Character Name: Jonas Canon: Oxenfree II: Lost Signals Canon Point: Mid-game, trapped in a "void beyond time and space" Character Age: Chronologically 23, but mentally and physically 18 History:Linkie
Division:Research & Archives. Jonas hates burying himself in data and books, as he thinks he's stupid. While he does occasionally demonstrate that this is the case, his curiosity for the new and strange lends itself to very creative thinkingβapplying feeling to facts and supplementing raw intelligence with a shocking amount of common sense. Getting to research and archive alien species would be so novel to him that he would, at the very least, try to measure up to other scientists, even if he'll always believe he's doing a bad job at it. However, Jonas, as a hobbyist musician, has an art-oriented mind; he will gravitate to these aspects of history-keeping. Learning and/or preserving musical culture, the expression of religions, and how people communicate will be his core focuses. While he might not, at first, be the best record-keeper, his adventurous spirit will ultimately prevail, and he'll want to know moreβeven at great personal cost.
Edict:The Fathomless. Jonas travels the universe alone, just as his Edict dictates. His entire character is thematically driven by loss and the experience of being lost. A song in the game, linking him to his late mother, is titled Lost. His whole life has been spent directionless and drifting, making poor choices (crime, isolating himself, smoking, etc.) for himself instead of the ones his family tried to guide him towards. After his mother passed away from cancer, he lost what little power he had to make his own decisions. This led to a stint in juvenile detention and being swept off to a different city as the new stepchild to a family he'd never met. And after all that, he still got possessed by submarine ghosts called The Sunken and trapped by them in a time loop for what he perceives to be billions of years ("We never had our time, it was ripped from us. We've watched the universe's conception fly to its demise over and over and over again."). He is quite aptly "for the lost, and of the lost, seeking a way home."
Powers: N/A.
As the Ascendants deemed your character worthy of being on this exploration voyage, what qualities did they observe in your character that they found appropriate for the mission?
Loyalty. Curiosity. Mental fortitude. The Ascendants would notice these qualities in Jonas first. Because his life has so often felt out of his control, he sometimes stirs up trouble to feel like heβs holding the reins. He walks toward strange things instead of backing offβstepping into dark caves on Edwards Island, urging his stepsister, Alex, to tune into the dangerous radio signals put out by the Sunken, the ghosts of the crew from the destroyed submarine USS Kanaloa. That same curiosity is what gets him and the group into real danger. Jonas doesnβt shut things down when he gets nervousβhe leans in.
However, throughout the series, no matter how strained things get between him and Alex, he stays close to her. He tries to keep them steady as a unit, and he holds onto himself as best he can. The Ascendants would see this loyalty, this curiosityβand his ability to stubbornly keep moving even when the supernatural presses inβand know heβs right for their voyage. These traits demonstrate a grounded courage that persists even when he knows partway through the game that he's dying, proving Jonas can face uncertainty with enduring purpose.
What is your character's best quality, what is their worst, and how do these two qualities affect each other?
Loyal versus self-abnegation. Jonas' best quality is his devotion; the developers compare him in this regard to Joseph Gordon-Levitt in "Brick" and River Phoenix in "Stand By Me." Once he commits to any relationship, he anchors himself to it. He tries to be steady and dependable for his friends and family, the person who doesn't walk away when things get tense or dangerous.
But that same loyalty shades into self-denial, a habit of shrinking his own needs to keep the peace or to prove he's worth keeping around. He'll push aside his discomfort, ignore his doubts, and take on more than he should, all because he thinks saying yes and being supportive is the right thing to do, even if it makes him uncomfortable.
These two qualities affect each other in ways Jonas doesn't recognize. His loyalty encourages him to stay close, to help, to protectβbut his instinct toward self-erasure means he rarely checks in with himself to see how he's actually doing. He doesn't want to disappoint anyone, and that desire can twist his loyalty into something heavier, something that wears him down. Yet this combination also reveals why people can so easily come to trust him. His loyalty gives him heart, and his self-erasure, while unhealthy, comes from wanting to matter; he needs connection so badly that he'll give up parts of himself to pursue it.
Your character's Edict appears in front of them, and agrees to grant them one wish: what does your character wish for?
If the Fathomless appeared and offered Jonas one wish, he would wish to be with his motherβalive again, or just as dead, simply together this time. The only thing that could supersede this is his desire to contact his father to reassure him that he's okay, even if it's a lie, so he can help him move on. But instinctively, even that wouldn't take precedence over the instant gratification of being held by his mother again.
Jonas has made a similar wish before. At the end of Oxenfree, he hears her singing and feels as though he might be able to talk to her one more time. When Alex enables him to do so, he disappears and is trapped in the void with the others. Being with her would, unfortunately, mean closure, and that only fractionally beats out the prospect of living with his father again. Her memory has haunted him for what he has perceived to be billions of years.
There's obvious danger in his wish: If he were with his mother, he would lose everything else. Still, I believe as a knee-jerk reaction, he'd unwittingly risk it all for one moment beside her. One chance to be forgiven for all the worry he put her through. That'd literally be worth everything to Jonas.
The Theorem has broken down, and is drifting toward a black hole. There is very little hope of outside rescue. What does your character do?
Tell everyone how he feels about themβreally. Before the games' events, Jonas' mother was sick in the hospital. During this time, he was sent to juvenile detention for assaulting another schoolmate after they threw a baseball at his head. Due to the long process leading up to being incarcerated and his time therein contained, he was unable to visit her, so he was never able to square the assault away with her properly before she died. This is his biggest regret in life: Not being able to apologize, not knowing what she might've thought, or if she would've even forgiven him.
Additionally, he was unable to say goodbye or tell his mother that he loved her. Because of this, Jonas is terrified of never expressing his innermost feelings before they can become bad memories. This is further proven during the events of Oxenfree, when Jonas, realizing he and his stepsister, Alex, may not make it off the island, tries to tell her he thinks they might've had fun living together after high school. He does it to salvage the scenario, to perhaps reconnect with her. Unfortunately, he was prevented from ever doing so, which would have alleviated a desperate need to.
Now, being freed from the void in which he was trapped, Jonas has no limitations when it comes to expressing himself. He's equipped with an agonizing understanding of what can happen when he doesn't, so the game and its players can expect a lot more honesty from him. Getting to be alive again will also light a fire under his ass to experience more and live larger; back home, he was too focused on getting by that he put his happiness last, except in numerous instances of rebellion. Not anymore.
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IC
Character Name: Jonas
Canon: Oxenfree II: Lost Signals
Canon Point: Mid-game, trapped in a "void beyond time and space"
Character Age: Chronologically 23, but mentally and physically 18
History: Linkie
Division: Research & Archives. Jonas hates burying himself in data and books, as he thinks he's stupid. While he does occasionally demonstrate that this is the case, his curiosity for the new and strange lends itself to very creative thinkingβapplying feeling to facts and supplementing raw intelligence with a shocking amount of common sense. Getting to research and archive alien species would be so novel to him that he would, at the very least, try to measure up to other scientists, even if he'll always believe he's doing a bad job at it. However, Jonas, as a hobbyist musician, has an art-oriented mind; he will gravitate to these aspects of history-keeping. Learning and/or preserving musical culture, the expression of religions, and how people communicate will be his core focuses. While he might not, at first, be the best record-keeper, his adventurous spirit will ultimately prevail, and he'll want to know moreβeven at great personal cost.
Edict: The Fathomless. Jonas travels the universe alone, just as his Edict dictates. His entire character is thematically driven by loss and the experience of being lost. A song in the game, linking him to his late mother, is titled Lost. His whole life has been spent directionless and drifting, making poor choices (crime, isolating himself, smoking, etc.) for himself instead of the ones his family tried to guide him towards. After his mother passed away from cancer, he lost what little power he had to make his own decisions. This led to a stint in juvenile detention and being swept off to a different city as the new stepchild to a family he'd never met. And after all that, he still got possessed by submarine ghosts called The Sunken and trapped by them in a time loop for what he perceives to be billions of years ("We never had our time, it was ripped from us. We've watched the universe's conception fly to its demise over and over and over again."). He is quite aptly "for the lost, and of the lost, seeking a way home."
Powers: N/A.
As the Ascendants deemed your character worthy of being on this exploration voyage, what qualities did they observe in your character that they found appropriate for the mission?
Loyalty. Curiosity. Mental fortitude. The Ascendants would notice these qualities in Jonas first. Because his life has so often felt out of his control, he sometimes stirs up trouble to feel like heβs holding the reins. He walks toward strange things instead of backing offβstepping into dark caves on Edwards Island, urging his stepsister, Alex, to tune into the dangerous radio signals put out by the Sunken, the ghosts of the crew from the destroyed submarine USS Kanaloa. That same curiosity is what gets him and the group into real danger. Jonas doesnβt shut things down when he gets nervousβhe leans in.
However, throughout the series, no matter how strained things get between him and Alex, he stays close to her. He tries to keep them steady as a unit, and he holds onto himself as best he can. The Ascendants would see this loyalty, this curiosityβand his ability to stubbornly keep moving even when the supernatural presses inβand know heβs right for their voyage. These traits demonstrate a grounded courage that persists even when he knows partway through the game that he's dying, proving Jonas can face uncertainty with enduring purpose.
What is your character's best quality, what is their worst, and how do these two qualities affect each other?
Loyal versus self-abnegation. Jonas' best quality is his devotion; the developers compare him in this regard to Joseph Gordon-Levitt in "Brick" and River Phoenix in "Stand By Me." Once he commits to any relationship, he anchors himself to it. He tries to be steady and dependable for his friends and family, the person who doesn't walk away when things get tense or dangerous.
But that same loyalty shades into self-denial, a habit of shrinking his own needs to keep the peace or to prove he's worth keeping around. He'll push aside his discomfort, ignore his doubts, and take on more than he should, all because he thinks saying yes and being supportive is the right thing to do, even if it makes him uncomfortable.
These two qualities affect each other in ways Jonas doesn't recognize. His loyalty encourages him to stay close, to help, to protectβbut his instinct toward self-erasure means he rarely checks in with himself to see how he's actually doing. He doesn't want to disappoint anyone, and that desire can twist his loyalty into something heavier, something that wears him down. Yet this combination also reveals why people can so easily come to trust him. His loyalty gives him heart, and his self-erasure, while unhealthy, comes from wanting to matter; he needs connection so badly that he'll give up parts of himself to pursue it.
Your character's Edict appears in front of them, and agrees to grant them one wish: what does your character wish for?
If the Fathomless appeared and offered Jonas one wish, he would wish to be with his motherβalive again, or just as dead, simply together this time. The only thing that could supersede this is his desire to contact his father to reassure him that he's okay, even if it's a lie, so he can help him move on. But instinctively, even that wouldn't take precedence over the instant gratification of being held by his mother again.
Jonas has made a similar wish before. At the end of Oxenfree, he hears her singing and feels as though he might be able to talk to her one more time. When Alex enables him to do so, he disappears and is trapped in the void with the others. Being with her would, unfortunately, mean closure, and that only fractionally beats out the prospect of living with his father again. Her memory has haunted him for what he has perceived to be billions of years.
There's obvious danger in his wish: If he were with his mother, he would lose everything else. Still, I believe as a knee-jerk reaction, he'd unwittingly risk it all for one moment beside her. One chance to be forgiven for all the worry he put her through. That'd literally be worth everything to Jonas.
The Theorem has broken down, and is drifting toward a black hole. There is very little hope of outside rescue. What does your character do?
Tell everyone how he feels about themβreally. Before the games' events, Jonas' mother was sick in the hospital. During this time, he was sent to juvenile detention for assaulting another schoolmate after they threw a baseball at his head. Due to the long process leading up to being incarcerated and his time therein contained, he was unable to visit her, so he was never able to square the assault away with her properly before she died. This is his biggest regret in life: Not being able to apologize, not knowing what she might've thought, or if she would've even forgiven him.
Additionally, he was unable to say goodbye or tell his mother that he loved her. Because of this, Jonas is terrified of never expressing his innermost feelings before they can become bad memories. This is further proven during the events of Oxenfree, when Jonas, realizing he and his stepsister, Alex, may not make it off the island, tries to tell her he thinks they might've had fun living together after high school. He does it to salvage the scenario, to perhaps reconnect with her. Unfortunately, he was prevented from ever doing so, which would have alleviated a desperate need to.
Now, being freed from the void in which he was trapped, Jonas has no limitations when it comes to expressing himself. He's equipped with an agonizing understanding of what can happen when he doesn't, so the game and its players can expect a lot more honesty from him. Getting to be alive again will also light a fire under his ass to experience more and live larger; back home, he was too focused on getting by that he put his happiness last, except in numerous instances of rebellion. Not anymore.
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