Name: Detective Josie Burch

Gender: Female, Straight

Age/DOB: 23 at RC, February 17th 19XX

Origin: Aperturth, Dallas Texas

Family: Unknown status of parents and younger sister, husband presumed dead due to Resonance Cascade

Other: Doctor Ryan Burch worked for Aperture, and thus was likely at ground zero during Aperturth's Resonance Cascade. This has thrown Josie for a loop and she's spent quite a lot of time in the last few years kicking herself for letting him go to work 'that day'. She is not interested in finding a new partner, not yet anyway. At least things here in MoCon keep her busy.

Height: 5'9"

Weight: ~130, pretty underweight for her height, though she is fit she's not really got enough padding to spare should she have to survive without food for extended periods; she is tall and lean, made even taller by her propensity to wear heeled boots

Hair: black, silky, cut poorly (she pretends like it's a style - hey out here in this new weirdass world it absolutely counts), kept short

Eyes: Hazel, more green than brown; usually has a bit of runny eyeliner, and her eyes are notably bloodshot - whether this is because she constantly cries when no one's looking, or because she's allergic to something, or even just the dry Mojave air is getting to her... No one knows and she's not saying.

Appearance: Bronze skinned, her grandfather was a full blooded Apache, and as such her features tend toward that strong facial structure and red-tan skin, as well her posture is that of a proud and strong individual. Though her outfit shown is in much poorer condition currently, she enjoyed looking good and has tried to keep all of her clothing in as good condition as she could. Given that the group traveled with only one suitcase and the clothes on their back, that's... been hard on her. She misses nice shoes. She should talk to Wilson. She speaks with a very pronounced Texan drawl, which sometimes makes her a bit hard to understand.

Genetic Abilities: None known, though she's from Aperturth and they all tend to have something weird hidden here and there

Icarus Processing: None, would not be a good candidate due to negative markers, so any children she might have should be tested

Image Credits: Paragon

Skills or Profession: from a young age trained with communication skills, she speaks English and French fluently, but also has a very good grasp on a variety of Native languages, plus Spanish and ASL. She learned how to lip-read from her maternal grandmother, who apparently was a spy in some war? She was never clear on which one, because the woman was quite old when Josie was born, but her training seemed to fit with Josie. So when she's within line of sight at almost any angle, she can read what people are saying based on their body language and mouth movements. It's much harder with anyone wearing masks, obviously. She truly enjoys puzzles, board games, tactical games, and and logic puzzles. Unfortunately she's shit at managing money, so her being in the Mojave means that she regularly loses much of her hard-earned caps at the tables in New Vegas - even though she's great with some games, she's not good at cards... Though she was always taught not to lie, she knows that most people do, and as such has developed a keen sense of detecting when someone is lying, again part of reading their body language as much as their words. She is a good courier, and seems to be able to match goods with their intended recipients with ease, and has had to track down a good number of people in the desert in order to either deliver, or extract payment. She still solves mysteries and cold cases, and has dug up a lot of fun and valuable information around MoCon.
Personality: Reassuring, faithful, controlling, a natural leader, elitist, good mannered; Concerned about the welfare of kids and the weak or elderly; despises racism, and wonders how the Mojave would be without all the walls keeping Supermutants and Ghouls away from the 'normal people'. While wandering through the Mojave she will pick up and clean off small items like straws or cups, and idly chew them. No that's not wise, but it's better than smoking, right? She's enjoying having access to such weird different music and programs that they offer here, and when she returns on rare occasions to Lane Mansion, she will go out of her way to listen to Siren or others when they perform. She wants to get them and Rhea out to perform at the Tops!

Events or History: born to a reasonably well off Dallas family that had ties to both oil and historical interests. Joined the Dallas police department's recruitment program during her senior year of high school, and as she did so well they snapped her up the moment she graduated. She was not the type they wanted to waste on street duties, however, and she was given preferential treatment to enter their detective program. (This was not due to her mother's family money, however - it was all her excellent work.) Solving two apparently unrelated cold-cases that turned out to be one perp's work, she earned herself some amount of recognition among the detectives. When her high school sweetheart Ryan asked her to marry him, she accepted - they were only 20, and he was about to enter the scientific field up at Aperture. With high marks and good recommendations, Josie and her new husband relocated to the St Louis area where he went into the training required, and she landed a good job with their own police department. The day that the Resonance Cascade occurred there, and some fifteen Aperture laboratories across the country simultaneously vanished or exploded, Josie was devistated emotionally. Her friends and colleagues kept her from being too distraught to focus - everyone was still needed, particularly now.

Since she had expertise in 'putting weird information to good use', she was tapped by the authorities to help track down the renegade Aperture criminals that appeared to have scampered off with their keepers. And then, ... and then, there was a guy in a suit and some discussion that she wasn't involved in - but she could read lips. She knew how weird this was all going to get. Josie gave serious thought to remaining on at Lane Mansion, but then again those guys out west really did need some wrangling. It was in her blood, she might as well go to the Mojave...

Currently, Josie and Courier do exactly that, not only delivering goods or important information across MoCon, but providing valuable observation when needed. There's too much free time, though, and she tends to need some reassurance on arrival to some destinations. She beds down in Camp McCarran's main concourse when she's in town for a while.

Dragon

Name: Courier
Gender: Male
Size/Shoulder/Length: Medium 9' s / 80' l / 75' ws
Colors: galaxy green, alternating rich blue and turquoise with brighter green in nebula fades, all with brilliant small sparkly star patterns in white; horns pale sky blue with stars; wingsails transparent nebula same shades with slightly larger star mottling; eyes bright neon green
Features: Typical large Whiptail
Powers: Winged Flight, though fully capable of flight, Courier tends to remain on the ground with his human. He is heavy, and his wings aren't all that sturdy, but they can certainly lift her up to the tops of ruined buildings with a swift couple of flaps. He doesn't do much aerial acrobatic work, however, and would rather stride purposefully around on the ground. He is sturdy there, at least, and can carry a large amount of weight if it's distributed evenly over his neck, shoulders, back, hips, and tail. He has a pannier with a front-oriented neck slot for Josie to sit in while they travel, and with goods that are more valuable nearest her there on the back of his neck. He is big enough that speed really isn't an issue for long distances, his stride makes up for any running, and it takes a smaller beast a good trot to keep up with his normal walking pace. He does not plod, in fact, and if he needs to run you should just hang on because he means it. He can also pull train cars along intact rails, though he prefers not to, because vehicles get caught up on his tail.
Tail Strength, as with all Whiptails, he has the ability to use his tail in a variety of ways, including but not limited to combat, defense, and feats of strength. He is a larger sized dragon, in terms of using his tail for 'detail' work, so he tends to use it more for the smashy and carry parts, and less for the discerning picking through the rubble. Unlike some however, his tail rarely seems as fragile as most, in fact his wingsails are also pretty sturdy in terms of ripping, where many are quite weak to damage. His tail has been known to knock a full grown Alpha Deathclaw on its ass, so even they don't mess with this pair.
Commanding Presence, Courier has a calm personality but if he is in the presence of other Whiptails he absolutely will assert himself, and does so without damaging anyone including himself. He simply assumes he is the alpha, and the others usually follow suit. In this way, taking instruction from his keeper, he can pass along commands and teach tricks that he himself learned, so the others will learn them more easily. As a right-hand-man he is superb.
Parentage: Unknown Whiptails, he is of the galaxy-spotted variation which there are a couple others in the Rookery, though there are few in MoCon.
Origin: Adpted from and Species By DragonsAndVideoGames on Deviantart
Other Info: Calm, cool, and collected. Courier is an ideal shoulder to cry on, for his little human friend. Whether he understands what she's talking about when she is going off about the old world she was on, her travails and issues, no one knows. But he listens really well. And it's clear he is listening, he seems to know just when to give a chuff or nuzzle, and when to wrap his wing around her for comfort.