"Kara Michelle Pagani" / Modeled by Chiaki Kudou (工藤千晶)
Created by: Kiskaloo
LEGAL NAME: Kara Michelle Pagani
GIVEN NAME: Kumari Deleroux Rosier
NATIONALITY: Italian
RACE: French / Japanese
BIRTHPLACE: Paris, France
MODEL: Second Generation Cyborg
HANDLER: Michele Pagani
DOB: 03/25/1988 [Converted on 05/16/2005]
AGE: 17
HEIGHT: 165cm
WEIGHT: 75kg (After Conversion)
DIMENSIONS: B78 W56 H78
HANDEDNESS: Right
APPEARANCE: The product of a French father and Japanese mother, in physical stature appearance she appears far more Japanese then French, though she is tall for a Japanese girl. She has her mother’s rich black hair with very soft red highlights when viewed in direct sunlight at close range. She also has her mother’s brown eyes.
WEAPONS:
Primary Pistol: HK P 2000 SK
Instrument Case Weapon: HK XM 8 Compact Carbine shooting Mk 262 Open Tip Match (OTM) rounds
PERSONAL HISTORY:
Kumari was the daughter of Alain Rosier and Emiko Fushida. Alain was an astronomer with the Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers (The National Institute of Earth Sciences and Astronomy / INSU). Emiko was a computer scientist working on a joint Franco-Japanese IT project at the Department of Information and Engineering Sciences and Technologies. Both worked under the auspices of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).
She was exposed to both French and Japanese at home, as well as English (as it was the language of Science) and is conversationally and literately fluent in all three. She loved astronomy and stargazing and was a member of the Association ANDROMEDE with her father. Her father took her on trips to the European Southern Observatory in Chile during summer vacation where she learned passable Spanish (her reading and writing comprehension is superior to her conversational ability).
While on Holiday with her family in Madrid, Spain, they were caught in the 2004 bombing of the Cercanías Madrid train system at Atocha station. She was gravely injured and rescued by Michele, who witnessed the explosion of Train 21431. As he helped the rescue team lift her stretcher, she momentarily regained consciousness, looked him in the eyes, and muttered "ojisan".
She was taken to a local hospital where Michele learned her father had been killed at the scene and her mother was in a persistent vegetative state due to massive head trauma. She would die two years later in a Japanese care facility from an infection having never regained consciousness.
Through investigation, Michele learned that Kumari had no direct family, her parent’s parents having passed on. There was an uncle (the Japanese word for whom was “ojisan” he discovered) on her mother’s side, but he was a busy salary man in Japan and had been estranged from the family before Kumari had been born. With her mother a vegetable and her uncle not a viable option to look after her, Michele contacted the Agency and had them arrange her transfer there. Due to the seriousness of her injuries, the Spanish felt they could not save her and transport back to Japan would have killed her, so both countries acquiesced to Italy’s request. In what all three nations agreed was a cruel twist of fate, the ambulance transporting her from Rome Ciampino Airport was reportedly involved in a rollover accident and the oxygen cylinders aboard exploded. While the staff was able to evacuate, they could not free Kumari and she was killed. The heat of the oxygen-aluminum fire was such that no remains could be recovered and Kumari was declared legally dead. As both she and her mother died due to causes other then the actual bombing, neither are considered official casualties of the bombing.
AGENCY HISTORY:
Kumari was brought to the SWA Compound and underwent conversion into a Generation 2 cyborg. To his surprise, and admitted consternation at first, Michele was assigned as her handler. Like many teenagers around the world, Kumari had a presence on the web that allowed Michele to learn more about who she had been before the tragedy. The Broca's area of her brain was undamaged so she retained command of all her original languages and the standard native-Italian fluency was added. Advances in neuroimaging technology now allowed the Agency to perform more selective conditioning when it came to wiping and instilling memories and experiences, so Michele worked with the doctors to allow her to remember her love for computers and astronomy as well as adding a new love for Formula One auto racing (to match Michele’s own love and experiences with the sport) as he wanted at least one thing for them to share in common to begin building their fratello relationship.
The decision was made to keep her physical form as unchanged as the surgery and prosthetics would allow. Kumari could not keep her original name (both to prevent her suppressed memories from coming back and to prevent her from responding if someone should ever recognize her). In keeping with both her Japanese and French roots, he chose Kara (pronounced CAR-Ah) Michelle. She answers to either Kara or Kara Michelle, but most people just shorten it to Kara. Michele refers to her as Kara except when exasperated, at which point he often adds her last name with emphasis.
Michele still had doubts about the whole thing, but when she opened her brown eyes for the first time in the post-surgery ward and said “Papa-san”, he knew his life was going to change…for the better.
While the normal assignment for a cyborg operative was as a combat assassin due to the nature of their enhancements, Michele’s position within the SWA (cross-departmental liaison and strategist/tactician) led Section 2’s senior administrators to determine that a traditional fratello assignment would not be the best use of both assets.
While Kara underwent the standard training in weapons and tactics that all cyborg operatives did, she also received additional training in computer detection and both intrusion and counter-intrusion as well as physical and electronic surveillance and basic training in liaison operations and interpersonal relationship management (an important quality for a liaison to have).
Michele is a firm believer in the superiority of Heckler & Koch weaponry and as such Kara’s standard weapon is an HK P 2000 SK pistol firing .40 S&W rounds. When she needs more firepower, she also carries the H&K XM 8 rifle (usually in Compact Carbine mode). At the time she joined the Agency (2004), the XM 8 was intended to be the new US Army combat rifle and Michele’s NATO contacts were able to arrange one of the development units being given to the Agency and assigned to Kara. Her accuracy is average for a cyborg (it is best when her XM 8 is in the Sharpshooter configuration). So while that translates into pretty damn good overall, her name is seldom in the Top 10 List at the range.
CHARACTER:
Due in part to her conditioning and part to her natural temperament, Kara Michelle was one of the more quiet girls in the Agency at first. Their shared love of astronomy and stargazing brought her and Henrietta together, though Henrietta is somewhat envious of Kara’s older and more developed physical body (as well as her .3m motorized telescope). However, as she has never shown anything but professional courtesy towards Giuseppe, slight envy is the only emotion other then friendship she feels towards Kara. Kara (re)joined the Association ANDROMEDE as well as the Unione Astrofili Italiani and is a regular contributor to their forums. She is also considering becoming an Amateur Telescope Maker.
Her enjoyment of reading and playing piano also makes her somewhat close to Claes, if anyone can really be “close” to Claes. She is an eclectic reader, though conditioning and her handler’s experiences have resulted in a large number of books on strategy and tactics on the shelf in her dorm. Her motto is “I prefer to be educated to entertained” so she tends to favor reference books and her choice in television shows leans towards educational and instructional.
Kara learned the piano as a young girl and she continues to maintain her skills within the Agency. In order to carry her rifle in pubic she underwent training in the violin, but she is only average. She does practice with Henrietta, but is somewhat self-conscious of that fact that her friend is noticeably better.
Kara’s experience on liaison operations with Michele and her enhanced conditioning in interpersonal relationship management often makes her the unofficial “referee” amongst the girls during the inevitable squabbles that arise from time to time. By no means a “Den Mother”, she does tend to defuse more arguments then she gets into.
Trained in the most common computer operating systems, Kara prefers Apple’s OS X for her personal machines. She carries a Power Book Titanium for field and mobile use. Her computer detection, infiltration and defensive skills are good, but they would be absolutely embarrassed by a real pro.
Between her own experiences as Kumari and her continuing tutelage under Michele, Kara Michelle is an accomplished chef. Her own knowledge of French and Japanese cuisine, combined with Michele’s of Italian and German, often result in long lines at the cantina when they choose to assist the kitchen staff. Both are avid fans of the original Japanese “Iron Chef” television show.
Probably the only thing Kara Michelle loves more then astronomy is Formula One auto racing. While she was conditioned to enjoy it, as she listened to Michele’s stories and saw the enjoyment he derives from watching it on TV and attending races in person, that conditioning has become actual, independent feelings of enjoyment. Living in Italy, she is a natural fan of Scuderia Marlboro Ferrari.
That actual love for racing has carried over into karting and on a nice weekend it is not unusual to find her in a rented kart tooling around the Pista di Artena or the Circuito Internazionale di Viterbo. She is much more comfortable in Roman traffic then Michele is and both look forward to her 18th birthday when she can take over the driving duties around and within the city. So far, Michele has resisted her suggestion that he just have the local Motorizzazione issue her a fake Patente B (automobile license) to go with her legitimate Patente A1 (motorbike license), but a few more trips and he might break down.
Author's notes: Prior Permission is not required for other authors to borrow the character, but try and not do anything too horrible to them, please. Thanks.
Other Works Kara is in:
See Kiskaloo
