Elizabeth "Effie" Carrick

Full History:

Elizabeth Carrick - Effie for short - grew up in a small coastal town to a humble fishing family. They were about as normal of a family as they come. Close knit, friendly, occasionally embarrassing… aside from the fact that they were, in fact, ex-pirates. Yes, you heard correctly. Effie’s parents were reformed pirates that had seen the errors of their ways and had since settled down in the little beach town to raise a family. But old reputations die hard, and while none of the people in the village knew them prior to them settling down, the rumours followed them regardless.

Effie wasn’t always aware of this reputation. She’d grown up on the stories of her parents’ travels and adventures, and had never once thought anything of them until she was old enough to play with the other kids in the village. Except she didn’t actually do very much playing, because for whatever reason, no one ever came near her. In fact, they avoided her like the plague. If she should ever ask to join in a game they were playing, they’d nervously exchange looks before fleeing the scene.

It wasn’t until she made her first ever ‘friend’ that Effie realised just why people were so afraid of her. You see, one day she found herself being told by this ‘friend’ that they weren’t allowed to play with her anymore because her parents were criminals and their parents didn’t want them getting involved with her. And then it all clicked for the first time. She knew why no one wanted to interact with her, though it likely didn’t help that she was naturally quite abrasive and had a killer rbf that made her look like she was perpetually annoyed. How could she compete with a narrative like that? It all aligned with her being some kind of villain whether she wanted to be or not. What would she do to combat it, you may ask? Well, absolutely nothing. They’d already made up their minds on who she was.

One day, she’d been heading past a group of other kids ganging up on someone while she was on her way to the market. She hadn’t intended to intervene, she’d just looked their way by chance after having her attention pulled in by the commotion, and that one look from her was enough for the group to feel intimidated and scatter, though when she tried to approach the poor bully victim, they also made a run for it before she could so much as open her mouth to ask if they were alright. And then it occurred to her. The idea that she could use this for good. And thus began her new agenda.

Whenever she caught wind of someone being picked on, she showed up to defend them. Sometimes just her being there was enough, but sometimes people were cocky. Whether it was threatening them with her family (embellished for effect, of course) or getting into physical altercations with them, it usually did the trick.

This, however, did nothing to dispel her bad reputation. In fact, it only perpetuated it. She was known for picking fights with people, and no matter how misinterpreted her intentions were, people were scared of her regardless. And perhaps she wasn’t going about it all the ‘correct’ way, but she wasn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed either. She knew how to use her fists and that was that, people tended not to stick around long enough for her to talk through her reasoning.

Well, that was until someone new came to town! 11 year old Effie hadn’t really thought anything of it when she initially helped Nimiane, so can you imagine her surprise when she was later approached by her with a thank you gift? A bracelet! It turned out Nimiane was the daughter of travelling jewellers who had recently moved to the island, and so while she had undoubtedly heard about Effie’s less than savoury reputation, it didn’t seem to faze her. And so Effie would scramble to find something to offer the girl in return, feeling like a bracelet was far more high in value than what she deserved. And so, through mustering every remotely creative bone in her body, she ended up approaching the sandygast the next day with a dried starfish she’d found on the beach.

From that point on, they were fast friends! Which was quite the sight to behold considering Nimi was so mellow and spoke like someone at least a decade older despite them being the same age, and she was hanging out with someone like Effie, who was about as abrasive and unsophisticated as they come. And so perhaps it wasn’t so surprising that when their parents eventually caught wind of their friendship, they would be separated, just like that, but not for the reasons you might expect.

It turned out, their parents had a past together that neither daughter had known about. During Effie’s parents' pirate days, they had actually stolen merchandise from Nimiane’s parents! Quite the plot twist. And so they had barred them from hanging out any longer.

For Effie, this was devastating. Nimi was her first real friend, someone who could see the good in her and wasn’t afraid to be near her, and now she was being pulled away from her. Of course, that WOULD have been the case if they had actually stayed apart. Apparently Nimi had similar sentiments towards the situation, and so they would meet up in secret, not just to be together, but to scheme about how to get their parents to come around. And they eventually decided to parent trap them! Catch them off guard so that they’d have to talk it out and realise that it wasn’t fair to project their own past mistakes onto their children. And it worked! Albeit not as smoothly as it could have been, and their parents still aren’t friends to this day, but their own friendship would be allowed to continue.

And it did! To this day! Of course, seeing as they now work at GCSF together. But you may be wondering, how did that come about exactly? Well! On an island so well known for its markets with all different types of people coming and going, it was hard not to catch wind of the organisation. Around the time they both found out about it, they were already in their early 20s, a time in one’s life when you tend to find yourself at a crossroads, unsure of the paths you wish to take. And so this felt like a sign! An opportunity for Effie to leave the island for the first time ever and get out of the echo chamber that was her hometown, go somewhere that her abilities would hopefully be celebrated rather than feared, while Nimi would be getting a chance to travel again, this time of her own volition rather than her parents. And so the bounty hunters known as Team Tidepool were officially established!

Edit: After falling especially ill with the shadow sickness, Nimi would ultimately retire from the team and return home to recover, leaving Effie to continue on as the sole team leader. A whole new set of challenges ensue after realising how much Effie had been depending on her friend.