Joe Cummings
From Inga no Kusari wiki
| Cummings, Joe ♂ | |
|---|---|
 Uneated, 5th Division | |
| Date of Birth | 4th July, 1853 (158) |
| Place of Birth | London, Britain |
| Zanpakutō | Fuketsu Koshima |
| Player | Sharkbearman |
| Shinigami | |
Contents |
Appearance
Several years worth of living on scraps, little sleep and no exercise eventually reduced Joe to something of a skeleton. At the peak of his ghoulishness, this man resembled a hollow shell. A weak and feeble body which housed nothing but the absence of where a being should be. Not the kind of weak which comes from not lifting weights and running laps around the house. The kind that comes from not sleeping in months at a time, from getting by on water and potatoes for years. In Soul Society his body and appearance seemed to reach something of a permanent state, possibly linked to their altered life spans.
It all starts off at the top, thick, long and rugged dark hair. The colour hovers on the border between gray and black, chalk mixed with coal almost. There are heavy bags beneath his tired brown eyes, which contain something of a mourning look. Not saddened, on the verge of crying, but worn and regretful. His teeth have sharpened up after entering the Shinigami school, reaching a peak at almost white. Some single ones are slightly chipped off and a couple of teeth are missing in the back of his mouth. Thankfully none of the ones in the front are missing.
The body Joe has been blessed with is not something which would haul in a sack of trophies labelled, most attractive man of the century. Lanky arms hanging down the side, large hands attached to thin wrists, with bony fingers at the end. Down along Joe’s back his spine is visible at times, ribs poking forth beneath the skin and unsettling scars covering up his entire torso. On his chest the words ”deus fastidio vir” are tattooed, translating into ”God loathes man.” The rest is a fairly standard business, legs thin and long and he has a slight limp in his right leg.
Personality
Joe started out as a scumbag in the real world, but experienced something of a change after passing on to Soul Society. Not some grand epiphany, evil deeds simply fell out of his daily routine. There was no longer a pull deep down, the drive which had caused him to wish misfortune on others slowly vanished. This puts Joe in the densely populated neutral area, which makes him capable of carrying out orders easily. Obeying orders is not his strong suit, but as he aged it became something of a habit.
While not much of a people person, Joe always possessed a way with words. He was not especially persuasive, but was able to make something dull seem more interesting. By using a certain approach he could make things seem more appealing and exciting, which was only backed by a natural passion and curiosity found in the man’s voice. Despite this Joe never had a lot of friends, he had partners in crime and co-workers, but no friends. This too changed after the arrival to soul society, as Joe stopped being surrounded by a mass of curious bystanders. He now enjoys spending time with people and feeling the camaraderie in their squad.
Like in so many others there is potential for both good and evil. Initially the passion for knowledge and science was the reason for Joe’s less earnest dealings and actions. Without any sort of technology to identify himself with, he has experienced difficulties finding out what kind of a person he is. This feeling has been present for almost 100 years now. Not completely forgotten he still has the memory of the love which was taken from him back then, the former prostitute Rosa. Logic would indicate that she too is in Soul Society, and finding her became one of Joe’s top priorities.
Not surprisingly life as a Shinigami is very busy and finding one particular person in the entire Rukongai is no simple matter. Having some sense of duty, Joe realizes that forsaking his position to go on a search would be absolutely pointless. The second goal of this man’s afterlife would be to obtain a position in the 12th division. Even with so many years of experience and training, Joe has not understood the true mechanics of Soul Society, Hollows, Heuco Mundo and many other mysteries of their universe. After death things became much more complicated and Joe still seeks knowledge.
History
Born to a mean drunkard of a father and a mean whore of a mother, it was inevitable that Joe would turn into a real mean bastard himself. His younger years were mostly spent getting into trouble at school or getting into trouble around the house. Joe was not a big mean bully, but a clever little evil child. A couple of fires, a classmate pushed off the roof and a lot of stolen possessions, it did not take long before the school threw him out. Back in ol' 1859 there was no parent union to make a cause of it. Joe educated himself at the local library, having been able to read at a young age he quickly flipped through elementary math and the other parts of a young boy‘s curriculum. The library became a nice little haven where he could escape from the bitter reality of a poverty stricken life.
Fast forward a couple of years and Joe has now become a man of science. Several published flops and the reputation of a loonie. Having finally accepted the loving embrace of electricity and ignorance among the populace, he had started the ”Mad Joe’s amazing chamber of resurrection and other rarities”. Which was exactly what it sounded like, one hundred percent bogus. A travelling freakshow, where Joe earned a bit of money by displaying freaks of nature. People with various deformities, freakish diseases and other unfortunate cases. While Joe was an absolute genius, his sights and dreams were set way over his capabilities. At the time people had little faith in scientists such as the young Cummings, instead of showing an interest in steady progress and improvements of their everyday lives, people wanted miracles. Joe wanted to work miracles. He wanted to create a new race of super-mutants, resurrected the dead, piece together monsters and travel to the stars. Naturally this was impossible, so he settled for the second-best, pretending he could do these things. It was not simply a freakshow, but he employed simple tricks involving smoke and flashes of light to further disorient or confuse the audience. It was a lot easier then it would have been today, people wanted to believe in the miracles Joe supposedly performed, which made it so much easier.
Aside from being a very intelligent person, Joe had something of a weakness for prostitutes. There was one named Rosa whom he especially favoured. There was nothing about her personality which especially clashed with his, she just had a very lovely face. Tender limbs, full lips and a fairly nice fragrance were all things that enforced the affection spawned from his loins. She was his only other expense, aside from purchasing leftover equipment from various universities. Mr.Cummings was At the in actuality planning to attempt one of these fabled resurrections, which he had claimed to be capable of for so many years. As fate would have it, by the time Joe had reached the age of 35, Rosa was killed by none other than Jack the Ripper. At least her death was assumed to be the work of jack the ripper, there were a lot of people offing prostitutes in London back then. Joe’s heart, or black gaping hole, was absolutely shattered and he made away with the girl’s corpse. Attempting to resurrect her on a dark and stormy night, Joe only succeeded only in attracting the lightning and burning himself to a crisp. Nothing remained from the fire but a pile of ashes, and then it was off to Soul Society.
Continuing his pitiful existence in one of Rukongai’s many districts, until one day when he was approached by men dressed in black. At first Joe wondered if he had committed some sort of a crime or done something wrong, but they were there to offer him a spot in their ranks. Well, it was not much of an offer as there was not much of an alternative to accepting. After years of training and studying hard, Joe was drafted into the 5th division. Personally he would have preferred to be in the research division, but ended up in the kidō corps. Alas, he did not possess the intellect or abilities to justify an irregular transfer to the 12th division. After having turned into a fully fledged member of the 5th division, not a seated member but a member nonetheless, Joe finally landed on some lifetime goals. These were things that had been a long time coming, but now that his life was more in order than before and was actually able to eat every day. He wanted to discover what had become Rosa the whore and more importantly learn more about the science and technology of this world.
Being a Shinigami now, there was no longer the need to continue his former line of work. Dishonesty had been more of a necessity if anything. As opposed to the joy he had felt as a child, the only kind of joy Joe derived from fooling people, was the fact that he got to play miracle maker. Actually knowing that he had been able to fool people provided him with no satisfaction whatsoever. Once he fell out of this daily routine, his personality underwent something of a transformation. This suddenly, albeit inevitable, change of heart left Joe at a loss of what to do. Years and years of misdeeds and attempting to do the impossible, now he found himself in a world where the dead continued living and it was no longer required of him to put on his Resurrection-Joe act. Whether this was a good thing he could not say, at least not with any kind of certainty. So for the last few years Joe was content to carry out his duties and focus on whatever short-term goals he set his sights on.
Combat
Strengths
- Parrying: In order to compensate for not being the most nimble and agile Shinigami, Joe focused on learning how to defend himself without having to move too much. Being adept at parrying his opponent’s attacks and redirecting their momentum, he can intercept and halt someone’s attack better than most. A reasonable alternative to completely dodging the attack, which requires a lot of energy.
- Excellent concentration: Thanks to a fairly strong determination and a quick wit, very few things will be able to distract this man. When locked in combat with an opponent or working on some kind of project, it will require something extraordinary to disorient him or divide his attention. Joe does not exactly shut out everything else, but locks onto his target or task at hand and continues to do so until finished.
Weaknesses
- Strength: Sub-par physical strength, which is the result of little to no training. Joe’s attention was mainly focused on the workings of kidō, there was little time for developing his physical abilities. So simply put Joe is not as strong as the average Shinigami. His punches do not deal as much damage as theirs, when locking swords with someone they will most likely be forcing him back.
- Durability: As with his strength, Joe cannot take as much physical punishments as the others. His bones break a tad easier than that of the average Shinigami. This is partially because he does not train, but also because he is not accustomed to being cut, hit and attacked.
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