Route App

[anexcitableboy]

Player
Name: Faye
Personal Journal: said_scarlett
E-mail: red.headed.rapunzel@gmail.com
AIM/Plurk/Etc.: Plurk: crossthesky
Timezone: Arizona
Current Characters in Route: Lust

Character
Name: Jimmy 'Lobster Boy' Darling
Series: American Horror Story: Freakshow
Timeline: From Tupperware Party Massacre

Canon Resource Links: Jimmy's AHS Wiki Page


Personality: Jimmy's medical condition, unfixable and not well understood in the first half of the 1900s, has had a serious effect on his personality and world view. He's always wondered why 'freaks' are treated differently, when they're still people. Almost all of his decisions are informed by these thoughts - he feels normal, he's normal in every way save for his hands, why can't he have a normal life? He tries to, wearing gloves to hide his fused fingers and passing himself off as normal. But he hates that he has to hide his hands, and never wears his gloves when he's not in public. He's torn between the shame other people have told him he should feel and the surety that there's really nothing wrong with him.

This has led to something of a very quick and defensive temper. It doesn't take much at all to get his hackles up, and to get him to close down defensively and grow hostile. He doesn't shy away from arguments or confrontation, quite the opposite. He'll seek them out, especially if he's already in hostile and defensive mood. If he's angry at someone, he'll go out of his way to antagonize them. In fights, he quickly turns to violence. At the hands of prejudice, he's gone so far as to snap and kill. After being repeatedly called a freak and monster by an investigating detective, Jimmy lost his temper and slit the detective's throat with a straight razor. He regretted the decision once clarity returned, but in the heat of the moment his temper wins out over his morality. He tries to justify himself by claiming it's justified by the prejudice and abuse his people have long suffered at the hands of 'normal people', and that he has to do everything he can to protect the show. Really, though, he has a temper problem that he inherited from his father.

He grew up in the show, and he has a special place in his heart for the underdog and the downtrodden because of this. He'll rush to the defense or aide of anyone he feels is being taken advantage of or discriminated against for being considered somehow less of a person. He puts himself in danger again and again for his fellow performers and others, and never stops vocally advocating for people who are different to stop hiding in freak shows and cellars and claim their rightful lives. He goes head to head with his mother about it frequently, always arguing that the life of a side show freak isn't a life at all for the wonderful and amazing people who are forced into it because they feel they have no other option. When Jimmy is passionate about something, he gives himself over to it entirely.

He's flirtatious to a fault, and easily swayed by a pretty face or a damsel in apparent distress. He flirts with every woman he encounters, and jumps quickly from crush to crush. He's cultivated charm to try and make up for his hands, hoping that a winning personality will blind women to his condition. A pretty face and flirty words will also blind him, making him an easy target for manipulative women.

He's spent a large part of his life trying to be optimistic and believe that good triumphs, but at the point he's being apped from, a lot of that hope and belief is buried under a destructive haze of grief and guilt. His mother's recent supposed suicide hit him hard. Even though he's discovered the identity of his father and begun forging a relationship with him, Jimmy's taken to drinking heavily to deal with the pain of losing his mother as well as a number of friends. The show has begun falling apart around him, and he doesn't quite know how to cope with that. He doesn't handle grief well, turning it into anger instead, and letting the anger take over.

Strengths/Weaknesses: Jimmy's a performer. He's been an act since he was born, but as a teenager he's added more than just 'look at my messed up hands' to his routine. He's a talented singer and juggler, he has some minor stand up comedy skills, and he's not a bad dancer. He's also the announcer and hawker for the show, demonstrating a quickness and cleverness with words and the ability to orate well. He's good with numbers and figures, he understands mechanics very well, and he can hold his own in a fist fight. He's adapted to be able to use his hands for almost everything except writing, not letting his fused fingers impede his dexterity.

His impulsiveness and quick temper are major weaknesses. He doesn't think before acting and he'll jump on what looks like the first opportunity that presents itself. This is how he ended up making his living servicing lonely housewives with his unique hands and also eventually selling his hands in order to afford a lawyer. Quick decisions are not Jimmy's strong suit. He's terrified of not being accepted as who he is, and will write off anyone who makes a disparaging mark about 'freaks'. He's not prone to offering second chances. He tends to spiral into self destructiveness when faced with personal loss or unexpected negative change in his life. He's also predisposed to alcoholism, and has already begun exhibiting signs of falling prey to it.

Pokémon Information

Affiliation: Trainer!
Starter: Cubone!
Password: Apple Streudel

Samples
First Person Sample:

Whoah

[The voice broadcasting over the 'gears is impressed and awed and a little overwhelmed. This is pretty amazing! Of course it helps that Jimmy's still a bit blotto from his most recent binge with Ima, and the shock of waking up here has worn some. Where is Ima, anyway? He blinks into the screen, eyes bloodshot red but expression one of wonder and curiosity. She couldn't have gotten far - she didn't move fast. It never occurs to him that he's on his own here.

A lifetime of science fiction comics and serials has prepared Jimmy to figure out the broadcasting feature of his 'gear relatively easily.]

I mean whoah. Look I've heard of crazy trips before, but this takes the cake. The colors, the music, the people.... Who was that broad that said she was my mom? That lady was not my mom. What kind of sicko tells random strangers they're their mother?

[That's a sensitive subject for Jimmy.]

This little guy with me's crazy, though! He looks like a dinosaur or something. Is he? I mean, hey, weirder things, am I right? I never had a pet before, couldn't have one back home. I mean there was the camp dogs, but they weren't pets.

So what the hell is this place? I feel like I woke up and hey, suddenly I'm Captain Video. But all that stuff about UFOs and aliens landing in New Mexico...that's just bull, right? This is like some kind of...fancy new theme park? I read they were building one out in California next year. We get one down here, too?

By the way, I kind of lost...well, I guess I'm kinda lost. How the hell do I get back to Jupiter from here?

[It doesn't even look like Florida, it's got to be some kind of crazy theme park. Right?]

Third Person Sample:

The last thing that Jimmy remembered was mumbling nonsense beside Ima, an empty bottle of gin tumbling out of his hand. Yeah, that sounded about right. Had there been a party? A fight? Christ, he couldn't remember.

Now he was either still passed out in his bed, or he was having another one of those weird experiences brought on by too much opium and too many spooky old stories. Except this wasn't spooky. Everything was so bright and...nice. Cheery. Where was that music coming from? It kinda sounded like carnival music. No, this was something else, something completely different than what had happened on Halloween. And what was up with his plucky animal sidekick?

"I thought it was supposed to be pink elephants, not orange dinosaurs."

Jimmy shook his head and looked down at his gloved hands. Sometimes, in dreams, they looked like everybody else's. Of course once he realized that he woke up. Since h was on the road and on his own, he tugged off a glove. He saw only his usual claw-like digits. No sudden waking. He hadn't really expected it to go that way. This was all way too real, from the woman who'd greeted him in that house to the bizarre little town he'd high tailed it out of.

Now that it was just him and his new friend, he didn't see any reason to put his gloves back on. Without them, he could actually use his fused fingers.

"Bet you don't mind these." He held up his signature feature to the little dinosaur creature. The Cubone didn't seem to care at all, simply stayed sitting by Jimmy's feet, holding its bone and looking up at it's trainer. "So what are you, anyway, some kind of deformed dog in a mask? You think they've got freak animals, too? Maybe there's a lobster somewhere with grody claws that they call The Fish Human."

Man, if Elsa could get a load of this little guy. But that was an unpleasant thought, really. He didn't trust Elsa, and a part of him was damn glad to be away from her and the show. What did he even have back there now? His dad, maybe. Ima. He deliberately ignored thinking about Maggie. He'd burned more bridges than he could count in the last few days.

Not much back there, really. It wasn't the same, without Ma. Nothing would ever be the same without Ma. He felt a tightening in his throat and he had to dash sudden hot tears away from his eyes. The dino-dog made a distressed noise and pressed itself against Jimmy's leg in sympathy.

Jimmy rubbed his eyes and reached down to pet his new friend, artlessly but affectionately. "Something tells me we're not in Kansas anymore. And I ain't booze goofy, am I? Come on....little guy. Gal. I can't tell. How about I call you Omi? He was this crazy tattooed guy, back on the show circuit, wore bones through his nose and ears. You got neater bones, though."

Jimmy didn't see anything that could be construed as argument from his new friend, and mostly he was just talking to fill the silence. He hefted his backpack onto his shoulders and set off, leaving his gloves in his pockets for now. Nothing left to do but see where this road led.