Just Another Day

I was digging through my archives and found an email exchange with Auric's creator I had saved in my files because I enjoyed the heavier philosophical elements. We often had Shanku and Auric going back and forth at each other in these exchanges, which resulted in anything from fun to genuine character building.

I've clipped out some of the more private notes about Auric that we had exchanged since, to the best of my knowledge, as of August 2025 he hasn't revealed those bits of Auric's story yet beyond that he is an "angel of karma and daemon of the Golden Rule". A lot of things were under heavy development before COVID-19 that was fairly derailed in both of our stories as he began to focus on the pandemic and Ukraine's invasion, and I was struggling to keep up with the topsy-turvy workload the pandemic gave me before my ex-husband began causing quite a few problems from 2021-2025. Global and personal stresses ended up affecting our email exchanges and we gradually stopped corresponding as life became complicated.

[sent in prior email]

April 22, 2020
Most recently completed chapter, Chapter 52: The Skihva

The appellation is Appalachian, yes.

We are doing very well! Life as usual for us. Homebodies and full-time work, but missing our monthly treat of going to a Mexican restaurant or "sports bar" for some burgers and wings. Eh, lockdowns aren't forever. Restaurants will open again someday.

Glad you're surviving well through all this mess. :)

Shanku: "How old are you?"
Auric: *processing*
Shanku: "Dude, what you think I lack in complexity is what you lack in simplicity! Breeaaathe..."

[Shanku asked Auric how old he was, which lead to wondering about the nature of the question as it had been recently revealed he was a daemon and we were currently exploring just what the real nature of fictional characters were.]

To overly simplify:

• [canis_aureus:] Is her question of his age based on who he is in-character?
  • [canis_aureus:] If so, will the answer be based on the standard passing of time in the normal plane or the [his plane of origin] or material plane and what is the base unit in measuring time?
    • [Ashe:] The revolutions of the planet around the nearest star in the common/material plane in which Auric is based.
  • [canis_aureus:] Or, is it based on what life stage he has achieved?
    • [canis_aureus:] If so, most likely either a young adult who has not yet hit his prime or an adult in his prime. How long each life stage lasts is another in-character subtopic of world-building tangents.
      • [Ashe:] Maturity and responsibility are also traits independent of age, yet most sapient beings make it synonymous with age since on average humans become more responsible and understanding as they grow older and have had more time to gain new experiences that make them grow as an individual. This is not always the case, as children subjected to many demands can easily become more "mature" than the elderly who've always had an easy life. (In example, it is said the reason why for the longest girls matured faster than boys is because they had to help their mothers around the house from an early age and boys weren't taught responsibility until they were older. Now that both sexes are playing as children and doing chores as older children, their maturity rate is about the same. So they say.)
• [canis_aureus:] Is her question based on how long the formal concept of Auric has been around?
  • [canis_aureus:] If so, the answer is most likely approaching 7 years.
• [canis_aureus:] Is her question based on how long the informal concept of Auric has been with you?
  • [canis_aureus:] If so, that is too personal and generally a line I don't cross even in fiction since it can make people uncomfortable to the point of lashing out. That question strays into the realm of psychology, philosophy, spirituality, and religion.
• [canis_aureus:] Is her question truly irrelevant because energy can be neither created nor destroyed, it is simply transferred from one matter to another, and thus Auric and Shanku both are just as timeless as the brains of the Earth humans they were realized in?
  • [canis_aureus:] If so, well, no need to ask, and it truly was a harmless question all along.

Shanku, as a rule, isn't allowed into many meta-discussions because that is not her plane of existence. Shanku of JAD is more mellow, cautious, and reserved than meta-Shanku, who retains much of her original personality traits as she was first designed. Similar to how Chibi Auric is more goofy and innocent than Auric, and fond of breaking the "fourth wall". As for Shanku's own age when run through the same checklist:

• Shanku is, in character, presently 18 or 19 years old, and still a sub-adult until her planet reaches 24 revolutions around the nearest star since her "birth". Maturity, responsibility, altruism, humanitarianism, and virtues are a separate system barely connected to age and completely connected to the inner "compass" and reactions to experiences.
• Shanku as a formal concept is 15 years old.
• Shanku as an informal concept is unknown. The base character mould that she and several others came out of are perhaps about 20 years old, when I first started writing and drawing stories with original characters.
  • Psychologically and historically, a pseudonym to protect the host's privacy back in the days when you didn't reveal personal information online or get into stranger's cars, as opposed to today when you summon a stranger from the internet to get into their car (Uber). Later brought into webcomics as an artistic expression to alleviate boredom, and then back again into webcomics as an excuse to stay in an art exchange that required "active" original characters. From her first appearance, she is 15 years old. From her first webcomic, she is 12 years old, and from the beginning of the current JAD she is 10 years old.
    • Perhaps in the realm of Mary-Sue/Author-Insert since she is originally an online avatar and there wasn't a division between us then. Therefore, Shanku is 30 years old.
  • Philosophically, as a tool to examine the self, existence, and morality, about 8 years old, when JAD took a serious turn and became a mode for the writer to casually explore relationships, tragedy, familiality, and other topics.
  • Religiously and from the fundamental Christian perspective, the same age as the host, 30 years old, because it's all make-believe and I shouldn't be worrying over such silly things when there is important Work to do to save "sinners".
  • Spiritually, as infinite as the host because she is part of me and thus as infinite as I am.
    • Digging deeper, ah, yes, a tricky one. What is Shanku, really? A pseudonym? A coping mechanism? A spirit guide? A fellow traveller? Just a figment of my imagination? I do not have an answer, and perhaps, not all questions have a satisfactory, concrete answer, because life by design is not meant to be satisfactory nor complete.
• And it truly is irrelevant to figure up the One True Age because we are all timeless bits of energy, including what some bits of energy manifest within themselves, assuming a One True Age even exists because perspective is such a key point in such a question and where this rambling checklist had to come from in the first place.

As for Shanku visiting [hell], that depends on whether it is Shanku or meta-Shanku. The JAD world does not at this time have a dedicated [hell], or "plane of evil" or "realm of eternal suffering". My Norse interests have been flaring lately and my D&D memories are waning, so in their terminology, there is the material/common plane Midgard, feyfolk on an Alfheim, an intermediate and combined Helheim and Niflheim where the dead rest or recover or punish themselves before being reincarnated or moving on, and then of course a combined Asgard and Vanaheim where the self-aware bits of energy and personality gather as they guide the mortals of Midgard. Shanku will visit Helheim only when her current mortal shell perishes, and then be returned again to Midgard. Perhaps in the industrialized society variant of JAD I'm goofing off with and then will make future canon just to mess with my readers. ;)

Shanku also accepts limitations to her Wanderlust. She's already considered the possibility that she could follow the fey to Alfheim, however, understands that as a Midgardian it is not her place to walk that world, and will not enter it. She is content to explore only Midgard since that is where her current life is set, and life should not be wasted attempting to force yourself into a different incarnation before proper time. Asgard is equally off-limits in this incarnation and she has not achieved the necessary frequency to walk amongst the "gods", but may someday, so she is not concerned with trying to travel to that plane yet. Perhaps a future life will allow her to come back as a fey of Alfheim, but that is for a different time, and as she will have to pass through Helheim many times during the cycle there is no need to rush the matter and explore it before she dies. Energy is energy. Why wouldn't it be plausible for her to be a fey in the next incarnation? (Locals of the JAD world think it impossible, but she doesn't argue with them.) Auric certainly seems to have chosen his most recent incarnation into [the plane he canonically originated from], because he otherwise is very ill-suited to it.

[In response to Auric accusing Shanku of being dishonest about not revealing the moniker "Black Plague" when he revealed his canonical plane of origin.] There is no dishonesty in "Black Plague" as that is an insulting name applied to her during a time she was held hostage, and typically shares tales of her time with the pirates if asked. Depending on how bitter she's feeling, she may share the name to drive in the point how much she disliked Captain Dodger. If she declared Auric as the Golden Dingbat, would he then be obligated to announce himself as such to every person he met? Nah. She is rather honest about what she is, a kurach, when it is prudent to do so, which I'm sure Auric can relate to. Shanku and Auric are frequently polar opposites, and is probably where much of the friction and condescension between them lies. Or rather, why Auric frequently expresses contempt for Shanku and considers her inferior and often fantasizes about "teaching her a lesson", whereas she is mostly fine with whatever he actually is and thinks he could stand to brood less. Relationships can change in the blink of an eye and she's already accepted the possibility of being used, discarded, or betrayed as is the nature of interaction with other beings, especially those that appear to dislike you. Despite any illusions of the past, present, or future, all you've really got is what's in the moment and Auric in the moment of interaction has usually been somewhat friendly, so her current basis for their relationship follows the template of "friend(ish) until further notice". Labels create order yet labels also create chaos when people get too caught up in labels. Not once has she assumed all deceivers to be slick-haired salesmen or all "demons" to be evil, or all those declared to be evil to actually be evil. Unlike the Abrahamic faiths that believe speech is the most powerful thing of all, Shanku believes words are soft and not-absolute. His designation may be "demon" but that is based on where he is born and not what he, at his core, is. A true "demon" as what society accepts as a "demon" would have never sought a path to enlightenment, so why should she automatically shun him because he wasn't born/spawned in the "right" place?

Age is yet another label that can cause disorder, but friends often like to share particular labels as part of the bonding process, and she was content to perform a common social ritual as accurately as possible as predefined by social custom. Requesting his exact age in a private setting between the two of them was her way of showing that she does not condemn him for being a daemon of deception or what he had to do to survive before his escape/enlightenment, nor wish to out him, and that he is welcome to simply be around her without having to fear a plot, scheme, or other serious backlash or consequences, and that if he wants his cake done correctly then she needs basic data to do it correctly. If he doesn't want to share data or just keep it to the simple celebration of his life as Auric (the past seven years), he can simply say that he doesn't wish to, and she'd let it be, and then offer some tea and cake as he caught up on some reading or meditation and she practiced her katas. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar and not a euphemism, pretense, or anything requiring overly-complex thought. As a deceptive demon, she already knows that the cake is always a lie, but it was worth asking once to see what truths he wished to share or believe.

Meta-Shanku can, as a rule of a meta character, visit other worlds in other universes, but as she has never been used in a roleplay setting or even left the realm of illustrations and comics, it would be odd and uncomfortable.

Meta-Shanku also promises to send an extra-special birthday cake this year.

(First drawing is JAD Shanku and Auric, second drawing is Meta-Shanku and Chibi-Auric.)

((And now y'all know the risks of tryna be my digi-penpal.))

(((asheskyler / hotmail, by the way.)))