"Maybe she'll see me differently once I've uncovered this case. Maybe she'll look at me and watch in awe."
An overly stiff, single-minded, and stubborn journalist, Rain lives with terribly crushing responsibility looming over xem like a pressurized thundercloud. It can never catch a break, because xer boss hates xem, it and its roommate Paige can hardly afford the rent, and xe's dedicated xer whole life ever since running away from xer family to putting xer brother Lincoln in jail.
Rain has been a dedicated creative ever since it was young, even if xer family never supported it. Xe toyed with every medium, but eventually settled on writing -- fictional detective mysteries, specifically, It loved stories where there were clear-cut good guys and bad guys, and the bad guys always got caught. Though, after what Lincoln did to Leonard, Rain hard pivoted to journalism specifically, despite getting xer degree in psychology.
Nowadays, it spends a lot of its time as Blair's "apprentice," which involves less forensic lab work and more chit-chat than Rain would like. Also a lot more getting roped into Blair's own criminal family history and ending up having to reunite Blair with xer siblings through any means necessary, even though they were the very masterminds behind the three murders outside Rain's apartment that sent Paige spiraling.
SKILLS
SOCIAL COGNIZANCE. As a psychology major and someone who's been in the journalism industry for about a decade, give or take, Rain is deliciously good at reading others. As cold and awkward as xe may seem at first glance, you bet it's watching your body language and word choice like a hawk on stimulants.
COVERING ITS TRACKS. Being a non-binary teenager in the 2000s with an unsupportive family meant that you had to do a lot, and I mean a lot, of sneaking around to get around your parents' rules. The experience, though regrettable, was quite handy when Rain started covering more and more dangerous crime stories. Xe may have tampered with... a few crime scenes?
WEAKNESSES
STUBBORNNESS. While this can also manifest in positive ways, usually, it doesn't. When Rain has a plan, xe sticks to it no matter what anyone else says and despite any contraindications, with often ends... the way you'd expect it to.
PEOPLE-PLEASING. Often clashing with xer stubbornness in a way that leaves xem beating xemself up after every instance for giving in when xe should've stayed put, Rain, as someone who grew up as a girl, has a deeply ingrained fawn response. Whether to Paige, Blair, Mrs. Hazard, or its mother, it's always fighting its instincts to immediately fulfill their demands. It usually loses.
RAIN
PERSONALITY
Rain was always a little introverted, but it still used to manage to light up the room wherever it went with its friendly personality. Nowadays, ever since Lincoln killed Leonard, Rain has withdrew more into xer shell. The cheerfulness was undeniably an act even back then, but now xe's dropped it entirely. Jaded, worn, and often quick to anger, Paige has complained that Rain's "no fun anymore."
Once the type to say "sure, why not?" to practically anything, now Rain is a very stick-in-the-mud, risk-averse person. Xe doesn't want to do anything xe doesn't have to, unless it will further one of xer goals, such as winning the favor of xer boss, correcting an injustice, or sometimes just making Paige happy.
TRIVIA
- Rain doesn't laugh at jokes and doesn't make them.
- Rain has top surgery scars.
- Rain doesn't celebrate Christmas, and gets really angry when someone points out that its birthday is on Christmas Eve.
- Rain has a pet bunny. I think its name is Pebbles.
- Rain is Indonesian-American. Like me. And all my other past fursonas. I can do whatever I want.
CHARACTER DEVLOPMENT
(Fig. 1) Magma doodle of proto-Rain.
Rain was created on March 22, 2022, at around 10 PM. According to Discord messages with my brother I could find, I made its prototype design (Fig. 1) in 10 minutes, presumably without my drawing tablet. Its design philosophy (baby blue fur, big ears, tuft of fur-hair at the top) generally stayed the same, but as my fursona, Rain had to grow alongside my tastes and preferences.
Two days later, I drew Rain xer first reference sheet. (Fig. 2) I felt that bright blue was a better color for xer crop top than mint green, as I didn't want Rain to be a soft character. The knee shorts and bag stayed, though I quickly changed xer jarring red forehead gem to be mint green, and made one of xer split tails the same. Mint is too soft for a shirt, but just eclectic enough in these small places on its body.
I largely based its personality on myself at the time, in the self-deprecating way I tended to. For some reason, I also made Rain like bubble tea despite the fact that at the time of drawing this, I had some sort of allergic reaction and vomited the last time I had bubble tea.
Also, Rain was bisexual and explicitly used any neopronouns, reflecting the way I labeled myself in early 2022.
Ever since, Rain largely and quickly replaced Blair (called Berry at the time) as my primary fursona, who had just started feeling a bit "meh" to me. I depicted xem as an often cocky but ultimately joyous person, and in the months following xer creation I fleshed out xer backstory. Xe was an Espeon, but we couldn't have a fourth Winter sibling or else things would get messy, so I made xem Lincoln's slightly (I would later make Rain much older) older sibling, and a runaway after Lincoln killed his (and also Rain's) uncle. The finalization of this culminated in a rather silly drawing of Rain snarikly interviewing Lincoln. (Fig. 3)
Before I made Rain related to the Pulsters, xer full name was Rain Maria-Benson February, for some reason. Much of the Rain lore I came up with during this time period has been lost due to getting banned from Toyhouse, but I remember that, at least. After I made xem a Pulster, I dropped the Maria-Benson (Frankly, I'm not even sure where that came from.) and made xer name Rain February Pulster. Due to Rain's complicated relationship with its family and the fact that I had already written substantial material referring to it with the last name February, Rain prefers to go by simply Rain February.
(Fig. 2) Rain's first reference sheet.
(Fig. 3) Rain cheerfully ruining Lincoln's reputation. (Not canon)