InsaneJournal

Most of what anyone sees of Kassandra (or ‘Kass’) Thompson is this dynamo young redheaded chef who seems to take no crap from nothing and nobody. She’s got a fiery temper, set off (in the kitchen, mostly), by any incompetence or laziness. It’s an insult to her, her love of her culinary art, and to the customers that anyone would give less than their all to the creation of the food the restaurant produces.

An absolute ruler of her domain, that of the kitchen, Kass has been known to Gordon Ramsey incompetent individuals who dare show off how many times cousins have married in their family trees. She’ll yell, throw dishes out, and demand that her rules be followed to a tee. Any insubordination ends in a scathing diatribe that usually ends in “Quit, just quit cooking forever. Get out of my sight, you sicken me.”

That is, of course, just the surface. The layer just below the surface…well, it’s pretty much the same as the surface, a perfectionist who demands the most of not only those she works with, but of herself. Determined not to end up like either of her parents, she’s absolutely driven to make a name for herself in the culinary world, set herself up in a cushy enough place that she’ll never go back to the poorer side of town with thin walls and freezing winters.

Outside of the kitchen, she’s far calmer, there’s less to prove when there’s not customers waiting to taste the fruits of her hard wrought skills. If she was the same bad tempered tyrant in the rest of her life, as she is in her kitchen, she’d quickly burn out, or die of a heart attack by her thirtieth birthday.

Maybe this would give her an almost bi-polar personality, if it weren’t for the fact that she still embraces life with that passion and fervor. Whether it’s dancing, exercising, or sex, Kass still throws herself into the moment with everything she has. Not that she’s averse to some time pool-side, with a nice pair of shades and a neat little bikini, if anyone needs some relaxation, it’s her.

When it comes to men (and some women), admittedly, she’s prone to promiscuity, but just like in her kitchen, she has iron-clad rules: she never sleeps with anyone who is married, or involved with anyone else, she would never have sex without double precautions (the pill and condoms, thank you), and she definitely has standards about who she’s physically attracted to.

Sexuality: Bisexual (prefers men)

Traveling With: Alone

Passenger or Staff: Staff

Career/Job: Head Chef at the Circean Delight

Some individuals are born virtuosos; individuals who were born to paint, or play a musical instrument, or dance. Kassandra Thompson was born to cook. From the moment she was able, Kass had her nose in a cookbook and her hands busy with mixing spoons, pots and pans, and already territorial of her kitchen space as soon as she was able to see over the counters.

It hadn’t always been available to her, a bright and professional kitchen, with underlings scurrying. In fact, the world she had been born into had been far removed from that of a professional chef at such a young age. Kassandra was born to a family that had begun well enough, lower middle class at best, but deteriorated quickly from there.

It’s nearly cliché, really, or, at least, it’s what Kassandra tells herself when she thinks about it, her father losing his job, and then becoming an addict when she was just shy of eleven. Or maybe he became an addict and that’s why he lost his job, either way, Kass was stuck on some lower rung of the financial ladder among her ‘peers,’ and had to stick out some nasty things said about her. Always quick-tempered, Kass got a little too much notoriety in school for acting out, getting in fights, and generally telling people to get off her back in a series of rude gestures.

Truth was, she was always aware she was mal-adjusted, but she figured it was better that people think she was a screw up on her own, rather than them seeing that her dad was chasing the dragon and her family was constantly on the edge of losing their home. Only her mom working two jobs kept them from being thrown out, and sometimes Kass hated her, when she was a teenager, for not taking Kass and booking it.

It was one of her teachers who was her saving grace, catching her during class checking out some cooking books in the back of the school library, and figuring out that the girl had a passion for the subject. Otherwise…well, Kass figures she would’ve ended up just like people thought she would, stuck in some low rent job, some low rent place, and with some skeevy boyfriend named Axel or Spike. But her teacher, who she just refers to as ‘Teach,’ hooked her up with a job at a local restaurant when she was 16, and everything fell into place from there.

Well, maybe not. Kass was a naturally brilliant chef, but considered an amateur; an amateur with a fiery temper. Instead of resigning herself to staying at one restaurant, Kass wanted more, and although she kept her dreams close to her chest, she was determined to make them happen. After working her way through the restaurant’s ranks until she graduated high school, the moment she could, Kass was out of her parents’ and off to study in Europe. She’d saved every single cent she’d earned to go, and spent four years just learning the craft from professional chefs, and it was only her natural skill that kept her bosses from throwing her out on her ass, tuition or no tuition.

See, Kass’ studying wasn’t in any official school, but instead learned through pure experience, and learning from working chefs.

In the last year and a half, Kass has returned to the U.S., but had immediately found that she was even more aggravated at being an underling than ever. She never had been all that great at taking orders, something that had gotten her in trouble more than once, but always managed to get by through pure fervor and skill. Although she’s worked in several restaurants since her return, and had built up a growing reputation as a chef, she’s had to keep playing second string to some bigger name who’d been in the game longer.

On board the Nausicaa, in the Circean Delight, Kassandra finally has the chance to show her full potential, displaying her five star quality skills, and fiery temper when it comes to incompetent underlings.

Special Skills/Abilities:

Cooking skill – It hasn’t been an easy task, learning as much as she has, as quickly as she has. But besides her natural talent, Kass is dedicated to her craft, her art, as much as any painter or dancer.

Klingon – Don’t ask her why or how she picked it up, she won’t tell you, but she can speak passably decent Klingon. Yeah, she’s currently reading Much Ado About Nothing in Klingon, what of it? She’d recommend you watch the documentary ‘Earthlings: Ugly Bags of Mostly Water,’ but you didn’t hear it from her.

Polyglot – Languages never came easy to Kass, but in spending five years in Europe, working in kitchens of restaurants in England, France and Italy, she's had to pick up both French and Italian to compete on more even ground with other young chefs.

Personal Weaknesses:

Quick-tempered – Kass doesn’t suffer fools or ‘incompetent underlings’ easily, and her temper is quick to spark and burn. It might burn out quickly, and she will apologize, if she’s in the wrong, but it is pretty easy to set her off.

Impatient – She doesn’t like waiting around for people to putter about, whether in cooking or in personal conversations, and doesn’t feel she has time for any of this BS.

Perfectionist – Anything that comes out of her kitchen is going to be exactly done and flavored, or its not going out at all. If someone in the kitchen tries to send out anything less than superb food, Kass is unafraid of throwing the whole thing away and then yelling at that idiot to get out of her face and quit cooking.

Territorial – Her kitchen is her domain and anyone else in it merely live to serve her. Get in her way, and she’ll physically shoulder you away from the workstation to fix the mess you made. Don’t even think about breaking her rules (Did you bring a cell phone into her kitchen? Well, now it’s the ocean’s cell phone.), just don’t.

Headaches – Naturally, yelling as much as she does (those who work for her are idiots. Idiots she says!), means that Kass gets headaches quite often, and is quite willing to go out for a drink after her shift, or, alternately, just be by herself for awhile (to make the stupid go away).

Personal Strengths:
Pioneering – It isn’t simply knowledge or learned skill that makes a chef, but the ability to experiment, and attempt to break new ground. Kass is slowly building up her own store of original recipes, and hopes (secretly) to one day have it published.

Energetic – Physically - During long night at the restaurant, Kassandra doesn’t lose energy the whole night long, constantly moving, barking orders, shoving people out of the way to make sure things are done properly. Personally – Kass carries a lot of her passion as energy around her, in the way she discusses what she does.

Passionate – While she’ll happily Gordon Ramsey her underlings into a state of terror if she must, Kass really is passionate about her culinary art. This passion does extend to life in general, when she remembers it exists outside her kitchen (hers, dammit)

Driven – Kass wants to prove that she can get further in life and in her career than anyone told her she could, minus the Teach. She’s bound and damned determined to prove herself as a worthy chef.

Colin Thompson – Father – Inglorious Addict

Janice Thompson – Mother – Inglorious Enabler

Kass will Gordon Ramsey that kitchen, man. She will make Gordon Ramsey a verb, and then perform such verb. Verbally.