Inara Thain – Austin Bunton Designs

This is one of the rare examples of someone who isn’t fully permitted within the Inisfreean realm, yet who is still beloved by them.

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Table of Contents:

Spec’s
Appearance
Personality
Abilities
History
The Selkie & Auz
Her (Images)
2020 Update
2022 Update
Her Kind (Images)

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Spec’s:

Name: Inara Thain
65 years old (in 2017)
5’4″
111 lbs.
brunette
Caucasian
brown eyes
perfect feminine figure; slender-fit
perky C-cups
FEMALE
MERFOLK –SELKIE
BISEXUAL –MALE PREF’
PB: EMMA WATSON

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Appearance:

Inara is a tall, thin woman, unlike her true form as a selkie. She’s 5’4″ with long limbs and a thin frame. There’s the clear presence of muscles, but nor overly so. Her curves are slight, giving her body a more feminine figure. Her hair is coppery brown, passing her shoulders in light waves. Her eyes are warm and often give the sense of genuine care, matching in hue to her hair.

As a Merfolk, Inara does have lateral lines that appear almost like freckles along her body. They are all in a line, so upon closer inspection it’s easy to tell they’re more than just freckles. However, much like the harbor seal she appears as in the water, her body is already decorated with freckles.

The form Inara does prefer is that of a harbor seal. It’s not uncommon for her to be sunning herself upon rocks and lazily swimming in circles for the sheer joy of it. As a seal she’s about four feet long and predominantly a light grey with darker gray spots covering her entirely.

Inara does, of course, wear clothing. She does not relish people seeing her without ether her fur or clothing to cover herself. Perhaps that’s the quiet, loner Selkie part of her. When she is out and about, typically she wears comfortable clothing that is easy to move in and breathes well. She enjoys dresses and more jewel colors.

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Personality:

Lover, not a fighter. While this is less true since the past decade, it still holds some truth. Inara prefers talk over violence, though she has learned quite well how to hold her own. As is common among Selkie, Inara enjoys being on her own and has kept much to herself throughout her life.

Inara adores plants. She’s always loved flowers and has quite a collection she’s raised. When it comes to people, Inara tries to give others the benefit of the doubt, however, time has shown her that such a naïve approach isn’t the best of choices. Her approach to people is much more guarded now.

The Selkie does genuinely care about people, especially Merfolk. She willingly will heal people if they need it and do all within her power to help them. Inara is a loving soul that’s been hurt and mended. She does genuinely care about other people, but she’s been burned enough times to be a little hesitant about it.

Inara was pushed into working with Ianessa, because of this she may seem a bit distant and doesn’t usually hang out with Merfolk. She prefers Merfolk to most other people, but even then–She definitely enjoys her plants most of all. This doesn’t mean she hates people, she just knows better than to blindly trust.

It wouldn’t be hard to mistake Inara as a normal harbor seal when she’s out in the bay. Even as a human she’s similar to the pup. Playful, a bit silly. She enjoys napping in the sun and going for aimless walks. Inara enjoys physical contact, but she won’t admit that.

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Abilities:

General Abilities:

Transformation: Inara is able to transform herself into a harbor seal.
Kiss of the Sea: The kiss of a merfolk, freely given, to a person that is underwater will allow the person’s body to temporarily change to accommodate the water. For Inara, since she is a warm blooded merfolk the person’s lungs enlarge, allowing them to hold their breath longer. This typically lasts between five to thirty minutes.
Longevity: Merfolk have a long lifespan, and age sporadically or else not at all.
Enhanced Senses: A merfolk’s sense are enhanced, this includes the five senses.
Aquatic Adaptation: Merfolk are strong swimmers, for Inara, since she’s warm blooded she can hold her breath for long periods of time.
Lateral Line: All merfolk have lateral lines even in their human form. These lines are visible as small dots of darker skin that run along the sides of their neck, sides of their ribs all the way down to the exterior sides of their feet or tail. These lines are used for sensing movement, vibration, and pressure changes in the water or air around them. Lateral lines are particularly sensitive, and when damaged often leave the merfolk disoriented.

General Weaknesses:

Spirit of the Water: All merfolk take their aquatic form while submerged in some type of natural water at least twice a month and for younger merfolk sometimes up to six times a month. This can be anything from the ocean, a river, or even a creek. Treated water such as the water found in a bathtub or a faucet will not work. Merfolk that fight this calling will find themselves weak and eventually will die.
Achromatia: Achromatia is a disease that affects all merfolk and has killed off more than half their kind. It is not known how the disease is transferred or how it came to be although many believe polluted water sources are to blame. (*Outlanders such as humans hadn’t figured it out, but the Inisfreeans always knew; it is one of the many ailments that naturally result from a combination of factors, pollution being one of the chief causes, but over-spreading is, too –meaning all species have a certain number of individuals which is a threshold to chaos/weakness, so they must not overpopulate, even if plenty of food and space manifests / is around.)
Increased Sensitivity: Merfolk are particularly susceptible to chemicals and other irritants. Many drugs, poisons and even alcohol affect merfolk at a higher degree. Some merfolk find particularly industrial areas to be uncomfortable and may develop rashes or have allergic reactions to the chemicals in the air. Particularly high frequencies or low frequencies such as the kind one might find in sonar cause merfolk to become disoriented. A prolonged exposure to higher frequencies of noise will eventually cause merfolk to bleed from the mouth, nose and eyes, eventually becoming fatal.

Selkie Powers:

Animal control: Selkies are particularly in tune with the world around them, and are able to communicate with other creatures such as fish, or even mammals. No matter the language the selkie speaks in animals are able to understand what they are saying. The same goes for the selkie understanding the animal itself. Although they can speak with shifters in their shifter form, they cannot control them like they can other animals.
Unique Abilities
Plant Creation and Manipulation: This selkie is able to create and manipulate plants. They can use this ability for a total of one to four hours continuous use and typically cannot create more than five plants at one time within the same ten minute period.
Healing Touch: This selkie is able to heal others. This takes a great deal of energy and the worse the wound the more energy required. Healing mortal wounds such as deep lacerations that could eventually lead to death will leave the selkie in a weakened state during which they are unable to heal other wounds for at least several days. Minor wounds such as scratches can be healed quickly, the worse the wound the longer the cool down period. This ability does not allow the selkie to heal itself at an accelerated rate and requires the selkie to be touching the individual.

Selkie Weaknesses:

Selkies are primarily healers which makes them highly valuable. However, for some reason selkies are particularly susceptible to Achromatia. Their numbers are small, and selkies are rare. (This may mean they are more susceptible to panic/suggestion, perhaps due to being a newer race with less experience staying focused against such horrors/grossness as humans/pollution.)

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History:

Inara was born the youngest–and only female–child of the Atlantic Triton and his mate. Inara’s father was a Mer while her mother was a Selkie. Inara has two older brothers, both Mers. The two aimed to be like their father, political, powerful, respected. While Inara was quite content to play in the sun with her mother. Inara was a playful child, curious and often getting into trouble with other Merfolks.

Over all, Inara was a good child, respected for what she was and what she was capable of. There was a disappointment with her, however, she wasn’t born with the ability to heal like her mother. Rather, she could manipulate and grow plants. While her father was less than pleased, Inara’s mother embraced this and encouraged her with her love of plants.

Inara didn’t remain in the Atlantic. Her father died when Inara was 10, and so the whole family chose to leave and find a new place to live in the Pacific. The family went between land and sea as they were able. Becoming human to cross Mexico and pop back into the ocean on the western side. Inara doesn’t remember much of the Atlantic or the trip to the Pacific. Most of her life has been within the western waters.

Inara’s mother was old when Ianessa was Triton. Inara herself was in her late 50s. Inara and her mother wanted nothing to do with Ianessa while her brothers were both interested in the idea of taking back the oceans from the land-walkers. Inara and her mother wished to be spared and kept away from the war that was silently brewing.

Inara and her mother weren’t able to stay out of it, however. If they didn’t willingly join, they would find themselves forced into it. So they were, by means of torture and blackmail of each others well being. They were kept closely guarded while Inara tried desperately to find a way out. The chance came rather suddenly. Her mother created the opening. The elderly Selkie was skilled at healing and wound transferal. A squabble between a guard and the elder put Inara in the middle of a lethal encounter.

Her mother saved her, but was far too weak to leave. The Mer guard lay dead at the elders hands. You need to run away from here. Go far away and stay far away. You are too soft for this world, my little pup. Go. So Inara went, she left it all behind and swam for hours west. In the middle of the ocean it hit her like a ton of bricks. Sonar, pinging and deafening her. It was painful as she thrashed to escape the insistent ping.

Suddenly, her body felt caught, tied up in netting. Inara along with a decent catch of fish were hefted from the ocean. A seal surrounded by fish. She didn’t look well, a dazed look in her eyes and blood coming from her nose and mouth. The seal and load were dropped on the deck, and Inara blacked out.

She woke up to a golden-eyed man watching her. She wasn’t a seal anymore, and the man with her wasn’t a human. The two made an agreement, he’d lie about how she came on board.

A friendship grew and Inara found his company quite fulfilling. The two ended up having a small living space on an island to the north of Hawaii. Inara didn’t leave the island, it was safer to stay there. The man learned about her life and who she was while keeping himself quite secret. It was learning about who she was that encouraged him to teach her to protect herself.

A fighting Selkie, perhaps a bit humorous, but if she’d been able to fight from the gate, perhaps her mother would still be alive and she wouldn’t have been through so much. It was winter 2016 when he disappeared. They’d lived together for a year and without a note, without any information, he vanished. Inara waited for a few months before she accepted his absence as permanent.

Inara moved back to the ocean. Listening to the fish and birds, learning what she could of Ianessa’s plan. The date had been set and Inara felt stronger than she ever had. She headed to San Francisco with the intent of making a difference. She appeared before the attack started, dressing and moving among the humans like she was one of them.

She did make a difference, but not the way she was expecting. It was a little girl, a child really. The girl had been hurt by one of Ianessa’s goons. She was dying. Inara had never been a healer; she’d tried in the past, but never quite got it right. In the arms of her weeping mother, the little girl looked at Inara as she knelt down beside her. “It’s okay. It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.”

And she was.

Perhaps she’d just never needed it as much as she did in that moment. Inara saved the girl, but the trade off was… she was completely useless. The fight ended bloody, and Inara retreated to the bay to recuperate.

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The Selkie & Auz:

She was detected not during The Rapture, or even during later scans of the planet as Inisfree’s technology improved, but during King Auz‘s 2017 trip out to her part of the world just 4 years after almost all its humans and their civilization had been deleted clean away. It wasn’t time yet to meet with her, though, and Auz was way too busy, anyway. The little hottie would have to wait.

A few years later, and he reached out to her telepathically (or was it techno-pathically?). Inara was surprised, but responded; the man speaking to her had a good vibe… One of the best. “Um… hi…” she softly dared to reply, saying it before realizing she could just think her responses.

Auz told her who he was, apologized if he was intruding, and explained why he felt compelled to let her know he existed. He then offered his number and email so she could confirm she wasn’t hallucinating or being magically pranked, and their conversation continued through those means thereafter. Inara started smiling a little more each time she got a message from him, all of them full of so many curiosities and wonders… and genuine interest in her –something she thought she’d never experience from a person born “normal” and deep inland.

Dates happened –always casual, of course; nothing really planned, at least not in/for the long-term. Then friends met friends, and they became somewhat of a couple, if only still casually. They shared kisses beside campfires, she always finding her way to his lap; it was on.

There had been no instinct to unite with any who shapeshifted in and out of seal-form… but there was something so enchanting and agreeable about her. Auz found himself realizing he was about to amend that rule; Inara might be the first, if not the only, selkie allowed into his realm. How much time passed… until that offer?

“I’d enjoy inviting you to Inisfree… if you are interested,” he one day smoothly said.

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Inara:

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2020 Update:

Auz had only barely detected Inara during one of his quick layovers in the surface-city she became known in. It would be years before they were able to link up and get to know each other, but it was as sure as the Sun rising. Inara was destined to be a representative in Inisfree one day.

When they met, sparks flew –and in the right kind of ways. She wetted her lips, eyeing him, and he her. Few words beyond their standard introduction were spoken that afternoon.

The King of Inisfree told her what he’d been up to, how he’d known about her, and what his intentions were –with her and the world. She was captivated and couldn’t stop listening, asking him more and more questions like a polite child. How she wanted to join forces with him out here…

She got up the courage to show him how she could shapeshift, and his reaction had her heart skipping a beat; she could tell he was in love with her, and would always protect and appreciate her, not just her gift. It was amazing to meet a surface-man who naturally felt that way, needing no convincing. They made love again that moment, and another few times that night. Their bond was sealed; Inara would be his ally ’til the end of time.

In 2019, she accepted his invitation to his secret polar city. This year, she is comfortable traveling there, having come to trust the man who started it all, even more than just what it took to reveal her seal form. Whenever they have time together, they often instinctively start lively chatting about retaking the seas, returning them to their rightful timeless owners –people such as her.

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2022 Update:

Inara has become extremely and completely affectionate and girly whenever Auz comes back around. The two adore each other, and have formed a very strong bond. She has started considering marrying him, as he has her, and this will likely be planned in another year, taking place perhaps two from now.

For their honeymoon, they may retrace the steps she and her family took to get from the Atlantic to the Pacific, or go in the reverse order, refreshing and softening all those memories –and soothing and healing the land itself along the way; such joint-adventures between compatible people have a way of doing that, if you didn’t know.

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Her Kind: