Puddle

Character Name: Puddle
Species: Earthling
Born on New Haven
Age (Actual/Apparent): 38yrs/19yrs
Occupation: Registered Herbologist, Unauthorized Exotic Entertainer and Tinker
Sector (Residence AND Occupational): Sector 50, The Dump
Education: Specialty Training (Herbologist, Physics) Higher Training (Tinkering/Engineering)
Pets (include description): Buzzby the Rumble Bee - A soccer ball-sized bumble bee. This was a cloned experiment originally made to be a pollinator on a gigantic proportion, as well as to create honey. However, when it was created, the scientists didn't take into account the larval or pupae stages nor the length it would take to hatch and cycle. The gross worm monstrosity with its slime-covered prickle whiskery bulbous form was quickly tossed away by a young novice who could not handle being a failure and this being his form creation, his first marvel. The worm found its way to The Dump, where it fed on its slime coating until dehydrating and starting to shrivel. Puddle came across it, and being an impulsive thing took it home. There Puddle was able to revive it and rejuvenate it with herbal mixtures. However it was thought to be dead when it became what felt like a hollow shell one day. This pupae stage lasted for a year before it finally hatched into a very fluffy black and yellow bee, with wings that let it fly amazingly fast and defy physics for such a roly-poly form. The Rumble Bee can fly in silence, or with a loud hum, often singing with its wings and dancing. Its defense is a thick bristly needle-like layer of fuzz that can spring up and be shaken off at others as a great irritant, like many fine splinters. The Rumble Bee also has a stinger, which similar to a wasp's, can be used over and over again and is about the size of a knitting needle. A specialty of the Rumble Bee is collecting things, as well as turning certain products of herbs and flowers into a honey-like substance. This is the only substance it will eat, so it stocks up on it. The substance can also be made into a powder that creates a euphoric calming effect when burned or ingested, useful for relaxing.


Description (Height, Weight, etc - pics welcome): Puddle is an oddity, with both horns and a tail, giving way to the fact that there is gender confusion with this.. thing. Truth is, he has a male mind and associates with being male, yet has a female lower region. Puddle is also pink scaled, with cream-colored horns and black nails, and wild hot pink hair on his head.

Background/History:
Puddle had the unfortunate wonder of being born on New Haven, in The Dump, which would be its home. Shortly after being born and seeing what it looked like, Puddle's mother and father wanted to just eat it and get it over with. However, mercy smiled on Puddle when its grandfather took it, being of a scientific mindset and feeling that such a specimen should at the very least be studied, as the family was namely blue and purple in coloration. The mother named it.. Puddle. As that was the most disgusting thing she had seen when looking out the window. A disgusting puddle of cannibalistic blood and sinew, watered down pink from sewage overflow. Puddle.

So the grandfather raised Puddle, at first as a female until those horns really came in and were obviously not just skin or bone defects. Then as Puddle began to show more masculine likes and even a mindset, it became more of a him. Puddle grew up learning herbology, mainly to be useful. He was always taught that useful things survived longer. And maybe he could work his way up, become more useful. So useful he could get out of The Dump. Puddle also had to fend for himself a lot. That meant he would be given tasks-- but no tools. Instead, he had to scavenge for them or make them. This meant trips through sewage and debris, digging through trash and even stealing. When he failed, and he did, he was beaten for it. When he succeeded, he was able to eat. Little did he know that his grandfather was feeding him previous apprentices who just simply couldn't make the cut.

When he found out, he was mortified. How could something so delicious be so wrong? And yet so filling? And yet so wrong? And yet so nutritious? His own questions prompted Puddle to delve into more herbal blends, to make something of the trash scraps in the way of a working balance and scale, a rudimentary non-tech alchemy set and even a separator of glass and tubing. He had a knack for assembling things for use out of trash. He tended to focus on that instead of his tasks.. which got him beatings. To try and avoid those beatings, Puddle began to find methods of escape and delve into creating simple metal tools for picking at locks and the like. He'd even go as far as to swipe tech, low as it was, to try and shock system locks or use the shock to quick-burn or ignite his pastes and powders. Naturally, such also received more beatings-- and a deal struck by his grandfather to have him clean up one of the rare shops in The Dump, one that didn't know that Puddle knew that it secretly sold low tech. By grabbing scraps, Puddle could even make a battery over time, enough of such to hold a charge and even charge his concoctions. His driving goal for such creations has been to try and find a sort of Earthling Tofu, or rather, a replacement for eating other Earthlings.

During his scavenging, he'd often have to run away from bullies.. and hungry bullies! That meant getting good at being swift, which was all he had since there was little strength to Puddle. So Puddle began to get good. Actually, really good.. It was a skill he seemed made for- escape. Puddle began to even push himself to the limits, using his acrobatic feats to escape punishment from stealing from others, and even distracting would-be predator Earthlings, to thus go loot the prey Earthling they just killed or incapacitated, and run awaaaaay. His knowledge of physics helped greatly in this area, as he was able to figure out the best way to achieve what he wanted. Similar to making his tinkering items work, and moreso with making tools to make those tinkering things. What it wouldn't do though, was save a worm he had found (Rumble Bee) as the poor thing lived for a little, then seemed to just harden and mummify. He kept it though, as a reminder.

In a world-eat-world sorta world though, it's be useful or be eaten. Puddle woke up in a startle one night, hearing a ruckus and coming across a group of Earthlings who took his grandfather out for dinner-- not in the good way. Puddle took off, grabbing only his tool kit and mummified worm, dropping them into his backpack and taking off. He escaped through the vents.

For the next few months he spent his time using his acrobatic feats to survive, both by not getting eaten, but also by making a living. Currency was needed! Credit! Trade! Anything! He even took on the tasks of teaching a few Earthlings what he knew of math and writing and reading. His knowledge saved him, as one of the few meager facilities in The Dump that one could call a school, took him in. He only had to agree to live there, not fight, and eat only their meals provided, from The Farm. That wasn't hard for Puddle since he had no interest in fighting, but great interest in learning. These Earthlings were probably some who backed the uprisings, but he didn't care. He wanted to learn.

So Puddle would indeed learn. And for a living, he went on to train and gain his registration for herbology, to tend to the sick and in need of The Dump. He had inherited his grandfather's bit of a government owned shop, where he took up work again. In this time, his mummified worm (Rumble Bee) fell from its windowsill in a raid, and while Puddle did escape through a vent shaft, he returned to find the shell cracked. Puddle was broken hearted and picked up the broken thing, only to drop it as his hands felt like a million splinters bit. The shell broke away and revealed a curled up form of yellow and black fluff. He watched it for a few hours as he plucked away at the needle hairs, before finally making a sticky paste and rolling it into a ball over his hands, using it to remove the painful prickers. Eventually, the Rumble Bee uncurled and saw Puddle, who she had imprinted on, who took care of her, who's voice she had listened to for years from in her pupae. As she gained control of her fuzz, she was no longer prickly, and able to simply be fluffy. Puddle and Buzzby became even more close than when it was a worm. Buzzby was kept hidden from customers though, but of any tried anything, Puddle would whistle, set off a fancy display of lights, and Buzzby would RUMBLE in the vents of the shop, and that tended to be enough to distract if not scare off the no-gooders outright.