GeminiX7

Aike Anikwe Aike checked his phone for the fifth time, hoping that he had missed the distinct notification chirp of a newly recieved text or voice message. Unfortunately, aside from an unread message sent by his younger sister from more than a week ago, there had been no word from Malcolm.With an exasperated sigh, he made a few taps on his device and brought it to his ear. As it had three times before, the call went directly to voice mail. “Hey Mal! Still haven’t heard from you, man! Did you get lost or something?” Aike ran fingers through his beard in a self-soothing fashion. It was extremely unlikely his old roommate had gotten lost, as Deltaville had been his home town and apparently this eating establishment had been one of his favorites prior to going to college. “Well, if you haven’t left home yet, please, please, please, don’t forget to bring your laptop. I’d hate for you to be the kind of ass whoforgets something like that before making the trip over here…” Aike ended the voice message with a weak chuckle before disconnecting. Despite his joke he had in fact been the kind of ass who had left his laptop in his apartment all the way back in Georgia before making the trip to Deltaville. In his defense, he had forgotten that he had moved the laptop to his newly purchased laptop bag, and resorted to holding his tools in the old messenger bag. It wasn’t until he was almost halfway to Deltaville and had stopped to fill up therental car he drove in that he realized his mistake. Most of the files he might need would beavailable on the cloud, but he still felt a pang of annoyance at his own carelessness. The harsh smell of recently burned tobacco brought him out of his mental self-flagellation as a young woman walked past him and into the pizza shop he stood in front of. No matter how many years he had spent stateside, it always caught him off guard how prevalent smoking was here compared to Nigeria, and the smell always struck him as too unpleasant to ever be worth taking up the practice. Taking one last glance around his surrounding for Malcolm’s coupe, he decided to enter the pizza shop and get something to eat while he waited. “Damn…” Aike uttered the curse as he noticed the line as soon as he entered the building. When he first arrived he could have sworn that the queue had not been too long, but it seem his time spent reaching out to Malcolm had allowed more people to take a spot before him. Figuring he’d have to wait awhile, he removed his olive colored, bomber-styled windbreaker and draped it across the messenger bag slung across his shoulders, and slightly adjusted the collar of the button-up shirt he had been wearing underneath. He caught a whiff of the same tobacco smell he had noticed before, and noticed the woman looking at what looked like the take-out menu. Worried that he might lose his spot to newcomers if he went up to the counter to get one for himself, he tried to look over her shoulder to see what was available. “Do they have jalapenos?” Aike asked the woman. He figured it would be pretty obvious to her that someone was peering over her shoulder, and wanted to avoid giving her the wrong idea about his intentions before the issue ever came up.

Background Aikechukwu, or Aike as he is known by most, was born in Nigeria to a family poor even by the standards of a developing nation. From an early age, his parents noticed his strong intellect, and were hopeful that he, among his four other siblings, would be able to make a future for himself that would be able to remove him, and hopefully his family, from the grips of poverty. Because of this hope, they heavily impressed upon him the importance of becoming successful in life. Around the time of early teen years, he was given the opportunity to immigrate to the United States to live with his father’s older brother, someone he was told was a successful business man and would be able to provide a future for him that he could not achieve in Africa. Aike’s uncle was indeed a business man of sorts, but rather than being some kind of corporate bigwig, he instead owned what was, legally, an international shipping service, but in reality was largely a chop shop and junkyard, where citizens of Atlanta and the nearby area could sell vehicles, electronic devices, and other technology of dubious origin to be either disassembled or repaired and resold either stateside or abroad. Despite the shadiness of the business, Aike very quickly took to working with his uncle, showing a knack for repairing electronics and machinery that came into his uncle’s shop. Jury-rigging what might otherwise be considered a lost cause became a sort of creative outlet for him, and helped bring in money, which he’d typically send home to his family rather than spend on himself. One of the first personal purchases he did make was a second-hand desktop that had come into his uncle’s shop. From that point on, Aike knew that his true passion was computers. He very quickly was able to improve and update the machine, to the point that it worked as a gaming device well beyond what might be expected of the meager components, and even then continued to tinker and educate himself on subjects like programming, networking, and cyber-security. By the time he had reached college age, he was already sure that his future lied in Computer Science or Game Design, and he had the grades to ensure that scholarships would be available. Unfortunately, his parents were not as keen on his aspirations. To them, he had a mind that could be used to become a doctor, or a lawyer, or an engineer - “real” professions with real prestige that could allow him to make something of himself. To his family home in Nigeria, he was doing little more than just “playing with toys” whenever the subject of computers came up. As a compromise with his family, he went into Information Technology with a focus on becoming a Network Engineer. It may have not been a lead developer for a gaming company or the head surgeon at a world renown hospital, but it would allow him to work with computers while alleviating some of the fears his family had of his potential being wasted. College came and went and Aike entered the workforce fairly quickly due to his academic success and both a Bachelors and Masters in IT. He found out, fairly quickly, that the corporate environment was not something that appealed to him. The longer he worked at offices doing mundane Systems development tasks, the more he began to resent his current situation and hoped for some kind of massive change to his current life. The money he made with the roles were nothing to scoff at, but he still wished for something different, and made plans to move towards the goals he had hoped for in his youth. Eventually he did make that change, much to the chagrin of his parents, who thought he was throwing away his opportunities for a whim, and that ended up causing quite a bit of strain in his family, to the point where contact with all those he had left behind in Nigeria nearly ceased. Hoping for a new start, Aike decided to meet with an old college roommate in Deltaville to reminisce on their college days as well as to discuss possibly starting an independent development company. Description Aike is a relatively young man in his late twenties of Nigerian descent. Due to the onset of male pattern baldness, he has taken to shaving his head bald and has grown a large beard to compensate. He is slightly on the heavier and taller side, and would look quite muscular if he had ever been one for committing to exercise and healthier eating habits. He tends to dress quite casually, but is still mindful of his appearance, and tends to wear tasteful button up shirts and sweaters with jeans and either boots, sneakers, or dress shoes, depending on the circumstances. Aike’s low self-esteem has followed him throughout his life. Despite his intelligence, ingenuity, life experiences, and achievements, he tends to have a complicated view of himself. Due to the pressure put on him by his family, he has a constant feeling of self-consciousness on the verge of shame, especially when it comes to what he might describe as “wasted potential”. While open minded and empathetic to those around him, he tends to assume he’s being negatively judged by those around him. He also tends to second guess himself in most matters, even though he tends to make arguments based on reason or personal experience rather than gut reactions. Some might describe him as a people pleaser at times, although he tends to be aware of - if not outright paranoid towards - the idea that someone might be trying to take advantage of him. Despite these traits, he is generally pleasant to be around. He is someone prone to making jokes, if only to diffuse tension. He also has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to computers, gaming, both mechanical and digital technology, and a myriad of trivial facts that he won’t hesitate to bring up, either when relevant or just when the feeling of awkward silence becomes unbearable for him. He is also observant and able to notice fine details, both when it comes to dealing with others as well as when it comes to situational awareness. His cautious nature also manifests as a need to coordinate and plan ahead, as well as constantly keeping the worst case scenario for every situation in mind.

Aikechukwu "Aike" Anikwe Agility d6 Smarts d8 Spirit d6 Strength d6 Vigor d4 Skills Knowledge(Computers): d8 Investigation: d6 Notice: d6 Repair: d8 Shooting: d4 Survival: d6 Fighting: d6 Charisma: 0 Pace: 6 Parry: 5 Toughness: 4 Edges Alertness McGuyver Command Hinderances Cautious(Minor) Curious(Major) Quirk - Low Self-Esteem(Minor) Gear Switchblade: Str+d4(-2 Notice if Hidden) Backpack Cellular Phone Toolkit Flashlight Canteen Normal Clothing Cash: $95

Alright, the application is more or less finished. Just need to format it and post the topic.

Hey, are you still accepting applications?