Thomas Wakefield's Questionnaire

Deep alpine forests and dark caves are usually where Thomas haunts. Venturing into nearby towns and cities to steal some food or an identity once or twice a month necessitates proximity to such centers of population. He may be sighted around central Colorado, in a hidden cave within a forest near Denver. The cave proves warm enough during the nights, with various twists and turns serving to hide the glow of light that a human would find comfortable. He remains largely unbothered by outsiders, save for the harbingers of course. This hovel contains everything he owns, enough to fit in a rucksack, and occult markings festoon the walls, floor, and ceiling. These markings serve both as hidden eyes to spy on potential intruders and as a deterrent for said intruders, be they human or animal.

Thomas uses money from those that become his new identities, mostly draining their accounts into cash and maxing their credit cards before he moves on to a new one. Despite this, he refuses to spend most of it, instead keeping it in a large sack deep in his cave. If questioned as to his reasoning, he'd say "just in case". The little money he does spend goes towards hunting supplies, canned food, and, depending on his attachment to his current facade, keeping up the illusion of normal life. Sometimes he'll even pay bills, living in their home for however long he keeps up the appearance. He also regularly spends on new phones and phone plans, believing it to be a step towards shaking any trails he may have.

Thomas strives to tear down the DSP, the suffocating organization that seeks to unrightfully impose order on the natural chaos of the supernatural. He sees them as the suffocating deadfall on a forest floor, choking out most of the smaller life that would otherwise flourish. A great conflagration is inevitable, now that the system is in place, and the ashes will make way for a flourishing ecosystem. Though some nature-loving "freaks", as Thomas would call them, would see this as a utopia, he wants a brutal way of life for all, where the food chain and survival of the fittest reign supreme. If one cannot live on their own, and claw their way past numerous forces that wish to put their worthless life to an end, they are not fit to have that life in the first place.

The most defining event in Thomas' life is when he got lost on a hike for several months and began to hear the forest whispering to him. Even after returning to society he kept hearing whispers from the dark, telling him to forsake the comforts of his life in favor of the harsh conditions of nature. He has lived in the forest ever since, scraping by off of stolen food and scavenged goods until he was approached by the first harbinger. He believes that living out in the woods brings him closer to the natural order which he seeks to completely integrate with.

Joe Darcy is the owner of a local coffee shop that Thomas frequents to identify new victims. Joe has always been kind to Thomas, never kicking him out for being homeless, and generally treating him like a human being rather than some homeless freak that doesn't deserve human kindness. Thomas wouldn't consider Joe a "friend" but more of a "useful individual".

Debbie Clement is a homeless woman that lives in Denver, Colorado and serves as Thomas' "insider" to the ways of typical human life. He offers money, food, and other goods in exchange for information about the city and its inhabitants. Debbie is generally a terrible human being though, actively looking for every opportunity to put others down to get herself into a better position.

Sheila Marsh is a woman in her early 20s that actually believes most of the same things that Thomas does. She thinks that the strong should be able to take whatever they can and shouldn't be punished for doing so. He sees her as a sort of "successor", someone who can carry on his mission if he ends up dying pursuing his goals.

Thomas' childhood was pretty typical for a Colorado kid, elementary, middle, and high school were all pretty standard for him, though he was a bit on the odd side with his obsession with the outdoors. His mother was a hippie flower girl that owned a shop that sold crystals and did palm reading, while his father worked with the forest service, clearing trails and backroads alongside his son during the summers.

Most kids thought Thomas was a bit of an oddball due to his borderline obsession with nature, going on hikes during breaks and camping on his own during weekends and breaks. Every opportunity he had to be outside, he took, savoring the grittiness of it all, the dirt underneath his fingernails, the biting cold of the wind through his clothes. Any lull in conversation while he was young would quickly be wrangled into a conversation about some sight that he had seen, be it a good view from a backwoods mountain, a family of rodents, or even just a corpse of a small animal he had found in the woods and brought to school in a lunchbox.

Thomas' love for the outdoors was given to him by a mysterious woman that he met around the 9th grade while wandering around in the woods by his house. Her hair was made up of moss and roots, and her face was dark and ever-shifting. She whispered into his mind, not words, but ideas and concepts. He grew fond of the feeling of having such thoughts projected into his mind, and sought to find this woman again. His contact with her left him with an obsession with chasing her presence that overshadowed any advances, few as they may be, from those around him. He swears that he has seen her, watching him in the night, but whenever he chases after her she just disappears, or turns out to be an illusion. A twisted form of love bordering on obsession as the result of supernatural meddling is the most likely story, in Thomas' case.

Thomas' worst fear is a world where nature is stifled and choked out by the aggressive expansion of human society. A world with no outdoors is a living hell for Thomas, as he detests the extended presence of others, and without a space to "escape" to, he fears what may happen to his sense of individuality. A world that the weak stomp out the strong through fear and numbers is another which Thomas hopes never comes to pass, for when an individual cannot accomplish something for themselves, they deserve to provide for the forest in the way that any creature can. Thomas recognizes the use of technology in pursuit of his goal, as humans are very similar to pack beast beasts, and as such rely heavily on both those around them and the tools that they are given. Despite this, Thomas still hates using smartphones and computers unless strictly necessary. He fears that humanity seeks to document, catalogue, and otherwise butcher anything and everything natural about the natural world, putting it into their little ordered boxes where chaotic motion is the true way of life. He believes that by using technology, he is risking himself being put "into a box".

Thomas' most prized possession is a silver and brown tarp that he brings everywhere with him. He has had the tarp since he was very young, shoplifting it from a Harbor Freight when he was in 5th grade. He views this tarp as a token or symbol of the beginning of his departure from the structure of society. He has wrapped at least 5 bodies in the tarp, thoroughly proving its use throughout its lifetime. In addition, this tarp has a thin layer of insulating material inside, allowing it to act as a makeshift blanket in exceedingly cold weather climates. He typically keeps the tarp folded up inside his bag for easy use and access should a situation arise in which it is needed. Other possessions, though not as important to Thomas as the tarp, include an old deer skull, hiking rucksack, hunting rifle, and 200 foot length of survival cord.

The biggest problem in Thomas' life at the moment would be the Colorado monster hunters snooping about his cave to investigate the series of strange disappearances. Though he is able to wear faces that are not his, he prefers to have a specific haunt that he can routinely return to to rest and store his belongings. Another issue is the time dilative organ failure that he recently acquired, which he is currently unable to treat himself. The simplest way to cure this disease would be to contact the DSP, which Thomas will do under no circumstance. Though the Colorado monster hunters are a looming threat, the accelerated aging from the time dilation helps to slightly reduce how recognizable Thomas is to the very select few that would recognize his true face. He plans on finding another "gifted" individual to assist with he time dilation and he intends to find a cave in the Appalachian Mountains to evade the Colorado monster hunters.

How Thomas prepares for a social gathering depends heavily on who he is attending the event as, if he even attends the event to begin with. He'd most likely try to be the most average member at the gathering, not drawing any attention to himself by wearing expensive jewelry or clothing, dressing modestly and dodging most conversations that might head his way. Generally, he prefers to avoid such gatherings due to his natural mistrust of literally everything that breathes, but if forced to attend one he'd spend as little time both preparing for and at the event, doing the bare minimum to look presentable and taking the earliest opportunity to depart.

Parties, meetings, and the like aren't an insurmountable task for Thomas, but he prefers to keep to himself, largely ignoring the outside world aside from what is absolutely required. He sees them as pointless, redundant wastes of time that serve very little purpose to anyone involved.