Navi: CourseMan.exe
Type: Aqua
Subtype: Shadow (Illusion extends to touch sense; free self-decoy per turn)
Apparent Gender: Male
Apparent Age: Early/Mid 20s
Appearance:
CourseMan's visual appearance was designed as part of a visual design and modelling project, serving as the mastery submission by one of Jenny's school-friends, Rachel. Initially stumped on what to present, she consulted Jenny for an idea and ended up making what was Jenny's private fantasy of the perfectly cool and dreamy guy.
The result was, as Jenny describes him:
A six foot four male with a strong physical presence, but not enough to make him imposing. Built enough to sweep a young lady up off her feet easily, but smooth skinned and defined without bulging, well, except in good ways. His skin was made a soft tan, almost olive, with short brown hair, thick and luxuriant enough to tangle your fingers in at the back of his head, but no longer. Just the faintest hint of a six o'clock shadow, but not present enough to actually feel rough or spiky if one were to rub your cheek against it while he held you tight to his firm and comforting chest... I mean, ah, theoretically. You know, because he's a navi and all that, and uhh.... where were we?
His eyes are blue, and piercing, and when he looks at you you can just tell that he's seeing everything about you and knows what you're thinking. Like he's undressing you with his mind, but he's only doing it because he already knows you want him to, and it's not creepy at all, you know? Let's see... He wears black dress pants, the kind that look all formal and proper, but on him, they're just casual and he makes them look sharp and sexy without seeming to try, and over that, one of those fancy nautical jackets, the kind that important people wear, with the dark blue fabric and the silver tread trimming, and little silver buttons, oh but he never does them up, of course, because he wears it relaxed and comfortable; it's formal wear, but he looks so natural in it, like he was born to it, you know? Not stuffy at all, just perfectly suave. It's got the turned back cuffs on the sleeves and the high collar that looks just as good turned upright in bad weather as it does down, when it's fine. And just a white front-button shirt under it, tight enough to define his chest, but fitted just right, so it doesn't look too small. Oh and he always wears it with the first five buttons undone, so it's loose open down to the middle of his chest, and I can see his hunky... ah, em...
So anyway, dark glasses, too, and a neck chain, slender and not bulky, in silver, with a pendant that looks like a river thrusting apart two boulders... what? Yes just like the one I've been sketching in my notebook this whole time. Shush you. It's a navi design right, so you should probably put his emblem somewhere too, right? How about you make it that, and it can be the icon on all his buttons and a silver ear-stud too? Maybe his belt buckle too? Oh, and fingerless gloves! Black and tight, right, so it gives him that look of rugged worldliness, against the look of power and position from his formal clothes.
Most of the time he moves afoot, without anything fancy, even if he is particularly light of step and glides about like he's dancing, mmm... but it's not like he's doing it deliberately, like a ponce, or anything... he' just naturally graceful on his feet, right? Anyway, usually he just walks or runs, but sometimes when the situation is right for it, or he's really trying to move very nimbly, or very fast, a small eddy of water rises about his feet and he adopts a motion that's something between a graceful glide and almost surfing. At need, he can do this with any water, even if it isn't intrinsically his own, but when it's naturally occurring water it takes a bit more concentration.
General Personality:
CourseMan, or just plain "Courser" as he prefers to be called, fits right in with the appearance he was given; a suave ladies man, whose every action is cool and deliberate, and who likes to give off the air of being in complete control of everything around him. He is prone to flirting outrageously with anything even remotely female, but unfortunately for Courser, the flirting game is as far as his area of expertise goes, and he has been known to cut and run if a partner of his bantering takes it too seriously or tries to press for more. Over-enthusiastic interest non-withstanding, CourseMan is otherwise the image of calm, cool collection, perfectly in control of everything around him, or at the least aware of everything and hard to surprise or upset. At least, that's the personality he puts out for others to see.
For the most part, he lives in a very 'take it as it comes' manner. His outlook is that being able to respond effectively and to adjust to changing circumstances is far more important than any amount of prior research or background understanding can make up for... which does tend to leave him a little deficient in those precise areas from time to time.
Weapon Customisation:
While fighting, CourseMan likes to keep moving and strike deceptively; when he is prepared for combat, he maintains two streams of controlled water, whips about as thick as his wrists which begin at his hands and extend for several feet before thinning to tapers at the end. Surprisingly, they don't actually drip, but, begin water, will quite happily soak anything he touches them with. They flow and wave freely as he moves, acting as natural extensions of his arms which he can lash out with quite precisely. In most cases, he whips or slashes with the points of these streams when fighting in melee range, but they are highly mutable and he can, with a little focus, turn them to any number of purposes or shapes.
For targets not polite enough to keep it close and personal, he can build energy in the palms of each hand, fully encompassed by the water streams, to release as a concentrated globe of water which travels the length of its whip upon release before flicking free as a simple, long-range shot.
Signatures:
The most important thing in combat, according to CourseMan, is to look like you're in control, and to look good doing what you're doing. He wants to impress, first and foremost, but marks 'not getting hurt' as one of the best ways to be impressive in conflict. As such, he often plans for his personal 'wingman' to seem as though it's as much a participant in the fight as he is, and more-so if he can manage it.
Forked Streams:
Taking a moment to scope out the situation around him and prepare for likely eventualities, CourseMan can respond with near pre-emptive alacrity to an attack directed at him. He dodges, most commonly with a dive-roll, in two opposite directions. Despite being designed without a manual dexterity preference, the real CourseMan usually (though not always) favours moving to his left, while the decoy goes right. The decoy will respond independently to CourseMan as it dodges away; if the terrain should be different, it can and will respond intelligently.
In the same moment as beginning his deception, CourseMan begins to prepare a quick-shot retaliation, charging tiny water pulses in each hand, yet, as he splits, his decoy carries one of the shots with it, safely englobed in its own wave-whip. As the navi and decoy come out of their respective evasions, they both release the tiny shots at the target that attacked them. The decoy will generally then smirk and flick his coat front with both hands or else make some manner of self-assured comment, gloating; CourseMan himself will often do the same, taunting his foe, but sometimes he'll remain quiet and simply allow the spotlight to go to his copy.
Courser has improved his response time with this trick, and is much more used to using it now, so he no longer suffers any kind of slow down post evasion, and he can make the retaliation shots just a little bit stronger than before. Even so, they're still nothing more than teasing flick.
Trap(Incoming Attack against CourseMan): Multi-Stage: First (Dodge + Decoy(1 round)), Then (10Aqua, Shot-Type x2 Hits). (Total Value: 80, Pool Points Used: 80) 2TCD
Mist and Shadow:
Following along with his philosophy of trying at all times to be where the damage is not, Courser has more than one trick up his sleeve for getting out of the way of harm. Not just a simple dodge, this trick sees Courseman doing a swift shadow blend that creates a double of himself rolling out of the way, while the navi himself warps quickly behind the attacking target.
The decoy will roll, then rise and taunt the target that attacked him, mockingly, while Courser will try to place a hand against the attacker directly as he comes out of his teleport, drawing off a partition of data through his wave-whip to help restore himself. Usually, when he does this, Courser is a bit slow on the recovery; he's still getting used to the disorientation of the sudden teleport, combined with the split in perspective with seeing back and forth through his clones.
Trap(Incoming Attack against CourseMan): Multi-Stage: First (Teleport + Decoy(1 round)), Then ((Aqua)LifeDrain 10, Shot-Type), Then (Self-Slow). (Total Value: 120, Pool Points Used: 80) 3 TCD
Solo Teamwork:
With both wave whips out and a wide variety of foes, Courser will sometimes gather up a large amount of miniature water pulses inside the streams, before unleashing a scattering volley of micro shots about the battlefield. Any and all clones he currently has out will participate in this activity, with the shots coming equally spread from all active clones and Courser himself. If he has no clones when he does this, then courser will just fire the whole barrage himself, but that will look a lot more sad and lonely.
(10Aqua, x 2 Hits, x 4 Targets, Shot-Type (Total Value: 80, Pool Points Used: 80) 2TCD
No Peeking!
It takes the fun out of it if someone cheats and looks through all the deocys and illusions. That's just plain unsporting, isn't it? Courser has a special trick that lies in wait for anyone who attempts to bypass his normal games, and can release a whip shot of darkened water, either from his own whips, or blind-siding from a decoy, intended not only to temporarily blind the attacker and ruin their sight, but also to deprive them of whatever weapon they had been about to use, that would have spoiled his fun. If he's very lucky or skilled, he might even manage to take control of the attack himself, for future use, but that's not the primary intention, which is to rob his opponent of it.
Counter(Nullify or Seeking Attack directed against CourseMan or any of his decoys): (First: (Blind + Disarm, Shot-Type), Then (Decoy(1 round)) (Total Value: 120, Pool Points Used: 120) 3TCD
Murky Deception:
If the clones and the shielding and the fields and his general slippery nature aren't enough to keep Courser in places where the pain is not, he can, for short periods of time, create a misty, shadowed field of darkness and obscurity about himself that tricks the eye and makes him even harder to hit. The effect doesn't have any obvious visual tell, unless someone can already see through the deception; it mostly works by making it seem like he's just a bit displaced from where he actually is.
It lasts a little longer now, but delving into a shadow form for longer makes him less physically nimble while it is in effect.
(Shadow, Self, 2 Rounds, Self-Slow2 (1 round, 2 instances) (Total Value: 160, Pool Points Used: 160, Nerf as Cooldown reduction)) 2TCD
Wave Refresh:
Sometimes, no amount of trickery or deception, or clones, or decoys, or dodging, or illusions, or shields, or wave auras will be quite enough to stop the competent and suave adventurer from getting a few scrapes and bruises. Fortunately for CourseMan, just being surrounded by rushing water is enough to keep him feeling fit and fresh and ready for more. Moderately regularly, he can pull a quick wave wash over himself to freshen up and shake off his previous little mistakes.
(Healing 30 (Total Value: 40, Pool Points Used: 40)) 1TCD
Ebb and Flow:
Small mistakes can sometimes lead to larger problems if they aren't dealt with quickly. When minor mishaps throw Courser off his game in a more pronounced way, he is able to roll with the ebb and flow of the battle, falling back with whatever affliction has landed on him, before returning to the fray with a renewing pulse and increased force.
Multi-Stage(First: Status Cure, Healing 5, Strengthen 10), (Then: Healing 5, Per Action, for 5 additional actions) (Total Value: 80, Pool Points Used: 80)) 2TCD
Total: 640/640
