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[midnightcowboy]

ooc information

Name: Jax
Age: 21
Contact Information: jaxisms @ plurk, partyambulance#2789 @ discord

ic information

Character Name: Jedediah Smith
Age: His historical counterpart died at age 32 so I'm just gonna go with that, I guess?
Canon: Night at the Museum
Canon Point: After the second movie but before the events of the third.



History: There's no viable wiki link (unless you want really basic plot summaries via wikipedia) so I guess I'm writing this shit up! Here we go.

In 1938, an expedition team in Egypt discovers the tomb of the pharaoh Ahkmenrah. Among the treasures recovered from it, they find a golden tablet. Despite the locals warning them that the tablet is cursed and additionally will gradually lose its magic if removed (as it's powered by the magic of Khonsu), the expedition team doesn't listen (as most expedition teams do) and they take the tablet with them. The artifacts are first sent to London to be studied, and then half are left there while the other half are sent to the United States. Ahkmenrah and his tablet are placed in the New York Museum of Natural History in 1952.

Surprise, surprise, the tablet is, in fact, as cursed as everyone claimed it was, though no one discovers this immediately. The tablet's magic is only activated at night- exactly at sunset, actually. It has the power to bring life to anything it encounters, among other things, although the specifics of this are never really explained. The first night the tablet is left in the museum, each of the exhibits suddenly finds that they're sentient. Those that are modeled after specific historical figures find that they have all the memories of the beings they're modeled to look after: they know all the details of their home and each part of their life, even up to their deaths. But they're also fully aware that they're replicas. It takes a period of adjustment to get used to this fact, but the tablet's activation becomes a nightly event and soon they fall into specific habits. The only real guideline they have to follow is that they have to be indoors by sunrise or else they turn to dust. Within the museum, Theodore Roosevelt takes over as a makeshift leader of the exhibits while Ahkmenrah remains locked in his sarcophagus.

Cecil Fredrickson (one of the members of the original expedition to retrieve the tablet) and two other men are hired as night guards of the museum. They quickly establish a routine to keep the peace between the exhibits, which involves locking exhibits up in their specific room and, in the case of the miniature exhibits, locking them behind a glass barrier. This causes a great deal of resentment and distrust between the guards and the exhibits, most notably the miniatures who hate the general lack of freedom. They reject the general authority of the night guards. The build-up of tension leads to Jedediah Smith, the leader of the Western exhibit, and General Gaius Octavius, the leader of the Roman exhibit, to declare a state of war between their two exhibits. Every moment they can get when they aren't trapped behind the glass barrier is spent in an all-out war, and the two leaders grow to hate one another over these fifty or so years for little reason other than 'I wanted someone to fight and he was in my way'.

The team of night guards serve together for a couple of decades, but the exhibits never grow to trust or even tolerate any of them. They grow more bitter and eager to frequently escape and fight whenever they get the opportunity, actually. So that's about when they decide that 'hey, actually, we should hire a new guy and just quit so someone else can deal with this'. And then they do that. The new guy in question is Larry Daley, a divorced father who needs a job to help take care of his 10-year old son Nick. He was an inventor previously but was wildly unsuccessful at that and thus accepts the only job that will actually accept his resume, which happens to be the museum. Cecil and the other two give him a quick tour and a set of rules (that he doesn't bother to read) before just up and leaving him to deal with everything. It goes about as well as can be expected. He's unable to prevent the exhibits from escaping and generally fighting each other for the first two nights or so and nearly gets fired on more than one occasion due to the havoc they cause now that they have freedom for the first time in decades.

His first trip to the hall of miniatures, specifically, leads to him getting tied up and hit with a train in the Western exhibit under the orders of Jedediah. Immediately after, Octavius launches his own attack on the new guard, leading to another feud as Jed is insistent that Larry was on his land, not Octavius'. Jed locks Octavius in the stockades in the Western exhibit, leading to questions from Larry's boss Dr. McPhee the following morning, and the night after that the two exhibits are engaged in all-out war in the middle of the hallway due to this incident. They've been attempting to expand their exhibits, and between the lack of free space to do so and the differences between their cultures (or the hatred between their respective leaders) they can't reach an agreement to find peace between their exhibits. Larry resorts to making a deal with both leaders- they won't be locked up if they can stop fighting with one another. The prospect of being able to freely move about the museum, even under conditions, was never offered previously and Jed and Octavius are surprised enough by the offer to take it.

On the third night of Larry's job, the tablet is found to be stolen and it's revealed that Cecil and the other old guards have been planning to steal artifacts from the museum to fund their retirement. The tablet is among these artifacts- the magic provides them with a youth-like strength and energy, as it provides the gift of life to everyone, not just the exhibits. In order to prevent them from escaping, Larry frees Ahkmenrah and organizes the exhibits to stop the guards before they can escape. He forces Jed and Octavius to work together- not to settle their differences, but because of how similar they are when it comes to the leadership of their people. They reluctantly agree and blow out Cecil's tires so he can't get far away from the museum in his escape. He instead takes a stagecoach from the museum and attempts to leave that way, and Jed and Octavius use a RC car to lead the museum's resident T-Rex after him. It flips over and explodes halfway there, but the two survive and return to the museum with the rest of the exhibits before sunrise. Their teamwork through the dangerous events of the night lead to the two of them forming a great (albeit grudging) respect for one another.

The news reports the following morning initially lead to Larry losing his job, as there is evidence of the exhibits' escape attempts all over the city. However, the publicity results in a larger crowd of visitors the following day than the museum has seen in years and Larry is permitted to keep his job as a result. Some years later, he's become successful enough to quit the night guard position and open up his own company that sells his inventions. In his absence, it is decided by the board that a large number of the museum exhibits should be replaced by newer technology, and most of them are boxed up to be shipped to the federal archives underneath the Smithsonian museums. The miniatures are amongst them, and Jed and Octavius in particular blame Larry's absence as to why they're getting shipped off- no one else was around to speak on their behalf during the daytime. Theodore Roosevelt reveals to Larry that the tablet is remaining behind, and it is effectively everyone else's last night alive, though he hasn't told them as much.

Larry, unable to pull any strings with the board to get the exhibits to remain behind, returns home to a phone call from Jed that explains that the resident monkey stole the tablet before they were shipped off and that everything in the federal archives has consequently come to life. Kahmunrah, Ahkmenrah's older brother, is among those exhibits, and wants the tablet in order to conquer, as the throne should have been his birthright had it (and the tablet) not been given to Ahkmenrah instead. While Larry finds his way to the archives, Jed and Octavius attempt to escape from the crate they're being held in in order to assist Larry. They're spotted, but before they're captured by the guards Jed pushes Octavius out of the way and tells him to escape and leave him behind. Jed is placed in an hourglass as a bargaining chip, as Kahmunrah does not know the combination of the tablet and feels that Larry will be able to find it. He has one hour to find the combination, and consequently Jed has one hour to live.

Upon returning with the tablet (and the combination), Jedediah is freed by Octavius who has managed to bring reinforcements for the battle against Kahmunrah and his men. Larry apologizes for not having been there in the previous years, and Jed insisted that he didn't bring Larry back for their sake, he did it for Larry's sake. Despite the success of his new job, he wasn't happy. Regardless of Jed's doubts regarding Larry's return with the tablet as well as his own survival, as soon as he's up on his feet and he and Octavius assist in the battle between Larry's allies and Kahmunrah's army. Upon their defeat, the tablet and the exhibits are flown back to New York. Larry sells his company and makes an anonymous donation to the museum with the stipulation that all of the old exhibits remain exactly as they were. The museum re-opens with new late night hours, which permits the exhibits to act alive among guests as long as they can convince them that they're either animatronics or actors. It works surprisingly well, and Larry sticks around as night guard for several years following that.

Personality: Probably the most prominent trait is how stubborn he is. Stubborn and hot-headed, which makes for a frustrating combination when anyone attempts to deal with him. He knows what he's after and while he is willing to use diplomacy to get what he wants, it's much easier to fight for it. And he really does have no qualms with fighting anyone for basically any reason, provided he considers that reason good enough. On top of that, he's extremely prideful to the point that his flaws become an incredibly touchy subject. He hates having them pointed out and will actively take such a thing as fighting words. Something as simple as lack of respect from others or jealousy he feels towards someone else results in him holding a grudge towards them. He can come across as prickly or difficult to get to know just because he is so touchy on so many subjects. Additionally, he's loud and brash, not one to think before he speaks or keep his voice down. He runs his mouth and hardly knows what he's talking about half the time, but absolutely hates being told he's wrong. So socially, he isn't... a great person to know, really. Even if someone's respectful towards him, he can't really promise to do the same at all. He's informal and he has virtually no sense of manners of any kind- there's no point in beating around the bush. What's tact? Never heard of it. He might make more of an effort to be nice towards the people he cares about, but then, the only way he really knows if he can trust someone else is if they've fought alongside him.

He's got a fierce sense of loyalty, once he feels he owes it to a person. His loyalty to Octavius leads to him getting captured in his place, and his loyalty to Larry despite the betrayal he felt at being left for years leads to him still having faith in him even as Jed's life is on the line. Once he's with a person he refuses to give up on them, which, when paired with his lack of self-preservation, leads to him often coming across as needlessly self-sacrificing. It ties in with how stubborn he is- he's ride or die for a person once he decides they're worth fighting for or alongside. It leads to him doing well in leadership positions, as well. Half of the reason he fights with the Romans in the first place is to expand and find more space for the Western exhibit. Despite not being the actual mayor of exhibit, the people look up to him as someone to follow and fight behind and he figures he owes it to them to not let them down. He's not a great strategist- he's reckless with little to no impulse control, the type to leap without looking and damn the consequences. Yet despite all his difficult to deal with traits, he's a pretty genuine being at his core. Once he's friends with someone he doesn't hide that friendship- he makes it clear how much he cares for a person. He's honest, too, sometimes to a fault in that he'll call people out on their flaws. He tends to make assumptions, though, and is wrong about a great deal of them.

He's constantly trying to go beyond his limits and push others to do the same, which is part of what makes him a great leader in the eyes of his people despite not having any actual sort of elected position. He doesn't let things get him down easily, at least when it comes to physically dangerous situations- regardless of how beat up he is or how dangerous and difficult it seems he keeps going as far as he can and then some. The only thing that really gets him down is betrayal, which is largely because of how loyal he is towards those he considers friends. While he doesn't trust easily, once he does he expects that trust to be mutually just as strong. Despite his ability to keep his head on straight through most times of crisis, it's betrayal and lack of respect that really cause him to lose his composure. He just tries not to let it known that they get to him much, provided he doesn't lose his temper. Once he's angry enough to make his outrage known there's really no getting him to shut up about it. Despite being able to point out other's flaws and bad habits, he never really does so in himself- he's constantly back on his bullshit because he refuses to actually examine his flaws or accept being called out on them and absorb any real lessons to change them, most of the time.

Powers/Abilities: Physically he's pretty tough, at least for his size (this is partially due to being made of plastic rather than actual flesh and blood, as well). He can kind of just get back up on his feet after a hit. His speed, stamina, and strength don't really help him much outside of his own exhibit, though (he's 2 inches tall what do you want from him). Provided he actually has working guns, he's a good sharpshooter. The actual Jedediah Smith was a cartographer so it can be assumed he's decent at making maps, as well. He's good on horseback and can? somehow? drive and pilot miniature vehicles? I guess?

Suitable Jobs: Christ this one is hard uhh... I'm not sure how you guys are handling jobs for extremely short characters in general so I'm just going to list stuff he's good at that could reasonably work as some kind of job I guess? Firstly, while he's by no means book-smart, he's got a lot of personal knowledge regarding various historical figures (for obvious reasons). It goes without saying but you could stick him anywhere in Frontierland and he'd be satisfied. He's decent at getting around places, too, in that he's got a good sense of direction and can get around surprisingly fast (more so if he's got some form of transport). Some sort of tour guide or information-provider or something would work out just fine. He's loud and talks a lot, that has to be worth something. He has no fear of Most Things because he has no impulse control, so that doesn't really need to be a factor. You could sign him up for pest control and he'd be all over that shit, he'd beat up a spider without even being prompted. Alternatively, he'd absolutely be up for being a security guard. I mean he'd be terrible at it but he's down to fight literally everyone, constantly, regardless of their size. He can drive remote-controlled cars and planes if that has literally any bearing on any job opportunity whatsoever, and actually he's pretty good with modern, over-sized technology in general. Honestly you could give him about any job and he'll probably manage somehow? Or at the very least he'll try his level best until he gets fired.

Card Selection: Demolition Dynamite, Ka-chow!, Cowboy Lasso, Wild Ride, Weapon Summon (let him have actual working guns)

Third Person Sample: TDM Thread