Jakab Botch

it's empty in the valley of your heart
Jakab Ogden Botch, "Mister B"

Born 1 August 1993

Small, dark and usually rather grumpy, Jakab does not exactly strike one as the most threatening person in the world. The boy is a tiny emo-goth, shaggy, swooping hair almost always dyed black, skin pale and obnoxiously clear, clothing mostly dark with splashes of color and always covering as much as possible. That covering part has little to do with any sort of scene aesthetic, however, and is entirely based upon the fact that he has some serious body issues going on. He's too small, too skinny and, most importantly, covered in scars of varied origin. He likes the fact that hoods and scarves and long sleeves hide his physical "deformities" to a certain degree. He likes that fact so much, in fact, that he even wears long sleeves and even sometimes scarves to bed. No one will ever see more of him than he is comfortable sharing with them - not his roommate, not his one-night stands, not anyone - so long as he has a say.

His scars, for the edification of the curious reader, cover a rather great deal of his body. Having fallen into a fire as a child, there is little of him that hasn't been touched, though the worst of it still remains on his chest, back, neck and upper arms. Other burn scars are scattered over the rest of him, as well, along with various trophies from past battles, both won and lost.

the sun, it rises slowly as you walk
To summarize before even going into detail, Jakab is a little bitch. For his entire life, he has been treated terribly, even by most of the people who "cared," and that fact has taken its toll on his outlook on life. He is his own contradiction, a conscious pessimist who is naturally optimistic, always expecting the worst but never quite able to escape hoping for the best, a naturally decent (if not good) and harmless person who has been nurtured (or tortured) into being the intentionally terrible mess that he is today. The boy is, to be perfectly honest, just a bundle of overcompensation wrapped around the core of a frightened child.

If life has taught Jakab anything, it has taught him that the only way to keep people from using your fears and insecurities against you is to face and paint a mask over them. Be your own opposite and you will get what you want. Afraid of being alone? Put on the act of being a loner and there is a 99% chance of attracting the attention of people who will never let you be alone again. Afraid of being seen as a coward? Always swing back, no matter how big the person is who swung at you. Afraid of dying? Fight like you're immortal and never think twice. Not that he lives that way every day but it was how Quinton always lived and so it's how Jakab struggles to be. Any philosophy that came from his best friend was and continues to be the law in Jakab's mind. Sanity is overrated. Be honest when you have the means to not let it hurt you. If you can't steal what you want, play your cards right and you can always convince someone else to get it for you. Be in control or be controlled. That is the way of the world.

All in all, the above philosophies have held Jakab up fairly well to this point. Of course, up to this point, he's also had Quinton there to keep him on track and now? Now Quinton is gone. It's a bone of bitter contention between himself and the Powers That Be but, luckily for everyone, for all of his attempts to emulate the apple of his eye, Jakab is not nearly as violent and destructive. Instead of fighting tooth and nail to be returned to the company of his constant companion (as he likes to think Quinton is doing, or would be doing if he wasn't probably medicated into a vegetative state), Jakab simply floats about in a sulky state of anger and resentment when it comes to dealing with the higher powers of QCI.

And since it hasn't fallen into place as something actually relevant to mention elsewhere, let it be noted here that Jakab's infatuation with his best friend has long since turned into the mad sort of obsessive dedication that only teenagers and the emotionally maladjusted ever quite understand as love. In case that hadn't already been made clear. Whether Quinton actually and honestly returns or ever returned the affection or was just manipulating Jakab the same way he taught the younger boy to manipulate others is up for debate in the world outside of Jakab's own mind.

away from all the fears
Jakab's power is known as linguistic manipulation, that is the ability to manipulate the receptive language centers of the brain and change the way that people percieve the written or spoken word. At his current level of knowledge, Jakab has to consciously focus upon an individual, allowing him to only affect the perception of one person at a time, but he has the potential to affect everyone within an as yet untested radius. As shown by uncontrolled spikes in his psychic energy, there is a quality to his ability that allows him to innately target the proper receptors. The problem is that, at this point, all he can do when attempting to affect multiple people is completely massacre their linguistic perception, turning all words into a non-sensical jumble.

and all the faults you've left behind
Summarized History

the harvest left no food for you to eat
In-game History

but I have seen the same

 * boys

I know the shame in your defeat

 * girls

but I will hold on hope
"The Cave" by Mumford and Sons

But I will hold on hope / And I won't let you choke / On the noose around your neck / And I'll find strength in pain / And I will change my ways / I'll know my name as it's called again

"Rootless Trees" by Damien Rice

Fuck you, fuck you, love you / And all we've been through / I said leave it, leave it, leave it / It's nothing in you / And did you hate me, hate me, hate me, hate me so good / That you just let me out, let me out, let me out, let me out

"In This Light" by David Usher

But in this light / I can see the angels burning from the inside out / They spread their wings to die / In this light / I can see the people / The damaged goods they take this life / It's passing by

"Every Goliath Has His David" by The Boy Least Likely To

My fists are balled up in the pockets of my anorak / And I’ve got a pea shooter hidden behind my back / All I need to do is sit and wait to be attacked / If I thought that it would make me happy then I would / Tie a handkerchief to a stick and surrender / But that isn’t what I want to do

"Run, Boy, Run" by Rock, Paper, Cynic

Drag your dreams to water, boy / Where every whelp is drowned / Bury books in river banks / Bake words into the clay / Waiting by the river that your hot feet never found / Run, boy, run your tired heart into the ground

"Firecracker" by Voxtrot

This is a punch I'm not punching up against / Oh, it's all just mirrors laugh and smoke / We are living in some tiny joke / And I'm here to show my love, ambition, dedication out to / Kick the wall, smash the lights, ricochets burning up / Firecracker

on the noose around your neck
Jakab is an adaptation of Jakabok Botch from Mister B. Gone by Clive Barker and, as such, only belongs to me so far as he's been adapted from his original state. Also, I do not own his face. Alex Mckee does. It being Mr. Mckee's face and all. In summary, for fun, not profit. Don't sue me.