Application: Queen of Hearts

[urbanwonderland]

 Player Information
Name: JGo
Personal Journal: armistice_day
Contact Info: jgorudjevATgmail.com 
Other Characters: N/A

Character Information
Name: Reeve Tuesti
Source Canon: FFVII
Age: 35
Role In Canon: NPC/supporting character. Secretary of Urban Development for Shinra Electric Corporation. Cat-lover.

Justification: Reeve is a type of character rarely cast as a woman.  A strong-willed but affable genius, a double agent with a cover designed for underestimation, a competent and complex person of no magical ability who triumphs in a time of crisis with their humanity intact.  I've known Reeve for years and loved him on first playthrough.  There is something about his very humanness in the face of so much that is disastrous, mystical, and inhuman that is heroic.  I'd love the chance to play Reeve as a woman, especially taking into account the sexism of the FFVII dystopia.  To have a woman executive who didn't feel she had to play to sexism to gain and keep power, as Scarlet does, would be wonderful to me.  To have a woman be a scientist with a moral center in a world where unregulated science has done great harm would be just wonderful.

I'd thoroughly enjoy interacting with anyone from the FFVII universe and would love to see how Reeve's relationships to any other characters would play out. Her experience as a woman in her own world would no doubt change the way she interacts with other women, and I think her natural tendency to be interested in others would be magnified in the setting of the Gardens.  I think Reeve might feel more free to be herself in this environment, and I think that might surprise her.  
I also like exploring the idea that some other characters might be surprised to find that Reeve is a woman.  I'd love to find out how she'd handle that. With a certain amount of scientific interest and delight, I'm sure.

Though he's not any kind of obvious sexist in canon, I'd love to be able to explore both the subtle and deep differences in Reeve's attitudes towards women themselves.  I don't want to play Reeve as a woman to "correct" him in some way, but because I love so many things about his character that I'd like to expand on them, to see them in a different context.  The things that make Reeve a wonderful character are his humanism, his mischievous streak, his genius, his strength in the face of adversity and his moral bravery.  As a woman myself, the idea of playing such a character as a woman, and in such a setting, is very exciting to me.

History: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Reeve_Tuesti

(Reeve will be appearing the gardens following reports of the explosion at Mako Reactor 1.)

 

Changes: The world of Final Fantasy VII is fairly analogous to the state of western society during the 80's.  Rising in a society where sexism is tolerated and reinforced by norms and popular culture can be challenge for a young woman with a utopian streak and a genius IQ.  Major changes would come for Reeve in the way her work is viewed and her opinions accepted.  Reeve would have had the experience common to many young, accomplished women of having to prove herself over and over again, of never having her achievements accepted at face value.  That she became an executive at Shinra at a relatively young age is probably as much as testament to the non-threatening brand of assertiveness she developed in response to the resistance she encountered as to her qualifications. She had to push much harder and against much greater odds than a male designer of the same age and qualifications to have her plans for the Mako reactors seen and accepted by the Shinra higher-ups.  This experience sorely tested Reeve's self-confidence, but it also helped her develop an even more secretly stubborn faith in herself and her ideals. As a result, she's inclined to look initially more critically at the (mostly) boys' club that is Shinra's executive board. Though she doesn't suspect the men around her of being morally bankrupt, she is quicker to wonder at their motivations and examine their actions.

 

Reeve's relationship with her mother is complex.  Her mother instilled in her a love of learning, and Reeve is grateful.  She's always looked up to Ruvie, emulating her unassuming fortitude.  Though they are still mother and daughter, Reeve feels as an adult that her mother is her closest friend: a wise, kind woman with whom she shares (nearly) everything.  She cares for Ruvie as a person and as a role model, not only as her mother.

 

Now that her father is gone, Reeve has pushed her mother to get out of the house, to get more involved with her community.  Believing as strongly as she does that everyone has something to give, it makes Reeve happy to see her mother productive and still growing.

 

No doubt it would make Ruvie happy to see Reeve settled down, but it just hasn't happened yet.  Reeve wonders if it ever will, or if she should be more worried about it than she is, but for now she's in love first and foremost with her work.  Not that she never gives it a thought.  The path of the secret romantic is a hard one, particularly if one is an oddity as well.  Being a powerful woman certainly sets her apart in the dating pool, and not always in a positive way.

 

Reeve takes an active interest in the social lives of the friends she has outside of work.  Most of them are women she attended school with, and most of them are now coupled off with a child or two.  Her own social life is variable. It's not that she never dates, but being set up by her friends is a hit and mostly miss proposition, since most men (or women) don't seem all that interested in her interests. She's had a few dates that turned into something that was briefly more, but at heart she's not sure what she's hoping for.  She's open-minded about sexual matters but isn't sure if it's still appropriate for her to get crushes.  Which she sometimes still does. The way things stand at the moment, her most constant close companion is a robotic cat.

Personality: Reeve Tuesti has a secret life, but she doesn't know it yet.  She was a good student and a good daughter.  She's a good employee and a good person.  She believes hard work is rewarded and that her work is rewarding.  Reeve Tuesti is affable and accommodating.  Reeve Tuesti attempts to use her gifts to benefit the people of her city and her world.  Reeve Tuesti  is an employee of a corrupt and crumbling world government.  She is a humanitarian in an inhuman place.  She's barely just begun to allow herself doubts, but they are there, just beneath the surface. Reeve Tuesti is too smart for her own good.

 

A prodigy who designed the Mako reactor in her early twenties, Reeve was certainly a good student.  She's an equally good daughter.  She's especially close with her mother, Ruvie, and admires her patience and forbearance.  Reeve wants what's best for her mother.  Since the death of her father, Reeve has been urging her mother to actualize, to do some sort of outreach so that she feels more a part of the world and can share her gifts with others.  Active, courageous kindness is a quality she thinks is possibly more important than any other.  She believes that everyone can do some good, no matter how small, and that all life has value.  Reeve is a practical person who believes in what she can prove to be true, but she's far from devoid of wonder or whimsy.  In her architecture, she expresses her idealism and optimism as well as her mastery of structural engineering.  In her exploration of the limits of robotics, she expresses her creativity and humor as well as her love of pure science and discovery.

 

Reeve really is a model employee.  She loves her job and spends long hours at the office, but is the sort to take work home as well.  Not that her hard work is just for the thrill of it all.  She's well aware it's a man's world and her obvious competence and dedication only mean so much.  She's one of only two women in executive positions at Shinra, and is the opposite of Scarlet, the Head of Weapons Development, in nearly every way imaginable.  Reeve understands that sex sells.  She understands that some women gain power by exploiting the culture's sexist and hyper-sexualized ideas of what it is to be a powerful woman.  She is content to fulfill a different stereotype.  If she's the rather everyday looking, single lady executive in a tailored suit and sensible shoes, so be it.  She insists on letting her work stand on its own.

Reeve is stubborn. Though her ethics do allow for wiggle room, when she's reached the limit of their give she can be uncompromising. Having an unpopular opinion is no obstacle. When she comes to believe through data and accident reports that the popular space program is a waste of money and potentially of lives, she recommends it be shut down. Though she can be diplomatic and conciliatory, she follows her own moral compass and acts accordingly. Reeve is earnest and enthusiastic, and would prefer to be open with those around her, but her environment makes that both unwise and awkward. She deals with most of this sort of pressure with low-key, sarcastic humor, though most of the jokes she makes either go over the heads of those present or come off as self-effacing.

 

Reeve is quite empathetic and understands more of the motivations of the people around her than they would probably like her to. She doesn't let on, since she's not above politics. She does do her best to use her understanding to push her agenda of improvements and advancements forward within an organization that seems to her sometimes to care too little about either. She's loyal to Shinra, to her president and her company still, but certain incidents, such as the mass desertion of SOLDIER and the disappearance of General Sephiroth, have begun to undermine her comfort and her certainty by as yet unacknowledged degrees.

 

Reeve is beginning the approach to a crossroads in her life, one that will shine a light on many things she once felt could be ignored, and cast a shadow on many things she once thought were quite clearly defined. The ability to compartmentalize that has benefited her is becoming a luxury she can no longer afford. Reeve will have to make a moral choice. All her life, without knowing it, she has been preparing to do so.

Abilities: For all that she possesses natural gifts and skills that make her quite unusual, Reeve considers herself a pretty solid example of a normal human being.  Reeve has received the self-defense training mandated for all Shinra executives, but carries no weapon or Materia.  She prefers it that way.