Michaels, Jacoby

[Jacoby Michaels]

Jacoby, Michaels
PLAYED BY :Matthew Gray Gubler

THE CHARACTER

FULL NAME: Jacoby Ian Michaels
NICK NAMES: N/A
PREFERRED NAME: Jacoby
AGE: 32
GENDER:male
OCCUPATION: Homicide Detective
HOME REGION: Southeast
PREFERRED WEAPONS: Likely due to his profession, he tends to lean toward firearms.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Where build is concerned, Jacoby is quite small for his height. He stands at 5'11", weighing 150 lbs. He was never very intimidating on the job, but he tried his best to make up for that otherwise. He seems to have a combination of both his mother and father's eyes, a medium brown. He has brown hair, which has often been unkempt. Not because he doesn't try but, rather, because it's "untameable". It has been varying lengths throughout his life, and he seems to have no preference either way. Though, after the outbreak, he has let it grown long. Finding cutting it pointless now. His expression is usually apathetic. This isn't because he's an emotionless robot, but because he has trouble expression his emotions. Though, around the rare few that he is exceptionally close to, laughter and tears come easy and smiles just as well.

He has a few scars spread across his body. Most of them he obtained as a boy from roughhousing too much. A few he earned while on the job, including a bullet scar on his arm. His posture has never been perfect. He is prone to slouching and shifting his weight when nervous. When speaking to those who intimidate him, though, he will stand up as straight and tall as he can. Likely out of instinct rather than a conscious decision to do so. He has what many have described as 'soft' features, which is another thing that seemed to detract from intimidation on the job. While on the job, his dress style was predictable. A tie, a badge, a professional jacket, and pants to match. Off the clock, his style was most often bland. Unless his best friend picked his outfit, in which case it would match the current trends for men his age. He has a slight Southern accent, though it's not as deep as many of the people he grew up around.

PERSONALITY: A loner by both choice and circumstance, Jacoby is socially awkward and it shows when he interacts with others. Often not sure how to respond to social situations, he is prone to excessive rambling - spouting information that isn't relevant -, telling bad jokes, and staring for several seconds before he thinks of something to say. Preferring to be alone more often than not, Jacoby has always had very few friends. This isn't to say that he never desired the approval of others, he just never desired their friendship. He would often try to hard to earn the acceptance of his coworkers. His awkwardness has been thought of as eccentricity. He has a strange sense of humor. Sometimes going for sarcasm, and others, even immaturity. Both of which made it hard for older coworkers to put up with him.

Jacoby is a man who speaks his mind. If something crosses his thoughts, he will say it aloud. He doesn't think of the consequences before talking, and has often gotten in trouble while on the job because of it. The only exception to the rule would be his secrets, though the secrets of others are fair game. He has trouble understanding the emotions of others and because of this can come across as brash and even tactless. If one is crying nearby, he will find himself staring dumbfounded. When it's someone he cares about, he'll make an effort to comfort them, but their emotions will still baffle him. He is unintentionally rude due to his apparent lack of a filter.

He may not have had many friends before the outbreak, but he was always exceptionally loyal to the few he had. Once he develops a bond with a person, he often remains loyal even if they cease contact. He would do anything for those he loves, even if the risk was death. Because it is hard for him to develop such a bond, he may even confuse his emotions with love when really, they may border obsession at times. Ambitious, Jacoby is the kind of person who has always loved work. He would have went to work sick, and did on more than one occasion. He has always had a thirst for knowledge, spending a lot of time during his youth with his nose in a book.

He is often tense, nervous in social situations. Where danger is concerned, though, he loves jumping into it, without giving much thought to the consequences. He craves adrenaline, which has gotten him in trouble a few times. He doesn't know when to give up. He is most laid back when by himself. Before the outbreak, he was, also, laid back when in the presence of his best friend. Occasionally prone to breaking out in song or dance in an attempt to break the ice, he can come across as immature. The only thing he's ever taken seriously is work and now, survival. Underneath it all, he's always been a nerd in many ways. He'd read comics under the guise of a newspaper - favorite issue hidden between the part. And at night, when not on the clock, he'd take part in MMORPGs, and was quite good at it.

LIKES

• Dogs
  
• Cigarettes
  
• MMOs
  
• Knowledge
  
• Work
  
• Cities
  

DISLIKES

• Cats
  
• The country
  
• His (now kind of deceased) wife
  
• Loud noises
  
• Being questioned too much
  
• Alcohol
  

HISTORY BEFORE: Jacoby was born to Susan Walker, a child with no father to sign the birth certificate. His biological father had been a wealthy business owner who'd had an affair. When Susan was pregnant and decided she wanted to keep the child, the man disappeared, refusing to have anything to do with her or her son. For the first seven years of his life, Jacoby was raised solely by his mother. Susan barely made things work. She would take whatever job she could, be it waitressing or dancing to make sure her son had all the basic necessities. Life was hard. He spent his early years in a bad neighborhood, where locking your door at night was a necessity and not a mindless habit.

Susan didn't meet Jacoby's step father until he was nearly eight years old. Peter Michaels was an officer who swept Susan off her feet the moment she saw him. They met while she was waiting tables at a diner downtown, and married only a month later. She took his name and he adopted Jacoby as his own a year into the marriage, changing Jacoby's surname to Michaels soon thereafter. Jacoby was the stereotypical step child toward Peter. He'd often throw temper tantrums and You're not my father could be heard all hours of the day. The man wasn't kind toward Jacoby, either. They would yell back and forth, a habit that followed Jacoby as he grew older.

Through Susan's marriage with Peter, Jacoby was granted six siblings total. Three brothers, Kevin, Deryk, and Travis. And three sisters, Carol, Cindy, and Melanie. It didn't take long for him to go from a small family, to a large one. He never got used to it entirely, and resented his siblings at times. He never had a perfect relationship with his family. Estranged didn't even begin to describe it. His step father spent most of his time on the job. His mother had trouble dividing her attention between seven children. She tended to favor the youngest over the oldest, and before he knew it Jacoby was, essentially, raising himself. When his mother cooked, it was often only enough to feed three or four of the children. So, the older children would either go hungry or learn to cook for themselves. Jacoby soon became the latter.

High school was average for him. He was intelligent, but not impressively so. He had a slightly above average GPA and maintained it, but was far from the smartest student in his class. Being a loner, he never stuck out much, either. He befriended one boy and one only, Jonathan. The two met initially in middle school, and their friendship strengthened during their freshmen year. Jonathan was always more social than Jacoby, and therefore would force Jacoby to be social, as well. However, even when he was around Jon and his other friends, Jacoby would spend most of his time focused on Jonathan. He met his wife while still in high school. She was older than him, and he simply wanted a way out of his home. He moved out while young, and hasn't lived at home since. His mother didn't bother reporting it, having her hands full as it was.

He married his wife, Trish, at eighteen. He went through some college, majoring in abnormal psychology. But as soon as he heard his real calling, he went into police academy and his career went from there. With Trish, he had four children and one step child. Caitlyn, the oldest from Trish's first marriage and their children together, Cassie, Leonard, Serena, and David. He was never truly in love with his wife, though, and therefore the marriage was rocky from the beginning. He spent most of his time with Jonathan, leading Trish to question them. Her questioning was not without reason, either. Where his marriage and children were concerned, he merely went through the motions. After five years on the force, he became a homicide detective. He loved his job and wouldn't have had it any other way.

DURING APOCALYPSE: The day of the outbreak was one of Jacoby's rare days off. Without a case to work on, he'd been bored and had logged onto his computer to sign into the game he loved so much. He had spent most of that morning doing just that, leveling, playing, and chatting with other players online. He'd spoken to Jonathan through the game. Joking around in the way he always did, talking about how neither of them were happy with their wives any more, and discussing how their lives had turned out in general. He'd wasted that last day playing that game, but he wouldn't have had it any other way. For, after all, it was the last time he'd be able to. It was, also, the last time he'd be able to speak to Jonathan.

It was when Jon disconnected unexpectedly after screaming on his end that Jacoby began to expect something was just plain wrong. In fact, he noticed a lot of people disconnecting without warning. His server, usually packed with people, went from being... well packed, to being a ghost town. Another player whispered him, noticing that he was the only one still online other than herself. She told him to turn on the news and without hesitation, he did. That was when he discovered the outbreak. The pieces fell into place. Why his wife and children still weren't home. Why Jon had disconnected without warning. He knew things had been bad, he just hadn't expected them to get this bad. He was the final player to disconnect without warning.

His first thought was Jonathan. He didn't even think about checking on Trish. It hadn't crossed his mind. He supposed she and the children were dead already, having been in a very public place that day as it was. Though, he didn't know exactly what dead meant anymore. Arriving at Jonathan's house, he discovered that Jonathan had already fallen to whatever was spreading so quickly. He closed his eyes and used his gun, putting as many bullets in the other as he could. Since then, his only goal has been survival. Scavenge for whatever he can, run whenever he can, fight whenever he can, and find the closest safe place possible.

ROLEPLAY EXAMPLE:

It had just been one of those days. It wasn't a bad day for Jacoby. Not exactly. It had simply been a long one. It seemed that no matter how hard he tried, he just could not get a day off. Not that he particularly wanted such a day. He just didn't want to be forced to stay at work longer than he felt necessary to train a rookie. Normally, at such an hour he'd be at home eating dinner and watching as Trish allowed their children to take over everything in the house from the broomsticks to the pet hamster. However, he'd been assigned to this new guy and he wasn't going to say no. Besides, he liked his job. So, on the bright side, it gave him an excuse to stay longer. Even if he didn't particularly want to do so because of a rookie.

He hadn't volunteered to meet this new guy. In fact, he still couldn't quite remember how the topic had come up. He knew that many people were assigned to training rookies. Some saw it as a form of punishment, others saw it as a blessing as it often meant they could take on minimal tasks for several weeks until the new guy got the hang of things. Since Jacoby actually liked and enjoyed being in the line of danger (as stupid as his wife deemed him to be for it), he saw it as the former. Nevertheless, he found himself waiting for the trainee as his co-workers left and the next shift of them came in.

He leaned against his desk, unlit cigarette hanging between his lips. He would not light it inside. He knew better. He was still getting the stink eye from the man that caught him smoking inside two weeks back and threatened to lodge a complaint if he ever did it again. Since then, he hadn't lit a single one while in the Department. "Why do you want this job?" he muttered to himself. He sighed "Then again, why does anyone?"

PLANS: Being an adrenaline junkie, he will probably do his best to kill as many zombies as possible. Putting himself in the line of danger, he may even die eventually. We'll see. As of right now, Jacoby's only goal is to survive. Should he befriend someone along the way (which is probably unlikely for him), he will likely do his best to help them survive, too.

ANYTHING ELSE?: He might be going through a bit of grieving depression, as after only three weeks I imagine he'd still be going through the stages of grief. So, that may affect how he is rp'd until some time passes.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

GO BY: Benji
ROLEPLAY LEVEL: I'd say I'm around the advanced level. I find it hard to rate myself, though.
HOW DID YOU FIND US?: You're an affiliate on a forum I frequent.
PASSWORD: *****
TIME ZONE: EST

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[Max Guevara]

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