Booger

Quick summary:

Creator: rueyeet
Race/species: Shadow-kin
Occupation: Troublemaker
Game timeline: Any ZOCC RP timeline that includes the Zalmunna/Siderans
Age: Undetermined
Hair: None
Eyes: Lime green
Skin: Patchy grey
Height: Chihuahua-sized
Weight: Varies

Background:

This little guy is one of the many lesser shadowbeasts that spring up, and never really get anywhere. He's not too bright, and doesn't possess much in the way of speech. Mostly he spends his time breaking or misplacing things, and grinning lopsidedly at the frustration he causes. Booger isn't even really his name, as such; it's just the most frequent of the epithets that gets applied to him when he's spotted: "you little booger!"

Booger is not aligned to any Zalmunna. When he was but a newling shadow, he took Dimas' colors, as so many new shadowbeasts do. Unfortunately, Dimas has that regrettable tendency to hunt his own servants for sport. Booger deserves some credit as one of the few who has ever escaped — he hides very very well. Since then he has remained unaligned, as he is terrified of Dimas (not that Dimas actually remembers him, of course) and is not really suited to the service of any other Zalmunna. This makes him something of a nervous creature, as the unaligned face an existence of constant peril.

Despite all this, Booger has survived longer than one would assume from his lack of intelligence and stature. He accomplishes this mostly by staying under the radar, and being underestimated, if not downright ignored. However, the distress he causes is no longer Booger's primary source of nourishment. Lately he has taken to eating any newling he can hunt down — mostly because he's afraid they'll do the same to him, if they're allowed to get any bigger. It remains to be seen whether he will gain anything from this.

Appearance:

Booger is an unwholesome-looking creature, something like a cross between a diseased chihuahua and a mangy rat. He has three mismatched eyes, uneven sharp teeth, and notches in his drooping ears from more than one narrow escape. Unkempt patches of fur stick up in odd places over his body and from the tip of his rat-like tail.

His only glow is from his eyes; he bears neither any marks of allegiance or any personal pattern of his own. More intelligent shadow-kin tend to view him with some degree of disgust, and he is often mistaken for a newling shadowbeast.

Personality:

Booger is ruled by two things: destructiveness, and cowardice. He derives a great deal of childish glee from breaking things and hiding people's possessions, and has a special fondness for unravelling socks. He has very little fear of mortals, viewing them as a source of amusement. But when it comes to other shadows, Booger suffers great trepidation. This fear makes him a very twitchy little thing, which only adds to others' aversion of him.

When Booger wants something or has something to gain, he tries very hard to be ingratiating, but his attempts are more often annoying than not. He can become fiercely attached to anyone who shows him any kindness, but most find his presence repugnant, and shake him off as soon as possible.

Booger speaks in short bursts of broken phrases, and has a tendency to refer to himself in third person. His voice has a slight wheezing whine to it. Having not much intelligence or imagination, he often takes things too literally. Needless to say, he has no morality to speak of.

Fighting:

Booger is strictly claws-and-teeth when it comes to combat. He lacks the size, intelligence, and opposable thumbs to wield any kind of weapon. Generally he runs from any fight he isn't absolutely sure he can win. When pressed, though, he will fight with all the viciousness of a cornered rat.

The Rest:

Internal GPS: In the course of his existence, Booger has crept around most everywhere he could get to. He knows his way around just about every place there is, except the Sacred Realm and Light Realm, and always knows where he is. He doesn't make much of a guide, though, as it can be difficult to get him to understand where you're trying to get to.

Hide-and-seek: Booger has spent a lot of time hiding, and is very good at it. He can squeeze himself into the smallest patch of shadow, and blend so fully into a shadow that even another shadow-kin, hiding in the same shadow, might not see him there. This also makes him fairly good at finding the hidey-holes of other shadow-kin. In fact, Booger can find anyone that he's met even once, anywhere they might be.

Photophobic: Booger is not strong enough to withstand bright light. He shuns anything brighter than firelight — full sun or the radiance of any major light spirit would be out of the question. If he must go abroad in the daylight, he hitches a ride on someone's shadow, or dodges from shadow to shadow.

Ain't Got Nobody: As much as other shadow-kin scare him, Booger's dearest wish is to have the protection and acceptance of a master. Even if he were not well treated (and many shadow-kin are not) he would at least have somewhere he belonged. There hasn't been anyone yet who's found him to be more useful than distasteful, though.

Roleplay Notes

So far Booger has rarely appeared in serious RPs, except for one where Rajivo pulled him into a scheme to bilk a town out of cash for "curing" a plague, some time ago. Booger still believes that Raj and Haamiah owe him a hobo.

Pictures

Booger__Shadow_nusiance_by_rueyeet.jpg
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