Tyrese "T" Paramore

[Megami*]

Name: Tyrese Paramore
Gender: Male
Age: Nineteen [19]
Grade: Senior [12th]
School: Southridge High School
Hobbies and Interests: Basketball, Big Brother, Car Club, Paintball, Children's Community School, L.I.N.K., Track and Field

Appearance: Standing at 6'3" and weighing in at 223 pounds, Tyrese Paramore is a force to be reckoned with. Being of African-American descent, Tyrese's skin is a deep chocolate in color. His dark black hair is always shaved very short so as not to get in his way. His eyes are a deep, piercing brown in color. Overall, Tyrese is a pretty average looking young man. However, to Tyrese, being just average is a miracle. A horrible incident a while back left his face all but destroyed and it was only after thousands upon thousands of dollars in plastic surgery that his face was restored to something besides a deformed shell. Part of his teeth aren't real, but you'd never be able to tell. He has a large scar across the entirety of his left cheek that was unrepairable, but other than that, you'd never know that Tyrese's entire face is a reconstruction.

Biography: My name is Tyrese Paramore, but for as long as I can remember, my friends have called me "T". I guess I had an average upbringing. I never knew my father. Mom said it was better that way, so I never questioned it. I mean, she was prob'ly right. Mama's is a damn hard worker. For as long as I can remember, she's worked two and three jobs at a time to make sure me and my brothers had the stuff we wanted. Guess she didn't want me growing up like her. From what Nana Lu says, they had it pretty hard back in the day. It's funny. Mom never knew her dad either. Must run in the family or something. So yeah, the point is, my mother's an amazing woman in every sense of the word. She's someone I really admire. I mean, she and Nana Lu are the reason that I'm the person I am today. I live here, in Highland Beach, California, with my mom and Nana Lu. We've lived in the same house since Mom was little, so it's a little on the old side, but hey, home is home, ya know? I'd never want to live anywhere else, 'cause this is where I belong. This is where my brothers and I grew up. Well, I say grew up, but I'm the only one that's grown. Kobe's twelve going on thirty. The boy thinks he knows everything about everything, at least until Mama or Nana Lu knock some sense into him. Then there's Jamari. He's seven. He's a lot less of a handful than Kobe. We used to be best buds, but we've kind of grown apart since the accident.

Anyway, there's not much to tell about my younger years. I've been a basketball star from the moment I was conceived, that's what Mom always says. I was shootin' hoops as soon as I was old enough to walk, and I was good. Maybe not the best, but damn good. My whole childhood pretty much revolved around playin' basketball and hangin' out with friends. Not very exciting, is it? The older I got, I got into some other hobbies, like Car Club. I'm a big street rod fan, and for whatever reason, it surprises people. I'm a pretty good mechanic, at least in my own opinion. I like to tinker and work on engines and stuff whenever I've got some free time. I also discovered a love for paintball and even track... and shut up, I don't wanna hear any stupid jokes about a black man being a good runner, it ain't funny. So yeah... childhood in general was pretty uninteresting. I had a normal life, a normal family... about as normal as you can get these days, anyway. We weren't swimmin' in money, but we weren't goin' without either. All in all, things were pretty good. Really, life was about as normal as you could get... at least, until it happened. Let me be the first person to tell you... one action, one breath, one instant... it can change your life forever.

I guess it was about a year ago... there was this big party, down on the Island. Everyone who was anyone at Southridge High was there, so of course, you know your boy was down there too. Maybe that was my first mistake. Things were goin' good, everybody was livin' it up, everybody was havin' some harmless, innocent fun, ya know. Yeah well, it wasn't so harmless to everybody. My girl called, so I headed outta the house so I could hear her. I never expected what I'd find when I ventured down the shoreline a little ways. Soon as I got off the phone, I heard a girl screamin' so I decided to check it out, make sure everything was okay, you know? Anybody would. Yeah well, this girl? This girl was far from okay.

Even before I could see her, I knew it was gonna be bad, just from the sound of her voice. I just wasn't expectin' to see what I did. I wasn't expectin' anything that happened after I stepped outta the bushes. There's the girl, of course, and then there's this guy... I guess he's drunk, I dunno what his trip is. Anyway, he's tryin' to get some, and this girl is obviously not interested. He doesn't seem to get that, and he's tryin' to force himself on her anyway. I did what any normal person would do in the situation, I jumped in and told him to back the fuck up. It got kinda physical from there, because this guy's trying to tell me that she wants it and she just doesn't know what's good for her. My mama taught me how to respect a lady, so I just wasn't hearin' it.

We mixed it up a little bit, and the guy wound up leavin'. I decided it was best to just take the girl home. She was pretty shaken up by the whole incident, understandably, and I just wasn't in the mood to party after the whole thing. Kinda killed the night. Anyway, we started walkin' back toward the house... we wouldn't make it that far. At least, I wouldn't. We were takin' our time getting back, I was tryin' to talk to her, calm her down and stuff, 'cause she was pretty upset about the whole thing. That's when the guy shows up again. At first, I didn't think he wanted to start more shit. He seemed a lot more... docile... than when I first ran into him. Stupid me, I didn't peg him for a threat. I didn't have a clue what I was gettin' myself into at the time.

Guy comes up... doesn't even say a word to me. Gets within like ten feet of me, points a fuckin' gun in my face, and pulls the trigger. The next thing I know, I'm lying in a pool of my own blood with a big fuckin' hole in my face. Guy turns around and walks off. Just walks off, like it was nothin'. By this point, I can't do a damn thing. Hell, at this point, I'm lucky that I'm still breathin', by some miracle of God. Guess the big man had better plans for me. I just wasn't destined to die layin' on the ground right there. Then again, if that girl hadn't been with me, I prob'ly would've. She called 911, and thank God we were in the rich part of town, so the ambulance was right over.

Not that I knew any of that. Not at the time, anyway. I wasn't conscious. Somebody else had to fill me in on the details later. I was in the hospital for a long, long time after that. They didn't think I was gonna live at first. I went into a coma. I've got some awesome classmates though, man. The story about me "saving" this girl from getting raped and gettin' shot in the face for my efforts got around fast, and a lot of people donated money toward my medical expenses. Somehow, maybe it was sheer determination on my part, I pulled through. Comin' out of the coma was the easy part by comparison, I guess. Times after that were real hard. Thanks to all the money donated by my classmates and the people around town, I was able to have reconstruction done on my face. I look normal now, but considering I barely had a face left after the incident, "normal" means somethin' on a whole 'nother level to me.

I finally recovered from the surgeries and went back to school. It's crazy how much your popularity skyrockets when people think you're a hero. I felt like a hero. I felt like I had done somethin' special, and I would've paid the ultimate price for savin' that girl if I'd had to... but I didn't. Most of all, I learned just how special life was, and just how amazing even the most normal day can be. After that, I joined L.I.N.K. (Leaders Introducing New Kids) and helped show the new kids around the school and stuff. I also joined our Children's Community School program. I took a lot more interest in human life in general, and I valued my own life a lot more. I'm gettin' back into sports and stuff now, and things are just now startin' to go back to bein' regular again, and I couldn't be more thankful.

In conclusion, my name is Tyrese Paramore, and that is my story.

Advantages: He's athletic, he's popular, and he's revered as a hero throughout town for his courageous actions. He values life on a whole 'nother level than most people, because he understands how valuable it truly is.

Disadvantages: Some people are jealous of T. Nobody's perfect, and everybody has enemies. T values human life, but he also hates to see it wasted. It may not be intentional, but he looks down on people who waste their lives doing things like abusing drugs. He's so involved in his own beliefs that he sometimes forces them on other people, which oftentimes doesn't work in his favor. Also, considering he's had so many surgeries over the past year, he's not in 100% condition physically.