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OOC INFORMATION

Name: Mia
Are you over 18?: Yes
Contact: journal pm, please
Other characters: N/A
Permissions & opt-out: both right here

IC INFORMATION

Name: Cassius
Canon: Original
Age: Technically been awake for 15ish years? Appears as a mid-twenties man.
Gender: Presents as male
Species: Sentient Mass of Worms
Appearance: here
Canon point: A half-ish year after dealing with Ophira

History: Here

Personality answers:

3. Cassius would pick touch! His years with his hunter have left him with little respect for personal boundaries, and if he wasn't squirming in some corner without blinking, he'd be attached to his hunter's hip or his gardener's, molding himself to their shape, absorbing their warmth (because Cassius loves being warm), and changing his squirm to meet their heartbeats. Cas doesn't really smell or taste in the way normal people do - his sense of smell is limited because of his worms, and food is either “yeah, that's meat”, or too much if strayed far from his diet. His sense of sight is translated to him directly from worms and worm bits, so his sense of touch is pretty much the most valuable to him followed by his hearing.

As for coping, Cassius would be glued to both his hunter and his gardener 24/7, if not with his shell, then some maggoty extension of him they could keep close in a pocket or curled up around an ear (or, more in his Hunter’s case, buried inside of their chest). While he'd miss having his conversations (for Cassius is very conversational), he'd be mostly content with feeling their warmth, heartbeat, and knowing that his loved ones were safe. He would probably even go so far as to hibernate his main body to focus on feeling his family.


4. Physical appearance is kind of nebulous ground for Cassius considering he’s a massive pile of worms! He doesn’t really value what he looks like in the sense that he wants to be attractive or likes the way he looks, it's more that he’s attached to the familiarity and comfort his form provides. He finds satisfaction in being recognized and welcomed with warmth, at having an identity and a home in his people whether it be as a puddle of worms or person-shaped.

That all said, he is very aware that he is an unnerving creature to those that do not have a monster’s instincts, and has given his best in trying to appear as human as he possibly can. While a lot of the details still escape him - working eyes or warm cheeks, for example - he is constantly tweaking things here and there in an effort to scare the humans less. He loves humanity! He does not love it when they run away before he can ask his many, many questions.


8. Emotions, when it comes to Cassius, are things he is still trying to work through. While he does recognize things like happiness and satisfaction, the more negative side of emotion - anger, sadness, jealousy - is something he is still not all too familiar with, even after his years of living. Not to say he doesn't get upset, just that it's… harder. Harder to trigger, harder to control, harder to forgive.

A surefire way of truly upsetting him, though, would be achieved through not Cassius himself, but those he's grown attached to. See, Cassius doesn't feel much pain on the physical level, and he doesn't bear enough understanding of the intricacies of human tone and language to figure out when he's being slighted. He does, however, understand what it means when his gardener comes back to him bruised, or when his hunter is curled up isolated deep in his Garden. Cassius may not have much understanding of himself, but he understands his loved ones’ hurts and takes their pain onto himself. To truly upset Cassius, you would have to hurt his people.

His anger comes in the form of wasps and wormtrails up the legs. He is a monster at his core, and his upset can be just as monstrous. It comes like a swarm above and below, and it doesn't really stop until it burns itself out. Or, as is often the case, he can be soothed back by one of the hurt parties.

As for forgiveness - perhaps. But it would take work, depending on the hurts perceived.


9. Justice, to Cassius, is a merciless and brutal thing his hunter has carried on their shoulders for years. Don't hurt those that don't deserve it, hunt down the ones that do - it is one of the earliest lessons given to him by his hunter, and he has internalized it with all of the enthusiasm of a baby duck. He considers justice a relief, if not to the victims themselves, then to those that would have been next even if they aren't aware. Cassius sees justice in black and white, having utmost faith in his hunter’s judgement to weed out the worst.

If you take his hunter out of the equation though, things become painted in uncomfortable shades of grey. See, Cassius holds himself strictly to his hunter's moral code and has relied heavily on their ability to smell out the darker parts of humanity. Without his hunter there to tell him who is good and who is bad, Cassius… struggles. With no way of knowing who deserves justice (aside from seeing terrible acts himself), Cassius defaults to not acting at all. Now, this wouldn't be much of a problem for normal people, but Cassius has tied many things to justice - including his diet. His most common source of meat comes from those his hunter kills, acting as cleanup, and if he's unsure of a person's guilt, he'd rather turn his worms on each other (which he gains nothing from, effectively starving himself), or resort to less nutritious sources of meat, like fish.

Inventory:

A multi-tool pocket knife given to him by his Gardener. Has little worms etched into the metal. Cassius was told the answers to all the world's problems are held in it, and he is still trying to decipher them.

A baby's first letters book, worn with age and clearly loved.

A small gardening set, consisting of a watering can, a hand shovel, a hand rake, and a pair of gloves.

Powers/Abilities: 

Cassius' shell, made up entirely of recycled worm parts, has a few nifty tricks to it:

◦ It can shapeshift! Sort of. With enough time and elbow grease, Cas can change his size, shape, and color to whatever he feels like. Think of it as crimes-against-nature arts n crafts! It's a process that he doesn't undergo often - he quite likes the way he looks, and won't venture out unless prompted by others.

◦ It has regenerative properties! Sort of. If his shell takes any damage that results in small tears or cuts, he can glue himself back together with the power of worm goo and tiny mouths. Anything more serious requires him to make more parts to patch himself up with, which takes time. If the entire shell is unsalvageable, Cassius will abandon it in favor of making a new one. This is a lengthy, meticulous process that leaves his worms exposed until he can make himself another skin.

◦ It doesn't feel pain. Human bodies have nervous systems, Cassius' doesn't (yet), and any pain his worms would feel is muted. You could tear this boy wide open and he'd feel more put out than anything.
 

Cassius' worms, the most important part of him, also have a few things to them:

◦ They're carnivores! Even the most earthworm-like of his mass eats meat, and they're pretty good at it, chewing through flesh like softened butter. Their little mouths are strong enough to bore through bone, too.

◦ They can change shape, species, and size to Cassius' will. It's easiest for him to do when they're still within his shell, so they tend to keep to whatever form they take when out of it. That said, while his worms can take on the look of most worms, maggots, and things in between, there are certain types he cannot mimic, such as hammerhead worms or parasitic ones.
 
◦ Cassius has access to all of his worms' senses, and has the ability to focus completely on one, or muddle them out. He also always knows where his worms are, and often uses this to keep tabs on those he cares about. Both of these peter out the further his worms get from him, and his worms will become dormant once they have left his radius of control completely (which can extend up to a city block). Outside of his radius, the feedback amounts to a muddled suggestion of senses, and an idea of a direction.
 
◦ His consciousness follows his shell and the worms within it when outside of his Garden. He does not know what would happen should every worm within his shell die while being unable to access his Garden, but the best guess is... well. Death. Without access to his Garden, Cassius' worm replenishment is limited to how fast they can reproduce.

 

And speaking of his Garden:

◦ It's a pocket dimension that houses an unfathomable amount of worms of all shapes and sizes! It hosts an incredibly large hedge maze - the only thing aside from the roses and the Gazebo in the heart of it that isn't made of worms. The grass is worms, the walls are worms, and in the high, high ceiling, dormant worms the width of skyscrapers mimic the night sky.

◦ His Garden can appear anywhere Cassius has been before, but has to meet specific conditions (cannot have too thick a layer between it and earth, cannot be placed upon metal, has to have enough space topside to fit his gate, etc) for it to take root.

◦ With his Garden near, Cassius is pretty close to immortal - when the loss of his worms becomes too great, he can simply just summon more through the gate to replenish what worms he has lost. In his Garden, however, Cassius is all of the worms.

 

Nerf notes: For his Garden, I figured he'd have access cut off completely! Either to do with something not meshing well with it in the soil, or just because of the radiation in general acting as a barrier.

For his worms, I was planning on self-nerfing his range to somewhere within a dozen feet for his immediate/active range, due to having an anchor now firmly in the neck of his shell.

Other:

Cassius is pretty good at gardening. Being made of things that can root through the soil harmlessly helps with that.
 

Samples: Here & Here

Player Goals: So, real talk - I'm new to Dreamwidth games! And rusty as an RPer in general. I wanted to app with Cassius because he's comfortable to me and I thought he'd have some interesting interactions to offer. He's also never been on his own, and I wanted to explore how he'd grow as a person/monster without the influence of his Hunter. Personal personal goals are to meet new people, make some friends, make Cassius grow into a Real BoyTM.

Soul Choice: Terra! Specifically, a climbing rose. Cassius has always had a connection to roses outside of his worms because of his Garden, and I just want to kind of lean into that part of his aesthetics. Plus, y'know, some good potential for the HorrorsTM.