Devon Jones

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Mortal History

1971

Devon Jones – DJ to his friends – was born in 1971 in Atlanta to two hippy parents. Of course, by then, being a hippy was going out of style, but that didn’t stop the Jones family from being fairly loose and carefree, which meant that DJ’s formative years were fairly uninhibited, leaving him free to explore the world and to pursue whatever path spoke out to him. Although he was a bright child, DJ wasn’t much of a standout in school. He was sociable, and enjoyed fairly normal pastimes for a child of his age, placing little interest in learning things that bored him. His grades were consistently above average, but this was more due to natural intelligence and luck than anything else.

1982

As computers started to come into vogue in his teenage years DJ found himself drawn to them, and began to experiment with computers, eventually coming into contact with the hacker subculture. His parents, having finally “grown up” and now working real jobs, let him enjoy his freedom, since they had no real idea what he was up to, being adults and all. DJ and several of his friends formed a “hacker crew” and proceeded to rice out their computers and enjoy themselves. DJ’s Commodore 64 was his constant companion through his teenage years, though he managed to stay social when at all possible. Quiet and generally unassuming in person, this wasn’t terribly easy for him, but he tried to be more than just “some nerd sitting in the basement” whenever he could.

1989

Eventually, by the time he was 18, DJ was hacking for both fun and profit. His grades subtly improved thanks to this, though he had little desire to attend college or anything like that. Still, rent was free at his parents’ house so long as he stayed in school, so he quickly found himself enrolled in a community college, where he worked towards an AS in Computer Programming and made money on the side doing computer work for people. DJ might have continued to live this average, unassuming life if not for a little adventure in cyberspace that resulted in his finding his sire.

Embrace

1992

DJ had just graduated, and was working in a computer store at the time, making decent wages at the young age of 21 when he began his journey into vampirism. Nathan, DJ’s sire, was obsessed with computers, marveling at all the things the strange machines could do. When he found DJ they began to correspond regularly and Nathan found DJ’s ideas about free information and personal freedoms sufficiently in-line with his own views. As a result, DJ was embraced. Nathan was a Khabit, trained as a warrior by his sire, that chose to serve the Movement by protecting it from outside threats so that it could prosper. He instilled a similar desire for this in DJ, and trained him ruthlessly to make sure his childe could do so (and wasn’t a disappointment to the line). DJ took to his training very well since his sire’s innovative approach made it seem – to DJ at least – that he had total freedom to pursue whatever he wished to, and to an extent he did.

1995

DJ eventually fell in with the Carthian Movement in 1995 after spending a few years getting on his feet and learning some of the ins and outs of being Kindred. He joined a debate club with several other Kindred and worked to keep himself hip in both the computer scene and on the street, the latter at the suggestion of his sire.

2001

DJ continued his physical training, working hard to meet his sire’s continually grueling expectations. It was because of this training that he managed to convince the Prince he’d be a good candidate for Hound several years after he’d joined the Movement. He took to the job with his usual dedication, and found it a welcome challenge. Unfortunately, his humanity began to suffer, which drove him further and further into his Mission and Position of Humanism. He was, after all, still young and still very connected to mortal society, and saw no need for that to suffer a great deal if he could prevent it.

2007

These nights DJ is still the Hound, and he’s still doing his job as usual. He remains connected with the hacker scene he so loves, and still clings to the idea of freedom of information so that everyone can make informed decisions. This is, of course, a dangerous idea, and the brutal realities of the Requiem have tempered his fervent desire to spread information somewhat. He also continues to train with his sire, who has since moved outside the city, in an effort to make sure he’ll be able to continue the other vampire’s work and to protect the Movement. DJ is still young – he’s only been Kindred for 15 years – but he’s already up to his waist in responsibilities that come with being a sociable Carthian with a Court position. Where he’ll go from here is anyone’s guess.

Year One

I go over my journal - perhaps my only real link to who I used to be, where I came from - and try to piece it all together. It isn't easy. The journal helps me, though I've shrugged off most of this fucked-up torpor fog, and reminds me of the past. I want to put it all down, get it all sorted out, remember who I was and how I got here. A memory's one of the few things that'll stick with a fucker like me that lives forever. It's important to remember, or you just forget, like, everything, and then you're just living from moment to moment, no past, no future. I don't want to be like that. That's the Beast, an animal just living in the moment, nothing beyond it. I've conquered my Beast. I fucking pwned that shit like no tomorrow. No, I gotta sort all this bullshit out. No time like the present. All the death, all the dying, the history's mostly gone. I'm so fucking young, and I know more than just about everyone about it. My ass is all getting the fuck ahead of my mouth though. I gotta stop, then start from where things started to get interesting. This last twenty-five year gap, and shit. It's a lot to sort out, but I can manage. Let's do this shit.

I guess my first big, important memory of this last quarter-century is when Clementine and Marissa got their Primogen titles fucking jacked. I remember it was because they never talked to Anthony, never really offered any worthwhile advice. Things had been pretty routine for me, up until then. I was kicking fuckass nomad ass, taking names, and generally being a badass and trying to keep the people I wasn't fucking up from noticing me until I had a reason for them too. I was starting to get into a relationship with Clem, after all those fucking years, and I guess I was starting to get over how shy I used to be, but that kinda shook things up. It was pretty wild, but I don't think it was the wrong decision or anything. Naw, they had it coming. A lot of the Court got shook up, but I remember that part the most. I guess that's weird, because I should remember Leonard the most. Leonard fucking Stadt. Another lame-ass nomad that caused a lot of problems and never did any fucking good because he was too busy being a stupid-ass fag. Leonard, who, looking back, really got Simone's dumb ass jacked out of the Movement. I was too busy dealing with the Movement falling under its own weight - people got fucking cocky, didn't care to show up or to really do anything, didn't have any ambition and just gave everyone fucking handouts. It was sad. It was fucking weaksauce. Leonard though, he gave me a target for my rage, and I was fucking patient with that bitch. I probably spent too much time dealing with him instead of trying to shore up the Movement. I'll never know, I guess. Hell, he was a bigger fucking priority than the werewolves starting shit up in Decatur. Motherfucking Leonard.

Come to think of it, I got pulled in a lot of fucking directions. Leonard, the werewolves, Brentin Cole (who was a total dick), and also fucking butting heads with the Invictus. Anthony had me go after Raul to get to Bridget, and that shit was working alright, but I kept getting distracted by shit, like the fucking Carthians falling apart. It just goes to show, one guy can't do everything. The Sanctum was being dicks back then, too, I remember. The Invictus and the Sanctum loved to dick with us, but I think I gave them a lot better than they gave me. It helped that Bridget embraced that homo-ass Emmett and that mouthy fucking imitation-me Raul. My battling with their asses got interrupted by that fucking thing though, that "Stone Finger" bitch or whatever that attacked Eveline. I remember back then, when Carter'd just come into the city a while back, when the Movement was still big on numbers, when Linus's ass had died (as far as I knew). That was some old-school shit, f'real. The Movement got bled hard through it all, just because people got lazy. Talbit. Trey. Millie. Leonard. Simone. Brentin. They were all getting fucking hammered and either got kicked out or left. It was kinda amazing to watch that shit implode after being on top of the world for so motherfucking long. I wish I could blame that cunt-whore Bridget, but the truth is all of the fault there really lies at the feet of the Movement. They did it to themselves. I remember I wanted to get some new blood into the Movement, help make up for all the losses. That's when I embraced my first childe, Heather Coleman. I thought it'd be fucking awesome, especially when I heard that Clem embraced a kid, Will, at about the same time. I was really hoping the Movement would take off again, with all the dead weight and shit gone. Boy was I wrong...

I was busy training my kid, messing with DuPont (and framing Brentin for it, because that guy's a huge dumbass), and otherwise trying to keep the Movement from going under. Peter and Celementine weren't helping. Shit was tense, even Anthony was getting all up in my grill because of the Movement. I was still busy with Hound shit, of course, like jacking the shit out of that stone-finger bitch in the sewers. That was me and Carter, back before Carter went absolutely crazy. I kinda wish I'd had more time to split between shit, because while I was doing that Heather was spiraling out of control, getting into shit with the Movement - Clem especially - and causing fights, over me of all people. Bridget picked up on it, and worked to drive a bigger wedge between my childe and the covenant I wanted her to join. It sucked, hard. That was back when Nathan brought me into the bloodline, the Khaibit. Back when Naomi, that drifter Carthian, made me this jacket that I'm still wearing today. There was some good then, but it was focused on me, and I was too busy soaking that shit up after an otherwise-lame Requiem to pay attention to the shit that needed it more, like my kid. That was when Araseli embraced. The dumb bitch was trying to get citizenship, and I went ahead and did Carter a favor and helped her with that, and then? She fucking just up and embraces, totally against the law. It's like, what the fuck Carter? What the fuck Araseli? Why the fuck would anyone do that so fucking blatantly? I was busy butting heads with the Invictus - the usual suspects, and that tool Arthur - and the Sanctified, and then things with Araseli blew up.

I still remember the night of the Elysium "blow up" and all that bullshit after it. It's why I fucking hate Elysium, why I'd get rid of it forever if people didn't bitch and moan so much about it. There I was all set to bring Araseli in because she'd embraced without permission, ready to make an example of her for breaking the law and all that shit, then things go down. Krause is there, some random fucko Unaligned nomad, getting all up in my grill, trying to jack me with her. I sometimes replay that shit out in my dreams, running, blurring, shooting, working to take them the fuck down. Somehow I managed to take random-Krause's ass down, and I busted Araseli's child final-fucking-ly, and then Carter showed up. Not to help, but to kill. He went nuts, damn near brought me down, Aria actually helped me there. I basically fought four Kindred that night, and I wasn't nearly as strong then as I am now. I've always considered that shit one of the toughest fights in my life, and one I should've lost, if I weren't able to out-think the fuck out of those dumbasses. Even so, it was probably the worst Elysium breach in the city's history. The whole thing went crazytown. I still hate fucking Elysium because of that shit.

The immediate fallout wasn't that bad, just some setbacks to my plans. The biggest setback didn't even come out of that shit - it was fucking Heather joining up with the fucking Crones. The Invictus, of course (or should I say "Bridget and her yes-men") were busy sniping at me for it, but overall things didn't seem all that hella-crazy after it. It was the clam before the storm though. It was just the excuse the fucking Invictus needed. The Invictus laid a trap on us, getting the Carthians disorganized and thinking we had spies and shit to deal with, so we were looking inside while they were getting ready for that shit. One the fucking "alliance" - that Clem should have never got us into, by the way - went down, they didn't even have a reason to hide that shit anymore. The Carthians kept trying to isolate me - Clem, doing stupid shit, or Eveline, doing stupid shit, or Will, doing stupid shit (man, fuck Will, I should have let Carter kill his ass, it'd have saved us so much trouble down the line) - so when Anthony finally asked me to do something, finally asked me to help him out, I was willing to give it a try. He wanted me to be a fucking diplomat. Now, I consider Anthony to be probably my only homey in the city, but that shit was dumb as fuck, I'm not a diplomat. So I go to this party that I'm just fucking sure is a trap, because I know better when it comes to Bridget, and sure enough: it's a trap! Just went it looked like Bridget was going to fuck me, out in the garden, there's a giant bear, and I'm running the fuck away. I wish I'd stuck a fist up her cunt before I ran... fucking skank. I nearly got away, too, even with the whole fucking city chasing me, but motherfucking faggot-ass Krailo saw me, brought me out so they could bring me down. Krailo's the one grudge I never got settled. I want to find that bitch someday, find him and give him what he fucking deserves. If he ever wakes up, it'll be the biggest mistake he's even made, and the fucking last one too. But yeah, back then, I got totally fucking torpored, taken down by all those bitches, and I was pretty sure that'd be the end of me, forever. I was, naturally, surprised as fuck when I woke up and Anthony was there, the taste of his blood on my lips.

We - the Movement - lost the city in a coup to the Invictus. I wanted to fight, but I was hurt, bad, and Anthony was against it. They'd nailed us hard, and we knew they could do that shit again. I wanted to leave, call it quits, but I knew Anthony'd put his ass on the line for me, so I didn't abandon him. So, I got fuckined jewed into hardcore Invictus Oaths and shit, their usual blood-oath bullshit, and got to exist basically apart from society, not really able to actually do anything. It sucked ass. I released my first childe, Heather, because she'd decided to join the Crones. It was a huge disappointment to me, because I knew she was wasting her future, but she didn't fucking care at all. I never forgave her for that. I had a rough time of things, being the Hound but not really being able to actually do anything, and getting jacked by fucking Gangrel. It hurt. I kept getting punked by those bitches, and eventually I bit off more than I could chew and got dragged down into torpor by some nomad faggot that I managed to drop. I slept for about a year...

When I woke up, it was like I was in fucking bizarro world. Clementine had left the Movement. She'd joined the Invictus, tried to jack her own childe, tried to have me and Anthony killed, and fled the city. What the blue fuck was that bitch's problem? My childe had run off. Anthony had joined the Invictus, and had basically married Bridget with some kinda of bullshit mind-meld nonsense and become Themesis. It made me wonder why the fuck I even woke up. Everything was ruined. I was mad, mad as hell. I took some of it out by busting heads, making people do some sick shit, turning into a real mad-dog psycho killer. Everything that mattered to me was gone. Why even try anymore, you know? I worked on it, a bit, but my heart just wasn't into that shit. Heather came back, and I kept up my job as the Hound, just turning into a walking storm of death and violence. I took down people I used to consider my friends - people like Simone. I was destroying the bloodline in the city, because none of them were worthy of it. I think it was a reaction to Heather, but I don't know. The Movement was faltering - it'd never recovered from losing me and Anthony - and it continued to do stupid shit that just drove me further and further away from it. I torpored Heather when she kept egging me on. My hatred for everyone and everything was on overdrive. The Carthians continued to drive me away, especially when that fuckass Jerry took more and more control for himself. The whole thing was rotten, and it just made me more and more violent. I packed my bags, got ready to leave my covenant. I considered the Invictus, the Sanctum, but ultimately? I was thinking more and more about the Ordo. Carter got torpored, and I saw my chance to act. I faked that I was a VII dude, and I took him away and buried him where nobody'd ever find him. My own kid fought me, and I torpored her too, dropped her off with the Crones. I finally got my fucking payback on Carter, the guy that'd ruined my shit so long ago, the guy that betrayed me and fucked with me so long. Then the Crones killed Heather...

To say I was mad was an understatement. Heather was a fuckup, and worthless, but she was my childe. She was my blood. I made them pay for it. Daphne was the first to go, after I scared her ass the fuck out of the city by tricking her into breaching Elysium. She got away, but she never came back. Anthony called me up, and I proved I was still his bro by saving his ass. The Ordo called me up, and let me in as a Slave. I got a Regency, got a lot of land, really started getting powerful again, for the first time in a long fucking time. I bagged Araseli, raped her, left her to burn in the sun. I was less concerned with power and more concerned with revenge. I was still a fucking total monster, almost a draugr. Anthony gave me a choice: fix myself, or get put down like a rabid dog. I swore an oath - a real oath, not that Invictus bullshit - not to kill anyone for a decade. I started to work my way out of the hell I'd made. At the time, I wasn't even really sure I wanted to. I would have loved to just murder Crones, again and again, kill everyone that came my way, drink the souls of everyone that'd wronged me, get revenge upon revenge until the whole city was burned to ashes. It was the hardest choice I've ever made. Somewhere along the way, I embraced again - Elias - but he left the city. I guess I don't blame him. Who'd want to be brought into the blood by a total psycho like I was back then? I tried to bury myself in my studies, tried to forget, labored under the Invictus's oaths still, still! And then... Themesis disappeared.

After that, "The Strife" started. Not a lot of Kindred made it through that, and I'm one of the lucky ones that did. Chaos was the byword of the day, and shit. The Invictus tried to hold onto their praxis, but Catherine was weak (and a total spy, as it turned out). She freed me from my oaths though, and for that I'm all kinds of grateful. The Crones kept the pressure up on me, but I kept it up on them too. I tried making headway in the Ordo, but fucking Jared Deuchamps was always there, busting my balls, trying to keep me down and shit. Catherine got brought down, and the batch of Crones that was giving me trouble died too. DuPont died, for real - forever - when a Crone tore him in half... and that was some pretty scary shit. Catherine's still out there, I guess, but she's sleeping. I used the chaos to make a new for myself. My territory grew, and my titles kept getting bigger and bigger. It helps to be a guy that can kick ass and take names when the city's going to hell. For a while, I was basically the de-facto Prince of Southern Atlanta. I had another kid - Elias Crowley - but his ass ran off, and I haven't seen him since. Eveline tried to take the praxis next, but she was never around so she totally stepped down. Sucks, but she had her chance. I sired again - a guy named Nickoli Raskolnikov - who's still around so far. He's my oldest childe, I guess, though he never amounted to much. Jared Deuchamps eventually took praxis, but he sucked at it, and spent all his time fucking and trying to step on my balls. It was bad, me and him constantly at each other's throats, so we made a peace deal... but he kept it up. He got taken down during the roller-rink coup. That was the night I got my revenge of Kit Icarus's ass, paid her back for turning her back on her sire's bloodline. Fucking cunt, I hated that bitch. A guy named Vaugh, Crone dude, took praxis then for a bit. He was a huge help, since his ass helped me capture a fucking Notary so I could crack the Invictus's secrets. Now I know what all that bullshit Catherine did was. Never, ever, swear an Invictus oath.

The chaos - well, "The Strife" - continued. A group of childer were out to get me, but their shit fell apart and they totally failed. I made a gang of my own, and was the Regent of South Atlanta. My word was fucking law, and it was a great time to be me. Then, Bridget woke up. Fucking Bridget. God damn Bridget. She took the praxis back - I nearly attacked her that night, despite my bro-ship with Anthony - and was the Prince again. "The Strife" didn't end though. Anthony came back for a while... then faded away again. I kept cranking on my Ordo stuff, working with Nickoli and all that. My "gang" kept getting bigger, and I feuded with (and fucking defeated) clan Gangrel. The, Bridget died. I guess something really crazy-town horrible happened, but I didn't care really. Anthony came back, and then he was gone again, so the only person left to take the praxis was me. So I did, and became the Protector of Atlanta, with a vow to protect the praxis until Anthony returned. It was my time, at last. I had another kid - Paige - to replace Nickoli, who got the fuck outta there soon enough, and I was hoping every night that Anthony would come back. Still, I couldn't just focus on that. I had a city to run, and a lot of fucking order to restore to replace "The Strife" that'd been fucking the city up for the past decade. [113]

Under Construction. To be concluded 03/08/2008

Character Ties

• Not known by other characters - In 1995 DJ taught Jared Deuchamps about computers, helping to modernize him. In return, Jared helped to bankroll DJ when the young Carthian began making moves to take over the streets of Atlanta during his dispute with Trey King.
• Not known by other characters - In 1996 DJ taught Clementine Beaumont about computers, and eventually the two developed a brief "thing" for each other that resulted in a love affair. Both were relatively shy and quiet, however, which resulted in the two eventually drifting apart. DJ still has a soft spot for Clementine, and wonders if she has one for him. Their affair was part of the reason he took the Hound job - he wanted to "prove himself" and, in doing so, gain more confidence.
• Known by members of the Carthian Movement - In 1997 DJ got into verbal dispute with Mildred Winters that was eventually settled by Eveline Carre.
• Known by members of the Carthian Movement - In 1999 DJ ran afoul of Trey King while attempting to gain control of the Atlanta streets. After a short influence war their dispute was mediated by Eveline Carre. William Talbit also assists DJ in effectively countering Trey King's street influence. DJ agrees to pay William back someday, when he's able, and secretly wonders whether he's recieved help because people dislike Trey or because the other Carthians are trying to make him a poster childe in some kind of "young against old" conflict.
• Not known by other characters - In 2003 DJ, while pursuing an Unaligned nomad that had been feeding in Sylvan Hills, had a brief encounter with James William Hopkins that almost ended in bloodshed. The two managed to come to the conclusion that they were looking for the same person, however, and promptly tracked down the nomad and drove him to the city limits, effectively bringing him to justice as a team. For his continued service as Hound DJ is given domain over Hapeville, and he pays back the favor he owed William Talbit by allowing the other Kindred to gain a great deal of influence there.
• Known by characters with Computers 2+ - DJ is still very much a member of the hacker community, and frequents plenty of places you can find people that love computers. He's run into Araseli Luna a few times, and while the two don't necessarily seem to be "friends" they're definitely acquaintances.