sora tsuga. wip.

[senri]

...are you afraid of death?
of course not. death only has one card to play. life is much more terrifying, in my opinion. it has a full deck.

Name:
Sora Tsuga (Japanese; Sora means sky, Tsuga means hemlock)
Nicknames/Aliases:
Kashi, Shi, Kid (Kashi -- oak in Japanese; Shi -- death in Japanese)
Gender:
Male
Age:
17
Species:
Ferret
Occupation:
Tsuga clan Ōji

Physical Appearance:

[General]&&--
Deep sapphire eyes that contrast sharply with the thick tar-colored fur covering the ferret’s figure are the first things an observer might notice when coming face-to-face with Sora. For all the bright cerulean color of his eyes, however, his icy gaze is anything but alive -- it is more often than not dull, indifferent, and apathetic, whether he’s fighting or resting. His pelt, while black, is quite different than the typical black fur of other creatures; it has no sheen at all in the sunlight, but rather absorbs all the Sun’s rays and warmth like a black hole. As a result of this, Sora is often seen relaxing in the shade in an attempt to cool off.

Instead of being rounded like most ferrets’, Sora’s thin ears are very slightly pointed and almost constantly pulled back against his skull in a passive sort of warning to any creature who passes by, proclaiming his readiness to fight. Fur sprouts from the tips like cotton fluff, similar to the ears of a wildcat. As a mark of the clan he belongs to, they have also been pierced and decorated with long, thin bramble thorns and feathers of various colors; the skin has grown back and more or less affixed the additions to his ears in place. Other than this, however, he never makes any additional movement when he’s about to attack, if anything wants to fight him with Yukimi constantly hovering over his shoulder. There is no flash of teeth or threatening words; just actions, pure and simple.

As the fourth born of the Tsuga family, the symbol of the clan (栂) is carved into the left side of his face, leaving lines bare of any fur, stark white and easily visible against his coal-black pelt. On the right side of his face is his rank in the same pale lines -- his rank (王子) and, in a much smaller size underneath, the symbol representing his order of birth (死), the fourth child of the Tsuga. The markings are carved right under his eyes on either side of his slanted muzzle, far enough underneath to prevent harming his vision in any way. Thin, dark, wiry whiskers sprout from either side of his muzzle, just above the thin curve of his mouth, the sides of which are usually drawn downward in a light frown to expose just a glint of milky fangs. His dark grey nose is barely visible against the black surrounding it.

The entirety of the ferret’s body speaks of too little food and too much exercise; he is rail-thin and bony, which is generally the result one gets when they’ve been spending their life subsisting off of roots, berries, and the occasional bird. Most of his body mass is in fact made up of his fur, which manages to give his body some vague appearance of healthiness and is just enough to hide the too-prominent bones of his spine, shoulders, and ribs. A scar runs lengthways along the side of his neck, another vicious mark that stands out far too noticeably against his pitch-black pelt, but this one is less smooth than his clan markings and looks more like the result of a drunken swipe at Sora’s neck.

The ferret is abnormally tall for one of his species; while his height doesn’t really compare to a badger’s, it’s still fairly strange, to the point where he’s almost taller than his rat companion Yukimi despite the nearly twenty year age difference. He stands straight as well, with no hunching over in any form; he walks proud and tall like a king would, but without the accompanying regal air even if he is -- was -- a prince in his clan. With that dead look in his blue eyes, he almost seems defeated, even if such trivial terms have ceased to have meaning to him.

Like the rest of his body, his arms and legs are long and lanky as well, most of their mass built from the muscle Sora has accumulated during training. With a preference for sticking to the shadows and trees and using ranged weapons if he has to use any at all, the ferret has managed to keep his figure unmarred by most battle scars, and the claw-marks his older siblings have left on his arms have all but faded, hidden by his regrown fur. The claws protruding from his fingers haven't been terribly well-maintained over the years and are rather blunt -- barely there, in fact -- but since he doesn't use them for anything aside from climbing, this doesn't bother him.

The ferret's long tail is mostly used for balance while he's climbing and most of the time he manages to hold it above the ground to keep it from getting too dusty in keeping with his usual proud stride. His legs and paws are usually equally free of dirt, and unlike the claws on his hands the ones on his feet are much longer, an ebony hue much brighter than that of his fur.

Attire--
No matter what he's doing (besides, perhaps, swimming), Sora is constantly found wearing a pair of pale brown gloves that cover his hands up to the wrist, which is part of the reason he keeps his claws so short; otherwise they would interfere with the gloves' placement. His feet are likewise hidden in a pair of dark batskin boots that reach a few inches above his ankles, of a sufficient size to hide the thin chain of plant-fiber wrapped around his right leg.

In the way of more traditional clothing, Sora has some skill in the arts of crafting things even if Yukimi does most of the work. As such, the ferret is usually seen garbed in a short cloak that reaches down to his waist and a ragged pair of shorts, both made from batskin, an item common around the Tsugi clan where he grew up. At his side he carries a simple obsidian dagger, which he uses for throwing more than anything else, and in a pouch several rather crudely crafted throwing stars, made of a variety of different metals, which for all their angled appearence are nonetheless useful.

Possessions:

• Brown gloves
  
• Obsidian dagger
  
• Throwing stars
  
• Batskin boots
  
• Batskin cloak
  
• Batskin shorts
  
• Plant fiber bracelet
  

Personality:

To the casual observer, Sora would seem to have a rather one-dimensional personality, purely because he never has much to say; he leaves the discussion up to the rat constantly hanging over his shoulder, and never responds to their curious questions about the scars marking his face. They make a rather quiet pair, certainly, and for this reason most of the creatures who meet Sora simply walk away without any important memories of the incident even if the ferret is really quite the interesting character -- only Yukimi, his rat companion, knows anything about Sora beyond the fact that he's quiet and indifferent and has a way with ranged weapons.

As the last child of four, with his mother dying in childbirth, Sora has never been what one might call accepted. If his elder siblings paid any attention to him, it was usually to taunt him or get him in a fight, fights which Sora would invariably lose due to his lack of proper training. After a while of this, the ferret eventually learned to keep silent and to stay in the shadows where no one would be able to see him, attributes that have stayed with him this far and will probably continue to stick to his side as he ages. He doesn't particularly enjoy company beyond Yukimi, but instead of seeking to escape the attention of strangers he will often simply make himself as small as possible, pulling his knees to his chest and settling himself in the nearest shadow.

In general, Sora never really pays attention to anything. He's never had an activity he particularly liked, or was very good at, and he will often spend hours doing something relatively pointless like poking at a fire with a stick or following an ant all the way back to its anthill, and will almost always ignore anyone talking to him while he's doing so. He's not really reliable for any chores, either; tell him to go gather firewood or food, and he's twice as likely to fall asleep under a tree or observe a bird on its nest then to actually do what was asked of him -- not because he's forgotten, but because he doesn't care.

That's another problem with him; he doesn't really care about anything, not even his own life, which is why whenever someone shows hostility to him it's up to Yukimi to intervene. Not even his rat companion can tell whether or not he's going to make an attempt to defend himself or not, but when he does he's got a fair grasp on melee combat as well as ranged. Back to the point, though; you can threaten to kill him and chances are quite high he'll just stare at you and nod, and it's difficult to tell whether he's actually accepting your words or pretending to pay attention to what you're saying.

Despite this lack of care for his life, it's still not great to have Sora on your bad side. He's a bit like a rattlesnake; he might decide to bite, he might not, and whatever the case is you'd better keep an eye out whenever he's in the near vicinity. In a word, he's unpredictable -- prone to doing random things at random times, and not even Yukimi can manage to keep up with him. Everything he does, he does because he feels like it, and not because you're asking him to, even if it may seem that way. If there's one thing Sora prides himself on, it's his independence.

While Sora's not exactly lazy, he does act it at times. He's reluctant to get up and do anything, and if nobody made him move he'd probably spend his whole life curled up with his knees to his chest -- the only reason he follows ants around and the like is because he either gets bored but doesn't want to do anything major about it, or someone's hounding him and he wants to make it look like he's doing something to get them to leave him alone, even if the latter tactic doesn't work that often. Observing nature in this fashion has become more of a habit for him than anything else.

Sora regards his existence with a certain sense of resigned finality; a sort of 'what will happen, will happen' mentality which he's had since he was young. He's not that thrilled about life, to be honest, which is part of the reason why he can't be bothered to fight to defend himself half the time, and it's not like he's had that great of one to begin with. The question here is 'why bother living if you're not going to enjoy it?', and while Sora doesn't particularly enjoy it, he puts up with it with the air of one forced to look after their younger sibling -- 'because I have to.' He's not exactly what you'd call depressed, but he's pretty close to it.

Beyond that, Sora's a bit touchy about death, but in a rather confusing way; at once, he both disregards it and holds it as something very important to his own philosophy. He has no qualms about killing other creatures, and accepts death himself (if a bit too calmly for Yukimi's taste). Therefore, he is left to wonder why others do not view it the same way, and why they are so determined to battle against death. The hardest part of killing for Sora is the killing itself -- creatures, you see, are naturally very resistant to death. They are built to live, of course, and will struggle quite ferociously against anything that is a threat to their life. The ferret does not quite understand; the afterlife, if there is one, whether it is heaven or hell cannot possibly be worse than the actual world, and if there is only nothing then there is nothing to be worried about anymore. A win-win situation, in his eyes.

Perhaps one of the most interesting things about Sora is that, despite his rather neutral views regarding the distinction between 'woodlanders' and 'vermin', he still views himself as evil. This is a result of the aforementioned death of his mother in childbirth, and his siblings and father were only too happy to pin all the blame for the incident squarely on him as he grew older and they more bitter. If he is capable of killing a member of his family as such, and with his complete apathy towards death and its results even after seeing what it does to families, the ferret does not see how he could be anything but evil, and he regards himself as such even when he will kill both mouse and rat if he feels like it.

Strengths:

• Ranged Fighting;; There are precious few things that Sora is actually good at, but using ranged weapons is one of them. While the only practical ones he carries around are a pouch of throwing stars, he's perfectly capable of using many other kinds; in addition to the throwing stars, he's been trained in using throwing knives, bows, slings, and blowpipes. In fact, anything that can be thrown, Sora will quite likely be able to use as a reasonable weapon if the opportunity presents itself. He's accurate and deadly with his attacks, except usually he doesn't even bother to try, and when he does they often come from fairly close range which only serves to heighten his accuracy.
  
• Stealth;; Sora has long learned to stick to the shadows to avoid being spotted, and the darkness has thus become his number one ally, working in tandem with the dark color of his fur and his natural aptitude for sneakiness. He can move silent as a shadow when he wants to -- which, admittedly, is not very often -- and avoid gathering the attention of almost anyone that might be nearby. This simply serves to help with his ranged weapon ability, giving him the power to attack from the shadows and then fade away into the background. When he was younger he used this tactic often.
  

Weaknesses:

• Confidence;; Sora was raised to believe a lot of things were his fault, including the death of his mother in childbirth and the death of his second brother shortly after he turned eleven. While the assorted vermin living under the clan's banner treated him as would befit a prince, his brothers, sister, and father never hesitated to remind him that had he not been born, his mother would have lived. This went on so often Sora began to believe it himself, and while he pretends to have gotten over it to appease Yukimi there's only so much ill treatment one can take from family members and emerge unscathed even with the help of friends. Basically, his confidence has decreased because of this, to the point where he has no faith in his ability to be anything but 'evil' anymore because, after all, he killed his mother.
  
• Indifferent;; Sora does not regard his life as anything important, and for this reason tends to be less then careful when it comes to fights and death staring at him in the face which has happened more a bit too often to him than for a normal creature to be comfortable with. In addition to that -- and making up the reasoning -- is the fact that he is perfectly open to the idea of death. He doesn't think it is anything necessarily bad, and since it is open to him he thinks it should be open to others as well which is why he attempts to defend himself occasionally, and still kills creatures; he regards death as something precious, one of the best things that can happen to someone. If they don't want to have anything to do with it, he'll make them have something to do with it.
  
• Inattentive;; It's difficult for Sora's attention to stay fixed on one thing for long, partially because of the fact that he doesn't really care about anything. He'd much prefer to stare blankly into a fire than to listen to anything having to do with any dangerous creatures taking up residence nearby, and he certainly doesn't feel any obligation to do anything when he's asked. He finds several things more interesting than the current thing he's supposed to be focusing on, and then goes chasing after that new thing heedless of who's speaking to him at any given time. This can, of course, prove to be bad, especially when there is actually something intent on attacking him out there. Of course, he entertains the idea of death, so it's not bad for him.
  

History/Background:

TEXT

Relationships:

It's time for the color key! If you RP with Sora you’ll be added here too.

Pink means loved.
Green means liked.
Brown means neutral.
Orange means disliked.
Red means hated.

• Daichi Tsuga (m). Ferret. Father.
  
• Takara Tsuga (f). Ferret. Mother.
  
• Yukimi Akinire (m). Brown rat. Mentor and companion. Alive.
  
• Akihiko Tsuga (m). Ferret. First-born brother.
  
• Eiji Tsuga (m). Ferret. Second-born brother.
  
• Natsuko Tsuga (f). Ferret. Third-born sister.
  
  

Other:

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