Roach's Profile
Aug 24, 2023 15:50:17 GMT -5
Post by cheesethief on Aug 24, 2023 15:50:17 GMT -5
Name: Roach
Species: Rat
Gender: Male
Dibbun Weapon: Slingshot with pebbles
Adult Weapon: Sharp kitchen knife, and he weaponized being a rat bayybeeas an old man his weapon is frying pan
Personality: A VERY stubborn, loudmouthed, disruptive and unruly child, turned subjectively worse teenager, turned somehow well-adjusted adult.
Species: Rat
Gender: Male
Dibbun Weapon: Slingshot with pebbles
Adult Weapon: Sharp kitchen knife, and he weaponized being a rat bayybee
Appearance: Roach is a dark brown rat with a tan underbelly / snout area, and short, unkempt fur. He was small for a Dibbun, tall for a teen, and ended up being an average height adult (albeit on the lower side). He spends most of his life at average weight, but has skinny arms. (When he's an old man, he puts on a few pounds, but still has skinny arms.) As a Dibbun, he wore a baggy and much too oversized red vest, which had pockets that wouldn't close. Sometimes he'd wear a hat and carry a bag that were both also too big. As a teen, he wore the same thing (albeit more well-fitting), plus a tattered red undershirt that must've been in the bag all along. There was some mending done on the vest (by his Redwall friends), particularly new gold buttons and fixed pockets. As an adult, he's swapped most of the clothes for a red tunic that actually doesn't look like it was eaten by moths and dragged through the mud, with a brown leather belt tied around his middle. He now has a nicked left ear & some minor scars that he'd obtained as a teen. As a senior, his fur starts to gray around his muzzle and between his ears. His appearance is the most drastic departure from what it was before: he has a typical green Redwall habit and round gold spectacles at the base of his nose. His whiskers and fur are more wiry and he appears hunched over. He has a knobbly sand-colored cane to help with his back pain.
History: As a Dibbun, Roach would show up at the Abbey and heckle anybeast be could find, over time forcing himself into the group of Dibbuns who lived there whenever he'd see them outside (much to the chagrin of literally all of them). He was a bully at best, and seemed like he was always acting out in various ways. Think rowdy kid next door where you don't really know where he came from or who he is but he's here now and you're stuck with him. One of his favorite things to do when he wasn't berating the other Dibbuns was boasting about his father, like how his father is a HUGE rat and a very good warlord and that everybeast better be scared of him if they knew what's good for them! One day, the Dibbuns had enough. They cornered him and told him to leave and stay gone forever, or they'd get the Abbot, and he'd be banned from Redwall for good. Instead of arguing, Roach just broke down crying. As he'd confess, his father wasn't so big and tall and wasn't a warlord and wasn't even alive. His father had robbed a group of weasels, who later caught up to him and killed him three days before Roach even stumbled across Redwall. Some of the Dibbuns weren't so keen on this story, but others were sympathetic, and let him off. He could play with them, if he promised to stop bullying them. Roach wasn't perfect, and still isn't, but he does try. Instead of heckling the Dibbuns, he tried to make friends with them (and heckle the adults instead,) and steal a pastry fresh out of the oven any chance he got. Or maybe three or four. Though still very loudmouthed and absolutely a troublemaker, Roach gradually found his home at the Abbey. He even learned to share sometimes.
As a teen, Roach started to deal with this incessant feeling that he was out of place, and retreated into himself. He could no longer distract himself as easily, and started to miss his father, and even started missing being around other rats in general. He couldn't play with his friends anymore without thinking about it. Living at Redwall wasn't the same as living as roving thieves, free to go anywhere he wants and do whatever he wants, whenever he wanted. The spark that had come to light within him seemed to dim, and he grew distant and bitter, only talking to others to lash out. What if those weasels were still out there? Could he get revenge? Should he? Then what would happen? Would he be able to settle down, or would getting rid of them send him down that slippery slope the grown-ups at the Abbey had warned him about? Would he become just like them?
One night, he carefully removed Martin's sword from its rightful place and made away with it. He was going, and he would not come back until those weasels were gone. Redwall naturally sent a search party after him, if not for him, than to find the sword, but when they caught up to him, he had already found the weasels. All three of them, including Roach, were wounded, but Roach was still bent on getting revenge. The Redwallers were able to calm him down and helped him get back to the Abbey, and left the weasels alive.
As he entered adulthood, Roach started to mellow out. Not totally (he still got into arguments, sometimes so loud that whoever was not already in the room would storm in and start yelling too!) but in many aspects. He decided to put his past behind him, and channel the energy that he would have used on more violent things into defending his friends instead. Vermin problem? Let him go undercover, the raiders wouldn't realize he was working with the Abbeybeasts, he was a rat! In time, he got his sense of humor back, and some of his innocence, too. Those kids he used to slingshot pebbles at and berate were now family to him, and he could even begrudgingly lump the Abbey elders in there along with 'em.
By the time Roach was middle aged, he'd learned how to make pies and scones. He was good at it! Very good! Roach took a newfound pride in his talent in the kitchen and started baking treats for everybeast instead of stealing treats from everybeast. He quickly paid back and exceeded the debt he'd amassed from years of childhood thievery. As he got even older, he started slowing down and couldn't see as well as he used to, (he needed spectacles, spent most of his time sleeping, and would complain about his back more often than he wouldn't), but that didn't stop him from teaching the next generation of Redwallers how to make baked treats.
Roach never took a mate or had kids. He died while snoozing on his favorite chair... an elder, a Redwaller, a friend.