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Traits

Strengths:
Resourceful- One of the things Marlon takes the most pride in is his ability to think on his feet. If he rips his jeans, he grabs a handful of safety pins from the art room and makes a trendy patch job. If he found he needed to get on a teacher's good side, he stops by a cemetery and swipes a fresh bouquet, making sure to check for cards first.
Brainy- Despite his appearance to the contrary, Marlon is actually pretty bright; he's an avid reader and loves to learn new things, but deliberately avoids any and every typical nerd stereotype on his person, such as glasses or stacks of books, too many pencils. Unfortunately, he can't keep such a restraint on his mouth, and his chiming in with sentences that start with, 'That reminds me, did you know that-" tend to being the whole facade crashing down and hint that there's more to him than baggy clothes and a sock hat.
Non-judgmental- If there's one trait that he strives to uphold, it's his being able to never judge people based on their looks or what sort of troubles landed them in where they're at now. First impressions seldom mean anything to him; he chooses instead to look at the impressions that follow.

Weaknesses:
Solitary- Although Marlon's quite friendly, he has rotten luck with making friends, and as a result, he tends to try and stay out of everyone's way, wearing nothing that stands out and staying away from conversations that he could easily contribute to.
Odd- Those few with enough tolerance to not see him as a bully see him as odd instead. From constantly wondering random things aloud (like why there are locks on the doors to the 24-hour convenience stores and how the dude who drives the snowplow gets to work in the morning) to actually going out of his way to conduct an experiment as to how many scoops of powder it REALLY took to make Nesquik that rich brown color in the commercials, it seems that others often think that his energy could be directed elsewhere, to more important things. If only HE saw it that way.
Clumsy- The one thing that he considers his biggest imperfection. He's constantly tripping over things, bumping into things, and has the overall balance of an octopus on a tightrope. Much of the time his bumping into things gets him in trouble, but he can't see any possible way of fixing it outside of practicing his balance, which doesn't seem to help.

Mother's name: Macie Jefferson-Tremaine
Profession: Up-and-rising model

Father's name: Herick Tremaine
Profession: Booking agent for his wife

~ Marlon was the first and only son born of the pair, right after his mother deciding that she would rather have a career than be a housewife. His father couldn't agree more, seeing as he makes a considerable sum off of his wife's modeling career. Despite their combined jobs keeping them both out of the house much of the time, they still remember they have a son and make sure he is fed and gets a regular allowance.
~ Though they make enough money to easily be upper class, Marlon's parents lead such a lifestyle and have so many expensive habits that they squander half of their earnings on a regular basis. Because of this, they remain in a modest but roomy two-story that they had first bought when Macie's career was just taking off, with the intention of buying a bigger one when they hit it big.
~ Marlon is in Applereach High because due partially to plain misunderstandings and partially to his slightly rebellious nature and refusal to not dress like one, his mother is thoroughly convinced that her son is either a bully or a worse form of malcontent just waiting to blossom. She relies heavily on the 'How To Raise Children' books and is convinced that therein lies all she needs to know, without even considering asking her son about the whats and the whys. His father of course has decided to leave the parenting to his wife, as it were, and concentrates more on lifting up Macie and getting her more time in the spotlight.

Solo RP Entry

Marlon opened his eyes slowly, turning his head groggily to look at the clock on his night stand. 11:30. And it wasn't a school day. Groaning, he reached up and brushed a few stray strands of blond hair out of his eyes. Today was Saturday; he could still feel the aches in his body from P.E. when they had played dodgeball, and his brain still reeled from the chemistry homework that he had attempted to tackle last night so that he would have it out of the way. Moving only his head, he looked across his room to his writing desk, cluttered with books, papers, and wrappers from various junk foods that he had secretly snuck up here in his backpack. If his mother ever had one whiff of a Twinkie or Doritos chip, her willpower was sure to melt like taffy in the sun and his father would probably throw him from the second story window for disrupting his wife's regiment. At least he'd land in the swimming pool.

Groaning to no one in particular, Marlon swung his legs off of his bed and sat there for a moment, blinking the sleep from his eyes and looking around his room. The usual hodgepodge of posters and magazine clipping collages greeted him from three of the walls; the fourth had a large window surrounded by what looked like faded yellow dots and swirls cascading all over the wall in a random pattern. He had gotten the idea online to decorate one of his walls with glow-in-the-dark paint, and he had used some star charts to create as close as he could to a real pattern of stars in the sky. Herick had hit the roof when he had found out, but Macie had actually stuck up for her son, saying that this was one of the ways he was 'asserting his individuality.' Marlon sighed as he let his eyes roam around the smatterings, lingering on one galaxy he had done so painstakingly, each tiny dot in perfect placement. Why didn't his mother ever stick up for him more often?

Rising up and stretching, Marlon pulled on his usual attire of clothes that looked like they belonged in a monochrome portrait; he seldom bothered with loads of color, even on the weekends when there were no schoolkids to divert. He donned his sock hat and looked at himself in the mirror with a small smile; Mommy's little thug. He walked out of his bedroom and took the steps two at a time down to the kitchen. The sun was shining so brightly; his mother had to be out by the pool catching some sun. She would much rather tan them swim; she and Herick had established long ago that any amount of chlorine couldn't possibly do her any good, especially her sunny golden hair. Marlon ran his fingers through his own hair as he opened the pantry door. He had his mother's hair, his mother's eyes........what did he have of Herick's? As much as it revolted him to think about having any part of his father within him, he couldn't help but wonder about it sometime. Wouldn't it be nice if he ended up having a different father, maybe one that actually gave a damn about him and didn't think of him as burden?

Not finding anything, he closed to pantry door and walked over to the sliding glass door, smiling as he saw his mother laying on a pool chair, her body shiny with tanning oil and her eyes covered by tiny, fashionable sunglasses. He saw her turn her head and wave in his direction. Smiling, Marlon pulled open the door and walked out onto the pool deck.....only to have his view obstructed by a different face; one that he had hoped to avoid all weekend. "What do you want out here, boy?" Herick's breath hit Marlon's face in a wave, causing him to wrinkle his nose; rotten fish had nothing on his father's breath. "You'd better not think you'll be using the pool while your mother's out here; one drop of water on that tan and she'll tan spotted like a leopard, and it'll be your a**! Now get back in the house and leave your mother alone!" Narrowing his eyes, Marlon rebelliously peered sideways past his father's bulk and called out as loud as he dared. "Mother! D'you want me to fetch you anything from the house while I'm out here?" "No thank you honey; your father's got everything out here. Go and enjoy the afternoon, Marly; go and play and have fun!" Marlon's heart sank, and his vision, as well as his nose, was once more offended by his father moving to block his way. "Yes boy, run along and play, or whatever you upstarts do now that you think you're all grown up. Just remember if you get in trouble, I'm not posting your damn bail. Now get!"

Fuming, Marlon turned and stormed back into the house. He couldn't even get his own mother a glass of water without Herick butting in. He had always harbored a thousand ideas: that he was feeding something to his wife, that he thought his own son might do something to her and was protecting her, even that his mother had been replaced by some kind of alien and his father was afraid that he would find out if he got too close. He liked to think that Herick did love his mother, and he had witnessed them exchanging looks of love and devotion, but too often it seemed as though the light of greed was present too. If only he could let his mother know that she didn't have to be pretty for her son; he would be more than happy to accept her as she was, model or no. He would much rather have a mother than a model. Sighing, Marlon opened the pantry again, looking once more to see if he might have missed something. Something besides a real family.

Had lunch with Eolande today; sweet and sour chicken with apple fritters. SO much better than that crap they serve in the cafeteria. I swear one of these days I AM going to prove that either our leftover food goes to prisons or their leftover food goes to us. Food like this can't possibly be fit for human consumption!

It was a really nice day for it; we just sat outside and talked some more. She really listens when I tell her about my family. I was really afraid to be honest that I would get something along the lines of 'wow, you have a rich family, a mother who's a model, a big house with a saltwater pool and parents that don't care what you do as long as you stay out of jail....you POOR thing, you.' But she gets it; she knows that all of that doesn't mean anything if you can't even enjoy it. It's like.....like living in a beach front house and not being able to go out and play in the surf; most people would be content to just BE there, but I want to actually go out and enjoy the privilege, not live in luxury with a mom who is obsessed with her career and a man who barely even lets me talk to her.

Now she wants me to actually play hookie with her tomorrow; we'll hang out at her place and watch movies. You know....I think I could use a little time off from my 'luxury living', and I'm a good student anyway; one day off won't kill my average. Good grades don't matter to Herick, so why shouldn't I do something that actually matters to me?

This is going to sounds really freaking freaky and unbelievable. Hell, I'm still having trouble believing it and I WAS THERE! I just hope to God mom doesn't read in one of those books of hers that it might be worthwhile to read your kid's dairy, because if she reads this, I'm going to be committed for sure. I mean, how many people out there would have to tell a shrink that their son thinks he's a fish?

I'll start at the beginning. Eolande and I were having lunch at the mall; nothing special, just us hanging out and having fun. Suddenly, this strange lady comes up to our table, saying something about stories....I wish I could remember all of what she said; it might help all of this make sense. But then again, it didn't make sense then, so it might not help at all anyway. But she gave us presents....sort of. She gave me a conch shell; the colors were really cool, and when I took it, I felt really....weird; like I'd swallowed a match and it was just making me warm instead of turning my guts to cinders. She gave Eolande a pair of sunglasses, and I could tell by looking at her that she was feeling the same way. Kind of like in the pirates movie.....'a touch of destiny'. I swear that's what it felt like.

From the moment this lady had come up to our table, we had been hearing all of these strange noises coming from the kitchen across from where we were eating. Nasty noises, like bones crunching and slurping and....growling. But not only did the lady not seem to hear any of it, but she turned and left! As soon as I couldn't find her anymore (it was like she had just vanished into thin air!), the place just erupted with screaming people and this.....creature just rolled out of the kitchen like a fuzzy pink bowling ball. Yeah, pink; it was a little pink thing, with a mew like a kitten and teeth like a piranha. But somehow, Eolande and I both had this feeling.....that we had just been given the means to take this thing on.

I wish I could have seen how her transforming went; I bet it was badass. But I was busy looking at mine, because believe it or not, my new shell told me to....jump in the fountain. Yeah it sounds ridiculous, but believe me, you can't make this s**t up! So I ran into the fountain, and then placed the shell on my head, where it just sort of....sank in, and then I just changed into this.....lion fish guy! It was awesome; I had spines sticking out of my arms, legs and back, and all these neat markings everywhere. The spines tore my shirt to shreds and took out most of the back of my pants, but it was still so neat to feel them. The FEELING! It's so hard to describe, but everything felt so good. I could feel the muscles rippling in my arms when I flexed them, I could hear the humming of the poison stored in my spines, and the water I was standing in was like I was being blasted with pure, clean air that revitalized my whole body. I felt like I could just....take on the whole ocean.

I looked over at Eolande, and she had changed too. She had some sort of mask on, and her clothes seemed like they were made of wispy black smoke....or was SHE made out of wispy black smoke? She looked like a good strong fan would blow her away, but I knew that she was every bit as strong as I was at the moment. Which was good, because this thing had seen us by now and was definitely itching for a fight.

It felt like.....like being a superhero. Eolande used this awesome whip that came with her smoky outfit, and I threw the spines out of my arms and took out a defenseless mall directory, but I got a handle on it pretty quick, and soon all that was left of the thing was a bloody, whip-slashed, spine-filled pink lump. I bet once the police came around they would explain it as someone's rabid, mutated pet poodle. I would have loved to hear that one, but Eloande had to push me into the nearest restroom, since once I changed back to my clumsy, less muscular self, what was left of my pants came sliding right down to my ankles. She had to go and get me some cheap clothes (a feat in itself in a mall) so that I could walk out before I got arrested.

So that was my day, as it were. At least nobody at my house seemed to notice that I came home in a completely different outfit. I hid the conch shell in my hat; it had slid out of my head once I had changed back, which I can't deny is a little gross. But hey, it could be worse; I could be laying eggs.

Journal Entry

Well, tonight was interesting in the fact that it could have been better, and it could have been much worse. I was actually able to talk my folks into letting me throw a party at my own house. Herick was of course beside himself at the thought of having a bunch of filthy teenage hooligans in his nice clean house, but mom took my side for a change and talked him into letting me throw it. Apparently her parenting books told her that I needed to be shown that I could be trusted as a responsible adult. I could have told her that without her $49.95 book, but I already know she wouldn't listen.

I had spread the word around, and the turnout was actually pretty good. I had plenty of snacks to go around, and aside from about 45 minutes of silence while a small group argued about what sort of music to put in the player and which volume setting wouldn't have the neighbors calling the cops on us, it was pretty hopping. I did notice some lout with dredlocks climbing the fence and falling into the swimming pool; oh well, I was going to have to adjust the ph level anyway once the guests had gone home. I just made sure he didn't sit on anything other than the pool furniture until he was good and dry.

But one thing made me feel slightly......less happy than I would be at having such a successful party. Eolande came, as I had hoped she would, and she brought a friend, which was also alright. But....something about her and Eolande...... the way they interacted.... and I feel so bad for penning it this way, but I think I might feel a little.....jealous? It makes me feel like a jerk, because they're probably just the best of friends, and Eolande is obviously allowed to have more than one really good friend! I just...I don't know....maybe I thought somewhere that we might be more than friends someday, but the way this girl...Mark I think her name was....short for something maybe?....the way they interact....it makes me think she's found someone already, and I'm too late. I shouldn't be feeling sad or anything; it isn't as though I gave off any hints, and neither did she. If she's still content to be friends, then I should be too! I shouldn't expect her to wait for me to come around, especially if all she ever thought of me was as a friend. I'm damn lucky to have her as that.

At any rate, the party was successful, even though I'm sure nobody will treat me any different because of it, at home OR at school. I guess I should be happy knowing that I can actually throw a good party...and I had one good friend there. That's definitely good enough.