Name: Daisy Zhang
Age: Looks 26 | Actual age: 172
Species: Aurazin
Role: Shepherd
Face Claim: Malese Jow

Dedicated | Caring | Loyal
Old fashioned | Distant | Guarded

It wasn’t long after the Chinese emigrated to America to avoid an economic crisis that Daisy was born. Her Chinese name given to her as Dax-ia but her preferred name chosen by her American mother as Daisy. Her parents were both servants for a wealthy Baron who owned an estate in New Orleans. Her father was a cook, who prepared the Baron’s family's meals and her mother was the maid, tending to the lady of the house and ensuring the place remained clean.

They were never supposed to have a child. But after falling for one another the pair had begun sneaking around together and before long her mother was with child. Daisy’s birth was one of struggle, her mother continuing to work throughout her pregnancy so that she could afford to take care of her child. They didn’t have much, but they knew the moment they stared down at that smiling face that would take care of their baby girl before everything.

Despite having very little, Daisy remembered her child fondly. The Baron wasn’t a cruel man and he allowed her to live in the outhouse with her mother, there were gardens to explore and people to talk to everywhere she turned. Her parents did their best to provide for her, often skipping meals of their own to ensure that she had a full stomach and her father would always sing her to sleep every night.

Daisy was a curious and caring person who paid attention to the world around her. Once she reached the age of 7, she began to help her mother with the chores around the manor, learning how to clean and how to sew, fixing any holes that the baron’s daughter would make in her dresses. She remembered at first how the sewing needle would always prick her and then her thumbs would bleed until her mother passed her a thimble which had been passed down through her family. She wore it proudly as she worked knowing a part of her legacy was with her.

They were a relatively happy family, they spent the few hours they had of spare time together, singing, playing games and generally just enjoying one another’s company. Daisy had good memories of the life they had together and before long their family was about to get a little bigger when her mother discovered she was pregnant again. Her father was overjoyed and so was Daisy, she loved the idea of having someone to take care of and teach. She looked forward to showing her younger sibling everything she knew and protecting them.

It became evident in the later months of her mother’s pregnancy that all her hard working was taking a toll on her health and one day while working she had collapsed unexpectedly. She awoke to a worried 9 year old Daisy who brought her home to the outhouse. After that, her mother had to remain on bedrest for the best of her baby so Daisy took over her work within the manor. Thankfully she had been accompanying her mother to work for the majority of her life and knew her way around the manor and the work.

It was hard work, she came home every night feeling completely exhausted which made her find a new respect for her mother who had done this for years without complaining, always diligently making her way through all the chores while also entertaining Daisy the whole time. She really was amazing. Daisy kept working for the rest of the period of her mother’s pregnancy and then once night when came home from work she came to see her father crying.

If there was one thing which held true in Daisy’s life it was that her father never cried, he was always smiling, so carefree, he had worn a peaceful smile on his face as he had taught Daisy how to cook the way he did. Seeing him like that sent a chill through her spine as she looked down to see the bundled child in his arms, also crying restlessly. Her eyes filled with tears as he explained to her that her mother hadn’t made it through the delivery due to her weak state. The three of them cried the night away as they mourned the loss of someone who had taught them all how to be strong.

And the next morning it was time to pick up the pieces of her broken heart and go back to work. Now it was her time to work hard for her family, to ensure there was enough food on the table every night to make sure her sister, who her father had decided to call Lily, after her mother, would grow up to have a better life than she did. It wasn’t easy but the young girl put her everything into it. Her father however, he smiled much less frequently now and while he did his best to be there for both girls, it was clear that he was broken inside, a part of him that would likely never heal as it yearned for the woman he had lost.

Daisy had to grow up in a very short amount of time to ensure that her sister didn’t experience any hardships. She brought her with her to the manor, which was difficult to balance but often reminded her of the reasons she was working so hard. Lily was a sweet and fun child who she enjoyed being around, especially as she grew older and she was able to teach her to speak and they could play together, she would help to sew her little dolls to play with from the scraps which were left when she needed to work on clothes for the Baron’s children and wife.

Her father became more and more detached from her and her sister, she was sure he was trying to prevent the pain he would feel if he lost either of them. And then one night, when she returned to the outhouse with Lily, she waited up until late, well after nightfall but her father never returned. Daisy was heartbroken, not only because there now felt like there was a second void in her life, but because she wasn’t able to go and look for him, she never even knew what happened to him. Did he leave? Was he taken? Was he in pain? It made her hurt inside not knowing what the truth about his fate was.

But she didn’t have the luxury of falling apart because there was a little face looking at her for answers. She was all Lily had left now and she couldn’t fail her, she had to make sure her sister was okay. So much like her mother did with her, Daisy taught Lily the ropes of working manor, taking care of the meals, though they weren’t of the quality they made, cleaning the place from top to bottom, taking care of the gardens. They especially enjoyed that part, getting to see all the beautiful flowers which grew there.

Thinking about her parents hurt. But she was reminded that they taught her how to be strong and that was how she got through every day. When times were though, managing to cook a meal for Lily was enough for her. The Baron’s wife often told her that she would make a good wife, that she could invite some suitors to the manor to ease her struggling but Daisy always refused because she didn’t want to leave Lily behind. Things weren’t perfect but they had each other and now that Lily was older, the two of them could talk and keep one another company.

Her life felt like it was filled with purpose again. But it was still a hard life. As the two of them got older some suitors did end up coming to the manor, Daisy was getting older, at age 26 she was past the point where most men were interested but Lily got a lot of attention. Daisy worked hard in her sister’s stead, letting her go out of dates and be courted, Lily seemed happy with that life, she enjoyed feeling special in someone’s eyes and Daisy knew it was best for her, she could marry a man more wealthy than her and with the work she had done she would make the perfect housewife, she wouldn’t need to starve or slave away just to survive.

So when her sister told her that she was due to be married, Daisy gave her blessing, she was truly happy for her, even if it meant she had to travel many miles away and the two of them couldn’t see one another anymore. She looked forward to the wedding and seeing Lily do all the planning. She did everything she could to keep her sister healthy in that time, including putting her own limits aside for the sake of caring for her. But every day became more and more tiring, she kept telling everyone she was fine but the truth was she felt herself weakening her body punishing her for the long hours she had spent til now putting work before her health.

And then one night, when she laid her head to sleep. She never woke up.

It was a strange feeling for her. She had no idea where she was or what was happening, she just laid there in the darkness confused. She kept trying to push herself to wake up, she had to wake up for the wedding, she needed to put her dress on and help Lily with her hair, she needed to watch her as she married the man she had fallen for and went off to live the life they both promised one another they’d have one day. It was frustrating because no matter how hard she tried, she was stuck in this dream, restlessly trying to change something which wouldn’t.

She laid there for a long time, stuck in her head and frustrated until eventually a light came into view. The figure, which looked like a person emanating rainbow light, told her that she was dead and that it was time for her to move forward. He reached his hand towards her but she was in shock. She was dead? How could this be and what about Lily? She would miss everything in her life and how would she cope knowing she lost her sister on her wedding day. She felt herself wanting to explode from the news and it made her heart wrench painfully. It took her a while to finally process the truth of her reality and eventually take his hand.

When she opened her eyes again she was in a brighter place. It seemed like a place which could only be described as a dream and yet it wasn’t to her. She didn’t know how to move on past what was happening, she didn’t know how to make peace with the life she had left behind. Which was why she was unable to move on to the realm of the dead and was offered a place to stay in the veil. What she really wanted was to go back home but she knew that was impossible.

It took her a long time to come around to what happened to her and to finally feel like she could do anything but grieve but eventually she picked herself up and began to attend her Aurazin training. They gave her the chance to change her name if she wanted to but she decided to keep the one her father had given her. She really hoped he had found peace in the end and didn’t feel lost like she did.

Daisy signed up to become a Shepherd, mostly because she didn’t know if she could face the world as an empath knowing the strict rules the Aurazin had to follow to prevent them from interfering with life on earth. She enjoyed Shepherding, it took a long time to find someone stuck in limbo and save them but it felt worthwhile to her to do so, people couldn’t remain trapped forever, if they did then she would still be laying there wondering where to go, she wouldn’t even know she was dead.

Through the years Daisy became one of the top ranked shepherds and eventually went on to become a trainer, her role was to take care of the new Aurazin and to guide them through accepting their new reality and making a decision about what they wanted to do. It wasn’t an easy thing to do, but it definitely felt rewarding to her to help people find some sort of purpose again and to live a relatively normal life.

She was working with a new set of Aurazin who had recently come in when she felt something strange happen, it caused what felt like a jolt of energy to move through the veil and then suddenly she found herself dragged into the darkness. It felt like she was falling for a while, which made her reach out in a panicked state before she eventually opened her eyes to the world once more. But this wasn’t the home she had come to know. This was earth.

Thankfully Daisy didn’t awaken alone and so she didn’t need to take the leadership role when it came to figuring all this out. She decided to follow the Lucien to the Eternal City where they would search down someone to help them get home. For Daisy it was a scary time, she found herself in a world she barely recognized, for over 150 years had passed since her death and everything had changed. Having never been an empath, the world was very unfamiliar to her and she found herself very out of her element. And yet she couldn’t help but wonder if this was some sort of fated second chance.