[Each week, a post will profile one of the blog’s many supporting players. (See the first profile for more details.)  Feel free to chime in with recommendations for other characters you’d like to see more about!]

Name: Taktani

Occupation: Part-time scribe, full-time general annoyance

Race: Tauren

Class: Druid (feral)

Age: 20

Group affiliations: Horde (citizen), Cenarion Circle (member, though they don’t usually like to admit it)

Known relatives: None admitted to

Earth Online notes: Would you let her on EO? Seriously? She’s heard of Earth Online, and watched over Dontrag and Utvoch’s shoulders while they’ve played, but so far everyone has managed to keep her from playing it herself. Mercifully.

First appearance: “Monday mailbag” (first mailbag letter), “Ut’s on first, Tak’s on second” (first full comic appearance)

Key posts and plot points:

• Taktani first wrote in to Garrosh’s mailbag, in her own inimitable fashion, after encountering Utvoch in Mulgore. She continued to write several more times, prompting Garrosh to draw on an invention by Spazzle, the TranslationMaster2000, to try to make sense of her…unique writing style.

• After Mokvar was attacked and incapacitated, Taktani wrote to Garrosh to offer her services as a substitute scribe. The Warchief…politely declined. She caught up with Garrosh in Pandaria in “Ut’s on first, Tak’s on second,” eventually winning a begrudging appointment to scribe duty. As you can imagine, she was quite thoroughly excited. Since then, she’s been called upon to provide transcripts of some of Garrosh’s conversations, though Garrosh has needed to maintain a certain measure of diligence to prevent her from indulging too heavily in artistic license.

• Early on, Tak befriended Dontrag and Utvoch (or, as she calls them, “Mr. D and Mr. U”), who generally try (with limited success, not unlike everything else they try to do) to watch out for her. She appears to get along better with Utvoch than Dontrag, but it’s hard to tell for sure, since…really…is there anyone she doesn’t like?

• Hold that thought. She doesn’t like Malkorok very much. Because even Taktani’s generosity of spirit has its limits.

• Upon first arriving in Pandaria, Taktani met the hozen flight master Tak-Tak, whose name puzzled her considerably (and perhaps set off the closest thing Tak could experience to a crisis of identity). Since then, Tak appears to be suffering from ongoing confusion about how names work in Pandaria, as evidenced by her recurring impulse to repeat people’s names (i.e., Mr. Warchief-chief).

• In one mailbag letter, Tak noted that her birthday was “yesterday.” The mailbag was posted on November 5; depending on how long prior to the mailbag she sent the letter, that would place her birthday sometime in late October to early November.

• Taktani is based on the kitty druid of longtime reader and commenter Inuki. Many thanks for letting me use and elaborate on the comedic gold mine that is Tak’s boundless innocence, and for all your ongoing contributions to her presence in the blog (see below for more of them!).

In her own words:

Describe your relationship with your mother or your father. Was it good? Bad? Were you spoiled rotten, ignored? Do you still get along now, or no?

I played outside lots and lots! My parents didn’t like when I brought my toys home though. They yelled about mud and stains and other stuff like that. I haven’t seen them in a while.

Name one scar you have, and tell us where it came from. If you don’t have any, is there a reason?

I have a little scar right here on my face. Do you see it, Mr. Interview Person? See? Right there! I scratched myself with my claws the first time I turned into a cat! I forgot I had claws! It’s right there, under my eye!

How vain are you? Do you find yourself attractive?

Yes? No? Maybe? I don’t know. Everyone looks all nervous when they see me. Does that mean I’m pretty?

Describe your happiest memory.

I got to meet Mr. Warchief Sir! It was a great day! He let me pounce on him! Then he made me his scribe! Or maybe he made me his scribe, and then I pounced on him. I forget. It was something like that, though! Mr. D and Mr. U and Mr. Monkey and lots of other people were there! Yay!

Is there one event or happening you would like to erase from your past? Why?

No? Why would I? Nothing bad happens to me!

[Fate protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise.]

What’s your favorite ice cream flavor? Color? Song? Flower?

ALL THE ICE CREAM!! Purple. No, blue. No… ooh butterfly!

Who do you trust?

<blink>

<blink>

Everyone? Is there a reason I shouldn’t?

Can you define a turning point in your life? Multiples are acceptable.

The day Mr. Warchief Sir asked me to be his scribe! And the day I left home.

How are you with technology? Super savvy, or way behind the times? Letters or e-mail?

Technology? You mean like the keyboard Mr. D is yelling about? It’s shiny!

How do you react to temperature changes such as extreme heat and cold?

I have fur! I jump in the water if I’m hot and I don’t get cold. Splash! OOH and I can turn into a fish too. Or is it a seal? Or maybe a… I’m not sure. A swimmy thing!

Are you an early morning bird or a night owl?

I’m a bird, but not an owl. Does that make me an early morning bird?

Are there any blood relatives that you are particularly close with, besides the immediate ones? Cousins, uncles, grandfathers, aunts, etc. Are there any others that you practically consider a blood relative?

Not really? I like Mr. D and Mr. U, and Mr. Warchief Sir!

What does you desk/workspace look like? Are you neat or messy?

<looks around the desk, covered with inkstained pawprints EVERYWHERE>

Um… I think it looks okay. It doesn’t look messy to you, does it?

Are you a good cook? What’s your favorite recipe?

Does cheese count even if I don’t cook it? Do you want some cheese, Mr. Interview Person? I can go get you some! That’s almost like cooking it for you, right?

What’s your preferred means of travel?

Paws and wings!

Do you have any irrational fears?

I don’t like being alone.

What would your cutie mark be?

It’s a dot and a moon on my shoulder! Yay!

Are you superstitious?

I’m super! Aren’t I?

What’s your favorite comfort food, favorite vice, favorite outfit, favorite hot drink, favorite time of year, and favorite holiday?

Cheese! What’s a vice? Fur! Chocolate! Spring! PRESENTS!

How do you smell? Do you wear perfume or cologne?

I smell like a bird! Or a cat! Or a bear! Or a Tauren! Sometimes people tell me I smell like the wrong thing. I think they’re silly!

[A reminder!  Get your Transmogs For Shay submissions in by Saturday, March 1!]