Writer: Kit
Basics
Name: Makani Aukai
Age: 28
Gender: Female
Sexual orientation: Heterosexual
Play-by: Adelaide Kane
Pernese Settler Info
Craft/job: Botanist
Rank: PhD
Location at Threadfall: Landing
Do they approve of the genetic tinkering? With a little bit of trepidation.
Appearance
Tall for a Hawaiian girl at five foot eight, Makani is disproportionately long in leg and short in torso. The legs are really her one truly conventionally attractive feature, but as she's generally hiding them, most people assume she doesn't have any. While she's certainly not ugly, there isn't much that one could call societal-standards pretty about her either. Except maybe the hair, which is smooth, shoulder-blade length and a dark brown that highlights in the sun. Her eyes, slightly wide-set under thick eyebrows, are round and honey-brown, providing little contrast to her golden-brown skin.
Thanks to having some mixed blood a few generations back, Makani is also dusted in a fine sheen of freckles, just slightly darker and richer than her base skin tone. While they couldn't be seen across a room, they're quite noticeable close up.
That leg length does not add any grace to her; on the contrary, Makani's quite clumsy, especially since she's also incredibly focused on her work at basically all times … meaning she's hugely absorbed in whatever she is thinking about. As a result, she falls into holes, she trips, she walks into people.
She likes to put flowers in her hair, when she can get away with it — and when there are flowers to spare for it. Braided in, or in a crown around her head, or however else it suits that day.
Personality
A little bit too focused on her work, it's not that Makani doesn't like people — on the contrary, she generally wants to get to know most people and very much likes the idea of having friends. Unfortunately that's often where it stops, because she's not that good at caring about small talk or simple things or even necessarily the events in others' lives when they aren't somehow related to work. Makani would much rather be discovering something, growing something, improving something, talking about opportunities for the above, and solving life's little mysteries. This means there are a lot of life's true little mysteries she hasn't gotten around to solving, like having a best friend (she'd love that, deep down) or a romantic relationship that lasts longer than two or three weeks. She tends to mostly gravitate toward knowing her coworkers, and a lot of people get competitive with her instead of wanting to be close.
As someone who isn't even remotely competitive, this usually confuses her — she doesn't understand why older, more experienced scientists might feel challenged by her brightness and she can't comprehend why people wouldn't want to work with her, since she tends to be very cooperative. It's been the kind of cooperative that's allowed others to claim credit for her ideas a few times early on, but now that she's well-established at Ista people usually know that even if she isn't grandstanding (she never does) Makani was probably behind something that has anything of her scientific signature on it. As there aren't a lot of botanists in the research crew, she's usually held responsible for anything to do with plants. Fair, because it's most likely accurate, and she … usually doesn't mess up. Every scientist messes up sometimes, though, and while Makani's quite focused and somewhat prodigious, she's certainly far from perfect.
She just likes following her ideas, which … also means that her ideas take precedence over things like authority. It's really good that there's no senior botanist to her, because she definitely wouldn't have been listening to them, and she sometimes gets in trouble with senior researchers in general by doing things they might not actually consider safe. (Did you know flowers grow in active volcanos? Makani did! Do you know what Pern's look like? You do now, because Makani went to find out!) She gets really absorbed in that work, and as a result is easily distractible from anything that isn't work. Her workspace is also a gigantic mess, but there's a very clear method to her madness — she never loses anything!
Because of that selfsame focus, it's very hard to get Makani's attention. Unless she's looking at you, calling her name will probably not do it. Calling her name and touching her, that might.
History
Something of a prodigy in her field — which comes from being raised by others in it and just being smart enough, she supposes — Makani was already a college graduate level botanist when the call for settlers of Pern came, at age eighteen. She'd started college courses at twelve, which wasn't actually abnormal for her family … and probably why a good number of them were selected for the trip. Makani packed up her things along with all five siblings, both parents and a multitude of cousins.
The majority of the Aukai family departed Landing early after the arrival to set up their own stakeholds; Makani, along with a few of the others who were more inclined toward being career scientists than career farmers, remained. She saw her extended family often, and they remained as close as they had been back on Old Earth on Kaua'i. Things were as idyllic as Makani could ask for, and she continued to learn and advance in her field, in some areas getting to create her field — most of the other botanists were either related to her, or happy to teach her and learn from her all at once. Escaping high levels of technology, which none of the Aukais had ever loved, to find a literal new world to learn all about and cultivate? A dream. The best thing Makani thought she could ever ask for. She had land, she had plants, she had adventures anew …
She hadn't expected Thread, though. Not that anyone had, but the way it acted, existed, and fed, Makani almost felt as if she should have had something to do with being able to figure it out. It was a kick to the gut for her, not just something shattling her idyll but also a living organism that appeared to follow erratic weather patterns and completely destroyed whatever of her life's work it came in contact with. Most of her was scared. Some of her wanted to capture it and study it, too. Not that she could figure out how, but the psyche of Makani at 24 had declared a personal war on Thread. Someday, she was going to figure it out, and somehow bring back the life of Makani at eighteen, Makani at twenty — and maybe make an even bigger professional name for herself, too. After all, Pern was somewhere where agriculture mattered, where a career botanist could really matter so much more than they had in most of the world back on Earth.
Mount Garben bothered her less than it did some; she was used to volcanoes, after all. She'd even scaled some of Pern's already. But there was also no arguing from the Aukais when bad turned into worse and it was time to relocate before everything was destroyed by two natural threats at once. One had to respect nature, even and especially when it was giving you strong hints to go away.
Once settled at Ista Crater with some, but not all of her family nearby, and the living status of some, but not all, of her family known, Makani had to learn to contend with questions and new responsibilities (such as, she's gone from being one of a few botanists to being the botanist of highest authority). Her confidence hadn't so much been shattered, but some of her assuredness and sense of safety was definitely a bit bruised.
Pets
Name: Keiki
Type: Dog
Description:
One of Ista Crater's few — if not only — canine members of the populace, Keiki is officially Makani's Plant Crew Dog (she smells, she tracks, she digs!), but appreciates being fussed over by basically every other person around her. She's a somewhat curious and invasive sort when not being kept on a short leash by Makani, so lots of people know her and may find her snoozing in their doorways or bugging them for food if her properly assigned human has gotten distracted. Keiki is a thin dog, beige-gold in color with V ears, a white blaze, white paws and a white tip to her otter-shaped tail. She stands at about two feet at the withers, weighs around 30 pounds, and has brown eyes.
Dragon
Name: Emerioth
Colour: Gold
Hatching Date: 10.8.28
Emerioth is foremost logical and practical, which suits her well because she is incredibly intelligent. If it comes from a text or from one of their instructors then it must be truth, because how could any of that be wrong? Particularly once she learns where all of the information is coming from she will be avid in forcing her partner to study everything she can get her hands on. It will be hard for her to realize that nobody really knows anything about her kind and will gravitate towards authority figures or scientists who seem like they should know. She's a sceptical, always questioning theories until they can be proven.
She may find herself unpopular with some due to her devotion to order and stubbornly adhering to the rules. This will make her push forward from the pack of golds, trying to reign in her more wild sisters. They have a duty after all, someone needs to be getting them sorted into the work they are supposed to be doing. It will make her resistant to push the boundaries, even when maybe they need to be pushed a little to make progress. It's far better to play it safe and follow the guidelines that are set out for them.
A riled Emerioth can be scathing, and surprising in her force. Never for herself, but on behalf of others or the greater good she can be a creature to contend with. There is a strong compassion towards those treated unjustly and she'll fight tooth and nail for them. When feeling a little bold or willful she can even be coerced it having fun and goofing off, but just a bit and with thorough dignity.