Pekoe (milqilin)

Pekoe was born an arccilin in the northern mountains, in a small, remote town. His mother worked as a forester, so much of his childhood was spent in forests and amongst the trees. From a young age, he had felt tied to the earth - without much to do or many friends to speak of, all he could really do was wander through the woods, playing with sticks and climbing trees, following trails and creating his own intricate storylines for the forests. It was honestly hard to feel bored within the woods - it was a giant organism, always shifting and turning and changing itself. It always drew him back out, sun or snow, deeper into the trees.

Perhaps it was just an escape from the brutality of his peers - his oddities and strange behaviours were enough to get diagnosed with autism at a very young age. Most of his childhood was spent unironically alone - wandering the playground by himself, hanging out in the trees, watching the kids on the playground having fun together. If he was invited to join, it was usually as the fall guy - someone to target and scapegoat while everyone else ran off and had fun together. He wasn't stupid enough to try forever - eventually he would get the hint and return to his trees, the only things that really understood him.

He never believed it, whenever his mother would assure him, but he would be damned, highschool was indeed better. Somehow, like magic, almost immediately he found people to connect with, becoming thick as thieves in no time. He went from desperately alone to having a tightknit circle of friends within a year, never looking back afterwards. Not to say that highschool was easy - it was still as shit as you'd imagine, but the company made it much more bearable.

Before he even made it into highschool, a college student had warned him that he should know what it was he wanted to do by Grade 10. Having not even entered highschool yet, this seemed manageable. Pekoe found himself at graduation, standing at the front of the auditorium, GD in hand, and still not a single damn clue where to go from here. He took a gap year, working in a kitchen for minimum wage, wracking his brain for what he could possibly do for a living. What to do, what to do... Hey, isn't the goddess taking helpers? And her helpers receive blessings that turn them into unicorns... his favourite animal! That's a good enough life goal, right? He was off before he could think about it too hard.

The Goddess was, well, perhaps unsurprisingly, upon reflection, shockingly kind and dazzlingly beautiful. Pekoe quickly found himself working tirelessly as one of her servants - miles from home in an expansive meadow with not enough trees and definitely NOT enough mountains for him to feel comfortable, but this was the only goal he ever had, and he was determined to achieve it. Besides, it was nice - working hard with his hands, doing a good job, he loved being busy and feeling useful. All the drama and exclusion of his youth seemed to wash away as well - he went from being a hated outcast to suddenly being able to get along with anyone overnight. He and the other milqilin at the Goddess' temple got on swimmingly - even able to work easily with the grumpier of her divine servants. It was strange - but he wasn't complaining! The Goddess praised him as one of her best servants and he shined with pride, before she finally blessed him. A white light enveloped him, leaving behind a fluffy tail, and a new, radiant horn. Finally... all his hard work had paid off. And he didn't mind being here - he really enjoyed the work. Maybe he had finally found his place...

"THE GODDESS HAS DISAPPEARED!!!"

After a few days of frantic searching and prayer, the uniccilin of the temple concluded that she was well and truly gone. Half immediately packed their things and headed out, determined to find her, or to protect her people in her absence. The other half remained, determined that maintaining her temple would bring her back. Pekoe joined the third group - uniccilin who were so distraught, that they simply fell asleep, hoping that she would awaken them on her glorious return.

The light must have been extra blinding that day - maybe a door had been opened, or a curtain drawn. The uniccilin got up, blinking the sleep out of their eyes.

"What year is it?"

The temple was empty as ever. A few uniccilin who had seasonally returned to keep up maintenance greeted the awoken uniccilin, brewing tea and coffee, and catching them up on all they had missed. Society had changed quite a bit since they had fallen asleep - technology was abound. The world had gotten infinitely better, and infinitely worse. Most had abandoned hope their goddess would ever return. A few uniccilin who had woken up with Pekoe packed their bags, they wanted to return to civilization. Pekoe fretted for a while, before deciding it would be better to leave than to wallow. Besides, he had seen what some of the awake stragglers were like - that sort of devotion can't be healthy. He packed his bags and followed them to a brand new city, large and varied, that he had only heard of from stories in his youth.

The city was large and beautiful. He loved it so much. He fit in so well and finally felt at home. If only the city had loved him back, though.

Turns out, he did not have much in the way of a resume and credentials. Despite his extensive work experience as one of the Goddess' chosen - with the fucking horn to show for it!! - the only work that would take him in was the kitchens he had come from. With a heavy sigh, he cut a hole in the chef's hat. You know. For the fucking horn.

Despite all that, he still enjoyed working with food. Standing in the kitchen at 6am, making salads, however... he felt he truly understood why the Goddess had decided to leave.