Megalotis (Bat eared fox) (Motlosi Otocyon)

Motlosi is a more reserved soul that claims he can handle himself, and in truth, he probably can. However, when others start to leave, he does his best to get them to stay while never admitting its because he doesn't want to be left alone. He can't handle being alone for any long length of time and even struggles with the loneliness for short stretches. When hanging out with others he tends to do his own thing and likes to watch others interact, making others think that he would rather be on his own, but that is far from the truth. He enjoys just being in the presence of others but often lacks the energy to interact.

Motlosi grew up as many Megalotis do as the kit to a termite farmer. He spent most of his childhood learning to follow in his parents footsteps however such a bearing job never really interested him. He would always rush his chores and so he could spend more time exploring the savannah around his home with his small group of friends.  His parents weren't always happy that he was out getting into possible trouble, but as long as he did his chores they wouldn't make a huge huff over it.

One day when he was wandering around waiting for his friends to finish his chores he saw one of the towns folk wandering around the savannah looking really suspicious. He tailed the Megalotis and did his best to stay hidden and after a little bit he saw that the Fox was trying to poison one of the other towns peoples termite mound. 

As he tried to rush back home to tell the other towns folk he tripped over himself causing the suspicious Megalotis to spot him. The much older and larger Megalotis threatened Motlosi telling him that if he told the others then he would hurt him and that Motlosi would be blamed for everything. In Motlosi's young mind he wasn't sure what to think, and having been told to always listen to and trust the adults of the village he believed the old Vulpes's words. 

The next week the old Megalotis showed up at Motlosi's house and made himself at home, a common thing for many Megalotis to do. As the Vulpes was a regular towns folk Motlosi's parents welcomed him in happily and let him stay the night. That night the old Vulpes went to Motlosi's room and told the young kit to follow him, if he didn't then he would wake up his parents. Not wanting to disterb his parents he followed the old Vulpes out of the house and far into the savannah. 

Out there the old Vulpes told him that he would be helping him poison the nabors termites as it would help his families termites become more profitable. He was doing it to help them. At first Motlosi tried to say no, but the old vulpes got more and more forcefull, both verbal and physically, until young Motlosi gave in. His town had always told him to help others and so that what he had to do right?

the next day the old vulpes left to go back to his own home, however every other week or so he would wake Motlosi in the middle of the night to help him destroy other mounds. soon he started to hear whispers around town of nests dieing out and people starting to get worried. Unable to say anything without getting himself in trouble Motlosi did his best to stay out of the conversations and be quite. However, one day he saw one of his nabors crying because the last of their mounds had been destroyed and they had nothing left. Unable to stay quite anymore Motlosi told on the old Vulpes letting everyone know that he had been behind it.

but as soon as the towns people approached the old Vulpes he through Motlosi under the bus saying that the young kit had actually been behind it. He was just a frail old lad that had caught him trying to make his own family richer by tearing down the community and had tried to stop him, but was unable to. As the old Vulpes was a long time member of the town, the towns people took his word instead.

unable to live with someone who cared so little about their community Motlosi was whipped for his penance and then kicked out and left to die on the savannah, his parents disowning him for his actions. 

He wandered around in his blood soaked clothing on the open savannah that had once been filled with so much adventure, now only filled with disappointment and death. His parents no longer loved him, his town wanted him dead, only his instincts for survival deep down kept him alive. He managed to make it alive to the next town where he tried to clean himself up a bit. Snatched a bandage from a vendor and cleaned his fur in a small fountain, however the Megalotis in this town could see his wounds, they knew that since he had them he had betrayed his town causing all of them to turn away from him with a number of them even being hostile to him. Soon he moved on to the next town, and the next trying to leave each before to many people saw his wounds.

Bairly living off of the stray bugs he found he managed to reach the first large city outside of the Megalotis rich territories. Here he tried to panhandle to get some sides for food and clothing and managed to scrape together enough after a day or two to afford a place to sleep, however the next evening he was arrested for begging in the streets. At first he cursed himself for his misfortune, but he soon found out that being in a cell was better then being on the streets. Locked up you had a safe place to sleep, a roof over your head and you were brought free food. Sure the company wasn't that great, but the company on the street wasn't fantastic either.

After about a week locked up he was about to be released, but not wanting to be thrown back onto the street he convinced the guards that actually, he was a dangerous criminal (one he had seen on some wanted posters) and he should be locked up for the rest of his life. They quickly locked him back up, however, he wasn't to remain in this towns jail, no. He was a dangerous criminal now and was shipped off to farther lands where he would be tried and judged for his 'crimes'. 

at first he was fine with it, he played the part of pretending to be a hardened criminal and even had some fun playing around with it. However, then came the trial. Having been moved to one of the more central cities he stood on trial for the dangerous criminal's crimes and accepted everything people claimed he had done, but then when the trial had ended, rather than be sentenced for life, he was sentenced to hang.

This had not been the plan, no, no this had NOT been the plan. He wanted a free bed and food, not to be killed. He was sitting in his cell trying to find a way to escape and get out of this situation when a few seemingly random Animalian were thrown in his cell with him. The other cells were all full and so he would have to share it with these new-bies. At first he was a bit annoyed as he needed to find a way to escape and they could ruin his chances, but as he listened to the three animalian talk he realized that if he stuck with them then he was sure to get out of here.

Lieing through his teeth he insisted that he to know about the story/ legend the three animalian had been talking about and that if they were going to escape then he wanted to go with them. It was true that he wanted to stick with them, they seemed like actually quite nice Animalian, but he knew absolutely nothing about this legend and was only chiming in with things he had heard them say earlier. Succeeding in his bluff the three animalian agreed to bring him with them and together they all escaped.

Once they had had traveled far enough away from their captors the group had decided to form a guild to help them research this myth and other legends as well. With a promise of food, shelter and possibly new friends Motlosi stuck with this strange new group. 

He did his part in the new guild, gathering legends and stories from around the world and recording them,  however he didn't nearly have as much passion as the others when it came to doing so, at least not when it came to the stories. His passion lay more in helping his new friends and trying to make them happy. This had been the first time he had really been around others that cared for him since he left home and it was something he clung onto. 

He still is one of the founders and leaders of the guild, and although he cares a lot for his fellow leaders, he is no angel. Anytime Nalla is going overboard with things he will happily sit on the sidelines and do/ say sly comments to make the situation even more intense. He does this because he knows she has a little bit of a hard time showing her emotions so why not help her feel the more extremes of them?

You can often find him sitting on the sidelines of events or battles happy just to watch and see how things play out, only getting involved if he absolutely has to. He prefers to cheer on others than actually get involved.

At times when one can't find him in the guild he can often be found in the small garden that the guild owns where he is picking weeds and thinking about the his childhood. If left out there for to long, you can sometimes spot him silently weeping as he works, although he will never admit it.

He has no call to action as he is not a playable character. He shows up a number of times as an NPC in one-shots and should not be played by a player.

Relaxed Outfit | When relaxing around the guild or laying around on a lazy day  Motlosi wears a baggy white colared shirt and will often leave one or two of the buttons undone. The shirt sags around his belt and his sleeves looking very breathable if not 2 sizes to long. His pants are also quite saggy at the bottoms but are sinched around his feet to prevent him from tripping on them. They are made out of a loose light brown fabric and are held up by a brown belt with a bag around his hip. He rarely can be found relaxing without his well worn straw hat and will use it to fan himself or cover his eyes from the sun.

Main Outfit | When he needs to be more serious about things he will begrudgingly change his outfit to something more appropriate. He wears a tight black-collared vest over his white-collared shirt and has two black bands around the upper part of both arms that are used to hold his sleeves up when he needs to roll them up. He wears the same pants as his relaxed outfit, that is to say, light brown pants that are a big baggy at the bottom but cinched tight around his ankles. He also wears a set of hardy black shoes.

He has modern eyes and is a Megalotis. Basic species reference sheet can be found here. Please look at this for common errors people make when drawing this species.

Ideas for what you could draw him doing:

- eating popcorn as he watches the other leaders bicker (or watching anyone fight physically or verbally)
-sitting in the background watching others do things
-laying under a tree on a sunny day with his hat over his face
-looking a bit disinterested as someone tries to tell them their life story
-starting to panic as others leave him behind
-sitting in strange places that others wouldn't think to look (such as in a tree or inside a window nook)
-picking weeds in the small guild garden.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnQv3c9kwKc&ab_channel=JJHellermusic  - this song relates to how he feels about himself with the other guild leaders. He is a bit apprehensive about going on adventures, but if its with them then that's when he feels like he belongs. He lives through their excitment and energy that they give off when they are adventuring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MArrPEwW1gI&ab_channel=snydergurl321 -this song relates to how sometimes he feels that its hard for him to do brave things or go out and make himself seen. Rather he feels as if he is simply looking through a window at the lives of everyone else around him. He wonders if anyone really cares or sees him, but doesn't have the energy to be louder among the noise of life.