Gregory

Gregory Bernard Andrews
Portrayed By	Michael Stahl-David
Gender	Male
Date of Birth	August 20th, 1986
Age	21
Zodiac Sign	Leo
Aliases	Greg
Place of Birth	Seattle, WA, USA
Current Location	New York City, NY, USA
Occupation	Student, Research-intern-volunteer-coffee-fetcher
Known Relatives	Martin Andrews (father), Elizabeth Andrews (mother), Laura Andrews (sister)
Significant Other	???
Known Abilities	???
First Appearance	Home Away From Home

Greg is a fairly quiet individual, used to sort of lurking in the background and doing what needs to be done without actively seeking recognition of praise for his work. When he was young he seemed to make an effort to win back his parents' affection from his little sister, but as he got older it became clear that there was no shaking the hierarchy and he simply accepted it and moved on.

While he secretly wants nothing more than to make his parents proud and prove himself a better person than his sister, it's not something he would ever admit. Not that he's terribly vocal about anything, to be fair - but over the years the complex has altered somewhat to include a desire to prove himself worthy to anyone in a position of power.

The years of loneliness have peculiar results on Greg when he actually finds himself in social situations. He has some difficulty opening up to people and initiating conversation, but once a degree of comfort is established, he can get quite chatty (mostly if something he is really passionate about is being discussed) and just a little bit clingy - though the clinginess is something he really strives to suppress.

History

Gregory was born in a quiet suburban neighborhood outside of Seattle, Washington to Martin and Elizabeth Andrews. His father was a businessman and his mother was a teacher, and both were outdoors enthusiasts, instilling a love of nature in their son from a young age. Three years later, his parents had another child - a daughter, Laura. Everybody loves a little girl, and for the first time in Greg's life, he began to get a little hungry for attention.

His parents were good people and loved both their children, but there was simply no denying that Laura was the favorite. After he turned six, he began to have trouble sleeping. Like clockwork, every other night, he would wake up after two or three hours and wake up his parents in tears because the pain was so bad. They eventually tired of his behavior, which they labeled as attention-seeking and wrote off. His mother always told him the same thing: it's all in your head, you can make it stop if you want it to.

It took the better part of two years for the late-night stomach pains to cease, but of course, with one problem solved another will arise. Greg was always pretty quiet in school, but became increasingly antisocial over his middle school years. He had some friends, but they were few and far between. Belatedly concerned, his parents sent him to a counselor who determined his problem was simply anxiety. His mother gave him the same advice, as always: you can make it stop if you want it to.

It seemed like he had just started making progress in overcoming his anxiety when he started high school. He had his first full-blown panic attack two weeks later. His doctor and parents both wanted to put him on medication, but he refused, convinced he could make the bad feelings stop if he tried harder. His initial efforts proved ineffective - but he only had two more attacks over the next few months.

While he still suffered from social anxiety which made high school a generally unpleasant experience, Greg was smart and performed very well in his classes. He discovered a love of writing courtesy of an excellent English teacher and secretly planned out grand novels in his head, dreaming of writing a bestseller. Greg didn't dare tell his parents he wanted to be a writer - as far as they knew, his love of biology was far greater and his long-term plans included medical school.

Due to his practically non-existent social life and the fact his parents were often busy fussing over Laura (who was now a cheerleader and in several after-school clubs, and having trouble in a few of her classes to boot), he devoted himself towards making the best grades he could, all in an effort to get into an excellent college somewhere far, far away from the dreary grays and his attention-mongering sister.

Greg's hard work payed off with a handsome scholarship from Cornell University. For the first time in a very long time, Greg was the focus of his family once again - and this time, for something more positive than anxiety problems. He took up ice hockey over the summer, intending to try out for Cornell's team when he started there. For a good few months, Greg's life was pretty blissful. Freed of the burden of schoolwork and excused from his summer job thanks to the scholarship, he spent most of his summer at the ice rink.

Feeling in the best physical and mental shape of his life, Greg departed for New York. His first year was something of a culture shock - drinking, drugs, sexually active roommates, challenging classes, the hockey team - it took awhile and he had to fight off anxiety constantly and occasionally hold a panic attack at bay, but he soon fell into a fairly comfortable groove, even managing to make a handful of friends. Granted, he didn't make the division 1 hockey team - but the coach assured him that a year on the less competitive team would put him in perfect shape to join next year.

After a fairly uneventful summer, save for a barely-minimum wage job working at the ice rink when he wasn't training, he returned to Cornell for his second year. Greg continued to flourish at school, succeeding in both his science courses and the creative writing class he managed to squeeze into his busy schedule. He tried out for the hockey team once again and made it this time, albeit barely. With a full course load and hockey practice, time management became a bit of an issue and his social life started to dwindle once again, but it wasn't something that upset him too much.

Second year of school completed (with a slightly lackluster hockey season), Greg decided to spend his summer in NYC with a teammate. After a few months of trying, he managed to secure in an internship working as a research assistant for a neurologist at a hospital. Much to his frustration, it took nearly the entire summer break just to get the job and he spent the few weeks he had left just fetching coffee.

Determined to make something out of the experience, Greg decided to take the year off school and continue working for the neurologist. It still took a few more weeks of fetching coffee and wasn't until fairly recently that he was given the opportunity to do anything more - but at least the doctor was an interesting guy. Greg continued living in his friend's apartment, who occasionally made trips to visit him.

He considered getting a dog to help combat the loneliness and made a trip to the Humane Society. He found a mongrel that seemed friendly, but after petting it for more than a few minutes, it seemed to snap and mauled his leg. The dog was put down, Greg had to get checked for rabies, and is presently walking with a limp - and of course, hasn't been to a rink since getting his leg chewed up. Thus, Greg tolerates his loneliness for time being.

Presently, Greg's back on the ice and making an effort to reach out into the community some.

Timeline

• Formally meets Damascus after years of noticing him in the same library back home. Seattle natives flock to Starbucks, apparently!
• Invites Damascus to go iceskating. Angry teenagers, headbutts, and bloody noses follow.

Quotes

• "Memorable quotes!"

Trivia

• Greg may not look like a body builder, but looks can be deceiving - he packs a pretty decent punch. Years of hockey brawling will learn you that. Being that he completely lacks the ability to be intimidating without a helmet and stick, he's often underestimated, which has potentially amusing results.
• Enjoys headbutts.