Why is the world so boring? My surroundings only change how I must survive and adapt. If it’s cold I need a fire and if it’s hot I need a drink. Why does it matter that I’m in the Amazon today and that I was in Mexico last month. I move around because it gives me something to look forward to as a plan, and to keep myself going. I go to sleep, wake up and go when I want to, it makes no difference to me.
I move around in search of my Imprint, or my soul mate. For humans a soul mate is undetermined but for me, a shape shifter, it’s definite. Every one of us can become imprinted to anyone. Until we find them, we don’t age. Some are imprinted to a baby when they themselves are an adolescent or an adult. He or she will only age again when they are both the exact same age. Then they get to have their happily ever after and grow old together. I haven’t gotten my fairy tale ending just yet.
My name is Tansy which means Immortality in my native tongue. I am not sure of my year of birth but I t was before the white man came to our tribe in the west. I am from the Hopi tribe and I remained there for 60 years stuck in my youth, never moving forward watching all I knew die before me including my younger sister . Soon everyone I’d known had died. Life was so cumbersome and momentous that one morning I left. I decided to go north and I visited other tribes along the way and stayed with each for a short time. There I went in search of northern tribes such as the Intuits. Finding them was much harder than I expected and I had to stay in my wolf form at all times. I felt like more of a wolf than man and I felt very alone in the cold. I soon realized how I had made many friends with almost every tribe from the Hopi to the Intuits, but not one was my imprint.
I then flew through North America to South America. I had seen all that I thought there was to see. Then I saw what I thought was a very large canoe at the time. It was a Spanish ship called the Cacafuego and I became a stowaway onboard. It was there that I learned of Europe, Africa and Asia on some maps and saw how little they had seen of my homeland. I also learned Spanish from the sailors and how to sail a ship. The ship was transporting raw materials like gold and I took two pieces. I justified that it was from my land and they were the thieves, not I. I used the gold over the next few years very sparingly but sometimes I indulged myself.
Once in Spain I kept a low profile but those who did notice I was different usually didn’t care. But one day in Madrid a drunk and his friends chose to pick a fight with me. I tried to leave but they were persistent and there were six of them. I tried to shake them and thought I had and I changed form and started to run! When I heard the drunk scream I knew I was in trouble but I kept running till I was out of the country. I went all across every single continent and this took 10 years since there were no planes, cars (etcetera) and I went to almost every town. I am now about 342 years old and I do this trip every 5 years and it takes me a little over a year.
I am now a professor at Harvard University. I have had almost every type of profession and this is by far my favorite. When I was at the Hopi tribe we were a giant family. We all had to contribute to survive. This made me the type of person who wants to give back to society, and that’s why I’ve had so many jobs. You’d be surprised, but wandering the world does get boring and lonely. I do occasionally travel with others but they can’t come all the time since they have lives to get back to.
Each time I do get a new job I have to change my name but I do use my real name about every 7 years. I’ve had some interesting names though. I amuse myself and sometimes have my name be absurd like Billy Bob. I’ve also gotten very good at being able to forge any type of paper. I’ve done anything from birth certificates to driver’s licenses. I’m still good at calligraphy so this is very easy for me. When I have a job I go camping every Sunday so I don’t lose touch with my ummmmm… other side. I teach History at Harvard and a class on Native American history. I have put together many exhibits on Native Americans as well. I even add some of my own keepsakes at times to exhibits. Also to clarify what you could be thinking, I didn’t forge any college degrees. I can pass for about 25 when I’m 19, so I have many degrees in almost everything that are all PhDs. My students say that I teach as though I was there. Oh yeah I’ve also been in every war in my lifetime except Iraq.
