Pumpkin Hollow: Application

Player

Player Name: Phoenix
Other Characters (if any): Nimona, Radar O'Reilly

Character

Character Name: Felix Gaeta
Character Age: 28
Canon: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Canon Point: The very end of episode 4x14, "Blood on the Scales"
CRAU (if any): N/A
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History: Battlestar Wiki entry
Personality: If you wanted to roll up a typical high-intelligence, low-wisdom character, Gaeta would be a pretty good start. While blazingly smart and a more-than-capable lieutenant, if you talk to him for more than five minutes, it becomes very obvious very quickly that he spent most of his adult life in classrooms and on CIC floors, rarely seeing the line of battle from anywhere but a DRADIS screen. But even though he joined the Colonial Fleet more as a means to an end than anything else -- he planned to study genetics via their extension program after he completed his service, a plan that was destroyed along with the rest of the Twelve Colonies -- he threw himself into the job with the exact same unwavering dedication as any of his prior studies. The destruction of the Colonies only pressed him to be twice as committed.

Because that's the other thing about Gaeta: he's a hard worker, and he's got a fire in him about doing the right thing.

It's gotten him into trouble a lot in recent years. He used to trust wholeheartedly, but a little too easily; he became an idealist betrayed one too many times, and the last time broke him so badly that he launched a mutiny over it. Nowadays, he's more wary and closed off. He longs to trust like he used to, but can have trouble bringing himself to do it.

Despite that, his unshakable moral core remains. He will insist he remained loyal to the Fleet to the end; that it was his commanding officer who betrayed the Fleet, not him. While before, he might have bitten his tongue about any personal reservations for the sake of being a good soldier, he's not nearly as hesitant to speak up about his convictions now. Doing what he believed was right already landed him in front of a firing squad. What's stopping him anymore?

(Also, uh, he hates sentient robots. A lot. Sorry, Bastion and First Aid and any other mechanical residents of Marrow Isle.)

Initial Game Plan: It's been seven years since Gaeta lived on a properly thriving planet, so for a little while, the poor boy is ABSOLUTELY just going to soak it in. His normally reserved nature will briefly go out the window as he sets out to meet all the new people, experience the joys of completely mundane things that he hasn't done in three-quarters of a decade, and, well, probably go through a bit of culture shock as he realizes (a) there's barely any tech to speak of and (b) people here?? are from a living Earth???? and there's magic and actual real gods and what the FRAK. Buuuut the poor boy is also a gigantic bundle of PTSD, so I expect that'll start leaking out around the edges before too long. Also, he really needs a new prosthetic leg eventually. Preferably one that actually fits.

RP Interests: I'm up for anything! With Gaeta, I might lean slightly more toward building positive CR than negative, just because he's been through so much already, but obviously that doesn't mean I never want him to have a bad day in his life ever again. (I wouldn't be apping him if that were the case, lol.) I'd love for him to meet more veterans and scientists in particular, along with anyone who can shake up his extremely pragmatic brain a bit -- magic-users, gods, the otherworldly, etc.

Preferred Job: An excellent question. He'll want to do something, but he might flounder initially as he tries to figure out what that 'something' might be in a place with so few technological advances. Researcher? Physician or chemist's apprentice? Shelving books at the local bookshop? WHO KNOWS.

NSFW-friendly?: Possibly! I'm usually of the fade-to-black school, and Gaeta himself is hung up on his ex (so it'll be a while before he's willing), but never say never.

INFO/PERMISSIONS/ETC

PLAYER

NAME: Phoenix
PRONOUNS: they/she
AGE: very very much 18+
CONTACT: PM this journal; Discord available on request
ACTIVE TIME: US Eastern evenings/weekends

OOC PERMISSIONS

BACKTAGGING: Go for it! I'll do my best to tag for as long as the other player wants to keep going. (If it's been more than a couple months without a tag, though, I might ask that we start a new thread instead.)
THREADHOPPING: Ask first, please
FOURTHWALLING: No thanks
BRACKETS/PROSE: Prose, please; I have trouble reading extended amounts of tinytext like you get in brackets
OFFENSIVE SUBJECTS & TRIGGERS: Sexual assault/noncon is a hard no; prefer a warning for in-depth discussions or depictions of self-harm/suicide

CHARACTER

NAME: Felix Gaeta
CANON: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
PRONOUNS: he/him
AGE: 29
HISTORY: Battlestar Wiki page
CANON POINT: The very end of 4x14, "Blood on the Scales"
PSYCHIC & PSIONIC INFORMATION: None
MAGICAL INFORMATION: Thanks to studying how magic might be reinterpreted via the science/technology he already knows, Gaeta's the equivalent of a level 1 D&D Wizard. His "research notes" (aka spellbook) can be found here.
MEDICAL INFORMATION: Missing his right leg from about two inches below the knee. While the amputation was professionally done, healing was impacted due to limited resources, so heavy scarring is evident. Otherwise, he's in average physical health for someone his age. (Mental is another story.)

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

VISUAL: 5'9"-ish/175 cm. Average build. Olive complexion, with dark eyes, curly black hair that's graying at the temples, and a nasty-looking scar across his throat (as of the April 2024 event); can pretty easily pass for someone in his mid-30s between the gray and how exhausted he always seems to look. Typically neat and put-together unless something is seriously wrong. Always wears a well-crafted wooden prosthesis to replace his missing leg, and walks with both a cane and a noticeable limp unless otherwise mentioned.
AURAL: Tenor, nasally, with a slight Canadian-ish inflection (sample). Has a superb singing voice when given occasion to sing.
OLFACTORY: Cigarette smoke, ozone, old books
DEMEANOUR: Quiet, reserved, and polite to a fault, but gets more animated when talking about one of his pet subjects (usually anything related to science, space travel, or his burgeoning interest in magic). Also displays a dry sense of humor when he starts to open up. Slow to anger, but when he hits his breaking point, he hits it hard.

IC PERMISSIONS

PHYSICAL AFFECTION: Yes! He'll be taken aback if he doesn't know you well, and probably be very awkward about it, but he needs more hugs, godsdammit.
PHYSICAL VIOLENCE: Yes, but he wasn't much of a fighter even before his amputation and will try to disengage if at all possible. Please get in touch OOCly if the violence will lead to much worse than a cut or a bruise.
RELATIONSHIPS: Yes! He's bisexual with more of a preference for men, and while he tends to prefer serious relationships, he's not opposed to occasional hookups or FWB situations.
OFFENSIVE SUBJECTS & TRIGGERS: Sentient machines, planetary destruction, genocide, extremely cold weather and/or difficulty breathing (i.e. similar conditions to being on a ship with failing life support), being stranded, self-delusion, improper leadership. I'm 100% fine with any of these popping up in a thread! Just be aware Gaeta will have a strong reaction to them.
CONTENT WARNINGS: oh boy [snaps open the list like that gif of someone unrolling a scroll 203948324 feet long]

SO. Gaeta's from a post-apocalyptic world that saw humanity reduced from fifty billion people to about 50,000, followed by a war that was still ongoing by the time he died. Subjects that might pop up in his threads include but are not limited to: genocide; scarcity of resources including food, water, and medicine; PTSD; medical trauma; executions, both formal and extrajudicial; suicide; and general violence, assault, and death. I'll warn in subject lines as much as possible, but if you'd rather just opt out of threading with Gaeta entirely, please let me know. No hard feelings, I promise. BSG's a dark canon that not everyone may want to engage with.

Also, there's no real way around it: Gaeta hates sentient robots. He believes to his core that they cannot be trusted, he will not shy away from saying as much, and, if pushed, he may go as far as to say he doesn't believe they're truly people. One of my long-term RP goals is to get him to a point of being, er... less virulently awful about this? So if you don't mind initial negative CR, I'm very open to engagement on the subject! It just deserves a warning of its own because of how strongly it colors Gaeta's entire worldview.

☆ code by kimmiserate ☆