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Description
[Previous Application for Dana can be found HERE ]

Name: Dana Patchillo
Age: 33
Gender: None, but tends towards masculine styles and terms.
Pokemon: Dhelmise
Height: Approximately 6’10/2.08m.
Bodystyle: Rail thin, with a noticeable gut.
Birthday: September 30th, 1990
Home Island: Mystery Island, Cloyster Coasts, C4

--

PERSONALITY:
LONELY Nature - Often lost in thought

Selfless, Sincere, Enduring
There isn't much positivity to Dana's personality, at the current point in time. They still maintain the drive to help others even at their own expense (even if they are convinced that they have a secret ulterior motive), and they still go to great lengths to ensure that others can get by with their help. It no longer brings them the rush of happiness that it used to... but it's the right thing to do, and so they must. Their depression has also had little effect on their filter, and they will still tell you everything as it is from the bottom of their cold, dead heart. In fact, it's a little harder to conjure up the energy to obfuscate their feelings than it was before, it's unlikely that Dana would be able to muster the effort to be deliberately insincere even if they wanted to. Despite the shackles of their current depression, Dana still manages to press on in their daily grind. Sure, their schedule may have fallen by the wayside, and they might not have the quantity of product they used to, but they cling to their job even still. They have a dedicated customer base, and they will not fail them. It may just be some sort of muscle memory at this point, but they just keep going.

Avoidant, Quiet, Sluggish
Dana's simple zest for life has all but left them behind. Where once they'd reveled in excitement and meeting new people, now they can hardly convince themselves to talk to another human being. They now opt to keep their mouth shut most of the time, and rarely contribute to conversation. Part of this stems from their desire to be a better person and to listen to others, but their memory appears to have left when their Arctozolt spirit did. Everything they do now is slowed- part of it may be an attempt to be more deliberate in their action, but their train of thought chugs along at a similar rate... they're just slow, now.

Morose, Flighty, Anhedonic
It's not just that Dana isn't as peppy as they were as an Arctozolt: they physically cannot feel happiness in the same way they used to. It distresses them greatly that things they once enjoyed elicit almost no feeling except for exhaustion or shame, but they are simply too tired to think of any ways to deal with it. They tend to avoid social functions or hanging out with even their closest friends, for fear that their joyless heart is contagious and will ruin the lives of their companions too. They have an even harder time sticking to plans than previously, and more than half of their engagements end in cancellation, or are simply forgotten about. Everything is lost in a haze of apathy, and occasionally, sorrow.

HISTORY:

In 1992, newlyweds (and nouveau-riche) Diane and Arlo Patchillo adopted what would be their seventh child, and christened the then totemless 1-year-old Dana.
Diane and Arlo lived in a massive van, trekking the world over with their septet of adopted children and living off of a substantial inheritance Diane received from her late grandfather. Of all of the Patchillo crew, Dana thrived the best in their family's transient lifestyle. Even as an infant, loud noises and new people never frightened them, and they slept soundly even on the bumpiest roads. They grew up with constantly changing surroundings, but also with the philosophy that home was not found in a place, but with the people you surround yourself with. Even if the rest of their siblings grew a little weary of their parents' constant traveling, Dana never tired of the promise of a new adventure just beyond the horizon.Then the inheritance ran out.
After having paid to have their van transported to Akala island in Alola, the Patchillos discovered that their financial well was about to run dry, permanently. Enough remained to perhaps put a down payment on a small house, but not enough to sustain a family of two adults and seven growing children on the road any further than they'd gone. Seeing there were no other easy options (and perhaps growing tired of their drifting lifestyle as well), the parent Patchillos made their final rest stop just outside of Konikoni City, in the year 2001. Of all the regions to unexpectedly set up shop, Alola thankfully suited all of the Patchillos well in terms of environment... for about a month.
In the entire nine years Dana had lived, they had yet to display even a hint of a Pokemon trait. Their parents - distrustful of modern medicine and anybody resembling a certified doctor - had essentially shrugged their shoulders and never had them examined for any underlying problems related to their late development.
Dana often accompanied their mother to a local grocer in Konikoni every week. Diane considered the quality time to be essential to bonding with them, and even if Dana ran a little hotter than most children, they could normally make the 15 minute walk to and from the store without much issue.
Neither expected that one day, Dana would suddenly collapse from heat exhaustion not five minutes into their walk. After her attempts to rouse them failed, she made the executive decision to run them the rest of the way to Konikoni's small hospital, the panic she felt at her child's medical event overruling her distrust of medical professionals.
After Dana had been stabilized, Diane received a bit of a bitter congratulations: Their child had finally manifested their totem! Dana was an Arctozolt: an already unstable ice type now permanently stuck on a tropical island.
The days following Dana's return from the hospital were a storm of chaos it seemed, for everybody except Dana. Diane and Arlo now had to contend with the fact their most active child was effectively barred from any daytime activities, and the fact that Diane had brought Dana to a medical facility in the first place, which Arlo considered a major breach of their shared values and trust. Dana's siblings sponged up the growing tensions between their parents, and grew a mite resentful about now being expected to mind their youngest sibling even more than before. Already feeling more like their parents saw them as collectibles instead of fully-realized people, the perceived 'favoritism' Dana received afterwards only emboldened them to ice Dana out of their activities and friendships.
Dana, despite their new hurdles, handled every bit of adversity thrown their way with a toothy smile and a rekindled desire to do something new. As far as they were concerned, this officially marked the beginning of their new life in Alola, and they weren't about to take this "heat intolerance" nonsense sitting down.
While the cracks began to slowly snake their way through the Patchillo family's relationship as a whole, Dana remained unfazed and worked their own system out for living as an ice type on a hot island. They never went anywhere without an ice cold thermos of water or a polyvinyl rag, they took detours off sunny beaten paths and through shaded forests to avoid direct sunlight, and any time they could justify it, they would take a flying leap into water and swim to their destination.
Time passed, and in 2005 the oldest of Dana’s siblings left the household unceremoniously in the middle of the night, citing the fact that they felt neglected and used by their adoptive parents. The upset that followed only deepened the cracks between the rest of the Patchillos. Dana, ever the optimist, tried in vain to convince them that things were not as bad as they seemed, and that something good could come of it. Dana’s remaining siblings took their lack of grief to mean that they simply did not care what happened, and that they were happy their sibling was now out of the picture. This was the final nail in the coffin for Dana’s siblings: and for as long as they stayed in the Patchillo household, they all shared a scapegoat that they could blame their ills on: Dana. This also split their parents further apart: Diane would rush to defend her picked-on child, Arlo would coolly suggest that his wife stop babying their youngest, and that they learn to defend themselves.
Dana, as always, took everything on the cheek. They took their siblings' harassment without a complaint, just happy that they could find common ground with each other.

Later that same year, Arlo made an off-handed remark about how the teenaged Dana’s eating habits were costing the family “an arm and a leg,” and how they should be earning their keep if they were going to burden the family with their bizarre appetite. It was half true: as Dana entered adolescence their food intake had nearly doubled. They had shot up to 6 feet tall with no signs of slowing down, and couldn't keep weight on without constantly snacking on something.
Without sensing a hint of their father’s snide attitude in the suggestion, Dana immediately resolved to go out and get a job, so that their parents wouldn’t have to worry about the cost of feeding them and the remainder of the family.
By the end of the week, Dana had snagged their first job as a shell cleaner for a tourist trap shop near the beach. It paid a pittance, and the hours were awful, but Dana was overjoyed that they could now pay their parents back for all the time and money they’d spent on them.
And after eight months, Dana found a different job, and quit the seashell gig. Both Diane and Arlo were surprised, as Dana had apparently liked their job quite a bit. Dana shrugged their shoulders, and said it was time for a change of pace. Much to their parents dismay, Dana needed changes of pace quite often. Every few months they began another job (or two.) They always paid the rent their parents exacted and covered any bills they could, but they never stuck around a job for longer than a year. Diane was fraught with worry that her child was job-hopping due to some kind of depression; Arlo decided it was because Dana was shiftless and lazy, and didn’t want to put in the work. Neither seemed to recall how they raised their children years ago.

Dana’s job-hopping continued for over a decade. One by one, the Patchillo household’s remaining children flew the coop into adulthood, every time leaving their parents nothing but a note or a curt goodbye. Diane was saddened by their house becoming emptier and emptier, Arlo saw it as a testament to their quality as parents that all of their children had grown up and left.
Almost all of them.
In 2022, At age 31, Dana still lived in their childhood bedroom. Since beginning their life as a working-class mon, they’d taken a myriad of bizarre jobs: amateur Feraligatr wrestler, golf-ball diver, pest control technician, noodler, saxophonist, and mostly recently a seafood cleaner. Their last job resulted in the loss of two fingers on their left hand (Dana claims they now have two less hangnails to worry about).
No matter the job (or amount of fingers), every night Dana dutifully returned to their parent’s house, setting up dinner or cleaning or anything else their parents would ask of them. Diane and Arlo became used to having Dana help around the house, Arlo so much so that he didn’t realize that Dana actually did anything around the house. He’d become so used to his coffee being made in the morning, to the bathrooms being tidy, to his laundry being done, to the electrical bills being paid, that he no longer recognized that Dana was behind their completion at all.

On a balmy summer evening, after returning from their job at the local cold storage, Dana overheard their parents arguing. This was a fairly common occurrence that they usually ignored, but the bedroom door had been left open and their words were easily discernible from the foyer downstairs: it was about them.
Dana heard their father lambast their mother for mollycoddling their adult child, and allowing them to coast through life without putting forth effort and making something of themselves. Diane retaliated that Arlo’s emotional distance had driven all of their children away, and ‘damaged’ Dana to the point where they could not take care of themselves, and needed Diane around to function.
Another person may have been devastated to hear both their parents speak so lowly of them, to think them so incapable of growth that they lay into each other when they think their child can’t hear.
Dana, as always, took it on the chin. All they gleaned from the parent’s explosive fight was that their parents wanted them to go out and succeed!
Within the week, Dana had scoured the internet for their next destination, found discount tickets to a different archipelago they didn’t quite remember the name of (Raccolto, was it?), and sold all of their worldly possessions for a financial buffer when they arrived at their destination… whatever it was, again.

Their parents awoke not to the smell of coffee already brewing for them, but to the final good-bye note from their last child stuck to the fridge:
“Moved out, I’ll visit soon Rent 4 the month under couch cushion. Love you, Bye <3”

---
- Dana's easy ride as a resident of Raccolto couldn't last forever. The idea that their life trajectory could take a complete nosedive rarely occurred to them, and when it did- Dana never considered that they wouldn't be able to bounce back from it.

While fishing for more product to give to their neighbors in the early morning, Dana recieved a call on their rarely-used cell phone. The person on the other end was somebody Dana had not heard from since he left home at eighteen: Sawyer, their eldest brother, had managed to track them down. Though Dana was keen on catching up on several decades worth of life with their brother, it could wait: Sawyer hadn't called them for no reason.
He had somebody that wanted to meet Dana.

Within the week, Sawyer had landed on Raccolto, along with the mysterious second party he'd described to Dana. Following a brief affectionate assault on Sawyer by their youngest sibling, Dana came face to face with the person who had come looking for them.
A man who, aside from the typical signs of aging, looked identical to Dana.
Sawyer had come to introduce Cadmus Wright: Dana's sole genetic donor.

Dana was nothing short of ecstatic to meet the man responsible for their existence, a sentiment that Cadmus appeared to share in the beginning. The two hit it off initially, Dana asking questions about Cadmus's life and experiences, and Cadmus asking Dana about their physical health and growth milestones.
Cadmus had once been a genetic engineer with grand ambitions, and despite the Galarian laws against human genetic experimentation, had began a personal project involving cloning. Though he tried many times, only once did he manage to make his cloning process work: an instance which resulted in Dana's conception.
Cadmus did not get a chance to bask in the glory of his success; An anonymous report led to his imprisonment before Dana was born. The surrogate who had carried them wanted nothing more to do with Cadmus or his spawn, and so they were unceremoniously left for Galarian social services to deal with. Only a year later, Dana would be adopted by the people who gave them their family name: Diane and Arlo Patchillo.

As father (or as Cadmus preferred to be called, creator) and child spent more time together, cracks began to appear in the facade that Cadmus had presented to Dana. While he spoke of himself as a rational, brilliant man rejected by an ignorant country that was not ready for his genius, Cadmus quickly proved himself to be thoughtless, short-sighted and self-obsessed in ways that even Dana could not accept. He fumed endlessly about the ways he had been cheated out of recognition despite having almost no contributions to his name. He insisted that his process was flawless, despite a lowly sample size and an even lower success rate of one individual. He would incessantly proclaim to his captive audience of Dana that he was objectively a better, superior form of life to the unwashed masses.

Of course he applied none of this condescending attitude to Dana, his most prized creation. He expressed disappointment that they had been adversely affected by inadequate parental practices, but assured his progeny that as his creation, they could recover quickly from the harm that their deficient caretakers had caused them.

By this time, Dana had had enough. It was quite a task to make Dana upset, and Cadmus had managed to do it in less than 12 hours. Dana told him in no uncertain terms that they could not stand how Cadmus held himself above the rest of humanity as if he were a deity, and that they had absolutely nothing in common, nor would they ever. This declaration resulted in a vicious fight, during which Cadmus pointed out that their physical and developmental milestones were identical to his own. They both manifested their totems at age 9, they both experienced delayed puberty until their late teens, they both had thyroid problems that began in early adulthood. They both could never hold a romantic partner, neither were concerned about doing wrong so much as they wanted to avoid consequences, and neither had any ability to understand how other people felt emotionally. All of this, Cadmus stated, is proof that no matter what they wanted, Dana was destined to drop their childish view of the world and become just like him.

Cadmus left later that day, but his words stayed for weeks after. His assertions were half baked and could easily be disproved by a third party, but Dana obsessed over them day and night. They began over-analyzing every one of their interactions with others, casting doubt on their ability to truly feel concern or remorse, as opposed to mimicking the feelings as Cadmus stated he did. Dana soon became convinced that they had lied to themselves, and that any selfless deed they did was just a means to a selfish end, somehow. That they were incapable of feeling true, human emotions, and that anything they felt presently was just a facsimilie of true feeling.

And that it would only get worse from there.

Dana began to frequent the Divine Spring, desperate for a way to escape what they saw as a grim end to everything they thought they were as a person. Day after day they would pray and clean the statue of the goddess, night after night their wages would disappear into the spring as they begged for an escape.No matter what they did or how much they poured into the spring's depth, the Goddess remained silent.

On the day they brought her the last of their PD, and was still met with silence, Dana broke. They swore and spit and howled into the night air, consumed by terror and frustration that the Goddess would be silent now, after they had given her everything and had nothing left. Their outburst ended with a grand thunderbolt, an act that left the Goddess's statue chipped.

The force of the bolt had shook the very ground, and an item Dana had thrown into the spring days earlier floated to the surface: A mask in the style of an algae-choked anchor. A mask from the Cirque de la Lune, that had the power to change one's species.

Desperate, terrified, and seeing no other way out, Dana put on the mask.

The transformation was instantaneous, and violent. Their scales flaked away and were replaced with rusty, scabrous patches- their voluminous hair flattened at turned to greasy, kelplike plaits. All that appeared to make Dana was taken in an instant, leaving an algal ghost of their former self.
The stress it put on them was so great, that it knocked them unconscious- only a last-minute evolution from their Purrloin Katzenjammer prevented them from drowning in the Divine Spring.

So they were victorious. This was an unpredictable change that would guarantee them separation from their genetic donor. Their future from here was theirs to seize.
So why didn't they feel happy about it?

Why didn't they feel at all?

ABILITY:

Steelworker - The power of Steel-type moves is increased by 50%. This applies not only to Dana's regular moveset, but metal objects as well. They've come to regard their metal fishing tools as an extension of themselves, almost like new limbs.

MOVES:

Anchor Shot - Dana manifests a chain connected to their body, and ensnares a target, preventing escape. This move is occasionally used to reel in catches too heavy for Dana's standard fishing equipment.

Brine - A target is blasted with saline water, which becomes more effective when used against a previously damaged target. Since the loss of their ice powers, Dana has taken to trying out pickling fish instead of freezing them for preservation, using Brine. It hasn't been going especially well.

Giga Drain - Dana drains the vitality from a target, giving them a temporary boost of energy at the expense of another. It's one of the few ways Dana can feel healthy again, but seeing what it does to the target makes them feel sick, so they don't use it often.

Phantom Force - Dana vanishes into a well of Ghost-type energy, and reappears through an identical well somewhere else. It's traditionally used for sneak-attacks, but Dana uses it to escape uncomfortable situations, literally disappearing into the floor.

--

JOB:
Title: Fisherman
Shop Name: "FISH 4 SALE," Carved into a weather beaten piece of plywood. The shop itself still consists of a few pop-up tents and tables, but it's transported via Cetoddle-drawn trailer, as opposed to being tugged with a wagon by Dana themselves.
Stock Type: Fresh fish and other seafood, with the occasional interesting object from the deep offered on the side. They now offer a small selection of pickled fish, whenever they can prepare it correctly.

--

PET:

Name - Katzenjammer (Caterwaul), or "Yam" for short.
Species - Feraligatr (Formerly Liepard)
Gender - Female

Personality - ADAMANT Nature, Strongly Defiant.
Yam is still the sour, testy molly she's always been, but since Dana's recent transformation, her vicious animosity towards her owner seems to have cooled somewhat. She will still not hesitate to hiss, smack and bite if she feels her space is being intruded upon, but she also displays a number of behaviors that appear to be out of concern for Dana's well being: pulling their sleeves to get their attention, slapping them until they get out of bed, and on rare occasions allowing Dana to pet her.

She has a soft spot for the owner of Vanity Fur , who is the only person she allows to groom her.

Moves - Fake Out, Slash, Sucker-Punch, U-Turn

--

TALENTS

Dana's ability to hold their breath has increased to almost inhuman levels- 15 minutes on a single breath, and longer in cold water.

They have semi-prehensile hair, and can hold a fork with their plaits. Actually using it is another story.

They can free-dive up to 60 feet, unassisted. Due to their increased weight, they can walk along the seafloor.

They're getting rusty after having lost their saxophone, but they can still play it so long as they have their assistive device.

Dana is trying to be more "creative," and has taken to wood carving. They're still an amateur, but they are slowly getting better.

TRIVIA

Dana's inability to become drunk has vanished, which they found out the hard way. They still don't drink recreationally. Caffeine still gives them heart palpitations, but sometimes it's the only thing that can keep them awake, so they drink it anyway.

Their teeth are a dingy rust color, stained by the presence of iron in their tooth enamel. This has made them stronger, but they look awful, and Dana keeps their mouth closed more often because of it.

Dana no longer has a large appetite (or an appetite at all), but can still pack away a ludicrous amount of food. They seem disgusted by this fact.

Their body temperature sits at 87 F/30.5 C. This initially caused the hospital they went to following their transformation to mistake them for a ghost- and sometimes they aren't entirely convinced that they are still a living being.

Dana's metabolism has taken a hard swing in the other direction, from extremely high to extremely low. Their listlessness, lack of energy and weight gain may be partially credited to this sudden change.

They still have not conquered their fear of operating land vehicles.

Description
[Previous Application for Dana can be found HERE ]

Name: Dana Patchillo
Age: 33
Gender: None, but tends towards masculine styles and terms.
Pokemon: Dhelmise
Height: Approximately 6’10/2.08m.
Bodystyle: Rail thin, with a noticeable gut.
Birthday: September 30th, 1990
Home Island: Mystery Island, Cloyster Coasts, C4

--

PERSONALITY:
LONELY Nature - Often lost in thought

Selfless, Sincere, Enduring
There isn't much positivity to Dana's personality, at the current point in time. They still maintain the drive to help others even at their own expense (even if they are convinced that they have a secret ulterior motive), and they still go to great lengths to ensure that others can get by with their help. It no longer brings them the rush of happiness that it used to... but it's the right thing to do, and so they must. Their depression has also had little effect on their filter, and they will still tell you everything as it is from the bottom of their cold, dead heart. In fact, it's a little harder to conjure up the energy to obfuscate their feelings than it was before, it's unlikely that Dana would be able to muster the effort to be deliberately insincere even if they wanted to. Despite the shackles of their current depression, Dana still manages to press on in their daily grind. Sure, their schedule may have fallen by the wayside, and they might not have the quantity of product they used to, but they cling to their job even still. They have a dedicated customer base, and they will not fail them. It may just be some sort of muscle memory at this point, but they just keep going.

Avoidant, Quiet, Sluggish
Dana's simple zest for life has all but left them behind. Where once they'd reveled in excitement and meeting new people, now they can hardly convince themselves to talk to another human being. They now opt to keep their mouth shut most of the time, and rarely contribute to conversation. Part of this stems from their desire to be a better person and to listen to others, but their memory appears to have left when their Arctozolt spirit did. Everything they do now is slowed- part of it may be an attempt to be more deliberate in their action, but their train of thought chugs along at a similar rate... they're just slow, now.

Morose, Flighty, Anhedonic
It's not just that Dana isn't as peppy as they were as an Arctozolt: they physically cannot feel happiness in the same way they used to. It distresses them greatly that things they once enjoyed elicit almost no feeling except for exhaustion or shame, but they are simply too tired to think of any ways to deal with it. They tend to avoid social functions or hanging out with even their closest friends, for fear that their joyless heart is contagious and will ruin the lives of their companions too. They have an even harder time sticking to plans than previously, and more than half of their engagements end in cancellation, or are simply forgotten about. Everything is lost in a haze of apathy, and occasionally, sorrow.

HISTORY:

In 1992, newlyweds (and nouveau-riche) Diane and Arlo Patchillo adopted what would be their seventh child, and christened the then totemless 1-year-old Dana.
Diane and Arlo lived in a massive van, trekking the world over with their septet of adopted children and living off of a substantial inheritance Diane received from her late grandfather. Of all of the Patchillo crew, Dana thrived the best in their family's transient lifestyle. Even as an infant, loud noises and new people never frightened them, and they slept soundly even on the bumpiest roads. They grew up with constantly changing surroundings, but also with the philosophy that home was not found in a place, but with the people you surround yourself with. Even if the rest of their siblings grew a little weary of their parents' constant traveling, Dana never tired of the promise of a new adventure just beyond the horizon.Then the inheritance ran out.
After having paid to have their van transported to Akala island in Alola, the Patchillos discovered that their financial well was about to run dry, permanently. Enough remained to perhaps put a down payment on a small house, but not enough to sustain a family of two adults and seven growing children on the road any further than they'd gone. Seeing there were no other easy options (and perhaps growing tired of their drifting lifestyle as well), the parent Patchillos made their final rest stop just outside of Konikoni City, in the year 2001. Of all the regions to unexpectedly set up shop, Alola thankfully suited all of the Patchillos well in terms of environment... for about a month.
In the entire nine years Dana had lived, they had yet to display even a hint of a Pokemon trait. Their parents - distrustful of modern medicine and anybody resembling a certified doctor - had essentially shrugged their shoulders and never had them examined for any underlying problems related to their late development.
Dana often accompanied their mother to a local grocer in Konikoni every week. Diane considered the quality time to be essential to bonding with them, and even if Dana ran a little hotter than most children, they could normally make the 15 minute walk to and from the store without much issue.
Neither expected that one day, Dana would suddenly collapse from heat exhaustion not five minutes into their walk. After her attempts to rouse them failed, she made the executive decision to run them the rest of the way to Konikoni's small hospital, the panic she felt at her child's medical event overruling her distrust of medical professionals.
After Dana had been stabilized, Diane received a bit of a bitter congratulations: Their child had finally manifested their totem! Dana was an Arctozolt: an already unstable ice type now permanently stuck on a tropical island.
The days following Dana's return from the hospital were a storm of chaos it seemed, for everybody except Dana. Diane and Arlo now had to contend with the fact their most active child was effectively barred from any daytime activities, and the fact that Diane had brought Dana to a medical facility in the first place, which Arlo considered a major breach of their shared values and trust. Dana's siblings sponged up the growing tensions between their parents, and grew a mite resentful about now being expected to mind their youngest sibling even more than before. Already feeling more like their parents saw them as collectibles instead of fully-realized people, the perceived 'favoritism' Dana received afterwards only emboldened them to ice Dana out of their activities and friendships.
Dana, despite their new hurdles, handled every bit of adversity thrown their way with a toothy smile and a rekindled desire to do something new. As far as they were concerned, this officially marked the beginning of their new life in Alola, and they weren't about to take this "heat intolerance" nonsense sitting down.
While the cracks began to slowly snake their way through the Patchillo family's relationship as a whole, Dana remained unfazed and worked their own system out for living as an ice type on a hot island. They never went anywhere without an ice cold thermos of water or a polyvinyl rag, they took detours off sunny beaten paths and through shaded forests to avoid direct sunlight, and any time they could justify it, they would take a flying leap into water and swim to their destination.
Time passed, and in 2005 the oldest of Dana’s siblings left the household unceremoniously in the middle of the night, citing the fact that they felt neglected and used by their adoptive parents. The upset that followed only deepened the cracks between the rest of the Patchillos. Dana, ever the optimist, tried in vain to convince them that things were not as bad as they seemed, and that something good could come of it. Dana’s remaining siblings took their lack of grief to mean that they simply did not care what happened, and that they were happy their sibling was now out of the picture. This was the final nail in the coffin for Dana’s siblings: and for as long as they stayed in the Patchillo household, they all shared a scapegoat that they could blame their ills on: Dana. This also split their parents further apart: Diane would rush to defend her picked-on child, Arlo would coolly suggest that his wife stop babying their youngest, and that they learn to defend themselves.
Dana, as always, took everything on the cheek. They took their siblings' harassment without a complaint, just happy that they could find common ground with each other.

Later that same year, Arlo made an off-handed remark about how the teenaged Dana’s eating habits were costing the family “an arm and a leg,” and how they should be earning their keep if they were going to burden the family with their bizarre appetite. It was half true: as Dana entered adolescence their food intake had nearly doubled. They had shot up to 6 feet tall with no signs of slowing down, and couldn't keep weight on without constantly snacking on something.
Without sensing a hint of their father’s snide attitude in the suggestion, Dana immediately resolved to go out and get a job, so that their parents wouldn’t have to worry about the cost of feeding them and the remainder of the family.
By the end of the week, Dana had snagged their first job as a shell cleaner for a tourist trap shop near the beach. It paid a pittance, and the hours were awful, but Dana was overjoyed that they could now pay their parents back for all the time and money they’d spent on them.
And after eight months, Dana found a different job, and quit the seashell gig. Both Diane and Arlo were surprised, as Dana had apparently liked their job quite a bit. Dana shrugged their shoulders, and said it was time for a change of pace. Much to their parents dismay, Dana needed changes of pace quite often. Every few months they began another job (or two.) They always paid the rent their parents exacted and covered any bills they could, but they never stuck around a job for longer than a year. Diane was fraught with worry that her child was job-hopping due to some kind of depression; Arlo decided it was because Dana was shiftless and lazy, and didn’t want to put in the work. Neither seemed to recall how they raised their children years ago.

Dana’s job-hopping continued for over a decade. One by one, the Patchillo household’s remaining children flew the coop into adulthood, every time leaving their parents nothing but a note or a curt goodbye. Diane was saddened by their house becoming emptier and emptier, Arlo saw it as a testament to their quality as parents that all of their children had grown up and left.
Almost all of them.
In 2022, At age 31, Dana still lived in their childhood bedroom. Since beginning their life as a working-class mon, they’d taken a myriad of bizarre jobs: amateur Feraligatr wrestler, golf-ball diver, pest control technician, noodler, saxophonist, and mostly recently a seafood cleaner. Their last job resulted in the loss of two fingers on their left hand (Dana claims they now have two less hangnails to worry about).
No matter the job (or amount of fingers), every night Dana dutifully returned to their parent’s house, setting up dinner or cleaning or anything else their parents would ask of them. Diane and Arlo became used to having Dana help around the house, Arlo so much so that he didn’t realize that Dana actually did anything around the house. He’d become so used to his coffee being made in the morning, to the bathrooms being tidy, to his laundry being done, to the electrical bills being paid, that he no longer recognized that Dana was behind their completion at all.

On a balmy summer evening, after returning from their job at the local cold storage, Dana overheard their parents arguing. This was a fairly common occurrence that they usually ignored, but the bedroom door had been left open and their words were easily discernible from the foyer downstairs: it was about them.
Dana heard their father lambast their mother for mollycoddling their adult child, and allowing them to coast through life without putting forth effort and making something of themselves. Diane retaliated that Arlo’s emotional distance had driven all of their children away, and ‘damaged’ Dana to the point where they could not take care of themselves, and needed Diane around to function.
Another person may have been devastated to hear both their parents speak so lowly of them, to think them so incapable of growth that they lay into each other when they think their child can’t hear.
Dana, as always, took it on the chin. All they gleaned from the parent’s explosive fight was that their parents wanted them to go out and succeed!
Within the week, Dana had scoured the internet for their next destination, found discount tickets to a different archipelago they didn’t quite remember the name of (Raccolto, was it?), and sold all of their worldly possessions for a financial buffer when they arrived at their destination… whatever it was, again.

Their parents awoke not to the smell of coffee already brewing for them, but to the final good-bye note from their last child stuck to the fridge:
“Moved out, I’ll visit soon Rent 4 the month under couch cushion. Love you, Bye <3”

---
- Dana's easy ride as a resident of Raccolto couldn't last forever. The idea that their life trajectory could take a complete nosedive rarely occurred to them, and when it did- Dana never considered that they wouldn't be able to bounce back from it.

While fishing for more product to give to their neighbors in the early morning, Dana recieved a call on their rarely-used cell phone. The person on the other end was somebody Dana had not heard from since he left home at eighteen: Sawyer, their eldest brother, had managed to track them down. Though Dana was keen on catching up on several decades worth of life with their brother, it could wait: Sawyer hadn't called them for no reason.
He had somebody that wanted to meet Dana.

Within the week, Sawyer had landed on Raccolto, along with the mysterious second party he'd described to Dana. Following a brief affectionate assault on Sawyer by their youngest sibling, Dana came face to face with the person who had come looking for them.
A man who, aside from the typical signs of aging, looked identical to Dana.
Sawyer had come to introduce Cadmus Wright: Dana's sole genetic donor.

Dana was nothing short of ecstatic to meet the man responsible for their existence, a sentiment that Cadmus appeared to share in the beginning. The two hit it off initially, Dana asking questions about Cadmus's life and experiences, and Cadmus asking Dana about their physical health and growth milestones.
Cadmus had once been a genetic engineer with grand ambitions, and despite the Galarian laws against human genetic experimentation, had began a personal project involving cloning. Though he tried many times, only once did he manage to make his cloning process work: an instance which resulted in Dana's conception.
Cadmus did not get a chance to bask in the glory of his success; An anonymous report led to his imprisonment before Dana was born. The surrogate who had carried them wanted nothing more to do with Cadmus or his spawn, and so they were unceremoniously left for Galarian social services to deal with. Only a year later, Dana would be adopted by the people who gave them their family name: Diane and Arlo Patchillo.

As father (or as Cadmus preferred to be called, creator) and child spent more time together, cracks began to appear in the facade that Cadmus had presented to Dana. While he spoke of himself as a rational, brilliant man rejected by an ignorant country that was not ready for his genius, Cadmus quickly proved himself to be thoughtless, short-sighted and self-obsessed in ways that even Dana could not accept. He fumed endlessly about the ways he had been cheated out of recognition despite having almost no contributions to his name. He insisted that his process was flawless, despite a lowly sample size and an even lower success rate of one individual. He would incessantly proclaim to his captive audience of Dana that he was objectively a better, superior form of life to the unwashed masses.

Of course he applied none of this condescending attitude to Dana, his most prized creation. He expressed disappointment that they had been adversely affected by inadequate parental practices, but assured his progeny that as his creation, they could recover quickly from the harm that their deficient caretakers had caused them.

By this time, Dana had had enough. It was quite a task to make Dana upset, and Cadmus had managed to do it in less than 12 hours. Dana told him in no uncertain terms that they could not stand how Cadmus held himself above the rest of humanity as if he were a deity, and that they had absolutely nothing in common, nor would they ever. This declaration resulted in a vicious fight, during which Cadmus pointed out that their physical and developmental milestones were identical to his own. They both manifested their totems at age 9, they both experienced delayed puberty until their late teens, they both had thyroid problems that began in early adulthood. They both could never hold a romantic partner, neither were concerned about doing wrong so much as they wanted to avoid consequences, and neither had any ability to understand how other people felt emotionally. All of this, Cadmus stated, is proof that no matter what they wanted, Dana was destined to drop their childish view of the world and become just like him.

Cadmus left later that day, but his words stayed for weeks after. His assertions were half baked and could easily be disproved by a third party, but Dana obsessed over them day and night. They began over-analyzing every one of their interactions with others, casting doubt on their ability to truly feel concern or remorse, as opposed to mimicking the feelings as Cadmus stated he did. Dana soon became convinced that they had lied to themselves, and that any selfless deed they did was just a means to a selfish end, somehow. That they were incapable of feeling true, human emotions, and that anything they felt presently was just a facsimilie of true feeling.

And that it would only get worse from there.

Dana began to frequent the Divine Spring, desperate for a way to escape what they saw as a grim end to everything they thought they were as a person. Day after day they would pray and clean the statue of the goddess, night after night their wages would disappear into the spring as they begged for an escape.No matter what they did or how much they poured into the spring's depth, the Goddess remained silent.

On the day they brought her the last of their PD, and was still met with silence, Dana broke. They swore and spit and howled into the night air, consumed by terror and frustration that the Goddess would be silent now, after they had given her everything and had nothing left. Their outburst ended with a grand thunderbolt, an act that left the Goddess's statue chipped.

The force of the bolt had shook the very ground, and an item Dana had thrown into the spring days earlier floated to the surface: A mask in the style of an algae-choked anchor. A mask from the Cirque de la Lune, that had the power to change one's species.

Desperate, terrified, and seeing no other way out, Dana put on the mask.

The transformation was instantaneous, and violent. Their scales flaked away and were replaced with rusty, scabrous patches- their voluminous hair flattened at turned to greasy, kelplike plaits. All that appeared to make Dana was taken in an instant, leaving an algal ghost of their former self.
The stress it put on them was so great, that it knocked them unconscious- only a last-minute evolution from their Purrloin Katzenjammer prevented them from drowning in the Divine Spring.

So they were victorious. This was an unpredictable change that would guarantee them separation from their genetic donor. Their future from here was theirs to seize.
So why didn't they feel happy about it?

Why didn't they feel at all?

ABILITY:

Steelworker - The power of Steel-type moves is increased by 50%. This applies not only to Dana's regular moveset, but metal objects as well. They've come to regard their metal fishing tools as an extension of themselves, almost like new limbs.

MOVES:

Anchor Shot - Dana manifests a chain connected to their body, and ensnares a target, preventing escape. This move is occasionally used to reel in catches too heavy for Dana's standard fishing equipment.

Brine - A target is blasted with saline water, which becomes more effective when used against a previously damaged target. Since the loss of their ice powers, Dana has taken to trying out pickling fish instead of freezing them for preservation, using Brine. It hasn't been going especially well.

Giga Drain - Dana drains the vitality from a target, giving them a temporary boost of energy at the expense of another. It's one of the few ways Dana can feel healthy again, but seeing what it does to the target makes them feel sick, so they don't use it often.

Phantom Force - Dana vanishes into a well of Ghost-type energy, and reappears through an identical well somewhere else. It's traditionally used for sneak-attacks, but Dana uses it to escape uncomfortable situations, literally disappearing into the floor.

--

JOB:
Title: Fisherman
Shop Name: "FISH 4 SALE," Carved into a weather beaten piece of plywood. The shop itself still consists of a few pop-up tents and tables, but it's transported via Cetoddle-drawn trailer, as opposed to being tugged with a wagon by Dana themselves.
Stock Type: Fresh fish and other seafood, with the occasional interesting object from the deep offered on the side. They now offer a small selection of pickled fish, whenever they can prepare it correctly.

--

PET:

Name - Katzenjammer (Caterwaul), or "Yam" for short.
Species - Feraligatr (Formerly Liepard)
Gender - Female

Personality - ADAMANT Nature, Strongly Defiant.
Yam is still the sour, testy molly she's always been, but since Dana's recent transformation, her vicious animosity towards her owner seems to have cooled somewhat. She will still not hesitate to hiss, smack and bite if she feels her space is being intruded upon, but she also displays a number of behaviors that appear to be out of concern for Dana's well being: pulling their sleeves to get their attention, slapping them until they get out of bed, and on rare occasions allowing Dana to pet her.

She has a soft spot for the owner of Vanity Fur , who is the only person she allows to groom her.

Moves - Fake Out, Slash, Sucker-Punch, U-Turn

--

TALENTS

Dana's ability to hold their breath has increased to almost inhuman levels- 15 minutes on a single breath, and longer in cold water.

They have semi-prehensile hair, and can hold a fork with their plaits. Actually using it is another story.

They can free-dive up to 60 feet, unassisted. Due to their increased weight, they can walk along the seafloor.

They're getting rusty after having lost their saxophone, but they can still play it so long as they have their assistive device.

Dana is trying to be more "creative," and has taken to wood carving. They're still an amateur, but they are slowly getting better.

TRIVIA

Dana's inability to become drunk has vanished, which they found out the hard way. They still don't drink recreationally. Caffeine still gives them heart palpitations, but sometimes it's the only thing that can keep them awake, so they drink it anyway.

Their teeth are a dingy rust color, stained by the presence of iron in their tooth enamel. This has made them stronger, but they look awful, and Dana keeps their mouth closed more often because of it.

Dana no longer has a large appetite (or an appetite at all), but can still pack away a ludicrous amount of food. They seem disgusted by this fact.

Their body temperature sits at 87 F/30.5 C. This initially caused the hospital they went to following their transformation to mistake them for a ghost- and sometimes they aren't entirely convinced that they are still a living being.

Dana's metabolism has taken a hard swing in the other direction, from extremely high to extremely low. Their listlessness, lack of energy and weight gain may be partially credited to this sudden change.

They still have not conquered their fear of operating land vehicles.