DC Chris Skelton (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
superskelton) wrote2013-06-01 11:47 am
superskelton) wrote2013-06-01 11:47 am
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cape_kore
[Player information]
Player Name: Liam
Age: 21
E-mail: technobabbledftw [at] gmail [dot] com
Other characters played at Cape Kore: N/A
[Character information]
Name: DC Christopher Daniel Skelton
Canon: Ashes to Ashes
Canon Point: 2x08, after his fight with Ray.
Age: 32
Appearance:
Chris is a walking embodiment of the 1980s. All 5'7 of him. His hair is naturally a dark brown, but he currently has blond highlights that were probably his girlfriend's idea. His frequently worn stonewashed denim jacket was also hers until Chris decided to “borrow” it permanently. He can almost always be seen with some sort of shirt/skinny tie combo, and presumably depending on how much he likes breathing that day he alternates between the tightest whitest skinny jeans or grey high waist trousers.
Besides his wonderful 80s fashion there's nothing especially striking about Chris. His teeth about as crooked as you might expect from an Englishman. He does have heterochromia, so whilst one eye is blue the other is green. He's a little on the short side, and rather skinny despite a diet of too many Marathon bars and takeaways to be considered healthy.
Inventory:
The contents of his pockets. Specifically: drivers licence, warrant card, flat keys, eight cigarettes, a lighter, a pack of Juicy Fruit chewing gum, a melted Marathon bar, and his wallet containing two pounds thirty-six pence and a ticket stub for Tron.
Abilities: Chris has the amazing ability of being able to trip on his own shadow. Besides that, he only really has the capabilities of any bog standard human. He does have firearms training because of his profession, but no talents of the supernatural variety.
History:
Both links contain SPOILERS for the end of the series. Due to the nature of Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes I would recommend not reading them if you have any intention of watching it.
Link One | Link Two
Personality:
After more than a decade on the Force Chris is as much of a dogsbody as he ever was. Chris doesn't really know how to say no, and so it's usually him who ends up doing the jobs no one else wants, rarely with much objection. He isn't one for conflict, and doesn't tend to cope well if he's caught in the middle of it. Unfortunately for Chris, he often is. He wants to please everyone, which unfortunately is rarely possible. Rather than side with one person he'll likely just do whatever he was told to most recently. If he can help it then he won't stand up and say who he agrees with, even if it's something he feels strongly about. He avoids getting into his own conflicts, too. If Chris is especially unhappy with someone then he'll avoid talking to them rather than confronting them directly. He has a tendency to walk out when he's uncomfortable, or else mumble with as little commitment as he can manage. The times he does manage to voice his opinion, it's usually exactly the right one to make people even more annoyed with him.
Most of the time, Chris doesn't appear to think much for himself. It's not just that he does what he's told, it's that he doesn't question it, and if he does it isn't for long. He tends to ask questions that everyone else would think stupid or obvious, and in general appears a bit dim, something not exactly helped by his general clumsiness. He has trouble with his spelling as well as his common sense, and no one else in CID can quite shake the feeling he's a bit of an idiot.
Unfortunately it isn't just his own team that have discovered this. Chris honestly doesn't mind being taken advantage of by the rest of his CID team, but he'll also allow others to even if he doesn't want to. Although Chris once refused to take bribes at all, he fell into corruption very easily just because he finds it so difficult to stand his ground. It started as a one time thing, just a seemingly unimportant file that needed to be lost. He'd taken a loan off the person who'd asked him to do it, and because he'd yet to finish paying them back he did it. Things escalated from there, and he soon fell deep enough into corruption he didn't know how to get out without them telling the Guv about all the things he'd done.
Of course this couldn't last and the Guv did eventually find out. It's one problem Chris hasn't been allowed to run away from, and with his offer of resignation rejected Chris has been left feeling ashamed and isolated. He knows his team are angry with him and rightfully so. He has deaths on his conscience and the knowledge he's betrayed people who are both his friends and his colleagues.
Being so widely shunned is a new experience for Chris. Most of the time he's pretty likable. He's the office goof, and his colleagues are nearly as likely to be laughing at his jokes as his foul ups. He gets along well with most of the others, though he's by far the closest to Ray and Shaz. Ray has been his best friend since the early seventies, and though they've had their disputes their friendship has lasted for at least ten years. They work together, drink together, joke together, and in the past he's been someone Chris looks up to. Now that he's older Chris feels more of an equal to him, but he remains one of the most important people in Chris' life. He's only known Shaz since 1980, but he's very much in love with her and wants nothing more out of life than to impress her. His ideals are rather outdated in comparison to hers, and he often struggles to make things right when he upsets her, but they have a pretty solid relationship and at this point are engaged.
Putting aside his mistakes, Chris does try hard to be a good copper. His style of policing has been heavily influenced by his mentor of seven years, Sam Tyler, who was originally from 2006. Because of this he has embraced modern policing in a way some of his colleagues have not. He's recorded interviews with suspects for years, and enjoys using technology such as radios to listen in on suspects. He's generally open minded about using new methods, though he's not opposed to the old ways so long as the suspect doesn't end up too banged up. He sometimes seems to forget that their job isn't a game and can be drawn into things like playing good cop/bad cop, though he is better at knowing where to draw the line than Ray is.
For all Sam's influence, he is still very much a product of his times. Arguably an even earlier time. Certainly Shaz doesn't feel some of his attitudes belong in the 80s. Chris will be the first to claim he has nothing against minorities, but he believes in a lot of the stereotypes of the time, and does display prejudiced behaviour. He's shown to laugh at racist humour, and he isn't exactly an avid supporter of homosexuality. In fact it makes him distinctly uncomfortable. These views may be becoming increasingly unacceptable, but he still spends much of his time in an environment where he can usually get away with expressing them. Occasionally he will try his hand at things like feminism, but he inevitably misses the point and even succeeds in coming across as more misogynistic than usual at times.
[Sample 1 - third person]
Chris stabbed a fork into his ravioli, peering at it suspiciously before finally giving it the benefit of the doubt and eating it. A decision he found he regretted It was no more convincing in his mouth than it had been out of it. After washing it down with a swig of wine he glanced over to where Drake was already half way through her meal a few tables over.
“Why d'you reckon her food looks better than ours?” he asked Ray, dropping his voice to make sure she couldn't hear him. “She got hers before we did and all.”
“Fancies her, don't he?” Ray replied, as though it was obvious. Thinking about it, he was probably right. It'd explain him talking her up all the while, fussing over her then coming over and being all miserable around the rest of them when they stayed in past closing time. Like they could help cops having unsociable hours. Ray nudged him, interrupting his musing. “Eh. What if they started shagging?”
Which seemed unlikely. Still. Chris frowned, considering it. “I don't think they would. We'd have to find somewhere else to eat if they stopped, wouldn't we? Besides, I've always thought she had her eye more on the Guv.”
“Well, what if they started shagging?”
“Oh, behave,” Shaz sighed, rolling her eyes at them. “Maybe if you tried being a little nicer someone would start shagging you. Then you wouldn't need to keep obsessing over other people. Here you are, baby.” She shoved the catalogue at Chris before Ray got a chance to protest, pointing out the dress she was looking at. “That one's cheaper. I think I might like it better, too.” She smiled encouragingly.
His heart sank. A familiar feeling when it came to wedding planning. It wasn't that he didn't like it. Shaz'd look great in any of them. It wasn't that he didn't want to marry her, either. He wanted it more than anything. The price tag, however, was more than enough to dampen his mood. It was cheaper than some she'd looked at, but it was still well outside a comfortable price range.
“It's just so expensive...”
The catalogue disappeared from in front of him before he even finished his sentence. Shaz didn't look happy. Not that he could blame her. “They're all expensive, Chris. You know that. You said you didn't mind paying for it.”
“I don't.”
Shaz ignored him, irritably turning the pages of the catalogue. Ray looked disgusted at the pair of them. Chris found himself sharing his feelings. At least about himself. Shaz deserved someone who could provide for her, and here he was saying he couldn't even afford a wedding dress. He frowned, pushing his pasta around his plate as he thought back to the call he'd taken before they headed down to Luigi's. The same caller who'd been bothering him for months now. Pressuring him for favours. Just small assignments. Nothing big. Just to make things square with the money Chris owed him. Chris knew they were wrong, though, and he tried to ignore them. Resisting was tougher than it sounded. Even without the money incentive. He'd had a phone call every day this week, and he knew from experience they wouldn't stop until he gave in. And they paid him well for it. Fifty quid. Just to change a few digits on a phone number. That's all they wanted this time. Just a phone number, he told himself. He needed the money for Shaz. What did one number matter in the run of things?
He hated himself for thinking that. There was a right way to get more money and a wrong way. Annoyed at himself for even contemplating the bribe Chris threw down his fork decisively, leaning back in his chair to call over to Drake.
“You still looking for someone to go through those reports tomorrow, ma'am? Could do with some overtime.”
Drake smiled, raising her wine glass at him. “That would be lovely, Chris.”
He rocked his chair back onto all fours, looking at Shaz with a pleased grin. She looked happier now, and reached over to straighten his tie which had gone lopsided. “You didn't have to do that,” she told him gently. “You just have to be more clear about how much money we're spending. You keep changing what you tell me.”
“I know. I'm sorry, Shazzer. I just want everything to be perfect.”
Ray glowered, exhaling cigarette smoke from his nose. “Poof.”
Shaz threw him a dirty look. Chris smiled faintly, digging back into his food, doing his best to pretend he didn't know already he'd take advantage of the quiet office tomorrow night to fulfil his mystery caller's request.
[Sample 2 - first person]
[Chris is not looking his best to say the least. He's jittery and anxious, his face looking drawn.]
Don't suppose any of you lot know where I can find any fags here, do you? Only I've sort of ran out and I don't do so well without them. Sort of feel all headachey and horrible. It's starting already. I know it's supposed to get better, but it keeps getting worse. I can't go on like this. Not even to raise my sperm count. Not that I really need to. Not the sort of place to raise babies, this, is it?
[A little of the tension's gone by the time he reaches the end of that line of thought. He looks almost contemplative if still not quite at ease, but it doesn't last long. His face twists with irritation again and he rubs his temple uncomfortably.]
There'd better at least be bloody Bovril somewhere. I'm getting sick of eating and it don't even do anything.
[Sample 3 - linked]
Dear Mun
Anything Else?
Player Name: Liam
Age: 21
E-mail: technobabbledftw [at] gmail [dot] com
Other characters played at Cape Kore: N/A
[Character information]
Name: DC Christopher Daniel Skelton
Canon: Ashes to Ashes
Canon Point: 2x08, after his fight with Ray.
Age: 32
Appearance:
Chris is a walking embodiment of the 1980s. All 5'7 of him. His hair is naturally a dark brown, but he currently has blond highlights that were probably his girlfriend's idea. His frequently worn stonewashed denim jacket was also hers until Chris decided to “borrow” it permanently. He can almost always be seen with some sort of shirt/skinny tie combo, and presumably depending on how much he likes breathing that day he alternates between the tightest whitest skinny jeans or grey high waist trousers.
Besides his wonderful 80s fashion there's nothing especially striking about Chris. His teeth about as crooked as you might expect from an Englishman. He does have heterochromia, so whilst one eye is blue the other is green. He's a little on the short side, and rather skinny despite a diet of too many Marathon bars and takeaways to be considered healthy.
Inventory:
The contents of his pockets. Specifically: drivers licence, warrant card, flat keys, eight cigarettes, a lighter, a pack of Juicy Fruit chewing gum, a melted Marathon bar, and his wallet containing two pounds thirty-six pence and a ticket stub for Tron.
Abilities: Chris has the amazing ability of being able to trip on his own shadow. Besides that, he only really has the capabilities of any bog standard human. He does have firearms training because of his profession, but no talents of the supernatural variety.
History:
Both links contain SPOILERS for the end of the series. Due to the nature of Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes I would recommend not reading them if you have any intention of watching it.
Link One | Link Two
Personality:
After more than a decade on the Force Chris is as much of a dogsbody as he ever was. Chris doesn't really know how to say no, and so it's usually him who ends up doing the jobs no one else wants, rarely with much objection. He isn't one for conflict, and doesn't tend to cope well if he's caught in the middle of it. Unfortunately for Chris, he often is. He wants to please everyone, which unfortunately is rarely possible. Rather than side with one person he'll likely just do whatever he was told to most recently. If he can help it then he won't stand up and say who he agrees with, even if it's something he feels strongly about. He avoids getting into his own conflicts, too. If Chris is especially unhappy with someone then he'll avoid talking to them rather than confronting them directly. He has a tendency to walk out when he's uncomfortable, or else mumble with as little commitment as he can manage. The times he does manage to voice his opinion, it's usually exactly the right one to make people even more annoyed with him.
Most of the time, Chris doesn't appear to think much for himself. It's not just that he does what he's told, it's that he doesn't question it, and if he does it isn't for long. He tends to ask questions that everyone else would think stupid or obvious, and in general appears a bit dim, something not exactly helped by his general clumsiness. He has trouble with his spelling as well as his common sense, and no one else in CID can quite shake the feeling he's a bit of an idiot.
Unfortunately it isn't just his own team that have discovered this. Chris honestly doesn't mind being taken advantage of by the rest of his CID team, but he'll also allow others to even if he doesn't want to. Although Chris once refused to take bribes at all, he fell into corruption very easily just because he finds it so difficult to stand his ground. It started as a one time thing, just a seemingly unimportant file that needed to be lost. He'd taken a loan off the person who'd asked him to do it, and because he'd yet to finish paying them back he did it. Things escalated from there, and he soon fell deep enough into corruption he didn't know how to get out without them telling the Guv about all the things he'd done.
Of course this couldn't last and the Guv did eventually find out. It's one problem Chris hasn't been allowed to run away from, and with his offer of resignation rejected Chris has been left feeling ashamed and isolated. He knows his team are angry with him and rightfully so. He has deaths on his conscience and the knowledge he's betrayed people who are both his friends and his colleagues.
Being so widely shunned is a new experience for Chris. Most of the time he's pretty likable. He's the office goof, and his colleagues are nearly as likely to be laughing at his jokes as his foul ups. He gets along well with most of the others, though he's by far the closest to Ray and Shaz. Ray has been his best friend since the early seventies, and though they've had their disputes their friendship has lasted for at least ten years. They work together, drink together, joke together, and in the past he's been someone Chris looks up to. Now that he's older Chris feels more of an equal to him, but he remains one of the most important people in Chris' life. He's only known Shaz since 1980, but he's very much in love with her and wants nothing more out of life than to impress her. His ideals are rather outdated in comparison to hers, and he often struggles to make things right when he upsets her, but they have a pretty solid relationship and at this point are engaged.
Putting aside his mistakes, Chris does try hard to be a good copper. His style of policing has been heavily influenced by his mentor of seven years, Sam Tyler, who was originally from 2006. Because of this he has embraced modern policing in a way some of his colleagues have not. He's recorded interviews with suspects for years, and enjoys using technology such as radios to listen in on suspects. He's generally open minded about using new methods, though he's not opposed to the old ways so long as the suspect doesn't end up too banged up. He sometimes seems to forget that their job isn't a game and can be drawn into things like playing good cop/bad cop, though he is better at knowing where to draw the line than Ray is.
For all Sam's influence, he is still very much a product of his times. Arguably an even earlier time. Certainly Shaz doesn't feel some of his attitudes belong in the 80s. Chris will be the first to claim he has nothing against minorities, but he believes in a lot of the stereotypes of the time, and does display prejudiced behaviour. He's shown to laugh at racist humour, and he isn't exactly an avid supporter of homosexuality. In fact it makes him distinctly uncomfortable. These views may be becoming increasingly unacceptable, but he still spends much of his time in an environment where he can usually get away with expressing them. Occasionally he will try his hand at things like feminism, but he inevitably misses the point and even succeeds in coming across as more misogynistic than usual at times.
[Sample 1 - third person]
Chris stabbed a fork into his ravioli, peering at it suspiciously before finally giving it the benefit of the doubt and eating it. A decision he found he regretted It was no more convincing in his mouth than it had been out of it. After washing it down with a swig of wine he glanced over to where Drake was already half way through her meal a few tables over.
“Why d'you reckon her food looks better than ours?” he asked Ray, dropping his voice to make sure she couldn't hear him. “She got hers before we did and all.”
“Fancies her, don't he?” Ray replied, as though it was obvious. Thinking about it, he was probably right. It'd explain him talking her up all the while, fussing over her then coming over and being all miserable around the rest of them when they stayed in past closing time. Like they could help cops having unsociable hours. Ray nudged him, interrupting his musing. “Eh. What if they started shagging?”
Which seemed unlikely. Still. Chris frowned, considering it. “I don't think they would. We'd have to find somewhere else to eat if they stopped, wouldn't we? Besides, I've always thought she had her eye more on the Guv.”
“Well, what if they started shagging?”
“Oh, behave,” Shaz sighed, rolling her eyes at them. “Maybe if you tried being a little nicer someone would start shagging you. Then you wouldn't need to keep obsessing over other people. Here you are, baby.” She shoved the catalogue at Chris before Ray got a chance to protest, pointing out the dress she was looking at. “That one's cheaper. I think I might like it better, too.” She smiled encouragingly.
His heart sank. A familiar feeling when it came to wedding planning. It wasn't that he didn't like it. Shaz'd look great in any of them. It wasn't that he didn't want to marry her, either. He wanted it more than anything. The price tag, however, was more than enough to dampen his mood. It was cheaper than some she'd looked at, but it was still well outside a comfortable price range.
“It's just so expensive...”
The catalogue disappeared from in front of him before he even finished his sentence. Shaz didn't look happy. Not that he could blame her. “They're all expensive, Chris. You know that. You said you didn't mind paying for it.”
“I don't.”
Shaz ignored him, irritably turning the pages of the catalogue. Ray looked disgusted at the pair of them. Chris found himself sharing his feelings. At least about himself. Shaz deserved someone who could provide for her, and here he was saying he couldn't even afford a wedding dress. He frowned, pushing his pasta around his plate as he thought back to the call he'd taken before they headed down to Luigi's. The same caller who'd been bothering him for months now. Pressuring him for favours. Just small assignments. Nothing big. Just to make things square with the money Chris owed him. Chris knew they were wrong, though, and he tried to ignore them. Resisting was tougher than it sounded. Even without the money incentive. He'd had a phone call every day this week, and he knew from experience they wouldn't stop until he gave in. And they paid him well for it. Fifty quid. Just to change a few digits on a phone number. That's all they wanted this time. Just a phone number, he told himself. He needed the money for Shaz. What did one number matter in the run of things?
He hated himself for thinking that. There was a right way to get more money and a wrong way. Annoyed at himself for even contemplating the bribe Chris threw down his fork decisively, leaning back in his chair to call over to Drake.
“You still looking for someone to go through those reports tomorrow, ma'am? Could do with some overtime.”
Drake smiled, raising her wine glass at him. “That would be lovely, Chris.”
He rocked his chair back onto all fours, looking at Shaz with a pleased grin. She looked happier now, and reached over to straighten his tie which had gone lopsided. “You didn't have to do that,” she told him gently. “You just have to be more clear about how much money we're spending. You keep changing what you tell me.”
“I know. I'm sorry, Shazzer. I just want everything to be perfect.”
Ray glowered, exhaling cigarette smoke from his nose. “Poof.”
Shaz threw him a dirty look. Chris smiled faintly, digging back into his food, doing his best to pretend he didn't know already he'd take advantage of the quiet office tomorrow night to fulfil his mystery caller's request.
[Sample 2 - first person]
[Chris is not looking his best to say the least. He's jittery and anxious, his face looking drawn.]
Don't suppose any of you lot know where I can find any fags here, do you? Only I've sort of ran out and I don't do so well without them. Sort of feel all headachey and horrible. It's starting already. I know it's supposed to get better, but it keeps getting worse. I can't go on like this. Not even to raise my sperm count. Not that I really need to. Not the sort of place to raise babies, this, is it?
[A little of the tension's gone by the time he reaches the end of that line of thought. He looks almost contemplative if still not quite at ease, but it doesn't last long. His face twists with irritation again and he rubs his temple uncomfortably.]
There'd better at least be bloody Bovril somewhere. I'm getting sick of eating and it don't even do anything.
[Sample 3 - linked]
Dear Mun
Anything Else?