History

It was a warm day, late May, when Mishala Crescent was born to the world, child of a single mother. The infant didn’t realize how hard her parent was struggling to support her, or that the faith that had failed to keep her from premarital sex had been strong enough to keep her from having an abortion. All that she knew was that she was loved, and fed, and warm. And in return, she gave the unconditional love that only a baby or a particularly dumb dog can give. She didn’t complain as a man moved into the picture, his rough voice comforting and his strong hands gentle as he picked her up. By this point, she was able to tell that the great Mother was often tired, and cranky, and was happy that she got time to have a nap. Naps always seemed to help her when she was cranky, after all.

Cassandra’s last names changed to Templar at about 18 months after Mishala’s birth. This is also the time the nickname Bunni was first coined, mainly because of the weird hopping she was doing. Her mother started calling her the little rabbit, and shortly after, Bunni.

Arthur Templar brought not only his name, a second job, and an extra pair of hands, her also brought his love of Arthurian literature, and took on the fatherly duty of bedtime stories. One week it would be Gawain and the Green Knight, another the exploits of Tristram and Iseult. As she grew, he let the stories become more complex, and the hero of one became the danger of the next, which confused the girl. He backed off a bit when she would get stressed, but always came back to it, pushing her boundaries. It was with some regret that he relinquished the job of story-teller when she entered the "I’ll do it myself" stage.

Other than that, her childhood was fairly calm and pleasant. She had the usual games with children her age, although she convinced them that Knights and Vikings would be cooler than Cowboys and Indians. She maintained a B average with the occasional A, by dint of just enough study to keep on top of things, and life was good. She was10 when she first started getting into making weapons, other than the swords of cannibalized broom-handles and garbage lid shields. She had asked her father, since he worked with steel, to make her some good armor, and a nice sword. He chuckled, and told her that he didn’t make that kind of steel thing, but the look of disappointment on her face was painful. This was where Sandy stepped in and quietly said she knew someone who did that, an old friend. The look that passed between her parents was lost on the child, but the answer, initially, was no. This changed to yes after a few weeks, and some discussion in private between them.

And so she was taken to Tony Green. He was rather shocked to see Sandy, both glad to get to talk to her and still ashamed of his bother’s actions. They worked out an arrangement where he would take his niece as an apprentice, but would not tell her about their relationship. He did have her call him "Uncle Tony", but it was always in the "unofficial" sense. And so she became an apprentice smith.

Bunni was delighted... at first. She soon found out that being an apprentice meant cleaning up, moving things around, stoking the bellows, and plenty of other pointless tasks that seemed to exist to make her arms hurt. She ended up falling away from the smithing part of things, but did learn how to make the chainmail, and various less taxing accessories of leather and cloth, as well as to decorate things he made.

Once she hit her teens, Uncle Tony began taking her to SCA and Faires. She loved it. Hundreds of people all living out a fantasy together, playing dress-up, fighting but for fun. These became the highlight of her summers, especially when she was able to make items all on her own. She was 16 when Uncle Tony told her to take her stuff and get out of his booth. She was devastated, and asked what she had done wrong, but he gave one of his bear-chuckles and led her over to one that he had reserved for her. He told her she was ready to start building her own reputation, and that was that.

She did terribly that day. People sensed her inexperience, and while some were considerate, others were merciless, and what she made barely covered expenses as they browbeat down her prices. Finally, she simply packed up her remaining items and refused to sell anything else. At the end of the day, she hesitantly told Tony about what had happened, and he nodded. Then he told her she’d done pretty well, not going into the red, and that she’d do better next time. An argument broke out as to whether there would be a next time, but even as she stalked away, they both knew there would be.

She did better, learning just to dig in her heels and say no instead of folding, and began to sock away most of what she made for her upcoming college, sliding aside enough of her savings to indulge in belly dancing lessons on Wednesday nights after seeing this one particularly cute girl doing it at a Faire. She also rather pleasantly surprised her father by telling him she had worked with a school counselor to find the best post-financial aid price on college, and that she figured she could swing it on her own. Self-reliance is a trait her had always let her know he admired, and never was it as apparent as in his face that evening. Her High School was completed with a B+ average, and away to Podunk and the Rabbithole she went.

It was shortly after moving into the Rabbithole, perhaps the weirdest Res. Hall of Podunk U., that her "senshi trial" occurred. It gets the Quotation Marks of Doom (tm) because it really wasn’t much of a trial. She was at a Faire, and a book at one of the booths caught her eye. The proprietor admitted she didn’t know where it had come from, but that she’s be willing to sell it. In short order, Bunni was walking away, reading a tale of magicians and dragons. A rainstorm came up that afternoon, quelling business, so she pulled out Mr. Rabbit and her scanner and began to copy the book. Needless to say, this rather confused The Create, but its passive nature prevented it from doing anything. And then when the scanning was done, it felt something odd. It existed in two places, almost. The copy of it on the computer was hollow, and not magical, but it was owned, and seemed rather snug. What’s more, someone was playing with it. It made an active decision, accepted her, and projected itself into the copy on the computer, resting there. This made the Card disappear, only to reappear on the screen, and the card registers as Drive X:, and left basic instructions on its use in a readme file. She can actually eject the card from "Drive X:" but rarely sees a reason to.

(Note: This trial is subject to change if the Age Switch Story is to be done, in which case I would use that story as her "trial" in a sense. Functionally, it would be the same up through the scanning part, but the activation of the scanned text would happen for the story’s resolution, instead of immediately.)

World Bits

Job: No official job, she makes her money by the sale of stuff she makes, both real and virtual.

School: Podunk University, Freshman, major undeclared. She scoped out the various colleges within a reasonable distance of home, and chose the one that she could get the best relative tuition and financial aid assistance without taking out a loan, which happened to be Podunk. She pulls a fairly standard B to B+ average.

Politics: Registered Independent

Driving: Permit, no license. Not a bad driver unless she's late.

Preference: Lesbian. She doesn't exactly hide it, but she doesn't walk up to groups of strangers and yell it out, either. People in her Hall are likely, but not guaranteed, to know, for example.

Family

Arthur Templar (Father): Construction worker (high steel) and generally great dad. He’s an inch shy of 6’, with mocha skin and brown hair going white at the temples, a trait which he jokingly attributes to his daughter. While not perfect, he’s walked the fine line between strict and permissive, giving her limits when she was younger, but encouraging her to set her own limits as she grew. His name gives explanation to his love of Arthurian tales, a trait he passed on to his little girl. Although he could easily have put his daughter through college, and has said he’s there as a backup, little has made him prouder than the fact that she wants to do it herself. Not her biological father, his bond of affection transcends such limits.

Cassandra "Sandy" Crescent Templar (Mother): Sandy is not only her name, but the color of her hair, which is a fetching combination with her cafe au lait skin. Average height (5’5"), she put on weight during her pregnancy and never took it off again. The family joke is that she hasn’t had any other kids because she doesn’t want to gain any more. She’s a highly skilled electrician, specializing in computer repair, and Bunni’s best electronic stuff came in trade for some of her work. Bunni came about as the result of a relationship who dumped her rather hard when he found out she was pregnant, but she wasn’t willing to get an abortion, and did her best to take care of her daughter. That characterizes the solid, steady, supportive, and positive impact that she has had on her daughter’s life, both as a nurturer and a role model.

Tony Green (Uncle): If you were to ask Bunni why she calls Tony "Uncle Tony", she’d say because he’s the person who trained her, and he said to. It’s an informal respect thing. What she doesn’t know is that he IS her flesh and blood uncle, brother to the man who fathered and then abandoned her. He had been friends with Sandy, and was the one who introduced her to his brother, Matt. As a result, he felt rather responsible, and was devastated when she would have nothing to do with any of her old circle of friends, especially him. About a decade later, he had the brightest day of his life when she showed up on his door, asking if he still did his old hobbies. He’s acted as a "surrogate" uncle and mentor for Bunni, and is the one who introduced her to SCA and to advanced programming.