Malt
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Malt |
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| Affiliation | Merchants | ||||
| Role | Guild Leader Assistant | ||||
| Usual Location | Tao Village | ||||
| Species | Template:Species | ||||
| Gender | Male | ||||
| Age | Young Adult | ||||
| Trait | Good endurance | ||||
| Nature | Serious | ||||
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| Related Stories | The Illusion The Dates The Question |
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Malt does the paperwork and finances for Tao Ranch, deciding from a young age to pursue math and study rather than work in the fields. Despite being a Miltank, he self-identifies as a male and takes great offense if anyone addresses him as a female. He uses his father's abacus to aid him with quick-paced math and coincounting, giving him a speed that is rarely paralleled in the field of Merchants who typically count finances by hand or long addition scrawl on parchment.
Malt tends to spend most of his time indoors rather than outside after Ovaltine began teasing him for not helping with production.
Despite finding himself cozy within Tao Ranch, he greatly desires to leave - not out of spite for his sister, but rather because he truly wishes to become a fullblown Merchant. Not interested in becoming a Merchant affiliated team or the like, he patiently looks and waits for the time where an opportunity to perhaps gain employ under the Merchant Guild leaders shows itself.
He is on good terms with Shroomsworth and enjoys the Breloom's company; in fact, it is due to the grass-type that Malt's desire to become a full-blown Merchant came to be.
Contents
Growing Up
Malt was born to a Miltank mother and a Tauros father, who both initially thought the little Miltank was a shiny fellow when he came out of his egg. He showed himself to be a quiet kid in youth while his big sister Ovaltine was much more outspoken - though at this time, the teasing from the pink Miltank was on the low and they got along rather well. Malt enjoyed playing with his father's abacus so much to the point where the Tauros eventually taught him some basic addition.
That was the start of it all for him. He took to it greatly and began to study fervently, doing his absolute best to learn as much as he possibly could from the few books he had at hand and even going so far as to do oddjobs for a little money which he used to buy books. It was also around this time that he began to self-identify as a boy, which lead to teasing by his sister and many awkward situations for those who had called him a girl ever since he was born, as now he would correct them every single time they thought to call him otherwise.
It was into his adolescence that he and Ovaltine lost their parents - their mother passed away of illness and their father became estranged and left soon after, leaving the two Miltank on the Ranch alone with the other workers. Malt was somewhat quick to bounce back, taking the initiative and starting to handle all the Ranch's paperwork, including ventures and ideas that hadn't been implemented yet. His sister sought to ask him for help on production, but as a male Miltank, he was incapable of producing milk and as such, his sister teased him further while he retreated into his offices more often than not.
This led to the start of aggression between the two siblings, as Malt knew Bulldoze and was somewhat strong but remained in the building, which Ovaltine found unfair. She helped out on the ranch after all - not only did she put out a lot of milk, but she also helped to till the fields and work them with Iceburg and Strawberry. In addition, as the new Accountant/Manager of the Ranch, Malt became the one in charge of payroll and vacation time, but when it came to the latter he seemed to be putting it off in his sister's eyes. Malt would mention he would give the Miltank a vacation soon, but days turned into weeks and she grew furious with her little brother, eventually starting an argument which led to her leaving the ranch.
Malt was left a little depressed and irritated, unaware of the actual stress his sister was going through due to the meager amount of actual workers on the farm, but he himself was buried underneath lots of paperwork and numbers. He had to handle trade agreements with the Merchants through both letters and actual visits to the Guild itself, where he met with PK and Shroomsworth. The Breloom in particular rubbed off on him and the two got along very well, and after a few visits and seeing how things were, Malt found himself with a great desire to eventually leave his post someday and join the Merchant's Guild as an Accountant or some such.
Missions
Mission 3
Malt, in the midst of doing the paperwork for stock and surplus, found out that the amount of milk left in Tao Ranch was critically low - without his sister to provide the level that she did, they were left in a deficit that could result in the termination of the Merchant contracts he'd worked so hard to put together. He sent a letter to Shroomsworth, informing him of the situation at hand and asking for his assistance in finding and escorting Ovaltine back to Tao Ranch. The Breloom assured him it would be done, and gave the mission out to the Merchant Guild Members. Template:Clr
Mission 5
Malt was one of many who were escorted out of Tao Ranch together with his sister Ovaltine and the rest of the Ranchers. However, in his haste to evacuate, they'd left many of their personal effects behind, and Malt was not able to bring his Abacus along with him due to having been asleep at the time, woken up, and then marched out the door half-awake before he could do anything about it. Upon arriving in Merlot's castle, he met with Mike and others in the Library - the Charmander asked if anyone would like to return to Tao Village, and Malt announced his intent to go in order to recover his most important heirloom, his Abacus. Ovaltine attempted to dissuade him from it, but he refused - speaking with Iceburg as Malt left, Ovaltine reveals that Malt isn't actually her brother as she was adopted, although she states she's never going to tell him anything like that.
Malt speaks with Mike briefly on the way back to Tao, just the two of them having gone together while the rest remained in the castle, particularly bringing about the mention of the fact that it was extremely likely the recent and powerful Blizzard killed off a good deal of the available crops. Mike was unenthused by this news, but the two pushed onto the village regardless.
It was there that Malt ran into the napping forms of PK and Shroomsworth in the Town Square, briefly greeting them before making his way over to the Ranch in order to truly ascertain the situation there. As he had predicted, the damage was so widespread nearly every existing external crop was completely destroyed and even the soil had been heavily damaged from the freezing - however, some good news came in that he'd at least found some of the preserves, such as honey, sealed and stored cans of milk, and some light grains. He was continuously hoping at this time to find ways to impress PK and Shroomsworth, to show them that he is reliable and definitely core Merchant Guild material.Template:Clr
Mission 6
Malt returned to Tao Village to help with the cleanup, hoping to impress PK and Shroomsworth by getting as much work as possible done before they woke up, but instead he found a black, heartbroken PK with her partner nowhere to be found. After consoling her he offered to help her and became the new Merchant Guild Leader Assistant, with PK leaning on him for emotional support.
The Illusion
Worried for PK's well being after watching her work endlessly, he suggested the Kecleon take a break and perhaps get the a good night's rest, something that hadn't happened for her since the evacuations and Shroomsworth's leaving. To Malt's surprise, she decided to take a walk in the Creeping Forest and ordered him to not follow her. Still, the Miltank was concerned for his guild leader's well being and inquired a Rescuer team about where PK could have gone off to.
With the team's information, he ventured into the forest and found a distraught PK pleading with her hallucination of Sorbet, concocted from despair and a lack of sleep. When the Miltank's presence was known, Malt confronted PK about her rash behaviors of late and offered comfort, hoping that things would be better for Tao and for them.
The Dates
After Malt saw PK arrive from her so called date with Twigs, he was curious to know how it went, but he felt that she was more worn out than when she left. He was itching to know what had happened and if PK really wanted to be with that guy since she first rejected him. However, he saw that PK was exhausted and decided not to bug her about the subject.
Several days later, Malt woke up early to get a head start with the load of work ahead of them, to his surprise, he saw Twigs arrive in his carriage to pick up PK. He was worried to be left alone, even if PK had her orders pretty clear and followable, he didn't like being a sole leader. He tried convincing PK not to go, but his efforts where futile, and PK left with Twigs once again.
The Question
Malt persuaded PK to come have breakfast and oversee the progress of Tao Ranch since Mission 5. He also urged his colleague to acquaint herself with the staff. Twigs' arrival at the ranch interrupted the appointment and left Malt to handle the affairs by himself.
Mission 8
Malt and Shroomsworth were left to hold the fort down since the disappearance of PK and Rhodes and run Tao in the wake of the disappearances. He informed Shroomsworth about the delay on their shipment from Gambitville due to Gold causing problems in the area and the difficulties on Gnasher's order for some of Mulberry's silk. After Anana's visit to the hut in an attempt to take over running Tao, Malt warned the Breloom on the dangers of the yellow Kecleon. Template:Clr
Gallery
Malt & Ovaltine
Quiet times...
