Pines Application

PLAYER

NAME: Danii
CONTACT: yarnzipan / gamenotifications @ gmail
OTHER CHARACTERS IN THE PINES: None, but I previously played Randel Oland and Kal Kent and Scott Summers

CHARACTER

NAME: Jonathan Sims
CANON: The Magnus Archives (podcast)
CANON-POINT: post Episode 131 Flesh but before 132

DOSSIER

HISTORY:

Jonathan Sims is from a world very much like our own. The major difference is the fact that 1. the supernatural is absolutely a real thing and 2. the source of all of it is a number of Entities all of which are made of the categorized fears of humanity. The reason why this is relevant to start of his history section is because at the tender age of eight, Jonathan Sims (whose parents had died when he was a child, who was being raised by his distant and even somewhat disdainful grandmother who tended towards "recriminations and bitterness", who was 'precocious and impatient, quick to talk back, and even quicker to wander off whenever I grew bored', that Jonathan Sims) encountered an evil book which almost took his life and which did take the life of his childhood bully right in front of his face. Again: at age eight.

And it informed the rest of his life. A life that was largely empty of other connections, largely full of acquaintances and very very few friends, and thankfully, at least one now-ex-girlfriend by the name of Georgie who is probably the person he trusts most in the world.

Because he knew that the supernatural was real, that evil was real, and it started him on a lifelong journey to try and do what he couldn't that day: find a way to save people from it. That journey brought him to the Magnus Institute, where he worked as a researcher for roughly four years before the death of the head of the Archives, a woman named Gertrude Robinson. Which was when that quest simultaneously took a steep and terrifying dive and also went into overdrive, because it was as the Head Archivist that he discovered again just how real monsters were.

Mostly by having them try to kill him. A lot. Repeatedly. And he's got the scars.

For roughly a year and a half, Jon read statements, true accounts of experiences with the supernatural, for a dual purpose: to find out more information about the goings on of the supernatural entities that plan to warp the world for their taking... and to feed one of them, known as the Eye, which at this point and time is his... patron, for lack of a better word. Because the position of Archivist is more than just a job title; it's a position which holds power and started him on a path towards being an avatar of the Institute's dark 'god'. He's also done what he can to try and save people, defend the victims of these forces, ensure the safety of his archival assistants who are trapped along with him in the Institute's employ. He met other avatars, learned the ways of this new dark world, and even enacted a plan to stop a ritual that would have unmade the world into something horrific and unknowable.

...which is how he got blown up. Spent six months everything-but brain dead in a hospital. And woke up to the world being very very different from how they were before.

He's lost friends, lost blood, lost parts of himself, been kidnapped multiple times, and now the Institute is under siege and the last of his assistants are even more trapped than they were before. He's slowly turning less and less human, but he made a choice to wake up, to try and make a difference, and he comes to the game from just before he'd be going down to try and free one of his 'friends' from an eternal burial that never lets you die.

WHAT ARE YOUR CHARACTER'S STRENGTHS?:

• Determination - Jon doesn't know how to quit. Just... doesn't. And he's utterly fearless when he's trying to get something done or find something out. If he thinks a task is worthwhile he is going to get it done or by god he'll die trying. He won't back down, won't turn back, won't flinch very much at all even if it means literally hurting himself to get something done if he believes in the goal.
  
• Resilient - holy shit he's been through a LOT, what with the multiple kidnappings, having his body nearly eaten by worms, having his hand almost burned off, stabbed, blown up, stabbed AGAIN, two of his ribs removed like... not talking about the physical resiliency, but he is and continues to keep it together, keep his eye on the most important prize. Not only that, but he'll willingly let someone rip him emotionally to pieces, rip into him, if he thinks that he deserves it and he thinks that it might do them some good. He takes a LOT and he keeps going, keeps caring.
  
• Caring - Jon cares about everyone. EVERYONE. He is absolutely 100% that guy who notices the heroes killing extras but not killing the villain, because what about guard #4, what about his dreams, what about his goals? He listens and reads the stories of these encounters and he feels for them, thinks about the people who didn't make it back to tell their tale, worries about the ones that most people would consider window dressing. Someone literally threatens his life, is about to kill him, and continues to threaten him multiple times... and he still 100% does everything in his power, including giving up said ribs, to try and save their life. All life has worth to him, even the nameless and the faceless ones.
  
• Makes No Excuses - he will complain and he will grouse and he will grumble and even make snide comments but when it comes down to dealing with things or taking responsibility for a situation, he absolutely does every time. Jon doesn't expect people to appreciate his point of view or his situation; he just accepts what they have to say, apologizes, and tries to do better if he thinks they have a valid point. He tries to deal with the truth as it is, be practical and very very pragmatic when he can, even to the point where people get mad at him for, well... see his faults.
  
• Listens/Pays Attention - He's got a rare gift for listening, for taking things in, for just respecting an experience and a point of view and the reality of the world. He's not someone who ignores reality because it told him something he doesn't like; when he finds out that the person he's thought of as the epitome of evil for his whole life is just an unfortunate and slightly foolish old man, he accepts it and moves on from that point. He learns from his mistakes and yes, he makes new ones, and yes, he doesn't always know how to fix them, but he doesn't ignore the criticism or the reality of the situation or stick his head in the sand even if he very often gives that impression.

WHAT ARE YOUR CHARACTER'S WEAKNESSES?:

• No Self Worth - it was bad enough when he was completely human but now that he's an avatar and becoming more so every day, Jon does not at all value himself. This has tripped him up in personal interactions where he doesn't understand why someone's upset about what he chose to do, tripped him up in planning when he doesn't realize that yes, people will come AFTER you if they think you're in danger, and as mentioned above, it has him making a lot of decisions that verge on idiotic because he has no concern for coming back.
  
• No Bedside Manner - Jon's never accepted sympathy and thus he also doesn't know how to give it or understand it or realize that sometimes, allowances need to be made for the human factor. When one of his friends shouts at him to trust him, Jon doesn't even try to lie and admits that he can't, that factors are what they are, and he doesn't beg for forgiveness or even ask to be understood. He just states it plainly, which pretty much eventually loses him the friendship. He's never intentionally cruel (though he can be a bit snide)
  
• Inability to Let Go - the same tenacity that's his strength is also his weakness because his failures eat at him FOREVER. Every failure that he can think of just... rips him up inside and he never forgives himself for any of them. Even the situations he couldn't have possibly have done anything in (up to and including when he was 8 and a teenager got taken) he can never entirely let go of. That caring thing is a double-edged sword.
  
• STUBBORN - it's really really really hard to change his mind or his opinion if you don't have a damn good argument or you don't have a really good reason. He's super difficult to deal with, honestly, and even when it seemingly goes along with what you're saying, he might actually be doing whatever the hell he intended anyway and lying (badly) to you about it.
  
• Can't Lie - he's REALLY BAD with subterfuge, with anything that has to do with actually lying about anything, with coming up with falsehoods, especially on his feet. He's just fine keeping secrets, but lying is just... it's literally laughable. He's so bad at it. SO BAD. He deals so much better with the truth.
  
• ...Overdramatic - ...he is. It's not a big thing but damn sometimes, he definitely blows things out of proportion. Or doesn't know that something should have more proportion. Just... priorities, occasionally.

WHAT EVENTS OR CIRCUMSTANCES IN YOUR CHARACTER'S PAST HAVE IMPACTED THEM THE MOST?:

1. Finding A Guest For Mr. Spider, aka the book that ATE someone as a child.
   
2. Dating Georgie, as she is the one who helped him when he was wanted for murder and she's given him the perspective he really needs to remember to survive all of this.
   
3. Taking the position of Head Archivist at the Magnus Insitute, since that's when he started his journey down the path of being the avatar to the Eye (one of the Entities).
   
4. Deciding to become more inhuman instead of dying after the explosion in 119, a literal choice he had to make to come back to the world to try and make a difference as a 'monster' or just let himself pass away as a human.

WHAT MOTIVATES YOUR CHARACTER?:

Two thing: finding out answers and saving/helping people. It would be easy to think of the two as one thing, but there's definitely places where the two overlap but they are two different needs. Jon's wanted to take in stories and listen to voices and get to know people through their writing and their words since he was tiny; he never liked reading any distinctive author for more than 'one book' because after that it felt like he'd already read the book before. He wants to know and experience and that's a part of him, just as much as the needing to save people is a part of him, because he absolutely does. Saving people, looking out for them, seeing to their needs, doing the best for them is a huge motivation for him. And a lot of times the knowledge that he's seeking is so that he can use it to save them. So the two feed into each other.

WHAT IMPRESSION DO OTHERS TEND TO HAVE OF YOUR CHARACTER?:

...he's an ass. Like, he's kinda stuffy to start off with, and his sense of humor is a bit mean until you realize that any time he makes a joke it's actually his version of affection because he's letting his guard down enough for humor. Also that most of the time, he's making fun of HIMSELF more than anyone else. Very VERY dry. He's acerbic and short and very antisocial and it comes off like he doesn't give a rats ass about anyone or anything but what he's doing. Even when he's trying to be polite (which he only manages for short periods, really) he can be a bit sharp and he tends to be blunt in situations where some care could be taken. Also he's awkward when he doesn't know what he's about in a situation. He's also got like, zero patience for ignorance or foolishness or bullshit. And makes no bones about that.

IN WHAT WAYS DOES THAT IMPRESSION DIFFER FROM WHO YOUR CHARACTER REALLY IS?:

He'd literally die for you. He cares about people's emotional and physical well being WAY more than he cares about his own. Seeing people struggle or in pain is agony for him, especially since he so rarely knows what to do about it or how to help them. The stuffier and grumpier he's being, the more scared he is, usually for other people. His anger almost always has to do with people's unwillingness to do something helpful or productive as opposed to actually being angry at a failure or inability; he doesn't get upset at people who can't do better, but at people who COULD but DON'T, especially when he can't understand why they won't but mostly it just comes off as overly critical. He hides so much of his emotional responses because he doesn't feel that other people should be responsible for them, or that he deserves to have them. He'll claim to be a coward, but he's honestly ridiculous brave when it comes to facing things.

HOW DOES YOUR CHARACTER HANDLE CRISIS OR ADVERSITY?:

RESEARCH. He is absolutely the kind of person who believes that there's a solution, there's information to find, there's a way as soon as he FINDS it. That you just have to be smart enough to find how to save everyone and it can be done and if you don't manage it, it's because you didn't FIND it. In short, he's a grumpy grumpy optimist who looks like a pessimist because he holds himself to a standard and insists on trying to prepare for things because his luck is AWFUL.

WHICH 5 THINGS WILL YOUR CHARACTER REMEMBER UPON ARRIVAL, AND WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THEM?:
1. You are the Archivist.
2. Be very careful asking questions.
3. The tape recorders are there to help you.
4. Listen to people's stories
5. "Feed your patron or it will feed on you."

And he'll remember that so that he doesn't 'starve' given his situation with needing to record statements. But at the same time, he doesn't want to use his abilities accidentally. And I broke it up into obscure pieces to leave him very confused.

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU FEEL WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER?:

Jon considers himself a monster in the making, not in any way as an excuse for poor behavior but it plays into the self-worth issue. Also, it should be noted given the section coming up that 1. Jon's kind of a pacifist 99% of the time and 2. I'm pretty sure there is deck furniture that could best him in a physical contest.


SKILLS, ABILITIES, & PHYSICAL WEAKNESSES:

Woof. SO! Jon is an avatar of a fear entity/god, namely the entity known as the Eye or Beholding or Ceaseless Watcher. Its domain is fears related to knowledge and observation: having it, not having it, other people having it, other people knowing your secrets, you finding out things that you Didn't Want To Know, the idea that someone's letting you suffer just to watch. Jon is what's known as the Archivist, a very specific avatar, whose powers relate to learning knowledge via experience, either his own or through the eyes of others. This boils down to some weird effects like:

-tape recorders kind of subtly appear around him and turn on any time something juicy is happening
-they will turn themselves back on even if you turn them off
-his presence helps people recall details and record their experiences in a coherent narrative

This ties into a need for what's called 'statements', namely testimonies of extranormal situations which he is at this point in time actually required to read or collect in order to survive. I would guess for the gamespace that most stories (given the situation) that he would get from others would fall under this category. Generally, he would encourage these to be in writing, as there are certain 'consequences' to recording them directly onto a tape recorder. Namely that any time they have a nightmare about the events and he's asleep, their dreams are linked and he experiences it with them.

He can also sense statements when he's within a few feet of them, and reading one can sort of recharge him if his energy is low. That said, he's hardier than he used to be; he heals from nastier injuries in a few days time, and anything self-inflicted heals instantly, though he VERY much feels it and has a low pain tolerance. For major abilities, he has three:

-The Compel -
If Jon wishes to, he can make any question he asks irresistible to answer. It has to be out loud, in person (it doesn't work over a recording or through electronics), and the question has to be completed, but if it is, the person will end up answering truthfully and completely. Interrupt him, cover your ears, strangle him before he finishes and you're golden. The nice thing about it, however, is that he can help you realize truths you couldn't or didn't realize before. It can't be anything you CAN'T know (like if you have no way of knowing something) though. And it does feel good; it feels freeing and pleasant, something enjoyable instead of the burn like Wonder Woman's lasso.

-Knowledge Drops-
If Jon is working on something important, he can and usually does get the information that he needs literally just dropshipped into his head but he only gets the information he actually needs and nothing more. For example: they needed to remove a bullet from someone's leg. He wanted to use a general anesthetic but what was provided to him was a local. The local is significantly harder to use, require precision targeting and was a lot more dangerous but he pulled it off flawlessly. He doesn't understand the logistics, the mechanics and has no medical degree; he just knew exactly how to do that thing at that time. This can happen with situations where he knowingly wants guidance or, more often, where it just slips through the cracks as inspired by places, ideas, or people. In cases where the information isn't quite so... extreme, he usually doesn't even know that he shouldn't know it from traditional means: it's just in his head like it was supposed to be there, like he heard that question like he read that somewhere. Now, the drops do seem to be careful not to tell him certain things at certain times and never direct outright information (like 'why is this happening?'... nope) and obviously, his answers/information in the game will be controlled similarly. There are a few things he can kind of... direct, but usually it's more pointing him towards the next piece of information. Also, in playing with the themes of the game... it has him unsure of what he knows and what he doesn't know and he finds it REALLY HONKING UNNERVING.

(For me, this is definitely something I would largely use like the surgery model and for anything the game mods might want to use it for regarding plot but I don't find godmodding or anything like that as 'fun' and want the mystery to unfold the same as everyone else.)

-Seeing-
He generally can see straight through illusions/perception filters/etc. Anything that's hiding what it is visually, he can usually see straight through it or, if something is 'hiding'/missing/etc. find it with enough focus as long as he knows what he's looking for. Think True Seeing from DnD.

For other games, I've put up a permission post for some of the interpersonal issues some of these may cause. I'm happy to do that here, and I'd just have it not work in cases where it would interfere in major game mechanics.

Otherwise, he's extremely well read, an excellent researcher, and while he's very good at gathering knowledge, he's a bit crap at coming up with plans resulting from it.

INVENTORY:
-a tape recorder
-a sheaf of statements to get him started (2-3)
-his lighter with the web pattern on it
-a pocket knife

SAMPLES

PROSE-HEAVY: One | Two
DIALOGUE-HEAVY: One