Chris Richardson - Art by Little Boy
Name: Chris Richardson
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Hometown: Conifer, CO
Grade: 12
Hobbies and Interests: Gaming, both in the pen & paper style and video games. He also has strong interest in music of all sorts. He is a bit of an actor as well, especially improvisational acting. For all his indoors interests, he also has a far weaker yet still present interest in hiking, appropriate for the area he lives in.
Appearance: To sum up Chris in one word is a bit of a difficult feat. One may describe him as nerdy, although that fails because of his grades. One may describe him as a goody-two-shoe, although that fails due to his well-used practice of lying. If one were to sum him up physically, however, the best word would be subtle. Everything about him downplays the rest of him, making the entire package as unnoticeable as possible. His hair is the feature most people remember him for, and that is simply because nobody ever really looks at anything else. His hair is brown, full of volume and unkempt. To be fair, the only reason it’s more noticeable than the rest of him is the unkemptness of it. Combined with it’s length and tendency to surround his head like a mane, it draws the eye away from more pertinent features, like the eyes or mouth.
Should somebody take more time to study Chris, a difficult feat in itself due to his tendency to avoid face to face meetings with people, the most striking feature would be his eyes. They are hazel, with a texture and depth that is incredible to see. Instead of a simple greenish-brown, they look just brown at first glance. As you stare, you realize that the brown is mottled with green, and then you notice the bands and patterns. They are Chris’ favorite feature, for what that matters. The rest of his face is nothing special. His nose is a bit big, his mouth also a bit big, his ears also large. It’s not comical or ugly, just a little bit off. His teeth are slightly crooked, and it is evident that he had braces which were taken off fairly recently. He tends to smile nervously, but normally keeps his face very still and unreadable. He tries to come off as a little disconcerting, which couples nicely with his tendency to act robotically, even down to his vocabulary.
His body-build is slim, with a bit of muscle evident. He’s not overly strong, despite his mother’s insistence that he work out more often, and he is decidedly pale. Chris is obviously the type who spends time inside more often than outside, although he has a few things he enjoys doing outside, usually hiking. He was wearing jeans and a blue t-shirt on June 21. His slimness is accentuated by the fact that he is underweight, weighing only 140 pounds. He tends to carry himself with a slouch, which hides the fact that he’s nearly 5’11”, much to people’s surprise when he stands up straight.
Biography: Chris was a Colorado boy born and raised. He was born in Colorado Springs, mostly because his mom and dad were down there visiting friends at the time. One might argue that that was a bad time to be travelling, but they wouldn’t know the whole story: Chris was born roughly 4 weeks premature. He developed a slight lung condition because of it, but all it really boils down to now is that he is winded easier than his peers. All in all, being premature had very few major effects on his life, except incessant disapproval from his devout Christian Aunt and Uncle, who believed that his parents had conceived him out of wedlock, being as he was their first child and was born eight months after their wedding. Of course, being that they were both highly intelligent young adults just out of college, they had indeed had sex outside of marriage. But they had been smart enough, being as they were highly intelligent, to use protection. They also failed to produce any siblings afterward, although this was more because of his mother getting her tubes tied around Chris’ second birthday. He often suspected she hadn’t realized exactly how much work went into a child and didn’t want a repeat performance to reinforce why she hadn’t wanted one when she was younger.
Growing up, Chris faced relatively few challenges. His parents were smart and successful, a fortunate but rare pairing. He didn’t live extravagantly, but he wasn’t poor or wanting growing up. Unfortunately, even the smartest people have no idea how to raise a child, and Chris’ parents were no exception. He didn’t end up totally ruined, and he didn’t end up bratty, but because he also didn’t end up in a preschool and he was constantly pushed toward success, he quickly grew to regard friends as a nice bonus, but not necessary. His dad, always quick with a joke, had said that Chris was rapidly falling into Mad Scientist syndrome. Chris was inclined to agree, but old habits are difficult to change. So he figured that he could simply focus on working hard and learning all he could, neglecting to think that maybe it would be a good idea to work hard and learn all he could in school. Instead, he spent a lot of time learning random things, like facts and statistics, which had very little use in real life. As such, his grades suffered, with his GPA rarely rising above a 3.0.
Eventually, despite all his efforts in the opposite direction, Chris did make a few friends, people who were similar to him in social regards. While only one or two were as smart as he was, at least in his opinion, all of them were genuinely fun people for him to spend time with. They became his video game partners, his DnD party and the people he complained to when he did not get the part he wanted in the school musical. While the others usually ignored that last one, they were still his friends.
Speaking of music, Chris was an incredibly talented singer. His father was a member of a local Barbershop Chorus (local being a subjective term. It was centered in Denver, which was nearly an hour away from Conifer. Still, it was nearer than Colorado Springs.), which typically did pretty well at the International every year. Of course, that meant little for Chris’ singing ability. What mattered more was the fact that his Dad taught him proper singing technique since Chris was old enough to read, which was from about 4 years old. That, of course, caused Chris to become a bit of a musical snob. He refused to listen to music that failed to have harmonies and progression. He despised rap, as he roughly defined it as rhyming with a musical background and sometimes happening to be on the beat. He joined the choir program in High School, and quickly became a favorite of the teacher, earning him the loathing of the other choir students, except those who were members of the more elite CAST at the High School. His love of acting was also kindled then, especially when it was defined as lying without the possibility of getting in trouble, something he really liked the sound of. Lying was something that came very easily to him, as swimming came to a fish. It worried his parents slightly that he was so willing to lie and so good at it, but they soon accepted it and moved on. He became quite a good actor, especially when memorization of lines was not necessary. He really enjoyed improvisational theatre, being as he was good at it.
Because the area around Conifer was rife with hiking trails and mountains to climb, and because Chris was often finding himself full of energy and curious, he began to hike. He wasn’t as avid about it as he was video games or Roleplaying, but he really enjoyed it nonetheless. Before his Senior year had ended, he had climbed Mt. Evans multiple times, despite needing to go slowly at the highest parts of the mountain.
Chris is fairly stable emotionally, at least outwardly. For some reason, mostly due to teenage bravado, he rarely shows any emotion, instead bottling it up. This leads to occasions where it simply bursts out of him. The last time it happened, he broke his hand in three places punching a locker. Still, he keeps his outbursts quiet, and they are fairly rare. He uses his Hiking as an occasional dump for his emotions, although it’s rarely enough. He also has one major phobia, which actually makes living life normally difficult. His phobia is a fear of dogs. The source of the fear is a dog attack when he was younger. When he was five years old, he was running around near his house when he heard something growling. Being as he was five years old, he froze and turned to see what it was. Unfortunately, the dog, a large Akita, didn’t like the fact that Chris was still in his territory. It lunged and attacked, biting Chris on the arms and scratching his face. Fortunately, the dog’s owner came running and dragged it off of Chris. The sad ending of this story is that Animal Control confiscated the dog and ended up putting him down. Chris has been deathly afraid of dogs since then, even tiny ones who could maybe menace a fly. Even the sound of a dog barking is enough to make him freak out.
Advantages: Chris is intelligent, despite his poor grades in school. He learns quickly, and retains information well. He’s also no stranger to difficult hikes across dangerous terrain. Finally, living at high elevations causes his blood to have more hemoglobin, which makes the transference of oxygen easier, so he can breathe far easier at lower elevations.
Disadvantages: The major disadvantages are Chris’ emotional instability and his phobia. He is also muscularly weak, with very little muscle mass and most of it being in less useful places. Despite his elevation training advantage, his lung condition can still cause him to be winded faster. He has no idea how to fight and has only seen guns in the movies, despite living in hunting country. Finally, his lack of social aptitude could hurt him on the island.
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Power: Electric Current
Conclusion: It's a shame there aren't any dogs on the island, I've heard they taste quite good electrified.
The above biography is as written by Serpentis.Deteramot. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.
Evaluations[]
Kills: None
Killed By: Ashlie Jackson
Allies: Penelope Rivers, Simon Matthews
Enemies: Jay Harland, Samantha Reynolds, Ashlie Jackson
Mid-game Evaluation: Chris awoke in the settlement. At first, while he accepted the veracity of his situation, he doubted the truth of the powers the students allegedly possessed. Chris soon heard the sound of someone slamming a door; investigating, he found Jay Harland. Chris tried to be friendly and casual towards Jay, but the boy rebuffed his efforts at every turn. Throughout, Chris asserted that the powers were not real. Finally, fed up with Chris, Jay held him at gunpoint, forcing Chris to allow him to leave. Chris hinted that any future meetings would be on less pleasant terms.
Chris headed for the church after leaving the settlement. there, he attempted to sound harmless and garner sympathy, to be allowed inside. However, he had wandered right into the middle of a tense situation involving Holly Chapman, Iris Landon, and Cristo Ruiz. Holly held Chris at gunpoint, demanding answers from him. Chris provided them, and the other group left. Upset by his mistreatment, Chris shot a hole in the sculpture of Jesus in the church.
Chris next went to the cable car station. There, his luck took a turn for the better, as he encountered first Penelope Rivers and then Simon Matthews. The students conversed for a time, in a relatively friendly manner. They weighed the possibility of various escape propositions,, and discussed the reality of their situation and their powers. Chris experimented briefly with his electrical ability, getting the general hang of things. The group decided to check out the radio tower, however, their plans collapsed when it was announced a danger zone. Pippi went one way, Simon another. Chris followed Pippi, stating that his eventual destination was the shore.
He and Pippi ended up in the forest. Pippi got ahead, and stumbled into a confrontation between Samantha Reynolds and Ashlie Jackson. Ashlie shot Pippi, assuming, due to Samantha's words, that the girl was her ally. Pippi let out a psychic scream, which Chris heard. He arrived too late to assist Pippi, or to stop Ashlie from making her escape. Confronted with an angry and armed Samantha, Chris begged her not to shoot him. Samantha responded by demanding that Chris surrender his gun. Chris acquiesced, but, not wanting to leave himself unarmed, fed electrical current through the damp grass. When Samantha bent down to pick up the gun, she was caught by a surge of power, jerking backwards. She recovered quickly, opening fire on Chris, but by that point he had already retrieved his gun and was fleeing the area.
Wandering aimlessly, Chris managed to succeed at his goal of reaching the coast. He entered a small shack, hoping to find a place to rest for a moment, but instead he was confronted by Ashlie. Going off of Samantha's description of Pippi's killer, Chris was able to recognize her, but was unable to bring his weapons to bear in time to fend her off. Ashlie shot him repeatedly in the chest and arms, and Chris crumpled to the floor, quickly bleeding to death.
Post-Game Evaluation: Subject C16 was intelligent, but too friendly for his own good, and he lacked the ability to commit when doing so would prove advantageous. Had he demonstrated the sort of aptitude he showed when setting a trap with his power at other points during his stay, he might well have carried the experiment.
Memorable Quotes:
"I guess you're afraid I'm going to give you a lead based lobotomy, eh? Well, don't worry. I'm not a killer." - Chris attempts to soothe a nervous Jay
"Fine. Don't expect anything nice out of me next time we meet." - Chris to Jay, upon being threatened with a gun
"I finally understand it! You need to stop thinking so loud, I can hear your thoughts. Haha!" - Chris to Pippi
"Please don't shoot me. I-I just want to know what happened here. I was kinda friends with her, and I suppose answers would be nice. .... Did I mention please don't shoot me?" - Chris to Samantha
Other/Trivia[]
- Chris was rolled in the fourth set of rolls. Eventually, due to inactivity, he was modkilled.
Threads[]
Below is a list of threads that contain Chris, in chronological order.
Your Thoughts[]
Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF Evolution or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Chris Richardson. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!
- Chris was very interesting. It's tough to play a convincingly smart character in SOTF, but Dete pulled it off well. The scene between Samantha and Chris was one of my favorite things to work on in Evo, made especially true by the fact that there was absolutely no planning involved. So, yeah, an all-around cool character, who actually made effective use of his power. - MurderWeasel
- I liked Chris, he seemed very realistic, and had a nice mix between being legitimately smart, but also not having the right temperament for the situation he was caught in. -Courtography