Milo Richter

[Cash Money*]

Name: Milo Richter
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Grade: 12
School: Aurora High School
Hobbies and Interests: Academics, Quiz Bowl, Math Team, Debate Team, networking, politics, blogging

Appearance: At 5'7", Milo Richter is taller than either of his parents. He has reddish-brown hair that tends to lay flat against his scalp and that contrasts vividly with his light blue eyes. His hair is kept quite short, except for the frontmost part of his hair, with his bangs sticking straight up like a wall. He prefers to wear button-down short-sleeved shirts, khaki slacks, dress shoes, and a matching belt with a plain buckle. When he's not wearing glasses, his face appears rounded, due partially to his boyish appearance and partially to being slightly overweight at 155 lbs. The combination of his black, thick-framed glasses and the square cut of his bangs counteract this impression, though, and his face generally appears square. His thin nose and square jaw complete the boxy appearance. Being slightly overweight, as well as having slightly shorter-than-average limbs, makes him appear shorter than he really is.

Biography: Milo Richter was born on February 22, 1994 to Sascha and Anna Richter. Sascha earned a more-than-decent living at a large company, and as a result, Milo grew up comfortably, despite the Richters living below their means. Because his parents chose not to live in a big house, he has grown up with a grossly inaccurate idea of how much money his parents really make, and as a result he often only realizes he's well-off when his birthday presents turn out to be considerably more expensive than those of his friends.

From an early age, Milo had the virtue of hard work drilled into him. In particular, his father encouraged him to do things right. Milo never quite understood the related caveats about the importance of making mistakes, though. Since he was not prone to acting up and did extremely well in school, he generally did not overstep boundaries, and he became accustomed to his spotless record. This has led him to be an insufferable perfectionist at times. He believes that he should do everything "right," whether it be schoolwork, appearance, or relationships. Accordingly, he has a tendency to blame himself for failures, and to be wrapped up inside his own mind. Though this does mean he constantly strives to better himself, his tendencies blind him to the failures of others in most cases.

Both of Milo's parents have had lifelong vision problems, and Milo was no different. Around the time Milo started elementary school, he began to have trouble reading his books, something which he had previously spent a great deal of time doing. He was diagnosed with hyperopia, or farsightedness, and given prescription glasses to counteract the problem. Milo didn't like them at first, mostly because they were uncomfortable, but he has grown to consider glasses part of his identity, and rarely wears contacts.

Starting in middle school, Sascha took advantage of a number of opportunities for promotions, and now makes much more money than he used to. When viewed in the context of his immigration to the US from Germany at an early age, his rise appeared to be a classic rags-to-riches American success story, and he told his story to Milo in exactly that context. Milo now aspires to continue his father's success, but he doesn't realize that his father was able to climb the corporate ladder because of his ruthless politicking and backstabbing. Milo, however, just doesn't have a ruthless bone in his body. He blames himself far too often, and is too bad of a liar to truly follow in Sascha's footsteps.

Anna Richter, on the other hand, is quiet and reserved, very much unlike her husband. Though Sascha brought in the money, Anna was the one who cared for Milo and supported his various interests while Sascha was frequently away on business, even taking odd hours at her part-time job so she could drive him to school and back. She is for the most part simply happy that she is living a normal life and that she can spend time with her family.

Classmates who have known Milo since elementary school know him as a quiet person. However, in recent years, Milo's business ambitions have led him to aggressively build his interpersonal skills. Since he's not that sociable by himself, he usually has to psych himself up to meet new people. Preparing himself to meet and greet, however, pushes him out of his behavioral comfort zone, and as a result he comes across as abrasive and opinionated to those he tries to make friends with. Those who persevere eventually see Milo as someone who is generally quiet and keeps most of his opinions to himself, although he can still be patronizing to those not as gifted as he is.

Milo has also gravitated towards politics, both because its interpersonal side mirrors that of the business world to some extent, and because Milo's opinionated nature meshes well with the nature of modern political discourse. He applies this interest both in debate team and in his writing for an amateur political blog with several other Aurora students. The blog prides itself on presenting multiple ways of looking at issues, and as the site's resident liberal, Milo's already adversarial mindset has only been strengthened and sharpened for use in a debate setting.

Milo's other activities include the school's quiz bowl and math teams, as well as a weekly before-school tutoring session. He entered into these activities because their emphasis on intelligence suited his own strengths. However, he has not entered into any sports, and as a result is out of shape both in a strength and cardiovascular sense. He tries to eat right, but he generally pays much more attention to a sound mind than a sound body.

Milo is a very smart kid, having registered a genius IQ at the age of 5. He has only ever gotten one B in a class (Freshman English, something he's still sore about to this day), and always takes advanced and AP level classes when possible. He studies hard for his classes, preferring to ensure that he thoroughly understands everything that could be on the test. He's smart enough that he doesn't spend a massive amount of time on his schoolwork, but the combination of his schoolwork and the several extracurricular activities he participates in means that he rarely purposefully interacts with his classmates off school grounds. He has a knack for solving complex problems and intuitively understanding difficult concepts, and if he were not so focused on the idea of going into business, he might make a good engineer.

Because he's so hard on himself, and because he constantly worries about lots of little things that only he would think matter, his elevated stress levels have led to a perpetually deficient immune system. He's usually the first one to catch a cold when it's cold season before catching it again after everyone else seems to be getting over it, and almost always feels terrible during finals.

Advantages: Milo would not be likely to take risks that could endanger himself during the game, especially when it comes to dealing with others. His ingenuity and problem-solving could prove useful in a survival situation, whether it be merely surviving or picking his battles.
Disadvantages: Milo is horribly out of shape, and he would not last long in a direct fight with or flight from most of his classmates. His immune system and eyesight are also critical weak points. His idea of who his friends are could come back to haunt him if he attempts to network his way out of trouble, and his opinionated nature could wreck potential alliances. In addition, his self-consciousness and tendency to blame himself could paralyze him at a critical moment of action.