Haymitch Abernathy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
killarevolution) wrote2012-03-07 11:49 am
killarevolution) wrote2012-03-07 11:49 am
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knightsoflegend app
Player Name: Chris
Player E-mail: whatineverhad[at]gmail.com
Instant message contact (AIM/MSN/etc): KawaiiSpinel42 (AIM)
Plurk (if applicable): uberboned
Is the player at least 18 years of age? Yes.
Character's Full Name: Haymitch Abernathy
Canon The Hunger Games
PB/Actor: Josh Brolin
Character Age: 41
Physical Description: Haymitch used to be attractive 25 years ago, but now... He's definitely not. Not that there's not some traces of the fact that he used to be good looking on him, but mostly he's paunchy, middle-aged, and has a yellowish tint to his skin from when he was forced into sobriety for several months. His hair is black and used to be curly, but it's kind of evened out to an unkempt mess. He's generally unshaven and even when he cleans up, he has an unruly mustache and some signs of stubble. He has what is described as "gray Seam eyes," which are common in District Twelve. He's often dirty and bedraggled and looks like a hobo.
Character's Species/Race (aka human, elf, dragonblood human, etc): Human
Character History: Here
Chosen Canon Point: The end of Mockingjay, before the epilogue.
Personality and Psychology: To understand Haymitch, you have to understand Panem and why it is the way it is- well, the why isn't important. It's the same story you hear every few centuries when shit gets real- the peasants revolted, they lost, and now they suffer for it. And that suffering comes from both starvation and a life of virtual servitude to an unfeeling Capitol, but also... From the Hunger Games, a death match that pits two children from every district against one another in a televised Battle Royale.
Yeah, it's pretty intense.
Haymitch fits into this because twenty-five years ago, he won the Hunger Games, but winning isn't everything and one finds that once you've won the Games, you're always the Capitol's little bitch and it's better to die out there to live with what comes after.
But that's getting ahead of things. Before the Games, Haymitch was... Well, let's face it. He was always a sardonic bastard who probably won his appeals during the interviews by playing up his natural flippance and sardonic attitude and people found it weirdly charming- and he can be. In his own special, demented little way. These are core aspects of Haymitch's character that no amount of drink or trauma can shake out of him. Once a surly bastard, always a surly bastard.
He's clever- probably too clever. His tactic in the Games was to avoid conflict, if at all possible (and kill without mercy when conflict found him), and see if he could find the end of the arena and make a break for it. What he found at the end was nothing more than an invisible force field that threw you back if you tried to jump at it. In the end, that force field was what won him the Games- by ducking a blow from another tribute's axe and letting it hit the force field, richochet back, and kill her, he achieved his victory and essentially flipped the Capitol the bird for using their own tricks against them. Because of that stunt, he was made an example of- his mother, his brother, and his girlfriend were all murdered for his actions. Haymitch dealt with the trauma and guilt by turning to the bottle and shutting everyone out. The once-handsome, sardonic, mocking teenage boy was gone, slowly to be replaced by a messy, disgusting, even more sardonic drunk.
Because the Games never end for the victors, Haymitch was forced to be present for every Game for twenty-five years, mentoring other young hopefuls from District Twelve, but none were as clever or as strong as the other tributes and most of them died early. By the time Haymitch had lost enough tributes for it to not be worth it to get attached, he stopped trying to coach his tributes and gave them one simple piece of advice: "Stay alive."
It didn't take- at least not until the Seventy-Fourth Annual Hunger Games. By then Haymitch was a disorderly drunk, taking stage dives and embarassing women on live TV because he just doesn't give a rat's ass. His tributes (Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark) had something he hadn't seen before- spunk, chutzpah. It gave him a renewed sense of purpose and for the first time... He actually tried to be a mentor. And didn't suck at it.
That's the thing about Haymitch- what he can do and what he does do are greatly dependant on who's doing the asking. Haymitch has to feel he's getting something out of an arrangement, whether it be compliance with his wishes or just the wonderful sensation of not being let down for the twenty-fifth time in a row. He's not afraid to speak his mind and even gets up and arms with the Gamekeepers, themselves, to get his way. He might be dead drunk half the time, but when Haymitch Abernathy sobers up enough to make sense, people listen, and when they don't listen... Well, that tends to lead to situations where he threatens to weld communicators to teenage girls' heads, because that is what happens when you hang up on an ornery drunk.
And he is ornery, although more ornery when he's sober. He's such a severe alcoholic that he'd be willing to drink rubbing alcohol to get a fix when real spirits aren't available. When he's sober, he gets fighting mad and sickly and is generally not very pleasant to be around, but he's not very pleasant when he's drunk either, so really it's a matter of how badly you want to be punched to death if you provoke him while he's sober. If you provoke him, he will lash out and he doesn't give a fig if you're a teenage boy or a girl. He's good at doling out the harshness and unfriendliness.
But underneath the violent temper and the surly, sardonic attitude, Haymitch has genuine compassion. He loves Peeta and Katniss like they were his own children but would rather cut his own throat than ever admit it. It's still true, even as he berates the ever-loving fuck out of Katniss for half of everything- but, in his defense, it's because they're what happens when a tornado meets a volcano and rarely have anything resembling a middle ground. If they're adorable famblychans, then it's so cute you want to die and when they're fighting... It looks like someone might die. He sees a lot of himself in Katniss and it means that they're both too stubborn and unrelenting and pig-headed to ever agree on something for very wrong, even when Haymitch, being the manipulative fuck he is, usually knows best. But while he and Katniss fight all the time to the point where Katniss believes he hates her, he does... Love that stupid, stupid little girl with all the charm of a dead slug. He insults her and threatens her and all that jazz for her own good- and because he's secretly her angry, bitter alcoholic Giles.
Of course, his trauma from the games doesn't just manifest from apathy and alcoholism- Haymitch suffers from PSTD as most victors in the Games do and uses alcohol to cope with the nightmares. He sleeps with a knife, doesn't let anyone into his house, and when someone wakes him up from a dead stupor (usually by dumping water on his head- fuck you, Katniss and Peeta), his kneejerk response is to start slashing wildly and then be really confused and then pissed off. Because that spells functional.
In all honesty, though, it's how functional Haymitch really is that's the scary part- he may be a genuine drunk, but he does know how to make things work to both his and the advantage of the people around him. He managed to get Katniss to do everything he wanted her to do in the arena just by the timing of his gifts, for example. He can think like a tactician and he knows how to work a crowd in his own... Fucked-up little way. You just have to yank him away from the bottle and give him something worth fighting for.
Memories Retained or Lost: Haymitch will remember very little save for his name, the fact that he's an alcoholic, and vague recollections about the Games that serves as context for why he's an alcoholic. Maybe he shouldn't have drank that entire bottle of rubbing alcohol because the train with the real booze in it was late...
It should be noted that he's still plagued by nightmares when he's not drunk enough to block them out, but the real horror is now he doesn't know if they happened to him or if he's just having really fucked up dreams.
Powers and Abilities: Once upon a time, Haymitch was actually a pretty able-bodied man. Now he's a surly drunk who flips tables when he's pissed off and too sober to function. He used to be pretty deadly with a knife, but now how good he is greatly depends on whether or not someone will hold still long enough while he wildly slashes in their general direction. What he lacks in being able to stand upright and avoid stage-diving, however, he makes up for in sheer cunning. He's manipulative, shrewd, and knows how to keep people underestimating him, because he's a drunk. Haymitch might not be able to slit your throat as effectively as he once did, but he knows how to fucking ruin you or get you to do exactly what he wants.
Roleplay Samples
Link to a sample of your character in action: Here
Link to a sample of your prose writing style: Here
Any other important information (including special inventory items in their possession): Haymitch always keeps a knife on him, so that'll be... It, because you'd have to pry it from his cold, dead fingers. It's just an ordinary knife.
Why do you think this character would join/work with the Knights? The horrible part is Haymitch would probably say FUCK YOU ALL, but as he has no idea who the fuck he is and no money and doesn't want to live in some unfamiliar place and die of sobriety, he'll probably agree on the basis that it'll keep him in booze and give him something to do, because otherwise he'll just be lying around dead drunk or just dead. Not that he would really mind that, but whatever. He can deal.
Do you have a preference for which NPC brought in your character? Someone who can handle surly drunks.
Player E-mail: whatineverhad[at]gmail.com
Instant message contact (AIM/MSN/etc): KawaiiSpinel42 (AIM)
Plurk (if applicable): uberboned
Is the player at least 18 years of age? Yes.
Character's Full Name: Haymitch Abernathy
Canon The Hunger Games
PB/Actor: Josh Brolin
Character Age: 41
Physical Description: Haymitch used to be attractive 25 years ago, but now... He's definitely not. Not that there's not some traces of the fact that he used to be good looking on him, but mostly he's paunchy, middle-aged, and has a yellowish tint to his skin from when he was forced into sobriety for several months. His hair is black and used to be curly, but it's kind of evened out to an unkempt mess. He's generally unshaven and even when he cleans up, he has an unruly mustache and some signs of stubble. He has what is described as "gray Seam eyes," which are common in District Twelve. He's often dirty and bedraggled and looks like a hobo.
Character's Species/Race (aka human, elf, dragonblood human, etc): Human
Character History: Here
Chosen Canon Point: The end of Mockingjay, before the epilogue.
Personality and Psychology: To understand Haymitch, you have to understand Panem and why it is the way it is- well, the why isn't important. It's the same story you hear every few centuries when shit gets real- the peasants revolted, they lost, and now they suffer for it. And that suffering comes from both starvation and a life of virtual servitude to an unfeeling Capitol, but also... From the Hunger Games, a death match that pits two children from every district against one another in a televised Battle Royale.
Yeah, it's pretty intense.
Haymitch fits into this because twenty-five years ago, he won the Hunger Games, but winning isn't everything and one finds that once you've won the Games, you're always the Capitol's little bitch and it's better to die out there to live with what comes after.
But that's getting ahead of things. Before the Games, Haymitch was... Well, let's face it. He was always a sardonic bastard who probably won his appeals during the interviews by playing up his natural flippance and sardonic attitude and people found it weirdly charming- and he can be. In his own special, demented little way. These are core aspects of Haymitch's character that no amount of drink or trauma can shake out of him. Once a surly bastard, always a surly bastard.
He's clever- probably too clever. His tactic in the Games was to avoid conflict, if at all possible (and kill without mercy when conflict found him), and see if he could find the end of the arena and make a break for it. What he found at the end was nothing more than an invisible force field that threw you back if you tried to jump at it. In the end, that force field was what won him the Games- by ducking a blow from another tribute's axe and letting it hit the force field, richochet back, and kill her, he achieved his victory and essentially flipped the Capitol the bird for using their own tricks against them. Because of that stunt, he was made an example of- his mother, his brother, and his girlfriend were all murdered for his actions. Haymitch dealt with the trauma and guilt by turning to the bottle and shutting everyone out. The once-handsome, sardonic, mocking teenage boy was gone, slowly to be replaced by a messy, disgusting, even more sardonic drunk.
Because the Games never end for the victors, Haymitch was forced to be present for every Game for twenty-five years, mentoring other young hopefuls from District Twelve, but none were as clever or as strong as the other tributes and most of them died early. By the time Haymitch had lost enough tributes for it to not be worth it to get attached, he stopped trying to coach his tributes and gave them one simple piece of advice: "Stay alive."
It didn't take- at least not until the Seventy-Fourth Annual Hunger Games. By then Haymitch was a disorderly drunk, taking stage dives and embarassing women on live TV because he just doesn't give a rat's ass. His tributes (Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark) had something he hadn't seen before- spunk, chutzpah. It gave him a renewed sense of purpose and for the first time... He actually tried to be a mentor. And didn't suck at it.
That's the thing about Haymitch- what he can do and what he does do are greatly dependant on who's doing the asking. Haymitch has to feel he's getting something out of an arrangement, whether it be compliance with his wishes or just the wonderful sensation of not being let down for the twenty-fifth time in a row. He's not afraid to speak his mind and even gets up and arms with the Gamekeepers, themselves, to get his way. He might be dead drunk half the time, but when Haymitch Abernathy sobers up enough to make sense, people listen, and when they don't listen... Well, that tends to lead to situations where he threatens to weld communicators to teenage girls' heads, because that is what happens when you hang up on an ornery drunk.
And he is ornery, although more ornery when he's sober. He's such a severe alcoholic that he'd be willing to drink rubbing alcohol to get a fix when real spirits aren't available. When he's sober, he gets fighting mad and sickly and is generally not very pleasant to be around, but he's not very pleasant when he's drunk either, so really it's a matter of how badly you want to be punched to death if you provoke him while he's sober. If you provoke him, he will lash out and he doesn't give a fig if you're a teenage boy or a girl. He's good at doling out the harshness and unfriendliness.
But underneath the violent temper and the surly, sardonic attitude, Haymitch has genuine compassion. He loves Peeta and Katniss like they were his own children but would rather cut his own throat than ever admit it. It's still true, even as he berates the ever-loving fuck out of Katniss for half of everything- but, in his defense, it's because they're what happens when a tornado meets a volcano and rarely have anything resembling a middle ground. If they're adorable famblychans, then it's so cute you want to die and when they're fighting... It looks like someone might die. He sees a lot of himself in Katniss and it means that they're both too stubborn and unrelenting and pig-headed to ever agree on something for very wrong, even when Haymitch, being the manipulative fuck he is, usually knows best. But while he and Katniss fight all the time to the point where Katniss believes he hates her, he does... Love that stupid, stupid little girl with all the charm of a dead slug. He insults her and threatens her and all that jazz for her own good- and because he's secretly her angry, bitter alcoholic Giles.
Of course, his trauma from the games doesn't just manifest from apathy and alcoholism- Haymitch suffers from PSTD as most victors in the Games do and uses alcohol to cope with the nightmares. He sleeps with a knife, doesn't let anyone into his house, and when someone wakes him up from a dead stupor (usually by dumping water on his head- fuck you, Katniss and Peeta), his kneejerk response is to start slashing wildly and then be really confused and then pissed off. Because that spells functional.
In all honesty, though, it's how functional Haymitch really is that's the scary part- he may be a genuine drunk, but he does know how to make things work to both his and the advantage of the people around him. He managed to get Katniss to do everything he wanted her to do in the arena just by the timing of his gifts, for example. He can think like a tactician and he knows how to work a crowd in his own... Fucked-up little way. You just have to yank him away from the bottle and give him something worth fighting for.
Memories Retained or Lost: Haymitch will remember very little save for his name, the fact that he's an alcoholic, and vague recollections about the Games that serves as context for why he's an alcoholic. Maybe he shouldn't have drank that entire bottle of rubbing alcohol because the train with the real booze in it was late...
It should be noted that he's still plagued by nightmares when he's not drunk enough to block them out, but the real horror is now he doesn't know if they happened to him or if he's just having really fucked up dreams.
Powers and Abilities: Once upon a time, Haymitch was actually a pretty able-bodied man. Now he's a surly drunk who flips tables when he's pissed off and too sober to function. He used to be pretty deadly with a knife, but now how good he is greatly depends on whether or not someone will hold still long enough while he wildly slashes in their general direction. What he lacks in being able to stand upright and avoid stage-diving, however, he makes up for in sheer cunning. He's manipulative, shrewd, and knows how to keep people underestimating him, because he's a drunk. Haymitch might not be able to slit your throat as effectively as he once did, but he knows how to fucking ruin you or get you to do exactly what he wants.
Roleplay Samples
Link to a sample of your character in action: Here
Link to a sample of your prose writing style: Here
Any other important information (including special inventory items in their possession): Haymitch always keeps a knife on him, so that'll be... It, because you'd have to pry it from his cold, dead fingers. It's just an ordinary knife.
Why do you think this character would join/work with the Knights? The horrible part is Haymitch would probably say FUCK YOU ALL, but as he has no idea who the fuck he is and no money and doesn't want to live in some unfamiliar place and die of sobriety, he'll probably agree on the basis that it'll keep him in booze and give him something to do, because otherwise he'll just be lying around dead drunk or just dead. Not that he would really mind that, but whatever. He can deal.
Do you have a preference for which NPC brought in your character? Someone who can handle surly drunks.