Bel is an elderly Kameshi with green, toughened skin, pale aqua eyes, dirty off-white fluff, and a dusty red tail tip. He wears a large hiker’s backpack and a green scarf made from old human fabric he found in the forest. Due to his old age, Bel has trouble grooming himself leading to many stray hairs and dirty fur. He no longer hunts, but instead gathers berries and other plants to store away and eat, carrying them in his large backpack. Despite his physical impairments he still leaves his den as often as he can to scavenge and dig up treasures.
Bel has been a collector for as long as he can remember- every time something glints in the sun he has to check it out. He’s always retrieved and stored various large unknown objects in his home. While many thought he was collecting useless junk, Bel theorized that he was finding remnants left behind from the human that used to live in the massive abandoned cabin nearby. Despite his village being destroyed and growing older, he still holds a passion for collecting these artifacts and learning what he can about them. His home is full of repurposed human objects used to make tables, mirrors, and any other use he can think up.
Bel is notoriously kind, and has always been very trusting of those he just meets. Meeting new people is an opportunity to learn more about the world, hear different stories, and talk their antennae off about the things he’s seen. He practically adopts any young person he meets and treats them like his own grandchildren. No matter how often or little he sees them, he always manages to remember the details and give them the same amount of love as before. His big heart and spark for connecting with others never faded with his age. Grandfather jokes and playful teasing is expected when around Bel.
History
Bel grew up in a very small village out in the forest. The village was constantly at risk due to exposure to weather and predators, but he managed to live out a relatively peaceful life up until his young adulthood. He grew up learning about the civil war from his mother, who had lived through the end of the war and the kingdom’s downfall. In this small village he met Tuft, a gentle yet lively young woman. The two fell in love and planned to marry, Bel spent a while courting her so that they could get engaged. The two would run around the village’s surroundings and get into trouble, often to the slight disapproval of the older villagers. However, shortly before the two were able to marry disaster struck and their village was destroyed by predators. In the chaos everyone ran in different directions, Bel and Tuft got separated, as well as their family members. When Bel returned to the village he found it in ruins with nobody in sight. He stayed there for days hoping that somebody would return, that Tuft would return, but nobody ever did. Bel was forced to move on by himself, traveling alone until he made his home in a den near the human’s run down cabin. There he stayed, collecting treasures and creating a home for himself while helping out travelers that happened to pass by. He’d ask about Tuft, but nobody ever seemed to know her. Bel never got reengaged, his heart still belongs to her.
Bel met Mae during her main journey, when he approached her after noticing she had a human treasure on her back; her signature needle. Bel invited her to his home for a meal and a place to stay and showed her his collection. Bel had come across a large spool of green thread and old green fabric, which he used to create his scarf. Mae realizes then that the green thread was the same green thread that was attached to her needle when she found it. Bel advised her to go looking inside the remains of the human’s cabin for further information to aid her on her journey.
Bel eventually encounters another Kameshi den during an exploration, where he finds a lone small child living by herself in the den. There were bloodstains on the walls, and it didn’t take long for Bel to realize what had happened to her family. He took the girl with him who couldn’t have been more that five. She couldn’t speak, but she was extremely playful and shared his affinity for shiny things. He took to calling her “scamp” as a nickname, but it ended up sticking as her new name.
Bel ends up meeting another Kameshi not too long after, a teenage boy named Wind. Wind tells Bel about the Secret Village and Bel decides that he will tag along with him to help find more information about Scamp’s family. Much to Wind’s annoyance, he couldn’t seem to get rid of him so he reluctantly led them to the village…. while Bel told him his favorite memories and dad jokes the entire time, of course.
Relationships
Tuft
Tuft was Bel’s former fiancé and best friend, when he lost her he was absolutely gutted and swore he’d find her again. He spent years searching before he settled down in his current home. Despite this, he has never thought once about looking to another woman for love. He still holds a shred of hope that one day he will see her again.
Mae
Bel met Mae during her main journey, and he immediately took a liking to her bravery and kindness, and was very mindful of her anxiety. He treats her like a granddaughter and is a bit overprotective of her. He asks if she’s alright traveling through the forest and if she has enough to eat and if she’s warm enough and- Even with Mae being titled as The Hero he still worries about her safety because he cares.
Mae visits rarely, since she can’t contact him via mail yet she can only see him in person, and he lives all the way at the other end of the forest from her. During her second visit she brought Joel with her, who was now her husband. Bel immediately didn’t fully trust him and had to make sure he was treating his honorary granddaughter right. He wasn’t too hard on him, but he did make them sleep in separate beds. Joel has to act on his best behavior when he’s at Bel’s place.
Scamp
Scamp is Bel’s adopted daughter. He found her alone in an old Kameshi den that was covered in old bloodstains. When Bel checked the place out he was able to gather that her family was likely killed and eaten, somehow leaving her as the only survivor. It was unclear how long she had been living there on her own, but she seemed to have suffered some head trauma and had memory issues. He took her home that day, gave her a warm meal and a bed to sleep in. He never left her side. He loves watching her roll around in the dirt and have zoomies around his home. He loves her as his own daughter, but he fears that he won’t be around long enough to care for her until adulthood, so although it’d break his heart to part with her, he is looking for backup options so that she won’t have to be on her own again.
Wind
Wind is another child that Bel adopted, except it was more of an annoyance to Wind. Wind was on his way to the Secret Village to get better transition treatment when he was found. Wind is very standoffish and tends to deny affection, or refuse to admit that they need a hug. He’d only refer to Bel as “old man,” but as they spent more time together it lost its punch and became more of a nickname. Wind eventually opened up a while after they had arrived at the village when he needed some support. Bel cheers Wind on when he tries to talk to the boy he caught feelings for, and gives him some old-fashioned wingman advice. He lets Wind have his independence but acts as a strong ground to make sure he stays safe and feeling ok.
Gallery
Character Songs
A character song is a song that fits a character or has inspired aspects of the character and their story
- Us – Regina Spektor, The story of Bel’s engagement to Tuft, their separation, and how he grew old to become the scavenger he is today.
Trivia
- Bel was named by a young camper the author was a counselor for. The campers were asked to give the character a name and one of the young girls wanted to name him after her grandpa “Bill,” but misspelled the name on the paper as “Bel.” The misspelled name was kept.
- Bel was originally going to be the only Kameshi character.
- Bel was originally going to die after the main story, Mae was going to go looking for him and not be able to find him in his den.