Gertrude Astray

## Gertrude Shadow Astray

### **Biggest Pet Peeve**

The rain. It gives me the bloody frizzies and puts the light in my eyes out and I can’t see nothing with that smoke.

### **Fav School Subject**

Dragonomics. Goods make the world go round and by learning how to control them, you can control the world. Or at least desperate monsters who’d give me anything. I should know how to price the valuables differently from worthless trash.

### **Favorite Color**

Mmm, Red. You can’t miss a color that gorgeous.

### **Favorite Food**

I scream you scream we all scream for ice cream

### **Diary**

what warning is written on the cover

**Gertrude Shadow Astray** is a 2018 introduced character. She is the cunning daughter of the Gytrash.Known for large scale pranks and misleading fleshmen into the catacombs by giving them the wrong directions to class, Gertrude has made a name for herself as one of the biggest troublemakers at Monster High. But that tricky exterior might as well simply be a barricade for the skeletons in her closet.

## Character

### Personality

* Sore Loser
* Likes sleepovers
* Clean freak

Because she’s distantly related to the Hobgoblins, Gertrude has a tendency to bargain. She often expects some kind of payment for any assistance she offers. However, this doesn’t necessarily have to be in cash or credit. In fact, she’ll take whatever’s given to her but her commitment depends on the potential value or personal interest in said object. For example, Gertrude would be as willing to help with homework when offered a seemingly worthless second-hand shirt with the print of a character from her fave show as a magical amulet that she can sell for a profit.

### Appearance

Gertrude in her most basic form resembles a hob because she is distantly related to them. She is well-built and has pointy goblin ears. She has a white birth mark that looks like a shooting star on her forehead with a tail that runs along her bridge of her nose (or in horse grading terms, a star and snip). Gertrude’s eyes are lumps of coal that burn with a blue flame that releases strands of white smoke. Her black hair is crimped with white highlights.

### Abilities and Interests

#### **Transfiguration**

Although Gertrude has opted for a slightly anthropomorphic form by default, she was born with a more goblin-like appearance with pointy ears. She is able to turn into one of the following creatures at a time:

* Horse:Gertrude can transform into a sturdy black Irish Cob with a wavy mane styled according to what hairstyle she wore in her human form, which means it could be braided or put into small buns.
* Dog: Gertrude can turn into a pitch black wolfdog.
* Although can't turn into a true chimera composed of parts of these animals, she can borrow some traits for her humanoid form. She usually choose to have horse ears and tail with sharp claws and canine teeth.

### History

What’s their backstory? What’s their school life like? Any notable events?

## Relationships

### Friends

Which ghouls and mansters do they fang out with? And why?

### Romance

What’s their opinion about it?
Who are they crushing on? Are they dating someone?

## Outfits

### Basic

Gertrude wears a redingote, puffy breeches with a branch like pattern, leg warmers and horse hoof boots. Her hair is put up in several small buns that form a mohawk on her head.

## Gallery

Her Skullette, created using Kittren's Skullette MakerGertrude by Ghoulish Artist from Monster High Amino!
## Notes

* Gertrude's name is a pun on "Go Astray", while her middle name pays homage to Nick Shadow, the devil from the opera A Rake's Progress who is responsible for leading the protagonist astray, who she is loosely based on. Alike Nick, she’s a terrible “servant”, bad influence and sore loser. Her basic design is also inspired by the design for his costume created by David Hockney.
* Gertrude is based on the meaning of the phrase “dark horse”: someone who is hiding their unpleasant past and someone who rises from obscurity.
* Her relations with the Hobs is based on the roots for the word Gytrash, with “trash” being another word for “thrush” as in “Hobthrush”.