Name: Beau Vega
Nickname: The Trashman.
Apartment: 604
Age: Late 40s.
Occupation: Copy Writer. Failed author.
Theme song: “1518” by Fever the Ghost
Faceclaim: Taika Waititi


Distinguishing Features: His hair begun to gray prematurely, making it difficult to distinguish his real age. Older photos show a baby-faced boy with thick black hair, but his wild eyes are the same.

Physical Description

When one imagines a starving artist, someone like Beau immediately comes to mind. The man always looks unkempt and frazzled, like he hasn’t slept for days. He probably hasn’t. He only owns a couple pieces of nice clothing, (a knit cardigan, a pair of dress shoes, his glasses, etc.) which constantly make rotation on his person. Everything else is of cheap, flimsy material that stains and tears easily. He doesn’t leave the apartment often, and when he does to check the mail or take out the trash, he’s usually still in his pajamas. He has a weakness for colorful, almost juvenile patterns, which he is way too old to pull off. It’s really a shame because his features are naturally soft and handsome.

Personality Description

Beau is often described by others as “nice”. The sort of "nice" you reserve for people you pity. Or mildly concern you. The man's a known recluse in the apartment complex, only leaving when he has to. Some people enjoy the friendly man who's always lingering in the corner. But some tenants find his eccentricities unsettling, to say the least.  Like a stray cat, Beau flip-flops between craving attention and pushing others away. His struggle with abandonment issues has caused him to distance himself out of fear of being hurt again.

If locked in conversation, Beau has a very colorful way of speaking, full of metaphor and double meanings. He likes to use big words, but they are usually outdated. Likely because he's more used to reading dialogue than hearing it. Beau is very insecure about his lack of formal education, and he clings to academic jargon in an effort to sound intelligent. It's a little sad, considering he's devoured enough art and literature to put the local professors to shame. He's very passionate about his personal interests, usually, books, movies and other consumable media. Woe is anyone who stumbles into one of his favored topics. They'll be trapped for hours.

No matter how friendly the man appears, no one can deny there's something equally shifty about him. Maybe it's his reputation as a recluse or rumor's he's a little touched. Maybe it's the fact no one, not even maintenance, is allowed into his apartment. At least, not without a screaming match. Some residents have seen him digging through the trash and wandering the halls at odd hours, but management has done little if anything to act on these complaints.

Time living at the Winslow: 10 months

What are some of your character's likes and dislikes?

Beau likes most things in a very specific way. He has many small rituals he performs throughout his daily life. Without them, he'd feel a little lost. What Beau doesn't like are eggs, bathtubs, government surveillance and people coming into his apartment.

Any other information you would like to share?

Beau was born and raised as a member of Forbidden Gate, a new age cult still in operation today. However, their influence greatly dwindled after a slew of lawsuits and the arrests of several religious leaders. His childhood in the secluded compound outside of Waco, Texas still haunts him as an adult. Despite his traumatic experience, he appears to have drunken some of their kool-aid...

Beau hordes countless material and garbage for his "magnum opus", an illustrated science fiction novel. Much of the imagery and themes in the work are eerily similar to the mythology of Forbidden Gate, as well as their beliefs in reincarnation and rituals involving altered mental states. Because he can't draw well, his art is a series of tracings and collages built from the material he hordes. The discarded, personal items and likenesses of several neighbors are present in this epic work...

History

It is heavily insinuated that Beau was the bastard child of one of Forbidden Gate’s higher-ups, but the truth always eluded him. All he has is his mother’s maiden name, Vega, and it’s offered him few clues. Like many children of the cult’s members, Beau lived on their Ranch in the middle of no-where Texas. The compound segregated the children from their parents, claiming they distracted their members from a higher purpose. Beau spent his childhood neglected and repressed by the conditioning of Forbidden Gate. He was not entitled to a childhood because he too had a higher calling. One day he would be a soldier for the cause and Shepard others towards the ultimate truth. And Beau truly believed he was destined for something great. Why else would he put through such trials?

Other than these lessons, very few adults interacted with the younger children, making them the responsibility of the eldest. Beau’s primary caretaker was a 15-year-old. She orchestrated an escape plan for her and the other children, which included a dangerous 8-hour hike to the nearest town. An impossible feat for a group of kids under 10 years old, infants and toddlers among them. But Beau and the others were never meant to escape, and they were captured one-by-one. They were only decoys. For the second time in his short life, Beau was abandoned.

The next year was hell. What little freedoms the children had were revoked, and their supervisors doubled down on their conditioning. Now among the eldest, Beau was forced to care for the others in their dorm, which slowly descended into squalor. It was living in this environment that Beau began to horde. Without real engagement or recreation, he played with garbage, twisting found objects into toys and telling stories to entertain others.

Eventually, state troopers raided the ranch and brought the children into custody, Beau among them. He would become a pawn in a series of lawsuits against the cult. When the dust finally settled, no one claimed custody of him. He didn’t even know if his parents were in jail, fled the country or going about their lives. Beau continued to be shuffled around by the state until he was 18 and forced to strike out on his own.

Beau got a job as the custodian of an Austin radio station and continued to write prolifically. He filled countless journals in an attempt to process his experiences and escape to the world promised in his youth. Despite his prolific work, he wasn’t considered very good. Beau took the lowliest jobs he could get at radio stations, newspapers and TV channels, all in the hopes of breaking in with his magnum opus. But it was becoming more than an artistic obsession, it was a spiritual one.

Beau’s life was rife with rejection, but it did not deter him. He had his destiny stolen from him before. His parents. His childhood. Now he knew his purpose and no one would take it from him. Beau’s vision was too great for his skill. He began to pilfer more items for inspiration. Books, posters, newspaper clippings, he collected thousands of them. He works exclusively from home now, so he can devote himself to his dream full time. At one point, his hoarding became so bad, he had to flee his apartment. Now that he’s situated himself at Winslow, he’s determined not to leave.

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