[attr="class","hopelovetitle"]PERSONALITY

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[ AMBITIOUS ] - shana wants more for herself than what she's got, and she thinks she's allowed. she's all about female empowerment - it's the twenty-first century, people! it's about time girls and women should be able to make their own decisions about their bodies and lives without facing judgement from people.
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[ EXPLORER ] - due to her father's job, shana has always been an explorer. anywhere and everywhere she can go, she will. she'd rather take an impromptu trip to someplace she's never been before, than go back home to seattle to visit her grandparents (although she does care for them a fair bit). as much as possible, shana wants to experience new things, rather than going back to previous places even though she had good memories there.
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[ INDEPENDENT ] - a born traveller, shana loves to live her life on her own terms. she loves travelling by herself more than she likes travelling with anyone else, because then she gets to do the things she wants to do, visit the places she wants to see, and eat the food she wants to eat. she likes waking up at what time she wakes up, to set her own routine, learn at her own pace. it's not necessarily that she feels other people pull her back - although that can definitely be the case - it's just that she knows her own mind and wants to go along with what's good for herself.
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[ INTELLIGENT ] - she may not necessarily be book smart, but shana is quite an intelligent person. she is logical, can think her way out of many situations, and the fact that she travels around by herself means she's learned to adapt to reading signs, reading maps, understanding instructions, figuring out how to get around. because she also prefers to live by herself, she knows how to budget, how to ration food, and what to prioritise when it comes to chores, groceries, and relaxation.
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[ DREAMER ] - shana dreams. she wants so many things in life: to travel, to become a huntress, to become very proficient in something, like photography or hiking. she dreams of becoming a legend in her own right, even if it may not necessarily go down in the history books as something spectacular. more than anything, shana dreams of living her life to the fullest, so that at the end of the day she can look back and say confidently and genuinely that she had no regrets.
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[ PASSIONATE ] - while shana can be quiet and peaceful and collected most of the time, it can't be denied that she's a very passionate person. not only is she passionate about her hopes and dreams, she's also passionate about what she's capable of and what she wants to do. often, when she is told to do something against her own desires, or something that is stupid and illogical, shana won't mince words to tell people exactly what she thinks. she stands up for herself and her beliefs, and anyone who tries to tell her otherwise will get a piece of her mind.

[attr="class","hopelovetitle"]BIOGRAPHY

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[ MOTHER ] - demeter, goddess of agriculture and the harvest[break]
[ FATHER ] - adam betancourt, freelance photographer[break]
[ SIBLINGS ] - lizaveta betancourt, previously mortal, now huntress[break][break]
Claimed: Yes[break]
Number of years at camp: Four years[break][break]
it's always been the three of them together. lizzie was nine years older than shana, and maybe the age difference helped the two girls get along better when they were younger. or perhaps their personalities had always been compatible; as the oldest girl, lizzie had fallen into the role of caretaker, looking after her younger sister as well as her father, ensuring both of them were fed, helping her father with shana's nappies, and in general just keeping the house together. adam had always felt guilty about placing such a burden on his older daughter's shoulders, but lizzie had always just smiled easily at him and told him it was nothing.
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adam was never really lucky in love. his first wife - lizzie's mother, passed away in a car accident when lizzie was four. to get away from the memories, he gave up his job as an economics professor, sold most of his things, packed up his car and his daughter, and travelled around the country instead. at first, he'd told himself he was just going to move back to seattle, leave behind the life he knew in miami, and go back to his parents. they would be able to help with lizzie and maybe he could get another job there instead. deciding to make it a roadtrip - he wasn't in too much of a rush to see the sad, sympathetic look on his parents' faces - he drove, taking a very scenic route across the country. perhaps it was because it had always been something he'd wanted to do, or maybe he just realised how freeing the trip was, but adam's trip went from two weeks to three, then to four, and even when he eventually made it back to seattle, adam had decided he wouldn't be staying after all.
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instead, adam set himself up as a freelance photographer. mostly he did wildlife photography, enjoying the peace and calm of the forests and national parks. of course, he did have to do usual quick and easy work - photographing happy couples on their wedding days - and with a pang, adam realised it might be a good time to expand the family. he wanted lizzie to have a good mother, and maybe he himself missed being in love, being supported and supportive, of having someone to turn to at night and in his darkest hours. it was in a small town in the middle of nowhere that he met the prettiest woman he thought he'd ever seen, with her long curly hair and beautiful green eyes and a smile that won his heart.
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unfortunately for him, she took his heart and never returned it, for the woman was demeter herself, and while she had been attracted to this lonely, loving man, she couldn't stay with him as he'd wanted. their romance lasted a few months, enough for adam to seriously consider introducing lizzie to her, but before he could, demeter had disappeared, leaving only a note apologising for her hasty departure. to say adam was crushed would be an understatement, even if nine months later, a bundle appeared with a tiny, sweet baby wrapped inside of it.
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it could have been quite easy for adam to turn bitter at all the love he'd lost, but instead he took it in stride, instead giving all of his love to his two daughters. he supported them and cared for them and taught them to think for themselves. even when he offered for them to settle down, choose a city and find a house, go to a proper school and make lasting friends, neither shana nor lizzie had wanted it. they'd gotten used to their nomadic life with occasional visits to the grandparents; they'd been born into it and they both liked their lives that way. and so they continued on, the three of them together, happy with just each other.
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shana was nine and lizzie was eighteen when their lives changed forever. they were stopping over in a city for a wedding photography gig, and lizzie and shana were exploring the usual tourist sites. late afternoon had fallen and they were on their way back to their motel room when some men spotted lizzie. they crowded her and blocked her way, corralling her into a dark alley, and shana was crying because lizzie was telling her it was going to be okay and to run and be safe, but one of the men had spotted her and was dragging her by the arm along with them. the entire time, the others were jeering at lizzie, pushing her around, becoming more violent and brazen with every round. finally, lizzie hit the wall of a building so hard that she flopped to the ground, dazed and weakened, unable to help herself as the men stood around her, laughing and making jokes about who was going to go first. and shana watched helplessly, unable to do more than cry and scream and struggle against the vice grip against her small and weak arm. the sisters' eyes met, and lizzie was in tears and mouthed the word 'sorry', as though she had something to apologise for.
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and then miracle of miracles: a group of girls found them in the alley, and they all came rushing forwards yelling and scaring the men away. maybe the men realised they would be outnumbered, maybe the battlecries scared them, maybe it was the weapons the girls were holding aloft that made them turn tail and run. and the girls picked up the battered lizzie from the ground, dusted her off, and told her she'd called for them. then one girl in particular - young, just a bit older than shana - stepped forward from the group and told lizzie her name was artemis, and she'd heard her call for help.
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to say lizzie was awestruck would be an understatement. she was beyond grateful, more than ready to worship the goddess and follow her wherever she went, doing whatever she desired. at eighteen years old, lizzie swore the oath to become a hunter. she apologised again to shana, but this was what she hadn't known she'd been missing her whole life. the hunters of artemis was the piece of the puzzle she'd always meant to have but never did, and now that she'd found it, she felt complete.
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shana wanted to join them, too, but artemis calmly told her she wasn't ready yet. it wasn't her time yet. it wasn't her destiny yet. and shana wanted to cry some more and beg and plead to be let in the group with her sister, but she didn't, because she trusted artemis like she trusted lizzie, and if lizzie said not yet, and artemis said not yet, then it wasn't her time. the hunters accompanied her back home to ensure she'd be safe, and lizzie wrote a letter for their father explaining everything, and then the hunters left, leaving shana with dreams and hopes unlike any she'd ever had before.
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it clearly broke adam's heart to lose one of his daughters, but at the same time he was proud of her for realising her dream and pursuing it. he'd watched with a mix of amusement and sadness as shana readied herself to join the hunters, insisting on borrowing books from the library about artemis, taking archery lessons, wanting to visit more 'wild places', asking if she could keep a pet wolf. and adam indulged his daughter, allowing her to follow her own dreams, even though he knew it would mean that one day, shana would leave, too. but that didn't matter, because he loved and supported his daughters and only wanted what was best for them.
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as shana got older, she wanted to travel more by herself, not wanting to drag her father along everywhere she wanted to go. she knew he wouldn't have minded, of course, but she was a teenager and getting into that phase where parents weren't 'cool'. not that shana ever cared much for what was 'cool', considering she never went to a proper school and had therefore never met that kind of peer pressure before. but shana wanted to go visit more parks and more forests, for longer periods of time, and she didn't want her father to turn down jobs just because of it. and so when she was seventeen years old, she went on a camping and hiking trip around big sur, leaving her father behind in san jose. she'd just gotten her full license, and in celebration, she drove down to visit the scenic area by herself.
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she'd just gotten arrived at her cabin when out of nowhere a boy appeared, being chased by an honest-to-gods monster straight out of the pages of the mythology books she used to read about artemis. quickly, they both ran to her car, he dumped himself into the passenger seat yelling at her to drive, and they floored it out of there so fast, her tyres kicked up sand and dirt and stone into the monster's face, distracting it temporarily. she didn't know exactly where to go, so she just drove, all the while demanding answers from the boy at what the heck just happened. he hadn't realised she'd actually seen the monster, so after a few incredulous rounds of interrogation that shana felt were a complete waste of time considering they had a monster on their gluteus maximus, he finally told her what he was.
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that had nearly interrupted shana's reckless driving, because the boy was telling her he was an actual demigod. as in, the son of god and a mortal. the complete impossibility of that nearly had shana driving straight into a tree. she did, however, miss her turn, and the side of the car collided against a guard rail and refused to start again. both of them scrambled out of the car, shana thankful that she hadn't unpacked her hiking gear yet, so it was easy to grab all the important stuff and follow the boy into the forest.
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of all unusual things to come out of being hunted by a monster, the two of them bonded. their quick escape was foiled when the monster got to them that evening, injuring both of them. the boy took some ambrosia and healed most of the damage to him, but considering they both believed shana to be a normal mortal, they didn't want her to risk the godly medicine. considering there could be no mortal excuse for her wounds, they kept to the forest, always on the move, always on the run as they both waited to heal. it was perhaps weeks later that they were finally able to gain the upperhand on the monster, with the demigod finally ending its existence.
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when it came time for them to part ways, the boy told shana that he could bring her to his home to live with them. he believed her to be a blessed mortal, and maybe there could be a place for her back with them. but shana had no such aspirations; she was a mortal, and she belonged in the mortal world. she didn't want to be stuck in one place - she wanted to explore and eventually join the hunters. when she told him of this, things changed between them. he couldn't understand how she could give up her life and the possibility of love, just to follow a goddess around the world for an eternity. his reaction offended her, and within the hour, shana was packed and ready to go, not sure why his words had hurt and angered her so much. she left with barely a glance back.
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when she finally got back to san jose, a month or two later than her father expected her to be home, she was met with a very worried adam. her father was too grateful that she was alive to scold her over her tardiness, but shana didn't explain more than she'd lost her phone and couldn't let him know that she'd decided to stay and enjoy the area longer than expected. she didn't tell him about the boy and the monster. and then adam turned, leading shana back into their house, and introduced her to her guardian, a scrawny sort of boy she'd realised she'd seen a few times but never really registered that she had.
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he introduced himself as a satyr, and his name was toby, and he had come to collect her to bring her to camp half-blood. she'd wanted to say no, having already had this conversation with the demigod from big sur, but toby insisted, telling her her mother wanted her to go there, and immediately. the subject of her mother surprised shana, and she asked what he meant, but toby insisted on telling her on the way there, but they had to leave now. adam offered to drive them, but shana said she'd be fine going wherever she needed to go, and for adam to just stay and continue with the jobs he still had booked in the area, and that she'd promise to call him when she got to wherever this camp was.
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so maybe shana was a bit surprised that their destination was new york city - all the way across the country. but as she paid for their tickets with the money she'd saved up, shana realised she was quite excited for this new, unknown journey. even if she did meet the demigod boy in the camp, nothing would change: she would still choose to become a huntress whenever she met artemis again. it didn't register for shana that part of her anticipation was also to meet him again in the first place, even if she knew they'd argue about her life decisions all over again.
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and then toby told her she was a demigod, and she had a glorious five hours to digest this fact. she was still digesting when she arrived at camp half-blood and realised this was going to be her new home now. she had a whole new life to learn how to live, and it would be okay that she would be stuck in this camp, because everything was going to be new. but no one knew about the demigod that she'd met; no one knew his name or what a demigod would be doing near big sur, anyway. they all put it down to him just being a random demigod, because not everyone could make it to camp half-blood, and of course older demigods wouldn't have a place in camp.
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and so shana settled into the new rhythm of her life. she still got out of camp as often as she could, going on quests or visiting her father or just getting out to explore. she was claimed a few days into camp, and while shana was pleasantly surprised that she had a godly mother who acknowledged her, a part of her was a bit disappointed. she didn't want to be like the rest of her siblings, content to play in the fields growing fruits and vegetables. she still wanted to be a hunter of artemis, so shana continued her archery lessons and hiking in the wilderness, still aspiring for the destiny that she knew should be hers.
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four days turned into four weeks, into four months and then four years. the next thing shana knew, the camp was engulfed in flames. she had banded with a couple of her half-siblings and together, they went to look for this other demigod camp in california. so caught up in the chaos and uproar and despair of the disaster, shana did not even remember her very first demigod encounter, four years ago, and the boy she had left behind.

[attr="class","hopelovetitle"]POWERS, SKILLS & WEAPONS

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[ CHLOROKINESIS ] - like most children of demeter, shana's major powers involve plants and manipulating plant-life. she is best at agricultural plants, fruits and veggies, and flowers, but can still manipulate thorns and other types of plantlife. she has more limited control over trees, which is just fine by her because she considers them sentinels of the forest and doesn't want to mess around with them, anyway. she'd much rather climb them than control them. she is able to summon plants from the ground - easier if they are already existing and / or are agricultural - and can manipulate them to act as weapons, ie choking vines. when she is emotionally affected, her powers often call on poisonous plants instead.
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weaknesses: as with any other demigod, shana's chlorokinesis has a limit. the more she uses her powers, the more energy she drains, particularly when she uses it for an extended period of time or in unnatural ways (as weapons, out of season, etc). she also cannot summon plants on surfaces plants wouldn't normally be found on, like plastic or metal, and she cannot conjure them in mid-air. shana has very limited control over trees; she can usually only request for fruits to be brought down by branches.
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[ MINOR PLANT WHISPERER ] - it's not exactly that the plants talk to her, it's just that she's sensitive to the different varieties and different lives of the plants. she can easily locate types of or specific plants in an area, and can tell if a plant is poisonous or edible. she can recognise different types of herbs, trees, and can also tell if a plant is old, sick, or dying.
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weaknesses: shana has a limited physical radius for her plant sensitivity. it can also require a fair bit of concentration, depending on how big the area is or how rare the plant type is that she's looking for. she locates better when she's previously interacted with the plant that she's looking for, and her ability can be limited on unknown, magical, or extremely rare plants. additional plant information such as toxicity, age, or disease often depend on her actually touching the plant.
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[ NATURAL COOK ] - courtesy of her mother, shana is a great cook. she is a dab hand at baking, and often doesn't read recipes. she experiments a lot, not always successfully, but the food that she likes and makes often are usually very delicious. mostly, her expertise is in italian cuisine and american fast food.

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PLAYED BY ARK

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MADEIRA, KIANA as shana betancourt