OOC: Meet the (former) firefighter
Dream's post reminded me I need to do one of these for Tommy:
What I put down in the userinfo covers a lot so I'm going to blatently cut and paste here...
General Background: A highly skilled firefighter with the New York City Fire Department, Tommy struggles with alcoholism, post-traumatic stress disorder, and a personal life that couldn't be more screwed up if he tried.
The turning point was 9-11. Tommy's crew worked the Towers that day and lost four members, including his cousin and best friend Jimmy. Ever since then Tommy has been haunted by visions of Jimmy, others who have died whom Tommy feels responsible for, and, lately, Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. Though the visions are extremely detailed and even impart information Tommy shouldn't know, it's uncertain whether these are true visitations or the product of Tommy's imagination.
Tommy is harsh, abrasive, arrogant, and, like everyone else in his crew, talks in a near-constant patter of cursing, vulgarity, and racist/sexist/homophobic comments. He is also fiercely dedicated to the job, is one of the best firefighters around and, it is worth noting, though he *speaks* with bigoted comments, he is not fully a bigot himself. Instead, Tommy gives and takes the worst possible insults in stride because words are a completely separate issue from whether or not somebody - male, female, black, white, gay, straight, whatever - is giving their all to the team.
Tommy is also very religious. He currently has a love/hate relationship with God. He believes in God, but thinks that God has a shit load of explaining to do.
Canon-wise, Tommy breaks off from the finale of season 2. His son's death and the events that followed were too much for Tommy to deal with. He got into his truck, started driving, and went wherever the road took him. One day he was near a small island in Virginia when he spotted a help wanted ad for a Clinic. Tommy's not a doctor, but he needed the money and the ad only specified first aid skills and the ability to handle a crisis, both of which Tommy has in spades. It's not firefighting, but it's life saving of a sort. Besides, who knows if this tiny town might need a real fire department some day?
***
Tommy's an asshole. He talks like an asshole. Yes, sure, there is some goodness in there but as his own brother Johnny put it "Rock bottom just doesn't exist for you, does it?"
He is not, however, unnecessarily mean. For Tommy the way he talks is just a language. As he and Franco put it in one episode "He calls me a Spic, I call him a Mick." Yes, Tommy does have some actual prejudices. He's uncomfortable around gay man, for instance. But he's also surprisingly open minded in others. For example, he was thrilled when he found out his daughter was a lesbian. (Though arguably that was because that meant she wouldn't be dating boys, and of course every father wants to make sure no boy ever touches his little girl. Tough call.)
Tommy was also affected by 9-11. He was in 9-11. He worked the Towers. He will talk about 9-11 and often does so in a very frank and sometimes even cavalier manner. Black humor is a big thing for him.
All of which is to say that yes, Tommy's player gets that her new boy is hard to love. She also gets that his way of dealing with things may not be fun for all. So please, if he's over the top for you just let me know and he can be dialed down or simply leave the room. Or your character can insult, punch, smack, kick him in the crotch, whatever. Totally fine. There's plenty of ways to keep him IC without actually hurting people OOC.
Also, while normally I don't believe in needing to flash cred to write a character, since he does talk about some hardcore topics I will say that he's being written by a bisexual woman who's from New York, had family and friends who worked and lived within blocks of the Towers, and had firefighter relatives who worked the Towers. Unlike Tommy, everyone I know who did that survived, but still. This is why when I saw the first episode of Rescue Me my jaw dropped to the floor because holy GOD did they get the emotions and dialogue right.
So believe me, there is no disrespect to any of these topics being shown by Tommy's player. Tommy just deals with the world in his own unique way.
Oh, and this applies to Tommy's religion too. (Catholicism, which he and I also share.)
Speaking of which...
***
Tommy sees dead people. In s1 it was the ghosts of those who had died whom Tommy felt responsible for. In s2 it moved on to include Jesus and Mary Magdalene.
Tommy has made some of the ghosts go away by lighting candles and praying for them to do so. The ghosts have also told him things that Tommy did not know himself.
This does not prove or disprove that the ghosts and visitations are real, however. So Tommy and Hamlet would have a lot in common, basically.
Nobody but Tommy can see the ghosts and visions. Nobody but Tommy can hear, touch, smell, talk to, taste, sense, whatever, the ghosts and visions. Please do not have your character be aware that Tommy goes through this without checking with me first.
Traditionally Tommy isn't visited when he's around other people anyway, so for the most part this is a moot point. It might be possible, though, for your character to overhear him talking to himself, or looking like he's beating himself up (he and Jimmy get into some nasty fights from time to time.) So... Tommy and Jaye would have a lot in common, basically.
And I think that's about it. As always if there's questions, comments, whatever, let 'er rip.
What I put down in the userinfo covers a lot so I'm going to blatently cut and paste here...
General Background: A highly skilled firefighter with the New York City Fire Department, Tommy struggles with alcoholism, post-traumatic stress disorder, and a personal life that couldn't be more screwed up if he tried.
The turning point was 9-11. Tommy's crew worked the Towers that day and lost four members, including his cousin and best friend Jimmy. Ever since then Tommy has been haunted by visions of Jimmy, others who have died whom Tommy feels responsible for, and, lately, Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. Though the visions are extremely detailed and even impart information Tommy shouldn't know, it's uncertain whether these are true visitations or the product of Tommy's imagination.
Tommy is harsh, abrasive, arrogant, and, like everyone else in his crew, talks in a near-constant patter of cursing, vulgarity, and racist/sexist/homophobic comments. He is also fiercely dedicated to the job, is one of the best firefighters around and, it is worth noting, though he *speaks* with bigoted comments, he is not fully a bigot himself. Instead, Tommy gives and takes the worst possible insults in stride because words are a completely separate issue from whether or not somebody - male, female, black, white, gay, straight, whatever - is giving their all to the team.
Tommy is also very religious. He currently has a love/hate relationship with God. He believes in God, but thinks that God has a shit load of explaining to do.
Canon-wise, Tommy breaks off from the finale of season 2. His son's death and the events that followed were too much for Tommy to deal with. He got into his truck, started driving, and went wherever the road took him. One day he was near a small island in Virginia when he spotted a help wanted ad for a Clinic. Tommy's not a doctor, but he needed the money and the ad only specified first aid skills and the ability to handle a crisis, both of which Tommy has in spades. It's not firefighting, but it's life saving of a sort. Besides, who knows if this tiny town might need a real fire department some day?
***
Tommy's an asshole. He talks like an asshole. Yes, sure, there is some goodness in there but as his own brother Johnny put it "Rock bottom just doesn't exist for you, does it?"
He is not, however, unnecessarily mean. For Tommy the way he talks is just a language. As he and Franco put it in one episode "He calls me a Spic, I call him a Mick." Yes, Tommy does have some actual prejudices. He's uncomfortable around gay man, for instance. But he's also surprisingly open minded in others. For example, he was thrilled when he found out his daughter was a lesbian. (Though arguably that was because that meant she wouldn't be dating boys, and of course every father wants to make sure no boy ever touches his little girl. Tough call.)
Tommy was also affected by 9-11. He was in 9-11. He worked the Towers. He will talk about 9-11 and often does so in a very frank and sometimes even cavalier manner. Black humor is a big thing for him.
All of which is to say that yes, Tommy's player gets that her new boy is hard to love. She also gets that his way of dealing with things may not be fun for all. So please, if he's over the top for you just let me know and he can be dialed down or simply leave the room. Or your character can insult, punch, smack, kick him in the crotch, whatever. Totally fine. There's plenty of ways to keep him IC without actually hurting people OOC.
Also, while normally I don't believe in needing to flash cred to write a character, since he does talk about some hardcore topics I will say that he's being written by a bisexual woman who's from New York, had family and friends who worked and lived within blocks of the Towers, and had firefighter relatives who worked the Towers. Unlike Tommy, everyone I know who did that survived, but still. This is why when I saw the first episode of Rescue Me my jaw dropped to the floor because holy GOD did they get the emotions and dialogue right.
So believe me, there is no disrespect to any of these topics being shown by Tommy's player. Tommy just deals with the world in his own unique way.
Oh, and this applies to Tommy's religion too. (Catholicism, which he and I also share.)
Speaking of which...
***
Tommy sees dead people. In s1 it was the ghosts of those who had died whom Tommy felt responsible for. In s2 it moved on to include Jesus and Mary Magdalene.
Tommy has made some of the ghosts go away by lighting candles and praying for them to do so. The ghosts have also told him things that Tommy did not know himself.
This does not prove or disprove that the ghosts and visitations are real, however. So Tommy and Hamlet would have a lot in common, basically.
Nobody but Tommy can see the ghosts and visions. Nobody but Tommy can hear, touch, smell, talk to, taste, sense, whatever, the ghosts and visions. Please do not have your character be aware that Tommy goes through this without checking with me first.
Traditionally Tommy isn't visited when he's around other people anyway, so for the most part this is a moot point. It might be possible, though, for your character to overhear him talking to himself, or looking like he's beating himself up (he and Jimmy get into some nasty fights from time to time.) So... Tommy and Jaye would have a lot in common, basically.
And I think that's about it. As always if there's questions, comments, whatever, let 'er rip.