The Character Survey of DOOM

[abrightboy]

Body and Appearance
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is he heavyset, thin, short, rangy?
Malcolm is slight but well muscled from all the yoga and push ups and pull ups he does to keep his head on straight. He's 5'7", so fairly short for a man.

2. How old is he?
33 at my current canonpoint.

3. Describe his posture. Does he carry himself well or does he slouch?
Malcolm has excellent posture, but he comes from the world of Old Money and extreme affluence and he went to schools that emphasized the importance of things like posture and etiquette.

4. How is his health? Is he fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?
Physically, he's in great shape, except for the psychogenic tremor that is often very prominent in his right hand when he gets at all emotional, but will manifest in both under extreme duress.

5. How does he move? Is he clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid?
He moves like a cat, but he did take ballet as a child and see above re: posture. I'm not saying they went as far as making them walk with a book on their head, but he carries himself with confidence and moves easily.

6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he perceive himself in the mirror?
He's somehow both adorable and hot at the same time. He has striking blue eyes and full lips and thick hair. As mentioned, he's physically fit. He also dresses in expensive tailored bespoke suits and designer clothes. He's well groomed at pretty much all times. He knows he dresses well, but his self esteem is lower than it should be because his PTSD has caused issues in his love life. He's confident in his abilities as a profiler and detective, though.

7. Describe his complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred?
Very fair, clear skin, medium dark hair with light highlights. He has one scar on his face above his lip.

8. Describe his hair: color, texture, style. Thick, straight with a slight wave to it at the ends when it's longer. Light brown with lighter highlights. He wears it slicked back unless he's kicking around at home, but sometimes it escapes and frames his face.

9. What color are his eyes? A very striking bright blue with a darker blue border around them.

10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features? He has particularly well defined shoulders that seem to want to burst the seams of his shirts when he's not wearing a jacket.

11. What are his chief tension centers? Between his eyes, between his shoulders.

12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does he have six of the same suit? He has 80 colours of the same suit. He wears "$10k suits" according to canon, and almost never the same one twice. He also favours pea coats with the collar upturned when he's working. When he's at home or off work, he favours dark jeans and sweaters or, at night or padding around his loft in the morning, sweatpants and t-shirts.

13. Do his clothes fit well? Does he seem comfortable in them? His clothes fit extremely well; he's very rich and they're all properly tailored. His work suits, in particular, also seem to serve as armour between him and the world.

14. Does he dress the same on the job as he does in his free time? If not, what are the differences? Sometimes he wears his suits in his spare time, but more often he favours crisp designer jeans and sweaters.

15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando? Boxer briefs


Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse? His voice is semi deep and sometimes has a hint of a rasp to it.

2. How does he normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does he talk easily, or does he hesitate? He speaks evenly and with excellent diction and often. He's a talker.

3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics? He has extremely good diction as a result of his excellent and expensive formal education.

4. What language/s does he speak, and with how much fluency? English - fluent. I expect, with his known special interests he could easily know Ancient Greek or Latin and French.

5. Does he switch languages or dialects in certain situations? No, he switches tones between firm or even aggressive and soft or empathetic.

6. Is he a good impromptu speaker, or does he have to think about his words? He's an excellent impromptu speaker. His job involves assessing a situation quickly, reading a person's face and/or body language and then talking them down from a crisis situation or violence.

7. Is he eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change? Eloquent but he can be more inarticulate when he's nervous, like if he's around someone he has a romantic crush on.



Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is he book-smart or street-smart? Malcolm has a genius intellect. Very book smart. A little street smart. An endearing nerd.

2. Does he think on his feet, or does he need time to deliberate? He thinks on his feet almost exclusively. He's very impulsive.

3. Describe the character's thought process. Is he more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical? He's logical. His job involves understanding human emotions and motivations, but he looks at them both with empathy and with almost a clinical detachment.

4. What kind of education has the character had? Various private and boarding schools, tutors and then an advanced degree from Harvard before specializing in criminal profiling at Quantico.

5. What are his areas of expertise? What, if anything, is he interested in learning more about? His major area of expertise is murder and, specifically, serial murder. He was the FBI's leading expert on serial killers when he worked for them and now he consults with the NYPD when they have a weird or difficult murder to solve.

6. Is he an introvert or an extrovert? He's an introvert that wants to be an extrovert and usually does a decent job of faking it.

7. Describe the character's temperament. Is he even-tempered or does he have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven? He's even tempered when he has a lid on his shit, but it's very easy for him to shift to mood swings if his meds are off or things are too triggery. He's melancholy more than cheerful, but for someone dealing with his issues, he tries really hard to keep his spirits up and be cheerful for the people around him. He's very very driven when he's on a case.

8. How does he respond to new people or situations? Is he suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic? He has profound trust issues, so he tends to be suspicious, but if his interests are piqued in some way he can be enthusiastic at the same time.

9. Is he more likely to act, or to react? React.

10. Which is his default: fight or flight? Fight.

11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does he appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks? He appreciates gallows humour a lot, but doesn't mind a dad joke. He's not a big fan of pranks or anything that derives humour from making someone else feel bad.

12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does he deal with them? He suffers from severe complex post traumatic stress disorder. He is on a range of medications for it, does daily affirmations his therapist taught him, sometimes frequents his therapist and exercises.

13. What moments in this character's life have defined him as a person? One particular moment has defined his whole life: the time he found a woman in a travel trunk in his father's hobby room and realized his father murdered people for kicks. Also his subsequent act of calling the police and reporting it, leading to his father's arrest and imprisonment.

14. What does he fear? Himself, more than anything. He fears what he feels is his own capacity to be like his father in any way.

15. What are his hopes or aspirations? He wants to stop killers to save victims.

16. What is something he doesn't want anyone to find out about him? That he has a darkness in him that mirrors the darkness he sees in his father.



Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with his parents. Until recently, it was estranged and distant with both of them. Two years ago, he returned to New York and, after a blow out argument with his overprotective mother, they reconciled and grew closer than they've ever been. He also started seeing his manipulative narcissist psychopathic father again after ten years of no contact at all. That situation is complicated because on the one hand, Malcolm understands what his father is, but on the other hand, some part of him still wants his love and approval.

2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like? He has one sister, who has always been seen as the 'normal' one because she was so young when their father was arrested and their mother worked to shield her as much as possible from the fall out. Malcolm and Ainsley are very close; there was a time when all they had was each other and they still feel like they've come through the trenches together. She's the one person he will do literally anything for, including compromising his most closely held values when he covered up a murder she committed.

3. Are there other blood relatives to whom he is close? Are there ones he can't stand? None others he's close to. He cannot stand his Aunt Birdie, who treats him with contempt.

4. Are there other, unrelated people whom he considers part of his family? What are his relationships with them? He definitely considers his mentor Gil Arroyo part of his family. The man who arrested his dad has been more a father to him and had more of a hand in raising him and making him the man he is today than his actual (murderer) father. He once mused that he has always worried he could end up like a child sadist they arrested. "Not on my watch," Gil answered.

5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet? His current canon best friend is Dani Powell, an NYPD detective he works with on Gil's team. They met when Gil brought him in on a serial killer case that involved a Surgeon copycat.

6. Does he have other close friends? JT Tarmel, the other detective on Gil's team, won't admit it, but they're friends too. Even so, they are all work friends that he rarely spends time with outside of work.

7. Does he make friends easily, or does he have trouble getting along with people? He does not make friends easily. Between his trust issues and his mental health problems, he finds it difficult to forge close connections, despite his desperation for them.

8. Which does he consider more important: family or friends? Family.

9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has he been married more than once? He is single. He was in a brief two to three week relationship with Eve Blanchard and it was the deepest and most important romantic relationship of his life at that point. Then she dumped him.

10. Is he currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse? No.

11. Who was his first crush? Who is his latest? His first crush was probably also his first best friend, Vijay Chandasara. They were best friends in the ninth grade, until Vijay's father got out of prison and he shifted social circles.

12. What does he look for in a romantic partner? Intelligence and any acceptance of him whatsoever. I wish I were exaggerating.

13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does he relate to them? If no, does he want any? No. He doesn't consider himself 'dad material'. Tricky childhood. And he's wildly dependant on benzos.

14. Does he have any rivals or enemies? His father. His father's friend John Watkins. The entire FBI, but mostly Special Agent Colette Swanson, who is a fellow profiler and has a hell of a grudge against him.

15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does he fall on the Kinsey scale? He's pretty squarely a 3.

16. How does he feel about sex? How important is it to him? He feels that it's 'psychological gasoline'; that it has a strong emotional impact on people. He wants the connection with someone more than the physical pleasure, but the physical pleasure will probably be a great bonus if he ever finds that connection.

17. What are his turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits? Turn-ons: intelligence, competence, empathy, kindness. Turn-offs: People who behave in a way that is predatory towards other people; particularly vulnerable people. Weird bedroom habits: Violent hallucinations?



Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does he fit type? He was born in late 1988, which makes him an Earth Dragon by the Chinese Zodiac. Earth: Earth is a balance of both yin and yang, the feminine and masculine together. Dragon: Intense and powerful individuals capable of great good, who make great leaders but are rather unpredictable. Intelligent, magnanimous, charismatic, charming, authoritative, confident, eloquent and artistic, but can be manipulative, jealous, selfish, aggressive, vindictive, and deceitful.

He fits it super well.

2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life? Neither. In fact, when we've seen him interact with organized religion or spiritual practices in any way, he's been quite dismissive of them.

3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it? Absolutely. Ever since discovering what his father was, it's important to him to protect people from killers, even at risk to his own life and safety. He feels he has to make up for the people he didn't save from his father by being too slow to recognize what he was (at age 10).

4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from his? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent?
He's tolerant and curious. He understands even the draw of organized religion, even if he doesn't share it. His main drive is understanding how other people think.

5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them? He thinks dirty or even careless cops are the lowest of the low. He holds law enforcement in very high esteem and Gil Arroyo is his role model in the field. The bar is high. He finds it almost personally insulting that anyone would sully the badge by being less.



Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is he rich, poor, comfortable, in debt? Super ultra rich trust fund baby of one of New York's oldest and most wealthy families.

2. What is his social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected him? Ostracized. The Whitly family is very rich still, but the Surgeon's poison tainted them all. When he was arrested, the rest of them were shunned by New York Society.

3. Where does he live? House, apartment, trailer? Is his home his castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does he share it with others? He lives in a fastidiously clean and tidy loft apartment in SoHo with his parakeet, Sunshine. It has a lot of his personal touches, like his affirmation cards and his weapons collection. It's a family home. His parents lived in it when they first married, before they had kids and moved into the townhouse his mother's great great Milton grandfather built. His mother still owns it and strolls in whenever she pleases.

4. Besides the basic necessities, what does he spend his money on? He has some expensive paintings on his walls and an extensive collection of antique weapons.

5. What does he do for a living? Is he good at it? Does he enjoy it, or would he rather be doing something else? He's a forensic psychologist and works as a consulting profiler for the NYPD. He LOVES it. He loves working murder cases more than anything in the world.

6. What are his interests or hobbies? How does he spend his free time? He loves ballet, though he won't admit it. He's a two time silver medal axe thrower. He reads, mostly books about murder and/or psychology.

7. What are his eating habits? Does he skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods? When he remembers to eat, he usually orders in. His fridge is the fridge of a very sad person. His PTSD and his meds cause all sorts of digestive problems and he eats very small and light meals. He likes coffee, but just one in the morning. He loves candy because it helps his frontal lobe focus. He will drink a little bit of scotch in the evening. He has to be cognizant of how things interact with his medication, which includes heavy sedatives. For meals, he largely eats soups.



Associations
Which of the following do you associate with the character, or which is his favorite:

1. Color? blue
2. Smell? coffee
3. Time of day? early morning
4. Season? autumn
5. Book? the count of monte cristo
6. Music? classic rock
7. Place? the streets of new york
8. Substance? twizzlers
9. Plant? a nice shady tree in the park
10. Animal? Sunshine the parakeet



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