Raine Shiba

"Sure, the world is a dark place. But that's why I came here—to make it brighter."

- Raine Shiba

Raine Shiba is the third character co-created by KurosakiHisana, and the second co-created by a nonmeber of RWBY wikia. He is a student at the fictional Siren Academy and a part of Team STRM , alongside his teammates Saige Cristallo, Tara Rhys , and Macy Anumati.

NOTE: This article is a work-in-progress.

Appearance
Raine is a teenager of average build, average weight, and a slightly shorter-than-average height. He has tan skin, a natural complexion which required no tanning. His hair seems black, but is in actuality a very dark shade of green, and reaches down to the nape of his neck in slightly shaggy locks. His jacket is a shade of deep teal, separated in the middle with a zipper, which extends up into a high-standing collar with white accents on their edges; Raine keeps one of the sleeves rolled up, whilst the other is kept down in its normal fashion. He wears a black, low-cut tank top under this. Under  the long sleeve, and on both hands, he dones a pair of brown fingerless gloves, which cut off at slight angles. These are the same color as his one-sided chest guard, a common object worn in archery practices, but has two extra layers underneath for extra protection. Said two layers overlap each other in visibly differing lengths, and extend down to his waist. At his waistline, he wears a pair of black slacks, slightly wrinkled from his physical acitivities, but neat all the same, tucked into a pair of knee-high hiking boots, also brown in color, though the bottoms are lined with robin egg-colored accents. Over his entire attire, Raine has a dark green cape, held to his chst guard by acircular  silver plate with his symbol on it.

Personality


Raine is a very bold individual who has managed to learn the importance of focusing and keeping a positive outlook on life. He is very aware of the things happening around him, and he usually doesn't fail to notice something out of the ordinary. In social circumstances, he's a bit clueless and not sure of what to do to yield certain results. Deep in his core, Raine is sincere; he likes to ensure the wellbeing of others and still seeks to become just as influential of an individual to others as his parents. He will gladly defend those he has managed to bond with, because he is passionate about anything he has emotionally attached himself to. Because of this, when anything he loves is harmed, he tends to get a bit aggressive, and might dive into a situation head-first without thinking it through first. Despite the troubling events of his history, Raine is able to keep a light heart. He relies heavily on his moralistic views, and often stresses how important being a good person is to him. He will only respect an individual entirely if they are the type of person who is strong-willed and will go through every obstacle to defend their beliefs.

Background
Rainiere Garrett Shiba was born to two not-necessarily-loving parents by the names Minerva and Ahren, as the second youngest of four siblings. He grew up in a fairly large manor, regal to some degree, and enjoyed the first half of his life in comfort and luxury. Sure, he was happy, though his older brother August picked on him quite a bit. August was the eldest sibling of the four, and for that matter, the cockiest, which annoyed the other three as much as it possibly could. He was held in high esteems by his father, and had a bright future ahead of him as the potential heir to the Shiba Huntsmen tradition. Despite this, Raine managed to flip that aspect upside-down, when August took his teasing too far. Raine was the owner of a treasured golden locket his grandfather Kane bestowed onto him, and August saw it as a joke, and tried to dismantle it in his hands to prove how useless he thought it was. Rage-driven, Raine took one of his toy bows and arrows and aimed an exacto knife from his art table at his older brother, slicing off part of his shirt while simultaneously pinning him back against the wall with it. Terrified, August dropped the locket ran and told their parents, who, to Raine's surprise, were unbelievably impressed with the child's efforts. At that point, they practically left August in the dust and put their hopes in Raine, training him to be one of the best child archers in town during his time.

There came a time several years later when the family woke up, and found that August had run away, planning to attend Beacon academy to prove he was far superior to his siblings, especially Raine. Not long after, the Shibas received word that August had died in a White Fang ambush, for foolishly attempting to assault several Faunus in the city of Vale. Partly grief-striken, Raine's parents piled all of their hopes on Raine, attempting to mold him into a superhuman that could achieve the impossible. Naturally, he underwent serious stress, which gave him little time to play with other kids in the neighborhood, let alone his remaining brother and sister, Toby and Jaimie respectively. He fell into a short depression, but was reminded that the pain wouldn't last forever, and held that concept close to his heart. He was cheery the next few years, often smiling and showing charity to those around him.

Years later, Raine was sixteen, and his submitted application to Siren Academy had been accepted, before the summer break arrived. His parents and siblings wished him good luck on his venture to the physical trial, to which he was excited for, with his newly built tool in hand (Merles Arc), and his high hopes guiding him to a bright future. He arrived at the trial, in the presence of two highly esteemed teachers from Siren, as well as the headmaster himself. He was more than delighted to showcase his talents, and got to it immediately. Everything looked perfect so far...until he practically tripped and twisted his ankle. Points were being deducted, and he was panicking, knowing he needed to act fast to keep his score up. So, in all surprise, he managed to complete the course on one foot, proving that he could go on despite what obstructed his path. He passed (just barely), and was headed to Siren Academy two months later, ankle healed, and his hopes high and mighty.

Weapon


Name: Merles Arc (Robins' Bow)

Primary Type: Long-Range

Modeled After: A heavily modified compound bow

Capabilities: Merles Arc has quite a few abilities in store. The first, obviously, is its ability to transform from one phase to another. In sleep mode, it looks like four regular rods with a spherical mechanism in the middle. In reality, said four rods are hollowed out, and inside lie the many more components that make up crossbow and ringblade mode, such as the grips, the arrowhead's resting perch, and the blades.

In regards to ammunition, Raine doesn't carry around regular ammo, such as arrows or bullets. Instead, he utilizes his aura as the arrows. the retractable string in crossbow mode has aura-channeling capabilities that allow Raine to position up to four arrows at a time and fire them all at once. Though using his aura can be draining and in some cases painful, his high spirits keep him hopeful and urge him to ignore it, despite how tired he might feel at times. He usually keeps his energy up with the fruit (mainly pears and peaches) he stashes in the "arrow case" mounted on his back

Saige Cristallo
Raine's teammate and leader. Raine identifies Saige as a valuable member of Team STRM, and someone he knows he can count on when things get rough. In their first meeting during the second stage of initiation, Raine found her to be quite cold and intimidating, until it was later revealed she was willing to give up everything for the wellbeing of her friends and family. Since then, he's found her to be quite lawful and sacrificial, and holds her in high esteem, though they can't exactly hold a conversation for long.

Tara Rhys
As Raine's teammate, Tara was at first thought to be constantly angry and judgmental in his eyes. She seemed to be, as he puts it, "The fire to Saige's ice," though it was later shown she just held bottled-up anger and used combat to exert those feelings. Raine understands the pain she faces, coming from a difficult family background, and keeps her as a good friend...and tutor, on occasion.

Macy Anumati
The first person to truly give Raine a panic attack. When they met for the first time, Macy was overly exuberant during initiation, and wound up almost pushing him to the brink of destruction quite a few times, only to find he was more so a distraction while she took out the Grimm they faced. Raine is overall unsure about what to think of her, seeing how her attitude is almost constantly bubbly and cheery. He doesn't terribly mind, though—after all, he does, too, but not to such a high degree.

August Shiba
Raine's older brother, and the biggest jerk he's ever known. Over the years, Raine came to loathe August, simply for being called the "golden child," when their parents were unaware of his abusive behavior towards him and his siblings. After August almost destroyed Raine's locket, Raine held a grudge, until the day he died. At that point, Raine felt a slight pang of guilt for never having made up with August.

Minerva and Ahren-Gray Shiba
Raine's parents aren't exactly...nurturing. They tend to push their children to become admirable individuals, and don't really believe that love and gentle encouragement are the way to go. Raine was never truly close with them, despite the few moments they shared.

Trivia

 * Raine's inspirations when designing his concept were both Princess Merida from Brave, and the story of Robin Hood, for both their cbhoice in weaponry and attitudes towards life.
 * Raine's last name Shiba translates to English from Japanese as brushwood, which is any plant ranging from small trees to shrubs. Here, the first clutch of a new nest is built for breeding baby birds—specifically, American robins.
 * Raine's full concept artwork was completed in less than 12 hours.