Hypatia is a black soul of the Paradise Parade, a campaign run by Prince-Crow.

They are little more than a child among the endless march of the no-longer-dead. Though they once imagined that the extent of loss would be that of their own life, buried beneath the mountain snow, they have returned to life only to lose more. They cannot stay dead, but others can. Their beloved parents can, as can the monsters and fools who struck them down.

All images used here are either commission by me and credited within the gallery, or created for use within The Paradise Parade by Prince-Crow, Junkvards, or paperpuffs.

Hypatia is nothing if not a bright young mind, raised on books of philosophy and medicine alongside mechanical science. Their colony placed great value upon the ability to provide for the community as a whole, and as such Hypatia learned how to weave nets and tie lures concurrently with learning their names. Fortunately, they took well to the hardworking culture, and clung to their father to fuel their insatiable thirst for knowledge. Though their academic interests have a tendency to distance them from others, the trappings of youth do not give them up so easily.

No more than a child, all that Hypatia knows comes from their parents or the colony. What books they read were decided by what interested Phoebus or Dymphna enough to bring into their home. What skills they learned were dependent upon those necessitated by colony life. Though they took to everything brought before them like a fish to water or a bird to air, they tend to look to older authority figures for guidance even now.

A quiet creature, Hypatia often speaks just enough to satisfy what is demanded by social politeness. They say their pleases and thank yous with just enough deference before returning to whatever task is at hand, weaving together the loose ends of a snare trap or tying the final knot of a fishing net. After all, they prefer their work to people, the rhythm of a page turning or rope creaking in time more comforting than any fire.

Often, Hypatia loses themself in their interests for hours at a time, only emerging after gentle — or not so gentle — prodding from their family. There are few things that garner their interest so much as a new area of study, whether it be working with their paws or learning as much as they can about a newly-introduced topic from their lessons. What they lack in empathy is made up for in sheer curiosity about the world around them, often understanding emotion from an intellectual standpoint long before they understand it from experience.

Hypatia is long-limbed and scrawny and awkward with youth, hardly more than a kitten pulled from its mother's side. They cling to the wispy curls of dark fur that frame them like a halo, silky and offering little protection from the cold. Already diminutive in stature, Hypatia nevertheless has a tendency to shrink into themself, hiding within the dark fold of their father's woolen cloak or curling into the side of a protector. Their dark coat, silver charcoal in color, does little to separate them from the shadows they are so eager to melt into.

From these shadows, pale and unblinking eyes peer out from a round face. Paired with their tremulous stature and auxiliary ears, they make a somewhat odd sight with a tendency for unsettling stares.

Though the majority of their fur is short and dense, Hypatia has something of a mane crowning their head, the longest sections of which are oftentimes tied back with a string. These incongruent tufts also appear across their paler chest, seemingly protecting the fluttering heart within their chest. So too does their tail end in a tuft, blackened where once it stood white as a dove. It seems that even a child cannot escape the cruel hand of fate, frostbite bringing with it raven-black fur where once there were varied shades of silver and white.

Hypatia is not often in peak health, especially not since their death. In the time since, they have developed an essential tremor in their paws and legs as a leftover of the chill that gripped them. The same can be said of their strength, limited to more dextrous maneuvers and stealth rather than any outright attacks.

• Last-born child of Phoebus and Dymphna in a remote, frigid mountain colony, the start of Hypatia's life was marked by both love and hardship.
• Hypatia was introduced to the colony alongside their siblings, though they seemed to dislike the attention and spent most of the ceremony trying to hide underneath Dymphna and Phoebus in turn.
• After introducing their children to the greater community, Dym and Bee attempted to set them up on a playdate with Artermisia and Lysa, two other kits around their age in the colony.
• Although Hypatia struggled to make friends with the two at first, they seemed fond enough of their playmates after the initial rough patches.
• Although slow to begin speaking, waiting nearly a month and a half in silence, Hypatia's first words were a line of a song in the dead of night. Unsettling at best, Dymphna and Phoebus were nonetheless quick to expand their vocabulary with poetry and more songs.
• The moment their paws were steadier than they were clumsy with youth, Hypatia was taught to weave nets and roll bandages at Phoebus's side.
• Phoebus would tell stories as they worked, explaining the small science to Hypatia alongside he other truths of the world. Though they were too young to have truly felt the power that once ran through the world, they knew well of it.
• The first time they successfully managed a trap, they decided to test it the only way they knew how: on their brother, Orestes. On the bright side, the trap worked perfectly. On the other, Orestes drew the attention of their parents crying over his twisted paw. Hypatia was lectured, of course, the responsibility falling upon Dymphna to explain why they couldn't practice their trapping skills on their brother.
• Then, Dymphna was called away. They did not say where they were going or why they must; only that they would be back before they knew it.
• Before they left, Dymphna gifted Hypatia with a plush rabbit.
• Two months passed, and Dymphna did not come home. Despite the warnings from Phoebus, Hypatia was determined to travel to that faraway kingdom and bring their parent home.
• Hypatia slipped from their childhood home, quiet as a mouse and just as delicate, wearing one of Phoebus' cloaks. It was in those mountains that they found their death, never to reach the valley below or the kingdom of a family they had never met. Lost in a gale, Hypatia fell asleep in a shallow cave, and did not wake up.