Johnny O'Marten

Basic Information

• Basic Info

  • Name: Johnny O'Marten
  • Gender: Male
  • Played by: Sprokkelhout
  • Age: 23
  • Job: Tattoo artist
  • Clothing style: Alternative; punk
  • Hair: Brown, shaved sides. Sometimes a slight mohawk, if he can be arsed. It's not long enough for a proper one.
  • Distinguishing features: Tattoos covering most of his body, a fair number of piercings.

• Personality

  A passion for art, tattoo art and graffiti, a lot of stubborn optimism and the iron belief that everyone together can make the world a better place.
  He doesn't always really see the complexity of an issue and as such his solutions might sound good at first, but can fall apart upon closer inspection, though he'll still go through great lengths to make it work anyway, with varying results; sometimes his simple approach works, sometimes things require more nuance.
  It's not that he isn't intelligent; it's more that he often speaks before really thinking things through. Should he sit down and really ponder an issue, the outcome is already a fair bit more insightful.
  The upside of this aspect of his personality is that he thinks very quickly on his feet. You sure as hell wouldn't let him draft a government plan, but when in a bit of a pickle he's usually the one to just come up with a solution and give it a shot instead of mulling over the options. Again with varying results.
  
  Despite his rough appearance, love for mischief and often foul mouth, Johnny's someone who's concerned about the world around him and he feels a certain intrinsic obligation to try and make it a better place.
  His big mouth, in combination with his optimism make him good at cheering people up and lifting some spirits and despite the fact that aside from tattooing he doesn't really have any other specialties, is the fact that he can make people feel better something he's grateful for. It's his little contribution that can make a big difference.
  
  He's incredibly social, loves having people around him and can get along with many different kinds of people. He enjoys discussions and they tend to stay civil with him, even when heated.
  He's also prone to putting others' problems ahead of his own and sometimes this makes people subconsciously lean on him too much which in turn makes him feel more responsible than he really should and that he has to be strong for that person, which makes it harder for him to ask for help when he's the one that needs it.
  Still, the truth is that deep down he prefers it that way. He subconsciously seeks it out and doesn't stop people from taking up too much of his emotional energy; it's a way of feeling needed and like he matters.
  On top of that he's quite the stepford smiler; he'll hide negative feelings behind a friendly smile or a joke.
  
  He's a convinced pacifist. He's try to defend himself if he has to but does not belief that violence on it's own can really solve something and that even if it eventually does there must have been better ways of getting to the same conclusion. And this is a problem if you're prone to having a big mouth, even when talking to violent people.
  Despite being confident, however, he's not without fear. Johnny knows damn well he's not exactly Rambo and not a challenge for a lot of people and tends to act more often in spite of his fair than because a lack of it.

• Background

  Johnny was the middle child in a family of five. Though they didn't grow up in the best of neighborhoods, their parents made the best of it.
  In particularly his mother was a 'lead by example' sort of individual and to this day Johnny respects her deeply. Not that he doesn't respect his dad, but the man tended to be a bit more neutral on most things, whereas his mother was unafraid to make waves and do what she felt was right, consequences be damned.
  
  His younger brother, Jeremy, followed his mom's lead a lot less. At a young age he started going down a criminal path thanks to an unfortunate combination of a rather fierce personality, puberty and some bad choices regarding friends.
  Despite the family's desperate attempts at showing him the error of his ways, he did whatever he wanted and caused a lot of strain on the rest.
  Pat, Johnny's elder brother, distanced himself from it all, as did their father. Johnny's mother didn't hesitate to confront Jeremy and Johnny often ended up being kind of the mediator, trying to somewhat keep the peace in the house to prevent yet another screaming match. This was also where his tendency to put others before himself started.
  Eventually Jeremy broke off all contact and despite this being a major blow to the family, it also brought them closer together, especially Johnny and Pat. The latter felt a lot of guilt for letting so much weight rest on his brother's shoulder, though Johnny did not blame him; Pat had never been one for confrontation.
  Johnny was about fifteen when this happened and had a hard time dealing with it all.
  CPS got involved, but they weren't able to trace the only fourteen years old Jeremy, who of course had the backing of people older than him and a lot more experienced at staying off the grid.
  
  In the years that followed the environment they grew up in caused even more tragedy: Johnny lost a close friend to an overdosis and another one was at the wrong place at the wrong time during a crossfire and died in the hospital.
  Yet there were specks of light as well. The rest of his circle of friends was extremely close and they had each others backs. Johnny managed to cope with much of his grief by putting it into art, which at that moment meant mostly drawing and graffiti.
  At the age of fifteen he learned of his bisexuality. After a relationship of three months with a sweet girl with whom it just didn't quite work out he fell head over heel for a guy he then dated for about half a year.
  Fifteen was also the age at which he got his first tattoo, illegally.
  At seventeen the number of tattoos had gone up to six, all in places he could cover if needed.
  His parents weren't too happy with it - because of course they found out - but the things were already in place and Johnny got away with a lot more than Jeremy would ever have had due to the fact he never really got into malicious trouble.
  
  After high school he went to an art academy and via a classmate he got into tattooing. He'd wanted it for a longer time, but it was thanks to a man he met through that classmate that he really started to learn with the guidance and feedback he needed.
  As a vegetarian he did not like practicing on animal skin, but you could hardly ask people if they didn't mind holding still for a while in the name of education, please and thank you.
  Art school, as it turned out, really didn't mesh well with him and he quit to focus fully on tattooing and making a career out of it.
  He improved fast and at the age of twenty he got his first real tattooing job in a small parlor close to his apartment, where he still works to this day.