Post by Jangles on May 14, 2012 23:21:36 GMT -5
Tis Tulian 
These were written as a response to my Americian Sign language classes, gota represent the Deaf Culture some more :>.
"..."
Name: Negelun Ousio - 'Jangles'. Deaf mouse.
Name sign: Pinky up with a closed hand swooped down(Letter J) then thrust forward like a sword.
Gender: Male
Alignment: Neutral
Age: 23
Species: Mouse
Occupation: Adventurer, Duelist, and advanced sign language teacher.
Physical Appearance:
Of average height for a mouse of his age Negelun's fur is light brown and generally fairly long from the time he spent at sea during his earlier life. His black hair is tied back in a pony tail between his ears and reaches just to his shoulder blades. However his arms and fingers are oddly long from how often he trains with his blade and from the sign language he uses daily. For muscle he has a decent amount from training and traveling on his arms and legs respectively, but most of it his hidden under his fur. So in general he is not a imposing figure and just looks 'normal', same with his tail, feet, and ears. His eyes are dark green and look as if they are always staring into the middle distance.
For clothing he sticks with simple clothing, and generally wears a white long sleeved shirt under a brown vest. The sleeves are more often than not rolled up so its easier for people to see his paws when he's signing and to fit his bracers when he's fighting. His pants are black and stop just before they would drag on the ground and are often just left to hang as he rarely wears boots unless the situation calls for it. They themselves are also black and resemble sea boots.
Possessions:
-Two steel dueling bracers that he uses to make his defense with either weapon more strong. The bracers start at halfway down his forearm from his elbow and stop just before is wrist to still enable full movement of his paws. If the opponents blade makes it past his steel it would most likely hit his wrists, which would generally make him drop his sword, but the bracers enable him to sometimes expose his wrist to use as a trap to strike as they move in. Attached to the underside of these bracers are several small rings which jingle when he moves and when he waves his paw to get some beasts attention who isn't looking at him entirely, these led to his nickname.
-A reinforced Epee attached to a dark brown shoulder strap and a black belt frog on his left, the blades sheath wood with a few carvings near the throat. On the shoulder strap is attached his second weapon, a sharpened parrying dagger strapped on his chest level so the handle is up in a faster drawing position for his left hand. While his Epee has been reinforced to enable it to block he still prefers to use the dagger as to not risk his longer blade.
-A backpack to carry half of their traveling supplies and his simple camping equipment, his sister carrying the other half and her stuff. With less weight they can travel faster and not get as tired.
-A belt pouch that carries a journal sized book and several pieces of charcoal(Or whatever other writing utensil you wish) that he uses to communicate if his sister is not around.
Personality:
Unlike what many creatures think when they first understand he's deaf Negelun isn't sad about it. This is mainly down to two reasons; the first is that he was born deaf, so he doesn't know what he has 'missed'. Secondly he believes that he can still do everyone a hearing creature would be able to do, except hear which he seems as not that important.
When it comes to his sister he could be seen as over protective, as he generally sticks close to her and watches those that interact with her closely. One reason for this is she is his primary link to the hearing world, so you could see that he sticks close by her to make communication easier. Secondly she is his sister, so he doesn't want anything bad to happen to her. Finally he was told to make sure she stayed safe by their parents before they left, so he is just making sure.
In regards to other creatures he generally gives them the benefit of the doubt and treats them very well. Species don't matter to him at all, and treats them all the same unless they open the conversation with a stab. If you find a way to communicate with him; either through his sister, through writing, or gestures you would find that he is a nice creature to be around. But if you get on his bad sides he turns almost completely around and would easily attack if you kept prodding him with a stick.
Finally, for creatures he is fighting it depends what category they fall into. If they are a honorable duelist he treats them with great respect, only fighting when they are ready and not striking with they are unable to fight back. These people he does his best to not slay, only disarming and then stopping. But if they slide into the second group he swaps to his second group. If they fall into the group of bandits, underhanded fighters, or other such fighters he fights to end the battle for those who have no honor.
Bullet points:
-Not sad about being Deaf.
-Not speciesist.
-Holds honor high.
-Generally nice.
-Tries to spare honorable fighters.
-Goes for the kill if the fight is not a honorable duel.
Strengths:
-Because he cant hear he has instead become super observant to the world.
-Able to read most creatures face like a book because the language he can speak is nearly all about expression, so the slightest twitch or doubt he will pick up.
-A extremely skilled swords beast in single combat, as he doesn't get distracted by noise he can focus all his attention and amazing sight on the one creature in front of him.
-Very patient in all things but especially communication, but only if the other person is trying.
Both strength and weakness:
-Takes relationships, no matter how small, extremely seriously as its not that easy for him to connect with people. Good for making friends, bad of those friends then leave him, as he takes a large emotional hit.
-Able to communicate in a way only him and his sister can understand, which many make some creatures feel left out.
Weaknesses:
-Cant hear anything, he's deaf.
-If there is something behind him and it doesn't make enough of a impact to shake the surface he's on or blow on him he cant tell its there.
-If a creature continues to try to shout at him even after he's explained that he cant hear he can quickly loose his temper.
-Similarly he has no patience for creatures who don't put forth a any effort in communicating with him if they have already started a 'conversation'. Also if a creature leaves suddenly or doesn't tell him about why they keep getting distracted (usually by noise) he can quickly get annoyed for being kept out of the loop.
-If fighting more than one person at once he can only fight the ones he sees, so it would be easy to beat him if he were to get flanked.
History:
-Jangles was born on a ship that was visiting the small island where his future sister was born. But his parents were a old fashioned superstitious bunch. As such when they found at that their first child was Deaf, they believed that he was dumb as well, and would never be able to live in their world. During their visit to the small island they hid the child in a small wheelbarrow on a farmland, believing that if they farmers cared they could have the kid, if not, then no big loss.
Rest at the bottom.
Relationships:
Reliso - 'Twin' sister
Mr. and Mrs. Ousio - Living happily at home, knowing their 'children' will look after each other.
Vire - fox mentor, died of disease on the way to Mossflower.
Other:
Although it's going to be hard I'm going to try my best to actually explain and describe the signs he will use to communicate if he does not write in the post. I'll put what they mean either in the post or at the bottom in parenthesis.
------
"You should try to listen to the silence every once and awhile, you'd be surprised how much you can hear."
Name: Reliso Ousio. Hearing mouse.
Name sign: Middle finger slightly crossed over pointer finger on hand(Letter R), then tapped twice against the upturned wrist up the other hand(Doctor)
Alignment: Good
Age: 23 'and a half!'
Species: Mouse
Occupation: Adventurer, Healer, and sign language interpreter/teacher
Physical Appearance:
A good head shorter than a normal female mouse Reliso's body could be considered 'petite'. Long flowing black hair is left to flow in the wind to halfway down her back, the way she likes it. Her fur is dark brown and like her brother is fairly long from sea traveled. Unlike her brother however her arms are of normal size and her fingers are only a little longer than normal. Her muscles are nothing to flee in terror from, as has to do with her petite form, but she has enough to carrying her equipment pretty easily all day with only the general stops for lunch. She is even less imposing than her brother, but anyone who stays around the pair for long know not to make fun of her unless they wish to have Negelun come after them.
Clothing is defiantly not girly with puffy dresses. As she has spent the spent her life traveling she wears a short sleeved gray shirt with a bright red jacket over that. For pants she generally wears brown pants and unlike her brother again nearly always wears shoes, which resemble moccasins and are brown like her pants.
Possessions:
-Two satchels, one across a shoulder strap to her left hip, and one across a shoulder strap to her right hip. These carrying her healing supplies and any nick knacks she finds if she has space.
-A backpack for carrying half their traveling supplies and her simple camping equipment, her brother carrying the other half and his stuff. This way they can travel further in a day because they have to lugg around less weight.
-A long dagger attached horizontal to the back of her belt, generally used to harvest materials, but can be used as a weapon.
-A necklace giving to her by her parents when she and her brother went out to adventure. It is a dull blue orb set in a steel circle
Personality:
Generally both happy and very nice to those she meets. The few reasons why this would not be the case are few but they are there. One is if they are rude to both her brother in regards to his lack of hearing or openly insult him or her. If either of these or filled or if the creature is trying to harm either of them she shrinks back into a more hostile cautious shell. In general meetings she is all smiles however, and a nice person to talk too and be around.
While she is healing her personality shifts by a lot depending on the severity of the injury she is healing. If its a small cut or something with minimal pain she is still smiles and happiness. A broken bone or larger cut makes her the happy talk but she still tried to smile to calm her patient. If the injury is life threatening she goes into what her brother calls 'serious mode' and losses all smiles and talk, often turning to shouting and ordering to get the materials she needs and for her patient to lie still.
Moving on to when her and her brother are adventuring she tries to her best to keep the 'tone' light to make the miles fall away easier. This is quiet difficult since they both know all of each others stories since they grew up together. As such she greatly enjoys meeting new people to learn new stories to tell her brother. While a battle comes around her job is generally to move around enough to keep the opponents in view so she can warn her brother if he is being flanked, but if its only one she stands on the side and 'cheers' for him, ready to move in when one fighter gets injured.
Bullet points:
-Tries her best to be smiles and sunshine.
-Not speciesist.
-Very patient.
-Switches personality depending on the situation.
-Moves around in a fight to keep people in sight for her brother and not watching herself.
-Loves to meet new people and learn their stories.
Strengths:
-Gifted healer who knows her way around herbs and planets to make due without any traditional facilities.
-Very nimble on her feet, a skill she uses to help her brother duel to make sure no-one is sneaking up on him during the fight.
-Due to her lifelong experience with her deaf brother she is very patient, which helps in healing as well in dealings.
Both strength and weakness:
-So determined to heal she will happily heal any creature, even those who recently tried to kill her or her brother. Her belief is that the kindness will turn the creature around. Luckily her brother has been able to cover for the times it hasn't worked but it has caused many close calls.
-Able to communicate in a way only she and her brother can understand, which may make some creatures feel left out.
Weaknesses:
-Not much of a fighter, but if pushed she his a decently quick stab with her knife, just not very accurate.
-Fairly naive, still believing that all creatures have some good in them.
-If forced to kill she takes it very hard, and it becomes difficult for her to get focused again.
History:
-At the bottom of this post
Relationships:
Negelun - 'Twin' brother
Mr. and Mrs. Ousio - Living happily at home, knowing their 'children' will look after each other.
Other:
First female character planned to be played for any significant length of time :>.
------
History:
Reliso was born to a pair of elderly mice who worked as farmers for their small community. Negelun on the other hand doesn't know his real parents or name, as they abandoned him when he was just a wee babe when they found out he was deaf. Fortunately Reliso's parents found the young mouse while they were out tending to their farm and took him in as their own. Raising both babes as if they were siblings even the parents started to believe it as they grew older.
Their small home was off to the south of the island of Terramort on a smaller island that was populated by mostly mice and otters; but ships would arrive at the island occasionally to restock and rest. With the possibility for less than friendly ships to arrive most of the island inhabitants demanded that the community would practice to be able to defend themselves should that situation happen. As such once children were old enough they were put into 'school' to learn something that would help the community in the event of an attack.
By the time both mice were old enough they were bundled up and sent off to the school. Negelun was placed with the other boys, and one girl, who would learn combat and blade skills to defend the island. While Reliso was with most of the other young girls to learn how to support the boys should they be wounded in combat. The island was fairly dead set in their old fashioned ways, but luckily let some of the visitors to the island help in the lessons taught to both sets of children.
Due to all these different teachers a lot of the students were taught different forms of weapon, or healing with fewer or more materials. Reliso was around the middle of that spectrum, where she would be given the materials you would get from traveling around and taught how to use them. She was surprising good at it, and was soon the star pupil of the class.
Negelun on the other hand had a lot more trouble with trying to learn how to defend himself. As he couldn't hear he could only watch what the teacher did and then try to emulate it during practice. This continued for a few months until they got a new teacher on the island. This visitor was oddly a well dressed fox, who said that he got bored with pirating and instead wanted to just sail around for enjoyment. The majority of creatures on the island didn't trust him but the fox didn't care for their opinions that much and just tried to teach. It was in the first lesson that the fox discovered that Neg was deaf. Writing out a little story he explained that two stoats in his old crew were deaf as well, and they used a gesture like language to communicate with each other and the crew.
This shifted Negeluns studies from swordplay to language as he almost moved in with the fox on his small ship. He only emerged occasionally to meet up with his family and sister to tell them of what was happening. It was during these short visits that his sister took a interest in the language and tried to learn it from Neg when he visited.
During this time Reliso successfully graduated from the small school and went to work at the local hospital on the island. During this time she worked hard to perfect her craft on he patients she had to treat, and had the experience to never have a creature die on her. She soon became one of the best medical staff at the hospital, exceeding all expectations and making her parents very proud.
Eventually the fox Vire was accepted by the residents and he became a citizen of the small island. With finally a way to communicate with people besides writing it Neg felt much better about his chances to live and interact with others, even if only a few people understood his language. But the boost to self confidence was all he needed to go back to his studies of sword play. It was now that he realized, with a grounding in Sign language, that sword play was really about subtle hints in the fighters face and stance. With this belief he went back the school he had dropped out of before for another try. By carefully watching his teacher he would always wait until their movement, then move to counter it, almost never taking the offensive, just the reaction. The focus of the young mouse impressed the teachers, and they were soon molding him into a potent duelist.
After both mice graduated from the school and had taught each other Sign Language they began to grow restless and full of wanderlust. Their now good friend Vire took notice of this and put forth the offer if they wanted to go sailing with him to see the world? After some deliberation with his parents they were eventually allowed to sail with the old fox. Most of the village arrived to see them all off as the ship set sail.
Annoyingly for Reliso and negelun once they lost sight of the small island Vire anchored his ship and said that before they go any further they both needed to know how to manage and direct the ship should something happen. This proved to be a wise move, because after a few days of teaching the ship set off again, and problems began to arise.
The first problem was a sudden storm that blew their small ship off course and damaged their sails, but they luckily all survived. But their pace across the sea was greatly slowed because of the storm. They continued as best as they could.
The second came in the form of their food stores, which were not as fresh as they had been led to believe by the residents of the island before they left. A lot of the food wasn't good for eating anymore, and the food that was left after they discarded the tainted food was both not numerous and not fulfilling.
The final main problem came from the second, it took them a little to figure the food was semi rotten, and Vire grew very sick from it. Despite the efforts of Reliso and trying to eat the better food they couldn't save him, all they could do was make his last few days bearable then give his body back to the sea.
The pair have since done their best to keep steering the small ship in the same direction to try and find the land know as Mossflower from Vire's maps. And just when the food stores have started to get dangerously low they finally see it on the horizon...
These were written as a response to my Americian Sign language classes, gota represent the Deaf Culture some more :>.
"..."
Name: Negelun Ousio - 'Jangles'. Deaf mouse.
Name sign: Pinky up with a closed hand swooped down(Letter J) then thrust forward like a sword.
Gender: Male
Alignment: Neutral
Age: 23
Species: Mouse
Occupation: Adventurer, Duelist, and advanced sign language teacher.
Physical Appearance:
Of average height for a mouse of his age Negelun's fur is light brown and generally fairly long from the time he spent at sea during his earlier life. His black hair is tied back in a pony tail between his ears and reaches just to his shoulder blades. However his arms and fingers are oddly long from how often he trains with his blade and from the sign language he uses daily. For muscle he has a decent amount from training and traveling on his arms and legs respectively, but most of it his hidden under his fur. So in general he is not a imposing figure and just looks 'normal', same with his tail, feet, and ears. His eyes are dark green and look as if they are always staring into the middle distance.
For clothing he sticks with simple clothing, and generally wears a white long sleeved shirt under a brown vest. The sleeves are more often than not rolled up so its easier for people to see his paws when he's signing and to fit his bracers when he's fighting. His pants are black and stop just before they would drag on the ground and are often just left to hang as he rarely wears boots unless the situation calls for it. They themselves are also black and resemble sea boots.
Possessions:
-Two steel dueling bracers that he uses to make his defense with either weapon more strong. The bracers start at halfway down his forearm from his elbow and stop just before is wrist to still enable full movement of his paws. If the opponents blade makes it past his steel it would most likely hit his wrists, which would generally make him drop his sword, but the bracers enable him to sometimes expose his wrist to use as a trap to strike as they move in. Attached to the underside of these bracers are several small rings which jingle when he moves and when he waves his paw to get some beasts attention who isn't looking at him entirely, these led to his nickname.
-A reinforced Epee attached to a dark brown shoulder strap and a black belt frog on his left, the blades sheath wood with a few carvings near the throat. On the shoulder strap is attached his second weapon, a sharpened parrying dagger strapped on his chest level so the handle is up in a faster drawing position for his left hand. While his Epee has been reinforced to enable it to block he still prefers to use the dagger as to not risk his longer blade.
-A backpack to carry half of their traveling supplies and his simple camping equipment, his sister carrying the other half and her stuff. With less weight they can travel faster and not get as tired.
-A belt pouch that carries a journal sized book and several pieces of charcoal(Or whatever other writing utensil you wish) that he uses to communicate if his sister is not around.
Personality:
Unlike what many creatures think when they first understand he's deaf Negelun isn't sad about it. This is mainly down to two reasons; the first is that he was born deaf, so he doesn't know what he has 'missed'. Secondly he believes that he can still do everyone a hearing creature would be able to do, except hear which he seems as not that important.
When it comes to his sister he could be seen as over protective, as he generally sticks close to her and watches those that interact with her closely. One reason for this is she is his primary link to the hearing world, so you could see that he sticks close by her to make communication easier. Secondly she is his sister, so he doesn't want anything bad to happen to her. Finally he was told to make sure she stayed safe by their parents before they left, so he is just making sure.
In regards to other creatures he generally gives them the benefit of the doubt and treats them very well. Species don't matter to him at all, and treats them all the same unless they open the conversation with a stab. If you find a way to communicate with him; either through his sister, through writing, or gestures you would find that he is a nice creature to be around. But if you get on his bad sides he turns almost completely around and would easily attack if you kept prodding him with a stick.
Finally, for creatures he is fighting it depends what category they fall into. If they are a honorable duelist he treats them with great respect, only fighting when they are ready and not striking with they are unable to fight back. These people he does his best to not slay, only disarming and then stopping. But if they slide into the second group he swaps to his second group. If they fall into the group of bandits, underhanded fighters, or other such fighters he fights to end the battle for those who have no honor.
Bullet points:
-Not sad about being Deaf.
-Not speciesist.
-Holds honor high.
-Generally nice.
-Tries to spare honorable fighters.
-Goes for the kill if the fight is not a honorable duel.
Strengths:
-Because he cant hear he has instead become super observant to the world.
-Able to read most creatures face like a book because the language he can speak is nearly all about expression, so the slightest twitch or doubt he will pick up.
-A extremely skilled swords beast in single combat, as he doesn't get distracted by noise he can focus all his attention and amazing sight on the one creature in front of him.
-Very patient in all things but especially communication, but only if the other person is trying.
Both strength and weakness:
-Takes relationships, no matter how small, extremely seriously as its not that easy for him to connect with people. Good for making friends, bad of those friends then leave him, as he takes a large emotional hit.
-Able to communicate in a way only him and his sister can understand, which many make some creatures feel left out.
Weaknesses:
-Cant hear anything, he's deaf.
-If there is something behind him and it doesn't make enough of a impact to shake the surface he's on or blow on him he cant tell its there.
-If a creature continues to try to shout at him even after he's explained that he cant hear he can quickly loose his temper.
-Similarly he has no patience for creatures who don't put forth a any effort in communicating with him if they have already started a 'conversation'. Also if a creature leaves suddenly or doesn't tell him about why they keep getting distracted (usually by noise) he can quickly get annoyed for being kept out of the loop.
-If fighting more than one person at once he can only fight the ones he sees, so it would be easy to beat him if he were to get flanked.
History:
-Jangles was born on a ship that was visiting the small island where his future sister was born. But his parents were a old fashioned superstitious bunch. As such when they found at that their first child was Deaf, they believed that he was dumb as well, and would never be able to live in their world. During their visit to the small island they hid the child in a small wheelbarrow on a farmland, believing that if they farmers cared they could have the kid, if not, then no big loss.
Rest at the bottom.
Relationships:
Reliso - 'Twin' sister
Mr. and Mrs. Ousio - Living happily at home, knowing their 'children' will look after each other.
Vire - fox mentor, died of disease on the way to Mossflower.
Other:
Although it's going to be hard I'm going to try my best to actually explain and describe the signs he will use to communicate if he does not write in the post. I'll put what they mean either in the post or at the bottom in parenthesis.
------
"You should try to listen to the silence every once and awhile, you'd be surprised how much you can hear."
Name: Reliso Ousio. Hearing mouse.
Name sign: Middle finger slightly crossed over pointer finger on hand(Letter R), then tapped twice against the upturned wrist up the other hand(Doctor)
Alignment: Good
Age: 23 'and a half!'
Species: Mouse
Occupation: Adventurer, Healer, and sign language interpreter/teacher
Physical Appearance:
A good head shorter than a normal female mouse Reliso's body could be considered 'petite'. Long flowing black hair is left to flow in the wind to halfway down her back, the way she likes it. Her fur is dark brown and like her brother is fairly long from sea traveled. Unlike her brother however her arms are of normal size and her fingers are only a little longer than normal. Her muscles are nothing to flee in terror from, as has to do with her petite form, but she has enough to carrying her equipment pretty easily all day with only the general stops for lunch. She is even less imposing than her brother, but anyone who stays around the pair for long know not to make fun of her unless they wish to have Negelun come after them.
Clothing is defiantly not girly with puffy dresses. As she has spent the spent her life traveling she wears a short sleeved gray shirt with a bright red jacket over that. For pants she generally wears brown pants and unlike her brother again nearly always wears shoes, which resemble moccasins and are brown like her pants.
Possessions:
-Two satchels, one across a shoulder strap to her left hip, and one across a shoulder strap to her right hip. These carrying her healing supplies and any nick knacks she finds if she has space.
-A backpack for carrying half their traveling supplies and her simple camping equipment, her brother carrying the other half and his stuff. This way they can travel further in a day because they have to lugg around less weight.
-A long dagger attached horizontal to the back of her belt, generally used to harvest materials, but can be used as a weapon.
-A necklace giving to her by her parents when she and her brother went out to adventure. It is a dull blue orb set in a steel circle
Personality:
Generally both happy and very nice to those she meets. The few reasons why this would not be the case are few but they are there. One is if they are rude to both her brother in regards to his lack of hearing or openly insult him or her. If either of these or filled or if the creature is trying to harm either of them she shrinks back into a more hostile cautious shell. In general meetings she is all smiles however, and a nice person to talk too and be around.
While she is healing her personality shifts by a lot depending on the severity of the injury she is healing. If its a small cut or something with minimal pain she is still smiles and happiness. A broken bone or larger cut makes her the happy talk but she still tried to smile to calm her patient. If the injury is life threatening she goes into what her brother calls 'serious mode' and losses all smiles and talk, often turning to shouting and ordering to get the materials she needs and for her patient to lie still.
Moving on to when her and her brother are adventuring she tries to her best to keep the 'tone' light to make the miles fall away easier. This is quiet difficult since they both know all of each others stories since they grew up together. As such she greatly enjoys meeting new people to learn new stories to tell her brother. While a battle comes around her job is generally to move around enough to keep the opponents in view so she can warn her brother if he is being flanked, but if its only one she stands on the side and 'cheers' for him, ready to move in when one fighter gets injured.
Bullet points:
-Tries her best to be smiles and sunshine.
-Not speciesist.
-Very patient.
-Switches personality depending on the situation.
-Moves around in a fight to keep people in sight for her brother and not watching herself.
-Loves to meet new people and learn their stories.
Strengths:
-Gifted healer who knows her way around herbs and planets to make due without any traditional facilities.
-Very nimble on her feet, a skill she uses to help her brother duel to make sure no-one is sneaking up on him during the fight.
-Due to her lifelong experience with her deaf brother she is very patient, which helps in healing as well in dealings.
Both strength and weakness:
-So determined to heal she will happily heal any creature, even those who recently tried to kill her or her brother. Her belief is that the kindness will turn the creature around. Luckily her brother has been able to cover for the times it hasn't worked but it has caused many close calls.
-Able to communicate in a way only she and her brother can understand, which may make some creatures feel left out.
Weaknesses:
-Not much of a fighter, but if pushed she his a decently quick stab with her knife, just not very accurate.
-Fairly naive, still believing that all creatures have some good in them.
-If forced to kill she takes it very hard, and it becomes difficult for her to get focused again.
History:
-At the bottom of this post
Relationships:
Negelun - 'Twin' brother
Mr. and Mrs. Ousio - Living happily at home, knowing their 'children' will look after each other.
Other:
First female character planned to be played for any significant length of time :>.
------
History:
Reliso was born to a pair of elderly mice who worked as farmers for their small community. Negelun on the other hand doesn't know his real parents or name, as they abandoned him when he was just a wee babe when they found out he was deaf. Fortunately Reliso's parents found the young mouse while they were out tending to their farm and took him in as their own. Raising both babes as if they were siblings even the parents started to believe it as they grew older.
Their small home was off to the south of the island of Terramort on a smaller island that was populated by mostly mice and otters; but ships would arrive at the island occasionally to restock and rest. With the possibility for less than friendly ships to arrive most of the island inhabitants demanded that the community would practice to be able to defend themselves should that situation happen. As such once children were old enough they were put into 'school' to learn something that would help the community in the event of an attack.
By the time both mice were old enough they were bundled up and sent off to the school. Negelun was placed with the other boys, and one girl, who would learn combat and blade skills to defend the island. While Reliso was with most of the other young girls to learn how to support the boys should they be wounded in combat. The island was fairly dead set in their old fashioned ways, but luckily let some of the visitors to the island help in the lessons taught to both sets of children.
Due to all these different teachers a lot of the students were taught different forms of weapon, or healing with fewer or more materials. Reliso was around the middle of that spectrum, where she would be given the materials you would get from traveling around and taught how to use them. She was surprising good at it, and was soon the star pupil of the class.
Negelun on the other hand had a lot more trouble with trying to learn how to defend himself. As he couldn't hear he could only watch what the teacher did and then try to emulate it during practice. This continued for a few months until they got a new teacher on the island. This visitor was oddly a well dressed fox, who said that he got bored with pirating and instead wanted to just sail around for enjoyment. The majority of creatures on the island didn't trust him but the fox didn't care for their opinions that much and just tried to teach. It was in the first lesson that the fox discovered that Neg was deaf. Writing out a little story he explained that two stoats in his old crew were deaf as well, and they used a gesture like language to communicate with each other and the crew.
This shifted Negeluns studies from swordplay to language as he almost moved in with the fox on his small ship. He only emerged occasionally to meet up with his family and sister to tell them of what was happening. It was during these short visits that his sister took a interest in the language and tried to learn it from Neg when he visited.
During this time Reliso successfully graduated from the small school and went to work at the local hospital on the island. During this time she worked hard to perfect her craft on he patients she had to treat, and had the experience to never have a creature die on her. She soon became one of the best medical staff at the hospital, exceeding all expectations and making her parents very proud.
Eventually the fox Vire was accepted by the residents and he became a citizen of the small island. With finally a way to communicate with people besides writing it Neg felt much better about his chances to live and interact with others, even if only a few people understood his language. But the boost to self confidence was all he needed to go back to his studies of sword play. It was now that he realized, with a grounding in Sign language, that sword play was really about subtle hints in the fighters face and stance. With this belief he went back the school he had dropped out of before for another try. By carefully watching his teacher he would always wait until their movement, then move to counter it, almost never taking the offensive, just the reaction. The focus of the young mouse impressed the teachers, and they were soon molding him into a potent duelist.
After both mice graduated from the school and had taught each other Sign Language they began to grow restless and full of wanderlust. Their now good friend Vire took notice of this and put forth the offer if they wanted to go sailing with him to see the world? After some deliberation with his parents they were eventually allowed to sail with the old fox. Most of the village arrived to see them all off as the ship set sail.
Annoyingly for Reliso and negelun once they lost sight of the small island Vire anchored his ship and said that before they go any further they both needed to know how to manage and direct the ship should something happen. This proved to be a wise move, because after a few days of teaching the ship set off again, and problems began to arise.
The first problem was a sudden storm that blew their small ship off course and damaged their sails, but they luckily all survived. But their pace across the sea was greatly slowed because of the storm. They continued as best as they could.
The second came in the form of their food stores, which were not as fresh as they had been led to believe by the residents of the island before they left. A lot of the food wasn't good for eating anymore, and the food that was left after they discarded the tainted food was both not numerous and not fulfilling.
The final main problem came from the second, it took them a little to figure the food was semi rotten, and Vire grew very sick from it. Despite the efforts of Reliso and trying to eat the better food they couldn't save him, all they could do was make his last few days bearable then give his body back to the sea.
The pair have since done their best to keep steering the small ship in the same direction to try and find the land know as Mossflower from Vire's maps. And just when the food stores have started to get dangerously low they finally see it on the horizon...
