[OOC] Application!
Dec. 11th, 2011 08:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
turnsteptwirlPlayer info:
Name: Beth
Pronoun: she/her
E-Mail: firefly[dot]heart[at]gmail[dot]com
Other Contact: rose in chains (AIM),![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
knightless, also usually available for poking in IRC.
Character Basics
Name: Gabriel Chen
He prefers "Gabe", as "Gabriel" is only really used by his family when he's in trouble. "Nayan" is also acceptable, but only if you play with him in the game.
City: Fall City
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Biological Sex: Male
Birthdate: November 28
Birthplace: Boston, MA
PB: Aaron Yan
Appearance
Natural Hair/Eye Color: His eyes are dark brown, his hair is black. His hair does have some natural brown highlights to it, but he doesn't believe they're there.
Height: 5'6"
Body Type: Toned. The man has a dancer's body and he's proud of it.
Noticeable Scars/Tattoos/Piercings and Location: He has a scar just under his lower lip from a fall when he was a kid (he actually bit through the skin when the fall happened and it needed stitches), but it's barely noticeable now.
Clothing Style: Gabriel's clothes could probably be considered eccentric. On the surface, they're the simplest things in the known world: jeans or khakis paired with either a graphic, interesting t-shirt or a button-down shirt in various colors and various fabrics. He doesn't just restrict himself to one color, either, as his shirts cover pretty much every color of the rainbow, including pink. (He maintains it takes a real man to wear pink.), and some of them have every single pattern known to mankind. His footwear tends to range from dress shoes to sneakers to boots. During the winter, his favorite teal checked scarf comes out, but that's really the only hint of his favorite color in his entire wardrobe.
Honestly, looking at him, one might not think there's much of a rhyme or reason to any of the outfits he puts together, but he agonizes over every single aspect of his outfit, down to the accessories. His favorite is a silver pocket watch his father gave him before he left for college, and he's never without that, always in the right pocket of whatever pants he happens to be wearing. While his ears aren't pierced (he hates needles and has always been terrified of the thing they use to pierce ears), he does have a variety of vintage-looking clip-on earrings, and he's amassed quite a collection of them. They're typically studs, though he has some intricate, dangly disc-type earrings, as well. He rarely breaks out the latter, as he feels they're all a bit much, and, as a result, they only come out for special occasions where he deems them appropriate.
The only time Gabriel doesn't seem to put much effort into his attire is during rehearsal. He knows he's going to be moving around, he knows he's going to get sweaty and gross and disgusting, and he isn't about to ruin something nice for that. You always know when he's coming and going from dance, as he's typically in a crummy t-shirt (black, white, or an old t-shirt of his that's gotten tired of) and yoga pants (typically black). He tends to forgo socks, as well, unless it's cold beyond all reason out.
Background
Summary:
Gabriel never knew his birth parents. The way he figures it, they couldn't keep him for whatever reason. Regardless of the reason, he was adopted shortly after his birth by a Chinese-American couple as his mother was no longer able to have children, but wanted another. His parents were honest with him about the adoption from the time he was old enough to understand such things, but that had never mattered to him. After all, he didn't want for anything and he grew up a perfectly happy little boy. He had a family that loved him. What did he care that he wasn't their son by birth?
He liked to think he was his mother's favorite, often accompanying her to the museum in which she worked and would lose himself for hours amongst the pretty historical things. He grew up with a healthy love of art and music thanks to her. His father, on the other hand, wished their children would engage in more substantial pursuits. Unfortunately, Gabriel soon realized it wasn't for him. It wasn't that he didn't do well in school. He did, but the more "substantial" things his father preferred never came easy to him. His first and only love was the art world, and he participated in a variety of performances through the school as a result. It was there that he developed a love for dancing, loving the choreography that they threw into the musical productions the school did.
When it came time for Gabriel to start thinking about what he wanted to do with his life, he knew what he wanted to do: pursue dance. His father, on the other hand, had never seemed all right with the idea, and so Gabriel agreed to a compromise of pursuing an English degree, thinking he might appease his father by becoming a teacher or something. However, he purposely chose a school that was as far away from his family as he could get while still staying in the country. This way, if he wanted to change his major, he could and his parents would never be the wiser. As long as he was still doing well grade-wise, it wouldn't matter.
It took Gabriel all of a week to realize he wasn't happy with his initial major choice. English was boring. He toughed it out for the semester, but he wound up switching to a dance major at the start of his second semester. He's infinitely happier now, although he still has yet to tell his parents about it.
Tell me two important memories.
- The day Gabriel came out to his parents was probably the scariest moment of his entire life. Up until that day, the only people in his life who actually knew he preferred men were a circle of friends of his in high school (one of whom, at the time, was posing as his girlfriend). A few weeks after his sixteenth birthday, he decided he had to tell his parents or else he was going to break under the pressure of trying to keep up appearances. Gabriel remembers feeling absolutely terrified the closer the day came (as part of him was firmly convinced his father, at least, would react badly and kick him out of the house as he always thought his father was a bit old-fashioned), but he also remembers he had an entire speech planned out!
Unfortunately, the day he sat them both down to tell them, he forgot everything he had been planning on saying and just blurted out that he was gay. The part that he remembers the most, however, is the awkward silence between him and his parents immediately after he said it. Part of him was wondering if they were internally freaking out, and he remembers seeing them exchange looks with each other, but the silence was the worst part. It wasn't until they both told him that they still loved him and this didn't change how the felt about him that he let himself calm down at all.
- At seventeen, Gabriel had been kissed before, but never by anyone he really liked, at least until one particular day. His high school theater group had just finished up a cabaret-style performance, and they were all gathered at one of his classmate's houses for the wrap party the day following the last show. Once the teachers left, however, things got a bit interesting, and the group decided to play truth or dare. Everything was going great until one boy in particular was dared to kiss Gabriel.
It wouldn't have been so bad if the boy hadn't been someone Gabriel had a long standing crush on. The other boy was what he considered God's gift to the musical theater world: gorgeous, passionate, and complete with a singing voice that everyone immediately fell in love with the moment they heard it. So, when the dare was issued, Gabriel remembers freezing up. If it had been anybody else, he would've walked across the room and planted one on them himself, but he couldn't bring himself to do it with this one. Apparently, he had to panic instead, wonder what the other boy was going to do, and nearly choke on the punch he was drinking. He expected the other boy to back out, but, after a moment complete with awkward staring at each other and giggling from everybody else, the other boy marched right over and kissed him. Unfortunately, the kiss didn't live up to Gabriel's expectations. It was actually a bit sloppy and wet, not exactly his favorite things. Needless to say, he was a bit disappointed. Technically, in Gabriel's eyes, it wasn't a real kiss, and he never spoke of it again to the other boy's face, but he was sure to tease the girls that he had kissed the boy everyone else had a crush on.
Family members:
Mother, Father, and two siblings (both older).
Gabriel's mother is one of the most well-rounded women you will ever meet, open to new things and new ideas, although she tries to ensure her children do at least about know their heritage and where they come from. She does try to keep certain traditions around the home, but as it was never a large part of her upbringing, she doesn't want to force it on her children. Gabriel's father, on the other hand, is a bit more old fashioned than his wife. He's actually the reason why his children can speak Mandarin fluently. He wants his children to do well in life, and tends to push a bit harder than he probably should. He only does it because he loves his children and wants them to do well in life, but it does make him seem a bit sterner than he really is.
In addition, Gabriel has two siblings: Michael (30) and Helen (26). Michael was pretty much the "daddy's boy" of the three when they were growing up, the one who excelled in school and pretty much did whatever their father thought was a good plan. Gabriel was never really close to him as a result, since Michael spent more time buried in his books than he did with the family, and is currently working to become a doctor. Helen, on the other hand, was like his best friend growing up. She was thrilled to have a baby brother, and made sure to be the best big sister on the planet as a result, making sure her door was always open if he needed to talk to her. She pretty much went out of her way to make Gabriel feel wanted in the family, and he loves her for it. She's also the only family member he's in constant contact with at the moment, and the only one who knows that he's switched majors.
Pets: None at the moment. He had fish growing up, but they're boring. He's always wanted one that wasn't fish, but that's really all he's allowed in a college dorm, so no pets for him. He's had quite enough of fish.
Character Details
Favorite Food? Getting Gabriel to choose a favorite food is like trying to get him to choose a star in the sky that he likes. He loves everything, so it's hard to get him to pick a favorite. If you twisted his arm, though, he'd probably say moon cakes. They're sort of special for him as the recipe his mother uses is one that was passed down from her mother and her mother's mother and so on. While his grandparents aren't in his life any more, he feels like he can connect with them that way and he loves it.
Favorite Color? Teal. Blue and green are too boring, too predictable, so why not love a color that's a combination of them both?
Favorite Season? Fall. Not only does his birthday occur during the fall season, but he sees a strange beauty in the trees shedding their leaves only to soon be covered by snow. Winter's a close second, simply because of the snow, but, for him, fall and winter are both a promise that everything will live again.
Favorite Animal? Growing up, the only animals he was allowed were goldfish, and he has very bad memories of coming down to discover the cheap fish from the pet store were dead the next day. As a result, Gabriel's done with fish for the rest of his life. He's never liked fish, to be honest. You can't pet a fish or curl up with one when you're upset. What's the point of an animal you can't cuddle? His favorites are the fuzzy sort, like cats or rabbits. He'd love a cat of his very own most of all, though.
Do they like television? Oh yes. Reality TV or something overly dramatic with a plot? Gabriel will be there and he will bring the snacks. It's a bit stereotypical, he supposes, but they're undeniably his favorites. (He's also a closet fan of magical girl anime. Tell no one.)
What's their favorite style of music? Gabriel pretty much grew up with classical music going on all the time, particularly traditional Chinese music from time to time as his mother didn't want him to forget about his heritage, and he can only tolerate music like that when he's performing. Now that he's away from all that, he pretty much immerses himself in any other kind of music he can possibly get his hands on. He does tend to prefer rock or pop overall, however, as they have nice beats to them. He's also fond of songs from foreign musicals, particularly of the rock variety.
Have they considered being the gender/sexuality they're not? Actually, a long time ago, he tried to play straight to please his parents because he honestly didn't think they'd react well if they found out their son was gay. Once he realized that really wasn't him and he was pleasing everybody other than himself, he gave up and embraced who he was. There are a few moments when he contemplates what it would be like to dress in drag, but that's about as far as considering being the opposite gender has gone for him. Mostly, he worries if he did that, he'd be an even bigger stereotype than he already feels like he is.
Would you say they're "picky"? Only about certain things, and, even then, it's only about incredibly shallow things like his own physical appearance or the state of a room. He's a bit overly critical of anything that touches his body, and he'll nitpick even the littlest things if other people go to him for fashion advice.
Do they alphabetize/color-coordinate their things? If so, which things? He does, but only with certain things. If you take a look in his closet, and even his dresser, everything's organized by fabric type and color. Some things are even grouped into favorite outfits. If you were to take a look at his physical music collection, everything's alphabetized (first by artist, then by album title). His collection of movies and such are also alphabetized, kept tucked under his bed in a nice box.
Internet Presence: Gabriel's been on the internet since he learned about what it was and has basically never left it, even if he's mostly using it to be social and a bit ridiculous from time to time. He's gone by a variety of monikers in the past, but it's only once he started actively playing Zenderael that he started limiting himself to using "Nayan" as a name, and this now spills over onto some of the major social networking sites. He's hardly internet famous, but given that he talks to everyone and everybody over various social networking mediums, you might at least recognize the name from somewhere.
Programs/Services and Screennames:
AIM: flairscrescendo
e-mail: gabriel.chen@gmail.com (for professional use), nayan@gmail.com (for everything else)
Play Style: Gabriel's a bit more of a casual player of Legend of Zenderael, and, as such, he always feels like he's ages behind everybody else, no matter how far along he is. He does have his moments where he gets completely absorbed into whatever it is he's doing and forgets the rest of the world, but he tries to set limits for himself and plans his playtime around whatever he has going for the day. His parents would definitely kill him if he let grades slip because of a game, after all, and part of him still doesn't want to disappoint them.
When he started playing, he honestly chose his main class completely at random, but the more he played, the more he fell in love with the rogue. At first, he wasn't entirely certain about the melee aspect, but the more he played, the more he realized how satisfying PvPing actually was. What better way to get back at the people who annoyed him by stealthing around them and stabbing them? He does prefer the actual game content to PvP, however, but when several of his friends chose to engage in PvP combat, how could he say no when he wanted to be able to play with them?
Now, he still PvPs a bit, but he's making an effort to RP within the accepted lore limitations. He admits that he's new at it, but since his friends are all about the RP, he feels like he should make an effort. He's trying to keep his concepts for his characters simple for now, and plans to build them up a bit later when he has a better grasp on the lore and how this RP thing works.
To RP or not to RP?: Yes, providing you don't mind someone who bungles the lore a little bit. He's learning, though!
Personality
General Overview:
On the surface, Gabriel appears to love everything and everybody, but the truth is that he's a bit shallow. As a performer, whether he likes it or not, he knows looks are everything, and if you look less than your best at all times, people will read you the riot act for it. Unfortunately, appearance is one of the first things he'll always notice about people, and, whether he likes it or not, tends to form opinions about people and places before he has a chance to really get to know them. For example, if a place looks like a dingy hole in the wall, it probably is, no matter how clean it is inside. He honestly hates this mindset, but he also feels like it's the sort of thing that should be a big deal, especially in the field he wants to go into. If you don't meet the employer's expectations, after all, you don't work.
Once you get past him being incredibly judgmental, though, he really is a friendly person. Once he gets to know you, you have a best friend for life (and good luck trying to shake him off). So long as he has someone to talk to, he'll be the happiest man alive. Unfortunately, he's also the sort of person who puts everyone else ahead of himself. He wants his friends to be happy, and he'll do whatever he has to in order to make it stay that way. If his best girlfriend is upset, he'll immediately put aside whatever he's doing to pick up pints of ice cream and be outside her door as soon as humanly possible. Someone pulled a mean prank on you? He'll help you think of ways to get them back! Despite this, though, if he's upset, he covers it with a smile. He doesn't want anybody else to be upset because of him, and he's a bit paranoid about that.
Overall, he's a very positive and upbeat person regardless of the situation, coming just shy of overly sugary and hyper. He is a bit prone to melodramatics from time to time, usually for effect or when trying to get a rise out of someone, but all that aside, he's more genuine than you might think. He doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve or anything, if only because he's convinced he'd get hurt if he did, but, otherwise, he calls things like he sees them. Whether it seems like it or not, everything Gabriel does is done for a reason, and he does it just so he can see how other people react to the things he does. He likes watching people and picking them apart a bit.
Flaws:
- The vainest thing ever. Gabriel's cute and he knows it, and he's constantly putting far too much effort into his own personal appearance, especially with regards to his hair. He's of the opinion his hair is boring, but by God, his boring hair is going to look interesting before he goes anywhere, thank you very much. He puts more effort into his appearance than he does most anything else, and other people tend to wait a ridiculous amount of time for him before he's ready to go anywhere with them.
- Lack of a verbal filter. Really, you'd think Gabriel would know better, but sometimes he just blurts things out without really thinking about it and not even considering that whoever he's talking to might not be interested in whatever it is he's talking about. He does call things as he sees them, but it might be ridiculously blunt and sound incredibly cruel when he says it, regardless of his tone at the time.
- Judgmental as all hell. He hates it, but he can't help it. First impressions are everything, and he'll make all sorts of ridiculous assumptions based on that.
- Gabriel does have a bit of a perfectionist streak, as well, and not just in relation to his appearance. This comes out more with dance than anything else, as he wants everything to be perfect and work harmoniously with everything else. The costumes have to match the piece which has to work with the choreography, and, if it doesn't, they have to stop immediately and start over or else everything will be completely ruined, at least in his own head.
Quirks:
- Gabriel has a tendency to refer to everybody as "hun", "honey", or "sweetie", sometimes even in place of their proper name when speaking about other people. It crept into his speech sometime during his last year of high school, something he picked up from one of his friends. Unfortunately, it's been part of his speech pattern for so long that he doesn't even realize he does it or that other people might find it condescending. If you try to ask him to stop, he will for a moment or two, and then he'll launch right back into it.
- He's very touchy-feely with people. Greets them with hugs (occasionally kisses on the cheek if the person's okay with this sort of thing), or latches onto their arms... He loves hugs, so he's always ready to provide them for other people.
- He's very expressive, and tends to gesture with his hands quite a bit. Unfortunately, the most animated the discussion, the more wild his hand gestures will get. When he's on a rant, he might actually knock something over because of it. He'll apologize immediately after, mind, and if he breaks something, he'll find some way to replace it, but it's still kind of annoying for him. He's trying to train himself out of doing this (going so far as to even sit on his hands sometimes), but he tends to forget and do it anyway.
Three Complimentary Words: friendly, caring, outgoing
Three True-But-Hard-To-Hear Words: Shallow (he knows it's true, but it's still hard to hear people say it), judgmental, vain
Name: Beth
Pronoun: she/her
E-Mail: firefly[dot]heart[at]gmail[dot]com
Other Contact: rose in chains (AIM),
knightless, also usually available for poking in IRC.Character Basics
Name: Gabriel Chen
He prefers "Gabe", as "Gabriel" is only really used by his family when he's in trouble. "Nayan" is also acceptable, but only if you play with him in the game.
City: Fall City
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Biological Sex: Male
Birthdate: November 28
Birthplace: Boston, MA
PB: Aaron Yan
Appearance
Natural Hair/Eye Color: His eyes are dark brown, his hair is black. His hair does have some natural brown highlights to it, but he doesn't believe they're there.
Height: 5'6"
Body Type: Toned. The man has a dancer's body and he's proud of it.
Noticeable Scars/Tattoos/Piercings and Location: He has a scar just under his lower lip from a fall when he was a kid (he actually bit through the skin when the fall happened and it needed stitches), but it's barely noticeable now.
Clothing Style: Gabriel's clothes could probably be considered eccentric. On the surface, they're the simplest things in the known world: jeans or khakis paired with either a graphic, interesting t-shirt or a button-down shirt in various colors and various fabrics. He doesn't just restrict himself to one color, either, as his shirts cover pretty much every color of the rainbow, including pink. (He maintains it takes a real man to wear pink.), and some of them have every single pattern known to mankind. His footwear tends to range from dress shoes to sneakers to boots. During the winter, his favorite teal checked scarf comes out, but that's really the only hint of his favorite color in his entire wardrobe.
Honestly, looking at him, one might not think there's much of a rhyme or reason to any of the outfits he puts together, but he agonizes over every single aspect of his outfit, down to the accessories. His favorite is a silver pocket watch his father gave him before he left for college, and he's never without that, always in the right pocket of whatever pants he happens to be wearing. While his ears aren't pierced (he hates needles and has always been terrified of the thing they use to pierce ears), he does have a variety of vintage-looking clip-on earrings, and he's amassed quite a collection of them. They're typically studs, though he has some intricate, dangly disc-type earrings, as well. He rarely breaks out the latter, as he feels they're all a bit much, and, as a result, they only come out for special occasions where he deems them appropriate.
The only time Gabriel doesn't seem to put much effort into his attire is during rehearsal. He knows he's going to be moving around, he knows he's going to get sweaty and gross and disgusting, and he isn't about to ruin something nice for that. You always know when he's coming and going from dance, as he's typically in a crummy t-shirt (black, white, or an old t-shirt of his that's gotten tired of) and yoga pants (typically black). He tends to forgo socks, as well, unless it's cold beyond all reason out.
Background
Summary:
Gabriel never knew his birth parents. The way he figures it, they couldn't keep him for whatever reason. Regardless of the reason, he was adopted shortly after his birth by a Chinese-American couple as his mother was no longer able to have children, but wanted another. His parents were honest with him about the adoption from the time he was old enough to understand such things, but that had never mattered to him. After all, he didn't want for anything and he grew up a perfectly happy little boy. He had a family that loved him. What did he care that he wasn't their son by birth?
He liked to think he was his mother's favorite, often accompanying her to the museum in which she worked and would lose himself for hours amongst the pretty historical things. He grew up with a healthy love of art and music thanks to her. His father, on the other hand, wished their children would engage in more substantial pursuits. Unfortunately, Gabriel soon realized it wasn't for him. It wasn't that he didn't do well in school. He did, but the more "substantial" things his father preferred never came easy to him. His first and only love was the art world, and he participated in a variety of performances through the school as a result. It was there that he developed a love for dancing, loving the choreography that they threw into the musical productions the school did.
When it came time for Gabriel to start thinking about what he wanted to do with his life, he knew what he wanted to do: pursue dance. His father, on the other hand, had never seemed all right with the idea, and so Gabriel agreed to a compromise of pursuing an English degree, thinking he might appease his father by becoming a teacher or something. However, he purposely chose a school that was as far away from his family as he could get while still staying in the country. This way, if he wanted to change his major, he could and his parents would never be the wiser. As long as he was still doing well grade-wise, it wouldn't matter.
It took Gabriel all of a week to realize he wasn't happy with his initial major choice. English was boring. He toughed it out for the semester, but he wound up switching to a dance major at the start of his second semester. He's infinitely happier now, although he still has yet to tell his parents about it.
Tell me two important memories.
- The day Gabriel came out to his parents was probably the scariest moment of his entire life. Up until that day, the only people in his life who actually knew he preferred men were a circle of friends of his in high school (one of whom, at the time, was posing as his girlfriend). A few weeks after his sixteenth birthday, he decided he had to tell his parents or else he was going to break under the pressure of trying to keep up appearances. Gabriel remembers feeling absolutely terrified the closer the day came (as part of him was firmly convinced his father, at least, would react badly and kick him out of the house as he always thought his father was a bit old-fashioned), but he also remembers he had an entire speech planned out!
Unfortunately, the day he sat them both down to tell them, he forgot everything he had been planning on saying and just blurted out that he was gay. The part that he remembers the most, however, is the awkward silence between him and his parents immediately after he said it. Part of him was wondering if they were internally freaking out, and he remembers seeing them exchange looks with each other, but the silence was the worst part. It wasn't until they both told him that they still loved him and this didn't change how the felt about him that he let himself calm down at all.
- At seventeen, Gabriel had been kissed before, but never by anyone he really liked, at least until one particular day. His high school theater group had just finished up a cabaret-style performance, and they were all gathered at one of his classmate's houses for the wrap party the day following the last show. Once the teachers left, however, things got a bit interesting, and the group decided to play truth or dare. Everything was going great until one boy in particular was dared to kiss Gabriel.
It wouldn't have been so bad if the boy hadn't been someone Gabriel had a long standing crush on. The other boy was what he considered God's gift to the musical theater world: gorgeous, passionate, and complete with a singing voice that everyone immediately fell in love with the moment they heard it. So, when the dare was issued, Gabriel remembers freezing up. If it had been anybody else, he would've walked across the room and planted one on them himself, but he couldn't bring himself to do it with this one. Apparently, he had to panic instead, wonder what the other boy was going to do, and nearly choke on the punch he was drinking. He expected the other boy to back out, but, after a moment complete with awkward staring at each other and giggling from everybody else, the other boy marched right over and kissed him. Unfortunately, the kiss didn't live up to Gabriel's expectations. It was actually a bit sloppy and wet, not exactly his favorite things. Needless to say, he was a bit disappointed. Technically, in Gabriel's eyes, it wasn't a real kiss, and he never spoke of it again to the other boy's face, but he was sure to tease the girls that he had kissed the boy everyone else had a crush on.
Family members:
Mother, Father, and two siblings (both older).
Gabriel's mother is one of the most well-rounded women you will ever meet, open to new things and new ideas, although she tries to ensure her children do at least about know their heritage and where they come from. She does try to keep certain traditions around the home, but as it was never a large part of her upbringing, she doesn't want to force it on her children. Gabriel's father, on the other hand, is a bit more old fashioned than his wife. He's actually the reason why his children can speak Mandarin fluently. He wants his children to do well in life, and tends to push a bit harder than he probably should. He only does it because he loves his children and wants them to do well in life, but it does make him seem a bit sterner than he really is.
In addition, Gabriel has two siblings: Michael (30) and Helen (26). Michael was pretty much the "daddy's boy" of the three when they were growing up, the one who excelled in school and pretty much did whatever their father thought was a good plan. Gabriel was never really close to him as a result, since Michael spent more time buried in his books than he did with the family, and is currently working to become a doctor. Helen, on the other hand, was like his best friend growing up. She was thrilled to have a baby brother, and made sure to be the best big sister on the planet as a result, making sure her door was always open if he needed to talk to her. She pretty much went out of her way to make Gabriel feel wanted in the family, and he loves her for it. She's also the only family member he's in constant contact with at the moment, and the only one who knows that he's switched majors.
Pets: None at the moment. He had fish growing up, but they're boring. He's always wanted one that wasn't fish, but that's really all he's allowed in a college dorm, so no pets for him. He's had quite enough of fish.
Character Details
Favorite Food? Getting Gabriel to choose a favorite food is like trying to get him to choose a star in the sky that he likes. He loves everything, so it's hard to get him to pick a favorite. If you twisted his arm, though, he'd probably say moon cakes. They're sort of special for him as the recipe his mother uses is one that was passed down from her mother and her mother's mother and so on. While his grandparents aren't in his life any more, he feels like he can connect with them that way and he loves it.
Favorite Color? Teal. Blue and green are too boring, too predictable, so why not love a color that's a combination of them both?
Favorite Season? Fall. Not only does his birthday occur during the fall season, but he sees a strange beauty in the trees shedding their leaves only to soon be covered by snow. Winter's a close second, simply because of the snow, but, for him, fall and winter are both a promise that everything will live again.
Favorite Animal? Growing up, the only animals he was allowed were goldfish, and he has very bad memories of coming down to discover the cheap fish from the pet store were dead the next day. As a result, Gabriel's done with fish for the rest of his life. He's never liked fish, to be honest. You can't pet a fish or curl up with one when you're upset. What's the point of an animal you can't cuddle? His favorites are the fuzzy sort, like cats or rabbits. He'd love a cat of his very own most of all, though.
Do they like television? Oh yes. Reality TV or something overly dramatic with a plot? Gabriel will be there and he will bring the snacks. It's a bit stereotypical, he supposes, but they're undeniably his favorites. (He's also a closet fan of magical girl anime. Tell no one.)
What's their favorite style of music? Gabriel pretty much grew up with classical music going on all the time, particularly traditional Chinese music from time to time as his mother didn't want him to forget about his heritage, and he can only tolerate music like that when he's performing. Now that he's away from all that, he pretty much immerses himself in any other kind of music he can possibly get his hands on. He does tend to prefer rock or pop overall, however, as they have nice beats to them. He's also fond of songs from foreign musicals, particularly of the rock variety.
Have they considered being the gender/sexuality they're not? Actually, a long time ago, he tried to play straight to please his parents because he honestly didn't think they'd react well if they found out their son was gay. Once he realized that really wasn't him and he was pleasing everybody other than himself, he gave up and embraced who he was. There are a few moments when he contemplates what it would be like to dress in drag, but that's about as far as considering being the opposite gender has gone for him. Mostly, he worries if he did that, he'd be an even bigger stereotype than he already feels like he is.
Would you say they're "picky"? Only about certain things, and, even then, it's only about incredibly shallow things like his own physical appearance or the state of a room. He's a bit overly critical of anything that touches his body, and he'll nitpick even the littlest things if other people go to him for fashion advice.
Do they alphabetize/color-coordinate their things? If so, which things? He does, but only with certain things. If you take a look in his closet, and even his dresser, everything's organized by fabric type and color. Some things are even grouped into favorite outfits. If you were to take a look at his physical music collection, everything's alphabetized (first by artist, then by album title). His collection of movies and such are also alphabetized, kept tucked under his bed in a nice box.
Internet Presence: Gabriel's been on the internet since he learned about what it was and has basically never left it, even if he's mostly using it to be social and a bit ridiculous from time to time. He's gone by a variety of monikers in the past, but it's only once he started actively playing Zenderael that he started limiting himself to using "Nayan" as a name, and this now spills over onto some of the major social networking sites. He's hardly internet famous, but given that he talks to everyone and everybody over various social networking mediums, you might at least recognize the name from somewhere.
Programs/Services and Screennames:
AIM: flairscrescendo
e-mail: gabriel.chen@gmail.com (for professional use), nayan@gmail.com (for everything else)
Play Style: Gabriel's a bit more of a casual player of Legend of Zenderael, and, as such, he always feels like he's ages behind everybody else, no matter how far along he is. He does have his moments where he gets completely absorbed into whatever it is he's doing and forgets the rest of the world, but he tries to set limits for himself and plans his playtime around whatever he has going for the day. His parents would definitely kill him if he let grades slip because of a game, after all, and part of him still doesn't want to disappoint them.
When he started playing, he honestly chose his main class completely at random, but the more he played, the more he fell in love with the rogue. At first, he wasn't entirely certain about the melee aspect, but the more he played, the more he realized how satisfying PvPing actually was. What better way to get back at the people who annoyed him by stealthing around them and stabbing them? He does prefer the actual game content to PvP, however, but when several of his friends chose to engage in PvP combat, how could he say no when he wanted to be able to play with them?
Now, he still PvPs a bit, but he's making an effort to RP within the accepted lore limitations. He admits that he's new at it, but since his friends are all about the RP, he feels like he should make an effort. He's trying to keep his concepts for his characters simple for now, and plans to build them up a bit later when he has a better grasp on the lore and how this RP thing works.
To RP or not to RP?: Yes, providing you don't mind someone who bungles the lore a little bit. He's learning, though!
Personality
General Overview:
On the surface, Gabriel appears to love everything and everybody, but the truth is that he's a bit shallow. As a performer, whether he likes it or not, he knows looks are everything, and if you look less than your best at all times, people will read you the riot act for it. Unfortunately, appearance is one of the first things he'll always notice about people, and, whether he likes it or not, tends to form opinions about people and places before he has a chance to really get to know them. For example, if a place looks like a dingy hole in the wall, it probably is, no matter how clean it is inside. He honestly hates this mindset, but he also feels like it's the sort of thing that should be a big deal, especially in the field he wants to go into. If you don't meet the employer's expectations, after all, you don't work.
Once you get past him being incredibly judgmental, though, he really is a friendly person. Once he gets to know you, you have a best friend for life (and good luck trying to shake him off). So long as he has someone to talk to, he'll be the happiest man alive. Unfortunately, he's also the sort of person who puts everyone else ahead of himself. He wants his friends to be happy, and he'll do whatever he has to in order to make it stay that way. If his best girlfriend is upset, he'll immediately put aside whatever he's doing to pick up pints of ice cream and be outside her door as soon as humanly possible. Someone pulled a mean prank on you? He'll help you think of ways to get them back! Despite this, though, if he's upset, he covers it with a smile. He doesn't want anybody else to be upset because of him, and he's a bit paranoid about that.
Overall, he's a very positive and upbeat person regardless of the situation, coming just shy of overly sugary and hyper. He is a bit prone to melodramatics from time to time, usually for effect or when trying to get a rise out of someone, but all that aside, he's more genuine than you might think. He doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve or anything, if only because he's convinced he'd get hurt if he did, but, otherwise, he calls things like he sees them. Whether it seems like it or not, everything Gabriel does is done for a reason, and he does it just so he can see how other people react to the things he does. He likes watching people and picking them apart a bit.
Flaws:
- The vainest thing ever. Gabriel's cute and he knows it, and he's constantly putting far too much effort into his own personal appearance, especially with regards to his hair. He's of the opinion his hair is boring, but by God, his boring hair is going to look interesting before he goes anywhere, thank you very much. He puts more effort into his appearance than he does most anything else, and other people tend to wait a ridiculous amount of time for him before he's ready to go anywhere with them.
- Lack of a verbal filter. Really, you'd think Gabriel would know better, but sometimes he just blurts things out without really thinking about it and not even considering that whoever he's talking to might not be interested in whatever it is he's talking about. He does call things as he sees them, but it might be ridiculously blunt and sound incredibly cruel when he says it, regardless of his tone at the time.
- Judgmental as all hell. He hates it, but he can't help it. First impressions are everything, and he'll make all sorts of ridiculous assumptions based on that.
- Gabriel does have a bit of a perfectionist streak, as well, and not just in relation to his appearance. This comes out more with dance than anything else, as he wants everything to be perfect and work harmoniously with everything else. The costumes have to match the piece which has to work with the choreography, and, if it doesn't, they have to stop immediately and start over or else everything will be completely ruined, at least in his own head.
Quirks:
- Gabriel has a tendency to refer to everybody as "hun", "honey", or "sweetie", sometimes even in place of their proper name when speaking about other people. It crept into his speech sometime during his last year of high school, something he picked up from one of his friends. Unfortunately, it's been part of his speech pattern for so long that he doesn't even realize he does it or that other people might find it condescending. If you try to ask him to stop, he will for a moment or two, and then he'll launch right back into it.
- He's very touchy-feely with people. Greets them with hugs (occasionally kisses on the cheek if the person's okay with this sort of thing), or latches onto their arms... He loves hugs, so he's always ready to provide them for other people.
- He's very expressive, and tends to gesture with his hands quite a bit. Unfortunately, the most animated the discussion, the more wild his hand gestures will get. When he's on a rant, he might actually knock something over because of it. He'll apologize immediately after, mind, and if he breaks something, he'll find some way to replace it, but it's still kind of annoying for him. He's trying to train himself out of doing this (going so far as to even sit on his hands sometimes), but he tends to forget and do it anyway.
Three Complimentary Words: friendly, caring, outgoing
Three True-But-Hard-To-Hear Words: Shallow (he knows it's true, but it's still hard to hear people say it), judgmental, vain
