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Spirit: Mercenary soldier... born in 1914 in a small european-esque country (whatever the Gaia early 1900's equivilent is), she was orphaned at a very early age. While traveling in the city she was picked up around the age of four by people looking for cheap labor, and taken to a camp with several other children under the pretense of being 'taken care of'. She spent four more years here before several of the older children managed to escape taking some of the healthier younger children with them. She was lucky enough to be a part of that group, however it soon became apparent that there really was no place in the cities surrounding for homeless children no matter how skilled. That's why, as a group, they fell into habit's of pick pocketing and pety theft in order to survive from day to day. Over the next few years, traveling from city to city, several of the children had been picked up by the authories on account of minimal crimes, and a few had even died of untreated illness. One day, Charlie (now about 14) was stopped by a man and offered an buisiness deal of sorts... if she delivered a message for him he'd pay her a LOT of money. She agreed, and ended up being the key factor in a murder by becoming an unknowing distraction and getting the front door opened. The man to whom the message was supposed to be delivered was killed right before her eyes, and it was something that she remembered for the rest of her life. Withing the next year her troup of childhood friends and homeless children had left the city they had resided in most recently and were traveling across country. It became apparent that they were a skilled troupe with only each other for a family, and no real reason to hold on to the lesser things. When they came across a small border dispute acorss two counties, it seemed only natrual to the troupe to hire themselves out as mercenaries . They were successful and made the decision to continue their Merc ways across the country. From the time Charlie was 15 til the time she was 24 she traveled with the group fighting where needed and doing what was asked of her. Her friends came to know her as the most loyal, and the most suicidal of the entire group. They could all count on her to lay down her life in exchange for theirs, and so she was trusted and loved... It came as a shock and deep wound to the troupe when Charlie was killed (soon after she turned 24) accidentally and stupidly in a pre-emptive strike against the current enemy. It was the dead of winter, with snow all across the ground covering the footprints of the enemy. She was tracking with her troupe over the thin ledge of a cliff when the ledge gave way, plummeting Charlie to her death below. Among her troup left on the ledge staring down into the cavern was her fiancee, Oscar Fallon. The last thing she ever saw before a tree branch struck her in the back of the head was the horror on his face as he watched, and the last thing that flew through her mind was his voice asking her to be careful out there.
Vessel: Snowshoe Hare...

Charlie opened the dresser drawer in the back of the cabin and pulled out a small puffy sleeved shirt. This was her very favorite of all the dress up clothing that Keppit had put together for them... in fact, Gus had once told her that this particular shirt had been Satou's favorite as well, and that certainly had cemented the deal for Charlie. She flung the shirt onto the lower bunk of the right bed and delved full length into the trunk again. This time she came up with a pair of brown leather pants that were certainly too big for her and a belt that was just right. After flinging the belt and pants on top of the shirt, Charlie climbed up the ladder into the top bunk and began sorting through a plethora of wooden swords and daggers. She thought briefly about what Keppit would have said (something along the line of 'don't hit your brothers with that' and 'don't let me hear from the neighbors that you've been chasing their cat around with a sword again') and sighed as she inspected a particularly dented up dark wooden sword. This was her favorite as well, but it was looking a little worse for the wear. Perhaps it was time to break in a new sword? She eyed two that were currently propped up on the pillow and enie-meenie-miny-moe'd between them only to pick up the left one a moment later. Then she turned, tossed the new sword over the edge and watched it clang to the floor and snap in half. With yet another sigh, Charlie grabbed up her favorite sword and stuck it in her teeth, itching at her face fur momentarily as she did so. It seemed that everything had bothered her fur lately... she was always itchy.

Once she was on the floor again she grabbed up all the things that she'd collected and took them to her mother. Keppit wasn't all that far away, in fact she was already in the same room (considering that the cabin was all one room anyway), and she turned with a smile as her youngest daughter came up with a bundle of clothing. “Mommy... will you help me get these on?” Keppit smiled and answered something along the lines of yes, commented on how that particular shirt was very well loved among all the kids and helped Charlie slip it over her little rabbit ears, lacing up the front with ease. Then she helped the rabbit girl into the pants, gathered up the top hem and used the belt to lash it all together. Charlie grinned as Keppit gently thrust the little wooden sword through the right side of the belt (Charlie was left handed) and then she did a little circle and growled with a grin as her mother stepped back to get a good look at her little mercenary. But Keppit didn't smile for very long... in fact, her smile quickly faded into a frown and she moved in closer to her daughter's face to inspect it.

“Charlie, baby, what happened to your fur?” She ran her fingers over the child's face as Charlie shrugged and scratched at her bum through the pants, then reached up and tugged on one ear. “Your fur, it's shedding... and why are you tugging on your ears?”

“They hurt.”

“They hurt?” Keppit reached up and gently picked up one of Charlie's short ears in her hands... they did look all red and raw up near her head... “Actually, sweetheart... I think they might be growing a little longer.” She sighed as she let go of Chalrie's ear and stroked the girl's face again. “It's only to be expected really, what with you growing so much. Besides, longer ears means better hearing... and that's what you want to be able to be a spy right?” Keppit sighed at the thought of having a spy in the family. She'd had this talk with Ranald over and over... but Ranald just didn't seem to understand how spy activities didn't make for good playdates, and she didn't seem to worry about how Charlie never seemed to have any friends or get along with any of the other kids. Charlie scratched at her face again. “Sweetheart, don't. You're just getting fur all over the carpet and over your clothes and I'm sure you're not doing your skin any good.”

“So... my fur's falling out?”

“I don't know. It might be... but that's not a bad thing you hear?”

“Will I look like you?”

“No. You're a rabbit girl. I'm a humanoid. You might look a little more like me, but you'll always have these ears and this cute little nose.”

Charlie wrinkled said nose in protest. “Spies don't have cute noses.” And then a thought occurred to her. “Will I look like Gus? With my ears all long like?” She thought that might be cool to have a more human face like Gus and Satou... But one look at Keppit's face said that she was worried about the idolization there.

Keppit was worried. She didn't like how much like Satou Charlie acted sometimes, and it bothered her that the child was so excited at the possibility of looking more human. “Sweetheart, listen. No matter what you look like you will always be special, and you will always be capable of doing whatever you set your mind to. Do you understand?”

Charlie nodded her head. “Yeah. You mean long ears or short ears I'll still be a good hearing spy.”

Keppit sighed. “Right. Now let's braid up your hair so that you won't get it caught in any trees or anything when you're out there rolling around in the dirt like a maniac.” She caught a look of Charlie's face. “Excuse me. I meant spying.”