(no subject)
Player Information:
Name: Noodles
Journal: thanoodles
Method of Contact: PM
Previous characters: scalesandstuff and uponhiseye
Character Information:
Full Name: Jack Gibson (and Cerbos).
Series: Original (verse is Monsters!).
Canon point: Post-time skip of the canon! Which would be Jack's current timeline.
Age: Jack is 43, Cerbos' age is unknown but the thing is pretty much ancient.
Species: Jack is human, Cerbos is a monster.
Appearance/PB:
Colin Firth. Dark hair and brown eyes, 1.91 meters tall.
Appearance upon arrival: Dirty old clothes, a few scratches and bruises here and there, not terribly cleaned up (but not completely careless about his appearance either) due to lack of access in a semi-post-apocalyptic world in a constant war.
History:
Previous RP memories: Just threads/encounters that have taken place in random musebox situations with other original characters (none of them currently in the game). They can be found here.
Bringing someone along?: Jack is bringing Cerbos (or the other way around, depends on the POV) in with him. IT WILL BECOME CLEAR, I PROMISE.
Character History: For an idea of the world's setting and history, read here. The following is Jack's personal story within the verse.
Jack was born somewhere outside London, where he lived a relatively normal childhood with his mother and father. No siblings, no dramas or major life altering events took place during the first half of his life. If anything, the only thing barely remarkable about Jack was his proficiency in playing musical instruments and the fact that he had trouble getting a girlfriend (or any friends to begin with) always considered the awkward loner. It seemed to come from a refusal to deal with people rather than not knowing how to, however. He'd be happy to seclude himself in his room and practice away on his guitar, imagining a life as a musician that obviously never came to be.
He was nearing his late teens when the monsters started descending from the skies in mass, although their expansion took a little while to reach Europe, making the UK their gateway into the rest of the continent. Jack's life was slowly torn to pieces until his parents finally grabbed him and fled to find refuge once it became much too obvious that they were no longer safe in their own home. An attack from extremist human rebels took place somewhere along their escape and Jack was separated from his parents, relying on the help of another group of runaways in hopes that he would someday find his parents again. That day never came and he was never given any certainty of their fate, eventually accepting that he had now found a place with his new acquaintances. He was placed mostly on guard duty and other small chores and never showed much enthusiasm for tasks that required violence or strategy.
Jack was in his twenties when he met Eddie Gavell, a self-made soldier rescued by Jack's group after attempting an attack against a group of monster hybrids. Eddie had been roaming on his own for a long while, surviving in whatever way he could, making sure he never trusted anyone or anything. He stayed with Jack's group for the following months, during which the two developed a companionship that resulted in Jack accepting the offer to follow Eddie in the continuation of his travels through countries without borders. Both eventually allowed it to progress into an actual and strange relationship, built mostly on the trust of two men who relied on each other's support on deeper emotional levels.
Having stayed so long in a sedentary refugee camp, Jack had a lot to learn about the rules of survival and combat in unfamiliar territory. Eddie was more than willing to teach him whatever he could, though the majority of the fighting was left to him -- he was always much better at shooting and fighting off enemies than Jack would ever be. Fast forward over ten years of travels and fights and experiences that did considerably little to change this story's protagonist.
It was only when he turned 41 (two years before his current timeline) that his life took its last twist. Eddie and Jack had arrived to a ghost town in Italy and taken up a room in an abandoned hotel when they began to suspect that they were not alone. Eddie took the shotgun and walked outside on his own. Jack did not see Eddie until the evening of the next day, despite vague and fruitless searches around the premises. Thoughts and paranoia that his partner had been kidnapped or killed began to set in. Even the possibility that he had simply been left behind was considered, despite absolutely no apparent reasons to justify it.
Eddie was welcomed back with much relief when he showed up again, but it soon became obvious that the man now standing before him was not the same he knew. Eddie was disturbed, jittery, looking at Jack like he was an abomination. Despite his insistence, Eddie's silence was only broken when he screamed accusations and attacked Jack viciously, accusing him of killing the real one and becoming a monster. There was little Jack could do to defend himself against the man who had barely taught him how to fight and he was left behind to bleed to death.
It was then that a voice spoke from the shadows.
Cerbos was different from most of his monstrous siblings, unable to completely control a body and keep its voices shut. Instead he roamed the shadows and jumped from one dying man to another to breathe life into them and allow them to live as themselves, as long as they allowed him to feed through them. Cerbos had run into Eddie Gavell in that abandoned hotel in a body that was now much too old for him. The monster was easily overpowered and eventually cornered by Eddie, so Cerbos took over and spoke in his monstrous voice, one that human ears were not made to hear, and drove Eddie insane.
It was all too convenient when he found Jack Gibson as good as dead and presented to him the same deal he'd offered to so many dying men before him. Desperate to cling to dear life, Jack accepted. Becoming adjusted to having a second entity in his body was painful, to say the least, but Jack eventually got over the sickness scraping his mind and insides and began to come to terms with his decision (which is still a work in progress).
The two have traveled together ever since, for better and for worse, and the man with the monster in his ear has been forced to question and forget his sense of morality ever since. The harder part was forcing himself to eat another person, something he still has to deal a lot with to perform, leaving it up to Cerbos more often than not. Jack still finds enough of a conscience to stand up to the monster on occasion, which often results in Cerbos completely taking over for a limited about of time (further explanation provided in this application). Jack has forced himself to forget about Eddie and what was done to him and has no idea of his fate, presuming it was death.
Personality:
Jack was never a social creature, preferring to keep to himself, even in the presence of his family. Some struggles with his sexuality and his determination to keep it well hidden and quiet also occur at this time, but sexuality is something Jack never allows himself to acknowledge until a lot later in his life. The reluctance to deal with other people in his earlier life stemmed from discomfort in handling different personalities that somehow implied having to put up a front that would satisfy or impress them (in his mind, at least). If you can't impress everybody, why try to impress anyone at all? This of course took a different turn when he resorted to music, becoming talented enough to earn the attention of his parents (at least). Jack never expressed interest in pursuing a career, despite wanting to. This is the beginning of a beautiful story of constant self-sabotage and emotional cowardice.
The years that follow the definitive monster invasion are what end up shaping Jack's personality. He's ripped away from everything he knows and accidentally separated from his parents, forced by fate to become part of a group of strangers willing to help each other survive. What does he do? Suck it up and keep any issues he gets from it to himself. It's not anyone's job to be their therapist. It's plain to see that there isn't much of an improvement in his social skills, but he does mature in terms of actually dealing with people instead of avoiding them completely. He learns to take care of himself to a certain extent and develops a pretty good sense of self-preservation. The one thing he does not do is make use or force or weapons. That kind of physical activity is something he simply wasn't born to do. One can argue that the only weapon he learned to use was a dry sense of humor and sarcasm so mask up any issues lying underneath.
Then along comes Eddie Gavell. The first new person Jack meets in years (that hasn't somehow tried to kill him or his comrades) that is so unlike anyone he's ever met. A big smile and braveness that surpasses the fact that he almost died before Jack's group found him -- and a warmth that both connects and keeps him distant from its members. No one asks him too many questions because he dodges them and satisfies the inquirers with humor so skillfully. Jack is fascinated by him -- a man who has relied on himself for years and can still connect with people with such apparent ease is an absolute novelty.
Jack refuses to believe that anyone would take any kind of interest in him, but he still welcomes Eddie's attention. Their friendship gives way to a sort of tutor-like companionship (despite Eddie being three years younger than Jack) that culminates into a deeper attachment after Jack agrees to part from the group with Eddie (who refuses to be confined forever out of fear) to follow him in his travels. This is when Jack finally deals with his sexuality. Whoa, whoa, whoa feelings happen, though it wouldn't be correct to assume they come from a genuine and ever so romantic love story. They develop mostly thanks to and because of Eddie's comfort with being upfront and open about his own and taking leadership of things easily and Jack finding (or assuming) that their situation was the result of a natural progression of a relationship between two people.
Being so emotionally challenged in that section, Jack completely allows Eddie to take up the role and becomes dependent of him and his fighting-slash-survival abilities. Jack is never completely useless, but certainly never makes himself as useful as Eddie was, even in current days. Needless to say he becomes completely lost and stunned when Eddie goes insane and tries to kill him -- something that he has not yet been able to piece together to this day. It's also unnecessary to say that despite severe 'the only person I trusted at any and every level in the entire world tried to kill me' issues, Jack refuses to let himself deal with them, much less allow anyone to pry in on them, in the very same way he makes no requirement of learning about other people's lives or their privacy. It can be seen as respect, but it's really just him not wanting to have anything to do with it. His own personal life is something he never touches. Not the relevant parts, at least.
And along comes Cerbos, taking the last drop on Jack's cowardice. He accepts the monster's offer because he is much too terrified of dying, obviously unaware of the implications that he is forced to live with the following two years. Jack has to deal with a lot of physical sickness and a heavy change in his morality when he is first forced to feed on another human being (which Cerbos performs for him). It doesn't become any easier when he finally manages to do it on his own. He often tries to convince himself that he is not a complete abomination for doing so (but he is).
Jack never allows himself to regret the decision (he only regrets the company), much less verbalize it as much as he refuses to verbalize anything that Cerbos might use against him. For all the things he shares with Cerbos, his personal thoughts and memories are not one of them. For all the hell coexisting with Cerbos has placed him through, Jack relies and depends on his power the same way he did on Eddie's skills and dexterity.
Ironically enough, the man coexisting with the monster still manages to find more humanity in himself than most in his world. He still feels shock, self-pity, guilt and relief, he feels the necessity to act as a responsible and engaging adult toward a child while Cerbos makes jokes about snapping their little neck; he's disgusted by vile acts that people commit while Cerbos laughs loudly and compliments their talent. It's his need to cling to what's left of his humanity and normalcy that leads him to hide the monster's presence at all costs, even when he whispers a sharp SHUT UP to stop it from driving him mad.
In sort: Dry humored, emotional coward, conflicted, humane, very much in denial.
Cerbos, on the other hand, is a little less complicated. He's your typical monster, not very developed in the ways of lying and deceiving and searching in every corner for power or a way to gain Calathea's favor. He prefers to stick to the simplicity of his limitations and to be left alone with the human that he's turned into his companion, taking most of his entertainment from the conflict he instills in them. The less moral the person is, the less fun he has with them -- Cerbos likes to argue, he likes to push buttons and show them how everything he says about them is true, even when he's lying. He doesn't mind being stood up to to a certain level, otherwise he will simply take over the body to have his way. There is also a natural curiosity about other people that most monsters don't have -- if he thinks someone is interesting, he will force Jack to stick around and learn more about them. Be it so satisfy Cerbos or to give him something to use against said person (for whatever reason -- who knows. Jack certainly doesn't). Cerbos attempts to mimic Jack's accent when he sees fit, though he obviously doesn't mind flashing a big grin and disrespecting people's privacy more often than the latter does, which often horrifies Jack when he comes back to himself and has to figure out how much damage was done while he was unconscious.
Extra:
Character Abilities: Slightly enhanced senses and strength thanks to Cerbos' nifty monster nature. Jack doesn't know how interpret or utilize these abilities, however, so he leaves it up to Cerbos to make use of them. There are cases where he might become overwhelmed or cause unintentional damage, but those should be very rare.
Possessions: n/a.
Anything else: Even though Cerbos is mostly just the voice that tells Jack what to do (and only he can hear, unless there are psychics around), he manages to gather enough strength to take total control of Jack's body and shut his mind away (into what someone could consider a comatose state). These should be relatively rare occurrences that take place in a very limited time span. Jack will not remember anything when he regains control and consciousness. It's also important to notice that, because Cerbos is a monster, he will want to feed on unsuspecting humans at one point or another, at which time I will contact the mods for... things.
Samples:
Action/Communication thread/post sample: Just Jack | Just Jack... Followed by Cerbos taking over.
Log/Prose sample: Current player!