PLAYER
Name: Dee
Age: 30+
Contact: weeyotch & weeyotch#8200 (disc)
Permission Post: HERE
Reserve: N/A

CHARACTER
Name: Jeff Calhoun
True Name: Starshine (aka what his hippie mom almost named him)
Canon: Original (Canon Point: Summer of 1995, after a ritual gone wrong + roughly a year in Duplicity)
Age: 21 (just about 22? He doesn't know anymore, it's hard to keep track of time)
History: Click here for the full history write-up. Now here's the slightly condensed version:

Jeff's from a modern fantasy universe that's pretty much the same as our world, except that magic exists, and it's out in the open. 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.

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.

As of his canon point, he's careened towards rock bottom, alienated his bandmates, friends, and loved ones, and has reached a point of such profound desperation that he's finally composed a spell to try to get rid of the demon... by giving it his body. And, being the big drama queen that he is, he performed this experimental spell in front of a packed club, at his latest show. Jeff promptly threw up all over himself and blacked out, only to wake up here. Mission accomplished??

Duplicity History: Waking up as a second class citizen in a porno dystopian police state, somehow, was the best thing to ever happen to Jeff. Yeah, he was-- and is-- still a huge mess, but it provided him some much-needed healing and liberation. While he was there, he began to repair his relationship with music and magic, found new outlets for his creativity and self-expression, fell in love with a demigod named Bash, and has been learning to find the strength to care for himself and others. Although he got in trouble here and there, Jeff was pretty quick to adapt to the city, and he mostly kept his head down and focused on the positive: the friends and connections he made, his feelings for Bash, and exposing himself to new ideas, concepts, artists, etc. from other people's worlds/timelines. (This 90s boy got waaaay into Taylor Swift, thanks to Quentin Coldwater.)

Notably, he also came to terms with some of his own feelings of guilt over the Demon Incident. During a 'face your fears' sort of event, Jeff found himself stalked by a manifestation of Ziggy (I mean, as much as 'an abstract entity from a purely magical plane of existence' can be physically manifested, anyway). After realizing that running solved nothing, and he was keeping himself in a toxic cycle that would always put others in the line of fire, Jeff faced Ziggy and... apologized to it. He apologized for accidentally summoning it, and accidentally tethering them to each other, and all the madness that followed. After apologizing, and embracing the demon, it disappeared, and Jeff... Well, he's still working through his issues, but this has been a huge milestone for him.

Don't worry, though, he's still a disaster who flirts with self destruction and can often barely take care of himself, and small roadblocks can be enough to send him spiraling again. But he's working on it, and actually making an effort to keep to simple routines. He's a little more relaxed, responsible, and a lot more happy.

Powers/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:

• Telekinesis: He can move objects (or small living creatures) provided 1) they're in his general vicinity, 2) he knows where they are, and 3) they're not all that heavy (basically anything an adult man in decent health can reasonably lift). So Jeff could never lift a car with magic, but he could put it in park by manipulating the gearshift.
  
  (It's also great for pick pocketing and shoplifting)
  
  
• 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, or set someone's clothes on fire if they're being a total dick... 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 move or take shapes temporarily, but that's about it.
  
  
• 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. He can be a one man Laser Floyd show.
  
  
• Clairvoyance & Locating: Sometimes, Jeff can use magic to find things, or he can 'read' some information from an object, mostly in the form of vibes and faint impressions. 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 only picked up this spell after repeatedly trying and failing to nurture plants into growing. He just wants to grow some flowers, man!

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:
- whatever he's wearing
- makeup case with assorted cosmetics and a fuckton of sparkly shit
- guitar and amp
- walkman + a few tapes
- a smartphone type device with no network connectivity, but a load of pics and selfies he's taken from the past year

Job History:

• Makeup Artist at Zom-Bae, a gothy-makeup shop. (Duplicity) Skills, responsibilities, and achievements:
  - Gently and respectfully beating faces
  
  
• Gig Musician at various venues. (Duplicity) Skills, responsibilities, and achievements:
  - Performing at venues and parties as a solo act (magic optional)
  
  
• Lead Singer / Lead Guitarist / Frontman for the Nervous Tix. (1990 - 1995) Skills, responsibilities, and achievements:
  - Singing, guitar, songwriting, musical composition
  - Performing for live audiences
  - Developing musical rituals to entertain audiences
  - Recording an album
  - Being awesome and charismatic
  - Partying and hooking up with his adoring fans Networking
  - Demanding attention at all times
  - Alienating friends and loved ones
  - Accidentally summoning demons from another plane of existence
  
  
• Waiter / Clerk for various restaurants and retail establishments. (1990 - 1993) Skills, responsibilities, and achievements:
  - Taking orders and getting them wrong about 40% of the time
  - Forgetting to refill drinks
  - Charming tips out of customers in spite of poor service skills
  - Turning up to his shifts 30 minutes late
  - Sleeping through shifts entirely
  - Giving customers an incorrect amount of change
  
  
• Student at Santa Monica High School. (1988 - 1992) Skills, responsibilities, and achievements:
  - Skipping classes
  - Finding places to hide and smoke with his friends
  - Creative uses of magic to cheat on tests
  - Maintaining a D average
  - Dropping out halfway through his senior year

Suppressions: Although he's starting to finally heal and recover from The Demon Incident, Jeff's still very hush-hush about it. Although he may unintentionally give himself away if conversations steer too close to his demon issues (like, say, somebody else talks about possession or something), Jeff will pretty much never bring up Ziggy, or any of his issues/trauma/etc surrounding Ziggy on his own. It's like pulling teeth to get him to acknowledge it.

Generally speaking, Jeff spends a lot of time trying to project an image that HE'S FINE, EVERYTHING'S FINE. Usually, he'll try to pass his own self loathing and insecurity off as a joke, like he doesn't really think he's a stupid dumpster monster of a person (he totally thinks he's a stupid dumpster monster of a person). Did I mention he's also very sensitive? He's totally sensitive, and he has a painfully expressive face.

Oh and after spending about a year with a demon in his head, warping his senses, his perception, and filling his head with constant noise, Jeff's pretty sure he's either insane, or he's one fucked up hallucination away from totally losing his mind. While he's more stable and secure these days, he still doesn't always feel that he can trust his own senses, which just adds to all the insecurity and uncertainty.

His neediness is another aspect of himself that he struggles with, and he tends to try to bury it by making as many fleeting, shallow, brief-but-very-intense connections as possible. If he flits around from person to person, he can't get attached, and they'll never have to see how clingy he really is! It's fool proof. (While being in a relationship with Bash has assuaged this somewhat, he still very much craves and needs external validation from as many people as possible, while simultaneously pretending he's just a cool casual dude and it's nbd.)

Jeff's additionally picked up some sparkling new issue he's suppressing after his time in Duplicity: he thinks others see him as weak/soft/fragile (too cute to be taken seriously, like a fuzzy little kitten), which can lead to him engaging in more impulsive/reckless behavior to overcompensate and prove that he's a Totally Serious Badass Adult. Because that's what Totally Serious Badass Adults do, of course.

Greatest Fear: That people will realize he's an empty, vacuous, selfish monster if they really get to know and 'see' him. That he'll hurt anyone who cares about him. And that he'll ultimately be left with only himself for company.

Greatest Desire: Thanks to his time in Duplicity, Jeff's not so hung up on the psuedo-immortality of fame and starstruck worship anymore. Now his greatest desire is to hit the wide, open world with Bash. He yearns for freedom, open roads, vast seas, endless skies, and the beautiful chaos of endless possibility.

Greatest Regret: Now that he's resolved some of his guilt re: his own (accidental, unintentional) negative impact on Ziggy, Jeff's greatest regret is how he treated his friends and loved ones back home, being capricious and destructive and ultimately discarding them, rather than admitting he was struggling and coming to them for help. Being trapped in other worlds, with no ticket home, has him convinced that this will remain forever unresolved. It eats Jeff up that he'll never be able to apologize, come clean, and make amends with his best friend, his bandmates, his parents, his brothers, anyone.

Sample: TDM & THREAD

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