Detailed Biography: Jo Harvelle & Trek Remix
General Information
Name: Joanna Beth Harvelle
Nicknames: Jo, JoJo. Um. Nothing to original, nope.
Age: 24
Gender: Female
Hometown: Omaha, Nebraska.
Appearance
Height: 5'4"
Eyes: Brown.
Hair: Blond.
Appearance: Jo's slender in a lot of ways - long arms and legs, thin build, long neck, and much to her dismay a long nose. She likes to think of her looks as perfectly average, not really bothering to work on her appearance much outside of the physical training she goes through for hunting. She usually wears her hair down, and her dress style is pretty much limited to jeans and whatever's comfy and clean.
Health
Eyesight: Average.
Hearing: Average.
Physical Health: Excellent.
General Dexterity: Excellent.
Handicaps: Her petite frame is definitely a disadvantage in some respects, she's not easily taken down, but it's not too difficult to overpower her.
Personality
General:
Joanna Beth Harvelle will flick you in the neck if you ever call her Joanna Beth. Her name is Jo, just Jo, because it fits her much better. She isn't exactly a tomboy, but the last impression she'd ever want to give off is that she's girly. Because she grew up surrounded by hunters, it was almost a given that she would gain a tough skin, willing to accept criticism without much protest. She learned how to take a joke, roll with the punches, because there wasn't any other way to get by at the Roadhouse. Jokes she can take, but being bossed around is another story. Jo won't put up with it, at all. The only person that ever gets away with bossing her around is her mother, and even then she only sometimes takes those orders into account. After years of being told that she's not allowed to do the one thing she really wants to do in life, she's starting to resent her for it. Ellen Harvelle is the most important person in her life, and that will never change, but more often than not Jo is making a point to do the exact opposite of what her mother wants her to do. So the chances of her actually listening to the demands of anyone else? Don't bet on it.
She's snarky and sarcastic most of the time, and the only time she isn't is when she's either preparing for a hunt, or having a bad day. The snark is her defense mechanism, though it sometimes only works against her. She picked it up in high school because it was the easiest way to keep people from delving too far into her personal life, and it helped just the same during her brief stint at college, but it doesn't always work out in the real world. She's gotten better at controlling it, the urge to push people away with a sarcastic comment instead of being honest, but it's hard for her to let people know when she's not okay with where a conversation is headed. There's a constant insecurity that keeps her from being completely honest with anyone, thought she often plays it off that she doesn't want to let you in, not that she's scared to. It comes down to the fact that most of her life she hasn't been able to just be open about the "family business", or disclose much personal information in fear of it getting to the wrong person (or, well, demon). Her trust issues also stem from the fact that no matter how much exposure she's had to the supernatural world, overall she is very sheltered. With her mother always trying to keep a short leash on her, and the fact that most of her life was spent around hunters who keep their emotions locked up tight, she's never really had the same social experiences as most girls her age. Whenever she does meet someone on the job or at the bar that actually shares their feelings openly without any persuasion, or even has a generally open personality, it always throws her off a bit.
When Jo's in a bad mood, there's no hiding it. When she can, going out behind the bar and shooting at cans is her preferred way of letting off steam. But if she can't do that, she's likely to take out her bad mood on anyone that talks to her that day. She tries not to, really, but most of the time she can't keep her mouth shut when she's pissed off. She's usually a very good liar, but is absolutely horrible at hiding her true emotions when someone knows the right buttons to press. Bringing up her father? A sure way to make her uneasy and closed-off. Bringing up her father's death, however, will either earn you a punch in the mouth, or a very emotional 25 year-old woman. The exact cause of Bill Harvelle's death is still unknown to her, because there's no way in Hell she'd trust a demon's story, but there hasn't exactly been any evidence to prove it wasn't true.
She's predictable though, when she's just being herself around the bar and not running a con or case. If she wants to tell you off, she'll tell you off. If she's embarrassed, her cheeks darken and she'll completely avoid making any eye-contact with you. Even with her thinly-veiled emotions sometimes getting the best of her, she has learned how to make the best of it when on the job. There have been a few cases that scare her more than she'd ever admit, but instead of trying to mask that fear, she'll school the emotion into something closer to resembling concern or worry, which helps her relate to the people in the situation better. Her easiest means of conning someone into trusting her is to play the part of wide-eyed innocence, her questions coming off as simple curiosity instead of strategically planned investigating.
However, she's also very proud, and sometimes comes off a bit cocky when you bring up certain things. After spending most of her life learning about hunting through stories and texts, there isn't very much she doesn't know about the theoretical aspects of demons and the supernatural. And she'll let you know it, too. It's part of why she is so insistent on being able to handle the job - she knows her facts, and she's proud of that. Most of her life she's felt like an "outsider", having her own knife collection at a young age instead of playing with Barbie dolls, and she's not exactly a social butterfly either. Unless she has to be. She's actually pretty charming when she needs to be. During her time as a hunter she's learned that it's easier to play nice and strike up conversations with the right people rather than relying on just her own means to get information. It's not always ideal putting that kind of trust in other people, but sometimes there's no way out of it. This has also bled into her normal social life - if you're not part of her "family", it's unlikely she'll trust you, but she's learned to at least be civil instead of completely standoffish when making acquaintances. Jo is also very loyal to those she's become close enough to call her friends and family, and will put those people's well-being ahead of her own.
Bottom line: she's a demon hunter who can take care of herself, and she'll do anything to prove that to you. Even if sometimes she absolutely relies on help and support from her family.
Goals/Dreams:
The biggest motivating factor in Jo's life is her father. Most of her big decisions in life she takes into consideration what she thinks he would want her to do, and that includes her desire to hunt. It's her way of being close to him. She hopes to survive the apocalypse (okay, so she already failed at that kind of, but she got a second chance and she's not going to waste it), and stick with hunting long after. That's really all she ever wanted out of her life - she wanted to follow in her dad's footsteps and help people. That's her way of feeling close to him, after losing him at such an early age. Although secretly she does want to settle down eventually, but only when she knows it’s with the absolutely right person.
First Impression:
Usually if you approach her first, she's going to be a little on her guard. She's quick to make small talk, but she's a very good judge of character too. Jo can see through most people's acts, and if you do happen to get something by her, kudos. Otherwise, if she's come up to you to talk, it's either when she's working the bar asking for your drink order, or because you've actually caught her interest.
Background
Education: Graduated from Omaha Central High School with honors, though she only made it through two semesters at the University of Nebraska.
Parents: William and Ellen Harvelle.
Siblings: None.
Personal History:
On April 7th, 1985, Joanna Beth was born to Ellen and William Harvelle. She was their pride and joy, with Ellen's hair and Bill's eyes, and they couldn't have been happier with the new addition to their family. The pair owned a bar called Harvelle's Roadhouse, which essentially became Jo's second home. The hunters that frequented the bar became her family, and it was there that she became introduced to the world of demon hunting. Her mother tried to keep her from it for as long as she could, but by the time she was 8 years old, her father had insisted that she learned about the true nature of his job, and even gave her a bow and arrow set for her birthday. The prospect of demons and ghosts being real only startled her, but it didn't scare her. Not when she knew that her dad would kill anything evil that came close to her.
Jo's time at school was spent wishing she wasn't there, and writing about demons in her journal. She knew it all had to stay a secret, so she kept all of her thoughts and knowledge about the supernatural beings she heard about at the Roadhouse written down. Whenever someone even came close to asking about her dad or what she spent all her time reading instead of studying for classes, she tended to react pretty violently. The worst fight she got into was with a boy who wouldn't stop taunting her, over nothing important really, but something inside her snapped. She punched him as hard as she could in the jaw, and everyone in the stairwell heard the sickening pop of his jaw shifting out of place. That was her freshman year of high school. Jo has calmed down considerably since then, but it marked her as a freak at school, and she never exactly tried to change anyone's minds. After that fight, one of the hunters at the Roadhouse (who she called Uncle Rufus, at the time) offered to give her real fighting lessons. She couldn't have been happier to take him up on the offer, and they began to train. Behind her mother's back, but it was still one step closer to going out on a hunt. He really believed in her, believed she could be a hunter just like her dad, as long as she stayed focused and fearless.
It wasn't until the first time he took her on a hunt, again behind her mother's back, that she realized she was so not ready for the job yet. But she was only 16, and had a lot more time to learn and hone her fighting skills. To this day she still doesn't count that as her first "real" hunt, since she all but ran from the first black-eyed demon that approached her.
No, her first real hunt was when she went out with Sam and Dean Winchester. It was a few years later - after a one-year stint of trying and failing at going through the whole "college experience". Yet again, her mother was not aware of the fact that she had followed them to the site of the job, but she managed to convince the brothers not to let her know her whereabouts. The hunt essentially almost got her killed, but the three used her being kidnapped by the evil spirit to their advantage, and she stood as bait so that they could trap the spirit forever.
It was that same day after they returned that her mother told her what really happened to her father. It turns out that her father hadn't been hunting alone, but was actually working with Sam and Dean's father, John Winchester. Ellen told her the story about how they had planned for Bill to be bait for the hell-spawn, then John would come out of hiding take the thing by surprise and kill it. John jumped the gun, and ended up putting Bill in plain sight. To Ellen's knowledge, Bill was killed by the demon.
Jo cut ties with the Winchester brothers then, and she had no intention of doing talking to them ever again. It took her finding out about the Apocalypse to make her realize she couldn't hold grudges anymore, and she agreed to fight along side them when they finally went after Lucifer.
Social
Friends: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Remiel!!, Buffy Summers, Faith, Jim Kirk, Hikaru Sulu, Gaila, Ash (deceased).
Enemies/Rivals: Meg.
Romantic
Sexual Preference: Straight.
Past Relationships: Rick - One of the hunters that frequented the Roadhouse before he was killed in the fire.
Present Relationships:
Kindasorta still has a thing for Dean Winchester (iamwinchester). Maybe. ;)
-- Twitterverse: Totes in lurve with Sam Winchester (notimeforblabla),.
Is absolutely in like with James Kirk (nobodys_captain).
-- And a sorta frenz-with-benz thing going on with Jim Kirk (keptnjamestkirk).
... Depends on the verse, okay!? :D
Planned Relationships: Eheh, I try not to plan these things.
-----
Jo Harvelle: The Star Trek Remix
played mostly in treksixwords
Personal History:
On April 7th, 2234, Joanna Beth was born to Ellen and William Harvelle. She was their pride and joy, with Ellen's hair and Bill's eyes, and they couldn't have been happier with the new addition to their family. The pair owned a bar called Harvelle's Roadhouse, which essentially became Jo's second home. The hunters that frequented the bar became her family, and it was there that she became introduced to the world of demon hunting. It turned out everything you hear in ghost stories was real - demons, vampires, werewolves, even legends like Bloody Mary. They were all real. And it was her father's job - along with many other hunters across the country - to hunt them down. Her mother tried to keep her from it for as long as she could, but by the time she was 8 years old, her father had insisted that she learned about the true nature of his job, and even gave her a bow and arrow set for her birthday. The prospect of demons and ghosts being real only startled her, but it didn't scare her. Not when she knew that her dad would kill anything evil that came close to her.
Jo's time at school was spent wishing she wasn't there, and writing about demons in her journal. She knew it all had to stay a secret, so she kept all of her thoughts and knowledge about the supernatural beings she heard about at the Roadhouse written down. Whenever someone even came close to asking about her dad or what she spent all her time reading instead of studying for classes, she tended to react pretty violently. The worst fight she got into was with a boy who wouldn't stop taunting her, over nothing important really, but something inside her snapped. She punched him as hard as she could in the jaw, and everyone in the stairwell heard the sickening pop of his jaw shifting out of place. That was her freshman year of high school. Jo has calmed down considerably since then, but it marked her as a freak at school, and she never exactly tried to change anyone's minds. After that fight, one of the hunters at the Roadhouse (who she called Uncle Rufus, at the time) offered to give her real fighting lessons. She couldn't have been happier to take him up on the offer, and they began to train. Behind her mother's back, but it was still one step closer to going out on a hunt. He really believed in her, believed she could be a hunter just like her dad, as long as she stayed focused and fearless.
It wasn't until the first time he took her on a hunt, again behind her mother's back, that she realized she was so not ready for the job yet. But she was only 16, and had a lot more time to learn and hone her fighting skills. To this day she still doesn't count that as her first "real" hunt, since she all but ran from the first black-eyed demon that approached her.
No, her first real hunt was when she went out with Sam and Dean Winchester. It was a few years later - after a one-year stint of trying and failing at going through the whole "college experience". Yet again, her mother was not aware of the fact that she had followed them to the site of the job, but she managed to convince the brothers not to let her know her whereabouts. The hunt essentially almost got her killed, but the three used her being kidnapped by the evil spirit to their advantage, and she stood as bait so that they could trap the spirit forever.
That same day after they returned her mother told her what really happened to her father. It turns out that her father hadn't been hunting alone, but was actually working with Sam and Dean's father, John Winchester. Ellen told her the story about how they had planned for Bill to be bait for the hell-spawn, then John would come out of hiding take the thing by surprise and kill it. John jumped the gun, and ended up putting Bill in plain sight. To Ellen and now Jo's knowledge, Bill was killed by the demon.
After that night, even knowing now just how dangerous the job could get, Jo was insisting that she go out and hunt more. Ellen told her that as long as she lived at the Roadhouse she would not be hunting, and with that she was out the door. She drove to Duluth to start a new life, planning on taking care of simple hauntings until she gained the experience she needed to take on bigger baddies. A couple of months went by and everything seemed to be going well enough - no one seemed to question why she came to work with bumps and bruises, and she was saving lives with more confidence each gig she put behind her.
All that changed when a group of Starfleet cadets came into the bar she had been working at, talking excitedly about their classes and accomplishments as she served them drinks. Joining Starfleet had always been in the back of her mind, another way to rebel against her mother and make her see she could take on anything, but it was then that she finally took the plunge. She drove out to San Francisco the next morning, meeting with Captain Jim Kirk* to have a few drinks, ask him questions, and explain her new plans and how she would make them a reality. Jo enlisted in no time, choosing to major in Tactical and Battle Strategies, since those were things she had been learning her entire life.
Now the only challenge in her life was learning how to use a phaser instead of a rocksalt-loaded shotgun.
(* is thecaptainkirk)
Random Facts:
- The weapons Jo has been trained on are all considered antiques now, though it's what all demon hunters use. Demons and ghosts can only be wounded by certain metals (iron, silver) and salt, so they need to use rifles and pistols to shoot them, as opposed to phasers. She also still carries around her dad's iron knife for this reason. More likely than not she's also got a flask of holy water nearby.
- Still haven't decided if there are ghosts/demons in SPACE, but I'm sure that there are supernatural things to hunt on different planets. Possessed aliens? Bring it on!
Name: Joanna Beth Harvelle
Nicknames: Jo, JoJo. Um. Nothing to original, nope.
Age: 24
Gender: Female
Hometown: Omaha, Nebraska.
Appearance
Height: 5'4"
Eyes: Brown.
Hair: Blond.
Appearance: Jo's slender in a lot of ways - long arms and legs, thin build, long neck, and much to her dismay a long nose. She likes to think of her looks as perfectly average, not really bothering to work on her appearance much outside of the physical training she goes through for hunting. She usually wears her hair down, and her dress style is pretty much limited to jeans and whatever's comfy and clean.
Health
Eyesight: Average.
Hearing: Average.
Physical Health: Excellent.
General Dexterity: Excellent.
Handicaps: Her petite frame is definitely a disadvantage in some respects, she's not easily taken down, but it's not too difficult to overpower her.
Personality
General:
Joanna Beth Harvelle will flick you in the neck if you ever call her Joanna Beth. Her name is Jo, just Jo, because it fits her much better. She isn't exactly a tomboy, but the last impression she'd ever want to give off is that she's girly. Because she grew up surrounded by hunters, it was almost a given that she would gain a tough skin, willing to accept criticism without much protest. She learned how to take a joke, roll with the punches, because there wasn't any other way to get by at the Roadhouse. Jokes she can take, but being bossed around is another story. Jo won't put up with it, at all. The only person that ever gets away with bossing her around is her mother, and even then she only sometimes takes those orders into account. After years of being told that she's not allowed to do the one thing she really wants to do in life, she's starting to resent her for it. Ellen Harvelle is the most important person in her life, and that will never change, but more often than not Jo is making a point to do the exact opposite of what her mother wants her to do. So the chances of her actually listening to the demands of anyone else? Don't bet on it.
She's snarky and sarcastic most of the time, and the only time she isn't is when she's either preparing for a hunt, or having a bad day. The snark is her defense mechanism, though it sometimes only works against her. She picked it up in high school because it was the easiest way to keep people from delving too far into her personal life, and it helped just the same during her brief stint at college, but it doesn't always work out in the real world. She's gotten better at controlling it, the urge to push people away with a sarcastic comment instead of being honest, but it's hard for her to let people know when she's not okay with where a conversation is headed. There's a constant insecurity that keeps her from being completely honest with anyone, thought she often plays it off that she doesn't want to let you in, not that she's scared to. It comes down to the fact that most of her life she hasn't been able to just be open about the "family business", or disclose much personal information in fear of it getting to the wrong person (or, well, demon). Her trust issues also stem from the fact that no matter how much exposure she's had to the supernatural world, overall she is very sheltered. With her mother always trying to keep a short leash on her, and the fact that most of her life was spent around hunters who keep their emotions locked up tight, she's never really had the same social experiences as most girls her age. Whenever she does meet someone on the job or at the bar that actually shares their feelings openly without any persuasion, or even has a generally open personality, it always throws her off a bit.
When Jo's in a bad mood, there's no hiding it. When she can, going out behind the bar and shooting at cans is her preferred way of letting off steam. But if she can't do that, she's likely to take out her bad mood on anyone that talks to her that day. She tries not to, really, but most of the time she can't keep her mouth shut when she's pissed off. She's usually a very good liar, but is absolutely horrible at hiding her true emotions when someone knows the right buttons to press. Bringing up her father? A sure way to make her uneasy and closed-off. Bringing up her father's death, however, will either earn you a punch in the mouth, or a very emotional 25 year-old woman. The exact cause of Bill Harvelle's death is still unknown to her, because there's no way in Hell she'd trust a demon's story, but there hasn't exactly been any evidence to prove it wasn't true.
She's predictable though, when she's just being herself around the bar and not running a con or case. If she wants to tell you off, she'll tell you off. If she's embarrassed, her cheeks darken and she'll completely avoid making any eye-contact with you. Even with her thinly-veiled emotions sometimes getting the best of her, she has learned how to make the best of it when on the job. There have been a few cases that scare her more than she'd ever admit, but instead of trying to mask that fear, she'll school the emotion into something closer to resembling concern or worry, which helps her relate to the people in the situation better. Her easiest means of conning someone into trusting her is to play the part of wide-eyed innocence, her questions coming off as simple curiosity instead of strategically planned investigating.
However, she's also very proud, and sometimes comes off a bit cocky when you bring up certain things. After spending most of her life learning about hunting through stories and texts, there isn't very much she doesn't know about the theoretical aspects of demons and the supernatural. And she'll let you know it, too. It's part of why she is so insistent on being able to handle the job - she knows her facts, and she's proud of that. Most of her life she's felt like an "outsider", having her own knife collection at a young age instead of playing with Barbie dolls, and she's not exactly a social butterfly either. Unless she has to be. She's actually pretty charming when she needs to be. During her time as a hunter she's learned that it's easier to play nice and strike up conversations with the right people rather than relying on just her own means to get information. It's not always ideal putting that kind of trust in other people, but sometimes there's no way out of it. This has also bled into her normal social life - if you're not part of her "family", it's unlikely she'll trust you, but she's learned to at least be civil instead of completely standoffish when making acquaintances. Jo is also very loyal to those she's become close enough to call her friends and family, and will put those people's well-being ahead of her own.
Bottom line: she's a demon hunter who can take care of herself, and she'll do anything to prove that to you. Even if sometimes she absolutely relies on help and support from her family.
Goals/Dreams:
The biggest motivating factor in Jo's life is her father. Most of her big decisions in life she takes into consideration what she thinks he would want her to do, and that includes her desire to hunt. It's her way of being close to him. She hopes to survive the apocalypse (okay, so she already failed at that kind of, but she got a second chance and she's not going to waste it), and stick with hunting long after. That's really all she ever wanted out of her life - she wanted to follow in her dad's footsteps and help people. That's her way of feeling close to him, after losing him at such an early age. Although secretly she does want to settle down eventually, but only when she knows it’s with the absolutely right person.
First Impression:
Usually if you approach her first, she's going to be a little on her guard. She's quick to make small talk, but she's a very good judge of character too. Jo can see through most people's acts, and if you do happen to get something by her, kudos. Otherwise, if she's come up to you to talk, it's either when she's working the bar asking for your drink order, or because you've actually caught her interest.
Background
Education: Graduated from Omaha Central High School with honors, though she only made it through two semesters at the University of Nebraska.
Parents: William and Ellen Harvelle.
Siblings: None.
Personal History:
On April 7th, 1985, Joanna Beth was born to Ellen and William Harvelle. She was their pride and joy, with Ellen's hair and Bill's eyes, and they couldn't have been happier with the new addition to their family. The pair owned a bar called Harvelle's Roadhouse, which essentially became Jo's second home. The hunters that frequented the bar became her family, and it was there that she became introduced to the world of demon hunting. Her mother tried to keep her from it for as long as she could, but by the time she was 8 years old, her father had insisted that she learned about the true nature of his job, and even gave her a bow and arrow set for her birthday. The prospect of demons and ghosts being real only startled her, but it didn't scare her. Not when she knew that her dad would kill anything evil that came close to her.
Jo's time at school was spent wishing she wasn't there, and writing about demons in her journal. She knew it all had to stay a secret, so she kept all of her thoughts and knowledge about the supernatural beings she heard about at the Roadhouse written down. Whenever someone even came close to asking about her dad or what she spent all her time reading instead of studying for classes, she tended to react pretty violently. The worst fight she got into was with a boy who wouldn't stop taunting her, over nothing important really, but something inside her snapped. She punched him as hard as she could in the jaw, and everyone in the stairwell heard the sickening pop of his jaw shifting out of place. That was her freshman year of high school. Jo has calmed down considerably since then, but it marked her as a freak at school, and she never exactly tried to change anyone's minds. After that fight, one of the hunters at the Roadhouse (who she called Uncle Rufus, at the time) offered to give her real fighting lessons. She couldn't have been happier to take him up on the offer, and they began to train. Behind her mother's back, but it was still one step closer to going out on a hunt. He really believed in her, believed she could be a hunter just like her dad, as long as she stayed focused and fearless.
It wasn't until the first time he took her on a hunt, again behind her mother's back, that she realized she was so not ready for the job yet. But she was only 16, and had a lot more time to learn and hone her fighting skills. To this day she still doesn't count that as her first "real" hunt, since she all but ran from the first black-eyed demon that approached her.
No, her first real hunt was when she went out with Sam and Dean Winchester. It was a few years later - after a one-year stint of trying and failing at going through the whole "college experience". Yet again, her mother was not aware of the fact that she had followed them to the site of the job, but she managed to convince the brothers not to let her know her whereabouts. The hunt essentially almost got her killed, but the three used her being kidnapped by the evil spirit to their advantage, and she stood as bait so that they could trap the spirit forever.
It was that same day after they returned that her mother told her what really happened to her father. It turns out that her father hadn't been hunting alone, but was actually working with Sam and Dean's father, John Winchester. Ellen told her the story about how they had planned for Bill to be bait for the hell-spawn, then John would come out of hiding take the thing by surprise and kill it. John jumped the gun, and ended up putting Bill in plain sight. To Ellen's knowledge, Bill was killed by the demon.
Jo cut ties with the Winchester brothers then, and she had no intention of doing talking to them ever again. It took her finding out about the Apocalypse to make her realize she couldn't hold grudges anymore, and she agreed to fight along side them when they finally went after Lucifer.
Social
Friends: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Remiel!!, Buffy Summers, Faith, Jim Kirk, Hikaru Sulu, Gaila, Ash (deceased).
Enemies/Rivals: Meg.
Romantic
Sexual Preference: Straight.
Past Relationships: Rick - One of the hunters that frequented the Roadhouse before he was killed in the fire.
Present Relationships:
Kindasorta still has a thing for Dean Winchester (iamwinchester). Maybe. ;)
-- Twitterverse: Totes in lurve with Sam Winchester (notimeforblabla),.
Is absolutely in like with James Kirk (nobodys_captain).
-- And a sorta frenz-with-benz thing going on with Jim Kirk (keptnjamestkirk).
... Depends on the verse, okay!? :D
Planned Relationships: Eheh, I try not to plan these things.
-----
Jo Harvelle: The Star Trek Remix
played mostly in treksixwords
Personal History:
On April 7th, 2234, Joanna Beth was born to Ellen and William Harvelle. She was their pride and joy, with Ellen's hair and Bill's eyes, and they couldn't have been happier with the new addition to their family. The pair owned a bar called Harvelle's Roadhouse, which essentially became Jo's second home. The hunters that frequented the bar became her family, and it was there that she became introduced to the world of demon hunting. It turned out everything you hear in ghost stories was real - demons, vampires, werewolves, even legends like Bloody Mary. They were all real. And it was her father's job - along with many other hunters across the country - to hunt them down. Her mother tried to keep her from it for as long as she could, but by the time she was 8 years old, her father had insisted that she learned about the true nature of his job, and even gave her a bow and arrow set for her birthday. The prospect of demons and ghosts being real only startled her, but it didn't scare her. Not when she knew that her dad would kill anything evil that came close to her.
Jo's time at school was spent wishing she wasn't there, and writing about demons in her journal. She knew it all had to stay a secret, so she kept all of her thoughts and knowledge about the supernatural beings she heard about at the Roadhouse written down. Whenever someone even came close to asking about her dad or what she spent all her time reading instead of studying for classes, she tended to react pretty violently. The worst fight she got into was with a boy who wouldn't stop taunting her, over nothing important really, but something inside her snapped. She punched him as hard as she could in the jaw, and everyone in the stairwell heard the sickening pop of his jaw shifting out of place. That was her freshman year of high school. Jo has calmed down considerably since then, but it marked her as a freak at school, and she never exactly tried to change anyone's minds. After that fight, one of the hunters at the Roadhouse (who she called Uncle Rufus, at the time) offered to give her real fighting lessons. She couldn't have been happier to take him up on the offer, and they began to train. Behind her mother's back, but it was still one step closer to going out on a hunt. He really believed in her, believed she could be a hunter just like her dad, as long as she stayed focused and fearless.
It wasn't until the first time he took her on a hunt, again behind her mother's back, that she realized she was so not ready for the job yet. But she was only 16, and had a lot more time to learn and hone her fighting skills. To this day she still doesn't count that as her first "real" hunt, since she all but ran from the first black-eyed demon that approached her.
No, her first real hunt was when she went out with Sam and Dean Winchester. It was a few years later - after a one-year stint of trying and failing at going through the whole "college experience". Yet again, her mother was not aware of the fact that she had followed them to the site of the job, but she managed to convince the brothers not to let her know her whereabouts. The hunt essentially almost got her killed, but the three used her being kidnapped by the evil spirit to their advantage, and she stood as bait so that they could trap the spirit forever.
That same day after they returned her mother told her what really happened to her father. It turns out that her father hadn't been hunting alone, but was actually working with Sam and Dean's father, John Winchester. Ellen told her the story about how they had planned for Bill to be bait for the hell-spawn, then John would come out of hiding take the thing by surprise and kill it. John jumped the gun, and ended up putting Bill in plain sight. To Ellen and now Jo's knowledge, Bill was killed by the demon.
After that night, even knowing now just how dangerous the job could get, Jo was insisting that she go out and hunt more. Ellen told her that as long as she lived at the Roadhouse she would not be hunting, and with that she was out the door. She drove to Duluth to start a new life, planning on taking care of simple hauntings until she gained the experience she needed to take on bigger baddies. A couple of months went by and everything seemed to be going well enough - no one seemed to question why she came to work with bumps and bruises, and she was saving lives with more confidence each gig she put behind her.
All that changed when a group of Starfleet cadets came into the bar she had been working at, talking excitedly about their classes and accomplishments as she served them drinks. Joining Starfleet had always been in the back of her mind, another way to rebel against her mother and make her see she could take on anything, but it was then that she finally took the plunge. She drove out to San Francisco the next morning, meeting with Captain Jim Kirk* to have a few drinks, ask him questions, and explain her new plans and how she would make them a reality. Jo enlisted in no time, choosing to major in Tactical and Battle Strategies, since those were things she had been learning her entire life.
Now the only challenge in her life was learning how to use a phaser instead of a rocksalt-loaded shotgun.
(* is thecaptainkirk)
Random Facts:
- The weapons Jo has been trained on are all considered antiques now, though it's what all demon hunters use. Demons and ghosts can only be wounded by certain metals (iron, silver) and salt, so they need to use rifles and pistols to shoot them, as opposed to phasers. She also still carries around her dad's iron knife for this reason. More likely than not she's also got a flask of holy water nearby.
- Still haven't decided if there are ghosts/demons in SPACE, but I'm sure that there are supernatural things to hunt on different planets. Possessed aliens? Bring it on!