Name: Julianne 'Julie' Callahan

Occupation: Student / Tea shop and bar owner

Actual Age/Apparent Age: 27

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Hetero

Race/Species: Were-Owl (Alternatively: Glorious Night Chicken, Harpy, Wood Penguin)

Appearance: Of average height and on the slender side, Julie is certainly not someone that grabs attention wherever she goes. She has a pleasant enough face, with a set of blue-gray eyes to match her waist-long, strawberry blonde hair, and dotted with light freckles, which become more visible the more time she spends in the sun.

Despite having perfect vision, her eyes are a bit sensitive and due to that, she tends to wear glasses. The glass has an invisible coating, which prevents her eyes from straining too hard during the daytime.

If asked to describe her overall, one might immediately be reminded of some sort of nature enthusiast, with a dash of witchy vibes thrown in for good measure, as Julie quite enjoys dabbling in "alternative sciences". She's usually dressed in earthy tones, having a strong preference for thights, tunics, and cardigans, always preferring comfort and functionality, over fashion and leaving an impression.

She comes off as someone who enjoys her lot in life. Always quick to smile and offer a kind word, she has a soft spot for the misunderstood and the overlooked things in general, and usually avoids loud places and forceful people. She cares a lot about her grandmother and her friends, always looking for ways to make their days a little brighter.

Personality: A gentle spirit in every sense of the word, Julie simply radiates warmth and comfort, almost invitingly so. She speaks in a soft, calming tone, and simply talking to her for a short time can make a person feel like everything is going to be alright in the end, no matter what hardships they are facing.

Known to often shoot a joke at her own expense, and using harmless cussing substitutions, she's often described as endearing, by those unaware of her other nature. One that can get dead serious at a drop of a hat. One that is not only willing, but able to bare her claws in defense of those she cares about, in ways both figurative and literal.

Despite that fact, Julie is very much a pacifist. Avoiding conflicts and confrontations as much as she can, as they are genuinely stressing her out, she will always look to resolve problems with calm conversation, rather than fly off into an argument or a fight.

Abilities/Skills: Shapeshifting - Being a shapeshifter of the avian variety, Julie is able to change and manipulate her form, in various degrees of shifting. (See more under Other info)

Night vision - Needless to say, owls are very much nocturnal creatures, and are thus well adapter to hunting in conditions of low visibility. Julie's night vision and overall hearing are far superior to those of a regular human. It's the daytime that troubles her, as too much natural light and the hellish noise of constant movement, chatter, and traffic can easily disorient her.

Herbalist - Very familiar with various herbs, she can use them in many beneficial ways: making teas, pomades, scented candles, or herb-infused cookies. She uses most of these skills to sell at her shop, and earn some extra money.

History: Ever since she can remember, it was always Julie and her grandmother, her parents' faces are now remembered only in family pictures, as when they disappeared, Julie was still very young. For the longest time, her grandmother simply told her that mommy and daddy left, and would not be able to return, but still convinced her granddaughter that they loved her very much.

It wasn't until her teens, when Julie first discovered her gift to turn into an owl, that her grandmother finally spilled the beans and told Julie her family history, along with resolving the mystery of her parents' disappearance. As it turned out, Julie was the latest in a long line of owl shifters, some versions of the story melting into something of a legend, marking them as descendants of Nyctimene, who was, according to Roman mythology, the daughter of Epopeus, a king of Lesbos.

Depending on which version of the story is told, Nyctimene was apparently seduced by her father. Out of shame or guilt, she fled to the forest and refused to show her face in daylight. Taking pity on her, Minerva (Athena) transformed her into the nocturnal owl which, in time, became a widespread symbol of the goddess herself.

Of course, no one actually believes that, but it always made for an interesting tidbit to tell at family gatherings. Besides the fact that shifters were relatively safe, as long as they kept to themselves and away from the hustle and bustle of civilized life, Julie's grandmother warned her never to be caught or seen by people in her shifted form, as exactly that was what had cost her mother her life, and made her father abandon them.

Once upon a full moon, feeling especially unable to resist the call of the beautiful night outside, her mother went out to stretch her wings and never returned. Julie never actually found out who was it that found her mother's body in the woods, with a gunshot wound in her chest, but the part that she does remember was her father becoming more and more paranoid from that day onward, soon packing up his things and moving to another state, but not before he all but dragged Julie to the remote cottage of her grandmother's, basically abandoning her at the doorstep. Her grandmother did not need to ask what happened - the plan was always clear - if something happened to an owl shifter, their offspring must always return to their nest. So, despite being a rather cruel thing to do, Julie's father had, in the end, done what he was supposed to do.

As time went by, the two of them lived a relatively normal life, in their little cottage near the woods, so both could go roam it when they wanted to. Her teenage years, and her early twenties were spent trying to balance her education and working side jobs to pay for her tuition, and eventually, she rented out a small space in the city, where she opened up a "tea shop", though it ended up being a mishmash of a cafe, bakery, and public reading space. She's the only one working there, but doesn't seem to mind in the least, enjoying the opportunity to meet with people and offer a cup of tea or an ear willing to listen - whichever they need at the moment.

Other Information:

Her alternative forms can be segregated into three "levels", the first being what she calls her "Night Chicken" form, where she remains looking exactly as she is, with the exception of sprouting a rather sizable pair of wings.

Her second form is that of a "Harpy", more owl than human, her arms substituted by a pair of wings, her feet by a pair of clawed avian feet, capable of inflicting some serious damage to whatever she sets those claws on, and her "wood penguin" form, where she can fully transform into an owl - specifically the Eurasian Eagle-Owl variety.

Despite being relatively light herself, due to her "bird-bone" structure, in both her winged and harpy forms, Julie can actually lift objects heavier than herself, and carry them for a while, without her grip loosening.