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Name/Nickname: Jay Campion (AKA Jason Stuart Rosedale, Jason, JJ/Jay-Jay, Campy, Campion the Chameleon)
Gender: Male
Birthdate/"Permanent" Story Age/Astrological Sign: NA; late twenties/thirties; Gemini
Birthplace/Current Location: Rugby, North Dakota; Minot, North Dakota
Height: 5'8"
Weight/Body Type: Slightly below average; slender/wiry
Eyes: Light green
Hair: Bleached blond (naturally medium brown); short/spiky
Race/Ethnic Background: Caucasian; European-American
Relationship Status: Single but casually involved with several people (primarily Manuela Zamorano, favorite prostitute/girlfriend)
Orientation: Aromantic pansexual, no preference
Siblings: Michelle Rosedale (older sister)
Profession: Cult enforcer/hitman (previously prostitute)
Distinguishing Characteristics: Various tattoos; track marks on right arm; "creepy" smile
General Appearance: Usually dresses in tight jeans and T-shirt which accentuate his figure, black leather jacket, high black lace-up boots, earrings, occasionally a necklace or bracelet; very flirtatious (toward both men and women), makes frequent use of endearments (sweetie, hon, etc.), juvenile sense of humor; rare but incredibly violent outbursts of rage
First Appeared In: IDentity(?)
Character Summary: "Jay Campion" is the assumed name of Jason Rosedale, but considering that the "Campion" personality has long held near-total executive control over the body, this will be regarded as the name by which he's best known.
After being molested by the family babysitter, Jason Rosedale's older sister, Michelle "Mike" Rosedale, began avoiding him whenever he visited, assuming that the worst was past until she learned that he'd turned his attention to Jason. As soon as she found this out, she told their parents that she was old enough to babysit Jason now, and the babysitter was let go (without the Rosedale parents being any the wiser). The damage had already been done, however, with Mike developing various anxiety issues, and Jason becoming prone to dissociating to deal with stress. As time passed they started to heal, until one day while they waited for the school bus, Jason was kidnapped by a couple in a car; Mike attempted to chase after it but was unsuccessful, and by the time she reached home to tell her parents, her brother was long gone.
The kidnappers, Rich and Stella, disguised Jason's appearance by cutting and dyeing his hair, and the trio lived in their trailer, Jason playing the part of Stella's "son." Stella was as much a victim of the violent and abusive Rich as was Jason; she attempted to shield him from the worst of Rich's anger, but was unable to prevent Rich from raping him one day. As Jason dissociated, he watched himself "switch places" with a boy who resembled him but had an unnerving smile; then Stella broke into the room, killing Rich with a shotgun blast and bludgeoning the corpse in a screaming rage. Police were alerted to the noise, finding a mute half-naked boy, a dead battered body, and a shrieking woman covered in blood; the incoherent Stella was taken into custody for murder, while Jason, traumatized and unable to tell the police or social workers anything about himself or what had really happened, went into the foster system.
Things didn't improve much there, with Jason being shuttled through various homes, a few of them abusive, others not, though he would often end up running away or getting in trouble although he remembered little of it. After fleeing one home he was informally taken in by an older man who was kind to him, but their relationship soon turned sexual in nature. Jason again started experiencing the odd sensation of leaving himself behind while the strange lookalike boy took his place. When he reached his teens and his caretaker considered him "too old," he was essentially sold to a "boys' home" which in reality was a brothel of mostly underaged prostitutes, run by a man named Clint. Here, Jason was relatively well cared for, with decent housing and regular meals, but was expected to cover his expenses by servicing clients; when he broke down in terror the first time, Clint shot him up with heroin to calm him down, and the alternate personality with the creepy smile came out, while Jason retreated inside to safety. After the client departed, the teenager informed Clint that he preferred to go by the name Jay; seeming displeased by his reflection, he again cut and bleached his hair blond. Clint, unsettled by "Jay's" abrupt change in attitude, nevertheless granted his request. Jay quickly earned a reputation for his skills at granting clients whatever they requested and for quickly picking up on what they desired, and his services were frequently asked for, though heroin was required to keep Jay in control and Jason compliant. Clint considered this a small price to pay, given how much business Jay brought to the place. On reaching eighteen and "aging out" of the clientele's preferences (though Clint offered to let him stay longer, given his youthful looks), Jay set out on his own as a streetwalker, though Clint still occasionally sent clients his way when they requested him, and Jay would give him a cut of his earnings in return. A few times Jay returned to the brothel to spend a night and recuperate after an unpleasant experience with a trick or a turn of bad luck, though the latter was rare considering how popular he was; Clint also kept him safely supplied with heroin. Jay took the surname "Campion" from a customer who paid him for a night yet didn't request sex; he offered him a place to say, though Jay refused. This, combined with his ability to grant clients almost anything they asked for (he liked to refer to himself as "flexible") and change his behavior to suit various situations, earned him the nickname "Campion the Chameleon."
One night, a john requested that Campion pretend to be nonconsenting, but was skeptical that he could convincingly fulfill the request; yet Campion agreed, merely saying that afterward, his client should say to him, "I want to talk to somebody else." When the client, David, also agreed, Campion fell limp for a moment, then came to, with an abrupt change of attitude--panicking and struggling. He repeatedly insisted that his name was Jason and he hadn't consented to the encounter, that someone else had, and this was this other person's way of punishing him. The encounter occurred anyway, and afterward, when David said he wanted to talk to somebody else, Campion again fell limp and then came to, seemingly his old self. David paid him and offered him the chance to stay the night, which Campion refused; David asked him his name again, and Campion, appearing to see through the question, said it was "Jay, short for Jason." When David left and then returned to the bedroom he found that Campion had stolen one of his collectible knives and gone.
David returned to his place of employment, where he spoke with his superiors, describing the encounter and suggesting that Campion be tracked down as a potential recruit for their business, given his apparent skill of possessing more than one personality, and being able to switch at will--a talent considered highly valuable by his employers. Leslie Henrick, a fellow employee of lesser standing, was sent out to pose as a john, asking at Clint's establishment how he could get in touch with "Jay Campion." Clint set up a meeting for the two at a nearby motel. Campion arrived as planned, but, quickly ascertaining that Henrick wasn't interested in going through with the encounter, asked what his real interest in him was. As soon as Henrick indicated he knew of Campion's multiplicity, Campion pulled the knife on him and hinted that Henrick had the wrong person; Henrick attempted to explain the situation, and showed Campion the money and heroin he was prepared to offer as payment. Campion consented to Henrick's request that he switch (again with the stipulation that Henrick use the phrase, "I want to talk to somebody else"), and the dumbfounded Henrick saw Jason for himself before triggering Campion's return. Campion guessed from the sparse information Henrick gave that he was in fact employed by a cult, a fact that he found amusing; he was even more amused by Henrick's questioning about his moral stance on activities such as drug-running and prostitution. He agreed to accompany Henrick back to his place of employment (which Henrick vaguely referred to as "The Company"), where he again met David and several higher-ups who requested that he demonstrate his switching abilities a second time. Although growing annoyed, Campion did so, and was then led to a large personal suite where he was expected to stay as he was assessed and a decision made regarding his employment. The first psychological test Campion took for The Company came back with "perfect" scores, which the consulting psychiatrist explained meant that Campion must have given the answers he expected they wanted to hear; a second, more honest test strongly indicated sociopathy, and Henrick warned his superiors against employing him, since he figured Campion would be too unreliable for such a position. David spoke up in Campion's favor and Henrick's objection was overriden; to his shock and dismay, Henrick was then given the position of Campion's handler, making him responsible for Campion's training and oversight. The situation was made even more bothersome by Campion's habit of frequently propositioning and embarrassing the uptight Henrick, whom he took to calling "Henny-Penny."
Campion's often childish manners and sense of humor disguise the fact that he's actually quite intelligent and self-educated, a fact he used to his advantage when starting out with The Company; he quickly learned how to use computers and Company resources to access private databases, and managed to find out information on his sister, Michelle Rosedale, now a police officer. Upon discovering a rape report that had been filed when she was eighteen, and further learning that the case had never gone to trial since the evidence had accidentally been disposed of, he tracked down her superior and the officer who had taken the rape report, Sgt. Jeremy Virtanen, who was hospitalized with terminal cancer. Virtanen, who had also worked the original Jason Rosedale kidnapping case, was stunned to come face to face with Campion, but willingly gave over the names of the rape suspects when Campion hinted that he could take care of the problem. In his new position as enforcer, Campion had been promised one "free" job of his own choosing; he located two of the three suspects and killed them before the third went into hiding. Virtanen never revealed the details of Campion's visit before he died and so the murders went unsolved, though they established Campion's signature of particularly brutal and gory hits. Mike Rosedale was rattled by the murders, but as she had an alibi, was never considered a suspect. Campion had cashed in his free hit.
During the investigation of a missing family, Det. Rosedale contacted Det. Max Kristeva of the Minot Police Department for assistance, knowing of his track record closing cold missing person cases; she also asked, informally, that he look into the disappearance of her brother, which had broken up not only her parents' marriage but her own. Campion met with the detectives personally, not revealing his true identity, offering information on the family's case as a pretense for finding out how much they already knew. When he had no more reason to disguise himself he confronted Rosedale in her home, where she drew a gun on him; he made a reference to their childhood babysitter before leaving her, stunned and shaking--nobody else knew about that, except Jason. When Rosedale later described the situation to Kristeva, unable to reconcile the murderous, sociopathic Campion with the sweet-natured Jason, Kristeva seemed just as perplexed, hinting that he had a possible explanation but it only made sense if Jason had a history of childhood trauma. Rosedale confirmed that this was so, at which Kristeva offered to explain what might be happening, by letting her meet someone else; the "someone else" was one of Kristeva's alternate personalities, whom he called out to speak with the dumbfounded Rosedale.
Campion had himself already picked up on Kristeva's multiplicity, and learned through The Company--a branch of the same cult responsible for Kristeva's childhood abuse--that a specific, cult-programmed alter could be called out via a particular dial tone--a fact that he successfully tested for himself, though he refused to make more use of it. Instead of viewing Kristeva as an enemy and traitor to the cult--for Kristeva had originally been intended to occupy a position much similar to Campion's, yet had resisted and joined the police force--Campion saw him as a kindred spirit, one of the few people able to understand the exact situation he was in. The two developed an odd friendly rivalry, which was often complicated by the fact that Campion despised Kristeva's partner, Det. Chance Devetko, after Devetko successfully defended himself from Campion and left Campion sorely injured as a result. Kristeva also managed to confiscate Campion's personal laptop, and Campion had to concede the loss when Kristeva invoked Campion's own rule of "Finders, keepers; losers, weepers"--though immediately after, Campion destroyed his motel room in a rage, and left Kristeva a warning message on the wall, "ONE + TWO + THREE = SIX, COME OUT COME OUT & PLAY." Only Kristeva and Devetko understood that the message meant Campion was aware of Kristeva's other personalities and seemed prepared to share this information with the public, possibly endangering Kristeva's job; but nothing further came of the threat.
On the laptop, it was discovered that more hard drive space had been taken up than could be explained by the sparse files and programs visible; an alternate user account had been created. Upon guessing the username and password based on what he knew of Campion's history, Kristeva found a large collection of video files titled by date; to his surprise, these turned out to be videos secretly recorded by Jason Rosedale, on the brief occasions when he had executive control of the body. Jason explained, via the videos, how Campion had taken over permanently after Clint had introduced him to heroin, and that it was the drug which helped keep him in control while Jason "slept" inside. Jason was "freed" only occasionally, usually when Campion wished to punish him for some reason, most often in the context of nonconsensual sexual encounters with johns; this had mostly ceased following his employment by The Company, though Jason was still basically a prisoner in his mind, and subject to Campion's whims. And not only this, but there were at least two other personalities he knew of--JJ/Jay-Jay, a female or transgender version of Campion (her attributes and attitude were much similar to Campion's, though she lacked his destructive temper and lack of conscience in hurting others), and an unseen, violent personality who was responsible for the grotesque brutality of Campion's hits and occasional violent temper. This fourth personality was at first assumed to be based on Rich, but over time it became clear it was in fact based on Stella when she had killed and bludgeoned Rich in a murderous rage. Kristeva shared the videos with Rosedale, so she could better understand her brother's situation, but ended up keeping the laptop for himself; watching the recordings was almost like Jason was talking to him personally, and helped relieve a bit of the isolation Kristeva felt over his circumstances.
In the videos, Jason revealed that he had slightly more power than Campion knew or believed, as evidenced not only by the fact that he'd managed to create the alternate user account and conceal the videos from Campion's awareness via a small mental block, but also by how, similar to Kristeva, he'd created a detailed "interior world" for JJ, himself, and the "Stella" personality--nicknamed the Star Monster--to inhabit when not in executive control. Jason earned JJ's trust and alliance by modeling the interior world after a lifesize, purple Victorian dollhouse, as per her wishes; and the Star Monster was locked safely away in the cellar, behind a door emblazoned with a star.
When Campion was assaulted by Sandoval, a fellow enforcer, Jason voluntarily assumed control of the body to take the trauma on himself, pushing Campion temporarily into the interior world and giving away his secret; after the assault was over and Campion had resumed control, he sent JJ out and confronted Jason in the dollhouse. Jason cringed away, expecting to be beaten or otherwise punished, but all that Campion did was kiss his forehead before retreating, a confused JJ returning in his place. Later, Campion lured Sandoval to an empty building under the pretext of sex, but tortured and murdered him instead, in his typical horrendous fashion. Afterward, he called Henrick, who was shocked into silence by the gory scene; when he asked, "What did you do?" Campion replied, simply, "He had it coming"--the same words he'd used when describing Rich's murder to Henrick in the past. Henrick realized what the comment signified, and that the seemingly random killing was in fact done in revenge; he called a team of cleaners to take care of the scene, and brought Campion back to Company headquarters, ordering him to keep his mouth shut and let him do the talking. Unused to the normally meek Henrick taking control, Campion obeyed. Sandoval's handler, infuriated by the situation, demanded Campion's termination; while Henrick, who had vehemently protested Campion's employment in the first place, and had despised every moment spent with him, spoke up in his defense, citing Campion's particular skill set, which Sandoval had lacked. Company superiors determined that it would be a greater loss to let Campion go, given the rarity of male multiples, and Sandoval was written off as expendable. The icy tension between Campion and Henrick gradually lessened after this incident; over time Henrick reluctantly came to realize that he was in fact attracted to his charge, something he'd attempted to deny from the beginning, and since relations between handlers and their charges weren't specifically prohibited by The Company, the two entered a tentative sexual relationship.
Campion was already involved in several casual relationships, having a habit of picking up prostitutes in his spare time, though taking them back to Company headquarters was prohibited; he preferred frequenting cheap motels like those he was familiar with in his past. A transgender prostitute named Manuela quickly became his favorite, since he had no complaint about her being pre-op, and she was willing to occasionally join him in shooting up, plus seemed to have no interest in prying into his professional life. After she was accidentally introduced to JJ, Campion seriously considered killing her, to maintain his secret; Manuela kept her head, making it clear she didn't plan to share the information with anyone or even ask questions. Campion decided to spare her, and even occasionally let JJ take his place when the two of them met. Manuela is the only one he'll allow to shoot him up, as she once did so when he was too weak and ill from withdrawal. Although he's unable to love, trust, or truly empathize with anyone else, Manuela, Henrick, Kristeva, and his sister are the people to whom he comes closest.
Some time after Deputy Tracy Hatcher was abducted by two men and held captive and repeatedly assaulted for four days before she managed to escape, her normally strait-laced partner, Deputy Kennard Scott, intimidated Manuela into getting him in touch with Campion. He requested that Campion track down and kill the men in the most painful and gruesome manner possible, a request that gave even Campion pause. Nevertheless, he accepted the job, though he refused Scott's money, telling him, "They don't pay you guys nearly enough to handle the kinds of fees I'm charging." He said that Scott could owe him a favor, instead. He succeeded in locating the two assailants, Perry and Lou, and tortured them for four days before finishing them off and leaving the bodies for the police to find. Kristeva suspected that Scott was involved somehow, but, having no proof, didn't pursue the matter.
Deputy Scott, meanwhile, uneasily waited for Campion to cash in on his "favor"; when it finally came, he was confused to learn that it consisted merely of delivering a large envelope to a defense attorney. The attorney was just as perplexed by Scott's visit, and opened the envelope to see what was inside; it turned out to be various files which, he informed Scott, might help his client earn early parole or even have their conviction overturned. He explained that his client was a woman doing time for second-degree murder after she shot her abusive boyfriend for assaulting a boy then in their care. Scott didn't understand the significance of the case, and didn't wish to, merely wishing the attorney good luck before departing, his debt to Campion settled.
More recently, Campion offered to track down and dispose of one of Kristeva's childhood abusers, Luke Jonas, even though Jonas was himself employed by the cult and targeting him would be a conflict of interest. Kristeva refused the offer, saying he could find Jonas on his own, though Campion kept the offer open and still occasionally feeds the detective small pieces of useful information regarding some of his cases, without directly endangering his own position in The Company. This indicates that, while he won't outright betray his own employers, he's not blindly devoted to them either, and is not above taking advantage of interpersonal conflicts among different branches of the cult for his own benefit, especially if it allows him the chance to target a child predator.
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