Has she kept in touch with any former friends or allies within the Animals? She may have left peacefully, but does she have any unfinished business (of any kind) with them?
What sort of cyberware does she currently rock? Anything in the past she’s had removed or replaced? Anything she’s looking to get in the future?
As a former Animal, she’s undoubtedly had her share of ass beatings. Which one was the WORST? What was it like when she lost her first fight? Won her first?
On her days off, where does she like to chill? Bars or clubs, at home or at friends’ places? Where can one find a good Chuck Roast outside the butchershop?
Aside from her younger years, has she lived anywhere outside of NC? Is there anywhere she wants to travel or is she content where she is?
Does she drive? If so, what type of vehicle does she own? Or does she prefer public transit? Or just a good ole walk around the city?
How did she start working with Rogue? Has she done work for other fixers in the past?
Finally, I gotta know… how much can she bench?
Okay thank you so much for your patience and your questions!! This took a while because I spent quite a while on the first one and then got distracted and forgot for a bit, but I had a blast thinking more about Chuck and her history. This is quite long so most of these are under the cut :3
Has she kept in touch with any former friends or allies within the Animals? She may have left peacefully, but does she have any unfinished business (of any kind) with them?
Ohhh this is a good question because I have some additional ideas about the Animals. One of the things that I think is interesting about them is they seem to be more of a network of freelance bodyguards than strictly a gang? They're territorial about their gyms and their long-term contracts, but I imagine them more decentralized and spread out over NC in comparison with other NC gangs. So I imagine the hierarchy as a bunch of different pack leaders located in different gyms of various sizes and notability around the city, and so you can be part of a local pack and never meet most of your fellow members. I imagine they have their own seasonal events/fights, some that are Animals only, and some they open to everyone both to make money and to suss out the newest local talent.
Anyway! I think it's fun if the Animals are run kind of like a MLM, like when you join up you get a rank and you can move up by winning points doing jobs or proving yourself in the ring or recruiting, etc. etc. Really, what matters is if the people in charge like you, but it's got that "anybody can rise up if they have what it takes" grindset, and of course if you want to be a Full Member then you've got to pay in to get the Animals' Approved Juice, and your gym fees, and your supplements, protein powder, etc. etc. so most raw recruits are deep in debt to the group and have to take whatever work and gigs they're offered. You can't leave unless you've paid off your debt and have the okay from your pack leader, which generally only happens if you're fresh meat who couldn't hack it, or if you're well-liked. You won't be encouraged to leave of course, but sometimes you get guys who go pro in boxing or other fighting sports and need to travel, or they decide to chase the independent merc life (I like to think the Animals and Rogue's mercs have an implicit agreement that they don't overlap on certain types of jobs), and having those kinds of routes gets more sign-ups and money flowing through the gang.
All of which is to say: Chuck is on pretty okay terms with her old pack and her pack leader, and will hang out with some of them occasionally, but the vibes are such that she doesn't go to Animals-hosted events anymore, and members from other packs who know she used to roll with the Animals are likely to give her a hard time. She won her big fuck-off metal arms in a huge gang sponsored brawl by being the last one standing, and so there are those who think the fact that she "got" something out of the gang and then left to do a suspiciously similar job for Rogue at the Afterlife is something she should Pay For, but it's the kind of sentiment that is more of a grumbly/opportunist idea rather than something that makes her an active target. She misses some of her old buddies, but after leaving she has retroactively realized the extent of the cultish/ingroup behavior and it makes it hard to hang out with them too often.
What sort of cyberware does she currently rock? Anything in the past she’s had removed or replaced? Anything she’s looking to get in the future?
Very first thing you notice when you look at Chuck: she's got big beefy metal arms. Picture like Sheitan but they're brass colored, and she has reinforced claws on each of her fingers (semi-retractable) that can quite literally tear through metal. She was naturally six foot, but has also had some work done on her legs, so her knees are metal and everything below is also cyberware. It's the kind meant to take a beating rather than look exactly like organic parts, but she can still wear shoes. She's also had skeletal replacements to bear the weight of the arms/legs easier and also allow her to make use of the strength they give her without dislocating limbs/doing spinal damage/tearing her remaining organic muscles and ligaments, etc. The key part of her build is also a Sandestivan, which makes her a force to be reckoned with.
She also probably has a few organ replacements, just because of internal damage done over the years, but I haven't thought out specifics. When she was an Animal she also had some implants that could trigger hormone/stimulants on a schedule or in response to certain triggers, but she's had some of that removed/scaled back because it was starting to mess with her head. A lot of her money earned has gone into installing or maintaining her cyberware, but most of her current concerns are maintenance and small upgrades rather than any additions.
As a former Animal, she’s undoubtedly had her share of ass beatings. Which one was the WORST? What was it like when she lost her first fight? Won her first?
Oooo what a good question. I've been thinking Chuck didn't really know how to fight until she left home with the nomads, so it wasn't until then that she really got into it. Her first ass beating was probably in some dive bar, where she got pulled into a fight by some members of the family she was traveling with and it turned into an all-out brawl. Second ever fight, and she held her own for a bit but made some rookie mistakes and woke up with a few broken fingers and wasn't able to open her jaw for a few days after. Nevertheless that's when she realized she liked getting in fights and wanted to get better at it.
Chuck's origin story still has the details percolating, but the gist is that she was living in a company town owned by a church company, with one middle-manager/pastor who liked to misuse his god-given authority to harass people. Chuck was not his target, but she was the one running defense against him picking on others while they were working, and then she got mysteriously reassigned somewhere else and wasn't going to be around to protect them. It was during an argument with this guy and someone he brought along for backup that she first experienced what I guess I would call a "zen rage" where she realized there was only going to be one kind of permanent solution to this guy.
My mental image of that moment is a house call from the pastor and his goon to her family's mobile home, and there's a turning point where Chuck decides to turn this into a fight but there's no warning. Hits one guy over the head and gets lucky enough to knock him out for a bit, and ends up essentially beating the pastor to death fueled by the kind of rage only a sixteen year old girl possesses, enjoys it immensely even though it's also horrible and then when it's over she sits outside on the steps to have a beer. The rest of her family helps her to cover it up, as best they can, but it only delays the inevitable so that first fight feels a lot like freedom: terrifying but empowering.
Worst fight she ever had was probably shortly after moving to NC, where she came into contact with more guys who were chromed up and also on drugs she'd never even dreamed of back home. She kept her head down for a bit, but her instincts for what kind of behavior starts a fight were calibrated for nomad scuffles, and things are a bit different in the city at the kind of bar she was at, and she'd had a few too many to think about whether it was a good idea to tell a few guys off, and woke up in an ally with several broken bones, a mouthful of teeth, and a punctured lung. Luckily she had made a few friends who pitched in to get her somewhere safe and had enough money to cover ripper bills, and rather than become dejected from the experience that was when Chuck decided it was time to stop wandering and focus on what she loved: being Big and Tough (but never Mean) and looking out for others.
On her days off, where does she like to chill? Bars or clubs, at home or at friends’ places? Where can one find a good Chuck Roast outside the butchershop?
Chuck is a creature of habit, and not one for excitement outside of work. You can find her in dark, quiet bars, or on people's balconies or rooftops, drinking shitty beer like it's water and shooting the shit. She visits the same few places for food and knows all the owners and the servers and is one of those people always picking up a few new errands to run for her neighbors or friends, doing a favor for a buddy, etc. Not usually anything high energy, but that usually gets her out of the house and around and about town. One of her personal favorite ways to unwind is to get home and sit on the couch and crack open a cold one while her roommate Namita tells her about her day, and how stupid her coworkers are and all the things that annoyed her before they go out to grab dinner.
Aside from her younger years, has she lived anywhere outside of NC? Is there anywhere she wants to travel or is she content where she is?
When she left her small town she lived with a nomad family for a few years before she decided that life wasn't going to be for her (she doesn't like moving around so much). She would probably prefer living someplace less crowded than NC, but most of those places are owned entirely by corporations and she couldn't be trapped like that again. That being said, she does like NC, and more so the people she knows there, so she's unlikely to move again unless she has to get out of town for some reason.
Does she drive? If so, what type of vehicle does she own? Or does she prefer public transit? Or just a good ole walk around the city?
Chuck can drive, but she does not own a car, because she spends all her money on beer and paying her ripper. Back when she was with the Animals, her pack had some cars they shared, and for a while she had a deal with a friend where she paid some money towards gas every month and could borrow it occasionally when she needed it. Now that she works for Rogue and is making some more money she could probably save up for a car, but she does prefer to walk or take public transit when she can because the road rage in NC is absolutely abominable and people are a lot less likely to bother her when they can see how big she is outside of a car.
How did she start working with Rogue? Has she done work for other fixers in the past?
It seems to me that Animals kind of act like subcontractors all over the city for anyone who can pay them, so I imagined that they come in contact with a fair amount of mercs over the years, whether they're on the same side or not, and there is a bit of professional networking that happens. Working for Rogue would be one of the more prestigious positions you can get, so plenty of people want a job like that and never get it, but the nature of the work means that spots do open up from time to time… I think at the point where a friend of a friend who knew Rogue needed some huscle, they also knew that Chuck wanted out of the Animals and suggested her. Rogue ended up chatting a bit with Chuck in the Afterlife, was satisfied with her references and demeanor, and the first few jobs Chuck worked as the New Guy went smoothly and that was that! I don't think of Rogue as overly sentimental, but she looks out for her people, and it said a lot that nobody really had beef with Chuck. :)
I think Chuck probably has worked with other fixers in the city, but not extensively. Most of them probably remember her a bit better than the other Animals, because she's a woman, but not necessarily to the point where they'd remember her name.
Finally, I gotta know… how much can she bench?
Hehehehh. I'm so bad with numbers, so this is kind of a scary question for me. Chuck does have her bear arms, of course, and she's had some reinforcements done so that she can carry/throw heavier things without hurting herself, but much of the muscle in her back and core is still organic. Let's just say this: without a doubt Chuck could bench press a MaiMai, and MaiMai owners know better than to park near gyms or any Animals territory.
