Marcus Rivera

[Marcus]

NAME: Marcus Rivera.
NICKNAMES: Marc, Marky-Boy or just Rivera.
RACE: Human.
OCCUPATION: LAPD Homicide Detective.
GENDER: Male.
SKIN COLOUR: Caucasian with a subtle, natural tan.
NATIONALITY: American.
AGE: 28.
CLOTHING: When on the job, Marcus takes his appearance very seriously. He wears suits, complete with ties; the jackets are usually dark blue or black, and the ties are tasteful, or plain in colours, and the shirts are always light; white or pale shades of blue or beige. He clips his cell phone to his belt, which he always wears at work, and his badge hooks into an inner compartment in his jacket, so he can ‘flash’ it when he needs to, but it isn’t always obviously on show. His gun is worn at his right hip, and his folding knife is worn at the back of his belt, for that extra piece of support, if he needs it. He also carries around a pair of simple but stylish black shades while working, since his job takes him out into the Los Angeles sunshine a lot. When not at work, Marcus still looks sensible and tasteful, but there is a definite casual edge to his clothing; t-shirts or sweaters, jeans or slacks and boots. When working, he wears black shoes. For work, he has a black cloth jacket that goes down to his thighs; when away from the station, he has a black leather jacket that goes just past his hips.
HEIGHT: 6’2.
WEIGHT: 174lbs.
TATTOOS: None.
PIECINGS: None.
JEWELLERY: He wears a watch on his right wrist for practicality while at work, but when he’s not working, he doesn’t even wear that. He prefers to use the display on his phone to tell him the time.
BODY MODIFICATIONS: Marcus has a scar along his left bicep from a bullet that grazed deeply while he still worked the streets as a uniformed officer, before becoming a detective. Other than that, he has smaller, barely noticeable scars from various scraps and adventures he and his sister would get into in their youth.

HAIR.[/i]
LENGTH: Several inches, tickling his neck and ears respectively, with rather long bangs around his temples and brow, sometimes almost dangling in his eyes. If he’s hard at work, he doesn’t even really notice it, but if he’s just sitting around, then he’s usually seen brushing it back away from his face.
STYLE: He runs a comb through it in the morning, to try and keep it back away from his face so it doesn’t interfere with his job, but otherwise, it’s pretty natural in the way it falls. He likes to have a certain degree of tidiness about him, but he doesn’t take it too far; a little gel, but not much more than that.
COLOUR: Black.

FACIAL HAIR.[/i]
LENGTH: Marcus shaves daily, so he never has anything more than a faint amount of stubble, which never lasts long. He prefers the neatness that comes with shaving.
STYLE: N/A.

EYES.[/i]
COLOUR: Blue.
ODDITIES: N/A.

PERSONALITY: Marcus is a dedicated cop, and a loyal brother and friend, with an open, fun-loving side, and a somewhat mischievous sense of humour. He can have his bad days like everyone else, though, and he has something of a temper if someone manages to really ruffle his feathers. For the most part, he can effectively play the good cop to his sister’s ‘bad’ cop… though she isn’t really that bad, and he admits it. He respects her ability to almost sense the truth to things, and on some level envies her for that, but Katherine is more than a sister to him, in reality; she is an inspiration, and he respects and looks up to her more than she probably knows.

Decisive, intuitive and resourceful, Marcus takes his job seriously, and doesn’t mess around. He deals with the harsh, gritty world of life and death, and sometimes, it can weigh quite heavily on his mind. Homicide is never the easiest field, but Marcus knows how to shut all of that inside in order to focus on the work set to him. He is an extremely protective individual by nature, and while he is most fiercely protective of his sister, he would fight to defend any other officer on the force, no matter their rank or job.

Marcus is compassionate, which makes him a very capable person when it comes to the families of victims, but he can also be equally cold and forceful in his personality, which lends itself well to interrogation and questioning, but he is by no means an unsympathetic or cruel person; not by a long shot. He has his limits just like everyone else, but he knows when he’s going too far. And if that ever fails, then he trusts that his sister will step in and push him back.

WEAKNESSES: Marcus is completely human, and therefore, mortality is something of a major weakness for him, meaning a variety of wounds and diseases could end his life. There are the typical weaknesses of a cop and a brother; Marcus will protect his fellow officers, with a passion, and he will fight fiercely for his sister, Katherine; he cannot stand the thought of losing her. Not long after becoming a detective, Marcus took a bad hit on a case, whilst chasing a suspect, and had two of his ribs broken; on certain days, either influenced by exertion or the weather, those ribs can still give him grief, and cause him discomfort, though most of the time, he is too damn stubborn to stop when it flares, unless someone catches him reacting, and outright tells him to step aside, or pause for breath.

ABILITIES: Being a trained police officer, Marcus has all the perks of that academy training: intricate knowledge of hand-to-hand; marksmanship; training in criminology and profiling. He is ambidextrous (he writes left-handed, but wields his gun right-handed, though the latter is interchangeable if need be), meaning an injury to his right hand/arm would not completely impede his ability to fire his gun, if he needed to. He’s pretty capable of throwing a knife, if he needs to, but his aim with that kind of projectile is nowhere near as accurate as when he fires a gun; he spends about an hour a day, roughly, practising at the range, whether it be outside the station or at work. Stemming from a childhood ‘hobby’, and four years of being on his high school ice hockey team, Marcus can skate extremely well; he played in goal. Marcus can also quote all three Back to the Future movies from start to finish, and in his own words, “can use chopsticks like a pro”.

WEAPONS: He carries a police issue Glock 37, and his personal sidearm is also a Glock; specifically a Glock 19. As a backup when working — since he can only carry one firearm sensibly, due to the size and weight — he carries a folding blade in a black leather pouch on his belt.

PRIZED POSSESSIONS: Marcus still has a toy police car that he loved as a child, and it sits on his nightstand under his lamp. He is also rather fond of ‘his’ cat, Frank, whom he entrusted to his sister some time ago… and never retrieved.

HOME(S): An apartment which is, unbeknownst to him, on Cole Stanton’s side of LA.

HISTORY: Marcus Rivera and his older sister Katherine were born in New York State, and raised there for several years, getting involved in all sorts of childish mischief and inventing all sorts of adventures for themselves. When their father fell ill, they moved to Los Angeles to be closer to other family members; the Riveras had always been close, something that had become increasingly irksome to Marcus over the years. The older he got, the more independent he wanted to be, but they were too tightly bonded for him to really branch off on his own, and when he was in his later teens, he realised that in a way, he would always be with his family in one way or another. There was ‘no escape’, as it were.

When Katherine went to the academy, intending to join the police force, it was only inevitable that Marcus followed in her footsteps. For all his annoying, bratty, younger-brother behaviour, he had always admired his big sister, and looked up to her as a kind of role-model, and sure enough, when he was old enough, he too enrolled. Having always been bright children, they passed with flying colours, albeit Marcus a few years later than his sister. He spent a few years on the streets, like any officer, before he naturally wanted to ‘climb the ladder’, ending up, non-surprisingly, alongside his sister in the Homicide department, as a fellow detective. The road to this achievement was not without its obstacles, but Marcus always viewed those incidents as lessons to be learned, and took it all in stride.

When his sister married Gregory, Marcus immediately showed his protective nature, taking an instant, if hidden dislike to the man. The marriage lasted three years, which was more than enough, in Marcus’ eyes. Of course, the break up only concreted the younger Rivera’s aversion to the man, and any time he was to come into contact with Gregory after the announcement, they always came very close to exchanging blows, literally. This is, actually, a trait that continues, and though Marcus tries his best to avoid the other man, he’s not the type to back down from any kind of challenge. He makes the effort though, and usually, his sister is around to keep him from going too far, thankfully.

Nowadays, Marcus lives alone in a respectable apartment in Los Angeles, going from day to day, taking the good with the bad. He loves being a cop, even if some days are tougher than others.