Come with me, lass. I have a tale to tell you that I think you may be quite interested in. It's a song of burden, a city of light and shadows, a dream come to life. Let me tell it to you, with every being in my body..."Some claim they may be, but me, I am."
How did I become you ask? Spoilers, young lass. Patience is key in this tale. Look trough this glass I present you with an eye born anew. So you might see the changing of a soul with eyes unclouded.
The egg was late to hatching. So much so that the parents prayed and awaited the arrival in a hospital room. The egg did hatch, eventually, to the relief of a parent almost in tears. The mother bean held out her arms for her baby. The nurse handed over the small, black, white and green girl to her and smiled. "Rox,' she whispered. "Welcome to the family." She touched her head to the baby's own, tenderly, as a mother should. The baby didn't open it's eyes but it gave a squirm and snort before it began crying. The mother's smile as she cradled her child was warm and affectionate. The baby's father walked into the hospital room and came over to the bed where his wife lay with the infant. "Our baby.." His eyes were equally warm and doubled in awe. "Our baby girl." His wife replied holding out one hand to her mate. The father took her hand and enveloped both mother and child in his embrace. The child stopped crying, eventually, and fell to sleep with a murmur. Life anew.
It is said, in cases, that if a child is not born crying; it will cry as it lays eyes on it's mother's face. What could you say about the way this bean was born then, lass? Any different..?
You see now, a different hospital room, a weeks time later. "Is there something wrong?" The mother's face was pale with worry. The child, 'Rox', had failed to open her eyes even once throughout the week since she had been born, most unusual and worrying for any caring mother. "Calm dear, i'm sure everything's fine, right doctor?" The father said, running a soothing hand over his mate's hair with one hand as he held one of hers with his other. The doctor gave the slightest frown. "Nothing is 'wrong', exactly, as far as we can see, but this is just not the most usual of cases." He began. "We must remain with optimistic minds, for all we know, nothing may be wrong." Both parents looked at each other with worried but resigned eyes, tears laced in the mother's own. The doctor gave the two a sympathetic look and left without a word.
(373)

As the days passed, the child opened her eyes. The news was not all good but the parents cried with relief for their child who would live. Their first and only child.
The wind lashed across the plain, like a whip upon your back. The creature stumbled, fell to it's knees again, blood speckled the gravel beneath it's wounds. It stood again, head hung as it felt itself waking again... "Ah!" A tiny bean gasped, eyes wide as her eyes flittered around the tiny room. No, she was fine, no wounds.. no pain.. She trembled, wetness running down her cheeks. She picked up her flat pillow and cried, silence remained in the night. Once she was done she pushed back her covers, small feet taking small, shaking steps upon the wooden floorboards. She held her arm out to the wall, missing again by an inch.. Her feet tripped up on the rug, she clutched at the wall as it caught her fall. Mother had told her to tell her whenever she wanted to move around, to call for her. But she had this feeling, this gut feeling. That her parents where tired, exhausted from caring for her and providing for her living. Such kind beans they were. She couldn't cause them further trouble than was so very necessary. No.. she couldn't be such a burden to them. She didn't like it that way, didn't want that for them. She'd learn to do things on her own.. somehow.
(215)
Imagine not being able to see your own feet as you walk. Darkness, like a fog, all around you. Frightful? Indeed, lass. Quite.
The small bean, yet again, in her equally small prison, alone on the floor, moved her paws over the pages slowly, this was so new. They were smooth. There was nothing to read on these pages. Nothing to tell her what to do, how to live. What had she been thinking when she had taken them? What could she possibly do with these pristine pages. Flat, promising pages. What could she, of all beans, possibly do... She blinked and reached for one of the stolen, useless pens on her desk. She'd picked up a black one. She didn't know how to hold these pens, she gripped it awkwardly in her paw. What could she possibly do... Slowly.. slowly. She popped the cap, pausing and listening. Why did it feel like she was doing something forbidden? Would her mother approve? But.. she wanted it, it called her. She bit her lip, clenched her fist, and set the pen to paper. "..." She closed her eyes slowly, ears drawn back in uncertainty, and let her hand move on it's own. She pictured it within her mind. A tree. What she'd been told they looked like, her child mind set to work on forming something from scraps of her own reality. The paper took in the midnight ink willingly. Wide sweeping arches and small kinks detailed with knots. Green. Trees were green, weren't they? She reached out with her other paw, finding the green pen. She pulled off the cap. She paused, the green pen in her left hand held uncertain. Beans could only have one dominant hand right? Hadn't she been told that before? She couldn't quite remember. She bit her lip. She was already trying something new, something forbidden, why not try that too? It didn't matter to others if she used both paws right? Right...? She set the tip of the green pen to the paper, alongside the black one. And she continued. Small sharp lines, the image in her head. Colour... What should she perceive it as? She frowned, pausing her pens once again. How was she to colour if she didn't understand it? How was she to do anything if she didn't understand it? Trapped within this box she'd been born in. In the utter darkness she was lost, fumbling for a hold. Reality frightened her, she lived it every day and it still did. She was young though, truly young. And youth feared, attracted and inquired, all that was unknown to them. What wasn't unknown to her? What wasn't she afraid of? Tears rolled down her cheeks, spotting the paper beneath her. Even this, this... this act of pen on paper, supposed rebellion, even this frightened her. But unlike other things, she wanted to face this fear, to learn it and take it hand in hand with herself. She moved the black pen a few more times hurriedly then dropped it. A darker green. She scrabbled for a darker green. Trees were bountiful in shade, were they not? And shade.. was darker, was it not? She un-capped this pen too and moved her paws in time, trying to convey her own mind through this piece of smooth, flat, willing paper. "....." She flickered her eyes open once again, tears still flowing. She stopped, grit her teeth and threw the pens against the wall. What did it look like? This thing she'd created... Did it match her mind? Would it be so kind? How could she know... how would she ever know. She hung her head in defeat... simple defeat.
(592)

A bean born to create, with the eyes of the clueless. Frustration and tears ensue, naturally. But this is the hurdle, you see, young lass. The hurdle blocking this bean from life. All you need to do, is rise to your feet, step back, and give a leap of faith. Hope, then, that the thing that catches you is the life you wished for.
"Why do you think she did it..?" The mother's voice was strained as she stared at the tear stained paper. Tears welled up in her own eyes, "why do you think she cried?" She sobbed. "Shhh, darling, it'll be fine." Her husband wrapped an arm around her shoulders, comforting her. "It's beautiful though... i wish she could see it..." The mother whispered in a broken voice. The tiny bean, Rox, sat around the corner of the door, tears yet again in her eyes as she heard her mother cry for her sake. She looked up at the roof, "mum... i won't cry again. I'll never let you cry again. I'll be good, i swear." She breathed in a deep breath, she must be strong, get over this wall blocking her mind, her heart. She sniffed. Break down the wall.. A small bean huddled against the wall in her room, holding back tears and wishing away the darkness. Innocent, young, ailed, alone, unfair. She let out a slow breath, lifting her head high. Break down the wall... surpass the wall.. live free..
"Walls surround me it seems. I've gained a coat of darkness. It feels of slime and tastes of poison. I don't want it anymore. I don't. I don't. Remove it. Remove it! I don't want it anymore!"
A bean born anew, into a world full of life, small and young, yet growing with every day.
Trembling at the stone steps leading out of her house she moves onwards, into the world she never knew.
Sitting alone in her room again she picks up those foreign pens and begins to draw again, wavering in her own fur.
Colour, she pictured it inside her head, she wouldn't be afraid of it. She took the smiling image of herself hand in hand, and moved on. Moved past the wall as it burned to dust.
(257)

Years later now, the young bean, not so young any longer. She sat in front of a canvas, palette in hand, brush in the other, hair tied back. A forlorn, longing expression on her face she begins to paint. A tree. Why always trees. Sakura trees, trees of oak, sandalwood, elk. She felt this affinity towards the soaring, thriving plants she could not see. A soul growing stronger. And as she sat there creating, with a brush bursting with life, willing herself to see what others seemed to find so easily, something came to her in the darkness. A child.. No, not just a child. It was her, at a much younger age. She was smiling. What was this? How..? Why..? She stood there, within her whole mind. She looked down at her hand, shrouded in black. What... She looked back up. Yes, she was still there, beckoning now, her small hand prompting her to come closer. Rox approached her younger self, full of uncertainty and awe. Green lights and dazzling colours surrounded the girl, magic it seemed. Colour. It was even more stunning than she had envisioned it to be. Inspiring and beautiful. She stood in front of the girl, the smiling, shining girl. Tears sprang to her eyes, she'd longed to see something, this was exactly... they rolled down her cheeks yet she paid them no mind. "Why is this..? What's happening?" Rox whispered. "Do not be afraid, Rox." The small child said, smile now gentle and soft. "Open your eyes, Rox, and see, finally, what you've been blind to all this time." Rox shook her head. "I don't understand." The child held out her hand for Rox to take. "Just open your eyes with me. You'll be fine, i promise. Look at the world around you, and look at what you've drawn, see the beauty there Rox. It's okay." Rox still stood unsure but she held out her hand to her younger self. Wishing for that glowing, glittering light, that would remove this cloak of darkness from her body. She sat, again, in front of a canvas painted pink and brown in colour. A sakura tree. She had been painting one earlier, hadn't she? She looked down at the paints in her hand, a thick brush in the other. Had she painted this? She hardly noticed the tears still in her eyes.
It was breath taking...
"..I love it..."
(402)
And so i opened my eyes eventually, actually opened them, to the beauty around me. And i was stunned, i had been looking down, away, my whole life. But if i stood level with the world, and looked in it's eyes, i could see everything. And it was marvellous.
I've been blind until now. Blind to all around me. Blind to all within me.
But i found a way to see.
I've removed the blindfold.
And now...
now...
..now i am free.
"I am freedom. It is my essence, my soul, my being. I am freedom. And freedom is mine."
Now, you may interpret my tale however you wish. Whether the message here is as clear it seems, i cannot say, that is for you to understand, lass. It confuses even me, i will let you know, this reality i live in every day. It bares it's soul to me, it's very essence, and i wonder if what i live is reality to the rest of the world. These questions young lass, neither me nor you carry the answers to. It makes me wonder who does.
All i know for now, young lass,
this one, very vital thing.
I am.
-------------------------------
Username: Rain.
JBD name: Rox
(pun not intended, i swear x3
Named after the song 'Rox In The Box' by 'The Decemberists'
Which is 'her song', this song, and her design, provide my inspiration for her uvu)
Gender: Female
Age: 22
Notes:
*The stories are written in small text, the larger text and the quotes are not included in the word counts found at the end of each story. The large text will also sometimes break up a story into separate paragraphs.
*Almost all images will have a larger version (found linked on the drawing) since i tend to use a larger canvas when i draw.
*All the quotes were written by me, i just like doing it that way x'3
*All art in the form was done by me ;w;
*The drawings depict her at the current age within the form. Which is why a lot of them show her without her horns, as her horns did not grow in until near the very end of the timeframe within the form.
Extra art:

