Meet the Studs: Alabaster, the Lion of dark muscle and grey matter
#8 of Meet the Studs
So, bit of a musclefur fan. Less obvious from my writing style and gallery than you'd think, but just glance at mah faves. The evidence is there. All things meaty, manly(and sometimes femmy), and powerful, when portrayed with style and talent, is A+ in my book. So much so that I've been developing a rather exhaustively involved and in-depth series, nearly a decade in the making, involving the subject...well, perhaps not involving, but rather featuring it, to the point that with barest exception...
all the furs are huge. Like, nearly all of em. Indulges my author appeal and leaves open tons of possibilities for far more varied personalities than "vain, dominant gymrat" and themes to explore therein.
So of course, I've had to wrack my tiny brain creating characters for this self-indulgent little project, and suffice to say, I've been busy. You don't even know the breadth of character and species I've been developing and mining so far. Like, guess. You won't get it, but guess. Ya don't...just, dude, stop. You don't even know. You're embarassing yourself. You don't know. YA DUNT KNOW
Enjoy. Love it, Hate it, let me know.
Name: Alabaster Groenthal
Species: Lion
Age: 21
Height: 7' 9"
Weight: 631 lbs.
Appearance: Contrary to his name, Alabaster doesn't have even a speck of white anywhere on him. His fur is a dark brownish-black and rough to the touch, a bit of caramel on his chest and abs while his mane and body hair are a deep chocolate. His eyes, a strikingly light hazel, are the only bright spots on him. His mane is typically wild and unruly, though he has the self-awareness to tidy it up when appropriate. He sometimes wraps a green headband around the top, scrunching it into an afro.
One can gather he has a thing for green. His usual clothes; a preppy, comfortably fitting vest jacket and plaid undershirt, occasionally with matching tie and classy, button-down jacket, baggy corduroy shorts and snug, hemp-thread sandals; are all varying shades and hues of green, whether in checkers, stripes, or flat, full-body color. Even the university ring he wears proudly on his left hand is adorned with a huge (faux) emerald.
(Now that I think about it, he dresses in awful lot like Doug Funnie. XD)
Personality: Studious, Polite, Off-putting, Confident, Oblivious, Difficult to Read. Currently a student in college, Alabaster constantly has school matters on the brain. A genius who excels in all his chosen fields of study, he craves knowledge and reading material and is a regular visitor of the campus library. His scholarly acumen is bested only by his exceptional deductive reasoning. He can solve highly complex problems and equations within minutes of seeing them, if not seconds. At the same time, he's quick to remind that he hates being asked random questions about anything and everything. He doesn't like being seen as what he calls a "trivia master", someone who collects lots of useless information in the attempt to appear intelligent. He chooses to devote time only to the subject at hand, and gathers relevant information with remarkable speed and throughness. Any "excess" he simply pushes out of his mind, though he can remember most anything if pressed. It's often remarked that he'd make an exceptional detective.
Or, he would, if only he could read people like he could books. Alabaster's long periods of studying and researching in seclusion have rendered him unable to emphasize with others. It's not that he's such a nerd that his social skills have diminished. He's actually polite to a fault when talking to people and appears outgoing and well-adjusted at first glance. It's when the conversation ends and the happy smile on his muzzle suddenly drops to the same far-off expression he wears when lost in thought and then saunters off in total silence that one starts to understand the issue.
He simply acts nice and helpful to everyone because he doesn't know how else to be. He could be speaking to someone covered in blood and gore and bawling their eyes out, or to an insufferable codger screaming into his face with indiscriminate, bigoted rage, and he'd just wear that same cordial smile and use that same understanding tone of voice that simply melts away like a facial mask when his attention is diverted to something else. He can't read other people's emotions and body language, and so treats everyone the same, albiet kindly. This flaw is all but lost on him, unfortunately.
Regardless of his literal insensitivity, he's generally well-respected by his peers, is fairly popular and has a small circle of friends who appreciate his helpful demeanor and occasional gesture of genuine kindness. So long as he has nothing better to attend to, he has no issue providing perfectly friendly company.
Abilities: Despite his massive musculature, Alabaster isn't a particularly adept fighter. He knows a smattering of improvised boxing, but doesn't have any semblance of technique or refined skill and is too unused to serious combat to form effective strategies on the fly. As long as he can get by with sheer, unfocused (and sometimes clumsy) brute force, he is generally capable of taking care of himself.
Fun notes:
Though astonishingly well-read, Alabaster doesn't actually fancy sitting down with a good book. Plopping down and skimming over line after line of prose disconnected from factual information is just too tedious. He much prefers snuggling up under the covers with some earbuds in and zoning put to his favorite audio reading of whichever novel cataches his eye. Why read a story when you can hear it told, he reasons. The smooth oratory stylings of his favorits readers does wonders to soothe his mind and hone his focus as he, just as astonishigly, catches up on study and research at the same time. It's also one of the few times he can discern and understand the expressed human emotion in the reader's voice and inherent in the story itself.
For related reasons, he has no real love for films.
Has a taste for fish eggs. Any kind, really(save cavier; shit's too salty and overpriced), sometimes in combinations or served with other, richer foods. Rib-eye topped with roe is a fave. He thankfully keeps some breathmints on him for such moments of indulgence.
Don't worry; he doesn't dress the way he does on purpose. Being as focused on studies as he is, and having his uniquely selective memory and attention span, he pays no real mind to what he wears or how he looks, and he's gone out in hideous, eye-scalding things that make oblivious foreign shoppers look like payed fashion models. Semi-fortunately, he happens to dorm with a slickly-groomed preppie who insists on picking out all his clothes for him before he leaves in the morning(even bought most of them himself) and Alabaster never questions it, having no room or desire to judge or even wonder just how much it's in either of their interests for him to look presentable. He did pick out the color, though. His classmates have no doubt he could be a total heartthrob with a less stuffy hand to guide his choice in attire.
A pair of emerald-green contact lenses are on of his few pleasures of vanity(Them, and while he'd never admit it, he does enjoy how far his pecs and arms strech out and strain his preppie formal wear. His equally thick legs embaress him more than he's like to admit, too.) They never go in around campus, and always keeps them locked away someplace secret. Trying to impress a special someone, maybe?
His 'fro-like mane feels heavenly to touch and pet for both parties. Feels just like a lamb's coat, and ifyou're lucky, you just may hear the big guy purr, a rare treat.