Nick

OUT of CHARACTER
Name: Pengu
Other characters: Prince Hans

IN CHARACTER
Name: Nick
Fandom: Left 4 Dead 2
Canon point/AU: End of the game, as they're taken into the military helicopter and assuming they've been saved.
Journal: streetsmarts
PB: Nick from L4D2, possibly Taymour Ghazi who is his face model.
History: left4dead wikia
Presentation: "Name's Nick, but don't bother learning it 'cause I ain't sticking around much longer."

From this quote we can begin to identify the white suited survivor of the l4d2 team. One of those being the obvious means of identification, his name, Nick. Don't bother remembering it. The second thing we can draw from the insufferably detached introduction is that he is a massive douche-bag. Both of these are in fact, correct. It's hard to say how he found himself with the other survivors beyond a series of unhappy coincidences, but he joins forces with a team of three other people in the hopes of finding a safe place in a country overrun with an infection known as the Green Flu, a virus strain that rapidly mutates people into various forms of zombies.

Nick is a bit of a mysterious character compared to his apocalypse companions. He doesn't share a great deal of his personal life in an upfront manner, but he does occasionally elude to parts of it. Parts that are incredibly questionable, enough to make you wonder why you're standing so close to this guy. He's a gambler and a con man with a habit of bringing up his extensive knowledge in a number of particularly curious areas, such as his ability to remove blood from wedding dresses and his skill with a baseball bat despite never having played baseball. He doesn't bond quickly with the team. He really isn't the type to. He's dry and sarcastic and tends to complain extensively despite the fact that they're all suffering through a zombie invasion.

Despite his shady past, Nick is clearly a guy who knows how to live the high life. He has rings on his fingers, lipstick on his collar and he's wearing an incredibly expensive suit that he likes to complain about constantly. White suits and zombie invasions are a match made in hell, but Nick's talent for getting stains out will surely benefit him in the future. That isn't the only thing he brings attention to, of course. He also loves to nit pick plans and question the skills of his teammates. Particularly Ellis, who proves to be something of an easy target for him. Despite his constant harassment, in death and when left alone with some members of the team he will begrudgingly apologise and ask if they knew he was joking.

Motivations:
It would seem it's easier for him to become close to people by making jabs at them and by being bitter and sarcastic. He baits people for fun, but also so he can engage them in conversation. Mostly for his own amusement, but the thought is there. In time, he grows to care about the team and certainly makes an effort to pull his weight. Of course, he doesn't make a complete turn around. It takes more than the apocalypse to make a wise guy and an asshole reform into something more pleasant. He's still as cynical and self centered as ever, but he's grown to care about a few people. Particularly Rochelle, who he will mourn with a bit more sentiment than others. She's also the only one he doesn't threaten with violence and the only one he sees as a viable candidate for world population. Not that the feeling is mutual, of course, which leads to some bitter and jealous jabs at her person of interest. He also seems to bond well with Coach, whose death he laments almost as much as he does Rochelle's. Though, of course, there is the self centered implication that Coach died and left Nick to suffer. How dare you die on him, Coach. Don't you see how much he has to do already?

As for the other members, he can either be utterly dismissive of them or go out of his way to tease them as he does with Ellis. Nick is not a guy who plays well with others, he's a guy who can't legally use a fire arm and who originally came to Savannah with the intention of swindling suckers. Ellis is really more the kind of person he steals from, not someone he teams up with. Beggars can't be choosers, of course, but that doesn't stop Nick from bitching about everything he possibly can the entire time. On top of these lovable traits he also has a knack for violence, something that of course comes in handy in a fight but doesn't lend well to trust when it comes to being your back up. He's also hinted to have a fear of germs, which only makes the situation more pleasurable for him. Along with his usual whining, he also offers his fellow survivors $1000 to carry him through the sewers so his suit can stay safe from the filth. These are the lengths he will go to to avoid mess. He seems to believe that if the world used more hand sanitizer they could have avoided the Green Flu entirely.

Inevitably, Nick warms up enough to his team to apologise for his behaviour throughout their time together and it is acknowledged by the others who fondly warn him about being infected. Once they've helped out the other survivors, they all bid each other farewell without much bitterness or resentment towards the self centered bastard who bitched their ears off for the longest time. Despite all of his flaws, even Nick has the ability to be endearing towards others. Perhaps both through his veiled concern and teasing and the 'big brother' role he manages to take on. He'd rather not see more people die, though it could be said that he'd rather not be left alone to fight off the growing numbers of infected. He's talkative in his own right, helpful when he wants to be and grows a vested interested in seeing everyone get the hell over to the safe zones with him. Possibly because it's easier than making new allies, possibly because it's hard to find people who deal with his crap.

Overall, Nick is the guy you love to hate but damn is he ever a valuable asset in the apocalypse. Being shady doesn't make a damn difference when you can fire a gun and take care of yourself in a world that is rapidly losing interest in good morals, especially when you miraculously manage to help people out along the way.

Setting: How do you plan for this character to react to the Games setting? We are not looking for specifics, but more of a general idea for how you plan to play your character reacting to repeated, violent events, and their agency being stripped away from them.

SAMPLES
First Person Thread: An example of a first person post, at least 200 words minimum. Feel free to use introspection and scene setting if your character is not chatty. Please use one of the two following prompts:

For Tributes: You have just been killed in your first arena. It was violent, messy, and unexpected. And just as suddenly you wake back up in a very cold, very medical room. After a few moments of silence, a voice comes up over the speakers.

"Please use the device to the right to record your current feeling on your loss. Once you are finished, someone will be along to take you back to the Capitol." On cue, a small recording device starts to chirp at your side.

It is quite clear that you will be staying in the room until you make that recording.

For Capitols OCs and AUs: For Capitols OCs and AUs: Somehow you ended up privy to a private post just gushing about how much they just LOVE the new games, how they think they are the best thing since sliced bread. Then the poster (Your friend? Some random person from a party who decided they wanted to send you their private thoughts? A rival trying to pin you into an uncomfortable spot?) namesdrops you for your opinion on the new format, versus the quaint, old-fashion style of the game.

Everyone on the broadcast is just waiting for your input.

Prose: 200 word minimum. To mimic the spirit of capriciousness within this game, please write your third person sample based on the following prompt:

You have been set in a room in front of the Gamemakers to be judged on a score of one to twelve, with one being the lowest and twelve being the highest. The Gamemakers sit safely behind a force field and watch, and you are provided with an array of weapons and targets, though no gun to be seen.

If you are a new tribute, you have been plucked from home and rushed in here with only a brief explanation of what is going on: You are about to enter an arena death match that only one person will make it out of, and impressing these people will help you live.

If you are someone from Panem, then you are very unlucky. You know what's going on but... you were told all the tributes were from a foreign land now. So why are you in front of the Gamemakers fighting for your life now? Are you a criminal, a traitor, deeply in debt? Or do you even know why you were shoved in to this room?

What is your character scored: Probably about a 7-9, depending. He's very charming and somewhat willing to play along, even if he can be belligerent and complain. He won't have too many qualms killing people, either.

Additional information: N/A