"You're an intelligent man, Columbo, but you hide it. You pretend you're something you're not. Why? Because of your appearance. You think you cannot get by on looks or polish, so you turn a defect into a virtue. You take people by surprise. They underestimate you, and that's where you trip them up, like coming here tonight."
--Dr. Flemming as portrayed by Gene Barry in Prescription: Murder
BASICS
NAME: Columbo
GENDER: Cis man
PRONOUNS: He/him/his
ORIENTATION: Straight
BIRTHDATE: Early Fall of 2734
AGE: 40 as of Summer 2775
LOCATION: Fort Weyr
OCCUPATION: Former guard, bluehandler
WING: Dusk Squad
APPEARANCE
EYES: Dark brown
HAIR: Black, unkempt
HEIGHT AND BUILD: 5'8", solid build
PLAY-BY: Peter Falk
EXPY SOURCE: Columbo (Columbo)
FULL APPEARANCE:
Columbo wears a long, wrinkled, battered, tan coat most of the time, and is constantly chewing on the end a large toothpick he's whittled himself, often gesturing with it, which is not the prettiest habit. His hair is often disheveled, his clothes in serviceable if unkept condition. He does not seem to take much pride in his appearance, and is constantly losing things in the large pockets of his coat. He always has a slightly bewildered or overwhelmed expression.
Columbo is on the shorter side for cis men. He has a slightly crooked smile, a dimpled chin, and a wider nose. He wears his hair short, and the unchecked waves add to his already substantially disheveled impression. If he makes an initial impression, it is as a bumbling dullard.
PERSONALITY
PERSONALITY:
Columbo is a simple man who prefers a simple life. He likes what he likes, and doesn't need anything more. If someone tries to offer him something nicer, he'll slow gratitude, but ultimately refuse. Nice things feel like too much fuss for him. It's very difficult to wow him with things like rank or expensive gifts, as he is simply not impressed by things like that. He tries to judge people on their actions and how they treat others, not on what they have that they may or may not have earned. He likes people quite a lot, often happily drawing people into meaningless, pleasant small talk. His favorite topic of conversation is his wife, and he brings her up fairly often.
While he is naturally a little scattered and forgetful, Columbo will play into it a little more to disarm people, put them at their ease, and hopefully get them to open up a little more. He tries to be as non-threatening and unobtrusive as possible to better achieve this. He's extremely observant when it comes to people's behaviors, and usually notices when someone does something unusual or is trying too hard to appear like they're feeling something they aren't. He's usually very indirect about his confrontations, though, initially agreeing with the person, but always somehow circling back around to what's bothering him to talk about it more. Part of it is pressing buttons to see how the person reacts, but he doesn't like accusing people of things without irrefutable proof or them offering up a confession themselves, so part of it is also an attempt to coax them around to just confiding in him.
Columbo cares a lot about people and doesn't like those who hurt others, going after them with an unassuming doggedness that can prove impossible to shake. He doesn't like violence and will do everything he can to avoid having to resort to it. He's pretty inflexible in that regard because he doesn't believe he gets to be held to a different set of rules than everyone else. While he knows hierarchies aren't perfect, as long as they do ultimately more good than harm, he thinks they're work preserving. He's a simple man who likes working with his hands, and he knows people in power spend more of their time doing paperwork than anything useful, so power isn't really his thing.
HISTORY
FAMILY:
Wife
Several children
Siblings
SIGNIFICANT OTHER: Wife (name TBD)
BIRTHPLACE: Fort Hold
HISTORY:
Columbo was born a few years into the interval war, but as his parents were average Holder folk, it didn't have much effect on his family's day-to-day lives. The return of thread and the resulting conflict between Fort and High Reaches similarly had little to do with Columbo, his family and the bustling Hold. Even as a child, Columbo was a good observer of behavior, and may people in his family thought he'd make for a good Harper. He knew from a young age he didn't have the head for it, nor the ear, so instead once he was old enough, he became a guard like his father. His dislike of violence got him into some trouble with his superiors, but he was slightly more flexible about it in his youth.
As a teen, Columbo had a sweetheart. Neither of their parents felt the need to pressure them into finding a match, so the pair were able to take things as slow as they wanted. In their early twenties, they married, confident they were a good couple thanks to being able to court for an extended period of time.
When Columbo was 28, the Hold began withhold tithes and it was the first time politics were really on his doorstep and he found himself grappling with how he felt about decisions being made. A lot of it was very nuanced, though, and he could see the situation from multiple different sides, making it hard to know who was in the right. It was what ultimately made him realize that the game of politics was not for him, that he preferred for things to be simpler. When the resulting rebellion happened, Columbo took his family and fled to the Weyr, worried that the violence would spread to average people like him and his young children. At least violence at the Weyrs seemed to be isolated to the riders, so he knew he wouldn't have to worry as much about his children's safety.
This theory was more or less proved true during the first few turns of their lives at Fort Weyr. The lives of dragroniders were tumultuous and often violent, but as simple Weyrfolk, Columbo and his family were largely untouched by most of it. In 2769, Fort Hold had another rebellion, and Columbo felt further vindicated...until it became clear that the tensions within the Weyr were beginning to mount as well. With Fort Weyr and Hold having issues, and nowhere close that the family could run to, Columbo's wife suggested he try and see if he could impress to one of the wher eggs that one of the golds had laid. It would give the family some added protection if they needed to leave in a hurry again, after all, and Columbo had spent enough time around well-trained whers to know they could make excellent partners, so he agreed.
During the fight in the Weyrbowl, Columbo and Lumsk stood guard in front of the creche to ensure none of the fighting spilled out to the children. The family was unable to leave as Columbo's wife was actively in labor when it broke out, but the violence was short-lived enough that they decided they could stay, especially since the instigator had been banished at the end. It turned out to be the right call, since the intervening turns had been quite peaceful, and the family have all been enjoying the quiet that comes with peaceful times.
