Ezekiel "Zeke" Keele's Questionnaire

Zeke lives in a student dormitory on the premises of Stanford University, located in Palo Alto, California. He lives there, rather than his parent's home or an apartment, thanks to his full-ride scholarship to the school, covering both tuition and his living/room expenses. Living in a dormitory also lends himself privacy in comparison to living with his parents, a particularly important trait now that these contracts are messing with his schedule. Being a dormitory on the grounds of one of the most prestigious universities in America, the living space is overall quite spacious and comfortable. Zeke keeps his bedroom orderly, making sure his room stays well organized with meticulous care. His room is also personalized with various nerd-culture decorations and paraphernalia, namely posters and various accessories.

Zeke currently gets his most of his money from his parent's allowance on a monthly basis. Both of his parents have fairly stable, comfortable occupations, with his father being a corporate legal consultant and his mother being a nurse. He also earns a bit of personal income from various work online, namely tutoring. Moreover, thanks to his full-ride scholarship, most of Zeke's living expenses (such as food, rent, course material, etc.) are already paid for. As such, outside of purchasing and upgrading his equipment for contracts, Zeke is able to spend most of his money on his hobbies (mainly gaming) and studying. The most costly items Zeke tends to purchase are usually high quality tools or materials he uses for research purposes.

Zeke's ambition is to 'prevent potential future disasters.' After a freak stroke that left him comatose, Zeke would begin experiencing ominous, near incomprehensible visions, revealing to him cosmic knowledge from across infinite time. Among these revelations was a vague, yet visceral visage of disaster, a warning of the world's imminent end. When he awakened, Zeke would become determined to prevent these futures from coming to be— his faith for humanity forged anew from the care and compassion he received while recovering. Of course, figuring out the cause of these incoming disasters was impossible to discern from just his dreams alone. As such, he strives to pursue his ambition through his own personal investigative work— taking on contracts to diagnose these potential threats to humanity and gain the power to stop them before they can happen. With the sheer magnitude of his ambition, combined with his own sense of responsibility and determination, Zeke would stop at no lengths to accomplish his ambition. If it were to ensure the security of the future, Zeke would ultimately kill, die, and cross each of his limits to see it happen.

In his adolescence, Zeke was a misanthropic, nihilistic boy, struggling to see the purpose to his existence and any hope for the world. However, soon after turning fourteen, Zeke would experience a sudden, freak stroke in public that would leave him comatose. Rushed to the hospital, his mind would become begin to fracture with visions containing knowledge from across infinite time. This would mark the beginning of Zeke's foresight, his ability to see into the future, which revealed to him visages of the world's imminent end. Left on the verge of losing his mind, and rendered completely blind after awakening, Zeke would be saved by the care and compassion of unknown strangers— coming in to keep him occupied with company and stories. It was this kindness, shown to him in his most vulnerable moment, that would shift Zeke's perspective on life— leading him to where he is now.

Ayame Keele: Zeke's mother. A nurse by profession. Born in Japan, but moved to America at an early age with her parents. She's your standard Asian parent, holding high expectations for Zeke from a young age. Initially insisted that Zeke stay at home rather than move to Stanford, but eventually relented. Zeke has a rather strained and distant relationship with her, but ultimately, both care for one another.

David Keele: Zeke's father. A corporate legal consultant. Though both of Zeke's parents were often occupied with their job, he was the one who'd stay home to parent the most. Terrible cooking and a bit of a shrewd man, but wants the best for Zeke's future.

Hana Keele: Zeke's little sister. Currently thirteen years old. The person Zeke is the closest to, considering his lack of friends and rocky relationship with his parents. Likes to draw and is quite bright and cheery in comparison to Zeke. Wants to pursue art for her future, but her parents similarly expect her to study and excel academically.

Even at an early age, Zeke would prove himself to be an extreme child prodigy. Developing a world class intellect by the time he'd reached adolescence, Zeke turned out to be a genius in just about every field imaginable. His brilliant mind would lead him down a path of accelerated education, resulting in him skipping the majority of his school years in pursuit of enrolling in a prestigious university. However, this extraordinary growth would come with its own detriments. With Zeke's parents both pushing him to succeed as much as possible, Zeke's time for a social life was instead spent studying to the brink of exhaustion. His unique mind also made it difficult for Zeke to connect to his peers in the few times he was actually surrounded by his peers. Though he'd learn how to present himself around other people, Zeke would ultimately end up a loner throughout his life, his isolated nature eventually warping into a full-on developmental disorder.

Zeke's never been in romantic love with anyone before. In fact, he's actually somewhere on the aromantic/asexual spectrum— more specifically, demiromantic and demi/bisexual (meaning a lack of romantic/physical attraction for anyone he's not strongly connected to already). Zeke's never felt any platonic love for anyone too, due to his total lack of friends and a social life to this day. His anti-social nature also means that he generally avoids going out of his way to meet and interact with new people. However, despite these traits and his background, Zeke still longs to one day form a connection with other people— hoping to one day experience what it's like to no longer be lonely.

Zeke is extraordinarily mentally resilient, surpassing the limits of even the most enlightened people in the world. However, there are two things he fears far beyond anything else. The first of which is the thought of failure. Zeke has been raised since childhood to be a perfectionist, thanks to his high expectations his parents have placed on him. He learned that failure was unacceptable for someone of his supposed talent, and that anything other than perfection was disappointment. Now, with the added weight and pressure of the world's potential end resting on his shoulders, any form of mistake or setback stands as a huge point of pain and avoidance in Zeke's mind.

Just as much as (if not, more than) Zeke fears failure does he fear the possibility of losing his humanity. The sheer magnitude and uncertain nature of his ambition to secure the future constantly weighs on his mind. Just what this ambition entails remains unknown to him, the only thing clear being that failure would spell disaster for the world. He fears that, in order to prevent disaster, he'll end up having to forsake his morals, eventually become something inhuman in the pursuit of securing the greater picture.

Zeke is the bearer of the Clockwork Dial, a mysterious obsidian wristwatch gifted to him while he was recovering from his incident. It is an analogue watch in design, but its markings and tuning is precise enough to allow one to observe time down to a passing millisecond. Engraved onto its back are the words, "Never Forget," which Zeke presumes to have been etched by a previous wearer. Though Zeke has yet to uncover the watch's entire nature or history, he recognizes its power and the responsibilities that come with it. So far, Zeke has managed to learn that there were many before him who wielded the watch, thanks to the countless memories that seem to be stored and seeping from within it. He's also become aware that there are further powers within the watch that he's yet to manifest, and that these powers typically come with a more vivid memory or vision. Zeke wears the watch constantly, both as a protective measure and to continue monitoring its memories, hoping to one day unravel the full mystery behind it.

Zeke is currently handling an ongoing investigation into his appearances on various contracts, as both authorities and the public attempt to pin down the conspiracies behind each. Though Zeke knows he can buy enough time to formulate a long term solution to things, the evidence stacked against him is clear and impossible to outright deny or destroy. It's likely that no matter what he says or does, he'll come out of court with a guilty verdict and either some sort of imprisonment or constant surveillance from authorities. Worst case scenario, his situation catches the interest of the DSP. For now, he's handling the immediate public side of things by muddying the discussion with fake evidence surrounding each of his appearances. As for the official F.B.I investigation, however, things are much worse with the evidence they have, to the point where Zeke is contemplating whether or not he should abandon his identity altogether.

Zeke goes to bed at around 12 am and makes sure he wakes up at 10 am sharp. His morning routine is fairly straightforward and typically follows a timely schedule. Before he checks any notifications or goes online, he makes sure he's showered and freshened up by 10:20 am. Afterwards, he prepares a simple breakfast for himself— preferring to eat the same, simple meal of a plate of uramaki sushi every day (prepped at the beginning of each week). While he is eating, Zeke uses this time to also check in on his various notifications through his laptop— reading emails, reading the news, etc. He finishes this process by around 10:40 am. The remaining 20 minutes in the hour are typically dedicated towards his hobbies, usually when he does dailies in games he plays or gets in solo practice for competitive games. By 11:00 am, Zeke proceeds to continue with the rest of his day and obligations.

Zeke doesn't typically go to special events if he can thanks to his anti-social nature, but he's knowledgeable enough about etiquette and basic manners to know how to present himself. He would ensure his sleep schedule is adjusted in the event that he needed to arrive at an earlier time than his schedule typically covered. After finishing his morning routine, he'd spend additional time making sure his appearance was in order, applying cosmetics that match his preferred appearance like makeup or nail polish. As for his attire, he would adjust it based on the formality of the situation. If there were no expected dress code, Zeke would show up in his typical outfit of a synthetic overcoat along with various gothic accessories. If there was a higher level of fashion expected, he would replace his clothes with a reinforced, straightforward suit. Before attending the event, Zeke would make sure he has the information he needs in advance— researching the event and its participants to have an edge before he arrives.

It's difficult for Zeke to predict the exact status of his circumstances by the time his next birthday arrives, though he suspects that he'll have enough time in his trial to still be around his family. In a few months/after a few contracts, Zeke will turn 17 years old, marking his last year before legal adulthood. He also knows it marks his potential last birthday spent around family, as he knows it's likely he'll have to go off the grid to pursue his ambition. Though Zeke is normally the anti-social type and prefers his birthdays to be celebrated quietly, this time around, he'll make sure he has the opportunity to interact with his extended family for the last time. While he's not particularly close to any of them, he wants to make sure he has his chance to properly see them and say goodbye to them before he leaves. He'll similarly make sure he does something to repay his parents in some way or form, and give something to his little sister to hold onto while he's gone.