Arizona Elin Rollings
β’ Nickname(s)
Ari
β’ Date of Birth
June 3rd
β’ Age
17
β’ Zodiac Sign
Gemini
β’ Nationality
American
β’ Ethnicity
Her parents both come from a mix of European ethnicities, including English, German, Irish, French and Swedish blood.
β’ Sexual Orientation
Bisexual
β’ Sexual History
She has never gotten farther then "second base". She definitely is nervous to go all the way, but also has never been in a situation where anyone was pushing her towards that, so until she's put into an experience like that, it's hard to say whether she would absolutely say no to sex or not at this point. One thing she is sure of, though, is that she's definitely more comfortable, sexually, with other females.
β’ Relationship History
She was in a short relationship as a sophomore, and is currently single. She isn't desperate for a relationship, and doesn't want one just for superficial reasons, but she also wouldn't be against being in a serious relationship with someone.
Appearance
β’Height
5'8
β’Weight
125 lbs
β’ Eyes
Brown, she does not need or wear glasses or contacts
β’Hair
It's a golden brown color, that grows lighter, with a strawberry tint to it, when it gets a lot of sun.
β’ Fashion Sense
Her fashion choices generally include designer labels, and clothes that are acceptable and typical of the upperclass. She doesn't like anything too flashy or showy, but she's certainly not against wearing tight dresses or crop tops when she's at an event where those outfits are appropriate. If there's anything noteworthy about her fashion choices, it's that she still has retained a little bit of her roots, in not being very "preppy", but preferring either preferring more casual or edgy clothes.
β’ Overall Attractiveness
Ari is often told that she looks like a mixture of Emma Watson and Holland Roden, and given that she finds both of those girls to be very pretty, she definitely takes that comparison as a compliment. She has a bit of a girl next door look to her, where she doesn't have a huge chest, or a tiny waist, or some special feature that really makes her stand out, but she definitely isn't ugly.
Personality
β’ Good Traits
-She's artistic and creative.
-She's a good listener, a mediator and peacemaker among her friends. She thinks of herself as being fair and someone who always tries to figure out the easiest and best possible solution.
-She's organized, clean and neat.
β’ Bad Traits
-She wouldn't call herself boring, and she's not, but she's not spontaneous either. She likes for things to be scheduled, where she has time to plan for things, and doesn't like jumping out of bed at two in the morning to go on an adventure.
-She is not academically intelligent. She was diagnosed with dyslexia as a child and struggles tremendously with most core subjects in school. Outside of the classroom, she's perfectly competent and she's not lacking in common or social smarts, but in the classroom, she definitely has a more difficult time.
-She can be a bit anal about things being neat and just how she likes it.
β’ Written Personality
A lot of Ari's appeal comes from how effortless everything about her seems to be. She has that cool girl vibe, that shows that she's comfortable with herself and isn't very insecure, and she possesses that in a very natural way. It doesn't seem like she's trying to hard to fit in or be someone that she's not, and she's not someone who will say or do something just to be a part of the in crowd. That doesn't necessarily mean that she's someone who's actively trying to break the mold or the social order of things, because she's not, but she's not some follower who's on the brink of being downgraded to a wannabe, and tries oh so hard to retain relevancy. That's not her, and while she finds that she fits in best with her Royal companions, she confidently believes that she would be just as content in any other group on the social ladder if that was where her interests fell. She exudes confidence and self-esteem, and often comes off as unbothered by other people's opinions of her.
Ari doesn't think of herself as someone who is very judgmental, and she wouldn't refuse a friendship with anyone simply based on their clique. At the same time, she believes that as a human being, it's instinctual, unpreventable, and actually smart to judge people. There's a difference, though, in judging someone in your head, and trying to figure out who they are internally, compared to doing that and then acting on that in extreme way. If someone fits the mold of someone who looks and acts like they probably have a bunch of used heroine needles in their pocket, you can bet that she's not going to actively seek out conversation with them. If someone looks and acts like they won't be able to contribute any intelligent conversation or meaningful interaction with her, or that they have nothing in common, she will avoid them as well, and she finds nothing wrong with being judgmental in that sense. It doesn't lead to her being a bully, criticizing people for no reason just to establish her dominance, or to make herself seem cooler. It's just simply a way to figure out who's worth spending her time with. Of course, it comes with the cons of her potentially sorting out people who could be compatible friends with her, but it's not something that she's overly concerned with.
Although she isn't unsocial or awkward, Ari tends to be someone who's more comfortable in small groups or with a select group of close friends. She's not someone who's a crazy social butterfly, or someone who's actively trying to make friends with strangers. Calling her cold might be a stretch, but she definitely has more of that selective-friendliness thing going for her, where she only really welcomes and embraces her friends, over strangers. It's not an attempt at making anyone feel left out or anything, and is more-so a personal thing, where she just doesn't feel comfortable opening up to strangers. With her friends, though, she only has that short and colder side to her when she's angry or bothered about something. Other than that, she's energetic, easy going, and has a tendency to act as the mediator or peacemaker of the group, the one who doesn't want any tension and drama, or unnecessary fighting. To an extent, she's that way for the obvious reason of not wanting her friends to have issues with one another, but additionally, she's also very sensitive and hates being involved in conflict herself. She finds there to be a difference in being sensitive and insecure, with the latter not being a trait that she would use against herself. She isn't someone who's always worrying about what people are thinking of her, but at the same time, if someone calls her out on a flaw, she doesn't take it lightly and tends to be more emotional than one would expect from her.
Past
β’ Hometown
She was born in a small town of Arizona, called Cottonwood. She lived there for a year, before her family moved on. They traveled throughout most of the mid-west and south-west parts of the country, never staying in one area for more than a couple of months, until she was twelve, when she moved to Los Angeles, to live with her mother's sister and her husband. She has called Los Angeles home ever since.
β’ Upbringing
Ari's upbringing is not one that would be labeled as traditional, and yet, when she looks back on it, she doesn't think of it as being a bad time. It was just... different. Both of her parents were artists. Her mother, Stacy, came from an upper class family in Los Angeles, and moved to New York when she was in college, to study art at New York University. Her parents were very insistent that she go to school for law or medicine, or something more profitable, but she was their black sheep of the family, and eventually they gave in to her dreams of becoming an artist, if only because at first, she promised that she would double major in education and become an art teacher. Things didn't go that way though, and her parents blame the boy that she fell in love with during that first year of college. He wasn't a student at NYU, but at a local community college. He was majoring in art too, but came from a drastically different background from Stacy, and they actually met while he was homeless and sneaking into the NYU dorms to shower. Ari has heard the story so many times, that she could tell you their love story from cover to cover, but long story short, they fell in love, and Stacy's parents were barely able to convince her to graduate from NYU before she and her boyfriend, Max, eloped, bought an RV, and went on a cross country expedition. They worked as freelance artists, taking on jobs and selling their paintings wherever they ended up. Stacy and her family were constantly at odds for her life choices after this, and that only became all the more true when she became pregnant with Ari. Her parents didn't think that she and her raggedy husband could not only afford, but emotionally too, provide a good life for a child, when they were living like dirty hippies in some old RV. Of course, her parents painted the picture as being much more destitute than it really was, but it just clashed so strongly with their lifestyle. Ari's childhood wasn't bad though. She wasn't neglected or living in poverty, just much more simply than most kids were. She was a happy child who loved exploring, travelling and seeing what the world had to offer. Six years after she was born, her parents had another child, Flynn, and like her, her parents loved and wanted the best for Flynn. He became Ari's best (and really, only) friend, and even today, she feels incredibly close and connected with her brother.
It's shocking, really, that her mother actually encouraged her to leave their close knit family when she was twelve. A year before, Stacy's sister, Julie, found out that she was barren, and would not be able to have children of her own. Julie and her husband, Marc, decided against surrogacy and were looking into adoption, when Julie and Stacy's mother made one final plea for Stacy to leave Max, and move back to California with the children to raise them "normally". After discussing things with Max, and knowing that Ari was struggling far more with the little academic work that she gave her kids, than even the younger Flynn was, Stacy asked Ari if she wanted to spend a year with her aunt and uncle, attending a normal school, and experiencing their lifestyle. Ari said yes, because it sounded like an adventure, and just a few weeks before, she had watched an episode of Degrassi on a television in a diner that her mother was having a consultation with a client in, and it made "real" school seem cool and interesting. Then again, her mother encouraging her leaving only signified how much Stacy truly loved her daughter and wanted the best for her.
β’ Pets
As a kid, she had three dogs: two mutts, Rover and Sammy, and a Golden Retriever, Daisy. Daisy and Sammy are still alive, and living with her parents and brother, and Rover died a year before she moved in with her aunt and uncle.
β’ Education
Ari was homeschooled for the first twelve years of her life. A lot of people who homeschool do it in a very legitimate manner, but that wasn't the case with Ari's parents. They forged the documents required by the state, and taught their kids in a very relaxed manner, claiming that the kids would learn more from travelling and exploring than they would on their own. This wasn't a great approach for a kid like Ari, who already struggled with dyslexia and could have benefited from some real help from people trained in education. Her parents did teach her most of the basics, so it wasn't like when she was twelve and moved in with her aunt and uncle, that she couldn't read or count to ten, but the first few years of traditional schooling were definitely very stressful for her. It took a lot of tutors and extra help to catch her up to a normal level, and even now, starting her sixth year at Buckley, as a junior, she still struggles academically with nearly all of her core subject courses.
Present
β’ Household
Her household consists of herself, her aunt and her uncle. They do not have any children of their own, and Ari's own brother lives with their parents still.
β’ Pets
None, her Aunt is allergic to pet hair.
β’ Secrets
It's not necessarily a secret, but Ari has always been lowkey about her upbringing, and she definitely does leave out detail here and there. For the most part, her friends are aware that she traveled a lot as a child, and that her parents are artists. They know that she was homeschooled and that she has a brother, but that's about it. They don't know about the very simple and nontraditional lifestyle, about how she spent twelve years living in an RV with no television or internet, and how her parents were very into everything being natural and off the grid. Ari likes to think that she's not embarrassed by it, and in her head, she isn't, but she has become a lot more accustomed to "the real world" since moving in with her aunt and uncle, and because of that, she's becoming more and more distant with her roots. As that happens, she has become more aware of how her roots are abnormal and how people would probably think of her differently if they knew what her real family was like, so it's just not something that she would ever go out of her way to talk about.
β’ Summer Spent
She had to retake her math class in summer school, after failing it as a sophomore. She volunteered at the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles four days a week, alternating between working in the gift shop and entertaining children waiting in the waiting rooms. She spent a lot of the rest of her summer at the country club her family belongs to and the beach, as well as spending a few long weekends in New York and London. What she enjoyed the most though, was spending three days with her parents and brother when they came to visit.
β’ Socioeconomic Status
Upper Class
β’ Residence
10325 Greendale Drive, Los Angeles CA, 90077
β’ Transportation
Range Rover
Family
β’ Aunt β’ Julie Edwards β’ Luxury Real Estate Agent β’ Age 42
β’ Uncle β’ Bradley Edwards β’ Plastic Surgeon β’ Age 43
β’ Mother β’ Stacy Rollings β’ Freelance Artist β’ Age 44
β’ Father β’ Max Rollings β’ Freelance Artist β’ Age 43
β’ Brother β’ Flynn Rollings β’ Age 12
Future
β’ Short Term Goals
She really wants to improve her PSAT scores, so that when she takes the SAT this year, she does remotely well on it. Right now her scores are... well, they're not something that any reputable college would be impressed by. She also knows that she needs to start taking college more seriously, and figuring out what she's going to do in terms of that. Is she going to do what her aunt and uncle are pushing for, and go into a field that she knows she won't enjoy (or do well in), or will she follow her passion of art, and disappoint that family?
β’ Long Term Goals
She's still stuck on those short term goals, so until she can figure that out, her long term goals won't really be one of her priorities. She knows that she wants to study abroad for a semester in college, but that's as far as she's thinking.
β’ Aspirations
She doesn't have any specific career aspirations, though she knows that she would love to end up doing something art related. In a more personal aspect, she is someone who wants to have a family one day, but she doesn't want some uppity lifestyle like the one she's living in now. At the same time, she doesn't think she wants something as nontraditional as what her own parents have.
Buckley School
β’ Grade
11th Grade
β’ Lifer?
She started at Buckley when she was twelve years old. She should have been starting seventh grade, but because of her homeschooling background and how her dyslexia prevented her from reaching "normal" standards, she was placed in the sixth grade class.
β’ Scholarship or Not?
No
β’ Group/Clique
Royals
β’ Are You Happy?
Yes, she is content with her clique and would not change it.
β’ Clubs?
β’ Sports?
She plays on the girl's volleyball team.
β’ What Are You Looking Forward To?
Out of Character
β’ Plotline Ideas for your Character?
At this point, I don't have anything major planned for her. If anything, I have a few ideas for more personal conflicts, such as her parents divorcing and leading her to rethink what "true love" is, and the internal conflicts that will come with that. The stress of college applications, and dealing with what her aunt and uncle expect of her compared to what her parents expect of her will present some challenges too. Nothing at this point, though, that would affect the other characters.
β’ Timezone
I'm on EST
β’ How Often Do you Post?
I'm a student and have a job, but I should be able to post within 48 hours of it being "my turn" to post. I don't like making people wait (because I don't like people doing that to me), so I can guarantee that unless something random and very extreme happens, you'll always get a heads up if I'm going to be gone for a substantial period of time.
