((The Application, since that's how everyone else starts off these things...))
Character you're applying for: Jack Horner
Series the character is from: A Vertigo comic, "Jack of Fables", although it is a spin-off from the "Fables" in which Jack had a role as well (up to this point at which his own series started).
Character's age: Hundreds of years old, however he looks anywhere from twenties to early thirties (depends on the artist who draws him in a given issue).
Character's gender: Male
Character's "Real Name": John Trick (He's used this as an alias in masquerading as a non-Fable)
How long have you roleplayed your character, if at all?: I have not roleplayed Jack before.
Where have you roleplayed in general and/or with this specific character?: General Aim. A lot. :)
Have you played the game/watched the movie or anime/read the book or comic, etc. that your character hails from?: Yes; I own all the "Fables" comics and all of the "Jack of Fables" comics and have been following them for years.
Please give us a detailed personal history of your character: Jack is the Jack of "Jack and the Beanstalk", "Jack the Giant Killer", "Jack Frost", and various other tales which feature the character of Jack. However, he was driven from the Fable Homelands (along with many other Fable characters, such as the Big Bad Wolf and Snow White) when "The Adversary" and his armies took them over. He fled with the others to our realm and have lived amongst us for hundreds of years, passing off as an ordinary human. For a time, he lived within the Fabletown community in New York City. Jack has always been something of a trickster and a con-artist, so his history is peppered with schemes to get rich or to better himself. He has been in and out of Fable prison for his actions and thus, has had a long standing feud(deservingly) with Bigby Wolf (the Big Bad Wolf), the Fabletown sheriff. Some of his schemes include staging the gruesome death of his girlfriend, Rose Red, to get out of a debt, stealing Santa's "Naughty or Nice" list to sell to the government, and trying to sell the beans that sprout the beanstalk of his past (beans he no longer possesses, though that doesn't stop him from trying to swindle folks out of money). Recently, he left Fabletown with a Liliputian named Jill (As in "Gulliver's Travels") with a truck full of stolen goods to start a film company with the goal of increasing his popularity (it is believed that the more popular the Fable is with people of our dimension, the more powerful the Fable). While he succeeds in creating these movies about his life, the Fabletown law (with a new acting Sheriff, Beast from "Beauty and the Beast)is called in when Jill gets annoyed and it banishes Jack from Fabletown forever. In short, Jack is told that he is to disappear amongst humanity and Sheriff Beast will tell his higher ups he was given the slip. If Jack ever shows his head in Fabletown again, he will be killed. Jack, with his newfound invulnerability gained from the movies' popularity (it hasn't been established how invulnerable he really is, although he has survived being impaled, hit by multiple cars, and blown up with a bomb) and a suitcase full of money, was next captured and held hostage in a facility (the "Golden Boughs") designed to strip him and other rogue Fables of their magical powers. The Golden Boughs was set up as a retirement community, controlled by a weaselly looking magical man named Mr. Revise and his staff of "Librarians". Revise declared that Jack struck him as a threat, as his goal was to remove all magic from the world and he had nearly succeeded when the fleeing Fables had entered the realm, reintroducing magic. Jack took an immediate disliking to Revise, who swore he would "emasculate" Jack and rob him of his powers. He has since escaped by planning a massive jailbreak, in which fellow Fable (and booty call) Goldilocks attempted to turn him into Revise. Jack, in turn, shoved her down a well. Jack is now on the lose in Las Vegas.
In the distant past, Jack climbed the beanstalk, slew giants, and, in sleeping with the Snow Queen, was made Jack Frost for a time. He also fought in the Civil war as a Confederate soldier, beat the Devil in a hand of cards, and captured Death (though he released him).
Please give us a detailed description of your character's personality: Jack loves money and wealth. Much of what drives Jack is his determination to be rich and powerful.
Jack's a schemer, albeit not always the most successful. He practices underhanded and sneaky methods, but his greed and his self importance often get the better of him. He's cocky, especially when it comes to his accomplishments, self centered, arrogant, but at the same time, witty, decent at lying (from Jack of Fables #6: "He has to be lying. That's what Jack does.") and storytelling, suave (in certain situations), and playful. He is good at sleight of hand and not bad at tricking people. Jack never says no to a pretty face (especially if he can manipulate the situation). In short, he's a jerk, but a jerk it's hard to hate.
This isn't to say Jack is incapable of doing nice things or that all of his schemes fall through; Jack just dreams too big. As compared to many of the other Fables, Jack comes from a pauper's background. In the presences of Princesses and magical beings, Jack is simply a man of peasant background who got good at killing Giants (and perhaps others) and swindling people. Because he is always (and has always been) without the financial backing of many of his contemporaries, he is very easily won over by any chance to make big bucks. He is good at improvising in his situations and tactful in letting on as to what he's really up to or knows (although sometimes it is easily guessed). He is not devoid of goodwill, at least as far as he thinks. For example, when making his movies, he provided his Liliputian cohort with a variety of doll houses and clothes because she complained of being bored (her small size meant she could not walk around amongst the ordinary people, as it would draw attention the the existence of Fables). In Jack's mind, he was buying her things that she should like, so she should have been happy; Jill just wanted to go home.
As far as schemes go, I feel Jack often accomplishes what he sets out to do, although nothing more. When it came to getting out of a debt, he coerced his girlfriend to disappear so it would appear she was brutally murdered. Though the plot was eventually discovered, Jack was no longer bound to pay his debt, but given a year long community service sentence. When he decided that he wanted to become a powerful Fable, he succeeded in gaining these powers, but was immediately stripped of his money and film company and sent into exile. Jack has little concern for who he may cross in his exploits, which shows a lack of concern on his part. This has more than once come back to bite him. He's not actively malicious, just uncaring and looking out only for himself. He doesn't go out of his way to anger people unless he feels slighted (though he feels slighted quite a bit, so it doesn't take much). He's prone to show off to impress women or tell fanciful stories to win folks over.
Jack is capable of holding his own in a fight, although he often chooses to back down or retreat. While he now has healing powers, he's still a bit accustomed to doing whatever it takes to save his own skin. Should a point arise where physical force is necessary, Jack has experience in slaying giants and fighting (he even served in the Confederate army for awhile, although with the motive of bedding a rich Southern girl). Generally, Jack will not fight, at least not seriously, unless looking to make a point through intimidation or sincerely threatened. That doesn't stop him from mouthing off; he's big on talking smack.
To sum Jack up in a quote from Jack of Fables #8: "...Jack is not a great man or ever a GOOD man...But he's obviously a tough bastard...and I believe he has some rudimentary kind of honor that will serve."
(A comment, though, as I don't know if it would matter. Fables have a tight lip policy on their magical nature around "Mundies" (or the inhabitants of the "mundane" world, aka our world). Jack would probably be quick to play along with the insistences that he is, in fact, rather normal around anyone who doesn't demonstrate magical abilities or knowledge of who is really is. )
Please give us a detailed physical description of your character: Jack is tall, but an average tall for a man. He is often stubbly and unshaven, giving him a slightly scuzzy air. However, he is often described as being very attractive. His hair is blonde and currently snakes about halfway down his back, which he wears in a loose ponytail. He's muscular and in good shape (he is once called on overacting in one of his schemes, as he had rushed up the stairs and was too out of breath to get his speech across. Bigby points out that he's more than able to handle running up a couple of flights of stairs without being winded and is putting on a show to appear frantic). It was mentioned once that he has a half-moon birth mark "on his hind end", but it was only mentioned once in passing.
While Jack is often described as being an attractive young man, comments have been made that his eyes look old and that he carries with him an air of both old and young. This undoubtedly comes from his Fable status, which keeps him from actively aging, though he has been around for centuries. It has also been stated that Jack, like other Fables, carry with them a European air. Whether this means he have a slight accent or just that sort of aura is unclear (no one has ever commented on an accent of any sort).
Jack usually wears whatever is appropriate for someone of his current standing. When he has money, he tends to wear preppier suits and trendy clothing. When not so well off, his clothing becomes more raggedy. He seems to prefer a simple t-shirt and jeans motif with sneakers for the most part, though. He also sometimes dons a Confederate soldier hat (going back to his time spent in the Confederate army), but that is a rare occurrence.
He's a boxer's man. :P
What point in time are you taking your character from when he/she appears at Landel's?: I'd like to take Jack from right after he escapes from the Golden Boughs and before he winds up in Las Vegas. At that point in the story, he was hitchhiking along the highway just outside of Idaho, looking for any means to get away without being followed by Revise's agents. Prime time for a new adventure. :)
What kinds of magical/special/crazy powers does your character have, if any?: Jack is very old, as Fables seem to not die unless they are killed. He also has Wolverine-like recovery powers, albeit the type of injury seems to affect the rate at which he heals, which is much slower than the X-man. He also had ice powers for a time in the past, but it's implied that they were taken away by the same person who gave them in the first place, so they are probably no longer present.
If present, how do you plan to tweak those powers to make him/her appropriately hindered in the setting of Landel's?: Jack's magical powers are really limited only to his lack of aging and his ability to heal. He may have these powers, but he's very much a "save my own ass, screw these guys" sort of guy who is not likely to go about intentionally getting himself to a point in which he would need them. He doesn't like pain. The nature of injury also determines how quickly they work- while being impaled on a fence or having his jaw broken heal within seconds, Jack was unconscious for three days after being hit by a couple of cars. Similarly, when a car bomb went off no more than a foot away from Jack, he was in the hospital for awhile and covered with burn scars for a time after. Another Fable with similar popularity, Snow White, survived having half her head blown off with a shotgun, while Goldilocks had an axe placed in her skull, knocked from a cliff, hit by a truck, and fell into a river. In both cases, especially Goldilocks, the characters didn't die, but they were certainly in no functional state of existence for a long time. It's pretty much a given that if his head is cut off or if any essential organs are removed, Jack will die. So while he probably won't straight up die from anything that's done to him at Landel's, he's not going to be looking to flaunt his regenerative abilities.
Does your character have any other non-magical skills or abilities that we should know about?: Jack is of average intelligence, although quite cunning. He's pretty strong, but no more so than any other buff guy. He has training in killing Giants, but he won't probably be doing any of that. :P He's also a bit more resilient to the cold, given the time he spent in the Snow kingdom in his youth. He states, at one point in Jack of Fables #5, when he is sitting casually in the snow in his t-shirt: "I'm cold...[but] I got used to the cold weather was back in the Homelands when I was Jack Frost".
How about improbable appendages?: Nah, Jack's pretty normal looking in that regard.
Please give us an idea of where you'd like to take your character within the scope of the Landel's Damned RP: He'd probably be actively looking to escape as soon as he could figure out how. He's dealt with the whole being held against his will several times before. He's not big on it. At the same time, he'd play nice, make friends (or feign it in the case of people he thinks would help him to escape), socialize, the like. He'd also bed any willing women to help pass the time, though he wouldn't love any of them on any level other than, "Oh, man. I LOVE being able to have sex with a cute girl."
What kind of psychological effect do you see Landel's Institute having on your character?: Jack would be angry and annoyed. He's not one to take kindly to being locked up, especially if he does everything he thinks it should take for him to be released. He'd be irate that he has to put up with this treatment and annoyed by the fact that this always seems to happen to him. He may also be a bit concerned for his wellbeing and confused about the actual workings of the place, though he'd be quick to figure out the situation.
Given that this RP takes place in an unsettling and outright horrific environment, how do you justify your character as being appropriate in both body and mind for this kind of setting?: Jack's physically fit and has his healing to count on in most situations, although they're not always fast acting. He's been in similar captive situations before and has a mind for plotting and planning his way out of things and manipulation (but not always successfully). He's not one to be horrified by much of anything, as he himself has been responsible for lots of violence in his past and in the conquering of his homelands, saw plenty of death and destruction. This whole situation would be more likely to annoy Jack than it would to horrify him.
And now, I'd like to present you with an extra bit of fangirlism. I call this next section "Jack Horner should be dead (or why life is a coagulated bowl of suck)".
Jack Horner should be dead
(or why life is a coagulated bowl of suck)
The following is a collection of scenes from "Fables" and "Jack of Fables" in which the ever scheming trickster should have died or been horribly maimed. I find I keep mentioning these incidents, so fuck it! Y'all can see them for yourself.
Starting with the Wooden Soldiers arc of Fables, Jack Horner gets ambushed after a night of heavy drinking and attempted swindling!
Man, those three guys sure beat the hell out of Jack. But he finally decides he's had enough and leaves.
Next, we jump to Jack's abduction by Revise. The fool tried to kidnap Jack in a pathetic Mundy van! Ha! Like those flimsy doors can hold Jack! He kicks them open and jumps out!
...into highway traffic.
S'all good, though. He wakes up a few days later.
...and then there was the time Paul Bunyan punched him into a tree and a building fell on him...
...and there was also that time he fell out a tree and impaled himself on a wrought iron fence...
Oh, and that one time that bouncer threw him and he snapped his jaw/bit deep into his tongue...
Of course, he's been shot too.
And finally (for the moment), car bombs only piss him off and put him in the hospital for a little while (Ha ha- where's all your hair now, Jack? :P)
And thus concludes the slideshow of Jack's painful experiences. I'm sure there will be a plethora of others to display in the future. :)