Snowdrop

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   <default>Snowdrop</default>
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   <label>First Appearance</label>
 

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Snowdrop is an opossum boon companion that accompanied Avery on the Forest Ribbon Trail.

Personality

Snowdrop is a compulsive liar; everything she says is the opposite of the truth.<ref>“She’s not ‘glaikit’, as you would put it, Alpeana.  She’s contrary by nature.”

“You couldn’t have told us this before?” Lucy asked.

“I didn’t know the opossum’s rule until I saw her here, as this spirit of the Path.  But even if I knew there was no way to tell how the

rule or tendency would manifest.  Another opossum could have had a 

different approach than expressing the opposite of what she means.”

- excerpt from [on a Limb 3.1|Out on a Limb 3.1] </ref><ref name=":0">“The gimmick.  The opossum.  It plays dead even when it doesn’t mean to, fainting.  Deceives when it doesn’t mean to.  It says the opposite of what it means to, but it can deceive well enough to bring a token item into the Wolf’s negotiation.”

- excerpt from [on a Limb 3.1|Out on a Limb 3.1] </ref>

She has some opposum-like behavioural quirks, sometimes crouching on all fours etc.<ref>A kid, eight or nine or so, flipped down from the branch, dangling by

her knees so she was upside down.  She wore cargo shorts and a tee that
said ‘Trash Face’, her hair was greasy, and she had dark circles around
her eyes.

[...]

“Our opossum,” Miss said.  “Hello, dear.”

The kid dropped from the branch, landing on all fours, as Miss approached.  She backed away a half step, then stopped retreating. - excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.1 </ref> She liked the idea of Avery helping opposums in her name somehow.<ref name=":1">“I was going to lead a nice long life.  I had the rest of the time with my mother to get drunk on her milk, cozy and safe.  Then a good life awaited me, eating trash, eating bugs, eating plants, and eating carrion.  I would have found a mate, I would have had babies, and I’ve heard that Nature rewards good animals who have babies with a weeks-long

hit of happy, like we’ve been given heroin.  Doesn’t help keep some 

moms from eating their babies. [...] I’m going to die a meaningless death, when I had a real chance of contributing to my species,” Snowdrop said.”

“Can you please chill out, Snowdrop?  Please?  This is nerve

wracking as it is.  If that is what happens, I’ll try to do something 

to keep your end here from being meaningless, and… I don’t know, I’ll see about doing something nice for your species.  I don’t know what that

would be, but if it would make you feel better…”

“It wouldn’t, you sad, lonely failure.”

- excerpt from [Away 2.9|Stolen Away 2.9] </ref>

She has an instinctive awareness of everything Avery knew and thought at the time she performed the ritual.<ref>“This wee bairn went to tha meeting place I was to meet tha lassie at.”

“I didn’t know anything about what that Avery twit was planning, where she came from, or any of that,” the little girl said. - excerpt from [on a Limb 3.1|Out on a Limb 3.1] </ref>

Relationships

Snowdrop deeply admires and likes Avery Kelly.<ref>“How was Avery when you saw her?”

“Great.  But she’s a real wimp when it counts.” - excerpt from [on a Limb 3.1|Out on a Limb 3.1] </ref><ref>Mask- she tore it off, shook it violently, and shucked off the glamour she’d used.  She donned the mask.

Hat.  Same deal.

“That’s so lame,” the opossum girl said.  “You look so uncool.”

[...]

“Odelia?”

“You have awful taste in names,” the girl said, walking backwards, expression getting worse and worse.

[...]

“I hope the wolf gets you like the other opossum said, lonely freak.”

- excerpt from [Away 2.9|Stolen Away 2.9] </ref> She had no problem being sacrificed to help her,<ref>“Happy you’re not getting sacrificed?”

“Yes.”

“Cool,” Nicolette said.  “I don’t suppose you’d stick around, help?”

“Can do, if it screws with her.”

[...]

“I’m going to get some things to clean up.  Do you need anything?” she asked the Other.

“Nah.  Pretty happy right now.”

- excerpt from [Away 2.z|Stolen Away 2.z] </ref><ref>The person beside her let go of Avery’s hand.  They didn’t move.  “You’re going to have me take your place at the end, guaranteed.  Murderer.  Idiot.  And you want to look me in the eye?”

[...]

“I- I’m doing this to help people.”

“Right, and you aren’t doing it to help yourself any.  No magical boons, no opening of doors.  Sure, I believe you.  Disgusting.  Loser.”

[...]

“Take longer to get your sentences out, murdering a-hole.  Hesitate more.  Let’s drag this out.  We’ll postpone my horrible fate, okay?”

- excerpt from Stolen Away 2.9 </ref> and saw it as a meaningful death.<ref name=":1" />

Appearance

In her human form, she appears to be a young girl, originally aged 8 or so,<ref name=":2">It was a kid, no older than eight, possibly younger, with messy blond hair, a jacket, a top, and bare feet.

Avery measured her steps carefully, getting a feel for the ground, before catching up.

The opossum girl hung from a branch over the path with both hands gripping the leafless wood, her face at Avery’s eye level.  Her hair was

bleached and messy, her skin pale and smudged in places, her feet 

dirty, and she had dark circles under her eyes like someone had punched her.  She wore a white jacket with a hood, and big black buttons had been sewn onto the hood to be eyes, cloth for ears, and actual teeth from various animals sewn in around the edge of the hood.  She didn’t have any shorts or skirt on that Avery could see, but she wore an adult-sized t-shirt that came to her knees, black.  It was printed with ‘I have class, I have sass, I scream at own ass’. “Murderer.  A-hole.  You prepared for this crap,” the opossum girl said, accusatory.  She was missing teeth.
- excerpt from [Away 2.9|Stolen Away 2.9]</ref><ref name=":3">A kid, eight or nine or so, flipped down from the branch, dangling by

her knees so she was upside down.  She wore cargo shorts and a tee that
said ‘Trash Face’, her hair was greasy, and she had dark circles around
her eyes.

- excerpt from [on a Limb 3.1|Out on a Limb 3.1] </ref> later appearing to be around 11.<ref name=":4">Snowdrop looked eleven or so.  Her hair was in a high ponytail, she had jeans with massive holes in the knees, and a black tee that was knotted at the side, to expose her stomach.  It hid part of the message,

leaving only the ‘Pretty as’ and the illustration of an opossum with 

tire tracks through it and bright pink lipstick and blue eyeshadow.  Avery guessed it was ‘Pretty as Roadkill’. - excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.1</ref> Her hair is bleached blonde,<ref name=":2" /> greasy and she has dark circles under her eyes.<ref name=":3" /> Her skin is pale and she has some teeth missing.<ref name=":2" />

Her clothing changes. On the Trail she wore an adult-sized t-shirt labelled ‘I have class, I have sass, I scream at own ass’.<ref name=":2" /> On reaching reality she wore a t-shirt that said "trash face" and cargo shorts,<ref name=":3" /> with untied shoes.<ref>Wide eyed, with dark circles under those same eyes, the rodent looked

at her, at Alexander, and at the box.  At the blood.  It looked like a 

kid, wearing a t-shirt printed with ‘Trash Face’, and oversized cargo shorts that extended down to the tops of her mid-calf socks.  Her shoes were untied. - excerpt from Stolen Away 2.z</ref> Later outfits have included t-shirts with messages like "Pretty as Roadkill".<ref name=":4" />

She can change to an opossum form, and back to human form, at will.

Abilities

She can transform into a regular baby opposum and back into a little girl at will.

Seemingly the only being yet shown who can behold Miss directly,<ref>Miss bent down, until her face and head were at a level with the kid’s  She reached up to wipe at a smudge of dirt and fix the kid’s hair. Everything hidden from those present, except for the kid. - excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.1</ref> presumably due to their similar nature.

As a companion on the Trail, her gift was that she could decieve the Wolf and bring a second item (along with the single item Avery was allowed to bring.)<ref name=":0" />

She's learned from goblins the secret of travel through the Warrens.<ref>Gashwad kept skipping ahead.  He was lying in wait now. “How’s he moving like that!?” Lucy called out. “There’s little paths and tunnels, if you’re tuned into the Warrens,”

Avery said.  “The place goblins come from.  Snowdrop showed me some.  

Gash- gash seems to know most of them!” - excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.8</ref>

Weaknesses

Although her lies can catch enemies off guard, they're involuntary, even when trying to communicate with allies.<ref name=":0" />

Like most Others, she can seemingly be blocked by ritual circles.<ref>She glanced back at the kid, who was staring at the scene, then drew a diagram around the model, warding it off so the kid couldn’t mess with it.  To be safe.  The kid poked a few times at the barrier. - excerpt from [Away 2.z|Stolen Away 2.z]</ref>

History

Stolen Away

Started out as a baby opposum. She had never bled or tasted blood before the ritual.<ref>“Are you virginal?” Avery asked.

The girl’s eyes opened wide.

“In the practitioner and Other sense, not the ordinary sense.  You’ve never bled or tasted blood?”

“I have.  Both,” the girl said. - excerpt from [Away 2.9|Stolen Away 2.9] </ref> She wasn't destined for a long or pleasant life, in her opinion.<ref name=":1" />

Created in her current form from the opposum by Avery using the Forest Ribbon Trail ritual. Pulled out of the Trail by the Belangers to stymie her, she set their place on fire, robbed Nicolette, and escaped.

Out on a Limb

Having hitchhiked to the location Avery was set to travel to using the Trail in order to meet [[Alpeana]], Alpy teleported them both back to Kennet.

Snowdrop attends the meeting with the Belanger Family over Avery, where Alexander calls her out for being able to lie.

Snowdrop later reappears at Lucy and Verona's school, where she runs into class to inform them Avery has returned. She then comforts the returned Avery, and chases off after her as she heads off using her new movement trick.<ref>“She’s gone!”

The words were screamed by a messy possum girl, who stood in the doorway of Ms. Hardy’s classroom.

-Out on a Limb 3.2 </ref>

Fanart Gallery

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References

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