Basic Info: Full name is Cassidy Adalyn Shareef-Burnquist, Mixed Saudi/Pakistani/Brazilian-American, 17 years old, star sign is Aries, aroace transfeminine nonbinary (She/her pronouns), Light Element Specialist, character motif is musicians and conductors.
Family: Cassidy is the youngest child of a blended family, consisting of mother Zahia Shareef-Burnquist, father Alberto “Bertie” Shareef-Burnquist, older half-brother Rabi Shareef-Burnquist, older half-sibling Mumtaz Shareef-Burnquist, and older half-sister Cleo Shareef-Burnquist. Zahia works as an interpreter, Bertie works as an interior designer, Rabi is twenty-three and works as an engineer, Mumtaz is twenty-one and a college student studying to become a psychologist, and Cleo is eighteen and a recent high school graduate who’s still trying to figure out where she wants to go from there. Cassidy is very close to her parents - she’s absolutely her father’s daughter and her mother is her biggest role model and aspiration in life - but her relationship with her siblings was pretty rocky at first, stemming from how she was born right after their parents remarried and thus they had to deal with having a baby sibling on top of everything else, but they’ve mellowed out in recent years and are on decent terms with one another.
Personality: If there’s one thing Cassidy is famous for, it’s how perfect she is by far. She gives 110% for everything and anything she does, never stopping until whatever she does is nothing short of complete and proper, and doesn’t settle for anything less. She’s considered an ace student at her school and is admired by all, and carries herself with a very confident air. She finds herself fascinated by everything and anything, and has dabbled in just about any field you can think of - learning languages, arts, music, sports, you name it, she’s done it and won it. Everything she’s done, she’s been the best at, and she prides herself in her extensive string of accomplishments in every field she’s chosen.
But, underneath her confident façade lies an insecure and self-conscious girl who’s maybe a little too aware of the standards people hold her to. Her sense of pride is incredibly fragile and she constantly fears people looking down on her, and because of this she struggles to open up to others as she doesn’t want to seem weak or unreliable. This sense of pride also makes it hard for her to turn down any sort of challenge, no matter the kind, making her incredibly competitive as a result. She has a tendency to overwork herself, and has a hard time actually relaxing and enjoying herself, because all she can think about is how she can or should be improving herself. And when things go wrong, well... That’s better not said.
Life on Earth: Ever since she was a young girl, Cassidy was famous for being the best of everything—she got straight As in all her classes, was the head of every sports team she’s been in and won every contest she entered. Everyone knew Cassidy Shareef-Burnquist as this perfect person who spent ever waking moment working her hardest, and she was proud of it. Even as she got older, as things got tougher and busier, she never stopped doing her all—from day to night she spent her days studying, heading the sports teams at her school and honing her talents, only leaving just enough time for the necessities and not a moment of rest otherwise. Though, the more she did, the more she found herself torn—she enjoyed these things less and less, and doing the things she did felt more like a chore than something she wanted to do. Just what was she supposed to do now? She came too far to just give up, and everyone would be so disappointed in her, but just thinking of doing one more sports game, painting one more picture, studying one more thing left her so exhausted. And though she continued to ace everything she tried without a single blink, her parents feared that this path was taking its toll on their daughter. Though she prided herself on her accomplishments, she never seemed to actually enjoy doing the things she did, she didn’t have many friends and she always seem to carry herself with a bit of sadness. Despite this, whenever they asked her about it, Cassidy would cheerfully deny it and just move on to the next thing.
So, one day, as Cassidy brought up her desire to dabble in music, her mother offered her a strange preposition—find something just for yourself to enjoy, not to show off to those around you. Cassidy didn’t understand a word she said or what she meant, but nonetheless her mother entertained her latest venture and presented her with a flute, under the condition that she was to practice it and hone her music skills without entering any contests, joining any orchestras... This was a venture solely for Cassidy, and nobody else. Cassidy wasn’t entirely pleased with her mother’s proposal, but nevertheless abided and practiced her music skills solely for herself, finding that for once... She actually found something she enjoyed! Without the pressure she felt to live up to the expectations those around her held like with her other occupations, she found herself having fun with the things she did for the first time in what felt like forever, and devoted herself wholly to her music studies with whatever free time she could scrounge up. Whenever she felt worried or stressed about the choices she made, or the things she did, playing her flute made all those feelings blow away with the notes.
Arriving in Skylands and Life There: Then, one day, as she went to practice her flute... She found that it was missing, even though she knew for certain she had put it away in its proper place! She scoured her whole room in pursuit of her missing flute, yet found it wasn’t there at all—but, she found a strange door she had never noticed before that brimmed with light, and opened it to find a strange light spirit holding her beloved flute’s case! The spirit flew into a portal behind it and Cassidy made chase in turn, being lead to a breathtakingly beautiful temple that left her awestruck. Cassidy followed the spirit to the heart of the temple, where it imbued itself within the case, completely transforming both the case... And the flute inside, which had become a beautiful crystalline flute that radiated with a kind of energy Cassidy had never felt before. Cassidy took the flute and went back to where the portal was, wondering how she would explain this all when she found that the portal had disappeared and Master Eon had arrived! She was confused and stunned as he took her back to the Academy and explained what had happened, about her being a Portal Master who was taken by a rift, and how to get back home. He also explained that her flute had been transformed into a powerful conductor of Light magic, allowing her to cast spells with a simple song—and, it could even change forms so she could fight at close range too, becoming a powerful crystal polearm with a single word! Cassidy was blown away by all this, wondering if perhaps she was dreaming... But no, she wasn’t. Now, Cassidy uses her music not just for her own pleasure, but as a powerful weapon to aid her allies on the battlefield!
Powers: Using the powerful Light Magic imbued in her flute, Cassidy can cast spells through the songs she plays. Different songs give different effects, such as aiding her allies or attacking her enemies, but each one is incredibly powerful nonetheless—she can even splice songs to combine their effects! Her flute has an alternate polearm mode she can call upon for when she wants to get into the heat of the fight herself, and she has a fair share of regular light and crystal based spells she can call upon whenever she needs them.
Relationships:
Adriana: As someone who also has a decent knowledge of botany, Cassidy won over Adriana immediately and often spends time helping her tend to Eon’s gardens with the Life Skylanders. The two of them have a bit of a playful rivalry, often teasingly attempting to one-up each other on their own knowledge of plants and their care, but have a strong respect and admiration for each other nonetheless.
Eugenie: Eugenie admires her a whole lot and wants to get closer to her, but Cassidy has a tendency to keep her distance. Maybe it’s because that sad look in Eugenie’s eyes, the one she sees in the rare moments where the two of them are alone, reminds Cassidy a bit too much of herself... But whatever the reason, Cassidy keeps her at arm’s length despite her attempts to get Cassidy to really connects with her and the other portal masters, regarding her more as an ally she works with than a friend.
Qamar (OC): The two of them are a bit of an odd duo—a confident girl who’s good at everything and a timid, shy boy who cries at seemingly everything. However, the two of them are as close as close can be! Cassidy doesn’t know why, but something about Qamar makes her feel like she can really let loose and enjoy herself. Maybe it’s his patient and non-judgmental demeanor, maybe it’s because of how he’s stuck by her side no matter how much she screws up, but either way she connects with him in a way she doesn’t really connect with the others.
Molly (OC): Cassidy’s tutored Molly in the Light Element’s magic here and there, and Molly admires her and her many skills greatly... Maybe a little too much. Molly talks her up like she’s Cassidy’s biggest fan, being quick to gush over how cool and talented she is, and while Cassidy appreciates the thought it does tend to get a little embarrassing for her after a while.
The Skylanders: As a portal master, Cassidy considers it her duty to lead them accordingly, and while she’s friendly with them she thinks of them a bit more like coworkers than teammates or friends, keeping a comfortable distance from the rest. That being said, she and Spotlight do respect each other’s similar devotion to duty, and she’s found a bit more kinship with some of the more musically-inclined Skylanders due to their similar passions.
Trivia and Voiceclaims:
- Much like how Dante’s design was cobbled together from leftover assets for Version One’s male portal master avatar, Cassidy was made using leftover assets for the female portal master avatar, with her appearance being modeled after an alternate design for the avatar that frequently showed up in promotional material and her outfit being an unused alternate outfit for the avatar.
- Her Portal Master Skill icon was reused from a skill icon for Spotlight.
- She frequently goes by Cass for short.
English Voiceclaim: Cristina Vee
Japanese Voiceclaim: Kaori Mizuhashi
Korean Voiceclaim: Jeong-Mi Bae
