River

Age: 22

Sex: Female

Born: 78RC

Lineage: South Eastern

Height: 6'4"

Build: Strong

Occupation: Printmaker and Machine Worker

River is a South Eastern Sergal. Her mother, Adra, is a Southern girl with a half of Eastern in her. River's father, Sira, is a full blooded Eastern. River primarily shows her Eastern descent, the southern only shows in her belly ivory fur.

Born in a small farming village outside of Etai, Reono. They're famed for their ability to grow such large amounts of healthy Eltus plants. River's mother is lead gardener and tries her best to teach River the ways of growing Eltus plants. To Adra's dismay, River can grow Talyxian plants without even trying but will often hurt or kill the Eltus plant. Adra doesn't give up though, she tries her best to encourage the village to show River the wonders of growing Eltus plants and how important they are. Trying her best, River still fails.

Often during her young adult life, Sira, her father would take her up the mountain early in the morning to watch the sun rise and point at the colors that burst into the sky. River was fascinated by the colors all around her, they seemed to whisper secrets and wonders. She knew that one day, her true path in this world was to bring joy to others through color.

She would sneak some Eltus plant snippings to dry and make powders and then paint dye from. The process wasn't easy to keep secret from her mother and the other village elders. She knew they would likely not approve of her taking snippings of the plants since it often damaged them. Then, finally, it was done; she had her paints. She took paper from her dad's stack and ran up the peak to wait for the morning. When sunrise hit, she began to paint. Holding the paintbrush was the first trick, the second was figuring out how to match the colors she had with the ones she saw in real life. The painting was no masterpiece, but it held a special place in her heart and she vowed to keep it with her as a reminder to what she could accomplish.

River was correct, the elders did not take kindly to the painting. They told her it was a waste of resources and that she should be protecting the Eltus plants, not making paints out of them. She tried to argue that folks in Goldring painted and dyed their fur all the time with Eltus dyes. The elders gave her a choice to leave to pursue her passion, or to stay with her family and continue learning how to grow Eltus plants. She looked to her parents who looked disheartened, her mother looked ashamed. She spoke with her parents first, tried to convince them that she could sell this in Goldring. She could make money to send back her and allow them to purchase better seeds. Sira and Adra nodded to her before giving her a blessed kiss to the snoot. They told her to take care and to bring her friend with her.

Wik was a tinkerer of sorts. He'd grown up with River since moving to their village from Etai. He was an orphaned Agudner. He packed up his things and traveled with River through the Saltroad towards Goldring to find a new adventure.

Finally in Goldring, Wik and River search to find a gallery that would take her painting in to show. The ones that they found laughed at her work and then pointed to the masterpieces that hung on the wall, that was the quality they were looking for. Disheartened after weeks of looking, and running out of money, the two started to do odd jobs around the city just to eat. Walking around on the fourth week of being in Goldring, River stopped Wik and pointed towards the Printshop in front of them. A very fancy Nevrean stood in the window of the shop as he hung up posters in the windows. They went in to look around and inquire about jobs.

The Nevrean owner was called Kaito, an older male Nevrean with quite the attitude. River was used to being yelled at for things she'd done wrong but Kaito was something else. He allowed both to work for him as long as River did not produce any more works of art, or as he labeled it "trash". Wik would be rented out to fix other machines and to fix up Kaito's own machines. The Nevrean worked them to the bone and increasingly became more difficult to work with. On the third month of employment, Kaito yelled at River so badly that Wik growled and pushed the Nevrean back to protect his friend who stood with her tail between her legs. Kaito threatened the both of them and their jobs. So Wik told him they both quit, they'd find themselves their own shop and run him out of business. Kaito laughed at them and made fun of the pair as they left the shop with their things. Ragged and exhausted, River and Wik found a vacant alley way that night to sleep in; curled around each other they fell into fitful dreams.

After the first month of steady unemployment and scavenging, River found an old printing studio that had been closed down. They requested to the owner to look inside to see if they could rent out the place and the machines. The owner shrugged but showed them inside to the large space. River's eyes lit up at the older presses. Kaito's presses had been new but with constant issues. The older ones proved to be more reliable and made better prints though it was harder work. Wik and River said that they'd rent out the building from the owner and with the promise that they're first month of sales would go towards rent directly. The owner nodded and left them to it.

The first month was no picnic for the pair. Machines broke and ink was expensive. But they worked night and day to start printing up a weekly newspaper for the surrounding areas. They found shops and restaurants that would buy up a certain amount of papers and sell back to the public for their news. Soon, before 6 months of renting the shop, they were popular news. River recreated her painting in one of the newspapers as a featured article. She wrote about what color meant to her and why it was so important to keep the Eltus plants alive in order to keep their colors in the world. The article became so popular that her original painting was finally showcased in a prestige gallery with it's own show. It sparked more and more artists to show their world in color through the means that River had done. Her charity was steadily growing and being sent back to her village as thanks and per her promise. By the time a year had passed, River and Wik were known for their talents in the print business. And as they promised, ran Kaito out of his own business. They took over his shop to take on a few employees and start with that shop as well.

Full reference sheet:

☀http://www.furaffinity.net/view/26653018/