Jackpot

Out of absolutely nowhere, a boar came rushing around the bend toward Jackpot. He nimbly leapt out of the way, landing on his hind quarters as he lost his balance stumbling backward. He scrambled back to his feet, unsheathing his sword and pouring his energy into it. A moment later, he let loose a slash, opening up a gridded crimson wound on the creature's hide. I squealed and doubled back, putting some distance between itself and its attacker before assuming a defensive stance.

Odd. He had killed the first one in a single blow. This one, however, had managed to cling to life, albeit barely. "Ahh, so you must be the alpha around here, ey?" he chortled with a snide grin, resting the blunt side of his blade against his shoulder. "Betcha think you're real tough, then. We'll see about that. One more cut from this bad boy and you'll be bacon."

The boar didn't respond, because it was a boar.

And wouldn't you know it? Another, more rare looking shield sat against the tree on the opposite side. Jackpot cast a perplexed glance around the surrounding area looking for anyone else who might be seeing what he was looking at. No such luck. "What in the world..?" he questioned as he picked up the second shield, giving it a scrutinizing look before tucking it away in his inventory. It looked rare, but things were rarely what they seemed in this world.

After scanning around the area a bit more, he didn't see any other pieces of equipment scattered around. Which was slightly disappointing. Free loot wasn't something that Jackpot made a habit of turning his nose up at. Even if it was the most basic item out there, it had value and was free. There was something to be said about that.

But he needed to find another item, and time was running out. Well, kind of.
 

And then, not but a moment later, he noticed a glint out of the corner of his eye. Over yonder, sitting idly beneath a nearby tree, was a shield. He had to blink when he first laid eyes on it. It didn't look like anything too special, Uncommon in quality at best. But still, it was there. In plain sight. For all to see. Jackpot had never seen anything like this before. Perhaps it was unique to the quest he was participating in?

Regardless, he jaunted over to the stray piece of equipment and scooped it up, stashing it in his inventory while looking around warily. It was still strange to him that nobody had picked it up, and he doubted he would ever find a piece of equipment just lying there for the taking again in his entire Aincrad career. It was best to take what he could get, give nothing back, and continue along as though nothing had happened.
 

Quite an interesting turn of events. Jackpot hadn't expected to be heading into the fields to get his hands on some items, but it wasn't a bad way to spend the day. Get some loot, learn a new skill. It was all gravy, as far as he was concerned. With enough luck, maybe he could open his own shop and spend the rest of his days trapped within the game toiling away within its walls and avoiding danger at all costs. It wouldn't be that different from the real world, after all. 

But here within the floating castle Aincrad, rarely were things so simple immediately upon entering the plains, he was accosted by a random boar, which huffed and puffed and... died instantly, as soon as Jackpot's blade carved into it. "Wow, what a letdown," he mused with an irritated tone, sheathing his curved sword. A loot panel populated, displaying one of the items he had been tasked with finding. That was a plus, at least.

"If you really want to learn how to be a Merchant, you have to be crafty and smart for this," the boy remarked, turning back to regard Jackpot. 

"No worries there, kiddo. This ain't my first trip around the sun. I've actually got quite a bit of experience with things like this - and I gotta say, you've got a sweet operation running here," Jackpot chortled, looking around with a grin on his face. The boy simply nodded in understanding.

"You best know what you are doing. I'll show you how to identify an it- No! I'm all out!" the kid exclaimed before pouting a bit. Suddenly he didn't seem as mature as he had only moments before. "Go get me some more, around 3, so I can show you how to do this." 

Oh-ho-ho, so the kid was issuing commands now, was he? Whatever. Jackpot was interested in what this boy had to say, and what he could offer in terms of knowledge about this world, so he obliged.

"Don't worry, 'Billy,'" he began with a snicker, poking fun at the NPC's name tag. "I'll get my hands on some items for you."

"Hey you wanna learn how to cheat the sy- I mean make good sales? Follow me."

Well, don't mind if I do, Jackpot thought to himself as he followed along behind the mysterious youth who had abruptly accosted him. He had felt at a loss ever since getting trapped in this game, his usual tricks and trades going unanswered. He wondered how the business was going on the outside. He wondered how his family was doing on the outside. In the end, they would be fine - he had taught them everything he knew. But he couldn't help but worry, at least a little bit.

It did feel weird following a kid around, though. What would passersby think? Luckily, they weren't outside for long, swiftly scurrying into an impossibly small shop tucked behind a much bigger inn. Had jackpot not been shown the place, he never would have guessed it existed at all. The boy led him into a back room, which looked like an absolute disaster. Various weapons, armors, trinkets, and more laid strewn about with wild abandon, their collective value surely astronomical.

Jackpot accepts the Gloves of Caerus, and remarks on how nice Bahr is.

Inventory
Consumables
- (3) Starter Healing Potions
>>> Heals 50 HP

Stats
Level: 10
HP: 200
EN: 20
DMG: 4
ACC: 1
EVA: 1


Skills
- One-Handed Curved Sword (Rank 1)
>>> +1 DMG

Equipment
- [E] Crescent Elegy (T1 Rare Curved Sword)
>>> +2 DMG

- [E] Red Coat of the Traveler (T1 Rare Light Armor)
>>> Savvy 1
>>> +1 EVA

- [E] Aeolus Wind Charm (T1 Rare Trinket)
>>> Keen 1
>>> +1 ACC

- Gloves of Caerus (T1 Perfect Clothing)
>>> +3 LD

Jackpot
Real Name
Jackson Lapot

Age
Twenty-one > Twenty-three

Gender
Male

Height
5'11"

Weight
"Now that's just rude."

Profession
None (yet)

Background
Imagine you're just an average salesman. You oscillate from job to job, never really finding a service or ware that you're particularly excited about. It doesn't matter what you're selling - all that truly matters is that you are selling. You're a novice at first, but you quickly excel at the craft. You hone your skills and graduate from a newbie to a novice to a professional to an expert. Eventually, you find the arena that you're most interested in - electronics. You discover that you really have a knack for them, and virtually any interface you interact with seems fluent and intuitive to you (much to the chagrin of your peers). You pour the entirety of yourself into the industry, learning the trends, familiarizing yourself with the upcoming breakthroughs, and practicing you pitch until it reaches perfection. 

Then, one day, the NerveGear launches. And you test it. And your life as you know it comes to an end.

But let's turn the clock back a bit.

Jackson didn't have the easiest upbringing. He was raised in the lesser coveted areas of a gigantic city, where nobody meant anything and revenue was sparse. Those who lived there were often forced to turn to less-than-legal ways of putting money in their pockets and food on the table. Jackson's family, and consequently Jackson, were no exception. An absent father, single mother and several mouths to feed. Jackson, of course, turned to the streets for answers. Selling whatever he could get his hands on, legal or not, so he could bring money into the household.

As usual, things went south. Caught. Roughed up. Chewed and spat by rival dealers, and his mother taken as compensation. She was returned days later in even worse condition than Jackson. They survived. Scraped by. Rallied, rebuilt, and carried on.

Around the time his mother died, Jackson was a man in every way but age. Forced to fend for his family, he dropped out of school (not like he was excelling there, anyways) and took to the streets full time. Squads amassed, wars fought, lives claimed and money made. His family lived like kings. And eventually, amidst the chaos of territory wars and tainted product, they were able to scrounge up enough to remove themselves from that vile environment and start doing life the right way. The 'good' way.

And as it turns out, doing things the right way is actually really difficult. In comparison to illegal trafficking, everything in the corporate sector was rigid and strictly controlled. Jackson roamed from job to job until he finally landed a gig at a tech retail establishment. He dove in headfirst, absorbing as much information as he possibly could regarding the industry and its inner workings. When offered the opportunity to test the NerveGear on launch day so he could better pitch it to his customers, he practically leapt at the opportunity.

Now he's in here. His family is out there. And he'll do whatever it takes to get them back.

Personality
Despite his checkered past, Jackson is best described as a hooligan. Never serious, constantly stirring up trouble, and always ready to get and dirty. He can shovel bucketloads of food down his gullet at a time, and is known to indulge in the spicier side of what life has to offer. For the most part, he seems to have left the part of him that participated in the atrocities of his youth behind - but every now and then, his old habits will bubble up to the surface.

Jackson prides himself on his wit and street smarts. He never had any need for academia or knowledge that comes from a book. He instead relies on his common sense and intuition to get things done. Don't let this fool you into believing he isn't intelligent enough to keep up; his knowledge is firmly rooted in the objective realities of life, love, happiness, philosophy, and good fortune. His occasional nuggets of wisdom will stop you in your tracks.

More than anything else, he is a crude businessman and will put profit ahead of anything else. He's a good friend until he isn't. He has resorted to betraying many a 'friend' in the past with nothing but a quick buck on the line. If it isn't his family, or those he considers close enough to be his family, he won't go out of his way to be a 'good guy' anymore. After all, just look where that's landed him. 

To get a deeper understanding of what fuels and drives his aloof and whimsical demeanor, one needs look no further than his virtues and flaws. Within them, you'll find the tools you need to begin deciphering his ulterior motives and the way that he treats his fellow man in general. Depending upon the perception of the beholder, Jackson may still seem like a street rat that is out for himself and his family alone. And while that may be true, but you can find family in the most unexpected of places - Aincrad being among them.

Virtues
Wit
With a sharp mind and an even sharper tongue, Jackson's quick-on-the-draw attitude leaves him well equipped to handle confrontations of the mental kind. Even if his knowledge of academia is lacking, he more than makes up for it with his wry wit and dry but on-the-nose sense of humor. Never a lull in the conversation, never a dull moment, and certainly never an embarrassing verbal blunder. He's quick, tactical, and deliberate. In most situations, he imagines himself to be the fastest thinker in the room at any given time. This obviously isn't true, but his verbal acuity and confidence might make you second guess.

Charm
Possessing wit comes with a slew of perks, namely charm. 'Awkwardness' is a taboo term for a person like Jackson. He can easily manipulate his personality into fitting whoever he is talking to in an effort to win them over. He not only can do this, but he likes doing this. This isn't to say that he manipulates people in this way - at least, not in any serious sense of the word. He is simply capable of fitting into any social scenario he is placed in and flourishing.

Determination
On the streets, those without determination were the first to be culled. They were taken advantage of, their mistakes exploited, their lack of conviction converted to cheap labor for the rest. Jackson's mother being taken from the family really just boiled down to a lack of determination on his part; he had not taken the situation seriously enough, and thus did not see the forest for the trees. It was not a mistake he ever made again. He may be aloof and whimsical in his demeanor, but beneath that lies a burning intensity to accomplish what he sets out to do.

Flaws
Deception
When you think back on the wealthy and powerful, the bourgeois and politicians, tech tycoons and oil pundits, what do you see? What Jackson sees is a series of liars, people with an almost sociopathic capacity to deceive the masses. And they're good at it. He doesn't see this as a bad thing, necessarily, in fact he does his best to emulate it in his own interactions. Keeping one's cards close to the vest and using the power of words to steer the conversation in a favorable direction is just a skill he carries around in his tool belt. Over the years, however, it has transitioned into a compulsion of sorts, and he will catch himself lying about things that don't even matter. Sometimes he even fools himself into believing things that are not true.

Uneducated
Jackson is a very intelligent individual. You can't make a meaningful living as an idiot. That being said, he falters in the area of what some might refer to as 'book smarts.' With only a rudimentary understanding in the arenas of writing, math, sciences, and history, the intellectual might come to recognize Jackson as a fool, or moron, or nitwit. The classes he did pay attention to were those dealing with economics and philosophy, which he ate up and digested every molecule of.

Cowardice
He might be the determined sort, but he's no fool. When faced with a situation that makes his adrenaline spike and fear crawl up his spine, he will do what he must to evade and remove himself from the situation. He views those in Aincrad that fight valiantly until their dying breath as ignorant morons who had a sheltered life growing up. How else could they be so foolish as to surrender their life to a hopeless cause? Any scenario in which his life is at stake is a scenario that he will hastily avoid like the plague.