Welcome to Gaia! ::

About Mindsend

Real Name: Tyra
Gallery: Mindsend.deviantart.com
Which Serum?: Australian Merino with a split horn mutation




Why Sheep?: Well... Mainly cause the island doesnt have one. Plus, Nikkos is a Tailor.

The Island could be testing to see if the human side of the islanders would reduce or even remove the itch of wool, and test methods of increasing wool production to make it a valuable material again and be better at competing against cotton and synthetics.

The personal reason behind the sheep is.. Well... Origonally I was going to do Artists choice, but eventually I got talked into doing the sheep -- the island doesnt have any, and it fits with Nikkos career, and the sort of Mythological theme he has; In the Odyssey the men escaped the Cyclops by riding under the belly of sheep, and Jason and the Arggonaughts went on a quest for the Golden Fleece.


And the Split Horns?: While its a relatively common mutation in sheep, but I do have several ideas of WHY he has split horns.


FAVORITE IDEA: He could have unactivated gene (as a human) that is activated by the introduction of alien (aka the Sheep) DNA, causing grow and alter both the native an alien DNA like a form of cancer, effecting how it grows. It likely wouldnt ever show if he remained human, but the Change would accelerate the change, aggrivating the now active gene. It would effect the wool quality and growth, as well has his hooves and horns.

The reason this is my favorite idea is simply because its sort of a surprise nothing like this has happened on the island before. If your messing with human genes to create human animal mixes, I'm sure it might activate some things lying dormant in the humans genes that could be overlooked and open up some study or at least RP opportunities. Also, its not that Exotic or unlikely and would be the best explination for why he has split horns.

Plus, its something for the techs to ponder how to do a control, if it is just a dormant gene. It would also likely piss Moreau off or at least frustrate the living daylights out of him because something he planned didnt go as he wanted it and it would make Nikkos's offer to work with them willingly for favors such as keeping thumbs for sewing a little more tempting.

Secondary idea: The labs add a growth hormone to the sheep mix and it just makes it split.

Third idea: A lab tech felt by growing extra horns they could study the pain of horn growth or see if it effects his "rank" among the islanders. (Likely Robin's studies XD)

Final and most likely idea: Sabin or some other Tech thought it would look cool.


Why am I Questing?: While researching for my breedable shop, I stumbled onto the IoDM Auction (and thus the entire group). I looked it all over, and talked to many existing members, and quickly developed a “crush” on the group. I then spent a large amount of time working on reviving a character of my childhood after reading the Odyssey, but was too immature to do the research to truly bring to a realistic life until now.

Also, the longer I am here, the more excited I get about this place -- I love roleplaying, but I haven't had a true serious RP with a major plotline in over four years, and the only reason I quit is because the groups got killed off by their creaters, and thus those following along could not rp there any longer, and I couldnt find another one that wasnt just "omg ur h0t lez cyb3r" so had to smaller one on one roleplays, which often were not as satisfying because roleplaying with random people without a main focus had the tendency to be them simply trying to Hook their character up with mine so they could get free artwork, and poorly done.

I've read the journals and know that the majority of the people here are good roleplayers, and I mean GOOD roleplayers. And they are also so creative and friendly. This is a good environment, and is just the sort of place I used to love going to when I was younger and Roleplay seemed to be less about Sim Boinking and more about actually pretending to be other characters in a major plot, Lots of people working together to make a large and amazing story.

I want to be part of that story. I might be closer to the end of the series, but who knows... My character, Nikkos, may just end up being an important part of THIS story, of this IoDM.



Plan for Nikkos: My plan for Nikkos... Well, the short story is I plan to get him on the Island and Roleplay the crap out of him.

The LONG story is he could be a tailor, creating custom clothing and making modifications for the other Islanders, as well as making costumes for the Theater and Halloween.


A few things HAVE been decided ahead of time:

1) If he finds out about the islands secrets on his first or second day, he will actually try and talk the labs into letting him feed his mother the lies they told him to get him to stick around: He's basicly the last person his mother has that is really close to her, and he doesn't want her to be told he's dead and he'd rather tell her there is very few ways to communicate and he got hired by an excentric rich person to make stuff for himself, his friends, and at his tropical resort for conventions and stuff they have for the very rich then have some stranger say he died and was mostly eatten by sharks or was just lost to sea.

(The reasons he wouldn't tell his mother what is really going on is, if he told her about the island, no one would believe her if she got caught, he'd be sticking his neck out to get butchered by the labs even worse then usual, and mostly because he knows his mother would try to rescue him after being ignored by authorities and end up getting stuck there as an experiment herself or even killed, and he wants to protect her.)

2) Before his first change, he will cut his hair short and save the long ponytail. He's been growing it for a few years for Locks of Love, and by cutting and saving the hair, he could pretend to keep part of him human, but mostly its as a promise to himself.

"If I get out of this alive after risking my life trying to help those trapped here escape, I will personally hand this off to the Locks of Love Headquarters and begin my new life."

3) He will be keeping the sails of the Odyssey: He had refit them from his fathers old sail powered fishing boat to fit his own ship because they have emotional value to him. They will likely end up decorating his cieling.

4) Nikkos is a dork. Chances are the island wont do anything to fix that.





Merino: Domestic Sheep
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The merino is the most numerous breed of sheep in the world. It is a breed prized for its wool, although more recently the low price of wool has led to more of an emphasis on carcass (meat) characteristics. Super fine merinos are regarded as having the finest and softest wool of any sheep. Poll merinos have no horns (or very small stubs), and horned merinos have long, spiral horns which grow close to the head.



Note from Mindsend: Merino's are often affected with "Flystrike", where the area around their "Bunghole" is eatten alive by Maggots. This is prevented by Sheering regularly.. Which Means Nikkos will have to shave his butt. o_O Or have his butt skin cut off. Chances are his tail will be undocked and thus long, but the labs might just dock it either manually or by geneticly making him short tailed



Sheep Care


Sheep Care for beginners
Reproduction in Rams
Sheep Behaviors
Shearing



Pictures of Merino Rams

http://www.sheep101.info/Images/Breeds/AustMerinoRams.jpg
http://www.stcroixknits.com/quality/quality_images/merino_lg.jpg
http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep/southafricanmerino/SAMERINO.JPG
http://www.avte.net/AVTE2003/contents/breeds/sheep/breeds_sheep-_merino.jpg

http://whatdidyoubringme.homestead.com/files/Magnets/AnimalMagnets/MerinoSheep34.jpg (example of horns)



------------------------------------------------------------


Backup Animals: If you cannot do sheep, I would like a Marbled Orb Weaver (Spider). And if you cant do that, here is a list of animals you can use.

Cassowary, Hoatzin, “Chimera”, Dasypeltis (Egg-eater snake), Red Forest Duiker, Gulper eel, Kingfisher, Osprey, Giant River Otter, Lionfish, mimic octopus, Spider Monkey, Firefly Squid, Spectical Bear, Numbat, Chinchilla, Venus Fly Trap, Aye Aye, Hermit Crab, American Bison, Chicken, Pheasant, inch worm, Flying frog, Giant Anteatter, Wooly Mammoth, manatee, Dahl Sheep, platypus, Silver Birch Tree, Bamboo, and “Flying dragon” (lizard). Combinations more then welcome.

Of the species no longer allowed by “Flatsale”, the only one that comes to mind is Norwegain Forest cat/Maine Coon, and Serval.

Background: Nikkos, the son of prominent Sponge fishermen for generations back, was born on the 4th of November, 1983, in Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital, Tarpon Springs, Florida, to Phyllis Sebastian and Dion Theophilus.

As a young child, Nikkos’s parents would read him Ancient Greek Myths and introduced him to many of the Classical arts of their home country. As time grew on, Nikkos continued to devour books on World Mythology and Cultures beyond that of Greece. From the Hammer of Thor being Stolen and returned by the God of Thunder dressing in Drag, to the reincarnations of Buddha, he was enthralled by mythos as if it were a Sirens song. His favorites always involved traveling over the ocean to strange worlds, making Homer’s Odyssey his favorite.

Nikkos’s interest in other cultures drove him to want to be deeper embedded in them. At first it started with bed sheets wrapped around him into a toga, but as he aged and showed more interest in clothing, his mother taught him how to use her foot powered sewing machine and bought him pattern books. As if to attempt to keep his son from becoming emasculated by the “girly” hobby, his father Dion would often take his son out fishing and diving in shallow waters, teaching him the family trade of Sponge fishing. Nikkos thrived under the diverse learning experience, becoming a healthy child in such a loving environment.

In October of 1991, disaster struck as Dion was struck by a drunk driver as he walked back home. Three days later, he died, leaving Phyllis to raise their son and run the business herself.

Overrun with work, Phyllis sells the company to Dion’s business partner and some of their land to realtors in 1995, making enough money for her and Nikkos to move to Juno Beach and live comfortably. Phyllis doted on young Nikkos, making sure he wouldn’t turn sour without a father figure, and continued to teach him as much as she could about sewing. He was her pride and her weakness, her “Achilles heel” as she would sometimes call him.

Nikkos continued his hobbies of sailing and creating clothing for himself and others, and found a source of personal income selling his clothing on the internet, either making them ahead of time or making individual pieces on commission. After a few suggestions by his regulars, he started going to Fantasy, Sci-fi, and Anime conventions, setting up a booth to sell his wears during weekends when he wasn’t in school, often making outfits while at the convention as well. During summers, he would take a part time jobs working with a deep sea fishing cruises and dive shops to make himself more money.

Around this time he had his first encounter with Cancer when a friend of the family died from lung cancer. This triggered Nikkos to start researching it, and led to him starting to grow his hair for Locks of Love.

Graduating from high school in 2001, Nikkos immediately went to Palm Beach Community College to get his AA in Technical Theater and Fine Art to give himself an extra edge for when he sets forth to try and make himself a name in the fashion industry, a dream that may never come true. In March of 2003 he bought himself a small sailing Yacht using the money from his selling clothing and part time job, christening it “The Odyssey”, after his favorite story.


The Odyssey was a fix-er-upper, rundown and in need of work, so he got it cheap since it was otherwise going to the trashheap. After almost a year of work, to make it not only sea worthy, but a fine ship, he moved into the Yacht with all of his worldly possessions, making it his home.

In 2004, Nikkos’ outdoorsy hobbies of sailing and diving caused his family a scare – A small Melanoma appeared on his back, right below his right shoulder blade. The skin cancer was quickly cut from his body and he was saved from having to undergo any more intensive treatments. Ever since then he has taken better care of his skin with sunscreen and covering his body better when outside, which caused his dark olive skin to pale to a softer shade when combined with him spending more time indoors finishing his two degrees.

In present time, he just graduated with both his Technical Theater and Fine arts Degrees and is taking a break before heading out-of-state to learn from “The masters” of fashion. Stocking up on supplies, updating his shots, and getting his Passport finalized, he bids his mother farewell -- after much coaxing on his part, since she was torn between letting him have his coming of age journey and keeping him safe -- and takes into the Atlantic to visit their island neighbors and up the Eastern Coastline, not knowing that he may never return to see his home…


Grade School: Nikkos didn't go to gradeschool, spending most of his time being taught at home and outside. His parents made sure that he wouldn't be left behind when he reached Middle school, but also nurtured his own intrests by using them to teach him things he had to know for school; math often involved cutting and adding the heads of a Hydra, English became solving the riddles of spynxes, ect.

He was taken out regularly on field trips and to see other children. However, when his father died and his mother moved to Juno beach, he lost many of the friendships he had as a child, and had trouble gaining some before heading out for Middle School because of his mother keeping him too close, afraid of loosing him.

Middle and High School: Middle school at Howell Watkins was tough. While most of his experiences with other people his age before hand had been pleasent, for the most part, the social struggles and the constant cut throat behaviors and Cliques were alien to him. Making only a few friends who had very few intrests in common with him, Nikkos had trouble developing true friendships and learning social behaviors. He started making rambling appologise during the silence after someone shot down any attempts to offer a hand of friendship for being an outsider to their group.

It didn't improve much during highschool. In the beginging, Nikkos was gangly, had a slightly squeeky voice, and had to wear braces to realign his teeth after having a molar grew in sideways and twisted his teeth before being removed to prevent more damage. His then just a hobby of makin clothing and the fact he kept himself looking mildly professional, he was often called "f*****t" and pushed around by bullies.


Eventually the braces were removed and his body recovered from his puberty attack, and he turned into a somewhat attractive young man (Though commonly thought to be Gay due to his hobby). Thankfully for him, by that point he had found a group himself in a clique of anime, gaming, art and fantasy affectionatos commonly known as "the geeks and nerds", and was introduced to the Megacon (a convention often held in Orlando for Floridians) late in his Sophomore Year. By Jacon (Japanese Anime Club of Orlando's Convention) in May, he had been traveling to conventions of all different sorts, buying a booth to sell his costumes. With a little help from a friend who knew HTML, he developed a website and started working on commissions, making more money then most people with a steady job at his age without the insurence. He graduated with B's and went on to college

College: Nikkos felt as if he was MADE for College. It was a fresh start, despite going to a local community college, and one where people had little struggle for ranking in their tiny little hellhole of an ecosystem that is highschool.

Right off the bat he went in to get his Techincal Theater Degree, knowing that costume design would help him improve his business, the set making and costume make up as an extra bonus. While taking his classes, he took fine art classes, learning sculpture and improving on his sketches to help his goal of becoming a better tailor. While not the best of artists, he can create decent work, good at reproducing what he sees and then adding personal touches to it.

While unable to put his imagination on paper in most instances, he could create believeable designs and figure out how they could be made and made out of to get the desired effect.

He worked on his free days at dive shop that allowed him to work on his commissions when not helping customers out, and continued to go to conventions on weekends as they occured in the South Eastern part of the States.

After finishing both of his degrees, he spent a year working on his outfits, and finally got an internship in New York, to be started at making it into the big leagues of the fashion industry. His internship was supposed to start in three months. The time before then, he took to the open ocean to work his way up America's east coast by boat... And never made it, landing on the Island during a storm and becoming a... Guest.

How I think Nikkos will respond to the Island


After the initial shock, anger, and fear, Nikkos would rationalize it as this being his own personal Odyssey and that this was his version of Circe’s Island, and that if he kept his head steady and his will strong, with the grace of God he would make it through it alright. He would force himself to continue his regular routines and keep a level head throughout the transformations, and will keep to his hobbies as long as possible, in an attempt to keep his sanity. It would partially be a mask to hide his own doubts and fears from himself and from others.

Part of him would revel in the challenge of creating clothing for creatures not fully human, and would willingly modify and create custom clothing for those who are not quite willing to limit themselves to rags or nothing at all. He too would grasp at what he had spent most of his life doing – making cloths for himself. As long as he had the ability to work his sewing machine or use a needle and thread, he would continue to make alterations of his wardrobe to accommodate his ever changing body.

While small modifications such as adding a place for the tail in pants, would be free, new clothing and major modifications would be used as a form of barter, for items and favors. While money is no longer of any use, his skill might be able to get him protection or items he cannot get himself.

As a trained from childhood free diver, while still human at the very least, he would be able to underwater near the waterline, not getting too far out, to get items desired by the aquatic members that they cannot find in fresh water, such as crabs.

Since he is also a little jaded to “unusual” by being a regular at conventions, he would try and pretend that other members of the Island are just Cosplayers with really, REALLY good costumes, and set up a booth in the City area for collecting discarded clothing for the cloth, and for making and altering outfits for his new family. And, like he did at many a convention, have free Dolmades (Stuffed Grape Leaves) and Coffee for those who want them… Though, he might have to make up a recipe using more unusual ingredients for those with specialized diets, which might have the meals running away on him on occasion before getting them ready for others.

Also, as an added note, his set building and costume making skills/technical theater degree might be of use in the Theater on the island.

While a skilled sailor, able to keep a ship afloat in horrid conditions like that that bring him to the ocean, he is not only smart enough to not only respect the ocean enough to not try and escape in a makeshift boat (since makeshift would be the only thing he could make without getting caught), but, since he likens himself the hero of the odyssey, he would not leave "his men" behind on his very own Island of Circe. As time goes on that may change but for now he would be loyal to the villagers.


A few things I hope to do before his first change
(some of these will effect the appearance, which may effect his first change)

If he discovers the truth of the island before he's chipped, he will turn himself in to be chipped in exchange to call his mother and tell her lies about getting hired to work for a rich family who runs a tropical resort, promicing to bring her and his girlfriend up in PA over once he builds up enough money to do so for a little while. He does this to keep his mother from being told he was dead, and wont tell her the truth because it would just bring her to the island and turn her into experiment.

Before his change, likely a few days before it, Nikkos will cut his hair short, saving the long ponytail as an oath to get all who wish to leave off the island and give it to Locks of Love personally. Its also a reminder of who he was before the Island.

He will be Neutral, disliking the fact the labs are forcing people into it, but strung along by the fact they could be making a difference in the world with the tests.

However, he will eventually hurl stones into the ocean and start yelling wordlessly in pure anger, venting his true feelings about the whole situation, though it would look more like a random outburst of anger.



What would he do during Changes?

Chances are, if given a proper warning, he would remove his clothing -- claws and tails could ruin them past being able to alter to fit even if he could wear his old clothes after the first transformation. And, if he changes enough the clothing can't be altered for him, someone else could wear them if they are unharmed.

There is a reason for this beyond the state of the clothing for this behavior. As facinated by other cultures as Nikkos is, he knows of body modification through clothing -- Rings around the neck starting at a young age to streatch ones neck to that much longer then natural. Streatched lips with disks in them, large hoops in ones ears.. And the binding of feet to make girls steps be small and dainty, or even having to be carried everywhere, just to make their value as brides go higher.

He knows that, during a change, the body would grow rapidly, and would figure wearing shoes or strong clothing such as denim or a reinforced leather could cripple a man for life during this change. While thin cloth could easily be ripped by claws or the pressure of the bones pressing against it, sneaker could easily crunch ones feet into something useless, and many animals require feet to move around.

Even his sandles, if his toes fused together, could cause serious injury, the flesh growing around the material, making surgery the only way to remove it without causing even worse damage.

Off the topic of clothing, because Nikkos has been growing his hair for locks of love, if he notices that it starts to fall out or even change during his transformation, he would cut his hair into a short spike when the change is done and request that it be sent to the organization. Whether it actually gets there is another story, but he would at least try.


diet changes: Because of Nikkos's love of traditional greek food or any food in general, he would have a hard time letting go of his normal eatting habits. Becoming an herbavore would make him sick for a while as he continues to try and eat his usual meals. His love of lamb, cheese, and coffee could give him more time feeding a toilet like it is a baby bird then any alchohol intake.


The Change and Villagers
Nikkos retreats to his mind and tries to compair things to what he can relate to. Everyday would start off with him trying to tell himself this is normal or "just like a convention" until he gets used to the whole situation. It would likely take him a month to get used to it. The change might actually make him go further into denile and take more time to get him out of it.

However, he does understand what it happening and knows its happening. He just uses the "mask" to keep his head in check in an attempt to stay in control and think of a way to out-smart the good doctor logically. He's not one for violence before thought or fear before control.

Though, it makes him seem insane, especially since the wierder things are, the more at ease he is. Islanders that look more human then others bothers him more, since they seem more "Real".

How he ends up in the IoDM
Just a Roleplay example

“The whole of the action and most of the principal persons are introduced in the first few hundred lines…” ducking under one of the sails of his Sailing Yacht and checking the rigging, Nikkos pays more attention to the book in his hand then his ship, “I love that…”

Sitting himself on a cushion on the side of his Yacht, he continues to read the Ships namesake, The Odyssey, engrossed in its pages once more. Taking a sip of his sweet coffee, he leans back a distant smile on his face until the flap of the sails and the sound of the water lapping on the hull lulled him to into a doze, not fully awake, but not asleep.

Hours later, he snapped out of his hypnosis to the sound of thunder, sitting upright to glare at the dark storm clouds boiling up from the horizon like an angry swarm. Sighing, he closes his book with a snap, So much for a lazy day… Ah well, not the end of my vacation…

Nikkos stands slowly, yawning, and heads below deck, locking up his sewing machine and breakables as he prepares for a hard blow. Swinging past the kitchen, he opens up the small fridge and takes out the Dolmades he had made himself earlier that day, Better get some food in me before that storm hits... Mmmm, Stuffed Grape Leaves… Maybe I should make some Saganaki too while they warm to room temperature…

Grabbing one of the still cold grape leaf Burritos, he shoves one end into his mouth before taking some Gruyere cheese out of the fridge and begins to slice it for frying, his train of thought lost to the preparation of his dinner. A few minutes later he sits down with a warm plate bubbly melted cheese and some soft, crusty bread to go with his and devouring it with gusto.

Suddenly the boat lurches, sending him and his plates sideways. The plastic plates clatter against the hard floor and Nikkos rolls his eyes up and rubs his chin, “Well, that’s going to be a brui—“


KRACKOOOOM!


Lightning flashed outside the small windows, and Nikkos curses loudly, having almost forgotten about the storm. He tosses on a rain coat and heads outside into the pouring rain.

Working swiftly to secure his sails in the downpour, the young man squints against the storm, barely able to see his own hands against the sheets of rain pounding on him. He clings tightly to his mast as a wave batters the side of the yacht, trying to rip him loose so it could fling him overboard.

Gritting his teeth he carefully works his way towards the cockpit, eventually getting into the weather protected enclosure, soaked to the bone and wind weary. Blowing some of the access water off his face he pulls off his rain coat so he could begin to dry, and grabs a hold of the wheel, starting his ships small engine to navigate against the waves..

If he could see the waves, that is. He leans forwards, trying to see through the heavy rain, his own boat seeming to melt into nothing, torn out of reality by the storm. He could have sworn he had seen some lights other then the lightning, but it was impossible to tell.

Turning off his own lights to see better, he pulls away quickly as the large map of the Atlantic drops onto his navigational equipment, having been torn from its nails by the constant lurching of the storm tossing them about.

Hours pass, and the Tropical Storm continues to toss the ship about, Nikkos focused on getting through it safely, blind in the rain and forced to pilot by the feel of the waves, I dont think the engine will have much more gas after thi-

Nikkos narrows his eyes, ducking his head down as his listens intently to a soft scraping down as the boat dips into a waves valley, before it continues through the swell. He lets out a slow breath, and returns to his piloting, now more alert to sounds of land or other boats.

Closing his eyes and trying to block out the sound of the wind and water with his mind, he steers the boat to follow with the wind, and a short while notices a change in the wave type and curses loudly, "Somethings there!"

He puts the engine on full speed, knowing it would likely kill the small motor, and moves away from the cliffs of the island, swearing as lightning showed him a brief glance of nothing but the haze of the thick rain and some of his boat.

Ten more minutes at full power away from the cliffs, and the engine sputters to a stop, drained, as the storm seems to slow, the ocean calming.


Calm enough to let Nikkos get out of his rather awkwardly wide stance. He groans softly as his inner thighs ache, and he peers once more out of the window.

“Wait a second, trees? Damn it, have I crashed?” Curious, he pulls his raincoat back on and steps out, bracing himself for the worst, only to discover that, by some stroke of luck, he had thread the needle and pulled his boat into the safety of a river system of the island that had threatened his life.

Grinning at his luck, he gives his thanks to the Lord and runs The Odyssey onto the sandy bank to his right, dropping anchor to weather the rest of the storm out in safety.

Giving his Navigation one last attempt to restart, Nikkos rubs his eyes and promises to himself to get that fixed the next day or try to contact someone about his location. His body aching, he stumbles below deck to collapse into his hammock and to sleep a good night’s sleep.

--------------------

“Testing... Testing… Mainland, come in, this is The Odyssey, over...” Early the next morning as the sky pinks with the rising sun, the young man waiting at his two way radio, trying to hear any sound of the island around his beached boat, stranded in as the water levels returned to normal, and only hearing dead air, “Mainland, come in. This is The Odyssey, where is my location? Over.”

Silence.

Nikkos swears softly under his breath before trying again, “This is The Odyssey, can anybody hear me? Over.” He pushes his wrap up higher on his head to wipe some cold sweat from his brow, fighting to keep his head, “This is The Odyssey. My name is Nikkos Theophilus, my navigation equipment has kicked the bucket and I am in need of assistance. I’m currently in a river system of some island East of the States. I took shelter here during a bad storm. Over.”

“Some vacation…” He rolls his eyes up in prayer as he waits for a response. He pulls out a Spanish handbook, flipping through it quickly as he tries to figure out how to say is plea for help, “Esto… Esto es The Odyssey. Estoy..? Estoy en la… Necesidad de la.. Ayuda... D*mn, how do you say ‘over’? Encima? No, that’s “is raises”…..”


As he flips through the book, the radio seems to spark to life, a weak signal seeping through, “-shhhhhck-- Odyssey, come -shhhhhck- Odyssey. We’re on your way. Over.”

Laughing in relief, not only because of getting a response, but also that the response was in a language he could understand, he turns on his side of the two-way, “This is The Odyssey. May I ask who is responding? Over.”

There was a long pause from the radio, and Nikkos sat in baited breath, watching its speaker as if one wrong move would cause it to blow up in his face, “We’re… We’re the Local Police station. How did you get onto the island? Over.”

Nikkos laughs, “Your not going to believe this, but during the storm last night. I got blown into the waters near by and took shelter in the river. It was a close call though, I didn’t even see the Island before I pulled into the river, which actually let me see past my boat enough to hunker down. My navigational system got hit pretty hard during the storm, and I think it messed something up inside rather then just dented it. I was completely in the dark until you picked up my call. One in a million chance, right? Over.”

“Right… We have a lock on your signal. Stay where you are, we’re sending a boat to collect you and bring you to port. You’re in good hands now… Over.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, he flops back into his chair and clicks his microphone once more, “You don’t know how happy I am to hear that. Over.”

Hanging up the microphone, he leans back, covering his face with both hands and laughs, with no idea who – or what – was really coming to pick him up.




OCC

When whomever comes to pick him up, he will be on the island in the mouth of the river, the water levels having dropped enough to leave the Odyssey high and dry.

He would be either

A: inspecting his boat for damage
B: looking at how close of a call he had with the cliffs south of where he entered
C: Getting himself something to eat
or D: Some type of combonation of the first three options.




FAQ about his entry onto the island

Q: Why didn't the ocean outposts notice his ship as it came in?

A: With his sails secured down and the rain thick enough one could barely see in front of their face, his lights turned off, and the white body of his boat hidden in the waves, he was going Blind, and chances are so were the patrols and the outposts.


Q:If he was going blindly, how did he navigate into the river?
A: He didn't even know there was an island in front of him. With his Navigation down and the storm, he had to navigate through the waves by the feel of them against his boat. He had been taught how to sail the ocean since he was a little kid from his father so has learned how to read and survive in her many moods. But, mostly, it was just "luck".


Q: Why didn't his boat get torn up by the reefs?
A: With the storm the way it was, chances are as water shallows, the pressure pushed water from deeper ocean into the shallower water, causing the water levels to rise (commonly known as Storm Surge). This would be just enough that he could make it over the reefs with maybe only a few bad scrapes on his boat, which he would fuss over like a man doe with his shiny red new car when it gets a scratch.


Q: If the water levels were so high, how did he land on a sandy beach on the rocky side of the island?
A: Quite simple, in the map of the island I drew, you can see a red dot where his ship landed. the pictures are warped slightly due to the rivers being slightly flooded close to the ocean -- He was actually further in to the tree line, and the storm had exposed the sand under the leaf litter. When the storm passes, he would be far too beached to get out on his own. He's not crashed, but just beached until he could figure out how to make a way to slide the boat towards the water using logs as rollers.

Not that he'll ever get the chance to do so.

Alright, I offically cut the ribbons to my quest, opening it to the public!

Wait, he's twenty years old, and a college degree is basicly two years at a community college. I know I graduated at 18 (like everyone else at my school,) and most graduated at the local community college at about 20 -- some of the fine arts and theater people came out with two degree's in that time. o_o I must have messed up his birthdate, hold on -- XD Its a year off! *fixes*

Edit:

Though, you are right -- I shouldn't hold my local schools norms. I should tack a few extra years to him, just to make it a touch more believable. *goes around to change times of things*

Yeah, your right. XD I edited my last post to say that cause I didn't want to double post, but now I'd feel like an idiot if I don't point that out so I'm being an idiot AND pointing it out! 8D