Asante Esiason

[Un-Persona*]

Name: Asante Walt Esiason
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Grade: 12th
School: George Hunter High School
Hobbies and Interests: Basketball, Dragon Ball, fashion

Appearance: 6'11" and 210 pounds, Asante cuts out a lean figure that shows his athleticism. His skin is dark, having Jamaican ancestry from both of his parents. He has noticeable muscle tone from playing basketball for many years. Asante's face is noticeably angular, having a square jawline with high cheekbones and a pointed nose. His eyes are colored a very dark brown and his hair is black. His hair is currently styled into dreads and colored a dark blonde color at the tips which just graze the back of his shoulders. His hair is usually worn to cover up his ears, which stick out a little more than he would like, and is styled into an up-do during games.

Asante's fashion choices ranges from flashy to what some call gaudy. This is due to the influence of street-wear fashion trends that he has submerged himself in. While he has the usual jeans and t-shirts, he prefers to go all out when he can express himself through his clothes. He takes good care of his clothing, especially his shoes. He'll often carry a second pair of shoes in his backpack just in case he thinks the pair he's wearing might get tarnished in some way.

On the day of the abduction Asante was wearing the following: A tiger print track jacket over a bright orange cut-off shirt with the Dragon Ball "Turtle School" emblem designed on the left side of the chest and on the back, black hip-hop style harem pants that are tightened with white laces seamed in place of belt loops, and black Nike basketball shoes with a white trim. For his accessories, Asante was wearing a black triangle scarf that had a skull designed on it when pulled up to the face, with feathery tendrils all-around said scarf. He also had scarlet colored contact lenses, and a pinky ring on his left hand carved from wood and painted the colors of the Jamaican flag. For headgear, Asante was wearing a black snapback hat backwards, where the word "Fight" was written in Japanese Kanji.

Biography: Abe and Tabitha Esiason were high school sweethearts who had managed to stay together throughout college and ended up married by the time they graduated. On the first of August, Asante was born in Chattanooga and would become the couple's first and only child.

Unfortunately, the reason Asante would remain an only child was because Tabitha suffered from complications during the birth, and passed away soon after it was over. Tabitha dealt with high-blood pressure, something that was only made worse by the pregnancy. The delivery took many hours, and the pain and stress caused blood clots to form in her lungs, ultimately leading to heart failure seconds after Asante was born. Heartbroken without his other half, Abe found himself in a difficult situation of having to raise a child by himself and without a lot of financial help. This led to Abe working long hours as a data entry clerk, while Asante spent most of his time at a youth center. This continued until he got to middle school, and was considered mature enough to take care of himself at the house. However, during this time, both Asante and Abe developed poor diets consisting of mostly microwave dinners and fast food due to Abe being too tired and untrained to cook many home meals, leading to them both becoming overweight and unhealthy in Asante's early childhood.

Asante's weight issues led to him becoming sensitive about his body, especially as he often compared himself to the basketball players on TV that he looked up to during his nights alone at the house. This led to Asante having to deal with some bullying, mostly of the verbal and emotional kind, as he was still big and strong enough his bullies would avoid most physical confrontations. His size, as his height was just as noticeable as his weight, was used against him, earning him nicknames such as "Gigantor" and "The Big A".  Abe was aware of his son's problems, but went a long time unsure how to help, since he was dealing with the same weight issues and not a lot of time to offer. Abe could mostly offer some words of reassurance that words couldn't really hurt him, and that he didn't need to let some harsh ones really affect him. While he did contact his teachers about the issue, and their was some attempt to prevent the other children from bullying Asante by talking to those involved, not much could be actively done considering the lack of evidence and Asante becoming less willing to talk about his problems as it continued.

Having to grow up without his biological mother, Asante often wondered about what she was really like, only asking his father and grandparents occasionally knowing it was a sore spot for them. Due to this, Asante often distanced himself from older female figures in his life, such as his teachers, his friend's moms, and any potential girlfriends of his dad's, with the exception being his grandmothers due to familiarity. Since many of his teachers in Elementary school were female, he didn't have too many he could talk to about his school issues, as he felt the male teachers would react similarly to how his father would – meaning that wasn't much they could do at the end of the day. While this has mitigated some as he's grown older, he does have a habit of keeping authoritative females at an arm's length.

Deciding that something needed to be done, Abe decided to play games with him at the basketball court and change their diet. It was difficult for a while, as Asante felt embarrassed being outside, not being very skilled at the game and his insecurities making him feel like everybody was looking at him. Abe had to carry his son through a lot of the pain, having to talk to him out of quitting numerous times, telling him to look towards the men on TV that he looked up to so much, using them as inspiration to keep on going. It wasn't till about 5th grade that Asante was able to shake off his worries to make some real progress and got the courage to sign up for an actual basketball team. Even though he was still hefty and slow, he was also very tall, and all his games with his father gave him enough know-how to compete. His height and body shape made him a good fit for the center position, something he has committed himself to this day as the starting varsity center for George Hunter High. Once he got into high school, Asante and his father had both gone past their prior weight issues and became happy with how they looked. This lifted their quality of life in many ways, considering that not too long after they began to change themselves, Abe was able to gain a promotion at his company that left him with a bigger paycheck and more times on his hands. As a freshman, Asante experienced a growth in popularity that had steadily built up during his middle school days.

Asante's popularity wasn't entirely welcomed. Being in shape gave Asante some assurance about his image, but he was still embarrassed about his past self and some of the ridicule he had faced. This led to him challenging varsity players on the court even while he was still only a freshman and getting into fights, physical and verbal, with some of the other students who made fun of him. As of now, Asante has mostly got these responses out of his system, but can still be a bit vague about his history, and doesn't care much for putting on an act of being a popular kid. While his weight was something he was ashamed of, his height was something he saw as a positive so any jeers thrown at him about usually bounce off of him, and he generally assumes people are staring at him because of his clothes. Still, he's made sure to leave his personal problems to the side for the better part of his high school life, especially during the basketball season. While not being very flexible or having the most graceful footwork, Asante is great on defense and uses his size to his advantage. He's also developed thick skin towards any trash talk or mind games that might come his way, preferring to use his skills on the court to make a point, especially with his ability to dunk.

Besides his love for basketball, Asante also loves the Dragon Ball franchise, a show that he grew up with around the same time. It started when he was in Elementary, with Dragon Ball Z being shown on Cartoon Network's Toonami time slot. While he was fond of many shows that aired with it, such as Yu Yu Hakusho or Naruto, DBZ stood out to him the most, and has stuck with him the longest as such. He found that the art style was very unique compared to other anime, and the power shown in the anime was above anything he had seen, being nearly iconic to him. Asante enjoyed the character's capacity to give it their all even when the odds were heavily stacked against them, no matter the cost. It was one of the other things besides basketball he had found that he could connect to people with, and so he delved into its history and found himself as a fan of the series. This still holds true to today, with Asante starting to gather an assortment of paraphernalia associated with the series over the years, very slowly building up a collection that he's very proud of.

In part of both wanting to change who he is physically and stay true to himself emotionally, Asante has grown an interest in fashion, namely in that of "street-wear", with an emphasis on the 90's retro and hip-hop culture subdivision. His range of experimentation can go anywhere from simple skater mimicry to lose and baggy hoodies with eight zippers and 80's anime filters. It mostly depends on what he thinks would look the coolest that day. Asante generally makeshifts his own style with thrift shops and store sales, or improvising with some of his dad's retro clothes from back in the day, given that finding clothes in his size can be a struggle at times. Asante often saves up his allowance to spend it all on a particularly expensive item, or makes a stockpile list he can share among his family members when his birthday or Christmas is coming up soon when he has to juggle between new clothes and Dragon Ball merchandise. Not only at school, but Asante has taken to sharing his style on social media, namely Instagram and Twitter. He's built a loyal following on these sites, which has encouraged him to stick with his fashion choices. He's even been inspired to start sketching some of his own designs now and again, though none of them have really made it past the idea phase.

Right now, Asante is feeling alright with how his life is going. He's been accepted to the University of Tennessee on a scholarship, planning to play basketball there while he figures out what to major in. His grades span from C's to A's, just managing to keep a 3.0 GPA. His core class skills are all average, mostly boosting his GPA through his electives. The only source of consistent friction in his life comes from the introduction of his step-mother, Britney, into his household. It's mostly a case of boundaries, as Asante has pulled up a bigger wall between himself and her than when she was just his father's girlfriend. While not actively repelling her, Asante tries to keep his interactions with her curt and backs off from any affection or assistance she tries to give. Britney does want Asante to see her as a mother figure in his life, and it's apparent that he's against the idea. Dinners at home have had tension in the air for a while now, even with the news of Britney's recent pregnancy. His father has tried to mend this by talking to Asante, trying to get him to open to her more, but most of this falls on deaf ears and a shrug. As a result, Asante has been spending more time going out at night and traveling to parties and socializing much more with his peers than he ever has before, which is something Abe actually approves of. Right now, his father is hoping Asante will get over it as he rolls off to college and matures a bit more.

Advantages: Asante is athletic, being strong and tall. His taciturn attitude could help in that he wouldn't be as easily manipulated or get too attached too any potential allies he didn't know before hand, and this applies even more to girls. He also won't be easily riled by any choice words thrown at him.
Disadvantages: His attitude could be a double-edged sword, and might hinder him in the early parts of the game. His inflexibility, size, and clothes could also make him an easier target to hit than most. Asante also has strong opinions on his own image, which would come into conflict with taking part in the game and having it change him, with potential cause for emotional and mental stress.