“Storm” Character Profiles: Chhavi Nanda
Race: Human
Age: 35
Pronouns: She/Her
Height: 5′ 4′’
Body type: Curvy, round face, hips for days, squishy and wonderfully chubby
Hair: Long and wavy, dark dark dark black, usually scooped up in an inelegant ponytail
Skin color: Golden brown
Other facts:
Stressed 24/7
Chronic daydreamer, always plays the hero in her own daydreams
Cannot keep her life in order
Used to be a really great painter! Might still be if she ever painted
She’s an accomplished and award-winning research scientist, but still has impostor syndrome
Laughs when she’s nervous or uncomfortable
Almost detrimentally optimistic (but, spoilers, it’s usually forced)
Early life:
Chhavi lived most of her young life on the Lunar Outpost, a settlement established as a checkpoint for ships traveling to and from Earth. It wasn’t a large colony, by any stretch, and the only people who actually lived at the Outpost were the employees and their families. It was very cramped quarters.
Her father was an Outpost Foreman, basically a very high-level manager who organized orbit schedules, requirements for passing ships and legality checks. He and his wife (an architect living in Sirhind-Fategarh, India) divorced when Chhavi was only three, but Chhavi often visited her mother on Earth and always had a good relationship with both of them.
Chaavi’s dad remarried (one of the Outpost’s mechanics -- it’s a cute story) when Chhavi was about six years old. Between her father and her stepfather, Chhavi learned about everything that went on in those winding, cramped corridors and massive dome hangars -- from the tiny details of a mechanic’s work to the overarching rules and structures that kept the Outpost running.
She had no blood siblings, but there were fifteen kids total at the Outpost, and goddamn if she didn’t treat each of them like a sibling. She was the oldest, and often took to herding her “ducklings” (as her stepfather affectionately called the other kids) around the Outpost, getting into all kinds of mischief. Though, of course, Chhavi would be the first to tell you that the mischief was never her idea, and of course she had tried to convince them not to. (This was occasionally true).
She was always a cheerful, playful child, and whip-smart, with an imagination that had most folks guessing she would be a writer or an artist when she grew up, as she enjoyed reading, writing and painting more than she enjoyed the hard sciences.
It was a surprise to everyone when Chhavi decided at the age of 17 that she wanted to be a biologist. No one in her family had pursued that particular field of study, so they didn’t quite understand where the impulse had come from.
Of course, they didn’t know about Rasleen. Chhavi had met Rasleen when she was visiting her mom on Earth, and she had fallen instantly in love. While the two had embarked on a brief summer romance (which was all Rasleen really wanted) Chhavi was determined that they were girlfriends now, and she wanted to be with her, in spite of the fact that they had nothing in common. Rasleen wanted to be a biologist. So, damnit, that’s what Chhavi was going to do, too.
Adulthood:
Chhavi and Rasleen did end up going to the same university, but in spite of Chhavi’s best efforts, Rasleen was just not that interested, and ended up dating someone else. Heartbroken, but also broken from Rasleen’s “spell,” Chhavi realized too late that her reasons for coming to Earth and pursuing science were pretty poor reasons, all-in-all. And now she was alone. But to her absolute shock, she really loved what she was studying. There were patterns in biology that mirrored the patterns she enjoyed in stories, and over the years she began to approach research the way she used to approach art. One core truth of her remained: she loved to see a picture come together.
Unsure exactly what to do with this newfound passion, she just pursued school to its terminus, getting her doctorate in biology, winning awards for her examination of biological traces found on asteroids, and accidentally becoming a fairly accomplished academic. Even so, since this had never been her initial plan, she always felt like she had more to learn, and that she wasn’t quite ready to leave school and pursue an actual adult career.
But the Earth Research Organization approached her to lead one of their research vessels, and Chhavi took the post in spite of the fact she didn’t think she deserved it. In her mind, it would be a little like being back on the Lunar Outpost -- cramped quarters and a bunch of kids to keep track of. She wasn’t exactly wrong.
So she became the head researcher on The Chanticleer, which is where we meet her in “Storm.” It’s not as adventurous as it sounds, in spite of the fact that they’re exploring space that has never before been seen by human eyes. The fact is, as head researcher, she seldom gets to actually do the hands-on, hard work that she loves, and space is BIG. They don’t often make world-shattering discoveries. Most of her job is paperwork and staring wistfully out the window.
But, though she daydreams about adventure, she isn’t quite prepared for the adventures her life has in store -- from losing two researchers on an ill-fated rescue mission, to figuring out the intricacies of an “uninhabited” planet’s mysterious lifeforms, to being one of the key players in a tangle of diplomatic and scientific conflicts.
Aside from all of that, she finds her greatest adventure in a person, in the pursuit and the waiting and the long years of wanting that person, as well as the adventure they share when they finally come together. (Spoilers, her greatest adventure is Poa, a Dris officer who is so afraid to be vulnerable but so beautiful in her vulnerability, who wants to do the right thing and doesn’t always know what it is, who needs a teammate and a partner, and finds that teammate in this awkward and compassionate human woman named Chhavi who she never wanted to love but damn well fell for anyway.)
Stay tuned for more on Poa (eventually!)
From the tag list! <3 Let me know if you want on or off the list for “Storm” updates! (and please let me know if I forgot you) @weaver-of-fantasies-and-fables, @toboldlywrite, @writingrosesonneptune, @unpickingthetangles, @pantaloonwedgie, @forlornraven, @s-opal
