Cadence was raised in a very harsh, uptight environment. She was drilled by her family to be as successful as possible. This proved difficult, since all members were performative, each in some way tied to the arts. From a young age, Cadence was enrolled in lessons for music, ballet, painting, and any other art form in order to develop her skills and force her to hone in on something. She ended up clinging to the harp, though did not want to actually play it professionally.
In school, Cadence very much loved the sciences, especially genetics and biology. She wanted to be an academic far more than a performer, but of course her family refused to let her take that path. She decided to be smart and save up money from side-performances she was forced into in order to get out of her house and continue school on her own. She left her strict family behind, cutting off contact with them, and continued on her own way. She managed to get a place with a few roommates after a while and tried to get into her preferred scientific field of genetics.
At times, Cadence would actually practice ballet to keep her figure up and would play classical music because, to an extent, she did enjoy it. It was only the expectation to be a part of it that irked her.
After graduating high school, Cadence went to college and met Celestiaand Viola there. The three became roommates and good friends. At some point, Cadence actually wound up loving the softness of Viola’s nature and found her beautiful. The both of them were amazed at each other’s fields and level of passion for it, and often they would stay up for hours discussing aspects of it they loved most. Viola, in turn, seemed to return Cadence’s feelings, so the two eventually began to date. Unfortunately, they had starkly different personalities.
Cadence was as stern and distant as many members of her family and was more adept to being alone or doing things herself, meanwhile Viola needed constant attention and affection and wanted to always be around Cadence. Things grew more complicated when their studies made maintaining a relationship extremely difficult. The two ended up separating after a huge fight, and when they graduated, they separated entirely from each other’s lives.
In Lune City[]
Cadence kept in contact with Celestia, since she felt guilty that she was sort of in the middle of everything between her and Viola. The two kept tabs on one another’s progress in their field and eventually ended up moving to Lune City together, where they’d heard that they might get lucky landing some decent jobs. The pair actually got an apartment together, so that they could share the expenses and both have the opportunity to move at once. Despite their vastly different personalities, the two managed to make things work.
She met back up with Viola after Celestia found that she’d moved into Lune City. She was excited to see her, though was embarrassed because it’d been so long and they had separated on a sour note. Despite the previous problems they had, the women found that they’d both matured quite a lot and were a lot more capable of handling things that life threw at them. Cadence didn’t want to at first, but she fell back in love with Viola, seeing how much she’d grown in personality. Old emotions emerged, though she never acted upon them. It wasn’t until the two were outside Viola’s home that Cadence felt the strongest about wanting to re-enter her relationship with Viola, but unfortunately, she was lost to her after an incident with the Rainbow Pearl.
Viola's Death[]
The Pearl had landed before them, and Cadence tried to pick it up after it posed no further threat beyond its initial landing impact. She tried to be careful, but the Pearl sensed her strong emotions and reacted in her hand, causing it to release a strong rainbow-colored light that hurt Cadence and killed Viola.
She was devastated by the loss, but understood quite immediately what might have happened based on the feelings she had experienced and the way the Pearl reacted. She came to realize that strong emotions fueled the thing, because it wasn’t until it was no longer in contact with or near her that it stopped reacting. From that moment onward, she had to resort to dulling her emotions and keeping them in check. She became much more apathetic in fear of the Pearl reacting in the same way again.
Feeling awful for what happened, Celestia offered to help Cadence. She helped build her a robotic prosthetic arm so that she could continue to do her work and live life normally. She also teamed up with Cadence to try to understand the Pearl’s power, as well as adopting Willow, Viola’s daughter, since she was no without a parent. Cadence used Viola’s lab, but kept her work secret as Viola had.
At some point, she looked into Viola’s research and was crushed at how far she’d gotten into it, knowing she was never able to finish. In conjunction with studying the Pearl, she read over all of Viola’s old notes.
Working on the Ensemble Mew Project[]
Cadence’s main field of interest was genetics, and most of her work revolved around it. After Viola’s death, she tried to understand the Pearl’s power and properties. Despite understanding what it could do, the object and its origins still greatly baffled her. Unfortunately, what followed its introduction into their atmosphere was the Diaboliques, a team of Danseursseeking to reclaim the Pearl they lost. Cadence expected something to happen, or someone to come looking for the Pearl, but she kept it well hidden. While researching the Pearl, she also started to see what she could do to combat the new threat in their city.
It was not until Willow accidentally discovered the underground lab and the Pearl that an opportunity arose. Cadence and Celestia realized that It worked in conjunction with human and animal DNA and could alter it, and in fact, that the Pearl’s power might have been the catalyst needed to make Viola’s research and project fruitful. She found a way to enhance human bodies with both animal DNA and the Rainbow Pearl’s power, and thus created the Ensemble Mew Project, hoping that with successful testing, she could create a team of genetically enhanced humans to fight against the Danseurs that were now wreaking havoc in search of the Pearl.
About
Personality[]
Cadence is a rather difficult person to deal with at times. Her personality is very stubborn and she has the tendency to want to be alone a lot, finding little things distracting. She hardly ever opens up to others or says what she is thinking, but when people manage to break her walls down, she becomes very engaged and will often talk for a long time.
Cadence can be seen in a negative light quite often because of her personality, but she is truly a decent person. She works hard and does her best to do as good a job as possible. She is resilient and refuses to ever give up regardless of her failures in life. She is also quite crafty and can think of new ideas in stressful situations.
Preferences[]
Cadence enjoys playing the harp and listening to classical music. Despite her strict upbringing, she realized she loved these things only after she left home. Being allowed to choose for herself whether she cared about the arts gave her a serious sense of accomplishment and independence.
Aside from the arts, Cadence very much enjoys her work. She often observes the world around her and subscribes to many different publishers online to read up on genetic studies and what sorts of things are being done with it around the world.
Cadence dislikes high-energy people, yet finds herself constantly surrounded by them. She is able to tolerate it if needed, but would always avoid meeting these kinds of people if possible. Cadence also dislikes foods that are too sweet. She likes more bitter flavors and will often eat raw vegetables and fruits.
Musical Themes
See the soundtrack for links to and elaboration on theme music.
Cadence’s associated instrument is the harp. While others have their instruments tied to their personalities in some way, Cadence’s instrument is slightly different. She simply loves to play it, finding that it gives her peace of mind amidst the chaos in her life. While she is a tough woman, she prefers the softer and gentler sounding instrument.
Her associated theme is “Gymnopédie No. 1 (Arr. for Harp)” by Lavinia Meijer (See above).
Role
The Ensemble Mews[]
When Willow came with a group of her friends, trying to hide from the aliens who were chasing them, Cadence was surprised, but offered them shelter. It was then she learned they’d seen Willow turn into a cat, and she felt obligated to tell them everything that had been going on until now. Along with Celestia, Cadence managed to fill everyone in. Strangely, they offered to help, and so she went along with their request and allowed them to become Mews. She essentially became their mentor and oversaw everything they did. She was not entirely a role model and guide since she was unaccustomed to working with teenagers, but she did do what she could to help them.
After Split[]
At some point, the Diaboliques had found out where Celestia worked and managed to kidnap her. In fear of them learning of the Pearl’s location, Cadence kept it with her at all times and did what she could to find out where her friend was. The three Danseurs managed to send word to her and demanded she give the Pearl to them, however, and so she had no choice but to do so in order to save Celestia. This move created a catalyst that led to the Ensemble Mews’ downfall. Because Étoilehad the Pearl, she was able to use it to completely take away the girls’ powers while giving some to herself.
Because of this, Cadence felt that things were too dangerous to let the girls keep helping her and told them to lay low. Eventually, they dissipated altogether, save for Willow. She’d avoided being impacted by Étoile's attacks by running away from the fight, though she returned to make up for it and offered herself to Cadence to try to help further any research.
After Resurgence[]
Cadence continued to find any way she could to try to stop the Diaboliques, but had no leads because she had nothing to work with. Willow kept bringing her stolen supplies in order to help keep the lab running, but nothing truly changed until a few years later, when Willow finally decided to prematurely fight the Diaboliques on her own after training and trying to grow stronger. She failed, but managed to escape with a shard from the Pearl. It was then that research could truly continue in the right direction.
Things were slightly complicated when Willow showed up one day with Marianne, who had found out about her abilities and was now a target for the Diaboliques that were trying to hunt Willow down. Cadence allowed her to stay with them, but refused to let her try to help by becoming a Mew. The furthest she went was injecting Marianne with animal DNA, but she did not react to it whatsoever and so it was believed she couldn’t have been any help anyway. The Pearl shard, on the other hand, did seem to react to her, and so Cadence had to teach her to control her emotions in order to prevent any “accidents”.
Marianne ultimately became a Mew, however, when she was kidnapped by two of the Diaboliques who intended to take her to Étoile. Willow ran back to the lab, took the shard, and threw it into her, and it reacted to her body and transformed it. After that incident, Cadence had to once again juggle studying and protecting the shard, and overseeing the girls alongside Celestia.
Relationships
While her initial relationships to everyone in the series, especially the Mews, are strained at first, Cadence does come to really care for everyone and get comfortable around them. Because they all have varying personalities, a few of the girls take more offense to Cadence’s straightforwardness than others, and it isn’t until they can adjust themselves and understand why she is the way she is that they are able to strengthen their bond with her.
Viola Roth: Viola was one of the few people Cadence ever genuinely had feelings for. She was not really the type to get emotionally attached to anyone, but was capable of holding friends and caring for others. Viola was the only person who ever made her feel more for someone than she usually did. Cadence cared for Viola deeply back when she was younger and they were dating, and even long after she has died, Cadence keeps Viola's memory close.
Celestia Sweet: Cadence does not always get along with Celestia—she finds her to be annoyingly over-energetic, and so their personalities clash quite a bit since she is more stoic and sensible, and Celestia is far more wild. Despite their differences, they do work quite well as a team when they get focused on a task. They are both passionate about their respective scientific fields and contribute equally to everything they do throughout the series. The two learn to cherish one another and their unique differences.
Willow Roth: Cadence never had a very comfortable relationship with Willow, mostly because of her inability to deal with her. She had no experience raising a teenager, but took over mostly because she worried about where Willow would end up if she hadn’t. She did not dislike her, and in fact found pride in Willow's ability to make good grades and keep out of trouble. The issue was they didn’t really have a good connection for a long while. After Willow got older, the two did grow a lot more close. Cadence taught the young girl how to control her emotions and gave her motivation to keep trying her best, despite the situation they were in.
Klara De Jongh: Cadence admires Klara’s personality and ability to be responsible. Because she is always on edge when the Diaboliques are around, she does not talk to her very often, nor any of the girls, really, beyond what is necessary. However, she does find that Klara knows the best out of all the others how to really handle her. Cadence is prone to frustration and has times where she needs to be alone, and Klara is one of the few who understands that and gives her space. She and Klara have a closer relationship to one another than the other girls as a result. She oddly opens up more to Klara than the other Mews.
Daniella Gillespie: Cadence finds Daniella to be a handful, much like Celestia. She carries the same amount of energy and is far more childish than the other girls. While Cadence does not dislike her, she sometimes finds her to be taxing. Danny is always asking Cadence questions and being curious about her work. However, despite the mild annoyance, Cadence is respectful of the girl and grateful for what she does. While Danny initially thought of Cadence as boring, she did start to enjoy her company more. After a period of time, Cadence would answer her questions openly, instead of shrugging her off.
Vianney Soubrette: Cadence seems to react similarly to Vianney—they are not very close and the girl’s energy can be more than Cadence cares for. However, she is equally respectful of Vianney and her efforts. Despite any differences they do have, the pair work very well as a team. Vianney listens to Cadence, who is in turn grateful for the girl’s respect.
Marianne Richardson: Cadence is put off by Marianne at first, in the same way as anyone else purely because of how much energy and excitability she has. She initially sees Marianne as someone she'll be obligated to keep tabs on and out of harms way, but eventually comes to enjoy the girl's presence and chides herself for the quick judgement. Marianne is obedient to Cadence and knows when to take charge, and it is not until later that Cadence sees this and realizes there is more to her than she'd originally thought. She finds Marianne difficult only sometimes because of her own pride, but Cadence does appreciate that she works hard and is a fighting spirit. They have a semi-casual relationship since Cadence does not open herself up so easily. However, she does talk to Marianne here and there.
Trivia
Cadence is the human counterpart to Pas, whose personality and mannerisms are quite similar to hers.
Cadence’s last name was originally going to be her first. Of the scientists, she is the only one whose first name is not reminiscent of her instrument.
