'Ian Carter'

[Gylfie Murdoch]

name
'Ian Carter'

age
Forty

gender
Male

sexuality
Straight

shift
Mongolian Horse

appearance


Ian was once a very happy man and his face shows it. He's covered in laugh lines and the shadow of a smile is still lingering on his face. His eyes are brown and always alert. Seven of his teeth are missing, but most of those are molars that wouldn't have been showing anyway. The skin on his face is brown and wind-worn - he has a few scars on his forehead and some of his left cheek, none of which have remarkable stories to them. The scars on his forehead are often covered by his oily black fringe.

A life of farming in the high ridges of Mongolia has kept Ian trim and muscled, but with his coming age his muscles are beginning to weaken. He is a naturally tall man, standing just above six foot tall. He suspects that this new life outside of Mongolia will fatten him up. He wants to stay as quick as possible, because loud noises alarm him.

Traditional Mongolian clothes are always at the top of his list, but anything comfortable is his preferred attire. Ian looks 'up' to his son when it comes to modern fashions and often seeks his son's advice. He dearly loves the boy and has tried his hardest not to embarrass him. He doesn't realize that Daniel is perfectly fine with what he wears. Ian will not be found without the leather bracelet his mother gave him at his tenth birthday and the small embroided wristband his wife gave him before she died.

personality
Ian is quiet and shy, almost antisocial. He does not genuinely trust people outside of his nationality and very rarely trusts those within it. He scares and panics at the most trivial things, having had himself labeled as a freak or madman outside of Mongolia. Once you break the outer shell of his personality, you find that he is gentle man, caring about his family above all else in the world. When he feels the need to, he can be fiercely loyal and even dangerous.

Due to being raised on a farm in the countryside of Mongolia, Ian has had no public schooling. His wife once tried to teach him how to write, but it proved fruitless. The most he has ever been able to learn academically is the small amount of English he knows. His son is a total nerd, so he finds it easy to pick up knew things now and then from the teenage boy.

history
Ian's parents farm was situated right on the borders of Mongolia, pressed hard against mountains. They had very contact with the outside world, staying to themselves most of the time. Ian was born in their small farmhouse and raised to tend to his family's needs. For the first ten years of his life, he worked just as a woman would - cooking, cleaning, tending younger children and caring for the chickens was the most he ever did. He longed for his tenth birthday, where he would be taught how to ride a horse and go out on the farm with his older brothers.

When that day finally arrive, his mother gave him a small leather bracelet as a gift and threw him out of the house. His two older brothers were both rough and quiet, never having spoken with him before. They were twenty-one and twenty-three at the time, partners in crime. Ian grew fond of the farm work and the horse he worked with.

Now, his parents followed their own set of rules and their own morals. They believed some things that fellow Mongolians believed, but most of all, they believed in superstitions and magic. From the start, they had their suspicions about Ian. He never complained, he always had fun and he was always trying to play with his older brothers, even though they would rather talk among themselves.

One day, as a joke, Ian's brothers decided to send the boy out on a mission. Ian was twenty at the time and still as boisterous as ever. He felt this mission would be his redemption. His family would finally accept him. Eager, he set out to catch the chickens that had escaped the hutch. Little did he know that he was being sent on a wild goose chase - there was only one chicken missing, not three. His parents, in an attempt to get rid of their strange and annoying son, had sent him out to die.

Ian quickly caught the single bird and set up camp as night rolled in. There had been alerts of big cats near by and he was worried for his safety. Occasionally, he would consider going home, but the shame and embarrassment of only finding one bird would be too much for him. He was jumpy that night, unable to get any sleep. Every noise was a lion or jaguar waiting to eat him.

The next day, he traveled the countryside slowly, sleep-deprived because of a relentlessly frightening night. High on ridge, he slipped from his saddle and slid down the steep, grassy bank. The jolt woke him and he paddled wildly with his limbs, trying to grab hold of anything. He was knocked out by the impact at the bottom of the slope and woke to a bruised head and in a horse's body.

He never returned to his family, instead wandering the wild land with the mare he had been riding for ten years. He couldn't understand his change in body, but he accepted it - even fathering a foal with the mare.

As soon as he had shifted back to his human form (a dream woke him from a midday reverie and he found himself back as a human) he walked to the local village. Things had changed drastically since his five years as a horse. Everything seemed to be foreign - even the people. He booked a room in a small hotel on the borders of the town, hoping to figure out where to go next.

While there, he quickly feel for a young brunette. Her hair was long and curly, almost reaching her thighs. She had the same cheeky smile he had once wore and she seemed to be staring at him, no embarrassment or shame at being caught. Ian wonder: Could she see the truth? Surely not. He was human now. No one knew his secret. But he wanted her to know. As one thing led to another, they both fell in love and within two years Ian had fathered a child. His secret was still his own.

When Daniel, his son, was eight and growing well, Ian decided to tell his new bride, Beth. He told her of his horse self and the year and a half he spent alone with his horse wife. He even told her he had fathered a foal. She laughed and kissed him tenderly, telling him he was a silly goose. Desperate to have her understand, Ian took her outside into the small backyard. He thought horse thoughts until it hurt him and he began to shift. His wife was silent until the transformation was complete. And then she screamed.

Worried that others would see and know his secret, Ian reached out to place a hand over her mouth, killing her instantly. His hoof had damaged her brain stem as it went straight through her throat. The shock changed him back into a human.

In an attempt to forget the past and his tragic mistakes, Ian moved to a place he hoped he would be accepted at. A place where others like himself lived in harmony. He had first heard about this marvelous place from a friends, who was suspicious, just as his family had been. The change would be welcomed for Ian and, as for Daniel, he just wanted to live in a place where the only entertainment wasn't football or horse riding.

Ian changed his first name and his last name, quickly to, well, 'Ian Carter'.

relationships
Once upon a time he was married, but after a slight misfortune his beautiful young bride was killed. Now he's too scared to get back out into the world, just in case.

occupation
He plans to work on a farm or raising young kids, just as he used to.

residence
Verge Apartments

pets
He owns a small Siamese fighting fish that his son thought would be cool for him to look at. He enjoys watching the Sam very much.

likes
Fresh air, drawing animals, comfortable silence, carrots and apples, house cats, snow, working with children and warm sunshine.

dislikes
Loud noises, cars, chatty people, yelling, surprises, hip hop music, prostitutes, lightning, meat and public transport.

hobbies
Sketching animals, singing (in his natural tongue), jogging and dancing.

other
None.