finley hayes
DISCONNECTED RETRO GAMER
Finley grew up with a Gameboy in her pocket, and she sometimes wishes that the worlds in pixels could be as real and tangible as her own. Playing games this extensively has made her incredibly coordinated and calculating. She prefers older games, and refuses to splurge on new consoles or systems, thinking them a waste of time when she has a whole past to explore. Because of this, she’s also pretty decent at tinkering with dated technology.DISCONNECTED RETRO GAMER
OFFLINE
Finley was once a pretty typical girl with friends, hobbies, the usual stuff. She was shy, but not cripplingly so. She wasn’t exactly a stellar student, but she was good, smart, not even having to study to keep her average grades. But after the incident - after she nearly terminally injured her best friend, Ashley, she became totally withdrawn. Even if people might have wanted to check in on her, to check in on their friendships, to continue their friendships, Finley felt infinitely guilty for what she had done. Regardless of whether she had been in control at the time it happened or not, it had been her own body that performed the deed. Well, sort of. She never even got in touch with the were-pack afterwards, feeling that there was something wrong with her. She’s ignored most advances from other weres. Her monthly transformations are a nightmare, a kind of second puberty. She and her mother are still trying to find ways to cope with it. Gaming might have been a hobby of hers before, but after the incident, it became asnecessary to Finley as air. It’s a needed distraction.
Most people are pretty concerned about Finley. You might hear her name whispered in the hallways. The clerks that knew her before the incident might say, “what a poor girl,” when she leaves their store. She seems to have a dark stormcloud floating around her, and it’s difficult to reach her through whatever wall she’s put up. Finley is not really aware that others feel sorry for her. She assumes that when they talk about her they don’t have much good to say. She’s fallen into a downward spiral of anxiety, convincing herself that she’s not worth anybody’s time. Many people have tried to reach out to her, but few have been successful in getting a response. And after a while, well, it just becomes awkward to try and talk to someone who isn’t interested in talking to you.
It’s not like Finley doesn’t desire human contact. In fact, she’s cried many a night hugging her mom, even sleeping in the same room as her like a child. But her sleep is filled with nightmares, and home has slowly been feeling like less and less of a safe space, too. Every time she sees one of her classmates, she thinks that if she looks closely enough, she might see fear in their eyes. So she hides her face in her screens, and doodles during class. Finley can’t remember the last time she did her homework, and her grades are definitely slipping. She might have been confident in the past, but when she talks to someone now she finds herself slipping on her words and trailing away. People often need to ask her to repeat herself. Her mother has wanted to take her to a therapist, but they can’t really afford it. A move to another town might help, too, but again - money. She’s called the school and Finley now has weekly meetings with the guidance counselor, but she isn’t very susceptible to the meetings, yet, and the counselor only has very basic therapy training. This toruble something Finley will have to work through by herself, sooner or later, if she wants to thrive again. She’s going to have to patch herself up and move forward.
LUCKY SHOPPER
When Finley goes to her favorite used game store, there's a pretty good chance the title she's looking for is there. Even if it's on her third or fourth visit looking for the game, it shows up eventually.Finley is also a Were-wolverine.
ANYTHING ELSE?
- As far as I’m concerned, Finley is at her “rock bottom” right now, at least for this stage of her life. I’d like for her to grow by finally meeting someone who she wants to talk to, or being knocked into her senses by some meeting or event. She needs to start communicating again, and honestly wants to, but she needs to mentally get herself to that point.
- She is 16, attends high school, and is currently a junior. She may be held back if she keeps up her slack in class.
- Finley’s family is lower middle class, and they tend to struggle with living expenses.
- Finley is an only child with a single mother. Her mother is quite clingy, and always trying to win her approval one way or another.
- Because of this, she has a pretty big allowance every month. Enough to buy her games, anyway. It’s probably why her family is poorer than most. Just because they’re low on funds doesn’t mean her mom is great at budgeting.
- Her mother moved to Ashdown shortly after her divorce, when Finley was ten, just to sort of get away. She’d heard good things about the area and schools.
- Finley was more of a Daddy’s girl when she was very young, which is why her mother is so concerned about her affection. She worries that Finley never really got over the divorce.
- Finley often has at least one handheld gaming device on her. Her bedroom is a mess of wires, busted monitors, and dirty paper plates.
- She’s incredibly disorganized. She doesn’t even carry her school papers in folders, so they all crumple together at the bottom of her bag. However, she’s meticulous when it comes to her game collection. She has everything placed carefully in a worn-down filing cabinet.
- She really hates MMOs. Single-player is more her style.
- Finley is great at pulling random, useless facts out of the air. Pretty much anything concerning games, she knows trivia.
- Finley is very intelligent and could do well in school if she tried, but she’s just unmotivated.
- Finley is short, around 4’11”, and has to stand on counters to grab things from the top shelves.
- She is pan-demi-romantic asexual.
