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![[Bio] Shui-Nihl Empty](https://2img.net/i/empty.gif)
[Bio] Shui-Nihl
Tue Oct 18, 2022 7:36 pmShui-Nihl
"Kuchisabishii"
"Kuchisabishii"
Basic Character Information
Name:
Shui-Nihl ('shoo-ee nil')
Epithet:
Kuchisabishii 'Lonely Mouth'
Birthdate:
April 27, 1811
Gender:
Female
Species/Race/Tribe:
Fishwoman
{Dragonfish x Great White Shark- Photostomias atrox x Carcharodon carcharias}
Faction:
Pirate
Professions:
- Scavenger:
Shui has spent her life deep in the recesses of oceanic abyss, where life's motto is 'eat or be eaten'. Food in the emptiness can become scarce in an instant, and as such she has a base instinct to scavenge and consume whatever meat is available whenever possible. This is fueled by an indiscriminately carnivorous appetite and a haphazard lack of respect for the property of others.
- Huntress:
When Shui sets her sight on prey, she follows through. Though on land her ability to track is impeded, she has a nose that can pick up the scent of significant amounts of blood from miles away. Usually, she prefers an easy meal to a struggle but will take on even creatures vastly larger than her to try to snag a bite if the meat is enticing or exciting enough. Her methods often involve very little planning, instead using force and monstrous brutality to bring down a kill. Anything smaller than her she generally considers potential food.
- Navigator:
Because of the years-long ramblings of a boy obsessed with Navigation, Shui maintains a vast amount of tidal and astronomical knowledge previously passed down through generations of nomads. These skills work significantly better when accessing an ocean or ocean-fed body of water, and as such she has an easier time getting turned around the further inland she is, as well as when the view of the night sky is not readily available. She also has a knack for interpreting maps, despite not being literate.
Physical Appearance
Height:
13’8” (~4.16m)
Weight:
750 lb (~340kg)
Hair Style:
Long, messy, and wavy with bangs that fall just past her eyes, tending to fall into three distinct chunks.
Hair Color:
Dark Purple, nearly black.
Eye Color:
- In Light:
![[Bio] Shui-Nihl Lighte10](https://i.servimg.com/u/f53/20/45/79/39/lighte10.jpg)
The black opalescent protective lens of a dark transparent nictitating membrane covers the entire eye, reflecting light and shading her light-sensitive vision from the conditions out of the abyssal zones of the seas. Shimmering speckles that glean from blue-green to violet cover the outside, forming an optical illusion that often gives the appearance of the eyes being transparent marble-like spheres full of glittering points of reflected light.
![[Bio] Shui-Nihl Lighte10](https://servimg.com/r/5320457939/lighte10.jpg)
- In Darkness:
![[Bio] Shui-Nihl Darkey10](https://i.servimg.com/u/f53/20/45/79/39/darkey10.jpg)
On rare occasions when it is dark enough, Shui’s uncovered eyes are a set of often almost razor-thin pupils swimming in deep green, yet often obviously irritated irises. Aside from the recesses of the abyssal zone where little-to-no light remains, her eyes stay heavily contracted and even then are often simply shielded by protective nictitating membranes.
![[Bio] Shui-Nihl Darkey10](https://servimg.com/r/5320457939/darkey10.jpg)
Scars:
Jagged slashed scars and bite marks of various sizes litter Shui-Nihl’s body. Notably, there also seems to be quite a bit of scarring around her throat, luckily above her gills.
Clothing and Accessories:
Shui’s most prominent article of clothing appears to have at one time been a custom-fit wedding dress, though it has quickly become severely worn and torn.
The top of the bodice is in a style that resembles clamshells, a design typically popular with young mermaid brides. The bodice is corseted in the front. The skirt of the dress is torn in many places, presumably to allow for easier movement. What looks like a human skull sits at her hip, a tattered piece of fabric threaded through the eye sockets in a sort of hip belt.
Shui refuses to wear shoes, and when given the chance tightens her corset as much as she can as it reminds her of the crushing pressures of the deep sea.
Description:
- Physical Features:
Face:
If it wasn’t so alien, Shui’s face might be cute. Her cheeks are round, dimpled, pronounced, and topped with two pink oval-shaped markings that often emit a small amount of light. Her eyes are large-set, and her nose is relatively small. Her lashes are dark and long both above and below her eyes. Waiting below, three sets of sharp, pronounced teeth jut from her mouth, with countless other jagged teeth waiting behind a set of dark iridescent lips. The corners of her mouth are set abnormally far back along her jaw and seem to be constantly pulled taught into a smile.
Those burdened by the sight of Shui’s open maw are met with a terrifying mix of rows of irregularly sized and placed teeth, as well as stark void-like darkness. The entirety of Shui’s mouth and tongue are pigmented in a dark black that reflects almost no light. The very tip of her pointed tongue seems to glow.
Body:
Shui's stature and uncanny features make her a nightmare to behold in the eyes of many, practically making a mockery of the young woman’s voluptuous curves and enticingly feminine features. The surface of her skin is almost periwinkle and has both simple freckling and light-catching flecks. It often seems to brighten or darken depending on her level of aggression.
- Fishwoman Anatomy:
Fins:
Two long, thin fins sprout from Shui’s ears. Two bulkier cartilaginous dorsal fins sit along her spine just between her shoulders, and at her lower back. Her fingers and toes are also webbed.
Skin:
Much like a shark, Shui’s skin is covered in tiny dermal denticles which when touched one way feel smooth and silky to the point of seeming slimy as they lay flat against her, but when touched another direction catch roughly like sandpaper, enough to leave scrapes/abrasions or ‘Shark Burns’.
Jaws:![[Bio] Shui-Nihl Jaw-ex10](https://i.servimg.com/u/f53/20/45/79/39/jaw-ex10.png)
Shui’s jaw structure is a nightmarishly efficient melding of muscle, bone, and cartilage. Her skull is formed in three parts, with her upper and lower jaw seated beneath the rest of her skull. Because of this and the network of strong muscles between them, Shui’s jaws can come apart and extend outward, allowing her to take on large prey in a single bite.
Spine:
The section of spine right below Shui’s skull is a flexible, unossified length of thick cartilage. The muscles from her jaw extend down into this area and have been strengthened by years of carrying a heavy chain around her neck. She has a bizarre amount of range of motion in her neck, allowing for an even more extensive bite.
Stomach:
Shui can turn her stomach inside out to easily empty her stomach contents. Her stomach also has a very large capacity and digests organic materials including bone very quickly. She also has a sensitivity to plant proteins, and large amounts of vegetable or plant matter make her sick.
Shui’s hunger is fueled by an extremely efficient metabolism. Her body digests things extremely quickly, and Shui’s active behavior puts the energy into quick work, fueling a vicious cycle of feast and famine.
- Body Language And Speech:
With her curious anatomy and inexperience on land Shui often appears unnaturally poised and carries herself with motions many consider uncanny or disturbing to witness. She often cocks her head to one side, with abnormal flexibility allowing the side of her head to lay flat against her shoulder or even hang past that point.
When something catches her attention, Shui’s large eyes, unwavering smile, and tilted head almost give her a love-struck look. This most often occurs when meat or prey are in view.
She tosses back her head wildly when laughing, even the most innocuously-caused giggle fit revealing the denticulate beartrap of the girl’s open mouth. She can be seen switching from either being completely unable to keep still to eerily frozen with a predatory focus. Because the membranes covering her eyes keep them aqueous, she rarely blinks unless met with particularly bright light.
Because of her prominent fangs, Shui struggles with speech and has a prominent lisp. She speaks slowly and bluntly, not wasting words or energy trying to make sure others understand her. Her voice is high in pitch and comes off as upbeat and cheery or ditzy even with Shui’s tendency to speak on morbid or pointed topics.
![[Bio] Shui-Nihl Jaw-ex10](https://servimg.com/r/5320457939/jaw-ex10.png)
The Past
Main Traits:
Voracious, Instinctual, Blunt, Cheerful, Territorial, Macabre, Assertive, Compulsive, Impatient, Blood-Thirsty, Eerie, Primal
Likes:
Food, Meat, Hunting, Darkness, Stars, Blood, The Moon, Whales, Legends, Stories about Monsters, Violence, Shiny Things, Thrashing/Struggling
Dislikes:
Weaklings, Tiny Portions, Wasted Food, Picky Eaters, Bright Light, Waiting Around, Fire, Gravity, Children
Unique laugh:
“Nyek-nyek-nyek!” (Sounds like “Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk!” underwater)
Hometown:
Osedax
Shui-Nihl spent most of her young life just outside of a deep-sea nomadic group of fishmen that base their lives around the rich resources of large carcasses that settle at the bottom of the seafloors, sometimes referred to as Whale-Falls. These groups refer to themselves as ‘Fallowers’. This wealth of food can last years and even generations as the scent of the easy feast draws in marine life from all around. Once food becomes scarce, the Nomads pick up everything and move on to the next giant deceased sea creature. Due to the vast expanses of emptiness in the abyssal parts of the seas and the nomadic tendencies of Fallowers, they go fairly unknown by the surface world. They maintain very little contact with things above the sea’s floors, with scouting parties going out of their way to avoid ships and any signs of humans.
Personality:
Shui’s personality is often jarringly erratic and nearly impossible to gain a clear understanding of, she seems to pass judgment on others with no hesitation and as such interacts with the world according to where she sees them on her food chain.
These evaluations are not set in stone, but it is clear that she is not easily impressed by things smaller than her.
- ”Towards ‘Weak’ Things”:
Shui assumes most things smaller than her are weaker, and her ‘Might makes right’ ideology is clear in the way she interacts with things she considers vulnerable. While she is not immediately drawn to be violent towards ‘weaklings’ the idea that they could end up a quick snack always seems on the table and she sees no loss in hurting or killing those too weak to defend themselves if they get in her way.
Aside from conflict or hunger, Shui tends to regard weak things very passively or even ignores them completely as she considers them uninteresting. She enjoys intimidating others, reacting with delight to elevated heart rates or signs of fear.
- ”Towards ‘Strong’ Things”:
Shui has an awe-like respect for things bigger or stronger than her. Strangely, displays of strength or power are often the cause of much mouth-watering and frenzied excitement from the girl. She often believes feats others tell her without hesitation, but then becomes ravenous for proof of this power.
Because of her lack of respect for personal space, body language, and mellifluous lisping, these enthusiastic outbursts seem almost infatuated or flirtatious, though it usually becomes very clear that the object of attention becomes more appetizing the stronger they are. This seems doubly so for the smaller persons, as the temptation to take a bite is even harder for the girl to resist.
She enjoys fighting but quickly becomes distracted if the prey does not put up enough of a struggle.
- ”Towards ‘Confusing’ Things”:
Shui has a very limited scope of understanding of the world around her. Most things found commonly on land are a mystery to her, as she had lived most of her life away from outside influence.
Though her tendencies to explore the world teeth-first persist, new things that pique her interest may be spared from immediate ingestion. Unfortunately, the girl seems easily confused by complex concepts and personal matters. She often disengages from things when they become perplexing, and often appears almost childishly grumpy when this isn’t an option.
If the confusion persists her frustration can escalate to violent degrees in moments. This is true when faced with confusion about her own emotions as well, and when hit with particularly strong feelings she’s struck with intense hunger pangs.
- ”Towards Life”:
Shui has an intimate understanding of death as a function of life. She does not feel inherent loss from death and often makes oddly buoyant macabre comments. Her lack of connection to most other living things means she often views the world with jubilant morbidity and enjoys poking fun at the suffering of others. She does not plan for the future, living each day fully immersed in the thralls of her voracious appetite and flippant attention span.
She has very little understanding of the world outside of the Abyss but enjoys the abundance of new prey the surface offers. Obviously no social butterfly, Shui does find herself drawn to both noise and speaking, holding a peculiar captivation when it comes to music or story telling. Like her hunger, this interest is indiscriminate, and she does not seem to have a concept of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ sounding things, though she does have favorites.
- ”Food and Satiation”:
Food is almost always at the forefront of Shui’s mind. She obviously enjoys eating and is easily distracted by the smell of fresh blood or meat. She associates positive things or sensations with hunting, food, or killing, as they are the things she understands best.
Things she deems as ‘prey’ are not treated with hatred, but the fundamental idea is that the best purpose the weak can serve is to feed others. Cooks and chefs seem to be an outlier in this outlook so long as they are serving food. Though she happily eats raw or rotten meat, Shui obviously enjoys hot food even when cooked badly.
After a giant meal Shui becomes surprisingly pleasant and level-headed, even going so far as to be affectionate if she’s eaten massive-enough portions. These moments of lucidity don’t last and are often followed by long periods of sleep, but those who receive them positively tend to have a higher chance of being considered personally important to Shui, as they are correlated with one of the apexes of happiness in her life. She associates these people with eating in a completely different way, often giving them nicknames based on her favorite foods or foods she has eaten with them.
History
- Infancy and Childhood:
- The Hand Which Feeds:
In the Spring of 1810, a fishman, Percy, met a mermaid, Ceto, while running a business harvesting and selling pearls. It was love at first sight. They became inseparable, and a short time after the two eloped, Ceto became pregnant. The two were overjoyed and determined to welcome their child into the world somewhere quiet and secluded when the time came. As time passed it became obvious the child was going to be large, strong, and healthy. Strangely, the pregnancy seemed to last much longer than usual, but when the two were sure the time had come they packed up. The couple set sail into calm waters on a small houseboat to prepare, found someplace scenic to dock, and were never heard from again.
Their boat was later discovered smeared in blood a few weeks after they had docked.
There were no signs of the young couple.
With no more parents to care for her and all the supplies on the boat consumed, this abnormally developed fishgirl fled to the motherly embrace of the sea. Her sensitive eyes were more at home in the low light of deeper water, and as she sought out darker and darker spaces she soon found herself happily at home in the profound emptiness of the abyss.
This benthic playground allowed her first explorations into hunting and with nothing but survival and hunger on her young mind she devastated miles of seafloor in the pursuit of prey; a natural born huntress from birth.
Daughter of the Deep:
In May of 1815 a scouting party from Osedax searching for newly fallen creatures to settle around struck gold. A freshly fallen colossal eel would be enough to tide things over for a little for at least a few weeks until something bigger met its end and descended into the abyss. The trio of Fallower (See ‘Hometown’) fishwomen, headed by long-time Matriarch Fuhai camped a ways from the giant corpse to rest and recover before bringing news back to the rest of the caravan. When they awoke, to their horror, the enormous creature had been stripped to the bone. Beside it, an enormous squid and several large sharks lay in a pile. Jagged and random bites had been taken out of each one. Perched at the very top was a large but young girl, stuffed to the gills and happily snoozing away.
When woken, the monstrous girl seemed happy but completely unable to speak or understand them. She was dressed in rags torn from clothing too large for her and was covered head-to-toe in wounds and old scars. Unwilling or unable to believe that a child could be the sole cause of such a huge amount of food going missing overnight, Fuhai decided to take the girl back home with them and raise her, believing that a child surviving out on her own at these depths would be strong enough to benefit the small caravan in their pursuit of a new death to settle and protect from large scavengers.
The trio returned with the dozing girl, and arrangements were made for her to be raised by the Matriarch and taught to read and speak like any other young child raised in Osedax.
Atrocious Girl:
When the child first came to Osedax, she slept for nearly a week straight. Aside from moments of dazed lucidity, she was completely unable to be woken. Each time Fallowers came to check on the girl they were astounded to find the girl had grown, nearly doubling in size daily.
As days passed rumors that the child had some sort of terrible disease or affliction spread amongst the caravan. On the sixth day of the girl’s time in Osedax, she went missing from the bed allocated to her. The nomads began searching their shipwreck-reclaimed caravans and the surrounding area, frantically trying to find the young child.
After following a horrifying trail of half-eaten sea life they found the girl perched atop a colossal dead Oni’s Horn Squid, happily gorging herself on the poor creature’s clutch of eggs. She refused to leave the feast until she was fully finished, going so far as to bite the hand off of one Fallower who had apparently had enough of the stubborn child and tried to move her by force.
When she finished, much like when she had first been discovered, the young glutton fell into a deep sleep.
Anchored:
With growing concern about the strange girl who had been thrust into their lives, all of Osedax’s progress towards moving had come to a complete halt as the caravan members fought about what to do with the monstrous child. With few children being born into the group in recent history and only a small fighting force within their numbers, many felt stuck between a rock and a hard place.
The child was a threat. If left to her own devices, they feared any resources the group attained would be wiped out near-instantly. With no means of communicating with her, many felt that the safest thing would be to send her back out on her own. However, the realization that she may simply come back and ransack or worse things quickly turned them to consider more permanent solutions.
Fuhai, wizened by her many years, saw an opportunity to enact a plan she considered more of a benefit to Osedax. As the orphan slept, the Matriarch had a large, heavy metal collar with several rows of simple bells fitted around her throat. With no clear sign of how long they’d be free of the girl’s waking hunger, scouting parties picked up and frantically searched for a place to settle. With luck and a few days of grueling travel with their new addition in tow, Osedax made its temporary home around the large corpse of a Firefly Whale.
A large nearby shipwreck provided a gift from above to the worried nomads in the form of a massive anchor. The giant hunk of metal dwarfed the large child several times over, and the Fallowers quickly worked to attach the heavy chain to the child’s collar, leaving enough tether for both the fallen whale and the rest of the caravan to be just out of the monster’s reach.
Osedax had been especially lucky with their timing. Just hours after the girl had been moved to the makeshift shelter of the shipwreck, a chilling noise rang through the normally quiet depths.
Screeching, shrieking, and wailing erupted from the wreck of the ship. Before they could get close enough to try to find out what had happened, chunks of hull snapped from the ribs of the ship and were flung through the darkness. Terrified of what they had welcomed into their home, the nomads watched and listened on in horror. The sound of massive chain links clanging together continued for hours as the girl fought the restraint.
Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the tantrum ceased and an eerie silence fell over Osedax.
Strange Symbiosis:
Most of the Fallowers in Osedax refused to get close to the wreck or anywhere near the range of the chain, ignoring the looming presence surely hiding somewhere within. After a full day with no signs of the girl, however, Fuhai couldn’t keep away.
Worried that the girl had been grievously injured or somehow escaped, she made a plan and encroached upon the line in the sand they had drawn.
Though she was sure she’d be attacked the moment she entered her range, Fuhai found no sign of notice as she approached the wrecked vessel. She had to follow the chain and a trail of cleaned bones to locate the child. Though the arrangements she had been provided were almost completely destroyed, the orphan lay asleep on top of the pile of debris, bones, and half-finished meals.
When the girl awoke, Fuhai was surprised to see that the young glutton didn’t seem dazed from food as she had before. The orphan suddenly sat up as she saw the woman, large predatory eyes locked on to her in silence.
Speaking to the girl was met with absolute disregard. She didn’t move, didn’t blink, and didn’t acknowledge a single word. Instead, midway through a soothingly-spoken sentence, the girl darted off in a flash, leaving a trail of chain behind her. She quickly returned with a scavenging shark double her size, dragging the meal back to the den with her cheerfully.
Thrilled to see her plan in action, Fuhai concluded that this girl would make an excellent guard for the resources that were the lifeblood of the caravan and withdrew. She returned every few days to assure the child was still in good health and still tethered.
Like this, Osedax developed an apprehensive mutualism with the orphan.
- Adolescence:
Remora:
With few children in the caravan, it was relatively easy for Osedax’s parents to scare off most curiosity about the orphan. Tales of Kuchisabishii, a ‘Lonely Mouth’ monster who appeared like a little girl to try to lure in those who misbehaved, became frequent cautionary tales and grew more and more far-fetched with each retelling.
Still, unbeknownst to his parents, a shy boy named Emery snuck out to the shipwreck den of the terrible creature following a dare from his friends. Terrified, the boy attempted to take a bone from the lair of the beast to prove his peer-pressured feats. He was met with horrifying gnashing jaws, but at the last moment, the monster froze mere inches from the young boy.
Despite her vicious tendencies, Kuchisabishii allowed the other child into her home, silently observing him as he tried to communicate. Emery took to this strange friend much like many children took to imaginary friends, and began making regular disappearances to visit her without telling anyone.
He didn’t seem to mind the silent inexpressive friend, spending the time trying to teach her simple words, going on at length about the stars, his passion for navigation and even retelling the wild Kuchisabishii stories used to caution people against her. She became someone he could tell his worst secrets to without worrying about backlash, her inexpressive gaze unburdened by signs of judgment.
The monster came to treasure these moments in a strange way, and as years passed she slowly learned to understand what her diligent companion was saying. She was fascinated by the things people said she was capable of, and of any other stories of monsters.
On one occasion, the young girl tried to communicate back.
“Shui. Nihl.”
The speech was a garbled mimicry of a voice, and the boy fell into a fit of laughter at the sight and sound of the attempt.
Kuchisabishii refused to speak again after that, but young Emery decided that must be the girl’s name, and the Lonely-Mouthed girl was given a name of her own making.
“Shui.”
Fuhai’s Plot:
As years went by Emery took caution to hide his visits, but the frequency of his disappearances did not go wholly unnoticed. Fuhai heard rumors of the strange behavior. She knew the orphan was growing stronger every day from her visits, and fearing that the tethered guard may be trying to endear him to her to get free, she hatched another plan.
She made it clear the young man had to go along with things for the safety of his family and home. He would continue his visits, cater to the girl, and bond with her. If he could teach her to be civil and she showed restraint, the smitten boy was promised Kuchisabishii would one day be his bride and be truly welcomed into the caravan with open arms.
Emery, thinking this to be a plan with no real downside, agreed. He redoubled his efforts to try to get Shui-Nihl to speak, spending even more time with her and even bringing food from the caravans for her.
Shui’s behavior made no change. She happily ate what was provided, listened to stories, and hunted would-be scavengers. Day in, and day out. Fearing punishment for this lack of improvement, Emery went on at length to Fallowers about the kind, silent, misunderstood girl he had built her in his mind to be, and explained away her behavior as a simple case of shyness. He mentioned nothing of the plan or his growing feelings for Shui, worrying that they would go unrequited.
- Recent History:
Broken Bonds:
After years of lying to his friends and family as well as the monstrous unspeaking girl in the wreck, Emery had simply been enjoying the attention and the daydreams of what could be waiting for him in the future. In reality, he knew just as little about Shui as he did when they had met.
Wrapped up in the projected image of a man who would bond the tireless guard to the Nomads and
Ensure the continued protection and safety from the deep hunger she held, he watched as the culmination of his web of lies rapidly approached.
And on the day of the wedding, everything was set to come crashing down….
Gray
[tracker=/t131-tracker-gray-starks#504]
Name : Gray
Epithet : "The Conqueror"; "Black Fist"
Age : 49
Height : 10'2" (310 cm)
Weight : 1043 lbs (473 kg)
Species : Cyborg Human
Faction : Pirate
World Position : Lurking Legend (Former Yonkou)
Crew : Black Fist Pirates (Destroyed)
Ship : Sangria's Vane (Destroyed)
Crew Role : Captain (Former)
Devil Fruit : Pressure-Pressure Fruit
Bounty : [ber=r] 5,000,000,000
EXP Bonus : +0.20 (to all allies)
Income Bonus : +0.20
Shop Discount : -30%
Balance : [bel] 25,000,000,000
[[strollingdeath]][[baneoftheweak]][[riseandshine]][[childofdestiny]][[freakofnature]]
[[punchoutguru]][[dulcetvirtuoso]]
[[improviseadaptovercome]]
Posts : 3907
Re: [Bio] Shui-Nihl
Tue Oct 25, 2022 1:06 pmMan, clicking that "Recent History" spoiler invoked the exact same feeling I get when I'm watching the latest episode of an excellent show, and I think there is still a good chunk of the episode left only to realize that the episode is pretty much over (much to my disappointment). What a cliffhanger. I'm looking forward to the continuation of that story.
Approved!
Approved!
Shui-Nihl wrote:Shui-Nihl
"Kuchisabishii"Basic Character Information
Name:
Shui-Nihl ('shoo-ee nil')
Epithet:
Kuchisabishii 'Lonely Mouth'
Birthdate:
April 27, 1811
Gender:
Female
Species/Race/Tribe:
Fishwoman
{Dragonfish x Great White Shark- Photostomias atrox x Carcharodon carcharias}
Faction:
Pirate
Professions:
- Scavenger:
Shui has spent her life deep in the recesses of oceanic abyss, where life's motto is 'eat or be eaten'. Food in the emptiness can become scarce in an instant, and as such she has a base instinct to scavenge and consume whatever meat is available whenever possible. This is fueled by an indiscriminately carnivorous appetite and a haphazard lack of respect for the property of others.
- Huntress:
When Shui sets her sight on prey, she follows through. Though on land her ability to track is impeded, she has a nose that can pick up the scent of significant amounts of blood from miles away. Usually, she prefers an easy meal to a struggle but will take on even creatures vastly larger than her to try to snag a bite if the meat is enticing or exciting enough. Her methods often involve very little planning, instead using force and monstrous brutality to bring down a kill. Anything smaller than her she generally considers potential food.
- Navigator:
Because of the years-long ramblings of a boy obsessed with Navigation, Shui maintains a vast amount of tidal and astronomical knowledge previously passed down through generations of nomads. These skills work significantly better when accessing an ocean or ocean-fed body of water, and as such she has an easier time getting turned around the further inland she is, as well as when the view of the night sky is not readily available. She also has a knack for interpreting maps, despite not being literate.Physical Appearance
Height:
13’8” (~4.16m)
Weight:
750 lb (~340kg)
Hair Style:
Long, messy, and wavy with bangs that fall just past her eyes, tending to fall into three distinct chunks.
Hair Color:
Dark Purple, nearly black.
Eye Color:
- In Light:
The black opalescent protective lens of a dark transparent nictitating membrane covers the entire eye, reflecting light and shading her light-sensitive vision from the conditions out of the abyssal zones of the seas. Shimmering speckles that glean from blue-green to violet cover the outside, forming an optical illusion that often gives the appearance of the eyes being transparent marble-like spheres full of glittering points of reflected light.
- In Darkness:
On rare occasions when it is dark enough, Shui’s uncovered eyes are a set of often almost razor-thin pupils swimming in deep green, yet often obviously irritated irises. Aside from the recesses of the abyssal zone where little-to-no light remains, her eyes stay heavily contracted and even then are often simply shielded by protective nictitating membranes.
Scars:
Jagged slashed scars and bite marks of various sizes litter Shui-Nihl’s body. Notably, there also seems to be quite a bit of scarring around her throat, luckily above her gills.
Clothing and Accessories:
Shui’s most prominent article of clothing appears to have at one time been a custom-fit wedding dress, though it has quickly become severely worn and torn.
The top of the bodice is in a style that resembles clamshells, a design typically popular with young mermaid brides. The bodice is corseted in the front. The skirt of the dress is torn in many places, presumably to allow for easier movement. What looks like a human skull sits at her hip, a tattered piece of fabric threaded through the eye sockets in a sort of hip belt.
Shui refuses to wear shoes, and when given the chance tightens her corset as much as she can as it reminds her of the crushing pressures of the deep sea.
Description:
- Physical Features:
Face:
If it wasn’t so alien, Shui’s face might be cute. Her cheeks are round, dimpled, pronounced, and topped with two pink oval-shaped markings that often emit a small amount of light. Her eyes are large-set, and her nose is relatively small. Her lashes are dark and long both above and below her eyes. Waiting below, three sets of sharp, pronounced teeth jut from her mouth, with countless other jagged teeth waiting behind a set of dark iridescent lips. The corners of her mouth are set abnormally far back along her jaw and seem to be constantly pulled taught into a smile.
Those burdened by the sight of Shui’s open maw are met with a terrifying mix of rows of irregularly sized and placed teeth, as well as stark void-like darkness. The entirety of Shui’s mouth and tongue are pigmented in a dark black that reflects almost no light. The very tip of her pointed tongue seems to glow.
Body:
Shui's stature and uncanny features make her a nightmare to behold in the eyes of many, practically making a mockery of the young woman’s voluptuous curves and enticingly feminine features. The surface of her skin is almost periwinkle and has both simple freckling and light-catching flecks. It often seems to brighten or darken depending on her level of aggression.
- Fishwoman Anatomy:
Fins:
Two long, thin fins sprout from Shui’s ears. Two bulkier cartilaginous dorsal fins sit along her spine just between her shoulders, and at her lower back. Her fingers and toes are also webbed.
Skin:
Much like a shark, Shui’s skin is covered in tiny dermal denticles which when touched one way feel smooth and silky to the point of seeming slimy as they lay flat against her, but when touched another direction catch roughly like sandpaper, enough to leave scrapes/abrasions or ‘Shark Burns’.
Jaws:
Shui’s jaw structure is a nightmarishly efficient melding of muscle, bone, and cartilage. Her skull is formed in three parts, with her upper and lower jaw seated beneath the rest of her skull. Because of this and the network of strong muscles between them, Shui’s jaws can come apart and extend outward, allowing her to take on large prey in a single bite.
Spine:
The section of spine right below Shui’s skull is a flexible, unossified length of thick cartilage. The muscles from her jaw extend down into this area and have been strengthened by years of carrying a heavy chain around her neck. She has a bizarre amount of range of motion in her neck, allowing for an even more extensive bite.
Stomach:
Shui can turn her stomach inside out to easily empty her stomach contents. Her stomach also has a very large capacity and digests organic materials including bone very quickly. She also has a sensitivity to plant proteins, and large amounts of vegetable or plant matter make her sick.
Shui’s hunger is fueled by an extremely efficient metabolism. Her body digests things extremely quickly, and Shui’s active behavior puts the energy into quick work, fueling a vicious cycle of feast and famine.
- Body Language And Speech:
With her curious anatomy and inexperience on land Shui often appears unnaturally poised and carries herself with motions many consider uncanny or disturbing to witness. She often cocks her head to one side, with abnormal flexibility allowing the side of her head to lay flat against her shoulder or even hang past that point.
When something catches her attention, Shui’s large eyes, unwavering smile, and tilted head almost give her a love-struck look. This most often occurs when meat or prey are in view.
She tosses back her head wildly when laughing, even the most innocuously-caused giggle fit revealing the denticulate beartrap of the girl’s open mouth. She can be seen switching from either being completely unable to keep still to eerily frozen with a predatory focus. Because the membranes covering her eyes keep them aqueous, she rarely blinks unless met with particularly bright light.
Because of her prominent fangs, Shui struggles with speech and has a prominent lisp. She speaks slowly and bluntly, not wasting words or energy trying to make sure others understand her. Her voice is high in pitch and comes off as upbeat and cheery or ditzy even with Shui’s tendency to speak on morbid or pointed topics.The Past
Main Traits:
Voracious, Instinctual, Blunt, Cheerful, Territorial, Macabre, Assertive, Compulsive, Impatient, Blood-Thirsty, Eerie, Primal
Likes:
Food, Meat, Hunting, Darkness, Stars, Blood, The Moon, Whales, Legends, Stories about Monsters, Violence, Shiny Things, Thrashing/Struggling
Dislikes:
Weaklings, Tiny Portions, Wasted Food, Picky Eaters, Bright Light, Waiting Around, Fire, Gravity, Children
Unique laugh:
“Nyek-nyek-nyek!” (Sounds like “Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk!” underwater)
Hometown:
Osedax
Shui-Nihl spent most of her young life just outside of a deep-sea nomadic group of fishmen that base their lives around the rich resources of large carcasses that settle at the bottom of the seafloors, sometimes referred to as Whale-Falls. These groups refer to themselves as ‘Fallowers’. This wealth of food can last years and even generations as the scent of the easy feast draws in marine life from all around. Once food becomes scarce, the Nomads pick up everything and move on to the next giant deceased sea creature. Due to the vast expanses of emptiness in the abyssal parts of the seas and the nomadic tendencies of Fallowers, they go fairly unknown by the surface world. They maintain very little contact with things above the sea’s floors, with scouting parties going out of their way to avoid ships and any signs of humans.
Personality:
Shui’s personality is often jarringly erratic and nearly impossible to gain a clear understanding of, she seems to pass judgment on others with no hesitation and as such interacts with the world according to where she sees them on her food chain.
These evaluations are not set in stone, but it is clear that she is not easily impressed by things smaller than her.
- ”Towards ‘Weak’ Things”:
Shui assumes most things smaller than her are weaker, and her ‘Might makes right’ ideology is clear in the way she interacts with things she considers vulnerable. While she is not immediately drawn to be violent towards ‘weaklings’ the idea that they could end up a quick snack always seems on the table and she sees no loss in hurting or killing those too weak to defend themselves if they get in her way.
Aside from conflict or hunger, Shui tends to regard weak things very passively or even ignores them completely as she considers them uninteresting. She enjoys intimidating others, reacting with delight to elevated heart rates or signs of fear.
- ”Towards ‘Strong’ Things”:
Shui has an awe-like respect for things bigger or stronger than her. Strangely, displays of strength or power are often the cause of much mouth-watering and frenzied excitement from the girl. She often believes feats others tell her without hesitation, but then becomes ravenous for proof of this power.
Because of her lack of respect for personal space, body language, and mellifluous lisping, these enthusiastic outbursts seem almost infatuated or flirtatious, though it usually becomes very clear that the object of attention becomes more appetizing the stronger they are. This seems doubly so for the smaller persons, as the temptation to take a bite is even harder for the girl to resist.
She enjoys fighting but quickly becomes distracted if the prey does not put up enough of a struggle.
- ”Towards ‘Confusing’ Things”:
Shui has a very limited scope of understanding of the world around her. Most things found commonly on land are a mystery to her, as she had lived most of her life away from outside influence.
Though her tendencies to explore the world teeth-first persist, new things that pique her interest may be spared from immediate ingestion. Unfortunately, the girl seems easily confused by complex concepts and personal matters. She often disengages from things when they become perplexing, and often appears almost childishly grumpy when this isn’t an option.
If the confusion persists her frustration can escalate to violent degrees in moments. This is true when faced with confusion about her own emotions as well, and when hit with particularly strong feelings she’s struck with intense hunger pangs.
- ”Towards Life”:
Shui has an intimate understanding of death as a function of life. She does not feel inherent loss from death and often makes oddly buoyant macabre comments. Her lack of connection to most other living things means she often views the world with jubilant morbidity and enjoys poking fun at the suffering of others. She does not plan for the future, living each day fully immersed in the thralls of her voracious appetite and flippant attention span.
She has very little understanding of the world outside of the Abyss but enjoys the abundance of new prey the surface offers. Obviously no social butterfly, Shui does find herself drawn to both noise and speaking, holding a peculiar captivation when it comes to music or story telling. Like her hunger, this interest is indiscriminate, and she does not seem to have a concept of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ sounding things, though she does have favorites.
- ”Food and Satiation”:
Food is almost always at the forefront of Shui’s mind. She obviously enjoys eating and is easily distracted by the smell of fresh blood or meat. She associates positive things or sensations with hunting, food, or killing, as they are the things she understands best.
Things she deems as ‘prey’ are not treated with hatred, but the fundamental idea is that the best purpose the weak can serve is to feed others. Cooks and chefs seem to be an outlier in this outlook so long as they are serving food. Though she happily eats raw or rotten meat, Shui obviously enjoys hot food even when cooked badly.
After a giant meal Shui becomes surprisingly pleasant and level-headed, even going so far as to be affectionate if she’s eaten massive-enough portions. These moments of lucidity don’t last and are often followed by long periods of sleep, but those who receive them positively tend to have a higher chance of being considered personally important to Shui, as they are correlated with one of the apexes of happiness in her life. She associates these people with eating in a completely different way, often giving them nicknames based on her favorite foods or foods she has eaten with them.History
- Infancy and Childhood:
In the Spring of 1810, a fishman, Percy, met a mermaid, Ceto, while running a business harvesting and selling pearls. It was love at first sight. They became inseparable, and a short time after the two eloped, Ceto became pregnant. The two were overjoyed and determined to welcome their child into the world somewhere quiet and secluded when the time came. As time passed it became obvious the child was going to be large, strong, and healthy. Strangely, the pregnancy seemed to last much longer than usual, but when the two were sure the time had come they packed up. The couple set sail into calm waters on a small houseboat to prepare, found someplace scenic to dock, and were never heard from again.
Their boat was later discovered smeared in blood a few weeks after they had docked.
There were no signs of the young couple.
With no more parents to care for her and all the supplies on the boat consumed, this abnormally developed fishgirl fled to the motherly embrace of the sea. Her sensitive eyes were more at home in the low light of deeper water, and as she sought out darker and darker spaces she soon found herself happily at home in the profound emptiness of the abyss.
This benthic playground allowed her first explorations into hunting and with nothing but survival and hunger on her young mind she devastated miles of seafloor in the pursuit of prey; a natural born huntress from birth.
Daughter of the Deep:
In May of 1815 a scouting party from Osedax searching for newly fallen creatures to settle around struck gold. A freshly fallen colossal eel would be enough to tide things over for a little for at least a few weeks until something bigger met its end and descended into the abyss. The trio of Fallower (See ‘Hometown’) fishwomen, headed by long-time Matriarch Fuhai camped a ways from the giant corpse to rest and recover before bringing news back to the rest of the caravan. When they awoke, to their horror, the enormous creature had been stripped to the bone. Beside it, an enormous squid and several large sharks lay in a pile. Jagged and random bites had been taken out of each one. Perched at the very top was a large but young girl, stuffed to the gills and happily snoozing away.
When woken, the monstrous girl seemed happy but completely unable to speak or understand them. She was dressed in rags torn from clothing too large for her and was covered head-to-toe in wounds and old scars. Unwilling or unable to believe that a child could be the sole cause of such a huge amount of food going missing overnight, Fuhai decided to take the girl back home with them and raise her, believing that a child surviving out on her own at these depths would be strong enough to benefit the small caravan in their pursuit of a new death to settle and protect from large scavengers.
The trio returned with the dozing girl, and arrangements were made for her to be raised by the Matriarch and taught to read and speak like any other young child raised in Osedax.
Atrocious Girl:
When the child first came to Osedax, she slept for nearly a week straight. Aside from moments of dazed lucidity, she was completely unable to be woken. Each time Fallowers came to check on the girl they were astounded to find the girl had grown, nearly doubling in size daily.
As days passed rumors that the child had some sort of terrible disease or affliction spread amongst the caravan. On the sixth day of the girl’s time in Osedax, she went missing from the bed allocated to her. The nomads began searching their shipwreck-reclaimed caravans and the surrounding area, frantically trying to find the young child.
After following a horrifying trail of half-eaten sea life they found the girl perched atop a colossal dead Oni’s Horn Squid, happily gorging herself on the poor creature’s clutch of eggs. She refused to leave the feast until she was fully finished, going so far as to bite the hand off of one Fallower who had apparently had enough of the stubborn child and tried to move her by force.
When she finished, much like when she had first been discovered, the young glutton fell into a deep sleep.
Anchored:
With growing concern about the strange girl who had been thrust into their lives, all of Osedax’s progress towards moving had come to a complete halt as the caravan members fought about what to do with the monstrous child. With few children being born into the group in recent history and only a small fighting force within their numbers, many felt stuck between a rock and a hard place.
The child was a threat. If left to her own devices, they feared any resources the group attained would be wiped out near-instantly. With no means of communicating with her, many felt that the safest thing would be to send her back out on her own. However, the realization that she may simply come back and ransack or worse things quickly turned them to consider more permanent solutions.
Fuhai, wizened by her many years, saw an opportunity to enact a plan she considered more of a benefit to Osedax. As the orphan slept, the Matriarch had a large, heavy metal collar with several rows of simple bells fitted around her throat. With no clear sign of how long they’d be free of the girl’s waking hunger, scouting parties picked up and frantically searched for a place to settle. With luck and a few days of grueling travel with their new addition in tow, Osedax made its temporary home around the large corpse of a Firefly Whale.
A large nearby shipwreck provided a gift from above to the worried nomads in the form of a massive anchor. The giant hunk of metal dwarfed the large child several times over, and the Fallowers quickly worked to attach the heavy chain to the child’s collar, leaving enough tether for both the fallen whale and the rest of the caravan to be just out of the monster’s reach.
Osedax had been especially lucky with their timing. Just hours after the girl had been moved to the makeshift shelter of the shipwreck, a chilling noise rang through the normally quiet depths.
Screeching, shrieking, and wailing erupted from the wreck of the ship. Before they could get close enough to try to find out what had happened, chunks of hull snapped from the ribs of the ship and were flung through the darkness. Terrified of what they had welcomed into their home, the nomads watched and listened on in horror. The sound of massive chain links clanging together continued for hours as the girl fought the restraint.
Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the tantrum ceased and an eerie silence fell over Osedax.
Strange Symbiosis:
Most of the Fallowers in Osedax refused to get close to the wreck or anywhere near the range of the chain, ignoring the looming presence surely hiding somewhere within. After a full day with no signs of the girl, however, Fuhai couldn’t keep away.
Worried that the girl had been grievously injured or somehow escaped, she made a plan and encroached upon the line in the sand they had drawn.
Though she was sure she’d be attacked the moment she entered her range, Fuhai found no sign of notice as she approached the wrecked vessel. She had to follow the chain and a trail of cleaned bones to locate the child. Though the arrangements she had been provided were almost completely destroyed, the orphan lay asleep on top of the pile of debris, bones, and half-finished meals.
When the girl awoke, Fuhai was surprised to see that the young glutton didn’t seem dazed from food as she had before. The orphan suddenly sat up as she saw the woman, large predatory eyes locked on to her in silence.
Speaking to the girl was met with absolute disregard. She didn’t move, didn’t blink, and didn’t acknowledge a single word. Instead, midway through a soothingly-spoken sentence, the girl darted off in a flash, leaving a trail of chain behind her. She quickly returned with a scavenging shark double her size, dragging the meal back to the den with her cheerfully.
Thrilled to see her plan in action, Fuhai concluded that this girl would make an excellent guard for the resources that were the lifeblood of the caravan and withdrew. She returned every few days to assure the child was still in good health and still tethered.
Like this, Osedax developed an apprehensive mutualism with the orphan.
- Adolescence:
Remora:
With few children in the caravan, it was relatively easy for Osedax’s parents to scare off most curiosity about the orphan. Tales of Kuchisabishii, a ‘Lonely Mouth’ monster who appeared like a little girl to try to lure in those who misbehaved, became frequent cautionary tales and grew more and more far-fetched with each retelling.
Still, unbeknownst to his parents, a shy boy named Emery snuck out to the shipwreck den of the terrible creature following a dare from his friends. Terrified, the boy attempted to take a bone from the lair of the beast to prove his peer-pressured feats. He was met with horrifying gnashing jaws, but at the last moment, the monster froze mere inches from the young boy.
Despite her vicious tendencies, Kuchisabishii allowed the other child into her home, silently observing him as he tried to communicate. Emery took to this strange friend much like many children took to imaginary friends, and began making regular disappearances to visit her without telling anyone.
He didn’t seem to mind the silent inexpressive friend, spending the time trying to teach her simple words, going on at length about the stars, his passion for navigation and even retelling the wild Kuchisabishii stories used to caution people against her. She became someone he could tell his worst secrets to without worrying about backlash, her inexpressive gaze unburdened by signs of judgment.
The monster came to treasure these moments in a strange way, and as years passed she slowly learned to understand what her diligent companion was saying. She was fascinated by the things people said she was capable of, and of any other stories of monsters.
On one occasion, the young girl tried to communicate back.
“Shui. Nihl.”
The speech was a garbled mimicry of a voice, and the boy fell into a fit of laughter at the sight and sound of the attempt.
Kuchisabishii refused to speak again after that, but young Emery decided that must be the girl’s name, and the Lonely-Mouthed girl was given a name of her own making.
“Shui.”
Fuhai’s Plot:
As years went by Emery took caution to hide his visits, but the frequency of his disappearances did not go wholly unnoticed. Fuhai heard rumors of the strange behavior. She knew the orphan was growing stronger every day from her visits, and fearing that the tethered guard may be trying to endear him to her to get free, she hatched another plan.
She made it clear the young man had to go along with things for the safety of his family and home. He would continue his visits, cater to the girl, and bond with her. If he could teach her to be civil and she showed restraint, the smitten boy was promised Kuchisabishii would one day be his bride and be truly welcomed into the caravan with open arms.
Emery, thinking this to be a plan with no real downside, agreed. He redoubled his efforts to try to get Shui-Nihl to speak, spending even more time with her and even bringing food from the caravans for her.
Shui’s behavior made no change. She happily ate what was provided, listened to stories, and hunted would-be scavengers. Day in, and day out. Fearing punishment for this lack of improvement, Emery went on at length to Fallowers about the kind, silent, misunderstood girl he had built her in his mind to be, and explained away her behavior as a simple case of shyness. He mentioned nothing of the plan or his growing feelings for Shui, worrying that they would go unrequited.
- Recent History:
Broken Bonds:
After years of lying to his friends and family as well as the monstrous unspeaking girl in the wreck, Emery had simply been enjoying the attention and the daydreams of what could be waiting for him in the future. In reality, he knew just as little about Shui as he did when they had met.
Wrapped up in the projected image of a man who would bond the tireless guard to the Nomads and
Ensure the continued protection and safety from the deep hunger she held, he watched as the culmination of his web of lies rapidly approached.
And on the day of the wedding, everything was set to come crashing down….
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