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in seth's life

"The mythos of angels is too variegated. I’m not a god, either, far from it. Don't dare to think such a thing. I am, let’s see… ah, here’s a good human word! I am a psychopomp." —The Guide

After Seth's death, the Guide takes up residence in Seth's body along with Seth rainself. He discovered Seth through Emily, as he was assigned to handle her due to her violent nature. Though he has neither a name nor a specific gender, he picks one of each for Seth's benefit. Through his contract with Seth he gains more control over the living realm, as Seth can easily interact with tangible objects that the Guide might have difficulty interacting with by himself. The Guide uses this to his advantage to more easily ferry souls on their way to their new path, repeatedly disrupting the flow of time in the realm of the living for Seth's benefit. He also, as his name implies, guides Seth in other matters such as rains life or relationships, but this help is generally unwanted.

personality

The Guide is a flippant individual, constantly changing his name out of excitement for having one. It's Seth who eventually puts rains foot down and refers to him solely as the Guide. He has a tendency to focus on insignificant things or go on tangents. Despite this, he's very insightful about both life and death and generally has decent advice. He seems to hold contempt for the notion of gods, but whether gods actually exist and are a problem he has to deal with is never specified. He loves giving Seth nicknames, though his favorite is 'little badger' or variants thereof. The Guide seems to have a love for all living things, as he considers nicknames like 'mayfly' to be positive in nature and enjoys watching Seth simply exist.

relationships

seth rioux❤❤❤❤♡

The Guide thinks of Seth as an amusing specimen, and later as a friend. Though the sentiment is never quite reciprocated, the Guide's positive regard for Seth is unconditional. Even when Seth tries to push the Guide away or feels negatively about their relationship, the Guide never holds it against rain.

alphonse bellamy❤❤❤♡♡

The Guide does not interact directly with Alphonse, but he does think Alphonse is an admirable human.

lord byagoona❤❤♡♡♡

The Guide is unnerved by Lord Byagoona's ability to see into the realm of the dead and calls it "unnatural." Though he (somewhat hypocritically) believes Byagoona meddling with the affairs of the dead is enough reason to dislike it, he cannot deny that its studies into ghosts are extremely helpful to Seth and thus tolerates rains interactions with it.

emily richardson♡♡♡♡♡

The Guide does not feel pity for Emily in any regard and actively considers her a nuisance. He goes so far as to call her a bad person.

haley alvarez❤❤❤♡♡

Similar to Seth, the Guide feels sympathy for Haley's situation. Since he's not the one repeatedly dying to her more hostile form he has more opportunity to like her, but due to her nature they do not talk much directly.

eden reyes♡♡♡♡♡

Similar to Emily, the Guide considers Eden to be a bad person and does not sympathize with her. Eden actively antagonizes him, so the disdain is clearly mutual.

casey ward❤❤♡♡♡

The Guide sympathizes with Casey's situation, but he believes she could be handling it in a more mature manner than she is. Her refusal to do this puts strain on whatever friendship they might have had.

relevant world lore

ghosts

Souls that live in the realm of the dead can interact with the realm of the living in limited capacities. Their interactions can include lifting objects, breaking objects, and even powering electrical appliances via touch. Ghosts that died particularly traumatically are influenced by their deaths. For example, Seth's body was thoroughly pulverized when rai died and thus rains ghost didn't have a physical form. This can provide additional interactions with the realm of the living, but it's usually just for flavor. Though humans cannot directly see them, some ghosts have very detectible presences such as Emily's apricot scent. While poltergeists exist, most ghosts are simply peaceful spectators to life that haven't moved on to their next path yet.

psychopomps

Similar to ghosts, these entities are souls that live in the realm of the dead. However, their ability to interact with the living is even more limited than that of ghosts, as most can't even directly pick up objects or read text. They can occasionally brush against objects and people however, resulting in a cool breeze. Psychopomps are souls that have reached the end of their reincarnation cycles, having lived every life they possibly could. There's no 'nirvana' requirements to reach, however, it is simply a natural process. These older souls lead younger ones to their next paths. Due to their aged nature they tend to be very difficult for ghosts to comprehend, as they don't resemble one specific creature but rather an amalgamation of the paths they have walked. They not only help humans, but also animals as small as bugs and as large as elephants. Every soul is the same in the end. Since the reincarnation cycle has an incredibly vast number of paths to walk only a few psychopomps exist, and these few can often remember as far back as the first time life emerged on Earth. Unlike souls still walking their paths a psychopomp can remember all of its lives, but their ability to recall them depends on the ability of the organism that they were. Therefore, even though many can remember as far back as the first emergence of the soul, many of them cannot describe the experience to a human soul.

links

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trivia

• Every name that the Guide tries out during the first part of the story belongs to a mythological figure
  that took the role of a psychopomp in their culture. This includes the names of gods despite the Guide's
  disdain for gods themselves.
• The Guide can write in every language that has existed and will ever exist. This includes fictional ones,
  assuming they have a defined alphabet and/or ruleset somewhere in the world.
• The Guide can pull information from the collective subconscious.
• Though the Guide has extensive knowledge of language and trivia, he cannot read without a human host.
• The Guide supposedly has a photographic memory, able to recall things he only saw in split-second glances
  in extreme detail. Whether this is true or simply a consequence of his ability to distort the living world's
  timeline is a mystery.
• Though the Guide is in Seth's body, the only thing Seth gets from the exchange is his voice in rains
  head. The Guide doesn't actually need to be in Seth's body for the contract to be in effect.
• The Guide chose he/him pronouns because he thought they sounded reliable. If you read too hard into it,
  this could be seen as a result of a mysoginistic society's collective subconscious. This was not my intended
  message, however I am amused that this interpretation could be reasonable.

gallery images

by me

by others

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