OUT of CHARACTER
Name: Inkwell
Other characters: The Signless (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
69problems )
IN CHARACTER
Name: PJ
Fandom: Paranatural
Canon point/AU: The morning after the fight with the frog spirit
Journal:ohgawhawhawd
PB: Canon art
History:
PJ comes from a world very similar to our own except that there's an extra world superimposed on top made of spectral creatures. These fall into two categories: ghosts, which are the spectral remains of what used to be living people, and spirits, which were never alive and were instead born out of emotion or energy from other sources (for instance, the ghost of a dead dog versus a dog-shaped spirit born of negative and vengeful emotion from an abused pet).
Straddling the worlds of the supernatural and the living are people called Spectrals, who can see and interact with spectral creatures as though they themselves were one but still live primarily in the living world. They have the power to wield spectral energy through symbiotic relationships with spirits. A spectral who is possessed by a spirit directly can wield that spirit's particular powers on their own and will slowly grow to resemble that spirit, while others wield spectral powers through things called Tools: objects possessed by a dying spirit before they fade away entirely. The spirit in both cases feeds on the energy supplied by the Spectral until they're strong enough to stop possessing whatever they're possessing and go on their merry way.
PJ himself can't remember much of what his life was like before he died. He knows his name was PJ before he died in his pajamas, and he knows he's been dead for 'too long', but doesn't seem to have many other details to give. Given his use of language like 'totes' and 'awesomeboss', and the comic's nebulous setting that seems to be more or less current-era modern, he probably died within the last ten years.
He haunts a small store with a house above it, in which he probably lived presumably with his family pre-death. During his time there as a ghost he befriends another ghost, all that's left of which is a hand. 'Lefty' is very protective of PJ and exceptionally sassy to boot, though he can't speak, lacking a mouth and all. The two of them are fast friends and are never seen without each other. PJ and Lefty seem to be the only ghosts inhabiting the store, which may be why. The place is rife with spirits, all of which seem fairly harmless, but no other ghosts.
The comic proper starts with a boy named Max and his family moving into the store. PJ is of course really super duper exited because real people! Their first night in the house he goes to investigate Max, maybe phase through him a few times for kicks, and discovers to his amazement that he can touch Max. The next night he comes back again; Max is ready for him and easily overpowers him, demanding to know what he's doing in Max's room being creepy and ghost-like. Earlier that day Max had discovered his latent potential as a Spectral and gained a Tool, a baseball bat (which PJ was overjoyed to find he could also touch).
Hissin' Pete, one of the spirits who lives in the store and hisses when he senses danger, starts making a fuss. Max, PJ and Lefty go downstairs to investigate, and find that a large frog-like spirit is in the store proper. This spirit has the power to animate reflections of things. Max is understandably scared to fight it on his own and calls in reinforcements, but before they can arrive he's inevitably pulled into tussling with it anyway. PJ's contribution to this fight is mainly to shriek and be horrified by turns, though he does daringly jump into the fray to get Lefty out of harm's way at one point. The reflections the frog spirit in his eyes are then animated (it's a really gross and awful thing to have happen and to look at, so I'm going to leave it at that). They do disappear when backup arrives and the frog spirit is properly beaten. Its last spectral remains float around, desperate to find something to possess, and settle on a toilet plunger stocked in the store. The toilet plunger becomes a Tool.
PJ will be coming from the morning after this fight.
Presentation:
PJ is intensely awkward, basically. He constantly second-guesses himself, is self-deprecating, never seems to understand what's appropriate for a situation (particularly where death is involved - Max asks about his mother and whether she might be a ghost, PJ asks whether hers was a particularly violent death, and when Max answers in the affirmative, his response is GREAT! because it means she's probably still around). He's pathetically desperate for someone to talk to and interact with. The way he acts around Max shows that he clearly wants Max to like him, even though he's not quite sure how to make that happen or what to do once it does. He makes stupid jokes, refers to him as 'Mister' Max, and in general just seems really excited to have someone new to be around. Being dead is likely a very very lonely business, not to mention depressing and likely difficult for someone as young as PJ to digest, and so I believe it makes sense that he'd seek out every opportunity for human contact if he could get it.
He doesn't mean to say things that could be upsetting or uncomfortable, but after far too long of simply not interacting with anyone but someone who is just a hand, he's very rusty. Still, he is by no means one to avoid interaction. In fact, he throws himself into it with a fervor, even if his attempts fall flat. He often jokes about things that honestly frighten or bother him, especially when those things are his own shortcomings, possibly because with his lack of confidence he believes his own problems to be unimportant and not worth treating seriously.
He takes joy in things living people might find mundane – touching and feeling things chief among them. As a ghost he isn't actually able to do this, and as discussed below in his motivations, even the one possible outlet for it is closed to him due to his own issues. In Panem especially this will manifest as touching all the things. Eating, too, will be super exciting. Basically, he desperately misses being alive and being able to interact with the living world, so anything he can do that is close to that is something that makes him happy, at one point in canon to the point of tears.
He scares easily and worries about everything, and will generally assume a worst-case scenario at any given time. In summation, he's a very nervous kid lacking in any sort of confidence who makes up for that by clinging on to anyone who'll let him follow them around.
Motivations:
His self-confidence issue is a very real impediment for him, particularly in canon, and drives a lot of how he acts. Ghosts have the ability to touch and manipulate real-world objects, as demonstrated by Lefty several times, but PJ is noticeably unable to do this. He's not confident enough in himself to think he can, according to him; it requires a level of self-worth he doesn't possess. There's also a certain level of 'forgetting you're dead' involved; the idea is that to touch something, you have to believe you're able to touch it, and being dead generally implies not being able to do so. Not only does PJ go into it with a general feeling of self-doubt, but he just logically doesn't expect to be able to be solid. Being dead and everything that comes with it weighs heavily on him and though he'll make jokes about it instead of honestly discussing his issues with it, it's clear that those issues are there and that the time since his death has overall been a sad and painful experience.
He also tends to latch onto specific people, as seen with Max: he likes those that are stronger and cooler than he is, possibly because he sees in them the person he wants to be. Even Lefty, who's just a hand, has attitude and gets into fights with aggressors much bigger than himself. He's in awe of those for whom being confident and self-sufficient seem easy, because at this point in his un-life he's basically just resigned himself to never being capable of that.
Really, the sad thing about PJ is that by this point, he has very little motivation. As a ghost, there's nothing for him to do and no one for him to really talk to, and it's likely he's just been drifting around the same single floor of a house for upwards of ten years, being alone with his own depression. He can't even think of happier times because he remembers virtually nothing about what his life was like before he died; he doesn't even know exactly how long he's been dead. All he really has is existence, waiting to fade off to wherever ghosts go after they're done being on earth. Being in Panem and being alive is (hopefully) going to re-energize him greatly and give him a lot of new purpose.
Setting: Well, the biggest and most immediate shock to PJ is that he'll be alive again. Because he so desperately wants praise and to please others, he'll likely try to ingratiate himself to his districtmates and especially the capitolites in charge, because his assumption will be that if they don't like him he'll stop being allowed to eat things and touch things and, worst case scenario, go back to being dead and alone. Quite probably he'll try to become a 'normal' little boy, and do all the things normal little boys do, and just enjoy being alive as much as he can now that he knows what the alternative is like. Arenas will be strange for him because on the one hand, he knows what being dead is like so it doesn't hold quite the same kind of fear for him, but on the other he doesn't actually remember what it feels like to die, and of course no matter what he won't allow himself to complain or show stress except veiled as a joke. I'd like him to eventually regain some confidence and learn to stand on his own rather than clinging onto others for validation, but given how deep his problems go, that's probably going to be a very long-term plot.
SAMPLES
Prose:
What is your character scored: Realistically? Nothing above a three. PJ is a scrawny eleven year old boy with no social skills who's frightened of just about everything and up until recently didn't even have to worry about breathing. That pretty much sums it up right there.
Additional information: As discussed with the mods, PJ will be getting a living body on being brought into the Capitol – so he won't have any ghostly powers, even in powered arenas.
Name: Inkwell
Other characters: The Signless (
69problems )IN CHARACTER
Name: PJ
Fandom: Paranatural
Canon point/AU: The morning after the fight with the frog spirit
Journal:
ohgawhawhawdPB: Canon art
History:
PJ comes from a world very similar to our own except that there's an extra world superimposed on top made of spectral creatures. These fall into two categories: ghosts, which are the spectral remains of what used to be living people, and spirits, which were never alive and were instead born out of emotion or energy from other sources (for instance, the ghost of a dead dog versus a dog-shaped spirit born of negative and vengeful emotion from an abused pet).
Straddling the worlds of the supernatural and the living are people called Spectrals, who can see and interact with spectral creatures as though they themselves were one but still live primarily in the living world. They have the power to wield spectral energy through symbiotic relationships with spirits. A spectral who is possessed by a spirit directly can wield that spirit's particular powers on their own and will slowly grow to resemble that spirit, while others wield spectral powers through things called Tools: objects possessed by a dying spirit before they fade away entirely. The spirit in both cases feeds on the energy supplied by the Spectral until they're strong enough to stop possessing whatever they're possessing and go on their merry way.
PJ himself can't remember much of what his life was like before he died. He knows his name was PJ before he died in his pajamas, and he knows he's been dead for 'too long', but doesn't seem to have many other details to give. Given his use of language like 'totes' and 'awesomeboss', and the comic's nebulous setting that seems to be more or less current-era modern, he probably died within the last ten years.
He haunts a small store with a house above it, in which he probably lived presumably with his family pre-death. During his time there as a ghost he befriends another ghost, all that's left of which is a hand. 'Lefty' is very protective of PJ and exceptionally sassy to boot, though he can't speak, lacking a mouth and all. The two of them are fast friends and are never seen without each other. PJ and Lefty seem to be the only ghosts inhabiting the store, which may be why. The place is rife with spirits, all of which seem fairly harmless, but no other ghosts.
The comic proper starts with a boy named Max and his family moving into the store. PJ is of course really super duper exited because real people! Their first night in the house he goes to investigate Max, maybe phase through him a few times for kicks, and discovers to his amazement that he can touch Max. The next night he comes back again; Max is ready for him and easily overpowers him, demanding to know what he's doing in Max's room being creepy and ghost-like. Earlier that day Max had discovered his latent potential as a Spectral and gained a Tool, a baseball bat (which PJ was overjoyed to find he could also touch).
Hissin' Pete, one of the spirits who lives in the store and hisses when he senses danger, starts making a fuss. Max, PJ and Lefty go downstairs to investigate, and find that a large frog-like spirit is in the store proper. This spirit has the power to animate reflections of things. Max is understandably scared to fight it on his own and calls in reinforcements, but before they can arrive he's inevitably pulled into tussling with it anyway. PJ's contribution to this fight is mainly to shriek and be horrified by turns, though he does daringly jump into the fray to get Lefty out of harm's way at one point. The reflections the frog spirit in his eyes are then animated (it's a really gross and awful thing to have happen and to look at, so I'm going to leave it at that). They do disappear when backup arrives and the frog spirit is properly beaten. Its last spectral remains float around, desperate to find something to possess, and settle on a toilet plunger stocked in the store. The toilet plunger becomes a Tool.
PJ will be coming from the morning after this fight.
Presentation:
PJ is intensely awkward, basically. He constantly second-guesses himself, is self-deprecating, never seems to understand what's appropriate for a situation (particularly where death is involved - Max asks about his mother and whether she might be a ghost, PJ asks whether hers was a particularly violent death, and when Max answers in the affirmative, his response is GREAT! because it means she's probably still around). He's pathetically desperate for someone to talk to and interact with. The way he acts around Max shows that he clearly wants Max to like him, even though he's not quite sure how to make that happen or what to do once it does. He makes stupid jokes, refers to him as 'Mister' Max, and in general just seems really excited to have someone new to be around. Being dead is likely a very very lonely business, not to mention depressing and likely difficult for someone as young as PJ to digest, and so I believe it makes sense that he'd seek out every opportunity for human contact if he could get it.
He doesn't mean to say things that could be upsetting or uncomfortable, but after far too long of simply not interacting with anyone but someone who is just a hand, he's very rusty. Still, he is by no means one to avoid interaction. In fact, he throws himself into it with a fervor, even if his attempts fall flat. He often jokes about things that honestly frighten or bother him, especially when those things are his own shortcomings, possibly because with his lack of confidence he believes his own problems to be unimportant and not worth treating seriously.
He takes joy in things living people might find mundane – touching and feeling things chief among them. As a ghost he isn't actually able to do this, and as discussed below in his motivations, even the one possible outlet for it is closed to him due to his own issues. In Panem especially this will manifest as touching all the things. Eating, too, will be super exciting. Basically, he desperately misses being alive and being able to interact with the living world, so anything he can do that is close to that is something that makes him happy, at one point in canon to the point of tears.
He scares easily and worries about everything, and will generally assume a worst-case scenario at any given time. In summation, he's a very nervous kid lacking in any sort of confidence who makes up for that by clinging on to anyone who'll let him follow them around.
Motivations:
His self-confidence issue is a very real impediment for him, particularly in canon, and drives a lot of how he acts. Ghosts have the ability to touch and manipulate real-world objects, as demonstrated by Lefty several times, but PJ is noticeably unable to do this. He's not confident enough in himself to think he can, according to him; it requires a level of self-worth he doesn't possess. There's also a certain level of 'forgetting you're dead' involved; the idea is that to touch something, you have to believe you're able to touch it, and being dead generally implies not being able to do so. Not only does PJ go into it with a general feeling of self-doubt, but he just logically doesn't expect to be able to be solid. Being dead and everything that comes with it weighs heavily on him and though he'll make jokes about it instead of honestly discussing his issues with it, it's clear that those issues are there and that the time since his death has overall been a sad and painful experience.
He also tends to latch onto specific people, as seen with Max: he likes those that are stronger and cooler than he is, possibly because he sees in them the person he wants to be. Even Lefty, who's just a hand, has attitude and gets into fights with aggressors much bigger than himself. He's in awe of those for whom being confident and self-sufficient seem easy, because at this point in his un-life he's basically just resigned himself to never being capable of that.
Really, the sad thing about PJ is that by this point, he has very little motivation. As a ghost, there's nothing for him to do and no one for him to really talk to, and it's likely he's just been drifting around the same single floor of a house for upwards of ten years, being alone with his own depression. He can't even think of happier times because he remembers virtually nothing about what his life was like before he died; he doesn't even know exactly how long he's been dead. All he really has is existence, waiting to fade off to wherever ghosts go after they're done being on earth. Being in Panem and being alive is (hopefully) going to re-energize him greatly and give him a lot of new purpose.
Setting: Well, the biggest and most immediate shock to PJ is that he'll be alive again. Because he so desperately wants praise and to please others, he'll likely try to ingratiate himself to his districtmates and especially the capitolites in charge, because his assumption will be that if they don't like him he'll stop being allowed to eat things and touch things and, worst case scenario, go back to being dead and alone. Quite probably he'll try to become a 'normal' little boy, and do all the things normal little boys do, and just enjoy being alive as much as he can now that he knows what the alternative is like. Arenas will be strange for him because on the one hand, he knows what being dead is like so it doesn't hold quite the same kind of fear for him, but on the other he doesn't actually remember what it feels like to die, and of course no matter what he won't allow himself to complain or show stress except veiled as a joke. I'd like him to eventually regain some confidence and learn to stand on his own rather than clinging onto others for validation, but given how deep his problems go, that's probably going to be a very long-term plot.
SAMPLES
Prose:
What is your character scored: Realistically? Nothing above a three. PJ is a scrawny eleven year old boy with no social skills who's frightened of just about everything and up until recently didn't even have to worry about breathing. That pretty much sums it up right there.
Additional information: As discussed with the mods, PJ will be getting a living body on being brought into the Capitol – so he won't have any ghostly powers, even in powered arenas.
