__________________QUICK STATSName Kahaku s'evalta
Age 24
Gender Male
Species Limnaris
Ethnicity n/a
Height 5'3" excluding his horns
Occupation Chief Engineer for the
AtlasResidence The
Atlas__________________IN-DEPTH STUFFPhysical Description Kahaku might not reach very high, but he's hardly small: limnari are serpentine, and close to half of their length is tail. Kahaku is no exception, and when he moves about on all fours, as he often does for increased speed or stability, he can stretch to about ten feet from bluntly protruding jaw to the narrow prehensile tip of his tail.
When Kahaku does work on two legs, his tail and fins are most often left spread and lightly waving to help with his balance, if his tail isn't knotted around something to simply anchor him in place. His hind legs are built similarly to a cat's, and do not normally straighten out a great deal. His hands and arms are small, with three fingers alongside each thumb.
Of the four sets of finning Kahaku bears, the pair spreading from his shoulders and along his spine are the most notable. Each fin has four stiffly flexible spines, which are mobile despite not being jointed. The webbing that stretches between each spine, and between the lowest and his back, are pearlescent white, with hints of either blue or gold depending on the angle. Similar but smaller fins spread from the curve of his jaws and a pair of stubbier, longer fins with two spines each is present at about the last third of his tail. An unpaired fin runs from the top of his skull, between his foot-long, slightly curving horns, and ends halfway down his long, flexible neck.
Kahaku's skin is almost entirely covered in tiny scales, including the membrane stretched between his fin-spines. Other than his membranes, these scales are a very pale silver, and while shiny when clean do not reflect other colours like his fins do. The only parts of his body that are not scaled are his horns (of course), eyelids (though they are the same shade of grey), palms, and the two foot-long mobile whiskers that drift backwards from his upper lip; these tendrils are normally held quite close to his body and along the curve of his head and neck. Despite this care, the tips are normally singed or battered. Since they (and the last few inches of his tail) are about as sensitive as his fingertips, he keeps making the mistake of using them to feel out something, only to get electrocuted or squished or something.
Kahaku's body design might not lend itself well to clothing, and his amphibious-arboreal birth society might not bother with much, but he prefers to follow the sense of decency of a wider community. His normal uniform is navy blue and trimmed in white, with loose slits for his back fins. He prefers shorts to full-length pants, and for a good reason: the curves of his legs tend to make anything that goes past the knee awkward and uncomfortable. Finally, rather than having an exposed hole for his tail, Kahaku's clothing includes a sheath that covers the first few feet of his tail.
Oh, and when his feet get cold, he likes to wear mismatched human socks in bright colours.
Personality Kahaku is lively and animated, with the range of expressions both he and his scaling are capable of occasionally surprising to others. He has a rather extensive sense of humour, and his rippling laugh is very easy to trigger. Kahaku is, in the same vein, quite resistant to bad moods - both mad and sad - and has an internal equilibrium almost as stable as an ocean has an unchanging temperature.
Though physical cold does slow him down - Noltai is a warm planet overall, even if Kahaku hails from one of its more temperate regions - emotional cold from others tends to slide right off him without effect. He is friendly with everyone he meets, though he will respect privacy and solitude if told to shove off, and he doesn't even really dislike people who dislike him. Then again, growing up on a backwater world and only blinking at a strange individual because they look different or more amazing each time you look at them does say something about a personality.
Kahaku loves video games of all shapes and sizes and styles. He does have some preferences - interesting plots and sudden twists quickly catch his attention, and pretty pictures can make up for a bland plot - but he's willing to give anything a shot. Most of his pay goes into getting the newest and shiniest game or system there is to be had - and a far bit of the rest goes into updating his translational software so that he isn't limited to the few languages he can actually function in. Languages are not a limnaris specialty.
Both a species thing and a personal love, Kahaku loves water in all its (unfrozen) forms. It isn't just for the greater good of the ship he works on that he tries to rig the water filtration systems so that he can actually swim in clean water, and while it does keep his scales healthy it really does have a whole lot more to do with sheer enjoyment. Also. Water slides.
Best. Invention. Ever.Magic/Abilities As a member of a semi-aquatic species, Kahaku can hold his breath for extended periods of time without difficulty (his maximum is about ten minutes), and he is highly flexible. However, he has no actual magic, and his psychic skill extends to noticing if a completely obvious klutz is trying to read him. Sometimes.
Relationships none at the moment
History Kahaku's people, the limnari of Noltai, are not known for their interest in things beyond their borders. They do trade with those species who
do travel from planet to planet, and they are, as a group, rather fond of harmless entertainment.
Video games were Kahaku's doorway to the greater universe. His first job was at the nearest spaceport, menial cleaning and water systems grunt work, but it meant that he was always there in time to snag the latest and greatest game and system. It took him several years to realize that only a fraction of games ever reached Noltai. He wanted access to the rest.
The solution? Get his tail in gear, get into university, and sign up on a trading ship with some trade! Kahaku found himself studying mechanical engineering, with a focus on water filtration and hydroponics systems -if it related to water, after all, Noltai was probably the best place for it.
His first ship was the
Whispered Riches, an older trading vessel that was more known for eternally falling apart than the transportation of any riches. Still, it was work, and it got Kahaku off Noltai. He worked hard and learned quickly, and after a couple of years hopping from one ship to another, found himself faced with not another engineering gig… but
chief engineer.
It was the first time he had come across the
Atlas, but on his first tour through to refurbished colony ship he decided he never wanted to go back to another tiny dry-aired husk full of nothing but metal and unwashed bodies. This massive ship also had an impressive hydroponics setup, and Kahaku had been itching to get back to his born-and-raised specialty for some time.
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