John Stiles

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   <default>John Stiles</default>
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John Stiles is an 'awarded' or advanced Dog of War living in Kennet.

Personality

John has a solider mentality, he is the soldier mentality in a way. His memories and individual mannerisms are drawn from a large selection of soldiers.<ref name=":1">“John. It’s my understanding that you’re a… super soldier? A Dog of War?”

“No,” John said. “Yes, about the Dog of War label, no, I’m strong but I’m not a super soldier, like they appear in movies. I’ve been told I’m… a stained glass mosaic of a soldier, each segment pulled from someone.” - Excerpt from Lost for Words 1.5</ref> One of the reasons he settled in Kennet is because it felt like home to him.<ref name=":2"/>

He eats only as a matter of habit.

Relationships

Squad mates

His fellow dog tags that he manifested with or met up with over the course of his life, he's the last of them. Not all of them had names not having been around longenough or killed enough people to gain them,<ref name=Y1>“Many weren’t friends,” John said, touching the tags at his neck. “Comrades in arms. Some were scary, some quiet, some funny. Many didn’t have faces. They didn’t get the chance to grow into individuals, and were closer to being shadows of people. Yalda would- [...] -She brought out what little was there.” - Excerpt from Gone Ahead 7.7</ref> those who did were called Bloggins,<ref>Lucy paused, then out of sympathy, held out the necklace so the contents hung at Melissa’s eye level. Dog tags, the weapon ring, and her house key were strung on it.
[...]
“Who’s Corporal Bloggins?” - Excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.2</ref>Nescio, Noakes, and Roe.<ref>“Which is yours? Norman Nescio? Noakes? Roe? Stiles?” - Excerpt from Gone Ahead 7.8</ref>

Yalda was the last friend he said goodbye to.

Kennet residents

He is a close friend of Matthew Moss and has deeply unset when he learnt of Edith's betrayal.<ref>“I consider Matthew a friend,” John told Edith.

“So do I. I consider him-”

“What you did was monstrous. You changed the course of his life. Daily discomfort, pain, and worries.”

“I thought I’d be done with this,” Edith said, standing, turning away.

“Look at me,” John said. “You’ve broken bread with me, had drinks with me, you’ve asked me to guard this town and face down threats the rest of the Kennet Others couldn’t, you’ve asked me to console. We’ve known each other for a decade.”- Excerpt from Dash to Pieces 11.4</ref>

Is drinking buddies a few of the kennet Others.

John and Doglick has a close relationship due to their shared canine nature, when John was says his good bye before participating in the fight for the Carmine's throne he gave Doglick a improvised collar that read K-9 on it.<ref>He wrote ‘K-9′ on the strap, bent down, and put the loop of strap and buckle around Doglick’s neck.- Excerpt from Break 2</ref>

He gets on well with the goblins and has had fun with them.<ref name=":4">was always Guilherme I traded war stories with.”

“Yeah.”

“Charles… I didn’t mind. That one hurt most of the three. But… the goblins matter more to me than Charles. We’ve had fun times,” he said.- Excerpt from Summer Break 13.4</ref> Before entering the contest for the Carmine's throne he gave them a collection of weaponry and had a drink with them.<ref>- Break 2</ref>

Him and Guilherme spent time sharing old war stories together.<ref name=":4" />

Like all the Kennet Others, in a mutual aid pact with the Kennet Trio.

Appearance

Blonde, short-cropped hair, pale skin with scars on his neck.<ref>[Stacy]:Call the police, Mr Bristow.
I’ve been kidnapped. They have my rifle. The man has blond hair, blue eyes.
He has scars on his neck… - Outgoing Call</ref> Seems young, but with notable lines on his face.<ref name=":0">A guy she might have seen, once. It wasn’t like he was a familiar face, but she felt like there might have been a time at a big event when she’d seen him, thought he looked scary or intense, and then never had occasion to think about him again. Pale, his blond hair shorn short, he wore a canvas jacket that matched his pants, and he carried a bag. He wasn’t old, but the lines in his face were deep and sharp. - Excerpt from Lost for Words 1.1</ref>

Dresses in canvas jacket and pants.<ref name=":0" />

Visibly looks scary/intense in demeanor,<ref name=":0" /> but with a look in his eyes as if wounded beyond repair.<ref>John glanced back across the clearing, surveying it. For a brief moment, he met Lucy’s eyes.

There was something about the look in John’s eyes that bothered her more than any creepy singing kids, any drunk old forsworn guy, or the way she couldn’t see Miss’s face.

Three years ago, she had heard shouting, and had hidden in her room. When she’d finally crept out, she’d found her mother sitting on her bed, crying. For one moment, before she’d realized Lucy was there, her mother had had this look on her face… like she’d been wounded in a way that cut deeper than bone.

Then her mom had realized Lucy was there, mostly pulled herself together, and even though she hadn’t been able to talk much because choked up, took back room tucked in, giving a kiss goodnight.

John, as far as she could tell, had that look on his face all the time. He didn’t or couldn’t pull himself together, and he didn’t look like he tucked anyone in or gave anyone kisses goodnight. - Excerpt from Lost for Words 1.2</ref>

Abilities and Art

Physically pretty strong,<ref>The intense looking guy broke away from the other conversation. He marched across the clearing, toward the goblins, who were too preoccupied to notice. He scooped them up and pulled them apart with apparent ease, despite the fact that tooth, nail, and stomach-spikes were hooked into one another.

Strong, Lucy noted. - Excerpt from Lost for Words 1.2</ref> although not superhumanly so.<ref name=":1" /> What makes him dangerous derives from his great familiarity with weapons and tactical soldierly mindset, combined with a sleepless untiring nature.<ref name=":2">“It’s more accurate to say I’m many fragments adding up to a whole. If I’m good at what I do, it’s because it’s more or less all that I do.”

“So when you can improvise bombs and think those three or four steps ahead,” Lucy said, “it’s because-”

“It’s because that’s the way I think, when I have a free moment to think. I’m this, twenty-four seven, seven days a week. I don’t sleep, I don’t ever fully relax. If I do find distraction, it’s only a small share of me that’s distracted. The rest is ready.”

“Are you entirely made up of Canadian soldiers?”

“No. Canadian, American, ANA, armed citizens, others.”

“Why Kennet, then?”

“I think the part of me that thinks of ‘home’ came primarily from a man that thought of Kennet or a place very much like it.” - Excerpt from Lost for Words 1.5</ref> Has related skills in things like woodcraft<ref>[Avery] peeked, and saw John walking through the woods at a quick march, ducking under a branch, and using the length of the rifle to push another aside. He was strong enough to maintain a good foot pace despite the barriers the branches provided, and no wood or twigs broke. He left no trail. - Excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.5</ref> and moving silently being a soldier.<ref name="jog" /> Importantly Guilherme considers him a peer in combat,<ref>“John can match me in serious confrontation,” Guilherme said. “And you lasted considerably longer than four seconds against him there.” - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.8</ref> and John seems to have little trouble when stripped of his supernatural powers.<ref>John took that as his cue to move. He walked without making noise, circling around the car.

Sharon reacted to the movement in her peripheral vision. She turned, and he caught the barrel. He wrested the gun from her, then hit her in the face with it. He caught her before she could fall all the way down, and smashed her head into the handle of the door with enough force it flew off and bounced halfway between John and Verona.

Sharon dropped to the ground, forehead split open, unconscious.

“She does. But I don’t need what she takes from me. Are you okay? I heard the shot.” - Excerpt from Back Away 5.3</ref>

Possesses all the standard abilities of a Dog of War, i.e. he's an immortal, skilled soldier with a sense for the location of weapons. He is an advanced specimen given his ability to pass as a human.<ref name=":3">“What can you do, exactly? You come back when you’re killed?”

“More like I don’t die in the first place. I can always keep fighting until I’m badly wounded enough that nobody would believe I could keep fighting. If I get obliterated, you wait a couple days, I’ll show up again. I get stronger with every life I take. It clarifies me. I and the other ones like me began with no names, no real faces. Just… uniforms. Piecemeal, like each part of the outfit was taken from one body. After one very bloody, prolonged fight, I and two of my squadmates took on handles. Then names. Then specializations. Skillsets.” - Excerpt from Lost for Words 1.5</ref> He is noted to be a standout example though.<ref>“Careful. There’s a lot of power driving that one forward,” Musser said. - Excerpt from Gone Ahead 7.8</ref> After returning from the Blue Heron Institue he gained the ability to see better in the Dark.<ref>"Did you-" Lucy started. She hesitated, then didn't finish the question. Stupid, impulsive.

"I did," John answered. "Quite a bit, actually. Among other things, clearer sight in darkness." - Excerpt from Shaking Hands 9.4
[...]
John had a bit of Alexander’s eyes, now, maybe. He got something from everyone he killed. Clear sight, even in conditions like that. It made sense. - Excerpt from Shaking Hands 9.5</ref>

He had some degree of ability to perceive Spirits,<ref>“She had a shadow about her,” John said. “Around her head.”

“She could have looked too deep at something dark,” Matthew said.

“Good,” Lucy muttered.

“It wasn’t there when we confronted her the other night.” - Excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.1</ref> as well as senses that help him get the drop on people.<ref>He’d waited, used extra senses, about war and conflict, to determine the moment Alexander might be most distracted, or have the most senses turned away. Then he’d fired. - Excerpt from Gone Ahead 7.x</ref> He is also very perceptive and can not be slowed down by a connection blocker.<ref>“I was just checking in. I didn’t want to bother you so I used a connection blocker. It burned out fast, there.”

“I wouldn’t be very effective at what I do if it was that easy to blind me to you.” - Excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.5</ref>

He is able to hot wire a car.<ref>He knew how to hotwire a car, and this car was old enough that the wiring wasn’t very protected.- Excerpt from Break 2</ref>

He is an okay singer and is learning how to play guitar.

Tools

Used to have the remains of a bullet that he'd used to kill a fire elemental, which was imbued with some of it's energy. Gave it to the Kennet Trio.

Generally armed, as previously stated, with grenades and even rubber bullets. Has soon money set aside as well.<ref>“You trashed my truck?” Matthew asked.

“I scraped the side,” John said. “And left it by the side of the road about a half hour up the road. I’ll fetch it as soon as this situation is resolved, and I can cover the costs.”

“You have money?” Lucy asked.

“I take it off the Others I kill.”

“Do Others have that much money?” Verona asked.

“I don’t spend much,” John said. - Excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.1</ref>

His ability to appear behind those who throw one of his squads dog tags down is a Summoning act and something he can't normally do.<ref name="jog">“Goblins definitely,” Verona said. “John maybe? When you scouted out his place the other day, did he teleport?”

“No,” Avery said. “Jogged after, I’m pretty sure. Caught up while I was fixing my diagram. He was still pretty fast and good at tracking, though.” - Excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.8</ref>

History

Before the Story

He was born and razed in the Afghanistan War with his "siblings". They became more human and were picked of by various hazards Others like them would face. They came to Kennet to get away from things. Yalda couldn't adapt and had to be put down.

Story Start

He is in line for the Carmine Throne,<ref>“Nobody has stepped forward. This isn’t surprising. If one declared themselves for the seat and the role as the next Carmine Beast, there would be a brief period they could be cut down or supplanted. It is easier, especially among the murderous and dangerous types that would take this role, to let someone else make the first move. We may be forced to select someone, which would make them vulnerable, force them to prove themselves.”

“And who are the candidates?” Verona asked.

“You know them because they are in Kennet. The first is John Stiles, who is not especially strong, but we think he would serve with a mind to balance, making him our preference. The other is your Hungry Choir.” - Excerpt from Lost for Words 1.3</ref> he does not want the Role and would lose his identity, what makes him him if he took the seat.<ref>She looked out over a cocooned Kennet, with its throbbing, writhing larvae of a heart beneath it, all dotted with dull blue lights. “I think the Carmine Beast’s blood is soaking into things. Makes that sort of mess more likely.”

“Aye,” Alpeana said, as she reached over from branch to branch, moving through the woods. “It’s a right bloody fankle.”

“That fankle ends if John steps up to the role of Carmine,” Matthew said. “That influence would be his.”

“And that’d be a good thing?” Verona asked.

“I think so. I like John, I respect him. And I think he’d be a good judge. Different, but good.”
[...]
Edith added, “Yes, but I worry about what follows. I don’t think John survives it, for one thing.” - Excerpt from Back Away 5.2</ref>

He helped out at the end of year party when Melissa Oakham stole Verona's bag and unwittingly sent a summon's agaisnt the trio.

He went to the Blue Heron Institute in order to protect the trio after Bristow tried to take over the school and ended up shooting Alexander just before he left to return to Kennet.

Trivia

Named himself after an old placeholder name, John-a-Stiles, possibly over 500 years old.

References