Post by Steph on Nov 28, 2023 13:59:36 GMT 11
🌼 Name: Daisy Gambino
🌼 Age: 11 and a half🌼 Gender: Female
🌼 Trainer Type: Rising Star (self-proclaimed)
🌼 Hometown: Driftveil City
🌼 Appearance: Standing at just four feet tall under a mane of chestnut hair (which has both the volume and knottiness to rival an overgrown Tangrowth’s girth), Daisy exemplifies the phrase “big things come in small packages.” Her eyes are roughly the color of chocolate and the intensity of a zetawatt-equivalent ultrashort pulse laser system, give or take a few watts. (The latter is more noticeable when she is concentrating, as are her somewhat unkempt eyebrows, which she will crease drastically.) Most of her former classmates would describe her mouth as “big,” although this may be more indicative of the volume of her voice than the actual size of her jaw. As a self-anointed rugged outdoorswoman, Daisy’s medium bisque skin carries the glow of a healthy tan (and is usually caked with an equally healthy amount of dirt after a day outside.)
When she travels, Daisy prefers loose articles of clothing that are (dare we say) comfy and easy to wear. Her signature outfit is a pair of well-worn purple overall shorts thrown over a pink and white striped tee shirt. She adorns the hair on the left side of her part with colorful barrettes in different shapes. Flowers are a favorite motif, given her name, especially purple gerbura daisies. She is also fond of colorful plastic jewelry, such as round earrings and jelly bracelets. Her backpack is an ordinary canvas school bag that has been plastered mercilessly with pins, button badges, cartoon character straps, and a series of symbols drawn in permanent markers that only Daisy understands.
Despite sometimes boasting about her great physical prowess, Daisy’s movements are actually a bit gawky. Perhaps it is her age, paired with her innate dorkiness, that makes her appear as though she doesn’t quite have the hang of her own limbs just yet. Even so, she always keeps moving forward at a run whenever possible. Big, jerky, flamboyant hand gestures are the norm in the Gambino family, and Daisy is no exception. Because of this, it is a good idea to keep at least three feet away from her while she is talking.
(Here’s my best rendition of her in a late 90’s Sugimori style, which is…actually a lot neater and cleaner than how I usually draw her, to be honest? What even is coloring in the lines?!)
🌼 Personality: Daisy Gambino is, at all times, a stick of very colorful dynamite waiting to explode. She lives by a simple philosophy: “All the stuff in anime can really happen if you try hard enough.” Although this philosophy has failed her time and time again, Daisy is still very reluctant to part with her fantastical beliefs and pursue more realistic dreams
Her escapades are numerous and her successes are few, but Daisy greets each day as a new challenge. This excitement manifests itself as a sort of game of make-believe integrated with everything Daisy does: a walk to the library could be a top secret mission, or a stick lying in the dirt could be a magic wand. Because of this, younger kids will find Daisy to be a fun playmate, but her peers find her weird and childish. Adults often do their best to redirect Daisy’s out-of-pocket behavior with mixed results.
Daisy craves validation and attention, but feels that all too often the adults in her life do not meet that need in a satisfactory way, which has brought about somewhat of a rebellious streak in her, as well as a sort of desperation for literally anyone to “get” what she’s about. She is not entirely self-absorbed as her interests might suggest. In fact, if Daisy is concerned for someone, she will insert herself into their problems and come to their “rescue,” whether they want her to or not.
Daisy embraces her interests with a fierce intensity that scares some people off. She doesn’t just read a manga; she acts it out in closet cosplay. She doesn’t just play a video game in silence; she yells at the characters on screen as though they can hear her. Everything she does has 110% of her energy behind it. This extends to Pokémon training. Now that she is finally able to explore the world on her own, Daisy plans to dominate the world with the power of friendship—if only she can make a real friend first.
🌼 History: Born and raised in Driftveil City in the Unova region, Daisy comes from a largely blue-collar family. The Gambinos are scrappy, salt-of-the earth people; the type who pack sandwiches with only one slice of baloney in them by necessity and never back down from a fight. Daisy’s father is Franklin Gambino, an ex-biker punk who found honest work with a shipping company. Her mother, Rose, was formerly the assistant manager of a corner store that sold coffee and newspapers to the dock workers. Neither of Daisy’s parents had a Pokémon of their own when she was growing up. Franklin may have had some during his biker days, but as they were likely stolen from him, he doesn’t like to talk about them much.
As she grew into a young elementary schooler, Daisy inherited her parents’ outspoken streak and resilience, but Mr. and Mrs. Gambino failed to reign in their daughter’s love of comics and animation. Although Daisy’s parents love her, it can be hard for them to overcome the generation gap, and they often ask her why she spends her allowance on “goofy stuff” like old VHS tapes and second-hand plush toys of assorted 2D characters.
School was difficult for Daisy, as no classroom could fully contain her, and she had difficulty making and keeping friends due to her outspokenness and bossy behavior. There was, however, one bright spot during these years: Daisy was delighted to welcome her baby brother Franky into the world, because finally, somebody had to play with her.
The first time Daisy entertained the idea of sharing a future with Pokémon was when she was nine years old. She snuck into her neighbor’s yard and took their Rhyhorn for a joy ride, imagining herself to be a famous racer she’d seen in an anime. This incident resulted in a large hole in the fence, which Daisy’s neighbor, Mrs. Bigsby, ordered her to repair herself. Daisy’s parents agreed to this arrangement, and she spent her entire summer vacation holding up boards and repainting them. Although it was tiresome work, it did allow Daisy to spend more time with the Bigsbys’ pet Rhyhorn, which delighted her. Daisy learned that Mrs. Bigsby was a retired Gym assistant, and that her son was out traveling to collect ribbons in the Sinnoh region in order to become a Top Coordinator. It made Daisy start to realize that if she went on a Pokémon journey of her own, perhaps she could make her dreams of wild adventures come true—just like in all her favorite comics, games and cartoons.
By age 10, Daisy decided that she should set her sights on being admitted to Blueberry Academy so she could start her ascent to Pokémon fame. But by age 11, she was struck two devastating blows: first, her application to the Academy was rejected due to poor grades, and second, her mother got a job at Pokémart’s corporate headquarters in Saffron City due to some family connections. The increase in family income would be considerable, but the move would take the Gambinos far away from everything they knew.
Even though her parents assured her that moving to a new region would bring lots of new opportunities, Daisy was not convinced. She still didn’t want to have to give up on going to Blueberry Academy, despite it being seemingly a lost cause. But since she’s out of luck this year, she’s trying the next best thing: hopping on the Bullet Train to Johto to take up Professor Elm’s offer of a Pokémon partner in exchange for some research assistance. By doing so, she hopes to gain enough experience to challenge Blueberry Academy’s Elite Four and prove that she’s just as good as they are, thereby proving the admissions staff who rejected her horribly wrong.
🌼 Goals: Daisy’s most prominent ambition is to prove herself to Blueberry Academy in such a fashion that they grovel, apologize for not admitting her sooner, and give her a free scholarship to Pokémon School. But as long as she’s traveling to train and get better, she has designed a series of simple sidequests for herself:
🌼 Other Info: Daisy is an OC I made for an online singing group that never really panned out, but she was too good not to use for something! So she does sort of exist in other mediums and you might see her elsewhere…but it’s still me behind her! By the way, I coded this post from my phone because I guess I enjoy doing things the hard way 😆
How did you find us?: a good old fashioned google search
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