The Citadel Application

[istillbelieveinheroes]

This Application holds heavy spoilers for the current movie The Avengers. If you have not seen the movie or heard the spoilers and do NOT want to be spoiled then I ask that you skip this app. Otherwise.... read on if you must.

Player Information:

Name: Gann
Age: 32
Contact info: AIM: vintageset,
Current characters: n/a

"I'm Agent Phil Coulson with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."

Character Information:

Name: Philip “Phil” J. Coulson
Canon: Marvel Cinematic Universe (Earth-199999)
Movies (Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, The Avengers), Two film shorts (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer & The Consultant) + Comic supplemental (The Avengers Prelude: Fury’s Big Week)
Canon point: The Avengers - Mid-movie: Coulson is seated on the deck, bleeding against a wall and Fury is telling him to keep his eyes on him, to keep talking. Phil says he’s checking out and closes his eyes...
Age: 47 (July 8th 1964)
Appearance:

Phil Coulson looks like a normal Government man, wearing a dark suit with white button up that makes him appear to be a clone copy of every other secret agent man. He’s older (late 40’s or so) with slightly thinning dark hair but still in damn good shape. He’s about 5 foot 9 inches tall, average build but in very good and well taken care of. Pale skin, brownish hair that might have once been blonde when he was a child, and dark eyes.

He stands with discipline that tell of years of training, not only as an Agent but as a Ranger as well. When at ease his hands clasp at his front, not his back. His eyes are focused and almost always sharply looking around without appearing to actually be looking around. He keeps his appearance neat and professional looking at all times, even when it’s too hot to be dressed in a full suit.

Most people seem to feel that the man is either very rigid or emotionless, and yet he tends to have this default smile across his face that is really hard to read. It can come across as smug, pleased, indifferent, amused, better-than-you, or just a simple cover smile. It’s very hard to tell at times, but he always looks pleased to be talking to you, even if he isn’t pleased.

"You're gonna lose."
“Am I?”
"It's in your nature."
“Your heroes are scattered, your floating fortress falls from the sky... where is my disadvantage?”
"You lack conviction."
“I don't think I...” *blown through a wall by the Destroyer gun*
"So that's what it does."

Background:

General Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Coulson
Marvel Wikia: http://marvel.wikia.com/Phil_Coulson_(Earth-199999)
Marvel Movies Wikia: http://marvel-movies.wikia.com/wiki/Phil_Coulson
Earth-199999 Wikia Page: http://marvel.wikia.com/Earth-199999

I am also adding in the history from the comics, which are considered movie canon. They pretty much show where the Agents were when the events of the movies were happening, in all those in between moments. For the most part I am adding in the history of Coulson having been there when the Destroyer went down and had it flown OUT of New Mexico. A year later it’s shown that he returns to the labs to see what they have discovered. It’s taken time but they have learned how to make the Destroy work again. Coulson’s response is “Disassemble it. Put a trigger on it.” In other words the Destroyer Gun ended up being an idea of Coulson’s. Maybe not his design and he can’t take credit for making it, but he was the one that said to do it.

The small mini movies are also being used because they are canon as well. In one we simply see him headed to New Mexico, stopping at a gas station for a snack and being stuck in the rest stop while two goons try to rob the place. He simply offered his keys, his gun and gave a smile... before throwing a sack of flour at one man, leaping into action on the other, making him shoot himself in the foot, disarmed him and knocked both men out. He calmly went to the counter, paid for his goods and headed on to the Thor’s Hammer site.

The other short film simply depicted him and another agent (Sitwell) having a conversation in a dinner. He and the other agent speak about a problem they need to deal with and who they should get to do it. While one agent has a good idea on how it might work, Coulson decides to send in Tony Stark... mostly to annoy the crap out of the General and be done with the issues. Which... worked well.

Apparently there are a few lines that lead us to believe that Phil has a girlfriend somewhere as well. Pepper is seen talking to him, asking to hear about the cellist, and if she’s still a thing. Coulson simply says that she moved back to Portland. The two enter an elevator before we hear more. Later Tony and Phil are walking into a meeting and Tony tells him that he should take a vacation and that he would fly him out to Portland. Phil waves it off wordlessly. At the end of the movie, Tony states that Phil isn’t married, but that there is a cellist somewhere.

For the sake of RP he won’t talk much about her in game, though I do have mild headcanon in mind about her. As simple as him meeting her a while back and though his job keeps him on the move they kept in awkward contact for a while before letting it be ‘a thing’ as Pepper put it. Clearly his job is demanding and he can’t talk much about it, so that would have put a bit of a strain on things. His comment about her moving back to Portland seemed to surprise Pepper, but I don’t think Coulson minds too much. After all, travel is easy for him and he can still see her. If he has to refer to her at all in game, other then ‘the cellist’ I think I’m simply leaning towards “Grace” because it seems fitting. The relationship seems light and not at all very deep. It could almost seem a bit rocky, with the whole ‘moved back to Portland’ comment. Again however, I doubt he will talk much about that, but I mark it here for RP reasons.

Previous Game History: N/A

"If you try to escape, or play any sort of games with me, I will taze you and watch "Supernanny" while you drool into the carpet."

Personality:

About the man; at a glance: Agent Coulson is a man who not only does his job well he loves it. He’s in a position of power and great knowledge but that isn’t really the real appeal. It comes down to being able to assist and aid in saving the world. He gets to see everything that happens behind hidden screens, helps coordinate people to work together and in the end keep the world at some level of peace. Heroes is a old fashioned novel idea which he still fully believes in and supports. His job gives him the chance to not only support these kind of heroes but also be one himself.

He seems to be a fairly straight laced kind of guy who will do what he has to to get the job done. At first he seems a bit of a jerk, pushing the wrong buttons to get his desired effects, and sure, he can be, from time to time. But he also has a great sense of humor, albeit a bit dry. He has his geeky side to him as well, for example: He collected a complete set of Vintage Captain America trading cards, which he really wanted the Captain to sign for him. He also goes a bit fanboyish and trips over words a bit when he first meets the Captain and gets to talk to him. It’s this kind of thing that displays that he DOES have that soft human side to him. Even the most straight laced agents have their soft spots that make them grin like an 8 year old boy.

As I said, he believes in heroes. He believes that the villains will also fail. It’s just in their nature. Good always wins out over evil and he will go down believing that until the end. Even if the heroes need a little push somewhere, he’s very sure that the heroes will always triumph, because that is what Heroes are.

Coulson is dutiful, loyal and highly adaptable. Once you have earned the trust of Coulson he will be loyal to you almost to a fault. A good example of this is Director Fury. The man is indeed his boss and you do what your boss tells you but for Coulson he thinks of Fury almost as a friend as well. There is a deeper bond there connected by a form of Loyalty. Perhaps he believes that Fury is one of those Heroes, or he just knows that it’s with Fury’s help that the world will be a better place. He supports the man's plans and even when Fury is telling him off for silly ideas (“A five percent chance that the disturbance in new mexico is just lightening storms? Not worth my time.”) Coulson follow him and keeps trying.

He’s not afraid of speaking his mind. Hell he’s not too afraid of too much. Sure he can be surprised by things. He’s human, things DO startle him and he doesn’t always keep that calm composure. When the Tesseract opened up he was just as jumpy as anyone else around it, looking around surprised at what was happening. When the Destroyer made its appearance he at first thought it was one of Stark’s toys (“that man never tells me anything.”) but as it jet blasted a car he was like any other human and legitimately startled. It happens. Sure, he’s seen a LOT of weird things and he’s actually VERY open minded to those kind of weird things (after all, he was the one pushing Director Fury to actually go investigate in Ne Mexico) but every once in awhile something will surprise him.

In short he's dutiful, dependable, adaptable, strangely optimistic, competent, and methodical. Calm persistent and reliable when something needs to get done it gets down. He also has a good sense of humor. He can see all the worlds devastation, horrors and pains and still hold tight to his humanity as well as his beliefs. Very little takes him off guard but when it does he shifts into new plans to make things work out for him. He’s a good man, though it surprises people to find he has a fun personality under it all. Shhh, he’s still a boy at heart who just wants to save the world.

On the differences between Phil and Coulson: It might seem silly, but there are some slight differences. When he is on the job and in the line of duty he is Agent Coulson, who is dutiful, straight laced and very much the perfect agent image. he commands respect from his subordinates just by being there. He’s a good leader and almost never strays outside of proper standards. He’s dressed well, clean, hair kept, tie done proper and on his best behaviour. he might crack jokes or jest but he’s still an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and that means something.

What most people do NOT see is when he is Phil. There are subtle differences that most people will only notice if they have had to work with him for a very long time. it’s the small details, like the hidden comic book in a drawer in his desk, or the Stars and Stripes boxers worn occasionally under suit uniform. A well worn Rangers short from his time in the Army. It’s in the small differences in his stance, speech or an arch of an eyebrow. The wrinkle in the corner of his eye or a different twitch outside of his generic default smile. The small things that tell people that he’s really not JUST an Agent.

Some Agents who may have picked up these differences would be a very short list. Fury, Clint, Natasha, Maria Hill and perhaps a bit from Sitwell as well. It is a very short list, but he doesn’t have much opportunity to be less then Agent around people. If outside of work and the agency others might notice the differences more then not.

On fears, dislikeable things and concerns: He has so few fears, trained as an agent with a steel will. He's not infallible though and does have his moments, but he doesn’t have a lot of simple fears. He won't freeze up and cry if a spider runs over his hand, or a snake around his shoe. He’s not scared of heights or falling from them. Nothing like the standard set of fears and things.

Though it seems silly, one deep fear is that the bad guys will win and that true heroes really are dead. Though it’s a deep seeded fear, as in his heart of hearts he does believe that the Heroes will always come out on top. Sometimes they just need a little push. He has full belief in Heroes that to think that they will actually fail frightens him, though it's nothing that will freeze him in place with fear.

If you want frozen in place fear that would come under the image of alien impregnation. That's the suickiest thing the man can consider. Whether it's because he's seen it happen or it was because of some movie back in the 90's that got him thinking about it, I don't know, but he's not too fond of the idea of something wiggling around inside of him and begging to break out through his belly.

But in all seriousness he’s going to pick up a bit of a back stabbers fear here soon, keeping him on a mildly paranoid look out for people behind him. He might also have a small dislike of suffocation (which is not canon but still seems like a suitable fear, right?). Having a lack of air filtered into his lungs is really a foul idea. Lets just keep the air coming, yes?

On weaknesses and other disabilities: He’s human. That is one of his major weaknesses in a world filled with Superheroes and Alien invasions. Though perhaps that’s not so much of a weakness considering he holds his own pretty well out there on the playing field. He has no superpowers of his own but he tends to work some super magic in his line of work. This lack of power could be considered a weakness considering his dangerous line of work.

In all seriousness though, he has a small weakness to Superheroes, especially those he idolizes. He still believes in Heroes and believes that with their help they can save and protect the world. It’s what he works so hard and fights so strongly for. Even with this belief it can’t really be used as a weakness against him, can it? That being said, Steve Rogers aka Captain America is the type of person he was raised idolizing, which influenced a lot of his moral upbringing and goals.

He’s protective of civilians and those unable to defend themselves. Even if at times he comes off as uncaring of their needs, wants and desires (sorry Jane, it was for your own good that he took your things). He wouldn’t do well with the choice of ‘save the civilian’ or ‘run to live and fight another day’ even though he knows that the later will be the option that will save more lives at a later day the first one seems more pressing. Though he almost always makes the right choices at the moment it’s a dilemma that is uncomfortable to him.

On strengths, abilities, and awesome things: Coulson has training. Lots and lots of training. He is an Agent of the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division, better known as simply S.H.I.E.L.D. He has a level 7 clearance which is nearly top level. In the short film “The Consultant” he and another agent are talking and it’s implied that Coulson has the same clearance level as the other agent, which is 6. It is implied that there are other higher levels however. On Coulson’s identification badge it lists him as a level 7. I like to believe that around the time that they found Captain America’s body that Coulson got a raise in clearance level. Either that or Sitwell (the other agent) just didn’t realize that Coulson outranks him in clearance. The point being? He’s a damn trusted man and clearly he has some talent or skill to him.

Coulson has a pretty good ability to lead as well. He’s in charge of a large number of agents (thus his higher rank) and generally it seems he’s well respected as a leader. Clearly he has a few people higher then him (Director Fury and Agent Hill being the two most notable). That being said he tends to take orders very well himself. He does what he needs to do to get the job done but he tries to never step out of his lines of duty. In that regard it’s clear that he has a strong sense of duty and is willing to do what he is told. My own personal headcanon lightly figures that if the morality of an order seems questionable, he might actually find a different way to approach it. He was raised in the light and isn’t much for doing things too darkly. After all, he still believes in heroes winning at the end of the fight, good triumphing over evil and a job he can walk away from and feel good about the results is a job well done.

His training seems to cover a good array of hand to hand combat, though we don’t see him in action too often, we do see him disarm and take down to gas station robbers, simply by handing them his keys and sliding his gun over to them, picking up a sack of flour, pegging one in the face and running, jumping and deflecting the man's shot gun (with his foot) into the man’s foot. He continued to disarm the men, beat them into unconsciousness with as few hits as possible, and then calmly went to pay for his snacks. He didn’t even break a sweat at all, clearly well trained and ready for any kind of situation.

He’s a great marksmen, able to handle just about any gun that you can point and shoot. He can strip, clean and reassemble a gun with mind blowing speed as if it were all second nature, which it is. He is also very good with improvising with his weapons. As I said before he used a sack of flour to disorient one man while he took out the other first. It is on assumption that this includes knives and other such military type weapons, seeing as he’s trained as a damn good Agent. He’s more than a man in a black suit after all.

Other ‘abilities’ seem to be a fairly high intelligence (he knew what a Einstein-Rosen Bridge was) as well as a damn good memory, nearing or close to photographic/eidetic. Though this is not stated anywhere in canon it is just very clear that he doesn’t forget the little details often. I would like to say he’s pretty good with computers and technology as well, considering how much of it he’s surrounded by throughout the series. Also a bit of headcanon would be that he can speak a bit more than just English. Being such a high ranking agent which a good brain on him it would make sense that he could speak a few other languages. At least Spanish, Russian and French with some mild understandings of a few others. Clearly this isn’t stated in the movies, comics or anything so this can be vetoed but it makes sense to me. Not that there will be much need or use for this, but it fills him out a bit more.

On magic and Mutations and other strange occurrences: Phil has no magical abilities, mutations of genetic changes what so ever. His DNA is as human as human can be. With that said he has seen his fair share of weird stuff like magic, mutants and Gamma radiation issues, so really, a world of dreams and strange unexplainable things isn’t going to throw him much. He’s witnessed alien invasions and Gods just recently. He works for S.H.I.E.L.D. and has seen tech well beyond the standard understanding. He’s from a world of super heroes. For him this is all just another part of the job.

"You're at 114 Solenski Plaza, 3rd floor. We have an F22 exactly 8 miles out. Put the woman on the phone or I will blow up the block before you can make the lobby."

Skills and Powers:

Coulson has lots of training! He is an Agent of the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division, better known as simply S.H.I.E.L.D. He has a level 7 clearance which is nearly top level which is to say he’s well trusted, good at giving orders as well as taking them. He’s respected, so that’s saying something, right?

He’s got extensive training in firearms and hand to hand combat which i chalk up to being trained as an agent (but I also headcanon that he was a Ranger in the Army, to help establish his personality, character and abilities). He’s good in a fight, spry and has strong stamina. He’s intelligent and witty and seems to use comments and jokes to disarm people as well as a weapon.

As I said before, he is good at taking objects around him and using them as distractions or weapons (take the case of the flour and the gas station robbers, for instance). He is not perfect however. He is not the best fighter on the team or in SHIELD of course, but he is damn good. He doesn’t look it though, very unassuming and what not. I don’t play him as being perfect but I do play him as highly capable. over the course of the films you can see how he can be seen as one thing and hides other things. There is talent there, he just doesn’t flaunt it.

More details on his abilities and strengths can be found in his personality section, but for the most part he’s just a normal human being who has extensive training through different governmental organizations over time.

"With everything that's happening, the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old fashioned."

Items:
Coulson’s Inventory List:

One (1) black suit, slightly blood stained (white shirt, tie, slacks, the works)
One (1) identification badge with clip
One (1) ear phone set and hideaway radio
One (1) Advanced Radio/Phone
Two (2) government issued guns SIG P226
One (1) government issued tazer, small, handheld
One (1) government issued small knife in ankle holster
One (1) pair of black tinted sunglasses
One (1) black leather wallet (ID, driver’s license, government license, access cards [2], gun permit, mace permit, first aid/cpr licenses, four credit cards, business cards [3], photograph is his cellist girlfriend, unsigned not vintage Captain America trading card recently acquired and forgotten about, $432.00 in big bills, 53 cents in small coins, hidden spare key to the unknown.)
One (1) Rolex silver and gold watch, water proof, set to keep perfect time and date.
Three (3) Explosive devices, small, electrically activated, advanced tech
Nine (9) Vintage set of Captain America trading cards... that should not be on his person but somehow is. The cards are mysteriously in his pocket, out of theirs now less. huh!

One (1) Compact mirror. Silver and round with the S.H.I.E.L.D symbol on the front.

"This isn't my first rodeo, Mr. Stark."

Writing samples:

Action:

[The mirror flicks on to see a man in a suit, dark blue, with black glasses on. He has this strange default smile on that isn’t really trusting but not really distrusting either. He looks happy to see you though]

Hello. I’m looking for information. A little more than what’s been handed to us. Consider it my own curiosity. Nothing you need to tell me if you don’t want. General information is fine.

[as if he were ticking off fingers as he spoke:] Where are you from? What can you do? Trained in anything? What have you seen so far? Or, simply, what do you think about this place.

[He wasn’t much for chit chat, but information on the place and the people in it would give him something to do. As well as...]

Also, curious, but what areas have you explored and what do you think? It’s all fairly large in size, isn’t it?

[he gives the mirror another smile and waits to see if there are any replies to come in. A mirror isn’t a phone, but it seems to work well enough. If it gets him some intel to pass along to the Boss if he shows up... the better]

Third Person Prose:

It had been like being asleep, hadn’t it? Leaning on a wall feeling his life slipping away one moment then nothingness. Just a nice soft sleep. Sleep that should have continued on, he was sure, but for some reason he wasn’t asleep at all. No, instead he was laying in a bed of clover in the middle of somewhere completely different and he wasn’t even sure why. Interesting.

Is this heaven? he thought to himself, eyes taking in the details. He annualized everything, looking it over, the stone and the grass and clover, the foggy feel of the clouds around, the time of day feeling like twilight. There were archways and what looked like a mirror between one. He looked it over and took it all in as he normally would in any setting or location; taking in the intel and details for future reference.

Standing and dusting off his suit he glanced up to the mirrored archway and the two knights again --“Not exactly how I imagined the pearly gates to be. Or Saint Peter...” but he started his way there, only to pause as his foot made contact with something solid.

He frowned, the Destroyer gun beside him at his feet. Figured out what you did, a bit too late, hmm? He thought down at it before picking it up and moving towards the archway and knights again. “Didn’t expect to need heavy artillery in Heaven either...” he said to himself, lowering it with one arm and frowning.

He didn't expect to talk to himself so much either.

Keeping the gun at a non-threatening level he raised a finger up to the knights. “Excuse me. Hello. I need to speak with the man in charge? There’s been a mistake and I need to return now. Can we reschedule my appointment?” One couldn’t tell if he was serious or not, but he was. He needed to get back, if he could.

When they just pointed out the mirror however he lost the default smile of his. Well, that’s not as helpful as he had hoped. Looking over the knights more as well as the mirror he seemed uncomfortable with the idea but... raising a hand he touched the mirror, watching it dance under his touch. Curiouser and curiouser. With another glance at the knights, Phil took a breath and... pushed his hand through. If this was heaven, or some form of afterlife, then he wasn’t really that surprised. It certainly wasn’t home base.

Since nothing stopped him... he continued on through without a care to his name.

"Sorry, maam, we're the good guys!"

Any questions and concerns go here:

“What if my character is sick/cursed/terminally ill?
In a city where dreams come true it is only fitting that such ailments be reversible. Unfortunately the character must be able to maintain that self-perception of being truly healthy again. The longer the character has been afflicted the harder it will be for them to think of themselves as being healthy individuals and thus the harder that health will be to attain.”

So, does this mean that characters listed as ‘dead’ can’t be apped after that point? I can’t seem to find it anywhere in FAQs or anything. I see stuff on death in game and this here, but I was unclear on it in general. So, for instance... and I apologize if this is a spoiler for mods but... if I took Phil from him sitting in the hallway trying to talk to Fury, bleeding. How would he appear in game? The comment above sounds like he’d be alright as long as he believed he was alright? What if he just believed he was in heaven for a bit? Would he be fine? And if other characters talk about it (the Avengers for example) and he started to think something really had gone wrong (and he realizes this isn’t heaven), would it start to bleed again?

Should I pull him from just before that instead? I’ve done that in another game. Ripped him from the moment that Loki is behind him. My other question is... that’s mid action. Not sleeping/resting/daydreaming. Would that work for a point to bring him here? I figured with him down and all he could be considered going in and out of awake sort of dreaming. haha.

Any other details on this would be great. I had some trouble with my samples cus I realized I wasn’t sure if it would work or not. Let me know! I’ll gladly re write things if I need to. Also, if you would rather keep it from being spoilery, I can set it to sooner in the movie rather than later. Thank you!

"It's okay, boss. This was never going to work, if they didn't have something to... "