Post by Jesse St. Johns on May 22, 2008 23:12:11 GMT 1
*This is ready for evaluation but could I request that you not lock it if it passes? I want to mess around with the format and possibly retcon a few things later. Thanks.
The Killing Floor Bluesman
Name: Jesse St. Johns (last name pronounced ‘Saint Johns’)
Age: 18
D.O.D: May 1, 1990
Height: 6’0”
Weight: 190 pounds
Blood Type: O+
Nationality: American
Ethnicity: African/French
Attended School: Paragon Institute
School Year: Repeat Junior
Hometown: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Eye color: Light Blue/Grey
Hair: Black, shoulder length dreadlocks
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
Social Security #: 198-00-2462
Body: Obviously he is a dark skinned man, with a chocolate brown complexion free of scars or blemishes that straddles the line between a pure African and a Caucasian. His overall build is naturally strong and athletic, with broad shoulders, a wide chest, powerful arms, a vague six-pack, and sprinter worthy legs. His muscles are not huge however; they’re leaner and best described as solid, not highly defined but more than enough, although his dark skin makes them appear larger due to the heightened effect of shadows.
Facial Features: Jesse has a very balanced facial structure and could easily be regarded as quite handsome. His skull is oval in shape and he has the large lips and flaring nostrils of his African heritage combined with a strong jaw and wide forehead. His skin is tight against his bone structure, which gives him a youthful appearance and his cheeks a high, defined look. He has facial hair that he usually shaves clean but will sometimes allow a moustache and goatee to grow. The most striking or unusual feature of Jesse is his eyes. Unlike a normal black man his eyes are not brown but a light bluish gray, a color he acquired from his mother white Cajun genetics.
Apparel: Jesse wears a number of different outfits and changes them on a day-to-day basis so he doesn’t have a predefined wardrobe. He does however tend to wear mostly classic American styles, especially jeans, tight T-shirts, henleys, jackets and sneakers or boots. Being from the warmer temperatures of Louisiana he is still adjusting to San Francisco’s colder, winder climate and is usually underdressed for the situation.
Habits: Jesse is an extremely observant person. He is constantly checking and rechecking his surroundings, thus he is often seen glancing at doorways, feeling walls and windows, mentally inventorying objects, and scanning hallways and around corners. He rarely misses a detail and will become agitated when he feels that something is missing, wrong, or about to happen.
Also, although he has shed most traces of his Southern accent he will still unknowingly revert back to it. His drawl is not as thick as most but is still a dead giveaway when it’s heard.
Personality: Jesse can be best described as a flawed hero. He was raised by grounded yet idealistic parents and given strong beliefs concerning justice and sympathizing with the downtrodden. He is altruistic at heart, wanting to help others before himself. However these beliefs often come into conflict with the pessimistic, survival-first nature he has adopted over the past three years. He will try to follow his heart and his principles but more often than not is forced to give up and “do what must be done,” things that not always viewed as good. With this constant internal conflict going on it is no surprise that Jesse tends to be moody and hit-or-miss. One moment things can be going fine and he will be friendly and relaxed, maybe not outgoing but open. Almost quietly philosophical. As soon as things start to get ugly he will change, becoming quieter, edgier, quicker to anger, and more prone to violence. It’s important to note that he is not bipolar, as his mood swings are not triggered by insignificant acts. They can be directly measured according to the situation at hand, though Jesse’s scale tends to ramp up much more sharply than most people. (A good parallel to imagine for him is Wolfwood from the manga/anime Trigun: an essentially good man fighting to stay true to his ideals but who sees few options. So he instead acts on instinct and survival, later on questioning his acts and hating himself for his choices.)
Hobbies: Jesse has few hobbies; though the ones he has he engrosses himself in with a passion. They include blues guitar, singing, and song writing. He is also a voracious reader since he dislikes television and has a soft spot for road trips, either in cars or by foot.
Talents: His years on the road have made him a well-versed survivalist, both urban and wilderness. He can perform basic first-aid, start fires, navigate streets and cities, etc. He is essentially a self-taught jack-of-all-trades, neither excelling nor failing in any particular field.
Extracurricular: As a former football player he has tried out for the Paragon Institute football team and landed a position as a second string wide receiver. He has hopes of making starter by the end of the year.
Jesse understood from an early age that he was going to get into a lot of fights later in life. He also understood that he couldn’t take chances and wanted to end those fights as quickly as possible. So he developed not so much a fighting style as a thought pattern. For him, fighting isn’t fun. It isn’t glorious or liberating or anything else. It’s a means to an end. It’s purely survival. He will do ANYTHING to survive: ambush, distract, throw weapons, gouge eyes, choke throats, break fingers, and crush testicles: you name it, he will do it. His favorite quote regarding fighting is “Usually, it’s a street fight, not a boxing match. There are no rules, no limits. The one standing and walking away at the end is the winner. Doesn’t matter how or why he wins, just that he wins.” Some have mocked him for his seemingly cowardly tactics but Jesse ignores all thoughts to the contrary. However, if he is forced into a fight where rules have been applied, he will fight within those rules. But he’s more likely to follow the letter of the law and not the spirit: rules were meant to be bent after all.
Strengths: Versatility and toughness. Jesse is not hindered by the need for styles or codes of honor. Thus he can fight wherever and whenever and adapt fast to the opponent and environment, quickly learning as he goes along. He does not have training in any self-defense form but he can still hold his own with a firm grasp of basic ground fighting and grapples, quick kicks and a nasty right hook. He is aided in this approach by an unusually tough hide and high stamina. His endurance is exceptionally good and his constitution is incredible. He may not be able to take a hard punch without falling to the ground, but he will get back up time and time again, seemingly regardless of the punishment inflicted. Finally, his observant nature means few subtleties escape him: the twitch of a fist, the sound of a man’s voice, the glare in his eye. All help him predict the next move.
Weaknesses: Except for what he’s seen in movies and read in books Jesse has no knowledge of true martial arts styles. He can recognize certain moves or stances but any in depth information is totally lacking. If he can’t end a fight early he might quickly succumb to the perfected techniques of more seasoned fighters. His speed can also be considered a hindrance. He reflexes are naturally quick and at a dead sprint few can match him. But during a fight his movements are average at best. He sometimes telegraphs his next attack and relies on his raw tenacity and spirit to see him through. Finally, he can become a victim of his own observant nature by getting distracted. If he’s surrounded by people or a busy environment he will try to keep tabs on too many things at once and lose track of the person he’s fighting, at which point he becomes an easy target.
Jesse St. Johns has two lives. The life he led before August 29th, 2005 and the one he led afterwards. Before that date he was a simple boy growing up in the Deep South of America. After that day he was a drifter, a nomad, a man with no home and no reason in life. Jesse has seen kindness and hatred, trust and betrayal, good and evil. He’s witnessed what no boy, no man, should ever have to witness.
But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, it’s important to understand where Jesse came from. Jesse was born in New Orleans on May 1st, 1990, the son of Benjamin “Angel Eyes” St. Johns and Belladonna St. Johns. Jesse’s father was a black blues musician from New Orleans, a local legend who had never made it big but was renowned statewide for his heartbreaking voice and prowess on the guitar. His mother was a white Cajun woman, the daughter of a well-off Louisiana lawyer, but who had run away from home at age sixteen. The unlikely pair met in the French Quarter of New Orleans the next spring during Mardi Gras and instantly had an attraction, both sexual and something a little deeper. Flash forward several years and a few steamy summers later and you get Mr. And Mrs. Ben St. Johns, the proud parents of a healthy baby boy named Jesse. Of course, the boy came before the wedding; in fact, Jesse’s birth is what prompted the two to finally settle down and make a family.
The first fifteen years of Jesse’s life were nothing spectacular, for a boy like Jesse anyway. His family was certainly not rich but they managed to scrap by, living in a single story wood house near the heart of New Orleans. He was an only child and received all the attention of his two parents though he was far from spoiled. Both mom and dad agreed that he should learn to independent and so they kept themselves out of his private life. He was free to grow up the old way, learning from the world and those in it. He went to school when he had to, dominated in sports (especially football), explored the Southern bayous, made friends, had girlfriends, and got into trouble. Nothing serious though, just petty crimes like sneaking into bars and nightclubs, vandalism, fighting. Especially fighting. From an early age Jesse realized that not everyone was as accepting and open-minded as his parents about race. He was a half-breed, a mash up of black and white. He constantly got into fights with black kids and white kids alike, defending himself and the beliefs of justice and equality that his parents instilled in him, the irony of that reason for fighting hitting home for his parents. Looking over his shoulder and fighting to win became second nature for him.
But Jesse had one place where no one cared who he was. He found solace and peace by traveling with his parents to music gigs. His father had taught his mother to play guitar early in their relationship and the two of them made money by performing as a husband and wife duet, singing folk songs and blues spirituals so ancient even the old timers wondered where they learned them. Jesse would watch from the side stage or the audience, entranced by the sounds and feelings that his parents managed to pull out from their souls. And it was when his father broke into a solo that he knew he wanted to be a bluesman one day.
Years later Jesse is now fifteen and literally sprinting into his teenage years. He grew fast, reaching nearly his present height and build by his birthday in May. He was becoming an accomplished football and track star his freshman year of high school and was quickly learning all the secrets of his father’s craft. He was popular, respected, and in control.
Then the storm came.
Hurricane Katrina was coming and it was coming hard and fast. New Orleans was told to evacuate but the St. Johns had neither the money to leave nor a place to go to. Ben’s entire extended family had long since died or disappeared, and Belladonna’s father refused to even acknowledge his run-away daughter. So the family stayed at home, boarded up the windows, and prepared to ride out the storm. The wind howled in anger and rain lashed against the wood frame of the house but it was holding together. Things were looking good.
The levees broke.
Water came screaming down the streets of the city, bursting through windows and sweeping away cars. Muddy water, black as death, swallowed up the city. It came too suddenly; no one was prepared. The family home was caught by the brunt of it, the entire first floor engulfed in a sea of debris and chocking filth. They tried to hold on, tried to make it to the roof, but it was too much. Jesse was cut off and swept away into the night, clinging to a shattered door for dear life. He finally found refuge the next morning on the rooftop of an apartment building over a mile away. Alone, starving, and dying of thirst, he was finally rescued four days later by a Coast Guard helicopter. Brought to the refugee center in the Superdome, he was kept in a special section reserved for children who had been separated in the flood. But Jesse couldn’t wait. He knew his mother and father wouldn’t have come here. They would have stayed with the house. He had to find them. So he escaped.
Stealing a life raft, he hit the submerged streets and paddled towards home. By now the floodwaters were starting to recede and he could see into the homes of people he once knew. Everything was ruined. Nothing was left behind. Finally, at sunset, he reached the St. Johns homestead. And found his mother and father. Face down in dirty water, decaying, caught in the window frame that they had been pinned against by the raging flood. They were holding hands.
Jesse was shell-shocked. Everything was gone. His home, his friends, his family. He was orphaned and homeless at age fifteen. Fighting back tears, he swam into the wreckage of the house, located his father’s guitar and the family’s meager savings. Piling up a few scant supplies he left the house and the world he knew behind. There was nothing left to do now and nowhere to go. He had a reason to sing the blues.
And that’s what he did.
He walked, hitch hiked, hid on trains, and wandered the rural areas of Southern and Mid Western America from Louisiana to North Dakota, Colorado to Alabama. His naturally older appearance combined with the hardship he now carried made sure no one questioned his age or reasons. He was free to travel as he pleased, playing his father’s guitar to survive and singing blues so powerful he brought grown men to their knees.
For nearly three years he did this, piecing his will back together, singing and fighting his way across America. He used to fight for his heritage, for his beliefs. Now he fought just to survive. America is not all smiling faces and happy cowboys. Evil people live there and Jesse was running into them at every turn. A crooked talent agent near Chicago. Racists in Mississippi. A femme fatale in Iowa. He was lied to, he was cheated, he was threatened with death. And somehow he fought through, learning what it took to live, when to trust and when to walk away.
It was in California that he was finally caught. He had made the decision to go outside the South, to search for an easier, less nomadic existence out West. He was nearly to Sacramento when he stopped in at the wrong bar. He got into an argument when someone made fun of his eyes. “Black men don’t have blue eyes,” the man said. A fight ensued and Jesse was arrested by the police before he could escape. While waiting in jail, his finger prints were matched to records back in New Orleans and his grandfather was contacted. His grandfather, Belladonna’s father, felt pity for his grandson, but that was it. He bailed him out on the condition that Jesse would go back to the school of his grandfather’s choice and finish. He’d get no other support from him and otherwise be free. Jesse agreed.
A month later he moved into the newly opened Paragon Institute in San Francisco. His grandfather knew about the environment of the new school, the fighting and the punishment, and felt it just right for the survivalist in Jesse. Call it a ‘gift’ of sorts. Now, Jesse must fight to adjust to his new life and retain his ideals and his very life. As he tells himself daily, “It’s all I’ve got left…”
The Killing Floor Bluesman
Name: Jesse St. Johns (last name pronounced ‘Saint Johns’)
Age: 18
D.O.D: May 1, 1990
Height: 6’0”
Weight: 190 pounds
Blood Type: O+
Nationality: American
Ethnicity: African/French
Attended School: Paragon Institute
School Year: Repeat Junior
Hometown: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Eye color: Light Blue/Grey
Hair: Black, shoulder length dreadlocks
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
Social Security #: 198-00-2462
-Appearance-
Body: Obviously he is a dark skinned man, with a chocolate brown complexion free of scars or blemishes that straddles the line between a pure African and a Caucasian. His overall build is naturally strong and athletic, with broad shoulders, a wide chest, powerful arms, a vague six-pack, and sprinter worthy legs. His muscles are not huge however; they’re leaner and best described as solid, not highly defined but more than enough, although his dark skin makes them appear larger due to the heightened effect of shadows.
Facial Features: Jesse has a very balanced facial structure and could easily be regarded as quite handsome. His skull is oval in shape and he has the large lips and flaring nostrils of his African heritage combined with a strong jaw and wide forehead. His skin is tight against his bone structure, which gives him a youthful appearance and his cheeks a high, defined look. He has facial hair that he usually shaves clean but will sometimes allow a moustache and goatee to grow. The most striking or unusual feature of Jesse is his eyes. Unlike a normal black man his eyes are not brown but a light bluish gray, a color he acquired from his mother white Cajun genetics.
Apparel: Jesse wears a number of different outfits and changes them on a day-to-day basis so he doesn’t have a predefined wardrobe. He does however tend to wear mostly classic American styles, especially jeans, tight T-shirts, henleys, jackets and sneakers or boots. Being from the warmer temperatures of Louisiana he is still adjusting to San Francisco’s colder, winder climate and is usually underdressed for the situation.
Habits: Jesse is an extremely observant person. He is constantly checking and rechecking his surroundings, thus he is often seen glancing at doorways, feeling walls and windows, mentally inventorying objects, and scanning hallways and around corners. He rarely misses a detail and will become agitated when he feels that something is missing, wrong, or about to happen.
Also, although he has shed most traces of his Southern accent he will still unknowingly revert back to it. His drawl is not as thick as most but is still a dead giveaway when it’s heard.
Personality: Jesse can be best described as a flawed hero. He was raised by grounded yet idealistic parents and given strong beliefs concerning justice and sympathizing with the downtrodden. He is altruistic at heart, wanting to help others before himself. However these beliefs often come into conflict with the pessimistic, survival-first nature he has adopted over the past three years. He will try to follow his heart and his principles but more often than not is forced to give up and “do what must be done,” things that not always viewed as good. With this constant internal conflict going on it is no surprise that Jesse tends to be moody and hit-or-miss. One moment things can be going fine and he will be friendly and relaxed, maybe not outgoing but open. Almost quietly philosophical. As soon as things start to get ugly he will change, becoming quieter, edgier, quicker to anger, and more prone to violence. It’s important to note that he is not bipolar, as his mood swings are not triggered by insignificant acts. They can be directly measured according to the situation at hand, though Jesse’s scale tends to ramp up much more sharply than most people. (A good parallel to imagine for him is Wolfwood from the manga/anime Trigun: an essentially good man fighting to stay true to his ideals but who sees few options. So he instead acts on instinct and survival, later on questioning his acts and hating himself for his choices.)
Hobbies: Jesse has few hobbies; though the ones he has he engrosses himself in with a passion. They include blues guitar, singing, and song writing. He is also a voracious reader since he dislikes television and has a soft spot for road trips, either in cars or by foot.
Talents: His years on the road have made him a well-versed survivalist, both urban and wilderness. He can perform basic first-aid, start fires, navigate streets and cities, etc. He is essentially a self-taught jack-of-all-trades, neither excelling nor failing in any particular field.
Extracurricular: As a former football player he has tried out for the Paragon Institute football team and landed a position as a second string wide receiver. He has hopes of making starter by the end of the year.
Fighting Style: Survival
Jesse understood from an early age that he was going to get into a lot of fights later in life. He also understood that he couldn’t take chances and wanted to end those fights as quickly as possible. So he developed not so much a fighting style as a thought pattern. For him, fighting isn’t fun. It isn’t glorious or liberating or anything else. It’s a means to an end. It’s purely survival. He will do ANYTHING to survive: ambush, distract, throw weapons, gouge eyes, choke throats, break fingers, and crush testicles: you name it, he will do it. His favorite quote regarding fighting is “Usually, it’s a street fight, not a boxing match. There are no rules, no limits. The one standing and walking away at the end is the winner. Doesn’t matter how or why he wins, just that he wins.” Some have mocked him for his seemingly cowardly tactics but Jesse ignores all thoughts to the contrary. However, if he is forced into a fight where rules have been applied, he will fight within those rules. But he’s more likely to follow the letter of the law and not the spirit: rules were meant to be bent after all.
Strengths: Versatility and toughness. Jesse is not hindered by the need for styles or codes of honor. Thus he can fight wherever and whenever and adapt fast to the opponent and environment, quickly learning as he goes along. He does not have training in any self-defense form but he can still hold his own with a firm grasp of basic ground fighting and grapples, quick kicks and a nasty right hook. He is aided in this approach by an unusually tough hide and high stamina. His endurance is exceptionally good and his constitution is incredible. He may not be able to take a hard punch without falling to the ground, but he will get back up time and time again, seemingly regardless of the punishment inflicted. Finally, his observant nature means few subtleties escape him: the twitch of a fist, the sound of a man’s voice, the glare in his eye. All help him predict the next move.
Weaknesses: Except for what he’s seen in movies and read in books Jesse has no knowledge of true martial arts styles. He can recognize certain moves or stances but any in depth information is totally lacking. If he can’t end a fight early he might quickly succumb to the perfected techniques of more seasoned fighters. His speed can also be considered a hindrance. He reflexes are naturally quick and at a dead sprint few can match him. But during a fight his movements are average at best. He sometimes telegraphs his next attack and relies on his raw tenacity and spirit to see him through. Finally, he can become a victim of his own observant nature by getting distracted. If he’s surrounded by people or a busy environment he will try to keep tabs on too many things at once and lose track of the person he’s fighting, at which point he becomes an easy target.
-History-
Jesse St. Johns has two lives. The life he led before August 29th, 2005 and the one he led afterwards. Before that date he was a simple boy growing up in the Deep South of America. After that day he was a drifter, a nomad, a man with no home and no reason in life. Jesse has seen kindness and hatred, trust and betrayal, good and evil. He’s witnessed what no boy, no man, should ever have to witness.
But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, it’s important to understand where Jesse came from. Jesse was born in New Orleans on May 1st, 1990, the son of Benjamin “Angel Eyes” St. Johns and Belladonna St. Johns. Jesse’s father was a black blues musician from New Orleans, a local legend who had never made it big but was renowned statewide for his heartbreaking voice and prowess on the guitar. His mother was a white Cajun woman, the daughter of a well-off Louisiana lawyer, but who had run away from home at age sixteen. The unlikely pair met in the French Quarter of New Orleans the next spring during Mardi Gras and instantly had an attraction, both sexual and something a little deeper. Flash forward several years and a few steamy summers later and you get Mr. And Mrs. Ben St. Johns, the proud parents of a healthy baby boy named Jesse. Of course, the boy came before the wedding; in fact, Jesse’s birth is what prompted the two to finally settle down and make a family.
The first fifteen years of Jesse’s life were nothing spectacular, for a boy like Jesse anyway. His family was certainly not rich but they managed to scrap by, living in a single story wood house near the heart of New Orleans. He was an only child and received all the attention of his two parents though he was far from spoiled. Both mom and dad agreed that he should learn to independent and so they kept themselves out of his private life. He was free to grow up the old way, learning from the world and those in it. He went to school when he had to, dominated in sports (especially football), explored the Southern bayous, made friends, had girlfriends, and got into trouble. Nothing serious though, just petty crimes like sneaking into bars and nightclubs, vandalism, fighting. Especially fighting. From an early age Jesse realized that not everyone was as accepting and open-minded as his parents about race. He was a half-breed, a mash up of black and white. He constantly got into fights with black kids and white kids alike, defending himself and the beliefs of justice and equality that his parents instilled in him, the irony of that reason for fighting hitting home for his parents. Looking over his shoulder and fighting to win became second nature for him.
But Jesse had one place where no one cared who he was. He found solace and peace by traveling with his parents to music gigs. His father had taught his mother to play guitar early in their relationship and the two of them made money by performing as a husband and wife duet, singing folk songs and blues spirituals so ancient even the old timers wondered where they learned them. Jesse would watch from the side stage or the audience, entranced by the sounds and feelings that his parents managed to pull out from their souls. And it was when his father broke into a solo that he knew he wanted to be a bluesman one day.
Years later Jesse is now fifteen and literally sprinting into his teenage years. He grew fast, reaching nearly his present height and build by his birthday in May. He was becoming an accomplished football and track star his freshman year of high school and was quickly learning all the secrets of his father’s craft. He was popular, respected, and in control.
Then the storm came.
Hurricane Katrina was coming and it was coming hard and fast. New Orleans was told to evacuate but the St. Johns had neither the money to leave nor a place to go to. Ben’s entire extended family had long since died or disappeared, and Belladonna’s father refused to even acknowledge his run-away daughter. So the family stayed at home, boarded up the windows, and prepared to ride out the storm. The wind howled in anger and rain lashed against the wood frame of the house but it was holding together. Things were looking good.
The levees broke.
Water came screaming down the streets of the city, bursting through windows and sweeping away cars. Muddy water, black as death, swallowed up the city. It came too suddenly; no one was prepared. The family home was caught by the brunt of it, the entire first floor engulfed in a sea of debris and chocking filth. They tried to hold on, tried to make it to the roof, but it was too much. Jesse was cut off and swept away into the night, clinging to a shattered door for dear life. He finally found refuge the next morning on the rooftop of an apartment building over a mile away. Alone, starving, and dying of thirst, he was finally rescued four days later by a Coast Guard helicopter. Brought to the refugee center in the Superdome, he was kept in a special section reserved for children who had been separated in the flood. But Jesse couldn’t wait. He knew his mother and father wouldn’t have come here. They would have stayed with the house. He had to find them. So he escaped.
Stealing a life raft, he hit the submerged streets and paddled towards home. By now the floodwaters were starting to recede and he could see into the homes of people he once knew. Everything was ruined. Nothing was left behind. Finally, at sunset, he reached the St. Johns homestead. And found his mother and father. Face down in dirty water, decaying, caught in the window frame that they had been pinned against by the raging flood. They were holding hands.
Jesse was shell-shocked. Everything was gone. His home, his friends, his family. He was orphaned and homeless at age fifteen. Fighting back tears, he swam into the wreckage of the house, located his father’s guitar and the family’s meager savings. Piling up a few scant supplies he left the house and the world he knew behind. There was nothing left to do now and nowhere to go. He had a reason to sing the blues.
And that’s what he did.
He walked, hitch hiked, hid on trains, and wandered the rural areas of Southern and Mid Western America from Louisiana to North Dakota, Colorado to Alabama. His naturally older appearance combined with the hardship he now carried made sure no one questioned his age or reasons. He was free to travel as he pleased, playing his father’s guitar to survive and singing blues so powerful he brought grown men to their knees.
For nearly three years he did this, piecing his will back together, singing and fighting his way across America. He used to fight for his heritage, for his beliefs. Now he fought just to survive. America is not all smiling faces and happy cowboys. Evil people live there and Jesse was running into them at every turn. A crooked talent agent near Chicago. Racists in Mississippi. A femme fatale in Iowa. He was lied to, he was cheated, he was threatened with death. And somehow he fought through, learning what it took to live, when to trust and when to walk away.
It was in California that he was finally caught. He had made the decision to go outside the South, to search for an easier, less nomadic existence out West. He was nearly to Sacramento when he stopped in at the wrong bar. He got into an argument when someone made fun of his eyes. “Black men don’t have blue eyes,” the man said. A fight ensued and Jesse was arrested by the police before he could escape. While waiting in jail, his finger prints were matched to records back in New Orleans and his grandfather was contacted. His grandfather, Belladonna’s father, felt pity for his grandson, but that was it. He bailed him out on the condition that Jesse would go back to the school of his grandfather’s choice and finish. He’d get no other support from him and otherwise be free. Jesse agreed.
A month later he moved into the newly opened Paragon Institute in San Francisco. His grandfather knew about the environment of the new school, the fighting and the punishment, and felt it just right for the survivalist in Jesse. Call it a ‘gift’ of sorts. Now, Jesse must fight to adjust to his new life and retain his ideals and his very life. As he tells himself daily, “It’s all I’ve got left…”
