Personality
Rhys is a shifty, flighty, and rather elusive creature and stays away from contact with other beings wherever possible. Rhys is highly distrustful of everyone and everything, and will not involve themselves in social interaction/contact under any circumstances. Rhys will hide themselves away in any dark corner available and wait for everyone to leave and make sure they are completely alone before venturing out again. They don't tend to spend too much time in the open and usually dart between cover to cover to make sure they can't be seen easily. This makes them something of a silent observer in about every situation- once they hunker down somewhere they have little else to do but stew and brood, or quietly watch whatever is going on around them and whatever it is they were hiding from. Most living things are usually very unaware of Rhys watching them from the shadows, and how intently they are watching too- Rhys will of course be disgruntled and annoyed that they are being forced to hide to avoid a confrontation, but sometimes there is some odd sort of curiosity and interest they find filling them besides the agitation, when simply watching something or someone. These spouts of hiding and being an unseen observer are one of the rare times Rhys has an abundance of patience.
When forced into confrontation with someone else (be it human, animal, or other Esk), Rhys is very quick to temper and will lash out if they feel threatened. They won't hurt anyone, but a surplus of angry/distrustful emotions is usually enough to get the point across, and they will bolt to cover as soon as the opportunity arrives, ditching whomever Rhys was forced to face for that time.
Rhys is a very solitary individual, and does well (or rather, has sufficient time to stew and brood) when they are alone, and holds a deep-seated resentment toward pretty much every other living thing (plants included... though only at times). Rhys is not convinced in any ideas of love, or faith, or trust- and because they can't trust anyone, they don't bother to interact with anyone.... they just bottle up all these negative emotions within themselves, and eventually they bubble up to a head and they lash out in various ways. They play (sometimes mean) tricks on humans, animals and other Esks. These tricks are nothing that ever causes true physical harm, but they are a nuisance and most other living creatures don't like them much at all, or only feel sorry for Rhys and how pent-up and angry they are.
Rhys is also a terrible creature of habit and a bit of an OCD neat-freak. They have a set standard of how things should be done, look, or placed within their boundary- and will get easily upset and frustrated if something isn't quite right. They will obsessively fix things they perceive as out of place, and take their anger out on objects or plants that aren't where they are supposed to be.
Despite their rough exterior and short temper, Rhys is not altogether fearless- in reality they are quite a scaredy-cat when it comes to a number of things. They feel powerful and capable within their boundary and have learned to deal with the pests and the humans as well as they can- but new things are threatening, and underneath the ire and the fiery temper is quite a bit of fear and insecurity. Rhys does not do well with new things invading their day-to-day and will just as quickly lash out at the unknown as they are to run and hide for hours on end. Deep down they have a timid and shaky constitution, and they hate anything and everything they do not understand, or simply seem to drop out of the blue. In a way they live a very sheltered and organized existence within their boundary, and they are not likely to stray from it for any reason at all.
Rhys has no notion or idea of why they exist or how they came to be in their new life as an esk. They have no idea the extent of their abilities, or really how to use them at all- many of what they have learned to do it trial and error and sheer dumb luck. They are somewhat aware of feeling less strength when straying from their boundary, and assume leaving would be sort of…. Jarring, but they are unsure of why this seems to be the case. They rarely ever leave though, so it is not a pressing issue for them.
There was however a bit of panic and shell-shock that they experienced when leaving their boundary for the first time, and finding that a large portion of the peppers entwined in their tail began to pop off and shrivel. Not all of the peppers dropped off, no, they merely thinned out and there remained far less than usual- but it was an unsettling experience for Rhys, and not one they look to repeat. This is one reason they rarely leave their boundary (outside of the slightly groggy and faint sensation that seems to grow as they leave)..... That, and the more central reason they never leave being mostly attributed to Rhys being very rigid in their routine and never looking to stray from their established norm.
(One can scarcely imagine what Rhys’ reaction would be were they to ever venture out of their Biome entirely…. Not only would the peppers begin to thin, but the whole of their nature features would disappear too. This experience would be particularly unpleasant for Rhys, and they would likely feel extremely exposed and vulnerable in this state- and all the quicker to really lash out.)
When forced into confrontation with someone else (be it human, animal, or other Esk), Rhys is very quick to temper and will lash out if they feel threatened. They won't hurt anyone, but a surplus of angry/distrustful emotions is usually enough to get the point across, and they will bolt to cover as soon as the opportunity arrives, ditching whomever Rhys was forced to face for that time.
Rhys is a very solitary individual, and does well (or rather, has sufficient time to stew and brood) when they are alone, and holds a deep-seated resentment toward pretty much every other living thing (plants included... though only at times). Rhys is not convinced in any ideas of love, or faith, or trust- and because they can't trust anyone, they don't bother to interact with anyone.... they just bottle up all these negative emotions within themselves, and eventually they bubble up to a head and they lash out in various ways. They play (sometimes mean) tricks on humans, animals and other Esks. These tricks are nothing that ever causes true physical harm, but they are a nuisance and most other living creatures don't like them much at all, or only feel sorry for Rhys and how pent-up and angry they are.
Rhys is also a terrible creature of habit and a bit of an OCD neat-freak. They have a set standard of how things should be done, look, or placed within their boundary- and will get easily upset and frustrated if something isn't quite right. They will obsessively fix things they perceive as out of place, and take their anger out on objects or plants that aren't where they are supposed to be.
Despite their rough exterior and short temper, Rhys is not altogether fearless- in reality they are quite a scaredy-cat when it comes to a number of things. They feel powerful and capable within their boundary and have learned to deal with the pests and the humans as well as they can- but new things are threatening, and underneath the ire and the fiery temper is quite a bit of fear and insecurity. Rhys does not do well with new things invading their day-to-day and will just as quickly lash out at the unknown as they are to run and hide for hours on end. Deep down they have a timid and shaky constitution, and they hate anything and everything they do not understand, or simply seem to drop out of the blue. In a way they live a very sheltered and organized existence within their boundary, and they are not likely to stray from it for any reason at all.
Rhys has no notion or idea of why they exist or how they came to be in their new life as an esk. They have no idea the extent of their abilities, or really how to use them at all- many of what they have learned to do it trial and error and sheer dumb luck. They are somewhat aware of feeling less strength when straying from their boundary, and assume leaving would be sort of…. Jarring, but they are unsure of why this seems to be the case. They rarely ever leave though, so it is not a pressing issue for them.
There was however a bit of panic and shell-shock that they experienced when leaving their boundary for the first time, and finding that a large portion of the peppers entwined in their tail began to pop off and shrivel. Not all of the peppers dropped off, no, they merely thinned out and there remained far less than usual- but it was an unsettling experience for Rhys, and not one they look to repeat. This is one reason they rarely leave their boundary (outside of the slightly groggy and faint sensation that seems to grow as they leave)..... That, and the more central reason they never leave being mostly attributed to Rhys being very rigid in their routine and never looking to stray from their established norm.
(One can scarcely imagine what Rhys’ reaction would be were they to ever venture out of their Biome entirely…. Not only would the peppers begin to thin, but the whole of their nature features would disappear too. This experience would be particularly unpleasant for Rhys, and they would likely feel extremely exposed and vulnerable in this state- and all the quicker to really lash out.)