Brock Duma*

[Rudiger†]

Name: Brock Duma
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Grade: Senior [12th]
School: Bayview Secondary School
Hobbies and Interests: Travel, Learning, Reading, Teaching

Appearance: Brock stands at just a hair under 6'0" and weighs around 145 pounds, resulting in a lanky build devoid of any real fat or muscle tone. His sandy brown hair hangs long and without any styling, except for an occasional trim to keep his bangs around eyebrow level. Currently his hair reaches between his shoulder blades, curling and tangling wildly near the ends. Brock keeps a similar attitude towards his facial hair, leaving it unkempt and long until some formal event requires him to shave. His eyes often appear to be half-closed and sunken into their sockets due to his heavy eyebrows and large nose, and seem to shift in color between shades of green, gray, and blue depending on lighting.

Brock's wardrobe is small by choice, as he seems to pay little attention to the clothes he wears. He does appear to favor earth tones, and always wears form fitting jeans regardless of the occasion or temperature. Otherwise his clothes are the typical assortment of t-shirts, sneakers, and hoodies favored by most teenagers.

Biography: Brock is the eldest child in a family of five. Born and raised in suburban Minnesota, Brock enjoyed a relatively privileged upper middle class upbringing. His parents are both successful small-business entrepreneurs, and are happy married and loving caregivers for their children. As their first child, Brock's parents invested heavily in his education, resulting in him becoming a voracious reader of both classical literature and current news reports. Because of his desire to know everything, Brock remained introverted for most of his earlier years, preferring books and movies over hanging out at the mall and small talk.

When he first entered high school, Brock realized he never really knew any of his classmates from middle school, and they knew even less about him. Intending to change this, he got a girlfriend within a few weeks of the school year and began meeting people through her friends. Eventually he found a small group of people who shared his interests and entered a tight circle of friends, even after he and his girlfriend had broken up.

All of his relationships since then have been very intense, as Brock is a hopeless romantic in the most classical sense, becoming heavily invested in a relationship once he finds someone who he can confide with. This tendency seems to resonate among his treatment of his friends as well, maintaining extremely close ties with a few and letting the rest drift away.

His friends and lovers did not distract him from his quest for knowledge however, and Brock continued to score high marks in advanced classes and read extensively outside of school. As a reward for his academic excellence, Brock's parents began taking him on trips around the US, from New York to San Francisco. Brock later began applying for teaching programs in Europe, and now spends his summers across the Atlantic at various language schools and programs. Brock's current focus is on becoming an international person; he keeps contact with those he meets abroad, has taken a furthered interest in international events, and is studying the Russian language. His career hope is to teach abroad, combining his love of learning and teaching with his love of travel. He has begun working towards this goal by volunteering as an English tutor at his school.

Advantages: Brock's major advantages are his intelligence and his experience. Though not athletic or a socialite, he is both book-smart and street-smart, and can draw on a wide range of acquired knowledge and personal experiences to assist him in any situation. Brock also enjoys sharing his knowledge to help others, and is ready to assist anyone who needs wisdom or advice. Brock is also relatively selfless, not placing much stock on physicality and material goods. This makes him likely to work with others, even when there isn't necessarily a benefit for him.

Disadvantages: Brock major disadvantages are social. He is not awkward or inept, he simply dislikes superficial chatter and trivial friendships, making it difficult for him to meet new people or socialize with strangers. On the other hand, Brock invests heavily in those who are close to him, as he values those who share his drives and interests. This can come as a disadvantage as he tends to become dependent on these people and is hurt deeply by betrayal.

Along with his social distancing, Brock also has only marginal physical ability. Though he is not overweight or a smoker, he rarely participates in physical activities and so has a relatively low endurance level compared to his more active peers.