Libbie (full name: Ouyang Libi, Chinese: 欧阳理碧 “Oasis of Rational Thinking”) is a spirit oryx and a science teacher at Zhizheng Primary School. She serves as the head teacher of Class 3, where Leiting studies. Easy-going, kind, and funny, she is well-liked by her students, who affectionately call her “Miss Libbie.”


Origin

Libbie was a captive Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx, Conservation status: Vulnerable) at Dongguan Xiangshi Zoo. Upon realizing she had become a spirit animal, she transformed into a tourist and escaped into the city. She chose the name “Libi” (Chinese: 理碧, meaning “Oasis of Rational Thinking”) and “Ouyang” (Chinese: 欧阳, resembling the pronunciation of the English word “oryx”) as her family name.

Although her species originates from the Middle East, she was born and raised in the zoo, giving her a Chinese cultural background and appearance in human form.

Personality

Libbie is a gentle and responsible teacher who is very patient with her students. She trusts her students and can sometimes be overprotective. Mischievous ones like Leiting and Alice may try to exploit this trust to break the rules without facing consequences. However, Libbie’s tolerance does not mean she is unaware of their actions; she waits for the right moment to teach them a lesson.

Libbie makes sure to appear appropriate in front of her students, to the point of being a bit too self-conscious. Yet, she retains a childlike spirit and sometimes craves mischief and fun. These awkward moments are readily noticed by her students, making her wish for a place to hide.

The Arabian oryx has a history of recovery from near extinction. Consequently, Libbie is interested in agriculture and eco-related subjects. She does not see a return to the past as feasible or desirable. Instead, she seeks new ways for humans to coexist with nature from a developmental perspective.

As a herbivore, Libbie loves nibbling on young shoots and leaves. Occasionally, she gets carried away and accidentally eats seedlings in the school’s experimental field. To cover her mistake, she uses her spirit power to quickly grow new ones and replant them secretly.

Libbie claims she isn’t competitive. However, as a bovine animal, she occasionally displays a “bullish temperament” and a strong desire to win, particularly against Gracie, her friend and teacher at Luosha Primary School—while pretending to be indifferent.

Perhaps shaped by being betrayed during her volunteer work at graduation, Libbie is highly vigilant against frauds and can detect their tricks in seconds.

Specialties

Libbie has rich experience in agriculture. She is tall and strong, able and willing to handle rough and heavy work. When the terrain is unsuitable for farm machinery, she transforms into her animal form to plow the land or carry heavy objects.

Libbie is very tall, standing over 2.5 meters in her anthro form with her distinctive oryx horns. As a result, she often bumps into buildings and branches. To address this, she has developed spells to temporarily shorten and soften her horns.

Libbie has exceptional driving skills. Before becoming a teacher, she learned to operate various large farming and construction machinery, and also has freight truck driving experience.

Libbie is not good at cooking; she either makes a mess in the kitchen or creates food that looks and tastes terrible. As a result, “Miss Libbie can’t cook” has become one of her labels.

The Arabian oryx is native to the Middle East, sparking Libbie’s interest in this homeland of her species. She has a fondness for Middle Eastern music and can play the oud.

Life

Libbie’s early career was turbulent. After graduating from university, she joined a volunteer program for a spirit animal organization, hoping to contribute her strength. However, she was deceived and ended up in the Octopus Cult and nearly became a sacrifice.

After escaping death, Libbie was hired by the World Spirit Animal Alliance to investigate the cult. Disguised as a job applicant, she assisted the Alliance in destroying several farms, ranches, factories, mines, and docks controlled by the cult; publicly it appeared that “the companies she worked for always went bankrupt or laid off workers.” She also worked as a long-distance trucker and ride-hailing driver while secretly conducting covert investigations.

After the Alliance destroyed the cult, she returned to her hometown Dongguan and became a primary school teacher. She discovered that she enjoyed and excelled at the job.

Libbie is passionate about the coexistence of humans and nature. She leads the school’s in-house research project, “Ecology Education in Primary School Classes,” with her Class 3 as the experimental group. Libbie manages the school’s experimental farms and orchard. She also takes her students to participate ecology-related projects.

Because Libbie is a primary school teacher, the local Dongguan Spirit Animals Association placed two spirit animal kids (Qiuye and Mingzhu) in her class for special care. With Leiting becoming a spirit animal at the end of 4th grade, her class now has three spirit animal students. Then, Alice transferred to her class at the start of 5th grade — and she is a robot. Despite the challenges, Libbie remains dedicated to ensuring her students grow up healthily.

Relationships

The students in Class 3 love Libbie and affectionately call her “Miss Libbie” and simply “Libbie” hehind her. Despite the vivid personalities in her class, including the extraordinary robot kid, Libbie enjoys teaching them every day.

Leiting the Spirit Loong is the No.1 troublemaker among Libbie’s students. Libbie must monitor Leiting closely to prevent her curiosity and mischief from causing trouble.

Qiuye the Spirit Dhole is one of Libbie’s most trusted and intelligent students. They share a passion for agriculture. Libbie recognizes Qiuye’s potential and teaches her everything she knows. Qiuye admires Libbie and feels happiest when praised by her.

Mingzhu the Spirit Shark is one of Libbie’s main concerns as being physically strong but mentally simple. Libbie closely monitors her and enlists various class agents to help Mingzhu’s development.

Libbie pays special attention to Alice because a thinking robot is new to everyone. She carefully organizes everything to help Alice fit in, which she does. While Alice behaves well around Libbie, Libbie sees through her mischievous nature.

Gracie the Spirit Gazelle, a teacher of Luosha Primary School, is Libbie’s college classmate and close friend. Gracie saved Libbie’s life during the volunteering hoax that put her in danger. They investigated the cult together under the command of the Alliance, shared a room and ran long-distance transportation together, both eventually becoming elementary school teachers in Dongguan. Gracie is impulsive and often leaves Libbie to deal with the consequences of her actions. Despite their strong friendship, they have distinct values and a rivalry, each wanting to outdo the other, so do their students.

Libbie, Tonyn, Zoey, and Bailian were old neighbors with a bond so close they felt like family.


Comments

2 responses

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. quartzite00

    All of your characters have really come a long way and it is interesting to see how their stories are developing

    I just hope the “Octopus Cult” Libbie had to deal with has nothing to do with **that** octopus from **that** certain contest…. XDDDD

    1. I had only a vague idea of who my characters were before writing things down. Defining them in detail makes them more interesting, but it’s been quite a bit of work. At this rate, I’ll be lucky to finish the initial text for the wiki pages by the end of 2024.