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CHARACTER
» Name: Seeley Joseph Booth
» Fandom: Bones
» References you can use: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeley_Booth
» Canon Point: End of Episode 6.14 (The Bikini in the Soup) after his breakup with Hanna and celebrating the St. Valentine's Day Massacre with Thompson machine guns at the shooting range with Bones.
» Gender: Male
» Age: 34
» Sexual Orientation: Straight. He tends to prefer professional intelligent women such as lawyers.
» Appearance: Actor David Boreanaz. 6'1", dark hair, Italian/Slavic looking. Broad-shouldered, highly muscular. Also shares his appearance with Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel (as they're both played by Boreanaz).
» Strengths: A bit of a jock, Booth personifies much of the "All-American Boy" persona. He's good at team sports, (football and hockey most notably) and joined the army at a younger age, working his way up to the rank of Sgt Major and earning several medals. An excellent sniper, Booth holds the record for the longest shot made in the army, and he doesn't like to lose practice, still going to the shooting range and practicing -- he got very worried post surgery that his marksmanship was deteriorating and even sought the guidance of the psychologist advising him. Booth is physically athletic, and charming and good with people (which is at odds with the rest of his team who are often comically bad at dealing with people). His aim is spectacular, and he's even highly skilled with throwing knives, having the best skill with knifes in the rangers and this aids them when he and Bones go undercover in the circus.
He's a good father, and it shines through in other aspects of his life, including his initial influence on Zack Addy and his later relationship with Lance Sweets. Booth is very protective of his teammates and people he cares about (or even relative strangers) which made him an excellent soldier and special agent. It's also noted directly in the series that his gravitation towards aggressive fields (hockey, his job, etc.) isn't the violence like his abusive father, but an extension of his protective nature on the job and elsewhere. Extremely protective of Dr. Brennan, Booth has been known to stay by her side even to a level that grows to annoy her, all in order to keep her safe.
Booth is very passionate about anything he believes strongly in, and fights very hard to defend what he considers a just cause. His friend Cam refers to him having a "lion heart" he should trust, and Bones calls him idealistic several times throughout the show and insists he has very romantic views of things. He relies on his instincts, guts, and courage for his end of the case-solving they do. This is in direct contrast with his partner who is highly analytical, purposely unemotional and distant, and all about logic and evidence. Nevertheless, following his instincts and emotions is one of his biggest strengths, along with his faith that helps him get out of some extremely dangerous life and death situations.
Highly charismatic, Booth is attractive and fully aware of its effect on people, using it to its fullest. He's personable and doesn't have troubles getting people to like him, even with the Squints who had a tendency to dislike anyone not as smart as them or general outsiders. He's confident and uses the charm against criminals and in dealing with the workplace alike, though he's expressed dissatisfaction at having to deal with some of the brass and FBI political parties. When working on the cases, his team has a tendency to look at things like a science project, whereas Booth keeps in mind how they'll have to explain things to a jury and due to his position, frequently acts like a translator or liason, to the point that early in the series, Zach was uncertain about talking to anyone on the field without Booth around to translate. However, Booth is extremely loyal and despite the well-known difficulties in working with Bones and her team, he defends them fully, on occasion even at the expense of risking his job or life. He also helps out old friends from the force or Ken Nakamura whom he met during his exchange program days, fiercely loyal. Boothe's protective nature helps him out greatly sometimes, such as when he had to go for his re-certification as an FBI sharpshooter, his scores were lagging; however, by asking Bones to come watch, he was able to put himself in the position of protecting her and score perfectly.
As a still practicing Roman Catholic, Booth is highly principled and has a set view of what moral standards should be. While this doesn't make him intolerant of other views, it does give him an added passion to upholding the law and his own moral sense of right and wrong. While he still arrested Bones' father for being a murderer and wanted felon, he also said he respected the guy because in the Old West, Max (her father) would have been considered a hero or sheriff since he was doing what he felt was necessary to protect his family. He doesn't blindly follow the law, but he does uphold them, even arresting his own partner Bones for shooting an unarmed man (who was trying to set her on fire at the time).
Booth is extremely street-smart, not just able to read people, but understand when to be intimidating, and he's familiar with how criminals act. He's referred to as being very empathetic, and when he was in Japan, unlike the rest of the Americans who simply told the Japanese what to do, Booth was quiet and reserved (atypical of his usual behaviour) and instead asked questions and was very respectful, which earned him a good friend. His intuition is well-honed and unlike the squints who refused to even take a "guess" on things other people would consider obvious, Booth is ready to follow his gut, which is only rarely wrong, and has often saved his life. He's confident with women (in spite of his highly altruistic and idealist romantic nature, or perhaps because of it) and while he gets a little flustered when some women flirt with him, he flirts back with Angela and is frequently referred to as an Alpha Male, even by Bones who actually gave a speech praising him as one for his birthday.
Weaknesses: In his high school days, Booth admitted to Bones that he was actually much like the jock bullies that tormented her and the other "squints" -- the science team at the Smithsonian during those days. He deeply regrets the decisions not to intervene and protect people back then and tries to atone for it with the life he leads now. Likewise, due to his "Catholic conscience" he also tries to atone for his days as a ranger in the armed forces, when he was a sniper (and to date he's marked at least 50 kills). He's a recovery gambling addict, still going to addicts meetings and as he told one of his old army buddies, he doesn't even play a game of monopoly now. This becomes a big worry for Dr. Brennan when they have to go inside a casino at one point and she was worried he'd relapse. It comes into play again later when Sweets suggests that he should be the one to make the first move and take the chance between him and Bones because he's the gambler -- and on a few of the cases, he's been known to take a gambling risk, though this is often because of relying on his gut instincts. His ex Cam was also familiar with this along with his tendency to insist that it wasn't a problem so long as he was winning.
His psychologist/therapist (Sweets) describes him as having "White Knight Syndrome" and his protectiveness has been known to get exactly that over the top and often interfering in order to protect his partner. Usually it's mentioned that it's because of his abusive father, but his overprotective nature is well known even outside of protecting Bones and her own relationship issues. However, he can be self-sacrificing to the point of hurting himself (not just in his usual line of duty taking bullets and going through explosions) but emotionally and mentally, he puts a lot of stress on himself and politically hurts his career to rescue or protect someone else. This becomes a recurring theme, started with his brother Jared and at least hinted at by Cam when Bones was taken in by some of Jared's claims that Booth simply wasn't as ambitious as himself and that that was why Booth didn't get ahead. The truth became more apparent to Bones when Booth sacrificed the credit for one of his best captures in order to get Jared out of trouble for drunk driving. Later on, Dr. Brennan asked him to have her baby via sperm donation, which greatly frustrated him because he want to be more than just a sperm donor, yet he still wound up saying yes, even though the stress (and a brain tumor) caused him to hallucinate.
Booth isn't nearly as intellectual or as educated as his science "squint" counterparts, and very often when they ramble or explain things he can't completely keep up. He doesn't like the big words he doesn't understand and has to ask them to cut it down for brevity's sake. When it gets to be too much, he gets temperamental and violent and has even threatened to shoot Hodgins and Zach in the head when they annoyed him too much (or if Zach asked advice on sex). However, as the show progresses, this lessens noticeably as they develop a closer friendship rather than just an at-odds working relationship. Early on, he had severe temper issues and shot a clown face/siren on an ice cream truck and later on a musician's speaker when his badge got spit on citing he found it justifiable. It was revealed that Booth suffers from coulrophobia (fear of clowns), though after his brain tumor was removed and he underwent some psychological and personality changes, his fear was significantly lessened.
From his past traumas, his childhood and being tortured while in the army, Booth carries some heavy scars; both physical and mental. He also carries some extremely heavy guilt from his time sniping, and he hates having to kill, even though he was a fantastic sniper. Nonetheless, much of his actions throughout the show are attempts to atone for his past (possibly a producer carryover from David Boreanaz's days as Angel in Buffy) and a lot of striving to become a better man.
» Personality/Background:
Abused by his ex-pilot turned alcoholic father, Booth tried to protect his younger brother and they were soon taken in by their grandfather who protected them. However, this developed a pattern early on for Booth of wanting to protect others, and sometimes sacrificing himself for others he's close to (particularly his brother). His grandfather is mentioned as saving Booth's life as Booth would have killed himself as a teenager otherwise. In the army he performed with exemplary service which got him promoted to Sargent Major and he earned several medals. He set the record for the longest shot made in combat (one kilometer) and was a particularly great sniper.
As a teen, Booth was a jock and athlete in school and hated the nerdy types who mocked him and made him feel like an idiot. On one particular incident he was called a Philistine and didn't understand what that meant so retorted that he was Catholic, which later led to him not sticking up for the nerdy kid when he was bullied by some of Booth's friends. He was into classic and arena rock, and the early punk music scene -- something his father disapproved of. He was also known for being loyal to Philadelphia sports teams as that is where he grew up, and still has a tendency to favor them. He was in a fraternity in college and in typical jock behavior bragged about some of the pranks they pulled. He joined the army rangers and worked his way up to Sargent Major. Eventually he began working with the FBI as a special agent.
He had a son named Parker, (so named after one of his army buds who died, much to Booth's feelings of guilt even though he kept telling him to get down and the soldier was out of line) but when he proposed to the mother Rebecca, she turned him down. Their relationship was tense because of this, with Booth often wanting to see more of his son and only allowed when Becca felt generous. Part of the conflict was his tendency to be overprotective to the point of interfering, and wanting to check out her new boyfriends to make sure they weren't a bad influence to have around his son and Becca did not appreciate the background checks (which Booth is known to run on others, including his brother's fiance). They worked out better arrangements and develop a more amicable relationship and Becca assured him that unlike what Bones thought Booth felt; she hadn't turned him down because she thought he'd make a bad father, it was just because she didn't want to get married.
While early into recovering from his gambling addiction he works his first case with Dr. Brennan as shown later in a flashback episode. Their relationship started off as a force of cocky and competent versus arrogant and expert. He nicknamed Dr. Brennan "Bones" because of her belief that all forensics and anthropology could best be done through bones, and bones only. They both knew themselves to be experts in the field, but where Bones was truly the best in the world, her intelligence gave her a superior attitude, just as Booth's jock attitude had a tendency to intimidate others. They had a heavy initial attraction, but when they got close to getting together, she turned him down (even though she promised to keep secret his relation to John Wilkes Booth: Lincoln's assassin, and he confessed his gambling addiction) and after solving the case they got in a very heated argument and she vowed never to work with him again. Nevertheless, a year later they did end up working together, and thus began the start of the series.
Towards the start of the series, Booth is extremely cocky with an actual belt buckle to show it. He mellows slightly after the brain tumor, but still has a penchant for showing his individuality with brightly colored unique socks or special ties and ornate belt buckles. Booth frequently references pop culture, sharing John Wayne fandom with Bones as well as a mutual like of the band Foreigner, but more often than not, his references are lost on her and the other squints who don't follow them. He loves Green Lantern comics and reads them when relaxing in the tub (which Bones walks in on at one point) and when trying to make up his mind about whether to be a sperm donor for Bones' baby, he hallucinated Stewie Griffin from Family Guy giving him advice (or mostly insulting him) though this was due to the brain tumor. During the surgery, Booth reacted badly to the anesthesia and wound up in a coma. While he was unconscious Bones stuck by his side working on her next book which Booth wound up dreaming; wherein Booth and Bones were married and ran a nightclub.
Discussing the dream later with Sweets and his other work friends, they slowly helped Booth to acknowledge that he was in love with Bones. However, when he confessed to her, taking a chance as a gambler, she turned him down, wanting to keep their work relationship the way it already was. Booth is a hopeless romantic, believing in love at first sight, true love, and the concept of "forever" -- all things Temperance has trouble accepting since it can't clearly be seen through a scientific lens. This was part of what led to her pushing him away, but as the series progresses she comes to acknowledge love when she sees it and even chides Booth saying he was making her stomach hurt with anxiety because he turned his back on true love when he wasn't simply trusting in Jared and his girlfriend's love for each other to pull them through. His intense loyalty to Bones is frequently shown throughout the show, with him even saying if Bones is fired, he'll walk out with her. Likewise, during his confession to her, Booth said he always knew that he loved her and wanted to be with her like an old couple where the guy always knew.
After her rejection, they agree to keep working together as friends only, but Booth informs her he has to move on. They end the season with special opportunities for their careers and take them up, so in the next season when they're reunited, Booth has found a steady girlfriend he is happy with. Despite being Booth's counselor and therapist, Sweets asks Booths' help in relationships and when he was trying to figure out whether he should get married, he told Booth that he didn't want to wind up like Booth: 34 and never been married. This hurries Booth's decision to ask his new girlfriend Hanna to marry him, with nearly disastrous results. She turns him down explaining that she's not the marrying kind and he answers that he can't continue the relationship like he never asked. At that point, Booth gets very distressed with women and specifically what about himself women he loved didn't seem to want in the way he hoped for. He goes drinking (heavily) and tries to insist that he's not a drunk like his father when Bones came to check on him.
When he offers Bones two choices: she can stay drinking with him and they'll keep things as they are, or she can walk out and he'll find her a new FBI guy to work with, Bones takes the first choice and stays with him. Their friendship grows later on Valentine's Day when Booth, bitter from his breakup and unappreciative of all the happy couples around him, gets cheered up by Bones (rather than the typical vice versa) when she knows exactly what he needs and turns down several dates offers so that she can spend it with him at the shooting range and gets him Tommy guns as a present to commemorate the gang wars St. Valentine's Day massacre.
Important canon relationships
- Temperance Brennan aka "Bones" -- By far his most complicated relationship as it's one of the focal points of the show. They started off with a heavy initial attraction, especially on his side towards her. But once they started working together they had to put it aside. Over the series it grows, he represses it again (or more) and through a series of significant others for the each of them, it doesn't work out. He wants to keep it professional so that he can still protect her and they can do their jobs adequately. They develop a very close friendship and each know intimate details about each other, and due to their work with the FBI they've been in many life and death situations and had to save each other on numerous occasions.
- Dr. Camille (Cam) Saroyan -- A long-time friend and close ex, Cam has known Booth and his brother for "at least fifteen years." Cam is partially responsible for Booth and Bones first meeting by suggesting Booth seek her help in the prequel episode, and she later takes charge of the Smithsonian team, telling Booth that it's because the facilities are nicer than working as an M.E. in NYC. At some point in the series Booth and Cam relapsed and slept together again, but after that Booth insisted that workplace relationships put everyone in danger and that they had to maintain their professionalism (something he struggles with often). Around Cam's father 60th birthday she asked Booth to pretend that they were still dating since she didn't want to deal with her family's expectations of her having a boyfriend. Though he did this (grudgingly), the truth came out when her sister hit on him for the purpose of upsetting Cam. They still talk even about otherwise touchy subjects like current relationships or non-work problems and maintain a steady relationship as friends.
- Parker Matthew Booth -- Booth's son (nine years old). While they do not get to see each other as often as Seeley would like, he's canonically referred to as being a good father and often considers Parker the most important person in his life. His son is named after the best friend of his in the army whom he saw as a ghost (while Booth was suffering with a brain tumor, but at the end of the episode Bones is shown also conversing with Parker Sr's ghost without knowing who he was). Booth worried greatly that Parker would be traumatized by finding a severed finger and took him to see Sweets to make sure, but instead the kid was quite fine with it and if anything, had girl troubles as he was well-liked and didn't know how to handle it. They usually spend Christmas together and Booth tries to get more days when he can, though while he was in Afghanistan, visitation was clearly on hold.
- Lance Sweets -- Originally a very young psychologist assessing Booth and Bones' work relationship, they keep him on to ask for his help with profiling suspects and because he likes them. They develop a friendship that due to all three of their past histories with abusive parents can sometimes be terse (as asking Booth about his father is a good way to upset him) and yet also familiarly close. Booth develops an almost fatherly relationship, due to Sweets' age, and Booth being an actual father already.
- Jared Booth -- Seeley's little brother. While Jared seems equally competent, he makes no attempts to hide that he's more ambitious than his older brother and tries to get ahead by schmoozing with the right people at the right times. The truth, however, is that Jared is a bit of an alcoholic like their abusive father and that Seeley often has to bail him out of trouble. They have a very tense relationship at best, but when it really matters they're there for each other, putting lives and careers on the line.
~Permissions~
- Threadhopping with this character - yes/no/other?: Yes. Always welcome. But be mindful of other people's journals if they don't like it. You're always welcome to threadjump in Seeley's journal as well, but he will read what is said. He's nosy :|
- Subject line comments: Yes please. If I do it to you and you hate it, you can kick me.
- Hugging this character?: He'll most likely freeze up all tense and awkward, but you're definitely allowed to. Depending the situation he might just be stone and/or growl until he gets his space. (all little kids can instantly give him one and he'll ruffle their heads and possibly give one back.)
- Giving this character a kiss?: Go for it. If it's cute and innocent he'll probably just vaguely blush. If he doesn't like you, you might get a punch to the jaw though. Most women will get kissed back.
- Badtouching: Uh, not recommended unless you're a woman flirting with him and it's clearly okay. Then you know, go for it. (But he'll be a little down post-breakup)
- Lovers: CANON PAST: Rebecca his ex he has a son with. He asked her to marry him and she turned him down. Through the series he tends to fall for professional lawyer types (women), and has a few more exes including Tessa (a lawyer) and most recently Hanna -- whom he also proposed to (and SPOILER: only to get turned down again.) He was shown to be in love with his work partner: Temperance Brennan (whom he nicknamed Bones) but when she turned him down in Season 5, he went to Afghanistan as Special Ops and met Hanna there.
- Punching this character (provided they can fight back): Go for it. I don't mind giving him a black eye, but he will punch back and go on the defensive. He can be abducted/incapacitated especially by those with powers or if taken off guard.
- Easiest way to get on his good side: Joking around is good (use your head), he likes sports, justice type, the "normal" things.
- Easiest way to get on his bad side: Kill someone innocent(ish) and brag about it. Clowns, act like a jerk. ALSO, abusing kids. And pressing him about his past. He'll usually let slide atheism/anti-religion since Bones herself is that way, but it does make him a lot more testy.
- Can I hack his journal?: Just check the levels for threads, but generally yes.
- Can he hack my journal?: Only with a LOT of effort. His computer skills are middling because he usually relies on squints.
- Fourth Wall Breakage: Sure. (You can also reference other things the actor plays like Angel on Buffy)
- Can I shapeshift/bodyswap/etc?: Yes. Just leave an ooc note, TORTURE HIM >:3 *IS EVIL* and the crackier, the more I'll love/want it.
- Maim/Murder/Death: Totally allowed, but advanced warning would be nice.
- Blood: Yeah that's fine.
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CHARACTER
» Name: Seeley Joseph Booth
» Fandom: Bones
» References you can use: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeley_Booth
» Canon Point: End of Episode 6.14 (The Bikini in the Soup) after his breakup with Hanna and celebrating the St. Valentine's Day Massacre with Thompson machine guns at the shooting range with Bones.
» Gender: Male
» Age: 34
» Sexual Orientation: Straight. He tends to prefer professional intelligent women such as lawyers.
» Appearance: Actor David Boreanaz. 6'1", dark hair, Italian/Slavic looking. Broad-shouldered, highly muscular. Also shares his appearance with Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel (as they're both played by Boreanaz).
» Strengths: A bit of a jock, Booth personifies much of the "All-American Boy" persona. He's good at team sports, (football and hockey most notably) and joined the army at a younger age, working his way up to the rank of Sgt Major and earning several medals. An excellent sniper, Booth holds the record for the longest shot made in the army, and he doesn't like to lose practice, still going to the shooting range and practicing -- he got very worried post surgery that his marksmanship was deteriorating and even sought the guidance of the psychologist advising him. Booth is physically athletic, and charming and good with people (which is at odds with the rest of his team who are often comically bad at dealing with people). His aim is spectacular, and he's even highly skilled with throwing knives, having the best skill with knifes in the rangers and this aids them when he and Bones go undercover in the circus.
He's a good father, and it shines through in other aspects of his life, including his initial influence on Zack Addy and his later relationship with Lance Sweets. Booth is very protective of his teammates and people he cares about (or even relative strangers) which made him an excellent soldier and special agent. It's also noted directly in the series that his gravitation towards aggressive fields (hockey, his job, etc.) isn't the violence like his abusive father, but an extension of his protective nature on the job and elsewhere. Extremely protective of Dr. Brennan, Booth has been known to stay by her side even to a level that grows to annoy her, all in order to keep her safe.
Booth is very passionate about anything he believes strongly in, and fights very hard to defend what he considers a just cause. His friend Cam refers to him having a "lion heart" he should trust, and Bones calls him idealistic several times throughout the show and insists he has very romantic views of things. He relies on his instincts, guts, and courage for his end of the case-solving they do. This is in direct contrast with his partner who is highly analytical, purposely unemotional and distant, and all about logic and evidence. Nevertheless, following his instincts and emotions is one of his biggest strengths, along with his faith that helps him get out of some extremely dangerous life and death situations.
Highly charismatic, Booth is attractive and fully aware of its effect on people, using it to its fullest. He's personable and doesn't have troubles getting people to like him, even with the Squints who had a tendency to dislike anyone not as smart as them or general outsiders. He's confident and uses the charm against criminals and in dealing with the workplace alike, though he's expressed dissatisfaction at having to deal with some of the brass and FBI political parties. When working on the cases, his team has a tendency to look at things like a science project, whereas Booth keeps in mind how they'll have to explain things to a jury and due to his position, frequently acts like a translator or liason, to the point that early in the series, Zach was uncertain about talking to anyone on the field without Booth around to translate. However, Booth is extremely loyal and despite the well-known difficulties in working with Bones and her team, he defends them fully, on occasion even at the expense of risking his job or life. He also helps out old friends from the force or Ken Nakamura whom he met during his exchange program days, fiercely loyal. Boothe's protective nature helps him out greatly sometimes, such as when he had to go for his re-certification as an FBI sharpshooter, his scores were lagging; however, by asking Bones to come watch, he was able to put himself in the position of protecting her and score perfectly.
As a still practicing Roman Catholic, Booth is highly principled and has a set view of what moral standards should be. While this doesn't make him intolerant of other views, it does give him an added passion to upholding the law and his own moral sense of right and wrong. While he still arrested Bones' father for being a murderer and wanted felon, he also said he respected the guy because in the Old West, Max (her father) would have been considered a hero or sheriff since he was doing what he felt was necessary to protect his family. He doesn't blindly follow the law, but he does uphold them, even arresting his own partner Bones for shooting an unarmed man (who was trying to set her on fire at the time).
Booth is extremely street-smart, not just able to read people, but understand when to be intimidating, and he's familiar with how criminals act. He's referred to as being very empathetic, and when he was in Japan, unlike the rest of the Americans who simply told the Japanese what to do, Booth was quiet and reserved (atypical of his usual behaviour) and instead asked questions and was very respectful, which earned him a good friend. His intuition is well-honed and unlike the squints who refused to even take a "guess" on things other people would consider obvious, Booth is ready to follow his gut, which is only rarely wrong, and has often saved his life. He's confident with women (in spite of his highly altruistic and idealist romantic nature, or perhaps because of it) and while he gets a little flustered when some women flirt with him, he flirts back with Angela and is frequently referred to as an Alpha Male, even by Bones who actually gave a speech praising him as one for his birthday.
Weaknesses: In his high school days, Booth admitted to Bones that he was actually much like the jock bullies that tormented her and the other "squints" -- the science team at the Smithsonian during those days. He deeply regrets the decisions not to intervene and protect people back then and tries to atone for it with the life he leads now. Likewise, due to his "Catholic conscience" he also tries to atone for his days as a ranger in the armed forces, when he was a sniper (and to date he's marked at least 50 kills). He's a recovery gambling addict, still going to addicts meetings and as he told one of his old army buddies, he doesn't even play a game of monopoly now. This becomes a big worry for Dr. Brennan when they have to go inside a casino at one point and she was worried he'd relapse. It comes into play again later when Sweets suggests that he should be the one to make the first move and take the chance between him and Bones because he's the gambler -- and on a few of the cases, he's been known to take a gambling risk, though this is often because of relying on his gut instincts. His ex Cam was also familiar with this along with his tendency to insist that it wasn't a problem so long as he was winning.
His psychologist/therapist (Sweets) describes him as having "White Knight Syndrome" and his protectiveness has been known to get exactly that over the top and often interfering in order to protect his partner. Usually it's mentioned that it's because of his abusive father, but his overprotective nature is well known even outside of protecting Bones and her own relationship issues. However, he can be self-sacrificing to the point of hurting himself (not just in his usual line of duty taking bullets and going through explosions) but emotionally and mentally, he puts a lot of stress on himself and politically hurts his career to rescue or protect someone else. This becomes a recurring theme, started with his brother Jared and at least hinted at by Cam when Bones was taken in by some of Jared's claims that Booth simply wasn't as ambitious as himself and that that was why Booth didn't get ahead. The truth became more apparent to Bones when Booth sacrificed the credit for one of his best captures in order to get Jared out of trouble for drunk driving. Later on, Dr. Brennan asked him to have her baby via sperm donation, which greatly frustrated him because he want to be more than just a sperm donor, yet he still wound up saying yes, even though the stress (and a brain tumor) caused him to hallucinate.
Booth isn't nearly as intellectual or as educated as his science "squint" counterparts, and very often when they ramble or explain things he can't completely keep up. He doesn't like the big words he doesn't understand and has to ask them to cut it down for brevity's sake. When it gets to be too much, he gets temperamental and violent and has even threatened to shoot Hodgins and Zach in the head when they annoyed him too much (or if Zach asked advice on sex). However, as the show progresses, this lessens noticeably as they develop a closer friendship rather than just an at-odds working relationship. Early on, he had severe temper issues and shot a clown face/siren on an ice cream truck and later on a musician's speaker when his badge got spit on citing he found it justifiable. It was revealed that Booth suffers from coulrophobia (fear of clowns), though after his brain tumor was removed and he underwent some psychological and personality changes, his fear was significantly lessened.
From his past traumas, his childhood and being tortured while in the army, Booth carries some heavy scars; both physical and mental. He also carries some extremely heavy guilt from his time sniping, and he hates having to kill, even though he was a fantastic sniper. Nonetheless, much of his actions throughout the show are attempts to atone for his past (possibly a producer carryover from David Boreanaz's days as Angel in Buffy) and a lot of striving to become a better man.
» Personality/Background:
Abused by his ex-pilot turned alcoholic father, Booth tried to protect his younger brother and they were soon taken in by their grandfather who protected them. However, this developed a pattern early on for Booth of wanting to protect others, and sometimes sacrificing himself for others he's close to (particularly his brother). His grandfather is mentioned as saving Booth's life as Booth would have killed himself as a teenager otherwise. In the army he performed with exemplary service which got him promoted to Sargent Major and he earned several medals. He set the record for the longest shot made in combat (one kilometer) and was a particularly great sniper.
As a teen, Booth was a jock and athlete in school and hated the nerdy types who mocked him and made him feel like an idiot. On one particular incident he was called a Philistine and didn't understand what that meant so retorted that he was Catholic, which later led to him not sticking up for the nerdy kid when he was bullied by some of Booth's friends. He was into classic and arena rock, and the early punk music scene -- something his father disapproved of. He was also known for being loyal to Philadelphia sports teams as that is where he grew up, and still has a tendency to favor them. He was in a fraternity in college and in typical jock behavior bragged about some of the pranks they pulled. He joined the army rangers and worked his way up to Sargent Major. Eventually he began working with the FBI as a special agent.
He had a son named Parker, (so named after one of his army buds who died, much to Booth's feelings of guilt even though he kept telling him to get down and the soldier was out of line) but when he proposed to the mother Rebecca, she turned him down. Their relationship was tense because of this, with Booth often wanting to see more of his son and only allowed when Becca felt generous. Part of the conflict was his tendency to be overprotective to the point of interfering, and wanting to check out her new boyfriends to make sure they weren't a bad influence to have around his son and Becca did not appreciate the background checks (which Booth is known to run on others, including his brother's fiance). They worked out better arrangements and develop a more amicable relationship and Becca assured him that unlike what Bones thought Booth felt; she hadn't turned him down because she thought he'd make a bad father, it was just because she didn't want to get married.
While early into recovering from his gambling addiction he works his first case with Dr. Brennan as shown later in a flashback episode. Their relationship started off as a force of cocky and competent versus arrogant and expert. He nicknamed Dr. Brennan "Bones" because of her belief that all forensics and anthropology could best be done through bones, and bones only. They both knew themselves to be experts in the field, but where Bones was truly the best in the world, her intelligence gave her a superior attitude, just as Booth's jock attitude had a tendency to intimidate others. They had a heavy initial attraction, but when they got close to getting together, she turned him down (even though she promised to keep secret his relation to John Wilkes Booth: Lincoln's assassin, and he confessed his gambling addiction) and after solving the case they got in a very heated argument and she vowed never to work with him again. Nevertheless, a year later they did end up working together, and thus began the start of the series.
Towards the start of the series, Booth is extremely cocky with an actual belt buckle to show it. He mellows slightly after the brain tumor, but still has a penchant for showing his individuality with brightly colored unique socks or special ties and ornate belt buckles. Booth frequently references pop culture, sharing John Wayne fandom with Bones as well as a mutual like of the band Foreigner, but more often than not, his references are lost on her and the other squints who don't follow them. He loves Green Lantern comics and reads them when relaxing in the tub (which Bones walks in on at one point) and when trying to make up his mind about whether to be a sperm donor for Bones' baby, he hallucinated Stewie Griffin from Family Guy giving him advice (or mostly insulting him) though this was due to the brain tumor. During the surgery, Booth reacted badly to the anesthesia and wound up in a coma. While he was unconscious Bones stuck by his side working on her next book which Booth wound up dreaming; wherein Booth and Bones were married and ran a nightclub.
Discussing the dream later with Sweets and his other work friends, they slowly helped Booth to acknowledge that he was in love with Bones. However, when he confessed to her, taking a chance as a gambler, she turned him down, wanting to keep their work relationship the way it already was. Booth is a hopeless romantic, believing in love at first sight, true love, and the concept of "forever" -- all things Temperance has trouble accepting since it can't clearly be seen through a scientific lens. This was part of what led to her pushing him away, but as the series progresses she comes to acknowledge love when she sees it and even chides Booth saying he was making her stomach hurt with anxiety because he turned his back on true love when he wasn't simply trusting in Jared and his girlfriend's love for each other to pull them through. His intense loyalty to Bones is frequently shown throughout the show, with him even saying if Bones is fired, he'll walk out with her. Likewise, during his confession to her, Booth said he always knew that he loved her and wanted to be with her like an old couple where the guy always knew.
After her rejection, they agree to keep working together as friends only, but Booth informs her he has to move on. They end the season with special opportunities for their careers and take them up, so in the next season when they're reunited, Booth has found a steady girlfriend he is happy with. Despite being Booth's counselor and therapist, Sweets asks Booths' help in relationships and when he was trying to figure out whether he should get married, he told Booth that he didn't want to wind up like Booth: 34 and never been married. This hurries Booth's decision to ask his new girlfriend Hanna to marry him, with nearly disastrous results. She turns him down explaining that she's not the marrying kind and he answers that he can't continue the relationship like he never asked. At that point, Booth gets very distressed with women and specifically what about himself women he loved didn't seem to want in the way he hoped for. He goes drinking (heavily) and tries to insist that he's not a drunk like his father when Bones came to check on him.
When he offers Bones two choices: she can stay drinking with him and they'll keep things as they are, or she can walk out and he'll find her a new FBI guy to work with, Bones takes the first choice and stays with him. Their friendship grows later on Valentine's Day when Booth, bitter from his breakup and unappreciative of all the happy couples around him, gets cheered up by Bones (rather than the typical vice versa) when she knows exactly what he needs and turns down several dates offers so that she can spend it with him at the shooting range and gets him Tommy guns as a present to commemorate the gang wars St. Valentine's Day massacre.
Important canon relationships
- Temperance Brennan aka "Bones" -- By far his most complicated relationship as it's one of the focal points of the show. They started off with a heavy initial attraction, especially on his side towards her. But once they started working together they had to put it aside. Over the series it grows, he represses it again (or more) and through a series of significant others for the each of them, it doesn't work out. He wants to keep it professional so that he can still protect her and they can do their jobs adequately. They develop a very close friendship and each know intimate details about each other, and due to their work with the FBI they've been in many life and death situations and had to save each other on numerous occasions.
- Dr. Camille (Cam) Saroyan -- A long-time friend and close ex, Cam has known Booth and his brother for "at least fifteen years." Cam is partially responsible for Booth and Bones first meeting by suggesting Booth seek her help in the prequel episode, and she later takes charge of the Smithsonian team, telling Booth that it's because the facilities are nicer than working as an M.E. in NYC. At some point in the series Booth and Cam relapsed and slept together again, but after that Booth insisted that workplace relationships put everyone in danger and that they had to maintain their professionalism (something he struggles with often). Around Cam's father 60th birthday she asked Booth to pretend that they were still dating since she didn't want to deal with her family's expectations of her having a boyfriend. Though he did this (grudgingly), the truth came out when her sister hit on him for the purpose of upsetting Cam. They still talk even about otherwise touchy subjects like current relationships or non-work problems and maintain a steady relationship as friends.
- Parker Matthew Booth -- Booth's son (nine years old). While they do not get to see each other as often as Seeley would like, he's canonically referred to as being a good father and often considers Parker the most important person in his life. His son is named after the best friend of his in the army whom he saw as a ghost (while Booth was suffering with a brain tumor, but at the end of the episode Bones is shown also conversing with Parker Sr's ghost without knowing who he was). Booth worried greatly that Parker would be traumatized by finding a severed finger and took him to see Sweets to make sure, but instead the kid was quite fine with it and if anything, had girl troubles as he was well-liked and didn't know how to handle it. They usually spend Christmas together and Booth tries to get more days when he can, though while he was in Afghanistan, visitation was clearly on hold.
- Lance Sweets -- Originally a very young psychologist assessing Booth and Bones' work relationship, they keep him on to ask for his help with profiling suspects and because he likes them. They develop a friendship that due to all three of their past histories with abusive parents can sometimes be terse (as asking Booth about his father is a good way to upset him) and yet also familiarly close. Booth develops an almost fatherly relationship, due to Sweets' age, and Booth being an actual father already.
- Jared Booth -- Seeley's little brother. While Jared seems equally competent, he makes no attempts to hide that he's more ambitious than his older brother and tries to get ahead by schmoozing with the right people at the right times. The truth, however, is that Jared is a bit of an alcoholic like their abusive father and that Seeley often has to bail him out of trouble. They have a very tense relationship at best, but when it really matters they're there for each other, putting lives and careers on the line.
~Permissions~
- Threadhopping with this character - yes/no/other?: Yes. Always welcome. But be mindful of other people's journals if they don't like it. You're always welcome to threadjump in Seeley's journal as well, but he will read what is said. He's nosy :|
- Subject line comments: Yes please. If I do it to you and you hate it, you can kick me.
- Hugging this character?: He'll most likely freeze up all tense and awkward, but you're definitely allowed to. Depending the situation he might just be stone and/or growl until he gets his space. (all little kids can instantly give him one and he'll ruffle their heads and possibly give one back.)
- Giving this character a kiss?: Go for it. If it's cute and innocent he'll probably just vaguely blush. If he doesn't like you, you might get a punch to the jaw though. Most women will get kissed back.
- Badtouching: Uh, not recommended unless you're a woman flirting with him and it's clearly okay. Then you know, go for it. (But he'll be a little down post-breakup)
- Lovers: CANON PAST: Rebecca his ex he has a son with. He asked her to marry him and she turned him down. Through the series he tends to fall for professional lawyer types (women), and has a few more exes including Tessa (a lawyer) and most recently Hanna -- whom he also proposed to (and SPOILER: only to get turned down again.) He was shown to be in love with his work partner: Temperance Brennan (whom he nicknamed Bones) but when she turned him down in Season 5, he went to Afghanistan as Special Ops and met Hanna there.
- Punching this character (provided they can fight back): Go for it. I don't mind giving him a black eye, but he will punch back and go on the defensive. He can be abducted/incapacitated especially by those with powers or if taken off guard.
- Easiest way to get on his good side: Joking around is good (use your head), he likes sports, justice type, the "normal" things.
- Easiest way to get on his bad side: Kill someone innocent(ish) and brag about it. Clowns, act like a jerk. ALSO, abusing kids. And pressing him about his past. He'll usually let slide atheism/anti-religion since Bones herself is that way, but it does make him a lot more testy.
- Can I hack his journal?: Just check the levels for threads, but generally yes.
- Can he hack my journal?: Only with a LOT of effort. His computer skills are middling because he usually relies on squints.
- Fourth Wall Breakage: Sure. (You can also reference other things the actor plays like Angel on Buffy)
- Can I shapeshift/bodyswap/etc?: Yes. Just leave an ooc note, TORTURE HIM >:3 *IS EVIL* and the crackier, the more I'll love/want it.
- Maim/Murder/Death: Totally allowed, but advanced warning would be nice.
- Blood: Yeah that's fine.