<div class="floatright">(http://i58.tinypic.com/wch9gj.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Shizuru Satonaka<br/><strong>Age:</strong>27<br/><strong>Role:</strong>Pilot<br/><br/><strong>Personality:</strong>Aloof "Big Sister" (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AloofBigBrother), Deadpan Snarker (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeadpanSnarker), and a  Spirited Competitor (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpiritedCompetitor). Quiet, a loner and, let's face it, kind of a bitch, Shizuru is not one that makes friends easily. She is, however, the kind of person that one can always go to for advice and support, and it will be given freely. Wiser than she looks, she makes up for her faults by having a keen mind and a broad shoulder to lean on. She might berate or belittle you one moment, but the second you need her, Shizuru will be there to pull you out of trouble.<br/><br/><strong>Backstory:</strong>Born and raised in Osaka, Japan, Shizuru is what most people might call a 'military brat'. Her family has a long history of serving in the military and while some might claim she joined out of pressure from her mother and father, she insists she did so by her choice alone. She's always been proud of her parents, grandparents, and other relatives in service of their country. It suited Shizuru as well, as she was always something of a tomboy. Perhaps it was her father's fervent wish that he have a son that she was grew up just a bit bigger than the other girls. A leading member of every sports club she could join, Shizuru has always been athletic and more physically adept than her friends and schoolmates. It set her up as something of an outsider, which kept her slightly isolated from her clique-centeric peers, but she never seemed to mind all that much. When she was old enough to join the military, she jumped at the chance.<br/><br/><strong>Sexual ons:</strong>Women.<br/><strong>Sexual offs:</strong>Men. "Easy" women.<br/><br/><strong>Other:</strong>Public romance and sex in general aren't things Shizuru is comfortable with. She is terrible at showing romantic feelings and displaying her interest in other females. While longing for companionship, she is easily flustered when it comes to "mushy bullshit", as she puts it. She is an open and blunt person when it comes to everything but romance, at which point she clams shut. Don't expect to get anything out of her without serious work.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><hr/><br/><br/><div class="floatright">(http://i57.tinypic.com/2i26a1.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong>009-Vanguard<br/><strong>Mechanism type:</strong>Manual<br/><br/><strong>Strength:</strong>7<br/><strong>Armor:</strong>7<br/><strong>Agility:</strong>2<br/><strong>Accuracy:</strong>4<br/><br/><strong>Weapons:</strong>MkII Sieger Arms Heavy Assault Rifle, Sieger Arms M-9 Shoulder Launcher (chaff or flak), SN-40 Heavy Riot Shield<br/><br/>The 009-Vanguard Machina pilots like it looks; like a nearly immobile slab of metal. One of the earliest 'defense-type' Machina produced, it was scrapped due to it's sluggish manuvering ability and never made it out of the prototype phase. Shizuru fell in love the moment she saw it. She nicknamed it 'Hachiman'. While adept at piloting it and somehow able to squeeze more mobility out of it than one would expect, it's still nothing close to being considered 'agile'. It is a machine built for a purely defensive role. One which it fills wonderfully. The Vanguard sports some of the thickest armor plating available and can withstand punishment from all directions, even against newer generation Machina. It bolsters it's defensive capabilities with a massive shield which it uses to defend itself and allies alike. Vanguard can even ward off missile attacks with it's installed chaff, or fend off aerial units with flak, both fired from the small cannon on it's left shoulder. It's primary weapon is the classic, reliable, and belt-fed MkII Sieger Arms Heavy Assault Rifle which, while not the most accurate weapon, can put enough firepower down field to deter almost any enemy.