Post by Celebes on Feb 2, 2017 10:16:13 GMT -5
Name: Celebes Islehound
Species: Sea Otter
Gender: Male
Dibbun Weapon: Over-Talkative Mouth
Adult Weapon: If a time came where Celebes needed to defend himself, the sea otter would soon find his harpoon in his paws. Being a tool that he uses on a regular basis, Celebes is quite proficient at giving a stab to anything the size of a fish, getting anything bigger to aim at is just a bonus.
Appearance: Celebes sports the usual characteristics of an otter of the sea. A fluffy white face, round sharp paws, and a long rudder of a tail are as found on Celebes as they would be on an of his extended family. Celebes isn't just a carbon copy sea otter though, he is a bit lankier, has blue eyes, and in his older years he talks with a distinct mariner's accent that's hard to ignore. As a Dibbun, Celebes often sports a dark green smock, draping from neck to feet and cinched up around his waist by a short length of rope. This attire is only occasionally modified as festivals and dirty laundry require, but when at play he often girds up his loins by wrapping the lower parts of the smock that are below his knees up into the belt, so that he legs are free to run.
In his adult years, Celebes has done little to modify his dress, wearing a similar forest green tunic. It forms to his figure reasonably well, and he is able to keep a greater amount of tools at hand by the leather belt that now finds itself above his hips, kept fastened in place by an obsessively shined brass buckle. As he is often on the road, the sea otter has chosen to protect his head from the sun by wearing a soft cap, slightly peaked, and with a visor that gently protrudes from the front. It is not too large, as his ears still make a showing out the sides of it, but it does give his eyes some shade. A modest bronze chain carrying an orange seashell from his wife about his neck completes the set, which dangles down to about mid-chest. Whether young or old, however, Celebes cares little about the mop of fur that is on top of his head, as its ruffled and ragged appearance would tell anyone.
Personality: As shown by his secret Dibbun weapon, Celebes is quite the motor maw. If started on a subject that he likes, regardless if he knows it or not, this young pup can keep talking until the catch comes in. Often running on long enough that he exhausts his pools of logic and coherent argument, Celebes has been known to ramble until either food gets shoved in his mouth or his mum threatens him with double bath duty. It’s not the water he hates, it’s that soap that gets in his eyes. Around those who can stand to be around him he is really quite pleasurable, and is even able to restrain from hogging the conversation if good jokes are being swapped or a plan to steal a slice of red berry pie is being made. He is not a saintly child, but he isn't the first one to cause mischief. At least, not all the time.
As he matures, his gift of gab will serve him well in the self-styled trade of his choice, that of being the post runner of Mossflower. An enterprising career that he invented, as a post runner Celebes takes it upon himself to deliver messages to and from Redwall Abbey on a regular schedule. Communication has changed his own little world for the better, would it not do the same for Redwall to communicate with its wider world? Carrying both paper letters, small parcels, and verbal messages, Celebes will beat a somewhat consistent track from Redwall to Salamandastron via the South pass through the mountains, returning via the north running River Moss on the return journey. Every three trips he makes it a point to visit the otters of Lutra to the north, and if the shrews are willing to meet him along his path through Mossflower he will gladly accept their messages as well. Of all the things he carries, the spoken word is his favorite. In recounting the messages that critters like to relay to each other across the leagues that separate them, Celebes is not above embellishing them, as long as enough of the truth is there.
History: Celebes was born off the coast to the Lutra tribe of the pearls fame, and his earliest memories consist of swimming in the endless current that were right in his backyard. The sea for all its glory, however,was not the safest place to be, and its splendor attracted sailors of the spurious sorts. In order to keep his family safe from the pirates, Celebes' father took his small family inland, eventually coming upon Redwall. Celebes, now old enough to be considered a Dibbun, quickly joined the ranks of the youth that terrorize kitchens and consider bedtime and insult. Although his mum always gave him an earful whenever he was caught with a smock full of pilfered blackberries, Celebes enjoyed his time growing up.
Reaching his adult years, Celebes by now had become quite expert at fishing with the harpoon, as a multitude of filleted graylings from the Abbey kitchen can attest to. However, the young seaotter would not be satisfied merely becoming the keeper of the abbey pond, and instead found himself wanting to return to his homeland and see what lay there. His parents by now too old to make the return journey, Celebes set off on his own, carrying their love and his harpoon as a walking staff. Upon trailblazing his way there, by very inefficient paths mind you, Celebes was able to find the colony of otters. It was by a note written by his father to the chief that he was recognized, and the sea otter was surprised to see the simple joy that a letter could make by shortening the gap between too distant friends. The chief at once asked for Celebes to return the correspondence to his father, and Celebes, finding out that fishing in the sea was much different than the calm of the rivers and ponds he was used to, agreed. It was not just the chief that laden Celebes with messages, for his father and mum had many friends in the tribe. Well, naturally, when he returned to the Abbey, his parents were overjoyed at the news, and wanted to write back and answer the questions and how-do's. Soon other curious Abbey dwellers got in on the scheme,and in no time at all there was such a demand for someone to go and visit the tribe again that Celebes volunteered to take the notes once more, even agreeing to take a note to the Badger Lord of Salamandastron from the Abbott.
And thus began Celebes' career of running the post. With a route soon established and timetables formed, the sea otter began to fill his niche with pleasure. He enjoyed being out on the road, and seeing the light in others' eyes when he delivered the news they had been waiting for. Sure the route was not always sunny Sunday stroll, but over the seasons the sea otter learned enough to know when to get off the road, when to judge a potential spot for an ambush by bandits, and when to find shelter from coming rains. There were times when his solitary beat was livened up with traveling companions, spry young critters wanting to see the world with the trailblazing otter. Not a one stayed around all that long, except one ottermaid from Lutra. Unlike the others who came and went like the passing stream, the ottermaid proved to be sure of paw and happy to stick around, even helping to remember certain details of messages that Celebes "forgot." It was in the Spring of the Glimmering Rose that Celebes gave her a message of his own, asking to take her paw in marriage. She accepted, happily.
Eventually, Celebes would look to retire from his journey, and to pass on his torch to his son, Borneo. Spending his last season in relative peace with his misses, Cordelia, Celebes the post otter would pass on in the night of the Winter of Crystal Dew. But though we may think history is done and set in ink when we find it in a book, fate still has at tricky way of sticking her paw in and altering the way we see events. Perhaps there is more to the story of this otter than may be present in a gatekeeper's chronicles.