Introduction

Liz Ochoa is a historian whose academic focus is on the social landscape of the late twentieth century United States. She is also well-versed in media studies, interested in how historical events have shaped our art and media. Liz is best known for co-hosting the radio program Ordinary History Hour, which looked into how regular people lived in the distant past, along with their best friend &. Now that the radio show has ended, Liz works as a historical consultant and producer on &’s time travel talk show, & Then What?.

Backstory

Early Years

Liz grew up in Chicago, where she had an uneventful childhood. She enjoyed school, was relatively popular, and had a supportive and loving family. Her best friend was always her older sibling.

University

For her whole life, Liz had been fascinated by the 20th century, watching every movie and TV show from that era that she could get her hands on. Although its attitudes were regressive compared to her time, it was also a period of great social and societal change, and Liz was taken by its complexities and contradictions. She wanted to understand the era as a complete picture, and that included not only politics and social movements but also the media shaped by them, the media that had interested her in the first place. So, Liz studied history and media at university, and would go on to write their thesis on late 20th century pop culture from a historical lens. While there, she made lots of friends with similar interests, forging connections that would last her whole life.

Adulthood

Just after obtaining her master’s degree, Liz got a job on the set of Joey Lakomy’s film Virtuous Filth. Their job, as part of a team of six, was to ensure the accuracy of costumes and props, as the film was set in the 1970s. It was on that set where Liz met &, one of the lead actors, and the two became friends. After production was over, they remained close and eventually developed the idea for Ordinary History Hour together. It debuted in 2150. Surprisingly, for a radio show long past the era of radio shows, it was successful, and continued until 2159. At that time & brought Liz on as part of the & Then What? team.

The production of & Then What? turned out to be a hugely complex undertaking, even more so than expected for a talk show with time travel as part of its main premise. And once the pilot was completed, things only got more complicated when broadcasters accused them of staging it, prompting & to reveal the real secret behind its incredible success: their omniscience. The ensuing media frenzy was as tough on Liz as it was on &, despite her not being the one in the limelight.

Personality

Liz is a deeply compassionate, emotionally intelligent person. She can get along with just about anyone on Earth, and can work well even with people she hates. She is empathetic and forgiving, but also strong-willed. She knows her goals, plans for them, and achieves them more often than not.

Her philosophy in life is to always look towards the future. Liz definitely thinks in the long term, but sometimes this can lead her to be a bit too tolerant in the moment. People think she’s a people pleaser because she nearly always avoids having any sort of conflict with others. But that’s just how it looks from the outside. She isn’t conflict-avoidant because she can’t handle it or because she’s okay with getting walked all over—far from it. Liz is tactically non-confrontational. It’s all part of how she wants to be seen by others so she can reach her goals without anyone standing in the way. Sure, she may be a genuinely nice person, but that doesn’t stop her from believing she needs to intentionally cultivate her reputation to that effect. She wants to be seen as confident, competent, and of course, extremely agreeable, to the point of avoiding communicating about issues and taking on responsibilities that aren’t hers.

What her goals are, and why she feels the need to go to such lengths for them, is unclear. If you knew her personally, you would probably just think she’s very sweet. She is, but there’s something more to her that few people see.

Appearance

Liz is a short woman with long, wavy dark brown hair, bangs cut shorter on the left side, large dark brown eyes and a round face. She is Latina of Mexican descent. Her ears each have one lobe piercing and two cartilage piercings.

She is known for her unique (and antique) fashion sense. Although mid-22nd century society is obsessed with the 20th century for Lore Reasons, Liz's penchant for dressing like she walked out of a 1970s office is considered quite strange. She does her best to make all her outfits accurate to the time period, or as accurate as she can without using synthetic fabrics, which are no longer available to the public.

Relationships

& (link)

Liz and & formally met on the set of Virtuous Filth, where they recognized each other from a club they’d both been in at college. Over the course of filming, they became friends, and have stayed friends ever since. In addition, they are colleagues who have worked together for over ten years, although the time spent on the radio show hardly felt like working for either of them. Liz is probably the only one who really knows & as a person. She was the first to know about &’s omniscience, and when that subject became a massive public controversy, she supported & through the whole ordeal.

Their bond is undeniably strong, but Liz’s feelings about & are complex. Through the years, they’ve had many fights and falling-outs that usually ended up bringing them closer, but there have been just as many, if not more, times Liz has become frustrated with & and avoided addressing it for one reason or another.

She feels like their relationship can be unbalanced, but not in the way that might be expected when one friend is omniscient and the other isn’t. & can actually be quite neurotic and volatile when their guard is down (like it is around Liz and pretty much no one else). Liz is usually the one bearing the emotional weight whenever & has a crisis and has to be back in Celebrity Mode the next day. As strange as it might seem, Liz is the one doing the unconditional accepting, taking it upon herself to support & through everything. She does it because she cares, because she’s the only one who knows how, and no one else can or will. Liz is willing to give & everything she’s got because she honestly believes & would do the same for her, even in the absence of evidence. She won't accept the idea that & might, perhaps, be more than a little selfish.

That kind of thing gets to you over the years. But they’ve been through so much. Surely they can work it out somehow?

Ramona "Ray" Ofori (link)

In college, Ray and Liz were very close, and both assumed they’d spend their whole lives together. Things didn’t turn out that way. They don’t talk anymore, and they’ve mostly moved on, although each one kind of wishes the other would reach out again.

Trivia

• Before working on Ordinary History Hour, Liz was into ham radio.
• She collects movie posters.
• Although they're one of the most organized people you'll ever meet, Liz has a fondness for maximalist decor.