application :: taxonomites
Your name/crazy internet handle/whatever: Kira
Personal journal: penofdl
Email: penofdl@gmail.com
AIM: peacekeeperdl
Characters played (if applicable): Gabriel "Sylar" Gray
Character name: Adam Monroe
Genre (TV/books/etc): TV
Fandom: Heroes
Canon point: Dying of the Light
Why this Character and Canon point?: Adam is a fascinating individual. Either almost four hundred years of history and perspective to go by, there's quite a bit of things to play with experience wise, and his motivations are particularly intriguing because of their distinctively noble intentions. He may have wanted to destroy 93% of the Earth's population, but it was so that the remaining 7% would finally be able to appreciate each other, stop fighting over just petty aspects of life, and actually get along for a change instead of trying to kill each other with war after war.
His history as Takezo Kensei also shows us that he is capable of being a good man when given the proper motivations. Even as a "happy drunk", he was less destructive than he was simply negligent. True to Heroes form, Adam is a very flexible "villain" and gives plenty of opportunities for interesting and intriguing interaction.
And, canonwise, Adam Monroe is one of the few characters that doesn't have any interaction with Sylar. Ever. Like, at all.
Programmed Possession: The Angry Skunk Bar, a "specials for hire" bar in California that has served as a meeting place for individuals like them for decades.
Abilities/Weaknesses: Adam has the ability of Rapid Cellular Regeneration. Placing his cells in a constant state of regeneration, any wound from the smallest cut to the most fatal attack is instantly healed. There is no way to kill him except that one vulnerable spot in the back of his head just under the cerebellum. Having been alive since 1645, Adam has several centuries worth of history at his disposal as well as experience in several different fields of study from diplomacy to agriculture to more modern (at least, as modern as thirty years ago) business.
While he is definitely the most skilled as a warrior, he is hardly the picture of a moron that one would expect from those credits. Crafty, clever, and more than a little cunning even when he was actually in his twenties, Adam has only refined his ability at trickery. He prides himself on being able to talk himself out of almost anything and talk anyone into almost anything. Lying is, after all, an art of not lying, merely altering the truth to fit what you want others to believe.
Psychology/Personality: Adam Monroe was a good man once in a time so far in the recesses of his living memory that it seems like a dream anymore. That isn't to say that he is not a good man any longer, but his goals and his dreams have become twisted with the passage of time into something that only half resembles goodness. Horrible deeds for noble causes are the business of gods, and a god is exactly what Adam believed himself to be. When one lives for almost four hundred years, it is hard to think of ones' self as anything lesser unless ones' mind turns to thoughts of being cursed to walk the earth, to witness the destruction that humans wreak upon it, for all time without the power to enact any change.
Adam refused to be powerless in his life, instead opting to mold his own destiny outside the control of forces beyond him. He was above the world in his own mind and therefore, above any outside control. He would save the world the only way that he knew how, the way that a god of true standing would save it. He would have to destroy it all and start again fresh. His failure to do so weighed upon him mightily and twisted his personality farther until it darkened til vengeance and little else was left to drive him. It was no longer about saving the world. It was about eliminating the types of people who would dare to destroy the little goodness that it had left.
His anger, however, has mostly defused. Saving the world is pointless as it will always need to be saved again and attempting to destroy those who would threaten it only ended with him locked away once more. Freed from his captivity, his goal had only been to live his life rudderless once more, the way that he had started this life and the way that he wished he had remained. But those plans were ripped from him as well by associates that he once again regretted ever making.
With yet another chance now, he's going to live his life how it was supposed to be lived: happy and carefree.
History: Adam's birth and origin are of very little consequence. He had a family once with a mother, a father, and siblings like so many people, but they have since drifted in the sands of time. Adam only remembers them in the vaguest senses. Sometimes he'll catch a scent on the breeze or a sound that will take him back to London in 15th century England where he was born and raised, but that has happened a lot with many things in his life. Having been lost to the currents of time, Adam has been forced to constantly rebuild his existence, and it started in 1670 when, after the death of his new wife and son during prolonged childbirth, he packed up his things, gave what he couldn't take with him to his older brother, and left London to seek his fortunes in the Orient.
But he found out, rather quickly, that a man running from his ghosts only ends up being haunted by them from afar. Memories plagued him until he lost himself in the indulgences of spirits. For a year, almost, he made his way through villages indulging all of the vices that he had been holding at bay for years. It helped him to forget, to put the worst of it behind him, so much so that it became the central focus of his life. While dreams of a fortune were not forgotten, any reality of it had disappeared, and each job that he took was only to pay for the sake and geisha that would be his entertainment later on.
In order to aid his con-artistry, he abandoned his English name and instead took a Japanese alias that would give the illusion that he was a great hero. He chose Takezo Kensei in hopes that it would strike enough fear in the hearts of his enemies that they wouldn't even bother to show up. And, barring that, he hired other mercenaries to pose for him. They'd get their wage out of what was paid to him...if they came back alive, that was.
The appearance of a very oddly dressed Japanese man in spectacles would, however, derail all of his schemes. Determined to set him onto the course of the straight and narrow, this odd little man who looked a bit like a carp when he talked charged himself with Kensei's well being, training, and destiny. This man, Hiro, seemed rather big on this whole destiny thing. And it wasn't long after that Kensei found out exactly what he meant by it. After having his armor stolen by the little midget so that he could go and fight the ten swordsmen, Kensei was attacked by some of the people he owed money to and shot three times in the chest by arrows.
Sure that he was dead, Kensei was surprised when this wounds healed after Hiro pulled out the arrows. Convinced that the other man had put a curse on him, he'd ran, scared and confused until Hiro explained to him just what it meant. It was the break he'd been looking for! It would make him rich! Of course, the little Carp had other plans, plans to turn him into a legendary hero. Plans that were working quite well, giving him a purpose finally in life, winning him the love of a wonderful woman, and setting his life back on track.
That was, until Hiro and his love, Yaeko, betrayed him by falling for each other. He might as well have ripped out his heart and handed it to Hiro the way that catching them together wounded him to the core. Anger and bitterness surged in him and all thoughts of being a hero were dismissed. He was going to make Hiro suffer if it was the last thing that he ever did. And in some respects, it was. Ended up caught in the explosion in White Beard's camp, Kensei stumbled away after recovering via his ability to make sure that nobody knew that he was alive. He had to start all over again for the second time and certainly not the last.
The years between then and now are all a blur of lives and loves and potential only half spent. Each wife holds a place in his heart, either in the side that can still feel or in the side that grows progressively colder as the years go on. Despite having many loves, friends were difficult to come by. True friends, that is. He had plenty of acquaintances in order to sate the boredom, but trusting someone enough to rely on them in a way that he had relied on Hiro had been next to impossible for him.
It wasn't until the late '60s when he ended up meeting a young man by the name of Daniel Linderman who introduced him to a collection of people like himself that he finally felt like he had a place to belong again with true friends. Sadly, for Adam, true friends have this horrible tendency to betray each other, and watching things decay around you to the point that even those that you trust, even the ones whom you would never expect, turn into monsters is too much for a psyche to take. Adam saw his opportunity in the Shanti virus that was being developed by the Company they had founded. Highly lethal, it had the potential to give them a new start and a world were people appreciate each other rather than hating each other.
Stopped before he could release the virus and locked in the Company's maximum security area for thirty years, he found his opportunity once more. Not in a virus this time but in young Angela's son, Peter. Idealistic, hopeful, and self-sacrificing, Peter was a bright spot compared to so many of the people that Adam had known over the years. Saving the world would not be something outside of his understanding.
Of course, a few little lies in order to accomplish it, to mask his intentions until his goals were clear, wouldn't hurt just in case he wasn't as understanding as Adam hoped. Freedom was his and Peter's after finally being able to convince him of the Company's true motives. Getting separated from him had not been part of the plan, but one does what one can to survive. Peter knew the plan, so there wasn't much more to do than set a few of his own plans into action and then go where they had agreed upon and wait.
If he'd known he'd been waiting quite so long, he might have picked somewhere a little more enjoyable than Montreal, but as it was, Peter showed up better late than never. After repairing some damage left by their Haitian friend, they were off on their mission to save the world...and eliminate some of the people who would seek to corrupt it. Things went so well, too. He'd almost done it. He'd almost set the world free of its vice. And then Hiro and his self-righteous hypocrisy showed up to ruin it all.
At least the cell that the Company had put him in had air.
He was unearthed after days or perhaps weeks, he'd lost track of time, of constantly dying by the same person who had put him in the casket. The little Japanese Nazi needed his help. Fuck that. He'd lead them to the key, all right. He'd lead them right to the roughest bar that he knew of and ditch them, that's what he would do. He was sick of leaving his life on other people's whims. The world wasn't going to save itself, let it go to hell. He was going to live his life, and nobody and nothing was going to stop him this time. Goals, paths, destiny was all right out the window. He was going back to indulging in desires.
Of course, if he had paid better attention to his surroundings, his bout of freedom wouldn't have been over quite so quickly. Manhandled and knocked unconscious, he was escorted to a facility where Arthur Petrelli was waiting. Shocked and dismayed (Adam had heard he was dead and had really been disappointed about not getting to kill him), Adam's confusion turned to horror as Arthur told him exactly what he was there for. The reality of what Arthur was suggesting was not lost on Adam. Arthur was going to take his ability and his life, for the two went hand in hand. He begged. He screamed. He fought. It wasn't fair. They had taken thirty years of his life already, and now they wanted the rest of it? It wasn't going to happen. He wouldn't allow it.
But there was little he could do about it as Arthur's hand clamped over his.
Arrival Post (Third Person) The scream had been strangled in his throat as he felt his life slipping away, but just as suddenly as that had started, it stopped, leaving Adam whole and complete and totally alone. Giving himself a quick, relieved pat down to make sure that everything was intact, it took him awhile to actually take in his surroundings. Anywhere that wasn't that hospital room was fine by him, but this... Well, it wasn't exactly standard issue. And even more puzzling, he didn't see Hiro anywhere. And he'd be the only one that could have possibly gotten him out of that situation.
"Carp," Adam started, furrowing his brow as he looked about the room. "Don't think that just because you saved me this makes anything at all square between us. You still ruined my life and then stuck me in a box."
And from the looks of it, stuck him in another one. There were doors, but they looked rather firmly shut. And there was air, but where it was coming from, he was hard-pressed to say. But from the looks of it, he was trapped here until he found a way to open those doors in front of him. Brilliant.
"And then you go and stick me in another cage. Just because I tried to leg it. Little Japanese Hypocrite. It's hardly like you've never gone back on your word."
Additional Third Person Sample: The sharp acidic smell that hit Adam's nose roused him from a nearly dead sleep. So many years, so much experience, and so many lost friends because of fire, his body had come to recognize its presence quickly. It, seemed, though, that he had been one of the last few roused from the sounds echoing from the hallway. Scrambling out of his room, yanking on his shirt and shoes as he came, Adam headed towards the door before stopping, casting his glance back across the apartment at the other room. Damn it all, he couldn't just leave. Not when Angela and Claire would both kill him for leaving Nathan behind.
A few minutes later, Adam was struggling down the stairs, the prone form of the former senator draped across his back in, ironically, a fireman's carry. As his feet fell on the final steps of the ground floor, Adam heaved a sigh of relief, ignoring the burn from inhaling too much smoke and his lungs working to repair the damage each time that he did. He wasn't the one that had to worry about that.
Dragging Nathan outside, depositing him on one of the benches near the building but far enough away from it not to be touched by the fire, Adam shook him, sighing at the groggy, half awake response that he received. Well, at least he wasn't dead.
Personal journal: penofdl
Email: penofdl@gmail.com
AIM: peacekeeperdl
Characters played (if applicable): Gabriel "Sylar" Gray
Character name: Adam Monroe
Genre (TV/books/etc): TV
Fandom: Heroes
Canon point: Dying of the Light
Why this Character and Canon point?: Adam is a fascinating individual. Either almost four hundred years of history and perspective to go by, there's quite a bit of things to play with experience wise, and his motivations are particularly intriguing because of their distinctively noble intentions. He may have wanted to destroy 93% of the Earth's population, but it was so that the remaining 7% would finally be able to appreciate each other, stop fighting over just petty aspects of life, and actually get along for a change instead of trying to kill each other with war after war.
His history as Takezo Kensei also shows us that he is capable of being a good man when given the proper motivations. Even as a "happy drunk", he was less destructive than he was simply negligent. True to Heroes form, Adam is a very flexible "villain" and gives plenty of opportunities for interesting and intriguing interaction.
And, canonwise, Adam Monroe is one of the few characters that doesn't have any interaction with Sylar. Ever. Like, at all.
Programmed Possession: The Angry Skunk Bar, a "specials for hire" bar in California that has served as a meeting place for individuals like them for decades.
Abilities/Weaknesses: Adam has the ability of Rapid Cellular Regeneration. Placing his cells in a constant state of regeneration, any wound from the smallest cut to the most fatal attack is instantly healed. There is no way to kill him except that one vulnerable spot in the back of his head just under the cerebellum. Having been alive since 1645, Adam has several centuries worth of history at his disposal as well as experience in several different fields of study from diplomacy to agriculture to more modern (at least, as modern as thirty years ago) business.
While he is definitely the most skilled as a warrior, he is hardly the picture of a moron that one would expect from those credits. Crafty, clever, and more than a little cunning even when he was actually in his twenties, Adam has only refined his ability at trickery. He prides himself on being able to talk himself out of almost anything and talk anyone into almost anything. Lying is, after all, an art of not lying, merely altering the truth to fit what you want others to believe.
Psychology/Personality: Adam Monroe was a good man once in a time so far in the recesses of his living memory that it seems like a dream anymore. That isn't to say that he is not a good man any longer, but his goals and his dreams have become twisted with the passage of time into something that only half resembles goodness. Horrible deeds for noble causes are the business of gods, and a god is exactly what Adam believed himself to be. When one lives for almost four hundred years, it is hard to think of ones' self as anything lesser unless ones' mind turns to thoughts of being cursed to walk the earth, to witness the destruction that humans wreak upon it, for all time without the power to enact any change.
Adam refused to be powerless in his life, instead opting to mold his own destiny outside the control of forces beyond him. He was above the world in his own mind and therefore, above any outside control. He would save the world the only way that he knew how, the way that a god of true standing would save it. He would have to destroy it all and start again fresh. His failure to do so weighed upon him mightily and twisted his personality farther until it darkened til vengeance and little else was left to drive him. It was no longer about saving the world. It was about eliminating the types of people who would dare to destroy the little goodness that it had left.
His anger, however, has mostly defused. Saving the world is pointless as it will always need to be saved again and attempting to destroy those who would threaten it only ended with him locked away once more. Freed from his captivity, his goal had only been to live his life rudderless once more, the way that he had started this life and the way that he wished he had remained. But those plans were ripped from him as well by associates that he once again regretted ever making.
With yet another chance now, he's going to live his life how it was supposed to be lived: happy and carefree.
History: Adam's birth and origin are of very little consequence. He had a family once with a mother, a father, and siblings like so many people, but they have since drifted in the sands of time. Adam only remembers them in the vaguest senses. Sometimes he'll catch a scent on the breeze or a sound that will take him back to London in 15th century England where he was born and raised, but that has happened a lot with many things in his life. Having been lost to the currents of time, Adam has been forced to constantly rebuild his existence, and it started in 1670 when, after the death of his new wife and son during prolonged childbirth, he packed up his things, gave what he couldn't take with him to his older brother, and left London to seek his fortunes in the Orient.
But he found out, rather quickly, that a man running from his ghosts only ends up being haunted by them from afar. Memories plagued him until he lost himself in the indulgences of spirits. For a year, almost, he made his way through villages indulging all of the vices that he had been holding at bay for years. It helped him to forget, to put the worst of it behind him, so much so that it became the central focus of his life. While dreams of a fortune were not forgotten, any reality of it had disappeared, and each job that he took was only to pay for the sake and geisha that would be his entertainment later on.
In order to aid his con-artistry, he abandoned his English name and instead took a Japanese alias that would give the illusion that he was a great hero. He chose Takezo Kensei in hopes that it would strike enough fear in the hearts of his enemies that they wouldn't even bother to show up. And, barring that, he hired other mercenaries to pose for him. They'd get their wage out of what was paid to him...if they came back alive, that was.
The appearance of a very oddly dressed Japanese man in spectacles would, however, derail all of his schemes. Determined to set him onto the course of the straight and narrow, this odd little man who looked a bit like a carp when he talked charged himself with Kensei's well being, training, and destiny. This man, Hiro, seemed rather big on this whole destiny thing. And it wasn't long after that Kensei found out exactly what he meant by it. After having his armor stolen by the little midget so that he could go and fight the ten swordsmen, Kensei was attacked by some of the people he owed money to and shot three times in the chest by arrows.
Sure that he was dead, Kensei was surprised when this wounds healed after Hiro pulled out the arrows. Convinced that the other man had put a curse on him, he'd ran, scared and confused until Hiro explained to him just what it meant. It was the break he'd been looking for! It would make him rich! Of course, the little Carp had other plans, plans to turn him into a legendary hero. Plans that were working quite well, giving him a purpose finally in life, winning him the love of a wonderful woman, and setting his life back on track.
That was, until Hiro and his love, Yaeko, betrayed him by falling for each other. He might as well have ripped out his heart and handed it to Hiro the way that catching them together wounded him to the core. Anger and bitterness surged in him and all thoughts of being a hero were dismissed. He was going to make Hiro suffer if it was the last thing that he ever did. And in some respects, it was. Ended up caught in the explosion in White Beard's camp, Kensei stumbled away after recovering via his ability to make sure that nobody knew that he was alive. He had to start all over again for the second time and certainly not the last.
The years between then and now are all a blur of lives and loves and potential only half spent. Each wife holds a place in his heart, either in the side that can still feel or in the side that grows progressively colder as the years go on. Despite having many loves, friends were difficult to come by. True friends, that is. He had plenty of acquaintances in order to sate the boredom, but trusting someone enough to rely on them in a way that he had relied on Hiro had been next to impossible for him.
It wasn't until the late '60s when he ended up meeting a young man by the name of Daniel Linderman who introduced him to a collection of people like himself that he finally felt like he had a place to belong again with true friends. Sadly, for Adam, true friends have this horrible tendency to betray each other, and watching things decay around you to the point that even those that you trust, even the ones whom you would never expect, turn into monsters is too much for a psyche to take. Adam saw his opportunity in the Shanti virus that was being developed by the Company they had founded. Highly lethal, it had the potential to give them a new start and a world were people appreciate each other rather than hating each other.
Stopped before he could release the virus and locked in the Company's maximum security area for thirty years, he found his opportunity once more. Not in a virus this time but in young Angela's son, Peter. Idealistic, hopeful, and self-sacrificing, Peter was a bright spot compared to so many of the people that Adam had known over the years. Saving the world would not be something outside of his understanding.
Of course, a few little lies in order to accomplish it, to mask his intentions until his goals were clear, wouldn't hurt just in case he wasn't as understanding as Adam hoped. Freedom was his and Peter's after finally being able to convince him of the Company's true motives. Getting separated from him had not been part of the plan, but one does what one can to survive. Peter knew the plan, so there wasn't much more to do than set a few of his own plans into action and then go where they had agreed upon and wait.
If he'd known he'd been waiting quite so long, he might have picked somewhere a little more enjoyable than Montreal, but as it was, Peter showed up better late than never. After repairing some damage left by their Haitian friend, they were off on their mission to save the world...and eliminate some of the people who would seek to corrupt it. Things went so well, too. He'd almost done it. He'd almost set the world free of its vice. And then Hiro and his self-righteous hypocrisy showed up to ruin it all.
At least the cell that the Company had put him in had air.
He was unearthed after days or perhaps weeks, he'd lost track of time, of constantly dying by the same person who had put him in the casket. The little Japanese Nazi needed his help. Fuck that. He'd lead them to the key, all right. He'd lead them right to the roughest bar that he knew of and ditch them, that's what he would do. He was sick of leaving his life on other people's whims. The world wasn't going to save itself, let it go to hell. He was going to live his life, and nobody and nothing was going to stop him this time. Goals, paths, destiny was all right out the window. He was going back to indulging in desires.
Of course, if he had paid better attention to his surroundings, his bout of freedom wouldn't have been over quite so quickly. Manhandled and knocked unconscious, he was escorted to a facility where Arthur Petrelli was waiting. Shocked and dismayed (Adam had heard he was dead and had really been disappointed about not getting to kill him), Adam's confusion turned to horror as Arthur told him exactly what he was there for. The reality of what Arthur was suggesting was not lost on Adam. Arthur was going to take his ability and his life, for the two went hand in hand. He begged. He screamed. He fought. It wasn't fair. They had taken thirty years of his life already, and now they wanted the rest of it? It wasn't going to happen. He wouldn't allow it.
But there was little he could do about it as Arthur's hand clamped over his.
Arrival Post (Third Person) The scream had been strangled in his throat as he felt his life slipping away, but just as suddenly as that had started, it stopped, leaving Adam whole and complete and totally alone. Giving himself a quick, relieved pat down to make sure that everything was intact, it took him awhile to actually take in his surroundings. Anywhere that wasn't that hospital room was fine by him, but this... Well, it wasn't exactly standard issue. And even more puzzling, he didn't see Hiro anywhere. And he'd be the only one that could have possibly gotten him out of that situation.
"Carp," Adam started, furrowing his brow as he looked about the room. "Don't think that just because you saved me this makes anything at all square between us. You still ruined my life and then stuck me in a box."
And from the looks of it, stuck him in another one. There were doors, but they looked rather firmly shut. And there was air, but where it was coming from, he was hard-pressed to say. But from the looks of it, he was trapped here until he found a way to open those doors in front of him. Brilliant.
"And then you go and stick me in another cage. Just because I tried to leg it. Little Japanese Hypocrite. It's hardly like you've never gone back on your word."
Additional Third Person Sample: The sharp acidic smell that hit Adam's nose roused him from a nearly dead sleep. So many years, so much experience, and so many lost friends because of fire, his body had come to recognize its presence quickly. It, seemed, though, that he had been one of the last few roused from the sounds echoing from the hallway. Scrambling out of his room, yanking on his shirt and shoes as he came, Adam headed towards the door before stopping, casting his glance back across the apartment at the other room. Damn it all, he couldn't just leave. Not when Angela and Claire would both kill him for leaving Nathan behind.
A few minutes later, Adam was struggling down the stairs, the prone form of the former senator draped across his back in, ironically, a fireman's carry. As his feet fell on the final steps of the ground floor, Adam heaved a sigh of relief, ignoring the burn from inhaling too much smoke and his lungs working to repair the damage each time that he did. He wasn't the one that had to worry about that.
Dragging Nathan outside, depositing him on one of the benches near the building but far enough away from it not to be touched by the fire, Adam shook him, sighing at the groggy, half awake response that he received. Well, at least he wasn't dead.