Dr. Robert Peterson

[Dr. Robert Peterson]

the roleplayer

NAME: Trevor
CONTACT: I prefer to receive a PM
GENDER: male
AGE: 42
ROLEPLAY EXPERIENCE: Over 20 years. Year and a half with PBP
OTHER CHARACTERS: none
HOW YOU FOUND US: RPG Collection



Robert Allen Peterson
When we are dreaming alone it is only a dream. When we are dreaming with others, it is the beginning of reality.
Dom Helder Camara:

character basics

NICKNAMES: Dr. Rob, Dr. Peterson, Rob
AGE: 44
GROUP: Somnium Staff
BIRTHDAY: 1st of June
OCCUPATION School Counselor and Psychology Teacher
GENDER: male

PLAY-BY: Kevin Kline

appearance

Dr. Peterson has sandy blond hair with a few streaks of grey. It tends to be a bit wavy. Looking a bit on the studious side he tends to wear ties and sweaters. Robert has an average build and stands at 5’ 11”. His eyes are of a blue hue and often seem to give off a distant look. Being a man in his forties he is beginning to show some of the characteristics of a person his age. Crows feet are beginning to form around his eyes and his athletic prowess has begun to deteriorate.

personality

Likes, hates, fears, goals and all the mushy stuff in the middle. You can place your character's personality in bullet points or in paragraphs or both. Try and be as descriptive as possible. Go into your character's mind.

Likes:
Reading: Robert is an avid reader. He has been known to finish a book a night when he is in the mood and time allows. His favorite literature, oddly enough, are fantasy novels. This is not so say he does not enjoy reading all his psychology journals; rather he has a preference for the lighter literature especially when he wants to relax.

Italian quizzing: Though the counselor’s heritage is more Germane and Irish he does love Italian food.

Classical Music: If you were to stand and listen at his office door you might catch a few notes of Mahler or some other composer.

Writing: Dr. Peterson is a publish author. Not only has he been published in a few psychology journals but has two fantasy books to his credit. When writing fantasy he uses the pen name Charles Richardson. The titles are “The Price of Justice” and “In Justice’s Wake” two installments in a planned trilogy.

Brandy: Though more than careful about the amount of adult beverages he consumes Robert does enjoyed a decanted glass of brandy once in a while.

Hates:
Confrontation: As a result of the home he grew up in he has a particular dislike for angry and aggressive vocabulary. This is been a criticism some have leveled against him in the past. It is actually the primary reason he resigned form his position at the University of Michigan.

Licorice: Anise licorice, the black type, is a rather detestable flavor to him. His father used to give him a pound of the candy every Christmas. This was not because his father was under any misgivings that his son enjoyed it.

Rap Music: Of all the music styles the good counselor dislikes rap music the most. It isn’t the words that bother him so much but the music itself.

Fears:
Abandonment: Robert suffers from a lingering fear of abandonment. As a child he was often neglected and left places by his parents forcing him to find his own way home. He was not a child given to running off somewhere, only his parents didn’t actually want him around.

Failure: Dr. Peterson has a nagging fear of failure. Failure was not tolerated in the home he grew up in. Anything less than perfection, at least by his parent’s standards, was a punishable offence that often led to physical punishment, loss of whatever privileges he had and verbal abuse.

Rejection: Born of the rejection he felt growing up, he fears he will be ostracized and disliked. Because of this he often chooses to refrain from public events and shies away from making new acquaintances.

Goals:
Become a well-known author: Robert has desired for a long time to be an appreciated author of fantasy books.

Become more outgoing: Robert often a reclusive person. He has been making attempts to open up to people and relax around them but still finds this rather difficult.

Overcome his loss: Dr. Peterson still mourns the loss of his fiancé. Though she died nearly 20 years ago he still has not gotten over it.


Robert suffers from a common addiction, if it may be called that, of Co-dependency. He feels the need to impress and make everyone around him “like” him. This is often at his own emotional expense. To be quite truthful he doesn’t like himself very much and finds way of belittling everything he does. Often you can hear him say sarcastic or derogatory statements aimed at him personally almost like a safety mechanism.

Depression runs deep within his subconscious and so does his self-hatred. This is often revealed within his dreams as an underlining thread that makes his worst fears become reality. Dream world beings seem to enjoy tormenting him once they realized this fact. There has been some improvement in this though as the longer he has attended the School of Dreams. He has found ways to thwart his own undermining and actually become a bit more successful with his dream self. Still this has limited his ability to control and use whatever limited powers, if they can be called such, which he possesses.

Due to his somewhat challenging earlier years he bears emotional scars that has shaped his dream self. Abuse at the hands of grade school teachers and neglect from his parents has created within him the desire to escape what and who he is by creating an image of himself he takes on every time he enters rheum sleep.

As Robert learns to deal better and relate on a more healthful way with his waking world it is emulated in some degree within his dreams. This fact has driven him to start attending self help and twelve step groups that deal with the issue of Co-dependency and help him work through his scarred emotions.

family & history

FATHER: Wayne Allen Peterson is a forty seven year old teamster. He has worked in the auto manufacturing business since he left the Army at twenty three. Wayne is a typical workaholic putting in ten to fourteen hours a day and spending as little time as possible with his family. This has distanced him from his son who feels unwanted by the father figure in his life.

MOTHER: Carol Dawn (McMillin) Peterson has worked as the treasurer of a struggling family business since Robert was four. She is far from the ideal mother spending most of her free time escaping reality in the bottom of a bottle of wine. Attending Parent-Teacher conferences is not a real priority for her and neither is making sure her children have the things they need. Carol tends to be overprotective and controlling. She restricts the friends she feel Robert should associate with him and even picks out his cloths for him, much to his loathing.

SIBLINGS: Chrystal Gale Peterson is Robert’s older sister. The favored child in his family, she has overshadowed her brother in nearly everything he has ever done in their parent’s eyes. She is two years his senior and has not talked to him since he was fourteen.

OTHER FAMILY: Roger Martin Peterson, Robert’s paternal Uncle, is an unmarried forty nine year old. He owns a book and hobby supply store called Roger’s Reader World. It employed around eight people full time, including Carol, Robert’s alcoholic mother until it closed. Unlike the lads parents he shows interest in the welfare of his nephew. Robert works at the establishment too on weekends and school holidays. Roger likes to drink as much as his sister in law. He has received a few DUIs as a result giving him a bit of a bad reputation in the community.

HISTORY:
Robert was the second child of a rather dysfunctional family. They lived in a World War 2 prefabricated house in the suburbs of the city of Detroit Michigan. The home itself was originally set over a crawl space, something known as a Michigan Basement. This dank, cellar like, places had originally had a small opening in the floor of the laundry room where one could climb a ladder into the dark and moist recess. Later the previous homeowner had decided to do some remodeling. The structure was expanded to add a set of stare down to the proper basement with cement walls and an additional owners suite. Even the laundry was moved downstairs leaving a rather neglected storage area where the washer and dryer used to reside. The home now had four bedrooms that were quickly claimed by member of the family. Wayne, Robert’s father, chose one of the rooms as his study. His mother turned the other into a formal dining room. By all accounts the home was quite grand for the neighborhood. On outward appearances they looked quite normal, but underneath the thin veneer things were not as perfect as they seemed.

His father worked as a shift supervisor in an automobile assembly plant in Detroit Michigan. Between the overtime he chose to take and the hours of drinking with his work associates the man was hardly ever home. When he did arrive things had better be in order with dinner hot and ready on the table. All family members better be present to welcome the “hero” home as he felt he desired. Wayne was an elder in the community Baptist church they attended faithfully and active communities volunteer. What most did not know is he was also an abusive drunk who enjoyed beating up his kids and slept with both of the females under the roof. Robert was his human punching bag with verbal and emotional abuse piled on.

Carol, his mother, was an alcoholic as well. She drank wine whenever she could get her hands on a bottle saying it calmed her nerves from having to deal with troublesome son. Robert for his part tried his best to behave exactly as she wished but her ever-changing demands made adherence an impossibility. Often he was the one who did the housework and cooked the meals while Carol took the credit for it. When things went wrong Robert was the one who took the blame for it too.

Than there was Chrystal, perfect, beautiful, Chrystal, she was the princess extraordinaire and Robert better not have forgotten it. As a child she was pampered and indulged by both parents. Often for Christmas she would receive numerous gifts all wrapped in pretty silver and pink packaging. Robert got a pound of that black candy he learned to hate so much. If he was lucky he would get a pair of gloves purchased from good will or some other article of clothing handed down by a well meaning neighbor. Robert dared to ask one year why Chrystal got all the presences. His sister cried for an hour claiming Robert was so selfish he was only thinking of himself and his mother told him he should be ashamed of himself, after all shouldn’t he want nice things for his precious sister? Afterwards he received a beating that left blisters on his bottom, legs and arms and told he should not cry because that was for sissies.

It all started to go badly for the boy from the very beginning. When was born there were rumors little Robert was illegitimate. To be quite honest, it was not even assumed he was the child of his mother. Robert’s parents had gone on vacation to New England leaving their daughter in the care of trusted family friends. When they returned they had a small baby boy. True… Carol had been pregnant when his parents had left for their month long holiday. She was very well along, about eight months and very much showing. Suspicions had arisen as to why they had chosen to leave when they did but unlike most excited parents of a newborn they never notified anyone that Robert was born. Instead he was merely brought home and placed in the drawer of an old dresser. This was to save money, a rather important aspect of his parent’s lives. In the attic was a beautiful crib, the one Chrystal had used, but that was hers and he could not, should not, dare not use it.

Though neighbors fussed over the blond haired baby his parents treated him almost as if he was invisible. While his sister wore designer clothing his were given to the family by neighbors and family friends, hand me downs as they are sometimes called. It wasn’t because his parents didn’t have the money they just didn’t want to spend the time picking them out.

By the time he was six it was obvious he was a little different than the other boys in his kindergarten class. He would set alone a lot shying away from both his peers and his teacher. Reading was difficult for him too and by the third grade he was diagnosed as being dyslexic. His parents were given multiple opportunities to place him in programs designed to help children with learning disabilities but were too busy or too hung over to bother making sure he was involved in them. Teachers began to think of him as not being bright and so often belittled him in front of his peers for mispronouncing words or reading allowed slowly. This only encouraged his classmates to take on the same attitudes towards him. Many days he would be hauled in front of the class, publicly disgraced for some minor infraction and than taken to another room where the teacher would beat him with a ruler. Often the wooden object would break and so multiple instruments were taped together to insure this did not happen. His parents had a rule that whatever discipline he received at school he would get at home and so he felt trapped into hiding the shameful truth from them. By his eight-grade year he had become such a recluse he did not show up for his own graduation, not that his parents attended anyway or that he was much missed.

Rob had started experiencing recurring dreams by the age of eight. In those dreams he was always an orphaned by from some other dimension. His parents were not really his parents and he was smart, well liked and intelligent. This dream person had a name, a different name of Travis Wayne O’Mannin. As Travis he had special powers, at least at the beginning of his dreams. By the end of them he was a hunted fugitive hated by all and wanted for who knew what reasons other than being different.

The lad had begun working in his Uncle’s shop when he was only eight. He began by checking in merchandise that came in and stocking shelves. Robert spent countless hours pouring over the fantasy book covers and imagining himself as some grand hero with great powers, a knight perhaps or a wizard with mighty spells. These fantasies became weaved into his subconscious and so at time Robert’s dream self, Travis, would wear the garb of a midlevel warrior or the robes of a sorcerer. Still, he was not powerful, not really. When he awoke he was still Robert Peterson the invisible boy.

By the time he entered High School he was one of the shyest students. A counselor took interest in him advising his parents to seek help from a mental professional for him. This met with much criticism from his parents. Things at home became even worse as any privileged he may have enjoyed at home seemed to vanish.

In the summer between his 9th and 10th year a letter inviting him to attend the Somnium Academy. Against the protests of his parents Uncle Roger decided it would be best if he were removed from the destructive environment of his home and had the lad packed up and sent “over the pond” to merry England.

He spent four years their and did quite well academically. He discovered new ways to overcome his learning disabilities and excelling in his course work. He also leaned to love reading and began writing short stories that although were not published were highly praised by his professors.

Robert considered becoming an English professor but decided instead to focus on helping others and himself overcome their mental challenges. He won a scholarship to Harvard and studied there until he earned a doctoral degree in human psychology.

At 27 he graduated with high honors and began his practice in clinical psychology. It was a struggling endeavor at first but soon he had a group of loyal patients who would could regularly to see him. The University of Michigan offered him a teaching position that he accepted and he moved back to the states.

While a professor, he published three scholarly papers on dream interpretation. Though widely acclaimed within his field, the school was unimpressed with his teaching style and had had enough of his classroom philosophizing about the importance of dreams. At the age of 30 the institution dismissed him and Robert headed back to England.

Robert set up practice once more and started to gather a patient base that would support him. Though his private practice was booming he found himself wanting to get back into teaching. While there he met a lovely young woman name Emily Richardson. With curly red locks and eyes the color of emerald she stole his heart and in less than a year they were engaged. Things were going well for the couple than she developed ovarian cancer and in spite the physicians best efforts she passed away one week before the scheduled nuptials.

In the winter of his thirty-first year of life Robert submitted his first fantasy book for publication. It was called, “The Price of Justice.” He used a pin name honoring the memory of his departed love. It was accepted and published gaining critical acclaim and modest sales. Three years later he published his second book, “In Justice’s Wake,” that did even better than his first.

Finally a chance to teach once more came his way. An offer to teach at his old high school Alma matter arrived and he accepted it. Now he teaches psychology classes and serves as the schools resident psychologist.

dream form

Robert’s Dream self as he refers to him is much like his physical person only slightly better looking and much younger. When he first arrived as a youth at the Academy his form was only about eight in age. Now he appears to be about fifteen. He can speak and understand many languages, well that is the best way of describing it. What it sounds like even to him is gibberish but he know what he is trying to say in English and the person he is talking to seems to understand.

Travis can also fly if that is what it can be called. It is more like levitation in that he moves excruciatingly slow in a dream like manor and often not very high off the ground. Sometimes his pursuers can just reach up and grab him he moves so slowly. Other times he gets tangled up in power or telephone lines preventing his escape.

He also has developed the ability to make a small transparent blue sphere hover in the air before it disappears. The sphere is no more than four inches in diameter and like a bubble the surface seems to be iridescent and constantly changing. At this point he knows of no useful purpose for the sphere, though it is pretty.

One skill he seems to possess in this form is that of moving through solid objects. He can pass through wall as if they are not even there and closets serve as doorways to other dimensions. This is not that these other places are any better or safer for him than where he is or that his pursuers cannot follow. It is merely the location that seems to changes. Often he has elaborate underground hideouts. These places provide little if any protection but do give him a place to run to. They may be many, many levels deep and lead to other worlds.

As mentioned earlier sometimes he wears special garb, a wizards robe or armor. These offer little if any protection. They merely make him look different than what he normally does. These robes are a shimmering blue color with white cuffs and a white border around the neck and at the bottom hem.

Any weapon he may stumble upon, typically knives or swords seem to be made out of rubber and serve no real offensive or defensive purpose. Those possessed by his pursuers are on the other hand far too real.

It should be said that Travis believes he was a prince in some unknown galaxy or dimension and is hundreds of years old. He was destined to be the emperor where he would be admired and adored. He believes he has been wrongfully accused of murdering his parents and sent to earth as his punishment. Oddly enough it is a disgruntled and jealous Uncle who is the real culprit and is placing the blame on an innocent person so he could take the throne.

I noticed I was not as clear as I should have been about my Dream Form. This is the only place revisions have been made. In this form he looks like a fifteen year old version of himself.

[Beeee.♥]

Accepted

[/font][/color][/i]

Looks good! Don't forget to claim your face! :]

[/center]