Mirage! Meet my bean. You have stumbled upon the Mirage treasure trove. Whenever someone draws her, I will yeet the art into here. BACKSTORY: Mirage could barely remember her mother; and her father was unlikely to tell her anything except she was dead. But sometimes she could see them all together, as a family, laughing as Mirage sank into a snowdrift on her first trip outside. The only trace of her mother despite that memory was her blue-and-gold coat; which had been given to Mirage once it fit her. When Mirage was around her teenage years, her father took her out on her first hunting trip. There was a blizzard and they were blown off course. After days of wandering, Mirage’s father decided to find somewhere to rest until the storm was over. Things weren’t improving, after all. So he dug a hole among the tree roots and curled up in there with Mirage. There was enough space to fit both of them comfortably, promising Mirage they’d be home soon even though he knew they probably wouldn’t. Mirage had terrifying dreams that night. She was trapped within stone, unable to escape. Her screams went unheard — cries for help ignored. She yowled for her father, but he wasn’t there. She burst awake with a small yelp. “Are you alright, Mirage?” Her father asked. “Fine, thanks,” Mirage had replied, looking away in embarrassment. “Okay. Well, I’m going to go hunting. If I’m not back in a few hours, look for me.” Mirage nodded vigorously. “Easy peasy!” “Good then,” he had meowed in response, padding out of the hole in the snow. Mirage had sat alone, stacking rocks, then, bored, rolled over to the ground and tried to remember the stories her mother had always told her. Of the ravens, who carried souls to the next world, and the deer who symbolised grief and loneliness. Using the rocks, Mirage pretended that one was a deer and one of was a cat, the last a wolf who was attacking. The deer was just about to save the cat when Mirage realised that it had been an hour. Her paws flew over the snow; she has the speed of a tiger as she dashed to the hunting site. Crows were everywhere. Wait… not crows, ravens. And ravens carried spirits over to the next world. One bird flew past her face, landing on her shoulder. “Show me,” she sobbed to it, tears hitting the bitter snow that made her paws sting. “Show me him.” It took off like it had some sort of life mission that must be fulfilled right away — Mirage followed, and spotted a brown figure in the snow. “What happened?” she asked the raven. “What did this to him?” Her eyes flooded with horror as she saw plainly in her mind her father. /Too cold…/ her paws quivered. The thought echoed deafeningly in her ears. /I have to… stay awake… Mirage…/ She saw him collapse to the ground, and the vision behind her eyes vanished. “Wake up!” She cried, running over to him. “Wake up wake up wake up!” No response. Then a strange sensation between her ears. She reached up to touch it — there was definitely something solid there. Something forming. She padded over to a puddle and stared at herself. She had grown antlers. She had become the deer; symbol of loss and grief. She padded over to her father, then took off the necklace with the glowing glass shard that rested around his neck and tied it to an antler. He had another, around his tail, and around a paw. She had the same. One by one, she took each diamond-shaped shard of the six and tied them onto her brand new antlers. Three on each. “Faith,” she recited her father’s six keys to happiness as she put them on, “Peace, gratitude, courage, kindness and…” she choked back a distressed wail. “Love.” As she cried, they glowed brighter. “Thank you, father,” she whispered, before turning away, condemning herself to a life of loneliness and loss. “Why did you do this to me?” She asked the sky, speaking to the gods. “What did I do to deserve this?” Nothing. It’s just the way that life works. ARTISTS: Ref sheet — (me) Scene — (me) Fullbody — Scene — CREATED BY: Me ( ) OWNED BY: Me ( ) CODE:
