Stivirik (Stevie)'s Questionnaire

I live in Faribault, Minnesota, a tiny rural town some 40 minutes south of Minneapolis. I live here because that's where Little Owl is! When I was a kid, I lived in a little hidden commune in the woods near Circle Lake, before we got found out, and... I don't like to talk about it. I was alone in the woods for a few years after that, and then Liv found me and took me in... I'm so grateful for her.

Nowadays I have a room on Liv's attic, and over time we turned it into quite the cozy nook! There's my bed with my quilt and loads of pillows and plushies, there's a reading desk and a shelf with some books the folks at the Rescue gifted me, and we even set up some Christmas lights across the room to make it more lively.

Ah, that's a bit of a funny story... So, pretty much as soon as I was well enough to be functional again, I started trying to help out around the Rescue as much as I could-- that's sort of how things worked back at the village, you know? The only way we could make it is if everyone pitched in. Well, one day Liv started insisting that, if I was going to spend that much time helping out, then she had to make me "officially" part of the staff, and I that meant I got paid. So even though I said she really didn't have to since she was already looking after me and stuff, she went and set up an account for me so I could have my own money. It's all under Liv's name though, since I'm still technically not legally a person. And sometimes I almost don't know what to spend it on? It's not like Liv charges rent, and I can't go into town on account of the whole "goblin" thing, so I end up just occasionally buying merch online. I got some cool space themed dice from an Etsy last week!

When I was growing up, I was taught that humans hated us. That to them we were just evil monsters to be slaughtered, and that's why we had to be quiet and careful and sneaky so they wouldn't find us. When those monster hunters raided the village, that felt true...

But when Olive and the folks at Little Owl took me in, they showed me there was another world out there. One where folks like me get to live normal lives, surrounded by people they love. Maybe, just maybe, there's a future where people born "monsters" or supernatural or weird don't have to hide away in fear of being hurt. Where us and humans can live side by side, and not be scared of each other. OWL is fighting for that future. And I want to fight for it too.

But... Surely I don't have to KILL people for that, right? I don't really want to hurt anyone... <---(Has No Idea)

I really don't like to talk about it a lot, but... Okay. Deep breaths.

Our village used to be pretty hidden. Deep in the woods, and even protected by a little bit of magic. But when humans started building their roads and their towns closer and closer to us, and our territory got smaller and smaller, it just made it that much harder to hide.

One day, a group of campers ran into a few of our hunters. It was deeper into the woods than we thought humans would ever go, so they weren't disguised... I guess the humans kinda panicked. One of them even shot at Krig. But they managed to get away, and get back to the village, and we prayed that this was a one time thing and they wouldn't come back and everything would be okay.

We were wrong.

You know, people who call themselves "Monster Hunters" nowadays are mostly charlatans who never "hunted" anything actually dangerous in their life. They just buy whatever guns and swords and whatever they can get at Wall Mart and go out causing trouble.

But even those people are dangerous in a mob.

We weren't warriors. We didn't stand a chance. All I remember is the fire, and the screaming, and running to the woods, and...

Um. I'd like to talk about something else now.

Olive Hart: That's Liv! She's the boss here at Little Owl Rescue, and she organizes the whole operation. In fact, having a place for displaced and abused occult wildlife to be taken care of was her idea entirely! While the rescue is mostly meant for non-sapient critters, she still offered me a place in her house when she found me in that situation. I had gone through so much, I was barely a person anymore... If she hadn't been there for me day after day, I don't want to know what I would have become.

Theo: He's one of the more senior staff at Little Owl. He's the most chill Bigfoot you'll ever meet, seriously, he's 7ft worth of only the sunniest of vibes. He sorta coached me in how to take care of the critters at the rescue way back when, and I kinda look up to him a lot.

Jackie: They're among the younger volunteers that pop in by the rescue from time to time. They're so cool-- sideshave, piercings, jacket full of pins, and they give the sickest band recs. They joined OWL to "fight the good fight", and do a lot of traveling to pitch in at various projects. They've got this cool scar across their nose that makes them look like some sort of anime protagonist, but I never worked up the courage to ask where they got it.

My parents... It's weird, sometimes it's hard to remember their faces. Liv says it's normal for me to have trouble remembering stuff because I've been trough a lot of trauma. I think they were good parents, though. Taught me how to read, how to sneak, how to forage. The timeline is fuzzy in my head... But I know I must have been pretty young when the village was attacked. I remember having friends, lots of them; I remember we'd make drawings and trinkets together, and go playing in the woods, and then get scolded for getting too close to human roads or trails. Come to think of it, I don't know if I ever even saw a human before that day... Huh.

After that, my memories get way fuzzier. I managed to survive by what I was taught, pretty much just foraging and scavenging, but only just barely. After a while, living completely alone like that, the days just started blending together... I lost track of the winters somewhere after the third. It feels... really weird, not really remembering how old I am.

What? Huh?? Who wrote this question??? I-I mean... No???? I spent half my life hiding alone in the woods and the other half being a small child. I haven't exactly had time for dating? I mean... I guess I kinda remember maybe having a childhood crush on someone, but I'm not sure I even remember who. Like I said, all my memories from before Liv found me are kind of a mess. Which... tears me up inside, a little bit. I worry about just how many people I've forgotten, people who loved me, people I loved, people--

(...)

...They're all gone. If I remember them or not, it's not gonna change that. So I guess it doesn't matter.