Cressida Racle

Cressida Olivia Racle is an oak tree. Kind of. She's a wood nymph, or dryad, attached to the oak. She comes from a prophetic copse (or 'family'), but she is unable to go into a trance or produce a prophecy. She is currently fourteen in human-perception years, making her 168 years old. (It's the tree thing.) The years pass, for her, like one human-perception year. She endured abuse from her family for her inablility to prophesize. Had one friend, an elf boy, Ebullio Vena, who sacrificed himself to her uncles so she could escape and go to Fitherington's. Sometimes called 'Cress', but only to her closet friends or very daring people.

Personality
Cressida is a quiet, solitary type. She has been thought of as a loner, due to her preference for silent companionship. When something (er, someone) makes her mad, she does one of two things- gets into an argument or retreats to her tree to sulk. The former occurs more often. Surprisingly, she moves quickly, not much like a tree at all. When nervous- and she's usually nervous- she goes into a "self-lockdown" and doesn't speak to anyone, bows her head, crosses her arms, and shuffles around. Or, if she must speak, she does so quietly and quickly, in a run-on sentence, second-guessing herself and apologizing. When overly tired or hungry or weak, she gets very defensive and weak, making it hard for people to help her. She also trembles like a leaf. Usually afraid of contact, due to her past.

Appearance
Cressida is scrawny and awkwardly jointed. She has long, wavy, dun-colored hair that flattens when it's wet, and is usually tangled up with leaves and twigs. She has freckles, and from a distance they make her cheeks and nose look lightly sunburnt. Her skin is tinged with brown and green and is rough to the touch, as it's essentially bark. Her eyes are hazel and swing back and forth between green and brown, but have red and orange specks toward the pupil which perfectly match the colors her leaves change to in autumn. As a nymph, her ears are drastically pointed and are almost perpendicular to her neck.

Her wardrobe consists of sweaters, t-shirts, jeans, and the occasional skirt and blouse from her past, which her tree pulls out at random. She doesn't wear shoes, preferring to wiggle her toes in the grass, dirt, or mud beneath them. Or stone.

Childhood
Cressida was planted several miles outside of the town Mytin. She was surrounded by her family- her mother, father, and siblings. No extended family was there, although they came to visit each time one of Cressida's siblings came of age. As a sapling, Cressida played with her brothers, sisters, and cousins, though she was never close to them. In fact, she﻿ was the youngest and she feared and hated everyone for the rituals they performed- she was never informed as to their purpose, and they stopped perfoming them before she was old enough to participate.

Her extended family came for her coming of age ceremony when she was turning thirteen (human-perception age). Her maternal uncles found her to be weak and susceptible to their wills, and soon she was doing tasks for them that far exceeded her ability and strength. Seeking respite, she slunk away to a nearby stream and met Ebullio Vena, an elf boy from a tribe across the stream. They were wary of each other at first, but soon, visiting the stream became a daily necessity for both of them. Cressida liked spending time with him, and they could share their troubles with one another. Vena often helped Cressida with her impossible tasks.

Then, the day came and she had to go to her coming of age ceremony, which, for the Racles, was to sit on the three-legged stool and speak your﻿ first prophecy. Cressida failed and fainted off the stool. After this, her uncles abused her even more relentlessly, so that she woke each morning, sore and frightened and went to bed each night even more sore and frightened. She was in constant pain, but her parents and siblings couldn't see this at all. No one but Vena could. Eventually, her extended family began preperations to leave, but they were planning to take something back with them- a slave. Cressida was their target.

They came for her when she was sitting by the stream with Vena. He gave her a chance to escape and she took it, leaving him behind. She ran, but she hasn't forgotten the look on his face as he was snared in the net. He was smiling at her and waving.

On the Run
Cressida stayed the night in Vena's tribe's land, then headed south. She spoke nothing of her past to her mentors and allies, but left them each after, at most, a month, fearing that her uncles were pursuing her. She doesn't know that Vena is alive, and condemns herself for letting him be 'murdered'. She thinks that even if they didn't kill him right away, he would be dead shortly or even already. Finally, she monitored Fitherington's School for the Magical for a month, having circled back near her copse. She decided it would be safe to stay there, for a while, at least.

Fitherington's
Cressida arrived at Fitherington's in the rain at her current age. She was welcomed in by an elf that she never saw again. She met James Flint and he reminded her of Vena, except less...hopeful. She immediately figured that he was one person she would want to be friends with, in her "shut up, it's quiet if you don't talk" way, and she thought he would understand that. She had difficulties with the food in the dining hall, because being a tree, she asked for sunlight, so she could make her own food through photosynthesis. She discovered that her nice uncles were made into books in the library and she met Tilda Iron and Dawn Allikin with James Flint, after she invited him to dinner. He gave her a narcissus flower, which to anyone else would seem like something to forget about, but it was the first thing that made Cressida's day in many years, and she keeps it safe. She is not planning to attend the Halloween Dance, but while on a class trip to Mytin, discovered Twilight and Dawn Allikin's secret. She has also met Ignace- Ignatius Quatuor Alzonus Ren the Third- and Celio Adrotti, though she wasn't really introduced, and briefly, Kira Fitherington and Claire Monsun (not at the same time).

Interests and Skills
Cressida never had much time to pay attention to what she likes to do, so she's at a loss at Fitherington's. She likes nature, being a part of it, and she'll often sit in her tree and watch the sun go down. She wants to know why she wasn't able to prophesize that day, and she wants to know the extent of her ability- or inability. She's good at worrying, hiding, and running.

Given time at Fitherington's, she knows somewhere in her mind that she will begin to understand things and answer her questions on her own, or with the help of friends she has yet to make.

Ebullio Vena
Vena is Cressida's first, only, and dearest friend. She confided much in him, but she knows little of him and his life. He kept many secrets from her, the most important of them being he is the heir of his tribe and is basically treated as a prince, and his friendship toward her is more than what she sees. He recently escaped her uncles and is waiting for her at Fitherington's, ready to surprise her.

Uncle Agamemnon
Agamemnon is Cressida's uncle and the source of all her pain. He is her archenemy. He works for S.H.A.D.O.W., but Cressida doesn't know about that and fears him for her past pain alone. He concealed the torture from his sister, Cressida's mother, so cleverly that she thought Cressida eloped instead of fled. He's still waiting to finish with Cressida, and every night he dreams of catching her and the fear and pain on her face. Cressida dreams of this, too.

James Flint
Cressida barely knows James, but she feels that given time, they can be silent companions- just as she and Vena were, right before he was captured. She isn't sure how or when this will happen, or even if he wants it to happen, but she can see that it's possible. Being Cressida, she's going to be overly cautious and apologetic until he tells her to stop, and then she'll apologize for apologizing. This is her nature.

Everyone Else
Cressida keeps her distance. She wants to be on speaking terms with most people, but "speaking terms" for Cressida is more like eye contact and a nod than "Hello, how was your weekend?". She wants to befriend Callie Ochre, even though she doesn't know her name and thinks of her as "the sphinx I might get answers from". Still, Cressida is overly cautious and won't- ever- take the first move in a friendship. Or at least, not a noticable first move. ("HelloI'mCressidaRacleI'dratherbefriendsthanenemiesasIhaveplentyofenemieswhoareyou?")