"Don't worry, ma'am - little kids hug my tail all the time. I'm used to it, no harm done."
Slater Skywise
Sex:Male
Age:22
Phenotype:Faunus (Skunk)
Kingdom:Vacuo
Appearance:Slater has heavily-tanned skin with an odd set of freckles under each of his orange-tinted eyes. His tousled hair is gray - not the gray earned by age, but the gray of stone, and he has a bit of stubble lining his jaw and chin that matches his hair. A bit on the lanky but tall side, he usually appears a bit shorter than he actually is due to a relaxed posture. His lean appearance belies how whip-tight his muscles are. His most unusual feature is the large and floofy black-and-white skunk tail that is his heritage as a Faunus (note that though he has a skunk tail, he doesn't have the smell or scent glands to have a skunk smell).
He is usually dressed in a brown leather duster (with a special button-and-strap arrangement at the rear for his tail to poke freely out), with a faded-gold vest, tan button-up shirt, and a bright red bandanna which he wears tied around his neck. His sturdy boots and trousers match his duster in color, and his brown leather fingerless gloves are quite well-used. Depending on the weather, he may wear a wide-brimmed hat (which is designed to fold up for easy carrying) and a poncho with a zig-zag pattern of tan and brown. It isn't unusual for him to have a piece of grass, wheat, or a toothpick caught between his lips. Whatever the occasion, he always wears an iron key on a leather thong necklace with the letters HOPE printed onto it, though he usually keeps this underneath whatever clothing he's wearing at the time. He also carries a harmonica.
Personality:Slater is levelheaded and cool - solid as a rock, perhaps even moreso under the pressure of battle. His relaxed and easygoing nature can appear lazy at times, but he's observant and fast on the draw in more than one way, and he won't hesitate to leap into danger should the need arise. He has long since learned to laugh off jokes about his smell due to his skunk tail, though he is still extra careful to wash thoroughly and takes his time in the shower. He is perhaps most self-conscious when he's forced to dress up for formal occasions, since he prefers to slouch a little and relax without worrying about wrinkling his clothes.
Being raised as a country boy in Vacuo, he was spared the majority of prejudice that many Faunus encounter, though he learned well enough about it during his visits to other kingdoms during the Vytal Festival Tournaments while training at Shade Academy. While he dislikes the brutality of the White Fang, he does agree that humans can't kick around Faunus without expecting them to bite back - fair is fair, after all. He tries to keep his cards close to his chest on this opinion.
Biography:Slater was raised on a farmstead as part of a large family in the dust bowl of Vacuo. Life was simple and hard; every day was a struggle to keep enough food growing for the family, but there was a lot of love and laughter in those days. Slater's parents encouraged him and his siblings to get a basic education at school, where he did reasonably well despite being teased about his smell due to his skunk tail. He loved hearing stories about the Huntsmen and Huntresses that patrolled the dusty wastes and performed acts of daring heroism, though such an adventurous life seemed so far away that it seemed more like fairy tales than reality.
This all changed one day when an aging uncle came to stay at the farm. His parents had never mentioned Uncle Nickel Starr, who as it turned out wasn't just an experienced Huntsman, but also had been sheriff of a distant frontier town in Vale. Slater came to find that his parents were extremely proud of Nickel's accomplishments, but had been strictly forbidden to talk about his exploits because he didn't want his relatives thinking more of him than he felt they should. But Slater was quietly persistent, a shadow of his uncle, and soon enough the old codger taught the young man the ways of the gunslinger, the respect of the weapon, and that there was a bigger world out there in need of vigilant defenders.
It was no surprise when, a week before Slater's seventeenth birthday, he let his parents know he would be going to Shade Academy to train to be a Huntsman. He did not ask for permission; he was going one way or the other. But he did hope for, and receive, the blessing of his parents. When he left, he was seen off by Nickel, who surprised the lad by handing over Rampart Spur, Nickel's tonfa/revolvers. Nickel had retired from his life as a Huntsman, and knew that Slater's humble background deprived him of a weapon of his own, so with all the country practicality in his soul, he figured Slater could use them more than himself - and had certainly trained with them long enough to know how to use them. Slater and his uncle departed from each other warmly.
Slater continued his training at Shade Academy, refining the skills taught to him by his uncle. Much like the rest of his life, the four years at Shade were a steady plod towards progress, unremarkable in most instances, except during the Vytal Festival Tournament in his last year. His team, STAR, managed to get to the semifinals, where he and his best friend Terry Cotter went up against a pair of Beacon students from Team HOPE. The fight was a standoff, with Terry providing long-range support as Slater held off both students up close, until a malfunction inside the arena platform caused the ground to buckle, and a rockslide occurred in the mountainous segment of the battlefield.
Slater made the snap decision to activate his shield Semblance to protect himself and the two Beacon students, but he could not protect Terry at the same time due to his positioning on the field. This choice led to Terry being severely injured, and he never forgave Slater for what he called a "betrayal of his trust." The strife in his team was such that Slater was forced to forfeit the rematch, and STAR broke up immediately upon graduation. The only bright spot in this dismal incident was when the Beacon students he had saved visited Slater with the rest of their team and gifted him with a simple iron key with their team name - HOPE - as thanks for his bravery. He wears this key at all times now, as a reminder of the difficult decision he had made and of other choices he would have to make in the future.
Emblem:A five-pointed golden orange star inside a circle attached to each of the points, like a sheriff's badge.
Aura Color:Golden orange
Semblance:Shield
Slater can project an energized barrier in the shape of a giant heater shield. It shines in the same golden orange color as his Aura. He can use this shield to block or deflect all kinds of attacks. As demonstrated during the Vytal Festival Tournament, he is able to ward off even the force of landslides while using the shield to protect others. The shield is opaque from the front but translucent through his viewpoint, so he can see his opponents and reposition the shield as he needs to. He can use the shield to push enemies around or even reposition himself or other objects as needed - but the shield has a maximum range of one meter, and so he usually has to move himself to take advantage of this feature.
This shield is simply a refocusing of his Aura's power from its usual all-encompassing protective field into a focused shield that is much stronger, but can only be aimed in one direction at a time. While potentially able to block even the strongest attacks, it also leaves him extremely vulnerable from any direction the shield does not face - a single hit on an unprotected side might drop his entire Aura immediately while his shield is deployed.
Weapon:Rampart Spur
A matched pair of gunmetal-colored tonfas with pistol grip handles and a rounded finger guard. The tonfas can rotate at the base of the grip to allow the wielder to strike with the long half of the main shaft. With a quick flick of the wrist, each tonfa's long end can flip up the front of the finger guard and become the barrel and receiver for a sturdy revolver.
Each revolver holds six Magnum-style Dust bullets each, with the capability of taking different elemental loads. It is typically loaded with heavy Stone-elemental Dust rounds, which have a bigger physical impact due to the increased density and hardness of the rounds; these can knock opponents off-balance even if their Aura otherwise protects them from being harmed. When in tonfa form, the bullets can be used to infuse the guards with an elemental casing to add extra defense - usually an extra shell of brittle but hard stone.
The tonfas are extremely durable, and as befitting an old but well-maintained weapon, the length of the weapons are nicked with the memories of a thousand blocked claws, teeth and blades. When not in use, Rampart Spur stores easily in a compact cylinder form in two wide horizontal loops on his belt at the small of his back where he can whip them out quickly with a flare of his duster's tails.
Favors:Board and card games, beautiful natural vistas and sunsets/sunrises, a rousing good time, small animals
Disfavors:Skunk smell jokes, rabblerousers without due cause, wearing formal clothes, anyone who thinks they're too good for anyone else
Affinities:Slater is a strong defensive fighter, using his tonfas to deflect or block attacks while striking back with their blunt edges and tips. He maintains a solid stance, allowing him to focus on blocks and counterstrikes when in melee combat. He is adept at blocking with one weapon while attacking with the other - and his skills are fine-tuned enough to allow him to block an attack from one opponent while striking or shooting at another.
He will allow his weapons to flow from tonfa to revolver form as the situation dictates, though he will usually switch both to revolvers when he is outside melee range so that he can focus a barrage of attacks and use more mobility. While his revolvers can take potentially any Dust bullet, he tends to lean on stone elemental Dust bullets for their heavy-hitting and knockback qualities. He is adept at reloading his weapons swiftly with the extra full moon clips he carries on his belt under his duster.
Faults:Slater's strength is also his weakness; to make the most of his defenses, he needs to have contact with a solid surface (usually the ground), so an opponent who can manage to throw him up into the air or knock him off his feet will find an opening to strike.
He also has a bad habit of paying too much attention to the welfare of his teammates, so that should a teammate get into trouble, he might lose his own defenses while he moves to protect his compatriot. A crafty and observant opponent could take advantage of this.
Theme Song: "A Fistful of Nickels" (Final Fantasy 6 Shadow's theme remix)
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