Your name or online alias: M or grayarcadian
Your email: grayarcadian@gmail.com
Another preferred means of contact: Google Hangouts - same handle. Plurk: Same handle
Character's Full Name: Natasha "Tasha" Yar
Character's Canon: Star Trek
Character's Journal Name: [personal profile] tasha_yar
What would you like your character's tag to be?: tasha yar
In 300-500 words total, tell us your...
Character's background (their past and present):
tl:dr - Everything from the show up to "Skin of Evil."
She was raised on a colony who's government collapsed into anarchy and terror. As a child she was always on the run, often hungry, and did many things (and had things done to her) she does not want to think about in order to survive. Often, these are things she finds utterly impossible to explain to her friends who have been raised in the confines of the UFP, so she doesn't bring them up. One of these things she did was stay on the run with her little sister, Ishara. Some of the things she is not proud of involved Ishara directly or indirectly.
When she was in her teens, a Starfleet vessel found the remnants of the Turkana IV. Even though the sisters had problems which lead Ishara to join the Coalition long beforehand, Tasha still risked her life to try to retrieve Ishara. Not even the offer of leaving the planet all together could dissuade Ishara from her chosen new life. Tasha left alone and worked hard over the next five years to become educated and to join Starfleet.
Eventually, Tasha grew into a competent and fearless officer. Captain Picard discovered her single-handedly navigating a mine field in order to save some wounded colonists. He put in a special request to have Tasha moved to his command. I do get the feeling Tasha may have been working with Picard a bit longer than at least some of the rest of the crew, but that is merely speculation - and one I'd have to clear with the Picard player.
She served on the Enterprise until her death at the "hands" of Armus, an ancient and angry being in exile who apparently killed Tasha for sport. The death always struck me as odd. It only got weirder later, as we all know. If Lal is on board, it means "Yesterday's Enterprise" has also happened, and things get very..."Doctor Who" from there on in. I'll admit to being really pissed off at the idea of Sela. It was nice to see Crosby back on the show, and I adore Romulans, but making Tasha a Romulan's captive who is obviously used for the sexual gratification of her captor doesn't exactly make me a happy little feminist.
I'd prefer to have the Tasha who lost her life during "Skin of Evil," but I'm flexible for the right idea.
Fair warning: I'm a Data/Tasha 'shipper. Ooooohhhh, yes, there are problems with that 'ship, but I see it as a very plausible thing. More on that if you would like, but it would take a few paragraphs.
Character's personality:
Tasha underestimates her intelligence, but she really shouldn't. She went from street rat to top-of-the-line tactical officer in a highly competitive field in roughly 10 years. She practices multiple martial arts and is a highly dedicated and very brave - almost foolhardy - security officer.
If I were to rate Worf's strengths versus Tasha's, I would argue that Worf has the better instincts for security while Yar's abilities at tactical exceed his for quite a bit of the prime universe's run just because of raw talent. (Neither one really has hobbies that don't involve beating something up. It has to do with the cultures they're from.) Worf loves up close and personal. Tasha is and will always be more comfortable with evasion and surgical strikes. In short, it's a warrior versus a scrapper. If there were a situation calling for espionage Tasha would also have a slight edge in most, but not all, circumstances. Worf would make the slightly better investigator when it comes to raw information. Oddly enough, he really does have the edge with people skills. (Though, if he calls the dress uniforms "woman's wear" in front of Tasha, like he did that one time in front of Riker, there will be hell to pay.)
The pace of her life after her recovery from Turkana IV did not leave a lot of time for niceties. Her personality still suffers from bouts of impulsiveness, the occasional lack of restraint, and quite a bit of, "damned if I know." For example, she has a crush on Picard and is schooled enough to know why the crush is there and why it's a bad idea. She just has no idea how to actually get it sorted out in her own head, so she occasionally says something small that she magnifies in her own mind and kicks herself mightily about it for a few days - well after Picard shrugged it off if he noticed the slip at all. She also has a tendency to growl at people who might threaten her, especially if they bring her gender into the equation. Remember, where she's from such impulses kept you alive even if they don't make you a hit at a state dinner in the UFP.
She did not have much of a life outside of her job and her workouts before her death. She liked to read - usually it's non-fiction and in some way topical to her job - and she liked to listen to music. I can see Beverly (or someone else) teaching her how to knit and her becoming an avid fan of it since it's both a survival skill and something to do with her fidgety hands. Up until her slight case of death, she was seeing Troi regularly for advice on becoming better at navigating social situations, PTSD, and her own temper.
Even though she's famous in science fiction fandom for having a one-night stand, it's actually very unlike her to do so. Letting someone into her quarters for a cup of coffee isn't always a comfortable experience. Letting them see her admit weakness or need would drive her crazy later no matter how much fun or pleasure she might get out of the deal. To her, there are always costs in letting someone get close - even just physically close - and weighing that payment is so taxing to her otherwise well-organized and highly disciplined life that she tends to avoid it. So, I think there were some friendly interactions with Data before that evening where she noticed him as "interesting," beyond just the Farpoint stuff, but it's not like she had any follow-up plans for that interest.
While this is garners confusion from her fellow citizens of the Federation, she often wonders if she's enough of a "woman" to actually register as feminine. She simply doesn't know how it works, and it's not like she had a lot of role models in those formative years. That thing with Data had her rattled on some level from "the incident" to around "Datalore." What settled her down, I don't know, but she was far more relaxed around him in that episode than prior eps. It's something I'd have to work on with a dedicated co-star for that character.
Character's skills/abilities/powers:
She's a flat-out tactics genius and, again, I would not underestimate her IQ, even if she doesn't apply it the same way as, say, Data. She knows several martial arts, including being a master of aikido. If Starfleet has an urban survival guide for security personnel she likely had a hand in writing it. She's a gifted security officer, but on many points Worf's abilities may be stronger.
Any special equipment your character is bringing along? This includes weaponry, magic items, etc.: Not equipment per se, but Starfleet officers a couple years dead don't tend to reappear that often. I suspect there might be some residual effects from being either dead or being buffeted by the space-time continuum. In other words, I'm willing to be a plot bitch. A big plot-bitch if needed. (I'm not willing to have her have been Sela all along, but that's pretty much my limit.)
Are you bringing your character to [community profile] ten_fwd from another game? If you are, which game?: No. I have some leftover ideas from wherenoonehasgonebefore, but that's all they are - ideas. They can be used or not used.
Why do you want to play this character in Ten Forward, and what do you plan to do with them?I've had Ten Forward recommended by a couple of friends. I admin a rather large set of games I'm coming back to and...Well, I'd like a place where I can just
play without having to sit down and do a bunch of admin type stuff before I do. Normally, I don't do jam-jar games, but this has enough
Trek cast where I could have a lot of things to do without random drops into Camp Half-Blood all by my Trek-flavored self.
My main reason though is Tasha. She has so much utterly wasted potential. Don't get me wrong. I loved Worf up until the moment he walked onto DS9 and stole the hell out of that show. It's just Tasha got me here. Tasha has been a muse for decades and Tasha has a lot of stories, I feel, deserve telling. She deserves more than two wasteful deaths and countless rapes. It's weird, but...I want some justice for her.
My plans are flexible. I know she'll want her job back and to somehow get the crew and those in her care (official care or not) away from Q and whatever he has planned. Otherwise, she just woke up from a two-year case of death. I've played that before with other characters. It sucks in a unique way every time for every character that goes through it. There's a lot to examine and unpack. There's unfinished business and what comes out about you after you're gone. (The "Measure of a Man" trial comes to mind.) If she encounters Romulans who know Sela or we get a Data player that's going to be a lot of "Things to Do With the Character." Picard and Troi alone are volumes of RP potential already.
Writing Sample #1: I would like to request a scene from one of the players, preferably TNG cast.
Writing Sample #2 (optional):
http://wherenoonehasgonebefore.dreamwidth.org/1002.htmlCurrent Location: I'm really flexible on that. I'm betting Q has some ideas.
