![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
TLV IC Contact Post
Sep. 18th, 2031 08:29 pm
"It's Caffrey. Remember the value of plausible deniability. I'll get back to you."
"It's Caffrey. Remember the value of plausible deniability. I'll get back to you."
AND YOU WERE THERE, and YOU were there....
Dec. 9th, 2023 01:05 amHe wakes up in the wrong place. That, he knows. He knows it the same way he knows his cheek is resting against stone, the way the air tastes like night time and high altitudes.
Slowly, he blinks his eyes open, staring at the wall of the alley for several long seconds until he realizes that's what it is. He's in an alley, with cobblestone paving, with architecture that he doesn't quite recognize. Everything aches, everything, from his crown to the bare soles of his feet.
He rolls onto his side, then it's onto all fours, onto one knee, stand. He doesn't walk so much as lose his balance in a forward direction, stumbling into the street in an emerald green suit that would be quite at home in 21st century Manhattan.
Slowly, he blinks his eyes open, staring at the wall of the alley for several long seconds until he realizes that's what it is. He's in an alley, with cobblestone paving, with architecture that he doesn't quite recognize. Everything aches, everything, from his crown to the bare soles of his feet.
He rolls onto his side, then it's onto all fours, onto one knee, stand. He doesn't walk so much as lose his balance in a forward direction, stumbling into the street in an emerald green suit that would be quite at home in 21st century Manhattan.
TLV Character + Cabin Details
Aug. 25th, 2023 01:16 pmNeal's Cabin
After graduating, the room expanded from the bedroom and living room areas of his New York apartment. The back hall that leads to both his bathroom and his walk-in closet are there now. The closet is full of his clothes, the bathroom full of his preferred products. His kitchenette is obvious, as is the wine rack and cooler. His favorite part, though, is what at home would be the veranda.
The massive glass-paned doors open into a little kind of courtyard space, edged by the brick walls of the veranda. But rather than open air past that, there are videographic walls, displaying a stylized view of the skyline.
Ex of its effect: Right now it looks like an impressionist watercolor, complete with delicately rendered shapes of pigeons leaving tiny lines behind in the blue of the painted sky as they fly. One edge of the cityscape looks like it’s bleeding into heavy oil paints in a Renaissance style. Impossible to tell if the look is coming or going yet.
floor plan | various area views | wide view | kitchen/dining area | terrace 1 | terrace 2
After graduating, the room expanded from the bedroom and living room areas of his New York apartment. The back hall that leads to both his bathroom and his walk-in closet are there now. The closet is full of his clothes, the bathroom full of his preferred products. His kitchenette is obvious, as is the wine rack and cooler. His favorite part, though, is what at home would be the veranda.
The massive glass-paned doors open into a little kind of courtyard space, edged by the brick walls of the veranda. But rather than open air past that, there are videographic walls, displaying a stylized view of the skyline.
Ex of its effect: Right now it looks like an impressionist watercolor, complete with delicately rendered shapes of pigeons leaving tiny lines behind in the blue of the painted sky as they fly. One edge of the cityscape looks like it’s bleeding into heavy oil paints in a Renaissance style. Impossible to tell if the look is coming or going yet.
floor plan | various area views | wide view | kitchen/dining area | terrace 1 | terrace 2
Neal isn't really sure what's going to happen when the Admiral sends them home. To his home. Where by now, somewhere in the world, Kate is alive and healthy. It's strange to think of her somewhere unknown and not feel the immediate need to go find her. To save, protect, avenge her. It's also strange that even knowing she's out there, even seeing proof, Neal can't shake the guilt of killing her, either. It feels like things should have shifted, that some monumental internal change should have taken place. He still feels the things he always had, but with new knowledge counter it.
It's all swirling in his brain when Norton meets him in his cabin. Still roiling there when Neal squeezes his hand and tells thin air that they're ready.
It snaps to background when, on his next blink, Neal and Norton find themselves in the conference room of the FBI's New York City White Collar division, and Neal is still holding Norton's hand. The door from the office floor swings open and admits a small flood of people in the forms of Peter, Diana, Jones, and... Mozzie?
All four of them stop dead, seeing Neal and a stranger at the far end of the room, plus whatever Norton chose to bring. Neal stares at all of them, bemused.
"I knew it! I told you." Mozzie says, pointing at Neal. He glares at Peter and company in triumph.
Peter's jaw works for a moment before he takes a deep breath, clearly trying to focus on being relieved instead of furious. "Neal. Who's your friend?"
It's all swirling in his brain when Norton meets him in his cabin. Still roiling there when Neal squeezes his hand and tells thin air that they're ready.
It snaps to background when, on his next blink, Neal and Norton find themselves in the conference room of the FBI's New York City White Collar division, and Neal is still holding Norton's hand. The door from the office floor swings open and admits a small flood of people in the forms of Peter, Diana, Jones, and... Mozzie?
All four of them stop dead, seeing Neal and a stranger at the far end of the room, plus whatever Norton chose to bring. Neal stares at all of them, bemused.
"I knew it! I told you." Mozzie says, pointing at Neal. He glares at Peter and company in triumph.
Peter's jaw works for a moment before he takes a deep breath, clearly trying to focus on being relieved instead of furious. "Neal. Who's your friend?"
(no subject)
Aug. 26th, 2022 04:50 pmUser Name/Nick: Jae
User DW: N/A
E-mail/Plurk/Discord/PM to a character journal/alternate method of contact: plurk is researchboner, though I'm rarely on it. PMs work!
Other Characters Currently In-Game: N/A
Character Name: Neal Caffrey
Series: White Collar
Age: 36
From When?: S5, ep11. Neal has just discovered the woman he thought he was in love with was using him and has killed multiple people. During a search of her apartment, she shoots him. In canon, it's a warning shot, as she's actually developed feelings for him. In this situation, he started to take a step to one side at just the wrong moment.
Inmate Justification: His redemption arc is... well, a little weird, possibly. What he needs to learn is that he's capable of being something other than a criminal. He needs to accept the idea that he can be "redeemed," and then maybe even go a step further and realize that his mistakes aren't the kind that need redemption from anyone but himself.
Arrival: He agreed to come in.
Abilities/Powers: He's a regular squishy human. That said, he's also a world class thief, forger, and con man. He's able to look at a forged painting and not only tell that it's a fake, but also the kind of light it was painted in and how long it took to do based on the shading that changed with the movement of the sun. Basically, he's Sherlock Holmes if Sherlock Holmes was obsessed with art and history. In canon he's done everything from making fake gemstones to rappelling into the office of a world-class thief to break into his safe and leave a sarcastic message there.
Inmate Information: Neal grew up in witness protection. He learned early on that he needed to be self reliant. His mother shut down after they were put in witness protection, leaving Neal to largely raise himself. He loved her, but considers his father's former detective partner more family than his mother. His mother's neglect also drove him to commit the minor crimes and swindles that helped him live the life he wanted outside of her influence.
He was always a hustler, breaking in to his school during second grade to try and set the clocks so class would start later. By age 11 he was playing pool at a local bar in St. Louis and cleaning marks out of their money, and had already started forging city bus passes so he could move around independently. His mother told him that his father, a cop, went down in a haze of bullets saving someone's life. At age 18 he found out the apparent truth--his father was a crooked cop and killed a fellow officer. Unable to handle the revelation, Neal ran away from home and started pulling minor cons across the country, making his way to NYC and falling in love, both with the city and one of the women in it.
At the time he was working for Vincent Adler. Adler became Neal's mentor early on in his time in NYC. Showing him the finer things in life, shaping Neal into a protege that would do almost anything for him. When Neal tried to con Adler, Adler turned the con back on Neal and disappeared with over a billion dollars. Adler later returned, and was responsible for the death of Neal's lover Kate and the near-death of Neal's best friend.
Kate was Neal's obsession for a long time. In many ways, he considered her his muse, and some of the heists he pulled off were meant to impress her or get her attention to send messages. After his release into FBI custody, Neal went back to looking for her, and was nearly able to start a new life at her side in spite of the fact that Kate admitted to Peter Burke that she never really loved Neal the way he loved her. She was killed in an explosion that nearly killed Neal too, leaving him with PTSD and a desperation to bring her killers to justice.
Neal got on to the FBI's radar not too long after Adler vanished. He cracked a bearer bond that was supposedly impossible to forge, and Peter Burke spent the next three years chasing Neal around the world. When he finally caught Neal, the only crime he could prove was the bond forgery. Rather than leaving Neal in prison, Burke took him on as a confidential informant for the FBI, where Neal has helped the white collar unit close 94% of their cases. He's desperate for connection, for understanding, for kindness--and everything he's ever been given of those things has been conditional or unreliable. There are only two people in his life who have ever been wholeheartedly accepting of him and who he is, and by his canon point, he's pretty sure he's never going to see one of them again.
Neal is suave, handsome, charming, and he knows it. He can be anything to anyone, and adapts to situations with alarming speed, constructing the most useful persona for the moment without hesitation. He smiles when he's upset, lies as fluidly as he tells the truth, and comes across as an open book - a fiction which very quickly falls apart if you try to ask him about his life. He says it's to keep up an air of mystery, but it has a lot more to do with running from past hurts and not being able to deal with some of the things he's been through. His biggest lie is honesty, and he's capable of drawing people in with just enough of the truth to get what he wants and leave them with nothing. He seems like someone you can trust, and trusting him is a very, very big risk.
When it comes to things he's not emotionally involved in, he's shrewd, calculating, and precise. When he's emotionally involved, he reckless, easily angered, and driven to great lengths to get what he wants and damn the consequences. He's incredibly good at adapting to his circumstances, whether it's escaping a gunman during a sting gone wrong or stealing high-tech surveillance equipment with nothing but a floor layout and an unexpected twenty seconds to do it. He's an adrenaline junky, which informs a lot of his choices, but he's not a fighter. He's far more likely to run from violence than engage with it unless someone else is at risk.
At his current canon point, he's at his lowest. After a period of near-happiness, he was forced to run from the FBI or be transferred to Washington DC to face permanent indentured servitude under the supervision of someone he hated. After being brought back into custody and being "graciously" given his old work-release deal again in return for helping apprehend one of the FBI's top ten most wanted, he struggles to figure out who he is and in the process reconnected with his adoptive aunt. She was murdered shortly thereafter, and Neal's father walked back into his life after 34 years, pretending to be someone else.
When Neal found out the man pretending to be his aunt's undercover partner was really his father, a man accused of killing his SO, Neal plunged into internal turmoil over the desire to know and be loved by the father he doesn't remember and the suspicion that his father is exactly the man the accusations portray.
When his father reveals his true colors and frames Neal's most trusted friend for murder, Neal takes steps to clear his friend's name before the man can be formally tried and lose his place at the FBI. Neal is, at his canonpoint, neck-deep in lies to everyone he cares about, being blackmailed into crimes that would get him locked up for a lot longer than four years, all to protect a friend who will arrest him if he finds out what Neal's done.
Also, the girl he fell in love with in the middle of it all turned out to be the one pulling the strings, and she shot him.
Path to Redemption:
One of my big beefs with White Collar as a canon is the insistence, from start to finish, from just about everyone, that Neal is just naturally a criminal and can't help his criminal behavior. By season five, even though he's starting to buck against the idea that his behavior is inherently wrong/that crime itself is never a moral response to a situation, he's definitely internalized the idea that he's not good enough to be good and never will be.
Ultimately, I want his trigger for graduation to be his getting genuinely angry at being an Inmate not because it traps him but because he's come to really believe he doesn't deserve it. It'll be a process.
When he first gets to the Barge, there's going to be a period of bitterness and anger that his so-called second chance came with strings he doesn't remember being described, and he's going to be a contrary, emotionally aggressive brat with anyone who exercises power over him. He'll be disruptive, probably try to jump ship at his first port, and buck hard against the whole prospect of indefinite confinement without clear parameters for release.
The best warden for him would be someone patient, someone kind, someone who supports his frankly very fragile sense of self and helps him establish some kind of personal value. He wouldn't do well with someone rough, someone dismissive, someone who doesn't listen to his opinions, or someone violent. He's a lot more likely to listen to someone who (at least acts like) he has some kind of value to them.
Being brought to Barge is going to reinforce for him on a subconscious level the idea that the things he's done are bad, full stop. Since he associates his entire sense of self with what he's accomplished or failed to accomplish, having this cosmic "evidence" that his choices are corrupt will be kinda crushing. He's going to be pushed to square one, in terms of his opinion of himself, which is just 'I'm a criminal so I'm going to act like a criminal.' Opportunities to prove that he's more than that, having people consistently tell him he's more than that, being rewarded for criminal-but-moral choices--those are the things that will push him toward the internalization of the possibility that he deserves better than the world has given him.
EDITS FOR REVISIONS: Y'all hit the nail on the head when you said "realizing he isn't inherently Bad is an important step for him in breaking out of various harmful habits." My personal beefs with White Collar's treatment of him aside, Neal is absolutely a shortsighted liar who causes harm to others simply because he doesn't think before he acts a lot of the time and doesn't trust anyone for either help or (most of the time) advice. He's the smartest one in the room 90% of the time (or at least thinks he is), and his assumption that he knows best gets him in trouble. He doesn't trust people, and his unwillingness to do that, to share information, to rely on others, often balloons problems from something small and potentially manageable into a disaster that takes great lengths to resolve. Similarly, he needs to stop trying to please everyone, because in trying to do so he often causes similar issues. Working to please people with opposing agendas has led to direct harm to innocent third parties on more than one occasion. Ultimately, in addition to realizing that he himself isn't inherently bad--more than that, even--he needs to learn to trust. To truly rely on others and look for help when he needs it instead of either trying to resolve the issue himself or just straight up hide that there's a problem until it blows up in his face and the faces of everyone around him. For real redemption, real graduation, he needs to internalize his own value to the degree where he doesn't consider trust and reliance on others to be a personal failing or profound weakness.
History: https://whitecollar.fandom.com/wiki/Neal_Caffrey
Sample Network Entry:
To Whom It May Concern,
This is specifically directed at whoever thought it would be hilarious to take my towel in the time it took for me to turn off the water in one of the shower stalls and turn back to where I'd placed it out of the way.
Joke's on you. I've been stuck naked in worse places.
That said, I will find you, and you will regret the day you were hijacked onto this little space camp minimum-security nightmare.
Have a nice day.
--N. Caffrey
Sample RP: TDM Sample
Special Notes: Nope!
User DW: N/A
E-mail/Plurk/Discord/PM to a character journal/alternate method of contact: plurk is researchboner, though I'm rarely on it. PMs work!
Other Characters Currently In-Game: N/A
Character Name: Neal Caffrey
Series: White Collar
Age: 36
From When?: S5, ep11. Neal has just discovered the woman he thought he was in love with was using him and has killed multiple people. During a search of her apartment, she shoots him. In canon, it's a warning shot, as she's actually developed feelings for him. In this situation, he started to take a step to one side at just the wrong moment.
Inmate Justification: His redemption arc is... well, a little weird, possibly. What he needs to learn is that he's capable of being something other than a criminal. He needs to accept the idea that he can be "redeemed," and then maybe even go a step further and realize that his mistakes aren't the kind that need redemption from anyone but himself.
Arrival: He agreed to come in.
Abilities/Powers: He's a regular squishy human. That said, he's also a world class thief, forger, and con man. He's able to look at a forged painting and not only tell that it's a fake, but also the kind of light it was painted in and how long it took to do based on the shading that changed with the movement of the sun. Basically, he's Sherlock Holmes if Sherlock Holmes was obsessed with art and history. In canon he's done everything from making fake gemstones to rappelling into the office of a world-class thief to break into his safe and leave a sarcastic message there.
Inmate Information: Neal grew up in witness protection. He learned early on that he needed to be self reliant. His mother shut down after they were put in witness protection, leaving Neal to largely raise himself. He loved her, but considers his father's former detective partner more family than his mother. His mother's neglect also drove him to commit the minor crimes and swindles that helped him live the life he wanted outside of her influence.
He was always a hustler, breaking in to his school during second grade to try and set the clocks so class would start later. By age 11 he was playing pool at a local bar in St. Louis and cleaning marks out of their money, and had already started forging city bus passes so he could move around independently. His mother told him that his father, a cop, went down in a haze of bullets saving someone's life. At age 18 he found out the apparent truth--his father was a crooked cop and killed a fellow officer. Unable to handle the revelation, Neal ran away from home and started pulling minor cons across the country, making his way to NYC and falling in love, both with the city and one of the women in it.
At the time he was working for Vincent Adler. Adler became Neal's mentor early on in his time in NYC. Showing him the finer things in life, shaping Neal into a protege that would do almost anything for him. When Neal tried to con Adler, Adler turned the con back on Neal and disappeared with over a billion dollars. Adler later returned, and was responsible for the death of Neal's lover Kate and the near-death of Neal's best friend.
Kate was Neal's obsession for a long time. In many ways, he considered her his muse, and some of the heists he pulled off were meant to impress her or get her attention to send messages. After his release into FBI custody, Neal went back to looking for her, and was nearly able to start a new life at her side in spite of the fact that Kate admitted to Peter Burke that she never really loved Neal the way he loved her. She was killed in an explosion that nearly killed Neal too, leaving him with PTSD and a desperation to bring her killers to justice.
Neal got on to the FBI's radar not too long after Adler vanished. He cracked a bearer bond that was supposedly impossible to forge, and Peter Burke spent the next three years chasing Neal around the world. When he finally caught Neal, the only crime he could prove was the bond forgery. Rather than leaving Neal in prison, Burke took him on as a confidential informant for the FBI, where Neal has helped the white collar unit close 94% of their cases. He's desperate for connection, for understanding, for kindness--and everything he's ever been given of those things has been conditional or unreliable. There are only two people in his life who have ever been wholeheartedly accepting of him and who he is, and by his canon point, he's pretty sure he's never going to see one of them again.
Neal is suave, handsome, charming, and he knows it. He can be anything to anyone, and adapts to situations with alarming speed, constructing the most useful persona for the moment without hesitation. He smiles when he's upset, lies as fluidly as he tells the truth, and comes across as an open book - a fiction which very quickly falls apart if you try to ask him about his life. He says it's to keep up an air of mystery, but it has a lot more to do with running from past hurts and not being able to deal with some of the things he's been through. His biggest lie is honesty, and he's capable of drawing people in with just enough of the truth to get what he wants and leave them with nothing. He seems like someone you can trust, and trusting him is a very, very big risk.
When it comes to things he's not emotionally involved in, he's shrewd, calculating, and precise. When he's emotionally involved, he reckless, easily angered, and driven to great lengths to get what he wants and damn the consequences. He's incredibly good at adapting to his circumstances, whether it's escaping a gunman during a sting gone wrong or stealing high-tech surveillance equipment with nothing but a floor layout and an unexpected twenty seconds to do it. He's an adrenaline junky, which informs a lot of his choices, but he's not a fighter. He's far more likely to run from violence than engage with it unless someone else is at risk.
At his current canon point, he's at his lowest. After a period of near-happiness, he was forced to run from the FBI or be transferred to Washington DC to face permanent indentured servitude under the supervision of someone he hated. After being brought back into custody and being "graciously" given his old work-release deal again in return for helping apprehend one of the FBI's top ten most wanted, he struggles to figure out who he is and in the process reconnected with his adoptive aunt. She was murdered shortly thereafter, and Neal's father walked back into his life after 34 years, pretending to be someone else.
When Neal found out the man pretending to be his aunt's undercover partner was really his father, a man accused of killing his SO, Neal plunged into internal turmoil over the desire to know and be loved by the father he doesn't remember and the suspicion that his father is exactly the man the accusations portray.
When his father reveals his true colors and frames Neal's most trusted friend for murder, Neal takes steps to clear his friend's name before the man can be formally tried and lose his place at the FBI. Neal is, at his canonpoint, neck-deep in lies to everyone he cares about, being blackmailed into crimes that would get him locked up for a lot longer than four years, all to protect a friend who will arrest him if he finds out what Neal's done.
Also, the girl he fell in love with in the middle of it all turned out to be the one pulling the strings, and she shot him.
Path to Redemption:
One of my big beefs with White Collar as a canon is the insistence, from start to finish, from just about everyone, that Neal is just naturally a criminal and can't help his criminal behavior. By season five, even though he's starting to buck against the idea that his behavior is inherently wrong/that crime itself is never a moral response to a situation, he's definitely internalized the idea that he's not good enough to be good and never will be.
Ultimately, I want his trigger for graduation to be his getting genuinely angry at being an Inmate not because it traps him but because he's come to really believe he doesn't deserve it. It'll be a process.
When he first gets to the Barge, there's going to be a period of bitterness and anger that his so-called second chance came with strings he doesn't remember being described, and he's going to be a contrary, emotionally aggressive brat with anyone who exercises power over him. He'll be disruptive, probably try to jump ship at his first port, and buck hard against the whole prospect of indefinite confinement without clear parameters for release.
The best warden for him would be someone patient, someone kind, someone who supports his frankly very fragile sense of self and helps him establish some kind of personal value. He wouldn't do well with someone rough, someone dismissive, someone who doesn't listen to his opinions, or someone violent. He's a lot more likely to listen to someone who (at least acts like) he has some kind of value to them.
Being brought to Barge is going to reinforce for him on a subconscious level the idea that the things he's done are bad, full stop. Since he associates his entire sense of self with what he's accomplished or failed to accomplish, having this cosmic "evidence" that his choices are corrupt will be kinda crushing. He's going to be pushed to square one, in terms of his opinion of himself, which is just 'I'm a criminal so I'm going to act like a criminal.' Opportunities to prove that he's more than that, having people consistently tell him he's more than that, being rewarded for criminal-but-moral choices--those are the things that will push him toward the internalization of the possibility that he deserves better than the world has given him.
EDITS FOR REVISIONS: Y'all hit the nail on the head when you said "realizing he isn't inherently Bad is an important step for him in breaking out of various harmful habits." My personal beefs with White Collar's treatment of him aside, Neal is absolutely a shortsighted liar who causes harm to others simply because he doesn't think before he acts a lot of the time and doesn't trust anyone for either help or (most of the time) advice. He's the smartest one in the room 90% of the time (or at least thinks he is), and his assumption that he knows best gets him in trouble. He doesn't trust people, and his unwillingness to do that, to share information, to rely on others, often balloons problems from something small and potentially manageable into a disaster that takes great lengths to resolve. Similarly, he needs to stop trying to please everyone, because in trying to do so he often causes similar issues. Working to please people with opposing agendas has led to direct harm to innocent third parties on more than one occasion. Ultimately, in addition to realizing that he himself isn't inherently bad--more than that, even--he needs to learn to trust. To truly rely on others and look for help when he needs it instead of either trying to resolve the issue himself or just straight up hide that there's a problem until it blows up in his face and the faces of everyone around him. For real redemption, real graduation, he needs to internalize his own value to the degree where he doesn't consider trust and reliance on others to be a personal failing or profound weakness.
History: https://whitecollar.fandom.com/wiki/Neal_Caffrey
Sample Network Entry:
To Whom It May Concern,
This is specifically directed at whoever thought it would be hilarious to take my towel in the time it took for me to turn off the water in one of the shower stalls and turn back to where I'd placed it out of the way.
Joke's on you. I've been stuck naked in worse places.
That said, I will find you, and you will regret the day you were hijacked onto this little space camp minimum-security nightmare.
Have a nice day.
--N. Caffrey
Sample RP: TDM Sample
Special Notes: Nope!
(no subject)
Sep. 14th, 2021 11:48 pmPLAYER
NAME: Jae
CONTACT: Account PM or via plurk @ researchboner
ACTIVE TIMES/PACE: MOST DAYS EXCEPT TUESDAY, I sprinkle tags in whenever I can. Pretty quick when I'm able to be, but my schedule is a bit everywhere because of my job.
BRACKETS/PROSE: Prose is preferred because I do a lot of tagging from my phone.
OFFENSIVE SUBJECTS & TRIGGERS: I'm pretty chill on this tbh, I just don't do well with realistic depictions of Alzheimer's. Blank-slate TV amnesia? Love it. Slow loss of self and the ability to communicate? No thank.
CONTACT: Account PM or via plurk @ researchboner
ACTIVE TIMES/PACE: MOST DAYS EXCEPT TUESDAY, I sprinkle tags in whenever I can. Pretty quick when I'm able to be, but my schedule is a bit everywhere because of my job.
BRACKETS/PROSE: Prose is preferred because I do a lot of tagging from my phone.
OFFENSIVE SUBJECTS & TRIGGERS: I'm pretty chill on this tbh, I just don't do well with realistic depictions of Alzheimer's. Blank-slate TV amnesia? Love it. Slow loss of self and the ability to communicate? No thank.
IN CHARACTER
PHYSICAL AFFECTION: He REALLY doesn't like being touched by people he either doesn't know or isn't sleeping with. I'm fine with him being poked though, and he definitely has no qualms about sleeping around when he's not in a committed relationship.
PHYSICAL VIOLENCE: INDEED, let's coordinate
RELATIONSHIPS: All kinds pls. Romance is possible, but he's kind of in a "relationships sure are a thing I'm bad at" place
PSYCHIC & PSIONIC INFORMATION: READ AWAY I love this shit. Just let me know your character is psychic and I'll give you as much as possible to work with in narration.
MAGICAL INFORMATION: NONE MAGIC
MEDICAL INFORMATION: Ripped and healthy
OFFENSIVE SUBJECTS & TRIGGERS: He's very touchy these days about being called a criminal, but as for particular triggers, the only real rage button he has is threats against people he cares about. Feral Neal can't fight for shit but by God will he try.
PHYSICAL VIOLENCE: INDEED, let's coordinate
RELATIONSHIPS: All kinds pls. Romance is possible, but he's kind of in a "relationships sure are a thing I'm bad at" place
PSYCHIC & PSIONIC INFORMATION: READ AWAY I love this shit. Just let me know your character is psychic and I'll give you as much as possible to work with in narration.
MAGICAL INFORMATION: NONE MAGIC
MEDICAL INFORMATION: Ripped and healthy
OFFENSIVE SUBJECTS & TRIGGERS: He's very touchy these days about being called a criminal, but as for particular triggers, the only real rage button he has is threats against people he cares about. Feral Neal can't fight for shit but by God will he try.
OUT OF CHARACTER
BACKTAGGING: Always
THREADHOPPING: I like if people ask first, but the answer is usually yes.
FOURTHWALLING: No thank.
NOT INTERESTED IN: I'll take it all, baby. The good the bad and the ugly.
THREADHOPPING: I like if people ask first, but the answer is usually yes.
FOURTHWALLING: No thank.
NOT INTERESTED IN: I'll take it all, baby. The good the bad and the ugly.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
VISUAL: 
He's just OUT THERE, LOOKING LIKE THAT.
AURAL: A smooth jazz kind of voice that is very rarely raised. (Example! Where he mostly accidentally makes a room full of teenagers swoon over their substitute teacher.)
OLFACTORY: Always smells nice, whether it's something citrusy, smoky, piney--he's good at picking "masculine" scents that somehow match his clothes.
DEMEANOUR: Always smooth and affable, able to make himself comfortable in almost any space and any conversation. He's a chameleon of a man who will insult you with a smile, sometimes in a way that makes it sound like a compliment.
He's just OUT THERE, LOOKING LIKE THAT.
AURAL: A smooth jazz kind of voice that is very rarely raised. (Example! Where he mostly accidentally makes a room full of teenagers swoon over their substitute teacher.)
OLFACTORY: Always smells nice, whether it's something citrusy, smoky, piney--he's good at picking "masculine" scents that somehow match his clothes.
DEMEANOUR: Always smooth and affable, able to make himself comfortable in almost any space and any conversation. He's a chameleon of a man who will insult you with a smile, sometimes in a way that makes it sound like a compliment.
☆ code by kimmiserate ☆
App for Apocalypse How
Sep. 14th, 2021 11:24 pmCharacter Name: Neal Caffrey
Age: About 37 if he didn't lie about his birthday.
Canon: White Collar
Canon point: Post-series
History: Wiki Link
Personality:
Empathy - Neal is incredibly capable of reading people, and he uses it to manipulate, but he also is a willing ear when someone needs to talk and does his best to be a comfort to his friends when they struggle. He's done everything from comfort robbery victims to spotting when one of the agents at the FBI was about to break and taking them aside to talk. He cares about people, and he's not afraid to show it.
Intelligence - As mentioned in his history, Neal is a world-class thief and con man. He's orchestrated robberies deemed impossible and helped catch criminals thought untouchable. He's well read, a skilled chess player, and capable of calling up an amazing variety of information relevant to his interests off the top of his head. According to his FBI file, he speaks eight languages that the bureau knows about, including Russian, Japanese, French, Spanish, and conversational Swahili.
Drive - Once Neal sets his mind to something, he's willing to pull out all the stops to make it happen. He's tenacious, pursuing criminals even in his off hours if they've caught his attention or interest. The first season focuses on the theft of a music box that Neal has been pursuing for upwards of seven years. It also follows Neal's search for the woman he's in love with, which takes him behind the FBI's back tracking clues left behind by her and her kidnapper. He almost loses everything in the pursuit, but he doesn't give it up until he's gotten what he wants.
Pride - Neal is occasionally prone to overestimating himself, biting off more than chew and then denying that he needs help. It's gotten him into trouble both on the street and with the FBI, leading at various times to a nearly-botched sting, his own kidnapping, and the death of the woman he pursued throughout the first season. He's gotten better about it, but he knows he's often the smartest one in the room, and he flaunts that knowledge when it suits him.
Distrust- He doesn't let people in. Even when he should. Even when he cares about them, and the consequences of not telling the whole story mean burned bridges. He nearly got himself sent back to prison on more than one occasion, and has tanked every significant romantic relationship he's had by keeping the truth back from the people he cares about.
Suitability: He wants to find a way back to his own world, thank you very much. He had plans. He figures the best way to do that is to stick with people who seem to know at least something about what's going on.
Powers/Abilities:
World class thief, forger, and con man. He's able to look at a forged painting and not only tell that it's a fake, but also the kind of light it was painted in and how long it took to do based on the shading that changed with the movement of the sun. Basically, he's Sherlock Holmes if Sherlock Holmes was obsessed with art and history. In canon he's done everything from making fake gemstones to rappelling into the office of a world-class thief to break into his safe and leave a sarcastic message there. At various times he's shown re-wiring an elevator, cracking a safe by ear, and uh. Faking his own death, oops. If there's a con or an angle he hasn't tried, he's more than willing to learn, but at this point in his life he uses said powers (almost) strictly for good.
Entity Affinity:
The Eye - Neal has lived most of his life as a stranger to everyone around him, no matter how close he lets them think they are. His closest friend and mentor didn't know anything about his childhood until they'd known each other for almost three years, and even then he was sparse with details and didn't talk about his mother at all. He's a secret keeper. His safety is in what other people don't know. That's the space he uses to build whoever he thinks he needs to be. Moreover, almost the entirety of season 6 is centered around Neal's realization that even if the undercover operation he's working with is successful, the news that he was involved with it will put everyone he knows and cares about at risk. He ultimately chooses to fake his own death and start over half-way around the world, rather than reveal that secret and put them at risk.
Inventory: Tailored suit, fedora, silk tie, tie pin, pro lock pick set, and a French newspaper from 2014, a smartphone that's TOTALLY ON THE CUTTING EDGE for 2014, plus two cheap burners.
Samples:
Dialogue
Introspection
A collection of tags and threads that participants wanted to play out, after I pulled Neal from The Village!
Idk I'll think of something more descriptive.
Idk I'll think of something more descriptive.
Permissions Post for The Village
Dec. 20th, 2020 01:08 pm NEAL CAFFREY canon: White Collar canon point: S3, Ep12 (Upper West Side Story) canon cw: None in particular. brief bio: Neal grew up in witness protection. He was always a hustler, breaking in to his school during second grade to try and set the clocks so class would start later. By age 11 he was playing pool at a local bar in St. Louis and cleaning marks out of their money, and had already started forging city bus passes so he could move around independently. His mother told him that his father, a cop, went down in a haze of bullets saving someone's life. At age 18 he found out the apparent truth--his father was a crooked cop and killed a fellow officer. Unable to handle the revelation, Neal ran away from home and started pulling minor cons across the country, making his way to NYC and falling in love, both with the city and one of the women in it. He got on to the FBI's radar by cracking a bearer bond that was supposedly impossible to forge, and Peter Burke spent the next three years chasing Neal around the world. When he finally caught Neal, the only crime he could prove was the bond forgery. Rather than leaving Neal in prison, Burke took him on as a confidential informant for the FBI, where Neal has helped the white collar unit close 94% of their cases. By season three, he has the opportunity to run and disappear anywhere he wants in the world, with a stolen treasure that could set him up for life. He decides to stay in New York, happy with the life he's made and not wanting to lose it. relationship status: Involved?? Confused?? Daisy Johnson kind of Happened To Him. apparent age: 34 appearance: Portrayed by Matt Bomer. 5'10", very blue eyes, very handsome face, very chic suits, very trim sweaters, always looking good when he's on the street. When he's alone, he's far more likely to wear a t-shirt or tank top. identifying marks; None in particular, other than very blue eyes. mental state: Upon his arrival to Mathias, probably the most well-adjusted he is through the entirety of the series. He's just helped put away his most dangerous rival, freed himself of a secret that ended one relationship and nearly landed him back in prison, and is starting to move on from the death of his lover Kate, his former mentor Vincent Adler, and his life as a criminal in general. He's put down roots, has a girlfriend he's incredibly serious about, is doing exemplary work at the FBI, and has just been informed that his prison sentence--and thus his custody by the FBI--might be commuted thanks to his work in returning priceless art stolen by the Nazis in WWII. During his interview with the commutation committee, he tells them that he doesn't actually care whether or not they remove the tracking anklet he's been wearing as a ward of the US government. He's happy where he is, and he doesn't plan on leaving. ABILITIES World class thief, forger, and con man. He can case a target with the best of them, and has been shown at various times forging everything from bearer bonds to designer whisky. He's able to look at a forged painting and not only tell that it's a fake, but also the kind of light it was painted in and how long it took to do based on the shading that changed with the movement of the sun. Basically, he's Sherlock Holmes if Sherlock Holmes was obsessed with art and history. He's also a crack shot with both rifles and hand guns, to the point where he once shot through someone's pant leg to tag a suspect without hurting the person in between them. That said, he hates guns generally. IC PERMISSIONS physical affection: Neal is not a very touch-y guy. He doesn't like people in his personal space. The only time he's really physical is when he's seducing or romancing someone, and even then his guard stays up. Letting someone hug him is a Very Big Deal. flirting: HE FLIRTS LIKE HE BREATHES. In spite of the value of monogamy to him, he can't stop himself from what he calls "the dance." relationships: Potentially. He values monogamy. He's never shown with a dude in canon but IDC he's bi af fight me. sex: Potentially, I prefer FTB in general. fighting: COME AT HIM. He can't fight for shit. injury/death: I love both hurting and killing my characters, I just like to talk it through first! psychic information: He is an open book. triggers: The only real triggers I can think of are explosions, one of which killed his first lover and nearly killed him. When confronted with scenes of violence or death, he also tends to flash back to that moment. Less as time as gone by, but it's there. OOC PERMISSIONS time zone: EST rp style: Generally brackets or prose, I'm comfortable with either. contact: PM works best! I'll also be on the game discord. backtagging: Absolutely offensive subjects: Rape jokes, VAW, etc. I prefer not to engage with characters who make light of that kind of thing. |
app for the village
Dec. 19th, 2020 03:29 pmPLAYER INFO
Name: Jae
Age: 33
Contact: PM
CHARACTER INFO
Character Name: Neal Caffrey (+ like ten billion aliases)
Canon: White Collar
Canon Point: Mid-season 3
Appearance: Portrayed by Matt Bomer. 5'10", very blue eyes, very handsome face, very chic suits (when he's not stuck in the middle of the woods in a weird haunted town anyway).
Age: 34
Character snapshot: Neal is a con man, thief, forger, and good-hearted person who doesn't think much about the consequences of his actions. He takes on illegal activity less because of the payout than because of the challenge. It takes a lot for him to trust someone--and even when he does finally let them in, he still keeps 90% of his associates at arm's length. In one early episode he says that there's only one person in his life that he trusts, and it's the FBI agent who caught him. A romantic and a dreamer, Neal loves art, history, philosophy, and pretty much anything that stretches the mind and encourages out-of-the-box thinking. In spite of being a dead shot and capable of using both hand guns and rifles with proficiency, he hates violence, often calling it "uncreative." He's settled into a life of helping the FBI stop thieves, and he's good at it.
World description: Our world, circa 2012. While Neal has been all over the world, his heart lies in New York City, and he always comes back to it. He inhabits a world of expensive clothes, expensive art, and expensive taste in wines, and works with the FBI's white collar division in Manhattan to bring down criminals who share his tastes. There's not much to separate it from reality, except the occasional pulp-fiction pursuit of buried Nazi plunder and bit of thievery that involved hang gliding down from a high rise after stealing a six million dollar painting. Basically, Neal's world is ours with the shenanigans turned up to eleven.
History: Neal grew up in witness protection. He was always a hustler, breaking in to his school during second grade to try and set the clocks so class would start later. By age 11 he was playing pool at a local bar in St. Louis and cleaning marks out of their money, and had already started forging city bus passes so he could move around independently. His mother told him that his father, a cop, went down in a haze of bullets saving someone's life. At age 18 he found out the apparent truth--his father was a crooked cop and killed a fellow officer. Unable to handle the revelation, Neal ran away from home and started pulling minor cons across the country, making his way to NYC and falling in love, both with the city and one of the women in it.
He got on to the FBI's radar by cracking a bearer bond that was supposedly impossible to forge, and Peter Burke spent the next three years chasing Neal around the world. When he finally caught Neal, the only crime he could prove was the bond forgery. Rather than leaving Neal in prison, Burke took him on as a confidential informant for the FBI, where Neal has helped the white collar unit close 94% of their cases. By season three, he has the opportunity to run and disappear anywhere he wants in the world, with a stolen treasure that could set him up for life. He decides to stay in New York, happy with the life he's made and not wanting to lose it.
What are your character’s mental/emotional strengths?
Empathy - Neal is incredibly capable of reading people, and he uses it to manipulate, but he also is a willing ear when someone needs to talk and does his best to be a comfort to his friends when they struggle. He's done everything from comfort robbery victims to spotting when one of the agents at the FBI was about to break and taking them aside to talk. He cares about people, and he's not afraid to show it.
Intelligence - As mentioned in his history, Neal is a world-class thief and con man. He's orchestrated robberies deemed impossible and helped catch criminals thought untouchable. He's well read, a skilled chess player, and capable of calling up an amazing variety of information relevant to his interests off the top of his head. According to his FBI file, he speaks eight languages that the bureau knows about, including Russian, Japanese, French, Spanish, and conversational Swahili.
Drive - Once Neal sets his mind to something, he's willing to pull out all the stops to make it happen. He's tenacious, pursuing criminals even in his off hours if they've caught his attention or interest. The first season focuses on the theft of a music box that Neal has been pursuing for upwards of seven years. It also follows Neal's search for the woman he's in love with, which takes him behind the FBI's back tracking clues left behind by her and her kidnapper. He almost loses everything in the pursuit, but he doesn't give it up until he's gotten what he wants.
What are your character’s mental/emotional weaknesses?
Pride - Neal is occasionally prone to overestimating himself, biting off more than chew and then denying that he needs help. It's gotten him into trouble both on the street and with the FBI, leading at various times to a nearly-botched sting, his own kidnapping, and the death of the woman he pursued throughout the first season. He's gotten better about it, but he knows he's often the smartest one in the room, and he flaunts that knowledge when it suits him.
Distrust - He doesn't let people in. Even when he should. Even when he cares about them, and the consequences of not telling the whole story mean burned bridges. He nearly got himself sent back to prison on more than one occasion, and has tanked every significant romantic relationship he's had by keeping the truth back from the people he cares about.
Impulsiveness/Shortsightedness - He doesn't want to hurt people, but he often draws them into the line of fire due to his own recklessness. If he sees a solution to something, he goes after it his own way regardless of whether or not there might be a safer one. He has no qualms about bending the law to his own purposes when it means bringing down a bigger criminal, even though he's nearly gotten caught at it more than once. Nearly caught isn't actually caught, and a crime is only a crime if they can prosecute, as far as he's concerned. He doesn't think about the reputations he can and has ruined thanks to his actions, both as a criminal and a confidential informant.
What events or circumstances in your character’s past have impacted them the most?
Growing up in WITSEC with an absent mother - Neal learned early on that he needed to be self reliant. His mother shut down after they were put in witness protection, leaving Neal to largely raise himself. He loved her, but considers his father's former detective partner more family than his mother. His mother's neglect also drove him to commit the minor crimes and swindles that helped him live the life he wanted outside of her influence.
Working for Vincent Adler - Adler was Neal's mentor early on in his time in NYC. Showing him the finer things in life, shaping Neal into a protege that would do almost anything for him. When Neal tried to con Adler, Adler turned the con back on Neal and disappeared with over a billion dollars. Adler later returned, and was responsible for the death of Neal's lover Kate and the near-death of Neal's best friend.
Kate Mereau's death - Kate was Neal's obsession for a long time. In many ways, he considered her his muse, and some of the heists he pulled off were meant to impress her or get her attention to send messages. After his release into FBI custody, Neal went back to looking for her, and was nearly able to start a new life at her side in spite of the fact that Kate admitted to Peter Burke that she never really loved Neal the way he loved her. She was killed in an explosion that nearly killed Neal too, leaving him with PTSD and a desperation to bring her killers to justice.
Neal's arrest - After a three years pursuit, Agent Peter Burke collared Neal and set him up for a four-year prison sentence. When Neal broke out of the supermax where he was being held, Burke offered him an opportunity--come work for the FBI in closing high-profile white collar crimes or spend another four years behind bars. Neal took the deal, which led him to the life he has now. One he loves and is unwilling to leave behind.
What impressions do others tend to have of your character and how do those impressions differ from who your character truly is?
Neal is suave, handsome, charming, and he knows it. He can be anything to anyone, and adapts to situations with alarming speed, constructing the most useful persona for the moment without hesitation. He smiles when he's upset, lies as fluidly as he tells the truth, and comes across as an open book - a fiction which very quickly falls apart if you try to ask him about his life. He says it's to keep up an air of mystery, but it has a lot more to do with running from past hurts and not being able to deal with some of the things he's been through. His biggest lie is honesty, and he's capable of drawing people in with just enough of the truth to get what he wants and leave them with nothing. He seems like someone you can trust, and trusting him is a very, very big risk.
What motivates your character?
Curiosity, passion, and justice. He wants to know everything, and knows perfectly well that there's more than he'll ever learn, but he applies himself to become as expert as he can in as many areas as he can. He loves to know things, and he's driven to explore the world as broadly as he can for the pure love of learning. Even if that learning is how to break into the most secure safes in the world, or how to forge an "impossible" pink diamond. He cracks his first case with the FBI by learning all he can about warrants and arrests, manipulating that knowledge to lead the FBI to their criminal.
He's a passionate romantic, with a true love of art and the sublime. He loves what humanity is capable of, and considers himself only a minor part of the world as a whole. He has no illusions about whether or not he'll be remembered in a hundred years, but he intends to live to the fullest in the time he has. His passion both helps and hurts him very frequently. Sometimes it drives him to excellence, and sometimes it makes him incredibly shortsighted. He's learning though. Slowly.
He also has a strong sense of write and wrong, ironic as that sounds. Violence is never an option to him. He's the first to duck away from physical conflict, in spite of his ability as a boxer and his proficiency with guns. His sense of right and wrong primarily circles around the people closest to him, the innocent victims of crimes, and the people his people care about. One of the things he's learned from Peter during their time working together is that justice and vengeance are not the same thing, and it's that lesson--and Neal's belief in its truth--that keeps him from killing one of the men involved in Kate's death.
How does your character handle crisis or adversity?
Depends on the type of crisis/adversity. When it comes to things he's not emotionally involved in, he's shrewd, calculating, and precise. When he's emotionally involved, he reckless, easily angered, and driven to great lengths to get what he wants and damn the consequences. He's incredibly good at adapting to his circumstances, whether it's escaping a gunman during a sting gone wrong or stealing high-tech surveillance equipment with nothing but a floor layout and an unexpected twenty seconds to do it. He's an adrenaline junky, which informs a lot of his choices, but he's not a fighter. He's far more likely to run from violence than engage with it unless someone else is at risk.
Skills, abilities, and physical weaknesses:
World class thief, forger, and con man. He's able to look at a forged painting and not only tell that it's a fake, but also the kind of light it was painted in and how long it took to do based on the shading that changed with the movement of the sun. Basically, he's Sherlock Holmes if Sherlock Holmes was obsessed with art and history.
Inventory:
Tailored suit, fedora, silk tie, tie pin, pro lock pick set, and nonfunctional ankle monitor.
HORROR INFO
What aspects of your character are you most interested in exploring in a horror setting?
His trust issues, for one. I want to force his reliance on others through things he has no idea how to deal with on his own, and I want to put him through trauma that will wear on his psyche, specifically things that will trigger his PTSD or force him to confront his family history. Basically, I love psychological horror, but I also would absolutely love to have him face monsters, ghosts, etc, and be helpless to protect himself or fight them. Get his princess ass saved.
What is your character’s mental state upon entering the game? Thoroughness is appreciated here.
Probably the most well-adjusted he is through the entirety of the series. He's just helped put away his most dangerous rival, freed himself of a secret that ended one relationship and nearly landed him back in prison, and is starting to move on from the death of his lover Kate, his former mentor Vincent Adler, and his life as a criminal in general. He's put down roots, has a girlfriend he's incredibly serious about, is doing exemplary work at the FBI, and has just been informed that his prison sentence--and thus his custody by the FBI--might be commuted thanks to his work in returning priceless art stolen by the Nazis in WWII. During his interview with the commutation committee, he tells them that he doesn't actually care whether or not they remove the tracking anklet he's been wearing as a ward of the US government. He's happy where he is, and he doesn't plan on leaving.
What unsettles and frightens your character? What sort of encounters would chip away at your character’s psychological stability?
Memories of his past, or manipulation of those memories. He values his mind and if he thought it was being messed with, it would get to him, badly. The thought that he's being used by the people around him. The violent death of people in front of him, or his inability to save them. Physical conflicts in which he would be pretty much useless, except to hide behind others more capable of fighting. Being taunted by secrets that he can't quite crack, and patterns he can't quite pin down.
What horrifying events or genre elements would you like to see utilized in the game?
I'm a fan of mental fuckery, as well as body horror/torture (to a degree), and monsters. ...Also I like killing my characters, because I'm a bad person.
SAMPLES
Test Drive: HERE
Log Sample: HERE
Log Sample: HERE
samples/tdm stuff
Sep. 17th, 2018 10:58 amv. friendr
vi. wildcard/network
[ The feed begins by broadcasting one of the private rooms in communal housing, a blank space without adornment, even the bed unused. This person is very new.
The person in question sits at the desk, bright-eyed and smiling. When he speaks it's with a posh British accent. ]
Hello my loves. How are we all doing today?
[ Simon turns in his chair, one way and then the other in increments. It's a perfectly natural movement, nothing odd, but it's a tell nonetheless. He's wired in spite of appearing relaxed, upset in spite of his smile.
No one who doesn't know him very well would be able to tell.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, there's no one here who knows him that well. ]
This is an interesting situation in which we've found ourselves. Novel even for me.
[ A wink. ]
Anyone out there interested in a cocktail and a chat? I'd love to learn a bit more about our mercifully non-utilitarian surroundings.
| Friendr | ||||
| « |  | » | ||
| » Age: youthfully vigorous » Seeking: anything » Preferences: bisexual » Interests: Fast cars, fine wine, and pretty faces. » Bio: Entrepreneurial world traveler who enjoys the good life. And sharing it. | ||||
| base code by photosynthesis | ||||
| Simon Templar | ||||
|
vi. wildcard/network
[ The feed begins by broadcasting one of the private rooms in communal housing, a blank space without adornment, even the bed unused. This person is very new.
The person in question sits at the desk, bright-eyed and smiling. When he speaks it's with a posh British accent. ]
Hello my loves. How are we all doing today?
[ Simon turns in his chair, one way and then the other in increments. It's a perfectly natural movement, nothing odd, but it's a tell nonetheless. He's wired in spite of appearing relaxed, upset in spite of his smile.
No one who doesn't know him very well would be able to tell.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, there's no one here who knows him that well. ]
This is an interesting situation in which we've found ourselves. Novel even for me.
[ A wink. ]
Anyone out there interested in a cocktail and a chat? I'd love to learn a bit more about our mercifully non-utilitarian surroundings.
