[Skull Kid] &enigma ; think think think P:

[Sable Eye Cerena]

The term "Skull Kid" refers to any of the young imps who inhabit the Lost Woods. Legend has it that any non-Kokiri child who enters the Lost Woods and loses his way subsequently loses his name, face, and heart. Treading the same paths over and over and over, and losing more and more of himself to the dark forest, he is eventually transformed into a Skull Kid -- from which there is no return. Adults are transformed into the more murderous and dangerous Stalfos.

Skull Kids are lively, mischevious beings, small of stature and shrouded in shadows, skilled at running, hiding, and causing nuisances. They are typically characterized as troublesome tricksters, treating everything (no matter how dangerous to their playmates or even themselves) as a game with no rules. Because of their apparent lack of morals, ambivalence towards the safety of travelers, and their love of nothing but the woods, they are often avoided. Skull Kids are, however, friendly to children but are fearful of adults, to the point of attacking the latter on sight.

They love music and enjoy (and even reward) the few brave people who step up to play with them. They are exuberant participants in games as well -- whether it be tag, hide&seek, or chase me through the woods to recover the mask/horse/important item I just stole from you!

They are rarely encountered outside of the woods, though it is suggested that they are free to leave and travel the world. They all bear the same name -- "Skull Kid" -- and all lack faces. They appear to be scarecrows at first sight; their faces are either completely enshrouded in shadow, or else a comical flat expression is drawn or stitched upon their blank faces. Their eyes typically glow, and are either yellow or red. Their clothes are made entirely from natural materials found in the forest -- dried grasses woven together, large leaves, feathers plucked from unattentive birds' tails, and so on.

Most seem oblivious to all that they have lost, if they realize they have lost anything at all.

 

[Sable Eye Cerena]

Name: Imp

Imp doesn't really have a real name, as his guardian is unimaginative (and what do you call a child that doesn't even look entirely formed anyway?) -- this is merely what most people call him. He also responds to "HEY", "YOU", "KID", and "NUISANCE."

Gender: Male

Race: Skull Kid

General personality:
Trickster/Mischevious/Irresponsible/Flaky

Imp is one of those children parents often claim to be a bad influence. Though not really malevolent or malicious, he is definitely not ever going to be suggested for sainthood -- he loves mischief and trouble and riling people up too much. He does not sit still. He does not play nice because someone tells him to. He does not leave well enough alone. And yes, he's probably the reason why Timmy's down in the well again.

Entirely thoughtless and too impulsive for his own good, he has absolutely no concept of personal space or personal things and likes getting his grubby paws on everything. There is potential in absolutely anything to be made into a toy.

He is also overbearing and completely annoying, the sort of kid to constantly ask "Why?" just because he knows it's annoying and not because he's really interested. Though very friendly (that is, willing to steal the toys thereof and follow everywhere and serenade outside their window at three in the morning and dump leaves all over the sheets of and present with wriggly bugs) to people his own age, he is intensely distrustful of adults -- including his own guardian, whom he only grudgingly listens to.

He is completely useless in times of need and absolutely cannot be counted on. Should a friend of his get into a scuffle, he's the first to flee; should they need someone to sympathise and listen to their troubles, he's the first to impatiently suggest a game of hide&seek instead. He's not very good at empathising with people at all, or even understanding that they have needs and wishes outside of entertaining him. He also wonders why nobody seems to enjoy spending much time with him.

He likes to play tricks and pull pranks and crack jokes at other people's expenses, and doesn't seem to really understand the consequences thereof -- people are just too sensitive and really need to lighten up! Life is all about fun and singing songs and dancing and games.

He has love for the woods above all else (and would probably get along really well with wood/plant-themed kids.) He loves to spend his day scampering through hidden paths in the woods, exploring and looking for treasures (whether as simple as pinecones or as grand as abandoned chests of gold) and harassing the native wildlife -- often at his own expense, as he is frequently found recovering from a bite or a scratch. His absolute favorite game is "Copycat", in which he follows someone around and copies everything they do (and, the next day, may start wearing the same clothes they do, so on...) He changes victims 'often', usually when they make it clear that they don't like him doing it (if they do so at all -- if they don't, then until he gets bored.)

Even though he doesn't especially understand people's animosity towards him, he has an intense longing to be more human than he actually is. This drives his preference for masks -- obscuring his lack of face -- and mimicry. HE IS LONELY AND JUST WANTS FRIENDS YOU GUYS. YOU GUUUUYS?

Abilities:
Teleporting:
An instinctive ability that all Skull Kids possess and often use to the frustration at other people. At first signs of trouble -- whether they're in legitimate danger or may actually be called upon to do something useful for once or merely do something they don't want to do (like chores) -- they very often flee, and the easiest way they do this is by backflipping and, mid-air, disappear into nothingness.

They reappear in a random spot in the woods (and yes, may end up reappearing very close to their original spot by chance.)

Flute playing:
Not really an ability per-se; the flute is something he carved himself from a piece of wood and is played like a penny whistle. In a jam, he can stuff seeds or small pebbles into the end and use it as a blow gun. (Um, I should probably research the actual physics of this :C)

Masks:
??? Something I am still considering; in Majora's Mask, the Skull Kid (the main antagonist) was granted extra powers from wearing a cursed mask with a spirit sealed inside. It may be that Imp can do the same thing (to a far, far lesser extent) by wearing masks as well.

Appearance:
lalala I will fill this in later, a lot of this is in a very rough MINDDUMP stage

 

[Sable Eye Cerena]

History:

Very roughly: previously a nine-year-old Hylian boy named Lati who never, ever listened to his mommy. He got lost in the Woods and became a Skull Kid and then was trampled by a rampaging moose after teasing it about its HUGE NOSE. Or something like that.

...come on, not all the GotP's have to have dramatic heartbreaking deaths, do they? :( Lati-the-Skull-Kid was just plain stupid, however he died.

(...history is still subject to dramatic change)

Reason for rebirth: though now dead, the woods still entrapped him -- laying claim to every part of his soul -- and he was unable to truly move on. He still had tricks to play and songs to sing!

...oh yeah, and uh maybe get free of this whole Skull Kid curse, but you didn't hear it from him

(this has to be worked on too, I realize :C)

 

[Sable Eye Cerena]

Stages, personality and appearances  

[Sable Eye Cerena]

His guardian, a cranky old witch who lived in seclusion at the edge of his woods and used his wand as a walking-stick.

..no, I mean literally, she was a witch

Just not a very powerful one. Or pretty. (She casts a fairly mean itching curse though)  

[Sable Eye Cerena]

THE LOST VILLAGE WOODS

Bestiary (Imp's animal friends!), special plants, places to see in the Woods for others to meet Imp in and RP in, NPCs, that sort of thing

Just don't get lost in here unless you wanna end up like Imp too.  

[Sable Eye Cerena]

Concerns:

1. ....I feel like I'm ripping off Majora's Mask too much :( I really, REALLY loved the game, and there are only like 4 Skull Kids period but. Hmm. I will probably have to do some personality&plot rewriting -- focusing especially on the "wanting to escape the curse of the Skull Kid" part -- to distinguish him from MM's Skull Kid.

I uh really like the masks thing though .-.;;;;

2. Would he really be reborn looking exactly like the Skull Kid he was before? I should probably have a more stable reason for his rebirth other than "He couldn't really move on and didn't really want to stay dead." Also, if Skull Kids generally don't realize there's anything wrong with him, what would drive him to "OH GOD I WANT TO BE HUMAN AGAIN"?

THAT and it's likely that (though I'm sort of planning on having him be reborn to his original woods) he won't even remember he was a Skull Kid. Okay, so he's reborn and it's all LALALA I don't look like anyone else but I am NEAT and I like to sing-a about the moon-a and the june-a and the spring-a and then it's all "OH YOU'RE A SKULL KID they're cursed see" and he's all "..ok. Um. WHAT WAS I ORIGINALLY???" And maybe, unlike most other GotP, he's reborn fairly close after his death (MAYBE) so people still remember who he is and they're all "WTF YOU'RE THAT SKULL KID" and he's all "WHAT" and they're like "YOU DYED MY SHEEP HOT PINK"

or maybe "YOU DYED MY GRANDFATHER'S SHEEP HOT PINK"

I forget

..yeah, probably grandfather's, all the other Skull Kids are in hiding probably

So maybe the townspeople mistake him for some other Skull Kid, one that's still around pulling pranks or something

wait, what did happen to all the other skull kids, are they still around? Imp is surely not the only Skull Kid. How would they react to him? He'd have to be obviously different from them in some way, since he was reborn and all...

Also, footsie pajamas