Alexander "Alex" Daro*

[asano*]

Name: Alexander Daro
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Grade: Senior
School: Southridge High
Hobbies and Interests: Debate Club [4 years], Youth Senate [Freshman/Sophomore years]

Appearance: Equal parts scraggly and orderly, modern and vintage, Daro cares little what others think of his clothing and wears what is comfortable for him. The major side effect of that attitude is that he has established a formula for clothing that has lasted him since late Freshman year—sandals, jeans, belt, shirt, jean jacket. The choice of denim top and bottom has drawn several 'Denim Daro' remarks, but as he laughed along with the speaker, his friends began to use it as well. During hotter times of the year, the jean jacket is replaced with a blue or grey overshirt.

Daro's face is soft-edged, bearing much in similarity with that of a typical talking head on television. Two things break that comparison, however: his eyebrows slant inward ever so slightly, and the corners of his mouth pull downward, resulting in a minor, yet perpetual, frown. While speaking or with friends, however, these sad features vanish. In these times, his eyes become the most striking feature on his soft face. Blue as the cold Pacific, his hair tends to cover at least one. He has been told that he should not hide such nice eyes, though refuses to cut his shaggy hair short.

Biography: Cynical, morbid, untrusting, aloof, easygoing to a fault, misanthropic, even somewhat nihilistic—that's the laundry list when it comes to first impressions of this boy. His laughter at things that should draw frowns puts many off, and his off-the-cuff remarks regarding anything from politics to news to death tend to make others uneasy. And indeed, some of these qualities are true to his core, and he is not ashamed of that. He freely tells others how he detests bureaucracy and distrusts humanity; but then he will turn around and laugh it off.

Friends of Daro find that he is not misanthropic, merely hateful of the masses; not nihilistic, just discouraged. And just as he hates the many, he loves the few; he deeply respects and admires his friends, and is thankful of nothing if not them. When this view first developed at the close of his sophomore year, he was accused of being elitist—and in his own words, he quickly replied "It's the mob mentality I hate; the many deciding what the few can do without really knowing the few, their wants and problems."

From his beliefs, it's been assumed before that Daro has been screwed by life several times. The opposite is true; life dealt him a very good hand. It dealt him an able mind and a loving and small family with parents willing to share stories. However as he turned his mind to such things as televised news, those negative beliefs took shape. His parents, having lived through the 1960s, related stories of love, peace, freedom, and—well, the general hippy fare. Listening to this, reading about it, and then seeing what his world was essentially shattered his hope for the future. The cynicism and distrust that his parents had developed post-hippy-years carried to him, and as the news so gleefully reported murder after suicide after murder perpetuated by people his age, it only grew. His parents believed that the activism of the 60's was gone, permanently; they believed that the new generations wished to serve only themselves. As he only saw proof, never anything refuting the idea, he adopted the belief quickly.

Daro also experienced a fallout of similar content with politics; come freshman year he had eagerly joined the Youth Senate, having high hopes—possibly even a career in politics, later on? Again as he spoke with his parents and watched the news more, he became more distrustful of the system and his generation. He found the lot of them (real politicians, that is) obsessed with pushing their personal agendas, ignoring the greater good for an opportunity to extend their terms or expand their pockets. After a year of simmering distrust for the system he was helping to emulate, Daro left the Senate. Thoughts of being a politician vanished, replaced with both ire toward, and a never-ending stream of jokes and prods at, those men and women.

Daro's only other major school activity was Debate Club, which he had joined at the same time as the Senate. While activity in one waned, activity in the other only increased. He relished the opportunity to debate major issues, deciding to bring his idealism to the forefront. It was common for Daro to be attacked from a pragmatic standpoint; he was asked how what he was arguing for would be accepted or carried out. He never could reply without slanting it into a prod at humanity.

It should also be noted that, regardless of Daro's beliefs, his time in high school has followed a single guideline. He wishes to enter and leave with as little drama as possible, to the point that he rarely even considers the prospect of that thing that causes so much drama—dating. Surely he could find someone to date; the desire is simply not there. As he explains, he sees enough of it on television and amongst friends; he doesn't want to make drama (and enemies) of his own so soon.

Also as a note, his incredibly idealistic stance granted him the only label he has ever not found issue with: that of the hopeless romantic. He plays along with this, actually agreeing with the label. Whenever it comes up in conversation, though, his friends enjoy reminding him of a strange coincidence: his birthday is 14 February.

Advantages: Daro possesses a quick mind and an uncanny ability to blow off (or ignore) steam, which has long helped at test time. Also, his insistence on staying away from typical high school drama has granted him few, if any, true enemies.

Disadvantages: His potential to simply shut down—or snap—is much higher than normal students, thanks to his relatively poor outlook on people as a whole. As he sees the majority as rather self-serving, this situation is not his ideal summer vacation.