Tommy resembles a painted-shell turtle, about four feet tall when standing upright. His carapace is a patchwork of faded reds, river-silt tans, and sky-blue swirls, layered like weathered enamel over ridged plates. Fishing hooks, lengths of braided line, tins, and a bent lantern are braided into leather straps across his shell so they jingle faintly when he moves. His skin is mottled olive and sand, textured like damp canyon stone, and his fingers end in blunt, callused claws. He walks with surprising nimbleness, a low crouch and a soft, deliberate gait. Contradiction: though he is slow to anger and usually gentle, his left eye has a thin white scar across the iris and the horn of his shell behind it bears a single deep gouge arranged like a claw mark, reminders that he can be fierce when pushed.