The Life And Times of Melody DeLeon
Trekking through these weary mortal planes, Melody has had a long and arduous life. Her experiences are vast and varied - she has encountered what we think of as mundane when they were sparkling and new, but also things of which we cannot possibly imagine, much less speak about. Tales of her journey are fascinating, hours upon hours of succulent tidbits of knowledge from the far corners of the earth. But seeing as how it is the age of Information and Inattention, here are the cliff notes!
I. Birth
Sometime before the dawn of consciousness among the races of Man, Melody sprung full fledged from the head of a (very surprised) tiger, who was promptly named Poo-Bah and pressed into service as a pet, battle companion, and reluctant therapist.
II. The Great Travels
During the great Dark Time before Man had conquered lands and began to build empires, Melody explored lands yet untouched by any living being. She learned much about the natural way of things and discovered truths of the universe that we, even in our advanced state of civilization, have yet to discover (and she, being a poor sport, vehemently refuses to share with us). Sometime in this period, Poo-bah managed to ascend his animal roots and gain self awareness, as well as an ability to talk. (Melody refers to this era as the "I'm a cat, please feed me" stage of her life, and will mention several times in a row how close Poo-bah came to losing his pretty little head. Poo-bah usually manages to project an air of complete innocence and indifference while not acknowledging he heard at all.)
III. Oatmeal
By the time Man had got around to building dirty little huts, Melody was good and tired of traveling. Upon encountering the endearing attempts at civilization, she delightedly settled down, gaining an addiction to oatmeal in the process.
IV. Cabin Fever
As Mankind made its merry little way up the ladder of the eons, Melody kept herself amused. Every couple decades she would 'upgrade', move to a new village, get whatever new doohickey those clever lads had come up with (Soap! Colored fabrics? Ha ha, who woulda guessed?). However, this started to get boring. So Melody packed up some supplies (much better than what she had the first time), and set off into the world again.
V. The Empires of Man
While she suspected that the world would probably (most likely) be different, she hadn't expected it to be quite so different. Sustaining Man had taken its toll. Vast lands had been cleared to make way for the foundations of cities. Strange new methods of transportation were starting to pop up on the (not yet invented) radar. Accompanied by Poo-bah (who wisely kept quiet) she made her way around the world once more, taking note of the radical, fast-paced changes. While not exactly disheartening, Melody felt this first stirring of discontent with people. She found she did not enjoy humankind in large groups for long periods.
VI. Books
Melody always has a little glint in her eyes when she begins on the topic of books. "Ya know," she'll drawl in the Texan accent she has affected as of late, "they didn't have books until just a few centuries ago. So of course I didn't know how to read." She goes on to describe how she fell in with a group of rambunctious academics in rural London and came out with a perfect knowledge of several languages (several of which we consider 'dead' or 'lost' today). Upon learning of the art, she began reading whatever was available. To her delight, books started coming out more and more frequently, and she became quite the avid reader. And eventually-of course, as we all know-she tried her own hand at penning a story.
VII. The Mountain
Following her second round of journeys, Melody made a decision to become a semi-hermit. She currently lives and writes from the top of a mountain. She stays in contact through means of technology (First a private telegraph, then telephone, then broadband), now she uses a wideband hub-class connection. She has managed to keep the mountain's position relatively undisclosed through trustworthy people and cunning use of aliases (Or so she says, the meaning was presumably vague). She is quite happy there, and is kept company by her trusty Poo-Bah, a gaggle of housecats, and of course the fine denizens of the Aethernet.