Timbril / Damsel McMaiden

[CadyD16]

Wow, I haven't posted anything since late 2012.

Well, I said I liked roleplaying in my introduction, so I figured I might as well create a decent-sized profile for an OC I came up with a little earlier in the year. I have a good feeling about this one, too.


Drawn by me. I've determined that her birthdate is on July 31st, as that was the day I finished the picture. XD

Name: Damsel McMaiden (birth name, not so much in use anymore), Timbril (new alias)
Nicknames: McDam, Timby
Sex: Female
Age: Mature Adult
Species/Race: Earth Pony
Residence: "The Boscage", a peaceful, somewhat secluded woodland. May hold magical properties within.
Occupation: Gallivanter
Cutie Mark: A short, mossy tree branch, with three green leaves floating above it. She's been told her mark looks like a jagged crack, as though her skin is broken and nothing but moss and foliage is seeping out.

Personality:
Kind, quiet, reserved, but not by any means shy. Rough-and-tumble. Can be a partyer. She has an extremely gentle hoof when it is needed, and always acts first with tenderness. She isn't one to "tag along" with others and is in her ultimate comfort zone by maintaining her distance, but she's also the kind of pony who wouldn't mind in the least bit if you decided to tag along with her. She is the teensiest bit delusional-- not in an egotistical way, but in the sense that if she is faced with a dilemma, pretending it doesn't exist is better than stepping up and dealing with it. In this, and the fact that she has no assigned sense of responsibility such as a job, she has her own sort of personalized level of immaturity.

History:
Damsel was born in a small village inhabited mostly by ponies of the Earth variety, and she was an only child to two loving parents who doted over her-- moderately so. The town was prone to Timber Wolf attacks, and so everypony lived in fear. The creatures of the trees were known for dragging ponies who were still alive into the shadowy depths of the woods beyond by their hind legs, kicking and screaming. Many of those on the defensive wound up crippled in an effort to keep this from happening, and eventually they just stopped trying. Considered it useless. And, among the ponies captured, a mother and a father to another young foal were taken. Damsel's parents took the orphaned child in, gaining Damsel an adoptive sister.

As she grew up into a stubby-legged filly, things started to change. The village grew smarter, creating weapons ideal for disassembling a Timber Wolf's creaky frame. After years of learning to doubt any claim of safety, it most certainly didn't feel as such to any one of them. But, slowly but surely, the giant animals stopped showing. Damsel wanted to think it wasn't so much because of the improved defense lines the village developed, but because the local pack had moved locations or something. Anything. She really didn't care, so long as they were gone for good.

One chilly night, the sound of her sister's hoofsteps exiting their shared bedroom woke her up. She whispered her name in the candlelit semi-darkness, but she received no acknowledgment for her admittedly very spooked effort, and watched in great confusion as her sibling left. Extra confusion because she was half asleep, maybe? Whatever it had been, she fell back into slumber with the consolation that it was merely a late night trip to the kitchen for a glass of water, and decided it wasn't worth thinking about.

Next morning, she found out to her great dismay that this wasn't at all the case. Her sister was gone. Nowhere in the house, and definitely nowhere in the village. Where she went was anypony's guess, and the fact that Damsel remembered watching the beginning of this all unfold both hurt and unnerved her. After a few days spent searching the surrounding area, the village mournfully moved on.

Months following this incident, things got back to somewhat normal. It was when everypony least expected it that the final phase of the story began. Well, for Damsel, anyhow.

It was no lie that her stomach had been feeling funny the past couple of days. Unsettled. And she had moments where she was spacy and downright unresponsive. She couldn't even  vouch for what her own mind was doing anymore, putting her in trance-like states and sealing her mouth shut. It wasn't a particularly bad thing when this happened; it just happened. Except that it creeped the other villagers out, and Damsel disliked that aspect with her whole heart.

During one of her more intense episodes, the unthinkable happened, and right out of the blue she got her cutie mark... even though she hadn't done anything. She didn't know what she did to get it, and even if she had a clue - getting a closer inspection of it in the mirror when she got home - she had no idea what it represented. It had a foresty theme about it, but she hadn't even been in the forest that day-- not within the time frame it appeared, and not at all.

She was confusedly discussing the matter with her parents when the overwhelming feeling came back to her again-- only tenfold this time. It was similar to the feeling of being lifted by a unicorn's magic aura (although, having only ever lived with earth ponies, she didn't even know what that felt like,) but she was never taken off the ground. In fact, she was walking on her own accord completely now.

She left the house. Walked across the village, wherein her parents followed closely until she reached the edge of civilization and was crossing over into wild lands. All the while, she was dead to the world. Her eyes never deviated from her apparent destination. She didn't remember how, but the faint sounds of her parents' familiar voices screaming in her ears eventually died away as she proceeded on her journey. Soon, all she heard was the much more pleasant sound that nature made on a completely normal day in late afternoon.

She wasn't scared. Only wondered where she was-- non vocally, mind. And the forest answered.

This place was known as The Boscage, her name was Timbril now, and she belonged to the trees.

Current State:
Absolutely fine. So long as she follows the main and most crucial rule laid down for her - never revert back to your old title - everything is good. While she has that going for her, she can't deny she's been experiencing some pain. Like the sort of pain you get when you pull a muscle, but all over. Reminding her strangely of the pain she had felt in her stomach days before she got her cutie mark all those years ago.

____

Notes:

I know her story seems kinda weird right now. It's meant to sound every bit as detached as it does, I promise. The fact that she was separated from her family by forces beyond her control should bother her a lot more than what is being presented. It'll be fleshed out in time, I hope.

I'll check on here actively if I'm in the middle of an RP, but I'm not sure how 100% active I'll be outside of that. (Then again, I go back on things I say way more than I should, so.)

Another important thing is that I'm not so sure this world I imagined for Timbril is canon Equestria. It might be some AU thing. This is just what I'm thinking at this time.

[Misty Fly]

hmm nice backstory and...shes a female? her muzzle looks like male to me

[CadyD16]

I'm glad to hear that you think the backstory part is good. That was the part I was most iffy about, tbh.

And I think I know what you mean about the muzzle. If I was drawing a stallion, I'd either make the muzzle the same size OR I'd make it even broader. I've tried in the past to replicate the small, delicate mare face from the show, but it never looks right. Looks too much like I'm copying something directly. So I prefer drawing the ponies more my style, which is making them look more like the "small horses" that they are.

[annosrules]

I have felt the pain of the great muzzle debate in oc's, so I'm glad that you've found a design that you are comfortable with.

[CadyD16]

Thank you. ^^