Azalea (Ready!)

[Imagination]

Name: Azalea

 

Gender: Female

 

Age: Adult

 

Species: Seapony

 

Eye colour: French rose! Like the rest of her body, she really likes the color pink. So she's at least grateful to be covered in so much of it!

 

Character colour: Pink w/ rose 'tiger stripes', likely makeshift camouflage just in case any predators happen to wander into her area. 

 

Mane/Tail/Other: Crimson colored mane, though she tries to highlight it with what she can from time to time. Often another shade of pink. She really likes pink.

 

Physique: She's in shape, but not overly toned. She's a very laid-back creature and doesn't often exert herself as much as she should. 

 

Residence: She lives in a reef near the shore of Manehattan

 

Occupation: She tends to her personal 'garden' of undersea flowers, anemones, urchins, coral, and other such things with pretty colors. 

 

Cutie Mark: A bright, blossoming Azalea, with four sparkles around it. She doesn't even know what an Azalea is, but her mother tells her her namesake is after a beautiful flower an Equestrian trader showed her once when she traveled. It looks pretty anyway.

 

Unique Traits: She adores all aquatic life, from the nastiest shark to the prettiest little seahorse. Yes, she even loves the Red-Lipped Bat Fish. She likes to interact with them all, and makes colorful homes for most of them in her own little piece of underwater heaven.

 

As kind and ever-loving she is, she has a dark side. Dun dun dun. Or, more like she has a curse! And it's not all that dark! 

When she was young, a sea witch put a curse on her, for reasons she's still unaware of to this day. This curse? Nothing. Except when anypony mutters certain words, she'll uncontrollably burst out into song! It could sometimes come at very inopportune times. The plus side to that is at least she has a nice voice.

 

History: She was born among 7 other siblings within the Quagga Strait to two loving parents; her mother, Amaranth, and her father, Keelhaul. Her father was always a rough and tumble type, very aggressive toward other creatures. Though he thankfully had a tender side for Amaranth and his children. They were usually left to wander around with their mother, sometimes gathering food, other times learning how to make little shelters, or just playing in the seaweed. But Azalea had always been drawn to more gentle things. Things with bright colors and tender motions, like an anemone's tentacles flowing to and fro in the water. She also liked to go up to other fish and creatures with pretty colors, sometimes needing to be pulled away by a worried mother. Curious, definitely. 

 

It was this curiosity that made her find her real passion! She saw all the pretty flowers under the water, colorful blossoms, tentacles, leaves, rocks, everything! She liked to collect them and hoard them, often making little gardens for herself, as well as keeping several little creatures as pets. She, she had to be rescued a few times from a crab that pinched a bit too hard and wouldn't let go, but her mother thought it was darling regardless. Though she was also made to put back things like hermit crabs, urchins, and other things that she plucked up because they were pretty. Her mother told her she couldn't take them from their homes! So clearly the best way to solve this was to make them better homes, so she could see all these pretty things all the time!

 

But some things weren't so simple as just picking them up and moving them. They could die! Over several months, she made great efforts to create her little condominium not far from her home. Moving rocks into perfect formations with anemones still on them, replanting seaweed, and even being patient enough for barnacles to find their way there. She arranged it all just right so that the colors were so vibrant, so beautiful, that the creatures had to come! She waited! And waited! And waited... But soon, nature responded! They came! They came!! She was ecstatic to see, one by one, little sea critters being drawn to the little homes she had made! It was hard to tell with fish, but they seemed happy! That made her happy! Seeing all the pretty colors, and little fish swimming about, even the hermit crabs came back, and changed their shells with the ones she picked out! It was touching to her, especially since this was a fever project she did on a whim! But this fever project also produced a cutie mark! Her mother told her it was odd, since the mark itself is a land-based flower. But she didn't mind it. It was still pretty! It represented her love for natural beauty, kindly attitude, and colorful preferences!

 

As she grew older, she was soft spoken and mild-mannered, but she could appreciate the beauty in almost anything. For some reason, this seemed to draw a bit of ire to one particular creature she encountered. One day, swimming alone, she had trespassed on the territory of a sea witch while looking for things to add to her garden! The witch remained in the shadows, but scolded her for her supposed insolence! Needless to say, she was terrified for this witch, and didn't dare try fleeing. She was then cursed! Oh no!

 

But it wasn't until after she fled that she found out what the curse actually was. Interacting with family, at times she would suddenly burst into song! Songs she didn't even know before, some pretty, some intense, some annoying! It came at pretty inappropriate times, and nopony knew how to rid her of this curse! She went with her father back to where she first encountered the sea witch after the singing had become too much to bear, but she was no where to be found!

 

Not knowing what to do about this curse, and not wanting to inconvenience her family, she decided to move from her family home. Of course she made sure to promise she'd visit from time to time! 

 

It took a day or two of traveling, but eventually she reached Seasaddle Bay, and decided to set up shop there. Why? Because there was a beautiful coral reef that make a nearly perfect clearing under the water, in a neat circle! She made her home there in the sands around the colorful coral, and started a brand new garden! The sun shines effortlessly in that spot, and she loves the solitary atmosphere (save for passing ships and fishergryphs from time to time). Now, she tends to her garden and mostly keeps to herself. After all, she has all the friends she needs with all her sea critters living around her!

 

 

Character Summary/Personality:

 

She is soft spoken and timid, though shows great, genuine enthusiasm for her gardening and finding something she thinks has beautiful colors. If she can help it, she tries to keep her interaction with others to a minimum, else her curse come to surface yet again. At some points, however, when her curse is triggered, she had been mistaken for a siren under the water, leaving some superstitious fishergryphs a bit wary of her domain. 

 

Truthfully, she absolutely horrified of going on the surface, and even more so of getting accidentally caught in a fishing net. Knowing this gryphons, they'd probably eat her anyway! She didn't want to get stuck in a net, suffocate out of water, and get eaten! That was horrible! So, she does her best to stay in her garden, surfacing only when she's sure the coast in clear, or when she wants to look onto the shore or the horizon. She hopes to one day actually see this precious flower that is her namesake and cutie mark. It must be even more stunning up close!

[SteelEagle]