Ri chū

3 Unnamed Siblings (NPCs)

Ivar, Eris, Azalea, and Akai (Half-Siblings)

## Application Sheet

Ri chū was a fluffy, light-furred she-wolf with blue eyes, an unknown daughter of Kiero Koi. She spent her time in the Domain in the pack Heyl, where she formed a small family, becoming co-parent with Crow to a young she-wolf, Barbosa. When Barbosa left and the situation in Heyl deteriorated, Ri chū elected to leave the Domain. She was created and RP'd by ShishiNoSeirei.

## Personality

* ***Insecure*.** Thanks to her Guardian's constant harsh critique, Ri have hard to believe in her strengths and the ability to do something right. She always tries to correct her work ethics even if she doesn't know what she did wrong or how to correct it. This leads to her becoming better and harder worker in some areas, but can also result in her destroyed work that was well done.
* ***Shy*.** From the very beginning Ri had always bee shy. Her shyness resulted in fear for the world around her, a fear that grew from the fact that she had to interact with it and with other wolves that were living there. While Ri is used to deal with her shyness and from time to time manages to even get past it and come across as very calm and confident in areas she feels comfortable in, it also can push her into the need to escape a conversation or a wolf she had been talking to and she accidentally slips with her pretend-act, showing her true shy-self.
* ***A Shadow.*** Ri is drawn to wolves that are bigger than her. It is something she started doing after she left her brother Mio behind. She misses his strong, big build and the friendship they had, and once she left she has been feeling huge void she is trying to fill in by anyone who reminds her even a little about Mio. Unfortunately, the only thing she looks at is the height of the wolf and isn't too concerned about other important aspects of personality.
* ***Adaptable, but Fearful.*** Thanks to her rough childhood, Ri can adapt to new ways of living very easily, even if she doesn't feel connected to this new place emotionally. While adaptable, she faces changes with fear. This constant battle with her fear makes her sometimes feel too tired to interact with others or makes her give up an idea that could result in positive (or negative) outcome.
* ***Never says No.*** Whenever its bad idea or not, she won't say no, believing the other wolf is just trying to teach her something new. Despite her bad experience with parents in the past, Ri cant make herself dislike or hate someone who pushes her away or into something she knows is wrong.
* ***Stubborn*.** A very rarely seen trait. Despite being insecure and shy, whenever Ri finds a purpose -be it at work, or in a still not discovered area- her stubborn attitude takes her through the task given to her, no matter how hard or impossible it looks like to her or others.

## Pre-Group History

Ri chū was born in a pack located near a big lake. The only details she remembers about her birthplace is the lake, her 3 siblings and her parents. While her parents loved her, their pack was facing big problems with overpopulation and low food resources, harsh decisions were made each day. The main goal of the pack was to keep only those who could take care of themselves as well as they took care of others, and didn't fear harsh times like this. Any wolf who showed any sign of weakness, either physical or emotional, was left behind or asked to leave the pack. Pups were valued, but also seen as a problem; since the pack was already bigger than their hunters managed to feed, only pups who showed promise of being able to feed themselves by hunting smaller wildlife were kept.

Ri was born last. Comparing to her siblings, despite being small but healthy and strong pup, her later development made her parents wish she never was born.  Her siblings embraced the day they were allowed to leave the cave with joy while Ri showed uncontrollable fear for almost everything around her, from random sunrays to shadows, grass, stones and even rain. She stayed in the cave and refused to leave, and whenever her parents took her out to make her face her fears, Ri ended up hiding between her parents' paws, trying to escape the area and whimpering until they gave up.

Her name became Ri chū, with meant rising sun, given by her mother not out of pride but to remind her of her worst fear. Ri preferred night over day, knowing that at night, she had to stay inside the cave and was expected to stay there until sunrise- the only rule Ri followed out without any protests. Evenings and nights where the only time Ri felt like a normal family member and doing something right. Unfortunately, this behavior made her parents grow tired of her and her weird behavior, and as soon the sun has risen, her mother took her out to an open, unfamiliar area far away from their packs land, and left her alone in the wild.  When the sun was slowly going down she was found by a pair of other strange wolves, who were passing by.

From that day Ri was being thrown around from one parent to another. Whoever took her in never kept her long enough to teach her anything of value, throwing her out as soon they realized she was useless. Realizing that nobody in this huge, scary world cared about her, Ri started to question herself and if it was really supposed to be born in the first place. She never got attached to anyone who took her in, knowing her new "home" would not last more than a couple of weeks before she had to change home again. This constant moving around made her immune to her old fear and learn to see the nature she once feared as her one and only family and home.

Her last "parents" became her saviors. While their attempt of drowning the impossible, shy pup was almost successful, it was their attempted murder that made Ri meet her guardian. She was fished up by a young male that was fishing. The young male carried his unusual catch to his father who took Ri in and nursed her back to proper health. From there on, Ri had a place to call home, food and at least someone she could go to if she got into any trouble.

As soon Ri reached a juvenile age, she was expected to carry her own weight. Her days began early in the morning at the stream and ended there as well. Just like her guardian and her adoptive brother she spent her days fishing. It was hard work and for some wolves, it was probably incredibly boring, however, Ri found this task enjoyable. It allowed her to get to know her brother Mio who - despite being huge and overprotective- was the first and only family member and friend she ever had. Despite being built for strength and power, his huge body built never scared her. She realized that despite his dreams of power and glory Mio was a gentle and stable wolf, rarely angered by anything. They spent their days talking about all kind of things, and it was first when she became familiar with the word "love". Mio was in a relationship with a loner, planning to create a family and hopefully a pack of their own one day. The word - and concept- of love was new. Ri had no idea what it meant but was fully aware all families, whenever it was a group of strangers or blood-related ones, had to love each other in order for them to be able to love themselves. It was first when Mio had to explain to his sister how one created such said pack that she realized she was different from Mio and probably her Guardian as well.

Comparing to those two, she felt no deep emotions to anyone. Not in the way Mio felt about his lover, or how wolves felt about their mates. One very simple and - as Mio said- "normal" feeling as lacking. Convincing herself it was because she was too young to feel such feelings, Ri followed Mio everywhere. He taught her about herbs and showed her with mushrooms where safe to eat, and with things had to be avoided. He also taught her how to reverse common effects of poisoning. Mio was, in some strange sense, her guardian, parent and brother all in one.

Her real guardian, the elderly wolf who nursed her back to health and made sure she could grow strong and healthy as all pups were intended to, was the one who ended up hurting her in his own way. While not being as cruel as anyone else had been, and never taking to physical violence, her Guardians harsh tone and critique made her feel unworthy of being someone who could be valued. No matter how hard she tried or trained, her Guardian had always something nasty to say about her work and the results. when Ri managed to build up the courage to ask him how she could have done it better, the elderly wolf growled and turned around, leaving her alone.

A few weeks before Ri became a young adult, her Guardian - and Mio's father- passed away in his sleep. After short ceremony by his grave, Mio declared he was leaving the den to be with his mate and travel south with her. Realizing her only family she had was falling apart, Ri accepted that she had to- once again- leave and become someone else. Days passed by, bringing her closer and closer to the intended "goodbye" to their old home and say hello to the new world, but once the day arrived, Ri decided to leave and find a home of her own by herself. Fearing Mio's reaction to her decision, Ri left her old den in the middle of the night, in hope of freezing all good memories and their friendship as it was and not the risk of destroying it.

Leaving Mio was not easy and once she was all alone in the open area, her problems started at once. She met some wolves, wolves that became her friends very fast. Mostly males. And it went always the same way; they said hi, they spent some time together as friends, and then out of the blue they asked her to be their mate or lover. As soon the M or L word was mentioned, Ri got confused. It was clear to her that they felt that even Mio felt toward his lover, that one thing she wasn't capable of feeling toward anyone. The first time, she told herself it was because it was not meant to be. Second and third time, it was because they were not the right ones. The fourth time, and any time after that, she accepted the fact she was simply different. From time to time she has felt attraction to some male that approached or a wolf that didn't show any interest in her, but for her, that was where the line went. Hanging out, maybe going on a date (nothing she ever had done but was familiar with the concept), but otherwise, nothing else. She didn't know why or how, so it became one of the few things she wanted to learn about. She wanted to know why she was so... incomplete.

While her relationships with other wolves were shaky, Ri learned one thing about herself; she preferred friends that were stronger.

## Group History

After meeting a charming male named Kaiser on her travels - with ended up with her escaping him as soon she realized where their friendship was going - Ri heard some rumors about a pack called Heyl.  After some digging around for more information Ri found out that Heyl could become the right home for her, a place to help her discover new things about herself. With high hopes of finding another place to call home, she headed toward Heyl in hopes of becoming accepted as one of their own.

The alpha, Fitu, was more than willing to offer Ri a place in the pack. She wasn't quite sure what task would suit her best, but she helped to provide for her packmates by catching small fish. When an injured wolf, who introduced himself as Crow, arrived in Heyl's territory, she was assigned to tend to his injuries, since she knew a bit about herbs, and was a kind and gentle caretaker. Crow was not terribly kind in return, though he would end up apologizing later. She would grow close with Crow, because they were about to get a little bundle of joy to care for.

Barbosa was found at the edges of the territory, all alone. She was just a baby, and Ri chū was willing to provide love and affection to the youngster. Crow was willing to co-parent the little gray pup as well, providing some protection and a father-figure. Ri doted on Barbosa, and brought her to some of her favorite places in the territory to play and spend time together. She grew closer to Crow as well, becoming a strange little family - though they were not romantically involved, they spent a great deal of time together, enjoying one another's company.

But, pups grow up, and when Barbosa became a young adult, she went to her parents and told them she wanted to leave Heyl and explore the world. She wouldn't be alone (Orion would trail after her), and she tried to assure Ri and Crow that she was capable of caring for herself. Ri chū was saddened, and told Barbosa to visit...only, she never did. And then, Crow, too, left the pack.

Barbosa's journey took her far from Heyl, and when she planned to return, she and Orion were attacked by a bear.

Orion returned...and Barbosa was believed dead. Heyl searched for her, but found no sign. Eventually, the prince of Heyl, Eir, tried to upstage the new alpha Poppy in a coup, and as a result, the pack's betas, Samhradh and Asterion, were killed. The pack disbanded, and Ri chū, uncertain of what to do without her partner and child, decided that she needed to find somewhere else to live, to find happiness. She set her paws on a path that took her from the Domain, and she hasn't returned since.

## Trivia

* Ri chū has many talents she employs in Heyl.
	+ **Singer:** While Ri processes a soft, gentle tone that could rival birds, and she happily uses it whenever nobody is around to hear her singing. Trough song, she learned to work through her rough times, and inspire herself to carry on.
	+ **Herbalist:** While her skills with herbs are not as good as her fishing skills due to lack of proper education and experience, Ri can one and another thing about healing minor wounds, and how to handle poisonings. Her scarred soul makes Ri hopeful in finding a cure for those who suffer not only from physical conditions but also emotional.
	+ **Fisher:** Standing in cold water, whenever it is during winter or summer doesn't matter to her. She knows the tricks that result in good catch even if the world seems to be against one. It is something she enjoys and feels very comfortable in doing, no matter what time it is.

## Quotes

* "Crow, maybe you could… ease up a little with your hawk eyes? Bara needs to have some freedom in her life. She needs to learn how to take care of herself on her own as well when she needs to come to us...*if* she wants to come and ask for advice. You can't follow her around and keep an eye on her… you know?" (giving parenting advice to Crow, *Times are Changing*)

## External Links

* Official Application Sheet
* ShishiNoSeirei's deviantART Gallery