Tessa Peyton (WIP)

[Tessa Peyton]

Tessa Cleopatra Peyton

The Basics

Full Name: Tessa Cleopatra Peyton
Call Sign: Honey
Nickname(s)/Alias(es): Tess, always Tess, honey, or sugar & spice, sassy.
Gender: female
Sexual Orientation: heterosexual
Age: 29
Birthday: October 13th
Birthplace: Tauron
Occupation: Viper Pilot
Rank/Title: Lieutenant

Physical Appearance

Height: 5’7”
Weight: 125Lbs.
Build: Toned figure, curvy, healthily tanned olive complexion.
Hair: Her hair color is naturally a dark chocolate brown, but is often dyed blonde. If she sees enough sun her hair can lighten naturally into a honey brown.
Eye Color: Deep honey brown eyes (her eyes are how she got her call sign…it is also ironic because just when you think she’s sweet she gets sassy).
Distinguishing Marks: Tribal tattoos on her arms and upper back. She has three piercings in either ear.
Possessions, Equipment, Belongings: Other than her personal clothing she wears off duty which are always quite girly, feminine, elegant or sexy, and copious amounts of bathing suits 1 2 3 4 5 6 7, she has her standard issue weapon.
Other: Her favorite color is red.
Play- By: Jessica Alba

Friends, Family, and Other Relationships

Mother: Desdemona Peyton (nee Rambaldi)
Father: Elias Peyton
Siblings: Nikolas- eldest brother (35), Panos- younger brother (27).
Significant Other: TBA.
Children: eventually…
Other Notable Persons: Matthias Finley- ex-husband, Sidney Bainbridge, Tyler Tremaine, Phaeton Kosta and the other Reapers.

Personality

Likes:

• Boxing, kickboxing, street fighting: by nature and ancestry Tessa is a fighter.
  
• Swimming: throughout her schooling Tess was on the swim team and she loved it, to her being under water was freeing.
  
• Social gatherings: she loves being around people. Tessa loves the attention, and likes to be in the spotlight.
  
• Sex: As with adrenaline Tessa has somewhat of an obsession with pleasure, she can do magic in the bedroom…or anywhere else you find more suitable.
  
• Thunder & lightning: she loved watching storms as a kid, sitting on their porch watching the rain sleet sideways and the lightning crackle through the sky.
  
• Pyramid: she's an avid fan, both of watching and playing the game. She has great pride in the Tauron Stallions.
  
• Tradition: Tessa is a proud Tauron, she speaks her language fluently and uses it whenever possible. She often swears in her native tongue.
  
• Lollipops: she has a strange oral fixation with lollipops and when off duty can generally be found sucking on one. She also loves fresh fruit, strawberries in particular. Apple pie is her favorite dessert, can’t get any better than her mother’s apple pie.
  
• Coffee: it is sure to be true that her veins run with the stuff rather than blood.

Dislikes:

• Betrayal, lies, cheating: you don’t get a second chance…at least she has found no reason yet to give anyone a second chance.
  
• Arrogant, racist, cruel, oppressive, mean people: for all her intensity it is difficult not to get along with Tessa, or at the very least not find her brazen, bold demeanor admiring. She will however be the first to stand up for the downtrodden and the underdog and is perfectly willing to fight someone else’s battle or sacrifice herself for the greater good. Behind the mask of this glory hound is a heroine.
  
  
• Fire: Once having been trapped in a burning house the idea of being trapped in a large fire again is paralyzing. If ever in such a situation she would freeze, unable to do anything remotely useful until someone shook her out of it, possibly quite literally. In an effort to combat her fear she carries an older lighter given to her by her father in her back pocket. She takes it out, flips it open and shut and can be seen fiddling with it. Often times when she’s nervous she will be playing with her lighter to try and calm her nerves, it may seem like an oxymoron to combat fear with another fear but the way she sees it nothing can be as bad as the flames that consumed her childhood home.
  
• Being alone: She likes being around people, and some might even go so far as to saying she has a problem being alone. Her problem might not be so dramatic to say she has abandonment issues, but she certainly has ‘alone’ issues. She is VERY independent, but she craves affection, needs to be wanted, and yearns to be loved more than anything. Her saucy demeanor and sometimes snarky manner might be mistaken for someone that enjoys solitude when in fact she hates it. She tends to fill silence with chatter often unnecessarily…unless of course there is sex involved words are not always needed, she has no control over what sounds or words she makes you say however.
  
• Being cold: Tessa HATES being cold. She really, really dislikes it. She has more than once gotten someone to snuggle with her simply by teasing that she was cold, to be fair she actually was cold. She has a tendency to sit on people’s laps and other such things. She prefers planets with hot or warmer weather where she can go swimming.
  
• Waiting: Impatience should be her middle name. She loathes waiting, and it can make her unfocused, reckless, chatty and annoying to those around her. If kept too long she can become a nuisance.
  
• Being underestimated or unappreciated: To her, disappointment feels just like failure, and if someone assumes she isn’t good enough for a task, that assumption can make her just as angry. Rejection is also not something she handles well.

Fears:

Strengths:

• Flying: plain and simple, she’s good! She has raw talent and an ego to boot. She learns quickly, and can think fast on her feet but she is very temperamental. She does NOT handle failure well. Quit is not a word that belongs in her vocabulary.
  
• Bombshell: Tessa is shameless, both in the way she first and the way she acts. Most sexy bombshells are fun, and she is no exception, but she will always seek anything with a high adrenaline rush whether that is fast cars, guns, vipers, or sex she is all in. Tessa is always 110% committed to anything she does. She is never a half-assed kind of girl. Never drive with this woman, unless you have a very healthy heart otherwise you are bound to have a heart attack or at the very least go into shock. She has a lead foot and damn can she drive, and yes she can drive a stick. Up in the air is not much different, she knows how to maneuver her viper like an ace. She’s got natural skill and she will flaunt it ever chance she gets. This also makes her more than a tad reckless in the field. Some have described her as intense she is the same in the cockpit as she is out of it, and some men just find her too much woman to handle.
  
• Respect & Honor: Duty and honor are VERY important to her. She holds respect in high regard. This is why she holds her superior officers (if she likes you) in high regard as well and with the utmost respect. That doesn’t mean she won’t be mouthy (something that has gotten her sent to the brig on numerous occasions) it just means she will compliment you and let you know how much she really does respect you aside from speaking out of turn. She can respect you but her tendency towards insubordination can make her appear as if she doesn’t. Tess never apologizes, but if she did that is pretty much as close as you are going to get to hearing an apology out of her.

Weaknesses:

• Ambitious: She will walk all over you, in fact she would probably crush you in her high heeled boots on her way to the top or wherever she was going. She fully believes in the idea of the ends justifies the means, and that if you want something done right you have to do it yourself. She is also very stubborn and is insistent on relying on herself, and only herself for everything.
  
• Temper, temper, temper: Tess is a hot-headed, feisty Tauron. If she starts a fight you can be damn sure she is going to finish it too.
  
• People Pleaser, Needs some good love and affection: Not only is Tess a glory hound, but she also wants to be loved. She craves love, and this makes her a people pleaser. She may not appear to be one. She over compensates by being extremely independent, shows unnecessary moxy, is abrasive, audacious, and brazen in her actions and speech. This can of course get her into various other kinds of trouble. It is very difficult to offend her, but she is fairly certain to offend someone else, and get herself into trouble. The brig has been like her second home on and off again, they have a mutual love-hate relationship with one another.

Aspirations: To be the BEST, period.

General Personality: Tessa is a badass. A diabolical little woman, she is feisty, sassy and one hell of a shot. Her abrasive manner can be off-putting to those with a thinner skin. Tess is very independent. She is a people person and adores being around lots of people, mostly because she likes being the center of attention. Some have mistaken this for dependency; Tess has always taken care of herself and believes that she doesn’t need anyone to take care of her. Asking someone else for help is the last thing she will be doing, right above admitting she’s wrong. Volatile, this vixen has claws and she’s not afraid to use them. Tess is tough, and she can dish it out. She is confident, overly so when it comes to her skills in a cockpit. Self-assured in her ability as a fighter, but don’t expect her to play fair. She has the morals of a pirate. When it comes to hand-to-hand combat she will use anything at her disposal, and rarely ever fights straight boxing. Fashion sense and femininity is not lost on her. The epitome of a sexy woman with a gun, or a stick in her hand, she seems to fuse a tough ruthlessness with a femme fatale allure. Her intensity is two-fold. She can give you pleasure or she can give you pain, she would much prefer the former. You cross her and you will wish you were dead. She has a mind like an elephant and can hold a grudge for eternity. Underneath her sass and snarky shell Tessa has a really big heart, but giving it to someone is a whole other story.

For Tessa love is as elusive as a unicorn. Love is a complicated, unkind, and dark mistress for Tessa. The closest she has ever come to truly loving someone has been to trust them. Her love affairs are generally always messy and hot. The way they start is often the way they end, except instead of fireworks it’s like an explosion.

Tessa has that rare irresistible quality of confidence and charm. Not even most men possess as much charisma as flawlessly as she can. If she were a man she would be glorified for her forwardness and temptress ways. Tessa is 110% fun, you will never find her dull or yourself bored of whatever daring activity she decides to accomplish at that moment. There is something naturally flirtatious and sensual about her. She can turn practically any word, phrase, or thing into something dirty. It is fairly certain that anything she says can be construed as an innuendo.


Aside from her shameless come-ons and open promiscuity she is actually a straight-laced individual. It’s safe to say she is obsessed with nearly all forms of sex. She views it as something pleasurable and enjoys the high she gets from sex much like an adrenaline junkie enjoys an extreme sport. She has an addictive personality. Not only will you, whether you are a man or woman, straight or gay or something in between find her infections and intoxicating but she herself has an obsessive and compulsive personality, addictive tendencies towards vices. Knowing this she tries to make sex her only vice. Though she does have a weakness for clove cigarettes. Between that and the scent of vanilla lotion she wears she smells like a cookie. She considers her love of sex and pleasures a healthy one to have out of the numerous ones that could plague her. Tess steers clear of too much drinking or unhealthy foods. Well, she has been known to enjoy a nice glass of white wine but tends to be wary of drinking in excess. She is passionate and impulsive. Being fiery she loves anything as explosive as she is, and enjoys anything that can go fast and give her that extra boost of adrenaline, anything legal that is.


Humorous, a playful jokester, and the life of any party isn’t all she is. When it comes to work Tess is fierce, straightforward and confident in her abilities. She is cocky, restless, impulsive, and reckless. She also has this childish notion that she is somehow invincible. When the tough gets going she gets rough. Her inability to know when to say enough is enough also makes her the perfect soldier. She will never quit, give up or stop fighting until she’s dead. Even then she’ll probably come back and haunt you silly. Extremely diligent and persistent, she will never leave a person behind, and never likes to be told she can’t do something. It’s a good way to trick her into doing something she wouldn’t otherwise want to do such as cram herself into some small tight space for the sake of a mission.


Tess is strong. Not only physically but emotionally. She can take a lot more than most would assume without breaking. Loyalty and honor are important to her, perhaps the most important. The friends she makes she keeps for life. For all her spontaneity she is steadfast in regards to those that matter to her, and takes her duty very seriously. Grudges are a thing she remembers well. A volatile creature her temper, although combative, can nearly be squelched just as quickly as it is started. Just be careful for the fallout in the time between. Over the years she may learn, if she’s lucky that carrying around that much anger will destroy her. At least for now she knows that those who have hurt her in her past aren’t worth the energy or her time. In situations that require it Tessa tries to hold her fieriness back somewhat, after all such fire-cracker ways does not a leadership quality make, and she does strive to be ambitious.

The Backstory

History: Born on Tauron to a drug smuggler who was a member of the Ha’la’tha and a prostitute neither were in any fits state to raise a child. They conveniently abandoned their six year old daughter in a shipping yard. It was her first taste of what ships looked like, how they operated, and she was in love. She smuggled herself onto a freight transport delivering goods to the center of Hypatia, which would later become her home. Much to her dismay she was caught by the Captain who instead of spacing her found her spry fire-cracker attitude amusing. Even at 6 she was a strong little thing, but a cargo ship was no place for a child. When they reached Hypatia he delivered her to an orphanage where she would spend the next 7 years bouncing from foster home to foster home.

No one wanted a reckless, rebellious girl. As she grew older into her pre-teens she only got worse and more brazen. She was abused by several households. The first household she was sent to was a dump. The wife was a needy woman that had a predilection for adopting children and being a kleptomaniac. The husband was no better, a deadbeat alcoholic who was too lazy to do anything except yell at the children and demand that his woman wasn’t cooking his dinner fast enough. There were simply too many mouths to feed and as the newest addition to the ever growing horde of children she was often forgotten and went sometimes several days without a proper meal. She quickly learned to steal things from the kitchen. For this and other acts of rebellion, or what she saw as survival, Tessa was locked up in a tiny, dark closet and often forgotten about for hours or even sometimes a few days until no one could ignore her pounding and screaming. Over time she learned to steal the small booklets of matches the wife kept all around the house since she was an avid smoker. When she was locked inside she would light the matches and let them burn down almost until they burned her fingers, and even then sometimes she did. It gave her a sense of security, comfort, a little break from the darkness. From this point on she hated the feeling of being trapped and feared small dark places. She also loved fire and playing with matches.

Her next family at the age of 10 was a relatively nice family. They had quite a bit of money and dotted on her giving her blueberry waffles with syrup, new dresses and all the toys she could ever want. She thought she had found the perfect home, but her dream was not to last. They were also drug addicts and made most of their money through dubious means, but on the books it looked all clean and nice. Over the following months Tessa came to realize how manipulative they actually were. Her world was turned upside down amidst lavish parties, illegal gambling, and infidelity. Neither of them were the most faithful of partners. The husband frequently had high class call girls over all dressed in their finery when his wife was away, which was often. She too had her fair share of lovers, prostitutes or otherwise. The precocious, curious young Tessa got to know the girls that were run in and out of the house. Many of them such as Serena and Giselle were there so often they began teaching the young girl about what seduction meant. Slowly her young mind wrapped itself around the meaning and power of seduction. Almost a year later her foster parents were arrested for fraud and embezzlement respectively, and Tessa was shipped back to the orphanage.

The third foster home she was entrusted to was perhaps the worst. The wife was a kind hearted woman but the husband, Garret Purcell, was a functioning alcoholic. When he was drunk however, he was violent. Within the first year his wife died of cancer. This sent him into more of a bitter, angry state than he was born into and he blamed Tessa for his wife’s death. For three years he abused her, beat her, and nearly killed her a few times until one day she fought back. Garret was also handsy and a sick, cruel, evil man. Sometimes to trick him into giving her food she would play nice and act as though she were seducing him. Throughout her years in the foster system she learned what it was to be a criminal, the trickery, the grifters, the con-artistry, and seduction.


In one of the fiercest beatings he had ever given her the 13 year old Tess managed to take his rhino from him and aimed it at him. Garret lumbered towards her with a devilish grin, “Gimme tha’ ye lil shit,” he laughed slurring his words which had never been too good to begin with, “Ye won’ shoo’ me, now han’it over,” he demanded still stumbling towards her. “I will,” she yelled, “I will!” tears streaming down her face mixing with the blood and dirt. Garret simply laughed, a gravely, dark laugh. Then ‘BAM!’ she shot him in the leg. A string of curse words flew out of his mouth as he was thrown onto the floor by the force of the blow, but Tessa wouldn’t be staying to hear what he had to say. She ran out of the house with her small hand still clenched like a death grip around the gun and left him sitting there bellowing after her. She ran, and ran until she couldn’t run any more. Finally she collapsed in a field somewhere. The peace and silence of what would have been a picturesque landscape was interrupted by her sobbing, she couldn’t let go of the gun in her hand for a long time. Garret lived, but Tessa’s days of foster care appeared over for the foreseeable future. Later that evening she was found by the authorities and sent away to a correctional facility for young girls. Tessa had buried the gun somewhere only she could find, which she later dug up and to this day keeps in her possession as a reminder.


A few weeks later Desdemona came to the correctional facility. The Peyton family had taken in a few kids temporarily to try and help straighten them out. Elias and Desdemona had two children of their own: Nikolas and Panos, but believed that every child deserved a chance at a happy home, but they had never quite found the right fit for their home. Tessa was continually getting beaten up pretty badly by some of the girls there and the facility wasn’t a safe place for her. One of Desdemona’s friends who worked at the facility asked if she could take Tessa in for a few days until they found a more suitable establishment for her. At 13 Tessa was an angry, stubborn little girl, but Des took a shine to her almost instantly. Elias was a bit more reserved at the dinner table that night. He did not find her smart-alike comments amusing. Des thought Tessa was a breath of fresh air and told her husband that she simply needed a stable home to feel safe in. Elias begrudgingly agreed to a trial week at his wife’s request. A week turned into months, months turned into a proper foster home, and then at 15 she was officially adopted by the Peyton family and changed her last name from Delacour to Peyton.

The Peyton’s were a decorated military family. Desdemona, although not military herself was the daughter of a politician and Tauron military veteran. Elias had been a high ranking officer in the Military, as well as a lawyer. He had fought proudly in many wars against pirates and the like, and had commanded his own platoon of men. Many of them died but they killed more pirates than they lost men. Elias received the purple heart at the end of one of the wars for his valor and for saving the surviving members of his platoon from a mine in which he was severely injured, but he survived. He walks with a limp, but is still quite mobile. After that he returned to his roots of law like his father before him. He has since retired from practice.

Tessa had a lot of respect for Elias, who she later called father, and he instilled in her the meaning of honor. Throughout High School Tessa was a reckless, rebellious, spontaneous, wild teen. She also had the middle-child syndrome, especially since she was a girl, and was always scrambling for attention. She did love her sports though. Tess was on the swim team as well as danced, played pyramid, and to cross fit she did kickboxing, ran, and biked. Not to mention she generally biked to school every day. Elias’ relationship with Tessa was at times tenuous due to her wild streak. His method of parenting was preparing: he continually tried to teach her combat skills. He quickly learned that restraining her to teach her how to get out of such situations was NOT a good tactic. Elias received a black eye for that one, but after coaxing and preening Tessa she realized that his attempt at coaching her in the ways of combat was his way of expressing his fatherly love for her. Elias did so to his two boys as well, and treated Tessa like one of his boys.

In the end Nikolas became a marine like his father, while Panos the gentler soul became a military doctor. Elias was a gruff gentleman was a gentleman nonetheless. He taught her how to be adaptable while fighting, to use as little weapons as possible, or in situations where she had no weapons to use her surroundings to her advantage. Even with all his attempts to encourage her into becoming a marine Tessa still held that unexplainable love of ships and flying. Every summer Elias gave into this love of hers for flying and would take her out with some of his military veterans to watch the ships. This was also where she learned how to fly. This summer activity became a regular thing that began happening more and more readily. Sometimes Elias would take Tess on a long weekend and allow one of his best friends Steven ‘Sparky’ Wright to show her something else about piloting that he did not know. Sparky was a surly old man but knew everything there was to know about piloting and combat fighting.

After high school 17-18 Tessa applied for and was accepted to the Tauron Military Academy to become a viper pilot. She settled down significantly (not that now is what a normal person would consider very settled). Aside from her loving parents, the military taught her the discipline to work hard and never give up. She continued to test the boundaries of rules. She went through the Academy and a year of flight school. Her ambition generally overshadowed her tendency towards mischief, pranks, and an over-confident attitude. She was and is a cocky pilot, but it was her skill, her stubbornness, and her persistence to continue to better her talents as a pilot that kept her from washing out. Tess was demoted once for her reckless behavior and insubordination out in the black. She got the job done, her methods unorthodox but nobody died. Her unapologetic reaction is mostly what warranted her a demotion and a swift boot to a Patrolstar. She spent the next two years trying to eras the black mark on her record, or at least let everyone forget about it. Finally this year she was transferred to the Hyperion and has been reacquainted with a few reapers and familiar faces.

Tessa fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once. She once married a man named Matthias Finley.


Service Record:
Battlestar Valkyrie (BSG-41)
Tessa Peyton, Viper pilot, Ensign- Lieutenant Junior Grade – 1090-1991
Battlestar Triton (BSG-39)
Tessa Peyton, Viper pilot, Lieutenant Junior Grade-Lieutenant - 1991-1995
Battlestar Solaria
Tessa Peyton, Viper pilot, Lieutenant-Captain-demoted to LT - 1995-2001
Patrolstar Hades
Tessa Peyton, Viper pilot, Lieutenant - 2001-2003 October
Battlestar Hyperion
Tessa Peyton, Viper pilot, Lieutenant – 2003-present

Anything Else?: When she was little Tessa loved to write, especially songs, and dreamed of being a rock star, sadly though that was never a possibility since she can’t sing her way out of a bucket.

Dancing on the other hand is another story. Her two saving graces when she was in an abusive home where dancing and reading. When she lived with Garret there was a ground of neighbor kids that would get together and dance, in a sort of casual dance crew. She learned how to breakdance, hip hop and lots of other forms. When she moved in with the Peyton’s Desdemona sent her to ballet classes, at first she disliked a form of art that was so strict and rigid unlike what she had been doing on the street, but she soon fell in love with its grace and beauty.

The other thing she would do to distract her from the misery that was often her home life before the Peyton’s was read. She taught herself remedial Leonis, and Libran. Once in High School and under the Peyton’s protection she excelled at languages. Tessa has always been able to pick things up quickly. She was a great test taker, never usually having to study very hard beforehand, she had a knack for memorizing and remembering things such as facts, dates, or words. She is also fairly good at mimicking people. This has been helpful more than once with pranks.

Tessa's over indulgence in sex and being social is a personal flaw, but she doesn't let that get in the way of her work. Her real problems are professional ones, she was demoted for such reckless insubordination.

The Player

Name/Alias: Grace, Sawyer, Abby, Sexy…whatever you want to call me
Experience: a year
How you found Battlestar Hyperion: through all the cool people
Other characters: Samantha Casey and Emma Nash
Contact via: PM

[Roger Davis]

I know this is still a WIP, but here are my thoughts before you get too far with this.

1) Why are you even making this character? Samantha isn't filling your Viper pilot need nor is she nearly Tatiana enough for you?

2) How do you resolve the conflict between her being honorable, disciplined, militaristic, etc. with being incredibly promiscuous and so insubordinate as to be demoted so many times?

3) Your skeleton service record doesn't match the backstory you have (or what makes sense) since it talks about basic training instead of an academy. You also then have her as a cadet on a Battlestar instead of a cadet at an Academy.

4) If you plan for her to catch the Sag War (or really any Reaper action) on the Triton you are going to miss it. She'd graduate the academy in early/mid '95 and then need at least 6 months flight school so she'd be out by late '95 at the earliest, just after the war ended.

5) I'm not 100% on this so Onas or Sid might be able to add some RL experience to it, but I think the entire premise of being a 29 year old Ensign that has been busted three times for a total of four grade reductions is impossible. Yes, maybe an enlisted person could get away with fraking up all the time, earning those ranks again, fraking up again, earning them, etc. Officers are different.

Perhaps the easier point here is that so much more is expected of officers. It takes a considerable frak up to get demoted. Officers are granted all the more responsibility and they rarely give second chances, certainly not third and forth chances. If you can't shape up then you're not cut out to be an officer. It's as simple as that.

Part two is just the nature of the military in the upper ranks. It's upward or out. If you're not qualified to get promoted you're not just going to sit at a low rank for thirty years. You will wash out. Even in the higher ups it's cutthroat. You might be a O-6 with decades of distinguished service but if you don't make it to General you will be asked to leave. Now that's just not getting promoted. Tessa is getting demoted like crazy. Generally one demotion is a career killer. Three is just overkill.

In short, an Ensign with near eight years in service who has been demoted three times simply is not officer material. There are plenty of other eager young pilots fighting for a select few thousand slots. She'd be lucky to serve on some remote space station in the BSG equivalent of Nome, Alaska, certainly not landing a spot on the Hyperion.