site b app ;

[raleighs]

OOC
Name: Melanie
Contact: crimsongrace @ plurk
Timezone: MST
Current Characters: N/A

IC
Name: Raleigh Becket
Canon/Medium: Pacific Rim
Canon/Medium Point of Origination: After the movie, after he and Mako seal the breach and are brought back to the Hong Kong Shatterdome.
Age/Sex: 27 - male
History Link: this page here
Appearance: Raleigh is 6'1" and 187 lbs (not that I've stalked the actor that much, that's just what the wiki says and it seems legit). He's blond and blue eyed and totally walks like a cocky asshole. He even hooks his fingers in his belt as he walks. Given that his world is on the fact of extinction and resources are scarce and he's from Alaska, he tends to wear big, thick ugly sweaters.
Special Abilities: He says it himself, he was never a star athlete or the brightest in school but he could hold his own in a fight. The movie makes it seem like anyone can Drift, as Newton and Hermann drift with a kaiju but it's clear that not everyone has what it takes to be a Jaeger pilot.

SAMPLES
Sample Network Post: If you were going to go through the trouble of cloning me [--him? us? Raleigh's not really what the right pronoun is there, he was awful at high school english but you get the point] there are some memories I could have done without.

Like, I don't know, my [-- his --our] brother's death.

Just saying.

Sample Prose Post:

Strangely, when it's all over is when he misses Yancy the most. Obviously he missed his brother and best friend over the last five years, but with the loss of Yancy, the loss of Gipsy Danger, the wall being built and the Jaeger program supposedly ending, he always had this nagging thought running in the back of his head that reminded him that he'd be joining Yancy soon. Because the world was ending. And you don't think about a normal life when you're facing the apocalypse. You think about how you're going to get food tonight, and if you'll have at least a roof over your head even though it'd still be cold as fuck because you are still living in fucking Alaska.

Now Raleigh Becket has nothing but a normal life ahead of him (minus the fame of being the Jaeger pilot that saved the world) and the ache that is Yancy's death opens like a raw, ragged wound. Yancy was the time before K-Day, before the world went to shit, back when they were just teenagers watching TV after school, back when their parents were still around and they were still on speaking terms with their little sister. It's more real now that his brother is never coming back than when it happened.

Raleigh doesn't know where he fits in this new world. The world has no need for heroes anymore, no need for the Jaeger program, no need even for the PPDC, and there goes his career right out the fucking window. He was a washed up Jaeger pilot once before, he could go back to doing that again, he supposes but if people stared at him the last time for being the fallen Ranger that lost a brother and wrecked a billions of dollars Jaeger, then that's nothing compared to what it's like now. They practically gape at him, and want to shake his hand and pat his shoulder and tell him thank you until his skin crawls and he has to find an exit route.

People still annoy him, crowds still freak him out, and he doesn't think that will ever change. Once he reveled in it, stood tall with his brother, above everyone else because they were Jaeger pilots. But that was then and this is now, and he's been fed more than his fair share of humble pie. He doesn't want fame or money or some fancy job with the reconstruction projects. That's Mako's thing, she's made for that stuff, because she's brilliant and dedicated and he's actually not that smart, just a guy with a big mouth and a chip on his shoulder the size of his dead brother.

Raleigh just wants to live and finding he doesn't remember how. Which is really just the kind of horrible irony that's made up his life so far. Raleigh's finishing up packing what little he brought to the Hong Kong Shatterdome with him, his sweaters and his pictures. They have to leave tomorrow, the building's been officially decommissioned and everyone's been reassigned or accepted a new position or resigned. He hasn't done any of that, holding out to the last second to make up his mind. Maybe he'll follow Mako wherever she goes or take the job that he knows Marshall Hansen wants him to take or he'll go back to Alaska, visit Yancy and his parents' graves or something depressing like that. He's thought about calling up his sister too but what the fuck do you even say after like eight years of silence? Good job surviving the end of the world? You're welcome?

He throws the last pair of socks into his duffel bag and zips it up. Whatever he decides on, he'll figure it out tomorrow. Tonight, he promised Tendo and the other stragglers a game of poker and that he and Mako wouldn't cheat with their freaky mind connection.

PERSONALITY

- Describe a situation in which the character begins a new relationship. Did s/he take the initiative? Was s/he reluctant to make a new friend/lover?
This is kind of tricky with Raleigh. He's always been an introvert and preferred to have a few close friends rather than a hundred lukewarm friends. That tendency only got worse after Yancy's death. Raleigh's the kind of guy who hates people, hates crowds, can't stand it when people start to look at him with pity and try to offer their sympathy. The first person he really tried to form a new relationship with after leaving the PPDC was Mako Mori. She was the first person he actually considered letting into his head. If asked, he'd just say that he sensed something about her, that they were compatible and that was that.
The simple answer is that he's picky about who he befriends but he is loyal to the ones that he lets into his circle.

- How does your character view the world? Do they find it pleasant or do they wish there was something else out there?
The world is shit. Raleigh is marked by his grief and even after the breach is sealed, he doesn't know exactly where he belongs. What's he supposed to do now without the Jaeger program or the wall being built? His adult life has been about fighting monsters and the monsters are gone and the world doesn't need heroes anymore.

- Describe an important task that your character was responsible for. Did they abandon the task or stick with it to completion?
This is a tricky one. Raleigh is both dedicated and loyal and insubordinate and selfish depending on his mood and the circumstance. Raleigh and his brother were commissioned as the inaugural crew of Gipsy Danger and he took that duty very seriously... for about three and a half years until Yancy died. After Yancy was torn from the conn pod of the Jaeger, Raleigh managed to kill the kaiju and make it to shore on his own, which shows his determination to finish things, his loyalty to his duty but then he promptly quit the Jaeger problem because he refused to let anyone else into his head like that. The PPDC tried to enlist his cooperation in a study, to determine if there were any after effects of driving a Jaeger solo but he adamantly refused to help. It was like after losing his brother, he gave up.
Raleigh eventually went back to the Jaeger program and piloted Gipsy Danger on his own again in the breach. He sent Mako to safety and completed the mission, even though he knew he was more likely to die doing it than to survive.

- Describe a situation in which your character was entrusted with a secret. Did they tell? Did they take it to the grave?
Drifting with someone, you literally see everything in their head; their memories, thoughts, and feelings. Raleigh would never tell one of Yancy or Mako's secret that he discovered in the Drift.

- Is your character well-acquainted with his or her own motivations? Do others perceive his or her motivations the same way?
Raleigh knows himself pretty well. It's kind of hard to not confront that after seeing himself through another person's eyes. He knows that he's kind of a loner, that he likes humanity as a whole but actually hates people, that he'll punch you in the face if you get in his way, that he's prickly on the outside and has a soft, gooey center. And it's even weirder to see himself how someone else sees him, which he's done twice now with Yancy and Mako.
Most people don't make it past his hard exterior to learn what he's really like.

- Describe a situation in which your character and a figure of authority did not see things eye-to-eye. Was your character willing to compromise or did s/he stand his or her ground?
Stood his ground the entire way. His file with the PPDC has a note about his tendency towards insubordination. After his and Mako's disastrous first Drift together, he tried to convince Marshall Pentecost (who is also Mako's adoptive father) to let her continue as his co-pilot in Gipsy Danger. He refused to be dismissed at first, pushing the Marhsall's buttons about Mako and even went so far as to grab his commanding officer by the arm. Stacker put Raleigh back in his place, and the Ranger begrudgingly accepted it because he wanted to stay on and pilot Gipsy Danger to the breach, to help again, but damnit, he hated it.

- Describe a situation where your character deliberately hurt someone or destroyed property that does not belong to them. What was their justification? Are they stricken by remorse?
Raleigh punched Chuck Hansen after he insulted Mako and proceeded to fight with him after Chuck refused to apologize. He's probably only sorry that the fight was interrupted before he could beat Chuck to a pulp. He likes to solve his problems with his fists because it's easier for him. He's not an eloquent speaker but he's a good fighter.

- Describe the five foods that mainly comprise your character's diet.
1) shitty rations 2) shitty rations 3) shitty rations 4) shitty rations 5) shitty beer

- Describe your character's religious beliefs.
His mom tried to make him Christian but it never really stuck. He doesn't see how if there is a God or higher power or whatever that He/She/It would allow the kaiju to invade their home and do nothing to help. Or let Yancy die like that.

- Describe a situation in which your character was forced to make a complicated decision. Did s/he make the decision before s/he knew all of the facts or did s/he bide his or her time until s/he was absolutely sure?Describe a situation in which the character accomplished something very difficult or with the odds stacked against them. What was their initial reaction? Were they prone to bragging or did they humbly and quietly enjoy their success?
This is two fold answer. Before Yancy's death, Raleigh was completely the type to celebrate whenever they brought down a Kaiju because he was a cocky ass like that. And it's hard not to feel that way when you're in a Jaeger.
And then there's Raleigh after his second foray into Gipsy Danger. He did more than kill a few kaiju this time, he saved the world by helping to close the breach and his initial reaction was one of pure relief. Relief that it worked and he was still alive honestly because it had kind of looked like a suicide mission for a while there. He's happy to celebrate the victory with people in the Shatterdome but outside that, strangers recognizing him and thanking him would definitely make him uncomfortable. He doesn't need or want to be thanked or applauded for what he did, it was the right thing to do and it worked and now everyone can move on.

- Describe a situation in which your character was forced to face a fear. How did they talk themselves through it? Were they rescued, or did they manage to prevail in the end?
Raleigh's first step back into the Drift after Yancy, he was fucking terrified of what would happen. Fucking terrified of reliving his last moments in the Drift, and seeing Yancy's last moments too. He asked to take the opposite side from what he used to, to try and avoid any ramifications but he had this sinking feeling in his gut that he'd chase the rabbit. The only reason he stepped back into Gipsy Danger was because he told himself that this was what Yancy would have wanted, that Yancy would be doing this if he had been the one who died, and Stacker was right, they were going to die anyway, so he might as well die in a Jaeger. It ended up not being as big of an issue as he expected because while he was able to pull himself back into sync in the handshake, Mako wasn't and he was effectively distracted from his fears by trying to pull her back.