Mai Tai: the demon trapped in an animatronic toy

Although he currently goes by "Mai Tai," his true name is Abraxus. He was once a great and feared demon bear in the netherworld. He was captured as a tiny cub by Severax, a Royal Demon who raised him as a familiar. When Severax the Shadow King was exhiled to the nightlands by his Royal siblings after a failed coup, his faithful familiar, Abraxus, followed him. And together, they breached the Veil into the mortal realm. Severax and Abraxus's bodies were destroyed in the process.

Severax had a dead body already lined up for him to take possession. But, unfortunately for Abraxus, there wasn't a body waiting for him. Severax placed Abraxus's disembodied spirit into a stolen temple idol until something better came along. Abraxus was not amused when his spirit was deposited into an animatronic toy ferrecat and gifted to Severax's half-human daughter, Belladonna, whose mother was a pirate captain.

His new body is two feet tall, with a metal skelton, a rubber body shell, and real crimson ferrecat fur. He originally had two glass eyes the color of amber, but he lost one in battle. Instead of having his missing eye replaced, he simply put an eye patch over it. He has triangular, tufted ears and a long ring tail. He's generally considered adorable, until he bears his sharp steel teeth or displays his retractable steel claws.

Abraxus wasn't pleased to be left by his master, but he quickly discovered he was bound to Belladonna as if they were connected by an invisible, unbreakable string. As is the case with Royal gifts, he is bound to whomever he is given, until his new master gifts him to someone else.

When Belladonna's shadow demon powers threatened to consume her pirate crew, she sacrificed herself to save them by exhiling herself to the aether, the precipice realm between the mortal realm and the netherworld. She gifted Abraxus to her lover, a mage named Maui Shirakawa, in order to free Abraxus from their bond. Although Maui travelled for a while with Abraxus, the toy ferrecat was simply a painful reminder. He eventually gifted Abraxus to his niece. And then Maui found a way to join his lost love in the aether.

Abraxus found himself gifted down through the Shirakawa line, often renamed by each new master. He only revealed himself to a chosen few, though, remaining dormant, hibernating, until he was gifted to someone with the power to wake him. Eventually he wound up in the possession of Maui's great-great-great-grandnephew, Rio Shirakawa, who named him Mai Tai and handed him down to his own daughter, Locksley Rhaynes.

Mai Tai does still have a tiny ounce of demon power left, which allows him to project the illusion of the large, terrifying demon bear he once was. The effect doesn't last more than a few minutes, though.

Over the years, he has absorbed the toy ferrecat's protective programming into his personality, and he now tries to live his life as a virtuous warrior. And despite the reputation of demons, he's one of the most dedicated and loyal members of the clan. He would sacrifice himself for any other member of the clan without thought or hesitation, regardless of how little he may know the other member. He considers anyone who has earned the leviathan tattoo to be family. But anyone who betrays him or the other Leviathans does so at their own peril.

No comments: