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[evilhandissues]

Player Information

Player name: Carolyn. Internet handle is Ramen. I'll go by either.
Contact:
plurk - socalramen
AIM - bubblegumofficer
email - carolynpoddig@gmail.com
Are you over 18: yes.
Characters in The Box Already: none, but expect me like the end of times.

Character Information
Character Name: Lindsey McDonald.
Canon: Angel the Series. Spin off of Buffy.
Canon Point: Post season 5, just after Not Fade Away. Lorne, on Angel's orders, shoots Lindsey 3 times in the chest. He dies and is sent to hell.

NOTE: There is an unwritten idea for a Lindsey storyline in "After the Fall" which describes what might have occurred in hell (if they'd actually written it.) In essence he kills Eve (his partner and crime and girlfriend) in order to earn the senior partner's favor. They tell him to wait, so he spends eternity waiting. It's not written, but I'd like to use it as a "this is what he remembers from hell" before his arrival. Alternatively if his memories are erased then this is what I'd like for him to remember since he exists in another dimension entirely.

Failing that, he'll simply remember unimaginable torment.
Is your character Dead, Undead or Alive: UNDEAD. Canonically, people have been brought back from the dead before (specifically other Wolfram and Hart employees). While they're up and walking - they wear the wounds that killed them. Lindsey has 3 bullet wounds across his chest. Supposedly at the seat of Wolfram and Hart's power they are "summoned" by them. Lindsey theoretically is still owned by them.

There's a number of things that could be done with plotting as far as that's concerned, but I'd like him to keep that tether as Lilah was still owned in death by them and while his end isn't written in the After the Fall books, he and Eve are still mentioned as being capable of being summoned by the senior partners.

History: "I see this cat as a guy who thinks the glass is half empty, and dammit he's going to drink the rest of the water.
Personality:
We are first introduced to Lindsey McDonald at the beginning of Angel, an attractive lawyer who seems to be obsessed with money and power and doesn't care what he does to get it. He embodies, in that first episode - the darkside of the 1990s yuppie movement. The golden age of the United States where men drove fast cars and everyone made lots of money and had lots and lots of nice things. He gradually reveals that he is particularly unsure of himself, that he craves attention and approval, and that he is easily manipulated. Lindsey tries to take a stand early on and demonstrates what will become a rebellious streak. He doesn't do this as well as one might hope, acts impetuously, and eventually is caught. His mentor Holland Manners convinces him to sell his soul - for a six figure salary and a corner office.

Lindsey takes it. He takes it because he represents the concept of avaricious evil. He desires money and specifically power above all else due to his personal failings because he feels that having those things will bring him love and acceptance. Signing that deal isn't just achieving what he's worked for for years, it's earning the approval of his superiors. Lindsey cares about recognition, not diamonds and furs.

He doesn't take it out of a desire to power but rather a desire to please one of the only people who ever actually cared about him. He is motivated by a desire to demonstrate to anyone else that he has chosen his allies despite still being very unsure about it. Lindsey defines impetuous, his two sins - wrath and pride and a refusal to acknowledge personal weakness according to others. The fact remains that Lindsey has never known real love or acceptance so he'll jump at any opportunity to take it and instantly become a supporter of whoever gives it to him. In this case, the demonic law firm.

The pressure of working at that place however begins to wear on him. Lindsey is a fundamentally good person who believed himself a champion of the oppressed and the lost. He chooses defense because he believes in the rights of the people as opposed to the rights of an oppressive system never realizing (or perhaps realizing too late) that by choosing Wolfram and Hart he was choosing the side of evil.

This begins to manifest itself throughout the course of season 2. He becomes aggressive, taking on the traits of his employers and seemingly embracing working as an immoral and amoral attorney. He is desperate for some sort of release and some connection to his humanity since one of his previous connections - his music - was taken away by the vampire Angel when he cut off his hand in the line of duty. He finds it in Darla the vampire who he is tasked with taking care of in an attempt to use her to destroy Angel. In and out of psychosis, Darla first relies on him to take care of her and then uses his love for her against him and to get what she wants. Lindsey relates to people who rely on him, he's naturally nurturing and he is surprisingly gentle with Darla. It's love, she represents a link to his humanity that he lost and in a moment where he needed someone she needed him.


Her feelings generated a death wish within him, and her sparing him at Holland's ill fated wine tasting party cemented the idea that she would be the one that got away and he would never love anyone as much as he loved her.

Even later in the series when Lindsey falls in with the senior partner's liaison, the immortal being known as "Eve", he does not return her affections beyond a simple pat on the head. Hey, you love me that's cute. Then again, Lindsey metaphorically had his heart ripped out for the course of several months by a demonic S&M demon. He no longer feels anything but a sense of loyalty to himself at the end of season 5. While he expresses regret for his past crimes and for the mistakes he made he does not particularly open up to Eve - acting cocky and arrogant around her. Even when Angel promises him the Los Angeles branch of W&H he takes it, but what he would have done with it was anyone's guess. As Lorne the demon states, "You'll never be a part of the solution Lindsey"

Overall Lindsey is a character literally pushed by the actions of another into becoming a villain, or at least an antihero. He goes from walking the middle of the path to being shoved off the path entirely. His employers sought to push him to the path of darkness, Angel made only a half-hearted attempt at saving him so Lindsey concludes the series by walking a particularly lonely road. He is a figure who walks and talks and acts human, but ultimately has lost the fundamental aspect of humanity - his soul. Ironically Angel succeeded in doing what Wolfram and Hart couldn't - corrupting him and forcing him to lose his faith in humanity. In short, he ends the series like he began it - as a man pretending to be something that he's not.



Abilities/Strengths and Weaknesses:

Lindsey throughout canon has a number of things that could be considered "strengths." They change however like the mind of Joss Whedon - quickly. I've tried to summarize them as much as possible as well as potential for plotting with them (since he has a number of things that could be used for plotting purposes/manipulated.) Please feel free to use them.

HIS SOUL IS OWNED BY A DEMONIC LAWFIRM specifically a demonic cabal of demons known as the wolf, the ram, and the hart. He sold it to them and it's not a contract that terminates with death. (After the Fall Issue 1.).
WAYS THIS COULD BE USED if there's anyone who can sense demonic ownership then they could most likely sense that he does not belong to himself or that he might not be all "there." he also recognizes that it's difficult for him to "Feel" anymore (Dead end, s2). which is also a symptom of his soul being gone. It might also make him more open (or possibly less open?) to demonic possession of a sort. I'd lean with more open, since if he's there then the senior partners would want to watch him suffer and what better way to do that then lease him out to a big bad for some fun?

HE HAS AN EVIL HAND. At the end of season 1 (Tushanshu in LA). Lindsey lost his strumming hand to Angel. In Dead end it was replaced with the hand of a former coworker as part of Wolfram and Hart's demonic transplant program. He lost control of this hand several times while Brad was alive. With Brad dead, the hand became his own.
WAYS THIS COULD BE USED I would love, absolutely love an opportunity to have Lindsey's hand take on a life of it's own. I want him to keep it (unless a really good plot comes up and he could somehow get it back.) but having it be genuinely evil and a sign of further ownership by his employers? I'd love it.

HE KNOWS SOME MAGIC if Willow is a seven on the scale, Lindsey is about a 2 or 3. Simply because Wolfram and Hart required it's employees knew something about magic in order to function -and encouraged a corporate culture where cursing an employee with a case of the explosive trots to get ahead was considered a-okay. At the time of his canon point I'd like to say he's about a 3, he knew enough to get those tattoos and knew enough to manage to survive the process. He can perform small curses, hexes, and protection spells as well as having more knowledge of the evil workings of the universe (at least as they pertain to Wolfram and Hart. Eve has said that he is an expert on them.)
HOW THIS CAN BE USED Until we have more information on the magic aspect of it, Lindsey probably wouldn't be able to do much. However protection spells, creating barriers, as well as possibly (if allowed) cursing people with minor debilitating illnesses (providing he can find the right ingredients?) This also applies to a knowledge of demonic forces as well as supernatural forces in Buffyverse. See Permissions post.

HE'S UNDEAD Okay, so canonically if an individual is brought back he's brought back as undead. This was confirmed by the mods. When Lilah was brought back, she was brought back knowing that she was dead, knowing that he was in hell, and knowing that she had to do the senior partner's will existing at their behest. Lindsey is brought back without the senior partner's connection. He knows he was in hell but he would technically feel an absence of their presence and have no idea as to why he was brought back. Because of this, he would also have scars - the three bullet wounds that came from Lorne.
HOW THIS COULD BE USED I'm unsure about the rules for undead - he should be able to eat. I'd like that. I'd also like for him to be able to perform basic functions, have sex, and do that kind of stuff. However if there's a curse that involves the undead he'd be susceptible. He'd be hesitant to remove his shirt, and might also have a higher hit tolerance as far as physical damage is concerned.

Beyond that -
A competent and intelligent lawyer - Lindsey is an incredibly talented attorney who graduated cum laude from Hastings college of law. He is heartless and willing to do whatever it takes to protect his talents.
Guitar Playing - Lindsey is a very talented guitar player who writes his own songs, sings, and plays. He'll be writing songs.


Samples
Network/Action Spam Sample:
I know you and that sick feeling in my stomach that comes along with your name. - Otherwise known as Lindsey and Gunn talk.
Hey baby I like your feral smile - Lindsey and Kate Argent flirt and kill things. All in a day's work.
I'm not your hired help - Lindsey and A Wahlberg spar with words and then with sticks. Because he can.
Prose Log Sample:

[ED NOTE: Mods, apologies. Re-wrote prose sample due to the first being difficult to understand and written under duress.]

Lindsey dreamed. He dreamed of sand and fire, of unimaginable torment brought on by unseen hands (paws? hooves?). He dreamed of the last few moments of an angel, her mouth open gasping under his hands. Clenched - fingers sweating over her skin. The worst crime he had ever committed.

He dreams of waiting. Pacing. Taking off his expensive leather shoes, untying his tie. Nothing, nothing but the memories of his own sins getting worse and worse. Pain in his chest intensified. A woman smiling while something removed his heart. You can't save her. You can't save anyone. And you don't want to. You think this is going to end well? That you have a happy ending?

He dreamed of everything in his hands crumbling into dust. His life. His loves. He stood in shadows of the past and watched dry flakes blow through his mouth and nose. You have nothing. Absolutely nothing.

A wolf laughed in his head. A ram said "Wait." The final definitive word. Wait.

"Your honor, the defense calls it's character witnesses." A stag with Lilah's voice cried, "...However I'm afraid I've lost my list."

"Of course." The Judge is a woman with dark brown hair done up in a tight nest of curls, "You were rather woefully unprepared from the beginning counselor."

"Well."

Everyone laughs. The Judge points, "It's curtains! Always knew you'd end like your daddy did didn't you? Didn't you?"

The court officer wore Angel's face, his partner was Darla with a hand on a slender hip, "...It's not as if anyone will miss you."

He waited, he went mad. Slowly, slowly. And he dreamed of dust and ashes. The walls blurred together. Beyond madness he didn't remember the woman's name but he remembered that if she died he would go free. His penance, his punishment. He wanted one thing, but that was the problem with justice. The world kept turning, but it had to be greased by something.

He awoke with dirt in his mouth. Buried in a shallow grave, half buried in cool dirt. He blinked. His chest rose and fell before he began to cough and sat up. Earth. A half filled grave. Sand filled the cuffs of his jeans, cool and soft. It wasn't the room.

It wasn't the room!

He wanted to jump for joy. He relished in the dirt beneath his finger nails, chest breathing heavy. Pulling himself out onto the sand he collapsed and stared at sky. He began to laugh, breathing in the scent of dirt and trees and moss. Outside, freedom, I'm free!

He began to pull himself into a sitting position, staring at the grave stone. Free, Free...

His eyes found the gravestone and his heart began to Hammer.

HERE LIES WOLFRAM AND HART'S PROPERTY.

The sound of freedom became mingled with his crazed horrified laughter. He scrambled away, stumbling to his feet like a new born colt. He ran, scrambling away into the unknown, ears ringing.



There is no such thing as a little freedom. Either you are all free or you are not free.
-Walter Cronkite.



[Ed note: Lindsey's song chosen arbitrarily. If this does not work, I can also offer the following prose samples and am more then willing to re-write it/offer a new one if required]

Prose sample: Scorched Broadcast mind