Sarah Lockheart

[Carthrat]

(Edit: Stats dropped a little, socially inept background further enchanced. Hoping to come up with some other details.)

Name: Sarah Lockheart
DOB: August 20th
Sign: Leo
Age: 15
Height: 5'5"
Blood: Type A

Hobbies: Manga, Computers, Brain Puzzles, Physics/Chemistry
Fav. Colour: Purple
Fav. Gemstone: Amythest
Fav. Food: Souvlaki
Least Fav. Food: Sushi
Fav. Subject: Any Humanities
Least: Home Economics


Body: 5
Mind: 8
Soul: 5

ACV: 6
DCV: 6
HP: 60
EP: 70

Acrobatics: ** (2)
Appearance: *** (3)
Damn Healthy!: * (1)
Energy Bonus: * (1)
Agility: ** (2)
Fast Reflexes: * (1)
(1 Points Left Over)


Defects: Communications: * (Not speaking the language fluently can be quite a humbling and difficult experience, as Sarah is just finding out.)

Defects: Socially Inept (American/Shy): * (Some people in Japan have weird ideas about caucasians. While the reverse is also true, it's Sarah who's in the differing culture, so she's the one who occasionally suffers for it.)  
(A little shy, a little silent, has trouble making friends.. always, it's a bunch of little things coming together, preventing Sarah from really bonding with many other people. It's created a feeling of isolation, which is only heightened now that she's arrived in Japan.)

(No Defect Points actually spent: 2 points left over)



Body:  Always an athletic child, Sarah took a great intrest in acrobatics and athletics, and has been in several teams back home. This has lead to her body as it is; skilled, taut, though not her main focus.

Mind: A brilliant brain, Sarah has always excelled at school. Having had plenty of time to persue her own intrests, she's matured and has a broad base of knowledge to draw on. At the moment, however, she's struggling with language issues, and thus despite her hard work, she's not going to shine as much until she can overcome them. Once she can make herself better understood, though...

Soul: Sarah possesses a drive to learn and do, but her real failings with regards to willpower and self-confidence come from social abilities. She's just not confident in her ability to interact with others, and it shows. However, once she makes her mind up, she generally sticks to it- and rarely seems to shift. Quite a stubborn streak is revealed, if pushed.

Appearance: Sarah has a perky, cute look about her, and frequently attracts second looks. Well, she used to, anyway. She doesn't personally put much stock in it, perhas, but it's there.

Acrobatics/Agility/Fast Reflexes/Damn Healthy: Phyiscal skills were well-developed on Sarah's part, thanks to her experience in sporting teams. She hopes to join some teams when she starts school in Japan, and given that she's taller and more fit than the average student, doubts that she'll have any trouble.


Sarah Lockheart

A 15-year-old student on exchange from America, Sarah Lockheart comes from a middle-upper-class family living in Manhattan, New York. Her parents, who had made sure to see her through to perhaps a better-than-average school, were delighted when she being slicing through the classes and tests like a knife through hot gravy, thus making all their spending options worthwhile. The problem was, however, that she was never much of a socialite. It's not that she was heavily bullied (beyond the first two grades), and it's not that others disliked her, but more that she was relatively silent and unsocial, except with what few friends she has. Other people found it difficult to approach her; she frequently secluded herself from others, and with some people, just downright didn't get along.

Crossroads High, where she attended, was part of a fairly large campus; it had classes from kinder to finals, and they started teaching langauge from day one, because as they say, the children learn better young. Sarah was learning Japanese for her time, and, while initially it was a bore, she discovered that the language aside, she quite enjoyed the background of Japan, from the ancient myths they held, to the culture of their feudal past, right up to the Japan of today; described as some tourists as a curious meshing of elegance, technology, and tradition. She was certainly interested in the anime/manga scene; as she proudly states to those who ask, she was there *before* it was cool.

So, when she got an opportunity to go on an exchange trip to Crossroad's sister school in Tokyo, Juuban high, she snapped it right up. She had reservations at first; would she be ok in a country where it's hard to communicate? Would she be able to make friends, given her troubles already? However, her intrest in travelling and seeing as stil pretty high, so she decided to go for it. Her parents were initially somewhat dubious, but when they discovered that Sarah was not only first in her class at Japanese, but also being awarded a partial scholarship to do so...

..well, it's about *time* they had a chance to go on a second honeymoon.

All this being done, Sarah said goodbye to her friends, promised to keep in touch via the internet, packed her bags, and hopped on a plane destined for Japan. Her exchange is officially supposed to last a year, but there's been vauge talk of extending it, depending on how everything works out.

Of course, no amount of theory in a language can prepare one for actually being immersed in the culture that speaks it. Upon landing at Narita International, Sarah barely managed to locate her foster family, the Takadas.

Since then, it's been a bumpy ride. Apparently, her grades in Japanese mean much less than she thought, and Sarah has had quite some trouble holding conversations beyond simple sentences. Even then, her accent clearly shows; while it's getting better, it's still very noticable. And because it's hard to communicate with the people around her, Sarah is starting to feel lonely. Sure, it's a subtle thing, but more than frequently, now, she's beginning to wonder if this wasn't all a big mistake.

Well, she starts going to school, soon. Perhaps she'll meet some other westerners there! And there'll probably be quite a few other students who speak English, too.

<->

Sarah is a perky-looking young girl, with shoulder-length red hair tied into a braid, blue eyes, and a cheerful face. She's noticably taller than most other people, and in Japan, this look is only heightened, because more often than not, people are *short*.

Usually, she's quite articulate and willing to speak her mind, but recently that's been less so. She's not terribly fond of having to wear a uniform, either, but can live with that. Physically adept as well as smart, Sarah is looking to join a baseball team, or possibly a soccer team (but believe the former is far more common than the latter in Japan.) She's an avid manga/anime collector, and sees that as the biggest upshot to being in Japan.


Sarah keeps in regular contact with her parents and friends. Because phoning all the time is expensive, she's taken to the internet in order to keep in touch. Most happily of all, it's in English (well, the bits she goes to, anyway.)


Friends/Family @ Home.

Gary Lockheart, a clever businessman. Owns a chain of conveniance stores back in America, and is known to dote on his daughter somewhat. Sends an e-mail every day, and gets one in return, too. To his knowledge, Sarah is having an excellent time, and she skims over the less positive details of her trip, not wanting him to worry.

Elaine Lockheart, a doctor who has retired and now spends her time authoring medical journals. Tended towards a stricter approach than Gary, but loves her daughter just as much for it all.

Sammy Lockheart, her irritating little brother. He *used* to get in the way constantly, stealing stuff out her room, hiding it, and laughing when she got flustered. Shows promise of being as smart as Sarah, but really can't be bothered applying himself.

Greg Lockheart, her only surviving grandfather (on her fathers side). He has some strange ideas about the Japanese, and disapproves of her exchange trip. He had some harsh words with her before she left, and they departed on bad terms.

Jennifer Lords, Sarah's best friend. Quite the talkative one, and even though she's a continent away, can be counted upon to sometimes ring Sarah and ask for help with this test or that project. A bit of a ditz, but a good friend.


Foster Family

Having not had much time to go out since arriving, Sarah hasn't made any friends outside her foster family.

Hiroshi Takada, the man of the house. A teacher himself, Hiroshi doesn't attend the school Sarah goes to. However, he knows English, and takes a keen intrest in teaching Sarah better Japanese, so that she can make the most of her trip. Despite this, he is a man of few words, but a very clever one, and frequently has good advice on matter ranging from relationships to chess.

Akari Takada, the woman of the house. She spends most of her time going out and spending Hiroshi's money, and he indulges her a little. A caring person, she's also writing a series of fantasy novels, based on the adventures of a time-travelling superhero. Quick to laugh and slow to temper, she nontheless sometimes gets frustrated when she can't communicate with Sarah (who is using her books as an aid for learning kanji.)

Ranma Takada, the teenage boy of the house. Possibly Sarah's biggest problem to date; while most Japanese boys keep their distance from the gaijin woman, Ranma continuously hits on Sarah, and she's getting quite frustrated with the whole thing. Not wanting to tell Hiroshi or Akari, she does her best just to stay away from the guy. He's not exceptionally bright, but he is, amazingly, an awesome chess player- and the very last person anyone would suspect of such ability.

[Anastasia]

EDIT - Unused sheet, being locked to reduce forum clutter.