Name: Samantha Dawn Áalihte (pronounced AY-ah-li-TAY)
Nickname: Sam
Age: 29
Birthplace: Montana, USA
Sex: Female
Occupation: Prosecution attorney working in the DA's office for the city of Devil's Lake and surrounding areas.
Appearance:
Human Form: 5'7½" slender but with voluptuous curves in all the right places, she has long dark hair, deep brown eyes, sculpted cheekbones and rich golden brown skin which all hint at her Native American (Cherokee / Hidatsa (Crow People)) heritage. She has a birthmark on the right side of her jaw, a sun & moon tattoo on her back, and a tattoo of prayer beads on her left wrist. She dresses in business attire for work, and feminine clothing which makes the most of her lush figure when not on the job. Portrayed by Charisma Carpenter.
Were form: Crow. Glossy blue-black plumage, sharp beak, gleaming black eyes, talons - yeah, she pretty much looks like a standard crow, although she may be ever so slightly larger than most of her crow brethren
Warform: She's humanoid, and her normal human size, but covered with black plumage, and has the head, beak, and wicked talons of a crow. Yikes.
Personality: Assertive and never shy, Sam is vivacious, witty, and sociable. She's also outspoken about what she believes in, and in the courtroom, quite cunning. A lot of the time, she finds people and the way they behave to be quite amusing - heh, except when she doesn't. While she's compassionate about protecting victims, she has limited patience for people who allow themselves to continue to be victims, recognising that you can only help people as much as they're willing to help themselves.
Special abilities/talents: She's a Legal <s>eagle</s> Crow. Has a genius level IQ and perfect recall, which means she can remember exactly what was said and how it was said, so she's pretty good at catching people out in lies - comes in real handy in her line of work. Loves to dance - Everything from Ballet to Ballroom to Belly dance. Trains in and is moderately proficient at Aikido, because she was a victim once, and doesn't ever want to be in that position again.
Supernatural Affinity: Species/Group: Therianthrope: were-crow Power(s): She can turn into a crow, and do as crows do, including flight and speech. Level: N/A Affiliation/Rank: All the other were-crows she knows are back in Montana. Preferred Prey: Carrion, will eat other stuff if necessary though, including fruit, vegetables, worms, small live rodentia, and fish.
History: Samantha was raised on a reservation in Montana, surrounded by her family and tribe. The seventh and youngest child in her family, she has 3 older brothers and 3 older sisters. Her childhood was a fairly happy one, right up until tragedy struck when she was 13. She and her mother had gone off the reservation for a day trip, and had stopped on the shoulder of a winding mountain road to consult a map when they were attacked, her her mothers neck snapped and thrown off the cliff. She thought her mother was dead. She was taken prisoner by the attacker, and taken to a trailer, where she was beaten and raped. Her tormentor left her there locked up for a while, but when he returned, she was ready - when he came in the door, she was in crow form. She attacked him, pecking out his eyes, then flew out the open door. She pressed charges against him, telling the police that she'd managed to escape when a crow attacked her kidnapper when he'd opened the door, which had given her the opportunity to escape. Despite the fact she was mostly physically healed due to her transformation, there was enough circumstantial evidence to support her case. The rapist was put away. Of course, because he'd been blinded by her pecking attack, it didn't take long for him to meet an untimely end in prison. Such a shame.
Though the trial had been hard on her, the system did work for her, so she became focussed on learning about the law, so she could put away criminals. A good student, she studied hard and got a partial scholarship to the University of Montana, where she majored in Legal studies. Once she graduated, she worked in the DA's office in the City of Great Falls (Cascade County, Montana), for a few years. However, coming from a Native American family, it wasn't long before her family started to pressure her to settle down and start a family. She's not averse to the idea, however she hasn't met the one yet, and doesn't plan on starting a family until she does. She's also worked hard to get where she is. So when she recently heard about a suitable position opening up in Devil's Lake, she decided to apply for it to get away from family pressures for a while.
Flaws: Vengeance - she has a real hate on for rapists and will pursue them to the fullest extent of the law. But if the law fails, as it does from time to time, and she knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that an accused rapist is guilty and only got off because of a technicality or because their victim was afraid to pursue charges, she is not beyond going vigilante - particularly vengeful if the rapist hurt a kid. Other people she has an instinctive hate for is anyone that kills a woman leaving a child motherless as a result.
OCD Collector - Ohhh, Shiney sparkly goodness. She adores all that glitters and spends way too much of of her pay cheque on jewellery and sunlight catchers and... well, you get the idea. She collects things. Things she doesn't need. It's compulsive and she just cannot stop herself. Not to put too fine a point on it, her apartment looks like it was hit by a disco ball.
Phobias - She's edgy around her natural avian predators, hawks and owls, and to a lesser extent, cats. Even when in human form. She's likely to be a little edgy around anyone who can take the form of a hawk or owl, and werecats, even when everyone is in human form, at least until she gets to know & trust them.
Opportunistic - Does the word scavenger mean anything to you? If there's an opportunity she likes the look of, she'll take it. Did you want the rest of those french fries? Oh you did? Gee, sorry. Someone who had her dream job just died, so she went right ahead and applied for the position. Hey, they didn't need the job any more, and it's the early bird that gets the worm.
Enemies - You don't work as a prosecution attorney without making a few enemies, some of them quite dangerous.
Never ever ask her to sing - at least not if you value your ears.
Flight rather than fight - Unless she happens to be in her warform, she's not that tough. Fly away little birdy, fly away. She's also only moderately skilled in Aikido, she's no super ninja. She's vulnerable when under surprise attack.
Merits: Gift of the Gab - not only is she well spoken, she can speak in both human and crow form, and by that I mean she can speak in such a way that people can understand her even when she's in crow form - a little known fact, crows, like parrots, can be trained to speak human words - it just happens that this particular crow is self-taught. She speaks English, Tsalagi, Hidatsa, and Spanish. She can also communicate with other crows.
A Little Bird Told Me - No, really, a little bird told her. Crows can communicate over large distances with complex series of calls, and she has excellent hearing. Chances are, if something interesting is going on somewhere in the vicinity, and a crow has seen it, she'll know about it within moments of the discovery - of course, most of what a crow finds interesting isn't of much interest to humans, but occasionally her avian friends come up with the goods.
Social & Judicial ties - She knows cops, judges, lawyers, and a few political types too. She's a very social creature and all about the networking. She may be new in town, but she won't be a stranger for long. Sexual Orientation: Straight
Marital Status: Single Portrayed By: Charisma Carpenter
Random Info: - Crows mate for life. - Áalihte means 'crow' in Hidatsa. - Her middle name, Dawn, is a chosen name. Like the tattoo of the sun & moon she got on her back once the trial ended, it represents her return to the light after a very dark period in her life. - She serves as a Prosecutor in both the human world and in the Crow's court.