NeonPastel wrote:Username: NeonPastel
Name: Megu "愛" — Love
Gender: Heifer
Collar Color: Eye color w/ a gold bell!
Personality:Childhood was far from kind to Megu. Her mother tragically died giving birth to her, and subsequently, her father left everything behind out of grief. He handed off his tiny daughter who could hardly open her eyes to the only living relative on his side of the family, a distant cousin whom he hardly knew. The cousin was in college, and hardly fit to care for a child— but he did everything in his power to make the calf happy. He fed her before himself, forewent buying himself clothing to make sure she was warm, and doted on her like a mother would. He was constantly reminding her how much he cared about her and that her parents loved her very much as well.
However, Megu thought little much of her parents for the first seven or so years of her life. The cousin was the only father she'd ever known, and that was quite alright with her. Every now and then, she'd look at a framed picture of her mother and father standing happily together, but it never really hit her that both of them had left her in different ways far too soon for quite a long time. She was curious calf, constantly searching for ways to get into mischief and brightening the days of every person she met. She often liked to wander, and caused the cousin many panics as she would turn around a corner and be gone, or toddle into a cluster of trees where she quite nearly blended in to peer at a squirrel. He debated getting a child leash for her many times, but admired her free spirit, and so only did his best to explain to her that running off was dangerous.
Megu never quite learned that lesson.
One day, she went too far. She dashed off through a thick crowd to chase a butterfly, ignoring the cries of her father as she leapt and bounded after the orange and black streaked insect. But long after the butterfly disappeared over a building, Megu could not disappear from the strange town where she was lost. She wandered the streets, crying for her daddy, but he never came. She was eventually picked up by the police, who brought her back to the apartment and left her in the patrol car while they went to go knock at the door.
She never got to see the quaint little flat, or her father, ever again.
The cousin had died of a heart attack in his own household. They suspected he had been overwhelmed by the emotions of losing his adopted child, and quite literally passed from a broken heart.
Megu was placed into the foster care program, but was never able to bounce back like she had before. She began to think more and more about her biological father. She became confused about him— angry, even. Why had he abandoned her so thoughtlessly? Why had he allowed someone who he hardly knew to take care of her? Did he even love her? She ran away from placement home after placement home to search from him, sometimes being discovered and returned after a week. Other times, it would be months before they found her again. She spoke little, and was closed off. There was no joy in her aqua eyes anymore. Only pain.
She was desperate to find her biological father. Even if he would not take her back, she wanted answers. Closure. Years passed, and still, he remained an enigma. She also remained unadopted, likely due to her notorious reputation for making a run for it. Her zest even to achieve that one simple goal faded. Megu was on a downward spiral until the day she met Ota.
Ota was a mischief-maker, full of life like she herself was so long ago. He saw the glass as being half full, and encouraged Megu to come out of her sullen shell. He, was familiar with her pain, having recently been orphaned. They were like two peas in a pod, doing everything together. She began to heal from past wounds.
Nowadays, living in New Tokyo, Megu is the embodiment of kindness. She is famous for her homemade dishes which she sends to the city foster care program, and has yet to meet a Buttermilk she can't see something good in. She has made peace with the idea that she will never see her father again, and instead takes joy in the people all around her.
Megu does not know where Ota is nowadays. She was never brave enough to ask for his number, and he was adopted a full year before her. People were far more attracted to his personality than her's.
But every now and then, she pauses a moment and smiles as she thinks of him. [800/800 words]
Winner! This is so beautifully written Neon!!
