Post by Nicholas Wu on Sept 29, 2008 21:57:14 GMT -5
Nicholas Wu
Real Name (first name only will do): Alex
AIM Screenname (optional): banaili3
Character's Full Name: English Name: Nicholas Jacob Wu, Chinese Name: Wu Yibao
Nickname: Nic
Date of Birth: August 23rd, 1987 (Age 21)
Place of Birth: Beijing, China
Appearance (provide either a description or photograph):
Nicholas looks very much his nationality. With slanted dark brown eyes, jet black hair, and a very tan complexion, he is actually quite a handsome young man, though that doesn't stop him from being bullied. He's a bit short for his age, standing at 5'9", though he is fairly in-shape because he rides his bike to work every day. Because he cannot associate everyday sounds with what he sees, he often doesn't "see" the things around him at all. At times like these, he is simply lost in thought, and the spaced-out look on his face will confirm this. When he isn't daydreaming, his face betrays the average emotions--happiness, sadness, embarrassment, etc. His expression isn't frozen into a permanent smile or frown or anything. Though his "neutral" look may come off as sad, he's usually just feeling no emotion at all at times like these. Also, when he is speaking with someone, his eyes are usually on the lips of the person he is speaking with. This is simply because it is his way of reading lips, not because he has some sick fetish or because he is too shy to meet the eyes of his companion. Most importantly, his eyes are the best indicator of how he is feeling, and they are the ways in which a stranger can truly judge his character. For example, though he managed to forget all about how he became deaf, there is a lingering sadness in his eyes, even when he is at his happiest. It's just something that he cannot control.
Character Model: Nicholas Tse
Personality: Nicholas isn't so much shy as he is simply introverted. He enjoys having friends, but amongst his small group of friends, he is the one who keeps to himself. It's not so much a matter of timidty so much as his way of keeping his privacy. After the attack on his thirteenth birthday, he began to lose his ability to trust. His best friend, Linda had backstabbed him, after all. Since then, however, he has been gaining his trust back, however slowly. He is also more humble because of his disability. He has developed a patience and tolerance for all other people with disabilities--not to mention with people in general. He is a hard-worker as well, helping his father to support the family. Kind, caring, loyal, and sensitive, Nicholas makes a good friend, even if it takes a while for him to fully warm up to someone.
One of Nicholas' strengths is his intelligence. Though it might not seem that way, given a first impression, his IQ is actually high above the norm. In addition to this, he also has the ability to tell when someone is lying to him. After losing his hearing, he learned to read people's lips--and their eyes. It is most likely because of this that he is able to judge a person's intentions, making it difficult for someone to double-cross him. Another trait of his that could be considered a strength is his generally nice-guy/neutral outlook. Despite the accident in which he went deaf, he has no grudges against anyone, nor does he blame anyone in particular. Instead of dwelling on his misfortune, he moved on and got on with his life. He doesn't suffer depression over the incident, and he certainly doesn't treat others poorly because of it. In fact, when he is sure he has made a friend, he is very open and friendly with that person. In general, he also displays common manners and hopefully comes off as a nice person.
His deafness isn't necessarily a weakness, but it does make friendships extremely problematic. Most people do not want to spend the time talking to him because conversation tends to be very slow. If his disability were to be considered a weakness, it would only be because it doesn't allow him to do everything he used to do--like listening to music, or participating more in class (one reason why he dropped out of college was because he couldn't read the professor's lips fast enough). In general, he tries to maintain a good outlook on life, but sometimes even the smallest things can upset him. His sensitive nature makes him less able to cope with problematic situations. He is also not much of a fighter, making him a prime target for bullies, especially when he was younger. Even in his early twenties, however, he encounters the occasional jerk who takes any chance he can get to pick on the deaf kid.
Occupation: Nicholas works at the DeVito Park Sports Complex, doing all the regular jobs, like working behind the rentals desk, the information center, and sometimes even just doing cleanup work. The job is actually a part-time job because he is a full-time college student and therefore spends more time with his studies than at the rink, though the rink has now become a sort of haven for him.
Biography: Nic was born in Beijing, China, to Jiang Wu and He Bei, a lower-middle-class family. He spent the first eleven years of his life living there with his family. His father wanted to figure out a better way to support the family. America had once been considered the “Land of Opportunity” and, even if it no longer seemed that way, Jiang knew there were many jobs available there.
To make sure his family remained stable, Jiang moved from China to California, USA by himself. He figured that if he could establish himself in this country, then his family could follow after him. Hoping to fit in with the rest of American society, he changed his first name to something more “American”: James. In China, he had been the son of a fisherman and had become talented at the trade, so when he reached California, he immediately got a job as a fisherman. Though James had the same occupation in the USA as he had had in China, he was making a better profit from it.
Meanwhile, in Beijing, He Bei had gotten very sick. Nicholas (then named Yibao) was sent to live with his grandparents, and a few months later, his mother died, leaving him and the rest of the family in utter despair. James didn't receive the news until some time later, but he knew--heartbroken as he was--for his son's sake, he had to keep working--to get Nicholas into America as well. One year after he had arrived in the USA, he paid to have Nicholas brought to America along with him. That was when James had his son’s name changed to Nicholas.
Nicholas didn’t find it all that easy to make friends in California—at least, not right away. Most of the time, he wandered down to the local library—surrounding himself with books for friends. Weekends were usually spent helping his father with fishing. Though he was smart, he disliked school very much, because few kids seemed to want to accept him, most likely because of his nationality. There was only one person at his school that truly cared about him--and whom he cared about in return.
He was twelve years old when he met Linda, a girl in his class. Linda was of Italian descent--and she looked it, too. Dark eyes, dark hair, and tan skin, she was beautiful for her age. A lot of the boys liked her, and Nicholas was one of them. Linda, unlike alot of the other kids (including other Asian kids), was extremely kind to Nic. She was gentle and caring, and the two of them often hung out after school--secretly. The more they got to know each other, the more he began to like her.
Then, one day during the summer--on his thirteenth birthday, Linda met Nicholas at the parking lot behind the apartment complex he lived in. He was supposed to wait for his father in their apartment for 4:00PM--they had planned to go out to eat together on such a special day, but he figured he had an hour to spend with Linda. It was, after all, his birthday, and he knew his dad wouldn't mind. While walking with Linda, he'd seen a strange look on her face though, and had thought that maybe something was wrong. But so glad to be in her company, he hadn't mentioned it. The two had talked for a little bit, and then, all of a sudden, Linda was leaning in to him--closer...closer...until, finally, their lips met. Nicholas was so surprised, he did nothing to stop her. He closed his eyes too and leaned into her, so stunned that she was kissing him, and yet so happy.
It didn't occur to him then that the kiss was just a set up--that Linda would do something just to harm him. Halfway through their sweet kiss, Nicholas was torn away from Linda by rough hands. He didn't actually know what was happening until he received a forceful punch to the face and was knocked backwards onto the cement ground. Stunned and slightly dazed from the blow, he looked up and saw several older boys standing over him. It took him a moment to recognize Geoffrey Harpes, an oversized high school junior. He was pretty sure the other kids with Geoffrey were Geoffrey's friends.
"You wanna mess around with my girlfriend?" Geoffrey had said, his features distorted by anger. "I'll break your Ch*nk face, you hear?"
Nicholas hadn't known that Linda had a boyfriend--especially one so much older than her. After Geoffrey's comment, he had looked--hurt-- to Linda for some sort of explanation, but he didn't receive one. Linda was steadfastly avoiding his gaze. Instead, he only seemed to further incur Geoffrey's anger.
"Don't even look at her!" the older boy shouted, enraged.
He gave some sort of signal, then he and the other boys dove at Nicholas and began beating him up.
It was the worst thing he'd ever experienced. The older boys had him down on the ground, kicking and punching him anywhere they could reach--in the back, the stomach, the chest, the legs, and everywhere else. He'd been punched in the mouth and both eyes. When he'd tried to escape, crawling away on his hands and knees, Geoffrey had grabbed him by the hair and threw his most forceful punch yet, right into Nicholas' nose. There was a loud CRACK! and, though his nose had not been broken, blood spurted everywhere. The worst came when he could no longer get up, when he was unable to fight back to protect himself.
The boys were obviously not done. They didn't seem to think that what they had done to the thirteen year old was enough. Geoffrey had his friends pin Nicholas down, and then he sat on top of the younger boy and began boxing his head. Most of the blows hit him in the ears, though there were several that missed and got him in the side of the head. Nicholas, the taste of blood in his mouth, was screaming for him to stop, but it didn't do much good.
The torture didn't end until something seemed to scare Geoffrey and his gang. The older boys had all stopped beating up Nicholas and were looking off--scared--at something not too far away. Whatever it was, Nicholas couldn't tell because he was still pinned to the ground, and by that point, his ears were full of a strange buzzing sound. The buzzing was so agitating and loud, that it was the only thing he could hear.
He never got to see Linda's reaction to everything that had happened to him. When the boys had let go of him and were running away, he had attempted to get up, but he could no longer support his own weight. He collapsed back to the ground, scared that maybe a truck was coming--that it wouldn't see him lying in the middle of the parking lot. But that wasn't the case. Instead, he saw someone sink to the ground beside him and felt arms wrap around him, and he immediately began flailing. But whoever had a hold on him was much, much stronger than he, and his struggling did him no good. He finally looked up at the person and saw, behind partially-forced-closed eyelids, his father's grief-stricken face staring down at him. James was shouting something at him, but he couldn't seem to hear what--just that incredibly annoying buzzing sound. Relieved to see a friendly face after what he'd just gone through, Nicholas reached out for his dad with one hand, then fell back, unconscious.
He remained unconscious for several days after the horrible event and was taken to the hospital, where he was heavily operated on. Neither he nor his father nor the doctors knew he had gone deaf until the day he woke up again. By that point, James was very tired. He had spent every day at his son's bedside, never sleeping. He'd only left for a few hours to go to work, then returned, not even stopping to take a meal. When Nicholas had first woken up, it was one of the most relieved moments in James' life. He had jumped up and hugged his son, crying and telling him that everything would be alright, that he was okay.
But Nicholas couldn't hear him. In fact, he couldn't hear anything at all. Even the buzzing that he had so hated was gone. Confused, unsure of where he was and still in pain, Nicholas began to cry out. He knew his dad was talking to him--he could see his dad's mouth moving, but he could not hear a word he was saying. Then, he began to scream, trying to hear himself. His screaming made his dad stop hugging him, stepping back and staring at his son in horror, trying to figure out what was wrong with him. But Nicholas only screamed louder. He could feel his throat and vocal chords working, producing the blood-curdling sound he could not hear. He was screaming so loud, several doctors from nearby rooms flocked to his, trying to see what was wrong. James was yelling at the doctor's, begging them to help his son. But it seemed realization had dawned on Nicholas first.
"I can't hear! I can't hear!" he sobbed, tears streaming down his face.
And that had been the beginning of a new life. James could not seem to get back into the swing of things with Nicholas' new disability. No longer performing proficiently at work, he ended up losing his job. He and Nicholas eventually left San Francisco. There was nothing left for them in that big, cruel city. They wandered from place to place, and--for James--from one job to another, but they couldn’t find a place to settle down. Eventually, they settled in a small town that nobody had really heard of, in Connecticut. James got a job at a local gas station, and he sent Nic to a small school, where Nic was less likely to suffer any more abuse. Nic began to learn to read people's lips, to understand what was being said. He knew, if he had wanted to, he could learn sign language, but it seemed sign-language was only a painful reminder of what he no longer had.
At age 18, Nicholas was accepted into a top-notch college, but after one year there, he realized he didn't fit in. He couldn't keep up with the lessons because of his deafness, and he was still having a problem making friends. He instead went back to his father's house and decided to get a job at the local supermarket, to help his father pay the bills. At his father's insistance, he continued to look for colleges where he might fit in better. While browsing online, he came across a good college in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and at the age of 21 decided to move out there and take his chances with this new place. He was fortunate enough to find a room and board outside of the college, and accepted a job at the local sports complex in order to pay the rent. Here, he hopes to further his education, overcome his disabilities, and make new friends.
Anything Else:
Family: Father: James (Jiang) Wu, 58 years old. James works at a local gas station for a simple pay. Things are tough for him because he has been a single father ever since he moved to America. Nicholas does a lot of work to support the family too, but before Nic was old enough to get a job, James struggled to support his two-person family. Personality-wise, he is eager to be considered American and has adopted all American customs, tossing aside most of his old Chinese customs.
Mother: He Bei Wu, deceased. She would have been 53 if she were still alive.
Hobbies: Nic's hobbies are mostly average. He enjoys reading, cooking, riding his bike (for thinking time), as well as just thinking in general. (And before he went deaf, he was an avid pianist.) He enjoys spending time with his dad, watching movies or just eating a family meal. He can often be found spending time at the local library, or at work. Though his job is mediocre, he enjoys the company of his fellow employees, most of whom actually like him. While he was in school, his favorite class was math class because he had a strange fascination with numbers--he particularly loved matrices and verifying trigonomic equations. Shortly after he had gone deaf, he took to watching people, mostly because he enjoyed seeing happy families, or maybe because it reminded him of a life he could have had. In addition to all this, another common hobby of his is making friends. Even though he usually isn't the one to start a conversation, when someone makes a warm gesture at him, he is quick to return the favor.
Here are relationships that are pre-decided: