maskormenace application

[hydraated]

〈 PLAYER INFO 〉
NAME: Ramen
AGE: 27
JOURNAL: sadegg
IM / EMAIL: AIM - legal gargoyle / carolynpoddig@gmail.com
PLURK: socalramen
RETURNING: N/A

〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Grant Douglas Ward
CHARACTER AGE: 31 (as in his age is never listed for the sake of argument we'll go by Brett Dalton's age.)
SERIES: Marvel Cinematic Universe - Agents of SHIELD.
CHRONOLOGY: Post season one, just after being arrested and taken to the fridge. Specifically that's episode
CLASS: VILLIAN. If he's ever going to be a hero he's got a lot of growing up to do.
HOUSING: Oh give Ward random roommates. Please oh please. Although I do have to say that close to Cr would be amazing. :D

BACKGROUND:

Agents of SHIELD is a great show.

Not just because it's produced by Joss Whedon and a return to the 90s team dynamic that everyone grew up with but because it's a show about fallible people in a government setting who have to deal with extraordinary opportunities. SHIELD in the comic books is restricted to the occasional agent who occasionally falls into bed with the occasional superhero. There is a "we don't question it" attitude regarding the fact that Captain America's a guy in red white and blue spandex who was frozen in ice for almost seventy ears and throws a frisbee at people to knock them out.

The thing with SHIELD and the cinematic universe is that it has a basis in reality. Thor's hammer has a basis in science, Tony Stark was held hostage and wants to sleep with Pepper Potts, and sometimes you need balding pencil pushers like Clark Gregg to file paperwork. Sometimes those guys need people to boss around, and rather then have the occasional attractive agent fall in bed with the Falcon or Captain America or Wolverine we have a motley crew that makes you wonder just what human resources was thinking.

We have Melinda May who has a history of being the "cavalry." with a reputation of being a bit of an ice queen. We have Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons, a pair of scientists who might provide comic relief if they weren't so believable, we have Skye - the newcomer, the audience, and we have Grant Ward. Mysterious, dark, brooding and overly serious. Presiding over all of this like a benevolent parent (or Joss Whedon himself) is Phil Coulson. We wept for his tragic death only to see him brought back. This second coming is one of many mysteries that the team will tackle.

You can practically hear "This week" or "Next week" attached to that sentence can't you?

That's the sort of show it is. Ward's part in it starts out like any other team dynamic show. He's passed to the team by John Garrett, a friend of Phil Coulson's. He's aloof and antisocial and completely against their seemingly new recruit despite finding her attractive. Thanks to Skye they accidentally stumble upon the big bad for the season. Project Centipede and the Clairvoyant occupy the majority of the team's time. Existing in the world of the MCU they're regularly on call for things like human beings developing powers, people with super serum, and alien artifacts.

Throughout all of this Ward develops relationships with the others that throw him completely. He learns that Fitz is supposed to take care of him. He grows to respect Skye. He sleeps with May. They work and act as a team which has it's own dark side. Ward is a product of a decades long brainwashing session with his mentor John Garrett. The man is in essence the only person he really cares for and to have others care for him throws him completely. He begins taking things personally and Coulson's behavior, May siding with Coulson, and Skye's shooting and the team's reaction to it are tally marks against what could be healthy and productive relationships. Between sorting out alien artifacts and alien temptresses - Ward is overloaded.

Ultimately the revelation that stunned the marvel universe rocked the summer box office. SHIELD had been compromised by HYDRA agents. Captain America hadn't won. Shocked, Garrett; as well as Ward, were revealed as mole hydra agents. Ward left the team with a sense of confusion that grew into concern as Garrett was pushed into the brink of insanity. Ultimately he was stopped and Ward the consummate survivor attempted to flee only to be stopped. His larynx was broken by May - a woman he'd previously respected and he was told point blank by Skye that he was a serial killer and a backstabbing traitor. He arrives in Heropa on his way to jail - the same place that he began his tale.

His history however is considerably more rich with detail including the names of the numerous episodes connected to the big bad. For more information please refer here

PERSONALITY:

The question, the point of personality sections, is to answer the question "who is this character?" specifically "who is grant ward?"

The short answer is that Grant Douglas Ward is brave, loyal, dedicated, and courageous. He's also a product of brainwashing (an excellent example as a matter of fact) and a product of army culture. The sublimation of the self versus the collected identity of the group. That's not to say he doesn't have an identity, it's buried down deep beneath layers of terrible history and the tools of a skilled manipulator. It has been crippled and manipulated and used by both John Garrett and SHIELD, leaving Grant Ward a character at a crossroads.

WEAKENED INDIVIDUAL: Ward's family history is filled with abuse, abandonment, and isolation. Our view of this is colored by Ward's own part in it. With two brothers and a sister they lived a working class blue collar existence under the mercy of an abusive individual. Ward refers collectively to his past as "hell" with good reason. Whatever the circumstances facing abuse from both siblings and possibly family (this is never specifically discussed) Ward didn't receive the psychological and sociological conditioning that allows a person to develop feelings of self comfort. Self comfort came later of course - warped by others - but deep at the core of his personality is a sense of abandonment and isolation. Ward had to learn to depend on himself early on seemingly with good reason. The fact that he considered his family terrible and that he's severed all ties with them shows that it's gone on through most of his life. A normal human's personality is developed by age five, growing up and developing as an individual in a hostile environment can create hostile people.

Ward is a prime example of this principle in effect.

EXPLOITING AN INDIVIDUAL'S WEAKNESS In understanding that Ward suffers from a very real sense of isolation and abandonment it's also important to note that he did not feel loved. People who might not feel loved close themselves off. Burying emotion usually results in directionless rage which made him an ideal recruit for either HYDRA or the military. Focusing anger provides a purpose. Ward literally could have ended up a criminal, John Garrett offered him a better option - or so Ward thought. Intelligent, he recognized that Garrett had power (he did break him out of jail.) and perhaps, like most individuals who had suffered at the hands of others, he hoped to make some strides and be strong. Not to mention that Garrett offered him a chance to do something good, something fascinating and something exciting, opening a door that would have been closed to him forever. That of "cop" someone who could help and be trusted.

Words are dangerous. Garrett told him he'd have power, when in reality he was simply painting the words "cop and criminal" with a colorful brush and building him into something worse. He made Ward into a criminal cop, a person who abuses the trust of others.

FORCE DEPENDENCE ON THE INDIVIDUAL WHO HOLDS POWER.: John Garrett introduced Ward to army culture, taught him how to survive and how to rely on himself. He also subtly divided him from any other individual. Rather then offering him a unit to rely on or a group, he insisted on keeping him apart from others. This is a subtle form of brainwashing, documented in numerous cases. An individual gradually begins to trust their captors and Ward already trusted Garrett thanks to him "saving him from hell." He wouldn't color it this way - family ties are a sign of weakness - but in John Garrett he'd found the father figure that he had been denied by the actions of others. This is considerably dangerous as Garrett was able to push his own delusions grown through his own bitter experiences onto Ward. Without others to rely on or fall back on, Ward began to take them as gospel and law. Garrett provides security, Garrett provides safety, Garrett teaches him how to be a man.

No matter how cold or cruel a parent might be it's hard to sever the ties that bind someone to a source of comfort however cold that comfort might be. It's intelligent, it's ruthless, and it's cruel. However, attempt to point this out to Ward and he'll most likely hit you in the face. Garrett's break from reality unnerves him on multiple levels, his personality developing beyond what Garrett could have foreseen (or cared to consider). He's a soldier without a commander, a dog without a kennel, a boy without a father. His anti-social behavior was initially a guard - a way to keep himself safe. Now it's literally the only thing that he has preventing him from getting hurt physically or mentally. Particularly in game - where he'll be the enemy to all concerned from his home.

IMPUT NEW PHILOSOPHY Ward arrives at the SHIELD academy self reliant, dangerous, and incredibly capable. He quickly gains a reputation from being ruthless and being a total solution to any problem. His marks in espionage are second only to Natasha Romanoff. He is also a man who serves another master however, and his conditioning helps keep that under wraps, making him a ticking time bomb to all involved.

Is Ward loyal to HYDRA? no. Not prior to his arrival in game at least. He's loyal to John Garrett and knowing that his mentor has died leaves him drifting and floundering. Will he turn to HYDRA? not without a lot of soul searching. Ward has never been a part of a group, in a way Garrett's conditioning backfired as he wouldn't be able to accept the nature of an organization (everyone is a part of a single unit) without a lot more indoctrination. He's almost too much of an individual, too isolated. He wouldn't fit in in the white power party or any real party. His attempts at building a life for himself were ultimately destroyed due to his own inability to break his programming. He has dropped several levels, back to being a man looking for a place to direct his rage.

BRAINWASHED The term brainwashing was created in the 1950s, penned for the first time in the Miami News. The term was a pun based on the taoist practice of cleansing the heart and mind before entering a holy place or temple. History records the first instances of brainwashing however as being just what is described here - an individual who is tired, hurt, sick and sore, is taken into custody. The individual is treated as a friend or an ally and the human mind does not recover from the shock. Lulled into complacency the individual allows themselves to be spoken to, and perhaps reconsider their impressions.

Ironically that's what happened with Coulson and his team.

Ward, already a victim of mental conditioning, was put into a situation with individuals who through writing (as well as the "main character" tropes) were fundamentally inspiring. Is there a real world analogy to this? Most likely not. Very rarely do we encounter individuals who simply inspire us to do good on a grander scale. Ward is assigned to Coulson's team to report on them to Garrett. He puts a mask on himself, an anti-social individual knowing that it will encourage Coulson to open up to him. His overly critical attitude of Coulson's brushes with authority shows that he is shocked by the other man's behavior, but inevitably he never recovers from that first impression. While he may not acknowledge it to himself, Coulson and his team reached him. Not Coulson himself, he was too attached to others and authority. Ward related to Simmons and Leo Fitz. They teased one another, they built each other up. Ward even encouraged Fitz's pursuit of Simmons (to the point that Fitz still believes in Ward.)

In attempting to infiltrate a team, Ward became the mask that he had put on. He began to believe that things would be better, he began to doubt and was quickly called onto the carpet for his behavior. Garrett was gradually losing control over him. Ward recovered this quickly, Garrett still represented (and represents) home. All the same his attitude towards his teammates is clearly morally compromised in some cases. Particularly that of Fitz, Simmons, and especially Skye.

Skye is a special case, as she sees Ward initially as completely honest. While it's not his fault or his choice, she learns that he finds her attractive and eventually is convinced to help her become a SHIELD agent. Their relationship initially mirrors Fitz and Simmons and becomes deeper thanks to shared experiences and Skye attempting to reach out. Ward's entire history leaves him with very poor critical thinking skills. He has never thought for himself and he questions his own decisions - even in his pursuit of a woman he's physically attracted to. The two do end up together however briefly before Ward's alliances are tested. He is forced to choose. Home and Garrett, or a newfound and strange sense of personality and family?

He chooses home.

It will take a lot to break him of that dependence. It would take someone willing to lose some of their own identity (or alternatively a lot of therapy, a lot of therapy.) His experiences in his childhood were so traumatic (traumatic enough that he attacked others when they were exposed in an episode). that he would always chose home. Isolated by others, by the new people brainwashing him (accidentally) particularly by May who he had initially begun a physical relationship with - Ward reaches out and grabs for a straw not considering the effect that it might have others. The problem with people lacking in social conditioning as well as supportive home environments is that they don't make friends easily and tend to be inherently selfish. It's not done to hurt others but to protect themselves.

Ward is a selfish man, made a selfish man by the actions of others. Does he take pride in his accomplishments? In his training and his teammates? Of course, but they are mostly done to please his father figure. He ultimately makes the wrong choice. If things had gone smooth throughout the season they might have turned out differently, but the great thing about agents of shield is that the people are fundamentally flawed.

Not everyone gets a happy ending.

Would Ward get a happy ending in game? That's hard to say but the answer is most likely no. By the end of the series he's bruised, broken, hurt, and betrayed. He's lost his family (so to speak) he's lost his home (so to speak) and he's essentially a burned agent and has been labeled a criminal. Having never thought for himself (or at least not thought for himself for years) he's lacking in direction. He has people in game (or will have people in game) who tried to reach out to him and who he ultimately let down. He is literally a character at a crossroads in that he can chose - either to try and build himself into a better human being or descend into mindless rage. The latter is unlikely, as he is a weapon trained to focus his energies, but who will tell him what to focus his energies to?

He will most likely seek out that individual first and foremost, and it remains to be seen where his direction will take him next. He literally embodies the concept of the game. Will he be a hero? A mask? Or a menace?



POWER: SUPER STRENGTH AND DURABILITY.

Ward is given the nickname "Terminator" with good reason. The porter in it's infinite wisdom decided to live up to the name and give him super strength. He'll be able to lift and bend metal, stop trucks with his bare hands and lift upwards of 200 to 300 pounds easily. He'll also be considerably more durable, IE captain America levels of durability.

With his espionage training, this makes Ward a very real threat with the following exception. The more he uses his super strength for anger or personal gain, the more he'll develop extremis scars - similar to these. If he calms down, or uses his abilities for good, they'll fade after two to three weeks, but continued use usually means that more and more will develop.

Beyond that, Ward is a master spy, second only to Natasha Romanoff. He speaks four languages, is proficient in several types of weaponry and familiar with explosives. He is a first class agent, and a loose canon as of his arrival. He'll also be healing from his throat wound.


〈 CHARACTER SAMPLES 〉
COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:

Ward and Skye: the meeting

LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE:

Ward remembered once upon a time being introduced to some of the more "gung ho" (Garrett's words, not his) hydra officials who lived their lives with almost monk like regularity. Apart from the odd and unusual attitude (and occasionally the unusual toys and abilities) he'd found them boring but committed, dedicated. He remembered envying them very clearly.

"Is that something I should aspire to?"

"...Is it something you want to aspire to?" Garrett had crossed his arms, "I mean is it going to benefit you directly?"

Monk like living, while appealing - was something that belonged more to HYDRA then to him. Although the longer he was here the more he felt as though a massive system of people who would support him blindly and blankly - appealed.

Better then judgement and hostility. Better then the uneasy truce he had with Skye and Simmons and their merry band of misfits. He hated feeling weak.

(For it was weakness to sit and feel alone. Some part of himself he obviously hadn't purged right? It brought back bad memories, desperately bad memories. Things he really didn't want to see.)

So he shoved it out of his mind and focused on the bigger problem. Setting aside his glass of Whiskey he padded closer to the mirror in the wall and examined his abdomen, twisting to expose a long padded scar that ran from his left side to his stomach. So he'd tried to impress a few people, causing an irrational surge of anger.

(People, screaming, grabbing the back end of the car and stopping it. He remembered Garrett. I've seen the future, through the eyes of everything).

Was it weakness to admit that watching him lose his mind had scared the hell out of him? That power had made him into a monster? Strength through pain.. Ward put two fingers on either side of the puckered flesh and pulled, trying to reach for comfort in that old phrase and failing. The flesh was puckered and underneath...it was gray and scaly. It looks almost like Extremis.

He had confirmed however that arriving here had mutated him and that his abilities were a part of him. So why did doing what came naturally leave him scared? Maybe it's nothing.

Except he could stop trucks with his hands. Never mind he'd lost his temper at someone who he'd resolved never to consider...

Curling his hand into a fist he slammed it into the wall. With a crack and a punch - a fist sized hole appeared in the dry wall, cracks spiraling outward. Pulling his fist away he stared at it, waiting for pain and bruising. It was mild, not even moderate. The bruising looked more like he'd hit someone, or taken a hit himself. Well of course, super strength usually came with durability.

He didn't feel the lance of pain across his shoulder, a small red line cracking across his skin with the dark gray scale-like rock beneath it.

FINAL NOTES: