DAX

Having been spied by some local hippies who are camping on the beach, Dax is offered some strange food and wonders if he might begin to learn about the world through these native people. It took a while before he discovered that his companions were not exactly model citizens, but the fact remains that they certainly offer him a brand of compassion he won't receive again from any human for the next decade.

Once on his own after rejecting the human world because they steal and lie, Dax's storyline combines with Weaver's and the two bond over spiritual beliefs about nature. Dax is more intuitive and Weaver is more analytical when they try to figure out what they believe, but their thoughts are good for each other. Weaver helps increase Dax's vocabulary and teaches him to read. Dax has a friendly and accepting approach to every other new person he meets in the story as well, being much more welcoming than Weaver when Alix arrives. He teaches this new young man some hunting skills, and when Adele arrives he admires her insight and finds her to be a welcome companion. Dax has a little bit of a less hands-on role with the kids when they arrive (first Ivy, then much later, Tab and Thursday), but he patiently takes his turns at parenting them and offers some good perspectives on calming wild emotions and contemplation through meditation.

Dax is a big, broad creature who can walk on two feet or run on his hands and his feet a bit like a lion. It's hard to tell exactly how tall he is because he doesn't tend to stand up straight, but he's about seven feet tall and very solidly built and strong. His body is mostly covered in thick light tan fur. He has long curly white hair like a mane (with naturally shorter bangs in the front), and he has little vestigial horns that stick out through his hair. His face incorporates a snout and a black-button nose, and his bottom canines stick out of his mouth some of the time (usually if he's either grinning or upset). The curly white goatee on his chin gives him a charming look. His eyes are a bright, shiny red with no visible pupils. His ears are long and hang down on either side of his face like a goat. He has dangerous black claws but has never harmed anyone or anything he isn't hunting or harvesting. Dax came into this world wearing long shorts of unknown material and a leather vest, but he can fit into the largest sizes of human clothes and tends to wear those too. He has a very low voice that's more soothing than intimidating. Dax has an animalistic grace to his movements, but it would be hard to mistake him for an animal because he always wears clothes and he radiates a kind of intelligence animals do not, even though at the beginning of this comic he can't communicate.

Dax is very patient, very calm, and very spiritual. He has a good memory and a great sense of smell, and he trusts easily because he has an ingrained confidence in his ability to defend himself. Some people might be scared of him because he could easily be mistaken for a giant demon creature, but after getting to know him and seeing how gentle he is, it's hard to even remember a time when he was scary. He is ambidextrous. Dax has no natural sense of pitch so he can't sing, but he doesn't mind listening to music sometimes. He prefers to listen to talk shows on the radio, especially advice shows. He believes that civilized people must wear clothes and doesn't like to see any of his companions walk around nude, and he never lets them see him in the buff. Dax loves to eat meat (and is responsible for hunting the overwhelming majority of the meat the group eats), but also loves gardening, and develops some surprising culinary skills when putting together some stews and roasts. He feels that his gardening is another connection with the Earth. Due to his exposure to the hippies at the beginning of his story, Dax has no objections to drinking alcohol or recreational drugs, and likes to partake once in a while. Dax develops relationships very easily due to his gregarious nature, and everyone seems to naturally like him. He can be quiet and contemplative, but he does have his excitable moments, sometimes exploding with childlike glee over simple observations or novelties.