YOUNG GIRL Name: Cadence Sajeev
Color: ██████ cottontail
Age: 16
Nationality: Indian/Welsh, Father 2nd gen indian immigrant, Mother 1st gen welsh immigrant.
Home/Financial Status: Upper middle class, middle child out of three.
School: Home School
(I'd like for her to transition to a public school after she becomes a magical girl, Quail Continued High School most likely)
Personality:
If all people had fluffy tails and walked on all fours, the world would be a much easier place for Cadence. A meek, reticent young woman, she feel far more at home dealing with animals than she does with other humans. Animals don't tease you, or tear up your books, or say they love you, or hold you up to expectations, or cry when they see you come out of the operating room. Withdrawn almost to the point of muteness most of the time, when she does burst out it ends up like a dam coming apart, flooding whoever happens to be in the room. However, if you aren't privileged to witness one of her little moments, the impression most people would get of Cadence is that of quiet, almost cow-like docile amiability. Smiling quietly and going along with whatever she's told to do.
For the most part, this suits Cadence just fine. People are nice to her, and talk in quiet soothing voices, and give her good books and hugs and wobbly smiles. She isn't asking much out of life, and it gives her everything she asks for if she just looks on quietly. She's never had to fight for anything, or push herself to her limits, or run up against an insurmountable wall. In short, Caddy has never had any reason to develop a more aggressive personality. She just tends to get lost and scared when she has to interact with people who don't hold her hand and pet her hair. Conflict and strife turn her into a panicky mess, and she has no idea how to cope with responsibility at all. Other people are responsible for taking care of her, not the other way around.
One thing she has had to learn is how to deal with disappointment. After coming home from the hospital so many times, only having to go back in again, Cadence has learned to grin and bear it, for her parents sake. And at the end of any social disaster, or row with a sibling, dropped ice cream, dead baby bird, she's learned how to get over it and move on. This part of Cadence is even overlooked by her own parents, treating their daughter like some fragile little eggshell, when in reality she has an incredible amount of resilience inside her.
Appearance:
It's almost impossible to see the Welsh blood in Cadence. Looking like an ordinary Indian girl, if a bit bushy in the eyebrows, the only thing that really sets her apart is her lean towards alternate fashion. Dying chunks of her hair and wearing quirky shirts, she favours cutesy-odd pastel clothes and accessories. Spoiled rotten by her parents, Caddy's never lacking in new quirky yet adorable outfits to wear. The only place her mother has drawn the line is tattoos, and piercings not on her ears. She's also rather thin and pale, but hey, that's what's in fashion with kids nowadays.
History:
Cadence has struggled with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia her entire life. While it has occasionally been in remission, she has been in hospitals for at least a third of her childhood, and thinking about them for much longer. In between, she's been pampered at home, with Wynne her mother, and Eshan her father falling over each other to make their sick daughter as happy and as comfortable as possible for as long as possible.
Cadence doesn't have any plans for the future, as for her it's easier to just go along day by day with whatever people tell her to do rather than think ahead and get your hopes up for something that might not happen. She spends the copious amounts of spare time she has watching tv or doting on her pet rabbits, reading whatever book her mother's brought home from the library for her, browsing fashion blogs, or just napping in a patch of sun. Apart from her bunnies, she doesn't have any real passions or hobbies, and usually ends up going along with whatever people are suggesting at the time.
Between living under the thumb of polite but busy hospital nurses and in the worried and tight embrace of her parents, Caddy has never really had much of a chance to get to know kids her own age. Most other children at the hospital have been surrounded by their own families or withdrawn into worlds of their own, and at home she is faced with Kye and Estrild, her jealous older brother and younger sister, both who resent her for utterly monopolizing their parent's attention. Barely given any chances to socialize with kids her own age, and so unused to having any reason to talk to strangers, she doesn't really have any friends. At least, none that aren't wet nosed wiggly balls of fur.
Family:
Wynne Sajeev, 49, Mother - A professor in English Literature, Wynne was once a carefree and light hearted woman, incredibly smart, well educated, and one hell of a catch for any man. Living with her daughter's condition has cost her a lot of her previous light attitude, and now Cadence's mother is rather a bitter pessimist, though she tries to hide it from her children as best she can. One thing that has remained is her rapier wit, and while her jokes have taken a darker turn, she is not above making jibes at the doctors and nurses that she has to deal with daily. While she really tries to do her best to keep her comments to Eshan and herself, she has unknowingly trash talked the men and women who work to keep Cadence as healthy as possible in earshot of her daughter many, many times.
Eshan Sajeev, 45, Father - Once an up-and-coming political columnist in a prominent national newspaper, Eshan had to ditch the frantic world of journalism when his second daughter was born. Although he seemed born for a life on the run, he nevertheless settled down in a publishing company as an editor for the sake of his family. With excess energy to burn, he is the one who gets up first in the morning, and goes to bed last at night, doing domestic chores and preparing meals for the rest of the family. Not one to handle stress well, the more upset Eshan gets the more energy he seems to radiate. While never outwardly bitter at his forced career change, he does tend to let off steam through random pet 'home improvement' projects, which considering his two left thumbs, rarely turn out well. Thankfully, he shares his wife's sense of humour and can laugh off the ensuring catastrophic results.
Kye Sajeev, 20, Older Brother - With Cadence born when he was just four years old, Kye has been expected from a young age to be responsible and take care of himself. Then, himself and his new baby sister. Smart and serious, praised by his grandparents, he's worked hard his entire life to get the attention of his father. While he certainly has the respect and trust of Eshan, he still feels like he's being pushed aside, and that his parents see him only as an extra pair of hands around the house to get things done. Distanced and bitter, he feels estranged in his own home. To make matters worse, his parents can't (or won't) pay for him to go to the university he wants until they feel Estrild can be trusted to take care of herself. And as she begins to act out more and more, he can see his life as her babysitter stretching out farther and farther in front of him.
Estrild Sajeev, 8, Younger Sister - Estrild has been denied the role usually given to youngest child in the family, the pampered baby. To be honest, her parents weren't expecting her, and had decided after Cadence was diagnosed, they weren't going to risk that with another baby. But accidents happen. Brushed aside and placed under the care of her older brother whenever Cadence is home, and never really having had her time in the spotlight of her parent's eyes, she is a sullen, angry young girl. Already starting to get into fights at school and throwing fits at home over the smallest things, she is rapidly becoming a sore point with Caddy's parents. After all, it's not sweet sweet Cadence's fault that she's ill, and that they have to take care of her, and if only Estrild would stop being so difficult, then she'd surely understand why they can't spend as much time with her as she'd like, right?
Constable F. Snuffles - Eldest of her three rabbits, Constable is a lionhead and as such is an absolutely ridiculous looking ball of fluff. As he's getting on in age, he spends most of his time napping or idly chewing on a lettuce leaf. Surprisingly smart for a rabbit, Cadence has trained him to come to her call, and no matter where she is in the house, he will flop his way over slowly but surely whenever she summons him. Surprisingly bold in his young days, Cadence still swears that he once tried to attack a squirrel that had tried to sneak up on him in the yard.
The Dutchess - The Dutchess is the middle rabbit in the group, and the only female. An english angora, she requires by far the most amount of maintenance and grooming. Seemingly aware of this and her name, she is very demanding, jumping up in front of the television and sitting in people's paths to get attention, and bullying Constable and Pepper whenever they get in her way. Fortunately, it's pretty much impossible to be angry at a face like that, and so she is treated by the Sajeev family with almost as much reverence as Cadence herself.
HRM Elsabeth Pepperpot - Elsa is the newest member of Cadence's family, and as a goodwill gesture to her sister, she allowed Estrild to name the newest acquisition. Unfortunately for Pepper, the girl was convinced he was a female rabbit, and so he is forced to bear the title she bestowed upon him. However the jersey wooly is very good-natured and doesn't seem to let it bother him. The most energetic of the three rabbits, he isn't allowed out on his own as he will easily disappear for days on end, leaving rabbit tooth marks all over the legs of wooden furniture.
PUELLA MAGI
Language: Sanskrit
Desires: Cadence doesn't want to die. Despite pretending that everything's fine, down inside she's terrified of this sickness that's doing it's best to kill her.
Emblem: Skull
(or: snake, simplified kali yantra, lotus, bone, forearm+hand)
Weapon: Oversized Scimitar
Type of Magic: Energy draining. Some options would be that Cadence can suck the life out of enemies and use it to heal herself, or possibly increase her strength/agility/stamina, or just cause them to be lethargic and weak in battle.
(Any power that shows her taking the life from her enemies, open to suggestions/options on which is the best. I'm not sure how limited powers have to be in terms of specific results achieved?)
Outfit: Cadence's magical girl form and powers are based on the goddess Kali, so her outfit could be drawn from her images? However, Cadence is still a gentle, passive creature at heart so softening it down to be more feminine, modest and cutesy could reflect that. Alternately, drawing from southern asian traditional dress is another option, again, cutes-ying it up. Possibly combine either of these styles with classic lolita?
