Tebric

Silly and overly friendly with a fondness for flowers, Tebric is a rather memorable Valon.

Appearance

Tebric is on the shorter end for a Valon, standing at only 5’10”. His hair is deep red and long with bangs purposely covering his eyes. His eyes are the only sign of him being a quarter-karkan – they are pure white with no pupil or iris, and when angered, glow gold. His face is long with a large, pointed nose and pronounced jaw. His skin is naturally tanned and has a light tint of grey to it. His build is stocky, and when in etsera, he puts on about 30 pounds and has large, droopy breasts. In haira, he still has noticeable but smaller breasts and his strength is more outwardly apparent. After getting pregnant and giving birth to Noshi, he gained about 40 pounds on top of his normal etsera weight, and had a very hard time getting it off and keeping it off until he hit trahann and remained in haira. After the Karkan war, he has four large puncture scars on his left forearm.

He is usually seen in a blue robe with golden accents and a soft leather belt and shoes. At home, he has a fancy dressing gown that he wears; it is a rich dark blue with black and gold lace in flower patterns. While working he wears simple undyed rags and a bandana to keep his bangs out of his face.

He looks younger than he actually is. He appears to be mid-30s.

Personality

Teb is jovial, very silly, and overly friendly in a way that seems to be polarizing – you either like him or you don’t. He is quite weird and does not hide it, but he loves to make people laugh. He isn't one to think too hard about his decisions, he just does what he wants. However, underneath his laid-back attitude lies a Valon with immense insecurities and low self-worth. Being quarter-Karkan, he faces discrimination from the more bigoted of his kin and those who remember the circumstances of his childhood. While Manhattan is known for being less welcome towards Karkan-kin, most of Teb’s discrimination is imaginary. Nonetheless, he acts as cheery as he does to bury these insecurities; as he grows older, he cares less about what people think of him, but his silliness remains.

Abilities

Tebric is a pretty normal person with no combat experience, but thanks to his job and his hobby he is rather strong and in good shape. He is very good at gardening and cooking, and he can play a variety of string instruments. Aluran taught him how to gut and skin animals, how to butcher them for food, and how to prepare their hides. He can also read and write somewhat decently.

Likes/Dislikes

Likes:

Plants, but his favorites are flowers
 His garden
 His family
 Sleeping
 Weed
 Wine
Baking

Dislikes:

Bigots
Cooking, although he is good at it
Adlic and Kasan for their views on karkan victims in Manhattan
Karkan
His sire

Relationships

Aluran: His everyn. He fell in love with him at first sight and wasted no time in making a move on him, but he never expected him to actually return his feelings. Even though their relationship has been hard, they are still deeply in love after 20 years.

Egalan: Although Teb hated Egalan at first for his time with Aluran, he was very easily won over by his charms, even if he thought he was pretty ugly. He doesn’t know if what he feels for him is platonic or romantic, but doesn’t really care. Egalan is, accidentally, the sire of his son. Years later, Egalan joins Aluran and Teb and becomes their everyn.

Noshi: His son. Teb meant to get pregnant by Aluran, but Egalan visited one day and one thing led to another... Noshi is the light of Tebric's life and Tebric would risk it all to protect him.

Kaisara: They get along well enough, although it was awkward for a while. Teb finds it hilarious to rile him up.

Lavni: Tebric hits on Lavni incessantly. Like most, Teb loves his singing. They are good friends.

His father: His adoptive father who took him in after the tragedy of his birth parents. He was very old to begin with and died of natural causes when Teb was a teenager. He misses the old man, and the garden Teb loves so much was originally his.

Voraka and Wahathan: Aluran's parents. Teb could tell that Wahathan was wary of him because of his karkan ancestry, but Voraka had always been kind. Teb was friendly in turn and they get along just fine now. Since they are quite poor, Teb gives them money whenever they ask for it, and sometimes even when they don't.

History

Tebric was born to a half-karkan dam and Valos sire in Manhattan. His birth parents did not have a good relationship, and when he was barely a year old, his dam killed his sire after his sire's abuse caused his dam to snap and retaliate. Ashamed of what he'd done, his dam committed suicide. His sire's grandfather, who knew what his grandson was really like, took infant Tebric in as his own son. It was quite a scandal, and the rest of the family cut themselves off from him and became vehemently anti-Karkankin. None of this was hidden from Teb, so he grew up with it hanging over his head. No one but him and his father know what really happened.

Despite everything, his childhood was alright. He learned how to take care of plants and helped with his father's garden. He figured out how to act to bury his insecurities. His father was very old, so Teb did most chores and errands and learned to take care of himself. His father passed away from old age when Teb was 15, and he inherited his moderate fortune, but he was so used to living modestly that he hardly ever touched it and got his own job. He still works this job: he cleans out overgrown buildings so they can be lived in. It's a dangerous job but pays well and he occasionally discovers new plant species.

Two years later, he met Aluran while out doing errands. He fell in love at first sight, and even though Aluran had just returned from a hunt and was carrying a bear over his shoulder and covered with dirt and blood, Teb took the chance and openly hit on him. He knew from the other's reaction that he didn't think much of him, but he was indulged anyway, and when Aluran eventually asked him out, Teb was shocked. Two years later, they became everyn.

Their married bliss only lasted a year, as Aluran suddenly disappeared one day while out hunting. Tebric had no idea what happened to him. His own imagination ran wild with ideas, and so did the minds of other gossipping people - but he spoke to Aluran's family, and they hadn't seen or heard from him either. To stop the gossip, they said that Aluran was visiting his dam's nomadic family up north. Tebric immersed himself in gardening in an attempt to get his mind off of things.

About another year later, Aluran suddenly showed up back at home. He had indeed been taken by the Karkan like Teb had feared. But instead of returning home, he'd stayed with the man who rescued and took care of him, Egalan, and gave the baby up to him. They tried to go on as if nothing had happened, but they both had bottled up emotions and eventually exploded at each other. Aluran ended up running off, and Teb realized that he wasn't quite the same person that he was only a year ago. They reunited again and made up, promising that they would always be there for each other.

Tebric still held dislike for Egalan until, a few years later, he actually met the man. Aluran had been meeting him every so often and only then decided to bring him home; Teb wanted to be angry over this, but when he actually spoke to Egalan, the man was so utterly charming he just couldn't be mad. He understood why Aluran was so head-over-heels for him. They became close friends and lovers over the next 20 years.

Eventually, Aluran was ready to start a family. Because of what he'd been through, he couldn't carry the child, so Tebric offered to be the dam. After six months of trying, he finally became pregnant, and they were overjoyed. But when the baby was born, it obviously was not Aluran's - and Tebric remembered that one drunken fumble he'd had with Egalan 9 months ago. They were worried of what Egalan would think, but the man loved the child and asked if he could be a third parent.

Life is normal and stable for them now. Or as stable as it can be with a child.