Physical Description
Hair
Darin’s hair is so dark brown, it is often mistaken for black. He keeps it very trimmed and neat with a small (very small) gelled pouf in the center. The sides he keeps quite short. This is his professional look. He is almost always clean-shaven.
There’s nothing particularly interesting about his hair, except that you can always tell when he’s having a rough day or morning. A small shadow of stubble graces his face and his small center twist isn’t quite so striking.
Eyes
Similar to his hair, Darin’s eyes are dark brown with just a hint of hazel. He’s never needed glasses and he sincerely hopes he never will. He has stated to friends that he would feel “like a dork” in glasses.
If you catch his eyes in just the right light when he’s wearing a certain light green collared shirt, you can find a streak of green going from the outer edge into the pupil. It was one of the first things his wife Krissy noticed about him.
Height/Weight
Darin is around 6 feet tall though probably on the shorter end, meaning he really only reaches 6 feet when he wears certain shoes with just enough heel. He still tells everyone he’s 6 foot.
Average weight, so I’m not sure. Don’t you know it’s impolite to ask someone’s weight!
Darin lives in San Francisco and he loves to walk and swim in the ocean. His mostly fit figure also has to do with the several gym memberships he’s been convinced by coworkers to buy.
Style of Dress
Darin is almost never seen in a t-shirt and shorts. It would feel unnatural to him. In fact, the only time you might see him in such would be at the beach or in his pajamas. He prefers business casual and dresses in suits for work. Even after he was fired, he still went outside in a suit, especially when job hunting.
He’s never been particularly keen on picking colorful clothes. Most of his outfits are neutral or muted colors. The most colorful thing he owns is a Hawaiian shirt that Krissy got him as a gag gift three years ago. He prefers light blues and a few muted yellows.
Speech
Darin lives in San Franscisco, but is originally from northern California, deeper inland. So whatever accent they have.
Darin’s never really had a catch phrase and his cursing only picked up after his recent firing and time travel fiascoes (cursing is not exactly professional, but when you travel back in time, professionalism goes slightly out the window.) He’s also picked up saying “why” often as this seems to trigger his time travel abilities.
How Darin feels about His Physical Appearance
Darin considers himself to be an average looking man, though perhaps on the upper side leaning towards more attractive. He’s never been too concerned with appearance; as long as his wife loves him, he looks professional, and his gut doesn’t hang too much over his belt, he’s happy.
Personality
As can be gathered from his physical appearance, Darin is very keen on keeping his personality professional. His job means a lot to him as it affords him his house and his wife’s happiness as a writer. However, when he is relaxed at home or with his friends, Darin becomes a boisterous laugher, a caring husband, and a loud commenter at late night television news.
Mannerisms
1. When Darin gets nervous, he tugs on the tiny hairs at the back of his neck.
2. He also frequently laughs to fill awkward silences or when he doesn’t understand what someone just said.
Bad Habits
1. Darin constantly slouches at his computer. He has actually considered getting a standing desk because of the back problems he’s developing because of it.
2. He isn’t fully aware how bad of a habit this is, but he puts work and career often times before his wife. For example, instead of kissing her good morning when he wakes up, he rolls over to check his email, stocks, and marketing news. His wife is very aware of his bad habit.
Strengths/Weaknesses
Strengths: Darin is very passionate about his life. He’s also a get-things-done kind of guy. Once he has a plan, you can be sure it will get done. He’s focused and good with people.
Weaknesses: Darin has quite a few weaknesses. One of his main ones is getting too hyper-focused on one thing that he forgets about other things. He also isn’t big on patience or setting up healthy priorities.
Likes and Dislikes
Likes
- World News (or at least he tells himself that)
- Holding hands with his wife
Dislikes
- People using media to get their 15 minutes of fame (He feels that if you are going to be someone, you should have to earn it, not just create a viral video or say you have super powers)
- Pineapple. He’s not really sure why.
Hobbies
Poker (and other strategic card games)
He’s not really sure if you can call it a hobby, but he plays it almost every week with his friends. He’s not much of a gambler, but he enjoys the strategy of it and the “poker faces.”
Making Lists/Planning
Again, he’s not quite sure you could call it a hobby, but he has enough multi-color pens, highlighters, and notebooks that you probably can. He has to plan everything out about his weeks, days, vacations, everything. He’s not very spontaneous.
He enjoys this hobby, though he wishes he could be more spontaneous sometimes. He feels incredibly unprepared without a list and he hates that it can cause some anxiety. His wife, who has pretty much never made a list in her life, drives his anxiety up a wall with this.
Context to the story
Darin was struck by lightning around the end of his college days. This was before he met his wife. It almost killed him, but seems to have left no lasting effects on him. His wife claims that he’s jealous of other people who have a story like that and use it to gain fame. While he denies this, secretly he thinks she might be right. He feels maybe he would be much further in life if he had used that to his advantage.
On the surface, Darin’s life seems to be about as perfect as you can make it, but there are tiny webbed cracks that might shatter if a little too much pressure is applied. Darin’s about to find out exactly how much his life might shatter.
“It was too much. Almost comically too much as if someone were trying to force his hand, trying to show him that the only way out of this was to use his power. If that way the way to fix things, then so be it. “
Part two Get it right
Conflicts
Inside, Darin struggles with the fact his life as he knows it is falling apart. He feels as though some apocalypse has struck him. His “fix-it” nature and impatience is at war with his circumstances and when he realizes he can time travel, it seems to be the answer to his conflict. But it only brings on more inner conflict and questions about what he truly values in life.
Outside, Darin has lost his job, almost loses his wife, and finds out he can time travel. His time travel can fix these outside conflicts, or so he believes, until he actually tries to fix things.
And that’s Darin! Have any questions about him or about the story? Comment below!