Johnny Brain Cade [INACTIVE]

[taylor]

Hi, my name is Taylor and this is my firstest character. I found this site through caution 2.0. Something you should know about me is I have this really bad tendency of being flighty, sooo….

Johnny Brain Cade
Low Class

Canon: The Outsiders.
Custom Title: GUESS WE’RE DIFFERENT.

PHYSICAL
Age: Seventeen.
Gender: Male.
Appearance: Ponyboy put it best when he described Johnny as a puppy dog. Still looking much the same as he did when he was fourteen, Johnny is short, lean, and often mistaken for at least two years younger; it’s a sensitive topic that should be approached with precaution and obvious lies (“Nah, that gal was just blind. You don’t look that young”). He has wide, brown eyes, greased black hair and a tanned complexion. Most noticeably is perhaps the scar on his cheek.

The only thing in his wardrobe he actually cares about ruining is a faded denim jacket. Otherwise he’ll just wear whatever he can scrounge up, usually jeans with holes in the knees and t-shirts. As far as Greasers go, Johnny doesn’t look particularly menacing.
Play By: Ralph Macchio.


PERSONALITY
General personality: Johnny doesn’t speak much in the presence of friends and speaks even less around strangers. Shy and wary don’t make the best of combinations and he has difficulty speaking to new people at the best of times. Despite struggles (and the fact that he carries a switchblade around with him), Johnny isn’t bitter and probably never will be; he doesn’t have enough hate for it. Nervous and paranoid because of past encounters with Socs and his own personal home, Johnny can’t help the darting of his eyes or constant checking over his shoulder. Emotionally oversensitive; little self confidence; relies heavily on the Gang for affection he doesn’t get from home, Johnny is the poster child for an abusive home.

Even so he isn’t completely incompetent and can hold his own in a fair fight. He isn't a wimp, thanks, and does know how to defend himself, verbally and physically. While those who know him know he’s anything but mean, he is still a Greaser and people still sometimes scurry to the other side of the street when they see his greased hair and slouched posture. More then anything Johnny hates being a charity case; he sees the sympathetic, pitying glances his buddies give him when he shows up with a new bruise. He won't ever say anything though because he knows they mean well. He avoids going to the Curtis’ place too often – but still ends up there five nights out of seven. People expect him to hate his parents, and he does, he supposes, but mostly he just wishes his mom would sober up for once and his dad would look at him with something other then drunken malice and he wouldn’t flinch every time his dad raised a hand. Sometimes he hates them so much his vision is tinged red and he wants to pack up his bags and just get the fuck out of there, but mostly he’s just sad.

Johnny idolizes Dallas Winston for reasons even he doesn’t fully understand. It’s something about the way he’s so unaffected by everything that he finds himself so in awe. Because he’s on the cusp of turning eighteen and being legally allowed to move out of his home without involving Social Services, he’s been forced to think about where he sees himself in ten years, and the mental image is kind of alarming. 9th grade flunkies don't get a lot of opportunity. Spending the rest of his life at a crappy job while he lives – where? Certainly not at home – is frightening.
Likes:

• Lazy afternoons spent amongst friends.
  
• Movies.
  
• Pleasing people.
  
• Poems.
  
• From the one time he's seen it, the sprawling, open countryside.
  
• Junk food.
  
• The Gang.
  
• Sunsets, courtesy of Ponyboy.
  
• Happy endings.
  
• Mustangs.
  

Dislikes:

• Pitying glances.
  
• Pointless violence.
  
• Death.
  
• Going home.
  
• Being out alone.
  
• Being reprimanded.
  
• His height.
  
• Disrespecting ladies.
  
• The stereotypical Soc.
  
• Alcohol.
  
• His father.
  

Strengths: His ability to keep his chin up no matter the situation.
Keeps a cool head when under pressure.
A sympathizer; great at cheering people up.
Will just about help anybody, even if it puts himself at danger.

Weaknesses: An open book. He sucks at lieing.
As far as Greasers go, he looks like an easy target.
Will just about help anybody, even if it puts himself at danger.

BACKGROUND
Family: Brian Cade; father. Debora Cade; mother. Family only by blood.
Education: High school student.
Occupation: Doesn't have a job.
Worst past experience: Johnny tries not to dwell on bad experiences, but if he had to pick one... You'd think he pick that time he was brutally jumped by Socs, but honestly the only thing they caused was pain and an increased paranoia. He didn't take it personal - they were Socs and he was a Greaser and that was just how things were. But his dad, on the other hand... It'd be the first time he can remember his father hit him. He was five and had cried after skidding his knee on the sidewalk and Brian had promptly backhanded him across the face so he would shut up.
Best past experience: When he realized not all people thought he was crap. It could be summed up to anytime spent with the Greasers.
Image: Vulnerable.

History: Brian Cade wasn't born an abusive bastard. He was born a nice young boy turned into a bitter old man because the world was a cruel place. When he knocked up his girlfriend Debora at the age of eighteen, he tried to convince her to get an abortion, consequences be damned, but she would't do it. He threatened to push her down the stairs. She took a swig of alcohol and said she didn't care. Nine months later Johnny Brain Cade (Brain was an accident - it was supposed to be Brian but was spelled Brain and neither ever bothered to change it) was born and money was tight and Debora just kept drinking. Brian doesn't remember exactly when everything just fell apart but somehow his girlfriend (for they never did get married) was a drunk and he had a clingy son that he didn't want and he was still so bitter after all those years of abuse that he backhanded his son across the face and felt nothing but malicious glee at the sight of his stunned, watery expression.

The rest, as they say, is history. Johnny grew up with an abusive father and an alcoholic mother and fully believing he was crap and he deserved it when one day Mrs. Curtis, his nice next-door-neighbor saw him crying out in the front yard when he was nine and invited him over for dinner. After that he just sort of became best friends with Ponyboy, and, by extension, the rest of the Greasers. When Mr. and Mrs. Curtis died seven years later Johnny was devastated and feeling guilty about feeling devastated, as they weren't even his own parents, and the whole thing was just so awful - good people like them didn't deserve to die when people like his own parents lived without a care in the world. As if that wasn't enough he got jumped by a group of Socs and beat up real bad, and things were just spiraling out of control. This was the first point in his life he actually contemplated suicide but dismissed the idea quickly - he just couldn't do it.

And now? Well, now Johnny's just trying to figure out what he's gonna do with the rest of his life if he lives that long.

THE SAMPLE
In Character Sample:

"Mom?" Johnny whispered, quiet enough that the two wouldn't wake up if they were asleep - and harmless - like he hoped they were. "Dad? I'm home."

A grunt. A groan as tired old men muscles pulled themselves up from their long-term perch on the couch. A beady glare.

Oh, no.

"Where the hell you been?"

Johnny could smell the cheap alcohol on his breath from where he stood, half way across the room, frozen with fear.

Heavy feet stomped towards him. A firm hand grasped his arm and squeezed - if only his depth perception was affected by the booze too. "I as'ed you a que'sion, you shit."

"I was..." Johnny mumbled something vague under his breath and prayed to God his dad would just let him go unscathed - let him go, just this once, please.

A slap. A cringe. A beating heart thumping against his rib cage.

"Speak up, boy!" Another slap, this time harder.

No no no no no no no no -

A punch. A boy doubled over in pain. A drunken shove. Stumbling backwards over his feet, Johnny fell against the edge of the coffee table.

"'Was at the - the Curtis'!" He managed to gasp, arms shielded instinctively over his face.

"THE CURTIS'!" Brian raged, shoe connecting with Johnny's abdomen. "What the fuck where you doin' there when you coulda been here?"

It was a bad idea to tell him where I was, Johnny thought morosely. Damn damn damn.

Brian hauled Johnny to his feet and got up in his face, real close, breath hot on his cheek. He looked away, terrified, wondering what he did wrong, where'd he go wrong, how can he fix it -

"Next time you're late I'll kill you," Brian hissed; he sounded scarily sober.

A shove backwards. A half-strangled sob. A desperate flee.

Johnny slumped back against his door frame, breathing heavy, aching all over. It hurts, he thought.

Oh, it hurts.

[hamlet]

Johnny is here! Great job! Accepted!