Freddy History

HISTORY
Freddy is the second youngest of 4 children, born on March 6, 1995 (full name Frederick). He and his older siblings were born in Cleveland, but his younger brother was adopted from Central America. For the first 5 years of his life, he was treated pretty well: acknowledged, supported. His sister, Clarissa, was at that time only in elementary/middle school, and his parents didn’t care too much about that. When she entered high school, though, his parents, especially his father, Max, whose near-perfect grades in high school had earned him a full-time scholarship to Cleveland State, where he was now the dean of the business school, suddenly cared a lot more about her than they ever had before, taking away some of Freddy's spotlight. Then, to make matters worse, when he was 10, Freddy's parents adopted a one month-old baby boy. Some adopted children are treated as inferior to their biological siblings, but Samuel was adored and coddled to such an extent that Freddy and his older siblings started to be ignored. The only one of them who got any attention was Clarissa, and that was only to be reprimanded for getting B's. Freddy’s older brother, Dirk, left home to work several jobs at various restaurants and cafes, but was in the wrong place at the wrong time and got caught in the crossfire of a gang fight. Dirk’s been recovering very slowly at the hospital ever since. Clarissa is following her father's path and just started at CSU Ohio this fall.

Freddy's mother works at a bank, as a junior executive of something or other. She never talked about her job at home, and Freddy didn’t care. They had enough money to live very comfortably, but his parents never seemed to include Freddy, Dirk, or Clarissa in the more expensive activities like dining at nice restaurants, or vacationing in North Carolina.

Freddy had two hobbies to tide him over while his parents steadily grew more distant. The first, and his favorite, was soccer. Like many kids his age, his parents had signed him up for a club soccer team when he was younger so he could have something to do. Freddy had made friends on the team and steadily improved at the game. When the league split into a competitive and a casual experience, Freddy joined the competitive league. He lost some friends, but he kept playing the sport he loved with other people who also were good it. Freddy played Goalie for the Shark Teeth, and they did OK in the competitions. The second activity he enjoyed without the support of his parents was superheroes. Freddy was really involved in following the news about the protectorate heroes, buying the toys with his “stop asking me for money” allowance, and browsing PHO to see all the rumors about the local and national heroes. His favorite hero is Eidolon. He's a bit creeped out by the general scariness of the powerset and aesthetic of Cleveland’s protectorate, but as he's grown up he's started to appreciate the badassery of the group.

Freddy resented his parents for being too busy with their jobs to be involved in his life. He was jealous of the other kids whose parents showed up to pick them up from school, and to his soccer games. At first he kept this to himself, but as it kept happening (“Oh I’m sorry Freddy, I can’t come to your game this weekend. I have an appointment with a client”), he told his parents that he wished they were more present in his life and was dismissed (“You’re overreacting. I’ve just been busy lately. Oh no, I’m late for my 2 o’clock.”)

Fed up with the lack of attention, Freddy started acting out, breaking things, throwing tantrums. When that barely made any splashes, he decided the only way to get his parents’ attention was to scare them into caring about him. To that end, he ran away, taking his father’s wallet.

During his brief stint of independence, Freddy didn't try too hard to hide. He spent a few nights at his friends from soccer (Barney and Steve)’s homes under the guise of sleepovers. He visited Dirk in the hospital, knowing that his mom and dad never made the trip. He tried to see Clarissa at school, but he wasn’t able to find her on the rather large campus, and didn't want to risk seeing his dad. Using the money he'd stolen from his father, he bought most of his food from McDonald's and similar fast food places.

Unfortunately, after two weeks, Freddy didn’t feel any more wanted than when he left. When he ran out of money, Freddy decided he had to go home, as much as he didn’t like it. When he still felt unappreciated and ignored, he triggered. After triggering, Freddy still needed somewhere to fit in. His parents didn’t want him. He had to go to the place capes, no, superheroes belonged. The Protectorate.