Echo-Una Acacia Amalric de Oceania
Nickname(s): Echo Thrussell, Echo
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Puzzle Theme Orchestrated: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIKJuHJmPDI

Role: Princesses best friend
Gender: Female
Nickname(s): N/A
Age: (15-20) 16
Race: Mermaid

Appearance: Although she is athletic, Echo does not seem muscular. She seems thin and frail. She is also an albino(Albino mermaids have lavender eyes as opposed to red or blue in this). Echo’s powder colored hair tumbles to the ground and drags as she walks. She is also extremely tall. Her long limbs lend to her graceful appearance and movement.
Echo’s face is somewhat thin, but not to the point of boney. She has large eyes and about an average sized nose. Her lips are not too full, but not leaning on the thin side either.

Preferred Clothing: If underwater, something she can move and swim in. If above water, If above water, something a bit more fancy, but also something she can move in.

Height: 5’9”
Weight: 136
Hair Color: Powder
Eye Color: Lavender

Personality:
Quiet, reserved and keeping herself at a distance, Echo is a woman who is resolute in herself and views, yet hides behind a veil of a false smile. To herself, she keeps in much; never letting out the truth about the pain she feels deep within her heart, she does not wish to place the burden of her struggles upon the shoulders of another. Though she is sure of her views, Echo is timid woman; she doesn’t speak up often despite having her own input on a matter for fear of ridicule. Everything she thinks and feels, all the negative things in her head and soul stay hidden far inside, behind that fragile little smile of hers. That mask is something that she keeps up on her at all times to protect not only those she loves, but herself as well.

There is a fear to her, a certain level of fright about what people might think if they knew how she really felt on the inside. Echo believes people would see her as selfish, or as a freak because she feels so alone in her heart, so very isolated from the rest of the world. Everyone always viewed her as being born lucky, beautiful, smart, gifted with many wondrous abilities, she was envied by the mermaids around her for her blessings. The blessings Echo received from birth, soon turned into a curse that would forever alter her heart and mind, as it would cause her to tread down a path of torment. Her natural gifts caused people to avoid her, to be angry that she bore such skills, they were jealous of the mermaid, and intimidated by her. This, in turned caused Echo to have no friends, to be on her own.

Despite this though, Echo is a kind soul, she has a good heart and a good sense about her. She is a gentle spirit who found herself becoming firm in her own ways as the years passed on. The link Echo bears to the world, the one thing that give her purpose, is the bond she shares with Knell. The friendship between the two mermaids has given Echo the drive to go onward in life, to not give up. Her kindness, the gentleness that persists within her soul is something that spawned of this bond between the two. The friendship gave Echo a purpose, and to herself she swore an oath at a young age.

She vowed upon a pledge to protect people, and that has been something that has defined her since the oath was completed upon her heart. Echo lives by this, and regardless of her fears, of the shyness that refuses to relinquish its grasp upon her, she stands strong when the time comes and defends those she feels she must. Whether this comes down to her using words or force, she goes through with what she must. Uncertainty does exist within her, doubts about herself and such, even when she is carrying out her self-imposed duties.

In line with the natural gifts Echo bears, she is also a highly intelligent woman. Through her shyness, she comes off as being quiet and has taught herself to instead observe people, their actions and their behaviors rather than actually interact with them. This has lead her into being an expert at reading others, and also, she carries about her a certain level of knowledge gained from the many texts she has read in her downtime. Because she does little in the way of socialization, she has found herself reading a lot, and thanks to this, she is very gifted when it comes down to what is in her head.

As for the torment she feels in her heart, the loneliness, Echo has learned how to disguise her true feelings with a rather convincing façade. The pain eats away at her, Knell is the one person Echo is certain cares about her, and she fears that if the Princess was aware of the fact she was suffering so much on the inside that she might lose her. The two girls share a sisterly bond, connected together closely. Because they bear similar emotional circumstances, they connected in an instant, and now, Echo treats Knell like a sister; getting after her if she feels like the Princess has been acting spoiled, or not behaving in a proper manner.

Quirks: When she is nervous, Echo will bring all her hair to the opposite side and brush through it with her hands and repeat the process over and over until she is not nervous anymore. She also tends to hum to herself when she gets tired or bored. And although Echo is a great singer (even for a mermaid) she is very shy about people hearing her singing voice.

Likes: Long hair, wrestling, fish, music, art, Ocean sports, swimming
Dislikes: Herself, her name, people being rude, people in pain
Hobbies: Training, singing, reading and hanging out with Knell

Phobia(s): Fire, gravity(she’s used to living where you can’t fall, because you drift or swim and when she’s above water, she feels so heavy and falling is so new to her.)


Weapon: Daggers and her fists. She’s not as good with daggers as her fists, so she mainly relies on them to get the job done. She can kick as good as she can punch, but she kicks less, because of her fear of gravity.

Fighting Style: She combines magic with physical combat, which has been passed down through her family for generations. She’s mainly a fist fighter, because she’s not very good at using her dagger. She’s pretty fast and strong, but her defense is a bit on the weak side.

Abilities: Echo surrounds her fists and daggers with a vortex of water. She also blocks with trails of thick, powerful water as opposed to using her daggers or forearms to protect herself, as in her human form she has no armor.

Personal History:
Echo is the daughter of a servant and a drunkard. He father chose her name, because he viewed her as a pale image of what her brothers were, yet more of the same… Her mother didn’t think too much of it, because she thought it was a beautiful name, fit for her daughter. Echo hates her name though. She knows what her father meant and it makes her feel very sad about herself.

Though she loves her children very much, Echo’s mother is never around. She is the high servant of the king and is always very busy. She has to make up enough money to make up for the money that her husband is not making so that everyone can eat. Housing is free, as they live in the servants’ quarters of the castle. Echo thinks her mom resents her so much that she would rather work than look at her daughter’s face. In reality, her mother would nurture her if she could.

Since she was only a pale reflection of her brothers, Echo always tried to be the best at everything. She was an excellent singer, even for a mermaid. She was very athletic and she was also very smart. However hard she worked and no matter how good she got, her family never saw her any different than before. She was a shadow. And her peers began to hate her. They became jealous because they felt she had too much and she was far too lucky. None of them knew that behind her smile was pain and sadness beyond what most of them had experienced.

The only person in the world who did not seem to hate her was Knell… And no one could even know that they were friends, for it was forbidden that a royal and a servant become friends. One of Echo’s goals was to become a royal guard so that she and Knell could spend more time together and not have to hide as much. Echo also wanted to protect the one person in the world who did not hate her.

The one who really brings her family down is her father. He hates her and doesn’t like the second born son, but he loves the eldest. The eldest son and the father would each beat Echo and her other brother, taking turns from day to day who they would beat. Her father would beat her mother when she was home too, but her mother did not believe he’d ever abuse their children.

Not knowing where else to turn, Echo asked her grandmother what to do. In response, her grandmother taught her the family fighting style so that Echo could stand up for herself as well as her little brother when her dad would beat them. Before Echo could finish learning, her grandmother passed away.

Scared and unsure, Echo could not stand up to her father yet and his abuse only continued to get worse. Her eldest brother always beat the second oldest and her father would beat her.

Sick of the abuse and seeing her brother get beat up too, she made an oath to always protect those who needed it. To follow through with that oath, she began training and exercising. She started participating in deep sea sports and eventually she became strong enough to overpower her eldest brother and her father. Both of them ignored her from then on, but far from what she’d expected her other brother ignored her too. He just couldn’t believe that a GIRL had showed him off by beating two people he could never hope to overcome and from then on, he hated his sister too. Not long after, both brothers were married and left the household.