Daniel Worcester

[blastinus]

Name: Daniel Joshua Worcester
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Grade: 12th
School: Aurora High School
Hobbies and Interests: Motorcycles, Mechanical Work, Wood Crafts

Appearance: Daniel is tall and has a bulky, muscular build, standing at 6'2" and weighing 220 lbs. He's Caucasian with short, brown hair and a small bit of facial stubble. His hair is styled using hair gel so that it spikes up on top, because he thinks that it makes him look cooler, and he has blue eyes. His face is more rounded than angular, and his nose is a bit big, a thing that he's rather sensitive about. A decent-sized scar running down the back of his left hand is from a motorcycle accident that he got into last year, and his hands in general are calloused and rough from all the work that he does. He stands fairly straight, though he's been told that he has issues with slouching.

Due partially to riding a motorcycle and partially to wanting to look tough, Daniel is fond of wearing leather jackets, whether black or brown. He doesn't wear T-shirts with logos or slogans on them, preferring to instead purchase cheap white T-shirts in bulk from the local Wal-Mart. For safety reasons, he absolutely refuses to wear shorts and always wears blue or black jeans instead. He's also fond of dark-colored sneakers, usually colored black. The helmet that he wears is a blue and silver color, and it can often be seen strapped to his backpack. His "baby" itself is a black Harley-Davidson, though the side of the vehicle is a slightly different shade of black from when Daniel repainted it after the accident.

Biography: Daniel was born into a middle-class family. An only child, he received a great deal of attention from his parents, and they treated him lovingly and, one could say, babied him perhaps a bit too much. As a kid, he wasn't allowed to play outside, due to the neighborhood that he lived in, so he mostly stayed indoors. It was during his childhood that Daniel first developed a fondness for putting things together, starting with erector sets and electronic kits and progressively working his way up to models when he was in his young teens. When he was fifteen, his father even taught him how to work on the engine of the family car, which might have resulted in some tragic mishaps had his father not been closely supervising his every move.

Daniel's love of working with motorcycles stemmed from his father David, a mechanic, who Daniel idolizes and respects. His father has a motorcycle of his own which he's had since the 80's, and which he absolutely refuses to let Daniel work on, even to this day. Daniel in turn, once he was old enough, acquired a motorcycle license and now owns his own motorcycle, which he absolutely refuses to allow anyone to touch as well. Both of them, prior to the accident, had a tendency to go out as father and son and take a drive, sometimes without protective gear on. His mother Mary, while exasperated with the behavior of her husband and her only son, has grudgingly put up with the overly protective and reckless behavior of these two men for years now. She considers this behavior completely immature, and for years, she silently hoped that at least one of them would realize how dangerous their hobby was.

That day came when Daniel was 17. Coming to a stop at a sign, he was slowly speeding up when a driver coming from the side ran the stop sign on his end, knocking against the front end of Daniel's motorcycle and sending him skidding across the road for a short bit. Fortunately, he was in his protective gear at the time, so all that was hurt was his hand, but the costs to repair the motorcycle, coupled by the trauma of being in his first accident, has made Daniel very nervous about driving his motorcycle, and only recently has he been able to go through intersections at a decent amount of speed, due to his tendency to slowly inch his way in while looking out for cars. His father, being somewhat insensitive without realizing it, likes to joke about it, even to this day, which has only served to upset his son about the topic further.

Personality-wise, Daniel is a bit awkward around other people. He's self-conscious about his appearance, obsessing over every detail and concerned that other people are thinking bad things about his look. He wants to give off a very macho look to other people because he wants to be respected and admired by his peers, and every facet of the persona he gives off to people is supposed to emphasize that, but he's actually not a very tough man. The accident last year still shakes him up whenever he thinks about it, and he wouldn't even consider doing other 'risky' things like rock climbing. He doesn't join sports teams because he's afraid of getting hurt, and he doesn't want to take the risk of a long-term relationship either.

There is one way of getting him to do something, however, poke fun at his manliness. Daniel is very defensive about looking manly, and so if someone goads him that way, they can easily talk him into doing stupid things. This mostly stems from an insecurity about his love of electronics and wood crafting, two things which he thinks people would consider nerdy. He is so concerned that people will think of him as a nerd that he will do anything to dispel the notion, including lying about made-up feats and taking stupid dares, including one incident where he got himself sick by gulping down jugs of water.

Daniel's nervousness around people stems partially from his early school days, when he was a lot less muscular and a lot fatter. Angered and ashamed about how much he was mocked, the young Daniel tried desperately to work himself into shape, and through a large amount of exercise, dieting, and hard work, the boy gradually converted his fat into muscle, but the insecurities live on. Most of all, Daniel is afraid of being mocked and scorned, and so he distances himself from everyone, especially his female classmates, due to an uncomfortable incident where he tried to make friends with a girl in junior high, and the girl and her friends made fun of him for being pudgy. This has somewhat dulled his desire to cultivate a relationship with people in general, and even though he's now much improved, he's still somewhat twitchy about his weight just from reflex.

Academically, Daniel just goes to school in order to get good grades and then move on to college. He's not much for participating in school beyond his required curriculum, and he would rather die than associate himself with any of the clubs on campus, because he's afraid that people will start to think less of him for it, especially the Anime Club, which he has very uncomplimentary opinions about due to the common stereotypes of anime fans, though he hasn't even visited a meeting yet. Despite this lack of participation, he gets very good grades in his classes, maintaining a B average in everything except Shop Class, which he frequently gets A's in. This has made Daniel recently consider going into something relating to arts and crafts, perhaps woodcarving or carpentry. He hasn't fully decided yet.

Outside of school, Daniel has a job at the Castle Family Fun Plex's arcade area, maintaining the machines and collecting cash from them each day. During slower hours, he also plays on the machines himself, usually the fighting or shooting games. He is also fond of hanging out at the local mall, and can be seen there regularly, whether at the food court or browsing one of the stores. There's one electronics store in particular that he enjoys visiting, and he's even bought a thing or two from it every now and then.

Advantages: Daniel is decently strong and is very good at mechanical work. He's also fairly intelligent, and knows his way around vehicles and other devices.
Disadvantages: Daniel takes things very personally and is very sensitive about criticism of his competency or appearance. He's afraid of getting to know people, and he is also petrified at the thought of doing anything that might get him hurt. His obsession with appearing manly, on the other hand, can result in people talking him into doing foolish things, since he's most afraid of what people think of him.