OOC
GAME: Fairly Tales
DESCRIPTION: Reincarnated fairytales.
DATE: October 2007
PB: Michael Fassbender
JOURNAL: foxlike & itwasnotso
CONCEPT: Was originally named Jasper Whitwell, was PBed by Robert Downey Jr, and was the reincarnation of the Jabberwocky. I had in mind a well-mannered older surgeon with long fingers, measured voice, and salt-and-pepper beard. He was dry-humoured, incredibly snarky, knowledgeable, and kept people at a very, very firm distance, making them jump through all sorts of hoops to earn his respect. He was originally much nicer. Then he (briefly) became Jasper Wauch, PBed by Christopher Walken.
Then Emily suggested reworking him as Mr. Fox instead — and the rest is, as they say, history. The ideas ran rampant and the concept turned into something much more thought-provoking, and Neil Gaiman's incredibly hot and amazing take on the story didn't help to quell the urge, either. Jasper became more unstable, much more villainous, and very much more dangerous.
IC
NAME: Jasper Reynard
AGE: Thirty-five.
BIRTHDATE: December 23, 1972
ZODIAC: Capricorn
EMAIL ADDRESS: ude.mssm|dranyer.repsaj#ude.mssm|dranyer.repsaj
OCCUPATION: Vascular surgeon and attending physician at Mt. Sinai Hospital.
DETAIL: Let me ILLUCINATE here! Vascular surgeons operate on the blood vessels (ie arteries and veins) for conditions such as blockages or dilations (aneurysms) in the major arteries in the abdomen or legs. They also operate for conditions such as varicose veins or complications of venous thrombosis, and carry out bypass grafts in the abdomen or lower limb. Vascular surgeons may also undertake major and minor amputations of the lower limbs, and microsurgery on small blood vessels (eg in reconnecting a severed finger).
FAIRYTALE: Mr. Fox, Mr. Fox/The Oxford Student
ABILITY, IF ANY: None.
STATUS: Extremely guarded. No one knows his exact tale except for the necessary librarians, Sebastian, Marie, Devin, and thanks to being from the same story, poor Kelly.
Jasper is a man who is extremely hard to get close to. It runs deep; it runs in his tale, in his blood, in his childhood, and in every reincarnation he's had over the centuries. He keeps everyone at an arm's length and a half away, often with a healthy dosage of sharp and scathing sarcasm to boot. When dealing with him, there's the constant and nagging sense that he doesn't quite care: the man is blasé, respectable and aloof, in a way that makes people fall over themselves to be in his good regards. Which don't exist, by the way. He keeps people at such a distance, and constantly jumping through hoops to earn his respect; but the catch is that that will never happen. Reynard is almost painfully selfish, the type of opportunistic fox you've seen personified over and over in literature and fairytales. He holds little respect for women, and instead views them as valuable objects to be possessed — if you're good-looking and prestigious, well, congratulations. You might just have caught Reynard's eye. Nevermind the fact that he has a disturbing tendency to pick up women, string them along for months with his best behaviour, and then kick them to the curb once they've lost their novelty factor. But surprisingly enough, he doesn't do one-night stands. He makes long-term investments, you see.
But he's also a total gentleman, of course, and often held in very high regard himself. Very few of Reynard's nasty sides are in public view; he keeps his darkness largely hidden, and for appearance's sake, is simply another cold and capable surgeon. After all, exposure runs the risk of his tale coming true and him being ripped to pieces by elegant dinnerguests. (That tale rarely fulfils itself so literally, but hey, you never know.) The man's brilliant, but his social behaviour is just frosty enough that his coworkers think he's … rather odd, largely due to the massive superiority complex lurking underneath the surface. There is not enough, and can never be enough, because he refuses to accept failure, humiliation, or god forbid, too many equals. He never dealt well with taking orders, and it's a lucky chance that he's actually capable of doing so in the operating room when required. The man's worked his way up from nothing, and as such, is driven to maintain his prestige.
He has some friends, but they're never as close as they'd possibly like. He has some ex-girlfriends. Most of them hate him with a passion.
FAMILY:
Mother - Maia Reynard
Uncle - John Reynard
Father - Someone. Who knows?
HISTORY: Jasper's life gets started with his mother getting knocked up accidentally, by a man who had absolutely no intentions of staying. And he didn't. Poor and struggling for cash, incapable of providing for the baby, but reluctant to get an abortion, she went to her older brother for help. John Reynard, however, is not a very nice man at all. It's why he lives alone, and why he had enough space to take in his sister and her illegitimate kid — because no sane woman is willing to stay within that environment. Living with him was hell every time they did it. He would beat Maia back and forth across the apartment for being a waste of space, a leech, weak, incompetent, unable to fend for herself, and unable to take care of that child. But he never laid a hand on Jasper, who simply watched. When the boy grew older, he pushed himself to do as well in school as possible, and to excel. He was a bit strange sometimes, but he was precocious, intelligent, and popular in his own way.
All throughout his childhood, Maia went out with man after man after man, each of whom discarded her eventually. It was inevitable. Some of them treated her like shit too, because she was so nondiscriminating about who she went out with. She was desperate in trying to find a father figure for Jasper who wasn't his uncle. She wanted someone to support her little fledgling family; which of course didn't work, because the last thing a man wants to hear on the first date is how the chick needs support, encouragement, economic stability, and a fatherly attitude. If she'd gotten that, and if she'd found the right man willing to settle down with them and give it a shot, we probably wouldn't have any of our problems today. But a tale is a tale, and it has to be told.
So Maia often tried moving out and gaining independence from her brother. Every time, she thought she could make it — only to have these ventures fall apart shortly thereafter. Checks bounced, apartments were abandoned, and inevitably, like a moth drawn to a flame, she always came back to John. Because despite the way he treated her in the lowest of moments, he was always there for her. Because that's family. And she grew used to measuring herself by his words and taking them to heart. But if she believed it, Jasper believed it too.
Long story short, Reynard inherited some bad habits. He grew up into a broad-shouldered youth with a thin smile and a clipped voice and a tendency for brutally hitting his mother whenever they argued. (We learn by example.) But he shoved himself through school as top of his class, and she is so, so proud of him. He cut himself loose from the hometown Indiana, severed as many ties to his past as possible, went to med school and now, many years later, is a very well-established surgeon. Dear old mom, on the other hand, works as a waitress at a diner in New Jersey. Sometimes he goes there to have a meal. He eats in silence, and does not speak to her beyond making his orders. Nor does he allow her to sit down beside him. Of course she obeys him, and never pushes it, because she just can't comprehend doing anything else. But he leaves a tip of $50 every time. Despite its appearance, the tip is not actually a nice gesture… but we won't get into that.
He was introduced to the tale community after he'd finally gotten his degree, and he wasn't particularly surprised to discover his new role. It explained a lot of things. And it made him aware of some extremely unpleasant truths; namely, the fact that he was most likely doomed to a violent death. But he slipped into the Pentamerone community without too many ripples, despite Anser's trepidation; Reynard's playing nice, after all. He is friendly when one encounters him. And if wicked stepmothers and evil witches can be accepted without prejudice, Mr. Fox only feels he deserves the same courtesy.
There's the very high chance that everything is fake, however. He often has a light smile on his face and a laugh in his throat. Reynard behaves like the perfect gentleman his mother was always looking for, but the truth is that he's anything but.
PAST INCARNATIONS: Mr. Fox has an old history of being punished by the tale community whenever he finally fulfils his tale and they discover what he's done. He preys on women and has a predilection towards gore: in his previous incarnations, it was bloody slaughter and murder, for which he was either incarcerated or executed. But today, thanks to the evolution of medicine, he has an occupation where he can vent all that dangerous energy. Presumably the operating room's bloody enough for the man's liking, who used to cut up young maidens once upon a time.
SEXUALITY: Heterosexual.
STATUS: Seeing Jess Winters.
SOUNDTRACK
See here.
LOGS
Before: Prologue
November 14, 2007: SHAZAM; the villains try to steal the magical objects
February 29, 2008: Asking Gray for a favour
March 1, 2008: Mr. Fox takes on Bluebeard
March 6, 2008: Bluebeard retaliates
March 22, 2008: Reynard and Jess finally get somewhere
May 11, 2008: He speaks to his mother for the first time in ... a very long time
May 11, 2008: A phone-call with Jess
May 23, 2008: Bedside visit at the hospital
May 30, 2008: Drunk Graynard, plus flashback
After: Epilogue
20 YEARS LATER
Would have aimed for head of surgery and eventually dumped Jess and her son on his own terms, had all things gone according to plan. But they didn't. Profoundly twisted by the similarities between Matty and himself, Reynard found himself more upset than he should have been when he and Jess (inevitably) trainwrecked. For the second time in his life — the first being his almost-engagement, which woke up Mr. Fox for the first time — he is actually devastated post-break-up.
& WHAT NEVER WAS: This would have sent Reynard spiralling back to his villainous roots, and actually killing young women around New York. The Atheneum would have tried to stop him, only to realise there was no bargaining with the tale who had become a murderer — staying one step ahead of the police, he would take refuge with Gray Adams and Kelly Chandler, wholly abusing the latter's unhealthy loyalty to him. Finally, the Atheneum would have had to terminate him using Tom Locke, and Reynard would have died in-game, courtesy of the Butcher's bullet. He also probably would've drunkenly slept with any villainess (hello Devin!) who sided with him.
