The Surfing Elf

[New Dornalia]

Ms. Horst posing in "medieval" clothing. She hated every minute of it, and it shows.

A surfing elf. Never thought you'd hear those two words at once, right? Well, in New Dornalia, it's possible, and here she is.

Tabitha Horst was born on the Big Island of Hawaii, in Waimea. Her parents were part of a group of Afrikaner Elves which were brought to the Big Island to help work the ranching industry there, owing to their legendary cattle working skills. Life was simple, and generally filled with working on the range. It was also one which started off with some difficulty due to the fact the Afrikaner Elves' culture and ideology was a bit different than their Hawaiian neighbors. However, differences were smoothed out, and the experiment continued, even as the Elves of Waimea continued to try and preserve their customs.

Into this milleu, Tabitha was born. Attending school and working on the range during the summers, she had a love of the outdoors right from the start--a love which wasn't hard to have considering the Big Island's beautiful scenery. However, it wasn't until she first tried out surfing that Tabitha became "the Surfing Elf." Surfing on Oahu during her time studying engineering and agriculture at the University of Hawaii's Manoa campus, she got hooked on the sport and began surfing more often, even moonlighting in some regional amateur competitions.

After college, she performed her National Service as an officer in the Corps of Engineers, assigned to work on levees and other agricultural projects around the CRE, including assisting in the supervision of Konoha County's contributions to the Hardened Agricultural Measures Act as part of the DoD's Field Supervisory Teams. After her two year stint, Tabitha looked destined for a life with the Dept. of Agriculture, based on Honolulu, trying to make sure imported fruits and vegetables didn't interfere with the local ecosystem and generally excelling at statistics and analysis and generally being bored.

And then one day, she answered an ad in an internal newsletter looking for "Skilled analysts with at least two years of statistical experience and college degree or equivalent," posted by the External Research and Intelligence Section. Answering the ad, Tabitha joined ERIS, underwent training on The Farm, and after a short posting working in the Analysis section handling statistics involving food trade, Tabitha applied for a transfer to fieldwork--in her words, she was getting "really fucking bored."

After passing a Practical Qualification Course and proving that her skills were undiminished by office work, Tabitha became a part of the Department of Field Studies and Observation, with a cover story as being a member of the Dept. of Agriculture.

It should be noted that like all Afrikaner Elves, she has access to an ancestral rifle of some sort, as they have a tendency to pass down an ancestral firearm kept in the family for generations to come, obeying the Biblical command that a "strong man armed keepeth his house." In her case, she has access to an Inch-pattern FAL rifle, with the handguards redone in Hawaiian koa wood in Australian pattern, with markings on it corresponding to Hawaiian and Afrikaner Elven cultural symbology. True elves not needing scopes, she keeps to using the irons and only mounts a laser tracker to use explosive cartridges when needed.

There's also a custom made rifle she uses, modeled after the Australian L1A1 "Bitch" Gun used by Australian SASR during the Vietnam War--one she made to pass her final exam and named "The Grasscutter." Cut down to just before a shortened gas block and modified to fire on fully automatic, it uses 30rd L2A1 magazines jungle taped, with koa wood furniture and a laser designator to make it compatible with explosive cartridges installed in a foregrip. There's no flash hider, and no subtlety. Just big balls of fire and lots of noise. Very shooty.