Re-Updated App for Eway

[failedparenting]

Name: Hannah
DW username: N/A
E-Mail:hkmmurph@gmail.com
IM: hkmmurph, but it’s been unused for some time
Plurk: hkmmurph

Other Characters: N/A

Character Name: John Winchester
Series: Supernatural
Timeline: 1x21, after being cornered by Meg
Canon Resource Link: John Eric Winchester
Character History:
John Winchester was born- hilariously- in 1954 in Normal, IL to Henry and Millie Winchester. Henry was a member of a secret society called the Men of Letters. They were dedicated academics in all things supernatural, magical, and demonic. In 1958, Henry disappeared to and died in the far future while being pursued by a demon, but all that John knew was his father left him and his mother all alone. His entire life he would hold a deep hatred for his father, though on some level he appears to have kept some parts of him close. In his later years, he kept a journal Henry had bought for himself as his own,

Sometime between then and 1973 he moved to Lawrence, Kansas and met his future wife, Mary Campbell. They hated each other at first, john being a guy from the wrong side of the tracks and Mary being pretty average- other than the fact that the Campbells were secretly a family of monster hunters. Unfortunately for both Mary and John, the heavens and all its angels preordained that they had to bring into the world the earthly human vessels for the angels Lucifer and Michael, so they could battle and begin the Apocalypse. Displeased that their plans were going to slow, the angels had a cupid hit them both, and they fell in love rapidly around the age of 16 or 17. Cupid love is special, too, so when they fell, it was hard and permanent.

However, this was all during the Vietnam War, and as a perfectly healthy and fit young man, John saw fit to go to war too. It’s not explicitly stated in canon, but from what we know about John’s company and his discharge date, he would have had to drop out of school at around 17 to enlist in the Marines. He wasn’t drafted- too young- and dropping everything he knew, including his girl, to go and fight a war that no one was happy about points to him being very dissatisfied with is life in Lawrence. The Marines would at least give him benefits and teach him skills he would otherwise never have, so it was really the most logical choice for him at the time. He served in the 2nd Battalion 1st Marines, and though by the time he’d finished boot camp they were close to being pulled from action, he spent at least thirty days in country. It was plenty enough time to nearly get killed, though he was saved by his friend Deacon, a man he held in high regard and was close to his entire life.

Several awards John received for service shed a lot of light on the kind of man he was and then would become later on:
- USMC Expert Rifleman Badge: As the highest marksmanship badge the USMC, this means he was an excellent shooter since his teenage years.
- Bronze Star: A general US Military award for bravery. He was always willing to go above and beyond himself to help other people.

Soon after being discharged and returning home to Lawrence in 1973, John almost immediately started planning to start a new life with the absolute love of his entire existence, Mary. He bought her a ring and a car for both of them with what little money he had, but the night he went to propose, Mary’s father was possessed by a demon named Azazel looking to lure Mary into a contract with him. The demon killed John and forced a trade for his life back. Of course, he had no memory off it. All John knew was that very suddenly both of Mary’s parents were dead and they were very alone in the world.

By 1978, John and Mary had a nice life set up for themselves in Lawrence. Mary was pregnant by April and the first Winchester son was born January 1979. They named him Dean, after Mary’s mother Deanna. Baby Sam followed in May of 1983, this time named after his grandfather Samuel. Married life wasn’t absolutely perfect of course- there were fights, one even resulting in John leaving the house for a few days. But there were never any permanent problems. John loved his wife and children far too much to let anything get in the way of his happy ending.

But November 2nd 1983, John’s entire world changed forever. While he was asleep on the couch, Mary was pinned to the ceiling in Sam’s nursery, cut open, and burned to death by forces unknown at the time, but were most definitely the demon Azazel. John was able to get the baby and Dean out of the house, but Mary and the house burned. Of course he suspected something was a little weird about her death, considering the manner of her death. He went to a psychic in town, who revealed the nature of the supernatural and monsters to him and that something very, very bad killed his wife. Filled with fear and a deeper need for revenge, John packed up his children and headed out to try and find the thing that murdered her.

John changed after Mary’s death. He went from a normal young father to a man possessed by the need to kill the supernatural and protect his family any way he could. He raised the boys on the road mostly by himself, though over the years he made friends he was willing to leave the boys with for longer hunts. As they got older, he started leaving Dean in charge of Sam when he left for a few days, but never for as long as he would when he left them with friends. Though Dean was still a child, he heaped an enormous amount of responsibility on him. At first it was just a simple “look after your baby brother” to keep him from being occupied with his mother’s death, but over the years it became nearly a job for Dean. Even when the poor kid lapsed, as any bored kid would, John would take it badly. It was mostly out of a fear for his childrens’ lives. If Dean messed up looking after Sammy, Sammy could die. And if he died, it would be John’s fault alone.

He was also incredibly harsh on both boys where hunting was concerned. He kept the whole “monster hunter” thing away from Sam until he was nine, but Dean always really knew, and helped his father from the beginning. John even made sure Dean could aim and shoot at 7. As the boys got older, John made hunts entire family affairs. Dean and Sam would help him research and sometimes kill whatever they were after, one time even taking down a werewolf as a family. He ran the boys like he was a drill sergeant, pulling on his time in the Marines to train his boys to fight and protect themselves. It was another place where he went overboard to protect them. He was convinced pushing them hard would make them better, safer because they could take down anything. It didn’t matter that they were kids, all that mattered was that they could be protected.

And as for the hunting itself? John took to it like a fish to water. The Marines had prepared him in the best way for a life of killing and fighting for his life, but it didn’t take him all the way. He had help in his early years from other hunters, notably a vampire hunter named Daniel Elkins, pastor and hunter Jim Murphy, and eternal pessimist Bobby Singer. They all came together and helped the fledgling hunter about the world of ghosts and monsters, how to kill them, how to protect himself, everything. Jim and Bobby went so far as to care for Sam and Dean as well- not Elkins; John had a nasty falling out with him, as he was wont to do- when John would have to go off for hunts longer or more dangerous than the boys could be around.

John also uncovered an impressive eye for finding small clues and details other people might not catch onto. He could put together patterns of supernatural death over decades, with minimal indicators of paranormal activities outside of the deaths themselves. It was most important in the tracking of what he slowly came to find out was demon involvement in Mary’s death. Crop failures, house fires, electrical storms, he found all the demonic signs and put them all together. He had his failures of course, but as he became more experienced, he gained a reputation for being a successful and kind of scary hunting machine. He rarely compromised where monsters were involved. It didn’t matter their situation or even if they’d done anything really wrong, John still considered them all trash that needed to be taken out to save humans, and he tried to instill the same values in his sons.

Dean went mostly easily along with the hunting life. He was obedient and eager to learn everything his dad, the hero, was doing. John had him shooting targets with ease in elementary school, and going along on hunts by middle school. His dad was his hero, and John knew it. Sam, however, was the problem kid. He was quiet and non-confrontational, unlike his brother and dad. Though he helped on hunts as he got older, he pushed back against John as hard as he could. There were very few times during Sam’s adolescence that John wasn’t in some sort of stubborn, head-butting match with him.

Sometime in the 80s or early 90s, John went out on a hunt with a close friend, Bill Harvelle. He’d been friends with Bill and his wife Ellen for several years by then, and though both men never usually hunted with other people, they teamed up on a particularly tricky one. It was a devil’s gate, a literal mouth to hell, and both men were trying to turn it into a devil’s trap to keep anything that might crawl out in place. The hunt went south halfway through, though, when something burst from the gate and John wasn’t there to cover Bill in time. The thing tore him open, but he was still alive after John dispatched with the creature. He wasn’t going to make it, there was no way. Depending on who’s story you believe, Meg’s or John’s, Bill either begged for John to spare his life or begged him to take the pain away. Either way, John had to put down his friend without Ellen even knowing something had happened in the first place. The incident haunted John deeply, and it destroyed the close relationship he had with Ellen as well. Though it was something of a falling out, Ellen stayed friendly to him afterwards. She kept him on her radar and even kept an eye out for signs of the demon for him, so it’s possible she didn’t truly blame him for her husband’s death.

In 1990, John had a very brief and mostly forgettable affair with Kate Milligan. John moved on, thinking nothing of it. It never crossed his mind until 2002, when he received a call from 12 year old Adam Milligan, his bastard son Kate just never bothered to tell him about. He dropped everything then to go see Adam, and stayed with him for at least several days while trying to undo the last twelve years of being a deadbeat dad. The news couldn’t have come at a more difficult time; the year before, Sam had run away from “home” to go to Stanford, following a horrible fight where John told him that if he left, he couldn’t ever come back. It was part anger and part fear for his middle child’s safety. Dean didn’t have that out of college, but Sam did. Stanford meant a way out of the hunting life, even though it also meant he was way less safe by himself. Sam didn’t know that, though, only that his dad told him to get out. And of course, John deeply regretted it.

Over the next few years he would visit Kate and his son periodically, doing typical “father son” things like going to baseball games and fishing and sneaking a first beer while mom wasn’t looking. All things John never really did with his older sons, but it wasn’t about playing favorites. He was desperately trying to make up for all the years he spent being a harass drill sergeant to his older boys, maybe trying to convince himself he wasn’t his own father. Adam wasn’t in the hunting life either. His conception had hunting all over it, but the kid didn’t know anything about monsters. The least he could do was try and see that he had something resembling a normal childhood.

In 2005, all of John’s years of hunting and obsession finally came to a head. After painstakingly tracking signs across the county that might be demonic with deaths like Mary’s, along with other clues that were never explicitly stated, he was able to uncover the demon’s plan and movement. The demons knew it too, and he was forced to flee a simple ghost hunt for fear of death. He followed the signs to California and Stanford fully aware the demon was going after Sammy somehow, but he only arrived in time to see his son’s girlfriend go up in flames just like his wife. So now it was personal for everyone involved. He had to go on the run then, away from the demon, away from his children, away from anyone who could get caught in the hellish crossfire that was his life-long grudge match.

Being on the demon’s heels didn’t stop him from trying to keep the world safe, though. He left Dean and Sam a series of clues behind him, fully aware that at least dean would be all set to do what he wanted them to. The only time plans went a little off track was when somehow, a hunt popped up for the boys in none other but there old house. He got Dean’s desperate plea for help, but John never got far out of the shadows. He opted to stay with Missouri, and only heard of the hunt secondhand. Of course his wife had been a ghost, why didn’t it ever occur to him? She’d been there all those years when he could have been near her, but she’d just been there all alone. He was incredibly distressed by the revelation, but he couldn’t let that setback hurt his chances at the thing that made her that way in the first place.

John continued on with his search to destroy the demon, but the thing itself was desperately trying to kill John before he could finish his search. It was able to lure John into a trap finally, using his own sons as bait. One of its minions- the Meg Masters demon- cornered Sam and Dean in Chicago with two gruesome murders that looked like they had a link to Mary’s death. John knew full well it was a trap, but he went anyway because, as Meg said, they were his weakness. The three were attacked, but to Meg’s surprise, all three survived and split up to prevent John from getting any farther off track with his search on how to kill Azazel.

The three met back up when Daniel Elkins was killed by vampires in his home. Though John hadn’t spoken to him for years, Elkins still left a little something for him- the Colt. It was what john had been searching for for so long- a literal magic bullet that could really kill the demon. Once the Winchesters got it back from the vampires, the family went on the road to once and for all finish this twenty year grudge match. However, Azazel and his minions would stop at nothing to stop John, and they began killing off their allies one by one. They knew he had the Colt, and Meg decided to make him a deal- hand over the gun, and his friends stop dying.

Of course, John would never do such a thing, but he would try to fake out demons and sacrifice himself for the cause. So he bought a gun similar to the colt (hey, all old guns look alike, right?) and went to meet Meg to pass it off. John had escape routes in place, of course, and even rigged the entire building’s sprinkler system with holy water, but it wasn’t enough. He was captured by the demons and possessed by Azazel himself.

Abilities/Special Powers: John is a vessel of the Archangel Michael, and presumably could also be a vessel of Lucifer as well. It’s not a fun power.

Third-Person Sample:


If someone would've told him just a year ago that he'd get trapped by something and get complacent, he would've laughed the sonuvabitch off his sorry ass. John might slow burn on a monster from time to time, but complacent? Hell no. He would rather something try and tear out his guts before he let it go on its merry monster way killing and consuming civilians.

It kind of disturbs him that he's gotten used to all this. This goddamn mansion. The daily grind of being trapped in what really amounts to a giant fucking monster slowly draining something from him while keeping him forever 52. As monsters go, it's pretty ingenious. There's food, and shelter, and the perk of not aging. Yeah, shit actively tries to kill you, but outside of those times life seems pretty sweet. But no, that's not what got him.

Maybe it was around the time that Adam left that it really hit him, he thinks. That the control he thought he had slipped through his fingers. That was when he moved his normal hideout from the library to here in the bar. John looks down at his whiskey, and the journal with only a few scribbles in the margins. This isn't what hunters do, he thinks. They don't let whatever is preying on people take the control. But hell, that's exactly what he's doing. He let it take two of his sons.

"Hey, Ellen?" he calls, waving his glass lightly to the woman behind the bar, "I think I'm gonna need one more." If he's gonna be ruminating on his conscience tonight, it's gonna be necessary.

NEW SAMPLE

John always knew he wasn't going to make it much past fifty. The fact that he made it past forty was a damn miracle. Since his arrival over a year ago, he's since learned that his number was pretty much up back home, anyway. So when he takes two to the chest in the library, it feels more like a everything coming full circle rather than a tragic accident. At least, that's what he's been telling himself. He's spent so much energy railing against the nature of death in this place, insisting that even a single death of a resident still matters. When it comes to his own, he doesn't let himself have the luxury of that argument. Other people? Well, yeah, but him? It's nothing, it was coming for him anyway, and if his death prevented someone else's it's all the better.

He wakes with a start in the middle of the night, sweating bullets and instincts screaming to defend himself. All he remembers from moments before was fire- not the kind from the jungle or Sammy's room, not like usual- but from a glass bottle and some old books. He remembers crash and roar of glass and accelerant hitting its mark, devouring the books and filling the room with sickening smell of burnt paper. He remembers the feel of red hot metal tearing through his bones and skin, the heat of his blood leeching out and going cold too fast. No, no, no, nonono. He's got to save himself, he can't die, he's falling and he's got people to protect and he can't-

Except he's not in the library now, he's in his room. In bed with his wife, who by some miracle is still fast asleep despite his thrashing and panicked breathing. Maybe she's used to it after all those years, but he hasn't had any kind of nightmares in a long time. He breathes a shaking, weak breath, willing the tongues of flame at the edge of his vision to recede. Fire. Why is it always fire? Why will it always be fire that haunts him the most? Maybe it's all in the plan, but the plan can go right to hell.

Hell. Heh.

There isn't going to be any more sleep tonight, he can tell by the thudding in his chest. Slowly, quietly, John slips out of bed, taking care to not disturb Mary. Simon won't mind if he helps himself downstairs, right?

First-Person Sample:


[For the first few moments of the video, all you can see is what looks like a little makeshift shooting range set up outside. It's the kind a kid who just got a bb gun for Christmas would set up, just a rail with some cans and bottle set up along it. Someone shoots down three bottles off the display, then John moves the camera to show his usually cranky mug.]

Okay, here's the deal. It's pretty obvious by now that this place is a goddamn death trap just waiting to snap. [Firearm wielding hunters excluded here, of course.] So, I'm gonna be offering free shooting lessons to anyone under 18. If you're over 18, you gotta provide your own weapon, but I'll take you.

[He's more worried about the kids, truth be told. Adults, they, but minors are...well. He's spent too long hunting to let kids just go on unprepared for things coming at them. It's not fair.]

There's one catch. You gotta prove to me that you're not gonna be stupid enough to blast a hole in your own foot before you can hit a target.

[That's fair, he thinks. He's not going to just put guns in kids' hands. Right away. Even Dean was seven before he let him shoot a real gun.]

And bring your own bullets.

NEW SAMPLE

[Now that things have died down a bit, John's back on the network and calmer than he's been in a while. He's resorted to video again, if only to have his hands free to smoke. There's a little tremor there, only noticeable when he removes the cigarette from his lips, but he's dutifully ignoring it.]

I'm not normally one to rub shit in, okay? I'm not.

[He is, but continue.]

When I just mentioned maybe fire could be a thing to do something about this place, people jumped down my throat like I'd lit a torch myself. And now someone comes in and actually tries to do it?

[Well. People were upset, but he's a little miffed there wasn't more of an uproar.]

I'm not saying I want an apology. All I'm saying is hypothetical aren't anywhere near as bad as action, okay? So maybe we save all the pearl clutching for the real assholes next time around.

Comments

Reapp samples, 2/7/17

[failedparenting]

Third Person

Its been two months now that Mary's disappeared, but somehow it feels even worse than her first death twenty-two years ago. At least then he had no way of predicting what would happen to her, that a demon was going to tear their family apart bit by bit for their son. He wasn't equipped to handle it. But this time? She's leaving for alive and beautiful and healthy, but arriving back home to face her death. Most nights he stays awake, letting the guilt eat away at him like a particularly greedy, slow moving cancer. He should've done something. Placed warnings into all of her pockets, imbedded the words "stay in bed" into her skin with ink, whispered prayers and spells into her hair every night to make then stick. Something.

He's not getting on so well, still.

The morning of the first, John wakes up slow, but immediately knows something is wrong. Different. The bed doesn't smell like her anymore. Nothing does. Overnight, the rooms he shared with Mary have shrunk, from something resembling their first home together back to his own stark, transient apartment. Her florals are gone, replaced by greens and masculine plaids, and the kitchen has shrunk back down to fit a single bachelor. Her things are gone too, clothes and makeup, the stuff he just couldn't bear to get rid of. Seems like the mansion thought it was better to erase her in whole than let John continue to exist in her ghost.

He hates this place, yeah, but after a few drinks later, John almost admits he's thankful. Living for a ghost isn't a way to exist at all, even when she was better than this whole damn place combined.

No. He won't burn it down. Not anymore.


First Person

[John opts for video this time around, but unlike last time he's looking far more together. More together than he's looked in a while, honestly. He's finally shaved, even cut his hair, so he's less Unabomber and more, well, himself. It's not a bad look.]

Yeah, I know, I know, someone wants to take a survey about every week or some crap like that. But stay with me, it'll be worth your time. Probably.

[Ahem.]

How many of you have been here, left, and come back with memories of this place? Don't seem like it happens often, but it's enough. How long were you gone? What happened when you left? [He chews at his lip for a moment, and jobs something down quickly in his journal.] I've only ever lost time, but I know sometimes that's not the case.

I'll be at the bar- the good bar- the rest of the night if you wanna come in and talk about your experiences. Drinks are on me.

[Haha, he loves not having to pay for booze. One point in favor of this shitshow.]