InsaneJournal

The eldest son of Paul and Elizabeth Fortescue, an obstetrician and a reconstructive surgeon respectively, Jack grew up in a comfortably cushy environment. While he was relatively close to both of his parents, due to the time consuming nature of their work, Jack was and still is far closer to his younger brother and sister.

Their parents love them entirely, just spent a good deal of their time either working or on call. Paul Fortescue, especially, could be called away with little notice to deliver a baby. More than once, family weekends were cut short to accommodate a patient’s needs. But, it was made clear, dedication to your work is a good thing, as is devotion to your family.

Although his parents could afford a housekeeper to come in to not only clean the house, but make and serve meals as well, Jack enjoyed cooking. Most evenings, Jack was the one to help his siblings with their homework and make dinner for the three of them. After he was done volunteering at a neighborhood animal shelter for the day, of course, because he needed to plump up his resume for his veterinary school application.

School as a whole was easy for Jack. Studying did little for him, and advanced classes could definitely be defined as ‘a breeze.’ It was early on in life that he decided that he wanted to help people, especially those who had no others to help them. With some guidance from both of his parents, Jack decided that he wanted to do Embassy work in South and Central America. All his education efforts from junior year of high school onwards have been geared towards that goal.

During his sophomore year of college (at the University of New Mexico), Jack met a fellow student named Violet who took his breath away. He never really understood her, and likely he never will. Vi was exciting, a split between sweet and shy, and active and bold. She seemed perfect, despite his sister Katie’s disapproval of her as a girlfriend, and Jack was quickly on the way to love.

Two months into their relationship, Vi became increasingly erratic. Suddenly she was not answering his phone calls, missing dates, and would seemingly disappear for a week at a time. Without any real explanation of where she had been, when she returned.

One day, he confronted her about her bizarre behavior, only to literally stumble over a small wooden box that he had accidentally knocked off the table in her apartment earlier. Inside was a bottle of Xanax, as well as one of Oxycodone. Despite his concern, and insisting that she get help for her rapidly spiraling addiction to the substances, she refused to give them up. They broke up a minute after her final pronouncement that it was none of his business what she did with her life.

That was the only semester that his grades slipped below a 4.0.

Jack moved on, focusing on his schoolwork, although he did not exactly give up women or dating in general. In his junior year, he took off a semester to study abroad in Chile to expand his on the ground knowledge, and would not trade that experience in for anything. After returning to the States, he completed his undergraduate work without any further hitch, and was immediately accepted into a Master's program to get a degree in Latin American Studies.

His last semester ended December 20th, 2009, when he received his Master's Degree. Jack’s likely to spend at least the first week of the cruise just passed out in his cabin, recouping the sleep he’s missed out on lately. Relaxation seems just the thing...as long as he can get up and moving around once he's slept a week away.

Jack stands at about 5’11”, with brown eyes and dark to medium curly brown hair (depends on how much time he‘s spent out in the sun lately). His family’s Italian-American on his father’s side, Irish/Portuguese on his mother’s. With a big, wide grin never far from his lips and a year-round tan, he’s definitely not hard on the eyes.

Trying his hand at pretty much anything physical had kept him trim to the point of almost whip lean in his past. Jack currently packs enough muscle to be able to handle big angry dogs as well as get along while playing rugby with his buddies back at school. Thankfully he has bulked up somewhat in recent years, because he seriously was getting his ass kicked.

He moves with the loose limbed action of youth and constant motion, smooth and without hesitation. A bit of bounce there as well, as if his general contentedness just has to bleed through into every muscle fiber. Completely unselfconscious, until he catches anyone watching him. Then Jack switches from the sure sleekness he usually displays to flashes of awkward boyishness. It isn’t a conscious decision, so much as being unused to being the center of attention.

Jack’s all long and lean limbs, but all that means to him is that while he can exert himself in whatever sport he comes across, he does tend to trip over himself at times. Especially in the morning, when just woken up.

He claims that he keeps his face clean-shaven because it‘s just part of his normal routine. But the truth is…he knows he looks just plain weird when he‘s skipped more than one shave.

Dr. Paul Fortescue: Father - Obstetrician

Dr. Elizabeth Fortescue: Mother - Reconstructive Surgeon

Paul and Elizabeth have been together since medical school (she was a year ahead of him), and have a solidly comfortable marriage these last thirty something years. Despite the fact that they’re in their early fifties, they both regularly spend time overseas working with Doctors Without Borders. And have done so since Jack was in kindergarten.

Katie Aguilar nee Fortescue: Sister, age 23 - Working on a Political Science MA from the University of New Mexico. A 5’3”, redheaded political spitfire, Katie is always onto the next protest, the next political hot topic, wanting to to fix the world.

Luke Fortescue: Brother, age 20 - Biology major, Brown University. Like his brother, Luke’s always active and doing one task or another. Sometimes several tasks at once. He claims to have been a hellion on training wheels as a child, his family agrees.

Passenger or Staff: Passenger

Traveling With: Alone

Contest Entry: Voluntary, it was on a whim

Career/Job: Recent graduate. Employment in the works with the State Department to work in embassies on foreign soil. Specifically in countries where hands on work is needed.

Room: H Deck - 9218

Room:
H Deck - 9218 - Cloud Nine

One has to wonder if whoever was working reservations knew about Jack’s clumsiness, or if his room assignment is just a happy accident. This room was designed to resemble - a cloud! Everything in this room is white and soft to the touch - right down to the padded walls and floors. Even the sidetables have been padded and upholstered in white. In the center of the main room is a couch, as fluffy and inviting as a cloud itself, and two chez lounges. In the exact center of the room is a large, round coffee table. It too is padded and upholstered, though the fabric is much different. It depicts a scene of various immortals and mythical beings lounging on a cloud in the sky. It’s just a coffee table, but it’s a work of art in itself!

The bedroom is very similar, the only color in the room coming from the ceiling - which has been painted to depict another scene of immortals in the sky, this time at night. There are several dozen tiny fiber-optic lights that light up like stars. The room has a queen-sized bed and computer desk.

The bathroom is the only room that isn’t padded and white. Quite the opposite - every square inch of tile - be it on the floors, walls, ceiling, or counters - is painted in painstaking detail to represent the heavens. Gods, goddesses, and heroes can be found everywhere, as can all sorts of creatures - from dragons to griffons.

{there IS a flat screen TV on the wall in the main room. It'd be the only breakable thing in the room}