Val Fontaine

Val Fontaine is a recurring NPC who is a mafia interrogator by night, crisis youth counsellor for troubled teenagers with powers by day. He is a recognizable member of the mafia, and very popular on the gotnerfed forum due to his often gruesome encounters with people who cross the Ingrams, or just nosy telepaths and telekinetics. He is also a locally known country musician.

He has been with the Ingrams since he was just shy of his eighteenth birthday, having joined due to persuasion on Dominick Cannon's part after his father's untimely death and striking up a friendship (quickly turned relationship) with Bo Lawrence.

He explains this as having joined due to his sister, Devin Bryant having been pressured into joining the mafia and wanting to keep an eye on her. He has no real loyalty to the job for the sake of the job, held in line by blackmail over his sister and emotional attachments to those two men.

The players first met Val in the parking lot of a Walmart, sitting on a speedbump near the curb and crying while eating peaches out of a can. He was mourning Devin's (first) death at the time.

Currently, he is in a relationship and living with Robin in an apartment in the uptown financial district, while working for the Ingrams.

Devin Bryant
Val was overprotective of Devin when she was alive- and has grown up in the capacity of a second parent to her. Ever patient, enduring, and self sacrificing for his younger sister: all Val has ever wanted was for Devin to grow up happy, safe, and knowing she was loved.

It's been seen that Val has given up portions of his own life and hobbies for the sake of his sister. This included putting his motorcycle into storage until she had graduated highschool so she wouldn't steal it and get into an accident, as well as always putting aside buying himself a cowboy styled jacket in favour of toys and trinkets for Devin. She was quite pushy and bossy in the relationship, Val easily accommodating whatever she wanted, but both cared for each other deeply, even if gruffly expressed.

He had intended for the two of them to take a ride down the forested lanes of the 404 highway together on her eighteenth birthday on motorcycles together, though this never panned out.

He refused to accept the reality of her death- and was manipulated with a facsimile of his sister (created by Sinead Ingram neé Barber tying her spirit to a dead host body) to stay in line with the Ingram mafia's goals. He is in deep denial over her death, and simultaneously is wracked with grief and self blame over it. He refuses to talk about it unless direly emotionally pressed, and even then is too emotionally overcome to remain coherent for long.

Dominick Cannon
Dominick killed Val's father (masking it as cardiac arrest) in a bid to persuade him to join the Ingram mafia and assume a father figure role role in Val's life. This quickly morphed into a deeply unhealthy, codependent romantic relationship: that lasted until Dominick was stationed overseas for several years. Val is still close to his mentor, and is unaware that Dominick killed his father. Dominick is still pursuing Val romantically, although much less overtly than Bo. Dominick is partially to blame for Val's issues surrounding psychic attacks due to mental manipulation: though for the most part, as his tactics are more subtle, Val hasn't attributed this sense of unease to Dominick's actions.

Val often turns to Dominick when he's deeply upset- wanting him to 'fix everything, make it all better,' through gentle assuming of the reigns and mental manipulation to soothe him with a little biochemical tinkering.

Bo Lawrence
Val's ex fiance, the two had been dating for three years prior to their engagement. Val broke off the engagement after Bo cheated on him with Caleb, although Bo is still pursuing Val romantically. He is mostly to blame for Val's intense reactions to psychic attack: after years of being manipulated and gaslighted over even the smallest, most mundane things (in order to prop Bo up as a saviour, a hero in shining armour) Val instinctively, and violently lashes out at people who try to read his mind. Bo also contributed largely to Val's issues with being able to voice his own opinion or verbalize his feelings, being used to being told what to do and how to feel.

They are in field partners and have been since before their romantic relationship, with Bo being assigned as a passive radar to alert Val to enemies, keep his powers dampened and in check when needed, or amplifying them via syncing- a process similar to mecha-piloting to surpass human reaction times.

Courtney Clayton
Courtney is Val's current best friend. The two often perform together downtown, as Courtney raps (although she does dabble with singing). They are often mistaken in the public eye as a couple, due to Val's penchant for singing lovesongs. She will come to his performances as well as a show of support.

Their friendship began due to both being assigned to high level missions and often seeing one another in field, but deepened after the incident with Caleb and Bo.

He thinks highly of her, and she thinks he is sweet, bringing up anecdotes like the time he dived into a pond to save a family of ducklings in casual conversation. She sometimes visits Val and Robin at their apartment to drop off items or just to say hello.

Caleb Carr
Caleb was Val's former best friend, as the two had been recruited around the same time and were both easy going and quick to laugh or smile. As seen in the Prohibition session, they were quite touchy feely and close before, pulling each other into hugs or holding one another's hand very casually. On the night of Devin's funeral, Bo slept with Caleb on the premise that he couldn't tolerate being around Val's grief and him 'not putting out.' Val ended the engagement immediately when he found out, and has not forgiven either of them for the incident. He attacked Caleb savagely on sight afterwards during the Pool Basement run, nearly bludgeoning him to death had it not been for Terry Ingram's half assed intervention.

Caleb has been trying to make tentative amends, still caring deeply for Val. He is often mentioned offhandedly as owing Val, doing menial favours like covering shifts or delivering medicine from the Shopper's pharmacy as a nod to this fact.

Trivia

 * He's afraid of rats. This stems from the time he was rat tortured (bird cage on stomach, heated up, rats ate through him) by Frank and Terry Ingram.
 * He really, really likes canned peaches.
 * He prefers to be the little spoon while snuggling.
 * He changed his last name shortly after joining the Ingrams as a means to distance himself from his abusive father.
 * He is fond of the children's book series: Lizard Wizard and the helpful little Maus friend.
 * Val really likes cowboys. He's always wanted (but could never justify to himself) to get a leather jacket with some fringe on the arms. He does wear leather jackets, but more for riding his bike than anything else.
 * He is canonically a very bad driver: prone to crashing and sudden jerking turns.