CJ Frost

Player Name: Silvy

Full Name: Castor James Frost. 

Nicknames and Pseudonyms: CJ. Ceej. Castor if you're his mama. Castor James if you're Seth. DO NOT CALL HIM SHIRLEY. (Petty Officer Third Class Shirley).

Age: 28.

Birth Date: March 28, 2285.

Blood Type: AB-.

Role on Ship: Part-time ship botanist, full-time mad rad scientist. 

Homeworld: Paradise.

Significant Relations and Affiliations: Seth Frost (best bud, love of his life, husband), the crew of the Sila, Laelia-Belle Frost (daughter), BZE2-1853-3322 (ex). He has family back on Paradise; he still sends money to them but they rarely talk. 

Bonds, Obligations, Debts, and Warrants: Will do, really, anything for Seth. Still wanted on a few stations - sometimes by the law, sometimes not. May have inadvisably ghosted his murderbot ex. Definitely owes various sums of money to a wide variety of people and entities. He can't abide animal cruelty, and is for the most part vegan.

Appearance: CJ stands at a lean six foot four, cutting a rangy figure that could loom, if he wanted to. The friendly smile and puppy dog eyes, though, would have a hard time intimidating much of anyone. His dark skin is covered in a variety of tattoos, and the occasional freckle or mole. His hair is short and often braided or twisted out, intermittently bleached and dyed when he feels like it. His facial hair oscillates between scruff and a full beard depending on whether he's got bored recently, and occasionally sees some odd experimentation with the clippers.

His tattoos are many and widely differing in style, bearing no apparent connection from one to the next. They were acquired on different planets, stations, asteroids, representing a different phase or event in his life. A tiny anchor sits underneath the outside corner of his right eye, his oldest bit of ink and the one that started him on his journey - he got it back home, before he and Seth left to join the military. A short series of letters followed by a string of numbers runs along the outside of his right forearm, and a barcode that only scans on certain platforms sits at the back of his neck. There are countless others - including a Coalition Defence Force tat for which Seth has a match - and while some seem irreverent, he considers them all deeply, personally meaningful.

He also has a variety of scars, accounting for a life that, as far as he's concerned, has been well lived. A neat row of little dash marks arcs down the top of his left forearm and the back of his hand, ending in the webbing between his ring and middle finger, which had to be sewn back together and, as a result, is stiffer where it's scarred than the webbing between the rest of his fingers. The thin dashed line repeats itself on the underside of his arm, and he has tattooed in scrolling letters the one that got away right below the middle, on the inside of his wrist.

His fingers and toes are connected by a thin, stretchy membrane, so he does not wear finger rings of any sort. 

His fashion choices are bold and often avant-garde, often hitching his proverbial wagon to the latest, brightest trend with a skew towards the genderfucked. He likes obnoxious colors and will carelessly pair patterns that absolutely should not go together, with a confidence that makes them inexplicably work. This extends, often, to makeup and nail polish as well.

He is almost never seen without: A koa wood and abalone wedding bracelet, a bent metal pendant of Pele, and a wire-wrapped piece of quartz on a length of cord.

Personality: CJ approaches life with a sense of humor - though that can come with biting sarcasm and dark jokes, particularly when the mood is sour. Most of the time, though, he is upbeat and positive, trying to find the silver lining in any situation. He doesn't hold onto grudges well, or blame people for much, as he tends to feel everyone has a reason for being whatever way they're gonna be. The exceptions to this are few and far between...but he's certainly found them.

While he spent much of his life pushing boundaries, the last year or so has seen him settling down some in terms of unnecessary risk. He's a little more careful these days - not much, but it's almost as if he's grown up a bit. Maybe, because he's got a bit more to lose than he's used to, and the prospect of dying young with his best friend isn't half as nice as the idea of growing old with him.

While CJ is quite clever and quick-witted, he usually has a mind toward finding the easy way out of any given situation. Even in subjects he's well versed in, as with his work, he relies heavily on mnemonics and mental 'cheats' to remember things... That said, he does have a fairly extensive understanding of known plant species and how to grow them in a wide variety of solutions and soils, so at least it works.

CJ doesn't drink much, often leaving the table at the end of the night without even finishing his one, and he tends to only partake in the pakalolo he's grown himself.

He is very sensitive to injustice and will often step up to fight battles nobody asked him to if he perceives a given situation to be unfair. 

Strengths, Talents, Abilities: His webbed fingers and toes allow him to propel himself much more quickly through the water than the average human, and, to some extent, this works in Zero-G too. Increased lung capacity and a larger than normal spleen allow him to hold his breath for many times longer than the average human. This decreases exponentially depending on the amount of stress and activity he's undergoing at the time, and doesn't help in space quite as much as one might think, given the other factors involved in being exposed to the cold, endlessly empty expanse lurking there. 

He also has a fairly extensive mental catalog pertaining to the botanical sciences and biochemistry, especially in how they interact in the human body. Coupled with a tendency to push things to their limits, he's learned quite a lot over the years about what a human - modified or otherwise - can withstand. Granted, nearly all of this is recreational knowledge, but his experience in the military and in growing and crafting his own supply has left him with a fairly solid grasp of terraforming methods and how to build a closet garden just about anywhere.

He isn't very good with most mechanical issues - doesn't know how to fix a pipe or keep a ship running by any means. But CJ is passably well versed in fixing certain droids. 

He has a talent and passion for photography, and while he used to often be found taking pictures or video of any and every little thing he thinks worthy of recording for posterity - including some of the more incriminating events he probably ought not preserve, for posterity or any other reason... Lately, he's calmed down a lot about it. Like he isn't afraid anymore of missing a moment on camera, because he's pretty sure it won't be the last one like it. He sometimes takes artsy online classes when he has the time and the credits to spend, but doesn't currently have an interest in putting in for another degree.

His skin routine is fucking amazing.

Weaknesses and Fears: Due to his heavily amphibious upbringing, CJ has both a physical and emotional need to stay hydrated - even if it's just drinking a lot of water and taking enough showers to piss off his crewmates. He gets wicked hangovers, and so generally prefers not to have more than one drink at a time barring celebrations. He cannot hold his breath indefinitely, and physical or emotional exertions hamper this ability.

While he loves being in space, he deeply misses (some aspects of) home, and can get pretty moody if he's away from a properly big body of water and some color sunlight for too long. As to be expected, he's experimented with a wide range of solutions to this. 

He has absolutely zero chill where bets, dares, or anything in which he might need to prove himself are involved.

CJ will sacrifice just about anything for the people he cares about, and bit by bit that circle is widening.

History: Growing up on the watery planet of Paradise meant one of two things - you had money, or you served those who did. Once upon a time, someone in CJ's family was the former, having come to the planet filthy rich and looking to burn it. Unfortunately, Paradise made that all too easy. It's been several generations since a Shirley had enough credits to pay rent and still have two to rub together.

So CJ was raised knowing the value of a dollar, of hard work and what it meant to really reap the spoils of one's great efforts. He's just also always been absolutely certain that there has to be a better way. Preferably one without 'hard work' involved.

If you asked CJ, it seems like he's always known Seth. They grew up together - born only a week apart, they spent much of their free time diving, surfing, and generally enjoying what little there was to do around Moena you didn't have to pay for. More often than not, that involved getting up to no end of trouble, between their parents, teachers, the law... But as they grew, and every further shenanigan seemed to push the limits to which they were allowed that much further, it steadily became clear that they were simply too big for a place like Paradise.

He isn't sure which of them came up with the idea first, but by the time the recruiters passed through again, he and Seth had already made up their minds to hitch their proverbial carts to the next military rotator headed off world. When CJ's parents found out that they had signed up and were due to ship off world, though, they were furious. Offended, even! They couldn't understand how he could leave them there, or why he would want to do a thing like join the military in the first place. He hasn't talked to them much since - only on holidays and weekends - but if he's honest with himself, that argument made him realize he didn't talk to them much to begin with.

And, okay, space boot camp was, let's face it, amazing. It absolutely sucked, and learning to respond to 'Shirley' was a curve he wasn't prepared for, but at least he was well and used to getting yelled at by then. Between he and Seth, there was plenty of mopping and push-ups to go around, but by the time their two years of training were up and they were ready to go off and fight for their ... people, or whatever it was they were supposed to be out there for, CJ was in the best shape of his life - and had even picked up a number of good habits to add to the bad ones.

But when it came time to receive their orders, Seth got pinned with grunt work...and CJ was sent off to work in a lab on the other end of the quadrant. As it turned out, all those childhood years spent learning how to make certain recreational plants grow in places they shouldn't had some application in the real world after all. He found he had a real knack for biochemistry and its intersectional points with botany, and got stuck working with a terraforming research unit out on Cantra for a while.

Between making some new friends and keeping up with Seth's groaning about Earth in their regular video chats, though, he didn't...hate it. He had most of a lab to himself, and got to make plenty of use out of the equipment on some side ventures. That is, at least, when he was left to his own devices... It took a little over two years for them to figure out he'd been growing and synthesizing all manner of psychoactives and hallucinogenics to make a little side money - but when one of his customers got caught, CJ got the boot shortly after.

He just...couldn't tell Seth. At first, he was only waiting for the right moment - but the embarrassment only seemed to get worse as time went on, and CJ was honestly nothing short of relieved when Seth finally figured it out for himself. The weight it took off his shoulders was conflicted, when Seth washed up not very long after. It didn't take him long to get over that, though. They were back in business!

And frankly, business was good. Once they figured out that they didn't really have to play by anyone else's rules, didn't need the military to see the universe, he and Seth set out to take it by storm. One grand plan after another saw them in and out of countless stations and settlements, though the out tended to be with a good deal more hurry in their step more often than not. On the occasions it wasn't, it was usually due to CJ dragging his heels over his most recent traumatic breakup.

While he's never exactly gone back to working a normal job since the CDF, he and Seth spent the next few years rolling through more side gigs than he could keep track of... Including some he actually doesn't remember doing, in large part thanks to one recreational bender or another. He even spent a brief stint as an exotic dancer... where he quickly learned that it was way more work than he thought. Granted, it was fun work, and he did meet the love-of-his-life-right-at-that-moment there! Unfortunately, as workplace relationships usually do, it quickly took about five left turns and, needless to say, Seth had his work cut out for him in getting them out of that mess...

In the background, though, were any number of scams and cons that found them in equal measures rolling momentarily in credits and stuck in lockup for a few nights. His record is heavily spotted from those years with all manner of minor charges, mostly to do with selling highly questionable drugs, and a couple that would have been far more serious had he not just barely managed to talk his way out of them. 

So when CJ overheard some crosstalk about a local dealer on Heritage Terminal looking to get his hands on an experimental energy source, he was feeling just invincible enough to convince Seth of his great idea. He knew, after all, that the nearest military installation on Cantra happened to be working on one, and as luck would have it, no one had thought to change the passcodes on the freight doors since he was briefly stationed there back when he was in uniform...

Everything was going smooth as space-silk until it wasn't. They got turned around down a corridor where no one was supposed to be, but evidently, was, and both had to hightail it out of there without their bounty... Only Seth got caught.

CJ drifted for a while, after that. He kept in touch mostly via video messages - but dropped by for the occasional visitation those first few months. Gradually, the visits and v-chats petered off, as a 'job' he'd picked up found his path crossing with a peculiar droid. BZE, or 'Beazy,' he called them for short, turned out to be a free 'bot who had secured their independence a few years back from a security contract, though CJ was careful never to ask how.

It didn't take him long to realize he eagerly anticipated the time they spent together - but he was more surprised to find that they did, too. About a year and a half into what had seemingly become an enduring relationship, they started to make plans to catch the next freighter off-station... Only for CJ to get word that Seth was finally getting out.

That night, he and Seth got completely trashed to celebrate... and CJ swapped Beazy's spot on the Halcyon out for Seth. It was not his brightest decision, in hindsight, but not as much because of the fact of it as it was the decision to not tell anyone involved what all was going on. He's seen Beazy since...but it didn't exactly go well.

Some things did, though. For the first time in over ten years, CJ got up the courage to kiss Seth again, and from there their relationship took the most unexpected turn. As ever, it was too much too fast, but he wouldn't figure that out for a while yet. 

The next few months saw CJ through a wide range of crew, three whole ships, pirates, and more. Their time on the Halcyon was short-lived, almost a great deal shorter given the stabbing incident. But after that ship's captain moved on, they were forced to find a new one... When the Hellion showed up, it felt too much like serendipity not to join Rune's crew, so CJ worked to get them on board.

It wouldn't be the first or last poorly thought out decision, but it wasn't the best, either. While crewing with Rune, they found themselves indebted to a woman named Daeva Dragao - which at first, didn't seem all that different from the usual smuggling work. Another revelation buried just under the surface, waiting to be dug up.

It wasn't a surprise, though, when things finally did go wrong with him and Seth. CJ knew it couldn't last - it was why he'd never dared to try anything in the first place. Theirs was a friendship he couldn't risk losing. And when, after a nasty fight that only seemed to escalate the longer time went on, it seemed clear that was going to happen? CJ didn't know what to do. He felt at his lowest, and it was only when Seth disappeared on Cantra that he realized there was lower still to go. Seth had been assaulted, nearly overdosed, and barely made it back to the ship in one piece. It felt like a second chance, and so CJ risked it all in telling his best friend the whole truth - that he was in love with him. Always had been. Always would be.

The more they talked, the more open and honest they were, the better things got. It was rocky for a while, still, but they were working on it.

But they had some loose ends to tie up after Cantra. The Hellion crew took care of Cayden, the man who had attacked Seth, bringing his ship back to Blue on Waimarie to clean up and get rid of. From Waimarie, CJ and Blue went to deal with the one who'd set Seth up with him in the first place - Jonah, a scumbag CJ had known for some time. Their deaths weigh heavily on his shoulders even now, but he wouldn't have done any of it differently given the chance.

Especially since getting rid of Cayden brought them Laelia-Belle, a beautiful little girl with Seth's gills and Cade's vampirism. As far as CJ knows, she's the only other thing in the black than Darla with two mutations, and that combined with Cade's family being too rich and powerful for their own good means they've been keeping her hidden on Paradise in the care of his and Seth's mothers. They video-chat as often as they can, and in his opinion adopting her has been one of the better decisions of CJ's life.

Keeping her fed, clothed, and housed wasn't as simple as all that, though - the process used to combine Seth and Cayden's DNA to make her had some drawbacks in the form of a serious medical condition. And while CJ knows they aren't ready to settle down anyway, it's easier to tell himself that the medication LB needs is hard to come by, so they'll keep doing whatever they need to for as long as it takes to keep her healthy. 

The Pōmaika'i a Sila, their new ship, is really and truly theirs. Seth's, technically, and his too, but it's not as if either of them wants the duty of being a captain put on them. She's seen them through some pretty rough scrapes, recently, but also back home a handful of times - most recently, to see him and Seth married on the beach.

Anything Else: Pretty good dancer, likes cranking the music in the hydroponics lab and geeking out - tolerable air drummer, terrible singer and loves karaoke night.

He speaks Paradisian Basic, a pidgin form of the common tongue, and often has trouble remembering the more universal terms for things. He is natively fluent in Paradisian Sign, but due to his webbed fingers he comes off as "mumbly" to those who can read it. He is also conversational in binary. 

He has PTSD which most often comes up in the form of recurring nightmares and a phobia of asphyxiation. He tends to give airlocks a wide berth unless they're solidly docked, and won't go out on EVA if he can avoid it. He also has a bad habit of recording everything, regardless of how bad an idea it is to have evidence of his misdeeds. 

Prefers sleeping in low grav and hammocks, and has a fondness for those little aquarium-planters. 

He has a white dumbo rat named Darla. She has an abnormal life span for a rat, and a few... other odd abilities from her time as a test subject. For one thing, her physical proximity to plants visibly encourages their growth and general health, and she seems to enjoy spending time in the hydroponics lab. ...and for no reason that anyone can figure out, she produces a weak, but serviceable WiFi signal.

Model: LaKeith Stanfield