Registry of the Evolved Database
File #22 Dec 2008 22:42
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 George Eads |
A Middle Child
James Louis Harvard was born on the third of July, fourth out of five children, into a family not all that unlike others in Omaha. Far from rich, they still managed to get on by with both his parents working, and together with his siblings, James learned early on to do his part. From something as simple as putting his dirty clothes in the hamper, to later on actually take his turn doing the washing of said clothes, to run errands for his mother and sweep the floors at his father's workshop, he did what was asked of him, usually with a cheerful reply and a laugh at the ready.
Where many could focus on the humbleness of the Harvard household, what might seem like a lack of luxuries, James only saw that they had all that they ever needed in their little house. As the youngest son, he more often than not wore hand-me-downs and played with toys his older siblings had passed on or still shared, and he in turn got to pass at least the toys on to his younger sister, even if clothes tended to finally wear out once they got to him. Climbing trees, crawling on the ground, improvised football and baseball games in the backyard, well.. some boys will inevitably be boys, and James was one of them, in that aspect.
He also tended to attract and bring home strays, even if they never were allowed to stay for long before they were dutifully taken to the animal shelter. No matter how much he pleaded, there simply wasn't enough room and money to keep even one of the endless stream of kittens, wildcats, dogs, birds and even a tortoise once. He still brought them home, or was followed by the animals themselves. Until his mother made him promise not to, he would even take some rather break-neck risks to find and help said strays, but a climb into a stormdrain to get to a kitten and getting stuck and having to be rescued himself by the local Fire Department, well.. that was the end of that sort of stunts, more or less. But the incident did kindle something of an interest in the rescue of people, rather than small animals, even if it would be years before he actually acted upon it.
In short, this boy from the Nebraskan plains grew up in what could be called a happy, loving home, and he turned out more or less as you could expect from it. Perhaps knowing more French than the other kids at school, but not really one to use it, except when helping his father and William in workshop. And even then, he'd usually keep to the not-so bad words. Not that he, or anyone else in the family was extraordinarily religious, but it just seemed he never really came across any situation bad enough to call for that sort of language. Hurting yourself while trying to fix an engine hardly seemed worth using the worst words he knew, and then what would be the point of having 'worst' words?
James, or Jamie as most of his friends would dub him, did neither well nor bad in school, all the way up to and through high-school. Not because of any lack of trying, quite the opposite in fact, but his priorities were just not where his teacher might have wished. But with his older brothers, having found their place in athletics and the more academically inclined fields, James focused on continuing to learn more about engines and helping their father with the daily business at the workshop. He became a rather apt mechanic, as much as one can expect from someone having grown up with it, and as the youngest of all his friends, he also became somewhat of the eternal designated driver - at times to his annoyance, but at least he got to see people show up in one piece the next day because he got them home safe and sound. And that, maybe, is one of the major points of James' life, that far. Not only the designated driver, he has also become the designated Nice Guy, looking out for his family and friends, at times probably being taken advantage of, but as such not really minding it.
As for relationships outside of 'friends', he never seemed to find anyone interested. He had no trouble making and keeping acquaintances, even good friends, but by the few times he was interested in seeing a girl as something more, she had usually been swept up by someone else, or wasn't interested in someone like him. Rather than trying to change to fit whatever those girls might be after, he decided that he'd meet a girl someday that wouldn't mind him being who he was. Not an entirely easy decision, especially not when it ended with him taking one of his sisters to the prom, but you can't have everything in life turn out the way you want.
After highschool, having graduated with just barely a C+ average, Jamie found himself simply continuing to work with his father, first one year, then other, watching his siblings go on to pursue their dreams and goals - Paul and William joining the police force, and Lysette dancing her way into the fancy scenes across the world, and himself helping his father with the workshop, keeping the house in repair, looking out for his parents who weren't getting any younger. The proverbial Nice Guy, who for all his charms and quiet friendly outlook on the world and the people therein, never seemed to get ready to move out of the old house, find himself a girl and start a family of his own. Not that he wasn't looking for that one girl, mind you, but even those times he thought he might have, things tended to end with a 'let's stay friends' and 'no hard feelings'. He simply couldn't find a direction in his life.
Join The Army
In the end, not so many were all that surprised to find out that the gentle Jamie was signing up for to join the U.S. Army, after having had a long, careful chat with a recruiting officer down at their office, followed by a thoughtful talk to both his parents. Not only would he be able to serve his country and help people where they really needed it, he would be able to send money home, to make sure that his family was taken care of, he would learn new skills and, perhaps most importantly, once his service was over, there was something called the 'GI bill' that would allow for him to study, once he figured out what he wanted to do with his life. An all-around win, the way he saw it, although his parents were… shall we say, not exactly thrilled? None the less, in this particular instance, he did things the way he thought would end the best for all, rather than listen to his parents. There's a first for everything, they say.
He had barely been through the first weeks of basic training before he had made new friends, and with their help figured out a new path for himself, where he could do the most good, in and out of the Army - within healthcare. There would always be people in need of help, come war or peace, so why not do the most of his time and learn something that'd always be useful? So, subsequently and with the patience and tenacity that began to become his trademark amongst his officiers, he applied for further education, whatever courses they had available, and was assigned to a medical training unit once he was through the basic training.
Then, with the world thrown into uncertain turmoil by the September 11 happenings in New York, he found himself shipped into action, on the other side of the world. He got to take some rudimentary classes in Arabic, to ease communication with the locals, and it turned out his general people skills translated quite well, with time making him a natural choice as the 'diplomat' when no official translators were around.
There aren't a lot of things that James can outright remember, pinpoint and describe, about his first experience as a medic-trainee, stretcher-carrier and general handy-man and ambulance-driver in the desert. But there are things he does remember with joy from that time, friends he made, beautiful places he saw, experiences had, historical buildings and friendly, local people that greeted them with smiles, things like that. Two tours, a total of just over 30 months spent in the sand and sun taught him about the many sides of people, American and foreign alike, as well as anything he might ever want to know about the world and warfare in general.
There are other things that he would rather forget, though.
On his second tour, he was attached to a mobile unit patrolling the border, and their vehicle ran over a landmine. Three dead, two wounded, James himself with cuts and bruises and a concussion from hitting the side of the vehicle as it turned over. He can't really remember much more than the silence, just after the explosion. The world isn't supposed to be that quiet, ever.
A small group of insurgents found them, and must have been nearby to begin with. They identified him as a medic, and left the rest of the patrol for dead as they brought the disoriented James at gunpoint to the nearest village. They would have described it as forcing him to help their wounded, as well as the villagers, but James himself can't help but think of it as him doing his job. He continued to do what he could to help once the insurgents left, after all. One of his patients was a boy, can't hardly have been more than fifteen. The gunshot wound to his stomach was a bad one, beyond James knowledge and capability to handle, but he nonetheless did what he could. At the time, he thought it was the concussion making his head spin, but later on he has identified this as the first time he helped someone 'get better'. The boy did survive long and well enough to be able to thank James, before two American patrols passed through the village about a week later and were quite surprised, but of course happy to find him.
There are other, smaller events, things that make up the bits and pieces of memories that flash by in his dreams, nightmares that still wake him up in the middle of the night, things not quite recalled but still there. Still, James does not enjoy talking about this time of his life, not more than necessary at least.
Back home in the United States again, James spent some time at his parent's home, getting reacquainted with the 'ordinary' world again, figuring out just what it was he could do with his hands and mind. A period of trial and error followed, him practicing as a volunteer at the local ASPCA shelter with the animals there, and he seemed to have 'good hands' with helping animals and people alike to heal. The sensation he'd felt earlier, the 'near-swooning' feeling he'd accredited to his slight concussion, kept showing up, and his little patients got better. And he got tired, wiped out, and ate like a horse most days. Still, he kept at it, volunteering for as long as he could, before it was time to move for studies.
Some time later, he applied for, and was accepted to, a paramedic education in Seattle, Washington. The first year that he attended community college there, working extra at a small engine repair shop to make some extra money, seemed to fly by. He met old friends, made new ones and even met a girl. Her name was Tina, she was from San Francisco, and she studied to become a nurse. They seemed to be made for each other, and so of course, they weren't.
On Falling In Love
The next semester, the last one, James met Tina's friend and classmate Robert, and most of the things James thought he knew about himself fell apart. He fell in love with Robert at first sight, and he couldn't believe himself. Firstly, he had never thought of himself as someone who would have an interest in men. Secondly, how could he even think about cheating on Tina? Not that he had actually done or said anything, but.. he had thought about it. For about three weeks, he fought with himself, before he broke up with Tina and Robert both, in a manner of speaking. The way things turned out, Robert may well have had an interest in James, but he chose to keep Tina as a friend and told James to go do some rather interesting things to himself after a somewhat intoxicated, late-night confession. All in all, James figures he deserved what he got, and the other way around.
Somehow, he made it through the final semester, leaving Seattle with an associate's degree, a license to drive an ambulance and a sour feeling in the back of his throat. He felt somewhat hesitant to move back to his parents, not knowing just what to tell them about what had happened, and instead he applied for a job in New York. Before any answer to his application ever arrived, though, Manhattan exploded. James is quite sure that the two have no correlation, but he went there to offer his skills as a volunteer at a shelter for the homeless, seeing about as much and more misery in his time there than he did during his tours in the army. But this time around, he felt better for patching up people, helping some survive in that special way he had. Maybe they'd like to thank him for it, maybe not. He preferred to not tell anyone at all about it, not until the question of registration came about.
Seeing it as an opportunity to find out if this 'ability' of his was really real or imagination, some sort of braindamage or just an amazing, uncanny batch of good luck with surviving patients, James went to register and it would seem it's not all in his head. Tests revealed that he does have a healing ability, although it's far from any 'storybook' healing anyone might imagine, no nifty hallelujah-choir and no lights from above, nor showy displays of power. Some would call it sharing his chi, energy, life force, soul.. he thinks of it as helping people get better, mend quicker or at all, and he does it as often as he dares, as often as it is needed, without discrimination. It does tire him out rather quickly though, so he figures working towards becoming a doctor would more or less burn his candle in both ends, and that's why he applied for a job as a paramedic at St. Luke's hospital in New York, once things started to settle down somewhat. He figures this is the best way for him to help people, simple as that.
** **
So, this brings us more or less up to speed.
For now, James lives in a mostly unfurnished but otherwise whole and clean two bedroom apartment that he shares with three cats, all adopted from the local ASPCA. He works shifts as an ambulance driver, tries to keep his 'Registered Evolved' status hidden from people (read: angry mobs), likes to spend time working out and to visit the small pub that has managed to cling to existence on the corner of his block and .. well, he lives. Most of his family lives, although some are gone and greatly missed. He tries to keep in contact with his siblings, best as can be done, between their jobs and whatnot. What the future has to offer, is anyone's guess.
A kind and optimistic fellow, at times to a fault, who is very likely to offer help unbidden and sometimes unwanted. He is aware that there are those that would take advantage of his outlook on life, but he still tries to see the good in people, rather than their faults. A man to enjoy the simpler things in life; family, friends, a good meal and a loving home, and of course his cats, strays who he has finally been able to give a home.
When it comes to his love life, James has taken a bit of a rest from such things for the time being, after the mess he left behind in Seattle. When it comes to the whole male/female thing, he has settled for knowing himself capable of loving, at least, neither looking nor wishing for either to complicate his life. He is content with things as they are, and prone to continue on a path that seems to lead towards what he thinks could be a good life.
All people have an energy about them, a chain of electrical pulses throughout our biological system, a soul, our chi, an aura, their spirit, whatever one might call it. It is the pulse of blood streaming through a heart beating for the very first time, the slight emission of heat between two palms, the 21 grams that 'disappear' when you die, how one can feel another person entering the room without looking. Our life force, our will to live, life itself. Something that cannot quite be explained, but this hasn't stopped people from trying.
James is far from an exaggeratedly spiritual person, securely grounded with both his feet rooted in the ground. He believes in God, because he was raised to, and he likes to think there is someone with a plan, somewhere, even if it's just a bearded guy somewhere up there on a cloud, who listens to children's prayers at night. He has seen enough in his life to doubt his existence, at times, but he has yet to see evidence that God is, indeed, dead. He hasn't tried to explain away this power of his, neither has he tried to ignore or draw attention to it. He knows it works to help people, that's all he needs to know to use it.
When someone is physically hurt, wounded, their own life force is automatically being used in an attempt to heal themselves. The body, however, does not contain enough life force on its own to heal something larger emediately, and if the wound is too severe, the bloodloss too great, the tissuedamage too bad, they die before the life force can replenish and continue to heal.
This is where James' ability comes in. He has the ability to share his life force with another, living, warmblooded animal, be it a human or dog, giving their body more energy to feed into healing.
There is nothing miraculous about the process itself, no lights, no sounds, just a sensation of warmth where his hand(s) touch and a somewhat quickened healing and recovery, all depending on the initial damage. A wound that would have healed within a month do so within two weeks. A clean cut that would have taken a week to close itself do so within days, and is a fading scar within the week. A fatal wound becomes crippling, or less, given time and care.
Life-Force Manipulation
I share my (limited) so called life…
All people have an energy about them, a chain of electrical pulses throughout our biological system, a soul, our chi, an aura, their spirit, whatever one might call it. It is the pulse of blood streaming through a heart beating for the very first time, the slight emission of heat between two palms, the 21 grams that 'disappear' when you die, how one can feel another person entering the room without looking. Our life force, our will to live, life itself. Something that cannot quite be explained, but this hasn't stopped people from trying.
James is far from an exaggeratedly spiritual person, securely grounded with both his feet rooted in the ground. He believes in God, because he was raised to, and he likes to think there is someone with a plan, somewhere, even if it's just a bearded guy somewhere up there on a cloud, who listens to children's prayers at night. He has seen enough in his life to doubt his existence, at times, but he has yet to see evidence that God is, indeed, dead. He hasn't tried to explain away this power of his, neither has he tried to ignore or draw attention to it. He knows it works to help people, that's all he needs to know to use it.
When someone is physically hurt, wounded, their own life force is automatically being used in an attempt to heal themselves. The body, however, does not contain enough life force on its own to heal something larger emediately, and if the wound is too severe, the bloodloss too great, the tissuedamage too bad, they die before the life force can replenish and continue to heal.
This is where James' ability comes in. He has the ability to share his life force with another, living, warmblooded animal, be it a human or dog, giving their body more energy to feed into healing.
There is nothing miraculous about the process itself, no lights, no sounds, just a sensation of warmth where his hand(s) touch and a somewhat quickened healing and recovery, all depending on the initial damage. A wound that would have healed within a month do so within two weeks. A clean cut that would have taken a week to close itself do so within days, and is a fading scar within the week. A fatal wound becomes crippling, or less, given time and care.
Of course, there are limits to this 'sharing'. It doesn't always work, for various reasons. Someone with a bullet through their brain are dead, for very good reasons, no matter how much life you pour into them, they'll just die again. As is decapitation irreversible. You can't grow back limbs. Diseases are hard for a body to battle, and anything from a common cold to cancer has reasons to appear, and adding life force to the body might, but must not always, affect the reason for the disease. A boosted immunesystem might be able to cope, and fight back, but as soon as their own, probably weakened immunesystem is forced back into battle, the symptoms are likely to return.
Neither does his ability seem to affect plantlife, insects or fish in the slightest, at least not so far. He has a number of forgotten, cat-chewed plastic plants in his apartment, due to his knack for forgetting about the live ones until they're brown and frazzle their dry leaves accusingly..
Then comes the question of giving away too much. James could give away all his own life force, killing himself in the process. He nearly did, the first time he used his powers to heal a wound and since then, he has learned to read his body and the signs of fatigue, as well to pick his battles more carefully. Although he'd be hard pressed to not give his best to a child.
Signs of James overdoing it include, but are not limited to: vertigo, nausea, dry mouth, shivering, slowed breath, circulation and pulse, cold and tingling sensations in hands and feet, difficulty to focus and nightmares.
With time, since his first, fumbling, emotiondriven tries, James has learned how to focus better, slowly increasing the amount of help he can give away before his body protests too much. With further studies and time, perhaps meditation and other mental techniques, it is not impossible that he could further improve his body's capabilities for giving and their effects, long- and shortterm.
And to end things on a lighter note, he has found that he rarely, if ever, gets sick himself. It doesn't help against people shooting or stabbing at him, but at least he doesn't have to die with a runny nose.
Appendices
Skills
Body & Mind
James has had and led the sort of life that encourages one to keep in shape, both mentally and physically. He suffers from the occassional bouts of nightmares, but tries to cure them with keeping his mind busy working, or better yet, taking a jog. Although no athlete, he keeps fit for his work by visiting a gym, and enjoys jogging every day, or swimming whenever this is possible. Despite this, his love of good, sturdy, wholesome homecooked meals (just like mother used to make 'em) has started to show signs of adding to his waistline. He has just passed the golden 20's after all, the age of supermetabolism for most male humans, Evolved and Non-evolved alike.
Fixing and driving stuff with an engine
James learned cars and various kinds of propulsionengines by hanging with his older brothers and his father in the workshop when he was a child, and kept at it as an adolescent and adult. He has no formal training to speak of, but more of a feel of what's 'sounding right' about it. That said, he probably will have an easier time fixing someone's '76 Volvo than some new and shiny BMW straight off the conveyerbelt. Goshdarn newfangled computerstuff.
As for driving, he holds a license to drive an ambulance, in addition to his ordinary driving license, and is quite skilled at keeping a fourwheeled vehicle on the road, a skill that has evolved further with the practice of driving around the worse off areas of New York.
School & Education
Grade- & Highschool was neither exceptionally good, nor extraordinarily bad for James. A C+ average student, he was just that - average. He knows how to read, counts everyday math in his head without using his fingers, knows men probably decended from apes and the earth is round. Oh, and that Hitler guy in did bad stuff in Germany soon 100 years ago. Stuff like that, no worries.
As for his further education, he attended a community college in Seattle, Washington, and left with an Associates Degree in Paramedics in addition to his military First Aid and lifesaving training.
In short, that means that his skills include knowledge and practice with airway management (intubation, clearing airways with or without aids, surgical aid (thyrocricotomy)), general medical hygiene, breath-, circulation-, cardiac-, pulse- & general patient status assessment, -monitoring and -interpretation, drug administration (intramuscular, subcutaneous, intravenous & IV drip) and wound & bleeding assessment, -control, -cleansing, -closure, -suturing and -dressing.
Languages
James can communicate fluently in both English and French, and has rudimentary skills in Arabic (he understands most of what is said, if it is spoken slowly, and can speak reasonably well, but is likely to have frequent errors in both grammar and pronounciation).
Military (Army) Basic Training & Medical Training
Through his basic and continued training, James learned the following skills; basic desert/temperate zone survival, first aid, lifesaving techniques (CPR, emergency wound assessment & control), driving in hostile territory, handling a side-arm (Beretta 9mm) and knife well enough to not hurt himself (dangerous end goes the other way, into the enemy, don't kill 'em if you don't have to), camouflage techniques, conflict management & negotiation, radio communication, geography & navigation, fitness/wellbeing and personal hygiene.
Timeline
| February | Title | Summary |
| 4th | Family Friends | The SCOUT Captain's baby brother is housing a sickly and injured terrorist, who has 'family' of her own come calling. |
| January | Title | Summary |
| 1st | Firestarter? | The scene of a possible Evo eruption of power, so paramedics, onlookers, and SCOUT all required on-scene. |
| 6th | Conversations over TakeOut | James and Liz catch dinner together. |
| 25th | Looking Out For Some Friends | The countdown begins and Abby tries to let some friends, close or not, know to get off the island. |
| 26th | Go If You Can | James comes to see Will and runs into Liz instead…. friendly chatter, but he asks her a question and her answer might surprise him. |
| 26th | Good Boy | James calls William. |
| 29th | Hell and High Water | The cavalry is called in to help stabilize Teo's condition. |
| 29th | A Favor Between Friends | James calls when he gets back to town, Liz asks a favor. |
| December | Title | Summary |
| 18th | To Make an Omelette | An impromptu gathering takes four people from two degrees of separation to none all around, courtesy of a market, a quest for eggs, and a uniform. |
| 22nd | A New Friend | James comes looking for William at 1 PP and winds up possibly making a new friend. |
| 22nd | A Cop, A Paramedic, and a Fireman Walk Into a Bar.. | Nobody suspects the SCOUT inquisition, not even the Captains Brother, an ususpecting Fireman, or the healer who's just trying to do a good deed and proove she's not biased or intolerant. |
| 27th | The Human Can Opener | James and Abby meet over some food at the Nite Owl. |
| 31st | Getting a jump on the day | James makes that phone call, and he and Liz have time to chat some. |
Memorable Quotes
- "A true warrior fights, not because he hates what is in front of him, but because of his love for those behind him." — Unknown
Media
Theme Music
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There's a dream that I see, I pray it can be. Listen to me, don't walk that street, You've got to choose a wish or command. We can all be free. |
Trivia and Notes
- He isn't trying to annoy you on purpose. His brother just really likes to use French as code speak.