Adrián Javier “Ajay” Benítez | Thirty One; Survivor
House: Calyset Security Class: 3 Status: Infected - Telekinesis
History
Canadian born, but Chilean bred, Adrián Javier was creating chaos in the lower mainland of BC, long before the apocalypse. In fact, before D-Day, Vancouver and its surrounding cities would have perhaps ended a couple hundred thousand dollars richer, were it not for young Ajay Benítez.
It sort of happened on accident, really. That is, he never meant to become a kleptomaniac. But then again, does anyone ever really set out to become their own worst enemy? For Adrián it started almost like a nervous twitch. He was always moving, always a part of him practically vibrating. His knee incessantly bouncing under the table never failed to eventually make his mother snap at him, and, having not realized he was doing it, he would comply. But two minutes later, he’d be thinking about something else and would be at it again.
Some doctors called it ADHD, others attributed it to a coping mechanism developed in early childhood—before his transition. Having been assigned female at birth, Adrián had always been a bit of an anxiety case, uncomfortable in even the most mellow environments. And though his confidence bloomed after he started taking hormone blockers at thirteen, and continued to do so once he started testosterone at sixteen, being transgender wasn’t exactly easy on his anxiety or self esteem.
But whatever the cause (likely a combination of many factors) Adrián’s restlessness kept him (and his parents) pretty compelled to keep his hands busy and his mind stimulated, simply so that he wouldn’t go off the deep end without a constant outlet for his excess energy. Of course, that became steadily more and more difficult because Ajay could only focus on one thing at a time for so long, before getting distracted or bored, and desperate to move on.
The first thing he stole from an actual business was a pack of gum from the gas station he was working at. Actually, it was so cliché, he even found it a little embarrassing, and prefers to come up with other stories as to what he started with. After then it was some toiletries and next, cigarettes, even though he didn’t smoke at the time—he took them because he could, and because the opportunity had presented itself, and because apparently there was something addictive about the thrilling feeling of theft, the anticipation of making sure he didn’t get caught. Plus, as it turned out, selling cartons of smokes was an easy way to make pocket money.
Early on, he had a few petty-crime arrests, making his mistakes while he was still in the stages of nicking chips and sodas off the shelves of low-security markets. But his fumbles enabled him to learn better tricks, and after about a year he was getting away with a lot more than just smokes and candy. It was no doubt in part due to his already anxious demeanour and his blatantly obvious lack of a poker face. He was already quirky, high strung, and a bit awkward, so it made finding signs that he was lying somewhat difficult.
It’s generally agreed upon that he’s a nice guy, when it comes down to it, but Adrián’s always been a little bit obnoxious. His social cues are mildly off, and he often expresses what he’s thinking, even if protocol suggests it’d be better left unsaid. But maybe because of this, he was rarely taken seriously enough to become a suspect of anything, at least not by the people who knew him. He was just an awkward nerdy guy, who liked to have a good time and who was undeniably passionate about winning board games.
But they probably should have taken him more seriously, because if they had, there might not have been a slew of missing jewelry, clothing, and cash collecting in the top drawer of a squirrelly teenager’s dresser (decidedly the worst hiding place in the world and an early sign that he may have been becoming a decent little bandit, but he wasn’t necessarily smart about it). Taking him seriously might also have prevented the upgrade from a bit of pickpocketing to hot-wiring cars and eventually, grand theft auto.
Fortunately for Adrián, when he was finally caught red-handed with his fourth car theft in two years, he was able to avoid jail-time on the case that his wrong-doings were actually a full-fledged disorder. Since a very young age, his parents had had problems with their son stealing the strangest and most trivial items—pencils when he already have plenty, textbooks for classes he wasn’t taking, salt and pepper shakers from restaurants.... Literally anything the chatty girls in his classes would leave carelessly on their desks would disappear in minutes—nail polish, hairbands, chewing gum. It didn’t matter if he had any use for the object, or even if he liked it. Most of the time he’d trash the thing after a few days anyway, that or it would sit in a shoe box in a closet already littered with stolen property. But for Ajay, it was a compulsive need to obtain things. To take what was in front of him for no reason other than to call it his own.
Found Not Guilty by reason of clinical disorder, Adrián was released of charges and sent to court-ordered therapy.
Ajay Today
Adrián’s “skill” proved itself useful to him after D-Day, when theft and pilfering were more or less the key to survival. And, when his infection kicked in, his limits understandably became far fewer. For about six months, he survived in the remains of his work (Staples Canada, one of the few places willing to hire him after his stint in the news), with a few other wastelanders. But when he was found stealing other people’s fair share, the small group rallied against him and forced him to leave.
He only had to survive on his own for a couple of months, looting from small camps in the middle of the night and travelling South towards warmer climate, before he was picked up by some Crusaders from Colony 9 in California. Though he was registered with them immediately, he begged to be transferred overseas to look for his parents, who had been holidaying in Scotland when D-Day hit. When the Crusaders found his parents already registered in Colony 4, they agreed to get Ajay onto a Merchant ship from where they found him in Seattle.
When he arrived at Colony 4 several weeks later, he was relieved to be reunited with his family, but the structure and regime of the Colony, not to mention the constant temptations of supplies and possessions he could get his hands on, proved to be a much more challenging environment for him. At the Colony there were rules and margins and people there to enforce them. Ajay had never been great at keeping within the lines—but after nearly a year of living the life of a transient wastelander, he’d almost forgotten how to even try. It became a daily obsession to loiter around the trading tents and merchant docks, taking everything he could, sometimes keeping things for himself, other times selling them to the needy and desperate buyers of the Colony.
He was caught multiple times, his reputation with the Colony Officials getting increasingly worse. After a handful of warnings, his security was increased, his privileges stripped, and he spent more than a few nights in Col4′s version of containment. Finally, they’d had enough and they sent him off to Colony 22, separating him from his parents and claiming that the smaller colony would have “better means to regulate him.” This of course, wasn’t necessarily true, but 22 took him in, sorted him into a house and slapped him with a class 3 security.
TAKEN
