literature

Char. Profile: Officer Zachary

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Literature Text

Type of character: Calamity City

Name: Officer Zachary (the "Officer" is not actually part of his name)
Age: Early 20's
Gender: M
Race/species: Zebra
Occupation: Police officer

Appearance:
Zachary is about half a head taller than average, but otherwise fairly normally proportioned.  The majority of his body is white with black stripes, but his chest is plain white.  He has a straight mane that sort of resembles a mohawk, starting at the top of his head and going down his back, ending about where his tail begins.  Its stripes are identical to his own.  His eyes are blue, and his mouth area is gray.

His hands and feet are black hooves.  He actually has functional hands, but each hand has hard fingertips that can sort of lock together to form a hoof.  He usually keeps his hands locked as hooves when not otherwise using them for anything.  He's missing one black stripe on his left leg, the fourth one from the bottom.

He wears a navy blue vest with his police badge pinned to it and his handgun in the pocket.  He always leaves the vest unbuttoned.  He doesn't wear anything else.

Personality:
Zachary is a citizen with a conscience, which in Calamity City is a rarity.  He knows that when someone gets used as a sled against their will and dozens of people watch in amusement, something is seriously wrong.  He would gladly intervene if he saw someone getting beaten on the street, and is disgusted that so few others around him would, but remains optimistic that there is hope for the city.  This optimism may be the only thing keeping him sane.

He hates his job and he hates Calamity City, for similar reasons.  However, he stays because he believes he's the voice of reason the city desperately needs.

He has a good head on his shoulders and usually knows when to keep his mouth shut, but otherwise he's unafraid to speak his mind.  If he gets really worked up, he may not care whether he'll get in trouble for speaking up or not.  He has at many times had friction with his superiors due to choosing moral duties over official ones; it's not known how he's been able to keep his position for so long.

He loathes Mayor Salamander for his selfish policies, and would gladly trample him into a fine paste if he believed he could do so with impunity.  On the other hand, he is in full support of the SQET, and donates to their cause whenever he has money to spare... which isn't very often.

He is a closet fan of Incredibly Determined Girl.

Abilities:
Besides his police training, Zachary has the ability to turn invisible by pressing himself up against a wall.  He can sidle along the wall without losing his cloak, but if he leaves it he's exposed.  Anything he's wearing or carrying will turn invisible with him.  Nobody's sure where this ability came from.

History: Unwritten

Miscellaneous:
When Zachary is particularly shocked, his black stripes have a tendency to fall off his body, forcing him to spend a moment gathering them up again.  He still has no idea where he lost the one stripe from his left leg.

He typically only uses his gun to get attention.  After all, in a world governed by cartoon physics, you can shoot someone at point-blank range and the worst you'll do is make them look like Swiss cheese.

Often he'll cite the "basketball incident" (the events of Adam Gets Into The Game) as an example of what's wrong with the collective morals of Calamity City.  A person was somehow substituted for a basketball, and even after a spectator pointed it out, the referee declared that the match continue-- because the victim was sufficiently similar to a regulation ball that he wouldn't impede play.  On top of that, hundreds of people witnessed it and only one was concerned.  It takes a particularly striking absence of morality not to see anything wrong with that.

Zachary's defining trope is that of the Only Sane Man.  Every city full of sociopaths needs one.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: creating a character for someone else's verse is an excellent writing exercise, because it forces you to understand the 'verse in question.

This is the first time I've used this template (I made it myself, by the way) for a non-Sonicverse character.

Calamity City is © :icontmaneea:
Officer Zachary is © me
© 2011 - 2024 sonicinterface
Comments7
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Tmaneea's avatar
Just so we're clear, is this character free for me to use in a story? I would like to very much.