Jethro J. McManus

Character Name: Jethro Jay McManus

Nickname(s): Jed/Jet (not a variation in name but pronunciation), The Kid (by other ghouls)

Race: Ghoul; Caucasian (of English American and Irish American descent)

Sex: Male

Age: 57

Birthplace: Vault 101, Capital Wasteland



Height: 5'11

Weight: 181lb

Eye Color: Dark Blue, though white-grey films cover his eyes for the most part so it's difficult to see.

Hair Color: Pre-ghoulification, it was dirty blonde, but now it isn't anything.

Hair Style: Completely bald due to high radiation exposure.

Facial Hair: Again, radiation has stunted the growth of any new facial hair and caused the previously existing to fall out.

Skin Color: Intensely deep green, with a various blackened muscle tissue and dead skin patches (some of which glow a faint orange-green colour).

Build: Lightweight and skinny, so nothing short of an average ghoul build, though he is still quite agile and retains a little more muscle mass due to his younger age.

Distinguishing Features: Aside from being another freak of mutation in the wasteland, his rather comically carefree attitude is rather distinct as is his Irish-American New York-esque accent accent and the remains of his Vault 101 jumpsuit (or at least what's left of it) are rather distinct for a ghoul like himself.



Profession: "Freelance Mercenary and Scavenger", though nowadays his days are spent lazing around various towns getting high on the Ultrajet which has recently appeared in the Capital Wasteland.

Skills:

Repair, extensive
Guns, moderate
Melee Weapons, extensive

Training: Back in the vault, his training consisted of basic schooling and the ever-infamous G.O.A.T., which landed him with the job of fry-cook originally until his father gave the current teacher a little help "checking those marks again" and actually get him a job he'd be suited to, which ended up being a vault technician/mechanic. When squads were sent out to make contact with the outside, he was given basic firearms training and while in the field became more proficient with them, as well as melee weapons when his team were forced to spend prolonged amounts of time away from the vault.

Other Abilities: Aside from being a pretty good storyteller and telling funny jokes ("funny" being debatable), his only other abilities are that of all ghouls; healing from background radiation, immunity to the hayflick limit and necrotic skin.

Apparel: Jed's gear is pretty haphazard, but is effective in keeping him protected. It consists of the remains of his Vault 101 Jumpsuit (the '101' and other various blue scraps being the only identifiable parts left aside from the standard issue boots) combined with various other scraps of armours, mixing parts of leather and metal armour in appropriate places (leather over less vital areas, metal over more vital areas). As well as this, he has an old Vault-Tec Security Helmet (with the visor no longer attached and it instead being a component of the mishap armour covering his torso and a pair of tinted goggles resting on top), Standard Issue Brown Vault-Tec Boots (pretty battered but still sturdy) and a Vault-Tec utility belt (though it is pretty worn).

Weaponry: An old weathered standard issue N99 10mm Pistol and a rusty but sharpened hatchet, as well as a Double-Barrel Shotgun that has seen better days.

Other Equipment: As well as carrying a sizable amounts of ammo for his weapon (or weapons), he carries a battered Vault 101 Flask of dirty or clean water and around two to three Ultrajet inhalers.



Affiliation: Vault 101 (formerly), Anyone who pays (currently), Underworld/Ghouls in general (currently)

Religious Belief: Agnostic, mainly because he doesn't really give a shit (but holds a rather cynical/satirical belief in some Egyptian god he remembered reading about called Seth).

Sexual Preference: Pansexual; if it has a hole, it's game

Relationship Status: Single

Personality: Despite his losses in life and all the bad stuff that's happened to him, Jed's a pretty happy-go-lucky guy. Though not optimistic or particularly hopeful, he lives and lets live, repressing the bad and enjoying the good. Known mostly for his comic streak and awful one-liners, he's seen as a fool by some and a laugh by others. His most admirable traits are his loyalty, reliability and honesty (though being honest has often lead to him having to run for the horizon in some Benny Hill-esque chase). However, despite all this, his mind is slightly more deteriorated due to his rather violent exposure and transformation, leading him to have the occasional mood swings and lash out (though this has only happened on two occasions in the past).



"So, kid... *Hic*... tell us how ya' popped yer' cherry.", uttered a ghoul sitting next to Jed in the Ninth Circle.

"Whaddaya' mean? How I managed to achieve this level of absolute physical perfection?", Jed chuckled back, sipping at some of Ahzrukhal's famous 4-parts water 1-part alcohol Scotch.

"Yeah', yeah'."

Jed eased himself against the bar's edge and grinned, his half-missing lip making him bear some rotten albeit eerily sharp teeth, as he prepared himself for the storytelling of a lifetime. Well, his lifetime anyway.

"Alrightie', here goes..."
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Yer' remember hearing about a Vault 101 on Galaxy News Radio a few years back? Y'know, where the Lone Wanderer came from? Yeah', well, tha's where I was born. Pretty neat place to grow up in... clean water, safe from raiders, no real worries at all. Anyhow... life was pretty great as a kid for me, I had a lot of swell toys and a lot of cool kids to play with. I mean, I weren't that good in school like some of my friends but I did okay. Birthday parties were pretty cool, I mean, we used to play this game called "Hunt the Mutant", eat birthday cake and read comic books. I think I played on the Little League team as a batsman back when I was a lil' 'un too. So, y'know, a real neato' place to be.

It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows though. I had to take this stupid fuckin' test when I turned sixteen called the GOAT or the SHEEP or some shit like that. I mean, they had a question on there about helping my Grandma' whack someone with a minigun... I ain't none too smart, but what kind a' fuckin' aptitude test asks shit like that? Pretty sure the teach' just got real bored and started blowing shit out of his ass'. After answering every fucking pointless question, I got the job of Vault Technician! Uh... well, I mean, my Pops' had to go and uh, help him "review the mark scheme", but that's what I ended up doin'.

It weren't such a bad life after that. I lived with my Pops' till I was earning enough to get my own little room, and I had my share of partners n' all that drama... y'know, lotsa' guys and girls. Anywho', most of my days was spent fixin' the plumbin' and the electrical sockets n' shit, seeing as the place was practically falling apart. My Pop's died of some kinda' heart thingie' after that, so I was a lil' bit pissed and confused for a while, y'know. But then, out of nowhere, this assignment motherfucka' pops outta' nowhere. The bossman' wanted some teams to go out and make contact with the outside world, and I managed to square myself a position on one of the teams seeing as a good mechanic could come in handy out there, as he told me. They was top secret though, so mah' Uncle had to kinda' call in a favour or two... hell, only the Overseer and his Council' were allowed ta' know. Wit' me was some ol' uptight doctor asshole called Doc' Travis, a pretty neat security guy by the name of Oscar and some wannabe gangsta' type called Danny K.

The outside was a fuckin' shock, I'll tell ya' that. Crispy earth, rats bigga' than any I'd seen in any of those nature books from the library, cows wit' two heads and assholes trying to eat you or kill you all over the place. Put me off steak for a while, those cows did. But, where was I... yeah', we were sent out into wastes to make contact with various towns. First came Megaton, seeing as it was closest. The folks there were asses' from the moment we walked in, and the bar there was run by some cutthroat Irish motherfucka'. I was offered everything in there from whores and jet to plastic explosives and a parcel. Fucked up, my friend, fucked up indeed. Afta' Megaton came Rivet City, seein' as we heard about it from people back in Megaton, and we were sposed' to make contact with as many settlements as possible, though I think it was mostly 'cause we might run out of supplies soon, but whatever...

As ya' mighta' guessed, here's where our little story takes a turn for the worst. Turns out there were 'bout a hundred raiders and critters on the route there, and we were armed with fuckin' pistols and jumpsuits. We got cut off from both Megaton and Rivet City, and ended up traveling aimlessly southwest. We lost Danny K to a buncha' laser-eyed robots, and we barely escaped the walking hunka' junk. Prick that he was, can't say I didn't miss the guy's bravado. Afta' a while, we realised we weren't goin' to make it back to the vault, and we kept traveling to see if we could find anywhere that was safe. We did eventually come to a town, though it wasn't quite as safe as we thought it was...

Place was called "Andale". Folks there seemed nice enough, and they offered us food and a little place to stay for a while. They seemed pretty swell to all of us, seeing as we hadn't seen a decent meal in a long time, nor any good water, though all they had in was that fuckin' awful Nuka-Cola... it was better than nothin', suffice to say. Afta' 'bout a week, though, while I was on lookout at night, Doc' Travis disappeared and I heard the sounds of screamin' comin' from some wooden old shed. They thought me and Oscar were asleep, though we were lucky enough to get the fuck outta' there before they did whatever the fuck they did to him to us... I hate to think what was in those meat pies they were feeding us.

So, me and my last companion, Oscar, went further south out of the confines of the good ol' Capital Wasteland and stumbled across a little truck stop in the middle of what I think used to be a town o' some kind, or maybe a little village. And this, my zombie brother, is where I was fucked by the law of averages very badly. We stumbled on into this lil' truck stop and we sat down at the bar for a sec' or two, just gettin' our bearings, when out of nowhere we spot this... this fuckin' monster on the horizon. Gigantic claws, it had, the kind that'd skin ya' alive. We both ran outside, hopin' to get away before it tore us apart. But, we soon realised that weren't gonna' happen, and it spotted us within seconds.

I wish I could tell ya' we both fought it off and came away without a hitch, but Oscar didn't think much of this fuckin' freak. I ran for cover, thinkin' he was behind me, but after I get about ten feet away, I see him takin' cover by the truck as he began firin' his pistol at the fuckin' thing. It just kept running... and the bullet seemed to practically bounce off of it. It tore Oscar's fuckin' leg off, but while it was maulin' him, he fires what remained of his clip at the truck in front of him, just shoutin' at me to run and get the fuck outta' there. But, I did that stupid ol' movie thing and just froze on the spot, reading the label on the truck as the engine caught fire and was about to explode. "Biohazard!", it read, and that phrase echoed through my mind as the engine exploded. I don't know if it was gas or some kinda' green goo in that piece of shit, but the whole fuckin' sky turned green and my skin was badly burnt. I kept pukin' and collapsing, fallin' in and outta' consciousness. In my dreams, I felt like it was my fault that he died at the hands of that... thing. The words "RUN!" and "BIOHAZARD!" drilled through my mind like a jackhammer, until I awoke. I hadn't bothered to check myself yet, but I felt like I was on fire. I wondered into the little boys room o' this diner, looked in the mirror, and then I saw... and thought to myself.

"Jed's dead, baby. Jed's dead."

This weren't a look I was gonna' get used to easily, no sir. I wandered back up north, taking Oscar's ol' helmet with me as a... reminder, of his sacrifice. I still wish it'd been me. But, 'eh, whatever. The town I'd left behind was little more than a radioactive crater of death, but it was there that I first felt what it was like to be irradiated as a ghoul. It felt fuckin' great, almost as good as gettin' high, but I didn't have time to wallow in sorrow and toxic waste. I began to get weaker, and my gun got a little shabby since I was runnin' low on supplies. I made my way up to Megaton again, though I had to walk up to gate with my hands up and my visor down. I explained to them that it was still me, the same ol' vault guy that'd visited there before, but I still weren't welcome. Dodging the anti-mutant settlers, I got myself some meds, a little work done on my gun and had this weird old guy fashion me some armour out of metals, leather n' all that. Prett-ay sure ain't there no more, must'a moved out a long time ago... but, 's yoo' can see, I still got his crazy ass craftsmanship to thank for still bein' alive.

First, I made my way to Rivet City, at long last, and did some mercenary work for some of the locals. It was only gettin' started back then, and most of them didn't like ghouls, but I got some jobs protecting stuff or stealin' stuff or killin' stuff every now and then. I came across this little slice o' heaven about a couple o' years back, seein' as I had some new gear to help me get past some of the other mutants in D.C. I guess that brings us to to end o' this story, now, don't it? I mean, I ain't done much since then apart from wander and do oddjobs for various assholes. Ain't much more to tell. The End!"

But the ghoul beside him had fallen into a drunken stupor and the other ghouls in the bar were only half-listening. Jed sighed, downed his drink, edged the sleeping ghoul gently off of his chair onto the floor as revenge and left, moaning on his way out.

"Jeez, can't even tell a good story round here wit'out people bein' able to give a shit..."

And with that, he opened the doors of the bar and stepped outside into the hall, walking over to Snowflake to go and get high with him to pass the time.