FYI I'm no acclaimed author - tenses might change and I might get a little turned around occasionally, but I was interested in putting this down somewhere. These stories are partially my own, partially the result of a series of roleplay adventures I was in online from 2001-2007... and partially a television show. It's basically just a bunch super random stuff that doesn't make much sense. But I think it gives a little insight as to how Jasette the character differs from the girl behind Jasette (Ali). I always speak in first person as Jasette on Gaia, and tbh her current life is basically mine, she just, ya know, lives in Gaia or whatever.
There are two ways of thought that Jas uses to approach her memories - one is that she has an abnormally familiar relationship with her past lives, and the other is that she is a physical amalgam of multiple versions of herself from multiple universes merged into one being due to, essentially, a glitch in time. She tends to lean toward the latter theory, as there are certain things that cannot be explained otherwise (like the scar on her face). [[note: there is an alternate history where, during an intense bout of depression, Jas gave herself that scar -- but I thought that was perhaps a little too dark, so it's basically AU]]
Here are the stories of Jasette's past, and how they combine to form Jas in her current state. The first three stories happen in completely separate timelines (although there's a bit of a twist at the end of the third).
The first story.
Jasette grew up in a small colony completely removed from modern society in a series of caves by a forest ( "Olympus" ). This colony existed since ancient Greece and started out as twelve philosophers (men and women) who wanted to literally be the Greek gods. They believed in the power of group thought and the power of faith; and thought that if they kept their number to twelve - by killing a senior when a child was born - and participated in daily rituals, they would eventually gain powers and become immortal. While this did not happen for the first generation, or the second, or the third, slowly but surely the cult attained extended life and a flickering flame of special abilities that ebbed and flowed as the group did. Because of the unstable nature of these powers, however, the "gods" were often murderous, treacherous creatures, and it was both a curse and a blessing to attain special abilities.
Eventually came a cycle of a cast of characters including our protagonist, Jasette, though at that time she went by Artemis (nicknamed Diana, Luna, Selene, et al).
The story here is quite complex but essentially Artemis fell for Hermes, who loved her too but was quite the manipulative villain, in the end. When Artemis shared the secret with him that she had power (she could communicate with animals and siphon energy from moonlight), Hermes, who also had some limited power himself (mostly unnatural speed) became thirsty for more, and both verbally and physically abused Artemis. He said he wanted to create the ultimate Zeus with her and was intent on impregnating her; this did not happen as he was impotent.
One night, after a particularly gruesome altercation that resulted in the scar on Artemis/Jasette's face, she ran - deep, deep into the forest, and hid in the sturdy branches of a wide oak tree, enlisting the help of her animal friends to lead Hermes away from her. When he finally gave up his search, he yelled into the forest, "every time you look at yourself now, you'll be reminded of the ultimate love you left behind."
From there the memories get fuzzy; she knows she lived in the forest for quite some time and honed her skills as a hunter.
The second story.
See Meryl from the anime Trigun.
That's it. That's the story. She was Meryl from Trigun. Go figure.
This portion of Jas' character is relatively unimportant but explains why she is good with guns (although she prefers not to use them) and is very pragmatic when it comes to damage control. Also, it's another example of a love story that just did not at all go her way (see: Vash).
The third story.
Jasette, now going by Meryl, approaches a bustling community in a city ( let's call it "Neopia" ) where literally everyone seems to be incredibly interesting. She sees a severely drunken man on a bridge, intent on jumping off, and rushes to talk him down. This man's name is Kaiba. Meryl rehabilitates Kaiba and reaches out to the community to join in day-to-day life. She becomes a mediator of sorts, attempting to quell conflict and prevent community members from resorting to violence to solve their problems. She even officiates some weddings! All this time, Kaiba remains by her side.
Meryl fell in love with Kaiba. They had a relatively stable relationship for quite some time despite Kaiba's remaining struggle with alcoholism. They got married and had a kid, James Lavos Kaiba, who grew at an inexplicably fast rate and had intelligence that greatly surpassed both of his parents' capabilities.
It is at this point in the third story that a rather huge wrench was thrown into the mix - Hermes, from our first story, somehow gained enough energy to cross universes (or simply timelines, depending on your theory) and track his Artemis, now Meryl, down.
He started out as a handsome, charming stranger who seemed oddly familiar to Meryl - calling himself "Zane." Zane befriended Meryl, and soon told her that he had seen the work she'd done in the community, and had to tell her something he saw the other night. He said perhaps it would be better to show her, and took her to the edge of the town where, unbeknownst to her, there was a brothel.
A brothel where Kaiba was currently a very well known patron.
Shattered and betrayed, Meryl leaned on Zane for support: both emotional and physical. She tried to forgive Kaiba because she loved him, but the damage had been done. Soon she was with child... and it was Zane's. Hermes, of course had also figured out a way around his impotency as well as travel through space-time.
When the child came, Zane attempted to gently reveal his connection to Meryl, but when the memories came flooding back, Meryl was paralyzed by fear and what felt like yet another betrayal. She attacked Zane, who fled, with Meryl's child in tow. Zane named the girl Kali. Kaiba, mad with fury and drunk af, joined with Meryl to defeat Zane and take back Kali. Both Zane and Kaiba died in the battle.
Meryl raised Kali and James alone (with some assistance from the community) from there on out. The remainder of her memories of this time are all incredibly angsty and not worth mention, except the fact that at one point she was able to physically morph into a black leopard. James ran a donut shop (ties to story 2) and Kali was pretty punk rock in general.
Present story:
Jasette does not have kids. She is, as of this writing, 26 years old, 5'8", a bit overweight with an hourglass figure, and essentially normal. Her favorite color is blue, her favorite number is 12, and she likes cats. On extremely rare occasions, she is able to siphon energy from the moon and communicate with animals. But whatever, that's not important to her. She majored in Theatre in college and is going to law school in fall of 2017.
The name Jasette derives from a french word that means "chit-chat" or "small talk" and hones in on Jas' desire for a simple life full of simple pleasures. The scar on her face, which she has had since she was born, reminds her of, rather than "the ultimate love [she] left behind," the ultimate love she holds within herself and bestows upon herself every single day, and the triumph of overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds to exist, and not only that, but to thrive. Her motto is Shakespeare's "to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."
Now, in relation to Gaia's plot and the founding of the Gambino Support Thread...
Her earliest solid memory of Gino is from when she was about five years old. The following is as written for me by the Gaian user Skeletongender in 2011, with a few edits by me for consistency...
Five times Gino forgot Jasette's birthday and one time he remembered.
+ 1 +
She was five years old when she met Gino Gambino. At that point in her life, last names meant nothing to her.
She had decided to go to the park while her parents were still sleeping and ended up getting a bit sidetracked. This was okay to do on the Isle. Nobody wanted to do anything to risk not living in a tropical paradise. What was not okay to do was sneak out of the house and go exploring in the gardens at the Gambino Manor. But five year old Jasette didn't know that; she knew that there were a lot of pretty flowers and she wanted to take some home for mommy.
Seven year old Gino loved to play in the garden. It was his favorite place. Father tried to keep him inside where it was 'safe' all the time, but sometimes when he was really busy Bucho would ask Cook to make up some yummy egg sandwiches and they would have breakfast outside so Gino could play. Bucho was really nice to Gino; he could never understand why everyone acted so scared of him. On picnic days, Gino always brought his favorite Gaiaman action figure as a lunch guest and after all the sandwiches were gone and the crusts left in the duck pond, Gino and Gaiaman would fly around the gardens saving the beautiful flowers from Horrible Peril.
Gino and Gaiaman were in the middle of a fierce battle with a giant killer butterfly when they discovered the blue-haired intruder rushing towards them.
"Hey don't kill butterflies!" she shouted angrily, swatting it away and turning her best angry face at the boy.
"I wasn't gonna kill it!" he protested. "I was just about to turn on the Reverser Ray and make it a regular butterfly again that's not killer, but you ruined it!" He shot an angry face right back at her.
"Oh. Okay, then. Hey, is that Gaiaman?" She pointed at the action figure resting all but forgotten at Gino's side. He lit up, excitedly waving the figure in front of her.
"Yeah! It's his old costume but the new toys don't even make whooshing sounds when you shake them, so this one's coolest!"
"I never played a Gaiaman doll before," she whispered, making grab hands at the one being flown around in front of her, indeed whooshing like a true hero. "Can I play with it for a little bit?"
"Sure, I guess," Gino hesitated. "But not yet. We haven't even saved you from the evil poison pollen, but then you can be the sidekick after that and save me!"
"Okay! Wait, where's the pollen?"
"It's in the flowers. I learned about it from my tutor. The flowers have pollen that goes in the air and makes more flowers." He might have been showing off how smart he was. "Go by the flowers and pretend to get poisoned when you smell them! No wait don't touch them, the gardener hates people touching the flowers!"
"Sorry! They smell pretty though!" They had to shout now because she had picked out some pretty blue flowers far away.
"Yeah, I know! Hey, what's your name for when I save you?"
"I'm Jasette! I've five years old today!"
"That's your pretend name?"
"No, it's my name name! It's my birthday!"
"Oh, okay! What's your pretend name?"
"Uh... Flower!"
"Okay! Now smell the flowers and pretend like they're poisoned!"
Jasette-Flower sniffed the blue flowers deeply and then fell over, not really knowing what happened when people got poisoned. Luckily Gino didn't know either.
Two hours later, Jasette had to say goodbye to Gino. Bucho had contacted her parents immediately upon discovering her name, but neither party could bring themselves to break up the surprise playdate. By the time her parents pulled her away for birthday breakfast, Jasette and Gino were fast friends. Nobody mentioned inviting Gino to the birthday party because his father was scheduled to take him fishing that afternoon, Jasette forgot to ask, and Gino forgot it was her birthday at all.
+ 2 +
The day before Jasette’s seventh birthday, she and Gino had a fight. Whether they’d fought or not would have made no difference in Gino’s attendance to her party because it was Girls Only, which was actually the source of the argument in the first place.
The issue was cooties.
Jasette knew that Gino didn’t have cooties, but none of her other friends did and because Gino was homeschooled there was no chance to prove his immunity before the party. Gino, being tutored by the brightest minds in the country, knew for a fact that cooties weren’t real, and if Jasette was going to uninvite him because of some stupid fake disease, well, he didn’t want to hang out with a bunch of dumb girls, anyway.
+ 3 +
Jasette’s 13th birthday party was, miraculously, a success even with the disappointment of Gino not being there.
Sometime during age 12, all of her friends had fallen in love with him, something about him being older (by two years), pretty (she had to give him that, despite his freak eyebrows and being her best friend), private school (mysterious), nice (a rare trait in boys anymore), and the only son of the richest man in Gaia. He was something of a celebrity. So the depression that fell over the girls when Johnny Gambino took his son on a surprise business vacation the day before the party was thicker than the ice cream cake everyone was no longer excited for.
To be fair, Gino didn’t forget this birthday, either. While opening gifts, she discovered the newest Leonard DiCapricorn movie, and a handwritten note of apology from his father that read as follows:
Gino’s present was immediately useful. No girl could resist the dreamboat that was Leonard DiCapricorn, and the remainder of the slumber party was dedicated to him.
+ 4 +
Once more in the name of fairness, Gino couldn’t be blamed for forgetting the birthday of a person he couldn’t remember to begin with.
Looking back, Jasette regretted not spending more time with Gino after he resurfaced, given what happened afterward with the tower and the being lost at sea for months and once again assumed dead, but it was so hard to be around him like they’d only just met. His short term memory had also suffered a bit of a blow, and she sometimes found herself having to reintroduce herself from one day to the next, only for him to brighten up right before she left, so excited to see her again.
So she really tried not to be upset when he didn’t make it to her 15th birthday party.
Bucho turned up towards the end with a carefully wrapped CD and a card with money, too much money inside.
“It’s just classical,” Bucho said, in reference to the CD, “but it’s all he’s been listening to lately. Seems to brighten his mood while you’re gone.”
“Thank you,” she said without expression. “I can’t wait to listen to it.”
He glanced at his watch, clearly on a tight schedule. “It’s hard for him, too, you know. He knows he should know everyone he sees and instead gets to watch everyone he should love act like it doesn’t hurt when he doesn’t. None of you are any good at it.” He stuck out his hand, offering the closest anyone ever got to a hug from Bucho. “Happy birthday, young one.”
+ 5 +
The following is the ending to this story that skeletongender wrote, which is not strictly "canon", as it were, (neither is the letter directly above this) but is really delightful.
+ 1 +
She was five years old when she met Gino Gambino. At that point in her life, last names meant nothing to her.
She had decided to go to the park while her parents were still sleeping and ended up getting a bit sidetracked. This was okay to do on the Isle. Nobody wanted to do anything to risk not living in a tropical paradise. What was not okay to do was sneak out of the house and go exploring in the gardens at the Gambino Manor. But five year old Jasette didn't know that; she knew that there were a lot of pretty flowers and she wanted to take some home for mommy.
Seven year old Gino loved to play in the garden. It was his favorite place. Father tried to keep him inside where it was 'safe' all the time, but sometimes when he was really busy Bucho would ask Cook to make up some yummy egg sandwiches and they would have breakfast outside so Gino could play. Bucho was really nice to Gino; he could never understand why everyone acted so scared of him. On picnic days, Gino always brought his favorite Gaiaman action figure as a lunch guest and after all the sandwiches were gone and the crusts left in the duck pond, Gino and Gaiaman would fly around the gardens saving the beautiful flowers from Horrible Peril.
Gino and Gaiaman were in the middle of a fierce battle with a giant killer butterfly when they discovered the blue-haired intruder rushing towards them.
"Hey don't kill butterflies!" she shouted angrily, swatting it away and turning her best angry face at the boy.
"I wasn't gonna kill it!" he protested. "I was just about to turn on the Reverser Ray and make it a regular butterfly again that's not killer, but you ruined it!" He shot an angry face right back at her.
"Oh. Okay, then. Hey, is that Gaiaman?" She pointed at the action figure resting all but forgotten at Gino's side. He lit up, excitedly waving the figure in front of her.
"Yeah! It's his old costume but the new toys don't even make whooshing sounds when you shake them, so this one's coolest!"
"I never played a Gaiaman doll before," she whispered, making grab hands at the one being flown around in front of her, indeed whooshing like a true hero. "Can I play with it for a little bit?"
"Sure, I guess," Gino hesitated. "But not yet. We haven't even saved you from the evil poison pollen, but then you can be the sidekick after that and save me!"
"Okay! Wait, where's the pollen?"
"It's in the flowers. I learned about it from my tutor. The flowers have pollen that goes in the air and makes more flowers." He might have been showing off how smart he was. "Go by the flowers and pretend to get poisoned when you smell them! No wait don't touch them, the gardener hates people touching the flowers!"
"Sorry! They smell pretty though!" They had to shout now because she had picked out some pretty blue flowers far away.
"Yeah, I know! Hey, what's your name for when I save you?"
"I'm Jasette! I've five years old today!"
"That's your pretend name?"
"No, it's my name name! It's my birthday!"
"Oh, okay! What's your pretend name?"
"Uh... Flower!"
"Okay! Now smell the flowers and pretend like they're poisoned!"
Jasette-Flower sniffed the blue flowers deeply and then fell over, not really knowing what happened when people got poisoned. Luckily Gino didn't know either.
Two hours later, Jasette had to say goodbye to Gino. Bucho had contacted her parents immediately upon discovering her name, but neither party could bring themselves to break up the surprise playdate. By the time her parents pulled her away for birthday breakfast, Jasette and Gino were fast friends. Nobody mentioned inviting Gino to the birthday party because his father was scheduled to take him fishing that afternoon, Jasette forgot to ask, and Gino forgot it was her birthday at all.
+ 2 +
The day before Jasette’s seventh birthday, she and Gino had a fight. Whether they’d fought or not would have made no difference in Gino’s attendance to her party because it was Girls Only, which was actually the source of the argument in the first place.
The issue was cooties.
Jasette knew that Gino didn’t have cooties, but none of her other friends did and because Gino was homeschooled there was no chance to prove his immunity before the party. Gino, being tutored by the brightest minds in the country, knew for a fact that cooties weren’t real, and if Jasette was going to uninvite him because of some stupid fake disease, well, he didn’t want to hang out with a bunch of dumb girls, anyway.
+ 3 +
Jasette’s 13th birthday party was, miraculously, a success even with the disappointment of Gino not being there.
Sometime during age 12, all of her friends had fallen in love with him, something about him being older (by two years), pretty (she had to give him that, despite his freak eyebrows and being her best friend), private school (mysterious), nice (a rare trait in boys anymore), and the only son of the richest man in Gaia. He was something of a celebrity. So the depression that fell over the girls when Johnny Gambino took his son on a surprise business vacation the day before the party was thicker than the ice cream cake everyone was no longer excited for.
To be fair, Gino didn’t forget this birthday, either. While opening gifts, she discovered the newest Leonard DiCapricorn movie, and a handwritten note of apology from his father that read as follows:
Gino’s present was immediately useful. No girl could resist the dreamboat that was Leonard DiCapricorn, and the remainder of the slumber party was dedicated to him.
+ 4 +
Once more in the name of fairness, Gino couldn’t be blamed for forgetting the birthday of a person he couldn’t remember to begin with.
Looking back, Jasette regretted not spending more time with Gino after he resurfaced, given what happened afterward with the tower and the being lost at sea for months and once again assumed dead, but it was so hard to be around him like they’d only just met. His short term memory had also suffered a bit of a blow, and she sometimes found herself having to reintroduce herself from one day to the next, only for him to brighten up right before she left, so excited to see her again.
So she really tried not to be upset when he didn’t make it to her 15th birthday party.
Bucho turned up towards the end with a carefully wrapped CD and a card with money, too much money inside.
“It’s just classical,” Bucho said, in reference to the CD, “but it’s all he’s been listening to lately. Seems to brighten his mood while you’re gone.”
“Thank you,” she said without expression. “I can’t wait to listen to it.”
He glanced at his watch, clearly on a tight schedule. “It’s hard for him, too, you know. He knows he should know everyone he sees and instead gets to watch everyone he should love act like it doesn’t hurt when he doesn’t. None of you are any good at it.” He stuck out his hand, offering the closest anyone ever got to a hug from Bucho. “Happy birthday, young one.”
+ 5 +
The following is the ending to this story that skeletongender wrote, which is not strictly "canon", as it were, (neither is the letter directly above this) but is really delightful.
- 1 -
Morning.
Quiet.
That never happened anymore.
Jasette slowly opened her eyes to find two wide sets of eyes, one gray and one almost purple, eagerly watching her. The little faces attached to those eyes lit up when they noticed she was awake.
“Mommy!!” two squeaky voices shouted in unison. “Mommy! Happy birthday, Mommy! We made you these!”
Two sparkly, cut-up, unevenly folded sheets of construction paper flapped in front of her face, raining shoddily glued glitter that made the whole scene look like the good bit of a Lifetime movie. It took some coaxing to get the little ones to stop waving them about so she could look at the cards properly, set them aside, and pull her children in for a thank-you (and let-Mommy-sleep-a-little-longer) cuddle.
It lasted about five minutes before they remembered their assignment and shook her awake, teaming up to pull her hands and get her out of bed.
“Mommy, mommy, c’mon!” they cried. “Daddy made breakfast, c’mon!”
She had little choice but to be led down the hall, not that she wanted to struggle as the smell of bacon grease mixed with syrup and happiness reached her nose. Before long, the kids brought her round the corner to face the most beautiful thing she could possibly dream of: the man she loved serving up birthday breakfast he made himself. Not that Gino wasn't a regular cook, or even that he only made breakfast on special occasions.
Maybe it was the glitter still in her eyes from the homemade cards or the clump of candles stuck in the french toast in front of her on the table. Maybe it was the sincerity with which her small and perfect family sung her Happy Birthday. Perhaps it was the love that shone, and would always shine, in her husband's eyes after all these years as he dished out generous portions of hashbrowns to everyone, even the kids who claimed to hate 'half-browns' despite always asking for seconds. Maybe it was all of these, maybe it was something else entirely that she couldn't put her finger on. But whatever it was, she couldn't stop smiling. This, just like always, was the best birthday ever.
Morning.
Quiet.
That never happened anymore.
Jasette slowly opened her eyes to find two wide sets of eyes, one gray and one almost purple, eagerly watching her. The little faces attached to those eyes lit up when they noticed she was awake.
“Mommy!!” two squeaky voices shouted in unison. “Mommy! Happy birthday, Mommy! We made you these!”
Two sparkly, cut-up, unevenly folded sheets of construction paper flapped in front of her face, raining shoddily glued glitter that made the whole scene look like the good bit of a Lifetime movie. It took some coaxing to get the little ones to stop waving them about so she could look at the cards properly, set them aside, and pull her children in for a thank-you (and let-Mommy-sleep-a-little-longer) cuddle.
It lasted about five minutes before they remembered their assignment and shook her awake, teaming up to pull her hands and get her out of bed.
“Mommy, mommy, c’mon!” they cried. “Daddy made breakfast, c’mon!”
She had little choice but to be led down the hall, not that she wanted to struggle as the smell of bacon grease mixed with syrup and happiness reached her nose. Before long, the kids brought her round the corner to face the most beautiful thing she could possibly dream of: the man she loved serving up birthday breakfast he made himself. Not that Gino wasn't a regular cook, or even that he only made breakfast on special occasions.
Maybe it was the glitter still in her eyes from the homemade cards or the clump of candles stuck in the french toast in front of her on the table. Maybe it was the sincerity with which her small and perfect family sung her Happy Birthday. Perhaps it was the love that shone, and would always shine, in her husband's eyes after all these years as he dished out generous portions of hashbrowns to everyone, even the kids who claimed to hate 'half-browns' despite always asking for seconds. Maybe it was all of these, maybe it was something else entirely that she couldn't put her finger on. But whatever it was, she couldn't stop smiling. This, just like always, was the best birthday ever.
The most concrete information we can glean from Jasette's story regarding Gino is that they were good friends when they were young, but after his bout of amnesia (which unfortunately coincided with the age of puberty and feelings that arose consequently), concrete examples of the reciprocal connection between the two are tenuous at best and mere fiction at worst. Though, she does have that Gino body pillow that says "For Jas" on it. Would she really make that for herself?
In any case, Jasette has remained a staunch supporter of both Gino and his father Johnny throughout her life, and at the age of 15, founded the Gambino Support Thread, which became one of the longest threads (by post count and longevity) to ever exist in the Gaia Community Discussion forum. Jas continues to commit herself to grassroots outreach to support Gino in his adventures and in his current fight against Nyx to save all of Gaia.
