Rochelle Ayers*

[Sunnybunny]

Name: Rochelle Ayers
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Grade: 12th
School: Aurora High School
Hobbies and Interests: Gaming, Medicine, Literature

Appearance: Rochelle is a bright-skinned African-American girl, with reddish-brown hair that can best be described as unruly. It's long and curly, and it tends to look nice, she just doesn't really know how to style it. Sometimes she'll wear a baseball cap, but those are the only kinds of hats she wears. Her eyes are a light amber color, are deep-set in her face, and she has bags under them constantly. She's five foot nine inches, and rather lanky and a bit awkward. She weighs 112 pounds, so she's slender, but she's not really concerned about her looks. She doesn't wear much makeup but she does wear flavored lip balms, and her face is very clear. Her teeth are straight, she takes good care of them. It's more of a health thing than anything else.

This lack of care about her appearance carries over into her lack of fashion sense. Her wardrobe generally consists of t-shirts with various video game mascots and catch-phrases and jeans or shorts. Occasionally she'll wear something a bit dressier if she's going straight to work after school, but usually that's just a dress.

Biography: Rochelle Ayers was born to Tanya and Abram Ayers on New Year's Day. They weren't the richest couple, but he owned a clinic, so Rochelle grew up comfortably enough in a small house in the suburbs of Seattle. She was a playful girl, but preferred games to sports. It started out as just board games, then her dad bought her a refurbished Sega Genesis and the rest was history. She was obsessed, but her dad was indulgent and her mother was distracted by her own regrets. Abram was an older man, and she felt she could have done better. Her love for her family dulled to a sort of detachment, and Rochelle was too involved with her games to notice back then.

Her elementary days were not too notable. She was pretty average, so the teachers didn't take a special interest in her. Her dad was hard at work at the clinic a lot of the time, and her mother worked part-time to stay home and take care of her during the evening. Tanya was dutiful, and was never abusive, but she wasn't very loving either. It seemed like spending time with her daughter was like some kind of chore, just like cooking or cleaning. Rochelle didn't know why, but she got the feeling that her mom just didn't feel like being there.

Middle school was much the same. Rochelle was an average student, an excellent gamer, and a daddy's girl. She had friends, but they were more casual than anything. She kept them at arm's length just like her mother kept her. One night when she was in the sixth grade, Rochelle woke up to her father in tears and her mother's things gone. Abram never saw it coming, he'd loved his wife very much. Rochelle didn't share his high opinion of the woman. She was torn between being glad she was gone and bitter that she hadn't offered an explanation or a goodbye. Fortunately, Tanya's family loved both Abram and his daughter very much, and remained in contact with them, although they lived in Georgia. It kept the girl from being completely devoured by her anger, but it still affected her deeply.

Her efforts in school were doubled. She was determined not to let her father down in any respect, and she'd decided she was going to take over the clinic when she grew up. Her father was older, after all. He needed her there, and just being at the front desk wouldn't be good enough. No, she was going into med school, despite not being brilliant and despite not having a genuine interest in saving lives. She had enough love for her father to cover that, and enough drive to bring her grades up to A's. This was, perhaps, the good thing that came out of the incident. But she still didn't really care about school, just saw it as a means to an end.

Games, her hobby as a child, had become a passion as a teen. Her dad got her every system that came out, and she enjoyed them all. The console wars were just stupid. Sonic, Mario, Master Chief, they all had their charms. But her unspoken bitterness about her mother's departure was vented through her game play. She cursed at the screen, she screamed when the computer got a cheap shot, and when she had the occasional friend over war was declared. Rochelle didn't like losing, and the older she got the less she lost. Those causal friendships stayed causal, and came and went. The only people that were a constant in her life were her dad and her extended family. Abram worried about his daughter, but he didn't know where to begin to help her. He couldn't see past his own pain, but he loved her and took care of her the best he could.

In the eighth grade, she started dating Josh Ricter, a guy that had been bugging her about it for a while. It wasn't as much of a relationship as something to do, in her eyes, but she grew fond of him. He had enough sense to play co-op instead of challenge her, and he was as into the 'gamer culture' as she was. She started getting paid for helping her dad out at the front desk of the clinic, and used that money for customizing her hardware. But with Josh, she actually did other things besides studying, gaming, and working. Sometimes they even just hung out at the library and chatted over books. She liked epics, and especially loved Moby Dick. Soon, a collection of books joined her library, and she was pretty content with her life. While she still was intense while gaming, she was relaxed outside of it, and made closer friendships at school.

This continued until the middle of her tenth grade year, even though Josh ended up going to a different school. Another thing they liked to do together was go to gaming tournaments, and she was like a kid again while there. There was something so pure about it, the spirit of competition, the skill of the combatants. What she didn't realize at this point is that she had the skills to compete with the best of them. Josh did, though, and encouraged her to sign up for one. She nearly won it, but her controller shorted out during a crucial moment, and she threw it in anger. It broke the tv, and she was tossed out.

Afterwards, her and Josh got into a huge argument. He couldn't deal with someone with that little control of their temper, and she kindly told him to go jump off a cliff. After all, she'd borrowed the controller from him, it was his fault, and she certainly didn't need anyone else that couldn't stick around. He broke up with her, and Rochelle didn't stop him. But she went home and cried her eyes out. She did love him, never told him, and it was too late now. She simply didn't have it in her to go back to him. That was her last time competing for a prize, and the last time she competed under her own name. Online gaming was now her special place, where she would wail on people without actually hurting anyone or being judged. Her handle was and is grandungodlycaptain, a reference to her favorite book.

Rochelle is now an A student in all AP classes, and is in the top half of her class. She still doesn't care much for academics, but she works hard for all her grades. She excels at English, and can be found carrying a classic book as often as her PSP. She still works with her dad, and worries about his health, since he tends to overlook it in favor of his patients. With her hobbies and her work ethic, she doesn't get much sleep, and is seen yawning quite a bit. Unsurprisingly, she hangs out with the gamers, even though she doesn't really play with them often. Some people suspect that she isn't that good because of this, but the people who know better advise them against it. She's known as a really chill and cool girl, almost to the point she doesn't care much about anything but dragging her friends off to the latest tournament. This isn't true at all, but she's not inclined to make them believe otherwise. She's been accepted to the University of Washington, a school in the city with a good medical program. She hopes to keep working in the clinic, but she plans on living on campus.

As far as the subject of her mother goes, she's dead to Rochelle. She tells anyone that asks the same, and it's the one thing her and her father will argue over.

Advantages: Rochelle is naturally competitive. She simply does not like to lose, despite her attempts to curb that nature. She knows basic first-aid, as a result of working in a clinic. Her relationships are positive for the most part, simply because she doesn't go out of the way to make enemies and does go out of the way to control her temper.
Disadvantages: Though she does work to keep it in control, she does have a cut-throat nature and a hot temper. The game will bring out the worst of this. She has sleeping problems, as a result of many late nights. She does have friends, but she also has latent trust issues, and she could mistrust allies because of it.