Spencer's hard to miss, mostly because he's so very, very loud. He's an aggressively friendly dude who speaks at a greater volume than is strictly necessary, and he always struts around with a cocky sneer on his face. When he gets excited about something, you can effortlessly hear Spencer across the cafeteria, even at lunchtime. He's a sledgehammer in social situations and will just keep hammering away at people for their attention and affection. Spencer's hard to discourage, and even the iciest classmates can anticipate he'll try way harder and longer to break through their shell than he should. Often time his propensity for being too loud works against him, and your mileage may vary on whether he's fun or irritating. "SHUT UP, SPENCER" is a phrase he's all too familiar with hearing.

Spencer has a robust (if not terribly nuanced) sense of humor. He jumps into banter and roughhousing even when no one but him wants to, and can be pushy about getting people to go along with his idea of fun. Rules are an afterthought, and he thinks he's smart enough to get away with whatever he pleases. (This is rarely true.) Spencer loves parties and people, and is happiest when surrounded by a large number of friends. While not the smoothest talker, Spencer's overflowing with warmth. It's easy to get swept up in his enthusiasm, and his cocky confidence makes him sound like he knows what he's doing when he almost never actually does.

It helps that Spencer typically lives up to his last name. He's a sincere, kind-hearted guy with a streak of genuine altruism. Spencer's natural inclination is to put others first, and he's a real softie when people come to him for advice or support. He makes a great deal of effort to be thoughtful, remembers peoples' preferences, and looks out for his classmates as much as he can. He'd give you the shirt off his back, and set himself on fire to keep you warm. Spencer means well, but he's not good at subtlety and his thoughtfulness often falls short. He wants to do right by people, but can be clueless idiot. If raw affection is what you need, Spencer's great, but if you want someone who can be restrained, or intuit when you need space... look elsewhere. His attempts to be nice are not deft.

It's hard to ignore that Spencer is just kind of a dumbass. He's terrible at reading people and blurts out whatever's on his mind without thinking. His foot is constantly finding its way into his mouth. Forethought is not one of his strengths, and he's always in and out of trouble. He misunderstands people constantly, and has a reputation for getting into fights and being a trashy party kid who makes even worse decisions under the influence of alcohol. For someone with such an unusually good memory, Spencer rarely learns from his mistakes. He'll keep coming back to the same old people and places, ready to crash and burn all over again.

The trend of lacking any sense continues into Spencer's love life. Spencer is girl crazy, and (as of last year) a little boy crazy, too. He's extremely flirtatious, and if you have a pretty face it's easy to yank Spencer around. Charming girls and boys can get Spencer to do all sorts of stupid things for them, and he'll happily jump for their attention and praise. As for actually dating, Spencer says he prefers flings. The truth is that Spencer knows he's a little... intense, and relationships with him are a rollercoaster. Spencer's a fun guy out for a good time, but he's no lightearted Azurcrest.

Spencer's got a chip on his shoulder. He's very sensitive and easy to offend, with an explosive temper to boot. Because he can't control his emotions very well, Spencer often ends up in fights. Usually they're small; he'll get worked up over a backhanded comment, and then cool off before the conversation's even over. A couple seconds of shouting followed by a minute of sulking is standard fare, but Spencer's not afraid to put his money where his mouth is either. He's more than willing to pull receipts, and arguments with Spencer can easily get lost in the maze of his memory. Everything you've ever done wrong can and will be held against you. He also won't hesitate to throw a punch when it comes down to it, which has never ended well for him. Part of Spencer's sensitivity is a lingering fear that people find him irritating. Whether or not they do, he's a little too quick to think people are annoyed by him, and teasing him about being irritating, unwanted or obnoxious never goes over well.

Spencer has incredibly poor judgement and thinks highly of his own abilities. He always thinks he can get away with more than he actually can. He can handle one more drink, he can totally make that jump, he definitely has that move down, it's not a big deal to flirt with that girl even though she has a boyfriend. He ends up crossing a lot of lines and crashing when he would have been fine if he had just stopped five seconds ago. The more positive side of this is that his energy is like a freight train: it just keeps going and going and going. This makes him a hard worker who's not discouraged by difficult tasks, although he tends to not be especially creative in his problem solving. Spencer always takes the most direct path to a solution, even if it's messy. He's honest to a fault and bad at lying as well as picking out lies. As long as you never contradict yourself, deceiving Spencer is easy.

It's not immediately obvious, but there's something a little unusual about Spencer and the way he thinks. Spencer has an incredible photographic and autobiographical memory, and nearly everything that he's read or experienced is carved into his brain forever. He can recall all kinds of details, some important and some not, and regurgitate them at a moment's notice. He can quote entire pages of things he's read from memory as a parlor trick to impress people. (Especially girls. Are you ready to be wowed because he can recite a Shakespearean sonnet from memory? Because he can and will.) It gives him a leg up in class, and he rarely has to study in fact-driven courses. He still has to work to comprehend the information he collects, but he aces written exams with ease. This is the major thing Spencer thinks makes him annoying, although he probably finds himself more grating than anyone else does. He cares a lot about what other people think, both because he wants to be considerate, and because he's an image-conscious teenage boy.

Spencer has two modes: impulsive and indecisive. If he's not being impulsive, he struggles to be decisive. It's like if he stops to think about it, the possibilities overwhelm him. He can end up frozen on important decisions for hours or even days. To avoid those moments, Spencer tries to leap without looking so he's not trapped in his own head. Spencer feels weighed down by his thoughts, and if he slows down he becomes preoccupied with small details. He gets frustrated with people who forget things that seem obvious to him, and has a hard time keeping in mind that other students don't work the same way he does. This makes him painful to study with if he ever deigns to do so, and he's aggravating in group projects. His anxiety over whether or not he's annoying people exacerbates how, well, annoying he can be, because he's always on edge. Spencer struggles to be patient. At his worst, he's s harsh critic who looks down on people who can't keep up with him.

Spencer does not relax. He's always stuck in his own head, and he has trouble sleeping because he ends up lying in bed replaying bad memories over and over again. He's incredibly disorganized, and his corner of the cabin is a disaster zone, strewn with papers, books and clothing. He knows where everything is, of course, and doesn't like anyone touching his stuff. It's not as though he's likely to forget where he put his things, after all. No organization required. Spencer's young and impulsive, and even though he worries a lot about being judged by his peers, he doesn't have much of a filter and he's bad at controlling his idiosyncrasies. He sometimes references things that might feel a little invasive (what you wore the first day he met you, what you said to him last year, when you contradicted yourself) and bounces his leg or messes with whatever's in reach. Not to mention he just never shuts up. Spencer buzzes with intensity, and once you get to know him it puts a different spin on his happy-go-lucky exterior.

+ friendly, warm, talkative
+ fun, playful
+ altruistic
+ amazing memory
+ hard worker
+ energetic
+ sweet
+ confident
= intense
= emotional
= flirtatious
- loud, doesn't know when to shut up
- bad at reading people
- both impulsive and indecisive
- poor judgement
- temperamental
- self-conscious
- can't relax

Soo-Jung Choi, grandmother and legal guardian. Half-blood, homemaker. A serious little old woman who can say exactly what she means with just one well-aimed look. She's raised Spencer since he was two, and he sees her as the disciplinarian of the household. Spencer is almost definitely a (grand)mama's boy.
Jin-Woo Choi, grandfather and legal guardian. Half-blood, retired interpreter for Canada's Ministry of Magic. A careful man who waited as long as he could to retire, and now struggles to fill his time. He hates Spencer's dyed hair, and complains about it every time he sees him as though it's a brand new change.

Stephanie Sweet, nee Choi, mother. Half-blood, waitress. Stevie was not in a position to raise a kid alone when her second husband was arrested. After a lot of discussion, she gave him to her parents to raise, making them his legal guardian. Stevie is on good terms with Spencer now, but she's more like a big sister or cool aunt than a mom. She and Spencer are fond of one another, but Spencer has never seen her as someone he could go to for help. He thinks she's always too busy for him, and that she doesn't like his company that much.
Sean Sweet, stepfather. No-maj, construction worker. Sean was arrested for the armed robbery of a convenience store when Spencer was just two. He was only released on probation a couple years ago. He's on good terms with Spencer, but their relationship is awkward, nothing like the tight father-son bond that Sean wants. Spencer legally has Sean's name, but he was locked up for almost all of Spencer's formative years. Spencer considers him a nice guy, but always feels weird calling him "dad." Sean gave Spencer a lot of lectures about staying out of trouble when Spencer had his own brush with the law.

Robert Park, biological father. Half-blood, accountant. His involvement in Spencer's life begins and ends at making timely child support payments. Once he came to one of Spencer's skating competitions. It was weird.

INFANCY. Spencer was born to a couple on the brink of divorce. Barely a year after giving birth to Spencer, Stevie remarried Sean Sweet. Sean might have been a gentle giant, but he wasn't exactly the kind of guy you brought home to mom and dad. He was a muggle, for one, but his in-laws could overlook that. They couldn't overlook when he was arrested for robbing a convenience store, though. Sean was a small time criminal, and he was about to spend the next decade in prison for it, away from his new wife and stepson.

Stevie was forced to face the fact that she couldn't raise a baby on her own, and gave custody of him to her parents. From that point on, Spencer was raised by his grandparents.

CHILDHOOD. Although Spencer never had much money growing up, his grandparents wanted to keep him busy. This became especially pressing as Spencer turned out to be a handful. He was bright, active, and easily bored. The answer to this problem seemed to be ice skating. Spencer had a gift, and the strenuous work kept him occupied. Before long, there were rumors that Spencer had it in him to be a professional figure skater. A lot of money was invested in his skating career, but it seemed well placed.

But Spencer was hard to discipline. He was wild and temperamental, and his grandparents could never quite keep up with him. To make things more complicated, even though Spencer acted out, his grades were uncommonly perfect. They seldom saw him study, but he still brought home A's. Spencer's grandparents and teachers began to notice that Spencer's memory was unusual.

SKATING. Spencer continued to pursue skating, but the more money that was spent on his training, the more he felt uncomfortably like he couldn't make his own choices. He loved skating, and it's unlikely he would have chosen anything different, but as a young teen staring down his future too early it was daunting. He could have pursued something academic, but it was never really an option.

All doubts aside, Spencer was a successful up-and-comer. He wasn't famous, not unless you lived and breathed figure skating online and had your eye open for cute, rough around the edges newcomers. Professionals noted Spencer's great potential, and he was counted among a fresh crop of young skaters who were "the ones to watch." The future of the sport, tomorrow's gold medalists, etc. Spencer loved the attention, and dreamed of one day achieving the same fame and recognition as his idols, surpassing all others in his division.

Spencer was on track to achieve his dreams, but his temper derailed his ambitions. Another competitor made some offensive comments about his skating partner, and Spencer lashed out in her defense. He outright attacked the rival skater backstage, and got himself removed from the competition for the violent outburst. In the aftermath, he was very nearly charged with assault. Spencer was mortified by the incident, and embarrassed by how he'd fucked up after so many people had poured so much time, trust and money into his skating career.

GOOSEBERRY. Spencer's grandparents decided it was time to intervene. They forced him to take a break from skating and accept a scholarship to Gooseberry to focus on his education. Spencer began at Gooseberry his sophomore without high hopes... but ended up actually loving it, much to his surprise. There was so much to do, so many new people, so many new challenges. If he only had greater access to the ice, Gooseberry would be perfect.

As things stood, he spent a year torn between loving his new social and academic life, while missing what he had lost. In the back of his mind, Spencer was always wondering how this would slow down his skating career, if it didn't outright ruin it. Once again, Spencer was frustrated that the choice was being made for him. It felt like a small concern against the greater backdrop of what was going on at Gooseberry, but either way, Spencer wasn't taken into the woods. To him, the whole incident hardly feels real, just an urban legend told to him by friends and acquaintances. It creeps him out to think about.

LAST SUMMER. The summer after sophomore year, Spencer was approached by a popular classmate, Micah St. Clair, at a pool party. Flirtation quickly became a real relationship, and Spencer fell (too) hard and (too) fast. Unfortunately, the summer fling was marked by a lot of fighting as Spencer's intensity and Micah's flightiness led to conflict. The relationship lasted right up until the beginning of the school year.