A Gentleman's History

Mishi Gonyma does not remember seeing his parents even once, he never once heard a thing about them and he did not care to find out.  Since he was an infant he had lived in an orphanage a place he fully despised he hated the workers, the orphans and even the families coming to adopt and would often act out or be violent towards them as he didn’t want to go with anyone.  No matter how they tried to discipline him and get his behavior to stop Mishi continued to act hatefully towards everyone until they finally gave up and decided to keep Mishi separated.  So at age 12 he was thrown into a room with nothing in it but a bed and a lamp, the iron door was shut behind him and locked.
Mishi for the first time in his life was finally alone and even though it was something he had wanted his whole life to finally be alone and away from all those people that he hated he in fact ended up hating solitude even more, actually to say he hated it would be wrong, he was terrified of it.  For what felt like years to him Mishi lived in this state of fear, it nearly destroyed him turning him into a quiet shell of the wild child he once was.  That is until the iron door finally swung open, at that moment Mishi wanted nothing more than to the people who put him there.  With a roar he charged forward and went to attack the closest person “Living Art Restraining Vines” that’s all he heard before he was on the floor unable to move, now tied up by the vines that had sprung out of this man’s hand.  This was Mishi’s first time seeing a mage, the man dressed differently than most mages wearing a white dress shirt tucked into a pair of black dress pants with a black vest, tie and fedora to match.  The mage explained that he was from a nearby guild and had accepted a job to help deal with the child but  the child was being kept in such an awful way had not realized that, but Mishi didn’t care about that, all Mishi cared about was the burning sensation that had suddenly come over him.  As Mishi began to yell in pain the mage realizing what was happening quickly raised his hand once more this time however the vines turned into greenish liquid and flew back towards the man’s hand turning into a tattoo of vines that quickly moved upward and out of sight under the man’s sleeves.  Suddenly Mishi’s pain disappeared though his pain was replaced by confusion as the mage began to apologize saying “a gentleman would never harm a child on purpose and I was not aware you had magic power”.  He went on to explain that the spell created vines from his tattoo that while harmless to normal people would drain a mage of their magically energy.  Mishi was then given an ultimatum that would forever shape who he became, the mage said that after seeing how he was treated he would be reporting this place to the authorities no matter what and that Mishi had two choices either stay here and go wherever the authorities place him next or become his apprentice and return to his guild with him.
Mishi of course not wanting to risk going to another place as horrible as the one he grew up in accepted and became the mages apprentice though he somewhat regretted it as his new master’s tendency to say what a gentleman does and does not do annoyed him greatly making him cold towards his new master and even his guild.  Despite this Mishi still wanted to learn his master’s Living Art Magic a magic that his master used to bring his tattoo’s to reality.  Mishi was very interested in this magic as he felt it was an art form in and of its self, one that combined both traditional art and magic. Unfortunately for him Mishi was a terrible artist this would make it impossible for him to use Living Art as it only allows to make real something that the user views as art, his masters works however he viewed as art which lead to Mishi eventually asking his master to give him tattoos so that Mishi could use his master’s art to make his own, his master accepted. And because of this over the years Mishi came to admire and look up to the man that saved him and eventually he came to love the whole guild.  Some in his guild would joke that he took the admiration for his master too far to far as he began to dress like his master and even carried a little notebook in his pocket to write down everything his master said a gentleman must do.  
Though he never wanted it as a child Mishi finally had a family of his own and his family made him happier then it could ever image this was sadly short lived.  When he was about 18 years old Mishi was returning from his first solo job when he saw a fire from where his guild was located he ran over only to discover his guild the first place he called home was on fire.  Mishi ran in without a second thought and searched for anyone still alive all of families dead bodies lay across the burning guild but one man was still alive, it was his master though he was near death.  Mishi carried his master outside and laid him down, his master explained that one of their fellow members had betrayed them and led a dark guild to their home in an attempt to take over and it the fight both guilds were destroyed as was the guild hall. His master hen asked him for his notebook and said that he would write in it his last piece of advice for Mishi but told him not to look at them until the day his gentleman’s code went against how he felt Mishi promised his master his master then told him a gentleman needs friends to stay alive and to go look for a new guild and then he took his final breath.  Mishi then placed his master’s corpse right back inside the guild hall feeling that his family and his home should all be cremated together, he then stood outside and watched his guild hall burn until the fire went out and everything he know was gone, Mishi then silently turned around and began his masters final job for him to find a new home as a gentleman must keep his promises and should not sully his friends memories with tears.

Mishi awoke in the East Forest to the sounds of a multitude of animals all around him; at first he just laid there listening to all the various sounds coming from all the creatures trying to focus especially on the birds as they were his favorite to listen to. After a few minutes of enjoying nature’s music Mishi finally began to move turning his head to right to check the campfire, which was now just a pile of charcoal in a shallow pit with only the tiniest of embers remaining.  Mishi let out a sigh he had been hoping to lie down and enjoy the music just a little longer but unfortunately he had places to go and things to do.  He began to sit up from his make shift bed well it was less a bed and more two blankets that he slept between, as Mishi sat up the top blanket slid down to his waist revealing his torso.  Mishi had removed his shirt the night before in order to sleep comfortably, it’s not that he didn’t like what he wore it’s just that his fancy gentleman’s dress shirt, vest and tie weren’t the best things to wear if you wanted a good night’s sleep. Mishi looked down at his torso at the collection of his tattoos he wasn’t really sure why he did this every morning after all it’s not like his tattoos were just going to suddenly disappear,  perhaps it just eased him into the day staring at his master’s art, the art that used his body as a canvas. He couldn’t help but smile as he stared at the various beasts and magical beings that lived on his skin some moved around his body while others stayed in place and simply observed the others, this was part of his magic it made the art a part of him they were alive and yet not at the same time.  Mishi’s attention shifted to his chest, right above his heart, this was the only place on his torso that was tattoo free as it was the place his guild mark once rested he wondered had it really been 2 years since his guild fell and his master had been killed.  
“Mmmmmmmmm” Mishi began to stretch his back before letting out a yawn “well that’s enough of those type of thoughts for today, besides a gentleman shouldn’t  live in the past” he said as he began to get up from his bed, as he got up he looked to his left towards a tree just a few feet away.  The tree was an old oak that had grown to be the largest tree in the immediate area and at its base laid a canvas bag with a black fedora on top of it, once he was fully standing Mishi walked over to the bag and gave one last stretch before picking the fedora up and placing it on his head.  He then opened up the canvas bag and took out a white dress shirt and a black vest and tie, the remainder of his signature outfit, Mishi slowly got dressed while rubbing the gunk out of his eyes and letting out another large yawn.  After several minutes of sluggishly getting dressed Mishi rolled up his blankets and put them in his bag before swinging it over his shoulder with half of the blanket roll still sticking out.  “Well I guess it time to get some grub, if I recall the town of Oak should be close by” Mishi looked around he knew that the town was somewhere north of him by some mountains, unfortunately he had no idea which direction was north Mishi let out a heavy sigh ‘I really need to remember to get a compass one of these days’ he thought before finally coming to a realization.  “Duh I can just look around for the town, the point of masters gifts if I never use them” he said hitting his palm against his forehead and letting out a laugh before finally holding his arm out ward and saying “Living Art: Teona the winged lion”.  Suddenly a bolt of ink quickly moved up his hand and shot forward growing in size and turning from a mere tattoo on his skin into a real living being and in an instant a 10 ft. long lion with a large gold colored mane stood in front of him with a pair of large eagle wings pinned to his body.  Mishi began to chuckle at his own stupidity he had honestly forgotten about his magic despite looking at his tattoos every day, “Hey big guy” Mishi began to say walking towards the large beast that stood before him  “ya miss me?”
The only response that was heard was the lion’s rather loud growl; this caused Mishi to stop in his tracks right in front of Teona an awkward smile forming on Mishi’s face.  “Hehe, I guess you’re a little angry about how I haven’t been letting any of you off my skin recently” he said in response to the lions growls he couldn’t actually understand what Teona was saying after all he only spoke one language and lion wasn’t it.  But for one reason or another Mishi could usually understand the basic meaning behind the sounds and actions his Living Art would make towards him as if he had a kind of sixth sense for it.  As soon as Mishi finished speaking the lion let out a thunderous roar and with it came a gust of wind so strong that it Mishi had to try his hardest to ensure that neither he nor his hat were blown away.  “Hehe” Mishi continued with his awkward laugh in an attempt to defuse the tension “I’ll take that as a yes” Mishi walked the remaining few steps to get to the Teona placing his hand on the lions forehead and looking at his feet a large frown appearing on his face.  “I’m sorry I haven’t called on any of you in a while, it’s just since Sparrow’s Song was destroyed I haven’t really needed any of your help, and while I’m trying to honor master’s wishes and find a new guild I just haven’t been able to find a guild that has that same sense of family that Sparrow’s Song did…not one guild in all these years of searching” Mishi’s head suddenly shot up as he quickly put on a smirk.   “But you know what I’m sure we will find a home like our old one someday and I promise I won’t give up until I find it, and you know what I’m pretty sure Oak has a guild, who knows maybe it will be just what we’re looking for” as Mishi said this his smirk transformed into a full blown smile stretching from ear to ear. Teona stared at the young mage for a moment before letting out a sigh like growl Mishi had won the big cat over.  “YAY!” Mishi excitedly yelled clapping his hands together excitedly like a child receiving a new toy this continued for several seconds before Mishi began to clear his throat and fix his tie “ahem sorry about that, a gentleman should always keep his cool”.  Teona gave a large Cheshire cat like grin for a moment bobbing his head a little.  “Yea, yea keep laughing” Mishi said as he walk to the side of Teona, it had been awhile since he last rode the magical beast but luckily he still remembered how to get on him.  The young mage grabbed hold of the lion’s mane with both his hands before hoisting himself up with his foot using one of Teona’s wings as a prop “ALRIGHT!” Mishi yelled now safely secured on the lions back with one more thunderous roar Teona spread his wings revealing his 25 ft. wingspan “LET’S GO, OAK HERE WE COME!” and with that the lion began to flap his wings creating a tremendous amount of wind taking the leaves clear off of the nearby trees and in one instant the pair was gone leaving only a storm of leaves falling to the ground.