Cassadin Heartland

***Face Claim: Christina Nadin**

Name: Cassadin "Cass" Heartland

Age: 26

Sexuality/Gender: Bisexual Cisgender

50 years ago, the first cases of ABVARR-6249 occurred. Though rare, the Aberrant Virus’s ability to change a person’s DNA and give them superpowers, or aberrancies, made it one of the “greatest threats mankind has ever known.” The numbers of these so-called aberrants are on the rise. More and more people are waking up with strange new powers. Cassadin Heartland, being a perfect example of what these powers have been capable of doing. When she was born, her mother had passed down the powers she had herself, night vision, altered hearing, sharper fangs, rapid growing fingernails and a high sense of smell. These powers all tied into those qualities of a feline, clearly distinct in the shape of Cass' pupils. Cassadin didn't get too much time to spend with her mother and get to know her, since she was quick to run away from her responsibilities as a parent before her daughter could begin to form memories. Her father instead raised her, deciding to involve his daughter in his medical research on ABVARR-6249 the older she became. By the time Cass was a teenager, she was all over the lab with her father, able to properly diagnose aberrancy in humans and try to prolong some of the side effects of gaining these powers.

Once Cass had graduated from High School, she was gladly accepted to work at her father's research facility, ALPHA, who was working hard to find out how aberrancy came and if there was anything that could be done to cure or stall the developments. Together, she and her father worked hard at researching the DNA variant more throughout the years until something was starting to feel wrong. When Cass had started to realize that her power was corrupt, that’s when things started to go south for her and her father. So many things had happened at once, from her father's first diagnosis of cancer to her having to go through full-body changes every week as her legs and paws began to develop. Her father at the time was one of the lead scientists at ALPHA and he immediately requested their assistance with Cass to try and figure out what was suddenly happening to her and her aberrancy.

She was then classified as corrupt and for nearly a whole year was experimented on, taken care of and properly rehabilitated into being able to live a normal life with two feline legs to replace her human ones. During this time she was developing new tech with her father since she had registered and began to work for ALPHA herself, getting equipment made to further enhance her feline features. She developed a tail attaching it to the nerves in her tailbone and feline ear cuffs that were fully working. Many times she had been warned by her doctor that the corruption would spread rapidly over the next years and that she would need to either settle or live her life to the fullest, to which she chose the latter. She couldn’t form relationships, no bonds, and the biggest thing she wanted to do was have kids, but now thanks to her, it was found out that corrupt aberrants were always 100% infertile or sterile. As the years went on, Cass knew that she was dying, she knew that eventually, she would have to say goodbye to everyone, the changes in her behaviour were getting worse and the dissociation was getting even worse. When she was working with her mentor, Baron, she would always tell him how much she loved him, how much of a parental figure he was, and how if anyone had to calm her feral, it would have to be him. Most members of ALPHA were trained by her due to the endurance and strength she possessed to put soldiers in their places and properly prepare them. So when Cass sadly would pass from her corruption, she knew the lasting mark on the people in her life it would create, but for some reason, the fear of dying she had gone away, and all she wanted in life was to be remembered for all the wonderful things she had ever done.

Cass is one of the most straightforward people you may ever meet in your entire life. Everything she says holds truth and honour and if something is not done correctly, she will tell you that you fucked up, but will kindly help you figure out where you went wrong. She’s very charismatic and loves to help others, but by the gods is she stubborn. It’s hard to get anything through that thick skull of hers, especially if she decided to make up her mind right on the spot. She knows how to read a room and properly evaluates any situation before taking it on and her intuition is beyond amazing, most definitely coming from her feline side.

Intro Credit: Ethan Barber // BrambCrackers