Cassidy's Background

Sep 29, 2030 16:26


Cassidy was born into a close-knit clan of dog demons that live in a mist-shrouded forest located in an uncharted valley on the continent, Tentressa . The clan used to run like a well-oiled machine under the leadership of her grandfather, Radley Sharp, with every member having a specific purpose that played off of their strengths or covered their weaknesses.

Unlike the others born around the same time, Cassidy was relatively small in her canine form, only a little bigger than the border collie pup she resembled. While she had the speed and stamina to keep up with her cousins at play, it quickly became apparently she'd never be as big or strong. From a young age it was decided that, rather than focusing on teaching her to fight like all of the others, her purpose was to become the main family healer once her grandmother, Vail, could no longer continue the work. As such her time was consumed mainly by studying the family remedies and learning to treat various injuries, as well as learning to grow herbs for teas and medicines. There was also time set aside for learning some of the essentials of being a dog demon(namely hunting small game, changing between her human and canine forms at will, and paying attention to her heightened senses).

All through her childhood when she finished her training each day, she would spend time with her cousins playing, especially with Forrester, a young male about three years older than her. The two were inseparable, with him always looking out for her as they roamed the forest. Because they were so close, it was decided that they would be partnered as a working group, with Forrester as her guardian.

Things continued mostly peacefully like this until she was about sixteen. Her grandfather was unexpectedly killed in a skirmish, defending their home from another demon clan. The clan fell into disarray only days after his death, because he hadn’t chosen anyone to succeed him as head of the clan. His three sons squabbled and fought constantly over who would lead next, and the family became divided and broke off, each claiming a section of their territory in the forest. Her widowed grandmother, wanting no part of the fighting, remained in her mate’s house in the center of the territory, continuing her work as the family healer...owning the only neutral ground.

Over the next few years, the fighting worsened to the point where even the younger demons began to take part in the feud. Add to that the continuing problems with the other demon clan. 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 she’d grown up in had become just short of a war zone, and while she hadn't actively taken a side and tended anyone she could, her father kept her safe at home to keep her out of trouble. It had come to the point where he was willing to crush his brothers for leadership, and they were just as wiling to crush him and each other.

Feeling that her father had an unfair edge in having his own healer, one of her uncles decided to eliminate Cassidy, leaving their mother as the only healer. Forrester was chosen for the job as he was the deadliest fighter and Cassidy still trusted him. So he visited her room one night, which she had found a little odd since they hadn't been able to talk since the clan split off, and attacked her. However, he still carried a strong fondness for his cousin, and in an attempt to save her, he drove her from the forest instead, purposely letting her escape…but with a deep bite in her stomach to make sure she believed he had tried to kill her and wouldn't come back.

She spent a few days at the edge of the forest to recover and tend to her wound until well enough to wander about, but she knew that she wouldn't be safe at home unable to defend herself. So without a territory or place to call home, she put the forest and her broken family behind her and began searching for a territory to call her own. Finding one is easy, keeping it…well that involves being able to fight. Since she lacked any fighting skills whatsoever, she has already lost three territories in the less than a year she's been on her own in the world. Currently, her search for a place to call her own has brought her to the beach near the eastern edge of the forest south of Toban. She’s considering the small town life over trying to constantly establish a territory.

While staying where she is, she had gotten permission from the dragons living in that forest to hunt and fish in their territory, and had been for a few days, when she encountered Wyome, the male earth dragon that owned the forest, in the midst of releasing a challenging wastelander earth dragon from where he'd left him imprisoned in the ground a couple of weeks earlier. Concerned, she had followed the challenger, Ki'nam, for the better part of the day and far from the town or beach, simply to give him a supplement since he hadn't eaten all that time. Though baffled, he had accepted the token and taken her back to her little camp, where she offered to let him stay until he recovered.

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