by Opossum » Fri Apr 18, 2025 4:11 pm
Nicole "Nic" Beauchamp | 26 | Female | The Fifth Wheel
Pronouns: She/Her
Sexuality: Demisexual Lesbian
Appearance:
Nic is 5'7 and 232 lbs, with a rectangular body shape and light skin. She has medium-length brown hair styled in a messy wolf cut that she did herself. She has a somewhat elfin looking oval face, with upturned, deep set, green eyes and a small upturned nose. The only makeup she wears is dark often smudged eye shadow, giving her eyes a bit of a raccoon look to them. She almost exclusively wears a variety of loose fitting graphic t-shirts, most of which were bought at gift shops and have gimmicky slogans printed on them, cargo shorts with a carabiner that holds her keys and a rotating display of souvenir keychains, and socks with sandals.
Personality:
On the surface, Nic comes off as someone very easy-going and just happy to be here. A little absent minded perhaps, with a tendency for daydreaming and getting sidetracked, but eager to contribute to every conversation, even if some of her advice and ideas are... questionable in practicality. She has an affinity for hanging out in shops and chatting with strangers, and often ends up helping them with various tasks. Lost phones, lost pets... Oh, and that one time she accidentally helped someone break into an apartment that they claimed to have been locked out of.
She's usually up for just about anything her friends want to do on their trips, with the only thing she insists on being that they stop at as many roadside attractions as possible. She has an anglerfish plushie named Angel and a blog that's just photos of Angel gaping at various things on her travels, trying on merchandise, and meeting up with other toys. It doesn't have a lot of subscribers, but it's Nic's pride and joy and she will shamelessly advertise it to anyone she speaks to.
In reality, Nic has no idea what she's doing here. Not only has she yet to figure out what she wants to do in life, but even hanging out with her friends feels like a balancing act. She can't shake the feeling that the only reason they're friends is because she happened to be assigned to the same student housing, and that while everyone else clicked or naturally grew closer, she just got automatically included by proximity.
It doesn't help that she feels inadequate in comparison to them, and is pretty sure that she needs them more than they need her- not that she would ever admit that. She doesn't admit a lot actually, afraid that if everyone knew what a mess she was they'd stop putting up with her, and has become quite adept at dodging the truth or even outright lying about almost anything, from how she feels to her current life situation.
Bio/History:
Growing up, Nic was an only child to parents who- well, didn't exactly have high expectations, but expectations she failed to meet nevertheless. They weren't particularly strict, but a vague aura of disappointment would follow every report card and parent-teacher conference. No matter how hard Nic tried to "apply herself" and live up to the potential her teachers saw in her, she always seemed to end up with her head in the clouds, missing deadlines and dozing off while studying. She attended summer school, neglecting hobbies and what few friends she had to work on raising her GPA before graduation. Her hard work paid off- at least in the sense that she was accepted into one of the colleges her parents had picked out.
Glad to finally be out of high school, and excited for a new chapter in her life out from under her parents' roof and looks of disapproval, the future seemed bright. And then the novelty wore off. Nic spent her freshman year with her major undeclared, having worked so long just trying to get in to college without having put any thought into what career she wanted to pursue. All of the same problems that plagued her performance in high school had followed her, only worsened without the supervision of her parents and teachers. She struggled to get to her classes on time or at all and short breaks from studying or writing essays somehow ballooned into hours of taking 'am i gay?' quizzes and watching deep sea documentaries.
Her roommates were her only lifeline during all of this, providing structure when it came to doing things around the apartment and inviting her along when they would go places. Afraid of losing them like she lost her friends in high school, Nic always made sure she was free when they were free, hiding just how badly her academics were suffering so they wouldn't think worse of her. Before her last semester, she told them she was going to take some gap years to focus on herself, but that she would be in the area for a while and could still hang out. In actuality, Nic had dropped out of college, overwhelmed and dreading the thought of another year, deciding that the liberal arts degree just wasn't worth it.
Her parents were predictably upset, if not surprised, and set her up with an allowance to discourage her from couch surfing on the condition that she find a job. For years now she's bounced from one job to the next, making good impressions in her interviews and starting off strong before her work performance declines, then getting either fired or quitting to go on a trip with her friends. She'd become reliant on both her ability to get hired fairly easily and her parents' money to keep her afloat. Until while on their latest vacation when she got a call from her parents, letting her know that they were cutting her off and that it was time to stop riding around the country and get serious.
Feeling that telling her friends any of this is absolutely not an option, Nic has spent every moment since then trying very hard to distract herself from internally panicking. When Hadley's car broke down, and the mechanic told them it would be a couple weeks until it was fixed, Nic was secretly relieved to be stranded. Even better when it turns out that there is an upcoming festival to occupy her mind. To her, with it's kitschy shops and friendly people that know nothing about her, the town of Tidecrest Coast is like a daydream, one that she doesn't want to wake up from.