Personality: At first glance, Jim Kirk can easily be mistaken for a self-absorbed jerk. He’s brash, he’s outspoken, he’s opinionated (and many of those opinions seem to center around his own perceived awesomeness), and he doesn’t seem to know how to take “no” for an answer. He leaps without looking, rushing headlong into every situation with so much confidence it borders on arrogance. It rarely occurs to him he could be wrong about a subject or an approach; he’s fearless and he prefers to act first and sort it all out later.
He’s more than just fists and flirting, drinking and dissing, however. There’s a shrewd mind and a well-developed intellect behind that frat-boy exterior. Captain Pike described him as “the only genius-level repeat offender in the Midwest,” and noted that his aptitude scores for Starfleet admissions were “off the scale”. He excelled at tactical and survival training at the Academy. He was able to swiftly connect events leading up to the Narada’s arrival at Vulcan, determining that the Federation ships sent to help would arrive at an attack and not a rescue mission. He beat the allegedly unbeatable Kobayashi Maru exam by changing its parameters so it was no longer a no-win situation.
He’s driven and determined, but not in ways that most people would recognize at first. He’s made a life out of not doing what’s expected of him. As a kid, he dumped his stepfather’s car over a cliff rather than listen to the admonishments of his stepfather or the police officer in pursuit of the car. His father was a loyal Starfleet officer, a hero, but Jim at first refused to enlist in Starfleet. He showed a lot of promise but he chose to squander it and spend his time hanging out in bars and getting in trouble with the law. He cheated the Kobayashi Maru rather than accept it was unwinnable. Even once aboard the Enterprise, he continued to flaunt or ignore regulations and accepted codes of conduct in pursuit of getting information across or getting the job done.
While he puts a lot of effort into casting off what’s expected of him, one thing he cannot resist is a direct challenge. He blew off Pike’s initial attempts at recruiting him to Starfleet when Pike tried to appeal to his family tradition and his skills, but when Pike challenged him to do better than his father had during his father’s short command, Jim not only enlisted but informed Pike he’d complete officer training in three years instead of four. He kept up his flirtatious pursuit of Uhura for three years because her refusal to give even her first name elevated a pick-up attempt to a crusade.
Inwardly, he’s haunted by his father’s death. He carries a lot of anger and a little guilt, which manifested in his acting out and getting in trouble before he enlisted in Starfleet, and which help fuel his supreme self-confidence. He’s mad at the universe for taking his father from him, so as a younger man he thumbed his nose at many things and rebelled all over the place. He refuses to be seen as weak or lacking for not having a father, so he’s bold and direct and doesn’t back down. He also felt he had to rely on himself from an early age, to be a man on his own since he had no male guidance, and that too helped mold his unshakable faith in himself. He avoided Starfleet at first so as to avoid comparison with his father, which would have meant confronting his own feelings about his father.
When he and Spock Prime were marooned on Delta Vega, and he learned about the universe from whence Spock Prime hailed, he could have asked any of a million questions about the Jim Kirk this Spock knew. But the single question he chose to ask about himself was whether or not, in that timeline, he had known his father. That question shows how much the loss still weighed on him and what a large figure his father was in his life despite not being present in it. Learning from Spock Prime that he had had a good relationship with his father in that life, and that his father had been proud of him, was a moment of growth for Jim. That knowledge gave him the drive to follow his father’s example, to live up to being a man and a captain his father would have been proud of. It’s a subtle difference but before Delta Vega, Jim wanted to pursue the course of action he thought best because he was right; after Delta Vega, he wanted to pursue the course of action he thought best because it was what was right to save everyone. He’s gained a maturity and sense of responsibility and duty he was lacking earlier in the film, and he is finally ready to command.
He also grew as a leader through his relationships with McCoy and Spock. Jim and Spock are two opposite ends of a spectrum, with Jim representing the extreme of action and emotion while Spock stands for reason and restraint. McCoy is the moral ground they both need, to temper their opposing views and values, the one who goes after each of them to do what’s right morally rather than acting out without thought or wielding logic without compassion. Their combined influence tempers some of his impulses, reining him in when he needs it. They also challenge him, which he both needs and loves. Through them he has a broader view of the universe and the ability and the space to take a step back and consider things when he needs to.
Relationships have become important to him by the time he assumes command. His friendship with McCoy was already an important factor in his life at the Academy; when he is given the Enterprise he keeps the crew that was built around their conflict with Nero. Certainly he retains those people because of their skills, training, and performance, but there’s also a sense of loyalty to them. He wants to reward them for helping him in the ways they did, he wants to inspire the same loyalty in them that he feels for them, and he wants to build something that’s larger than himself. They’ve been through a lot together and he wants to keep them close.
By the time he arrives in the city, Jim is still a cocky, outspoken man of action, but one who is starting to learn to balance that with forethought, with consideration, and with reason. He’s growing from a rowdy, rebellious kid with a chip on his shoulder the size of the planet into a leader who inspires confidence and loyalty in others, and from someone who was ready to take the whole universe on all by himself into someone who has learned to rely on and trust in the counsel and guidance of others. He’s learned to shoulder duty and responsibility but he hasn’t lost his drive to do what isn’t expected of him or to rise to challenges.
Abilities/Powers: Jim has been through officer training at Starfleet Academy, where he was ranked at the top of his class in tactical analysis and survival training. He was also the assistant instructor in advanced hand-to-hand combat. He has some computer programming/hacking skills (put to use in his last run at the Kobabyashi Maru simulation).
He received space jump training. He is a very good shot with a phaser and other weapons, which is a skill I assume he would be able to translate to other firearms.
James T . Kirk | reserved
Contact Info: PM to journal, or eyeofthetiger @ plurk
Other Characters Played: Also apping Lena Duchannes.
Preferred Apartment: None.
Character Name: James T. "Jim" Kirk
Canon: Star Trek (reboot)
Background/History: http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/James_T._Kirk_%28alternate_reality%29
Personality: At first glance, Jim Kirk can easily be mistaken for a self-absorbed jerk. He’s brash, he’s outspoken, he’s opinionated (and many of those opinions seem to center around his own perceived awesomeness), and he doesn’t seem to know how to take “no” for an answer. He leaps without looking, rushing headlong into every situation with so much confidence it borders on arrogance. It rarely occurs to him he could be wrong about a subject or an approach; he’s fearless and he prefers to act first and sort it all out later.
He’s more than just fists and flirting, drinking and dissing, however. There’s a shrewd mind and a well-developed intellect behind that frat-boy exterior. Captain Pike described him as “the only genius-level repeat offender in the Midwest,” and noted that his aptitude scores for Starfleet admissions were “off the scale”. He excelled at tactical and survival training at the Academy. He was able to swiftly connect events leading up to the Narada’s arrival at Vulcan, determining that the Federation ships sent to help would arrive at an attack and not a rescue mission. He beat the allegedly unbeatable Kobayashi Maru exam by changing its parameters so it was no longer a no-win situation.
He’s driven and determined, but not in ways that most people would recognize at first. He’s made a life out of not doing what’s expected of him. As a kid, he dumped his stepfather’s car over a cliff rather than listen to the admonishments of his stepfather or the police officer in pursuit of the car. His father was a loyal Starfleet officer, a hero, but Jim at first refused to enlist in Starfleet. He showed a lot of promise but he chose to squander it and spend his time hanging out in bars and getting in trouble with the law. He cheated the Kobayashi Maru rather than accept it was unwinnable. Even once aboard the Enterprise, he continued to flaunt or ignore regulations and accepted codes of conduct in pursuit of getting information across or getting the job done.
While he puts a lot of effort into casting off what’s expected of him, one thing he cannot resist is a direct challenge. He blew off Pike’s initial attempts at recruiting him to Starfleet when Pike tried to appeal to his family tradition and his skills, but when Pike challenged him to do better than his father had during his father’s short command, Jim not only enlisted but informed Pike he’d complete officer training in three years instead of four. He kept up his flirtatious pursuit of Uhura for three years because her refusal to give even her first name elevated a pick-up attempt to a crusade.
Inwardly, he’s haunted by his father’s death. He carries a lot of anger and a little guilt, which manifested in his acting out and getting in trouble before he enlisted in Starfleet, and which help fuel his supreme self-confidence. He’s mad at the universe for taking his father from him, so as a younger man he thumbed his nose at many things and rebelled all over the place. He refuses to be seen as weak or lacking for not having a father, so he’s bold and direct and doesn’t back down. He also felt he had to rely on himself from an early age, to be a man on his own since he had no male guidance, and that too helped mold his unshakable faith in himself. He avoided Starfleet at first so as to avoid comparison with his father, which would have meant confronting his own feelings about his father.
When he and Spock Prime were marooned on Delta Vega, and he learned about the universe from whence Spock Prime hailed, he could have asked any of a million questions about the Jim Kirk this Spock knew. But the single question he chose to ask about himself was whether or not, in that timeline, he had known his father. That question shows how much the loss still weighed on him and what a large figure his father was in his life despite not being present in it. Learning from Spock Prime that he had had a good relationship with his father in that life, and that his father had been proud of him, was a moment of growth for Jim. That knowledge gave him the drive to follow his father’s example, to live up to being a man and a captain his father would have been proud of. It’s a subtle difference but before Delta Vega, Jim wanted to pursue the course of action he thought best because he was right; after Delta Vega, he wanted to pursue the course of action he thought best because it was what was right to save everyone. He’s gained a maturity and sense of responsibility and duty he was lacking earlier in the film, and he is finally ready to command.
He also grew as a leader through his relationships with McCoy and Spock. Jim and Spock are two opposite ends of a spectrum, with Jim representing the extreme of action and emotion while Spock stands for reason and restraint. McCoy is the moral ground they both need, to temper their opposing views and values, the one who goes after each of them to do what’s right morally rather than acting out without thought or wielding logic without compassion. Their combined influence tempers some of his impulses, reining him in when he needs it. They also challenge him, which he both needs and loves. Through them he has a broader view of the universe and the ability and the space to take a step back and consider things when he needs to.
Relationships have become important to him by the time he assumes command. His friendship with McCoy was already an important factor in his life at the Academy; when he is given the Enterprise he keeps the crew that was built around their conflict with Nero. Certainly he retains those people because of their skills, training, and performance, but there’s also a sense of loyalty to them. He wants to reward them for helping him in the ways they did, he wants to inspire the same loyalty in them that he feels for them, and he wants to build something that’s larger than himself. They’ve been through a lot together and he wants to keep them close.
By the time he arrives in the city, Jim is still a cocky, outspoken man of action, but one who is starting to learn to balance that with forethought, with consideration, and with reason. He’s growing from a rowdy, rebellious kid with a chip on his shoulder the size of the planet into a leader who inspires confidence and loyalty in others, and from someone who was ready to take the whole universe on all by himself into someone who has learned to rely on and trust in the counsel and guidance of others. He’s learned to shoulder duty and responsibility but he hasn’t lost his drive to do what isn’t expected of him or to rise to challenges.
Abilities/Powers: Jim has been through officer training at Starfleet Academy, where he was ranked at the top of his class in tactical analysis and survival training. He was also the assistant instructor in advanced hand-to-hand combat. He has some computer programming/hacking skills (put to use in his last run at the Kobabyashi Maru simulation).
He received space jump training. He is a very good shot with a phaser and other weapons, which is a skill I assume he would be able to translate to other firearms.
Sample Entry: http://captaincocksure.livejournal.com/689.html
http://multiversal.dreamwidth.org/25225.html
Sample Entry Two: http://captaincocksure.livejournal.com/1245.html
http://multiversallogs.dreamwidth.org/22262.html (warnings for violent content and mentions of child abuse)
Thank you very much for your time and consideration. :)