[ ooc; john's bio ]
John Casper, born Jonathan Louis Casper on December 4, 1980 to Louis Casper and Mary Anne Cabot, grew up in a Fairfield, a small city in Ohio. He had no brothers or sisters, only one uncle on his father's side, and grandparents only on his mother's side. His family was tiny and his upbringing was modest. There was never anything extraordinary about his life, or who he was.
He spent the first 18 years of his life in that city, until he decided that he wanted to study abroad at the University of Cambridge, in England.
He began studying Philosophy and Theology at Cambridge in 1998. He stayed at the University for two years, until dropping out in March, 2000.
He didn't drop out because the work was too hard, or because he didn't want to go there anymore - he dropped out because he got very, very sick. He contracted bacterial meningitis and was lucky enough to have it treated just before it would've been too late; but it did leave him in a very brief, week-long coma.
He doesn't remember getting sick. He doesn't remember being in the hospital at all - what he does remember is that while he was in that coma, he dreamt.
Some of the dreams he had were terrifying, some weren't.
He was released with a clean bill of health a week after coming out of his coma, and that's when he took up residence in London.
... that's also when his life started to change.
Weird things started happening. He'd get feelings while around people, that he couldn't explain - they were either feelings of serenity, or sadness, or dread that made his blood run cold. A few times, he got sick - violently so - when he crossed paths with certain people.
(Well, he thought they were people, anyway.)
He went to dozens of doctors, and they couldn't explain it. He went to psychiatrists, and all they could do was offer medication. He went to priests, and they suggested demonic possession. No one was any help, and John felt sicker as time passed.
And then he started seeing things. He'd see colors instead of people, flashes of light that would nearly blind him, sudden darkness that left him lost in the middle of the day... so he did what any logical person would do.
He checked himself into an asylum.
He spent a year there until a man named Michael Kennedy came to visit him. He introduced himself as the Chief of EPRIB London, an organization whose name John had only heard in the news, and they talked for a few hours, and then John was offered a job.
So, he took it.
Now, he's the Chief Investigator of EPRIB's London headquarters. He's been working with the Bureau since 2004, and will be celebrating (or not celebrating) his 23rd year with the force next April.
John is, and has been for the past 24 years, a practicing shaman. He can sense the presence of good and the presence of evil, can see the auras of those around him, if he chooses to do so, and can guide souls to the afterlife. (Thankfully, he's learned to control his abilities - back when he first discovered them, he had no control over them whatsoever.) He's also recently learned how to put people into trances, which comes in handy when he's performing exorcisms.
Physically, John stands at 5'8", has grey-blue eyes, choppy brown hair that's almost always standing on end, and wears glasses.
His only distinguishing marks are a very large, jagged scar that runs almost half the length of the underside of his left forearm (that's where
nice_wolfie scratched him 7 years ago; he has limited use of his left hand due to all the muscle damage he took and he's still kinda pissed about it), and this owl tattooed in between his shoulder blades.
He smokes like a chimney, wears a necklace with a tiny moqui stone set in pewter (always kept under his shirt - he wouldn't be surprised to find out that no one actually knows he wears it), lives off of caffeine and rarely sleeps. (And when he does sleep, it's during the day.)
And if you ever call him by his last name, he'll punch you in the stomach.
He spent the first 18 years of his life in that city, until he decided that he wanted to study abroad at the University of Cambridge, in England.
He began studying Philosophy and Theology at Cambridge in 1998. He stayed at the University for two years, until dropping out in March, 2000.
He didn't drop out because the work was too hard, or because he didn't want to go there anymore - he dropped out because he got very, very sick. He contracted bacterial meningitis and was lucky enough to have it treated just before it would've been too late; but it did leave him in a very brief, week-long coma.
He doesn't remember getting sick. He doesn't remember being in the hospital at all - what he does remember is that while he was in that coma, he dreamt.
Some of the dreams he had were terrifying, some weren't.
He was released with a clean bill of health a week after coming out of his coma, and that's when he took up residence in London.
... that's also when his life started to change.
Weird things started happening. He'd get feelings while around people, that he couldn't explain - they were either feelings of serenity, or sadness, or dread that made his blood run cold. A few times, he got sick - violently so - when he crossed paths with certain people.
(Well, he thought they were people, anyway.)
He went to dozens of doctors, and they couldn't explain it. He went to psychiatrists, and all they could do was offer medication. He went to priests, and they suggested demonic possession. No one was any help, and John felt sicker as time passed.
And then he started seeing things. He'd see colors instead of people, flashes of light that would nearly blind him, sudden darkness that left him lost in the middle of the day... so he did what any logical person would do.
He checked himself into an asylum.
He spent a year there until a man named Michael Kennedy came to visit him. He introduced himself as the Chief of EPRIB London, an organization whose name John had only heard in the news, and they talked for a few hours, and then John was offered a job.
So, he took it.
Now, he's the Chief Investigator of EPRIB's London headquarters. He's been working with the Bureau since 2004, and will be celebrating (or not celebrating) his 23rd year with the force next April.
John is, and has been for the past 24 years, a practicing shaman. He can sense the presence of good and the presence of evil, can see the auras of those around him, if he chooses to do so, and can guide souls to the afterlife. (Thankfully, he's learned to control his abilities - back when he first discovered them, he had no control over them whatsoever.) He's also recently learned how to put people into trances, which comes in handy when he's performing exorcisms.
Physically, John stands at 5'8", has grey-blue eyes, choppy brown hair that's almost always standing on end, and wears glasses.
His only distinguishing marks are a very large, jagged scar that runs almost half the length of the underside of his left forearm (that's where
nice_wolfie scratched him 7 years ago; he has limited use of his left hand due to all the muscle damage he took and he's still kinda pissed about it), and this owl tattooed in between his shoulder blades.
He smokes like a chimney, wears a necklace with a tiny moqui stone set in pewter (always kept under his shirt - he wouldn't be surprised to find out that no one actually knows he wears it), lives off of caffeine and rarely sleeps. (And when he does sleep, it's during the day.)
And if you ever call him by his last name, he'll punch you in the stomach.