Tanolo Nera

Appearance
Tanolo stands at a respectable height of 5 feet 7 inches. She has short, wavy, black hair that’s long on the top but undercut which is determined to get into her intensely black eyes. Her hair is purposefully left unstyled and it shows in the way it is always getting into one or both of her eyes. Her skin is a medium dark tone and covered in trill spots in all the usual places. She has a snub nose and long fingers and enjoys wearing colorful skirts and jackets when she is off duty. She’s built like a dancer, with long limbs and powerful muscles near her shoulders and hips. When she smiles, her mouth stays closed and her eyes close up too.

Personality
Symbiosis | Nera is a brand new symbiont. The egg laid nearly on the same day Tanolo was born. Thus, they are joined, but Tanolo has no past experiences to draw on. Only the clarity and mental strength provided through the symbiosis bond. She is wise, but not with experience. She is connected, but not with past lives.

Intelligent | As expected from a medical officer, Tanolo is very intelligent. Between her eidetic memory and voracious appetite for knowledge, she grasps new concepts very quickly and she’s off learning the next one in the blink of an eye. She tends to play down her intelligence a little with jokes but she has beaten Vulcans at debates and will gladly do so again.

Capricious | Medical officers are supposed to be reliable and consistent, which is a stereotype Tanolo has never fit into and most likely will never fit into. She’s about as consistent as the topography of a planet and just and wildly varying. There are moments when she’s nothing but laughter and jokes and other moments when she flashes the side of her that riles up Klingons and other moments when she’s as icy calm and level headed as any joined trill with a dozen lifetimes in their bellies.

Aggressive | Tanolo is generally a very calm person. But she is exuberant and overpowering like a sun to its first planet. She’s not aggressive like a klingon’s shouted violence, or aggressive like Cardassian flirting, but it’s very hard to say no to her if she truly wants something. She’s simply too loud and people end up saying yes to her requests. In two words: Top Energy.

Instinct Driven | There’s a general agreement that logically making a decision is the best way to make a decision, and for the most part, Tanolo can agree with that. But she is, unfortunately, also a creature of instinct. She has very quick reflexes from years of playing combat holo games and non-combat holo games that required a flexible and quick mind. So doing things like playing the “guess who?” game will result in someone getting a black eye.

Excitable | At the heart of everything, Tanolo is as much a child as a joined trill can be. A baby trill for a baby symbiont. Between her youth and her disposition that skews towards loud outbursts of excitement, it’s hard to forget that she is not, at heart, an adult. She will shake shoulders and go running down the promenade and bark loud bits of laughter at exciting prospects.

Easy Going | Tanolo has never been one to hold grudges. If it’s over, it’s over. If it’s time to let go, it’s time to let go. Simple enough, really. After all, what’s the point of life if you let yourself get bogged down by a hate that really doesn’t have to exist? What’s the point of envy and jealousy and wrath and worry? Tanolo certainly doesn’t know.

Ambitions
She wants to live a good, well rounded life for her symbiont. She wants every trill who wears the Nera name after her to be able to look back at their first life and be proud. She wants to live a life of doing good and experiencing as many things as she can, and she thinks she can have all that and more on a star ship.

Morals
Nera believes in the supremacy of life. No one has the right to pollute an atmosphere, no one has the right to do harm without reason, no one has the right to completely dictate how to live. Do your best and everything will be okay. Speak softly, but carry a big stick. Hate never got anyone anywhere.

History
The Trill Initiate Program is a grueling, excruciatingly tough year for any young trill. Only the very best of the trill youth, the most suited to symbionts, made it through. It was a year long parade of exam after grueling exam that expounded your flaws and ate up your strength with the entitlement of a little white boy. They looked at everything you had from genetic comparability to likelihood for genetic disease to the environment you grew up in to your planned career path after the symbiosis program to personality to relationships. The symbiosis commission had to look into a young trill and see their entire life before they could decide if they were worthy of a symbiont.

Simply put, one did not go through the program singing. Yet, here Tanolo is, in the very end of the year, whistling as she prances her way through the corridors of the symbiosis program building. She's one of the very few people still in the building. Most were still at apprenticeships, being appraised by joined trill. But Nera never got an apprenticeship. In fact, she had never been off Trill though she dearly wanted to. After she was joined or not joined, she would join Starfleet. She would go to the stars with or without the promise of legacy in her stomach. That had always been the plan. Joining wasn't the end all for her, and that let her walk through these halls, heart light and mind clear.

At this point she figured she wasn't going to be joined. After all, if she was going to be, she would have been called to observe a joined trill by now. Someone with more than one lifetime would have appraised her. So she wasn't worried because for all intents and purposes, because there was nothing to worry about. But as she was about to exit the building, to head to a dorm for the night, hunker down with a good book and a pot of hot tea from Rana IV when the intercom rang out “Tanolo Rios please report to conference room B” she stopped, shrugged, and turned around.

In conference room B, she was told two things. One, that she had essentially perfect genetic compatibility with one brand new symbiont. Two, she would be joined in a week. Tanolo couldn’t believe it. At least, not for quite a while. She wandered back home in a daze, got ready for bed in a daze, and nearly 32 hours later, screamed off the cliffs that faced the ocean. She would be joined. She would be joined and she would go to the stars with legacy in her belly to strengthen her. She was ecstatic.

Starfleet Academy is a grueling, excruciatingly tough 4 years of schooling for any young cadet. The entrance exam alone was enough to make grown men cry. Once in the academy young cadets were ironed and straightened by exams and classes that stuffed their heads full of information and tempered their dispositions into those of soldiers, diplomats, scientists and anything else they needed to become. Children went into starfleet academy, and officers came out. Starfleet academy was known for being quite possibly the best education a young person could have. Allowing for friendship and experience and schooling that would make their cadets into excellent people. But one did not become an excellent person easily.

Simply put, one did not go through the academy singing. Yet here Tanolo is, in the middle of her first year  at the academy, humming a song she heard last week as she makes her way to the library. Many cadets had blanched at the sheer amount of work they had to do for their classes. Mountains of work and research mounted up from only 4 days of classes. But Tanolo was having an excellent time. She tackled her research projects with the enthusiasm of a feline that had seen something shiny. She danced her way through her combat classes, blows glancing off her like water off a duck. She cracked dumb science jokes in those classes and watched the holo programs of surgery with great fascination. School was fun for her. Life was fun for her. But many people thought it shouldn’t be.

“You know, the rest of your life isn’t going to be that easy '' Tanolo' s roommate, Janine, snapped at her one day as Tanolo lay on her bed, having just got off a call with her family about how she was doing just fine at the academy. Janine had to sit there and listen to her as she talked about the Nightmare Project given in one of the advanced biology courses like it was a fun new show she was watching. The way Tanolo made the things that had caused generation after generation of cadets stress and worry for years seem easy grated at their nerves. Tanolo shrugged, giving that lazy half smile that made teachers metaphorically sniff the air for pranks.

“That’s yet to be proven.” She said back easily. “After all, why assume something’s going to be hard if you haven’t done it yet?” She asks. Her roommate doesn’t reply, because her roommate has fallen asleep. Just as well, after all, her roommate hadn’t slept in 2 days. Tanolo, with her steady sleep schedule, couldn’t  So Tanolo left them alone. She had an academy to graduate from.

Well, at least this time she signed up for it. Tanalo carefully operated the surgery apparatus, eyes darting between the life signs and the x-ray and the echocardiography scan of the patient's stomach and the laser scalpel in her hand. She could feel sweat bead on her forehead as she pressed buttons, Surgery had never been her strong suit. Her hands were supple and clever, but her eyes were slow. She had maybe a 3:1 ratio of correct diagnosis. It was good, but it certainly wasn’t enough.

Carefully, she makes her way through surgery, cutting away at the nerve tissue and stomach lining, the patient safely sedated. She hoped that she was right and it was just a stomach tumor. Klingons had tough stomach lining just like they had everything else, but this particular patient had a history of cancer in his family. Hopefully, that shadow on the echocardiography really was just a tumor and not something that required an entirely different procedure. Hopefully it was a tumor, not an infection. Hopefully it was a tumor, and her patient hadn’t lied about eating something made of steel or something. Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully.

Just then a loud, grating buzzer sounded and her patient disappeared from under her. Along with the surgery apparatuses and the tools she was holding.

“Ah, grozit” Tanolo cursed, stretching out her cramped fingers and shucking off her surgery hood. She glanced at the clock. Hm, 2000 hours. Urg, she had been at this simulation for 4 hours and still hadn’t figured it out. She should go to bed and tackle this tomorrow, but still. . . she was  close. She could feel it. And it’s not like anyone was going to come to this holodeck any time soon, whether looking for her or anyone else.

But then the holodeck doors slipped open and her roommate stumbled in. Red faced and clearly pushed from behind. There was the sound of teenage laughter as the doors slid shut. Janine looked helplessly back at the doors then at Tanolo. Then back at the doors, and back at Tanolo.

“Hello.” Tanolo said calmly, watching Janine wrestle with some inner conflict she wasn’t privy to. Janine was quite the attractive girl. With honey toned skin, hair the color of very good chocolate, and eyes that were nearly as dark as her own. But if you looked closely they were lighter, and flecked with gold. Varied in the way human eyes tend to be. Tanolo thought she knew her roommate quite well at this point too, and considered her a friend.

Janine sighed a sigh that came from all the way down in her stomach and faced Tanolo. “My friends think I have a crush on you.” She said bluntly, speaking plainly as is her habit. Tanolo blinked. The joined trill did not harbor a lot of expectations for things, but that was truly unexpected.

“Okay.” Tanolo replied back easily. “Judging from your word choice, I’m guessing you don’t?” She asked. Janine nodded “Yeah. You’re cool and all, but you’re not my type” she said. “Besides, you're too. . . ” she trails off, unable to find the word for what Tanolo was. Tanolo, tiredly began listing off descriptions, because hey, might as well make fun of the situation while it lasts.

“Out of your league? Pretty? Handsome? Nice? Easy to-” Janine cut her off before she could keep going.

“Frustrating.” She said finally, as blunt as ever. Tanolo shrugged, accepting the description easily. It wouldn’t be the first time her roommate or anyone else thought that, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.

“That’s fair.” She said in reply, content to just let it slide. But Janine’s face crinkled into a scowl.

“Why do you do that!?” She asked.

Tanolo raised an eyebrow as she finally turned to face Janine fully rather than giving the other girl her side profile. “Why do I do what?” She asked.

“Just let that happen” Janine said, gesturing vaguely at the surrounding holodeck. “People just say things and you just let it go! Like what people say doesn’t matter.”

“Well. . . ” Tanolo thinks “Sometimes it doesn’t” She says “You know when you get as old as I am, the opinions of people about you get a little less important.” Janine scoffed.

“You also do that I’ll have you know. One minute you imply you’re young, the next minute you imply you’ve got 7 lifetimes in your symbiont, which everyone knows you don’t and you’re just so. . .”

“Frustrating?” Tanolo supplied. Janine only gave her an exasperated look. Tanolo decided that was enough. “Well I’m glad we cleared that up” she said airily as she strode past Janine again. “You can tell your friends whatever you think will get them off your back about me, but I’m going back to our room.” she patted Janine on the shoulder once, because she’s much taller than the other girl the motion is quite easy, before breezing past.

The holodeck doors opened and a small gaggle of teenagers practically fell into the holodeck. The Trill smiled at them, the smile that made people think she was up to something before carefully stepping over them and heading back to her room. They could think whatever they wanted really, it’s not like it mattered too much to her.

Core Courses

 * ADMIN101: Star Fleet Operations
 * ADMIN110: Chain of Command and General Protocol
 * DIPL101: General
 * ENG221: LCARS Programming 1
 * ENG231: Computer Memory and Personnel Interfaces
 * ENG232: Replicators, Transporters, and Holodecks
 * ENG233: Sensors, Communications, and Helm Systems
 * HIST101: Birth of the Federation
 * LANG101: Federation Standard
 * LANG110: Major Species (Elementary) - Cadet's Choice
 * LAW101: Federation, General
 * MATH101: Concepts
 * MED101: First Aid and Field Medicine
 * PHYS101: Concepts
 * PILOT101: Runabouts and Shuttles
 * SURV101: Starship Emergencies
 * SURV110: Environmental Suits and Zero-G Training
 * TAC101: Combat, Unarmed
 * TAC110: Combat, Small Weapons
 * BIO101: Concepts
 * XEN101: General

Majors

 * BIO151: Cell Biology, Humanoid
 * BIO152: Cell Biology, Non-Humanoid
 * MED202: Diagnosis, Major Species
 * MED203: Diagnosis, Minor Species
 * MED301: Surgery, Major Humanoid Species
 * MED302: Surgery, Non-Humanoid Species
 * BIO203: Physiology, Minor Species
 * BIO221: Eugenics
 * ASTRO110: Stellar Cartography I (Alpha and Beta Quadrants)
 * ASTRO111: Stellar Cartography II (Gamma and Delta Quadrants)
 * PSY302: Hostilities
 * MED201: Clinical Fundamentals
 * PSY301: Abnormal
 * PSY201: Terran Development
 * PSY202: Non-Terran, Major Species Development
 * OCEAN 110: Marine Biology
 * CHEM 411: BioChemistry I
 * CHEM 412: BioChemistry II

Minors

 * ENG430: Medical Systems and Equipment
 * FA105: Painting
 * ZOO201: Advanced Zoology
 * ZOO220: Zoology Laboratory
 * CHEM231: Organic Chemistry I
 * CHEM241: Exochemistry I

Trivia

 * The 4th out of 6 children
 * Family name is actually Rios
 * The only joined trill in her family
 * Was joined when she was 17, just before she took her starfleet academy entrance exam
 * Often refers to her joining as “baby trill for a baby symbiont”
 * Absolute pacifist. She refuses to fight anyone
 * Learned a brand of Terran Tibetan martial arts which required a lot of twisting and turning and making her opponent miss
 * Which made her combat instructor facepalm, but took a level of skill she couldn’t really deny, so she allowed it even if Tanolo never threw a single punch in any of her classes
 * Was left handed before joining, but after joining became ambidextrous somehow
 * Her spots were lighter as a child, so when she was 12 she was often mistaken for a human. But they darkened with age
 * Everyone in her family had spots that were lighter and got darker with age
 * Tanolo has refused to wear her hair long ever since she was a child, she cut it off with safety scissors when it reached shoulder length when she was 4
 * There’s a small carving on one of the tables in a MATH101 classroom which is a teardrop shape chasing a star. She carved that, slowly, over time, with her PADD pen, drawing the same symbol over and over again until it was cut into the surface.
 * Learned Terran Mandarin fluently because she thought the language was really pretty
 * Managed to get onto the academy rooftops somehow, and was told to get down but got stuck
 * Really wants people to call her Nera, her symbiont’s name

Likes

 * Furry creatures
 * Scaly creatures
 * Exoskeleton creatures
 * Creatures
 * Anything with caramel in it
 * Painting
 * 0 gravity holo games
 * Any weird exceptions to rules, especially scientific ones
 * Pastries

Dislikes

 * Being called Kid
 * Anyone who thinks art isn’t real or important
 * Anyone who assumes she’s responsible or wise for being joined
 * Really sour things
 * Wearing dark colors
 * Earworm songs
 * Losing things