monica chavez // single-minded daredevil

[thyPOPE]

 

[thyPOPE]

Monica Chavez.
SINGLE-MINDED DAREDEVIL.

A sugar-sweet, thrill-seeking Afro-Latina (yes, she speaks Spanish, too), Monica is a ton of fun to be around, but she's also well-known in her friend circle for being inflexible, overly-attached, and just a little bit uncertain of her own limits. As in, she categorically refuses to deviate from a plan once it's been set, which is more than problematic when she also has a lot of problems figuring out that yes, she is indeed mortal. And fallible. That said, she tends to know where all the cool stuff is happening, and is really good at getting stuff done, once she figures out exactly what her path to that goal will be.

COLLEGE EDUCATED "MILLENIAL" SEEKS...MEANS TO PAY RENT? PLEASE?

So, ah, her little brother's just run away from home. Into her - admittedly welcoming - arms. But the thing is that Monica doesn't really have a stable income? She'd been fine on her own - the biggest thing is always food, right, and considering she's a food journalist she tends to get a few meals per week funded by her boss. The rest - well, she's not that long out of college. She knows the instant ramen diet like no other. What's the problem, when it's not literally all she's eating? The thing is, up until now she's been getting her Internet from the public library, or her (very kind) neighbor, and she definitely hadn't been paying a phone bill. She gets paid per word, at a rate that's not very high, in a job that pretty much lacks upward mobility (especially for the immediate future, when it really matters) and is currently limited by her ability to fund excursions to various restaurants. Basically everything's been going into rent.

The thing is - now that Cory's here, suddenly her water use has doubled. Same with her power bill. And the ramen diet? It's okay for her. She's definitely way less comfortable with making that kind of decision for her little brother's body (somehow it's easier to fret about other people, after all). He's trying to get a job, but he's only seventeen himself, and part of the reason he ran away was - well, he's pretty sure he's about to drop out of high school. Monica's pretty firmly on the side of letting him make his own life decisions but it's also been a while since she's actually lived with her kid brother for a prolonged period of time, and the added stresses of needing to make ends meet mean their relationship is a bit more sour than either of them remembered.

But on the other hand, how is she gonna spend time worrying about that when she needs another source of income, quick?

COMBAT STILETTOS.

She can run in heels, and has never tripped trying it. Of course, she doesn't wear outright heels too often - they're still kinda pinchy, especially for a girl who's got feet that are both small and wide. But it's good to know that she doesn't need to worry about righting herself when it comes right down to it.

ANYTHING ELSE?

Monica's way more clingy and smothering when it comes to other people's well-beings, in all fairness, and her pushiness means that she is generally pretty insistent that her friends are all safe and sound (especially her longtime friends). She can often be found in the Ashdown Public Library, or a coffee shop in the vicinity. Despite her nickname she's not a coffee drinker, though - her BFF just happens to work at one, and it makes her feel writer-y. She's kind of a writer, right?

Monica has a bachelor's degree in communications from a fairly expensive liberal arts school but didn't continue into grad school. She has some diverse talents - a pilot's license (though she hasn't flown in a long while - she always used the school-rented planes), CPR training, and a certificate of completion for a wine tasting class, among others (most of which are way more useless) - that are mostly symptomatic of someone who likes getting things done but has no real larger goal in mind. She doesn't know how to apply any of them.

Cory and some of her closer friends call her Mocha. (She calls Cory, Corgi. Yes, they're cute!)

Monica bleaches her hair reddish-blonde but otherwise wears it natural, in a springy halo of curls. She's squat and fox-faced with a general taste for bright colors, faux fur, and high top sneakers (they can hide secret heels!).  

[thyPOPE]

doots