Detective Washington

Detective Washington is a member of The Yard and one of the lead caseworkers. A hard worker by nature and staunch believer in justice, Washington grew up by New London and now works to keep the city as safe as possible. Despite a rocky past marred by a friendship-breaking fight with Detective Finn and the death of his wife and father, Washington is working harder than ever at The Yard to make up for past mistakes and keep New London in check.

## Appearance

Washington has pale skin and dark, shaggy hair that once looked better groomed, but not so much after his wife's death. He has a strong face and a heavy brow, and blue eyes. He often wears collared shirts and trench coats, and much of his clothing is entirely black and white (except his one pair of red shoes). Washington suffers from near-complete colorblindness, with the exception of the color red. Physically, he is quite tall, and often attempts to make himself look smaller.

## Personality

Washington is a dedicated, hard-working member of The Yard, often refusing to give up working on a case until he passes out or is forced to stop by a coworker. He is passionate about not only his work, but the people surrounding him, though he has issues showing it. He doesn't let people in very often, even after his wife and father died, which caused a dramatic change in his personality and made him far less sociable and friendly overall. He can be rude, repressed, and often moody after Amelia's death. Washington has something to prove, and he'll stop at nothing to accomplish his goals.

### Childhood

Washington was born to a wealthy family and had extensive private schooling, but he didn’t have the disdain for the poor some of his peers did. A recluse, he was more interested in solving problems and mysteries than he was in the ins and outs of high society. His father pushed him hard to work on his schooling and work in law, retaliating when his grades failed and overall giving him the sense he would never be good enough. His mother suffered from what was deemed female hysteria, with a heavy drinking problem - Washington has few happy memories with her, and when he was a teenager, his father sent her away to a sanatorium for good.

### 1937-1951

Washington moved out as soon as he graduated, heading for the big city to make a name for himself. There, he started work with a detective force, where he would meet Detective Sullivan. The two were fast friends, with Washington eager to impress Sullivan. When Sullivan broke off to start his own detective force in 1942, Washington was the first person he asked to join him, and Washington quit on the spot to work with Sully, even putting up the money for their office in the Financial District.

On the route home from the new office, Washington eventually began to stop by a diner in the early morning hours for dinner. One of the waitresses there was Amelia Wilson, and the two of them took a shine to each other. She had his order memorized by the third time he visited, and would stand by his table to talk even as other orders started to pile up. Eventually, Washington gathered the courage to ask her out, trying to seem cool and unbothered even as the hand holding the bouquet of roses shook slightly. They married in March of 1949, five years after they met, and though the apartment was relatively small, it was home for them.

### 1951-present

One fateful day, Amelia fell ill. Despite her and Washington's best efforts and searches, doctors didn’t know how to treat her, and she died of kidney failure on March 14, 1951. The very same day, Washington’s father, Sir Washington, died in an explosion. Even though his last conversation with his father had been an ugly one, the two deaths in so short a time shocked Washington to his core. Grieving, and with most of the color sapped from his world after the explosion, he threw himself into his work, snapping at anyone who got in his way of a lead, losing sleep over cases and burying himself in evidence to silence his restless mind. His close friend, Detective Finn tried to pull Washington out of himself for once, and they got into a fight in front of the whole office. In the heat of grief and the fight, Washington ended up telling the entire office that Finn had a criminal past, and Finn punched him in the nose.

Washington quit working for The Yard then, and for months, he blew his meager inheritance on alcohol of every variety. This continued until one night in August when he had the police called on him for causing a public disturbance, punching himself in the face in a dark parking lot. Sitting in a cell, Washington realized he couldn't keep living like this, and when Sully came to fetch him, he told him as much.

With some help from Sully, Washington cleaned up his act. IT helped him clean his apartment, and Washington stopped drinking, eventually heading back to work at The Yard. He was much more reserved now, and had to wear sunglasses even indoors, but at least he wasn't showing up to work hungover or drunk or both anymore. He didn't see Finn much at all, and they refused to talk to each other anyways - both of them more out of regret than pride.

### Present (1953)

After the Wild Goose Case, Finn and Washington have started working together again. Despite their regular fights, Washington still cares deeply about Finn, to the point of starting to drink again after Finn fell ill. After the Search for the Cure, Washington discovered Finn had nowhere to stay and insisted that he move into Washington's too-large apartment. Finn accepted, with some degree of reluctance.

## Relationships

### Amelia

Washington found Amelia the most exciting person he had ever met in all twenty-three years of his life when they met. That feeling never quite went away. He cooked for her, and she came into the office and solved issues with cases he would have never seen. He was enamored with her, and she with him, and when she died it was like he died with her. Washington refuses to grieve in a healthy way, but one thing is for certain: he misses Amelia dearly.

### Finn

Washington and Finn were great friends before Amelia died, and Finn confided in Washington about his past, though Washington didn't say much about his own. Finn would often come over to their apartment for dinner with him and Amelia, and grew to love them both as close friends. When Amelia died, Finn lost two friends at once, and his attempt to help Washington quickly went south and resulted in the two of them not speaking for over a year. After their fight, they both act awkwardly around each other and erupt into fights often over even the smallest things. However, Washington clearly displays care for Finn often, and the two of them now live together. Deep down, Washington does want to apologize to Finn for what happened between them, but he is afraid of having his apology rejected, so the two simply don't discuss it.

### Sullivan

Sully and Washington are close friends, with Sully acting in a father-figure capacity for Washington on several occasions. They work well together on cases, and Washington owes more to Sully than he's comfortable admitting. He deeply appreciates everything Sully's done for him, though its unlikely he'd ever tell him that.

### IT

Washington, like the rest of the force, finds IT strange and often gives him pocket cash, concerned about the holes in his jeans and worried about his home life. They are good friends, however, and often work together and bond over their relationships with Lenny.

### Lenny

Lenny has worked with The Yard for almost as long as Washington, and as such, they formed a friendship in the early days of the force. Washington finds Lenny's theories and drug use a little over-the-top, but appreciates his intelligence and works with him as an equal. Lenny's ostentatious clothing and appearance clashes with Washington's more reserved nature; as such, they sometimes conduct witness interviews together and play off of each other.

### Intern

Intern is Washington's oldest friend. Her father was Washington's father's intern, and the two of them spent time together while their fathers worked. They got along well, with Washington finding her a great companion and listener. However, Washington failed a test in school, his father forbade him from seeing Intern again. Years passed, and the two of them led very different lives, but when Intern ended up working for The Yard, each of them recognized the other. While it might be strange to work with each other, and Washington has no idea about the full extent of Intern's life, they are slowly repairing the friendship they lost and bonding again.

### Nicole

Washington and Nicole are not incredibly close, since Nicole generally keeps the rest of the force at arm's length. However, the two of them are the force's photographers, and spend much of their time together in a darkroom developing photos. They are cordial friends, and Washington respects Nicole and has asked if she has kids on more than one occasion. Nicole doesn't answer truthfully, but she'd like to someday.

## Trivia

* Washington cannot dance.
	+ However, he can play the piano - Amelia taught him how.
* Washington's first name is unknown to all except his family and Intern. He only goes by his last name because he perceives his first name as too ridiculous for a serious detective, and desperately craves respect like his father, Sir Washington.
* Washington's father did not leave him his childhood home in the will. It sits abandoned now, and sometimes he drives out to stare at it when he needs to clear his head. It rarely helps.