Wren O'Hara

[Wren O'Hara]

The Basics

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Name: Wren Davis O'Hara
Nicknames: Wrennie (not recommended, use at own risk)
Age: Seventeen (March 5th, 1996)
Orientation: Heterosexual
Desired Rank/Job: Student
Powers: Hydroinvisibility. Wren becomes invisible when water comes into contact with his skin. The level of invisibility is directly related to the amount of water he's surrounded by; when submerged, for example, he becomes completely invisible, but he maintains a respectable 70% opacity in a steady rain. His clothes don't disappear with him, so all you're likely to see in the pool is a foamy splash and a quick-moving, eerily detached swim jammer. Much to his disdain, he can't control his ability; the reaction appears to be completely biological, and every attempt he's made at willing himself into visibility have failed. For this reason, he doesn't have much by way of physical side effects -- it's mostly pruny fingers, dry skin, and the lingering smell of chlorine typical of extended exposure to water. The psychological effects, however, are a little more prominent. Even while dry, he sometimes feels that people see right through him... and on bad nights, he checks his hands against the light compulsively out of fear he'll fade away.
Play By: Connor Jessup

The Details

Hair Color: Dark chocolate brown
Eye Color: Hazel-green
Any Piercings? Nope.
Any Tattoos? Definitely not. Did you know that people with tattoos are refused service at some public bathing facilities in Japan? He can't risk it. He really wants to go to Japan. Also, it's surprisingly hard to find tattoo designs of nachos.
Any Scars? Nothing significant.
General Appearance:
Wren has a strong jaw, a swimmer's broad shoulders, and toned muscles; he also has round, thick-lashed hazel eyes that make him look more like a wistful singer-songwriter than an athlete. He has a thin, very slightly curved nose, somewhat naturally well-behaved eyebrows, and oft-chewed lips with an angular cupid's bow. His skin tone is a warm medium, neither bronze nor pale. He has thick, medium-length hair the color of dark chocolate that he never bothers to comb. He often smells like chlorine. Sometimes chlorine and nachos.

If he's just gotten out of the pool or shower, or if it's raining hard and he's forgotten his umbrella, you might have to squint to make him out. Sometimes, when he sweats a lot, you can see the background faintly through his face -- but you're better off not mentioning that. Also, he carries an umbrella everywhere -- a 10% chance of precipitation is still too much, in his opinion.

He's usually found wearing a t-shirt, a baseball cap (never backward!), and basketball shorts, but will submit to wearing denim on occasion. He usually wears a swimsuit instead of underwear, purely for the sake of convenience. His favorite is a black jammer with blue wave details on each side, to match his blue-toned swimming goggles and cap. The only time he has ever worn a proper suit was for his aunt's wedding, although he supposes he will also be forced to wear one at his funeral.
Personality:
Wren is the younger of two siblings, but his friends, his older sister, and even his parents occasionally forget that he's only seventeen. He has a sort of grown-up solemnity that unnerves some people and comforts others. This makes him very popular in activities where such tranquility is an asset. Haunted house? Take Wren. Scary movie? Take Wren. Long walk in the dark woods? Take Wren; he's guaranteed to be patient and steady, like a big, muscly rock.

He's a little taciturn, but it wouldn't really be accurate to call him shy. In fact, he's quite social, in his own way. He tends to gravitate toward people who are lighthearted, talkative, or passionate. He'll offer a huff of a chuckle at a well-placed joke, and nod attentively to someone else's intense story. He won't go out of his way to be the center of attention, though, if he can help it. That's not really his thing.

Unlike most athletic individuals, Wren is not especially competitive. He doesn't like confrontation. He swims solely because he likes swimming; he doesn't fuss over his time, only his distance. Win or lose, his goal is to continue to train so that he can continue to swim -- he doesn't bother with much else. This apparent apathy grates on some people, mainly people who lose to him in a race.

He hates writing but enjoys reading, particularly books about history. He is intrigued by the idea that the past is almost as broad as the future; there's so much to learn, he thinks, and he doesn't understand why other people hate the subject so much. He loves European and Asian history in particular, and is fascinated by the idea of monarchies and dynasties lasting hundreds or thousands of years. He specializes in maritime history, and is able to name many famous ships and naval battles of great importance; he has a bit of a nerd-thing for submarines. He also likes art history. His beloved dog, a black and white greyhound, is named after Frida Kahlo.

Wren is creative, but not always the best at expressing himself. He loves to paint with watercolors, although he's only moderately good at it. He finds it relaxing, and isn't too fussed about improving his technical skill. He mostly just assumes he'll get better over time. He also gets lost in daydreams often. He has a very specific happy place -- it's a fictional village he invented and regularly builds upon in his mental adventures. It doesn't have a name, but it's a coastal village with clay-roofed houses, cobblestone streets, and lots of climbing vines. It features in a lot of his paintings.

Your Vices

Likes:

• Water
  
• Swimming
  
• Nachos
  
• Grape soda
  
• Running
  
• Watercolor painting (not that he's good at it)
  
• History (primarily European and Asian, but he'll take what he can get)
  
• The color blue
  
• Sunny days (but he still carries his umbrella)
  
• Baseball hats (he has a collection)
  
• Daydreaming
  
• Video games
  

Dislikes:

• Being dirty or sticky
  
• Excessive noise
  
• Overly competitive people
  
• Eczema (water dries out his skin, it's a constant struggle)
  
• Coffee
  
• "Rabbit food"
  
• The color red
  
• Writing (he has dyslexia)
  
• Deadlines

Strengths:

• Swimming. He's especially good at distance freestyle events -- particularly the 400m and 1500m freestyle -- but he also does backstroke. He's working up endurance so that he can swim a 10km marathon.
  
• Cross-country running. As with swimming, he's built for endurance and not speed. He doesn't love running -- he prefers water -- but he does it frequently and it helps him quiet his mind.
  
• He's calm. Some people find this soothing, and others find it nervewracking.
  
• He's a good listener. It's possible that this is a natural side effect of not being a big talker, but there are plenty of quiet people who are terrible listeners.
  
• He's tolerant. One might speculate that this is due to growing up with a family of artists; Wren is used to weird people, and he doesn't bat an eyelash when weird people are weird in his general vicinity. Hardly anything fazes him. He gets along with people based on their treatment of him, and little else.
  
• He's good at history. It can be a little annoying, because he'll quote trivia at you if he's feeling talkative. He loves talking to people from other cultures, is well-educated about diversity, and dreams of traveling the world.
  

Weaknesses:

• He's a little bitter. He doesn't really like his ability, and he often resents how his life is going. He's been known to be quietly jealous of people with useful powers, and envious of people from all-meta families who didn't have such a steep learning curve.
  
• He's hard to motivate. Since he's not competitive, it can be hard to convince him that something is worth doing. This is especially a problem in classes he doesn't like, namely English, because he doesn't care enough about the concept of grades to bother about them.
  
• He's a quitter. This is especially true of romantic feelings (he tends to crush quietly), but almost any non-athletic goal will be immediately dropped at the slightest hint of resistance.
  
• Gluttony is his deadly sin. He knows it's bad for him, and he's tried to quit, but he just can't put down the nachos. He does manage to work off the extra calories, but there's still the matter of his future cholesterol. He also has a weakness for hot dogs. Mmm, carcinogens...
  
• He's a punching bag. He has enough muscle to beat the crap out of most anyone, but if he's insulted, he normally sits there and takes it -- then regrets it later.
  
• He can't spell to save his life. His dyslexia makes writing difficult, and he often feels frustrated or humiliated because of it. Grammar-happy people are his worst nightmare.
  

Fears:

• He has a visibility complex. Wren is generally a calm person, but he has occasional bouts of panic regarding his level of visibility. If he says something and is ignored, for example, he might subconsciously worry that the other person can't see him, and therefore didn't respond. When he's alone, he often double-checks himself in a mirror or by holding his hands up to the light, just to make sure that he's still solid. He doesn't like to see other things through himself, and so avoids mirrors right after showers. And he definitely, definitely doesn't like to be reminded that he's barely-there.
  
• He won't go outside while there's lightning.
  
• On some level, he's afraid that he won't be able to swim competitively after he leaves school. He knows that the average swimmer can swim competitively well into their 30s, but since he was barred from baseline human competition, he's worried that he'll have to stop after college and get an office job.
  

Secret: His dad wrote a screenplay based on the family's experience after Wren's manifestation. He sold it to Warner Bros., it became a very popular film, and was one of few films to feature a meta-human actor in the main role. Wren finds the whole thing humiliating (it didn't help that the actor was way more attractive than him), and is never going to admit this to anyone. Ever. Also, copies of the DVD are mysteriously missing from the local video store and Hammel library. Unfortunately, it's the age of Netflix...

Family Ties

Father: Richard O'Hara. 54. He's a moderately well-known screenwriter, but only to people who care about screenwriting. He and Wendy are divorced -- he gets Easter, Wendy gets Christmas.
Mother: Wendy Davis. 46. She's an actress -- or was, until she had children, although she hasn't completely given up yet. She considers herself a free spirit: She wears maxi dresses, does yoga, and made a point to only feed her children organic food.
Siblings: Dessa Davis. 23. She's Wren's elder half-sister by their mom's first marriage, but they've always lived together and gotten along well. Of all Wren's family, she's probably the most understanding. She has one daughter, Aura, with her boyfriend Brad. She's a cake decorator in an upscale bakery, and dreams of owning her own bakery someday.
Any Other Important People: He has a black and white greyhound mix named Frida at home. When he's around on holidays, they jog together.

History

He can't really remember, but Wren is positive that he's wanted to be in the water from the moment of his birth. Like, he was totally born to swim, you know? There's no other way he can explain it. Unfortunately, his parents only sort of got it; they supported him, of course, and enrolled him in a junior swim club at six, but by the time he was ten they were talking about going to the Olympics for the 1500m freestyle, about training hard, about settling down and specializing. And that wasn't what Wren wanted to do.

All Wren wanted to do was keep swimming further and further, just to see how far he could actually swim. He supposed one day he'd eventually reach his limit, and not be able to swim any more... but he definitely wouldn't figure it out if he only swam the 1500m freestyle for the rest of his life.

His sister Dessa totally got it, but it wasn't like she could do anything about it. She could only encourage him, cheering him on from the sidelines and helping him with his English homework at night so that his grades were good enough to keep swimming, "like that Nemo movie."

He knew his parents meant well, so he always kept quiet and tried not to hurt their feelings. They were artists -- his mom Wendy an actress, his father Richard a screenwriter of some renown -- and they probably thought that the only purpose of sports was to win.

Water-obsessed boy grew into water-obsessed adolescent, and that was when the trouble began. He was fourteen, and his coach had entered him in a regional tournament that was supposed to be a sure thing. Wren didn't really believe in 'sure things', and it turned out he was right not to, because it just so happened that his body vanished the second he hit the water, leaving only his jammer visible when he stretched into the first pull. They stopped the race. Wren emerged from his water reverie, found everyone staring in shock, and looked around to see what all the fuss was about.

It was him, apparently. Because unknowingly being a meta-human and entering a baseline human swimming competition is cheating, apparently, and will get you disqualified, apparently.

Whatever.

When the Hammel recruiter visited the O'Hara home in Nyack, New York, Wren hadn't swum for two weeks. He'd only taken one shower, even; it was driving his mom insane with worry. He didn't care if he smelled weird. Sure, he'd become visible again after his latest shower, but what about the next shower? Could he be absolutely certain that he'd still be visible after that? And what if he finally became comfortable being in the water again only to -- poof! -- disappear completely in a few years' time?

His best friend had suddenly become his worst enemy, and the recruiter on their couch was the harbinger of doom. He was smiling, sure, but Wren didn't trust him at all. So what if he just became invisible sometimes? He could still go to school or whatever, right? He was still a normal kid, right? He was just invisible sometimes.

He fought it all the way up until the day he had to move out. His parents had become excited about the idea, though, and even Dessa had told him that he should give it a try. And how could he argue with that? It wasn't like they'd given him a choice.

After the initial shock wore off, Wren made his way back into the water, which eased his anxiety a little bit. He was still invisible, obviously, but nobody thought that was weird, and the pool was huge and irresistible and almost never crowded. It was like heaven, except Wren didn't believe in heaven, and even if he had, he was pretty sure you were visible there, too.

The years ticked by, and Wren made a couple of friends, mostly from the swim team. He took up watercolor painting on the weekends, which was fun, and he signed up for a lot of history electives that you couldn't find in regular schools, like Meta-humans in the Global Sphere and Powers that Made a Difference. There was a library full of books about history of all kinds, and nobody bothered him while he read for the most part. Most importantly, the cafeteria sometimes served nachos, and if he wanted to, he could ride his bike into town and get a hot dog or a cheeseburger or a twelve-pack of grape soda.

Nobody thought he was weird, because everybody was weird, and he liked that.

He still didn't really like to be invisible, but after the school nurse assured him that he'd always become visible again, as long as he was dry, he put most of his fear to the side and started training again. He missed his family a little, but he got to see them on holidays, and he called his sister every day.

The years ticked by... and Wren grew into Pilot Ridge. He tried to put his best foot forward every day, even if it was just on the starting block in lane four. And he found comfort in the fact that there was still a lot of time to swim, and a lot of time to improve, and a lot of friends left to make.

Roleplay Example

Amos Freeman for your perusal.

What About You?

Name: Kelly
Age: 21
Experience: My, how the time flies!
How Did You Find Us? RPG-D
Ready To Play? Prepare yourselves.

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[Dryope *]

Accepted!

Kelly! KELLY KELLY KELLY! I mean...welcome back!