Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2013 12:50:28 GMT -8
| João Ferreira Henriques An ex-serviceman turned government official, Sr. Henriques is an adventurer at heart; a mellow, somewhat timid man who has seen many different corners of the world in his lifetime. He is not a permanent resident of London, but is on a prolonged stay to help resolve the matter of the FOL issue within Europe and beyond. |
| CODE NAME: Magellan |
| Male | 35 | Pansexual |
| Portuguese | Minister of National Defense (Portugal) | Government |
| Physical |
| 179cm/5'10'' | 77kg/170lbs | Dark brown |
| Blue | Medium | Well built |
| Personal |
Laid-back: João is generally quite a relaxed man, whom takes an easy going approach to most things he does. He's not slow in any respect, per se, and is actually quite active physically and mentally, but he does tend to like to take his own time with things as well, and he dislikes it when people rush him. 'Patience is a virtue', 'Rome wasn't built in a day', 'Why do today what you can leave for tomorrow?', and so on and so forth. Gentle: Surprisingly enough for an ex-serviceman, he's a lover, not a fighter... In theory. When he was young and naive there were times when he found himself in brawls and such, but as he matured he learnt that conflict only causes more problems than it solves. That isn't to say, he isn't docile enough to never put up a fight. Though ideally he'd rather not bring any harm to anyone on purpose, some of the situations he finds himself in often put this part of him to the test. Old-fashioned: Subjectively. Particularly in his manner of speaking, he's quiet eloquent and clever with his words. His English also isn't completely perfect, and so he has a habit of using terms that are considered unusually formal in the language. He's also completely abysmal with technology; he can use a phone and operate what he needs to for work, computers or otherwise... That's about it. He'd rather be reading or sailing than committing himself to learning about all the newfangled technology out there. Kind-hearted: João is a compassionate person, considerate of the wants and needs of others. This makes him rather amiable and easy to get along with... But having such a soft centre also makes him a rather easy target for being taken advantage of, as well. Responsible: He's usually very capable of rational thought, something he applies to his occupation well. And usually everything else, too. He tends to be the kind of guy people can trust with anything they need, really... However, he can be a bit fickle when it comes to romance; he can become careless in this respect, which is probably why his relationships seldom last a long time. Adventurous: His days of being a young man and seeing the world are over, but he'll always carry with him a sense of wanting to know more about anything and everything. He thirsts for knowledge, and often wants to see the things that he's familiar with through a different perspective. He'll be willing to take risks, if thing things he can gain from them are going to be worth it. Amorous: Ah, the stereotypical Latin Lover. Sensual and manly, with warm golden skin, dark eyes and a heady accent... Too bad girls can usually find him gone by the morning... Or else still there, but with another girl... Or two... Or three. Such things have happened before. Quiet: He is not quiet in the sense that he is closed off from others and keeps to himself (although he is quite independent in that respect), but he is very soft spoken, and likes to put a lot of meaning into a few words, rather than spread out what he's trying to say into many sentences. This disposition often makes public speaking a challenge for him; in which case, he likes to have speeches he's written beforehand ready. Worrysome: João dwells on the past. If he's done something to wrong someone else, he'll do his best to put it right, but that doesn't mean he won't worry about it for a long time afterwards. He worries about things he's done in the past, and likewise he worries about the future, sometimes. He tries his best to stay optimistic, but in reality there's a nervous wreck beneath the surface; a nervous wreck that's always unsure of himself and his own actions. Melancholic: Some might describe it as him being sullen, but really, it isn't because he's necessarily unhappy that he carries a dispirited sort of air about him. No matter what he does, no matter where he goes, he's always in a state of longing for something absent from his life. Domineering: Perhaps unintentionally, but he can be a bit of a control freak, to say the very least. He likes to have things how he likes them; 'those books must be put in that place', 'those files must be in this order', etc, etc - and it's particularly his subordinates at work that suffer the most from this. Benevolent as his methods are, he very much enjoys being in a position of power. Terrifying when angered: It takes a great amount to anger him, but... Do not set him off. Do not set him off. The result is almost like Jekyll and Hyde; he's loud, he's violent, he doesn't think about what he's doing - he's practically a different person altogether, which is perhaps what is so 'terrifying' about it - and it can spiral out of control and cause havoc. A rare occurrence, and one that's very simple to avoid - thankfully. |
| Likes | Dislikes |
The ocean: The ocean is beautiful, he thinks. There's a sense of adventure in it, even if one is just viewing it from the coastline. To think that thousands of miles away, there's someone else out there looking out across the very same body of water... It makes the world seem a lot smaller, doesn't it? Codfish: Cod is delicious. It's too bad their numbers are decreasing... He misses the time when he could actually go out and catch one with a rod - that would be almost impossible, nowadays. Guitar: Probably his main method of unwinding that doesn't require a big body of water. He's been playing since he was very young, so he's pretty damn good with it by now. Literature and Poetry: Probably the other method, after the point above. He's wooed women by writing them little pieces of romantic poetry on napkins before... Well, he's tried to woo them with this method, at least. Music: Any music. All music is beautiful to him, although he has a preference for guitar pieces, of course - especially of the Fado variety. Tea: Ah, tea. It's soothing, it's refreshing, it's... The cure to most ailments. Saves him having to buy medicine if he gets sick; it's a good enough cure for any colds or aches, in his opinion. | Overly-loud people: There's no need to shout, he can hear you perfectly fine. Anyone who absolutely has to yell for no reason whatsoever... Well, he's probably not going to like them very much at all. Modern technology: The bane of his existence. He still thinks computers work like microwaves... He still thinks microwaves work like ovens... He still has one of those old Nokias that look like bricks. God forbid anyone lend him their iPad, he'll probably somehow break it just by touching it. People who are intolerant of other peoples' cultures... His scar: He doesn't have to see it unless he looks in a mirror, and in a way he considers it a reminder of the past, and also a reminder of his future and what he's fighting for, but he's very self-conscious of it, at the same time... It's unusual, and it does kind of stick out like a sore thumb, after all. Bad food: It's a pet peeve... And a bit obvious. Really, who doesn't dislike bad food? |
| Dreams | Fears |
Eliminate the FOL: It kind of goes without saying. This is his current focus. Travel the world again: He's been about, but he hasn't been everywhere in the world yet. There's more pressing matters to deal with, but one day, he's pretty sure he'll take up his adventuring again. Write a book: With all his life experience, he hopes one day to put it all into words and share it. Not just yet, though. | Losing his position in government: He worked hard to get there, and he doesn't think he'll be able to achieve what he needs to if he's pushed out of government hierarchy entirely. He takes great care in ensuring he stays where he is now. Assassination: Naturally, after what happened when he came face-to-face with terrorists the last time (even though in that case, he wasn't being singled out as a target), he can't help but feel worried about this being a possibility. Trypanophobia: He has a legitimate fear of needles and injections. It's not from a bad experience or anything, it's just an irrational phobia... He did turn into a rather undignified blubbering mess when he had to have all the vaccination jabs for his backpacking trip. |
| Background |
João was born and spent a good portion of his youth in Faro, a city in the Algarve region of Portugal. The son of a couple who ran a bookshop, he was a quiet and relaxed young man, whom spent a lot of his free time at the coast, where he learnt to fish and sail small boats. One might have thought that someone like him would have enjoyed such a laid-back life, but he always somehow felt as if he were trapped in a bubble. His parents never had any reason to want to go outside of Faro - they busied themselves too much with their shop - and João had always felt as if the was a world outside the city and its coast was something he needed to see. It was perhaps unsurprising, therefore, that upon turning eighteen, he signed up for a job in the navy. The role took him out of Faro and based him in Lisbon. Once he'd completed his training, however, he was straight aboard a patrol vessel; deployed for a few years around the Mediterranean and North Africa. The work was difficult and uneventful, though he didn't seem to mind; so long as he was out at sea, he was happy, even if it did entail being cooped up in a giant tin can for days on end. But when the ship and its crew were docked at the Italian city in Naples for a week, things took a turn for the worse. Of course, working in the armed forces was always going to be dangerous, but what happened that one night was bizarre, among other things. After the restocking and refueling of the ship was finished and no one was awake except the few officers on patrol - João being one of them - a small group of criminals tried to sneak on board. One of the others on guard noticed something out of the corner of his eye and took João with him to investigate; though the two of them faced up to the men and prevented them from going below deck, they were outnumbered. The criminals were armed, and it seemed their intention wasn't to steal anything or target one of the crew members in particular, but rather, it was to blow the whole ship up. In a way, João was the lucky one. The rest of the men scrambled, trying to get below deck, but two of them hung back to distract, or rather, attack, the officers. It was in this fight that João was cut across the eye; his opponent was armed with a knife, but that was all, and it was a struggle, but he did manage to overpower him. His companion didn't find things so easy - when the other criminal realised things weren't going in their favour, he shot the other officer through the skull. Luckily the confrontation caused a domino effect and eventually the entire ship was alerted, and the man was promptly stopped before he could turn the gun on João. Months of long and grueling court cases later, and the men were found out to have been from a radical terrorist faction. Once everything was said and done he returned to Faro for a couple of years, unable to continue his naval service, as the attack had left him blind in one eye. This wouldn't be the last he'd hear of any terrorist factions, though... He took some time wondering what to do next. He had joined the navy to release himself from the initial bubble he was in, and he'd achieved it even though his service had been cut short, but he didn't feel like it was enough. Deciding he wasn't going to achieve anything staying back in square one, he went travelling for few years, around South America and South-East Asia, living cheaply off the reserve money he'd saved up during his naval service. He didn't think he'd ever forget the attack on the ship. It was easier to think of the past, out in a foreign country with very few home comforts, but it was also easier to think of the future, and that was why he did it. He saw the opposite ends of the world to his home country, which was what he'd always wanted to do. He saw the world for what it was; he saw that it was as small as it was huge, and the countries and their people had just as many similarities as they had differences. He returned to Lisbon with one ideal. If he could no longer protect the world and the people in it by serving in the military, he would have to do it another way. Working from the bottom, he involved himself in the political world of the Portuguese capital, taking steps up the career ladder whenever possible. Almost a decade on, and he became the country's Minister of National Defence, a role many were happy for an ex-serviceman to be in. Barely a few months into his role and unrest took place in the capital. Monuments were desecrated, anti-government slogans were plastered over walls and billboards, and riot police were in the streets for at least a week as a precaution... But it was not just Lisbon this was happening in - cities across Europe and beyond were finding such happenings. And João was now back to dealing with another terrorist faction, although from a much different angle than the last time. This artistic group called themselves the FOL; they were world-wide by now, and were gradually gaining more power, more numbers, and were making themselves more notorious to the public. João came to London after hearing about a government project there. His intentions now are to work with the CI program, to aid it for now and in the future, if necessary, work to install a similar initiative in Lisbon, should the requirement arise. |
| Role-Play Sample |
There is silence, and it's as if time has halted entirely, delaying the inevitable. The ocean is calm; the sky is dark and endless and littered with stars, and the moon hangs among them, gracing the water and refracting, sparkling. The ships are, for now, all dormant; the one beneath his feet is so still that it's almost as if he's walking on land again... But no, the land is on the horizon – it is close enough; so very close, and yet so very far. The raids will prove successful, he tells himself. He is the Portuguese Empire, and this is his conquest, and the islands – blissfully unaware of his fleet on their doorstep – are peaceful now, but they will thrive under his rule. He needs these thoughts, and the convincing words of his King and noblemen, to know that these actions will not be in vain. To secure the spice trade. To remain on par with Espanha and Holanda and Inglaterra. For his empire. For glory. He draws in a breath through his nose, and shuts his eyes, and now in the otherwise utter silence, he can hear the waves, as small as they are, lapping against the side of the ship. For a moment, he equates himself to the ocean; to the great expanse he had once dreamt of exploring – that very dream now a reality. He has crossed the waters dividing continents, he has seen beauty and horror in all corners of the world, he has chased the horizon with the sun at his heels. He thinks that the ocean, like himself, can be one minute serene and harmless... And raging and destructive the next. The ocean brings prosperity, much like his empire – yet before the prosperity came devastation. Both bring life. Both bring ruin. He finds the comparison unsettling, and wishes it were not so. He seeks what little solace he can by clutching at the cross around his neck tightly, bringing the worn shape to his lips. And he asks, in a whisper – he asks knowing that his actions outweigh his request, as the fleet readies the cannons, preparing to break from their sentry where they have been waiting like a pack of ravenous wolves, anticipating his orders to attack... “Please forgive me.” The ocean is a force of nature, it needn't ask for pardon or repent for its sins. But he wonders that if it could, would it do so as he would? The necklace drops down to his armoured chest with a gentle chink, and with another deep exhale, his eyes are open again, and the island ahead is back in view, and though he prays his redemption doesn't fall on deaf ears, he must give the order – now, or never. “Fire!” |
| OOC Information |
| Bul |
| boop-boop-de-doop |
| What do you get when you cross an owl with a bungee cord? My ass. |
| Do you work at Subway? 'Cause you just gave me a footlong. |
| made by CAPTAIN of BACK TO NEVERLAND |
