Sir Von Badasstein (Tamura Chinjuyu's pet)

Name: Sir Von Badasstein

Nickname: Von

Age: 7 years old (which makes him one year older than the age of physical maturity in his species).

Species: An odd mix between a racoon and a prairie dog that’s the size of a squirrel. So a racoon dog? A dog racoon? A squirrel dog racoon?

Appearance: It’s a racoon dog. What do you want me to say? That it looks like a racoon crossed with a prairie dog? Because it does. The rather adorable little mutt has the short legs and low body of a prairie dog, but the long and bushy tail of a racoon. His head’s shape is also reminiscent of a racoon’s but with a much shorter muzzle.

 Sir Von Badasstein is a rather underwhelming 1’7’’ (tail and all), which makes him closer in length to a squirrel than a dog, but don’t let that fool you. Von’s a real killer. Well not really, but he does have a set of pretty darn spectacular fangs. His eyes are two unsettlingly intense ochre rings surrounding round black pupils.

 His fur is mostly light grey with darker stripes on his back and similarly coloured ovals around his eyes.


Personality: Von is a surprisingly shrewd judge of character. He seems to be capable of sensing people’s intentions as if he possessed a spooky sixth sense.  Whatever intention people project Von responds accordingly. For instance if Von notices someone who is oozing aggressiveness he’ll be all hissing and spitting and bared fangs (all bite and no bark).

 He is a curious little creature, but also ever wary. He will often wander off and go exploring, looking for new things, but as soon as he catches even a whiff of danger he will rush back to safety (which usually means he’ll rush back to his favourite spot on Tamura’s shoulder). Von is pretty much omnivorous and he’ll eat whatever smells not too horrendous when he’s hungry, be it vegetable, animal or (in some rare instances of rather extreme hunger) mineral.

 This particular racoon dog is a surprisingly intelligent fellow. Von has no cry of his own, but he is capable of reproducing sounds from the human language, and over some time with Tamura he has started to associate certain sounds with certain people or certain concepts. This ability is limited and Von can only ever seem to reproduce the last sound or syllable of any given sentence or word. Naturally Tamura has noticed this and has since made it her mission to increase her four legged buddy’s repertoire of swear sounds.

 Loyal, possessive and maybe a tiny bit moody Von doesn’t like it when people or other animals get too friendly with Tamura. As far as he sees things she is his human and they have an exclusive thing going on. Sadly for him Tamura doesn’t see their relationship quite that way. This split in beliefs means Von will often slink away when he starts to have to share his human’s attention with other creatures. However unlike when he senses aggression directed at himself or his human Von will never bare his fangs at people he simply doesn’t like. He’ll just growl at them (which mostly involves him being all bark and no bite).


Background: Von was chased away from his pack at a young age, and was thus forced to survive on his own for several years before meeting Tamura. He was chased out because the other racoon dogs grew somewhat tired of him constantly repeating whatever sound he heard. ‘Tis after all the fate of geniuses to be so oft despised by their lesser peers.

 Having to survive without a pack to back him up was what made him what he is today, both curious and wary at the same time. But he was bound to make a mistake eventually, and he did. He chased the wrong prey, in other words the type of prey that is capable of biting back. Von was wounded, and much weakened. It was desperation that drove him to start following the first creature that didn’t look like it was going to kill him on sight. That creature just happened to be Tamura, travelling through the countryside.

 She noticed her new travelling companion but as soon as she tried to approach him, his wariness flooded back, and he bolted away from her. Yet he continued to follow her and she didn’t try to approach him again. When she stopped to make camp he stopped as well, out of sight but close enough to smell cooking meat.

 The smell and his hunger led him closer and closer, until he was close enough for the human to throw a lump of meat at him. He would have run from the incoming projectile but it was too delicious a missile to run from and his wounded hindquarters (the condition of which he had worsened by running from her) would not allow him to react fast enough.

 Von grabbed the food and retreated. The next night he returned, and the next, and the night after that, inching closer with every visit until on the sixth night he was close enough to touch, but the human didn’t even try to touch him. On the seventh night Von didn’t leave with his food. He still hasn’t left to this day. In a way Tamura doesn’t see him as a pet, but more as a travelling companion.