#I am too used with highmore carrying me from start to finish

[little-lanterns]

I really need to start building ops for my suicide run aka d15 men only... Only raising 6* men finally bite me in the ass

[monstersarealwayshungryrpg-blog]

Congratulations Alex! You have been accepted as The Hermit! (FC: Freddie Highmore)

Gavin was a really great choice for The Hermit! He’s a wonderfully fleshed out and unique character, and we’re interested to see how he fits into the mix as a neutral player, Alex! Make sure to follow the checklist and send us your account within 48 hours! WELCOME TO THE ARCANA RING, ALEX. WE HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR STAY.

Out Of Character Information

Name: Alex

Pronouns: He/Him

Age: 21

In Character Information

Skeleton: The Hermit

Faceclaim: Freddie Highmore, Logan Lerman, Nicholas Hoult, Tom Holland

Full Name: Gavin Mason Crow

Age: 25

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Asexual

A Note: I have written Gavin as having Asperger’s Syndrome. This is a form of Autism that affects his ability to socialize and communicate well. It is currently diagnosed as a part of Autism Spectrum Disorder, but at Gavin’s age he would have been given the diagnosis of Asperger’s. I have worked extensively with this disorder and am quite well informed on it. As with all things, I will do my best to address this topic as respectfully as possible. However, if you have concerns or questions about this, please let me know. I will explain how this affects him in the personality section.

Character Bio:

Past:

Gavin was born the third of four to an overwhelmed and underprepared middle-class family. The children were born close together, only four years between Gavin and his older brother and less than two between him and his younger sister. Four under seven was a handful in and of itself, but it became worse as it became obvious that Gavin was lagging behind the others. At first, his frazzled parents just assumed the delayed improvement was just him growing up at his own pace. However, as his younger sister’s vocabulary started to surpass his and he started to pull away even more from spending time with his siblings, his parents realized that perhaps there was something a bit more going on with their youngest son. It was the meltdowns, occurring nearly every time things got too loud or bright, that eventually got them to give up and seek professional help.

He was eight before the diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome was given. To the boy, the diagnosis unsurprisingly meant nothing, not even worth a pause in his current fascination of counting items around the room. However, to his parents this news was devastating, they had maintained hope that this was something “fixable” and not something that would stay with their son for the rest of his life. There was an upside to the diagnosis though, now that they knew the issue steps could be taken to work with it. Through therapy, Gavin did begin to speak more frequently and was starting to get better control over his meltdowns. While still quirky and behind where was “normal” for his age range, he was finally making progress.

By middle school, he was at the same intelligence level as peers his age, which meant that he could join the regular classes most of the day. This may have been good for his education, but it was very hard on him personally. He still had very poor social skills and got obsessive over his special interests. That, in combination with the fact that he came from the special education wing, did not bode well for his social status. He was bullied mercilessly when his siblings weren’t around. His older brothers got in a lot of fights those years, but Gavin did not care about the teasing he got on a regular basis. He just cared about his action figures and finding people who wouldn’t interrupt him when he told them about all that he had collected. Those people were few and far between though, and that, more than the bullying, made him feel like there was something wrong with him.

           High school was a better time. Gavin was still more socially awkward than your average freshman geek was, but at least now people knew better than to mock the guy with Asperger’s. He wasn’t exactly a bright student, but he was average. Until, one day when he was 16, he discovered the love of his life: computers. Obviously, he had seen and used computers before, but the first semester of his junior year he took a programming course and everything just clicked. Code was something that he could understand and manipulate. Unlike other people, he could hold a conversation with a computer, telling it what needed to be done and how to do it and getting the results he wanted. He learned code quickly, once he sets his mind to something it won’t take him long to get it done.

           Computers weren’t the only thing that made that class great though, there was also George. Despite high schoolers being kinder than their middle school selves, Gavin still did not have any friends outside of his siblings. This did not really bother him, per se, but he still was quite pleased by the prospect of having someone to discuss his newfound love with. George did not mind that Gavin would ramble on about the same things that they had talked about yesterday, nor did he really care that the other boy wouldn’t really carry on a conversation about something else that often. They would stay up late coding little programs and turning hacking into a game, taking turns playing the defender while the other tried to get past firewall after firewall. Their friendship forced Gavin to go outside of his comfort zone. It did not take long for him to realize that George was going to do things whether Gavin wanted to or not. So, if he wanted to talk to George about the code that they had been working on the night before, he had to go to the comic book store whether he wanted to or not.

           Once he had graduated high school, Gavin was a bit lost. There was a sudden loss of structure in his life that he had relied on, and George was moving away to go to university. Gavin wanted to follow his friend to university, but just going to the campus tour was enough to show him and his parents that being on site for university was not going to be for him. He ended up in a two year online program for computer sciences. This was the first time Gavin was actually bothered by his disability. He saw his siblings and friend move out and away, while he was still at home dependent on his parents. It was a feeling that he couldn’t fully shake, that he wasn’t “right” like the others were.

           After finishing his degree, things started to look up. His father’s company needed a part time computer tech and he was able to find freelance coding jobs on the side. It wasn’t exactly a high paying position, but it was a stable income and he enjoyed the work. Plus, he wasn’t expected to work face to face with others, most of his work could be done from home and that which couldn’t was usually by himself as well. Eventually he was able to make enough that he could move into a modest apartment for himself, not too far from his parents but enough that he felt more independent.

Present:

           Since then, Gavin has continued to do well for himself. In the five years since he graduated, he has built a name for himself in freelance coding. He also managed to build a name for himself in the hacker communities. Initially, the hacking jobs had been a way to connect with George despite being separated, a sort of competition of who could do the most impressive hacks. They wouldn’t mess up anything, just get enough evidence to prove that they had done it.  As time went on, George took part in this less and less, but Gavin thrived in the environment and continued to share his accomplishments with the online community well after his friend had fallen off the radar.

           It was likely this infamy that had the Arcana knocking on his door late one night. He didn’t want to open the door, but the pounding was so insistent that he feared they would come in one way or another. They didn’t really give him much choice in the matter, simply giving him instructions and a date to have it done by and motivating him with the threat of revealing who he was to the authorities. Gavin may not always be the fastest on the uptake with veiled statements, but he was able to tell that the authorities would not be as amused by his hacking escapades as the other hackers. So, he did the job, and he did it well. It was a fairly simple task, but the mob paid well. He became accustomed to their requests, though he would always refuse their offers to have him join. He is, after all, a freelancer.

Personality:

           Gavin has Asperger’s Syndrome. This disorder affects him in a few different ways, but the main one is his ability to socialize. He can have a hard time socializing, understanding social cues, and properly expressing himself. His speech is more formal than that of his peers, and he struggles to understand idioms and slang. He will take people at their word most of the time, and will have a hard time understand jokes and sarcasm. He can be a bit of a chatter box, and will ramble on about the things that he is currently interested in at great length if given the chance. He has a hard time sorting his thoughts into private thoughts and thoughts to verbalized, so if surprised or nervous he often blurts out whatever is on his mind. Another effect of his disorder is that he does not like changes in his routine, and will often get upset at differences that others might consider inconsequential. Despite being generally free of any outside deadlines and expectations, Gavin will set strict routines and schedules for himself to follow. Finally, his Asperger’s has come with two other diagnosis, general anxiety disorder and sensory processing disorder. His anxiety is well managed with his medication, but the sensory processing will still affect him if put in a situation with too much external stimuli.

           He comes off as rather cold or anxious to those who do not know him. He may also come off as cold to those he does care about, but that is not truly the case. Instead it is just because he has a hard time showing care and empathy. He looks up to people who are able to do what he is not, such as The Chariot who is able to experience the world out in it instead of just from behind the computer screen. He will not pay attention or will get frustrated with subjects that do not interest or affect him. However, he gets overly excited about things that he does care about. He does have anxiety issues that become apparent in situations that make him nervous. However, in the day to day he usually seems content and has a generally positive outlook on things.

Extras:

-          Gavin’s cat is a charcoal gray ragdoll named Smokey. He got him when he was first moving out of his parent’s house so that he would not be completely alone. Thus far the this has proven to be sufficient companionship for Gavin, and Smokey is rather spoiled.

-          Aside from coding and hacking, Gavin’s only other special interest right now is online card collecting games. His favorite is Hearthstone because he views it as the most accessible; however, he also frequently plays Elder Scrolls: Legends, Hex: Shards of Fate, Magic Online, and Faeria. This interest is the only thing he spends money one outside of the basic requirements for living and working. Whenever a new expansion for one of these games comes out, he will purchase packs until he has a complete collection of all the cards. Since these games are based in strategy, something Gavin easily understands, he usually ranks well. However, he gets easily frustrated if he is put up against decks that do not follow the current meta because he doesn’t know what to expect from them. He does not understand why people would play things that are not the strongest of their class.

-          The rise of Amazon and other online ordering services has served Gavin well. Since he views leaving the house as unnecessary, he orders everything he needs online. He has this process almost down to a science, and has a monthly schedule for when everything needs to be reordered in order to be there when he needs it.

-          Gavin has two handles that he uses for his hacking job. The first one is his personal one, under which most of his achievements are known. Under this identity, he does hacking for the fun of it and to prove that he can. This handle is the most well known in online communities and is TheCr0w. It is pulled from his last name, though if asked he will say it is because he likes the bird, which is one of the few instances Gavin will lie in.

-          The second handle is TheHermit. This name is pulled from the nickname that he overheard Justice calling him one day, apparently a moniker that was becoming quite common around the Arcana Ring. Under this handle, he does all of his mob related hacking jobs. This is in hopes that if he gets caught under one, the actions of the other will remain secret.

Proposed Relationships: Subject to change, I don’t really like fleshing relationships out much without the other person’s input. orz

-          His Family: Gavin still maintains a good relationship with his parents and siblings. They are the only people he will leave his apartment to see. His siblings are spread out throughout France, but his parents live a few blocks away so he will go have dinner with them every Sunday. His mother especially worries about him on his own, but he’s proven himself capable of taking care of himself… and calling her when he’s not.

-          George: Their friendship lasted until a year after George finished his degree. After that point, he got busy with work and a girl, and stopped having time for hacking with Gavin. Gavin doesn’t have any ill will about it though, he understands that most people aren’t like him: content with just a computer and a cat.

-          The Chariot: A friendship that Gavin really didn’t expect when he first hopped into Rowen’s car on the way to a job that required him to be on site. But there was something about driver that appealed to him. Perhaps it was his personality, or perhaps it was just the fact that Gavin admires how Rowen can be out in the world seeing it for himself instead of hiding behind a computer screen, but Gavin always enjoys their time together. Even if it usually is just the occasional taxi’ing in the dark.

-          Justice: Yet another friend Gavin didn’t expect to make. He’s always known what Louis was, and despite his normal anxiety, he just does not have trouble near the silent man. There’s a sense of purpose and justice to Louis that Gavin admires, a willingness to do things that are right and not just what he wants that Gavin has such a hard time emulating and understanding. Plus, the silent assassin seems willing to listen to the hacker’s nervous rambling which always helps Gavin’s opinion of someone.

-          Death: Gavin does not really know what about Jackson makes him so nervous, but something surely does. Most of the Ring and its associates have become familiar enough to him that they only trigger the normal amount of anxiety, but Death is an extreme outlier. There feels like a darkness over Jackson that just sucks the confidence out of Gavin, especially when the older man tries to get him to meet his eyes. Gavin avoids being alone with Death and will grow silent when near him.

Mock Blog: thecr0wsnest.tumblr.com highly under construction at time of submission