Determined to be useful....

Name: Deria
Age: 27
Journal: On file
Contact: On file
Other Characters Played: Daxter (AU), Manic Hedgehog, Raphael, Ping Pong, Bentley Wiseturtle, Isidore Trengove, Satoshi Hiwatari, Nickolai Alaric

Character: Cassidy Sharp
Age: 24
Description of World:
See here

Background:
Cassidy's story is a rather simple one. She was born into a close-knit clan of dog demons that has been living in Willowthicket for hundreds of years. As a village deep in a mist-shrouded forest located near a nearly uncharted valley on the northwest of the continent, Tentressa, they very seldom dealt with things regarding the outside world and its changes. But this is because they had always managed fine on their own, without the influences of other cultures or of the order of riders. On occasion they did have travelers who stayed in the village as guests though. There were no modern conveniences like running water or electricity, nor any use of magic outside of their natural transformations.

The clan had run like a well-oiled machine, with every member having a specific purpose that played off of his or her strengths or covered their weaknesses. For most of her life this was under the leadership of her wise grandfather, Radley Sharp. And even though she was born to be just a little bit different, considered a little bit at a disadvantage, Cassidy had known her whole childhood that that was how life for her as an adult would be one day too...even though it didn't turn out that way.

Unlike the other children born around the same time as she was, Cassidy was relatively small in her canine form...a runt who was only a little bigger than the border collie pup that she resembled, while all of the others were all already around half the size of an adult. While she did have the speed and stamina to keep up with her cousins at play, it still quickly became apparent that she would never be anywhere as big or as strong, and the difference was only made more obvious over time. But back then she didn't care much as long as she could still participate in play.

At the age of 8, it was customary to begin assigning the children to mentors for their roles in the family. It was decided at this point that she would not go through the basics of combat like all of the others. She would get the tracking training, and small game hunting for instances that such skills were needed, and being aware of her senses of smell and hearing...but she wasn't going to be a fighter. Her role instead was to become a healer under her grandmother, Vail, and then eventually the main family healer once Vail could no longer continue the work. In a family that got by contributing skills they excelled at to each other, it should have been doable. As such her time was consumed mainly by studying under her grandmother.

Over the next eight years, she learned to identify various plants by sight and smell, both native to the forest and located elsewhere, and memorized their uses. She got to make medicines and practice tending wounds on a cloth doll that Vail made for her. She also began to learn to actually grow plants to use. And as was always needed, she also learned the abilities to cook, clean, sew, and otherwise care for oneself and home. She took a liking to those activities and worked to become good at them, finding that the ability to do for the people she cared about and them being happy left a good feeling and eased what had been the growing feeling of inadequacy from being the clan's only helpless runt.

All through her childhood, when she finished her studies each day, she would spend time with her cousins either playing or just relaxing. This was especially true with Forrester, a young male about three years older than and very protective of her. The two were inseparable, with him always looking out for her as they roamed the forest, or them staying over at each others' houses as often as allowed. He was like her brother and, because they were so close, it was decided that they would be partnered as a working group with Forrester as her guardian once she turned nineteen. This wasn't unusual at all, as strongly bonded friends worked well together normally.

She had a similarly close relationship with Enki, a mute halfbreed a few a year older than her, who was born of a water demon outsider and one of her dad's cousins. Their relationship was a calm quiet one that worked well because they were both different from the rest of their clan and because she had never looked at him as any different from the rest of them...which he felt that most of the others still did to an extent. Enki often tagged along with her and Forrester in whatever they were doing or let her practice her work on him, or helped her with her chores. Had things turned out differently in their futures they might have ended up as mates one day. But they didn't.

Occasionally there would be travelers staying in the villagers, merchants or actual travelers, and it was possible to get news or items from the outside world. If the person was a storyteller the kids would often go to listen to one before bed while the person was there. Sometimes they could also get fruits or candies that were available any other way either, but these people were only temporary moments in her childhood to make life pleasant, nothing that stood out to her or influenced her beliefs much.

Things continued mostly peacefully just like this until she was about sixteen years old. But then her grandfather was unexpectedly killed in a skirmish that had happened during what should have been a peaceful negotiation with a roaming demon tribe. The interlopers were temporarily driven off, but things wouldn't improve in the years that passed.

The clan began to fall into disarray only days after his death, because he hadn’t chosen anyone to succeed him as head of the clan before his death and so there was no one to guide them. His three sons, including her father, squabbled and fought constantly over who was most fit to lead next, with each believing that he had the leadership and had best learned the skills necessary. Most of the family gradually became divided as they chose sides and broke off from the opposition, with each side claiming a section of their territory in the forest. From there, battles started as each brother tried to overpower the other two and force them to concede to his leadership. Her widowed grandmother, wanting no part of the fighting but unable to prevent it, remained in her mate’s house in the center of the territory, continuing her work as the family healer, owning the only remaining neutral ground because she could and did enforce that there would be no fighting there.

Over the next four years, the fighting worsened to the point that even the younger demons began to take part in the feuding. Add to that the problems with the other demon tribe, who had taken advantage of the break in the clan's unity to begin taking ground, and Cassidy had her hands full tending to the part of the family that lived in her father’s section of the forest. The peaceful home that she’d grown up in had become just short of a war zone, and while she hadn't technically taken a side and tended anyone she could as they needed, her father kept her safe at home to keep her out of trouble. She would have greatly preferred to have moved to help her grandmother the neutral ground, and maybe in the end that was what should have happened, but wasn't allowed to do so or even to leave the house unless it was to treat someone.

For a time Enki was her most common source of companionship, not really having chosen a side but choosing to linger in her father's territory rather than anywhere else. He was often one that she was tending as the tension made him an easy target both due to him not taking a side and because the invaders were water demons, though of a different race. So she was often protecting him now.

Eventually feeling that her father had an unfair edge in having his own healer on his property, one of her uncles decided to eliminate Cassidy, leaving her grandmother as the only healer and hopefully lowering the moral of her father and his supporters at the same time. Forrester was chosen for the job as he was the deadliest fighter and because Cassidy still trusted him even in all of this. He visited her room one night while Enki was away, slipping in through the window...which she had found a little odd since they hadn't been able to talk since the clan split off. She didn't find it actually suspicious though and was entirely unprepared when he attacked her suddenly. However, he still carried a strong fondness for his cousin, and was only trying to scare her away.

Not wanting her to stay where she was no longer safe and in an attempt to save her life, he drove her from the room and far into forest, purposely letting her escape…but with a deep bite wound in her stomach to make sure that she fully believed that he had truly tried to kill her and wouldn't come back only to be murdered. She did believe this and ran as far as she could before seeking shelter in a log for the night.

She was found there the next morning by her grandmother, who had tracked her out there after hearing what happened from Forrester...though she didn't share what she knew with her granddaughter. The kindly woman stitched her wounds, telling her that their home was no longer the sort of place for Cassidy to live in. She had also brought along a bag with several days' food, a blanket, some herbs and bandages, money, and Cassidy's journal. She wanted to her to go out and find something better than this.

Cassidy traveled to the edge of the forest, where she spent a few days to recover and tend to her wound until she was well enough to really wander about. She was very reluctant to leave, but she knew that she wouldn't be safe at home, unable to defend herself as she was. So as much as she hated to do it, she followed her grandmother's wishes and put the forest and her broken family behind her to begin searching for a territory to call her own.

Finding a territory is easy enough, but keeping it…well that involves being able to fight. Since she still lacked any notable fighting skills whatsoever, she has already lost three potential territories in the less than year that she's been on her own in the world. It's becoming clear to her that if she's going to have a place to call home she's going to need to let go of her territorial instinct and move into a village or a city, which also means finding a job, instead.

Personality:
Cassidy is a responsible, but slightly naive young demon who has just come into full adulthood. She lacks confidence in many things but wants to be useful to others...in the sense that she wants to be able to help where she can and to not be a burden herself, and as such will do her best to do a satisfactory job at any task. Her area of expertise is healing through the use of various herbs and once she enters "nursing mode" it’s very hard to dissuade her from treating a person despite her being more of a timid person. During these moments of determination, she will doggedly stick to the task or person until she’s finished what she feels needs to be done or is otherwise convinced to lay off.

Even though she is really good at what she does, she feels that most of her developed skills are nothing extremely noteworthy even when they are proven useful. She isn't overly prideful, and definitely not arrogant, aware of most of her shortcomings and uncertain of what to do with herself now that everything she'd known has been uprooted forcibly. She is pretty meek and doesn't usually do more than mildly protest things she doesn't approve of, making it a little easy to take advantage of or bully her. But she'd prefer that it be to her than to it happening to someone innocent to an extent.

Having been trained almost exclusively as a healer, she possesses no effective fighting skills whatsoever, and is pretty much incapable of protecting herself in a confrontation. In part this is also because, aside from having been sheltered her whole life, she doesn't want to hurt anyone and feels it goes against her being a medic. As such, she really doesn't even like to hunt, but that's usually a necessity and can't be avoided since meat is a large part of her diet. This isn’t to say she doesn’t try at all, but she ultimately has to flee if she isn’t captured first...a good example of this being that later in her canon she will try to confront a powerful being trespassing on her land, but be caught by the scruff by him and taken along until they reach where he was going in the first place.

She does want to learn to fight so that she can protect herself and anyone she may get close to, but a major part of her current ineptitude is the fact that she doesn’t like confrontation and feels that if she hurts someone it would go against the fact that she's a medic. She's more likely to roll over in submission...literally if she's in canine form, than to engage in aggression. If she senses suspicion then she'll try to quell it, or she'll retreat altogether when she senses hostility though the distance depends on the level of hostility and what she was doing. It would definitely take something really serious, such as the life of death situation concerning someone she cared about or who was in her care, for her to put her all into trying to fight aggressively.

Despite her inner doubts and unease as of late, she is still rather friendly and kindhearted, and almost always being polite to everyone she deals with. She's usually calm even when she seems happy and isn't really an excitable person. But she's also rather melancholy especially when alone, even though she'll deny that anything is bothering her when first asked. Not one to push her problems on others, she tries to keep them to herself whether it's physical or emotional and will cope alone to the best of her ability for as long as possible. She enjoys being busy over being idle: cooking, gardening, cleaning up, and making teas or medicines. Her time not spent being busy is usually spent reading or writing in her journal.

She has had some interaction outside of her family since they tolerated outsiders before the split, but that was limited and most of what experience she has with people has come in traveling to other places. But she knows and respects common courtesy, modesty, and just polite behavior overall. She isn't uncomfortable around people and isn't vulgar in her language or actions, preferring to not use language that makes people including herself uncomfortable.

If she dislikes or doesn't trust someone or something, then she will try not to have anything to do with them and not initiate any interaction with them unless it's related to treating them somehow. Her suddenly finding herself on her own in the world has made her a little shy and she's become an extremely light sleeper because of being alone and her inability to defend herself, and is prone to nightmares because of the conflict in her clan and the attack by her cousin.

Unlike most of the shifter-class non-humans in her world, who take a fully human form when they want to appear human, it has always been customary for Cassidy’s family to retain their ears and tail even in human form...simply because that is their preference. She shares this preference, as it still shows that she isn't human but lets her use her hands, rather than seeming as though she has to hide herself. The idea that someone has to hide what they are to live a peaceful life isn't something that she was ever raised to support or adhere to, so she doesn't do it or expect others to. But she does know that it's also true that not everyone who assumes a fully human form is doing so to hide themselves, it's just a matter of preference.

She has heard about how the world can be cruel and intolerant of non-humans, which is part of the reason that her clan lives such a secluded life, but doesn't really care much about the differences in races herself and sees them all as people. In all honesty, she's actually a bit more leery of the non-humans who live outside of cities and towns as they are often territorial...despite being among those by nature, because she has been driven out of several unclaimed places that she would have considered for a territory of her own.

Another instinct that she shares with many types of non-human, namely dragons and some types of demons is to not have sex with anyone until she has chosen that person as her mate, and then only with said mate. She may date a person, but won't allow more than innocent displays of affection before then: hugging, cuddling, light kisses, hand holding, etc. This also means that for the duration of her heat she won't leave the place that she's currently staying or answer her door so as to avoid temptation or accidentally tempting those who would be tempted.

Due to her lack of direction and confidence, she's not particularly looking for that significant other and likely wouldn't really know how to react to someone expressing an interest in her. This doesn't mean that she will fall for a person simply because they like her though and she will try to tell them if she doesn't as gently as possible if she isn't interested...except maybe in the case that that person is someone that she's been given reason to be afraid of denying.

Abilities/Additional Notes:
Most notably, Cassidy is a great help medically. She can treat most injuries provided she has or can get the supplies to treat them properly, identify many typed of helpful or harmful plants by sight and scent, and make herbal medicine. She can also make various teas or supplements. She's a great cook and good with gardening as well.

As a shifter-class demon of the canine persuasion, Cassidy’s gifted with an excellent sense of eyesight and hearing, and an even better sense of smell which is even keener than those of most dogs. These traits, along with her upbringing, make her an excellent tracker and small game hunter...and combined with her more recently developed fear of being caught unawares also make her a good sentry.

For the most part she possesses no special or magical abilities aside from being able to shift forms, and can do so without ruining or shedding her clothing in the process. She has no magical potential whatsoever and never will naturally. However those who have eyes that are yellow, amber, or gold come with the natural ability to see things in the environment that either can't been seen easily by others or can't be seen at all naturally. In her case it manifests as the most common: the ability to see clearly even in absolute darkness, mist or fog, or other conditions that others might not be able to.

Her canine body is that of a border collie, though just slightly larger than a normal one in that a single person can just be supported on her back. She can climb trees and some walls in canine form and is a little stronger than the average human in human form, but not by very much. She is mush faster and has better endurance though.

Like most types non-humans in her world, she has a breeding season that was determined by her type and nature. Hers is two weeks in the late autumn and it's sort of instinctive that she will hole up for that period of time, and very instinctive that she will spend it with her mate if she has one.

Sample Network Post: [Voice]

Ah, um, can you all hear me clearly? I hope I'm using this right...

Hellp, my name is Cassidy. Cassidy Sharp. I'm kind of new to the city so I thought it would be a good idea to introduce myself. Um...I don't really know what else I can say, but I might see about trying to help in the hospital if I can.

So, I hope to get along with all of you. That's all I think.

Sample RP:
Leon's Test Drive