APP }{ MORGAN VS. THE RPG
[nick / name]: Lys
[personal LJ name]: bringmepie
[other characters currently played]:
mohinder suresh | heroes | orderonto
alex woolsly | heroes | feltlikeafreak
dean winchester | supernatural | shutupsammy
julio richter | marvel comics | alittlecredit
robin goodfellow | the cal leandros series | winewomenand
[e-mail]: lysandra.sylier@gmail.com
[AIM / messenger]: shinjiteeth@y!m
[series]: Chuck
[character]: Morgan Grimes
[character history / background]:
Morgan Grimes was born to his mother Bolonia by cesarean section. To this day, he's always felt he was robbed of a life experience by this. At some unspecified point, his father left Bolonia, although it's never much touched on, hinting that Morgan never had a close relationship with the man. Morgan has lived in Burbank, California for all of his life, and has known Chuck Bartowski for most of that life in Burbank, having met him at school some time before they both entered the fifth grade.
Most of his youth was spent being protected by Chuck, who looked out for him, and assisted when Morgan was being picked on by bullies (who had nicknamed him Organ during school) or beat up by girls. In return, Morgan has always been 'there' for Chuck, having an almost hero-worshiping reverence for the other man, who he often refers to as his soulmate. Morgan was there for Chuck and his sister Ellie when their mother left, as well as there to provide moral support again when Chuck returned home after being expelled from Stanford and dumped by his girlfriend Jill in preference to Bryce Larkin, Chuck's roommate.
In addition to Chuck, Morgan is also familiar with his sister Ellie, who he is in love with and who he has a very long-running crush on (which is known by nearly everyone that Morgan knows because, according to Chuck, he tells everyone he does).
Morgan works at the Burbank Buy More, where he is considered off-and-on as being the worst employee amongst the green-shirts, and the person who boss Big Mike trusts with supervising the store on some of their highest-volume sales days, such as Black Friday.
To date, Morgan is unaware of his friend Chuck's involvement with the CIA and identity as the Intersect. For the better. Seriously.
[character abilities]:
Morgan is the best Call Of Duty player that he knows. He's also skilled at Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero. Additionally, he knows more trivia about Chuck than Chuck probably knows about Chuck, has a pizza named after him, can eat ANYTHING, and is the originator of a superspy K.O. fatality move, The Morgan.
[character personality]:
"Well, I hate to go changing on you, buddy, but if you hadn't noticed we are now, chronologically speaking, adults. So, unless you want to work retail for the rest of your life and, by the way, drag me down with you in the process, I would suggest that you grow up."
Imagine that kid you knew in high school, the one with little to no ambition and no greater aspirations than to live a reasonably comfortable life with an X-Box and a fridge full of food. That kid is Morgan Grimes. And okay, maybe he's the champion at Mystery Crisper because he'll eat anything, and maybe he's destroyed display merchandise while searching the internet for porn at work, but he's not a bad guy. Just a little pathetic, and a little immature. Despite his many varied and creative personality flaws, he has a strength of character instilled into a person by a childhood spent needing other people just as much as you knew that, when they were having a bad day, they needed you. Morgan doesn't flake out on friends. He doesn't blow a new person off, either. And more than anything, he doesn't blow off Chuck.
Even if lately Chuck's been blowing off him. And maybe Chuck doesn't notice how much of a habit it's becoming, but Morgan does, because Morgan? He's Chuck's soulmate. It's been hard lately, the way Chuck's growing up so much faster than Morgan seems to be, and sometimes he feels like his buddy is getting away from him, but he'll always be there for Chuck. Always. That means always being there for Chuck's sister Ellie, as well, and that's definitely no hard job for Mr. Grimes. Their relationship has been on and off, usually rocky, mostly in that Ellie thinks Morgan is exactly the immature, attention deficient, impulsive manchild that he is, but they understand one another, and they both need Chuck in their lives more than anything, giving them a frequent 'I Miss Chuck' bonding ritual. Ellie, to Morgan, is like a sister. A sister he would happily offer (reasonably helpful and surprisingly sensitive) relationship advice to. A sister he wants to have so much sex with.
Which he's getting these days, from Anna. His relationship with Anna Wu has allowed him some recent personal reflection, realizing where he so often goes wrong in his life, especially when relating to other people. Morgan knows exactly how he comes off, knows exactly how mediocre he is, physically, mentally, emotionally. This knowledge leads him to be ashamed of himself to the point of depression. When he feels there's a chance he may be judged, he lies and forms a persona for himself. Through Anna and Chuck, he's led continually back to the realization that the people who want Morgan around want Morgan for Morgan.
In the end, Morgan wants three things. He wants to help, he wants to enjoy his life, and he wants Chuck within shouting distance.
Chuck, I know what a third wheel is. I know it's me. Give me a chance here, man. Let me be a fourth wheel for once. Or maybe I can be any other even number
[point in timeline you're picking your character from]: The end of season one, the end of the episode Chuck versus The Marlin.
[journal post]:
[audio post]
This is a dream. This is clearly a dream and it is an epic dream which may, in fact, be the Best. Dream. Ever. It could only be better if it was full of naked Ellie. And because it's very obviously a dream, Chuck can't hate me forever for saying that out loud.
And also because it's a dream and a lucid dream, if I concentrate hard enough, I can dream myself taller.
Why am I not taller?
Oh man, Chuck, I am so sorry about that thing about your sister.
[third person / log sample]:
Morgan isn't as stupid as everyone thinks he is. Don't get him wrong-- he's pretty stupid, even he knows it, because if he wasn't he wouldn't be working electronics retail for next to minimum wage for someone like Big Mike. If he was smart, maybe he'd be a Nerd Herder. Or a video game developer. Or an accountant. He wouldn't be shuffling from shit job to shit job, following Chuck around as well as possible. Anyway, he's stupid, but he's not as stupid as everyone thinks he is. He knows when stuff's up.
And stuff? It's up. It's up like sales of iPod shuffles right before warmer weather hits. It's up like the price of video game consoles. Stuff is up with Chuck, whether or not Chuck wants him to know, and Chuck doesn't. Of course Chuck doesn't want him to know something is up, because that would break everything. Everything. That's not the way the Chuck-Morgan dynamic works. When Morgan has a problem, he runs to Chuck and explains it, and Chuck helps him through it or, sometimes, solves it for him; makes it go away. Swirlied by bullies? Chuck's big, Chuck can stop it. Going to get fired for poor sales at work? Chuck's smart, Chuck can fix it. But that's not how it works in reverse. It's not equivalent that way.
When Chuck has a problem, he keeps it to himself.
That's how it's always been. The Bartowskis never tell Morgan when there's a problem, because they're stronger than him and always have been. They try to keep it inside and solve their own issues without having to bring them up and trouble other people with them. Morgan Grimes doesn't care if he troubles other people. That's what his friends are there for-- to be troubled. But those two aren't like that and never have been. So it's up to Morgan to just notice things, feel them out, recognize when there's something Up. Offer silent comfort. When their father leaves, when their mother dies, when Ellie and Captain Awesome have issues. When Chuck starts to act...funny.
Chuck's not going to tell him what's going on; he's not as stupid as people think he is, so he knows Chuck won't, and if he brings it up, it's not going to do anything but cause problems between the two of them. He's just going to feel it out and wait for Chuck to speak up. Morgan's the selfish one.
That's their dynamic.