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OOC Information
NAME: Alien
AGE: 21
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: Commander Shepard

IC Information
CHARACTER NAME: EarthConnect, Metals Department, Agent 06-02-F (Bonsai)
AGE: roughly 25
TIMELINE: Taken from a year into her work with R&E Metalworks
FAMILY TYPES:
Metal Empire; Bonsai was born and raised in a culture of emotional repression and over-valued privacy. It takes a long time for her to open up to anyone.
Jungle Troopers; From childhood, Bonsai has been fighting to overcome expectations her own people have of her, and now that she has gotten past those, she finds that what she wanted was what they thought of her the whole time. Struggles indeed.
Wind Guardians; Above all, Bonsai is a woman who craves freedom, and is learning to seek it out.

WORLD:
Bonsai's world is defined by interplanetary struggles. There are six planets with sentient life that interact in different ways, including, most recently, Earth.

The most involved species are the Greys from Zeta Reticuli. They refer to their planet as the Grey Homeworld. The human media image of the large headed, black-eyed grey alien is roughly accurate, although greys do not have visible mouths. Instead, they will dissolve a hole in their faces using digestive acid, revealing sharp, teeth-like bones, which they will use to take a bite out of anything, then dissolve it with the same acid. Greys do not experience pain and heal rapidly from even the most severe of injuries.

Greys are most notable for their species-wide sociopathy and scientific compulsions. Greys attach to one another socially for only three reasons-- yearly breeding, which is done with fish-like spawning in water (Greys are also hermaphroditic and have no concept of gender), mentor-student relationships that are a Grey's only emotional connection throughout life, and the mutual quest for knowledge. Greys do not concern themselves with the suffering of others, and will take any vicious action necessary to obtain more information. They learn for the sake of learning, and the human horror stories of vivisection, probing and torture are all true.

The Greys have two slave races. The older of the two are the Widows, also from Zeta Retculi. Their home planet, being named by the Greys, is similarly referred to as the Widow Homeworld. Widows are canine in stature, with 4 eyes and heavy mechanical augmentation by their slave-owners, and have been selectively bred for thousands of years to create a species viciously loyal to Greys. Because of their loyalty and the fact that the Greys commonly use them as soldiers, they have not been bred to be emotionless, as the Greys are in the process of doing with their other slave race.

Outside of their home planet, it's usually safe to assume that any Widow encountered is female, as the Widow mating ritual involves eating the male after impregnation. Widows are known to have great disdain for males in the hierarchies of other species, and usually refuse to make diplomatic contact with any group containing males as anything other than slaves or accompanying children. Widows, having had their natural evolution completely destroyed by Grey interference, are less intelligent than other sentient races and are considered the most animalistic race.

The Grey's other slave race is also Bonsai's race, the Reptilians. Hailing from Lambda Serpentis, their home planet is referred to as Sanctuary by traditionalists, but is usually called the Reptilian Homeworld after Grey takeover. Humanoid in figure, Reptilians have long, chameleon-like tails, green, scaly skin, boney plating on the backs of their hands, color-changing throats, and triceratops style crests on their heads. They are warm blooded, but cooler in temperature than humans. Males and females are differentiated by a slight roundness to a female's belly, scent differences, differences in vocal pitch, and, in some situations, clothing and linguistic differences. Their diets are a mix of plants and berries, large, indigenous insects, and when applicable, sea life.

Prior to Grey takeover, Reptilians were extremely socially similar to humans in religious traditions, social traditions, governmental styles, and societal structures. However, the Greys have purposefully gutted their culture, forcing them to adopt an emotionless grey language which lacks the complex social and emotional words needed to express themselves as a species lacking complex body language. A eugenics program was put into place to breed out pheromone body language, and to induce sociopathy in the largest amount of the population as possible. Reptilians have been left with a monotone language with no words for even the simplest of emotional states, next to no body language save for throat coloration to indicate pleasure and displeasure, and a social structure with a rate of sociopathy at 40% and rising.

In addition to these forced changes, a system of arranged marriages was put into place, and children are chosen for the companies they will work for in place of being named. While some traditionalist families still name their children, many children grow up being referred to by a serial number rather than a name, even in the home. Any act which breaks Grey social rules will result in the individual being removed from their family, either to be relocated or to have their brains dissected for study.

Because Reptilians are far more intelligent than Widows, they have become the all-purpose workers of the Grey empire, exempting any work that is considered dangerous. This measure was put in place in response to the rising suicide rates amongst adult Reptilians, estimated at 30% overall, and 50% in non-sociopathic populations. Reptilians, being a naturally emotional and social species, are collectively wilting in the society they've been forced into.

The Greys, however, are not at all unquestioned in their practices. Against them are a race who, in english, are referred to as Squids. They hail from the Delta Trianguli system and call their home planet Aguatis. A communistic society, they are amphibious, tentacled creatures in a semi-matriarchy. While their gender roles are considered to be similar to an American Nuclear family, the genders themselves are reversed, with males raised to be trophy husbands pampered by their wives. Their home planet is almost entirely covered in water, and most Squids live their entire lives underwater.

Following an attempt at colonization by the Greys, the Squids have declared themselves to be opposed to them, if not in outright war. Before of this, Squids currently have made first contact with Humans, and there are top secret government discussions going on about a possible alliance between the two races. However, in spite of this, in the private sector, some companies have made contact with Greys by way of the Reptilians, and the two alien interactions are currently unknown to each other.

There is also a 'neutral' race involved tangentially to the conflict, known as the Rrutatarri (you roll the Rs). Most other races refer to them as Mutts, although this is technically a slur. Because of their refusal to take a side in the conflict headed by the Greys and the Squids, they are basically universally disliked, although because their purpose is to maintain economic ties with every race, nobody is really willing to force them into it out of fear of losing their contacts.

Rrutatarri resemble 8-foot pouched dinosaurs, and their culture is entirely Matriarchal. Females run society and keep male harems. Males are forced to belong to a female after puberty because their bodies stop producing a chemical that is needed to keep their brains in working order after that point, and females can provide it to them by biting them. These bites also inject a bonding chemical which is euphoric, and most males become very attached to their females, very quickly. However, Rrutatarri have a strict social code against any cruelty to males, who are often intensely beloved by their females.

The Rrutatarri are also notable for having two archetypical genders, but three varieties of chromosomal sexes. It is believed that the harem system developed due to an inability to differentiate between type a and type b males, which are identical in all but sex cell production, and the requirement of both to impregnate a female.

Humans in this universe are primarily left out of interplanetary matters, as their first 'official' contact was less than 20 years ago. The governments of a few nations, including Canada, Japan and France have entered secret alliances with the Squids, and are currently working out plans to unite the humans against the Greys. Because of the secrecy, however, a number of American companies were left out of the loop when they made contracts with the Reptilians, who are secretly involved in a number of important industries.

APPEARANCE:
PB: Kelly Osbourne
Bonsai is a stony faced young woman who diligently, and compulsively, takes care of her hair and skin. She's in decent shape and has good posture. She also has a long, green lizard tail usually held curled up like a chameleon's, and scarring on the backs of her hands where bony growths used for cracking insect shells would have been.

PERSONALITY:
Bonsai is from a culture of intense social and emotional repression, and she is only just beginning the process of coming out of her shell. Regardless of what emotion she is presently feeling, it is extremely unlikely that she will show any sign of it in her body language. This shows in her choice of language and her own understanding of her emotions as well-- often, she will be unable to tell whether she is angry or frightened, and has a tendency to diagnose any positive emotion as 'happy', regardless of how it would be described by someone with better emotional literacy. Her monotone way of speaking is unlikely to ever change, as her species' original language lacked tonal display of emotion.

Similarly, she is extremely unused to human social rules, and will often mix them up or miss them entirely. There are no table manners in her culture, and she has absolutely no problem asking personal questions of strangers or removing her clothes in front of others. She has no understanding of sarcasm and interprets shyness as having something to hide.

Her upbringing combined with her new reverence for emotion and life itself has given her a defensive fear response to anyone openly doing something she knows would be severely punished back home. She may ask teenagers not to kiss in public, or scold someone for crying-- not because she thinks they are doing anything wrong, but because her gut tells her to fear for their safety. She is also similarly protective in legitimately dangerous situations. While not reckless by anyone's standards, she will put herself at risk to help even a stranger if she sees any of herself in them.

Bonsai has issues with authority, but not in a rebellious way. Her survival instincts kick in when directly told to do something, and she'll often obey, especially if forced to make a quick decision. However, if given a task she finds morally disagreeable, she will attempt to get out of it, but she's likely to cave if the authority figure who gave it to her is watching.

Bonsai is terrified of dogs, due to Widows who acted as police on her home planet. This doesn't extend to all furry mammals, but she does have a higher tendency to trust humans above all, even above the reptiles that most resemble her own species. Her fondness and fascination with Colleen has also fostered a slight streak of xenophilia, and she often finds herself attracted to human women.

Bonsai also has an ingrained desire to take care of herself physically, and Colleen has put it in her head that human women take care of themselves with fancy haircare products and makeup. Bonsai is the sort to put looking 'together' above being comfortable, although this is certainly in part because of her upbringing. She was taught from an early age to look and act as professional as possible.

TW: SUICIDE DISCUSSION BELOW
Bonsai has a complicated relationship with the concept of death. As a small child she discovered her father's body, and she grew up with the knowledge that nearly a third of the people around her would eventually kill themselves. Because of the connection made in her society between suicide and emotional expression, she does have some degree of fascination with it, but has spent most of her life hating her father, both for abandoning her and for being 'emotionally weak'. She still struggles with the reality that so many of her people choose to die rather than exist in their lives, while simultaneously understanding the desire to escape. Death and mourning are even more difficult for Bonsai to process emotionally than most emotions, because she has a great deal of baggage attached to them and an unhealthy societal view to go along with it. When death is raised, particularly self-inflicted (by suicide or recklessness), she tends to shut down mentally, unable to deal with the reality of the situation.

In the end, what Bonsai wants out of life is to be happy, to be free to learn about herself, and to find a connection with other people. However, because all of these things are considered off-limits to her, she flounders when suddenly offered whatever she wants out of life.

HISTORY:
Bonsai is what is referred to, on Sanctuary, as a 'high risk child', or a child of scandal. In a society where emotional displays are cause for being reported to one's overseer, Bonsai is the daughter of a mother who had an extramarital affair, and a father who killed himself in grief after his wife was sent in to the Greys as a punishment for said affair. Bonsai was then stripped of the name given to her by her traditionalist parents (she no longer remembers it), assigned her proper job title, and placed in a foster home for high risk children.

Growing up in a foster home, Bonsai had it drilled into her that her only chance for success with such a blemish on her genetic record was to prove she was nothing like either of her parents, and to become a model citizen in every way. With this pressure in addition to the normal pressures of growing up in Reptilian society under Grey control, Bonsai successfully repressed the fact that she was, in fact exactly like her parents-- naturally emotional and sentimental, even by original Reptilian standards.

She managed to convince herself that she was not only behaving like a good citizen, but that she was one, aided by a lack of names for the inappropriate feelings she kept locked up. This lasted until her first year on the job as a Metalworks supervisor. She and a coworker, doing a late-night shift, stumbled upon two teenaged girls who had broken into the metalworks plant for a romantic meetup. Bonsai, who had developed unspoken, unexplored romantic feelings for other girls during her own school years, was immediately forced into the realization that these feelings were not unique to her-- just before she had to report them for breach of arranged marriage laws regarding homosexuality.

Haunted by this, Bonsai became even more of a workaholic, and after a few years, found her way into a high enough position to be assigned a job actually working on earth. Bonsai's company, named EarthConnect, has the goal to extract materials from earth as well as getting as much economic information as possible. Only very select employees from the company they were infiltrating, R&E Metalworks, were allowed to meet with her, and she spent her time in the company's computer systems, touring by proxy (having human coworkers bring webcams around facilities), and arranging sales and trades between the company and her people.

It was at this point that she struck up a friendship with her human ambassador within the company, a 36 year old businesswoman named Colleen Phillips. Colleen worked closely with Bonsai for three months before becoming comfortable enough to get into small talk, but her fascination with Bonsai's alien culture eventually overcame her discomfort with the Reptilian's monotone, stern behavior. The friendship opened Bonsai up, slowly, to the idea that it was alright for her to think for herself and to develop emotional attachments. Colleen is also responsible for giving Bonsai her name-- during a discussion of Reptilians, she compared the culture to bonsai trees, a huge, powerful, healthy thing made to exist on a tiny scale.

While this is Bonsai's canonpoint, it stands to mention that, in her second year of service on Earth, Bonsai enters a romantic relationship with Colleen, who smuggles her out of R&E Metalworks. The two are on the run together for two weeks before they are tracked down by the government. After months of being interrogated and kept separate, the two are reunited when they are picked up by the Human-Squid alliance to help work on anti-Grey strategy.

SAMPLES
FIRST PERSON: Test Drive Meme!
THIRD PERSON:
Bonsai's partner has started keeping track of the amount of times she announces something is the strangest part of being human. Today, they are curled up in the living room of their shared apartment, and the strangest thing is 'fingernails'. The little claws she used to have on her fingertips didn't grow, and any dirt that accumulated could easily be washed off. Instead, her nails are a mess, and she has asked a human friend for the regimen.

First, take this small metal tool and use it to carefully remove all dirt from under the nails. Once this is done, rub the side of the tool along the edge of the nail until it is short and blunt. Carefully wash off any dust left over.

The next part requires a friend, a role taken today by her digimon. With careful precision, because he knows, by now, that his human takes looking pristine very seriously, he paints a thin coat of blood red nail polish. And then another. Then, a topcoat. Through the entire process, Bonsai is dead silent, taking nail maintenance with the same level of severity as one would treat wound care or putting in a contact for the first time.

No part of being human should be taken lightly, after all. At any time, she could be back with her own body, and she would have no opportunity to be part of this complex, emotionally rich society after that. She must get everything out of it that she can, she thinks, examining the way the polish shines in the light.

She'll have to ask if the process is the same for toenails. It never hurts to be too careful.

	• WORMMON ♂ • Title: "The Worm Monster" • Stage: Rookie • Attribute: Virus • Type: Larva • Digivolves From: ??? • Digivolves To: ??? • Crest: ???
Personality: Pushy and firm in his beliefs, Wormmon is Bonsai's amateur life coach. He encourages her to be more open about herself and tries to keep her out of trouble. He does, however, have a fairly upbeat attitude. He has a streak of distaste for authority much like his partner, but in general, he follows the spirit of the law, if not the letter. He values respect, especially towards women, and can be quite the little gentleman.
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