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[b]Cassandra Jurico[/b]
Cassie is.. well, she’s crazy. Not the psychopath, serial killer crazy, but the no regard for her own life, adrenaline junkie type of crazy. She’ll do just about anything to get a rush to include running headlong into a large group of enemy combatants as a distraction. Ever see someone try to jump off the top of a building with only a bedsheet and a few lines of rope tied to each corner? Cassie’s done it. Twice. She’s adamant in her belief that life is meant to be lived, not survived. There’s no point of living until you’re a hundred if all you’ve done is sit in your house and stare out the window the whole time. Of course, this tendency to throw herself in dangerous situations for both legitimate or no more discernible reasons than “it looked fun,” means that she requires her ass to be pulled out the fire on a somewhat regular basis.

Cass is extremely extroverted. Generally upbeat and friendly, she has no problem throwing her arm over the shoulders of an out-of-place looking stranger and dragging them into her circle of friends. She would consider herself an enabler, pushing people out of their comfort zones in a bid to “help them experience life.” She lacks the ditzy bubbliness some might expect from her, but instead is filled to the brim with a sort of mischievous, witty sense of humor with a liberal sprinkling of sarcasm. You’d be hard pressed to find a way to make her angry or embarrassed, as she’s prone to laughing off just about anything you throw at her. Unless you call her Cassandra; She hates that. Cassie, Cass, CJ, Jurico, Juri… even “Hey you stupid” would be an improvement over calling her by her full first name.

A lover of everything physical, she has participated in every athletic activity that Oakridge has to offer of both the sport and combat variety... and she excels. It’s not odd to find her working out in one of the gyms or running off some of her boundless energy around campus. She’s the definition of what it is to be a cavalier competitor, however, and she often infuriates her opponents with her nonchalant, smiling attitude coupled with abundant skill.

Not exactly the most attentive student at Oakridge, her grades in most areas are average. She’s smart, she just won’t sit down at a desk to study for countless hours when she could be doing… well, anything else, really. She does have a natural affinity towards math and science, particularly anything dealing with physics and chemistry. You know, the fun stuff. She even built her own weapon from scratch a few years back, and she’s pretty proud of it. Her intelligence largely relies on her intuition, quick wit, and quicker reactions. Sit her down in front of a map and tell her to plan out an intricate operation to steal information from a fortified enemy base and she’ll just stare at it blankly and shrug. But when all that fancy planning has gone to shit in the heat of battle, there is nobody better at winging it and getting things done than Cassie.

[b]Appearance[/b]
CJ stands at an even 5’8 and weighs in at about 145lbs. Her love of exercise and sports for the fun of it makes her exceedingly fit, and she has a surprising amount of upper body strength. Her hair is about shoulder length and naturally a mousy brown, with a few lighter sunstreaks making an appearance every now and then. Everything about her face are expressive and animated, from her big doe eyes that are a brown so dark that in lower lights they appear black to her mobile mouth, to the interesting set of her nose that looks to have been broken a few times, the crooked lift of her eyebrows, and the dimpled smirk she often employs. Her sense of style is pretty simple, and most would consider her a tomboy. Tee shirts, jeans, and sneakers are her go-to, or sports apparel… anything comfortable and easy to move in, really.

[b]Weapon[/b]
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Cassie’s weapon is a buster type sword she made with a special little twist to give it a little more umph. Basically two swords fused into one via several support/spacers, this beast of a weapon stands at least 5ft tall from hilt to points. The blades are made from an incredibly strong metal alloy, allowing them to be hollow without fear of breaking. Within the blades are housed electromagnetic coils that run down their lengths.This is so that the pistoning weight located between the two blades can move quickly up and down the weapon, effectively allowing her to change the center of gravity and put far more momentum behind her hits. A little switch on her hilt near the guard changes the direction of the accelerator, and the power cell for the coils are also housed there. Should an enemy’s weapon get trapped between any of the spacers between her blades, she can also activate the switch to smash it with the accelerator or twist it from their grip. Cassie can pack quite the punch with her sword.

[b]Biography[/b]
Cassie was born in a small village of around three hundred people that exists on the the cusp of the Anatolian wilds and the shores of a large glacial lake. She had three older brothers (Dieter, Felix, and Kurt) and one sister (Minna) at the time of her birth, and while her mother took care of their too tiny house and too many children, her father was a woodsmen and trapper. He’d spend most of his days trapping animals whose pelts would one day end up lining the inside of an aristocrats coat or some such, or chopping wood in preparation of the long, harsh winters. The kids, of course, would help where they could depending on their age at the time. The Jurco family wasn’t rich, or even well off, but what they lacked in material gains they made up for in their closeness. 

Being the baby of the family (at least until she was six, when her mother popped out the twins Lucas and Lara), meant that Cassie grew up being the brunt of every joke, teasing, and fights between the children. She didn’t seem to mind, however, and still tailed her older siblings like a puppy as they had misadventures in the town and surrounding areas. As she grew she became somewhat of a staple in the village, the sweet talking little girl with a the crooked smile that caused mostly harmless mischief in the name of fun. 

She and her dad have always had a special relationship, and the cheerful giant that he was taught her most of her understanding of the world. Cassie is very much a daddy’s girl, and has always lived in a way she thought her father would approve. And he, in turn, knew that his fifth child was something different from the rest and that she was destined for more than being a fisherman’s wife in their small town. Maybe he could sense the spirits that begun residing within her, or maybe it was just fatherly intuition. So when Cassie turned eight, he wanted to send her off to the city of Juno to be tested at one of their annual exams meant to find the most promising children in Anatolia and offer them scholarships from the many military academies around the world. He scraped together all of the family’s savings just to make the long trip to Juno for her and himself, believing without a doubt that it’d be worth it to see his little girl live the life she was meant for.

She passed the tests; crushed them as much as an eight year old little girl from a backwoods town could. Cassie never understood exactly what it was they were looking for, or what it was that they found in her, but several academies made a bid for her admittance. Her father ultimately chose for her to go to Oakridge as it was the most prestigious of the lot. There, he knew, his daughter could have the world on her fingertips. 

Soon she was shot off into space, or at least as far as Elysium, and away from her family for the first time in her young life. She wouldn’t have called herself the wide-eyed country girl when she got there, but there was definitely some gawking going on in those first few days on the station. It didn’t take her long to make an abundance of friends and acquaintances, being friendly and open even at that age, and she became one of those kids everyone at least knew about at the academy if only because she had introduced herself to them out of the blue. 

Her life at the academy has always been about excitement. She was on every sports program the school had to offer for at least a short time and her daredevil antics around the academy grounds have often made her the bane of every faculty member’s existence. She’s never really done anything bad enough to get expelled, so at least there’s that, though her exceptional performance with all things physical and combat-oriented probably helped her case. That, and her friends saving her from trying out the dumbest stunts.

She has calmed down a little with age, though her compulsive nature is still evident. Cassie has even shown quite a pension for maturity when the time calls for it, and it often surprises people to hear that the vast majority of the monthly allowance she gets from the academy is actually sent back home to her family in Anatolia and that she keeps in contact with every single member.

[b]Spirits[/b]
[i]“Push”[/i]
[i]Element[/i]: Earth
[i]Ability[/i]: Vigilance 
[i]Status[/i]:Vigor
[i]Description[/i]: This spirit gives Cassie the ability to push metal. If the thing she is pushing at weighs less than her, or is not anchored down to something, if will go flying directly away from her. If the object weighs more or is anchored, she will fly directly from it. For instance, Cassie can toss a coin over a ledge and push on it, causing it to shoot to the ground like a bullet, but if she continues to push said coin while it has the weight of the ground supporting it, Cassie will shoot up into the sky. “Push” along side it’s sibling spirit “Pull” exemplify the qualities of balance, force of will, and focus.

[i]“Pull”[/i]
[i]Element[/i]: Earth
[i]Ability[/i]: Swiftness
[i]Status[/i]:Might
[i]Description[/i]: This spirit gives Cass the ability to pull on metal. It works in the same fashion as “Push,” only opposite. Using these two spirits in tandem can allow her to either throw a metal wearing opponent around like a rag doll, or whip herself around the battlefield with the force of a freight train. “Pull” along with its sibling spirit “Push” exemplifies the qualities of balance, force of will, and focus.

[i]“Tornado Blast”[/i]
[i]Element[/i]: Air
[i]Ability[/i]: Lifelink
[i]Status[/i]: Imperil
[i]Description[/i]:This spirit creates a small, but powerful tornado to rip through the battlefield, picking up anything it can (to include smaller, lightweight enemies) only to be launched at a specified target in a vortex of wind and debris. Depending on what the tornado has picked up it end up being nothing more than a stinging nuisance, to causing decent damage. This spirit exemplifies luck, adaptability, and intuition. 

[i]“Flame Aura”[/i]
[i]Element[/i]: Fire
[i]Ability[/i]: Trample
[i]Status[/i]: Armor
[i]Description[/i]: This spirit wreaths the users body completely in fire, creating a shield that can cause damage if in close proximity or even light an enemy on fire upon touch. This spirit exemplifies enthusiasm, rebelliousness, and passion.

[b]Relations[/b]
[hider=Wren] Wren is Cassie’s partner in crime, albeit sometimes a reluctant one. Not only is Wren willing to partake in any shenanigans that may ensue, but she is artfully masterful at reining Cass away from the most idiotic of her ideas. As the two of them are both in-your-face, melee combatants, Cassie knows that she always has a challenging and willing sparring partner. Wren is also usually there to feel affronted for Cassie when she probably should, and Cassie is there to act as the friendly go-between for Wren. On the battlefield the two of them working in tandem are a force to be reckoned with, and Creator be with you when they start combining their spirit abilities in a flurry of physical and magical attacks.[/hider]

[hider=Aurelia] Probably the least likely friendship of the lot, it almost seems like Cassie should not have survived Aurelia’s wrath for as long as she has, let alone be among her circle of friends. Cass has made it a personal vendetta to get Aurelia to lighten up and show a little humor once and awhile, though her progress has shown miniscule improvement at best. What Aurelia probably doesn’t realize is that the two of them have somewhat of a symbiotic relationship. For one, Cassie is fond of throwing herself directly into Aurelia’s path for not only the fun of it, but because the other girl’s brash, condoning attitude towards her reminds Cass of her older siblings’ teasing. Coming from such a tight-knit family as she was, it helps Cassie fight off the homesickness she gets from time to time. And the benefit for Aurelia? Well, Cass is the perfect target for her.. angst. She doesn’t get offended or angry by Aurelia’s insults, and if she’s fuming at Cass, she’s not doing it to the other, more hot-headed members of their circle.[/hider] 

[hider=Eric] If Cassie were to try to pin down her and Eric’s friendship, she’d probably tell you that he is her mother hen, and she is the one that gets him to loosen that tight collar of his. Or that she’s the jelly to his toast. Whereas Wren can usually be persuaded into joining in on the fun of Cassie’s misadventures, Eric acts more along the lines of her safety net. At the time she never really thinks she’ll need such a thing, as she pretty much always figures her ideas will pan out, but it’s always nice to have someone to lean on when limping her way to the infirmary after a stunt gone wrong. 

He also is one of the few people that sees the more intellectual facets of Cassie on a regular basis. Sure, the others love sparring with her as she’s a skilled and unpredictable opponent (and she loves fighting with them too), but rarely do they seek her out for more academic pursuits. Which is understandable, mind you, for her normal behavior and demeanor do a fairly good job of making her seem like she’s not capable of much more than a witty remark. However, her deep understanding of the way things move makes her quite adept at more than just fighting. Eric gets that, it seems, or just realized that if Cassie could build an electromagnetic sword on her own, she could probably help him finagle with his own weapon.[/hider]

[hider=Ito]Cassie and Ito are about as close to being siblings that two people from opposite upbringings possibly could be, though if you asked they’d both adamantly claim that they hold the “big” sibling role in the relationship. They’re particularly protective of one another. Cass knows that Ito has her back in all things; her overwatch through and through. In turn, she comes running at his call for help. Hell, she even gave him an weird, trapezoid shaped chunk of metal to keep on him in battle so she could easily [i]Pull[/i] herself to him should he need close range support. 

They both seem to strive to teach the other a little something about their respective life philosophies and have devised an odd tactic that works in both their favors: the haggle technique. If Cass wants Ito to do an activity of her choice, she’ll have to do one of his choice. Of course, these plans are usually paired with stipulations that they agree upon beforehand as well.[/hider]

[hider=Selene]Cassie both loves and hates that Selene is her leader. On the one hand, Cassie is not too fond of being told what to do, especially when what she wants and what is wanted of her are two totally different things. On the other hand, Cass is fully aware of her own inability to lead, lacking the strategic mind, foresight, or even the desire to be responsible for pretty much everything. So, if she has to have a leader it might as well be someone who has all those things. In spades. Several decks worth. In fact, Cass has even watched Selene in the process of concocting some of her larger battle plans for their simulations and it’s pretty much convinced her that the Selene has a secret spirit that gives her the ability to magic the damned things from her pocket. That has gotten her Cassie’s respect, and her propensity for ensuring their group’s safety has gotten her Cassie’s unfaltering loyalty. 

As far as their friendship is concerned, they share an understanding that is unique among their group; they are both the small town girl in a megacity. Life might have thrown different things at them that caused them to grow into two distinctive people, but Cassie likes to think that they started off from the same core stuff. And while Cassie is far more likely to seek out Wren or Ito for the vast majority of things, in the rare instances she finds herself really needing to confide in someone it’s usually Selene.[/hider]


[b]Trivia-[/b]
[list][*]Cassie’s favorite snack is peanut butter, creamy style. It’s not odd to see her walking around eating a glob of it on a spoon.
[*]For a long time at Oakridge, it was Cassie’s goal to become an UDF fighter/test pilot. However, when she was actually old enough to test for aptitude (at 13) she failed the exam miserably. 
[*]She keeps a handful of Anatolian coins in her pocket in case of “extreme lack of metal emergencies” so that she can still utilize her 'Push' and 'Pull' spirits.
[*]Once as a kid, her siblings locked her into the firewood storage box outside the house for a prank and forgot to let her out… for six hours. Consequently, Cassie suffers from a moderate case of claustrophobia. 
[*]Cassie has gone on a lot of dates with a lot of guys, but never has she had a romantic relationship reach the one month mark. She generally runs them ragged or gets bored too quickly for them to last that long.
[*]She snores due to a deviated septum.
[*]You can always tell after Cassie has called home and talked with one of her family members as her Anatolian accent, which is now normally so slight that it borders on nonexistent (she hasn't lived there since she was eight, after all), becomes noticeable for a bit before wearing off again.[/list]