Hugh Cambridge

Your name or online alias: Ryann
Your email: cornichaun @ gmail
Another preferred means of contact: cornichaun @ plurk
Character's Full Name: Hugh Cambridge
Character's Canon: Star Trek: Voyager
Character's Canon Point: prior to Acts of Contrition
Character's Journal Name: chaotica
What would you like your character's tag to be?: Hugh Cambridge

Answer the following questions in no less than 300 words but no greater than 1000 words put together...
Character's background (their past and present): With qualifications in medicine, psychology and xenoanthropology, Cambridge has been a Starfleet officer and a counselor for about four decades. At first, his duties mostly took place on starships, with occasional stints of time in academic settings. After the battle of Wolf 359, when Cambridge was aboard a ship that was destroyed, he gave up on the starship life and moved permanently to Starfleet Medical, where he worked as a counselor and pursued his research into the cultural backgrounds and mythologies of various alien species. He became complacent, if not entirely content, with this life. However, it didn't last forever: he was transferred aboard Voyager as a permanent ship's counselor. Dissatisfied with the assignment, Cambridge acted like a brat for several months before reluctantly settling in, then, quietly, falling in love with the ship and crew.

Character's personality: Cambridge's general attitude is terrible; he is rude, he states exactly what he is thinking, and he doesn't bother to hide boredom and irritation. In fact, for quite some time after meeting him, most people get the impression that he's an entitled asshat who's totally unsuited for his job. This is mostly a shell. Underneath, Cambridge is fiercely loyal to his friends, uncompromisingly moral in his decision-making, and keenly eager to explore and learn. His passion is in the minds that he meets, the psychology and culture of different races. Cambridge is a genius, and he's rarely been in situations where his intellect is matched or challenged.

Once Cambridge has decided that someone is worthy of his respect, it's almost impossible to shake. He's a wonderful judge of character, with a limitless store of empathy, though he could stand to use that empathy a little more often. Though he has the ability to put his personal emotions aside and go on professional judgment, he's not much of a liar. When it comes to outright hiding his own emotions, he's not good at it. He deals with his emotions like an adult (most of the time), but they are strong, and what he chooses to care about, he cares about unreservedly.

Cambridge can also be the exact kind of idiot he abhors. He sometimes can convince himself so much that he knows what to do and no one else does that he fails to rely on anyone else, thus leading to idiotic outcomes. In cases like that, he's able to acknowledge how dumb he's just been when called out on it. In addition, when his emotions get deeply personal, they can blind his judgment.

Overall, he's not just picky and egocentric because he's never been challenged properly. He doesn't wait to make friends because he likes being that picky. It's because he quietly doesn't believe that he's worth being friends with. Or worth loving. His solution is to do amazing things and surround himself with amazing people; if they all like him, he must be worth liking, right?

Character's skills/abilities/powers: Cambridge has an eidetic memory and a very keen understanding of body language and the mind. He also is a Starfleet officer with basic training in all areas (engineering, navigation, sciences) and advanced training in a few (anthropology, languages, first contact). He has degrees in psychology and xenoanthropology and is a fully qualified physician.
Any special equipment your character is bringing along? This includes weaponry, magic items, etc.: Just his communicator.
Are you bringing your character to ten_fwd from another game? If you are, which game?: Nope
If you answered yes above, briefly summarize how they were changed by and what challenges they faced in the climate of their previous game(s): n/a
Why do you want to play this character in Ten Forward, and what do you plan to do with them? Cambridge is one of those characters who's very adaptable and easy to play in a variety of universes, with or without canonmates. That's what I've been doing with him so far. But, I admit, there's something really appealing about playing him in a familiar universe, and I'd love to see him bounce off of television Star Trek characters. I also really want him to take a role as counselor on the ship; he thrives when he's responsible for people's mental health. (And since he's not the only counselor, I can play him as fully annoying as he is in canon, without worrying about sabotaging anyone's plot opportunities.) In general, he's flexible, he's fun, and I'd love to give him a shot here.

Writing Sample #1: http://chaotica.dreamwidth.org/3014.html#comments
Writing Sample #2 (optional):

[ Cambridge appears. He looks somewhat worn, tired, hair a little more messy and uniform a little more wrinkly than usual. ]

All right, same dance as always. The Infirmary is here, please do check on your friends and allies in case anyone requires urgent medical care. Sorry about the widespread death toll; you'll all just have to suck it up. Try to stay away from corpses, and if you must touch them, do so with gloves and avoid slathering yourself with infection-bearing fluids.

Who's well enough to work the infirmary?

And would someone like to tell me what exactly happened?

[ Broadcasting from the Infirmary, as usual, wearing his Starfleet uniform (somewhat wrinkled), boots up on a table, chair leaned back. ]

I have always wondered why people start games of Twenty Questions with questions about breadboxes. "Is it bigger than a breadbox?" "Is it smaller than a breadbox?" What is it about breadboxes? Are they, somehow, the perfectly average object?

How many of you have even seen a breadbox?

Furthermore, the game of "Rock, Paper, Scissors" is trivially easy for the observant. An inexperienced player assumes that each successive throw is random. In fact, it's more of a human simulation of randomness, which is far more regular and far more predictable. That's also why effective encryption is as randomized as possible.

But that's not what I mean to talk about today.

Today, I'd like to talk about sex. Specifically, why you should not be ashamed or embarrassed to be having it.

Sex is wonderful. It is life-affirming, it enhances intimacy, and it releases floods of positive endorphins. It's healthy activity, and infinitely better for the body and the heart than doing violence. And it provides these benefits no matter whether your partner is same or opposite sex - I feel the need to mention this, given the backwards attitudes in some of your home worlds.

Sex should be safe. Protect yourself from disease and from unwanted pregnancy, and yes, there are materials for both of those available in the infirmary. Sex should involve communication and respect. No one should ever be coerced into doing something they don't want to do, least of all in such an area of sensitivity and intimacy.

In addition, as the only doctor and warden available on the ship, I am available to answer questions, and to test possible compatibility issues between species'.

And yes, I know, I'm treating the lot of you like idiots, but there are teenagers on board. Notoriously hormone-addled, as a group.

Cambridge out.

Shall we?

[ Here is Lieutenant Hugh Cambridge, lounging in a purple-shoulder blue-collar Starfleet uniform. The uniform's a little wrinkled. Without Chakotay to pressure him to keep it spotless, he hasn't been that worried about it. ]

Hello. This is to inform everyone that you can go to Merlin for magical healing as well as Morgana; he is now officially a part of the Infirmary. And for some bloody reason more than one of you actually wants me to train you in basic first aid as a medic, so I might as well open it up to the whole ship and get it over with.

If any of you would like to ask advice or behavioral questions regarding your fellow shipmates, do reply, as usual.

[ Is that Cambridge? Is he... happy? ]

I'm quite pleased to announce that the Admiral has finally seen reason and provided the Infirmary with a Federation standard biobed - [ turning the camera to show one of these thingies. ]

Surgery will now be much easier and safer, though diagnosis will not be affected.

[ WHO KNEW THIS MAN WAS CAPABLE OF SMILING ]

[ The video focuses, prominently, on a bowl with a single glowing lump of coal inside. Over which Cambridge is roasting a marshmallow on the end of a stylus.

There is also a new jar on the sleek desk and several oddly-shaped large plushies. ]

So, I suppose the hint is that I should infect problem clients with the Black Plague first, and then set them on fire and store their ashes in a jar, as a warning to everyone else.

[ The marshmallow browns, slowly. ]

A Barge full of children. [ God save us, his tone seems to say. ] A dark day this is.

Well. The lot of you, listen up: you are absolutely forbidden from Cabin 219. I"m just going to have to use all of these toys [ slow pan: someone's made good use of the replicator, because there are quite a few stuffed animals, little books, puzzles, rubber band guns, remote control robots, stuff??? ] by myself, and have all of this ice cream [ oh look, a cake and some ice cream, and also a big stack of sandwiches ] by myself.

[ Bit of a twinkle in his eye. ]

I am an extremely serious adult and can't be bothered with any of you. Good day.

[ spam ]

[ Cambridge spends quite a bit of his time rounding up children and stopping them from doing anything silly. He treats them like people, separates any fights, gives pretty freely on toys and food, and always listens.

Much of the time, he makes sure there are a few who need watching in his quarters, where the door stays open.

He may also let some into the pool, on the condition that he stays and supervises. No drownings on his watch.

He can also be found in the Infirmary to patch up minor injuries. ]

I've never met such a group of people so singularly determined to hate every counselor that dares to drift near them. I'm, frankly, offended. Not on my own behalf, by this attitude. On the behalf of the profession, by those dolts who passed themselves off as insightful, empathetic beings.

Secondly, and more importantly, for the Admiral, who is no doubt dropping those leaves from space on purpose because last I checked freshly dropped red maple doesn't naturally occur in the void between the stars: I surmise that you either conduct this facsimile of wintry weather for your own comfort or the comfort of your passengers. To which I must reply that the psychological reassurance of seasons passing can be accomplished with quite subtle temperature and light adjustments, and, in fact, has very minimal negative effect if done away with entirely. Not to mention I believe there are passengers who would find the outdoor cold very inconvenient.

In addition, the Starfleet uniform outdoor jacket is lumpy and I've never gotten it to fit right. So perhaps it would be nice to do away with seasons altogether.

[ In other words: HE'S COLD MAKE THE THING STOP. ]