OOC survey: Character Building!
Sometimes, when I want to feel productive, I fill out tangentially-related surveys instead of writing up my character's history and stuff like I said I would. Also I cheat on the questions I don't like.
Body and Appearance
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is she heavyset, thin, short, rangy?
She’s about two-three inches long, grey-green and slimy. …But she doesn’t much care what host she has, if it has functioning senses and limbs.
2. How old is she?
About 40, or 13 generations. Or possibly 30ish years and ten generations, I can't seem to fix the chronology. Doesn't matter. This isn’t too long in Yeerk terms, but is much older than the majority of people in the Empire. Not many people have survived since its beginnings, so she tends to act and feel like a veteran in comparison to her younger colleagues.
3. Describe her posture. Does she carry herself well or does she slouch?
There is no slouching. It looks bad, whether in human meetings or Yeerk briefings.
4. How is her health? Is she fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?
She keeps her hosts as fit as she has time to, and always healthy. She can run for it if- er, when she needs to, but she misses having a combat-ready form.
5. How does she move? Is she clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid?
Casual but confident, usually relaxed. When she’s not blending with the humans her motions become more certain, tense but not jerky, almost aggressive. Even when she’s playing timid!Natasha she seldom thinks to change that: she might withdraw and cower a bit, but she mostly alters her vocal clumsiness.
6. How attractive is this character physically? How does she perceive herself in the mirror?
Most people would perceive her true form as something they’d peel off the sole of their shoe. She’s aware her host is pretty attractive, but it’s only noteworthy to her for sometimes provoking a more favourable response from other humans.
7. Describe her complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred?
Green, undertones of dark grey, with a healthy layer of slime. : D
8. Describe her hair: color, texture, style.
It came with the host, but she actually favours darker hair, though she always pins it up, to be all practical and professional.
9. What color are her eyes?
She has none. Natasha’s… appear to be blue.
10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features?
Not for long!
11. What are her chief tension centers?
Her brain. She tends to shift her weight and her upper body when she’s tense, especially her shoulders. This is usually just before she remembers she has no arm-blades and her Dracon beam’s at home.
12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does she have six of the same suit?
Business wear alternating with dusty working jumpsuits, when she’s on the Pool ship for a while. It’s not hugely varied, and always simple. No skirts, because she tried that and it was the wrong kind of different. She doesn’t like shoes that sound too much like hooves or Taxxon claws. Flashbacks, y’know.
13. Do her clothes fit well? Does she seem comfortable in them?
Her human-wear clothes fit well, but she always appears comfortable.
14. Does she dress the same on the job as she does in her free time? If not, what are the differences?
Free time?
15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando?
When she’s wearing a shape with legs or without?
Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse?
Erm, none of the above. She uses slightly lower tones than Natasha, I know - but Natasha’s usually nervous when she’s talking.
2. How does she normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does she talk easily, or does she hesitate?
Quick and easily, sometimes running ahead of her line of thought if she’s getting excited, but usually she tries to sound steady and controlled. Some subjects will trip her up regardless, of course. She speaks up clearly unless agreeing with a superior or murmuring an aside.
3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics?
Only the Yeerk ‘speech pattern’ where her speech becomes more clipped, formal and correct - a bit clinical, with a 40% chance of taunting. Natasha has a recognizably American accent, maybe Californian, but it’s muddied and indistinct.
Between them they have a whole bunch of verbal quirks that I can’t remember. Natasha has lots of ‘um’ and ‘er’ interjections, and trails off a fair bit. Telrim favours ‘ah’, and mostly requires ellipses only if she’s picking her words carefully or she’s in shock.
4. What language/s does she speak, and with how much fluency?
Yeerk, Galard, Hork-Bajir, English, German and French. In that order of fluency. Well, except for the Hork-Bajir, which only has so much fluency to attain.
5. Does she switch languages or dialects in certain situations?
In the pool, it’s all Yeerk, of course. Among Controllers she’ll switch between English, Galard and a little Hork-Bajir depending who’s present. She tends to revert to curses in the latter two. The 'Controller-ness' of her speech varies according to her company. It's most exaggerated around enemies or superiors, or when she's angry.
6. Is she a good impromptu speaker, or does she have to think about her words?
She’s good at speaking on the fly - it’s a survival skill. Sometimes she has to double back to correct herself as a result. Making sure she doesn’t say anything she shouldn’t slows her down - she’s good enough to keep it from being obvious on the whole, and after much practice she normally has a few covering lies quick to hand.
7. Is she eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change?
She’s pretty eloquent - it’s part of her job. However, this only applies when she has something to say, and often enough she doesn’t see the point or simply can’t talk about it. She can keep her mouth shut, but when she gets to ramble she’s usually coherent.
Probably ‘cause she’s had so much time to think about it.
Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is she book-smart or street-smart?
A little of both. She’s got more interest in academic subjects than most Yeerks, but most of her training and experience is in the field. She is intelligent, though, and she’s good at spotting patterns, putting ideas together and working things out from the information she’s given.
2. Does she think on her feet, or does she need time to deliberate?
On her feet for practical situations. When it comes to questions of belief and concepts she needs more time to think about things, but she has a broad experience base and long training to work from. This makes her more than a bit set in her ways, naturally - the way she sees it, if her belief’s lasted this long it’ll take a lot to challenge it.
3. Describe the character's thought process. Is she more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical?
Her explicit thoughts are logical, but she’s good at spotting and following patterns - sometimes too quickly. Past experience is a double-edged sword there. She’s deeply idealistic about the empire, what it could be, and what she hopes for it, but doesn’t like to call it that, preferring to try and keep herself practically grounded, like a Yeerk should. About things she isn’t deeply invested in she’s a happy pessimist.
4. What kind of education has the character had?
Basic training, plus her own studies. Outside of technical and combat skills, she hasn’t had much active instruction. But need and experience have taught her plenty.
5. What are her areas of expertise? What, if anything, is she interested in learning more about?
In no particular order: warfare and invasion, hand-to-hand combat with inbuilt blades and Dracon beams, use and maintenance of most Yeerk technologies and some alien, negotiation with aliens, neurology, biology, advanced physics and science (no more than most Yeerks, though) philosophy (plenty aesthetics, very little ethics), reconnaissance and infiltration tactics, human arts… the practical skills she knows plenty about, but she’s a dabbler, and all the above she’d like to learn more about.
6. Is she an introvert or an extrovert?
She’s a bit of an extrovert. She likes having people to talk to/connect with/torment. And it gets lonely among the clueless aliens.
7. Describe the character's temperament. Is she even-tempered or does she have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven?
Relaxed and relatively even-tempered among her fellow Yeerks - outside she presents whatever façade she needs over a very cool, controlled exterior. When she does have mood swings they tend to be intense, bouts of gloom or joy that snap her out of her usual knowledge-seeking drive.
8. How does she respond to new people or situations? Is she suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic?
She questions them shamelessly and with interest, only taking a more oblique approach because it’s more likely to get her answers - and because she can’t resist making remarks about what she hears. She is suspicious and careful of anyone who knows what she is, but seldom (outwardly) anxious; when she feels they’re a threat her defensiveness is all sharp, pointy edges.
9. Is she more likely to act, or to react?
Both - she tries to take control of a situation, but a lot of what she does is probe it and adapt to the responses. And in practice, she’s one lowly Yeerk in the multiverse: she has to take whatever comes her way, and she’s resigned to it.
10. Which is her default: fight or flight?
Fighting retreat!
11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does she appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks?
Snark and wit, light teasing for the aliens and a variety of the particular black humour that Yeerks favour for her friends.
12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does she deal with them?
No.
13. What moments in this character's life have defined her as a person?
Choosing to leave the homeworld when she’d barely been above water, not knowing what really lay out there. Taking her first Hork-Bajir host and discovering for the first time what sight and sound could be. The death-by-reproduction of her friend Corfiss, leaving herself and Issek to safeguard his contribution to their future.
14. What does she fear?
That she’s wasted all her time. A pointless death. Loss of her mental integrity as well as physical. That her goals and students will come to nothing. Getting stranded while out on ‘recon’ and starving. Losing the last of her friends. Getting eaten by an angry Visser.
15. What are her hopes or aspirations?
She hopes for the ultimate success of the Empire and the security of her people. And revenge on certain other species would be nice. Her personal aspirations include cracking the secrets of Controller perception, the nature of consciousness and the meaning of art, and teaching her fellow Yeerks new ways of seeing the universe. And she’d like to survive to see all that.
16. What is something she doesn't want anyone to find out about her?
Sometimes she wishes she’d stopped Corfiss...
Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with her parents.
Dead with her birth. She doesn’t even know their names.
2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like?
She has hundreds, most of whom never left the homeworld. She’s not in touch with the ones who did - she’d be surprised if more than two of them are even alive. As grubs they got along all right, but her closest friends weren’t among them.
3. Are there other blood relatives to whom she is close? Are there ones she can't stand?
No.
4. Are there other, unrelated people whom she considers part of her family? What are her relationships with them?
Issek and the survivors of the Asfil brood.
5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet?
Issek, a Taxxon-Controller scientist and her main supporter within the science division. He’s also her oldest, dearest friend: they met in their home pool on the homeworld and left for the stars together with the third member of their unofficial gang, Corfiss. They served in the conquest of the Hork-Bajir homeworld, and when Corfiss chose to die in reproducing, Issek and Telrim mentored as many of his offspring as they could. They share a ridiculous amount of history, and choose to share more.
6. Does she have other close friends?
Natasha, though she wouldn’t honestly admit it. The Asfil who plays NPC duty is about the closest of her students, both through circumstance of posting and his own interest in sculpting.
7. Does she make friends easily, or does she have trouble getting along with people?
She gets along, but she doesn’t bond - or works not to. Other Yeerks aren’t so bad, but lately the casualty rates have been so high there’s no point getting attached, and as for aliens… she doesn’t believe it should be possible.
8. Which does she consider more important: family or friends?
Friends, naturally.
9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has she been married more than once?
Nonono. Never.
10. Is she currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse?
Mmmnope.
11. Who was her first crush? Who is her latest?
As far as I know, no-one qualifies.
12. What does she look for in a romantic partner?
I’d have to imagine her looking first.
13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does she relate to them? If no, does she want any?
She’s not suicidal.
14. Does she have any rivals or enemies?
At home, a colleague who considers his activities much more important than hers and half as ridiculous and deviant. In the Nexus, a certain Starscream comes to mind. Neither are so much rivals as people she personally dislikes and will happily work to spite.
15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does she fall on the Kinsey scale?
A flat 0.
16. How does she feel about sex? How important is it to her?
It’s creepy.
17. What are her turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits?
Weird habits, ‘cause I like making this stuff up: she likes small, ‘claustrophobic’ spaces when it’s sleep time - makes her feel more secure while her host is incapacitated.
Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does she fit type?
Being an alien, she doesn’t have one. Not even an alien one, to go by descriptions of Yeerk cloud cover.
2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in her life?
Neither. She has a slight fondness for what she remembers of her world’s stories and myths: the rest is of interest only for its philosophical implications and its effect on alien arts.
3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it?
Her code is that of the Empire: the greatest crimes are forms of treachery against your own people, but if someone’s usefulness outweighs their crimes they can go unpunished long enough to redeem themselves. Efficiency, competence and loyalty are the highest virtues, for certain definitions of each. It’s a ‘morality’ based on some tradition and toughened by a lifetime’s observation that it’s necessary. Also, pride in her people. I’m not sure how it could be compromised per se - worked around is easier, if she’s convinced that something is ultimately for the greater good of the Yeerks. Or just doesn’t think it through. It’s hard to compromise someone whose ethics are as flexible as the orders they’re given.
If she were ordered to kill Issek, now, something would have to snap.
4. How does she regard beliefs that differ from hers? Is she tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent?
Curious, but if she decides she dislikes them she’s not tolerant. Not unless there’s something valuable in it.
5. What prejudices does she hold? Are they irrational or does she have a good reason for them?
Let’s see, she’s anti-alien, anti-Andalite, anti-pacifist, ableist, and probably a few more besides, with a few exceptions and mitigating factors for each. Except the Andalites. They have some rational (but not necessarily good) basis each. Aliens are usually enemies or soon-to-be victims, and of course inferior: you can’t get attached to them. Pacifists are frustrating fools and, like the disabled, unable to ‘pull their weight’, and among Yeerks your life depends on your usefulness. The Peace Movement are irredeemable traitors, the worst scum of all. Likewise she’s contemptuous of anyone who seems too ‘host-happy’ or undisciplined and weak.
Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is she rich, poor, comfortable, in debt?
She has no money and never did - but she uses the ‘company finances’, which are limitless so long as she never tries to test that. And explains what she’s spending it on.
2. What is her social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected her? From being a total nobody, one young Yeerk among millions, she’s now a non-expendable member of the Empire - she gets some respect from those who know her and she knows the worth of her work. She’s one of the relative few who’ve seen the Empire from the inside, birth to present, and she’s extremely proud of that and her place in it. She’s therefore alternately dismissive of and frustrated by those who criticize her job out of bias against frivolous things or their own superiority. The Empire’s a big part of her identity. She gets angry at the idea she’s not a ‘proper’ Yeerk.
3. Where does she live? House, apartment, trailer? Is her home her castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does she share it with others?
She has a place on the Pool ship, but the only part that’s more-or-less ‘hers’ is the smaller cargo bay she almost has the run of.
4. Besides the basic necessities, what does she spend her money on?
Trying to figure out art - tickets, books, a few bits and pieces that aren’t strictly job-related. Sometimes she brings back human food and fun things for Issek and her friends to enjoy together - being friends with the quartermaster has its perks.
5. What does she do for a living? Is she good at it? Does she enjoy it, or would she rather be doing something else?
She’s a Yeerk agent and soldier: the scientific procurements officer of the Earth Special Acqusitions division. To most people she’s ‘courier’: in practice her role as a very specialized quartermaster hasn’t changed much from when she was running scouting missions out in the galaxy, scouting alien outposts for technology, objects and information of interest. Before she dealt with Skrit Na, now it’s humans. She’s competent at the duties she’s trained for, though she’d hate to have to do prolonged infiltration, and she’s both out of practice and in the wrong host for the physical combat duties that can be demanded of her. She loves her job, though, and not just because it’s a fairly cushy post she worked very hard to get and keep.
6. What are her interests or hobbies? How does she spend her free time?
Mostly she hangs around the labs talking to her friends about their projects and the latest news. She reads up on her various interests, making a hobby of figuring out alien arts and the more serious business of understanding perception, but she relies on Issek and others to tell her about the more specialised science. When she’s free planetside, she generally explores. It’s an alien world, after all.
7. What are her eating habits? Does she skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods?
Oatmeal is obviously a no-go - so’s alcohol. She eats regular meals, usually just whatever’s on the menu in the canteen. When she’s on Earth she likes taking the chance to try out new foods, though cautiously. A toxicology check is preferable.
Associations
Which of the following do you associate with the character, or which is her favorite:
1. Color? Dull green, iron grey and purple.
2. Smell? River mud and chemicals.
3. Time of day? Mid-morning.
4. Season? Spring.
5. Book? Would ‘Philosophy of the Arts: an introduction to aesthetics’ be too obvious? (And I mean the book by Gordon Graham, not just a generic title.)
6. Music? Complex question and I haven’t been listening to much lately. I’ll go with ‘Enough Dead Heroes’ from the Halo soundtrack or ‘Cairo Suite’ from Halo 2. Hell, ‘No Stone Unturned’ and ‘One Way Ride’ from the ODST track are probably even better.
7. Place? Shipboard labs and pools - her favourite place is either Issek’s lab or her cargo bay.
8. Substance? Steel and warm water.
9. Plant? Birch
10. Animal? Ferret or stoat, depending whether she's being more curious or military respectively.
END
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Body and Appearance
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is she heavyset, thin, short, rangy?
She’s about two-three inches long, grey-green and slimy. …But she doesn’t much care what host she has, if it has functioning senses and limbs.
2. How old is she?
About 40, or 13 generations. Or possibly 30ish years and ten generations, I can't seem to fix the chronology. Doesn't matter. This isn’t too long in Yeerk terms, but is much older than the majority of people in the Empire. Not many people have survived since its beginnings, so she tends to act and feel like a veteran in comparison to her younger colleagues.
3. Describe her posture. Does she carry herself well or does she slouch?
There is no slouching. It looks bad, whether in human meetings or Yeerk briefings.
4. How is her health? Is she fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?
She keeps her hosts as fit as she has time to, and always healthy. She can run for it if- er, when she needs to, but she misses having a combat-ready form.
5. How does she move? Is she clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid?
Casual but confident, usually relaxed. When she’s not blending with the humans her motions become more certain, tense but not jerky, almost aggressive. Even when she’s playing timid!Natasha she seldom thinks to change that: she might withdraw and cower a bit, but she mostly alters her vocal clumsiness.
6. How attractive is this character physically? How does she perceive herself in the mirror?
Most people would perceive her true form as something they’d peel off the sole of their shoe. She’s aware her host is pretty attractive, but it’s only noteworthy to her for sometimes provoking a more favourable response from other humans.
7. Describe her complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred?
Green, undertones of dark grey, with a healthy layer of slime. : D
8. Describe her hair: color, texture, style.
It came with the host, but she actually favours darker hair, though she always pins it up, to be all practical and professional.
9. What color are her eyes?
She has none. Natasha’s… appear to be blue.
10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features?
Not for long!
11. What are her chief tension centers?
Her brain. She tends to shift her weight and her upper body when she’s tense, especially her shoulders. This is usually just before she remembers she has no arm-blades and her Dracon beam’s at home.
12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does she have six of the same suit?
Business wear alternating with dusty working jumpsuits, when she’s on the Pool ship for a while. It’s not hugely varied, and always simple. No skirts, because she tried that and it was the wrong kind of different. She doesn’t like shoes that sound too much like hooves or Taxxon claws. Flashbacks, y’know.
13. Do her clothes fit well? Does she seem comfortable in them?
Her human-wear clothes fit well, but she always appears comfortable.
14. Does she dress the same on the job as she does in her free time? If not, what are the differences?
Free time?
15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando?
When she’s wearing a shape with legs or without?
Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse?
Erm, none of the above. She uses slightly lower tones than Natasha, I know - but Natasha’s usually nervous when she’s talking.
2. How does she normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does she talk easily, or does she hesitate?
Quick and easily, sometimes running ahead of her line of thought if she’s getting excited, but usually she tries to sound steady and controlled. Some subjects will trip her up regardless, of course. She speaks up clearly unless agreeing with a superior or murmuring an aside.
3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics?
Only the Yeerk ‘speech pattern’ where her speech becomes more clipped, formal and correct - a bit clinical, with a 40% chance of taunting. Natasha has a recognizably American accent, maybe Californian, but it’s muddied and indistinct.
Between them they have a whole bunch of verbal quirks that I can’t remember. Natasha has lots of ‘um’ and ‘er’ interjections, and trails off a fair bit. Telrim favours ‘ah’, and mostly requires ellipses only if she’s picking her words carefully or she’s in shock.
4. What language/s does she speak, and with how much fluency?
Yeerk, Galard, Hork-Bajir, English, German and French. In that order of fluency. Well, except for the Hork-Bajir, which only has so much fluency to attain.
5. Does she switch languages or dialects in certain situations?
In the pool, it’s all Yeerk, of course. Among Controllers she’ll switch between English, Galard and a little Hork-Bajir depending who’s present. She tends to revert to curses in the latter two. The 'Controller-ness' of her speech varies according to her company. It's most exaggerated around enemies or superiors, or when she's angry.
6. Is she a good impromptu speaker, or does she have to think about her words?
She’s good at speaking on the fly - it’s a survival skill. Sometimes she has to double back to correct herself as a result. Making sure she doesn’t say anything she shouldn’t slows her down - she’s good enough to keep it from being obvious on the whole, and after much practice she normally has a few covering lies quick to hand.
7. Is she eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change?
She’s pretty eloquent - it’s part of her job. However, this only applies when she has something to say, and often enough she doesn’t see the point or simply can’t talk about it. She can keep her mouth shut, but when she gets to ramble she’s usually coherent.
Probably ‘cause she’s had so much time to think about it.
Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is she book-smart or street-smart?
A little of both. She’s got more interest in academic subjects than most Yeerks, but most of her training and experience is in the field. She is intelligent, though, and she’s good at spotting patterns, putting ideas together and working things out from the information she’s given.
2. Does she think on her feet, or does she need time to deliberate?
On her feet for practical situations. When it comes to questions of belief and concepts she needs more time to think about things, but she has a broad experience base and long training to work from. This makes her more than a bit set in her ways, naturally - the way she sees it, if her belief’s lasted this long it’ll take a lot to challenge it.
3. Describe the character's thought process. Is she more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical?
Her explicit thoughts are logical, but she’s good at spotting and following patterns - sometimes too quickly. Past experience is a double-edged sword there. She’s deeply idealistic about the empire, what it could be, and what she hopes for it, but doesn’t like to call it that, preferring to try and keep herself practically grounded, like a Yeerk should. About things she isn’t deeply invested in she’s a happy pessimist.
4. What kind of education has the character had?
Basic training, plus her own studies. Outside of technical and combat skills, she hasn’t had much active instruction. But need and experience have taught her plenty.
5. What are her areas of expertise? What, if anything, is she interested in learning more about?
In no particular order: warfare and invasion, hand-to-hand combat with inbuilt blades and Dracon beams, use and maintenance of most Yeerk technologies and some alien, negotiation with aliens, neurology, biology, advanced physics and science (no more than most Yeerks, though) philosophy (plenty aesthetics, very little ethics), reconnaissance and infiltration tactics, human arts… the practical skills she knows plenty about, but she’s a dabbler, and all the above she’d like to learn more about.
6. Is she an introvert or an extrovert?
She’s a bit of an extrovert. She likes having people to talk to/connect with/torment. And it gets lonely among the clueless aliens.
7. Describe the character's temperament. Is she even-tempered or does she have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven?
Relaxed and relatively even-tempered among her fellow Yeerks - outside she presents whatever façade she needs over a very cool, controlled exterior. When she does have mood swings they tend to be intense, bouts of gloom or joy that snap her out of her usual knowledge-seeking drive.
8. How does she respond to new people or situations? Is she suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic?
She questions them shamelessly and with interest, only taking a more oblique approach because it’s more likely to get her answers - and because she can’t resist making remarks about what she hears. She is suspicious and careful of anyone who knows what she is, but seldom (outwardly) anxious; when she feels they’re a threat her defensiveness is all sharp, pointy edges.
9. Is she more likely to act, or to react?
Both - she tries to take control of a situation, but a lot of what she does is probe it and adapt to the responses. And in practice, she’s one lowly Yeerk in the multiverse: she has to take whatever comes her way, and she’s resigned to it.
10. Which is her default: fight or flight?
Fighting retreat!
11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does she appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks?
Snark and wit, light teasing for the aliens and a variety of the particular black humour that Yeerks favour for her friends.
12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does she deal with them?
No.
13. What moments in this character's life have defined her as a person?
Choosing to leave the homeworld when she’d barely been above water, not knowing what really lay out there. Taking her first Hork-Bajir host and discovering for the first time what sight and sound could be. The death-by-reproduction of her friend Corfiss, leaving herself and Issek to safeguard his contribution to their future.
14. What does she fear?
That she’s wasted all her time. A pointless death. Loss of her mental integrity as well as physical. That her goals and students will come to nothing. Getting stranded while out on ‘recon’ and starving. Losing the last of her friends. Getting eaten by an angry Visser.
15. What are her hopes or aspirations?
She hopes for the ultimate success of the Empire and the security of her people. And revenge on certain other species would be nice. Her personal aspirations include cracking the secrets of Controller perception, the nature of consciousness and the meaning of art, and teaching her fellow Yeerks new ways of seeing the universe. And she’d like to survive to see all that.
16. What is something she doesn't want anyone to find out about her?
Sometimes she wishes she’d stopped Corfiss...
Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with her parents.
Dead with her birth. She doesn’t even know their names.
2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like?
She has hundreds, most of whom never left the homeworld. She’s not in touch with the ones who did - she’d be surprised if more than two of them are even alive. As grubs they got along all right, but her closest friends weren’t among them.
3. Are there other blood relatives to whom she is close? Are there ones she can't stand?
No.
4. Are there other, unrelated people whom she considers part of her family? What are her relationships with them?
Issek and the survivors of the Asfil brood.
5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet?
Issek, a Taxxon-Controller scientist and her main supporter within the science division. He’s also her oldest, dearest friend: they met in their home pool on the homeworld and left for the stars together with the third member of their unofficial gang, Corfiss. They served in the conquest of the Hork-Bajir homeworld, and when Corfiss chose to die in reproducing, Issek and Telrim mentored as many of his offspring as they could. They share a ridiculous amount of history, and choose to share more.
6. Does she have other close friends?
Natasha, though she wouldn’t honestly admit it. The Asfil who plays NPC duty is about the closest of her students, both through circumstance of posting and his own interest in sculpting.
7. Does she make friends easily, or does she have trouble getting along with people?
She gets along, but she doesn’t bond - or works not to. Other Yeerks aren’t so bad, but lately the casualty rates have been so high there’s no point getting attached, and as for aliens… she doesn’t believe it should be possible.
8. Which does she consider more important: family or friends?
Friends, naturally.
9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has she been married more than once?
Nonono. Never.
10. Is she currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse?
Mmmnope.
11. Who was her first crush? Who is her latest?
As far as I know, no-one qualifies.
12. What does she look for in a romantic partner?
I’d have to imagine her looking first.
13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does she relate to them? If no, does she want any?
She’s not suicidal.
14. Does she have any rivals or enemies?
At home, a colleague who considers his activities much more important than hers and half as ridiculous and deviant. In the Nexus, a certain Starscream comes to mind. Neither are so much rivals as people she personally dislikes and will happily work to spite.
15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does she fall on the Kinsey scale?
A flat 0.
16. How does she feel about sex? How important is it to her?
It’s creepy.
17. What are her turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits?
Weird habits, ‘cause I like making this stuff up: she likes small, ‘claustrophobic’ spaces when it’s sleep time - makes her feel more secure while her host is incapacitated.
Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does she fit type?
Being an alien, she doesn’t have one. Not even an alien one, to go by descriptions of Yeerk cloud cover.
2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in her life?
Neither. She has a slight fondness for what she remembers of her world’s stories and myths: the rest is of interest only for its philosophical implications and its effect on alien arts.
3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it?
Her code is that of the Empire: the greatest crimes are forms of treachery against your own people, but if someone’s usefulness outweighs their crimes they can go unpunished long enough to redeem themselves. Efficiency, competence and loyalty are the highest virtues, for certain definitions of each. It’s a ‘morality’ based on some tradition and toughened by a lifetime’s observation that it’s necessary. Also, pride in her people. I’m not sure how it could be compromised per se - worked around is easier, if she’s convinced that something is ultimately for the greater good of the Yeerks. Or just doesn’t think it through. It’s hard to compromise someone whose ethics are as flexible as the orders they’re given.
If she were ordered to kill Issek, now, something would have to snap.
4. How does she regard beliefs that differ from hers? Is she tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent?
Curious, but if she decides she dislikes them she’s not tolerant. Not unless there’s something valuable in it.
5. What prejudices does she hold? Are they irrational or does she have a good reason for them?
Let’s see, she’s anti-alien, anti-Andalite, anti-pacifist, ableist, and probably a few more besides, with a few exceptions and mitigating factors for each. Except the Andalites. They have some rational (but not necessarily good) basis each. Aliens are usually enemies or soon-to-be victims, and of course inferior: you can’t get attached to them. Pacifists are frustrating fools and, like the disabled, unable to ‘pull their weight’, and among Yeerks your life depends on your usefulness. The Peace Movement are irredeemable traitors, the worst scum of all. Likewise she’s contemptuous of anyone who seems too ‘host-happy’ or undisciplined and weak.
Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is she rich, poor, comfortable, in debt?
She has no money and never did - but she uses the ‘company finances’, which are limitless so long as she never tries to test that. And explains what she’s spending it on.
2. What is her social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected her? From being a total nobody, one young Yeerk among millions, she’s now a non-expendable member of the Empire - she gets some respect from those who know her and she knows the worth of her work. She’s one of the relative few who’ve seen the Empire from the inside, birth to present, and she’s extremely proud of that and her place in it. She’s therefore alternately dismissive of and frustrated by those who criticize her job out of bias against frivolous things or their own superiority. The Empire’s a big part of her identity. She gets angry at the idea she’s not a ‘proper’ Yeerk.
3. Where does she live? House, apartment, trailer? Is her home her castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does she share it with others?
She has a place on the Pool ship, but the only part that’s more-or-less ‘hers’ is the smaller cargo bay she almost has the run of.
4. Besides the basic necessities, what does she spend her money on?
Trying to figure out art - tickets, books, a few bits and pieces that aren’t strictly job-related. Sometimes she brings back human food and fun things for Issek and her friends to enjoy together - being friends with the quartermaster has its perks.
5. What does she do for a living? Is she good at it? Does she enjoy it, or would she rather be doing something else?
She’s a Yeerk agent and soldier: the scientific procurements officer of the Earth Special Acqusitions division. To most people she’s ‘courier’: in practice her role as a very specialized quartermaster hasn’t changed much from when she was running scouting missions out in the galaxy, scouting alien outposts for technology, objects and information of interest. Before she dealt with Skrit Na, now it’s humans. She’s competent at the duties she’s trained for, though she’d hate to have to do prolonged infiltration, and she’s both out of practice and in the wrong host for the physical combat duties that can be demanded of her. She loves her job, though, and not just because it’s a fairly cushy post she worked very hard to get and keep.
6. What are her interests or hobbies? How does she spend her free time?
Mostly she hangs around the labs talking to her friends about their projects and the latest news. She reads up on her various interests, making a hobby of figuring out alien arts and the more serious business of understanding perception, but she relies on Issek and others to tell her about the more specialised science. When she’s free planetside, she generally explores. It’s an alien world, after all.
7. What are her eating habits? Does she skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods?
Oatmeal is obviously a no-go - so’s alcohol. She eats regular meals, usually just whatever’s on the menu in the canteen. When she’s on Earth she likes taking the chance to try out new foods, though cautiously. A toxicology check is preferable.
Associations
Which of the following do you associate with the character, or which is her favorite:
1. Color? Dull green, iron grey and purple.
2. Smell? River mud and chemicals.
3. Time of day? Mid-morning.
4. Season? Spring.
5. Book? Would ‘Philosophy of the Arts: an introduction to aesthetics’ be too obvious? (And I mean the book by Gordon Graham, not just a generic title.)
6. Music? Complex question and I haven’t been listening to much lately. I’ll go with ‘Enough Dead Heroes’ from the Halo soundtrack or ‘Cairo Suite’ from Halo 2. Hell, ‘No Stone Unturned’ and ‘One Way Ride’ from the ODST track are probably even better.
7. Place? Shipboard labs and pools - her favourite place is either Issek’s lab or her cargo bay.
8. Substance? Steel and warm water.
9. Plant? Birch
10. Animal? Ferret or stoat, depending whether she's being more curious or military respectively.
END
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