C

Species: Tahltan Bear Dog
Gender: female
Age: ~3 years
DOB:
Birthplace:
Occupation: familiar to Third Hhalak
Languages: Canine, English

Personality
Highly intelligent, Constant is exceedingly loyal, but headstrong and energetic. She's always the first to charge out and try something. She's never afraid to make her opinions known, even if Third is the only one who can hear and understand her. Constant is very brave and loving and has a no-nonsense approach to things. She values honesty above all other virtues. She's very playful, but she doesn't have a great sense of humor and has little patience for jokes, especially practical ones. She doesn't tolerate cruelty or bigotry, especially concerning her own rights, and is very much the equal of any human whether they recognize this fact or not.

As a familiar, Constant's strength and intelligent are reflective of Third's. Ergo, she's very powerful and highly intelligent.

Physical Characteristics
Height:
Weight/Build: About 20% larger than the average Tahltan Bear Dog due to her familiar bond, but nevertheless quite graceful.
Hair: dark reddish coat with creamy tan underbelly, white on the tips of her toes, ears, and tail, and above her eyes
Eyes: amber
Skin: covered in fur!
Face: long, with a wet nose
Attire: fur!

OLD DESIGN
PLEASE NOTE THAT CONSTANT'S OLD DESIGN SHOULD NOT BE DRAWN

Constant was born into a tribe of familiars on a far-off world where magic still lives and breathes. As a young pup, she was cheery and playful, sometimes a little too much so, giving the elders plenty of headaches. Her honesty and genuinely good nature always smoothed things over. Never a coward, she was always wiling to stand up for what was right, even if it meant challenging adults. She earned a lot of respect for her bravery. Most of her time was spent playing in the camp with her friends, or exploring the woods. She would usually go into the woods in a group during the day, thes sneak out by herself late at night. She loved the piece and quiet, and to sit on the cliff and watch the moon over the lake.

It was during one such midnight excursion that she found a human child, barely more than a baby, lost and abandoned. She could smell something like magic on him. She immediately went to help him, curling up next to him to keep him warm, licking his face to comfort him. She intended to wait for daybreak when she could rouse the tribe to come and rescue the child more properly, but a Nightstalker discovered them. Constant tried to defend the child from the Nightstalker, but the monster was too powerful.

Suddenly, Constant felt empowered with magic -- the magic of the child she was protecting. It was stronger and more powerful than any magic she had before known. It filled her with new strength. She attacked the Nightstalker again, teeth closing on its neck and piercing its thick skin. The Nightstalker threw her off and she landed near the child, breaking her paw. She limped her way back to the child's side, still determined to protect him. Instead, the air around her and the child glowed and they both disappeared.

Constant and the child fell through the veil of dimensions, swirling through darkness and light. They might have died there between the worlds, but the White Duchess found and rescued them. The Duchess entrusted Constant and the boy, called Third, to one of her avatars, Elizabeth. It was impossible for Constant to return to her home, so she and Third went to live in Virginia with Elizabeth.

From the start, it was obvious that Third and Constant were an inseparable team. As his magically-bonded familiar, Constant grew and changed with Third, becoming larger and smarter than the average familiar. She could communicate with Third telepathically, but to everyone else, she looked and sounded like a dog. Constant refused to be discouraged, maintaining her cheery good nature no matter what life threw at her.

Unfortunately, the same was not true for Third. Elizabeth was targeted in an attack and died, her last act sending Third and Constant to safety. Third was very attached to his guardian and upset by Elizabeth's death, but Constant helped him through his grief like a true and loyal friend. With Elizabeth gone, they bounced between homes, meeting many wonderful people in the process. One of those people was Trion Bartholomew. Constant and Third lived with Trion for three months. Trion was a former assassin and body guard, quiet and disciplined, and he introduced Third and Constant to a whole world of wonderful things, taking them hiking and biking and swimming at the beach. Most importantly to Constant, Trion treated her every bit an equal. He was handsome, strong, and brave, and Constant fell in love with him. For the first time, she began to wish that she had a human form so that she could interact with and talk to the people in her life beyond Third.

Then, a miracle happened. The White Duchess saw the attacks that had killed Elizabeth and sought to repair some of the damage. She replaced Elizabeth and several other deceased avatars with new ones. Third and Constant were reunited with the guardian they thought lost. For a time, things were good. They even gained a new member in their family when Third rescued a little girl named Aelinye who had been trapped in an angelic artifact. Third and Constant both swore to protect their new little sister no matter what. They continued to do things with Trion, too, but Constant was forced to realize the futility of her crush on the bodyguard -- not because she was a dog, but because Trion already had someone in his life. (And was gay.)

While it was certainly a livable life, it was not perfect. The new Elizabeth wasn't like the old one, and gradually Third and Constant became uncomfortable with the arrangement. They decided to move in with the more mature and responsible Grey in the ghostly city of Greyhaven. Grey's friend Pavel invited Third to play hockey with the Russian Hockey League. It was there Constant met Rusak Petrovich Talietzin, the Black Sword Captain. Rusak had grown up with hunting dogs, so when Constant hurt her paw one day chasing the hockey puck in some reeds, Rusak tended to the wound. It was no secret that everyone hated Rusak. If anything, Rusak made it a point to be unlikable. But after he tended to her paw, Constant held the secret knowledge that despite much evidence to the contrary, Rusak was at heart a decent person. She decided that she'd find a way to prove that to everyone one day.

While life in Greyhaven was nice, Third and Constant began to miss the sunlight and trees, and worried that the dreary city was not a good place to raise Aelinye. Grey then introduced them to Ellira, an artist whose south Florida home was full of light and sunshine. It was an instant fit. For the first time since losing Elizabeth, it felt like they had a mother again. Aelinye began to walk and talk, and Third even ventured to attend school. Constant accompanied him as a guide dog. They started in the third grade together. Constant was an instant hit with the other students. She made a lot of friends herself, though none of those friends was ever aware as to her true nature.

Eventually, certain aspects of Third's physical development meant they had to leave school. Third was understandably devastated; he was far, far beyond the lesson plans of the fourth grade, but he loved his friends and classmates and having other children to play with. Once again, Constant provided a source of strength and comfort, her bond with Third stronger than ever.

Since school was out of the picture, Third and Constant accepted an offer to serve as junior officers onboard the Adelphia under Admiral Charles A. Aberdeen. The offer was mostly for Third, of course, but Constant went with him as always, and it was onboard the Adelphia that Constant first learned of virtual reality technology. She could barely contain her curiosity. At Third's request (and with some nudging from their benefactor Grey) a VR helmet was designed that could interface with Constant.

It was like the world opened up. For the first time, Constant could interact with humans without needing Third to translate for her. She started off using her own physical appearance, but to better interact with other humans, she eventually developed her own human avatar on the Nets. Best of all, after interacting with her on the Nets, the people she worked with on the Adelphia actually began treating her like a person in reality. For the first time, Constant and Third began to do things apart. They were still best friends and bonded, but Constant was finally getting the chance to be her own person.

As part of their training, Third and Constant were assigned to work under Rusak. A strict disciplinarian, Rusak was a tough captain to please, but the assignment gave Constant the chance to learn even more about the man who had once helped her, and in whom her faith was unshakable. Rusak was not a participant in the Nets, so Constant had to get him to accept her gradually in the real world using all of her canine wiles and charm. Since Rusak was comfortable around dogs and did not find them threatening, he eventually opened up to her. Constant found an absolutely brilliant and lonely man hidden behind all the anger and bravado. She began to fall in love with him.

Rusak was finally convinced to try the Nets, and as much as he had always heard others speak of Constant's intelligence and wit and personality, he did not believe it until he saw it for himself. The dog he had come to trust was every bit a person. At first it was confusing, but when Constant made clear how much her relationship with Rusak meant to her (short of telling him she was in love with him), Rusak decided not to cut her off completely. It took some time before he was willing to open up to her avatar the same way he opened up to her in reality, but eventually he did, and once that happened, Constant was finally to say that she loved him. Rusak was not capable of loving her in the same way, but he accepted her love.

Constant and Rusak's relationship continued, mostly kept secret from the rest of the world, since neither of them thought the world at large would understand. Obviously, the connotations of a man and a dog were not socially acceptable, even if between Constant and Rusak it meant something completely different. In the virtual world, they were lovers. In reality, they were merely close friends. Constant longed to be able to tell everyone how much she loved Rusak, so much so she decided to try and find a way, through science or magic, to become human.