*OOC: Application
Name: Jason St. Andrews
Gender: Male
Age: 34 years old (Born 31 October, 1981)
Wing Color: Electric blue, with the lower edges and tips of the primaries (the outermost, longest feathers) touched with hot pink.
Physical Appearance: Jason is, first of all, short. Standing at 4’10”, he simply isn’t big or bulky, not really physically impressive at all. He is somewhat muscled, and clearly takes time to stay fit. He only weighs about 90 pounds, but on his frame, he looks (and is) fairly healthy. He has a decent tan from time spent in the sun, but is clearly Caucasian, down to his dirty blond hair and blue eyes. Generally clean shaven, he has a tendency to get a little fuzzy near the full moon, and he keeps his hair cut fairly short. His left arm and back have a scattering of tattoos; on his arm is a bluebird, on his back there is a snake curled around an apple on his shoulder, a pair of revolvers with barrels crossed in the small of his back, and a small star-and-bars confederate flag above the pistols. His neck has a light ring of faint scar around it, from a silver necklace he wore on and off for several years. The back of his neck, of course, will bear his identification tag; the scar will pass through the bottom of it. There are also faint scars down the centre of his chest, again, from prolonged contact with silver.
Once a month, for three nights centered on the full moon, he will* become a wolf. About the size of an average timber wolf, his fur is a sandy colour similar to his hair, with slightly paler fur at his throat and on his chest. In this form, his fur tends to be thick but not matted or tangled, and looks like any healthy fur coat. He does not shed seasonally, so there are never patches of loose fur, though like any animal, it’s not at all uncommon to leave some hair behind. While a wolf, his eyes take a golden hue, much more yellow than brown. There are no unusual markings that would quickly make him stand out among other wolves, but his size does that (at least, among other werewolves).
*Unless wearing silver. See the “Weaknesses” section.
History: World: As an original character, a brief discussion of his world is, I think, just about necessary. By and large, it is the same as the one we come from, and is basically identical to ours historically until the early 1800s. At this point, superhuman and magical abilities began to manifest among comparatively large groups of the world’s population, resulting in a bunch of individuals with abilities not dissimilar to those seen in comics; wizards, super speed or strength, invisibility, the works. Naturally, these freaks were hated and reviled almost all inclusively...until the United States found itself embroiled in a vicious civil war. At the urging of General Lee, General “Stonewall” Jackson became the commander of a “Special Force” that made heavy use of the superhumans, and this won the war for the South, splitting the Americas.
Despite the original secession of the South being driven quite clearly by the threat of emancipation, many of the most notably powerful “specials” were, in fact, of African decesnt. Jackson found himself forced to use them in the second war between the states, and between that and the growing number of women with powers who stepped in to aid in fights when the army was flagging in other areas, by the first decade of the 1900s, the Confederacy was undergoing a rapid and very painful shift in societal structure. Though the CSA fought with their French and British allies throughout the first war against Germany, it took the US joining the effort to break the German lines. Despite historic tensions between the two, Yankee and Rebel often found themselves fighting side-by-side in Europe, and a generation began to view each other as more like lost brothers than bitter enemies. This was cemented further in the second war against Germany, and after the war, the development of the United Nations saw the general assembly go to New York, but the newly established “League of Super Humans and Magical Creatures”, a mostly independent part of the UN meant to maintain peace in the face of aggression by powered individuals and groups, was given the “Stonewall”, a fort named for Jackson and located in Virgina’s Shenandoah Valley. It has, arguably, become the single greatest symbol for the League and their service to all of humanity, since the League took command of the fort in 1947.
In the 21st century, both of the Americas (North and South) are seen as bastions of Democracy. The North has a tendency to be more conservative in social advancement, moving a far more steady and methodical pace, but it is also far more homogeneous in regards to how its citizens view societal issues like race, gender, religion, and the like. The South is seen as more progessive, almost militantly making a point of protecting the rights and freedoms of its citizens, and many feel inside and outside of the CSA there is a feeling that it has to prove that a nation founded to defend slavery can be a fair and equatable nation that has learned better; on the other hand, there is still a lot of tension among the people, and bigotry is far more common than in the USA, even if acting on it is more likely to be illegal. The South is even today a nation of many contradictions, basically.
Germany in the 1940s was Nazi Germany, the USSR, thanks in part to actions by supers, continues to exist into the 21st century, China is a communist nation, India gained Independence via mostly non-violent actions; most of the rest of the world is fairly close to what we know in our own.
Supers (in brief); Werewolves: Superheroes (and villains) are the rule of thumb in Jason’s world. Starting in the 1800s, superhumans played an increasingly important role in nation and international politics and events, the effects of which are generally felt to have culminated with the rise of the Nazi “ubers”, an elite corps of superhumans that had the goal of overthrowing the rest of mankind for the benefit of the Aryan race, etc, etc. Superhumans from the rest of the world banded together and fought against this threat, and that international organization directly lead to the formation of the League, and its peacekeeping missions across the face of the planet, keeping superhumans from causing too much trouble. Usually.
Powers come in many kinds, and some can be traced back to classical antiquity; however, they remained incredibly rare until the early 1800s. Most common are physical mutations resulting in strength or speed, but telepathy, invisibility, flight, shapeshifting, and the like are all well known. Also common, and the most obvious classical power, is “magic”, the use of will to affect something or someone outside of the body. Changing the shape or type of a material, controlling minds, animating objects, cursing or healing enemies and allies, manipulating fire or air or water, all of this is “magic”, and things or people shaped by it are termed magical creatures.
Werewolves, true werewolves, are magical creatures, humans who have been cursed. Lycanthropes are tied to the moon’s cycles, and the curse cannont be lifted, only controlled. There are known shifters who can become wolves, and superhumans with similar abilities to an enhanced werewolf, but they are not true lycanthropes, usually lacking the weakness to iron and silver, and no ties to the moon. Werewolves can be created in two ways. The first is the original curse, laid upon someone by the touch of a magic user who has cause to punish or use the individual in question. This method usually ties the wolf to its creator in some way, and unlike most curses, is considered to be universally immoral to use; it cannot be removed, and the link to the creator cannot be broken completely, ever, making the cursed individual always tied to the will of the one who cast the curse.
Far more common, however, is the passing on of the curse, which can be done in a few ways, but always requires a bite from an infected werewolf, and an act of will to transfer to curse to the victim. This is usually involuntary on both sides, and while feared and hated, does not result in the desperate connection the original curse does, only offering ties to the pack, which can be broken, and is generally seen as cruel, but not altogether unforgivable, especially since the condition can be managed.
Lone wolves are far less likely to change someone, and are generally considered more rational and approachable, and if not less dangerous, then more in control of themselves. It is illegal to form or run a pack in most cities worldwide, in fact.
Jason St. Andrews: Jason was born Lucas Roger Andrews in a small town in southern Georgia, in the Confederate States of America, and he remained there for his entire childhood. His father was a carpenter, his grandfather a preacher at one of the two county churches. One of his earliest memories is changing churches when he was five years old, because his father didn’t want to attend a church that had a “Black” preacher. This close-minded life is what Jason had growing up, and probably would have kept if he hadn’t come to terms with the fact that he was different.
In High School, though he only came out to his best friend (who happened to also be his cousin), Jason admitted to himself that he was gay, and even went so far as to join the soccer team to play with the football team’s star quarterback, since the QB played soccer in the spring season to stay in shape. About the time Jason graduated from school, he started dating an older man (24-25), and that relationship lasted almost a full year.
While at work at a little dinner on Main Street on a Sunday afternoon (meaning about a third of the town was there for lunch), his boyfriend’s wife (about whom Jason never knew) showed up, and outed him in front of everybody.
He was homeless by the time the sun went down, and he left his hometown at 19. In Atlanta, he was taken in by another older guy, and naive as he was, he thought it was love. It wasn’t. The man, whom everyone called Sweet, was a magician, and when he found out about Jason’s shooting championships, he cursed Jason, and made the young man a werewolf, loyal to him, and used Jason to build a small, ferocious pack of wolves. They operated as mercenaries, basically, usually in poor, 3rd-world equatorial states. While operating (in secret) in Cambodia, however, Sweet betrayed Jason a few other wolves from the pack; he no longer needed Jason, and was afraid of what would happen if Jason ever realized that. The pack was, after all, loyal to their alpha; Jason the 3 others were the only ones who knew that Sweet was not, in fact, the alpha at all, and thus, they had to die.
Unfortunately for Sweet, not only did the ambush fail, but his part in it was easy enough to discover. He was so confident in victory that he didn’t even try to hide it from Jason. So the four ran, for a time. Inevitably, the others drifted back to the pack, because the pack was family, and they were killed for their trouble.
Jason took up with a small gang of supers, making himself a valuable henchman, strong and smart and loyal, and used them to shield him from Sweet. While working for the group, he met a young man whose gift was mechanical, and virtually indistinguishable from magic at times. After a bit of sweet talking, Jason managed to talk him into striking out as Jason’s partner in crime. Jason became the villain “Zero”, while his new friend became “The Maker,” and provided Jason with a powerful armoured suit lined with silver to prevent transformations. The suit itself more than made up for the weakening effects of the silver, and Zero became a well-known super who often stood against the League’s heroes at the head of an army of robots. During a confrontation with the League, his partner became trapped inside of his laboratory, and rather than surrender his research to the UN, he blew the place up, leaving Jason to rely on the expertise of a series of AI programs that had been developed to help him build robots. Jason blamed two heroes for the tragedy, because those two had been unduly violent and aggressive, as far as he was concerned.
During this time, he found time to return to Sweet, briefly, and he was sure to pass along the curse to the man who had given it to him before leaving, earning Sweet’s undying hatred. Soon after this, he found himself in Africa, where an accidental explosion in a warehouse in Nairobi, Kenya slowly became a series of wars that crossed the entire continent, often egged on by either Jason or his robots. Eventually, the two heroes he blamed for his friend’s death arrived to stop him; he left them dead in wild. On the verge of carving a nation of his own out of the heart of the Dark Continent, things changed when humanity discovered it was no longer alone.
Aliens appeared in the sky over dozens of cities. Soon after, they launched a massive assault against the Stonewall, with the apparent aim of breaking the super’s ability to resist them. Despite the fact that Jason had often considered such a task himself, this was something else; if the fortress of his enemies fell, then the Earth would be overrun and conquered by inhuman monsters. Self-interest alone prompted him to abandon Africa and return home. Arriving with his army of robots at his back, he hit the alien lines, hard, and broke them, using his suit to follow them to the mothership and destroy the threat. Barely escaping with his life, he began to make his way back to the fortress when he realized that now all of the League were waiting to capture him. He didn’t take long to consider his actions; he initiated a transfer of the AI to the control of the League, figuring that they could use the robots to help if the aliens came back, and Zero simply disappeared.
Everyone assumed he’d died, and like Lucas, Jason abandoned Zero, and took a new life. He considered returning to crime, but he was tired, and he was unsure what he could do, against the robots of his old friend. So he retired, and ended up in the USA, serving drinks at a rough bar and living in a little house he owned as Jason St. Andrews. Here, he met a mechanic and single father, Niall, and eventually, they moved in together. It didn’t take much for Jason to figure out that Niall was a super, and even a member of the league, code-named Nightshade. Neither said anything, however, and for a few years, he lived a fairly happy life. But the relationship didn’t quite work, and they “took a break”, neither quite ready or willing to spilt outright. It would have continued thus indefinitely if one of Sweet’s pack hadn’t stumbled across Jason, and followed him to Niall’s.
Three wolves broke in, and though Jason killed them and saved Niall’s son, Niall was killed during the fight. Burning the house down, Jason left the boy with his mother, Niall’s ex-wife, and disappeared again, this time hunting down his old pack to end them for good, with Sweet at the top of his list.
Personality: Jason is not a good person. There was a time when he enjoyed doing cruel, bad things, and while he has grown out of that, he is more than willing and capable of drawing upon the experience as needed. If he thinks someone is a threat or for some reason deserves violence, he won’t stammer and waffle and try to talk things down. He will give one warning, and if it isn’t followed, he’ll follow up on whatever threat he made with a calm, almost detached manner. If it is beating up someone who’s been annoying him, he’ll do it without a second thought; if it’s killing someone who might hurt him or someone he’s protecting, he’ll have blood on his hands the moment he sees a chance.
This doesn’t mean he seeks out fighting, however. In fact, he tries to avoid it. He isn’t going to go out trying to find people who will ‘make’ him attack them, he’s going to avoid them. If they force themselves upon him, he’ll defend himself, or sometimes attack first if he thinks he’d otherwise have to defend himself, but he doesn’t look for those fights.
In fact, as a whole, he takes a reasonably laid back, almost zen approach to life when he can. What happens happens, and he tries to roll with it. Having seen so much in his life, he is pretty good at staying unfazed by sudden changes, and he enjoys watching how others react, especially when they are panicked. He rarely steps in to take charge of a situation, letting it fall as it will, unless he thinks that stepping up will really benefit him, but is fairly amenable to others taking charge. In emergencies, he takes orders very well, if he wants to, but outside of emergencies, giving him orders is mostly going to result in him ignoring you.
For more than a decade, he has had no one he can really rely on, really trust. He’ll give trust of a kind to people, and even lost, it can be earned back, usually, but in the end, he always expects anyone he knows to betray him, and he always works to prepare for that from anyone. For example, when someone offers him a place to stay, he will probably keep looking for at least a few more options, just in case, that he can hold back for whenever he needs them. He simply doesn’t put all of his faith into any one person or idea, because he knows he will aways be disappointed. He also despises it when people give him their full trust, because he knows that it wouldn’t take much to see him betray it. He doesn’t hide this fact from people, but not everyone in his life has listened, and he feels guilty for letting them down, even if he would do it again.
While he cannot cook, Jason does love to try new foods, or new combinations of foods, and always has. His tastes vary over time, sometimes he wants something spicy, other times sweet, and so forth, but anything he has never had is always something he wants to try, regardless of what he might be looking for. Since he left home, he’s had opportunity to eat thing that most people don’t even consider food, and while he didn’t like all of them, he knows he can survive on them. There is virtually nothing that will disgust him or put him off of a meal, and he will eat almost anything put down in front of him. He does have a special fondness for gumbo, pork rinds, and curry, however, and these are all sure to win anyone a special place in his heart.
His musical tastes are fairly limited; as a rule, he only listens to country/honky tonk/western/bluegrass. He will make an exception for ‘decent’ Rock and Roll, which means mostly “Southern Rock”-style bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, not groups like Aerosmith or Black Sabbath. However, when drunk, it may be possible to get him to reveal a secret love for musical theater, but once sober again, he will deny any such knowledge (even if the entire village heard him singing them the night before. Or in the face of audio or video proof, for that matter).
It will have to be addressed at some point, so I’ll make it clear here: he doesn’t care that he’s shorter than the average high-school freshman. Make fun of him, call him a “super-tiny-ultra-micro-shrimp” and at worst, he’ll try to one up you with a more inventive insult. He doesn’t get angry or defensive because he’s short, and it doesn’t matter how often it’s brought up. The same thing (without adding further insults himself) goes for being gay and being a Southerner; he doesn’t really care if you make fun of him for it or not. Make fun of someone else around him, he might step in, but insults generally roll of his back without effect. He’s plenty comfortable in his own skin and more than a little confident in his own abilities, and he doesn’t have to defend them or himself to ignorance.
As far as habits go, there are a few that can indicate his state of mind:
The first is how he addresses others in conversation. The vast majority of the human race (and non-human intelligent individuals, for that matter) will be address as “Sugar,” without regard for any possible mitigating factor, up to and including direct threats against his person if it’s used again. If calling someone by that pet name truly causes them a great deal of discomfort and upset, he may make an attempt to not call them Sugar, but it is likely that he’ll forget not to a great deal of the time. That’s his nickname for everyone, or near about. People who are really getting on his nerves, but who he likes otherwise, might become “Honey.” If this happens, it is almost certainly transitory, but is a good warning he’s starting to have enough of whatever that person’s doing. “Darling” is much more serious; while often transitory, if he calls someone by that name, he is more likely to be on the edge of some kind of violence. A few people in his life have earned that moniker permanently; if they speak to him for any length of time, violence is going to occur. Calling someone by their proper name is a rare mark of respect, and indicates about as much trust as any person is ever going to get from him; he has more fingers than people who’ve earned that.
The next is seen in social situations, and is somewhat rare. When fixing himself a drink, if he is having a bad time, a bad day, a really bad go of some event, whatever, he will probably drink something simple, like whiskey-and-coke. Normally, he’ll either drink it straight, or make some ‘frufru’ drink. If it’s really bad, after pouring liquor and mixer, he’ll add another shot or so of liquor, straight out of the bottle, an unconscious tick betraying the fact that he might be, in fact, on the edge of losing it a little bit.
The last major habit he has is cursing; namely, he almost ever only curses when he is in a great deal of pain, or planning on killing someone. Any other use of foul language is 99% a slip-up on the mun’s part, because there is virtually no situation in which he would use any bad words (excepting ‘hell’, when using it as a reference, i.e. “Africa’s hot like the fires of Hell, Sugar, or I’m 6 feet tall,” or if discussing religion, at which point a ‘damn’ or variation thereof may also occur). A broken bone might call for one bad word, maybe two. Getting run through the gut with an iron blade* is about the level required to actually get him to unleash a string of curses, though when Sweet’s pack killed Niall, he was mad enough at Sweet to unleash a lot of foul language, too. Of course, at that point, he would have torn the man apart with his bare hands if he’d been there, so that fits into the killing requirement, and pain was certainly involved, if not the physical kind. Perhaps the only exception to the rule that will ever be seen definitively in roleplay would be the anniversary of his turning, and about a week or so afterwards, during which, if the mood strikes him in certain ways, he might drop the occasional bit of foul language. It could be argued, however, given the nature of his turning, that this event would also be covered in the great pain category.
Jason is a smoker; while he might last a few days without a cigarette and manage to maintain a level of calm, by the end of a week or so, he would be rather unpleasant to live with, and much beyond that, possibly even a touch violent before he got through the withdrawal; he’s been smoking for years, and it is in many cases the one indulgence he allowed himself while living under less-than-ideal conditions; he’s not going to give it up just because someone doesn’t like it. At best, he’ll honour a request not to smoke inside someone’s home, unless he doesn’t like that person, at which point he will smoke whenever he has to be in their house; it’s one way he uses to not have to deal with people he doesn’t like very much.
*See weaknesses: iron for more specific details.
Strengths: Werewolf. Yes, it is a curse, magical in nature, but it has a few beneficial side effects (while the other effects are addressed individually in weaknesses). To start with, he is much stronger than his size and musculature would imply, easily stronger than a man twice his size. He is also much faster. Running, fighting, reflexive responses; all of them benefit greatly from the curse, more so if he shifts more often. And his hearing is better than any normal humans, while his sense of smell is good enough to use while tracking, even as a human, though he would usually add other skills to ensure he wasn’t chasing rabbit trails, so to speak. All of these improvements grow the more he assumes his wolf form, but there are many detrimental effects of doing so that make it less appealing that it may initially appear. Also, yes, he can become a large wolf, with a further improvement on all of the things listed above. Though forced to change during a full moon and prevented from changing during a new moon, the rest of a month (roughly 22 days in every roughly 28-day moon cycle) he can change form at will. Daytime has little to no effect on his powers or his transformations, so he can use his wolf form in broad daylight without a problem.
Marksmanship. From a very young age, Jason handled firearms, went hunting, did target shooting, the works. He competed while a gradeschooler and highschooler in state-wide competitions, and won several trophies, titles, and belt buckles. After he was turned, he used his weapons skills in more dark enterprises, and honed his knowledge of far more powerful and often highly illegal weaponry, and his last boyfriend, Niall, was also a super-human with impeccable aim, and Jason often went shooting with him, staying in practice even after he started living a more normal lifestyle. He isn’t familiar with every kind of gun out there, but you give him a pistol or a rifle, and chances are pretty good he could do better than hit the side of a barn, at the very least.
Bladework. Being highly skilled with guns, playing around with swords may seem silly, but for about 7 years, it was a skill he worked on. It began with other members of his pack, a game they’d play to teach newbies to master their new strength and speed, and continued after he went off on his own because it heightened the image of power he cultivated among those he commanded. He’s no champion, and someone who is from a time when swords were the weapon of choice will have much more skill than he does; still, he can use a sword without chopping off his own arm. His skill with knives is a bit more honed, because they are a reliable, silent way to kill, and he had need of them more than once in his life, so he’s been sure to know how to use them if he got caught with nothing else, but again, if he has a choice, he’ll take a pistol over a blade any day of the week.
Silver. Predominately a weakness of the werewolf, there is one exceptional benefit I feel deserves comment in strengths: wearing silver can prevent transformation during the full moon, and lessen the effects of several other weaknesses brought about by the curse. It can be used very effectively to hide a werewolf from those looking for him, if he’s willing to accept the consequences in wearing it, and Jason does, in fact, bear a light scar around his neck from a silver necklace he has often used for this very purpose. However, despite the benefits, silver still has a great many issues it can cause a werewolf, and is listed again in the weaknesses section because of this.
Weaknesses: Small. At 4'10" and 90lbs, he may be healthy and strong, but simple physics says he'll have a harder time moving a Buick than some guy who weighs 300lbs. Ditto resisting impacts; it takes less force to move him about based on size alone. Picking up and throwing somebody weighing 90lbs is a lot more doable than picking up some 6'6" giant.
Silver. Physical proximity can weaken him, leaving him about as strong as a regular human his size, but the effect takes time; an hour isn't going to make him a puppy. If he shifts to wolf form while weakened by silver in proximity, he is likewise only as strong and fast as a comparable wolf would be. If he is in physical contact with silver, the weakening effects are much swifter, and transformation is prevented, to or from wolf form, even on nights of the full moon. Prolonged contact can cause burn-like reactions, and will eventually scar (this can take weeks of nearly constant exposure, however). NOTE: Silver can be used to mask the signs of being a werewolf, up to and including preventing transformation during the full moon. Such use is extremely painful, however, and once discontinued, the wolf has much less control for many months, a length of time proportional to the length of time the silver was used, while shifted in forms. For a wolf to use silver more than on rare occasion is a sign of either desperation or defiance, sometimes both, because there is no other choice for hiding as thoroughly as the silver allows, but the weakness makes one far more vulnerable if discovered while affect by it. Even after removing the silver, the weakening affection can last for some time, especially if it was in physical contact, so upon discovery, a werewolf cannot simply throw a silver bauble away and be at full strength again.
Iron. Unlike silver, iron doesn't usually weaken unless in direct contact. However, even touching iron can prove fatal in very short order, as the resulting weakness continues to advance until death occurs. If wounded with iron, even small cuts can prove to be fatal, resisting the natural healing of the wolf's body. Iron alloys have lesser effects of the same type, depending on the iron content, with the effects lessening exponentially as the amount of iron in the alloy decreases. Steel, for instance, tends to have enough iron content to weaken a werewolf significantly, but stainless steel has a less pronounced effect, due to it being a steel alloy, lessening the iron content. Nevertheless, a good rule of thumb is that any steel edge or point is bad for a werewolf like Jason.
Basil. This herb will cause a minor allergic reaction if consumed. While not fatal, it is uncomfortable, and has often been used to test for suspected werewolves. Even prolonged exposure to silver will not negate this effect in any way, ensuring that even a wolf in hiding can be discovered in this way, if one knows the signs.
Sandalwood. The scent or contact of the wood has a mildly narcotic effect, leading to lethargy and sleepiness. Concentrated 'essence' of sandalwood can be used to effectively put even an entire pack to sleep in only a few minutes. The effects are much more pronounced while the wolves are in wolf form, and the effects are negated somewhat (but not entirely) by contact with silver.
Shapeshifting. While the ability to become a wolf is certainly a strength, noted above, there is a drawback; when used excessively, the werewolf becomes increasingly aggressive, and maintains human-like control less and less while in wolf form, and eventually, in human form. This is why a lone wolf, who usually will avoid shifting apart from the moon cycles, is less fearsome and frightening than a pack, where such transformations are encouraged, or even forced.
Moon Cycles. This ties into shifting, but should be considered separately. Jason's powers are tied to the moon and its cycles. The night of the full moon, and the night immediately before and after, he will become a wolf. The three night of the new moon, on the other hand, he is completely human. His power grows a bit greater going from new to full, and lessens a bit from full to new. Except for the three days of the new moon, he remains well above average human strength and speed, has better senses, the works, but he is bound to the moon. However, silver can affect this, somewhat. The details are above.
Dominance/Submission. This is two-fold. The first is when there is someone stronger than him, who forces confrontation and makes demands of him, basically, gives orders, he has a strong sense of loyalty and duty to obey. This is a combination of the pack instinct of the wolf and several years of abuse. Which leads to the other side of the coin; when he really feels put upon, pressured, especially by someone for whom he has little respect, or who is significantly weaker than him, he becomes aggressive, sometimes dangerously so. Again, part of it is establishing dominance, pack instinct. Part of it is never wanting to give anyone power over him again. Either way, if pressured on a matter involving dominance, he will either bite or submit blindly, depending on who is doing the pushing.
Arrogance. It doesn't show very much in his 'normal' life, because he adopts a laid-back,doesn't-care attitude about most of what he does, but Jason is incredibly arrogant about what he does well. He never questions his ability do something he thinks he can do, and that leads to a lot of trouble for him, or has in the past. It was most pronounced while he wore the persona of Zero, when he would challenge heroes to insanely unbalanced battles to prove his ability. His planning saw him win several, and survive all with his freedom intact, at the least, and that only served to vastly increase his arrogance, without consideration of luck or anyone else who might have intervened. Having to fake his own death dampened the feeling a bit, as did the death of Niall, but in a situation where he has to be a strong fighter, such as getting recruited, he would tend towards recklessness much more than caution. If he finds a job as a bartender, that would probably suffer from this, as well, since he knows he's pretty good at mixing drinks.
Trust. Simply put, he doesn't trust anyone, not completely. More to the point, he will betray anyone if he thinks he has a reason to. While not initially an issue, it is very possible he will find himself making enemies faster than friends if things go bad. If having a serious problem, it is also likely he won't seek help; if cut with iron, finding help means revealing a weakness to someone he can't trust, so he is likely to just say nothing. It makes him very vulnerable in hard times. Even his ‘pack’ suffers; if he’d sacrificed himself, he could have saved Niall, but he did not do so. In the end, even those most important to him tend to remain held apart in the back of his mind.
Samples
First Person: [Audio]
[The sound of a long drag on a cigarette, and a rattling of ice.]
All I’m saying, Sugar, it ain’t like this is the end of the world. Sure, things are a bit catawhumpus from normal, but that’s no thing ‘tall. Nuthin’, really. Mean, ain’t like we’ve all got things come a huntin’ after us when we’re all asleepin’. Asleep. That one. One of ‘em.
What was I sayin’, Sugar? Right. Things.
This place ain’t so bad as all the folk make out. I mean, it ain’t like there’s no food goin’ round or nuthin’.
Didn’t I have tequila?
[Again, the ice rattles.]
‘Scuse me for a second, Sugar, just one second. Don’t go countin’, we both know I’m moving slow.
[Shuffling, pouring liquid, and a drink, all with the rattle of ice beneath it. Seems he needed more of that, too.]
Right. So, what I mean, Sugar, is that I’ve seen worse than this. Places people even came from worse than this. Sure, plenty of prisons worse than this. I ain’t no birdie, Sugar, but I seen plenty. Ain’t nobody here gunna gun down their own brother for a couple of dollars, either. Y’know what they always say, right? Want of money and...um. Roots. Like trees. Bad roots, something like that. Well, we ain’t got that ‘round these parts. This here? Right here’s a good place, ‘specially for a bubble. I mean, most bubbles are kinda small, aren’t they? Can’t complain so much, not after thinking on it.
And, hey. Ain’t even none of my old pack hauntin’ me hereabouts. I can’t say I’m all tore up over the absence; no more than you Yankees miss all them reds. Maybe even less; leastways, the reds’d give all y’all a place to put the blame for all them ills in your country. Hell take ‘em anyway, I know. I can drink to that.
Third Person: The clearing was large enough for his purpose, the trees set far enough back from the pit he’d dug for reasonable safety. The stack of wood he’d assembled would last a good part of the night, and he had a good deal of extra in case he needed it. After all, everyone said Eferin was picky, but whatever was said about affinities, Jason really had nothing better to do during the full moon, so building a bonfire in middle of the forest was as good as anything else. He double-checked everything he’d brought, mostly the pack with his things in it (everything but that stupid journal, at least), and nodded. Everything was as ready as he could make it, save for lighting the fire, and his joints already had a hint of ache that told him he had better get on that.
With a bit to spare, he got flames licking up the lowest part of the wooden structure, and then he wasn’t paying much attention to the fire as the moon’s edge came out over the horizon. He didn’t fight the pain, but fell over, body twisting and reshaping itself with sounds he’d been told were grotesque, though after a decade, he barely even noticed them anymore. For a couple of long moments after he was done, he didn’t move, watching the moon finally clear the horizon off through the trees, slowly rising to dominate the sky.
Growling softly to himself, he sat up, then stood, and gave himself a vigorous shake. Then, a deep stretch, from toes to his (horrible...no, no, damnedable) wings. Padding across grass and dirt, he circled the fire pit, eyes reflecting the firelight as he stared at the blaze. He’d only asked the most cursory questions about the spirits and their magic. It wouldn’t do for anyone to go about thinking he was actually trying anything...then again, perhaps he’d make a show of trying to earn that healing magic. Struggle publicly with that, and work on the others as he left the village for privacy during his unfortunate episodes. With a bit of a sigh, he dropped before the fire, close enough that the heat was uncomfortable, and perked his ears forward.
No one ever said exactly how to go about contacting the spirits, so he was going to have to make it up as he went along. At least he probably had time to figure it out, since no one ever knew how long they’d remain in this prison. Dancing flames...the wilder parts of him shuddered at being so close to such a dangerous thing, but he held firm, and managed to let his tongue loll out to cool off. A little. Fire was supposed to be hard, if not impossible, to learn for someone as magically disinclined as he’d always been, but he didn’t mind the challenge. Besides, good excuse to make big old fires several nights in a row every month, and who didn’t want one of those?
Gender: Male
Age: 34 years old (Born 31 October, 1981)
Wing Color: Electric blue, with the lower edges and tips of the primaries (the outermost, longest feathers) touched with hot pink.
Physical Appearance: Jason is, first of all, short. Standing at 4’10”, he simply isn’t big or bulky, not really physically impressive at all. He is somewhat muscled, and clearly takes time to stay fit. He only weighs about 90 pounds, but on his frame, he looks (and is) fairly healthy. He has a decent tan from time spent in the sun, but is clearly Caucasian, down to his dirty blond hair and blue eyes. Generally clean shaven, he has a tendency to get a little fuzzy near the full moon, and he keeps his hair cut fairly short. His left arm and back have a scattering of tattoos; on his arm is a bluebird, on his back there is a snake curled around an apple on his shoulder, a pair of revolvers with barrels crossed in the small of his back, and a small star-and-bars confederate flag above the pistols. His neck has a light ring of faint scar around it, from a silver necklace he wore on and off for several years. The back of his neck, of course, will bear his identification tag; the scar will pass through the bottom of it. There are also faint scars down the centre of his chest, again, from prolonged contact with silver.
Once a month, for three nights centered on the full moon, he will* become a wolf. About the size of an average timber wolf, his fur is a sandy colour similar to his hair, with slightly paler fur at his throat and on his chest. In this form, his fur tends to be thick but not matted or tangled, and looks like any healthy fur coat. He does not shed seasonally, so there are never patches of loose fur, though like any animal, it’s not at all uncommon to leave some hair behind. While a wolf, his eyes take a golden hue, much more yellow than brown. There are no unusual markings that would quickly make him stand out among other wolves, but his size does that (at least, among other werewolves).
*Unless wearing silver. See the “Weaknesses” section.
History: World: As an original character, a brief discussion of his world is, I think, just about necessary. By and large, it is the same as the one we come from, and is basically identical to ours historically until the early 1800s. At this point, superhuman and magical abilities began to manifest among comparatively large groups of the world’s population, resulting in a bunch of individuals with abilities not dissimilar to those seen in comics; wizards, super speed or strength, invisibility, the works. Naturally, these freaks were hated and reviled almost all inclusively...until the United States found itself embroiled in a vicious civil war. At the urging of General Lee, General “Stonewall” Jackson became the commander of a “Special Force” that made heavy use of the superhumans, and this won the war for the South, splitting the Americas.
Despite the original secession of the South being driven quite clearly by the threat of emancipation, many of the most notably powerful “specials” were, in fact, of African decesnt. Jackson found himself forced to use them in the second war between the states, and between that and the growing number of women with powers who stepped in to aid in fights when the army was flagging in other areas, by the first decade of the 1900s, the Confederacy was undergoing a rapid and very painful shift in societal structure. Though the CSA fought with their French and British allies throughout the first war against Germany, it took the US joining the effort to break the German lines. Despite historic tensions between the two, Yankee and Rebel often found themselves fighting side-by-side in Europe, and a generation began to view each other as more like lost brothers than bitter enemies. This was cemented further in the second war against Germany, and after the war, the development of the United Nations saw the general assembly go to New York, but the newly established “League of Super Humans and Magical Creatures”, a mostly independent part of the UN meant to maintain peace in the face of aggression by powered individuals and groups, was given the “Stonewall”, a fort named for Jackson and located in Virgina’s Shenandoah Valley. It has, arguably, become the single greatest symbol for the League and their service to all of humanity, since the League took command of the fort in 1947.
In the 21st century, both of the Americas (North and South) are seen as bastions of Democracy. The North has a tendency to be more conservative in social advancement, moving a far more steady and methodical pace, but it is also far more homogeneous in regards to how its citizens view societal issues like race, gender, religion, and the like. The South is seen as more progessive, almost militantly making a point of protecting the rights and freedoms of its citizens, and many feel inside and outside of the CSA there is a feeling that it has to prove that a nation founded to defend slavery can be a fair and equatable nation that has learned better; on the other hand, there is still a lot of tension among the people, and bigotry is far more common than in the USA, even if acting on it is more likely to be illegal. The South is even today a nation of many contradictions, basically.
Germany in the 1940s was Nazi Germany, the USSR, thanks in part to actions by supers, continues to exist into the 21st century, China is a communist nation, India gained Independence via mostly non-violent actions; most of the rest of the world is fairly close to what we know in our own.
Supers (in brief); Werewolves: Superheroes (and villains) are the rule of thumb in Jason’s world. Starting in the 1800s, superhumans played an increasingly important role in nation and international politics and events, the effects of which are generally felt to have culminated with the rise of the Nazi “ubers”, an elite corps of superhumans that had the goal of overthrowing the rest of mankind for the benefit of the Aryan race, etc, etc. Superhumans from the rest of the world banded together and fought against this threat, and that international organization directly lead to the formation of the League, and its peacekeeping missions across the face of the planet, keeping superhumans from causing too much trouble. Usually.
Powers come in many kinds, and some can be traced back to classical antiquity; however, they remained incredibly rare until the early 1800s. Most common are physical mutations resulting in strength or speed, but telepathy, invisibility, flight, shapeshifting, and the like are all well known. Also common, and the most obvious classical power, is “magic”, the use of will to affect something or someone outside of the body. Changing the shape or type of a material, controlling minds, animating objects, cursing or healing enemies and allies, manipulating fire or air or water, all of this is “magic”, and things or people shaped by it are termed magical creatures.
Werewolves, true werewolves, are magical creatures, humans who have been cursed. Lycanthropes are tied to the moon’s cycles, and the curse cannont be lifted, only controlled. There are known shifters who can become wolves, and superhumans with similar abilities to an enhanced werewolf, but they are not true lycanthropes, usually lacking the weakness to iron and silver, and no ties to the moon. Werewolves can be created in two ways. The first is the original curse, laid upon someone by the touch of a magic user who has cause to punish or use the individual in question. This method usually ties the wolf to its creator in some way, and unlike most curses, is considered to be universally immoral to use; it cannot be removed, and the link to the creator cannot be broken completely, ever, making the cursed individual always tied to the will of the one who cast the curse.
Far more common, however, is the passing on of the curse, which can be done in a few ways, but always requires a bite from an infected werewolf, and an act of will to transfer to curse to the victim. This is usually involuntary on both sides, and while feared and hated, does not result in the desperate connection the original curse does, only offering ties to the pack, which can be broken, and is generally seen as cruel, but not altogether unforgivable, especially since the condition can be managed.
Lone wolves are far less likely to change someone, and are generally considered more rational and approachable, and if not less dangerous, then more in control of themselves. It is illegal to form or run a pack in most cities worldwide, in fact.
Jason St. Andrews: Jason was born Lucas Roger Andrews in a small town in southern Georgia, in the Confederate States of America, and he remained there for his entire childhood. His father was a carpenter, his grandfather a preacher at one of the two county churches. One of his earliest memories is changing churches when he was five years old, because his father didn’t want to attend a church that had a “Black” preacher. This close-minded life is what Jason had growing up, and probably would have kept if he hadn’t come to terms with the fact that he was different.
In High School, though he only came out to his best friend (who happened to also be his cousin), Jason admitted to himself that he was gay, and even went so far as to join the soccer team to play with the football team’s star quarterback, since the QB played soccer in the spring season to stay in shape. About the time Jason graduated from school, he started dating an older man (24-25), and that relationship lasted almost a full year.
While at work at a little dinner on Main Street on a Sunday afternoon (meaning about a third of the town was there for lunch), his boyfriend’s wife (about whom Jason never knew) showed up, and outed him in front of everybody.
He was homeless by the time the sun went down, and he left his hometown at 19. In Atlanta, he was taken in by another older guy, and naive as he was, he thought it was love. It wasn’t. The man, whom everyone called Sweet, was a magician, and when he found out about Jason’s shooting championships, he cursed Jason, and made the young man a werewolf, loyal to him, and used Jason to build a small, ferocious pack of wolves. They operated as mercenaries, basically, usually in poor, 3rd-world equatorial states. While operating (in secret) in Cambodia, however, Sweet betrayed Jason a few other wolves from the pack; he no longer needed Jason, and was afraid of what would happen if Jason ever realized that. The pack was, after all, loyal to their alpha; Jason the 3 others were the only ones who knew that Sweet was not, in fact, the alpha at all, and thus, they had to die.
Unfortunately for Sweet, not only did the ambush fail, but his part in it was easy enough to discover. He was so confident in victory that he didn’t even try to hide it from Jason. So the four ran, for a time. Inevitably, the others drifted back to the pack, because the pack was family, and they were killed for their trouble.
Jason took up with a small gang of supers, making himself a valuable henchman, strong and smart and loyal, and used them to shield him from Sweet. While working for the group, he met a young man whose gift was mechanical, and virtually indistinguishable from magic at times. After a bit of sweet talking, Jason managed to talk him into striking out as Jason’s partner in crime. Jason became the villain “Zero”, while his new friend became “The Maker,” and provided Jason with a powerful armoured suit lined with silver to prevent transformations. The suit itself more than made up for the weakening effects of the silver, and Zero became a well-known super who often stood against the League’s heroes at the head of an army of robots. During a confrontation with the League, his partner became trapped inside of his laboratory, and rather than surrender his research to the UN, he blew the place up, leaving Jason to rely on the expertise of a series of AI programs that had been developed to help him build robots. Jason blamed two heroes for the tragedy, because those two had been unduly violent and aggressive, as far as he was concerned.
During this time, he found time to return to Sweet, briefly, and he was sure to pass along the curse to the man who had given it to him before leaving, earning Sweet’s undying hatred. Soon after this, he found himself in Africa, where an accidental explosion in a warehouse in Nairobi, Kenya slowly became a series of wars that crossed the entire continent, often egged on by either Jason or his robots. Eventually, the two heroes he blamed for his friend’s death arrived to stop him; he left them dead in wild. On the verge of carving a nation of his own out of the heart of the Dark Continent, things changed when humanity discovered it was no longer alone.
Aliens appeared in the sky over dozens of cities. Soon after, they launched a massive assault against the Stonewall, with the apparent aim of breaking the super’s ability to resist them. Despite the fact that Jason had often considered such a task himself, this was something else; if the fortress of his enemies fell, then the Earth would be overrun and conquered by inhuman monsters. Self-interest alone prompted him to abandon Africa and return home. Arriving with his army of robots at his back, he hit the alien lines, hard, and broke them, using his suit to follow them to the mothership and destroy the threat. Barely escaping with his life, he began to make his way back to the fortress when he realized that now all of the League were waiting to capture him. He didn’t take long to consider his actions; he initiated a transfer of the AI to the control of the League, figuring that they could use the robots to help if the aliens came back, and Zero simply disappeared.
Everyone assumed he’d died, and like Lucas, Jason abandoned Zero, and took a new life. He considered returning to crime, but he was tired, and he was unsure what he could do, against the robots of his old friend. So he retired, and ended up in the USA, serving drinks at a rough bar and living in a little house he owned as Jason St. Andrews. Here, he met a mechanic and single father, Niall, and eventually, they moved in together. It didn’t take much for Jason to figure out that Niall was a super, and even a member of the league, code-named Nightshade. Neither said anything, however, and for a few years, he lived a fairly happy life. But the relationship didn’t quite work, and they “took a break”, neither quite ready or willing to spilt outright. It would have continued thus indefinitely if one of Sweet’s pack hadn’t stumbled across Jason, and followed him to Niall’s.
Three wolves broke in, and though Jason killed them and saved Niall’s son, Niall was killed during the fight. Burning the house down, Jason left the boy with his mother, Niall’s ex-wife, and disappeared again, this time hunting down his old pack to end them for good, with Sweet at the top of his list.
Personality: Jason is not a good person. There was a time when he enjoyed doing cruel, bad things, and while he has grown out of that, he is more than willing and capable of drawing upon the experience as needed. If he thinks someone is a threat or for some reason deserves violence, he won’t stammer and waffle and try to talk things down. He will give one warning, and if it isn’t followed, he’ll follow up on whatever threat he made with a calm, almost detached manner. If it is beating up someone who’s been annoying him, he’ll do it without a second thought; if it’s killing someone who might hurt him or someone he’s protecting, he’ll have blood on his hands the moment he sees a chance.
This doesn’t mean he seeks out fighting, however. In fact, he tries to avoid it. He isn’t going to go out trying to find people who will ‘make’ him attack them, he’s going to avoid them. If they force themselves upon him, he’ll defend himself, or sometimes attack first if he thinks he’d otherwise have to defend himself, but he doesn’t look for those fights.
In fact, as a whole, he takes a reasonably laid back, almost zen approach to life when he can. What happens happens, and he tries to roll with it. Having seen so much in his life, he is pretty good at staying unfazed by sudden changes, and he enjoys watching how others react, especially when they are panicked. He rarely steps in to take charge of a situation, letting it fall as it will, unless he thinks that stepping up will really benefit him, but is fairly amenable to others taking charge. In emergencies, he takes orders very well, if he wants to, but outside of emergencies, giving him orders is mostly going to result in him ignoring you.
For more than a decade, he has had no one he can really rely on, really trust. He’ll give trust of a kind to people, and even lost, it can be earned back, usually, but in the end, he always expects anyone he knows to betray him, and he always works to prepare for that from anyone. For example, when someone offers him a place to stay, he will probably keep looking for at least a few more options, just in case, that he can hold back for whenever he needs them. He simply doesn’t put all of his faith into any one person or idea, because he knows he will aways be disappointed. He also despises it when people give him their full trust, because he knows that it wouldn’t take much to see him betray it. He doesn’t hide this fact from people, but not everyone in his life has listened, and he feels guilty for letting them down, even if he would do it again.
While he cannot cook, Jason does love to try new foods, or new combinations of foods, and always has. His tastes vary over time, sometimes he wants something spicy, other times sweet, and so forth, but anything he has never had is always something he wants to try, regardless of what he might be looking for. Since he left home, he’s had opportunity to eat thing that most people don’t even consider food, and while he didn’t like all of them, he knows he can survive on them. There is virtually nothing that will disgust him or put him off of a meal, and he will eat almost anything put down in front of him. He does have a special fondness for gumbo, pork rinds, and curry, however, and these are all sure to win anyone a special place in his heart.
His musical tastes are fairly limited; as a rule, he only listens to country/honky tonk/western/bluegrass. He will make an exception for ‘decent’ Rock and Roll, which means mostly “Southern Rock”-style bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, not groups like Aerosmith or Black Sabbath. However, when drunk, it may be possible to get him to reveal a secret love for musical theater, but once sober again, he will deny any such knowledge (even if the entire village heard him singing them the night before. Or in the face of audio or video proof, for that matter).
It will have to be addressed at some point, so I’ll make it clear here: he doesn’t care that he’s shorter than the average high-school freshman. Make fun of him, call him a “super-tiny-ultra-micro-shrimp” and at worst, he’ll try to one up you with a more inventive insult. He doesn’t get angry or defensive because he’s short, and it doesn’t matter how often it’s brought up. The same thing (without adding further insults himself) goes for being gay and being a Southerner; he doesn’t really care if you make fun of him for it or not. Make fun of someone else around him, he might step in, but insults generally roll of his back without effect. He’s plenty comfortable in his own skin and more than a little confident in his own abilities, and he doesn’t have to defend them or himself to ignorance.
As far as habits go, there are a few that can indicate his state of mind:
The first is how he addresses others in conversation. The vast majority of the human race (and non-human intelligent individuals, for that matter) will be address as “Sugar,” without regard for any possible mitigating factor, up to and including direct threats against his person if it’s used again. If calling someone by that pet name truly causes them a great deal of discomfort and upset, he may make an attempt to not call them Sugar, but it is likely that he’ll forget not to a great deal of the time. That’s his nickname for everyone, or near about. People who are really getting on his nerves, but who he likes otherwise, might become “Honey.” If this happens, it is almost certainly transitory, but is a good warning he’s starting to have enough of whatever that person’s doing. “Darling” is much more serious; while often transitory, if he calls someone by that name, he is more likely to be on the edge of some kind of violence. A few people in his life have earned that moniker permanently; if they speak to him for any length of time, violence is going to occur. Calling someone by their proper name is a rare mark of respect, and indicates about as much trust as any person is ever going to get from him; he has more fingers than people who’ve earned that.
The next is seen in social situations, and is somewhat rare. When fixing himself a drink, if he is having a bad time, a bad day, a really bad go of some event, whatever, he will probably drink something simple, like whiskey-and-coke. Normally, he’ll either drink it straight, or make some ‘frufru’ drink. If it’s really bad, after pouring liquor and mixer, he’ll add another shot or so of liquor, straight out of the bottle, an unconscious tick betraying the fact that he might be, in fact, on the edge of losing it a little bit.
The last major habit he has is cursing; namely, he almost ever only curses when he is in a great deal of pain, or planning on killing someone. Any other use of foul language is 99% a slip-up on the mun’s part, because there is virtually no situation in which he would use any bad words (excepting ‘hell’, when using it as a reference, i.e. “Africa’s hot like the fires of Hell, Sugar, or I’m 6 feet tall,” or if discussing religion, at which point a ‘damn’ or variation thereof may also occur). A broken bone might call for one bad word, maybe two. Getting run through the gut with an iron blade* is about the level required to actually get him to unleash a string of curses, though when Sweet’s pack killed Niall, he was mad enough at Sweet to unleash a lot of foul language, too. Of course, at that point, he would have torn the man apart with his bare hands if he’d been there, so that fits into the killing requirement, and pain was certainly involved, if not the physical kind. Perhaps the only exception to the rule that will ever be seen definitively in roleplay would be the anniversary of his turning, and about a week or so afterwards, during which, if the mood strikes him in certain ways, he might drop the occasional bit of foul language. It could be argued, however, given the nature of his turning, that this event would also be covered in the great pain category.
Jason is a smoker; while he might last a few days without a cigarette and manage to maintain a level of calm, by the end of a week or so, he would be rather unpleasant to live with, and much beyond that, possibly even a touch violent before he got through the withdrawal; he’s been smoking for years, and it is in many cases the one indulgence he allowed himself while living under less-than-ideal conditions; he’s not going to give it up just because someone doesn’t like it. At best, he’ll honour a request not to smoke inside someone’s home, unless he doesn’t like that person, at which point he will smoke whenever he has to be in their house; it’s one way he uses to not have to deal with people he doesn’t like very much.
*See weaknesses: iron for more specific details.
Strengths: Werewolf. Yes, it is a curse, magical in nature, but it has a few beneficial side effects (while the other effects are addressed individually in weaknesses). To start with, he is much stronger than his size and musculature would imply, easily stronger than a man twice his size. He is also much faster. Running, fighting, reflexive responses; all of them benefit greatly from the curse, more so if he shifts more often. And his hearing is better than any normal humans, while his sense of smell is good enough to use while tracking, even as a human, though he would usually add other skills to ensure he wasn’t chasing rabbit trails, so to speak. All of these improvements grow the more he assumes his wolf form, but there are many detrimental effects of doing so that make it less appealing that it may initially appear. Also, yes, he can become a large wolf, with a further improvement on all of the things listed above. Though forced to change during a full moon and prevented from changing during a new moon, the rest of a month (roughly 22 days in every roughly 28-day moon cycle) he can change form at will. Daytime has little to no effect on his powers or his transformations, so he can use his wolf form in broad daylight without a problem.
Marksmanship. From a very young age, Jason handled firearms, went hunting, did target shooting, the works. He competed while a gradeschooler and highschooler in state-wide competitions, and won several trophies, titles, and belt buckles. After he was turned, he used his weapons skills in more dark enterprises, and honed his knowledge of far more powerful and often highly illegal weaponry, and his last boyfriend, Niall, was also a super-human with impeccable aim, and Jason often went shooting with him, staying in practice even after he started living a more normal lifestyle. He isn’t familiar with every kind of gun out there, but you give him a pistol or a rifle, and chances are pretty good he could do better than hit the side of a barn, at the very least.
Bladework. Being highly skilled with guns, playing around with swords may seem silly, but for about 7 years, it was a skill he worked on. It began with other members of his pack, a game they’d play to teach newbies to master their new strength and speed, and continued after he went off on his own because it heightened the image of power he cultivated among those he commanded. He’s no champion, and someone who is from a time when swords were the weapon of choice will have much more skill than he does; still, he can use a sword without chopping off his own arm. His skill with knives is a bit more honed, because they are a reliable, silent way to kill, and he had need of them more than once in his life, so he’s been sure to know how to use them if he got caught with nothing else, but again, if he has a choice, he’ll take a pistol over a blade any day of the week.
Silver. Predominately a weakness of the werewolf, there is one exceptional benefit I feel deserves comment in strengths: wearing silver can prevent transformation during the full moon, and lessen the effects of several other weaknesses brought about by the curse. It can be used very effectively to hide a werewolf from those looking for him, if he’s willing to accept the consequences in wearing it, and Jason does, in fact, bear a light scar around his neck from a silver necklace he has often used for this very purpose. However, despite the benefits, silver still has a great many issues it can cause a werewolf, and is listed again in the weaknesses section because of this.
Weaknesses: Small. At 4'10" and 90lbs, he may be healthy and strong, but simple physics says he'll have a harder time moving a Buick than some guy who weighs 300lbs. Ditto resisting impacts; it takes less force to move him about based on size alone. Picking up and throwing somebody weighing 90lbs is a lot more doable than picking up some 6'6" giant.
Silver. Physical proximity can weaken him, leaving him about as strong as a regular human his size, but the effect takes time; an hour isn't going to make him a puppy. If he shifts to wolf form while weakened by silver in proximity, he is likewise only as strong and fast as a comparable wolf would be. If he is in physical contact with silver, the weakening effects are much swifter, and transformation is prevented, to or from wolf form, even on nights of the full moon. Prolonged contact can cause burn-like reactions, and will eventually scar (this can take weeks of nearly constant exposure, however). NOTE: Silver can be used to mask the signs of being a werewolf, up to and including preventing transformation during the full moon. Such use is extremely painful, however, and once discontinued, the wolf has much less control for many months, a length of time proportional to the length of time the silver was used, while shifted in forms. For a wolf to use silver more than on rare occasion is a sign of either desperation or defiance, sometimes both, because there is no other choice for hiding as thoroughly as the silver allows, but the weakness makes one far more vulnerable if discovered while affect by it. Even after removing the silver, the weakening affection can last for some time, especially if it was in physical contact, so upon discovery, a werewolf cannot simply throw a silver bauble away and be at full strength again.
Iron. Unlike silver, iron doesn't usually weaken unless in direct contact. However, even touching iron can prove fatal in very short order, as the resulting weakness continues to advance until death occurs. If wounded with iron, even small cuts can prove to be fatal, resisting the natural healing of the wolf's body. Iron alloys have lesser effects of the same type, depending on the iron content, with the effects lessening exponentially as the amount of iron in the alloy decreases. Steel, for instance, tends to have enough iron content to weaken a werewolf significantly, but stainless steel has a less pronounced effect, due to it being a steel alloy, lessening the iron content. Nevertheless, a good rule of thumb is that any steel edge or point is bad for a werewolf like Jason.
Basil. This herb will cause a minor allergic reaction if consumed. While not fatal, it is uncomfortable, and has often been used to test for suspected werewolves. Even prolonged exposure to silver will not negate this effect in any way, ensuring that even a wolf in hiding can be discovered in this way, if one knows the signs.
Sandalwood. The scent or contact of the wood has a mildly narcotic effect, leading to lethargy and sleepiness. Concentrated 'essence' of sandalwood can be used to effectively put even an entire pack to sleep in only a few minutes. The effects are much more pronounced while the wolves are in wolf form, and the effects are negated somewhat (but not entirely) by contact with silver.
Shapeshifting. While the ability to become a wolf is certainly a strength, noted above, there is a drawback; when used excessively, the werewolf becomes increasingly aggressive, and maintains human-like control less and less while in wolf form, and eventually, in human form. This is why a lone wolf, who usually will avoid shifting apart from the moon cycles, is less fearsome and frightening than a pack, where such transformations are encouraged, or even forced.
Moon Cycles. This ties into shifting, but should be considered separately. Jason's powers are tied to the moon and its cycles. The night of the full moon, and the night immediately before and after, he will become a wolf. The three night of the new moon, on the other hand, he is completely human. His power grows a bit greater going from new to full, and lessens a bit from full to new. Except for the three days of the new moon, he remains well above average human strength and speed, has better senses, the works, but he is bound to the moon. However, silver can affect this, somewhat. The details are above.
Dominance/Submission. This is two-fold. The first is when there is someone stronger than him, who forces confrontation and makes demands of him, basically, gives orders, he has a strong sense of loyalty and duty to obey. This is a combination of the pack instinct of the wolf and several years of abuse. Which leads to the other side of the coin; when he really feels put upon, pressured, especially by someone for whom he has little respect, or who is significantly weaker than him, he becomes aggressive, sometimes dangerously so. Again, part of it is establishing dominance, pack instinct. Part of it is never wanting to give anyone power over him again. Either way, if pressured on a matter involving dominance, he will either bite or submit blindly, depending on who is doing the pushing.
Arrogance. It doesn't show very much in his 'normal' life, because he adopts a laid-back,doesn't-care attitude about most of what he does, but Jason is incredibly arrogant about what he does well. He never questions his ability do something he thinks he can do, and that leads to a lot of trouble for him, or has in the past. It was most pronounced while he wore the persona of Zero, when he would challenge heroes to insanely unbalanced battles to prove his ability. His planning saw him win several, and survive all with his freedom intact, at the least, and that only served to vastly increase his arrogance, without consideration of luck or anyone else who might have intervened. Having to fake his own death dampened the feeling a bit, as did the death of Niall, but in a situation where he has to be a strong fighter, such as getting recruited, he would tend towards recklessness much more than caution. If he finds a job as a bartender, that would probably suffer from this, as well, since he knows he's pretty good at mixing drinks.
Trust. Simply put, he doesn't trust anyone, not completely. More to the point, he will betray anyone if he thinks he has a reason to. While not initially an issue, it is very possible he will find himself making enemies faster than friends if things go bad. If having a serious problem, it is also likely he won't seek help; if cut with iron, finding help means revealing a weakness to someone he can't trust, so he is likely to just say nothing. It makes him very vulnerable in hard times. Even his ‘pack’ suffers; if he’d sacrificed himself, he could have saved Niall, but he did not do so. In the end, even those most important to him tend to remain held apart in the back of his mind.
Samples
First Person: [Audio]
[The sound of a long drag on a cigarette, and a rattling of ice.]
All I’m saying, Sugar, it ain’t like this is the end of the world. Sure, things are a bit catawhumpus from normal, but that’s no thing ‘tall. Nuthin’, really. Mean, ain’t like we’ve all got things come a huntin’ after us when we’re all asleepin’. Asleep. That one. One of ‘em.
What was I sayin’, Sugar? Right. Things.
This place ain’t so bad as all the folk make out. I mean, it ain’t like there’s no food goin’ round or nuthin’.
Didn’t I have tequila?
[Again, the ice rattles.]
‘Scuse me for a second, Sugar, just one second. Don’t go countin’, we both know I’m moving slow.
[Shuffling, pouring liquid, and a drink, all with the rattle of ice beneath it. Seems he needed more of that, too.]
Right. So, what I mean, Sugar, is that I’ve seen worse than this. Places people even came from worse than this. Sure, plenty of prisons worse than this. I ain’t no birdie, Sugar, but I seen plenty. Ain’t nobody here gunna gun down their own brother for a couple of dollars, either. Y’know what they always say, right? Want of money and...um. Roots. Like trees. Bad roots, something like that. Well, we ain’t got that ‘round these parts. This here? Right here’s a good place, ‘specially for a bubble. I mean, most bubbles are kinda small, aren’t they? Can’t complain so much, not after thinking on it.
And, hey. Ain’t even none of my old pack hauntin’ me hereabouts. I can’t say I’m all tore up over the absence; no more than you Yankees miss all them reds. Maybe even less; leastways, the reds’d give all y’all a place to put the blame for all them ills in your country. Hell take ‘em anyway, I know. I can drink to that.
Third Person: The clearing was large enough for his purpose, the trees set far enough back from the pit he’d dug for reasonable safety. The stack of wood he’d assembled would last a good part of the night, and he had a good deal of extra in case he needed it. After all, everyone said Eferin was picky, but whatever was said about affinities, Jason really had nothing better to do during the full moon, so building a bonfire in middle of the forest was as good as anything else. He double-checked everything he’d brought, mostly the pack with his things in it (everything but that stupid journal, at least), and nodded. Everything was as ready as he could make it, save for lighting the fire, and his joints already had a hint of ache that told him he had better get on that.
With a bit to spare, he got flames licking up the lowest part of the wooden structure, and then he wasn’t paying much attention to the fire as the moon’s edge came out over the horizon. He didn’t fight the pain, but fell over, body twisting and reshaping itself with sounds he’d been told were grotesque, though after a decade, he barely even noticed them anymore. For a couple of long moments after he was done, he didn’t move, watching the moon finally clear the horizon off through the trees, slowly rising to dominate the sky.
Growling softly to himself, he sat up, then stood, and gave himself a vigorous shake. Then, a deep stretch, from toes to his (horrible...no, no, damnedable) wings. Padding across grass and dirt, he circled the fire pit, eyes reflecting the firelight as he stared at the blaze. He’d only asked the most cursory questions about the spirits and their magic. It wouldn’t do for anyone to go about thinking he was actually trying anything...then again, perhaps he’d make a show of trying to earn that healing magic. Struggle publicly with that, and work on the others as he left the village for privacy during his unfortunate episodes. With a bit of a sigh, he dropped before the fire, close enough that the heat was uncomfortable, and perked his ears forward.
No one ever said exactly how to go about contacting the spirits, so he was going to have to make it up as he went along. At least he probably had time to figure it out, since no one ever knew how long they’d remain in this prison. Dancing flames...the wilder parts of him shuddered at being so close to such a dangerous thing, but he held firm, and managed to let his tongue loll out to cool off. A little. Fire was supposed to be hard, if not impossible, to learn for someone as magically disinclined as he’d always been, but he didn’t mind the challenge. Besides, good excuse to make big old fires several nights in a row every month, and who didn’t want one of those?