application
[Character name:] Jack Ashford
[Canon:] Buffy the Vampire Slayer (OC)
[Media:] Television, kind of
[Canon point they're being picked from:] After the Buffy comics at issue #24, Safe
[Why you want to play him/her here:] I haven't played Jack in a game yet and this seems like a safe place to start. She'll get to have Buffy, Ty and a whole slew of other people to annoy. Doesn't that sound fun?
[Reaction to Soil Your Plants:] Geeky glee. It's the sort of world Jack would thrive in, though she'll have trouble being forced around others so much. She'll probably flip out a few times, but nothing serious. I think.
[Entry:] Introing to the parking lot.
[History:] Jacqueline and Jillian Ashford were orphans bounced around the foster care system since they were 5 years old, when their parents unexpectedly disappeared. Moved from foster home to foster home, the girls earned a troublesome reputation as little criminals. Most times, Jack was the instigator and Jill found herself cleaning up after and protecting her minute-younger sister. As a result, Jack never really learned her lesson and simply continued becoming a more prolific and experienced thief.
They were called at 15 years old, and they lasted a few weeks without noticing the change. Those weeks were a rare calm-spell for the twins, in a home that was less stressful than the others they were used to. Unfortunately at this point, the girls were so far gone that they were still uncontrollable (skipping school, stealing, getting into fights, etc) and CPS decided to move them again. Within the first week of their new home, out on a farm in Pennsylvania with an abusive couple, Jack snapped. Usually this would have simply resulted in her arrest and transfer to another home with Jill after breaking curfew or throwing objects at one of her foster parents. Unfortunately, this one resulted in the death of one of them. Manslaughter, if we're getting picky but nevertheless without knowing her own strength, Jack proceeded to throw a casserole (tuna, to be precise) at her foster mother's head and she didn't miss. Unable to clean up the mess (in any definition of the word), Jack and Jill fled the foster home.
In that time, the girls survived by squatting and stealing. Jack's technological skills combined with Jill's ability to con provided them opportunities for shelter and food that were at worst halfway houses with leftover bread crusts and water and at best 3 star hotels with room service in someone else's name. Their newfound abilities provided them the protection they needed when living on the streets; at times they would lure in unsuspecting (and usually trashy) men before knocking them unconscious and taking their money.
Their first encounter with a vampire was messy and more unpleasant than Jack's murder of their foster mother. The typical signs of pain and a need to satiate some intangible craving came upon them, leading them to the alleyway near their motel for the night. Jack went in first, knowing that she was looking for something but unable to articulate what. Before Jill could follow, the vampire grabbed Jack by the arm and dragged her further in. Jill followed, the two of them grappled with the vampire, stunned by its strength and still confused once its game face came on. Jack froze up, trying to back away with no success and allowing the vampire to get in close enough to her to bite into her neck. Jill, acting quickly, jumped onto the vampire's back and twisted its head until she ripped it clean off. Both girls covered in blood, and having made enough noise to surely attract attention, they left their belongings at the motel and fled the scene. They didn't realize that they hadn't left behind a body until they were hours away.
Then followed the panic and confusion, breeding the first whispers of dissent between them. The origin of their powers was left unknown to them for a couple of years until they managed to catch one of the commercials Andrew put out, in 2006, when they turned 17. The girls attempted to join up with the New York squadron led by Vi, but quickly realized that they were not cut out for working in such a large group. Their dynamic had developed to include a working relationship that required only the both of them, and incorportaing others into their routine didn't work out well. Departing from New York, Jack convinced Jill to try to settle down somewhere and get real jobs. Ignoring the warning that slayers were being targetted for execution, they did as Jack wanted and moved again, to a moderately sized town in the northeast. Again, they experienced only a couple weeks of calm before the attacks began.
No amount of technology is defense enough against magic. A small siege comprised of a gang of inexperienced witches and fighters set upon the girls in their new apartment, attempting to trap them inside and burn the place to the ground. Jill was rendered unconscious by smoke inhalation. At first, Jack panicked, freezing as she had when she was bitten by the vampire. Once she realized that Jill was not going to wake up and take care of everything, Jack snapped again. She hauled her mattress to the window and dropped it out, wet a blanket and wrapped Jill in it before dropping her out onto the mattress. Then, wielding one of the swords she was trained with during her brief stay in New York, Jack charged directly out the front door, the place her attackers least expected her to come out of, and drove forward for the one she assumed was in control. Ignoring the training she'd received, the warnings against killing humans, Jack slaughtered the main witch, and then turned on one of the muscled lackeys next to her. Fortunately, she was only able to get the two kills under her belt before the others began to flee. She collected Jill, taking her to the hospital with one of numerous fake IDs and explaining that their kitchen had caught on fire.
Only one night in the hospital, and Jill was fit for release. Jack lied through her teeth about what had happened, that she had managed to escape with Jill through the woods that butted up against the back of their apartments. Masking her raging melee attack on their would-be killers with the strength to carry Jill out of the window and all the way to the hospital, the girls discussed the possibility that their slayer power had been divided between them and that when Jill was unconscious or unable to use hers, Jack was able to borrow it from her. By this time, they heard about the slayer sanctuary in Hanselstadt. Jill was inclined to go, to try to escape the life they didn't ask for, but Jack disagreed. They begin to argue, the previous whispers of dissent growing into a full blown impasse. At some point during their arguing, Jack lets it slip that she killed to save Jill's life, creating an even larger gap between them and making up Jill's mind to seek out the sanctuary. They parted ways.
It took Jack a very short amount of time to decide to follow after Jill. In addition to her inability to survive completely alone, missing her sister and being worried for her, Jack noticed a decrease in her strength and abilities. She found Hanselstadt after about a week's long trip, and upon her arrival in the morning, she was knocked back and out by some powerful mystical force. Alone in the wilderness just outside the sanctuary, Jack slept through the day, jolting awake just as night began to descend on that part of the world. Her wake up call were three snarling, hungry vampires just waiting to ambush her from the shadows once the sun finally reached below the horizon. Jack broke for a run, but in her panic she ran deeper into their territory and they caught up to with little problem.
Half dead and barely conscious while being sucked dry by a vampire, Jack had a dream; the memories were all hers, though they were presented to her from a different perspective. An overwhelming feeling of love toward her made her realize that her earlier theory was correct; when her sister wasn't using her power, Jack was able to borrow it. Still not registering quite what that all meant, Jack snapped conscious and managed to take down the three vampires around her. Exhausted, she made her way back toward the town.
Jack struggled to come to terms with how she received the extra power. After a short stay in the town, she fled in grief and regret. That her sister's death made her stronger and had saved her life didn't bolster her spirits, but depleted them. Depression consumed her and she returned to the States fully intent on shunning the life as a slayer and opting to go completely straight. She found a town in Virginia to settle down in and secure a job. No life, no entertainment; just eat, work, sleep for a year and a half. Xanax to help her with dreamless sleep, refusal to use her strength no matter what; Jack rejected the life altogether.
Until one night, Jack was leaving the bookstore after closing, and she heard a scuffle in the parking lot next to the shop. She assumed it was a cat fight or something else easily broken up, but when she cleared the mass of cars still parked there, her attention was drawn to two huddled forms where the shadows started. She didn't run to save the man being drained, no. Jack turned on her heel as if she saw nothing and ran home. It wasn't her job, she didn't have to do anything about it. There were a thousand other slayers out there who could come to her town and do the clean up work. She didn't sleep that night, or any of the others following it until she tracked down the responsible party to a nest of vampires living downtown and played exterminator.
Jack is now 17, and though she's not the best slayer in the business, or the most mentally healthy, she embraces her duty the best she can. She struggles every day with her childhood, her lost family and the fact that she's a freak of nature killer, but things could be a lot worse. It's rare that she shows her true feelings, especially regarding her past. However this doesn't mean her chipper behavior is her true demeanor. Jack simply keeps trying to run away from hose things came to be and attempts not to be a horrible person for her sister's sake. She's still a criminal, still a bit of a sociopath -- just now, she pays attention at night and the vampire population around her moderately sized town is a little bit lower.
[Personality:]
Jack, sheltered by her now deceased twin sister, is an introvert and is familiar with mechanics and computer sciences on the mostly illegal side. She is the first part of a generation grown up with the internet and gadgets. She isn't terrible with people, but they are not her strength by any means. She is fairly naive, having grown up worrying about different things than most normal children grew up thinking about. Things like making sure she looks pretty or saying the right things are not typically in her focus. Being practical and useful are things that matter a great deal to her, much more than typically girly attributes. It's something of an issue for her, in fact. Jack will deliberately try to look and dress weird (tutu's and men's pajama bottoms with a neon green tank top to 'match') to simply put people off of assuming that she's a pretty face. This is in direct opposition to her sister's behavior; either a way to seperate herself or because of some other deep seeded issue, it's hard to say. Her values are often skewed to spite others. If a foster care family valued or required something be done, Jack will to this day shirk the task. If they expressed dislike of something, she will claim to be obsessed with it. Her own opinions are fleeting, though as she lives on her own, she develops more true emotions toward things, rather than those immature spiteful ones.
Family issues ring very strongly with Jack. On one hand, she feels loyalty toward the parents she barely remembers but on the other she is hateful toward them for condemning her to such a terrible life. In this way, the dreams that provide memories of the Chinese Slayer who was very close to her family often affect Jack more strongly than any of the more gory ones. The loss of her sister dictated a major change in Jack, who at one time was always happy to play immature and only worry about what she had to. Now, she uses that personality to make those around her underestimate her, using that underestimation to hide her true feelings and sometimes she uses it to her advantage. She justifies that a slayer's use is in her seemingly demure appearance, and takes it to the next level. She's terrible with even the smallest bits of authority and while she won't outright disobey, she'll bend rules as she sees fit. When something doesn't lead to her getting her way or works in a manner that she doesn't agree with, Jack will silently rebel. Whether this means quietly but purposefully doing the opposite of what she's told or breaking a rule or law just because she can, she will find a way to rebel.
Jack's not exactly malicious, but she is mischievious. She likes to play pranks and get others confused or riled up while she watches. Sometimes this only require that she be directly obnoxious while other times require a plan to set up. An extension of her rebellious nature, she likes when she can put people off of their ease to see what comes out when they aren't totally in control of their reaction. Almost contradictorily, but surprisingly easy to explain, Jack is also nervous, anxious, and panicky. She dislikes being out of control which manifests in two distinct ways depending on her environment and mood. Either she attempts to control everything in her immediate vicinity or she completely dismisses control altogether. In the first instance, she will take over a situation as best she can and a sort of different person will come out of her -- Jack 'snaps'. She doesn't hesitate to give out orders and get impatient when she thinks something isn't being done properly. Usually this behavior applies to her when she's feeling guilty or backed into a corner. Sometimes it manifests while she's hacking and she'll for example rewire her entire system because she feels it's running too slowly. In the latter instance, when Jack snaps and gives up control, she shirks all responsibility. Usually this leads to her theiving behavior or other criminal activity. She becomes a danger to herself and quite often to those around her, because she rationalizes that if she can't control everything there's no use in attempting to control anything.
For the most part, Jack is an internalizer. Displayed in her nervous behavior, terrible eating habits and the varying strength of her stutter, Jack unconsciously buries most of her issues under her immature and easy going facade. Her success in displaying the happy teenager face depends on her levels of energy and the mood or tone of her surroundings. If she is unable to display the false image of happiness, Jack will act generally unimpressed with anything, whether it should make her happy, sad or angry. During her worse spells, she will seek out time alone while at the same time acting passive aggressively if she's not being sought out.
Her gauge for boundaries and limits can become skewed. For the most part, Jack is withdrawn while awaiting some sort of directive. However, when she is emotional (in any manner), Jack can be overly friendly leading to her feeling embarrassed and pulling away again.
Despite all of this, Jack presents as fairly normal. Unless she is stressed out and tired, she's able to reign in a lot of her more exterior issues and act the way she believes normal people to act. She can be smooth and charming (using that stutter to help sometimes) but this requires that she be on point all the time, which is impossible.
[3rd person introspection:]
She learned that nothing is fair a very long time ago, when she and Jill were removed from their first foster home. Fair was for books, the kinds that ended with the damsel being saved by the knight and the evil old witch being cooked alive in her own oven. In Jack's opinion, fair shouldn't be a word allowed in the dictionary.
However, if you asked her what she thought of it, Jack would shrug and smile, just a little. She'd say that it didn't really matter and worrying about it was a waste of time. Losing her sister, gaining her extra power and being hunted by assholes that wanted to kill her just for being a slayer? That wasn't only unfair, it was uncool, but Jack kept it together. She just moved and got another job with a fake ID and some tears.
She'd come back to those stupid fairy tales and wonder how in the world she was supposed to feel better after reading them. They only reminded her that the one time she was supposed to be the knight, she let her damsel die. After a life of being the damsel and her knight saving her every single time, when it counted Jack had failed. And received the worst consequence she could have imagined for it. Not only that, but the desire to use the extra power was strong enough to make her sick whenever she refused. Now, yes, she gave in and killed like she was supposed to. It didn't mean she hated it any less, but it was starting to grow into something different. Time healing all things, that was a lie. But it was beginning to help her deal, at least.
Because to Jack, it was fair. It was just, that she was forced to carry a part of her sister around with her as punishment for failing to save her. It should be used to save others, every person an attempt to make up for the most important one let go. They never measured up to fill in the gaps she was trying so desperately to eliminate, but she could pretend. Jack could make like Jill was proud of her for going on without her. And she could feel better knowing that her biggest mistake would always haunt her.
[3rd person action:]
She's not the strongest fighter, so when Jack lights into the alleyway after the couple attached at the face, she does so slowly. The dark isn't what makes her stop up short, breath caught in her throat -- the two vampires who have stopped clinging onto each other to face her is.
"Shi-- sh-- shi-- aw, crap."
Her fists tighten instinctively and she leans her weight back onto one heel as they rush toward her. She dodges to the left, but not fast enough. The male vamp flies by her entirely, but the female (the one who was supposed to be the damn victim here) catches her in the shoulder, sending them both tumbling backward toward the street. Jack's already grappling; hooking a leg around one that isn't hers and pulling while thrusting a fist upward into what she hopes is something soft of the vampire's. A grunt and hiss tells her she's hit and she scrambles harder to get out from the pin.
Then the male vampire's back in her focus, grinning like a canary eating bastard. He snatches at her shoulders (which already smart from his girlfriend's pounce) and yanks. He's a lot stronger than the other one, and Jack has a moment of frozen panic. Her breath in her ears, the idea that she's about to be breakfast to a newborn and her sire (which, the incest there is ew-worthy) makes the memory of her previous bite encounter smack her in the face, a mack truck loaded with fear and pain barreling into her from both sides.
"I think I like the fiesty ones." The female's voice is close behind her, and her body weight shoves up against Jack, making her a human sandwich. With lines that, she was definitely a newbie.
"Yeah, we're always tastiest," Jack says, turning back to face the female. "We make really great fam-- fa-- familiars, too."
Before the male can correct the Blade pop culture information, the female is squealing at the idea of having a human slave and yanking Jack away from him. He snarls and launches forward again, and Jack cannot believe it's this easy. The stake slips out from her thigh holster and into the male's chest easily. Then, in half as much time, Jack's spinning around to dig it into the female's. She only feels kind of bad about that shocked face for a second, and once she's dust on the ground the feeling's gone.
Not that great of a fighter, but Jack's got a good amount of brain to make up for it. Well, when it counts anyway.
[Canon:] Buffy the Vampire Slayer (OC)
[Media:] Television, kind of
[Canon point they're being picked from:] After the Buffy comics at issue #24, Safe
[Why you want to play him/her here:] I haven't played Jack in a game yet and this seems like a safe place to start. She'll get to have Buffy, Ty and a whole slew of other people to annoy. Doesn't that sound fun?
[Reaction to Soil Your Plants:] Geeky glee. It's the sort of world Jack would thrive in, though she'll have trouble being forced around others so much. She'll probably flip out a few times, but nothing serious. I think.
[Entry:] Introing to the parking lot.
[History:] Jacqueline and Jillian Ashford were orphans bounced around the foster care system since they were 5 years old, when their parents unexpectedly disappeared. Moved from foster home to foster home, the girls earned a troublesome reputation as little criminals. Most times, Jack was the instigator and Jill found herself cleaning up after and protecting her minute-younger sister. As a result, Jack never really learned her lesson and simply continued becoming a more prolific and experienced thief.
They were called at 15 years old, and they lasted a few weeks without noticing the change. Those weeks were a rare calm-spell for the twins, in a home that was less stressful than the others they were used to. Unfortunately at this point, the girls were so far gone that they were still uncontrollable (skipping school, stealing, getting into fights, etc) and CPS decided to move them again. Within the first week of their new home, out on a farm in Pennsylvania with an abusive couple, Jack snapped. Usually this would have simply resulted in her arrest and transfer to another home with Jill after breaking curfew or throwing objects at one of her foster parents. Unfortunately, this one resulted in the death of one of them. Manslaughter, if we're getting picky but nevertheless without knowing her own strength, Jack proceeded to throw a casserole (tuna, to be precise) at her foster mother's head and she didn't miss. Unable to clean up the mess (in any definition of the word), Jack and Jill fled the foster home.
In that time, the girls survived by squatting and stealing. Jack's technological skills combined with Jill's ability to con provided them opportunities for shelter and food that were at worst halfway houses with leftover bread crusts and water and at best 3 star hotels with room service in someone else's name. Their newfound abilities provided them the protection they needed when living on the streets; at times they would lure in unsuspecting (and usually trashy) men before knocking them unconscious and taking their money.
Their first encounter with a vampire was messy and more unpleasant than Jack's murder of their foster mother. The typical signs of pain and a need to satiate some intangible craving came upon them, leading them to the alleyway near their motel for the night. Jack went in first, knowing that she was looking for something but unable to articulate what. Before Jill could follow, the vampire grabbed Jack by the arm and dragged her further in. Jill followed, the two of them grappled with the vampire, stunned by its strength and still confused once its game face came on. Jack froze up, trying to back away with no success and allowing the vampire to get in close enough to her to bite into her neck. Jill, acting quickly, jumped onto the vampire's back and twisted its head until she ripped it clean off. Both girls covered in blood, and having made enough noise to surely attract attention, they left their belongings at the motel and fled the scene. They didn't realize that they hadn't left behind a body until they were hours away.
Then followed the panic and confusion, breeding the first whispers of dissent between them. The origin of their powers was left unknown to them for a couple of years until they managed to catch one of the commercials Andrew put out, in 2006, when they turned 17. The girls attempted to join up with the New York squadron led by Vi, but quickly realized that they were not cut out for working in such a large group. Their dynamic had developed to include a working relationship that required only the both of them, and incorportaing others into their routine didn't work out well. Departing from New York, Jack convinced Jill to try to settle down somewhere and get real jobs. Ignoring the warning that slayers were being targetted for execution, they did as Jack wanted and moved again, to a moderately sized town in the northeast. Again, they experienced only a couple weeks of calm before the attacks began.
No amount of technology is defense enough against magic. A small siege comprised of a gang of inexperienced witches and fighters set upon the girls in their new apartment, attempting to trap them inside and burn the place to the ground. Jill was rendered unconscious by smoke inhalation. At first, Jack panicked, freezing as she had when she was bitten by the vampire. Once she realized that Jill was not going to wake up and take care of everything, Jack snapped again. She hauled her mattress to the window and dropped it out, wet a blanket and wrapped Jill in it before dropping her out onto the mattress. Then, wielding one of the swords she was trained with during her brief stay in New York, Jack charged directly out the front door, the place her attackers least expected her to come out of, and drove forward for the one she assumed was in control. Ignoring the training she'd received, the warnings against killing humans, Jack slaughtered the main witch, and then turned on one of the muscled lackeys next to her. Fortunately, she was only able to get the two kills under her belt before the others began to flee. She collected Jill, taking her to the hospital with one of numerous fake IDs and explaining that their kitchen had caught on fire.
Only one night in the hospital, and Jill was fit for release. Jack lied through her teeth about what had happened, that she had managed to escape with Jill through the woods that butted up against the back of their apartments. Masking her raging melee attack on their would-be killers with the strength to carry Jill out of the window and all the way to the hospital, the girls discussed the possibility that their slayer power had been divided between them and that when Jill was unconscious or unable to use hers, Jack was able to borrow it from her. By this time, they heard about the slayer sanctuary in Hanselstadt. Jill was inclined to go, to try to escape the life they didn't ask for, but Jack disagreed. They begin to argue, the previous whispers of dissent growing into a full blown impasse. At some point during their arguing, Jack lets it slip that she killed to save Jill's life, creating an even larger gap between them and making up Jill's mind to seek out the sanctuary. They parted ways.
It took Jack a very short amount of time to decide to follow after Jill. In addition to her inability to survive completely alone, missing her sister and being worried for her, Jack noticed a decrease in her strength and abilities. She found Hanselstadt after about a week's long trip, and upon her arrival in the morning, she was knocked back and out by some powerful mystical force. Alone in the wilderness just outside the sanctuary, Jack slept through the day, jolting awake just as night began to descend on that part of the world. Her wake up call were three snarling, hungry vampires just waiting to ambush her from the shadows once the sun finally reached below the horizon. Jack broke for a run, but in her panic she ran deeper into their territory and they caught up to with little problem.
Half dead and barely conscious while being sucked dry by a vampire, Jack had a dream; the memories were all hers, though they were presented to her from a different perspective. An overwhelming feeling of love toward her made her realize that her earlier theory was correct; when her sister wasn't using her power, Jack was able to borrow it. Still not registering quite what that all meant, Jack snapped conscious and managed to take down the three vampires around her. Exhausted, she made her way back toward the town.
Jack struggled to come to terms with how she received the extra power. After a short stay in the town, she fled in grief and regret. That her sister's death made her stronger and had saved her life didn't bolster her spirits, but depleted them. Depression consumed her and she returned to the States fully intent on shunning the life as a slayer and opting to go completely straight. She found a town in Virginia to settle down in and secure a job. No life, no entertainment; just eat, work, sleep for a year and a half. Xanax to help her with dreamless sleep, refusal to use her strength no matter what; Jack rejected the life altogether.
Until one night, Jack was leaving the bookstore after closing, and she heard a scuffle in the parking lot next to the shop. She assumed it was a cat fight or something else easily broken up, but when she cleared the mass of cars still parked there, her attention was drawn to two huddled forms where the shadows started. She didn't run to save the man being drained, no. Jack turned on her heel as if she saw nothing and ran home. It wasn't her job, she didn't have to do anything about it. There were a thousand other slayers out there who could come to her town and do the clean up work. She didn't sleep that night, or any of the others following it until she tracked down the responsible party to a nest of vampires living downtown and played exterminator.
Jack is now 17, and though she's not the best slayer in the business, or the most mentally healthy, she embraces her duty the best she can. She struggles every day with her childhood, her lost family and the fact that she's a freak of nature killer, but things could be a lot worse. It's rare that she shows her true feelings, especially regarding her past. However this doesn't mean her chipper behavior is her true demeanor. Jack simply keeps trying to run away from hose things came to be and attempts not to be a horrible person for her sister's sake. She's still a criminal, still a bit of a sociopath -- just now, she pays attention at night and the vampire population around her moderately sized town is a little bit lower.
[Personality:]
Jack, sheltered by her now deceased twin sister, is an introvert and is familiar with mechanics and computer sciences on the mostly illegal side. She is the first part of a generation grown up with the internet and gadgets. She isn't terrible with people, but they are not her strength by any means. She is fairly naive, having grown up worrying about different things than most normal children grew up thinking about. Things like making sure she looks pretty or saying the right things are not typically in her focus. Being practical and useful are things that matter a great deal to her, much more than typically girly attributes. It's something of an issue for her, in fact. Jack will deliberately try to look and dress weird (tutu's and men's pajama bottoms with a neon green tank top to 'match') to simply put people off of assuming that she's a pretty face. This is in direct opposition to her sister's behavior; either a way to seperate herself or because of some other deep seeded issue, it's hard to say. Her values are often skewed to spite others. If a foster care family valued or required something be done, Jack will to this day shirk the task. If they expressed dislike of something, she will claim to be obsessed with it. Her own opinions are fleeting, though as she lives on her own, she develops more true emotions toward things, rather than those immature spiteful ones.
Family issues ring very strongly with Jack. On one hand, she feels loyalty toward the parents she barely remembers but on the other she is hateful toward them for condemning her to such a terrible life. In this way, the dreams that provide memories of the Chinese Slayer who was very close to her family often affect Jack more strongly than any of the more gory ones. The loss of her sister dictated a major change in Jack, who at one time was always happy to play immature and only worry about what she had to. Now, she uses that personality to make those around her underestimate her, using that underestimation to hide her true feelings and sometimes she uses it to her advantage. She justifies that a slayer's use is in her seemingly demure appearance, and takes it to the next level. She's terrible with even the smallest bits of authority and while she won't outright disobey, she'll bend rules as she sees fit. When something doesn't lead to her getting her way or works in a manner that she doesn't agree with, Jack will silently rebel. Whether this means quietly but purposefully doing the opposite of what she's told or breaking a rule or law just because she can, she will find a way to rebel.
Jack's not exactly malicious, but she is mischievious. She likes to play pranks and get others confused or riled up while she watches. Sometimes this only require that she be directly obnoxious while other times require a plan to set up. An extension of her rebellious nature, she likes when she can put people off of their ease to see what comes out when they aren't totally in control of their reaction. Almost contradictorily, but surprisingly easy to explain, Jack is also nervous, anxious, and panicky. She dislikes being out of control which manifests in two distinct ways depending on her environment and mood. Either she attempts to control everything in her immediate vicinity or she completely dismisses control altogether. In the first instance, she will take over a situation as best she can and a sort of different person will come out of her -- Jack 'snaps'. She doesn't hesitate to give out orders and get impatient when she thinks something isn't being done properly. Usually this behavior applies to her when she's feeling guilty or backed into a corner. Sometimes it manifests while she's hacking and she'll for example rewire her entire system because she feels it's running too slowly. In the latter instance, when Jack snaps and gives up control, she shirks all responsibility. Usually this leads to her theiving behavior or other criminal activity. She becomes a danger to herself and quite often to those around her, because she rationalizes that if she can't control everything there's no use in attempting to control anything.
For the most part, Jack is an internalizer. Displayed in her nervous behavior, terrible eating habits and the varying strength of her stutter, Jack unconsciously buries most of her issues under her immature and easy going facade. Her success in displaying the happy teenager face depends on her levels of energy and the mood or tone of her surroundings. If she is unable to display the false image of happiness, Jack will act generally unimpressed with anything, whether it should make her happy, sad or angry. During her worse spells, she will seek out time alone while at the same time acting passive aggressively if she's not being sought out.
Her gauge for boundaries and limits can become skewed. For the most part, Jack is withdrawn while awaiting some sort of directive. However, when she is emotional (in any manner), Jack can be overly friendly leading to her feeling embarrassed and pulling away again.
Despite all of this, Jack presents as fairly normal. Unless she is stressed out and tired, she's able to reign in a lot of her more exterior issues and act the way she believes normal people to act. She can be smooth and charming (using that stutter to help sometimes) but this requires that she be on point all the time, which is impossible.
[3rd person introspection:]
She learned that nothing is fair a very long time ago, when she and Jill were removed from their first foster home. Fair was for books, the kinds that ended with the damsel being saved by the knight and the evil old witch being cooked alive in her own oven. In Jack's opinion, fair shouldn't be a word allowed in the dictionary.
However, if you asked her what she thought of it, Jack would shrug and smile, just a little. She'd say that it didn't really matter and worrying about it was a waste of time. Losing her sister, gaining her extra power and being hunted by assholes that wanted to kill her just for being a slayer? That wasn't only unfair, it was uncool, but Jack kept it together. She just moved and got another job with a fake ID and some tears.
She'd come back to those stupid fairy tales and wonder how in the world she was supposed to feel better after reading them. They only reminded her that the one time she was supposed to be the knight, she let her damsel die. After a life of being the damsel and her knight saving her every single time, when it counted Jack had failed. And received the worst consequence she could have imagined for it. Not only that, but the desire to use the extra power was strong enough to make her sick whenever she refused. Now, yes, she gave in and killed like she was supposed to. It didn't mean she hated it any less, but it was starting to grow into something different. Time healing all things, that was a lie. But it was beginning to help her deal, at least.
Because to Jack, it was fair. It was just, that she was forced to carry a part of her sister around with her as punishment for failing to save her. It should be used to save others, every person an attempt to make up for the most important one let go. They never measured up to fill in the gaps she was trying so desperately to eliminate, but she could pretend. Jack could make like Jill was proud of her for going on without her. And she could feel better knowing that her biggest mistake would always haunt her.
[3rd person action:]
She's not the strongest fighter, so when Jack lights into the alleyway after the couple attached at the face, she does so slowly. The dark isn't what makes her stop up short, breath caught in her throat -- the two vampires who have stopped clinging onto each other to face her is.
"Shi-- sh-- shi-- aw, crap."
Her fists tighten instinctively and she leans her weight back onto one heel as they rush toward her. She dodges to the left, but not fast enough. The male vamp flies by her entirely, but the female (the one who was supposed to be the damn victim here) catches her in the shoulder, sending them both tumbling backward toward the street. Jack's already grappling; hooking a leg around one that isn't hers and pulling while thrusting a fist upward into what she hopes is something soft of the vampire's. A grunt and hiss tells her she's hit and she scrambles harder to get out from the pin.
Then the male vampire's back in her focus, grinning like a canary eating bastard. He snatches at her shoulders (which already smart from his girlfriend's pounce) and yanks. He's a lot stronger than the other one, and Jack has a moment of frozen panic. Her breath in her ears, the idea that she's about to be breakfast to a newborn and her sire (which, the incest there is ew-worthy) makes the memory of her previous bite encounter smack her in the face, a mack truck loaded with fear and pain barreling into her from both sides.
"I think I like the fiesty ones." The female's voice is close behind her, and her body weight shoves up against Jack, making her a human sandwich. With lines that, she was definitely a newbie.
"Yeah, we're always tastiest," Jack says, turning back to face the female. "We make really great fam-- fa-- familiars, too."
Before the male can correct the Blade pop culture information, the female is squealing at the idea of having a human slave and yanking Jack away from him. He snarls and launches forward again, and Jack cannot believe it's this easy. The stake slips out from her thigh holster and into the male's chest easily. Then, in half as much time, Jack's spinning around to dig it into the female's. She only feels kind of bad about that shocked face for a second, and once she's dust on the ground the feeling's gone.
Not that great of a fighter, but Jack's got a good amount of brain to make up for it. Well, when it counts anyway.