Marcus in his fanservice costume, as drawn by diseasedbear
Name: Redder, Marcus Woodrow
Gender: Male
Age: Seventeen [17]
School: Whittree Secondary School
Hobbies and Interests: Cooking, old films, sketching, and soccer.
Appearance: Marcus is a somewhat waifish young man, standing at a height of 5’6” and weighing 130 pounds. He has narrow shoulders, and isn't particularly muscular. However, years of playing soccer have left his legs thick and toned. He's Caucasian, and his naturally pale skin has been left somewhat tanned through regular exposure to sunlight. He keeps his ovular face free of blemishes, although a small rounded mole is positioned mid-way along his square jawline. A pair of thick red lips frame a large mouth, which is filled with a set of straight and white teeth. He likes to keep himself clean shaven, and the space between his mouth and small, button nose is often peppered with scars from shaving blades. His almond-shaped eyes are heavy set and punctuated with dark brown irises, looming just under a heavy brow and a wide, fair-skinned forehead. Marcus's hair is a generally messy affair. His black locks naturally grow out at odd angles, a source of consternation to both him and his parents. His morning routine is mostly concerned with him attempting to tame his hair through the application of gel and the occasional (if he's particularly desperate) use of his sister's hair straightener.
When it comes to clothing, Marcus's top priority is that it's both practical and cheap. His outfits are generally simple and plainly coloured, and he takes care to make sure he doesn't look scruffy or poorly-dressed. For trousers he favours jeans, coupled with comfortable sneakers or boots, and for tops plain t-shirts or single colour turtlenecks. In colder weather he usually wears one of a few homemade woolen sweaters. As for accessories, it's a rarity for Marcus to be seen without a sketching pencil tucked behind his left ear, and his right arm is always adorned with a simple black wristwatch. On “Casting Day” he wore a plain white t-shirt, as well as a pair of forget-me-not blue jeans and a pair of white and green sneakers.
Biography: Both Patrick Redder and his wife Penelope come from mutually large and poor families, their parents being unable to send either to college. As a result, the only official qualifications the two have are their high school diplomas. The pair of them work long hours in order to accumulate a comfortable amount of earnings - Patrick as an office assistant at the local post office and Penelope as a cashier at a local bakery - but funds have always been stretched for them. A major factor in this stems from the large brood the pair have, taking after their own families. While Elena, Marcus, and Isolde were planned children, the twins - Florian and Fiona - were accidents, caused by a brief disregard for contraception on Patrick and Penelope's part.
Despite their financial issues, Patrick and Penelope have been kind and loving parents, and when Marcus was born on the 19th of January he was welcomed into a fiercely loyal family. Marcus and his siblings have always been taught to be loyal to their family and friends, and Marcus has grown up with the belief that his family will always be there for him. He's grown up as an optimistic and friendly young man who tries to believe the best in others, and tries to keep any negative thoughts to himself. Due to generally being stretched for funds, Patrick and Penelope have always been sure to make their children know the value of a dollar. Both Marcus and his siblings were taught basic financial skills from a young age which grew more complicated as they aged. This has contributed to Marcus being highly skilled in many areas of mathematics, as well as having a love of accounting and economics.
In an effort to help around the house, Marcus began to help his parents prepare dinner from an early age. Most of his assistance originally consisted of fetching cooking utensils from the cupboards or reading the recipes to whoever was on cooking duty that night. However, as he grew older he gradually began to take more and more of an active role in food preparation, and by the age of twelve he could cook a full (albeit somewhat simple) meal by himself. This hobby extended through high school, Marcus achieving excellently in cooking class without too much effort. He also joined the school's cooking club, which he attends regular meetings of. His favourite meals to cook are often stews or pies, as he enjoys the aromas the dishes make. Cooking also acts as a source of stress-relief to Marcus, and he can often be found in the kitchen immediately before and after a test or assignment.
When Marcus was thirteen his mother's parents came to Whittree for a rare visit. While his grandparents' temporary stay at the Redder household wasn't too eventful, it did help introduce Marcus to another of his interests, that being classic cinema. Penelope's father, Andrew, had always been a lover of film and was keen to pass this interest down to his young and impressionable grandchildren. He showed both Marcus and Elena a few old movies from different genres and time periods - specifically Casablanca and Back to the Future - and the pair of them were left instantly in love with older films. Patrick and Penelope encouraged this interest; they much preferred their children becoming fans of older media than becoming fans of SOTF - TV, which they disliked due to its violent content. Marcus remains ambivalent when it comes to SOTF - TV, having never been particularly interested in it. This is aided by the fact that the few moments of time Marcus dedicates to watching television are filled with him going through Andrew's considerable backlog of films.
Marcus began becoming interesting in sketching from a young age, his occasional doodling being commented upon positively by a few of his peers. Happy that he could do something beyond cooking that people liked, Marcus focussed on honing his artistic skills, often taking a sketchpad to the local park and drawing the surroundings. While he mostly draws physical objects, Marcus occasionally draws from his imagination, sketching fantastic creatures or more comical doodles. His love of drawing also led to Marcus reading up on art history, and he soon became a fan of artists such as M.C. Escher and Pablo Picasso. At the advent of his freshman year of high school, Marcus joined Whittree Secondary's art club. Although he is slightly disappointed that the artistic endeavours of the student body are encouraged slightly less than more practical ones, Marcus is accepting and understanding of this.
It was his interest in sketching that also played a hand in Marcus being introduced to another of his hobbies: soccer. When Marcus was fourteen he was practicing a still life drawing in the local park when a soccer ball was kicked in his direction by a few boys playing nearby. When he went to return it to them they invited him to join them. By the end of their brief kick-around, Marcus was in love with the sport. His parents were glad to encourage his interest in the sport and signed him up to the school team, where he played as a goalie. While he's far from being the best player in the team, Marcus has loved every second of it and has continued with the sport through to the current day.
Throughout all of elementary and middle school, Marcus was commended for his exemplary grades and passion for schoolwork. At the age of fifteen a career conference caused him to make a firm decision about his future plans: he would earn a scholarship and attend an Ivy-league university, with Yale as his preferred college. He wishes to be able to provide financially to his own family when he starts one, as well as being able to give back to his parents. As a result he studies daily for at least four hours, taking particular care to gain high grades in all of his subjects. He's also the leader of the school's study club, which he enthusiastically leads meetings for.
Scholastically, Marcus is an A+ student in all of his classes. He excels at accounting and mathematics in particular, as well as cooking, art, and physical education. He occasionally finds himself struggling with English and French, and studies extra hard in those areas in order to keep ahead of his classmates. Patrick and Penelope are aware of Marcus's scholastic aspirations, and make certain that he isn't stressing himself out over assignments and grades. As such, whenever he wishes to do something socially - such as go to a party or hang out with mates, they oblige him. They occasionally enforce leisure time upon him, although he believes soccer practice and occasional trips to the local park to be more than enough for him. Marcus has grown reliant on his hobbies to relieve the stress he places himself under, and in the few instances he hasn't had any of them readily available he has become highly anxious, fearing that nothing he does will be good enough. These anxieties also cause Marcus to suffer bouts of paranoia, during which he reacts adversely to any attempts to calm him down. These anxiety attacks have been rare, and, as such, are known about by only a few besides himself.
Marcus and Elena often look after their younger siblings while their parents are at work, and have become extremely close. Marcus often thinks of his elder sister as his best friend, but doesn't vocalise this too much. Due to his skills with cookery, Marcus often cooks dinner while Elena launders or entertains the others. Marcus is close to all members of his family, although he is not as close to the twins as he'd like to be due to their age difference.
Marcus had always been an excitable child, and this has continued through to the present day. His manner of speaking is generally very rushed and fluctuates in volume, and he has a tendency to go on tangents if stressed or confused. He lacks awareness of personal space, and is prone to hugging his friends or standing close beside them for no particular reason. This has been endearing to some, but has alienated him to a few others.
Marcus has amased a few friends through soccer team and fellow cooks, but beyond that his social connections are considerably lacking. This isn't helped by the amount of time he spends studying, which he will often place above social interactions. However, he doesn't let this concern him too much, as he's content with the few close friends he does have. In terms of romantic relationships, Marcus has never had a girlfriend, but a large factor in this is due to him not trying very hard, as he believes that a romantic relationship will occur for him naturally and that he shouldn't try to force it.
Advantages: Marcus's years of soccer playing have kept him fit and healthy, which may give him an edge over more physically unfit players. Years of drawing have given him a keen eye for detail, allowing him to see things that others might overlook.
Disadvantages: Without his sources of stress relief - such as cooking or drawing - available to him, Marcus is liable to become easily stressed and subsequently paranoid. His social group is severely limited, and Marcus doesn't have too much social interaction beyond his close friends; this may hinder him when it comes to making allies.
Designated Number: Bronze Bears 5 (BB5)
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Designated Weapon:Bear Trap
Mentor's Comment: "Another athlete is good, his weapon isn't as great but it has its uses. He looks to be a good team player as long as he can be kept relaxed and under control, don't want him going crazy at the wrong time. As long as he meets up with another member of the team early he should be in good shape to do well."
Evaluations[]
Handled By: SansaSaver
Kills: Eden Zahn, Jaxon Street, Angie Hart
Killed By: Vahka Basayev
Collected Weapons: Bear Trap (designated weapon, to Vahka Basayev), scissors taken from first-aid kit
Allies: Angie Hart, Jaxon Street, Norma-Jean Torkelson, Lucia del Pirlo
Enemies: Vahka Basayev, Dougie Sharpe
Mid-game Evaluation:
Post-Game Evaluation:
Memorable Quotes:
Other/Trivia[]
Threads[]
Below is a list of threads that contain Marcus, in chronological order
Sandbox:
SOTF-TV:
- Never Stop
- Good Morning, Goodbye, Good Luck
- Shaken, Not Stirred
- Get Out of the Kitchen
- Balls Deep
- Do You Want to Build a Snowman?
- Psycho Beach Party
- FEAR stands for fuck everything and run.
- Measure By Measure, Drop By Drop
Your Thoughts[]
Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Marcus. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!
Okay so Marcus is insane. He's a pretty good insane, though. His insanity comes from something that totally makes sense and he shows that it's not quite a one way street and actually tries to force himself back up once people actually start treating him nicely. It's a redemption arc done right, and unlike other redemption arcs I've seen the narritive and other characters still treat him as somebody who's killed three people, and he actually has to work for it, which I love. His main problem though is that until his sixth thread or so, he's basically in a totally different emotional state every thread he's in, which is kinda jarring for me as a reader. There's also a little problem with his death scene being written by someone else, but I can understand the situation behind that. Overall he's a pretty good example of the broken gentle kid archetype and anyone choosing to write an insane person should probably take a look at him. - Yugikun