Jesse Mayfield Reference
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--Typical Civilian Response Meeting Jesse
Jesse Mayfield is a cinnamon roll in the body of a death machine. He's a shy, gentle, anxious person who ultimately would very much like to not be a giant terrifying monster. Adopted and raised by a human from infancy he never developed the natural cruelty or prey drive most members of his species have, and instead lives a fairly normal life with his now-husband, Chester. He's an academic who enjoys literature, and speaks in a somewhat stilted, overly formal way.
Being relatively well-known in his home-world for being one of the two people to successfully find a legendary gold hoard, The Pool of Wishes, hasn't lead to much progress in being actually accepted, and, while content in his own way, it's never stopped weighing on his mind how deeply he wishes he could just be a normal person, able to walk amongst others without fear or stigma.
Table of Contents
BackstoryJesse was found as an infant by his adoptive mother, a human woman who took pity on the badly injured, abandoned child, even if he was doomed to grow into a dangerous predator. His mother -a local explorer "Blind Betty"/"Buckshot Betty"- was already known for being "spirited", and while she was a decent parent to him, not an ounce of her bravery and taste for adventure wore off on Jesse. Forced to grow up largely indoors or sticking to more abandoned rural parts of town, the taste of companionship he received from his mother only served to ignite in him a desire to be around other people.
Of course, being one of the most feared apex predators in an already very dangerous homeland, any attempts at trying to venture into public mostly resulted in a lot of chaos and being shot at. He eventually turned to books, developing a deep love of literature, and academics. After losing contact with his mother on one of her adventures, he was able to take on a job ghostwriting for the local paper, and worked security at the local bank, his mere presence enough to scare off most any criminal.
It was at his security job that he met Chester Mayfield, after the idiot tried to rob the bank he worked at with a broken gun. He was impressed with the lack of fear Chester showed in subsequent, equally poorly planned, robbery attempts, and started just talking to him instead of bothering to intervene.
Ultimately Jesse inquired as to why he was trying so hard to steal a relatively small amount of money. When Chester explained he was going to use it for supplies to journey out into the deadly deserts to the East in a search for a children's fairytale Pool of Wishes Jesse simply gave him the money out of his own savings as a gift. He was further surprised when Chester invited him along, and he happily agreed, leading to a long, largely idiotic journey into some of the most brutal nature the continent had to offer.
Through the adventure he and Chester grew incredibly close, and by the time they'd reached the place legends said the Pool would be, Jesse had started to hope that they may be true. They were... In a way that ultimately did not matter to Jesse. The "Pool of Wishes" was not a magic location granting wishes, but instead an impossibly massive hoard of gold, and precious gems. Jesse broke down at the sight, having to realize that, while the place of legend existed, it could never grant him the one wish he desperately wanted fulfilled.
Still, life pressed on, and more happily than Jesse had ever really expected. He and Chester got married, and built a beautiful home for themselves with the vast wealth they now possessed. He's comfortable, loved, and has found his own happiness the best he can.
But the sting never really left. He still feels the aching in his chest anytime he thinks about how he'll never really be able to go out, enjoy the world, or even just kiss his husband without risking him harm. Even a warm, loving cage still feels like a cage, and it's ultimately his greatest desire to find a way to live a normal life.
PersonalityJesse is a quiet, gentle person generally prone to anxiety. No amount of being a giant monster has really shaken the fear that's instilled in a person after being shot at as a child by panicked rednecks.
He's generally very friendly, and happy to talk if anyone wants to, though comes across as deeply awkward, and overly formal. He isn't adventurous himself, but will follow anyone who wants him along and who's kind. He's a very affectionate, caring person, but can also be extremely stubborn if he decides he genuinely cares about something.
The sole exception to his natural passiveness is a defensiveness of loved ones. He'll absolutely tear someone to shreds (verbally or otherwise) if they try to harm people he cares about. He just about gave Chester a heart attack at their wedding when he got genuinely angry and went off on a relative of his because she'd implied Chester wasn't as successful as she thought he should be, and while no harm was done he's still a force to be reckoned with when convinced he's acting in someone else's defense.
He's also cautious and suspicious. He's decent at reading whether someone is being honest, and will react worse to someone lying than to an admission of wrong-doing or less favorable personal traits. He'll pretty passively accept someone being a bad person so long as they're friendly and upfront about it, but if he's under the impression you're trying to deceive him in some way no amount of friendliness is going to make him stop glaring at you like a particularly wary feral cat. |
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Abilities
[Jesse's abilities are largely just a result of being the species he is.]
Extraordinary Vision
Atraxants are sight predators, and have an extremely advanced visual prowess. With 6 eyes in total, Jesse has nearly perfect 360° vision, with the eyes inset in his jaw able to see behind him, the side pair providing good general vision, and the front-most set seeing in extreme detail. All sets see well in the day but much better at night, and pick up on movement rapidly. Not as good with pattern detection as humans are by a long shot, but once he's got sight of you he isn't losing it easily.
Athleticism
Jesse is generally much much more athletic than the average person. A good comparison would be the athleticism of cats, or, if you're familiar with the Alien franchise, xenomorphs. He can scale any surface he can dig his claws into, and is generally fast and agile. Not as flexible as a cat, but slender enough he doesn't really need to be most of the time.
Durability
Atraxants are a very hardy species, native to hostile deserts, and dry, rocky mountains. As such their skin is tough, leathery, and they conserve water and energy well. Their blood clots quickly, and they're very resistant to blunt force trauma, with thick, sturdy bones. His eyes also have a double eyelid system, and take advantage of aerodynamic skull shaping to keep dust from his eyes and maintain visibility even in high wind.
Strengths
See Abilities. Jesse is just a physically imposing presence, 10ft tall, strong, and dangerous. He's the evolutionary product of a species built on pure hunting instinct and efficiency.
He's largely immune to weather conditions such as heat waves and cold blasts, used to a rapidly changing desert climate. Snow would confuse tf out of him as he's never seen it, but the cold of it is not any actual issue.
He's decently academically intelligent, spending a lot of time reading and studying. He has gotten good at studying the world around him, and picks up on logic tracks easily.
Despite being a social mess he's also developed a knack for recognizing behaviors and social cues, and is relatively adept at piecing together whether people are lying or if they have bad intentions. Combined with the fact he's basically a death machine on his home-world, he also isn't intimidated by bluffing, bullying, or cockiness, largely thinking anyone who tries is an idiot.
Weaknesses
Jesse is a deeply anxious person, who is gentle to a fault. He's extremely sensitive to the thought he might harm anyone, and will, to some degree, let himself face harm if it helps someone else. He cannot be intimidated, and would mostly find anyone trying to intimidate him stupid, but he will be distressed if he thinks he's hurt or upset anyone. He will actively put himself in harms way to protect people he cares for or sees as innocent, including animals. (Chester has learned to just... not mention it if Jesse doesn't notice himself that he stepped on an ant.)
He's extremely attached to Chester, to a probably somewhat unhealthy extent. He will drop everything instantly to keep him safe, and can be noticeably jealous as a result. This jealousy doesn't reach a like, psycho anime extent, but he can definitely be kind of a little bitch about it.
Jesse is stubborn, which admittedly could be a blessing or a curse. Once he's set on something he's SET on it, and it will take a lot to shake that focus. Obsessive thought patterns are an issue, and while Chester's pretty good at redirecting or calming him down, there's only so much you can do.
Water is a foreign enemy. Living in a desert he never learned to swim, and sinks like a rock. While he can hold his breath a decent length of time, panic will absolutely demolish that lung supply. His body density also becomes an outright hazard in deeper snow, mud, etc, making it extremely easy to get stuck.
Has a phobia of guns. He puts up with Chester's seeing it as a necessary evil meant to protect someone he loves, and also in large part because he knows it's functionally useless due to age and poor upkeep, but he has a genuine phobia, and will devolve into "scared animal mode" if one is ever a little too close to being pointed his way. It should be noted, like most scared animals, there's a 50/50 chance the response will be flight, or fight.
And speaking of scared animal mode, His grasp on humanity is more tenuous than he'd like to admit. Getting too hungry, too stressed, etc will throw him into a more animalistic headspace where thinking clearly pretty much goes out the window. Some chemicals similar to the hormonal communication his species uses and some specific sounds can also set this off to a lesser extent, resulting in a very dulled reaction time and some pretty severe confusion. Chester is pretty used to seeing this and can reign him in, but if they're separated it's extremely difficult for Jesse to snap himself out of.
Gallery
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Author's Notes
Some dumb little notes:
- Jesse speaks in an extremely stilted way. His vocal chords aren't really built for human speech, and while he manages it sounds deeply unpleasant. He doesn't use contractions at all when talking. (ex. Wouldn't say 'Wouldn't" but would instead word it "Would Not")
- Has a very very deep voice. Atraxant's natural language is spoken in a tone so low humans cannot naturally hear it. Most "animal" noises he makes like surprised shrieks fall into this range, and while not audible to most, the vibrations of it can be felt and tend to make people extremely uncomfortable on a more primal level.
- Can walk upright or on all 4's. He doesn't like walking on all 4's, but will if forced to by ceiling height, or when climbing a steeper surface.
- His teeth are needle-like and not any more sturdy than normal teeth, but grow in such numbers breaking or losing a few every now and then doesn't make much difference long-term. (They take about a week to grow back in)
- Concerningly fond of dairy. It's just about the only not meat/viscera he can eat, and the variety it adds has made it a favorite. You CAN fascinate the Jesse with a cheese.
- He'll get pretty aggressively ill if he eats too much vegetable matter (less than you'd think, but a seasoned steak won't hurt him), and cannot process any alcohol. Dude had a sip of beer once by accident and was functionally blackout wasted and ill for a solid week.