Hearken
From Axalon RPG
Contents |
Basic Info
- Created By: Tarantulas
- Boards Active: Axalon Underground RPG
- Aliases: Poltergeist (“Noisy Ghost”)
- Faction: Predacon
- Primary Function: Demolition Expert
- Secondary Function: Advance Scout
- Type: Beast Warrior
- Beast Mode: Sugar Glider
- Gender: Male
- Size: Small (6ft)
- Theme: The Beatles - Maxwell’s Silver Hammer
- Quote: “Whatsit that they always say? Y’know, about the meek shall inherit...?”
Statistics
- Strength 5
- Stamina 3
- Speed 10
- Skill 8
- Aim 4
- Firepower 10
- Intelligence 8
- Discipline 7
- Luck 8
Skills
- Stealth
- Demolition & Explosives (hence his nickname of Noisy Ghost)
- Animal Handling
- Close Combat: Maces, Sickles, Whips
- Art- Painting
Physical Description
Beast Mode
Again, small, unimposing and seemingly insignificant. Hearken is a sugar glider, a marsupial related to the opossum but more closely resembling a flying squirrel. His body is compact, plump, gray and furry. His head is round and twitchy with big black eyes. Flaps of loose flesh connect his forelimbs to his legs. When all four arms are extended, these flaps act as a parachute and let Hearken glide with ease and agility. He is highly maneuverable and very quick in the air.
Robot Mode
Hearken is small, unthreatening and somewhat nondescript. His shell is smooth, symmetrical, decently polished and well-aligned. In colouration, he is a uniform shade of light powder-brown with shimmering blue optics; his body is trimmed with gray beast-mode fur at the joints. He has slender paw-like hands, crossing over from beast mode, and flaps of membranous skin wrapped loosely about his arms. His big black-eyed beast-mode head rests in between his thin shoulder-blades like a hood. Hearken has a thin face with ruffs of fur on his cheeks, and small triangular fins starting at his eyebrows. His features lack definition but are appealing nonetheless.
His assortment of wan smiles and fluid gestures makes him look a tad dainty. Hearken is inexplicably attractive, in a waifish way, but doesn’t stand out among the throngs of Cybertron. Ever-so-gentle, Hearken normally appears very soft and quiet in everything he does. His voice is midrange, but is highly variable in its pitch and volume, which can change vastly between different moods. He tends to punctuate his speech indiscriminately with a characteristic soft chuckle.
Personality
Soft-spoken, slow-moving but quick-thinking, a good listener, sensitive to the needs of others, trustworthy, thoughtful, careful, honest, modest and contrite- Hearken seems like someone deeply satisfied in his own life. He is rarely without a slight, sweet smile. He likes to whistle and can carry a tune well, and he’s fond of wordplay and gentle puns. He seems a reserved little bot, keeping to the shadows and trying, not always successfully, to draw attention away from himself. He’s an observer, his attention always outward, listening or watching or catching a scent on the wind... Usually very quiet, Hearken laughs often, occasionally at odd times. It’s a nervous habit. He has a tendency to treat everyone as a friend and refer to them as such, inasmuch as they suffer it.
He knows about killing, and won’t argue about its occasional necessity with fellow Predacons, but it’s something he avoids himself. Leave it to the experts, as surely they enjoy it. Hearken keeps to himself around his more violent peers, preferring the precision work of setting explosives, carefully timed and placed to a specific goal. Hearken has a specific kind of patience: he can wait any length of time, so long as he has something to keep him occupied.
His profession being what it is, others are always surprised by Hearken’s hobby: the boy has an abiding affection for animals. His love of life and living ought to make this less peculiar, but time and again, people are shocked by this revelation. Hearken has always enjoyed the company of his fellow creature, and has instructed himself in their rearing, care and even their training. On his home colony, he kept a number of pets, which he misses dearly now that he may never see them again.
He has a good sense of humour, which also surprises people. He’s clever, and knows how to spin the stalest witticism to his advantage. His range is broad, and he believes that no subject should be taboo. Laughter is the best medicine, for whatever ails you.
Despite his impressionable nature, Hearken is not often troubled by the darkness of the world. He is like the willow branch, that bends without breaking.
Armament
- Laser Pistol- Mostly for show, this holdout gun simply serves to divert attention from Hearken’s real arsenal. He never uses it-- in fact, it’s been jammed for over a year now.
- Explosive Charges- Mining explosives normally stored in Hearken’s subspace systems. Each cylindrical case contains one small brick of compacted atomite, an unstable compound that creates a fair-sized explosion when reacted with a base. Mostly inconspicuous, small lights on the mines blink red once when activated, and start blinking again shortly before they explode. One mine will open a roughly door-sized hole in a rock wall. Five will destroy a space-hopper (a la Depth Charge). Eight can blow a hole clear through the hull of a transwarp ship. They can be placed on almost any surface since they stick to anything. The detonator is actually built into Hearken’s inner circuitry. The mines can be set to go off at will, or placed on a timer, or, with the addition of a small sensor, built to explode if anything moves within three feet of it. It does not require any vocal input.
- Chain Rattle- Concealed weapon. Rarely used in public, this deceptively fine chain is deployed via Hearken’s wrists. It is attached to a small iron orb at one end and a large, wicked-looking barbed hook on the other. It is strewn with various charms along its length, which make it look less dangerous than it really is. This is by design. The chain is virtually indestructible, and the hook is heavier than it looks, and sharp. When Hearken starts swinging it around, momentum does the rest. The weapon has a great deal of reach. However, the really deadly part of this contraption rests in the small iron orb on the other end. By swinging it around an opponent, wrapping them a time or five, Hearken can then let go of the chain and speak the codeword. This causes the orb to pull the rest of the chain towards it; the chain collapses inward as if by a gravitational pull, crushing anything between it and the iron orb. If a bot is sufficiently strong, they might loosen the chains long enough to break free; emphasis on ‘might’. As use of this unique trait leaves Hearken weaponless, he would be careful in playing his hand. If the chain itself is a concealed weapon, then the properties of the iron orb are even more of a secret.
History
Hearken speaks little of his past, claiming that it is too painful for him. On the record, he is the sole survivor of his massacred colony, and that he was briefly taken hostage by space pirates before effecting an escape. Beyond that, he’s staying mum. However, if one had ways of making him talk...
Hearken was originally assembled on the desolate colony Atropos, in a remote star system called Three-Sisters. Apparently possessing some kind of glitch, he found it difficult to keep his attention on the present for any duration. The working colonists labeled him village idiot, and paid him little mind, though he warranted some respect for his position, placing the explosives that cleared the mines- without lighting up any pockets of raw energon. When a rival colony arrived, it was Hearken’s luck, good or bad, to be captured and squeezed for information.
When Atropos was no more, Hearken was going on to become reluctant friends with the raiding colony’s second-in-command. The vice-commandant was a pretty femme, albeit outwardly cold. She deplored the sacking of Atropos, but her loyalty was stronger than her charity. Hearken couldn’t help feeling sorry for her, which is why it was even more a shame when the ship they were on was attacked by space pirates, flying the Double Helix, a kind of far-future Jolly Roger. Drawn away from the rest of the attacking fleet, their vessel was captured, and its crew imprisoned.
Hearken and the others were to suffer multiple indignities in the months to come, but with the support of his new friend the vice-commandant, Hearken survived, with his gentleness mostly intact. She bought his freedom with her life, in the end. She admired him, seeing in him a strength few did.
He boarded a Maximal Peacekeeper ship, and spent several months recuperating on the outlying space station of Cybertronian Alpha. The death of the vice-commandant (for even then, she had never told him her real name), and her words as she died, affected Hearken deeply and strangely. Even now, as he steps off the cargo freighter’s gangplank and onto the surface of Cybertron for the first time in his life, those words still weigh upon his spark.
