Cassie Riddle

Cassie Riddle, sometimes shortened to Cass, is a human musician who originates from a mundane universe. She first left her homeworld in April 2010 to Chicago in an alternate universe, where she lived for over three years before the universe was destroyed by the Rift that brought her there in the first place in June 2013.

Appearance
Cassie stands at around 5'7" in height with an average to slender build. She's fairly pale-skinned, due to her tendency to stay out of the sun as she burns easily; she has light blonde hair that reaches a bit past her shoulders and is naturally messily curled and dark brown eyes.Dress-wise, she is normally in light colours and aims for a kind of indie-chic sort of look, style-wise. Usually, as long as it's comfortable and clean, she's quite happy.

Cassie tries to hold herself with confidence; as if she's trying to show out to the world that she can be brave, that she can stand on her own two feet. But there's a look of weakness to her. Here is a girl who has been broken. It's in her eyes most of the time. There's a quiet hesitance about her after all these years. Nevertheless, she seen as open and relaxed; she aims to make others comfortable in her presence. She's plenty with warm smiles and easy laughs generally, an absence of this a clear indicator that something is wrong.

As of May 2015, Cassie walks with a limp and needs the use of a cane to get about. She has a slight scar across the bridge of her nose that is still fading, as well as newer scars across her calves and one particularly deep one that curves around her right thigh. She has an overall tired look about her; her current existence under various pain medications and lack of sleep have clearly marked her just as much as any physical scar.

Personality
Cassie is definitely not the same person she was before she came to Chicago. She seemed pretty set in her ideas, set in her ways, feeling like she had two feet firmly on the ground. She thought she was done growing up, done changing. She knew who she was and who she would be one day.

She’s marked by her resilience, whether it be by sheer luck or absolute stubbornness – she gives off the impression of being wiser beyond her years in very small ways. She’s been broken, she’s been beaten. She’s survived attempts on her life, torture and been driven to the brink of sanity. Somehow, she’s still standing. She’s survived. It’s in her face sometimes, that look of exhaustion, relief and hope that one day she can finally stop struggling just to survive.

She’s a fighter. She’ll fight for herself, but more than anything she fights for those she loves. Friends, family, her fellow Wanderers. Cassie isn’t the strongest or the smartest, but she’s a valuable ally. She doesn’t give up on people. Although this seems like a good point about her, it does means she fails to look after herself and unfortunately makes her out to be vulnerable sometimes. Cassie could look like the strongest person in a group of people - but alone, she looks weak. She might be the rock for others and, but it means she forgets about looking out for herself and it can often spell out trouble for her.

Cassie's often the voice of reason, she's bright and helpful - always trying to see the best in others and hates to see people feeling low about themselves. Sometimes, she tends to make her attempts of makin people feel better about themselves turn a little too serious - she becomes determined to help. Again, she’s just a stubborn as hell girl. Cassie's 'no nonsense' approach makes her a good arguer - and she's usually the one to win. Although good on the vocal front in an argument – she prefers to stay away from violence. At one point, she’d never consider it – but it shows how she’s changed over the years. She detests it, hates it completely. But sometimes growing up means going against your morals sometimes, doesn’t it?

She dislikes being out of her comfort zone and when she's unable to have to feet placed firmly on the ground and be the strong person she tries to be. When she's not happy, it definitely shows. From the strong, upbeat girl she usually is - she suddenly becomes rather withdrawn and shy. When out of her comfort zone, it also makes her rather self-conscious too and ends up just wanting to hide herself away from others.

She’s bright and cheerful most of the time, often a source of comfort for others – which she allows herself to be on countless occasions; but she’s a fragile soul in all honesty. She’s grown stronger from her years in Chicago, but she can break just as easily as china. Her heart is still a frail thing. She breaks and she puts herself back together in time for her to break once more. She still puts herself back together, though, every time. Probably by sheer determination not to be beaten. To wait for a point in time where she might go home again.

Early Life
Cassie was born and brought up in Ealing, West London to a middle-class family and as the eldest of three, having two younger brothers, Adrian and Michael. Her life was a particularly peaceful existence, there was rarely any commotion in her life – she just enjoyed being a kid and enjoyed growing up. She was used to the fact that perhaps there wouldn't be anything spectacular or special in her life and in time, grew to accept it. Although a dreamer, her dreams were more realistic than other teenagers - she disliked the super-hero comics her brothers read. The thought the idea of people with superpowers was just silly and strange and to be honest - a load of nonsense, in her opinion. It would never happen in real life, why keep making them up? Her teenage years were that of a 'no nonsense' nature - she was the eldest and acted that way; she'd take charge of her two siblings and would grow fiercely over-protective of them. This showed in her social life, she was the protector of her friends - sticking up for them during the bullying years of school, or being the one who stayed up to hold back a friend's hair as they threw up from one too many drinks. She made her way through school with good grades and went to university to study music. Her perspective on life began to change as a student - she was so used to helping others that she forgot what it would be to care for herself. She would always be the one to care for others, no matter what happened to her - but she realised that she couldn't be the rock for others all the time. Instead of focusing on helping others, she aspired to accomplish her own goals: Cassie was a distinguished piano player as well as a budding guitarist and a good singer. She began to think more about a career in the music industry; she dreamed of becoming a famous singer and had begun to record her first demos by the end of her degree. She often spent her time with her best friend Flynn, one of her oldest friends and a dab-hand at mixing and producing, whom would help her record. Several months after finishing Uni, she was spotted by a talent scout at a performance and was close to signing her first record deal before she ended up in Chicago. Whilst on a night out with friends, she got separated from them and attempted to walk home, where she accidentally fell through a Rift.

Chicago
Upon falling through the rift, she found herself in possession of darkness elemental powers. Her first discovery of this was the power to become invisible in her confusion and fear when she found herself alone in a dark alley. For a long time, Cassie seemed to be in denial of what's happening to her, like she was walking in a dream - perhaps she's passed out somewhere and this would all just be in her head. Her powers seemed unstable, she turned invisible a lot whenever she felt scared or emotional, and for a long time, she felt completely out of control of herself. Her first few months in Chicago were not happy ones. She was originally found by a man by the name of Minoru, whom she instantly and foolishly trusted. The man, actually an angel of knowledge Kaden Fuchizaki, led her to his work where he drugged and proceeded to experiment and torture her. The sheer amount of chemicals in her body, added with the trauma of the experience, caused her to completely forget about the whole ordeal until over a year later. It didn't stop there. Less than six months through her time in Chicago, she was also attacked and almost killed by a fellow Wanderer, escaping purely on sheer luck and her managing to use her powers to save herself.

She's survived the destructive force of the Rift several times in various disasters and even manage to survive a terrorist attack from a warped Wanderer, which meant she lost one of her first friends in the city, Robin.

Her circle of friends seemed to thin throughout her time in the city. Her angel friends would fall to their Callings, her Wanderer friends fall to the Rift once more. Robin sacrificed herself to save countless others, Daniel was crucified in the park by the Wanderer-hating CLF, Iris threw herself off a building, Elizabeth was shot and killed. These were people who Cassie grew to love: Robin taught her important lessons about life in a new world, Daniel spared her kindness when she felt like she'd gone over the edge, Iris became the sister she never had, Elizabeth was the first friendly face she ever met and gave her comfort in a strange, frightening place. She was bent and broken and had her heart devastated countless times over the three years she lived there, sometimes it amazes her how she survived.

It wasn't all bad. Cassie did have good times in the city. She got a job at Looney High as a music teacher and gained some degree of normalcy in her life. She found her one constant in Castiel, who always came when she called, always protected her, always helped. She found comfort in her fellow Londoners Saul and Sherlock, who could help her ease the ache in her chest not just for home, but simply the city she grew up in. She fell in love, she met some of the most important people in her life. She had fun, changed in ways she'd never think of, grew in a better and a worse person because of it.

And then the world ended, and who knew what would happen to her then.

New York
Cassie arrived in New York only a day or so after the blizzard, no longer in June 2013, but early March 2015. She would have drowned easily in the icy waters of the half-frozen Hudson, had her Riverpower not saved her. As soon as she hit the water, shock caused her to teleport immediately to safety. She was fortunately found by friendly faces and suffered nothing more than mild-hypothermia.

Although glad to be in a place a little similar to Chicago, with a few people she knew living with her - Cassie was plagued by nightmares of Chicago. She had planned to leave the city with her Guardian, Aaron, but the building collapsed and she disappeared without him. Her nightmares focused mostly on Aaron as well as a mashup of all the terrible things that happened over the last three and a bit years. She began having problems with her nightmares, waking up in the middle of the night and teleporting from the shocks they caused her. She ultimately accepted the help of Neirne, who could dampen her nightmares and stop her waking up to teleport.

The tragedies of Chicago would never really leave her alone. In May 2015, she was caught up in a bomb plot at the MET, in which she sustained serious injuries to her legs. Now partially disabled and with no Castiel to help her, Cassie has been struggling with daily life. She uses a cane to help her walk as well as remaining on pain medication to help deal with the pain she still feels.

Misc/Links
ohstarryeyed - dreamwidth journal.