[ APPLICATION ]
→ PLAYER INFORMATION;
Name: Tori
Personal Journal: N/A
Contact: PM.
plurk: overplays.
aim: mad circuitry.
Timezone: EST
Current Characters: N/A
→ CHARACTER INFORMATION;
Character Name: Carlos 'Cougar' Alvarez
Character Journal: theclaws
Canon: The Losers (Film)
Canon Point: Post-Film
Canon Building: N/A
History: Not much is known about Cougar's personal life before the Losers. And you'd be hard pressed to drag it out of him - the Army only got it out of necessity. What you need to know, where all the important things start, is Bolivia.
The Losers, a black ops team consisting of Lieutenant Colonel Franklin Clay (operational control), Captain William Roque (demolition and tactical), Sergeant Carlos 'Cougar' Alvarez (long-range eliminations), Sergeant Linwood 'Pooch' Porteous (transportation and heavy weapons), and Corporal Jake Jensen (communications and tech) are given a mission in the deep jungles of the country: find the fortress of a drug/weapons-runner named Fadhil and paint the target with a laser so the Army can put the taxpayer's money to good use in bombing the place to kingdom come. This goes off without a hitch, and the team settles in to watch the fireworks... except Cougar spies through his scope some kids being unloaded out of a truck, about to get vaporized along with Fadhil and the rest of his gang. Naturally, the Losers are Not Pleased. When their attempt to sabotage the run and call an abort is interrupted by a mysterious voice on the channel going by the name of Max, the Losers collectively decide this isn't going to fly and invade the fortress. They drive on in, start a massive firefight, get the kids, pile into a school bus and manage to escape the blast radius in the nick of time. The bad guy's dead and everyone's safe. All's well that ends well, right?
Not so much.
When it happens that the rescue copter can't fit the Losers plus the kids, the team piles the kids on and prepare for the trek to the nearest point of civilization. Max, not to be ignored and outdone, strikes again and orders the copter shot down, assuming the team is inside. Twenty-five children and two innocent pilots are killed to cover up a conspiracy the Losers unwittingly uncovered. Disillusioned and effectively K.I.A., the Losers throw their tags into the wreckage and disappear into Bolivia's cities, blending into civilian life as they plan their next course of action. As it so happens, it decides to come to them instead. After burning down their hotel, anyway.
A woman named Aisha offers them all a chance at Max, putting down her own money to be used in their operations. She informs them that Max is going to be traveling in an armored car and column in Miami, and it's their best chance at grabbing him, no matter how risky it may be. The Losers, not the ones to be put off by risky chances, take her up on the offer. She sneaks them back into the United States - in coffins. Gallows humor at its finest. The first order of business? Bird hunting. They fake a military/civilian crash on a stretch of road in New Mexico, and Jensen calls in for rescue. When the unknowing medics arrive in a copter they're quickly dispatched by tranqs and left on the side of the road. Unhooking the copter's GPS and attaching it to a rocket to send the army on a wild goose chase, the Losers roll out with it to be repainted and refitted, before launching their extensive operation.
Here's how it goes: Roque hits one of the cars with a little blinking device of dubious purpose. Cougar, up high, shoots out two of the lead vehicles and causes a massive traffic jam to keep the bad guys in one place. Clay hits the dismounting forces with a tear gas grenade to cause confusion, with Roque making it worse by blowing up one of the cars. Pooch and Aisha come in with the copter, snagging the armored car with a large magnet, and Jensen seals the door shut. It pretty much goes off beautifully, aside from Pooch and Aisha getting into a fight and almost crashing into a donut. Still, better than their last op.
And it almost blows sky-high again when, after opening the truck, they find no Max - only a hard drive. Everyone turns on Aisha, who admits that she knew Max wouldn't be in there, but that the drive was important to him and could be used as leverage against him. With the drive being their only link to Max, Clay reluctantly agrees to keep it and not kill Aisha for the setup, which infuriates Roque (who'd already threatened to kill Aisha once before). After the marital dispute is settled, the team launches into the next phase of their operation.
Jensen infiltrates the worldwide headquarters of Goliath, the makers of Max's hard drive and the "multi-national manufacturer of... everything". He obtains an algorithm that'll allow them to divulge the contents of the drive and, in true Jensen fashion, escapes in a manner much louder than his entrance (and with some help from Cougar). They discover the drive holds all of Max's cash (four-hundred million in total), basically, but it can only be loaded and unloaded from one place: Max's home base in the port of Los Angeles. The Loser's interest lies in the potential blackmail value the system holds, so they scope out the place. Finding it heavily fortified, they spend the night preparing for what they hope is the homestretch.
Only before that can happen, Jensen manages to finds out who their bank girl is. When he notices four mil missing from Max's bankroll, curiosity gets the better of him and he spends time tracking it to figure out where it's gone. The answer isn't one that's comfortable for the team: the money was allocated to a family trust. In the event of his death the money would go to his child - by the name of Aisha al-Fadhil. The Losers rush to Clay's hotel room to keep him from potentially getting himself killed, but Aisha ends up shooting Jensen in the arm and managing to escape. The team decides to move on with the plan anyway (after some argument) as Max is, and always has been, their top priority.
They sneak into the port that same night, in hopes of moving before Aisha can come back and take her revenge or blow their op. Jensen heads into the warehouses to find Max's database, Cougar and Pooch in place for distraction and exfiltration respectively, while Roque and Clay wire the place to blow once everything's been taken care of. Only everything goes south when the team gets set up and caught - and Roque is the one responsible for it. They get dragged off their separate ways, and it looks like a pretty grim end for our team, until Aisha decides to cut in and give them the distraction they need to turn things around. The team escapes, regroups, and proceeds into Operation Kick Ass, in which they do exactly what the name says. In the end of everything Max escapes, but Roque's dead, the team's alive and they keep the port from being wiped off the map by a sonic dematerializer Max left behind for them to deal with. Plus they know what Max looks like, so it's still more than they started out with.
In the end, it could've gone worse. The Losers will take what they can get.
Personality: One of the most important things to know about Cougar is that he's something of an introvert, quiet by nature. On the best of days it's amazing if you can get more than three sentences out of him at any given time, and on the worst he won't speak at all. He reserves his words for what he can't get away with communicating in silence, but the bulk of his voice comes from his eyes, his face, his body language, and he can be so guarded in the beginning that even this is a 'blink and you'll miss it' kind of thing to those who don't know how to deal with him. Cougar likes having a handle on the situation, being able to see all the cards, if you will; flying blind makes him uncomfortable, but his career in the Army made sure that he's able to adapt to the situation when it's needed. He's naturally wary around strangers, preferring to keep interaction to short conversations and watching them carefully, but if you gain his trust you'd be hard-pressed to find someone more loyal.
When he warms up to others, it's surprising how open Cougar can be. He joins in games, he grins and laughs, jokes with others and hangs around just to enjoy the company. He can be incredibly friendly, it's just a matter of patience in working around his distrust and learning how to read, and interact with, him. He vastly prefers a few familiar faces to the faceless crowds, and small groups let him unwind more, make him comfortable enough to relax and show more of the wit and charm hiding under that stoic demeanor of his. If you're willing to work with him, he'll be more than happy to return the favor. He leaves no debt unpaid, no matter how long it may take him to pay it.
Cougar is the dependable type, always there when he's needed most. Whether that involves pulling off a shot at the last second or simply serving as silent support, Cougar's life revolves around those he cares for more than himself, almost to a self-sacrificial point. If he trusts you, if he knows you can be counted on, Cougar will dive into hell and back for you, take orders without hesitation. There's nowhere Cougar wouldn't go and very little he wouldn't do to keep the ones he cares for safe. And despite being an aloof sort most of the time, he takes the well-being of others and loss of lives or friendships seriously; he's devastated when the kids get shot down because of them, and again when Clay reveals it was Roque who screwed them over. It also bears mentioning that fucking with what's his, whether it's just his hat or his team, is one surefire way to get him pissed - ask the guy who shot Pooch in the legs and tried to grab his hat, or the ones who tried to kill his commanding officer. He's protective about the few things he can claim as his, and he won't tolerate those who try to mess them up.
You can either leave the cat alone, or you can try and give him a pet. But it pays to remember the claws.
Imported Character History: Cougar will be remembering his first brief stay in Mandalus. The notable events he went through:
- He arrives with Jensen and gets punched in the face.
- The Serpent's uprising reaches a climax; Cougar is accosted in the Business District by Vulpes Inculta, who has mistaken him for the Courier from his world. Cougar is later broken out by resistance fighters and joins the final battle against Vulpes and Belial.
AND THAT'S ABOUT IT REALLY.
Powers/Abilities: Cougar's only a normal man, but he's blessed with accuracy to make anyone weak in the knees. Put a gun in Cougar's hand and you're golden - while his preference tends toward sniper rifles, he can work magic with any type of fire arm he lays his hands on. His training in the Army also makes him a mean son of a bitch to deal with in close quarters, though it's definitely not his favorite place to be, and makes free-running to a proper sniping position a breeze. He has enough medical knowledge to act as a quick in-field medic when needed, able to stitch and patch up wounds.
And if the Losers are to be trusted, he's either got some damn good luck, or the ability to bluff and cheat his way out of any situation necessary. It's up in the air which is the truth, if not both of them.
→ SAMPLES;
First Person Sample: An old post on dear_mun.
Third Person Sample: Cougar wakes long before the rest of the Losers. He wakes before his alarm, shutting it off before it can ring, and gets up to pad around in the silent dark. The safe house they've been inhabiting the past few days is small, but definitely not the smallest they've ever been in, and certainly not the dirtiest or most rundown. Three bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen and a living room with a makeshift entertainment system make up the entire place, and Cougar already knows it all like the back of his hand, every dark corner and crawlspace.
He's quiet as he checks the rooms in order; first is the living room and kitchen, both within view of one another and the first rooms an assailant will enter from the door or the main windows. (The only thing in there is Jensen, asleep on the couch with his laptop hugged tight to his chest.) Next comes the bathroom, a good hiding spot for a hostile made alert to movement. Then there's the individual rooms. Clay and Roque's is first, with two windows available for invasion. Cougar leaves a glass of water and a bottle of Ibuprofen on Clay's nightstand for the bender he went on last night, nods a greeting to Roque who stares at him out of one eye, a wicked knife in hand, before he turns over and falls back to sleep. Then there's Pooch's with one window, and he leaves the man to his sleep and dreams of his pretty wife. Last is the room he shares with Jensen, because there's no windows and he's the only one who slept there last night.
Once he's done his check, he slips into the bathroom to shower and brush his teeth before the mad scramble can begin. He takes his time with the hot water, humming a wordless tune under his breath and letting himself drift momentarily on memories of his mami humming it to him at night, his head in her lap and thin fingers in his hair. He steps out in a cloud of mist to Jensen muttering something about killer rabbits and way too many teeth, brings out a blanket from their room to cover him with, a smile crooking his mouth at the corners when Jensen snuggles in and falls silent - aside from the soft snoring, anyway. Cougar steps away and moves to the window, pulling a chair over so he can sit in it, window cracked and legs pulled to his chest, eyes on the dawn he can see rising through the blinds.
The quiet never lasts. Even if they all had a more mundane job than working for the armed forces, the Losers themselves are made of chaotic energy and a clash of personalities. There's a myriad of situations for them to get into without ever leaving the safehouse. Jensen will take something apart to make it work better, Roque will yell at him when it means no TV or no coffee or no toast for a while, Pooch will crack wise and Clay will eventually get his second-in-command under control again, just in time to keep him from strangling Jensen with his laptop's charging cable. And Cougar will watch, because that's what he does: he watches. He watches them, watches over them, watches out for them. He watches them through his scope, sweeping areas for hostiles looking for an upper hand, he watches them from the corner of the room with an amused warmth before he's inevitably dragged into the heart of it all.
Cougar will take the quiet when it comes, thankful for the break it provides. But when the first alarm rings and breaks the silence, he doesn't mourn the loss. Can't when it means another day with the men he's come to think of as family.
Name: Tori
Personal Journal: N/A
Contact: PM.
plurk: overplays.
aim: mad circuitry.
Timezone: EST
Current Characters: N/A
→ CHARACTER INFORMATION;
Character Name: Carlos 'Cougar' Alvarez
Character Journal: theclaws
Canon: The Losers (Film)
Canon Point: Post-Film
Canon Building: N/A
History: Not much is known about Cougar's personal life before the Losers. And you'd be hard pressed to drag it out of him - the Army only got it out of necessity. What you need to know, where all the important things start, is Bolivia.
The Losers, a black ops team consisting of Lieutenant Colonel Franklin Clay (operational control), Captain William Roque (demolition and tactical), Sergeant Carlos 'Cougar' Alvarez (long-range eliminations), Sergeant Linwood 'Pooch' Porteous (transportation and heavy weapons), and Corporal Jake Jensen (communications and tech) are given a mission in the deep jungles of the country: find the fortress of a drug/weapons-runner named Fadhil and paint the target with a laser so the Army can put the taxpayer's money to good use in bombing the place to kingdom come. This goes off without a hitch, and the team settles in to watch the fireworks... except Cougar spies through his scope some kids being unloaded out of a truck, about to get vaporized along with Fadhil and the rest of his gang. Naturally, the Losers are Not Pleased. When their attempt to sabotage the run and call an abort is interrupted by a mysterious voice on the channel going by the name of Max, the Losers collectively decide this isn't going to fly and invade the fortress. They drive on in, start a massive firefight, get the kids, pile into a school bus and manage to escape the blast radius in the nick of time. The bad guy's dead and everyone's safe. All's well that ends well, right?
Not so much.
When it happens that the rescue copter can't fit the Losers plus the kids, the team piles the kids on and prepare for the trek to the nearest point of civilization. Max, not to be ignored and outdone, strikes again and orders the copter shot down, assuming the team is inside. Twenty-five children and two innocent pilots are killed to cover up a conspiracy the Losers unwittingly uncovered. Disillusioned and effectively K.I.A., the Losers throw their tags into the wreckage and disappear into Bolivia's cities, blending into civilian life as they plan their next course of action. As it so happens, it decides to come to them instead. After burning down their hotel, anyway.
A woman named Aisha offers them all a chance at Max, putting down her own money to be used in their operations. She informs them that Max is going to be traveling in an armored car and column in Miami, and it's their best chance at grabbing him, no matter how risky it may be. The Losers, not the ones to be put off by risky chances, take her up on the offer. She sneaks them back into the United States - in coffins. Gallows humor at its finest. The first order of business? Bird hunting. They fake a military/civilian crash on a stretch of road in New Mexico, and Jensen calls in for rescue. When the unknowing medics arrive in a copter they're quickly dispatched by tranqs and left on the side of the road. Unhooking the copter's GPS and attaching it to a rocket to send the army on a wild goose chase, the Losers roll out with it to be repainted and refitted, before launching their extensive operation.
Here's how it goes: Roque hits one of the cars with a little blinking device of dubious purpose. Cougar, up high, shoots out two of the lead vehicles and causes a massive traffic jam to keep the bad guys in one place. Clay hits the dismounting forces with a tear gas grenade to cause confusion, with Roque making it worse by blowing up one of the cars. Pooch and Aisha come in with the copter, snagging the armored car with a large magnet, and Jensen seals the door shut. It pretty much goes off beautifully, aside from Pooch and Aisha getting into a fight and almost crashing into a donut. Still, better than their last op.
And it almost blows sky-high again when, after opening the truck, they find no Max - only a hard drive. Everyone turns on Aisha, who admits that she knew Max wouldn't be in there, but that the drive was important to him and could be used as leverage against him. With the drive being their only link to Max, Clay reluctantly agrees to keep it and not kill Aisha for the setup, which infuriates Roque (who'd already threatened to kill Aisha once before). After the marital dispute is settled, the team launches into the next phase of their operation.
Jensen infiltrates the worldwide headquarters of Goliath, the makers of Max's hard drive and the "multi-national manufacturer of... everything". He obtains an algorithm that'll allow them to divulge the contents of the drive and, in true Jensen fashion, escapes in a manner much louder than his entrance (and with some help from Cougar). They discover the drive holds all of Max's cash (four-hundred million in total), basically, but it can only be loaded and unloaded from one place: Max's home base in the port of Los Angeles. The Loser's interest lies in the potential blackmail value the system holds, so they scope out the place. Finding it heavily fortified, they spend the night preparing for what they hope is the homestretch.
Only before that can happen, Jensen manages to finds out who their bank girl is. When he notices four mil missing from Max's bankroll, curiosity gets the better of him and he spends time tracking it to figure out where it's gone. The answer isn't one that's comfortable for the team: the money was allocated to a family trust. In the event of his death the money would go to his child - by the name of Aisha al-Fadhil. The Losers rush to Clay's hotel room to keep him from potentially getting himself killed, but Aisha ends up shooting Jensen in the arm and managing to escape. The team decides to move on with the plan anyway (after some argument) as Max is, and always has been, their top priority.
They sneak into the port that same night, in hopes of moving before Aisha can come back and take her revenge or blow their op. Jensen heads into the warehouses to find Max's database, Cougar and Pooch in place for distraction and exfiltration respectively, while Roque and Clay wire the place to blow once everything's been taken care of. Only everything goes south when the team gets set up and caught - and Roque is the one responsible for it. They get dragged off their separate ways, and it looks like a pretty grim end for our team, until Aisha decides to cut in and give them the distraction they need to turn things around. The team escapes, regroups, and proceeds into Operation Kick Ass, in which they do exactly what the name says. In the end of everything Max escapes, but Roque's dead, the team's alive and they keep the port from being wiped off the map by a sonic dematerializer Max left behind for them to deal with. Plus they know what Max looks like, so it's still more than they started out with.
In the end, it could've gone worse. The Losers will take what they can get.
Personality: One of the most important things to know about Cougar is that he's something of an introvert, quiet by nature. On the best of days it's amazing if you can get more than three sentences out of him at any given time, and on the worst he won't speak at all. He reserves his words for what he can't get away with communicating in silence, but the bulk of his voice comes from his eyes, his face, his body language, and he can be so guarded in the beginning that even this is a 'blink and you'll miss it' kind of thing to those who don't know how to deal with him. Cougar likes having a handle on the situation, being able to see all the cards, if you will; flying blind makes him uncomfortable, but his career in the Army made sure that he's able to adapt to the situation when it's needed. He's naturally wary around strangers, preferring to keep interaction to short conversations and watching them carefully, but if you gain his trust you'd be hard-pressed to find someone more loyal.
When he warms up to others, it's surprising how open Cougar can be. He joins in games, he grins and laughs, jokes with others and hangs around just to enjoy the company. He can be incredibly friendly, it's just a matter of patience in working around his distrust and learning how to read, and interact with, him. He vastly prefers a few familiar faces to the faceless crowds, and small groups let him unwind more, make him comfortable enough to relax and show more of the wit and charm hiding under that stoic demeanor of his. If you're willing to work with him, he'll be more than happy to return the favor. He leaves no debt unpaid, no matter how long it may take him to pay it.
Cougar is the dependable type, always there when he's needed most. Whether that involves pulling off a shot at the last second or simply serving as silent support, Cougar's life revolves around those he cares for more than himself, almost to a self-sacrificial point. If he trusts you, if he knows you can be counted on, Cougar will dive into hell and back for you, take orders without hesitation. There's nowhere Cougar wouldn't go and very little he wouldn't do to keep the ones he cares for safe. And despite being an aloof sort most of the time, he takes the well-being of others and loss of lives or friendships seriously; he's devastated when the kids get shot down because of them, and again when Clay reveals it was Roque who screwed them over. It also bears mentioning that fucking with what's his, whether it's just his hat or his team, is one surefire way to get him pissed - ask the guy who shot Pooch in the legs and tried to grab his hat, or the ones who tried to kill his commanding officer. He's protective about the few things he can claim as his, and he won't tolerate those who try to mess them up.
You can either leave the cat alone, or you can try and give him a pet. But it pays to remember the claws.
Imported Character History: Cougar will be remembering his first brief stay in Mandalus. The notable events he went through:
- He arrives with Jensen and gets punched in the face.
- The Serpent's uprising reaches a climax; Cougar is accosted in the Business District by Vulpes Inculta, who has mistaken him for the Courier from his world. Cougar is later broken out by resistance fighters and joins the final battle against Vulpes and Belial.
AND THAT'S ABOUT IT REALLY.
Powers/Abilities: Cougar's only a normal man, but he's blessed with accuracy to make anyone weak in the knees. Put a gun in Cougar's hand and you're golden - while his preference tends toward sniper rifles, he can work magic with any type of fire arm he lays his hands on. His training in the Army also makes him a mean son of a bitch to deal with in close quarters, though it's definitely not his favorite place to be, and makes free-running to a proper sniping position a breeze. He has enough medical knowledge to act as a quick in-field medic when needed, able to stitch and patch up wounds.
And if the Losers are to be trusted, he's either got some damn good luck, or the ability to bluff and cheat his way out of any situation necessary. It's up in the air which is the truth, if not both of them.
→ SAMPLES;
First Person Sample: An old post on dear_mun.
Third Person Sample: Cougar wakes long before the rest of the Losers. He wakes before his alarm, shutting it off before it can ring, and gets up to pad around in the silent dark. The safe house they've been inhabiting the past few days is small, but definitely not the smallest they've ever been in, and certainly not the dirtiest or most rundown. Three bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen and a living room with a makeshift entertainment system make up the entire place, and Cougar already knows it all like the back of his hand, every dark corner and crawlspace.
He's quiet as he checks the rooms in order; first is the living room and kitchen, both within view of one another and the first rooms an assailant will enter from the door or the main windows. (The only thing in there is Jensen, asleep on the couch with his laptop hugged tight to his chest.) Next comes the bathroom, a good hiding spot for a hostile made alert to movement. Then there's the individual rooms. Clay and Roque's is first, with two windows available for invasion. Cougar leaves a glass of water and a bottle of Ibuprofen on Clay's nightstand for the bender he went on last night, nods a greeting to Roque who stares at him out of one eye, a wicked knife in hand, before he turns over and falls back to sleep. Then there's Pooch's with one window, and he leaves the man to his sleep and dreams of his pretty wife. Last is the room he shares with Jensen, because there's no windows and he's the only one who slept there last night.
Once he's done his check, he slips into the bathroom to shower and brush his teeth before the mad scramble can begin. He takes his time with the hot water, humming a wordless tune under his breath and letting himself drift momentarily on memories of his mami humming it to him at night, his head in her lap and thin fingers in his hair. He steps out in a cloud of mist to Jensen muttering something about killer rabbits and way too many teeth, brings out a blanket from their room to cover him with, a smile crooking his mouth at the corners when Jensen snuggles in and falls silent - aside from the soft snoring, anyway. Cougar steps away and moves to the window, pulling a chair over so he can sit in it, window cracked and legs pulled to his chest, eyes on the dawn he can see rising through the blinds.
The quiet never lasts. Even if they all had a more mundane job than working for the armed forces, the Losers themselves are made of chaotic energy and a clash of personalities. There's a myriad of situations for them to get into without ever leaving the safehouse. Jensen will take something apart to make it work better, Roque will yell at him when it means no TV or no coffee or no toast for a while, Pooch will crack wise and Clay will eventually get his second-in-command under control again, just in time to keep him from strangling Jensen with his laptop's charging cable. And Cougar will watch, because that's what he does: he watches. He watches them, watches over them, watches out for them. He watches them through his scope, sweeping areas for hostiles looking for an upper hand, he watches them from the corner of the room with an amused warmth before he's inevitably dragged into the heart of it all.
Cougar will take the quiet when it comes, thankful for the break it provides. But when the first alarm rings and breaks the silence, he doesn't mourn the loss. Can't when it means another day with the men he's come to think of as family.