Post by Skipper on Feb 14, 2009 10:38:32 GMT -5
(I'm sorry for taking so long -- I"ve been ill these past few days, and haven't really been well enough to post this.
This one should be much shorter than Barr's, thankfully, though not nearly as well done. I don't know if I'd have the patience to write another novel. ;D)
Name: Lachlan/Lochie Stromness (Pronouced: Lock-lahn/Lockee)
Age: 16 seasons
Gender: Male
Species: Sea Otter
Marital Status: Really?
Position and Home: Lachie isn't really old enough to have a real job, but he previously acted as a seer for wealthy trade merchants, four self-proclaimed vermin warlords, and several of his friends -- his sisters knew better. He previously lived on the shores of the Western Sea, but now lives peacefully with his father, Barr Stromness, at Redwall Abbey.
Strengths: Lachie's most significant strengths are his ability to discern almost anything and everything about anything he looks at, and his photographic memory. It has been said that he may as well be an elephant, because he remembers absolutely everything, and hasn't forgotten anything yet -- or at least it appears that way. Like his elder sister (or is she younger?), Lachie was taught to notice features and irregularities. (Lachie (the elephant) noticed absolutely everything, whereas Lachina (the polygraph) singled out features of a beast in order to determine whether or not that beast was lying.)
Weaknesses: Lachie recently contracted some form of disease that has since taken away his ability to walk, thereby restricting him to a crudely designed "wheely-chair." Although Lachie has trouble moving himself around, he refuses help from anybeast, claiming that he'll get accustomed to it.
Lachie has a big mouth, and therefore frequently places himself in situations that he would rather not be in. He prefers the use of sarcasm and overall dry humour, but doesn't quite know when to stop. Of course, this isn't too detrimental when trying to stall, which he does rather often in order to remove himself from the trouble he had previously placed himself in. Granted, his efforts don't always succeed, but there's always a chance...
Finally, Lachie suffers from, if not something similar to, post traumatic stress disorder, most likely a result of the shipwreck he experienced a season ago, during which his mother and three sisters drowned. This disorder basically consists of recurrent flashbacks triggered by sensations, be they thoughts, sights, smells, sounds, feelings, or even tastes that his brain might somehow link back to the shipwreck, though most of his flashbacks occur at night as he dreams. The flashbacks cause a good measure of anxiety, which sometimes causes him to undergo a panic attack. (And there's your book definition of Lachie's condition.)
Alignment: Good.
Appearance: Lachie stands proportionally around 5'10 in feet, a good foot shorter than his father. Thus far, Lachie has grown very gradually, developing at a rather slow pace, but it is expected that, as his father before him, he will bloom late, probably reaching his father's height. Lachie has a strong build, just as his father, and is rather burly in stature for an otter of his seasons. He isn't nearly as intimidating in appearance as his father, but is still strong enough, that, were he not confined to a wheel chair, he might make an attacker think twice.
Like his father, Lachie possesses two, deep blue eyes, that, unlike his father, probably do perceive everything about a beast. In addition to the dissimilar perception, Lachie maintains the use of both of his eyes, whereas his father is completely blind in one eye. The only downside that Lachie can find to this is that he doesn't get the privilege of wearing the eye patch, which, at least in his eyes, makes anybeast looker more intimidating. He has several scars from various incidents, but not nearly as many as his father, who doesn't really look any different from any other hard working otter of his seasons. Although Lachie is clean of all tattoos, he intends to change that in coming seasons.
Lachie dresses in the traditional green habit of Redwall Abbey, as do most, if not all, abbeydwellers. However, he prefers donning the outfit he oft wore prior to arriving at the Abbey. This consists of a short-sleeved, light blue/teal-ish shirt, faded black trousers (though not quite so faded as to constitute renaming them black), and black boots similar in hygiene to that of his father's.
Because of Redwall Abbey's policy concerning weapons, which, unfortunately for Lachie, matches his father's policy, Lachie is not allowed to carry (a) weapon(s), whether inside or outside the Abbey, though he would very much like to.
Personality: Outwardly, Lachie appears to be a carefree, optimistic, somewhat obnoxious otter. But on the inside, he is...well...pretty much exactly that. Although this, of course, is not always the case, as everybeast shows different sides, it does describe Lachie's general attitude. He prefers to keep something of an optimistic outlook and achieves this by attempting to take virtually nothing seriously. This behaviour mainly consists of the frequent placement of various random remarks between the sentences of a more relevant dialogue, especially those in which he is not included intentionally. The reactions he receives from doing so are negative, as would be expected, but for some reason, probably one similar to that of a dibbun who enjoys splattering pudding on the wall or his oblivious friend, he quite finds the reactions amusing. Despite this blatant disregard for etiquette in speech and/or the thoughts of the general public, Lachie manages to maintain a certain level of respect, though whether through goodhearted intentions or sheer intellectual efficiency as a seer remains uncertain. That he lacks the solemn demeanor of his father, however, is an understatement.
Inwardly, Lachlan can be a far more serious individual. Like his father before him, he is a very stubborn, determined otter. When he has set his mind on something, it cannot be unset. Paw in paw with this stubbornness is his presumably inherited overprotective side that, also like his father's, can take the form of an overly-controlling one. Overall, Lachie is very much like his father, but acts otherwise.
Another exception to this similarity is the difference between their minds. Barr is simply a sensible, relatively normal individual in reference to the mind, but Lachie is slightly different. Rather than settle for average, he constantly tries to develop his mind beyond that of a typical otter of his seasons. However, he is not as eccentric about his studies as other such beasts, but rather prefers to learn neither the easy nor the difficult way, but instead the fun way. For instance, he learned of the nature of gravity at the age of five by tossing pastries upward in such a way that they would land on Lachina -- this ultimately resulted in what Lachlan and Lachina would come to know as the "pastry incident." To learn about the nature of more sentient beings (i.e., beasts), he will ask a few questions, and watch their features and habits as they answer, all the while saying the strangest of things in order to play with their minds. Somehow or another, Lachie will finish the conversation knowing possibly more about the one to whom he was speaking that his/her friends might know. If anything, Lachie can learn of any and almost every secret faster than anybeast Barr knows of.
As mentioned before, Lachie has also been gifted with a photographic memory. This is similar to Alison's "identic tonal memory," per se, but rather than remembering sounds, pitches, tones, and such, Lachie remembers images, colors, patterns, and basically anything he sets his eyes on.
Lachie's most significant mental attribute is that of being a seer. Lachie is the first goodbeast-seer in many seasons, as most seers of the past and present have been and still are vermin. This makes Lachie's claim a rather far fetched one, but he compensates for this almost ridiculous claim through pure talent. Although he can easily discern much about anybeast he meets during only the first few conversations, he also learns things that he couldn't possibly know were he not a seer -- or could he? Nobeast is completely certain if he is a seer or not, not even his father. His sister, Lachina was the only one to ever know the answer, and she never told anybeast, deciding that it would be more fun that way.
History: Lachlan was born just before Barr and Aileen arrived at the shore on their trip across the Western Sea. Lachina was born soon afterward. Or was Lachina born first? Truthfully, neither of the parents could remember which of the otterbabes was born first, and to this day, nobeast really knows. Lachie and Lachina would playfully argue back and forth over the matter in seasons to come.
Barr wanted to raise his offspring based on his view of their future, and at the time, he favored the idea of raising otters who made little mistakes. And so, he decided that he would teach the two to notice everything necessary -- if one notices everything, then one will not miss anything, and if one does not miss anything, then little room is left for error. Well, nobeast could notice everything -- it took several beasts to do that. Instead of trying to teach both otters to notice everything, he thought that he would teach each of them to notice half of everything. This way, the two of them together would notice everything with only half the effort. Makes perfect sense.
As well as training mentally throughout his life (so far, at least), Lachie was raised working almost as hard as his father. Barr didn't want to work Lachie as hard as his father had, but as hard as Barr had worked, his idea of light work wasn't exactly...well...light. But then, it didn't seem to affect Lachie at all. If anything, the physical activity kept his mind active, and sped his ability to process thoughts.
Lachie and Lachina had many little adventures as they grew older. The most memorable was one they had around the age of five -- the pastry incident. Neither ever spoke of the incident except to each other, because every time they tried to tell another beast, neither could get a single word across that wasn't broken up by laughter. Nobeast knew what had happened, but everybeast knew how funny it was. Various other times, the two would be caught messing with somebeast's mind by combining their skills; Lachie might ask some random beast awkward and unusual questions, while Lachina stood a short distance behind that beast signaling to Lachie as to how truthfully he/she answered. If the one being questioned noticed Lachie glance at Lachina, he/she would turn to see her pulling a strange face at him/her, and meanwhile Lachie would run away so that when the beast turn to look back at Lachie, the otter would be gone, whilst Lachina "disappeared" as well.
Lachlan and Lachina's most favorite form of mischief was when Lachie would be a seer. Nobeast believed him at first, of course, so he would point out a few things about them that he noticed on first glance. Naturally, he'd be told that anybeast could notice such things, at which point, he would place a paw to the side of his head, close his eyes, and tell him/her something that (at least seemingly) could not possibly be known unless he were a seer. Sometimes, he would be asked for help with some usually petty matter that the "client," per se, believed only a seer could resolve. Lachie brought Lachina along every time, not only because she was his twin, nor that the whole scheme was her idea, but because she was the best lier he had ever known, and knew how to keep a story believable. Despite resolving every problem they were initially hired for, the two would over-dramatize everything (including the paw-to-the-head-closing-eyes thing), making it so painfully obvious that they didn't know what they were doing, that their "clients" would wonder if Lachie really was a seer. If so, he was the least serious one ever. (Some of this brand of humour rubbed off on six-seasons-old Alison, to the disapproval of Barr and Aileen.)
At the age of fifteen seasons, Barr announced that the family would finally be sailing away to live on Green Isle. Apparently, Barr had some extra business to finish first, so Lachie, Lachina, Alison, Kirsty, and their mother were all sent ahead of him. Lachie looked forward to living on Green Isle -- he would finally be able to associate with otters such as himself aside from his sisters. Lachina anticipated the same thing, but both of the twins were already planning what to do with their next victims.
Lachie remembers little of what happen on the ship. Something caused a tremor in the ship, and it soon began to sink. The next thing he knew, he was swimming away from the sunken ship, desperately trying to hold onto Kirsty, who had injured her leg and couldn't swim. He doesn't remember what happened entirely, but somehow, Kirsty slipped away from him while Alison, Aileen, and everybeast visibly on board was pulled down with the ship. He can't bring to mind anything about Lachina during that time, but he is certain of one thing: he was the only survivor of the shipwreck.
Lachie found himself washed up on shore, crying until he no longer could. Disoriented, he began walking in what he thought to be the direction from which the ship had come. He didn't realize for a good measure of time that ships don't travel inland. Upon regaining his composure, he began walking back in what he knew was the direction from whence the ship had come. Flashbacks of the shipwreck, of Kirsty screaming, of of the fond farewells he had left his friends with, of acting as a seer, of the pastry incident, and of his father...his father...His father! Lachie then recognized the lone figure walking along the shoreline, following his footpawprints. Lachie's first reaction was to sprint toward his father and the second, tacklehug. He then found that he had more tears to cry, and did so openly, trying to explain what had happened through a broken voice. Barr did his best to comfort Lachie as the young otter wept.
Lachie didn't notice the large gash on his leg until the next day, but thought little of it at the time, though wasn't stupid enough to leave the wound unattended. Barr and Lachie both knew that Green Isle was not an option -- neither could bear it. They redirected their course, intent on arriving at Redwall Abbey. Lachie collapsed suddenly the day they reached Mossflower country, and Barr carried him the rest of the way despite the young otter's frequent objections. He is now restricted to a crudely-designed "wheely-chair," or so he calls it, and has lived at Redwall no longer than a few months.
Codeword: Martin the Warrior
This one should be much shorter than Barr's, thankfully, though not nearly as well done. I don't know if I'd have the patience to write another novel. ;D)
When the last wave has come into shore...
Name: Lachlan/Lochie Stromness (Pronouced: Lock-lahn/Lockee)
Age: 16 seasons
Gender: Male
Species: Sea Otter
Marital Status: Really?
Position and Home: Lachie isn't really old enough to have a real job, but he previously acted as a seer for wealthy trade merchants, four self-proclaimed vermin warlords, and several of his friends -- his sisters knew better. He previously lived on the shores of the Western Sea, but now lives peacefully with his father, Barr Stromness, at Redwall Abbey.
Strengths: Lachie's most significant strengths are his ability to discern almost anything and everything about anything he looks at, and his photographic memory. It has been said that he may as well be an elephant, because he remembers absolutely everything, and hasn't forgotten anything yet -- or at least it appears that way. Like his elder sister (or is she younger?), Lachie was taught to notice features and irregularities. (Lachie (the elephant) noticed absolutely everything, whereas Lachina (the polygraph) singled out features of a beast in order to determine whether or not that beast was lying.)
Weaknesses: Lachie recently contracted some form of disease that has since taken away his ability to walk, thereby restricting him to a crudely designed "wheely-chair." Although Lachie has trouble moving himself around, he refuses help from anybeast, claiming that he'll get accustomed to it.
Lachie has a big mouth, and therefore frequently places himself in situations that he would rather not be in. He prefers the use of sarcasm and overall dry humour, but doesn't quite know when to stop. Of course, this isn't too detrimental when trying to stall, which he does rather often in order to remove himself from the trouble he had previously placed himself in. Granted, his efforts don't always succeed, but there's always a chance...
Finally, Lachie suffers from, if not something similar to, post traumatic stress disorder, most likely a result of the shipwreck he experienced a season ago, during which his mother and three sisters drowned. This disorder basically consists of recurrent flashbacks triggered by sensations, be they thoughts, sights, smells, sounds, feelings, or even tastes that his brain might somehow link back to the shipwreck, though most of his flashbacks occur at night as he dreams. The flashbacks cause a good measure of anxiety, which sometimes causes him to undergo a panic attack. (And there's your book definition of Lachie's condition.)
Alignment: Good.
Appearance: Lachie stands proportionally around 5'10 in feet, a good foot shorter than his father. Thus far, Lachie has grown very gradually, developing at a rather slow pace, but it is expected that, as his father before him, he will bloom late, probably reaching his father's height. Lachie has a strong build, just as his father, and is rather burly in stature for an otter of his seasons. He isn't nearly as intimidating in appearance as his father, but is still strong enough, that, were he not confined to a wheel chair, he might make an attacker think twice.
Like his father, Lachie possesses two, deep blue eyes, that, unlike his father, probably do perceive everything about a beast. In addition to the dissimilar perception, Lachie maintains the use of both of his eyes, whereas his father is completely blind in one eye. The only downside that Lachie can find to this is that he doesn't get the privilege of wearing the eye patch, which, at least in his eyes, makes anybeast looker more intimidating. He has several scars from various incidents, but not nearly as many as his father, who doesn't really look any different from any other hard working otter of his seasons. Although Lachie is clean of all tattoos, he intends to change that in coming seasons.
Lachie dresses in the traditional green habit of Redwall Abbey, as do most, if not all, abbeydwellers. However, he prefers donning the outfit he oft wore prior to arriving at the Abbey. This consists of a short-sleeved, light blue/teal-ish shirt, faded black trousers (though not quite so faded as to constitute renaming them black), and black boots similar in hygiene to that of his father's.
Because of Redwall Abbey's policy concerning weapons, which, unfortunately for Lachie, matches his father's policy, Lachie is not allowed to carry (a) weapon(s), whether inside or outside the Abbey, though he would very much like to.
Personality: Outwardly, Lachie appears to be a carefree, optimistic, somewhat obnoxious otter. But on the inside, he is...well...pretty much exactly that. Although this, of course, is not always the case, as everybeast shows different sides, it does describe Lachie's general attitude. He prefers to keep something of an optimistic outlook and achieves this by attempting to take virtually nothing seriously. This behaviour mainly consists of the frequent placement of various random remarks between the sentences of a more relevant dialogue, especially those in which he is not included intentionally. The reactions he receives from doing so are negative, as would be expected, but for some reason, probably one similar to that of a dibbun who enjoys splattering pudding on the wall or his oblivious friend, he quite finds the reactions amusing. Despite this blatant disregard for etiquette in speech and/or the thoughts of the general public, Lachie manages to maintain a certain level of respect, though whether through goodhearted intentions or sheer intellectual efficiency as a seer remains uncertain. That he lacks the solemn demeanor of his father, however, is an understatement.
Inwardly, Lachlan can be a far more serious individual. Like his father before him, he is a very stubborn, determined otter. When he has set his mind on something, it cannot be unset. Paw in paw with this stubbornness is his presumably inherited overprotective side that, also like his father's, can take the form of an overly-controlling one. Overall, Lachie is very much like his father, but acts otherwise.
Another exception to this similarity is the difference between their minds. Barr is simply a sensible, relatively normal individual in reference to the mind, but Lachie is slightly different. Rather than settle for average, he constantly tries to develop his mind beyond that of a typical otter of his seasons. However, he is not as eccentric about his studies as other such beasts, but rather prefers to learn neither the easy nor the difficult way, but instead the fun way. For instance, he learned of the nature of gravity at the age of five by tossing pastries upward in such a way that they would land on Lachina -- this ultimately resulted in what Lachlan and Lachina would come to know as the "pastry incident." To learn about the nature of more sentient beings (i.e., beasts), he will ask a few questions, and watch their features and habits as they answer, all the while saying the strangest of things in order to play with their minds. Somehow or another, Lachie will finish the conversation knowing possibly more about the one to whom he was speaking that his/her friends might know. If anything, Lachie can learn of any and almost every secret faster than anybeast Barr knows of.
As mentioned before, Lachie has also been gifted with a photographic memory. This is similar to Alison's "identic tonal memory," per se, but rather than remembering sounds, pitches, tones, and such, Lachie remembers images, colors, patterns, and basically anything he sets his eyes on.
Lachie's most significant mental attribute is that of being a seer. Lachie is the first goodbeast-seer in many seasons, as most seers of the past and present have been and still are vermin. This makes Lachie's claim a rather far fetched one, but he compensates for this almost ridiculous claim through pure talent. Although he can easily discern much about anybeast he meets during only the first few conversations, he also learns things that he couldn't possibly know were he not a seer -- or could he? Nobeast is completely certain if he is a seer or not, not even his father. His sister, Lachina was the only one to ever know the answer, and she never told anybeast, deciding that it would be more fun that way.
History: Lachlan was born just before Barr and Aileen arrived at the shore on their trip across the Western Sea. Lachina was born soon afterward. Or was Lachina born first? Truthfully, neither of the parents could remember which of the otterbabes was born first, and to this day, nobeast really knows. Lachie and Lachina would playfully argue back and forth over the matter in seasons to come.
Barr wanted to raise his offspring based on his view of their future, and at the time, he favored the idea of raising otters who made little mistakes. And so, he decided that he would teach the two to notice everything necessary -- if one notices everything, then one will not miss anything, and if one does not miss anything, then little room is left for error. Well, nobeast could notice everything -- it took several beasts to do that. Instead of trying to teach both otters to notice everything, he thought that he would teach each of them to notice half of everything. This way, the two of them together would notice everything with only half the effort. Makes perfect sense.
As well as training mentally throughout his life (so far, at least), Lachie was raised working almost as hard as his father. Barr didn't want to work Lachie as hard as his father had, but as hard as Barr had worked, his idea of light work wasn't exactly...well...light. But then, it didn't seem to affect Lachie at all. If anything, the physical activity kept his mind active, and sped his ability to process thoughts.
Lachie and Lachina had many little adventures as they grew older. The most memorable was one they had around the age of five -- the pastry incident. Neither ever spoke of the incident except to each other, because every time they tried to tell another beast, neither could get a single word across that wasn't broken up by laughter. Nobeast knew what had happened, but everybeast knew how funny it was. Various other times, the two would be caught messing with somebeast's mind by combining their skills; Lachie might ask some random beast awkward and unusual questions, while Lachina stood a short distance behind that beast signaling to Lachie as to how truthfully he/she answered. If the one being questioned noticed Lachie glance at Lachina, he/she would turn to see her pulling a strange face at him/her, and meanwhile Lachie would run away so that when the beast turn to look back at Lachie, the otter would be gone, whilst Lachina "disappeared" as well.
Lachlan and Lachina's most favorite form of mischief was when Lachie would be a seer. Nobeast believed him at first, of course, so he would point out a few things about them that he noticed on first glance. Naturally, he'd be told that anybeast could notice such things, at which point, he would place a paw to the side of his head, close his eyes, and tell him/her something that (at least seemingly) could not possibly be known unless he were a seer. Sometimes, he would be asked for help with some usually petty matter that the "client," per se, believed only a seer could resolve. Lachie brought Lachina along every time, not only because she was his twin, nor that the whole scheme was her idea, but because she was the best lier he had ever known, and knew how to keep a story believable. Despite resolving every problem they were initially hired for, the two would over-dramatize everything (including the paw-to-the-head-closing-eyes thing), making it so painfully obvious that they didn't know what they were doing, that their "clients" would wonder if Lachie really was a seer. If so, he was the least serious one ever. (Some of this brand of humour rubbed off on six-seasons-old Alison, to the disapproval of Barr and Aileen.)
At the age of fifteen seasons, Barr announced that the family would finally be sailing away to live on Green Isle. Apparently, Barr had some extra business to finish first, so Lachie, Lachina, Alison, Kirsty, and their mother were all sent ahead of him. Lachie looked forward to living on Green Isle -- he would finally be able to associate with otters such as himself aside from his sisters. Lachina anticipated the same thing, but both of the twins were already planning what to do with their next victims.
Lachie remembers little of what happen on the ship. Something caused a tremor in the ship, and it soon began to sink. The next thing he knew, he was swimming away from the sunken ship, desperately trying to hold onto Kirsty, who had injured her leg and couldn't swim. He doesn't remember what happened entirely, but somehow, Kirsty slipped away from him while Alison, Aileen, and everybeast visibly on board was pulled down with the ship. He can't bring to mind anything about Lachina during that time, but he is certain of one thing: he was the only survivor of the shipwreck.
Lachie found himself washed up on shore, crying until he no longer could. Disoriented, he began walking in what he thought to be the direction from which the ship had come. He didn't realize for a good measure of time that ships don't travel inland. Upon regaining his composure, he began walking back in what he knew was the direction from whence the ship had come. Flashbacks of the shipwreck, of Kirsty screaming, of of the fond farewells he had left his friends with, of acting as a seer, of the pastry incident, and of his father...his father...His father! Lachie then recognized the lone figure walking along the shoreline, following his footpawprints. Lachie's first reaction was to sprint toward his father and the second, tacklehug. He then found that he had more tears to cry, and did so openly, trying to explain what had happened through a broken voice. Barr did his best to comfort Lachie as the young otter wept.
Lachie didn't notice the large gash on his leg until the next day, but thought little of it at the time, though wasn't stupid enough to leave the wound unattended. Barr and Lachie both knew that Green Isle was not an option -- neither could bear it. They redirected their course, intent on arriving at Redwall Abbey. Lachie collapsed suddenly the day they reached Mossflower country, and Barr carried him the rest of the way despite the young otter's frequent objections. He is now restricted to a crudely-designed "wheely-chair," or so he calls it, and has lived at Redwall no longer than a few months.
Codeword: Martin the Warrior
