[center][h2]Mach's Character[/h2][/center]
[center][color=7ea7d8][center][h1]Erika Desalle[/h1][/center][/color]

[img]https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/e2/11/53/e211532c52c8f55339426135f24c867b.jpg[/img]

[i][color=7ea7d8]"There's a bass speaker called a subwoofer. Ever hear one? It hits you right in the stomach. Makes you feel sick. I'm kind of like that."[/color][/i]

Erika stands slightly above average height for a woman, at five and a half feet tall. Her build is on the slim side, but not waifish. Erika's skin is light in colour - thanks partially to genetics, and partially due to a lack of excess exposure to the sunlight. Her hair, in contrast is jet-black, and usually worn loose.

 Were it not for a severe case of resting-bitch-face, she would likely be quite attractive. But instead, her expression usually seems to linger somewhere between disinterest and distaste. Erika's eyes are her most striking feature. Pale blue-grey irises make her gaze piercing, if not unsettling. 

[color=7ea7d8][b]Age:[/b][/color]
20

[color=7ea7d8][b]Gender:[/b][/color]
Female

[color=7ea7d8][b]Rich or Poor?:[/b][/color]
Middle-class

[b][color=7ea7d8]Sector:[/color][/b]
4

[b][color=7ea7d8]For the Battle or Opposed?[/color][/b]
Neutral. The Battle, while unfortunate, is a fact of life. 


[b][color=7ea7d8]Power Description:[/color][/b]
When a person envisions air-based powers, their mind pictures the typical. Windstorms. Blades of air. Vacuums that pull the oxygen from a victim's lungs. But air is so much more versatile than that, and Erika's abilities are atypical. An outcast even within her own Sector, she has the ability to manipulate the vibrations that move through the air. Erika's gift is sound.

[b]Heightened hearing:[/b] The smallest disturbances in the air can often be heard by Erika's sensitive ears. 

[b]Manipulation:[/b] With ease, Erika can affect the volume of existing noises. A whisper can carry for miles. A shout is suddenly silenced. With significantly more difficulty, she can warp and change the sounds around her. Sure, John made the attempt to compliment Jane's outfit. But what she really heard him say was more along the lines of, "Fuck off, Jane." Looks like John isn't getting laid tonight.

[b]High Frequency:[/b] Erika can create loud tones at both high and low frequency. At a great volume, the audible high frequencies can cause great pain, perforate eardrums, cause tinnitus, and result in hearing damage. 

[b]Low Frequency:[/b] While the high frequencies are painful, it is powerful ultra-low frequencies that cause real damage. The human body doesn't seem to like subsonic noise very much. And at these wavelengths, a very slight increase in intensity makes the pressure changes shift from barely noticeable to incredibly uncomfortable. Air embolisms form in the lungs, and can be fatal when they reach the brain. The powerful waves of sound are nauseating. Infrasound can also cause a person's eyes to vibrate within their sockets, making it very difficult to see clearly. 


[b][color=7ea7d8]Power Weakness:[/color][/b]
While it can be uncomfortable, painful, and most definitely annoying, Erika's sonic manipulation is not a power that can kill quickly. At most, she can render a person unconscious, or cause trauma that may eventually be lethal. But in a deadly fight at close quarters, Erika's sound waves won't save her life. 


[b][color=7ea7d8]Weapon of Choice:[/color][/b]
Knife. It's sharp, it's practical, it doesn't require special instruction to utilize.


[color=7ea7d8][b]Fighting Skills:[/b][/color]
While not formally trained in any form of combat, Erika boasts an impressive survival instinct. She can fight viciously, albeit clumsily, when the situation calls for it. Her flight response is as strong as her fight - Erika is all leg, and she can sprint like the devil himself is chasing her.


[color=7ea7d8][b]Personality:[/b][/color]
Erika is not one to be the centre of attention. A lifetime of being labelled as the odd one out has led her to now automatically assume that role. She is a listener, a watcher. She observes situations from a distance, and enjoys trying to read people. How they act, what they are like, they're strengths and their weaknesses. 

And when she learns these things, Erika remembers them for later. She is not a fighter, and knows she will need to rely on intelligence and manipulation if she wants to make it out of the battle alive. Erika knows she is not strong, and knows she is not a lethal threat. However, she gives the impression of a person far weaker than she truly is. Erika's quiet watchfulness can be mistaken for timid shyness, and she is careful not to divulge the extent of her abilities if she can help it. 

Prior to being drafted into the Battle, Erika was studying structural engineering. She has background knowledge in physics, mathematics, and architecture. 


[color=7ea7d8][b]Biography:[/b][/color]
Erika grew up as an only child. She was born into a middle-class family in the heart of Sector 4. Mother was a high school teacher, and father worked for the government. Childhood was uneventful. She attended public school, made a handful of friends, and never struggled. 

Two weeks after her twelfth birthday, Erika fell ill. She vomited. She had a fever. Her ears ached enough to make her cry, and she couldn't hear. Finally, her worried parents brought her to the hospital. She was diagnosed with a dual ear infection, and given antibiotics. The infection persisted for weeks before finally fading away.

Only something had changed. After being nearly deaf for two weeks, Erika now felt as though she could hear everything. But this went beyond sensitive hearing. It was as though she could sense the very vibrations moving through the air. She began to spend more and more time alone, unable to stand being around other people. She couldn't tolerate their constant conversation. The constant noise of their breathing. Their never-ceasing heartbeats. As often as she could, young Erika fled to the outskirts of Sector 4, as close to silence as she could get. 

Years went by, and she slowly learned to control her newfound ability. First, Erika learned to silence the noise. Sitting in the back of the classroom at school, she discovered she could make the entire room go quiet, by sheer force of will. It was amusing to watch the expressions on everyone's faces, as they all suddenly felt as if someone had placed cotton over their ears. Then, some months later, Erika figured out how to make the noise louder. Whispered conversations could suddenly be heard across the room, which led to many secrets divulged, and many more angry schoolchildren. When they discovered that it was Erika causing this, she was shunned. Not only was her ability atypical for an air leviathan, but no one wanted to be around a girl who could manipulate their words.

As she entered high school, she revelled in her exclusion. The time Erika didn't spend studying, she spent indulging her gift. She learned that with enough effort, she could create sounds, and change the way they reached people's ears. And she learned the wonders of infra and ultrasonics. The effects they had on people. 

Currently, Erika is in her second year of post-secondary studies, focusing on structural engineering. However, her studies will be cut short by the events of the Choosing Ceremony. 


[color=7ea7d8][b]Likes:[/b][/color]
Sudokus, ciphers, math problems. Anything to stimulate her overactive mind.
Intelligent conversation. Rarely will she talk to others, but if the discussions turns to academics or philosophy, Erika can be roped in.
People-watching. Humans are truly fascinating.


[color=7ea7d8][b]Dislikes:[/b][/color]
Loud noises. Sure, she can make them quiet, but only if expected. A sudden noise will make the girl jump terribly. 
Most types of meat, though she will never claim to be vegetarian. 
Crowds.


[color=7ea7d8][b]Fears:[/b][/color]
Death. Who doesn't, at least to some degree? To Erika, death is the inevitable, yet terrifying, conclusion to the Battle.

The Dark. From a young age, Erika's sensitive hearing made her especially scared of the things that go bump in the night. At twenty years of age, she still needs the reassurance of a night light.


[color=7ea7d8][b]Weaknesses:[/b][/color]
Inexperience. Erika was not born into one of the families who trained their children as a Leviathan. She is not a skilled combatant. She's merely a young woman whose life took a rather shitty turn.

Reserved, unapproachable. Her quiet demeanor and reluctance to speak with others will undoubtedly make it difficult to acquire allies. And allies are a thing Erika will probably be needing.

Stature. Erika is not athletic. Innately quick, yes, but not strong or powerful in any sense of the world. She is a woman, and not an exceptionally tall or muscular one. She is only slightly above average height, at 5'6", and her build is on the slender side. 


[color=7ea7d8][b]Other:[/b][/color]
Forewarning: Mach has a weird timezone. Mach is not Asian, but she's currently living in Asia. I'll be UTC+8 for another couple of weeks, and then I'll be changing to UTC+7. So if you're in the Americas, my nighttime is basically your daytime. Have patience when waiting on my posts. Thank ya!


[color=7ea7d8][b]Theme Song:[/b][/color]
[url=https://youtu.be/Q3oItpVa9fsSong]  "Cymatics" by Nigel Stanford[/url]
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