Shalice Kismet

Shalice Kismet is the main character for the book Calm Silence. A calm and serious young man, he is a heavily trained expert in hand-to-hand combat, particularly the use of Straightmetal. Sincere in action and word, he has been brought up by his father James and put through his own unique methods of training and GOV regimen at an extremely young age.

Personality and Traits
Cool, calm and collected, Shalice is one tough customer. Years of dedicated training and emulating his father's veteran mannerisms has caused him to be extremely confident and sure of his skills. However, he never presses his abilities upon others nor does he viciously seek others to show his dominance upon; he is about expressing a standard that only his father has achieved.

With a sleek thin frame and cool black hair, Shalice looks remarkably close to his father. While they share many similar physical traits they also share many mental ones. They both neglect to use contractions in their speech and efficiently portray their thoughts with little small talk.

Rarely expressing emotion, Shalice keeps a stern and impassive face regardless of the situation. The worse the situation gets, the calmer he becomes. Through this he is able to think clearly and act appropriately, not allowing emotions to upset him or to become sloppy. His efficient behavior keeps him focused on the task at hand.

With his life consisting of only living through his father's desires, he has no friends nor any idea how to interact with others other than what he was taught. When pressured he withdraws into himself and refuses to speak.

Motives
Shalice's motives are highly idealistic and perhaps the most subtle of the main characters in Calm Silence. When the murder of his sister is done by his father's hand, he expresses resentment and anger at his father and those that ordered him to do it. When he is given the opportunity to hold the Calm Silence to keep away from GOV, he does so with no regard to what will happen to him. Knowing that anyone else who touches it will die, he does so out of a sense of doing what is right regardless of responsibility. He holds an attachment to protecting Mic that he will throw himself away for her sake.

Shalice cares little for those he does not know, but is very protective of those he loves. However, this does not stop him from standing up for those that are unable to defend themselves. To this end he has an insurmountable will, one that is not swayed by his own personal needs or desires. His ideals are fuzzy even to those who know him best, as Vorce is completely off the mark when he challenges Shalice's motives toward the people that live in the settlements during the Aftermath. "I never cared about being a hero, and I don’t believe in obligation. There’s always has been just one thing that I have lived by. It’s not about me… I believe in doing what is right, regardless of who is responsible!"

Shalice's complexity lies in his gradual growing out of his stony cold behavior and leading into one where he is more like a normal human being. However, a lot of issues deal with him confronting the very things he needs to stay alive and what they mean to him overall - his father's teachings being the most important.

Mic
Shalice closest relationship is with Mic, whom he loves dearly. The two have gradually grown to where they see nearly eye to eye, with Mic slowly breaking down Shalice's odd mannerisms and cold behavior. They share a unique and powerful love - one of dedication. The two rarely leave each other's side, with very little in the form of romantic theatrics, much to Tala's chagrin.

Their initial meeting was awkward at first, as Shalice identified Mic as his little sister, eventually replacing Mic as such - someone that needed to be protected. This reinforced what he failed to do two years previous as his father killed Chaste in cold blood. However, Mic herself brought him to realize that she was more than that to him, and with that the two have been together ever since.

Parents
Shalice's parents have affected Shalice's mindset when he was a young boy, leading him up to the young man he was before the start of the story. His mother, Evelyn was an antagonistic force that reviled against the ideals his father had taught him, as she was too complacent in her watch over Chaste. He could not comprehend his mother's carefree lifestyle, and thus rejected her early on his life.

His father however, was a sign of admiration and ability. Militant, stoic and proud, James was a paragon of skill and efficiency. While Shalice did not comprehend what it was that his father did, the manner that he went about dictating his life was incredible and amazing to merely witness. The intense pressure that James radiated was enough to encourage Shalice to want to be like him, and when he finished his training after ten years, he was a near duplicate of him.

Tala
Tala's initial reaction to Shalice was that he was merely a kid who thought he was some angsty teenager armed with a blade. With every rational doubt in her head telling her that he would merely get in the way, she made use of him and his impressive GOV Account to fund her schemes. Her imposing body intimidated him, although her outrageous flirts with him did not faze him in the least. Unable to get him to share much of anything, she often relegated him to simple scout missions to keep an eye out for patrols.

Never fully understanding who he was until it was too late, she apologized for her behavior, although she always acted in a manner that would be best for his safety. Shalice could understand her motives and go along with them regardless of how he felt about them - but he never would stand up against her.

Vorce
Shalice's opinion of Vorce was to disregard him completely and to give him a wide berth. He respects his ability and understands that Vorce didn't get there by his charming attitude alone, but finds his manner should go beyond his abilities in combat. To him he was the very antithesis of what his father was - and while he knows that Vorce is very capable, that he never would be a match for who is father was.

Squeak
While incapable of understanding Squeak, Shalice and Squeak get along through doing as very little as possible with one another. He trusts Squeak to do the correct decisions, finding his mysterious behavior has gotten them out of several problems before. It may be possible that Shalice finds Squeak to be the ultimate soldier, but neither of them are willing to discuss it.

Backstory
As a child Shalice was always a quiet boy. Most children would run their mouth when things happened - either through tears or general bawling - but he would silently allow the events to occur without even so much as interfering. His preference of communication was to tug on sleeves and drag his parents to what was happening, although this led to some frustration and a few chuckles when he could no longer find what he was hoping to show them.

His parents separated when he reached the age of four, with him being taken care of by his father. While Evelyn was a successful dancer and worked very hard, James was a top GOV officer - one of the best. GOV would never deny a request from James, and so Shalice came with him.

James recognized that Shalice had plenty of potential, and taught him the key basics in becoming a physically skilled man early on. For two years he worked Shalice into a coordinated child, to which the young boy reciprocated by emulating his father’s mannerisms.

Cold black hair, a stern serious face, a thin but well built frame, the boy looked identical to his father. They both spoke in a peculiar way - they avoided contractions. Several other teachings were put into his head as well, but Shalice loved his father, easily identifying him as a hero to look up to.

It didn’t matter that he worked for GOV. He didn’t know who his father worked for or why.

Over those two years James missed his wife dearly, and she missed him. They tried to reconcile - to that Shalice’s younger sister Chaste was born. However in a short period they separated again, with the father taking both the kids. The two children would eventually visit their mother from time to time, but they would rarely stay for long. During those visits there were some clear issues that bubbled up due to Shalice’s peculiar behavior.

The little boy identified his own mother as too carefree and incapable of being able to protect his little sister. Although he was very young, Shalice felt that his mother’s position as a dancer was irresponsible and a way to get out of doing something important, like his father does. When his younger sister was able to go and play out on her own he watched over her at a distance, effectively doing the job his mother should have been doing.

Rather than stepping in and putting a stop to her son’s intense behavior, she allowed him to care over his little sister, curious to see how far he would go. James’s training had done well; he never went any further than he needed to, and he never actively sought out threats. Shalice did the right amount to keep his sister out of trouble, then retreated back to the shade.

Assured that her son’s heart was in the right place, Evelyn slowly took herself out of the family, eventually separating from them altogether. Shalice continued training with his father while watching over his little sister.

His father’s military focus kept Shalice diligent - as he aged his skill increased rapidly. Very capable of using Straightmetal, Shalice became an expert in all types of hand-to-hand combat.

When James felt that Shalice learned all that he could, he set him and his sister out on their own, giving him his very own weapon - The Sword of Pain and Tears, Heartbroken - and provided him with a GOV account to keep them set with food or anything they needed. A GOV Vehicle would take him to one of the city’s parks and they could do as they liked before they began their new life.

Little did Shalice know that it was all planned from the start.

One supposed accident and a dead sister by his father’s hand tore Shalice’s world apart. His first day on his own and he failed right away. Angry with himself he lashed out at whatever was nearby - GOV needed to pay. GOV forced his father to do this, GOV was behind everything he hated. That was when Tala and her crew came upon him.

Subduing him and taking him as their own, Shalice accompanied the team as they went through old GOV Factories and other facilities. While Tala was cut off from her resources, Shalice still had access to his impressively large account. While the three strangers would rarely allow him to engage the enemy (they were suspicious of the Straightmetal he carried with him, but he was a child and thus they doubted his ability) his financial status was never rejected.

For two years the team worked, eventually leading Shalice to a point where he had to run from a trap executed by a strange MACHiNE that was coated in black. Hit by a sudden explosion, his unconscious body flew into the woods.

Biography
Finding a strange girl with a white dress and a bow in her hair was not at all anything Shalice was expecting to wake up to - particularly when she looked so familiar to his little sister. The black hair, those soft green eyes… but she was dead, he saw her die. But here she was… although older. He must be dreaming.

The first series of questions peppered at him reminded him that he was not dreaming and this girl was in fact real, although certainly not his little sister. Unsure of what she was doing there, he disregarded her as nothing more than an opportunity to gather some information and return to his mission. When she began to follow him he didn’t understand why. Looking for his team, he found his mother singing in one of the bars. The girl questioned why he didn’t go and see her, to which he tried to hide his feelings with a gruff indifference. He knew he wasn’t doing a very good job, but his father would disapprove of his tears so he kept a stiff upper lip.

Being a tough guy every waking moment is a very tough job.

Giving the girl an opportunity to leave him alone seemed like the proper thing to do, but she seemed so insistent on being with him. She was an orphan, alone, with no one to watch over her.

Thoughts of Chaste ran through his head. He couldn’t do it before, maybe he could now. Mic seemed like such a sweet girl, and the parallels to her and his sister were clear to him - he had to make sure that this girl would be alright. He accepted her, to which she rejoiced.

The two accidentally slipped into a GOV encampment, where a group of agents were looking to discover a powerful artifact. Shalice’s likeness to his father fooled the agents into believing it was him, and he managed to reach it before they could.

During this time Mic was drawing closer to him, giving him a pet name and even giving him light touches at his jacket. This unnerved him greatly, as his little sister would never do such a thing. He always kept his distance while she went about her business, but Mic was different. And her face, her smile… it bothered him. It haunted him. Whenever he heard her call his name chills ran down his back.

When he learned about the Calm Silence and the knowledge behind it, this was an opportunity that he couldn’t walk away from. He knew what would happen to him, but he also understood what would happen if he didn’t take up the hilt. While Mic pleaded with him to reconsider, he knew this was the only option for him. No one would miss him. His father; a subject to GOV and nothing more, his mother; lost in her own display of provocative sexuality, his sister; dead. He was doing the right thing. That’s what mattered.

Mic challenged his way of thinking when she broke down in anger. Perhaps no one would miss him, but his death would leave her alone. She poured her past to him, her eyes full of tears and her heart full of misery. It was at that time that the two came to an invisible understanding, that they would never leave each other, that they would be there - together - until he was gone.

Shalice realized that no one may miss him, but he would certainly miss her.

They shared similar pasts - both of their fathers were involved heavily with GOV and spent much of their time away from the family. Both of their mothers tried and failed to deal with their husbands missing for long periods of time. Both of them were now effectively single children - they had no one else to turn to.

Then Vorce accidentally knocks him out and the two have to separate for a little while. Whoops.

Shalice woke to find that he is alone, his team out on patrol. He found Dred, one of Mic’s old friends working behind one of the cooking pots. He lets Shalice in on a secret that Mic finds him valuable, and tells him that everyone needs someone. Mic needed him, and he needed her. Embarrassed by the frankness of the man, Shalice directed his thoughts to the Calm Silence - it needed someone too.

Although he had no reason to defend the resistance force, Shalice successfully protected the resistance from a sudden GOV attack, killing many GOV Agents and defeating one of the largest MACHiNES ever seen. Unable to stay conscious, Shalice fell to exhaustion, only to awake finding his team and Mic again, ready to deal a final blow to GOV. Relieved to see her there, he masked his interest with a throw away question as to why she is with them.

The five fight against his father, whom explained to him how everything was all set up so that he would find the Calm Silence and return the weapon to GOV. The plan was so far set that he was even named after the girl in the sword. Angry at seeing that his life from birth was for him to be used as a toy, seeing that Mic was a piece to that plan, he threw his love for her and his rage into the hilt, rejoining the Calm Silence and Heartbroken together, creating it anew.

He was the son of one of the best agents GOV has. Now he’s about to be part of a grand revolution to overthrow a corrupt regime and he couldn’t have done it without her. In order to fully form the Calm Silence he needed a strong love, although in front of his dying father he refused to admit it.

They succeeded, but it was not without loss. While the Calm Silence had been the weapon he needed to defeat his father, it had taken his soul with him as well. Barely able to stay on his feet, he gave the Calm Silence to her as a way to remember him by. He wanted to tell her that he cared for her, but his shame and her likeness to his sister prevented him from doing so. He did his job, he protected her, but seeing her cry for him upset him. He told her not to, as that would make him sad. She nodded, wiping away tears - and he eventually faded into darkness.

With the destruction of GOV there came what was known as the Aftermath.

As the artifact works through the emotions of the one who wields it, Mic’s pain and longing for Shalice brought him back into awareness. He had not died but rather had his spirit placed inside the blade. His voice reached out to her, to which she responded with a shock.

The two were reunited, but Shalice was now part of the hilt, his physical body gone. He could come to form as a weapon if she concentrated, but that was all. He served as a guide for her as she carried him along, speaking openly on combat subjects or providing her with a second opinion on situations. The two worked together as she traveled; with his help she assisted with several settlements, each with their own unique issues and problems.

Shalice once again found the same feelings as before when Mic pestered him with familiar questions. This girl was so much like his sister, and he could never get that out of his head. Only when they reached an argument did she discover what he meant to her - she was a replacement to his long dead little sister, someone who he had sworn and failed to protect.

Under a new understanding the two returned home, although Mic did not share the news of Shalice’s existence. When Harland showed up offering her an opportunity to stop Jaeger from bringing back GOV, she took it. Shalice encouraged this decision because a return to GOV would cause so many more problems and he in his current state would be unable to do anything about it. He could protect Mic, but he would not be able to do much for the other three.

The risk was great, and Mic found herself at the end of a long hall with twenty-six men all looking to take Shalice away and kill her. To him this was the last hurrah, a final opportunity to save her. He told her that she needed to give him up in order to keep her life. This time, there will be no mistake.

Mic refused. With the men coming upon her she shouted at him, to their confusion.

She didn’t want to be his new little sister and be protected by him. She didn’t want him to pick up that sword and lose himself into the hilt. She didn't want to be seen as just another object for him to obligate himself to. She didn't want him to hide his feelings - and on that note, she wasn't going to hide hers.

She loved Shalice. She loved him.

She was right all along, and Shalice finally let go of the attachment to her and his sister. This wasn’t his sister - she’s long gone - this was Mic. This was the girl who saw him through thick and thin, the girl who stood up to her own father and stabbed him in the head, the girl who believed in him for four years while his soul churned inside of a hilt.

He loved Mic. He loved her.

The hilt has mysterious powers, and through that declaration it brought him back to her. Everything about him returned - his jacket, his hair, everything - although he was now older and with a smile on his face.

Together again, they set Jaeger in his place. Afterward Shalice expressed himself in a way unlike his usual behavior - he hugged her, right then and there. This was an unspoken return of love back, something quiet and understood. Mic didn’t need to know through words if he loved her back - it didn’t matter anymore. She already knew.

The five were back together again, but it was clear something happened when Mic returned from her last trip.

For starters, she brought back a boy that looks like Shalice, only four years older. Refusing to give an explanation, the two would instead spend time quietly together sitting on the bench outside the house or taking walks in the woods. This baffled Vorce and Tala, but they accepted it a few days later and let it be.

Shalice loved how he was with her, never needing to do anything to enjoy that time together. No awkward setups like Tala wanted. No forced communication. No urges of needing to express how they cared for one another. They just did. Whenever he spoke to her he could feel his father’s teachings no longer applying, slowly losing the lack of contractions in his speech.

He found that Mic was very similar to his beliefs. Not entirely sure if she was into the same things because of him or because she came to those answers on her own, he let her do as she pleased. It felt so right that there was no reason to question it.

When the Professionals showed up, it wasn’t Shalice making the decisions - they both did. They both wanted to fight them off, they both wanted to hunt down the ones that sent them, they both wanted to stop GOV from coming back.

That was all the proof Shalice needed.

As they went on to discover what was happening to the city, Shalice had to defend his reasoning with Vorce, justifying why he was there and why they had to stop GOV. No one should be put in a position of deciding who lives and dies, who chooses why one should live and that the other should be used to support the still living. This wasn’t up to him, and he was to ensure that no one would ever allow that option to return.

As they found Harland, Shalice engaged his past again as he discovered his mother was used to bait him. Throwing away his obligation cluttered mind-set, Shalice pushed past his own issues and had Mic save his mother - not him. Now alone, he came to the monster behind it all - a powerful and wicked personality of the Calm Silence known as Sin.

With the help of the woman in the hilt, Shalice came to terms with his father’s teachings and defeated Sin. They were tools to keep one focused, but not rules to live by. Feeling free of his father’s expectations, he left to find Mic and the others.

Vorce and Mic were there, but Vorce turned on the two. Vorce wanted the weapon for himself, to bring back the city. Vorce tried to reason with Shalice, seeing that Shalice had no reason to involve himself with any of this. Shalice rebuked Vorce by stating that his entire life has been a dedication to doing things he shouldn’t have done. He does what is right, regardless of who is responsible. Angered by his words, Vorce battled the two and defeated them both.

With the Calm Silence in tow, Vorce told Shalice that they need the city. Shalice responded by crawling his battered body over to protect Mic, to which Vorce gives the two the decency to leave them be. A sudden strike to the back downed Vorce by a kindly friend. Vorce died grinning, his own rules finally turning on him. Relieved that they were still together, Shalice pulled together the rest of the team and returned home.

With the threat finally gone for good, the two knew there was more work to be done. Sitting at home was all well and good but they had the capability to do so much more. Secure in each other, he kissed Mic passionately before they headed out into the unknown.

Trivia
From such a heavy focus on combat training, Shalice's computer skills are lacking. Technology seems to be one of the obstacles that gets Shalice to trip up.