piracy_time | app for High Seas

[Name]: Pip
[Age]: 30
[Contacts]:
♦ DW: simplypip
♦ Plurk: played
[Timezone]: GMT -5 (CST)
[Other Characters]: N/A

[Name]: Marika Kato (western order)
[Canon]: Mouretsu Pirates (Bodacious Space Pirates)
[Age]: 17
[Gender]: Female
[Canon Point]: Post-series

[History]: List of Mouretsu Pirates anime episodes w/summaries

[Personality]:
Marika Kato is what you get when you take an above-average high school student, part-time cafe worker, and then put her to work heading up a crew of space pirates. Despite her talents and the adventures she has taken part in, not much of her success has gone to her head.

You see, Marika was given a unique opportunity. Just over a year ago, she was approached by crew-members of the space-faring pirate vessel Bentenmaru. It turns out her father, Genzaemon, was a bonafide pirate! Complete with what's called a Letter of Marque from the government of their star system. It was reported to her that he had passed away and Marika, being his only offspring, was entitled to take up his position as Captain aboard the Bentenmaru should she choose to continue on that tradition, and also prove herself worthy of the responsibility. Even her mother knew that some day this might happen, as she was a somewhat famous pirate herself, serving on that same crew.

Marika was understandably shocked by these back-to-back revelations, and it put a lot of pressure on her, despite her desire to go into space someday -- the primary motivator for her joining her high school's so-called Yacht Club. If she passed up the offer to take over, the ship and its crew would be ineligible to operate as legal pirates from that point on, as the government no longer made new licenses, they just renewed old contracts. She was hesitant at first, hedging on the decision for a long time, taking her time as she usually does when faced with tough long-term decisions.

Eventually, she does agree to take over as Captain, which plunges her into a world of adventure, excitement, and unexpectedly complicated bureaucracy. It was odd to be part of a lifestyle that she did not even know was as prevalent or even relevant to modern times, but also that the job entailed about as much danger as it did pure shows of force. Being hired to rob intergalactic cruise liners that *wanted* to be robbed, just so their passengers can get a taste of that kind of excitement was not exactly the sort of work she was expected to do, but Marika grew into it with relative ease.

Marika does not flaunt her position, instead opting to prove herself to those who might doubt her "right" to be Captain of the Bentenmaru. She is still determined to finish high school despite taking well to her new career. A good many of her decisions to take on other work now involve as much instinct and a factor of how much fun they are, as it does logic, finances, and scheduling. She gets along well with all of her crew, fitting easily into their existing rapport, good humor, and individual quirks. Considering herself a good judge of character, Marika doesn't hold any one person too high in regard over others, having casual friends in her crew, her classmates, and even royalty! She looks up to her mom, respects her previous pirate reputation, and even without it considered her larger-than-life aura. While Marika wants to make something of herself, she does not want to copy Ririka's accomplishments or stay in her shadow forever.

When it comes to her every day high school life, she keeps in touch with her friends as best she is able to and still attends as many activities with the Yacht Club as time allows for. She even still holds her part-time position at the Lamp House cafe. Her best friend from school, Mami, often has to cover for her absences at work just like her mother has to call and make excuses for her missing days of classes. With this comes the danger of spreading herself too thin, especially when she first took to her position as Captain of the Bentenmaru, because the additional studying, training, and simulations all took time away from her studies. Her grades fell, she had trouble staying awake in class, and her friends could see the signs of crashing and burning swiftly. Thankfully she managed to reach an approximate balance of her time by the time her final year of school rolled around or she would have repeated a year or, worse yet, flunked out entirely!

[Abilities / Strengths & Weaknesses]:
Marika is an ordinary human girl with no supernatural or superhuman abilities at all. She isn't overly strong, her skill in self defense techniques is at the amateur level, and for all her quick decision-making prowess those decisions are nothing if she dos not have accurate information and context from trusted sources. Marika is not a genius; she just knows how to be decisive and follows through with those decisions.

She cannot operate an entire spacecraft in lieu of its crew, but knows enough that she could direct a competent crew to act in the way the situation calls for. This is necessary for various pirating activities, such as engaging in an electronic warfare battle with another vessel, ship-to-ship combat, boarding, as well as launch and docking procedures.

A large portion of the above knowledge comes from her time spent with her school's Yacht Club, where she has learned to pilot a single-seat glider style spacecraft (which is capable of unassisted re-entry). She was skilled enough to go so far as to enter into a major race for those crafts, during which she managed to outmaneuver enemy craft who were out to gun the racers down.
It should be noted that this has been the only time her personal survival skills have been truly tested. While Marika has received some training in swordplay, handling guns, and even close combat self-defense, that training has been put more to use in the "show" of her everyday pirating activities, and not to cause or avoid harm.
Lastly, Marika rides her bicycle or runs just about everywhere, enjoys swimming and windsurfing, and is used to working on her feet for hours at her part-time cafe job.

[Limited Powers]: N/A

[Other Important Facts]:

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