Mandisa Quashie

[Mandisa Quashie]

MANDISA SIPHIA QUASHIE

....the mask

Your Name: Mone
Where did you find us?: Looking around RPG Directory
How long have you been roleplaying?: Goodness, a while...if I have to guess, I would say about 5 years
Password: [admin edit!]

...basic character information

Birth Name: Mandisa Siphia Quashie
Nickname: Disa
Gender: Female
Age: 15
Grade: 9th
Birth date: November 14th
Program: Bachelor of Engineering
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Major Explanation: Just like the jackal she can turn into, Mandisa is resourceful and cunning, able to think in ways that most cannot and to use materials in ways that others do not believe is possible. She also has a love for building, creating, and working with her hands. Her father was an engineer as well and often took her to work with him, causing her love for engineering to grow.
Animal Identity: Black-backed Jackal

...personality

Likes:

• Running - It has to be the jackal in her, but she is one of those people that can throw on some jogging clothes (or a ton of fur) and easily break out into a comfortable run.
  
• Lego building kits - Ever since she was a small child able to hold the pieces and not put them in her mouth, Mandisa enjoys spends hours arranging and rearranging the Lego's into different objects.
  
• Creating new things - It does not matter if she is creating a new dish or a new invention.
  
• Savannas - She finds the landscapes beautiful. They also remind her of her home country.
  
• Warm weather - She is used to growing up with warm and long summers.
  
• Dusk - It's her favorite part of the day, especially right after the sun has gone under the horizon and the stars are just beginning to come out.
  
• Wrestling and Kick-boxing - She picked up this habit of watching wrestling or kick-boxing matches from her older brothers. She has taken some lessons in kick-boxing and believes herself to be somewhat good due to her enhanced speed from her jackal side.
  
• Figuring out how thing works - It comes with the territory of creating new things. She is often inspired by other devices and inventions in order to complete her own. She loves to take apart phones, televisions, video games consoles, and many other electronics to see how their sockets and plugs work together in perfect harmony.
  
• Robotics Programming - She discovered robotics when she first arrived in the States. She thinks the ability to combine building and programming is amazing.
  
• Karaoke - Mandisa knows that she is a horrible singer, but she enjoys singing badly and being applauded for it. Being at a karaoke bar is one of the few places where she does not mind a crowd.
  

Dislikes:

• Crowds - She does not have a fear of crowds, but prefers to be by herself or only with close friends.
  
• Serious people - She enjoys having a good time and cannot stand people who always have a frown on their face.
  
• People who do not think - She figures, "You were given a brain...use it!"
  
• Mornings and Afternoons - Though some jackals may be out in about during the day, they all prefer the night. Mandisa is no different and would rather just sleep the day away.
  
• Racism and Prejudice - Having lived in a country where legal racism is part of recent history, she is strongly against racism and prejudice and those who practice them. She has been known to lash out on those who have openly demonstrated their racist tendencies.
  
• The nickname Mandi - It causes her to cringe and quickly correct the person who calls her "Mandi."
  
• Wimpy classes - She truly does not enjoy the social sciences at all. She hates having to learn about people and their developments and their problems. She likes the other sciences because the facts are constant while the social sciences' facts are forever changing.
  
• Boredom - Mandisa must always have her mind thinking about something, whether that is reading a book or coding something new. She hates having nothing to do.
  
• Male chauvinists - Being in a major that dominated by men, she has to face the women-are-inferior attitudes from time to time. However, that does not mean she has to like them.
  
• Her Younger Sister - There is some bad blood between the two of them.
  

Fears:

• Losing her family, especially her father
  
• Heights
  
• Falling in love with the wrong man
  

Strengths:

• Intelligent - Mandisa has a talent in gaining knowledge quickly and has a hunger to do so. Her intelligence is not limited to only academics, but is also strong in common sense/street smarts.
  
• Resourceful - Connecting with her inner animal, she has the ability to think on her feet and to use whatever is around her to her advantage.
  
• Loyal - With the few friends that she does have, Mandisa is very close to them and loyal. She will not hesitate to defend them even if they are in the wrong.
  

Weaknesses:

• Aggressive - Mandisa has a lack of fear of anyone, no matter their size, their prowess, or their status. She will take them on if she feels the need to do so. This behaviors has caused her trouble, because she is not always able to come out the winner in certain fights.
  
• Isolated - Due to being alone for most of her early childhood, Mandisa spends much of her time alone now and is somewhat unable to interact well with others.
  
• Blunt - She has a bad habit of saying things without thinking too much about it. What she says can come out hurtful and harsh, even though that is not her intention at all. She recognizes her problem of bluntness, but she does not try her hardest to place a little sugar on her words.
  

Overall:
Simply put, Mandisa is a complex person, having many different sides of her that somehow combine and live rather peacefully within her. However, she can be simplified into three broad terms: the thinker, the fighter, and the partier. These three sides are the most dominant in her personality and as one can probably guess, the thinker appears the most often, while the fighter is a close second. The partier side is one that rarely appears, but has a great presence when it does and therefore, can be counted.

Starting with the most dominant side of Mandisa, the thinker is the one that everyone sees when they first meet her. She is somewhat shy and uncomfortable around strangers, no matter their age or appearance. She will not speak to them unless they speak to her first or they have something intriguing about them. That interesting thing could be anything from a feature of their appearance to something they are carrying. However, she is usually too consumed by her own belongings to really pay attention to others around her. Her belongings are usually her laptop where she is coding, a book she is reading, or even a piece of hardware to some electronic she is taking apart.

In addition, the thinker is a bit of loner, causing Mandisa to prefer to be by herself. She is usually in her dorm or some other quiet place on her laptop, constructing something, destroying something, or playing some MMORPG. This time alone can make her forget how to interact with others. She may speak in a high language, using very technological terms that many don't understand. It often frustrates her that she has to repeat herself or even use more common words to explain herself, but she will do it, though will have much less enthusiasm in her words.

The second part of her personality, the fighter, is the one that tends to get Mandisa in trouble. Having the ability to change into a jackal, which is somewhat like a small dog, she has a small dog complex. She is not afraid of anyone and will pick a fight with anyone if they insult her or anyone she feels cannot defend themselves. Because of her small dog complex, she does not have a great handle on her mouth as well and can at times not know when to shut up. She will continue to talk until the person leaves or makes a move on her. If someone does attempt to strike her, she will not go down without a fight and will continue to fight until she is pulled off or knocked out. But, unlike most other small dogs who tend to go looking for trouble, Mandisa does her best to avoid it, but her best is not always the best.

Finally, the partier only shows up when she is having a night on the town with her friends. They tend to pull it out of her, especially if they can drag her to a karaoke bar. She will sing her little heart out on the stage, ringing out misguided notes and uncoordinated tunes. But she is still tamed when her partier side is unleashed, for when someone new attempts to speak with her, her shyness will return and the thinker begins to take over.

...appearance

x x

Celebrity Play By: Jourdan Dunn
Appearance:
Despite her own classification as a geek, nerd or what have you, Mandisa does not appear nerdy in the slight definition. Standing at around five feet and three inches (5'3") and weighing one-hundred and eighteen (118) pounds, she has a very skinny and short body frame with rather long legs for someone her size. And even though she is a lightweight, she is not bony, but her arms and legs are defined lightly with toned muscles. Her hair is a dark brown, which appears to be black majority of the time. However, it may change colors in sun, showing itself more brown than black. Her face is narrow and long, defined with high cheekbones, small and slanted eyes, and full and plump lips. Her nose is long too, having a large bridge and growing slightly wide at her nostrils, but still having a noticeable tip at the end of it. Mandisa, as well as those in her family who have the shifting ability, has a strange marking along her back, mainly on her spine. The marking is a dark and tattered pattern and it is one of the reason why she refuses to wear anything that shows her back.

Mandisa likes to keep her long hair out of her way, seeing how it can easily reach the middle of her back. So, if her hair is not down, due to a special occasion or her being in a lazy mood, it is usually done in a nice bun or ponytail, preferably a bun when she is working. If she is feeling somewhat adventurous, she may even braid her hair, but this is time consuming and usually not done unless for a special reason, such as a date or party. As for makeup, she does not find much of a purpose for it, since she believes herself beautiful without it. However, if she feels like playing around with the stuff, she will usually do her eyes only, using a variety of colors. Her lips are left a natural tone and her cheeks are never colored with blush. To her, blush is useless to someone who has a skin tone like her. Her clothing style is somewhat plain just like her choice in makeup. One will not find Mandisa in a dress unless she is in a feminine mood. She will dress herself in comfortable jeans and a plain shirt. She also enjoys the feeling of wearing boots, but will throw on a pair of tennis shoes while she is working or doing extreme shopping. Her mother often ships her some fancier clothing and from time to time, one may see Mandisa trying the designer jackets, jeans, and shirts out for a couple of days.

When she shifts into her black-backed jackal form, she shrinks into a jackal that is only two feet and 1 inch tall, from the tip of her ears to base of her paws. Her tail reaches a length of one foot. Her coloring is very similar to that of a normal black-backed jackal. She has a reddish tan color on her legs, around her face, and on the bottom of her tail. However, her belly and the under side of her muzzle are white. The outer part of her very long ears is a yellowish brown, much lighter than the red brown on her legs. The most interesting part of her animal shift is her back, decorated in a pattern of black and white fur, going all the way until the tip of her tail, which is solid black. Her eyes, which are normally a very dark brown in her human form, are a light brown, appearing yellow and her nose is round and black, surrounded by small dark whiskers.[/size]

...history

Parents:

• Dominick Quashie - Father, 49, Engineer
  
• Lianna Quashie - Mother, 44, Teacher
  

Siblings:

• Tumelo Quashie - Brother, 20, College Student (Freshmen)
  
• Abrahem Quashie - Brother, 17, High School Student (Junior)
  
• Emanuela Quashie - Sister, 13, Junior High School Student (8th Grade)
  

Mandisa was an answer to her mother's prayer. Being the mother of two rambunctious little boys, Lianna desperately wanted a sweet little girl in order to comb her hair, to put her in cute little dresses, and to be the mommie that she always wanted to be. She got a healthy baby girl with a head full of black hair, causing Lianna to be on cloud nine and thoroughly enjoying the first moments with her baby. Her father, Dominick, was happy that his wife and love got the little girl she always wanted. Then he noticed the strange dark marking on the child's back. Seeing the mark, Dominick realized that the girl would never have the normal life that Lianna expected.

As Mandisa started growing up in Cape Town, South Africa, her father could tell that she was different from other little girls he had seen, but easily saw the resemblance between her and his two sons. He realized by her walking early as his sons did and by her aggressive play in challenging her older brothers fearlessly, she would be a shifter like all of the males of his family. It was somewhat surprising to him, seeing how she was a girl having the shifting ability, but he did not dwell too much on the how and simply prepared for the future.

On the other hand, Lianna attempted to control Mandisa and transform her into the sweet, little girl that she wanted. But Mandisa, even at her young age of two, would not stand for the dresses and cutesy hair accessories. Thankfully for Lianna, the couple had another girl, whom they named Emanuela. She was born without the birth mark along her back and Dominick knew that she would be the normal girl that Lianna could crave into the perfect little lady. And it seemed that Dominick was right. Emanuela, or Ema, was the perfect little girl that her mother had originally hoped for in Mandisa. Lianna and her youngest daughter were very close to each other and only became closer as Ema grew older. Ema did not fight and struggle against her mother in the wearing of dresses and hair accessories and actually soon grew to love the girly games of dress up and house that she played with her mother. Lianna's attention and praise began to transfer from Mandisa to Ema and Ema could only eat up the attention she received. This caused Mandisa to dislike her little sister and to spend even more time with her older brothers.

However, her brothers were growing up as well and even though her oldest brother, Tumelo, spent a great deal of time with her, he was busy with his own life and friends. Abrahem got along with Mandisa well enough, but she was not necessarily his favorite playmate since they fought more than played. Therefore, only her younger sister was left as a "friend" and since Mandisa was jealous of the love and affection her mother showed to Ema, the two sisters did not get along well at all with bickering and fighting becoming their normal exchange of conversation.

Finally, it seemed that Mandisa would get an escape as she started school. She believed that she would be able to meet other girls like her, those who didn't mind to be a little rough and get a little dirty. However, she was surprised to find that she preferred the boys much better than the girls, since nearly all the girls were feminine and many of them poked fun at her because of her mixed heritage, her father being a black South African and her mother being a white Jewish woman. Some of the boys played with her, but they soon stopped when it was regarded as uncool to play with a girl, especially one with mixed blood. As she continued in her education of the elementary years, she spent more and more time alone at home and at school, entertaining herself with puzzles, buildings kits, and strategy games.

When she reached the age of twelve, her father noticed that she was spending much of her time alone and wondered if this meant she was close to maturing into her shifting. Not wanting to be reactive, he started to spend more time with her, taking her to work with him on her days off from school and showing her how to take apart and put back together different electronics they had lying around the house. This caused her love for engineering to kick into high gear and she instantly knew what she wanted to do as an adult.

This pattern remained past her thirteenth birthday and it seemed that her father and even her two brothers were spending more and more time with her. They were constantly keeping her under their watch and Mandisa was slightly irritated by their eagle-like eyes. If she managed to gain some privacy, it would only last for about five minutes before her father or one of her brothers came into her room and bothered her about something. She tried asking them about the sudden over-protectiveness and none of them revealed anything to her, though Abrahem taunted her, saying, "Oh...you'll know soon enough." Weeks passed and her patience had worn thin of their hovering and Mandisa decided that she was going to get the privacy that she deserved. After school, she lied to her brothers, telling them that she had a detention with her English teacher and as soon as they boarded the bus heading home, she dashed the other way, running off into the streets.

Using the small amount of leftover lunch money, Mandisa managed to buy a pretzel and soda from a street vendor and walked over to her favorite park. Her parents, mainly her father, had given her a laptop and she decided to look at some of the old code her father had showed her a few days ago. She munched on her pretzel, which was gone in minutes, and then drained down her soda, smacking her lips. As finished her snack and continued minding her own business, some high schoolers had spotted her and figured that it would be fun to toy with the young girl, possibly even stealing her laptop. The three boys approached her and started taunting her. She did not answer and tried to couch down, wishing that they would disappear. Then one of the boys snatched the laptop from her and she growled at him, demanding her stuff back. One of the boys stepped back from her after she growled, knowing that something was wrong with her, but the other two continued to toy with her. Suddenly, she felt her bones cracking. The sound was echoing loudly in the park and the boys, frightened by the strange noises, dropped her things and raced away from her. Her screams of pain accompanied her cracking bones. She dropped to the ground from the immense pain and soon, she could feel herself getting smaller and smaller.

Blinking her eyes, she noticed that things seemed a lot bigger than they had just been. She turned her head back and forth and sighed, confused and lonely. She now wished that she had not run away from home. Not liking to be in the open park area, she scurried off into an alley near the park and cuddled next to a trash can. Her ear flicked and she noticed the movement in broken mirror on the opposite wall of the alley. She yelped in fear and growled at the image, her reflection. Once she realized that the small dog-like creature was her, she howled in agony and flopped down onto the cement, waiting for the nightmare to be over.

She fell asleep eventually, but got woken up by someone messing with her ear. She sprang back to life to see another jackal looking at her with something like a smile on its lips. She tilted her head and soon began to hear her brother's voice. Excited, she yelped and started to wag her tail, but Abrahem quieted her quickly before howling into the night. Soon two other jackals appeared and they were her father and other brother. They all explained what they were and that they needed to keep their gift a secret...unless they all wanted to be scientific experiments. After waiting for Mandisa to recover from her first shift and the information she just received, they all changed back and returned home, much closer than they were before.

Life seemed to be finally returning to a peaceful calm as she learned a little more about her shifting power and more about her fellow shifters. Yet, as each of her brothers entered high school, they no longer lived with her family. Her father said that they needed to attend a special school that would teach them more about themselves and others like them. Ema seemed lost in the conversation, but Mandisa knew exactly what he was talking about: other shifters. As she tried to avoid her sister and mother and focus on her schooling, she counted down the days until she would be able to attend the special school in America. She was excited to see both of her brothers again as well as other teenagers that had to deal with the same sort of gift that she had. Finally, as her eighth grade year ended, she packed up her belongings and kissed her family, even Ema, goodbye. She was off to a new future.

...connecting human to animal

• Physical Appearance - Mandisa and her jackal share many of the same features, such as a long and narrow face, a long nose, and the strange marking on the back. Also, both are small and lightweight.
  
• Running - Both are good runners with pretty good endurance.
  
• Mildly Nocturnal - Mandisa prefers dusk and nighttime, rather than the mornings and afternoons. Jackals may appear in the day, but it is safer for them at night and so, many of them will be more active in the night.
  
• Aggressive - Black-backed jackals are the most aggressive out of the all the jackals, knowing to go after and actually take down prey that is much larger than them. Mandisa has the same aggressiveness and lack of fear as these jackals, going after those who may be much stronger, bigger, and more important than she is.
  

...literacy

RP Sample[/i]
“Okay, I understand…Please do not worry, Poppa, I will be fine. Both Tumelo and Abrahem are here…I love you too. Tell Mother and Ema I say hello…Okay, I will, Poppa…Alright, tomorrow then, love you…Bye.” Her small thumb pressed the end button on her new cell phone as she sighed softly, her full lips going into a natural pout. Her slightly British-like accent had finally ceased echoing in the little dorm as she stared down at the phone. She was in her second week in America, the land of the free and the home of the brave and the place where she could be herself without anyone judging her. No would care about her mixed heritage, no one would care that she is a shifter. Her pout changed into a grin as she thought about all the possibilities she has in this country compared with her own. She could rewrite her own history if she wanted…though she figured that she would just keep hers, changing a few things here and there, but nothing big.

She placed down her cell phone on the nightstand near her bed and then walked over to her suitcase that lied on the floor. She realized that she had been living out of the thing since she first arrived. She knew that she would have to unpack and place everything in the drawers sooner or later. Something kept her from doing that, though. Maybe it was the thought that unpacking would make her living in America a reality and that she would not be seeing her father for a long while. Maybe she was wishing to continue the perception that this is all a vacation, a dream of sorts. She really did not understand her desire to keep her clothing in the suitcase, but knowing that her roommates would find her weird if she continued this act, she decided that it was best to unpack them now.

As she began to pull her clothes up and out of the suitcase, she noticed that she packed majority of her American-styled clothing, jeans and plain shirts. She only had a three traditional dresses and hair wraps, for she had figured that she would not need those very often. However, she now regretted not taking more. They reminded her of home. Sighing again, she finished taking all of her clothing out of the suitcase and picked it up, storing it in her closet. She figured that it would stay there for a long while. Now opening her drawers, she carefully tucked all of her jeans, shorts, shirts, and pajamas into their appropriate places. Taking her jackets, she hung them up in the closet, coordinating them by color and style.

Once she finished, she glanced at the spot where the suitcase had laid and frowned slightly. The space seemed empty, deserted. She shook her head and tossed her hand, knowing that she was being ridiculous. But she did figure that she would place a rug there or something in order to not make the space so bare. Shrugging her shoulders, she hopped back onto her bed and pulled out her laptop, turning it on and plugging it up to the power cord. She figured that she could kill some time playing Aion or WOW. Something exciting had to be happening soon. After all, this was America. Something exciting was always happening here.[/size]
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