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Greer

Greer is a character (sort of) on OtakuMUSH and is the intellectual property of her player.

Greer's life so far
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Greer's Life History

Quentin "Sam" Samuelsin and

Tara Valentine

Rainbow's End

It was less than a year later that Tara discovered she was pregnant. It was unexpected, but both husband and wife were thrilled. Even Dyce, who teased Tara good-naturedly about maternity leave cutting into the ship's schedule, was happy for them. Unfortunately, it was that afternoon that Rainbow's End was surprised by an AF cruiser. The smuggler ship had waylaid to check an error on the part of the navigation computer, and the crew was taken by surprise. Unable to allow his ship to be boarded- he'd just picked up a load of contraband- Ed Dyce directed his crew in a brief, vicious battle, but it was a lost cause. Very shortly, most of the Rainbow End's engines had been destroyed. Tara had been hit by shrapnel and was losing blood, and it was only later that Dyce told her Sam had completely lost his legs in the battle. She couldn't believe it when not only did Dyce give the order to abandon ship, but Sam volunteered to stay with the dying ship and steer it to the nearest planetoid. She objected, naturally, and fought to stay with her husband. In the end, Dyce was forced to knock her silly and carry her to a lifepod. Luckily he was an understanding type and never held it against her. The Rainbow's End moved off slowly, followed by the AF ship, and the few lifepods that hadn't been disabled fled.

They made their way to Scully's Planet, where the wounded were treated. While Dyce went about acquiring a new ship and crew, Tara recovered from her wounds and carefully nurtured her pregnancy. A month after the scuttling of Rainbow's End, they learned that although Sam had managed to land the ship, he'd died despite the best efforts of the AF personnel that took the ship. Tara grieved, but that grief was muted upon the joy of giving birth to her daughter. Tara was surprised at the depth of her love for the child- she even named the baby after the man whom she believed caused her descent into smuggling in the first place, her reasoning being that if he hadn't, she'd never have met Sam or had Greer. Greer Quentina Valentine, to be specific. The child was perfect in every way... or at least that's how it appeared at first.

Within a year, Greer started to exhibit behavioral problems. It seemed that the girl didn't warm to anybody, not even her mother. Even getting her to smile was like pulling teeth. By the time she turned four, it was apparent that something was very, very wrong. Greer grasped knowledge with amazing swiftness- she spoke clearly at the age of one, for example- but she'd shift between being a normal, sweet, unbearably cute child, and a demon. During the former periods, she was bright and bubbly and adorable. During the latter, her preferred hobby was testing the pain threshold of stray animals she found. Tara finally had her tested, and it was discovered that a miniscule piece of the shrapnel that had hit her during the battle had apparently lodged within her womb, inside of what would become Greer's brain. That's what was causing the dichotomy. Unfortunately, the medical community on Scully's Planet was barely competent, much less able to perform any surgery that might have helped the girl. Even if they could have done so, they probably wouldn't, after Greer bit off her doctor's finger for giving her standard vaccinations.

By this time, Tara had acquired her own small ship, the Pyrite Phoenix, and was becoming known as one of the better independent smugglers. She couldn't bear the thought that the only living reminder of Sam was flawed to such a tragic degree, and she was certainly frustrated by her inability to deal with the situation. She took Greer to the planet Oorian, where the former medical officer of the Rainbow's End, Betty Ulpar-Lonel, lived with her husband. The couple took Greer in, and Tara left to get on with her life. She returned for the occasional visit, but left disheartened after each one.

It was when Greer was six that a ray of hope shone. Greer was a tightly guarded secret on Tara's part, but the pilot accidentally spilled the beans to an AF doctor on Linnae during a short period of sleeplessness and stress. That doctor, Clara Aleron, offered to take a look at the girl, and Tara jumped at the chance. (Okay, so it was a cautious jump, but a jump nonetheless.) Clara was able to remove the shrapnel from Greer's brain, and the resulting transformation was dramatic and swift. Greer became the sweetest child any mother could wish for. Tara chose to keep Greer with her on Linnae, and together mother and daughter, the latter of whom seemed to have the talent of charming everybody in the Complex, began to get to know each other again.