Stubbornness has always been a big part of her life, and Saya has been lectured many a time by her elders for being so unnecessary strong willed. When she was young, she had always proven to be an especially talkative and bubbly child who was very much someone who loved talking. Being brave and adventurous has been something Saya has never lacked from a young age. Being afraid of hardly anything, and highly inquisitive, she would be keen and curious enough to try everything and give it at least a go.

Always chipper, energetic and passionate, there’s hardly any downtime with her, and she’ll always be going off doing something, or on route to doing some crazy activity. It isn’t wrong to say that she leads a hyperactive lifestyle and loves getting her hands dirty and involved. She enjoys lending a hand and sharing their experience, especially with the people they care about. She may act all tough, but she’s actually a real softie. She’s not one quick to anger. It’ll take quite a bit to anger her, but once she does, you’re in for it. A highly emotional individual, she is also known to be incredibly passionate about what she believes in.

Likes:

• cooking
• chocolate
• singing
• sports
• bananas

Dislikes:

• thunder
• insects
• snakes
• bullies
• smoking

Saya was born and raised in New York. Her grandparents along with her parents immigrated from Japan decades ago in a bid to follow the American Dream. They eventually settled down in New York, and opened up a Japanese Restaurant that served authentic Japanese cuisine. When her grandparents were too old to continue running the restaurant and retired, her parents took over the mantle and began running it in their stead. Tired with the constant everyday hustle and bustle of a massive city such as New York, they closed the restaurant and decided to move the whole family to Content, Ohio, where the pace of life was significantly more relaxed and laid back when compared to one like New York City. They now manage one of the most popular restaurant serving Japanese cuisine in town.

Despite having to adapt to the new environment, Saya adjusted really well. Her bright and cheerful personality shone through and that allowed her to easily make friends, which was a great help when you're trying to fit in anywhere. Apart from cooking, Saya also loved singing and sports and was in several clubs. Her grades weren't exactly stellar or anything, but fortunately she was no where near the bottom of class. Her parents may be content with the life of a small town such as Content, but honestly, Saya has never really been content with Content and she has always desired something more in her life. Something to give her that fire in her life. Whatever that is.

Fortunately for Saya, her parent's have never pressured her to be a doctor or lawyer or some sort of high-earning professions that usually associated with Asian parents stereotypes. They had always encouraged her to follow her dreams, and for Saya that meant singing. She had always wanted to work in the entertainment industry as a singer, although once she had even considered acting. The only compromise that she came to an agreement was that she had to finish college first, and she could even pick anyone of her choosing. She is currently considering two universities, the University of California, Berkeley and the Ohio State University.

In the world there are clear leaders and there are followers and Nicoletta, Nicole to her friends, falls squarely in the camp of the latter. Nicole has a hard time finding her voice which often results in her being swept up or dragged along for the ride simply because she couldn't simply say 'no'. She doesn't seem to make a lot of decisions for herself, letting others - namely her parents - make them for her. It's a bad habit, but her voice just seems to fail her when she needs it most, and when she does speak it's often rather soft spoken and a few words selectively chosen. Oddly, her gentle mannerisms have had people come to her for advice or to confine in; there's almost a zen, sage like quality to Nicole's soft spoke, but gently blunt opinions.

To her credit, Nicole is making strides to break out of her shell and become her own person. Nothing scares her quite like the real possibility that she'll enter adulthood having no real autonomy and being too afraid to buck the status quo as to let her life be dictated. She's started speaking up more - though she still can't be honest with herself about important aspects of her life such as her sexuality. Nicole is in the closet just because it's comfortable and it won't cause problems with her family or friends, but she's lying to herself every time.

Once she comes out of her shell there's bound to be a person with the confidence to choose and do things on her own terms. That's part of why she asked to come on the road trip, what better place is there to discover yourself? Her easy going, naturally mellow state of being makes her easy to get along with, and while she'll never intentionally start a confrontation, she can be adept at stopping them with her words once she decides to use them.

Likes:

• Photography
• Loud rap music played at unreasonable hours
• Cooking. She makes a mean breakfast
• Drawing/Sketching

Dislikes:

• Rodents. Rats and mice and the like
• Weepy 'rock' music with acoustic guitars and songs about missed love or whatever
• Smoking and smokers who do it.

Nicoletta was born in Italy to Marco Soriano and Laura Soriano. Their only child, Nicoletta enjoyed a rather uneventful youth, often being left to her own devices while her parents were busying themselves with their careers: Marco being a chef and Laura a pastry maker. Nicoletta can't recall much of note from her youth in Italy; it was a fairly average and thus un-noteworthy childhood. Things took a turn when Nicoletta's uncle Stefano came to the house with a proposition for Marco.

Stefano had a failing business in America that he was willing to give full ownership over to Marco, knowing that Marco often dreamed of opening his own restaurant. And so at the age of twelve Nicoletta was moved from Italy to America. She had thought they were moving to the cities in the movies. New York or Chicago or California, but she was disheartened when they arrived in Ohio. She didn't even know Ohio was a state. By the time she was fourteen and entering high school, Soriano's had integrated itself well in Content due to its authentic recipes and quality with its affordable prices; it was a taste of Italy in Ohio.

Her papa is pushing her to a business degree, wanting her to one day take over ownership of Soriano's while her mother is not so subtly mentioning how some of her new work friends have 'boys around your age, Nicoletta'. Neither of those interest her, but all Nicoletta believes she can do is look for colleges with good business programs and smile and nod through awkward set-up dates with people she has no romantic or physical attraction to. Her life has never really been hers, and she hates that. She hates that she hasn't been able to speak up. She hates that she's on a path she was put on. But most of all she hates that she just grins and bears it.

Nicoletta convinced her parents to let her go on the road trip as a sort of graduation present. It was one of the first decisions she made on her own terms, and she hopes it will lead to her being able to finally live life on her own terms.

But first she has to find out what it is she wants.

Nicole isn't sure what she wants. She only knows whatever it is she decides she wants it to be because SHE wants to, no one else. She isn't opposed to taking over the restaurant, she knows how to cook well, but she doesn't just want to do it because her papa told her to. Maybe she'll try her hand at art; she is good at drawing and often sketches landscapes or people perhaps there's a future in that. She doesn't have a lot of time before she has to make a decision about her future, college acceptance letters are on the horizon after all. Whatever Nicole's dreams wind up being, ultimately her goal is to become her own person.
Living and choosing things for herself. One of her biggest, most immediate goals, however, is to be able to come out without fear of reprisal.