(no subject)

PLAYER NAME: Xy
CONTACT: assemble
HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE GAME?: Rakel says I can be her +1!

CHARACTER: Evan "Buck" Buckley
CANON: 9-1-1
CANON POINT: Season 6, episode 12 in which Buck is recovering from a coma (I couldn't find a rule on new canons, if he needs to be from a canon point over a month old then s6 e9 is fine, he won't have been in a coma which is the only major change)

BACKGROUND:

The wiki only goes up through season 3 so some bullet point additions (spoilers beyond season 3):
-Buck's parents come to visit, which he actively hates as they were not good parents growing up. Maddie confesses that there's a secret, Evan was born specifically to save his brother Daniel, who died of childhood leukemia. His parents never even told him he had a brother.
-Maddie gives birth to Jee-yun, Buck's niece. Later, due to PPD, Maddie leaves Jee with her boyfriend (Chimney) and only Buck knows her whereabouts. Chimney punches him when he finds out, and leaves to go find Maddie.
-Buck joins a treasure hunt with the team and reunites with Taylor, though they have a platonic flirtationship. They eventually get together as a couple.
-Eddie gets shot and Buck regrets not being the one shot in his stead. Eddie tells him that if he dies, he's changed his will to appoint Buck as Chris's legal guardian.
-Eddie and Buck respond to a call in a prison and get held at gunpoint and kidnapped by an escaped prisoner dressed as a guard.
-Taylor moves in with Buck and he confesses to her that he cheated on her by drunkenly kissing another girl, she feels trapped but forgives him. (I really hate this storyline, sorry)
-Eddie leaves the 118 only to join the 911 call center, as Chris is worried for him. Later, he has a PTSD episode and Buck comes over to help him. Eddie gets therapy.
-Chimney returns with Maddie and Eddie returns to the 118.
-Chimney and Hen are put in danger when a paramedic with a hero complex attempts to kill Chimney in his jealousy over Hen. They enlist Taylor's help, and she promises to keep it off the record but then later prints the story. This upsets Buck, because it could have easily put his friends' lives at stake to release the story. They break up.

Season 6 spoilers:
-The Buckley parents come to visit Maddie in her new house.
-Buck is doing his thing again when he's struck by lightning and sent into a coma.
-He is sent into a coma dream whereupon he dreams that Daniel didn't die and that his parents love him. They insist that he can stay in this dream where everyone loves him and things are perfect, but that he didn't join the 118.
-He 'leaves' the coma dream and wakes up in real life, only to find that his parents have done a complete 180 and now profess to care for him.
-He's cleared to join work again, but has some lingering doubts with regard to his coma.

ABILITIES | POWERS:

Baseline human, but he is very physically fit, and has the following skills from his odd jobs:
-Bartender (went to mixology school)
-Surf instructor
-Trained for but did not become a Navy SEAL
-Ranch hand/literal cowboy
-Construction worker
-Trained firefighter
-The show alludes that he has had other random odd jobs and may add some to flesh out his backstory in the future.

And some from his personal life:
-Intermediate cook
-Excellent babysitter

PERSONALITY:

Buck is, in essence, a man with a good heart and good intentions, but who sometimes executes those intentions poorly. By the time the series starts, he's 24, and just finished his training as a firefighter, but before that, he'd spent the last six or so years traveling and taking various jobs throughout the United States and all the way to Peru. Listless and unsatisfied with any of them, he then trains to become a firefighter and he finds his place there, finds importance and meaning in this job.

Buck is always quick to action, and usually not to think. He's often the first to volunteer for anything, especially when it's dangerous. Initially when he's a newbie, he makes a lot of brash decisions. He still does, but he was much more thoughtless before, sometimes endangering others, one time beheading a snake. Though he's still reckless, now he only ever endangers himself. He is fearless, brave, and always ready and willing to sacrifice himself.

The main reason that he left his family home in Pennsylvania initially was that his parents were always neglectful or hostile to him. They instilled in him many insecurities and a constant need to prove himself and his own worth. One of his greatest desires is just for them to love him, and he is desperate for that relationship. It's revealed to him that his elder brother Daniel was diagnosed with childhood leukemia, and that Buck was conceived initially as a donor match for his brother. This has left him feeling that he and his life are expendable, which the other characters sometimes comment on.

A little bit desperate for approval and with a chip on his shoulder to try and prove himself, Buck is an absolute nightmare when given reins to act authoritatively. He is exceedingly lawful, follows rules to the letter, and is a general nuisance that his friends regret. He becomes upset over being passed over for interim captain in his captain's absence, despite being a firefighter for only five years. He is extremely confident in his abilities, usually bordering on overconfident.

He can be prideful, and boastful even of his adventures as a firefighter. But he is also not particularly humble in other aspects, such as his looks or in his love life.

Though his childhood was one marked by sadness and in his adult life he's gotten into many life-threatening accidents, he usually finds a way to stay positive. He's eager to smile and give a friendly ear or a helping hand, and he's generally quite easygoing. He values spending quality time with the people he loves, and he finds true happiness among his friends and found family.

His firehouse, the 118, is his family, and he would do just about anything for them. This is a common recurring theme among the other members of the 118 as well. In addition to his team, he's also fiercely protective of his sister, and invites himself on a police mission to save her once she's kidnapped. He is determined, and stubborn, and the other characters know that once he has his mind set on something, it's set in stone.

However, sometimes the amount in which he loves can be damaging. Because of wanting to be on his team and his desire to work as a firefighter, he sues the department when he's forced into medical leave for his job back, not realizing that the lawsuit will cause him lots of interpersonal issues. He works well under pressure, but master tactician he is not. In fact, while being questioned by the police over a possible heist that the 118 might be involved in, he gets easily confused by the plot. He also tends to misjudge social situations from time to time, and generally isn't the best at reading a room.

Though he is not the wisest member of the team and often requires an accompanying, more rational team member by his side, he is very knowledgeable and likes to learn from a wide variety of topics. This mostly works well for random trivia, but he does love to share the odd fact with his teammates.

Buck tends to be kind of a goofball, and it really shows in particular when he babysits Christopher, who is his best friend Eddie's kid. They play videogames together, he helps build Chris a skateboard, plays with his dino toys and draws him cute pictures. Maybe it's because of his own missing pieces of childhood that he seems to be drawn to making kids in particular happy - he's also great with his niece, and is generally just comfortable being silly and hanging with kids.

A very open individual, Buck is not often hiding his feelings, his face is extremely emotive and he is both a terrible liar and also terrible at playing poker. When he does try to hide his feelings, he tends to space out, and the other characters usually know immediately that something is up with him. He's straightforward and honest for the most part, though there is the glaring exception where he got drunk, cheated on his girlfriend, and asked her to move in with him because he has copious abandonment issues. That is definitely the most unforgivable thing Buck has done.

Buck also is into self-improvement, which is actually the meaning behind his username. In the beginning of the show, he deems himself Buck 2.0 due to deciding that he was no longer going to be a playboy and pursue more lasting, meaningful romantic relationships. When he becomes Buck 3.0 he decides to be kinder, and gentler, and seeks therapy. Although there was a marked difference between 1.0 and 2.0, there hasn't been much of a difference in 3.0 in my opinion. However, 1.0 was hypersexual, and he even self-diagnosed as having a sex addiction. Although he is still a very sexual person, he did lose a lot of his frat-boy, player archetype that was displayed heavily in the first season.

Despite the bravado and emphasis on sexual aspects of a relationship, Buck is and has always been heavily romantic. At advice from his captain, he showers his girlfriend with the grand romantic gesture of taking her on an air balloon date. When she decides to leave the country, he stays in her apartment and considers her his girlfriend several months after she ghosts him completely. He also drops everything to fly halfway around the country to emotionally support another girlfriend. He can be a little over-the-top.

Although Buck always goes above and beyond for the 118 and his sister, he also is shown to be kind and compassionate to strangers. Again, often to excess. He has a soft heart, and he's easily moved to help someone or support them in a time of need.

SAMPLE: He's a bit of a new muse so I don't have any meaty introspective tags for him yet: this thread but if that's insufficient I've written up a sample in the setting of the last TDM:

He's pretty lost from the get-go, but he's also on a completely new planet in a completely different type of environment than he's used to, so honestly, he's just playing along in hopes that he wakes up soon. Things have been kind of weird for Buck lately, but he does have his anchoring points to which he moors himself. In his fever dream, there had been no nighttime, and so, he's waiting for the sun to go down and for the land to cool before he even starts to consider that any of this is real.

"Seven guilds? Look, that's impressive I guess, but uh, I'm actually just really not interested in fighting a war. Even back home. Not really cut out to be a soldier, but you know what," he tries, clapping Mazyar on the arm before he realizes that he might be royalty or something and seizing his hand up and dropping it to his side. "I, uh, appreciate the opportunity."

He tries to hand the pendant back, since he already has a phone and though he doesn't think he gets reception here, he doesn't really want whatever this is. He certainly doesn't want it as a form of payment, or a contractual agreement. "And no offense, but I just had to decide what the most important thing to me was, and that's being with my family and my team at home, so good luck with your war, but I really don't think I'm the right guy for the job."

Somehow, he doesn't think that the guy who kidnapped him to conscript him into battle is really going to take no for an answer, but he thought he'd at least try. And, well, this isn't his first kidnapping and he'll wait to see what sort of threats this guy has up his sleeve and whether or not Buck can square with them.

INVENTORY: Basically just phone/wallet/keys, watch, probably a picture Chris drew for him in his wallet.

NOTES: N/A

IF ACCEPTED, WOULD YOU WANT A PLOT-LIGHT OR PLOT-HEAVY CUSTOM INTRO? No strong preference/whichever is easier or more fun for the mods!