August Johnson

August is a pre-med student at Ames on a full scholarship, which is both a source of immense pride and a source of immense stress for him. He’s a warm, levelheaded, and hard-working person, but he doubts his ability to “fit in” at Ames. He is deeply anxious (due at least in part to being deeply overworked) and tends to self-sabotage, so the friendships that he made last semester are somewhat shallow.

Edit 11/4/21: Yeah, as well-liked as he is by people who do know him, he doesn't really feel like he belongs. Page is the first person he's able to really connect to.

His family sometimes calls him "Gus."

eventually uses he/they pronouns

19-22

Polite. Poised, but casual. Approachable demeanor. Upright posture.

His family, his protective instincts, and his goal of becoming a doctor.

Stubborn, inflexible, perfectionistic. He has the next 14 years of his life planned out, and any bumps in the road send him spiraling.

Selfless, devoted, hard-working. He is insightful and caring, with a good head on his shoulders. He's also naturally curious and sincerely loves to learn.

He doesn't understand people who are laissez-faire with their responsibilities, and is easily annoyed by lazy people.

Fairly athletic. Good musical ear. Encyclopedic knowledge of the human body.

Playing sports, playing guitar, watching TV

IxFJ 2w3

Anxiety, Depression

Scorpio Sun, Taurus Rising, Scorpio Moon

Failure ("falling off track," as he would put it)

Wikipedia, puzzles, baseball (go Pirates!), correcting Grey's Anatomy. As he becomes closer with Callie and Page, he starts to embrace painting and other creative endeavors more.

Inconsiderate people, unfair graders, being late

Attracted primarily to women, but he's flexible.

Grew up Methodist

Left-leaning, a trait he shares with his whole family.

Pre-med student

Light Blue

“Listen, I know it sounds weird, and I’m seriously not a big junk food person most of the time, but it’s called Primanti Bros...”

His guitar, which was a Christmas gift from his dad (who plays himself). He’s not fantastic at playing it yet, but it’s fun to learn.

He prefers not to fight, and errs on the side of defense rather than offense. If he absolutely must, he'll use his bare hands.

Cats

11/08/1999

August was born to a lower-middle-class family in Pittsburgh. Both of his parents came from humble backgrounds: His father Charlie is a metalworker, just like his own father before him, and his mother Ruby dreamed of being a nurse or a doctor, but as she couldn't afford to attend university, she became a CNA instead. Charlie and Ruby have always done well by their children, doing their best to balance time-consuming occupations with family life, and saving for their 529s with near-obsessive diligence.

August's sister Christelle is only two and a half years younger than him, and his sister Maria is five and a half years younger than him. From the time that he could speak in full sentences, he was very protective of Christelle, and once Maria was born, he was very protective of her as well. August and Christelle are close like friends now, but he still very much thinks of Maria as a child: with his parents working frequently, August took on the role of a caregiver and guardian at a young age. Even when he and the girls were little and their grandparents babysat them regularly, August liked to "cook meals" (pour cereal and make sandwiches) for his sisters, and read bedtime stories to them on the nights when their parents were working late or had errands to run.

Once August started elementary school, he began to take a great interest in his mother's work, and when flu season rolled around that year, he had about a million questions about flu shots. When Ruby explained the concept of vaccination to him, his mind was blown, and the medical fascination floodgates were truly opened. In first grade, he broke his arm after falling during a game of kickball, and after the initial pain and fear came sheer delight that he got to wear a cast--not because he wanted his classmates to sign it (which, to be fair, he did), but because it was a CAST. All his mom heard for the next week or so was "what would have happened if I broke my leg instead? How would they fix it?" "So my bone is broken? Not the muscle? How can a bone break without breaking the muscle if it's inside the muscle?" "How hard are bones?"

In school, August was always smart and focused, consistently getting good grades and impressing his teachers with his inquisitive nature. He was well-liked by his peers, and his favorite school activities were playing sports in gym class (despite the broken arm trauma) and watching Bill Nye the Science Guy. He was placed in his elementary school's gifted program, and when he got to middle school he was placed in his middle school's gifted program, and when he got to high school he was placed in his high school's honors program. When he was in seventh grade, his mother survived a heart attack, despite living an appropriately healthy lifestyle. August watched her struggle and grow less active after being dismissed and misdiagnosed by doctors, some of whom she knew personally, who told her to simply exercise more and eat healthier. This took a toll on their family, and if Ruby wasn't an active and voracious reader of medical journals, her condition would have likely gotten much worse. Luckily, with intense persistence, Ruby got to the bottom of the issue; small vessel disease, caused by chronic inflammation unrelated to any kind of distinctly "unhealthy" lifestyle habits. Her quality of life improved as she learned to manage her illness, but the pain of watching his brilliant mother be gaslit by medical professionals stuck with him, and it solidified his dream of becoming a good doctor.

While reasonably popular, August's best friends throughout middle school and high school were Antony, who grew up a few houses down from him, and Antony's girlfriend Lydia. Antony and Lydia were also good students, though Antony was always a bit more of a jock, and Lydia's family was wealthy enough that she wasn't necessarily striving for scholarships or merit-based financial aid. When 10th and 11th grade rolled around, August began to feel isolated. His life-long passion for medicine hit a roadblock when the pressure to achieve really started eating at him. Daily college-plan meetings with his school counselor and the thought of potentially failing his parents who had worked so hard for him did a number on his mental health, and his closest friends didn't truly understand how he was feeling. His consistently perfect grades started to slip a bit right when he most needed them to stay up, and he began to spiral into deep anxiety. One night, the summer before 12th grade, his parents found him having a panic attack in his room, and he told them all about how much stress he was under. Luckily, once he opened up about his struggles to his parents, even if they didn't fully understand his position, August managed to improve his grades again, and the anxiety fog began to clear too.

When it came time, August applied mostly to small liberal arts schools, wanting the opportunity to grow close to his professors, even if it meant going somewhere with no affiliated hospitals. When Ames gave him a full-ride scholarship, he committed almost immediately, excited to be going somewhere fairly prestigious in a beautiful part of the country, but nervous about going somewhere so far away from home, removed from everyone he'd known his whole life.

[August's first semester at Ames, the performance anxiety returned, exacerbated without the physical presence of his support system. He studied excessively and got fantastic grades, but despite the fact that he had some acquaintances on his floor (along with a few admirers), he didn't form any really close friendships. When offered the opportunity to take Mysteries of Ames, he ultimately decided to register for the class so that he could get an easy A (worth twice the credits) and perhaps make some friends.]

175 lbs

6'2

Black

Subtle fade on the sides, short and natural (4b) on top

Well-kept stubble

Dark brown

Dark brown

Tall, fit

Faint musk, spice, and coconut oil

Soft Dramatic

Deep Winter

High

Very High

Average

Above Average

Average

Above Average

Hyacinths. His mom has them growing in the front yard.

Interstellar. He thinks the time cube thing is kind of a cop-out, but it's so interesting and so heart-wrenching.

Kristen Bell

His sixth grade "girlfriend," Taylor. He doesn't remember much about her, but he remembers that they started "dating" after he paid for her food when they were at McDonalds with their friends.

Also with Taylor. A one-second peck while their classmates egged them on. It was the talk of the school for days.

Jack Daniels

Tequila; a choice that isn't too outlandish but isn't too vanilla, and one that's as natural paired with a filling meal as it is at a kegger. Also, it's one of the healthiest alcoholic beverages there is!

Yes. He's never sung formally, but he likes to sing while playing guitar, and he has a good musical ear and a pleasant, light baritone voice.

He got good grades across the board, but he was especially invested in his science classes, and his favorite among those was biology.

An undershirt and boxers, typically.

"I really don't have a problem, I just want to finish this project before I go out tonight and wake up tomorrow morning too tired to do anything. Does that make sense to you?"

"I got a B- on the physics exam after studying for days. I've gotten 4 hours of sleep every day for the past week because I stayed up to study and I still only got a B-. I'm not cut out to be a doctor. I'm gonna put my family in debt. I can't do this."

He'll keep it together for others, but he's privately very sensitive and anxious.

Kermit singing "shawty I don't...mind." He also sometimes does a bit where if you ask him to play something on guitar, he'll just do "I love you...bitch! I ain't gonna never stop loving you...bitch!" Honorable mention to "iridocyclitis."

He's kind of frustrated, because it's not like he's ever done anything to them, he tries really hard to be a decent person and stay out of trouble. At the end of the day, though, he has more important things to worry about.

Distinguished.

Depressed.

Pearl Cadillac - Gary Clark Jr.
You Can't Always Get What You Want - The Rolling Stones
3005 - Childish Gambino
Hot Blood - Kaleo
Good News - Mac Miller

Much like August, I live in Pittsburgh at least some of the time and have 2 little sisters.