InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Don't make me use my numchucks"

Jo (

_enihpesoj) wrote,
@ 2010-08-11 18:07:00

project papillon app
THE PLAYER
NAME:
Caitlin
AGE:
22
AIM:
allmystrings
E-MAIL:
allmystrings@aim.com
TIMEZONE:
EST

THE CHARACTER
NAME:
Joanna Beth Harvelle
SERIES/FANDOM:
Supernatural
SPECIES:
Human
SEXUALITY:
All of Jo's sexual experiences have been with men and she's currently involved in a monogamous heterosexual relationship. She hasn't ever really thought about girls “that way” but she's a pretty tactile person, if another girl started something and it felt good she'd go with it without freaking out too much. It's just not something that would really occur to her to pursue herself or to think of as a viable long term option. This evens out to around a 1 on the Kinsey scale I'd imagine.
JOB:
Monster hunter. Is that an option? Honestly she's not too concerned about working, she has her work cut out for her trying to get home and probably watching out for Sam 2. If we're going with “all characters have jobs” she'll take bar tender. She's qualified-- it's what she does back home whenever she needs money.
ABILITIES:
Basic proficiency with guns, knives, etc. and their maintenance aka standard beginning hunter skills. Pretty good at research after living with and being trained by Ash. Bar tending and cooking, especially of bar-type food, are also skills.
WEAKNESSES:
One of Jo's big weaknesses is her stubborn obsession with proving herself. You know that stage most kids go through where they're all “I WILL DO IT MYSELF!” and you have to inform them that, no, in fact they will not be cooking their own dinner because they are four? Jo kind of...never grew out of that. She'd almost always rather do something wrong twenty times to figure it out on her own the twenty-first time rather than letting someone help her. It comes of having to fight tooth and nail for every scrap of independence from an over-protective mother but it gets her in trouble especially in the hunters' world where indulging that kind of stubborn pride can get you killed.

Another way her stubbornness manifests is in her need to challenge herself. When she was a kid Jo had a fear of heights. Instead of avoiding heights she climbed the tree in her backyard and threw herself from its branches again and again going higher each time. It ended in a broken wrist but Jo knows she can handle heights now. This also means she might be kind of a jerk to any alternate selfs that she meets and that she always runs towards the big scary monster that could possibly kill her.

Though she's gotten better at it since she started hunting Jo's also not so good at hiding what she's feeling and without strict discipline her emotions are the equivalent of neon signs “I'M PISSED” “I LIKE YOU” etc. etc. and so most of her subterfuge consists of an elaborate game wherein she first lies to herself until she almost believes it and then projects the lie.
DEVIATION FROM CANON:
Though he was determined to keep his sons sheltered from the hunters' network at large an unexpected injury in Nebraska forced John to make an emergency pit stop with his sons at the Roadhouse. John and Ellen mended fences over Bill's death and Jo's known the Winchesters since she and Sam were ten and Dean was fourteen.
CANON PUNCTURING PREFERENCE:
No thanks
OBJECT FROM HOME:
Her dad's knife
PERSONALITY:
As the weakness section shows, Jo is stubborn. That stubbornness is actually kind of a reactionary trait though as she isn't just stubborn for stubbornness' sake, it's more about independence and focus. Growing up she always felt safe because she knew about the supernatural and she's always equated knowledge with power (schoolhouse rock would be so proud!). In order for her to feel secure she needs to feel like she has control of her life, the information and skills to fight and depend herself and the people she cares about. By trying to keep her out of hunting her mother was trying to protect her but to Jo it felt like the opposite and her stubbornness developed as a result. She isn't one for pointless heroics or showmanship, preferring to get a job done quietly and get it done well, but if she feels like you're trying to shove her aside or treat her unfairly you better believe you're going to hear about it.

This independent streak also carries over into her relationships with other people. Jo doesn't need a lot of friends to be happy, just a few people she can count on, though she's fairly friendly and easy to talk to. Though she is well-intentioned and friendly enough she can also come off as a bit prickly with an acerbic sense of humor and a bit of a “well if you don't get it that isn't my problem” attitude. As a friend she exhibits a kind of no-nonsense loyalty. She'd take a bullet for her friends but she sees interfering too much in their lives as a sign of disrespect and believes that the best way to deal with friends is to give them space to solve their own problems and not get overprotective. Of course there are exceptions, she's probably bound to be a little protective of any Sams she encounters because of her promise to the Dean from her reality, but all in all you won't see her acting like a Winchester.

Jo likes challenges, puzzles, adrenaline, and things that require a lot of focus. If she weren't a hunter she'd be jumping out of planes to fight forest fires or traveling the world-- it's just kind of wired into some people, the need to keep moving, exploring, doing. Part of the challenge of Papillon will probably be, being restricted to one town when one of the things she loves about hunting is the freedom to see the country, the lack of a fixed address.

She does not trust food that tries to look like other food i.e. veggie burgers and those cakes that look like cameras or robots or whatever. Don't precisely know what that says about her but she'd think it was important to mention.
HISTORY:
Jo Harvelle always knew the thing under her bed was real-- also the thing in the closet and the monsters outside her bedroom window at night. Her father, William Harvelle, was a hunter and together with her mother Ellen he owned and ran Harvelle's Roadhouse a saloon and networking spot for hunters. Jo grew up hearing the true stories of werewolves, ghosts, demons, and all manner of monsters from a rotating crowd of “Uncles” and “Aunts” who also dispensed such advice as “swearing 101” and “gambling and hustling for beginners.” Strangely this upbringing made her feel safe and secure rather than scared and un-moored-- she knew exactly what was out there in the dark, sure, but she also knew at least ten people in her house could kick its ass at any given time of day.

One of her favorite “uncles” was John Winchester, her father's best friend, who she knew as one of the most friendly and tolerant of all her faux-family members, who always came into the Roadhouse with a piece of chocolate hidden in a pocket (she had to guess which one) of his huge coat and who was endlessly patient with and attentive to her stories and games and confidences. In reality John was enjoying being around a kid he didn't have to worry about, Jo wasn't his responsibility and so he could give her candy without thinking about how fat kids couldn't run away from monsters and spoil her without worrying she would take her newfound cheek to school and spill some stories about ghosts to her teacher. He didn't tell Jo, or most hunters besides Ellen and Bill, that he had sons of his own since he planned to keep them separate from the network at large, suspecting there was something wrong with Sam even then. This mostly a happy arrangement, however, changed permanently when Jo was nine and her father was killed on a hunt with John. Never one to stick around for messy emotional situations John didn't come back to the Roadhouse, even for Bill's funeral, and planned on leaving it behind forever. Jo didn't get an explanation as to where her “Uncle John” had gone and was too wrapped up in her grief over losing her father to care immediately.

Then, one day about a year later, Jo got off the school bus to see the Impala parked in the lot. She sprinted inside but instead of John there were two boys sitting at the table having a conversation in worried whispers, one about her own age and one about fourteen. After an initial period of confusion (and a quick Mexican Standoff between Jo and Dean of the “He's not your uncle he's my dad” “He doesn't have any kids” “You're an idiot” “No, you are!” variety) it came out that John had been badly injured hunting a Wendigo and had been too far from either another hunter or a hospital to go anywhere but the Roadhouse.

While he recovered there was little for the younger Winchesters and Harvelle to do but get to know each other. Sam and Jo became fast friends bonding over being the coddled babies of their respective family groups struggling for independence and a shared love of puzzles which Dean deemed “boring and geeky” before skulking outside to shoot beer cans. Jo and Dean usually wouldn't have paid too much attention to each other, fourteen year old boys don't usually have much to say to ten year old girls and vice versa, but Jo was also insatiably curious about hunting and constantly pestered Dean with questions about hunts his dad had let him come along on, even if only to sit in the driver's seat while John was inside the haunted house. To the girl who had never left Nebraska the Winchester lifestyle of constant travel also seemed incredible and since Sam just sulked when Jo pressed him for stories and things with John were weird for some reason she couldn't understand Dean was her only source for questions. With Dean Winchester flattery will get you everywhere and so he warmed to her a bit and enjoyed bragging to her about all the hunter-exploits Sam no longer found impressive. When the Winchesters left at the end of John's convalescence Ellen and John seemed to have come to some sort of understanding after their initial prickly period and Sam and Jo were jokingly referring to each other as “cousins.”

Things went back to normal for the most part, Jo and Ellen fought (mostly about how Jo wanted to start hunting), school was awful except for math and science, the awkward teen years rolled on in, and an MIT-expelled Ash moved into the Roadhouse. Throughout all this, however, Jo kept in touch with the Winchesters and they would occasionally drop by when John needed somewhere to leave the boys and Bobby or Pastor Jim weren't available (though he always checked first to make sure not too many other hunters were around). Being some of the only kids “in the know” about the supernatural got lonely and frustrating and that would have been incentive enough to stay in touch but over the years Sam and Jo maintained a mutually supportive “my family just doesn't get me” kind of solidarity (or as Dean called it “the emo bitches club”) as Sam encouraged Jo's desire to hunt and she backed his dreams of college even if neither really understood why the other wanted those things. Dean and Jo were somewhat more complex. As Jo got older she refused to be treated like a little cousin any more, demanding to be brought along on adventures and treated as a partner in crime rather than a tag-along. There was also friction since Dean, though he was still in 'hunting is the best!' mode at that point in his life, didn't support Jo's plans to run off after high school and hunt, telling her to be grateful for her worried mom and stable life.

When Jo graduated high school she tried a year at college but was unhappy there, feeling like the “freak with the knife collection.” When one of the younger hunters, Rick Torrez (an old flame from back home), looked her up while in the area on a hunt she ended up dropping out of college to join him as his hunting partner and girlfriend. Rick wasn't the “tortured soul” (aka Winchester) kind of hunter and specialized in poltergeists, black dogs, “cool” monsters that didn't come with the angst of a human host like a demon or werewolf. They traveled the country fighting monsters like Jo had always wanted and for awhile, minus surprises like 'living with your first boyfriend is actually hard, shit' and 'money doesn't grow on trees especially when mom cuts you off,' she was living the dream. When Sam split with his family and went off to college Jo was supportive of him and they stayed in touch, calls and a few visits now and again, but everyone was living their own lives and busy. She actually saw Dean, who was working a few jobs on his own or with John, more than Sam and now that they were both in their twenties the two developed more of a friendship as equals though he never did get along with Rick for whatever reason (hey, they might be a stubborn, mostly incompatible in a stable sense, dysfunctional pair but you just try convincing me that Dean and Jo don't at least have sexual tension in any universe haha).

Unfortunately Jess still died in this universe and John still went missing. The first season played out much like it did in the “normal” universe except that the boys were more tapped into the network of hunters and Jo and Bobby and Ellen were keeping feelers out for news on John. The second season events were much of the same as well, Jo finally learned that her Uncle John had been responsible for her father's death after a hunt she and Rick collaborated with the Winchesters on went sour and that drove a wedge between them for a little while. Demon!Sam went after Jo in this timeline too but she knew him well enough to realize that he was possessed and texted Dean an “SOS” and her location while the demon was still just talking. He did overpower her but it only went about as far as on the show before Dean and Rick (who she had also texted) showed up and saved her. Since they already had an established bond she was able to get over what had happened much more quickly and actually had to be the one to constantly reassure Sam that she didn't blame him.

When Sam went missing and was transported to Cold Oak Jo helped Dean look for him and she and Rick were with him when they found the Roadhouse blown to kingdom come and Ash dead. She stayed behind in the wreckage of her old home with Rick to give those caught in the explosion a proper burial and wasn't there when Dean and Bobby saw Sam die. Dean wouldn't let Bobby tell anyone and Jo's frantic calls to his cell and Sam's went unanswered until she got a text from Sam to meet them at a graveyard where a gate to Hell was being opened. Azazel was defeated, all was well, but she could tell there was something her friend and pseudo-cousin weren't telling her. After a few months of avoidance on the Winchester side and harassment on the Harvelle side Sam finally broke down and told her about Dean's deal. She obviously didn't take the news well and she and Dean had a yelling match that sent Sam dashing off to the nearest coffee shop. It ended, however, with her promising Dean that if he did go to Hell she would look out for Sam.

She went to sleep that night and woke up in Papillon.

WRITING SAMPLE:
(I know this comm must be in past tense, will do :) )
I play Jo and Ellen and people in peril and scary monsters at

family_business
Here are some threads for your convenience:

Jo and Dean make burgers and chat about hunting, REO, a pickup lines: http://asylums.insanejournal.com/family_business/2927.html#cutid1

Jo and AU!Winchester drama:
http://asylums.insanejournal.com/family_business/3253.html#cutid1

PB:
Alona Tal
JOURNAL:

_enihpesoj
WAS THIS CHARACTER HELD FOR YOU?:
Yup!
ANYTHING ELSE?:
I'm excited for round two!

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