Name:Chester Michael Riley
Nickname:
Chester, Mike, Chest, Ringmaster
Age:
29
Birthday:
September 17
Sign:
Virgo
Gemstone:
Sapphire
Blood Type:
O-
Fav. Food:
Hot dogs, cotton candy, popcorn: or maybe he’s just really used to them.
Hated Food:
Nothing too fancy for this guy.
School: --
Job:
Chester inherited a large estate when he was young and his parents passed. Who hasn’t? Instead of retiring from all things work and gritty life related, however, he invested some of his money in his own greatest ambition and dream: owning and running a traveling carnival. The Ringmaster has traveled the world, but settled in Destiny City recently. The carnival is now a seasonal affair, and he will open it for random events and rent out his services to those who want to have a particularly large party or companies throwing shindigs. He is also known to do some charity work. He picks up various part time and temporary jobs whenever he feels the urge to do something new, particularly when the carnival is not running.
The Carnival is more like a mixture of a circus and a carnival. It started as a traveling show with moving attractions and games, and had one big top show. Since settling, it has evolved into the kind of cirque du carnival it is now, where the Big Top reigns king and the carnies run the show. There are rides and a promenade of games, most designed to lose people money as they throw balls and rings at impossible small or heavy objects. There is an arcade and a tent of wonders, as well as larger, stationary rides. The show in the Big Top changes routinely, from acrobats to clown shows or epic dances to stunts. It is a lively, vivid place that always smells like hot dogs and roasted almonds.
Hobbies:
My Work, My Life –
From a young age, Chester developed an interest in all things circus and carnival related. He is one of the lucky few, he is often told and certainly believes, to achieve his childhood dream of actually becoming that which he always imagined himself to grow up and be. And he did it without having to grow up too much, which he loves. Owning a Carnival and its facilities allows him to cultivate one of his first inspirations for this dream job: gymnastics. Tight rope walking, swings, dangerous stunts and extraordinary skills of the human body: he surrounds himself with these images everyday. And he trains and practices. For years he has worked to not only to cultivate his own abilities and tone his body, but his passion for his work. He just doesn’t get tired of it. So he spends a lot of his time at the gym, as well as on the trapeze and in the dance hall, keeping himself muscular, lithe and light footed.
Your Work, Too –
Chester is a not-so-business-savvy business man. He is adventurous in all that he does, and that includes spending his money. Or rather, his choice of investments. He is not a frivolous spender in the common sense, and rarely goes off on binge shopping trips for himself. Instead, he takes interest in business projects or property, ideas or proposals that seem unique and new. Risky business ventures that need investment but might not be the most logical or sound in terms of return. Chester adores the thrill of uncertainty that comes with starting up a new business, and he loves signing his name to give those risktakers and entrepreneurs with a creative edge the chance they need. In a similar vein, he likes to expand his own business potential, and not just in a marketing sense. He will volunteer his time, take part time jobs, or just work at temporary positions whenever the whim takes him or the opportunity and timing is right. On any given week, when the Carnival is not in swing, it is easy to find him working all over the city.
My Own World –
Sometimes the man just likes to escape into his own little world. That world is made of polymer clay, for the most part, and whatever over little things he might want to build with. He has been building models and playing with clay since he was a kid, and now he uses that hobby as a catharsis when things get overly complicated or he simply needs a break. It is his relief, and he also likes to give little clay figures to people when he needs to thank them or he simply wants to. He is good with his hands, and fairly artistic minded, and this is one of his favorite ways of expressing himself. In a way, he is capturing the world around him as he sees it, and thus this allows him all the control over this miniature version as he could hope to have. Not that he ever thinks too deeply about his hobbies.
Virtues:
My Life, My Work –
As stated, Chester has been focused on his dream since childhood, and has worked hard to find himself where he is today. Yes, he often gets reminded, he did inherit the money, but he still had to build his carnival, his ideas, create a traveling show that people would want to come see, come support, not to mention fund. He was not going to pour all his money into it without some return, after all. And he feels he has accomplished something good here, feeling a deep pride in his work. Because of all this, he is absolutely dedicated to his job and those that have joined him in the venture of this carnival. He often takes risks in other business ventures, or picks up temporary and seasonal work when the carnival is closed, and with each of these things this learned, cultivated respect for the work environment moves with him. He works hard and gets things done, and through his love of hard, hands on work he hopes to inspire those around him to do the same. He is at his most approachable and friendly when he is, in fact, working.
Chester has always possessed and controlled confidence in himself that allows him to lead with an easy grace. As above, the man is friendly when he’s working, and in a position of power, as with his carnival, he is particularly strong and charismatic. His personality lends itself to always being in control of himself, and not bowing to awkward situations or cowering away from any chance to make an impression. He is a leader, naturally, in a simple sense. While he does, of course, control his business he also hires people who will help him, even combat him, to create the best business he can. He knows that he does not have the one opinion that matters: it’s just the one that gets the final say. And is usually right, if someone asks him. He knows how to work with people when he needs to, as he does pick up the extra work where he can and in those cases is generally not in a position of control or power. That does not hamper his confidence in any way.
My Heart is Bleeding -
If he had to admit to his greatest weakness, puppy dog eyes are it. Be it actually on puppy dogs, or the variations other animals possess. Rabbits and kittens, he’s learned, are also really good at it. He is a hard a** most of the time, knowing what he wants and how to get it, but some things he just can’t dominate or control. Injured animals make him sad, and seeing helpless creatures that need help always tugs at his heart strings. As a result, he has a few pets and is often a sponsored home for fostering animals in need. He raises mostly cats and dogs until they are ready for adopting out, and owns a few animals with physical deformities or diseases or simply old age that kept them from getting homes in shelters. He is a big sucker for soft, fluffy things, and sometimes he lets the secret out around people. Sometimes he has to bring his babies to work with him, if they’re too young to leave at home or he is surprised with a last minute call, and that’s when people can really see this squishy side of him. Animals, unlike people, need all the help they can get, and have no method to help themselves or each other when the odds are stacked against them. He can’t watch as they starve or die of injury, can’t drive by an injured animal on the road, and can’t abide seeing an animal getting abused or neglected.
A Little Help From My -
Making friends is not Chester’s main goal in life. Colleagues and co-workers, superiors and mentors all have their places in his life, and he treats them with their proper level of respect, but he is not the kind of guy who invites folks back to his place, or seeks out companionship with everyone or anyone. Making friends is a secondary concern at best. But there are always exceptions, of course. He is not a bad guy, just dedicated and often times too busy by his own design. When he does, however, stop to make a friend he is a loyal companion. A bit short on temper and easily annoyed when things don’t go his way or up to his standards, sure, but somehow he always finds himself drawn to the people that seem most unlikely. Not the eager go getters he purposefully tries to surround himself with, but the shy and awkward people in the corner, the person getting picked on during the games, the weakest or most in need. He has the capacity to treat those he starts really caring about as brothers or sisters, and truly has a need to make sure they are well taken care of. He’s a good guy, it just requires a bit of time and exposure for him to break his own walls and let someone in. But the effort is worth it, on both ends, and that’s what other people get to see. The fact that it is rarer than it necessarily needs to be makes it special, and important when others experience it and learn more about him through it.
The too long, didn’t read, or less circular, version of this virtue is that he has the capacity to befriend those that are weak or in some way pitiful, and he takes care of them as he would a pet.
Flaws:
Short is My Fuse -
In general, Chester can be a bit of a grumpy gus. He is so focused a lot of the time, he doesn’t even notice, and his attention to detail and getting things done often pushes things like ‘being polite’ out of the way in lieu of more important things like… everything else. He is not an angry person in that he is angry all the time, and hates the world. Quite the opposite: he knows how to enjoy himself and the things he does. He just happens to be sarcastic, snippy and very often extremely short with people. His patience is what really brings this out in him, considering how little of it he really has. He expects perfection in everything he does and everyone around him, and has no real ability to deal with people he finds lacking or wasting his precious time. There is a line that can eventually be crossed into a begrudging kind of acceptance with him, and some even manage to make a friend out of him despite being far from his idea of an effective person or personality. Still, he seems to carry a layer of exasperation waiting just under the surface, easily boiled to bubble over and vex him. At the end of the day, he is easily annoyed and often grumpy or grumbling, and not too easy to talk to unless he is at work on a carnival day or in one of his temp jobs (not when he is doing administrative things or stressed by a deadline, perhaps) and things are going well.
I Can Quit Anytime -
Chester has a bit of an addictive personality. And by ‘bit’ that means quite a lot. He suffers the classic affliction of a man who stresses himself out too often, and who has no personal means of venting his frustration beyond his attitude and burying himself further in his work. That is, he has a well stocked bar in his condo, and a pack of cigarettes in his pocket at all times. But those are only surface level issues, and his addictive personality actually goes a bit deeper than that. He is the kind of guy who has an idea and runs away with it. Or he lets it run away with him. He loses himself completely in his goals and his desires, in things that he likes and enjoys. He can go well over the top and too far, pushing himself or those around him into uncomfortable, strange or even dangerous situations because he loses sight. He is at once narrow and far sighted, seeing nothing but the horizon in a tunnel of his newest goal, his newest obsession, his newest interest. It works the other way as well, in a sense. If he falls out of love with something or it fails, he puts all the effort he once did in pursuing it into ignoring it.
I Know My Limits -
Tied with above, Chester has a problem with reigning himself in. He likes to take on ambitious projects and lose himself in his work, but he often takes on more than he can handle. It adds to his grumpiness, of course, when the stress mounts and he caves into his bad habits more often than not when he’s pushing himself beyond what is reasonable. His sleeping schedule is often erratic under these times of duress and he does not take advice or help very well. He is a go getter, a man that thinks he is in control and a strong leader: he does not like it when he needs or is offered help and he takes it very poorly. He snaps or yells, needing control even as its spiraling away from him. He is proud and just a bit vain, and he hates being in a position of weakness, even when he puts himself there by taking on too much. It’s a self destructive cycle that catches him every now and then.
Why a Knight of Pluto:
If asking Chester, he would have no answer. There are many things he is not, and knight-ish would probably be in that list he's made for himself. Patient and time oriented would be there as well. He never feels like he has enough of either, so the whole concept of being a knight that represents these kinds of concepts baffles him. And the whole slowing people down thing? That seems like a joke to him.
But the universe knows a lot more about these things than he does.
In him is the capacity for something profound, and his reincarnated soul once belonged to an ancient guardian of time. More than that, though, is that Chester has a lot to learn about himself and the whole powered up scene. He's bound to make a lot of mistakes, and will have to decide for himself what road he takes, let alone how to adjust and accept this role as a knight.
I find the idea of an impatient hot head, though with potential of his own character to be more than that, representing something as serene and eternal as time and patience interesting. Pluto fits him because it doesn't fit him, and will allow him to grow and discover more about himself then he knows yet through RP and plottings.
Fighting Style:
He doesn't have one as of yet. He is springy and athletic from his training and his job, but it isn't like he goes out looking for fights. He is stubborn and pig headed, and will do what he has to so he doesn't have to run away. He has no qualms about hurting people, or taking some abuse. His pride directs him more than his common sense, but he's not the kind of guy who will stick his neck out too far. If push comes to shove, if things go really badly and he passes even his stretched limits, he will get his a** out of there just so he can live to fight another day.
