Montgomery "Montie" Balfour
Gaoth of the Laughing Bottoms

Pooka Wilder
Dreamzoo's Resident Horse Pooka

Description


Mortal Seeming: ~Here comes a winner! Montgomery Balfour stands out in his ridiculous Hawai’ian print t-shirts. Simple if faded jeans or many-pocked cargo pants encase the young man’s strong legs. Bright-brown eyes search the area always and only for fun and excitement. And Montie seems to know how to find it with his outgoing demeanor and pleasant tone. Proud bearing compounds those social virtues. So his facial features seem a little long, giving him a “horse face”. His meticulous attention to his grooming, especially his dark-blonde hair, evinces care in his appearance. He likes to keep it trimmed and short and slightly spiked. Maybe it’s the shrewd grin he always sports or the mischievous glint he just can’t, just won’t, dismiss. But something about Montie screams trouble!~

OOC: Appearance 2

Fae Mien: ~Horse-faced Montie reveals his true nature beyond the Mists with a grin and an inspirational neigh. The Pooka is clothed still, but wears a simple one-piece tunic of black cotton that is simply slung on his shoulders and hangs down to just above his knees. Montie’s ruddy complexion darkens to a light brown. His hair elongates, thickening like a mane. His legs end in swift-strolling hooves instead of human feet. Part of the trick to Montie’s swift pace can be difficult to observe: black horseshoes embedded with tiny diamonds are nailed to the Pooka’s hooves, both aglow with magic to the kenning gaze. And if anything, his face seems even longer, more than humanly possible, but still quite human in appearance. Those deep-brown eyes are wide and bewildered, as if everything in the world excites Montie. This equine Pooka embodies bravery, stamina, and boastful pride proved by countless victories.~

OOC: Appearance 2

Animal Form: ~Now stands the proud Montgomery on all four long legs. Eighteen hands high, this thoroughbred stallion is a gorgeous and wild animal. His fine chestnut-brown hair sheens his entire muscular body. Constant whinnies and pawing reveals that he must be untamed, or barely tamed at least. But with those big brown eyes set on the goal of winning, this race horse is unconquerable!~

OOC: Appearance 2

"Don't worry, I always win!"

History


Horse of a Different Color

Odd families were usually the ones that had Pooka blood in them. At least, so some Pooka would say. The Balfours were a touch unusual at least. Daddy Ryan was a miner in Kentucky, but a consummate gambler on the side. Karen, the mom of the fam, was a more practical house mother, and she discouraged that gambling. The youngest of two children was Libby, and she was just a bratty liar. It was Montgomery, Montie for short, born in the summer of 1978, who was the truly special person in that collective.

Montie grew up in the suburbs of Frankfurt. (That’s Kentucky, not Germany.) The Balfours rented a lower class townhouse, able to get by. Just. His parents were so busy making ends meet that Montie’s upbringing was a bit lax in the ethics department. The Balfours went to church…on Christmas. At least Montie always had plenty of buddies to play with, even if they tended to always be a few years younger than he. He seemed to love goofy pals. That was probably why Montie could chase girls all he wanted. He never caught any unless he was literally chasing him.

Because, boy, could Montgomery Balfour run! He scored average grades in school; he was usually too busy “horsing around”. But he was great on the track teams. More inspirational to Montie were the horse races. He loved going to the Kentucky Derby and other circuits, and his paw gladly took his son (while he gambled away life savings). Montie learned the tricks to gambling, while his overconfident and boastful attitude encouraged him to gamble on himself in any race in which he participated. Luckily, he always won his races. And whenever there was doubt, his rivals met unexpected accidents, whether it was debris cleverly cast on the track after he passed or itching powder dropped in their shorts before the race.

Faerie Steed

When Montie turned fifteen, his daddy took him to the Kentucky Derby, and he was allowed to gamble for the first time (under his father’s name). While the desire to win money off of a sure bet excited the youth, he felt more and more overwhelmed and flushed by the spirit of the race and the competition. Barely aware of his own actions, Montgomery snuck down to the track. He charged right out into the track in the midst of the derby, oblivious to the fact that he had transformed into a fine young thoroughbred stallion! The rush of the Glamour made that derby go awry, to say the least! The other racehorses all spooked, jockeys’ lives flipped, and sure-win gamblers lost everything. Of course, the Mists covered this all up, and it was all chalked up to a stray horse running amuck.

It was hard to say whether it was the lost money or the hot flash of Glamour, but the Chrysalis attracted a Nocker in the stands. Cru Belarus witnessed Montie’s flight off the racetrack, and the Nocker chased him halfway across town. He confronted the Pooka and revealed his true nature. That encouraged Montie to duck out of sight and change instinctively back to his human form. He followed the weird goblin dude without second thought, eager to learn all he could about this…weirdness. That’s right: Montie abandoned his somewhat Banal family without second thought.

With Cru, Montie moved out to St. Louis, Missouri. He joined up with an Unseelie motley that controlled a small mew out of an old-fashioned toy shop. This mew of mostly Nockers, but a few Satyrs and Boggans, pretended to act Seelie to fool and elude the local Dougal lords. So the Pooka was instructed in the ways and perspectives of both Courts. Of course, Montie was “supposed” to become full-fledged Unseelie, and the angry cursing Nocker tried hard to make him so. Montie laughed at the attempts. He wasn’t Seelie or Unseelie. He was Montie. Nuff said.

All the same, Montgomery learned what he needed to know. After a year, he was ready to be acknowledged as an adult changeling. All he had to do to prove himself was his willingness to Ravage some mortal. Pff. So when the Satyrs threw him a party at their frat club, he made time with some hot college freshman babe. In short order, Montie had her drunk and doped up. And then he screwed her senseless in full view of the Satyrs. And as he laid the girl, he Ravaged her, too (she changed her major from English to Nursing not long after). An old Eshu that resided sometimes near town performed the Saining that night, and Montie was now a man! (At least by fae standards!)

Running with the Rabble

Even though he irritated the Nockers to no end, Montie decided to hang with the motley for awhile. He enjoyed the carefree lifestyle of Unseelie fae. And he met fae of many other different stripes traveling through the city so long as he stayed close to a relatively large band of changelings. And with his Unseelie buddies, Montie engaged in a bit of hellraising: vandalism and gambling. Sticking close to the mew helped the Pooka stay young and developed his gremayre. He listened closely to the tales other fae had to tell, including whispers about the dark Shadow Court. With his Pooka cajoling talents, he could often wheedle more tidbits out of visitors than usual.

Observing the political intrigue between the local faerie nobles, Montie intuitively began to suspect Shadow Court activity. So in 1998, he approached Veracity Celes ni Ailil, whom through the Unseelie grapevine he heard might be the local Shadow Courtier. He dared to approach Veracity and suggested he infiltrate the local Seelie. Montie was paid oodles of dross: a whole bag of dreamstones (30 to be exact, heh). She chose not to initiate the Pooka into the Shadow Court officially: the less he knew, the better, in case the Seelie discerned his true loyalties.

Little did even Veracity realize that Montie’s true loyalty was to Montie alone. He accepted the job and got right to work. He won Baron Anderson Crawford ap Dougal’s trust by winning horse races (and much money and prestige) in his name. Unfortunately, it was during this time in the baron’s expansive stables that Montie discovered his legendary equine fear of mice, and caused many a ruckus when he spooked at the sight of those innocent barn rodents.

But the baron was the easy part. It took Montie a year to earn the trust of Sir Calen Stuart ap Gwydion, the baron’s top knight. But finally, he felt he could sneak away without rousing suspicion. He reported to Veracity, even though most of what he fed her was made-up gossip and flat-out lies. Since she was too busy trying to consolidate Unseelie allies, Montie was her only spy at that time, and she had no reason to disbelieve him (except that he was Pooka, but she thought she could interpret Pookaspeak).

Why didn't Montie side with either Court? It wasn’t just because he was a selfish horse. His beliefs and politics really leaned too centrist for him to stay loyal to either court. After another year of winning races for the baron and feeding the Shadow Court lies, he betrayed both sides. He tipped his Seelie noble “superiors” off right before he was to run the Kentucky Derby for them. He was able to convince the baron that he switched sides by feeding them Veracity’s name and likely whereabouts, as well as a sob story that he was reformed and Seelie to the bone. Then before the race even began, Montie jumped the fence, taking the baron’s special Zephyr horseshoes with him! (To date, Montie insisted he did not lose the derby, he was disqualified.)

Prairie Weed

At the turn of the millennium, Montie packed up and went west. He decided to delve more into his equine instructs. For a good while – three years in fact, he ran with wild herds of mustangs, sometimes leading them, sometimes just running. Cowboys of course noticed the thoroughbred among the smaller mustangs. They figured him a runaway and tried to capture and separate the thoroughbred.

Oh, how Montie enjoyed playing pranks on those poor wranglers, leaving all kinds of snares and decoys for the cowboys to deal with. Then a Canotili noticed him while he was running with the herd through Wyoming. This Nunnehi cowgirl, Ghost Horse, readily ran Montie right “out of town”. Montie wasn't often intimidated by a chick, but this Ghost Horse seemed like a real killer, like a renegade squaw scalper. Heh. Montie knew better than to stick around and risk his fine mane!

So Montgomery braved going back east a bit, landing in Dodge City, Kansas. There he scored the job of pretending to be Wyatt Earp for tourists passing through the town. He enjoyed the job for a year, but it soon lost its allure and the tourists grew too Banal to tolerate. He quit and moved again.

Horsin' Around

Montie traveled even further east now, hitting up Kansas City in 2004. He entered town warily, concerned that he might be recognized. He wasn’t sure, after all, exactly what happened back in St. Louis. Luckily for him, the Shadow Court was defeated, and the Seelie nobles weren’t influential enough to send out bounty hunters on a Pooka that didn’t want to be found.

Nonetheless, Montie avoided most other fae in Kansas City. Instead, he dove headfirst into horseracing. He started a cunning practice of selling his (horse) self to jockeys and managers in the area. After they ran him to victory in one race or another, he would later become human, steal the prize money, and flee. Any Glamour he used to win a race, such as that spent to engage the Zephyr horseshoes, Epiphany usually restored – even the Rapture of a particularly poetic victory.

Then in the autumn of 2005, the most magnificent buyer yet purchased Montgomery Balfour. Lady Regan Ahern ni Liam became Montie’s new mistress. He fell so far in love that she really was his mistress, too! Yes, everything was changing in Montie’s once selfish lifestyle.

Remembrance


Montie taps into vague, timeless memories of the Dreaming sometimes. Typically, his mind must be on another level. He reaches that level most regularly during adrenaline highs, particularly racing. Of course, when he’s racing professionally, he’s not looking for lost clues to Arcadia, he’s too busy winning!

Significant Other


The Lady Regan Ahern ni Liam purchased Montgomery in the fall of 2005, believing he was a fine racehorse and nothing more. Montie revealed his true Pooka nature and the same night he also heralded an ancient and repulsive myth about Pooka, who were traditionally horses only. He forced himself upon poor Reggie. But he felt so terrible, and utterly devoted himself to the Sidhe to make it up to her, that she slowly forgave him. The fact that she was locked into a horribly Banal marriage turned her judgment. And it turned out for the best for them both. Montie shifted more Seelie than he had ever been, falling in love with his “owner”. In time, she returned that love. Once her divorce is finalized, they will marry, and run off together into the sunset: the lady and her horse.

Finally, in 2009, Reggie finalized her divorce, and she and Montie began a new life together. Still, there is a kernel of dismay between the two due to what he did to her all those years ago. He has a lifetime to make up for.

Regan

Chimera


Zephyr Horseshoes
Level: 2
Origin: Nockers crafted these marvelous horseshoes for the faerie horses of a Gwydion Count's stables in the Kingdom of Willows. Montie wasn't given these fine shoes. No, he, uhh...borrowed them without permission and put them to good use to get the hell out of Dodge (or St. Louis rather).
Description: These horseshoes look like well-polished iron shoes, but tiny diamond studs are embedded around each of the four shoes. He wears them at all times and they reform into his body regardless of seeming.
Effects: 1) The Zephyr horseshoes increase his running speed by half, making him quite a speed demon in any race circuit.
Glamour Costs: Horseshoes: 0; #1: 1
Activation: The Zephyr horseshoes are activated automatically when the horse that wears them pushes itself (or is driven) to its top speed. Only a horse benefits from this chimerical treasure, so Montie can only use them in his animal form.

Bunk Styles


Style: War & P.E.
Examples: Stomp feet 3 times, spin around, run a lap, rakish laugh

Weakness
High Horse


Montie is so used to winning now that losing at anything is a blow to his pride. It immediately drives him to his Unseelie nature, and many pranks and abuse follow. This hubris makes him predictable.

Likelihood of Corruption


Average.

Montgomery leans more to his brighter, gentler Seelie side these days. But he can be driven to his darker side. Luckily, it's rare that he devolves to truly degenerate acts.

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