It’s just way too much power. So SERAPH developed a drug treatment to suppress my … powers, let’s call ‘em. It involved about 20 shots a day.

Hey, you don’t have to move away… I’ve had my shots today, I swear.

I had to move to Paragon City to be close to the labs where they synthesize the drugs, so they enrolled me here at Saint Joe’s. I’m kind of glad they did, actually. I’m probably a thousand times more comfortable here than I would be at some regular school. I’ve even made some friends already, which I was afraid was never going to happen.

Anyway, there are people at the school helping me learn to control my powers. If I can learn to keep them in check on my own, I won’t need the drugs anymore. I’m already down to 14 shots a day. Plus I can do a lot of things now that I couldn’t do before. Some of them are pretty fun, even. I’m just trying to stay positive and look ahead, ‘cause I don’t like to think about what happened that da… umm…

Yeah, so uh… what’s your story?

For someone whose powers seem a sure bet to eventually lose control and kill her, Rudi came to Saint Joe's with a remarkably positive attitude. Deep down, she believes she was meant to die in the reactor incident, therefore every moment she gets to experience is "bonus life". This isn't to say she never gets down or bitter, as all teenagers do at times, but it's rare for her to go into a long-term funk.

Rudi is essentially a mini-reactor, constantly drawing in matter and energy from both within and without her, converting them to fissionable elements, and outputting nuclear energy. She is one of the most potentially powerful students at Saint Joe's, but since her abilities are so dangerous and hard to control, they need to be constantly suppressed with drugs. As Rudi slowly gains control, the necessary dosage can be reduced. Rudi is also required to report to SERAPH for regular examinations and testing, which means that she often disappears for days and even weeks at a time. This plays havoc with her social life and makes it difficult for her to find her place at the school.

Personality-wise, Rudi is friendly and open-minded, always willing to take risks, both physically and socially. She is very active in sports and other outdoor activities, possibly as a reaction to having been quarantined in a "clean room" for almost a year after the reactor incident. She also enjoys music, especially punk or other energetic styles, and is a moderately talented guitar player. She's willing to try almost anything once, and tries to withhold judgement on things or people until after she can "see for herself".

The most noticeable aspect of Rudi's appearance is her hair, which she dyes in various bright shades as the whim takes her. Variations of pink and red are the most common, although she has tried blue and green. Her clothing style is "undefined", as she seems to have no problem switching from casual to sportswear to full punk regalia and mix-matching with no self-consciousness. After time, one may observe that no matter what style of dress she is affecting that day, her neck is always covered, with a choker, necklace, a high collar, or some kind of scarf.

She has an extremely raspy voice, which could be considered either annoying or sexy, depending on your inclinations.


Update: January 2008

As expected, Rudi's semi-regular absences have prevented her from becoming a noticeable presence at the school. However, she has made a few close friends. Her best friend is Mimi VanBuren, who she tends to follow around, almost like a sidekick. After months of talking and talking about it, the two of them finally put together a band, called The Tartans, with fellow students Katie Barnes and Lara "click" Linnell. Their most prominent performance to date was the Anti-Homecoming Party, which was essentially organized by Mimi. Unfortunately, Mimi was suspended following the party, along with their other quadmate Yulia Darek, leaving Rudi alone over the holidays.

The other important person in Rudi's life is her boyfriend, Chase. A student at the Bloodvine Academy, Chase is the heir to the Aston Industrial fortune, and has introduced small-town-girl Rudi to a lifestyle she could never have dreamed of before coming to Saint Joe's. Sadly, the two have been seperated since the 2007 Rikti invasion. Rudi received a couple of cryptic messages, basically warnings, and then all contact was cut off. She is both worried and hurt by this, but obstinately refuses to take any extreme steps to resolve the matter. She hears disturbing rumours about recent conditions at Bloodvine, yet sees other BVA students frequenting Pocket Ds with no apparent concerns. Deep down, she worries that Chase has simply used the turmoil at BVA as an excuse to break up with her, and avoids pursuing the matter for fear that she will be proven correct.

In an attempt to put concerns about Chase out of her head, Rudi has become more active at school. She volunteered to serve on the Homecoming Committee, and has done some sports-reporting for the school paper. She is a valuable member of the field hockey and soccer teams, regarded as a skilled playmaker in both sports.

During her first six months at Saint Joe's, Rudi made great progress in learning to control her abilites. First she learned self-dampening techniques, then she began exploring ways to utilize her abilities. She even discovered ways to create beneficial radiation, and can stimulate positive functioning in others. Over time, her daily dosage of suppressants was reduced, and she began to look forward to a future that didn't involve a battery of needles every morning. Then, about six months ago, something terrible was discovered. She was beginning to develop an immunity to the drugs. Suddenly, her life was on the clock again. Where learning to control her abilities was once merely a ticket to a life without daily medical treatments, now it was the ticket to her continuing to live at all.

Through it all, Rudi keeps on smiling. But inside, a gnawing fear is taking root.

hugggles Rudi

Welcome to SJS!

Heya, Rudiru. It was nice gettin' to hang out with you at the hot tub last night. Let's make a patrol run sometime!

January 2008 update has been posted (scroll up)

-r00d