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[mooaumakuabro]

OOC Info:
Your Name: Bri
Your Age: 27
Contact: brbsoulnomming
Journal Name: brbsoulnomming

IC Info:
Name: Alex Manuwai
Age/Apparent Age: 33/late twenties
Species: Werecreature
Type: Saltwater crocodile
Magic Type: N/A
Powers: In human form, Alex has enhanced strength and endurance, making him able to withstand more force or injury than a typical human might. (For example, a blow to the chest that might be fatal to a human would result in something like broken ribs, and a punch that might bruise a human may leave only a brief red mark.) Alex can turn into a saltwater crocodile, approximately twenty feet in length, as well as, once a month, a big humanoid monster with scales and a tail. His previous magic type of Balancer faded when he became a werecreature, but it did shape his werecreature talent somewhat in that it created a better equilibrium with his new abilities, allowing him to adjust easier and giving him a better handle on balancing his human and crocodile forms. Although of course, he still is prey to his lunar cycle - his falls on the first day of the waning crescent.

Special Abilities: Alex is an excellent surfer, good enough to have gone pro, if that was the path his life had lead. He's been in the military for over ten years, and is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, weaponry, has a decent grasp of tactics, and is really good at mapping out an area in his head. He speaks English and Hawaiian, and has enough of a grasp of Pashto and Dari to be able to hold a fairly decent conversation.

Description: His hair used to be incredibly bleached blond, considering he spent hours in the sun, but it’s faded a bit to just a normal blond. Its length varies, depending on how often he remembers to get a haircut, but generally it goes from just skirting the edge of military-short, to long enough to tuck behind his ears.. He’s usually clean shaven, with skin still fairly deeply tanned despite having not lived in Hawaii for several years. Alex is fairly tall, at a couple of inches above six foot, with a muscular build befitting a soldier who occasionally turns into a crocodile.

When not on duty, Alex prefers to wear casual clothes, his favorite of which are board shorts or jeans and tanktops in the summer, jeans and sweatshirts in the winter. Generally, Alex looks almost exactly like what he is - a soldier who clearly can't shake his Hawaiian surfer dude roots, and makes only a passing attempt to do so. Or possibly, a surfer dude masquerading as a soldier.


Personality: Alex is generally a laid back person. He’s never really felt the need to act as if every little thing was the end of the world. Unfortunately, this also means he’s a bit of a procrastinator, and even with the best intentions he often leaves things to the very last minute. This doesn’t really bother him, either, since he figures that if it’s important, he’ll get it done. Eventually. This has changed somewhat since he joined the military, as it was really difficult there to operate on his own laid-back schedule - though his recruiter and training officers can attest that he certainly tried. In life or death situations, Alex is very good at quick thinking and operating in the moment. This is actually somewhat of an extensive of his core nature, as Alex is very much a person who lives in the moment, and does what needs to be done right then rather than worry too much about an uncertain future.

Although he’s very easy going, he’s by no means a push-over, and he’s definitely not one to sit back and let people walk all over him. Alex is perfectly willing to stand up for himself, and others, if needs be. Generally, though, he’s fairly hard to piss off. He doesn’t really understand how people can over react to situations that just really don’t call for it. Because of this, he can sometimes be a bit of a peacekeeper, attempting to mediate arguments between his friends. When it comes to taking charge or being a leader in situations - whether it be casual or career, Alex is the kind of guy who is more than happy to sit back and enjoy the ride if someone else is already leading. Unless he disagrees, of course, in which case he’ll definitely make his opinion known. If he's the most capable in a situation, he tends to find himself sort of accidentally leading. He’ll just sort of come up with ideas, suggest people do things, and usually they happen.

Alex makes friends fairly easily, as he is typically a very friendly person. He’s a bit of a flirt as well, although he usually does it without even realizing it. Well, okay. Not usually. He just has a habit of flirting, and sometimes he forgets to turn it off. He has a bit of a dangerous streak, the kind that leads him to surf in the middle of tropical storms. It’s not that he thinks he’s immortal or anything, but he’s just really not worried about harm coming to him. He figures it could happen any time, so he might as well get as much out of life as he can. Neither being in the military or being partnered with a dragon really tempered this - he's thrown himself in plenty of dangerous situations as a soldier, as a necessity, and his dragon partner has a nearly identical dangerous streak.

Finally, Alex is the kind of guy who is one hundred percent loyal and completely trusting. He's too experienced to have a completely rosy view of the world - being in active duty for over ten years, a large part of which involved combat, tends to do that. But he does believe that everyone has good in them, and when he considers someone trustworthy, it's pretty absolute. It's not often he makes friendships deep enough to have this level of trust, but when he does, there's absolutely nothing he wouldn't do for them. And there's very little that he wouldn't forgive them for.

History: Alex was the second of two sons born to a military family. His mother was part fay, and both Alex and his older brother Killian were somewhere under one-fourth fay themselves. They were both mages - Killian was a Mover who could manipulate heat, and Alex was a Balancer. Which turned out to be fortunate, considering Killian had very little control, and Alex's presence helped his older brother to not accidentally destroy things.

The two brothers relied on each other a lot, since their parents' careers not only kept them busy, but meant they moved around fairly frequently as well. By the time Alex was six, his only friend was his brother, and they were pretty much raising each other. Around then was the time his parents finally decided to take their first ever family vacation. His father was an accomplished sailor, and they planned a couple of weeks to travel around by boat. Unfortunately, his father might have overestimated his abilities, because a storm caused the ship to go down.

Alex doesn't remember much of what happened, except for his brother putting him in a lifeboat, but he was later found by the Hawaiian coast guard. None of his other family members were found, after an extensive search, and they were presumed dead. Alex was placed in the foster care system, and very quickly adopted by the Manuwais, a very nice Hawaiian couple. At first, Alex was sullen and uncooperative, because he didn't want a new family - he wanted his brother back.

But gradually, Alex accepted his new life. It helped that his adoptive parents were around so much more than his actual parents had ever been, and were pretty much everything parents should be. They also introduced him to surfing, which was clearly the love of his life, and that sealed the deal. It didn't take too long before he was calling them Mom and Dad, and realizing that they were more or less the only parents he'd ever really known.

Alex's father was a fisherman, and at first he was reluctant to take his adoptive son out on the boat, considering how he'd lost his family. But tragedy or not, Alex was obviously at home in the water, and he didn't want to spend his life afraid of boats. By the time Alex was in middle school, he was often out with his father, learning the fishing business and "helping" - or sneaking off to go swimming, that too.

Still, he was enough of a help that it soon became basically expected that he would join the business once he graduated high school. His mother didn't quite agree, because she felt he should do something more with his life, especially with his abilities as a Balancer - but really, since Alex's major plan for himself was "surf as much as possible," she'd take what she could get. Alex didn't seem opposed to going into fishing, and at least that was something that would take his mind off the search for ever bigger and better waves.

In preparation for that, Alex's parents encouraged him to put in an application to be partnered with one of the dragons soon to be hatching at a local hatchery - an Andean Sut'ijankas, a perfect dragon partner for a fishing business. Alex's application was accepted, and at seventeen, he moved into the complex for a year of training with the second love of his life, his new dragon partner Cykirit.

Fortunately for everyone involved, it was an absolutely perfect match. Unfortunately for everyone involved... it was an absolutely perfect match. Cykirit was just as adventure seeking as Alex, maybe even more, and he did very little to pull Alex's mind away from surfing. On the contrary, Cykirit liked surfing, and later in their training they could often be found out in the ocean, ostensibly training to fish together but really, well. It was a challenge, figuring out how to surf with a dragon swimming and flying around you, but they made it work.

When Alex was nineteen and he and Cykirit were ready to leave the hatching complex, it finally became obvious that he couldn't just stall and hedge around things, hoping that his parents would give in and let him be a pro-surfer. Which, really, should have been obvious to anyone a hell of a lot sooner, but Alex was a big proponent of "hey, things will work out." With some encouragement from Cykirit, Alex decided to join the military - if he couldn't see the world as a surfer, he might as well do it in the army. And Cykirit was a little like his mother there; he thought the two of them were destined for much greater things.

His father was a little disappointed, but his mother was thrilled. She convinced his father that there was nothing that said Alex couldn't take up the family business after his service in the military, and Alex and Cykirit joined the army with both of his parents' blessing.

It was while in the army that Alex was reunited with his older brother. He'd survived the accident as well, it seemed, but had drifted in the opposite direction, and was eventually found by a family who took him in. Killian was vague on the particulars of what had happened, and what he'd been up to since then, but Alex didn't care - he was just thrilled to have his big brother back, and to be serving with him. Cykirit was a little more suspicious, but for once, Alex didn't listen to him.

He probably should have, though, because he eventually found out what Killian was hiding from him - the family had been werecreatures, and they'd made Killian one of them. Not only that, but Killian wanted to make Alex one, as well. Rather impulsively, Alex agreed - after all, if his big brother was a werecreature, then it'd only make sense for Alex to be one, as well. Fortunately for Alex - and for Cykirit - although his previous talent as a Balancer was inaccessible after his change, it helped shaped his transformation, and made things a little bit easier for him.

After this, rather than return to the family business, Alex chose to continue to stay in active duty in the military. He moved up in rank to eventually become a staff sergeant, in charge of a small squad of men. Sometime after that, at the encouragement of Cykirit, once again, Alex made a career change within the military to work for the military police. Not too long later, Alex and his dragon partner was approached with an offer of settling in Peridexion and serving there. It appealed to both his and Cykirit's sense of adventure, and they agreed.


Strengths:
Level-headed - It's really hard to get Alex angry. Like, really, really hard. Even with things gets personal, he's more the type to pause, introspect, and decide it's all really not worth it. This makes him extremely good at public speaking, and throughout school and his career in the military he's often ended up the one presenting a particular case - provided he's prompted to do it, of course. He's a good mediator and excellent at problem solving, when he puts his mind to it.
Quick thinking/resourcefulness - When it comes to bad situations, Alex is nearly always able to think on his feet and use what's around him to get out of them. He might not be able to plan long term very well, but if you're in a pinch and need to get out of it, Alex is your guy.
Government - Alex is working directly for the government, and so may have access to more resources or information than some other characters.

Weaknesses:
Easy-going to the extreme - he's not necessarily a push over, but he's not always the quickest to act if the situation isn't life or death. He doesn't get passionate over much and it's hard for him to understand other people's personal problems - his advice tends to be "let it go, man," which is generally not the right thing to say and doesn't often endear him to people. This also means it can be difficult for him to form deeper relationships with people, as he's very rarely going to be the one to take it beyond a surface level acquaintance.
Too trusting/forgiving - This is in two ways: one, Alex is of the opinion that there's good in everyone, which... obviously doesn't always work in his favor. Second, Alex is way too trusting and forgiving of his friends, which can lead to him giving them second or third or fourth chances, no matter how many times he might get screwed over. It's obviously not always the healthiest thing ever.
In the moment - Alex can be bad about planning for the future. He's much more concerned with living day to day. It's hard for him to always see the bigger picture - which is why, while he's an excellent squad leader and really good at getting out of bad situations and making sure everyone survives, he will never be a big commander or an excellent tactician. He's not the guy who can strategize long term to win wars, he's the guy who takes one battle at a time and just keeps everyone alive.


Magical Belongings: None

Position: Alex is a staff sergeant in the army! He recently made a career change within the army to work for the military police, and was approached directly with the opportunity to settle in Peridexion.

Played By: Chris Carmack

Writing Sample:

=> Prompt 3: Your character is settling in at their new home in Peridexion. Are they excited? Nervous? Annoyed? Or just jet-lagged? Whatever the case, it’s time to unpack and meet the neighbors….

"There's no ocean here, Cyk."

Alex's partner doesn't even bother opening his eyes. "Thanks for the observation."

"There's just a lake."

"I've noticed."

"It doesn't even have waves."

"Would you like me to hover over it and flap my wings really hard?"

Alex considers that question just long enough that he knows Cykirit will start to think he's taking him seriously. Sure enough, after a few long moments of silence, the dragon's eyes snap open and he fixes Alex with a stare.

"I'm not making waves just so you can surf without me."

Alex grins, dropping down to sit on the floor and lean up against Cykirit's side. "The waves wouldn't be big enough to do anything, anyway. How'd you talk me into coming here, again?"

Cykirit rolls his eyes, but doesn't dislodge his partner. "I'm pretty sure it was your idea in the first place."

"Mmm," Alex mutters. "Nah. We both know I never have any ideas, especially not ones that involve not being able to surf any time in the near future."

"Because we've had so many opportunities for surfing in the army. At least there's some water here." Cykirit lifts his head, and Alex can practically feel his thoughtful stare. "Is there a reason you're bringing up surfing?"

By now, Alex should know that shrugging off the question won't work - but he goes for it anyway. "Do I ever need a reason to bring up surfing?"

"Alex," Cykirit says, and sure enough, Alex can tell he's not buying it.

"It's just - now that we're here, it feels so long term."

Cykirit snorts lightly. "And joining the military wasn't long term?"

"You know what I mean. Our assignments haven't been like this, this... this is a place to live, a steady job, neighbors and a city. And it isn't Hawaii."

Cykirit's quiet for a moment. "Having second thoughts?"

"Are you?" Alex asks.

Cykirit shakes his head. "No. This was the right choice for us, Alex. Do you really think we could not be a part of trying to settle the wild lands? I've never known you to back down from a wave just because it's bigger than anything else we've come across."

Alex opens his mouth to say this is nothing like surfing, then reconsiders. Cykirit's right. "Well, when you put it like that..."

"When you put it like that, I'm right," Cykirit says smugly. "Now stop moping and let's go check out the lake."


Dragon
Name: Cykirit Manuwai
Age: 16
Breed: Andean Sut'ijankas
Size: On the larger end of average for his breed
Description: It's obvious just by looking at Cykirit that he's a dragon meant to be in the water. He's a gorgeous, deep blue, with scales that gleam turquoise when hit by the sun just right. He's on the larger side for his breed, and when he walks on land he can sometimes look a little bit like he's lumbering - but in the water or in the air, there's no match for his gracefulness. His talons are sharp and wicked, but they're also dexterous, especially the front ones. Perfect for snatching fish out of the water and holding on to them - or for use in battle.
Personality:Cykirit is mischievous, fun loving, and has a wicked sense of adventure. From the moment he hatched, he's known that he and his partner were meant for bigger and better things than sticking around Hawaii and fishing for a living. He has an ambitious streak that's completely absent in his partner - and he knows exactly how to use it to encourage his partner to get off his ass and do things. Sometimes, of course, he can get a little too ambitious, and there's where his partner's easy going attitude and zen approach to things balances him out.

To most, he comes off as flippant and uncaring, always making light of things and never missing an opportunity to bicker with someone, just to get a reaction from them. In this, he's just as level-headed as his partner - he's slow to anger and doesn't have much of a temper, no matter how irritating he can be. Where his partner doesn't seem to be aware of his occasional irritating affect on others, though, Cykirit sometimes delights in it. There's nothing more fun than someone getting worked up and pissed off at you while you stay calm and unaffected, enjoying their irritation.

Despite this, Cykirit is fiercely loyal and protective of what he considers his. The most important, obviously, is his partner, and by extension, the people that his partner considers important to him. Cykirit may not always agree with his partner's choice in friends or comrades, but he'll still fight to the death to protect them. When it comes to his friends, Cykirit is more open, more willing to actually talk about the difficult stuff like emotions, and isn't afraid to show that he actually does care about them.
Partnered: At hatching! Alex smelled of sun and the sea, and the second that Cykirit saw his surfboard and realized that Alex chased the waves instead of running from them or working around them, he knew they'd be the perfect partners.
Position: Military police - guarding and patrolling