Ziff Tarran

"Ziffers", "Ziffy," "Ziff-Ziff", other adorable nicknames.

Deuteragonist, Mogril

Male

10

Mogril, turns into a wolf-like creature.

Brown, same shade as his hair.

A spikey and unruly mop on top of his head.

4'4"

Thin, hard to tell if he's slightly toned or just bony.

Rosy, the littlest bit tanned.

Is incredibly perceptive for his age. Great at fooling people. Is actually quite a talented little artist.

Crosses his arms and holds his head very high to make himself feel important and grown-up, bites his nails, folds his hands over his heart and gives puppy-dog eyes when trying to get what he wants (doesn't work on Ginger), walks in between Ginger and Ziff purposefully, blinks sporadically when tired, shakes sort of like a dog when wet, eyes water when he yawns, face turns bright pink when embarrassed, really happy, or honored.

Wants to prove he's strong, . Will do anything for Ginger, and secretly Caleb too. Also wants to find his dad, and figure out what kind of secrets have been hidden from him, but is almost scared of finding out the truth. Has a dream of owning a big house where he'd take in all the children without families and be their family, like what Ginger did for him. All in all wants to be someone who would make his mother proud.

Can be very arrogant and stubborn. Is incredibly sly and devious, more so then Ginger. Doesn't like to show his emotions, though Ginger can see right through him. Tries too hard to be an adult, and doesn't allow himself to be much of a kid. For some reason, thinks doing school and the enjoying drawing makes his look less of an adult, even though Ginger tries to convince him it doesn't. A lot of this wanting to be grown up and thirst for independence is because of his mother's death. Is also selfish of Ginger's attention, and particularly gets annoyed when she pays lots of it to Caleb. All in all sort of jealous of Caleb, especially his role as the "man" of the group. Gets in arguments with him a lot.

Likes to doodle in a little sketchbook. Practices fighting with Ginger. Sometimes will write little stories in his sketchbooks as well, but is too embarrassed to show anyone.

Ziff is a very proud little fella. Despite his young age, he thinks as himself as very tough, strong, and grown up, and hates to appear like a useless little kid (this is probably from not being able to save his mom). He acts very serious, and pretends he knows everything, and when he's wrong denies that he even said anything, or that he meant it differently. However, underneath his rough, "mature," exterior is still a little boy. He gets lonely, likes to snuggle, enjoys playing games like tag or hide and seek, and loves when Ginger praises him, especially for his drawings or stories. On that note, he doesn't show anyone his sketchbook besides Ginger, and occasionally Caleb, because despite being arrogant he thinks drawing is for little kids. Of course, when he does shows Ginger, she likes to be all dramatic about it, saying things like, "A masterpiece! How perfect! The best drawing I've ever seen in my entire life!" and when she does he giggles and his face turns bright pink, beaming with pride for what he's done. Ziff also doesn't like taking orders from anyone, but will if they come from Ginger. If he ever gives her lip, she'll give him one of those looks your mom gives you that make you know your dead. Then he'll do what she says. All in all, Ziff and Ginger have a relationship very much like a that of a mother and son. Ziff loves her very much, and wants her to be proud of him, while Ginger knows him inside and out. Ziff is also very, VERY protective of his "mom." He doesn't like when people talk to her disrespectfully, or worse: FLIRT with her. Ginger's "son" is very selfish when it comes to her attention as well. Since Ziff never had a father-figure around, he never had to share his mother-figure with anyone else. But after Caleb started traveling with them, he had to deal with Ginger lending her attention to someone else once in a while. Because of this, he often argues with his competitor, and even walks between them as if saying, "Yes, you stay there. On your side. See this fox? She is mine. Not yours. You stay on your side. We'll stay on ours."
Despite this, he and Caleb do get along now and then, and often finds having a father-figure isn't too bad. And, even if he won't admit it, he finds their schooling lessons quite enjoyable.

His mother's silver locket. Also quite fond of his sketchbook and his vessel.

Wolves, because he turns into one. Also likes foxes because of Ginger.

Bread, white fluffy bread.

Scarlet, because it was his mother's hair color.

Unemployed, travels the world with Ginger and Caleb.

Is too young to really get politics.

His mother was Iamastin, but since he was too little to really understand and because Ginger all in all isn't too devout herself he kind of doesn't have one, and treats religion similarly to how Ginger does: free-spiritedly and doesn't agree or disagree with one belief or the other.

His mother home-schooled him most of his life, and he has a pretty basic reading and writing level, but after deciding to go with Ginger his education went down hill a little bit. Yes, Ginger did try to teach him occasionally, but since she didn't remember too much herself she wasn't all that helpful. But later, after Caleb learned he didn't have too much schooling, he took it upon himself to teach the Ziff from that point on. So far, Ziff has been advancing tremendously, though not cooperatively.

Ziff was the only child of his mother, Keena. He and his mother lived on the outskirts of a small town, mostly populated by other mogril. Keena home-schooled her child and together they were quite happy. Often at times, Ziff wondered why he didn't have a father, like the other children he knew did. His mother never talked about his father, and there were no pictures of him, so Ziff just assumed he just didn't have one. He just guessed that perhaps it was normal for some children to not have a dad, so he didn't ask. But still, he wondered. It wasn't until one day, when his mom got really angry, that he discovered the truth. In her annoyance, she shouted, "Just you wait until your father gets home!" This surprised Ziff, what did his mom mean? Once Keena realized what she had said, she calmed down, and decided they should have a talk.
She told her son that he did have a father, and he's alive, just far, far, away. He left home before Ziff was even born. When Ziff asked why he left, Keena said she didn't know, but he said it was because of something important, and she trusted him to come home. She also told him she didn't have any pictures of him, because he told her to get rid of them when he left, and not to talk about him to anyone, and that meant Ziff couldn't say anything either. Ziff didn't understand this at all, but he could see the fear and doubt in her eyes, and wondered if she really thought he would come back at all. But he didn't question it, and obeyed her rule.
A couple years passed, and Ziff's father still hadn't come home. Some of the kids Ziff was friends with, as they grew older, once asked where his dad was. He did his best to keep his promise to Keena, and answered with I don't know. They didn't quite believe this, and asked if he ditched them, because they had heard on the news about how some dads leave their wife and kids and never, EVER, come back. Ziff tried not to listen to them, but he always remembered that look of doubt in his mother's eyes. Still, he did his best to have faith in his dad! He began to fantasize about what he was doing, maybe saving the world while defeating swashbuckling pirates. By doing this, it made it easier to believe in him.
When Ziff was around age seven, his entire life changed. He was awoken with quite a startle, there was smoke everywhere, and all their fire alarms were going off. He and his mom had a little wood stove where they sometimes lit a little fire, and it happened that they had had one that night, but after Ziff went to bed, his mom began folding laundry. Keena was tired. Very tired. She had been staying up late almost every night working to support them. She was so tired, and was missing her husband. It wasn't long before she had accidentally fallen sound asleep. It also wasn't long before one of her towels had accidentally caught fire. She slept straight through the fire growing. And through the first fire alarms going off. But Ziff had woken up. He ran out of his room and saw the kitchen engulfed in flames, and his mom asleep in a chair, covered in ashes and the bottom of her skirt on fire. He ran to wake her up, and she did, coughing weakly. As soon as she saw the flames, she was wide awake. She yelled at Ziff to run, and he begged her to come with her. She promised she'd be out in a minute, she just had to grab something, and it was his Ziff's job to run to safety. Through tears, Ziff ran out of the house. He tried screaming for help, but no words came out, only frantic mutters. At last, he finally got the plead out. "Help!" he screamed as loud as he could! But then he tripped, and blacked out.
He woke up in a haze. It was morning. For a while he couldn't remember where he was, or what had happened. But when he saw the soot on his hands, it all came back. As soon as he remembered the terrible night, he heard a sound coming from the bushes behind him. Desperately, he thought Mom! But, it wasn't. It was a myrger, looking for breakfast. Ziff sat in terror. His legs wouldn't move. Suddenly, in an orange flash, he heard a whimper and the myrger ran away. Standing in front of him was a girl with a fox tail and kind eyes. It was Ginger. Crying, he tried to mumbled the words, "My mom, where is she? Is she safe?" but only little sounds came out. However, as if she could read his mind, she collapsed into a tight hug. Ziff, who was usually pretty wary of strangers, didn't seem to care. He hugged back, and buried his head in her soft fur-like hair. She began to cry too. Saying "I'm sorry!" between sobs. This time, he seemed to be able to read her mind. His mom had died.
They walked back to where his house was. It was nothing but some ashes and ruins. And there, was newly dug grave, outlined by little stones, with a big one at the head that was tied with pink ribbon. Ziff held tightly to Ginger's hand. Even though they had just met, he felt as if he had always known her. She asked what his mother's name was, and then scratched "Here lies Keena Tarran, may she rest in peace" into the stone.
Ginger had explained everything to Ziff. She had been a couple miles away, when she saw smoke. She assumed perhaps it someone was having a bonfire, for she had ran in a panic following smoke to only find that once before. But then, her fox ears heard the faintest, but clear, cry for help. So she ran and ran, but when she got there the roof had already collapsed. She could only wait and keep the fire from spreading into the forest. When it finally died down, she found Keena's body. She was clutching a silver, square-shaped locket in her hand. Then the Fox Girl buried her, and made her a grave. Around time she was planning on leaving, Ziff woke up, and she had heard his sniffles.
Ginger gave Ziff the locket. Ziff, despite not knowing for sure, guessed that the important thing in this locket worth losing her life for was the last picture of her husband she had secretly kept. He tried to open it, but couldn't, there was some sort of spell on it. He assumed that this was Keena's way of keeping her promise. She saved the picture, but made it that no one would be able to see it. Together, Ziff and Ginger picked some flowers and laid it upon her grave.
Ginger asked where Ziff wanted her to take her. If he had any friends he'd like to stay with, or if his father was still alive somewhere. All of a sudden, Ziff finally snapped. He didn't care about the secret. He just wanted his mom. He began to sob wildly, and told Ginger the whole story. About his dad. About the promise. Everything. Ginger's heart broke for the little mogril. She didn't know what to do, besides hold him close and comfort him as he told his tale.
After Ziff had cried his last tear, he began to feel very sheepish about blurting out the secret, and cuddling with a complete stranger. But Ginger then told him her story, and explained she was looking for a cure for her curse. She then offered him a choice: she could take him to town to stay with friends, or, he could go with her! Travel the world, see new places, and if he wanted, maybe find his dad. And for some reason, Ziff said he'd like to go with the fox. He wasn't sure why, and wondered if he'd regret it, but so far, he hasn't.
After traveling together for about three years, she and Ziff came to a little town where he shoplifted some bread, and then met Caleb. After learning his sister was still alive, he joined them! Though Ziff, at first, wasn't too happy about it. And together, they set off for adventure!

October 18th

Ziff: "Wolf"
Tarran:

None.