Dust
Character Name: Marie Période
Nicknames: Queen Marie (thats what she calls herself), Creepy Marie (what a lot of others call her)
Gender: Female
Powers: Spines (offensive): Pufferfish have spines, even if they aren't visable until they are puffed up. Marie has spines sticking out of her shoulders, the back of her lower legs and along the back of her arms. On her arms they go from shoulder to wrist. They are also along her back but these are rarely seen due to her long hair and clothes. Normally they are harmless when they are short, she uses the ones on her shoulder or arm for holding things. She will usually stick a shopping list or a client's order on them though she sometimes forgets which spine she put them on. But when she is threatened the spines extend to five inches and secrete a very toxic poison. Sadly this usually rips up her clothes which is why dresses are not to her taste. Her spines get tangled and she falls.
Poison: (defensive/offensive): Next to the golden poison frog the pufferfish is one of the most poisionous vertebrates. It secretes a poison called tetrodotoxin that can be more than 1000 times deadlier than potassium cyanide. This means there is no antidote for the poisoning, only the symptoms can be treated and hope for survival given. The poison itself causes paralysis of the diaphram which leads to respiratory failure; if a person can survive for 24 hours they usually recover. Marie can coat her skin with a fine sheen of this substance which can slowly stop an emeny because they develop breathing problems. If they get too much of the poison on them they will have respiratory failure or put them into a near death-like state. Even in this state they can be totally lucid and know what is going on, which is very frightening when people think you are dead. She also will secrete it for collection to make blow darts and to coat small daggers. Marie only makes a very fine coat of the deadly stuff on her skin as it can cause her to have breathing difficulties which makes her pass out.
Speedy: (offensive/defensive) Despite it's slow swimming and clumsy looking gait, the pufferfish is capable of intense bursts of speed to help it get away from predators. Marie is capable of sudden bursts of speed. From a stand still Marie can take off in a fast sprint, or if she's already in motion she can quickly increase her speed. Most are unprepared for this as Marie's normal gait is rather slow. This can make her extremely hard to hit as she flits around an enemy, dodging their blows or escaping capture. She also uses it as a form of tackling, using her poisonous spines as her weapons when she collides with an enemy. The problem is she can only go in one direction and can't make sharp turns. If an enemy can predict which direction she is going she is easy to hit or to dodge.
Traits:Poison Identification: Marie has an excellent resistance to poison, even her own. She can show the effects but they are not as harsh and take a higher dose than normal. But from this ability she can identify any poison by taste. This applies to any poison in drinks, on weapons, or even in someone's blood but she prefers not to do that.
Amazing vision: The pufferfish has excellent vision and independant control of their eyes. Marie has perfect 20/20 vision as well as independant control of each eyeball. This means she can look in two directions at once and see with perfect clarity each way. Her mother always told her it was important to pay attention to the customer even if you are working, so Marie ususally looks directly at her customer with one eye while the other is looking at whatever she is working on. This can be quite unnerving to those who see it.
Pattern Change: Pufferfish can change their patterns and colors much like an octopus and chameleon. While some might be drab in color most prefer bright spots and vivid colors to warn off predators. Marie mostly uses this to affect the markings on her face and arms. She likes bold spot patterns on her face and occational stripes on her arms. She enjoys the looks and compliments it gets her.
Appearance: A beautiful african woman standing 5'6" and possessing a lithe build. She has long flowing hair in fat dreadlocks. Her skin is a delicious caramel and her eyes a dark brown. Her curvacious body definately makes her catch the eye. To compliment her figure she usually wears an off the shoulder mid-drift and a knee length skirt. Due to her constant romp in the swamps and woods she has a lot of tears in it, especially along the edges. Her white makeup is meant to highlight her natural spots with dots under her eyes and along her cheeks much like the spots on a puffer fish and spines along her shoulders and arms. Examples:
x x x xDistinguishing Features: Marie wears a lot of natural adornements such as bones and feathers in her hair. Wooden bead necklaces and bracelets also decroate her. She has a beauty mark on her chin.
Personality: Love of Learning: Marie adores learning new things, her mother being her greatest teacher. Whenever she and her mother go looking for ingredients for her salves and medicines, Jean always gives Marie a lesson about a new tree or flower. She even has a great knowledge about the local animals. Marie absorbs this information, thinking her mother has the greatest wisdom. But Jean also told her that others can teach her things, so to always be looking for a learning opportunity. Sadly Marie has a lack of formal learning, prefering to be outside in nature rather than stuck in some school house. She can use simple math and has basic reading/writing skills, but this all came from measuring and reading ingredients for her mother's creations. This can make her logic and her speech more simple and backwood style.
Nature Lover: Marie adores all things in nature from the animals to the land itself. Ever animal is a friend and every plant is a life. This doesn't stop her from eating them; a bug eats a leaf but a bird eats the bug. Her mother taught her about the balence in nature, that while the predator eats the prey, one day the predator would due and become food for the prey. Everything comes in cycles. Despite this Marie hates the winter season, when plants and animals go into slumber and the forest seems so empty. She is more moody and snappy during the cold months. She enjoys spending as much time as possible outside during the warm seasons, feeling cramped and confined inside more modern buildings of the city. She has developed excellent survival skills from this but is completely out of her element in a city. In the city she is easily lost and finds it hard to get her barings unless it's night time and she can see the stars.
Half truthes: Marie's mother taught her to always be truthful and keep her word. But nature taught her that honesty isn't always what it seems. The moth that looks like tree bark is being honest but is still decitful to protect itself. The tiger's stripes help it hide to sneak up on it's prey. So Marie will be honest, but she may not always be telling the whole story. Words can also have double meanings or be taken in other ways. Marie is a master at this, using whatever definition of a word that best suits her purpose. She's not lying, the other person just didn't understand what they were agreeing too. But Marie will not approve of any sort of dishonesty or lieing. This is why she prefers any contract or sale to be made in writing. You can't go back on what you've signed.
Likes: Talking to nice spirits, collecting herbs or bones in the forest, dancing, shopping, long walks on moonfilled nights, snakes
Dislikes: mean spirits, vainity, woodcutters, liars, traditional school, winter, her potions blowing up
Hobbies: Shopping: Marie enjoys shopping, especially in open air markets and cultural fairs. The more exotic the items the happeir she is. While buying things is not always an option due to their meager living, seeing strange and wonderful things is always a joy for her.
Dancing: The grace of a bird in flight, the flexabilty of a fish in water; all these things seem like dance moves to Marie. A good beat will get Marie moving with a flair all her own. She says the music just jumps right up inside her and moves her arms and legs all about!
Potion Making: Marie enjoys brewing up all sorts of potions using ingredients she finds in nature. She is adept at making anti-venoms and anti-poisons as well as healing potions for the injured. But make her mad and she can make some pretty painful mixes from various poisons she collects. She prefers to make a paraylsis mix on blowdarts.
Spirit Talking: Marie firmly believes the world is inhabited by spirits whom which she can talk to. A few times her own poison has caused her to have breathing problems, it made her hallucinate from lack of oxygen. It was then she believes she saw the spirits and began speaking to them. The spirits are normally invisable and only special people like her can hear them. Her mother thinks they are really just imaginary friends Marie has come up with to keep her occupied. Others just think she's kind of crazy.
Anything Else: Marie keeps a pet snake, a boa constrictor a named Simbi.
