GIJINKA, raphael deluna

[Raphael Deluna]

raphael deluna MALE & 35 & panSEXUAL & GIJINKA & NEUTRAL & mafia leader appearance Raphael is of average height, just shy of 5'10", though he tends to slouch and thus can appear a bit shorter. He isn't particularly muscular but he's fit enough, slim and lean. He has fair skin and naturally purple hair, a medium hue except for several darker streaks at the top. He keeps it rather long, usually around chin length, though when it gets too long he'll occasionally pull it back into a small ponytail. His eyes are red and the pupils are slit and reptilian. His tongue is slimmer than a human's and forked at the end. His sense of taste is sharp enough to function as a more powerful form of smell, similar to a snake's senses. Instead of canine teeth he has long, thin fangs, fully functional and capable of producing a powerful venom. His jaw is prone to hyper-extending, though it doesn't do him much good other than the occasional headache. Most days he dresses rather simply, usually just whatever worn-out t-shirts and jeans he can find. He's almost always found with some sort of jacket, partially because it's a safety blanket and partially because he has problems regulating his body temperature. He does have a few nicer outfits though, in plain black and white, for more official meetings with high ranking people. He's aged remarkably well, considering everything he's been through, and definitely appears younger than his thirty some years. There's no telling whether that's an Arbok thing or a gijinka thing or just a Raphael thing- he's always had a bit of a baby face. personality POSITIVE NEGATIVE LIKES loyal polite sweet selfless pacifistic protective agreeable hardworking naive anxious passive forgetful territorial cowardly indecisive easily flustered sweets sunbathing rules / order small, cozy spaces learning about new things pokemon DISLIKES FEARS HABITS crowds cold / rain magic his anxiety, being weak war, violence racism, those who look down on gijinka agoraphobia - the fear of wide open spaces and uncomfortable or unfamiliar environments, as well as the fear of having a panic attack smokes fidgets constantly stutters, lisps prone to panic attacks bites if his personal space is invaded history Raphael likes to think that he was human, once. It isn't true, most likely, he was probably a test tube creation like all the rest of them; nonetheless it's comforting to think that maybe, in another world, he could have had a family. In the world he's living in, however, that was never meant to be. He was an experiment and a shoddy one at that, a bunch of genes mashed together by second-rate scientist wannabes. He was less than human, and raised to think of himself that way, to serve the humans and never think for himself. Even though he grew up mostly before the war his childhood was still a rough one, filled with abuse and work that bordered on slavery. He might have stayed mindless and meek like that forever, had his original masters not sold him off like an animal to an organization known as the Black Jokers. In the pre-war region of Phoenix the Jokers had been the top underground organization. They were loan sharks and smugglers and all-round criminals, a massive organization of immense power. Raphael started out as just a faceless grunt but he was determined to serve his new owner- besides, he was a little bit in love with the outside world, now that he'd seen it he never wanted to leave. At the young age of seventeen he went on the adventure of a lifetime- he built a team of Pokemon, he learned to fight, he fell in love. (And then had that love ripped away from him. And then fell in love again. And again. There was even an evil clone in there somewhere, but that's another story entirely.) He worked hard and, though he was a bit of a screwup, no one could question his unfaltering loyalty to his organization. He had quite a powerful team at one point, had briefly entertained hopes at taking on the gyms and the elite four- he could have defeated all the gyms, easily, had he set his mind to it. But circumstances forced him to abandon them and start anew, causing him to throw himself back into his work wholeheartedly. He got to know Master Raito, going on errands and fetching coffee, happy to serve. He picked up a bit of how the organization was run as he went on various missions, accompanied as always by his faithful Arcanine and Tropius. Life was, if not perfect, the best he'd ever had it.  Then the war broke out and everything went to hell. The Jokers stood a better shot than some, perhaps, but their involvement with the monarchy made things difficult when the king fell. Raphael himself had been out on a mission when the news had come and had returned to HQ to find the place in ruins, his master nowhere to be found. Lost and without direction, he tried to help where he could, but at that time the young Raphael knew little about politics and thus wasn't terribly helpful in the civil war. It was the war after, the great conflict between the elders, that nearly destroyed him. With the return of magic he was forced into service of the elves- he fought on the side of the Elder Life, simply because they were the ones who had found him first. His immunity to poison made him a valuable asset against the Dark Ones and he found himself as a soldier on the front lines. War made heroes out of some, but not him, no, that wasn't in his blood. For him it was hell, pure and simple. He'd never know what became of his Tropius, though the last the gijinka heard he'd been doing fine- hopefully the old Pokemon is living out his retirement somewhere peaceful. His faithful Arcanine went out in a blaze of glory on the battlefield, protecting him from a stray blast from the Elder Death that otherwise would have killed him. Even as it was, Raphael had been injured rather badly, his strength greatly diminished by the time the war finally came to an end. And then there was the question of now what? The elves were kind enough, even apologized for the necessity of using his kind as soldiers, and though he wasn't sure he trusted them he was too weary to hold a grudge. With the end of the war he was allowed to go free, and for the very first time in his life Raphael was left with no one to serve but himself. No Master, no lord or boss, no one to tell him what to do or how to do it- what was he supposed to do with himself? He didn't trust either of the new species- he didn't like magic, didn't understand it and was frankly quite terrified of it- and so he attempted to ally himself with the humans, to little avail. After seeing the monstrosities he and his kind had committed in the war they didn't trust him, and he hadn't the willpower to argue with them and prove himself. What was he supposed to do, then, be alone for the rest of his life? He had to do something. And so he took the initiative, to help reshape the regrowing world. He started small, at first, with just a few other gijinka he'd known from the war, just trying to live their lives. But no matter who came to him he couldn't turn them away, and slowly he began a collection of sorts- the lost, the broken, the ex-soldiers who'd seen their lives burn around them- he took them all in, every one of them, even when he didn't know where their meals would come from. They worked together to find food and shelter, took donations from those who could afford it and cared for those who couldn't. Before he knew it there was a sizable group of people who looked to him for leadership- and he knew what he'd do in this strange new world. He forged a new organization, modeled on the old familiar framework of what had been the Black Jokers, and called it Basilisk. They were made mostly of those who were tired of the old world order, and who saw no reason for things to return to how they'd once been. After all, the way things had been before hadn't worked, had gotten so many killed and ruined their lives. No, they were going to take back what was rightfully theirs, and they were going to keep it. They all but ignored the newly formed human attempts at government and law enforcement, taking patches of farmland for their own and defending them fiercely. They expanded into the more hospitable parts of the magical lands, recruited more along the way, built their connections and their resources. And now? Why, they're actually something worth mentioning, maybe. After over a decade of assisting in reconstruction they've made quite a few friends- and perhaps a few enemies, as the law enforcement agencies don't tend to particularly like them. Raphael himself doesn't see anything wrong with the produce they sell- if people want to forget their problems, well, most of them deserve it- and besides, with everything the gijinka have done, don't they deserve a little repayment? For now he travels the region, making deals with people of various species, building his Family, and otherwise making himself invaluable. Should war break out again, he wants his brethren to be important, to be needed, rather than tossed about as cannon fodder- and if they're feared then, well, they'll be all the safer. the other half Raphael doesn't have any particularly fascinating powers, except perhaps for the poison fangs and the powerful sense of taste / smell. He's a little stronger and faster than your average human, but that's not particularly helpful against wild Pokemon. He's immune to poisons and resistant to the toxic magic of the Dark Lands, which is a nice perk, but once again not exactly battle-worthy. He isn't psychic, can't fly or breathe fire. He's quite flexible and his jaw can open pretty far, if you're into that, but that's just about it. Mostly his gijinka DNA is a nuisance to him- he gets cold easily, he can't pronounce the letter 's', and, oh, he's prone to sudden outbursts of violence. Arbok are known for being extremely territorial and aggressive, and though Raphael is as sweet and shy as they come, he reacts extremely negatively to unexpected touching. He's accidentally bitten and poisoned people in the past, and it makes him downright paranoid, not to mention guilty as hell. You should definitely ask first before you go for that hug, no matter how much he seems to like you. SPECIES: arbok LEVEL: fifteen ABILITY: shed skin EGG MOVE: sucker punch Et cetera NAME: nihlus SPECIES: gliscor GENDER: male LEVEL: twenty five ABILITY: sand veil EGG MOVE: counter NAME: splinter SPECIES: aron GENDER: male LEVEL: twenty two ABILITY: rock head EGG MOVE: head smash

i'm a fly that's trapped in a web but i'm thinking that my spider's dead lonely lonely little life i could kid myself in thinking that i'm fine but i'm skin and bone just a king and a rusty throne my castle's under siege but the sign outside says leave me alone IB, GARRY played by zero Mountain time -7

[Elder Life]

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