OOC: thoughtformed Application

[bloody_pens]

-YOU-

Name: Shurimon
Email: spdbridge03 [at] gmail
AIM: Shuripus
LJ name: shurimon
Munhead or previous character journals (optional): N/A
Timezone: EST [GMT-5]

-THEM-

Character name: Richard Castle
Series: Castle
Character history: Spoiler warning for the end of season 3 and the beginning of season 4!

Much of Richard Castle's early background remains a mystery. What is known is that he was born on April 1st, 1969, and was raised by his mother, Martha Rodgers. Neither he nor his mother know his father's identity, and Castle doesn't seem to be unduly bothered by this fact. He was mostly raised by nannies or left to fend for himself in the New York Public Library so that his mother could pursue her acting career, and claims he attended- and was kicked out of- many posh private schools. As he grew, he developed a fondness for reading and writing, writing stories to try and entertain his classmates.

Castle wrote his first bestseller when he was still in college and soon after became involved in a passionate romance with a fellow student, Kyra Blaine. However, after three years, Kyra decided to go to Europe to find herself, breaking the relationship off. An unknown amount of time after this, Castle ended up meeting and then marrying another woman, Meredith, with whom he produced his only child, a daughter named Alexis. The two ended their relationship not long after Alexis was born when Meredith had an affair with her director and served Castle with divorce papers; he was awarded custody of their daughter. Not long after this, Castle married a second time- this time it was a woman named Gina, who ended up being his publisher, but they, too, divorced eventually, for reasons that have yet to be explored. Afterwards, Castle continued to write, developing a series of books featuring a popular character named Derrick Storm. His success allowed him to purchase a lavish loft apartment in downtown New York City, where he lived with Alexis and Martha (who moved in after one of her ex-husbands absconded with all of her money).

His life then changed forever when he met Detective Kate Beckett.

Castle, who had just killed off Derrick Storm because he had become bored with the character and was suffering from a bad case of writers' block, was called in to help with a baffling murder case where the killer had based their murders on those from Castle's books. He was brought in for questioning by Detective Beckett and immediately got on her bad side due to his lackadaisical and uncaring attitude, and treating the fact that he had a copycat as an honor (even asking for copies of the crime scene pictures to share at the games of poker he played with other mystery writers) instead of showing respect toward the victims. Castle eventually helped solve the case, including using his connections with the mayor (who was a big fan of his books) to speed up all the forensic work, and even stopped the police from convicting the wrong man.

Thereafter, Castle realized that he could base a protagonist for a new series of novels on Beckett, and was able to secure an unusual consulting arrangement- he would be allowed to tag along with Beckett on the job and assist her in solving cases if he, in return, signed away all liability in the event of his injury or death. Beckett was not thrilled with this idea at all, but was forced to give in due to her boss, Captain Montgomery, giving his approval in order to keep the mayor happy. Thereafter, Castle worked his charms on everybody in the precinct, including Beckett's partners, Detectives Kevin Ryan and Javier Esposito, and managed to get along famously with all of them- except for Beckett, who was not happy that he was using her as the inspiration for a fictional character. She was also quite unimpressed by his attitude and unprofessional behavior (he often "borrowed" evidence to take home and analyze, and tended to assume that their investigations would play out just as they did in fiction). However, she put up with him because he did have a knack for cracking hard cases and eventually developed a grudging friendship with him, with an undertone of mutual sexual and romantic attraction stewing beneath the surface. Castle in turn let her into his world, introducing her to Alexis and Martha, letting her in on his poker games, and keeping her up-to-date on the progress of his first novel featuring her fictional doppelganger, Nikki Heat.

Castle's need to stick his nose where it didn't belong and find the story behind every person nearly cost him his new job and his friendship with Beckett, however. She eventually confided to him that the reason she became a cop was that her mother had been murdered when she was younger, but the case was never solved due to the detective being assigned to it showing a lack of interest in doing the necessary legwork to find the culprit. Beckett never got closure due to this and had to let go of her feelings in order to move on with her life, but Castle was not satisfied. Against her wishes, he secretly obtained the files on her mother's murder and began tapping his professional contacts to examine them, hoping to find some information that could lead him to the truth. One of them eventually revealed to Castle that Beckett's mother may have been murdered by a serial killer based on the stab wounds on her body, which were similar to those found on several other victims of unsolved murders. Castle was torn over whether or not to present this information to Beckett and agonzied over the decision for days. When Beckett's ex-boyfriend, an FBI agent, showed up to assist in investigating the kidnapping of a toddler, seeing the two being chummy spurned Castle on to tell Beckett what he knew.

Unsurprisingly, she was furious with him for going behind her back, and her partners at the NYPD did not want to forgive Castle's actions, either, making it look like his work with the department was over for good after one last case. When Alexis, who was hurting after being blown off by her date, burst out that she wished that guys would just admit when they were wrong and say they were sorry when they acted like jerks, Castle finally owned up to his mistake and apologized to Beckett. Beckett seemed touched by his sincerity, and he was welcomed back into the fold, though his relationship with her kept being tested by various things, including his relentless teasing about her not-so-subtle curiosity about the first Nikki Heat novel, Heat Wave (Beckett, as a closet fan of his works, stubbornly resisted his attempts to get her to ask about it and tried to read her advance copy in secret). On another occasion, Castle nearly left when he was offered a contract to write a series of novels about a certain famous British spy (which he ultimately turned down when he was offered a great deal of money to write more Nikki Heat books instead).

During these events, Castle also has to deal with the reality that Alexis, his precious little girl, is growing up. He raised her mostly on his own, and the two were always close. She goes through milestones such as going to her first prom and beginning to date several boys, which, combined with the murder cases he is investigating, causes Castle to go into overprotective-dad mode on occasion. He finally went too far when he insisted on looking into Alexis' new violin teacher's background despite her protests to trust her; receiving a reaming-out by Alexis afterward made him realize that he couldn't shelter her forever and had to give her space to be her own person.

The next major event in Castle's life occurs when he runs into his old flame, Kyra. In the time since she and Castle parted, she'd moved on and become engaged to another man; however, on her wedding day in New York City, one of her bridesmaids was murdered, and of course Castle and Beckett were called in. During the course of the investigation, Castle nearly ruined things because he kept picking fights with Kyra's fiancee and met and kissed her on their "special" rooftop in downtown NYC. When the case was solved, though, Castle watched her get married and finally let her go.

His life takes another unexpected turn when he and Beckett look into the murder of a mob hitman and drug runner named Jack Coonan. They eventually find out that Coonan's brother, Dick, was in fact a professional hitman and the one who had been hired to kill Beckett's mom. When they confronted him, Coonan took Castle hostage and threatened to kill him unless they let him go. Beckett was forced to shoot him to save Castle's life, thus killing her best and only lead; a guilt-ridden Castle attempted to quit the next day, but Beckett persuaded him to stay, saying that she'd gotten used to his presence, that he made her difficult job a little more fun, and that she wanted him to be there when she found the people who had hired Coonan.

Later on, the gang encounters a serial killer- a man who has a psychotic obsession with the character Nikki Heat, even referring to Beckett by that name when he calls to report his own murders and taunt her, leaving clues behind in the form of bullets spelling the phrase "NIKKI WILL BURN". Castle blames himself for the the man's killing spree, having created the object of his sick obsession, but Beckett and Martha try to reassure him that there's no way he should hold himself responsible. The FBI soon becomes involved, headed by Agent Jordan Shaw, described as the "federal Beckett" by Castle. Beckett becomes a little jealous of Castle's admiration of Agent Shaw, and he becomes concerned for Beckett when she refuses to stay under surveillance and sends away her guard detail. Castle decides to take the job of protecting her upon himself and brings Beckett a bottle of wine, sleeping over at her apartment... and the next morning, they find the body of the killer's next victim deposited right outside her front door.

They think that the case is over when the killer (whom they deduce is a man named Ben Conrad), cornered, seemingly shoots himself in full view of the police and federal agents watching him through his apartment window. They find plenty of evidence against Conrad inside his apartment, including several homemade bombs he was planning to set off. However, Castle feels something nagging at him, and realizes that although Conrad was seen holding the gun in his left hand and was shot on the left side of his head, his corpse was found with the gun in his RIGHT hand - guessing that the real killer had stolen Conrad's identity, murdered him in front of the police to divert suspicion, and was still on the loose. Castle races to save Beckett, knowing from the "NIKKI WILL BURN" clue that there's a bomb planted at her apartment. He frantically tries calling her, but she is in the shower and doesn't hear her phone ringing- and by the time he reaches her, it's too late. Castle watches in horror as Beckett's apartment blows up.

He rushes inside the burning building anyway and finds that Beckett dove into the bathtub to save herself, wrapping her in his coat and getting her out of there. Beckett and Castle are then removed from the case for their own protection, with Captain Montgomery and the feds both fearing that if they stay, they will both end up dead. However, they sneak back onto the team after the real killer, Scott Dunn, kidnaps Agent Shaw and plants a bomb trap for the feds. The two manage to rescue Agent Shaw, get the drop on Dunn and cuff him before he can do any more damage.

During another series of cases, Beckett becomes involved romantically with a detective from a different department, Demming. She begins to push Castle away, spurning Castle on to decide to leave the precinct, feeling that he has lost his chance to act on his own feelings for Beckett and that she no longer wants him around. However, Beckett's friends make her acknowledge that she is in love with Castle, too, and she dumps Demming and is about to tell Castle this... ...just as he walks up arm-in-arm with his ex-wife Gina, having unexpectedly reconnected romantically with her while discussing business over the phone. He tells Beckett that he's going off to his house in the Hamptons for the summer with Gina and to write his next book, leaving her stunned and heartbroken.

Months pass with no communication from Castle to Beckett- or any of the others at the precinct, for that matter- until he unexpectedly shows up at a crime scene, standing over a dead body with a gun in hand. Beckett, Ryan and Esposito arrest him and bring him in for interrogation. After it was proven that he had nothing to do with the crime, Castle is let go, wondering why his friends seem to hate him now. After being caught at a second crime scene, Castle worms his way into helping on the case, finally realizing what a huge mistake he made in cutting off his friends for months. Beckett is willing to let him back onto the team once again after he apologizes, but keeps him at arm's length emotionally, not ready to forgive him for the way he broke her heart. She is also revealed to be dating a doctor named Josh, their relationship becoming serious even as Castle's own relationship with Gina dissolves again. In addition, Alexis also has her first serious boyfriend, a boy named Ashley.

Another major shock comes to Castle's world when an infamous serial killer called the Triple Killer (so called because he kills in groups of three) suddenly becomes active again after years of silence. Beckett and the gang are put on the case and seemingly solve the crime, largely thanks to the efforts of a jailhouse informant, who was the cellmate of the man suspected to be the Triple Killer. However, they find out too late that their informant was the REAL Triple Killer, and the one they had arrested was a copycat. The Triple Killer lures Ryan and Castle to a motel room, then knocks Ryan out and ties Castle to a chair, taunting him and speculating that Castle loves working with the police department so much because it allows him to be close to death and satisfy his own darker urges. The Triple Killer then leaves without harming Castle- except for the knowledge that because he couldn't stop him, the Triple Killer will live to kill another day. Castle comments to Beckett that he feels so helpless, and she agrees, the two of them connecting on a deep level once more.

The next major event in the unraveling mystery of Beckett's mother's murder occurs when Detective Raglan, one of the detectives assigned to the case, unexpectedly contacts Beckett, telling her he's ready to come clean about his role in covering the murder up. She and Castle go to meet him at a cafe to find out what he knows. However, Raglan is shot and killed by a sniper's bullet, taking away another solid lead. Castle and Beckett eventually track down and arrest the sniper, Lockwood, and Beckett promises to visit him in prison for as long as it takes to get him to tell her who hired him.

Another case then turns personal for Castle when Damien Westlake, an old friend of his from boarding school, becomes the prime suspect in a murder. Castle and Beckett butt heads, with Castle insisting that Westlake couldn't possibly have been the culprit- however, while the man WAS innocent of that particular murder, Castle uncovers evidence that Westlake was involved in his own father's murder years ago, and regretfully allows his friend to be arrested.

The next major case Castle is involved in puts the whole city in danger. What appears to be the simple murder of a cab driver becomes much more complicated when Beckett and Castle go to a storage unit to look for evidence and appear to both be hit with a massive dose of radiation. He and Beckett are hauled off to an isolation chamber while the storage facility is closely examined for further radioactivity and seem close to dicussing their feelings for one another; however, the moment is ruined when the high radiation reading turns out to have been a false alarm. The two are put back on the case under the direction of FBI Agent Fallon, who suspects that the murder victim may have been linked to a group of terrorists in possession of a dirty bomb, who planned to detonate it in New York City. Closing in on the suspected murderers and terrorists, however, Beckett and Castle are lured into a trap and locked in a freezer, slowly but surely freezing to death.

It seems that all is lost until the two are rescued when Alexis, concerned that her dad turned his phone off without telling her, asks the police to come looking for them. As agonizing hours pass without the dirty bomb being located, Castle reluctantly sends his mother and daughter to his home in the Hamptons, wanting them to be safe, though he is unable to tell them why for fear that word about the bomb will get out and incite panic. Things seem hopeless until the murdered cab driver's wife is abducted by the real culprits- rogue U.S. soldiers who intended to make the cab driver take the fall for their dirty bomb plot. Castle, Beckett and Agent Fallon race to save New York City, but things again seem almost hopeless when Fallon can't figure out how to defuse the bomb safely- so, having nothing more to lose, Castle simply yanks all of the wires out, stopping the bomb with seconds to spare and saving countless lives in the process.

Later on, Alexis begins talking about graduating from school early so that she can go to Stanford with Ashley, and Castle is upset at this idea, even if he knows her flying the nest had to happen some time. Then, Beckett travels to Los Angeles against the Captain's wishes when her old partner and training officer, Royce, is murdered. Castle senses what she is up to and follows her, much to her annoyance. The two spend the night in a hotel room together and once again seem close to resolving their feelings for each other, but Beckett's reluctance keeps her away. When the case is solved, on the plane back to New York, Beckett reads a letter Royce left for her, in which he notes that Castle cares very deeply about her.

Castle's entire world is then turned upside-down when Lockwood- the sniper Beckett had arrested months earlier- murders the other corrupt detective known to have been involved in covering up Beckett's mother's murder while in prison and escapes. During the course of tracking him down, Castle finally calls Beckett out on her avoiding acknowledging their feelings for each other, even after everything they've been through together. Furious, she tells him that they are through and she never wants to see him again. Meanwhile, Ryan and Esposito, on the trail of Lockwood, deduce to their shock that there had been a third crooked cop involved in Beckett's mother's murder- their own Captain, Roy Montgomery. Feeling betrayed and hurt, unwilling to accept it at first, the two get in a brief fistfight before deciding to tell Beckett what they know.

Montgomery is approached in his home by Lockwood, who threatens to kill the Captain's family if he doesn't hand Beckett over to them, as she has gotten too close to the truth. Montgomery seems to agree and is ready to betray Beckett, luring her to a distant airplane hangar with the promise that he had new information on her mother's case. Beckett gets to the hangar just as she gets a text from Ryan and Esposito informing her of his treachery, and Castle suddenly appears, forcefully dragging Beckett from the scene of the tragedy about to unfold. Montgomery refuses to tell Beckett any more about the case, warning her that the people who wanted her mother dead are dangerous and it is for her own safety. Beckett then breaks down in Castle's arms and has to stand by while her mentor and Captain is murdered- but he manages to take Lockwood down with him, making the nightmare appear to be over.

Our of respect for all of the good deeds Montgomery had done to atone for his actions, Beckett, Ryan, Esposito and Castle mutually agree to keep his involvement in the murder quiet, letting him be buried as a hero. They all attend Montgomery's funeral- and as Beckett delivers an elegy for her fallen Captain, she is suddenly shot in the chest by a sniper. As she fades away, Castle cradles her and finally tells her he loves her.

Beckett survives the ordeal, but is badly wounded and faces a long hospital stay. While she is unconscious, her boyfriend, Josh, blames Castle for what happened to her, as he was the one who drudged up her mother's case again in the first place. Castle, actually agreeing with Josh and almost overwhelmed with guilt, tries to approach Beckett when she wakes up, but she tells him she wants to be alone and promises that she will speak to Castle when she is ready- however, three months pass with no word from her. Castle still goes to the precinct every day to work on her case in spite of this, and finds that the fannish adoration he once loved leaves him feeling shallow and unfulfilled when he releases a new book.

This is the point at which he comes to New Moore.

Character personality: The first words that come to mind when describing Richard Castle are "playboy", "childish", "annoying" and "charming". He is a highly-successful crime novelist and, before the series begins, seems to spend a lot of time fraternizing with his fans, attending book launch parties and readings, and generally living a lavish lifestyle. Castle has a firm belief that everyone and everything has a story- you just have to find it- and is not above hounding or charming people to get their personal stories and fresh inspiration for his writing.

However, underneath the ditzy playboy surface, Castle is a very intelligent man who has great insight into the criminal mind, and thoroughly researches his novels. If he doesn't know something himself, chances are he has a source or some old research that contains the answers, having built up quite an impressive amount of contacts over the years, even some in the FBI and CIA.

He also starts off thinking and acting quite selfishly, though this diminishes with time. When he first joins the NYPD as a consultant, he tends to treat everything as one big joke, and often acts as though cases will play out the way they do in fiction, forming opinions about a given crime based on what he would write, rather than the facts. He also stays emotionally detached from the cases, but as time goes on, finds himself becoming more and more involved and toning down his attitude, treating the victims and suspects with more respect and care. One negative trait he keeps throughout the series, however, is a tendency to act without much regard for others, and an inability to understand why people are upset with him until it's explicitly explained to him. He also doesn't quite give up his tendency to come up with outlandish theories, though he reasons that if he keeps making off-the-wall guesses, he will eventually be right.

Castle also lives to be a thorn in Detective Beckett's side. He can easily get her riled up and get under her skin by virtue of being his own annoying self... yet somehow, this strange bond eventually evolves into one of mutual trust and respect along with the teasing. The two have an obvious romantic and sexual attraction to one another, but are unwilling or unable to resolve those feelings- and Castle's occasional fling on the side doesn't help matters. His ability to annoy her can be a boon, as well, because Castle often says something that makes Beckett think outside the box and reach past her own solid conclusions. Despite the UST and their tendency to bicker, both of them trust one another with their lives and darkest secrets and fears and have literally faced down death together.

Despite his many negative attributes, Castle does have positive qualities. He is more than willing to apologize to people he's upset once he understands why and is not too proud to admit when he's wrong. He dotes on his daughter, Alexis, is constantly on the lookout for her well-being, and does his best to be a great dad without spoiling her. The two share a very close bond, and while Castle sometimes fumbles and is overprotective of her, he trusts her and she him. It is his worst nightmare as a parent to imagine something bad happening to her, and so cases involving children in danger affect him deeply. Castle has a good relationship with his mother, too, even if she does often get on his nerves, and it is obvious the two love each other. Once Castle befriends someone, especially as closely as he does Beckett, he will go out of his way and give whatever he can to make sure they're happy, and can be very generous with his wealth.

-SAMPLES-

Journal entry sample: A work of fiction becomes reality.

I'm a writer of mystery novels, so I guess the proper way to introduce me to this place would have been "Yo Mr. Castle, we heard you write fiction, so we put some fiction in your fiction so you can be not real while you write about things that aren't real". I suppose this place isn't hip to Internet memes the way I am, hmm?

Not that I buy that line quite yet, of course; it's all a bit too meta for my tastes.

Hello, New Moore. I'm Richard Castle, world-famous novelist, and I am eager to hear everyone's story.

3rd person sample:

Castle had looked everywhere around his apartment for those files. It figured that the one time Beckett had actually WILLINGLY let him take evidence home, he would lose it.

He hadn't told her that little bit, of course. This kind of information, he felt, was best released on a strictly need-to-know basis. And she didn't need to know. Not until he'd exhausted every possibile hiding place at least 3 times, and even then....

He jumped when his phone rang and nearly hit his head on the underside of the desk he'd been on his hands and knees under. Groping around on the desk top with one hand, he managed to grab the phone... then immediately dropped it. Grunting, he strained to reach where it had fallen, finally managing to get one fingernail on the edge of the phone and slide it toward him. It had been ringing insistently in the meantime... and of course, just as soon as he grabbed it, it stopped.

"... Damnit." Picking it up anyway, still crouched underneath the desk, Castle looked at his call history and saw that it had been Beckett. "... Double damnit." Then, it began to ring again. "TRIPLE damnit." Castle rubbed his nose, bit his lip, swallowed down his panic and answered it. "Detective Beckett! Please tell me another body hasn't dropped."

"No, Castle. I'm just wondering where you are with those files. You said you'd be here 15 minutes ago."

"Oh, well, you know... I get distracted so easily..." He winced when there was a long pause.

"You didn't LOSE them, did you? Because I doubt even YOU are that irresponsible."

"Of COURSE not," said Castle, with all the sincerity he could muster... before spotting the corner of a manila envelope beneath his office rug, trying to hold back a squee of relief.

"Castle. Don't lie to me."

"I'm not!" Castle insisted, the sincerity much more earnest this time as he crawled out from underneath the desk, wincing as he banged his elbow on the corner of it as he did so.

"You'd better not be. Because I want them here. NOW." Castle knew that tone all too well by now. It was Beckett's I-don't-believe-you-for-one-second-mister voice. That one that she used in the interrogation room when she knew a criminal was lying, but they thought she was too stupid to realize it.

"Okay, okay!" said Castle, practically diving forward, seizing the folder and pulling it out from underneath the rug. "I'll be there in 10."

"Good." There was silence as she hung up, and Castle flopped forward onto his stomach, breathing a sigh of relief.