Oxford’s Dictionary of Blasphemy

PLAYER

NAME: Maniette
CONTACT: maniette or PM here!
ACTIVE TIMES/PACE: AEST, fast tagger/boomeranger
BRACKETS/PROSE: Either is fine!
OFFENSIVE SUBJECTS & TRIGGERS: NA but content warnings are always appreciated.

IN CHARACTER

PHYSICAL AFFECTION: Due to Arthur's blindness he is going to be extremely jumpy about physical contact unless he trusts you, so expect a negative reaction.
PHYSICAL VIOLENCE: Please, I want this rat fuck to get into a scrap.
RELATIONSHIPS: Arthur is Compulsively Heterosexual, but won't react negatively to anyone flirting with him.
PSYCHIC & PSIONIC INFORMATION: Apart from being so depressed it's literally a superpower, he's a completely mundane human.
MAGICAL INFORMATION: Go forth! He's tainted by eldritch powers, if someone would pick that up, but has no defences against anything supernatural that does not rely on vision.
MEDICAL INFORMATION: Arthur is blind! There's no physical explanation for this; metaphysically, his connection to the concept of 'sight' belongs to John, and while he can access previous memories he can't create new visuals or receive new visions.

He has also recently spent a month in a coma, and is accordingly undernourished and overtired. A complete list of injuries is available here, with visible scars marked in red.
OFFENSIVE SUBJECTS & TRIGGERS: Child abuse/death, wanton or callous murder, human sacrifice. Organised religion as a whole and cults specifically.

OUT OF CHARACTER

BACKTAGGING: Absolutely!
THREADHOPPING: With permission for logs, fair game on network!
FOURTHWALLING: I'm fine with people knowing about Lovecraftian horrors and that they're fictional in other universes; that Arthur is a podcast character, less so.
NOT INTERESTED IN: Honestly I'll try anything once. 8D

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

VISUAL: Stress has aged his appearance distinctly to his late 30s/early 40s. Around 5'8-9", average build but not particularly imposing physically. His hair is slightly too long for pomade, and he strongly prefers to be clean-shaven. Always wears suits when the opportunity is presented.
AURAL: A London-English accent, but tempered through a decade of living in America. Typically trends deeper when he's trying to be serious; prone to swearing.
OLFACTORY: Fastidiously clean; often smells of shaving soap and laundry powder.
DEMEANOUR: Small Angry Dog energy. Canonically described as having "the cold, calculated demeanor of someone not to fuck with", which largely means Resting Bitch Face. Polite as a general rule, but quick to turn to insults and frigidity when he feels slighted or insulted.

☆ code by kimmiserate ☆

OOC PREFERENCES:
•CONTACT METHOD: Maniette or PM here!
•THREAD-JACKING: Feel free on network logs, but please ask for log threads!
•FOURTH WALLING / CANON PUNCTURE: Feel free to fourth-wall the shit out of Arkham and the general Lovecraft mythos as a whole, but as for Arthur specifically as a podcast character, I'd like to avoid that please!
•BACKTAGGING: Backtags are great, just let me know!
•AVOIDED TOPICS: Nothing in particular, but I'll give a heads up if any topic starts getting too intense!
•PREFERRED GENDER PRONOUN: She/they but I truly don't mind.

IC CHARACTERISTICS:
•CURRENT CANON POINT: Part 23: The Past, about to be thrown down a mineshaft by Larson.
•PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Canonically described as having "the cold, calculated demeanor of someone not to fuck with", which largely means Resting Bitch Face, and stress has aged his appearance distinctly to his late 30s/early 40s. Around 5'8-9", unhealthily skinny and not particularly imposing physically. Small Angry Dog energy. A London-English accent, but tempered through a decade of living in America. Where possible he dresses in suits, vests or sweaters, and suspenders from the 1930s Americas. Occasionally this also includes a fedora or flatcap, and now consistently wears gloves. His hair is to his shirt collar, streaked with visible hints of gray at the temples, and he strongly prefers to be clean-shaven. There's a visible scar on his neck, having had his throat slit open, and the left pinky is missing the final knuckle, replaced by a short length of wood that is rooted under the skin down to his wrist.

•DEMEANOR:

[ previously ]

Blind and extremely obvious about it. Will ghost along walls where possible, using his right hand consistently for everything, up to and including two-handed tasks. Very noticeably doesn't use his left hand. When in an unfamiliar situation is distinctly tense and skittery, quick to flinch and react; when comfortable, he is still, confident and tends to gesture somewhat with his hands.

When he is currently possessed by John, his movements become a lot more confident and natural, and he can pass quite well for sighted, although smaller movements are still distinctly less coordinated. In general he'll also be a lot less skittish, since he has a much higher awareness of the general area around him. During these times, he'll be carrying a pallid mask on his person.

As of 01/02/24 Arthur has his sight (and a great deal of his confidence) back. He consistently tries to maintain a calm, even exterior, acting polite and professional, if cold, to most people and rarely letting any genuine emotions to the surface. Due to his canon point he's extremely reactive, and will nearly always go to violence as a first resort, with little to no warning. Swears like a fucking sailor. He's got an extremely sharp and quick tongue on him, that he's not afraid to use on friends and foe alike. Can often come across as very stuck-up, with the English accent and constant formal-wear, but he's hopelessly impulsive and reckless if he gets the wrong idea in his head.

Immediately after a death, he will lose control of his eyes again as he did if he was being possessed by John, and they'll take about two days to recover; during this time, see previous information (without John's possession).

•ABILITIES:

[ previously ]

Really, really good at doing two-handed tasks singlehandedly. Formidable proprioception. Over-active sense of smell. Expert piano player. A very good detective.

He also has the supernatural ability to touch a dead body and see the minutes leading up to their death - however, for obvious reasons, this power isn't of much use to him, and would only be seen by someone controlling his sight.

As of 01/02/24 Arthur has his entire body back under his own control. He's right-handed, so none of his major or even fine motor skills have diminished during his time with John. He's a private investigator so have a large number of larceny-related skills such as lockpicking, petty theft, being sneaky and to some extent manipulating and tricking people, which he can usually sell pretty well when he's not caught completely off-guard. He's an expert piano player, especially in classical and jazz styles, and can also (now) play guitar at a professional level. Excellent proprioception and an over-active sense of smell.

As well, he still has the supernatural ability to touch a dead body and see the minutes leading up to their death; this is all round a thoroughly unpleasant experience.

•MEDICAL INFORMATION:

[ previously ]

Arthur is blind, and has no conscious control of his left arm, from the elbow down, and also of all his toes. There's no physical explanation for these; they can and do, in fact, move when Arthur makes an effort, and they all still feel pain (to be suffered by whoever possesses them). Metaphysically, his connection to those parts of his body has been corrupted or 'rotted away' by the eldritch possession he's suffered under John, and these parts are no longer present on his soul.

As of 01/02/24, He is no longer blind and has full capacity of his limbs returned. He will be blind on arriving back on the Barge, and after any subsequent deaths, but his vision will restore itself after about two days.

He's currently suffering from severe malnutrition due to two non-consecutive months of starvation; one in a coma, one spent in a prison pit with minimal food or water and major stress. A scar is visible across his throat, deep enough that he cut his trachea (but somehow avoided his jugular), very freshly healed, and the last knuckle on his left pinky has been bitten off, poorly cauterised, and replaced with a short length of black wood as long as the bone should be, with black roots distinctly visible under the skin, following the veins of the finger and hand, down to the wrist.

Noteworthy less visible scars also include:
- a deep knife wound to the guts (the only scar to have received professional care)
- two bullet wounds to his abdomen and one to his heart, all with corresponding exit wounds
- an overlapping lamprey-like bite scar and healed burn on his left bicep
- a similar, giant lamprey-like scar over his stomach
- shallow friction burns across his right face, predominantly his cheek and eye
- pale Lichtenberg scars on both palms and forearms, and healed burns on both palms
- very freshly healed scars from a compound fracture to right femur and two to his right tibia
- humanoid but monstrous bite mark to left calf (barely healed, not yet scarred)
- top half of right ear is missing (largely hidden by his hair)

As well, there are various other less remarkable minor cuts, burns and marks as earned through a difficult life. Has also previously suffered minor-to-moderature fractures in multiple places, including ribs, ankles and probably skull, as he's been in at least one major car accident.

Also of note is that he now has a yellow tint and some visible flecks to his brown irises, sharper teeth than would be baseline human, and a lower average body temperature than an average human; however, given the aforementioned starvations, his body temperature is also wildly unreliable to begin with.

•CABIN INFORMATION: Deck 2, room 11. The door is an old mahogany door with a frosted glass window, on which the number 211 is printed above text that says
Arthur Lester and Peter Yang
Private Investigative Services.
Inside is the most stereotypical noir office ever. A patch of discoloured flooring suggests a closet used to live against one wall, but there's now a door that leads to a bedroom; on the opposite wall of the office is a bathroom, both largely typical of the era. Of distinct note is that there is an upright piano pressed against one wall in the office, and the desk is clearly large enough for two people to work comfortably.
•OFFENSIVE SUBJECTS: Child abuse/death, wanton or callous murder, human sacrifice. Cults and religious extremism, also just like. Religious zealotry in general. The concept that any individual life isn't worth putting his whole chest into saving. Cannibalism!

IC PERMISSIONS:
•MENTAL: Full permission for all magical abilities. If subject to any sort of psychic control/puppeteering abilities, Arthur has sufficiently strong will-power to make a spirited, though mundane, attempt to fight back, but it may also set off a panic attack.
•MIMICRY: This will end incredibly poorly, even more so if someone mimics John. Not a no, just heads up.
•VIOLENCE: Go for it! He will fight back like a little rat fuck and go for the kill.
•MAGIC: Go for it!
•DEBATE: He is absolutely a talker so go wild.
•OTHER / NOTES: John (greatoldjohn) and Arthur have explicit permission to godmod each other when in a thread together, due to their statuses as Possessor/Possessee Entwined at the soul. As such, Arthur will ping as supernatural (specifically eldritch, low-key King in Yellow vibes for those who aren't familiar with John specifically) to anyone with the ability to sense that. To normal humans he's totally mundane.