Character Study! Finn
Name: Finnegan Lamont Clarke
DOB: December 2nd
Height: 6’0”
Hair: Black
Eyes: Dark Hazel
Likes: Football, junk food, hiking, windstorms
Dislikes: Swimming, cats, doing laundry, clotted cream
Pet Peeve: When people honk their car as an announcement when they arrive to pick someone up instead of just getting out of the car and ringing the doorbell.
Finn is one of the Isle of Covena’s own; he was born and raised in Edanomella and therefore has the Island’s unique mixture of an accent. His parents divorced when he was seven and he spent most of his time growing up under his mother’s custody, although he saw his father frequently. He has no other siblings.
Finn was always a very positive child growing up, if not overly exuberant. It is what drew many of his friends to him; he has a natural charisma that seems to appeal to many people. As he’s gotten older his exuberance has mellowed somewhat, but he is still considered a charmer by many who meet him.
Although he had dated several girls in high school, especially during his senior year when he was beginning to test the ropes of his sexuality, none of them lasted very long nor did they make a very lasting impression on him. He had never expected anything different than this, however, because he had never had a frame of reference for a happy relationship: Neither of his parents had ever remarried.
It was in Finn’s sophomore year in college that he met Claire for the first time. She was at a freshmen welcome-wagon party and she looked uncomfortable in the large setting. He had immediately fallen for her subtle beauty, and he could feel a fierce sadness coming from her that somehow drew him to her. He learned very quickly that night that Claire did not respond well to cheesy pickup lines when she had smashed his toe under her heel.
She intrigued him, as she was literally the first girl to ever refuse his advances. He welcomed the blow to his ego, however, and used it to his advantage, developing a solid friendship with her before finally winning her over just after he’d graduated.
It was hard for Finn to adapt to a less than physical relationship with Claire; after all, he’d been sexually active for nearly ten years when they’d first started dating. He had never been one to force a girl into anything she wasn’t ready for, but it was frustrating to him when he could tell she wanted to, but would never allow herself to lose control. He struggled with feeling less than adequate for many months during their relationship before deciding that she must have had a tragic past with sexual abuse of some sort.
Normally Finn would have never waited around in any other relationship as long as he did with Claire. The difference this time was that he had developed a connection with her for so many years beforehand that he’d begun to fall in love with her even before they’d started dating. While Finn did, in fact, love Claire on some level, he was not in love with her - a fact that he did not learn until they had been broken up for several months, and when he was able to accept that they made better friends than anything else.
Finn is a very honest person; he doesn’t believe in lying, and anyone who knows him can count on the fact that he will give him or her an honest answer. Finn has never believed in the saying “truth hurts”. The only person he has ever lied to in his life has been Ben.
Finn met Ben when they were both freshmen in college. Ben was running an underground poker ring at the time and Finn had begun participating in the games. One night Finn had won the hand and one of the players was a poor loser. He had jumped up, planning to knife Finn right then and there, but Ben had seen the player reaching for his dagger in his sleeve. He’d incapacitated the other player by power kicking the guy in his arm, dislocating his elbow.
Finn was grateful towards Ben for his intervention, and they became friends. Finn soon realized, however, that Ben had good days and bad days; on the good days, he was a blast to be with. On the bad days, he insisted on holding the “life-saver” concept over his head and he was bitter and said nasty things. Finn began to trust him less and less with any information he gave him, realizing quickly that Ben utilized any and all personal information he was given to manipulate and backstab.
He tried cutting Ben out of his life several times, but each time, he ended up finding something out that left Finn uneasy. The first time was when Ben had seen Finn with Claire, and the decided he’d try and ask Claire out himself. Finn had already warned Claire about Ben, and when she turned him down Ben had become incensed. Finn believed firmly in the saying “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” so he decided it was best not to cut Ben out of his life at the moment. He made regular calls to him and went places with him so that he could try to find out if he was going after Claire again. He has since tried to protect her from Ben’s eccentric obsessions, but since they broke up he hasn’t been as coherent when dealing with Ben as he was in the past, making room for a lot to slip by…
Finn loves to read and write, and he loves adventure and traveling. He is very spontaneous and constantly moving and energetic. It takes someone with a lot of energy to keep up with him, and even though his relationship with Claire didn’t work out how he wanted it to, he at least learned that there is someone out there that he can connect with. He continues to search for that same type of connection, hoping someday he will find his match.