Pipsqueak

Mun Name: Mew, Manta, or Twizz is fine. :)
Journal: mewberries151
Contact Info: mewberries151@hotmail.com
Other Characters: Kat (the Mew) and Martin Kratt.

Name: Pipsqueak
From: The Lorax
Appearance: Rough Render of Pipsqueak
Full-Render of Pipsqueak...doing his uh...impression of The Lorax. Heh.

Basically, he's a young Bar-Ba-loot (so he's actually still pretty small), and his main identifying traits are a tuft of hair on his head and a tan patch of fur on his chest.

Age: Young.
Gender: Male
Personality: Pretty cheerful and playful at least 90% of the time. He's also young still, so he's got a lot of energy and has a tendency to get himself into a bit of trouble and/or mischief a lot every once in awhile. He does try to be helpful though too (which can sometimes still get him into trouble), as well as model the behavior of those he looks up to or likes. Additionally, he is a growing Bar-Ba-Loot, so he will have quite the healthy appetite and starvation conditions in the destroyed valley probably didn't help. ...So watch your food around him.

Also! Because Pipsqueak is being taken from after the Truffula Valley has been decimated, he will be slightly more cautious and (depending on the situation) fearful than he is shown to be in the film. The reasoning for this is that he's witnessed the destruction of his home at the hands of someone he had come to like and trust quite a bit, and then had to move to places unknown and unfamiliar with the rest of the Bar-Ba-Loots at the Lorax's behest. So he's had to grow up a bit in response.

Backstory:
Pipsqueak was presumably born in the natural Bar-Ba-Loot way in the Truffula Tree Valley where there was plenty of fruit to eat, fresh air, clean water, and all around peace. It can be assumed he didn't have much, if any, contact with humans until the Once-ler arrived in the valley, since all of the animals living there seemed pretty curious about him (when he wasn't tossing dangerous tools haphazardly around).

When the Once-ler chops down one of the Truffula trees, it sends Pipsqueak and the other valley animals scattering in fear. No one had ever intentionally cut down a tree before in the valley. The trees were important! When this tree cutting summons the Lorax, Pipsqueak is the first to help him mourn the loss of the tree, learning what to do by following his lead and providing some comfort.

Although this mimicry gets him into a bit of trouble only a short while later when he tries to help the Lorax undo the rope ties on the Once-ler's cottage, but thankfully he avoids getting hammered into the ground like a stake.

Later that night, when the Lorax tries to remove the Once-ler from the valley by floating him and his bed down the calmer course of the local river, Pipsqueak accidentally gets stranded on the bed with him. When the bed ends up re-directed down the dangerous and rapid-filled path of the river instead, Pipsqueak wakes the Once-ler up in time to hang on.

Of course, all good fast water rivers inevitably lead to a humongous waterfall drop-off, and that's exactly what Pipsqueak and the Once-ler find waiting for them at the end of the river. The Lorax is able to prevent them from falling over the edge by catapulting them off the bed with a large rock, and Pipsqueak is saved from a nasty fall by the Once-ler, risking his own life and limb by catching hold of the little Bar-Ba-Loot and shielding him.

Afterwards, when the Once-ler wakes up, it's Pipsqueak's big, pleading, puppy dog eyes, along with the Lorax's words, that persuade him to promise not to cut down any more trees.

From that point on, Pipsqueak and the other valley animals, the Once-ler, and the Lorax all get along like good chums, and Pipsqueak takes a shine to the Once-ler, following him around and helping him the same way he would with the Lorax.

Things start to go downhill, however, when the Once-ler's invention, the Thneed, made from Truffula Tree tufts, becomes a popular commodity. Although the Once-ler keeps his promise of not cutting down the trees for a little while, eventually he starts chopping down the Truffula's for tufts and the beginning of the destruction of Pipsqueak's home valley ensues.

As the trees are cut down, the air becomes polluted with smoke and the waters clogged with run-off, all from the Once-ler's factory. Pipsqueak, the other Bar-Ba-Loots, and the rest of the valley animals quickly find themselves with little to no food or fresh water, and their general health declining as more trees are cut down to make the Once-ler's thneeds. Pipsqueak (like the Lorax) may have also found himself on the receiving end of some of the Once-ler's various "PR campaigns", during his rise to power.

And when the last tree falls, Pipsqueak has no choice but to heed the Lorax's request that he, along with the other Bar-Ba-Loots, and the Swomee Swans, and the Humming Fish, all leave the now destroyed valley, with the hope of finding someplace even mildly better to live in somewhere else.

Although the Once-ler tries a last ditch effort to convince Pipsqueak at least to stay (or possibly to try to make some kind of amends) by offering him a marshmallow (once Pipsqueak's favorite treat), the damage has been done both to the valley and to Pipsqueak's trust in him. Pipsqueak simply shakes his head at the offering, and then follows the rest of the animals out of the dead valley.

For RP purposes, I'm taking Pipsqueak from about two weeks or so after he and the others animals abandon the valley. Head canon-wise, this is so that Pipsqueak was well out of the destroyed valley by the time he finds himself in Ink City, but probably had not arrived at wherever it was the Valley animals made their home afterwards. This also makes what the Once-ler did still fresh in his memory...not that he'd need much of a reminder.

Moral Standing: He’s kind of a wild animal so his motivations are largely going to be based on food, shelter, food, how intimidating/kind you are, and did I mention food? He's also young so there's that too. He does, however, definitely have the capacity to understand concepts that involve doing harm to nature and other living things, as well as recently the concept of betrayal and that there are some things offerings of food just can’t fix.

Dreams: He’d like his valley back, thank you very much. Oh and food. Food would be good.

Fears: In this order: Axes, waterfalls, axe machines, actually pretty much most machines in general for now, smogulous smoke, schloppity schlop, and anybody associated with those aforementioned things.

Extra:
Bar-Ba-Loots seem to be capable of both four-legged and bipedal motion, so don't be surprised if Pipsqueak switches between the two. Particularly, he will most likely prefer bi-pedal motion if he is carrying something in his forepaws, or if he is interacting with someone who is also two-legged. Bar-Ba-Loots seem to favor four-legged motion only when they've been startled and they need to really move somewhere and fast, or when bi-pedal motion isn't a feasible option.

Also, Pipsqueak (and the Bar-Ba-Loots in general)seem to have a pretty fair grasp on human language in the movie (they are at least semi-intelligent), so for ease of role-playing I'm stating now that Pipsqueak will be able to understand basic speech. Now if you start tossing large or strange words at him, he's not going to get it (both because he's young and also because big words wat?), but for lack of a better comparison, I'm treating his understanding of language the same way one would your average Pokemon. So no thinking you can get away with using a friendly "tone" while saying something actually threatening, cuz it won't work.

Samples:
Pipsqueak's Rescue

Writing Sample:
Dear_Mun thread with a certain Creature Rescuer
Dear_Mun Post