Candlestick Jack
From Changeling Venue
| Seeming | Wizened Oracle |
|---|---|
| Court | Summer Court ••• |
| Freehold | Seven Hills |
| Player | Sean Alexander |
Contents |
Character Information
Summation
Alias: Candlestick Jack
Real Name: Jack Thomson
Age: Apparent - 28. Actual - 57
Concept: Traumatized Oracle
A Shadow of a Man
Mask: By all outward appearances, Jack is a nondescript man. Of average height and built, his hair is slightly long and unkempt. He rarely smiles, save in a distracted fashion, and seems perpetually nervous. Jack tends to wear a patch over his left eye, and pays little attention to his dress.
Mein: As a Wizened, Jack seems stooped and bent with what he’s suffered. His ears are slightly pointed, and his one eye shines like a black marble.
The Making and Breaking of a Soldier
Growing Up: Jack Thomson enlisted at a young age due to hyper-patriot father; he secretly regretted it, but did his best to make a show of how proud he was to serve his country, and "keep them damned Commies penned up in their shit-holes" as dad used to say in between glasses of scotch.
He enlisted out of San Francisco where he harbored dreams of playing pro-baseball. He's wasn't really good enough to go pro, but in the army you get to reinvent yourself, at least a little bit. Playing pro-ball was his dream, so if he exaggerated his chances a bit to the guys, and if he never really shined whenever the unit put together a pick-up game, no one really cared. In the army everyone lies about themselves at least a little, and Jack's was more innocent than most.
Regardless of his relative skill, his love for the game earned him the nickname "Candlestick" after the Giant's home ball-park in San Francisco. It should be mentioned that the day someone first called him "Candlestick" was a big day for Jack. It was the first day he really felt like he belonged. He qualified for airborne training, and when his dad found out he was a Screaming Eagle, the old man told Jack it was the proudest day of his life.
All throughout basic he did his best, both for his dad and to try to impress the other guys. Like baseball, he was passingly good, but no superstar. But he carried his weight, and took his lumps when they came, and Uncle Sam seemed to think that was good enough.
Life at War: Once he was in Vietnam it was a different world for Jack. All the theory and rhetoric of the high-minded thinkers who send young boys to war was left behind. It was all part of "the World", that dream-like place that existed only in memory and imagination. Reality was a lot harder, though no less surreal. One week might have him with nothing to do but eat, drink, smoke, party, and do the minimal work necessary to earn his chow. Another week might see him crawling on his belly, hoping against hope that the three guys ahead of him were enough to shield him from enemy fire.
After two months in-country he got transfered to Foxtrot Company to shore up lost manpower. After the first uncertainties of finding his way in a new outfit, jack began to feel like he belonged again. He lived in awe of men like Static, Ox and Race, true soldiers, men he knew his dad would refer to as "the real no-shit McCoy". He viewed Lt. Driscoll with something like hero-worship, and treated Rook with wide-eyed caution. Doc was like the older brother he never had, calm and patient, and always there to listen. Jack had found a true home.
Through all their campaigns he did his best not to let any of them down. He tried to hide his fear and his uncertainty. When he had to be sick he’d do his best not to make a fuss of it. He helped where he could, and kept out of the way where he couldn’t, and throughout it all he was driven by two conflicting desires: the first was to find a way out of the hellhole that was war in Vietnam, and to maybe make something of himself (Doc’s influence maybe). The second was a burning knowledge that he felt very complete here, with his band of brothers, and part of him never wanted that feeling to end.
Captivity and Escape: The end came, of course, but in a way no one imagined. The ride for Fools Company came to an abrupt halt at the hands of the Twilight King. When Jack woke up, he was chained with the rest. He thought it might be some ambush, one of those crazy head-games the MI guys were always warning them about, were it not for the fact that a bunch of gooks were chained up with them. And then the giant silver platter in front of him was uncovered, and dinner started. The long, twisted nightmare of captivity began. For Jack this was worse than any individual torture. He had come to love and idolize these men, and as he watched they were deconstructed, twisted, and in some cases corrupted. And he whole while the Twilight King whispered to Jack, reminding him on how frail a thing friendship was, that reliance was weakness, and that only in unyielding, unquestioning service was there any safety.
Jack doesn’t remember what was done to him. He just knows that whatever he did, they did it well and thoroughly. His tormentors sometimes wore the face of his friends. Sometimes it was his dad. Sometimes it as the buddies they’d lost along the way. Jack was never given respite. He was never “used” the way some of the others were. He was just broken, again and again, until he became distilled and pure like a solution that had been rendered down to its most base components.
Jack remembers the visions, and remembers that when the visions came he needed to describe them to his keepers. If he didn’t they would know, and he would suffer. He remembered the taunting, the burning, the humiliations, and the snickering whispers: “Jack be nimble, Jack be quick…”
Jack's memories of his escape are hazy. He remembers having a particularly lucid dream, and even as he summoned his handlers to describe it, the dream burned inside his mind like an instruction manual. Wait behind the door; when the handler enters, snake an arm around his throat, and hold tight until he stops twitching. Go left; down stairs, then wait for the sentries to pass. One will pause and sneeze; when his eyes are closed, rush him with the heavy candelabra. Swing once in a wide arc to the back of the head; make sure he lands on the rich rug. Then swing again and again until the meaty thuds are burned into his brain.
Step by step, Jack followed his dream to freedom, leaving a nightmare of carnage behind him. He was vaguely aware of what was happening; he saw it as if through the eyes of an observer, and knew he was having a “psychotic break” like Doc sometimes warned against. But it didn’t matter. Doc was twisted and unholy, like some of the others. If he was lucky he was dead. But no one was here to help Jack, and he loped into the Hedge, still carrying the candelabra like some gore-soaked trophy.
Return to the World: When Jack emerged from the Hedge, some thirty years had passed. He was back in “the World”, which turn of phrase had new connotations to him. He was still in Asia, but an Asia that had drastically changed. Jack hitched his way across the paddies, sometimes doing small labor for a meal, sometimes just stealing. He met few other Changelings along the way, but kept his distance out of fear. It was a hard life, but he eventually made his way to a sea-port, and snuck aboard the first ship with an American name. When the crew discovered him, they took pity on the obviously troubled young man, and let him work his passage. In the summer of 1999 he finally set foot in Seattle, and into the middle of a new war.
It was like Vietnam all over again; the first hesitance and awkwardness, followed by a sudden sense of belonging as he met others like him, who had suffered the way he had suffered. And the moment he laid eyes of King Adamant, he knew this was "the real no-shit McCoy”. The King wanted to strike out at a local Keeper who had strayed into the Hedge. The city was up in arms, and though some objected, most were driven along by Adamant’s raw power and conviction.
It was a horrible failure, of course. “Adamant’s Folly” resulted in the death or recapture of almost every Changeling in Seattle. And the worst part: jack had seen it. The dreams had started coming again, and he saw what would happen in his vision. But he couldn’t bear the thought of loosing the respect of these men and women. He couldn’t bear the thought of Kind Adamant looking at him with pity and understanding, and thinking that Jack was afraid. Of course jack was afraid! But more than anything else he wanted to belong, and he couldn’t see a way to stop what was coming. He went along, and watched his vision come to life in full horror. This was no bravado; his vision had showed him he would survive, when others would not. This was his final shame.
The Jack that emerged from the Hedge with the other survivors, days later, was a broken creature. While the survivors of Seattle did their best to put the pieces back together, Jack checked himself into a sanitarium, and has lived there ever since. He only emerges when the visions drive him. But he know longer knows his own future; that was too great a curse to bear, and he plucked out the eye that saw his own fate.
Current Activities: COMING SOON
Affiliations
Motley: None
Entitlement: None
Other Oaths/Alliances:
Brotherhood of Poole's Promise
Armed Service: United States Army
101st Airborne Division, "Screaming Eagles"
- 3rd Brigade, 187th Infantry Regiment (Airmobile)
- 3rd Battalion, "Iron Rakkasans"
- Foxtrot Company, "Fool's Company"
- Commanding Officer: Captain W. Poole
- Commanding Officer: Captain W. Poole
- First Platoon "Nomads"
- Platoon Leader: 1st Lieutenant C. Driscoll
- Platoon Leader: 1st Lieutenant C. Driscoll
- 3rd Brigade, 187th Infantry Regiment (Airmobile)
Friends and Allies
- Race - Life is funny, you know? Out in the World, I'd never have given him the time of day. But in-country, he was the kind of guy you knew you'd die for.
- Static - I used to think I knew him. That was before I saw him making that VC jump and twitch. Some things you just can't forget.
- Sundowner - (quote coming soon)
- Clyde - I used to worship Lt. Driscoll. That was just one of the things our Keeper took from me.
- Rook - He'd give me a soft word now and then. But it was always with those glassy eyes. Out of all of us, I imagine the Twilight King had to change him least.
- Doc Shepherd - Kind and thoughtful; he's the one that made me want to go to college. What they did to him was worse than death.
- Ox - All my life, all I ever wanted to be was him.
- Althea Sexton - There's something very soothing about her, like a cool hand laid on a fevered brow. But she seems so sad.
- Doctor Emil Zahne - I know I'm not well. But if it wasn't for the doc, I'd be a whole lot worse.
Enemies
Character Inspirations
Quotes
Words from the Asylum
- "They say the future is unwritten. They're fucking wrong."
- "I used to start and end every patrol praying to be home. Now I'd given anything to be back there, just long enough to stop what happened."
- "I've never been a brave man. But you don't need to be brave to fight. You just need to have no other choice."
- "Can you call the orderly? I'm not feeling so well..."
Clinical Reviews
- (post your own quotes about Jack here)
- "When you are intent on a course of action, see where Jack is standing. You'll usually find all the people you should be standing next to standing next to him." Dr. Emil Zahne
- "Gen'ral George Patton once said, 'Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.' He wuz talkin' 'bout men like Jack. Hard as so many folks been on Jack, what's sad is he still so hard on hisself." Clyde
- "Jack was an average shot and a poor soldier, but he was the best of men. I'm not sure if we'll ever be able to rescue him from his own mind... and I'm not really sure if we have a right to. But I'll protect him until a decision is made, or the rest of our time together." Horace "Race" Ardent
- "When I look at him now, it cuts to my fucking core. Cause what he went through...you can't heal that kind of damage. It's a part of him now...and he has to live with it. We all have to live with it." Doc Shepherd
- "He was just a kid. Kids shouldn't have to see the things he saw. But he's stronger for it." Rook
Mad Rumors
- Jack's Fetch died in combat after replacing him in Vietnam. But not before winning a Purple Heart, and proving to be twice the soldier Jack ever was. When the flag-draped casket came home, Jack's dad wept for the first time in living memory.
- Jack subsists on a diet of Glamour harvested from fellow mental patients.
- Jack carries with him the dogtags of every man who ever fell with his platoon.
- When Dame Belladonna died, Jack seemed to sense it coming. He arrived moments before she finally closed her eyes, and left moments after she passed on.
- Jack's first confirmed kill in Vietnam was a water buffalo. You can laugh if you want, but Clyde will probably punch you in the face for it. That water buffalo was a God damn communist.
- (add any rumors about Jack)
