Hesper

Art by Speed

## Description

Hesper is a tall, elegant, curly-furred, dark tortoiseshell and white she-cat with pale, piercing yellow eyes and a white dash on her forehead.

## Personality

Hesper is independent, no-nonsense, practical, and reserved. She likes to be precise, organized and efficient, always keeping herself busy. She comes across as somewhat old-fashioned and formal. She is normally calm and polite, but at other times she can be cold, sinister and passive-aggressive. While she has more of a distaste for bloodshed than some other gang cats, she is not afraid to use her claws when she feels disrespected or provoked. While she almost never admits to be wrong, she is a perfectionist with a harsh inner critic. She has always trusted her own knowledge above anything else; however, after making a tragic mistake, she now tends to second-guess herself and take excessive precautions to make sure everything is done properly.

## History

Hesper is the current house medic of the Glaring Eyes under Sesi's leadership. Previously, she lived under Jade's, Relumino's, and Mattias's leaderships.

Hesper's origins are somewhat of a mystery. She grew up as a loner, learning to fend for herself and do whatever it took to survive before joining the Glaring Eyes in search of a more structured and fulfilling life.

By this time, the number of members in the Glaring Eyes had dwindled down to only a handful, and the house medic Kromdraai needed a successor before leaving the gang to join the Glinting Claws. He saw potential in Hesper and chose to train her as a medic. Hesper accepted the position, despite being suspicious of Kromdraai's motives; she figured that if she was to become a medic, she had no choice but to learn from him.

Kromdraai taught Hesper everything she needed to know about medicine-- plus a few malpractices mixed in, including his lie that yew berries were a miracle medicine that could cure any poison. Kromdraai then left the Glaring Eyes, leaving Hesper as the only medic. For a long time, Hesper was unaware of her false knowledge and the deadly consequences it would bring in the future.

Hesper found a sense of purpose as a medic and constantly kept herself busy. While she mostly avoided associating with cats outside of the Glaring Eyes, she made an exception when she encountered Veda, a loner seeking to find her family and join the Glinting Claws. She immediately took a liking to Veda and steered her away from joining the other gang. Their friendship grew quickly and to Hesper's delight, Veda decided to join the Glaring Eyes. For a long time Hesper saw her as a good friend and nothing more, not knowing that Veda had romantic feelings for her.

During this time, Hesper met another loner wandering in the Black Valley named Sienna, who happened to be Veda's sister. Hesper was smitten with Sienna, and she decided to take a chance to get to know her. The two of them quickly fell in love and became mates. Hesper became very protective of Sienna and tried to convince her to join the Glaring Eyes to keep her safe, but Sienna declined, insisting that the life of a gang cat wasn't right for her. Despite their separation, they stayed very close, meeting periodically on the outskirts of the Black Valley whenever they could.

Unbeknownst to Hesper, Veda was filled with jealousy upon discovering Hesper and Sienna's relationship. Driven by her feelings, Veda met in secret with her sister and poisoned her with foxglove before fleeing from the scene. Meanwhile, Hesper had gone out to look for Veda and find out what had been bothering her lately. She followed Veda's scent, only to find Sienna on the brink of death from the poison. Having no time to run home and fetch her herbs, Hesper resorted to a nearby supply of yew berries, believing that they would save her mate. Hesper was certain that her extensive knowledge of medicine would fix everything-- but to her horror, her cure turned out to be a deadly poison. Hesper quickly realized her mistake, but it was too late. The yew berries dealt the final blow, killing Sienna.

Despite evidence that Veda committed the first act of the poisoning, Hesper refused to believe that her closest friend would do this to her. After Veda ran away, Hesper never confronted her. Instead, blinded by her devastation, she blamed herself for her mate's death. Her faith in her own knowledge of medicine, once among the only things she relied on, shattered completely. Furthermore, she gained a newfound hatred for Kromdraai for teaching her malpractice. Unaware of any other false knowledge she might possess, Hesper was terrified that she would unintentionally poison someone else she cared about. So she isolated herself, refraining from carrying out her medic duties and putting her trust in no one.

However, Hesper realized that as the Glaring Eyes' only medic, she needed to carry on with her role until she found a suitable successor. In order to rebuild confidence in her medicinal skills, she wandered beyond the Black Valley and treated sick and injured cats she found along the way. Though she was motivated by self-interest and felt little compassion for these strangers, she nonetheless showed them mercy and started to find some fulfillment in her work once again. For a while, Hesper practiced the remedies which she hadn't yet used to make sure that they weren't poisonous, working hard to ensure that her knowledge and technique would reach perfection. Fortunately, all of Hesper's patients walked away unharmed, minus a few unintended but minor side effects.

Equipped with enough self-assurance that she wouldn't make another tragic mistake, Hesper decided to fully return to her medic duties. She strove for perfection more than ever before, working tirelessly despite her somber state. Yet her energy declined as she got older, and she eventually made the decision to seek out a suitable successor to train as a medic.

## Other Details

- She is Speed's 45th character on the server.

- Moral alignment: lawful neutral

- Her favorite color is red.

- Marigold and goldenrod have a special significance to Hesper because they remind her of Veda and Sienna, whom she met while collecting those two herbs.

Hesper - Art by SpeedHesper & Sienna - Art by Speed