Kaia Kealoha

[EpentheticSchwa]

Kaia Kealoha
Aspirational Dirtbag

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Agility d8

Smarts d6

Spirit d8

Strength d4

Vigor d6

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SKILLS Athletics Boating Common Knowledge Driving Gambling Notice Performance Persuasion Shooting Stealth Thievery d6 d4 d6 d4 d4 d6 d4 d8 d6 d8 d6 Pace Parry Toughness 6 2 5 LANGUAGES English (Native) d8

HINDRANCES Habit (Minor) - Nicotine Impulsive (Major) Outsider (Minor) - Some west-coast tourist riff-raff. EDGES Thief Work the Room

GEAR

Casual clothing, cellular phone, flask (ceramic), lighter (x2), pack of cigarettes, stun gun.

Armor:         Well-moisturized flesh.
Weapons:     Stun gun?

Cash: $340

Advances: None

Edited March 30 by EpentheticSchwa
Adding three more skill points! (see edit history)

[EpentheticSchwa]

BACKGROUND

Kaia Kealoha is the sunnier and allegedly more showbiz-friendly name chosen most recently by the former possessor of a string of aliases, each aimed in part at stardom and in part at making embarrassing public records harder to google. She was born Frederica Lofton and largely called Ricki growing up, her relatively bog-standard and pleasant upbringing has little to do with where she's ended up. The only thing that's important these days is that she left Washington for SoCal and never went back, no matter how rough things got.

Her life up to this point has been that of the would-be star who never quite makes it and keeps grasping at straws and, more importantly, people who she think can help her make it. She's been perpetually attached to someone, usually a boyfriend, sometimes a friend who has been abruptly elevated to BFF status because of some perceived potential avenue to a happy life. Each time she's jumped from one life raft to another, she's arrived with a new vice, a more desperate financial situation, less friends, and, if she's lucky, maybe a lesson learned. At this point, she's burnt more bridges in the name of self-preservation than most people have made at 21. It's impossible to mail her anything because the chances of her spending more than a couple of months in one place are close to nil.

If you ask her what she's been up to since setting out, she'd say some version of "oh this and that" or "various unannounced projects, you'll see," but she's never so much as made a dent in showbiz. She's tried singing, she's tried acting, and neither of them worked immediately and paid bills. As such, she's also tried last-ditch effort at turning her last week of groceries into a last month's rent at the blackjack table, she's shoplifted more than she's actually purchased, and she's found herself wrapped up in a number of small crimes with promises that it would be fine and it would all work out. And it has...insofar as she's still alive and kicking, but if things continue the way they have, the brakes are going to wear off quick. It's a small miracle that the worst thing she's addicted to so far is cigarettes.

Description

Kaia's still living in the era of cocaine chic--she's "fit" in the "you're gonna see some ribs and maybe get a gig doing a commercial" sort of way, not in any practically useful way. She's a smidge over average height, thin as a rail, and deeply tanned from some combination of biology and a great deal of time in the sun. Her dark brown hair's cut short and left designedly messy, her eyes are also dark brown and generally rather puffy from too little sleep and too many substances. She's usually got her makeup done so as to draw attention to the eyes, which just makes the puffiness more noticeable. As she's in town on vacation on someone else's dime, she's dressed with zero cares. Baggy maroon sweat pants affixed by sheer merit of the drawstring, a white t-shirt she's grabbed more or less at random, and blue flip-flops. Below-zero effort.

 

[EpentheticSchwa]

Thief

She's been around the block and come up short enough times that she's been known to resort to helping out with some unsavory activities to make ends meet. Turns out, she's pretty decent at it. Whether she'll be eager to admit that is another question entirely.

 

Work the Room

Part of constantly being attached to someone else and depending on them for a great deal is learning to back them up. Coming in with the right few words to solidify what somebody's trying to say or to nip a negative response in the bud is second nature to her. Just a little manipulation around the edges to keep things cool.

 

Nicotine Habit

For now, it's cigarettes and vapes. She's not unfamiliar with the broader array of options, this is just the one that's stuck with her from a young age. As things get worse, there's every possibility this does as well.

 

Impulsive

She's been trained on a diet of uncertainty and desperate self-interest. When she sees an opportunity, everything in her says "go." If her second guess catches up a few seconds too late, that's just something she has to deal with. It's not that she's eager to grab at half-baked ideas, just that the chance might not be there by the time she thinks it out, so whatever, let's go.

 

Outsider

She's not from here, she doesn't particularly like it here, and she's much prefer to be at home for all this. It doesn't take a discerning ear to hear her accent's not from around here, nevermind the vocal fry laid on painfully thick. In the right stressful moment, a disparaging comment about the locals might even slip out.

Edited March 29 by EpentheticSchwa (see edit history)

[sxeBUDDHA]

On 3/25/2024 at 11:00 PM, Paro said:

SWADE Character Generation:

Start at Novice using 15 Skill Points for Modern Setting

Human for Race choice

No Focus/Occult/Spellcasting/Weird Science Skills.

No Arcane Background, Beast Bond, Beast Master, Chi, Champion, or Power Edges

I noticed that this campaign is using Modern Setting which grants an additional 3 skill points beyond 12 in a normal game. (Note: Raise skill by 1 up to linked attribute costs 1 skill point. Raise skill by 1 beyond linked attribute costs 2 skill points.)

EpithenticSchwa, your pc has 3 more unallocated skill points for Kaia Kealoha.

[EpentheticSchwa]

4 hours ago, sxeBUDDHA said:

I noticed that this campaign is using Modern Setting which grants an additional 3 skill points beyond 12 in a normal game. (Note: Raise skill by 1 up to linked attribute costs 1 skill point. Raise skill by 1 beyond linked attribute costs 2 skill points.)

EpithenticSchwa, your pc has 3 more unallocated skill points for Kaia Kealoha.

Good looking out. Updated! Bumped up persuasion, notice, and Common Knowledge.

[sxeBUDDHA]

31 minutes ago, EpentheticSchwa said:

Good looking out. Updated! Bumped up persuasion, notice, and Common Knowledge.

Notice (Smarts) costs 2 skill points from d6 to d8, because Smarts, its linked attribute, is d6. If Smarts was d8, then cost would only be 1 skill point.

[EpentheticSchwa]

5 hours ago, sxeBUDDHA said:

Notice (Smarts) costs 2 skill points from d6 to d8, because Smarts, its linked attribute, is d6. If Smarts was d8, then cost would only be 1 skill point.

Oop, you're right. Didn't even occur to me that Notice would be Smarts for some reason, even though there's absolutely nothing that makes more sense for it!