Wednesday, May 14, 2014
ALL the Storyboards!
So even when I finished the storyboards the first time around after Chuck's critique, I was still dissatisfied. So I ended up re-redrawing them, and tweaking the ending. This has been my first experience storyboarding and it's definitely more work than I expected - I still have to decide how much I enjoy doing them. But here they are!
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Story Revisioning
So I've been trying to nail my story down so that I can hit the ground running with storyboarding over spring break. Chuck's critique was super helpful to help me zone in on the problems.
In this updated version, we start immediately on the beach. Benjy and his mom are setting up in camp, when mid-sunscreen application Benjy hears a scream from the beach (note to self - ask Chuck if an off camera scream is OK or if it falls under the no-dialogue rule). Benjy, scrambling , throws his Floater outfit on and makes a run for the water with his shovel in his hand.
We cut to a teenage girl in the water, looking disgusted, removing seaweed off her shoulder. She tosses it at the beach, where it lands at Benjy's feet. It seems innocent until it starts to inch away on the sand. Shocked, Benjy makes a swing for it with his shovel! It dodges him, and slithers back into the sea.
Running, Benjy puts his goggles on and enters the water. He starts paddling, his floaties keeping him, well, a-float. He sees the rise and fall of seaweed descending from the surface to deeper in the water. The seaweed descends near some rocks in the water. Benjy looks under the water, and sees the looming seaweed monster. He gasps, bubbles escaping his mouth and he jumps out of the water onto the rock. He catches his breath, and with his shovel, jumps back in. He can only get so deep with the floaties on, that he ends up struggling to go deeper, and the seaweed, noticing him, snatches one of his fins right off his feet. He tries again to go deeper, but the seaweed grabs him again and this time tries to drag him down, but the floaties pull him back up in resistance and he ultimately slips out of his other fin and propels back up.
Gasping, he pulls himself back on the rock. He catches his breath and peers back at the water. Finally, he removes the floatie and dives back on, this time without his security device. Free of the floaties, he can dive straight down, and battles with the seaweed, shovel in hand. He swings, and swings, missing. Ultimately he has to draw the seaweed back to the surface, just in time for a wave to knock him and the seaweed back onto shore.
The seaweed is now a sluggish pile on the sand, compared to the swift seaweed in the water. Despite being knocked about from the wave, Benjy draws himself up and stabs the heart of the seaweed with the shovel. The seaweed shakes and giving its "last breath" finally settles on the sand. The floaties land on the sand from the waves behind Benjy, and grabbing the floaties, Benjy starts walking to his mom. The camera pans down as Benjy walks away in the background. The shot ends on the seaweed with the shovel in the foreground.
Now it can either a) pan down and have it turn out to be just mashed up sands and strips of seaweed, implying it was all in Benjy's head. Or b) we pan down, see the pile from before, and right before the short ends, a strip of seaweed starts to inch away.
In this updated version, we start immediately on the beach. Benjy and his mom are setting up in camp, when mid-sunscreen application Benjy hears a scream from the beach (note to self - ask Chuck if an off camera scream is OK or if it falls under the no-dialogue rule). Benjy, scrambling , throws his Floater outfit on and makes a run for the water with his shovel in his hand.
We cut to a teenage girl in the water, looking disgusted, removing seaweed off her shoulder. She tosses it at the beach, where it lands at Benjy's feet. It seems innocent until it starts to inch away on the sand. Shocked, Benjy makes a swing for it with his shovel! It dodges him, and slithers back into the sea.
Running, Benjy puts his goggles on and enters the water. He starts paddling, his floaties keeping him, well, a-float. He sees the rise and fall of seaweed descending from the surface to deeper in the water. The seaweed descends near some rocks in the water. Benjy looks under the water, and sees the looming seaweed monster. He gasps, bubbles escaping his mouth and he jumps out of the water onto the rock. He catches his breath, and with his shovel, jumps back in. He can only get so deep with the floaties on, that he ends up struggling to go deeper, and the seaweed, noticing him, snatches one of his fins right off his feet. He tries again to go deeper, but the seaweed grabs him again and this time tries to drag him down, but the floaties pull him back up in resistance and he ultimately slips out of his other fin and propels back up.
Gasping, he pulls himself back on the rock. He catches his breath and peers back at the water. Finally, he removes the floatie and dives back on, this time without his security device. Free of the floaties, he can dive straight down, and battles with the seaweed, shovel in hand. He swings, and swings, missing. Ultimately he has to draw the seaweed back to the surface, just in time for a wave to knock him and the seaweed back onto shore.
The seaweed is now a sluggish pile on the sand, compared to the swift seaweed in the water. Despite being knocked about from the wave, Benjy draws himself up and stabs the heart of the seaweed with the shovel. The seaweed shakes and giving its "last breath" finally settles on the sand. The floaties land on the sand from the waves behind Benjy, and grabbing the floaties, Benjy starts walking to his mom. The camera pans down as Benjy walks away in the background. The shot ends on the seaweed with the shovel in the foreground.
Now it can either a) pan down and have it turn out to be just mashed up sands and strips of seaweed, implying it was all in Benjy's head. Or b) we pan down, see the pile from before, and right before the short ends, a strip of seaweed starts to inch away.
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Plus, playing around a little with how the seaweed monster should look... I have to keep it simple, but still want it to be fluid in the water.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Character Design Pt. 2
Cleaned Up Character Designs updated as March 11th:
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Everything below were the clean ups I did prior to Chuck's critique (posted March 4th). The things that were noted to change involved the eyes/eyebrows being clearer to better demonstrate emotion, a less naturalistic style (more cartoony), clearer costuming with the bathing cap… and a better understanding of the limbs.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Character Design Part 1!
5 Model Turn Around:
7 Rough Expression Poses:
Rough 3D Shapes:
Extra Doodling (playing with styles, especially eyes):
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Rough Draft - Story Assignment
We have not yet gone over our critiques for our Tollbooth exercise, so I'm still unsure which story I'm doing (hopefully going over my feedback from Chuck will make it clearer which to do). But I didn't want to have nothing for the assigment, so here's a rough for now.
THE FLOATER Story Outline -
Act I:
Scene 1: Girls on the beach get freaked out by seaweed, laugh it off.
Scene 2: Benji and his mom arrive at the beach.
Scene 3: Girls actually begin to struggle with the seaweed. Benji goes over, pulling the seaweed away.
Act II:
Scene 1: Benji gets pulled down long enough to find out [TWIST] that seaweed is an actual monster.
Scene 2: He puts on his "Floater" costume - superhero "change".
Scene 3: Benji starts attacking the seaweed on the surface.
Scene 4: The monster retaliates, and captures Benji forcing him to be knocked down by the wave.
Act III:
Scene 1: Benji is winded by the wave, and his morale is low.
Scene 2: He dives back into the water for a final battle, leaving his floaties behind.
Scene 3: Benji draws the seaweed back to the surface, long enough for a wave to finally knock it back to shore.
Scene 4: Now that the monster is out of water, Benji can finally throw it into a bonfire (though the beachgoers' with said bonfires don't seem happy that a pile of seaweed has now put out the fire).
Scene 5: Benji rejoins his mom for hot dogs and smores, now that the beach is safe.
The Story Itself:
THE FLOATER Story Outline -
Act I:
Scene 1: Girls on the beach get freaked out by seaweed, laugh it off.
Scene 2: Benji and his mom arrive at the beach.
Scene 3: Girls actually begin to struggle with the seaweed. Benji goes over, pulling the seaweed away.
Act II:
Scene 1: Benji gets pulled down long enough to find out [TWIST] that seaweed is an actual monster.
Scene 2: He puts on his "Floater" costume - superhero "change".
Scene 3: Benji starts attacking the seaweed on the surface.
Scene 4: The monster retaliates, and captures Benji forcing him to be knocked down by the wave.
Act III:
Scene 1: Benji is winded by the wave, and his morale is low.
Scene 2: He dives back into the water for a final battle, leaving his floaties behind.
Scene 3: Benji draws the seaweed back to the surface, long enough for a wave to finally knock it back to shore.
Scene 4: Now that the monster is out of water, Benji can finally throw it into a bonfire (though the beachgoers' with said bonfires don't seem happy that a pile of seaweed has now put out the fire).
Scene 5: Benji rejoins his mom for hot dogs and smores, now that the beach is safe.
The Story Itself:
We open with some girls laughing in the water,
while one of them screams at the feel of seaweed around her legs. She pulls it
out of the water, laughing as well and throws it upon the shore. The sand is
covered with towels and lawn chairs, people tanning and tossing Frisbees as
cars pull up to the shore. One car in particular pulls up – a small blue VW bug
from which Benji and his mother emerge. His mother starts to pull out the
umbrellas and towels, while Benji with a big grin on his face, hurriedly makes his
way towards the beach.
Assessing the area, Benji finds the perfect spot on the shore and yells to his mother to hurry. The mother’s hands are full, with an umbrella on her back, an ice chest in one hand, and a bag in the other. She places the umbrella in the sand to claim Benji’s spot, and Benji begins to pull his supplies out of the bag. Before he can get in the water, his mother stops him, spraying him with sunscreen and applying a zinc coat to his nose.
Benji runs to the waves and dives in. He is enthralled with the water, and looks through his goggles to examine the shells, the fish. When suddenly, he hears the girls scream again. This time, the three girls are all struggling to get back to shore, where seaweed is clearly pulling at their legs. Benji starts paddling over, and pulls the seaweed away, but ends up getting pulled into the water. Never letting go of his grip, he's holding his breath as he goes deeper only to make eye contact with the monster itself. He gasps, losing his grip, and rising again to the surface. He runs back to his mother and starts putting on his fins, floaters, and goggles, becoming his own personal hero, "the Floater". He also grabs his plastic shovel and pail, and starts stabbing the seaweed still floating on shore, gathering it in his pail to throw back on the land and diving down long enough to sever the connections. The monster, growing more upset as its "arms " continue to be torn away, draws closer to the surface. It grabs Benji, who struggles to break free. But the monster holds on long enough for a big wave to come crashing Benji down, tossing him onto the shore with the rest of the seaweed pieces.
Once Benji catches his breath long enough to return to the water, the seaweed monster is already descending to the depths. He can see his fin sinking with the monster, still clutched in the monster's kelp arm from when it had Benji in a hold. Determinedly, Benji climbs the closest rock and removes his floaters. While he now feels more vulnerable than he ever has before, he knows what "The Floater" needs to do. Placing his remaining fin and floaters down, he dives into the water, smooth as can be. Making long strokes, he swims down and down.
Assessing the area, Benji finds the perfect spot on the shore and yells to his mother to hurry. The mother’s hands are full, with an umbrella on her back, an ice chest in one hand, and a bag in the other. She places the umbrella in the sand to claim Benji’s spot, and Benji begins to pull his supplies out of the bag. Before he can get in the water, his mother stops him, spraying him with sunscreen and applying a zinc coat to his nose.
Benji runs to the waves and dives in. He is enthralled with the water, and looks through his goggles to examine the shells, the fish. When suddenly, he hears the girls scream again. This time, the three girls are all struggling to get back to shore, where seaweed is clearly pulling at their legs. Benji starts paddling over, and pulls the seaweed away, but ends up getting pulled into the water. Never letting go of his grip, he's holding his breath as he goes deeper only to make eye contact with the monster itself. He gasps, losing his grip, and rising again to the surface. He runs back to his mother and starts putting on his fins, floaters, and goggles, becoming his own personal hero, "the Floater". He also grabs his plastic shovel and pail, and starts stabbing the seaweed still floating on shore, gathering it in his pail to throw back on the land and diving down long enough to sever the connections. The monster, growing more upset as its "arms " continue to be torn away, draws closer to the surface. It grabs Benji, who struggles to break free. But the monster holds on long enough for a big wave to come crashing Benji down, tossing him onto the shore with the rest of the seaweed pieces.
Once Benji catches his breath long enough to return to the water, the seaweed monster is already descending to the depths. He can see his fin sinking with the monster, still clutched in the monster's kelp arm from when it had Benji in a hold. Determinedly, Benji climbs the closest rock and removes his floaters. While he now feels more vulnerable than he ever has before, he knows what "The Floater" needs to do. Placing his remaining fin and floaters down, he dives into the water, smooth as can be. Making long strokes, he swims down and down.
*Now I'm not sure how the final battle will go
after this. Will he actually defeat the monster, getting it back to shore? If
so how will he? Or will he find out the monster is actually acting out because
it's hurt or something along those lines, and actually save the monster - and
thus save everyone else. So yes, I am stumped on the ending right now.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Character Development #2: The Floater
Note: I cut my three favorite ideas down to two, so I have two different Character Developments, in hopes that it will help me further my decision of which short film to make. This is my 2nd version, the 1st is the post below this one. Thanks for reading!
Backstory:
Benji has loved swimming for as long as he can remember. When he was three years old, he used to wade into the water fountains at malls, that is, before his parents promptly found him and scolded him for scaring them. Now an accomplished swimmer for his much more grown-up age of nine and a half, Benji is allowed to swim in the deep end or even in the ocean, so long as he wears his floaters and swim gear.
But a strange thing happens when Benji puts on his gears. To the average viewer, Benji looks like any kid in a swim cap, goggles, floaters, and a bold white patch of zinc oxide on his nose. But for Benji, he becomes “The Floater”, the coolest of superheroes, and his swim attire is his battle gear.
Benji feels empowered in the water. On land, especially in the classroom, Benji tends to be shy and has trouble making friends. But in the water, Benji is invincible, feeling the power in every stroke, compared to at school where he often feels slow and fat.
Furthermore, Benji is such a professional, that he often is able to defeat his enemies without causing a panic in the populace! His parents may not acknowledge his numerous missions, but Benji does not take it personally. They do not see the world as he does, so he selflessly continues to defeat his foes, even if he knows his parents will never know the risks he’s taken to protect them from the Spaghetti Monster of ‘08, the ever changing Darkness vampires, etc.
But what happens should Benji find his enemies on his own turf? One day at the beach Benji hears shrieks as various beachgoers scream after finding seaweed wrapped around their legs. The beachgoers dismiss it upon discovery and continue to frolic in the sand… but Benji knows better than to blindly accept what he’s seen. He investigates the scene, and discovers a monster unlike any he’s found before. STAY TUNED.
Backstory:
Benji has loved swimming for as long as he can remember. When he was three years old, he used to wade into the water fountains at malls, that is, before his parents promptly found him and scolded him for scaring them. Now an accomplished swimmer for his much more grown-up age of nine and a half, Benji is allowed to swim in the deep end or even in the ocean, so long as he wears his floaters and swim gear.
But a strange thing happens when Benji puts on his gears. To the average viewer, Benji looks like any kid in a swim cap, goggles, floaters, and a bold white patch of zinc oxide on his nose. But for Benji, he becomes “The Floater”, the coolest of superheroes, and his swim attire is his battle gear.
Benji feels empowered in the water. On land, especially in the classroom, Benji tends to be shy and has trouble making friends. But in the water, Benji is invincible, feeling the power in every stroke, compared to at school where he often feels slow and fat.
Furthermore, Benji is such a professional, that he often is able to defeat his enemies without causing a panic in the populace! His parents may not acknowledge his numerous missions, but Benji does not take it personally. They do not see the world as he does, so he selflessly continues to defeat his foes, even if he knows his parents will never know the risks he’s taken to protect them from the Spaghetti Monster of ‘08, the ever changing Darkness vampires, etc.
But what happens should Benji find his enemies on his own turf? One day at the beach Benji hears shrieks as various beachgoers scream after finding seaweed wrapped around their legs. The beachgoers dismiss it upon discovery and continue to frolic in the sand… but Benji knows better than to blindly accept what he’s seen. He investigates the scene, and discovers a monster unlike any he’s found before. STAY TUNED.
Attributes:
- foolhardy
- courageous
- morally strong
- physically weak
- caring
- insecure
- naïve
- precocious
- stubborn
- impulsive
- bright
- creative
- quick
Tollbooth Exercise:
Benji stared at the tollbooth, unsure what to do next. His mother had wanted him to stay close to her but he had already made plans of his own, taking off in his electric toy car so he could do his neighborhood surveillance. He liked to drive up and down the pier so he could check the well-being of his fellow citizens and assess for danger. But some changes had been made to the boardwalk since Benji’s last rounds - his shortcut back to the beach was now blocked by an imposing metallic tollbooth. It seemed to leer over him, as many adult-sized contraptions usually do.
Exiting the vehicle, Benji adjusted his floaties and put his foot in the tollbooth’s change dish to try to boost himself up When he looked in, he could see the video feed of his car on the monitor and a lot of flashing lights, but there were no dads or moms inside to let him pass.
Carefully, he lowered himself back onto the ground, scratching his head through his swim cap as he planned his next move. Walking over to the tollbooth, he hunched over to get under the gate and straightening his legs, tried to push the gate up. He strained and heaved, his face looking more and more sunburnt as he overexerted himself.
He released the gate, and still hunched, looked back at his toy Hummer. When suddenly he had an idea. He hopped back in, made some necessary calculations, checked the wind speed, applied an extra coat of sunscreen, and of course buckled his seatbelt... And with his goggles in place, he slammed the gas pedal, putting the Hummer into high gear!
He kept his eyes to the front – one false move, and he could have another broken bone and his mother would FLIP. Timing it just right, he began to lean and right before they approached the gate, he ducked!
By keeping his head down, the Hummer were just shorted enough to coast under the Tollbooth without a scratch!
Benji gave out a great “Whoopee!”. He started to mentally re-run what had just occurred so that he could write it down in great detail in his Captain’s Log. But before he could go further than three feet towards the coastline, he had a pang of guilt and turned back around. Parking now on the opposite side of where he began, he once again scurried up the tollbooth. Fishing in his pockets, he placed two dimes, a mint and a Pokemon card in the change dish. He may have outwitted the tollbooth fair and square, but he knew the tollbooth deserved its rightful fare. Smiling, he ran back to the Hummer and rushed to the pier, where his mother would thoroughly scold him for running off but then kiss him anyway. And afterwards, they will make smores, tell stories, ending what would be another great day of adventure for "The Floater".
Tollbooth Exercise:
Benji stared at the tollbooth, unsure what to do next. His mother had wanted him to stay close to her but he had already made plans of his own, taking off in his electric toy car so he could do his neighborhood surveillance. He liked to drive up and down the pier so he could check the well-being of his fellow citizens and assess for danger. But some changes had been made to the boardwalk since Benji’s last rounds - his shortcut back to the beach was now blocked by an imposing metallic tollbooth. It seemed to leer over him, as many adult-sized contraptions usually do.
Exiting the vehicle, Benji adjusted his floaties and put his foot in the tollbooth’s change dish to try to boost himself up When he looked in, he could see the video feed of his car on the monitor and a lot of flashing lights, but there were no dads or moms inside to let him pass.
Carefully, he lowered himself back onto the ground, scratching his head through his swim cap as he planned his next move. Walking over to the tollbooth, he hunched over to get under the gate and straightening his legs, tried to push the gate up. He strained and heaved, his face looking more and more sunburnt as he overexerted himself.
He released the gate, and still hunched, looked back at his toy Hummer. When suddenly he had an idea. He hopped back in, made some necessary calculations, checked the wind speed, applied an extra coat of sunscreen, and of course buckled his seatbelt... And with his goggles in place, he slammed the gas pedal, putting the Hummer into high gear!
He kept his eyes to the front – one false move, and he could have another broken bone and his mother would FLIP. Timing it just right, he began to lean and right before they approached the gate, he ducked!
By keeping his head down, the Hummer were just shorted enough to coast under the Tollbooth without a scratch!
Benji gave out a great “Whoopee!”. He started to mentally re-run what had just occurred so that he could write it down in great detail in his Captain’s Log. But before he could go further than three feet towards the coastline, he had a pang of guilt and turned back around. Parking now on the opposite side of where he began, he once again scurried up the tollbooth. Fishing in his pockets, he placed two dimes, a mint and a Pokemon card in the change dish. He may have outwitted the tollbooth fair and square, but he knew the tollbooth deserved its rightful fare. Smiling, he ran back to the Hummer and rushed to the pier, where his mother would thoroughly scold him for running off but then kiss him anyway. And afterwards, they will make smores, tell stories, ending what would be another great day of adventure for "The Floater".
Character Development #1: Tales of Toast and Tea
Backstory:
Pyralis the Dragon was the most fearsome dragon of his age. They say he stood taller than any king, fire rumbling behind every word as he made his demands on the kingdom. Knights would travel lands far and wide to duel with him. He defeated many a brave soldier, but the few who brought him to his knees would be given any piece of his treasure as a trophy. But the truly worthy opponents would get something more precious than gold or jewels. Pyralis would grant the mightiest of conquerors a luminescent purple scale off his very back. Each scale was worth twice their weight in gold, and was the ultimate way for Pyralis to pay his respects.
But this past is now far behind him. In his old age, Pyralis will often use his aged scales for bartering in order to maintain a comfortable lifestyle now that he’s retired from the medieval business. He moved from his ominous home within the volcano, to a reasonably sized cave close to the market, but not too close so he can maintain his privacy.
While he may have looked forward to a rousing joust, Pyralis now loves nothing more than a good breakfast. Every day he prepares his toast and tea, and as he sits in his kitchen-cave he will often polish the silverware or read the latest news that arrives every day by Pigeon Courier. Should a knight come to his door, he will disregard their knocks. He is over 286 years old now – he has no time for petty squabbles!
When Pyralis looks in the mirror, he sees what was once a strong young man now hunched over in time. The eyes, once as red as the fire in his lungs, have grown cloudy with time. His purple scales have aged, and now show their cracks and fissures, after year of heavy-handed combat. He leans on his cane, made out of strong pine – a gift from his friend Sir Baldwin, a knight who he fought side bye side in the Great War against the Dark Trolls. Baldwin carved this pine cane for Pyralis as a token of friendship, and ever since Baldwin's death, Pyralis always keeps the cane close to his heart.
Any knight that would come disturb Pyralis now would be foolish to do so. Besides his weekly visits to the market to procure his favorite fish and tea, Pyralis is no longer connected to the human world ever since Sir Baldwin died decades prior. He’s worn weary of the machismo and hubris that usually accompanies the humans who dare challenge him.
Tollbooth Exercise:
On a warm midsummer’s afternoon, Pyralis drove in his jalopy down to the village. It was market day and he had his eye on some new sardines, as well as some glue to fix his teapot. He had knocked it off the table, breaking the handle mid-sneeze and he was already cranky that he had not had his morning cup.
As he drove down the hill, he was shocked to see a modern contraption obstructing the road. It was a tollbooth! His car sputtered to a stop and he squinted, his vision blurring as he tried to check if any guardsman was manning the station. He put the car into park, and started scratching the base of his tail. Once he had procured a dragon scale, he set it on the counter of the tollbooth as payment and returned to the seat of his car.
But no guardsman appeared to take his fare, or to turn the cogs to lift the wooden gate. Pyralis grumbled to himself, steam starting to exit his nostril. Again exiting his car, he hobbled to the gate as menacingly as he could. Solidly placing both feet in the ground, he prepared his fire to burn the gate down. But when he roared, the fire caught in his throat and he started to hack and cough and the flames emitted were faint and weak. Sadly the dragon that could once burn an entire pasture only had enough fire in him now to keep the kettle warm.
Exasperated, Pyralis began to pace. He couldn’t just fly over the gate like his air-kin. He was a cave-dragon, as much planted in the ground as the gems that grew on his kitchen floor. When suddenly he heard a bugle call. He turned and saw the silhouette of a knight on his noble steed! This was chance! He started roaring, if you can call it roaring as he still had a bit of a cough from earlier but it was enough to catch the knight’s attention.
The knight furrowed his brow, aware of the dragon’s challenge. Lowering his lance he began to charge. Pyralis placed himself firmly in front of the gate as the knight gained momentum. But before the knight could strike, Pyralis threw himself sideways onto the grass, and the knight’s steed galloped straight into gate! With a whopping CRACK both lance and gate snapped on impact and the knight was thrown from his horse, landing in the heather opposite Pyralis.
Though Pyralis knocked the air out of his lungs when he fell, he couldn’t help but chuckle as he gathered rose from the ground and hurried back to his car. Before the baffled knight could fathom what had just occurred, Pyralis was in his jalopy and off to market.
Pyralis the Dragon was the most fearsome dragon of his age. They say he stood taller than any king, fire rumbling behind every word as he made his demands on the kingdom. Knights would travel lands far and wide to duel with him. He defeated many a brave soldier, but the few who brought him to his knees would be given any piece of his treasure as a trophy. But the truly worthy opponents would get something more precious than gold or jewels. Pyralis would grant the mightiest of conquerors a luminescent purple scale off his very back. Each scale was worth twice their weight in gold, and was the ultimate way for Pyralis to pay his respects.
But this past is now far behind him. In his old age, Pyralis will often use his aged scales for bartering in order to maintain a comfortable lifestyle now that he’s retired from the medieval business. He moved from his ominous home within the volcano, to a reasonably sized cave close to the market, but not too close so he can maintain his privacy.
While he may have looked forward to a rousing joust, Pyralis now loves nothing more than a good breakfast. Every day he prepares his toast and tea, and as he sits in his kitchen-cave he will often polish the silverware or read the latest news that arrives every day by Pigeon Courier. Should a knight come to his door, he will disregard their knocks. He is over 286 years old now – he has no time for petty squabbles!
When Pyralis looks in the mirror, he sees what was once a strong young man now hunched over in time. The eyes, once as red as the fire in his lungs, have grown cloudy with time. His purple scales have aged, and now show their cracks and fissures, after year of heavy-handed combat. He leans on his cane, made out of strong pine – a gift from his friend Sir Baldwin, a knight who he fought side bye side in the Great War against the Dark Trolls. Baldwin carved this pine cane for Pyralis as a token of friendship, and ever since Baldwin's death, Pyralis always keeps the cane close to his heart.
Any knight that would come disturb Pyralis now would be foolish to do so. Besides his weekly visits to the market to procure his favorite fish and tea, Pyralis is no longer connected to the human world ever since Sir Baldwin died decades prior. He’s worn weary of the machismo and hubris that usually accompanies the humans who dare challenge him.
Attributes:
- experienced
- wise
- strong
- aged
- clever
- brave
- cheap
- scheming
- scheming
- impatient
- private
- introspective
- antisocial
- abrasive
- caring
- fair
Tollbooth Exercise:
On a warm midsummer’s afternoon, Pyralis drove in his jalopy down to the village. It was market day and he had his eye on some new sardines, as well as some glue to fix his teapot. He had knocked it off the table, breaking the handle mid-sneeze and he was already cranky that he had not had his morning cup.
As he drove down the hill, he was shocked to see a modern contraption obstructing the road. It was a tollbooth! His car sputtered to a stop and he squinted, his vision blurring as he tried to check if any guardsman was manning the station. He put the car into park, and started scratching the base of his tail. Once he had procured a dragon scale, he set it on the counter of the tollbooth as payment and returned to the seat of his car.
But no guardsman appeared to take his fare, or to turn the cogs to lift the wooden gate. Pyralis grumbled to himself, steam starting to exit his nostril. Again exiting his car, he hobbled to the gate as menacingly as he could. Solidly placing both feet in the ground, he prepared his fire to burn the gate down. But when he roared, the fire caught in his throat and he started to hack and cough and the flames emitted were faint and weak. Sadly the dragon that could once burn an entire pasture only had enough fire in him now to keep the kettle warm.
Exasperated, Pyralis began to pace. He couldn’t just fly over the gate like his air-kin. He was a cave-dragon, as much planted in the ground as the gems that grew on his kitchen floor. When suddenly he heard a bugle call. He turned and saw the silhouette of a knight on his noble steed! This was chance! He started roaring, if you can call it roaring as he still had a bit of a cough from earlier but it was enough to catch the knight’s attention.
The knight furrowed his brow, aware of the dragon’s challenge. Lowering his lance he began to charge. Pyralis placed himself firmly in front of the gate as the knight gained momentum. But before the knight could strike, Pyralis threw himself sideways onto the grass, and the knight’s steed galloped straight into gate! With a whopping CRACK both lance and gate snapped on impact and the knight was thrown from his horse, landing in the heather opposite Pyralis.
Though Pyralis knocked the air out of his lungs when he fell, he couldn’t help but chuckle as he gathered rose from the ground and hurried back to his car. Before the baffled knight could fathom what had just occurred, Pyralis was in his jalopy and off to market.
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