Something Bad's About to Happen... [Congrats Bello!]

[Ruler]

A fire, enveloping a building and everything inside, rages before you. Well, close to everything...

Out of the smoke, a trio appears, ghostly in both manner and appearance. One deaf, one blind, and one mute, they were each born individually with a disability, and as a whole with no good, very bad, rotten luck, as proven by their lives, one series of unfortunate events after another.

The first in this series, you are watching now: a home burning with the parents still trapped inside. Though the children were able to save themselves - and each other - their ancestors were not so lucky.

And this?

This was only the beginning.

The loss of their parents was the first - to them; others who knew the family might say the day that they were born battled for first place.

Read on to discover more about these siblings and how to get your hooves on one of your very own.

Opens: Now!
Ends: Sunday, Oct. 4th at 12pm ET​

 

[Ruler]

See No Evil

Creia
Played by Ruler

Looking like death incarnate, it surprises most to hear her open her mouth; she makes up her lack of sight with a mouth that is always running - but only when it’s inconsequential. In moments where she needs to listen, she finds herself nearly as quiet as Croz. An excellent and active listener, she is attentive and happy to help out however she can (which is usually by giving advice). Creia leans on her brother to be her sight, making up for her lack of eyes with his constant vigilance. How does the third sibling come into play here? - that’s up for you to decide.

*Note on the name: Creia is derived from the Star Wars character Kreia, who was a blind Jedi.​

Speak No Evil

Curloz
Played by Straye

The Eldest born, but only by a few minutes, he’ll be playfully reminded, he takes his role as big brother seriously. A rather taciturn pony in expression and body language, anyone outside of the family is probably pretty well convinced that even if he hadn’t been born mute, he’d have been a pony of few words. Curloz, or Croz, to his siblings, is quick to put himself between either sibling and danger - his purpose, in his eyes, to live as a shield for them; especially for Creia who cannot see the dangers of the world. Croz is the shield where Creia is the voice; they find balance within each other. The question is - what do they gain from the third sibling that completes them? We leave that too in your capable hooves.

*Note on the name: Curloz is derived from Kurloz Makara, who was a mime-like character in MS Paint Adventures.​

 

[Ruler]

Hear No Evil



Now it’s your turn! Tell us about this pony. All we know now is that they are a sibling of the two ponies above, and were born deaf. The rest is up to you to decide. Please use the form below to enter.

You may edit your entry up until the closing time. There is no word requirement or limit. Anyone may enter, including staff, save for the judges: myself and @Straye.​

[center][size=24px][b]Something Bad[/b][/size][/center]

[b]Username:[/b]
[b]Pony’s name:[/b]
[b]Name meaning/significance:[/b] (Optional)
[b]About:[/b] (A blurb to introduce us to your pony; their personality, hopes, dreams, struggles. We want to know how the family’s Hear no Evil, See no Evil, Speak no Evil Affliction affects their lives, mentally, physically, emotionally, you decide!)

Prompt Options:

Free Response!
Tell us about the pony’s day to day life, the way other ponies treat them, how they feel about their family or their disability?

Communication!
How does this pony communicate with their mute sibling who usually interacts through stomping hooves, flicking tails, huffs, sighs and wing ruffling for the benefit of their blind sibling?

How do they communicate with their blind sibling who can’t see their visual cues or indicators?

Plain Bad Luck!
How does your pony counteract the bad luck; or how do they cope? Tell us how they handle their bad luck, or situations their bad luck has landed them in previously.

Here Comes the Bad!
Do they have any sort of internal alarm system for when their luck is about to run cold? Do they have a sort of “Spidey Sense” when Evil draws near?​

 

[Ruler]

This is open! <3

Note: the "about" is essentially a free-for-all entry place for you to brain dump whatever pops into your head about this character you're creating and their whole jam. Prompt options are to get the creative juices flowing, not necessarily something you have to take into consideration. c:

 

[medigel]

Something Bad​

Username: medigel
Pony’s name: Clint
Name meaning/significance: Taken from Clint Barton (aka Hawkeye), a Marvel superhero who is also deaf. And also to follow the C naming + fictional char inspiration!
About: Clint has always been marked by his standoffishness, his anger at anything and everything vented through less than healthy means: destruction of random property, sharp gestures in his sign language, a constant scowl at even happy surprises. Nothing comes without a price, after all, and generosity is merely the polite veneer to hide at the monster inside everyone. And make no mistake - everyone is susceptible to their own personal demon, and Clint is ever vigilant to look for signs. His ability to read lips and body language is unparalleled in the trio for this reason. After all, if he can't talk, he can at least do that well.

They say that two's company but three's a crowd, and that niggling doubt has lodged itself within Clint's heart ever since the fire. The fire seems to have lived on in his soul to be honest, constantly scalding his insides and feeding his fury at the world for their circumstances. But while he loves his siblings fiercely, Clint can't help but feel like the third wheel. He envies Creia and Curloz because they have seemed to manage a perfectly functional communication, and yet all he can do is make mince meat of words he's never heard or inarticulate and guttural noises. Was there something wrong with him? Was there yet another curse set upon his person for daring to not accept their fate meekly?

If he himself is a curse within the cursed, then so be it. While he would never actively harm his siblings, he enacts his righteous retaliation against the world by hurting others. A menace wherever they go, he is often the secret reason they can never find a forever home; this is assuming his siblings don't know of his less than healthy relationship with his anger. Clint fears if they settle, they'll notice his antics aren't worth the trouble and kick him out, and yet he also deeply fears never finding his place in the trio. It's a mess of a situation, and so is he.

So he takes it out on everyone else. Who isn't an acceptable target when they couldn't possibly know his pain? It doesn't help that Clint, already facing difficulties expressing himself, keeps his thoughts close to the vest. Better to keep everything out than to let even those that love him in.

 

[AlicornPlayhouse]

Something Bad​

Username: AlicornPlayhouse
Pony’s name: Cacophony
Name meaning/significance: Named after when he was young having made loud indistinct noises constantly.
About: Cacophony is a pony of few words, but many noises. Most of which they don't even realize they make. How should they know that weird vibrating in their throat means they've just pretty much screamed nonsense in a previously silent room..? Nobody can tell them! From a young age they'd always been fascinated by colors and art, and were always babied due to the fact the noises they make made people think they were childish. They could communicate through signing and attempts at words all they wanted but they were always just.. the pony that couldn't talk. Their siblings had each other, blind and deaf, the pair nobody would think could ever communicate but got on so well! So.. where did that leave Cacophony? With a name that barely matched and a sorrow so embedded into their mind that fighting it seemed so... so useless. Their eldest sibling had accustomed his communication to the blind sister and they felt so bad asking distracting from their relationship that Cacophony just never did. They stopped trying to talk to both of them a long long time ago. They weren't anxious or quiet or that secretly kind pony behind all that.. they felt so numb and lost. How funny would it be, a trio of siblings each of which who couldn't do one thing..! But they couldn't speak, either, they were just as bad at communicating through speech with their blind sister as their oldest brother, and they didn't want to wail about an ailment of speech when that was their brothers.. what made his brother unique.. so, they shut up. They stopped making noises and they stopped smiling and doing the 'cute' little things ponies loved to patronize them for. They loved their siblings, adored them more than life itself, but being around them made their heart ache. Why couldn't they be normal? Why didn't they feel comfortable leaning on them for help? Why couldn't they speak?! Why did all these ponies talk about music and nod to words they couldn't hear them! Please WHY can't they hear them...

Was it their fault..? Maybe if they'd heard a fire alarm. Maybe if they would've known how to scream... maybe if they could've yelled their parents name or heard their cries, they could've saved them. It's their fault. It's all their fault. Everything's their fault. they cut off their life from their siblings though it hurt their heart, and the rest of the world. Ever since then seeing Cacophony was a rare case, as they locked themselves up in their home and became addicted to their art. They couldn't hear, they couldn't speak, and communicating hurt others hooves and was an inconvenience. All they could do was see. They made large paintings and art, depicting the world through their eyes. Each piece represented more their day than it did anything else. Some days were dark.. some days getting out of bed made their bones crack and their eyes water so they made paintings blue and black. They couldn't hear sound so they painted it. The painted the names of songs and the vibrating feelings it caused when they placed their hoof on the speaker. Maybe if they painted their world someone would see. Someone would come for them. The fell in love with music along the way, even though the could only feel it in their chest. Some days were bright and happy, so they painted the sky and sun with a thousand stars. No words could describe the pain, no sound loud enough to drown out their own cacophony, so they were going to show the world. Their luck had never been in their favor. They're a broke starving artist who's paintings usually crash and burn, but it makes the dark days a little easier. It makes smiling a little less forced. It brings a little light back to their eyes... They still contact their siblings every now and then, never having the nerve to fully cut them off as much as it hurt to see them have each other while knowing the only reason they didn't have THEM was their own doing.. All they can do now is pray, pray one day it gets better. If they makes 20 paintings a day maybe MAYBE it'll get BETTER. Someone has to buy one.. someone has to.. Every day is a struggle to get up and paint again. Every day they miss their family and wishes they had some pony to hold, but every day they does it. Every day they get up to work and every day they pretend they're alright as they go to that coffee shop down the street. One day... it'll be okay.. please god make it okay.

 

[Joshuality]

Something Bad​

Username: Joshuality
Pony’s name: Coal
Name meaning/significance: lowkey reference to Gordon Cole from Twin Peaks, a character with hearing loss
About: Being the smallest 'bad luck' sibling isn't easy, especially when you can't hear or talk. Coal tries their very best, but oftentimes leans on their siblings for help. Communication between Coal and Creia is sparse to none, with Croz often acting as the middle man whenever Coal fails to tactilely sign. In tense moments, Coal can signal to their siblings via a shout or yell, but words have always failed them.
It isn't all bad, however, for Coal makes up for what they lack by being the 'sense' of the trio. You see, Coal was born with an obscure ability that allows them to feel when something bad is about to happen or a less-than-pleasant pony is around. Some have called it fake, but when Coal's wings begin to shake or their hooves show a tremble... It's best you head for the hills, for something is surely amiss. It isn't perfect, as shown by their sad past with their parent's tragic fate (which they still blame themselves for). Coal didn't listen then, and it changed the lives of them and their siblings forever.. Nowadays, Coal is ever-vigilant and stays hyperaware of their surroundings. Never again will they let something like that happen...

 

[belloblossom]

Something Bad​

Username: belloblossom
Pony’s name: Connie
Name meaning/significance: Connie is referenced to a character of the same name in "The Walking Dead" who is also Deaf, faces several 'bad' things and preservers through most of them with those she's close to.
About: Connie's method of communication is a little atypical when it comes to interacting with her siblings. While other deaf ponies may be able to communicate through hoof language, Connie uses a mix of tremors and stomps, something akin to morse code. With her siblings, for they are so close, she needs only lightly scratch a hoof across the ground to get a message across, while for strangers it may just be taken as a form of impatience, rather than a secret message. When dealing with strangers, Connie has taken to being able to read lips, but she has no inclination to speak to ponies outside of her trio. Creia is the voice, the diplomat between them. Curloz is the shield, the protector of the siblings. Connie, meanwhile, acts as the lookout. Able to convey messages to her siblings if she spots trouble near or reads the lips of ponies who would wish to do them harm, Connie shares in her brother's desire to protect Creia as well as her sister's talent for listening. Anyone who believes a deaf pony cannot be a good listener is a fool.

 

[SwordOfTheNagas]

Something Bad​

Username: SwordOfTheNagas
Pony’s name: Clerc
Name meaning/significance: Named after Laurent Clerc who is the co-founder of the first permanent deaf school in America.
About: He is the youngest of the trio. Clerc is all about his siblings. With little regard for those outside of their trio, this isn't meant to isolate himself. Its just easier to deal with the loss of connections when a pony gives up trying to be friends with them. He's not a bright ray of sunshine like their peppy sister who talks all the time, nor are they as steadfast as their elder brother who moves all the time. He leans...a lot. He leans on his siblings like there's something wrong with his back legs. Though there isn't. He just leans and nuzzles. Its a silent form of communication with them. Some days he just needs to lean on his sister and she knows he's hungry...or he slightly leans on his brother and the elder knows he wants to hide. There are soft hoof touches, tracing out a special shorthand for words he made for his siblings when they were foals.

This shorthand comes in...handy [pun intended] for when Clerc just wants to get a quick thought across. Some days he swears his sister can read his mind after a soft hoof touch to her shoulder. Others he gets frustrated as neither of his siblings seem to understand his intentions fully. Which is fine. They don't always have to understand each other. Many days, Clerc feels as if he's a third wheel in the sibling dynamic. His elder brother is his elder sisters eyes, what good can he who can't hear when danger is coming? That's simple, Clerc doesn't realize that he's hyper sensitive to differences in the ground. While his sister likes to talk and talk, he sometimes notices a tremor before her...a soft touch to her side and his elder brother is on instant alert.

Another thing he does, is watch that is a big thing with him. He watches his siblings as well as other ponies around them. Some days all he does is watch. He's able to hold still for hours on end while he does so. Typically only moving when he feels something shift that he's not used to. If somepony puts him off with a body movement he usually puts distance between them. Maybe even pushing a sibling with him. So...he's more or less the warning signal?

 

[Ruler]

And the winner is...

@belloblossom with Connie!

There were so many fantastic entries, but in the end the method of communication that Connie uses won us over. She sounds like a perfect fit for the tragic little trio, and we can't wait to see what you do with this vigilante of a pony.​