voice -> video ; 7th jaunt
Mar. 6th, 2014 11:07 pmIf we're all just -
[ A pause. ]
If there's someone at home who's you, who's got your face, who's doing what you'd be doing, what's the point of trying to get out of here? Why keep trying?
[ It's a real question. He's looking for a reason.
Another, longer pause, then it switches to video. ]
What the hell.
I'm John. I'm not just a teleporter. I'm a telepath too. No point in keeping it a secret, I guess. [ This is terrifying for him, but he tries to play it off nonchalantly.
Cuts off the video. ]
[ A pause. ]
If there's someone at home who's you, who's got your face, who's doing what you'd be doing, what's the point of trying to get out of here? Why keep trying?
[ It's a real question. He's looking for a reason.
Another, longer pause, then it switches to video. ]
What the hell.
I'm John. I'm not just a teleporter. I'm a telepath too. No point in keeping it a secret, I guess. [ This is terrifying for him, but he tries to play it off nonchalantly.
Cuts off the video. ]
Sixth Jaunt . Video, Spam
Feb. 4th, 2014 10:24 amSo - what is the CTS?
[ spam ]
[ John is in the gym, whaling on a punching bag like it owes him something. Like it's his demons he's killing, not a stupid deadweight.
The walls are closing in on him.
Eventually, he steps back, grabs a towel. He's not satisfied yet, but he can't just go on doing this forever. ]
[ spam ]
[ John is in the gym, whaling on a punching bag like it owes him something. Like it's his demons he's killing, not a stupid deadweight.
The walls are closing in on him.
Eventually, he steps back, grabs a towel. He's not satisfied yet, but he can't just go on doing this forever. ]
Fifth Jaunt . Port
Jan. 19th, 2014 01:50 pm[ market ]
[ Leather jacket, sweatshirt underneath, hands in his pockets. Small bag with a few of the less useful Christmas presents. The crowd around him is overwhelming stimulus, twitches and roars of color, sound, movement. Threat assessment is impossible, so he just watches and moves like he would through any potentially dangerous territory. Market truce, he remembers. Something Door.
Oddly, in the middle of all of these threats, John is actually less tense than he is aboard the Barge. He may be in danger, but he doesn't feel trapped.
He looks through the stunning array of products, wonders what he should get. ]
[ various ]
[ He explores London Below bit by bit, cautious, always teleporting himself back to anchor points so that he knows where he is.
So: you might see him ssssssthump into existence with the slight, cloudy glow of energy discharge following for a half-second behind him. ]
[ back to the barge, last day ]
[ He limps back a day early, scrape on his cheek, hair even more disarrayed than usual. He favors one side over another, moving slowly and deliberately.
He's just going to go ahead and sneak back to his cabin. ]
[ ooc; I'd be interested in getting John into a fight that involves other characters - if you have an idea, pls let me know!! ]
[ Leather jacket, sweatshirt underneath, hands in his pockets. Small bag with a few of the less useful Christmas presents. The crowd around him is overwhelming stimulus, twitches and roars of color, sound, movement. Threat assessment is impossible, so he just watches and moves like he would through any potentially dangerous territory. Market truce, he remembers. Something Door.
Oddly, in the middle of all of these threats, John is actually less tense than he is aboard the Barge. He may be in danger, but he doesn't feel trapped.
He looks through the stunning array of products, wonders what he should get. ]
[ various ]
[ He explores London Below bit by bit, cautious, always teleporting himself back to anchor points so that he knows where he is.
So: you might see him ssssssthump into existence with the slight, cloudy glow of energy discharge following for a half-second behind him. ]
[ back to the barge, last day ]
[ He limps back a day early, scrape on his cheek, hair even more disarrayed than usual. He favors one side over another, moving slowly and deliberately.
He's just going to go ahead and sneak back to his cabin. ]
[ ooc; I'd be interested in getting John into a fight that involves other characters - if you have an idea, pls let me know!! ]
[ He's still weak, still not up to full speed from dying earlier in the week. Pale, dark circles under his eyes, and it takes him a long time to decide to make the attempt. But he can see other people asking for their loved ones, maybe even getting them, and he can't - he has to make the attempt. ]
Cara?
Russell?
[ He feels pretty stupid, just broadcasting this into the open. ]
Tell me if you're there. [ That part is a little stronger. ]
And if you are, just - don't worry. I'll find a way back.
Cara?
Russell?
[ He feels pretty stupid, just broadcasting this into the open. ]
Tell me if you're there. [ That part is a little stronger. ]
And if you are, just - don't worry. I'll find a way back.
003 ; good job, john wtg A+ u tried
Jan. 3rd, 2014 04:13 pm[ spam ; general, deck ]
[ He's a little more subdued about it before, but John still occasionally appears with a ssssthump in common areas, a shiver of orange-blue energy fading after each teleport. He's mostly not trying to talk to anyone about it. He looks tired.
After a while, in the evening, he can be found up by the railing of the ship. Maybe leaning on it, maybe looking over the edge. ]
[ spam ; later ; infirmary, death toll ]
[ Everything hurts. Most particularly, his eyeballs. - No, his lungs, definitely. Though eardrums are getting in on the action. Seeing light hurts. Hearing sounds hurts. Really, all of it.
He breathes, rasping, and only sleeps shallowly. Eventually opens his eyes, with a squint, and peers at his surroundings.
He'll be here all week, folks. (Well, for several days, at least.) ]
[ He's a little more subdued about it before, but John still occasionally appears with a ssssthump in common areas, a shiver of orange-blue energy fading after each teleport. He's mostly not trying to talk to anyone about it. He looks tired.
After a while, in the evening, he can be found up by the railing of the ship. Maybe leaning on it, maybe looking over the edge. ]
[ spam ; later ; infirmary, death toll ]
[ Everything hurts. Most particularly, his eyeballs. - No, his lungs, definitely. Though eardrums are getting in on the action. Seeing light hurts. Hearing sounds hurts. Really, all of it.
He breathes, rasping, and only sleeps shallowly. Eventually opens his eyes, with a squint, and peers at his surroundings.
He'll be here all week, folks. (Well, for several days, at least.) ]
voice . 2nd jaunt
Dec. 30th, 2013 11:59 pmI don't want a warden.
Or any of these gifts. You can take them all back. [ He's not really sure who he's talking to. ]
...is it really a blanket with sleeves?
Or any of these gifts. You can take them all back. [ He's not really sure who he's talking to. ]
...is it really a blanket with sleeves?
001 ; first jaunt
Dec. 23rd, 2013 04:18 pm[ When John first woke up, it gave him possibly the worst scare of his life. Basically heart-attack level, here, looking around at the white room that used to be his at Ultra. His first few hypotheses were disproven when he looked around the room and found that a) it was not a cell, b) it was apparently not connected to Ultra, and c) there was a little device that kept squawking at him until he figured out how to mute it.
Half an hour of browsing through the device, of looking at past explanations, have left him here.
John can be found inside various common areas. Blinking out of existence in a rush of orange energy and then blinking right back into existence, often in the exact same place. Sometimes randomly across the room. Sometimes into different common rooms or onto the deck or unceremoniously getting dropped from midair in the library, and landing in an undignified heap.
He. Is trying. To teleport off the ship.
You can see how well it's going for yourself. ]
Half an hour of browsing through the device, of looking at past explanations, have left him here.
John can be found inside various common areas. Blinking out of existence in a rush of orange energy and then blinking right back into existence, often in the exact same place. Sometimes randomly across the room. Sometimes into different common rooms or onto the deck or unceremoniously getting dropped from midair in the library, and landing in an undignified heap.
He. Is trying. To teleport off the ship.
You can see how well it's going for yourself. ]
(no subject)
Dec. 3rd, 2013 05:34 pmUser Name/Nick: Ryann/cornichaun
User DW:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cornichaun
AIM/IM: cornichaun
E-mail: cornichaun@gmail.com
Other Characters: Ellie, Raven, Zane
Character Name: John Young
Series: The Tomorrow People (CW)
Age: Mid 20s.
From When?: During "Kill or Be Killed", when John almost dies at the hands of Killian.
Inmate/Warden: Inmate. The Tomorrow People, as a race, are born unable to kill; there is a part of their brain that causes them intense physiological and psychological pain if they try. John's brain has been corrupted. He was turned into a weapon and warped into a killer, and he hates what he's become. But he is that now and he can act without conscience and hesitation when he believes the circumstances require it. He keeps secrets, acts selfishly and coldly, and is willing to use innocents for his own ends (even though the ends are, objectively, good, the means are not). John is a strongly good person underneath, but he has been trained and taught his whole life to view the world as a hostile and cruel place, and to act with calculation and cruelty.
Item: n/a
Abilities/Powers: As one of the Tomorrow People, John has the three T's: telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation.
Telepathy: John has the power to read surface thoughts and communicate mind-to-mind. His effective range isn't much farther than a city block. Given close contact, he is able to penetrate to deeper thoughts, but only on a limited basis. This I'd limit almost into nonexistence - maybe touch-telepathy, at maximum, only able to read surface thoughts.
Telekinesis: Mainly used for pulls and pushes. Appears to be limited to what the telekinetic can see, or what is within immediate, short range. Upper weight limit probably somewhere around a sedan. This would be limited to much lower weights/forces - somewhere around a person, not a car, and nothing greater than his physical strength. It's worthwhile to note that he doesn't have enough steady control in his powers to do something like make someone hover - it would be more like pinning someone against the wall.
Teleportation: John's strength. Teleportation can be used to go long-range, possibly to tens or hundreds of miles in a single jump. John is also able to teleport over short distances with extreme accuracy, and also to conduct several teleportations in a row (to the point of disarming several bombs effectively simultaneously). This would be limited so he couldn't teleport 1) into warden areas, 2) past the hull of the Barge (possibly leading to some hilarious bounceback in which he ricochets off the internal walls and materializes places he didn't intend), 3) into anyone's rooms for which he does not have permission. He would also have less accuracy, and be randomly disrupted by fluctuation in Barge space.
Personality: Imagine you're a preteen boy. An orphan, entrusted to the tender mercies of the foster care system. Imagine that your foster father is cruel and cold; imagine he has an unfortunate tendency to spend all of the state's money on booze rather than on, say, groceries. And then imagine you suddenly had the power to do something about it, and that was John, when he "broke out" and discovered his tele powers. For a kid who had nothing, it was a miracle to feel the whole world was open to him. He stole cars and went on joyrides; he dodged past security and police and went where he wanted. And he stole food, too, and took it back to the other kids afflicted with this foster father. Why? He liked to be worshipped. He liked to be wanted. And because he cared about them, too.
This culminated in an attempt on his foster father's life. His wild freedom, his power, gave room to release his rage, and take it out on the cruelty that affected his life. He always had the potential to be a killer, long before Ultra got their hands on him; it was branded into him from the cruelty of his early life. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't follow through with it, sudden blinding pain preventing him from completing the killing. Unbeknownst to him, this was part and parcel of his powers: the inability to kill. And this was when Ultra, and Jedikiah Price, intervened.
John's life is a constant hunger for enough. Enough food, enough security, enough approval. He is greedy in deep and underlying ways even he does not understand. The lack of paternal affection or regard in his life led him to eagerly take what was offered by Jedikiah Price, a high-up operative of Ultra. He stole John away from that foster home, rescued him, and trained him to use his abilities. This began the process of honing John into a killer: teaching him that the world was cruel, that the people out there would take advantage of him or kill him if they knew what he was, that he would be manipulated by anyone and he had to be more clever, more cruel, better just in order to survive. This process culminated almost a decade later when John chose to undergo therapy to short out the part of his brain preventing him from killing. Jedikiah had successfully made John into the perfect agent.
Except he hadn't. Because John was never just comprised of his hunger for paternal approval. He wanted more than that: he needed fellows, people to protect. He craved a feeling of safety that Ultra never gave him. And there's something in John of an archetypal older brother, fierce and protective, and, disgusted at what he'd been made to do, John ran. He built a pack of the same kind of orphan as he was: abandoned by the world, because the powers that marked them out as different. But even though he left Ultra, he brought himself along, and he was a product of everything that had made him kill: he kept his group underground and in secret, controlled their movements for the sake of their protection, vowed never to touch or interact with humanity on any meaningful level. He isolated himself, except for his new family.
There was some genuine father-son love between Jedikiah and John. In fact, there still is. Jedikiah saved him from his foster family; after John skipped out once to check on his foster father and the other children in the home, Jedikiah went after him and shot the foster father dead to protect John. John is indebted to him, deeply, and also has projected his desire for parents onto Jedikiah specifically. ("He was the only father I ever had," John tells Cara, in one episode. "I don't expect you to understand"; and, later in the same episode, he snarls "I'm not your son" at a calm, in-control Jedikiah. "I hate what you made me.") When faced with the chance to kill Jedikiah, he can't. Their past, and Jedikiah himself, simply means too much to him. He wouldn't be so angry if he hadn't been so devoted. ("You're just a boy looking for a family," Jedikiah said, after John failed to kill him. "That's all you'll ever be.")
He believes himself to be a monster. He tells Jedikiah that he believes there's a reason Tomorrow People aren't built to kill: there's something that happens, when you kill, that destroys a piece of your soul. A piece you never get back. John thinks he is, at heart, damaged. He will never be a true person again, and that can't be fixed. He's become the monster that protects the good people from the bigger monsters.
If there is anything that gives him hope for the future, it's his relationship with Cara Coburn, one of his fellow Tomorrow People. He kept the fact that he could kill from her as long as he possibly could, because he cared for her so much. He wanted to protect her from even the worst parts of himself. But it was only after she found out that he broke down and admitted everything: not just that he was damaged, but that he loved her. That he wanted to still try and be what she needed. He sees something truly good and unbroken in her, and she makes him strive to be like that himself. She is the only route by which he actually believes he could become better than he is.
Barge Reactions: John will be initially very hostile, close-lipped, and he will spend an inordinate amount of time trying to teleport off-ship, probably leading to at least one death toll. (Jump off the side and then teleport, anyone?? Yeah, no.) He won't want to talk about his people, his past, his origins, or his powers. He'll mostly be a little antagonistic and sarcastic. However, he won't be able to stop sympathizing with people; there are lots of stories on the Barge that are similar to the kind of people that he would take in and protect. His ~icy heart~ will be melted.
As far as paranormal abilities: He's never heard of any that aren't telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation and possibly time-manipulation, but he's not going to be too surprised about them. His world has some pretty insane stuff in it. His main bone to pick will be with an impossible ship that actually can keep him locked up. He'll need to get over his anger about that before he really focuses on anything else, and by the time he does that, he'll have seen enough ridiculous stuff happen that he won't be too put out.
Path to Redemption: Someone's going to have to be really, really patient with him while he goes and kicks at every single door on the boat trying to get off of it. Also probably acknowledge that he will never stop trying to escape. He might go for more long-term plans, or get more smart about it, but he will never stop trying. He believes that his destiny is 100% not on this barge, and that he needs to get back to it.
That said, the barge won't just have zero effect on him.
1) John has to broaden his sympathies beyond his own species. (We'll just skip over how ridiculous all the genetic science is in The Tomorrow People.) He often says things like he won't go rescue humans, it's pointless to get involved in their world, they have to worry about themselves first. Check the attitude at the door, John. This is going to be the easiest step, I think, because he'll be surrounded by people who are not Tomorrow People, and he's going to be able to sympathize with a lot of them. His empathy is pretty much going to do him in. c:
2) He has to stop believing that he's an irredeemable monster. He disguises it pretty well, so this is going to take a while to come out, but he honestly doesn't believe that what happened to him is fixable. And, furthermore, he actually chose to participate in the program to have his anti-kill switch shorted out, so that's another strike for self-blame. (This step may involve healing that part of his brain and restoring him to unable-to-kill state. I'm not sure if that would help or just be really cruel. We'll see how it happens!)
3) He needs to not pin so many of his hopes on his girlfriend.
4) Parental issues! Maybe some stable pseudo-parental relationships, or at least partially coming to terms with the marks those relationships and lacks thereof have left on him. This also includes all the baggage he has regarding Jedikiah, the only dad he's ever known and also the worst dad ever.
Some minor factors:
- It would be nice if his warden let him keep a lot of his powers. He's not going to misuse them or hurt anyone unless he's badly provoked, and they are very important to him and tied into his identity in a very visceral way. (Which is another thing: John, you are worthwhile besides just for your powers.)
- Older men are an iffy prospect, given his feelings on Jedikiah. Older women might be a really, really good idea. Younger people have the potential to just be brushed off unless they have some serious gravitas. I will, however, consider pretty much anyone.
- He's not going to want to be too chatty, so a warden would have to be persistent without being annoying - like, sharing their own personal experiences, in such a way that makes John listen even when he doesn't really want to.
- He's a stupid babby. Just be aware of that going in.
History: John grew up an orphan and ward of the state, kicked from foster home to foster home until he was 11 or 12, when his powers manifested. After a crime spree and an attempt to kill his stepfather, Ultra, the secret organization responsible for tracking and controlling the so-called Tomorrow People, found him and removed him from the foster home, taking him in to be trained.
He quickly became one of the brightest and best pupils in Ultra, and one of their prized agents. He was close friends with a fellow agent named Killian Jones. Killian entered into a program to attempt to undo, with a combination of chemical and mental therapies, the genetic inability of Tomorrow People to kill sentient beings. Killian was a success, and it made him a monster; he broke violently free from Ultra and went on the run. After this, John volunteered for the same program.
After months of painful, torturous medical procedures, he was pronounced a success: the part of his brain preventing him from killing had been scarred beyond recognition. Now he was the perfect Ultra agent, and Jedikiah Price, the head of the Ultra office, couldn't be more proud. Unfortunately, this brought John to his first real assignment: killing Jedikiah's brother, a heroic figure to the Tomorrow People and a guy who'd betrayed Ultra because of what Ultra had become. John successfully carried out his mission, but realized too late the horror of what he'd done. That, like Killian, he had been turned into a monster. He broke free of Ultra then, and never looked back.
Years later, John has a group of Tomorrow People living in an abandoned subway station beneath Manhattan. They seek out new breakouts and protect them from Ultra. The city seems to attract breakouts; they all come here, and they all center here. It's now that John finds Stephen Jameson, the son of the man he killed, the nephew of Jedikiah Price. He, and his group, including Cara and a handful of others, recruit Stephen and begin to run him as a double agent within Ultra. It's pretty plain that Jedikiah sees through Stephen's supposed cover. And yet, it all turns into part of the game the two groups are playing against one another.
One day, Killian shows up again. He challenges John to a fight, wanting to see what John is like now that he's broken free of Ultra. The two of them eventually land in combat, and John manages to kill Killian. Except in this universe, in which John is the one who dies, and ends up on the Barge.
Sample Journal Entry: [ video | open ]
[ John's face is bruised. Pretty hideously, actually; someone's done a number on him. On top of that, he looks tired. ]
Hi.
I'm John.
I really don't give a damn who you are and what you want. I'm telling you all, right now: stay away from me. I'm not interested in making friends. I'm not interested in sticking around. I'm not your pal. You don't bother me, and I won't bother you.
Great. Thanks in advance.
[ The last is sarcastic, and is immediately followed by the video cutting off. ]
Sample RP: on the test drive meme; note that I do know he wouldn't be able to teleport into people's rooms, as detailed in powers section! I just thought it would make an awesome prompt. If this isn't adequate because of that, please let me know.
Special Notes:
User DW:
cornichaunAIM/IM: cornichaun
E-mail: cornichaun@gmail.com
Other Characters: Ellie, Raven, Zane
Character Name: John Young
Series: The Tomorrow People (CW)
Age: Mid 20s.
From When?: During "Kill or Be Killed", when John almost dies at the hands of Killian.
Inmate/Warden: Inmate. The Tomorrow People, as a race, are born unable to kill; there is a part of their brain that causes them intense physiological and psychological pain if they try. John's brain has been corrupted. He was turned into a weapon and warped into a killer, and he hates what he's become. But he is that now and he can act without conscience and hesitation when he believes the circumstances require it. He keeps secrets, acts selfishly and coldly, and is willing to use innocents for his own ends (even though the ends are, objectively, good, the means are not). John is a strongly good person underneath, but he has been trained and taught his whole life to view the world as a hostile and cruel place, and to act with calculation and cruelty.
Item: n/a
Abilities/Powers: As one of the Tomorrow People, John has the three T's: telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation.
Telepathy: John has the power to read surface thoughts and communicate mind-to-mind. His effective range isn't much farther than a city block. Given close contact, he is able to penetrate to deeper thoughts, but only on a limited basis. This I'd limit almost into nonexistence - maybe touch-telepathy, at maximum, only able to read surface thoughts.
Telekinesis: Mainly used for pulls and pushes. Appears to be limited to what the telekinetic can see, or what is within immediate, short range. Upper weight limit probably somewhere around a sedan. This would be limited to much lower weights/forces - somewhere around a person, not a car, and nothing greater than his physical strength. It's worthwhile to note that he doesn't have enough steady control in his powers to do something like make someone hover - it would be more like pinning someone against the wall.
Teleportation: John's strength. Teleportation can be used to go long-range, possibly to tens or hundreds of miles in a single jump. John is also able to teleport over short distances with extreme accuracy, and also to conduct several teleportations in a row (to the point of disarming several bombs effectively simultaneously). This would be limited so he couldn't teleport 1) into warden areas, 2) past the hull of the Barge (possibly leading to some hilarious bounceback in which he ricochets off the internal walls and materializes places he didn't intend), 3) into anyone's rooms for which he does not have permission. He would also have less accuracy, and be randomly disrupted by fluctuation in Barge space.
Personality: Imagine you're a preteen boy. An orphan, entrusted to the tender mercies of the foster care system. Imagine that your foster father is cruel and cold; imagine he has an unfortunate tendency to spend all of the state's money on booze rather than on, say, groceries. And then imagine you suddenly had the power to do something about it, and that was John, when he "broke out" and discovered his tele powers. For a kid who had nothing, it was a miracle to feel the whole world was open to him. He stole cars and went on joyrides; he dodged past security and police and went where he wanted. And he stole food, too, and took it back to the other kids afflicted with this foster father. Why? He liked to be worshipped. He liked to be wanted. And because he cared about them, too.
This culminated in an attempt on his foster father's life. His wild freedom, his power, gave room to release his rage, and take it out on the cruelty that affected his life. He always had the potential to be a killer, long before Ultra got their hands on him; it was branded into him from the cruelty of his early life. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't follow through with it, sudden blinding pain preventing him from completing the killing. Unbeknownst to him, this was part and parcel of his powers: the inability to kill. And this was when Ultra, and Jedikiah Price, intervened.
John's life is a constant hunger for enough. Enough food, enough security, enough approval. He is greedy in deep and underlying ways even he does not understand. The lack of paternal affection or regard in his life led him to eagerly take what was offered by Jedikiah Price, a high-up operative of Ultra. He stole John away from that foster home, rescued him, and trained him to use his abilities. This began the process of honing John into a killer: teaching him that the world was cruel, that the people out there would take advantage of him or kill him if they knew what he was, that he would be manipulated by anyone and he had to be more clever, more cruel, better just in order to survive. This process culminated almost a decade later when John chose to undergo therapy to short out the part of his brain preventing him from killing. Jedikiah had successfully made John into the perfect agent.
Except he hadn't. Because John was never just comprised of his hunger for paternal approval. He wanted more than that: he needed fellows, people to protect. He craved a feeling of safety that Ultra never gave him. And there's something in John of an archetypal older brother, fierce and protective, and, disgusted at what he'd been made to do, John ran. He built a pack of the same kind of orphan as he was: abandoned by the world, because the powers that marked them out as different. But even though he left Ultra, he brought himself along, and he was a product of everything that had made him kill: he kept his group underground and in secret, controlled their movements for the sake of their protection, vowed never to touch or interact with humanity on any meaningful level. He isolated himself, except for his new family.
There was some genuine father-son love between Jedikiah and John. In fact, there still is. Jedikiah saved him from his foster family; after John skipped out once to check on his foster father and the other children in the home, Jedikiah went after him and shot the foster father dead to protect John. John is indebted to him, deeply, and also has projected his desire for parents onto Jedikiah specifically. ("He was the only father I ever had," John tells Cara, in one episode. "I don't expect you to understand"; and, later in the same episode, he snarls "I'm not your son" at a calm, in-control Jedikiah. "I hate what you made me.") When faced with the chance to kill Jedikiah, he can't. Their past, and Jedikiah himself, simply means too much to him. He wouldn't be so angry if he hadn't been so devoted. ("You're just a boy looking for a family," Jedikiah said, after John failed to kill him. "That's all you'll ever be.")
He believes himself to be a monster. He tells Jedikiah that he believes there's a reason Tomorrow People aren't built to kill: there's something that happens, when you kill, that destroys a piece of your soul. A piece you never get back. John thinks he is, at heart, damaged. He will never be a true person again, and that can't be fixed. He's become the monster that protects the good people from the bigger monsters.
If there is anything that gives him hope for the future, it's his relationship with Cara Coburn, one of his fellow Tomorrow People. He kept the fact that he could kill from her as long as he possibly could, because he cared for her so much. He wanted to protect her from even the worst parts of himself. But it was only after she found out that he broke down and admitted everything: not just that he was damaged, but that he loved her. That he wanted to still try and be what she needed. He sees something truly good and unbroken in her, and she makes him strive to be like that himself. She is the only route by which he actually believes he could become better than he is.
Barge Reactions: John will be initially very hostile, close-lipped, and he will spend an inordinate amount of time trying to teleport off-ship, probably leading to at least one death toll. (Jump off the side and then teleport, anyone?? Yeah, no.) He won't want to talk about his people, his past, his origins, or his powers. He'll mostly be a little antagonistic and sarcastic. However, he won't be able to stop sympathizing with people; there are lots of stories on the Barge that are similar to the kind of people that he would take in and protect. His ~icy heart~ will be melted.
As far as paranormal abilities: He's never heard of any that aren't telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation and possibly time-manipulation, but he's not going to be too surprised about them. His world has some pretty insane stuff in it. His main bone to pick will be with an impossible ship that actually can keep him locked up. He'll need to get over his anger about that before he really focuses on anything else, and by the time he does that, he'll have seen enough ridiculous stuff happen that he won't be too put out.
Path to Redemption: Someone's going to have to be really, really patient with him while he goes and kicks at every single door on the boat trying to get off of it. Also probably acknowledge that he will never stop trying to escape. He might go for more long-term plans, or get more smart about it, but he will never stop trying. He believes that his destiny is 100% not on this barge, and that he needs to get back to it.
That said, the barge won't just have zero effect on him.
1) John has to broaden his sympathies beyond his own species. (We'll just skip over how ridiculous all the genetic science is in The Tomorrow People.) He often says things like he won't go rescue humans, it's pointless to get involved in their world, they have to worry about themselves first. Check the attitude at the door, John. This is going to be the easiest step, I think, because he'll be surrounded by people who are not Tomorrow People, and he's going to be able to sympathize with a lot of them. His empathy is pretty much going to do him in. c:
2) He has to stop believing that he's an irredeemable monster. He disguises it pretty well, so this is going to take a while to come out, but he honestly doesn't believe that what happened to him is fixable. And, furthermore, he actually chose to participate in the program to have his anti-kill switch shorted out, so that's another strike for self-blame. (This step may involve healing that part of his brain and restoring him to unable-to-kill state. I'm not sure if that would help or just be really cruel. We'll see how it happens!)
3) He needs to not pin so many of his hopes on his girlfriend.
4) Parental issues! Maybe some stable pseudo-parental relationships, or at least partially coming to terms with the marks those relationships and lacks thereof have left on him. This also includes all the baggage he has regarding Jedikiah, the only dad he's ever known and also the worst dad ever.
Some minor factors:
- It would be nice if his warden let him keep a lot of his powers. He's not going to misuse them or hurt anyone unless he's badly provoked, and they are very important to him and tied into his identity in a very visceral way. (Which is another thing: John, you are worthwhile besides just for your powers.)
- Older men are an iffy prospect, given his feelings on Jedikiah. Older women might be a really, really good idea. Younger people have the potential to just be brushed off unless they have some serious gravitas. I will, however, consider pretty much anyone.
- He's not going to want to be too chatty, so a warden would have to be persistent without being annoying - like, sharing their own personal experiences, in such a way that makes John listen even when he doesn't really want to.
- He's a stupid babby. Just be aware of that going in.
History: John grew up an orphan and ward of the state, kicked from foster home to foster home until he was 11 or 12, when his powers manifested. After a crime spree and an attempt to kill his stepfather, Ultra, the secret organization responsible for tracking and controlling the so-called Tomorrow People, found him and removed him from the foster home, taking him in to be trained.
He quickly became one of the brightest and best pupils in Ultra, and one of their prized agents. He was close friends with a fellow agent named Killian Jones. Killian entered into a program to attempt to undo, with a combination of chemical and mental therapies, the genetic inability of Tomorrow People to kill sentient beings. Killian was a success, and it made him a monster; he broke violently free from Ultra and went on the run. After this, John volunteered for the same program.
After months of painful, torturous medical procedures, he was pronounced a success: the part of his brain preventing him from killing had been scarred beyond recognition. Now he was the perfect Ultra agent, and Jedikiah Price, the head of the Ultra office, couldn't be more proud. Unfortunately, this brought John to his first real assignment: killing Jedikiah's brother, a heroic figure to the Tomorrow People and a guy who'd betrayed Ultra because of what Ultra had become. John successfully carried out his mission, but realized too late the horror of what he'd done. That, like Killian, he had been turned into a monster. He broke free of Ultra then, and never looked back.
Years later, John has a group of Tomorrow People living in an abandoned subway station beneath Manhattan. They seek out new breakouts and protect them from Ultra. The city seems to attract breakouts; they all come here, and they all center here. It's now that John finds Stephen Jameson, the son of the man he killed, the nephew of Jedikiah Price. He, and his group, including Cara and a handful of others, recruit Stephen and begin to run him as a double agent within Ultra. It's pretty plain that Jedikiah sees through Stephen's supposed cover. And yet, it all turns into part of the game the two groups are playing against one another.
One day, Killian shows up again. He challenges John to a fight, wanting to see what John is like now that he's broken free of Ultra. The two of them eventually land in combat, and John manages to kill Killian. Except in this universe, in which John is the one who dies, and ends up on the Barge.
Sample Journal Entry: [ video | open ]
[ John's face is bruised. Pretty hideously, actually; someone's done a number on him. On top of that, he looks tired. ]
Hi.
I'm John.
I really don't give a damn who you are and what you want. I'm telling you all, right now: stay away from me. I'm not interested in making friends. I'm not interested in sticking around. I'm not your pal. You don't bother me, and I won't bother you.
Great. Thanks in advance.
[ The last is sarcastic, and is immediately followed by the video cutting off. ]
Sample RP: on the test drive meme; note that I do know he wouldn't be able to teleport into people's rooms, as detailed in powers section! I just thought it would make an awesome prompt. If this isn't adequate because of that, please let me know.
Special Notes:
TLV Permissions
Nov. 23rd, 2013 12:15 pm( Permissions Form )
~*~
JOHNPERMISSIONS
1: Telepathy: - Can John telepathically read/contact your character? Note that he would probably catch coherent thoughts more than feelings/emotions, in casually-overhearing situations - in situations where he's intentionally reading minds, he can only really get what your character is specifically focusing on in that situation, meaning that it can be deflected by thinking about something really emotionally powerful.
2: Telekinesis: - Can John knock your character around/move their stuff/idk if this will ever come up.
3: Teleportation: - Can John grab your character and teleport with them, can he teleport unexpectedly in front of them, is he on an access filter such that he could appear in their cabin.
4: Limits/Special Notes: - Anything else I should know??
Thanks a bajillion!!
~*~
JOHNPERMISSIONS
1: Telepathy: - Can John telepathically read/contact your character? Note that he would probably catch coherent thoughts more than feelings/emotions, in casually-overhearing situations - in situations where he's intentionally reading minds, he can only really get what your character is specifically focusing on in that situation, meaning that it can be deflected by thinking about something really emotionally powerful.
2: Telekinesis: - Can John knock your character around/move their stuff/idk if this will ever come up.
3: Teleportation: - Can John grab your character and teleport with them, can he teleport unexpectedly in front of them, is he on an access filter such that he could appear in their cabin.
4: Limits/Special Notes: - Anything else I should know??
Thanks a bajillion!!
