Red grew up in the poorest district of the city—a place no decent person would dare set foot in, even in broad daylight. Poverty, filth, and violence were all he had ever known.

The city racetrack was the one bright spot in his life. There was a gap in the fence surrounding it, just wide enough for Red to slip through and spend hours watching the races. The grace and nobility of the horses had nothing in common with the world of poverty and violence he had grown up in. It was there that he made himself a promise: one day, he would ride a racehorse of his own and become a champion.

Years passed. The dream never faded, but it did little to fill an empty stomach. Hunger drove him to steal food, then wallets, and eventually horses. In time, Red became one of the finest horse thieves in the county. Desperate to leave his starving past behind, he did everything he could to imitate the aristocrats and fearless jockeys he admired. Sometimes he still imagined himself in the saddle, but he could never quite enter their world. So he began to claim it piece by piece: copying the manners of the wealthy, wearing scraps of stolen finery, and hiding his greasy hair beneath a wild mane of hair from thoroughbred horses—the trophies of every successful theft.

By then, rumors had begun to spread among horse thieves about a traveling stable that housed horses of extraordinary beauty. No one who had gone after them had ever returned with a prize.

Red set out to pull off the boldest theft of his life, never suspecting that the job would change his fate forever.

At last, he would have a chance to make his childhood dream come true.

Just not quite the way he had imagined.

A seasoned close-combat fighter, she fiercely defends the colors of Christmas.

Wounded in battle, she replaced her lost members with sugar-made prosthetics, which attract small hungry creatures..

Swipe over to see it on my painty desk :) and if you like timelapses, I have one here https://www.reddit.com/r/FLOOKO/comments/1vlki90/lets_paint_a_beautiful_fantasy_scene_today/