Black Market Jemison (Jemi) Ajayi
Name Jemison (Jemi) Ajayi
Position Inports/Exports
Rank Black Market
Character Information
| Gender | Female | |
| Homeworld | Londinium | |
| Age | 29 |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 5 feet 6 inches | |
| Weight | 128 lbs | |
| Hair Color | black | |
| Eye Color | brown | |
| Physical Description | Jemi has brown skin, brown eyes, and often wears her afro styled up in plaits. She is of average height and although she exercises regularly to stay fit, she is not an athlete or trained fighter. She avoids the limelight, and often wears a hoodie with the hood up while traversing the Skyplex to avoid being recognized (although that's unlikely), so that on first impression she may appear younger than she is. |
Family
| Spouse | none | |
| Children | none | |
| Father | Charles Bluford | |
| Mother | Yvette Ajayi (deceased) | |
| Brother(s) | Half-brother: Warren Bluford (has never met) | |
| Sister(s) | Half-sister: Ophelia Bluford (has never met) |
Personality & Traits
| General Overview | Jemi comes across as friendly and approachable as a result of years spent growing up and working in a museum where even as a teen she volunteered as a docent greeting visitors and conducting tours. She enjoys hearing about the creative endeavors of other people. She is usually reluctant to share her own artistic projects with strangers, afraid of new accusations or of her work being exploited again. |
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| Strengths & Weaknesses | - eidetic memory (utilizes a memory palace for recall) - kind, compassionate - suspicious of anyone interested in her specific skill set - no fighting skills, only the most basic understanding of how to use a firearm - her academic background is apparent in her speech |
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| Ambitions | - to escape the long-reaching consequences of her former hubris - to find something truly valuable among discarded detritus that she can restore and trade for her freedom |
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| Hobbies & Interests | - art in all forms, both creating and appreciating others' art, seeks out and encourages artists - browsing second-hand shops - gardening |
| Personal History | Jemi was born in 2490 on Londinium. Her mother Yvette Ajayi was the curator of the Londinium Museum, and Jemi grew up wandering the halls among high-security cases holding ancient artifacts and works of art from Earth-that-was. When pressed for information about her father, Yvette said only that he had come to Londinium on business and visited the museum almost daily, taking a particular interest in an exhibit on loan from a private collection. After a few weeks the exhibit ended and Yvette never saw him again. Growing up, Jemi barely paid attention to modern politics, and was hardly aware of the onset of the Unification War when she was sixteen. She started university in 2507, whilst working internships at the museum, and graduated in 2511, with extensive studies in art history, anthropology, and chemistry. She accepted a position at the museum whilst pursuing a self-designed graduate study program advancing the conservation and preservation of Earth-that-was relics. The Unification War also ended in 2511, and Earth-that-was artifacts started rolling into the museum, new acquisitions to private collections. Yvette was kept busy appraising the finds. Some were cheap imitations, but many were genuine, priceless pieces. Jemi and her mother were often appalled at the deterioration of these items, and relieved that shared human history had found its way to the hands of people who would preserve it properly, even if not displayed for public viewing. The methods Jemi developed for preserving and restoring artifacts became highly sought-after, and by 2512, the museum had a backlog of items awaiting her attention. Jemi collected detailed information about each piece for her dissertation, though she was too busy to work on her PhD. By the end of 2513, Jemi had caught up with the backlog, but her mother Yvette became ill. Jemi took over many of her mother's responsibilities. Yvette died the following year, and lacking a PhD, Jemi was passed over for promotion to curator. With reduced museum responsibilities and still mourning her mother, Jemi turned her attention to the trove of information she collected for her dissertation, and began to branch out creatively into recreating artifacts. She put forward a proposal and received funding from the museum board for an education and outreach program to the outer worlds – a mobile exhibition of high-quality Earth-that-was artifact replicas that could be put on display for close-up viewing. By 2516, two years after her mother's death, the Yvette exhibition (named after her mother) launched and Jemi was preparing to defend her dissertation. But, the entire exhibition cargo of recreated artifacts was stolen en-route to the first outer planet on the tour schedule. An enormous investment in museum funds was lost. The black market was flooded with Jemi's creations. One moment Jemi was lauded in exclusive circles for her skill and expertise. The next moment she was a cortex headline - a scandalously corrupt producer of fakes. Jemi was arrested, her research and the contents of her lab seized, her reputation destroyed. The last person in the 'Verse Jemi ever expected to see – Charles Bluford claiming to be her father - showed up at lockup with an expensive attorney who offered her a deal. The charges against her would be suspended. Officially and legally she could have nothing to do with the Londinium museum, or any historic exhibit, ever again. In exchange, she would work for her father's employers – an association of wealthy collectors – in a less than official or legal capacity, and everything taken from her lab would be returned to her. Jemi agreed, but it was not until she was presented with her first assignment, identifying her own creations from among genuine artifacts, that she realized some members of the association were on the Londinium Museum's board of directors, and that she was now working for criminals. Jemi now subsists on a modest stipend from her employers, who may call upon her expertise at any time. OOC: Ajayi sounds like aa-jaa-EE |
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| Service Record | 2511 graduated from Londinium University 2516 Arrested for creating counterfeit artifacts |