Shroud tumbled from his sac dreaming and looking of death, but he is so alive - until he is not. He may look a smear of dirt next to his golden siblings, but you'll notice him for bounding ahead of the pack. Like many Zikwa, he may be functionally blind, but he is perceptive, keen of sense and mind, and boyishly inquisitive while industriously maintaining a gentle optimism and solicitude. Shroud is interested in everything and everyone. Shroud fears not death, but cares for all life. In his youth, he was so full of energy, it brimmed over; in his adulthood, he has mellowed into better mindfulness. But, as always, he lives every second to the fullest he can - especially when he feels it coming on.
Since he was a foal he has pressed against his mother cautiously - he could not see her, neither could he hear her, for she made no sound. He could only feel her, a wan warmth of sorts, unmoving. She hardly moved. What sort of prison, he wondered, was she caught in? It made him sorry; it made him uneasy. It felt like premonition. And so, of course, one day, when he'd left off the gangliness of colthood, it came.
But he is lucky: for his mother, it is all month save one day, for him it is only one day in a month. A daylong prison only. He is lucky, he knows.
...And that's the extent of his good luck, because otherwise it is incredibly bad. Like, annihilated-by-a-swan-style incredibly bad. Part of it is a consequence of a blind Kin running all over the Swamp being optimistically interested in everything, but a lot of it is just bad luck.
MAGGOT [ 01.06.2015 ]
So Shroud is basically blind, and someone told him maggots are white worms - which isn't technically untrue... Ever since this particular cave worm - which he was also clearly told is a white worm - has cuddled up to him, he's pampered her relentlessly, convinced that she is "the sweetest, most beautiful girl in the world, aren't you, Maggot?"
SNOW [ 06.11.2020 ]
Shroud's fateful tumble over a real tortoise in the mountains during the Shattered Obelisk Expedition changed the course of his life - and said real tortoise followed him down from the mountains after. Shroud was also told that Snow is white as snow.
...so much to live for, so much to die for... - Dead Boy's Poem Spoiler
PETS :: Not only did my darlingest Ruri gift me a cave worm from the very first batch, she - SHE LET ME PICK. QAQ Also I kept telling everyone to stop me from naming her Maggot - she's so beautiful! - but no one would stop me. QAQ (Technically female.) | The whole Snow story is somehow covered here, but I'd actually had it from the Festival of Abundance 2016: White Flower Contest and it only took me four years to decide where it should go...
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Oblique. Obscure. Obfuscatory. O. You never know when she is coming or going, but she'll make sure you know when she wants you to know she is here. She melts out of shadows and dances like breathing. She dances like a dream - a dream that will kill you if you forget to wake. When she speaks, she speaks in riddles. A voice that is subtle susurration shaded with slightest edge of emotions: amusement, approval, apathy...and sometimes the abstract air of someone with too much to hide.
...push me...and then just touch me... - Satisfaction Spoiler
NOTES :: THIS BEAUTY IS ALL ELVY WHO IS TOO GOOD TO ME I LOVE SO MUCH (Also, if you don't get the character reference, I guess you should, uh, consider yourself lucky? 8D;;; )
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Hardship doesn't bother her, she grew up groomed as a Tidewalker, hardship is second nature. She is a faithful follower, dutiful, diligent, stellar with instructions. But, somehow, she is always out of place. A fish out of water, a foal in the sea, both and neither, an awkward fit. No matter how well she does, it never feels quite right. But, oh, how she tries her best. Doubtful, timid, naive, she says little and largely sticks to her sister, Minnow. She is easily frightened of new things, the unknown - and yet at the same time...curious. As a foal, she was terrified of her Acha cousins, informed by the tribe's leanings. Now, she is creeping closer, but as with all things, she needs time.
Perhaps a mudskipper is not best by the sea. But she is a Tidewalker born and bred, and if there is a better place for her out there, she doesn't yet know nor think it.
EVERYTHING MUST GO [ Blowout ] :: 14.03.2013 [ buck ]
A consummate salesman. Here is a buck who was born to wheel and deal. With his beautiful and equally convincing twin sister Act Now, the two roam the Swamp with the latest range, persuading all in their path to purchase their wares. Samples available, satisfaction guaranteed! Rise & Shine is their purveyor, the duo having made a beeline for the tribe as soon as they had gained their grown-up legs, and together aim always to be employee of the month. They speak in snappy patter, smooth lines and pithy phrases, words strung up one after the other's - truth be told, they probably don't make much sense to ordinary, non-business-minded Kin most of the time, but that's half the secret to razzle-dazzle anyway.
BONDS :: Act Now - a double-act is so much more effective than a solo venture
...razzle dazzle 'em and they'll beg you for more... - Razzle Dazzle Spoiler
NOTES :: Re-wind (his mama) is my bby girl. She's technically one of my oldest Kin by now, but she's still my bby girl, and it was hard to even think of her as a mother, much less go through with it. B-but. But. Tyg came knocking with Roddy. Rewind and Roddy. I. CAN'T. NOT. And then dear Tyg offered an RL breeding for them. QAQ I was actually torn between Red Alert, now Maxx's, and Blowout at first, for very different but equally loving reasons - but that girl was really destined to be Maxx's, and I love this boy so much. Thank you so much, Tyg darlin'! I can't wait to have all the twin fun with you! ;A; JUNKION TWINS ARE GOOOOO~
PETS :: Once again, Tyg, making sure the puppies came at the same time!
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His twin sister is the bold one, the brave one, the prancy one, dancing like an Acha into everybody's business. He is the one dragged into everybody's business by his twin sister, horrified and terrified and carefully picking his way around the pointy bits and...well. Have you ever seen a Totoma cower? It's sad. How is he ever going to earn his name...
"He tended to the lambs and foals, cossetted them and romped with them. When he bid them wake with the rising sun, they woke, when he bid them sleep with simple lullabies, they slept. The Mothers' Club said they listened to him because he was as one of them - because he was Lambhearted."
...Well. That was surprisingly positive. As it turns out, a Totoma who is ridiculously paranoid about the clear and present dangers to little lambs and foals and commands their rapt attention strongly warning about thus makes a bizarrely excellent Mother.
BONDS :: Lionhearted - there's always got to be a balance Finder - he's very proud of the adopted son he raised from an overly colourful egg
...up all night long and there's something very wrong... - Aliens Exist Spoiler
NOTES :: How much do I love Peep, Never Forgets, and Not a Peep? This much. How chuffed was I when Ruri and Miza offered Maxx second pick? SO chuffed. How much did I essplode when they then turned right around and offered me third? STILL CLEANING UP THE PIECES. ლ(ಥᗣಥლ) AND FIRST TOTO TWINS EVAR WITH RURIBBY. MIZAPIZA! RURIPIE! I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH. SO MUCH.
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Fearless - most of the time. Reckless, she flings herself into adventure - anything, she lives for living, she plunges headlong. She doesn't care if she gets nowhere, as long as she gets. Every now and then, for a sliver of a moment as her rushing hooves balance on the cusp, her heart quails - she trembles. The madness of it, the enormity, the seed of doubt, the flash of fear. she trembles - then throws herself into the abyss anyway.
...help, I'm alive, my heart keeps beating like a hammer... - Help, I'm Alive Spoiler
NOTES :: *cry* Maxx and Morphy know how much I love Starburst, and when they finally got this glorious glorious clutch they'd been trying for for a year or so, they - they gave the girl that looked most like her to meeeee.... *sobs* THANK YOU SO MUCH, YOU GUYS, I ADORE HER!
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Sure is stone. Bitterleaf disapproves of weakness, disapproves of Acha. As these things happen, Shanty fell in with a crippled Acha and had a clutch of merely one Kimeti - and four Acha. Judgment flows off Shanty the Freeheart's back like water, if her children must be pariahs, it is their privilege to claw out all the stronger...and to this end, Sure is intent on proving himself the best Tidewalker one could possibly be. Unyielding, uncompromising, he goes above and beyond, working to the bone - beyond bone - for an approval that will never materialise, not just for Bitterleaf's strict standards, but his own stone heart, never content. He holds all to the same exacting rod - except he holds himself to it more so.
One day, an accident will happen, the sort of accident that comes from reaching too far...and he will become his own worst fear...
STONE [ 11.03.2014 ]
He would not be beholden to his crippled father...but this was a gift he could not disown.
...and each in your season returns and returns and is always the same... - Stars Spoiler
NOTES :: Aaaaahhhhh Morphy and I have been planning this clutch for so long - and blue picked them up right away when I finally dropped the bribe for them! *glee* Sure was the last to be coloured: blue actually offered me the choice between having the last coloured as a twin or as a new sibling, and though I adore twins, I couldn't resist the mystery of the latter...and as she began filling in the flows, I fell. I'm so grateful for this clutch, I just love them all. ;_;
Fear corporeal. Fearful Symmetry has started mention of his elder brother once or twice, always abruptly terminating his narrative without explication. Fanciful rumours have built up the figure of a fine Acha buck with ice-blue eyes that burn in the forests of the night, the cruelest laugh, who steps the dance of death. Rumours, of course - until one day a mysterious figure looms on the outskirts of the Royal Rainbow encampment...and, as it happens, some rumours do prove true...
If you met him in the day, you might find him smooth, cold-eyed, a lazy smile, unbelievably charismatic. Then darkness falls...and he begins his dance...
BONDS :: Fearful Symmetry - of course, he loves his baby brother best...
...and when thy heart began to beat, what dread hand and what dread feet... - The Tyger Spoiler
NOTES :: So SO so SO happy that Rejam really made him! QAQ!!! More and more the thought of a white tiger brother for Fear had percolated in my head - to the point that I'd be crushed if he couldn't be real, so I begged Rejam to just pls shift Fear's stripes onto a recolour pls pls that is all I need - AND HERE HE IS. Rejam is the best. *cries*
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When Comeback was a delicate little filly, she was diligently protected by her ice-cool brother...until the day they got separated and then she had the fright of her life yadda yadda we know how her story goes from there.
The day Compromise lost his sister was the worst day of his life. He'd thought of himself as his fragile little sister's guardian, and always put up the bravest front before her - but inside he was a total wussy bleeding-heart and freaked out and burst into tears when he couldn't find her. Well, he never did find her, but he did run into a young buck wandering around in a daze who eventually told him to stop crying, for Swamp's sake, if she's gone, she's gone. Compromise mourned long and hard over his darling sister, and stuck with the buck (whom unbeknownst to either of them was the one who scared Comeback off in the first place).
Years later, as he returned from picking berries, he found Recoil in heated argument with a very familiar face...
In an OOC context - Recoil is like the whiny lead singer of a screamo band, which makes Compromise the guy who looks like he should be the super cool lead guitarist but is actually the wussy bassist.
BONDS :: Comeback - I'm honestly ashamed to face her like this... Take you Down with Me - I wouldn't know what to do without him
NOTES :: So I quested my deergirl Comeback for two years, finally caved to Rejam RLC for my birthday, and rejoiced because Maxx and I could finally get on with that post-punk revival vs. screamo screwball comedy plot! And then this traitorous thought wormed into my head: she needs a brother... Q_Q Yeah, so rinse and repeat all over again, but this time it took a lot less years because Rejam is such a sweetheart. ;A; And now my darling Compromise!
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On your way, you meet a pair of brothers. They are friendly enough, gracious. Fetch is bold, Fathom is refined. Fetch has the charm, Fathom the grace. You ask where they are going, they exchange subtle glances, make vague references to a journey. They are chatty enough, they are generous with their provisions. Yet, in their eyes, there is something strangely distant...there is something strangely...sinister. Or maybe it's just your imagination.
BONDS :: Fetch - rarely are they seen for long apart
A happy hypochondriac. Well, these things do happen. Taking an interest in rudimentary medicine as a finicky colt, the more he learnt of remedies, the more he feared of maladies. Despite his pessimistic paranoia, he remains a joyous soul - inarguably eccentric, but agreeably so. If nothing else, he is well on his way to becoming a competent healer, a role much needed by the ambitious tribe he is a part of, The Friends.
...what's wrong today? you look as if you've seen a ghost... - Red & Black Spoiler
NOTES :: Miza and I've been planning See/Skip for something like two years now, and I finally (AND ACCIDENTALLY BELATEDLY *SOB*) RL'd them for her birthday. As I watched Ail get made, my intense desire to own him was overwhelming - he would make the perfect Joly. And sweet sweet Miza let me have him straight away! QAQ
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He finds flowers pleasing, and so he wears them. He finds himself good at killing things, and so he kills them. He finds you agreeable, and so he approaches you. If you don't find flowers pleasing, he will still wear them. If you don't quite like him killing things, he will still kill them, albeit a distance away from you. If you don't find him agreeable, he will leave.
...and even though I told her of the danger she went ahead and did it anyway... - Liar Spoiler
NOTES :: I lusted over his gorgeous Skipalong pink and amazing eye as he was made even though I knew I would have to try for Ail - but when I offhandedly mentioned my love for Madder to Miza...she let me have him too! QAQ I cannot overstate what an incredible sweetheart Miza is. *cry*
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A charming young buck, capable of being terrible. "He was angelically beautiful. You would have said, seeing the thoughtful reflection of his eye, that he had already, in some preceding existence, been through the revolutionary apocalypse. He knew its tradition like an eyewitness. He knew every little detail of that great thing. A pontifical and warrior nature, strange in a youth. He was officiating and militant; from the immediate point of view, a soldier of democracy; above the movement of the time, a priest of the ideal. He was serious, he did not seem to know that there was a being on earth called doe. He had one passion only, justice; one thought only, to remove all obstacles. He was severe in his pleasures. Before anything but the People, he chastely dropped his eyes. He was the marble lover of liberty. His speech was roughly inspired and had the tremor of a hymn. He would spread his wings unexpectedly and astonish you by his soaring." ...so might the great storyteller Victor Hugger have said of Charm.
Terrible Charm awoke from his dream with single-minded purpose: to raise up the wretched of the Swamp, the helpless, the hungry, the weak. He studied the lives of downtrodden Swamp-denizens, intervening with a hoof where he could, for some time before concluding that change could not be achieved without allies, thus sallying forth to find like-minded souls to join in his crusade, forming the tribe that came to be known as 'The Friends,' most commonly, 'of the Abased'...
FRATERNITY [ 01.11.2015 ]
He has some idea this situation arose from one of Take the Watch's nefarious plans, and he's not sure he wants to know more. Nevertheless, the lion is as fine a brother as any Friend.
...let others rise to take our place... - The Final Battle Spoiler
PETS :: What are the odds of this happening, really. And this crane is clearly perfect for me. I tried to keep her a freerange crane for a bit under the name Whisper, but it turns out Whisper is a really popular name for ghost pets had to succumb to the inevitable even if it was later rather than sooner. (Technically female.) | "All at once he threw back his head, his blond locks fell back like those of an angel on the sombre quadriga made of stars, they were like the mane of a startled lion in the flaming of an halo." Can you believe this guy was left over... (Technically male.)
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Just a little thing: dainty and pure-eyed, she dreams of flowers. By day, she weaves them into caps and nets and winding vines for modest sale, with the help of her beloved Stitch's nimble paws.
STITCHWORT ( Stitch ) [ 16.08.2013 ]
Clever with its paws, and other things besides.
...'cause they're calling, calling, calling me home... - Lights Spoiler
NOTES :: A beautiful little gift from two of my favourite people ever, Miza and Lolli. *cry* I knew I should've said no, but I fell in love on sight. And so now I finally have a little Acha eggu bby of my own! QAQ
PETS :: Courtesy again of darling Miza, who got Patmos to make three perfect little heart-marked bunnies based on the sisters - and here is Lacecap's!
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