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Roxanne Jennings

FULL BIRTH NAME: Roxanne Jennings

ALIAS: Dancing Dynamite

CURRENT AGE: 17 years

GENDER: Cisgender Female

GENDER IDENTITY: Female

SPECIES: Human

HERITAGE: American

RACE: Caucasian

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Heterosexual

PLACE OF BIRTH: Los Angeles, California

PLACE OF RESIDENCE: San Fernando, California

MORAL ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Good

RELIGION: Catholicism

OCCUPATION: High School/University Student, LaRusso Auto Employee

LOVE INTEREST (canon divergent): Robby Keene (temporary), Miguel Diaz (permanent)

PORTRAYER: Amanda Arcuri

PERSONALITY AND CHARACTER ANALYSIS:   Roxanne Jennings is a gentle-warmhearted person at her core. She means well and wants the best for everyone, which contributed to her previous naivety before the world toughened her up. She became more guarded but did not lose her warm heart. Although she is soft at heart and dislikes conflict, she can be feisty and is typically very witty. She continues to want the best for people, but has learned to care about herself and well-being while still being considerate of others.
  Her core personality traits are her selflessness and her loyalty to her loved ones. Due to being neglected by her mother, she is very insecure and finds it difficult to trust people. However, when her trust is earned, she is loyal to a fault.
  Despite sometimes wearing her heart on her sleeve, Roxanne is often stoic and difficult to read, which she occasionally uses to her advantage, especially during a physical fight. She does, however, have a generally perky and warm demeanor. Though she has been trained to have total control over her body and mind, her emotions sometimes get the best of her. This often leads to her being taken advantage of, allowing herself to be dragged into situations that she is not meant to be involved in, leaving herself vulnerable in dire situations, or the escalation of conflict on her part. She has a tendency to be gullible due to her intense emotions and romantic personality, but these traits are much less prominent than they used to be. She is very protective of people whom she cares about and will do whatever it takes to keep them safe.
  Though Roxanne is still learning how to balance her mind and emotions, she is very intelligent and well-read. Her quick-thinking and keen senses serve as helpful traits in many situations. Her talent in ballet also gives her a unique fighting style and makes her very graceful, and her open mind makes her a good person to be around.

CHARACTER ARC:   Roxanne Jennings was an only child who was born in Los Angeles, California. Her mother, Ashley James, was more concerned with becoming an actress than she was with being a wife and a mother. Roxanne's father, Owen Jennings, who had quit college to marry Ashley, was struggling to make ends meet. Ashley spent most of her time at auditions away from the house while Owen cared for Roxanne. When Roxanne was twelve years old, she was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, resulting in her having to quit doing classical ballet which she had been taking since she was two years old. Owen struggled to get the proper treatment for Roxanne.
  While Owen spent his time working as a full-time handyman, Ashley eventually cheated on him, leading to a nasty divorce between Owen and Ashley when Roxanne was fifteen years old. This led to an intense custody battle for Roxanne between Ashley and Owen, which Owen eventually won that autumn. During this time period, Roxanne decided that she wanted to study nursing or become a social worker to help people like her. After the custody battle, Roxanne, her father, and her diabetic service dog Anakin, moved to San Fernando, California where her father began working at a car dealership called LaRusso Auto, where she also had a part-time job while attending West Valley High School full-time.
   Roxanne met Robert "Robby" Swayze Keene there and became his eventual girlfriend, during which she developed a puppy-love type of affection for him that she mistook as true love. However, their relationship was short-lived and they ultimately decided to just be friends. Roxanne eventually decided that she wanted to learn Miyagi-Do karate and was taught some basic movements by Daniel LaRusso through chores and muscle memory like how his mentor Nariyoshi Miyagi taught him. After getting permission from her father, she became an official student of Miyagi-Do. Through her time at Miyagi-Do, Roxanne formed many friendships, including a sisterly bond with Daniel's daughter Samantha "Sam" LaRusso, as well as a romantic connection with Miguel Diaz. However, she also formed many rivalries.
  Later on, Ashley came back into Roxanne's life when Owen would not let Roxanne compete in the All-Valley tournament. Roxanne discovered that her mother eventually became a stunt double in Hollywood and was trained by some of the best fighters. Ashley passed this knowledge and training onto Roxanne.
  Though Roxanne never won a trophy, she won back a family and has many friends.