ilpromenade application
PLAYER
✧ NAME: Vee
✧ LJ USERNAME: yes yes yes
✧ CONTACT (EMAIL, AIM, MSN, PLURK, ETC.): yesss
✧ CURRENT CHARACTERS PLAYED AT PROMENADE: Eden, Zinc, Anna, Kitten, Christine and here's that thing about 6
CHARACTER
✧ NAME: Acacitli Medina
✧ SERIES: Original Character :: The Five Tigers The five tiger spirits, representing the different directions, seasons, forces within the world. They hold the balance in place, to prevent chaos from collapsing into the universe. Ancient as the world itself, in the beginning they operated as forces themselves, needing no physical form nor consciousness. As the world changed, form was needed, and so they took it.
The tale says that boys who get lost in the jungle turn into tigers. Perhaps they would have found their way out of the jungle again, that isn't for them to know. The tiger took them, and the only freedom from that will be their death.
The tiger, ancient and powerful as it is, cannot be harmed. In this, it offers the boy respite from age, from disease, from poison. However, if he isn't shielded by the tiger's fur, it cannot offer him protection from a deathblow. If the boy dies, then another must be found.
Caged by the tiger, the boy begins to take on parts of the cat's temperament. How this manifests depends on the boy, the tiger. Some are prone to animalistic expressions, behaviours, unpredictable and fickle moods. Some find the natural elements of the spirit resonate more strongly. Either way, the boy doesn't stay truly himself anymore.
When first taken by the tiger, all its powers are contained to only the tiger's form. Over time the boy can learn to call on them when in his original form, although never at their full strength. The same can be said in the reverse - when first taken, the boy cannot talk while in the tiger form. This must be learnt over time.
✧ HISTORY: Born in 1657 in New Spain, modern-day Honduras, Acacitli Medinez Sueiro (Acacitli Sueiro Medina, en Inglés) is the son of Adelita Sueiro and Heitor Medina. His father had come to the "Kingdom of Guatemala" in search of silver. He met his wife and had his son early on. Acacitli grew up close with her mother, and while of a devote Catholic society, he was not completely deprived of what little facets of Indian culture that had survived the century of acculturation. He never cared much for his mother's superstitions. He had to prepare himself for his own life in the mines and to find a woman to start a family with. He didn't expect much more than that, besides perhaps being able to travel to Trujillo's port to trade with his father.
His expectations were spectacularly defied during his nineteenth year when a thoughtless walk through the jungles surrounding his town ended when he as snatched up by the White Tiger, lost forever and never able to return home; to visit his mother and father, his friends, or the lovely girl he had chosen as his fiancee.
Disoriented and angry, he was offered some small guidance by his elders, most notably from Abraham de Gama, the Red Tiger, and Gaspar Justo, the Yellow. Acacitli was not the most gracious, but no one particularly blamed him. It was a great amount of change to accommodate himself to. Suddenly, there was another silent presence in his life, an animal whose skin he could borrow at a will but who influenced him despite his resistance. Suddenly there were strange senses, an awareness of the expansive outreaches of both his world and to others beyond it. And for Acacitli only, however, there was the sudden connection to the dead.
With everything he had ever thought to know suddenly made irrelevant, he began the awkward process of learning his new duties as a demi-god. He didn't have any other choice. He came to know the tiger, and the earth, and the spirits. Never a precisely sociable young man, his particular attachments to beyond the veil saw him developing an even more aloof stance, never cruel or brusque, but always solitary.
Although this was typical to a tiger, it was also typical to the season he served. The goddess of the Autumn, Deer-eyed Lydia, was also known for her solitary life in the forests. She visited him from time to time, but the tiger's form made her nervous. He would learn to be gentle enough for the cervid goddess's presence over time.
He had been in the tiger's thrall for less than a century when the first of his tiger brothers died. The boy who carried the Black Tiger was killed and the young Anil Chetri was taken up in his place. Of course Acacitli understood his position, but might have ignored the boy if it had not been for Abraham's urging. The Red Tiger wished for more brotherhood between them, and Acacitli humored him reluctantly. Although he would never show it very well, Acacitli developed a quiet fondness for the boy. Anil took his change in situation more quietly than he had, there was more sadness than anger on him and Citli nudged the kitten along with the help of his brothers.
Teaching Anil did much to settle Acacitli firmly into his duties, to help less hidden resentments linger in the back of his mind. Guiding spirits and protecting them was more than he could ever have aspired to. He fostered his small network, his goddess, his brothers, and with Manauia, the jaguar, who he would foster an unrequited love for for centuries to come. Might have helped if he'd bothered mentioning it.
He was 220 when the Blue Tiger was killed, but his relationship with the replacement, Josias, would never be as friendly as that with Anil. Exact opposites, West and East, Spring and Autumn, this was not ultimately surprising. Josias's reaction to the tiger was by far the most furious of the three youngest and only Abraham was patient enough for the brat's temper tantrums. It would take time for any of the others to follow, and Acacitli would be the last of them. Luckily, they had all the time in the world.
They five brothers had reached a comfortable level within their order, keeping mostly to themselves and their duties, they still did not turn away a brother in need. Acacitli would need it when his goddess, Deer-eyed Lydia, would be brutally raped by her own brother, The Burning Path and king of Summer. His crime throwing the entirety of existence into chaos as the spirits of change, the seasons, reeled from the shock. The earth cracked with Lydia's spirit, Spring Reposing Within seethed poison, and the Blizzardseason wept tears of tar, destroying the environments and killing multitudes. It would take many servants of the world to put the pieces back together, which put the tigers into close contact with the order of human wardens, who served the Earth and the balance, just as the tigers did.
Already overwhelmed by Lydia's pain and the many confused spirits in need of guidance, insult was added to injury when his goddess rejected his presence and offers to keep watch over her during her unfortunate pregnancy. He was left to slink away, but at least Manauia could follow after him beyond the veil and support him where his brothers could not reach. He joined his brothers and a number of other well-wishers in awaiting the birth of the fifth season.
Conium Maculatum, the Hemlock, was the poison bloom which resulted. A fragile girl who suffered greatly to know what had been done to her mother, she was protected and loved fiercely by all who knew of her existence. If Acacitli would be forbade from approaching the mother, he would keep his eye on the girl. He is fiercely protective of her, though he never approaches her. She has other protectors in her Aunt and Uncle, in Yggdrasil, and in Laelaps, the white dog.
The world settled, slowly, and when the winter ended, Acacitli invited Anil to come with him on a brief vacation to the warm lands of South America, Citli's native homelands and still the domain of the western jungles. He pretended it was for Anil's sake, but maybe he needed the company. Things were made rather unnecessarily complicated when Manauia's younger sister, the Gato Tigre, came for a visit. Like Josias, with whom she had made friends, she found Acacitli's feelings for the jaguar to be hilariously transparent and teased him accordingly.
Like any cat, he reacted with annoyance to being made light of and took it out on everyone involved in the debacle, Manauia included. Her, however, he simply avoided. Which became an unrealistic goal when Arabaham de Gama was killed shortly thereafter.
It was Abraham who had bound the brothers together with his care and warmth, was the oldest among them and had helped to raise four kittens. All of the tigers were devastated, and found it difficult to truly welcome the Red's replacement, a Texan boy named Scott. Gaspar took up the task most readily, and the brothers followed. This time, Josias was the last to respond, him and his terrible temper.
The wardens held a ceremony for Abraham, in honor of their shared work, and in honor of the long friendship Abraham had had with one of the eldest warden priestesses, a fire-dancer whose grief and exultation touched everyone in attendance, even if Acacitli still refused to dance. He was not, however, regretful that he had been pestered into attending.
✧ TIMELINE: Current three-fiddy-four years old.
✧ PERSONALITY:Cat. Below I have listed some personality traits that are particularly enhanced by the Tiger's influence on him.Curiosity Killed It. If there is one thing to be said about Acacitli, he is annoyingly curious about things. He will stick his big kitty nose into just about anything, especially if it doesn't concern him. He may get bored with it quickly and wander off, but he'll never pass up the chance to find out if it's boring. Conversely, he absolutely does not appreciate anyone impinging on his personal affairs. He's very private and will not shy from letting you know you should fuck off. When he wants to be alone, he seriously wants to be alone and will run off any interloper.
Lazy. Moving Acacitli to action when he doesn't have to is nigh on impossible. He might be interested in your problems, but he's never going to do anything for or against. As a demi-god, he really is not moved in the slightest by the tribulations of mortals. In some ways, this is also about his principles. Unlike Zinc who is Undecided Neutral, Acacitli is a True Neutral character, who really doesn't believe in viewing things as good and evil; pragmatic rather than moralistic. Acacitli's slowness to act is also present in his temper, he is very slow to truly anger, since he is generally always at some state of irritability. He's also physically lazy and can be found napping in the sunlight, often.
Ferocious. It may take a while to get Acacitli moving, but once he is invested in something, he will not back down until things have been taken care of, and they will be taken care of properly, even if he has to rip someone's head off or micromanage the entire affair to death. He doesn't care, he just wants things done right so he can go back to not giving a shit anymore.
Selfish. Acacitli wants what he wants, and there is little that will deter him from it. This has been tempered, to an extent from prolonged exposure to the saintly Abraham de Gama, but he's still a cat. The world is his ball of yarn, and getting in the way of what he's after will not win you a friend. He can hold a grudge for an awfully long time. Forgiveness is not one of his virtues.
Ill-Tempered. The phrase upon which his entire personality was built. Acacitli is a grumpy grumpy beast. He is rarely spotted with a smile, and seems always to have a storm cloud over his brooding head. Stand-offish and always willing to point out the negative side of things when he is pulled into a conversation. Aloof, he can seem absolutely cold-hearted and apathetic in the face of obvious emotional stimuli. He can't be bothered with getting upset, he's above that sort of nonsense, and really views it as a weakness. This kind of snobbery can also lead him to hold people to incredibly interpretations of their own self-declared principals--(especially if he thought they were stupid/naive/hypocritical.) While Acacitli rarely calls anyone stupid to their face, his mannerism and other clues will let you know that he really thinks you should stop talking before you embarrass yourself further. There is such a thing as a stupid question in his eyes.
Family. As Acacitli was removed from his true family, what he considers to be a part is generally a hodgepodge of those he cares for. Although, Acacitli's way of showing affection can be a bit... mean. There are some, like Abraham and Anil that he is all right being 'gentle' towards, but anyone else is going to sarcasm and insults. Actions speak louder than words though, right? And he would be there in an instant to defend them if anyone were to hurt them. Physically. When it comes to emotional pain he is not quite as good. He is an awkward shoulder-pat kind of dude, but he'd probably invite you out to dinner or something to try to distract you.
Duty. Although he once resented the Tiger, Acacitli has since come to value his work. His 'neutral' views on things are influenced by his love of the natural world and the lack of good and evil in it. Acacitli values beauty, values life and death and the great circle thereof. He has a certain appreciation for order, on a macrocosmic scale, and is truly upset to see world order falling into chaos. He sees it as his sacred duty to prevent such things. Acacitli also takes his duties as psychopomp very seriously and treats spirits with much more calm and understanding than the living, although not necessarily with more warmth.It is his duty to help them move on, not distract them with fraternization. Honestly, the spirit world is much more beautiful to him than any other, and this is part of what keeps him aloof from the mundane world.
SMILE ALREADY. What does this crabby cat enjoy? Napping in the sunlight, dancing, good music, carnivals, beautiful things, happy spirits, swimming, cuddles, tiger-belly rubs. He has a nostalgic appreciation for things which remind him of his long-lost home in Central America.
✧ ABILITIES/POWERS: The ability to cross great distances in a single bound. To cross into other worlds, although never to stay there, and only the White may enter the Afterlife. The ability to understand all languages and forms of communication. The ability to sense the true natures of other creatures. The ability to call on their brothers for assistance. The ability to switch between forms at will.
✧ TIME OF ARRIVAL: Day
✧ MASK DESIGN: Plain white
✧ PLACE OF SOLACE: The jungles of Honduras.
SAMPLES
✧ FIRST PERSON:
http://mothdeath.livejournal.com/56935.html?thread=8660327#t8660327
http://mothdeath.livejournal.com/58269.html?thread=9011869#t9011869
http://mothdeath.livejournal.com/61227.html?thread=9699627#t9699627
http://mothdeath.livejournal.com/62094.html?thread=9877134#t9877134
✧ THIRD PERSON: Autumn has fallen, a sudden curtain of dancing leaves marked with crisp air and unpredictable rain. The days move slower, the sunshine becoming more precious, more cherished as it thins with each exchange of sun and moon. Everything has become ethereal, imperfect and all the more interesting for the newly-empty spaces and twisted shapes. Acacitli notices these things, always. He was not always struck by the magic of impermanence, but the closer he has grown to the dead... the more appreciation he has for these unique moments of decay.
Spring has no subtlety, he thinks. Sharp scents and bright colors, it relies only on its exuberance to invoke feeling and soon chokes out any true innovation under the weight of its own infantile joy. Josias was well suited to it, he was forever a child, a brat with the simple demands as such. Opposites, he and the Blue were opposites, and while Acacitli found his little brother grated on his patience, often and always, he accepted him for himself. Citli could appreciate him, from a distance. His spirit and vitality, quick movements and easy smiles. He was himself, and that was something to be admired, even if his terrible jokes were to be ignored.
He would always prefer his own season, however. The quiet beauty of it, spared the raucous of summer cicadas, the deadly silence of the winter. He loved the clear night skies and the golden days. Perhaps he even loved to be so busy. Fall was the time for the world to prepare to sleep, the gird itself for the coming snows and the inevitable deaths. The White Tiger watched over all these preparations with methodical eyes, correcting any misstep or oversight. It was his duty to see this world turn peacefully, to take some small burden off of Deer-eyed Lydia's delicate shoulders.
✧ ORIGINAL CHARACTER QUESTION: Been to other worlds, nothing exciting there. He will be rather irritated to be taken from his work, and even more irritated to be separated from the spirit world. There will be a big pissy white tiger wandering around.