(no subject)
Body and Appearance
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is he heavyset, thin, short, rangy?
John is baaaarely 5’11”. He can seem deceptively shorter or taller depending on how he holds himself, and he uses this to his advantage when needed. He’s on the thinner side of average - his appetite is usually pretty low.
2. How old is he?
He’s either 32 or 33. He’s not sure. He forgot to keep track of things right away when he first started time traveling.
3. Describe his posture. Does he carry himself well or does he slouch?
Honestly kind of slouchy. He only straightens up and holds himself properly when he’s working, because he has a reputation to uphold and needs people to take him seriously.
4. How is his health? Is he fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?
He’s in okay health, but people tend to mistake him for being closer to 40 years old, because he’s honestly kind of been put through the ringer. Sometimes he’s in not so okay health, because he doesn’t eat very much unless he’s not working (and he works a lot).
5. How does he move? Is he clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid?
John is very graceful, but it’s the sort of thing you wouldn’t notice unless you were really paying attention, because he’s pretty quiet and unassuming otherwise.
6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he perceive himself in the mirror?
He’s on the good looking side of okay - well, I’d say he’s more striking than good looking, and handsome if you like that sort of thing. Joaquin Phoenix is perfect for him in my head, scar on his lip and all (note: it's not from a cleft palate! he's said so himself). He thinks he’s okay, but he really doesn’t think about that sort of thing much. His love life is a liiiittle non-existent.
7. Describe his complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred?
Mostly on the light side of things. He’d be darker if he was outside in the sun more, because he tans easily and naturally. His skin is kind of rough and busted.
8. Describe his hair: color, texture, style.
Black, thick, wavy. Could be softer if he took care of it, but he doesn’t.
9. What color are his eyes?
Hazel-greenish. … Ish. Whatever color Phoenix’s are.
10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features?
The scar on his upper lip, which I have just now decided is the result of having his face nearly sliced open by farming equipment as a child. Not even demon related! He has a shitload of other scars that are the result of necromancy-related injuries. He has a particularly large and detailed tattoo over his back of a star chart pertaining to protection and divinity that is required for his work. It protects him from some levels of possession and wards off some more annoying spells. He has a few other smaller tattoos scattered all over his person, but they’re largely private and always covered up by his clothes.
11. What are his chief tension centers?
His temples and his back.
12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does he have six of the same suit?
Having grown up on a farm and then spent most of his non-traveling life in rural Texas, he has a lot of jeans and button-ups and work boots and stuff like that. It’s mostly casual and utilitarian, but he has some suits, and it’s usually dark, muted colors with the occasional plash of red. Black covers most up, and his work tends to be messy.
13. Do his clothes fit well? Does he seem comfortable in them?
Yeah, they’re fine.
14. Does he dress the same on the job as he does in his free time? If not, what are the differences?
He will dress appropriately for work, either putting on a suit or masquerading as a priest.
15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando?
Boxers.
Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse?
Medium-range, sometimes a little scratchy.
2. How does he normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does he talk easily, or does he hesitate?
John is pretty soft-spoken. He can be sharp and direct when he’s in the middle of something Serious Business but usually only then. He speaks a little on the slower side and has a tendency to trip over his words - it’s not a stutter, he’s just a really shitty conversationalist.
3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics?
He sounds a little slow sometimes, and because he spent a lot of his younger years in Texas, he can sound a little southern, but it’s faint and comes and goes. If he gets angry he drops it and he sounds more rural Californian. It’s not a conscious thing, it’s just sort of how it ends up.
4. What language/s does he speak, and with how much fluency?
His first language is English, and outside that, he speaks way too many. He has a magically enforced intuitive aptitude about human languages, which is required in his line of work due to how he’s had to travel through time, ending up in a lot of ages where, modernly, the language no longer exists to even study from. Inhuman languages are a lot harder but he has to study his ass off to figure those out, too. The languages that he magic!learns, he doesn’t really remember when he’s not using them and sometimes it takes him a while to get back in the habit of being able to understand if he hasn’t had to use any given tongue in a while.
5. Does he switch languages or dialects in certain situations?
When necessary.
6. Is he a good impromptu speaker, or does he have to think about his words?
Hahaha, he’s pretty terrible about it. He really has to think about things. When the going gets tough he can work well under pressure, but that’s more of an auto-pilot thing; in every day situations he’s not the smoothest cat out there.
7. Is he eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change?
He’s not exactly inarticulate, but he’s not quite eloquent, either. When he has to recite prayers or spells he can do so smoothly and without any hiccups whatsoever, though.
Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is he book-smart or street-smart?
John is extremely intelligent and learns very fast. It’s nearly entirely book smart, and it’s why he’s so good at his job. He can translate, read, and process ancient grimoires like they were kids coloring books. He will commit the necessary spells and rites to memory and go about his business. As far as street smarts go - he has no idea. His time amongst normal society was limited once he left California, and even then, it was in RURAL TEXAS. So he’s not… you know, hip.
2. Does he think on his feet, or does he need time to deliberate?
He’s a very quick thinker, permitting he doesn’t have to give a speech along with it.
3. Describe the character's thought process. Is he more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical?
Logical and practical, though he has pretty ace intuition concerning his work.
4. What kind of education has the character had?
He went to a local school for a few years - think one of those single room schoolhouses with all the kids of every age in it at the same time - but did mostly home schooling. After he was taken in by his superiors he was put to far more classical teachings - they focused on things like math and science and making sure he could read in a million different alphabets and, you know, SPELLS TO SUMMON THE DEAD. They focused mostly on teaching him standard Renaissance magic and how to summon and harness spirits from the past for the purpose of time travel. Once he could master that, they kicked him out for his real training, which involved using spirits to travel farther and farther back in time, apprenticing under notable necromancers throughout history and learning dead and corrupt arts. His final test was to return intact and sane to his own time. He did.
5. What are his areas of expertise? What, if anything, is he interested in learning more about?
John is one of the more talented necromancers in the world, and the only successful apprentice to this particular branch of professionals in about fifty years. Students of theirs have left in the middle of training before and gone on to continue to work as necromancers/exorcists/demon hunters etc, but due to their incomplete training and thus less than refined skill sets, they often have to call John’s people to get them out of jams. John is really good at just about everything he puts his mind to in that regard, and he’s always learning.
6. Is he an introvert or an extrovert?
Introvert.
7. Describe the character's temperament. Is he even-tempered or does he have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven?
He’s really even tempered and laid back. He can get kind of excitable and spazzy but he keeps it all under wraps; it very rarely shows on his face or in his actions. It’s really hard to outright startle him - he might stare and be shocked at something but his nerves are really solid, so jumping and getting scared is out. He’s far more likely to get uncomfortable in a social situation than anything.
8. How does he respond to new people or situations? Is he suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic?
Suspicion, generally, but he’ll be easy going about it unless it becomes clear he needs to do otherwise.
9. Is he more likely to act, or to react?
React.
10. Which is his default: fight or flight?
Fight.
11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does he appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks?
He can appreciate jokes and the like, but his sense of humor is either very childlike (he really likes Looney Tunes, for example), or really dark, which shouldn’t be all that surprising, for a necromancer! Anything more aggressive than that usually makes him uncomfortable - mocking people and playing pranks isn’t cool.
12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does he deal with them?
Nope.
13. What moments in this character's life have defined him as a person?
1) When his mother died
2) When he made the decision to stay on and learn necromancy and dedicate his life to that end vs running away
3) His final test in Babylonia and the return home (which nobody ever gets to know about)
14. What does he fear?
John doesn’t have much in the way of active looming fears, though he would like not to lose his mind or be dragged into hell by accident or something.
15. What are his hopes or aspirations?
He’s trying to buy his own house. :B
16. What is something he doesn't want anyone to find out about him?
What he had to do while learning ritual magic. (Hint: it involved human sacrifice.)
Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with his parents.
John was very close to his mother. He was the quiet, attentive son, so he was her favorite a little bit. He was so broken up by her death that his skills re-manifested then and he brought her back from the dead so that she could say goodbye to him. He had a good relationship with his father, though it went a little weird after that. They’ve exchanged a few letters over time but they fell out of practice with it eventually.
2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like?
He has an other brother, Jack Jr., an older sister Cate, and a younger sister, Julia. He and Jack were pretty close, though they had a typical brother rivalry that dictated they cease speaking entirely when John was taken away. He was never very close to Julia. Cate wrote to him the most after he left, because she felt the most sympathetic and was somewhat protective of him, being practically an adult when their mother died.
3. Are there other blood relatives to whom he is close? Are there ones he can't stand?
Nope.
4. Are there other, unrelated people whom he considers part of his family? What are his relationships with them?
His two mentors, Father Daniel and Saul.
5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet?
N/A
6. Does he have other close friends?
Not really.
7. Does he make friends easily, or does he have trouble getting along with people?
He gets along with most people, but he has a hard time maintaining friendships due to being kind of withdrawn in general.
8. Which does he consider more important: family or friends?
Family.
9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has he been married more than once?
Single, never married.
10. Is he currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse?
Nope.
11. Who was his first crush? Who is his latest?
Some local girl, probably. He doesn’t have a crush right now.
12. What does he look for in a romantic partner?
He’d definitely look for someone ‘brighter’ than he is. He’s so quiet, he’d be drawn to girls who are really vibrant and vivacious and, hopefully, smart. He doesn’t like shallow people in general; “city girls” either freak him out or fascinate him, there’s no in between. Kindness and a sense of humor would be required.
13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does he relate to them? If no, does he want any?
He doesn’t have any kids and he’s not sure if he wants any. He doesn’t have a lot of strong opinions on it, but he’s not sure his profession lends to being an appropriate parent.
14. Does he have any rivals or enemies?
Other necromancers not from his ‘order’ see him as a rival. He doesn’t have any flat-out enemies.
15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does he fall on the Kinsey scale?
He’s about a 0, 0.5 at the very most, but only because I think all people a little bit bisexual in general - he wouldn’t have a relationship with a man.
16. How does he feel about sex? How important is it to him?
It’s something pretty excellent but he doesn’t get the opportunity a whole lot, and people in general aren’t lining up to fuck priests (which he spends a lot of time masquerading as) or guys who sometimes smell like they might be carrying rotting flesh (which he often is), so yeah.
17. What are his turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits?
He’s really generic. Almost boring. Any kind of extreme kinks would probably make him double-take but he’d be polite enough to give it a shot, probably.
Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does he fit type?
I haven’t decided yet. o_o
2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life?
He is more spiritual than religious; he believes in God and Jesus and angels and demons, but he doesn’t believe that God has an active role in humanity. He gives most of his thanks to guardian angels. He doesn’t really like organized religion in general, and thinks it’s perfectly fine to troll the Catholic Church.
3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it?
He tries to do good works - helping people who’ve fucked up, using his abilities toward good ends, etc. He won’t do jobs for evil-doers and he won’t willingly contribute to hurting people. He could probably be tricked or forced or blackmailed, but he wouldn’t be pleased and would, frankly, probably end up getting revenge - something he’s perfectly capable of.
4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from his? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent?
Tolerant in general.
5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them?
He doesn’t like really aggressively religious people. Pretty rational, I guess, particularly considering he doesn’t act on it much.
Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is he rich, poor, comfortable, in debt?
As a rule his job doesn’t pay very well, but he has a few wealthy benefactors he’s done work for who’ve been known to help him in a jam.
2. What is his social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected him?
He lives pretty much off the grid, so he doesn’t really have a social status.
3. Where does he live? House, apartment, trailer? Is his home his castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does he share it with others?
Right now he lives with Daniel and Saul when he’s not working, but he’s looking into buying his own home. It’ll be in Texas.
4. Besides the basic necessities, what does he spend his money on?
Right now, not a whole lot, but eventually it’ll be things like DVDs of funny movies and stuff for his house.
5. What does he do for a living? Is he good at it? Does he enjoy it, or would he rather be doing something else?
John is a necromancer. He’s very good at it. He… well, I don’t know if ‘enjoy’ it is the right word, but he is really good at it and he has no earthly idea what the fuck else he’d do with his life.
6. What are his interests or hobbies? How does he spend his free time?
He likes old cartoons, board games, card games, stuff like that. He’d probably really like video games if he was exposed to them. When he’s not working he likes going to new restaurants!
7. What are his eating habits? Does he skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods?
He doesn’t eat a whole lot when he’s working - the smell of dead flesh, even after all this time, kills his appetite, and some rituals require that he consume anything from unleavened black bread to actual pieces of a corpse, which makes the compulsion to not eat even worse. It’s easier to have an empty stomach when he’s doing something inherently disgusting, hahaha. When he’s not working he’ll eat a lot and loves good, home cooked style food. He drinks a lot of beer when he goes out, and has a really high tolerance.
Associations
Which of the following do you associate with the character, or which is his favorite:
1. Color? Blue.
2. Smell? Pine trees.
3. Time of day? Morning.
4. Season? Spring.
5. Book? Bel and the Dragon, alternatively, the Book of Ruth.
6. Music? Classical.
7. Place? “home” in Texas.
8. Substance? cotton.
9. Plant? Cacti. He thinks they’re cool.
10. Animal? Dogs.
END
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