Ayoka

The Vampire Puppy

• Note

  This character was originally inspired by an ill-conceived article in a scientific magazine many years ago. It attempted to assert that dogs were nothing but social parasites, demanding food, shelter, exercise, grooming and entertainment from their human "victim," while giving nothing in return but "a mere sense of false happiness." It went on to say that the only reason they were classified as symbiotic animals rather than parasites is that, alas, scientists are not immune to their obscene powers of cuteness. Except, apparently, this one brave researcher. Aside from a laugh, the article's only other value was prompting me to create Ayoka, the vampire puppy.

• Description

  A young woman, appearing to be in her early twenties, perhaps even younger. She is clothed in nothing more than rags, a scrap of threadbare fabric bound around her chest and another tied around her waist, ripped to allow her full, canine tail to poke through. The dogly appendage is almost always wagging happily. Straight, black hair is cropped at her shoulders, elongated, expressive ears poking through. When she smiles (which is most of the time,) sharp canine fangs are apparent in her mouth.
  
  In more modern settings, she wears baggy clothing, a floppy hat and shawls tied around her waist to hide her ears and tail. It gives her a dirty gypsy vibe.

• The Puppy Effect

  The following is included for ease of reference. The only way to find out ICly is through Role Playing. With that out of the way...
  
  Ayoka's defining characteristic attribute only becomes apparent when someone touches her. The effect is instant and quite intense, a permeating feeling of warmth and confidence, the sense that all is right with the world and that anything that has gone wrong can be corrected. This is often but not always accompanied by the feeling of being pleasantly buzzed. Everyone will react differently. Most characters become quite giddy, while others extremely relaxed and calm. When contact is broken, these effects immediately begin to fade, disappearing entirely in a few seconds and leaving in their place a mild, temporary feeling of listlessness and cold.
  
  Her bite has considerably stronger effects, dispersing a chemical directly into the bloodstream that lingers for quite some time. It functions in three stages:
  
  1. The first and shortest lasts about one to two hours (depending on how long Ayoka was allowed to feed), during which the subject will feel almost overwhelmingly happy and right-with-the-world, judgement is often impaired to varying degrees, giddiness is common.
  
  2. When this fades, there follows a several hour period where the feelings of warmth and unbridled optimism remain, accompanied by a burst of energy and a drive to accomplish things -- usually (but not always) the sort of little projects that one has always wanted to do but never made the time to, things that are life enriching but not earth shaking, such as planting a garden, painting, reading that book everyone has been recommending, finally starting that memoir, building the kids that swing in the backyard, etc. etc..
  
  3. The third and final stage is the let down, when the optimism exhausts itself and the subject is left depressed, listless and very cold, seeking to regain the previous lust for life. This goes away very quickly at first, but with repeated exposures it can grow to last quite a long time, even several days, unless the subject is bitten again and the first two stages cancel it out temporarily. Extensive exposures leads to addiction and often violent, terrifying withdrawals.
  
  For those very few who are allowed to taste Ayoka's blood in return, they will find that the effects follow the usual pattern of allowing her to feed, but the second stage (optimism and energy for life enriching projects) lasts far longer, they accomplish much more in shorter amounts of time, and feel even better about doing it. Unfortunately, drinking her blood leads to much faster, much stronger addictions than any other method of being exposed.
  
  Of course, not all characters will react in exactly the same way, and we can always talk about your ideas. So long as the general theme of optimism and (frequently unfounded) joy are there, it will probably fit in perfectly with the original concept.

• History

  None known, but if some of her offhand comments are to be believed, someone outside of Kurz has been breeding these pedigree bloodsuckers and selling them to the rich as pets... The classier, cuddlier alternative to snorting devil weed, with 100% less bad trips!