Name: Russell Mwangi

Gender: Male, Straight

Age/DOB: 32@ Arrival, RY9

Origin: Aperturth, of Eastern African descent, first generation American, Austin Texas facility

Family: Unknown status on Aperturth, however he is in a relationship with Saruta and in RY11 Wattana their daughter is born

Other: a bit of a quiet type, it's not clear how his relationships to the group in Austin really formed

Height: 5'11"

Weight: 170, currently a bit out of shape but that is changing rapidly on arrival to the Rookery, definite dad-bod

Hair: black afro, slightly greying and will likely be silver rather than grey; kept styled and short, has an equally greying beard

Eyes: reddish brown, intense, tired looking

Appearance: medium brown skin with moles and blemishes, though it's not clear how many of the scars he has on his hands and arms are from more recent activity or older, typical of an African man with a broad nose and a wide, thickly lipped mouth; quiet voice, pronounces things very clearly; prefers work clothing and coveralls to getting 'dressed up'

Genetic Abilities: unknown, the Resonance Cascade didn't really markedly change him in any way, but Melissa is convinced that his aptitude with machinery is Vortal; he definitely does have a stronger grasp on mechanical engineering, repairs, and device building than most

Icarus Processing: none, the Resonance Cascade might have altered his DNA but if so was very subtle and with no obvious boosts

Image Credits: Valve / Gmodder

Skills or Profession: originally just a janitor, but within a year of working around the Austin facility it became clear that he was very, very good with machines. He knows just the right tool to use to loosen up or whittle down a part, and does so while gently talking to both the tool and the item he's working on. He can identify and maintain virtually any Earthly machine made, from pocket watches to nuclear power plants, though he prefers vehicles, engines, things with easily noticed moving parts, to any electronics. He's better with gears and levers than with wiring, but he still understands electrical engineering well enough to work on powered machines. He is very keen on getting access to some of the 'walls' that the Combine use to process matter - they're slowly chewing their way across the planet, but he doesn't want to wait until they reach the Rookery to get a better look at them. An adept tinker, he likes making small items and useful goods for people, even if they don't know it was him who left a wind-up toy at their kid's door.
Personality: soft voiced, private to the point of shyness. He likes very small gatherings if not one-on-ones with any of his friends, and tends to stick to the walls in larger groups. He isn't as sure of himself as Saruta would like, but he does take his cues from her if she's introducing him to people, it's for a reason she wants them to know him. He has a clear understanding of the world and people around him, he just... doesn't really want to interact with people, is all.

Events or History: His family moved from eastern Africa to America at the behest of Aperture, his father worked for their transportation division and he learned quite a lot from him as a child. He was only a teenager when he was hired to work at the same facility as his parents, though without the full training and degree that they had, he was a bit sad to be relegated to cleaning up after the repair shop closed. But in his spare time there, he would take scraps and discarded materials, and began building things. Robots, clocks, roombas... This brought him to Saruta's attention, and even though she'd only been on site for a short period, she insisted that he come work in their lab. She also encouraged him to take night classes when he could, so technically speaking he was more than halfway through a degree in engineering before the Resonance Cascade hit.

Once the Rookery became his home, he's had to relearn a lot of interactions. But perhaps he's coming out of his shell a bit with a dragon as lovely as Shimmer to help nudge him.

Dragon

Name: Shimmerskies
Gender: Female
Size/Shoulder/Length: Medium-Large (wings) 10'4" s / 68' l / 112' ws
Colors: chin and belly to tail tip dark blue; middle armor deep blue; dorsal armor nose to tail, limb armor and claws/spines indigo; wingsails midnight black-blue (dorsal), heavily marked (ventral only) with myriad white stars including a 'galaxy' across, and vibrant aurora in aqua, teal, indigo, and violet/pink; horns aurora colors; eyes pale green
Features: Pure Nightwing of a specific breed common to a couple others on the Rookery
Powers: Winged Flight, obviously Shimmer is a very strong flier, she is completely silent in the air and can fly in remarkably difficult conditions such as storms, snow, fog, near-complete darkness, and heavy smoke. She does prefer a good clear sky to fly in, and flies very high. Though she can fly very quickly, she likes to take it slower and more carefully, artistically moving around the clouds. She has no difficulty being at an incredibly high altitude, though she's very well aware that any rider or passengers will be adversely affected!
Communication, Shimmer is strongly gifted Vortally, with the distinctive 'teardrop' shape markings on her scales to prove it. She's mastered Draconic and English, and understands Vortigese though she doesn't speak it as well as she'd like. However, she and Russell have a very good Vortal bond, and she can sense and communicate with him over distances up to 50 miles. She can also communicate with any strongly Vortal mind, dragon or otherwise, within about 20 miles, though most comfortably with Vortigaunts at less than 250 meters.
Night Fire, though she can use her breath to attack, it's far more likely to find this colorful burst of light made as entertainment or distraction. Her breath can look just like her wingsails, sparkly white particles - those are quite hot and act as plasma sparks so do not touch them if they're close - as well as drifting colors that waver like an aurora without the need for a magnetic field to function. (However: everyone is interested in seeing whether strong magnetic fields do affect it!) If used as an attack, the plasma sparks can burn dry items pretty easily, and spark fires, or leave painful but small burns on skin, and these are only effective at close range, under 25 meters, and they cool very rapidly. The aura colors do no damage.
Parentage: Unknown pure Nightwings
Origin: Bought from SentraTheNightwing, made by CrystallizedEclipse, lines by Owibyx on Deviantart; WoF by Tui Sutherland
Other Info: Shimmer is cheerful and gentle, though she does know the importance of the efforts that humanity is making on the Rookery. She can put stressful times behind people, giving them a lovely distracting light to watch.