[OOC] Rotten Spokes of the Unlawful Wheel

[DeadDrop]

I'm dropping, thanks for your time guys.

[ButtsnBalls]

I'm dropping, thanks for your time guys.

@DeadDrop

Fair enough. Thanks for your interest and character submissions. Good luck with your other RPs.

[Virgil]

Benjamin Morris

5'9"/175cm 187lbs/85kgs	Benjamin Morris Age: 32 Gender: Masculine Male Citizenship(s): Indian Date and place of birth: August 25th, 2028 Official occupation: Private Investor

Profile

Residence:
Flat No. 24
Traveni Apartments
Bholi
SOPAHN 790034
INDIA

Affiliation: Benjamin works for the Vyas Family, as an investor in their more 'legitimate' operations.

Appearance: Hailing from a mixture of African-American and Moroccan heritage, Benjamin exhibits a plethora of darker features, including larger lips, a stronger facial-structure and ebony-colored hair/facial-hair. His body-build would seem sub-par for a man of 5'9" -- however, a slight sense of vanity compels him to make up for this through plain, simple and yet attractive attire, such as the purple collared-shirt, mint vest and black pants combo he likes to take out on special occasions. A promise he made to his Jewish-Moroccan mother also has him sporting a plain black kippah throughout the day-to-day (though he routinely fails to follow through on the other half of this promise).

Background:
Born as the only child of a workaholic mother and a pusillanimous father in Nashville, Tennessee, Benjamin found it particularly difficult to temper his early childhood. Already an odd-man-out due to his heightened sensitivity, and lacking any sort of role-model at home, he sought to "Fit the suit" of The Spades -- a local youth-gang shaped by a rebellious nature and lack of social guidance. Gradually gaining acceptance as their resident 'Plato', the gang became his home-away-from-home -- nurturing within him confidence, but also greed, apathy and paranoia.

Time progressed -- six years' passing found the young American at twenty-one, still hanging around The Spades...but not for any continued feeling of belonging. Despite surface-level celebration of their many liberations, ever-mounting dread boiled up from beneath this facade; Each member sought for a way out or a method to prove another more capable of spilling the beans. Every week, another job, further ensnaring the group in "The Big-Time", further evidence for big brother to use...further years added for that eventual situation in the grey house.

Then, the big one, the king -- the heist to 'secure' their interests for folding into the big-leagues; There wasn't even much to it:
1. - Intercept a dead man carrying a brief-case.
2. - Coerce him into capitulation of said brief-case.
3. - Drop off the case at a specified location...

...The only problem being, then, that the drop-man proved to be none other than a certain state-hopping twenty-one-year-old, with a motive to double-cross and the intent to never look back while doing it. That morning, he'd bid farewell to the couple he'd slowly grown to re-respect through the looking-glass of age; within two days' time, he'd be brushing off his coat in the Big Apple.

The city of hopes, dreams and connections, it'd grown exponentially, pushing the limits of its namesake in terms of sheer magnitude -- and it would be here that, in seeking to establish a stable foundation for his newfound wealth, he'd first encounter Edmund Alva, an as-it-so-happened-to-be investment manager looking to expand his clientele. The understanding between the two was elementary, allowing Benjamin to focus on other things...such as The Spades...again. Under the pressure of hounds facing starvation, they loosed upon him in a premature show of force; this worked out in Morris's favor, thankfully, providing enough forewarning to guide him out of harm's way, out of New York...out of the States entirely. Using his checkbook --and a natural sense of self-preservation-- as a means of escape, he took to India, hoping to establish a clean slate for himself there -- away from the suffocation of old mistakes.

As it so happened, Sopahn was quite welcoming to an influx of deep-pockets, accommodating a broad spectrum ranging from the innocent progeny to the devil's advocates. Lives of love and luxury were common maelstroms there, sucking in the naive and the experienced alike in an ecstasy of excess, rattling victims of the sense to understand the danger their livelihoods lay in. Mack The Knife swam beside Honest Jack with all the courtesy of a concierge, prophesying success even as the one watched the other be swallowed by the neighboring torrent. Three years later, it would be amidst this social and fiscal chaos that Beni came to meet Aleshanee Vyas...and begin his own turn in purgatory.

Love finds all, blinds all and binds all; so too was the case for Benjamin, who in his stupor, regrettably failed to recognize the well he'd plunged headlong into. The Vyas family, it was discovered, were of less-than-honest means, associated with less-than-honest people and were ever-so-subtly of less-than-honest intentions. As gold-diggers, they panned through the ranks of the upper echelons, preying upon natives and foreigners alike to help solidify and maintain their illusions of legitimacy. And when push came to shove with the realization of the truth, Morris bent.

Still, it wasn't all so bad; despite constant surveillance, a certain level of autonomy was granted to each member of the family. Arguably, some lesser than the rest...but then again, it wasn't wise to argue with the Vyases. And so it would be that Benjamin would maintain an *existence* for the next eight years...if not a *life*.

Outlook and Motivations: Favoring adaptation over any real planning, Benjamin prefers to seize the moment...of course, that's only if he sees the moment. Still, though his average intelligence might otherwise hinder him, Benjamin is knowing enough to understand that money can manage all short-comings. He is also quite aware of the collar around his neck, wiggling around it every once in a while, but never quite becoming *free of it*. To compensate for this, he has learned to bend under the pressure of his situation. The simple pleasures fill what space of his life is left to himself.

Capabilities

Language(s): American English, with just a grain of Spanish (learning).

Skills:
Deft Hands - Of course he's a bit rusty, but that doesn't mean that he can't swipe the teller when he has too. If nobody sees you do it, who's the wiser?

Cotton-Tongue - With a decent half-million in the bank, Morris isn't afraid to whip out the ol' checkbook when a situation gets tight. That isn't to say it's his first instinct, but the option is there regardless.

Fits The Suit - Benjamin has gotten into a decent exercise routine. It may be a pain to keep up --given his free-spirited nature-- but the advantages more than outweigh the displeasure.

Flaws:
Creature Of Habit - Morris finds it particularly difficult to do much outside of what he already feels he can accomplish.

Monster In-laws - Beni's new family rules both interior and exterior with an iron fist, making it difficult to work around their air-tight control.

Connections: Edmund Alva represents Benjamin Morris's investments across the ethernet. Family-wise, Chaima and Beni Harrak are his estranged birth-parents, whilst Aleshanee Vyas and her family are quite content to own the majority of his free-will.

Accomplishments: Went from Bust to Bang in under thirty years...if given a few consequences here and there.

Crimes: Off-The-Record: Burglary, Robbery, Car-Jacking, Aiding & Abetting; On-The-Record: So clean, it's transparent!

Inventory

Cash, saving and debts:
$1,000 - Wallet (At all times, rarely over/under)
$300,000+ - Safe (Hidden quite creatively somewhere near his toilet)
$500,000+ - Bank of India

Tools and weapons: Doesn't ever leave the flat without a few pinches of salt in his pockets.

Electronic devices: A simple clockwork pocket-watch and Smartphone are preferred.

Apparels: Favors collared-shirts, sweaters, vests, pants, khakis, a black kippah (mandatory) and black sneakers or dress-shoes.

Credentials and ID cards: Indian Passport and Social Security ID.

Jewelry and valuables: He finds his pocket-watch quite beautiful, in a plain-faced sort of way.

Consumables: N/A

Load bearing equipment: N/A

Illicit goods: N/A

Vehicle: Why drive when you can take a taxi?

Pet and animals: You'll never be lonely with a cat, so it's obvious that Benjamin would have one. However, since his apartment doesn't permit pets, he has taken to leaving food out for the alley-strays that hang around that area.

Other: N/A

[ButtsnBalls]

@Shienvien@Ashgan, anything new from you guys?

[Ashgan]

Nothing too constructive I'm afraid. I just didn't find either the time or the creative impetus necessary to produce something of note, so I'm afraid I'll have to sit this one out. Maybe it'll work out next time. Best of luck to all of you though and have fun!

[ButtsnBalls]

Alright people, the application deadline has been extended to the 17th due to several private requests.

@Ashgan, I understand. Thanks for trying.

[Virgil]

Alright people, the application deadline has been extended to the 17th due to several private requests.

@Gcold

WHAT?!?! All of my procrastination was for naught!

I demand an anxiety refund.

[Kingfisher]

Alright people, the application deadline has been extended to the 17th due to several private requests.

@Ashgan, I understand. Thanks for trying.

@Gcold

YOU BASTARDS! I WAS SO HYPED FOR TODAY!

I jest, take as much time as you need.

[Greenie]

Just wanted to drop this here as an interesting thing to share! :D

Hindustani: Hindi and Urdu - A Single Language?

[BingTheWing]

Can't wait for the character verdicts! :D

[ButtsnBalls]

Gonna deliver the verdict later today; hang tight!

[ButtsnBalls]

.

[ButtsnBalls]

Alright, here we go. Sorry about the delay; turns out the other applicants have either disappeared from the face of the earth or dropped their interest.

• @Peik: Bahadur is a spicy boy and Peter is a bittersweet boy. Your characters tell the stories of two men on two different types of brinks. They are grounded, funny and seamlessly tied together through the Uzbek mafia. I would only ask you to construct a faction sheet for the Uzbeks. Other than that, nicely done. Go post them in our official list.
• @BingTheWing: Rajan was great and we've worked out the faction in private. You've interwoven the struggles of a regular human being into India's politcal contentions, and brought emotion and hope in a concise story; great job. There's no problem I can see of, so you can drop him in the roster.
• @Atrophy: Sashi is certainly an entertaining character to read about. Her battles with her insecurity and her suffering through her perfect memory is well connected to her high-profile job in a high-tech industry. One question I have is the degree of her self-confidence. Going through so many successful plastic surgeries and a cutting edge project must have boosted her self-confidence. Getting her project terminated was a hit, but she probably knows at least something about bouncing back at her age. Some more explanation on her downfall towards depression would round up the character nicely, and you may send her to the characters tab after that.
  
  And ISSOco is approved; expect competition from Anderson-Ford Pharmaceutical.
• @Greenie: Nothing wrong with Kamala as a character. She may be seem lowkey, but I can see her having solid potential in our story. For affiliation, just put whoever she works for. There's a bit of formatting issues under tools and weapons, but once you clear these up, you're free to put the sheet into our characters tab.
• @Kingfisher: Delilah has a couple of cool features going for her. A big girl like her moving up the underworld ranks is always fun to see. However, I have several adjustments for you to make. First is weight; 20 stones is fine in colloquial Irish English, but I need a metric and/or imperial measurement to make it consistent with everyone else. Second is the Chief's connection to the Chatterjee Outfit. What were the details of this crime partnership across the world? Lastly, her personality seems to conflict a bit. Her bio says she treats the prostitutes "more like people than product", while her outlook states that "she views each individual person as something to exploit". I need you to clarify these three points before getting into the game.
• @Virgil: I appreciate you making Benjamin a flexible character, however, he isn't relevant enough to be a part of our story. A private investor with less than honest money from oversea essentially makes him a blank slate in Sopahn. Benjamin doesn't have much stakes in Sopahn, so he could simply pack up, cash out and go somewhere else when things go south.
  
  You've explained his personality and appearance effectively. However, Benjamin's bio is vague and not as informative as I like it to be. Sorry, Benjamin cannot be accepted in this state. However, since we aren't crowded at this moment, you can try submitting another character or revamp Beni so that his background better explains why he needs to live in Sopahn.

[Greenie]

@GcoldOkeedokee, gotcha! *salutes*

[Atrophy]

@GcoldWord! I should have some time tomorrow or the day after to touch things up and then I'll send you the new character sheet.

[BingTheWing]

@Gcold Loved that subtle reference to the MBP in Veejay's bio. :P

[Virgil]

@Gcold Righto, I'll whip up a few edits on the 'morrow.

[BingTheWing]

@Gcold When will the first IC post be up?

[Kingfisher]

@Kingfisher: Delilah has a couple of cool features going for her. A big girl like her moving up the underworld ranks is always fun to see. However, I have several adjustments for you to make. First is weight; 20 stones is fine in colloquial Irish English, but I need a metric and/or imperial measurement to make it consistent with everyone else. Second is the Chief's connection to the Chatterjee Outfit. What were the details of this crime partnership across the world? Lastly, her personality seems to conflict a bit. Her bio says she treats the prostitutes "more like people than product", while her outlook states that "she views each individual person as something to exploit". I need you to clarify these three points before getting into the game.

@Gcold

Thanks for the detailed feedback man, I really appreciate it.

20 stone to lb is 280 pounds, so that's an easy fix for me. I'll do that now.

The Chief is supposed to be someone whose always trying to make new connections, and his deal with the Chatterjee Outfit was intended to be his first opportunity to try and branch out to India. I can add a reference to that into the bio if you'd like?

As for the personality section, it was supposed to be that Delilah is someone who acts humane when she has the luxury to, but can easily shed her disguise of caring at the drop of a hat, if it means she'll benefit. Sorry if that wasn't conveyed in the way I'd worded things.

I can make those changes asap, if that's all?

[ButtsnBalls]

@Gcold When will the first IC post be up?

@BingTheWing

After we get everyone's sheet in or before the end of this week, whichever comes first.

<Snipped quote by Gcold>

Thanks for the detailed feedback man, I really appreciate it.

20 stone to lb is 280 pounds, so that's an easy fix for me. I'll do that now.

The Chief is supposed to be someone whose always trying to make new connections, and his deal with the Chatterjee Outfit was intended to be his first opportunity to try and branch out to India. I can add a reference to that into the bio if you'd like?

As for the personality section, it was supposed to be that Delilah is someone who acts humane when she has the luxury to, but can easily shed her disguise of caring at the drop of a hat, if it means she'll benefit. Sorry if that wasn't conveyed in the way I'd worded things.

I can make those changes asap, if that's all?

@Kingfisher

Yes, these are what I'm looking for.