Sylvain Kessler

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Name: Sylvain Nicholas Kessler
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Grade: 12
Hobbies and Interests: Tap and jazz dance, magic tricks, performance and avant-garde art, SOTF-TV, online trolling

Appearance: Sylvain stands at 5’8” and is in shape with slightly defined musculature at 159 pounds. His features could be summed up as cute; he has wide eyes with long eyelashes, an upturned nose, and bow-shaped lips. He is Caucasian, with a fair complexion and a sprinkling of freckles across the bridge of his nose. His eyes and hair are naturally light brown, but he frequently wears contacts in colors such as violet, red, or white; his hair is currently bleached white and styled in a fade, with the sides and back buzzed and the longer front part gelled and combed up.

Sylvain dresses in a pastel goth style, usually featuring a dark base with accents of light purple, blue, and green in his clothes, with staples like distressed jeans and vests, and graphic t-shirts. Frequent accessories include flower crowns, fingerless gloves, and pendant necklaces. He has a piercing through the outside corner of his right eyebrow, in which he normally wears a faux-diamond curved barbell.

On Casting Day, Sylvain was wearing a pair of distressed light-wash blue jeans, a black t-shirt with the word “UGH” across the front in glittery pastel pink letters, a light purple dyed denim vest decorated with silver spikes and studs on the shoulders, black pleather fingerless gloves, and black Doc Marten boots printed with a pastel floral pattern. He was also wearing his usual barbell in his eyebrow piercing, white contact lenses, circular black sunglasses, and a necklace with a pendant in the shape of a human heart decorated with flowers in white and pink.

Biography: Sylvain was born on August 31, 2003 to Marion and Ingrid Kessler. Marion and Ingrid are the biological parents of Sylvain and his older sister Desiree; Marion is transgender, and their children were born prior to her decision to transition. Marion began her transition when Sylvain was a toddler, and he has essentially grown up always knowing both his parents as mothers. He and Desiree were made aware at a fairly early age that Marion is trans and what that means, and their family has always been open and relaxed about LGBTQ-related matters. Marion works an archive specialist at the Wolfsonian Library, and Ingrid is a police dispatcher. The family of four lives comfortably, though not opulently.

There is only a gap of just over one year between Desiree and Sylvain’s ages, and they have always had a sibling rivalry for their parents’ attention and affections. While Desiree was a moody and sometimes troublesome child, Sylvain was always the free spirit of the family and a natural extrovert. While they tried not to, Marion and Ingrid ended up somewhat favoring Sylvain over his sister due to the fact that he was relatively easier to please and get along with.

Sylvain did well in school both academically and socially, again in contrast to Desiree. While an apt student, Desiree tended to be a troublemaker, and their closeness in age made comparison between the siblings inevitable. Sylvain almost always came out looking better by comparison, which further deepened the early rift that formed between him and Desiree. He made an effort to maintain the positive attention he got by keeping up with his schoolwork and extracurriculars and cultivating a wide circle of friends. Sylvain had a bright, witty personality, and he enjoyed joking around with others; he remained quite popular throughout elementary and middle school, even as he developed a tendency to joke at others’ expense and to do things that caught people off-guard just because it amused him to see their reactions.

An energetic child, Sylvain always enjoyed physical activity at school, especially when he got to dance in music classes and gym. After some time begging his parents to be enrolled in lessons, Sylvain was signed up for after-school dance classes. While the beginner classes dabbled in different styles, Sylvain showed a particular affinity for tap and jazz dance, and these were the styles that he specialized in as he moved up in level over the years. He would be drawn to other performing arts later, but dance remains Sylvain’s oldest and strongest passion.

Another early interest and one of the few which Sylvain and Desiree actually shared was SOTF-TV. Both started out mainly watching the show at friends' houses or when their parents weren't immediately paying attention to what was on the TV in late elementary school and early middle school. They had both been aware of the show's existence for some time before that, given its dominance of pop culture and the massive amount of branded material that even fellow kids owned and would sometimes bring to school. While their parents were initially hesitant to let them watch the show due to its violent premise, it was one of the few things which Desiree and Sylvain could engage in together without bickering, which led their parents to be more lenient. Sylvain’s enjoyment mainly came from viewing the show from the standpoint of characters and traditional storylines, rather than the competition angle.

As soon as he was old enough to have unsupervised computer access, Sylvain sought out SOTF fan communities online. He enjoyed reading up on the story and character arcs of previous seasons, and while the competitive side of it wasn’t the main draw for him, he did make note of what sort of tactics made a successful long-running contestant and thus a more successful story, as well as what failed on either the participants’ or the producers’ level. While he was a fairly positive fan, he did find it funny to antagonize more hardcore fans who got defensive over their opinions. It wasn’t uncommon for him to get told off by moderators of the forums and chats that he joined for egging people on when they got up in arms, but this did little to deter him as he didn’t see it as a serious consequence.

Sylvain could also rile people up in person over the subject of SOTF favorites, but at this point, his sister was still his main target. It was more amusing for him to get Desiree worked up than to start arguments with his friends, and though some spirited debates did take place, he found that in general, people he knew offline were not as quick to jump to hostility as people online. The distance inherent in online arguments and the generally consequence-free results were greater incentive to keep his more antagonistic behavior confined to the internet; while there was no real damage ever done from disagreements over the show with Sylvain's friends, he didn't enjoy it when they stayed annoyed with him for more than a short time. He didn't like to be the one who apologized for such incidents, as he didn't think that he had really done anything wrong.

Sylvain and Desiree’s respective entrances into high school caused some turbulence in the family; while both of them were intended to enroll in Mangrove Garden, Desiree failed to perform well enough on the entrance exam. She instead had to attend a nearby public school, which while still of good standing, was held in lower regard. She was deeply unhappy and embarrassed about this, and began acting out more than before, quarreling with Marion and Ingrid and spending more time out of the house. When Sylvain managed a high enough score to be enrolled the next year, it only worsened the siblings’ relationship, with Desiree coming to view Sylvain as not only the favorite of their parents, but luckier than he deserved to be and better-liked by the world at large.

In high school, Sylvain more or less maintained the social trajectory that he had before. He was still fairly popular, but his tendency to tease and sometimes antagonize just for fun had begun to rub others the wrong way. A few of Sylvain’s former friends got fed up with this aspect of his personality, and the resultant falling out rattled Sylvain, who was used to staying on good terms with the people he was close to no matter what sort of antics he got up to. He didn’t want to accept responsibility for the loss of friendship and the negative way that some had started to think of him, so instead he doubled down, nagging and prodding at his former friends when they interacted and ultimately ensuring that the rift between them would not be repaired.

This started a pattern of behavior for Sylvain that still holds: if he offended or upset someone, purposely or not, he hated to apologize and accept that he had hurt someone else, instead placing the blame on them for getting upset and needling them further. Eventually, he began to see this kind of verbal sparring as a game in itself, reveling in the reactions he’d get much like in his online interactions. He was grateful for the friends who stuck by him; while he has come to enjoy sowing conflict for fun, he is more likely to listen to longtime friends who ask him to let up. There are also lines he won’t cross even in jest, such as attacking others on the basis of identity.

In addition to keeping up with his dance, Sylvain joined the drama club in high school. He enjoyed acting, but he soon found himself drawn to other types of performance, particularly magic tricks and sleight-of-hand. Small tricks which could be performed with few props became an easy way to amuse himself and others during quieter moments. His favorite trick was appearing to vanish small objects to reveal that he had stowed the item somewhere else.

He also used his skill in sleight-of-hand to pickpocket others, but with a set of rules for himself to avoid trouble. He only targets friends that he is reasonably certain wouldn’t take offense, he never takes valuables or money outside of small change, he always returns the stolen items, and he never pickpockets on school grounds. As with other things, Sylvain pickpockets for the reaction of the victim rather than material gain, and he has no desire to be accused of actual theft.

Ever a performer, Sylvain’s latest interest has been in the nebulous world of performance and avant-garde art. He was delighted by a class unit on guerilla art and grew especially interested in pieces with the intent of provoking thought and reaction by disrupting daily routine. Inspired by the idea of art that was both performance and social action, Sylvain wanted to cultivate a persona similar to the street artists he admired and to make his own mark on the scene. To that end, he created NARCISSUS.

Currently only really existing in the online realm and in the few guerilla projects that Sylvain has been able to complete with his limited personal resources and desire to avoid actual legal trouble, NARCISSUS is the alter-ego that Sylvain has been cultivating for about a year. He maintains a blog for NARCISSUS on which he posts stream-of-consciousness ramblings and photos of street art, and engages in trolling and passive-aggressive exchanges with people that he considers art snobs or who think the same of him.

While he has lofty aspirations for his art, Sylvain’s relative inexperience and the other aforementioned limitations mean that his projects so far in reality mostly consist of graffiti tagging and minor annoyances for the people around him. His latest fascination is yarn-bombing, and he has decorated a few objects in his neighborhood such as trees, mailboxes, and trash cans in this fashion. He's aware that both tagging and his other projects might be considered vandalism, but he doesn't really care; he sees this as effectively a victimless crime as long as he doesn't destroy anything valuable or hurt anyone, and doesn't really believe that he'd get in serious trouble even if caught, give the harmlessness of it all. He has ideas about doing a larger-scale yarn-bombing on school grounds as a kind of last hurrah for high school, but he has yet to commit to this.

Sylvain signs all his creations as NARCISSUS and tries not to draw attention to his actual identity, but given his interests and general personality, a few people who have taken notice already suspect that NARCISSUS is Sylvain. Generally, people either tear down or cover up Sylvain's graffiti or whatever else he's left lying around, or they ignore it; given that it's been an inconvenience at worst, so far nobody has had cause to bring up suspicions with his parents or any other authority. His sister Desiree almost certainly knows, having caught him sneaking out of the house to go tagging and seen some of his art supplies, but she was happy enough to have something to hold over Sylvain that she has kept quiet for the time being. His parents, still quite lenient with him, don’t pay much attention to what Sylvain does with his own time and are so far unaware that his interest in performance art has gotten so hands-on.

In his senior year, Sylvain is generally happy despite some disruptions in his life. School hasn’t been the smoothest time, with Sylvain sharing many of the concerns about Mangrove Garden’s changes to the academic system and the arts getting shafted, and Sylvain himself still a divisive presence in his social circles. The friendships he does have are close, however, and he also enjoys occasional flirtations with classmates and has been on a few dates. He has found himself uninterested in sex and is unsure if he really even feels true romantic connections with others, but he isn’t especially in a rush to figure things out and intends to keep casually dating around in case he does form that kind of connection. Desiree remained at home to work following high school graduation, and her relationship with her family remains rocky, especially with her brother. Sylvain and his parents get along well, however.

Sylvain finds fulfillment in his various art and dance projects, and frequently lets off steam online by continuing to troll fellow SOTF fans, especially by expressing opinions that TV has stagnated and declined in quality in recent years. This stance reflects Sylvain’s actual feelings on the show, though he has been intrigued by the recent changes such as the team dynamic shaking things up again. After graduation, Sylvain wants to attend art school overseas; he’s had his eye on University of the Arts London for a while, but has put off applying for the time being because he wants to take a year or two to work, further develop his art, and save money. He has begun looking into finding his own place to live with friends, both for greater freedom in allowing him to roam around and do art projects, and to get away from his sister, but has not settled on anything yet. While Sylvain has a general idea of what he wants to do and where he wants to be in a few years, keeping his plans for getting there steady is more of an issue, as he tends to change his mind about things on a whim.

Advantages: Sylvain is fit and used to rigorous physical activity from years of dancing. He is somewhat skilled at misleading or otherwise deceiving others, and his skill with sleight-of-hand could allow him to pickpocket small items from other people without their noticing. Sylvain is well-versed in SOTF-TV’s history and thus knowledgeable of the potential strengths and pitfalls of various survival strategies in an SOTF context.
Disadvantages: Sylvain enjoys provoking reactions from people and causing conflict, which could direct aggression towards himself that could otherwise be avoided, and he generally likes to push boundaries without accepting potential consequences. Others may find his personality grating or untrustworthy, and it’s not out of the question that he might give up an advantage such as weapons or equipment because he finds it entertaining to do so in the moment. In general, he has a hard time prioritizing long-term gain over short-term pleasure.

[Latin For Dragula]

Hello, backslash. Sylvain is in a pretty good place but there are some minor issues I'd like to address, so he is DENIED on this pass.

Sylvain's birthday is listed as August 31st, 2003 but his age is listed as 18. Casting Day for this season is in Mid-April, so Sylvain would still be 17 at time of writing. Changing his age or moving his birthday earlier are both fine, just a continuity blip.

What age did Sylvain start watching SotF-TV? From the timeline it seems to be about middle school but you mention he was a fan before he was old enough for unsupervised internet access. I'd like concrete ages for both of these events, and since he and Desiree are coming into the show so relatively young how did they get into the show since their parents object to it?

Since Sylvain's antagonism was encouraged by a lack of consequences, did he behave differently when interacting with fans of the show in person? How vocal of a fan is he offline compared to online? The timeline murkiness is a sticking point here as it becomes a hindrance in high school, and I'm not sure how much time passes between these two events. If there's not significant time between them it's fine as is, but if this is a middle school to high school transition I'm curious why he held back when he was younger.

such as when he yarn-bombed several cars in the school parking lot.

This is quite an escalation for someone who is too cautious to do pick pocketing pranks on his friends on school grounds. What changed? From googling Yarn Bombing can get pretty elaborate, so did he do several cars at once or has he done multiple individual yarn bombings? Since there are people who suspect he is behind NARCISSUS, has anyone tipped off the school or any of his victims?

You say Sylvain is putting off applying for college a term; as pre-game is in Spring 2021 and Sylvain is a senior, shouldn't he be graduating this term? You've baked in another reason for him to stall with wanting to work a year or two, so this detail seems unnecessary.

Post here when you've edited these details and I'll give him another look

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-Fixed age because I can't do math.
-Clarified timeline on SOTF and the general evolution of his behavior, plus online vs real life.
-Tweaked the art stuff a little bit so that it fits better with his established behavior patterns.
-Made post-graduation stuff make more sense.
-Also just added a bit into the disadvantages summarizing the clarifications I made re: behavior.

I await judgement O_O

[Latin For Dragula]

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