PLAYER INFO

Your name: Kristi
Contact info: writer@allengames.com // rageiscute (AIM)

CHARACTER INFO

Character name: Jayne Cobb

Fandom: Firefly//Serenity

Point in canon taken from: Jayne is coming to Acairnia post Serenity. He’s been futzing around with Mal and crew, trying to get into stay out of trouble.
Appearance: Jayne is a big guy. He stands at 6’4 and he’s built like a brick shit house. He has a goatee, short brown hair and bright blue eyes. He’s in his late thirties. He’s generally found wearing old tee shirts with various logos and utility pants like fatigues but not generally camouflage. On his feet he wears heavy boots. Sometimes he smokes a cigar. He’s also fond of wearing this hat. His mother made it for him. He has a tattoo of a red dragon entwined with a yin yang symbol and the capital letters M and A.
Personality: Jayne is cranky, obnoxious, uncouth even rude. He is once referred to as a trained ape without the training. It’s a fair assessment of him. He is greedy as well but at heart, he’s a good guy. Not exactly a hero, but far from a villain. He will screw a person over but he won’t kick them when they’re down. He has his own moral code, the rest of the universe just doesn’t always understand that code. Jayne isn’t the brightest crayon in the box but he does have a knack for understanding a situation and doing exactly what needs to be done. Particularly if that situation is a violent one.

Despite all these failings, Jayne is actually usually good with women and children, behaving very tenderly toward them. Without a doubt, Jayne is a teddybear beneath all that muscle, a teddy bear in very deep denial.

History: Jayne is a mercenary and a good one at that. He fought on neither side of the unification war because…there’s not any money in war and Jayne’s motivations are quite simple. He freelanced much of his life, working for a crew as long as a job lasted and then moving on. He took up with the crew of Serenity for the same reason he took up with every other ship; the price was right. Captain Malcolm Reynolds made Jayne an offer he couldn’t refuse and that bought Jayne’s loyalty, at least until he got a better offer. Throughout his time with the crew of Serenity, he grows close to the people there, notably Kaylee and Mal but he is often crass and cruel, hurting people with his words. He teases Kaylee to the point that she is nearly in tears about her attraction to Simon but when she is shot, he hangs about outside the medical bay looking down right worried and upset.

Despite not being the brightest crayon in the box, Jayne has his own brand of wit and intelligence, enjoying pulling pranks on the other crew members as he shows when he convinced Simon to dress up in a space suit in preparation for lack of oxygen, zero gravity and possible unknown agents in the air. There is no danger and Simon walks into the abandoned ship in his space suit to find Jayne laughing his head off and NOT wearing a space suit. It is at this time revealed that Jayne’s only real fear is that of reavers—uncivilized, cannibalistic, insane humans.

When River and Simon are kidnapped, Jayne takes the chance to be the opportunistic jerk that he often I by rifling through their belongs and taking what he deems of value. Once Simon and River are rescued, he hurriedly puts it all back. He has no issues with being what he is but he wants to be perceived in a good light by those he lives and works with.

Jayne has few loves in his life, primarily women, booze and his very favorite gun named Vera. Occasionally for the right woman he’s willing to trade Vera and he doesn’t understand why Mal won’t jump at the chance to trade his fake!wife for the gun. Obviously, Mal is getting the good end of the deal. Interestingly enough, Jayne is one of the few who don’t end up victim to Saffron’s wiles. He proves what a fantastic shot he is even under pressure and helps save them from an electric net by shooting the power box and shorting it out.

A volatile part of Jayne’s history is revealed in a trip to a mudder’s moon called Canton. The crew is there for a job and much to everyone’s surprise—including Jayne’s—Canton not only remembers Jayne, he’s revered as a hero. Years ago Jayne was a greedy bastard (no surprise there) but his greedy bastardness benefitted the people of Canton. He stole some money. A lot of money and was nearly caught. In an effort to get away he tossed everything in his ship overboard, including his partner and his money. The residents of Canton saw it not as a selfishly motivated act but as ‘taking from the rich and giving to the poor’. There’s even a song and a statue. When the town discovers that Jayne has returned they schedule a Jayne Day that doesn’t turn out well. A kid gets shot in Jayne’s defense and Jayne actually broods about it because he let down a whole town of people who needed him to be a hero when he’s not one.

Jayne proves his loyalty and very slowly changing heart when Serenity loses power and the crew must evacuate, leaving Mal to go down with the ship. He takes the time (and wastes the oxygen) in order to close up all the vents on the lower levels so that Mal will live longer and have a bigger possibility of being saved. Both shuttles are sent off, leaving Mal behind. When Inara’s shuttle (carrying Jayne) returns after Simon’s, Jayne is quick to make certain Mal knows that they returned second because ‘Something’s wrong with Inara’s shuttle’. There is nothing wrong with it, he just wants to make sure that Mal knows he cares as much as Simon.

Of course Jayne quickly takes two steps back when he finds out the ridiculous amount of money that the Alliance is offering in return for River. He turns in the girl and her brother without a second thought. Of course when the deal goes south, he busts his butt extra hard to save himself and the Tams as well. Mal finds out about the betrayal, threatens to ‘space’ Jayne and the only request Jayne has is ‘Don’t tell the others what I did’. Of course Mal doesn’t ‘space’ Jayne, making him promise that he will not betray his crew again, and River and Simon are part of that crew. Later, in a fit of guilt, Jayne buys a crate of apples and lets the whole crew have at them. River realizes this for what it is but she stays quiet. This is uncharacteristic of Jayne and several crew members comment on this but no one pushes it.

When Mal and Wash end up in trouble he is right there, ready to charge in and rescue Mal against odds that aren’t in his favor. This is a change from a previous job when Jayne was ready to leave Mal to his own devices and take over the ship. Jayne can grow, it’s just very slow—like Redwood tree slow.

It is revealed via a letter from Jayne’s mother that perhaps Jayne’s greed isn’t just greed. He sends the credits he makes from Mal, home to his mother. He has a brother that has damplung (a disease) and his mother in return sends him a knitted cap that Jayne is very fond of despite the fact that it looks ridiculous on him. It’s a little surprising to the crew that Jayne even has a mother. He’s always been perceived as being very much on his own.

When River goes crazy, twice Jayne is the one to get the short end of the deal. Mostly because he’s too dumb to realize what’s going on. Despite this, he never seriously agrees with sending River back. Whether that has anything to do with Mal’s threat, Simon’s or a true change in Jayne’s character is unknown but I think it’s a bit of both. An operative chases the crew, determined to get River back for the Alliance. Jayne stands shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the crew, particularly after some of their friends are murdered and he is down right unsettled when they find an entire planet dead because the inhabitants ceased to do anything, including live. The planet was an experiment of the Alliance’s gone wrong and then covered up. This is where Jayne really changes and grows. Mal gives them a speech, basically telling them that they’re not likely to make it out of this skirmish alive but this secret the Alliance has tried to hide, can’t remain hidden. Jayne is the first to speak up saying:
“Shepard always told me if you can’t do something smart, do something right.”

From that moment forward, Jayne is in the front lines, firmly on Mal’s side despite the fact that there is absolutely nothing in it for him. He won’t get any money or fame or women out of this. He’s just going to get dead.

Surprisingly, the crew barely makes it out alive (minus a member) and they return to the black, running from the alliance, picking up jobs of the hardly legal kind and occasionally doing something stupid and right.

Example tag:
Jayne liked daylight. It gave him time to do things like clean his weapons and whittle. That’s what he was doing right now, sitting on the front porch of his cabin whittling at a piece of wood that’s vaguely beginning to resemble a horse…or a dog. Of course he’s whittling with a knife half the size of a machete and if asked why, he’d give the question all the attention he believed it deserved; that is to say a look that clearly states ‘hundun’ (idiot). He’s humming as well and given the chance he might burst into song undoubtly singing about the Hero of Canton. He glances up, nearly slipping and cutting off his own thumb when he sees Ruby leaning against a tree.

“Cao ni zu zong shi ba dai! Person ought to make noise.”

Ruby rolled her eyes and pushed away from the tree. “Nice cat, Moron.”

Jayne looks confused to the piece of wood in his hand then covers the confusion with defensiveness. “It ain’t finished yet.”

“Mmmmhmmm and I’m sure it’ll improve so much when it is,” Ruby berates.

Jayne looks hurt a moment then pissed before he responds. “You got a point in bein’ here or you just come to annoy me?”

“Door Number Two, Bob,” Ruby answers. “I thought you might want to spar.”

That makes a grin spread across Jayne’s face. He puts the half finished wood carving away and scrambles to his feet, the knife sliding into the waistband of his pants.

“Spar, Man-ape. That means hit me. If you stick that knife in me again, I swear I’ll possess you and make you dress up in River’s clothes.”

That might be a bit of disappointment falling over Jayne’s face but he follows anyway.
Example journal:

"Ai-yah. Tyen-ah...I know I weren’t this drunk last night…MAL! If this is a joke it ain’t funny t’all! Ain’t right, movin’ a man ‘round just ‘cause he happens to drink too much. Ooooh…food. Maybe this place ain’t so bad. I’ll just hang out ‘til everyone gets back. Wonder if they got a gift shop? Ma might ‘preciate somethin’…”