Bon Appétit

Name: Cookie (real name: Alistair Sloan)

Title: Ship's Cook, Unofficial Morale Officer, and Cap'n Harbinger's Favorite Punching Bag

Height: 6'2"

Age: 28

Hair: Thick, wavy blond hair, streaked with natural honey and gold tones, partially braided and tied back. He keeps his hair shaved on the sides, giving him a rugged yet put-together appearance. When he's not confined to the galley, he can be seen wearing a worn leather cap with the peak flattened jauntily to the side.

Eyes: Piercing ice-blue irises framed by a deeper, smoldering blue rim. His eyes hold a constant sparkle of charm and wit, even when he's nervously trying to avoid the captain's wrath. Beneath them, his well-defined cheekbones and aquiline nose give him an air of aristocratic handsomeness that is distinctly at odds with the rough-and-tumble world of pirate radio.

Features: • A strong jawline, usually clean-shaven, save for the occasional day-old stubble when he's been particularly busy in the kitchen or particularly afraid of facing the captain to claim his time in the shared bathroom. • A tan complexion from spending as much time as possible on the deck, even when it means risking a sunburn. • A small, crescent-shaped scar above his left eyebrow, a memento from a particularly rowdy night gone wrong and a bottle that caught him by surprise.

Personality: Charming, witty, and quick with a joke or a clever remark, but erratic enough to be the sort to pull a gun on someone who doesn’t want to try one of his dishes though he had not ever shot anyone over it on purpose anyway. Cookie has a natural charisma that draws people to him. He's well-liked by the crew, not just for his culinary skills, but for his ability to diffuse tension with humor and his genuine care for their well-being. Loyal to a fault, he takes it upon himself to be the voice of reason and the heart of the ship, always ready with a comforting word or a stolen bottle of rum when the captain's antics become too much. Despite his easy demeanor, he harbors ambitions of his own, dreaming of one day taking over the ship and casting off to a life free from the captain's capricious whims and unreasoning disdain for his beloved pop music.

Skills and lack thereof: Believing himself to be an exceptionally talented cook, Cookie throws conventional cooking wisdom to the wind in favor of indulging a terrifying penchant for fusion wherein he gleefully combines the most disparate-seeming ingredients to produce just as many horrific misses as surprising culinary hits. He tries to serve the role of a master of comfort food, his hearty stews and freshly baked bread becoming a lifeline for the crew in the bleak, pre-apocalyptic world outside. His culinary skills are matched only by his natural leadership abilities, and his ability to be both a calming presence and a hard worker in a crisis.

• Culinary Expertise: Understands the basic mechanics of all cooking methods, has a penchant for improvisation and literal mashups that he’ll call ‘fusion’ dishes but land somewhere between whimsical audacity and nightmare fodder for tastebuds. Hellbent on making the most of limited ingredients and preserving food through pickling and more nontraditional, even highly questionable methods.

• Management and Leadership: Arguably a natural leader, with the ability to motivate people in general and crewmates most often with either bribery with tasty treats, or empty threats in the form of brandishing a paintball gun the pellets of which he makes himself from various condiments. Seems a good listener and a problem-solver, always ready to lend an ear or a helping hand.

• Diplomacy and Negotiation: A silver tongue and a quick wit, allowing him to talk his way out of trouble (or more often into it) with ease. Skilled in defusing confrontations and smoothing over ruffled feathers with either forethought or just impulsively displayed dance moves or just plain breaking into song with whatever pop music song is stuck in his head at any given moment… or both at once.

• Stealth and Deception: Has a talent for sneaking around unnoticed, a skill that comes in handy when trying to avoid the captain's wrath (or sneak extra rations to the crew). Quick and quiet on his feet, with a talent for blending into the shadows regularly self-sabotaged by his fashion sense sustained by bright (heavy on the neon shades) colorful clothing and clashing patterns.

Likes: Pop music, especially the upbeat, dance-able kind that makes even the grumpiest pirate feel like moving (much to Cap'n Harbinger's chagrin). Humming pop-style melodies, busting out his dance moves at the drop of a hat or spontaneously breaking into song, both for seemingly little to no reason at all. He also has a love of baking, finding something deeply satisfying in the art of crafting the perfect loaf of bread or a decadent dessert from the least-likely combinations of ingredients.

Dislikes: Being confined to the galley for extended periods, a punishment that feels particularly cruel just for the ‘crime’ of hijacking the broadcast to pump out pop music behind the captain’s metal-loving back. The captain's erratic behavior and the way she seems to delight in making his life difficult, even as she values his skills in the kitchen and the way he keeps the crew fed and happy. He also has a deep-seated hatred for wasting food and the thought of throwing away any ‘perfectly good’ ingredient (often the source of ever-present fermentation experiments), a trait that makes his job in the galley particularly challenging.

Backstory: Originally from a wealthy family Cookie (born Alistair Sloan) had always been expected to follow in his father's footsteps and take over the family business. Though pre-destined to spectacular failure wasting all his time time in front of his screen practicing the dances of popstars and boy-bands, memorizing pop-song lyrics, and going to pop concerts left little time for learning the intricacies running a corporation let alone basic financial skills or business savvy. He was only saved from impending failure when the family business drowned in economic collapse. It left him a failed aristocrat with a pop-star obsession. After flunking out of military training (thanks to a bar brawl and his commanding officer’s broken nose, short stint in military prison and a dishonorable discharge), he fled to the sea—where he heard rumors of a pirate radio ship, he stowed away, only to discover The Burst Eardrum was his family’s stolen yacht previously known as The Prints of Tides. When he stowed away intent to reclaim it, he got distracted and was caught trying to commandeer the radio tower to broadcast pop songs. Locked up in the hold where he found the galley and his true talents. Now, as the ship’s cook, he’s both the crew’s beloved morale officer and the captain’s favorite punching bag. Now, he dreams of mutiny—not for power, for the right to blast his mixtapes at full volume.