The Messenger (a.k.a. Whisper)
A minor High Spirit, the Messenger is a high servant of the
Grass Spirit. His job is to deliver messages and run errands for his chief, both in and out of the spirit land. He's perpetually stressed and anxious because the Grass Spirit overworks him, but he is very devoted to them.
He's often represented as a brown bat
Physical Description
He's thin as a blade of grass and very tall. Lanky. He's an excellent long-distance runner with lots of stamina.
He has chronic insomnia.
Brown skin. He has very hairy arms and legs.
A spray of freckles across his cheeks and nose.
He's got the Grass Spirit's corn stalk symbol tattooed on his right shoulder, but he doesn't remember getting it.
He has a long stride and walks very fast. He rarely stands still for more than a moment because he has to hurry and deliver the next message.
As a High Spirit, he's a very good errand boy. It's said he can deliver or steal any words/feelings from a person, but that's mostly just a piece of gossip people think of as a myth.
His animal form is a bat.
He wears a sleeveless buckskin shirt and fringed leggings, no bead or quillwork. No moccasins, except in winter.
He carries a small knife, more as a tool than weapon, and a skinny bone whistle that he plays often. He also has an old, worn but well-crafted courier bag said to have been made by the Spider Woman. It holds all the messages to be delivered and secrets to be gathered. It's rather heavy.
Mental characteristics
He can somewhat keep up with the Grass Spirit's shenanigans and has so for many, many cycles now.
He has long-term access to most High Spirit's nations in the spirit land.
He's too busy running messages to figure out his moral code.
He'd rather die than ride a horse
Personality Characteristics
He has weak, dim hope that if he runs fast enough he'll be able to catch up on all the messages needed to be delivered and will have a spot of free time for once.
He's good at traveling between worlds, working through his exhaustion, running, flying, singing, playing his whistle, and learning languages. He's learning how to juggle and wants to get more flexible.
He's bad at relaxing, sleeping, time management, and dancing.
He likes the physical world, being with the Grass Spirit, eating insects, and gossip.
He dislikes people who talk a lot and waste his time, horses, reptiles, and slow walkers.
He's hardworking and dedicated, loyal. He likes to learn new things, especially languages.
The only person he's patient with is the Grass Spirit, so if you take up too much of his time he'll become real impatient, rude, snappy. He rushes everything and believes doing a sloppy job quickly is better than taking time to perform a task well.
He runs his fingers through his hair a lot, if he's stressed or thinking or uncomfortable.
He only bathes in his bat form so it'll take less time. Oftentimes he'll just take a quick dust bath because it's fast.
Social
He's friends with the Storyteller and Wanderer. Most of his rare free time is spent with them. He and the Storyteller swap stories and complain about their jobs.
He doesn't like the Swamp Spirit.
He and the Grass Spirit are close. He's very loyal to her, trusts her a lot.
He believes in his own divinity and accepts the Sun Spirit as leader of the High Spirits, but the Grass Spirit will always be his chief.
He's introverted, pretty confident, not much charisma as he's always in a hurry but he'll try to be polite.
He likes to practice juggling and learning new languages.
History
The Messenger's dedication to his job and devotion to the Grass Spirit has earned him a lot of respect from them. They like to flirt with the Messenger, not really because the Grass Spirit has feelings for him but because it's fun. He keeps a more professional attitude, but it's obvious that he feels relaxed and content around them.
When they're together, they're either both in their human forms or the Messenger is in his bat form and perches on the Grass Spirit's shoulder or on the back of their neck, hidden behind their hair. He dozes off there sometimes.
It's rumored that they've slept together, long ago, or that the Messenger is still the Grass Spirit's secret lover, and that's why they're so close. Neither have confirmed or denied it, but the Grass Spirit smiles when it's brought up and the Messenger rolls his eyes and mutters something in a language no one knows.
Nicknames & Petnames
The Grass Spirit likes to call him Whisper, not because he's quiet but because of the soft flap of his wings when he's in his bat form. He usually refers to them as "my chief".
Commonalities & Shared Interests
They both like gossip and the physical world.
Shared Secrets
The Messenger is the Grass Spirit's primary gossip gatherer and spreader, so they know many secrets.
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