gardensprouts

BIO

 

Lad is an easygoing esk that spends his days lazing around on his beach, somewhere on a small island in the South China Sea. He enjoys the company of others and is eager to tell stories, sing songs or simply hold a friendly conversation with anyone. When he isn't relaxing on his own beach he's exploring the limits of his boundary and beyond. However, sometimes when he wanders too far from home he takes a very, very long time trying to return. His sense of direction isn't that great. Lad loves cloudgazing, birdwatching and stargazing, most of his time is spent observing the world around him.

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APPEARANCE

 

Lad is a smooth and round esk about 15 feet tall. On his head is an elaborate crown made of crystals, shells and other trinkets that he's manifested over the years. He's very proud of his collection.

 

With him is an entourage of stilts (4 Pied, 4 Black and 1 Pied/Black hybrid), flying fish and a single firefly, all of which he sometimes manifests and sometimes does not. 

Within his flock of stilts, three of them bear replicas of the crystals he's collected. The pied stilt swarm is headed by a stilt with a pearl floating over its tail. The black stilt flock is led by a stilt with a pink halite floating over its head. A single hybrid stilt has an abalone shell fragment floating at the base of its neck. The stilts will often wander off on their own, usually returning with an interesting gift, or a newcomer around his beach.

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He has two enchantments: "cheery aura" and "phosphorescent footprints". Cheery aura radiates an energy of contentment to all others and appears as an iridescent trail around his flying fish. Phosphorescent footprints is emitted by the sea glass on his crown, it causes his footprints to glow dimly. ​

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Lad is a cloud elemental, he can shape clouds to his state of mind and occasionally his will. Whenever he's around, there's always at least one cloud in the sky. 

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RELATIONSHIPS

 

Star - 1639

Star was Lad's first creation. At first Lad wanted to act as a parent to them and teach them everything he knew. Lad felt he needed to protect Star, and grew worried when they explored the world on their own. As both began to see humans more often, Star became fueled with anger and Lad became weak. Star wanted to take action and Lad was too tired to do much of anything. Over a series of altercations on the subject they drifted further apart, and eventually he stopped seeing anything of them.

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Thuja - 2266

Though their home beaches are on the other side of the world, Lad has crossed paths with Thuja several times. The two both enjoy watching their bird familiars interact, in fact that was how they met.

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Keel - 2407

Another one of Lad's transformations. Keel was transformed from the skeleton of a stilt Lad knew very well, and he feels constant guilt that he wasn't around to transform the bird itself. Sometimes Lad feels as if he burdened the skeleton with sentience, and that he only transformed them because he wanted a friend after becoming estranged from his last one. Keel and Lad often cross paths, and occasionally travel together.

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Imogene - 2896

Lad transformed this esk.

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Takkobat - 4130

Another transformation courtesy of Lad. He found her original form, a sparkling glass monkeyshine drifting to shore and transformed it.

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Skip - 4291

Skip and Lad both live near the Vietnam Bay and often meet.

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Other ghosts - XXXX

Lad often meets with the spirits of deceased birds in his boundary before they depart.

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Lad can be freely used in the stories of other esk. ​

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TRANSFORMATIONS

 

Lad will offer transformations to just about anything, but he has a soft spot for birds especially. He is very hesitant to transform humans or to create abnormals, but there's always exceptions. Lad likes to keep in contact with the esk he creates, and he used to be quite overbearing. He's trying to dial it back a bit though.

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Lad's creations all have something in common, and that's a glowing trait of some sort. This can be anything from an enchantment to a marking or a nature feature.

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BACKSTORY

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Long ago, Lad used to be a tiny stilt chick. One day when he and his family went out to forage for food, he got separated from the group and started to wander around. By the time night came, he was lost, scared, hungry and very easy prey. And that's when he was transformed. His past and his transformation aren't subjects of worry to him, and he's been able to connect with his past family since then. Of course, stilts have a limited lifespan and he's seen many generations of the birds grow up since his transformation. He's always wanted to give transformations as gifts to his former family members when their time comes, but he's never been able to arrive in time before their spirits depart. He hasn't yet figured out that he can travel back in time.