MCCORMICK, Laird Evander

[laird evander mccormick]

LAIRD EVANDER MCCORMICK

FULL NAME: Laird Evander McCormick.
NICKNAMES: None
AGE: Thirty-five
GENDER: Male
SEXUALITY: Straight.
STATUS: Single.
GROUP: Citizen.
GRADE: N/A.
MAJOR: N/A.
JOB OCCUPATION: Special Effects Supervisor.

HAIR: Brown and long enough that it brushes his shoulders. He’ll tie it back when he’s working on something messy in his workshop or it’s a busy day for him, but he enjoys it down, too..
EYES: Green.
SCARS/BIRTHMARKS: He has a scar from the separation surgery. It’s neat, quite faded now but big.
TATTOOS: He has a small cross just above his right collarbone. There’s a black ribbon of mourning on his right forearm. There’s a rose on the inside of his right forearm. There’s a rose on his right shoulder, too, and a cherub on his bicep with a bird on the outside just above his elbow. His brother’s name is on the inside of his arm, too, in small script, almost disguised as a heavy line. His left wrist bears an anchor and his forearm has a palm tree, while his upper arm has an octopus and a mermaid, with a ship on the inside of it.
PIERCINGS: None.
PLAY-BY: Henrik Fallenius!

LIKES: His workshop, oatmeal, summer, sleeping outside, hammocks, gory special effects, old school methods for work, tattoos, marine life, his cabin, meditation, Star Wars, black and white photography, chicken burgers, morning workouts, reading in bed, ice cream tubs, ripped jeans, something going right first take, sounds of the city.
DISLIKES: Hospitals, getting sick, an effect going wrong multiple times, his family, chocolate sauce, haircuts, golf, finger cuts, cocky guys, beer, the smell of nail polish, China figurines, his phone ringing at night, poorly written scripts, fancy hotels, neon colours, overdoing PDA, weird pet names, closed curtains, warm nights.
FEARS: China figurines, surgery, being buried alive.
SECRETS: He was born a conjoined twin. His brother died shortly after their separation surgery when they were one years old. After that life for his family went dark, and Laird always felt that a part of himself was missing.
PERSONALITY: Laird may seem like a quiet man, but he’s exceedingly creative and practical, which makes him excellent at his work. He’s a dedicated man who isn’t afraid or put off by effects that can take several hours to prep for just to last five seconds. He’ll sleep on sets, work late, and stick his tall frame into some weird places to get the job done right. Laird is a peaceful guy, who enjoys meditating to keep a calm mind; he needs it so he can think straight and be at his best. He’s easy going, and good natured, but there are times when he simply prefers his own space and company – which is why he has his cabin. A patient man, he’s not the type to rush into things, be them new projects or new relationships. He likes to take his time and feel things out first. He’d rather not make a mistake he’d come to regret later. Don’t take that to think he’s overly cautious though. He’ll try most things in life, and understands better than most that you only get one shot at this. Laird doesn’t waste his time on people who waste his, and he only tries to keep the positive in his life because too much of his past has been all about the dark side, and frankly, he’s done with that. He can be a bit of a media dork from time to time, usually when he’s around a crew, working long hours, or binging on some of his favourite classics. All of the above applies to his love life, too. He only commits if he can see something more than a fleeting attraction, and he’s not interested in a one night deal or something that might end in a smouldering pile of ash. He’s watched his parents’ relationship go up in flames, and he doesn’t need to be the 2.0 version.

MOTHER: Sherri Lois Sones, 60.
FATHER: Angus Stephen McCormick, 64.
SIBLINGS: Lorcan Croix McCormick, deceased.
Helena Polly Sones, 25.
Vicki Reba Sones, 22.
Cheyne Lysander McCormick, 28.
Euan West McCormick, 26.
Lily Ingrid McCormick 21.
OTHERS: Wade Kelvin Sones, 60, step-father.
Theresa McCormick, 52, step-mother.
PETS: Savini, Maine Coon of one, aquarium of tropical fish.
HOMETOWN: New Haven, Connecticut.
HISTORY: Sherri and Angus were in love once, but it feels like another lifetime now. When they met it was a long, hot summer, and they were just two young adults who helped at a summer programme for the local kids of New Haven. They bonded and fell in love, and soon eloped for a quick wedding in California when they were caught up in their romance. Soon after they had their own apartment, decent jobs as they finished up school and chased dreams, and then Sherri fell pregnant with twins. Their excitement faded when at one of the scans the doctor revealed that the twins were conjoined and that there was a risk to their lives. Sherri wanted to continue with the pregnancy despite Angus’ protests. She lived in hope that something could be done and that her babies would be strong enough to live.

Laird and Lorcan were born Omphalopagus. They shared a liver and part of their digestive system. Sherri and Angus were already finding their relationship strained, but as doctors considered and planned to separate the boys, it grew worse. Even with the help of charities who found sympathy in their cause, medical bills still ran high and forced Angus to work more. The boys were one and a half when they went into surgery to be separated from each other. It was a success, but three days after the surgery Lorcan began to weaken, and his organs started to fail. He was the smaller of the two, weaker and he struggled to respond to treatment, to recover while his brother grew stronger. Very soon he passed away and Laird was left without his other half.

Angus and Sherri never moved on from their grief, and Laird was a living, breathing reminder of the son they had lost. Angus couldn’t stop blaming his wife, and she couldn’t pull herself out of her own depression. They tried, but failed, time and time again, and Laird turned seven growing up in a home that didn’t know love. Nights were filled with fighting, screaming, and slamming doors. He hid himself in books he couldn’t yet read, and by turning the TV volume up and sitting right in front of it. He knew he had a brother he couldn’t remember, a twin who had once been connected to him where his skin was tight and puckered. He grew up feeling like a part of him was missing, a link gone. He spent his nights in bed talking to his brother, whispering to the darkness and wondering what he might have been like; friend or foe, someone who stole toys or shared them.

When Laird came home from a friend’s birthday party just a block away, he stumbled into Angus moving out. Laird was only seven at the time, and Angus just mumbled a “sorry kiddo” to him before he was driving off. Sherri didn’t say a word, or answer any of her son’s questions. What followed was a nasty court battle, and a messy divorce. Angus had been having an affair with someone from his office, and she was pregnant with another child, another son. That had prompted Angus to leave Sherri and Laird and attempt to start his life again. Laird was passed between his parents in some attempt t do right by him, but neither of them seemed to know what to do with their first born son. He didn’t fit into their lives as well as they liked him to. Sherri met another man, a doctor, and became smitten with him, dumping Laird with Angus so she could indulge in weekends away with Wade. Of course, his half-siblings on his dad’s side took up all the time Angus had free, and Laird felt like he didn’t belong in their pretty picture because Theresa always forgot him when she had made plans ahead of time, or said his name with this funny snort. When his mother had more children Laird distanced himself more from these family dynamics, and involved himself more in his movies, and the fish he kept as a gift from his grandfather.

Laird got through school as an AV kid. Something of an oddball who was passed every week between his parents. Both still lived in New Haven, but they were constantly still fighting and struggling to accept what had happened all those years ago with the loss of Lorcan. Sometimes they tried to ignore his existence, and other times it was as if it was just too painful to look at Laird, especially when he has achieved well at school or was trying to talk about his future.

At seventeen, after a fight between his parents when they didn’t know where he was (he was on a school trip) resulted in his dad hitting him, Laird was successful in an application for emancipation. He explained how his family life had seen him separate for years, on the edge of everything else – something no one denied – and since he worked at the local cinema, it was deemed that he was able to support himself with help from the state. He left for New York when he was eighteen, where he studied Media at college and went on to become a Special Effects Technician afterwards. Laird started out working on TV shows, but quickly found his way onto movie sets, constructing and executing some big set ups for accidents and crashes. His favourites were the gore fests. He enjoyed letting out his frustrations in something practical like figuring out how someone would lose a limb, or be impaled grotesquely. He climbed the ranks to supervisor over the years, made the right friends and contacts to keep himself in work, even if he was just consulting on one or two rigs when other people struggled to figure something out. He has his own workshop to play around in when he wants to devise new set ups, and tends to love working out on location just for the experiences and the memories. Laird doesn’t tend to keep much contact with his family now, feeling his life is better without that black cloud over his head.

YOUR ALIAS: Kim.
RULE WORDS: kidnappedbykim.
WHERE YOU FOUND US: Higgins Haven.
SAMPLE:

I’m going to run out of Friday the 13th References soon!

[kim]