For as long as he could remember, Evan had been fascinated by the sea.
It wasn't that surprising, given that his family practically had seawater running through their veins instead of blood.
For generations, they had made their living on the sea. Several generations back, they'd had sailors and sea captains amongst their ancestors, but nowadays, they were fishermen.
When Evan was young, he started out playing on the beach and letting the waves lap at him. The sea seemed to call to him, though he was never allowed to venture out too far, under his parents' watchful eyes.
He wondered what might be out there, beyond the horizon, and whether he would one day get to explore the endless ocean that stretched out before him.
Once Evan turned 7, his father began taking him out on his fishing boat to show him the ropes.
He began teaching Evan the tricks of the trade, equipping him with the tools he would need to one day follow in his family's footsteps.
Fishing as a job was far more difficult and dangerous than people tended to realise.
While fishing as a hobby was a peaceful activity, being a fisherman often meant having to brave the waves and storms to try and catch fish.
If they didn't, then they would bring home no catch, and they'd lose out on whatever earnings they might have had for the day.
Evan was a fast learner, and soon he was regularly accompanying his father on fishing trips on the weekends when he didn't have school.
It was during one such trip when Evan was 9 that he truly learned to respect the danger posed by the sea, beautiful and alluring as it was.
It was a bad day of fishing already, with little results to show for hours and hours on the sea.
Then, the storm started up.
Amidst the fierce storm, the waves grew wild and choppy, and the boat Evan and his father were in began to be tossed about violently.
It only took a moment for disaster to strike.
A wave struck the boat at just the wrong moment and Evan was swept overboard, plunging into the icy water below.
As he desperately tried to keep his head above the water, fight against the waves and swim back towards the boat, another boat came alongside and rescued him from the water, pulling him to safety.
It was a Coast Guard boat that had been patrolling, led by a kind older man who gave Evan a towel and sat with him until he stopped shivering with cold and fear.
When the storm died down and it was safe to do so, they'd brought him back to his frantic father and escorted them to shore.
Evan would remember a few things from that day.
The first was the realisation that the alluring sea, which had enchanted him up till now, could be both dangerous and deadly.
The second was that someday, he wanted to be like those Coast Guard officers and save other people, just like they had saved him.
Evan never really stopped loving the sea, dangerous as it was. But after almost drowning, he grew to respect it and treat it with the caution it deserved.
As he grew older and continued to help his father on fishing trips, he found himself growing less and less content with the idea of simply being a fisherman when he came of age.
He knew that he wanted to do something on the sea, but the life of a fisherman, dangerous as it could be, seemed too simple to satisfy him.
He considered becoming a sailor or seafarer, like his ancestors before him, but the idea didn't quite appeal to him either.
He loved the sea, but he also loved going home and being on land at the end of the day, surrounded by his friends and family. Being out at sea for months on end wasn't a life that he wanted to lead.
And then, he remembered his childhood dream of wanting to save others, and his path forward was clear.
His parents protested initially when he told them he wanted to join the Coast Guard. They worried for his safety, not wanting him to lead such a dangerous life.
But as it became increasingly clear that Evan was discontent with being a mere fisherman, they eventually relented.
Being in the Coast Guard was more dangerous than fishing had ever been, but it was also exciting and fulfilling. Evan enjoyed being able to spend his time out at sea while also getting to help people and keep them safe from the dangers of the sea.
And then in late 2010, a large–scale disaster occurred when two ships collided during a storm. There were tons of injured and drowning people to rescue, amidst the jagged debris of the destroyed ships.
Evan and his fellow Coast Guard officers sprang into action, doing what they could to save as many people as possible. Evan lost count of how many times he dived into the water and hauled himself back out with a barely–conscious person in his arms.
It had been exhausting, but Evan had thrown himself into it with as much energy as he had, determined to save whoever he could.
There were still lives lost; you couldn't save anyone, and that was a bitter lesson Evan had already had to learn after a few years in the Coast Guard.
But more lives were saved than would have been if the Coast Guard officers hadn't been on the scene.
Evan's captain congratulated all of them for their hard work, and then Evan went home and crashed and slept for three days.
When he woke up, he found an email from someone he'd never spoken to before. The email said that the VSSE was impressed by his performance during the recent disaster. More than that, he was being offered a job as a VSSE agent.
He'd been surprised, naturally. The VSSE was reputed to only recruit the best, and they wanted him to join them?
He thought about it for a while. Joining the VSSE meant leaving the sea behind. It had long been a part of his life, and he wasn't sure if he could adjust to living away from the sea.
But on the other hand, he'd wanted to do what he could to save people, hadn't he? Joining the VSSE would let him do that, on a far larger scale than his current job in the Coast Guard.
In the end, there was only one choice he could make.
And so, in 2011, Evan joined the VSSE, entering a world filled with new experiences and people who would shape his life in the years to come.
Notes:
I could have put this elsewhere, but I figured I might as well attach it to the final chapter of this fic for the sake of convenience.
Character's birth years (arranged from oldest to youngest):
Richard: 1964
Robert: 1969
Keith: 1971
Christy: 1974
Rachel: 1975
Wesley: 1975
Alan: 1976
Giorgio: 1984
Evan: 1988. Specifically, 17 May 1988, as noted in A VSSE Birthday.
From there, if you're interested you can work out how old they are at different points in their respective backstories, and also at different points in Temporal Fates. And also in comparison to each other, of course.
