BMDR - Aurie


Name: Aurie Gender: Female Age/DOB: ~4, ages quickly to young-adulthood, RY11 Origin: Vault Earth, engineered in Rookery/Rapture Family: Genetically engieered with samples from a 'gold' Deathclaw, and Dallas Arroyo Other: Yes, that's a deathclaw-human hybrid**, yes, she's fertile more than likely with either breed Height: 8' Weight: don't ask a girl such a thing; she has a 'chonky' build but it is absolutely all muscle, and yes those are breasts Hair: yellow-golden armor scales, scattered from forehead down spine to tail tip; other armor bits are darker gold Eyes: bright yellow, she does have eyelids she just doesn't bother blinking, they're for sleep Appearance: intimidating, sandy-golden hide with small scales, and armored scales accenting on limbs and back; three toed feet with massive index claw, five fingered hands with thumb and one very large claw that can be 'popped' out from under the middle digit; she has elegant forward-curved segmented horns, and plenty of teeth, her horns will continue to grow as she ages normally; she can speak but you don't really want to hear her voice as she is exactly as loud as Deathclaws are known to be Icarus Processing: yes, actually the Plasmid-mix because it was more appropriate to use on non-human dna. This was able to help bring out the human side of her existing genes, and it actually does lighten her overall weight a bit; she heals quickly (2.5x) and can take a very big beating before she even starts needing to heal, her bones are almost impossible to fracture; she's stunningly fast with both running (3x human) and dexterity tasks like clawing things (4x faster); she can jump more than 40 feet standing, and reach speeds up to 45 mph easily, and keep up a 20 mph pace for over 3 hours at a time; the processing allows for other Vortal abilities to show up as well	Image Credits: Base by Samalamb-bases
Genetic Abilities: she has strangely strong Vortal abilities in the form of communication skills, clearly able to understand virtually any form of spoken language. Though she has no other power to communicate with humans, she is clearly able to Vortally talk with her dragon friend, other Deathclaws, and dragons in general, as well as anyone in her genetic line - that is to say, Dallas and Dale's. Her nest-mates are easy for her to spot Vortally, and though she cannot command them they usually pay attention to their eldest sister. Her senses are extremely keen, much more so than either her human or Deathclaw 'parent', particularly she is able to smell and taste with remarkable refinement, and sees in near-complete darkness. This does leave her a bit overwhelmed in bright light, so she tends to hunt in the early morning or late afternoon, into the dark of night. She is clearly much smarter than any Deathclaw, and may even rival Dallas in tactical thinking. She does have to get someone else, usually Shatter, to give off commands if there are humans she needs to work with, because for whatever stupid reason humans think dragons are more relatable than Deathclaws? Though it's more of a behavior than a true power, Aurie sometimes can blend in with humans or humanoids just by 'being casual', this may be a residual chameleon power, but it seems strongly influenced by Dallas's charismatic and crowd-based skills. The moment someone realizes Aurie is there, everyone gets a good chuckle... after they stop screaming and wetting themselves.
Skills or Profession: Aurie is a patrol scout, moving from location to location around almost the entire Mojave Conglomerate area. She has been given skill downloads for understanding body language, a bit of civil engineering to spot hiding places or weak points, and thanks to Aretha and Dallas, very good mapping and navigation around the Mojave. She can ride Shattershell but usually doesn't go very high, unless they're planning on 'dropping in' on an enemy camp of Legion - she can withstand a massive drop after all, so a howling Deathclaw and a fire-breathing dragon make quick work of those enemies. She's got a great memory for locations, so she will mark spots where she thinks people should check out on a specially made Pip-Boy, while she makes the rounds. Her combat skills are at least as good as any protective Deathclaw Mom, which is to say fierce as fuck, even Brotherhood armor is just like a pinata to her. She keeps her slashing claws ultra-sharp. Her personal interests however are in the skies: not just dragons and how they fly or behave in combat, but in the stars themselves, weather patterns, and this weird thing that people call 'seasons' - which let's be honest, no one in the Mojave has seen seasons in the entire time the place has been settled, even thousands of years before the war. She can read, but does have to rely on the Pip-Boy for her books because her hands are just too large and sharp to hold a regular book without destroying it. She did grow up in the University section of the Quarry, though, and spent her first year being read to and educated with the human kids.
Personality: Though quiet, Aurie likes to people-watch, not just for food. ha ha that's a joke see? She has a good sense of humor, and doesn't try harming people with pranks. If she's on a computer line with someone, they'd be hard pressed to realize she's actually a Deathclaw. She knows she's not 'one of the humans', but is pretty sure that they accept her and are at ease once they get to know her. Particularly those kids that get rescued from slave camps she's come across - between her and her dragon, they're heroic as hell.
Events or History: "You know that there's already Human DNA in that, right?" Melissa said, glancing at the tough-as-nails Dallas who stood just outside the surgical room. Dallas got a concerned look, which prompted Melissa to elaborate a little. "I mean, there's obviously lizard, I don't really know much more about animal DNA than the basics so I guess it's like alligator and chameleon or something," she would have rambled, but shook her head and refocused. "But I do know human DNA, and it's all over this sample. It's been modified, tweaked like... well kind of like the Icarus processing and the Plasmids do on our worlds." Mel tossed her head and nodded toward Rhea, who was equally confounded by the results. The chamber they were in was more or less for assembling raw DNA, and there were hundreds of foot-long tubes filled with faintly-glowing bluish liquid - labeled in whatever manner the scientists had determined, which they took inspiration or slices of code from. "The Icarus process permanently alters a person's DNA, enhancing things, changing physical properties a bit. Plasmids are known to do it more dramatically, but offer some spectacular and specific results," Melissa again nodded up, this time at the posters that were framed on the hallway wall behind Dallas. They showed the amazing traits of fire, ice, machine control, levitation. Dallas would have scoffed that they were merely entertainment, probably put there to advertise a movie or comic book like they had in the Mojave. But no - they were real powers, she'd seen them working in action on her trip here to Rapture. Rapture itself not even being on her own home Earth... Others might have had a hard time following this, but Dallas was not 'normal' in any way, according to Melissa. The Mojave resident knew to listen to the experts in that room - who had examined her DNA and needed very little prodding to follow through with their project, even if it was a bit weird. The weird part was that they were up to their elbows in Deathclaw DNA and found more human than expected. "So what does this mean, exactly?" Dallas asked, "will that help or hurt this project?" "Oh it will definitely help," Rhea replied, the dark-skinned woman holding up her own vial of gel-held DNA, "all of the key features we usually look for are here already, so... it's really just a matter of plugging in the bits you want to add." "And reiterating the ones you want to keep more... lizardy." Melissa shrugged, "lizard-like?" "How detailed can you get with this?" The pair of scientists looked at each other and just grinned like mad. *** Aurie was her name, gestated within a human volunteer with care - and with liberal memory-wiping. Normally Melissa wouldn't have approved of that method, but frankly the moment it got out that a non-human 'freak' like this was put into a human woman's womb, that would be it for their experimentation. Even in a community like the one in Rapture, even in Rhea's era more than 60 years before, it was... questionable at best. But chameleons didn't come this big, and the Deathclaw that the samples had been from was already too old to lay eggs herself nevermind the fact that she wasn't a mammal proper. Neither was her 'daughter', Aurie, but that's neither here nor there. Dallas wasn't intending to be a mother, nor to do anything more than invest in a much better and relatable Deathclaw population for the Mojave Conglomerate. But she did 'mother' this child, while small anyway. Melissa had impressed upon her the importance of being gestated to allow the Plasmid-Mix to do its 'thing', and Dallas took that to heart. Even if the latter part of the offspring's gestation was in a tube in Rapture, the important moments were already sealed into her DNA. Apparently the existing human parts of that Deathclaw genome were enough to help mitigate any rejection problems - no drugs were required to keep the child from being forced out by that surrogate. She had grown faster than a human child, which was good, because any longer than three months would have been extremely difficult for that surrogate to handle - and others would have noticed her getting bigger. They played it safe, pulled the fetus out and put her into one of the larger vats they had on hand. She slept now outside of that vat, still curled as a lizard would be. Golden hide, not quite skin, tail nub, broad muzzled face with what looked like inset nubs that surely would grow into horns later. Dallas had seen her share of Deathclaw hatchlings, this one looked similar but not quite. The legs were too chubby, arms a bit too short, to be truly lizard-like. Something gnawed at her mind, though, and she reached out to pick up the ... child? Lighter than expected, and Melissa explained that was because of the Icarus. "She's cold, let's get ... somewhere warmer than this," Dallas suggested, and she and the scientists headed back to one of the long-range Portals in the transportation center. There were still too few people wandering around Rapture to have noticed the unusual looking child in Dallas's arms. "If you need us, you know where to find us," Rhea suggested, not entering the Portal proper, instead choosing to remain in the cool, moist undersea location. Melissa went through and almost instantly regretted it. "I remember the first time I went to Black Mesa, it's out in New Mexico," she commented, "I grew up down in Alabama, it's not dry there at all... And nothing like this." They'd arrived in the late afternoon, leaving Rapture to its eternally-dim 'morning'. Mel and others had visited MoCon at times, but there was little to interest the genetic engineer. It was more a place for practical folk - carpenters and bricklayers, construction and manufacturers, or fighters and survivors. It was always so dusty, Melissa didn't think she'd ever get the grit out of her eyes. Dallas brought the golden hybrid to the surface, the Portal being located just under the overpass nearest the Strip. It was instantly warmer, suddenly drier, and equally more filled with noises from the child. Those noises became howls, and several moments later, as the women hustled to the nearest shelter, they heard rumbling. "It's fine, it's fine sweetie," Dallas said, "they're coming." Melissa stood, wide-eyed, as shadows fell over the shelter's windows. Large, broad ones. "Oh," she said, hearing their shuffling claws on the sandy road, and their hardly-labored breath as they converged. "Family... I hope?" "Yes," Dallas said, confidently, "the only 'claws around here are her family any more. The ones that we couldn't convince to play nice had to leave." It took Mel a moment to realize that Dallas actually meant she'd talked them into leaving, rather than just ... well, slaughtered them like anyone else might have. Come to think of it, Aretha mentioned something similar. Well, there was a lot of human DNA in them... maybe they really were just big scaley people after all. There were four such scaley people, Melissa was frozen in place and unable to respond when one of them opened the door to the shelter. It was sniffing hard with that broad, blunt snout - teeth everywhere, sharp bits on either side of the door frame, its head was wider than the door. Thankfully. And there was Dallas, holding up this little fresh creature. Melissa had never in her life been more afraid for a child not her own. But momentarily the snuffling turned to what sounded like a purr, the great horned creature turned and chuffed, rumbled, grunted at its companions. Dallas walked out carefully, it wouldn't do to surprise any of the Deathclaws after all, even an accident would be fatal around them. "They like her," Dallas said, proudly. "I'm going to head home with her now. If you want to come along that's fine, I need to get some food into her, and I... still don't really even know what she'll eat..." *** Turned out, Aurie liked meat and eggs, most. But thankfully she also seemed willing to eat tato stalks (not tatos), greens from carrots and other plants, she liked things other kids didn't care for or couldn't eat anyway. She did eat a lot, though, and it showed in how quickly she grew. Her horns budded within a month, heavier scales beginning to show on her back and feet, then her claws began growing sharper. So sharp in fact that it became difficult for her to interact normally with humans, and she went through a sullen phase a lot like a tween would at that point. They made her a special edition Pip-Boy, Dale decided that his ... unusual kin would need to be able to keep up with things. He devloped keys that could be pressed without being damaged, a screen that could clean up easily, and a hip pouch which made accessing it easier than having it on a rapidly-growing wrist. "It'll do everything a regular one does, read health conditions, tune in radio stations, mapping, coms," he said, looking his cousin Dallas in the eye, "calibrating this thing was a bitch, so hopefully it won't break any time soon." Dale showed the Deathclaw hybrid how to utilize it, and realized she was already at least as tall as him. When she said 'sure thing daddy-o' he did a double take, because she hadn't spoken verbally. It wasn't the first time he'd had another's mind snug up against his own, but this was the first time she had spoken to him this way. He pondered while Aurie fiddled with the controls. "I gotta go talk to Melissa about... things." *** Eventually Shattershell arrived, flying overhead with a couple of the newcomers and landing with confidence next to the tall hybrid girl. They hit it off immediately, this young dragoness and the unusual woman. And they make a great team, cruising around the Mojave just waiting for anyone to get in their way.
Dragon Name: Shattershell (named for the unusually strong manner she kicked out of her shell at hatching) Gender: Female Size/Shoulder/Length: Medium-small (currently) 9' s / 52' l / 82' ws (will grow to 11' s) Colors: belly from chin to tail tip goldenrod; mid armor sunny yellow-orange; dorsal and limb armor orange; body, face, limbs, tail main buttery ivory; wingsails and fin tan grade to medium yellow at fingers, with large burnished rosette spots in darker rings; claws, horns, stinger black; eyes medium tan-brown Features: Sandwing, young, born RY6 Powers: Winged Flight, young and confident, speedy and growing stronger by the week, Shattershell is going to be a masterful flier when she's fully grown. She can already outpace numerous larger dragons and is on track to be among the fastest Sandwings around. She likes to fly low and quick around the ruins of New Vegas and MoCon, leaving a dusty trail but little else behind. She's adept even with a wide wingspan and can fly between narrow areas without breaking fragile walls. She can lift her rider-friend and several other weights, and at her adult size will definitely be able to fly with three worth of her. Communication, like many young Pyrrhan dragons that have crossed the barriers into the Rookery, she has been affected by this in Vortal ways, so her communication skills also include telepathic connections to dragons and her rider. While she doesn't have any further telepathy, it is quite strong to dragons in the Vault-Earth area, and she easily gets overwhelmed by the 'sound' of those in the Rookery because there are so many. She has little knowledge of Draconic language, so she speaks mostly the hybrid Deathclaw-English known to her rider. She can understand English easily, and several other dialects of human speech as found among those in New Vegas. She does know that the Vorts have their own tongue, but there really aren't any of those in the area. Heat Oriented, she loves the warmth and sand of the desert, and lounges around on the warmest surface she can reach until action is needed. Shattershell can utilize the heat to her advantage, her sweeping wings using it to rise into the air, or glide for hours on updrafts. But also she can flap her wings to blow hot air at enemies, making it even warmer and more dangerous in the process. She can aid Aurie when they're fighting with Legion by flying high and diving, her burst of heat-speed laying out a large explosive area around Aurie on the ground. Her lithe claws and long neck can reach into narrow caverns, and she likes digging into loose sand in order to hide. Additionally however, she can breathe a wave of heat that blisters any living thing or faintly organic material within 25 meters. She is working on full fire breath, but for the time being the heat is more than good enough for roasting prey or damaging enemies. Parentage: Mother Okiitii (Tolerance) and father Leopard of the Desert, hatched in Black Mesa's sands Origin: Adopted from GuildKnight with lines by Biohazardia on Deviantart, WoF by Tui Sutherland Other Info: Among the second generation Rookery dragons, she lived among those at Black Mesa for the first two years of her life. Both her parents had arrived there long before they discovered the right people to team up with, but they exposed her to everyone they possibly could before she set out looking elsewhere. Shattershell is picky, in that regard, and she does recognize the difference between a person who thinks of Aurie as their friend who's a little large, and one that doesn't understand the hybrid is still a person.