Mason Beaks

Mason Beaks, commonly called Beaks, is a private investigator operating out of Los Santos.

He is portrayed by artbyblack.

Childhood
Mason is the son of Talis Beaks, a cult leader operating out of Iowa. His father's activities ranged from eagle worship to more profane actions which Mason won't repeat. His father settled down with a devout follower and had a child.

Growing up, Mason was forced to wear brown eagle masks constantly, being forcefully reprimanded for even attempting to remove it. This led to Mason being unable to emote properly and function in a conversation without a mask on.

Additionally, as they did with all children, Mason was tortured in various ways to "prepare his body" to be a vessel of their avian god. Mason was the only one to survive this intense torture, after which his father, who was distant, began to grow closer to him. At this point he was given his name Mason because he was so strong he was similar to the finished work of a stonemason.

His father alternated between homeschooling and grooming him to be the heir to the entire cult when he passed. Mason, however, resisted the brainwashing and bided his time until the police could arrive. He would use his influence as Talis ' son to get things, like unrestricted internet access and earbuds that could hide under his masks. He thrived off of stories like Dragnet and Black Jack Justice, tales of heroes both in and outside of the law. Once he escaped, he knew that would be what he wanted to become.

The Arrest
When he was 18, the cult's activities had drawn the attention of the local police. They raided the commune, arresting everyone in sight indiscriminately, including Mason. After being struck by a frightened officer and shot, Mason's views toward the police changed drastically. The court case where he was lumped in with the cult's horrible activities only seemed to solidify a lack of trust in police.

The Furry Cult
All of a sudden, in the courtroom, a bunch of furries with assault rifles broke down the doors and started firing. Mason tried making his way out in the middle of the chaos, but he was quickly grabbed by 3 furries in fox suits and escorted to a black SUV. After getting out, Mason realized he was now at a furry cult that seemed to be working his father's cult to increase their presence in the government and legalize horrible activities. It didn't take Mason long to realize that where he ended up was far worse than his former home.

Using their initial friendliness to his advantage, Mason grabbed an assault rifle from the furry next to him and pointed it at the one who had the keys to the SUV. He grabbed them and drove off to bullets flying through his back windshield.

The Plan
Mason knew he had to get as far away from Iowa as possible and lay low long enough to learn social skills and get enough money to start his private investigation business. His father's old credit cards were maxing out faster than he anticipated. He performed as an unknown getaway driver for several low end robbery jobs as he did not have any skills or connections. Over time, he learned how to maintain basic conversation, and through people watching, learn how to analyze human behavior. After saving enough from jobs, Mason took the next plane to the Los Santos Airport.

Personality
Mason is generally reserved, mostly due to his issues with social interaction, but can get through most conversations easily enough as long as he's wearing his mask. Without his mask, however, he stammers far more, starting physically fidgeting before asking very forcibly to put his mask back on. This, however, is not seen when is life is in danger, as he is far more focused on living than his lack of a mask, as seen on 10/18/19.

He is unsure as to whether or not the cult beliefs were right. After surviving the torture of his childhood, he was told by the "elders" that he would not die unless he was laying down his life for a worthy cause, their idea of a worthy cause being the rebirth of their god through his frame. Until then, he could not remove his mask, or the pain of his past deaths would strike him. He initially dismissed it, but subsequent experiences of surviving horrible injuries, and his seizures upon removal of the mask have given him doubt. He'll express concern more for the pain or removing his mask, than a life or death situation (unless it seems like it could really kill him, like an aerial drop).

Social interaction, due to his upbringing, is really difficult for him, resulting in him constantly using verbal ticks such as, "bud", and "friend" to get through a conversation.

Mason puts on a show of being a horrible, callous person when it comes to his enemies, but it is all out of fear. He really will go to bat for his clients, especially if they deserve it. He also tries to avoid physical confrontation (mostly because he knows he wouldn't last) and prefers to insult his enemies based on observations of how they act and how they talk.

Case 1: Bovice Wilkinson
Upon entering into Los Santos and hearing about the bounty on Bovice's head, Mason made it his first major case to find him. While the bounty has been officially raised to $1,000,000, Mason has been unable to make progress both in part from police interference in his tactics, and Bovice's general elusiveness. While he hasn't given up on the case, Mason has chosen to pursue other cases for the time being.

Case 2: Denzel Williams
Upon being contracted by Raphael, Mason began investigating the movements of Denzel as an entrance to investigating the HOA. Mason reached out to his lawyer associate Murphy Braun to see if he had anyone who knew him. Murphy contacted an unknown mechanic friend and Mason waited for them to arrive. When they did, it was Denzel who approached him. Eager to get information, he went for a drive with him. However, he was surprised to find he was also accompanied by Tony Corleone and Siz Fulker. While they were trying to interrogate him, Mason removed his mask and to the group's surprise he looked very similar to Denzel. Beaks put on his hard-boiled detective face and proceeded to trash talk Tony profusely and he didn't say anything bad about Siz. While he did tell them about Raphael, he figured they already knew him, and so the info wasn't confidential. After telling them what they wanted to hear, they proceeded to drop Mason off the side of the cliff in a car after shooting him then it blew up. Mason proceeded to wake up back at his apartment, with no memory of the events of the ride, no ID, no taser, and $500 missing.

He always "tweets" towards Denzel, even if he's not in town.

A chance encounter with Denzel occurred shortly after, where Kray-Tor and Denzel forced Mason to have seizures in a department room floor, taking his mask. Mason was able to get another from a clerk in the department store to avoid dying.

Following Denzel 's imprisonment, Mason considers the case closed, albeit reluctantly. If Denzel were to ever return to the streets of Los Santos, Mason would want revenge, legal or otherwise.

Case 3: HOA
After the events of 10/18/19, Mason made his own case to get back what he's owed, and while he has no memory of the ride, he thinks that Denzel has to be responsible, as the last thing he can remember prior to the attack was meeting him and getting in his car. After learning about Denzel's involvement with the HOA, he has officially considered the HOA his enemy.

In an attempt to get his equipment back, Mason set up a sting operation for the HOA at night, with Weasel News reporter Raymond Porter acting as his hidden cameraman. One of the heads of the HOA Kray-Tor Skullfondler (Matt Joe) and Cadets Frederick “Fred” Bodini and Daryl Dixon showed at the University. While Mason tried to steer the conversation toward HOA criminal activity, Kray-Tor and his group shifted the conversation towards more random subjects. They confirmed that Denzel was out of town that night, and that they wouldn't give Mason money for the lost goods on his behalf. Attempts to get them to admit to the assault on him were completely fruitless, and they repeatedly changed the subject anytime anything incriminating happened to come up.

Following this, Mason was dragged into a Twitter war with Daryl Dixon, the most outspoken HOA member on Twatter. After antagonizing him by refusing to fight him or threaten to kill him, Mason was attacked by Kray-Tor, Fred and Daryl dressed in cat masks. Fortunately, Excalibur and his friend were able to get Mason over to the hospital in time.

Following this, Mason was contacted by Raphael, with more information about the HOA structure, and the links between members and other criminal organizations. With all that information in tow, Mason tells Raphael that his plan to dismantle the HOA involves catching the highest members of the organization in an act of crime or violence towards him, primarily through the Weasel News, but also through bystanders.

In the days following the attack, Mason laid low, attempting to find individuals to harass or perform citizen's arrests on the HOA while they operated on their patrols. A case came into his hotline with an individual requesting information on a group of individuals wearing cat masks beating up his group due to them wearing vulture masks. Mason linked the two together as the HOA attacking other individuals. They proceed to ask him if he knows where the HOA headquarters are, and if he can take them there. Mason, not knowing where this was, took them to the general Vinewood area and told them that pretending to break into a house would put them on the HOA's radar. They also offered to capture Siz Fulker for money, which Mason reluctantly agreed to.

Much to his surprise, they, while taking casualties, had captured Siz Fulker. He drove to their coordinates to ask that Siz send Denzel a message saying that he needed to talk, that he wanted answers about what happened on 10/18/19 and his stuff back. Siz then revealed that the Vulture Gang worked for him. In the chaos of the tsunami, Mason was able to get away and make it back to his apartment without conflict. He, however, did realize that the area they brought him to could be their actual headquarters before patrols, and would now direct his surveillance there.

Mason has said that Siz and Denzel are people who are very dangerous, but he only wants to get Denzel.

Following Denzel 's arrest, Mason has shifted to ending the HOA, considering them one of his big contacts in the city.

While on a stakeout for the HOA in Vinewood, he was caught by masked individuals. While in their custody, he had his phone and company radio stolen. They then proceeded to drop him from a helicopter in front of the Mission Row Police Station, leaving him with broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, and full body bruising. Mason assumes that they are HOA, as no one else hates him right now, and since he was identified in their initial encounter.

Case 4: One Ball, Two Strikes
In between cases, Raymond called in a favor with Mason for previous help, and asked for his help.

Trivia

 * The Mason Beaks that is on NoPixel is slightly altered, due to NoPixel's requirements of human characters. Mason was originally half bird, half man. To reference this, whenever anyone asks if he is a bird in-game, he is unexplainably annoyed.
 * Mason doesn't use social media, unless it's to get a case.
 * Mason is asexual and panromantic.
 * Mason's entire brave face is based on 40's PI's. In reality, he's extremely depressed.
 * The "plus expenses" part of Mason's business proposal is a reference to Black Jack Justice.