Jason Cohen

A long-time friend of Alex and the boyfriend of Amber Maddox. He first appeared in *Good Intentions*.

## Biography

Jason Cohen was born two days before Christmas, that is December 22 or 23.⁠ His family was a protective and conservative Jewish family.⁠⁠ He went to the same high school as Alex and started studying sciences at University of Washington with some scholarships after high school graduation.⁠

He was the gamemaster of a roleplaying group consisting of Alex, Eric, Amanda, Carrie, and Robbie. A captive dragon managed to reach Jason with a subconscious intradimensonal message, inspiring him to run a Conanesque D&D game with Bel-Danab as the antagonist. The game never finished, as Amanda and Eric managed to catch the real Bel-Danab’s attention, bringing them to his plane.⁠

### Encountering the Shadows

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> “Now, we both know that all this supernatural stuff is real. I’ve seen demons and werewolves and shit now, right? But that just means that I can study them—theoretically, anyway, ’cause I don’t want to make a habit of this shit—and then I can figure out what they really are. And then they go from being a ‘monster’ to being a specific kind of animal.”
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— Jason, *Natural Consequences*, chapter 9

Jason’s first conscious exposure to the Shadows was the pool hall fight—the confrontation with Robert Gorge in Ahmed Kovac’s pool hall in September. A few days later he witnessed how Alex was abducted. He followed the abductors to Blackthorne Manor and notifed Drew, Wade, and Taylor, leading to them taking part in the Battle of Blackthorne Manor. During the battle he subdued and captured Lydia with a stun gun.⁠

Shortly afterwards he moved to his own apartment, due to his parents strongly disapproving of his Adventures in Britneyland with Britney and Brittany after Sherri’s party.⁠ However, the adventures ended with or soon after Amanda’s return and their tryst during the Great Open Teamspeak Mic incident.⁠⁠

### Meeting Amber

Jason was the initial target of the investigation by the Special Task Force into the Battle of Blackthorne Manor. He and Amber—the undercover agent—became attracted to each other. At the Emerald City Halloween Ball he, Alex, and Amber were abducted by Rosario, but rescued by Rachel in the Battle of the Bus Tunnel. The reveal of Amber as an FBI agent proved deeply troubling for both, but they managed to reconnect after the Battle of Magnuson Park⁠

He accompanied the Crew to the Practitioner meeting in January and assisted in the aftermath of the Battle of the Casino.⁠ He participated in the following Battle of Suite 1705 and was wounded there.

He is planning a transfer to a university in Los Angeles in summer in order to live closer to or together with Amber.⁠⁠

### Personal

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> “He’s not suave, I’ll grant, but he’s honest with himself about who he is. He’s a strong soul. Witty. Resourceful. Exceedingly brave and loyal.”
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— Lorelei, *Natural Consequences*, chapter 2

Jason is the most typical nerd of the Crew, with a sometimes limited understanding of social norms, interaction, or consequences. His approach to the supernatural and what he learns of it is highly analytical and scientific, and he is holding firm on his atheism, despite encounters with angels.⁠

He appears to be heterosexual. He is skinny with brown hair.⁠

He is a fan of Green Lantern.⁠⁠

## Relations

Jason’s relationship with his parents is complex, and they currently strongly disapprove of him and his romantic life.⁠

He is in a long-distance relationship with Amber.

After Sherri’s party he had a short-lived ménage à trois with Britney and Brittany—also known as Adventures in Britneyland.⁠ It ended partly due to his tryst with Amanda after her return from Bel-Danab’s plane that caused the Great Open Teamspeak Mic Incident.⁠⁠

His guardian angel is Daniel (angel).⁠

## Abilities

Jason is bilingual in English and Hebrew.⁠ He has good gamemaster skills.⁠

He knows chemistry and physics, and has done some scientific analysis of vampire remains.⁠ He has educated himself in a number of esoteric and technical subjects, including lock-breaking and defeating security systems.⁠⁠ He is a good shot with a pistol and possibly other firearms, and has developed some skill in unarmed combat.⁠⁠

He also appears to be very resistant to mind manipulations.⁠

## Possessions

Jason owns a pistol and a shotgun, and scrounged some anti-vampire bullets after the Battle of Blackthorne Manor. It is unknown if he has done any attempts to analyze or reproduce these.⁠ He also owns a quarter-stake in Ahmed Kovac’s pool hall, though he has considered selling his share.⁠

## Theories

The dragon in *Days of High Adventure* managed to reach and influence Jason while trying to find help, and also mentioned to Eric and Amanda that Jason ”is more than you expect”.⁠ However, the canonicity of *Days of High Adventure* is unclear in relation to the rest of the Good Intentions stories.

It is also interesting that he proved able to resist Lydia’s direct mind manipulation and suggestions, unlike Drew.⁠ Alex also managed to do so, but he was helped by Onyx’s warding charm and possibly his supernatural connections with Rachel and Lorelei—Jason had no such known assistance.

Last, there is Caleb’s comment to him about “yet find your faith” after the pool hall fight.⁠

Taken together these could be a hint that Jason has some talent for magic.

## References

1. ↑  *Natural Consequences*, chapter 5
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1  *Good Intentions*, chapter 10
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1  *Good Intentions*, chapter 13
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1  *Natural Consequences*, chapter 4
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 *Days of High Adventure*
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2  *Good Intentions*, chapter 17
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1  *Natural Consequences*, chapter 2
8. ↑ “Lifestyle Changes”
9. ↑  *Natural Consequences*, chapter 18
10. ↑  *Personal Demons*, chapter 10
11. ↑  *Personal Demons*, chapter 4
12. ↑ “Constellations”
13. ↑  *Natural Consequences*, chapter 9
14. ↑  *Natural Consequences*, Prologue
15. ↑  *Good Intentions*, chapter 9
16. ↑  *Personal Demons*, chapter 24
17. ↑  *Natural Consequences*, chapter 3
18. ↑  *Good Intentions*, chapter 14
19. ↑  *Good Intentions*, chapter 12
20. ↑  *Natural Consequences*, chapter 15
21. ↑  *Natural Consequences*, chapter 17
22. ↑  *Past Due*, chapter 16
23. ↑  *Personal Demons*, chapter 23
24. ↑  *Past Due*, chapter 1
25. ↑  *Good Intentions*, chapter 16
26. ↑ “I mean, sort of.” — Elliott Kay on Twitter September 28, 2022