Post by Alfred F. Jones on Dec 23, 2010 17:04:55 GMT -5
Name: Alfred F. Jones (biatch!)
Country/ Code Name: America (o7)
Age: 24
Gender: Do I look like a girl to you? Male, dillweed.
Affiliation: Independent Contracted Pilot and Airship Captain for the Military
----If not Civilian: I would like to have my own ship, please. Her name shall be Enterprise and I shall win her in a poker game <3
Ship Positions: Captain of the airship Enterprise, pilot of the ornithopter Columbia and scout in the aforementioned ornithopter.
Likes:
-Freedom!
He can't stand being tied down or told what to do. Within reason he'll carry out any task asked of him, but there's only so far that'll go. He's American, dang it, and we don't stand for tyranny! He's as free as the wind.
-Flying
There's nothing he likes more than the light feeling of being airborne. It makes his heart race and he feels like he's finally complete. If he can just reach up and touch the sky he's a whole person. It's his life and his love. Nothing can touch him as long as he's in the air. It's where he belongs.
-Food
Hes a growing boy with a healthy appetite! So sue him! DD:
-Friends
Al finds it very easy to make friends. He loves talking to new people and he's friendly to just about everyone. He's a very affectionate person and loves to give hugs, pats on the back, words of encouragement, and of course nicknames!
-A little bit of danger
What's life without a bit of it? Everytime he goes up there's a chance he'll go down hard and every time he plays a hand of poker there's a chance he'll lose everything. But what's life without a bit of risk? He's a bit of an adrenaline junky and lives for the thrill of anything that seems like dangerous fun.
-Working with his hands
It's calming and reminds him of home. The fact that he loves to work on his own rig certainly helps matters. It soothes him on those nights when the longing for the open prairie, Ma's stew, and Pa's laugh gets a bit too sharp and cuts a bit too deep.
-Flirting with pretty girls (though it never comes to anything)
Dislikes:
-Authoritarian government
He doesn't really know about this one. The thought just irks him. It really does. Monarchies aren't so bad, as long as they treat their citizens fairly and give everyone rights and stuff.
-Being hungry ;A;
Like I said before, he's a growing boy!
-People not liking him
He loves people and loves having friends surrounding him at all times. It's not that he needs to be the center of attention, he's just friendly!
-Being on the ground
He belongs in the air and that's where he wants to stay. He feels heavy and trapped on the ground and does his best to avoid it.
-Pirates
Well this should be obvious! They break the law, steal things, and hurt people. That's so not cool, man! They should learn some manners!
-Farming (no offence, Mom and Dad. But it’s hard)
He's done it his whole life, he wants a change from toiling in the dirt to raise crops that may or may not even feed his family. Maybe when he gets back to the states and he's older and ready to settle down. But not yet, not now when there's so much life left to live.
-Drugs (Hugs are so much better, don’t you think?)
They impeade your judgement, waste money and time, keep you from being a productive member of society, and feed into the pirates' ill-gotten fortunes and help keep them in the skies despite the military's best efforts.
Job Skills:
He’s an ace pilot with enough mechanical skills to work on his own rig and some of the minor engine problems Enterprise or Columbia experiences. He’s always eager to learn new things, especially now that he kind of has to. He can run the navigational equipment, do patch work on the hull, and regulate the gas levels.
Personality and short background:
Alfred is a boy with big dreams from a small town in the American Free States. The son of a contract ornithopter pilot and an American housewife, his first memory is flying with his father above their homestead as his mother looked on from the ground. And since then the sky has been his home more than the ground ever was. It even got to the point where he hated being grounded for more time than was strictly necessary.
The Jones’ life as homesteaders was hard, with crops failing some seasons due to drought and locusts. But they always pulled through with the help of his father’s piloting contracts and supply runs and by sticking together. They were a very close family from a tight knit community. As a result of this rural and family oriented upbringing, Alfred knows the value both of a dollar, and of friendship. He was raised at his mother’s knee on the teachings of the bible and has a deeply ingrained moral code of chivalry, respect, and generosity while still maintaining a playful demeanor with a lot of mischievousness. He’s also very charming, quick to smile, and makes friends with almost everyone. He’s sort of got a Southern Charm/Chivalrous Cowboy thing going on. Of course it’s sometimes offset by his boisterous nature and tendency to act before he thinks things through. And he can be more than a little reckless and has a bit of a thrill seeking streak. He also has the Devil’s own luck.
As young as 8 his father was teaching him to fly and at 10 years old he went on his first solo flight in his father’s ornithopter Apollo. He was hooked immediately and as often as possible he was in the air, roaming the clear blue skies above the endless prairies. It was the ultimate freedom, an ideal that he’d always cherished. Being a charming boy with some manners, his father quickly realized his potential and by age 13, Alfred’s father gave him his own rig so he could help him in his business of taking supplies from town to town over short distances. He named her Columbia and hasn’t parted with her since. He would even go on to take her to Londinium with him as an adult.
But as much as Alfred loved his parents and the family farm, he wanted to see the rest of the world. He’d heard wondrous things about the distant Heta Empire from travelers and he was itching to see it for himself. So when he was 18 he signed on as an independent ornithopter pilot with the military and was shipped out soon after. His mother wasn’t too happy with this decision, but she knew it would make her son happy.
But he was restless. The ship he’d been assigned to barely ever left the ground and he couldn’t take being grounded for long periods of time. So he started picking up freelance jobs taking people out over the bay and to other scenic locations in his ornithopter for money. But he longed for the open skies and the freedom to go longer distances than his clients wanted. He figured if he had his own airship that he’d be able to go farther and see more, but he had no idea how to get a hold of one. Or, at least not on his contract salary from the military.
He got into a game of poker one night with a notorious pirate fleet captain (Arthur’s employer, unbeknownst to Alfred.) and a man who called himself Denmark. He started out with a few bad hands, but true to form he soon started getting lucky. He won a few hands, lost a few, but nothing big happened. Then, near towards the end of the game, the other two were out of money and started pledging other things. The captain put the title to an airship down, while Denmark pledged a lifetime of service, barring sexual activity of course. Alfred put down his last bit of money and they commenced play.
He lucked out and got a good hand, winning the game, the ship, the money, and a lifetime right hand man. He renamed her The USS Enterprise and brought Denmark aboard as his first mate. The first thing the man told him about their arrangement was that he wouldn't do sex. Alfred just kind of looked at him funny and shook his head. He didn't want sex from the guy? Who did he think he was?
When he went to pick up the ship he was dissappointed to find it in disrepair and with all but three of the cannons taken out. He wasn't even sure it would fly at first, but with a little work and a lot of advice from people who actually knew what they were doing he finally got his baby off the ground. She may be in disrepair, but to him she's almost as beautiful as Columbia
He informed the Military that he now had his own ship and they negotiated a new contract that would let him keep it and fly it as a vessel of the Military. They also assigned him a military communications officer. He knew it was mostly so they could keep an eye on him, but Austria’s a cool guy, so he doesn’t mind.
Awhile after he won the airship and started flying it, he responded to a distress call coming from a nearby factory. By the time he got there the pirates were already advancing and many of the mechanics who'd been working there were dead already. He was mistaken for another pirate shp at first and fired at, luckily (he'd always had the Devil's own luck) the hull wasn't too badly damaged and they were still able to fly. He sent out a signal to the workers that he wasn't a pirate and that he was there to rescue them. They stopped immediately but had the audacity to board his ship and take over his guns! They retrofitted the guns from there robot thingy that they'd brought aboard and put them on the ship where the older cannons used to be and drove away the pirates.
Afterwards the leader of the technicians came up to him and started scolding him about his lack of guns, his shoddy parts, and his disrepaired engine. He immediately set himself up in the engine room and demanded new parts to fix the damn thing. Happy to have someone to keep Enterprise in top condition, Alfred eagerly delved into his poker winnings and contract money to get the ship all fixed up like Im Yong wanted it.
He’s had to learn the ins and out of flying an airship on his own, but with a bit of ingenuity and a lot of will power he’s managed it. He may not be able to run the more fancy flight maneuvers, but he can pass as an acceptable captain. And if the run in with Im Yong taught him anything, it's that his ship really needs repairs ^^;;
Other:
It sometimes occurs to him that he’s basically a mercenary, but he prefers contract pilot because mercenaries are so unheroic.
When He's not on military duty he picks up extra jobs such as hauling supplies for merchants that don't have ships of their own, taking a few passengers here and there across the Channel to the continent, and scenic ornithopter rides over the harbor. The coupled with his amazing luck at poker has amassed him a not so laughable stockpile of money.
I may have to involve him with a bit of tinkering because I /cannot/ let "The Device" die...even if I've lost the sketches...
RP sample:
This was it, today was the day that he would finally be leaving the Free States of America for the Heta Empire. He was excited, more so than he could remember being at any time of his life. He was going to see new lands and experience new things and when he finally came home it would be with stories of things his family and friends had never even dreamt of. There was only one problem.
Ma was blubbering again.
“Al, promise me you’ll be careful.” His mother asked, tearful as she inspected her son one more time. He was dressed sharply in his military uniform, given to him so civilians would know he worked with them, with his father’s old jacket that had been handed down to him over his own issued uniform jacket. It wasn’t cold in the slightest, but he wore the old leather bomber jacket more for comfort and strength than anything. His father was his hero, the man he’d always tried to emulate. And looking at him now, Amelia Jones could see the resemblance between her husband and son. She held his shoulders, looking up into his eyes as she licked her handkerchief and wiped at his cheeks. Her own were red from crying with tracks of tears coursing down them.
It made Alfred uncomfortable seeing his mother cry and he shifted from foot to foot, not looking her in the eyes. Girls crying period had always made him rather uncomfortable, but seeing his mom cry was even worse. And the fact that it was basically his fault made him feel horrible. “Aw, Ma! Don’t cry, you’re embarrassing me. And you know I’ll be careful! I ain’t a little kid you gotta look out for, anymore. I’m a man now!” He protested, trying to get away from the kerchief. It was scratchy and he did not have something on his face! And he was totally not pouting.
“Alfred Jones you mind your mother, now.” His father warned when he saw his son was getting a bit too impatient with his mother. He knew his father wasn’t truly angry; he just didn’t want him to forget his manners. And this might be the last time Ma saw him for a while, he guessed she was entitled to some fussing. But the slight frown melted into a smile as he pulled his son into a hug. “You be good, boy. You’re a good kid, but sometimes you don’t think before you act.” He told him, making a small shot of embarrassment and sheepishness go through him. Was he really that bad?
“Yes sir.” He replied with a grin of his own, returning his father’s hug and pulling his mother into his arms after. “I’ll be good, ma, I promise. And when I get back I’ll bring you all sorts of pretty things. Silk from the Asian Confederation so you can make yourself a pretty dress for entertaining guests like a proper lady! And Hair combs and a tea set and perfumes!”
His mother just laughed and slapped his arm. “All I want is for my boy to come home in one piece, maybe with a good girl on his arm so he can take over the farm when your pa and I get old.”
“Ma! Don’t say things like that!” He protested, a blush creeping up his cheeks. “Besides, you and Pa aren’t gonna get old!” he shot his mother a disarming smile as she shooed him up the ramp. “You just come back alive, you hear!?”
At the top of the ramp he turned and shot his parents a smile as bright as the sun and saluted. His father gave a small, proud smile and saluted back. Alfred squared his shoulders and turned back, walking onto the ship and into his future.
OOC Information
Name: Hera/Courtney/Meri…just what you usually call me xD
Timezone: Central US
Aim/msn/skype/email:
MSN: xxze_mole_ates_zat_faggot_godxx@live.com
AIM: Jetaimebeetch