FLANNERY BAINBRIDGE, mermaid

merperson

MALE - TWENTY-ONE - BISEXUAL - 18 JULY

» he seems to have asthma, or at least exhibits asthma like symptoms on land. this is largely due to the extreme difference in breathing below and above surface. it is the dry air that irritates his lungs, and in combination with any physical activity above a brisk paced walk he is soon rendered into a coughing, wheezing mess.

» it's not exactly a medical condition, but he as this little issue with sneezing and transformations. to be exact, whenever he sneezes he seems to poof back to his merman form. it's real awkward, alright. it does not work the other way around, he does not magically poof to have a pair of legs if he sneezes in his merman form.

+ ASSERTIVE
+ BRAVE
+ BROTHERLY
+ CONFIDENT
+ CONSIDERATE
+ CLEVER
+ FLIRTY
+ FRIENDLY
+ INTUITIVE
+ INDEPENDENT
+ ORGANIZED
+ RELIABLE
+ TENACIOUS

- ARROGANT
- COMBATIVE
- DEMANDING
- EGO-CENTRIC
- FINICKY
- IMMATURE
- INDULGENT
- OPINIONATED
- PETULANT
- RESENTFUL
- SELFISH
- TEASE
- TEMPERAMENTAL

Susanne and Pascal bainbridge, those are the names of flannery's parents. They were formerly of different communities, and living in vastly different areas, susanne being from a southern 'community' and pascal a northern one. This brought certain issues with their relationship, like where to live and what community they should belong to. Eventually they agreed to meet in the middle, and settled down by the one reef they could agree was 'dead in the middle' between their childhood homes, but unfortunately that meant living isolated from both of their communities, and any other merfolk settlement really. Now these two spent quite some time arguing with each other, they were butting heads at least daily about the most trivial of things, but they still had a successful and... loving relationship. And soon enough they were expecting their first child.

That was when the first real issue came up. Susanne, in her pregnant state, was sensitive towards the temperature and couldn't handle the colder waters of their new home. She got ill, lethargic and depressed, and eventually they had to move further south, but will all intention to move back to the reef once their child was born. It became nothing of that idea. Once Flannery was born Susanne was once again attached to her birth community, and argued that the isolation of their reef home wouldn't be good for the boy, a child needed friends and having to swim for half a day to find anyone wasn't an option and if Pascal didn't accept that he could move back out on his own. He stayed, but spent a significant amount of time moping around and not talking to his girlfriend. Flannery got his petulant behavior mostly from his dad.

Fast-forward a few years to the day a 7 year old Flannery brought home a cuttlefish he named Julius even though it his father insisted it was a female. His parents were less than enthusiastic about their sons choice in pet, but Flannery was stubborn and a most irritating ability to shriek for hours on end (real family issue number two) if he didn't get his will, so the matter was settled and Julius was there to stay... until she died about a year later, leaving behind a number of Julius Jrs that Flannery got equally attached to. He was allowed to keep one of them as a pet, a cycle that has repeated itself all the way up until the proud Julius VIII he swims around with today. That was perhaps the only event of his childhood that would be worth talking about, the rest of it was fairly normal. He played around, argued, got into fights with other children and was, well, a normal merchild with no clue there existed a world above his own aquatic paradise.

Another fast-forward, 8 years forward this time, to when Flan was fifteen. His parents, having become restless and flighty during the recent years, figured he was old enough to take care of himself for a while and decided to leave on a 'pilgrimage' to discover other seas, see new faces and explore. That was the pretense anyway, he figured they were just tired of nosy neighbors and a son about as cooperative as a scale rash. He hasn't seem them since, but that is partially his fault for having sold their old home and immigrated elsewhere in their absence. But hey, they left him behind to fend for himself so the house was fair game. He has spent the last 4 years living in a reef in the depths of the ocean west of Lavendula Island. Coincidentally that is how he came to be aware there was something called humans in existence.

By the time he was fifteen he was vaguely aware there existed something above the surface of the ocean, but had never really cared to explore, and having isolated himself from majority of the mermaid community he never really hung around anyone long enough to gain knowledge of the 'surface world'. Well, not before a strange object, a fishing rod with a large bait weighing it down, came descending down from the surface. He was twenty-one then, same as he is now, and it made him curious. Things hadn't dropped down on his reef before, and he had certainly never seen something as peculiar as a fishing rod. He decided to ascend and see where this odd thing came from, and if there was any more of them threatening to bury his house. What he found was an open ocean and an Island in the far distance. That was Lavendula Islands, and that was the first time he met humans.

Integrating himself with the human society was no easy task. He isn't entirely there yet, he can't say he understands humans, but he likes the food they make (especially the fruit their trees grow), and he enjoys conversing with some of them (the small ones, children). He has come to be something of a reef guide for tourists staying at the Lavendula Resort. In exchange for money he'll show scuba divers to the nicest reefs and the places where exotic fish gathers, and at the same time keep a watchful eye at the divers so they won't get any funny ideas of collecting or eating the fish that lives there. That train of thoughts aside, he finds he doesn't mind humans. They are interesting, the humans, and the above world is different and fascinating to him.

flannery is first and foremost a person who takes some significant getting used to. he is a moody grab bag, and you never really know what you get until it's too late to trade it back in. also, he is an immature prick who, once wronged, remains petulant and resentful for at least a month (unless bribed for forgiveness). his petulance takes shape in the form of pushing people around, not talking to them or continually glaring only to look away once the subject of his anger returns the stare. it's all really petty, and the way he scowl-pouts makes him look like a angry puffer-fish rather than the intimidating shark he want to be.

he does have a surprisingly soft side, towards children anyway. so maybe soft isn't the right word, but he has a certain parental brotherly wave towards children and teenagers.