Hourglass the Lizard

Hourglass is a male Mobian lizard gifted with supernatural stealing abilities. He is an antagonist in Dimitri Chronicles, a series created by Chamesthehero. Introduced in Flames of Courage, the second installment of the series, he is the current leader of the Brotherhood of Thieves in Red Rose Town. Debuting in Red Roses, Black Hearts, Hourglass spends most of his days in his hideout, cowardly running the brotherhood from afar due to his troublesome anxiety. When the Inferno Bandits manipulate his organization, he is forced to work for Zahra the Hyena and do her bidding.

With his cowardice matching his avaricious manner, Hourglass is the arguably the most famous thief of Soumerca and is even wanted by the Guardian Units of Nations. Despite his fame, in actuality, Hourglass sounds downright paranoid and prefers to be lazy over working.

Character © to Chamesthehero/Lolcraft98/ProLuxray. In order of the usernames on Sonic Fanon Wiki, deviantART, and Youtube, respectively.

Physical Description
Hourglass is a green-colored lizard who features yellow-colored eyes. Bearing his species' signature features such as a tail with spikes, a pointy snout, and green scales all over his body, he has a tongue thinner than most. His torso features scales that are yellow in color and he has big claws hidden by his boots and gloves.

Unlike most other Mobian lizards, Hourglass does feature hair and it is always brushed backward. His dark gloves, gauntlets, belt, boots, and hand-made hood were all designed by him. He has two pairs of golden earrings on his head and small, circular pieces of gold scattered all across his outfit.

When it comes to good looks, Hourglass' appearance has a niche. He has above-average height and likes keeping his hair brushed and tidy but, since he seldom goes out to work out, he is rather slim.

Personality
Hourglass, much to the surprise of those who heard of his achievements, is a submissive and anxious individual who merely desires some peace and quiet. Unfortunately for him, his role as the leader of the Brotherhood of Thieves compromises much of his time, though this lizard attempts to slack off duty more often than not whenever his brethren are not paying attention to him.

One of Hourglass' most prominent characteristics is his constant anxiety. He despises violence and social interaction to the point he seldom leaves his organization's hideout even to find food, so his comrades either have to escort him to boost his morale or take care of him. Although he is a coward by nature, much of his innate fear is contributed by the violet-colored Rainbow Dust he always keeps close in proximity.

Like the other members of his organization, Hourglass is obsessed with money. However, unlike those who desire it for materialistic luxuries like fancy clothes or status, his passion for it stems from his inability to cope with social anxiety. Perhaps inanimate, golden-colored coins or moderate-sized stacks of Rainbow Dust are the only ones that deserve his genuine serenity, though his group is helping him get better.

Despite his meek demeanor, Hourglass does seem untrustworthy to all but his organization and is quick to change his loyalties whenever convenient to him. This is especially evident when he gives crucial information about the Inferno Bandits when he was driven to a corner.

Background
No one knows for certain where Hourglass came from. According to what Hourglass remembers and mentioned to his comrades, he was supposedly born from two Mobian lizards that hailed from Shamar in the middle-eastern continent of Midesta and fled from conflict as the Robotnik Military Squadron entered the town to raid it and clashed once again with the Guardian Units of Nations.

Perhaps his parents were killed in the conflict or abandoned him for good, but Hourglass would never know as he reached Red Rose Town in the southwestern continent of Soumerca. Unlike many other children of similar conditions, the lizard avoided the population at all costs. Apparently, he had social anxiety, and he always hyperventilated whenever someone tried to approach him. And so, no one did anymore.

The lizard first discovered his powers when he was almost starving. His intense fear overcame his hunger, and for many years this life-style made him suffer. His power to steal things supernaturally made him steal from Red Rose Town's plaza without actually having to face people. It was the perfect power for someone like him, but it immediately gained the population's attention as an uproar started to rise.

When the G.U.N. had to be summoned to Red Rose Town to calm everyone down, an agent of the military organization found Hourglass using the power and tried to apprehend him. The young Hourglass tried to escape to little success until one else pulled him into the town's sewers. It was the leader of the Brotherhood of Thieves, a small-scale, secret organization that used to compromise of the thieves of the town.

Hourglass does not remember it all well, but eventually, he managed to join the organization despite his anxiety and became its best thief. The Guardian Units of Nations remained in Red Rose Town looking for the lizard for some years, and then they finally gave entirely and retreated. By then, Hourglass became the town's best thief and so eventually became its leader, though he very likely did not want to.

For the next following years, pushed into leadership, he would recruit people of remarkable plundering talents. The Brotherhood of Thieves became like his family. Although he would never leave the hideout, other thieves would eventually bring him food and take care of him. In order to protect himself, he made two violet Rainbow Dust-filled bombs. Some say their presence worsened his anxiety, but he never believed him.

In a particular evening, the leader of the Inferno Bandits and her main subordinate located the hideout of the Brotherhood of Thieves and proposed a rather one-sided cooperation: should the Brotherhood of Thieves help the population be deprived of their Rainbow Dust and hand it all over to the hyenas, then Zahra would allow the Brotherhood of Thieves to exist in her grand, re-emerging empire.

From that day on, Hourglass' anxiety worsened as his organization was now forced to work with the Inferno Bandits. His profits were greatly reduced, but his cowardly nature made him refuse to go against Zahra. Although his comrades now stole for the Inferno Bandits, Hourglass secretly desires for someone else to put an end to the hyenas so Red Rose Town becomes nice and lazy once more...

Fanfictions
Dimitri Chronicles: Flames of Courage

Strengths and Powers
Hourglass is among the most well-known thieves in Mobius. Compared to others that are in the same career, this lizard stands out among the rest due to his incredible feats that makes him a wanted man even within the Guardian Units of Nations, the military organization that is tasked with protecting the world.

Among the incredible feats of Hourglass is providing the multi-millionaire Brotherhood of Thieves with about a whopping seventy-percent of its entire fortune in Rainbow Dust, actual money, and fancy jewelry all without leaving traces. From time to time, the Guardian Units of Nations send their detectives to Red Rose Town to investigate the Brotherhood of Thieves, but without any previous success.

Although a great thief, Hourglass is most definitely not a fighter and hates getting into conflict, preferring to give in crucial information about his clients to save his organization and his own skin. Even though he is quick on his feet, he has below-average physical strength and durability, so he can be easily brushed aside.

To defend himself when all else fails, Hourglass made two violet Rainbow Dust-filled bombs that, once detonated, intoxicate the organic target with an illusion-inducing poison that makes their fears come to life in their own minds. This toxin is so powerful, even people with great resistance to illusions have a hard time shrugging it off, especially if one has suffered great psychological trauma in the past.

Supernatural Thievery
Hourglass is infamous for having the grand supernatural ability to steal whatever is within his range vision by thinking about it. More precisely, this lizard can teleport individual bodies of mass to other locations as long as said locations have enough space and are owned by him. For example, he can summon a visible bag of coins from a counter to his pocket or hideout, but not towards someone's property.

Although this incredible ability requires a good amount of concentration and eye-contact, Hourglass can steal other people's weapons and armor in the middle of combat in order to give him a chance of escape. This proves to be quite handy against heavily-armored foes with weapons that can easily incapacitate him. Since he can steal objects with ease, he is the one responsible for most of his organization's fortune.

However, this skill is not perfect. Stealing larger objects require a lot more concentration than usual and cost him much more energy. Without the proper concentration, Hourglass can either steal either the wrong object or make his superpower fail entirely. Besides, his laziness and lack of usage might be hindering its success. One could only wonder how come he never tries to use this superpower directly on other individuals.

Creation and Development
The concept of Hourglass' character came about after establishing that the Brotherhood of Thieves would be antagonists in the series at some point in time. When one thinks of a boss of an organization, most people would definitely think of someone threatening, deserving of the reputation of the grand final boss. With this character, I went with the exact opposite for a change of pace.

There is a common misconception that mentions that talent equals leadership. Even if someone is the most competent soldier with the most kills in the entire army, it does not mean that person is qualified to lead armies. Hourglass is an unfortunate victim of this misconception he cannot really overrun on his own.

I personally find Hourglass' power one of the most interesting of the bunch. To steal whatever you want as long as you can maintain a clear vision of it! At first, this skill would be possible on a conceptual level, meaning he could steal the very concepts of existence and nonexistence for himself to keep. This was ultimately decided against since it would make the character way too overpowered for his role.

Friends and Allies

 * The Brotherhood of Thieves
 * Ruby the Caracal (one of his most prominent subordinates, Ruby takes care of him)
 * Saphie the Swift (one of his most prominent subordinates, Saphie takes care of him)
 * Disaster (formerly)

Neutral

 * The Inferno Bandits
 * Ember the Hyena
 * Zahra the Hyena (hates her guts, but he has to work with her)

Enemies

 * Team Prinus
 * Dimitri Prinus the Echidna
 * Ramonna the Hedgehog
 * Maxwell the Fox


 * Tobias the Crescent
 * Guardian Units of Nations (The bounty on his head made him wish he could clone himself)

Fun Facts

 * Hourglass is envisioned to be in his twenties.
 * Spending so much time alone, Hourglass has picked up a few hobbies that do not involve stealing.
 * Some of his hobbies include knitting and playing Solitaire.
 * His power was loosely based on Kazuma's Steal from the light-novel KonoSuba.
 * The Perfect Touch skill from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim also served as an inspiration, given Hourglass can steal even the clothes and weapons from his opponents.
 * He is a very famous thief, known worldwide as one of the best, so he is a target of many high-class detectives, whether them being independent or hired by the G.U.N.
 * Hourglass has a slight accent that originates from Midesta, the Mobius equivalent to the Middle East.
 * Saphie and Ruby take shifts in order to take care of him. Hourglass depends on them quite heavily.
 * "Fear keeps him alive", but his cowardice could lead him to never leave the hideout and starve.


 * Hourglass is the member of the Brotherhood of Thieves that does not have a crystal-themed name.
 * Instead, he was named after a time-measuring object that causes anxiety in certain contexts.
 * In his initial design, he had a miniature golden hourglass as a necklace.