HPM Amelie

Work in Progress.



Name: Amelie

Age: 22

Gender: Female

Pokemon: Horsea

Height: Questionable... Proportions similar to 5'5'' land walker, but including tail is between 7 and 8 feet long

Bodystyle: Skinny

Birthday: July 18

Home Island: Affection Atoll

Personality: A jolly soul, Amelie is an intelligent mergirl, but she's not what one would call wise. She lacks street smarts, so to speak. The language barrier, and her inability to really see subtle facial expressions really hinders her abilities to even do so much as process sarcasm. This, mixed with her idealist and dangerously optimistic outlook on life, and friendly nature makes her very easily duped or taken advantage of. She can be a bit skittish around new people, especially land walkers, but the initial shyness usually doesn't last very long and her curiosity and friendliness beats out any instinctual caution.

History: It never really mattered to Amelie who her parents were, everyone grew up in a large school of mer-people who all loved and looked out for one another. (Which was good because Amelie was never the strongest of swimmers and had rather poor sight to boot) For all intents and purposes, they were all her parents. She was always closer to another young boy, a Horsea person like herself. Whether he was her brother, or simply another child born around the same time, she couldn't remember, but it didn't matter. He looked out for her growing up, and the two got along well even into their older years.

The pod she was born into was a large and varied one, ranging from 80 to 150 members at any one point. Pod members came and went as they pleased and were of varying species, (not all children born inherited their parents' totems). If a pair did not get along, it was very easy for one to simply move away to another pod, and if one from another pod fancied one from this, they were of course, welcome to join. Trouble makers usually didn't last long with this many, especially not with the beloved pod chieftain. He was an older Seaking gentleman and ruled with strength and wisdom. He would lead the pod to all of the safest spots, with the calmest tides, and the fruitfullest of fish, but if danger did show its face, he was able to rally the men, and able to hold his own.

For the most part, interactions with pods were friendly and offered chance for trade and socializing. Like most merpeople, they spoke in a sing songy underwater tongue full of hums, vibrato sounds, oohs, and aahs made in the tongue or gills. Often their language is mistaken for song by sailors, leading to many legends about songs luring sailor's away. The tongue of the land dwellers is sometimes used, especially by pods that are closer to shore and come across the land dwellers more often, or when referring to land dweller objects or names. The land dweller words are more difficult to form underwater, while the mertongue is more difficult to use when breaching the surface.

In general Amelie's pod followed the migratory patterns of the Remoraid during the winters, and Basculin during the summers. Their diet was varied enough through their hunting and trading with other schools. They came across the feisty big game hunters who chased the great Wailords and Dewgong, trading meat, bones, and netting used for weapons, nets, and baskets. There was the more posh, Clamperl harvesters, trading fish eggs, Shellos and Shellder meat as well as pearls and shells for tools and jewelry. The eccentric deep sea Chinchou hunters, trading small lights. And then there were the treasure hungry and charismatic Corsola farmers. They stayed around shallower regions, away from the more violent hunter pods, and harvested there, in forests of coral or kelp, great green seafood, and scavenging the rest from the land dwellers unfortunate enough to run aground on their reefs and sink their ships.

Amelie wasn't the greatest of hunters, considering her swimming and sight abilities were sub par, but she found uses in other ways. Amelie wove the baleen that was traded to them into backpacks and clothing, fashioned weapons from the ivory of the big game hunters, jewelry and tools from the shells and pearls from the Clamperl harvesters, and fancy lanterns from the lights of the deep sea hunters, all of which in turn could be traded elsewhere. But perhaps her favorite times were when she was with the farmers in the kelp forests and reefs. There, in the shallower, calmer waters, it was easier for her to move around, things to anchor herself at. But her favorite thing was the food there. The green things harvested from the kelp, the edible coral pieces. While her pod was off trading or hunting the schools of fish near these settlements, Amelie often stayed behind, not much help there, and aided the other pods in their farming and such, spreading good will between her pod and theirs. She came to really love growing things, and caring for the plants. But perhaps what she loved more, was the fruits of her labors, eating the vegetables and edible sea plants, she very much preffered them... If things had turned out a little more differently, perhaps Amelie would have left her home pod, found a nice merman, and stayed in one of the horticultural pods... but that was not to be.

When she was about 16, her brother and a group of other anxious youngsters thought it a good idea to start their own pod. Despite warnings from their chieftan, urging them to wait until they were older and wiser, the youngsters broke off to do things on their own, and learn things the hard way. And where her brother went, Amelie followed without question. So the new pod broke off, a group of twenty youngsters, trying to make a name for themselves. What could go wrong?...

Well, as expected, everything went wrong. The pod had a hard time finding and tracking the unfamiliar schools of fish, they were often led off course, chartered into rough seas and difficult tides, Amelie's trouble swimming didn't help the pod when it came to travel, but she was relied upon during those days when no fish were found, or caught. She scavenged plants and scraps of edible things from the ocean floor, planted seeds along the way, which had saved the pod from going hungry more than once, and attempted to save and ration out the food. Mundane things she was capable of considering her physical disadvantages. Some considered leaving, offered returning to the old pod. A few did, but Amelie and her brother remained with the most dedicated of the rest. Still the small pod suffered, and it got to the point that they degraded themselves to sticking closer to shore and where the younger ones, and Amelie were left to scavenge off of the chum and waste of nearby ships.

It was during this time, while the pod was following land walker ships, learning the migration patterns this way and stealing what they needed from their nets, that Amelie fell in love with the human food palette. The scraps of food she scavenged off of them, the pieces of bread, of cheese, and especially the produce. Canned goods like carrots, beats, pickles, tomatoes, peppers, and fruits and berries. Usually the pieces that fell into the water were thrown with purpose, old or moldy, but some were simply unfinished pieces. She remembered her first sandwich, her first pie. The more she followed the ships, the more scraps she got, the braver she became, coming closer and closer for the freshest of foods... it got to the point she was actually breaching the surface, and at times, even trading with land dwellers who came out on smaller boats for sandwiches or whole fruits, or coming near shore to pick up fallen fruits from the land trees.

After one or two close calls with a net, harpoon, or unsavory land dweller, her brother was forced to take notice of his rapidly domesticating sister. He ordered the pod out to the sea again, alone, and away from the ships. The pod was older, and more experienced now at least, and they were actually notably successful in their endeavors. They could better keep up with the fish, predict their movements, hunt, defend themselves, and had along the way even added to their pod numbers. But Amelie had taken a bit of a turn for the worst. Her sight and swimming was still poor, and after having a taste of the human world, she simply wasn't happy with school chasing anymore. She retreated into her plants, and mundane tasks, though even the kelp and coral forests couldn't satiate her now. For a few years this went on, and the pod became a small bustling little school, even with some children that her brother would leave for Amelie to care for, hoping this would distract her enough to make her forget about the human foods, and possibly get her thinking of starting a family of her own. She put on a smile of course, and did her duty, but her unhappiness and the emptiness in her heart was still there... For once, it was something her brother could not help her with... for once it was by being with him that was hurting her the most.

One fateful day, however, the group came across another pod of farmer merpeople. These were one of the few times Amelie gained some form of happiness and sincerely smiled anymore. An older man mentioned to Amelie of a place with calm waters, easy for a fish of her abilities to swim around safely, and a small, peaceful human settlement. The fruitful lands were blessed by a goddess of harvest that resided there in the clearest of waters, a place where she herself might be able to go to seek her fortunes and happiness.

The stories he weaved for her transfixed the merwoman, and her heart burned with an untamed fire, that gave her the strength to do something she had never done before... approach her brother, and ask his blessing to leave... Naturally he was against the idea, but Ameile's heart was already set, and he could see that he could no longer protect and make her happy anymore. Amelie received a parting gift, a small number of yellow coins, reclaimed from a ship that met its fate at sea, and was told they would help her in her acquisition of land and seed... So Amelie hitched a ride following a ship, drifting behind it where swimming was easier. She was on her way to the islands of Raccolto, where she acquired a bit of swampy land near the ocean, perfect for starting a land dweller farm and growing land dweller food... or so she hopes... Now where does one buy a pickle plant? Or a pie tree? This is going to be harder than she thought...

Job: Farmer

Farm Name: Sunken Sunkern

Dog's Race: Lilipup

Dog’s name: Puddle

Talents: Underwater basket weaving, tool making, digging, has a tight grip with both her tail and hands.

Funfacts: She needs glasses, but has no idea what they are. Not the strongest swimmer. Can speak only a few human words and dislikes pronouns in the English tongue.

Moveset: Smokescreen, Brine, Rain Dance, Rest