daddys_girl

Name: Jessie James

Age: 15

Gender: Female

Type: Dreamer

Appearance:

Jessie’s a tomboy, but she’s a girly tomboy – if that makes any sense. She likes dressing up as much as she likes dressing down, and she loves looking pretty for no reason other than she wants to as much as she loves being elbow-deep in mechanical grease. Jessie keeps her blonde hair long, but always has a hair tie close at hand. Skirts and dresses are on the rarer side for her, since they’re not all that versatile (can’t get down under a car if you have to worry about people seeing your underwear), but not unheard of, even if she does like jeans.

Jessie moves like a dancer, all grace and energy and vivid movement. It often seems like she’s trained in dance – ballet, specifically – even though she hasn’t and likely never will.

Personality:

Cheerful and outgoing, Jessie takes after her father in a lot of ways – probably more than he’d like, if he knew the full extent of it. Jessie’s charming in her own way, and always has a smile at the ready. She laughs easily and often, and is always in the mood to do something fun. She hates sitting still for too long, and loves exploring and playing with mechanical things. She’s always taking stuff apart, from clocks to radios to cars (when she can get her hands on one), and putting them back together again, by trial and error if she has to. Jessie has her father’s eternal optimism, without a doubt, but it’s not hidden in the least.

She’s gotten a few of her father’s bad habits, too, unfortunately. Jessie doesn’t mind taking a few risks and dipping into the criminal, though she’s firm against doing anything really bad. Pick a few pockets? Sure, if it looks like they can afford it. Break into a house for a midnight snack? Okay, but only if there’s enough food for the homeowners after. How about a joy ride? Yeah, but the car has to be returned by five. Jessie watches herself, though – after all, she has a dad to get home to, and he really needs her. Not to mention he’d flip if he ever found out.

On the whole, Jessie’s a pretty good kid. She loves her dad like nothing else, adores the rest of her family, and is always willing to lend a hand to anyone who looks like they could use it. She makes friends easily and is very loyal to every one of them, going the extra mile for any that need it.

City History:

The way Jessie figures it, she’s had a pretty good childhood. She grew up with a loving, caring father, two doting grandparents, and four really awesome aunts, all of whom are still with her today. It wasn’t exactly easy – Jesse James may be a great dad, but that doesn’t mean he’s got it all together – but Jessie figures it could’ve been worse, too. She could’ve grown up with her mother (who, while not a bad person, is just not as great as Jesse).

When Jessie was little and her dad was working, she’d spend her days at her grandparent’s house, hearing stories about when her father and hers aunts were young – the ones about Daddy were always her favorites. They were always so exciting, even if they ended with him getting in trouble a lot. She was an active kid, always getting into things and exploring all the nooks and crannies of the James’ neighborhood, and so it wasn’t much of a surprise when she started exploring even further as she got older, spending less and less time at her grandparent’s house.

Her explorations took her far, and she never hesitated to make friends with whoever she ran into. Rich or poor, cop or criminal, old or young – it didn’t matter to Jessie, and from them she learned a variety of skills. Lock-picking, pick pocketing, how the stocks worked, where to find a good soup kitchen, what was shipped at what docks, the best way to disarm an opponent, how to fix a sink, on and on and on it went, and Jessie soaked up all of it, even if she wouldn’t actually be able remember well enough to perform said task three days later. What stuck with her, though, she practiced feverishly and loved doing.

One such skill was mechanics. One day, Jessie was introduced to the inner workings of a radio by a repairman friend she’d made. When she went home, she’d promptly dismantled her grandfather’s radio so she could put it back together again the way her friend had. She was grounded for a solid month for it, but by the time the end of the month came, she had it working again. Everything went downhill from there, and nothing’s been safe from her since. On the other hand, she’s the James’ family go-to girl whenever something breaks.

Since it was the same sort of thing her father did, Jessie never thought twice when she started picking up a more criminal skill set as well. She had her guidelines – even if he did it, too, Jessie was pretty sure she’d be worse than grounded if her Daddy ever found out – but had little issue with the moral side of it all. It wasn’t until her father came home shot and bleeding that she realized where that kind of behavior could lead. It was a traumatizing experience: Jesse was her rock, her home, her Daddy, and nearly losing him shook her to the core. Immediately following the incident, she dropped any similar habits and limited the use of those particular skills to pranks and practice only – and made it perfectly clear to her father that she wanted him to do the same.

These days, Jessie’s busy looking after her father and restoring a 1920 Stephens Salient Six Roadster (Model 82) she found abandoned by the docks.

Special Skills and Abilities:

Besides being a straight A-student (though she’s perilously close to a B in math), Jessie has a pretty good variety of skills to call upon. She can pick a pocket or bag without anyone the wiser, pick a standard lock in under twenty seconds, hotwire any car in less than fifteen, and can even crack a couple of the simpler padlocks (DON’T tell her dad about that stuff!!). She can also handle herself pretty well in a fight, both hand to hand and with a knife (her dad taught her, and she carries a personalized butterfly knife he gave her), and knows the proper way to hold a gun, though she’s never fired one (don’t tell her dad about that, either, okay?). Besides that, Jessie can fix absolutely anything, including people, up to a point – she knows some advanced first aid, though if it looks even vaguely major she’ll aim you directly at the closest doctor once she’s done patching you back together. She’s very talented at learning new skills quickly, too, though not always so good at remembering them later.

Weaknesses:

Criminal tendencies – they’re not exactly pronounced, but they’re there. Jessie doesn’t mind blurring the line between right and wrong from time to time, especially if she thinks it’ll help someone. If it’s relatively harmless, it’s fine, to her way of thinking, and she’ll sometimes practice her skills for no other reason than she enjoys it, even if she doesn’t actually complete the job.

Family – like her dad, Jessie’s very big on family, and it wouldn’t be too hard for someone to use them against her. It’s especially bad where her father is concerned: he’s the most important, precious person in her life, and she’ll do flat-out anything for him.

Curiosity – Jessie likes knowing stuff, and tends to stick her nose somewhere it doesn’t really belong. Sometimes this means people get annoyed with her. Others, it means a particular piece of electronics equipment winds up in pieces. And in a few situations, it means Jessie winds up in real trouble. So far, it’s only been detentions at school and groundings at home, but it could easily wind up with more serious consequences.

Paranoia/Overprotectiveness – ever since Jesse came home shot, Jessie’s been really protective of him. She likes knowing what he’s planning on doing for the day so she can find him easily, and she worries if she can’t locate him within a couple hours. She starts panicking if he doesn’t come home when he says he will, though she can generally manage to hold off until he’s been gone with no word for nearly three hours before she starts calling the cops and putting together a search party.

Impossible standards – Jesse compares every guy she meets to her father, and none ever seem to meet the mark. With friends, it’s fine, but if she’s dating them it causes problems. Jessie won’t settle for anything less than the best (she’s been raised to know that’s what she deserves, and not just by her father), but the best isn’t exactly easy to find. Not unless there’s another teenaged version of Jesse James floating around Eidolon somewhere.

Selective memory – Though she picks up on skills fast, unless she practices them often, she forgets how to do things after a few days. She might remember the first few steps, but nothing after a certain point. If relearning the skill is necessary, she’ll pick it up even faster than she did the first time, but it still doesn’t guarantee it will stick afterward.

Strengths:

Jessie’s no slouch in the intelligence department, and damned observant to boot. She notices pretty much everything out-of-place or odd, and has an excellent memory – though just because she remembers something doesn’t mean she can recall it on command. She never forgets a face, though, and she’s very good with names.

Urban Explorer – Jessie goes everywhere and anywhere in Eidolon City, and she knows the place better than most. She knows at least one back way to just about anywhere anyone could want to go in the city, and fits in in all but the ritziest places.

Low level Contacts – Jessie’s explorations bring her into contact with people from all walks of life, and she’s friends with most of them. You name it, Jessie probably knows someone who does it, and if she thinks you’re okay, she might introduce you.

Family or Connections:

her father, Jesse James, her grandparents, Angela and Christopher James, her four aunts, Dorothy, Evelyn, Ruby and Virginia, her cousin Lucy, and her mother, Veronica

Residence:

a small one bedroom apartment (her dad sleeps on the couch, she gets the bedroom) a few blocks away from her grandparent’s house

Career:

High school student

PB: Indiana Evans