Ian Thornton (IT)

Ian Thornton, better known as IT, is a member of The Yard and a time traveler. From the future in the year 2023, IT brings future technology to the force under the guise of being a genius inventor. IT is one of the smartest people in modern day, but it's lonely at the top, and he had no real friends or family until he met the force. He has a strong sense of justice and strives to do what is right - even if his perception of justice usually has consequences for the entire human race.

## Appearance

IT has short curly hair, brown eyes, and dark skin. He one of the youngest members of the force at only 28 years old. In contrast with the rest of the force, he often wears graphic T-shirts and ripped jeans instead of their more professional clothing. He often has his pockets stuffed with wiring and computer parts, and usually has headphones on while working.

## Personality

IT is an intelligent, somewhat snarky young adult who is gifted with computers and tech in every sense of the word. He imagines himself as something of an independent lone wolf, someone who doesn't need friends or family to accomplish his goals. And, to his credit, for the first two decades of his life, he didn't. However, since running into the detective force and starting work with them, he has grown to appreciate the role other people can play in his life and has formed something of a family with them. Without The Yard, it is very likely that the power given to IT with time travel would have made him into a megalomaniac obsessed with righting every small wrong in the world due to his strong sense of justice.

## History

### Childhood and Time Travel Experiments

IT is originally from the year 2020, in the correct or "original" timeline. As a child, he was orphaned and left in an orphanage until he grew out of the system. He spent most of his time as a kid reading stories and taking apart technology, putting it back together, and trying to create new things out of it. He was always closed up in small work spaces, and as a result he didn’t really have friends, nor did he want them. After he turned eighteen and spent years experimenting, reading, building new theories, disproving old ones, and putting together new tech, he finally created the world's first time machine. Upon testing it out, became instantly overconfident in the fact that he had figured out time travel and resolved to use it for good. IT used his new device to undo dozens of unfortunate events and historical tragedies. This caused irreparable changes in the timeline, accidentally creating a world where America lost the Revolutionary War, and at some point leads to the creation of Oceania and New London.

### The Force

One day, while conducting research on the Cold War in this new timeline, IT met Sullivan in a New London public library. The older man invited IT onto the force and, bewildered, he ended up accepting, thinking it would at least be a nice lark similar to the books he read as a child. However, as the years went past, IT began to realize he didn't really want to leave behind these people he had met. Overall, IT feels a little bad about screwing up the timeline, but he knows that if he goes back and puts it back together, the force and all of his coworkers will likely not exist anymore. Despite thinking of himself as independent for much of his life, he really can’t bring himself to erase any of them. It's a wonder none of them have actually figured out he's a time traveler yet - well, besides one of them.

## Relationships

### Lenny

IT and Lenny have a somewhat antagonistic relationship, since Lenny has figured out the truth about IT's time traveling, but the rest of the office laughs it off as another one of his conspiracies. IT taunts him about this occasionally, much to Lenny's chagrin, but the two of them do genuinely consider each other a friend, which neither of them are used to having. Lenny is the only person who IT can really talk to about time travel, and while Lenny might be angry he can't make anyone else see the truth, IT does appreciate having someone around who he can tell the truth to.

### Sully

IT originally thought Sully was odd if nothing else, given that he hired IT on the spot after talking to him for twenty minutes. However, he sees Sully as a figure sort of like the ones from detective stories he read as a kid, and appreciates what he does for the force. Although Sully might not understand his technology, he does smile and nod while IT talks at a million miles an hour about it.

### Washington

IT and Washington are friends. Washington appreciates IT's tech and constantly asks questions about it, though they're more out of genuine curiosity than Lenny's more invasive questions. Washington does keep giving IT money on top of his paycheck, and IT isn't one to complain about that, even though he could be the richest man in the 1950s if he tried.

### Intern

IT tries to be as nice as possible to Intern, since he notices how she acts and finds it exceedingly strange by his 2023 standards. He tries to have conversations and spend time with her when possible.

### Finn

Finn and IT share a mutual respect, each holding a regard for what the other works on, even if they don't necessarily understand it. They are good friends.

### Nicole

Nicole and IT are friends. He finds it refreshing to have someone else around who he can joke about Lenny with, and the two of them join forces sometimes to mock his theories.

## Trivia

* IT constantly slips up by talking about future events. Nobody but Lenny ever takes these seriously.
* He fears that eventually his mistakes with the timeline are going to catch up with him in a big way, but so far, nothing's happened to him.
* When Amelia died, IT noticed how badly it was impacting Washington (and, by extension, the whole force), so he tried to see what he could do to help. With every attempt, in every timeline, Amelia died after marrying Washington. The only timelines in which they didn't meet and fall in love were the ones without The Yard. Eventually, IT had to admit defeat and confessed to a very drunk Washington that he had tried his best to save her, but nothing worked. Washington does not remember this conversation.
* IT owns a cat named Java.