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Journal and Information for Alex Coronet.


Please do not post in this thread if you are not the Guardian, or the Guardian has said you could.

The Guardian

Name: Tom Coronet
Gender: Male
Age: 25
Height: 5'11"

Eye Color: green
Hair Color: brown

General Appearance: A man of a rather slight build, he is by no means imposing, and a smile often on his face makes him look fairly amicable. What he wears varies greatly. When at work, he usually has a jacket and tie, when at home or doing things for relaxation, he usually has a t-shirt and shorts, or a wetsuit, if it suits the situation. (Namely, scuba diving, or otherwise floating in the water with a certain wet tagalong.)

His hair is kept short and straight, always looking neat and orderly.


Personality: A cheerful individual, and an incessant optimist. Tom is the sort of person to take a positive spin whenever he can. A lover of the sea, and gaining and imparting knowledge, he is well suited to the head of education in a very maritime company. Tom is happiest when on the water, under the water, or teaching a group of children.

Skills: A master diver, avid sailor, and holds degrees in education, marine biology, and psychology.


I'll tack on a history later, or just include it in the NPC list.

RPs that Alex has participated in

[PD] A meeting on the docks (Alex & Cirri) - Started 7 April, 2009

And So it Began...

Tom thought he had himself a pretty good spot in life these days. He was the head of Mer Co's Education and Community Outreach department, which more or less meant that he was a "principal" of sorts. The company employed a rather small staff of teachers who would teach children (usually, anyway) about things from the ocean, and biology stuff. It was usually done through school groups, but there were other independent programs, too.

He taught things now and then, too. It was fun working with the kids, and it often gave a perfectly good excuse to go swim with the dolphins that the company had trained for research and the like.

Plus, with the offices' location, he could live on his boat. It was a good sized sailboat, 50', and it tended to be anchored in the harbor when he was there, or traveling inland somewhere.

The only real problem with the situation was he didn't really have any sort of family. No wife & kids. But there would be plenty of time for that when it came. He was still fairly young, being 25, and he did like his free time.



On this particular day, Tom was sitting in his office, typing up some business projections for the department, when his secretary informed him that the Director of R&D had just shown up at the office. What on earth could he want? Tom wondered before saying, "Okay, yeah, I'm not too busy..."

A couple seconds after she disappeared from his doorway, Dr. Martin stepped in with a jovial grin on his face. "Hello, Tom, doing well, I trust?"

"Yes, Very well. And how are you...John?" The use of first names all of a sudden was odd, Tom thought. The couple of times he had spoken with the head of R&D in the past, it was 'Dr. Martin' this and 'Mr. Coronet' that. His expression definitely showed this unease, but the good Doctor ignored it completely, if, in fact, he had noticed at all.

"Oh, excellent, excellent." Dr. Martin helped himself to a seat in the office, and Tom sat back down. "So, tell me, Tom, you like what you do, right?" Tom gave a small nod, still very much baffled by this conversation. "And you like working with those children we have showing up every week?"

Again, Tom nodded. This was getting very cryptic very fast, so he said, "Yes...and where are you going with this, Doctor?"

Dr. Martin grinned. "Dr. Thompson and I have agreed to start a new development program, and we're going to need your involvement."

"My involvement?" Tom asked, cocking an eyebrow. "What on earth are you all doing this time...?"

"Well," Dr. Martin said, still sounding rather evasive, "It'd be better if we just showed you, I think." He stood up again.

"Okay, sure," Tom agreed, forcing a smile and standing up as well. "When do you want me to come by?" These scientist-sorts creep me out sometimes, he thought.

"How about...right now?" the doctor asked hopefully, with a small smile.

Tom made a face that seemed to say, s**t, really?, but after a glance at his computer, and a quick hitting of the 'save' command, he forced a smile and said, "Okay, sure. Let's go, then..."


~~~


Not too long later, and after passing a fair amount of security doors, not all of which Tom's clearance could open, he reckoned, the two arrived in a room with what appeared to be a collection of very large test tubes. Inside each was a shape...a...baby. They didn't appear completely human, however. Most appeared to completely lack legs, and had various extra appendages. "What the...? Are you growing children...?"

Grinning broadly, Dr. Martin said, "Yes, that's what this is. But not just any children! The very name of our company!" He walked up to one, which looked to have a baby in it that was very blue, and had a little--or very big, depending on how you thought of it--fish tail.

"Our name...? Mer? Mer people? Are you crazy?" Tom shook his head. This was crazy.

With the sort of look and tone that one would expect to see someone admonishing a small child, Dr. Martin said, "No, of course we're not crazy. The system has been completely worked out, and the children are perfectly healthy. They're perfectly suited for life in the sea, obviously, although we've taken care to make sure that they can live outside it, like you and I."

Tom did not look to approve very much. "But...how can you be sure?"

Waving a hand slightly, Dr. Martin said, "Oh, I am sure, we are sure, it'll be fine. Now c'mon, I have one more thing to show you before we get down to business..." He lead the way out of the room, and to the door of another one nearby.

"Now then, there are two main things we're going to need from you...the second one you can probably already guess," he trailed off, expecting Tom to fill in the blank.

"An education program?" He offered flatly.

"Precisely! Very good," he clapped, as if he expected the other man to have no idea. Tom made a face at him.

"Okay, that's the 'second' thing, you said," Tom answered after taking a deep breath. "What's the first...?"


With a sort of pleased grin, Dr. Martin opened the door and gestured for Tom to preceed him. Tom did so, giving the doctor a doubtful look. Inside, he found what looked to be a play room... there were a collection of toys scattered around, and, oddly, a pool of water. From the smell, it was salt water. He looked around. "What is this...?"

"This is the biggest thing we need from you right now," Dr. Martin replied. As if on cue, a little head popped up out of the water and looked at the two men quizzically. It looked like it was probably a boy, but it's hard to say at that age. Of course, the most striking thing about this little head was that it was very white, even slightly blue. His hair didn't appear to be hair, instead it was a collection of rather large conical growths.

The boy looked to be two or three. "Jeez, John!" Tom blurted out. "How long have you all been growing these...?" He walked over to the child and kneeled down at the pool's edge. The child watched him curiously, and when Tom came down to his level, he reached a hand out, and took Tom's, poking at it and studying it quietly.

"Oh, this one was, uhm, 'born' just a couple days ago," Dr. Martin replied. "I know he looks older than that, and definitely has a reasonable amount of motor skills, all considered," The last statement was added on because the child had just pulled Tom's hand over and licked it. "That's part of how we grow them. I don't think he'll grow up any faster than a normal child, though...could be wrong, I guess."

Letting the child play with his hand, Tom looked back at the doctor. "Okay, that's all very interesting...but what do you want from me...?"

After a deep breath, which Tom took to mean he was finally about to hear what this whole charade was about (of course, he already suspected what was about to be said), Dr. Martin said, "We want you to be this child's dad." He paused a moment. "Well, guardian. But, same thing, really..."

Tom turned to face the child, who was apparently comparing the difference in squishiness between a few things: his hand, Tom's hand, and a pool toy. "What's your name?" Tom asked. His only reply was a quizzical look. After a few seconds, Tom faced the doctor, who had come closer, again and asked, "Does he talk? And...does he have a name?"

"Uh, yes, and no," Dr. Martin replied. "He talks...a little bit, and no, we haven't named him...that's your job, now." The way the doctor spoke did not really make this seem voluntary. And, of course, it wasn't. Tom wasn't about to give up his extremely nice job for something like this...and leave this poor kid living in a tiny room so close to the ocean.

"Right, okay," Tom said. "And...I can take him out of here, right?" He looked around.

Nodding, the doctor replied, "Yes, of course. He can live on your boat if you want...although you'll have to be careful he doesn't disappear into the ocean. I doubt he'd do very well on his own just yet."

Looking back at the child, he asked softly, "Okay...how does 'Alex' sound for a name?"

"Okee," Alex replied, grinning broadly. "Who're yooo?" he drew out the word 'you' somewhat oddly...obviously, he was still figuring out speech, but they'd taught him well, given how small a length of time he'd been around.

"I'm Tom," was the reply, accompanied by a smile, "Let's go for a little trip, okay?"

Alex nodded, and after a bit of jostling and explaining, Tom got the child to hold onto his neck, and stay on his back. With that accomplished--and it was an accomplishment, Tom said to Dr. Martin, "Well, since this is apparently part of my job now, my schedule for the rest of the week just got busy...let's work out the logistics of everything else next week, hmm?"


"Sure thing," Dr. Martin replied, obviously pleased that this went so well. "I'll have all the medical information on him sent to your office, as well as an outline of what we think we'll need from your department," Dr. Martin told him as they left.