Introduction
Hi there! I am Set and I bring forth this guy over here. I'm wordy, so I'm going to put all the stuff behind a cut to keep things compact.
Dante's a normal, basic human. He's lived in Los Angeles, specifically East Los Angeles, for his entire life. It's all he knows, it's probably all he ever really wants to know. As I think about it right now, I don't even know if he's been outside of California... well, he's more than likely been to Mexico a few times... but Cali's probably the only state he's seen. That might change the more I explore his character, so I reserve the right to retcon that particular factoid.
East L.A. is well known for having a bunch of Latinx/Chicanx people living there, Dante is among their number. There's one particularly caveat to that, which is extremely important to his character: Dante's bi-racial. His father's a gringo, but that's basically all that Dante knows about the man. Still, that's a reality that has shaped Dante's entire existence, for better and for worse.
Dante's a total Mami's boy. Not a Mommy's boy, which is a huge distinction. Mami is what Dante calls his grandmother, who is the person who did the majority of the raising during his formative years, since his mom was only 15 when she gave birth to him. He doesn't think Mami's perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but he'd willingly take a bullet for the woman without batting an eyelash. His mother, on the other hand... they have a complicated relationship. It's built on love, sure, but she projects the disappointing aspects of her life on the fact that she had a kid so young on the kid, and the kid is more than a little pissed that she wasn't the kind of mother she probably should have been... it's complicated. He'd probably take the bullet for her, too... unless he had to pick between Mami and Mom, because Mami always wins.
Dante's education was strictly Catholic schools in Boyle Heights until he went to college, where he went to CSULA. That was the first time that he ever went to a school that was inter-gender, too. While there, Dante majored in Mechanical Engineering, because he's a tinkerer by nature, while minoring in Chicano Studies.
After graduating, Dante went through a period of trying to find a job where he could apply his degree, to limited success, although he's since been working at the company that he's at for over a year and he loves it. He also moved away from the family home, unwed (gasp!), settling in Lincoln Heights, where he rents a studio apartment... that his family usually visits. He's got a fold out couch that is frequently in use by one or more of his cousins. It's a thing.
While he's not one of those people who lives and breathes Disney, Dante does love Disneyland and has an annual pass. Yes, Coco is his favorite Pixar movie (although I swear I didn't name him Dante because of the dog in Coco, that was a pure coincidence), but he doesn't have, like, a license plate border that is Disney themed or anything like that. He does have the annual pass magnet on his fridge... but that's just practical. That thing is the only thing they give you for free for being an AP member. And it's not even that attractive.
See? I told you I was wordy. If you want to know more about him, including his favorite Selena songs, go over Here.
For story stuff, I'm down with just about anything. Ultimately, the goal is to get the boy turned into a werewolf, although that isn't something that *he* wants, necessarily, it's more something that I want, because werewolves. Yay. Still, that's something that I want in the future, not I needs it and I needs it now. In the meantime, I'm cool with friends, coworkers, enemies, just random encounters, whatever... make me a proposition and we'll see if we can work something out.
Now, Dante's the star of this post, obviously, but you all should probably know a little bit about me. I'm old. Over 30, not yet 40, but still old. I've been writing in groups on and off since I was in my early 20s, but there have been definite periods of my life where I haven't been an active writer. In fact, this group is the first group that I've been a member of in about a year and a half. I'm very happy to be here, since it seems like group writing is a dying art form... at least on IJ.
My writing style tends to be wordy, as you can see by this intro. I do feel the need to point that out, though. I like to write. I write a lot when I write. I don't think I'm the kind of person who takes the proverbial ruler to a writing partner's efforts or anything like that, all I ever ask is that I be given enough to work with. I'm around a lot, because I have very little in the way of a social life... but I don't write when I'm at work, so on the weekdays there will be longer lulls between responses from me. I also have game nights on alternating Fridays, so I'm MIA during that time. I have a semi-regular D&D group that usually meets on Saturdays, although on those days I'm usually around in the morning and evening. And when there's a big video game release that I desperately need to play, I tend to take a semi-hiatus to play that. The next game that fits that particular itch is Fire Emblem Three Houses, which isn't until the end of July. Basically, I make it a point to always, always inform my writing partners of any time where I may be unable to get them a response within 24 hours, which is always my goal. Obviously, if my internet dies or something and I can't do that... sorry in advance, but I'll do my best, promise!
For writing, I love playing all the beats. Big, small, and everything in between. If we can write it, I'm usually down. I love focusing on characterization and what impact any given event has on a character both physically and emotionally. When it comes to intimate stuff, I'm a fade to black kind of person... but I'm also cool with someone just writing out the whole thing themselves, so long as I can proof read it. I tend to focus on building up a character and getting a feel for them, knowing the general direction that I'm going to take with them, before I go about creating any additional characters. Nothing wrong with not following that particular writing model, that's just the way that I do it. I do tend to write very specific character types, and I love having POC as the character models, but I do think that the type of characters I write I'm pretty good at... so hopefully y'all won't be disappointed.
I'm super, super shy when it comes to reaching out to people, because I always worry that I'm being a burden on someone's time, which is something I never want. I admit that I have NO clue what the hell discord is, though I've heard of it several times over. I'm not averse towards it, but yeah, training wheels are needed on that one.
I'm in California (not L.A., though I have family there, and I've been there a decent amount of times), which means I'm PST. I'm going to add more icons to the journal, a drop box, and probably try and make the bio a little less bland. More than likely while watching Coco. And yes, I will cry at the end. I once watched Coco and Moana back to back. I will NEVER do that again.
I look forward to creating something special with you all. Thank you for allowing me to bring Dante into this world.
Mercifully, this intro post is now over. If you made it this far, you get a churro. A GOOD churro. Disneyland churro. Only the best.