Post by Rowan Chitwick on Mar 16, 2016 13:17:29 GMT -8
ROWAN CHITWICK
"A character quote of your choice."
"A character quote of your choice."
The Basics
Full Name: Rowan Bay Chitwick
Nickname/Alias: Roe, "Lab Rat"
Species: Brown rat
Gender: Agender (They/Them)
Age: 33
Occupation: Crime Scene Investigator, ZPD
Appearance
Fur/Tail: As one would expect of a typical "lab rat," Rowan's short fur is mostly white but for an aberrant smattering of speckles across the bridge of their long snout. A few similar 'birthmarks' appear on the back of their right hand. The skin that peeks through around their hands, feet, ears, eyes, nose, and tail is pale pink and burs easily, so they need to cover up or apply copious amounts of sunscreen if the weather's nice in Zootopia. Their whiskers are unusually curly, an odd but totally natural quirk. What's not so natural is their reddish coloration; they dye them (not that anyone much larger than them would notice.) Their tail is long, furless, and 'creepy,' according to some people.
Clothing: Rowan largely dresses to fit the occasion. In the lab, it's the standard ZPD uniform – navy polo, navy pants, black belt – but with a white lab coat on top. As long as their nitpickier superiors don't get on their case about it, though, they'll mix up the look with a variety of differently patterned neckties. The colors are muted enough to not stand out, and they barely show anyway, so they'll often get away with it even if it's not 'uniform standard.' On the off chance they're called out to a crime scene, the uniform is paired with appropriate Personal Protective Equipment. What, exactly, this PPE entails largely depends on the type of scene, but latex gloves, a face mask, a hate, and goggles are always a requirement. For particularly sensitive cases they may have to wear a full body suit to avoid contaminating the evidence.
Off-duty, Rowan's a big fan of casual dress. T-shirts and denim jeans are favorites, and the former are usually of the 'nerdy' variety. Things like the IbeX-Files and Jaguar Trek and other terrible animal puns on great entertainment. When the weather gets cold they bundle up in hoodies or, when absolutely necessary, a peacoat and a scarf. Rowan loathes dressing up, but will reluctantly don a pantsuit when they have to. They'd secretly like to try a dress sometime, but self-consciousness prevents them from doing so.
They're never seen without their big, round glasses, even when they need to be shoved under giant lab goggles. Being nearsighted sucks.
Overview: Rowan's a little on the chubby side as rats go, with round cheeks and flabby arms. It certainly doesn't help that they're on the shorter side of average rat height, either, but truth is they could really use more exercise. They tend to be a little clumsy on foot, which is part of the reason they're usually relegated to the lab… but they try to be careful on the job. Off duty, they're likely to run into a telephone pole if they aren't paying attention. Their posture is often a little hunched, as if they're trying to look as small as possible.
Their eyes are a dark shade of red, and their eyesight is pretty bad. The glasses help, but they're basically blind without them. They're left-pawed and have awful handwriting.
Personality
Personality Description: Can you say 'insecure?' Rowan's an incredibly anxious sort of rat, especially when it comes to social interaction. They tend to squeak and stammer the first time they talk to someone, always nervously twirling their curly whiskers and never quite meeting anyone's eye. They're especially nervous of their superiors at work and, by extension, any sort of hotshot popular detective.
Still, if you can draw them out of their shell, Rowan's actually not all that shy after all. They're just nervous of new people, really. The moment anything nerdy or otherwise aligning with their interests is mentioned they perk up considerably. They can and will talk at length about DNA fingerprinting and variable numbers of tandem repeats if prompted, and by the same token will discuss their favorite episodes and fan theories about their various 'nerd things,' which tends to be how they make most of their friends. They're passionate about their interests really quite driven to succeed, even when it's out of a misplaced drive to prove themself to others. Still, even one tiny social slip-up will send them scurrying back into their protective shell of awkwardness and silence, and they're easily upset by perceived rejection.
When they're comfortable with someone, they tend to show it through light, sarcastic teasing. Unfortunately, this can occasionally get the better of them since they're not great at reading social cues.One would think they'd learn, considering how much they hate upsetting people... but so far they haven't.
Despite their passion for their job and how much they love doing it, Rowan is occasionally stricken by a deep-seated apathy and desire to withdraw from the world as a whole. Truth is, they don't like themself very much, and feel like they're not very useful or helpful and like no one really wants them around. It's very hard for them to see their own merits, but they try their best not to be a disappointment anyway.
Strengths:
- Familiarity with fingerprinting and DNA analysis.
- A decent (if sarcastic and morbid) sense of humor… if they're comfortable with you.
- Thinking outside the box to solve problems.
- Pretty good at cooking. It's just extended chemistry or… something. Maybe it's a rat thing?
- Great with technology. They know their way around a computer.
Weaknesses
- Incredible amounts of social anxiety.
- Clumsiness, nearsightedness, and overall lack of physical prowess.
- Somewhat gullible and easily fooled.
- Tends to be messy and disorganized.
- Comes off as emotionally detached to the point of callousness.
Likes:
- "Nerd things:" mostly certain video games and TV shows.
- Food. Pretty much any food, especially if it involves cheese.
- Their job.
- Reading and other quiet, solitary activities.
Dislikes/Fears:
- Any stereotype involving "dirty" rats. The "lab rat" thing can get grating too, honestly.
- Themselves. Self-loathing is in this season.
- A whole laundry list of fears, from general existential dread to accidentally leaving the stove on. They're not exactly hard to intimidate.
History
History: Brown rats are something of a divided species. On one hand, there are the sneaky, thieving ones that are rumored to be dirty pests and get something of a bad rap. On the other, there are the white-coated lab rats, "neurotic braniacs" who work in Fillycon Valley and make the chips that go in your smartphone or the chemicals that go into your shampoo. Rowan's family belongs decidedly to the latter group, as almost anyone could guess. They grew up in a city entirely populated by mice and rats, most of whom worked on micro-scale electrical engineering in some way.
Of course, compared to the geniuses, Rowan was always sort of... average. They were the oldest of seven siblings, and didn't really have a very unusual childhood at all. For a long time, they really weren't sure what they wanted to do. They just knew that they weren't terribly interested in following in their father's footsteps and working at the chip factory.
There was one thing they'd always liked though: science. Specifically, they'd always really enjoyed biology and chemistry classes, so they went off to the local public university with that in mind.
Freshmen were required to take a seminar course in some random subject, and on a whim they chose to take a criminal forensics class. They'd always enjoyed mysteries, after all, and a lot of the other classes had already filled up. It turned out to be one of the most pivotal decisions in their life, and after that they knew exactly what they wanted to do.
They graduated with grades that were just on the higher side of average and went on to get the rest of the education they needed to become a forensic scientist. At first, they didn't even really have the criminal aspect in mind. Their first job actually mostly involved running paternity tests, but it was rather depressing work at times. Given that, they practically jumped at the opportunity to transfer into the local precinct, and for a while things went very well. For the first time in their life, Rowan felt like they belonged somewhere. They made friends, ran tests, and generally just felt, for the first time in their life, like everything was going pretty well.
...And then the mammal inclusion initiative happened.
Rowan wasn't supposed to be a part of it, but the experiment with a certain rabbit officer had gone so well. When the local precinct needed to make cutbacks for funding reasons, the forensics department was one of the first to get hit... and Rowan was offered an ultimatum: get laid off, or transfer to Zootopia. Precinct 1. City Center.
One thing led to another, and now they're moving to Zootopia and pretty bitter about the whole thing.
Roleplay Sample: --
And All The Rest
How You Found Us: A friend directed me here but hasn't joined yet sooo ^^;
Alias: Bees
Comments: As you can see, I am just a stunning artist. (I'll get real art of Rowan someday haha.)
Codewords: [CORRECT]