Individual
Character's full name: Andrew Sanchez-Soto (born Andrew Barofsky)
Alias/ Nickname/ Codename: Andy, Fish Boy, Bubblehead
Gender: Cis-male
Age: 16
Date of Birth: March 14, 2001
Birthplace/ Home/ Place of origin: Miami, Florida
Nationality: American
Ethnicity/ Cultural Heritage: Raised by Cuban-Puerto Rican adoptive parents since he was four, Andy considers himself Latino. Biologically, he is of mixed European ancestry.
Appearance
Hair color and style: Short, brown, often spiked up in the front for style
Skin Tone: Perpetually sun-kissed
Eye Color: Brown
Height: 5’7”
Build: Swimmer’s build (though still has some growing to do)
Visible mutation: N/A
Scars/ Tattoos/ Piercings: N/A
Other features: Dimples appear in both cheeks when he smiles.
Everyday clothing style: Not liking to stand out in a crowd, Andy prefers to wear casual, simple clothes that you can find at any GAP or Old Navy, such as plain or striped t-shirts and blue jeans. He also has a tendency to wear
speedos as underwear during the day, always ready for a swim.
Uniform: N/A
Sleepwear: Cotton boxer shorts. His favorite pair has
dolphins on them.
Miscellaneous clothing: Around his neck, Andy can usually be seen wearing a silver, semi-tarnished cross necklace, which he habitually holds up to his lips and kisses whenever he needs a bit of luck or faith. It was one of the first birthday gifts his adoptive parents ever gave him.
Character
Personality: Andy carries himself with a very “go with the flow” type of attitude. He’s friendly, flexible and nothing short of agreeable, the type of guy who rarely ever gets into fights or arguments. On the upside, this makes him easy to talk to, incredibly patient and nearly impossible to anger. On the downside, he can be
too non-confrontational, habitually evading his problems like the plague and never really standing up for himself. When called names, teased or otherwise bullied, he acts like it doesn't bother him, but it does. A lot. Too much.
Beneath his seemingly lighthearted and carefree exterior, Andy is an introvert who chronically bottles up his feelings and anxieties. He wants friends and to fit in, craving acceptance and approval just as much as the next teenager, possibly even more so, but he also likes spending time alone and actually needs to on some level in order to replenish his energies and function properly. His preferred place to “get away” is the bottom of a swimming pool or somewhere deep in the ocean. Never one to wear his heart on his sleeve, it’s also the first place he retreats to whenever he is upset, his “happy place.” That said, he actually likes being a mutant, so much so that he can no longer imagine living without his powers, nor would he want to. What he doesn’t like, however, is all the emotional, political and social baggage that comes along with being “different.”
Due to his tendency to steer clear of conflict, Andy is much more of a follower than a leader, often falling silent and looking to others when things go south. You'll also never hear his opinion about many controversial topics, such as gender equality, immigration, race and religion, even though he may have a lot to say. After all, he was raised by two moms, both of whom are hardcore feminists, minorities, and very spiritual.
Hobbies/ Interests: Swimming, marine life, hanging out with friends... Did I mention swimming?
Job or part time job and description: N/A (full-time student at Xavier’s)
Fears/ phobias/ concerns: Andy fears snakes (who doesn't?) and being bullied or otherwise victimized by hateful people/groups (i.e., bigoted humans, homophobes, jerks). He hates marine pollution, cold weather and talking about his biological parents (mostly because he knows nothing about them, nor does he want to).
Special talents: Andy is a skilled swimmer even without the aid of his powers, is fluent in both English and Spanish, and knows how to dance Salsa, Merengue
and Bachata (though generally does not feel comfortable doing so outside of his home). Lastly, he knows a great deal about sea creatures and how to care for them.
Morality
Good/ bad/ neutral/ other: Good. Mostly. He has zero sympathy or compassion for those who harm him or others and is not above cheating to win, but otherwise tries to do the “right” thing, which is why a part of him wants to become a full-fledged X-Man--to help mutants and humans alike. The other, much larger part of him wants to dedicate his life to studying and helping the ocean and all its inhabitants. In general, he understands there is a lot of “bad” in the world that needs to be combatted, but he is only one person and would rather pick his battles wisely (and carefully) rather than try to fight all of them. Sometimes, he feels like he has to, though, and becomes frustrated when he can’t or “chickens out.”
Mutations
Mutation description:
Andy possesses the mutant ability of
psionic water repulsion. More specifically, he can repel water from any part of his body through the generation of psionic repulsion fields, which he can manipulate in size and strength at will. No matter how big or strong, these fields are invisible to the human eye, being psychic in nature, and have no direct effect on anything other than water molecules. They can, however, be used in a multitude of ways. They are as follows:
- Underwater breathing: As a sort of biological defensive mechanism, Andy unconsciously generates a psionic repulsion field around his head when he swims and/or is submerged in water. The air-filled space or “bubble” that is created as a result allows him to breathe normally in underwater environments for prolonged periods of time – but not indefinitely.
- Underwater agility: By generating psionic repulsion fields of varying sizes and strengths beneath his feet and/or around his hands, Andy is able to rapidly change speeds/directions like a fish while swimming.
- Underwater invulnerability: By generating a full-body psionic repulsion field and increasing its strength, Andy is able to withstand enormous (but not endless) amounts of water pressure. This allows him to swim at great depths of the ocean or any other body of water (beyond 99-134 feet of depth) without being crushed to death.
- "Force push": Recently, Andy has discovered he can use his psionic repulsion fields to forcibly "push" people and animals (and any other organisms or objects that are composed of or contain a significant amount of H2O) away from him – and keep them away for as long as he maintains concentration.
- Dehydration: Though Andy is fully aware his powers allow him to mentally force moisture out of objects, such as his clothes when they get wet, he has yet to discover that he can do the same to living things, most of which possess a high percentage of water in their cells, blood plasma, and/or organs.
Strengths: With the ability to breathe and see more clearly underwater, move swiftly and travel great distances in a short amount of time underwater, and barricade himself from physical attacks underwater, Andy is a powerhouse... underwater. Outside of water, not so much, though with more practice, experience and training he has the potential to become quite formidable in and out of water (once he gets a hang of using his powers to shove organisms away from him should they get too close, as well as dehydrate their bodies).
Weaknesses and Limitations:- Underwater breathing: Much like a dolphin, Andy eventually has to come up for fresh air (after about 8-10 minutes on average); otherwise, he would suffocate to death due to carbon dioxide poisoning. The speed at which this occurs depends on the size of his field, which he can manipulate through conscious thought and willpower. The bigger it is, the more oxygen he'll have available. For example, a 3-foot field would give him about 30 minutes, whereas a 5-foot field would give him about 2 hours… theoretically speaking. In actuality, it is more efficient for Andy not to tamper with the size of his field, as doing so can have a draining effect on his mind, especially since he is relatively new to his powers. At the moment, he can only extend his psionic repulsion field(s) up to 3 feet (1 meter) from his body before experiencing an unbearable amount of mental strain. The “psionic backlash” may even render him unconscious.
- Underwater agility: Andy can propel himself through water at a consistent pace for hours on end without any significant breaks for rest or recuperation, so long as he comes up for air every 8-10 minutes. However, the faster he travels/the more repulsive he makes his fields, the more quickly he will tire. His current limit is 90 mph, though he can swim faster in shorter bursts when frightened.
- Underwater invulnerability: Andy cannot sustain a full-body field for longer than 5 minutes. Though that may change over time as he becomes older and more experienced with his powers, it will always be easier for him to generate and manipulate smaller-sized psionic repulsion fields around smaller, more localized areas of the body, such as the head, feet and hands.
- “Force push”: At the moment, Andy has little to no control over this newly discovered ability. To him, it just sort of happens (in times of heightened emotional stress). He also cannot push organisms back great distances, since he currently cannot extend his fields past 3 feet.
- Dehydration: So long as an organism has pores, prolonged exposure to his fields could cause them to become clinically dry and even skeletal, depending on their size and biological complexity. A full-sized human, for example, would dry out a lot slower (within minutes) than a plant or small animal (within seconds). However, since he generally cannot extend his fields very far, he cannot dehydrate larger organisms completely. At least not in one shot.
Other limitations: Andy cannot generate psionic repulsion fields around others. He can extend his fields to protect his allies from underwater environments and/or water-based attacks, but not without the risk of dehydrating them in the process.
Though Andy's powers quite literally shield his eyes from the irritating effects of chlorine and salt water, he still has human vision, which means he cannot see well or at all in poorly lit conditions without external assistance (i.e., the sun, a flashlight).
Physical Abilities
General Physical Capabilities: He has high stamina and endurance thanks to his swimming background; however, he is not really what you consider “strong” or “agile” (at least outside of the water). At Xavier’s Sister School for Gifted Youngsters, he is currently learning basic hand-to-hand combat, among other things that may increase his overall physical capabilities over time.
Fighting Style: None as of yet.
Fighting Style Pros/Cons: N/A
History Of Your Character
Andrew or Andy Sanchez-Soto (formerly Andrew Barofsky) was the byproduct of an unwanted pregnancy. Shortly after his birth, he was put up for adoption and raised in foster care for the first several years of his life before finally being adopted by a loving lesbian couple from Miami, Florida. Valeria Sánchez (Mom #1) worked at a local seaquarium, whereas Manuela "Manny" Soto (Mom #2) was a math teacher. It was hard for Andy not to favor Mom #1, loving to see, touch and swim with all of the amazing sea creatures she cared for on a regular basis, even the ugly ones other kids seemed to be appalled by. His favorite, though, was a bottlenose dolphin named Lester, who Andy saw as his best and only friend for the majority of his childhood.
The epitome of shy and timid, as well as the poster child for “diverse families,” Andy was an easy target for bullies in school and tried his best to be invisible. It wasn't until the age of eleven that he started to come out of his shell and find his place in society. He joined the swim team, made new friends, and excelled more academically, especially in his Math and Spanish classes. His transition to high school, however, was about as smooth as a shark’s skin. All of a sudden, he was a small fish in a big pond, no longer one of the fastest swimmers on the team, not to mention how much less muscle mass he seemed to have compared to most of his teammates, especially the upperclassmen. To make matters worse, he couldn't stop
staring at their muscles, which made him wonder if he – like his moms – was gay. He really hoped not...
Terrified of being bullied again, he tried desperately to "pray the gay away," but when that didn’t work he decided to drown himself. Or at least he tried to. For some reason, he just kept breathing… underwater. It was as though the water around his head was being pushed away somehow. Was it a sign from God? Were one or both of his biological parents mutants? Andy had so many questions, but he was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth and quickly became eager to test out his newly found ability outside of his bathtub. No longer having to take breaths in-between strokes also did wonders for his swimming time. In no time, he broke a school record and was praised accordingly. Some students even started calling him “the next Michael Phelps.”
But then, as time went on, he started getting
too good, almost as though he was part-fish. Slowly but surely, more and more people, his coach included, become suspicious of him; however, they didn’t have enough concrete evidence to make any serious accusations until
one day he lost control, swimming so fast that he flew across and
out of the pool like a human torpedo. After denying all allegations made against him and even going as far as to blame the opposing team for “setting him up,” he was subjected to two tests, one a drug test and the other a DNA test. Though he tested negative for steroid usage, he tested positive for the X-Gene and was subsequently kicked off the swim team for “cheating.”
Once word got out about what happened and with no more swimming practices to attend after school, Andy’s overall happiness and social life took a nosedive, which prompted him to start spending more time in the ocean, exercising his mutant abilities, and less time doing homework or studying. There were times when he did not even want to go to school, and so he didn’t...
Worried about their son's mental well-being and future, Andy’s parents enrolled Andy as a student at a well-known K-12 boarding school for mutants (Xavier’s Sister School for Gifted Youngsters) in New York... and that is where he is now.
Roleplay
What’s your OOC alias?: Benji
Where did you learn about this site?: Former affiliates (Unhinged Evolution)
Do you have any other characters on MRO, if so who: N/A
Sample RP:
Several minutes ago, all Andy wanted to do was see a frozen lake for the first time. Now, all he wanted to do was go back to the mansion and up to his room where he could crawl into his nice, warm bed and curl up under his nice, warm covers. There was no place he’d rather be, but he couldn’t get there soon enough. The worst part of it was that he lacked snow boots, forced to walk through the deep snow in his sneakers, which were now soaked.
Why can't I fly like Laurie? Or teleport like Clarice? Or have some other mutant power that would help me get to get inside faster? whined Andy mentally as he tried to brave the cold and ignore the stiff pain in his face as best as he could. “Hate the cold, hate the cold, hate the cold,” he muttered under his breath, which he could see quite perfectly, over and over again, his lips trembling.
Wearing only a jean jacket, a school sweatshirt, a t-shirt and athletic sweatpants, maybe if he had a snow coat he would've made it all the way to the lake without bailing. But he didn't own such a thing, born and raised in Florida where it was rarely cold and literally never snowed.
Oh, how he missed Florida right now. Not necessarily the people, but the place. It was
beautiful in comparison. The warm climate. The palm trees. The beach... Oh, how he missed the beach.
Imagining himself back home only helped for so long before he felt the frigid wind and rush of snowflakes whip at his face again, bringing him back to reality.
“Why is it so freakin' cold!?” Andy bellowed, shivering wildly in a desperate attempt to warm himself up. Oddly enough, it worked, almost immediately feeling the heat rise to his cheeks and return to his toes.
Andy quirked a brow and looked up, confused. Snow continued to fall from the sky, but no longer could it reach him as though an invisible force-field surrounded his entire body, even his feet. Andy looked down and widened his eyes in amazement at how the snow pushed itself away from him with every step he took. "
Whoa."
Additional Photos:shechive.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/tom-daley-19.jpg?quality=100&strip=info&w=500
i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/12/27/article-2253718-16AAF000000005DC-225_634x500.jpgwww.celebyouth.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/TOM-DALEY-.jpg1.bp.blogspot.com/-z2i4EfF1dC4/UBjqSRjoOCI/AAAAAAAAA2w/JWIbLg0tPsw/s1600/110228_Shot01-093_ret2_FIN2_FLAT2.jpgi.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/09/25/article-2208346-0BFC972D000005DC-77_634x487.jpg
