the personality

likes • working with his hands
, bringing a garden to life
, creating things
, sketching
, puzzles - any kind of conundrum to figure out; cross words, sudoku, manual puzzles
, home made apple crumble and hot custard
, trying new things; will give anything a go at least once and enjoys learning about other cultures
, making people feel good about themselves
, romance; sucker for a love story
, water sports; struggles now but used to enjoy all manner of water related activities (surfing, swimming, scuba diving, sailing)
, fishing on an early Sunday morning
, a satisfied customer
, bubble baths; girlie or not he finds them relaxing
dislikes • making mistakes
, cynics
, being taken advantage off
, people close to him shutting him out
, art critics; like they could do any better
, being preached to or talked down to
, violence and arguments
, men who disrespect women
, people thinking he can't do something because of his foot
, not being as balanced on his feet as he used to be
, the scar on his face - piece of shrapnel from a bomb
, how young the army recruits
, hamsters; they freak him out a little
strengths • green thumb; good at getting plants and flowers to thrive
, creative with some artistic talent for sketching
, problem solver; good at solving puzzles
, cooks a mean roast
, water sports, though this is now somewhat of a challenge
, good at compartmentalising, mentally strong
weaknesses • his balance, somewhat off at times as he adjusts to his new foot
, flying; not great with heights
, nuts - allergic
, running - hasn't quite got the hang of it well enough yet, don't even think about asking him to dance
, sucker for romance
, can't say no to a piece of chocolate cake
dreams • to find a cure for his mother; knows it's impossible
, to have the kind of love that his parents had
, that his brothers live long and happy lives
, that his business takes off
fears • that he will develop Dementia like his mother
, that he will never find the love of his life - thinks he's already had and lost his
, losing someone to the same death as his father
, that he'll never be 100% normal on his prosthetic foot
overall personality • Derek is a glass half full kind of person. Despite the things he's been through, he's surprisingly upbeat about life and has a generally positive outlook, always the one to try and boost the moral of people around him. He's a problem solver and will look for ways to fix the issue rather than try to ignore it or brush it under the carpet - especially if it's important to someone. He's rational and generally pretty relaxed in life, with a calming air about him that often helps settle people and make them feel they can trust him. He's a big believer in putting good forward and it will get paid back, and donated to charity when he can - particularly charities dedicated to Dementia following his experience with it with his mother. He's level headed and thoughtful, often putting others before himself, but whilst he's amenable and will try to help people in any way he can, he's not a push over and he will take a stand for his own sanity if needed. He's honest, and he'll own up to his mistakes when he makes them, not one to shy from taking responsibility, but he hates to make them and will berate himself for trouble caused.

He's good at adapting to change and is a quick study, often absorbing things like a sponge, but he won't settle for being unhappy; if he needs to move on for himself - be it place, job or people - then he will. He's confident in himself and where he wants to be, self assured and happy in his own skin, but not egotistical. He's very forward thinking and often has quite an active brain, but he's very much what you see is what you get, with no hidden agenda or double meanings. He's open minded and tactful but he won't beat around the bush or mince his words. He's a lover not a fighter, despite his previous occupation, and he's a big romantic. He watched his parents for years head over heels in love with each other and he dreams for the same for himself - he's a believer in soul mates and the idea of destiny, which makes him a bit of a sap but he doesn't care. He knows what he wants and won't settle for less, but he's not particularly ambitious. He's a big softie with his friends and would go above and beyond for them, but don't think you can walk all over him. Honestly, Drew's a pretty stand up guy, but he'd just call himself your average Joe.

the history

father • Arthur Thomas Phillips - Deceased - stabbed
mother • Lisa Madeline Phillips - 61 - former principle dancer, dementia
siblings • Matthew Arthur Phillips - 41 - Pilot
Harrison Thomas Phillips - 31 - Marine Biologist
important people • Caleb Graeham Callahan - ex boyfriend
Ivan Williams - army best friend, deceased
hometown • born London, England, moved shortly and grew up in Croydon
overall history • Andrew was born to your typical homegrown English family. His parents had been happily married since their early 20's, meeting in secondary school as teenagers and falling into the kind of love that Andrew always dreamed to have. He remembered them telling him their love story many a time, and they always made it clear that things were not always easy, but that they loved each other like soul mates and vowed to always get through life together. Drew was born the second son, with Matthew 5 years his elder, and surprisingly happy to be given a baby brother to play with. For his first few years, Drew grew up in London, but when baby number three came along - another boy - his parents realised their tiny little town house was not going to be enough, and they moved instead to a quieter area on the outskirts of Croydon. It was not the most expensive place, and not the most impressive neighbourhood but it was a three bedroom house with a garden for the kids, a school round the corner, and it was still easy for their mother to commute to the centre of London where she taught at the Royal Ballet. Before the kids were born that ruined her figure - always said with great affection - she had been their principle dancer for several years. They had been keen for her to return in any capacity and whilst dancing to that level was off, teaching was within reach, and she returned after a reasonable time from each birth.

Andrew didn't mind being the middle child - he never felt that he had the middle child syndrome as others did. He got along with both his brothers, aside from the odd fight and tussle that came from growing up as lads. Despite the age gaps, they generally played together a fair bit on the weekends, though as Matthew got older, he slowly outgrew his siblings and began to branch out to older friends. Things were smooth sailing for most of his childhood years, he was a happy kid, kept himself entertained and was generally pretty easy going and compliant. It all fell apart some what when Drew hit fourteen. The neighbourhood had recently seen an increase in knife crime - petty thefts and street corner stabbings. His father had popped into the local corner shop to pick up a bottle of wine for his wife and sweets for his kid. He never made it home. Two hooded thugs threatened the cashier at knife point, just idiotic kids really, and, unable to stand by and watch, Arthur had stepped in to try and help; and consequentially was left bleeding on the tiled floor.

The criminals were caught, after a long slog to crack down on gangs and criminal activity, their father's death was brought to justice. It never really felt like it though. It didn't bring back their dad to jail the offenders for ten years - not even close. Drew withdrew on himself for a while after that. His mother was beside herself; trying to stay strong for her sons, but the love of her life was no longer by her side, and she was lost. It would always be that trigger that Drew believed was the reason for her decline. It happened slowly, and she swum in heavy grief for so long that it was hard to know when that ended, and when the Dementia took over. By the time Drew was heading for university, him and his brothers had had to organise full time care support to help her. Matthew made good money as a Pilot, but he was rarely home, and with Andrew on his way to Oxford, keen to study Architecture and Art History, neither of them wanted to leave their little brother at barely fifteen to look after their declining mother. Drew spent his free time working odd jobs to add to his older brother's income, scraping pennies together to add to the support for his mother and the bills at home to keep their younger brother beneath a roof.

Heading off to uni was somewhat of an uprooting for Drew. He worried incessantly during his first term; for his little brother at home alone, for his mother who was losing her mind, to his older brother flying across the sky every day. His roommate was the one that got him through it - Caleb - and inadvertently, he fell in love. He hadn't necessarily known he was gay, but he'd known that women weren't the only thing he was interested in. The odd experiment in college hadn't gone particularly far, but his head was turned easily by either gender - it just depended on the face and the personality to match. Caleb stirred feelings in him he wasn't 100% sure how to handle, but at the time he had felt he needed a friend more than anything, and had kept his feelings to himself - unsure if they were reciprocated and unwilling to ruin the close bond they developed. When Caleb left, he didn't know what to do with himself. He knew something was wrong, but when he tried to reach out, he got nothing back. He threw himself into his studies, putting everything into passing his exams with flying grades.

With still no word from his former roommate, Drew knew he needed to check in on him. With uni finished and no clear path to his next adventure, he swung by Caleb's. He found his best friend in one hell of a state and, guilty ridden for having left it so long to check in, he stayed to help him through his dark time. Being with him in such an intimate way stirred up old and repressed feelings, and this time when he put them out there, he found they were returned. For some time he was happy, really truly happy for the first time in a long time. He found his degrees unhelpful for work, and though he picked up odd architectural jobs here and there, they weren't consistent enough to bring in the big money. He found himself job hopping from one thing to another, unable to settle - unhappy with each occupation. He worked in art galleries for some time but found them too dry and boring, he worked for the local library but the money was too poor, he picked up construction work for a time but found the work monotonous and a lot of the lads were assholes. In the end, it was the oddest thing that the army stuck with him. It was his older brother that told him to try out for it, having heard through a friend that they were recruiting and in need. He looked into it, never having been one prone to violence, and something resonated within him to go for it.

He will never forget the fight that followed when he told Caleb he had been accepted. And he tried hard to make things work, but his heart was torn in two and when Caleb continued to push and push at his good nature, in the end he snapped; unable to take it any longer he left. He spent nine years in the army. It was an unexpected love, but the routine, the companionship, the fighting for Queen and country struck a chord in him he hadn't known existed, and he put his head down and worked hard. He was known for keeping the troupe moral up, for somehow being able to give the lads the boost they needed at the right moment to get them though the shit. He refused to be promoted, never wanting to go up the ranks to desk job - he preferred the field. It all came to a head, as it always does eventually, with a saviour mission gone wrong. One of their squadron had been reported as missing - four guys vanished from where they had been holding a small village in Iraq. It was believed they had either been captured or killed, but there was importance in holding down the village to keep the enemy from advancing on the territory lines. Upon hearing about it, Drew volunteered to lead a group to investigate and attempt an extraction if possible. He only accepted others who were happy to volunteer, with many of his squad due to retire soon, along with himself, he figured it would be good to help encourage the new troops of some good in war.

The four men had indeed been captured. Drew spent days camped out, observing every move - he found one man already dead, but the other three alive. Plan in place, they went in to take back the village and return their soldiers home. Drew went in with seven of his own squad, and came out with only two others. It was a massacre on both sides - they'd had solider's planted hidden from view, and they'd been ambushed. Drew ordered his lot to retreat, but they refused, and three were shot just on the way in. It was chaos, though somewhat organised. Drew and his best mate managed to get two of the kidnapped soliders free, the third died before they could get him out. That was when the world exploded. To this day, Drew doesn't know if it was a grenade, a bomb or that the building just gave up and collapsed. All he knew was that at some point he emerged from a cloud of dust and rubble, dragging out his best mate. Something felt off about his right leg, it didn't seem to want to co-operate properly.

When the world had settled, and his head was clearer, he was finally able to count the dead - one of which was his best mate, still in his arms from where he'd dragged them clear of the battle ground. They had managed to save two of the four kidnapped -but at what price. The loss of five lives, six to include the kidnapped solider who hadn't made it. It took Drew longer than he could have imagined to realise that the reason his right leg wouldn't work properly was that some of it had gone - his leg ended in a bloody stump at the ankle, his foot presumably somewhere beneath the rubble along with his dead conrades. He spent months in hospital, months rehabilitating and understanding how to use his new fake foot. It took longer to get over what had happened. An ache settled in his chest, reminding him every day of the death of his squad - and his best friend. He claimed his tags, putting them around his neck in his memory, unable to ever take them off. He was given honourable discharge from the army, though he didn't felt he deserved it. Nobody blamed him, not one bit, for what had happened - they had all gone in voluntarily, they had all known the stakes. The village had been taken back from the enemy, meaning they were able to advance across another two villages and claiming a large portion of the territory, and they had rescued two tortured soldiers from the enemies hands. His sergeants called it a success, but even Drew's positive attitude failed to see much light in what had happened - he had fucked up, he had led them to their death, that was all he could see.

Upon leaving the army, he returned to another plethora of jobs. He tried becoming a fisherman for a while on the suggestion of his younger brother, and he tried his hand at working on an oil rig - but he found both impossible with his struggling balance; he had improved with his foot but he was far from perfect. He went back to construction work for a while but it didn't appeal, he bounced between retail work but found it impossible to focus, his mind drifting back to his days in the army. In the end it was pure chance he found landscaping; and he thought it would be frilly flower shit until he fell into it with an old school friend. In the end, he found he enjoyed it. The manual labour was good for him but not impossible, he got to use his old architectural skills with his designs, and he found there was satisfaction in creating a beautiful landscape from nothing - bringing beauty to where there was none, or restoring some where it had been left to rot. He recently moved to Hickstead to start up his own company now that he had managed to stockpile a good collection of savings - he was close enough to visit his mum and siblings, but far enough away to have his own life.

the role player

alias • the boss man
age • squishy
other characters • what is a character?