Justin Trent, Psychic
Status: Approved
Mod Notes: None
Player Name: Brad
Player LJ: b_radwick
Player Email: brad.petry [at] gmail [dot] com
AIM/YIM/etc.: AIM: spyderpetry
Character Name: Justin Trent
Character Type: Psychic: Telepath
Abilities: Justin is able to read the thoughts of others and, to a limited extent, project his own thoughts into their minds. To an even more limited extent, he can project his own influence into their mind as well.
Justin’s ability is one that he has to exercise intent to use. Since he is raw and untrained, it’s a difficult thing for him to do and the harder he tries to use his abilities, the more pain (in the form of headaches) it causes him. Reading surface thoughts is the easiest thing for him to do since it’s a skill he’s been doing ever since he was a teenager, even without necessarily doing it. Things like telling if someone is telling the truth causes little to know pain, while skimming the surface of what someone is thinking causes only mild discomfort.
If Justin wants to actually read someone’s mind it requires more concentrating and focus, as well as more pain. Headaches that last for hours are a common result of this kind of use. If he uses it several times a day, the pain gets worse and worse, resulting in excruciatingly painful migraines.
If Justin tries to speak into someone’s mind, he starts off with migraines and goes from there. The infrequency he does this is one of the reasons he has such trouble with it, as he finds it too risky to reveal himself.
Trying to influence the thoughts of others causes Justin blinding pain, resulting in nosebleeds, ringing in his ears, and blurry vision. If he tries too hard or too often, the pain will cause him to pass out.
Justin’s ability to influence a mind is also linked to how familiar he is with that person’s mind and how human it is. The better he knows someone the easier it is and the more human they are, the easier it is.
Justin also has a Masters in both Criminal Psychology and Criminal Law, although some of the information he “learned” was only through telepathy so he doesn’t know as much about either subject as most people with a Masters might.
He is also a decent shot with a gun as well as at hand to hand combat, but not much more than your average police officer/detective.
Age: 27
Kinsey Rating: 0
Physical Appearance: Tall, blond, and athletic.
PB: Justin Hartley
Personality: Justin walks around with a bit of a swagger and the self confidence of someone who maybe needs to be taken down a peg but hasn’t had that happen yet. Justin manages to straddle the fine line between charming and arrogant and he’s not above using his charm or his looks to his advantage. He tends to have a very lighthearted attitude on the surface and projects an almost carefree attitude. It’s not uncommon for others to consider him a pretty face with not much going for him beyond that, and sometimes he works to project that attitude.
Beyond that surface though Justin is a very intense individual who is given to bouts of depression and self doubt. Growing up with an overbearing, demanding father has given him a bit of a complex about needing to prove himself and requiring validation. He feels like if people think he’s just a pretty face who gets things in life easily, their standards will be set lower and thus, easier to please.
Because of the headaches he gets from using his ability, Justin takes prescription painkillers, which he has become addicted to. Because of this Justin can be irritable and moody if he doesn’t get a fix. Very secretive of his addiction, Justin tends to get angry and defensive if someone confronts him about his pill popping behavior.
Determined to live it up and enjoy himself in ways he never did at college, Justin enjoys having a good time and isn’t above indulging in the party lifestyle now and then, although he’s careful to never let it interfere with his job or his credibility.
History/Background: Justin is part of the wealthy and influential Trent family, movers and shakers in the southern California area for generations and the closest thing to ‘old money’ that the western US had. Housed mainly in LA they’re a family of lawyers, doctors, judges, councilmen, and politicians. Every new member of the family was expected to make a new mark in it and continue on the family legacy.
Justin’s father was the oldest of 3 children and a California Court of Appeals Justice who had his sites set on a Supreme Court seat. Justin was the oldest of 3 children and the only boy. As such, a lot of pressure was placed on him to live up to the family name and carry on the legacy. Enrolled in one of the finest prep schools in the LA area, Justin was expected to get straight A’s and enroll in as many extra curricular activities as possible.
Around the time he was in Junior High School, Justin learned that he had the ability to read minds. It started as a small thing at first, just noticing what his family members were going to say shortly before they were going to say it, but with a little practice Justin realized he could actually hear their thoughts. Realizing that there was no way this could go over well with his family, Justin kept his ability hidden.
He did find uses for it though, as it suddenly made school a lot easier when he could read the teacher’s mind as well as his fellow classmates. Homework and essays still required a lot of work but tests became a breeze, allowing his more free time for his extracurricular pursuits. Along with the ability though came headaches, and Justin was quietly prescribed a prescription by the family doctor for a painkiller to help with his “migraines”. While his father saw this as a sign of weakness, he wasn’t willing to risk the headaches affecting Justin’s school work.
Instead of being pleased with his son’s progress, Justin’s father merely saw his newly improved grades as an opportunity for the boy to do more. Justin was pushed to do more and more by his father. Nothing less than straight A’s was acceptable, making state finals on the track team wasn’t good enough unless it involved a championship or he broke state records.
Justin found no comfort from the rest of his family either, all of them being under similar pressure. The only person that he remotely connected with was his grandmother on his father’s side. Old and somewhat infirm, she was considered no longer “useful” by the family and treated like nothing more than a burden. Justin liked her though and often hid from his father by visiting her section of the house to talk to her.
By the time Justin was ready to go off to college, he was chaffing under his father’s yoke. In an act of rebellion, Justin went to Harvard, rather than one of the local schools that his father had picked out for him, a place where he could extend his influence and help his son along.
Despite the distance, Justin was still desperate to prove himself to his father. Taking on an enormous workload, he double majored in Criminal Psychology as well as Criminal Law. Even using his telepathic abilities Justin was constantly busy, even going so far as spending summers at the university to take courses over the break. The only times he went home were during Christmas Break and even towards the end, he didn’t even visit then. Justin also joined the rowing team after his father voiced a disappointment at Justin not pursuing any physical activities. After an initial failure to make the cut, he became an alternate for the 8 man team.
After seven years of study, Justin graduated with a Masters in both fields, earning him a “Good, now you can come home and help out the family” from his father. Arriving home, Justin learned that his grandmother had passed away a year earlier. Furious that no one had told him and guilty over the fact that he hadn’t visited home before then to learn of it, Justin began to see the type of person his father was turning him in to, and wasn’t pleased with how that was going. A few days after he had returned home, Justin was approached by the family lawyer, learning that his grandmother had given him a rather generous amount of money in her will, the only stipulation being that he live his own life the way he wanted to.
In an act of defiance born out of equal parts courage and the ability to do whatever you want because you had a lot of money Justin refused to take both the bar exam and state certification to become a lawyer or a psychologist. Instead, he left for San Francisco, bought a beachside house there, and became a police officer.
Originally, Justin became a police officer just to anger his father, but a short time on patrol made him see that he could make a real difference with both his education and his abilities. In a short time as a patrolman, Justin earned a reputation for being able to work well with witnesses and suspects. After two years as a patrolman Justin passed the test to become a detective, where he made even more of a name for himself as a good, if a bit cocky, detective, even helping close some major cases, including one involving a serial killer. Recently, Justin has been given an new partner, one that’s a little more professional in their job, in the hopes that her seriousness and humility will rub off on him.
RP Sample: Justin’s breath sounded far too loud in his own ears as he pressed his back up against the wall, gun pressed tight to his chest. He could feel the sweat beading on his forehead and dripping down his back.
Just around the corner he could hear his partner, Eric, talking to the meth addict that was holding him hostage. Eric’s voice was calm and soothing, which belied the panic that Justin could sense in his mind. He had been Eric’s partner long enough that it didn’t take much to read his mind. A 20 year veteran on the force, Eric was thinking about his wife and two daughters and if he’d ever get to see them again.
Keith, the meth head, was thinking about how if he didn’t get a fix soon he was going to kill someone, starting with Eric. Justin had called in for backup, but this was going to be all over before they got there. He needed to do something and do it fast.
“Keith!” he shouted over his shoulder. “I’m coming in. Don’t shoot when I come around the corner, I repeat, DON’T SHOOT!”
Eric shouted at him to not be so stupid but he could tell that the perp wasn’t going to shoot him, so very, very slowly he turned the corner, his gun at the ready, and stood face to face with the two men. “Keith, you don’t want to do this,” he said, just put the gun down. “If- if I don’t get my fix soon, everyone is going to die!” the junkie screamed, tightening his hold on Justin’s partner. Justin knew the junkie meant it, he could hear the man’s voice going a mile a minute and none of the thoughts were good.
“Look, we can get you your fix,” Justin said, not caring if it was a complete lie. His head was starting to throb as he tried to keep up with the man’s thoughts. He knew if he tried, he could speak into the other man’s mind, but that might just freak him out more. But maybe, if he tried hard enough, he could make Keith stop? It was the sort of thing that telepaths in movies and comics could do, so why couldn’t he?
“Keith, put the gun down,” he repeated, this time a little more forcefully and willing the man to put the gun down.
“I swear, I’ll kill you all!” Keith screamed. Justin could hear the panic of his partner’s mind and the effort it took to focus everything made Justin’s eyes water.
“Keith. Put. The gun. Down.”
There was a ringing in his ears now it and felt like his skull was going to split down the middle but he didn’t stop. If Keith or Eric was saying anything, he couldn’t hear it. Keith could be ready to shoot him now for all he knew since he was practically blind, but he continued to push.
“Put it down NOW!” he shouted as the pressure became too much and stars danced before his eyes. He had to stop now or he was going to pass out and that wouldn’t help anyone.
It took his vision a moment to clear but when it did, Eric had Keith face first on the ground and was slapping cuffs on his wrists. Justin let out a breath that he didn’t realize he had been holding.
“Son of a bitch, I thought for sure he was going to shoot me,” Eric said, hauling the junkie to his feet. “I’ve never seen someone talk down a meth head like that with such horrible technique, rookie. And next time I tell you to wait for back up, you goddamn wait for back up.”
Justin gave a slow smile and wiped at his face when he felt something warm and wet against his lip. Blood from his nose, which wasn’t good at all.
“Must have been my pretty face and dazzling smile,” Justin said, flashing a grin at Eric. He knew his partner wasn’t stupid and would have questions for him later, but not now in front of Keith. “Or you know how I hate getting my uniform dirty, I didn’t want to be cleaning you off weeks from now.”
“You’re all heart, rookie,” Eric grunted.
Justin just flashed another smile and turned to call in on his radio that the suspect was in custody. He also took the time to dry swallow two painkillers to help with the headache that was threatening to kill him at the moment. That was definitely something he wasn’t going to try again.
Mod Notes: None
Player Name: Brad
Player LJ: b_radwick
Player Email: brad.petry [at] gmail [dot] com
AIM/YIM/etc.: AIM: spyderpetry
Character Name: Justin Trent
Character Type: Psychic: Telepath
Abilities: Justin is able to read the thoughts of others and, to a limited extent, project his own thoughts into their minds. To an even more limited extent, he can project his own influence into their mind as well.
Justin’s ability is one that he has to exercise intent to use. Since he is raw and untrained, it’s a difficult thing for him to do and the harder he tries to use his abilities, the more pain (in the form of headaches) it causes him. Reading surface thoughts is the easiest thing for him to do since it’s a skill he’s been doing ever since he was a teenager, even without necessarily doing it. Things like telling if someone is telling the truth causes little to know pain, while skimming the surface of what someone is thinking causes only mild discomfort.
If Justin wants to actually read someone’s mind it requires more concentrating and focus, as well as more pain. Headaches that last for hours are a common result of this kind of use. If he uses it several times a day, the pain gets worse and worse, resulting in excruciatingly painful migraines.
If Justin tries to speak into someone’s mind, he starts off with migraines and goes from there. The infrequency he does this is one of the reasons he has such trouble with it, as he finds it too risky to reveal himself.
Trying to influence the thoughts of others causes Justin blinding pain, resulting in nosebleeds, ringing in his ears, and blurry vision. If he tries too hard or too often, the pain will cause him to pass out.
Justin’s ability to influence a mind is also linked to how familiar he is with that person’s mind and how human it is. The better he knows someone the easier it is and the more human they are, the easier it is.
Justin also has a Masters in both Criminal Psychology and Criminal Law, although some of the information he “learned” was only through telepathy so he doesn’t know as much about either subject as most people with a Masters might.
He is also a decent shot with a gun as well as at hand to hand combat, but not much more than your average police officer/detective.
Age: 27
Kinsey Rating: 0
Physical Appearance: Tall, blond, and athletic.
PB: Justin Hartley
Personality: Justin walks around with a bit of a swagger and the self confidence of someone who maybe needs to be taken down a peg but hasn’t had that happen yet. Justin manages to straddle the fine line between charming and arrogant and he’s not above using his charm or his looks to his advantage. He tends to have a very lighthearted attitude on the surface and projects an almost carefree attitude. It’s not uncommon for others to consider him a pretty face with not much going for him beyond that, and sometimes he works to project that attitude.
Beyond that surface though Justin is a very intense individual who is given to bouts of depression and self doubt. Growing up with an overbearing, demanding father has given him a bit of a complex about needing to prove himself and requiring validation. He feels like if people think he’s just a pretty face who gets things in life easily, their standards will be set lower and thus, easier to please.
Because of the headaches he gets from using his ability, Justin takes prescription painkillers, which he has become addicted to. Because of this Justin can be irritable and moody if he doesn’t get a fix. Very secretive of his addiction, Justin tends to get angry and defensive if someone confronts him about his pill popping behavior.
Determined to live it up and enjoy himself in ways he never did at college, Justin enjoys having a good time and isn’t above indulging in the party lifestyle now and then, although he’s careful to never let it interfere with his job or his credibility.
History/Background: Justin is part of the wealthy and influential Trent family, movers and shakers in the southern California area for generations and the closest thing to ‘old money’ that the western US had. Housed mainly in LA they’re a family of lawyers, doctors, judges, councilmen, and politicians. Every new member of the family was expected to make a new mark in it and continue on the family legacy.
Justin’s father was the oldest of 3 children and a California Court of Appeals Justice who had his sites set on a Supreme Court seat. Justin was the oldest of 3 children and the only boy. As such, a lot of pressure was placed on him to live up to the family name and carry on the legacy. Enrolled in one of the finest prep schools in the LA area, Justin was expected to get straight A’s and enroll in as many extra curricular activities as possible.
Around the time he was in Junior High School, Justin learned that he had the ability to read minds. It started as a small thing at first, just noticing what his family members were going to say shortly before they were going to say it, but with a little practice Justin realized he could actually hear their thoughts. Realizing that there was no way this could go over well with his family, Justin kept his ability hidden.
He did find uses for it though, as it suddenly made school a lot easier when he could read the teacher’s mind as well as his fellow classmates. Homework and essays still required a lot of work but tests became a breeze, allowing his more free time for his extracurricular pursuits. Along with the ability though came headaches, and Justin was quietly prescribed a prescription by the family doctor for a painkiller to help with his “migraines”. While his father saw this as a sign of weakness, he wasn’t willing to risk the headaches affecting Justin’s school work.
Instead of being pleased with his son’s progress, Justin’s father merely saw his newly improved grades as an opportunity for the boy to do more. Justin was pushed to do more and more by his father. Nothing less than straight A’s was acceptable, making state finals on the track team wasn’t good enough unless it involved a championship or he broke state records.
Justin found no comfort from the rest of his family either, all of them being under similar pressure. The only person that he remotely connected with was his grandmother on his father’s side. Old and somewhat infirm, she was considered no longer “useful” by the family and treated like nothing more than a burden. Justin liked her though and often hid from his father by visiting her section of the house to talk to her.
By the time Justin was ready to go off to college, he was chaffing under his father’s yoke. In an act of rebellion, Justin went to Harvard, rather than one of the local schools that his father had picked out for him, a place where he could extend his influence and help his son along.
Despite the distance, Justin was still desperate to prove himself to his father. Taking on an enormous workload, he double majored in Criminal Psychology as well as Criminal Law. Even using his telepathic abilities Justin was constantly busy, even going so far as spending summers at the university to take courses over the break. The only times he went home were during Christmas Break and even towards the end, he didn’t even visit then. Justin also joined the rowing team after his father voiced a disappointment at Justin not pursuing any physical activities. After an initial failure to make the cut, he became an alternate for the 8 man team.
After seven years of study, Justin graduated with a Masters in both fields, earning him a “Good, now you can come home and help out the family” from his father. Arriving home, Justin learned that his grandmother had passed away a year earlier. Furious that no one had told him and guilty over the fact that he hadn’t visited home before then to learn of it, Justin began to see the type of person his father was turning him in to, and wasn’t pleased with how that was going. A few days after he had returned home, Justin was approached by the family lawyer, learning that his grandmother had given him a rather generous amount of money in her will, the only stipulation being that he live his own life the way he wanted to.
In an act of defiance born out of equal parts courage and the ability to do whatever you want because you had a lot of money Justin refused to take both the bar exam and state certification to become a lawyer or a psychologist. Instead, he left for San Francisco, bought a beachside house there, and became a police officer.
Originally, Justin became a police officer just to anger his father, but a short time on patrol made him see that he could make a real difference with both his education and his abilities. In a short time as a patrolman, Justin earned a reputation for being able to work well with witnesses and suspects. After two years as a patrolman Justin passed the test to become a detective, where he made even more of a name for himself as a good, if a bit cocky, detective, even helping close some major cases, including one involving a serial killer. Recently, Justin has been given an new partner, one that’s a little more professional in their job, in the hopes that her seriousness and humility will rub off on him.
RP Sample: Justin’s breath sounded far too loud in his own ears as he pressed his back up against the wall, gun pressed tight to his chest. He could feel the sweat beading on his forehead and dripping down his back.
Just around the corner he could hear his partner, Eric, talking to the meth addict that was holding him hostage. Eric’s voice was calm and soothing, which belied the panic that Justin could sense in his mind. He had been Eric’s partner long enough that it didn’t take much to read his mind. A 20 year veteran on the force, Eric was thinking about his wife and two daughters and if he’d ever get to see them again.
Keith, the meth head, was thinking about how if he didn’t get a fix soon he was going to kill someone, starting with Eric. Justin had called in for backup, but this was going to be all over before they got there. He needed to do something and do it fast.
“Keith!” he shouted over his shoulder. “I’m coming in. Don’t shoot when I come around the corner, I repeat, DON’T SHOOT!”
Eric shouted at him to not be so stupid but he could tell that the perp wasn’t going to shoot him, so very, very slowly he turned the corner, his gun at the ready, and stood face to face with the two men. “Keith, you don’t want to do this,” he said, just put the gun down. “If- if I don’t get my fix soon, everyone is going to die!” the junkie screamed, tightening his hold on Justin’s partner. Justin knew the junkie meant it, he could hear the man’s voice going a mile a minute and none of the thoughts were good.
“Look, we can get you your fix,” Justin said, not caring if it was a complete lie. His head was starting to throb as he tried to keep up with the man’s thoughts. He knew if he tried, he could speak into the other man’s mind, but that might just freak him out more. But maybe, if he tried hard enough, he could make Keith stop? It was the sort of thing that telepaths in movies and comics could do, so why couldn’t he?
“Keith, put the gun down,” he repeated, this time a little more forcefully and willing the man to put the gun down.
“I swear, I’ll kill you all!” Keith screamed. Justin could hear the panic of his partner’s mind and the effort it took to focus everything made Justin’s eyes water.
“Keith. Put. The gun. Down.”
There was a ringing in his ears now it and felt like his skull was going to split down the middle but he didn’t stop. If Keith or Eric was saying anything, he couldn’t hear it. Keith could be ready to shoot him now for all he knew since he was practically blind, but he continued to push.
“Put it down NOW!” he shouted as the pressure became too much and stars danced before his eyes. He had to stop now or he was going to pass out and that wouldn’t help anyone.
It took his vision a moment to clear but when it did, Eric had Keith face first on the ground and was slapping cuffs on his wrists. Justin let out a breath that he didn’t realize he had been holding.
“Son of a bitch, I thought for sure he was going to shoot me,” Eric said, hauling the junkie to his feet. “I’ve never seen someone talk down a meth head like that with such horrible technique, rookie. And next time I tell you to wait for back up, you goddamn wait for back up.”
Justin gave a slow smile and wiped at his face when he felt something warm and wet against his lip. Blood from his nose, which wasn’t good at all.
“Must have been my pretty face and dazzling smile,” Justin said, flashing a grin at Eric. He knew his partner wasn’t stupid and would have questions for him later, but not now in front of Keith. “Or you know how I hate getting my uniform dirty, I didn’t want to be cleaning you off weeks from now.”
“You’re all heart, rookie,” Eric grunted.
Justin just flashed another smile and turned to call in on his radio that the suspect was in custody. He also took the time to dry swallow two painkillers to help with the headache that was threatening to kill him at the moment. That was definitely something he wasn’t going to try again.