Cristobel Sefton
Cristobel Sefton
Rank: Ensign (O-1)
Position: Junior Counsellor
Appearance
Species: Trill (unjoined)
Gender: Male
Born: 2 August 2358
Place of Birth: S.S. Swught
Hair: Black
Eyes: Sapphire
Height: 180cm
Weight: 79kg
Continuing to follow his Starfleet Academy physical fitness regime, Cristobel is in peak physical condition for his age and species. He stands 1.8 metres tall, and weighs 79 kilograms. He has aquiline facial features, a strong jawline, and sapphire eyes that see right through you. He alternates between wearing his matte black hair buzzed at the sides and back with long bangs framing the right side of his face, and cropping it all off real short. As is typical with most Trill, a unique pattern of brown spots splatter down his hairline, and trail down the length of his body, all the way to his toes.
Neither Cristobel, nor anyone in his family, have been joined. According to testing by the Symbiosis Commission, Cristobel is physically unsuitable to host a symbiont, following an injury to his abdominal cavity, in the course of serving his duty to Starfleet.
Personality
Having grown up with only his immediate family for regular company, Cristobel is an outgoing introvert. He often has no desire to socialize with others, but he has no inhibitions about doing so (aside from the propriety drilled into him during Officer training). He has little concept of interpersonal boundaries, privacy or modesty. This often leads to Cristobel coming across as flighty, nosy and abrasive. Sometimes all at the same time.
Of his ancient Earth studies, while at the Academy, the Terran adage of "Want. Take. Have." spoke to him more than any other. Fueled by a desire to live several lifetimes without the aid of a symbiont, he has no intention of letting his life pass him by. He insists on grabbing hold of life and squeezing tight until it submits to his will, even if feelings get hurt in the process. While he may not constantly consider the direct consequences of his actions, he is always prepared to fully accept such consequences.
He's best described as assertive -- always prepared to speak his mind, and follow through with actions. What he is not, though, is aggressive -- he has little interest in convincing others to believe in what he does, since it is so often futile.
His greatest strength is his integrity. He believes in what he believes in, and that's final. His greatest weaknesses are chocolate and inappropriate men.
Hobbies and Interests
sculpting, replicator pattern design of desserts, high-diving, wrestling, playing the trysette, xeno-massage techniques, sky swimming and conversations with strangers.
History
Born among the stars, Cristobel Sefton did not walk on dry land until he was twelve years old. He was born aboard the interstellar Trill cruise ship Swught. His mother, Damhnait, captained the vessel and his father, Fortu, was a political activist whose medium of expression was the canvas.
As a child and early adolescent, Cristobel seemed fairly unmotivated. Understanding his own mind and emotions were just as important to him as learning about the rules and history of the universe. He achieved moderate success throughout his distance education, without particularly excelling or failing in any subjects. While the moderate successes in everything he attempted revealed that he had an accomplished mind, the lack of specific challenges or aptitudes left him without momentum in his studies. Cristobel was constantly told that he had the potential to do anything with his life, and yet he remained fecund, with nothing specific to apply his potential towards.
For a time, he served as apprentice in the cruise ship's kitchens, in addition to his academic studies. He began with some light baking, but soon found that he had a passion for preparing and plating food of every variety. Cristobel's career path diverted suddenly when he fell in love with a passenger called Eoin, who was an applicant to Starfleet Academy. Through Eoin, Cristobel fell messily in love with the ideals of the Fleet. Furthermore, he was enamoured by the concept of getting away from his family, and spending several years in close quarters with his love. Cristobel's application to the Starfleet Academy was accepted; Eoin's was not. When Eoin suggested that Cristobel defer his acceptance for a year, Cristobel dumped him, and caught the first transport ship to Earth.
Starfleet provided an unfaltering sense of structure and goal-orientation that had been so greatly lacking from Cristobel's life. Even so, it took nearly a year for Cristobel to choose a major. He spent his first year learning about all of the fields available to him, and, based on his holoscenarios and exam scores, he showed some promise in nearly every department. It wasn't until a professor offhandedly commented on what a fine nurse Cristobel would make, that Cris decided on Medicine as the division for him. Mental health was his speciality of choice. All his life, Cristobel had wanted to become more of a supporter, a nurturer. He was most attracted to people when they were falling apart, and felt the most satisfied those rare times when he was able to act as a strong shoulder to be leaned on, or cried on, or bitten.
During his fourth year of Academy training, Cristobel served his cadet cruise aboard the USS Hikaru Sulu, working in Sickbay. He was dropped right into his first field experience as a nurse when an away team was brutalised during a first contact mission. That violent beginning set the tone for his experience, and by the end of it, Cristobel lost his best friend on the ship to murder. Overwhelmed by her death, he briefly considered switching to the Science track, but he stuck it out with Medical. His greatest attraction to the Sciences came in the muscled form of a civilian scientist called Corran. Cris and Corran started falling in love from the first day Cris arrived aboard ship, but the Scientist transmogrified into a non-corporeal entity before Cristobel's semester was over.
As a newly-minted Ensign, Cristobel Sefton was assigned to the USS Pendragon. Due to the needs of the vessel, he was assigned to Sickbay again, serving as an internal medicine nurse. The Penny was where he briefly met his evil alternate universe twin, and it was where he began to regret letting all of his mental health training go to waste. When the USS Pendragon was seriously crippled in a search for escaped prisoners and shipped off for a refit, Cristobel was reassigned.
Starbase 60 brought Sefton minor lacerations and contusions to mend, a piling heap of standard physical examinations, opportunities to job-shadow the Counselling department, and a long-term project: tending to the psychological rehabilitation of genetically-modified ex-slaves. His time serving Sixty came to an end after ancient technology caused hallucinations throughout the starbase. In the few days that the crew were affected, Cristobel hallucinated an entire rock opera life for himself -- wedding a re-corporealised Corran and adopting one of the genetically-modified ex-slaves as his daughter. In order to save his daughter from reality, he nearly deleted all of the collected data about the device that was creating the hallucinations. In the end, Cristobel was one of several test patients who were injected with a neurotoxin that was developed to combat the hallucinations. The neurotoxin was a failure, leaving Cristobel with temporary nerve damage. He spent nearly a year in rehabilitation, and used his spare time to finish earning his Nurse Practitioner certification. After having his crew see him at his lowest, Ensign Sefton requested a transfer.
Starfleet assigned Cristobel Sefton to the USS Archimedes' Sickbay as a Nurse. He was initially assigned to gamma shift, serving as the only medical practitioner for the ship at that late hour. Shortly after a shuffle of the medical department, Cristobel was introduced to alpha shift right in the middle of an infestation of psychic slugs. Although Cristobel tried his best to save the lives of the infected, he became one of them. The psychic slug that burrowed into his core brought about an hallucination of what he feared most: hallucination. Visions of his imaginary daughter, Brandewn, danced around Cristobel's biobed. Singing, she taunted him with the possibility of developing a mentally illness, just like his sister. Along with the rest of the crew, Cristobel was rescued from the influence of the slugs by a mood-altering gas that was flooded through the halls of the ship.
During his recovery, Cristobel isolated himself from the crew. He devoted long evenings in his quarters to sculpting, and to once again mourning the death of his daughter who never was. When the Ship's Counsellor requested transfer, Commodore Geiger drafted Cristobel into the role of Acting Ship's Counsellor. It was considered to be a vitally important position, after the traumas inflicted by the psychic slugs. Cristobel Sefton was the only crew-member aboard with dedicated mental health training. It was decided that Cristobel would do what he could, but was to inform the Commodore of any crew-member in true need of psychiatric treatment. Said crew-members were to be transferred away to other postings with the necessary facilities. Although Cristobel never felt the need to send any patients to better-trained personnel, he did begin his counselling tenure by: being conned by a lying Ensign, by taunting several officers for their faults, and by getting beat up by Apres Lana. Cristobel worked to earn the trust of his crew by job-shadowing with several departments, starting with Engineering. It was his belief that he would be of no use to, say, an engineer, unless he understood an engineer's life in context.
While on a mission to a primitive world, a transdimensional super-being took hold of the USS Archimedes and introduced itself as "God". To Cristobel, it appeared as the Omniverbum, the central figure in one of Trill's creation myths. The being forced another member of the Archimedes crew to pass judgement on Cristobel's life. A moment from Cristobel's adolescence was dug up. It was a ridiculously stupid moment, a single moment; it was just a lie. Cristobel had lied to his sister and she had run away from their home because of it. She had run into the arms of the people who ultimately abandoned her in a medical institution for the criminally insane. By contrast, the being also made Cristobel remember the good that he had done in his life. On the balance, Cristobel was judged to be more good than bad. Somehow, being a nurse never factored into the equation. After the God-thing released the Archimedes, Cristobel wound up questioning himself as much as he did everyone else. It was a relief when the Commodore pointed the ship at Risa, and declared shore leave for all. Cristobel spent sunny days with friends and sought out a psychiatrist of his own. Days, he spent, on the most hedonistic world in the Federation, and somehow Cristobel managed to not get laid.
When the USS Archimedes was stolen from Risa's orbit, Cristobel Sefton volunteered to participate in the stealing of the USS Valkyrie for the purpose of rescuing the kidnapped ship and crew. He didn't think the plan was particularly moral, reasonable or even necessary, but most of the senior staff were convinced. They were his crew. And crew needs a medic. Serving alongside another nurse, Tanaka Hatomi, Cristobel and Hatomi were forced into the role of Chief Medical Officer. The entire experience --performing surgeries and autopsies-- crystalized for Cristobel that he did not want the life of a CMO. He didn't want to feel like a walking first aid kit. He wanted to work among the living rather than the dying. For just a little while longer, Cristobel played his part during the liberation of the USS Archimedes and Starbase 50 from the tyranny of holographic terrorists. For his troubles, Cristobel faced a court martial and invoked his right against self-incrimination all the while. His mouth had a tendency to get him into trouble; Cristobel didn't want to risk it. Like most of the crew, Cristobel was reprimanded severely, but retained his rank and position.
The ragtag crew of the Archimedes was charged with guardianship of Starbase 50, after its own crew and infrastructure were massacred by the holograms. Cristobel Sefton requested a transfer, wishing for the opportunity to serve under a Chief Counsellor, any Chief Counsellor, who could mentor him. His request was denied by Commander Geiger, who asked that Cristobel remain with the crew on a permanent basis as their Counsellor. Cristobel agreed to stay for one month; one month to be convinced that they were his home now.
Family
Father: Political Artist Fortu Sefton
Mother: Cap'n Damhnait Sefton
Sister: Andraia Sefton, currently confined within the Thracian Institution.
Awards
 Purple Heart Mission: I Predict A Riot |
 Newcomer Award Mission: I Predict A Riot |
 Gold Unit of Merit Award November 2007 |
 Silver Unit of Merit Award November 2007 |
 3 Months Service 15 October 2007 - 15 January 2008 |
 Captain's Choice Mission: There Goes God |
 6 Months Service 15 October 2007 - 15 April 2008 |
 Crew's Choice Mission: Flight of the Valkyries |
 Friendship Ribbon Mission: Flight of the Valkyries |
 Capricorn Group POTM April 2008 |
Crew's Choice Mission: Manic Monday |
 Treknology Award Mission: Manic Monday |
|
Captain's Choice Mission: Don't You (Forget About Me) |
 1 Year Service 15 October 2007 - 2008 |
