Ensign Aarva
Name Aarva
Position Engineering Officer
Rank Ensign
Character Information
| Gender | Female | |
| Species | Kelpien | |
| Age | 22 |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 5'4" | |
| Weight | 45kg | |
| Hair Color | N/A | |
| Eye Color | Blue | |
| Physical Description | By Kelpien standards, Aarva is short. No, really. Really, really short. Standing at 5'4" poor Aarva has always felt insecure about her own height; you might be too when the average female of your race tends to border six feet or so and you have to look up and crane your neck at them every time you need to speak directly. Hailing (ancestrally) from the northern island cities of Kaminar she, like her fellow countrymen from that area, possesses lighter coppery skin (for comparison, imagine Sharon Leal), an adaptation of her northern brethren as compared to the usually sallower pale pink of her other counterparts. Speaking of genetics, she prefers to think of them as a mixed bag of blessings and curses. The same genetic anomaly that bestowed (or possibly left her bereft, it depends on your perspective) her with her current height as well as large, round violet eyes that are, unfortunately, somewhat more sensitive to light, necessitating that she wear transition goggles (which also function as spectacles, she has adamantly refused and still refuses eyesight correction surgery) in order to not hurt her eyes. They have been something of a sore point for her ever since she started wearing them, but what can you do if you're stubborn enough to refuse the better alternative? (Example picture concept appended) Elsewise, though, she would be considered attractive; slim (albeit a bit scrawny, as her people tend to be regardless of where they hail from), a little athletic and with some curve to her body, much like a swimmer, with a heart-shaped face and mostly unblemished skin save the occasional cluster of dark dots her people have at the corners of their eyes. She tends to look down most of the time, though, owing to her lack of confidence and general uneasiness with interaction. |
Family
| Spouse | N/A | |
| Children | God no. She doesn't believe that she'll ever have any. | |
| Father | Darvath | |
| Mother | Kivaa | |
| Brother(s) | N/A | |
| Sister(s) | N/A | |
| Other Family | Several cousins residing on Kaminar |
Personality & Traits
| General Overview | Aarva is typical pre-vahar'ai shy and flighty - and then some. Past trauma centered around her interactions with her early schoolmates have left her with a lasting awkwardness (mellowed down from straight up fear of with maturity and adulthood and some counselling) around other people; she's usually not one to start a conversation with someone else; you'll usually find her with her face in her PADD reading or poring over a technical manual or brushing up on her reading or something in that line, so long as it fits on her PADD and in her hands. It's easier than interacting with people at any rate. Speaking of her PADD she seems to cling to it almost constantly unless her duties demand that she doesn't; you'll always find it clutched in her hands like she's unable to let go of it for any reason. She tends to hug the device to her chest whenever scared or flustered, too, like a comforter, in the absence of any hair or other such body part to pick at. That being said, though, you'll find that she harbors a burning want to make sure that no one around her is left behind or left lonely; growing up taught her how painful it is to be an outlier in society, and as such she occasionally breaks out of her little safe cocoon to take in another she deems to be lonely or without friends and be kind and warm. Sure, it's never easy or painless for her to do so, but she feels it is a small price to pay for a better life… which makes some wonder with this mindset in mind why she finds it so hard to apply to herself. |
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| Strengths & Weaknesses | + Hardworking + An endlessly loyal friend +/- Humble. Perhaps too much for her own good. - Socially awkward. - A concerning lack of confidence. - A little bit touch starved |
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| Ambitions | * Meet Data and learn everything she can about him - or at least come across some kind of information on his specifications. * Build an actual android. * Settle down with her own family. |
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| Hobbies & Interests | + Tinkering with whatever parts she can find + Programming; she can literally be found writing lines of code for fun. + Playing the violin. |
| Personal History | Aarva was born in Texas, Earth, to Kelpien merchants who emigrated from Kaminar, having heard of the prospects of better business and a wider clientele to be found there. That, of course, meant that the young girl had to grow up and be educated in a local school . Suffice to say that her life would not be easy - both academically and socially. While normally sweet, innocent and brutally honest as children were - more on the last one later - growing up as the sole obviously non-humanoid with no hair, weird eyes and a weirdly lanky frame only got the young Kelpien bullied and sometimes ostracized by her classmates. They would comment on almost every aspect of her appearance and behavior - a few even dared call her ugly despite her teachers' best efforts. She didn't dare fight back, though at times she would run sobbing from the classroom and hide where she would not be found till quite some time afterward. Her parents were of little help. As a moderately successful businessman her father was kept busy with work and sometimes could not come home; her mother was an engineer who made herself a living repairing items for people in a nearby workshop. This resulted in her spending much more time with her mother. Home life (as much home as quarters can be) was one of her comforts. Her mother and father tried their best to give her the best life she could have; whenever her mother had finished work for the day and she'd picked up her (often crying) daughter from school she would bring with her harmless bits and pieces or parts for her to play with and sit down with her teaching her how to put them together. Young Aarva did not understand why all the weird metal bits worked, or why the colorful lights blinked the way they did, but all that mattered was that she spent time with her mother and that she enjoyed these little bonding activities. Her passion for robotics had its origins aged nine when she received a small engineering kit and an accompanying children's robotics construction kit from her mother. From this she built a small robotic dog she named Pu'lio (Kelpien for 'companion'), with her mother's assistance of course. Pu'lio was a simply programmed and wired thing, of course, and could only carry out the most base of commands, but to Aarva it soon became one of her only few (and closest) friends. It became one of the few things she looked forward to when she came home from school, tossing down her schoolbag and playing with it till her mother inevitably had to chastise her and order her to do her homework. She realized soon enough that she wanted to find out more about how Pu'lio worked and how she could create more like it and as such began to, on occasion, accompany her mother to the engineering labs to observe her team at work and learn what she could. With tender care and maintenance from Aarva and her mother Pu'lio survived to see her turn twelve - at least, until one day it was destroyed by a particularly aggressive bully she encountered in school. Aarva was inconsolable for several days afterward - but the incident only fuelled her love for robotics and the desire to understand the subject as best as she could. She would soon begin to pay far more attention whenever she was able to follow her mother to work, watching her Starfleet coworkers and asking questions if she could - but she knew soon that it would not be enough to satisfy her love for robotics. She needed to do more… …she needed to be like her mother, and she wanted to see more than just Earth while doing so. To her Starfleet, which she'd had a few encounters with through talks in the course of her education, was the single best platform on which to explore her favorite field, and the benefits that came with it, such as exploring the universe, weren't quite so bad either. As such aged eighteen, she set off for Starfleet Academy, a little (very) nervous but certain that nothing but good could come of this massive swing in her life. Aarva describes her life at Starfleet Academy as one of the most difficult things she has ever attempted to do (and completed) to this day. It started the second she walked onto campus to take her entrance exam; there were scores upon scores of smart people surrounding her and chatting, of varying species, some of which she'd never even met or heard of. She sat in the examination hall a jittery wreck, nervously completing the paper following her by now years of study to make the cut. She had admittedly not expected to pass and returned to her hotel room with mediocre hopes - that is, until her letter of acceptance was sent to her PADD. The poor girl nearly fainted with joy reading it; one huge obstacle passed, many more to go… She would go on to graduate handsomely with an engineering degree with a specialty in robotics and automation, and be assigned to the Gladiator. |
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| Service Record | 2397-present: USS Gladiator |