Character Profile: Danté (DREAM)

[This post will not include *major* spoilers for Dream. It will include fun facts and trivia that won’t necessarily make it into the novel.]

Copyright © 2020, D.C. Canipe

Basic Stats

Sex: Male

Gender Expression: Completely straddling the line between masculine and feminine. Wears traditional masculine clothing.

Pronouns: He/Him/His

Age: 18

Race/Ethnicity/Culture: Half white (British/German descent), half black (African descent)

He grew up in a wealthy neighborhood in lower South Carolina with his loving parents, but at the beginning of the story, he is in a small, cramped apartment with his abusive stepmother and ignorant father.

Height: 6′1″ - 6′2″

Body type: Proportionate, tall, but has a pudgy tummy

Appearance: He has curly black hair, wears glasses over his chocolate brown eyes, and has golden skin. Has a bit of facial hair that he just started growing in the last year, which perfectly frames his thick, full lips.

Tattoos/Piercings: N/A

Relationships

Family: He has a mother that he loves, but hasn’t seen her in about eight years. The closest he gets to spending time with her is the few phone calls that his abusive stepmother allows. 

His father has ignored him for years, even forgetting his birthdays.

The stepmother is abusive, blames him for everything, and literally, physically hurts him.

Sexuality

Orientation: Bisexual (in the very center of the spectrum), but closeted. 

Attraction: Musclebound or stocky men, and thick, curvaceous women. A good head of hair. Good personal hygiene. But most of all, he is attracted to kindness - not only toward him, but toward other people. If he sees someone being kind to someone else, especially the downtrodden, he will probably develop a bit of a crush on that particular stranger.

Skills: Danté thinks he isn’t good at anything. This isn’t true. He’s intelligent, kind, and strong (both physically and emotionally). Incredibly charming, outgoing, and friendly, he makes friends easily - when he wants to.

Hobbies: Fantasizing about grand adventures. Playing video games. Reading books. Watching television. He loves both rock and roll and hip hop.

Personality and Character

Right-brained all the way. He’s a daydreamer, and although he’s never tried to make art himself, he loves the work of others. 

He’s too loyal sometimes. Always gives people fourth and fifth ‘second chances’ when the didn’t even deserve the first.

He believes in the goodness of people, no matter what they may have done in the past. He thinks that love will conquer all, and that friendship is powerful.

Loves playing around, goofing off, and having a good time.

Goals/Dreams/Aspirations: He just wants a family - a real family. In his mind, that would solve all of his problems. It would give him the courage he needs to ‘grow up’, because he’d have a safety net to fall back on if he needed it.

Beliefs: Not very spiritual or religious. Doesn’t really pay much attention to science either. If anything, he follows his heart, and a moral code of love and friendship that is all his own.

Fears: Getting left behind. Being abandoned. On some level, he even fears losing his abusive stepmother, because she is all he has.

Insecurities: His body. He doesn’t like having a squishy tummy. Sometimes he feels like he’s annoying to other people.