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Geisthaven: Runt

xailenrath

on June 26, 2019

Ross Howard is a 7 year old werewolf, living in the town of Geisthaven, Washington.
He is the youngest of 5 children, and by far the most hyperactive.
He was named "Runt", by his sister Lucy, as an insult, but, he never paid it any mind. His brothers took to calling him Runt as an affectionate term of endearment, and that is how he chooses to accept the name, much to the chagrin of Lucy.

Ross suffers from what only a few physicians in the know refer to as 'Early Onset Pre-Lycanthropy'.
This means that Runt has come into his werewolf heritage a bit earlier than usual, which is, say, 12 or 13 years old, at the onset of pubberty. Only one in every 300,600 young werewolves develop this trait.
Ross is perpetually stuck in the transitional phase between man and lycanthrope. This is not so much a debilitating malady, as a very inconvenient one.
This means, that Runt had learned to "walk" on all fours, instead of crawling on his knees like a human baby. He was born with a full head of hair, and tufts of hair all across his body. A vestigal tail, and dark wolfen eyes.
He began teething with his first little fangs at 2 months old and, his sense of smell developed early. He learned to communicate in guttural growls, yaps and whines long before mastering English (which, he still hasn't fully done.)
His 3' 11" frame belies his strength, speed and cunning.
Don't mistake the child for feral, or dumb. He may communicate and understand differently, but he is very bright and clever, and is learning to be more 'human' everyday.
The explosive shock of hair he wears, covers his eyes more for camoflage than style. His eyes are permanently in their werewolf state beneath that mane: glowing yellow irises on a field of blackness.
His mother, Linda (one of the ONLY people he obeys) clips and sands down his claws every morning before school. He can only wear sandals at present, but he prefers to go completely barefoot.

He doesn't know much about his oldest brother, Geoff, who has gone off to college in North Dakota.
The second oldest, Lucy, is a good girl at heart, but is less than happy about her lycant heritage, wishing so very hard to be "normal". She loves her baby brother, but, he is a constant reminder of who and what she is, by his inability to "pull in his fur and act human".
The twins, Tommy and Ollie, love their little brother the most. He is a pidgeon-toed little bundle of non-stop fun, always up for hijinks and mayhem when they get the urge to pursue danger and mystery.

When hanging around with his older brothers, who are charged with watching him, when his snooty big sister, Lucy refuses to, he is happiest.
He is part of the Pack, and his is the strongest nose in the bunch.

He takes "Special Classes' at Geisthaven Elementary, taught by Marian Raze, Margeaux Raze's mother. The town itself was founded by Runt's very ancestors, and, thus, has a moderately large werewolf population. The need for 'special' arrangements forkids like Runt has been set up in this town for decades.
When needed, his official babysitter is Paulina "Poochie" Skorzeny, who is also a part of his older siblings' Pack. She can handle him. Woe unto the 'normal' babysitter who is paid to watch Runt and doesn't know what they're getting into!

Eventually, probably when he goes through actual puberty, Runt's condition will 'right itself'. Until then, this hyperactive bundle of fur and fangs lives day to day in his own little wolfen kid world, experiencing new things each day, just happy to be alive.