Jesse Hart; Overview
→ GENERAL INFORMATION
Name: Jesse Hart
Date of birth: September 15th (Virgo)
Age: 35
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
Current Residency: Paradisus, arrived early November, 2021
Occupation: Human council director
Species: Human
Headcanons, connections, summary, and full bio below cut; to be updated as needed TW war mention, limb loss, PTSD
→ SUMMARY
In middle school, one of Jesse’s closest friends revealed themselves as a shifter to him and their mutual friend, Rynn. In high school, the shifter and his family disappeared.
After high school Jesse enlisted in the marines. He rose up the ranks over the years and earned the title of sergeant.
He was honorably discharged after suffering an injury from a mortar explosion, resulting in the loss of his right lower leg. Since returning home he’s been fitted for a prosthetic, relearning how to do even the most basic of things such as standing, walking, and running. It proved difficult for him to accept the help he needed.
When word of Paradisus first came out, Rynn proposed the idea of moving there. It would jumpstart her research as well as give them a potential connection back to their friend they’d lost all those years prior. Jesse was hesitant at first, but Rynn eventually won him over.
→ HEADCANONS
Jesse suffers from PTSD from his time in the war in various different ways. Loud noises can set him off (ie, fireworks/thunderstorms) and he suffers occasionally from phantom limb pains. Since nightmares often plague his dreams, he doesn’t usually get long stretches of sleep consecutively and is known to keep odd hours because of it.
More often than not Jesse wears long pants. From the outsider view, it would be difficult to tell he has a prosthetic - and he’d generally like to keep it that way.
When he and Rynn agreed on coming to Paradisus, Jesse immediately did his due diligence to learn all that he could about the other species that would be present on the island. While his personal experience with all of the species is rather limited, he’s done his best to understand how they all live.
Jesse is fiercely overprotective of those he cares about.
→ CONNECTIONS
CAN’T STAND ON MY OWN ANYMORE { Rynn Henderson } ; Growing up together, Rynn has been one of the few constants in Jesse’s life over the years. Even when he was over seas she never felt far away, letters written back and forth throughout. Without her he wouldn’t have come to Paradisus, let alone would he be who he is today.
TBA
→ FULL BIO
As a kid, Jesse grew up with a close knit group of friends. He’d leave the apartment first thing after breakfast on the weekends, disappear to the homes of neighbors often until the sun was setting before returning promptly for dinner.
It was when he was in middle school that he learned that looking like a human and being a human wasn’t the same thing, apparently, when one of his closest friends shifted into an animal right there in front of him. It was horrifying, the pain that they’d seemingly gone through to change their form - and yet fascinating all the same. When they were back in class a few days later, as if nothing had happened at all, Jesse didn’t really question it. They were still the same person he’d grown up with for all intents and purposes, so he also continued on as if nothing had happened. Perhaps nothing really had.
But in high school, that same friend suddenly disappeared without a word about where they were going or what was happening. Their family just up and left. It left a space behind that Jesse didn’t know what to do with, constantly coming back to what had happened and where they’d gone while finishing off his high school career. Were they okay? Were they safe? Would they ever been heard from again?
As his high school years came to a close, Jesse wasn’t sure what he wanted to do next with his life. He knew there was something out there in the world for him, something more, so when his best friend suggested joining the military and leaving Chicago, Illinois behind once they’d graduated from high school, he didn’t hesitate. It was just what he was looking for – he would be doing something meaningful.
The following eleven years were a whirlwind of training and tours where he rose through the ranks to take on leadership roles, soon obtaining the title of sergeant. He may have excelled in the classroom, but he thrived on the battlefield. He was a man that was meant to be in charge and his team trusted him. He believed strongly in never leaving a man behind and they’d all saved one another on more than one occasion. But all good things come to an end and he was soon on the receiving end of that care.
His platoon was in the midst of heavy gunfire, explosions going off left and right, but it seemed they were managing to fight off the opposing side – up until a mortar was launched and landed within yards of him, blowing him off his feet. His men were there to do everything they could to save him, but the explosion resulted in the loss of his a good portion of his right leg and blew out his right ear drum. He was sent home where the damage was repaired, he was fitted with a prosthetic, and spent the following year in rehabilitation-relearning practically everything.
It was incredibly difficult for him to go back to square one and start over by relearning to take even one step forward, let alone walk or run. He had been a man made to move, to do, so spending time in bed recuperating and spending endless hours trying to learn how to walk again was agonizing for him. But it was nice to be home again, to spend time with his little brother and his parents whom he hadn’t seen enough of over the past several years. They helped him through it all and for that he’s grateful.
Alongside his family he had the support of one of his closest childhood friends, too - Rynn Henderson. Despite the years apart and the changes they’d both gone through over the years, they picked up where they had left off, much like they had with their mutual friend who had shifted all those years before. She was there to help bridge the gap between before the war and after, to give him a reprieve from his family when the pressure got to be too much, a sofa for him to crash on when he needed it.
It was ultimately Rynn who brought up the idea of going to Paradisus when the existence of supernatural beings was revealed and the island was proposed as a sort of ‘safe haven.’ They of course had some sense of this reality long before the news broke, but it went much further then either of them could’ve guessed. And there might even be a chance that, after all these years, they might be able to reconnect with a long lost friend who had just been looking for a safe place all along.
Jesse was hesitant, at first, to head to a place such as Paradisus. But it would give Rynn a new place for her to continue her research and since Jesse had always been a rather diplomatic personality, helping to find an even footing among the species in the new environment.