Author Games: The Absent Empress

Slot Twelve: Maanyo

Leagues beneath the surface, he drifts, wholly silent and wholly alone.

Name: Aar Xafane

Alias: Maanyo (means "pink"; a reference to both his costume and his ability—"gabareey maanyo" means "mermaid")

Age: 19

Gender: Male

Nation of Origin: Somalia

Appearance: Aar is tall, with long, muscled arms and legs honed by years spent in the water. His face gives an inquisitive impression; his eyes are small and angular, and his nose and lips are broad and full. His skin is a deep, unblemished brown. These, however, Aar's more ordinary physical features—the longer one looks at him, the more likely one is to notice the oddities. His ears, for one, are slightly pointed. (This serves no practical purpose; it's just another sign that he's mutated as hell.) His fingers and toes are bound with thick, near-translucent webbing, and his sides are split by long gill slits, which move of their own accord underwater.

Personality: Aar isn't shy about physical differences. He doesn't seem to be shy about much in general; his questions are pointed and direct, and he balks from few topics. An observer may believe that he withholds nothing, but this assumption, though reasonable, is false. The words he speaks are genuine, but he chooses them carefully. Aar is deceptively cerebral, dwelling within an inner world of theories, puzzles, and memory. Though this contents him for the most part, he has become deeply lonely. Aar spends his time working for scientists rather than battling supervillains, making his background more morally ambiguous than other heroes'. He is still deciphering questions of moral boundaries on his own, as he grows.

Superhuman Abilities: Aar's unique physiology is his superhuman ability. The gill-slits on his torso allow him to respirate underwater, and the lightness of his bones paired with the large cavity inside his abdomen (an adapted swim bladder) allow him to swim at an astonishing rate. Underwater, he kicks with his legs, taking advantage of his sturdy, webbed feet, and he moves his arms in an approximation of the breaststroke. His ears are also specialized, with the ear canal connecting directly to his jawbone so that he can better sense underwater vibrations.

Equipment: Aar uses the equipment the scientists or police forces who contract him offer. Usually this means standard tracking equipment, but Aar does own his own wetsuits, black when on investigative missions, pink when he needs to remain visible.

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