alteredstates application

[numbersnfigures]

Character Information

Character Name: Spencer Reid
Canon: Criminal Minds
Canon Point: 8x01 “Silencer”
Character Journal: http://numbersnfigures.dreamwidth.org

Appearance: Spencer is tall (about 6'2") and very thin. He's got large hazel eyes and brown hair that used to be long, but is now cut closer to his head. His cheekbones and jaw are well defined, and he sometimes wears glasses. Spencer's preferred style is dress or corduroy pants with button down shirts and cardigans or vests.

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111130182125/criminalminds/images/9/9e/Spencerreids7promo.jpg
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcyzvaqYHn1rzbk6eo1_500.png
http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/19200000/Spencer-Reid-dr-spencer-reid-19201953-995-1489.jpg

Age: 32

History: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Reid

Personality:
Overall, Spencer Reid is a pretty friendly guy. He enjoys talking to others, although not usually about things the average person would want to talk about. He's very into numbers and statistics and comes off sounding like a textbook more often than not. Because he has a tendency to go off on a tangent like nobody's business, he's gotten used to people telling him to shut up.

He's shy when it comes to girls, mostly because he doesn't have that much experience. Being made fun of so much as a child hurt his social self image. Over the seasons he's grown much more confident in talking to women in general. Now he only flounders if some kind of a romantic element is thrown into it.

Spencer's life is governed by logic, not by feelings. Logic makes sense to him. It's based in fact, in science. Despite the fact that he studies human behavior for a living, he feels like human emotions can be erratic, while logic always makes sense. He can give you a million reasons WHY somebody does something, but as soon as you ask him how that makes him FEEL, he's at a bit of a loss. He's not a man who "goes with his gut" very often. Everything must be carefully reasoned out.

He's very curious. He always wants to know why something's happening or how something works or what's going on. Chock that up to his being a man of science. He's not nosy though. He does know when to stop asking questions (eventually).

Like the other members of Spencer's team, he is a master at observation. Little habits people have or statements that they make can be attributed to patterns of behavior that might stereotypically belong to a certain kind of person. With Spencer, he notices behavior and compares it to the myriad of statistics in his head in order to determine what such behavior could be indicative of. For example, he notes that someone has been abused as a child and that 60% of people who were abused as a child (made up percentage, jsyk) become abusers themselves. Thus, since whatever case he's working on has to do with child abusers, he can determine that he's most likely looking for someone who was abused as a child as well. His incredible ability to remember statistics is an asset to his team because it saves the time that it would take to research such information.

He can pick up well on little behaviors and idiosyncrasies. However, he is not a psychic. He cannot determine someone's entire life story based on the fact that they bite their nails. He can make assumptions, based on statistics, but people have been known to defy even statistics. There might be a concern with the mods that I will automatically make him able to determine everyone's deep dark secrets or that I might use OOC knowledge ICly in order to help him do that. Assuredly, I will try my best not to do that. If some character has a deep dark secret that they don't want anybody to find out, I would not have Spencer reveal that. I might have him suspect things in his mind, but I wouldn't want him to be such an annoying character that automatically knows everyone's secrets. IF a player wanted to have Spencer find out their secret, I would definitely plot that with them first.

Despite appearances, Spencer is actually extremely brave. He uses his wits to survive, and once kept a criminal from killing him by talking long enough for help to arrive. He takes his job seriously, and he's not afraid to do what he has to do in order to bring about justice, even if it's shooting and/or killing someone in the line of duty. Spencer doesn't like to have to do these things, and he'd rather not dwell on them, but in the moment he doesn't blink.

Spencer's also resilient. He's snapped back from a hostage/torture situation, a drug addiction, anthrax, and being shot in the leg. With his brain, he could have chosen to be a scientist and work in the private sector and make a ton more money than he is. Yet, he still does this job because he loves it and he loves the fact that at the end of the day, he's helping people.

Overall, he's pleasant, hardworking and a sweet human being who also happens to be a major geek.

Powers/Special Abilities:
Spencer is a genius. His IQ is 187. He also has an eidetic memory and can read 20,000 words per minute. There's little that he doesn't know something about, unless it's something in popular culture. Then you'll find that he's pretty clueless. Unless it's Star Trek.

Spencer's weapon skills are moderate, though he has improved vastly over the 8 seasons of the show. During the first season, he could not even pass his weapons qualifications test, which is something that bothered him greatly because it made him feel inadequate as an FBI agent. He's put to the test during a hostage situation with an unsub and (through the magic of television!) manages a perfect shot to the unsub's forehead. Reid is not a man who is quick to use his gun. His best weapon is his mind and his words - his ability to persuade people to not harm themselves or himself or others. However, Reid is not afraid to shoot if he feels that his life or the life of somebody else is being threatened. Like many law enforcement agents, he walks the line of preferring NOT to have to shoot anyone, but being willing to use it at a second's notice if it is absolutely necessary. Short answer: he can shoot.

His biggest weakness is probably socially. As with most highly intelligent people, he has trouble reading social cues. He'll say things at inappropriate times, or not understand that people really don't care about traffic patterns in Chicago during the month of June. He has a problem with emotions and feelings too. He tries to let logic govern his life, not feelings, so sometimes he has some issues relating to others.

He's also afraid of the dark. :)

River Power:
Legilimency
As explained here: http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Legilimency
Since Reid is obviously not a wizard, he will not have to cast a spell in order to have access to people’s minds. His legilimency will consist of “be[ing] able to detect if the person is lying, as well as [delving] into their thoughts, emotions, and memories”. He will not have the power to implant memories or change people’s thoughts. Also his power will be something that he will have to choose to use. He doesn’t have an automatic feed of what’s going on in everyone’s brains at any given time. He will also have to work at it so that it becomes stronger over time. Obviously permissions will go up for a power like this.