I would like to adopt!
Number: 7
Picture:
Name: Actaeus (The Messenger Of Life And Death)
Species: She's really a supernatural being, but often takes the form of a Coyote. C:
Personality: Actaeus is like the universe. One simply cannot wrap ones head around the concept, we can only give words, simple words, to describe the indescribable. And so, one must try.
Actaeus likes to think of herself as Just. Fair. Worthy. And this may be so, but who can really be sure if you're fair or not, going by Death's standards? Even so, Actaeus is definently one to trust. She is, after all, entrusted with a number of dying souls on a daily basis. If you can't trust her, who can you?
Actaeus is empathetic when it comes to the spirits. To her, she is saving them from a world of hate, a constricting, confining world. To her, she is pulling them through the fog, to show them the light. The truth.
But she understands that not every spirit sees it that way, that they have loved ones that they would hate to leave, to see them suffer. So, she does her job meticulously, paying attention to every detail, every thread and memory of their life. And when she is done sorting through the humans history, she carefully pulls them out of their body, detaches them from their physical shell, and lets them out into the void.
The coyote is very sure of herself, having never lost a spirit before. Er...she had lost one...but she didn't like to think about it. As far as she was concerned, it had never happened. What Death doesn't know, can't hurt him? Right?
Actaeus is the kind of person that you would most likely wouldn't too think much about. She's the quiet one, the one in the back of the room, not the teachers pet, but not a rebel, either. She kind of blends in to her surroundings, bending them and twisting them to fit her needs. Death's needs. Life's needs.
Our needs.
And for that, we're grateful.
Likes: Despite all odds, Actaeus loves being a Messenger. She loves the tender care that must be given to evey spirit, the way the spirit looks when it is finally freed. Young.
Beautiful.
She also is in love, but often puzzled, by poetry. Why would humans muse over something so obvious? Something like the feelings of music, and the reason they are on the planet Earth. Why don't the look? Really
look? But she is charmed by the swirly words the humans use, the way they describe ordinary things, make them sound so...wonderful. She often finds herself smiling while reading the charming words, and quietly mouthing the answers to the oh-so-obvious questions, that they themselves could answer, if only the could see.
Dislikes: Actaeus particularly dislikes how much us humans seem to fear death. How we obsess over it, trying to find cures for the incurable. How we idolize it, putting on funerals, dressing in black. How we do everything we can to stall it, stall the passage of time with our surgery, and lotions, and creams. What we humans don't seem to understand is that Death is just a part of Life. The are initually the same thing, so why fear Death instead of Life? Why try to stave of the inevitable?
The one thing Actaeus dislikes about her job is the end of her retrieving process. The moment when the life leaves the humans eyes, the stench of death settles around them, the moment when the world seems to stop spinning. When Actaeus hears the mortals heart slow to a stop, when they take their last breath. When it's over.
But it's not, really. Actaeus is reminded this when each spirit comes up to meet her, the joyful reuniun, the spirit realizing that they were wrong. Their life is not over. Their life is just beginning.
Background (Optional, but it gives you a better shot)
The exact way that Actaeus came into existence isn't very clear.
Some say she was always there, before the people, the buildings, possibly even before the creation of the world itself.
Others say she was made from the same dust as mankind, received the same breath of life as us mortals. Hard to believe the immortal could ever occupy the same space as us humans, as unworthy as we are.
How she ended up as Deaths, nonetheless
Lifes, apprentice is also muddled. How does one simply become this? Entrusted with one of the greatest jobs in the universe? Was it simply coincidence? Or did something about the once-mortal coyote pup strike a chord, however deep and buried, inside of Deaths hollow heart?
Whatever the reason, the pup was pardoned, saved from Death, but to forever be chained to Death. She could never really get away, it seems.
Actaeus now considers Death to be her father, and performs the responsibilities given to her. She wouldn't really have a choice, anyway, because of the ribbons strung around her ankles and tail. The ribbons keep her spiritually connected to Death, and if she should ever wander outside of this universe...well she didn't really know. Death had never told her the details, had simply trusted Actaeus to stay. And she would. For how ever long it takes.
Some Notes: In the personality part, when it mentioned Actaeus having lost a spirit? When that happens, the spirit is still partially human, meaning Actaeus hadn't done her job carefully enough, and some thread of memory of life was left in the spirit's spiritual shell. (The part the spirit hadn't shed when it died (You see, Spirits have many layers. Those allowed to re-live their lives, reincarnation, shed both the physical and spiritual shell. They then need a living organism to live in, and sometimes possess still living, sometimes creating demons if the host fights back.)) The lost spirit turned into a..well there's really not an official term for it, but the Messengers (Creatures like Actaeus) call them "Black Souls". They generally turn evil (But not always), and Actaeus had a stroke of unfortunate luck when the Black Soul turned evil. :C
Of course, Death doesn't know this (as mentioned a few paragraphs up) and Actaeus doesn't plan on telling him.
Oh, and Death isn't really a physical being, he's more of a semi-solid...erm..thing, I guess. x3
That's all. *Scuttles off*
by kirarahime » Wed Nov 25, 2009 8:56 am 
