Cassandra Argent

[CondorTalon]

Name: Cassandra Argent
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Grade: 12
School: Saint Editha Academy
Hobbies and Interests: Swimming, drawing, video games, choir

Appearance: Cassandra's tiny frame barely breaks 5'0" and 99 pounds. Other than the slight amount of muscle developed from swimming, Cassandra's body type is quite thin, and her skin is fairly pale. Cassandra has fairly short dark blonde hair that barely goes past her ears; it is usually messy as she does not take care to style it. Her facial features can be described as mouse-like, with large brown eyes, a small, short nose, and a narrow mouth with thin lips. Cassandra's skin is mostly free of blemishes, but she has two noticeable moles on her face: one below her left ear, and another immediately to the right of her nose.

Cassandra doesn't care too much about her clothing choices; she prefers plain, functional clothing and doesn't stress too much over keeping with the fashion. She normally wears plain, unpatterned clothing, and generally prefers clothes that don't restrict movement too much. On the day of the abduction, she was wearing the female school uniform sans blazer.

Biography: Cassandra was born to Ben and Annabelle Argent in Bellington on December 23rd. Ben and Annabelle had met while at university, both studying music theory as their majors. During their time in university, they fell in love with each other, marrying a year after they graduated. Cassandra was the first and only child of the pair. Early on in the marriage, Ben enlisted in the RAF, leaving Annabelle to take care of their daughter most of the time. Thankfully, Annabelle's job as a musician for an indie video game company let her work from home, and gave her more time to look after Cassandra, while Ben's military salary provided them enough money to live relatively comfortably.

As a child, Cassandra enjoyed playing in the water. From an early age, Cassandra loved splashing around in puddles, and whenever the family went to a beach or some other body of water, Cassandra would stay at the water's edge, jumping around and playing in the water. Her parents loved that their child had found an interest so early in their life, and Annabelle, being a decent swimmer herself, took it upon herself to teach Cassandra how to swim, at least rudimentarily.

Cassandra also took an interest to drawing early on in her life. While many other children in her preschool spent their free time running around and playing games, Cassandra would usually be found with a piece of paper and some crayons, scribbling away. Cassandra was always fascinated by the patterns and shapes that she put down, even as a little child, and she liked drawing more abstract pieces as opposed to standard landscapes. As she grew older, that interest turned into a passion that she carried to the present day. Cassandra enjoys drawing abstract and surreal art the most.

When Cassandra was five, tragedy struck. during an air battle between the US Air Force and the RAF, Ben's plane was clipped by stray gunfire from a US fighter plane. Ben's plane crashed into the Irish Sea. Neither the wreckage of the plane nor Ben's body were recovered, and he was declared KIA. When this news reached Annabelle and Cassandra, their world was upturned. The news hit Annabelle much worse than it did Cassandra. Cassandra didn't fully comprehend the ramifications of what happened to her dad, and she didn't get to see him that often. She understood enough to know that she would never get to see him again. However, Annabelle was absolutely heartbroken by the news. For over six months, she was unable to do anything productive, mostly secluding herself in her room, and even going so far as to announce a hiatus from her job. Even with support of her relatives and her teachers and classmates at school, this period was the most isolated that Cassandra had ever felt. Already a rather quiet, introverted individual, this only caused Cassandra to become even more so.

Six months after the death of Ben, Annabelle once again changed. She was still grieving, but she decided that she need to do something to distract from the pain of the loss. To that end, she redouble her focus on her music production. This meant that she returned to her job, but it also caused her to spend less time with her daughter. However, at the same time, Annabelle became more and more overprotective of Cassandra, forbidding her from staying out too long after school. Cassandra grew to hate this situation. She wasn't allowed the freedom to participate in activities with her friends, but she also wasn't given much attention at home. A rift grew between Cassandra and her mother, a rift that has not fully closed to this day.

Shortly before Ben's death, Annabelle had introduced Cassandra to video games. It was a passion of hers, after all, and she wanted her daughter to understand the joys of video gaming. After her father's death and her mother's change in personality, Cassandra began to use video games as a form of escapism; she began to spend more time playing video games, as it was one of the only activities she could do at home and not have to have her mother down her back for staying out. Cassandra enjoys puzzle games the most. They work her mind the most, which distracts her from her home situation.

As Cassandra entered secondary school, she was encouraged by her teachers to join some sort of extra-curricular. Cassandra hesitated, knowing that it was completely probable that her mother wouldn't allow it. When she went and told her mother that night, Cassandra turned out to be right. It took many discussions with teachers and relatives before Annabelle relented and allowed Cassandra to join some clubs.

Annabelle often hummed melodies before putting them down in software while she worked. While Cassandra would never admit it, she picked up the habit, humming melodies of her own and eventually picking up singing as a hobby. This is what eventually led her to choose choir as her first extra-curricular. Although Cassandra told her mother about taking up choir, she doesn't discuss it with her mother very often. Annabelle, for her part, appreciates the fact that Cassandra is taking after her in terms of musical interest, but only passively encourages her.

Her passion for swimming was reignited at about this time, when she watched a friend from the swim team during practice. It brought her back to happier times, and she decided to use swimming as her coping mechanism, mostly from her estranged mother. Cassandra is not the best performer on the team, and she doesn't take the club as seriously as she should, since she sees swimming more as a mechanism to cope than an actual sport.

In Year 10, after a particularly bad day, and not wanting to be held down by her mother's rules, Cassandra decided to ignore Annabelle's curfew and hang out with her friends. This lasted all of an hour into the night, when she got a frantic call from Annabelle. Despite Cassandra's attempts to calm her mom down, Annabelle screamed at her to get home immediately. Annabelle was forced to leave her friends and return home. When she did, she was lectured for almost two hours about the dangers of staying out late and not being at home. Since then, Cassandra has not tried to go against the curfew, lest she be lectured again.

Academically, Cassandra is squarely an average student, with her grades being in the Bs and Cs across the board. The only exception to this is her favorite subject, art, in which she easily manages to get As. Other than art, Cassandra doesn't have any subjects she particularly enjoys nor any subjects she detests. She does her best to pay attention in class, but she doesn't put more effort into her studies than she deems necessary.

Cassandra is a withdrawn and introverted girl, a fact that has not changed since she entered high school. Although she has a few friends and acquaintances from the swim team and from her art classes, Cassandra mostly keeps to herself. Part of this is due to her mother's overprotectiveness, as Cassandra believes that making friends now isn't worth it if she doesn't get to spend much time with them. Overall, Cassandra is not a girl who stands out to the majority of the student body.

Advantages: Cassandra is used to being alone; a lack of allies would not hinder her as much as it would someone with a lot connections or someone who is more dependent on others. Her tiny frame could help her more easily escape and hide than someone with a larger frame. Cassandra is unassuming and has a nonthreatening presence, she is unlikely to be seen as dangerous by others.
Disadvantages: On the flip side, that nonthreatening nature may cause others to see her as an easy target. Cassandra has no true friends that she can truly rely on and trust. Cassandra has relied on various forms of escapism to maintain her mental well-being. With most of these avenues cut off, Cassandra may struggle to keep herself in a stable frame of mind.

[MurderWeasel]

Heya, Condor! Cassandra's looking pretty solid but is DENIED pending some little edits.

How short exactly is Cassandra's hair? A buzz cut? A pixie cut? Past her ears?

With a December 23 birthday, Cassandra would probably be 18 as PV3 is set in early January, and if she'd only just turned 17 she'd be about a year ahead of most of her peers.

What was the Argent family's financial situation? Were they mostly covered by Ben's military pay? Composing for indie video games doesn't sound super lucrative.

What about drawing specifically appealed to Cassandra?

"The news hit Annabelle much worse than Cassandra did." -> "The news hit Annabelle much worse than it did Cassandra."

Has Cassandra's time with choir brought her any closer to her mother? How Annabelle feel about her daughter's budding musical interests?

Cassandra is clearly unhappy with her mother's rules. Does she actively fight against them still, or has she resigned herself to her fate? Has she ever tried just ignoring them as she's grown older? If so, what happened? If not, why not?

"unlikely to bee seen" -> "unlikely to be seen"

Post when you've got that all taken care of, and we'll give Cassandra another look. Thanks!

[CondorTalon]

Edited!

[MurderWeasel]

APPROVED