Josh Washington

HUMAN CLASS | FEAR MANIPULATION

STATS

NAME: Joshua Washington

NICKNAMES: Josh

AGE: 20

GENDER: Male

HAIR: Dark brown

EYES: Hazel

HEIGHT: 5'9" (175cm)

WEIGHT: I never asked

BUILD: Athletic

SEXUALITY: Straight

OCCUPATION: Student, 3rd year

CURRENT RESIDENCE: Barrett-Crowley Reformatory

POWERS & SKILLS

FEAR MANIPULATION: He can get a sense for people's deepest, darkest fears, and then make them believe they're experiencing them in real life. Could either be very minor, or intricate hallucinations that feel like waking nightmares.

OTHER NOTABLE SKILLS: Magic powers aside, he knows his way around power tools and can fix machinery. He's good with his hands.

BACKGROUND

- Born on May 25th, 1995 to Bob and Melinda Washington. About a year later, his parents had a pair of twin girls, Hannah and Beth.

- Rich Kid (still has an entire mountain up in Canada) and the first magic person in his family that anyone knows about.

- His dad is a film producer, which not only exposed Josh to the horror genre from a young age (probably sneaking peeks at his dad's work to see what all the taboo was about), but also sparked his passion to go into the movie industry.

- Josh first discovered his powers when he was eleven, after getting into a fight with a teacher, and accidentally used his magic on her. The counselor wound up having a panic attack, and Josh was sent home.

- He didn't tell anyone what he knew he did, not even his sisters. Though despite being freaked out, he kept seeking it out, wanting to test his limits. It almost became a fixation, and a huge source of guilt and anxiety that he was going to get caught, and there was something seriously wrong with him.

- Eventually, his parents forced him to see a psychiatrist, who recommended that he start taking antidepressants and talk to them, every week. He had to switch doctors at least five times, and had difficulties finding the medication and dosage that worked for him.

- In his senior year of high school, he switched from Prozac to Cymbalta, which worsened his mood, so he just started skipping doses and lying about it to both his parents and his psychiatrist.

- Unmedicated, he began to reconsider his abilities through a murkier lens. With the help of his parents' lodge, he put together a film project that combined traditional methods with his magic in order to fuck with his actors' heads and make them think that they were really stuck on a mountain with a homicidal maniac. Reasoning that this would add depth to the experience and make it more real (after all, isn't the whole point of film--horror movies especially--is getting people to believe in the world you create?)

- It goes well for a while, and might have ended on that note if he hadn't inserted himself in his own movie as the homicidal maniac, so when one of the actresses stabbed him in the shoulder with a pair of scissors, the "realness" of the experience meant that he had to be sent to the hospital for his very-real puncture wound.

- (From here, there was probably a court case, and people thinking that he drugged the actors to make them hallucinate, but nothing could be proven, other than the fact that he had a long history of being mentally unsound and was behaving erratically from medication withdrawal).

- (Court-appointed therapy/likely charges for endangerment and fucking up an unknowing group of people). This is where he ends up in the hands of Dr. Alan Hill, the first person in seven years to figure out that Josh has the shining, and pulled the necessary strings to get him sent to Barrett-Crowley Reformatory, where he'd find stability and community.

- His parents didn't react well to the news, and haven't allowed him back home since he started school, claiming that he needed to "lay low" until people forgot the scandal that he created. This also means he hasn't been able to communicate with Hannah and Beth in three years, which is often very painful for him.

PERSONALITY

- Seems versatile in the types of people that he can get along with, going by his diverse circle of friends in the canon material. At his very best, Josh can come off as quick-witted, warm, and approachable. Even a little goofy.

- He's also a certified party animal: if there's one thing Josh is good at, it's taking the helm in planning events and making sure that everyone involved has a good time.

- Arguably the most important relationship in Josh's life is the one that he had with his sisters. From day one, he latched onto them like a barnacle, and they were an inseparable trio up until he was sent to Barrett-Crowley. He misses them, terribly.

- He'll still fall into the big brother role from time to time, even with non-family members.

- As mentioned in the background section, Josh aspires to be a film producer, so naturally he's also a major cinephile with references to classic and modern movies, alike. He definitely has a video camera on campus.

- Currently on Nardil, a monoamine oxidase inhibitor/antidepressant, which he should not be allowed to quit on his own volition without approval from his doctor.

- Sometimes close friends can feel like they don't know him. He'll shut people out or refuse help when he needs it, becoming agitated or insulting.

- As much as it seems to contradict the prior bullet point, he's petrified of losing everyone and winding up alone.

- Hates feeling controlled or being told what to do. Doesn't always react too well to any references to his mental health, either (being called crazy/psychopath or questioned if he's on/off his meds, any shit like that).