Ram Wilson

Main protagonist

Trucker or Trucks, which he got as a joke off his name being a car brand, Weapon Twenty-Four, which was the designated number of the role he was competing for after he got captured by the Virus.

Male

At the start of the story, he's 23, but by the time we get to the meat of the plot, he's 28

Pansexual/romantic. He didn't think too much about it until he met his best friend Anthony, who was an LGBTQ rights activist, and pan himself. It was at this point Ram realized, that funny feeling he got when looking at beautiful people regardless of gender was attraction. Who would have thought. He's mostly attracted by aesthetic and personality, but very cautious about getting into relationships. He's a date-to-marry type.

He likes to dress casually, but his 'job' sometimes requires him to wear full military gear. Otherwise, it's sweatpants and hoodies.
He does wear a lot of merch, from various things, since he and his family are obsessed with certain fandoms. Bonafide star-struck fangirls, all of them.

I don't know, nor will I be finding out

6'5"

Raven black

Short dreadlocks prior to unannounced kidnapping, then shorter buzz after. Long hair of any kind is impractical, sense, you know, getting it pulled in fights is big ouch.

Mustache, neat beard, very trim. Picture like, Tony Stark. Stylish, in other words.

Golden brown.

Human, African-American

Dark brown

Before: Tall, fit, healthy, soft buff. He took good care of himself, dangit.
After: Tall, wiry man, fit as a fiddle. He ain't nothin' but muscle and toughness.

He's got scars everywhere, the most identifying of which is a really deep one on his leg. All the rest are fairly small. These all came from his time at the Virus, beforehand he had no scarring at all, since he lived a gentle life full of pillow fluff. His hands and arms are riddled with thin marks, and there are even thinner, smaller ones around his eyes that could be mistaken for the creases around his eyes. Otherwise, he has a faded tattoo of a cloud with the word "dream" under it on his shoulder. He and Anthony got matching ones long ago, and that tattoo is very significant to Ram. He's always thought about getting more, but he never got the chance. Also pierced ears, but he lost all the earrings except for two tiny amber studs, and after the Virus, he doesn't even have those anymore, nor the desire to get more.

Ram loves to walk his dog, play card games, video games, binge-watch movies and TV, work out, and swim. He used to play basketball a lot, but ever since he quit his NBA dream, he stopped playing all together, as people would always bring up his old career path, and he doesn't really like to talk about it. However, he LOVES being physically active, and often works out with his girlfriend, running together, doing cardio together, making everything a friendly competition that always ends in them competing to let the other one win.

Survivors guilt. He's the only survivor from the forty candidates that were chosen to compete for the role of Weapon Twenty-Four. All of them died in horrible ways, and he was forced to kill some of them himself. He came close to death dozens of time himself, and is now trapped with the feeling that he should have died, considering he's a random nobody literally only chosen for the program just to show off they could get away with kidnapping someone as famous as him. He's horrified by some of the stuff he did in order to stay alive, but the Virus programmed a fear of death into all their Weapons, so though he hates it, he will do anything to survive. His fear of dying outweighs his moral dilemma. He vividly remembers the other candidates, and had almost made friends with some of them. Though a few were classable with APD and violent, he still bonded in some way with all of them, even if just horror at the way they died. He feels like they follow him around to this day, weighing him down, and that many of them should have survived instead of him. He knows that there only could have been one Weapon anyway, but there are several he deeply grieved the deaths of.
Before the Virus, he'd been a pretty peaceful and compassionate man, so the first time he killed someone, (they finally snapped during a training session and attacked him), though it was self defence, he was haunted over for years.
As previously mentioned, a deep fear of death drives him, and while he was with the Virus, this became a strength of sorts, since the threat was always behind him, driving to be the best, to stay alive no matter what.

He's the unwilling leader of his group, since he always seems to know what to do, when, and where, even when he might not actually have any idea. He's a little quiet, but speaks his mind. He's quite protective of his friends, but given the choice he would rather be second in command. He doesn't have all the confidence he pretends to have, and would rather someone else take the lead. He gains a lot of comfort from having someone taking care of him and all the problems. Prolonged stints of leading can stress him out immensely. When someone else is in charge, he's more relaxed, functions better, and leads better, because he has a safety net.
He can be a little oblivious, especially when it comes to inter relationships between his friends. He gets tired and frustrated easily, but can act as a decent peacemaker. He's not particularly skilled in that department, but he's been forced into the role enough times to be able to get the job done. Tbh, everything he's good at, he's been forced to get good at, as he's naturally a pretty average guy. The only thing that set him apart from the other people he was being trained with, is he had an exponentially higher determination to survive, thanks to a ghost friend to keep that mentality going. He's reserved in matters of opinion, and only offers his ideas when he needs to. He's actually a really emotional guy, unlike what people assume, and never hides what he's feeling, unless he feels it will negatively affect those around him. Even then, he can find it hard to control his stronger emotions. He's loyal to a fault, and has a lot of residual guilt, and collects more guilt easily. He's the type to take the blame for everything, and at the end of the day, he's just constantly exhausted from trying to keep what's left of his little world together.

He's great at any kind of survival, great fighter, strategist, physically peaked, leadership, critical thinker, quick reactions, authoritative, decisive, steps up when no one else will, is a bit of a rock for a few of his friends, and he's really good at getting along with lots of different types of people. He also speaks about 20 languages, more or less fluently.

In his world, the government is a disaster, so he's pretty prejudiced about politics at this point. There's not a single politician he trusts, and back when he had time to care, voting was always a rough ride for him. He's pretty jaded about law enforcement, for similar reasons, and after certain events in his story-line, he's not prejudiced, but wary of old people

Over protective, a lil' egotistical, won't listen to the rules of the Virus that are there to keep him alive, simply because he gets overwhelmed easily and forgets them, or finds comfort in things that are bad ideas, like going back to his house after escaping the Virus, the first place they would think to look for him. He's distant, one-track minded, psychologically traumatized, fearful, untrusting, manipulatable, inflexible, struggles to express emotions in a stable manner, oblivious to the people around him, short-fused, snappish, guilt ridden, takes out his frustration on those around him unintentionally. He would rather avoid his problems then try to deal with them, which is what led him to heroin in the first place. He has an addictive disposition, and never should have gone near drugs in the first place, but prior to his time at the Virus, he had terrible self-control.

His family, and the whisperings of his hallucinated dead best friend that keep him going forward, survival, and the hope of peace, maybe, someday. Mostly his friend and peace.

He rubs his forehead a lot, pinches the bridge of his nose, sort of any motion to symbolize frustration and is self-soothing. He sighs a lot, closes his eyes, and looks down at the ground. He slumps his shoulders frequently, and shakes his head at just about anything, or as a way to clear it.

After five years of eating gross, bland, army stuff, he loves just about anything that has flavor now. Before his capture, he loved french fries more than life itself.

His dog. He and his family raised Mikey from puppyhood, where they found him abandoned in a garbage can. The dog is wonderfully well behaved and is a therapy animal to all who know him.

He's a guns guy. He likes pistols, handguns, anything that's small and easy to carry. Sniper rifles are also liked though, because of how great it is to be that far away from immediate danger. Knives, not so much, but he can rock just about any weapon at this point.

Great Danes. They were his best friend's favorite breed, and after his friend's death, Ram sort of absorbed a lot of his traits.

Over-seas trade/mass murder weapon

Anthony: His best friend who did pre-plot but lingers around as a hallucination when times get tough. He offers encouragement and advice, never abandoning Ram. High-key, the only reason Ram's still alive.
Jiji: His quiet, peaceable, hardworking friend. He helped Anthony and Ram run their business, and has the patience of a saint. He's always a steady rock for every one to lean on.
Itha: His girlfriend. She's quick tempered and smart, and would do anything for her family. She's very protective of Ram, and though she has severe depression, she always sticks by his side.
Cal: The local drug dealer who's actually a really nice guy, and managed to get Ram to switch from heroin to weed. He's really just trying to help people, and reminds Ram a lot of Anthony.
Osric: His sassy friend from the Virus. Osric's a little strange - he's got a brain injury that means he forgets words a lot - and he's missing some fingers. He's annoying, loud, and covers up his suffering with jokes and bullying. Why keep him around? Him and Ram are very close, and they're immensely loyal to each other. Ram recognizes why Osric is the way he is, and forgives him for it.
Carson: Osric's boyfriend, also from the Virus. Carson is quiet, soft spoken and has anxiety. He's very easily shouted down, and while Osric will fight on his behalf any day, Carson still is easily affected by others words. He has a very low sense of self worth, and always chooses the avoidance route.
Mehri: The last friend from the Virus, Mehri is cold and distant. She actually wouldn't even call Ram and the others friends if asked, because having friends is sort of stupid in their situation. She keeps her distance from the group, only joining them when it becomes apparent that they're only going to survive if they work together. She's the best at everything, and is the undisputed leader. She would definitely not die for anybody. Why keep her around? Like I said she's the best at everything. Also, she's pretty well liked by everybody and she gets along with everyone, regardless of what she acts like. By the time they meet up her, everyone's desperate for a confident leader, and she's nothing if not that.

Before Virus: Ram didn't really care. He was one of those YOLO types, and introspection was almost as foreign to him as Antarctica.
After Virus: He thought about death and God a lot during his time there, and since his dead bestie keeps hanging around saying vague niceties about the afterlife, he now has no idea what to think. He withholds comment.

Itha was his first serious partner. The only other one he's ever had barely counts, and is what made him decide to only date to marry. A pushy girl from 5th grade decided she liked him and basically told him 'you're my boyfriend now.' He didn't have the courage to say no, and after that ended disastrously, he swore off casual dating.

Before: Again, he was a bit of a ditzy idiot, he didn't really care. Eventually, he started to actually notice that hey, this stuff's important, and started voting. But he was non-partisan, and always just voted for whoever Anthony did.
After: He literally has no time to care anymore. It's been five years since he's been up on current events, he has no idea what's happening in politics land and life's too dangerous for him to bother catching up. He has no idea how he'd vote if asked.

He's currently out of everything. He's just another runaway.

Muddy brown or sky blue. Brown because it reminds him of Anthony, and blue because it reminds him of water, and always helps him calm down. You'll notice that both of these colors are associated with things that are soothing for him to think about.

Ram was the perfectly typical kid for most his life. He grew up in the middle of Anytown, USA, and had nothing special about him, and was a-okay with that. He's an only child, and his parents were quite old when they had him. They still live in the tiny 200 population town he was born in, and he doesn't talk to them much anymore after they had a falling out over his sexual orientation. He still cares for them, and they for him, but they don't interact much. He went to school in the city over, since his own town was too small to have their own.
He wanted to play for the NBA, but after he abysmally failed at getting any sort of college scholarship based off it, he met Anthony working the night-shift at Walmart, and got caught up in Anthony's vision. He quit everything after Anthony rigged the powerball three times in a row, and they used their riches to buy into the overseas trade business. They did immensely well in that field, until Anthony died in a car crash with a moose in Canada.
After that, it wasn't long until Ram got kidnapped by a criminal organization called the Virus, who took him and about forty other contenders to train them to be the Weapon Twenty-Four. Ram was the only one who survived, and got the position, after five years of brutal training. The Virus did their best to break him entirely, but after meeting the other Weapons, (Mehri, Osric, and Carson), they found hope in each other, and devised an escape plan. The first attempt failed, and they didn't dare try again until three years later. This time they were able to get out, and Ram went back to his family. The story really starts there, as he and his friends try to stay out of the grasp of the Virus, and fail magnificently.

January 14, 2008

High school, which he basically got C's and D's in.

Micheal, old great dane, AKA Mikey

Theme song(s):
- Agnes - Glass Animals
- Iron - Woodkid
- Killing Machine - Twine
- Welcome Home - Radical face
- My Blood - Twenty-One Pilots
- Renegades - X Ambassadors
- Blue Lips - Regina Spektor
- Sound the Bugle - Bryan Adams
- Landslide - Oh Wonder
- Without You - Oh Wonder

Hogwarts House: Slytherin. He would do anything it took to keep himself and loved ones alive and safe, and as an undeniable selfish streak. He leans a little towards gryffindor, though. He could conceivably go that way too.

What type of bender: He's a water bender through and through. He's always been drawn to water, and loves swimming and just soaking in it.

He really didn't get along with Itha and Jiji when he first met them, even though they were close with Anthony as well, but Anthony worked his magic, and they all became close.

Even after he began dating Itha, he still considered himself closer to Anthony, and she considered herself closer to Jiji than him. They adore each other, but Jiji and Anthony are their best friends respectively.

Ram bonds very closely to his groups, and after the Weapons met his family, he had a lot of trouble with that, since those two groups mixed as well as oil and water, but he still loved them both dearly.

Ram loves any music that is happy. Then and now, a good laid-back summer time jam- HOLD ON A MINUTE LINK Hey whats up old man?
Sorry, that was both irrelevant and irreverant. But seriously, songs like "Summer Nights" (Siamese), anything from Calvin Harris, or nostalgic summer music, are his favorites.

On that theme, he's really a gentle, soft man at heart. There's a reason everyone uses him as a pillow, it's because he's a great pillow.

Back in the day, he used to laugh and joke around more than is considered necessary, but after Anthony's death, he stopped feeling really happy at all. It's been years buddy, figure out was to have fun.

He plays a mean game of ping-pong

He hates cards against humanity, after a particularly asinine road-trip set of games where he lost against against a combo he thought wasn't funny at all. Three times in a row.

He's become an expert at caring for Itha when she's down, and knows what to do for her to help the best.

He lives in Miami after Anthony's death, since the Miami house was Anthony's favorite out of all the ones they owned. He's not actually a huge fan of humidity, but the memories are too real. After Anthony's death, they sold the other houses.

He's not the most intelligent person in any given room. Sure, he's not stupid persay, but let's just say he likes to let others do the mental heavy lifting.

He's kinda dumb

His house, while huge and stylish in many ways, did not escape the "Ugly Blanket Fever" that gripped the nation in '23. Following the years most popular movie's statement: "No house is complete without an ugly comforter,"Anthony was quick to snap up a hideous pink number that was a downright disgrace when put on their green couch, much to Ram's dismay.
Unfortunately, it was also very cozy, and perfect if you wanted to fit, say, four people and a great dane under it. So there it's stayed.

His family's favorite card game is spoons, and he's willing to physically wrestle anyone in order to win.

He's the party pooper. If people are goofing off, more often than not, he's the one to give the lecture.

He's the rookie of the group. He only had five years of brutally intense training, vs. Osric's fifteen, Carson's seventeen, and Mehri's thirty.

He wasn't ever intended to become Weapon Twenty-Four, he was actually only selected for the program as a way for the Virus to show off how powerful they were. If they could capture a known celebrity billionaire and get away with it, then they could do about anything. It was just a posturing thing against any organization that might be thinking about opposing them. They didn't care if Ram died during training, in fact, they expected him to.

His personality before the Virus:
Before Anthony's death or the Virus, he was a happy-go-lucky guy with nary a care in the world. While he had the dream of playing for the NBA, he was lazy about it, and never worked hard enough to get there. Afterwards, he was pretty happy to abandon that when he met Anthony and got swooped up into his dreams. He was mainly motivated by having a good time, and wasn't really down to get through stuff via hard work, as proven. He never developed any coping mechanisms outside of Anthony, and thus when that was taken from him, he had nothing to fall back on. When he met Itha, she convinced him to start working out with her, and he quickly got addicted. He's always enjoyed being active, but he never cared enough before to really set up a regular workout routine.
If I had to sum him up in a few words, they would be Lazy, fun-loving, ditzy, carefree, egotistical (a small bit), jokester, immature, and loving, empathetic.