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 Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 5:47 am
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[Insert song lyrics here!]
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 5:51 am
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Table of Contents
1.1: Introduction
1.2: Table of Contents
1.3: About Kelvin
1.4: A Bit of History
1.5: How He Got There
1.6: Friends, Family, and Foes
1.7: Possessions
1.8: Progress
1.9: Tucuxi
1.10: [Reserved]
1.11: [Reserved]
1.12: [Reserved]
1.13: [Reserved]
1.14: Extra Art
1.15: Credits
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 5:53 am
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Kelvin Tibbits
Name: Kelvin Tibbits
Age: 24
Sex/Gender: Male and masculine.
Occupation: Former U.S. Soldier, rank of Sergeant, discharged on the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy after porn was found on his computer.
Orientation: Homosexual
Physical Description: When people hear the words ‘U.S. soldier’, Kelvin is probably not the first person who leaps to mind. Standing at five foot five, he doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in other soldiers, or fear into the enemy. Actually, the rest of his appearance doesn’t help much either. As much as he tried otherwise in his youth, he will never be one of those muscled types. At least, not without steroids. His hair is best described in terms of something light brown, wavy, and tangled. His skin has been lightly tanned from his duty in Iraq. His most unusual feature is his eye color, a light amber.
All in all, he’s really closer to ‘pretty’ than handsome, although I wouldn’t advise you to say this to his face. If you do, be sure to offer him alcohol afterwards.
Personality: Despite serving in the army---or maybe because of it---Kelvin has a distinct antiauthoritarian streak to him. If someone proves that they are somehow better---more informed on the current situation, stronger, faster, etc--- than he is, then he’ll listen to them. Until then, he does what he considers is best. He’s a bit of a survivalist, a trait that served him well while in Iraq. It was something he picked up as a Boy Scout in his youth. With this independent streak a mile wide and a biting sarcastic wit, it would be easy to dismiss Kelvin as one of those weird loners. It’s not that he dislikes people. It’s just that he thinks they’re all idiots and, thus far, they haven’t really done anything to disprove that. If someone needs his help, he generally will help them in a rather caustic way. If you want to become his best friend forever, give him alcohol. He forgives almost anything if the booze is good enough.
Outwardly, he presents himself as a very confident person. Inwardly, he’s more troubled than he would like. Post traumatic stress disorder hasn’t been kind to him. Crowded areas make him anxious. Confined spaces make him anxious. Standing still for too long makes him anxious. Long story short, there are lots of things that make him slightly uncomfortable. His alcoholism stems from the fact that, in order to sleep at night, he usually just chugs down whatever is available. Sure, he knows that this probably isn’t the healthiest way to handle it, but it works. He tends to see the world in a black-and-white fashion, with no shades of gray in between. If one were to be polite, they would call him arrogant. If one didn't want to be polite, there's a whole list of words just waiting to be applied to Kelvin.
Other: When he was little, one of his step-sisters went through that Celtic phase that so many girls seem to go through. She had everything: the books, the cool Celtic knot jewelry, and, most importantly to Kelvin, a small lever harp with forty-eight strings. While his sister never took much of an interest in it, Kelvin did. As a birthday gift, she gave it to him. Eventually. He actually got pretty damn good at it, although this isn't something he'll freely share with others. He doesn't move the big harp around much, but does tend to carry around a small twenty-five string harp.
He's also red-green colorblind.
For reasons unknown, he hates dolls. They scare him, oddly enough.
Animal: Tucuxi, a type of dolphin. Also called the ‘Gray River Dolphin’.
Likes: Booze! <3 Being in charge. His harp.
Dislikes: Being in confined spaces. Crowds. Not being in charge. The sensation of being surrounded or watched. Not having any booze. People in general.
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 5:56 am
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A Bit of History
History: Going through life with the last name of ‘Tibbits’ has not been easy for Kelvin. Hell, his first name doesn’t make it any easier either, especially when, in middle school, chemistry students learned that ‘Kelvin’ was the name of a unit increment for temperature. When confronted with something like the laughter and derision of other children, kids usually react in one of two ways: either they get really outgoing, go into sports, and basically become too tough to make fun of, or they become clinging wallflowers, hoping to go by unnoticed. Kelvin went for the first one.
It… didn’t go too well, given his light frame. After failed---and dramatic---attempts at joining the local football team, soccer team, field hockey team, and even lacrosse team (yes, he ended up getting hit a lot in those sports), he wisely decided that, perhaps, sports really weren’t his calling anyway. That, and he was discovering that there was something strangely comfortable about being shoved under the weight of another boy. Yeaaah. Needless to say, he went the way of the wallflower a little bit. That was also a bit too boring for him.
Since he couldn’t beat those who made fun of him, he joined them instead, poking more fun at his own name than they could. Since he knew more of his own names than they did, he proved to be better at this.
Aside from having a unique name, his past isn’t that interesting. He was born in San Francisco and lived there all of his life, except for the tours of duty in Iraq. I suppose I should explain how a kid from liberal San Fran ended up in the U.S. army… well, long story short, he was going through that angry teenager phase where he wanted to rebel against his liberal parents. Yeah, it was a stupid way to rebel, but teenagers tend to be kinda stupid. Needless to say, he regretted it later when he realized he actually had to go to war. The details of his discharge are a little unclear and he tends to get very… quiet whenever it comes up, if by ‘quiet’, you mean likely to curse everyone within listening distance. But, hey; at least he picked up some useful survival skills.
As far as family goes, his mother left his father fairly early on in his childhood, soon after the birth of his little sister, Josephine. When Kelvin was eight or nine years old, his father re-married a wonderful woman. Soon enough, he had more family than he could shake a stick at, if he was into that sort of thing. As it turned out, he wasn't into shaking sticks at his family members. At first, he was more in the habit of throwing things at his new step-siblings, who weren't very nice to him either. But, come on. Siblings always have their bad days... or years. They got along eventually, thankfully.
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 5:58 am
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How He Came to the Lagoon
It was a dark and stormy night… ok, so it wasn’t. Here’s the real story:
When he came home from Iraq, his friends and family were thrilled. Who cared that he had been discharged? He was alive! That was a victory in and of itself, wasn’t it? There was much rejoicing all around. But, a month or so after coming home, his parents became more and more anxious about their son’s behavior. While he had never been the shining star of social functions, he was more withdrawn and easily annoyed than ever. Doing a bit of research, they quickly learned about the normal problems that plagued veterans: post-traumatic stress syndrome, soldier’s heart, survivor’s guilt… lacking PhD’s and any sort of authority, they quickly decided that the best thing for their son was to force him into normal life once more. Making him feel accepted would make him more loving, right?
Unfortunately, they were wrong. When Kelvin retreated into his room, it wasn’t because he needed a good cry or wanted to think dark suicidal thoughts; it was simply because he wanted to be alone. Therefore, being forced out into a bunch of strangers was NOT a good idea. The more he fought them, the more they fought back, finding the most obscure parties to bring their son to. This led to much amusement for everyone who was watching and more stress for the family.
Finally, they came to a decision that was reasonably acceptable by everyone in the family: a family vacation, complete with a camping trip, whale-watching, and all sorts of other outdoorsy activities that Kelvin normally loved. Heartened by the idea of being miles away from people in general, Kelvin accepted eagerly.
The whale-watching was a mistake. It really was. At first, they thought the small humpback whale was a baby who had lost his mother. But when it started ramming the boat, things became a bit more serious…
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 5:59 am
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Friends, Family, and Foes
Name Relationship Thoughts
Josephine Sister Alright, I’ll admit it; I’m not a great brother or role model. I’ve been gone for the past few years and, when I finally get back, I end up boozing, being crotchety, and generally being a bad influence. But I’m going to try, alright? I promise, I really will. I will get us out of here, Phine. Don’t worry about it. You just focus on the cooking because we both know I could burn a salad. <3
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 6:02 am
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Possessions
- The clothes he’s wearing. :3
- His harp <3~
- A hunting knife
- A compass
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 6:04 am
[Insert pretty banner here!] Progress ArrivalJosephine: Look at the whale, Kel! Kelvin: ¬ ¬
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 6:06 am
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Tucuxi
 Latin Name: Sotalia fluviatilis
The Tucuxi---too-koo-shi--- that lives in the rivers of the Amazon Basin and coastal waters to the north of South America. Although it lives in the same areas as river dolphins, it is classified as an oceanic species. Despite this, it has been known as the Gray River Dolphin. It’s one of the smallest species of dolphins, in particular the riverine ecotype (150cm) which is smaller than its marine counterpart (up to 210cm) with a weight between 34 and 45 kg (75 - 100lb). In appearance, it is similar to a bottlenose dolphin, although much smaller. It has a hooked dorsal fin and a long beak. The dolphin is coloured light to bluish grey on its back and sides. The ventral region is much lighter, often pinkish in the riverine ecotype and a lighter gray in the marine.
Its conservation status is unknown, due to lack of data.
Behavior: It lives in small tightly-knit groups of about 10 to 15 individuals, and are presumed to have an extremely developed social structure. Far larger groups have been seen, but this is rare. They have been observed to feed with other river dolphins on a wide variety of fish, although they need to eat more than the larger dolphins due to a faster metabolism. Fast and active dolphins, they spyhop, lobtail, flipper-slap, leap vertically and horizontally, and breach. They can also be seen swimming upside-down, trapping fish against the surface of the water (this is how they sometimes scrape their dorsal fins).
Around people, they are rather timid and tend to stay away from boats. Slow tucuxis who can't get out of the way are occasionally harmed or even killed by motor boats.
They do not maintain good health and attitude in captivity. Only a few are captive in Europe.
Diet: Fish, Krill and/or other crustaceans.
Threats: Boat traffic, Dam building, Hunting/Whaling, Habitat loss, Chemical pollution, Entanglement in fishing nets.
Information gleaned from: Dolphins and Whales
Wikipedia: Tucuxi
Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 6:08 am
[Reserved by order of the US Army]
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 6:10 am
[Reserved by order of the US Army]
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 6:11 am
[Reserved by order of the US Army]
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 6:13 am
[Reserved by order of the US Army]
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 6:14 am
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Extra Art
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 6:15 am
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Credits
The Lagoon: Nikorasu-Kun
Official Kelvin art: Nikorasu-kun
Kelvin’s personality: FerretPrince
Josephine’s personality: Acinonyx jubatus
For those who are curious, it's Latin. It means 'I am not what I once was', more or less. I felt it suited Kelvin.
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