Tobu:
Written By:
Alexis Herrera
Tobu didn’t take a whole lot seriously. Except of course, for the things she took very seriously. Things like, the proper brewing technique for a perfect cup of tea. Or the little map she created (and was always adding to) that pinpointed some of the best places to get a proper cup of tea if she wasn’t able to brew one herself. But all in all, Tobu didn’t take a whole lot seriously. Rather, she was more of a curious little frog with big, bright, golden eyes and an even bigger sense of whimsy.
Growing up in the Big Pond, she often found her constant surroundings to be a little too serious for her liking. Her parents owned a charming little pond-side cafe, which was serious business. In school, the other students were studious because in Big Pond, academia was also serious business. And her mother was always reminding her that if she wanted to be taken seriously, she would have to get a job.
Which is how she found herself working as a cadet for the Basin Courier Brigade, a job she mostly found interesting enough. Normally, Tobu would have lept away at the thought of being so responsible, yet she couldn’t help but be intrigued at the idea of hopping across the land and seeing all the places she'd never been, even if it meant carrying parcels around.
Tobu, however, quickly learned that the Basin Brigade wasn’t really about enjoying the journey. They were actually about delivering things. Nonetheless, she remained resilient, delivering packages with no real sense of urgency; instead she'd deliver them with caper, amusing herself by creating tiny paper frogs out of the packaging materials (a trick an old toad had once taught her) and watching as they sprung to life around her.
Expectantly, Tobu’s interest in the Basin Brigade faded over time. While she appreciated the opportunity to travel across the lands and rather enjoyed chatting with the eclectic folks she met along the way, she couldn’t help the unpleasant tethering feeling she felt with each delivery. At a certain point, she epiphanized that, while she did want to make her parents proud, she also wanted to live a life of her own volition, filled with whim and caprice and adventure without the heavy burden of a satchel full of miscellany. So— she resigned.
Tobu doesn’t know what her future holds. Perhaps she’ll end up working in her parents cafe or perfecting herbalist healing teas or maybe she’ll delve further into Origami. Whatever the case, whatever life she ends up living, she is determined to live it on her own accord and very much unseriously.
