Reference - Near

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Whee, Pella has her tablet again! \m/
You may recognize this fellow... He's an adult form of the little colt that Vejita once saved from drowning. Below you will find more details about him. For some time I wanted to create a dun horse as a character, and ended up with him. Plus, horses with snips as facial markings just... have that something.
I was mulling over the name for him for quite a while. First I wanted to name him with something meaning 'cursed', 'unlucky' or so, but as Vejita would be the one naming him, adding more to his disease is just... not her style. I changed it a several times, but in the end I've decided to stick with a plain name Near - that's because he usually needs a guide and a companion to function normally, and most often would be found NEARBY some other horse. Why? Well... read on.

NAME: Near
AGE: 2
SEX: Stallion
SIRE: ?
DAM: ? [stepdam - Vejita]
BREED: ?
EYES: -lacks- / a wide black kerchief wrapped around his head where normally the eyes would be
COAT: Dunskin /Buckskin Dun/
GENERAL INFO: At first glance, Near seems to be carrying quite a nasty disease, as he was born without any eyes. But don't you think you can sneak up on him because of that! Despite complete blindness, his hearing and smell are very sharp, and when it comes to battling, along with his swift movements and quick reactions, they are enough for him to carry on. However, this has also its certain inconveniences. Without someone to be his guide, he is unable to function normally in environments he doesn't know. But at the same time, he hates showing any kinds of sympathy and pity towards him. He takes his lack of vision as something normal and natural, and for a very long time he thought that all horses function this way.
Having been dragged into Kanane River by his original mother and left to drown mere moments after birth, he had his life saved by Vejita, who happened to pass by. He shows extreme loyalty to her and anyone close to her, and the fact that she's not his biological dam doesn't disturb him to call her 'mother'.
He seems to have a kind of aquaphobia since he was young [for obvious reasons] - he comes close to water only when he needs to drink, but nothing beside it. Water makes him feel insecure, and he tries not to get wet if he doesn't have to.
PERSONALITY: Cold, analytical, and oddly stoic behavior even in the face of danger. Deep inside he has emotions and feels things as intensively as others, but he's unable to express it in any way. Everything he says is kept in the same tone of voice whether he's happy, angry, afraid or depressed, and it would be impossible to determine his emotions based only on his body language. The others often describe him as intimidating, and even slightly creepy. Is aware and has accepted the fact, that he's going to have neither mate nor offspring. He anyways treats all that's linked with spirit and emotions quite sarcastically and with distance. He prefers using his head rather than going emotional, despite of the situation.

The main reason for creating him was the fact that I wanted some wingless companion for Jomar, who is rather bored while the rest of my characters can take off for a flight. From now on, I predict that on most of my drawings they will be shown together - the way I see it, Jomar will be usually followed by Near holding a small hair strand of his tail. The cooperative relationship of theirs means Jomar looking over obstacles for Near and helping him to avoid them, while Near alerts his companion of early signs of danger that he detects with his sensitive hearing and smell. The two have a lot of similiar views on the same things and are almost like brothers to each other - moreover, Jomar knows that as an immortal he will eventually lose Near, and that makes him sad in some way. Right now, I think that the water-loving Jomar and an aquaphobe Near will make an interesting duo

The disease Near suffers from actually does exist, and has been defined as "anophthalmia" - see [link]

Reference for the horse - [link]
Character & image [c] to me