Riuka Hartford
 Riuka Hartford
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| Gender | Female |
| Race | Hyur |
| Clan | Midlander |
| Citizenship | Gridania |
| Age | 22 |
| Height | 5' 6" |
| Weight | 130 lbs. |
| Birthplace | Limsa Lominsa |
| Profession | Thief |
Contents
Introduction
Riuka Hartford is a Hyur Archer whom not many know about. She has kept to the shadows and stayed out of the spotlight as best she can. However, due to a few of her successes, a few people have been spreading the word.
Physical Appearance
Due to her lack of sun, Riuka’s skin has always been quite pale, which is just the way she prefers it. It makes a nice contrast to her black, shoulder length hair, which is left unstyled, yet not ungroomed. Because she is generally doing jobs, her body remains fit and athletic, although she avoids working out too much as she does have a lazy streak from time to time. Upon looking closely, it can be seen that Riuka’s eyes are unnaturally red. The cause is unknown, but they seem to have no positive or negative effects on her almost perfect vision. If a person is lucky enough to see her without her clothes, they would be able to see her body is completely void of any scars or other damaged skin, other than two tattoos. The first is the easiest to see. A tribal tattoo, seemingly without meaning, on the left side of her face, just left to her eye. The other being on the outside of her left leg starting from her hip going down to her knee in what appears to be a dragon, drawn also in a tribal pattern.
Social Relationships
Personality
You probably won't see Riuka attending any large parties or in the middle of a social group. She tends to be shy and anti-social, never spilling out too much information about herself. Most of what she says are simple one-liners and you'd be lucky if she were to look you in the eyes when she does say something. Because of this, she tends to be quiet at the best of times, actively avoiding contact with others while sitting by herself at her own table or at the bar. That being said, if somebody were to approach her and open a conversation, she wouldn't turn away. Everybody needs some socializing every now and then. The best way to get her to be in a serious conversation is when you are hiring her services as a thief. Mostly because, when money is involved, her interest piques.
Friends
Riuka doesn’t make very many friends. Those who can break through that wall tend to think she is snobby and rude, which, yet again, is her way of avoiding contact. That being said, if a person can break through both those walls, or by some chance she finds them attractive, she changes her attitude. The people she does have close could almost be called more than friends.
Sexuality
Despite, or because of, being raised only by her adoptive father, Riuka favors women when it comes to sexual attraction. Perhaps it was because her father taught her things that men generally do, or maybe it was because her father was abusive, causing her to resent men as a whole. Nobody really knows. Oddly enough, her troubled past and anti-social nature do not remove her private needs. While she will typically not seek out sexual attention, she is quite easily seduced and may sometimes even accept sex as payment for her professional services. She has also been known to use sex to get closer to her targets, making it easier to take their most prized possessions.
Marital Status
Being married is probably the last thing would happen before Riuka dies from old age. Her anti-social personality would prevent it as well as her risky profession. If the odds just happened to occur, her spouse would have to be very outgoing and forceful, almost to the point of abusive. Otherwise, she would eventually shy away from any physical contact and wander off in disinterest.
Children
There is no way Riuka would ever have children. Much like being married, she lacks the social ability to take care of somebody other than herself. She would likely take the same route her mother took when she was born.
Family Relationships
Mother
Riuka herself does not know anything about her mother. Rumors say she was a tavern wench in Limsa Lominsa and had a knack for following drunken sailors back to their ships, where they would engage in frivolous activities. One of those activities led to pregnancy, a very unwanted pregnancy. When it was time to give birth, rather than trying to raise her or give her up for adopted, she took the coward’s way out. She found a spot behind a building when nobody was looking and left the child in a crate of hay. She then fled the city and nobody has seen her since.
Father
Her biological father is also unknown, but a man she had come to call her father, a man named Marcus, found her and raised her. He was off and about in a drunken stupor when coming across a crying baby behind the building where she was abandoned. Although he had no desire to raise a child, he saw this as an opportunity. For years, he raised Riuka as his child, for the sole purpose of receiving pity. “Oh no, we are homeless and I have a child to feed” was his most common plea for help.
History
Childhood
Riuka’s childhood was decent, despite her father using her for sympathy. There are a lot of caring souls out there that happily gave food, money, and sometimes shelter to her father to help him take care of her. He usually spent the money on himself in the form of alcohol, but he cared enough to keep his adopted daughter well fed. She and her father were homeless most of the time, spending most of their days hanging out on the docks of Limsa Lominsa watching the ships. Other times were spent at taverns where Riuka had to watch her father flirting with the wenches and getting drunk. He would have been thrown out more than he did if it weren’t for her presence. She never made any friends as a child. Never got a chance to play with the other kids that she saw running around the docks or playing tag on the streets. Marcus just wouldn’t allow it. He feared she would run off with them once she discovered she liked it more, so he kept her away from others, trying to give her cheap toys to play with to satisfy her need for fun. There were also some things that Marcus enjoyed teaching Riuka. He would show her how to steal food, pickpocket money, and even the occasional breaking and entering. He also taught her how to beg and get rich people to feel sorry for them and toss out some gil. If there was one thing that she took from her childhood, it would be how to survive on the streets.
Teenage Years
When she turned fourteen is when things started to get bad. Her father started to notice people would not give him as much sympathy as they did when she was a child. This angered him and he began to treat her badly. It was no surprise that he started being physically abusive, which caused Riuka to start hating him. She would run off from time to time to get her own food when Marcus failed to deliver. She wouldn’t share this food with him, which angered him more. Although she hated him, there was something that kept her from running away completely. There was a sense of home with him and she was so sheltered that she didn’t know how to live anywhere else. That would all change soon.
One night, Riuka came back to their little hovel after a long night of scavenging by herself. Marcus was waiting there waiting for her. He was very drunk and very angry at the world that night. The moment Riuka came strolling in, with only one parcel of food, Marcus lost his temper completely. He immediately threw her on the ground and began hitting and kicking her. She was too young and weak compared to him to fight back. She was badly bruised and bleeding from the encounter, but all was not lost. A passerby witnessed the event and called the authorities. Marcus was promptly arrested for violence and was taken away. Riuka never saw him again.
Unfortunately, since she was too young to be adopted at this point, she was now on her own.
Adulthood
As the years went by, Riuka didn’t really know how to take care of herself, but she was being forced to learn. She used her skills at stealing and persuasion to get the things she needed, but she knew she wanted more than living in the street. It was one day that a person witnessed her skill at theft and approached her. He offered her a proposition: Either steal for him or he would turn her in to the authorities. In exchange, she would have a warm house to live in and she would be well fed and paid. There was only one choice she could make. That is when she learned that others would pay for her skills. Stealing food was no longer her main concern. Riuka would break into high class homes to take expensive jewelry and valuables. After working for this unnamed man for a time she moved on. Now, with enough money to stay off the streets, she would sell her services to those that could pay.
Recent Status
Gridania
Riuka found herself in Gridania of late. Wanting to learn a new skill to help her profession, she joined the Archer's Guild. Learning how to use a bow would greatly enhance her stealthy combat abilities for when she has to fight her way out of a tight spot, should she get caught stealing. She can still be found around the city and Black Marsh doing odd jobs here and there for some quick money.
