Ekaterina Ivanovna Tarasova

From Condemnations

what happens when you lose everything?
you just start again.
you start all over again.

Contents 1 all about her 2 history 2.1 condemns 1.0 events 2.2 after the bombs. 2.3 in-game events 3 personality 4 abilities 5 relationships 5.1 family 5.2 friends 5.3 others 5.4 notable deceased 6 other stuff 7 themes

all about her

Name — Ekaterina Ivanovna Tarasova
Nicknames — Katya, Kitty
Age — 124 (looks mid-20s)
Birthday — January 8, 1987
Zodiac — Capricorn
Height — 5' 6½"
Hair — Naturally blonde, but often dyed
Eyes — Brown, but she often wears blue-colored contacts
Sexuality — Heterosexual
Marital Status — Single
Languages — Russian (fluent), English (fluent)

history

Ekaterina was the eldest of two little girls born to Anya Alexandrovna Tarasova and Ivan Petrovich Tarasov. Despite the fact that she was six years older than her little sister, the two of them were close; when Natalya was young, Katya helped take care of her. In fact, Katya was the one who raised Natasha, for the most part. Their mother was a woman who loved her vodka, and alcohol in general. This wasn't too much of a problem...until after Natasha was born. After her birth, Anya suffered from postpartum depression; she wanted nothing to do with her newborn baby, her six-year-old daughter, or her husband. All she wanted to do was drink until it all went away. Her husband worried about how this would affect the children, and when she showed no sign of stopping on her own, her gave her an ultimatum: get sober or get out.

She left. From then on, it was Ivan and his two daughters. Well, and his sister Mariya, who lived with them for a few years until the girls were old enough to care for themselves. He had to work, so his older daughter had to take on more responsibilities around the house to help her aunt. The little girl who had amused herself with trains and cars and with all sorts of rocks she had collected--she loved rocks--had to grow up. The changes scared her; her mother was gone, her aunt--whom she liked but she didn't know too well--was living with them, and she was suddenly saddled with a bunch of new duties. Her aunt taught her all sorts of things to do to help out--how to cook, how to clean, etc.--so that when she left, the family of three would be able to get on just fine. By the time Mariya left after six years, Katya had learned how to be a pretty decent housewife.

In secondary school, Katya was one of the popular kids; her bright smile and playful attitude charmed all. She had her fair share of boyfriends and went to her fair share of parties. However, no matter where she was, she refused to do things like drinking and smoking. She had to care for her sister, after all, and it had been those types of things that had eventually torn her mother away from their family. She doubted that her father could handle losing another loved one to their vices. Instead, she decided to channel her efforts into music, taking up the guitar. Her school work was average, sure, but anybody who knew anything about music knew that she had a gift. She started with the acoustic guitar, and later moved on to the electric guitar, her personal favorite. She met her future boyfriend, Dimitry Solovyov, during her last year. He was a year below her, and the two got to be good friends, and eventually more.

She went to Saint Petersburg State University, majoring in Geology and Mineralogy; the roots of said decision were buried deep in her childhood love of rocks and minerals. She still lived at home; the university was nearby, and it didn't hurt to have her still helping out around the house. It was around this time that Dimitry told her of a band that he, his sister, and his sister's boyfriend were putting together, and he proposed the idea that she join the band as the lead guitarist. She agreed, and what was to become known as Heaven's Night (although it started out as Velvet Nightingale) was born

A week before the outbreak, her father was in a terrible car accident, one that left him in a coma. This upset Katya very much; she had always been close to her father. She became even more protective of Natalya, afraid of losing her last close relative. So when the outbreak occurred and the two sisters were swarmed by zombies, Katya risked her own life to save her sister's; she tried to take them on by herself and was bitten in the process. Luckily, her friends managed to get her to the Revival Project quickly enough to save her life. She and her sister made it through all right...and, luckily, so did all of their friends. Granted, Heaven's Night didn't play much for a while, but with the world ending around them, it wasn't that hard to see why.

condemns 1.0 events

August 10, 2009 — Started posting on the community.

September 13, 2009 — Heaven's Night opened for Within Temptation in St. Petersburg, Russia during the Within Temptation 2009 World Tour. Biggest gig yet!

December 12, 2009 — Did something stupid and triggered a big fight with Dimitry Sergeyevich Solovyov, her then-boyfriend.

December 25, 2009 — Christmas! Also yay no more angry feelings.

January 8, 2010 — Turned 23.

January 19, 2010 — Went to Los Angeles, California to watch the Dodge Bowl.

January 31, 2010 — Her accelerated healing backfired, causing all of her old injuries to reopen. Spent the whole day out of commission.

February 1, 2010 — Spent the majority of the day like the previous one until her powers returned to normal and thus healed all her wounds.

March 22, 2010 — Helped fight off the swarm of infected that targeted the hospital in St. Petersburg. She tried to save her father, who was in the hospital at the time, but she was too late. Also, she learned about her immunity to the infection when a zombie bit her.

April 19-20, 2010 — Drank some of that evil toxic water, causing her to become severely depressed and withdrawn. This eventually led to her boyfriend and |his sister both trying to figure out what was wrong.

May 10, 2010 — Participated in the track event at the Lee Hyori Charity Games and somehow got first.

June 13, 2010 — Played the xylophone (see, there was a practical use for learning this!) during the International Classical Music Night.

July 9, 2010 — Heaven's Night opened for P!nk in St. Petersburg during her Funhouse Tour.

July 20, 2010 — Assisted where necessary when the zombies launched an offensive in St. Petersburg. Also, she later found out that the diner she worked at was destroyed.

August 1, 2010 — Heaven's Night played in Rome, Italy, their first show outside of Russia.

August 10-11, 2010 — Despite being mildly ill as a result of her connection to the planet, she assisted where necessary when St. Petersburg was targeted by fire whirls.

August 23-October 5, 2010 — Took a trip around the world because it's one of the things she's always wanted to do.

October 24, 2010 — Heaven's Night performed at the Beautiful World Concert.

October 31, 2010 — Shit went down, so she dropped her sister off in good hands and went off to fight baddies, but carefully.

November 1, 2010 — Visited by her father's ghost, who told her to stop irrationally blaming herself for his death and gave her closure.

November 3, 2010 — Dyed her hair black and started looking for a job.

November 14, 2010 — An old friend of her father's heard that she was looking for a job and offered her a position as a receptionist, since his previous one had quit.

December 24-25, 2010 — Attended the On A Winter's Night event.

January 8, 2011 — Turned 24.

January 20, 2011 — The bombs fell.

after the bombs.

It was instinct, really, that kept her alive when the bombs fell. She hid herself and her sister below ground, using her abilities to create a make-shift shelter underneath the earth, just deep enough to act like the bomb shelters found in some old homes--safer than the outside. Not to say that she wasn't her usual reckless self, though; she spent an unhealthy amount of time searching for people she knew, friends and family, or even people in need of help, before she realized that it was fruitless and that she'd be more useful making sure her sister would be okay.

Once it appeared safe enough, Katya and her sister left their hiding place and wandered for a bit, doing what they could to survive. Perhaps because she knew that she could sustain herself for longer with less, or perhaps it was a result of her martyristic tendencies, but she reserved the greater portion by far of what they could find for Natalya, choosing instead to depend on the earth's life-giving energy for most of her sustenance. She would not survive at the cost of her sister's life, not when it seemed like she had lost everything else.

By luck or by the earth's guidance, they were able to meet up with a group of fellow travelers on their way to Ireland, and they followed because it was the sensible thing to do. Safety in numbers, and all that. And so Katya and her sister wound up in Tusas Anuire--more specifically, in the Merkaz sector.

Life went on, and Katya did her best to keep it together. After a few years she realized that she wasn't aging anymore, due to a mutation caused by the radiation, but she tried to brush it off as best she could. Take it a day at a time, and she was fine. She passed the many years entertaining herself in various ways--trying a variety of jobs before migrating back to occasionally doing music, after a long hiatus, and then into working as a health commission worker. Helping out in the new city gave her something to do, something to focus on, and she managed.

Until her sister's death of old age, which threatened to rip her sanity from her. After losing everybody else, losing this last tie to her family, friends, and her past was a cruel and harsh blow--one that she would never have been able to weather all those years ago. But she got through it. The distractions of work and of caring for someone else--for she had taken in an orphan to raise as her own, to give her something to fight for-were certainly of help as well. He had asked her for help, and what could she do but agree?

So through caring for her boy and working to help people, she's been okay.

in-game events

January 30, 100— Started posting on the community.

May 5, 100— Her father and sister showed up, alive.

personality

Katya's still spunky and feisty, but 100 years has done a good deal of maturing on her. While the loss and hardship she's suffered has taken its toll, it, in addition to her son, has also been beneficial. She was forced to learn how to deal with love and loss; instead of continuing to deny her emotions and suppress what she feels, she has made great strides towards at least accepting her feelings and coming to terms with them, if not outright expressing them when appropriate. She's no longer terrified of telling people how much she cares about them, because she's realized that not saying something doesn't make it any less true; she loves deeply, and she's realized that it's better to say it and have it known than let someone die or walk away not knowing how she cared. This is something she fights very hard to avoid with her adoptive son, making sure that he knows how much she really cares about him and ensuring that he'll never have to test the limits of her love the way she did to her parents.

In addition, she has significantly more faith in herself--she feels that she's finally proven to herself that she is not her mother or even her father, but her own person. She isn't as flighty as she feared being, nor is she as distant. She makes her own mistakes, not her parents', and she's comfortable with that--they're hers. But mistakes and all, she's proven to herself that she's trustworthy and able to take care of others, and that allows Katya to be much more content in her life.

And that is her usual state--contentment. Her moods are no longer as strong and overpowering as they once were--likely because she can put everything in better perspective now, and she has finally reached that state of mental and emotional maturity that once eluded her. She's come to terms with a large number of her demons, those that have haunted her, because she's finally taken the time to shed some light on them and chase them away, and what's left is a much lighter, freer girl. She's still a goofball, of course, and will probably never really grow out of her childish love for fun and playfulness, but that doesn't mean that she isn't a true adult.

personality type — ESFP (the Artisan Performer)

abilities

Sound Imitation —The ability to recreate noises that she has heard at least once previously. This can be further subdivided into two categories: vocal imitation (the ability to mimic voices and accents, basically) and musical imitation (the ability to hear a musical piece--like a piano piece--and then be able to play that piece perfectly after just one hearing, regardless of whether or not she has much experience playing the instrument).
Geokinesis — The ability to cause shifts in tectonic plates and other earth-related phenomena (such as altering a rock/mineral to become something else, drawing energy and strength from the earth as long as she has some sort of physical contact with it, dirt monsters, and possessed rocks). This ability became extremely useful when the nuclear winter occurred, allowing her to give most of the food she found to her sister while getting sustenance from the earth itself. It also provides her body with the energy to combat aging, as caused by her altered healing abilities.
Accelerated Healing — She can heal abnormally fast. She can heal both herself and others, although the latter takes concentration and energy; self-healing is usually subconscious. She is also more resistant to infections and the like due to a stronger immune system. This ability helped save her life after she was bitten by one of the infected, along with the quick thinking of the members of the Revival Project. Because of her exposure to the virus, she has developed immunity to it; thus, she cannot become infected. As a result of the radiation she was exposed to thanks to the bombs, her healing has been super-charged, to the point where aging cells are replaced or healed fast enough that she basically doesn't age.

relationships

family

Ivan Petrovich Tarasov — Father. He was a pretty successful lawyer in St. Petersburg. The two fought a lot about various things, like religion and her choice of career, but despite this the two were quite close. His coma hit Katya really hard, and his actual death wasn't much easier for her to deal with, but she eventually found closure. He randomly showed up alive on her doorstep in Year 100.
Natalya Ivanovna Tarasova — Katya's younger sister by six years. Natasha is one of the few people Katya would have done anything for, the person she fought so hard to protect. Her death hit Katya hard, but at least she got to live a long, full life, which is more than many others got. She, along with their father, randomly showed up alive on her doorstep in Year 100.
Freddie — Adopted son. Sharp kid, much smarter than his eight years let on. He constantly is reminding her of the beauty of the world...as well as keeping her on her feet. She's just glad that he's not as crazy as she was as a kid.

friends

Eve Byrne — Fellow musician, and a drummer. She's pretty cool. They've met backstage and at clubs before, and so they know each other relatively well. Katya considers her a friend of sorts, at the least.
Kostya — His name's really Constantine, but she thinks that's a terrible name and so has christened him with the Russian equvalent's nickname instead. Which is cool with him, because he's a bookworm who has chosen to call her Kitty in return (she hopes he's not hinting at anything). A local musician whom she sometimes plays with, and a friend besides. She kind of considers him like the brother she always wanted.
The Kid — Fellow guitarist, and a friend of Kostya's, so he's cool in her book. Well, when he's not trying to hit on her/worm his way into her pants, that is. He's young (18), as far as she's concerned, which earned him his nickname. He plays music in his free time while pursuing a degree in college. Sydney Shi — She owns a bar that she and Kostya sometimes play at, and she's always great about it. Plus, Katya just has respect for her as a person.

others

Angela Choi — She owns a club whose open mic night K sometimes frequents. She's also a musician herself, having played at some of the big concerts prior to the bombs, and so K's familiar with her. Nice girl.
Jae Im — Another artist she met at the worldwide concerts, and so a familiar face. She's talked to him a little since then, and she's always found him a pleasant person to be around.

notable deceased

Anya Alexandrovna Tarasova — Mother. Left the family when she was young, and now Katya assumes she's dead. She doesn't have much to say about her.
Dimitry Sergeyevich Solovyov — Dima was her long-time boyfriend, from even before the outbreak up to when the bombs fell. Cared about him more than she could honestly say. What happened to him in the end, she never really knew, and that was really hard for her.
Heaven's Night — Shura, Stasya, Andrei, and Dima, friends she considered to be like a second family. Losing them messed her up for a while, and it was out of some twisted loyalty to them that she avoided music for a long time. Now, she plays it in their memory.
Steven — Ex-fiancé, one of the first really serious relationships she had after relocating underground. She did love him, really, and she was really tempted to marry him—but then it hit her that he would get old and die while she stayed perpetually 24, and she honestly couldn't handle that. She always wished him the best, and she was happy to hear that he got married and had two kids after she left him.

other stuff

• BATMAN IS STILL AMAZING, OKAY.
• Has dyed her hair pretty much every color possible at some point. Yes, that includes colors like pink and blue.
• Can play the acoustic guitar, electric guitar, xylophone, and piano and is working on learning the saxophone and the mandolin.
• Can also sing, which she does more often now.
• Isn't really a romantic. Stuff like fancy dinners and all that really just bores her to tears. She's much more comfortable in more relaxed and simple situations.
• Likes to get small things out in the open — namely, small problems with others. This means she tends to fight with people a lot, but it's really her way of resolving the issues quickly so they don't get a chance to fester and grow into something nastier.
• She's naturally pretty passive-aggressive, though, especially with large things like hurting someone she loves.
• Has a number of scars, which she's quite proud of.
• Is very allergic to nuts. She will go into anaphylactic shock if she eats any.
• She has Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. She has the Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive Type of ADHD, to be exact.
• When shopping, she has a tendency to buy random things because they look pretty or catch her eye in some way. So if you get a random (as in totally weird) gift from her, understand that it's just because she's weird.
• Is far-sighted. Thus, she either wears glasses (red, of course) or wears blue contacts when she needs to read/see something.
• Is left handed. Which is kind of annoying, really. Her handwriting is always messy and a lot of things are hard to do.
• Still gets nervous when around drunk people. She seriously does not want to deal with them and will go to great lengths to get away from them.
• Is also deathly afraid of snakes.
• Very very tactile. Touch is by far one of her two favorite senses, and she has to touch everything. She likes to maintain physical contact, however casual, with those she's speaking to/with as well.
• Hearing is her other favorite sense, as she's very much an auditory learner. She used to make up stupid little songs in order to remember facts and such for school, because she memorizes songs very easily.

themes

• "Handlebars" by Flobots
• "Soul Meets Body" by Death Cab for Cutie
• "Today" by the Smashing Pumpkins
• "Apply Some Pressure" by Maxïmo Park
• "Wave of Mutilation" by The Pixies
• "Rite of Spring" by Angels and Airwaves
• "Cemetery" by Say Anything
• "Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year" by Fall Out Boy
• "Grapevine Fires" by Death Cab for Cutie
• "Blood on the Ground" by Incubus