Name: Gerald Lawson
Gender: Male
Age: 16
Grade: 11th
School: Patriot High
Hobbies and Interests: Causing Trouble, Fixing Cars, Running, Strolling
Appearance: Gerald is rather small for his age, standing at only 5’3” tall and weighing a measly 104lbs. To those who see him for the first time he tends to look weedy and underfed. Nevertheless Gerald does have some lean muscle on his body and tends to be in better shape than people generally give him credit for based on his appearance.
His black hair is messy and crudely cut, reaching down to about the bottom of his ears and generally being left to hang as it naturally would; he has attempted to brush it or gel it to try and give it some shape or style on occasions but he usually loses interest and goes back to his natural look. His eyes are a deep brown in colour. Gerald is rather plain looking, with an oval face ending in a slightly pointed chin, thin lips and a small nose. His only outstanding feature is a six inch long scar on his back, starting at the top of his right shoulder near the end of the collarbone and running across his shoulder blade.
In terms of clothing Gerald often wears a pair of jeans that are torn at the knees, a plain white t-shirt and a pair of worn down trainers. His most iconic piece of clothing is an old, beat up, faded leather jacket which is two sizes too big for him and the sleeves are a couple of inches too long. These are the clothes he was wearing when he was taken.
Biography: Gerald is the son of a fourth generation American and a Mexican native. Gerald’s father, David Lawson, works for a large and far reaching construction firm that oversees the construction of American Infrastructure in many different places, including in many of the American Colonised Territories. At the time David was working as an inspector whose role was to visit the companies many different building sites and ensure that everything was being done to the right specifications, the right standards and that they were working within the allotted budget, among other things.
David met Gerald’s mother, Elaina Ortiz – Now Elaina Lawson – while inspecting the construction of an office block in Mexico. It started as perhaps the typical fling but developed into more as the relationship went on; by the time David’s inspection was over he was reluctant to leave, a situation made more complicated when Elaina revealed that she was pregnant. Unwilling to leave either his new girlfriend or his unborn child behind David spent a considerable part of his savings to buy passage and a visa for Elaina to enter America and to come home with him.
Once this situation was dealt with David then requested a job transfer at his work, moving from being a building site inspector to a middle level office position. This represented a considerable drop in earnings and benefits but allowed him to be present for his new family. However, with David no longer making as much money and Elaina finding it hard to find employment – being not only non-white but also being a Colonial American rather than a natural American – money became and continues to be an issue for the couple. The family currently reside in a small two bedroom apartment.
As a child Gerald was something of a handful: he was a very active child, always filled with energy and never able to stay still for too long. With David working hard to support the family by himself and with Elaina hard-pressed to find a job of her own, his parents were unable to devote as much time to Gerald upbringing as he perhaps needed and as such were unable to curb this troublesome behaviour before he could start school.
At times when both parents were not around to look after Gerald because David was working and Elaina was looking for work then Gerald would be looked after by an elderly neighbour of the family in their apartment building. She was retired and lived by herself and so was available to look after Gerald whenever the stressed parents were in need.
Gerald has always had bad grades at school, ever since starting his education. He is not unintelligent per se – he certainly seems creative enough when he’s explaining his way out of trouble – just, unfocused. He still finds it difficult to sit still for hours on end and listen to a teacher drone on and would often disrupt lessons for other students as well, dragging down the grades of those around him. While this behaviour was never serious enough to warrant a suspension Gerald is certainly no stranger to the concept of detention.
After very nearly being held back a year in school when he was eight because of this, his parent intervened. They explained the situation to him in terms he could understand and, not wanting to be held back or to disappoint his parents he began to apply himself a little more seriously to his studies. While Gerald is still far from a model student, he has never been held back and both his grades and his behaviour have improved significantly from these early years, though neither are quite as good as his teachers would like.
The only classes that Gerald has never had a problem with are the more physical lessons, such as Physical Education and – once it became an option for him at least – shop class, as both of these provided outlets for his exuberance. While Gerald has shown no real aptitude for sports – despite plenty of enthusiasm – he has shown some talent with mechanics, engines in particular. Despite his bad grades overall and his history of delinquency Gerald still holds out hope of graduating and getting into a trade school so that he can study to become a vehicle mechanic someday.
At this point in time Gerald did not have much in the way of hobbies or interests. He did not watch TV or listen to music like most to his peers; he found television boring, even the violence and excitement of the Program felt stilted after a while. Music never seemed to just grab his attention and as such had no interest in listening to it or playing it. And, as has been mentioned already, he lacked the skill to take up sports. This left Gerald with not a lot to occupy his time with, but, being an energetic sort of person he was not content to just sit around doing nothing and Gerald would usually spend time outside of school and away from studying just going on walks. He would occupy his time by strolling around, taking in the sights of the city he lived in – not that there was much to see – and basically just trying to pass the time.
Gerald has never been one to have many friends in school – or any for that matter – and he tends to spend most of his time alone. This is probably mostly due to his status as a delinquent and the schools resident trouble magnet prompting most of the other students to stay away from him out of a sense of self preservation, but may also be racially motivated as well due to his mixed heritage.
It is certainly true that Gerald has almost always been a target of bullies and tormentors throughout his life, especially those who pick their targets based off of racially or patriotically motivated reasons, seeing as how he is half Hispanic, half Caucasian and his mother is Colonial American. His small and unassuming stature also makes him an easy target for such individuals.
It is perhaps also this small stature that has protected him for so long however. Since Gerald is too small to fight his aggressors physically he opts to flee instead and has managed to, for the most part, avoid being beaten due to his small size and agility; he can evade those larger than him mostly by running into the crowds and going places they can’t follow.
Rather than learning to keep his head down and avoid trouble however, Gerald has perhaps let his repeated close escapes go to his head and has instead developed an attitude that has been described by some as reckless and has developed something of a reputation as a loud mouth around school. He has made a habit out of verbally antagonising those who have bullied him in the past, especially those who bullied him for reason of race, doing as much as he can to draw their ire and then fleeing before they can retaliate.
Two detentions and a threat of further disciplinary action was enough for him to realise that the faculty at Patriot High would not tolerate his goading of other students any more than they would tolerate their bullying. Gerald has for the most part been able to avoid getting in trouble at school after this point for his actions by being careful and knowing when and when not he can get away with such actions. He limits his actions to outside of school and when teachers are not present. The fact that most of the students he taunts would rather deal with him themselves than get faculty involved help in this respect and he will not taunt another student within the schools halls unless they start antagonising him first.
While he has mostly avoided injury through all of this there was one incident almost two years ago that required a hospital visit after Gerald was forced to crawl through a hole in a broken fence to evade capture by a particularly persistent group of pursuers and he cut his shoulder open on a loose nail. The resulting injury necessitated several stitches and a tetanus shot and Gerald still carries a scar to this day.
This hospital visit alerted Gerald’s parent to his reckless behaviour and his problems with his fellow students. While they knew that it was an inevitability that Gerald would be bullied at school due to his heritage they were not aware until this point that it had become such a problem. In the wake of this event both of Gerald’s parent, David especially, decided to try and spend some more time with Gerald to make up for the time they missed with him as a child. By this point Elaina had managed to find stable employment at a convenience store owned and run by a third generation Mexican immigrant and money was no longer such a concern for the family, giving both parents more time to devote to their son. This would at least help to keep Gerald occupied and out of trouble, if not actually change his behaviour at school or around his peers.
At first however both parents struggled to get Gerald to spend any time with them as neither of them had much in common with Gerald and he had little in the way of hobbies or interests to begin with. Once Gerald stated an interest in becoming a mechanic however things became easier. David was able to procure an old, broken down car for an affordable price and enlisted Gerald in a project to help repair it; even though neither father nor son had any experience in the field – apart from Gerald’s few practical shop class lessons – this proved to be an effective way to engage Gerald’s interest, teach him a few valuable skills and keep him out of trouble at the same time.
In order to save money on parts David and Gerald would often look in scrap dealerships and rummage sales rather than buy them new; partly this was to save on money, but also they both considered this to be part of the experience and more enjoyable than just ordering parts in. It was on one of these shopping trips that Gerald found the leather jacket that he was wearing when he was taken. It was old, beat up and much too large for his small frame; even so Gerald liked the way it looked and insisted on buying it.
In addition Elaina and David were able to convince Gerald to try out for Patriot High’s Track and Field team as a sprinter, as a way to help control his excess energy and to further keep him out of trouble. As well as possibly helping him to finally make some friends among his fellow students.
While Gerald lacks the general skill for a sport such as soccer or basketball he has proven time and again that he is certainly fast and while his technique is lacking he proved proficient enough to make it on to the team. Gerald is certainly not practised enough in teamwork for the relay and he lacks the stamina for the middle or long distance runs. He does however make for quite a good sprinter and is especially good at the 100m and 200m races.
Gerald himself has enjoyed his time on the team. Finding that being able to run without having to worry too much about what happens if you aren’t fast enough is strangely cathartic. He gets along well with his teammates and being on the track team has given him, if not friends than at least some general acquaintances.
While these activities have resulted in Gerald no longer antagonising his bullies as much as he used to, they have done nothing to stop his usual bullies from targeting him or to stop Gerald from responding to them with his usual verbal retaliations. If anything however Gerald’s time on the athletics team has made him even more efficient at running away.
Advantages:Gerald has proven time and again that his small stature is an asset to him. This small size, combined with his agility from being on the Athletics team and his practise at evading would be attackers would allow him to both escape harm or to avoid notice all together while in the game. Also, while it is unlikely to come up, Gerald’s affinity for machinery – especially cars – could come in handy if he should gain access to such materials in game.
Disadvantages:As has been mention above, Gerald has a large mouth and a habit of using it; as a result he is going into this game with few friends, numerous enemies and an overabundance of confidence. None of which bode well for a prospective contestant. Gerald will likely find it hard to make allies in this game and his habit of antagonising those larger, stronger and more dangerous than himself could easily come back to bite him in this game, as he may find bullets harder to outrun than his usual pursuers. Additionally, his lack of size, while also an asset, may also hold him back should he need to enter into a physical confrontation with another student. In which case he will likely find himself outmatched in terms of strength, size and weight.
Designated Number: Male Student #11
Designated Weapon: Picnic basket, containing an apple pie
Conclusion: *the original evaluation has been crossed out and replaced with a stick figure man, a speech bubble emerging from its mouth reading "Mmm, pie"*
The above biography is as written by Fenrir. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.
Evaluations
Kills: None
Killed By: Anastasia 'Tas' Flores
Collected Weapons: Picnic basket, containing an apple pie (assigned weapon)
Allies: Bailey Williams, Felicia LaChapelle
Enemies: Brian Meyerhold Callison
Mid-game Evaluation:
Post-Game Evaluation:
Memorable Quotes:
Other/Trivia
Threads
Below is a list of threads that contain Gerald, in chronological order.
Sandbox
Program v2
Your Thoughts
Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF: The Program V2 or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Gerald Lawson. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!