Onyx Rockpool

[wiggs]

Name: Onyx Rockpool


Nickname: Fishboy .. though if you call him this you’re in for trouble xD


Age: 17


Gender: Male


Species: Merman (Basically Human)


Position: Neutral


Powers:
He has very mild control over sound, meaning that his hearing is slightly better than most humans and he can exaggerate the level of sound made, though only to the stage of a loud scream or a very faint whisper. He can manipulate any sound and the pitch of said sound but has yet been unable to work out how to get the pitch so high it can break glass. He can also use this talent as a form of echo-location to locate objects or people over long distances or in situations where his eyes are useless. At the moment his range for manipulating sound is limited to 75 meters in all directions but he's working on improving this and, as this is a common power among his homeland it is known to get stronger with age.

Onyx can also produce a paralysing poison from the spines along his waist and arms when attacked.

The pearl around his neck is actually filled with some sort of magic that allows him to take on a human form. However, whenever he returns to water he resorts back to his ‘Atlantica’ form.


Weapon:
When underwater he mainly uses his powerful tail or arms to swipe at attackers. The spines along his arms are poisonous and he can use these to immobilise others when attacked. Otherwise he uses a sharp dagger that he keeps on himself at all times, though only as a last form of defence.

Picture:
i75.photobucket.com/albums/i300/Wiggowiggio/Mereman_in_Colour.jpg

Appearance:
In Merman Form
His tail is long and muscular, in almost complete opposite to his thin frame. The scales are almost florescent orange and in dark conditions they can glow very slightly to provide minimal light. The fins that come from his lower arm and waist range from white, purple and red with the tips a similar colour to the scales on his tail. These fins float about freely whilst under water but when threatened the spines within these fins stiffen and produce an immobilising poison from their tips. His skin is very pale as he tends to stay among rocks rather than open water where he feels more secure and has made his home. His tail is over twice the length of his torso and if he was able to stand upright he would be around 5’’10. His torso and arms are nowhere near as strong as his tail as he does not use them as much.

In Human Form
In both forms he has fiery red hair that comes off his head in short spikes going in all directions and is completely resistant to water and his eyes are a dark purple. He never removes the shark tooth that he wears around his neck and in his human form he wears this over his shirt. He is slightly shorter in this form only reaching 5’’9 and is equally lacking in muscles. He usually wears a pale orange short sleeved shirt teamed with baggy shorts which are a slightly darker orange. He does not wear any socks and if he can get away with it he prefers to go barefooted, If not he wears plain black pumps. He keeps his dagger in a leather hilt on his side and usually chooses to hide it under his baggy shirt to avoid drawing attention to it.


Personality:
Onyx is as skittish as the minnows you see darting under the shallow water .. but only until you get to know him. Due to this he is slow to trust and will often remain silent until he gets to know you better. This timid nature can often be seen as rudeness but he is not actively going out of his way to snub others. He is very caring and, once he gets to know someone better, is very protective. He will go out of his way to protect others over risks to his own well being and in times in which it is needed he will shake off his skittishness and stare fear right in the face. Though however much he knows you he is not a hugely ‘touchy-feely’ person and will not initiate actions such as hugs or other forms of body contact. Despite all this he is extremely curious and often finds this curiosity getting himself into dangerous situations, it is also this curiosity that makes him approach others, he is particularly pulled towards laughter or people having fun.

Onyx’s biggest fear is fire as it is something he has not encountered before and as such is something completely alien and something that he does not have a defence for … or any natural instincts.

Original World: Atlantica

Current World: Traverse Town


History:
Onyx and his family live on the outskirts of the main city in the cliffs that overshadow them. He lived in his ancestral home made from the rock itself with his mother, father and older sister … as well as about 5 generations of grandfathers, grandmothers , great-aunts etc. All in all it is a very crowded place, Merepeople generally live for a very long time naturally if they do not put themselves into danger and the Rockpool family are particularly cautious. Onyx used to entertain himself, and put his family into constant panic, by regularly visiting the main city and the hustle and bustle that it brought. Of course, this soon became common place and from the age of 11 onwards he began travelling further and further afield, exploring old wrecks and other cities.

His timid family soon had enough of the boy’s adventurous ways and set him up with a home to live with a distant relative that lived in a run down house meters within the capital city. It was from this second cousin that he learnt all about the hooman world ... or as much as was available at least. He came to learn about a frantically busy and interesting place full of fast paced lives and ‘autos’. His relative, Coral, astonished by his lack of general knowledge hired Onyx a tutor who though initially skittish about the subject supported what his cousin had already told him. During this time Onyx came out of his shell so to say and began to talk regularly with his neighbours and even made a few friends. However, due to his differencing appearance and the general rumours about how even touching him would result in absolute pain he was greatly void of any close friends, for even those who got to know the boy were warned off by their parents. Onyx soon found himself searching for others things to fill his time, reaching further about these ‘hoomans’ and the world they inhabited.

On his 14th birthday he finally took the ‘plunge’ and pulled himself up onto the rocks by the beach, from here he could watch the going ons of the two-leggers. Of course for someone with his inquisitive nature this was not enough and step by step he moved closer and closer to the beach itself, even pulling himself up onto the sand when it was completely deserted.

It was during one of the times where he was sunning himself on one of the rocks meters from the beach that he made his first contact. Blissfully unaware of his surroundings he did not notice the human approaching him and it was only when he heard a loud ‘OI! FISHBOY!’ that he was jolted out of his dreaming and pulled back to reality. Due to the relations between the Merepeople population and the human world it was not exactly forbidden for the two to comingle but that didn’t stop it from being extremely difficult, the subject still people rather taboo. Besides Merepeople could not spend an extended amount of time on land and humans could not breath underwater. Plus there was all the bad blood that stemmed from the legends that both races held. Views were not easy to change with a race that was so long-lived such as Onyx’s own. So it was that Onyx had his first experience with 'hoomans'.
.....
A harsh substance enclosed him on all sides, biting into his tail and skin alike. A wild whimper escaped his lips as he struggled against the foreign object, however this had the opposite affect and he just became further entangled. He could not get his arm free to reach the dagger at his waist and the hoomans where naturally wary of the spines that stuck up in all directions staying a sizeable distance away whilst they waited for their rare catch to tire. Unfortunately this also meant that Onyx's voice could not reach them either.

Almost hyperventilating his wide purple eyes took in the bulky hoomans in front of him, hoping that they would mess up and step a little bit closer ... His hopes were answered in another way. Having spotted the commotion a boy had ran the length of the beach and was busy giving his attackers a hard time. Not expecting this they where pushed closer to their prey, giving Onyx his chance. He dug his spine laded arm into the leg of the nearest man, making him cry out and stumble to the ground. The amount of noise created by the commotion was starting to draw further attention, not helped at all by the fact that Onyx had raised the sound as high as it could get. Not wanting to be caught openly defying the rule of harming Merefolk the men stumbled away, leaving their fallen comrade on the sand.

Onyx was left staring up at the hooman boy who had come to his 'rescue', a boy that was looking at him with equal trepidation. Onyx bared his teeth trying to intimidate the remaining hooman but was met with only nervous laughter .. but he did feel some pride at the fact that the boy had taken a couple of steps backwards. Eventually the boy found his voice, "M-Merboy ... I'm going to l-let you out. Alright?" and the boy continued to wait. When he tried to take a step forwards Onyx frashed his tail as best he could, warning the boy to keep his distance. The boy raised his hands and let out a frustrated sigh, "We've got to get you out of there!" Eventually the boy sat himself on the floor a sizeable distance away. The two just stared at each other for a long period of time, in which time Onyx was beginning to feel the affects of prolonged absence from the water. "I won't hurt you, you know." Onyx raised his head warily. The boy was on his feet again. "I'm going to untie that net, just stay put." Too worn out to do anything to stop him he glared at the hooman as he untangled him from the substance around him. The moment his tail was free Onyx began to pull himself free, back towards the ocean not once looking back. Needless to say he didn't make a return trip for a long time. As he slipped back into the water he heard the hooman's voice calling after him; "If you have any treasure, send it to Daniel Hewson!"

Despite his scare Onyx could not control himself for long. 3 months later he was back at the beach's edge, hiding himself among the large rocks that littered the water's edge. One day he spotted the boy that had helped him before, having now realised how much of a help the hooman had been he warmed up his throwing arm and punted a shell carved with a simple design towards the beach, startling the boy out of his wits. Head just poking out of the water he watched as the 'Daniel' walked over to the shell and picked it up. He watched as the boy smirked and put the shell in his pocket before scanning the water for it's source. Onyx quickly hid himself further but it did not seem to matter to the hooman who laughed to himself and sat himself at the waters edge, seemingly ready to weight for the Mereboy to show himself.

They stayed like that until the sun slowly began to set in the sky, upon which boy shook his head, stood up waved out to the ocean at left. Daniel was left with a warm chuckle echoing from the ocean in his ears, and made the mental promise to return the next following day.

Eventually through several of these experiences resulted in a fragile friendship growing between the two boys with the two spending most of their time exploring the coast from the sea. One of Onyx's most priced possessions was found during one of these explorations. Wedges between several rocks the pink pearl had seemed to call out to him, catching the light filtering in from above and casting the rocks in pink light. It had taken a lot of effort but he had eventually managed to pry it free. He had shown the pearl to Daniel and they had both agreed that it was quite a find. From that day on Onyx has worn the pearl around his neck beside the sharktooth that Coral had given him on his 15th Birthday.

With his rampant curiosity it was only a matter of time before it got him in trouble again. On one of the many occasions in which the pair were exploring a new part of the cove Onyx, now 17 years old, was exploring the water filled parts of a large underwater cave. Just as he was amusing himself with a stalagmite that took up the majority of the cave's floor, a change in the water pressure alerted him to a change in his surroundings. He grasped at the rock formation but the water had been stirred to a near whirlpool conditions and Onyx found himself being pulled backwards at a fast pace. He flailed his tail desperately but the force was too great and it carried him through a dark 'hole' ... spitting him out in completely new surroundings.


Role Playing Sample:
Loud. Very very loud.

Bending over with his head in his hands Onyx tried to deal with the deluge of sound that was all around him. The feel of the hand on his head belonging to his closest friend was enough to help centre his efforts, diluting the sound entering his ears to a more capable level. Chest still rising and falling with some sizeable effort, Onyx unfolded himself, blinking up with royal purple eyes. The first thing he saw was Danny’s face cracking grin directly in front of him and he couldn’t stop his own lips moving upwards in a shy smile of his own in response.

Using Danny as a support, for he was still very shaky on his new feet, he half stepped half stumbled forwards into this new world.
For the first few steps Onyx was unable to raise his gaze from the two things jutting out from his lower body. They were just so … weird. They moved independently of each other and the ground just felt so solid under his feet. The limbs were more sensitive then he could of ever imagined. He could feel the texture of the shoes that Danny had lent him rubbing against the sole of each foot, the shoes slightly too large for him and already painful. Not that Onyx could care one bit. HE HAD LEGS!

Their progress was halted somewhat by the fact that Onyx had to constantly hike up the jeans that Danny had lent him, it didn’t help that Danny as well as being wider in the waist than the boy nee Mereman, was also considerably taller. They had turned up the ends of the legs put even still the material pool over Onyx’s feet and threatened to pull him towards the floor. Danny carefully guided his friend down the busy street and into one of the many side alleys, making sure that he did not run into anyone or fall over himself and end up on the ground.

Onyx blinked at the change in light as he found himself surrounded by large stone walls on each side, likening it to when whales would often pass overhead back at home, temporarily blocking out the sun sparkling in from above. His grip tightened to a death grip, practically blocking the blood supply to Danny’s lower arm. Whales, though docile creatures, had been known to change on the turn of a shell. Maybe these things were equally as volatile. Sensing his friends mood change, Danny put a friendly arm around the boy’s shoulder. ”It’s fine Fishboy. Just a couple more steps and we’re there!” Onyx scrunched up his nose at the nickname that Danny was particularly fond of. He wasn’t a Fish. He weakly punched the older boy on the shoulder, still relying on him for support. “Not a fish!” He grumbled, causing his friend to burst out laughing, an action that caused Onyx to cry out and grab hold of Danny’s shirt.

Questions/Comments/Suggestions?
Also, I cannot find an image of him in his human form, hopefully my description is enough x