Dylan Plath*

[Kent*]

Name: Dylan Plath
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Grade: Senior [12th]
School: Bayview Secondary School
Hobbies and Interests: Painting, Drawing, Gossip, Swimming

Appearance: Dylan has close-cropped sandy brown hair, neatly parted and gelled. His dark brown eyes sit wide and round in his angular face, and they usually dart around restlessly when Dylan speaks. He is 5'9" and 155 lbs, of medium build. His upper body is slightly more toned than his lower half, due to his swimming training. Since he likes to swim when he gets the chance, he's often tanned, but rarely sun-burnt. The tanning brings out the freckles on his neck and arms. If one catches Dylan before he's had a chance to wash up, one will often see smears of dried acrylics or graphite on his fingers and wrists. This is from painting or drawing, activities Dylan enjoys but hesitates to publicize. He prefers to wear fashionable name-brand clothing and keep a tidy appearance. Dylan's most common outfit is a knit polo shit in some primary color, plus khaki shorts or cargo pants.

Biography: Dylan was raised in St. Paul by a very affectionate mother and father, both fairly successful lawyers. His parents loved their only child very much, but argued amongst themselves incessantly. Hearing his parents bad-mouth each other to him, Dylan began to develop two different sets of behaviors. He would agree with his father to appease him and act differently when around his mother, placating everyone into a livable, if not completely comfortable, home life. Dylan was content with the "arrangement" he'd devised at first, but as he grew into his later teen years he began to resent his parents. Early on, Dylan found a knack for art, specifically drawing. When he was drawing, he didn't have to worry about pleasing anyone but himself, and that was a nice release from his usual tense routine. He has since ventured into painting, which he finds he enjoys even more.

Dylan is a moderately successful student. He doesn't like to study or do homework and mostly gets by on his ability to test well. Dylan first applied his household social habits to the schoolyard in the 6th Grade, when he started going to classmates' birthday parties and hanging out with the popular kids outside of school. He would often partake in gossip about other students, often hearing and distributing both sides of the story. The social acceptance became a huge draw for Dylan, and he loved going to school mostly for this reason. He had a few less-popular friends from around his neighborhood, but he only hung out with them once in a while. He remained in contact with those kids until high school, however. In high school, Dylan liked joining school activities, especially favoring the Art Club and the Swim Team. Lately, he's been attending Art Club meetings less, opting to go to the mall or movies with other students. Even though he enjoys art he doesn't want to drop out of the in-crowd, and so he is on the verge of quitting Art Club for good to save his social standing. Dylan has always thought of himself as having good time-management skills, but he is finding it increasingly difficult to do all of the things he wants to do.

Dylan sees himself as a socially well-rounded kid, and he is frequently worried about how others perceive him. He tries to maintain two disparate sets of friends—popular kids whose attention he appreciates, and unpopular kids whose interests and behavior more closely mirror his "true self". He mostly hangs out with the popular students publicly, and has only a few good friends that are unpopular. He doesn't like seeing people get picked on and tries to prevent it where he can. When one of his popular friends decides to pick on someone, Dylan doesn't usually step up to stop it. He'll try to steer the situation in a more peaceful direction, but he won't confront the bully. Dylan is self-aware about his hypocrisy—the stress of leading a double life can be daunting, and it often leads to bouts of depression.

Advantages: Dylan is well spoken and gregarious, and this grants him advantages of diplomacy and deception. He is often able to defuse tense situations with humor or insight, and he is good at negotiating disputes. While Dylan is not a great athlete, his rigorous swim team training makes him agile in the water.
Disadvantages: There is always an alpha-dog in any clique, and Dylan is always hesitant to oppose that person's opinion outright. When confronted by the school's popular kids, Dylan rarely states his own views and vocally agrees with theirs. When he wishes to assert his opinion, he will bring it up in a humble and non-threatening way. He sees it as "knowing his place", but it prevents him from taking direct control of situations. Dylan shies away from confrontation in general. Dylan's "have-it-all" attitude has resulted in a few neglected or otherwise tenuous relationships. Broken bonds could result in some enemies in the future.