Post by Paps on Apr 16, 2018 22:20:19 GMT -6
"Eating waffles and bacon at 3 AM. Sounds like my band days."
NAME
Ethan Yukio Hayashi
AGE
28
GENDER
Male
BIRTH DATE
April 30, 1989
OCCUPATION
Server/Prep Cook
LIKES
- Homemade cooking with a lot of heart and skill. Growing up in a restaurant with a methodical chef for a father, and as a decent cook himself, he’s very particular about how food should be prepared, mixed, cooked, presented – basically if anything is off he will know. And if it’s really bad he will complain. But he won’t shut up about a place that reaches his standards – especially the place he works at now.
- Alcohol. Preferably beer or tequila, but like with food he’s picky and doesn’t like cheap stuff. He sobered up for a time in respect to the family who took him in for a time... but he’s reverting back to old drinking habits, slowly. The only thing that’s stopping him from drinking more is that he doesn't want to drink around his friend's child.
- Financial security. Money keeps people safe and is the secret to happiness, and when you’re struggling to pay rent, safe investments mean everything so the cash spent isn’t wasted.
- Talented people. Like with food, he has high standards, but when he sees someone that has real talent in – something – he’s inspired.
- Sentai shows (i.e. Super Sentai, Power Rangers, Kamen Rider, etc). He’s liked it as a kid and he still likes it as a grown adult. The majority of his toys and figures are at home, but he brought a red scarf for himself as a homage to the original Kamen Rider that he wears when it’s cold, as well as a figurine and a belt buckle. Still watches new seasons, but prefers the older ones. Watches without subtitles through not so legal means.
- Cheesecake. He's picky about most food, but he'll eat part of it before deciding if he wants to finish it or not. But if you show him cheesecake, he will usually turn it down, try to get away - but then come back and ask for some. He loves cheesecake and can eat two whole cakes of them in one sitting (and regret it later). You can't bribe him to do just anything for it but...he will like you a lot if you give him/make him a good one.
- Alternative rock. Well, he likes most kinds of music, but his favorite bands are from the late 80s-early 90s era when alternative was in its heyday. Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers are some of his more mainstream favorites.
DISLIKES
- Birds. Their poop is really hard to clean off his car. They should also stop pooping on him too.
- As said before, bad cooking, but especially if it’s from a restaurant. If he has to pay for it, it better be good.
- People who give up on themselves too easily. He can overlook certain circumstances, but basically he believes if you’re alive and you have some goal to accomplish, no matter what kind of crap you have in your life, you can keep working toward your goal and you could be successful one day. He might just not like the negativity in his life, too.
- Surprises. They are usually not good in his experience. Even if the intention is good it messes up his focus.
- Waiting in line. He likes getting things done right away so if he has to wait he gets irritated fast. Increased traffic in Larkspur has not helped him at all.
- WASTEFUL SPENDING.
- Elitists. Some people he knew don't even listen to a genre or try something because they think it's beneath them or it has bad press online. How can you really judge something without experiencing it in some way first? Everything, even crappy food, deserves to be tried first.
- People who disobey simple traffic safety laws. Don’t jaywalk, follow the traffic signals, don’t cut him in line, don’t go over the traffic limit, and DON’T GO SLOWER THAN 60 MILES AN HOUR ON THE FREEWAY.
- People who tell him to stop cussing so much. They should fuck off.
PERSONALITY
At first, Ethan usually gives off an unapproachable vibe, as he’s usually frowning with his arms crossed in from of him and often responds in short sentences. He also gets easily irritated by people who lack common sense or courtesy to others, and is quick to call people out on it. He's also very picky on quality, especially food quality. He doesn't even finish food he doesn't like and comments about it to whoever he's talking with. But he doesn’t stay angry for long – he’s more focused on what he has to do for the day, especially during work.
When you catch him on break or off work, he likes to relax his mind and talk, preferably with drinks involved. He's pretty loud and rough sounding, but he likes making new friends, either by unloading about some stories from work or from the past, gossiping about news around town, and talking about his favorite things (especially food from the restaurant he works at). He likes messing with people, sometimes telling shocking stories to get a reaction from others, but in general he just tells funny stories and aims to have a good time with his friends. He also just uses some of these talk sessions to get some information on others. He believes in the power of networking, as getting to know people and keeping in touch has helped him with jobs, gigs, and even finding a place to stay when he needed it the most. He just advises others to do the same for themselves.
He tries to be light hearted in conversation in general, wanting to get along with others in most social situations. But he can get back to being serious when talking about the both the food and music industries (the latter especially). He doesn’t like people having fanciful dreams about them, and quick to deflate anyone’s ego if he believes that any aspiring chefs or musicians aren’t up to industry standard. But he isn’t going to discourage them from following their dreams – if they really believe that they want to pursue it, then they just have to figure out what’s hindering them from progressing, make sure they understand how to stay financially afloat, and then go for it. Though he tries to leave his involvement at just advice, he ends up getting drawn to certain talented individuals, and if they let him, he’ll help them out as best he can. He is a critical teacher, and he doesn’t accept slacking off from them. But expect him to be the most supportive and biggest cheerleader for anyone under his guidance.
With good friends, though, his tough guy exterior starts to shed. He can overburden himself for others to the point where it can get in the way of work. And although he complains about it, he'll still do it. He just feels like he needs to protect the people who stick with him long enough because he just likes company. Being alone for too long makes him think too negatively, and he thinks that being helpful to others will keep them around. He doesn't like admitting any of his problems, and when he's actually angry or upset, he shuts up for once and leaves for a while. And drinks. Binge drinking is his go to stress reliever.
Deep down, though he would deny it, he just wants to have one successful band in his life. Even if he can’t travel out of the county, he misses the thrill of performing, being part of a team that was working together towards a common goal, and feels like he has failed his father, the one who introduced him to rock music in the first place. He realizes now that as an adult nearing his thirties he's expected to find stable work and have his own family, but he still wants to play music. It’s just the memories of his past bands and their sudden downfalls still hurt him, and he knows that he’s not as energetic or optimistic as he was before. So, unless by some miracle he finds the perfect set of band members…he’ll just accept his position as a normal member of society who sometimes lends a hand to others to live vicariously through their success.
tl;dr : A man who struggles between accepting his adult life or striving for his childhood dreams.
BIOGRAPHY
- Born to Yousuke (55) and Momoko (57) Hayashi. Has two younger siblings, Ellis Hayashi (24) and Evie Hayashi (19).
- Born, raised, and went to school K-12 in the San Gabriel Valley in Southern California.
- Barely finished an A.A. degree for Business Administration when his band did well enough to start touring.
- Stays with the first band for three years.
- Stays with second one for four. They’re signed to a label, but finds out before their major record debut that the label went bankrupt.
- Moves in with an old friend in Phlox. Finds a job through said friend’s sister at The Waffle Hop in Larkspur.
- Aliens invade. Realizing he’s stuck in Printy County for a while, he is currently trying to move to Larkspur to be closer to work.
PERSONAL HISTORY
For as long as Ethan remembered, he was surrounded by food. His parents started their sushi restaurant, Misora, when Ethan was young, and he had many memories going there when his older neighbors couldn’t look after him. His father was very particular with the fish and other ingredients that he used in his dishes, and his mother was a hospitable but honest-when-needed-to-be hostess. Although he was taught from a young age to cook in a similar fashion as his father, his parents often told him that they hoped Ethan would find his own path in life, as America was known as a land of many opportunities. His father especially believed in that, as he and his wife had left Japan to take advantage of a sushi craze that had swept parts of America during the 1980s and had found success here in their part of California.
As a child though, he didn’t really care too much about his future and was just a rowdy, mischievous kid. He just had way too much energy and nothing to focus it on, and he had too much fun pranking kids or roughhousing them. It got him to enough trouble that even his busy parents took notice and tried to get him into different extracurricular activities, but he would try to get out of it to hang out with his friends.
Said friends, though, had gotten interested in some popular rock bands at the time. They gave him some burnt CDs for him to listen to. He liked playing it in his room, when he didn’t want to listen to anyone (especially his baby sister crying). His mother disliked the music, which he expected – but his dad? He was listening once and his dad knocked on his door.
“Hey Ethan. Can you turn up the volume? I haven’t heard that song since you were a baby!”
It turned out that his dad was a fan of Western rock bands, but he had listened to it less because his wife didn’t like it playing in the house. Ethan was surprised but he found that it was nice to have something in common with his dad. When they had time, they bought some CDs and they would listen to it in a place far from mom and the other kids. He started to think that maybe he’d like to learn how to play music too and maybe one day be in a band. He joined his junior high and high school bands’ to learn and settled on percussion, hoping that he could be a band drummer one day. His dad encouraged his dreams of course, as long as Ethan did his other responsibilities around the house and in the restaurant, and that he wouldn’t forget these practical things like cooking and cleaning for himself when he left the house. His mom, though not so eager to encourage her son into such an unstable career, was just happy that he wasn’t going to be a troublemaker for life.
He graduated and went to a local community college, scouting for people looking for drummers for their band while attending classes. It took him some time, but he found and successfully auditioned for a band that he wanted to be a part of. They got gigs locally and started to become semi-famous around the LA area. Around the time he finished up his associates degree, the band decided to go on their first tour. Though the drives were long, they had to set up their own equipment, and Ethan did a lot of management work (and cooking) than he expected, he was so happy to perform with his band. The adrenaline rush of performing for even small crowds excited him. He got to help with making music and hang out with the band over drinks when they had the chance.
Unfortunately, as it became more obvious that this band wasn’t going to make it big, the band started to fall apart. Ethan tried his best to motivate everyone to stick together, but in the end, the band broke up when its lead guitarist had to leave to take care of his ill mother on the other side of the country. Although Ethan was disappointed by what happened, he had anticipated their eventual break up and had been looking around for other jobs. Luckily a member of another band contacted them soon after his first band broke up, and he joined that band.
This new band showed much more promise. He was able to tour around the U.S., open for some of his favorite acts, produce some of their own independent CDs that sold out at concerts, even signed up for a promising label. Everything that Ethan had wanted was within his grasp. He could even send a CD of their band under an actual record label to his dad. However, he later found out the label went bankrupt before they were set to debut and had taken a lot of the money the band had earned with them. Everyone was shocked, but Ethan, facing failure again, was hurt the worst and drank heavily. His band mates separated soon after. Far from home and too broke to go back any time soon, he was forced to ask any nearby friends or acquaintances for any jobs or places he could stay for a while before he ran out of money to pay the motel that he was staying at temporarily.
It was about a month later, on his 28th birthday, when he got a notification from someone he hadn’t heard from in years – a guy named Max, the guitarist from his first band who had left to take care of his mother. Besides greeting Ethan, he also knew about Ethan's situation through another old band member and said he’d like to take him in for a while as long as he didn’t cause any trouble for Max and his family. Max lived in a town called Phlox, some quiet suburb that was about a couple hours from where he was. Not having many options, he took Max’s offer and moved in with him. Wanting to stay away from the music business for a while, he got a job at a diner in Larkspur City called The Waffle Hop through Max’s older sister, who was the head cook over there.
Although him ending up as a server and a prep cook at a small diner was not what Ethan envisioned himself doing…after the instability of his life for the last eight years, the routine of driving to a job, doing and getting paid to do simple work, and coming back to a family (even if it wasn’t his own) was surprisingly soothing. On his days off, he went out to explore the county and eventually made some friends in both Phlox and Larkspur. After a while, he started thinking that he might actually want to stay here after he made enough money to move out of Max's house. Printy County wasn't as crowded or expensive as living in California and from observing Max's family, it was a nice place to raise some kids someday. The only thing that was stopping him was the memories of his bands, the good ones, and the hope that maybe even in this place he could start a new band…but he couldn’t see himself doing that soon.
With him taking a lot of overtime, he was able to save enough money to possibly move out or maybe visit his family back home. While he was working a night shift at the diner, however, the aliens arrived. He was surprised as anyone else. And while the technological and medical advancements were nice, he didn't feel right when the aliens started taking over some of the buildings - Sky Hall especially (where was he gonna watch drinks and watch bands now?) and causing traffic. What really got to him was him sprouting wings that could glow and everyone else Changing. The aliens probably had something to do with it, and weren't saying why or how to even stifle these powers, and now the residents of the county were being asked to not leave the place in fear that they may mutate other humans, which derailed his idea of going home soon. He's not happy, but for now, he doesn’t feel the need to act against the aliens. He just lives his ordinary life, commuting from Phlox, working, and occasionally hanging out with friends while dreaming of his old life. But he's currently looking for an apartment in Larkspur to move into just so he doesn't have to fight through traffic every day....
QUOTES
- "Welcome to The Waffle Hop, the most bopping waffle place in town. I don't really know about bopping, but these are really damn good waffles so just try 'em, ok?"
- "What, you think I belong in the kitchen instead of serving you guys? I'd agree. But these wings don't help during rush hour."
- "...fuck, why'd you bring cheesecake. I don't want it. I really don't want it. .... I'll eat the whole thing if you leave it here, so get it out!"
- "I've turned into the Clapper light!"
- "Have you ever had perfectly toasted waffles, with soft, buttery insides and sweet maple syrup dripping off of it...with extra apple butter on the side and freshly squeezed orange juice...what, you have? Well it's shit compared to the Hop. Believe me on this."
- "LADY, STOP TAILGATING ME! THERE'S TWO OTHER LANES HERE! Jesus. Anyway, one time, after a show..."
- "Dude, you think busking around will pay all your bills when you're not famous yet?"
- "I just...believe that he'll be great one day. So I don't mind doing this for him. That's all I've gotta say."
EXTRAS
- He paid half his rent to his friend in money, and the rest in cooking dinner/bringing back diner leftovers. Max and his wife are not great cooks, so it worked out.
- He's not fond of most Printy County restaurants he's been to - except for the place he works at.
Before he got interviewed, he went there as a customer, with low expectations based on the restaurants Max had taken him to previously. He had their specialty waffles...and was amazed at the quality. He is now The Waffle Hop's biggest promoter (as long as his boss, the head cook/Max's sister Clair is not around. She's threatened to fire him if he does.) - The Waffle Hop is a 24 hour diner, and Ethan works the night-morning shifts these days. He prepares food during the slow times and serves during rush hour. He'd rather work in the kitchen full time, though. Customers during his shifts are a bit...weird.
- Has only been in Printy County for a year. Despite wanting to live one of Printy's towns (or city), he misses home and his dad's cooking a lot.
- His parents begged him to come home after the band break up, but Ethan was ashamed that he wasn't coming home successful and didn't want to use his parents' money to go home. Eventually he liked the place, but he still wants to visit. He does Skype his parents and his younger sister (who lives with them still) about once a week.
- A sleepy drunk. Though at first he mutters a lot of nonsense about his life at first, he knocks out pretty quickly.
- Owns a used Civic Accord to get to and from work. It's been stolen once.
- Carries a special sent of kitchen utensils that were parting gift from his dad when he first started touring. He treasures them, especially the largest knife. He even it named it Moonlight. No one is allowed to touch that knife but him.
- Has the nickname ‘Mr. Snowman’, based off the characters that make up his middle name. When he explained the meaning of his middle name to some friends in high school, they started calling him that nickname and it stuck. He thought it was stupid back then, but he’s embraced it these days and uses it for his online screennames.
- Can understand and speak conversational Japanese. Can only read hiragana, katakana and some kanji for food. His parents tried to get him into Japanese language school but quit before he got into middle school. His only real use for it is to watch sentai shows without subtitiles.
- Currently has three tattoos. The first one is on his right collarbone has the quote ‘Know yourself’, his motto. The second one on his upper right arm of a black butterfly. The last one, on his upper left arm, has a koi fish going up a waterfall. His parents were uncomfortable with them at first but have gotten used to it since they can't control their son from far away.
- Ethan's second band posted some of their music on Youtube. He wouldn't link it, but he does talk about his time in his bands often so he isn't surprised if people show him the band videos. He doesn't like talking about whey they didn't work out though.
COMPLICATIONS
PVP: YES
Injury: YES
Death: YAS
