I've been thinking a lot lately about developing some characters that are representative of who I am. Much of the way I think and act is split between intuition and rationality, things that I want and things that I believe are appropriate to the situation based on experience. The snake is my rational side, somewhat cold and calculating, but not unfriendly. The jaguar is my...well, not necessarily more emotional side, but the part of me that's very difficult to define or access, both muse and subconscious - what I would consider my truer self.

The snake is also related to a symbol - the "snake wrapped around the tree of knowledge" that offers a view of both sides of the world and an exploration of possibilities both desirable and unwanted. This is the dichotomy that some would consider good and evil, yet both seem to produce a greater pattern that, for now, continues to move forward.

Both sides share many traits, but the jaguar has a tendency to disappear in the sunlight and in places where there are many onlookers. Other times he reaches a sort of drunken apathy, a place beyond caring for appearances and perceptions (not actual drunkenness, generally, but a very similar state). It is this side that writes my poetry and moves me to sing, yet it is the snake that questions and criticizes as I work. He represents the side that calculates angles and relationships, distances and positions, wording and correctness as well as pitch and flow. Yet, at times something seems simply 'right' and I am moved to leave it be.

If anything, the snake is 'Scathe', at times wishing to bear and cause pain to break patterns of negative behavior. That was the original inspiration for my chosen name, and why I refrain from offering critique. It is often considered an evil, inappropriate thing to judge and attempt to correct something, so I've turned that urge inwards. What I see that I despise in others I attempt to avoid in my own life.

The jaguar, on the other hand, is nameless, and may remain so. It feels appropriate.