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Jun. 29th, 2024 10:38 pmPlayer: Octa
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octanes
Age: 21+
Current Characters: none
Character Name: Marco
Character Canon: Animorphs
Canon Point: Post book 47
Age: 16
Crime: War crimes
Background: wiki page
Personality: Cute, charming, charismatic, confident, comedian...are all words Marco would use to describe himself, along with humble and modest and simply too good for this world. In truth, Marco's a bit of a class clown, always eager to lighten the mood with a sarcastic quip or an overdramatic ploy for attention. Whether it's poking fun at others or being the butt of the joke himself, Marco's fine with either; as far as he sees it, you can either laugh or cry at the shit life lands you in, and he'd vastly prefer to laugh. Unfortunately, his sense of humor can sometimes come across as inappropriate or obnoxious or abrasive - he's not exactly great at keeping his mouth shut when he needs to, and his coping mechanism of turning trauma into a joke doesn't work for everyone. Not that he would change anything even knowing how irritating he can be; he's very aware of his role in the group as the person expected to keep things from getting too heavy, and if that means a few of his jokes don't land or that he has to force the same quips out over and over again, so be it. He vastly prefers annoyance over sentiment, or god forbid pity, anyway; there's few things he hates more than having to deal with emotional vulnerablity, and if deflecting with bad jokes is what it takes to avoid talking about his feelings, he will gladly fall on that sword.
Underneath the wisecracking veneer is a deeply cynical and paranoid kid. Even before being conscripted into an unwinnable guerilla war against mind-controlling alien parasites, Marco's life hasn't been easy, and losing his mother early and having to become a caretaker for his grief-stricken father has left him much more of a realist than most other kids his age. He's the only Animorph reluctant to join the fight against the Yeerks at the outset, pointing out that more likely than not, they'd all wind up dead or worse. Whereas the others are caught up in the fantasy of noble heroics and doling out justice, Marco knows full well from the start that war and violence will have far more brutal consequences on their lives. This cynicism and fear causes him to be a lot more cautious than the rest of the Animorphs to the point where it can sometimes come off as selfish or cowardly, as he's usually the one who picks apart the problems in their planning and prefers inaction over risking their lives or identities to help strangers; on the flip side, his rampant paranoia also saves them several times over, as he's the one who's always on the lookout for suspicious behavior. He's also incredibly slow to trust people outside his immediate circle and takes a long while to warm up to newcomers; even outside the whole mind-controlling aliens aspect, he tends to be wary of people's true motivations and rarely takes their word on good faith.
Marco also has a ruthless streak in him about a mile wide, being a big proponent of the philosophy of victory at any cost. As the designated strategist of the Animorphs, he can be remarkably perceptive and cunning. He has the ability to, as he puts it himself, see the bright clear line from motive to means; the downside is that he has to be forcibly reminded more often than not to care about the collateral damage or the moral ramifications along the way. It isn't that he's amoral, but rather that he usually sees first how best to accomplish their goal in the most expedient way possible, and then has to consciously add ethical concerns to the equation after the fact. The clearest example of this is with Marco's own mother, who was involuntarily infested by a high-ranking Yeerk before the start of the series. For all that Marco loves and misses his mother dearly and wants nothing more than to rescue her, he also puts together a plan to kill her with his own hands if it gives them enough of an advantage in the war effort, even though he knows doing so will destroy him. He doesn't necessarily jump to the most brutal solution first and can be easily talked out of going full war crimes, but the willingness to do whatever it takes to ensure victory is always in the back of his head.
That said, for all that Marco can come off as selfish and shallow, he's not cruel or uncaring. He's as loyal as they come to the handful of people who have managed to worm their way into his heart. Marco's pretty much the definition of ride-or-die, and he's died and been dismembered more than once throwing himself into the flame for his friends. This is exemplified the most in his relationship with his best friend Jake who he sticks by unquestioningly through thick and thin, even as the rest of the Animorphs begin fracturing under the strain and trauma of the war. And it's important to note that even though his ethics may be shaky, Marco's heart is in the right place...more or less. He wants to help innocent people, he wants to end the war, he's willing to put his life on the line to save the world. He's just also going to complain the entire time along the way.
Abilities: Marco's main ability is morphing, which allows him to acquire the DNA of any living creature via touch and transform into an exact replica of it. This includes any innate powers or abilities or instincts the other creature has, though he wouldn't be able to acquire abilities that come from a source outside the biological body. There's quite a list of stipulations with this power:
- Marco can only stay in morph for two hours. If he's in morph any longer than two hours, he'll be trapped in whatever form he's morphed into and will not be able to return to his original body or morph anything else.
- He must return to his original human form between morphs; in other words, he wouldn't be able to go from one animal shape to another instantly. He also can't morph back his clothes outside of a tight t-shirt and bike shorts. Shoes are, for some reason, impossible.
- While there's no technical limit on the amount of times he can morph per day, it's an exhausting process similar to a hard sprint so it gets exponentially more difficult to go from morph to morph in quick succession. If he really pushes himself, he can probably go three to four morphs in a row before needing to take a long break, but it certainly won't be easy for him and there's a large chance of something going wrong.
- An intrinsic part of the morphing process is the healing factor. Morphing to a new body erases all injuries and physical alterations, as he's essentially forming a clean slate replica out of the DNA in his system. This applies to his original body as well; in other words, if Marco is wounded as a human, then morphs gorilla, then back to human, both the gorilla shape and his original body will be uninjured. (This also means that he always takes the most unaltered form of whatever creature he acquires: for example, when he acquires a castrated steer, he winds up morphing into an uncastrated bull.)
- A list of morphs Marco has already acquired can be found here. Of particular note is the Hork-Bajir (a bladed alien with superhealing) and the Leeran (a telepathic alien with the ability to read minds).
Inventory: Nothing but his morphing outfit.
Samples: TDM thread and TDM top-level
Contact:
Age: 21+
Current Characters: none
Character Name: Marco
Character Canon: Animorphs
Canon Point: Post book 47
Age: 16
Crime: War crimes
Background: wiki page
Personality: Cute, charming, charismatic, confident, comedian...are all words Marco would use to describe himself, along with humble and modest and simply too good for this world. In truth, Marco's a bit of a class clown, always eager to lighten the mood with a sarcastic quip or an overdramatic ploy for attention. Whether it's poking fun at others or being the butt of the joke himself, Marco's fine with either; as far as he sees it, you can either laugh or cry at the shit life lands you in, and he'd vastly prefer to laugh. Unfortunately, his sense of humor can sometimes come across as inappropriate or obnoxious or abrasive - he's not exactly great at keeping his mouth shut when he needs to, and his coping mechanism of turning trauma into a joke doesn't work for everyone. Not that he would change anything even knowing how irritating he can be; he's very aware of his role in the group as the person expected to keep things from getting too heavy, and if that means a few of his jokes don't land or that he has to force the same quips out over and over again, so be it. He vastly prefers annoyance over sentiment, or god forbid pity, anyway; there's few things he hates more than having to deal with emotional vulnerablity, and if deflecting with bad jokes is what it takes to avoid talking about his feelings, he will gladly fall on that sword.
Underneath the wisecracking veneer is a deeply cynical and paranoid kid. Even before being conscripted into an unwinnable guerilla war against mind-controlling alien parasites, Marco's life hasn't been easy, and losing his mother early and having to become a caretaker for his grief-stricken father has left him much more of a realist than most other kids his age. He's the only Animorph reluctant to join the fight against the Yeerks at the outset, pointing out that more likely than not, they'd all wind up dead or worse. Whereas the others are caught up in the fantasy of noble heroics and doling out justice, Marco knows full well from the start that war and violence will have far more brutal consequences on their lives. This cynicism and fear causes him to be a lot more cautious than the rest of the Animorphs to the point where it can sometimes come off as selfish or cowardly, as he's usually the one who picks apart the problems in their planning and prefers inaction over risking their lives or identities to help strangers; on the flip side, his rampant paranoia also saves them several times over, as he's the one who's always on the lookout for suspicious behavior. He's also incredibly slow to trust people outside his immediate circle and takes a long while to warm up to newcomers; even outside the whole mind-controlling aliens aspect, he tends to be wary of people's true motivations and rarely takes their word on good faith.
Marco also has a ruthless streak in him about a mile wide, being a big proponent of the philosophy of victory at any cost. As the designated strategist of the Animorphs, he can be remarkably perceptive and cunning. He has the ability to, as he puts it himself, see the bright clear line from motive to means; the downside is that he has to be forcibly reminded more often than not to care about the collateral damage or the moral ramifications along the way. It isn't that he's amoral, but rather that he usually sees first how best to accomplish their goal in the most expedient way possible, and then has to consciously add ethical concerns to the equation after the fact. The clearest example of this is with Marco's own mother, who was involuntarily infested by a high-ranking Yeerk before the start of the series. For all that Marco loves and misses his mother dearly and wants nothing more than to rescue her, he also puts together a plan to kill her with his own hands if it gives them enough of an advantage in the war effort, even though he knows doing so will destroy him. He doesn't necessarily jump to the most brutal solution first and can be easily talked out of going full war crimes, but the willingness to do whatever it takes to ensure victory is always in the back of his head.
That said, for all that Marco can come off as selfish and shallow, he's not cruel or uncaring. He's as loyal as they come to the handful of people who have managed to worm their way into his heart. Marco's pretty much the definition of ride-or-die, and he's died and been dismembered more than once throwing himself into the flame for his friends. This is exemplified the most in his relationship with his best friend Jake who he sticks by unquestioningly through thick and thin, even as the rest of the Animorphs begin fracturing under the strain and trauma of the war. And it's important to note that even though his ethics may be shaky, Marco's heart is in the right place...more or less. He wants to help innocent people, he wants to end the war, he's willing to put his life on the line to save the world. He's just also going to complain the entire time along the way.
Abilities: Marco's main ability is morphing, which allows him to acquire the DNA of any living creature via touch and transform into an exact replica of it. This includes any innate powers or abilities or instincts the other creature has, though he wouldn't be able to acquire abilities that come from a source outside the biological body. There's quite a list of stipulations with this power:
- Marco can only stay in morph for two hours. If he's in morph any longer than two hours, he'll be trapped in whatever form he's morphed into and will not be able to return to his original body or morph anything else.
- He must return to his original human form between morphs; in other words, he wouldn't be able to go from one animal shape to another instantly. He also can't morph back his clothes outside of a tight t-shirt and bike shorts. Shoes are, for some reason, impossible.
- While there's no technical limit on the amount of times he can morph per day, it's an exhausting process similar to a hard sprint so it gets exponentially more difficult to go from morph to morph in quick succession. If he really pushes himself, he can probably go three to four morphs in a row before needing to take a long break, but it certainly won't be easy for him and there's a large chance of something going wrong.
- An intrinsic part of the morphing process is the healing factor. Morphing to a new body erases all injuries and physical alterations, as he's essentially forming a clean slate replica out of the DNA in his system. This applies to his original body as well; in other words, if Marco is wounded as a human, then morphs gorilla, then back to human, both the gorilla shape and his original body will be uninjured. (This also means that he always takes the most unaltered form of whatever creature he acquires: for example, when he acquires a castrated steer, he winds up morphing into an uncastrated bull.)
- A list of morphs Marco has already acquired can be found here. Of particular note is the Hork-Bajir (a bladed alien with superhealing) and the Leeran (a telepathic alien with the ability to read minds).
Inventory: Nothing but his morphing outfit.
Samples: TDM thread and TDM top-level
