08-28-2019, 10:08 PM
Birth Name: Sterling Errol Beckett Jr.
Alias(es): Just Sterling is fine.
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Age: 26
Occupation: Self-employed Pokemon Hunter/Exterminator. Formerly a chimney sweep, dockhouse worker, stablehand, and a dozen other odd jobs for short periods of time.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Height: 6'3''
Weight: Around 180
Build: Muscular
Skin: White.
Hair: Messy short brown hair with a tinge of red to it.
Eyes: Green.
Identifying Marks: Nothing long-term yet, but hands, arms are often covered with cuts, bruises, and burns. Hands are heavily calloused.
PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE
Personality Overview: Sterling keeps to himself most of the time, unless someone something to offer him. Otherwise, he is brusque and unfriendly with most people. He is unafraid of the opinions of others, and rarely allows others to rattle him. Amelia is his weakness and his strength - she is the only person he cares about in the world, and so she is the only person that can bypass this callousness he has presented as his personality. To those he considers important (See: Amelia and to a lesser degree his Pokemon) he is overprotective, doting, and sometimes a little bit overbearing.
Goals: Provide for himself and his sister, Amelia, and to survive as long as possible. Also, though he perhaps hasn't quite realized it, he wants to become a successful Pokemon hunter. Not so much for the fame or glory, but for the money and for the thrill.
PERSONAL HISTORY
Sterling Errol Beckett Jr. was the first child of Sterling Errol Beckett Sr. and his beautiful wife, Joyce. Sterling Sr. was a miner for most of his life, working at one of the many quarries on the outskirts of Avarice. Joy was a paramedic and first-responder from a family with a long history of medical expertise. They couldn't have been happier. They worked long and hard hours for modest wages, but their lives were full of love. Doubly blessed were they when Amelia Fae Beckett, their daughter, was born two years after Sterling Jr.
Perhaps in another life, the family would have lived happily ever after. But Sterling Beckett Sr. was, after all, a Bad-Luck Beckett. While some scoff at the superstition surrounding the family, the fact remains that half of the Becketts don't live to see thirty-five, and half of those don't live to see forty, while none have ever seen the age of fifty. Some say the family is cursed, a dozen theories of ancestors disturbing burial grounds, delving into dark secrets, or tempting fate itself.
Sterling Sr. proved to be of the first bracket. He was buried in a mining collapse twelve years ago, when he was thirty-five. Joyce was among the first-responders there to extract him and the other workers from the rubble. That was when she was buried in the aftershock.
Sterling was fourteen at the time, Amelia twelve. The newly-orphaned Becketts were devastated, but had little time to mourn. Sterling grew up overnight. He had to, for Amelia's sake. Sterling sold the family's home, sold their father's mudsdale, Tucker, and dropped out of primary school. He began working any odd job he could, from paperboy to stablehand. As he got older, and stronger, he was able to take on more physically-demanding and dangerous jobs. He worked as a warehouse laborer, a chimney sweep, a bouncer.
Eventually, about four or so years back, he landed a job an exterminator. It fell to him to clean out the pests of the world - rattata in the streets, zubats in the belfry, that sort of thing. It wasn't a pleasant job, but it was a well-paying one, and one that Sterling excelled at.
About a year ago, Sterling was dispatched to sweep the sewers. The rich and famous, and their big businesses, rarely cared about the refuse that poured into the sewers, and every now and then, grimer and other toxic pokemon would coagulate in the underbelly of Avarice. When it became too burdensome, or perhaps when a dead pauper showed up in the streets, someone like Sterling would be called in to clean up. He had almost completed his task that evening when he was nearly carved into ribbons by a feraligator. Through luck, or perhaps the lack of it, the beast had been wounded, otherwise Sterling would have joined the Bad-Luck Becketts. But somehow, he bested the monster, and the half of him that was still conscious limped and bled his way back to the apartment he shared with his sister.
He was terrified. And alive.
The day after he could walk without feeling like his insides were going to spill out, he bought his first gun. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Secrets: Sterling, like all Becketts, has a little bit of a thrill-seeking side, and has recently discovered the thrills to be found in hunting powerful pokemon, though has not realized this either consciously or unconsciously. Because he is only slightly concerned with his own safety, if the adrenaline-rush of a satisfying hunt draws him in more, that rush could become a dangerous flaw and strength both.
SOCIAL CONNECTIONS
Immediate Family
Amelia Fae Beckett: Amelia (or Amy, as Sterling calls her) is everything to Sterling. Caring for her became the core part of Sterling's personality growing up, after he discarded his childhood as unecessary. This lead to a lot of tension between the two in their teenage years, as Sterling nearly pushed her away indefinitely by trying to provide too much. The two worked out their differences (with a great deal of shouting) long ago, however, and are and have always been inseperable. The two have lived together their entire lives, and have bounced from apartment to apartment since selling their home. Amy is one of the few people that can actually punch through Sterling's callous and uncaring demeanor, and his opinions on individuals and things is often shaped by how they treat Amelia, or how Amelia perceives them.
Sterling Beckett Sr.: A miner, father, and all-around good man, Sterling Sr. was a role model to his son. He was genial, kind, and welcoming, and generally went out of his way to make other people smile and laugh. He never sweat the small stuff, and never let his children see his worries over finances or his own health. As a child, Sterling wanted to be just like him. Now, he sees the fact that being like his father would likely have lead to his own death earlier than it will likely come. One could say that Sterling's smile was buried alongside his parents.
Joyce Beckett: Joyce Beckett was too good to live, it seems. Coming from a family with a storied history of medical professionalism, Joy approached motherhood with the bedside manner of a veteran nurse. She was kind, but strict. She always went out of her way to care for the kids, or Sterling Sr., when they would fall ill, and made sure they ate a balanced diet full of nutrients and variety so that they would grow up healthy and strong. She was fearless and inspiring. So moved by his mother's courage was he that Sterling Jr., as a child, had wanted to be just like her. She even taught him a few basic things about first aid, which have come in handy over the years. However, her selflessness lead to her death. Sterling is keenly aware of that fact. He buried those dreams alongside his parents as well.
The Bad Luck Becketts - Cousins Near and Far
Joseph "Junior" Beckett Jr.: Junior is the eldest of this generation of Becketts at the ripe age of 32. He's a normal guy with normal problems, like being frustrated at being called 'Junior' even though he's the oldest, and even though he's not the only 'Junior' in the group. He's got a wife and two kids, too. Because of that, he's terrified of the old Curse. He's afraid to die, and afraid to leave his family without him. Because of that, it's become something of an obsession - he's always talking about it, and how he wishes he could change jobs to do something safer. Tori and Winnie are his younger sisters, and he berates them for their choice of exceptionally-dangerous careers constantly. He has a magnemite named Zap and a galvantula named Zip that help him with his work.
Letitia Lynch: The most grim of the Bad-Luck Becketts, Letitia is the next oldest at the age of 30. She's a mortitian with an uncomfortably bubbly personality, and a terrible sense of black humor that never, ever, ever lands right. This leads her to no end of difficulties, especially in the dating scene. Her misdreavus, Mindy, certainly doesn't help - she is exceptionally judgemental of any candidates that would try to woo her friend, and has scared many gentleman callers far, far away (if Letitia didn't do so herslef, that is.) Lydia is her younger sister.
Jennifer "Jenny" Wakefield: Jenny's a cop. A great cop, at that She married her sweetheart from the police academy a few years back, and is now the third eldest at the age of 28. Well, technically she's tied for third with her twin brother, Oscar. She loves her job, she loves her family, and she loves her city. She's a dutiful, lawful sort that gives no quarter to ne'er-do-wells, but with a loyalty as fierce as her growlithe, Gordon.
Oscar Beckett: Oscar is Jenny's twin brother. Confident, kind, and intelligent, Oscar is a professor of alchemy at one of the institutes in the city. He is an expert of pokemon physiology, and of chemical compounds. Unlike his sister, he has few friends and has never shown any interest in finding a partner. He is content to live in his house, alone, with his dunsparce, Dudley. He makes sure to take breaks from his curriculum and his research to have dinner with his sister, and sometimes other members of the family, at least once a week. However, Jenny always hosts. Whenever asked if he could host at his house, he would politely decline, stating that his house is a "perpetual mess."
Miles Beckett: Miles is a construction worker, and is the sixth oldest, younger than Sterling by just a few days (a fact he has never gotten over.) He considers Sterling his rival, but Sterling couldn't give a shit about Miles. He's a bit of a braggard, wholly unafraid of the Beckett curse. He's engaged to his high-school sweetheart, though she doesn't seem to come around very much. Baxter is his younger half-brother, but you wouldn't know by looking at them. He didn't help the kid very much when their father died, and spent most of his time bullyinig his younger brother for his "Stupid-ass" aspirations towards becoming an explorer. He has an ariados that aids in his construction work, and the webs it spins have saved his life on more than one occasion.
Victoria "Tori" Beckett: Tori's around the same age as Amelia, but it wouldn't be wise to remind her of that In the same way that Miles considers Sterling his rival, Tori considers Amelia hers - but the feeling is mutual. She's the middle child between Winnie and Junior. She's a sailor on the high seas, and is fearless as the storm and bold as the wind. With her magikarp and wingull at her side, there's nothing she can't do. She's confident, capable, and gorgeous; all traits that Amy hates, and Tori knows it. She's prone to goading her cousin whenever the two meet, which isn't very often. Like oil and water, they are. Sterling will never tell his sister this, but he doesn't actually mind Victoria at all Probably because she reminds him so much of Amelia.
Winifred "Winnie" Beckett: Winnifred is almost exactly nine months younger than Tori. She's a storm chaser, as if the Beckett Curse wasn't prolific enough. She has no preservation instinct, much to Junior's chagrin. She acts like she has never felt fear in her life, doubly so when science is on the line. She is, however, incredibly smart, and could absolutely excel as a professor if she could sit down for more than three minutes. She's a bit of an airhead, but her castform does wonders for keeping her focused and her head out of the clouds.
Abigail Beckett: Abby's a curious case, she is. She was just an every-day reporter for a long time. But that was when she met Merit. Merit changed her life, and opened her eyes to the truth that was staring her in the face all along. The systemic oppression and cruelties that built the city upon blood, sweat, and tears of pokemon. Did I mention that Merit was a kadabra? Needless to say, she's been romantically involved with him for many years now, and her reporting has become largely burn pieces. She's become an indredibly vocal, incredibly radicalized Pokemon Rights Activist, and can be found digging up dirt alongside her emolga and Merit (who is NOT her pokemon! He is her LOVER and to assume otherwise is indicative of the corruption that this city is built upon!) at the picket fence wherever it may appear.
Harvey Pryce: Harvey is a simple man. He's a 21-year-old railroad worker. He's dumb enough to make his bibarel look like a flux chemist, but strong enough to make a machoke look like he's been skipping days at the gym. He's a gentle giant in every sense of the word, and he considers his bibarel to be his best bud. He's a good guy.
Lydia Lynch: Lydia is Letitia's younger sister, but you probably couldn't tell beyond appearance. Unlike her sister, Lydia is made of sheer charisma. A Pokemon Trainer by trade, Lydia has already challenged several gyms by the age of 19. A rising star in the professional battle circuit, she's bold, intrepid, and ruthless. A bit vicious and uncompromising, her squirtle, chimeko, and teddiursa have discipline that could make a soldier balk.
Baxter Beckett: Baxter, Baxter, Baxter. The youngest of the cousins at the age of 18, Baxter's a poor, excited kid. He never knew his parents, and spent most of his formative years hopping couches among his cousins and his good-for-nothing brother. He came to seriously admire Amy, and to a lesser degree, Sterling, during his time spent with them, and has expressed that he wishes to be just like them more than once. A wanna-be explorer, Baxter hopes to one day leave with his farfetch'd to join Algernon Tindel's crew, or to start his own. Baxter is pluckiness and optimism personified.
Associates
Raymond Morris: Mr. Morris ("Please, son, call me Ray") had nothing but respect for Sterling Sr. He was a hard worker and a good man, and the two would get drinks every Friday after the whistle blew. When the mine collapsed, he was devastated in more ways than one, but his heart broke when he saw young Sterling and Amelia, who had to fend for themselves. He did everything he could to help them financially. He even allowed them to move into his own house for a time, until he was able to get them another place to live. It was pretty obvious that he wanted to adopt Amy and Sterling, but they didn't want another father. And so, they kept him at just enough distance to make Ray always wish he could have done more. However, the mine's collapse ruined the man, and eventually he was forced to sell it to the Tindel family and retire. He still visits from time to time, and still invites Sterling out for drinks (he declines more often than not), and he always sends cards and money on birthdays and gifts. At times, Sterling feels bad for keeping ol' Ray at arm's length, but it would have been too painful to do anything else.
Juliette Parker: Juliette is the owner of the independent pokemon extermination firm that Sterling took contracts from for the last several years. She is a tough-as-nails woman who takes no excuses whatsoever. She is incredibly fair but uncompromising. She relies on no one, having been kicked from her home at a young age for discovering that she wished not to be a son. She is humorless, likely due to being in a job that literally doles out death. She was disappointed in Sterling for his choice to begin taking hunting contracts instead of her more stable (and less needlessly dangerous) enterprise, but she has thus far been willing to work with his reduced schedule.
Chelsey Lane: Chelsey owns the cornerstore and the apartment that Sterling and Amelia live in. He's a little terrified of the duo. Sterling has bled all over his storefront, bought an increasingly large number of guns over the past year, and has never smiled in his life (from Chelsey's perspective.) Amelia, on the other hand, careens through the sky on a rickety death machine while cavorting with the rich and famous like it's nothing. He probably wishes he could evict the two, but is too afraid of what might happen if he tried. He's definitely keeping that security deposit when they leave, though. If they leave.
Amy's Pokemon
Airheart: Airheart is a part of the family, as far as Sterling is concerned. Amelia's had this pidgy for as long as he can remember, and he's more useful than most people he deals with on a daily basis. He cares about Airheart almost as much as Amelia does, and almost as much as he does for Amelia.
Natu: Natu, on the other hand... Natu just... showed up one day. The enigmatic bird-orb is so inscruitable, so... Words don't really describe it. Sterling wishes that it would disappear as soon as it appeared, but is afraid to try anything due to his skittish nature towards psychic and ghost pokemon. That said, it has now been around long enough that Sterling has begun to become desensitized to the weirdness that the creature imposes upon their lives.
The Magnificent Puff "Maggie": The Magnificent Puff is a swablu that Sterling bought for Amelia's 24th birthday. She's a little bundle of fluff that was just too damn cute for him not to buy his bird-loving sister. She's pretty damnable useless right now, but after she gets through his 'tearing up the pillows and stuffing his wings with the fluff' phase. It's hard to be mad at the little orb, though.
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POKEMON ROSTER
Name: Ves
Species: Sandshrew
Gender: Female
Level: 10
Identifying Marks: Ves is overweight for a sandshrew. She is also calm, lax, and not very active. She spends more time sleeping than anything else.
Personality: Once Ves, was spirited and helpful. However, after the accident twelve years ago, a pall of misery follows her around no matter where she goes. She has improved over the years, of course, but there is an ever-present sadness that accompanies her no matter what. She is, however, incredibly gentle, loving, and caring, and one of the few things that rouses her from her slumber is when she senses emotional turmoil coming from Sterling or Amelia. This is, thankfully, not very often.
Acquisition: Ves was originally Sterling Sr.'s pokemon. She's older than Sterling, so she's been a constant companion his whole life. She acted as a protective guardian for the kids when their mom and dad worked long hours, and always followed them around everywhere and made sure they stayed out of danger. She was present when the mine collapsed. The fact that she survived, and Sterling Sr. didn't, caused Sterling Jr. to lash out at the sandshrew when it turned up a few days later. He struck her, yelled at her, blamed her for abandoning his father... but Ves never left. Years later, Sterling would realize how horrible he had been to the sandshrew, and to this day does everything he can to make it up to her. He pampers the poor girl, takes her for walks, and shells out for her favorite food whenever he can get her to eat.
Name: Zaroff "Big Z"
Species: Totodile
Gender: Male
Level: 10
Identifying Marks: While most totodile are an aqua color, Big Z is more of a teal, with dark green-blue fins instead of red. His mother shared the same coloration.
Personality: Big Z is a very young totodile, less than a year hatched. Because of this, everything is food. He is still learning how to function as a pokemon, and his personality is still revealing itself, as children are wont to do. Though Sterling has no idea how to raise a pokemon properly, he's doing his best, and he loves the little guy in spite of the hassle he can be and the chewed gloves.
Acquisition: After Sterling's clandestine encounter with the feraligator in the sewers, he encountered a single unbroken egg within its nest. He barely remembers taking the egg, as injured and hyped up on adrenaline as he was, but he did. When it later hatched, Sterling was the first thing he saw. Henceforth, he has been the little guy's mom, a replacement for the one that was slain at Sterling's hand.
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FUTURE ACQUISITIONS?
None. Sterling is a pokemon hunter, not a pokemon trainer - another 'mon is another mouth to feed, another ball to maintain. But... well, we'll see what happens.
Alias(es): Just Sterling is fine.
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Age: 26
Occupation: Self-employed Pokemon Hunter/Exterminator. Formerly a chimney sweep, dockhouse worker, stablehand, and a dozen other odd jobs for short periods of time.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Height: 6'3''
Weight: Around 180
Build: Muscular
Skin: White.
Hair: Messy short brown hair with a tinge of red to it.
Eyes: Green.
Identifying Marks: Nothing long-term yet, but hands, arms are often covered with cuts, bruises, and burns. Hands are heavily calloused.
PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE
Personality Overview: Sterling keeps to himself most of the time, unless someone something to offer him. Otherwise, he is brusque and unfriendly with most people. He is unafraid of the opinions of others, and rarely allows others to rattle him. Amelia is his weakness and his strength - she is the only person he cares about in the world, and so she is the only person that can bypass this callousness he has presented as his personality. To those he considers important (See: Amelia and to a lesser degree his Pokemon) he is overprotective, doting, and sometimes a little bit overbearing.
Goals: Provide for himself and his sister, Amelia, and to survive as long as possible. Also, though he perhaps hasn't quite realized it, he wants to become a successful Pokemon hunter. Not so much for the fame or glory, but for the money and for the thrill.
PERSONAL HISTORY
Sterling Errol Beckett Jr. was the first child of Sterling Errol Beckett Sr. and his beautiful wife, Joyce. Sterling Sr. was a miner for most of his life, working at one of the many quarries on the outskirts of Avarice. Joy was a paramedic and first-responder from a family with a long history of medical expertise. They couldn't have been happier. They worked long and hard hours for modest wages, but their lives were full of love. Doubly blessed were they when Amelia Fae Beckett, their daughter, was born two years after Sterling Jr.
Perhaps in another life, the family would have lived happily ever after. But Sterling Beckett Sr. was, after all, a Bad-Luck Beckett. While some scoff at the superstition surrounding the family, the fact remains that half of the Becketts don't live to see thirty-five, and half of those don't live to see forty, while none have ever seen the age of fifty. Some say the family is cursed, a dozen theories of ancestors disturbing burial grounds, delving into dark secrets, or tempting fate itself.
Sterling Sr. proved to be of the first bracket. He was buried in a mining collapse twelve years ago, when he was thirty-five. Joyce was among the first-responders there to extract him and the other workers from the rubble. That was when she was buried in the aftershock.
Sterling was fourteen at the time, Amelia twelve. The newly-orphaned Becketts were devastated, but had little time to mourn. Sterling grew up overnight. He had to, for Amelia's sake. Sterling sold the family's home, sold their father's mudsdale, Tucker, and dropped out of primary school. He began working any odd job he could, from paperboy to stablehand. As he got older, and stronger, he was able to take on more physically-demanding and dangerous jobs. He worked as a warehouse laborer, a chimney sweep, a bouncer.
Eventually, about four or so years back, he landed a job an exterminator. It fell to him to clean out the pests of the world - rattata in the streets, zubats in the belfry, that sort of thing. It wasn't a pleasant job, but it was a well-paying one, and one that Sterling excelled at.
About a year ago, Sterling was dispatched to sweep the sewers. The rich and famous, and their big businesses, rarely cared about the refuse that poured into the sewers, and every now and then, grimer and other toxic pokemon would coagulate in the underbelly of Avarice. When it became too burdensome, or perhaps when a dead pauper showed up in the streets, someone like Sterling would be called in to clean up. He had almost completed his task that evening when he was nearly carved into ribbons by a feraligator. Through luck, or perhaps the lack of it, the beast had been wounded, otherwise Sterling would have joined the Bad-Luck Becketts. But somehow, he bested the monster, and the half of him that was still conscious limped and bled his way back to the apartment he shared with his sister.
He was terrified. And alive.
The day after he could walk without feeling like his insides were going to spill out, he bought his first gun. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Secrets: Sterling, like all Becketts, has a little bit of a thrill-seeking side, and has recently discovered the thrills to be found in hunting powerful pokemon, though has not realized this either consciously or unconsciously. Because he is only slightly concerned with his own safety, if the adrenaline-rush of a satisfying hunt draws him in more, that rush could become a dangerous flaw and strength both.
SOCIAL CONNECTIONS
Immediate Family
Amelia Fae Beckett: Amelia (or Amy, as Sterling calls her) is everything to Sterling. Caring for her became the core part of Sterling's personality growing up, after he discarded his childhood as unecessary. This lead to a lot of tension between the two in their teenage years, as Sterling nearly pushed her away indefinitely by trying to provide too much. The two worked out their differences (with a great deal of shouting) long ago, however, and are and have always been inseperable. The two have lived together their entire lives, and have bounced from apartment to apartment since selling their home. Amy is one of the few people that can actually punch through Sterling's callous and uncaring demeanor, and his opinions on individuals and things is often shaped by how they treat Amelia, or how Amelia perceives them.
Sterling Beckett Sr.: A miner, father, and all-around good man, Sterling Sr. was a role model to his son. He was genial, kind, and welcoming, and generally went out of his way to make other people smile and laugh. He never sweat the small stuff, and never let his children see his worries over finances or his own health. As a child, Sterling wanted to be just like him. Now, he sees the fact that being like his father would likely have lead to his own death earlier than it will likely come. One could say that Sterling's smile was buried alongside his parents.
Joyce Beckett: Joyce Beckett was too good to live, it seems. Coming from a family with a storied history of medical professionalism, Joy approached motherhood with the bedside manner of a veteran nurse. She was kind, but strict. She always went out of her way to care for the kids, or Sterling Sr., when they would fall ill, and made sure they ate a balanced diet full of nutrients and variety so that they would grow up healthy and strong. She was fearless and inspiring. So moved by his mother's courage was he that Sterling Jr., as a child, had wanted to be just like her. She even taught him a few basic things about first aid, which have come in handy over the years. However, her selflessness lead to her death. Sterling is keenly aware of that fact. He buried those dreams alongside his parents as well.
The Bad Luck Becketts - Cousins Near and Far
Joseph "Junior" Beckett Jr.: Junior is the eldest of this generation of Becketts at the ripe age of 32. He's a normal guy with normal problems, like being frustrated at being called 'Junior' even though he's the oldest, and even though he's not the only 'Junior' in the group. He's got a wife and two kids, too. Because of that, he's terrified of the old Curse. He's afraid to die, and afraid to leave his family without him. Because of that, it's become something of an obsession - he's always talking about it, and how he wishes he could change jobs to do something safer. Tori and Winnie are his younger sisters, and he berates them for their choice of exceptionally-dangerous careers constantly. He has a magnemite named Zap and a galvantula named Zip that help him with his work.
Letitia Lynch: The most grim of the Bad-Luck Becketts, Letitia is the next oldest at the age of 30. She's a mortitian with an uncomfortably bubbly personality, and a terrible sense of black humor that never, ever, ever lands right. This leads her to no end of difficulties, especially in the dating scene. Her misdreavus, Mindy, certainly doesn't help - she is exceptionally judgemental of any candidates that would try to woo her friend, and has scared many gentleman callers far, far away (if Letitia didn't do so herslef, that is.) Lydia is her younger sister.
Jennifer "Jenny" Wakefield: Jenny's a cop. A great cop, at that She married her sweetheart from the police academy a few years back, and is now the third eldest at the age of 28. Well, technically she's tied for third with her twin brother, Oscar. She loves her job, she loves her family, and she loves her city. She's a dutiful, lawful sort that gives no quarter to ne'er-do-wells, but with a loyalty as fierce as her growlithe, Gordon.
Oscar Beckett: Oscar is Jenny's twin brother. Confident, kind, and intelligent, Oscar is a professor of alchemy at one of the institutes in the city. He is an expert of pokemon physiology, and of chemical compounds. Unlike his sister, he has few friends and has never shown any interest in finding a partner. He is content to live in his house, alone, with his dunsparce, Dudley. He makes sure to take breaks from his curriculum and his research to have dinner with his sister, and sometimes other members of the family, at least once a week. However, Jenny always hosts. Whenever asked if he could host at his house, he would politely decline, stating that his house is a "perpetual mess."
Miles Beckett: Miles is a construction worker, and is the sixth oldest, younger than Sterling by just a few days (a fact he has never gotten over.) He considers Sterling his rival, but Sterling couldn't give a shit about Miles. He's a bit of a braggard, wholly unafraid of the Beckett curse. He's engaged to his high-school sweetheart, though she doesn't seem to come around very much. Baxter is his younger half-brother, but you wouldn't know by looking at them. He didn't help the kid very much when their father died, and spent most of his time bullyinig his younger brother for his "Stupid-ass" aspirations towards becoming an explorer. He has an ariados that aids in his construction work, and the webs it spins have saved his life on more than one occasion.
Victoria "Tori" Beckett: Tori's around the same age as Amelia, but it wouldn't be wise to remind her of that In the same way that Miles considers Sterling his rival, Tori considers Amelia hers - but the feeling is mutual. She's the middle child between Winnie and Junior. She's a sailor on the high seas, and is fearless as the storm and bold as the wind. With her magikarp and wingull at her side, there's nothing she can't do. She's confident, capable, and gorgeous; all traits that Amy hates, and Tori knows it. She's prone to goading her cousin whenever the two meet, which isn't very often. Like oil and water, they are. Sterling will never tell his sister this, but he doesn't actually mind Victoria at all Probably because she reminds him so much of Amelia.
Winifred "Winnie" Beckett: Winnifred is almost exactly nine months younger than Tori. She's a storm chaser, as if the Beckett Curse wasn't prolific enough. She has no preservation instinct, much to Junior's chagrin. She acts like she has never felt fear in her life, doubly so when science is on the line. She is, however, incredibly smart, and could absolutely excel as a professor if she could sit down for more than three minutes. She's a bit of an airhead, but her castform does wonders for keeping her focused and her head out of the clouds.
Abigail Beckett: Abby's a curious case, she is. She was just an every-day reporter for a long time. But that was when she met Merit. Merit changed her life, and opened her eyes to the truth that was staring her in the face all along. The systemic oppression and cruelties that built the city upon blood, sweat, and tears of pokemon. Did I mention that Merit was a kadabra? Needless to say, she's been romantically involved with him for many years now, and her reporting has become largely burn pieces. She's become an indredibly vocal, incredibly radicalized Pokemon Rights Activist, and can be found digging up dirt alongside her emolga and Merit (who is NOT her pokemon! He is her LOVER and to assume otherwise is indicative of the corruption that this city is built upon!) at the picket fence wherever it may appear.
Harvey Pryce: Harvey is a simple man. He's a 21-year-old railroad worker. He's dumb enough to make his bibarel look like a flux chemist, but strong enough to make a machoke look like he's been skipping days at the gym. He's a gentle giant in every sense of the word, and he considers his bibarel to be his best bud. He's a good guy.
Lydia Lynch: Lydia is Letitia's younger sister, but you probably couldn't tell beyond appearance. Unlike her sister, Lydia is made of sheer charisma. A Pokemon Trainer by trade, Lydia has already challenged several gyms by the age of 19. A rising star in the professional battle circuit, she's bold, intrepid, and ruthless. A bit vicious and uncompromising, her squirtle, chimeko, and teddiursa have discipline that could make a soldier balk.
Baxter Beckett: Baxter, Baxter, Baxter. The youngest of the cousins at the age of 18, Baxter's a poor, excited kid. He never knew his parents, and spent most of his formative years hopping couches among his cousins and his good-for-nothing brother. He came to seriously admire Amy, and to a lesser degree, Sterling, during his time spent with them, and has expressed that he wishes to be just like them more than once. A wanna-be explorer, Baxter hopes to one day leave with his farfetch'd to join Algernon Tindel's crew, or to start his own. Baxter is pluckiness and optimism personified.
Associates
Raymond Morris: Mr. Morris ("Please, son, call me Ray") had nothing but respect for Sterling Sr. He was a hard worker and a good man, and the two would get drinks every Friday after the whistle blew. When the mine collapsed, he was devastated in more ways than one, but his heart broke when he saw young Sterling and Amelia, who had to fend for themselves. He did everything he could to help them financially. He even allowed them to move into his own house for a time, until he was able to get them another place to live. It was pretty obvious that he wanted to adopt Amy and Sterling, but they didn't want another father. And so, they kept him at just enough distance to make Ray always wish he could have done more. However, the mine's collapse ruined the man, and eventually he was forced to sell it to the Tindel family and retire. He still visits from time to time, and still invites Sterling out for drinks (he declines more often than not), and he always sends cards and money on birthdays and gifts. At times, Sterling feels bad for keeping ol' Ray at arm's length, but it would have been too painful to do anything else.
Juliette Parker: Juliette is the owner of the independent pokemon extermination firm that Sterling took contracts from for the last several years. She is a tough-as-nails woman who takes no excuses whatsoever. She is incredibly fair but uncompromising. She relies on no one, having been kicked from her home at a young age for discovering that she wished not to be a son. She is humorless, likely due to being in a job that literally doles out death. She was disappointed in Sterling for his choice to begin taking hunting contracts instead of her more stable (and less needlessly dangerous) enterprise, but she has thus far been willing to work with his reduced schedule.
Chelsey Lane: Chelsey owns the cornerstore and the apartment that Sterling and Amelia live in. He's a little terrified of the duo. Sterling has bled all over his storefront, bought an increasingly large number of guns over the past year, and has never smiled in his life (from Chelsey's perspective.) Amelia, on the other hand, careens through the sky on a rickety death machine while cavorting with the rich and famous like it's nothing. He probably wishes he could evict the two, but is too afraid of what might happen if he tried. He's definitely keeping that security deposit when they leave, though. If they leave.
Amy's Pokemon
Airheart: Airheart is a part of the family, as far as Sterling is concerned. Amelia's had this pidgy for as long as he can remember, and he's more useful than most people he deals with on a daily basis. He cares about Airheart almost as much as Amelia does, and almost as much as he does for Amelia.
Natu: Natu, on the other hand... Natu just... showed up one day. The enigmatic bird-orb is so inscruitable, so... Words don't really describe it. Sterling wishes that it would disappear as soon as it appeared, but is afraid to try anything due to his skittish nature towards psychic and ghost pokemon. That said, it has now been around long enough that Sterling has begun to become desensitized to the weirdness that the creature imposes upon their lives.
The Magnificent Puff "Maggie": The Magnificent Puff is a swablu that Sterling bought for Amelia's 24th birthday. She's a little bundle of fluff that was just too damn cute for him not to buy his bird-loving sister. She's pretty damnable useless right now, but after she gets through his 'tearing up the pillows and stuffing his wings with the fluff' phase. It's hard to be mad at the little orb, though.
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POKEMON ROSTER
Name: Ves
Species: Sandshrew
Gender: Female
Level: 10
Identifying Marks: Ves is overweight for a sandshrew. She is also calm, lax, and not very active. She spends more time sleeping than anything else.
Personality: Once Ves, was spirited and helpful. However, after the accident twelve years ago, a pall of misery follows her around no matter where she goes. She has improved over the years, of course, but there is an ever-present sadness that accompanies her no matter what. She is, however, incredibly gentle, loving, and caring, and one of the few things that rouses her from her slumber is when she senses emotional turmoil coming from Sterling or Amelia. This is, thankfully, not very often.
Acquisition: Ves was originally Sterling Sr.'s pokemon. She's older than Sterling, so she's been a constant companion his whole life. She acted as a protective guardian for the kids when their mom and dad worked long hours, and always followed them around everywhere and made sure they stayed out of danger. She was present when the mine collapsed. The fact that she survived, and Sterling Sr. didn't, caused Sterling Jr. to lash out at the sandshrew when it turned up a few days later. He struck her, yelled at her, blamed her for abandoning his father... but Ves never left. Years later, Sterling would realize how horrible he had been to the sandshrew, and to this day does everything he can to make it up to her. He pampers the poor girl, takes her for walks, and shells out for her favorite food whenever he can get her to eat.
Name: Zaroff "Big Z"
Species: Totodile
Gender: Male
Level: 10
Identifying Marks: While most totodile are an aqua color, Big Z is more of a teal, with dark green-blue fins instead of red. His mother shared the same coloration.
Personality: Big Z is a very young totodile, less than a year hatched. Because of this, everything is food. He is still learning how to function as a pokemon, and his personality is still revealing itself, as children are wont to do. Though Sterling has no idea how to raise a pokemon properly, he's doing his best, and he loves the little guy in spite of the hassle he can be and the chewed gloves.
Acquisition: After Sterling's clandestine encounter with the feraligator in the sewers, he encountered a single unbroken egg within its nest. He barely remembers taking the egg, as injured and hyped up on adrenaline as he was, but he did. When it later hatched, Sterling was the first thing he saw. Henceforth, he has been the little guy's mom, a replacement for the one that was slain at Sterling's hand.
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FUTURE ACQUISITIONS?
None. Sterling is a pokemon hunter, not a pokemon trainer - another 'mon is another mouth to feed, another ball to maintain. But... well, we'll see what happens.