YouAsTheNarrator Character Bio - Spider

SPIDER

The Charming Chef
█████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
■ Animal Spirit ■ Immortal ■ Chef/Medicine Man
█████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

...At First Glance
Spider's original form stands at 5'4"/163cm and looks like a cross between his parent species and humans. He walks on four legs and has four arms, complete with small, clawed hands and feet. His face is more human looking, with only two eyes. He is covered in fur dark as burnt chocolate, with a patch of lighter brown on his back. He would rarely be seen using this form in modern times, unless frightened into it to fight or scare off a threat.

Spider's animal form is as large as a medium sized dog, about thirty pounds. It has thick legs and a fat abdomen, and despite looking like an ordinary though gigantic spider is capable of speech.

Spider's human form is the same height as his hybrid form, with a bone structure that is somewhat light but well padded with fat. He has dark skin and black hair that he keeps in a short, neat cut. His face is rarely seen without a smile, whether that of a jolly host, a mischievous prankster, or a smug but helpful know-it-all. Clothing is always immaculate and chosen to project an air of professionalism.

...Skin Deep
Spider loves surrounding himself with company, whether humans or other animal spirits. He is socially flexible, able to be the life of a party or a good listener when someone needs to vent. Compared to Coyote his sense of humor is relatively gentle, preferring to lighten the mood with jokes and magic tricks. Beneath the congenial surface lurks a desire to do more, to amuse himself at other's expenses and take advantage of them with his powers. He does not understand this part of himself and it still scares him.

Above all else Spider wishes to avoid confrontation. He has coasted through life just fine without looking for arguments or getting in fights, and he intends to keep it that way. He can be a coward when it comes to standing up for his opinions, or facing people who are stronger than him. His pain threshold is low and he has little fighting skill, so he tends to cooperate with bullies if he can't get away from them.

Curiosity drives Spider to constantly try new things, especially in the kitchen. Though he still enjoys studying magic, this interest has taken a backseat to cooking since the animal spirits went into hiding.

...All Work And All Play
When the human race began Spider set himself two roles in their teaching- cooking and the use of magic. He taught them how to make cooking instruments, weave baskets, and prepare food for long periods of storage. He also taught them how to recognize poisons, and make different potions for treating poisoning. His first magical students became known as medicine men.

Spider did not share all of his magical knowledge with humans, or even the other animal spirits. He found he was fascinated with the darker side of power, with spells that could harm and manipulate others. He also became an expert on communicating with the manitous, spirits who look after the world as the Creator's servants. The other animal spirits often find the manitous difficult to interact with, due to their limited intelligence and disinterest in anything besides doing their jobs. Though he has come to be ashamed of it, Spider is proud of the way the others are impressed and curious about his hidden knowledge.

In current times Spider has settled in Tulsa, Oklahoma, under the alias of Ian Iktomi. He runs a small restaurant called Iktomi's Eatery, specializing in experimental dining and offering every blend imaginable of recipes from around the world. He likes it so much he plans to keep it running by passing himself off as his own grandson when aging his human form becomes too suspicious. He is very proud of the logo he designed and painted himself on the front, featuring a cartoony spider with a plate holding a meal from a different country in each hand.

... Everything In Between
Spider would say that he lives every day to the fullest and is perfectly content, but that is not quite true. There is a constant itch to experiment with the darker side of his powers. Is there a way to take full control of someone against their will? Could the manitous be convinced to serve someone other than their creator? Sometimes he performs experiments on animals, but he remains squeamish about moving beyond that.

Coyote, much to his chagrin, pops up from time to time with suggestions for fun pranks or irresponsible uses of power. Though Spider enjoys his company, the temptation to join in unnerves him. The Creator left with the warning that any animal spirit that gave into selfish or cruel behavior too often would find their immortality stripped. They would not be granted leniency like Coyote, who was judged so foolish he would not live past a day and given the power to return from the afterlife. The fear of death casts a shadow over any thoughts of mischief for Spider, and he tries to hide the fact that they have not gone away.

Spider is currently focusing on his business and fostering a better friendship with Gray Fox and Red Fox, some of the only animal spirits left who have not wandered off and lost contact with the others. They did not always get along due to Spider's past mistreatment of Gray Fox, and he constantly worries that they have not really forgiven him like they say they have. He tries his best to stay away from Coyote, out of fear he will be tempted to do something he regrets.