Shakuru Shank

Physical Appearance

• Long black hair with an undercut, usually brushed to right side
• Red eyes
• Tan skin
• Somewhat tall in height
• Physically fit with strong muscles, although he looks rather scrappy
• Tattoo under right eye of Aquanix symbol for "tranquility" (which is pronounced very similarly to "joy")
• Rough patches of skin on arms where fin ridges can grow out from
• Razor sharp teeth
• Gill slits on neck
• Usually viewed as a bit androgynous looking

Clothing Style

Shakuru tends to dress in whatever works best with warm, outdoor weather, especially clothing good for swimming. He rarely dresses formally and prefers mobility and functionality over aesthetic. He also doesn't tend to wear many accessories, although he does make quite a few out of shells, teeth, or other things he finds underwater or on the beach. He more commonly gives them to other people, usually his mother, although he'll wear them sometimes. His go-to clothing color seems to be black, and it's rare to see him wearing any outfit that isn't dominated by darker colors. Shakuru usually wears contacts to correct his near-sightedness, although sometimes when at home he'll just wear his glasses for reading (and Freyr describes them as hipster glasses, which Shakuru doesn't particularly appreciate).

His most common outfit consists of a waterproof sleeveless top over a skin tight waterproof turtleneck long sleeved shirt with armbands at elbows and wrists. When swimming he always pulls his collar down lower around his neck so it doesn't cover his gills. He also wears loose knee length shorts or black waterproof pants depending on the weather or how much he wants to protect his skin, or he might wear more form-fitting waterproof shorts under regular pants or jeans. He either wears waterproof boots when out and about or no shoes at all, and he cannot stand sandals or flip flops for some reason. He rarely goes anywhere without his gold family medallion and his purple scarf, usually worn around his waist.

Personality

Shakuru is a rather quiet and aloof young man who tends to be rather secretive and moody. He comes off as rather sarcastic or snarky to people who interact with him initially, and he tends to be very blunt with his words and opinions. He prefers to be in control of whatever situation he's put in and gets antsy easily when he can't handle things himself. Around his family he's perfectly content being a follower, but around strangers he becomes uncooperative with others who tell him what to do. He prefers to have extended periods of time to himself and only enjoys socializing in relatively short bursts. He can usually be irritable, especially when people intrude on personal time and space, and can also quickly resort to violence when he doesn't like how someone is treating him. Even little things can set him off, but he doesn't like being stressed out and regularly meditates to work on his temper issues. He can swing from being very zen to pissed off rather easily, which is something he's trying to work on. His difficulty with leveling his emotional instabilities may stem from mild mental issues he likely inherited from his father, a trait that a handful of his other siblings display and sometimes struggle with. He does his best to keep his aggressive impulses down and maintain control, but as much as he denies it, he is a little sadistic sometimes and does enjoy injuring people that annoy him.

Shakuru has a healthy curiosity about the world and enjoys seeing or learning new things, but he's not that nosy about other people are rarely takes interest in peoples' personal drama. He can be more sympathetic with his family, but to others he's not a good person to vent to since he probably couldn't care less about other people's problems. He enjoys spending time on the beach or in the ocean and has a love for aquatic environments and wildlife, which is apparent in his line of work as a marine biologist. Since his family is so rich, he doesn't necessarily need to work that hard to provide for himself, yet he still works with the city's local university, particularly in field assignments for evaluating the wildlife or environmental conditions.

Shakuru also tends to keep his personal problems and interests mostly to himself. The only person he opens up to regularly is his older brother, Freyr, but only if he bothers him enough and badgers him into talking about it. He feels that opening up about his feelings is a vulnerability, so he avoids it as much as possible since he hates feeling vulnerable or being forced into a submissive position and will violently force his way back out of it if need be. He gets very upset if people even get glimpses into his very personal life, and he can get rather emotional and usually aggressive if people try to approach him in this state. He especially keeps his love life private and gets peeved when anyone, including his own partner, talks about it. He tends to mellow out around his current love interest and is capable of being affectionate if given enough time to warm up to them, but they should never try to dominate him or ignore when he tells them not to cross certain boundaries, otherwise he'll introduce his fist to your gut. As long as his boundaries are respected, Shakuru is relatively easy to get along with once he's already warmed up to you.

Abilities

• Watyr rifting - 2/5
• Mild demonic strength/stamina
• Demonic aura that can further strengthen him along with adrenaline release 
• Mild accelerated regeneration from demonic aura and can survive some injuries that would normally be fatal to mortals
• Underwater breathing and faster movement/mobility while swimming
• Highly knowledgeable about marine life and the environment
• Skilled at making jewelry

Strengths

• Intelligent, clever, and a good problem solver
• Focused, resourceful, and logical
• Bold, determined, and assertive
• Observant, quick witted, and difficult to dissuade or intimidate

Weaknesses

• Hot tempered, resorts to violence quickly, and tends to be impatient
• Moody, likes to keep secrets about his personal life, and not terribly social or friendly
• Can be harshly blunt, is a killjoy at times, and extremely stubborn
• Terrified of heavy machinery like large moving gears/parts from a past near-death experience; likely has mechanophobia

Backstory

Shakuru was the youngest child of the Shanks until Fathom was born five years later, and he was always babied by his mother. Due to this he grew very close to her and tended to follow her about often, especially to the beach. However unlike a handful of his other brothers, Shakuru soon outgrew his dependence and became rather adventurous, especially about the waters of their coastline home. He was very curious about the marine life and ended up retaining this interest and making it into his career field in the present day. He enjoyed the alone time his exploration of the bay gave him, and he typically used this as his method to get out of the house for some quiet and to avoid encountering his father too often, whom he always had a fear of.

Shakuru had always been very close with his older brother, Freyr, and the two would often get into trouble together in their younger years. Eventually Shakuru outgrew the trouble-making and would instead chastise his older brother for his mischief, something Freyr would use to point out Shakuru was missing out on enjoying his childhood, which Shakuru never agreed with until his late teen years. Watching his older siblings mature ahead of him caused Shakuru to mature early on, especially during the period of time shortly after Fathom ran away. Shakuru was never particularly affected by his father's death, but he was deeply stricken by the depression his mother fell into afterwards. Because of this, he opted to remain living at home to help maintain the house with Freyr while finding his career in the localized area at the city university so their mother wouldn't feel as alone with so many of her children growing up.

He continues his life and career around home, keeping his mother's spirits up while helping Freyr with the house's general upkeep. In recent years, he's experimented with some romantic relationships, and for a while he was content in a rather secretive relationship with a man named Phillip Vale. However, they've recently broken up after Shakuru got fed up with Phillip's inability to respect his boundaries. Shakuru still has some feelings for him, but he also irritated that Phillip isn't taking the breakup well and won't leave him alone, which is giving him unhealthy amounts of stress.

Trivia:

Associated song with Phillip: Spectrum