So, after a long time...
Alright, friends, you probably remember that pair of pictures that I put up a while back; the one with the guy!survivors? I said then that if I ever found the time and motivation, I'd put up the design ideas and whatnot that I'd had. I did have a nice sprawl of stuff to share, but the dying of my beloved tablet laptop utterly mutilated any chances of most of that seeing the light of day. Ugh on my part. However, I did manage to save some bits and pieces here and there, so I figure why shouldn't I share what little I've got with you?
I've only got Ray and Jordan for you because...well, I won't be getting my new graphics tablet for near a week (so I can't redraw anyone ugh), and I can't access a lot of my old harddrive due to some corruption issues. Working on that. :D Hopefully things will be sorted out in a timely manner. Until then, listen to Nam rant!
THE FOLLOWING WALL OF TEXT AND IMAGES ARE PURE SPECULATION AS THESE ARE TOTALLY NOT MY CHARACTERS.
ANYTHING CAN BE DIS-PROVEN AT ANY TIME, I'M JUST SPOUTING NONSENSE AS IT OCCURRED TO ME.
WE GOOD? WE GOOD.
Now then, let's have a look at the boys!
First up? Ray.
I view Ray as kind of an asshole. ….more on that later.
Ray's design was easy because, HEY IT'S CANON YAY! I added some blood and mud stains because he strikes me as the sort who gets right into the action, none of that fooling around or hanging back. He got a crowbar because I agree with the idea that many Hunter!sorts would be more comfortable with bash-melee-attacking. Lack of a reload, you get closer, and you're positive when the fight's over and whether or not you've won. Ray is basically the team's tank; he deals out and takes a lot of damage, but his previous incredibly-active lifestyle makes it easier for him to bounce back than it would be for someone like David or Travis.
I view Ray as crass, blunt, rude, and not really caring whether you like him or not, because if you've got a problem with him, you should get up and say it to his face. Act like you have a backbone around him, and he respects you for it. He subscribes to the idea that people should beat their differences out of each other. If you have a disagreement, pound each other until it's not important anymore. That's not like a war policy, it only works on individual scale. Don't take his words out of context. (This, in my opinion is one of the many reasons view why he and Smoker don't get along.)
Despite his...barely tolerable personality, Ray has a definite pack mentality when it comes to friendship. If you are his friend, then he and the other people he considers friends are the only people allowed to wail on you, unless it's one of those peace-making fights talked about earlier. And even then, it's tense. If he finds out someone's tried picking fights with one of the people he runs with, he tends to retaliate; with or without said friend's permission. Which puts him in a spot sometimes, as most of his friends are of the same mentality, and insist that they do not need him protecting them. This is especially a problem with Hunter, because she's the only girl in the group, and something of a little sister to Ray (the fact that she's a girl doesn't really play so much of a role as the fact that she's likely one of the younger, smaller built members of the group); while he doesn't hover, he is very likely to notice a black eye or split lip, ask what happened and who did it, crack a few jokes on the sly, and then go hang someone over a twenty-foot-drop. Metaphorically speaking. Honest.
...yeah.
He tends to hide his softer inclinations behind his punch-first-ask-questions-later mindset, but it really shows when the infection comes around. He immediately goes to the houses of all his friends to check on them (fuck CEDA, if they were worth trusting they'd have predicted this and would be handling it better). Most of the people he knew were already infected, missing, or dead, except for Jordan. Since their meeting up, the two of them have been making their way through the city, and though Ray won't admit it, he's been making a headcount role call every time they come across a body or infected that was someone he knew. Chances are, if this is an 'everyone survives' scenario, he would eventually become aware that Hunter's the last unaccounted for person, and would be constantly on the lookout for her. Not that he would say anything about it.
And then Jordan!
Jordan was a pain to design, because I just couldn't figure out how to make him obviously a Hunter, but not too similar to Ray. Thanks to a few clothing websites, I found a pretty awesome hoodie (quite a few actually, but more on that some other time), and ending up working off off that the rest of the way, and got a lot of ideas for his personality from that as well. The hoodie he has is basically a glow in the dark, stylized running sweatshirt, with added hood (zips on and off). I figured he was the sort to plan ahead and know that there would be times when he would be running at night. Thus the stripes on his hoodie, which are light-absorbing, glow-in-the-dark strips. He wants at least partial visibility for himself, and wants others (such as drivers and homeowners) to be able to see him as well. Being shot at for being mistaken as a prowler? Not cool. They make a pretty nifty show while he's running too. The khakis and sneakers were mostly an afterthought, meant to make him feel really laidback about his clothes. He was five seconds away from getting a totebag as well (because I see him as the sort to think ahead and want to bring some supplies with him and Ray when they take off into the apocalypse), but I couldn't make it look good with the rest of the outfit. Oh well.
Jordan strikes me as incredibly mellow, very understanding, and generally without any preset beliefs about the world. People are people, and he treats everyone the same regardless of gender or whatnot, which unsurprisingly tends to rub a lot of them the wrong way, because he follows that policy through even in regards to authority figures. Where Ray has a distinct issue with being ordered around, Jordan follows orders fine but refuses to bow and scrape for anyone, regardless of the consequences, and isn't going to cater to you just because you think you deserve it. Everyone stands on equaling footing. He can be very sympathetic though, and due to his even-headed, and unbiased nature, he is a wonderful adviser.
He also is incredibly aware of his surroundings and of other people. Thus he's usually the first to pick up on Special Infected, and on other people's troubles, personalities, likes, dislikes, etc. Because he doesn't judge, he's the best person to go to when you've got a problem, and usually the easiest member of the group to approach.
I kind of assumed that Jordan was the first of the guys Hunter had met, since Zarla made it seem she was really comfortable talking to him about things like her sexuality and crush on Smoker. Though that may have more to do with the sort of guy he is, rather than any long-term friendship. I figured that he would be the one she went through to find out about the running group, and Jordan was the one who encouraged her to run with him and the guys. He seems the sort who would be much more welcoming of new members, and because he is who he is, he doesn't pause in telling you how much you suck and delivers it in a way that doesn't make you want to quit.
Jordan represents that Moral Center friend, the one you go to for help, advice, or a couch to crash on when the shit has really hit the fan, the one you can call at three in the morning and spill out the stupid mess you got yourself into; and you always know he'll never tell on you. He also functions as the group's mediator, and is the one who steps in when things get too awkward/uncomfortable/violent/etc. and forces everyone to back off and cool down. He's the one who tells the person who's putting their foot in their mouth to shut up when they're toeing the line.
And best of all, he knows when to keep talking, even if you don't want him to.