Character Name/Cub Name: Thornberry/Spider
Created by Oddsong 10/06/2008
Soul Name: Giyo
Sex: Male
Race: Wolfrider
Origin:
Age: 102
Soulsiblings/Recognized: None
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Lifemate(s): none
Lovemate(s): Shimmerye & Cleatrail, former lovemates.
Children: none
Parents: Calmwater (mother), Suresinger (father)
Siblings: tbd; has several half-siblings
Bondbeast: Smirk, a high-ranking male wolf.
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Hair: A rich golden-brown, falling in a smooth, thick wave almost to his shoulders with neat bangs down to his eyes. Sometimes pushed back by a dark brown headband.
Eyes: Hazel, level and narrow.
Skin tone: Creamy pale.
Height: Average
Build: Slender shoulders and a narrow waist make him look shorter than he is. His muscles are very streamlined, his knees and elbows bony.
Appearance: A sharp, triangular face, nose slightly upturned, eyebrows thick and expressive. Tends to chew his lower lip when thinking or troubled.
Clothes
Summer: Thornberry goes shirtless, with a pale green sash across his chest, bearing his knives, and wears loose buckskin trousers fastened with a rope belt and stitched along the sides in moss-green thread. He has thick wrist guards of worked leather. Sometimes he goes barefoot, but usually favors moccasins.
Winter: A long-sleeved, thigh-length buckskin tunic open for most of the front but lined with white fur, complete with a high collar, and black-brown pants folded into leather boots that can be tied close to be as high as his knees. Sometimes he would wrap a length of pale fur around his head and lower face.
Jewelry: A large medallion made of brass, decorated with intricate knotwork. A memento from his lovemates, he cherishes it, never wears it on hunts so it won't be lost and polishes it often so that it always has a shine.
Weapons
For the hunt: Thornberry likes to work with two weapons - twin spears or twin daggers.
For war: Spears serve best.
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Talent: Sending, wolf-bonding
Skills: Hunting and tracking, fishing, a talented rider, mechanical lore (trapmaking), rope-making, bone-carving.
Likes: Being right, working with his hands, peace and time to do his work, group hunts.
Dislikes: Nagging cubs, being interrupted, dreamberries (he eats them only at howls, and has a very low tolerance), laziness.
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Personality/History:
Thornberry's name reflects his character. He can be prickly and sour, prone to complaining and hard to satisfy. He hates anything shabbily done or half-finished and sets a high standard for others and a higher for himself. Talkative and confident, will always speak up with his opinion about much anything. The fact that he's a clever, crafty elf who really does have something useful to contribute a lot of the time - and that he knows it - only makes him more irritating. He had a sweet side, though, that shows when he is relaxed or satisfied, when he enjoys games, touch and gently teasing his tribemates, and likes to give gifts and do favors to express his feelings.
Thornberry is a strong traditionalist and devoted to the Way. Although creative with day-to-day things, he is pessimistic about change and doesn't believe in impractical dreams and exploring for its own sake. His pack-instinct is strong and he feels exactly who he can and can't challenge and how much. In his mind, he is Way-keeper for Stormfire's band, feeling that even with several elders and other wolf-blooded hunters with her, the only way to make absolutely sure is to be there himself. He hopes Stormfire and the others would grow to appreciate his advice despite his age. After all, they are going to be facing many, many new things and situations, and you can't be too careful...
His parents were actually a mellow pair, neither strongly wolf-blooded, both fairly accepting of Recnogition when it drew them away from other lifemates. Two pairs, their cubs and the new cub in the middle all lived as one family. As a boy Spider often felt stifled by it all, preferring the company of the wolf pack and running underfoot with the hunters, who tolerated him because the pup was always ready to run and fetch or carry things. As he grew he learned a myriad of small skills from various adults he took to helping and liked boasting them to his siblings and age-mates. He never got along with the other cubs and wanted to grow up as fast as he could. As a youth he was impatient and troublesome, but ecstatic as soon as he could join the hunting party, proving himself quickly. He earned the name Thornberry initially from his favoring two weapons in the hunt, but everyone knew it meant more than that.
Around his 50th year he joined a lovemated pair in a three-mating and Shimmereye and Cleartrail's company calmed him down much, allowing his kinder side to be seen more often. In their years together, as the tribe stopped seeing him as a loud youth with a bad temper, he gained much confidence and began to speak in councils and make his ideas known even to those much older than him. He learned to fish and to sit patiently from Shimmereye and for a while harbored secret hopes to Recognizing her someday, but sobered up of that when he realized he was becoming jealous of Cleartrail. Shimmereye Recognized outside the three-mating, which broke amicably. Thornberry still has some regrets, but only very vague ones. He lived firmly in the Now at the time.
For a while before the council that decided the tribe's parting, Thornberry had been growing increasingly uncomfortable in a tribe too large and too crowded in his opinion. His instincts spoke of danger lying down that road, but he couldn't quite phrase his fear. Though it means leaving his large family and his former lovemates behind, he feels the parting had cleared his mind and made things simpler. He is following his instincts, and they are good.
Outlook on Life: Others take it too lightly; you only get one, and should use it well!
Thing to Remember: Thornberry isn't a whiner, when he complains he usually has a good alternative.
Sees Self As: Way-keeper, the voice of plain good sense.
