Hans takes pride, or at least took pride, in the sway he had with the mob despite his age. He certainly put the work in, started his career at 15 and climbed his way up the social ladder from the bottom rung. If he hadn’t developed the skill set to handle arrogant, mouthy colleagues, he would never have made it.

If asked, he would say the crux of that skill set is saying what he means, doing what he says, and having a zero-tolerance policy for anything less from his underlings. He’d likely avoid going into detail about what happened to policy-breakers.

These days there’s rarely a need to put anyone in their place, and there sure as hell isn’t any reason for him to expect the same deference from people as he did in Rhapsody. This is a bit of an adjustment for him, to say the least, a man who hasn’t really been told no in almost a decade. He tries not to take every little thing as a slight against him, but it’s a losing battle thats been turning him into the world’s pettiest and most sarcastic man.

As much as he struggles with the lack of respect, he’s equally unused to the lack of responsibility. It’s second nature for him to not only keep a close eye on his people, but also to take the helm as any given situation seems to need his attention.

This sometimes puts him at odds with Vikor, y’know, impromptu mentor and guy who has any idea what they’re supposed to be doing, before his higher functions kick in to remind him of that little tidbit.

Unhelpfully, Hans finds deferring to Vikor especially challenging. It’s not that he isn’t good at what he does, he is! It’s just that something Hans is classifying as a bad impulse really wants to thrash Hayseed around like a dog with a chew toy.

Has a tendency to be a little (a lot) patronizing towards anyone who he feels hasn’t proved themselves yet. After years of herding the skeevy self-serving cats that make up the bulk of the Rhapsodian Mob, Hans tends to just assume everyone is an incompetent idiot and act accordingly. Nobody can disappoint him if he never expected anything from them in the first place.

This habit doesn’t help him much now that he’s responsible for nothing and nobody, but mostly just serves to irritate his friends and make him look like an ass. This is true of course, but it’s something he’s working on nonetheless.

Doesn’t trust a damn soul as far as he can throw them, now more than ever. He was paranoid to a fault before his incident, but after, well, something broke in him.

The years of paranoia have fostered an impressive attention to detail that, despite the downsides, give Hans a noticeable edge in the game. Nothing escapes his notice; he can read a room like a book, and this boosted intuition has saved his skin more times than he can count. Along with his experience as a career criminal, this makes him a hell of an asset to Vikor.

Even so, he’s not immune to seeing things that aren’t there, typically in relation to people’s intent. He assumes the worst by default, leading him to misinterpret situations when factors come together in just the wrong way. This has burned a few bridges for him over the years, but it’s a hard flaw to correct.

After all the shit he’s been through the past few months, Hans has developed a fun new neurosis to go along with all the rest. Much to his displeasure, he’s become prone to ‘fits’ as he calls them. It seems to him like anything might set him off into loud, violent, outburst he’s almost helpless against.

He hates that this is happening to him. He can’t stand not being able to mask his emotions, let alone not being able to control what he does. In the aftermath of his betrayal, the lack of control is what terrifies him. Not to even mention the hideous mortifying vulnerability of it all.

Outwardly, Hans plays this off as a non-issue (fooling no one), but he fears that it will scare Leroy seeing him yell, cuss, and throw things, half out of his damn mind. It’s not an attractive look, he knows, and the thought of intimidating him makes him sick to his stomach. In reality, though, by the second time Leroy sees him go through this he’s over it. Not phased in the slightest, just ready to offer his buddy a pillow to scream into.

Does require a certain amount of attention on the daily or he becomes convinced he’s wasting away. If he’s not being paid his dues he will become steadily more and more ridiculous until someone notices, and he is NOT above making a scene.

Truthfully, he’s still a little addicted to the constant social stimuli that he’d had in the previous life. Sure, the mob was a money-making scheme, a power grab, a death cult, etc., but just as much as all that it was a stupid high-school clique, and if Hans wasn’t the popular kid anymore, he doesn’t know who he is.

So despite common sense, he can’t help but feel like he’s being forgotten/replaced/shunned if he isn’t included in every little thing, let alone left to his own devices. In his new relatively independent and isolated line of work, this makes him a very high-maintenance and annoying member of the team. Between Vikor and Leroy, though, he’s manageable, especially because Leroy is almost as sociable as he is, if a bit less insistent.

Has a big penchant for theatrics. Prone to monologues, dramatic flair, and going well out of his way to make everything he does a show. This had its value when he was a mobster masquerading as a public figure, and his image was his life. Now though, it mainly makes him a target. Still, for all he knows this deep down, he can’t quite shake his belief in the importance of making an impression.

Vikor, deadly practical as he is, is baffled by this. It’s one of the things that causes real tension between them, as he can’t understand why exactly he’ll put himself (and even he and Leroy on occasion) in danger like that when it seems like he should know better.

Incessantly in motion. If he’s still he’s either dead or sleeping. Whether it’s the leg-bouncing, pen-clicking, foot-tapping, or all three at once, he’s fidgeting constantly. This drives some people up the wall, especially over days long commutes in the tiny ship.

Theatrical gesticulation. The man expresses himself with his whole body, and especially his long-ass arms. Watch out because he sure doesn’t.

Chatterbox. If not very preoccupied, Hans is running his mouth near constantly. He does not do well with prolonged silences at all. Sometimes this can be a lot to deal with.

Always smiling. If one spends enough time around Hans, it becomes apparent that you don’t really catch him with a sour look on his face, at least not with any regularity. It’s almost unsettling, at least until you pick up on all the different flavors of the perpetual shit-eating grin. Some are a hell of a lot more genuine than others.

As totally shameless and often vulgar as he is, he rarely curses. This means that when he does decide to get colorful (very colorful) with his language, it gets a reaction.

Very fond of pet names and endearments, used sarcastically or not.

Despite everything, he is a bit of a goofball. Especially when Leroy’s around, and especially now that he really doesn’t have anyone to impress. He’s always been a loud campy idiot, the antithesis of grace, but he’s not trying to hide it anymore.

There’s no denying he has a mean streak though, he can be a sarcastic prick and a bully when the mood strikes. The thinly-veiled insults are his most obvious tell when he’s extra touchy that day. Leroy always catches this, but it’s hard to find a veil thin enough for Vikor to see through.

Not nearly as into the roughhousing as Leroy and Vikor seem to be, though he’ll tolerate it from time to time. Usually from Leroy, granted that mostly just means making a lot of noise and putting up the lamest fight possible before letting him ‘win’. Vikor, though, has no trouble doing some accidental damage, and if Hans gets another black eye from taking a titanium elbow to the face, he will have to do something he’ll feel bad about later. Luckily, a single stern look usually has Vikor’s tail between his legs if it seems like he’s about to make a poor decision.

He’s taken to dressing like a complete fucking maniac when he gets the chance. Maybe he’ll spend the day wearing a graphic tee meant for a preteen girl and vinyl leopard print pants, or maybe he’s in a inexplicable sheer lace button-up mood, or maybe it's another light-up Christmas sweater in mid-spring day. Who knows, certainly not Hans.

Truthfully began as a perfunctory way to distance himself as much as possible from his previous life. He doesn’t like the look of himself in that sort of get-up anymore, it just makes him want to crawl out of his skin.

Used to spend a lot of time at the range trying to shake out the work stress in a less self-destructive way. Knows his way around guns even better than Vikor does.

He’d rather be stone dead than let anyone know this at all, let alone see his stuff, but in his younger years he picked up journaling and doodling as a way to process. It’s now a deeply-ingrained habit, but it’s been harder to find a moment alone to do it recently.

Has developed a panic-inducing phobia of Pinguay, a cute and intelligent, but still dangerous, Calypsi sea creature. The pod he used to feed off the back of his boat nearly tore him apart after Cagney dumped him in the ocean. They ended up saving his life in a roundabout way, but it sure as hell wasn’t a pleasant experience. They’re a popular favorite animal, even off-moon, and as such Hans has had a few embarrassing reactions to things like printed beach towels and stuffed toys.

Thinks he’s an utter shit at first meeting, but figures out pretty fast that they have fantastic chemistry. It takes them about two days on the job to huff and puff through their differences, and just like that they’re friends. Hans hasn’t met anyone he’s liked this much in who knows how long. Sure, maybe he’s a rude little brat, but it’s in a fun and spunky way once Hans understands where it’s coming from.

As time goes on, Hans becomes ridiculously close with him ridiculously quickly, at least from his perspective. The man has never even really had a genuine mutual friendship before, so despite everything that's been happening, being around Leroy makes him happy. This likely contributes to how he just as quickly develops a distressingly intense infatuation for him.

Didn’t think too much of him upon first impression; pegged him as cute in a dopey sort of way, especially with how hard he tried to be intimidating, but, well, he wasn’t terribly bright was he? Still, he saved his ass, so he did his best to be helpful.

He does like Vikor. Despite killing people for cash, he's really very sweet if you're on the right side of his compartmentalization. If anything about this new gig were contributing to his self-betterment goals, though, it would be the constant struggle to not bully the living daylights out of this boy. He makes it so very easy, but valiantly, Hans manages to resist...most of the time.