Bayou

Physical Description

Bayou is a fairly skinny merman with teal skin, white, fluffy, curly hair and a very pointy nose. He has light, somewhat dusty brown eyes and a slightly short (at least compared to other mermaids and mermen) tail made up of dark blue scales with a soft, puffy tail end the same color as his hair. He doesn't have any fins, though he does have large, pointy ears and gills on his sides, just above his hips, which allow him to breath underwater, and his most notable feature is the large horn in the center of his head. While he assumes that this horn has no purpose, and is quite insecure about it as a result, in reality it holds more power than he thinks; though he hasn't figured that out yet. One thing he can do, however, is shift his form to walk on land! Through magic, he can turn his merman tail into legs, though nothing else about his appearance changes aside from the fact that he has legs and his tail. He's fairly average height, perhaps a tad on the shorter side when he's in his merman form compared to others because of his short tail. When he's underwater, he rarely ever wears clothes, not having a need for them, though, of course, when he does go on land he finds something to wear, usually opting for a more formal style with darker, cooler colors- especially blacks and blueish-greys. His typical outfit is a while shirt and black pants with a pair of black shoes and suspenders, though he can wear anything as long as it isn't overly bright or revealing.

Personality Description

Bayou is kind of a pathetic excuse for a merman to be honest. Despite living in a fairly populated area underwater, Bayou actually made his home in an isolated cave where he almost always stays, his major social anxiety and agoraphobia largely preventing him from ever going anywhere filled with people to talk and explore. When he's not being visibly anxious, he tends to look fairly dead-faced and uncomfortable (because he is. always sbgfbg) no matter the occasion, which can lead to some people thinking of him as rude when he never intends to be seen as such; in all honestly, he actually doesn't really dislike people at all, he's just physically incapable of presenting himself to others and prefers to be alone in his "safe space" where nothing can go wrong. He strongly wishes he could get over his fears and make some friends, but of course that's much, much easier said than done. He tries to be as friendly as he can whenever someone approaches him first, though even with his best efforts he's still aware of how awkward and nervous he tends to look, his first internal instinct whenever he sees or hears anyone or anything he doesn't know being to flee as far away as is possible. He's quite insecure and wasn't exactly treated very kindly by other merpeople growing up, including his own family, which is just another thing that led to his tendency to avoid almost anyone, even if they have the potential to be a friend. Despite all his anxieties, though, he actually does love being a merman- both because he's grateful to not be on land where there's always fighting and way more people and monsters, and because if there's one thing that he DOES love, it's all the little sea creatures that he can find beneath the depths of the waters, from all types of fish to crabs, clams, sea slugs, sea anemones and sea urchins to even sea dragons. As much as he wishes he could take one of said sea creatures as a pet or companion, he tends to feel guilty at the idea of taking one away from its home and figures that they'd be much happier being left alone rather than with him. He finds the most joy whenever he's alone and exploring the sea floor, also having a habit of collecting shiny shells and abandoned trinkets that he finds in old shipwrecks, which are quite common near his home, though he still doesn't like wandering too far away from his home or exploring too deep- considering how vast the ocean is said to be and some of the tales he's heard of things down in deepest, darkest parts of the sea. Overall he's just a big bundle of nerves who desperately needs a friend that understands him and gets him out of his comfort zone so he can stop just swimming near the outside of his cave and staring at other mermen all day FJHGBFDGNDVBFDNV