Eric Baron's Questionnaire

Eric lives in Oak Cliff, a tough and dangerous suburb of Dallas.  He lives there because it is cheap and reasonably close to the airport.  He dreams of getting back on a team with one of the mercenary companies but finds it difficult due to his reputation as a non team player.  His house is a 2 bd rental that is almost falling down.  It was built somewhere in the 1920s and has not really ever been renovated.  Occasional paint slapped on the walls has done it for this hovel.  He's been there about 9 months and has run out of money and is hoping to get a job soon.

He had been living on what was left from his last deployment but now is needing a job in a big way as he hasn't earned any income in over a year and it's starting to run out.  

Eric isn't a spendthrift, he's never had enough money to get used to spending, but he does his share of drinking to forget the past and occasionally picks up women now and then and that seems to drain his finances rather quickly.

Wardrobe wise his clothing is almost all military fatigues and t shirts.  He does not own a suit.

He owns one motorcycle that's seen better days (a 2003 Honda VTX 1800) and so he's tinkering on it regularly.

Right now he wants to be the leader of a crack mercenary team so he can call the shots on the big jobs.  He dreams about being a mover and shaker in the world of Private Military Contracting.  Since he can't even GET a job right now, that dream seems far off indeed.

While Eric would not admit to it, he WOULD definitely kill to achieve his goal. Killing has, unfortunately, been shown to be one of his best skills.  While he's cognizant of his own mortality, the desire to be accepted in a group of warriors and to lead them to victory will cause him to take risks that others might ever call stupid or foolhardy.  He's especially willing to sacrifice those around him to meet his goals.  He does not truly understand what a good leader really is.

Eric has had several defining moments.  One of those being one of the many times that his step father tied him down with zip ties and left him screaming in the dark underneath the house simulating being buried alive.  Eric learned from this and many other occasions that he can't abide being restricted or tied up as it triggers flashbacks of fear.  

Beyond that, joining the military was a big turning point for him as he felt he finally belonged somewhere.  He took to it like a fish to water.  His natural aptitude made the work easy.

While in the military when in army special forces training he reached a point where he was going to fail out.  Not being able to accept failure in this regard he ended up causing a massive accident that killed 6 soldiers that were with him.  That was the end of his military life.  Though it was ruled an accident in the end, he was still given a dishonorable discharge.  No benefits, no friendships, no unit of comrades in arms.  It was hell.  Eric learned that you cannot rely on others except to where they are useful and then you discard them.  You also can't trust anyone in authority.

He now wants to run things himself, yet he will use and abuse others without regard to their safety.

His friend Hal Randall has gotten him a couple of jobs in the past and hangs out with Eric when Eric has cash.  Lately, Hal has been hard to find.

Eric has a sometime girlfriend Anita Backstrum.  He's been seeing her on and off for about two years.  His natural charisma has always drawn her in and then she gets repelled by his callous nature at some point.  Especially now that his funds are drying up, she is a lot busier of late and seems to be getting tired of his bad character moments anyway.

The only other person really left in his life is his mother Tambry Brawn, well Tambry Eddison since she married his step dad, which has since gone down the drain as well.  He sees her only rarely since she lives in Florida and he doesn't get down to visit much.

Other than them, Eric doesn't really socialize that much.  He cheats on his girlfriend with quick, cheap dates when he feels like it.

Eric moved around a lot as his mother married his step dad when Eric was only 7 and since his stepdad was in the army they moved a LOT.  New base, new kids, new school.  Always something new.  Tambry (his mother), never could seem to be on her own so she put up with his step dad for almost 9 years.  Eric's stepdad was a callous, cruel individual who always hid behind "discipline" as his cover for being a tyrant.

After reaching 17 Eric barely graduated high school and then enlisted as soon as possible into the military.  While school was not hard for him, it was boring, and he much preferred DOING things to reading about them.  While he always looks for acceptance in a group, more often than not he comes across a bit rough and ends up alienating people in the end.

He has build a pretty tough exterior and doesn't let people in at all, given that he trusts no one.

While Eric has had several girlfriends in his life and a number of shorter flings and one night stands, it seems that he cannot figure out "love".  His preocupation with his own needs and desires always seems to get on the way of things like committment, sacrifice, attention and all the other things that women want.  He can be charming for a bit, but quickly women realize that he is a user and taker more than anything and so most of his relationships don't last long.

He would like to be in love, but in reality does not love himself enough to be able to show that to another person, though if asked, he would just say that women are usually not worth the time and can't be trusted.

While many things may qualify as a fear, for Eric the absolute worst thing would be failure.  This can be failure on many levels, but the most important is in his ambition to end conflicts.  He has seen a great many atrocities in his few years and he knows that with the right power and influence he could do what others have not and end worldwide conflicts.  To this end he is dedicating his existence, especially now that he has seen a way to actually achieve this goal, (what others might say is a pipe dream), and failure in this regard is unacceptable to him. 

     While there can be setbacks, like in anything, he will see this project through as that is what gives him focus and purpose in life.  Beyond that, trusting in someone and then being betrayed by that person is his greatest worry in life, which is why he has no real close relationships and is always loath to delegate too much.

A true betrayal may destroy the humanity that he has left so he does his best to ensure that no one can get that close to him to where he will trust them.  Even so, he still worries about this all the time.

Possessions to Eric are means to an end.  He does not get attached to them in large measure.  Whether or not you have something is important to him based on what he needs to do with it.  He does not much care what kind of gun he has as long as it works for what he’s doing.  He is not materialistic in his choice of residence either.  He can live pretty much anywhere.

Things that he tends to value over others would be representations of his achievements or experiences.  The lucky rock piece that took a bullet for him and left an oval shaped piece intact is something he saves as a reminder of how the universe works.

He keeps a marble slab about  12 inches tall and 8 inches wide that has the names of his training unit chiseled into it as a reminder of his worst nightmare.

As he does jobs and has experiences his keepsakes will continue to grow, but at this point things are not that important to him.

The biggest problem in Eric’s life right now is: lack of contacts and funding.  His goal to have a private mercenary army needs an infusion of cash and also contacts to get work.

He is at the beginning of this road and as such is planning how to achieve this lofty goal, all the while enhancing himself to be the ultimate warrior that will be able to lead this amazing group.

Knowing what he does about the Contractors, he has now begun thinking about how to involve them in his group in order to be able to handle very special needs.

His next steps will be to form his company and begin building the contact base to have access to military contracts as well as equipment.  Along with that he is working on enhancing his financial situation by personal investments from his lottery winnings as well as using OPM from investors.

A typical morning for Eric these days has changed.  Whereas he used to wake up late recovering from a hangover the night before on a regular basis, he now has greater motivation and excitement about his future. 

He is now up at about 5am and working out to enhance his physical capabilities.  He continues training his melee skills and hand to hand combat as well as general fitness work.  At about 6-6:30 he’s ready for breakfast.  Usually bacon and eggs plus avocado.  Then a quick shower and by 7:30 he’s ready to do a new thing he started which is meditation.  He spends only 10 minutes on it but he hopes it will bear fruit in the future to help him achieve his potential by increasing his awareness and focus.

After that, he’s generally ready to get started on conquering the world one step at a time.  Only the weekends really vary that routine which is when he tends to rest up and start slower.

If I’m going out on the town, well, I guess it depends where I’m going.  For a club night I just do slacks and a t shirt, or sometimes a polo.  Most girls don’t really care, they just want the free drinks.

For a high brow event, I’ve got a couple of suits I never pull out, but they still fit.  I tend to tie back my hair in a ponytail to make it look a bit more “respectable”.  Honestly, though, I prefer letting my hair run free.  I always make sure to shave before going out and a quick shot of Million cologne never hurts.

I’m not the type to take a long time to get ready.  If I gotta go, I make it happen fast.  Once, I got ready from a dead sleep to out the door in 4 minutes, and that’s getting the suit on.  Normally though, I’ll take about 30 minutes or so.

For my next birthday?  Wow.  These days things look different.  For my next birthday I wanna have a celebration for my new security company.  Yeah, it’s not operating yet.  It’s not even legally formed yet, hell, but by my next birthday I could for sure make that happen, at the rate things are progressing here.  I just have to stay alive that long.

Plus, I think it would be stylin’ to take a birthday bash group and rent a yacht for the weekend.  Fill it up with girls and just forget the world for a couple of days.  That will be a birthday worth living.

My greatest regret in life is not being able to take what I know now about the gifts and contracts and have shared it with my unit back in the day.  We would have been unstoppable and they would be alive today.  When I think about the things we could have accomplished together if we had all been exposed to this opportunity back then, we would have the sky as our limit.

We all had our own dreams, it’s true, but together we wanted many of the same things.  I know the guys would’ve respected this power and jumped at the opportunity to earn the gifts.  Now, they’ll never get that chance.

I don’t know why this didn’t find me back then, back when it would have mattered even more, but I do know that I will fight harder to make it worthwhile knowing that my boys won’t get to be a part of it.

If I ever find a way to turn back time you can bet the first thing I’ll do is go back then and make sure that things turn out differently.  I know that’s probably not realistic, but hey, a guy can dream right?  Till then, I just keep my head up and move forward.  There’s no time for stopping.  I have to respect what I’ve lost and make good on my commitments.

You know, it’s interesting.  My gifts seem to be a fulfillment of wishes in a way.  They don’t always manifest like I might have preferred, but it’s like the Harbingers know what I need, rather than what I may want.  Everything about these gifts has made me a better fighter, more durable, more survivable.  I can set the best example.  I can make the hard runs and come back to talk about it.

I would like to feel like the gifts just unlock what’s already inside me, but I guess I don’t really believe that deep down.  Sure, I have skills, I always have, but this?  This is something else.  A whole nother level of being.  It’s almost like I don’t know what will develop but it all turns out to be what I need to fight harder, live longer and get closer to reaching my goals.

As my gifts manifest, it also seems to change me a bit.  I’ve begun to notice how normies seem different to me.  I almost feel sorry for them at times.  I guess it’s like that saying, with great power comes great responsibility.  If I have this power, what the hell should I be doing with it? 

It really puts things in perspective you know.  I can really make changes in the world if I keep this up.  I always wanted to be in charge of something special.  With all the contracts, I almost feel like there needs to be a check and balance system against the homicidal maniacs that get power to use it against those who are weaker.