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Entry tags:
Sample Application: Deanna Troi
Character Information
Nicknames: Counselor
Game Age: 41
Canon: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Journal: troi
4th Walling: no
Canon Point: During First Contact, after passing out during her drinking session with Zephram Cochrane.
Canon Information
Personality Deanna is, first and foremost, a helper. Her natural empathy makes her an ideal counselor, and she always tries to look at things from the other person’s point of view before passing judgment. She takes joy in her work as ship’s counselor, and uses her empathic powers to allow her to understand her clients’ emotional states when she evaluates them. She also enjoys socializing with friends, especially over a nice meal and a dessert of a chocolate sundae.
Deanna's patience and understanding in the face of frustration help her deal with situations in her personal and professional life alike. The two are inevitably entwined considering the size of the population of the ship, but she knows how to keep information confidential when needed, and when to offer unorthodox advice or find a different way to tackle a problem. Data, an android who cannot feel emotions, comes to her often for advice, and she always finds a way to help him understand people's behavior better.
Deanna does display some outward irritation when especially exasperated, however. She reaches this state most often in relation to her mother, who is often, in Deanna’s opinion, inappropriately familiar with people she doesn’t know. She becomes annoyed at her mother’s flamboyance and her insistence in using her telepathic abilities to communicate with Deanna behind people’s backs. She can even reach this state of annoyance when a client pushes things too far, especially as it regards pushing personal boundaries. She doesn't appreciate people intruding in on her private life.
Deanna most fears losing control of her empathic abilities, and has even experienced the loss of her powers during an incursion with some two-dimensional aliens. She found the loss so distressing that she attempted to quit as ship’s counselor, believing that she could not carry out her duties without them. Eventually she learned to rely on her other skills to continue working as counselor, although she found this uncomfortable and distressing.
Deanna makes tough choices to advance her career, despite the fact that some of those things don't immediately come naturally to her. After several attempts to pass a leadership exam she realizes she's being tasked with responding to a no-win situation, something that she dislikes. But she makes it a priority to learn and understand why those decisions have to be made in order to move up in rank. Over the course the show, and on into the movies, she learns to make those hard choices and sacrifices in order to help people who depend on Starfleet.
Physical description: Deanna is of medium to light complexion, with dark eyes and hair. She is about 5'6" and appears human.
Meta Powers Deanna is a half-Betazoid alien, which means she can sense the emotions of most other species of aliens, including humans. She can communicate via telepathy with other telepathic species of aliens, as well, including other Betazoids.
Notable/Unique Needs: n/a
Earth AU
She attended university at Ohio State, then completed her masters in psychology at Columbia. While completing her bachelor's she met William Riker, who she was in a serious relationship with until he graduated a year ahead of her. At that point he put his career ahead of their relationship, which caused Deanna some pain in the years to come when they both came to work in the same hospital in New York. Although William was in hospital administration, they found they were often in the same proximity because of Deanna's work with psychiatric inpatients.
Deanna was eventually chosen as the head of the youth department, but she found her great empathy for what her patients were going through made this job difficult. She asked for a demotion, but this led to her being moved down the totem pole in several stages, until she realized she was greatly dissatisfied with her new position. Working in intake didn't suit her skills either, but asking to be demoted had caused those in leadership to see her as untrustworthy and unprofessional.
Eventually, she interviewed for the lead position when it became open, a position that would supervise the department she was previously in. The fact that she had once been in a higher position caused some of those on the board to look at her askance, but she was the best candidate who interviewed, with the longest relationship with the hospital, and she was chosen for the job. She made a point of not letting her emotions get in the way of her job this time, and did better than she had done in her similar role before.
A few years after this, various hospital administration mergers and closures led to her being transferred to another hospital, this time being assigned a role over the entire psychology department. She stepped to the plate, making various changes, despite pushback from the board of the hospital, that improved psychological services in the city overall—competition from other hospitals that wanted to draw business away from her hospital made changes that competed with hers. These changes were all beneficial in serving patients who were in psychological distress and who had come to the hospital for help.
Her continued contact with Will Riker in the capacity of being the head of this department led to their falling back in love again when they reached their forties. Deanna and Will moved in together, but immediately began to find that the move may have been a bit hasty. After all, they had had a number of years of being apart, of acting in the capacity of colleagues rather than lovers or even close friends, that colored the way they viewed each other.
Personality: Deanna was a shy and introverted child who felt things deeply. As she grew older, she learned to overcome the former and work around the latter in order to pursue her passion for helping people. Being naturally reserved, she learned to be observant. The little things most people missed, she caught onto them, and learned how to connect with people that way rather than with exuberance most of her peers used. This bolstered her confidence and gained her friends.
She has a naturally curious mind, and this, coupled with really understanding people, lead her first to learn about psychology and behavioral sciences. This helped her understand her experiences in her early childhood, and deepened her understanding of empathy and human compassion. This new perspective made her want to help children and helped her decide a career path.
Deanna has learned her own limits – the hard ones and the ones that would take her time to stretch. She’s also learned that ‘giving up’ can be a way to move forward by letting go of the things that are ultimately dragging you down, rather than uplifting you. She’s not afraid of asking for what she needs.
As a young adult, she let her emotions get the better of her in a number of situations, but through experience – trying new employment positions, new relationships, and letting go of what didn’t benefit her – she gained the skills to keep her emotions more compartmentalized when necessary (but never at the expense of self-care). This maturity also helped teach her the confidence to stand on her own, even when facing serious pushback from those around her.
Physical description: Same as in canon
Your Characters 'Event Memory'? witnessing her mother's (naked) almost wedding ceremony
Anything else? (Is there anything else not covered by the above that you want to tell us about your character?)
Writing Samples
Still. This seemed necessary. ]
I am searching for members of the crew of the ship Enterprise, or anyone who's ever served in Starfleet. I have theories about this situation and our place in it and we need to discuss what can be done immediately. Please contact me at this network ID.
[ Deanna started to click the communicator off, but then another thought came to her. This was important as well. ]
I'm also interested in any information anyone may have about the Limnus, the beings that are said to have brought us here. They seem similar to beings that I have encountered in the past known as the Q. If anyone knows anything about this, please do let me know. Thank you.