App: Deerington

[charlieoscar]

IN CHARACTER

Character Name: Mike Slattery
Canon: The Last Ship
Canon Point: Season 4, Episode 5 "Allegiance." The critically injured Mike has been brought back to the Nathan James, seeds in hand, and has received treatment. He will be taken during his convalescence in the medical bay.

In-Game Tattoo Placement: Outer left bicep.
Current Health/Status: Nursing a patched stab wound, detoxing off Nostos.
Age: Mid-40sish
Species: Human



History: Note: The Last Ship is an apocalyptic drama series where most of the world's population has died due to a virus and there's a lot of horror that goes with that, physical and otherwise. The first link is a very sanitized overview of the show, the second is more detailed (in relation to Mike specifically), and there is mention of child abuse/rape.

The Last Ship Wiki \\ Mike's History Through Season 3

Season 4:

- The virus has mutated and is now killing the world's crops. The Nathan James, once again led by C.O. Mike Slattery, is tasked with tracking down the seeds of the ancient African Palm - the only plant shown to have resistance to the virus.

- The chase leads them to Greece where Mike and the others are reunited with Tom, who left the James due to his guilt and grief at the end of Season 3. The reunion comes in the middle of a fight pit, which Mike goes undercover in in order to get closer to the seeds. Despite some passive-aggression, Mike and Tom are able to quickly come back and work together.

- After escaping the pit, Mike gets his hands on the seeds, but not without being separated from the rest of the team and gravely injured to boot. It then becomes a game of cat and mouse where he struggles to stay upright and ahead of his pursuers, all while protecting the all-important seeds. Along the way, he is offered dubious help from a woman who patches his injury and then offers him tea that turns out to be spiked with a narcotic plant (Nostos). In his drugged state, Mike is haunted by visions of his lost wife and children. Despite injury and hallucination, Mike eventually manages to facilitate his own rescue by signaling his team with a piece of mirror.

CRAU History and Impact: N/A.

Personality: Mike often comes off as a serious, plodding, unimaginative officer to those that don't know him and actually, he's okay with that. Both because he honestly couldn't give a damn what strangers think of him, and because he can use that to his advantage. Beneath his unassuming bulk, there's a quick and clever man, every bit as resourceful as his counterparts (namely the obvious hero archetype that is Tom Chandler). He's also surprisingly witty, capable of cracking one-liners with the best of them and a positively Saharan sarcasm, and uses both defensively and offensively as necessary, soothing the tensions of (himself and) his crew in the face of dangerous odds and undermining enemies by turns.

But perhaps most unexpected of all - given his profession, his sheer physical size and strength, and the some what aggressive front he usually puts on - Mike is, underneath it all, a gentle man. Violence is almost never his first choice, given any other, and he has even said aloud that using threats of it are typically counterproductive. "Lay out the options for him honestly," Mike says, "And usually a man will come around to the right one."

That said, one shouldn't take that as an excuse to push him. Mike is a combat pragmatist who can, and will, do anything and everything he has to should he be pressed; and, like anyone, he has his so-called "berserk buttons." One would expect a Captain to defend his crew and ship with everything he has, but also, perhaps unsurprisingly given how he lost his own family, Mike has zero tolerance for violence towards children. He even once went so far as to put a mission of global importance at risk in order to stop one man from abusing children.

On that note, while stopping a drug lord preying on children is a well and noble choice, when viewed in a wider lens it does reveal what is probably Mike's greatest weakness. He is determinedly restless and has severe difficulty with walking away from anything he believes to be unfinished. His responses to it have ranged from the innocuous - such as pacing or decidedly burying himself in other work - to blatantly defying direct orders.

He is not immune to goading, and he can be stubborn. Once Mike's made his mind up about something - whether it's a person, thing, or goal - it can be difficult to change his impression of it. Not impossible, mind, as he was even able to come to understand the torture he once suffered at the hands of pirates and work alongside the pirate leader if not wholly forgive him, but it will require effort and one hell of a good reason. (And that's when it comes from someone he likes and respects. If you're neither of those, well... good luck.)

On an infinitely more personal note, given what happened to his family, to say that Mike has lingering issues of guilt would be an understatement. He carries the pain of their loss well enough day to day, but the weight of his guilt over what, and how it happened - that he was across the world, that he accepted the position on the Nathan James against his wife's protests, that he was unable to help them when they needed their husband and father the most - still lays heavily on him. The wound may have healed, but that particular scar still runs long and deep, and has, in many ways, left him unable to wholly move on. He even still wears his wedding ring, years later.


Abilities/Powers/Weaknesses & Warping: Mike is your regular ol' grown on the vine human, albeit one with extensive military training and practical combat experience.

Inventory:

- full standard uniform, includes overshirt and pants, undershirt, belt, boots, and hat.

- wedding ring, silver

- sidearm, pistol

- thigh holster for sidearm

- family photograph (Mike and his wife and three kids posing together).

- iPod (other than the expected collection of music, it also contains a poem recorded by his son, Lucas)


Writing Samples: At long last, Mike will take the floor one last time..... Everything's so much a blur now.....

OUT OF CHARACTER

Player Name: Dee
Player Age: 30
Player Contact: dactylgirl or PM

Other Characters In Game: N/A.
In-Game Tag If Accepted: Mike Slattery: Dee
Permissions for Character: Here.
Are you comfortable with prominent elements of fourth-walling?: As is plot pertinent.
What themes of horror/psychological thrillers do you enjoy the most?: Probably comes as no surprise, given what canon I'm apping from, but illness is one of my favorite things. The psychological terror of the spreading plague, the physical horror of sickness. It's all up my alley. I also love me a good creepy setting - abandoned house, overgrown swamp, blackened forest - let me explore them all, plz.
Is there anything in particular you absolutely need specific content warnings for?: Not anything not already mentioned in the game info.
Additional Information: