Post by 621 on May 3, 2017 21:23:47 GMT
Name: Tua Sanders
Age: 11
Sex: Male
Species/Planet of Origin: Human of Earth.
Personality:
Tua is an easily distracted, obsessive, smart little boy. Sometimes called a nerd or a geek by his peers, he has a personality bent towards obsession. Once he likes something, be it a new UFO movie, a favorite food, or a subject in school, he makes himself the expert on that thing. Unfortunately, this extreme character trait goes both ways; while he excels at something he likes, Tua has no trouble completely forgetting or blocking out any part of life that he's not interested in. For example, his grades are excellent in science and history, but terrible in math and English. He loves nothing more than talking and talking and talking about his favorite comic books or movies and avoids other things such as chores and sports like the plague. Thankfully good parenting and a sweet spirit keeps Tua from becoming a know-it-all or an introvert. While the boy can sometimes be single-mindedly focused on his obsessions or something that is interesting to him, he never means to neglect or hurt anyone else. Despite being a very smart kid with a great memory, he still gets bullied for being a 'tattletale' or 'mommy's boy' when he follows rules and uses surprisingly perfect manners talking to adults; sometimes a 'dweeb' or 'egghead' when he rattles off science fiction facts despite having zero comparability with real schoolwork like multiplication tables. Tua wants so much to share the things that he loves with others that he often forgets what he wants them to think about himself entirely, and can end up bewildered when he finishes a lecture on Wasp Mummies to find his classmates gone.
Tua loves all things strange, mysterious, and science-fictiony, but because his father is an officer of the law, he also believes strongly in rules and obedience and respect to elders.
All in all, this geek is a bit ahead of his generation and his brain can't seem to focus on them long enough to fit in.
Home: Kokaua Town, Kauai, Hawaii, Planet Earth.
Occupation:
In the 5th grade, currently on Summer Break. Does a comic book club count?
Past:
The Sanders family were blessed with their second son one stormy night in November. Although he was small and weak at first, soon the small Florida home was ringing with the sounds of Tua's favorite old monster movies, full of his alien toys, and crammed with his science projects. Despite being nothing like his older brother, Kale, who was into skateboards and basketball, Tua got along well with the rest of the family. His dad, Officer Sanders of the police force, instilled a strong sense of justice and obedience in Tua. His mom, Kaila, balanced this out with a sweet nature and a love of learning. Kale and Tua were thick as thieves, the best of friends. Tua would often imagine the greatest games to play while his older brother pulled off the stunts and heavy lifting to make it happen. Every holiday his cousins Merwin and Dean would come to their Aunt Kaila's home in the city and expose Tua to their alien obsession. Though his mom would roll her eyes and sigh at the two college-age guys' wacky claims, Tua idolized his 'alien hunter' family members and loved the chance to believe extraterrestrials were real.
Life was peaceful until Officer Sanders and Kaila divorced. Tua's small world was ripped in half at the early age of four, and he moved to Kauai, his mom's childhood home, on the island of Hawaii. Tua missed his brother, who stayed in Officer Sanders' custody, but young age helped to heal the sadness even this particularly good memory held, and they still enjoyed every visit they had together.
Growing up as an only child on Kauai, Tua had a harder time finding friends. He could make his own toys and see movies with his mom, but she always worried that he wasn't hanging out with kids his age. Loving the Wasp Mummies franchise and respecting your elders apparently went a long way to separate one obsessive ten year old from his classmates.
Tua never minded. All the singleminded boy needed were his favorite things, his mom, and visits from his dad and brother. Loneliness was easily distracted by the latest UFO comic book, or science project, or...
...or the weird things going on in this little Hawaiian town.
It started when Merwin and Dean, in town for the alien convention, came to the Sanders' house babbling about their discoveries. They claimed they'd seen a giant, shark-like alien, as well as two smaller creatures living on Tua's own home island! Tua was wild with excitement, but his mom was less than thrilled. Maybe it was time her son toned down the alien obsession. She didn't want him growing up without a real job, chasing after conspiracy theories of the paranormal like his overzealous cousins. Trying to gently ground him in reality, she insisted the boy make real friends.
Tua tried, he really did. But the other kids didn't think Wasp Mummies were cool. Besides, he had his mom, his brother, and his comic books. Why did he need anybody else?
The second time Tua noticed strange things going on in Kokaua Town was when his brother visited for the skateboard competition a year later. While Kale was busy winning the Velicoraptor 1200 skateboard, Tua accidentally witnessed a pink-jelly like being transform two old people, including the local market lady his mom bought fruit from, into completely younger people.
The ten year-old was instantly hooked. Now he'd seen weirdness like his cousins described, straight out of his favorite movies, on his own island! When his older brother and mom didn't believe him, Tua was hurt, but more concerned with finding proof. Over the summer, he took a page from his detective magazines and dedicated himself to finding out more.
Mrs. Hasagawa wouldn't own up to anything unusual. She was all "what did you say, dear? Shape-shifting? Well, I suppose this new sun lotion does make me look ten years younger!" Hopeless. But Tua wouldn't be discouraged, especially after following her home and hearing weird sounds coming from inside.
For the next four months, Tua photographed the funny little ice-man making shave ice with local businessman Luki, found big, round footprints in the woods that gave him brief nightmares about a 'shark alien,' and even faced his fear of scuba-diving to try and get a glimpse of the rumored 'big-butt wave-maker' that tourists loved so much. For some reason, whether it was crowds or tough luck, Tua never managed to get enough evidence to convince his mom.
One day, Tua fell out of a tree while trying to get a picture of the local Hula Halau's pet 'foghorned sheep,' which was supposed to act as some kind of alarm. He landed right on top of a little girl named Lilo, who was just leaving class with her friend Victoria and dog.
When Stitch lifted Tua off of his friend, the boy immediately exclaimed over the blue dog's appearance and tried to take a picture. When Lilo mentioned that Yaarp was an alien alarm, Tua was thrilled to find someone else who believed in aliens.
At first, Victoria and Lilo were reluctant to hang around and talk to the alien fanboy, especially once they heard he wanted to prove their were aliens on Hawaii. At first Lilo was happy to have the opportunity to share her Ohana with someone who might appreciate it, but then Pleakley panicked upon hearing about the new guy and Victoria reasoned with Lilo that keeping aliens a secret was important.
Without really lying to him, nor giving him the whole truth, the two girls politely avoided the inquisitive kid and helped each other off the hook if a Tua ever came too close to finding something out. But they finally became official friends during the events that led to the capture and turning-to-good of Experiment 280.
Experiment 280 was designed to befriend one side of a conflict, then betray their secrets to the enemy. True to his function, this naturally manipulative Experiment befriended Lilo and Stitch, pretending to be fully reformed as soon as they captured him. Jumba was off-planet doing an intergalactic-service duty for the Federation, and he'd taken his computer with him, so the heroes had no way of knowing their latest cousin's primary function. When 280 found out that Lilo was carefully keeping her alien household a secret from local boy Tua Sanders, he promptly escaped the Pelekai residence and went to feed all of their secrets to Tua.
That weekend Tua had finally begun to feel like Lilo, Stitch, and Victoria were his new friends. His mom was overjoyed, which made the obsessive boy notice that he was actually enjoying hanging out with someone other than his brother. Surprised by this, Tua reasoned that his favorite detective characters always had a team or sidekick along to help, and got up the nerve to ask the girls to join his search for aliens. He showed them his 'research journal' and admitted that the people he really wanted to impress and prove aliens' existence to were his family. "Maybe if I show mom and Kale and my cousins that aliens are real, they'll take me seriously. Maybe they'll stop worrying about what all the other kids say about me."
Lilo and Victoria reluctantly agreed to help, but only because they could tag along on his sleuthing trips around town and sabotage Tua's search. After an exhausting morning of steering the geek in the wrong direction or distracting him every time one of Stitch's cousins went by, the girls decided they couldn't keep it up forever and instead discouraged their brainiac acquaintance. "Maybe there aren't any aliens on Kauai after all." Lilo suggested. "Yeah," added Victoria, "it's probably time to give up." The hula students went home, going on to capture 280 that afternoon.
In the meantime, a doubtful Tua was considering finally giving in, looking at all of his alien comic books and research journal in a new light for the rest of the day. Maybe it was all kind of silly. Maybe this was why he didn't have any friends. Maybe his mom was right.
Then Experiment 280, having overheard Victoria and Lilo's conversation about Tua, searched out the boy. His programming had deemed this Tua Sanders as the enemy of the Pelekai's (thank goodness he hadn't had time to find out about Gantu since his activation!) Just as Jumba was getting home from a conference and breaking the true nature of his Expermient to Lilo and Stitch, 280 ran off. He broke into the astonished Tua's house and showed the geek the Jumba's stolen computer, complete with Experiment files and alien writing.
Once he got over the initial shock of having an alien in his own home, Tua had to deal with the hurt of feeling betrayed by his new friends. How had he not seen it before? Of course Stitch was an alien! No wonder looking up Lilo's 'blue-furred ectoplasmic detection dog' in the encyclopedia was useless! Angry and feeling betrayed, Tua was on his way to his mom's work at Kiki's Coffee Hut, with 280 as further proof to show her.
On the way there, Gantu captured both 280 and Tua, along with Jumba's Experiment Files.
Lilo and Stitch, distraught, had been looking everywhere for 280, afraid he had gone to Gantu with the information. Instead they found Tua's camera and research journal. Just before he'd been captured, Tua had managed to snap a picture of the 'shark alien'.
Lilo and Stitch promptly tried to rescue Tua, but thanks to 280, who had realized who the Ohana's real enemy was in Gantu, they were captured too. In their cages, Lilo realized that she should have trusted the boy as her friend, instead of betraying his trust by lying about her own family. Tua, being gold hearted and really too happy to have real aliens for friends to hold a grudge, forgave them. Overhearing this exchange in Gantu's cargo hold turned 280 from bad to good, as he learned the lesson of true loyalty from Lilo.
Pretending to still be on Gantu's side, 280 used his manipulative personality and persuasion for good. From his container, he told Gantu to type a code into the ship's computer which would supposedly override Jumba's database's passcode lock. Gantu had been struggling with the little blue computer's passcode for about fifteen minutes and complied eagerly, but of course, the code was a fake and actually overrode the cell doors, letting Stitch, Lilo, and Tua free.
After this eventful weekend, Tua has been quietly freaking out over every new thing he learns while hanging out with Lilo and Stitch. He has given up on the dream of proving aliens' existence, trading that ambition for the gift of real, loyal friends. While he hasn't been able to be much help in Lilo and Stitch's continuing adventures, he's always looking for an opportunity to be in on the intergalactic action. Usually his mom and his normal school schedule get in the way of this, so instead, Tua is the self-appointed shield between Lilo's secrets and Kokaua Town. He spends his time zealously covering up anything that might look a little too suspicious or alien-related to the tourists, and keeping other interested parties off of their trail.
After all, who better to foil alien-hunters than a reformed alien hunter, himself?
Mother:
Kaila Mahoe - A local, she moved to New York City after becoming engaged to tourist and police officer Alex Sanders at age 22 and had two children, but after divorcing she moved back home to Kokaua Town and now works as a coffee barista for her high school friend, Kiki.
Father:
Officer Alex Sanders - A New York cop and stickler for the rules who married Kaila Mahoe, but divorced her after six years of marriage and now lives with Kale in the city while she took Tua back to Hawaii.
Sisters:
None.
Brothers:
Kale Sanders - Tua's older brother, now age thirteen, who is an avid skateboarder and the winner of the Velociraptor 1200 living in New York City.
Other Relatives:
Cousins Merwin and Dean Mahoe who are deadbeat college kids obsessed with alien hunting.
Sample Post: