Markus Spencer Stefford, born August 26, 1994, to Quenton and Alice Stanford. About five foot eight in height, seventeen years old, and skinny as a rail, he’s pretty much a typical nerd. Shorter, somewhat shaggy dirty-blond hair hangs from his head, not particularly well kempt but not exactly messy, and back, a pair of glasses perched atop his nose, letting him see the world despite his less-than-average eyesight. He’s not blind as a bat for sure, but he does need those glasses to see properly. The slouched posture, the geek-speak, the glasses, the way he has to breathe through his mouth when he gets excited about something, oh yes, Markus is quite the geeky one.
This particular teenager focuses his free time on playing D&D in his parent’s basement, going through thick science-fiction novels, going crazy over the latest ‘good’ anime, and tinkering with machine parts when he’s not busy studying physics or adding to his collection of polyhedral dice and miniatures. That and making costumes and weapons for the occasional LARP. While he’s DMed since he was eight, that doesn’t stop him from playing a few campaigns with his level 22 prestige class, archmage from time to time. As for his taste in music, classical music can easily be listened to at any time, but this guy enjoys a bit of rock and roll now and again. That and synthesizer-heavy techno beats.
Having been fascinated with the way machines work, Markus took to robotics in his spare time, joining his school’s robotics team for the extra practice. Of course, while his classmates were still on simple moving machines, he’d already built his own personal robotic companion, a one-foot high robot which he’s named Preston.
He’s not the best at social graces, and much less at being popular, having been more interested in books and learning than roughing about with kids his own age for most of his life. He’s not exactly good at talking to people, especially not about typical stuff that most high schoolers talk about, but when you get him started on mechanics or the process by which cheese is produced, he can talk for hours. Of course, that is if you can manage to get him to talk at all. Markus tends to be reserved in social settings; he doesn’t put himself into situations that let him be part of a discussion. He doesn’t exactly strive to be noticed, rather waiting to see if anyone will notice him. For Markus, talking isn’t exactly an easy thing, unless he’s with those few people that really understand what he’s saying, which is a big part of why he doesn’t tend to have many friends. This lends to most of his socialization being done on the internet. This social awkwardness has also lent to him being the target of some traditional bullying in school. It’s not uncommon for him to spend a good chunk of time stuffed inside a locker thanks to some of the jocks in school.
Despite the obvious lack of social graces and the way he has to use his inhaler from time to time after he runs, Markus does decently enough for himself. Of course, he always secretly hopes to be popular amongst his peers, and not just the smart, awkward kid.
Reference/Inspiration:
http://www.whatscoolforkids.com/images/doawkgreg.jpg
http://images.wikia.com/fhif/images/d/d7/Wilt.png
http://popculturezoo.com/wp-content/gallery/robot-chicken/SDCC_Nerd_Loose.jpg
