The Art of Being a Boswell

The Books:

Brown with a golden, tall clocktower and a two towered bridge below it.

Green with a flower and a tall, thin, craggy mountain-like tower with fire showing through a crack in it.

light blue with a windmill

dark green with a brown bow and arrow on it

light leaf green with a golden tree on it

paperback manga-style book with a starburst-like thing on the cover and the word BAM!

dark blue with an old castle-like structure and a crystal-tipped twisting wand


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The Creatures:

Windmills or Wild Dragons, I've Your Lance Male Reef HIppocampi

Mindspeech: Italics #0ca90c

For being an underwater creature this Reef hippocampi is quite a 'down to earth' fellow. Practical-natured and grounded, he's loyal to a fault. Even if you're acting irrational, what some might call crazy or delusional, he is willing to help you out against all odds and even help get you out of trouble (often after having followed you right into it). About the only thing that some might call a 'fault' is that his practicality makes him far more a realist than an idealist. He's not a very imaginative sort, in other words. This can be a good thing at times, or a bad thing depending on the situation. Regardless, whether it's the IF, prison time, or a wild dragon, he's the best squire you could ask for.

As if in spite of his down-to-earth-ness his appearance is about as striking as could be. He has a resemblance to a beta fish. His hide is rich purple that turns royal blue when the light strikes ir just right. His mane and tail fade from purple to blue. Though his mane is luscious hair his tail is a rippling fin to match the fin that rises from his back. Instead of fetlocks he has 'fet-fins' matching the rest draping over hooves that are fully capable of propelling him through the water, and his eyes are as blue as the depths of the sea. A smaller fin adorns the edge of his jaw.

Visual Inspiration



From River's Bridge to Final Arrow I'm with You Make Equine Hybrid - Starmane/Caradras

Mindspeech: Bold #b4740d

When a hybrid is born it's often a gamble whattraits of their parents they'll inherit. Will the combination be a tragedy or a glory?

In this case the answer is definitely the latter.

From his Zahanzai Caradras mother he learned the art of the scout; how to hunt and track, how to survive in the wilds, how to move like a ghost through the trees unseen and unheard until he wants to otherwise. From his Celestial Starmane father he learned the importance of service, in protecting those weaker and smaller them he from those who would abuse them, and in being gentle and kind.

Combine those and you get a loyal ally at your back no matter the peril or hardship.

A lot of the time a creature of large size is associated with a certain slowness of thought. It's nothing personal; the brains vs. brawn debate rarely ever includes an 'and' in the equation. But if there ever was an equine that emphasized both its this hybrid. Born of a Starmane father and a Caradras mother he is both compassionate and cunning, skillful in combat and tactics and at home in the wilds far more than in noble courts. More comfortable being a follower than a leader (though he's capable of leading when needs must), when the arrows and blades are thick you can trust him to stand with you to the end.

As alluded to before he's simply a massive, tall beast of an equine. He stands no less than (height) hands at the withers (that's (conversion) for those less-acquainted with horse terms). This is in line with both sides of his heritage though in everything else visible he is a mixed package. His hide is a dark emerald shade, so dark that in poor light he almost appears black. He has the tail of a Caradras complete with blade on the end that you'd better believe he knows how to use. Unlike a Caradras he opts to keep his brown silky mane and flocks long and well-groomed, and in these the twilight-lavender starlight strands and motes of his Starmane bloodlines make themselves visible even if the hairs aren't completely made of it; they're more like locks and individual strands. In a nod to his mother he tends to wear a brown feather either tucked in just behind one ear or from a leather cord around his neck depending on his activities. It is an eagle or hawk feather more often than not, a sleek, beautiful example of a noble bird of prey's plumage. His hooves are a Starmane's as well, but closer to a black diamond than a more traditional white. Just another nod to his crossed blood. His eyes for the most part appear a warm brown but deep within their depths there is a crimson luminescence that seems to flare when his righteous anger is riled.


Even Scared, I'll Stand by You Male Quark Astrum

Mindspeech: Italics #e51daa

When everything in the world is so much bigger than you it's easy to be afraid. But courage isn't the absence of fear, but action in the face of fear and in that this tiny Astrum has courage in spades...as long as his Bonded is there and accepting of help from such a small creature. He has a huge heart, you see, and a drive to help out no matter what the insurmountable task and even if someone much larger and stronger really should be the one to do it. You can always tell when he's getting anxious as he begins to stutter and shiver, but to refuse to help is as foreign to his nature as strength is to his physical abilities. It really doesn't matter what the task. His whole heart will go into it. Like many Quarks he enjoys keeping things neat and tidy around him; with so little in the world he can control being able to control this small thing is a bit of a comfort. Thankfully he doesn't take his organization intothe harmful extreme. He's also very fond of flowers and other beautiful things, and tree nuts of any sort are his favorite food.

Like all Quark Astrum he's both small in stature at just shy of a foot from nose to tailtip and soft powder gray all over, lacking any markings of any sort. His fur is smooth rather than plush and fluffy. He has tiny little feathered wings as some Astrum do but honestly he's too timid to use them to jump any great height.


Fighting at your Back Against any Villain Male South Clan Hippogryph

Mindspeech: Bold #f000ff[/color]

When a great tragedy strikes one so young it can plant a seed, the desire to see the wrongdoer punished and a drive to insure none other suffer the same fate. If the young one is of good enough heart and conviction the bend is invariably towards becoming a force of justice.

That is the story of this South Clan Hippogryph. When he was a foal he and his sister, who was only a year older than his six months, were out grazing when they were approached by a strange creature to their Clan's territory. Though she was wary he wanted to get to know this stranger and as a result they both followed it away.

He only escaped its murderous intentions by a wild run and fly for freedom while she covered him. She paid for this valor with her life.

Every since he has carried a burden of guilt for her death and has vowed never again, not to another. He taught himself how to fight to protect those who couldn't protect himself, learned from the protectors in his Clan and from Valor unicorns and Starmanes and Hippocampi and Pegasus, from any equine creature who wood give instruction. His combative prowess became quick and agile both on the ground and in the air, acrobatic one might say. But he had trouble reigning in his South Clan exuberance; he jumped at the slightest provocation of trouble even if there was none, picked fights to 'avenge the wronged,' and in general was becoming quite rebellious. His family was dismayed at this and there were several arguments over it. Finally he was ordered to leave the Territory to reduce the harm he was inadvertently doing, to perhaps try and find a Bonded to help him gain the discipline he so badly needed. Though hurt he understood their concerns and left.

And found you.

For all of his wild, occasionally hot-headed nature he's a very loyal and self-confident Hippogryph. He'll enthusiastically follow his Bonded into even the worst danger of there's a villain to defeat our an innocent to save from ruin. Under a Bonded's guidance he's sure to learn to temper those flames of justice he's already tended into a bonfire, and then he'll be a force for good to be reckoned with, a young hero in his own right. Whenever that distant day comes he hopes he'll be ready. But until then, and probably for the rest of his days in his heart if nothing else, he'll happily remain your sidekick and rely on your taking the first steps to show him what to do.

South Clan Hippogryphs are known to be among the most striking in appearance of all the Clans and he's no exception. His body is a brilliant ruby red that fades to a sun-yellow on his lower legs with a small splash of yellow on his chest. His mane and tail are almost a flip of this, sun-yellow with red and the occasional orange tips to each lock. His wings really do look like flames when he flies as the feathers alternate red, yellow and orange in seemingly no definable pattern. All of this makes his leaf-green eyes really stand out in contrast, framed as they often are in a deep blue eye mask.

Nec was actually lounging inside the bakery, hiding from the weather, enjoying a bun and some coffee when Aurae popped into being a few feet above his head. A creel and a florry of images was all he got before she vanished again. None of it very intelligible, but he got the gist of it. Raf was missing! And something about books, so okay, library.

The blue changeling left both coffee and bun and headed at a jog towards the library, wondering what he'd find.

Inside was mostly as usual, though the books on the floor was a bit out of the ordinary and caught his attention. The nearest one was dark green with a brown bow and arrow on it, and Nec picked it up for a closer look. He'd see if the Kirava was around after, maybe they had some information.

((Just tacking on a new post to add in Gertude~))


Gertude rushed through the rain, stepping around puddles and dodging lightning spots. Her destination was obvious. The library. The reason was pretty obvious too to most in the weyr. Raferties had gone missing! That was all she needed to know and she had been out the door in a flash, barely remembering to grab the small daggers she liked to use as weapons.

Pushing into the library, she would nod to everyone as she approached the pile of books. Bending down to start scooping them up, the first one that she picked up was a light leaf green with a golden tree on the cover. This is so strange...What could have done this damage and taken Raferties with it?

Fair immediately looked away from the book and covered her lekku to protect the sensitive appendages from any harm, but that didn't seem to help as she soon found herself in a place very different from the library. It was...oddly peaceful at first, but she whipped around when she heard an unfamiliar voice, her PAK activating her spider legs in case she needed to make a quick escape...or stab out the eyes of whatever creature was approaching her.

She swore in Irken when she realized that she seemed to be wearing rather primitive garb and sitting on top of some odd four-legged creature, which she was quick to dismount (albeit with some difficulty) as she had never ridden a horse before and was not about to divert her attention between the animal and her environment. She pulled off the helmet and tossed that aside as well. "I have my own weapons," she told the hippocampus. "You, on the other hand, are unarmed. Either make yourself scarce or make yourself useful," she answered, her gaze going back to the windmill as it began to twist and warp before her very eyes. Though she could honestly care less about the inferior species being threatened, taking a target this large down by herself would be another notch in her belt, so to speak.

With her spider legs already deployed but with very little to duck behind while she made her way towards her target, stealth wasn't exactly an option here. But a distraction...well, that could be arranged. She pulled out a flash grenade and threw it at the creature, hoping to disorient it long enough that she could climb up its body.

Tidesweep

At the bright white light, Tide threw up a hand to block it out. Color pictures were her only clue as to what was in the book before it tried to blind her. The glow disappeared though and she lowered her hand and blinked. Rapidly and multiple times too. But no matter how fast she blinked, the library didn't come back into view.

The factory in bright colors was certainly here to stay.

She didn't have time to groan at the illogical fields antics though or even really wonder where she was. She had to find Raferties!

Hearing a voice, she turned her head to stare at the speaker. Before she could even reply, he was ordering someone to throw her into the moat! That wasn't very nice and she couldn't help but stick her tongue out at him as he escaped through a doorway.

The other voice, this one a bit closer, had her jumping out of her skin...Or nearly jumping out of her skin as she finally registered that she was in a different outfit finally. It had taken her a bit, but she had gotten there. A gloved hand moved to rub at her temple, touching the edge of the mask that would keep her identity a secret. If her...Partner? Didn't give it away. Or maybe Tidesweep was her superhero name here?

That was a worry for a different time though. Vibrations sounded on the catwalk and she looked to either end. The Jester's boys certainly wasted no time in getting up here!

Patting her utility belt, she tried to find what she was looking for. She found smoke bombs. A small taser. Some...Paint? Okay. Whatever. A tracker...Oh. That would have been nice to have earlier. A spare mask and...Ah haha!

Finding the grappling gun, she aimed it for the ceiling, firing it off to latch onto a beam. "Well...We do what we do best and go get some Jester butt!" Tugging on the rope, her time was running out as the goons were closing in. Hoping onto the railing, she swung out onto the factory floor. Dropping down to a conveyor belt, she hit the button to release the hook and wind it back up.

Which might have been a bit easier if she had picked one that was still.

Eventually getting the grapple gun back into place, she hopped off, her partner in heroism following behind her. At least he had wings to fly down and didn't have to worry about getting tangled up in rope.

Feet hitting the ground, she took off through the maze of machinery, heading straight for the bright green portcullis. Maybe the Jester should have picked a less...Standoutish color. Then she might have had a harder time finding her way through the belts and cranes. But he didn't and punching through a few bad guys, yelling sorry behind her, was her only true obstacle.

That and figuring out how to get through the doorway.

On a hunch, she took out the paint she had seen earlier and squeezing it out of the tube, applied it to the bars. When it started to hiss and fizz, she let out a whoop. It was acid paint! Perfect!

Quickly outlining a door, she put the now empty tube back into its proper pouch. It looked like she still had two more and as the fizzing grew louder, she made a mental note to use a lot less next time. No sense in wasting her currently limited supplies. As fast as it was going though, she had to duck a few grabs and kick out at some of the goons.

Which was a boon as one of them got kicked directly into her doorway and sped up the opening process quite fast! "Thank you ever so much!" Hopping over the unconscious man, she of course made sure he was safe from the acid. Taking off at a breakneck speed, she kept her eyes peeled for the Jester. Hopefully he hadn't had too much of a head start!


Gertude

A hiss of air escaped her mouth as she was blinded and deafened all in one go. By the time she could once again see her surroundings, she was in a delightful woodland. Turning her face into the breeze, she wondered how she had gotten here. Was it from the book? And if so...Why? How did that connect to the disappearance of her friend? Was he in each book somehow? Or was he just in a book and it was a matter of chance on which one it was? Could he be here? In the book that Nec picked up? Tide? The one she didn't recognize? Maybe he was in one of the books that weren't picked up at all!

Then if he was...How did she get out of this one?

A small voice made itself heard soon enough and Gertude frowned even more as she followed it. "I'm coming! Hang on little one!"[/b] She projected her thoughts as loud as she could, hoping it would be enough to reassure the scared creature.

It didn't take long to find the pit, and laying on her stomach, she worked her head over the edge. "Found you! Are you injured?" Even as she spoke to the small astrum, she was looking around for something she could use to help the little one out. She hadn't grabbed her project bag, but she wished she had now. That had all the string she would have needed to make a rope! But alas, she didn't so she would have to improvise. But first...

An arm shot out, reaching towards the Astrum. "Can you grab ahold?"

Fait easily used the distraction of the grenade to launch herself up onto the giant's back where it would be mostly unable to reach her. She moved quickly and nimbly, her spider legs digging into the creature's skin for purchase, her gaze locked on that white feather in the giant's hair. While it tried to grab her, all it would take for her to avoid its slow movements was a dodge to the right or to the left, its arms nowhere near long enough to catch such a quick little bug-like alien.

Once positioned precariously on the giant's head, Fait wasted no time in grabbing the feather at the same time she stabbed two of her spider legs into its eyes, rendering it blind before jumping off of it entirely. With its vision hampered, the creature would have no idea where it was going and thus it would be far easier to take down. The blood that remained from the burst organs could be cleaned off easily enough, but there would be enough time for that once- Wait, was that odd creature still there? She squinted at the hippocampus. "Did I not tell you to flee?" she asked, before turning her attention to her blinded foe.

Tidesweep

Tide raced down the hallway, eyes darting everywhere and a nauseous feeling building up in her stomach. The colors were distracting and the fact that they seemed to be splashed with the goal of disorienting in mind, made them even worst. But she got through there, skidding to a stop at the last room, eyes on the Jester. She felt like she should say some big superhero cliche comment here, but she was distracted by the sight of Raferties' feather.

Yes!

She didn't know if retrieving one feather was going to make a difference, but she knew she wasn't alone in the endeavor. If each book had a feather in it and they need all the feathers from all the books...She just had to hope that the rest of the people succeeded in their own stories. Unless her theory was wrong and then maybe her not succeeding wouldn't be a big deal.

The missiles shot out and she surprised jump as the strings started to criss cross between her and her goal. Not catching the jester, but grabbing that feather. Reaching out as the hippogryph moved forward, she tried to stop them. "Wait..." It was too late though as the strings tangled the companion up and then slowly started to retract. Tide let out a strangle noise.

Reaching in for some more acid paint bombs and tried to get rid of the strings. The feather was her goal. If the jester got away, so be it. The hippogryph took priority and then the feather. If she had to hunt down the feather. Than so be it.


Gertude

Gertude pulled up the Astrum, happy to help them out of the pit. Then the heavy thuds sounded and before she knew it, there was an...Not quite elephant, but it was the best thing she could describe. Holding up her hands, she glanced at the astrum. Gertude didn't know what to do and so she kept her movements calm and deliberate. Easy. Easy. We mean no harm. She tried to think out loud as much as possible, but didn't know if it would actually work or not. It was a try at least.