Roxanne Royale

Roxanne Royale (or just Roxie) was born on April 17th, 20 years ago. After losing her future prospects to her own crippling depression, Roxie now works at a fast food restaurant and barely scrapes by day after day. A disappointment to both her parents and herself, Roxie believes that she’s completely failed at life and has given up entirely.

Though she once had a knack for games and participated on her school’s trivia team, it’s been years since she’s done anything like that with friends. Now, all that’s left for Roxie are petty gambles in which she loses what little money she earns.

Somehow, that all got worse.

Background
Roxanne Royale (nicknamed Roxie) was born on April 17th, the only child of an upper middle class couple living in Montréal. Her childhood was a lonely one, as her distant parents often left her alone with a nanny, and she was given little chance to be around children her own age. Only when she was entering into her first grade of school did she really have this opportunity (besides the occasional encounter when out with her parents). There, lacking any of the experience needed to interact with kids her own age, Roxie struggled, lonely, but in her own sulking she managed to find a friend - Rachel Reiss, a girl only a little bit older than her.

As they grew up together, Roxie and Rachel became best friends and were completely inseparable. Though school was stressful for Roxie, who was expected to constantly study even in elementary school, Rachel’s friendship made it better, and it made it easier for Roxie to make more friends. Slowly, the once shy and awkward Roxanne was able to reach out and become less lonely, developing more friendships. Of course, Rachel was still her best friend. Roxie enjoyed the time she spent with her more than anything, had an insatiable urge to play and compete with her, and, by the time they were fourteen, found herself thinking about her all the time.

At first, Roxie didn’t think much about these feelings, but as jealousy sprung up from time to time, and as strange, intimate fantasies began to worm their way into her head, Roxie began to realize that maybe she wanted something more than a friend. And it terrified her. Of course she was scared of rejection, but even worse was what her parents would think of her falling in love with another girl. So, the instant such feelings came up, Roxie did everything she could to avoid them, desperately lying to herself over and over again. She became just a little more distant with Rachel because of her anxieties, and just this little bit of distance combined with all this new dread began digging up long-buried insecurities.

Suddenly, Roxanne became so much more aware of everything Rachel had that she didn’t. She seemed so effortlessly talented and succeeded at everything she did. She had siblings, and never had to be lonely. Her parents’ expectations were high, but so much lower than Roxanne’s, and she met them without trying at all. She seemed perfect, above it all, and so much better and happier than Roxanne could ever, ever hope to be. And it devastated her. Roxie’s feelings became muddled by bitter envy and resentment, but not even this made them go away - it merely convinced Roxanne that, even if everything was ideal, she still wouldn’t deserve her.

It was at this time, as the two of them approached the end of their eighth year, that Roxanne’s parents told her they’d be moving across the city and she’d have to change schools. This threw Roxanne’s already messy, stressful life into further disarray, and, distressed, she avoided telling Rachel, feeling incapable of properly handling such a conversation. But, one night, it came up. They were having a sleepover, and Roxie, anxiously thinking about how to bring it up, suddenly found Rachel closer than ever. So close that their lips almost touched. It wiped all the thoughts from her mind, but, after a long, awkward moment of silence, Rachel simply disengaged, quietly, and nervously left to go fetch tea.

Roxie told her when she came back. It just came out. They didn’t talk for a long time after that. Not because of Rachel, but because of Roxanne, who was so terrified of her feelings and the possibility that they might have been reciprocated that she simply could no longer function around her. She avoided her, and eventually, their friendship simply withered away.

So, she moved away and went to her new school. At first, she struggled just as she once did, but she was able to make new friends and achieve some measure of popularity due to her habit of sticking up for her fellow students. While the thought of Rachel still lingered, Roxie did her best to avoid it, and found new escapes - specifically, her school’s trivia team. Trivia had always been a passion of Roxie’s, after all! In this team, Roxie found success, excelling at the competitions and taking to them with greater and greater zeal.

One of the members of this team, Noelle, joined in Roxie’s wake. She was a friend of hers, a shy girl who she had defended from some bullies a fair bit earlier. Her, along with the rest of the team, were often dragged along by Roxie in her passion for games of all sorts. These games were of the utmost importance to Roxanne, and the chance to play them with new friends was so precious to her. It only became more precious as Roxanne’s free time began to shrink and her parents’ expectations grew bigger. More and more of her time was spent studying and struggling to please them, as the years went by.

The pressure Roxie was putting on herself just got worse once, in one of her school’s trivia events during her tenth year, her team got pitted up against another school’s. Roxie’s old school. The school Rachel still went to. The team Rachel had joined, at some point. For the first time in two years, the former best friends were set against one another in a competition, and, even after two years of work, Roxanne lost again. An already awkward situation became a crushing, humiliating blow to Roxie’s pride, but she put the pieces back together, and swore to do better the next year.

But Roxie’s eleventh, final year of school turned out to be the most difficult yet. It wasn’t all bad, at first. She got asked out by a nice guy, David, she had known for a couple years, and the two of them were able to hit it off pretty well. This gave Roxie her first relationship, and helped her move on from the shock, confusion, and disgust she had still been feeling over her attraction to Rachel. But, between them, something was missing, and Roxie didn’t understand what. It just wasn’t the same, and, eventually, this grew to heavily weigh on her, leading to her ending the relationship and falling into a depression.

It only got worse thanks to her and her parents’ expectations. Feeling worse than ever, Roxie began to slip up in school and in trivia, struggling more and more. This was bad enough, but, in the competition Roxie had been looking forward to all year, she lost to Rachel once more. It wasn’t just an ordinary loss. On stage, Roxie’s heart seemed to stop as anxiety hit her, hard, and she wasn’t able to properly answer any questions. It was beyond crushing. It destroyed Roxanne’s already fragile confidence, and humiliated her in front of her friends and her parents, who had always disapproved anyways. Afterwards, as Roxanne sobbed alone in the bathroom, she ran into Rachel, who apologetically reached out to her, trying to help.

And Roxanne ran away again.

Crushed and emotionally devastated, Roxanne’s performance in school dropped. In her finals, she failed to get the grades her parents expected, the grades that would’ve been necessary to get into the school they wanted for her. She lost her future, and grew distant from her friends, including Noelle. During this time, Noelle, worried and scared for her, reached out, but their awkward conversation escalated until Noelle confessed that, for years, she had been in love with her.

Roxanne felt like history was repeating itself.

She ran away then, too, and never talked to Noelle again.

After finishing high school, Roxanne was able to snag a job, but it wasn’t anything impressive. Just a job at a fast food restaurant. A far cry from what her parents wanted from her. A few months into this job, Roxie came home to see her possessions packed up, and was informed that she wouldn’t be living with her parents anymore. In other words, she got kicked out. Though she was able to get an apartment using all the money she had saved, this was little comfort.

She had failed in school. She failed in love. She had failed as a friend. She had failed as a daughter. And she had failed even in her own aspirations. She had, at just eighteen, completely failed in life.

Two years later, and life is no different for Roxanne. She takes the same train to get to the same job day after day. The only games she plays are games of chance, gambles in which she usually loses what little money she has to wager. Her life is empty and soulless, and Roxanne has no hope.

Appearance
Roxanne is a tall and boyish girl on the skinny side of things. As a result of playing sports as a teenager, and continuing to get somewhat regular exercise, Roxie has a slightly toned, athletic build with long, muscular legs. Her pale brown skin is slightly freckled, moreso around her cheeks, and her coarse, short hair is reddish-brown. When she has the money to spare, she'll get it cut and layered, but she usually doesn't expend that much effort and rarely combs it, giving her a perpetual bedhead for long periods of time. Amber eyes are dulled by heavy eye bags, the symptom of constant insomnia and exhaustion.

She doesn't put much effort into her clothing, either, and typically tosses on whatever she has lying around. Her outfits are typically simply made up of a usually worn and faded shirt together with jeans. Often, Roxie wears a flannel shirt and/or jacket above her top. When first summoned into Giselle's game, she's wearing her work uniform, a striped shirt with khakis, but she switches into a more formal outfit provided by Giselle after the first round. This outfit is a red waistcoat, paired with a white shirt underneath, a black tie, and black formal pants.

Personality
Roxanne is a friendly, earnest, and outgoing girl - at least, she is at her best. On account of her simple capacity for kindness, she was fairly popular in high school and had quite a few friends, but years of depression and failure have robbed her of her confidence. Now lacking the self-esteem needed to back up this demeanor, Roxie has reverted to a shyer and more awkward state. Her omnipresent, underlying anxiety is now obvious, and it makes it difficult for her to interact and connect with others, leaving her more lonely than ever. This loss of confidence is a result of Roxie's fragile ego, which she balanced near-entirely on her performance in the games she loved and school. When she began to fail in these things, Roxie's self-image collapsed, and she now regards herself as a worthless failure. Cripplingly depressed and lonely, all the worst aspects of Roxanne's personality have become obvious, and she frantically avoids others despite her own craving for warmth, fearful of how she may end up screwing it all up again.

As a teenager, Roxie was the kind of person to approach people who looked lonely at parties and stand up against bullies. Generally agreeable, reliable, and upbeat, Roxie was well-liked and easily hit it off with most people. While this, combined with a tendency to get quickly attached to others, meant she amassed quite a lot of casual friends during her school years, Roxanne had few close friends and preferred it this way, finding it more comfortable and easy to maintain. It's not like she had all that much free time to spend with them anyways, thanks to the strict schedules set up by her and her parents. A perfectionist, Roxanne is a slow, deliberate worker who tends to agonize over small details, and she used to always bounce back from failures to try again. But, lately, after a long string of losses, Roxie's lost this once strong drive of hers, and her slow work process is often disturbed by flares of anxiety that make her panic and rush.

While she had a reputation as a calm and logical person back in high school, Roxie is and always has been a girl of great emotional intensity and passion. Despite her best efforts to generally take things slowly, for some reason, Roxanne is invariably impulsive when it comes to personal matters, acting and speaking thoughtlessly, something that has brought her no end of trouble. She loathes herself for this and wishes she could more properly emulate the logical focus competition brings out in her in all situations, knowing just how much she's hurt herself and others with her own short-sighted decisions. Her emotions are a shameful thing to her, and Roxie does her best to hide anything she finds shameful or embarrassing, but as her life has spiraled out of her control, she often breaks down crying these days. Because of her poor track record with relationships, Roxie doesn't feel like she can trust herself or her emotions, and, rather than properly consider them, she often lies to herself and second-guesses how she feels. Of course, this only leads to her feelings building up worse and worse, until the next poor decision brings everything down on her again.

Roxie is extremely anxious and dense, and though the former has always been a problem, it's at its worst now, and, when she doesn't do something stupid out the gate, she instead paralyzes herself with fear and indecision, preventing herself from accomplishing anything. She's particularly anxious when it comes to other people, as it's incredibly difficult for her to understand what they're thinking. Throughout her life, she has consistently managed to completely miss obvious messages and hints, and her inability to properly communicate with or understand others has only caused everyone involved misery. More than anything, Roxanne feels like she can't be trusted with other people, and, as lonely as she may be, she isolates herself to avoid hurting others.

These days, Roxanne is completely devoid of confidence and anything even approximating self-respect. Believing herself to be a failure, Roxie sees little point in trying in much of anything these days and goes through life in an apathetic haze. Her days blend together, and the only things that stick out are typically self-destructive breakdowns or attempts at gambling. Self-esteem has always been a fragile and precious commodity for Roxie, and she can't help but compare herself and her accomplishments to others at every turn. And, in her own approximation, she always, always comes up short. This leaves her constantly jealous and resentful, as everyone around her seems to full of things to envy. Roxie, quite bluntly, hates herself, and is disgusted by almost every aspect of her personality - her emotions, her fragility, her sexuality. Even the success she craves brings only temporary relief, only encouraging her to put more pressure on herself in search of more.

Much of this is a result of her parents and their high expectations, which Roxanne has struggled to meet her entire life. Despite these efforts, however, she finds that she hates her parents, and more than a little. After sinking their fingers into every part of her life, destroying her friendships, and throwing her out of their house, Roxie despises and fears them. Back when she was still living with them, she did her best to rebel against their influence in small ways, first by cutting her hair short and dressing in a more masculine fashion, and then by involving herself with sports and trivia and other things they disapproved of. She is similarly rebellious, spiteful, and suspicious of all authority, something that has made her job incredibly difficult, and her slow acceptance of her situation has been soul-crushing. Depressed and full of hate for herself, Roxanne sees little point in life and puts in less effort every day. In fact, the thought of ending it all has become a more and more common one, much to her own terror, as Roxie has an intense, traumatic fear of suicide.

Powers and Statistics
Tier: 10-A

Powers and Abilities: N/A

Attack Potency: Athlete level (Athletic and fairly physical strong compared to the average person).

Speed: Athletic Human

Lifting Strength: Above Average Human

Striking Strength: Athlete Class

Durability: Athlete level

Stamina: Above average.

Range: Standard melee range.

Standard Equipment: Nothing notable.

Intelligence: For the past 2 years, the depressed Roxanne hasn't used her brain much at all and she now regards herself as a total idiot. However, back during high school, when her confidence was at its highest, Roxie displayed incredible skill in the games and subjects that caught her interest, and was noted as an honors student for several years in a row. Her best subject by far was math, and, though she doesn't think about it as much as she used to, Roxie is still excellent at it, and she can still accurately solve complex equations in her head. It's just that it's never really come up in anything she does, making it kind of a vestigial skill at this point. Her years of trivia have also given her an incredible memory, which she had worked to perfect back in the day, and she can still recall things with near-photographic accuracy, though it takes a bit more concentration and isn't at all consistent. Lastly, though this, more than anything, is not a skill Roxie has put to use lately, is her high capacity for creativity, deductive reasoning, and strategic thinking. Her deliberate, slow perfectionism is perfect for the games she loves, and she had the best win-loss record out of her trivia team when it came to their competitions. Often making use of unconventional tactics in strategy games, Roxie can be unpredictable and often surprising in a game, and though it takes a few rounds for her to get going in Giselle's game, once she does, she's eventually able to play on a higher level than ever before, proving herself a peer of Jack, Rachel, and Sharpe.

Weaknesses: Roxie is anxious, easily manipulated, impulsive, and somewhat cowardly.