Done by JouigiDragon

I wanted to write a blurb to help flesh out Gem as a character. Give some insight to who she is and what she fears. It was all done in an hour or so, but lemme know what you think! I'm a little rusty with writing.

~~~

She wanted to be a hero.

That’s what she saw herself as, in her head. Sure she was just a kobold, a rather round one admittedly, but she believed that she could show that anyone could be inspirational! Wouldn’t matter if you’re big or small, thin or wide, dragon or kobold. Anyone could be a hero that people respected, looked up to, saw as a beacon of hope.

But after the last mission she had gone on with her fellow Wolf Hunters in pursuit of one of the five Blood Moon captains, Wulfa Laurel, Gem felt...empty. The spark of hope that kept her going had dimmed down. Now, after the battles had taken their toll on her, the green kobold wanted nothing more to lose herself in boring, mundane, *safe* work. And that’s what she did.

One of the first things her group did was capture Wulfa’s ship. Not an especially big vessel, but it was big enough for their group of five and had plenty of cargo to sell, even with what they gave away to the surrendered pirates aboard to help them hopefully turn a new leaf. And with her fellows consisting of two mercs, a weapon obsessed tech nut, and a healing robot, she was the best qualified to handle the more mundane crew tasks. Like taking an inventory for her new captain, Ria Sin-Kain, of what they actually had now that the ship was theirs to use.

This was thanks to her history aboard a kobold pirate ship as a mechanic, as well as her years simply helping out wherever she could on the citadel. Being on that pirate ship and seeing the horrible raids her group committed is what started her on this journey. It made her want to change...be something more. It drove her to sabotage her own ship during a critical raid that resulted in minimal lives lost on both sides of the battle. Despite the backlash from her crew and being branded a traitor, Gem had felt good about herself. For once in her life she had done something brave, and changed the world for the better!

The Kobold sighed and placed her data pad down. She had repeatedly miscounted the same three crates of food four times in a row now. Perhaps she needed a break.

Sitting down on her bedroll in her corner of the cargo hold, she went over what happened in her head once again. Even now it was fragmented, but she remembered trying to sneak up on Wulfa’s small drop ship that he had used to get down to the planet only to get attacked by a massive robot when Grizzy tried hacking it. She remembered taking a shot at it, so confident that nothing could possibly take her group down...and then pain as a massive laser cannon appeared out the top and fired at her. There was still hole in her suit from where the laser burned through...and if it weren’t for M4RCI the friendly Medic Bot then she’d have a big scar on her gut. And then after that there were regular grunts that shocked, stabbed, and shot her. And not to mention the lady that hit her with some energy rays that knocked her out.

She tried keeping a brave face after the whole deal...but she was scared. She had almost died a few times, and she got really hurt too. She knew heroes struggled, that they faced adversity...but she didn’t feel like a hero right now. She just felt like a fat kobold that was in way over her head and playing with things that were beyond her. She could *die*...what was she thinking, trying to be something she’s not? She should just go back to the citadel and live her life as a mechanic. Everyone liked her there, she didn’t struggle to get by...so why keep throwing herself into danger?

She didn’t know when she ended up curled into a ball, knees pressed deep into her pillowy gut as blue energy crackled around her body. With her using her powers more and more, it’s started to show even when she wasn’t trying to use them. Gem let out a bitter bark of a laugh, continuing to wallow in her fear and misery. She stayed like this for a good while before a memory popped into her mind, of a kobold she promised to save from her indentured servitude to a literal chicken of a man named Zane.

She wanted to help people...that’s what a hero did. It hurt, as she learned, but she didn’t kill people indiscriminately. She tried her best to save people, giving people second chances. She let people live, she put her energy into seeing them change. She wanted to give others the chance she made for herself to change her future...and that slave was one of the people she could help right now. She had the funds to buy her out from the painfully legal contract, and then maybe she could give her hope for the future.

The feelings of dread and misery faded. She was still scared yes, now that she knew how dangerous things truly were...but she had a purpose. She was Gem, and she was a kobold wolf hunter. She was going to show everyone that *anyone* can make a difference. And with this resurgence of her hope, the kobold hopped back up and continued her inventory as she made plans to help everyone she could.