This idea kind of took over my brain while I was thinking about a character - if she's too out there, I'll happily write up something else. :3 [hider=Teajay] [b]Name:[/b] Tarah el-Jaziri (Goes by "Teajay" to most people, spelled all the way out, or "Jazz" to people she likes. She has another name, but she's said it maybe three times.) [b]Concept[/b]: Malfunctioning Advocate Angel [b]Background[/b]: Teajay has few of the answers you might expect of a member of the Host. She hasn't met the Highest, despite her certainty that there [i]is[/i] at least one, and despite everything, she's not actually certain what happens after you pass from this world. Or, at least, what happens after the part that she's concerned with. If she's met anyone else like her, she hasn't known it, and nobody seems to be looking for her, either to tell her what to do or to tell her to stop. So, since the summer of 1949, she's walked the Earth, tasting its joys and sorrows, richness and poverty, and tending to the souls that cross her path on their way to whatever comes after. You see, for some - not all, and not even most - when that good night comes, Tarah will be there, and she will speak on their behalf in that half-light of the spirit. To whom, she doesn't know, all that she's really certain of is that the words are [i]important[/i]. She will tell the tale of love, of compassion, of desperation or well-meaning, circumstance and loss, and she knows [i]something[/i] listens. She believes that while she speaks, there is an opposite that whispers a very different tale, but one she cannot hear or alter. And once the tale is told, her part is over. There is no acknowledgement, praise, or censure, only a sense that now it's time to move on. You could call her a psychopomp, a kind hand through transition; but like so many things, Teajay isn't certain about that. She can step outside time, commune with her charge, and speak to whatever's listening, but per place in that liminality is all too brief. There is no authority instructing her where to be or who to speak with - for her time on Earth, each soul seems to have crossed her path by accident. If there is a design or a plan, Teajay doesn't understand it. Despite all of this uncertainty, Teajay maintains an elaborate, corkscrewey kind of faith - though not so much in any kind of ineffability or even that there is a plan at all. Rather, her belief is that she is something of a happy accident, the cosmic equivalent of a dropped screw. She believes in her own purpose, and she believes she is doing good, or at least her own version of good. If she never gets her answers, she's long since come to terms with that. Outside of her own misfit place, Tarah is passionately interested in the world, in people, and in their stories. She has known the full, vibrant tapestries of the lives she's touched, their joys and dreams, their struggles and triumphs and tragedies. The withertos and whyfores of a life fascinate her, each a puzzle or a new story. Though she may be an aspect of Death, Teajay is more than a little of a [i]bon vivant[/i], happy and grateful to have the life she does, and more than happy to partake in the world, from candies to lovers, along the way. About a decade ago, Teajay's crossing with the Sunday Group happened in a way that nobody involved really could have expected. Mediums, psychics, and ghost-talkers of all kinds tend find their way to the Group, and on one fateful evening, a newer recruit saw something nobody else had ever witnessed before. She saw not only the shade of the dead man, but at his left, a figure bathed in light, and at his right, an opposite, cloaked in shadow. This would be the first advocacy that Teajay didn't finish; the psychic's power tore through that pocket world and scattered her words, and her connection to everything within, to the wind. The next six months were...complex, to say the least, but a careful recruitment campaign brought Teajay into the fold - where she's been happily drawing a paycheck since. Though, in the time since she joined the Group, she can't help but notice that she runs across a lot more people who seem to need her - a mystery she has no idea where to start unraveling. [b]Appearance[/b] Athletic and of short stature, Teajay is the kind of playful tomboy you might see at the roller derby rink. While she's clearly not young, neither is she old - a few strands of silver in her hair are matched by the slight crinkles at the edge of her eyes, but her complexion is smooth and clear. Large, blue-green eyes sparkle like cut gemstones, with inviting lips that smile often. Her hands are quick and strong, but nothing about her suggests holding a flaming sword to smite the unworthy. She instead gives the impression of the kind of person who might be at a concert, throwing up the horns and losing herself in the music. Accordingly, her fashion choice tends to be along the lines of jeans and thrifted tops, with more band shirts than might be healthy for her. She has a number of tattoos, many abstract, that trace from her shoulders and down her arms, her chest, and back. She likes showing them off. [b]Powers & Skills[/b] [i] This Is Your Life [/i] - When called to speak for someone, Tarah's mind is filled with a full accounting, without judgement, of that person's life; their story, their reasons, their pains and joys. That information falls into her mind like it was always there, and never goes away. Outside of that very specific circumstance, Teajay still does feel the threads of lives spinning together with hers, and in some cases can reach out and touch that information on her own. Most specifically, there are times where she can touch a person, a place, or a thing, and experience at least some of its history - a valuable tool if the stars align and she's holding an occult ritual dagger, and needs to know where the cultists might be going next. On the other hand, that feeling can be genuinely unsettling when you're on a date. [i] You know, Like Caine in Kung Fu[/i] - Teajay has been to a lot of places, met a lot of people, and done a lot of living. She has a broader lived experience than you might expect given her impish smile. There's a decent chance she might know someone to call and ask about the pre-Christian runes inscribed on a rib bone that popped up somewhere that you don't usually find rib bones. Or at least, that look like [i]that[/i]. [i] I Can Do This All Day [/i] - Teajay seems to have a nearly bottomless well of physical stamina and mental fortitude, which are both useful when the stories she has to tell are complicated. In the mortal world, it means she enjoys biking and running, and that when the Group has to go on a road trip, that she often gets the longest shifts at the wheel, so everyone else can try to sleep in the back of the rented Hyundai. [b] Notes [/b] [i]Ageless, But Not Immortal[/i] - I don't think Tarah is physically immortal in any particular way. She doesn't seem to age, but her continued existence isn't due to resilience or a mutant healing factor; it's by dint of "having not been shot or stabbed enough yet." If she's hurt enough to die, I think she would. [i]The Sound of Her Wings[/i] - Teajay doesn't have a flaming sword, a halo, or a crown of multifarious eyes, but I think she might possess a pair of wings, manifested at her own choice. They have no particular physical benefit; they don't allow her to fly and they aren't bulletproof. Instead, I think they'd be more of a mark of station - her 'proof' that she is what she says she is. Since that question never really comes up - her simple presence at a soul's side is more than enough - there might be maybe one other person in the world who has seen them. [i]Stepping Outside[/i] - When speaking for the dead, Teajay steps into what feels very much like another dimension or plane of existence. This place appears to be outside of time and away from the concerns of the mortal plane, but, crucially, it is not a place that Tarah can enter at will. She cannot go there to avoid bullets, tentacled monsters, or an ex. Importantly, she can't bring anyone else there with her, even if she wanted to. It is not a way to save someone or give them more time. [/hider]