jackson wagner
FULL NAME: Jackson Alexander Wagner
GOES BY: Jack, Jay; never Jackson
DOB & AGE: December 23, 1967; 43
EDUCATION: MA in English from Columbia University
OCCUPATION: Literary Editor for HarperCollins
HOMETOWN: Boston, Massachusetts
RESIDES: New York, New York
FAMILY: Alexander (father; deceased); Karen (mother; deceased); Charles (brother; aged 50); Elwood (brother; aged 46), Nathalie (wife; aged 30); Jackson 'Junior' (son; aged 10); Amelie, Ashlee, Arisea (nieces; aged 10, 16, 17); Robert (father-in-law; aged 56);
PHYSICAL APPEARANCE: Stands at 6 foot 3 inches tall with a toned/fit build, neatly kept hair that's just beginning to gray around the edges, blue-gray eyes, and a general clean-cut appearance. Tends to dress business casual but prefers a t-shirt and jeans on his downtime.
PERSONALITY: Generally reserved & calculated, prefers the role of a wallflower, though he has a quick witted and quite humorous side which is revealed when he's comfortable enough to come out of his shell. He has an explosive temper and a short fuse, and though he's not usually one to resort to physical violence, it doesn't mean his temper hasn't resulted in some destruction of property. If he's close to you, he's extremely loyal and caring, even a bit sweet (though he'd deny being 'sweet' at all costs). If he isn't your biggest fan, he'll have no problem exposing your faults even if the crowd is on your side.
HOBBIES INCLUDE: Reading, writing, working out, the occasional video game (mainly first-person shooters), watching sports and cooking shows (and a fair amount of CNN), the New York Times crossword puzzle, poker
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of life...
If asked, Jack (don't ever call him Jackson) would describe his life as 'uneventful'. He was raised the youngest of three children (all boys) in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Alex and Karen were doting parents, as well as they could be with the incomes they brought home. Alex, an ex Navyman, worked for years as a foreman for the MWRA, while Karen worked various food service jobs until her health deteriorated and she wound up staying at home on disability. While his older brothers struggled growing up - Charles with ADD..later diagnosed as rapid-cycling bipolar disorder, and Woody with dyslexia - Jack did well in school, keeping out of trouble and keeping mostly to himself well into his teens. Being as reserved as he was spared Jack a lot of social troubles, though he was lanky and more than a bit of a nerd which occasionally required him to call upon his brothers to defend him. He was particularly close to Woody, who indulged in a similar (though less ravenous) love of literature and even managed to talk Jack into joining the softball team for one season - a feat which was notoriously bragged about for years. He preferred the company of his books, however (of which he had many), and spent a good deal of time writing as well. When it came time for college, it only made sense that he study English. He applied to several schools and of those that accepted him, he chose to attend Columbia University in New York, New York. He graduated with a masters degree, but after months of searching, the best he could find to utilize his skills (specifically typing) was a data entry job. He was losing confidence, and beginning to lose hope. He'd set his hobbies aside, finding little time to write with a laundry list of expenses (living in New York City was not cheap) and little money coming in to help shorten that list; and soon enough was thinking he'd have no choice but to move back home and try to find work there.
Fate had other things in mind for him anyway, as a job as a literary editor for a small independent company fell into his lap, and he then had his foot in the door to a career he hadn't imagined.
Jack's 'talent' and 'eye for makertable literature' was easily spotted by Bob Lohr, a family friend who'd happened to come in from New York while Jack was visiting on holiday. Whiskey was poured and the topic of literature had come up (naturally, as it often did in the presense of either Bob or Jack) and before the night was over, Jack had landed a verbal job offer at Lohr & Dillinger, in Manhattan, where he'd had his heart set on building a career in the first place. So, instead of leaving New York to return to his native Boston as he'd reluctantly planned, Jack managed a lease on an apartment nearby and started work. He quickly impressed the eccentric Bob, earning his respect as well as his admiration with his diligence and vision on the job, so when it came out that Jack had secretly been seeing Bob's daughter Nathalie for a while, things went particularly smooth as far as father-daughter-boyfriend relations could. It wasn't until it was discovered that Nathalie was pregnant that Bob had become stern and uneasy with the idea, demanding that Jack marry her and see this thing through, fathering the child as a responsible man would. Little had he known, Jack had planned to go that route to begin with, and after a proposal was accepted, the couple would soon wed.
Meanwhile, Lohr & Dillinger was going under (due to poor business handling. The Dillinger half of the company was fired by Nathalie's father, who had the bigger hand in the company, and Bob was desperately seeking a way to save his livelihood. Jack, who had developed a loyalty to the family, and thus the company; had rejected a job offer from publishing giant HarperCollins months before. When Jack revealed his reluctant plan to shut the company down, Jack contacted a familiar face at HarperCollins and Lohr & Dillnger began negotiating a sale. HarperCollins made the purchase and kept most of the old company intact, including Jack as one of the firm's most successful editors - a position which came with great responsibility, accomplishment, and fulfillment in Jack's eyes.
Sept. 14, 2001, the initial shock of the unplanned pregnancy had finally worn off, and despite the solemn state of the nation after the recent terrorist attacks, Jack and Nathalie experienced the joyful birth of their son - Jackson Alexander Wagner Jr. The perfect family he'd envisioned was complete, and Jack finally had someone onto which he would pass his love of literature. At ten years old, Junior loves sports as much as books, and aspires to play baseball professionally. He's occasionally affected by his parents' troubles, though generally remains a happy, well-adjusted boy with a big imagination and a curious mind.
excuse me sir, I don't mean to complain but you blessed me with dirt when I asked you for rain...
Married life hasn't been exactly what Jack had expected. He'd expected something along the lines of the term 'wedded bliss', where the two of them would fall asleep together and wake up happy to see each other there every morning without fail. In the evenings they'd watch movies together with their son, and in the morning they'd work out the daily crossword puzzle while having a coffee before work. Time apart would be torment and time together would be picture perfect, every day. Unfortunately, every relationship is not without it's ups and downs, and theirs had it's fair share..and it seems it's only getting worse with time. Jack tries to be patient (not always his forte) and optimistic; hating to point fingers while reminding himself that whatever is going on with his wife's mental stability is not her fault. Like many things in life, every day is a struggle (and some more than others), but he manages to cope reasonably well.
About 8 months ago, Jack began having unusual symptoms ranging from a numbness is his spine and limbs, to headaches with debilitating levels of pain. He reluctantly (as a man who fears his own state of health and aging) went to see his doctor, who referred him on to a neurologist. After a series of appointments and medications, the neurologist ordered an MRI of Jack's brain, which showed that he had a number of white-matter lesions on his brain. Multiple Sclerosis was immediately suspected (and would explain the symptoms he was having), so the neurologist went ahead with a series of testing which would later confirm a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis (October 2011). Jack's symptoms, along with carrying the heavy knowledge of suffering an incurable, debilitating disease, only weighs heavier on their already suffering marriage. He doesn't talk about it, and any attention brought to the matter generally results in Jack getting snappy, but it eats away at him as he suffers; and he's finding it more difficult to keep from lashing out when Nathalie gets into one of her own mood swings.
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...and l♥ve
Jack's earliest memories on love - the kind that you found in a stranger and not your parents - involved a platinum blonde girl handing him a daisy through the fence from the next yard over. He never saw that girl again, not that he knew of anyway (of course he was probably too young at the time to really know who she was); but that girl, the first non-relative person of about the same age that he'd ever met - she'd been the most beautiful thing he might see for a long time - he hadn't forgotten her and he doubted he easily would. He had one 'girlfriend' in grade school, a lumbering awkward girl with whom he shared his passion for books and, though he was loathe to admit it in front of his peers - cats. They held hands on the playground and gave each other gifts on holidays and special occasions and it went on like this from about kindergarten to the fifth grade, but eventually her family moved away and though they tried at first, they lost contact by the time they were in their teens. Oddly, Jack had zero girlfriends in his teens - in highschool he was too preoccupied with his studies and his books to even put forth an effort. And though he was noticed by some (but not many), he found himself virtually terrified at the concept of having a 'girlfriend'. College was a different matter, however..with the move to New York City bringing enormous changes, Jack gained confidence as well as experience in life as much as love. Aside from a few failed attempts and one horrible one-night-stand, Jack had two serious relationships, though they both crashed and burned and he never kept contact with either woman.
His first 'serious' girlfriend was a Hawaiian barista with an authority problem and an affinity for really good weed. They were polar opposites, but when a mutual friend brought them together, an immediate physical attraction sparked. What was intended to be nothing but a passing fancy soon became serious as Jack grew attached, as people sometimes did with their first relationship, no matter how wrong they knew it was. She mainly stuck around for Jack's paychecks - as long as they were together he was willing to support her, so she was able to quit her job. But she did adore him in her own way, and when Jack finally got sick of buying weed that he wouldn't even smoke, he smartened up and broke it off with her, and broke her heart in the process.
His second serious girlfriend was everything the opposite and in every way possible, exactly what Jack envisioned as the 'perfect girl'. She was intelligent, sexy, motivated, successful. Unfortunately she uptight, and a little too closed-off, which quickly lead to a lot of fighting. The relationship had a rocky 7 months before she dumped Jack, who wasn't particularly damaged by the split.
He met his wife at Lohr & Dillinger*, a small independent publishing firm which no longer exists. He was single, and she was the boss' daughter. She'd come in during a meeting, and Jack couldn't take his eyes off of her. He knew he was instantly taken by her, but was afraid of the tension it might create between he and her father, his boss, if he pursued her. After a week or so of not being able to get her off his mind, Jack did exactly what any self-respecting fool in his position would do - he went behind his boss' back and started seeing his daughter. It wasn't long before 'seeing' became 'serious', and word got out that they were an item. By that time, Jack had prove himself well enough to Nathalie's father that he didn't have much of a problem with the relationship, even if Jack was quite a bit older. It wasn't until Nathalie became pregnant that tensions arose, though with a wedding soon in the works, Jack and Bob were getting along fine again.
Jack would argue to this day that it was he who really fell first. He fell fast and he fell hard - from the moment he saw her, there was no question over whether or not she was 'the one'. When he was forced to propose and she accepted, he was the happiest he'd ever been in love, even if the surprise of it all went against his carefully calculated, well-planned way of life. Things were great at first, but soon they became only tolerable, and from there it's been a slippery slope. Nathalie's mental instability has created great amounts of strain over the years - their marriage tends to appear (often times, but not always) perfect from the outside, though within there's no end to the turmoil; the couple goes from sharing a bedroom to living together more as reluctant 'roommates' than husband and wife. His opinion regarding whether or not it was a mistake to marry her depends greatly on their relationship status of the given month, though he does love her, probably more than he could love anyone else..even at her worst. In fact, he'd also argue that the only way to recognize true love is having the realization that you do love someone, even after seeing them at their worst.
*Fictional, just like the rest of this.
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quick facts
« Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis on October 11, 2011 following a series of tests subsequent to the discovery of multiple lesions on his brain. Jack copes, and quietly suffers in fear of what the future holds - his biggest fear has always been the possibility of facing incurable, debilitating illness.
« Even though he may technically be allowed to, Jack never reveals the secrets of a writer's work before it's released. He considers this respectful as well as a good business practice.
« Keeps in contact with his brothers in Massachusetts, mostly through email, video games, and skype. Tries to pen letters as often as possible to his nieces; Amelie (10), Ashlee (16), and Arisea (17).
« Briefly played the flute in grade school, briefly played softball in high school; decided he's not cut out for music nor sports, though he enjoys both.
« Does the New York Times crossword puzzle..in pen. Occasionally uses that to boast (in jest).
« Was voted 'quietest' and 'most artistic' in his high school senior superlatives, and 'most likely to succeed' by his fellow seniors in college. Only agreed with the 'quietest' vote.
« A bit of a techie, always has fancy cell phones, computers, and other such gadgets. An internet junkie and texting addict as well.
« Musically, his interests span far and wide. He will give everything a first chance, and there isn't much he truly detests.
« Has become considerably more athletic in time; though he only played a sport once as a kid, Jack now works out regularly and occasionally finds time to join in on other team sports. This is partly influenced by his son, who loves baseball.
« Loves cats, even if he is slightly allergic to them.
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storylines
Nathalie Wagner: the wife - his happy ending as well as the thorn in his side; they're as on-again off-again as it comes. When it's off, she drives his temper to it's furthest limits and when it's back on again, he falls harder for her every time.
ooc
STYLE: Third-person storybook, threading preferred
AVAILABILITY: Varies (just ask), random IM/scene & ooc friendly
CONTACT: Post here (comments screened)
JOURNAL | AIM: jackaw | jayaw67
PREMADE: the separate bedrooms
PLAYED BY: Timothy Omundson
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