Age: 20
Gender: Male
Field of Study: Computer Engineering
Physical Description: Dusty is a short Caucasian man standing at 5’6” and weighing 167 pounds. He is a bit overweight, having a slight gut and a wide waist. Dusty’s skin is pale and freckled; in addition, he currently has a very visible red pimple on the right side of his chin. His messy orange hair falls halfway down his forehead and sometimes sticks out at various angles. Dusty has a clean-shaven round face with large light-blue eyes and a small nose. Dusty wears rectangular glasses with thick black rims. On the day of abduction, he wore an oversized blue sweater, loose brown jeans, and white sneakers.
Background:
- Dusty was born in the suburbs of Seattle, the only child of Brandon and Jaimee. His parents both worked as brokers at a local insurance firm. They were straightforward and practical people, and were serious about raising their son to be a successful adult.
- While Dusty’s family was wealthy, his parents both worked long hours. He spent much of his early childhood in daycare. Dusty was initially socially awkward had a hard time fitting in with other children. Whenever he did manage to find friends, he loved to entertain them and make them laugh.
- From a young age, Dusty excelled at his schoolwork. He was placed into gifted classes and maintained straight A’s throughout his schooling. He began to befriend many of the other gifted kids, mostly boys who had a similar clownish disposition.
- Around middle school, Dusty became a latchkey kid and spent most of his time after school at home alone. He’d pass time by watching funny YouTube videos, and by watching sitcoms and stand-up specials on streaming. He became a big comedy fan, and he began to come up with jokes and comedy routines to perform for his friends at school.
- As Dusty became a teenager, he grew more and more confident in his intellectual superiority compared to his peers. He had a hard time connecting with kids outside of his gifted classes, finding their interests dull and getting frustrated with how much trouble they often had with understanding problems he'd understand immediately. He withdrew to his small group of friends and mocking most of the other kids behind their backs. A part of him still craved approval, however; sometimes he’d tell jokes in class or at social events. If the other kids laughed, he’d feel a brief rush of happiness. If they didn’t, he’d sulk and take that as confirmation that they were just too unintelligent to understand him.
- Dusty’s favorite subject in high school was history; he found the stories of the past to be fascinating and exciting compared to his own dull life. He also began taking computer and programming classes, which he excelled in and found moderately enjoyable.
- Dusty graduated high school with a 3.9 GPA. Though his main passions were comedy and history, he decided to major in computer engineering. Dusty reasoned that it made the most sense to enter a career that made a lot of money, and he could just work on his personal interests in his free time. Dusty enrolled in the University of Cascadia due to its great reputation as a STEM school.
- In college, Dusty began to explore the world of comedy more, dabbling in improv, sketch writing, and stand-up around Tacoma. He has joined a school comedy troupe called “The Hilarity-Industrial Complex”. In particular he enjoys improv. Dusty likes to think on his feet and loves when he can get the most laughs out of anyone on stage.
- Dusty's comedy style is defined by his energy and quick wit. On stage his persona is very energetic with exaggerated, comical expressions. In improv he moves at a breakneck pace, coming up with funny lines on the spot and immediately bouncing them back to his partners. Dusty can overwhelm partners unprepared for his style, but his wits shine with partners who can match his pace. Dusty's stand-up and sketch work is done in a similar fast paced style, where his persona makes his routines seem very spontaneous and off-the-cuff even though he's performed them all hundreds of times. Dusty's comedy can be edgy and obtuse; he makes jokes that he finds funny, with little regard for audiences sensitivities or understanding. He doesn't think he's ever offensive for it's own sake, but he'll broach whatever subject matter he wants without restraint. Audience reception to his improv is usually positive, as he's found partners he consistently works well with. Reception to his stand-up and sketch writing is more hit-or-miss; sometimes his jokes land, sometimes they don't, and sometimes they make the audience angry.
- The negative reaction his jokes sometimes receive his led Dusty to be adamant that people are too sensitive these days, and that comedy has to be unrestrained to be truly good. He’s gotten into arguments with a few other troupe members over this, but knows when to quit before they escalate. As a result, he's become more and more interested in conservative and anti-woke internet personalities such as Peter Harrison. While Dusty wasn’t very familiar with Professor Harrison before enrolling, he’s since become a fan of his and has taken a few of his history classes as electives.
- Dusty maintains a cordial but shallow relationship with his parents. They have always been proud of his academic achievements and his career goals. They're supportive of his interest in comedy, but generally view it as an unimportant hobby. Dusty tries to talk to them every week or two but their conversations are mostly surface level, focusing on his schoolwork more than any personal issues. Dusty feels like they're good parents but a bit too uncreative to fully understand his interests.
- Dusty maintains his small group of friends, mostly composed of people he’s met through comedy, but has a bleak outlook on the intelligence of the general student population, and even some of the professors. A lot of this is based on the differing politics between himself and most of Cascadia's community; he considers their extremely liberal views to be a result of them being too emotional and unreasonable compared to himself. His GPA has dipped slightly due to his focus on his extracurriculars; he's told himself that his academic troubles are not a reflection on his intelligence, but instead on him spreading himself too thin. However, Dusty believes that he's smart and talented enough to ride the line, bringing his grades back up without sacrificing his comedy time. To this end, he’s hoping that the research trip will bump up his grades.
Assets: Dusty is intelligent. He a fast learner, and he can think quickly on his feet. Due to his performance experience, he can be disarmingly charming when he wants to be.
Limitations: Dusty has few close connections with other students. He’s overconfident in his own intellectual superiority. He is unfit and not used to prolonged physical activity.
