Anya
Anya Ozera
Just a girl...
 | |
| Full name | Anya Ozera |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | April 10, 2508 |
| Birthplace | Paquin |
| Parents | Yurei & Alexa Ozera |
| Assignment | Captain, Catalyst |
| Status | Active |
| Employment History | |
|
9/2533-Present: Catalyst | |
History
Anya was born and raised on Paquin. She is Romani, though her biological mother was an outsider. Some people still haven't forgotten that. Anya was orphaned as a baby and raised by her Aunt and Uncle, whom she considers to be her mother and father even now. She was brought up in a fairly traditional Romani household, in the shadow of the Great Carnivale. She has several brothers and sisters (who are actually cousins, but she doesn't think of them that way).
Anya's mother was always a little harder on her than her sisters, perhaps in an effort to squelch any inborn gadje traits that might have tried to emerge. She was brought up to be a proper Romani girl and wife, well-schooled in the domestic arts, but received no offers for her hand, despite turning out to be rather pleasing to the eye. She learned about Romani medicine and herbal remedies from her mother, and how to make a living off of tourists from her father. For a few years, she worked as 'Madame Ozera,' a fortune teller and dancer at the Carnivale, but secretly she always wanted to travel and see the 'Verse.
Anya managed to convince her family to allow her to leave home and fly with the Jia in October of 2531, upon receiving a generous offer from Captain McGuire to join the crew and learn a trade. Her parents were still not super keen on the idea, but because Captain McGuire was a Prince of the Deadwood Clan and his wife, Danee, was a blood relation they were willing to entrust their daughter to them for a time. Much eye-opening adventure ensued, and Anya began to pull away more and more from the controlling influence of her family. In January of 2532, she left the Jia to join the crew of the Praemia as a pilot (in training). She tried to keep in touch with her old crew; family is family. For a few weeks, life was good.
In late February of 2532, Praemia's Captain (Mike Sayles, also Anya's squeeze) left for a trip that was supposed to be a couple of days but stretched into weeks and then months. For a while it seemed like the crew was falling apart, with some leaving to pursue other employment and others just kind of wandering off. Despite persistent heartache, Anya kept the ship flying and began negotiating cargo contracts, even hired a few more crew to help her out. She discouraged them from calling her Captain (not that it did much good), but somewhat reluctantly begun introducing herself as Acting Captain of Praemia when the occasion called for it. Some time later, it was also learned that Drew Tillman, Praemia's owner, had been missing for several months. Anya had thought he was with his fiancée, while his fiancée had thought he was with the ship.
June of 2532 was a month of big changes for Anya. She began dating Ellis Foster, a man she had met a month or so earlier when looking for a mechanic to do some part-time work on Praemia. Their romance blossomed despite the obstacle of flying on two different ships for the first couple of months; once Ellis took a position on Praemia they quickly became inseparable. Also in June, Anya was approached by Damian Carmichael, who had financed the purchase of Praemia originally, about the status of the loan. He had yet to receive any sort of repayment. Faced with the prospect of losing Praemia if the loan was not repaid, she made arrangements to pay it on the spot. The ship had been successful enough under her command that she was able to pay off the bond entirely and was told this made her the Praemia's owner since Drew had defaulted on the loan. This was exciting but intimidating, and would prove to be problematic a few days later when Drew suddenly turned up again. But Drew wasn't ready to take command, and after a few tense weeks he started spending more and more time away until finally in February of 2533 he signed Praemia over to Anya fully. By this time, she'd been keeping Praemia flying for so long that the change was pretty much on paper only.
Recent Events
2533 has been a hectic year for Anya, with many ups and downs. Things went smoothly for a while, but then Praemia spent the better part of a month parked on Athens, tracking down the source of a mysterious illness and oddly lingering storm system to illicit corporate weather control experiments gone awry. No sooner had they solved this problem (and prepped a hefty incriminating file to turn over to the Alliance), than she received the news that her BFF Dan had been infected with weaponized nanobots that were slowly killing him. At Dan's request, she and her crew assisted DAS with the investigation and were instrumental in helping to bring those responsible to justice and destroying the nanobots that had infected Dan and others...but Dan wasn't out of the woods yet. The nanobots had done so much damage that he was suffering multiple organ failures, including his heart (which was keeping him off of most transplant lists). With his insurance refusing to pay for grown organs, Anya was faced with watching him die or coming up with some way to pay for the organs on her own. What came next was an intensive few months of non-stop cargo hauling as she and her crew strove to raise enough money to foot the bill. She used every contact she possessed, above the board and below, and took donations from friends and family to cover the costs; even then she still had to accept a loan from Book Memorial to make up the difference and donate one of her own kidneys to save her friend.
Not all good deeds go unrewarded, and in September of 2533 Anya had the opportunity (courtesy of Dan pulling strings from the hospital) to trade her Firefly in for a Shark Corvette that had been languishing at an Alliance impound facility. She named the new ship Catalyst and moved her crew over, but didn't have much budget for remodeling/refurnishing on account of being broke broke broke from pouring all her money into hospital bills.
As the year draws toward its end, Anya's in hawk to a hospital, recovering from surgery, trying to get the hang of this flying a capital ship thing, and still owes a criminal organization a favor promised during the nanobot investigation. Add to this the increase in reaver (and Reaverite) activity on the Rim, the ongoing enmity of the Wulver's crew for being too close to Dan and her relationship with an outsider causing tension between her and her family, it seems like things could get pretty interesting in the coming months.
Personality
Anya is...
- Observant - She picks up on things that others may not, and is very good at reading people.
- Intuitive - Sometimes, in the absence of a good read, a good guess will do.
- Charismatic - She knows how to play to her audience.
- Adventurous - She loves seeing new places and trying new things.
- Independent - She enjoys the freedom and independence of being her own woman, now that she's claimed them.
RP Hooks
- Allergic to wool. Also, probably, sheep.
- Romani, Paquin Clan.
- Dating an outsider (Ellis).
- Reluctant Former Pacifist.
- Loves a good adventure.
- Loves music & dancing.
- Looks younger than she is.
- Healer & herbalist.
- Great cook.
- Captain of the Catalyst.
- Pilot.
- Secretly wants Dan in Dan's dreams.
- Friendly toward Feds. (Hey, it beats the alternative.)
- Underworld ties. (Playing with fire...)
- Loathes the Pirate Commonwealth.
- Hated by Wulver's crew. Or some of them anyway.
- Banned from Ricochet Arms.
Playlist
Some of these songs reflect aspects of Anya's personality/background or events in her life, others are just songs that remind me of people in her life and her relationships with them.
Theme Song:
Misc Songs:
- Can't Stop Falling, Great Big Sea (Ellis)
- Control, Poe
- Heaven's Already Here, Collective Soul (Ellis)
- I'll Remember, Madonna (Mike)
- Just A Girl, No Doubt
- Mother Mother, Tracy Bonham
- Papa Was A Rolling Stone, The Temptations (Dan)
- Sharp Dressed Man, ZZ Top (Dan)
- She Gathers Rain, Collective Soul
- The Good Soldier, Nine Inch Nails (Mike)
