The thing is, what I need is for someone to befriend Gattley (below) in order to pull him out of his shell. This might actually take multiple roleplays, a prospect that may scare everyone away. One thing that may bring them back: with every roleplay Gattley's character will become more interestingly developed, which will certainly end in some surprises for me. I guess that makes this kind of...a plot? Only without any actual, um...plot.
Anyway, here's Gattley.
Gattley, born Beakface, was raised in a circus. He performed all sorts of fabulous tricks, carrying his serpentine bulk through hoops and flying around the ring while acrobats performed amazing feats on his back--once even parroting a few grating human syllables. The crowds loved him; he was the star, the circus's moneymaking attraction, and he loved nothing more than his performances.But this was not one of those lovely modern circuses where all participants are treated well, no. Beakface was considered no more than a lowly beast. Whenever he wasn't in training or the ring, he was shackled in a smallcage on wheels, unable to move and fed only when the ringmaster's drunken assistant remembered. The Seraphent didn't understand why he was being treated this way--no one would have thought to explain it to him, and he had no contact with the other nonhuman performers. He assumed he was being punished for a bad performance, and so the next night he would try even harder to appease his masters. He pushed himself harder every night, until finally there came a night when he couldn't be dragged from his trailer for a performance. He had contracted some illness from neglect and overwork. The circus, unwilling to support a creature that couldn't work, abandoned him when they left town that night.
Beakface was left with no home to go to and the conviction that he was a worthless creature.
Since his rescue and renaming, Gattley has become only slightly more positive in his view of himself. He's had it beaten into his head that he never does anything right, and though he still loves to perform, he usually is pessimistic about his work afterward. However, continued encouragement has given rise to one hopeful development: his voice. Gattley's one foray into the territory of human language was not just a fluke; he is in fact able to speak several languages in gravelly tones, although his years in the circus were mostly silent. As he is convinced to open up more, Gattley's character is becoming more clear...but he won't come out of his shell on his own.
So...post away? Locations and such are entirely up to you. Gattley certainly doesn't care; he's been everywhere.
