Cursive Initial

By Hederik

• December 15, 2015




Age: 55

Gender: Male

Species: Unicorn

Appearance: Cursive Initial is an aging unicorn, his coat the color of fading khaki and graying hair making him look much older than he actually is. The wrinkled face and a slight hunch make it difficult to notice that beneath that wizened apparel, his body is still slightly toned with muscle. The long, thinning mane of the stallion is usually caught with a single band near his head into a single ponytail. It is more gray than it is brown already and doesn't appear to have been cut in a long time. To say that his tail has been trimmed would be an overstatement, but it's definitely shorter than his mane. The stallions jaws are tightly covered by a dense thicket of stubby hair.<br /><br />His usual choice of clothing includes a not entirely buttoned shirt covered by a denim jacket with a multitude of pockets. On formal occasions he tends to swap these for a (minimally) fancier suit jacket and a bolo tie with a single amethyst encased in it, playing nicely off the color of his eyes.

Cutie Mark: Ornate black letter W, knit intricately with a red letter Z, both surrounded by flourishing, swirly lines reminiscent of artful handwriting. Acquired at a young age when his talents for calligraphy and composing poetry blossomed during a contest being part of the curricular he was following.

Personality: Grumpy, disillusioned cynic with a distaste towards exceedingly extravertic people. Careful and dedicated while working, but generally neglective towards other aspects of life. Slightly anti-social loner with no interest in changing this status.

Backstory: Born to a minor noble family in Canterlot, Initial received education appropriate to his status. He showed major propensity for literary works, especially poetry and calligraphy, leading to an early acquisition of his cutie mark during a writing contest organized as a part of the classes he was taking. Before graduation from the higher circles, however, his family suffered a major economic downfall due to a conjunction of several unfortunate events, resulting in the adolescent colt's education being cut prematurely as he found himself sent to live with a distant relative of him mother's.<br /><br />After a negative change of this proportion in his lifestyle, the young wannabe-writer promptly decided to forge his own fate rather than rely on a doubtful support grudgingly offered to him by his uncle. Having little to go on, Cursive has been jumping from job to job for the first several years of his independent life, basically jumping at any offer that offered to make use of his literary skills. Thus, he had had a taste of journalism, court transcription, publishing poetry, proofreading prose, translating letters and taking dictations ranging from letters to wills.<br /><br />As it would turn out, journalism offered the most recurring and reliable source of income, but lacked the excitement that the stallion nearing his thirties realized he coveted. Thus, when a position opened for a scribe to accompany an archaeological expedition to the uncharted jungles of the east, Initial was the first to sign up, and surely enough got the job.<br /><br />The experiences of a good few following years allowed him to write two books that, while not being universally recognized bestsellers or making a celebrity out of him, at least brought enough income that scraping day-to-day stopped being the shape of the stallion's reality. It also taught him to always stay in shape and shaped much of his character.<br /><br />Presently, the stallion doesn't do much else than lazily compose what might be his future publications or taking occasional odd jobs when they come knocking at his doorstep.