Gustave

Joseline (Sister)

Astrid, Alice, and Lucille (Sisters, NPCs)

Nicolas (Brother, NPC)

## Application Sheet

Gustave was a smoky black-and-white male wolf with dark pine green eyes. He served Fellfang as a Witch-Doctor for several seasons, living a life apart from his sister, Joseline. During the Hive Wars, Gustave decided to leave his pack in order to search for two of his missing packmates, Nach and his son Hajlmar, to bring some sense of peace to his dear friend Tadita (Nach's mate), and he has not returned since. Gustave was created and RP'd by IraWolfeh.

## Personality

* ***Imaginative, Scholarly, and Versatile.***
* ***Stubborn, Rigid, and Protective.***
* ***Awkward and Incisive.***
* ***Well-Meaning, but Cynical and Scrupulous.***
* ***Calm.***

## Pre-Group History

To the north, there wasn’t a single wolf around for miles, and it was there that a female by the name of of Iris had fled. She had left her home with her two firstborn pups in an effort to escape an increasingly abusive relationship with her mate, a large male whose interest in her was solely due to his desire to procreate a brood worth his attention. She had managed to make great progress despite being unfit for travel due to the impending arrival of her second litter as well as being slowed down by her two younglings she had taken with her. If it hadn’t been for the birth of her second litter, she could have made it far enough away for her mate to not find her. In a remote cave, Iris retreated to a cave along with her two pups and bore her second litter: Gustave and Lucille.

It was a mere several hours before her mate, Adam, came across where she had stayed the night after the birth of her newest pups. By then, Iris was fast asleep beside her four pups: the two of her first litter and the two of her second. By evening of the next day, they were all back at their home at the base of a mountain near Highvalley territory.

Even from a young age, Gustave, in his father’s eyes, already showed promise. The pup’s body had lost its chubbiness more quickly than his littermate, Lucille, and had quickly taken interest in the world outside of his family’s den. Adam stopped by the den often, desperate to begin teaching Gustave and Lucille hunting and fighting techniques despite Iris’ obvious disapproval. The two siblings play-fought together during most of their waking hours, but rarely ever had the chance to do so with their first-litter siblings: Adam made sure to occupy their time with training and hunting since both of them were juveniles.

As soon as Gustave and Lucille were old enough, Adam began teaching them all he knew about fighting and hunting. He had an obsession with trying to turn his brood into physically superior wolves worthy of his praise. So far, he had been successful with his eldest children, Nicolas and Alice, who had both grown into muscular giants in Gustave’s eyes. Adam had begun training his youngest, Gustave and Lucille, and both siblings were not all too fond of his methods. At first, he had seemed like a kind and wise instructor, a veteran in combat and hunting. Praise had been overflowing, and Gustave and Lucille had gone to sleep each night eager for the morning. This bliss soon turned to unwilling cooperation as the weeks went on. Nicolas and Alice had almost finished their training, and Adam was all too pleased with what he had done. The same could not be said for how he felt about Gustave and Lucille, for the results of their training were not what Adam had expected. Gustave had since lost interest in fighting and merely enjoyed being away from home during training sessions. Lucille on the other hand was simply not very coordinated. Both siblings were well trained, but they did not display the athletic prowess that Adam had expected.

Trainings had soon become more chore-like and Adam had become more harsh with each passing day. Gustave came to dislike his father immensely and soon began protesting against training. Verbal protest soon turned to outright disobedience, and Iris would have no more of the quarrels between her mate and son. “Leave him be, Adam, he’s learned enough! There is no reason for you to force him to continue!” With that, Gustave’s training ended along with the barely neutral relationship he had had with his father.

Soon, Iris was expecting her third litter and she bore two healthy females in the fall. Gustave had spent much of his time with Iris and had come to view her in the highest regard. She was the epitome of strength: she had put up with Adam since long before Gustave was born and she had remained able to withstand Adam’s constant verbal abuse. Whenever Adam began to speak harshly with her, Gustave badly wished to defend her, but his growing fear of Adam held him back. Iris had helped him once, but Gustave came to doubt that she’d be able to do it again.

Gustave’s youngest siblings, Astrid and Joseline, began training at six months of age, around the time Gustave’s eldest siblings left home, and it was then that Adam changed for the worse. It was Lucille who first told Gustave of Adam’s physical abuse towards the family’s youngest, Joseline. Adam had never gone as far as to physically harm any of the family, and Gustave was almost positive he knew why. Joseline, like Gustave, did not like training; for what reason, Gustave could only guess. She was a disappointment to Adam, a personal failure on his part. A failure much like Gustave, and it was for this reason that he hated Joseline in particular. In abusing Joseline, it was as if he was punishing Gustave for having managed to escape training. Neither Gustave nor his siblings knew what to do to fix the situation for each feared Adam’s new violence. All they could do was offer Joseline some kind of reassurance that things would get better. Gustave felt especially guilty for being too fearful to help, for merely standing by as his little sister was beaten. What kind of monster was he for letting such a thing happen?

Adam’s physical abuse ended as he came to realize that abusing Joseline was not making her any better during hunts. Instead, he began verbally abusing her which added further trauma to the already horrible things Joseline had already experienced. Soon after, Joseline told Gustave as well as his siblings about her decision to seek out a new home in the south. As much as Gustave wanted to tell Joseline to stay, he knew that nothing would get better for her.

The morning after Joseline’s “disappearance” would be a day that would remain engraved in Gustave’s mind forever. Iris had woken and immediately noticed Joseline’s absence. In a frenzy of distress, she had searched all around the den for Joseline and had only stopped once Gustave explained her that Joseline had left to get away from Adam, who he then revealed had been abusing Joseline. During all of this, Adam had been silent, but as soon as Gustave had thrown him under the bus, Adam's presence quickly became known. Iris, seething with rage and disgust because of Adam having abused her daughter, began reprimanding him. Their arguing became so intense that Adam did something he’d never done to Iris before: he struck her with such force, she slammed to the floor. The den was deathly silent: not a single wolf uttered a word. Lucille and Astrid exchanged a nervous glance, neither knew how to react and both were fearful that if they tried to help, Adam would do far worse to them. The sight of his mother, his savior from Adam’s training, crumpled on the floor like a defenseless pup infuriated him. This psychopath had done far too much to his family for him to just sit around and act like things would get better. This was the final straw.

By then, Gustave had already grown into a young adult and was only slightly smaller than Adam height-wise. He was upon Adam in an instant and Adam, taken by surprise, fell to the ground. Gustave’s rage blinded him to the consequences of what he was doing and he ripped at Adam’s large body with ferocity, not caring whether he ripped fur or flesh. All he could think in the moment was how much he hated Adam, how badly he wanted to rip that stupid face right off of his big head. Having recuperated slightly from the surprise attack, Adam began to strike back, but little did he know, he was too late: he had already lost. There was no way Gustave could be stopped, and soon he realized he was only ripping apart a lifeless body. The den floor was covered in blood and Iris was the only other wolf that remained in the den: she stood still, horrified. They were silent. Gustave had murdered, no, slaughtered his father. Dark red blood was dripping from his muzzle, and he turned away from his mother, ashamed that she had seen what he had done. His family was free, but at what cost? Now, his mother and siblings would only remember him as a murderer, even though he’d killed Adam, who had deserved it. Gustave licked the blood off his lips, ashamed that his mother had seen him behave like such... a savage. Was that what she would remember him as now: a savage? He couldn’t meet her gaze, no, not anymore. Without saying a word, Gustave left the den, and much to his dismay, nobody followed.

## Group History

Gustave arrived in Fellfang at a strange time - the Jarl, Fable, was victim to manipulation by a fox posing as the trickster spirit Valda. One of the first wolves who approached him was Nach, who warned him of these strange happenings, and told him to be careful. Gustave slowly grew familiar with his packmates, all while dealing with a great deal of guilt over killing his father. During the festival of Ondmuna, when the spirits of the past were closer than ever, Gustave was haunted by the memory of his father.

One of the pack's Vanguards - Temperance - taught Gustave a bit about Fellfang's history, and its tasks. In particular, Gustave was interested in what she had to say about Witch-Doctors and their skills. Around this time, he also met Tadita, who ran into him while hunting. He accidentally brought up a few sore spots about her past, but was able to (rather grumpily) calm her down.

After the end of "Valda's" manipulation of Fable, Gustave began learning how to be a Witch-Doctor under the tutelage of Kasiani. He became so engrossed in his duties that he was completely unaware of the fact that Nach and Tadita had become mates, and only learned of this fact *after* the two had their litter of puppies! He met Cacao, Hajlmar, Isabel, and Valkyrie, and seeing the happiness and love Tadita and Nach had for their children, he began to find a bit of optimism himself about the goodness of others.

Time passed. The pups grew older, and Gustave improved his skills in herbalism, while also being wrangled into pupsitting by Tadita and Nach.

When Fable discovered some unusual markers in the foothills of the territory's Spires, he began to theorize that there might be an ancient ally of Fellfang far to the west. After careful consideration, he decided to send some wolves to investigate whether this ancient ally was still around. Gustave volunteered to follow the trail, as part of Fable's exploratory council, alongside Lincoln, Shiantara, and Ludko.

Gustave thoroughly enjoyed their journey, though it started with a very mopey Lincoln, which Gustave did *not* care for. The change of scenery as the wolves traveled in the direction of Chandor delighted Gus, however! When they reached Chandor, they were greeted by three she-wolves: Kaen, Arcuza, and Mila. Gustave didn't want to stay as guests in Chandor - he wanted to keep traveling - but ultimately his group chose to spend the night when offered an invitation by the alpha, Nadia.

Shortly after leaving Chandor, Gustave, sick of Lincoln's attitude, addressed it with the young male. Lincoln's misery was due to the loss of his beloved Kasiani - the pair were extremely close - and Gustave did his best at trying to comfort him. Of course, Gus wasn't great with the whole "emotions" thing, but he tried to assure Lincoln that nobody wanted him to *forget* Kasiani, he just needed to face his emotions and keep moving forward. Gustave, after all, missed Kasi too - she'd taught him about being a Witch-Doctor.

Their travels became a bit easier. The traveling wolves eventually reached Tentaka, and they realized that *this* was their ancient ally. Upon returning, Gustave discovered that Cacao had grown up quite a bit! Gustave had decided to start wearing a sprig of flowering dogwood on his ear, and he offered one to Cacao, who was delighted to have the same 'hat' as his buddy!

New Fellfangir had joined the pack in Gustave's absence, including young Dublin. He took her out to gather herbs and teach her a bit about the pack's native flora. He felt a new sense of peace after his journey.

Sadly, things wouldn't remain this good forever. Nach felt pulled to leave the pack, to search for his sister Sionn, and his son Hajlmar wanted to go with him. Tadita took the departure of her mate and son *hard* and Gustave did his best to offer some comfort. She was a dear friend to him, after all.

Strange wolves began to appear at the borders of Fellfang. These wolves, later known as the Hive, made it dangerous for wolves to travel, especially alone...even if as large as Gustave! He took other wolves with him when he needed to collect herbs, like new packmate, Signe.

*With the Hive threat growing by the day, Gustave has found himself increasingly worried for the well-being of himself and his packmates. Though, another worry lingers in his mind... Nach and Hajlmar. How are they faring with the pale beasts that plague the Domain?*

*Gustave knows how much Tadita cares for them, even now, after so long. After many nights of contemplation, Gustave approaches her about his concerns and offers to check on the two former Fellfangir. As worried as Tadita seems about his proposal, she understands his desire to check-in on an old friend.*

*Travelling alone under the current circumstances with the Hive is dangerous and incredibly foolish, but Gustave can't shake the feeling that this is something he has to do. Fellfang has many skilled and experienced Witch-Doctors, they will be perfectly capable of managing without him.*

*At least, he hopes so.*

## Trivia

* He wears a sprig of flowering dogwood behind his ear.
* Gustave likes plants, forests, and greenery.

## Quotes

* “You don’t have to be a genius to tell that, clearly, you’ve been withdrawn and agitated this entire trip. Your attitude is putting everyone off, and frankly, I think I speak for everyone when I say I’m sick of it.” (to Lincoln, *The Intervention)*
* "You could never be a burden." (to Tadita, *What Comes After*)

## External Links

* Official Application Sheet
* IraWolfeh's deviantART Gallery