c a s s i e

She knew she was annoying.  She way she avoided people, the way she struggled to let others in -- it was a lot for most people.  It was a lot to ask someone to stick around while she worked through all the junk in her brain.  Most people didn’t.  Astrid started out as a job -- she still was a job.  But she also somehow was her friend, something Cassie never would have expected.  But sometimes people snuck up on you. And it made this whole thing hard.  She wanted to tell her who she really was -- that she was her friend, but that her parents also paid her -- but how was she supposed to jeopardize the only consistent thing she’d ever had in her life?  Because surely she wouldn’t stick around once, and if, she knew.  The only thing she could do was protect her the way she was meant to and hope that the truth never really came out. “Are you hungry?” She asked softly as she came into the living room.  She didn’t have a lot of foods she was good at cooking, but she cold make a mean grilled cheese and heat up a can of soup.  “I think we deserve some study fuel.”

Birth date: June 13

Physical appearance

Faceclaim: Rachel Hilson

Gender: cis female

Height: 5'0

Build: thin, athletic

Eye color: brown

Glasses or contacts?: she wears contacts

Distinguishing marks/scars: a half moon shaped scar she got when she fell riding bikes with birdie when they were kids.

Hair color: black

Type of hair: very curly. 

Hairstyle: natural and pulled back or in braids.  it just depends on the month

Clothing style: layers.  flannels and ripped jeans and beanies.  converse she’s doodled all over and oversized hoodies

Makeup: heavy eyeliner and a darker lip

Personality

Good personality traits: loyal, perceptive, artistic, nice

Bad personality traits: overprotective, impatient

Mood character is most often in: observant, quiet

Sense of humor: she’s really bad at telling jokes because she doesn’t change her tone, so most people don’t realize she’s joking.

Character’s greatest joy in life: feeling like she belongs.

Character’s greatest fear: it’s hard to be afraid when you don’t feel like you have much to begin with

Character is most at ease when: when she’s alone.  she really, really cares about the people she’s been with since she was a kid but that stresses her out.  life is so much easier when you only have to worry about yourself.

Most ill at ease when: people express that they care about her because her trauma makes it hard for her to trust that.

Enraged when: she feels like someone she cares about is in danger or being messed with.  

Depressed or sad when: she doesn’t see a point in dwelling on the past.  she’s been through a lot, but it is what it is.  and she’s *fine*

Priorities: keeping birdie safe, despite the fact that she makes a real go at getting herself killed at least twice a week.

Life philosophy: no one can disappoint you if you don’t let anyone in.

Greatest strength: she’s very observant, unless it’s feelings directed at her.

Greatest vulnerability or weakness: she doesn’t trust that people care about her.  she feels like she’s on her own.

Childhood

Hometown: Philadelphia, PA

Type of childhood: Cassie doesn’t remember life before the program, not really.  There are flashes of a family, of a mother who had her eyes or a father throwing her up in the air and catching her again.  But she doesn’t know if those are real memories or if her mind has filled in the gaps, knowing what she should have.

She was three when they died in a car accident.  The handlers at the program told her that they *rescued* her, that they took her from a social worker’s office and gave her a purpose.  They told her that they saw her potential before she was even writing her own name.  It was bullshit.  They saw a kid with no connections, that no one would miss and they took her to fill a quota.

Childhood?  What childhood.  She’d never been able to be a kid, not really.  Not when she was busy preparing for a job she never asked for.  Not when she had never once been someone’s priority, not when she’d never known what it meant to have people love you.

Pets: she used to name the spiders that lived in the cobweb filled corners at the program.

core childhood memory: Stealing her last name from a book she liked because she didn’t know what she’d actually be called.  

Dream job: She just kind of wanted to be yeeted into space and left for the aliens to find.  

Religion: none

Present

Current location: New York City, New York

Currently living with: Birdie, Gwen, and Nora

Pets: she’d still name any spiders she came across, but Birdie’s messy ass hired a maid.  It was a little too clean.

Religion: none

Sexuality: lesbian

Politics: politics were for people with a future.  Did she have one beyond this?

Occupation/education: Sky Kid/Engineering Major

Mode of transportation: If it were up to her she’d roller blade everywhere.  

Family

Parent one: Unknown

Relationship with them: deceased by the time she was 3.

Parent two: Unknown

Relationship with them: deceased by the time she weas 3.

Siblings: Unknown

Relationship with them: She’s alone.  She’s so fucking alone.  There isn’t a single person on the planet for her to connect to -- and if she lets herself dwell on it for too long it gets hella deep.  Is she even real?  Does her personhood depend on those ties?  Is she more fucked up than she realized since she never built those connections?

Favorites

Color: a light purple

Music: anything from showtunes to gangster rap it doesn’t matter

Food: arby’s curly fries and a vanilla milkshake

Film: psycho

Drink: coffee

Form of entertainment: reading about alien sightings, painting, seeing musicals with teddy

Most prized possession: her earliest memory is playing in the yard at the program.  she was so much younger than most of the kids so she sat in the grass and watched them all play around her, ignoring her.  but that was okay.  everyone ignored her.  she remembered digging in the grass, only stopping when she found this pretty red rock with gold streaks through it.  it’s so stupid but she still has that stupid rock and it grounds her in a way she can’t really understand.

Habits

Hobbies: defacing sneakers, looking for aliens, seeing plays, saving birdie from herself.

Plays a musical instrument?: guitar

Plays a sport?: no

How she would spend a rainy day: playing her guitar and listening to her favorite ufo podcast

Spending habits: why tf is she saving?  she’s probably not going to live past 30 anyway in her line of work.  she might as well enjoy her life the best she can.

Smoking/drinking/drugs?: not really

Extremely skilled at: martial arts, guitar

Extremely unskilled at: seeing that people care about her!!!

Nervous tics: chewing on the inside of her cheek

Usual body posture:  she has decent posture

Traits

Optimist or pessimist? pessimist 

Introvert or extrovert? Introvert

Daredevil or cautious? daredevil.  what’s the point of being cautious?

Logical or emotional? logical

Leader or follower? leader

Disorderly and messy or methodical and neat? like an organized mess

Prefers working or relaxing? prefers work 

Confident or unsure of herself? she thinks she’s confident but there’s some deep, trauma-based insecurities she’s not ready to deal with yet.

Animal lover? anything that shows her love and affection makes her a little uncomfortable

Relationships with others

Opinion of other people in general: people are okay, but she’s inclined to distrust everyone.

Does the character hide their true opinions and emotions from others?: haha yeah never

Most important person in character’s life: she feels like she’s the only person she’s ever been able to count on, so she’d say herself.  but all the guards and birdie and teddy are all super important to her.

Best friend/s: teddy

Dating experience: she likes sex.  she will sleep with any pretty girl that’ll give her a chance.  but she’s never had a relationship.  love isn’t for people like her.