Ophion Hughes

BASIC INFO​

APPEARANCE​

Despite his heritage, Ion could certainly pass as human. He's 6'2", caucasian, and has light blue eyes. his hair is blond, and he keeps it fairly short, although it tends to be messy. He dresses nicely, and he has a penchant for wearing nice hats. It's a bit of a vice of his, and he's rarely seen without one. It's pretty much the only way he can keep himself from looking like he has perpetual bedhead.

Of course, if you manage to get him shirtless he's a whole other story. Ophion is the child of a naga, and as a half-naga, he shows a few signs of his parentage. From the edge of each collarbone sprouts a winding patch of blue scales. The scales themselves wander down his sides, ending abruptly just above his hipbones. The scales themselves are those of a snake, very similar to the blue racer, which is coincidentally the same kind of snake his mother takes after. While not immediately obvious, his eyes match the transitional scales between his mother's dorsal and ventral scales.

While not yet grown in, he does appear to be gaining further scaling on the outer side of his upper knee.​

PERSONALITY​

Ion is a pretty friendly guy, although he's perhaps most noticeable for his complete lack of surprise. The majority of occupants of the island were born elsewhere, and a majority of that majority are still surprised by things like people with two heads, or students who can turn invisible. Ion was raised on the island, and he's essentially completely unflappable. You could walk around with your head held on by a scrap of skin and he wouldn't bat an eye. He's quick to make friends with the weirdest of people, which makes doing his job as a tour guide that much easier. He has absolutely no issues with walking right up to a stranger and making conversation, especially if he thinks they're new to the island.

Ion is very firmly of average intelligence (much to his father's disappointment), but he's gained a strong work ethic to make up for it. His grades tend to be some of the highest in his class, and he's frequently found studying. He has a real passion for history, although truly not much else, and he's got no actual hobbies to speak of. He reads a bit, he watches a bit of TV, he'll play video games if offered - but aside from history, which he's going for his masters in, he doesn't have much in the way of actual interests.​

POWERS​

Ion is a half-naga, on his mother's side. While his mother is a full naga, complete with massive tail and missing legs, Ion passes as mostly human, save for the scales on his torso and knees. He has no ability to transform, but does have a few natural bonuses. He's more flexible than the average person, although really only to the level of a trained gymnast. He has the ability to 'smell' with his tongue, although he's thankful that this particular ability is opt-in, rather than on all the time. If he sticks his tongue out and then rubs it along the roof of his mouth, he'll have a much enhanced 'smell' of what's around him.

He can also communicate with snakes, although it could not truly be considered talking. As he describes it, it's more like sending general emotions and ideas. He couldn't ask a snake to go down the hall and take the third door, but he could ask them to follow a certain scent. Whether or not an individual snake will listen depends on the snakes temperament, and it's own personal needs.

While not quite at the level of a real snake, Ion has a limited ability to control his own body heat. His metabolism doesn't produce as much heat as a human's otherwise would, which also means he needs to eat less. Winters are particularly brutal, and he keeps his trips outside as short as possible.​

BIOGRAPHY​

Ophion was born and raised on the Manta Carlos Islands, one of two children born to a nagini and a rather intelligent (but otherwise perfectly human) archeologist. The couple had lived on Manta Carlos for several years, and planned to raise their children there. Ion himself has never stepped off the island, and finds the islands strangeness to be firmly normal for him. His younger sibling came a few years after him, and the both of them were sent off to Starlight Academy without a second thought. He's attended from kindergarten through to his masters degree, focusing on History once he got to post-secondary.

For his college years, he supplemented his income doing student tours and other jobs around the school. He isn't quite at the point where he needs a real job, and he's doing his best to put it off as much as possible.​

EXTRA INFO​