Jesse Aarons

[kal]

Name:
Jesse Oliver Aarons Jr.

Nickname(optional):
Jess

Age:
16

Gender:
Male

Species:
Human

Position:
Good, King of Terabithia

Power(s):
Jesse’s power is his imagination. With the ability to bring anything to life within the kingdom of Terabithia become incarnate, he is, in theory, able to do anything within the borders of his imagination. But since he is not in Terabithia, he cannot use his abilities to their full capacities. For one thing, he cannot summon anything he has not drawn before. There are limits put onto the number and type of things he summons from the kingdom of Terabithia. The largest thing he can summon at the moment is the treehouse which he and Leslie found in Terabithia. In addition, he can call to his side a small legion of insect warriors to fight beside him. The quality of his drawings affect the longevity and strength of his abilities.

Without the use of his pictures, Jess can read minds, run at extremely fast speeds, have extraordinary strength, incredible mobility and form weapons and armour pieces from thin air. With his pictures, he can summon creatures and warriors to help him in battle. He can also travel to other worlds using his pictures as a medium. He can form structures and change the terrain to some degree, although this takes an incredible amount of concentration. While his powers have great advantages, his imagination works both ways- if he imagines negative thoughts and emotions, then more impish creatures such as Squogres and Hairy Vultures will begin to appear. A particularly negative emotion, such as the death of Leslie, his best friend, can sometimes result in the appearance of the Dark Master himself, an incredibly powerful Heartless which even Jesse can have trouble trying to defeat.

Jesse is also a very gifted artist- over the years he has been working for university his skills have increased even more. This ability to draw and paint bolsters his imagination and therefore his powers. Due to his time spent in Terabithia fighting off imaginary foes, Jesse is a very capable swordsman, able to fight using both his sword and his fists. But he is a pacifist at heart, and prefers to draw on his sketchpad.

Some of Jesse’s techniques are:

Lion Spearman
Jesse summons a warrior with a lion's mane armed with a spear to fight by his side. The lion warrior is many times taller, stronger and faster than than a regular human, and is a very reliable ally to have in battle.

Ancient Fortress
Jesse summons two trees and a treehouse built between them. Although it looks quite shabby, the treehouse is kept warm and is generally durable. The purpose of the Ancient Fortress is to store Jesse's belongings which he can't carry around with him all the time, such as food, first aid and various other items.

Dragonfly Warriors
Jesse summons a legion of Dragonfly Warriors to attack. Small armoured insect-like fighters, they swarm the enemy with needle-sharp weapons as well as shield Jesse from harm.

Keep Your Mind Wide Open
Jesse can spread his consciousness over an area, allowing him to scout around without endangering himself. He can also touch and read minds of other people. Augmented by his pictures, he can control objects around him to some degree.

Nothing Crushes Us
Jesse summons various armour pieces, most often a large iron gauntlet on his arm, to deliver and defend from various attacks.

Leslie
Jesse summons his sword Leslie to fight with in battle. The enchanted golden sword is imbued with the full power of his imagination, and using his strongest thoughts and emotions (i.e. thinking of the times he spent with Leslie) will increase Leslie’s strength exponentially.

Bridge to Terabithia
Jesse forms a replica of Terabithia of up to 40 metres around him, where he can use his powers to the fullest of their extent, although it takes a very long time to execute, since he has to draw a picture of Terabithia, which takes roughly an hour. If successful, he will be able to conjure the area of Terabithia which he has drawn around him, along with all its benefits. However, unlike his other drawings, it only lasts for five minutes, and the picture will disappear once used, which means that Jesse must complete a new drawing every time he wishes to conjure another replica. While it is in effect, Jesse’s vitality will be completely replenished and whatever injuries healed. His body will remain healed even after the picture is spent, although damage which is done later on in the battle will hurt him. If he is unable to complete the drawing, he will be rendered unable to draw for an hour, meaning he has to depend on the abilities he can use without pictures.

Weapon(s):
Jesse’s weapons are his imagination, his artistic ability and his notepad. However, he can summon an armoured fist along with other various pieces of armour to augment his strength. He can also call to his hand an elegant golden longsword, which he calls ‘Leslie’.

Picture(optional):
(None)

Appearance:
Jesse has dark brown hair with curls that flick his ears and the back of his neck. He is generally well-built due to his extensive fitness training, although he doesn’t have an outrageously toned body. His eyes are dark brown, with a pensive and slightly melancholy light. He is quite tall, but not too much above average for his age. His skin is slightly tanned, giving it a mellow, healthy shade.

He wears a brown shirt with the two top buttons undone, over which he wears an orange hooded jacket with rolled up sleeves. There are several small round badges attached to his jacket, bearing various pictures such as a crown, the Kingdom Hearts emblem, and a knotted rope. He wears a pair of arm warmers with orange, brown and white stripes accompanied by a few bangles and a colourful knotted ribbon, symbolising the rope swing which he used to play on while Leslie was still alive. He also wears a pair of worn down boots with a pair of weather-beaten jeans, almost torn in several places. The arm warmers, badges and boots all commemorate his friend Leslie, who used to dress similarly. He wears a shoulder bag which contains his notepad, an old painting set and other various belongings.

Personality:
Jesse is an amiable youth who has a tendency to be uncertain about most things in life. He has difficulties in making tough decisions which affect people other than himself, and feels inadequate to fill in his shoes as a king. This is partly due to the guilt he feels over losing Leslie, his best friend, which he believes would not have happened if he had invited her to a trip to the museum with his teacher. He therefore feels that he is not fit to make any choices, since he is afraid that he would fail another person again. The loss of his friend also makes it difficult for him to be friends with anybody else, partly because he is afraid that he might endanger them and lose them, and also because he feels it is a betrayal to Leslie to get another friend. Even after five years of maturing into a healthy teenager, Jesse is incapable of even thinking about renouncing his resolution.

Aside from his certainty, Jesse is an incredibly compassionate person, who feels and act with much more emotion than normal people. He cannot bear to see a friend in pain, and will often rush to their side without regard to his own safety. His actions can be so impulsive that it can seem to others that he is trying to get himself killed. He is though, first and foremost, a youth with an unbreakable resolve, and will strive endlessly for the sake of a promise, or for friends. He also has a slightly melancholy, pessimistic attitude, due to the feeling of his own inadequacy and the guilt over Leslie’s death. However, he hides it behind a strong exterior, trying to keep the scars from showing by covering them with a smile.

Original World: Terabithia
Current Residing World: Radiant Gardens
History/Background:
Jesse Oliver Aarons Jr. was once an ordinary frustrated boy in an ordinary school. Bullied by his peers and superiors, and always considered an outsider, his life at school was full of difficulty. Life at home was no better- his antagonising older sisters picked on him constantly, and he was oppressed by his father, who was dealing with the poverty of their large family and always wanted Jesse to do more chores. During the summer, he was training to become the fastest in his year, when a new girl named Leslie Burke moved in next door to his house, going to the same school as he did. In the school race, she outran all of the boys, including Jess. Shamed by his loss to a girl, he pushed Leslie’s initial attempts at friendship away.

However, as they both found themselves in tough situations at school, it was inevitable that they help each other out, and they quickly became fast friends. Jesse revealed his love of drawing while Leslie told him of her dreams of being an author. While discussing the problems of school and home, they came across an old rope swing hanging above a creek during exploration of the nearby woods. Swinging across, they discovered a broken down tree-house, which Leslie established as their castle. Together, they created the magical world of Terabithia, formed from the strength of their imagination alone. They named themselves the King and Queen of Terabithia and it became their sanctuary, which they visited after school every day. Little did they know that through their friendship, they had created a real world, and they traversed into Terabithia through the use of the old rope swing, which was in fact, the trigger for a portal to the new world.

In Terabithia, Jess and Leslie were able to work out the problems of their real lives, such as the two intimidating boys of their year, Scott Hoager and Gary Fulcher, and the biggest bully of the year above, Janice Avery. Together, through the experiences and battles they had within Terabithia against Squogres, Hairy Vultures and Giant Trolls, the incarnations of the fears they have, they were able to learn to not fear the troublesome pair, and concoct a plan to get their own back on Janice Avery. They realised that Janice was only so angry because of her own terrible home life, and befriended her when all her friends had abandoned her after word got out that her father had been reported to the police. This led to their befriending of the giant troll in Terabithia, who thereafter became one of their greatest friends.

As they shared their experiences, their relationship deepened. Leslie bought Jesse an expensive art set for his birthday, and although Jesse was initially shocked that she would do such a costly thing for him, he loved the present nevertheless. In return, he gave her a dog named ‘Prince Terrien, Giant Troll Hunter Extraordinaire’ for Christmas, whom she called PT for short.

The tragedy came when Jesse, infatuated with his music teacher Ms Edmunds, deliberately didn't invite Leslie to go with them on the trip to the museum so he could spend tiem alone with his teacher. Leslie swung across the rope to Terabithia alone in his absence, which snapped, and Leslie allegedly hit her head and drowned.

Jesse was beside himself with grief and blamed himself for her death, unable to forgive himself for allowing it to happen. He began to return to the frustrated, outcast boy he had been before Leslie, pushing away his family, including his sister May Belle, who thought of him as her role model. Eventually, through the newfound courage and strength he gained through his friendship with Leslie, he was able to recover, and arranged a private funeral of his own, with a small wooden memorial raft with Leslie's portrait onboard. With renewed resolve, he built a bridge to Terabithia over an old tree which had fallen across the creek, and without his knowledge, managing to create another 'portal' through which people were able to enter Terabithia. He made amends with his sister and introduced her to his world as the new Princess of Terabithia.

Five years later, Jess was now in high school and preparing for examinations which would hopefully get him into art college. He continued going to Terabithia and ruling with his sister. However, new things were coming to haunt Terabithia- rumours of creatures of darkness came to his attention, and his immediate thought was that it was the Dark Master, the incarnation of Jesse's worst fears bought to life. He managed to drive the creatures away from Terabithia, but was confused as to who it actually was, since he had never imagined such dark creatures before.

It was then that he met the traveller, who claimed to have come from a world called 'Radiant Garden'. Jesse took this as a person who had crossed the bridge and was an intruder in his private world. At sword point, the man assured him that he was no such intruder, and that his 'Gummi Ship' had merely malfunctioned and had landed there.

From the traveller, he learnt that he had in fact created a whole new 'world', and there were other worlds out there. The traveller told him about the Heartless, creatures of darkness who wished to take the Hearts of the Worlds. Jesse pessimistically said the the Heart of Terabithia had 'died with Leslie'. The traveller in turn argued that this was impossible, otherwise the world would cease to exist. This put an irrational hope into Jesse's head- if the Heart of the World was still alive, and the rope bridge had been a portal to another world, maybe there was a tiny chance that Leslie was still alive somewhere, somehow.

Jesse didn't waste any more time. He packed his things, and under the pretence of going for a 'self-finding journey', he immediately fixed the man's Gummi Ship and travelled to Radiant Garden. Jesse was filled with apprehension- in this world, it meant that what they had believed to have imagined was all true- everything he had done and shared with Leslie were reality. He couldn't bear to lose her again, but if there was even the tiniest possibility that she was, out there, alive in some form, he would never forgive himself if he let this chance go. So the King of Terabithia's adventure beyond Terabithia began...

Role Playing Sample:
See Kioku or Arumial

Questions/Comments/Suggestions?
Nopers

[yuffie]

I loved this book >>

But... I just have a problem with the troll summoning. It's over-all pretty powerful. Though mainly: The only troll you ever hear of in the movie/book was Janice. I really don't think that if Jesse were far from Terebithia, she could follow him or be summoned. Sure, it's his imagination, though it's not like a mental telephone call...

Just saying >>

[kal]

Yay! Someone who read the book! My respect for you has risen to even greater heights, if that's possible!

I've edited the troll summoning so that he now summons a 'lion spearman'. I've also added the ability to summon the treehouse. In addition, there's been some expansion to the history so that it explains how he travelled from Terabithia to other worlds.

[yuffie]

"Impossible; it's possible!" -Cinderella OBC

Alright, alright, enough quotes. Seems all good, accepted.