No more Mister Nice Gaius!

You know.

[ Gaius hasn't done this in a while. Whined. ]

I thought I had my doubts before about the rehabilitative qualities of this place, but now I'm really beginning to question authority. [ His tone is very droll, a thin veneer of sarcasm over that usual 'reigned in hysteria' he is so good at, although even there, he's rather lowkey. ] Before the Barge, I never tried to saw off anyone's leg, or any other bits for that matter, which was unbelievably traumatic, by the way. I didn't have--

[ He pauses, there, to furiously scratch at his skull as he thinks. He doesn't really want to out his crazy person status yet, so he lies via partial truth. ]

--dreams that don't let me get sleep. It wasn't like this at all, I was a productive frakking citizen, you know, a genius. Actually. I bet most of you don't know that. And if you did then you mightn't even be here anymore, I don't know, people keep coming and going.

[ Pause. ]

I had a job, in the lab, but Rob-- er, Dr. Capa's since departed. I need another supervisor if I'm to go back in there.

[ It occurs to him he could have made a better impression with that not-question, and just ends the transmission there after a sulky few seconds of silence. ]

[ Well, it's been a while. But Gaius appears, and he's even... nicely dressed, in a suit he got for Christmas, sans a tie. That he's wearing cologne, too, is entirely ridiculous considering the medium, but at least no on (outside of his own head) can call him on it. He's dragged a comb through usually unruly hair, shaved his face, and he probably looks better than he has in a long time. ]

Hello.

[ There's a flick of a glance away, before he sort of turns bodily as if ignoring something. ]

I see we have a lot of new people since I was last... conscious. My name is Gaius Baltar. And I just wanted to wish everyone a good day, I suppose, seeing as it's been a while. I also wanted to make a public apology to a certain someone.

My communications device was blocked for a long time from receiving this person's transmissions, due to a... well, it was complicated, but I've got a new device from a while back and I thought I ought to let her know.

So, Elizabeth Anderson, or... T-X, if you prefer, my deepest regrets, truly. Perhaps we can make up for lost time, if you... might fancy a stroll on the deck, or...

[ Immediately uncertain, as if all his playa skillz have been wiped clean, and he just kind of smiles and flustered ends the video there. ]

I inquired as to a position in the labs to occupy my time. Robert Capa volunteered to supervise.

I assume you're fine with that.

[ Another video post for the wee hours, a lamp lit and little else, but awake enough to be competent enough to make the video itself without particular impulse. He's just woken. ]

I'm aware this is dreadfully inculpating, but has anyone else of my ilk found that their files on their Wardens has disappeared?

[ filtered to john connor ]

You didn't steal away into my cabin and take it, did you?

[ Whatever one can see of the suite Gaius is in is predictably beautiful, as is the case for many that took advantage of the whole limitless funds thing. He looks like he hasn't sleeping, or has been drinking, or some other combination that makes for a considerably rumpled computer programmer. Anyone who has seen him, and will see him, will note he's been in exceptionally high spirits, but the hour has dampened this some into 'coming down' misery.

He has a cigarette that he is neglecting, and squints bleary into the journal. It's so late it's early. ]

Question. Only a short answer needed.

Is anyone experiencing your-- death tolls? The communications have been working swimmingly so I was just.

Wondering.

Cheers.

[ Aaand spam for Olive, Capa, and anyone else nerdily keen ]

[ Alright, so. Gaius is starting to get an idea as to the point of Paris, and that it was a city in a country called France, and that the "English" speaking thought them to be wankers, really, but gave them credit for all the art and the history and the. Coffee and bread, apparently, Gaius doesn't know, but he does appreciate the way everyone dresses, and he's tried to match it in sleek fitted lines and pinstripe. After letting Sarah Connor know the specifics of where he was going and how he wasn't planning to escape or anything, he's wandered out to learn about Earth via Paris.

Even if he feels awful.

The Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie sounded promising and thus a message sent to Capa about whether he was interested in seeing it. After that, or before it, as you like, there's more cruising around the places one must pay to get into, allowing for chancier meetings of those of similar mind. ]

Some corners of my culture happen to take religion literally.

[ Gaius is using video, and sitting in his cabin. The lights are currently playing up, as they're wont to do, reflecting off all the glass and chrome of his replicated expensive apartment. He has a cigarette, a cup of tea, and little better to do but seek some conversation to defeat nerves and loneliness.

But not lonely enough to go outside. Visibly on edge, but his voice is calm, where the video feed doesn't flutter. ]

As in, there are-- were-- colonials in the universe who would swear up and down the pantheon that we really did travel in a boat down the river Styx in the afterlife. [ ffrrzzzztttt ] easy to make fun of, but they'd be the ones laughing now, I suppose. I'm dead, and look where I ended up.

I suppose they [ ffrrzzzztttt ] ing pass.

I haven't talked religion in-- well. Ever since I've been here. Not something I miss, to be clear, but there's a

discrepancy

that I'd like to explore. So talk [ ffrrzzzztttt ] your beliefs, Bargeites. Earthers, witches, the lot of [ ffrrzzzztttt ] first and last time - I'm trying to get it out of the way and over with.



[ OOC: My terribleness -- posting and running! I will tag back solidly in a couple of hours, may sneak in a couple here and there beforehand. ]

[ Somewhat less ruffled than the first time he transmitted a video, but only just, Gaius Baltar sits in view of the camera, nursing a cigarette, and looking faintly disturbed. He is also dressed like a pirate, from the elegant open-throated shirt through to gold-buttoned waistcoat. The bandanna has been left to hang around his neck, and there are a couple of rings on his fingers that are somewhat chunky and antiquated.

They glint a little as he takes another drag from his cigarette. It's a self-medicating technique so he doesn't freak out at people over phones again. He's just spent a few days believing he was a pirate, never you mind. When he poses his question, it's quite measured; ]

Does this happen very often?




OOC: I may still pirate!Baltar backtag a bit, but. \ oAo/

User Name/Nick: Sam
User LJ: neveryourmask
AIM/IM: nneveryourmaskk
E-mail: neverrryourmask [at] gmail [dot] com
Other Characters: N/A

Character Name: Doctor Gaius Baltar
Series: Battlestar Galactica (2004)
Age: 36
From When?: During the initial miniseries, when nuclear war wrecks his current home planet, Caprica, just as the explosion tears through his home.

Inmate/Warden: Gaius Baltar would be an Inmate. After this incident as described above, he finds himself on the Battlestar Galactica, and takes some several years and truly awful circumstances before he ever makes it near redemption, and fully comprehending the damage he has done. That damage being that due to his arrogance, his carelessness and ultimately self-serving, womanising ways, he accidentally betrayed the entire human race and allowed their deadly enemies, the Cylons, into the defense mainframe and thus enabling nuclear extermination. The worst thing about this is that he does not seek redemption. At all. In fact, he does everything possible to survive, putting himself before all others despite the fact that he is the cause of the space-age apocalypse. The amount of death is too great for him to register, too vast a sin for him to understand -- he fears retribution more than acknowledges his fault.
Item: N/A

Abilities/Powers: NOTHING. Nothing. Baltar is an exceptionally scrawny, nebbish little man, with next to no physical prowess except being able to wear a suit quite well. That said, intellectually, he is a force to be reckoned with, once getting past his erratic neurosis. From the worlds he came from, he was a famous, world-renowned scientist of genius proportions. He worked for the Colonial Ministry of Defense as the lead defense systems developer and came to prominence as a computer technology designer, although during the course of the show, he has also displayed prowess in advanced biology and medicine, and is arguably his better area of expertise. He is also an exceptional liar, having managed to not only make people believe he is not the cause of the human race's annihilation, but even run for and obtain Presidency at the peak of his time before his crashing fall from grace. He can be terribly charismatic and charming, but this can sometimes come across as greasy.

Personality: It's always best to start with first impressions, and it would be a shame to skip this one -- Doctor Gaius Baltar has worked very hard to craft it, for all that it can sometimes splinter at the edges in times of stress, but more on that later. Upon meeting him, one meets an almost caricature representation of a Caprican -- that is to say, he speaks with a cultured accent, he wears the latest fashions, he has a flashy government job and a giant paycheck with a nice car, and has friends in high places, not the least of which being the President. Depending on how receptive you are, personally, Gaius can be charming and charismatic, and when he is in his stride, this can even be effective and genuine, playing coy without being syruppy and flattering without being sugary. Sometimes it will tip the balance, and others will find him a little too slimy and slick for their tastes -- it doesn't help that he has an arrogance and a vanity that is only barely concealed by this facade.

For it is a facade. Gaius was not raised Caprican -- he only strove to become one. He hails from a rural planet named Aerilon, his family being farmers without much money to their name, and sporting a rough, country brogue (that resembles south English dialect). He even went so far as to change the way he spoke, to conceal his background and at best, remove himself from it entirely. He had no love for being part of the working class, and considered himself far too intelligent to put up with what he considered to be classist oppression, where children born into farming families could only be farmers. Rejecting this notion, he left his family at age 18 to pursue studies in the fields of science, and excelled rapidly. His resentment for his background never went away, either -- his aging father came to live on Caprica, cared for by Gaius as well as paid nurses, and showed only overt disdain, anger and even embarrassment for the kind of man his father is, this reaction only heightening when it became visible to others.

Losing his cool, as it were, is not that uncommon for him as a general rule. Gaius can be prone to panic and erratic behaviour, where his vast academic intelligence gives way to a certain lack of common sense or moral decision-making, and can come across as uncomfortably neurotic. If he feels he is in trouble, he will pick and worry at the issue until it is resolved, without actually learning from it. When brought to anger, it doesn't have to be anything that is honest -- if someone accuses him of something he has done, but they have no proof, he may flip out at them for being so ludicrous as to suggest he did any such thing, never mind the blood on his hands, as an instinctive survival mechanism to stay out of trouble. He has strong mood swings that can turn him against even his allies, but can also restore him to peace when the trigger is no longer being pulled. That all said, he is not always loud and chaotic -- he is as much prone to broody moroseness and sulking as he might be for yelling and stammering, with bitter remarks and accusations lined up and ready.

He also cries pretty easy.

None of this really makes him a bad person. Not his facade, not his bitterness, not his flighty emotions. What makes him a bad person is his selfishness, and the fact that he would never, ever compromise himself for anyone. Not anyone. Do you remember that guy in Titanic, who claimed a random child was his so he could get on the woefully limited lifeboats? That is Gaius all over. The terrible things he has done can either be justified or ignored or otherwise be blurred out by the fact that retribution is more important a concern than repentance. It's not as though he is a true villain, however -- his greatest sin was not one of intent, and efforts after that have been in the name of self-preservation than outward maliciousness. But that does not reduce the damage nor forgive the sin, and his refusal to atone only makes it worse.

His relationships with other people are generally dysfunctional thanks to-- nearly everything written above, but not always. He trawls through women in a way that one would assume to be incredibly superficial, and you know. That can be the case quite often. But it is certainly not exclusive. He is reasonably polygamous, and can and does make connections with the women he 'womanises', sometimes even in their favour when he is more intrigued and attracted to them than they are to him, which will never fail to get under his skin when it happens. What Gaius is mostly attracted to as well as intimidated by is strength and power and independence, while weaker partners will generally get used and put aside for something more interesting.

And as for the Barge...

Having newly discovered the depth of what he has done, Gaius may even be relieved to find that he is amongst company that knows nothing of the apocalypse, and has escaped the world he would have had to suffer through, should he survive the holocaust. This will be his escape and salvation and relief, his new beginning, even if it's torn up and conflicted with feelings of loss and strange entrapment. The nature and purpose of his position will sink in, however, and he will balk at the concept of someone having that kind of influence over him, and the inherent judgment and assumption of the Bad Things he does and is will obviously be rejected. At least at first.

Path to Redemption: Relentlessness is really the key. Gaius has the slippery habit of changing his mind or remaining stubborn when the threat of change has gone away, and making the same mistakes ad nauseum so long as said mistakes reap the immediate gains he was after. That said, he is not a strong man, and will bow to strength in return and crack beneath the blustery front he puts up. Solitude and loss of freedom may have mixed responses -- it would take him away from easy distraction, but can also serve for him to work up his defenses, of which he is quite good at creating. But it'd get his attention. I think another key element is that his survival is also dependent on the Warden -- should he die, it is up to them to allow him to come back, and this is a meaningful motivation to him.

Getting him on an intellectual level or an aggressively hard line would work better than immediately pandering to his sense of conscience. Aggression over sweetness, because the latter can be brushed off and maybe played against the Warden, rather than getting to Gaius. But there can always be exceptions.

History: Mostly under Background, as the onscreen history that follows it does not apply.

Sample Journal Entry: Over here! The threads below apply.

And also:

Sample Journal Entry:

If I were to ever pray, I would make it quick. That said, the velocity of detonation is cutting it a little fine, ranging anywhere between 2000 through to 8000 metres per second, but I shall do my best, shall I? Any decent revelation should come as a shock of white light, in any event.

By the time the nuclear bombs will have finished landing unchecked through the borders of this planet, every urban settlement will be wiped out of inhabitants. They will aim for the tallest and the brightest structures in Caprica, cutting straight to man's arrogance. That's what I would do, even aside from a high population density. The scattered communes and the rural areas will slowly soak in radiation poisoning, and anyone somehow still left alive will be picked off like wild game.

And I'm just. It's so good, to not be one of them.

Dear God. Dear gods. Never trick me again.

Sample RP: The restaurant sported a champion view of the glistening coastline of Caprica's capital. It was the planet that had the best days, or so the tourism wireless adverts liked to boast, and Gaius could find no fault in this claim as he sat at the white-clothed table, thumbs twiddling, his shoulders huddled into the trim jacket and only a small amount of nervousness worrying his expressive brow. "Natalie," he muttered, just through his teeth, under his breath. "Natalia. Na. Nadine. Not the N's. Ma. Matilda. Ma-- tricia." But no matter how hard he tried, he could not summon the name from the depths of his mind.

And she was due to be here in about five minutes.

A bit of a strange one, but a little strangeness can be ignored when the lady has legs that go for bloody miles. Most men might be intimidated by a towering structure of a woman like Na-- Nagria-- Penelope-- but not Gaius Baltar. He didn't even mind that she happened to be better at his job than he was, though it was not something he'd admit to anyone. It was just something that was, and on the rare occasion it happened, he was more amused than insecure. Besides, this project was worth a fortune -- so what if he outsourced a little? That was academics all over, really. And then there was her bizarre little monotheist quirk of hers, but again-- the legs on it.

Picking up the soup spoon to inspect his teeth, just briefly, Gaius caught sight of the familiar, red-clad vision in the bent reflection, twisting in his chair to regard the tall blonde at the front of the restaurant, shown through by the front of house, and her smile was that of a jackal, a billion teeth. Oh, well, if he didn't remember her name, she should consider it a compliment.

They've already been at it for the last five months.

Special Notes: Throughout the series, Gaius Baltar is visited by what seems to be a hallucination of the Cylon he let into the defense mainframe. I think that to include that here, sans a current Six player, would probably be me bringing in too much of my canon on my own. However, I would like to reinterpret this into intense dreams (like, real ones) so that some of this carries over and maybe even undermines/adds texture to his Warden relationship. It would reduce the requirement for me to effectively thread with myself while interacting with others, but doesn't deprive Baltar of this connection and influence completely -- and could come up as interesting with any dreamwalkers. That being said, this isn't a dealbeaker, and will cede to mod decision if it lets me get approved. :D

Other stuff includes some special, cultural quirks. He says 'frak' instead of 'fuck'. He comes from a culture that is polytheist, although he is currently atheist. Brand names, cultural references and even the corners on pages of paper will all be alien to him, even though he strongly resembles the product of familiar Earth culture. Despite his accent, he doesn't know where England is!