Character Profile
Name: Peter Valleck
Call Me: Usually Peter or Valleck, not Pete.
Specialty: Technical Equipment and Multimedia
Age: 27
Height: 6' 1"
Weight: 170 lbs
Place of Birth: Montreal, Quebec
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Nationality: Canadian
Occupation: Dance Club Operational Director and DJ
Distinguishing Features or Marks: No scars and such, but has a short, trim cut beard. He is left handed
Voice: Surprisingly good, given his generally solitary nature. Also has a good singing voice. When singing, he sounds quite a bit like the lead singer of Counting Crows – wouldn’t be good for a boy-band, but quite able to give most songs justice.
Likes: Music, Technology, Movies, books, all of any kind except Romance, and sometimes solitude.
Dislikes: People that just won't leave him alone sometimes, excessive drug use, gossip.
Most Embarrassing Moment: First time DJing. What a mess.
Goal in Life: Unknown, which is a big problem
Theme Song: "Straw Dog", "the Astronaut" and "Drunk Girl" by Something Corporate
Who he is, Recent History: Petter Valleck is a 27-year-old Quebecer from Montreal whose life just...’didn't’. All through elementary school, high school, and finally college, he wanted to go into film, special effects and general photography as well. He got out of college and into the workforce, and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't land a job in the film industry. It seemed that someone was always more qualified, or knew the director, or had more experience. After almost a year of die-hard searching, he kind of 'gave in'. A high-profile club he frequented, Zaphod Beeblebrox [no, I didn't get unimaginative with the name, I'm basing the club after one after one in my hometown] was hiring for a technical job, and he was given it very quickly after the interview. Go figure. It turned out to be a bit of a electrician-technician-visual-audio guy job. He was content with it, regardless, so he rolled with it. The job required him to wear black a lot, since he was supposed to work in the background and not get noticed. It worked with him.
He lived alone in apartment, a couple kilometers from Zaphod's. He mostly walked unless it was really cold out. Usually he didn't talk much on the job, mainly because people saw him doing complicated wiring or being half under a stage and thought it best to leave him alone. After closing one late Friday night, seemingly alone, he had noticed an extra guitar left up on stage and decided to play it. He was a bit rusty, last time playing it being in high school, but he wasn't bad, and he sang the lyrics really well. The Boss, Paul Anderson, was hurriedly walking by and noticed him playing, stopped, and considered. He then informed Mr. Valleck that the DJ for the next night had to cancel, and they couldn't find a replacement that could use the technology. He offered Peter a chance. Valleck reluctantly agreed for the good of the club.
It was quite the disaster. Being rather intrapersonal [better off than shy, but not that much], he couldn't get the crowd excited, and he got nervous and kept slipping up. He had to resort to a predefined dance mix track. While Mr. Anderson was a little disappointed, he urged Valleck to give it another go some time.
Meanwhile, most of his free time was spent back at the apartment, sleeping during the day a lot out of habit, watching a lot of movies from the past 30 years. He is a particular fan of the Indiana Jones trilogy, and watches them each month as a bare minimum. He shares this obsession with Mathieu, a co-worker. As time went on he got a little pale, since he was only up and about during sunlight for a few hours a day.
Eventually he got really good at his job, being there a whopping two years. In that time, he DJed a little more and became comfortable with it. At that point he felt that he was able to step up to the plate and ask to be a regular DJ, and Paul heartily agreed. Then Paul asked him his DJ name, and Peter looked at him like a fish out of water. DJs usually had good reasons for their names. What was important in his life? "Umm, Archangel?" was his reply.
Peter is a practicing Roman Catholic, and is very conscious of that. Due to his schedule he usually goes to masses on Sunday nights, because he's usually recovering from the Saturday night during the regular times. He tried his best to live by the tenants though, even into Zaphod's. He really didn't drink to excess... and as for girls.
Almost every time he met a girl at the club, she'd been drinking at least a little, and almost always she seemed different if they went on a date. Sometimes he broke it of, sometimes she did, but it always ended up not working out. He continues trying, but hasn't found anyone yet.
In the four years since, he's come out on top of the club as one of, if not THE most popular DJs in the club. He's made quite a few friends with the staff, including the boss, Paul, and a Francophone named Matthieu. He also has friends in the Church, including Father David Michaels and the Sunday night 'youth' (upbeat tempo, 15-30 year old) choir.
All these things help bolster a brooding hatred for drug use. Peter’s all for social drinking, but so many people who get out on the dance floor while high, stoned, and drunk often do themselves and others a disfavour. Many would forget huge parts of the night the next day; the fun they had with friends and erasing the good memories made. Worse, they could ruin events. More than one time wedding receptions that took place at the club where someone who’d drank far, far too much and threw up on other guests, or all over the dance floor, or shouted profanity that they would never say sober. For Valleck, seeing too many crying brides and upset party hosts ‘did in’ drugs for him.
Personality: Though the above outlines very well the kind of person Peter is, there are many grey areas of his personality that need to be filled in. First and foremost, he’s a humanitarian. When he takes time off, he often volunteers with friends to help those who need it – soup kitchens, homeless shelters, or even protests like the March for Life against abortion. Through his study of Catholicism, he always wants to ensure basic human rights, and beyond that he tries to make as many people smile as he can. It actually carries into his work, because if a customer isn’t having a good time, there’s something wrong. When he DJs, he ‘zeroes in’ on those who aren’t dancing, who have their arms crossed looking annoyed on the side of the dance floor, and makes it his personal mission to see them smile.
Valleck’s Disc-Jockey experiences have improved his interpersonal skills a great deal from when he started, and now can more easily know the right words to say at the right time. Going further, while he is somewhat
sympathetic, he is also very
empathic. While getting ‘DJ lessons’ from his fellow workers at Zaphod’s, he learned how to express and read body language effectively. The way somebody crosses their legs while sitting, a person’s posture, or even the amount their eyes are open are a very big though very subtle form of communication. After six years in the entertainment industry, some of his friends say he could read minds.
Persistent in all of this, though, is his longing for times of solitude as well. Some have said ‘You cannot hear God in the world today because of the noise and the distractions and hectic lifestyle’. Peter likes to get away sometimes, whether at home or in Provincial Parks or the like, where all noise goes away, and he could pray, or meditate, or just plain reflect on life and get away from that noisy, hectic lifestyle. He has a cell phone, but keeps it off most of the time; generally it is for emergencies or other life-hanging-in-the-balance events. When he’s not DJing and doing general electrical-work or other mundane chores, sometimes coworkers or clients just want to come and chat. And chat. And chat. And chat. If someone is down and needs someone to talk to, Peter can tell pretty easily and is there fore them… but some just like hearing their own voice while Peter would rather silence, and sometimes makes excuses of doing something very technical and ‘come back later’. One thing he will not tolerate, though, is gossip. In Peter’s mind, nothing destroys a person’s social ties like ‘good’ gossip. Everyone has a few things they’d rather keep private, but here someone else is, telling the world.
One thing missing is his goal in life – right now, he really doesn’t have one. While he has a personal style in which he lives his life, he really doesn’t have any plans to ‘evolve’ his life, to become more than he is – he’s not looking for a new job, also having pretty well given up the film-industry goal. He’s grown a bit cynical in the dating scene, having had too many relationships gone sour too soon. He really just doesn’t have that many ways left he could grow. While he does develop his spiritual life, he really doesn’t have many places to go with it.
Physical:You'd think a guy who spends most of his time indoors would have a spare tire sitting at their gut, but Valleck's actually pretty well toned. Between DJing and dancing three nights a week, he's doing the electrical and hardware work, which means a lot of heavy lifting and a lot of sweating. At just over 6 feet, he's just the right weight - you'd neither call him skinny, nor fat, and has quite pronounced but not striking biceps. He's just barely on the pale side, as he spends a lot of his waking time at night on the dance floor or in the back rooms.
His head and face have a slightly angular appearance, with a slightly broad nose under blue eyes. His jawline is particularly pronounced, doubly so due to his shortcut beard framing his face. He has a medium-brown tint to his hair, though the beard is laced with a little red. He usually keeps his hair pretty short (2-3 inches at most) and his beard shorter.
Background (Family, older history, etc):Valleck grew up in a four-body house; he lived with his parents and his older brother. Jean Valleck, his mother, is a Quebec native who speaks mostly French (Quebecer French, mind the dialect) who has a unique job: cheesemaking. She works at St. Anthony’s Dairy. She is very much involved with her Quebec heritage and often takes the time to look into her family genealogy.
Marcus Valleck, Peter’s father, is an accountant in downtown Monteal. He is Irish moved to Canada in his early twenties, and after deciding he liked it, gained dual citizenship. He met Jean at Church, and the relationship snowballed from there.
Peter’s older brother, Thom, went on to be a stock broker in Ontario while he was still in grade school. They get along pretty well, but Thom is very rarely home.
A brief history before the workforce...
1999-2000: Peter was doing odd jobs while looking for a career based in the filmmaking arts. After being turned down quite a few times he got his job at Zaphod Beeblebrox's.
1997-1999: Went to Vanier College in Montreal for the Technical Operations program, minoring in film studies.
1995-1997: CEGEP.
1992-1995: St. George's Catholic High School
1985-1992: Our Kady of Peace Catholic Elementary school.
Coming to the island:In a lot of ways Peter was married to his job. He slept away a lot of the day and worked all night most nights. A lot of his free time was found during the early hours (5-7 AM) or during the late afternoon... which meant that he really didn't go on too many social outtings. Another thing was that he would always get the job done - he'd never really slack off, always did the job until it was done, and then didn't waste time moving onto the next one. He also was generally kind and courteous with his co-workers. He was a model employee. In a lot of ways, this was a bit of the problem... he always put the job first. He really only loosened up when DJing as "Archangel". A lot of the co-workers thought he really needed to unwind, and considering his dedication... there was only one thing to do....
[RP Mode]
It was 5 A.M. after quite a busy night. A lot of the staff had gone home; most of the service folks like the barman and cooks had long vacated. Peter was out on the dance floor, mopping a spilled rum and coke that happened earlier that evening. The 'disco' lights were still on, spinning away in a vibrant spectrum of colours. He had set the sound system to some slow music, and while he wasn't dancing with the mop, you could tell he was practicing his moves. When you're the last person in Zaphod's like this, the music keeps you company. At the moment, Peter was listening to "Here's to The Night"... but the lyrics seemed a little offbeat with the music. In fact, it was kind of like someone was singing along t -- Peter spun around, and there, sitting on one of the cleaned tables, were Paul and Mathieu, who'd stopped when Peter had finally made sense of the situation. Both wore quite the grin.
Mathieu gave a laugh tinged by his accent. "I tink she likes you, Peter. You really clean off zhe dance floor of all competitors!" Paul just sat and smiled.
Peter recognized the moment to play the 'fool card'. He flipped the mop upside down. "Don't listen to him, baby," Valleck said in a hurt but soothing tone, caressing the mops' 'hair'. "We'll go to other clubs and we'll be the main attraction. It'll be a clean sweep. Just gotta mind that one sassy girl and her broom." He made to leave with 'her', knowing he'd get called back. No one sits around like that at that hour. Knowing Paul, he was about four seconds from saying "get back here, and your girlfriend too!" He kept moving. One step, two steps.
"Peter."
Now THAT came as a mild shock. The two employees had gone from giggling to sombre in five seconds flat. Something was up. Spinning on a heel and walking back, slowly, cautiously, he gave a reply. "Yes, sir?"
Paul was twiddling his thumbs, a usual habit he fell into when he was looking for the tactful words to say, typically with an angry customer. This was definitely something big. "Peter, I'd like to discuss your work over the course these two past months."
Now Peter was beginning to be genuinely confused. “Sir? I don’t think that I’ve slacked off to any degree, and those three sick days that I took -”
“-Were just fine, as far as I’m concerned. Peter, it’s not the quality of your work, nor any lack of effort and time put in. It’s that the large majority of the staff have noticed a change in you. According to some, you’re more distant, unsociable, and more often than not, tired and exhausted. We had a general meeting, and it was decided for you to go – to Europe.” He gave out a sigh, as if he were seeing a loved one pass on.
“Please, Paul, I’d be willing to try harde- WHAT?” Peter had done a double take.
The other two burst out laughing. Paul, putting on a mock serious demeanour, pointed a finger at Peter and said, “You’ve had this coming for a long time, Bucko.” He then returned to laughing hysterically.
Peter sat there dumbfounded. “Paul, I don’t get it. Why would the club randomly decide to cash money out for this over an unhappy employee? It just doesn’t make sense.”
Paul, wiping a tear from his eye and calming down, explained. “Peter, I looked in the records. The last time you took even a shift off was last August. Not only do you have more than enough days for this, but traditionally, our employees get something special as a fifth year anniversary gift. It’s now been seven years for you. That whole bomb scare fiasco ruined any chance of you getting away. It just so happens that the club was given a promotional vacation ticket by a certain travel bureau. It starts in England, you get ferried to the mainland, and then take train, bus, and backpack to half the countries in Europe. Italy, Germany, Spain. It’s three full weeks, from what I’m told, ending in Greece. And I won’t have another word about it; you’re going. The last thing we want is another two months of cranky Peter. It was unanimous that you get the vacation.”
Mathieu jumped in and wrapped an arm around Peter’s shoulders. “Come now, tink of it az an adventure, Peter! Just tink, what would Indy do? Oh, wait, you do not have your tinking cap on!”
And suddenly Peter couldn’t see. Grasping at his head, he found a large black Fedora covering his head. Taking it off to observe it, a growing grin covered his face. “Wow… Thanks, Matt, thanks to BOTH of you. Same to the rest of the club. Wow.” Peter then flipped the hat off one arm and onto his head, in exactly the right place. “Now…” Peter grabbed and got hold of Matt’s throat. “All I have to do is squeeze!”
Mathieu gave his best effeminate German voice as he replied with “All I have to do is scream.”
With this, Peter did a great bear hug on the slender man. “Thanks. Both of you.” Turning, he said, “I guess I’ll go wash up and head home… to start packing.” He cracked a grin, and strode away.
After getting to the washroom, Peter flicked on the light, and looked at the reflection in the mirror. Was he really that pale, now? Where had the time gone, these past seven years? He hardly recognized himself.
Which is why I need to go, next week. I need to regain control. Washing up, he headed home to find his luggage bags.
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