Profile

This is a rp journal for Sanjou Tsubame.

Character History:

Tsubame grew up in the outlying area surrounding the city. Not exactly the suburbs, and not exactly a rural area, but somewhere in between. The city's shadow was always on the horizon, but the community where she was raised is far enough away that she has led a relatively sheltered life. Swimming in summer, biking to school, hanging out with her friends.

Her parents own a small liquor store. She grew up helping her dad make deliveries, and sometimes sat with him in their small bar cleaning glassware while their neighbors chatted and socialized. Her mom helped with the family business as well, but also taught math at the local middle school. Tsubame spent her entire seventh-grade year completely discomfitted by the idea of learning pre-algebra from her mother.

The city is dangerous, but there is opportunity there, too. This fall, Tsubame moved to the city to attend college. Her school of choice isn't the top university in the area, but Tsubame is satisfied with a scholarship from the number two school rather than having to pay student loans for the rest of her natural life.

College has become a bittersweet endeavor. While she has her scholarship, rather than live on campus, she decided to get a job and rent an apartment. This was a decision that did not please her parents in the least. Tsubame is not unaware of her sheltered existence, and felt that there had to be a time to start living. In her mind, 'living' meant having an apartment, paying bills, and being independent. Her reality is a little different. An uncomfortable relationship with her disapproving, very worried parents, the need to prove that she can handle herself, a mind-numbing job that leaves less time than she'd like for studying, and a tiny studio apartment in an "eclectic" area. The building's owner has a way with words, and her idea of eclectic includes junkies and bars on the windows. In short, Tsubame is terrified. However, a need to prove that she can be a city-dweller, and the desire to live, even if it's scary, keeps her in the apartment, attending school, and making connections.

It is still early yet, given she's just started her college career, but Tsubame is considering studying history. She has always felt a strong connection to the past. Her parents laughingly say she's an old soul. Tsubame smiles and shrugs, but sometimes she wonders if there isn't some truth to her parents' teasing. When she reads about history, particularly the history of her own country, there are times when she gets the strangest sense that if it were possible, she could step into the past and blend right in. Sometimes, she meets other people who seem like they would be comfortable in the past, too. Tsubame doesn't know what it means, but feels driven to learn as much as she can. She isn't sure if it's academic curiosity or something far deeper, but the more she studies, the more she feels like she's searching for something. As scary as it can be living alone in a large city, her greatest fear is that her studies will be for nothing. That the unnamed something that drives her is just a figment of her imagination. She sincerely hopes this is not the case.

Age: 18

Occupation: Student

Family Background: Parents own a small liquor-delivery business in addition to a small local bar. Her mother is a middle-school math teacher.

Best memory: Tsubame's not sure if it's her best memory or not, but her dad's birthday several years back. She and her mom planned a party in the bar, and invited the whole neighborhood. There was music and a ridiculous amount of food. Her uncles and aunt even attended from the next town over. Looking around the room at everyone smiling and laughing made her heart swell to bursting. There was such warmth. Later that evening, her neighbor, a boy she'd grown up with, stole her first kiss. It was his first kiss, too, so Tsubame felt it was only fair to return the favor.

Worst memory: The conversation Tsubame had with her parents when she announced she was not going to live on campus. It was the first time she had ever truly gone against their wishes, and Tsubame is still dealing with the awkwardness. At the end of the conversation, when her parents realized she was completely serious, had already found a place and used her savings to secure a deposit, that she was planning on leaving a little ahead of the beginning of the school year to get settled, it was the resignation on their faces that bothered her the most.

Hobby: Tsubame likes to dig through junk shops. She's especially fond of finding old books, photo albums, letters, magazines, and newspapers. She is amazed by what people think to save. It's exciting to her to find such personal connections to the past.

Cellphone color: Blue

Does Tsubame watch TV?: Tsubame doesn't have a TV. She does, however, have her laptop and an internet connection "borrowed" from an unknown neighbor in her building who doesn't password-protect their wi-fi. Tsubame feels a little guilty borrowing the internet, but the need for an internet connection for school and the desire to watch tv online outweighs the guilt. She feels everyone needs a vice. This is hers. As for what she watches, she likes silly comedies, dramas and any kind of period piece.