Name: Detective Beau Barnes

Gender: Male, Straight

Age/DOB: 38@RC, October 19, 19XX

Origin: Aperturth, Saint Louis MO

Family: unknown older sibling, deceased parents, no other family

Other: Since he does have strong Vortal abilities, Melissa will 'strongly encourage' him to either donate DNA or 'get busy, dude'

Height: 6'2"

Weight: 170, muscular and healthy, not a gym hound but definitely likes practicing muay thai martial arts, jogging, and sparring, good upper body strength

Hair: greying black afro, kept short and usually under his cap, has some baldness on top, keeps a thick but nicely trimmed mustache

Eyes: dark brown, does not need reading glasses but uses the orange-shaded ones for sniping and to keep the glare of the desert sun off them

Appearance: dark brown skin, fairly even in tone without moles or freckles, though he does have a US Marines tattoo on his left shoulderblade that has faded over time; keeps himself sharp and his clothes clean as much as he can out here, and can bark orders like nobody's business.

Icarus Processing: None, but the Aperture experiment that led to all this weird shit going on triggered any latent abilities to bloom into active ones. It's actually possible that he would benefit from Icarus, but Melissa's pretty sure that he doesn't want to deal with it, he's got enough on his plate and can focus on his duties more easily without the complications it might bring. Any offspring of his however will certainly be put into the program as long as they've got no negative markers.

Carramba Stats - Nut/Sometimes; Totem/none; Smarts/Greymatta 5; Bod/Feet 6; RWS 3; Luck 5; Drive/Fly 4/8; Looks 4; Cool 4; Bonk 5

Image Credits: Paragon

Genetic Abilities: After the Resonance Cascade on Aperturth, it was unclear that Beau had gained any particular abilities. Since most of those who did also started looking bizarre or having very visible output to their powers, he went unnoticed for quite some time before people realized that he could exert a slight but compelling control over human minds. This ability is actually nowhere near as strong as other empaths, he can't actually use it to sense people's emotions, and versus humans it's actually just a reflex. Thing is: it's not a power that normally controls Humans - it's one that controls dragons. Very specifically, he's a 'Hears All Dragons' in a true sense, and when Local Lane caught up with them, he seemed to notice this ability straight off - which might have been why they were able to find that group of security forces in the first place, because Lane's dragon was attracted to them. Beau is slowly learning how to turn this power on and off, and how to control and focus his mind so that the dragons of the area respond to him rather than just jolt in surprise. He has made a point of enlisting only those dragons and their riders that want to participate, but he's got a few volunteers to become more or less a 'squad'. He can sense dragons at up to 100 miles, which means he has got a lot of dragons on the brain. He's learned how to tune out most of the fringe ones, but also practices with ranged targeting on specifics. If those in his squad need to be heard, he will detect their mind or 'flare up'. He can control the actions of an individual dragon if it's within 20 meters, but again consciously does so only to those that have signed on. Passively, however, they still respond even if they're not on his team: if a crowd of dragons are packed together, and he needs to walk through them, they will all actually back up and let him through. Also, even dragons that are Vortally bonded to their human or other companion will respond to any distress call that he puts out, be it unconsciously or purposefully. Dragons within 20 miles will know where he is, and if he's actually in danger the nearest will rush off to aid him. This usually means Minty, but whoever is around and not already engaged in something will become a rescue team. Another effect of this power however is that he has an incredibly good understanding of how to ride a dragon. It doesn't matter whether that dragon is a flier, swimmer, burrower, or runner - he can stay on during the most difficult maneuvers, speed, pressure, or actions. In fact he can jump between dragons during tight maneuvers, and this is clearly a combination of his own mastery of this, and his subtle but constant persuasion: they are right where he needs them to be, and he can jump or move at exactly the right moment for these stunts to go off without a hitch. It really is impressive to watch, even experienced dragon riders from other dimensions have applauded his abilities (and in fact... he will likely become an instructor at Carramba High due to this!). Notably when any Vortal individual is looking at Beau's aura, they detect a mass of faint lines linking him with any nearby dragon, very similar to how Paxton and his Replicas tend to look.
Skills or Profession: A Senior Detective with the St Louis PD, assigned to picking up the escaped Aperture test subjects. Did well in public scool and took 2 years of community college as an undeclared major before joining the Marine Corps. He spent another 4 years in the Marine Corps serving proudly, and moved into the Police Department with ease and style. He is adept at detecting order or chaos, and fixing what he sees as weak points in that chaos if he can: he barks orders and people respond. He learned all about how to identify, safely store, clean, and use all manner of weaponry, from handguns to sniper rifles, and he does prefer to snipe over getting up close - because up close, he's going to surprise the fuck out of someone with a foot to the neck and a subsequent elbow to the kidney when the opponent is clinched under his knee. Though he claims to despise paperwork he's also very good at it, examining lists and finding clues or commonalities, he's actually an exceptional detective when given enough of a paper trail to follow. In the era following the RC and then being moved to the Rookery, Beau has proven to be a great leader of both men and dragons, and serves well as a trainer for those younger pairs, though his snippy orders sometimes make people a little wary - they're not in the Marines, dude, they're just teenagers, ease off. Also in this new era, and particularly with his dragon bond, he has started working on flight tactics and offensive maneuvers so that when they go up against Combine forces both out in the open and in closer quarters, he has a good grasp on every part of the battle. He is often called in to help at the Mesa, and thankfully there are dragon-sized portals able to move them from the Strip to the Rookery quickly. While Minty might not tire out flying 400 miles, he definitely does.
Personality: Moody, sharp tongued, with high expectations - perhaps sometimes too high. However, he has the most expectations of himself, and is rarely disappointed ... because yeah he's a bit of an egotist. But then he does back up that ego with substance, he's in charge for a reason after all. He and Paxton get along because they both understand each other's strong and weak points. He will defer to Paxton as the leader of the Dragonry overall, and Pax likes having a strong willed lieutenant in the desert that can help train those who need it. Of note, when they got to the Mansion and the dragons started coming near, there had been a performance going on with the Carnies, and... he is very clearly shaken up by clowns. Does Not Like Clowns. At All. At least in New Vegas they don't 'do' clowns.

Events or History: As above, he was in the Marines a while and then in the PD until the Resonance Cascade, and only after arrival to the Rookery did he realize that his powers weren't human-centric at all. He figures that coming to the Rookery was the best thing that could have happened to him, and he's going to make the best of it.

Currently resides 'full time' at New Vegas's Nellis Airbase with the Boomers, since they have the best location for training and flight exercises. However, he does *part time it at the Rookery for any coordinated assaults, and also *part times at Carramba - but that's quite a bit later in his career on the Rookery (when he's around 60ish? it doesn't matter - he doesn't age, it's that stuff Lane puts in the water at work...) doing dragon training classes. (Martial Arts 1; Dragon Riding and Tactics 2/3; Flight Formation Training 4/5)

Dragon

Name: Mint Haze
Gender: Female
Size/Shoulder/Length: Medium (slender, tall) 12' s / 80' l / 80' ws
Colors: minty white body with turquoise points and neck/chest; fringe and wing arms mottled pale aqua; wing feathers and crest/tail minty turquoise; flight feathers and crest, eyes malachite mottled
Features: Firebird dragon [lives up to 450 years, can extend its bond's life; fire molting every 10 years, flightless and needs protection; requires heat (in desert is nice); cannot breed with any water or ice type dragons, 4 generations tihs requirement fades but any great-grandchildren will still have this ban; egglayers, up to a dozen eggs, with different mates possible, fertile 2 years duration in 12-20 year cycle, young require care until 20 fledge; do not require bonds but enjoy them and respond to them; not telepathic]
Powers: Winged Flight, clearly these dragons are extraordinary fliers, with wide large feathered wings and a long heated body for bonus updraft creation; Minty likes doing loops and wild stunts, even with Beau on her back! (though that's more him and not her) She can fly essentially forever without tiring, though they do need sleep before and after a very long flight. She's not really great at 'lifting all that heavy stuff', but she certainly can carry a group of humans on her long back with ease, and often does so for troop-related duties. Note that she cannot truly teleport, but during a full immolation she can 'burn to ash' and 'respark' in another completely different destination - but only four times ever, and she's used that once to get to the Rookery from wherever she had been (it's not likely to actually be the Healing Den, though who knows, almost all Nexus dragons seem to rely on the place for teleportation or distant travel - it's like... Xen, for dragons).
Communication, these Firebird dragons can learn any verbal and body language given a little time and an instructor, and as such Minty has learned English, French, Korean, Chinese, Spanish, and Code from the surrounding humans and robots of the New Vegas area. Also, she's learned enough Vort to get by with it, but since she's not telepathic in any way, like all 'Vortally stunted' individuals, details and subtle context are lost on her. She has a high, pleasant voice, almost sparkling.
Heat Production and Fire Magic, Fire Control - over local fires up to around 100 yards, from a spark to a blazing building in strength, can be manipulated to be hotter, cooler, extinguish completely or blaze up strongly; Flame Creation - can cause a magical flame to erupt even in very damp conditions though not 'wet' and much more easily when dry; Flame Manipulation - flames created by this dragon can be manipulated into shapes and various sizes from a match-head to its own full size; Fire Immunity - dragon is immune to flames in general, though may sport a weakness to a particular kind or magic type; Immolation - can in self defense suddenly burst into extremely hot flames up to 2 feet away from its body, is unharmed by this process itself.
Fire-Song, Mint can home in on any strong fire-user within several miles, hearing their blood calling, and can send out a signal to others in a similar manner - though with precious few of her actual breed on the Rookery, it's likely that those other breeds of dragons just hear a sort of weird buzzing heat wave and don't know what it is.
Doesn't Require Food, though she can eat, Minty doesn't need to, and instead relies on warmth and sunlight to recharge both physically and magically. The magic part is a little weak here, but the warmth certainly works.
Parentage: Unknown, this breed is unique
Origin: Healing Den, made by lethe (me)
Other Info: Minty Haze is like a blast of 'spicy cold that suddenly turns ultra hot'. Her presence is visually stunning, you can't really see here but her feathers sparkle and dance with an almost-invisible pale green fire. She does not burn anyone or anything she doesn't intend to, with this flame.