Post by tristam wei on Oct 31, 2012 15:11:48 GMT -5
[atrb=cellSpacing,20,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, -moz-border-radius-bottomright: 5px; -moz-border-radius-topleft: 5px; -moz-border-radius-topright: 5px; -moz-border-radius-bottomleft: 5px; border-radius: 5px 5px5px5px; width: 450px, btable] [style=margin-left: 20px; margin-bottom: -4px;]» TRISTAM WEI [/style]» Age: |
» Gender:[/b][/font] Male
» Sexuality:[/b][/font] Demisexual
» Race:[/b][/font] Merperson
» Affiliation:[/b][/font] Neutral
» Occupation:[/b][/font] N/A[/div][/td][/tr]
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[style=margin-left: 20px; margin-bottom: -4px;]» PERSONALITY
[/style]Positives
»
»[/b] Calm
»[/b] Logical
»[/b] Quiet
»[/b] Devoted
»[/b] Curious
Negatives
»[/b] Neurotic
»[/b] Downtrodden
»[/b] Hydrophilic by necessity
»[/b] Resentful
»[/b] Somber
»[/b] Selective
»[/b] Lonesome
»[/b] Not a lot of people know about Tristam, fewer have gotten close enough to speak to him, and most all think of him as some sort of folk tale. He doesn’t show himself to people on purpose, and when they approach him, depending on where he is, he’ll either flee or try to attack them. In his mind, it’s all self-defense, being rather resentful towards the human race as a whole. Shy isn’t the right word for it either; he isn’t afraid to talk to someone if he intends to; it could be said that he’s just extremely choosy. Like many other myths and legends, he’s particular about where he appears and who to.
Despite the neurotic behaviour when in the presence of others, he is generally a very calm, logical individual. He likes to think things thoroughly and take the safest course of action if possible. Even his movements seem well thought out; every step he takes seems purposeful, and the words he speaks are never taken back. It lends him an air of grace, and while he’s calm, he knows what he’s doing, and he knows he’s doing it right, in a sense.
But tranquility and calm doesn’t always mean happiness. In truth, when people are lucky enough to see him without him intending them to, they’ll likely describe tears in his eyes or running down his face. He’s always in a somber mood at best, and at worst, he’s wretched to even look at, let alone to hear his sobbing. He tries to never allow others to see him in such a state, but when that state is so constant, somebody is bound to spot him like that, mostly by accident. Tristam puts on a brave face when he knows people are watching, and it’s very convincing if you haven’t heard his tales or seen him off guard.
His selectiveness when it comes to interactions has lead him to be rather lonely. However, he accepts it, and chooses to be alone more often than not. His devotion is the reason, having consciously picked to cast aside companionship to wait for his other bonded half. It’s his loyalty that had lead him to his constantly miserable, secluded state.
As a merman, Tristam’s greatest strength and weakness alike is water. He has great power and control over it, and when he’s in his element, he’s only stronger. However, he can’t go for very long without it. At most, he can last three hours without a drink, but that’s pushing it. He needs a full-body submersion at least once every twenty four hours, or he’ll dry out and die. [/div][/td][/tr]
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[style=margin-left: 20px; margin-bottom: -4px;]» APPEARANCE
[/style]» Height:
[/b][/font][/size] 5’8”» Weight:[/b][/font][/size] 142lbs
»[/b] Tristam has two forms; one is his human form, and the other is his true, finned form.
In both forms, he has straight, shoulder length black hair that seems to be slicked back most of the time, though it can be blamed on almost always being wet. His eyes are a near unnatural shade of green and stand out sharply against his dark hair and pale skin. Tristam has a small build, being rather thin for someone of his height; if he stretches, his ribs and hips will show through his skin. It doesn’t make him look like he could take someone down with a punch, but it lends to his air of elegance, making him graceful looking on land and in water. He likes to wear simple clothes that he made himself; no fancy designs or patterns, just plain clothes in organic, earthy colours. At times, especially when he’s near water, he doesn’t wear a shirt at all.
In Tristam’s true form, he has a long, green scaled fin that takes over his legs from the hips down. His canine teeth grow sharp, and he develops slight webbing between his fingers. Otherwise, from the waist up, he looks exactly the same as if he had legs. He doesn’t wear clothes in this form… he doesn’t need to hide anything.
Being bound to another, he has a small, circular tattoo at the base of his neck. It’s what looks like a lotus flower amidst waves, done in all black, and is more often than not hidden by his hair, so most don’t know what he’s bound at all. [/div][/td][/tr]
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[style=margin-left: 20px; margin-bottom: -4px;]» COMBAT
[/style]Strengths
»
»[/b] Strategic / Tactical
»[/b] His voice
»[/b] Tenacity
Weaknesses
»[/b] Dry, hot climates
»[/b] Fragile body
»[/b] Slow healing
»[/b] Need for water
Abilities
»[/b] Song ; As a merman, his voice is his greatest weapon. His song has multiple uses, but is primarily used to enchant humans. He can utilize it to lure people to the water to drown, make people “fall in love” with him, put people to sleep, or summon his bound partner, among other things. Upon hearing the song, a person has a couple of minutes (depending on how strong their own willpower is) to either leave the area, or block off their hearing so they won’t be affected. The enchantment doesn’t linger; Tristam has to be continually singing for the spell, and if the person stops hearing it, then it will be instantly broken.
»[/b] Transformation ; Having lived many years and gathered enough magic, he is able to trade his fin for legs when he wants to. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t need water anymore, though; he needs to submerge himself fully and turn back into a merman at least once every twenty four hours, or else he’ll die.
»[/b] Water Manipulation ; He has great control over water, able to manipulate and bend it to his will. However, he cannot use his powers to interfere with human affairs, lest he be banished to the bottom of the ocean for the rest of eternity. For example, he can go save a human who had fallen overboard himself, but cannot part the sea to prevent them from drowning.
»[/b] Water Merging ; When he submerses himself, he can change the way his scales and skin reflect the light, making him look like he’s part of the water. He is still tangible in this state; he can be touched and injured, but it’s just more difficult to see him.
»[/b] Screech ; A self defense technique, he lets out a piercing, high pitched scream to stun and then either attacks or flees from the encounter.
» Weapon:[/b][/font][/size] All he has is a small, jeweled knife that he keeps on his hip. He doesn’t like to get into physical fights, so uses it rarely.
» Contract Information:[/b] Tristam is bound to another person, though that person is long dead. Usually, a bond is broken when one side or the other dies, but their bond was so strong that it transcended the afterlife. In truth, his bound partner is the reason for his tears. He still mourns for his other half, always searching for him, and waits for the day he’ll be reincarnated. [/font][/size][/div][/td][/tr]
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[style=margin-left: 20px; margin-bottom: -4px;]» HISTORY
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One early morning, picking along the shallows of a beach to see if there was anything worthwhile to bring back home, he spotted a net with hooks. Of course, he was immediately drawn to the hooks, glimmering in the water as they were, picking them off the fishing lines and bringing them home. He visited the same beach every day, picking up the hooks and other things that were dropped into the water by fishermen. But one day, in the very early morning, he wandered too close to one of the nets and became entangled.
His struggling did no good, and no matter how much he tried to get out, the net only wound tighter around him until they cut into his skin and pulled off scales from his fin. He weakened, and by the time the sun came up, he was too injured to struggle free when the net was finally pulled up. He thought that he was surely going to die at the hands of the fisherman that pulled him up, too weak to defend himself and too tangled to try and get away.
It was probably why he was so surprised when the poor fisherman cut the net off him and tried to bandage up his damaged fin, before trying to set him free. Of course, in his state, if Tristam tried to swim off he’d likely sink and drown, or bleed to death in the water. The fisherman didn’t have much in the first place, but he brought the merman home and let him live in his bath tub, offering to keep him safe until he healed.
The house was cramped and small, and the tub wasn’t at all what he was used to, as he usually swam free in the ocean. Tristam distrusted the fisherman, having learned all his life that humans were bad and worth little more than food, so he refused to speak to him. Despite the cold shoulder, the fisherman would bring sea water to his humble seaside home every other day for him, and give him the some of the fish that he needed to sell. The fisherman was poor, not having much for himself in the first place, but he took care of Tristam anyway. He sat by the tub whenever he had free time and spoke to him, even if the merman never spoke back and only glared from the bottom of the tub.
His fin was still healing, his injures had been rather extensive, and so he wasn’t fit to go back to the sea yet. The kindness began to wear on his cold demeanor, and Tristam slowly started interacting with the fisherman more. It was to great surprise that he actually started to speak to him one day, the fisherman having thought he was mute or didn’t understand human language before.
Tristam grew to appreciate the man’s company, looking forward to it every day when he would bring him his buckets of water and fish. He’d sit by the tub and Tristam would brush his hair as they spoke, growling closer with each passing day. He may have been healing slowly, but it didn’t bother him so much anymore that he wasn’t lonely. Trust had taken a very long time to build up, but it was there now, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. He was steadily getting better, and he swore that when he returned to the sea, he’d come to visit often. With that promise, there was a warm glow as a tattoo grew at the base of his neck. He was bound to the human, and vice versa. He remained with the fisherman for a little more than a year.
It all took a turn for the worst when one of his injuries, not yet healed, became infected. He’d been healing steadily since then, so it didn’t cause too much alarm at first. But as time went on and the infection didn’t get any better, but actually worse, he became increasingly concerned. The fisherman was unaware of how badly the infection had gotten until Tristam became thin, his scales beginning to fall off as he grew weak.
They both tried all they could, but nothing got any better. Tristam continued to grow weaker and weaker, becoming painfully thin and refusing to eat because it hurt too much to swallow. At last, the fisherman couldn’t bear watching him in so much pain any more. He killed Tristam out of mercy, strangling him in the tub.
As all merpeople do, when Tristam died, he shed his tears and turned to salt, leaving nothing but a bathtub full of salt water behind.
He may have been gone forever if the fisherman emptied the tub, but being so bonded with him, he refused and every morning, he’d go down to the sea and collect a bucket of water to fill the tub with. The fisherman did this for many years in mourning until he collected his meager savings and bought a single canvas and enough paint to finish a painting. With that, he painted, trying to capture the image of the merman exactly. He finished it at last, dying of a broken heart soon after. The painting, the house and the tub were left behind; the fisherman had no family and no children, and nobody took the humble home by the sea.
The water from the bathtub eventually dried out, leaving white salt and shards of tears behind. The house became weathered, and having nobody take care of it, grew old and riddled with rotted wood and holes. Eventually, about a hundred years later, a hole wore into the bathroom ceiling right over the tub. A storm came one night and it began to rain hard, filling the tub with fresh water and mixing the salt and the tears. If the fisherman had emptied the tub, Tristam would have been lost forever, but he didn’t, and that’s what brought him back.
Becoming so weak form his illness, he already began to disintegrate, and the fisherman strangling him brought on the final change. He turned into salt so his body would reform and heal; all he needed was to dry out, and then mix again with fresh water, and he’d be regenerated in his former, healthy state. Unfortunately, the fisherman didn’t realize that he was working against him when he refilled the bathtub every day with more water, and it took much longer for him to return.
Tristam came back, fully healed, and in the stormy weather, dragged himself back into the sea. He waited for the storm to pass, and then sang up to the house, trying to call his partner. There was no answer.
Every day for many years, he’d come up to the surface once at dawn, and once late at night, and sing to the house in hopes of the fisherman finally returning. In a sense, Tristam knew full well that the man was dead; it had been too long, but he couldn’t bring himself to accept it. People would spot him mourning, but whenever they approached him, he’d flee back into the sea. It gave rise to a local myth, and people would come and try to spot him, or collect his tears that turned to glass as they fell from his eyes and sank to the water.
It was one day at dawn, when he swam to the surface and sang, that he thought he spotted his partner again. The man’s back was turned, and he had the same hair. Tristam was overjoyed, swimming to his side, only to realize that it wasn’t who he had hoped for; he was only a person who had come from the city, hoping to glimpse the local legend of a crying merman. This brought on a fit of rage, and in his anger, he drowned the man and ate him. He collected his magic, and over the next couple years, every time a man who looked like his lost partner dared come to the small patch of beach, he’d drown them and eat them, drawing out their life force for his own.
Soon enough, he had collected enough magic to give himself legs. He came upon the shore and for the first time since he was resurrected, he set foot in that old house that he’d lived in with the fisherman. Tristam took his time restoring the house, slowly fixing it and building it up to be livable once again in wait for the day his partner returned. He makes occasional trips to the city to get supplies, but the majority of the time he remains in the little beachside shack or in the nearby sea. It didn’t stop him from singing every morning and every night. Sometimes walking along the beach with his legs and other times swimming in the water in his true form, he’d sing his heart out to try and summon his bound partner.
The summoning is never successful, but he tries every day. And every day, when the fisherman doesn’t show, he’d mourn and weep, littering the beach with his glass tears. [/div][/td][/tr]
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[style=margin-left: 20px; margin-bottom: -4px;]» MISCELLANEOUS
[/style]Extra
»
[/b] If Tristam is on land and gets doused in water, he will turn back into a merman. He avoids bodies of water like fountains while inland for this reason. »
»[/b] He gravitates towards shiny things, and likes to decorate his home with the items he finds.
» Alias:[/b][/font][/size] Renegade!
» Other Characters:[/b][/font][/size] N/A
»[/b] Faceclaim:[/size]
MARVEL, Loki; tristam wei
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coded by heroin of gangnam style for mythos use only
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