Chesterfield Act Registry of the Expressive Database
File #13 Mar 2018 18:34
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 Alycia Debnam-Carey |
Cassandra Thibodeaux Baumann was born in a modern hospital on the outskirts of St. Martinville, Louisiana on April 15, 1995, Cassandra had a unremarkable childhood from the outside. Her parents, Evangeline and Alphonse Baumann, worked in the city proper; Alphonse was an assistant District Attorney, and Evangeline was retired from the National Guard and worked at an electric supply store, leaving Cassandra's day care to Mama Marie, her grandmother.
This was one of the major juxtapositions in Cassandra's life. While her parents were rooted in the mundane world, teaching her everything they could to survive and thrive there and ignoring the old ways, Mama Marie, a voodoo priestess, saw something special in the little girl that she hadn't seen in a long time. It was due to her that Cassandra didn't wear shoes until the age of two, for instance, to get in contact with the earth better, or was discovered painted up in white as she crawled around the house, playing with a raccoon tail pinned to her diaper. It didn't make sense to them but as a concession to Mama Marie, the put-upon family just threw up their hands and said fine. When Cassie got older, Mama Marie told the little girl that she saw something special inside of her, and would start teaching the little girl about the other world, how nature worked and the way life ebbed and flowed, about how there were invisible things just outside of the realm of possibility. While it never got as far as Cassie actually taking part in Voodoo rituals, Mama Maire did let her dress up in the garb and paint her face like a skull - albeit a cute one with little black hearts and dots that made her look like a doll - so she was a little guilty by association. Mama Marie even let the girl come to see several Fetes for the Lwa. That was one seeming contradiction of many in Cassandra's life - Voodoo on Saturday, Catholic Church on Sunday, but since Voodoo was a combination of the Catholic and Vodun religions, along with other cultural artifacts, it was kind of a common thing around where she was, so it suited her just fine. This juxtaposition of religious backgrounds manifested itself in Cassandra knowing a great deal about those two religions - not enough to define herself as a dyed in the wool practitioner of either, but knowledgeable enough to get by in both, and also manifested in a few little superstitious quirks that might be looked at oddly in larger cities that aren't as culturally diverse as New Orleans..
Law and order was one thing that was very important in Cassandra's upbringing - her father often said that doing the right thing was the most important thing, and laws helped determine the difference between what you could do and what was right to do. That's something that Cassandra took to heart. She started studying philosophy, mostly thanks to an old textbook she found in the attic of her house left over from her Father's college days. Cassie turned into the person the teachers hated to ask questions to, since her answers, while correct, also offered critique on the method of questioning, or on the way a question was formed or an argument that exposed some unseen bias. Quality of education actually improved in the classes she attended, since the little girl had a reputation of not accepting 'just because' as an answer. This philosophical study continued through high school and, even now, she occasionally picks up another book to help her get a new perspective or to consider things from a different point of view. She attended the local catholic school and did well, making lots of friends. The stereotypical nerdy girl, she loved to read and could often be found with her nose buried in a detective novel when she was done with her homework, retreating into the confines of her mind to think and imagine and discover new worlds hidden behind the turn of a page.
The solar maximum in 2006 came and went, with very little effect in Cassandra's parish. Sure, there was one boy in high school who mysteriously disappeared a few weeks after, but nothing was put together until a lot later. No one knew where he went - there wasn't even a party, and that didn't sit right with Cassandra, but she pushed that sense of wrongness down by telling herself that he was due to graduate soon anyway, so he could have dropped out or gone into the military. It really wasn't known where he went. Still, that was someone else. Cassandra was entering high school with a plan. Graduate, apply to college, study philosophy, become a lawyer like dad.
Funny how things change in an instant.
Public high school was supposed to be where everything changed, and in many ways, it did. At first, fitting in with the older kids was a little worrying, but things seemed to go okay once she learned the social niceties. She was starting to fit in, and after a while, she actually got invited to the first big party of 2010. This was the first time the cool kids had decided to invite her, so Cassandra did her best. She dressed up, raided her dad's liquor cabinet for a bottle of vodka, and headed out to the bayou to party around the bonfire. Of course, this being high school, there was drinking in addition to Cassandra's contribution, and she had a little too much punch. In the middle of the party, surrounded by high schoolers, her ability manifested for the first time. A World War II helmet from the back of someone's truck was plunked on her head and, when she reached up to take it off, her broadcast power triggered wildly, giving the entire party a view of the the assault on Normandy beach during D-day from the point of view of a panicked private, centered on her. Parents were called and, in a panic, the entire party was tested. Cassandra was found to be SLC-Expressive, along with one other girl who immediately went away to visit her 'aunt' in New York.
This effectively ended her social status in high school. She tried to attend school after, but ended up staying home after the chilly reception didn't start to thaw after a couple of weeks. The explosion in New York on live television was watched from beneath a blanket from her room, and the news that followed regarding the evolved drove away any sympathizers she might have still had. The war ended everything else.
In 2011 the coup happened and the second civil war began. After the one-two punch of events in November, Cassandra was held back from school, trying to start working through mail to get her diploma, rarely going outside. Her only companion was her family and her Mama Marie, who told her that this was happening for a reason and to trust in the universe, and help came from a strange place. The Department of Health and Human Services of Louisiana, after the first salvos of the opening war, sprang into action to take care of its evolved citizens, and not in the way you might think. A small group pulled the files of as many evolved in the state as they could and then, while fleeing the first battles in New Orleans, went to all the places there were evolved in a ragtag batch of vehicles. Other anti-evolved groups were on the same path, seeking the same targets, but the 'good guys' got to her first with a military convoy, taking her one place and her family - along with Mama Marie, somewhere else. As they snaked through the parishes, avoiding other more violent groups, Cassandra, along with several other evolved children, were finally deposited at The Alphonse LaCroix military school in Lafayette, Louisiana. Nicknamed Xavier's School for the Gifted shortly after arrival - a pun that did not get any easier to overlook as time passed - she and her new friends settled in to watch America tear itself apart over something as simple as fear.
The group - five boys, four girls and one person that was fluid with their form - at the drop of a hat - fell into an easy truce. They started taking classes from the teachers that remained in the safety of the bayou, each one getting a decent education that could be counted as a high school certificate. They also practiced their abilities, honing them, finding things that worked well for them, and learning their limits. Entertainment often consisted of random man-made objects being handed over to Cassandra - with a little local corn whisky in her - and the resulting 'projection' was displayed, with good things being saved for review later. Her favorite was an oar that a family used to paddle along the bayou - it reminded her of home and her family, while the boys really seemed to enjoy a bikini top from the fifties. They rarely left the school, remaining behind the anonymity of the swamp's trees, only going into town every month or two to get news, to call their parents at a predetermined number, and pick up a few things that they ran out of. And there they stated throughout the entirety of the war, with the nuclear strike that devastated California and the EMP that devastated the west coast barely registering, since they were so far away. "Millions Dead' reported over short wave was shocking, and there were few classes for the next few weeks that did not discuss the ramifications of that loss. Her sense of justice was kindled anew - she would find a way to be a force of justice in the world after the war was done.
When the war ended in 2014, the news was taken with a hefty sense of skepticism, but as aid supplies started filtering in, the group left the swamp and rejoined their families in the safe zones. Louisiana, being mostly out of the way, was relatively unscathed outside of the major cities, so she was actually able to go home. That burning need to help, though, came in spades when she heard about the SESA being created. She quickly volunteered for the agency, and after displaying her power to replay the past, started undergoing rush training as a field agent, graduating with high marks. This wasn't her goal of being a lawyer, but it was a goal of helping to bring justice to those who were wronged, and fulfilled Mama Marie's prophecy of her being a powerful seer. She was extremely helpful in cracking some harder-to-solve cases, even getting some evidence for Wolfhound, directing them to a suspect from a discarded doctor's kit. Her help implicated a very well-regarded physician as a member of Humanis First and saddled him with the name of "the Crimson Horror", a PhD that specialized in brutally sterilizing evolved without anesthesia or sanitation. And now, at the end of 2017, she finds herself headed to New York to assist with the newly established safe zone. A SESA agent will be required and there's no one better that she could think of. Except maybe her dad.
Cassandra is an idealist. Quiet, reflective, and interested in serving humanity, she has a well-developed value system that she tries to live toward and is quite willing to defend with the willpower to keep it up for a long time. Extremely loyal, Cassandra can adapt to just about anything and generally has a laid back attitude unless some strongly-held value is threatened. Mentally quick, she's able to see multiple possibilities at once, thanks to her philosophical training and evolved ability. Very interested in understanding the whys of things, rather than simply solving the issue before moving on to the next one.
Cassandra's evolved ability is Projective Retrocognition. Simply put, she is able to discern the past and past events by either being physically present where an event occurred or handling an object that was present. This allows her to subconsciously read the psychic echoes present and, with effort, create vivid illusions that can be experienced by those in her near vicinity.
Projection: If Cassandra was in a museum or antique shop and wanted to use her ability and picked up an opium pipe, after a few moments everyone might find themselves seemingly transported back to the 1800s in an opium den for the duration of the vision, experiencing the same sights, sounds, scents, smells that someone who was there would have in full color and dimension, almost like an overlay of the past being played over the present day. This is more of a hit-and-miss application of her power, and can last for up to a minute with concentration and can affect anyone within a 10x10 space or a standard room.
Focused Projection: The more nuanced use of Cassandra's ability is focusing and searching for a particular event that occured. If Cassandra was at a crime scene or picked up the murder weapon, once she was attuned to the object or place and found the right spot, she could replay the room at the time of the murder. Everyone present would see the perpetrator pick up the gun and shoot the victim as though they were standing there as helpless bystanders, able to move around inside the vision three dimensionally. This is a more time consuming use of her ability, and there are many things that affect the accuracy and time invested to get the necessary projection. One factor is how much time has passed since an event took place - sooner is easier. Getting a focused projection of how a knight in the 14th century used a sword to slaughter peasants might take days of concentration, while finding out how someone escaped from a room a half hour ago would probably be a lot easier. This ability also depends on how familiar a situation is to Cassandra and how many people moved through the area in the intervening time. A crowded street would have a lot more psychic clutter to weed through than an apartment that had a single resident. The more emotionally charged an item or location is, the further she can go back. A sword that was used to murder 500 people would allow her to go further back than a coffee cup.
Retrocognitive Viewpoint: One of the more interesting aspects of Cassandra's ability is what she calls 'the Blade Runner trick.' Based on an old movie from before the war, the Blade Runner trick allows her to do a lot of the investigative studying of scenes by shifting viewpoints inside the echo and following particular people inside the echo. This effectively allows her to 'look' from the perspective of different people in the scene and focus on particular points. If something interesting is found, she can shift perspectives to that individual echo and continue along that trail, until another is found, and so on, much like a bloodhound following clues. The total amount of 'hops' she can make is anywhere from three to four before it gets too complicated and straining to go further than that. This trick also takes quite a bit of effort and an escort, since this actually necessitates her being blindfolded.
Retrocognitive Confusion: This is used to confuse and distort the senses of anyone seeking to cause her or her companions harm by making escapes easier. By tapping into the background resonance of an area, Cassandra can project multiple ten to twenty second loops of the past at the same time, making a deserted street appear crowded, or having multiple past images of a particular individual appear scattered around the room. Imagine a film looping over and over again and you get an idea of exactly what she does. The more moments she projects, the more unclear they get, becoming faded at five and insubstantial at ten. Any more than ten requires boosting or intoxication, and even then, she'll need to be helped due to the massive amount of concentration required.
Limitations, Enhancements, and Drawbacks: Cassandra's ability is not a classical psychic one. She can't read minds or predict what will happen on a coin flip - she can only see what has already happened using her ability. Who's that killer? She doesn't know - it's just some person or a scene that she can project at this point, unless they helpfully drop their wallet or say their name out loud. People entering the room after the vision starts takes a good ten to fifteen seconds to 'tune in,' which might be disorienting when people and events start popping into view. Cassandra also isn't consciously able to tap into alternate timelines, dimensions, or worlds unless there is somehow an object that came from there to here or some broadcast she somehow happens to pick up.
One of the biggest limits to Cassandra's ability is the requirement that she be in the location an event happened or be able to physically handle an object with bare skin to get the appropriate resonance, and any use of the abilities other than Projection requires the use of some kind of blindfold to cover her eyes. She generally keeps a length of lined, woven silk in her pocket to facilitate this. This blindfold is required to a) cut off her sense of sight, making it easier to focus, b) keep people from freaking out when they see her pupils expand enough to make her eyes turn black, and c) soak up the ink-black tears that are an unfortunate result of her using her ability and keep them from ruining her outfit. While projecting, Cassandra is essentially blind to the outside world, her sense of sight completely overwritten by the images she's producing. Chairs and tables that have moved since the image or people who don't are major hazards to a projecting Cassie.
Intoxication with alcohol or narcotics increases the potency of Cassandra's ability in direct proportion to her level of intoxication. She sometimes takes a swig from a flask before 'going to work' to turn up the volume on her ability a little, and actually helps since a relaxed mind is a more receptive one. Heavy intoxication increases the potential of unwanted events overlapping and appearing outside of the events that she's looking for. Boosting of her ability using another evolved person's ability provides better control and focus, with less chance of the bad results and without the hangover in the morning.
There's sometimes a chance that Cassandra's projection is too powerful, potentially getting her 'lost' or 'stuck' for a little while, unable to escape. A person moving from the room just gets shuffled into the next room since it's beyond the range of her projection. This is particularly dangerous for Cassandra, as the line between what is present and what is past starts to blur and could potentially lead to injury as she tries to frantically escape from something she's projecting, centered on her, that is potentially tramuatizing, not real, or from something else entirely. This is basically impossible, since her power will keep going until she passes out.
Appendices
RP Hooks
- SESA Agent: An evolved member of SESA, Cassandra investigates problems, acts as the face of the agency, and otherwise does good deeds.
- Postcognitive: Her powers allow her to see into the past and broadcast it to a room full of people. Great for parties or finding where you left your keys!
- Lush: Cassie enjoys drinks and jazz cigarettes now and again, since they make her powers work more effortlessly. She sometimes indulges in harder things, but that's a very rare occasion. You might see her in a bar, entertaining people!