Early artwork of Rachel Wulfe, another of the twelve members of my ensemble cast for Aberdork United setting. Also my previous fursona and 'face' in the fandom at large. She was me for nearly sixteen years.
When I came up with her, I was floating two names: One would be for me, and the other for her. I always loved dualism as a theme, and at the time, hybrids were all the rage in the fandom. Rachel is a half-mouse, half-wolf that for years I called a 'Wouslf' and it'd often be an ice-breaker as people would ask me how to pronounce it and get mad when I told them it was like "Woo-zelf".
There was so much I could say about her inspiration, how she changed over the years, and story evolved. Like the other characters her backstory is tragic but has a recurring theme of being treated poorly by everyone who once knew her in life, and rose above her experiences to still put the lives of the city before her when she returned as an angel. Denying heaven and hell to fight for the mortal realm.
I came up with her while doing a summer school program that I was never supported through, and was surviving on the free breakfast and portioning footlong subway sandwiches throughout the rest of the day. My parents complained they could see my ribs, but didn't substationally help me financially citing it's the university's responsibility. Financial aid office took exception to me and awarded me £50 despite they don't normally support summer students. I spent most of my time avoiding classes and spending as much as I can in the computer room perusing FurAffinity and posting on Furnet, the premier furry IRC server. This would've been in 2008. Four years before the suicide attempt that would change both our trajectories, back then she was a mad scientist archetype. After we took it up as our duty to help people after intervening in two other patient's own suicide attempts and felt we were brought back with special purpose.
I don't know if there is a God or Gods, or if there is anything. There might be nothing, but its always been hard to shake the feeling I'm an instrument in some plan Providence has wrought. We're both atheists, but paradoxically, if there is something out there, our lack of belief must be part of its design for us to succeed.
Rachel Wülfe will return, her story will be told. I'll make sure of it.