Daniel Chen
Foxofspades
- Created
- 6 years, 5 months ago
- Creator
- Foxofspades
- Favorites
- 87
Profile
Daniel Chen
- Age 18
- Height 5'8"
"Take care of yourselves out there, and maybe wear safety goggles or something?"
President of the Science Club, Vice-President of the Track and Field Team, and a consistent honor student - Dan pretty much embodies the stereotype of The Overachieving Asian Kid. Jokes aside, he's smart. Not just study-hard-to-get-good-grades smart, but legitimately-loves-learning smart. His parents are both professors at Goldshore University and he inherited their love for research.
Unbeknownst to Dan, he sometimes appears unapproachable - not because he's unfriendly or disagreeable, but because he's often seen either scribbling notes or walking really fast with his earphones on. He's not trying to ward anyone off, he's just an incredibly busy introvert.
While not exactly a wallflower - he's in too many student organizations to be shy - Dan has a relatively modest circle of friends. He does plenty of extracurriculars, but at the end of the day, would rather be playing board games with close friends than attending large gatherings.
He's an introvert who's pretty much mastered the art of masquerading as a people person - provided he gets breaks in between. Otherwise, he'd be booking a one-way ticket to burnout city.
Dan can be a bit of a perfectionist and it does take a toll on him.
Academics aside, Dan is a huge dork who's into campy sci-fi films and all things video game and anime. He's a fanboy and proud of it, though not a lot of people get to see the sweeter and sillier side of Dan.
Earth Squad
Unlike The Defenders of Sol, Dan didn't find out about the The World Eater until late into their senior year. He lived in ignorant bliss for most of the Sol Arc, but started getting suspicious when his girlfriend began disappearing to God knows where. He tried to play it cool for the most part, but became even more suspicious when Aislyn dumped him out of the blue after months of acting strangely. Dan confronted her about it, but it only led to the solidifying of their breakup.
Hurt and honestly very confused, Dan did some investigating of his own. Eventually, he caught The Defenders on one of their earth missions. Dan, being at the wrong place at the wrong time, got caught up in a fight between The Defenders and a parasite. After Dan had witnessed the fight, The Defenders had to tell Dan the truth about both Sol and the upcoming end of the world.
Dan never joined The Defenders, but ended up becoming an honorary member of the Earth Squad.
The members of the Earth Squad, while unable to enter Sol, end up helping with missions on earth.
Oakwoods and Backstory
- Similar to many of his peers, Dan was born and raised in Oakwoods.
- Dan's parents, similar to other immigrants, moved to the US in search of greener pastures. His father (a Biology professor from China) and his mother (a Physicist from the Philippines) met at Goldshore University. His parents started out as colleagues before eventually falling in love. After they got married, they moved to Oakwoods to live out less hectic lives.
- Back when Dan was younger, his parents mostly did research related work so they could be at home more. However, once he was a little older, they returned to their teaching jobs at Goldshore University.
- Dan works part-time as a tutor.
Trivia
- Sci-Fi, Dan isn't picky but will most definitely fanboy over a well-written space opera. He'll chat your ear off if you bring up Star Trek or The Twilight Zone. In fact, the quote on his favorite sweater: "Survival is insufficient" is a reference to Star Trek Voyager and Station Eleven.
- Space. Dan one day dreams of working for NASA, and as the President of the Science Club, organizes monthly stargazing events for the students of Oakwoods high school.
- Button up shirts. Comfortable and classy.
- His mother's adobo. Dan is half Filipino and half Chinese. He's never been to the Philippines, but adores the heck out of their cuisine.
- Podcasts. Considering he's relatively busy on most days, podcasts provide some A+ entertainment while he's on the move. His favorites are Marsfall and Welcome to Nightvale.
- Gore. Dan's totally fine with movie gore, but the moment someone injures themself in real life, his knees start to wobble and the room starts to spin. He's kind of squeamish, one of the reasons he's never considered becoming a doctor (even though his teachers tell him he's got the grades for a future in medicine).
- Back-to-back appointments. While Dan seems relatively good with people, he's still an introvert at heart. When the going gets tough, he likes to take a time-out to recharge. He gets overwhelmed when he's around acquaintances for too long.
- People who don't know how to communicate. The success of almost everything - papers, relationships, plans - rests on good communication. Basically, it's something that's very important.
Character
Aislyn Kaye
[ friend, ex-girlfriend ] His first girlfriend, the two of them started dating toward the end of Junior year. Aislyn wasn't doing too well in class and had gotten a warning - if she didn't pull her grades up before the end of the semester, she'd get kicked off the track team.
At that time, Dan was the vice-president of the Track and Field team. He offered to tutor Aislyn, and somewhere between lessons, found that friendship had given way to a budding crush. He was smitten. Aislyn was fiery and outspoken and he really liked her. Afraid of screwing up their friendship, Dan kept his feelings to himself for a few months, before his best friend finally convinced him to ask Aislyn out.
Their relationship was good, but they broke up during the Sol Arc after Aislyn refused to tell him the truth about what was going on with her and why she was constantly vanishing. Their breakup was a sour one, but after Dan learned the truth about Sol and joined the Earth Squad, the two of them patched up - but much to his dismay - never rekindled their romantic relationship.
They managed to remain friends, but there's just a teensy bit of awkward in the air whenever they end up alone together. Dan still has lingering feelings for his ex, but she no longer feels the same.
Friday Goodman
[ friend ] The track team pretty much babies Friday, and Dan is no exception. Similar to the other members of the team, he treats Friday like a little brother. Dan finds Friday's endless energy somewhat daunting to deal with, but has pretty much grown used to his friend's rambunctious presence. While Dan usually doesn't get along too well with loud and childish people, he's made an exception for Friday.
Flynn Barker
[ friend, gaming buddy ] Dan met Flynn through Aislyn and Friday and the two have been friends ever since. There seems to be some sort of mutual respect between both boys. They look up to each other for different reasons - Flynn looks up to Dan because of his academic prowess and determination to do well in everything he does, while Dan looks up to Flynn because of his natural charm with people and his often level-headed assessments of situations. Mutual respect aside, both of them enjoy video games and campy sci-fi movies. sometimes both boys meet up on the weekends for LAN parties or dungeon raids.
After Dan joins the earth squad, he comes to respect Flynn even more for his ability to stay calm even in the craziest of situations. Flynn might not believe it, but Dan thinks he's got what it takes to be a great leader.
Morrigan Elliot
[ friend ] Compared to Freddy, it took Dan a lot longer to warm up to Mori and her rather chaotic approaches to dealing with problems. Dan thinks Mori is a safety hazard to the members of the Earth Squad, but eventually starts to see otherwise when she saves them more than once. Mori might be reckless, but there's no denying that she knows how to get stuff done. Still, Dan can't really stop himself from worrying.
