Zhennan personality

O Self-assured & Brave O
↳ Despite how quiet he his Zhennan is very self-assured. He trusts in his abilities and is sure he can get himself out of any situation. ALthough he doesn’t talk much when he does it is with conviction and confidence. Because of this confidence in his skills he is rather brave. This does not mean he is fearless, he has many fears, but he doesn’t let them stop him - most of the time (see ‘Stoic & Guarded below).

O  Intelligent & Philosophical O
↳ Zhennan is a well-read and intelligent person. He has a keen interest in philosophy and loves learning. Most nights he stays up thinking about the nature of the universe and asking existential questions. Despite his general intelligence he can be a very dumb person. He makes stupid mistakes and asks stupid questions, like forgetting to add water when boiling spaghetti or asking is coconut milk is dairy free - he knows you need water to cook spaghetti and that coconut milk is in fact not milk but he just has moments where he forgets everything he knows.

 O  Observant & Quiet O
↳ Unlike what most people assume, Zhennan is not quiet because he is shy or insecure, he is just quiet because he doesn’t really have anything he wants to say. Zhennan finds watching others and learning about them from what they do and say more interesting than most conversation - small talk bores him to no end. When he has something important to add to a discussion he will say it with no qualms and then return to his observations and attentive listening. Zhennan loves debating and deep conversations though, and can talk for hours if you get him going. The most sure-fire way to get him talking is to ask him about a topic that he knows a lot about or has an interest in like philosophy. Zhennan has always been an odd mix of realism and idealism, seeing all the possibilities in everything and realizing that most of them are unattainable - a reason why he loves philosophy and debate so much. This contradiction of seeing the possibilities and the reality feeds into his harsher side as seen below.

O  Harsh & Skeptical O
↳ Because of his observant nature Zhennan tends to notice people’s flaws and mistakes and he is not afraid to point them out. This rubs a lot of people the wrong way. He never intends to be rude but it can come off that way. Zhennan doesn’t have a strong grasp on his emotions and can sometimes let them get the better of him, when that does happen he tends to lash out and be pretty harsh. He doesn’t trust people easily and is very skeptical of putting his faith in others. His self-assured nature exacerbates this issue because he feels that he can always do it himself, whether it is a school project or dealing with emotions.

O  Stoic & Guarded O
↳ Zhennan has always been brave and to him being brave and showing emotion are incompatible. This makes him bottle all of his emotions up inside him and can lead to some pretty explosive outbursts of emotion (see ‘Harsh & Skeptical’ above). Because of his lack of trust in others he also fears being vulnerable in front of them, another reason why he is so guarded and stoic. He doesn’t feel comfortable sharing his emotions, worries and struggles with others and envies those who do. As he has grown up he has learnt a bit more about how bravery and showing emotion are not mutually exclusive and is on his way to learning how to open up.
{I think it would be nice for him to finish this arc through the story and learn how to open up to his LI}