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Entry tags:
[application] Hadriel
PLAYER
Player name: CB
Contact: ~vibranium @ plurk
Characters currently in-game: none
CHARACTER
Character Name: Richard "Richie" Gecko
Character Age: canon says "late 20s"
Canon: From Dusk Till Dawn: the series
Canon Point: 1x07 "Pandemonium"
History:
Richie was born into a life of crime to Ray Gecko and an unnamed mother. He was the youngest of two boys, born less than a year apart. Growing up Richie felt his disconnect with the world around him, prompting his father to frequently call him a "retard" and ask what was wrong with him. Yet whatever was wrong with Richie in Ray's eyes was nothing compared to Richie's brother Seth. He resented Seth's very existence, lamenting the fact that their mother had gotten pregnant. While Richie wouldn't say he received preferential treatment, Seth certainly received worse, as he was given only a mattress rather than a bed in the brothers' shared room. The boys learned to rely on each other, as the world around them was harsh and they were sheltered from little.
They were taught from an early age how to pick locks, how to clean and fire a gun by both their father and their uncle Eddie. Richie proved to be particularly adept at safe cracking and never questioned that he would use his skills in the family business of bank robbery. He also knew without asking that Seth would join him, as neither could imagine a life without the other. In the same breath as he taught them his craft, Ray was extremely hard on them, hitting Seth in the head if he didn't clean a gun fast enough. Observing that Seth received the back of the hand far more often, Richie began to devise way to protect him such as stepping in front of Ray or learning the best times to retreat or emerge from their room. One day at the age of eight, Richie enacted a plan that would protect Seth from Ray forever. He set a house fire, rushing he and Seth outside while Ray burned alive. Seth believed it was caused by Ray falling asleep with a lit cigarette, a belief that Richie did not correct.
Despite Ray Gecko no longer being in the picture, the boys fell into his footsteps anyway as professional thieves and were raised by Eddie, who was also in the family business. Together they successfully pulled off 35 jobs with no consequence. They earned their name in infamy and felt unstoppable. That was, until job 36. Seth was caught and sent to prison while Richie escaped. Without Seth he was lost, and detached himself from the civilized world, preferring to live in a shack in the middle of the woods than face a world without Seth.
He lived on his own for five years, with infrequent contact from Seth's then-wife Vanessa and the man responsible for laundering their money, Pritchard. It's during this time that Richie begins to receive his visions, and with little contact from the outside world, begins to struggle with the line between hallucination and reality. Having thought of Richie as a "psycho", Vanessa has him psychoanalyzed, with Richie's visions interpreted as disassociation. Richie knows that's not exactly right, and feels resentment toward Vanessa both for this action and for marrying Seth during their string of crimes and taking him away.
Pritchard eventually pulled Richie away from his home in the woods, telling him of a deal Seth had made for a job that would earn them 30 million dollars and a chance to escape to Mexico where neither of them were wanted. After that convincing, Richie broke Seth out of prison during a transfer, and shortly after they were on their way to Abilene, Texas, for the bank robbery that was supposed to lead them to paradise. Richie's hasty actions in knocking out the bank manager, tripping an alarm, and taking a hostage resulted in the job going far from as planned. Police officers responded to the scene and while the Geckos escaped with the money, it was not before killing four Rangers and two cops, hostage in tow.
While fleeing to Mexico with the hostage in the trunk, the brothers made a stop at a gas station/liquor store to buy food and use the restroom. It was supposed to be a low profile, in and out trip. Believing that the clerk was trying to tip them off to a Texas Ranger who had also stopped to use the restroom, Richie shot and killed them both. A shoot out ensued with the Ranger's partner, who vowed to catch the brothers and bring them to justice as they fled.
During their flight they stopped to rest at a place called the Dew Drop Inn, bringing the hostage into the hotel room. Seth went to bring back food while Richie stayed behind to watch the hostage. Visions that he couldn't shut out tore into his mind, telling him to clear the hostage. He listened to them and did, and once she was murdered, the visions ceased to bother him. Proud of himself, thinking he had found a cure, Richie announced to a horrified Seth what had happened. Seth insisted that this isn't who Richie was, though Richie remained unsure of that assessment. It was only a temporary relief from his visions, as they would continue.
Knowing that they couldn't pass by border patrol to get to Mexico by themselves and their money, the Geckos force a family also staying at the inn at gunpoint to smuggle them into the country in their RV. With the family's help, they make it to Mexico, where they were set to meet Seth's contact at a bar to finish the deal. The bar turned out to be populated with a race of snake people called culebras, and one of the voices inside Richie's head, was a culebra who had drawn him there. What looked to be a bar and strip club was actually a temple in which scores of culebras fed from humans at night. The culebras attacked the family and the Geckos, leading them to fight for their lives. They had managed to find off the first round of attacks, but everyone had the sinking feeling that more were to come.
Personality:
Richard Gecko is not crazy. If there's one thing he would want another person to know about him, that would be it. Yet what he wants and what he displays are two very different things. Richie is quiet, with a rigid posture and intense stare that he does not recognize when to avert when it makes people uncomfortable. He does not connect with people very well and due to this will often be rather abrupt or avoid them altogether. It's a first impression that leaves an offputting image of himself in other people's minds. If asked, Richie would say that his inability to connect with most people is unimportant, that there are better things to concentrate on, such as improving yourself intellectually or learning how to survive under harsh conditions. Though he will never be a social creature like his brother and doesn't want to be, he does crave a "simple human connection" and would love to be close to a handful of people. Because of Richie's need to be right, he would rather keep to himself than risk getting to know anyone.
The first impressions dubbing Richie as "crazy" aren't entirely wrong. He's a person of extremes, throwing himself into doing something fully if he is going to do it at all. As a career criminal, this manifests itself in a cold blooded regard to anyone who stands in the way of his money or his freedom. Though the Gecko Brothers label themselves as bank thieves and not killers, Richie will not hesitate to kill those he sees as a threat. Not only is it an efficient way to keep people from talking, but it's satisfies an inner bloodlust. He is intrigued by the concept of death itself, finding comfort in it as something that happens to everyone, yet no living person knows what happens on the other side. When he does kill, he wants it to be personal, being close enough to feel the last breath leaving someone's body. He will bring up death in conversation and likes to sketch pictures depicting slaughter.
As a person who prides himself on his resourcefulness, Richie is both angry and confused about why he feels that there is something wrong with him. Maybe those murmurings of being crazy are right. How quick he is to a trigger only serves to solidify the idea of him as unstable, but what Richie knows he should do has never been much cause for guidance. He is curious by nature and oftentimes will allow that curiosity to dictate his actions. He wants to know more about himself, the world around him, and the unknown. He wishes to be educated and continually works on improving himself. He's indicated if he hadn't followed the Gecko family business of thievery, he would have wanted to become an engineer. Richie loves learning and tries to absorb as much of it as he can by teaching himself, reading, or finding something informative on tv. This thirst for knowledge can lead him down roads that both help and harm. In his canon he respects and wants to know more of Mexican culture, so he set about to learn Spanish and educate himself about the county. This proved to be beneficial when traveling through South Texas and Mexico. On the other hand, he is the type of person to follow a darkened road just to see what lies at the end. Indulging his curiosity even against his better judgement has proved to be a repeated flaw.
Richie's fluctuation in extremes also extends to emotions. His attitude toward a person or event can change very quickly depending on his current perception. He tends to be pessimistic, believing that people mean to do he and his brother harm until proven otherwise. It's not an attitude he's looking to change, as it has helped the Gecko brothers stay alive. It has, unfortunately, caused problems in the past as Richie's distrust, need to be right, and trigger finger collide in murder to eliminate who he is positive is a threat. The same sentiment is not shared by Seth, who is far less keen on killing as Richie is, but when it comes to preservation, Richie will act first and be reprimanded later. He is also very sensitive about his mental state. If someone calls him "crazy" or "psycho", Richie is quick to flare in anger and will retaliate by intimidation and purposefully attempt to become a threatening, crazed monster in attempts for someone to leave him alone. He can become accusatory, declaring someone as hostile when he really is only reading too much into what they say or their body language. This also leads to his reputation as "crazy", as he not only sees things in a situation that don't exist, but fervently believes them. He lets his guard down a lot more easily when people express or act toward him that they value him as a person and not a mental case. It's so rare that he's willing to overlook a lot for that.
He is just as fervent in his love for his brother Seth. Above all things, Richie does not want to leave Seth alone, and his biggest fear is one of them living without the other. If Seth died, Richie would want to follow him into the afterlife. Nothing makes him feel better than sharing a secret handshake or hearing his brother tell him "good job." He wants to be Seth's favorite person, craving those praises. Yet he repeatedly doesn't recognize Seth's devotion to him in return. Many times he takes it for granted, or when Seth is trying to protect him feels as if he's being treated like a child. They fight often, sometimes just for the sake of picking at each other, but that's just how the Geckos operate. True fights based on a fundamental disagreement are rare, but they can and do happen. They usually end with Seth taking Richie into a hug, which Richie accepts, not quite sure of when and how to initiate one himself, but exceedingly grateful for the gesture. Richie likes to remain in his bubble of personal space and not be touched by anyone, but easily allows Seth's tactile moments of affection such as patting him on the back of the neck with approval. Richie especially gets a kick out of using their secret handshake.
Eyes hold a large significance to Richie, and he believes it to be the most important part of a person's body. This comes from a saying Uncle Eddie told him: eyes find eyes. This is how Richie explained what it means: "You see, our eyes are the source of our energy. You can always feel somebody's eyes on you, but what you really feel is their energy, directed right at you. Now what happens if you close your eyes? You cut off your energy. If you just shut down not only will people not see you, but they will see through you." He feels as though this belief is further cemented by the visions he receives and "seeing" too much. He views his glasses as a related symbol as well. Though he has a physical limitation of sight, he can see more than most people by knowing how important eyes really are. When he wants to close himself off from the world and hide, he will close his eyes and block everything out. By looking into nothingness, nothing exists, and he can gather himself in this meditative state.
Richie likes to think of himself as old fashioned. He gives himself a clean cut Buddy Holly-esque look, says phrases like "back in my day", and will first think of classic films and music when making references to pop culture. And he makes those references quite often, holding on to movie trivia especially. This is largely due to Richie wanting to hold on to the good parts of his childhood. There weren't many, and tv was often used as a babysitter, and he grew up to not be very picky about what was on the screen. He remembers being happy watching cartoons and old westerns, gravitating toward them more than anything. His need for things to be correct even extends to the smallest bit of movie trivia, correcting those who might misquote a popular saying.
Inventory:
one knife, obsidian blade with bone handle
one Taurus PT99 fitted with ivory grips
one pair of sunglasses
one pair of hornrimmed glasses (worn)
one black suit (worn)
one watch (worn)
pack of cigarettes
Zippo lighter
sketchbook and pencils
cell phone
Abilities:
Sight:
Richie has what is referred to in canon as "vision" or "sight." He describes his daily state as "seeing too much" and feeling a lot of noise inside his head that he can't discern. Richie also says he has "tuned into something, and it's showing the way," likening his mind to a radio that can intercept different frequencies. This makes him an open vessel for those attempting to communicate through a mental link or from beyond the grave. If he focuses, Richie can pull their voice out of the constant noise and visually see what they are trying to tell him. He also has the means to shut down that link and refuse to let someone inside his head, though it takes concentration. His "sight" also refers to seeing the truth of an immediate situation or the future. These truths are never straightforward, and he will receive a vision that pulls him out of reality and into a dreamlike state.
The visions can come either from someone from the outside, or from himself, reaching his mind in a way his conscious self can't. What he sees is usually a metaphor, for example, on several occasions his mind saw through people who would later attempt to hurt him, and his vision projected their image into his mind of them as monsters, or as a thief, he could also sense when law enforcement was in the area. Sometimes they will reveal something about a person he has made contact with, displaying a truth significant to their personal lives. Not every vision he receives is as straightforward, and because he often cannot control what he sees and when they cut him off from the outside world, Richie both fears what is going on with his mind yet is desperate to learn more. He realizes that reacting to sights and sounds that nobody else can see only cements the idea of him as crazy and he wants to believe that he has some kind of purpose in receiving this visions. Otherwise there might actually be something wrong with his mind that he has to confront, and it terrifies him.
Once the visions take hold, he is lost within that vision and will act upon it as if living in a dream. It causes much havoc in his daily life, as it's difficult for someone from reality to crack through that vision to bring him back down to earth. The visions can cause him to talk to or chase after people who don't exist or pick up something that his mind displays as important, but is actually another thing entirely (for example in canon he once picked up a dead dog). It can understandably frustrate those around him, which only heightens Richie's mixed feelings about his mind. If confronted he will immediately become defensive, believing without question that they are important, but with a self doubt in the back of his head questioning if he really is losing his grip.
Additional abilities:
He has made his living as a thief and has a particular knack for cracking open various locks and assessing the strengths and weaknesses of a building's structure, which leads him to the idea that he would be a skilled engineer. Within his canon he's called one of the best "boxmen" (safe cracker) in the country. Richie has a very good memory, particularly for small details and enjoys endeavors that require a careful precision. He knows how to use a gun, but when it comes to combat he prefers knives.
Flaws:
Richie exists with a chip on his shoulder, meeting every day with the feeling that he has something to prove. He often feels overshadowed by his brother. Richie sees Seth as the brother viewed as competent, the one people like. Within crime circles people talk, and Richie has been called "the dumbass one," "the crazy one," and someone who had a mental breakdown in the woods, whose hands shook so badly they rendered him useless as a boxman. While the latter had some truth to it, Richie resents constant rumors of his incompetence. He is envious, proud, and stubborn, and wants to prove to those he meets that he is independent and capable. Because of this he can be easily baited into rash or destructive decision making if it meant that he could come to the decision on his own.
Richie prides himself on his intelligence, but fails to see how his own actions impact other people. Not being a social creature, he doesn't read people very well, which can cause a sudden temper or misunderstanding of a situation. For one who brags about always having a plan, he is recklessly impulsive, and without realizing it, always depends on Seth, Eddie, or someone else to bail him out. He would do anything for Seth, include give up his own life without question, yet he can't see that his unpredictable behavior is exactly what is placing the largest strain on his brother. Yet because each brother is so closely tied to the other, they have difficulty operating as people altogether if separated. Both escape reality, as Richie prefers to retreat into his own head and follow every dangerous impulse while Seth falls into substance abuse or picking fights.
The inability to see himself as part of society manifests in additional ways. Richie often doesn't understand that his actions do not exist in a vacuum, that what he does can impact other people he didn't intend. In Season Two, he becomes so single-mindedly focused on his mission to prove himself that he unwittingly places his his own family and the Fuller family in danger. A person with the best of intentions can yell at him or try to reason with him as often as they want, but because Richie often refuses to believe that he is in the wrong, it is not until after consequences have taken effect that he sees his errors. Richie knows he is smart and thinks of himself as a prodigy. He can be very arrogant when it comes to solving a problem, causing him to get in over his head or approach something with a false confidence. If someone doubts him he becomes irrationally angry quickly, projecting that doubt as some kind of assertion that he really is crazy. Allusions to Richie not being a whole person, particularly doubt about his mental state will generate a snap reaction - a bitchy retort at its most mild or the pull of the trigger at its most extreme.
SAMPLES
Action Log Sample: At a (kind of old) test drive!
Player name: CB
Contact: ~vibranium @ plurk
Characters currently in-game: none
CHARACTER
Character Name: Richard "Richie" Gecko
Character Age: canon says "late 20s"
Canon: From Dusk Till Dawn: the series
Canon Point: 1x07 "Pandemonium"
History:
Richie was born into a life of crime to Ray Gecko and an unnamed mother. He was the youngest of two boys, born less than a year apart. Growing up Richie felt his disconnect with the world around him, prompting his father to frequently call him a "retard" and ask what was wrong with him. Yet whatever was wrong with Richie in Ray's eyes was nothing compared to Richie's brother Seth. He resented Seth's very existence, lamenting the fact that their mother had gotten pregnant. While Richie wouldn't say he received preferential treatment, Seth certainly received worse, as he was given only a mattress rather than a bed in the brothers' shared room. The boys learned to rely on each other, as the world around them was harsh and they were sheltered from little.
They were taught from an early age how to pick locks, how to clean and fire a gun by both their father and their uncle Eddie. Richie proved to be particularly adept at safe cracking and never questioned that he would use his skills in the family business of bank robbery. He also knew without asking that Seth would join him, as neither could imagine a life without the other. In the same breath as he taught them his craft, Ray was extremely hard on them, hitting Seth in the head if he didn't clean a gun fast enough. Observing that Seth received the back of the hand far more often, Richie began to devise way to protect him such as stepping in front of Ray or learning the best times to retreat or emerge from their room. One day at the age of eight, Richie enacted a plan that would protect Seth from Ray forever. He set a house fire, rushing he and Seth outside while Ray burned alive. Seth believed it was caused by Ray falling asleep with a lit cigarette, a belief that Richie did not correct.
Despite Ray Gecko no longer being in the picture, the boys fell into his footsteps anyway as professional thieves and were raised by Eddie, who was also in the family business. Together they successfully pulled off 35 jobs with no consequence. They earned their name in infamy and felt unstoppable. That was, until job 36. Seth was caught and sent to prison while Richie escaped. Without Seth he was lost, and detached himself from the civilized world, preferring to live in a shack in the middle of the woods than face a world without Seth.
He lived on his own for five years, with infrequent contact from Seth's then-wife Vanessa and the man responsible for laundering their money, Pritchard. It's during this time that Richie begins to receive his visions, and with little contact from the outside world, begins to struggle with the line between hallucination and reality. Having thought of Richie as a "psycho", Vanessa has him psychoanalyzed, with Richie's visions interpreted as disassociation. Richie knows that's not exactly right, and feels resentment toward Vanessa both for this action and for marrying Seth during their string of crimes and taking him away.
Pritchard eventually pulled Richie away from his home in the woods, telling him of a deal Seth had made for a job that would earn them 30 million dollars and a chance to escape to Mexico where neither of them were wanted. After that convincing, Richie broke Seth out of prison during a transfer, and shortly after they were on their way to Abilene, Texas, for the bank robbery that was supposed to lead them to paradise. Richie's hasty actions in knocking out the bank manager, tripping an alarm, and taking a hostage resulted in the job going far from as planned. Police officers responded to the scene and while the Geckos escaped with the money, it was not before killing four Rangers and two cops, hostage in tow.
While fleeing to Mexico with the hostage in the trunk, the brothers made a stop at a gas station/liquor store to buy food and use the restroom. It was supposed to be a low profile, in and out trip. Believing that the clerk was trying to tip them off to a Texas Ranger who had also stopped to use the restroom, Richie shot and killed them both. A shoot out ensued with the Ranger's partner, who vowed to catch the brothers and bring them to justice as they fled.
During their flight they stopped to rest at a place called the Dew Drop Inn, bringing the hostage into the hotel room. Seth went to bring back food while Richie stayed behind to watch the hostage. Visions that he couldn't shut out tore into his mind, telling him to clear the hostage. He listened to them and did, and once she was murdered, the visions ceased to bother him. Proud of himself, thinking he had found a cure, Richie announced to a horrified Seth what had happened. Seth insisted that this isn't who Richie was, though Richie remained unsure of that assessment. It was only a temporary relief from his visions, as they would continue.
Knowing that they couldn't pass by border patrol to get to Mexico by themselves and their money, the Geckos force a family also staying at the inn at gunpoint to smuggle them into the country in their RV. With the family's help, they make it to Mexico, where they were set to meet Seth's contact at a bar to finish the deal. The bar turned out to be populated with a race of snake people called culebras, and one of the voices inside Richie's head, was a culebra who had drawn him there. What looked to be a bar and strip club was actually a temple in which scores of culebras fed from humans at night. The culebras attacked the family and the Geckos, leading them to fight for their lives. They had managed to find off the first round of attacks, but everyone had the sinking feeling that more were to come.
Personality:
Richard Gecko is not crazy. If there's one thing he would want another person to know about him, that would be it. Yet what he wants and what he displays are two very different things. Richie is quiet, with a rigid posture and intense stare that he does not recognize when to avert when it makes people uncomfortable. He does not connect with people very well and due to this will often be rather abrupt or avoid them altogether. It's a first impression that leaves an offputting image of himself in other people's minds. If asked, Richie would say that his inability to connect with most people is unimportant, that there are better things to concentrate on, such as improving yourself intellectually or learning how to survive under harsh conditions. Though he will never be a social creature like his brother and doesn't want to be, he does crave a "simple human connection" and would love to be close to a handful of people. Because of Richie's need to be right, he would rather keep to himself than risk getting to know anyone.
The first impressions dubbing Richie as "crazy" aren't entirely wrong. He's a person of extremes, throwing himself into doing something fully if he is going to do it at all. As a career criminal, this manifests itself in a cold blooded regard to anyone who stands in the way of his money or his freedom. Though the Gecko Brothers label themselves as bank thieves and not killers, Richie will not hesitate to kill those he sees as a threat. Not only is it an efficient way to keep people from talking, but it's satisfies an inner bloodlust. He is intrigued by the concept of death itself, finding comfort in it as something that happens to everyone, yet no living person knows what happens on the other side. When he does kill, he wants it to be personal, being close enough to feel the last breath leaving someone's body. He will bring up death in conversation and likes to sketch pictures depicting slaughter.
As a person who prides himself on his resourcefulness, Richie is both angry and confused about why he feels that there is something wrong with him. Maybe those murmurings of being crazy are right. How quick he is to a trigger only serves to solidify the idea of him as unstable, but what Richie knows he should do has never been much cause for guidance. He is curious by nature and oftentimes will allow that curiosity to dictate his actions. He wants to know more about himself, the world around him, and the unknown. He wishes to be educated and continually works on improving himself. He's indicated if he hadn't followed the Gecko family business of thievery, he would have wanted to become an engineer. Richie loves learning and tries to absorb as much of it as he can by teaching himself, reading, or finding something informative on tv. This thirst for knowledge can lead him down roads that both help and harm. In his canon he respects and wants to know more of Mexican culture, so he set about to learn Spanish and educate himself about the county. This proved to be beneficial when traveling through South Texas and Mexico. On the other hand, he is the type of person to follow a darkened road just to see what lies at the end. Indulging his curiosity even against his better judgement has proved to be a repeated flaw.
Richie's fluctuation in extremes also extends to emotions. His attitude toward a person or event can change very quickly depending on his current perception. He tends to be pessimistic, believing that people mean to do he and his brother harm until proven otherwise. It's not an attitude he's looking to change, as it has helped the Gecko brothers stay alive. It has, unfortunately, caused problems in the past as Richie's distrust, need to be right, and trigger finger collide in murder to eliminate who he is positive is a threat. The same sentiment is not shared by Seth, who is far less keen on killing as Richie is, but when it comes to preservation, Richie will act first and be reprimanded later. He is also very sensitive about his mental state. If someone calls him "crazy" or "psycho", Richie is quick to flare in anger and will retaliate by intimidation and purposefully attempt to become a threatening, crazed monster in attempts for someone to leave him alone. He can become accusatory, declaring someone as hostile when he really is only reading too much into what they say or their body language. This also leads to his reputation as "crazy", as he not only sees things in a situation that don't exist, but fervently believes them. He lets his guard down a lot more easily when people express or act toward him that they value him as a person and not a mental case. It's so rare that he's willing to overlook a lot for that.
He is just as fervent in his love for his brother Seth. Above all things, Richie does not want to leave Seth alone, and his biggest fear is one of them living without the other. If Seth died, Richie would want to follow him into the afterlife. Nothing makes him feel better than sharing a secret handshake or hearing his brother tell him "good job." He wants to be Seth's favorite person, craving those praises. Yet he repeatedly doesn't recognize Seth's devotion to him in return. Many times he takes it for granted, or when Seth is trying to protect him feels as if he's being treated like a child. They fight often, sometimes just for the sake of picking at each other, but that's just how the Geckos operate. True fights based on a fundamental disagreement are rare, but they can and do happen. They usually end with Seth taking Richie into a hug, which Richie accepts, not quite sure of when and how to initiate one himself, but exceedingly grateful for the gesture. Richie likes to remain in his bubble of personal space and not be touched by anyone, but easily allows Seth's tactile moments of affection such as patting him on the back of the neck with approval. Richie especially gets a kick out of using their secret handshake.
Eyes hold a large significance to Richie, and he believes it to be the most important part of a person's body. This comes from a saying Uncle Eddie told him: eyes find eyes. This is how Richie explained what it means: "You see, our eyes are the source of our energy. You can always feel somebody's eyes on you, but what you really feel is their energy, directed right at you. Now what happens if you close your eyes? You cut off your energy. If you just shut down not only will people not see you, but they will see through you." He feels as though this belief is further cemented by the visions he receives and "seeing" too much. He views his glasses as a related symbol as well. Though he has a physical limitation of sight, he can see more than most people by knowing how important eyes really are. When he wants to close himself off from the world and hide, he will close his eyes and block everything out. By looking into nothingness, nothing exists, and he can gather himself in this meditative state.
Richie likes to think of himself as old fashioned. He gives himself a clean cut Buddy Holly-esque look, says phrases like "back in my day", and will first think of classic films and music when making references to pop culture. And he makes those references quite often, holding on to movie trivia especially. This is largely due to Richie wanting to hold on to the good parts of his childhood. There weren't many, and tv was often used as a babysitter, and he grew up to not be very picky about what was on the screen. He remembers being happy watching cartoons and old westerns, gravitating toward them more than anything. His need for things to be correct even extends to the smallest bit of movie trivia, correcting those who might misquote a popular saying.
Inventory:
one knife, obsidian blade with bone handle
one Taurus PT99 fitted with ivory grips
one pair of sunglasses
one pair of hornrimmed glasses (worn)
one black suit (worn)
one watch (worn)
pack of cigarettes
Zippo lighter
sketchbook and pencils
cell phone
Abilities:
Sight:
Richie has what is referred to in canon as "vision" or "sight." He describes his daily state as "seeing too much" and feeling a lot of noise inside his head that he can't discern. Richie also says he has "tuned into something, and it's showing the way," likening his mind to a radio that can intercept different frequencies. This makes him an open vessel for those attempting to communicate through a mental link or from beyond the grave. If he focuses, Richie can pull their voice out of the constant noise and visually see what they are trying to tell him. He also has the means to shut down that link and refuse to let someone inside his head, though it takes concentration. His "sight" also refers to seeing the truth of an immediate situation or the future. These truths are never straightforward, and he will receive a vision that pulls him out of reality and into a dreamlike state.
The visions can come either from someone from the outside, or from himself, reaching his mind in a way his conscious self can't. What he sees is usually a metaphor, for example, on several occasions his mind saw through people who would later attempt to hurt him, and his vision projected their image into his mind of them as monsters, or as a thief, he could also sense when law enforcement was in the area. Sometimes they will reveal something about a person he has made contact with, displaying a truth significant to their personal lives. Not every vision he receives is as straightforward, and because he often cannot control what he sees and when they cut him off from the outside world, Richie both fears what is going on with his mind yet is desperate to learn more. He realizes that reacting to sights and sounds that nobody else can see only cements the idea of him as crazy and he wants to believe that he has some kind of purpose in receiving this visions. Otherwise there might actually be something wrong with his mind that he has to confront, and it terrifies him.
Once the visions take hold, he is lost within that vision and will act upon it as if living in a dream. It causes much havoc in his daily life, as it's difficult for someone from reality to crack through that vision to bring him back down to earth. The visions can cause him to talk to or chase after people who don't exist or pick up something that his mind displays as important, but is actually another thing entirely (for example in canon he once picked up a dead dog). It can understandably frustrate those around him, which only heightens Richie's mixed feelings about his mind. If confronted he will immediately become defensive, believing without question that they are important, but with a self doubt in the back of his head questioning if he really is losing his grip.
Additional abilities:
He has made his living as a thief and has a particular knack for cracking open various locks and assessing the strengths and weaknesses of a building's structure, which leads him to the idea that he would be a skilled engineer. Within his canon he's called one of the best "boxmen" (safe cracker) in the country. Richie has a very good memory, particularly for small details and enjoys endeavors that require a careful precision. He knows how to use a gun, but when it comes to combat he prefers knives.
Flaws:
Richie exists with a chip on his shoulder, meeting every day with the feeling that he has something to prove. He often feels overshadowed by his brother. Richie sees Seth as the brother viewed as competent, the one people like. Within crime circles people talk, and Richie has been called "the dumbass one," "the crazy one," and someone who had a mental breakdown in the woods, whose hands shook so badly they rendered him useless as a boxman. While the latter had some truth to it, Richie resents constant rumors of his incompetence. He is envious, proud, and stubborn, and wants to prove to those he meets that he is independent and capable. Because of this he can be easily baited into rash or destructive decision making if it meant that he could come to the decision on his own.
Richie prides himself on his intelligence, but fails to see how his own actions impact other people. Not being a social creature, he doesn't read people very well, which can cause a sudden temper or misunderstanding of a situation. For one who brags about always having a plan, he is recklessly impulsive, and without realizing it, always depends on Seth, Eddie, or someone else to bail him out. He would do anything for Seth, include give up his own life without question, yet he can't see that his unpredictable behavior is exactly what is placing the largest strain on his brother. Yet because each brother is so closely tied to the other, they have difficulty operating as people altogether if separated. Both escape reality, as Richie prefers to retreat into his own head and follow every dangerous impulse while Seth falls into substance abuse or picking fights.
The inability to see himself as part of society manifests in additional ways. Richie often doesn't understand that his actions do not exist in a vacuum, that what he does can impact other people he didn't intend. In Season Two, he becomes so single-mindedly focused on his mission to prove himself that he unwittingly places his his own family and the Fuller family in danger. A person with the best of intentions can yell at him or try to reason with him as often as they want, but because Richie often refuses to believe that he is in the wrong, it is not until after consequences have taken effect that he sees his errors. Richie knows he is smart and thinks of himself as a prodigy. He can be very arrogant when it comes to solving a problem, causing him to get in over his head or approach something with a false confidence. If someone doubts him he becomes irrationally angry quickly, projecting that doubt as some kind of assertion that he really is crazy. Allusions to Richie not being a whole person, particularly doubt about his mental state will generate a snap reaction - a bitchy retort at its most mild or the pull of the trigger at its most extreme.
SAMPLES
Action Log Sample: At a (kind of old) test drive!