Post by roseleaf on Feb 2, 2011 9:57:35 GMT -5
Name: Benjamin James Rochford
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Orientation: bisexual
Guild: ------------
Shapeshift Form: -------------------------------
Appearance:
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Orientation: bisexual
Guild: ------------
Shapeshift Form: -------------------------------
Appearance:
Ben is like the posterboy for baby-faced young men. True to his nature, Ben gives off an aura of a happy, carefree guy. He's about 5'10" and ways just shy of 160 pounds. Just like his namesake, he's still got a little bit of 'baby fat', but not so much that he doesn't still look ADORABLE! ...Okay, so maybe Rose is the only one running around calling him that, but it's not like he's bad looking either. He's got warm brunette hair the is just short enough to hang half above his eyes, which are the same warm, chocolatey brown. He's got skin that's on the darker side, but could still be considered white. Some people think he must have Italian or Mexican blood from being so dark. One thing that's a constant with Ben is that he's almost always smiling. Being a teacher, and one with a class that isn't normally taken seriously, he yells a lot. But he always seems to be smiling, or at least have that little twinkle in his eyes. The shapeshifter gene seems to have become defunct in him for the first time, so Ben doesn't have a shifted form.Personality:
Despite his sad history, as you'll see, Ben seems to be a good survivor. Ben is one of those guys that gets places in life but always strives for more. One of the things that annoys his new 'roomie' is that he's kind of cocky, though he'd never admit it! He'd always take someone up on a challenge, going up against some of the best basketball players with a grin and dueling a genius in a game of chess. When he loses, he laughs it off, but he still keeps and aire of confidence, pointing out ways you could have made his loss more humiliating. Everyone's pretty sure that there will never be a person who can get Ben down. Ben is the kind of guy who's not good on his own- pretty much the only things he'll do when he's alone are practice his trumpet, do paperwork, and sit in the dark and watch TV.History:
Even though Ben is so happy-go-lucky, he can be serious when needed without losing that boyish charm. He's a good listener, and is often the teacher his students go to when they need help. He could never pass down a charity case- batting your eyelashes can get you pretty far with him, and Rose has got it down to an art form from living with him. He takes his band class seriously, and prides himself on whipping up careless teenagers into diligant band geeks! Which is why you should never tell him you don't take band seriously- you may just be physically thrown out of the class.
As for everything else, things like love and his deeper inner meaning, Ben isn't really sure yet. He's got a young, carefree soul- and plenty of time to thank about where he needs to be in live. But he does know one thing- when he finds where he needs to be, he'll do anything to get there! He'll go to extremes for what he thinks is right.
Ben's history may seem like a sob story at first, but no cliche story is without it's happy ending! The first five years of Ben's life were happy, the classic childhood- He was born to Jane Borne, a school secritary, and Alex Rochford, a decorated police officer. He spent almost every day since he could walk playing basketball. When he turned five, his father picked him up from school, drove him to the hospital, and showed him one of the most amazing things he'd ever seen in his life- his baby sister, Marieh Rochford. Ben was extatic- he loved being a big brother and teaching his baby sister. But one night, his father got called out to a break in and since he was the closest cop, he was called in for backup. He had kissed Marieh on the head, gave her to Ben, and jokingly said, 'Sometime soon, you might just take over my job as man of the house!'Sample: Other:
That night, a man high on coke with a revolver shot Alex Rochford, leaving behind his wife, and his two children of only 5 and 3 months.
After that, things took a turn for the worse. His mother refused to get out of bed for nearly a week. Marieh suffered from lack of care until her mother finally realized that if she continued down that path, she would not just lose her husband, but everything she held dear to her, including her little baby girl. But by the time she got a handle on reality, the school had to let her go. Ben's mother found a job at a law firm and two years later, fell in love a man named Kyle Cunningham. Ben couldn't beleive it- how could his mother do this to him? She had promised that he would never have to let go of his dad! On his first day of second grade, Ben ran as soon as school got out. He ran as far as he could, until it got dark, and was lost in the city. It was like seeing through the eyes of an adult for him- he saw people in alleys, knowing they were doing things that his mother said would send them to hell. Something so simple as a city street could harbor so much evil...but it sure felt safer than what was lurking in his home.
His mother couldn't beleive the words out of Ben's mouth. The young boy told her that Kyle was bad, but she didn't listen. Kyle was a memory brought to life, the spitting image of her dead lover to the broken widow. Not even two months after their first date, they got married. That's when Kyle revealed that he wasn't as clean cut as he seemed- he'd been hiding a major drinking problem. Jane promised herself that for Kyle's sake, she would try to help him. But things kept getting worse. She lost her job as secretary when Ben followed her to work one day, screaming about how Kyle was going to tear their lives apart. That night, while his mother was at the store, Kyle stumbled in, even though he was supposed to be on a business trip. That was the first time he had ever hit one of the kids, and by now, Ben had commited the smell of Kyle's alchohal-stale breath to memory. He was terrified, so he kept quiet until his mom got home. Kyle had left to go back to the bar. Even then, Ben couldn't say a word.
Over the years, things got worse. Now, Jane was starting to see who Kyle truely was- he came home drunk more often then he came home sober, and soon, it was an every night occurance. Ben and Marieh kept coming home with strange bruises. Jane tried to reach out for help, but it seems Kyle stopped her at every turn- he'd even managed to convince her family on one of his sober days that Jane was addicted the pain meds her doctor had given her for a 'back injury'. Her family didn't beleive her. She had no where to go. By the time Ben was 14, he had only told 3 people of the abuse- he wasn't afriad of the consiquences of telling, but afraid that no one would listen. He'd learned a long time ago, on that street in second grade, that people listened to what they wanted to hear, and let the rest fade into the background. But soon, all their pretty songs had to stop, and they'd be forced to hear what had been going on around them all along.
That time came for Ben, finally, one night at home. The night when it was silent. Normally, when he came home and his mother wasn't there, the 17 year old could hear his father bosing Marieh around, with that drunken slur he hated so much. When he came into the living room, Kyle was laying there...dead. A gun lay beside him. Good riddence.
But what made his heart stop was the second body. Amongst the pools of blood staining the floor, a 13 year old brunette lay still as a stone, with her blue eyes closed. Marieh.
For the next year, Ben was on automatic. He ate enough to keep himself alive. He lived for Marieh, he told himself, but this life would never be what Marieh wanted him to live. He dropped basketball and stopped playing the trumpet like he'd used to love to. He turned to extremes like drugs. One night, he was about to shoot up at a party when he thought of his sister. He'd been at the house before...This is was the house of his sister's best friend. He'd walked her over almost every weekend. They had sat on this couch and watched cartoons and eaten chips...now he was sitting in the same place, bleary eyed, and about to inject himself with a dirty needle, just to supply a feeling?
Getting clean wasn't the important part of the story, though. Two years later, Ben wasn't the same person. It was like someone had gone back in time. He was happy. He had Marieh in his mind, not her loss. He was halfway through college. And his life had changed. He thought that maybe it was time to start helping others. With his mother, he started a support group in their town. At first, it was just a little place where druggies could get a pep talk and a referall to a good doctor. Then, Ben and Jane helped someone who gave them something back- they helped a business man who had fallen from the top gwt clean, and in return, he helped them set up a real, official group. By investing just a little bit of money, the man had supplied them with enough money to start an organization, to provide housing for people in need, to really make a diffrence. The thought brought Ben comfort- a druggie made a difference where appearance-oriented stars that donated millions had failed.
Reading the papers one day, Ben found a story that brought him back- An 11 year old girl was reported missing right after her parents reported her rape. They beleived she had ran away. When he looked at the picture of the girl, he was surprised- she looked just like Marieh. It stuck in his mind like a bad itch- the image of the girl haunted him, like he felt guilty for this girl being ruined, just like Marieh. Almost four years later, the case had been reopened with a new lead- one of the people he and his mother advocated had given the girl shelter in his orphanage for nearly two months without telling the authorities. On a whim, Ben decided to ask his friend about the girl. He was told that the girl had been on her way to a city in the midwest. That night, when Ben finally got to sleep, he had a dream- or at least, he thought it was a dream. Marieh told him that some people can be saved, some can't.
'you can save her, Ben. You know her, you love her as much as you love me, you just haven't confronted her yet! She's crying out...and you need to give her a voice.'
That night, Ben packed up his things, reveiwing all the knowledge that stuck with him from his dad's old cop job, and hit the road.
A year later, someone who had lived in the orphange with the girl pointed him in the direction of Shelpey Alley. He arrived, and after a quick search of Shelpey's background, found what he was looking for- the city was thriving with suspected runaway kids. One, in a new article, had the right face, the wrong name- questioning if the girl was a toddler who had been kidnapped fron Austin over 13 years ago.
But it wasn't. It was Rose.
Slightly guilty about digging into someone's private life, he found Rose's address and moved progressively closer until finally, he decided to take up residence in the same run down apartment building. He considered turning back, telling himself this was too drastic a measure to take to ensure the safety of a stranger, but the night he was about to leave, he ran into Rose-face first-in the hallway. She had tears in her eyes, but she wiped them away and smiled at him, hauntingly like his little sister, and murmured a quick apology to him.
But before she left, Ben picked up the ribbon she had dropped. It was purple...Marieh had always worn a pink one around her wrist. This girl wasn't his little sister....but that didn't mean she wasn't worth saving. He stopped her at the door, gave it back to her, and swore to himself he would at least try to help Rose.
Months later, Ben had stricken up a bond with the girl- he found her pensive, cynical humor charming and admired her hidden strength, Then, when he found out she had lost her appartment across from his, he took the opportunity and invited her to stay with him just until she saved up the money to get herself back on her feet. With no other place to turn, she accepted. He learned things about her, and started to think of her even closer than he and his sister had been- there was no word for what Rose was to him, but he realized that he didn't ever want her to leave, despite the fact he'd went to return her to her own life.
When he got home one night, he found out that Rose had discovered the file- his cover was blown. He tried to explain it to Rose, that he'd only been trying to help. She didn't beleive him and ran off. Ben was devistated- his chance to save someone, his chance to see Rose happy, and he'd blown it. He called his mother in to come help him pack, when he thought of a better idea- surely, if Rose saw how many people cared for her, she would beleive he was only trying to help! So he let his mother talk to Rose, and miraculously, she understood. But to both their dismay, she refused to leave. But with a little coaxing from Jane, Rose agreed that she would at least make the attempt to, so she could try to go back to a normal life. Now, Ben takes care of Rose, but as her 18th birthday nears, he finds himself unsure he will be able to let her go.