Post by Silk Suture on Dec 24, 2013 2:59:53 GMT
-General Stuff-
Name: Silk Suture
Nickname/Alias(es): N/A
Race: Pegasus
Gender: Male
Age: Stallion, perhaps in his early thirties if translated to human years. Most likely looks a bit older to many.
Additional Status: Just recently moved to Ponyville to start his pharmacy store. When working in his store, wears a short, white coat with a white dress shirt and a black tie underneath. Also has small, rectangular pince-nez style eyeglasses, required for reading. They're not something he wears on his muzzle all the time, however, as he couldn't see far with them. When they're not needed, the reading glasses are either in his coat's front pocket or just left home.
-Physical Stuff-
Pelt Color: Very dark blue with a slight purple tint
Mane/Tail Color and Style: Both his mane and tail are black, the kind with a blue shine to it. Silk Suture's mane is cut in a style that best resembles a pageboy haircut, long enough to go just below his jaw. The edges are cut very straight and his bangs come just above his eyes. His tail hasn't been cut in any certain style, but it is quite thin and wispy, and long enough to almost touch the ground.
Eye Color: Bright orange
Cutie Mark: A pale yellow chalice with a blue snake coiled around its stem, the snake's body arching over the right side of the cup and its head poised above it. It's like the Bowl of Hygieia, a symbol of pharmacy to symbolize his skill with his trade.
Other Scars/Markings: A small, light scar is left on the left side of his muzzle, a vertical scratch mark less than an inch away from the corner of his mouth.
Physique: Skinny, with long and slender legs. Barely any muscle.
Overall Appearance:
His muzzle is pointy and honestly a rather dainty little thing, narrow and the bridge of his nose has an obvious concave side profile. A small scratch mark can be seen on the left side of his muzzle, faded with time but still visible. Silk Suture's mane is about as silky as his name might imply, black, straight and with a healthy shine, though it's not very thick. His mane has been very carefully cut, its edges very straight and while most of it is long enough to go past his jaw, the pat that goes down his neck has been cut very short and points up. Two larger than average ears separate the side hair that frames his face from the bangs in front, which has been cut to end just above his eyes. His eyes are bright orange – yet not full of energy as the color might imply, but instead the pair looks more tired than anything. Or perhaps annoyed, with droopy eyelids and dark circles under his eyes. Some age can be seen on his face, as some wrinkles can already be found around his eyes.
Silk Suture has his cutie mark on both of his flanks, just like any other pony that has realized their calling and that one special talent. His is a version of the Bowl of Hygieia, a yellow chalice with a pale blue snake coiled around it and poised above it. A symbol of pharmacy for a pharmacist. And finally, at the end of his back starts a long, flowing tail. Black like his mane, a wispy thing curving down until it almost hits the ground, tapering to a point.
While he doesn't always need them and they actually would be a hindrance during normal life, Silk Suture has a pair of rectangular reading glasses, small and only supported by his nose. He doesn't always carry them with him as he doesn't need to read constantly, they would just get in the way. Often they are left home, but if he happens to carry something with pockets or any other places where he could easily store his glasses without breaking them, then that's where they will travel with him. Silk Suture isn't one to wear clothes unless they're needed, but he is a pharmacist and wants to look professional, so he always wears a white coat when working. It is basically a doctor's coat with a little front pocket, stopping at the middle of his back and the sleeves come up to his knees. Otherwise – while rare – any clothes he wears would have to look neat and dignified, but of course nothing too fancy unless formal attire is required.[/ul]
-Social Stuff-
Current Residence: Ponyville, a two-story house doubling as both his house and shop
Job: Pharmacist
Mother: A unicorn living in Canterlot, a doctor who owns a clinic with her husband
Father: A doctor just like his wife and a unicorn as well, though getting up there in the age and has mostly let Silk Suture's brother take over his job
Sibling(s): An older brother, yet another unicorn doctor in the unicorn doctor family helping the family business to boom
Closest Friends: Well, at the moment, it probably has to be his brother
Courting/Courted By: N/A
Mate: N/A
Foal(s): N/A
-Personality Stuff-
Likes:
●Tea – He absolutely loves tea. He loves drinking it, brewing it, trying new flavors, making his own mix, the smell, everything. There's really nothing he enjoys more than a nice cup of tea.
●Reading – Always a fan of spending time alone in a quiet place with a book, preferring learning something new over fictional stories.
●Gathering plants – Almost always such a pleasure, knowing you picked your high quality ingredients with your very own hoof. At least you'll be able to say where exactly you got something, if anyone ever asks.
●Travel – Always such a pleasure, especially if it's by train. Something he really should be doing more.
●Strong (mentally) ponies – Nothing is more pleasant to see than a pony who knows what they're doing and why, having set goals and the will to succeed no matter what.
Dislikes:
●Needles – It's not quite enough for it to actually be a fear, but sticking needles in his own skin definitely makes him squeamish. He can deal with it, but he definitely won't enjoy it and avoids if he can – and poking needles into someone else isn't too enjoyable, either.
●Mess – He's a bit of a neat freak...
●Bad smells – Easily ties to the previous dislike, but he has a rather keen nose. Something that smells disgusting will be very difficult to ignore and will nauseate him, often feeling that way even when others aren't having much trouble dealing with the smell.
●Yelling – Use indoor voice when there's absolutely no reason to shout, thank you.
●Hyperactive creatures – It is annoying to him, he much prefers others to stay calm and sit down, or something. It's quite difficult for him to control excited ponies without losing his temper, as well.
●Being called old – Come on, he's not that old!
●Dangerous situations in general where he or someone else he feels the need to protect is in danger – Silk Suture can't really protect anyone from physical harm thanks to his rather weak body, and unfortunately – or perhaps fortunately – he understands that. Understanding doesn't make it any better, it only makes him feel completely helpless.
●Ignorance – Ignorance is bliss, some say. Silk Suture says it's idiotic and a stupid excuse to refuse to study and learn.
Motivation: Silk Suture wants to help others to stay healthy, in both mind and body. He knows he has a lot of knowledge about the latter, and some of the things he has learned might very well help with the former, so he's at least going to try if he sees a problem like that in case he might be able to help.
Strengths:
●Knowledge of medicine – Perhaps obvious, considering what his talent is. Silk Suture knows how to make many kinds of things to help ponies with illnesses, from powders to pills to ointments to liquid medicine. He often knows just the thing needed to treat an ailment.
●Medical education – And of course, he also can recognize what the problem with someone is due to his training – even some magical ones, as he grew up and studied in a mostly unicorn-populated city where things like that might come up. Silk Suture can also treat some small wounds himself if needed, but he would rather sent you to the hospital if self-medication won't work.
●Plant knowledge – Herbal remedies play a big part when it comes to healing, and seeing that he makes his own medicine, knowing what plant does what and being able to tell it apart from others is a very good skill to have.
●Trained calmness – The ability to remain calm in situations with hurt ponies comes with his medical background. He knows what to do and knows that panicking will only make it worse for everyone, there's no need to panic. He can do that after the danger is over.
●Book smart – Has read a lot and knows a little bit of this and that.
●Gentle touch – He can do some very delicate work and put just the right amount of pressure so nothing is broken and no one is hurt any more than they have to.
●Keen sense of smell – Silk Suture can really trust his nose, being pretty good at identifying a lot of smells.
●Comfortable with who he is – He does know he has his shortcomings that he should work on, but really, he's pretty happy with what he's done and who he has grown up to be for the most part. Especially when things go well. And he hopes he could show everyone to be able to see past their own faults to see the good things, as well.
Weaknesses/Flaws:
●Farsighted – Can't see anything close to him too well, making reading impossible without glasses.
●Physical prowess – That is to say, none. Silk Suture isn't strong, fast or very endurant in any way.
●Self-defense – Needless to say, he's not really going to be able to put up a good fight if he ever gets in danger.
●Flying – Hasn't really done much of it and it definitely is not one of his strongest points; he can fly and look alright doing it, but he's not fast and doesn't really have the needed muscle to keep on going for long. And trying to lift your average mare off the ground, forget it. The best he can do is reduce someone's fall to a slow enough one so it won't hurt.
●Social skills – Silk Suture isn't very good in casual situations. Handling customers he can do, being understanding of hurt ponies, sure. But smalltalk, making friends? That's a lot more difficult.
●Keeping his tongue in check – If he thinks something is wrong and it starts annoying him too much, he can't stay deadpan forever and must voice his concern. While that might sound heroic, in many cases it actually translates to him becoming quite insulting and possibly blaming someone who really doesn't deserve to be blamed.
●Kind of a snob – Hey, he did grow up in Canterlot... He could be much worse and someone who is sick will be given a pretty nice treatment – and very young fillies and colts will generally be forgiven – but ponies who don't show any class won't be thought too highly off. Which might result in him saying something about it.
●Easily annoyed – Even if he did manage to keep his tongue in check for once, it doesn't stop him from growing even more cold and distant as he tries to ignore whatever the source of the annoyance is, often meaning he is quite rude to loud and hyperactive ponies.
●Slow to trust – It definitely takes Silk Suture a while to learn to trust someone with anything personal.
●Strong (often bad) smells – He has a good sense of smell, so anything that has a too powerful odor is going to make life very difficult for him.
●Pony-based training – Can only really be sure about what a pony's problem is or what he can do about it. Other kinds of creatures are quite foreign to him.
●Looks – He's not the most attractive-looking pony... Though perhaps that's subjective.
Fears:
●Making a mistake and really hurting someone – Considering his job, it's always a possibility if he's not taking it seriously enough.
●Ghosts – Okay, something like that doesn't actually exist, right? Right?
●Big and strong scary monster things with lots of pointy teeth and claws that no one was meant to see – Come on, who wouldn't be afraid of something like that if they were face to face with it?
●Losing someone important – An unfortunate thing that does happen in life, but when it's something sudden and unexpected, it's quite horrible. Worse than usual, something you can't prepare yourself for.
Overall Persona:
Of course the pony would want to have friends. He has a hard time getting any seeing that he keeps his distance and doesn't really want to trust anyone, but he does really care about his friends. Enough to become overprotective and perhaps a bit harsh towards them at points. If he thinks someone he cares about could have avoided getting hurt and Silk Suture has been worried, of course he will yell about that, hoping the pony or other creature in question would think twice before doing something so stupid again. Tough love, that certain fatherly quality the ones on the receiving end usually don't understand or like at all. But Silk Suture's own distress is often quite clear at a moment like this, perhaps making it obvious that he's only doing it because he's worried and he was scared. Because he knows he really shouldn't be yelling at those who come to him for help, much less his friends, he does apologize quite fast in situations like that. He doesn't mean to be angry or hurt anyone's feelings, but again, sometimes he has a hard time controlling himself.
Silk Suture is actually a quite kind pony, in the end. Perhaps his outer shell is cold and hard, but there is a really soft stallion hidden under all that – even under the sarcastic layer one will most likely find before the kind one. You can really see it when he works with those who are hurt or ill, seeing exactly how gentle and understanding he can be with someone when he knows it's what he should do. He is a pharmacist and while that has a lot to do with his skill at actually making medicine, it all stems from his want to help others. He finds it his job to keep others healthy or at least help them get better when hurt in some way, often in the way of medical aid when it comes to his job, but he's not always working and things happen. And hey, if he actually can get over his professional act and warms up a bit to someone, he can share what little wisdom he has learned during his life. It's not easy and Silk Suture tends to avoid talking to ponies he doesn't have to, but if someone just pushes back a bit harder, he very well might find another friend to have meaningful conversations with. And that's something he can be thankful for, later.
He's not exactly what you'd call stupid, seeing that he does like to study and has finished his schools. His biggest moments of stupid would of course be the social situations where things don't go like he would want them to go, but when it comes to medical knowledge, he really knows his thing. It's his life and his job, his passion and what makes him want to go on despite hardships. Herbal medicine leads to a certain understanding and love for plants, which leads into a love for tea that he will quite readily share – perhaps one of the best ways to gain his friendship and trust without pushing him so far he blows up in your face, in fact. It's all those good features about life he wants to concentrate on, knowing that his strong parts really make him something special, something that can be of help to everyone. And well, yes, he understands his faults as well and he is trying to conquer them slowly but surely, but he is quite happy the way he is. He can always change and has enough humility to accept his failures after he has managed to think about them for a while with a calm, rational mind.
And really, when something bad happens and it's something where Silk Suture is needed to keep everyone calm, you can bet that he will do his job as well as he could, no matter what. He is trained to remain calm when others panic, so that's what he can do. Remaining calm in other situations – the lack of such ability so to speak – is his biggest fault.[/ul]
History:
The landslide wasn't a big one and no one got really hurt, but the ponies were still hurt a bit. Being in the best condition, Silk Suture gently floated down using his wings and assessed the situation. Finally all his time spent studying had paid off and he knew how to help his classmates – well, at least to the best of his capabilities and with the limited equipment he had. But where he could be really helpful was his knowledge of plants and their medical properties, easily managing to identify some in the woods that could ease the pain of those who were hurt.
Long story short, the landslide and missing foals attracted the attention of others and the group was saved, a bit hurt and mostly scared, but fine. And already quite well treated thanks to a certain young colt. Silk Suture walked away with a scar... And a cutie mark to represent his talent he had finally found. And that day he understood something about finding oneself, how you can't just decide it or study or do something you think is cool and expect yourself to realize what you really are. What he really had to do was to feel his true calling, his need to help others and how he could use his skills to do exactly that. Silk Suture had always thought that his path was the same as his parents and brother, and while it certainly was very close in his case, it wasn't something that could be forced. It was about self-realization, not the expectations of others – or even himself!
With a cutie mark, Silk Suture knew what his path in life was. He trained and worked, perfecting his talent and becoming a pharmacist, assisting his family clinic in Canterlot for quite a long time. Life was good, but the Everfree forest started to attract the stallion with all the plants it had and well, he thought he really could do with starting his own little business elsewhere. He had saved enough money and all he really had to do was to say goodbyes to his parents and brother, of course promising to come back to visit them. Everfree forest's medical properties pulled him to Ponyville, where he finally decided to set up shop and live his life for some time, at least. Hard to say if he was going to settle down as the small village life – at least compared to Canterlot – was quite foreign to him and something he's not sure if he will ever get used to, but he wasn't going to be a quitter. It might take a little time, but he knows that in the end, he'll succeed. Like always. He had a goal, and the Everfree forest was going to be explored for its bounty of flora.[/ul]