WILD BLUE YONDER - R4 update

R4 EDIT: Updated Rory's Pokemon, an update of Rory himself is still forthcoming.

EDIT: Added in Churchill and Bess's info!

TUMBLARGH: Here, go bother him with questions if you want: [link]


Name: Rory A. McClain
ID: DTJAF-060
Age: 31
Height/Weight: 5’11” / 180 lbs.
Hometown/Region: Violet City, Johto
Military Faction: Air Force
Alt. Uniform/Extra Items: Flying suit (including cap and goggles, more insulated pants), "formal" outfit (complete with a McClain family tartan and kilt, only very rarely worn) / Trench knife, cigarettes (Numel brand ONLY, he's oddly picky about this), bagpipes (belonged to his grandfather, given to him by his father before he left for the military)
Notable Characteristics: Oddly-shaped nose (was broken sometime in his past), worn-out old bomber jacket (belonged to his father)

Personality:

Rory probably doesn’t like you. As a rule he doesn’t like much of anybody, and his temperament and crude sense of humor generally insure that not many people like him back. As a result he usually keeps to himself, and all is well. Those who do try to talk to him are usually met with a glare and a few choice insults, or if they’re particularly annoying they’ll receive a nice fist to the eye.

However, he does have his quiet, contemplative moments, even if they're about as rarely seen as a Grumpig with wings. But if you happen to be lucky enough to catch him in one of these moods, he probably won't try to hurt you. Stick around him long enough and he miiight be willing to tolerate you as a friend. Maybe. Though his friends need to watch their backs as well, since Rory’s idea of fun usually involves something along the lines of gambling, stupid stunts, drunken barfights, or some unholy combination of the three. You want to calm him down and get on his good side? Tell him an off-color joke he hasn’t heard before and give him a cigarette or two. But only Numels. Not any of that other crap.

He's always been somewhat wild, but recent events in his personal life have thrown him more off-course than usual. Who knows what will change as the war goes on?

He's slowly learning more about how to work with his new "partners", Rigel in particular. The bird's present awkwardness is the cause for many embarassed facepalms, but Rory's beginning to realize that the bird holds a lot of potential, and he's working on the first hints of strategy with his Pokemons' attacks.

History:

Born and raised in quiet, religious Violet City, Rory lived a rather sheltered childhood. His parents, a sweet, loving baker and a stern retired veteran of the Great War, were fairly well-to-do and made sure their son never wanted for anything. Rory was a happy, rambunctious child, spending his days trekking around the hills and ruins around the town and dreaming of adventure.

When he finally left home he grew somewhat wilder (the bigger cities like Goldenrod being fun places and all), and his love of gambling and bar-crawling led him to trouble at times. Nonetheless, sometime during his travels through the region he met the woman of his dreams--a spunky show-singer from Goldenrod by the name of Lillian Grey. They got married rather quickly (only a few months after they'd met), and to Rory's delight they had a son about a year later. From the outside, they looked to be the very picture of a happy young family. However, Rory's continuing bad habits and issues with Lillian's job (namely, the men she tended to flirt with) often led to conflict, and communication problems didn't help matters. Still, they did love one another and stuck together for that and for the sake of their son. That is, until the day that Lillian up and left Rory for another man, taking everything with her in the process...including their son Donovan, who was around 4 at the time.

Left with nothing but the clothes on his back and a new-found distrust and dislike of people in general, Rory stumbled down a path of self-destructive behavior in an attempt to just forget it all. When he finally ran out of money, his deeply-concerned parents gently urged that he sign up for service in the Johto military. By his father's reasoning, with no real weapons this new bout of conflict couldn't be as bad as the Great War, and perhaps a bit of military experience (i.e. discipline) would help set Rory back on track again. Rory only very reluctantly agreed, wanting only the money that he'd get from the job. Otherwise, he doesn't give a sh*t.


Tidbits:

Yep, this is one of Kes and Xander's ancestors. Seems that a lot of things tend to run in the family. xD

His son Donovan turned 6 right before Rory signed up for the military. Rory only sees him a couple of times out of the year and they exchange letters through the mail, but Lillian tries to limit contact between them because of the bad influence she believes Rory might have on the boy. Not that Donny listens to her in that respect. He adores his father and just wants him to come home.

He speaks with a strong Scottish accent. Normally it's fairly easy to understand, but when he's upset it gets thicker. Get him going in a rage and he might as well be roaring gibberish. Angry Scottish gibberish.

The "A" for his middle name stands for "Alasdair". Don't even try calling him that if you know what's good for you.

The lining of his bomber jacket is yellowish because it's made of Mareep sheepskin. It's gotten rather dirty and faded over the years though.

Pokemon:

Rigel / Altaria / Male / Natural Cure / Naïve

Rigel is rather young, only having just learned to fly when he was taken away from from his nest in a stand of trees south of Fallarbor Town by the big funny-looking two-legged things. They made him do a lot of things that were hard and scary to do, but he figured that this was just what happened to every bird when they left the nest, so he did the best he could. Though it’s a wonder he made it through the military training process at all, since the little Swablu was more of a lover than a fighter. Rigel, as he was named by the orange-headed man he was given to, enjoys perching on his master’s head and shoulders and rummaging through the man’s stuff whenever he’s not looking. He also likes to tug on his hair. But if you swat at him, he’s not opposed to giving the offender a nasty peck in return.

After Rory failed epically in a battle against Medicap Haye, her subsequent warning and his own stubbornness spurred him on to train Rigel even harder. The work was difficult and often frightening for the bird, but he slowly came to have more control over his abilities and grew stronger for it. Later, during yet another practice battle with Mathis, he finally evolved. Then he promptly fell flat on his beak because suddenly LEGS. Apparently adolescence has no intention of being kind to Rigel, but Rory's hoping the awkwardness will soon pass. HOPING. xD

Churchill / Shinx / Male / Intimidate / Bold

Churchill may still be a cub, but he was old enough when he was captured to realize what was happening. Separated from the rest of his pride (whom he assumed dead or at the very least completely unreachable), he compensated by turning into a fuzzy ball of moody rage. When he was assigned to Rory he made it his mission to establish dominance over the man in hopes that he'd be left alone if he did. As a result he often "attacks" Rory, mostly by biting and clawing him and his things. For the most part Rory just considers it an annoyance since Churchill's teeth and claws are still relatively small, but it could become a real problem as the cub grows bigger.

For the most part Churchill is moody and sullen, but he does miss the company of his family and he will occasionally cuddle up to Rory every now and then at night. He tends to treat Rigel like a younger sibling (and therefore ignores him most of the time), and he's forged something of a friendship with Mathis's Buneary. Bess and Captain Haye's Mandibuzz Harpeia are something like replacements for his missing mother and aunts.

Bess / Tropius / Female / Chlorophyll / Gentle

Full ref pic and a bit of physical description here: [link]

Tropius are a rare species even in their home range in Hoenn, so when a party of military-hired poachers happened to stumble across one in the rainforests of Route 119 they couldn't believe their luck. They felt even luckier when the big female came along fairly quietly--though she did give a few of the men a good whack with her tail when they got too rough. In general she dislikes fighting, but Bess is a creature of manners, and she won't tolerate any sort of impoliteness.

This Tropius is a pleasant, somewhat older lady, and if she were human she'd be a proper Southern belle and invite you to sit on her porch for lemonade and a nice chat. She's become something of a den mother for the team, and Rory's already grown quite fond of her.

Aldebaran / Flygon / Male / Levitate / Timid

Was added to Rory's team to act as a sort of second powerhouse, a physical counterpart to Rigel's mainly special-attack moveset. And he's quite good at this, if you can get him out from whatever he's hiding under at the moment. Aldebaran's quick and agile as anything, but this also makes him rather jumpy and nervous. And sometimes it seems as if he's afraid of his own shadow.

His design is based around this particular dino: [link] Therizinosaurs are known for their huge, seemingly unwieldy foreclaws. Most of them were thought to be herbivores, though Falcarius is thought to have been more of an omnivore and a sort of transition between the earlier theropod build and the more derived Therizinosaurs. I WILL GET A FULL-BODY REF UP AS SOON AS I CAN AAAAAAA--