Jessie Tell
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
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| Overlooking an Ideal Future in a Corrupt Present | |
| Jessie Tell | |
| Player: @KittyKanji | |
| Origin: | Natural |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Scrapper/Blaster |
| Security Level: | 50/25 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Jessica Chloe Tell |
| Known Aliases: | Peaceful Hand, Red, Agent Red |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 17 |
| Height: | 5'4" |
| Weight: | 131lbs |
| Eye Color: | Green |
| Hair Color: | Red |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | Irish American |
| Occupation: | Government Agent (Special Operations) |
| Place of Birth: | San Francisco, California |
| Base of Operations: | Kings Row, Rhode Island |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | Cynthia Tell(Mother - Deceased, Suicide), Paul Tell(Father - Presumed Deceased), Grace Callows (Biological Clone) |
| Known Powers | |
| None | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Martial Arts, Acrobatics, Counter Terrorism Tactics, Stealth Tactics, Knife Fighting, Sensory Manipulation, Gun Play | |
| Equipment | |
| Trench Knife, Armored Leather Trench Coat, Stealth Suit, Dual Pistols | |
| No additional information available. | |
Jessie Tell, one of my more prominent characters on City of Heroes, she was originally modeled after the a-typical Anti-Heroes in the Comic Book world. However she's become something more of a self sacrificing leader type through role play and character fleshing. I find it hard to play her sometimes because I still think she can be the anti hero type but at the same time it seems to stunt her growth to act like one. She can be offensive, but at the same time she can be very loyal and show a resolute nature in defending others which I've come to enjoy very much.
Contents |
Affiliations
Personality
Jessie began as a plain and simple vindictive orphan who brashly questioned the guidance of her superiors as she was inherently mistrusting of people trying to build any sort of relationship with her. Jessie started out the way she was for a couple of reasons, the most relevant being that her parents death set her into a confusing internal spiral of being hurt. This was abedded by the fact that her fathers ultimate demise also led to suspicion placed on her for being the daughter of a domestic terrorist, and the fact that she was too proud to seek out any guidance for her problems. Before these events she was a slightly soft spoken and socially awkward girl, but with the constant pushing of her fathers death she quickly grew into a rough and crass individual to stave off the jibes of her peers and would be mentors. As such Jessie is always seen as standoffish or thuggish when she's meeting people for the first time. Whether it be from her mistrust to get close to anybody or her own crudeness shining through. Generally however she can find some sort of respect for people even if she doesn't outright say that she has any respect for anyone.
It is more apt to say that Jessie shows her true nature through her actions rather than what she is capable of saying to others, which suits her just fine because she has somewhat of a physical nature anyway. Though she often places herself in positions where she is alone and brooding she is often very adamant about helping people she considers her friends or family, more often than not she is one of the first to come to the aid of any of The Artful Dodgers who require her help. She does this because she cares about people around her even if she can't outright say it to them, she feels that if she does her job right in protecting them than she shouldn't have to say that she cares because it should be evident in her actions. Of course most people don't see it that way so she's often left feeling scorned by her peers building up her standoffish nature.
Character History
Origin
Born to Paul Tell, a soldier and a model by the name of Cynthia, Jessie's early life was decidedly normal though her parents occupations were anything but, even with their unique occupations making a life for a child in Northern California was an expensive venture. As such Jessie's parents were often too busy to spend much time with her during the day, even though they made every opportunity to spend as much time as they could with their child. This led to Jessie's early life often being as busy as her parents, she was enrolled in multiple clubs both at school and outside school that seemed to mold her into a soft spoken overachiever that seemed to speak more with her actions than her words. Chief among these activities was learning Martial Arts and Acrobatics, it was in these clubs that Jessie really shined above her peers, her body seeming naturally inclined toward flexibility and strength. It was in these days that Jessie was passing through life without any real ambition, she was good at most things that she did, she might not have been the smartest or most popular but she felt like she could accomplish anything that she really set her mind too.
Of course destiny had different ideas for the young girl.
The Death of Paul Tell
It had always been something of a triviality to Jessie that her father would often go off on 'business trips' that he claimed were the military asking for his expertise training techniques for new recruits, though it pained her to be away from her father she was always promised that he would come back home. It became something of a tradition for him to leave both his trench knife and dog tags with her so that she could return them to him when he returned. This continued up until Jessie was ten years of age when her father did not return home from his business trip, instead what she was treated too was the news of his death. What she and her mother had thought were business trips were actually covert missions that he went on to further the agenda of a secret organization that he had joined. Though Jessie didn't learn about this reason or even the existence of the organization until much later.
Instead the news that she did receive about her father's death was that he had been involved in domestic terrorist activities in Kings Row, during his mission he had placed explosives all around a chemical lockup under the control of the world wide mercenary unit HeroCorps. When a hero had come to stop him and his unit they resisted and all parties were subsequently killed in the resulting explosion as well as more than twenty unidentified civilians. With the news came the public backlash, Jessie could not go anywhere without being marked as the daughter of a terrorist and a traitor. At school she was bullied and the staff seemed to turn a blind eye on her, it didn't take very long at all for her to endure one too many harsh words hurled in her direction before she started fighting back. Jessie quickly grew from a soft spoken girl to a crass bully in order to get back at the bullies who delighted in picking on her.
Further fallout from her fathers death left Jessie's mother silently suffering due to her husbands death, the woman was not spared from the same prejudice that had been pushed onto Jessie due to the circumstances of her fathers death. In some cases she was subjected to more than the young girl, she was constantly watched by the police and the government and holding down a steady job started to become difficult for her as she was fired from her job as a consultant to a modeling agency. With no college education and the attachment to a supposed domestic terrorist life became exceedingly hard for Cynthia Tell, she bared it with a false smile for two years until she took her own life leaving Jessie all alone in the world.
The Peaceful Hand
Directly after her mothers death Jessie wandered the streets heartbroken and seeking someone that she could convey her woes too, as it turned out she turned her attention to Teng Jing Shu, a family friend and her mentor when she had been learning martial arts. After conveying what had happened to her Jessie finally learned from Shu that her fathers death wasn't exactly as it had been stated by the News. Her fathers terrorist acts were actually a front for his membership in a secret organization that dated back to the Boxer Rebellion in China by the name of the Peaceful Hand. Their membership had not only survived those countless years but had also grown into a secret society without any national borders. Of course that was mostly due to the fact that their whole goal as a secret organization was to lead the world into a singular world government through military tactics. It had originally been planned by both Shu and her Father for Jessie to be told about the Peaceful Hand once she was old enough to make a decision on if she wanted to join their ranks or not. However with her only remaining family dead Shu suggested it would be better for her to learn about their existence right then and there and make a decision right then and there as to if she wanted to join their ranks.
Faced with the prospect of spending the rest of her life as an orphan and feeling an uneasy closeness to Master Shu she decided to join the Peaceful Hand. Her training began almost immediately, taken to a mountain monastery buried somewhere in Northern California. There she was subjected to training that pushed her both physically and mentally to the brink, it wouldn't have been nearly so bad if she hadn't substituted her feelings on her parents' deaths with training her body. This training continued for a solid three years until she was fifteen years of age, her body grew strong but didn't develop very well in the interim since she didn't spend much time on her appearance. After her three year training Jessie was officially inducted into the Society of the Peaceful Hand as one of their most promising soldiers, and was given a mission to set up in Paragon City as a vigilante where she would work to upset the grip that the various terrorist groups had placed upon the city.
She traveled to the city on foot, having a few adventures on the way, the most notable of which was her defeating a notable super villain by the name of Shadow Vagabond.
Paragon City
First Appearance
Due to often having no money during her travels Jessie had taken to pickpocketing for a time to pay for any expenses that she accrued on the road, this of course led her to her first meeting with The Artful Dodgers in a crowded Kings Row police station. She didn't join the group willingly at first, she had lifted a wallet off an unlucky man who was then mugged by a pair of Skulls. Despite having just stolen money from the man, Jessie took the moral high ground and saved the man from any injury by quickly and effectively dispatching the two gang members that had attacked him.
Powers
Jessie does not have any powers, she relies on her superior natural abilities and training to keep in line with most of the heroes in the city.
Abilities
As previously stated, Jessie has no powers of her own. However she does have a wide array of training, she is often considered masterful in her abilities and seems to have a near perfect grasp of fighting hand to hand. Her ability goes beyond that of people her age, even beyond the abilities of of people who have been training in the same way she has for twice as long as she has. This can be attested to the fact that Jessie possesses an almost supernatural talent for applying herself to different physical activities, learning nearly three times as fast as most people. Jessie's downfall however is that she often seems to bring her own feelings into her fights, often getting injured as a result.
Where most people who pursuit martial arts only pursuit it as a sport or a fitness regimen Jessie was trained for the sole purpose of fighting, to her it is not a means of self defense, it is a means of warfare and a tool to move along the ideals that she has been taught to protect. In that light she is already leaps and bounds beyond a good majority of people who know martial arts, the other facet of her superiority in the martial arts world comes from the fact that she has undergone rigorous training for multiple years, her body has been sculpted to peak perfection for the sole purpose of being an one of the top soldiers in a group of people who primarily consist of soldiers, mercenaries, assassins and other fighting inclined people. She is a child soldier in every regard, and she is always working to hone her specialization in the art of fighting without weapons.
Jessie's style of fighting is oddly reminiscent of a great many martial arts styles, though it can never really be pinned down to one particular style. When pressed about it she often claims that it is called 'The Peaceful Hand' though the style has no official name. This is because the style doesn't really belong to anyone in particular, Jessie learned her techniques from a ton of different sources and has since applied her own knowledge of her body into the motions making the style completely her own. When analyzed the style seems to revolve around keeping a steady momentum, Jessie's movements are often made precisely for the purpose of keeping her body moving at a constantly high speed. Her light frame and small body seems to reduce the strain placed on the body and allows her to take on multiple opponents at once with relative ease.
Equipment
Trench Knife
A carbon steel survival knife much like the one an Army Ranger would use, the blade is constantly sharpened and its kept in good repair despite being more than 20 years old and in constant use. The grip has been wrapped in a rubber compound that allows for better grip and the flat of the blade has been etched with the engraving of 'Paul Tell' a reminder that the knife was her father's possession. Its carried in a specially made holster in the back of her leather jacket when she's wearing it. When she's wearing her stealth suit its at the back of her utility belt strapped tucked under the flap of the largest pouch.
Armored Leather Trench Coat
The design of a secret society of soldiers dedicated to the ideal of a singular world government this white leather jacket serves as a symbol and specialized piece of equipment for all members of the Peaceful Hand. The lining of the jacket has been armored with thin plates of an steel blend that's designed to be light and durable. The jacket also features the Peaceful Hand Symbol under the right breast, an open palm with the taoist symbol in it. Other than that the jacket has its share of secret pockets and pouches that allows the user to carry a multitude of equipment. Jessie's jacket is unique in that she ripped off the sleeves of hers while traveling in the summer heat of Nevada, it has been looked down upon by her superiors though she hasn't been reprimanded for it.
Stealth Suit v.2 Red
Designed with mobility in mind this stealth suit features actuators in the joints that allow Jessie to move with the same articulation that she normally does even when she's injured, this is a full body suit that is lightly armored with kevlar and leather in most places and ceramic plating in vital areas designed to break away in layers to divert the kinetic force of pesky things like bullets. The suit also also features some nifty gadgets such as a pair of goggles that allow for threat mapping and information display, and a breathing mask that filters out any harmful gasses. Jessie doesn't techincally own this suit as it belongs to a Government Organization she moonlights for in her off time. However they allow her to wear it whenever she deems it necessary.
Dual Pistols
Military grade 45. caliber pistols, Jessie has been training with these for a good long while now and though she's not nearly as good at them as she is with her bare hands she's pretty apt at using them in a combat scenario. Jessie hasn't really been carrying these around at all since she has some moral complications with using guns in her vigilante acts.
