"It's not FAIR!!!"
Name: Espio Rune Chamai
Nicknames: Pio, Esp, "Young Man" when he's in trouble
Species: Chameleon/Gecko hybrid (predominatly takes after chameleon side)
Gender: Male
Age: 13 (barely)
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Stats: Physical: 6 | Mental: 5 | Luck: 10
Height: 3'3''
Build: Average
Residence: Meadowood
Occupation: Freedom Fighter in training
Likes: Using his camouflaging skills to scare the crap out of people, apples, wrestling/rough-housing, loud music, practical jokes, being involved in raids, finding new toys, puzzles.
Dislikes: Robotnik and the war, shedding, wasting time, disciplinarians or people who are very by-the-book, things being too still or quiet, practicing archery, being trivialized or underestimated, being ignored, being the youngest and all the setbacks that come with it.
Hobbies/Talents: Finding odd jobs to do around the village, exploration, trying to bring home pets, hopes to eventually learn music.
Played By: Leda
Theme:
Personality
Meeting Espio on the street, you'd never even know he's fighting in a war. "Optimistic" doesn't even begin to describe this ambitious chameleon; possibly the only person who could match his level of confidence would be Robotnik himself. Espio is remarkably carefree, and has a sort of innocence about him despite his grave situation. He almost seems to see the war as some sort of game, and as a result, doesn't seem to take the danger very seriously. In fact, he's usually frustrated about his situation more than anything, because he believes so strongly he could put a stop to it all if he would just be given the chance.
As to his homelife, Espio is VERY energetic and has a painfully short attention span. His desire to have fun tends to supercede most other prerogatives, but fortunately, this creative chameleon is almost always able to find a way to have fun doing seemingly any task. As a result, Espio is a big help around Meadowood, and typically takes care of the annoying and tedious jobs. However, when he's not busy with work, he's also known to get himself into trouble. A lot. For this reason, Rob has taken to tutoring him in the art of archery. Unfortunately, this is one activity that Espio is not able to find any joy in — largely because he's not holding the bow correctly and giving himself an increasingly large bruise on the inside of his left arm.
Espio is generally a happy kid, but when he does have bad moods, it's never a secret. While he doesn't mind discipline he knows he deserves, Espio can throw enormous temper tantrums if he feels he's been wronged, leading to a lot of screaming, lashing out, and in most cases shedding. If the issue goes unresolved for too long, he occasionally seeks out his own justice, sometimes by passive-aggressive means, and sometimes by… well, less-than-passive means.
Abilities
Physical
Being both a chameleon and a gecko definitely has its advantages, and Espio revels in each of them. His favorite ability of all is being able to camouflage against practically any background, and being able to cling to walls and ceilings comes in at a close second. He's also got extensive dexterity with both his tongue and his tail. Trait-wise, Espio has a lot of endurance, average balance, and average speed. His greatest attribute would be how nimble and light on his feet he is.
Learned
Unfortunately, most of Espio's learned skills are intermediate at best, due to his short attention span. To his credit, however, he has EXCELLENT marksmanship with his slingshot. He has average enough skill in swimming and using computers, and a very small amount of archery ability. He's also figured out lots of ways to use his horn in combat, his favorite being what he calls a "Horn Dash" — leaning forward and ramming head-on into his enemy.
Weaknesses
Physical
While his camouflage is a definite advantage, it's anything but perfect. For one, he can be easily exposed of it by simple things such as powder, water and other liquids, or infra-red scanning. Espio's also unable to stay camouflaged for an indefinite amount of time; eventually, he will tire out and need to rest (or "recharge", as he refers to it). Additionally, Espio's camouflage is ruined if he happens to be in the process of shedding, as the dead scales won't change colour with him. His camouflage will also fail if he happens to sneeze.
As a reptile, he's quickly susceptible to cold temperatures.
Mental
Among his greatest mental setbacks are his massive ADD, overconfidence, short temper, and general lack of impulse control. Managing to stay hidden while camouflaged requires him to be extremely quiet and patient, which he's less than proficient at. Espio also suffers slightly from insomnia because he has so much trouble settling down. While he likes to think he can drive, he's mediocre at best, and suicidal at worst. He's also a terrible liar, both between telling poor lies and not being able to keep a straight face when he does so.
He doesn't seem to really have any phobias, he does deeply fear disappointing people, especially Rob.
Pre-RP History
Espio's youth was one of freedom and chaos. He was born in Mercia to free-spirited, creativity-centered, airheaded hippie parents, who tended to concern themselves more frequently with cleansing auras and "experiencing Aurora" than with their own child. Espio was frequently left with either minimal or no supervision, and subsequently came to regard spending time by himself as normal. Whenever his parents actually did spend time with him, it was usually to tell him that he should always do as his spirit compelled him to and that no one could ever interfere with his life. While they did have good intentions, their utter lack of explanation and guidance, combined with frequent neglect, led to implanting their son with some rather skewed lessons. As a result, Espio became something of a problem child to those around him: selfish, stubborn, and absolutely resistant to authority.
The silver lining to this train wreck of an upbringing was in that his attitudes allowed him to handle the coup with very little struggle at all. One day when he was six years old, once again alone at home while his parents were off doing who knew what, Swatbots barged into the household to arrest any and all inside. However, Espio never flinched; having learned long ago to resent authority combined with his ability to camouflage, the young chameleon simply walked right past his intruders and left the premises. Espio's camouflage repeatedly hid him from soldiers parading through the town, and his adventurous, fearless nature encouraged him to follow after caravans of captured Mercians. Upon witnessing a thrope get roboticized, Espio realized that something horrible was going on, and that people needed help. He easily sneaked his way to the control boards and scrambled the computer systems, then eventually pulled the power, allowing a mass of citizens to escape.
Espio followed the fleeing mobians until his little legs could carry him no more, at which point one of the refugees benevolently picked him up and carried him to the Oak Forest. Once there, he was quickly assimilated into the group that would eventually form Meadowood. Given that he'd spent so much time by himself to begin with, Espio never experienced the separation anxiety that many of the other residents went through, instead going about he usual routine of playing alone and raiding food supplies when needed. He quickly grew to be a pain in the community, until one day when a young man named Rob surprised him by taking an interest in his activities. Pleased with the attention, and eagerly craving more, Espio began to make a habit of following this new role model around the village. Through Rob's patient methods of positive and negative reinforcement, the unruly chameleon slowly began to shed some bad habits and incorporate new ones.
Despite having gotten off to a simple start, the young chameleon eventually found difficulty with socialization in his new home. As the youngest resident, Espio was often told that he was "too young" or "too little" for many of the activities in which he wanted to participate. Additionally, the older boys often balked at the idea of bringing a much younger kid along with them, and frequently left him behind. Usually this resulted in temper tantrums and hysterical crying fits, whether they suited the situation or not. However, after a few years, Espio's trouble-making roots began to show again as he realized that pulling pranks and performing dangerous stunts got the attention of the older boys. This duality has resulted in Espio teetering back and forth between behaviors, depending on which was the most important to him at the time.
At the present, Espio is fresh into his teenage years and is eager to prove himself an adult. He continues to struggle with his moral compass to this day, as he knows what Rob has taught him to be "right", but also knows what his parents taught him to be "natural". He has recently taken up archery under Rob's tutelage, but due to frequent setbacks has put the study on the back burner, and tries to find other ways to be useful in its stead. Unfortunately, in his adolescence he's also begun to knock heads with Rob, his former superhero, as he wrestles with maturity and growing up.
Post-RP History
Their track record since they've been in the game.
Crossover History
Their track record in the crossover.
Affiliates
| Robert Hedge | Espio's mentor and primary guardian. Usually idolized him growing up, but lately their relationship has been strained. |
| Manic the Hedgehog | A fellow Freedom Fighter that Espio regards much like a brother. "Partner-in-Crime" would probably be a more apt description, though. |
| Bean the Dynamite | The third of Espio and Manic's terrible trio. Espio's not as close with Bean as with Manic. |
| Rouge the Bat | Fellow Freedom Fighter. Espio doesn't know her very well (but then who does?), but sees her somewhat like a nanny. |
| Melinda Mouser | A very scary lady that manages most of Meadowood's equipment. And can throw things really, really hard. |
| General Itzal | Robotnik's Mercian general. Espio feels confident he could defeat him if just given the chance. |
Misc. Info
The generally accepted rule of thumb when it comes to Espio's camouflage is that any simple object he's touching/holding at the time will camouflage with him. If he aquires something new while invisible, it won't instantly disappear; he has to resume colour, then vanish again to disguise it. This does NOT apply to his dead scales while he's shedding, at least partially just because I want to give him a hard time.~ He's not able to camouflage other people or animals, as they're too complex.
Espio frequently greets people with one of two methods: 1) Running up and tackling them, or 2) camouflaging against the nearest surface and waiting for the unfortunate soul to wander by, then scaring the hell out of them.
It's also becoming an inside joke that his father (the one he gets his gecko blood from) is an adapted version of Gex.
Categories
Meadowood, Freedom Fighters, Hybrids, Thropes, Semi-Canon Characters
