Tala Effacel

Tala Effacel is the extremely attractive Keeton burdened by an overwhelming sense of empathy from the book, Calm Silence.

Personality and Traits
Gung-ho and adamant about everything she does, Tala is a passionate woman intensely set on overthrowing GOV. Those that first meet her may find that she is an easy target due to her incredibly good looks - they assume she is a clueless girl who can be easily swayed by smooth words - but they are in for more than they bargained for as they discover she has very little tolerance for lechers.

Tala loves to play up her sexy side and uses it as her main weapon. She is willing to do anything to manipulate others into doing what she wants. As she is quite tall, she uses her impressive bust to her advantage, wearing extremely exotic, custom designed outfits that show as much cleavage as possible. When not playing up the sex angle she finds tight sweatshirts and plain jeans to be more her liking, although as usual they are all form fitting and extremely low cut.

While she is very demanding and insists on taking charge in every situation, Tala's empathy is what led her to going against GOV in the first place. Her desire to have everyone experience the good life that she did led her to throw away her spoiled and easy life in exchange for a dangerous and risky battle against an incredibly powerful government.

Tala has incredible skill when it comes to computers, having been taught at a special educational facility through her parents. Instead of using it to assist in their research, Tala hacks GOV systems and can shut down entire Factories within a short period of time.

Sensitive to outside influences, Tala angers easily when others don't agree with her. She does not respond well to criticism and is hurt easily by harsh words.

Tala also has a peculiar affinity to taking baths.

Motives
Tala feels that a government that oppresses everyone but a select few is not a government worth living under, and she tirelessly works to destroy it. After that she wants to find a cute guy and settle down.

Relationships
Her relationship with Squeak started when she was born, and he effectively replaced her parents. To this end he did everything with her, including escorting her to the educational facility and playing games with her. Tala never identified with her parents and found Squeak to be her life long partner, someone who would always be there for her regardless of what she did. Tala values Squeak highly and sees him as a friend and not a tool, unlike her mother. The two can communicate through subtle movements that they can only understand, and through this they invisibly talk to each other.

Her relationship with Vorce came out of her desire to have a man who knew the underworld of GOV. Purposely looking to recruit someone with his skills, she elected to wear an outrageously provactive outfit to garner attention. It worked, but Vorce never seemed to let go of his fascination with her. She continues to goad him from time to time but to her it is a way to keep him in line and she does not have any genuine feelings.

Shalice she finds a mystery, if only because of his rock-solid and boring personality. She really wants him to open up and get over himself, assuming he's just an angsty teenager with issues that don't matter. As for Mic she doesn't understand why Mic ties herself so closely to him, but she teases her continually and tries to pressure her into speeding up their own relationship.

Backstory
If there was anyone out there that was born in the wrong era with the wrong ideas, it’s Tala Effacel, a girl with a fiery passion to help others and the attitude to match.

She is a Keeton, a race that has feline features of ears and a tail. An incredible sight, Tala is a stunner at a distance. Inheriting her mother’s incredible height, she towers over many men. A near perfect specimen of the Keeton race, a combination of everything that one would want to be, Tala had it all. The looks, the smarts, the money. Born in a wealthy lineage of scientists, Tala grew up with everything GOV had to offer. Her birth even came with an unusual present - Squeak, who at that time had no name due to her mother having no reason to use him - now attended to Tala’s every need. If she needed anything, Squeak would oversee that it came to be.

Her role as the daughter of the Effacel’s - an important family to the development and research of GOV’s energy projects - put her in the precarious position of being a target for potential groups looking to do harm to her. Assassination attempts on her life were common, but she had nothing to fear - Squeak easily handled every aggressor toward her. They were so commonplace that she would idly sit by while he took care of the offending party.

In her younger years Tala quickly became so accustomed to Squeak’s watch that she thought that everyone had a Squeak of their own; she tried to order around other adult figures that would visit home or the lab, without success. When she finally figured out that she was the only one that had someone like Squeak, instead of treating him as an object to be used, she saw him as an equal person, developing a long relationship of respect and understanding.

Born in the wrong era with the wrong ideas.

GOV had no little to no use for ordinary people, but Tala felt differently. Everyone should have an opportunity to experience the riches that she did. Her parents did not approve of her commitment to those less fortunate, so when her parents disapproved of her giving away clothes she no longer needed she had to resort to stealthily donating on her way to the small, extremely private educational facility that was run by GOV in the city. There she was taught the things her parents wanted her to learn, and she quickly picked up on how to use GOV’s computer systems.

Her parents didn’t approve of a lot of the things she did. But they never stood in her way while she did them.

Tala always wondered why it is that they never actively stopped her - while chastising did come into play, her parents were either too busy or just incapable of scolding her properly. As she grew older she discovered that they were vocally active against her ideals, but yet they still supported her every day with everything they could possibly give.

This confused her - it made little sense compared to the experiences she had when dealing with the common folk, who were quick to reprimand. Tala saw that she was the boss; that she could decide for her own and always has done so for a long time. But why do her parents roll over and let her do as she pleases? It didn’t make sense for her so she turned to the only one that would follow her unquestioningly - Squeak.

The two are so close that they eventually developed a way to communicate without movement or words. This silent dialog they have between each other is so subtle that no one is able to pick up that they are even talking at all. Through this Tala organized crazy schemes that - under the supervision of Squeak - would have gotten her in loads of trouble with GOV, and at the very least thrown in Cautionary.

Her plans were always the kind that supported the simple people. She would easily gather a crowd with her striking features on display in scantily clad custom outfits, all for charity drives to give away GOV Cells, alternate employment options for a day, opportunity to try new foods - all without GOV’s permission, of course. Charity drives were illegal, but Tala managed to find a way to distract the agents nearby with other more pressing issues that demanded their attention. You can get a lot done when the computer systems of a nearby Factory shut down, causing every squad agent in the sector to drop what they’re doing to see who breached the network.

She never saw the inside of Cautionary as her plans - except for a few - carried off without a hitch. Those few early mistakes she made were seen as simple joking and swept under the rug as mere playfulness and abuse of the GOV system. It’s fortunate that her parents were critical to GOV, or she in all likelihood would be turning tricks down at Kyella’s Kountdown in Sector 5.

Keeton’s are seen as and prove to be a promiscuous sort. In Tala’s teenage years it was obvious that there would be plenty of men looking to be her play date. As yet another show of Tala being in the wrong place at the wrong time, she never sought out someone to cavort with, a bizarre circumstance of having an incredible body and having no desire to use it other than eye candy.

Tala isn’t stupid. She picked up on the social cues and used her wonderful physical attributes to get the things that her parents wouldn’t allow. Tired of standing off to the side when trouble comes along, the first of these became her weapon - a staff handcrafted by a man who lusted after her. Squeak taught her to use it soon afterward, and through this Tala learned to defend herself.

After she received his gift the potential suitor pushed his end of the deal a bit too far for her to take. He got a little too frisky with her tight, low cut pink sweatshirt - she turned him into Cautionary for developing weapons on the down low. Never saw from him again. She cared for the people, sure, but she had no use for a man who saw her as a toy. Respect is given to those that respect her. Give and take, you understand?

At the age of 21 an ultimatum came, bringing Tala’s free reign to an end. Her parents decided that it was time for her to become a scientist, like they have, and like their parents before them. They were not willing to back down on this subject. There was no option to reject this, so Tala invisibly decided upon a plan.

If the world wasn’t going to change for Tala, then she was going to change the world. But what about her lifestyle? The clothes, the money, everything that Tala wanted was given to her. Why rock the boat? Why fight what GOV provided for her? Her parents reasoned with her as best as they could, but Tala knew that she wouldn’t be able to live with herself like that. Her time at the educational facility taught her GOV’s plan - what they did, the lives they destroyed so everyone else could live in relative comfort. Her compassion for others’ lives wouldn’t allow her to do as her parents did. She rejected them outright and gave up everything, taking Squeak and running away from it all. She wasn’t going to live like that. Not on the backs of so many corpses.

But how would she do it? Squeak is capable, but she would need someone who knew GOV inside and out. There had to be people willing to fall for her charms that would take up the fight against GOV. Her looks would get her in the door, but she needed a selling point. She had to have a way to justify what she was doing and have it seem like she was in something that was bigger than her.

Years ago she heard of a resistance force that was eventually destroyed by GOV. Not thinking her plan all the way through, she decided that she would pretend to be a member of this no longer standing resistance force. She needed people willing to risk their lives to help her bring down GOV and the illusion of an organized force was what she felt was her only option. But where does one find people like that? She went to the only area she knew that would hold such degenerates - a bar.

Worrying very little that her parents may be sending hunting parties to find her, she wore the most revealing outfit she had and walked into the first bar she found in the city. Strangely enough, the bar contained only two men. The barkeep; who was shakily pouring his own drink, and Vorce; a grizzled and dirty man with a smoking gun laying on the counter. With a smile and a quick chat she had the man she needed.

GOV was going down someday, and Tala was determined to be the one behind it.