OOC
GAME: Crossover
DESCRIPTION:
DATE: October 2008
PB: Charlie Hunnam
JOURNAL: hellblazes
IC
Comic Character.
Name/Alias: John Constantine (HELLBLAZER)
Universe: DC Vertigo
Powers: MAGIC. Nothing glitzy or physical; John's powers are all in the mind, and generally involve a lot of mental suggestion and manipulation bordering on hypnotism, illusions, memory alteration, and most prominently, an inconvenient ability to see (and speak to) the dead, if the ghosts are feeling talkative. It's only ever spirits who have unfinished agendas, or ones who were closely tied to him. He's also damn good at sleight of hand.
Status: Likes to maintain an ~air of mystery~, but more often than not, finds that his reputation has preceded him. Hey, it's hard not to guess the identity of the snarky Brit with the sleazy sense of humour and the penchant for magic.
Character.
Name: Jack Willmore Collier
Age/Birthdate: 27 / May 5, 1982
Sexuality: Bisexual, trending towards women nowadays; his last male relationship didn't end well.
Occupation: Unemployed. If cash gets low, he usually scams money off mundies using his power.
Appearance: Jack is tall, skinny, and looks like a runner — and fancy that, he is one! Daily jogs around the block keep him in whippet-thin shape (some remnant of Constantine's ancient talent for speeding away, most like), but aside from that, he's all bony features, brown eyes, and impish good looks. With the scruffy and scraggly blond hair, he looks far younger than he is, and often more dishevelled than the situation probably calls for — if he's in a suit, the shirts are rumpled and his coattails sticking out. There's a smirk permanently stuck in the corner of his mouth, and overall, Jack looks like a young man who, Peter Pan-esque, just isn't ready to grow up yet.
PB: Charlie Hunnam
Personality: Sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll: more of each, please! Constantine was the born hedonist, and the addictive personality has passed on to Jack: he smokes cheap cigarettes like a chimney, and has a tiny bit of a drug problem, but doesn't drink all that often. On the flip side, when he does dip into the liquor, Jack gets absolutely hammered — he's not good at holding his alcohol, and in fact, this habit of reckless endangerment and pushing the envelope applies to most other things in his life. He enjoys adrenaline and danger — quite likely to an unhealthy extent, since Jack has never, ever managed to be careful and rational about his own life.
He cranks up the charm towards men and women alike, lives hard and loves harder, and can generally be found slouching and slipping his way forward from day-to-day. He's certainly not the most ambitious of individuals, instead opting for fun and aimless amusement rather than aiming for something in life. It's been a constant source of contention between him and his family.
But while he likes card tricks, hamming up his abilities as much as he can, and being a bit of the consummate showman when it comes to his magic, Jack just isn't as streetwise as the magician he was reincarnated from. Bright-eyed and bushytailed, he's not half of the survivalist Constantine used to be. Jack is, frankly, more clueless; less world-weary; not as cynical. He has some of the magus' sheer animal instinct, the cocky attitude and the lopsided smirk, but none of the battered wisdom.
He's also a bit less sincere about his attachments. He free-wheels from activity to philosophy to lifestyle to person, and while he genuinely likes most people he meets, Jack can't bring himself to be loyal to them unless they constitute an exception in the form of his best friends. (It's led to more than a few breakups, since he drops one attachment for another far newer and more interesting one.) Jack cares for other human beings mainly as vague hilarious amusements, and hasn't yet clued in that life — and his status as a reincarnate — isn't just a trip from one big thrill-ride to the next. He hasn't devoted much thought to his identity, nor to the implications of what, exactly, being the next Hellblazer means. Maybe someday soon Constantine's rotten, stinking luck will catch up to him.
In fact, it's started already with losing friends in the earthquake. It's led to Jack backsliding a bit and falling into a morose pit of melancholy far too familiar to Constantine. Little does he know that it's still possible to sink lower.
History:
Jack is the eldest son of English ex-patriates Steven and Mary Collier, who moved to New York when he was 11 on account of business — Steven was a well-to-do corporate executive, and when opportunity knocked, he always promptly answered. It resulted in a lot of shuttling around in Jack's younger childhood, and the final move happened right before Jack was due to enter secondary; in traditional preteen anger, he hated the move to NYC but gradually grew to love the city. His British accent stuck, as did the ~exotic~ feeling of him being a foreigner.
He was, frankly, a little hellion as a child — and still is. Teenage Jack gave his parents (particularly his father) all sorts of hell, in epic temper tantrums ranging from a) don't want to move, b) don't want to go to school, c) what do you mean I need a summer job, d) what do you mean you won't bail me out of prison, e) what do you mean mum's taking back the moped?
Oddly enough, Jack did bond better with his mother, who coddled him incessantly — which only helped to foster his irresponsible habits. He picked up smoking when he was thirteen, and hasn't stopped since. It's also worth mentioning that Jack has a younger sister, Sarah, with whom he will constantly fight; they love each other, certainly, and she still takes care of him when necessary (or upon their mother's orders), but both of them exhibit the utmost that Collier temper has to offer.
For holidays while growing up in NYC, Jack would often fly back to the UK by himself to stay with his aunt and uncle. He had his own ragtag group of hooligans back there — like the cast of Skins, except not. This period of wayward holidaying is what started off his experimentation with various drugs and partying hard until the wee hours of morning.
Miraculously, the kid graduated high school, then bummed around for a couple years as he tried to figure out where the fuck he fit into the world.
Then John Constantine started manifesting. It all made sense! Of course he was drawn to the weird and wacked out shit: psychedelic trips, kinky sex, alternative religions, svelte Wiccan babes who rocked his world. He just doesn't quite fit into the dull, boring, happy families life. He's the spitting image of a young, cheeky John, and their birthdays are even remarkably close — but as proud as he is to share these similarities with his fictional predecessor, when it comes to spiritual development, Jack's lagging behind. He's loose and carefree, and reaping the good of his identity without taking the bad.
During this extensive period of indecision, he's maintained experimentation with various alternative lifestyles. Jack skidded through abandoning Catholicism (thank you, parents), crashed into the punk and goth scene, tried out paganism then rastafarianism (the dreads looked terrible on him), entertained brief flirtations with both Shinto and Baha'i, but now he's content just living. He won't say no to a few sessions of tantric yoga, though.
Back in 2006, he had a big blow-up fight with an ex-girlfriend [SEEKING STORYLINE HERE], who also happened to be a reincarnate. Jack promptly packed up his shit and moved to the UK after that, taking up punk rock in seedy little locales in London and sharing a flat with four other, equally adrift and irresponsible people. He left his journal login information behind; whether it was carelessness or deliberation, who knows.
But now he's back! Jack Collier made a triumphant return in the fall of 2008, crashed in his sister's apartment for a while, then eventually tracked down his old bff Zara Fariba, and has been living with her ever since.
His latest time in New York has had him meeting (and losing) new friends, chief among them a girl named Joey. After the events of the earthquake, Jack's found himself at a loss for how to pull himself back up. He's sliding back into old unhealthy habits (and even enabling them in a few others) and is, once more, trying to figure out what he should do with his life.
Plot ideas: GHOSTS. Fatality-centric ruminations after the earthquake will have him setting up a paranormal investigation office and working freelance, helping people get closure with loved ones/helping ghosts sort out their goddamn shit so they won't bother him anymore. I'll be looking to fill storylines for a) the ex-girlfriend who sent him running, b) a business partner with the paranormal investigation! annnd c) maaaybe even his younger sister, if she newly manifests as an unrelated comic (does that sound plausible for peeps?).
I'm also thinking he can do paranormal work for Crossover's behalf, if the administration ever asks him to do so.
A string of really really really crappy luck in his personal life will also happen at some point, which will help plunge him even deeper into realising that comicdom isn't all shits and giggles, but that is a tale for another day.
soundtrack
"weak and powerless"; a perfect circle
"leeds united"; amanda palmer
"boogie monster"; gnarls barkley
future notes
- narrative
- avoiding constantine memories
- everything happy-go-lucky~
- post re: what can YOU do with your abilities? :]
- drug problem got worse when he was in england (being in constantine's stomping ground, london, etc, ghosts)
- ghosts ghosts —> DRINKZ
- partying hxcore to avoid everything~
- right now: partying too much, irresponsible. not dependent, but abusive…
- like EVERYONE IN HIS FAMILY will die. haaaaaai john's life. :') life will get worse, solace in drugz. escalating with sonia. irresponsible. not willing to change.
- ghost town!
- narrative: john talking to jack, arched eyebrow, insufferable smirk (suddenly knowing how everyone else felt), more tired, older, is that what he's destined to be, god, it's not all shits and giggles and sex, is it. john shaking his head, it'd be horrible if he was ~disappointed~ but actually he looks like he couldn't give a damn and that's worse. does this qualify as talking to himself? jack doesn't know and at this point, he's probably happier not knowing. goes into a deeper stupor. drinks more. takes more. parties more. fights more. a digging warning from john, "gonna end up fucked sideways by that, mate," but he doesn't listen. he takes more until john goes away, the insufferable prick.
