Remora Fink || D4

Name: Remora Fink
Age: 16
Gender: Female
District/Area: 4

Appearance:

Remora doesn't think much of appearances. She keeps her hair long out of habit, falling just below her bust, and has learned to work with the sunkissed brown streaks framing her sight. When somewhat greasy, as she finds comfortable having grown up at sea, it falls about her face straight as needles despite the lighter waves they form if she ever gets truly clean. Her olive skin is essentially perma-tanned, her face littered with freckles and ending in a square jaw. The girl’s deep-set eyes are framed by thick eyelashes complementing their archetypical striking blue, light as the sky on a clear summer’s day.

At 5’7” Remora is moderately tall, with legs so disproportionately long that most people find them off-putting rather than graceful. Still, “lanky” could never describe them, as her legs - like the rest of her muscles - have a remarkably athletic build for a girl of her age. Having strengthened gradually since her childhood, these muscles have taken on a relatively smooth, supple appearance, contrasting with the jagged angularity of those who’ve trained quickly and forcefully. She dresses comfortably, typically wearing simple clothing loose enough to let a breeze pass through, though not so big as to get caught in ropes and nets. Her favourite outfit would be a light white tank top with jean shorts.

As a pretty teenage girl, her skills tend to get underestimated both at sea and among her peers, and her friendly demeanour is sometimes mistaken for flintiness, though she thinks relatively little of romantic relationships.

(Face Claim: Merritt Patterson)

Personality:

At her core, Remora’s always been resilient. Even in the face of adversity, she brings a playful touch to any situation, never seeming to take things too seriously. Still, the high energy that comes with this makes her impatient, and somewhat poor at dealing with people who get caught up in details. This trait comes out especially when with quiet people, who she finds tedious and bothersome. Though she’s pretty smart (i.e. ~average), for some reason she’s always had difficulty pronouncing names.

Having grown up on a ship (see history below), Remora’s got a true spirit for adventure, and has developed an inventive mind. That is, she’s a quick thinker and apt at problem-solving, especially when it involves crafting something with knots, strings, or nets, and even with the greater functioning of a boat (such as, I don’t know, types of wood that float better than others, maybe building a raft if she’s got the right materials…she’s not without limit, but she knows the ins and outs of a boat better than her own anatomy). She also learned to work with others from an early age - while she hasn’t always found it easy to get along with her peers, and as mentioned she has her pet-peeves, Remora is a cooperative character who’d rather work with others than alone, and who tends to be good at recognizing what someone has to offer. Still, having been an outcast at school and abandoned by her mother, the girl has a core fear of abandonment.

As is elaborated upon in her history, Fink believes she has some sort of a “sixth sense” - while her premonitions are far from infallible, she feels a deep connectedness to the sea, and believes that water can heal her completely. (Not in a hydration-is-healthy way, in a I-am-magic sort of way.) Though she keeps it secret, as she believes her divine knowledge cannot be shared with anyone, Remora has a delusion of grandeur involving being destined to be a Victor. She also suffers from delusions of reference, specifically believing that things that happen in water have a special meaning to her, and can tell her things others cannot know; as well as disorganized thought.

History:
TRIGGER WARNING: schizophrenia, delusions, hallucinations, suicide
Skip paragraph 1 to avoid. (The first 2 are also discussed in paragraph 4, but less intensely. P1 is pretty unnecessary if you’re here to RP with Remora.)

Remora’s father has always been a man of the sea, so the first few years of her life she was primarily raised by her mother. While the girl was always kept safe and well-loved, the stress of having to largely single-handedly care for a newborn, as well her husband being dangerously out at sea for long periods of time, triggered the onset of her mother’s schizophrenia. Luckily, as the disease developed slowly, Mora was able to take care of her daughter for a while. Disorganized, racing thoughts, distractibility, and eventually delusions, meant that care slowly became more difficult. When home, Pike would notice his wife’s distress, and her slowness to respond to their daughter’s crying. He started to spend less time at sea to take care of Remora, and as Mora began to break more and more from reality, she eventually took her own life. Distraught, Pike returned to what he knew best - he went back to sea, taking a three-year-old Remora with him. The familiarity of his old life brought him comfort, and some days he could event pretend Mora would be waiting for him when he and his daughter returned home.

Remora grew up playing on the ship, learning to get along with all sorts of seafarers - no man, no matter his size, appearance, or booming voice, could scare the girl. As she grew, she quickly became integrated with the crew, learning to tie knots around age 4, tie them into nets over the following year, and as she grew bigger, eventually helped raise and lower sails and fishing nets, and in recent years, help row the ship (among other duties). With her father being promoted to Second mate a few years back, she’s been given more freedom and is seen as just another deckhand.

Of course once she became of age, the girl had to start going to school. During the school year, her father was able to be home with her in the evenings, while she would come to work with him on the weekends and during the summer. While her childhood had taught her how to be handy, adventurous, and cooperative, she hadn’t had much interaction with other children. This made her early school days hard, and she was quickly established as the class eccentric (…”weirdo”). As she learned how to interact with her peers, Remora became more accepted, though early years of exclusion and bullying left her fearful of abandonment. Once teenage years began, she started to even be noticed by others, thanks to her natural beauty and confidence.

Pike never told Remora the truth about her mother, [ignorantly] fearing that knowing about Mora’s illness could spark the onset of her own. To this day, Remora believes her mother died of an infection. Due to her early life stressors - being separated from her mother, having little early interaction with other children, and being an outcast at school - Remora’s own illness had a much easier onset than her mother. However, as she grew more independent in her teenage years, her father was unable to recognize the early symptoms that she didn’t know to make note of - unusual thoughts and suspicions, delusions of reference and grandeur; feeling like she knows things other people can’t. While symptoms are hardly noticeable and she’s still able to lead a normal life, there’s no telling what may become of her.

Other: The remora is a suckerfish that tends to attach itself to a host organism. It feeds off of the host’s ectoparasites, dead skin, and faeces. This is either seen as a commensal (+/neutral) or mutualistic (+/+) relationship.

Author’s Note: Hello, my name is Sara and I’m new to the site! Please let me know if I’m not meeting general standards in any way, or if you have any constructive criticism, and ~definitely~ if you want to RP together! I'm a science student and it's been a while since I've written much so please forgive me haha. I’m very excited to be here and can’t wait to get started

UPDATE: "Sara, why is there nothing here about the tsunami? She spends half her life at sea, wouldn't that be important?" you ask.
"Why yes, but I am ignorant and didn't even know there was a tsunami until just now, my friend," I explain. "As it turns out, some of the deckhands she grew up with and grew to love died in the tsunami, which was very sad, but luckily her father happened to be home when the tsunami first hit, and is obviously not at work now, since I have a soul and I think Remora's been through enough considering I haven't even actually RP'd her yet."
You nod understandingly. "Swiggity swag," you whisper, backing slowly into the darkness. "Swig..gity.........swag....................."