Name: Jeffrey David Calhoun Door: Submissive, per his previous stint in Duplicity Canon: Original Canon Point: Summer of 1995, having been possessed by a demon and generally losing his grip on reality over the better part of a year. It's Fine. Age: 21 Appearance: Tall, with long legs and a slight build, and an uncoordinated style that could best be described as thrift store chic. His hair's thick and often unruly, on the longer end of short, and often blonde from the sun. Generally, he looks like he could do with some good sleep and a proper meal. ( Reference) History: For more information than you could ever want, here's an extended World Info post. Jeff's from a modern fantasy universe, set in the present day, where magic is: - Real. It exists, and it's been around for ages.
- Hereditary. Approximately 12% of the population is born with the ability to use magic at all.
- Out in the open. Everybody knows about it.
For centuries, magic users did the whole "hiding in plain sight" thing, their "society" (such as it was) existing as a secret, underground subculture. That changed with modern shifts in mass media and globalization. By the 20th century, discovery seemed inevitable. In the late 1940s, magic users outed themselves and emerged on the international stage. There were rough times, and many places are still rife with tension and conflict. But nowadays, in a lot of the world, the magical is practically mundane. Officially, magical abilities are known as Gifts, and those who possess them are Gifted. While Gifted people are generally understood as part of modern society, that doesn't mean they're universally loved or embraced. Stigma and prejudices still run deep, especially in more conservative communities. But by and large, being Gifted (or not) is just another facet of a person's identity. Although the decades since the big reveal were full of upheaval and tension, things are beginning to take a positive shift by the 1990s. It's far from perfect, but these days, being Gifted is becoming less and less of a fringe thing. Click here for the full history write-up. Here's the tldr version:Jeff Calhoun is-- well, was-- 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 at one of his shows. 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 close to 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. It's reached the point where every moment is 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. He's not so sunny and outgoing anymore, and it's only a matter of time before he breaks down and goes racing towards rock bottom. Note: Jeff's arrival in this world will sever the link between him and his demon. The demon's staying behind in his world, because it's tied to the magical "essence" there (and, more importantly, because keeping it would effectively mean playing two characters at once). Personality: - Self-Destructive - Jeff's reckless and short-sighted. He's like a living Fool card, always dancing on the edge of a cliff. He'll often act without considering consequences, and he'll frequently seek out highs from recreational drug and alcohol use, unsafe sex, and generally impulsive, thrill-seeking behavior. He's sort of like a free spirit taken to a dysfunctional extreme. Raised as a latchkey kid with no boundaries, rules or restrictions, Jeff's spent his life doing what he wants and being largely indifferent to the consequences-- mostly because there were never any consequences that mattered. His parents, Gifted ex-hippies, believed that boundaries were stifling (mentally, spiritually, and magically), and they took the whole concept of free-range parenting a little too far. All Jeff's ever known is the freedom to be true to himself, in whichever reckless, impulsive ways his whims take him. Since dropping out of school and heading out on his own, he's continued to do his own thing, living on the fringes of 'respectable' society, only working side jobs juuuust enough to fund his passions, and otherwise focusing on his music career, and on magic, parties, and drugs.
His self-destructive tendencies have only ramped up in light of his ongoing struggles with a demon in his head, as he seeks out as much 'noise' as possible to try to drown out the worst of it. When he's sober or he isn't drowning in adrenaline and endorphins, he's just so pitiful and lost, that he just can't stand it.
Jeff's already risky behavior has taken an even more dangerous spin recently, as he's developed this feeling of disconnect with his own body, sometimes regarding it as nothing more than a puppet made out of meat and bones. It's another result of being kind of sort of possessed by a demon for so many months. He easily and carelessly objectifies himself, feeling little possessiveness or protectiveness over his body. He's willing to put his health and safety at risk-- or, rather, it's just something he's stopped considering as much when he acts. Self preservation is little more than an afterthought, and on some level, he's flirting with impending disaster, almost daring it to come for him, because he's reaching a point where he feels as if he's got nothing to lose.
- Thoughtless - Jeff's flighty and superficial and, ultimately, pretty thoughtless. He's a major flake, forgetting things (and people) easily, as he's so wrapped up in his needs, his dreams, his emotional, artistic bullshit. It's an innocent sort of cruelty, where he seems really engaged and intimate with another person, only to forget them as soon as his attention moves on to other things. It's not uncommon for Jeff to seemingly connect with a person, only to ghost out of their lives the next day. Jeff tends to be simultaneously friendly with everybody and friends with nobody. As a result, he can be quite superficial or unintentionally inauthentic in his interactions with others. And while he won't necessarily throw people under the bus in order to get ahead, he will leave them behind as he zeroes in on, well, whatever it is he's trying to achieve at any given time. He may not even think about it, or realize he's doing it; it's just a thing that people in his circle have come to expect from him. Sometimes Jeff's there, and he's a great friend, and sometimes he's an absolute stranger who'll look right through you.
And now that he's hitched to a demon and truly living the Tortured Artist life, Jeff's myopic tendencies are at an all time high. Where before, the worst thing his friends could say was that he was sometimes a flake, sometimes kind of thoughtless, but generally pretty considerate and well meaning... Now it's become a dynamic where he'll fall into periods where it's no give and all take. He'll steal from friends, acquaintances, and his most beloved of loved ones if he can justify it to himself. He'll dump his problems on them and give no support in return. At his worst, he'll smile to someone's face while he lies, takes advantage, hurts feelings, breaks hearts, and enacts other little cruelties, all while making excuses for why he's not really doing anything harmful. It's fine. It's justified. He's not really hurting anyone. It doesn't count as long as he doesn't mean to be harmful.
- Needy - He's a performer, so it's probably no surprise that he absolutely craves attention. All Jeff's ever really dreamed about was the spotlight, and the sound of a screaming, adoring crowd is the greatest high he can experience. Though he won't readily admit this to others, it feels like there's some bottomless black hole in him that feeds on being loved and adored and cherished, and it's always hungry, never satisfied. Jeff's tendency to make superficial connections is a result of this; it's like he's going for quantity over quality. He can feel as if he's somebody's best friend for one fleeting night, and that'll feed that need for intimacy, without putting him in the terrifying position of being open and vulnerable. In a way, Jeff has hundreds of loved ones, even if he doesn't remember their names the next day, and their faces are kind of a blur...
And really, his neediness brings us to his dirty secret: Jeff kind of likes being possessed by the demon. It's always with him; it loves him, in some fucked up, destructive way. (And Jeff, in turn, loves it, just as much as he hates it.) It's obsessed, and it can't get enough of him, and sure it's destroying his sanity as an inevitable side-effect of their, uh, 'cohabitation,' but now he's never alone. His number one fan is in his head all the time. Of course he wants it gone-- at least, he's pretty sure he wants it gone-- but on some level, he's afraid of the solitude and silence that's going to follow. Which, since the demon won't be coming with him to Duplicity, will be something Jeff will struggle with. He might have an initial honeymoon period, overwhelmed with excitement that he's got his mind and sanity back, but once reality sinks in and he realizes, oh, yeah, he really is alone now, just a lost and unloved lonely boy, he's going to seek out a replacement wherever he can get it. If he finds the right person to scratch that itch for adoration, love, and affection, he may become clingy, needy, and desperate.
- Kind-Hearted - Despite his many flaws as a person, at his core, Jeff is a sweet, gentle, kind person. Though his sense of humor may be dry at times, and he may seem superficial, but he genuinely doesn't want to hurt or upset others. Whatever harm he causes is rarely deliberate, and for as selfish as he can be, Jeff generally has good intentions. Well. Decent intentions. Chaotic neutral intentions? Anyway, when he's at his best, Jeff's friendly, outgoing, and cheerful-- hell, he can be a living beam of sunshine. Emotionally and socially, Jeff's a bit nomadic, in that he can-- or is at least willing to-- befriend just about anyone. He's that guy who can get invited to any party, no matter who's throwing it, even though he isn't part of any group in particular.
When he's not dealing with his personal demons, Jeff tends to come across as a laid-back burnout, friendly and a bit goofy, and ultimately sweet and harmless. He can't stand to see others in distress, and will usually try to do his best to help if somebody's crying or otherwise upset (barring those times when he's in peak Moody Tortured Artist mode and can't/won't look past his own nonsense to notice anybody else). Though he can be selfish, Jeff's also got a lot of compassion that he doesn't really know how to direct, and a nurturing spirit. He especially loves animals, and will usually drop everything to help one in distress. He can't stand to kill bugs, and he thinks plants are cool and totally wants to grow one, even if all he can ever manage to do is kill them. Jeff may not think much of his safety and well-being, but he loves life-- he loves the concept of life, and the lives of others, and animals, and the planet and--
Basically, tldr: Jeff's a sweet magical hippie at heart.
Powers and Abilities: Jeff is Gifted, which means he has the potential to make magic work through self-directed Ritual. Magic, in this universe, isn't some amazing superpower, nor is it something that's as simple as picking a spell out of a book. Its applications can be versatile, running the pretty typical fantasy gamut (clairvoyance, glamours, telekinesis, vague curses/blessings, etc), with the potential mixing, matching, customization, and so on. The principles of magic are universal, but the actual spellwork is based on the individual. Spells and Rituals are unique to the caster. Rituals are tied into some aspect of who they are, what they're interested in, or what they're skilled at. As for spells, they have to be crafted/composed and cast by the individual. Think of them like a song that can only be played by one person. They can cast the same spell over and over again, or remix it with something old and something new, or craft a new one. The bigger the effect you wish to have, the more difficult and complex the ritual spellwork must be. Jeff's Ritual is music: singing, humming, whistling, playing the guitar, etc. Any spell he works has to be built on music, which makes him a bard. As far as magical potential goes, Jeff can be powerful, when he applies himself, and his magic is the epitome of style over substance: flashy, potentially useful, but applied frivolously. What boosts him up and sets him apart from your average Gifted person is his willingness to be amplified by other casters (his bandmates), and further fueled by his crowds' energy. On his own, Jeff's magic has a very limited range and influence, and his spells tend to be small, personal, and borderline mundane. It should also be noted that his spells only work in person, and only when he's actively casting them. So a studio recording of one of his spells wouldn't have any effect on anybody listening, nor would a live broadcast. Typically, his range of magic includes: - 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). So Jeff could never lift a car with magic, but he could put it in park by manipulating the gearshift. Really, this kind of spell is mostly useful when his hands are full and he doesn't want to make the extra trip to carry something.
(It's also great for pick pocketing and shoplifting)
In theory, he could use this kind of magic to do things like pick locks! But since he's likely unfamiliar with the lock's structure, it would be the magical equivalent of throwing shit at a wall to see what sticks.
- Empathic Manipulation & Intoxication: 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. On the darker end of the spectrum, he can induce hysteria, terror, aggression, and other negative emotions, but it's nothing he has any interest in doing. Typically, effects wouldn'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 an ecstatic frenzy.
Note: This ability is opt-in only, and will be included in my permissions post if accepted.
- Pyrokinesis: Starting fires is Magic 101, and Jeff's no exception-- provided there's something flammable to actually ignite. He can light a candle, or start a campfire (y'know, that's already got kindling and kerosene or whatever), but nine times out of ten, he'd rather just grab a lighter to do the same thing. Jeff can snuff out small flames, but he can't stop an uncontrolled fire.
Beyond lighting/snuffing out fires, Jeff can manipulate them a little with magic, but only in flashy, pointless ways. He can make them dance a little, or take shapes temporarily, but that's about it. Jeff can't change the size or intensity of fires.
- 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. Mostly, this spell comes in handy if Jeff's stuck in the dark and nobody has a flashlight.
- Locating: Sometimes, Jeff can use magic to find things. Like if he misplaces his keys, the right spell can give him a sense of where they might be. 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. So Jeff can find his own misplaced objects, but he couldn't find his friend's dad's missing golf club. I mean, unless he spent some time with the guy first. As a teenager, Jeff would use this kind of magic to try to locate and steal test answers from his teachers.
- Blight: He can kill plants, but it's rude and he tries not to. He also can't do the opposite-- nurture life-- with magic, as much as he'd like to. He just wants to grow some plants, man!
There's also a range of magic that Jeff's absolutely not capable of: healing (that's kind of a one in a billion skill), telepathy, mind control, flying, anything permanent, and anything that might have a larger scale influence than his immediate area. In addition to all the magical wizard shit, Jeff's an exceptional guitarist and talented singer, and he's got some standard juvenile delinquent skills, like shoplifting, basic breaking and entering (ie simple locks), and uhhhhh urban foraging (dumpster diving). Inventory: - Guitar
- Amp
- A mixtape cassette
Samples: Sample 1, Sample 2 ( Bonus Network) |
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cacophonish) wrote2021-10-11 06:39 am
