S013 - Buster, Richard "Big Dick" Jr.

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Name: Richard ‘Big Dick’ Buster Jr.
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Grade: 12th
School: John Endecott Memorial Academy
Hobbies and Interests: Basketball, weight-lifting, and politics

Appearance: Richard is someone who is short in stature but wide in body. Standing at roughly 5’3” and weighing roughly 210lbs, Richard is both possessing of a lot of excess fat and quite a lot of muscle as well. Broad shouldered and strong armed, a regular weightlifting routine and a childhood spent outdoors and within athletics has given Big Dick a baseline of physicality. A poor diet combined with genetics gives Richard a large amount of girth and weight mostly concentrated in his thighs and a large protruding gut. That combined with his height (or lack thereof) causes a lot of posturing in Richard’s demeanor, both literal and figurative.

Born of Irish-American stock Big Dick Buster has pale freckled skin and thick, curly orange-red hair that is kept short and shaped into a fauxhawk with a liberal amount of hair gel each morning. Richard’s eyes are big, round and blue and his nose small, crooked due to a few basketball related breaks and pug shaped. Richard’s teeth are slightly crooked and he has a slight overbite but his smile is large. The beginning stages of a beard are making themselves apparent with wisps of orange hair decorating the lower half of the teenager’s face and going down to the lower edges of his neck.

For Richard, image is everything and his image is something that he takes quite the pleasure in constructing. A former Boy Scout and current member of the basketball team and student government, Richard likes to dress for school as if he is going to work by wearing a suit and tie each day. This was a habit he developed in middle school in admiration of professional NBA players wearing suits to games and he has carried it with him throughout high school. At eighteen years old Richard has amassed a nice (for a teenager) collection from Men’s Warehouse and used clothing stores. While Richard loves suits he also has an appreciation for sneaker culture as well and can often be seen wearing a pair of Carolina Blue Jordan III’s when he’s not wearing standard dress shoes.

Outside of the classroom and in the professional situations of school, Richard is a normal teenage boy and his wardrobe can be seen to be a collection of sports t-shirts and jerseys or solid colored cotton shirts and basketball shorts. On the day of the abduction however, he was seen wearing a traditional white dress shirt and charcoal grey dress pant combo paired with a black tie and a traditional black wool winter coat. His sneaker selection equally traditional: a pair of classic black and white mid-top Jordan Is.

Biography: Richard Buster Jr. is Salem born and Salem bred with deep New England roots going back multiple generations on both sides. His father is the third son of a Boston bus driver and his mother the only daughter of a Salem pediatrician. Richard’s mother followed in her father’s footsteps, Richard Buster Sr. did not. Richard’s father met his mother Delilah Farrow on the other side of the country while both attended Stanford University. Richard majored in journalism while Delilah was pre-med. Four years of awkward courtship lead to marriage and when Delilah was accepted into the Yale school of medicine Richard followed her to Connecticut and an internship at Bristol with ESPN.

Junior was born in Salem eighteen years ago on August 28th and Delilah took up work at her father’s private pediatric practice shortly after. Richard Buster Sr. sought out a career in sports radio as a producer in Boston which he kept until 2014 before striking out on his own with a Celtics podcast with limited success and profitability but a high amount of passion.

Big Dick Buster was born into privilege and rarely went without. There was a strong family thread in those early years with his maternal grandfather and his paternal aunts and uncles and the associated cousins playing large roles. Richard grew up in the normal way and reached the normal childhood milestones at the normal ages barring a few notable exceptions. He learned to walk at ten months and taught himself how to ride a bicycle, a two-wheeler not a trike, at four years old. His older cousins and his parents always noted his determination which often could be read on his face before it could be heard in his voice. A curious and active child, Richard was placed in the position to satisfy those curiosities and enrich his mind from the earliest of ages. A planned child and an only child of two parents with established careers, there was no lack of affection or resource put into Richard’s upbringing.

By the time Richard was five his parents began getting him involved in organized sports, particularly AAU Basketball. Richard enjoyed basketball a lot and his parents had a hoop in the front yard that they themselves used frequently. Richard Sr was a former varsity letter in basketball and since he would do morning radio he often was able to spend afternoons playing games and running drills with his son. Through his father’s connection to sports radio Richard was able to go to a large amount of Boston Celtics games and eventually the two of them became season ticket holders. Richard Sr, his father and Richard Junior have attended every Boston Celtics home game save a few dozen since 2009.

Basketball was not the only activity Richard was involved in; for a brief period he had piano lessons and up until the end of middle school he was a member of the Boy Scouts. Basketball always was Richard’s passion, but it was also where he had to be the most humble. A big baby at birth, both of Richard’s parents stood under 5’8” and his maternal grandfather a tall 5’4”. The NBA was never in the cards but neither was giving it up. Basketball appealed to Richard because of the way it allowed for him to bond with his father but also in the beauty of the game and access he had to the game. When he wasn’t playing basketball himself or attending games with his father, he was watching all forms of the sport both international and collegiate as well as professional. In his free time he would find himself watching highlight videos on YouTube and trying to keep up and create his own box scores during pick-up games he would see older children play. While Richard tried on a lot of different hats throughout his childhood, basketball remained the consistent force and something of a binding factor between his home and school lives.

Throughout elementary and middle school Richard grew up with an active lifestyle and with attentive eyes on him. His innate curiosity grew into an inquisitive mind that naturally took to school. Richard enjoyed school because he enjoyed being challenged. This is something that has remained a consistent character trait throughout his life. Within the classroom he is best at math and science but most enjoys literature and art even though he lacks natural talent at those subjects. Much as he is a short basketball player this could be linked to that thorough tenacity and unwillingness to give up. Not being inclined at something is not reason enough to stop in Richard’s heart.

When Richard convinced his parents to enroll him in John Endecott Memorial the story was that it was because of the investments in their STEM programs. The reality was that Richard thought that the hapless Terriers were bad enough that the 5’0”, 150lb, freckled freshman might make varsity. Nine years of AAU basketball on Richard’s end and a tradition of terrible basketball at John Endecott made it so. As a basketball player, Richard can be described as a pass-first point guard and he is somewhat of a great facilitator who places value on reading the defense. As a scorer, he is very inconsistent and streaky capable of high bursts of offense or being completely cold and inept. While Richard is best as a passer, he takes pride in his ability to defend and is without a doubt one of the more pesky defenders on the team due to his lack of height and high physicality. Through his skill and through lack of options Richard found himself a member of the varsity team and was given the opportunity for significant minutes and playing time right away.

Big Dick was blocked five times in a single quarter and committed four turnovers his first five minutes on the court in a genuine high school game. Basketball always had a way of humbling Richard. That was the reason he said he kept on going back. By the middle of his freshman season he had become a regular contributor off the bench and although the Terriers were under .500 they stood poised to make a playoff push and end a decade long drought. Richard earned his nickname Big Dick Buster during a thrilling overtime game against a team that would wind up winning the title. Richard scored 5 three pointers and was perfect from the foul line en route to a thirty point performance off the bench and a victory for the Terriers. The chubby freshman was taken off the court and into the locker room on his teammates shoulders. The Terriers would go on to lose the majority of their games the rest of the way and miss the playoffs completely.

The performance cemented Richard’s role as someone who could step up in big moments but it also represented a career best that he would never replicate again. His sophomore year found him playing through a wrist injury that affected his shot and his junior year found him in routine foul trouble often due to what people described as ‘too physical defense’. Within those two years Richard began putting on more weight and turning to food to deal with the pressures of academics and athletics. Knowing that his athletic career had an expiration date made it impossible for him to justify staying away from burgers and ice cream. Basketball remained at the core of his identity and it was the source of his father’s livelihood and one of the activities they used to bond. Richard’s emotions are mixed in the idea of his basketball career ending and he does not know whether he will have the same love for the game he has now when he stops playing it.

The pandemic and ensuing lockdown also contributed to Dick’s weight problems. Along with being unable to play basketball routinely Richard began to focus more on weight-lifting but due to a poor diet he built on more bulk than muscle. Throughout the school day, Richard would be seen either snacking or lifting (even over Zoom) and over the past year he has gained twenty pounds mostly in the gut and in the face. From his freshman to his senior year having ballooned from 150lbs to 200 plus.

Weight-lifting has become something of a daily habit for Richard. He initially began for superficial reasons but as the pandemic ensued and anxieties rose, Big Dick found himself a consistent outlet and he both begins and ends his day with a regiment of bicep curls. Richard holds himself to a high standard and he finds joy in the idea of self-improvement. His height and weight and the anxiety and insecurity surrounding them also play a factor in Richard’s particular brand of fitness. Constantly underestimated on the court and among others due to his small stature, Richard lifts weights in order to deal with the weight of the chip on his shoulder. There is a large sense of pride he takes in his physical strength matching his self-perceived strength of character. The idea that weight-lifting is a personal journey and not a team sport and something he can do for the rest of his life has a special appeal to Richard in contrast to his relationship with basketball.

In the arena of academics ‘Big Dick Buster’ is someone who holds great ambition and while he cannot live up to his pressure on the court he has shown himself to be more than capable of living up to the pressure in the classroom. Richard is constantly doing homework or thinking about projects and very rarely does he give himself time to rest. This extends to his political beliefs and he is very involved with working for the Massachusetts Democratic Party in pushing candidates and being involved in voter registration drives. Richard to a large extent believes that idleness is the worst sin of all and he doesn’t allow himself the luxury of sitting and waiting. To be bored is to be basic and Big Dick always strives to be extraordinary.

Big Dick is a sociable person and runs in a variety of social circles from more academically and politically inclined children to jocks and some troublemakers. His best and closest friend at school is one Daryl Smith Jr. Richard and Daryl met in a freshman English class and had an almost immediate bond. Daryl’s bombastic nature and intelligence complimented Richard’s own very well and their contrast in upbringing and home life has given Richard perspective. During the summer of his junior year and in the wake of the civil unrest in the U.S., Richard has become more involved and active in activism and this has been wholly encouraged by his friend. Richard took his activism a step forward and began to work for the Kirby campaign as a volunteer for voter registration drives. Richard's own comfort with compromise making him more likely to support moderate or less extreme policies or concessions. Instinctively Richard finds himself deferring to Daryl when it comes to matters of race and class. Outside of those more serious arenas, the two are both peers and rivals academically while being bonded in like mindedness morally. Richard feels privileged to have a friend like Daryl and Daryl has done a good job educating Richard on the nature of privilege in general. The two can often be seen together engaging in a variety of shenanigans and making witty jokes at the expense of others. Daryl being more apt in enflaming passions and Richard more skilled in cooling them down.

Richard’s main issue and insecurity lies within being perceived as uncool. His own insecurity from his lack of height and his chubby figure compensated and covered by the confidence and charisma he tries to carry in every interaction. In regard to romance, he is someone who can come off as equal parts cocky athlete and chubby nerd and much like in friendships, Richard tries not to burn bridges. He is courteous and tries to be charming and that can delve into flirtation very easily with mixed results. Ultimately, Richard tries his best to be honest in his intentions to the girls that catch his eye and heart. In some respects, his fear of being uncool and the insecurity he has with his own vulnerability physically has caused him to have his guard up when it comes to women. Richard himself is unsure if his honesty with girls is mostly a strategy to get more girls. He is very quick to succumb to impulse and he doesn’t care much for the hypocrisy that can be provoked by hormones. His high school history has been punctuated by equal parts rejection and success romantically. Richard accepts that even Jordan missed more shots than he made. The worst thing is to look uncool and the uncoolest look is to be bitter.

Richard’s home life is idyllic and conflict free. His parents are very much still in love and encouraging to one another and to Richard. Richard’s life has been planned out since he was 6lbs. He is expected to go off to college and then to med school thereafter and take on the family business as his mother and grandfather did. Already Big Dick has begun working after school and during vacations as an office assistant at his family’s practice. Richard has been kept on a tight leash and on a life plan since childhood but as he has approached manhood he has begun to rebel in small ways. Getting his driver’s license represented the opportunity for freedom and the trust his parents had in him allowed for exploitation. Richard applied a work hard and play hard mentality to his social life and at parties he would find himself leaning completely into his nickname. This would often mean engaging in some binge drinking or reckless type behavior with the main determination of a successful night was simply not getting caught. In many respects the pandemic and ensuing lockdowns were a good thing as they limited Richard’s ability to get out of the house and engage in those shenanigans more.

As Richard entered high school and adolescence during the height of Canonism it had a large and distinct effect on the boy. Richard’s maternal grandfather Dr. Farrow was a lifelong Democrat and took great offense to Canon’s presidency and his response to the pandemic in particular. Richard had begun to be interested in politics due to his association with his friend Daryl but it was through the passion and encouragement of his grandfather that Richard became fully invested in politics as a whole. He models his ideals and his logic alongside his grandfather’s and because of this he sees President Kirby as a likeminded spirit. Richard considers himself to be a progressive but also as someone who respects his elders and tradition. Although he would never admit it for fear of hurting his mother and grandfather’s feelings, Richard has thought to himself that his passions lie more within community organizing and social work than with being a doctor. A lifelong team player and someone who places value in fulfilling a role (whether on the basketball court or off), Richard secretly has dreams of holding public office and changing the world. Perhaps in response to his short stature he holds within him a desire to be a leader and to be someone others look up to.

In his senior year with his GPA more than solid and with Richard all but assured to achieve his college ambitions he has found himself eager to explore and engage more with his fellow students. Richard campaigned for and was elected both student council Vice President and Homecoming King, in his mind both accomplishments serving as symbols for his ability to connect with and serve others. The tenacity that could be seen on his face before it could be heard in his voice as a child has transformed into a drive and ambitious force as a young man.

Advantages: Richard is someone with a surprising amount of athleticism and with a deceptive amount of speed for his weight and a surprising amount of muscle for his height. His mental make-up and propensity towards tenacity along with his competitive drive could also give him an edge against more frail or unsure classmates.
Disadvantages: His weight makes endurance an issue and although capable of quick bursts of speed and strength, he is also someone who is quick to lose his breath and have very, very heavy steps. Richard is emotionally dependent on food and struggles with hunger and overeating even in his day to day and so he will definitely feel the initial loss of food more than his fellow students. That same tenacity also leads itself to a strong stubborn streak and just like with his basketball career, Richard sees no problem in attaching himself to a sinking ship if he feels that it carries with it a challenge or if it aligns with his moral sense and personal integrity.

Designated Number: Student No. 13

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Designated Weapon: Garrucha (double-barrelled .320 pistol)

Conclusion: An annoying fat kid with a big ego, a little gun, and a terrible nickname? This is the comedy gold I like to see. Take it to the finish line, Big Dick. Better yet, die trying. - Veronica Rai