Marlese
Legacy Name: Marlese

But before you judge hear my story, and find out why.

I told my friends when they asked that I was talked into it, that they made me do it, but I lied. I wanted to step in front of the Zapper. I didn’t care about the speed, the strength or even the attention I was promised. I wanted the treasure. I was all about the treasure back then. If it glittered, sparkled or I laid eyes on it, it had to be mine! Plushies, beanbags, even coffee - you name it, I wanted it. The only thing holding me back was my tiny treasure chest. It could hold so little, and I wanted so much more. Sarah was always making me choose the most important items to keep, and put the rest in a vault. As hard as I tried (which admittedly wasn't very hard), I could never narrow it down to just three, so in her vault it stayed. I thought all my problems would be gone with a few trips to the zapper, increased treasure spaces would mean that I'd never have to be separated from my treasure again. I was wrong.

It wasn't really a special day when we went. Just Kalrosh, Verduzi, and I when we went to the Zapper. Verduzi was Sarah's first pet. He'd been going to the zapper for years, mostly with Sarah but a few times on his own. We never told anyone when we left that me and not Verduzi would be stepping in front of that zapper. We’d spent weeks talking about it and plotting. Verz told me all about the zapper, how it feels when it hits you and what those different feelings would mean. An increase in treasure slots, he told me, would feel just like a rumbling inside, like hunger in your stomach, but a little deeper. A colour, or a species change was different though. He didn't go into detail, but told me that I would know if it happened. We all knew it was a possibility, I just never considered it actually becoming a possibility. I was content to be just me - a regular old Hipottu until Sarah and I decided on a permanent colour. All I cared about was my hoard - my treasure.

As soon as the Zapper hit me, I knew it was wrong. My hide felt bubbly, then it started melting away, I felt myself becoming rugged and stiff, like splintered wood. I didn't know what happened, and it never hurt, but it just didn't feel right. One glance at Verz and Kal, told me I had changed. They were stunned, and speechless - a first for both of them. I caught a reflection of myself in the mirror hanging on the back wall, and I couldn't believe what I saw. I'd seen it before, once when Sarah and I stopped to see an artist on our way home from the carnival. He'd done a quick sketch of me for a bit of measly sP, and now his creation had come to life - I was a cartoon.

Coming to terms with my new two dimensional-self took a while. I used to love window shopping in Centropolis with my sisters, but it was months before I was willing to leave the house again. Somewhere in the chaos of Zapper, my treasure slots where increased, but for the first time in my life I could care less. Sarah never let me brood too much though. If I was going to stay in the house all day she declared, then I'd better make myself useful. I cleaned from top to bottom, sorted old papers, and purged my old treasure hoard in the vault. I gave a lot of it away to friends and family, and donated the rest. I didn't really care where it ended up I just knew that I didn't want it anymore. If I didn’t even want to leave the house, then how would I ever be able to flaunt my treasure?

One day I was going through boxes in the vault. It was full of old stuff we hadn't gotten around to throwing away yet - half eaten apples, broken pencils, that kind of stuff. I picked up an old eraser and tossed it into the rubbish bin. It grazed my hoof as I threw it out, and to my horror I felt a scraping sensation. The eraser had rubbed away the tip of my foot! Needless to say, I didn't take it very well. My panicked tantrum drew the rest of the house to me in the vault. After calming me down Verz had a brilliantly bright idea. He found an old box of crayons and carefully redrew my hoof. To my amazement, it stuck!

I might look like I've recovered well. I'm back to my every day routine (and not just cleaning). I visit the carnival every weekend with my brothers, and I'm back to window shopping in the city. I've even started collecting treasure again, just not the same kind of baubles I’d wanted before. So well the world might see a stronger side of me, my dreams at night reveal a different one. No, not dreams, but nightmares. Erasers. Everywhere. Hundreds of them attacking me from every angle. I can’t defend against them, I cannot run, and then poof! I’m gone. Vanished without a trace.

The knowledge that just a single swipe of a rogue eraser could take me out of existence is terrifying. So as you can see I'm back to collecting treasure. Except these aren’t prizes that I want to hold close. You see, if I can find and collect every eraser in Subeta then maybe I won't have anything to fear anymore. Maybe I won't wake up in a cold sweat from nightmares of evil erasers taking my tail when I turn away.

For the most part my family's been supportive. Collecting erasers is keeping me busy, out of the house, heck they might even think I'm facing my fears. Verz even bought me a box of crayons, in case I have another incident. The crayons came pre-used mind you, since Verz used them to draw me my minion Minty first. So you see, maybe my fear isn't all that funny after all..

Story by Sarah

Art by NikonD40

Profile and Coding by Classy.