Name: Misha
Gender: Male
Age: 22
Height: Tall
Birthday: July 6th
Sexual Orientation: Homosexual (Dom Switch)
Significant Other: None, gay for Frozen Soul
Species: Gryphon
Occupation: Mail delivery gryph, somehow got roped into fostering/rescuing animals
Current Residence: Ponyville, grew up in Griffonstone
Likes: Sleeping, pillows and blankets, plushies, back rubs, animals, sunsets, buttons, sweaters, winter, snow, generic pop music, the word "audacity", overusing the word "audacity"
Dislikes: Disrespect, heat, bugs in his fur, popularity, cliche plot devices, virtual reality (technology is scary)
Fears: Anxiety, Death
Bio:
Hailing from Griffonstone, Misha quickly grew tired of not only the general attitude of his hometown, but also the dull atmosphere. He longed to own lengths upon lengths of land, and because of that, he worked extra hard ever since he was young to save money. He rarely spent any, keeping it all in a big jar labelled "I'm gonna own a farm!". He didn't really have any intention of actually farming, of course — he just wanted a whole lot of land to do with as he pleased, and farms happened to be a great way of doing that. His parents, a mother named Henna and a father named Aeric, were warm and approving, despite the nature of gryphons, and learnt to always leave chores open for their son — despite their lack of a lot of money, they still helped out their son when they could. His energy knew no bounds, it seemed, and though he ended up with barely any sleep, he was always excited and awake.
However, his energy eventually did grow a boundary. One day, now a budding teenager, as he was helping his parents with spring cleaning, Misha felt a terrible pain in his chest. He was rushed to Griffonstone's only hospital, and his parents worried and fussed over him as the nurses tried to keep them at bay to actually check their son. It was discovered that a rare, gryphon-specific heart condition had developed in Misha's body, and because of his parents having been so poor, they had never taken him in for a checkup since his birth. The condition was years old and had only just decided to rear its ugly head. Misha was unconscious at this point, though one could hear faint whimpers of pain even through the amount of pain medication being pumped into his system.
After a coma spanning two months, Misha finally stirred, having been kept alive via machines. He was afraid, and the medication made his brain foggy, sending him into quite the panic until a couple nurses ran in and had to subdue him. Hours later, he awoke again, this time much gentler — his parents had been called and had been sitting at his bed ever since their arrival, anticipating his awakening — and his mother hugged him with such strength, his father had to remind her of her son's fragility. Misha quickly noticed his father looked significantly older, and found out he had gotten a second job to pay for Misha's hospital bills, and his mother had taken on a job as well despite her having rather severe joint problems in her rear legs. He felt absolutely awful about it, to say the least, and vowed to pay back his parents.
Unfortunately, he was held back from a huge problem — his newfound heart problems. This was something that, because it was left alone for so long, he would have to tolerate and live with for the rest of his life. It caused his heart to overreact to stimuli, meaning that even mediocre amounts of prolonged stress could send him into a panic and then a shock. He was told to manage his emotions, and began to meditate to get a better grip on the anxiety that had begun to plague him.
Over the years, though he did end up with two separate incidents involving his heart, he tried his best to work. However, work put stress on him, and at the second incident, he was ordered to stop. He felt terrible, being both unable to achieve his dreams and even worse, unable to help his parents — he just kept shoving more bills at them. He had tried to give them the funds in his jar, but his parents refused, wanting him to follow his dreams. Once he had the ability to, finally, he was able to afford a rather large plot of farmland off in Ponyville, and though he would miss them, left his parents. He was homesick for a while, but adjusted eventually, even finding he could handle a mail delivery job. He made friends for the first time in his life, consisting of a variety of friendly characters; his co-worker Skyward Scout, an overly optimistic, innocent pegasus; Sleepaway, a pegasus who always knows just how to help Misha's muscles relax; and while there are more, his most important discovery was his friend Frozen Soul, a pegasus whom he met via delivering a package for him. Frozen Soul's shy stuttering was endearing to the gryphon, and ended up stealing Frozen's packages from other delivery workers just to be the one to deliver it. After a few interactions, they actually began a conversation, starting with the buttons on Misha's bag, kerchief, and hat. It grew into an actual friendship, and suffice to say, eventually Misha ended up giving Frozen his own package. The two are incredibly close now, bonding over pets and movies and such.
Misha, due to his large amount of land, eventually attracted various critters, ranging from bunnies to deer. He kept up lots of pretty flowers and trees, set up many a birdhouse, and loved to watch the animals and feed them as well. Word must've spread through the animal kingdom or something, because one night he was awoken to a high pitched whining, heading out back and finding a beaten up looking dog looking up at him in agony. The gryphon, forcing himself to keep calm, flew the dog to the vet, and in a panic said he was the dog's owner. Once the dog was healed, it became apparently he was actually a stray, specifically a golden retriever. Misha named the dog Koda.
Over time, Misha collected a number of animals, all of which were either strays or left at his doorstep. One of his favourites happens to be an exceedingly large — like, taller even than Misha himself — Akita he affectionately named Tokoro. He insists the dog is living proof of magical genetic mutation. He began to rescue animals in need and foster those that needed a home; the ones he didn't keep were put up for adoption, and every other weekend he would have an adoption day where he would let loose all his pets. The adoptable pets were signified with a bright neon green collar, the others just being let out to have fun. His pets mostly consisted of dogs and cats, but he also owned a few indoor animals, such as a couple snakes and a chinchilla, and many strays liked to visit. He didn't take in every stray, only those that wanted to stay or needed to stay, and some that needed to stay went back into the wild after they healed. Misha can speak to any animal rather easily now, having attuned himself to their various languages. He did at one point send one of the puppies, birthed from two of his dogs, to his parents with a large amount of money and a letter to keep them company and help pay back his hospital bills. He keeps a chart on his fridge of how much he needs to make to fully pay them back, and is determined to do so no matter how long it takes.
[OC co-owned between iRoxykun and Dexy.]