futurology s2 app.

[dbag]

APPLICANT INFO.
NAME: Elle
CONTACT: PM or regnant

CHARACTER INFO.
NAME: Rhys
CANON: (Tales from the) Borderlands
AGE: 27 in canon + 1 year in game = 28
APPEARANCE: x
CANON POINT: Post-Episode 5

BACKGROUND: Link! As there are a couple player-dependent choices that change the story up a little, I'm gonna list the ones I'm going with:

» Loader Bot evacuated.
» Rejected Vasquez' deal.
» Didn't tell anyone about Jack.
» Went to Hollow Point before Old Haven.
» Chose Jack's plan over Fiona's.
» Agreed to a tentative alliance with Jack.
» Chose to rule Hyperion.
» Saved Yvette.
» Crushed the ECHO eye.

PERSONALITY:

Rhys is kind of a jerk. He admits that working at Hyperion makes him one of the bad guys in the story, but still, he's actually not the worst person in it by a long shot. Most people range from jerk to sociopathic megalomaniac in Borderlands, so he's actually doing pretty well, all things considered. Except for the part where he idolizes Handsome Jack, the sociopathic-est megalomaniac around (before his untimely death).

Rhys is ambitious to a fault, determined to climb the corporate ladder through whatever means necessary. His motivation is, first and foremost, greed. Not just for the money, but for the power as well. He’s spent his life as a cog in the corporate machine when what he wants to be is the guy in charge. Although he’s lacking in actual confidence and charisma, he projects an egotistic image; everyone at Hyperion is an asshole, so there’s not much reason to hide your own assholery, especially not when that’s what will get you to the top. Rhys knows that assimilating to the Hyperion Way Of Life™ is how he'll get ahead, so that's what he does.

He isn't all bad, though! Vaughn, his best friend, is someone he cares about a lot. The point of stealing Vasquez' deal — aside from the whole revenge thing — is so he, Vaughn, and their friend Yvette can split the money and live the good life, so he isn't entirely focused on screwing someone else over. Just... mostly. His motivations definitely do transform into something more than "fuck with Vasquez" as the story goes along, and he even warms up to the two grifters he and Vaughn pick up as unlikely companions. He looks incredibly pleased when Fiona tells Scooter that he and Vaughn are their friends, and even sort of caught off-guard. He clearly takes his friendships seriously, and he likes very much to be liked.

He might not be necessarily “street smart”, but he is pretty intelligent when you get down to it, too. Rhys has managed to survive on an incredibly deadly planet where everyone wants to kill him, which is no small feat, especially when you're more used to sitting at a desk than fighting off would-be killers. He does occasionally overestimate his hacking abilities, but for the most part, he’s very talented at it. His plans might not always be the best, but he manages to be resourceful in the moment. Often, there isn't any time to think about what to do next — he just has to do it. In most of those cases, his improvisation serves him well. Rhys' cunning, while a flaw, manages to work as a strength at times.

Rhys isn't always devious, though. Sometimes, he's a little bit of a kid. He has no reservations about expressing his enthusiasm (or, in some cases, idolization) for things or people. Except when it gets embarrassing. As a kid, he made his own business cards. At Hyperion, he has motivational posters of Handsome Jack up all over the walls. When he meets Zer0 for the first time, he's somewhat star-struck, and later in the game is overjoyed by the idea that he might get to sit next to them. He's a fanboy, basically. He's a loser, decidedly not cool, so it makes sense for him to be the type to look up to his heroes.

Fortunately, he doesn't live up to his biggest idol Handsome Jack’s reputation. Rhys is super flawed, that much is true, but he's definitely not as horrible as Jack. Much of his interaction with Jack is being manipulated by him, quite easily; Jack knows what Rhys wants — he's inside his head, after all. He fluffs Rhys' ego, claims that they're friends or a "team," and promises to help Rhys climb the ranks at Hyperion. Technically, Jack is planning to help Rhys climb the ranks, except he'll be dead and his body will be Jack's meat suit. But, you know, BFFs! His enchantment with Jack begins to wear off throughout the game, and eventually completely erodes when he sees Jack for who he really is and realizes he isn’t the kind of person Rhys wants to be at all. Throughout Season 1 of Futurology, he’s stayed on that trajectory, working on distancing himself from the vaguely unethical corporate asshole he was and trying to be a better person.

Long story short, Rhys isn't the best person, but he isn't the worst, either. He's got his heart in the right place where it counts, he's just annoying about it. Rhys is an asshole. He fucks Vasquez over for no reason other than to get back at him. He makes no secret of how much he judges Pandora. However, he's also determined, good with technology, hard to kill like a cockroach that just doesn't give up, and surprisingly fond of his friends — for every bad quality, he also has a good one.

ABILITIES: Rhys is... probably not even a baseline human, let's be real, however he has a few special talents. Most of them courtesy of his cybernetics. He's got pretty decent hacking skills, and his robot arm is stronger than his flesh arm (which isn't saying much, but it also appears to be stronger than any regular arm). The ability to scan everything with his ECHO eye helps quite a bit as well, which I talk about a little more in the inventory section!

INVENTORY:

FROM CANON:
» His cybernetic arm and ECHO eye. The arm is stronger and more resilient than a flesh one would be, and the ECHO eye allows him to scan things.
» His handy-dandy stun baton.
» Dumpy, the incompetent robot. After being shot, he's not very talented, but he can stun people. If he manages to get over to them without falling over or something. Oh, and his voice modulator is broken. He can only speak in horrifying inhuman shrieks.

FROM SEASON 1:
» His old magitek ring.
» Clothing in the style of past missions ('90s, Western, mostly fancy clothes from Leramzen lbr.) Mostly business casual if he can swing it.
» A Bunkers & Badasses set.
» A single year-old chocolate coin. Probably gone bad by now.
» A shield data stick; allows him to make a 30 min. bubble shield with his cybernetic arm when plugged in.
» A mini computer, not connected to the internet.

HATHAWAY.
SUITABILITY:

Rhys is from Borderlands, which is a series of action space western games set on a lawless planet, so action/adventure is very common in his canon! While he is not particularly good at fighting, he's had a lot of experience with dangerous situations in canon (unfortunately!!) and has over a year of ALASTAIR experience under his belt. Plus, he's basically sold his soul to the devil before, so this is nothing.

INCENTIVE:

A BILLION JILLION DOLLARS, but he'll settle on 250 mil (or a fuckton, whichever comes first) to restart Atlas and pay the salaries of as many Pandoran workers as he can in an attempt to make Pandora less shitty.

SPECIALIZATION:

1. Inventor. He is literally the CEO of a tech company now, so this fits to a T! He's good with technology and better at using his brains than his brawn (because he has one but not the other). He's a nerd, he fits this perfectly.

2. Negotiator. If inventor doesn't work out, this would be my second choice! He's no good at fighting, so diplomacy is a thing he could at least try. He's not the best at words, but he sure does talk a lot. Plus, he dresses real spiffy.

WRITING SAMPLES.
NETWORK SAMPLE: w/ Twisted Fate.

ACTION SAMPLE: w/ Kaz.