| Katrina Mah | |
 |
|
| Portrayed By | Megan Fox |
|---|---|
| Gender | Female |
| Date of Birth | January 13, 1985 |
| Age | 22 |
| Zodiac Sign | Capricorn |
| Aliases | Trina |
| Place of Birth | Atlanta, GA, USA |
| Current Location | New York City, NY, USA |
| Occupation | Bartender |
| Known Relatives | Adelaide Mah (mother; deceased), Nancy Mah (maternal grandmother; estranged) |
| Significant Other | Jack Derex |
| Known Abilities | Forcefield Generation |
| First Appearance | Upon Cars We Both Agree |
A bartender at the Den of Iniquity in Brooklyn, Trina is a big-mouthed girl with a love of fast cars, big motors, scotch, the occasional pack of cigarettes, and silver-tongued bad boys.
History
The birth of a baby is supposed to be a joyous occasion. Somebody must have forgotten to give that particular memo to the Mah family.
When Adelaide Mah went into labor on the twelfth of January in 1985, there was a whole lot of cursing. She cursed 'cuz it hurt, and her jobless baby daddy cursed because he had to turn off his porn to take her to the hospital. Neither of them was ready for the responsibility of a baby, and they both knew it. After a long labor, Adelaide named her beautiful baby Katrina and promised to always look after her.
The problem with promises is that no one ever seems to be inclined to keep them.
Two hours later, due to unforeseen complications, Adelaide started uncontrollably hemorrhaging. Six hours later, she was dead. And, surprise, surprise, Dad had left as soon as Adelaide was checked in and his identity would be carried to the grave with her. That left little Katrina Mah in the hands of her grandmother. Riddled with guilt, Nancy Mah dutifully took on the burden left behind by her daughter and never looked back.
Katrina, or Trina as she came to be called, was nothing if not a problem child. It wasn't that she was *bad* per se, but from the age of four she was constantly finding herself in scrapes with older kids in the rundown Atlanta neighborhood where she grew up. It's not that she wanted to get beat up or picked fights; she just had a fast mouth and never seemed to have it in her to back down.
Trina's fights with older, bullying boys eventually became Trina DATING older, bullying boys and she learned how to work on cars to prove herself worthy of their attention. She got pretty good at it, too, earning their respect. Everything was cars and boys, and Trina's began consistently failing out of her classes in the eighth grade. She did this all without Nancy's knowledge… until seventeen year old Jason Neel came to their tiny apartment to pick Trina up at 11 o'clock at night. Nancy chased him off with the rifle from the closet and by the next week had found a job working as an administrative assistant in a jarring factory in Glenville - a town that prided itself on having just installed its first stoplight in the center of town. Packing up her pretty fourteen-year old granddaughter, they moved to the Podunk Nowhereville Georgian countryside.
In a year, the trouble-attracting Trina seemed to calm down enough that even Nancy joked of doubting it was her own granddaughter. To fit in, cars had to - at least temporarily - give way for chorus classes and dance lessons. For her grandmother's sake alone, Trina even fought her way into a bottom slot on the cheerleading squad. However, there's only so far that good intentions will take you.
It was only a matter of time before the roar of the motor called to Trina again in its beautiful, powerful language. Soon, it was all she could think about. Trina asked her grandmother if she could take shop classes in her sophomore year of high school, Nancy initially refused. However, soon a deal was struck. Nancy would allow her granddaughter to take auto tech classes if she agreed to continue to take two dance classes a year. And so it was that she became the first cheerleader in the history of the school to be enrolled in the auto tech class by choice. She became the black sheep of the squad. She had their disdain; they had hers.
Furthermore, unlike in the city, her estrogen was unwelcome in the grease monkey circles with kids her own age. That meant she was now firmly stuck in a social limbo with no friends her own age. Even the geeks and so-called losers called her weird and would have nothing to do with her. That left an embittered Trina with nothing to do but her homework during the week, work on her grandmother's junker of a car on the weekends and learning to actually act like a girl in dance shoes. For her grandmother, she tried to maintain appearances.
Somewhere along the line, Trina stopped caring at all about being reformed. She became desperate for human interaction, and that led her back to her old ways. Her grandmother, working late hours at the factory, didn't realize that her granddaughter wasn't coming home until well after practice and wasn't really spending the night at her girlfriends' houses. It was the perfect opportunity for her to find her way into the local college parties in nearby Savannah and more than her fair share of trouble. Older boys viewed her as a toy. A novelty. As long as they told her nice things, she gave 'em everything she had to give.
By the time senior homecoming came around, Trina looked every part the lady on the arm of a strapping young man her own age. Her grandmother thought she had won a major victory. Funny, ha ha. Trina did her very best to keep her grandmother happy and entirely unaware that her 'escort' was her boyfriend's younger brother and they were actually skipping homecoming to go to a big street race featuring her college beau's new pride and joy - a gutted, rebuilt, and altogether beautifully turbo-charged 1976 Monte Carlo.
Unfortunately, Trina came home in cuffs that night. Long story short? Illegal street race with some stolen foreign cars plus police raid equals juvenile arrest. While Katrina and five of the other kids present escaped the ordeal without charges, that was the final straw. Nancy kicked her daughter's only child out of the house.
Without a place to stay and not wanting to tell anyone at school about it, Trina ended up crashing in a series of her older boyfriends' houses until the last seven months school were up. Some boyfriends were nicer than others, Trina having a sick habit of being suckered in by anybody with a sweet word for her, a place for her to sleep at night, and any sort of promise of something better. The sweeter the words, the easier she fell for 'em. She celebrated her eighteenth birthday with a bottle of vodka, a jackass named Steve White, and without even a call from her grandmother. In June, she graduated and then left that night with her drag-racing ex's best friend, Tony Macchiello, for New York City with a fake ID, twenty bucks in her back pocket, and a duffel of clothes on her shoulder.
By the time they got to New Jersey, they were ready to kill each other. He much more literally than she. However, Trina was used to beatings. It was the other thing that ended up happening that night was something that would stick with her for the rest of her life. She found herself going from being half-naked and bloody in the back field to hearing him yell as he was ripped away from her by some invisible force and then the sickening crack of bone as he split his skull in half on a tree behind the rest station. She blacked out before she could understand what happened.
When she came to in the tall grass, it only took looking at him to realize that Tony was dead. Thus, Trina did the only thing she could think of to do: she ran. Stealing his keys and then his car, she took it to the City, ditched it outside the city limits and hitchhiked the rest of her way in. She tried to leave behind the whole ordeal and she stopped trying to figure out how it happened.
By a stroke of luck, the chain-smoking performance artist who picked her up on the city limits knew of a local battered women's shelter. She drove Trina there. They gave her shelter, a job, and a means to get herself onto her feet. The cook at the bar where she waited tables gave her boxing lessons. A guy from her neighborhood taught her handguns and knives. When she turned 21, she got her chance to trade her waitress apron for a bartender's shaker. Not only that, but the crew chipped in and bought her a 1965 Ford Mustang V8 convertible in need of copious amounts of love. Love she was more than willing to give.Bit by bit, she started to get her life back.
Then, of course, someone had to go and try to ruin it. A group of gang kids with something to prove dragged her into a back alley in hopes of taking her tips and a free ride. She was outnumbered, and then it happened again. That same overwhelming surge that felt like it was going to explode within her, pushing the boys away and into the brick walls with such concussive force that it left a couple of 'em looking pretty close to dead. That left her with one course of action: she ran home, trying to forget it ever happened.
Now she's just trying to get by, trying to come to terms with the fact that she's got powers and no clue how to use 'em, all while praying to God that no one ever realizes that her hands are stained with blood.
Ability
Trina has the ability to generate a field of protective psionic energy. She currently only can access the power by accident, and it surfaces as a protective dome brought on as a subconscious reaction to extreme physical threats to her person. They are uncontrolled exertions of energy and completely draining; it's a struggle for her to maintain consciousness after constructing a field.
Her fields are established in one of two ways: either centered about herself or focused about a particular target. The first application is best suited to protecting herself and those near her. However, when centered about her, her fields currently can only be stretched to six yards in diameter before they dissipate. As her power grows in maturity, however, she will slowly begin to see her fields reach a ten-yard diameter. When aiming for a target, her fields experience a reduced diameter. Even at the height of her ability, she will only ever be able to target a person up to thirty yards away, and a dome's range would be reduced to a mere seven-foot diameter at that range. With a couple of years of training and practice, she will be able to control the power and duration of her fields as well as creating tighter seals so that even gases like oxygen cannot penetrate, but that's years off.
She will soon find that her protective domes are not her only power. Rather, she has the power to bend and shape her fields, able to use them in order to help shield her hands as she punches or briefly handles things that might otherwise burn or harm her… or to simply gain a harder surface as she rams headlong into people. Lastly, several years down the line, she will find that by concentrating her field as a column beneath her and expanding it, she will be able to lift herself up to thirty feet in the air.
Stunts
Force Throw
By concentrating her forcefield tightly around her and then rapidly and violently expanding it, Trina is capable of using her powers to throw people and objects away from her. If she rolls a 'Good' it will expand to six feet in diameter. If she rolls a 'Great' or higher it will expand up to ten feet in diameter. However, she is entirely unable to aim people or objects once they've been launched. This stunt can only be used once in a 24 hour period. After using the stunt she must roll for Stamina. Should Trina get an 'Average' or less, she will be knocked out for a round. She can attempt to recover by rolling an 'Average' or greater each round.
Gotcha Covered
By using this stunt Trina can raise a protective dome that is capable of shielding herself from blows. She can also try and cover herself and another person or a two different people. If she rolls an 'Average', the shield can be raised and is capable of deflecting any attack equal or lower.
When attempting to form a field around another person a distance from herself she must get a roll of 'Good' or higher or the field will fail to form. If the field is under attack for two turns or more, she will be forced to roll Stamina. Should Trina get an 'Average' or less, the field will drop and she will be dazed for a round. She can attempt to recover by rolling an 'Average' or greater each following round.
She cannot form two separate fields; all of her power's focus is consumed by a single field.
Timeline
2007
- July 1. Trina runs into Jane while on her way to meet Jack. Once with Jack, she 'fesses up about meeting Cass. (Unexpected Vacation, Baby, Baby, Baby)
- July 2. Manuel and Trina meet at a neighborhood car show. (More Cars)
- July 7. Trina confronts Jack about his most recent tabloid appearance. (All Elena's Fault)
- July 8. When Elena finds herself in trouble, the gang tries to save her. The results are less than ideal. (Minutes to 8:15: Darling Trina)
- July 9 - September 1. Trina spends Quality Time… in a coma. (To Syracuse, Far From Over)
Quotes
- "There's two kinds of people in this world: those who are gonna let you down, and those who already have."
- "No, *I* came up with the idea, fair and square. Hookers wanna send their hooker panties to my man, they pay the price: hooker panties go on the hooker wall." (Regarding the string of panties hanging in the Den of Iniquity, Trouble Comes in Twos)
Trivia
- Unbeknown to Trina, a member of the gang responsible for attacking her and triggering the second manifestation of her powers died hours after the encounter and another was left paralyzed from the waist down. This has left his crew hankering for revenge, should they ever find her again.
- An enthusiast for classic American cars, Trina's pride and joy is her 1965 Ford Mustang V8 convertible. It's the only thing of value that she owns. She's dropped almost all of her free cash and spare time into restoring it, trading favors whenever she can to get what she needs. Below, see her baby as purchased and after eighteen months in her doting care in front of the shop who put on its first fresh coat of paint in twenty-nine years. Hurt the car, and she'll hurt you.
- Trina cannot cook to save her soul, with the exception of several Southern staples. Baaad things happen when she attempts anything else.
- Unaware of what the true nature of her powers is or how to use them for fear of hurting anyone else, Trina is terrified to use her powers. She mostly pretends she's normal. Sometimes, she even fools herself.
Friend & Foe Guide
Friends and Allies
Aldric, Cassandra
Cass, or Cassie according to Jack, is Good Folk. Thereby, by association, Cass is good folk according to Trina. In an effort to stop being so reclusive from Jack's friends, it was this reputation that drove Trina to seek out Enlightenment Books to propose something that might very well be a highly dangerous and amazingly awesome social experiment: the Cass-Lachlan-Trina-Jack double-date. FEAR, WORLD.
Derex, Jack
While he may be rough around the edges, Jack is one of the most stand-up guys that Trina has ever been fortunate enough to call her man. He's given her the resources to help get her car up and running, given her a job at his bar, and generally insanely awesome. He also cooks. He cooks. In addition to this, Jack is the person who finally let her know that she wasn't the only power-wielding freak in the world. The relationship may be new, but she trusts him wholly and would do anything he ever asked of her.
He also, in a moment of chivalry, totally decked her ex-boyfriend, Elliott. Manly violence = hawt. Chivalry-inspired violence? Even friggin' hawter.
Gomez, Elena
Elena, or Laney as Trina calls her, is Jack's honorary niece. That means she gets put in the 'friends' list by default. She's a real smart kid with a knack for finding herself in trouble, but at least they have Jack in common.
McAlister, Alyssa
A coworker from the Den of Iniquity, Ali's earned a place in Trina's good graces by means of wit, charm, possibly an unknown dose of her powers, and heaping piles of reassurance with regards to Trina's relationship with Jack. She's funny and honest, too.
Not-Friends and Outright Enemies
Bishop, Elle
Trina's met Elle when she started a fight with Niki Saunders's alterego, Jessica, while at Jack's bar. As far as first impressions go, this definitely could have gone better.
Kensington, Gene
He hit her car. He is on the Bad List. That is all.
Sanders, Niki
Trina's met Niki's rougher alterego, Jessica, when she started a fight with Elle at Jack's bar. Also a bad, bad, bad first impression.
Undecided
Archer, Samuel
Unbeknown to Trina, Archer was really on her side. He was nice enough and awesome to look at, but he's got a major downside. He knows about her connection to Tony Macchiello's death, and he was digging up skeletons that she would much rather see remain buried. He went missing, however, after handing all of his research on Trina over to Jack. It probably wasn't coincidence, but Trina hopes he's well, wherever he is.
I Met 'Em at the Bar
Cochrane, Ryan, Forrest, Jane
Soundtrack
Anything for You by Evanescence Listen
Supergirl by Reamonn Listen
If Your Kisses Can't Hold the Man You Love by Rasputina Listen