Viewing profile - Merle Richards

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Username:
Merle Richards
Groups:
Age:
20
Gender Identity:
Male
Race:
Human
Nationality:
Beacon Dorms
Character Picture:
https://media.discordapp.net/attachment ... height=671
Height:
5'10"
Aura Color:
Light brown
Physical Description:
Merle is generally considered a handsome male with mildly wavy, short dark brown hair and narrow dark brown eyes. His bangs frame his face, while some are gathered at the center of his forehead. He is quite tall and slim in physique. One could attribute his slimness to a lack of eating, moreso it is actually more due to what is a rather accelerated level of metabolism. Otherwise his rather agile frame is completely natural.
Outfit Description:
Taking after his father and a few Crime Noire films he watched in his downtime, Merle seems to favor some rather nifty cloths as far as things go; wearing a long sand-colored trench coat while either on investigation or in combat. Often enough the belt is left untied for the sake of ease unlike in that of colder weather or when he needs to be discrete, to which the belt is left tied.

Worn casually is a black vest over a striped dress shirt that is light blue in hue. He wears a bolo tie, which is held by a brown ribbon and a turquoise pendant -usually only worn for more special occasions. He also dons beige pants, and dark brown shoes. Usually worn over such is either his trench coat, or some other form of warm clothes for colder temperatures, usually parted some.
Personality Description:
Merle isn't particularly odd by any standards, in fact he prefers to see himself as 'normal' compared to other students. While most others play themselves off as special or simply unique, the fellow downplays himself just as 'some other fellow on the street' who happened to get into Beacon off of nothing but 'sheer luck and some grit'. Of course to others, he simply lies to them, saying he has no semblance; furthermore pawning his semblance as simply 'Nothing but instinct'.

Otherwise when he isn't pursuing a job or some sort of self driven investigation, Merle seems to paint himself as the jovial everyday person one would see on the street. He is often enough happy to joke around when he can; get his quips in, and generally smart enough to try and dance around dicey subjects with some form of tact if he has to.

Ultimately, he is someone who seems to idolize his late father; and would often do anything to protect his name, or at least what is left of it. In classes, he is the person who seems to take more notes than he needs to, often going through pads and books as though they were pages at some times. Considering life to be rather odd, it seems to drive him to see what's next; sometimes even driving him to be rather hasty with his actions.
Backstory Highlights:
A Valian native, Merle didn't exactly get the longest stick in the bunch.

"Now where do you go with a story like mine?"

Merle, a man born of not union, but more or less pure accident; an unlucky night with his father and a mistake made with a woman of ill repute. Of course one could brand it as unlucky, with his father -Bishop Richards, an ex-huntsman turned private eye for hire- left alone to raise a child when the mother wanted nothing to do with it, but it was only the start of a rather grand story. Even when left with a situation as such, the man seemed to know how to cause it to go into his own favor, utilizing friends and friends of friends to help watch young Merle while he went on jobs to make ends meet. With such things in the young and often starry-eyed Merle's life, it wasn't too long till he was fed stories.

"And boy what stories those were..."

More often than not, the stories were of his father and his exploits as a huntsman; a true hero in the eyes of Merle. Whenever his father had the time, it was more often spent with his only son and often in good moods too.

"Y'know. Maybe some of those little tales did do something to me after all."

Upon the respective age of thirteen, Merle decided to try and take up the mantle of huntsman like his father had, moving to attend Signal for the next four years of his life; eventually creating Maltese Falcon within his second year and somehow unlocking his semblance by his fourth. Of course in those years, Merle wasn't known as the most combatively adept, but instead had that spark that made him just good enough to eventually graduate. He didn't have the comings of a brawler, but he certainly had one that of a planner.

"I guess you should've expected it: Trouble in Paradise"

Of course not all was good on the home front. By the age of forty-five -or roughly when Merle was fifteen, still in Signal-, Merle's father ended up entering a rather early retirement with an accident that left him in a wheelchair for his foreseeable future. Of course this left the two rather short funded, with Merle's own hopes of attending Beacon right after Signal dashed into the stones. By this time, Merle found himself working part-time, doing favors and odd jobs whilst close friends of Bishop occasionally sent lien to help cover the costs of living.

By the age of forty-nine, Merle's father passed away, the reason as to why being an unknown medical condition that ran recessively within his family line. Luckily this meant that the nineteen year old Merle was safe from such, even more unluckily was that he was now fatherless and without a mother to even be able to go to, even let alone name.

After that, with practically nothing to his name than a few vague relatives, a small group of his father's friends he keeps in contact with, and enough lien to last a couple months at best, Merle was forced to work for several months before eventually applying to Beacon, hoping that the opportunities that a huntsman's life provided could fill the gap in his finances and perhaps even allow him to find some answers about his life along the way.
Occupation:
Education:
Signal Academy Lessons and several years of odd jobs that are best left outside of the public eye
Semblance Name:
Insight
Semblance Description:
Simply enough a semblance that embodies his ideas of "Wait and see", it seems to tap into Merle's desire to 'see what happens next'. The semblance, dubbed with the name of Insight by the fellow himself, allows him to plan his movements on the go. Th long and short of this semblance is that -while it is active- it allows Merle to see 'shadows' of others within his line of sight. These 'shadows' seem to act about one to two seconds ahead of the owner of said shadow, providing what appears to be an outline of their next possible actions within those two seconds. None of these actions are completely accurate and can be bypassed somewhat via the use of illusions to a certain point.

In a way one could say the semblance can punish Merle for acting with haste, but the truth of the matter is that it seems to act within the scale of a probability of a single action that isn't likely to come true completely. The shadows seem to imitate the target's looks, drawing a sort of outline of them from their aura that only he could see through his eyes; with other things such as grimm, however, their 'shadows' appear only as indiscernible blackened blobs, seeing they lack any aura to start with. Upon the activation of his semblance, his eyes seem to change towards a lighter shade of brown; seeming somewhat hazel-like.

This semblance usually takes a small amount of aura to actually start up and slowly takes a miniscule cost over time in terms of actual long-term use.
Weapon Name:
Maltese Falcon
Weapon Image:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/ ... nknown.png
Weapon Description:
The Maltese Falcon a specialized knife -serrations included- made in remembrance of some old flicks he had seen. Upon notice, the most notable thing would be the revolver cylinder that seems to add as an indicator of the weapon's second function. The coloring of the metal is more or less that of blackened steel, with a foldable ivory grip to boot. Typically used as a slashing weapon in this state, Merle prefers to take comfort in it's second form.

When he chooses to fold the grip outwards, the weapon's form changes as the serrations, blade, and grip support retracts into the weapon itself, revealing a revolver barrel to which the six shot cylinder goes to it's obvious use. In the place of a grip support, the revolver's hammer retracts out whilst a set of iron sights flip up. All at the same time, the weapon's trigger mechanism and it's guard retract out and fold in respectively. In all respects, the gun is double-action and is chambered to fire fairly high caliber rounds.
Fighting Style:
On the job, or in combat, the investigator prefers to stick with what he knows; preferring to act as a sort of person who shies away from direct combat styles. All in all he prefers to stay away from whoever could cause harm, acting as a battlefield tactician with his 'look and see' approach to high stress situations.

That isn't to say he sucks eggs at combat per se, as even since Signal he can properly hold his own against people pretty well. Such said, him fighting up close is a cruel joke, preferring to parry, block, and avoid attacks rather than participate in a way more meaningful than a few errant slashes to ward away anyone with a frame more notable than his.

Though as some might ask, and as he fancies himself, he's a pretty decent shot with a revolver.
Strengths:
Networking: Despite it all, Merle at most understands the key importance of keeping a group of friends around, and even more so to be on good terms with them.

Planning: Really, he's just pretty book smart and street smart at this point in his life, and with the assistance of his semblance, trying to cover long and short term planning tends to be his forte when he isn't the only one skulking around.

Agility: Yeah, he's just pretty quick on his feet, which more so is the fault of a generally more agile frame.

Subterfuge: Well it's good enough to say that he fancies himself with some professions that not many would look at the common man happily about, with it mostly being a case of necessity. Also just in general he's good with lockpicks and usually manages to always have one around.
Weaknesses:
Physicality: Despite it all, the best Merle has going for him are some above average reflexes, quick planning, and even quicker feet. He isn't a brawling type, nor someone who could persist in a 'fair' fist fight in any sort of offensive.

Close Combat (I Hate CQC): Second verse, same as the first. He isn't good at close combat and he knows it!
Likes:
Quicksilver's Sushi, some morning coffee, hearing a story, the smell of fresh cookies
Dislikes:
Lukewarm drinks, cleaning bird feathers from his clothes, hypocrites
Recent Events:
*Noir detective sounds*

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Sun Feb 28, 2021 5:22 am
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