User Profile

riverdance



{General Information}
Fandom: Firefly
(taken post-series, pre-BigDamnMovie)
Given Name: River Tam
Nicknames: Simon calls her "mei-mei" sometimes. But that's just a term of endearment, not a nickname.
Alias/Code Name: N/A
Gang Affiliation: N/A
Former Occupation: Student, human experiment, assassin... take your pick.
Current Occupation: As she's underage, River's automatically classified as a student. She would much rather be working and is looking seeking an employer. A bookstore sounds nice. And she heard that there's some sort of place hiring dancers. So long as it's not tap, she might consider.
Education: High. River is a wunderkind in her own universe, and was taking graduate-level courses at the age of 14.


{Physical Information}
Age/Birthdate: 16/February 1, 2500 -- not that Earth's calender system means much out in the 'verse.
Height: 5'6.5"
Hair: Black, long, and a little wavy. She pays enough attention to keep it clean, but that's about it.
Eyes: Dark brown.
Identifiable Markings: Nothing on the outside. A few red lines on her scalp, but nothing too noticeable. The major scarring is on the inside.
Played By: Summer Glau


{Powers and Abilities}
Special Powers:
MENTAL
+"Reader": River is not a psychic. She cannot reach into another person's brain and pull out long-buried secrets; she can't even predict much more than the very immediate future. "Reader" is the label she has been given, and it sticks best. Instead of digging through brains in order to find memories, River simply picks up on things that are already lingering beneath the surface. In a usual example, this involves her being able to tell when she's being lied to, or when danger is imminent. Sometimes these incidents are more powerful: she predicts enemy's moves in battle, speaks physically to a mute child, and is able to determine that the man she is speaking to is a murderer using nothing but his reaction to her words and the feelings she picks up from him. It's as if she picks up thoughts or emotions that "leak" from other brains.
+Intellect: River's older brother, Simon Tam, was trained in the best medical academies on his home planet. His job as a trauma surgeon was highly prestigious, and he graduated in the top three percent of his class. River started correcting his spelling at age three and at age six informed him that the conclusion his mathematics textbook had reached was "fallacious". She was a prodigy, and despite the damage to her brain, she's still brilliant.
-Amygdala: As mentioned below, the surgeons at the Academy spent quite some time operating on River's brain. Most of her amygdala -- which acts as a filter for emotions* -- has been removed, meaning that she truly can't not feel things. She has psychotic episodes, has difficulty controlling emotions, and is widely considered to be crazy.
PHYSICAL
+Fighting Ability: Endurance, strength, agility -- when something in River's brain is triggered, she has it all. Twice she's entered frays versus twenty or more opponents alone and has emerged not only victorious but largely unharmed.
+Proficiency with Weapons: Apart from those rare instances, River has never used a gun -- yet she was able to not only use it, but use it well enough to shoot three men without looking at them. She can expertly handle a weapon without even touching it, providing she's seen it being used.
-Unpredictable Violence All of this is well and good in a fight, but fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), no one really knows what sends River into panic attacks or violent episodes. While some of these incidents seem to make sense (protecting her brother, the crew, etc), others seem bizarre (she attacked a crewmate with a knife, her reason being that he "looked better in red"). While she's a human weapon when switched on, she is just that: a weapon, who needs someone to pull some sort of trigger before she becomes a fighting machine. River will be generally throwing pots and pans, tearing out her hair, clutching her head, or mumbling incoherently before she enters any sort of warzone.
Mental Health: Surgeons with blue gloves poked repeatedly at her brain. Needless to say, River's pretty damn addled. She's prone to hallucinations, paranoia, violent outbursts, and incomprehensible rants.
Skills: River is trained in a hybrid of kung-fu, kickboxing, and acrobatics She can thoroughly read a battlefield after glancing at it for a few moments. She's a human weapon -- she can hang herself from the ceiling, provided the walls are narrow enough. And she's one hell of a dancer.
Extras: As is common in her time-period, River is fluent in both Chinese and English. She speaks formally in English but tends to use Chinese for slang or swearing.
Possessions:
One sheath dress, blue (slightly oversized); one pair black combat boots; one silk robe that extends to her knees, gold; one packet of protein she happened to be nibbling on when she vanished into a new world, chocolate-flavored; a plastic packet containing enough of Simon's prescribed medications to last her a week (pill form as well as pre-filled syringes).
{Background}
History: Gabriel Tam had never planned on having more than one child -- unless that first child turned out to be a girl, of course; women were equal to men but things were the way things were. After his son Simon's birth, he was satisfied: one young, intelligent child was more than enough for him, and was indeed, all he wanted. But when his wife Regan insisted -- something she rarely did -- he listened, and the couple went through the painful progress of pregnancy once more, this time with a five year old tiptoeing behind, curious as to the birth of his baby sibling. And thus was River Tam born.
It was clear from a very young age that River was gifted, even more so than her brother. Because the Tam family had produced geniuses in the past (and because having a wunderkind for a daughter made the family look good), River was sent for testing and achieved record scores. Though she was still a child, still annoying to her brother and a bit of a spoiled brat, she was very eager to learn, and so the Tams enrolled her in a school for the gifted on her home planet of Osiris. While her parents felt her focus should be solely on her schoolwork, River was just as eager to learn to dance, and Simon's support in this area made them closer friends -- inseparable, even.
By the age of fourteen, River was enrolled in the most advanced graduate school on Osiris. Some courses interested her -- she quite enjoyed theoretical physics and befriended fellow students, who nicknamed her "Little Mouse". Soon, though, she complained again that she wasn't being properly challenged. This was a new struggle -- she was enrolled in the best school on Osiris, meaning that if she were to transfer schools, she would have to leave home. The Tams were wealthy, and money was no object; they were, however, concerned that the distance might be problematic. River was mature for her age, and when she insisted she could handle it, her parents agreed. She began interviewing with various schools, and finally selected a government(Alliance)-based school known only as "the Academy".
At first, things seemed normal. River felt she was being sufficiently challenged thus far, but had yet to make a judgment. Then things began to get... hazy. Looking back, River can't force her memories to this point and breaks down into hysterics at the attempt. With sedatives and Simon's counseling, she has been able to remember bits and pieces. Some she tells him -- the hands of blue, ripping up her mattress, the surgeries on her brain and body. Some she remembers but keeps hidden: Killing a man with a pen. Seeing his thoughts about the girl before her, dead on the table. "We do such good work," she told him. "You know that's true, don't you?" She can't remember if she responded or not. She can't remember if the words are wrong or right.
But some part of her was functioning: the Alliance's goal wasn't to destroy her brain, after all, and while she was warped, she wasn't broken. She sent coded letters to her family with the message "They're hurting us. Get me out", trusting that they'd be able to decrypt them. It wasn't until much later that she found out her parents had abandoned her, calling her letters some silly game. Simon was the only one notice something out of sorts and take it seriously, and it was he who was able to figure out her message. River's still not sure exactly how he did it, but Simon went through illegal markets and saved her from the Academy, becoming disowned by his parents and considered a fugitive by the government in the process.
She woke up in a box -- a cryogenic box, where she slept in a coma until Simon found a safe place to wake her up. She woke up early, forced from her sleep by Captain Malcolm Renolyds, who was understandably angry about a naked sixteen-year-old stowaway in his cargo hold. Mal agreed to take the two fugitives in, possibly out of pity or possibly because the ship just needed a medic. In their time at the ship, Serenity, Simon and River were kidnapped by hill people, pronounced dead in order to sneak into an Alliance hospital, and betrayed by Jayne Cobb, a fellow crew member, who tried to sell them out to the Feds. Most recently, the ship was visited by the bounty hunter Jubal Early, who had come to steal River away. River snuck into his tiny ship and pretended to be Serenity by using connecting speakers, voicing her worries about fitting in while saving the crew from almost certain death. They're still alive -- still flyin', like the Cap'n would say -- and that's all that matters to River. Right now, at least.
Personality: River is an oddity and always has been, even before the Alliance started playing games with her brain. As a child , she was a prodigy, but she was far from single-minded: she wanted to know everything, understand everyone, constantly demanding to know why things were the way things were. She was obnoxious, as all younger sisters are, but no more than was to be expected. She was cheerful, bright, and clever; she was frequently delighted by the intricacies of knowledge. Some part of that child still resides in River. It comes out from time to time, when she's doing well -- when she's healthy.
Because of what's been done to her, River has grown to fear the universe more than she loves it, despite her eagerness to know everything about it. Her anger and frustration at not understanding her situation are extreme, and when worked up into such a state, very little can calm her down. When not panicked or angry, River is, as the captain says, "morbid and creepyfying", but she "does it quietlike". She can be very sarcastic when she wants to be, and has little patience. She completely lacks social grace, although she's trying very hard to learn it again. River knows that she scares people, and that scares her all the more.
Beneath everything, River is as childlike as the day the Alliance took her -- perhaps even moreso, now that she's more vulnerable. While she's grown stronger and more stubborn through her experiences, she's also become more paranoid. She trusts Simon, the Cap'n, the crew, and no one else. Still, a part of her remains that delights in the little things -- the part of her that smiles when she's out in space, despite the fact that any reasonable person would be terrified; the way she bonds with nature. River is wise and yet a child at the same time, and the two features can be difficult to reconcile.
Likes: Music, Serenity, dancing alone, dancing with other people, watching other people dance, line dancing, the open sky, correcting the illogical, doctors that are Simon, floating in the black, theoretical physics, literature, the stars, being challenged, Mal and Zoe's war stories, having a problem to solve.
Dislikes: Afros, the illogical, doctors (except Simon), losing control, being sick, Fruity Oaty Bars, the Bible, throwing up, disappointing Simon, Blue Sun, not knowing what Blue Sun is, Reavers, when Jayne is crude, not being able to fix things.

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