cacophonish | APOCALYPSE HOW: DIRECTORY

STATISTICS

Jeffrey David Calhoun

FULL NAME

21 (c. 1995)

AGE

June 6, 1974

BIRTHDAY

Original (Gifted & Talented)

CANON

The Spiral

ENTITY

Bonnie's (Floor 2, Room 5)

HOUSING

Busking & odd jobs

OCCUPATION

Avatar of the Spiral

CURRENT STATUS

Jeff Calhoun is a sunny, outgoing bard who lives for the spotlight. He may have failed his way out of school, and he can barely keep a job, but when it comes to music and the Gift, there's no limit to his drive and ambition. With his band of fellow Gifted musicians, an album making the rounds on college radio, and a dedicated following in the underground music scene, Jeff's star is on the rise. As the lead singer/guitarist/frontman of the Nervous Tix, Jeff's known for being wild and reckless, a total live-wire of a performer who can (and will) literally enchant crowds. According to the hype, he's got what it takes to really make it big.

Too bad he accidentally summoned a demon a little over six months ago. He didn't mean to do it; it was like the cosmic equivalent of calling the wrong number. For its part, the demon didn't even know what it was getting into. All it knew was a strange and beautiful melody, reverberating through the Gift, and it followed Jeff's song all the way back to the source. It was really just bad luck and a stupid mistake that tethered the curious, music-loving demon to Jeff.

The two have been trapped together for half a year now, resulting in a mutual madness. The demon, which he's named Ziggy (Stardust, naturally), is a constant presence, talking to him, warping his perception, making it difficult to tell what's real and what's a hallucination. Every moment is beginning to feel like a terrible dream, and sometimes he can't even tell if he's really awake. In response, Jeff has upped his own reckless behavior, diving headfirst into drugs, sex, and anything else he can use to either drown the demon out with noise, or numb himself to the point where he doesn't care anymore. It's only a matter of time before he breaks down and goes racing towards rock bottom.

For more info, check his application.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

height. 6'0" build. Lean, bordering on skinny, with slim hips and long legs. hair. Brown, goes blonde when he gets a lot of sun. His hair's thick, at the longer end of short, and often unruly. eyes. Hazel, almond shaped fashion. Mix 'n match thrift store chic distinguishing marks. A beauty mark under his left eye, a candy heart tattoo on his hip/lower stomach that says "LITTLE BITCH" and a cartoon depiction of Amdusias on his right side/beneath his ribs. (reference) sexuality. Bisexual, leans homoromantic marital status. Single residence. Los Angeles, CA career. Musician, various side jobs as needed demeanor. Painfully Californian voice. Also painfully Californian. Jeff's voice is softer and gentler than one might expect, with a dreamy, distracted quality to it. He isn't shy, or unconfident, so much as he's somebody who's used to being heard without having to raise his voice. (TALKING SAMPLE | SINGING SAMPLE | BONUS) scent. He's generally clean, but spends a lot of time in bars and clubs, so there's often a scent of sweat and cigarettes and body spray. He doesn't have a favored scent profile and will just spray on anything, so one day he might smell like Axe, and the next he'll smell like candy and flowers. mental. No matter how chill he tries to come across, mentally he's like a scared rabbit who's waiting for something terrible to happen. Also, psychics and anyone who can pick up on these sorts of things may pick up on a lingering stain on his psyche, something Other that doesn't belong. It's like psychic demon residue. magical. He's his world's equivalent of a bard, so if anyone can get a feel or sense of his magic, it'd be musical, lyrical, melodious, rhythmic, discordant, cacophonous, etc. depending on his mood.

ABILITIES

As a bard, Jeff makes magic through music; he can only cast through humming, singing, whistling, or playing an instrument. He likes to use magic whenever possible, often in frivolous, flashy ways. Style over substance! Theoretically, with time, research, practice, and a ton of trial and error, he could develop all sorts of spells, but generally he sticks to his established wheelhouse:

Ear Worms. 🌀 As an avatar of the Spiral, Jeff's music can get stuck in people's heads, and along with it: a single delusional thought that they will obsess over until the spell wears off. For example: "Don't Trust So-and-So," "All Your Friends Hate You," "None Of This Is Real," etc etc. How a character acts on the delusion is up to the player. This spell is opt-in only, and will never be cast on a character without prior OOC communication.
Illusions/Hallucinations. 🌀 Jeff can now conjure illusions affecting sight only, not sound/touch/smell/taste. The illusions are not all-encompassing (so nothing that would affect an entire building, or anyone's entire field of vision, and so on) and are mostly just used for purpose of making people doubt their reality and question their own senses.
Telekinesis. He can move objects (or small living creatures) provided 1) they're in his general vicinity (about a 10 foot radius), 2) he knows where they are, and 3) they're not all that heavy (~40 lbs or less).
Pyrokinesis. Starting and extinguishing small fires is Magic 101, and Jeff's no exception-- provided there's something flammable to actually ignite. Jeff can manipulate fires with magic, but only in flashy, pointless ways. He can't change the size or intensity of fires, but he can make them dance and take shapes temporarily. Party trick!
Lights. Jeff can use magic to light up an area-- sparkling fairy lights, or creepy will-o-the-wisp looking things, or colorful lights, and so on. They're showy, pretty, and temporary.
Locating. Sometimes, Jeff can use magic to find things, like misplaced keys. This can work on all sorts of objects, but he has to be familiar with the "essence" or "energy" (or whatever you want to call it) of the object's owner.
Blight. He can kill plants, but it's rude and he tries not to.
Intoxication/Empathic Manipulation. One of his go-to party tricks is to sway the moods of his audience. His spells can have an intoxicating effect on the listener, usually a temporary state of euphoria or lowered inhibition. Typically, effects won't last for more than 30 minutes, and would be weaker/more diluted if cast over larger groups. On his own, Jeff can have a moderate effect on a handful of people. When amped up by other magic users (like his bandmates, back home), he can work a crowd into a frenzy.
(Note: I'll never have him cast this type of spell on another character without discussing it OOCly first, and am always happy to have the spell totally fail.)

PERMISSIONS

NAME. Dee CONTACT.

weeyotch / weeyotch#8200 (discord) ACTIVE TIMES/PACE. My tagging schedule tends to be pretty irregular because of work, and I'm more likely to be active before 5 AM (EST) on weekdays. I have periods when I'm totally present and boomeranging regularly, and then I have periods when I can't even look at any of my threads for several days. BRACKETS/PROSE. I default to prose for ease of phone tagging, but my tagging partners can use any style they're comfortable with, no need to match me. It's all good with me either way. OFFENSIVE SUBJECTS & TRIGGERS. None, though I'll generally avoid scenes or plots that involve cruelty to animals or animals in distress.
BACKTAGGING. Yes please always. I go through periods when I'm very, very slow due to work and after-work obligations, so I rely pretty heavily on backtags. I'm always happy to handwave things, as well. THREADHOPPING. Yes for Network-type threads; ask first for prose/log/action. FOURTHWALLING. N/A NOT INTERESTED IN. I'm open to anything; will update if this changes
PHYSICAL AFFECTION. He can be pretty casually touchy-feely, and is generally open to physical affection in return. But if he's in his head, touch can either make him extremely cagey, or extremely clingy. PHYSICAL VIOLENCE. You can attack him, but he's a weenie, so it would probably be a very short fight! He's more likely to throw something and run away, than stand his ground. RELATIONSHIPS. Yes! In theory. He's easy to get in bed, but relationships are another beast. He's extremely flighty, has never had a relationship last longer than a month, and has a really bad habit of accidentally ghosting people. PSYCHIC & PSIONIC. Mind reading, telepathy, aura reading, dream walking, etc. are all allowed, since Jeff doesn't have any fancy mental wards to keep people out. He's an open book. MAGIC. Go ahead and use any and all magic on him. Jeff's own magic has a very musical 'feel' and energy. MEDICAL INFORMATION. He could use a nap and some decent nutrition.
WARNINGS. Prior to arriving in game, Jeff was dealing with hallucinations, fugue states/blackouts, psychological torture, and demonic possession. While he's largely going to try to bury that trauma without dealing with it at all, it's fresh on his mind and likely to come up in the narration. He also engages in recreational drug use, but I'm not looking to play up that aspect of the character here, so I figure he's just going to have a hard time getting his hands on anything stronger than weed unless a plot calls for it.

LIFE IN GLOUCESTER

General Notes Jeff mistrusts and dislikes the ADI for its restrictive rules and overall anti-magic/anti-supernatural stance, and thus avoids them for the most part. He will stop by HQ from time to time and take odd jobs with them for cash, but otherwise, doesn't consider himself affiliated with the ADI.

On the flipside, he's got a pretty positive attitude regarding Bonnie and the flophouse. He'll help out as best he can, and while he can't cook and generally has very little in the way of a grocery budget, he will supply the kitchen with day-old pastries and other discarded (packaged, nonperishable) food. Dumpster diving: it's a skill!

With the acquisition of a guitar in mid-August, Jeff's started busking for cash. It's easy to run into him around town as he's doing his thing. He's probably got a sign with him that says "GUITARIST FOR ADOPTION. LOST MY BAND IN A TRAGIC TIME TRAVEL ACCIDENT :("

Thanks to experiencing one too many public blackouts from the Lullaby Girl's tunes, Jeff spent October working part-time in the Admin department, mostly as a coffee/errand boy. He didn't feed the Spiral during the month of October, until he ran back to it on Halloween night.

Sum up: November, December. Tried (somewhat) to be a normal person, though he was still pretty freely practicing magic. Any momentum he'd make on his music career would get halted. Developed an intense hipster hatred of smart phones and mobile games. Fluttered around Tim Drake a lot, then got mad at him, then got un-mad.

January: ADI suspicions, sent Malcolm to talk to him, set up a tail to follow him and watch him.

February: snowed in, fed on Meredith, went off the grid... ish. Bonnie's became mostly empty, which added to his alienation and depression.

March: struck a friendship with a delusion, may have accidentally murdered a person (his memory's fuzzy), threw people in the path of a malicious avatar, caused a blackout, and died.

Entity Timeline

Early August: Feeding the Spiral (1)
Late August - Early September: Feeding the Spiral (2)
Early September: Encountering some Desolation
Mid-Late September: Feeding the Spiral (3)
Halloween: Feeding the Spiral (4)
November: Encountering magic mushrooms in Dogtown
Late February: Feeding the Spiral (5) Handwaved.
Early March: Feeding the Spiral (6)
Mid March: Death & Rebirth

INVENTORY / SHOPPING LIST

Squier Telecaster (~$180 / busking & practice guitar)
Seagull Entourage Dreadnaught (~$500 / gig & practice acoustic guitar)
Roland Micro Cube GXR (~$170 / busking & practice amp)
NOT IN PLAY: Fender Stratocaster (~$1000 / layaway / Jeff's put down about 90% so far / gig guitar)
NOT IN PLAY: Fender Pro Jr Amp (~$500 / tube, 20 watt? / gig amp)
NOT IN PLAY: Marshall MG30GFX Solid State Amp (~$280 / 30 watt / practice amp)

CODE Tessisamess

APOCALYPSE HOW: DIRECTORY

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