Description
Character and ref designed by the amazing kiwipeach
Name: Walkies
Gender: Male
Pronouns: He/Him
Species: Dog (Teacup Yorkshire Terrier)
Age: 15
Height: 20cm (25cm when full grown)
Length: 30cm
*Strengths:
Gripping bite - While his teeth are not particularly sharp, he is capable of crushing, holding and ripping tough skin and bone.
Boundless energy - As is the way with puppies, he has more energy than he knows what to do with. He often uses this on sprinting and chasing. His tail is nearly always wagging. This gives him a big advantage when it comes to stamina and endurance. He is still only able to sprint in short bursts, however.
Strong sense of smell - His nose can identify and remember most scents, especially animal smells. It also acts as an early warning and tracking system.
Weaknesses:
Very clumsy - He is very prone to tripping over his paws and dropping things. His coordination is generally poor.
Poor hearing - Repeated ear infections and his matted fur means his hearing is muffled.
Vulnerable to hits on the head - Walkies has a soft spot on his head which, when hit, can cause serious pain, disorientation and vomiting.
Seizures - He is prone to random seizures which cause him to collapse and shake for up to a minute.
Tangled fur - This sometimes gets caught on branches and other obstacles, impeding movement and causing pain.
Naive - Walkies understands very little about the world and this leads him to put himself in danger. He also puts his foot in things regularly, physically and verbally. He is completely oblivious as to why some citizens of Eremile are wary of him.
Phobia of rushing or large bodies of water
Personality:
Childlike - Walkies sometimes acts younger than his age. This is partly due to growing up an environment where he doesn't often mix with others and is protected from worries. However, Teasel sometimes wonders if there is more behind this.
Overly friendly - He wants to be everyone's friend, even when the feelings aren't returned. He often lacks a sense of personal space.
Enthusiastic - He is so excitable he storms ahead before thinking clearly. He is incredibly impulsive.
Always looks on the bright side - This is sometimes irritating and, in certain circumstances, naive.
Scatter-brained - He is easily distracted and forgetful. He is a doer not a thinker - Teasel often has to work hard to keep him on track and channel his energies.
Loyal and protective - Once you are his friend, he will do anything for you, even put himself in harm's way.
Brave but stupid - Walkies dreams of being the hero but his judgement is… questionable. He still doesn't really know how to apply the concept of looking before he leaps.
Stubborn - Despite knowing that he has a tendency to get himself into trouble, he often still decides he knows best. And he will disparage anyone who says otherwise
Backstory:
On a gloomy night, Walkies was born with his siblings in the entrance in a storm drain between Opus and Eremile. His mother, a former house dog down on her luck, named him after one of her favourite human things. His early days were wonderful but scarcely a few days after he began eating solids his mother left on a scavenging mission and never came back. Within days his siblings passed away and he was left to wander the world alone. Then, to his horror, a storm struck and he was swept away by a surge of water. However, while traumatising, the disaster was a blessing in disguise. The water carried him close to a set of burrows where he was discovered by Teasel. Teasel, who was freshly mourning the loss of her mate and litter, immediately took him under her wing and raised her as her own. As soon as he was old enough to travel, Teasel brought him to Eremile, setting up a burrow on the outskirts of the town. While never fully accepted by the citizens of Eremile, the duo has led a happy life until now.
Likes:
Teasel
Food
Chasing things
Making friends
Dislikes:
Going hungry
Being seperated from Teasel
Other:
While his paws are typical of quadrupedal dogs (I.e no thumbs, so limited in function) he has developed his coordination to the point where he can manipulate his toes to do basic functions and grip things. He still cannot hold items with them and his paws are very clumsy.
He considers Teasel his mum but remembers his biological mum and knows that he is not a vole.
Name: Teasel
Gender: Female
Pronouns: She/Her
Species: Field Vole
Age: 29
Height OR Length: 9cm
Strengths:
Very speedy - Teasel's speed is something to behold. She is very good at darting into hedgerow and burrows. She relies on this to get away from predators. She can dash at speeds of up to 6 miles per hour.
Sharp teeth - These are able to chew through tough material, albeit not very quickly. These can also be used to deliver a blood-drawing but ultimately superficial bite, but she will ultimately only do this in a worst case scenario.
Weaknesses:
Short-sighted - While she can see about a metre in front of herself, everything beyond that is blurry and very indistinct. She has to rely on picking out movement to see threats in front of her. Alternatively, she must use her sense of hearing and/or smell to compensate.
Scared of open and unsheltered spaces - Typical of her species, she typically primarily sticks to thick vegetation and her home network of tunnels when she can. During her life at Eremile, she has rarely strayed out from cover for more than a few minutes. Consequently, fields and areas of low vegetation terrify her and she is very wary about venturing out. This impedes her movement speed when covering long distances (taking longer routes with more cover) and may cause her to freeze up in fear at inopportune moments. She will look to Walkies to help her and be her protector during those times
Poor climber - While adept at rushing through undergrowth, her kind tend to stick low to the ground. Consequently, her climbing skills are lacking. She can do so at a push but she is slow, wobbly and prone to falling. When given the choice, she will take hiding over acrobatics any day.
Very fragile bones and skin - Owing to her small size, she could easily be taken out with one single blow from anything bigger than her. A broken limb or head injury would most likely spell death for her unless she can depend on someone else to care for her.
High anxiety about predators - Teasel is constantly on the look out for potential predators, both on the ground and in the air. This distracts her, meaning that she doesn't always take in important information. This extends to panic attacks in tense situations. Some would call it a phobia, she would call it being sensible!
Personality:
Level-headed and sensible- Teasel is a very practical vole. She thinks everything through carefully before she speaks and acts. She will often be a voice of reason, especially where Walkies is involved.
Caring and non-confrontational- Teasel cares about everyone she makes acquaintances with. Where possible, she will seek to help others. She will not fight unless she can avoid it.
Over-cautious and a little timid - Teasel never looks entirely at ease. While she isn't overly nervous (except when in open spaces or threatened by predators), she often looks worried and concerned. This also plays into her actions - she is a pro at overthinking things.
Quiet - Teasel only speaks when she has something important to add. While what she says is often thoughtful and insightful, chattering and small talk does not come naturally to her. She comes across as a bit awkward, unless interacting with Walkies.
Comes across as passive but is far from - While Teasel seems docile and passive, she is always forming her own opinions and she holds these strongly. She just doesn't necessarily verbalise these to others. If you cross or wrong her, she will not tolerate this, speaking sternly in response. She is very difficult to manipulate and will walk away from people, relationships or situations she does not like.
Motherly and stern towards Walkies - It is evident to all that Teasel loves Walkies like her own. Consequently, she mothers him incessantly and often speaks sternly to him (in a way she would not with anyone else). She puts Walkies welfare above everyone else's, including her own.
Backstory:
Teasel grew up some way from Eremile in a world where predator terrorised prey and there was no social order to be found. After fumbling her way through childhood with a mix of skill and luck, both of her parents were sadly killed by a fox not long after she became self-sufficient. Thankfully, she was not left alone for long - she quickly met a charming male by the name of Chaff and, besotted with each other, they became mates. They successfully raised their first litter, although some of her babies were inevitably lost to predators. Sadly, however, shortly after her second litter was born, her life was shattered. She returned from scavenging one day to find a snake exiting her burrow network. Horrified, she raced down her tunnels to find an empty nest, signs of a scuffle and blood spattering the walls. Her mate and pups were dead and Teasel was despondent with grief. However, just as she was about to give up on life, she found a whimpering canine pup with no family of his own. Teasel immediately began to raise him and, as soon as he was old enough to travel, journeyed to the safety of Eremile. Since then, she and Walkies have lived on the outskirts of Eremile, safe from the harsh world she left behind.
Likes:
A good warm burrow
Foraging
Safety
Children
Darkness
Dislikes:
Eremile's meat replacement crops
Wide open spaces
She is very wary of predator species, even those from Eremile
Other:
She views some of the traditions of Eremile as strange - such as clothing and community.
Her paws are very flexible and are able to manipulate objects the same way human hands can. However, as she is strictly quadrupedal - if she is moving she must either carry things with only one paw or with her mouth.
Techn0Gecko — Teasel and Walkies - SbS ref
