Laos

• Likes: Wet/stormy weather, water, overcast days, herbs and trees
• Dislikes: Aggressive characters, physical conflict, very dry or cold places

An African Wild Dog body plan at first glance - but thinly framed, with thin silky fringe clinging to tail, legs, underbelly.

The face is a bit mouse-like in the nose, and the teeth are more generalized and omnivorous. Similar to an aardwolf. Her bite is blunt and her dentition is messy.

Pelt is AWD colored, but pattern is a bit rusty and melty looking. Laos is very oily, and the patterns change as oil oozes out.

When agitated, Laos begins to secret oils very rapidly, making her colors run like a lava lamp and and making it difficult to hold onto her, like grabbing a bar of soap. It also makes it difficult for her to climb or maintain grip, which makes escapes interesting.

If Laos has been agitated, rough housing, or in water a long time, the fur on her legs starts to shed, revealing rough scaly shins. Her digitrade paws fold out into something similar to bird's or rat's paws, which help her handle or manipulate things roughly. They are just enough to hold things or to grasp tree branches as she can climb roughly. She is clumsy but adamant in trees - so long as she isn't frightened into excreting her oil slick defense mechanism.

Habitat

Laos prefers wet and warm habitats. She does not have a lot of insulation, and her oily habits make her run low on body fluids quickly. But, the oil can also help her for a short amount of time in keeping moisture in. They also keep her waterproofed like a duck, and deters parasites and other complaints associated with swampy rainforest living.

She likes treehouses and to some extent caves.

Like a rodent she has sedentary habits and likes to snuggle up in her home and preen her stuff, occasionally finding new uses for the things she's found.

• Explorer
• Item collector/stockpiler
• Reconnaissance
• Amateur herbalist/field doctor
• Religious/ritual staff member

A member of primordia for some time; lives in the treehouses and works twofold as collection/reconnaissance, and as a member of the local church staff. She doubles as both deeply invested in science as well as religion, considering them in this primitive society as one in the same. She is not a full-blown doctor but does keep track of herb and oddity collection, as an explorer generally likes to know where things are and how to collect them. Enjoys participating in ceremonies as staff.

Animals may start out wary of her predator body type, but soon come to realize her habits are avoidant and omnivorous; functionally like an aardwolf.

Once the predator looks wore off, ( and it doesn't take long ), Laos was picked on for being scrawny and cowardly. She was not very strong, amd she was generally naive and gullible, and she stuck to other stronger children like glue. This gave her the nickname "Louse", an annoying clingy bug. For the longest time she didn't know what a Louse was, and thought it was a word or even friendly nickname, which she adopted, and became known as Laos. She has no known parents/family; she was community raised. (to be edited if I want to backlog memories of certain characters)

She used to be very self conscious of expectations that folks assumed she must match up to the predator she seems like. It is THIS expectation that lead to the teasing, for her seeming comically beneath her worth. Certainly, there were smaller animals than her whom nobody bothered because they performed as expected of their stature. She was just dealt a funky flip of body and mind. When push comes to shove, she can act or bluff into dog behaviors. It's a survival tactic. But it's not her core nature.

With time, her quirks became an asset. She is quite stealthy and resourceful navigating forests without encountering other creatures. When she did encounter them, she had the devil's luck of escape with her slippery line of defense.

In time, she became a respected adult member of Primordia. She knows where to get That Thing You Need, she might even have it in stock, and she's a top choice for reconnaissance or possibly playing field medic. She's also a loving/guiding member of the ritual community. She loves community, lore, and cultural events and traditions. These things helped make her feel balanced and whole in times of loneliness or not fitting in.