Tabitha Malek

Tabitha Malek is a character in the Rosedale universe and is currently enrolled in Rosedale University.

Physical Description
Tabitha is an average-bodied young adult woman with olive-toned skin and black hair. Said hair is predominantly covered by a black hijab headscarf, occasionally a hoodie and turtleneck undershirt when at home in more intimate circles. Other key traits are her black, square-frame glasses and androgynous fashion sense, usually consisting of layered shirts and sweaters and pants. Her default outfit has Tabitha wearing a blue sweater vest on top of a white button-down shirt, paired with beige pants and converse high-tops.

Personality
Tabitha's personality is rather complex, as people have a hard time reading her behavior. On one hand, she appears very blank-faced and inexpressive towards her peers, on the other hand, she displays an immense desire to help out the people around her as well as an ability to listen to other people's problems. Tabitha essentially saves her energy from people she doesn't care to give it to, showing more enthusiasm and emotional variety when someone mentions her favorite interests or engages any other way in them. Becoming her friend will unveil a rather opinionated and thoughtful side of her.

Religious Affiliation
Noticeable by her hijab and modest way of dressing, it is suggested that Tabitha is of Muslim faith. Tabitha considers herself a casual believer, enjoying the participation in certain rules and the celebration of holidays and seeing them as a part of her identity while refraining from frequent prayer and visits to religious institutions, only doing as such when she deems the situation fit.

Interests
While appearing quiet and inexpressive to her peers, Tabitha has a vast array of interests and topics she's passionate about. Doing her studies in the field of digital design, Tabitha has a fondness for modern art, social media and particularly video games and similar fields of interest frequently seen as "geeky". Tabitha enjoys playing video games with her friends but also finds refuge in games of the cozy genre. In addition to that, Tabitha enjoys modding said games and consoles alike, doing so on commission, earning herself some money on the side.

She is also frequently seen developing pen-and-paper roleplay campaigns with her friend and classmate Adrien and cultivating an impressive character sheet for herself. Tabitha also supports small businesses, whether locally or online and has resentments towards big corporations, frequently torrenting AAA video games and software and buying things second-hand.

University Life
As mentioned above, Tabitha studies Digital Design at RUA and is in her fourth year of doing so. Once she graduates, she plans on doing freelance graphic design work for small businesses or create a start-up, in hopes that she can find people to do it with. She currently lives in a commune along nine other students and serves the role as a general superior to the four students living in her half of said commune. She does well in her modules and electives and has her trajectory set on graduating with good results.

Adrien Davis
Tabitha and Adrien have met at RUA and became close friends as they're studying the same major, live in the same commune and share a lot of the same interests, including gaming and pen-and-paper roleplay. These two seem practically inseparable. The only thing that manages to keep them apart are periods of individual work or their part-time jobs, Adrien working at the local RUA student kiosk and Tabitha doing commission work as well as on-campus tech support for her fellow students and lecturers. Depending on the day, they either work on their roleplaying campaign, host movie nights in their commune or play multiplayer games together, which they surprisingly do away from each other, each in the comfort of their own room.

An ongoing conflict between Adrien and Tabitha deals with the ethical dicussion around billion-dollar corporations, capitalism, small businesses, etc. Whereas Tabitha sees herself working in an indie firm, freelancing and buying locally, Adrien tends to have an "if you can't beat them, join them" attitude about the situation, seeing himself working in a triple A gaming or tech corporation once he finished his studies. This is also reflected by their aforementioned part-time jobs.

Rashid Amjad
Rashid is a first-term student, meaning that him and Tabitha haven't had a lot of time to develop a meaningful relationship with one another. What becomes a point of interest is the tension that is caused as a result of their upbringing. Whereas Tabitha was raised in a healthy and balanced environment, developing a positive relationship with her religious identity, Rashid grew up in a rougher environment in which he felt like his Muslim upbringing contradicted his identity and the things he stood for. As Rashid is now strictly atheist, he's having a hard time witnessing someone with a healthy relationship between their identity and beliefs. As both of them live in the same commune, this becomes a key issue within their shared interactions.

Trivia

 * Unlike some characters, Tabitha was not inspired by an online multiplayer game avatar.
 * Her first name originated from an online multiplayer avatar though.
 * First records of Tabitha as a character date back to as far as December 2020, making her one of the most recent entries to the roster.
 * Despite that, Tabitha's design was loosely based around an old, unused concept art, presumably created in September 2018.
 * That concept art showcases an unrealised character wearing a hoodie that obscured the top half of their face. This concept was later finetuned and the hood was replaced by a hijab, for a more realistic depiction of a "hooded" character.
 * That concept art also suggested that the character was close friends with Serena Carter.
 * Nowadays their affiliation is pretty minimal. They're roommates at most.