Description and Background
Description:
His mortal body felled by a voluminous curtain, Horton awakens in the body of a wooden soldier. How odd. He has his old memories but also now intrusive thoughts: of being a fussy quartermaster as well as rumors and orders involving the castle. The campaign against the rats continues!
Horton is a fatalistic, long-suffering, withdrawn shell of a man. The pervasive existential exhaustion, stooped posture, and usually methodical pace make him seem much older than his true age and belie a surprisingly spry man who is as silent as a ghost as he goes about maintaining his beloved library. The right side of his face was burned in a fire long before he came to the church and he is either cryptic or silent on any questions regarding this matter. The disfigurement can be unsettling to onlookers so Horton is accustomed to wearing a plain brown robe with the hood up or a long stocking cap that drapes down the right side of his face. Since the left side of his face looks fine, he often dryly comments that his beauty is sinister though no one seems to understand this reference or care.
He is too world-weary to be sour, though does seem to be actively allergic to optimism. His wide knowledge and aloof perspective have led to some teaching and consulting. Not only used to quiet boisterousness in the library, he has also become something of an arbiter for others’ disputes (*heavy sigh*). While an articulate and thoughtful man, some would say that his success as arbiter has more to do with an overwhelming pall of ennui that simply leeches away belligerence and momentum in others. Horton would merely like to be left alone to his reading, his beloved sorting and orderly filing of library materials, studying of languages, history, puzzles, and codes, and drinking alone. Oh, and please try to keep the noise down.
Background:
church librarian who wishes everyone would make a little less noise and leave him in peace; people barely notice him floating around in the background so much that he overhears many things as he goes about his duties in the library (and in life too, actually)- this is how he heard rumors about Gargantua although coming across something in a book would fit as well; no one remembers when he first came to be at the church, he just seems to have always been there, sighing somewhere in the background or poring over a book |
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