hardwearing | [ In The Night ] APPLICATION

PLAYER INFO

Player Name: Ana
Player Contact: cuddlebug / Ana#1461
Character(s) In-Game: n/a

CHARACTER INFO

Character Name: Washington (This is a code name! His real first name is David, his last name is unknown.)
Age: unknown, likely ~30
Canon: Red vs Blue

World Description: RvB wiki & Halo wiki (for a better setting description; the RvB world is based on Halo)

History: this is extremely long; note that Wash's canon point is "Charon's final assault"

CRAU:
When Wash first arrived in Hadriel, he was certain he'd been killed in action. He'd been pulled from the midst of a losing battle and the first person he saw in the colosseum was a man he'd killed himself just a short time earlier, so it made perfect sense. Even once he learned he probably wasn't dead he was convinced this was hell, what with the rampaging monsters, the lich who set him on fire, the emotionally manipulative gods, and his formerly nuked enemy attacking and injuring him repeatedly. But the worst part for him was being cut off from everything he knew, untethered and losing his sense of self without a mission or his team. If he wanted to survive, to ever get back to them, Wash had to form new connections -- but that's not something he's ever been any good at, and at first resisted even in a situation where he knew he desperately needed people.

In many ways, Hadriel was a 22 month exercise in Wash learning to let people in. He initially intended to go it completely alone, not to drag strangers into his dangerous drama and just keep his head down until he could return to his life... but Hadriel didn't allow that, and neither did the other characters in it. People consistently, patiently, compassionately offered him help when he needed it, even when he didn't want to admit that was the case. They unconsciously mirrored the Blues' actions that had saved his life and sanity in the first place -- taking him in and protecting him, coming to save him after he'd been taken by the enemy -- and then going a step further to actually encourage him to communicate. Just because a dream walk event shows an acquaintance of yours your deepest darkest traumas doesn't mean you have to talk to them about it afterwards, and back home? He probably wouldn't have. But sometimes it just takes the right person and right approach, and so in Hadriel, surrounded by people who both cared and had far better communication skills than his friends back home, Wash learned to open up. Castmates came and went and he managed to deepen those relationships as well, to be braver talking about personal issues and their pasts and feelings. His Hadriel relationships propelled him along the path canon set him on, always for the better.

During his tenure in the game Wash survived a multitude of horrors, and was often forced by events to confront and/or share his own past. He continued his training and taught others. He got hacked and turned into a puppet by a genocidal alien race and made to attack his friends. He began his first ever serious romantic relationship and had a sworn enemy slowly become a trusted friend. He learned to use magic. He got a cat. He screwed up repeatedly and found the courage to fix things rather than leaving them broken. He began to accept that people could actually love and care for him just for who he was, not because of the role he played for them. Wash still has a long way to go to become the person he wants to be, but after all that time he was starting to feel like he might actually get there -- to be someone good after so many years of self loathing. He felt like he'd made a difference and for once, the scales were tipping back into the positives.

Death: Wash was killed by the Null during their final invasion, while defending the Door.

What are your plans for this character in-game?
I'm not sure yet! Concrete plans will really depend on what the game events and plots are revealed to be, but I do have a few ideas to start out with. It's immediately going to occur to Wash that if it's always night here people will start to lose it without a way to regulate their sleep-wake cycles, and will post asking for help creating an alarm function for the tablet clocks -- and hopefully terrify half the town with space travel horror stories! For more of a loose character-specific goal, I'd like for Wash to finally admit to and address his PTSD in some way. He's historically denied it very stubbornly until forced to face the fact he won't always bounce back by canon circumstance, and although that's past his canon point in game I think having actually died will provide a similar push. And as always, I'm excited to fling him at unfamiliar people and situations and just see what happens, how he develops from the relationships that form, and what he can contribute.

What aspects of this game and/or its setting are you most interested in having this character engage with?
I'm ready to pull Wash back out of his comfort zone, as he's always learning new skills and adapting to new situations and is the most interesting when he's being challenged somehow. The survival and exploration aspects of the game should be fun to watch him navigate, especially starting out with his armor damaged. Of course some of the experiences and skills acquired before his death will be helpful but the fact that it's the afterlife and he's officially out of the fight will deeply challenge his sense of self -- he is a soldier. That's how he defines himself, first and foremost, but in this situation there's no war going on. What are they supposed to do with themselves once there's no need for what they used to be? Who is he now? Who does he want to be? Basically I'm most interested in exploring the existential crisis angle of it all!

How does your character generally get along with other people?
Not great at first, especially if the interaction is purely social. Although he's a very helpful person if there's someone in need, socially Wash is very awkward, with a tendency to put his foot in his mouth saying the exact wrong thing to offend or piss someone off. He tends to make atrocious first impressions and sometimes screws up like this while offering assistance too, but it's better tolerated in those scenarios because it's obvious he means well... unless he's acting too suspicious of someone. See, Wash is also pretty bad at reading people, and poor judgment calls have bitten him in the ass enough times now that he's initially distrusting of strangers. His time in Hadriel curbed this a bit, thankfully -- he usually won't stick a gun in your face before you make yourself known to be a threat anymore, and since nobody there wore helmets he's gotten better at reading facial expressions rather than just tone of voice. All this aside, if you can get past the initial awkward stage Wash is actually an excellent friend to have. He's compassionate and protective, and can be extremely patient (if a little long suffering) with his friends and trainees. He'd do anything for the people he cares about and has come a long way with articulating his feelings, so his earnestness comes across better. The trick is just getting to 'friends' with him in the first place.

What is your character's mental state upon entering the game?
Extremely conflicted. Wash won't be at all surprised that he's dead. Part of him always expected to die in combat, at one point actively wanted to, and he still went into every fight prepared for it... the real struggle will be wondering what happened to the people who were fighting with him, if they survived, then if they're okay without him. There was a time when no one would have missed him but thanks to several of his friends sitting him down and screaming in his face about how important he is to them, realizing he's dead and gone now will be far more of a blow even if the sense of loss isn't quite for himself. The presence of certain other characters will mitigate how much he shuts down his emotions on this subject, but it's a complicated tangle of feelings that he's going to try and fend off as long as possible to avoid the aforementioned existential crisis -- something not helped by the fact that this afterlife seems highly suspect. Their physical existences and the fact that there were others here before makes it seem like a transient space, and maybe there's a way that they can escape from it. It's not quite that he's in denial, more like looking for a loophole because he needs something to work towards. Wash doesn't do well without a mission, without a goal or plan or thing to fight. He's essentially feeling multiple stages of grief at once, and to be able to function will focus on figuring out how Beacon works first and foremost.

Skills/Abilities:
Wash is an extremely competent fighter, most notably with firearms, hand to hand, and knife throwing. He’s cunning and highly resourceful in battle and has experience with infiltration and hacking, though it's unlikely there'll be much call for the latter skills. He’s also agent cockroach — he can take quite a beating and keep on kicking, although some of that resilience is due to his armor. (I'll discuss its features in inventory.) In Hadriel, he learned some D&D style magic but is probably only at about a level 2 or 3. He knows light (nerfed), prestidigitation (the fire element is nerfed), shocking grasp, mending, mage hand, and a simple healing spell (he can't do much more than close small wounds or stop bleeding).

Flaws/Weaknesses:
I'll try to keep this brief, because HOO BOY is Wash a wreck. He's incredibly paranoid, an issue only made worse by the fact that usually his fears come to fruition -- it's not paranoia if you were right! He's less shoot-first these days but can still be very aggressive, and is easily driven to violence. He's got issue with authority and is (again, violently) disobedient if he disagrees with the orders given. (Note, however, that in both canon instances of disobedience he was actually protecting people.) He also holds long grudges to the point that even after actively working on his anger and violent snapping issues he can stay mad indefinitely if he isn't talked down, and has an established taste for revenge. On a more personal note, Wash has severe PTSD. A bit is the normal traumatized soldier deal, but the worst of it is from Epsilon's implanted torture memories and subsequent suicide in Wash's mind. He also struggles with abandonment issues from being left behind by the people he believed to be his friends when Freelancer fell, and a ton of guilt over the shit he pulled during his villain arc. As far as other people as weaknesses, he could be easily put into a vulnerable position by threatening someone he cares for -- the majority of his castmates and Hadriel CR could be used against him and Wash would sacrifice himself for them.

Personality:
I've covered nearly my entire bullet point list of traits in other sections, so here's what doesn't fit anywhere else!

Wash is frequently called melodramatic, which is accurate. He has a lot of feelings and is often ill-equipped to deal with them, which can result in some pretty extreme responses. Threats of violence, working himself to exhaustion, screeching arguments, fits of melancholy where he won't talk to anyone about what's wrong... he's come a long way in all these areas but nobody's perfect and he's always been best at handling high stress during combat situations, not interpersonal ones.

He's also secretly a huge dork, one with a questionable sense of humor and a love for organization and discipline that he's relentlessly teased for. Wash is an incredibly responsible person with a strong sense of duty, who will always keep his promises. He's brave, determined, and both a bit self-loathing and self-sacrificing, consistently deeming others' lives as more important than his own.

Items:
- Assault rifle, magnum handgun, and some spare ammo for each.
- Large combat knife, six weighted throwing knives.
- A plain silver ring that serves as the focus for his magic.
- An engraved silver ring, attuned to him and imbued with three of Kyna's spells: shield, lightning bolt, and greater invisibility.
- His power armor, which will start out damaged in desperate need of repair and some of the features of which I'm at disabling for the setting. The strength enhancement, EMP, and bioscan should be fine but his HUD's night vision and trackers are fully nerfed, as they'd allow him to cheat the darkness. He also has a healing unit capable of stabilizing and repairing even very serious injuries -- this is how he survived getting shot in the back, but if something vital gets hit the process is too slow to be life-saving. I'm fine with nerfing this further or completely, though.

SAMPLES

Log Sample: TDM top level + another + another + ana please calm down...
Network Sample: a big ol' Hadriel network post