Agent Washington

Anon on, comments screened, let's go

This is Wash. Leave a message.

NAME: Kia
AGE: 30
CONTACT: kiaxet; Discord at Kiaxet#7085
CHARACTERS IN GAME: None


CHARACTER NAME: Agent Washington
AGE: Unknown; presumably in his mid to late 30s
CANON Red vs Blue
CANON POINT Halfway through that 10-month vacation that precedes the events of season 15
HISTORY: The RvB Wiki is questionable at times, so let me know if you have any questions.

PERSONALITY: Wash is a "layers like onions" sort of person: he's complicated and you have to work to really get at his core and he often makes people cry.

At his core, Wash still retains a number of the qualities he had while he was Freelancer's team rookie. He cares deeply about his friends, though that won't stop him from ribbing them; he's got a quick sense of humor and a tendency to occasionally whine when it gets bested; he is fiercely loyal, sometimes to his own detriment; and he thinks quickly and on his feet, giving him a solid amount of skill in improvisation during combat (though he really hates it when things don't go to plan). Most importantly, when he gets knocked down, he doesn't stay down - he gets back on his feet as quickly as he can, even if it takes a lot of time and hard work.

That last quality is the only reason he survived Epsilon's implantation and the subsequent collapse of Project Freelancer. Having a highly traumatized AI wired directly into your brain doesn't do you any favors, to put it lightly - Epsilon unraveled in Wash's brain, implanting his memories into Wash and shattering Wash's sanity in the process, and Wash was left to put himself back together, piece by piece, sorting through Epsilon's memories and his own and trying to figure out whose was whose.

He broke for a while. It was not pretty.

The trauma of being forcibly driven insane and the information he gained from the implanted memories - namely that Project Freelancer was running all sorts of illegal experiments and didn't care about its agents - deeply marred that trusting, compassionate core, and Wash locked it down. He spent a very long time with revenge on the heads of Freelancer as his only goal, and became dispassionate, cold, and brutally efficient as a result.

It didn't work (it never really does, for people like Wash), but instead of being thrown back in prison or killed, he was instead adopted by the Reds and Blues, the very same people he'd betrayed and tried to kill in pursuit of his goals. It was an act of mercy he wasn't expecting and in no way deserved, and it taught him the value of second chances as he slowly started to care about his new friends.

After spending a number of years with the Reds and Blues, he's mellowed out somewhat, becoming a balance of the optimistic team rookie and the hardened, broken soldier Freelancer made him into. He still trusts people (sometimes the wrong ones, as the worst people often have the prettiest words), but not nearly easily; he's much more suspicious of motive and circumstance than he used to be. He's calmed down a good deal about his past and its ramifications, even if he is still dealing with them to some extent, though he still gets tetchy if his sanity is called into question. He’s always known how to care about people, but now he’s less reserved about actually showing that he cares about them, he takes people on as partners and teammates much more easily, and he is fiercely protective of them. He's relaxed enough to back away from his constant vigilance mentality and even start believing in vacation and down time again; that said, he can definitely still become that brutally competent soldier should the need arise.

He's better. He's never going to be completely whole again, but he's better, and for now, that's good enough.


CANON POWERS: None

OTHER: Canon never really goes into the specifics of how having an AI rip your mind apart affects your brain's recovery, but I tend to play Wash with an eidetic memory, as memory is kind of A Running Theme with him. If that's a bit too far into headcanon territory, please let me know.


CRAU INFO: N/A

MAGIC ABILITY:
Memory Is the Key: Wash is able to sharpen or suppress the memories of a target. It requires physical contact but not necessarily skin-to-skin, and it only works on one person at a time. While connected, Wash will be able to target a single memory and either bring it to the forefront of the target's mind/clarify it or bury/obscure it. He can't create memories that don't already exist, he can't alter memories, and he can't erase memories; he can simply make extant memories much easier or much more difficult to remember. When starting out, he'll only be able to affect memories of smaller events or short memories; he'll only be able to access surface memories; and whether or not he is able to see/experience the memory himself is a crapshoot. Upon mastery, he'll be able to affect larger or longer events; he'll be able to choose whether or not he wants to witness/experience the memory he's targeting; and he'll be able to go digging for deeper/buried memories. Regardless of his level of mastery, he cannot use this power on himself.

(I realize this is going to require a heck of a permissions post and a lot of OOC communication, and I am 100% up for that.)

ANY WEAPONS/MAGICAL ITEMS?: One very non-magical combat knife.

ANY PETS?: He'd really like a kitten, but no.


LINKED SAMPLE:
Test Drive Thread
Meme thread

There's a lot of handwaving going around, so for CR and conversational purposes, here's what you would know if you hung around Wash long enough.

IF YOU'VE JUST MET HIM:

• He's probably grumpy
• He can be helpful
• But only if you're not an asshole to him
• Seriously that's pretty much it

• He has combat training
• He's good at thinking on his feet (though he'll complain about it)
• He can be brutally efficient
• He's overprotective and self-sacrificing to a suicidal degree
• He's still not super great at magic

• He's talked about his past, including:
  • The Human-Covenant war
  • Project Freelancer, including his friends' names
  • The Reds and Blues
  • The realm of dreams, including people he knew and his dream eaters
  • The war on Chorus, including the fact that it was a ruse for planetary genocide and the names of the mercenaries who betrayed everybody
• He's mentioned he has a girlfriend, and it's not difficult to see that he misses her
• He doesn't sleep much, and he sleeps lightly when he does
• He screams himself awake in the middle of the night at least once a week (sometimes more often if things have been bad recently)
• He wants a cat, though he hasn't made any progress on that front He now has a kitten named Delilah, thanks to York.
• There's a lot of death and tragedy in his past, though he doesn't like to talk about it
• Things he refuses to talk about/hasn't brought up:
  • What happened to the various Freelancers (surprise they're all dead)
  • Epsilon
  • What happened to him during and after Freelancer
  • Basically he doesn't like talking about his trauma. Ever.
• If you're observant, you may have noticed that he's a very good liar
• He remembers everything, and will quote things word-for-word to prove a point

• You know everything.

[OOC]

Backtagging: Yes. Yes backtagging will be super helpful.
Threadhopping: Yep!
Fourthwalling: Probably not. I'd be willing to consider it, but we'd need to discuss first.
Offensive subjects (elaborate): Potentially. It depends on what. Again, I'd be up for discussing it.

[IC]

Hugging this character: Yes, but good luck with that one.
Kissing this character: You can try! He really won't appreciate it, but you can try!
Flirting with this character: Same as above, really.
Fighting with this character: Yes.
Injuring this character (include limits and severity): We need to discuss it beforehand, but sure!
Killing this character: Same as above.
Using telepathy/mind reading abilities on this character: Yeah, this definitely requires discussion. Wash's mind is something of a minefield, and rooting around in there is just as likely to be detrimental to the interloper as it is to him. As it is, this is touchy territory, so while i'm open to discussing it, be prepared to be turned down.

Warnings: The biggest issue with Wash is honestly going to be his mental state; he's gone insane before, and while it's possible for him to break again and to come back from it again, it's going to be horribly traumatizing for him and not necessarily something I want to play out. If it looks like a thread is going that way, or if we run across something that triggers him too badly, I might ask for a tag to be edited or something similar. Aside from that, I am super okay with putting him through the wringer; I just want to plan it beforehand.

Wash has obtained a Frootz Cat by the name of Carmen. Those of you who are familiar with his canon will understand his dismay when he realizes she is essentially Tucker in feline form.

For those of you not into Red vs Blue, this essentially means that Carmen will hit on just about any Spirit that moves and will actively ship Persons (which, in some ways, is worse than Tucker). She'll likely do this in the form of swiping one Person's clothes and leaving them in the personal space of the other Person.

This is a permissions post for Carmen. If you would like your character to fall victim to her "romantic" orchestrations, let me know!