Post by krispini on Apr 2, 2018 21:47:35 GMT -6
“I think I'll be okay.”
NAME
Vivian Lai
AGE
24
GENDER
Female
BIRTH DATE
05 / 25 / 1995 (Gemini)
OCCUPATION
Paramedic
LIKES
- Dogs! She loves those fluffy beasts, and has a soft spot for big dogs especially.
- Going to the gym! Exercise! Sparring! Lifting! Vivian is a total gym rat. Her gym membership is one of the most important things to her.
- Incredibly dangerous things. Incredibly stupid things. Incredibly dangerous and stupid things. Completely stupid, dangerous, downright idiotic stunts. Backflipping off bridges into the river, diving off of second-story landings onto a first-floor couch, opening locked doors by barrelling your entire body through them...
Also, ultimate frisbee while the frisbee is on fire and everyone is drunk and has no shoes on. - Riding her motorcycle. The danger is part of the appeal! (No it isn’t. She’s seen enough accidents to actually be a very careful and diligent driver.) Also, it’s cheaper and faster. She enjoys working on her bike when the need arises.
- Green apple scent shampoo. Mmm, artificial sweetness.
- Oranges and orange-colored objects. It's a nice color!
- Eating unfathomable combinations of spicy food that would be near-lethal to others. Viv gets food discounts at Loco’s purely from near-daily patronage— she routinely haunts after it getting smashed or when she’s tired of eating healthy. Some of the questionable menu items are probably thanks to her massive, strange orders. Her usual is Hunan beef with spicy chicharonnes, salsa verde, and sliced jalapenos, all rolled into a sriracha-slathered corn tortilla burrito with extra chili oil on top. It’s called “The 24-Hour Shift Despair Special.”
- De-stressing through drinking, dancing, partying and the like. Mind-numbing, adrenaline-filled activities to forget about life for just a little bit.
- Weed. Vivian has a medical card for stress-induced insomnia and tries to smoke only with friends she knows won't let her do something lethally dangerous. It's easy for her to lose her inhibitions while drinking, but she has hard limits around smoking and practices a lot of self-restraint to not slip into drug abuse.
- Horror movies, which she can sit through and scathingly comment on without being scared even once. Viv likes seeing other people gets scared and pointing out obvious errors in the film.
- Astrophysics, and the universe, to a degree. It’s not as if she wants to work for NASA for anything— it just makes her feel a little more connected to her mother.
DISLIKES
- Incredibly fancy high dining. You get, like, a tiny amount of food that just tastes like any other food, maybe even worse. Just go get takeout, man.
- Having to go through physical therapy. It’s just— ugh, painful, exhausting, embarrassing… she never thinks about it until she gets there, but it sucks.
- Snobs. This includes rich people, hipsters, smartass students, and others who just can’t shut their mouths about how lowly other people are. She harbors a special kind of hate for people who think she’s just an all brawn and no brains waitress going nowhere in life. She knows she doesn’t look like an EMT, whatever the fuck they’re supposed to look like. No matter how idiotic Vivian may seem, she can still keep you alive long enough to get you to the goddamn hospital. Vivian dislikes elitists and always comes to the defense of those who don’t do the whole 4-year college to get a degree in some fuckin’ STEM shit.
- Any subject that isn’t science. She still can't believe people actually major in math of all things. English is her absolute worst subject and she cannot write at all.
- Confining workplaces and school in general. Routine work makes Vivian restless to the point where she can no longer focus, and she is fairly sure she’d put a hole through the wall of a cubicle if she ever had to work an office job. Also, the school system is dumb and she hates stupid, pointless assigned busywork.
- Cooking. She… cannot cook for shit. All toast ends up burnt. All soup ends up scalded. All boiling water straight up disappears. The most she can do is blend peanut butter and fruit smoothies and subsist off those.
- Laundry. More than a decade, and she still hates the damn chore. Vivian is horrible at folding clothes, too, and they often have wrinkles in them.
- Jeans. They are so constricting. She’ll wear shorts whenever she can, but if Viv has to wear pants, they’ll be motorcycle pants or athletic wear.
- Enclosed spaces make her very nervous and anxious. Never send her to get anything in a closet.
- Being caught off guard. She always tries to be prepared, but some things are just too surprising. Vivian hates it when that happens.
PERSONALITY
+ [ Boisterous, Sociable, Loyal, Spontaneous, Observant, Competent, Self-Assured, Decisive ]
- [ Outspoken, Headstrong, Unruly, Instigatory, Escapist, Blithe, Insensitive, Aggressive ]
- [ Outspoken, Headstrong, Unruly, Instigatory, Escapist, Blithe, Insensitive, Aggressive ]
Vivian possesses the key qualities that any paramedic could wish for— amiable, capable, well-performing under pressure, she is quick to befriend, and often becomes involved in the lives of anyone she talks to. Observation comes easily to her, and her memory is fairly good; Vivian is excellent at remembering people's faces, names, and quirks, keeping her social circle abnormally large. Perceptive and self-assured, she’s disarming to even the most uptight, reticent people. The perfect balance of taking your job seriously, but not yourself. Her ability to be decisive and stay focused in even the most stressful of situations lends her an air of reassurance and control that few others have.
. . .
But she’s not some idiot who just goes around carefree, oblivious to the chaos of society; life ticks Vivian off more a lot more than she lets on. Just because she can do something doesn’t mean she won’t be pissed off about it. Her agreeable veneer is mostly one born out of the countless customer service jobs she’s worked. In reality, Viv is bold, assertive— when she wants to say something, she will make it known. Her big mouth has never been her best friend. She knows what she fights for and fights tooth and nail. Few people can dissuade her from a decision she’s made and actively working towards; if anything, telling her to do something will make her do just the opposite.
Though she is not reckless, the daily routine of life stifles her and makes her incredibly restless. She’s adrenaline-loving to a fault, a trait that’s exacerbated even more by her job, and indulges herself a little too much... drinking, partying, escaping her problems through brief, temporary reprieves and attempts at self-medication…. They’re mostly coping mechanisms to deal with the combined stress of her job and the current invasion at hand. There’s stuff that’s constantly on her mind.
Despite constantly forging ahead at her own tempo, Viv finds time for the people she likes within the chaos of life, only to make it even more chaotic. If she is quick to befriend other people, she is (unfortunately) equally quick to drag them into whatever horrible idea she has next. To those more reserved, Vivian is their worst nightmare; someone who gets friendly way too quickly and shoves them into situations that test the limits of their tolerance and their boundaries. Despite her temperamental shortcomings, Viv cares about those who are close to her. She’ll laugh if you fall down, but help pick you up, reliable and loyal— in the end, she never wishes ill upon anyone, though lately, she’s starting to realize how abrasive her personality is. It seems she’s becoming a bit more reclusive, reaching to only a few people in her inner circle or keeping to herself. Or perhaps that’s just the consequence of finally growing up?
BIOGRAPHY
- Vietnamese Chinese-American.
- Born to Sun Lai (27, Deceased) and Don Lai (45) in California, with her twin brother, Vance Lai (24). Moved to Printy County when adopted by their aunt, Huan Lai (43), at 6 years old, as their mother had passed and their father had always been out of the picture.
- Vivian did not do especially well in school and regularly got into trouble. Often overshadowed by the genius of her brother and naturally disobedient under the public school system, she constantly acted out before her mom finally forced her to take kickboxing classes at the local gym in an attempt to give her a healthier way to vent. While unorthodox, the method worked (but missed out on an opportunity for Vivian to go through therapy and learn better coping mechanisms).
- As Vivian and Vance graduated and moved out together, Huan got married at 37, bringing wife Jasmit Grewal (46) and daughter Sukhdeep Grewal (13) into the family. The moms having dated prior for quite some time, the twins have a fairly good relationship with their stepmom, but Viv is closer to her stepsister.
- Moved to Acacia Town with Vance with no room left in their family home and painfully commuted to Printy County Community College every day, as there was no longer room in her family home. After a few tries, she got certified as a basic EMT, then, as an intermediate EMT. She continued to take paramedic classes at Kyles-Brigg University while working as an on-campus EMT and a part-time waitress.
- Currently lives in a townhouse in Larkspur City with roommate Andrew Carter, having moved to be closer to her new job as a paramedic at Fleming Hospital.
- Is a highly active member of the Object Cru.
- She and her brother used to visit their mom’s house in Phlox at least once every week before both Huan and Jasmit disappeared. Vance and his boyfriend currently live with Sukhdeep to make up for their (hopefully) temporary absence. Vivian visits as often as her schedule allows. It's rough.
PERSONAL HISTORY
Vivian and her twin brother Vance were born unexpected and (figuratively) attached at the hip. Neither of their parents were truly prepared to take care of them. Sun and Don were both wrapped up in their own careers and ambitions— marriage itself was already a struggle. The pregnancy was unexpected, and the twins, even more so, but Don’s decision to pack up and leave? Sun honestly could not say she was surprised. Unlike her husband, she wasn’t completely heartless and tried to raise them as best she could, but her demanding career as an astrophysicist for NASA left the twins rarely seeing their mother and constantly sticking to each other for the majority of their childhood. Growing guilt, sadness, stress, overwork, and a family history of heart issues led to Sun dying suddenly from heart complications. Vivian chooses not to remember much.
The twins were left to the rest of their family.
Apparently, like their father, everyone else had a problem with commitment, too. Child welfare contacted nearly every single adult with blood connections to them before one person finally stepped up; Huan, the youngest sister out of all of Don’s 5 siblings. 26 and ambitious, she seemed to have no desire to be weighed down by a family, but disillusionment about her career as a pro MMA fighter and a moral responsibility to take care of her niece and nephew made her the new mother of the twins.
The extent of Vivian’s happier, clearer memories begins the moment her new mom takes them to her run-down, different, but cozy home in Phlox Town, Printy County.
Vivian never did incredibly well in school, both from constant disobedience during class and crippling comparisons to her brother. The contrast between the twins becomes apparent as soon as they’re enrolled in school. Vance was one of those genius types who read books all the time, studied above their grade level for fun, aced every one of their tests, and most of all, was a total teacher’s pet… the exact opposite of Vivian. She was not necessarily dumb; in fact, Viv liked learning new things and was initially very hungry for knowledge, but the real trouble came from the fact that she could never actually focus in class and learn anything from her teachers, because they were always sending her out of the room or to the principal’s office. Everything she tried to change her behavioral issues never seemed to work; being quieter, attempting to do her homework, not speaking up as much. Tiny elementary-age Vivian never figured out what was wrong with her. But even if she did finally figure out how to be “good,” what was the point if she would never be as good as her brother, who everyone just loved to compare her to? Vivian attempted to put her best effort forward, but in the end, she stopped trying. Shoved into the expected dichotomy for twins, Vance became the “better” twin— always got good grades, obeyed all school rules, did his homework— while Vivian easily slid into the role of the tougher, cooler, stronger, lazier older sibling. (Popped out a whole minute earlier than Vance, haha.) She was never the most popular kid in class, but she was carefree, social, happy to share snacks; Vivian had a bigger social base than her reclusive brother, but indifference over schoolwork and a blithe disregard for school rules didn’t make her popular with teachers at all. The many parent-teacher conferences the girl and her mom were subject to didn’t solve her problems, either. Viv’s issues seemed to be exclusive to school, as she was completely happy everywhere outside of it. In fact, her mom wouldn’t have known anything at all if the school never called her, because Vance never told on Vivian and she always acted as if being treated as a nuisance didn’t affect her at all.
(It did, actually. Hurt, too.)
Their mom was caring, devoted, but overall... inexperienced. Huan had no prior experience raising children, and even less dealing with emotional development of all things. So when Viv acted like everything was fine, her mom gave her a pat on the head, a stern, but gentle talking to, and a demand for her to promise to at least try to be better in class. Huan thought this sort of distant, hands-off style of emotional parenting would work, that if she didn’t pressure Vivian to do anything like her own parents had, the girl would eventually find her path on her own. To Vivian, it came off as exasperation, disappointment, contempt— even her own mom was so tired of her shit that she didn’t even care to try. It seemed to be obvious to her that her mom liked her brother more than her, who did nothing but cause trouble, even if it wasn’t the truth. How could she not? Vance was smarter person, a better student, more likely to succeed in life; all things that Huan valued as a pro fighter-turned-engineer. Viv could tell that every parent-teacher conference grated on her nerves. Despite everything, though, they never become bitter towards each other. Vivian deeply cared for her family, and there were incredibly tight bonds between all three of them. Their first years as a family were shaky, with Huan relying on her past earnings to carry them until she found a steady job and both Vivian and Vance getting used to their new lives. The twins were, and always would be, right by each other’s sides, supporting each other through the worst of life’s challenges, and their mom became a part of that dynamic. Both of them had always felt a great sense of debt to her; Huan took them in when she didn’t have to.
So Vivian got a little older, and she thought, alright, maybe now I’ll start trying.
The future was a far-off idea that never lit a fire under her ass. She wasn’t as naturally smart as her brother, and ended up never trying to improve. Vivian, enabled by the idea that Vance was the nerdy “good” twin, spent most of her time doing whatever she thought was fun and didn’t spend any time improving her learning skills in the classroom. When she finally tried to apply herself in school, she struggled. A lot. Viv tried to pay attention in class, tried to finish all her homework on time, tried to wrap her head around lectures and takes good notes, but it was hard. The curriculum was meant for students who had paid attention for the past 5 years, and none of her teachers bothered with tutoring her, already resigned to thinking she would always be a problem child.
Vivian tried, and tried, and tried, until she thought: alright, fuck it.
It was obvious she couldn’t be good at anything, you know, normal… but she was good at being the absolute worst kid around.
The girl morphed from “difficult” to “a force from hell itself.”
Vivian lashed out at school, broke a concerning amount of rules for fun, pointedly ignored her schoolwork, made her teachers’ lives as grueling as possible, turned everything into a power struggle— her original attempt to make her mom proud turned into an endeavor to simply prove that she was good at something, anything. The differences between the twins became even more obvious the older they got. Vance naturally excelled in school while Vivian lagged behind. Her natural aptitude for socializing seemed small next to his slowly growing group of close, nerdy, but close friends. Viv stopped spending time with Vance at school, feeling inadequate around him in a setting she knew he excelled in. When her friends started judging her for her terrible life choices, Vivian turned on them, too. In truth, she never wanted to become a delinquent; all she wanted was recognition for something, anything, whether that thing was bad or good. Vivian projected and became angry at society for pushing her into a corner she couldn’t seem to escape, lashed out at anyone who dared to mention that maybe she was the problem. Her social and home life suffered more and more the more volatile she became; arguments, fights, slammed doors, and visits to the principal’s office became daily, commonplace.
Viv’s social skills deteriorated to the point that in her first year of high school, when she fought the girl she liked and got pushed off a cliff, breaking her right leg, her mom finally took action.
Huan didn’t know what to do for Vivian, but she did know that martial arts had always been an anchor in her life. Two exhausting months of healing later, Viv’s mom signed her up for kickboxing classes at the local gym. Vivian thought she was crazy, that her mom would at least have forced her to go to some bullshit therapy sessions, but strangely enough… it worked. Kickboxing gave her a way to vent her frustration, sweat out her shame, develop self-discipline, and she— she liked it. (In reality, she probably should have gotten real, actual therapy sessions. While fitness and martial arts, at the time, worked as a coping skill for Vivian, a lack of significant, introspective behavioral therapy led to her anger issues continuing to persist in current times.) Viv didn’t start off as a master fighter, but she was decent, she enjoyed working out, and her classmates and coach never judged her for her life choices; all that mattered was what was inside the gym. She started getting special tutoring sessions, dropped to some easier, slower classes at school, and Vivian started finding pride in her strength. Hell yeah, she didn’t fall victim to her downward spiral and picked herself up before doing the worst and possibly going to jail. Hell yeah, she got strong as fuck and could beat all her classmates in arm wrestling. Hell yeah, she made amends with her family and didn’t flip out when her mom started dating again, introducing Vivian and Vance to Jasmit Grewal and her pouty daughter Sukhdeep.
Training, miraculously, made her chill out.
Vivian made new friends, became fit, started bonding with her soon-to-be stepsister, didn’t get as angry as she used to, and, finally, started to gain a semblance of what she wanted to do in life. Her mom was so proud of her progress that she got Viv a Shiba Inu puppy for her 18th birthday, which only continued to develop her growing grasp on responsibility.
Graduation came. A moderate deal for her brother, who was accepted into KBU on a near full-ride scholarship, but a huge deal for Vivian, who used to think she wouldn’t be able to graduate at all. She flat out refused to try her hand at the UFC— becoming an MMA fighter like her mom once was would probably make her anger issues act up again. Viv didn't want to just be someone strong without substance, and she was determined to change. A natural attraction to science, desire for a high-paced environment, and cheap, easier certificate courses led her down the path of becoming an EMT. The twins’ mom got married, and Vivian definitely did not cry at their beautiful wedding in the flower fields of Phlox Town. There was no way for them to continue to live at home; Jasmit and Sukhdeep moved in and effectively took the space they once did, which... well. It kinda ticked Viv off, but she’d already worked several part-time jobs for the past few years to accumulate a good chunk of money for her first apartment, and her mom deserved some happiness that wasn’t connected to her kids.
So Vivian, Vance, and her dog Sesame Seed moved into an Acacia Town apartment together— a little cramped for two and a dog, but they’ve lived in close quarters all their life, and it worked out, in the end. Found a new gym, but didn’t decide to work there; after all, if she worked as a gym trainer, she would have less time to actually work out! Vivian cycled through a couple jobs before finally settling on waitressing at The Hive, and endured the long commute to Printy County Community College every day. It… took her a couple tries to pass the cognitive and psychomotor exams, but once she got over that initial hump, it was smooth sailing from there. Sure, some of her classmates were assholes, but she would probably end up working with them, it gave her a chance to work on her cooperative skills, and the actual classes were completely bearable! Self-study she'd learned from her tutor helped Vivian pass her courses, and she could do the labs just fine, as hands-on subjects were the easiest for her. She got advanced certification to be an intermediate EMT before delving into work, just to be extra-prepared, and looked between KBU and Fleming Hospital. Fleming was only accepting full-time EMTs, and she still wanted to get credentials as a paramedic as soon as possible. The commute would be horrible with Larkspur traffic, so Viv settled for being an on-campus EMT for KBU. She could get hours with calls during classes, wouldn’t have such a long commute, and yeah, they’re only hiring part-time so she’d still have to waitress at The Hive, but that’d be fine. Vivian started work bright-eyed, naive, and energized, ready to take on whatever idiotic college students could throw at her.
Turned out, that could be a lot.
Sometimes, work would be boring, plain, near unbearable with how little Vivian was doing— and other times, work was stressful, exhausting, near breakdown inducing with all the shit Vivian was doing. At times, she wished for exciting events to happen, but after going through situations where it felt like she couldn’t do anything, she stopped wishing for them. She enjoyed her job, don’t get her wrong, but it was… incredibly stressful at times, even when she was just an on-campus EMT. Vivian had partied and drank as much as an average college student would, before, but with the added stress of her new job, her hedonistic tendencies became worse, especially since they were only temporary solutions. Kickboxing training wasn’t working for her like it used to, the sweat of pushing herself to her limit unable to wash away the gory images she’d seen during the day, so she resorted to partying harder than ever before, using danger as an escape from the trauma. But as soon as the rush of adrenaline wore off, Viv would be left to stare at the ceiling above her bed, unable to sleep from the stress of the day before and ahead. Her insomnia got to the point where it was so bad, her doctor issued her a medical card and essentially told her to start chilling the fuck out. Vivian doesn’t want to change her job, and her life is- is good, but right now, she’s coping, and she’s not doing it very healthily. Life is kicking her ass, and she feels like no matter what she does, she can't fix whatever's preventing her from being the best EMT she can be.
It's infuriating.
To make matters worse, the goddamn Gru invasion added even more stress to her already-demanding life. Viv constantly gives off the impression that she’s floating through life with an absolute sense of direction, taking everything in stride, but in reality, the whole Gru thing pisses her off. She’s gotten an increasing amount of calls for emergencies she isn't equipped to handle, none of her friends want to go to her favorite party place in Larkspur anymore because of all the aliens, and honestly, everyone’s reactions to the Gru make her more infuriated than the Gru themselves! She has no problem with them, individually, but she has a serious issue with the way they’ve barged into Printy. On the surface, Vivian thinks that everyone should stop taking the whole thing on such a serious, personal level, just leave it up to the authorities, but on a deeper level? Vivian knows that eventually, something is going to give, and it sure isn’t gonna be the authorities, because they’re fucking useless. She doesn’t know how they’re going to deal with the Gru, but you can bet your ass, when the opportunity comes up, she’s going to do something about it.
Vivian is tired of life getting the better of her. She’s not sitting on her ass anymore.
EXTRAS
- Blood type O+. She's a regular blood donor.
- Thanks to Commander Njorne, she now has a circular burn scar on her back.
- Due to the events of the McDoogan's raid, she is now partially deaf in her right ear.
- Owns a big, gorgeously fluffy Shiba Inu named Sesame Seed and a similarly fluffy Samoyed puppy named Snow Cone.
- Vivian’s family owns 2 chow chows named Tater Tot and Soy Sauce that she dog sits on occasion. Sightings of her with all three of the dogs are rare, and more likely to be seen in Phlox Town, since Sesame is more suited to motorcycle transportation with Viv than Soy Sauce and Tater Tot are.
- Bad with kids, better with teenagers.
- The emergency procedures in her repertoire include CPR, controlling bleeding, splinting, emergency childbirth, IV administration, etc., but she’s obviously still not on the level of paramedics. Vivian’s used to seeing gross, gory, downright disgusting stuff on the job, but some shit still throws her for a loop.
- Stands at 5’6” and weighs around 140 lbs. Capable of benching an insane amount of weight and will lift you if you ask.
- Vivian’s motorcycle is beautiful, compact, and bright orange. Excellent for lane splitting and being yelled at by Larkspur’s wonderful drivers. It has a storage box on the back and room for another passenger, whether that passenger be human or canine. She occasionally straps Sesame in for longer trips they can’t otherwise walk.
- Vivian has never reached out to her father and has no intention of changing that, ever. She and her brother venerate their mom according to Buddhist tradition, though, and have an altar set up in their apartment. Her grave is too far to visit regularly.
- Has a problem of explosively quitting entry-level jobs when they piss her off too much. Her past jobs include: Retail worker, lifeguard, customer service rep, zamboni operator, wrestling referee, grocery cashier... The only reason she’s held onto her job at The Hive for so long is because it’s one of her favorite places, the customers and her co-workers aren’t complete assholes, and the employee discount is bomb.
- Vivian’s not fluent in Viet, but she knows enough to at least order something off a pho menu or help an old lady find the supermarket. The same goes for Chinese, but her family speaks Hakka, so it’s not really useful in most of America. She’s also picked up a couple words in Punjabi from her stepmom.
- For some reason, she constantly smells like Dr. Pepper and space. It's a strange combination of artificial sweetness and welding fumes.
COMPLICATIONS
PVP: Yeahhhhhh
Injury: HELL Yeah
Death: I'm open to discussion
