NAME: Halloran McGeever, known as "Hal"
TEMPLATE: the antithesis of the heroic reporter; he's a physical expression
of Frank's shadow side. The short, ugly, rat-faced guy. Works as Frank's photographer sidekick.
SPECIES: Orga (GPS chip in left shoulder)
AGE: about 35
GENDER: Male (pansexual tendencies. We won't go any further on that one!)
HEIGHT: 5" even
WEIGHT: 90 lbs. when he's hungry
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Short, scrawny, thinning dark brown hair which
he hides under a squashed-down Homburg which rarely leaves his head. Face too thin, murky grey-green eyes. Bad teeth (rotted,
filled, snapped off). A bit stoop-shouldered. Carries around a small suitcase containing a digital photo lab.
BACKGROUND: Born to a syphilitic whore who abandoned him in a trash can,
taken in by a concerned couple who later had to give him up to the State (Minnesota); a nosy neighbor tipped them off for
already having one too many kids, and little Hal only added to the charges. After that he was bounced from one foster home
to another; very few couples wanted to keep him since he was a high-maintenance kid (health problems, psychological problems--he
seems to have a nasty case of ODD, Oppositional Defiance Disorder). Spent a wonderful year of his adolesence in a cryo-storage
crypt as part of the human trials for a new cure for congenital syphillis. Finally Anselm McGeever, the wealthy part-owner
of a pharmaceutical corp., adopted him, but later disowned Hal when he proved to be unmanageable. Met Frank in college and
the two formed a shaky off and on partnership/friendship. Convicted of being involved in a kind of publicity stunt in which
he tricked a malfunctioning Mecha of the same line as Joe into killing about ten male lover-Mechas, and sentenced to three
years in prison, hence the GPS chip in his shoulder.
PERSONALITY: Literally and figuratively has a chip on his shoulder. Thinks
he's charming when he's really very repulsive. Crafty as a fox and as randy as a hyena on Viagra. Won't do anything you ask
him to do unless he knows there's something in it for him (like free eats).
OBJECTIVES: Besides trying to have sex with someone or something in every
town in the U.S. and being a general nuisance/gadfly, there's not much. He works only to support his addiction (sex with Mechas;
he largely gave up on Orgas, but when he really feels like living dangerously...).
A QUOTE (or two): "Why don't you just make like a tree and get out of
here?!" Biff in "Back to the Future"
"I shoot the dead. Dead bodies, that is. I mean, *I* don't kill 'em."
Harlen Maguire, "Road to Perdition"
SPECIAL QUIRKS, ETC: He may be shabby, disgusting, and over-sexed, but
the guy is an ARTIST with a camera (Subject matter notwithstanding). Can also manuever the criminal underworld without getting
killed. Also has the odd habit of barely eating much if he has to pay for it, but if someone else is paying, he makes up for
it. This has led him to being banned from a few all-you-can-eat buffets in Haddonfield and Rouge City. The big question is:
where does it go since he's so scrawny? He also is a bit of a computer hacker, and is quite adept at fixing Mechas: he's busted
enough of 'em in his time.
