Name: Gilbert Hennessy
Age: 27
Birthday: January 1. It does kind of suck a bit, yeah.
Sign: Capricorn
Gemstone: Amethyst
Blood Type: A
Fav. Food: Chinese take-out; specifically, honey glazed shrimp, general tso's chicken, and pork fried rice. Gil doesn't necessarily hate to cook for himself, he just can't replicate his favorite recipes, so he orders take-out at least once a week.
Hated Food: Most fish, as he doesn't like the texture and the taste lingers too long.
Current Occupation: Homicide detective
Hobbies: Bar Hopping - Being an eligible young man who just moved to Destiny City and doesn't have a lot of friends, Gil finds himself bar hopping most nights. He tends to not drink much when he has to work the next day, as he mostly goes for the atmosphere and the opportunity to socialize and pick up chicks. (It's dangerous to pick up chicks with your beer goggles on. This is another reason why he doesn't get pissed drunk all that often.) However, once in a while work really gets him down, and when he has a stretch of two days off -- well, you'll probably find him at the bar trying to dance
on the bar. He rarely overindulges to the point of getting well and truly drunk, but when he does, his party animal comes out.
Bowling - Another activity that he indulges in largely because he is single and doesn't know people. Well, that, and he's good at it -- Gil's developed something of a love for bowling, and is considering joining up with a league if he can find one that's not full of boring, stodgy old men. The women he meets while bowling are not always, uhm, interested in him, but every once in a while there's a cute girl working the counter or something to flirt with. Regardless of whether or not there's a romantic conquest to be made, he's still pretty good at bowling and has a good time on Friday nights when he's not out drinking.
Movies - Gil's cousin works at the theater, so when he wants to see a movie he pretty much just needs to say so and he'll get in one way or another. Since he lives with the guy, it's easy enough to get the scoop on what's coming out and what's worthwhile to see, so he's a fairly regular face at the theater. He likes the horror flicks and the psychological thrillers, but you'll never willingly find him watching a romcom. Those things make him sick to his stomach, as
that kind of bullshit never happens in real life.
Virtues: Patient -- Gil understands that good things come to those who wait -- eventually. He looks at the world in the long-term and plans ahead, generally allowing for a bit more time than is really necessary for all of the pieces to fall together. He doesn't particularly enjoy waiting, but he knows that the value of a task accomplished or a job well done is just as strong if you don't rush it. Though it is sometimes frustrating for him to wait to be recognized, this is a trait of his that he has cultivated over years of careful, deliberate exercise -- hot-headed cops do not, contrary to what the movies indicate, actually really get very far. He will put up with a lot of setbacks and account for several diversions in his course, doggedly keeping on, as long as he
eventually gets where he is going.
Tireless -- He's a goddamn workhorse and don't you forget it. You don't get to be a homicide detective by sitting around on your hands, and Gil definitely put in the hours. Back home, he had virtually no social life because he was constantly taking overtime and going that extra mile to prove to his superiors that he could handle the pressure and the stress. He will constantly take on more work than is expected of him, and he seems to function pretty well despite his heavy workload; Gil's philosophy is that
someone's got to get the work done, and it might as well be him because he can handle it.
Ambitious -- Gilbert Hennessy was not going to sit around and be that lowly beat cop that worked the patrol his whole life. He's the guy who did the running start program and got his associate's degree while he was still in high school. He graduated with honors with a BA in Criminal Justice, and he was in the top ten of his class at the Academy. He put in three good years going above and beyond the call of duty, being everyone's whipping boy and kissing a** the entire way up, all with his eye on the prize: a promotion to detective. Of course, getting into homicide is no easy task, so he initially set his sights lower, earning himself a promotion to detective in the narcotics department where he spent another three years, and has just been freshly transferred to Destiny City as the newest addition to the homicide department. The moral of the story is, Gilbert aims high and he is not afraid of the toil, drudgery, and general bullshit that goes along with getting where he's going: this man has dreams and ambitions, and by God, he is going to get where he is going.
His ambition is, largely, why he is all right with basically starting over at every tier. He graduates from college at the top, he becomes a lowly beat cop. He gets a promotion to a detective, becomes the rookie all over again. He finally gets transferred to homicide... and he's the lowest of the low, again. Gil's well aware that he's going to have to work hard to be taken seriously, but he's all right with that because he knows it's necessary and that, eventually, it's all going to pay off.
Affable -- Gilbert would basically be friendless if he wasn't so damn pleasant and easy-going in his personal life. He tries very hard not to let things get to him on an emotional level, generally letting slights and insults roll off his back like water off a duck. He is personable and easy to talk to, relating well to most people on a superficial level and keeping his neck above the chopping block because he tries to keep things mellow and buddy up to people rather than viciously go at their throats in a bid for power.
Flaws:Self-serving -- No one
really gets far in the world by sincerely looking out for other people's interests above their own. Sure, if it will benefit him in the long run, he's all for forming an alliance and working on a team and sharing the credit in the short term. Gilbert understands that it's important to shine as part of a team before you make it to the big leagues. However, if there's no personal benefit involved for him, you can bet your buttons that he's going to either find a way to gain something out of the situation, or he's going to leave you high and dry. He doesn't believe in selflessness, thinks altruism is ridiculous, and
knows that no one is going to hand him the life he wants, so his philosophy is that he needs to take it.
This doesn't exactly endear him to people, as they tend to have a long memory when it comes to Gilbert having shafted them in the past, and more than once he's found himself in a situation where he has to work harder than he would have because he burned bridges in the past. He gets through it, but at the end of the day, only looking out for yourself gives you very few allies.
Manipulative -- Sure, he's friendly and harmless and somehow always manages to be in just the right place to do a favor for the chief... coincidence, right? Wrong. Gil is the kind of devious, underhanded manipulative where he plays himself off to be totally harmless and innocent and all the while is quietly usurping you from beneath. He
is genuinely a pretty friendly guy, but he's always looking out for number one and if he can twist a situation to his advantage, he will. He just knows that no one likes an outright brown-noser, so he's as subtle and sneaky as he can be about it.
Unscrupulous -- Not the best trait for a cop to have, but who
doesn't abuse their position of power just a little? Gil will make sure to drop names when he gets pulled over for speeding, flash his badge when he wants preferential treatment... he was that patrol officer who turned on his lights so that he could cut you off and get through town a little faster once in a while. These kinds of things, he feels, are harmless, and
everyone does it from time to time so he doesn't feel bad about it. The key here is to find a balance, and he's careful not to go overboard and take advantage of his status in really big ways, but small ways? Oh yeah. He's worked hard for his position and he's going to enjoy the perks. People might consider him an a*****e for it, but as long as the higher-ups don't find out, he'll keep on keepin' on.
Morally Ambiguous -- Gil could recite the exact definition of "necessary force" as learned verbatim in police academy, but that doesn't mean that he
strictly sticks to it. He is not an
evil person or even a
bad person -- he just has an idea of justice and operates on the understanding that the law is not always just. Sometimes the bad guys get away, and sometimes the good guys get punished -- and he doesn't think that's right. Sometimes he takes justice in to his own hands, and if he's a little rougher than he needs to be with that drug dealer in the alley, who will
really blame him? If he intimidates a closed-mouth, possibly somewhat traumatized witness into spilling information, are people going to stand around complaining about his tactics? Gil believes in the greater good, and that sometimes you have to get your hands dirty to accomplish what's necessary.
Reply
