val diff!

[valerieayoade]

NAME: VALERIE AYOADE

AGE: 27

OCCUPATION: FULL-TIME STREAMER 

NEIGHBORHOOD: SOUTH COAST

GENDER & PRONOUNS: CISFEMALE, SHE/HER

about -

Valerie was born in Houston, Texas to a Russian mother and a Nigerian father, both immigrants. Being the family's first generation American was very important to Valerie, and despite her family never outright put any pressure on her, it was always obvious their hopes and expectations for their daughter were high. She speaks English, Russian, and French; and is learning Hausa, her father's language.

Valerie never thought of herself as smart, but she had always been good at picking things up quickly, which got her good grades in school, but no subject ever really stuck with her. But because she was good at many things, her highly hopeful parents enrolled her in private International school, where she took part in the orchestra and in the girls' volleyball team. And while she was always busy, in her spare time she found herself playing videogames with her little brother. Perhaps the only time she had genuine fun doing something.

Being the eldest daughter, having a college education felt very important to her, even if it didn't mean that much to her family. She was the one pressuring herself to be better and do better, and with this mentality she landed herself a spot in CompSci at USC.

College was a completely different experience, though. Picking things up was a bit more challenging, and in the process she ended up needing tutoring in a couple of her classes. The shame! But in the process she met the guy who would later become her boyfriend, whom she'd remain dating to this day.

During her junior year in college, a new venture opened up to Valerie: an e-sports club for a popular first person shooter game. She went in blind, and ended up being the only girl in the entire club. But they kept her around, because Val was GOOD. It wasn't too long before the team got picked up for professional competitions, which then led to Valerie getting signed by a reputable organization and going pro. In her career in the female category, Valerie's team won two championships back-to-back.

After she graduated with her Bachelor's Degree, Val continued to play professionally for a couple organizations, before she decided it was time to move on from the game she started out with and into the newest, more popular first person shooter, with a bigger audience and higher stakes. It wasn't hard for her to find a team at all, and before she knew it, she was playing a silly videogame in front of thousands of people, in person and online, cheering for her and her team.

In the meantime, Val began to grow her own audience. She herself was surprised when she saw over fifteen thousand people watching her off-season streams, cheering for her and giving her money out of their own accord.

Her success in this e-sport wasn't as apparent as the last one, as this game was newer and way more competitive, but her team still won two out of the three championships they went to, before Val decided to "retire" a year ago, to pursue a full-time career in streaming.

After retiring, she and her boyfriend decided they'd had enough of LA, and decided to move to his hometown. Val was more than excited at the prospect, ready to start her life with her love, away from the craziness of the e-sports industry, and working her own hours.

Now that they've settled in and she's found a new successful routine, Val has decided she's going back to school for her Master's, a while after her boyfriend got his own. It felt like a good idea to further her career and finally put her degree to use, on something that she genuinely loved: gaming.

traits -

positive: hard-working, passionate, honest

negative: easily bored, anxious, bossy

headcanons -

in college, val started playing the then-popular fps game cs:go, and ended up going pro and playing for a legit org for a few seasons, before switching games to valorant, the newer fps with a way bigger budget for e-sports.

her screen name has always been "valeriya," and has been sitting in the top 500 players in valorant since retiring. she has an alternate account to play with her low-level boyfriend sam, and the name of that account is simply "i miss him"

serial hobby hopper, but the two hobbies that have stuck are crocheting and baking. she's dipping her toes into knitting, and been getting a lot into fashion for no real reason.

[valerieayoade]

closed starter for @ohserene!

valerie had never been the kind of person to find one hobby and stick to it. most of her life she had been so dedicated to her studies and her strange career path, that when it came to her free time, she just didn't know what to do with herself. and yet, she found solace in a warm oven and the sweet smell of freshly baked goods; the fact that her experiments were rarely failures and her boyfriend sam actually seemed to enjoy being eating her creations... she couldn't help but grow fond of the craft. was she good at it? no, of course not, but she liked to think she was. she was often reminded that she wasn't, specially in times like these, where she found herself staring at the empty rack where the baking soda should've been. val looked around helplessly, spotting another female figure nearby, with a basket that screamed expertise. in desperation, she spoke. "hi, i'm sorry..." the woman called, hoping to get the other's attention. "you look like you know what you're doing. do you have any idea if I can actually use baking powder as a substitute for baking soda? google is giving me mixed signals, but i really don't want to get the wrong thing."

[kimxsiwoo]

By the time Val made her way down the stairs, Sam had set both bowls of ramen on the table. He'd planned to make something more exciting, but they'd spent a lot of the day unpacking, then drawing, and he was tired. Even so, despite the noodles having come out of a package, he added his own flair to it. "Don't give me that look," he wrapped his arms around Val's waist to hold her still for a moment, "I just wasn't sure if you were planning to jump back into your schedule already. Since moving is exhausting and all that. I haven't wanted to draw in a week, it's a pain." He dropped a kiss to the top of her head then stepped away again so they could actually sit down to eat. Sam tried to use the food as a distraction to hide the blush that crept up to the tips of his ears, but there was no good way to hide it. "Yes and no. I think it's funny, but also...uwa, who doesn't? Have you seen me?" Sam was still trying to distract from the absurdly bright blush on his face. "No, no, I don't think Silver Sam needs to make an appearance. You're audience needs warned before that happens so they can get drunk. I Miss Him can make a comeback next week. Also, don't worry about it, all I have left to clean up is the pot."

[valerieayoade]

"I didn't give you a look," val avoided his gaze as she spoke through a playful smirk, basking in the little displays of affection, and she offered him a look as gentle and loving as his touch in return. sam's words helped the moment of anxiety dissipate, an actual weight falling off her shoulders; but for a moment, val felt bad for doubting him. "hey, we did pretty good today. who the hell knew we owned so much... stuff? just stuff. so much of it." she huffed before plopping herself down across from her boyfriend. "but i figured i'd start up again since the setup is back up - thank you for doing that, by the way." valerie added as she grabbed a fork instead of chopsticks, and looked back up at her boyfriend. "i don't want to risk losing people's interest, you know? i don't want them to get mad at me, either. you should see my twitter dms right now." she sighed, her voice seemingly losing some of her usual high-energy levels, but not for long.

both her energy and her smile returned as she caught a glimpse of sam's cheeks, both the color of them, and the dimples. she loved this man so, so much. however, to avoid making him uncomfortable, she decided not to comment on the bright red on his face. "i indeed have seen you, hot stuff." she laughed. "i think chat never got over the one time you kind of just... walked in. i'm so glad you weren't naked naked, but i don't think anyone was expecting the muscles." the woman reached out to playfully squeeze sam's bicep, unsurprisingly meeting the aforementioned muscle when she did so. "i think the dimples are cuter, though."

his reaction to the idea of joining her on stream got a giggle out of val. she loved how supportive sam was of her career choice, she loved how he was a part of it in a way even more. "if you say so, you little chicken," she teased. "I Miss Him will remain where it belongs for now, then... but hey, did you know you can change your gametag? I got a suggestion, and hear me out: dimple haver. boom." she laughed a bit too hard at her own silly idea, before giving him another loving smile. "you're still welcome to join me if you want though, corner creep or just regular creep, it's up to you." the hand that had reached out to him now just slid down sam's muscular arm to meet his own hand. "i'll cook tomorrow, okay? how's your project coming along?"

[valerieayoade]

closed starter for @lenakaplan ♥

"wait, so — where are we going again?" val asked as she turned around to triple check she had actually locked her car and to take a fifth and final look at the street sign so she would engrain her parking spot into her mind. "you just told me, too." the woman sighed, giving her friend a pleading look. "guess i'm just too excited to be going out to dinner with my favorite girl again. i feel like it's been forever since we've gone out just the two of us, hasn't it? was the last time... what, iceland?" she asked as she walked alongside lena, following her without really thinking of the direction. "i'm so glad you're here too, you know. it's nice having a friend in a new place, but it's even nicer that it's you." val added, with a wide smile.

[kimxsiwoo]

Closed Starter for @valerieayoade

"You streaming tonight?" Sam wiped his hands on his sweatpants as he finished up with dinner. He figured the answer was yes, since she streamed most nights, but he always asked. "I plan to lurk in the background like a little weirdo if the answer if yes." Now that wasn't something he always did, but it was deeply entertaining to him to watch the chat point out that he was in frame, or when newer followers asked who he was and what he could possibly be doing there. Plus, it helped deter some of the creepier people in the comments. Though sometimes it just directed them towards him. That he could deal with. "Unless you're doing something serious, then I'm hiding."

[valerieayoade]

val heard her boyfriend calling her for dinner a couple of minutes before she actually moved from her streaming set up into the kitchen on their new place. boxes were still not fully unpacked, but they'd get there when they got there. "oh damn, it smells good in here," she announced as she walked behind him, brushing her hand against the small of his back as she moved. sam's question, however, got an eyebrow raise out of her: val's streaming schedule had not changed in the last year or so... but he was still asking her about it? val thought about making a comment on it, but what he said after completely distracted her - this was new. "do you now?" she teased with a little smirk. "you enjoy the attention, don't you? i knew it!" she added as the smirk turned into a wide grin. "i so knew it. chat asks about you all the time, too, you know. they love you." a sigh escaped the woman's lips. "anyway, answer's yes. i'd love for you to be my little corner weirdo, or we could even duo if you want." her attention then shifted to the stove. "thank you for cooking, i'll do the dishes after the stream."

[princesconsuela]

[faceclaimed]

[kaytranadaz]