![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
diemwntPlayer name: Qi
Characters played: Eileen (A♣), Cadogan (10♦), Evan (4♣), Chives (5♠), Cynric (J); apping now Rita (9♥)
Character Name: Cadogan E. Thomas
Age: 29
How long They've Been in the Deck: 6 years, give or take.
Suit/Rank: 10♦
Face Rank Applying For: Jack of Diamonds
History: Cadogan Eamon Thomas was born in a small hospital in Berlin, New Hampshire, to Peter Einion Thomas and Roisin Thomas, nee O'Connor. It was noticed fairly quickly that he didn't vocalize--and the cause of underdeveloped vocal cords discovered. His parents took the news well enough, adding learning BSL to their already busy schedules. Peter, a career diplomat, spent less time focused on it, constantly moving around and rarely seeing the boy anyway. After living in a scattering of European nations at his mother's side, it was deemed best when he turned 9 to simply plop him into school in the family hometown of Llanfyllin where his grandparents could keep watch over him. Only... they couldn't. He was horrible at keeping still in one place after nine years of traveling. It made him antsy and irritable, getting into scraps with the other boys in their little town on a daily basis.
Meeting Helena changed that. She was younger than he was, much happier, someone he could look after. Looking after her made him feel purposeful. His grandparents and her aunts encouraged it. For a while, it seemed to work. Then, unfortunately, it made things worse. He started fighting because people bothered Helena, because they talked to Helena, because they looked at her the wrong way. It was getting worse, more violent, overly aggressive when he wasn't actually with the girl. His mother returned to Llanfyllin, which again briefly fixed the problem--someone else to look after. He almost started doing well in school, almost stopped bashing other boy's heads against walls. Only then he met Aisling and, as often happens when a boy meets a girl, the recklessness increased tenfold.
That recklessness came to a head when he was 17 and had been dating Aisling for about a year—specifically, when he discovered that she had been dating people other than himself during that year. An altercation in a back alley landed himself and one of her other young men in the hospital, with charges filed against Cadogan for the initial assault. His father had enough. Cadogan was officially disowned and thrown, after a period being held in state custody, into the Reserve. It was probably the best thing that had ever happened to him. The Reserve gave him discipline, outlet, a reason to stand still and wait: the inevitable release that allowed him to completely let loose with a cold precision when the leash was slipped. He built the face he's worn since in the Army, cold, quiet, everything pushed down entirely. After the initial shock, seventeen became the best year of his life.
The next six built up. Never deployed, always training, he began feeling the faint hairs of stagnation again. Fortunately, at age 23, an old familiar face reappeared--Helena, heading back to the Deck. Coming to the Deck also brought him into contact with Silas, whom he had met in prison in Cardiff briefly and who helped solidify the fact that this was where he was meant to be. It seemed as good a gamble as any.
He started out in the armory, called there despite the fact there were no guns to maintain the way he had for the last six years of his life. There was a brief dangerous balance of isolation, moving between drinking alone and learning about the weapons he was caring for, disconnected from everyone but Helena. Thankfully, one night fairly shortly after coming to the Deck, his time drinking alone was interrupted by a brawl involving some of his fellow Diamonds. The body he pulled out of the wreck was the victim of the other aggressors, one Adrien Fitzgerald. Although on paper they were hardly the sort of people who would have found each other over mutual interests and related worldviews, the friendship started deep and hard and profound from the get-go—with their differences coming as happy little (line-face-inducing) surprises along the way.
From there he started actually reaching out, making tentative relationships that might have been considered ‘friendships’ if his general reluctance to become overly closer to people was taken into account. He also started challenging as Helena began moving up the ranks, a little wary of the idea of letting her get too far away from where he could look after her. It went well enough at first, and by April of 2009 he had reached the rank of Seven without much incident. Then, in May, came the news that his father had passed away. He didn’t tell anyone—not even Adrien or Helena—but something in him felt off, unsettled; a little bit less like the soldier he’d become and a little bit more like the angry young man he used to be. The sudden lack of challenges seemed to telegraph a signal that, despite Helena continuing to rise, he was settled where he was. Another of the (then rather sparse) Diamond men challenged him in Vale Tudo for the rank of Seven in June.
He had killed men before. Not many, and not solely from long range, but it didn’t stop him from feeling rather devastated in a way he couldn’t understand when his defense of rank ended with the challenging Six dead. Trying to clear his head—and his hands—he challenged to Eight in August. It again ended in fatality.
The conversation he had with his Queen was rather severe and serious. Her general disapproval of men was not remotely aided by the fact that he now had twice proven himself incapable of stopping himself from a killing blow in the arena. Helena speaking for him, as well as him throwing himself at her mercy and asking to be dropped or withheld from challenging, allowed him to remain where he was, although a more stringent eye was certainly kept on him from that point onward. For more than a year he stayed exactly where he was, wrapped up quietly in the armory and working to prove to others (and deeply to himself) that he had complete control over his own actions—that he was not, in fact, still the angry young man who had woken up in a Cardiff hospital only to be thrown into a Cardiff prison all those years ago.
In September of 2010, he realized Helena was struggling as a Ten and needed more direct support than he had been giving her as an Eight. He moved up to Nine with a chess challenge, and then again with chess in 2011 became a Ten when Helena replaced Hector as Jack, shouldering a good deal of the work for her as an immediate subordinate. It seemed he had finally hit his stride and found a place he could comfortably belong.
Things got rocky again in 2012 when Helena left the Deck. She essentially told him not to follow, hoping that his life in the Deck had gained enough in its own right to keep him structured, happy and safe. The death not long after of the King of Diamonds then signaled the beginning of a tumultuous time for the Diamonds as their Faces were shuffled with alarming rapidity. That, as well as a friendship entangling into an overwhelming debacle at the slightest whiff of romance that burned quite a few of his tentative bridges, brought him close to leaving the Deck completely. Close relationships with Adrien and Sophie, a newer but equally intimate friend, kept him anchored in the home he’d been building in the Diamonds.
As so often happens, from the ashes of that fire rose someone stronger and less on the edge of things. He worked closely with the Jacks who came after Helena, shouldering much of the work he had for his old friend and generally fitting himself back into being completely useful. In August of 2012, he even managed to quit smoking for what’s seeming to be the final time. Although injured during Asarlai’s final attempt at taking control of the Deck, he and his loved ones all came out from the incident with the Arcana—except, in a way, Rachel. They had never been particularly close, particularly after the two fatalities he had caused on his way up the ranks, but she had been his Queen for the entirety of his life in the Deck. It was a shifting and realigning. It later resulted in her joining his side as a Ten, disconcerting and relieving all at the same time. For now, he’s holding steady to the pattern he’s got.
Personality: Most people note that Cadogan is a very, very reserved man. He’s gotten better recently about being an expressive human being—and when he signs, he certainly doesn’t stunt himself overly by lack of facial mobility. It’s just that when he’s not speaking, he tends to go absolutely blank; and when he’s not prodded, he tends to stay in a deep emotional lockdown. Partially from the stoic blood in his stock and veins, and partially because all emotional expression in his childhood was met with sharp outside repression from every member of his biological family, he’s simply not inclined to come out of his shell overly much.
When he does, unfortunately, it tends to be in anger. Although he’s had a much firmer grasp on his temper since his time in the Reserve, his go-to emotion still tends to be something more like rage than anything else. He gets annoyed easily, even if it doesn’t show up with the usual facial indicators. He gets frustrated by other people’s unwillingness to understand or listen. Those who know him best tend to be able to pick up on little signals of discomfort or displeasure, but most people experience it as a sudden burst of anger when the slow invisible build snaps suddenly into a proper rage.
This is, of course, something he’s been trained to hold back, which doesn’t help with the impression of being simply a closed off human being. It has, in his time in the Deck, also made him appear incredibly subservient. When he’s frustrated, being given a task is something to vent that emotion on without it growing into anger. When, for example, his Ace asks him to jump, he asks how high while already in the air. He’s a bit of a loyal dog to the Face Cards, historically typically the Jack, and tends to roll over for them because they’re typically in the middle of telling him to go do something.
His submission, of course, is also wrapped up in a desire to be useful. With his physical deformity, Cadogan was deemed defective off the bat by his father and never really given a chance to be anything but a failure. Part of what the Reserve gave him was a chance to be successful. He could complete tasks and have the accomplishment of it recognized. That approval from others had been so lacking in his life that it didn’t matter how ridiculous the thing he was being asked happened to be. If he can work out his energy and gain even the possibility of being approved of, he wants to throw himself at it.
At the end of the day, Cadogan simply wants to be good and to do the right thing. He doesn’t like his own temper or the fact that he’s led such an imperfect life. While he finds some small measure of comfort in his religion, his greater comfort is in finding himself useful for other people. He wants to make people smile. He wants to be something positive in other people’s lives, helpful or supportive or taking care of the details. Really, he just wants to be loved, and never learned how to ask.
Character's Goals/Ambitions: As mentioned, more than anything in the world, Cadogan aims to be useful. He likes fitting into an organized system and having slots around him—rank, order, place. Knowing who’s above him and who’s below him and how everyone sits together is incredibly comforting to him. Because of that, his largest ambition is to fit into the place he winds up in the system and to all but kill himself doing that as best as he can. He’s not particularly motivated by the idea of power or wealth or the ‘traditional’ measures of what makes a successful life, having ruled himself out of many of those possibilities. He does, however, think that he can make himself into a positive rather than a burden for other people, and strives in his life to do just that.
Why should they be chosen for this position? First and foremost is the fact that he actually knows the job quite well for someone who has never officially held the title. Since Helena became Jack in 2011, he’s been the ‘half-Jack’ of the Diamonds. She leaned on him a good deal with her work, giving him a non-privileged view into the whats and hows and whens of the post. This intimacy with the actual work lessened during Avery’s time as Jack, but their friendship meant he still spent a good deal of time and energy doing ‘Jack work’ on the level of a Ten. When Tally took over, he resumed a more active role in the position, helping with her paperwork and reports fairly intensely. Of the collection of upper Diamonds who habitually take over when Jacks (inevitably) disappear for one reason or another, he’s one of the most intimately acquainted with the full scope of the position, making him a highly qualified candidate on a very practical level.
Part of the reason he has been passed over for Jack before despite this rather unique qualification was the political climate under which Helena left. At that time, Rachel was Queen and still feeling rather adamant in her mission toward a female-dominated and certainly female-run Suit, making it nearly impossible for the men of Diamonds to advance particularly high at all, and certainly not into any Face position other than King. This is a climate which had been changing toward the end of Rachel’s reign and certainly has continued to shift in spirit if not in practice. Without that influence, there isn’t much standing in the way of Cadogan appearing to be a highly qualified candidate to be given serious consideration.
For the part of his Royals, Cadogan is on very good terms with both Silas and Avery. The one hold out who might entirely block his ascending to the rank of Jack is Säde, who holds him not very high at all in regard, despite his many particular efforts to be useful to her and his continual state of accepting her abuse without biting back (which, alas, doesn’t raise her estimation of him much at all). Given the incredibly slow easing of things between them and the fact that the other Face Cards do consider him to be completely competent, her objections to him might be overruled.
This is certainly not a change he would actively seek out in his life—he’s fairly certain he’s never going to move from his spot—it’s something he would take to quite well and quite quickly, which is something that might be particularly fantastic for the Diamonds while the world is so up in the air. And if, as he expects, he’s passed over once again for the rank?
He’s completely ready and rather excited to continue being the Jack’s Ten, no matter who the Jack is.
Challenge: n/a; Tally resigned
Appearance: Cadogan isn't as tall as he feels. He's just a hair shy of 6 feet tall and on the trim side, although that's half from a poor diet and years of smoking and half from actually keeping fit. Being on the gangly side often makes him appear taller than he actually is. There’s also the fact that he’s very posture conscious. He spent his early life on display and was trained to keep himself properly upright, then spent quite a few years in the armed service. With family and those of rank in particular he is incredibly rigid, not from discomfort so much as training. With most, he holds himself well, very upright, conscious of staying at his full height. With children, however, he slouches like nobody's business. It's easier being down close to them.
Like many Welsh, he is rather impractically pale skinned. This means he blushes like a lobster, primarily around his ears and neck. The only habitually visible scar he has is primarily hidden by his eyebrow. His hair is a strawberry colour that looks startlingly red in some lights and a much calmer tone in others. When he was younger, he used to grow it out in a shag. After having it shaved when he joined the Royal Welsh, he’s kept it close-cropped. It’s rather stiff hair, on the spikey side. He’s a fairly average looking man that some find charming and others find boring. He never really gives his physical appearance much stock beyond the very basic demand that he look presentable—he does have somewhat particular taste in suits. Really, he was born to wear a suit; they’re almost all he owns anymore, and he knows how to keep looking sharp in them without conscious thought.
Cadogan is generally a very fluid mover. He doesn’t hesitate, although he does sometimes pause. Jerkiness comes out when he fights. It isn’t so much a lack of remaining fluid as a transition from resting to tension. Movements have to be very short and acute in his training, so he looks somewhat sharp when he’s in combat. His hands are the most graceful part of him and his movement.
Character PB Joe Anderson
Writing sample: With Rachel; with Leigh; with cookies.
How did you hear about us? The original MMW post. Do you even remember such a thing.
Characters played: Eileen (A♣), Cadogan (10♦), Evan (4♣), Chives (5♠), Cynric (J); apping now Rita (9♥)
Character Name: Cadogan E. Thomas
Age: 29
How long They've Been in the Deck: 6 years, give or take.
Suit/Rank: 10♦
Face Rank Applying For: Jack of Diamonds
History: Cadogan Eamon Thomas was born in a small hospital in Berlin, New Hampshire, to Peter Einion Thomas and Roisin Thomas, nee O'Connor. It was noticed fairly quickly that he didn't vocalize--and the cause of underdeveloped vocal cords discovered. His parents took the news well enough, adding learning BSL to their already busy schedules. Peter, a career diplomat, spent less time focused on it, constantly moving around and rarely seeing the boy anyway. After living in a scattering of European nations at his mother's side, it was deemed best when he turned 9 to simply plop him into school in the family hometown of Llanfyllin where his grandparents could keep watch over him. Only... they couldn't. He was horrible at keeping still in one place after nine years of traveling. It made him antsy and irritable, getting into scraps with the other boys in their little town on a daily basis.
Meeting Helena changed that. She was younger than he was, much happier, someone he could look after. Looking after her made him feel purposeful. His grandparents and her aunts encouraged it. For a while, it seemed to work. Then, unfortunately, it made things worse. He started fighting because people bothered Helena, because they talked to Helena, because they looked at her the wrong way. It was getting worse, more violent, overly aggressive when he wasn't actually with the girl. His mother returned to Llanfyllin, which again briefly fixed the problem--someone else to look after. He almost started doing well in school, almost stopped bashing other boy's heads against walls. Only then he met Aisling and, as often happens when a boy meets a girl, the recklessness increased tenfold.
That recklessness came to a head when he was 17 and had been dating Aisling for about a year—specifically, when he discovered that she had been dating people other than himself during that year. An altercation in a back alley landed himself and one of her other young men in the hospital, with charges filed against Cadogan for the initial assault. His father had enough. Cadogan was officially disowned and thrown, after a period being held in state custody, into the Reserve. It was probably the best thing that had ever happened to him. The Reserve gave him discipline, outlet, a reason to stand still and wait: the inevitable release that allowed him to completely let loose with a cold precision when the leash was slipped. He built the face he's worn since in the Army, cold, quiet, everything pushed down entirely. After the initial shock, seventeen became the best year of his life.
The next six built up. Never deployed, always training, he began feeling the faint hairs of stagnation again. Fortunately, at age 23, an old familiar face reappeared--Helena, heading back to the Deck. Coming to the Deck also brought him into contact with Silas, whom he had met in prison in Cardiff briefly and who helped solidify the fact that this was where he was meant to be. It seemed as good a gamble as any.
He started out in the armory, called there despite the fact there were no guns to maintain the way he had for the last six years of his life. There was a brief dangerous balance of isolation, moving between drinking alone and learning about the weapons he was caring for, disconnected from everyone but Helena. Thankfully, one night fairly shortly after coming to the Deck, his time drinking alone was interrupted by a brawl involving some of his fellow Diamonds. The body he pulled out of the wreck was the victim of the other aggressors, one Adrien Fitzgerald. Although on paper they were hardly the sort of people who would have found each other over mutual interests and related worldviews, the friendship started deep and hard and profound from the get-go—with their differences coming as happy little (line-face-inducing) surprises along the way.
From there he started actually reaching out, making tentative relationships that might have been considered ‘friendships’ if his general reluctance to become overly closer to people was taken into account. He also started challenging as Helena began moving up the ranks, a little wary of the idea of letting her get too far away from where he could look after her. It went well enough at first, and by April of 2009 he had reached the rank of Seven without much incident. Then, in May, came the news that his father had passed away. He didn’t tell anyone—not even Adrien or Helena—but something in him felt off, unsettled; a little bit less like the soldier he’d become and a little bit more like the angry young man he used to be. The sudden lack of challenges seemed to telegraph a signal that, despite Helena continuing to rise, he was settled where he was. Another of the (then rather sparse) Diamond men challenged him in Vale Tudo for the rank of Seven in June.
He had killed men before. Not many, and not solely from long range, but it didn’t stop him from feeling rather devastated in a way he couldn’t understand when his defense of rank ended with the challenging Six dead. Trying to clear his head—and his hands—he challenged to Eight in August. It again ended in fatality.
The conversation he had with his Queen was rather severe and serious. Her general disapproval of men was not remotely aided by the fact that he now had twice proven himself incapable of stopping himself from a killing blow in the arena. Helena speaking for him, as well as him throwing himself at her mercy and asking to be dropped or withheld from challenging, allowed him to remain where he was, although a more stringent eye was certainly kept on him from that point onward. For more than a year he stayed exactly where he was, wrapped up quietly in the armory and working to prove to others (and deeply to himself) that he had complete control over his own actions—that he was not, in fact, still the angry young man who had woken up in a Cardiff hospital only to be thrown into a Cardiff prison all those years ago.
In September of 2010, he realized Helena was struggling as a Ten and needed more direct support than he had been giving her as an Eight. He moved up to Nine with a chess challenge, and then again with chess in 2011 became a Ten when Helena replaced Hector as Jack, shouldering a good deal of the work for her as an immediate subordinate. It seemed he had finally hit his stride and found a place he could comfortably belong.
Things got rocky again in 2012 when Helena left the Deck. She essentially told him not to follow, hoping that his life in the Deck had gained enough in its own right to keep him structured, happy and safe. The death not long after of the King of Diamonds then signaled the beginning of a tumultuous time for the Diamonds as their Faces were shuffled with alarming rapidity. That, as well as a friendship entangling into an overwhelming debacle at the slightest whiff of romance that burned quite a few of his tentative bridges, brought him close to leaving the Deck completely. Close relationships with Adrien and Sophie, a newer but equally intimate friend, kept him anchored in the home he’d been building in the Diamonds.
As so often happens, from the ashes of that fire rose someone stronger and less on the edge of things. He worked closely with the Jacks who came after Helena, shouldering much of the work he had for his old friend and generally fitting himself back into being completely useful. In August of 2012, he even managed to quit smoking for what’s seeming to be the final time. Although injured during Asarlai’s final attempt at taking control of the Deck, he and his loved ones all came out from the incident with the Arcana—except, in a way, Rachel. They had never been particularly close, particularly after the two fatalities he had caused on his way up the ranks, but she had been his Queen for the entirety of his life in the Deck. It was a shifting and realigning. It later resulted in her joining his side as a Ten, disconcerting and relieving all at the same time. For now, he’s holding steady to the pattern he’s got.
Personality: Most people note that Cadogan is a very, very reserved man. He’s gotten better recently about being an expressive human being—and when he signs, he certainly doesn’t stunt himself overly by lack of facial mobility. It’s just that when he’s not speaking, he tends to go absolutely blank; and when he’s not prodded, he tends to stay in a deep emotional lockdown. Partially from the stoic blood in his stock and veins, and partially because all emotional expression in his childhood was met with sharp outside repression from every member of his biological family, he’s simply not inclined to come out of his shell overly much.
When he does, unfortunately, it tends to be in anger. Although he’s had a much firmer grasp on his temper since his time in the Reserve, his go-to emotion still tends to be something more like rage than anything else. He gets annoyed easily, even if it doesn’t show up with the usual facial indicators. He gets frustrated by other people’s unwillingness to understand or listen. Those who know him best tend to be able to pick up on little signals of discomfort or displeasure, but most people experience it as a sudden burst of anger when the slow invisible build snaps suddenly into a proper rage.
This is, of course, something he’s been trained to hold back, which doesn’t help with the impression of being simply a closed off human being. It has, in his time in the Deck, also made him appear incredibly subservient. When he’s frustrated, being given a task is something to vent that emotion on without it growing into anger. When, for example, his Ace asks him to jump, he asks how high while already in the air. He’s a bit of a loyal dog to the Face Cards, historically typically the Jack, and tends to roll over for them because they’re typically in the middle of telling him to go do something.
His submission, of course, is also wrapped up in a desire to be useful. With his physical deformity, Cadogan was deemed defective off the bat by his father and never really given a chance to be anything but a failure. Part of what the Reserve gave him was a chance to be successful. He could complete tasks and have the accomplishment of it recognized. That approval from others had been so lacking in his life that it didn’t matter how ridiculous the thing he was being asked happened to be. If he can work out his energy and gain even the possibility of being approved of, he wants to throw himself at it.
At the end of the day, Cadogan simply wants to be good and to do the right thing. He doesn’t like his own temper or the fact that he’s led such an imperfect life. While he finds some small measure of comfort in his religion, his greater comfort is in finding himself useful for other people. He wants to make people smile. He wants to be something positive in other people’s lives, helpful or supportive or taking care of the details. Really, he just wants to be loved, and never learned how to ask.
Character's Goals/Ambitions: As mentioned, more than anything in the world, Cadogan aims to be useful. He likes fitting into an organized system and having slots around him—rank, order, place. Knowing who’s above him and who’s below him and how everyone sits together is incredibly comforting to him. Because of that, his largest ambition is to fit into the place he winds up in the system and to all but kill himself doing that as best as he can. He’s not particularly motivated by the idea of power or wealth or the ‘traditional’ measures of what makes a successful life, having ruled himself out of many of those possibilities. He does, however, think that he can make himself into a positive rather than a burden for other people, and strives in his life to do just that.
Why should they be chosen for this position? First and foremost is the fact that he actually knows the job quite well for someone who has never officially held the title. Since Helena became Jack in 2011, he’s been the ‘half-Jack’ of the Diamonds. She leaned on him a good deal with her work, giving him a non-privileged view into the whats and hows and whens of the post. This intimacy with the actual work lessened during Avery’s time as Jack, but their friendship meant he still spent a good deal of time and energy doing ‘Jack work’ on the level of a Ten. When Tally took over, he resumed a more active role in the position, helping with her paperwork and reports fairly intensely. Of the collection of upper Diamonds who habitually take over when Jacks (inevitably) disappear for one reason or another, he’s one of the most intimately acquainted with the full scope of the position, making him a highly qualified candidate on a very practical level.
Part of the reason he has been passed over for Jack before despite this rather unique qualification was the political climate under which Helena left. At that time, Rachel was Queen and still feeling rather adamant in her mission toward a female-dominated and certainly female-run Suit, making it nearly impossible for the men of Diamonds to advance particularly high at all, and certainly not into any Face position other than King. This is a climate which had been changing toward the end of Rachel’s reign and certainly has continued to shift in spirit if not in practice. Without that influence, there isn’t much standing in the way of Cadogan appearing to be a highly qualified candidate to be given serious consideration.
For the part of his Royals, Cadogan is on very good terms with both Silas and Avery. The one hold out who might entirely block his ascending to the rank of Jack is Säde, who holds him not very high at all in regard, despite his many particular efforts to be useful to her and his continual state of accepting her abuse without biting back (which, alas, doesn’t raise her estimation of him much at all). Given the incredibly slow easing of things between them and the fact that the other Face Cards do consider him to be completely competent, her objections to him might be overruled.
This is certainly not a change he would actively seek out in his life—he’s fairly certain he’s never going to move from his spot—it’s something he would take to quite well and quite quickly, which is something that might be particularly fantastic for the Diamonds while the world is so up in the air. And if, as he expects, he’s passed over once again for the rank?
He’s completely ready and rather excited to continue being the Jack’s Ten, no matter who the Jack is.
Challenge: n/a; Tally resigned
Appearance: Cadogan isn't as tall as he feels. He's just a hair shy of 6 feet tall and on the trim side, although that's half from a poor diet and years of smoking and half from actually keeping fit. Being on the gangly side often makes him appear taller than he actually is. There’s also the fact that he’s very posture conscious. He spent his early life on display and was trained to keep himself properly upright, then spent quite a few years in the armed service. With family and those of rank in particular he is incredibly rigid, not from discomfort so much as training. With most, he holds himself well, very upright, conscious of staying at his full height. With children, however, he slouches like nobody's business. It's easier being down close to them.
Like many Welsh, he is rather impractically pale skinned. This means he blushes like a lobster, primarily around his ears and neck. The only habitually visible scar he has is primarily hidden by his eyebrow. His hair is a strawberry colour that looks startlingly red in some lights and a much calmer tone in others. When he was younger, he used to grow it out in a shag. After having it shaved when he joined the Royal Welsh, he’s kept it close-cropped. It’s rather stiff hair, on the spikey side. He’s a fairly average looking man that some find charming and others find boring. He never really gives his physical appearance much stock beyond the very basic demand that he look presentable—he does have somewhat particular taste in suits. Really, he was born to wear a suit; they’re almost all he owns anymore, and he knows how to keep looking sharp in them without conscious thought.
Cadogan is generally a very fluid mover. He doesn’t hesitate, although he does sometimes pause. Jerkiness comes out when he fights. It isn’t so much a lack of remaining fluid as a transition from resting to tension. Movements have to be very short and acute in his training, so he looks somewhat sharp when he’s in combat. His hands are the most graceful part of him and his movement.
Character PB Joe Anderson
Writing sample: With Rachel; with Leigh; with cookies.
How did you hear about us? The original MMW post. Do you even remember such a thing.
