Sketchy Refs - Clay

Last one for tonight! I'm on a roll.

Okay, this is Clay, my Soldier. As you may be able to tell, he is full of attitude, and I am rather fond of this attitude. Clay is currently 32 and held the rank of Sergeant while he was still in the military—he fought in Vietnam and was lucky enough to return home, although not without his fair share of physical and psychological scars. Though he is shell-shocked (suffers from PTSD), he is very good at hiding it, as it only seems to get triggered by specific things, and combat does not appear to be one of them, hence his continued mercenary work. Even if he does sometimes wake up screaming.

Clay's grandfather on his father's side was Ojibwe, and he is very proud of this aspect of his heritage. Upon return from Vietnam, he had the dreamcatcher tattoo on his back done as a symbol of protection from his dreams, since he no longer felt strong enough to cope alone. Cowrie shells are typical of a lot of Ojibwe craftwork.

Clay left the military to tend to his family—his WWII veteran father, his mother, and his younger sister—for about a year or so, letting his hair grow out of its former crew cut, until finally he became so restless that he had to start working again to keep his mind occupied (ignoring the fact that his father rather constantly told him to cut his hair because he looked like a goddamn hippie, thanks dad, no, I'm not cutting my hair, shut up). He took up mercenary work with BLU at the age of 32, and has been working with them only a short while—he seems to be taking to it quite well, though.

Clay is outspoken, brash and assertive—as a result he can come off as being quite abrasive, but he generally doesn't mean to. He still has the residual behaviour patterns of a unit leader and can actually be a clever strategist. He does occasionally get a little hammered and tell outlandish war stories that are half made up. He has a deep affection for his shotgun, which he uses more often than the launcher due to the fact that he is still learning how to Rocket Jump. He occasionally has a bit of a drill sergeant bark to his voice, but is actually a lot more laid-back off the field. He smokes, and tends to chew on the cigarette filters.