Aidan Flynn

[Hollyquin†]

Name: Aidan Flynn
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Grade: 12th
School: Aurora High School
Hobbies and Interests: Singing, playing guitar, music, running, video games, partying and roleplaying.

Appearance: Aidan has always been quite tall by comparison to his peers, and that trend hardly stopped at puberty- he stands now at 6'4". Far from striking an imposing figure, though, he tips the scales at a mere 148 pounds, making him markedly underweight. His skin is deathly pale, though his cheeks do flush to a bright pink rather easily, and a smattering of freckles decorates them. However, when he is out in public he always wears a light dusting of pale powder foundation on his cheeks, covering his freckles entirely.

Aidan's eyes are large and a light, icy blue, and his small, upturned nose adds to the slightly feminine character of his face. His mouth is unremarkable when closed, but he has a wide smile and extremely white teeth. He has three tattoos- a pair of black and blue nautical stars about an inch and a half across, one on each hip, and simple black crosshairs over his heart.

Aidan's hair is shaggy and about chin-length- he wears his bangs long, shading his eyes, and has bits of hair slightly shorter than the rest framing his face. The rest is carefully layered and maintained, while still somehow appearing to have taken no effort at all. Aidan's hair is naturally an unmistakable shade of reddish-orange. However, since the beginning of high school he has dyed his hair. He keeps it mainly black, but dyes his bangs and those framing strands a dark blue. Aidan keeps up with dying his roots compulsively, to the point where no one in Aurora who hadn't known him before high school would know his hair wasn't always black.

Aidan's wardrobe consists mostly of slim-fit band tees and skinny jeans. Black is his most commonly worn color, though he does own several pairs of brightly colored jeans, including a pair in a dark greyish-lavender that he is particularly fond of and wears often. He has a vast array of belts with all sorts of buckles and designs and always seems to be wearing a new one, and his collection of Converse and combat boots is similarly large.

Biography: Liam Flynn and Aoife O'Shea, Aidan's parents, were both born and raised in Dublin. Both came from extremely wealthy families, and the two met while attending University College Dublin, both studying business. They were close friends and then began dating- in secret, as Aoife was afraid her strictly Catholic family would disapprove of irreligious Liam. They decided to marry immediately upon graduation, and decided, with a youthful lack of foresight, to elope to America, having both seen enough of Europe.

Liam supported the pair monetarily as they moved from east to west on what seemed like an endless road trip- Aoife had been cut off monetarily by her parents when she finally summoned the courage to admit what she had done, but Liam's parents supported his decision. They had reached California when it became clear that Aoife was pregnant. Liam insisted the two settle down, but Aoife couldn't abide by the heat in California, and after a little research they found a place that seemed perfect- a city called Seattle. Six months after their arrival there, Aidan was born.

Aidan was a quiet child when he was very young, always content to spend time indoors, drawing and dreaming. His grades in school, even up to today, have never been more than average. He liked to read, as he liked nothing better than to lose himself in imaginary worlds. He also loved music- his father played guitar and Aidan was always a rapt audience. Aoife was too, at first, but over the first few years of Aidan's life her relationship with Liam grew strained. They had married too young and early to really know what the other was like, and screaming matches between the pair became common, though both still doted on Aidan. They divorced when Aidan was four, something he constantly blamed himself over when he was young.

Aidan lived with his mother, mainly, who moved out of the apartment Liam had payed for with him. Though divorce law in Washington meant that the couple's assets were to be evenly divided, they had still been mostly living off of Liam's family's money, which still technically belonged to the Flynn family back in Dublin. Aoife got very little, and wound up in desperation calling her long-forgotten family back home. The O'Sheas were shocked to hear from their long-lost daughter, mollified to hear that she'd left the "godless" Liam, and amazed to hear that Aoife had had a child. Though it was difficult for Aoife to convince her parents that she was not just better off coming back to Dublin with Aidan- she had grown to love Seattle and did not wish to leave- at the end of the conversation she'd convinced her parents to support her monetarily as they once had, allowing her and Aidan to move into a new apartment not far from her husband's, allowing Aidan to visit him still.

Though Aidan technically lived with his mother, he spent enough time at his old home with Liam that there was hardly a difference between his time spent with each. Neither parent worked- Liam made a small amount of money performing at clubs at night and Aoife stayed home to care for Aidan full-time- but it hardly mattered with the amount of money their parents were supplying them. Both of his parents adored him and wanted him on their side, and so he was heavily spoiled by them both. If Aidan complained that his mother let him go to bed later than Liam let him, Liam let him set his bedtime later still- if Liam gave Aidan a gift, Aoife would buy him something yet more extravagant. When it became time for Aidan to start schooling, about a year after the divorce, he was sheltered, incredibly naive, and had next to no social experience, as his parents kept him close to them and only them.

It was these traits that made Aidan's life incredibly difficult for him. He was still a dreamer and an introvert as he had been earlier in life, and along with his kind and patient nature and naivety he was an obvious target for bullies. As he attended public school out of convenience, his family was in a much higher income range than most of his peers', and so his expensive clothes and toys didn't help, though Aidan was never aware of why- with his lack of experience with other children he always assumed his lifestyle was normal. His bullies also teased him for his bright red hair and freckles- they mainly did so because it simply stuck out as something else that was different about him, but those taunts in particular stuck with Aidan. He told his parents about the bullying he experienced, but for the most part they told him to ignore them and they would go away. It didn't become serious enough for the school to intervene until an incident in the fourth grade that left Aidan with a black eye. The perpetrators were seriously punished, and from that point on Aidan was left alone, albeit still mostly friendless.

He was not left completely alone- in his elementary school years, he had a few female friends who liked him because he was different from the other boys. He also had his best friend, a certain James Ford, a similarly effeminate boy with whom he got along quite well. However, when junior high began things changed. With the start of puberty came Aidan's sudden interest in girls, and with his female friends' sudden disinterest in him as they began to see boys- not certainly not boys like Aidan- in a sexual light. For all of junior high school his only friend was Ford, though he wasn't bullied like he was when he was younger, only left alone.

It was around this age that Aidan became interested in music. His interest was sparked by a gift from his father, an acoustic guitar, which Liam began to teach him to play. As Liam sung when he played, Aidan did as well, and discovered as his voice began to deepen that he was quite a capable singer himself. Not to be outdone, Aoife bought her son an electric guitar, much more expensive than his acoustic. However the instrument went more or less unused until high school, and it was during this time that Aidan grew closer to his father, as he and his mother shared no real interests. Liam introduced him to music- mostly classic rock- and Aidan discovered his own tastes listening to music online, becoming particularly fond of 90s grunge and more recent indie, though he liked most types of music. He also began to play video games with his father- though he had began to play them when he was younger, they became a more important part of his life during this period, and online games became one of his few ways to socialize. At some point during this period Aidan developed a mild and undiagnosed case of insomnia that made it difficult for him to sleep for long periods- he would often finding himself waking up far earlier than he needed to. Far from taking issue, Aidan began taking advantages of these extra morning hours to practice guitar.

Aoife, frustrated with her son's connection to her ex-husband, made the decision to move with Aidan during the summer before he began high school. They stayed in Seattle but, with the city as large as it was, their move across the city may as well have been one to another town. Aidan's ability to visit his father was strictly limited by the move, and the frustrated boy came to resent his mother for cutting him off from both of his only resources- his father and Ford, who had lived outside of the city fairly near where he had lived. However, there was one blessing to come out of the situation- Aidan would be going to a different high school than his middle school classmates. He decided before he began in this new school, he would reinvent himself.

Aidan's new persona was as far from his previous self as he could believably get, though bits and pieces of it were real. His caustic and biting wit, for example, was born from a combination of a natural sense of humor and a deep-seated bitterness that had been building in him since youth, ignored by his old self, who had always been an idealist above all. Much of the rest of this persona came from observing boys who had better luck than him in the social sector- a confidence that bordered on arrogance was easy to fake around people who hadn't known the old him. He dyed his hair that summer, stole his mother's makeup to hide his freckles, and used the money his parents gave him to replace the posh old clothes his parents bought him with styles more in line with what his favorite band members would wear.

There was one complication when he actually arrived at school- in a stunning coincidence it turned out Ford had moved at around the same time as he had, and would be attending Aurora High School as well. Aidan stuck fast to Ford, his only friend who knew him as he really was, though they seemed like an odd twosome to the rest of Aurora. When the two hung out in private Aidan reverted to his true personality, proving that Aidan never really changed at all- he simply wore a mask during his school days.

The new Aidan became quite popular. Ironically, his new-found wit and cockiness made him quite hard to get along with for some, but in the party scene he began to frequent he was well-known and well-liked. Girls loved him- he appeared to be the perfect bad boy- and he found himself with a girlfriend early in his freshman year. However, he found dating next to impossible- as a hopeless romantic deep down he desperately wanted to admit to her who he really was and hope that she'd accept him, but he knew that she liked him for who he really wasn't. So he broke up with her to save himself from being found out and to save her from dating a boy who didn't exist. This pattern continued throughout all of high school, though the dating gave way in many cases to random, often alcohol-fueled hookups at parties. He felt incredibly guilty every time he broke a girl's heart, or slept with a girl aimlessly, but he still to this day cannot open himself up enough to let a girl love the real him.

Aidan developed two new hobbies in high school- one to compliment each of his personas, in a way. At school he decided to try out for track- though he had no particular interest in sports in general he decided he might as well try something new. However, he found that he had a natural knack for it, and though he's hardly the fastest person on the track team, he legitimately enjoys running. Back at home, he discovered in his copious time spent on the computer the wonders of online roleplaying. He never outgrew his childhood love of fantasy worlds, though he did stop drawing and reading for the most part, and so this served as a wonderful creative outlet for him. Best of all, he had no reason to lie about himself to his online friends. At the encouragement of some of his friends on a roleplaying forum he frequents, he began playing World of Warcraft towards the end of his freshman year, and though he tries not to let it take up too much of his free time, it's hard for him to resist spending time with people who appreciate the real him. Additionally, Aidan helped start up a rock band at Aurora- named Finnegan's Break, they are well-known throughout the student body, and Aidan in particular is well-known as their singer and rhythm guitarist.

The real Aidan Flynn is still an idealistic boy, a dreamer with his head in the clouds who believes that the world is a beautiful place and that things will always get better. He is a romantic and a gentleman, not to mention a bit fragile, and can still display that charming naivety he showed as a child, though his innocence has more or less been lost to his other persona. He is very prone to blaming himself for things that may or may not be his fault. In contrast to what one might expect, however, Aidan is quite competitive in all things, a trait which shows in track meets and when playing multiplayer games. The only person who truly knows both sides of him is Ford, which is one of the major reasons the two spend so much time together.

Advantages: Aidan is fast and has good stamina from four years running track. Thanks to his insomnia, he is used to getting little sleep, and so losing sleep on the island will trouble him less than most. He has a lot of friends, and particularly an automatic ally and support system in Ford. His idealism and optimism will make it relatively easy for him to keep from panicking, at least as long as he has Ford around.
Disadvantages: Aidan's false persona is unlikely to last long in an environment like Survival of the Fittest, and his sudden personality shift might read as weakness to others. His fragility and general idealistic nature will make it incredibly difficult for him to stomach seeing violence, let alone considering perpetrating it. If Ford dies, Aidan will react very badly and likely end up losing any sense of rationality. He has broken the hearts of quite a few girls in the senior class, making him a potential target for revenge.