Aki (Äkē)

Heir Aki'kīna Kikī'anō (a.k.a. Aki)

Introduction

Aki - Status : A Main Character
Aki is the one of more interesting Soldiers. Giving themselves the name Aki as opposed to their given name was a move to both separate themselves from their parents and to embrace their new identity as someone who wasn't female. Despite Aki's childhood hammering in certain messages, such as to be a leader you should probably not try to attack people who 'look at you wrong', they have decidedly not made any attempt to follow them. They are one of the most aggressive Soldiers, willing to beat anyone into a bloody mess, but also one of the least confrontational. They prefer to settle arguments with words rather than fists. These conflicting points of interest often create the mess of a person Aki tends to be. They dislike loud noise, yet are loud themselves. They don't like others touching them, yet long for any physical affection. They fear and hate others for being rough, yet they are just as if not even more aggressive and violent. This is the subtle enigma of Aki. Sometimes heading in one direction, and then turning around and heading the other in the blink of an eye.

Personality -

Aki is a rather loud, energetic, and extroverted person. They enjoy spending time with people and making friends as often as possible. They also are incredibly curious, wisdom and knowledge each being traits that Aki values incredibly highly. However, there are certainly aspects that their best efforts have had little effect. Aki can be best described in this situation as someone with ASD, or autism. They often need instruction on how best to navigate certain social situations, as well as the specifics that tone and facial expression carry that effect ones meaning. Despite these struggles however, Aki is far from useless in a social setting. A result of their upbringing carries with it the rather admirable skill of defusing and navigating ones way out of tight situation. Their autism may be a hindrance towards them in some ways, but it hardly means that they're useless or can never learn. Often the life of a party, Aki could certainly be called a social butterfly. They can strike up friendships and conversations with whomever they want --- though the added aspect of not quite being fully socially aware and thus not having the same anxiety certainly is a help.
Although this gives the impression of a rather kind and gentle individual, this would be misleading. At the flip of a dime, Aki's anxiety can take over and they can become physically aggressive and violent. When this happens, they are incredibly dangerous. Not only does Aki have considerable strength on their side, they are also an incredibly skilled fighter of Lua. The Nai marital art of Lua requires speed and hand-to-hand combat to quickly dislocate and break the bones of your opponent. Blades are rarely relied upon, as a strong fighter would only need the nails upon their fingers to tear flesh. This knowledge, combined with Aki's quick temper, occasionally puts them and others in...  precarious situations. However, these fluctuations in emotions and mental state aren't as random as they appear to be. They are often triggered by flashbacks to Aki's time living with their parents, or to triggering stimuli. Aki can go from being kind, cheerful, and upbeat, to then becoming antagonistic and dangerous, to then breaking down and entering suicidal states due to fear and regret.
As a result of pent up or repressed emotions, physical aggression is sometimes the only way they believe they can express the way they feel. They don't mean to hurt those around them, but instead just need an outlet. While they historically tried to ignore their emotions and repress them, any outbursts would become dangerous either to others or themselves. Their emotions may seem unpredictable, and granted they often are, yet they do try their best. Aki is aware of the danger they pose to their fellow soldiers as a result of their immense strength, and they will often try to isolate themselves when upset. After all, when one's alone the only person they can hurt is themselves. They understand that it's unhealthy, however they are far to afraid to speak about their feelings to others. Hurting those they care about is a line they refuse to cross, understanding from personal experience the damage it can create. Ultimately, they never fully learn how to deal with their emotions in a healthy manner. Even as the rest of them grows and is able to escape the confines their childhood brought with it, Aki remains fearful of their emotions and of who could potentially become.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Aki is incredibly athletic and strong, the second strongest of all the Soldiers in fact. They have broader shoulders, as is common for Manaks, and are all around incredibly muscular as well. They are not agile in the slightest however. Due to the strain of being on land with a tail, it makes many forms of movement, especially ones that rely on speed or dexterity, incredibly difficult.

Facial Features

Aki has a rather circular or square face shape with dark brown monolid eyes. As for these eyes, it has a double-slit pupil, an evolutionary advantage to give Manaks sight both above the water and below it. They have eyebrows that are thick in shape yet have very little actual hair, as well as a wide set nose. Finally, Aki has slightly more teeth than a human would have, and they are incredibly sharp as well. Oh yeah, and they have no ears. That too.

Identifying Characteristics

While many facial features including the eyes and teeth could be easily identifiable, there is one that stands out above the rest. Facial tattoos. In many Manak cultures it is customary to have facial tattoos, and to get these tattoos is a sign that one has come of age. These tattoos usually follow the path of facial muscles to accentuate expressions one makes, as well as to show status through certain markings. While Aki's tattoos aren't completed due to their early death, they still have several. Their tattoos are made up of triangular marks along the chin and jaw, marks under the eyes, and several on their forehead.
Oh yeah, and the fact they have a freaking dolphin tail. That too. Forgot about that.

Special abilities

Aki's abilities are some of the least versatile powers, yet some of the most dangerous as well. They posses the ability to practically disintegrate any object into tiny particles (Roughly the size of fine glitter for example), move the particles to any location that they can see -they cannot teleport after all- and re form them into their initial form. They can do this with absolutely anything, the only draw back being man-made materials that have blended together two or more different substances. These include mixed fibres or alloyed metals. Because they can only control one substance at once, they would need to separate each fibre or metal on the chemical level to control it, which is near to impossible. However, with this set of abilities, they are one of the most dangerous Soldiers, even able to compete near Kai's level and the Gods. Their ability to destroy and re-form anything they see fit on absolutely massive scales means that they are capable of immense power and damage.

Specialized Equipment

Aki contains two specialised weapons. One is a blunt looking weapon by the name of a Patu Ōnewa, a weapon used for striking the upper body of an enemy and then hitting their head. To accommodate for Aki's abilities, the Patu Ōnewa is made of stone, so that they can manipulate it around a battlefield and attack opponents from long range. Secondly, Aki uses a shark-tooth sword, a wooden sword with shark teeth serving as a blade. While Aki cannot manipulate this item due to it having several components (The teeth, the wood, the leather for the hilt, etc), the wood of the sword was altered to be partially flame resistant, for the specific purpose of defending themselves against Maytee and her fire attacks.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Aki was born in the Nai Archipelago. A series of southern islands that were the home to Manaks, and occasionally humans as well. Aki was born as the youngest child to their family, with two older twin brothers. It is customary in certain Manak civilisations that women would be the heir to the Chief if they were ever born, unless a male option was much more favourable for whatever reason, and so Aki became the heir. They were raised relatively normally for the first few years of their life, spending time with relatives and family friends on a constant basis. By the age of four, Aki's education started. They would spend hours at a time indoors, studying as much as possible, which began to take quite a toll. However, they assumed it would be necessary since they were to inherit the Chief title if their mother was to ever pass away. Unfortunately for Aki, some time later they began to realise they weren't the young woman they thought they were. They felt different, and sometimes wished they were a boy instead. Utterly terrified that this would cost them the throne -so to speak-, they repressed these emotions, not wanting to have wasted all these years studying for naught. This was not the worse that would happen to them growing up, however.
Aki was abused, specifically by their father. They were abused emotionally, mentally, and even, at times, physically. While any physical abuse was made sure to leave no mark, the emotional and mental abuse certainly would. As they grew older, the abuse never changed, but it did switch form. It was no longer outwardly hostile or dangerous. Instead, their father would gaslight them on a constant basis, leading Aki to believe that they had never been abused in the first place. Any defiance from Aki when their father claimed that these events never happened would lead to the abuse resuming. Aki learned to keep their mouth shut. 
Aki did not need to endure this for long, however. On a visit to a neighbouring island, a tsunami struck. While many ran to the high lands, the mountains and such, part of Aki compelled them to stay below. Whether this was to make sure their people were safe, or if secretly inside they wished to be swept away by the oncoming tsunami is unknown. In the end, they lost their life to the tsunami, being taken away by its waves and, because of the debris that came loose from infrastructure, pinned Aki underwater and drowned them. After this death, they were kept in a short term hibernating state before they were brought to the Second Sphere as a Soldier.

Gender Identity

Aki identifies as bigender or gender fluid. They tend to fluctuate between male, female, or a combination of both. However, they don't use either of the labels mention before to refer to themselves as. Instead, they prefer to go by the name of a Māhua, a gender from the Southern Manak people that refers to those who don't fall into the cisgender male or cisgender female identities. While that does lack any specifics to how a Māhua identifying person may feel -whether they merely identify as a trans man or woman, or if they instead feel somewhere on the non binary spectrum-, it's the label Aki feels most comfortable with. Referring to themselves as Māhua also gives them a connection to their people, since they are no longer able to return to the Third Sphere where they were born.

Sexuality

Aki's sexual identity would be what could be described as asexual, or on the asexual spectrum. They feel no sexual attraction to anybody, and desire to physical intimacy with anyone. Ever. While they are physically attracted to nobody, they can be romantically attracted to anyone. They seem to have no preference for gender, having a relationship with a girl in the past, Maytee, and a guy now, Kai. They don't care for gender in the slightest, and even had difficulty understanding why certain people did care. However, do the the Southern Manaks little regard for ones sexuality, not caring about people's gender in the slightest and having no label for such a thing, Aki does not care to assign any label towards their sexuality. They were raised as it being a completely normal occurrence that did not need to be given a name to, and thus don't care about labelling themselves in that way.

Education

Aki is incredibly educated, even more so when compared to the average Soldier. Growing up as the next-in-line to the Chief position, they were trained from a young age in a vast array of studies. They were taught many languages, cultural practices, advanced studies in history or math, and even in forms of fighting. They became incredibly adept due to these skills, mainly excelling in the languages, debate, and physical abilities areas. Their formal education got cut short from their early death at age fifteen, but continued some forms of education in the Second Sphere, at the hands of Kai. They became incredibly skilled in their magic abilities and became one of the few Soldiers who could stand a chance against Kai. Albeit, this had significantly more to do with Aki's power specifically than their actual skill.

Mental Trauma

Aki's trauma stems from their parents for the most part. While in public there was often the impression of a kind family, behind closed doors Aki was abused quite horribly by their father. Both physically and mentally, life with their parents was a living hell. Their mother, who was the chieftess of their islands, was left unaware of the abuse, or simply didn't care. Aki never quite learned which answer was the correct one. This led Aki to become incredibly scared of angering anyone, and of most forms of physical touch. While Aki later recovered, at least partly, the trauma -specifically a form of C-PTSD- haunted them for the rest of their life. This did create and bond with Vivi however, when both shared their experiences of abuse at the hands of those who were supposed to protect them.

Personality Characteristics

Likes & Dislikes

One of Aki's favourite things in the world is fish. Specifically when raw and seasoned with salt or seaweed. They also, rather unsurprisingly, love the ocean and all that comes with it. They can enter deep depressions if they are not near a body of water for extended amounts of time.
One of the things Aki vehemently dislikes are the Gods. Seeing how they practically tortured Kai (at least in Aki's eyes) and even brought Aki themselves to an early death does little to endear these beings to them. They don't dislike them with the same rage as Kai, but are still known to be one of the few Soldiers to openly curse at the Gods.

Social

Social Aptitude

Aki is not as well in social experiences as one might think considering their upbringing. While they are able to diffuse a situation seamlessly, or persuade almost anyone to do what they ask, they fail horribly at reading rooms. They cannot pick up on any hidden meanings in someone's words, and they themselves are incredibly blunt. This is all most likely due to their autism. While they can occasionally understand innuendoes, their main downfall is when someone is upset, or trying to say something politely. Aki tends to not understand what to do in these situations, if they can even realise they're in one. Because of this, Aki is pretty much useless is situations that may require high levels of empathy or tact, and prefers to stay in the background during this.

Hobbies & Pets

Aki's main hobby is dancing. While they aren't exactly good at it due to some physical limitations, they still enjoy it immensely, and enjoy partaking in an activity that reminds them of home.

Speech

Despite Aki's background, they speak relatively informally, preferring to distance themselves from who they were when they were with their parents. Their tone of voice changes rarely, but for the most part is androgynous, if not lightly high pitched. They rarely swear unless they are upset or desire to prove a point. Most notably however, they are the only Soldier to have any form of accent in the slightest. While the rest of the Soldiers speak Simplified Godspeak with no accent at all, Aki's vocal cords require them to have an accent, though it is very subtle, even if they have been speaking the language since birth. As for vocabulary, they tend to speak rather stereotypically, referring to those around them as their 'cousin', and other adults as 'auntie' and 'uncle'.

Alignment

True Neutral

Species

Manak

Age

Start - 15 End - 25

Circumstances of Birth

Expected

Circumstances of Death

Tsunami

Birthplace

The Nai Archipelago

Place of Death

The Nai Archipelago

Pronouns

He/She/They

Sex

Female

Gender

Bigender

Presentation

Usually Masculine or Androgynous

Eyes

Dark Brown

Hair

Black, Barely an inch long, tightly coiled

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Medium brown skin

Height

5'8

Weight

127 kg

Belief/Deity

The Ancient Pantheon

Known Languages

Aki has the largest array of language skills from all of the Soldiers, becoming fluent in six languages at the age of fifteen. These languages included Godspeak, Simplified Godspeak, and four Nai'lelo languages.