LONG MEME IS LONG
The Character Physically
1. What is the character's stature and build? Is he overweight? Thin? What is his height and weight?
Somewhere between 5'8" and 5'9", and about 150 lbs. He's lean but pretty damn toned for a guy his age.
2. How old is he?
For RP/fic purposes, in his mid-to-late forties. I tend to fudge around a bit here because my Paul Smecker was born in 1956, and has come of age with certain historical events corresponding with that date of birth, and he'd be in his forties when the movie starts, but he'd be in his fifties if I were to say he is now in "2008."
3. Describe his posture. Is it good? Does he carry himself well? Is he crooked? Straight?
Paul's posture is very good. He has had dance training and is generally conscious of his body.
4. Is he in good shape or out of condition? Is he muscularly weak or strong?
Paul's in better shape than a good number of men his age (which he sort of has to be with the FBI's physical fitness requirements for field agents), which isn't to say he's perfect. His main out-of-condition area is his cardiovascular, which is due directly to his smoking like a chimney. As far as strength goes, he's got a tough wiry strength to him, but he relies much more on being quick and knowing how to best use his strength than actual physical force.
5. How is his health? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?
Again, aside from the state of his lungs, pretty decent. Paul eats surprisingly well for someone in law enforcement, because he makes the effort to obtain excellent food for himself. He exercises regularly and has no physical illnesses. His vision is not perfect, but minor enough that contact lenses serve him just fine.
6. Is he physically active or sedentary? A fast or slow mover?
Physically active. Paul does yoga every day he has time for it, and has done for the last twenty-five years. He runs intermittently, and at various times in his life has danced and fenced. He has a lot of energy to burn off, which usually gets done by berating the hell out of his coworkers.
7. Is he clumsy, awkward, graceful?
Graceful. See: dancing, yoga...
8. Does he move in straight or curved lines? Is he physically tight or fluid?
Mmm... both. Straight lines to get him to places where circles will work. He's fluid but controlled about it.
9. What are his chief efforts?
Paul spends a decent amount of time on his appearance. He's well-groomed and manicured whenever he leaves the house, and usually well-dressed. Exceptions come only when he's too stressed out to care, which, well, does happen with some frequency.
10. Is the character good-looking, pretty, beautiful, average, plain, ugly, disfigured?
Paul's visually arresting but even when he was young he was not exactly pretty. He has very strong sharp features and the years have added a number of hard lines to his face. He's been described as 'sexy-ugly' by a few past bedmates. Even his body, though toned, is not muscular the way a model's is but the way an athlete's is-- whipcord muscles tight on the bone, not smooth sculpted perfection.
11. Is the character aware of himself physically? His looks?
Paul's aware of his looks but more importantly, as far as he'd put it, his presence.
12. Describe his complexion and skin. Dark, light, clear, marked?
He's fairly pale naturally and doesn't exactly take opportunities to tan. He's got several scars.
13. Describe his hair, coloring, styling. Is it taken care of?
Dirty blonde-brown with some slight auburn undertones. He wears it on the long side, and takes good care of it. Fruity shampoos!
14. How is his usual dexterity? Does he have good hands: Can he do things? Is he a worker?
GORGEOUS hands He's pretty dexterous; childhood involved a lot of playing musical instruments and forensics involves a lot of careful handling of evidence and scientific equipment. He's not the sort of guy you call over if you want a shed put together, though. Also, he has noticeably longish nails.
15. Is he physically tense or relaxed, nervous, controlled?
Tense and controlled. Unless specifically relaxed (like in situations where he's listening to music) Paul tends to give off the impression of a taut wire.
16. What are his chief tension centers?
Head, shoulders, hands, chest, feet.....
17. What part of his body would you notice first?
Heh. Cheekbones? Paul also has pretty piercing eyes.
18. Describe his basic gravity factor. Is there a downward pull or buoyancy?
Even-keeled.
The Character's Clothes
1. How many clothes does this character have?
Not, perhaps, as many as people might think he does. But still a lot.
2. What items are in their wardrobe?
Business wear-- a number of nice suits and nice dress shirts and ties that he can mix and match. He owns exactly two pairs of jeans. He has a number of T-shirts, but only because the FBI keeps giving him them. (He's considered selling them on eBay.) His own casual clothing for himself tends to be sweaters and henleys and khakis. ...oh, and then there's Paul's more feminine clothes...
3. What are their favorite articles of clothing?
Ties and heels
4. What colors are the clothes? Is there a wide range? Bright or dull? What are their favorite colors to wear?
There's a lot of dark jewel tones, blues and greens mostly, and muted pastels. Paul considers black to be a good base for any outfit, and also likes to layer darks, like a forest green tie on an olive shirt, etc.
5. Are their clothes bright or dull?
They tend more to... dull, but a very smart, well-selected dull. In drag is, of course, a different story.
6. Were they bought or home-made, hand-me-downs, expensive?
They are bought, and nicely high-quality items, though Paul does his share of shopping around for the best deals and exploiting discounts he may have with acquaintances whenever he can. As a result he has a wardrobe that looks like he paid more for it than he actually did, though he still did certainly pay for it.
7. What is one of his favorite items to wear?
His FBI-issued sunglasses. He will hum 'Secret Agent Man' to himself when he has them on.
8. Do his clothes fit well?
Yes.
9. Is he comfortable in what he wears? Does he "fight" his clothes?
Very comfortable, he can pwn whatever he's wearing.
10. Is he confident about the way he dresses, or uneasy?
Confident.
11. Does he care for his clothes? Keep them up and neat? Is he worried about how they look?
Paul takes excellent care of his clothes and, when the job unavoidably dirties or tears them at times, will make sure they get TLC and the attentions of a quality tailor or cleaner to return them to their pristine state.
12. Does he have to dress a certain way because of his job or position? If so, do his usual clothes fit his real, basic character?
The FBI requires the suits; prior to his joining the FBI Paul was not such a snappy dresser, at least when it came to business-wear. His first few years with the FBI were not sartorially satisfying as he wore bland and not-terribly-good-suits to work since the FBI encourages everyone to look like a clone. Eventually Paul set out to educate himself on fine suits and to see how well he could dress while still technically following the dress standards of the Bureau, which makes him the savviest fashionista and best-dressed male field agent out there. And probably better than most of the women, too.
13. Does he dress according to a self image of himself? Is that self image conscious or unconscious? At what age was this self image made?
Paul dresses to exude crisp, stylish professionality. This is partly due to his self-image but just as much to do with the image he intends to leave his colleagues with namely, "I'm better than you." Paul's been aware of the role clothes play in image and how to use that ever since childhood, which was a barrel of fun in a snobby private school that he did not fit in to.
14. What kind of underwear does he wear?
Boxers as a general rule. (Drag is again a different story)
The Character's Voice
1. Does he speak in a high or low pitch voice? When might he be higher than usual? When lower?
Low-medium, with some noticeable gravel due to the years of cigarettes. Falsetto for drag (no surprises there). His voice doesn't really change pitch much otherwise.
2. Is he a loud or soft talker?
In conversation, average; but he can be by-god-as-loud-as-he-wants when excoriating someone.
3. Is there a wide range in the voice in volume, pitch and/or quality, or is the voice pretty consistent and even?
Mostly even unless he's intentionally trying to produce a certain effect, or when really stressed.
4. Is there good resonance to the voice? Is the voice throaty, chesty, heady, nasal?
Throaty, and resonant.
5. Is there tension in the voice? Anxiety? Emotion?
Semi-often. More so nowadays than for most of his life.
6. Is there an accent? Anything unusual in pronunciation? Emphasis? Phrasing?
Paul has traces of a New England accent, though he's pretty much successfully trained it out. It'll pop up on certain words, or when he's stressed. He's also very good at imitating other accents or modes of speech, and will slip into an ironic Southern drawl or camp lisp at the slightest provocation. His vocabulary vacillates between well-educated and brusque vulgarity.
7. Is it a trained voice, or just natural?
He was trained to sing as a child, and is just generally conscious of sound and voice
8. Does the character "try" to speak well or just "how it comes out"?
Tries to speak well. His diction is the result of a number of years of using words as a class weapon.
9. Is the speech clear or muddy? Does he mumble? Is he distinct?
Generally clear and distinct.
10. Is the voice comforting or irritating? Reassuring or disturbing?
Paul's voice can be comforting and reassuring, but generally he's tuned to the station of 'bitch'.
11. Is he self-conscious when he speaks to others? How large a group could he speak to before he became self-conscious?
Not really a problem for him. He's used to his audiences being hostile half the time anyway.
The Character's Mind
1. Is the character smart, dumb, naive?
Paul is a very sharp cookie, both in terms of abstract intellectual knowledge and so-called street smarts. He absorbs knowledge like a sponge and instantly puts it to work for him.
2. Does he think quickly? Slowly? Is he quick-witted? Dull?
Quickly and quick-witted.
3. What kind of education has he had?
An excellent private school education as a child, two bachelors' of science, and a juris doctorate. Far more school than anybody needs.
4. What subjects does the character have knowledge or expertise in?
Oh boy. *deep breath* Well, crime obviously, since he's, you know, in law enforcement... Though he's currently listed as dealing with Organized Crime (and does it well), he's hardly a pigeonhole specialist: first as a cop and then as FBI Smecker has dealt with everything from drug rings to white slavers to mail fraud to serial killers to prostitution. Whenever he gets exposed to something he hasn't yet run into he tends to throw himself at all available material for an immersion crash-course; as a result he can double as a walking storehouse of both the dry facts of crime statistics and more... interesting... grisly anecdotes.
The forensics background has given him a lot of solid comprehension in anatomy, biology, chemistry, and a number of the other hard sciences. His knowledge of psychology (and psychopathy) is also well above the layman's. He has an excellent command of the law, which is only to be expected.
FBI and police training means he's also well-versed in tactics, unarmed combat, firearms, etc etc.-- things Paul refers to as "the macho shit."
As for his hobbies-- he's got a passion-bordering-on-obsession for classical music (he knows a good deal about music in general, but the classical is his big kink). He knows how to play the piano, though he hasn't in years. He's extremely well-read, able to lecture condescendingly on subjects as diverse as Greco-Roman mythology, Japanese cinema, and T.S. Eliot. Or the protocols of the adult entertainment industry, through he didn't exactly pick those bits up from books. Paul will happily nitpick people's grammar.
He speaks some German, French, and Italian, understands more, though he is not fluent in any of them.
He also knows his way around a kitchen, a coffee grinder, fine suits, and cosmetics better than most.
In other words Paul Smecker is a raging Mary Sue.
5. Is the character impulsive or deliberate in reaching conclusions? Is he logical, rational, or emotional?
Mostly deliberate, and mostly logical. When he is not, his life gets massively fucked up. See: Connor and Murphy MacManus.
6. Does he think out things before he speaks or can she "think on his feet" as she is speaking?
Think on his feet. Rat-a-tat-tat machine gun repartee for the win!
7. Does he have contemplative times? What does she think about when alone?
He tends to try and avoid them. What would be a contemplative act for someone else-- listening to some soothing Beethoven before bed, say-- is in Paul's case about actually listening to the music, not performing deep introspection. That being said, he does turn a very critical lens on himself when he gets around to it. Ever since he met Connor and Murphy MacManus, most of his introspection tends to revolve around what he's gotten into with them.
8. Is he an idealist? A pragmatist? A dreamer? An idea man? An action man?
Paul is a ruthlessly practical idealist. He is definitely not a dreamer.
9. Is his life motivated chiefly by abstract ideals or practical rewards?
More abstract ideals, though he's not immune to some of the tangible rewards.
The Character's Emotions and Personality
1. Is he an introvert or an extrovert?
Introvert, though has a lot of traditionally extro traits.
2. Does he get along well with people? Does he have charm? Are people attracted to him? Does he like people?
He certainly can when he wants to. Paul is, er, charming in his way, and, yes, he does tend to attract people to him. Paul himself likes some people, and usually bitches about them the most.
3. Does he have many friends? Any close friends?
Many acquaintances, few friends.
4. Is he hot-blooded or cool-headed?
Paul does have a temper. Day-to-day stuff doesn't usually set it off, but when he's getting stressed out... the lid can and will blow, rather spectacularly. Be out of range when that happens, unless you want to get slapped or screamed at.
5. Does he have a narrow or wide range of emotions? Do they show often?
Reasonably wide. Some get shown to others, some do not.
6. Does he indulge in emotional peaks, outbursts, or valleys? Often?
See: temper.
7. Would you say he is basically sensitive or calloused?
Calloused. Which isn't to say he doesn't feel; but he is a professional in an often ugly profession and certain things go with that.
8. Is he suspicious, cautious, trusting, or naive about new people or situations?
Cautious, sometimes suspicious. He tends to trust his own intuition a good deal.
9. Is he an aggressive or reactive person? Is he a pusher or a puller?
Aggressive like all get-out. He won't just push, he'll shove people down flights of stairs!
10. Does he take positive or negative action?
Professionally? Positive. Personally? Negative.
11. In a danger or emergency situation would he go to it or run away from it?
Go to it, take charge if no one else was doing so, organize, proceed in the prescribed fashion.
12. Is the character basically nervous or calm?
Calm, but by no means serene.
13. Does the character have a sense of humor? Does he appreciate jokes? Can he see humor in unfunny situations? Can he laugh at himself?
Paul has a definite sense of humor; it is a cynical and oft-times dark one. He can generally laugh at himself.
14. Can he tell a funny story or joke? Do others find him amusing?
Yup. And it depends on how squeamish they are.
15. Is he a practical joker? What is his opinion of tricks or jokes played on other people?
Ehhh, of certain rarefied sorts, usually involving dead bodies or morgue humor. Not so much the bucket of water on the door type crap.
16. Is his humor ever cruel?
It can be.
17. Under what conditions could he be harmful or mean or cruel to another person?
When he gets annoyed enough with someone who's being a fucktard.
18. Is he a loving person? Is he full of love and giving or rather bound and tight in this area? Is he capable of relation to others in a loving way? Is he capable or relating to one specific person in a romantic way?
Oy.
...I kind of want to leave it just at "oy", but okay: Paul's capable of caring for people, but he's sewn up pretty tight. He's better at caring for others than letting himself be cared for, not that he's great at either. He has Many Issues. He has cared for "one specific person in romantic ways" at certain points in his life; it is probably not likely to happen again.
19. Is he loved by any other people? In what way?
He is. Probably most notably is his best friend and ex-wife Angela, who spends a lot of time worrying about him.
20. Is he romantically in love now? With whom? Is this a happy, rewarding or frustrating situation for him?
No.
The Character's Wealth, Power, and Influence
1. Does this person have much money? Does it provide position or respect from others for him?
Paul is financially secure, but by no means rich. He makes about $80,000 a year for the FBI, and tends to spend selectively and carefully.
2. Is he generous or selfish with his money and possessions?
He'll have occasional bursts of generosity, but when he wants to give a gift he's more likely to make it something personal rather than something expensive.
3. Is the character socially prominent? Is she prominent from wealth, position or office, family history, ability or accomplishment?
In the rarefied world of law enforcement Paul is mildly notorious as a smarmy asshole but a damn good agent. Paul is a lot less interested in social arenas other than that than he used to be.
4. Does the character rate high in the "pecking order" with his household? Town? Area? Nation? World?
Household = N/A. In Boston or anywhere in the US, he could get the respect due him by his FBI badge.
5. Does this person wield much clout? Over whom and by what means?
Not too large in scale, but sure. He orders the Boston cops around like interns! And does it to fellow agents to if he can get away with.
6. Can he command others to do his bidding, by word or manipulation?
In theory he's in charge of the Saints investigation, so everyone else on it has to do what he says.
7. How does he get his wishes daily?
Ordering, haranguing, or sometimes asking nicely.
8. To whom is he subservient? Is this submission willing or unavoidable?
Paul is 'subservient' to his supervisors in the FBI in the sense that he will generally do what they say. That's about it. He despises most of them.
The Character's Activities
1. How does the character spend his time?
Paul's a certified workaholic. Cases and investigations take much of his time. Leisure activities include performances of music, cooking, reading, and dating.
2. What does his daily routine consist of?
He usually gets up around six a.m. unless he's paged or called earlier than that. Yoga, shower, coffee, clothes, and off to work. The earliest he would leave work is five, and seven is a more likely average. Either home or a restaurant for dinner (and sometimes a date); or possibly a visit to the symphony... if he goes home alone he will probably end up working on a case at home, or, just maybe, leisure reading. Bed, sleep, repeat.
This is a generalization of a schedule he almost never gets to adhere to. He's essentially on call 24/7.
3. What is his profession or work?
Paul is a Special Agent of the FBI, attached to the Organized Crime Task Force, with a strong background in forensics and profiling.
4. What things does he really like to do?
Solve puzzles (cases), cook, read, listen to music, clean the house (more of a stress reliever than an actual enjoyment), have sex, sleep in.
5. What things does he hate to do?
Deal with bureaucracy, deal with idiots, listen to idiots, waste his time
6. What are his leisure time activities? Pastimes? Recreation?
Anything sufficiently intellectually challenging will hold his interest. The aforementioned music and reading are the biggest draws.
7. Does he play games? What kind?
Logic games. Sometimes the crossword. He used to play cards but not anymore. Paul's a decent billiards player.
8. Does he like to eat or drink? How important to him are food and drink?
He definitely enjoys good food. One of the few things he really dislikes about his work is how hard it makes it to cook. As for drinking, there's a line between his occasional glass of wine with the meal for the meal's sake, and his drinking, which thankfully he doesn't really do that much but is very serious about when he does so. Zero to plastered in twenty minutes!
9. How important is sex to him? What sexual activities does he partake in? Anything unusual?
He's got a pretty healthy sex drive and broad history and repertoire, at least when it comes to homosexual activities. Things he's experimented with that might be considered unusual are cross-dressing and light BDSM.
10. Is his exactitude about sex healthy or disturbing to him? Is sex a rewarding, enriching part of this person's life or is it frightening, anxious, or frustrating? Is sex a positive or negative factor in his life?
Mmmm. With a few notable exceptions, it's mediocre-shading-to-good for Paul. A good part of this is due to his Many Issues regarding affection, intimacy, trust, and all those other daytime talk show sort-of-words. At this point in his life, he tends to only allow himself to get into situations he can be sure of a) controlling and b) being able to walk away from at any point, and as a result his sex life is rather like a prison diet: keeps you from being hungry, but doesn't really satisfy. Paul's somewhat sexually jaded.
The Character's Favorite Things
1. Colors? Black, blue, green
2. Food? Italian or seafood
3. Drinks? Coffee, coffee, more coffee, water, fruit smoothies, drinks-with-vodka-in
4. Smells? Coffee, formaldehyde (don't ask), vanilla
5. Time of day? Early morning
6. Season of the year? Fall
7. Books? Many. Too many to list.
8. Kinds of literature? Non-fiction as a general rule
9. Authors? Eliot, Bukowski, Mencken, many others
10. Places to visit? Concert halls, libraries, Japan
11. Kinds of music? He will listen to many types of music; classical is far and away his favorite
12. Musical Instruments? Piano or violin
13. Composers? Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Tchaivoksky, Shostakovich, etc, etc, etc
14. Metals? Silver
15. Building materials? Brick
16. Fabrics? Cotton, silk
17. Pieces of furniture? Beds, good armchairs
18. Plants? Carnivorous ones
19. Flowers? Orchids
20. Trees? No opinion
21. Birds? No opinion
22. Animals? Man
23. Miscellaneous? Science & Nature
24. Modern Fairytale? ...?
Character's Religion
1. What are his specific religious beliefs? Does he belong to a specific sect or creed? Does he advocate that group's beliefs?
It would be too strong to say Paul is a Buddhist, but he feels more comfortable with the doctrines of Buddhism that he's encountered than with any other faith he's yet run into. He doesn't associate with any organized group, but he does keep up a yogic practice on his own. He doesn't advocate or proselytize in the slightest, and in fact probably won't even bring up his views on the subject as his own unless pressed to. He's almost vehemently anti-Christian.
2. How important is religion to him?
Not. He probably wouldn't call his own practice a religion. The religion of others has been intruding on his life lately.
3. Is he pious, devout?
No. But he is a very moral and ethical man.
4. In what religious activities does he engage? What percentage of his time is devoted to it?
The aforementioned yoga and meditation. At most an hour a day, usually more like 20-30 minutes, if he has time.
5. How does religion motivate his actions or affect them?
It really doesn't.
Character's Fears
1. What things frighten him?
Losing control of himself, dying, going to prison, Connor and Murphy dying, Connor and Murphy not dying...
2. Is he motivated by fear? To what extent if so?
Somewhat. Not excessively so.
3. What would this character think were the three most terrible things that could happen to him?
a. Being found out to be helping the Saints
b. Losing his mind or faculties
c. Being responsible for the death of an innocent
4. What would he think were the three most wonderful things that could happen to him?
a. Connor and Murphy getting the bright idea to stop killing people
b. Getting to meet either Uri Caine or Mikhail Baryshnikov
c. He insisted I put down "a bullet to the head"
5. What is the one thing he doesn't want anyone to find out about him?
I think much of the information in the fears section would qualify.
1. What is the character's stature and build? Is he overweight? Thin? What is his height and weight?
Somewhere between 5'8" and 5'9", and about 150 lbs. He's lean but pretty damn toned for a guy his age.
2. How old is he?
For RP/fic purposes, in his mid-to-late forties. I tend to fudge around a bit here because my Paul Smecker was born in 1956, and has come of age with certain historical events corresponding with that date of birth, and he'd be in his forties when the movie starts, but he'd be in his fifties if I were to say he is now in "2008."
3. Describe his posture. Is it good? Does he carry himself well? Is he crooked? Straight?
Paul's posture is very good. He has had dance training and is generally conscious of his body.
4. Is he in good shape or out of condition? Is he muscularly weak or strong?
Paul's in better shape than a good number of men his age (which he sort of has to be with the FBI's physical fitness requirements for field agents), which isn't to say he's perfect. His main out-of-condition area is his cardiovascular, which is due directly to his smoking like a chimney. As far as strength goes, he's got a tough wiry strength to him, but he relies much more on being quick and knowing how to best use his strength than actual physical force.
5. How is his health? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?
Again, aside from the state of his lungs, pretty decent. Paul eats surprisingly well for someone in law enforcement, because he makes the effort to obtain excellent food for himself. He exercises regularly and has no physical illnesses. His vision is not perfect, but minor enough that contact lenses serve him just fine.
6. Is he physically active or sedentary? A fast or slow mover?
Physically active. Paul does yoga every day he has time for it, and has done for the last twenty-five years. He runs intermittently, and at various times in his life has danced and fenced. He has a lot of energy to burn off, which usually gets done by berating the hell out of his coworkers.
7. Is he clumsy, awkward, graceful?
Graceful. See: dancing, yoga...
8. Does he move in straight or curved lines? Is he physically tight or fluid?
Mmm... both. Straight lines to get him to places where circles will work. He's fluid but controlled about it.
9. What are his chief efforts?
Paul spends a decent amount of time on his appearance. He's well-groomed and manicured whenever he leaves the house, and usually well-dressed. Exceptions come only when he's too stressed out to care, which, well, does happen with some frequency.
10. Is the character good-looking, pretty, beautiful, average, plain, ugly, disfigured?
Paul's visually arresting but even when he was young he was not exactly pretty. He has very strong sharp features and the years have added a number of hard lines to his face. He's been described as 'sexy-ugly' by a few past bedmates. Even his body, though toned, is not muscular the way a model's is but the way an athlete's is-- whipcord muscles tight on the bone, not smooth sculpted perfection.
11. Is the character aware of himself physically? His looks?
Paul's aware of his looks but more importantly, as far as he'd put it, his presence.
12. Describe his complexion and skin. Dark, light, clear, marked?
He's fairly pale naturally and doesn't exactly take opportunities to tan. He's got several scars.
13. Describe his hair, coloring, styling. Is it taken care of?
Dirty blonde-brown with some slight auburn undertones. He wears it on the long side, and takes good care of it. Fruity shampoos!
14. How is his usual dexterity? Does he have good hands: Can he do things? Is he a worker?
GORGEOUS hands He's pretty dexterous; childhood involved a lot of playing musical instruments and forensics involves a lot of careful handling of evidence and scientific equipment. He's not the sort of guy you call over if you want a shed put together, though. Also, he has noticeably longish nails.
15. Is he physically tense or relaxed, nervous, controlled?
Tense and controlled. Unless specifically relaxed (like in situations where he's listening to music) Paul tends to give off the impression of a taut wire.
16. What are his chief tension centers?
Head, shoulders, hands, chest, feet.....
17. What part of his body would you notice first?
Heh. Cheekbones? Paul also has pretty piercing eyes.
18. Describe his basic gravity factor. Is there a downward pull or buoyancy?
Even-keeled.
The Character's Clothes
1. How many clothes does this character have?
Not, perhaps, as many as people might think he does. But still a lot.
2. What items are in their wardrobe?
Business wear-- a number of nice suits and nice dress shirts and ties that he can mix and match. He owns exactly two pairs of jeans. He has a number of T-shirts, but only because the FBI keeps giving him them. (He's considered selling them on eBay.) His own casual clothing for himself tends to be sweaters and henleys and khakis. ...oh, and then there's Paul's more feminine clothes...
3. What are their favorite articles of clothing?
Ties and heels
4. What colors are the clothes? Is there a wide range? Bright or dull? What are their favorite colors to wear?
There's a lot of dark jewel tones, blues and greens mostly, and muted pastels. Paul considers black to be a good base for any outfit, and also likes to layer darks, like a forest green tie on an olive shirt, etc.
5. Are their clothes bright or dull?
They tend more to... dull, but a very smart, well-selected dull. In drag is, of course, a different story.
6. Were they bought or home-made, hand-me-downs, expensive?
They are bought, and nicely high-quality items, though Paul does his share of shopping around for the best deals and exploiting discounts he may have with acquaintances whenever he can. As a result he has a wardrobe that looks like he paid more for it than he actually did, though he still did certainly pay for it.
7. What is one of his favorite items to wear?
His FBI-issued sunglasses. He will hum 'Secret Agent Man' to himself when he has them on.
8. Do his clothes fit well?
Yes.
9. Is he comfortable in what he wears? Does he "fight" his clothes?
Very comfortable, he can pwn whatever he's wearing.
10. Is he confident about the way he dresses, or uneasy?
Confident.
11. Does he care for his clothes? Keep them up and neat? Is he worried about how they look?
Paul takes excellent care of his clothes and, when the job unavoidably dirties or tears them at times, will make sure they get TLC and the attentions of a quality tailor or cleaner to return them to their pristine state.
12. Does he have to dress a certain way because of his job or position? If so, do his usual clothes fit his real, basic character?
The FBI requires the suits; prior to his joining the FBI Paul was not such a snappy dresser, at least when it came to business-wear. His first few years with the FBI were not sartorially satisfying as he wore bland and not-terribly-good-suits to work since the FBI encourages everyone to look like a clone. Eventually Paul set out to educate himself on fine suits and to see how well he could dress while still technically following the dress standards of the Bureau, which makes him the savviest fashionista and best-dressed male field agent out there. And probably better than most of the women, too.
13. Does he dress according to a self image of himself? Is that self image conscious or unconscious? At what age was this self image made?
Paul dresses to exude crisp, stylish professionality. This is partly due to his self-image but just as much to do with the image he intends to leave his colleagues with namely, "I'm better than you." Paul's been aware of the role clothes play in image and how to use that ever since childhood, which was a barrel of fun in a snobby private school that he did not fit in to.
14. What kind of underwear does he wear?
Boxers as a general rule. (Drag is again a different story)
The Character's Voice
1. Does he speak in a high or low pitch voice? When might he be higher than usual? When lower?
Low-medium, with some noticeable gravel due to the years of cigarettes. Falsetto for drag (no surprises there). His voice doesn't really change pitch much otherwise.
2. Is he a loud or soft talker?
In conversation, average; but he can be by-god-as-loud-as-he-wants when excoriating someone.
3. Is there a wide range in the voice in volume, pitch and/or quality, or is the voice pretty consistent and even?
Mostly even unless he's intentionally trying to produce a certain effect, or when really stressed.
4. Is there good resonance to the voice? Is the voice throaty, chesty, heady, nasal?
Throaty, and resonant.
5. Is there tension in the voice? Anxiety? Emotion?
Semi-often. More so nowadays than for most of his life.
6. Is there an accent? Anything unusual in pronunciation? Emphasis? Phrasing?
Paul has traces of a New England accent, though he's pretty much successfully trained it out. It'll pop up on certain words, or when he's stressed. He's also very good at imitating other accents or modes of speech, and will slip into an ironic Southern drawl or camp lisp at the slightest provocation. His vocabulary vacillates between well-educated and brusque vulgarity.
7. Is it a trained voice, or just natural?
He was trained to sing as a child, and is just generally conscious of sound and voice
8. Does the character "try" to speak well or just "how it comes out"?
Tries to speak well. His diction is the result of a number of years of using words as a class weapon.
9. Is the speech clear or muddy? Does he mumble? Is he distinct?
Generally clear and distinct.
10. Is the voice comforting or irritating? Reassuring or disturbing?
Paul's voice can be comforting and reassuring, but generally he's tuned to the station of 'bitch'.
11. Is he self-conscious when he speaks to others? How large a group could he speak to before he became self-conscious?
Not really a problem for him. He's used to his audiences being hostile half the time anyway.
The Character's Mind
1. Is the character smart, dumb, naive?
Paul is a very sharp cookie, both in terms of abstract intellectual knowledge and so-called street smarts. He absorbs knowledge like a sponge and instantly puts it to work for him.
2. Does he think quickly? Slowly? Is he quick-witted? Dull?
Quickly and quick-witted.
3. What kind of education has he had?
An excellent private school education as a child, two bachelors' of science, and a juris doctorate. Far more school than anybody needs.
4. What subjects does the character have knowledge or expertise in?
Oh boy. *deep breath* Well, crime obviously, since he's, you know, in law enforcement... Though he's currently listed as dealing with Organized Crime (and does it well), he's hardly a pigeonhole specialist: first as a cop and then as FBI Smecker has dealt with everything from drug rings to white slavers to mail fraud to serial killers to prostitution. Whenever he gets exposed to something he hasn't yet run into he tends to throw himself at all available material for an immersion crash-course; as a result he can double as a walking storehouse of both the dry facts of crime statistics and more... interesting... grisly anecdotes.
The forensics background has given him a lot of solid comprehension in anatomy, biology, chemistry, and a number of the other hard sciences. His knowledge of psychology (and psychopathy) is also well above the layman's. He has an excellent command of the law, which is only to be expected.
FBI and police training means he's also well-versed in tactics, unarmed combat, firearms, etc etc.-- things Paul refers to as "the macho shit."
As for his hobbies-- he's got a passion-bordering-on-obsession for classical music (he knows a good deal about music in general, but the classical is his big kink). He knows how to play the piano, though he hasn't in years. He's extremely well-read, able to lecture condescendingly on subjects as diverse as Greco-Roman mythology, Japanese cinema, and T.S. Eliot. Or the protocols of the adult entertainment industry, through he didn't exactly pick those bits up from books. Paul will happily nitpick people's grammar.
He speaks some German, French, and Italian, understands more, though he is not fluent in any of them.
He also knows his way around a kitchen, a coffee grinder, fine suits, and cosmetics better than most.
In other words Paul Smecker is a raging Mary Sue.
5. Is the character impulsive or deliberate in reaching conclusions? Is he logical, rational, or emotional?
Mostly deliberate, and mostly logical. When he is not, his life gets massively fucked up. See: Connor and Murphy MacManus.
6. Does he think out things before he speaks or can she "think on his feet" as she is speaking?
Think on his feet. Rat-a-tat-tat machine gun repartee for the win!
7. Does he have contemplative times? What does she think about when alone?
He tends to try and avoid them. What would be a contemplative act for someone else-- listening to some soothing Beethoven before bed, say-- is in Paul's case about actually listening to the music, not performing deep introspection. That being said, he does turn a very critical lens on himself when he gets around to it. Ever since he met Connor and Murphy MacManus, most of his introspection tends to revolve around what he's gotten into with them.
8. Is he an idealist? A pragmatist? A dreamer? An idea man? An action man?
Paul is a ruthlessly practical idealist. He is definitely not a dreamer.
9. Is his life motivated chiefly by abstract ideals or practical rewards?
More abstract ideals, though he's not immune to some of the tangible rewards.
The Character's Emotions and Personality
1. Is he an introvert or an extrovert?
Introvert, though has a lot of traditionally extro traits.
2. Does he get along well with people? Does he have charm? Are people attracted to him? Does he like people?
He certainly can when he wants to. Paul is, er, charming in his way, and, yes, he does tend to attract people to him. Paul himself likes some people, and usually bitches about them the most.
3. Does he have many friends? Any close friends?
Many acquaintances, few friends.
4. Is he hot-blooded or cool-headed?
Paul does have a temper. Day-to-day stuff doesn't usually set it off, but when he's getting stressed out... the lid can and will blow, rather spectacularly. Be out of range when that happens, unless you want to get slapped or screamed at.
5. Does he have a narrow or wide range of emotions? Do they show often?
Reasonably wide. Some get shown to others, some do not.
6. Does he indulge in emotional peaks, outbursts, or valleys? Often?
See: temper.
7. Would you say he is basically sensitive or calloused?
Calloused. Which isn't to say he doesn't feel; but he is a professional in an often ugly profession and certain things go with that.
8. Is he suspicious, cautious, trusting, or naive about new people or situations?
Cautious, sometimes suspicious. He tends to trust his own intuition a good deal.
9. Is he an aggressive or reactive person? Is he a pusher or a puller?
Aggressive like all get-out. He won't just push, he'll shove people down flights of stairs!
10. Does he take positive or negative action?
Professionally? Positive. Personally? Negative.
11. In a danger or emergency situation would he go to it or run away from it?
Go to it, take charge if no one else was doing so, organize, proceed in the prescribed fashion.
12. Is the character basically nervous or calm?
Calm, but by no means serene.
13. Does the character have a sense of humor? Does he appreciate jokes? Can he see humor in unfunny situations? Can he laugh at himself?
Paul has a definite sense of humor; it is a cynical and oft-times dark one. He can generally laugh at himself.
14. Can he tell a funny story or joke? Do others find him amusing?
Yup. And it depends on how squeamish they are.
15. Is he a practical joker? What is his opinion of tricks or jokes played on other people?
Ehhh, of certain rarefied sorts, usually involving dead bodies or morgue humor. Not so much the bucket of water on the door type crap.
16. Is his humor ever cruel?
It can be.
17. Under what conditions could he be harmful or mean or cruel to another person?
When he gets annoyed enough with someone who's being a fucktard.
18. Is he a loving person? Is he full of love and giving or rather bound and tight in this area? Is he capable of relation to others in a loving way? Is he capable or relating to one specific person in a romantic way?
Oy.
...I kind of want to leave it just at "oy", but okay: Paul's capable of caring for people, but he's sewn up pretty tight. He's better at caring for others than letting himself be cared for, not that he's great at either. He has Many Issues. He has cared for "one specific person in romantic ways" at certain points in his life; it is probably not likely to happen again.
19. Is he loved by any other people? In what way?
He is. Probably most notably is his best friend and ex-wife Angela, who spends a lot of time worrying about him.
20. Is he romantically in love now? With whom? Is this a happy, rewarding or frustrating situation for him?
No.
The Character's Wealth, Power, and Influence
1. Does this person have much money? Does it provide position or respect from others for him?
Paul is financially secure, but by no means rich. He makes about $80,000 a year for the FBI, and tends to spend selectively and carefully.
2. Is he generous or selfish with his money and possessions?
He'll have occasional bursts of generosity, but when he wants to give a gift he's more likely to make it something personal rather than something expensive.
3. Is the character socially prominent? Is she prominent from wealth, position or office, family history, ability or accomplishment?
In the rarefied world of law enforcement Paul is mildly notorious as a smarmy asshole but a damn good agent. Paul is a lot less interested in social arenas other than that than he used to be.
4. Does the character rate high in the "pecking order" with his household? Town? Area? Nation? World?
Household = N/A. In Boston or anywhere in the US, he could get the respect due him by his FBI badge.
5. Does this person wield much clout? Over whom and by what means?
Not too large in scale, but sure. He orders the Boston cops around like interns! And does it to fellow agents to if he can get away with.
6. Can he command others to do his bidding, by word or manipulation?
In theory he's in charge of the Saints investigation, so everyone else on it has to do what he says.
7. How does he get his wishes daily?
Ordering, haranguing, or sometimes asking nicely.
8. To whom is he subservient? Is this submission willing or unavoidable?
Paul is 'subservient' to his supervisors in the FBI in the sense that he will generally do what they say. That's about it. He despises most of them.
The Character's Activities
1. How does the character spend his time?
Paul's a certified workaholic. Cases and investigations take much of his time. Leisure activities include performances of music, cooking, reading, and dating.
2. What does his daily routine consist of?
He usually gets up around six a.m. unless he's paged or called earlier than that. Yoga, shower, coffee, clothes, and off to work. The earliest he would leave work is five, and seven is a more likely average. Either home or a restaurant for dinner (and sometimes a date); or possibly a visit to the symphony... if he goes home alone he will probably end up working on a case at home, or, just maybe, leisure reading. Bed, sleep, repeat.
This is a generalization of a schedule he almost never gets to adhere to. He's essentially on call 24/7.
3. What is his profession or work?
Paul is a Special Agent of the FBI, attached to the Organized Crime Task Force, with a strong background in forensics and profiling.
4. What things does he really like to do?
Solve puzzles (cases), cook, read, listen to music, clean the house (more of a stress reliever than an actual enjoyment), have sex, sleep in.
5. What things does he hate to do?
Deal with bureaucracy, deal with idiots, listen to idiots, waste his time
6. What are his leisure time activities? Pastimes? Recreation?
Anything sufficiently intellectually challenging will hold his interest. The aforementioned music and reading are the biggest draws.
7. Does he play games? What kind?
Logic games. Sometimes the crossword. He used to play cards but not anymore. Paul's a decent billiards player.
8. Does he like to eat or drink? How important to him are food and drink?
He definitely enjoys good food. One of the few things he really dislikes about his work is how hard it makes it to cook. As for drinking, there's a line between his occasional glass of wine with the meal for the meal's sake, and his drinking, which thankfully he doesn't really do that much but is very serious about when he does so. Zero to plastered in twenty minutes!
9. How important is sex to him? What sexual activities does he partake in? Anything unusual?
He's got a pretty healthy sex drive and broad history and repertoire, at least when it comes to homosexual activities. Things he's experimented with that might be considered unusual are cross-dressing and light BDSM.
10. Is his exactitude about sex healthy or disturbing to him? Is sex a rewarding, enriching part of this person's life or is it frightening, anxious, or frustrating? Is sex a positive or negative factor in his life?
Mmmm. With a few notable exceptions, it's mediocre-shading-to-good for Paul. A good part of this is due to his Many Issues regarding affection, intimacy, trust, and all those other daytime talk show sort-of-words. At this point in his life, he tends to only allow himself to get into situations he can be sure of a) controlling and b) being able to walk away from at any point, and as a result his sex life is rather like a prison diet: keeps you from being hungry, but doesn't really satisfy. Paul's somewhat sexually jaded.
The Character's Favorite Things
1. Colors? Black, blue, green
2. Food? Italian or seafood
3. Drinks? Coffee, coffee, more coffee, water, fruit smoothies, drinks-with-vodka-in
4. Smells? Coffee, formaldehyde (don't ask), vanilla
5. Time of day? Early morning
6. Season of the year? Fall
7. Books? Many. Too many to list.
8. Kinds of literature? Non-fiction as a general rule
9. Authors? Eliot, Bukowski, Mencken, many others
10. Places to visit? Concert halls, libraries, Japan
11. Kinds of music? He will listen to many types of music; classical is far and away his favorite
12. Musical Instruments? Piano or violin
13. Composers? Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Tchaivoksky, Shostakovich, etc, etc, etc
14. Metals? Silver
15. Building materials? Brick
16. Fabrics? Cotton, silk
17. Pieces of furniture? Beds, good armchairs
18. Plants? Carnivorous ones
19. Flowers? Orchids
20. Trees? No opinion
21. Birds? No opinion
22. Animals? Man
23. Miscellaneous? Science & Nature
24. Modern Fairytale? ...?
Character's Religion
1. What are his specific religious beliefs? Does he belong to a specific sect or creed? Does he advocate that group's beliefs?
It would be too strong to say Paul is a Buddhist, but he feels more comfortable with the doctrines of Buddhism that he's encountered than with any other faith he's yet run into. He doesn't associate with any organized group, but he does keep up a yogic practice on his own. He doesn't advocate or proselytize in the slightest, and in fact probably won't even bring up his views on the subject as his own unless pressed to. He's almost vehemently anti-Christian.
2. How important is religion to him?
Not. He probably wouldn't call his own practice a religion. The religion of others has been intruding on his life lately.
3. Is he pious, devout?
No. But he is a very moral and ethical man.
4. In what religious activities does he engage? What percentage of his time is devoted to it?
The aforementioned yoga and meditation. At most an hour a day, usually more like 20-30 minutes, if he has time.
5. How does religion motivate his actions or affect them?
It really doesn't.
Character's Fears
1. What things frighten him?
Losing control of himself, dying, going to prison, Connor and Murphy dying, Connor and Murphy not dying...
2. Is he motivated by fear? To what extent if so?
Somewhat. Not excessively so.
3. What would this character think were the three most terrible things that could happen to him?
a. Being found out to be helping the Saints
b. Losing his mind or faculties
c. Being responsible for the death of an innocent
4. What would he think were the three most wonderful things that could happen to him?
a. Connor and Murphy getting the bright idea to stop killing people
b. Getting to meet either Uri Caine or Mikhail Baryshnikov
c. He insisted I put down "a bullet to the head"
5. What is the one thing he doesn't want anyone to find out about him?
I think much of the information in the fears section would qualify.