Echo Strandzs

Echo Marcel Strandzs
Face Claim: Caroline Buchanan
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Age: Twenty-Three
Gender: Female
Orientation: Bisexual
Position: Combat Trainer
Godly Inheritance: Artemis - Marked Child

Power(s):

Maned Wolf Transformation

As a child of Artemis, Echo has the ability to transform her physical form into that of a maned wolf. Despite it's name, the Maned Wolf is a predator that is not at all related to the wolf family. It's closest relation is to a hunting dog.
When in her maned wolf form Echo is a honey brown colour, with short, coarse fur. She stands at approximately three feet at the shoulder. IMAGE

When transforming all of the bones in Echo's body break and reform, making the transition a painful one. It has however, become a quicker transition as she has aged and mastered her power, and as such isn't as difficult as it once was. Transforming completely takes approximately forty-seven seconds. Currently Echo needs to concentrate in order to transform, though she is working on being able to initiate her powers no matter the distractions around her.

As a Maned Wolf, her conscious remains her own and she is in no danger of forgetting who she is. However, the longer she remains in her other body, the more painful it is to shift back, as again, her bones must break and reform. Her appetite and behavior is influenced by the maned wolf regardless of her form, so she can become territorial, moody and predatory on particularly bad days.

Enhanced Senses

Echo also has enhanced senses because of her godly parentage. The power is almost a sub-category to her transformation. She retains the same heightened senses of her Maned Wolf form, even while in her human body. Not all of her senses have been altered however. Only her hearing,sight and sense of smell are higher than average, her sense of taste and touch have been unaltered.
Her hearing, most likely due to her seven inch ears while in Maned Wolf form, is incredibly acute. Because of this she is sensitive to loud noises, and generally startles at the slightest surprise. Maned Wolves are mainly nocturnal hunters. Echo holds the ability to see in the dark, but only when in her full wolf form. In her human body, her sight is sharper than that of an average human, but not by an incredible amount. Her sense of smell however, like her sense of sound, is acute and can actually prove to be a disadvantage to her. She is rather sensitive to the natural world because of this, and simply catching the scent of food or something interesting can alter her personality or cause her to act more animistic.

Limitations:
- Echo's sight is only truly altered when in her full wolf form

- The transformation into maned wolf form takes approximately 47 seconds, and she needs perfect concentration whilst doing it

- The transformation is incredibly painful, as all of her bones break and reform

- Her sense of taste and touch are unaltered by her powers

- Strong smells and loud noises can incapacitate her at worst, and in the very least distract her

- Due to the pain associated with transforming her daily transformation limit is currently once a day

Side-Effects:
- Even in human form she retains from attributes of the Maned Wolf, often suffering meat cravings as well as the desire to hunt

- She can become possessive and territorial of any space she frequently visits, even if she does not own it

- As a primarily nocturnal animal, she tends to be slower moving during the morning, and often requires more sleep than the average human

- Transforming is a painful endeavor, and after she has transformed, she generally needs around a minute to let her body and mind recover

Height: 5'4
Hair Color: Naturally black, currently dyed blonde.
Eye Color: Blue

Physical Description:
In high-school Echo's nickname was 'Pixie' because of her tiny size. (Note that many of the people who called her that got fists to the face). She stands at 5'4", but shouldn't be underestimated because of her height. She's a package of lean muscle and ferocity. Fitness and strength mean a great deal to her, and as such she is covered with corded muscle and her skin is almost permanently tanned from working outside. Her body is covered with scars, most are just small lacerations from training incidents, though there are one or two larger ones that she refuses to talk about.

She's been dyeing her hair blonde for the past two years, but it is naturally black. Kept cut short, the choppy haircut almost looks as if she takes a pair of scissors to it and cuts it herself. (She does.) Her eyes are a darker green/grey.

Echo hates restrictive clothing and will generally avoid jeans or any other stiff material. She frequently dresses in gym or workout outfits, even when lounging around the house or going out for dinner. She is most comfortable in shorts, and the last time she wore a dress was when she was 15.


Personality:
Echo is a silently proud individual. She works hard every single day to be good at what she does, and while she knows this, and thrives on the knowledge, she doesn't brag about it. Her dedication to her passion leaves little room for personal relationships. She is sarcastic and snippy, and will generally close herself off emotionally from others, merely because she has yet to see worth in close relationships. Not only that, but she hasn't exactly discovered anyone happy enough to put up with her constant rough sarcasm.

Despite her appeared social ineptitude, Echo has a good heart. She'll generally go out of her way to aid struggling students, though try her best to appear grudging. Overt displays of emotion made her awkward because she herself is so closed off. Echo generally has trust issues, not necessarily because she has been betrayed in the past, but because she is so used to relying on herself that it never occurs to her to trust anything to others. However this tendency to take everything on herself and inability to ask for help can be incredibly draining, which makes her pride a weakness in most scenarios.

She's not afraid to stand up for herself, or others. Even with her somewhat rough persona, she has a good heart and an especial soft spot for children and dancers. Children because they're adorable, dancers because....well they're hot.

When she puts her mind to something, she can become almost obsessive about completing it. Most of the time this determination is focused on learning new combat techniques and weaponry, two of her favorite things to do. Over the course of her life Echo has mastered tiger hook swords and the Hsu Quandao. However she has had training on numerous other weapons and is proficient enough to also teach beginners in bo staff, spears and most polearms (thanks to her Hsu Quandao proficiency), longsword and push daggers, even if she isn't a master. She is always trying to research and find new, interesting weapons to learn.

Secret(s):
- Enjoys gardening and keeps a secret garden behind the arena. The most abundant plant she grows is the 'Solanum Lycocarpum'.
- She's always wanted to own a motorbike

Parents: Lacie Strandzs (mother, alive), Evan Hoopla (father, alive),
Siblings: Lacie Strandzs (sister, 6, alive)
Worthy Mentions: Buck Strandzs (step-father, demi-titan, alive)

Childhood:
Echo was born to two parents, neither one particularly thrilled by the arrival of a second child. The conception had never meant to happen and she was a mistake from the start, a point constantly argued throughout her development. Echo broke her first bone when she was six, trying to ride the neighbor boy's bike by herself. Her parents had never thought to teach her, or even to buy her a bike, and driven on by desperation for a 'normal' childhood she had decided to teach herself. This was the first occurrence of her independent spirit, and it only grew stronger from there.

When she was old enough, she was sent to school which would turn out to be a real bummer of a time. The orders of conformity both at home and at school turned Echo into a compulsive rebel, disobeying orders just to prove she could. She was always a rather difficult child, using the logic that her parents had never wanted her in the first place, so why make their job any easier? It was their mistake after all. Echo moved out a few years after, and into the school doors, it seemed that the whole family took a collective sigh of relief at that time.

Adolescence:
Athena's 'Mark' on her began making itself known when she was fourteen. By this stage she was just beginning high-school and once again living in a dorm. Instead of showing interest in her studies, most of her energy went into club activities. She was involved in the Judo, Fencing and Soccer teams.  She hadn't spoken to her father in at least two years. Her mother though, had remarried a year prior, and Echo found that her new husband actually made the woman more tolerable. She attended the wedding, though didn't stay afterwards to socialize.
Rather than stick around, Echo had wandered off to one of the nearby feature ponds (They'd insisted upon a water themed wedding.) As she watched, out of the pond rose a midnight black horse head, it's mane braided with weeds. Though she didn't know it then, Echo would later realize this creature to be a Kelpie, a mythical water horse that tricked children underwater and devoured them.

The Kelpie opened it's mouth, revealing need-sharp teeth and rushed towards her. Without time to think, or even truly comprehend the situation, Echo unsheathed the pair of push-knives she permanently kept hidden on her body out, and faced the threat. While she wasn't exactly hunting, to this day she claims that the senses Artemis gifted her with were what saved her. After a brief struggle she killed the Kelpie, though the fight didn't go unnoticed. It was only a few days later that the town's Special Police Force appeared at her school searching for her, and very suddenly her plans for a quiet, noncommittal high-school life was ruined.

Actually discovering that she was a....well a Demigod, wasn't nearly so upsetting as she'd first expected. It took a good long time to come to terms with her connection to Artemis, and her 'powers' or whatever they were; but from a young age she had always believed that her life could be something more. Being a Demigod and protecting herself and the world from demonic forces that meant them harm was exactly the kind of action she was looking for.
The main brunt of her powers kicked in during the course of her education. The Maned Wolf transformation took the longest to control, but she had it almost mastered by the time she graduated. The one thing that didn't really change was her independence. Even surrounded by gifted students like herself, Echo was more than happy to lay low and work on her talents without prying eyes or the help of friends. She joined even more clubs and developed an intense passion for hunting, as well as combat. She would sneak out of the academy whenever possible to practice both, happy to fight either animal or monster. The fact that she had take on some attributes from the nocturnal maned wolf did little to help her restlessness, and most days she would find herself punished, either because she was caught, or for being tardy to class the next morning.

In her 18th year she heard from her mother and step-father that they had recently brought a new child into the world. Her little sister's name was Lacie, and Echo fell in love with her the moment she met her.


Adulthood:
Despite all this, Echo graduated with the rest of her year. (Somehow). Even with the idea that she was supposed to have a spectacular destiny, she had no real driving passion besides combat. Because of this, as well as her obvious skill in the art, the academy hired her as one of their combat trainers, to help teach the new generation to fight. She was more than happy to agree, since it meant she could battle whenever she wanted, and help others while honing her own skill.

She is currently working at Olympus Falls as a teacher, and has been for the past four years. Lacie is now six years old and Echo still dotes on her a ridiculous amount. Her sister has unknowingly helped the frayed relationship between her mother begin to heal as well, though Echo would doubtfully ever admit as much.

Sample:
Theresa-Jane smiled sweetly at the scowling bartender, enveloping her hands around the cool glass and pulling it closer. Lifting it to her lips, she took a grateful gulp before slowing down and sipping at it every now and then. It didn't take much to look dignified when she was being compared to the sluts on the dance floor, but she figured slurping away at a drink wouldn't help her image. At this point, it couldn't really get much worse. How must she seem to him? "Oh, so you do drink? And here I was thinking that you were completely stiff." she mused with a teasing smile.

She had raised her glass to take another sip when he spoke to her, and she choked on her drink with laughter, covering her mouth to prevent spitting it. "Miss?" she repeated, laughter chiming form her mouth."I don't remember the lass time someone called me 'miss. I think I was only called 'miss' anything when my mother was telling me off," she informed him, a smile still on her face.

"A record company?" she repeated with interest, remembering then that he had introduced himself as a musician. Oh, so he had been serious. Well obviously, he did have a guitar with him after all. Duh. "Seems a pretty shitty place to meet with a record label. You sure you're not being played?" As if on cue his phone buzzed and she leaned forward curiously, even though she knew it was none of her business.

She grinned as he spoke, nodding sagely with another laugh. "Mr Brightside? I love that song," she broke out randomly, humming the song and doing a twirl on her spinning stool.

"Self control?" she repeated with a grin, waving her hand airily. "Everyone knows that self control should only be used when you're married, pregnant, employed or homeless. In that order." she mused with a teasing wink, enjoying the somewhat suggestive banter between the two. She rarely met down to earth guys like Jasper, but maybe he wasn't such a snooze fest after all. "I'm glad you helped me. I don't know what I would have done if you didn't. God knows I'm in no condition to go busting some ass on that guy that drugged me." she admitted moodily.

"So, you've got some lovely time to kill. Mind if I tag along with your gallivanting adventures? I could be your side-kick or something!" she laughed, clapping her hands in excitement.Theresa-Jane smiled sweetly at the scowling bartender, enveloping her hands around the cool glass and pulling it closer. Lifting it to her lips, she took a grateful gulp before slowing down and sipping at it every now and then. It didn't take much to look dignified when she was being compared to the sluts on the dance floor, but she figured slurping away at a drink wouldn't help her image. At this point, it couldn't really get much worse. How must she seem to him? "Oh, so you do drink? And here I was thinking that you were completely stiff." she mused with a teasing smile.

She had raised her glass to take another sip when he spoke to her, and she choked on her drink with laughter, covering her mouth to prevent spitting it. "Miss?" she repeated, laughter chiming form her mouth."I don't remember the lass time someone called me 'miss. I think I was only called 'miss' anything when my mother was telling me off," she informed him, a smile still on her face.

"A record company?" she repeated with interest, remembering then that he had introduced himself as a musician. Oh, so he had been serious. Well obviously, he did have a guitar with him after all. Duh. "Seems a pretty shitty place to meet with a record label. You sure you're not being played?" As if on cue his phone buzzed and she leaned forward curiously, even though she knew it was none of her business.

She grinned as he spoke, nodding sagely with another laugh. "Mr Brightside? I love that song," she broke out randomly, humming the song and doing a twirl on her spinning stool.

"Self control?" she repeated with a grin, waving her hand airily. "Everyone knows that self control should only be used when you're married, pregnant, employed or homeless. In that order." she mused with a teasing wink, enjoying the somewhat suggestive banter between the two. She rarely met down to earth guys like Jasper, but maybe he wasn't such a snooze fest after all. "I'm glad you helped me. I don't know what I would have done if you didn't. God knows I'm in no condition to go busting some ass on that guy that drugged me." she admitted moodily.

"So, you've got some lovely time to kill. Mind if I tag along with your gallivanting adventures? I could be your side-kick or something!" she laughed, clapping her hands in excitement.

Username: Trick

Age Group: 20

Experience: This'll be my 6th

How’d you find us?: I followed the scent of friendship