Tamara DaCosta

[Tamara DaCosta]

The easy S T U F F . . .

Name: Tamara Jasmine DaCosta
Nickname: Tammy, Mars bar
Age: Thirty-one
Member Group: Auto Shop Teacher
Power(s): Petrifying Stare -
Just as it sounds, Tammy has the ability to paralyze people/organisms by looking at them. The paralysis is stronger when she maintains direct eye contact. Of course, the hold only lasts as long as Tammy doesn't blink (about fifteen minutes), although it takes a bit of time for the effects to completely ware off. And, as always, those with good mental shielding are immune.
Side effects include headaches, stiff muscles, and fatigue.
Play By: Michelle Rodriguez

Let it F L O W . . .

Los Angeles, California 1980

"When did you last see your wife, Mr. DaCosta?" asked the police officer.

"On Tuesday." He sighed. "We got into a fight, and she left. I haven't seen her since."

The police officer nodded and scribbled the date down in his pocket notebook. "At what time?"

"Ah...it must have been around 7? In the evening."

"Was this a singular incident?"

Miguel DaCosta shook his head. "We've been fighting more and more recently. Sometimes she leaves for a drive--ya know, to cool off or think things over--but she always comes back."

Scribble, scribble. "And did this fight get physical?"

"No." He had hardly time to speak the word before crying began down the hall. "If you'll excuse me..." The officer gave the man a small nod without looking up from his notes. Miguel stood up and walked down the hall to the nursery. He quietly opened the door, walked over to the crib, and picked up his baby girl. Tamara DaCosta, just one year old, wiggled and screamed in her father's arms. "Shhh, Mars bar. It's okay," he cooed to her. She wouldn't stop crying, though. She wanted her mommy.

Miguel sighed and brought his daughter out into the living room. "I'm sorry about this, but she's hardly stopped crying since her mother left. Only to sleep," he explained. It would be another week before the girl finally gave up on the matter; she was stubborn even as a one-year-old.

The police officer nodded. "We're done here anyway. I'll file the missing person report and contact you if anything comes up. You should call us if you hear from her." He stood up and looked at the infant. "Often times in these sorts of cases, things don't turn out well. I'm sorry." With that, the men shook hands and the officer left.

Miguel never heard from his wife again.

Los Angeles, California 1985

This was a major problem. “What do you mean you have to cancel? What do you expect me to do?” Miguel sighed into the phone, “Fine...I guess I can figure something out.” Four phone calls later revealed that that something did not involve getting another babysitter. Sometimes being a single father wasn’t easy. All right, most of the time being a single father wasn't easy.

“Hey, Mike,” The mechanic peaked into his shop‘s break room and called upon his assistant. “Hold down the fort for ten minutes, I got to go pick up my daughter from school.”

Ten minutes later he was back to work, his daughter scribbling on paper behind the receptionist’s desk. It wasn’t long before Tamara grew bored with the task. She sat down with her backpack and rummaged through it until she found a little toy car. She rolled it around the waiting room, pushing it across the floor, across the tables, and across the chairs. It was all good fun for about half an hour, and then she got bored again. The girl picked up her toy car and wandered over to the glass door leading to the shop. Her daddy was in there playing with real cars. Now that would be fun.

Tammy peeked over her shoulder at the receptionist who was busy with the phone, quietly opened the door, and scurried into the shop. It was loud in there, but there was a lot more cool stuff to look at. She wandered over to a tool chest and started rummaging through the drawers.

Eventually, Miguel spotted her. “Baby girl, whatchu up to?”

Tammy gasped, dropped the wrench she was looking at, and spun around. “Just playing,” she answered innocently, holding the car up so her dad could see it.

“Hmm.” The man wrestled with a thought before offering, “Why don’t you come help your daddy with something?”

Tamara grinned. “Okay!” She ran over to her father, and he picked her up and carried her over to the car he was working on. It was the first of many days she spent helping him at work. Eventually Miguel stopped hiring babysitters all together, and Tammy spent her afternoons in the shop; a one time deal quickly turned into a tradition.

Burlington, Vermont 1992

Tammy pulled at her ponytail while the recruiter and her daddy talked outside the gate. She began to tap her foot as her patience wore thin, but they were taking forever to discus whatever important adult thing they were discussing and she had someplace to be. Well, that place was Hammel and she wasn‘t looking forward to being there, but it was better than standing around the airport wasting time. “Daaaaddy. Hurry up,” she whined.

Miguel looked at his daughter and smiled. “Just a minute, Mars bar.” The girl sighed and crossed her arms. It wasn’t fair that the adults were making her wait.

Finally they finished their conversation and joined her at the other end of the gate. “Ready to go, Mars bar?” Miguel asked his daughter. She nodded her head vigorously, and he laughed at her apparent enthusiasm. “Alright. Be a good girl, okay? I’ll see you at Thanksgiving.”

“Daddy, I’m not a little kid. You shouldn’t worry so much.”

“It’s my job to be worried.”

Tammy scrunched her nose in response. “Yeah. Whatever.” She hoisted her carry-on onto her shoulder. “Bye, Daddy.”

“Bye, Baby girl. Love you.” He hesitated in giving her a hug and settled for a pat on the arm.

She giggled and punched his in return. “Thanksgiving,” she reiterated, and then headed off towards the baggage claim with her recruiter.

Los Angeles, California 1997

“Daddy! I’m home,” Tamara yelled as she returned home from Hammel. She was finally out of there, finally eighteen, and finally a legal adult. It was good to be a high school graduate.

"Mars bar! Welcome back," Miguel hoped off the living room couch and tried to help his daughter with her luggage.

The teenager pulled away the suitcase he had grabbed at. "Oh, Daddy, you don't need to do that. You know I can handle it by myself," she gently chided him.

"I know, I know. I’m just trying to be a good dad."

Tamara chuckled. "You're the best dad in the world. You always will be." Miguel grinned and patted his daughter on the back. The pair continued their peppy banter as they wandered into Tamara's bedroom to put her things down. After that was taken care of, they brought the conversation into the kitchen where they could relax and sip at drinks. The majority of the discussion was small talk on what had happened since they last spoke a few days prior. It was a while before Miguel worked up the courage to discuss more important matters, such as Tammy's future.

“Have you decided on what you’re gonna do now that you're a high school graduate?” The topic had only come up once or twice in the past, usually developing into an awkward conversation. Tamara had put some thought into it before, but she always found it hard to talk to other people about what she wanted to do with her life. It was easier with her father, of course, but there was still a bit of trepidation on her part.

“Yeah...Well, I’d thought I’d come work at the shop with you.” That was something she decided early on, and something they always talked about.

“That’s great, Mars bar,” Miguel responded with a grin. He wasn‘t at all surprised at the news. “You're always welcome at the shop.”

“Yeah." Despite his reassurance, she nervously chewed on her lip and rolled her cup between her hands. There was more to say. "That's not all. I wanted to go to school too. Get a business degree and eventually open my own shop.”

Now that was something new. Miguel tried not to spit out his beer, but he found it hard to swallow. “Oh.”

Tamara’s heart sunk. She was afraid he’d be disappointed. Her poker face was perfectly maintained, but Miguel knew how his response would make her feel. “It’s not a bad thing,” he explained, “In fact, I’m happy you want to continue your education. It’s just...unexpected.” He’d always imagined his daughter, who had practically grown up in the shop, taking over when he retired. If she had her own...well, it would be a different story if things went that way. “But I’m happy for you, Mars bar. Really. And you have my support.”

The teenager smirked. “Thanks, Daddy.”

Los Angeles, California 2001

“But why all the way in Vermont? You might as well be moving to China!” It had been a long time since Miguel had yelled at his daughter, but this news was very, very distressing.

“Because,” she shouted back, “They don’t have a mechanic out there yet! It’s the perfect place to set up shop. High demand! No competition! It’s great for business.” It had been a long time since Tamara had been mad at her father, but he was overreacting. She was twenty-two, and capable of making her own decisions. And she was convinced that this was a good one.

That’s what upset Miguel the most. Her stubborn attitude was going to rip her away from him. “Just stay at the shop. It’s stable. You don’t have to worry about starting from scratch, or new loans on top of your student loans, or going bankrupt. Please, Mars bar. Don’t go.” He hated to beg, but what choice did he have? His daughter was leaving him.

The entrepreneur was about to snarl back at him, but then Tamara realized that this wasn’t about her leaving at all. “Oh, dad...” Her vicious sneer quickly softened. “Daddy...this isn’t...I’m not. I’m not mom, Dad. I’m not leaving you forever.” She could see the pain wash over his face. She had hit the nail on the head. “You know, I’ll come back and visit on holidays. Just like I use to when I was in high school,” she reassured him.

He just nodded.

“But I need to do this. You have to let me go,” her tone was soft but stern, as if she were talking to a child and not her own father.

“I know,” Miguel said with a sad smile, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped.”

“Yeah, well. I love you too.”

Miguel just laughed.

Pilot Ridge, Vermont 2003

It had been a hectic day at the shop. Apparently everyone in town had coordinated their auto inspections so that they all had to come in on the same day. Of course that wasn’t really true, but that’s how Tammy felt as she dragged herself through the front door of her small suburban house. She slunk into the kitchen, grabbed a beer, and flopped onto her lazy-boy in the living room, grumbling the entire way.

And then the phone rang. Tamara sighed and slammed her beer down on the coffee table. It was like the entire world was against her relaxing today. She sighed again before forcing herself off the couch and taking her sweet time roaming over to the phone in the kitchen. About six rings had gone by the time she finally picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

Her irritated expression slowly softened as she clutched the phone in silence. "Ms. DaCosta? Ms. DaCosta, are you there?" called the person at the other end.

After a moment, she responded. "I'm here...Yes, I understand...Thank you. I'll fly out on Monday." She slowly put the phone on its hook then fell into one of her kitchen chairs. She promptly buried her face in her hands and began to sob. It was the first time she had cried since she was an infant, but this was more than she could bare.

Miguel DaCosta was dead.

Pilot Ridge, Vermont 2007

"You've been quiet lately," the man teased Tamara from the other side of the car engine they were working on.

The mechanic shot him a glare. “Hammel offered me a teaching job. I’m going to take it.” She used her sleeve to wipe the sweat off her brow, but it wasn't the conversation that was making her perspire. The shop was uncomfortably hot, even in winter. It wasn't something she was going to miss.

Her business partner, Tom, gaped at her. “What? You can’t be serious.”

“I am,” she stated with a straight face.

“You can’t just leave this all behind!”

“I’ll do whatever the hell I want to,” she growled back. This wasn't a decision she took lightly. The shop was all she had left of her dad since he died five years ago and her inheritance wasn't immense. She couldn't cling to him forever, though. She wanted to move on, and leaving the shop seemed like a step in the right direction.

“But-”

Tammy slammed the hood shut, cutting him off. “I’m leaving; end of discussion. You can stay or leave as well. Either way, I don’t care. We can work out the details later. Good bye, Tom.” She wiped her hands off on her grease rag, and then unzipped and climbed out of her jumpsuit.

“Keep in touch, okay?” And with that she left the shop, ready to start the next chapter of her life at Hammel.

Behind the M A S K . . .

Name: James
Age: 18
RP Experience: A while.
How did you find us?: *points at Tony*

Show your S K I L L S . . .

Just look at Gerri or Evan or Dr. Sexy.

[Admin!]

Accepted!
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Now go do your claims, then have some fun.