Loker App - HWD
✢ The Player
Player Name: Sammy
Age: 18+
LJ: lotuspromises
AIM / MSN / Y!M: lotuspromises on all services
E-mail: hidden
Other Characters: James Sterling
✢ The Character
Character Name: Eli Loker
Fandom: Lie to Me*
Canon Point: Post 3.07
Age: Never explicitly stated, so, let's say 29.
Appearance: Loker is tall, with a lanky build, and short dark brown hair that falls in messy curls against his face. He has pale skin, and often has stubble on his jaw. He usually seems a little bit awkward when he moves, as if he never entirely grew into his own body. He generally seems geeky and a little bit out of place in most social situations, despite his ability to read emotions.
Abilities / Powers: No supernatural powers. Loker is, however, academically-trained from an Ivy League college, with a Masters degree, and additional training in the science of reading microexpressions through the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) that Cal Lightman developed. While he isn't as adept in these skills as Cal, he has shown an improving ability to read microexpressions, as well as to perform vocal stress analysis, and recognize abnormal speech patterns that characterize deception.
Inventory: Clothes, backpack, laptop, video camera, collapsible tripod, wallet, cellphone.
Personality: At his introduction, Loker's most defining characteristic is the fact that he doesn't lie. It's something he calls 'radical honesty', which seems to encompass not just not lying, but a lack of duplicity, and a lack of lies of omission. Loker says everything that comes into his head, resulting in the fact that the first time he meets Ria Torres, a new co-worker, for him to casually proclaim 'I would like to sleep with you'. This conviction in the truth falters while working a case with Dr. Gillian Foster, who wants to make a deal with a culprit in order to get the money returned to the victims. Loker, however, feels strongly about the fact that the rich who play the system need to be punished, or else they'll never learn their lesson. He goes behind her back to report it to the SEC who they'd been working for, and when she questions him about it, he lies, even going so far as to take painkillers in order to relax his face and make it harder for her to read his deception.
He seems to demonstrate a rather intense desire for approval, most pronounced in his relationship with Cal, but also to a lesser degree in his romantic relations, as well. He takes a lot of abuse from Cal, even to the point of working for free, as an unpaid intern when he admits to his deception in regards to Doctor Foster. He still seems to seek to please Cal no matter the rough treatment, however, when he doesn't seem to make any progress in regaining his recognition, he starts lashing out.
Loker looks for jobs elsewhere, amoung them the Pentagon (one of Cal's former employers), even job searching on Cal's laptop and stooping to rather childish stunts, such as stealing Cal's pen. It all comes off less as an actual desire to get out of the situation he's in, and much more as that he's looking for any sort of recognition from Cal - even if it is confrontational. This seems to link into what I see as his most base fear: a lack of recognition, being ignored by people that he values. He largely seems to require validation of self worth outside of himself, and will spiral down into petty grabs for any sort of attention he can steal, when he can't get it.
However volatile his relationship with Cal is, it is not without it's positive points, which is likely what makes it so hard for Loker to relinquish the hold it has on him. When Loker gives up a very lucrative contract with a company by insisting that they use all of the Lightman Group's findings or none of them, or else the information would be leaked onto the internet, Cal seems to approve of his decision, even going so far as to declare that it was that sort of thing that initially got him in; the truth.
Headcanon is that Loker is an only child, raised by parents that while not abusive, definitely bordered on emotional neglect, leaving Loker starved for affection, and with a drive to succeed, likely based around the praise he would receive. He was likely something of a loner through school, as he doesn't seem to be particularly socially adept; the sort with a few close friends, probably active in a few clubs through high school, graduated with a high GPA, and got into Yale's Psychology program. He came across Lightman's work as an undergrad in Behavior Science, and went on to get his Masters in Cognitive Science. Loker was initially a summer intern right out of college, but was invited to stay on in a paid position; he jumped at the chance.
History: Wiki link is here.
First Person Sample:
[The camera shakes for a few moments as he adjusts the angle, and then his face swings into focus, initially too close, and then he pulls back, flashing a smile, though it's strained, and he seems jittery, fidgeting.]
Hi. I'm Eli Loker, but if I've been kidnapped, I'm guessing you already knew that. Isn't Arkham some sort of comic book thing? Of course, this whole thing sounds like something out of a comic book, to be honest. Cultists? I mean, I've encountered some people with alternate religious belief before, but--
[He swallows, glances off-camera as he tries to focus, biting his bottom lip for a moment as long fingers bush back his hair.]
I'm not the one that gets into these sort of things. It's my boss, uh, Cal Lightman. If you're after him, you've really picked the wrong hostage. And if not, well, I guess I'll figure that out later.
[The feed cuts off.]
Third Person Sample:
He sighed, his face still faintly throbbing from the beating he'd taken the other night. The cuts had mostly closed up, but he had a number of bruises along his jaw that had blossomed into garish purple and blue. He swung his bag over his shoulder, before heading out to see about the people that looked to be involved with the case they were working. Getting them into the cube looked like it was off the table, which left them trying to get more impromptu footage. It also meant that getting them off balance enough to allow for deception leakage was going to be paramount.
Loker wasn't looking forward to getting hit in the face again, but sometimes when you worked for Cal Lightman it couldn't be avoided. There was a part of him that liked it, the thrill, the danger, fighting so hard to be like Cal. He denied it, of course, flippant and swallowed down with a drink of Cal's favorite beer, but he was faintly certain that they both knew it was true. He'd been chasing after Cal since the day he'd been interviewed; since Cal had looked at him like he was a puzzle missing pieces.
Other: Candy and rainbows and bubblegum?
Player Name: Sammy
Age: 18+
LJ: lotuspromises
AIM / MSN / Y!M: lotuspromises on all services
E-mail: hidden
Other Characters: James Sterling
✢ The Character
Character Name: Eli Loker
Fandom: Lie to Me*
Canon Point: Post 3.07
Age: Never explicitly stated, so, let's say 29.
Appearance: Loker is tall, with a lanky build, and short dark brown hair that falls in messy curls against his face. He has pale skin, and often has stubble on his jaw. He usually seems a little bit awkward when he moves, as if he never entirely grew into his own body. He generally seems geeky and a little bit out of place in most social situations, despite his ability to read emotions.
Abilities / Powers: No supernatural powers. Loker is, however, academically-trained from an Ivy League college, with a Masters degree, and additional training in the science of reading microexpressions through the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) that Cal Lightman developed. While he isn't as adept in these skills as Cal, he has shown an improving ability to read microexpressions, as well as to perform vocal stress analysis, and recognize abnormal speech patterns that characterize deception.
Inventory: Clothes, backpack, laptop, video camera, collapsible tripod, wallet, cellphone.
Personality: At his introduction, Loker's most defining characteristic is the fact that he doesn't lie. It's something he calls 'radical honesty', which seems to encompass not just not lying, but a lack of duplicity, and a lack of lies of omission. Loker says everything that comes into his head, resulting in the fact that the first time he meets Ria Torres, a new co-worker, for him to casually proclaim 'I would like to sleep with you'. This conviction in the truth falters while working a case with Dr. Gillian Foster, who wants to make a deal with a culprit in order to get the money returned to the victims. Loker, however, feels strongly about the fact that the rich who play the system need to be punished, or else they'll never learn their lesson. He goes behind her back to report it to the SEC who they'd been working for, and when she questions him about it, he lies, even going so far as to take painkillers in order to relax his face and make it harder for her to read his deception.
He seems to demonstrate a rather intense desire for approval, most pronounced in his relationship with Cal, but also to a lesser degree in his romantic relations, as well. He takes a lot of abuse from Cal, even to the point of working for free, as an unpaid intern when he admits to his deception in regards to Doctor Foster. He still seems to seek to please Cal no matter the rough treatment, however, when he doesn't seem to make any progress in regaining his recognition, he starts lashing out.
Loker looks for jobs elsewhere, amoung them the Pentagon (one of Cal's former employers), even job searching on Cal's laptop and stooping to rather childish stunts, such as stealing Cal's pen. It all comes off less as an actual desire to get out of the situation he's in, and much more as that he's looking for any sort of recognition from Cal - even if it is confrontational. This seems to link into what I see as his most base fear: a lack of recognition, being ignored by people that he values. He largely seems to require validation of self worth outside of himself, and will spiral down into petty grabs for any sort of attention he can steal, when he can't get it.
However volatile his relationship with Cal is, it is not without it's positive points, which is likely what makes it so hard for Loker to relinquish the hold it has on him. When Loker gives up a very lucrative contract with a company by insisting that they use all of the Lightman Group's findings or none of them, or else the information would be leaked onto the internet, Cal seems to approve of his decision, even going so far as to declare that it was that sort of thing that initially got him in; the truth.
Headcanon is that Loker is an only child, raised by parents that while not abusive, definitely bordered on emotional neglect, leaving Loker starved for affection, and with a drive to succeed, likely based around the praise he would receive. He was likely something of a loner through school, as he doesn't seem to be particularly socially adept; the sort with a few close friends, probably active in a few clubs through high school, graduated with a high GPA, and got into Yale's Psychology program. He came across Lightman's work as an undergrad in Behavior Science, and went on to get his Masters in Cognitive Science. Loker was initially a summer intern right out of college, but was invited to stay on in a paid position; he jumped at the chance.
History: Wiki link is here.
First Person Sample:
[The camera shakes for a few moments as he adjusts the angle, and then his face swings into focus, initially too close, and then he pulls back, flashing a smile, though it's strained, and he seems jittery, fidgeting.]
Hi. I'm Eli Loker, but if I've been kidnapped, I'm guessing you already knew that. Isn't Arkham some sort of comic book thing? Of course, this whole thing sounds like something out of a comic book, to be honest. Cultists? I mean, I've encountered some people with alternate religious belief before, but--
[He swallows, glances off-camera as he tries to focus, biting his bottom lip for a moment as long fingers bush back his hair.]
I'm not the one that gets into these sort of things. It's my boss, uh, Cal Lightman. If you're after him, you've really picked the wrong hostage. And if not, well, I guess I'll figure that out later.
[The feed cuts off.]
Third Person Sample:
He sighed, his face still faintly throbbing from the beating he'd taken the other night. The cuts had mostly closed up, but he had a number of bruises along his jaw that had blossomed into garish purple and blue. He swung his bag over his shoulder, before heading out to see about the people that looked to be involved with the case they were working. Getting them into the cube looked like it was off the table, which left them trying to get more impromptu footage. It also meant that getting them off balance enough to allow for deception leakage was going to be paramount.
Loker wasn't looking forward to getting hit in the face again, but sometimes when you worked for Cal Lightman it couldn't be avoided. There was a part of him that liked it, the thrill, the danger, fighting so hard to be like Cal. He denied it, of course, flippant and swallowed down with a drink of Cal's favorite beer, but he was faintly certain that they both knew it was true. He'd been chasing after Cal since the day he'd been interviewed; since Cal had looked at him like he was a puzzle missing pieces.
Other: Candy and rainbows and bubblegum?