[b]Thomas "Tommy" Kern:[/b] Citizen of New Hope

[img]http://i.imgur.com/WIBDA9v.jpg[/img]

[b]Physical Description:[/b]
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[*]26 years old as of 2023.  (Born 1997.)
[*]5'10", 175#.  Fit, well sculpted; athletic.
[*]Curly brunette hair; hazel eyes.
[*][i]Clean cut[/i]: despite not needing to do so, he shaves almost every day.
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[b]Psychological Description:[/b]
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[*]Prefers Tommy over Tom or Thomas, but doesn't mind which is used.
[*]Quiet, though he often appears as if he has a lot he'd like to say.
[*]A caring, empathetic person, particularly with those who can't entirely care for -- or defend -- themselves.
[*]He [i]loves[/i] sex, but he keeps his interactions with others to himself.  No PDAs.
[*]He has a past he keeps hidden, but you don't get to know what that is yet.  (IC replies will better reveal who and what he is over time, and those details will later be posted here.  Stand by.)
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[b]Background:[/b]
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[*]1997: Born.
[*]Tom had a troubled upbringing, as alluded to above.
[*]2019: 
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[*]At age 20, Tommy arrived in Sweet Home, Oregon.
[*]He was quiet and reserved, but when he did open up to people even slightly, it was obvious that he was educated, knowledgeable, and worldly.
[*]Despite seeming to be able to be more, Tommy took a common labor job at a local farm and garden shop, which often put him into contact with the commune on which Aiden Shaw was a member.
[*]He occasionally took a lover for a night or a weekend -- mostly tourists or women from nearby cities who he knew had lives that would keep them at a distance more often than not -- but he never made a connection that might lead to having a [i]girl friend[/i]. 
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[*]2022: 
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[*]When the plague hit, Tommy had just learned that he had [i]knocked up[/i] a young woman who lived on the commune.  He had spent many hours sitting with Aiden Shaw talking about his future and a need for a change in his life.
[*]Despite the woman falling victim to the virus -- and despite his concerns that he couldn't be what Aiden wanted him to become -- Tommy moved onto the commune and became closer to Aiden.
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[*]2023:
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[*]When the commune was attacked, Tommy came to its defense.  But Aiden demanded that Tommy take a pacifist stance toward outsiders.  When the second attack came, Tommy inconspicuously [i]took out[/i] a couple of the attackers; and when the third one came -- with Tommy in view of Aiden Shaw -- he resisted defending himself and his new community and simply allowed the attack to occur.  Afterward, however, Tommy slipped off into Sweet Home and -- using an improvised incendiary device -- burned to the ground the building in which the attackers were holding up, killing at least 5 people.
[*]Tommy didn't like this pacifist attitude, but he liked Shaw and the concept of the commune  He promised he would swear off his violent ways and -- in May -- helped lead the communes' Citizens to New Hope.
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