DFCustoms2013Alpha
Name: Mustela
Age: 22
Gender: female
Sexuality: heterosexual
Rank: Tannercraft Journeyman
Appearance: Mustela is a short and stout woman, though not quite overweight. She dark brown eyes set in a round face of a dusky complexion. Her hair is medium-brown and straight, which she wears chin-length and and often pulls back in a kercheif when she needs it out of her eyes. She tends to wear plain, practical clothes, things that can stand a little rough use. But since a rambunctious wher is harder use than most clothes are designed for, she keeps a thick leather apron, worn and often-patched, that she wears when taking care of Musk (such as when exercising him, washing, training, etc.) because he tends to be careless of his claws when he gets excited.
How many Turns old were they when they Impressed? 20
Personality:
Mustela is ambitious, and wants to expland her expand her business and earn her Mastery. In order to pursue this, she is entrepreneurial, willing to take business risks if she thinks there's a good chance she can make them work. But she's mainly willing to try new things if she's sure there's a solid advantage to it, such as profit or security. She's less likely to try new things if they seem frivolous or for amusement only. She is quite happy to work with others, especially if she gets some sort of recognition for the work.
On the other hand, she is also somewhat opportunistic, and will often go for what's easy to get or do instead of waiting to see what else there is or putting in the effort for something better. But she will make more effort if it's something she finds particularly interesting or useful. She can be rather hasty, and tends to make quick decisions about things without spending much time considering the consequences or other options.
She tries to be patient with Musk, but tends to get exasperated by his antics. She does not have much wherhandler training, and therefore doesn't know how to reroute his energy to more productive routes. Because of this, she tends to leave him restrained with ways to entertain himself, since she doesn't know what else to do with him. She is attentive to his physical needs, providing food, bathing and oiling as necessary, and cleaning out his kennel regularly. But she's pretty much given up on caring for any mental needs of his, no longer trying any sort of training or offering mental stimulation besides some lumpy toys.
History:
Mustela was born and raised in a smaller hold a little south of Igen Hold. She had an uneventful childhood, then when asked to pick a craft she decided to become tannercrafter because they lived rather near the Tannercrafthall, and it was easy to get there. Her parents were concerned with her choice, since they knew she often did whatever was easiest, and repeatedly asked her if there was anything she would rather do, assuring her that they would get her the training. But she assured them that she was sure, so she was sent to the crafthall.
Despite her dubious motives for joining the Tannercraft, Mustela found that she enjoyed the work, and set herself to her lessons cheerfully. However, once she'd felt she learned the basic lessons she wanted to move on. She started taking up any extra side projects she could, both to work herself into the Masters' good graces and to get practice, especially with more advanced techniques. Her diligence and eagerness to work was noted, and Masters asked her to take on some self-directed projects to test her capability. This she did, and was both quick and thorough at the jobs. After the Masters were quite sure she knew the craft well, she was promoted to Journeyman and given a post to the north of Igen Weyr.
Before she left for her new posting, her father gave her a flit egg as a going-away an congratulatory present. She tended the egg carefully, keeping it close during the journey to her new home and making sure it had a place on teh hearth once she got there. A sevenday after she arrived, the egg hatched into a green flit, which she named Fera. The green seems to be a very attentive creature and tends to follow her around, generally perching on something in her vicinity to watch over her or just be near her.
The posting ended up being situated in a hilly area between several farms that raise Runnerbeasts, so Mustela is most often is employed in making saddles and tack. The holding is a slightly isolated building where she can ply her trade as a Tanner without the smell bothering anyone. However, since she is isolated and a provider of valuable, easy-to-carry-off goods, she is occasionally the target of bandits.
The problem was persistant enough that she considered getting a guard canine to try and stop the thieves. However, while she was chatting with a customer about the issue and asking if he knew of any good canines for sale, he heartily recommended getting a wher instead. A friend of his who was a woodcrafter had gotten a wher to mind the shop and couldn't be happier, since the beast was so much more clever than any canine. It was so strong and patient that it would even pull a cart for him.
His enthusiasm swayed Mustela, so she arranged for lessons in basic wher care. With that learned, she used some money she'd set aside for some renovations to buy a wher egg as soon as one was available. Unfortunately her basic training had not covered the differences in wher bloodlines, and by going for the first egg she could get, she inadvertently ended up with one from less intelligent parents. When she was presented to the queen, she picked the largest egg she could, hoping for a strong fellow.
She tended the wher egg even more carefully than she had the flit egg, knowing that if anything happened to it she would not soon have money to get another. She protected it from getting umped around too much on the way home, settled it in a warm spot once there, and checked it often to make sure it was intact and the proper temperature. When the egg was withing days of hatching she began checking it as often as once a candlemark, and in the last day or so she mostly found work to do that would allow her to sit by the egg.
She was sewing together some tack by the hearth when her flit began to hum, and moments later the egg began to wiggle in its pot of sand. She immediately dimmed the glows to protect the youngster's eyes, gently tipped the egg onto floor and watched it eagerly. However, the wiggly creature that burst out of the egg was not exactly what she'd been hoping for. She fed the youngster anyway, hoping it'd calm down and prove trainable, the first of which never happened and the second of which it dubious. She has repeatedly tried to train the wher to guard her hold, but has only managed mixed results at best.
After her efforts to train Musk proved to have little effect, she eventually resigned to leaving him chained to the front of the building at night (on a long chain, so he had room to run and get exercise), figuring if anyone approached he'd let her know but sheer excited noise, and maybe just the sight of a largeish, active wher would deter people. When he's not chained out front guarding, she tends to keep him in his kennel (a converted storeroom just inside the back door, so nobody can try to get in that way) with toys and things to keep him occupied. She sews him toys out of leather scraps that are too small, oddly-shaped or poorly-tanned for any other use. The toys come out as oddly-shaped lumps most of the time, but as long as he has something to bat around and chew on, he can amuse himself.
When Mustela heard about wher races, she figured that might be an appropriate outlet for his energy (and maybe a way to earn a few Marks for herself), so she decided to go to Fort for the competition. She caught a ride with a Tannercraft colleague who was going to sell his wares, since he would let her tag along for free. He was going overland by cart, which would not be the cheapest way, but when he offered to let her along it seemed easiest to Mustela so she agreed. However, she found that keeping Musk amused in a closed cart for most of the day was not easy, even when he slept through much of the daylight hours. He tended to want to move about too much, and keeping him out of her colleague's belongings proved to be a constant chore. The fellow was thoroughly regretting his offer in a few days' time, and Mustela may need to find alternate transportation homw.
Wher Name: Musk
Wher Image: (ferret!wher!)
Musk will never be considered handsome, not even for a wher; his proportions are all off. "Cute" is the best he could hope for, and that's more on personality than anything. His legs, neck and tail are too short, while his body is too long, and it's hard to tell if his wings are all all proportionate because what part of him do you compare them to? Overall his mass is about average for his color, but it's distributed oddly.
Wher Personality:
The first thing anyone notices about Musk is his energy. He has more energy and enthusiasm than anything else, especially including sense. He never stops moving, never seems to tire and is always ready to play. He seems to want to get into everything, mainly to see if it can be played with, and is constantly poking about any area he's in. He sometimes digs at the ground if he thinks there might be something interesting there, or if he's just bored. Mustela has to make sure he doesn't dig up any bushes or dig under the wall of the building, and fill in holes as necessary. Whatever he's doing, he often has a vocal commentary of some sort running, a series of chirps, grunts, clicks and other sounds that become louder when he's particularly excited.
But all that energy means he needs something to do or else he'll find something to do, which may be potentially destructive. He is easily distracted, so if he's doing something he shouldn't he can be easily diverted. Give him a toy, or something (simple) to do, or even just something new to poke and bat around, and he'll be content to amuse himself for a while. On the other hand, is he's supposed to be doing something he can very easily get sidetracked. Since most often the thing he's supposed to be doing is guarding, this could pose a problem if an intruder knows how to divert him before he can do his job.
Musk is not a very bright wher. He can speak to Mustela a little, but has the limited vocabulary of a very small child, mainly words like "food!" "play!" "mine!" and "no!". Usually manages no more than two words at a time, and only simple phrases like "more food!". He does not seem to learn very easily, not even after repeated lessons in various styles, and sometimes he misinterprets the lessons. For example, attempts at teaching him to guard the building have only caused him to harass anyone (besides Mustela) who tries to get in, no matter what their intention. As a result, he's generally only let out of his kennel at night, when the chances of bandits are highest, Mustela needs to sleep and he's most comfortable. He tends to make a racket when anyone comes near, so whether an evening visitor is friendly or not, Mustela is notified of their presence.
Why this pair? Mustela had food and managed to get his attention long enough to feed him some before he went "Oh, what's that thing?" and bounded off to wreak havoc in her ungraded workroom.
Anything else?:
Stats: [x]
Mustela also has a flit: [green Fera]
