James 'Jimmy' Cohen

I took this shift as an opportunity to rebuild Jimmy from the ground up in a lot of ways. Hope it's a nice twist. Expect more facet applications for other worlds to arrive soon!

NAME: James 'Jimmy' Cohen

NICKNAME(S): 'Jimmy', 'Jim’

AGE: 14

POSITION: Student

DATE OF BIRTH: 11th October 2000

WORLD: PRIME

APPEARANCE: Jimmy's head is host to a mess of sandy blonde hair that often obscures his green eyes. He is 5'11" with a muscular and athletic figure from engaging in long-distance running and tanned, almost golden skin. A lot of this comes from his upbringing in Australia and his Mexican roots. Since first appearing, he always wears a black hoodie over his uniform, unzipped but with the hood up. The sleeves of the shirt for his uniform are always rolled up to his elbows, showing his forearms and he wears the skinny black tie of his uniform longer than most. When he is not in school uniform, Jimmy usually wears loose T-shirts for one of the many punk or rock bands he enjoys and baggy, usually faded jeans, either dark blue or gray. He wears either colorful or toned down clothing simply depending on his mood that day. He sometimes wears the white and blue shirt for the first soccer team his father played for (Melbourne City FC) with the number 38 and his surname on the back. This is the only connection to his biological father that Jimmy ever shows.

BACKSTORY: Born in Melbourne, Australia to a dysfunctional family of an overbearing Mexican mother, Ana, and the once-great Australian soccer player, Ray 'The Rocket' Cohen, for a father on the 11th of October 2000. Jimmy grew up in a bilingual household, often switching between Spanish and English throughout conversations with his parents. Once Jimmy reached the age of 6, his parents got divorced. His mother struggled to raise him on her own for 4 years until she could no longer afford to pay the rent on the small flat they were living in. After spending the next few months saving all they could, Jimmy and his mother moved to live with his grandparents in Atlanta, Georgia. There, he was glad to find a new start, no longer judged for his lack of possessions as his mother quickly found work, and shortly afterwards, new love.

Jimmy was never particularly close to his father. Ray Cohen was focused more on his career than anything else, making his family come second to his love of sport. While this meant that Ray never ended up with a failed career, he let his greed get the better of him and likely fathered children to a few other women outside of Melbourne. He eventually became attached to an Australian model and left his wife and son to start a new life with her. Jimmy has very mixed emotions towards his father, both resenting and loving the man in almost equal parts. On the few occasions Ray was around he was a loving and attentive father, but Jimmy knows his father was a distant and unfeeling husband despite these fond memories. Ana later told Jimmy that she and his father had only been together for 4 months before she became pregnant, and that he had never truly been ready for marriage. Jimmy struggles to stay objective about this fact, as he now understands the strain that such a situation would have put on his father, but still feels like he knows very little about Ray. Ana never likes to discuss Ray around her son, which leaves Jimmy feeling as though the father he remembers and the father he hears of are completely different.  

Jimmy's mother remarried 2 years later to a gruff businessman named Rick Jensen. Jimmy connected better with Rick than his own father, as Rick never went out of his way to either connect with or avoid Jimmy, simply allowing him to open up and connect at his own pace. Rick is a mature and thoughtful man and is very good at reading emotions and social cues, making him very easy to get along with despite his somewhat hardened and intimidating exterior.

Rick also has a daughter of his own from a previous marriage, Akira Jensen. The age gap between Jimmy and his stepsister makes him younger by just a few months. Unlike most cases of remarriage, Jimmy actually gets on well with both his stepfather and stepsister. He often thinks of Akira as more like a biological sister than a stepsister, the two get on well and they often bicker like any other siblings would. Akira is an extremely energetic and positive person with a great sense of humor and a passion for life that Jimmy envies.

Jimmy studied in Atlanta for a few years, meeting his first girlfriend, Jenni there. Jenni was a soft spoken and graceful young woman, who gave off the air of a lady far more mature than her age. She was an extremely talented ballet dancer and Jimmy would show up to her school performances without fail, always sitting in the front row. His long-term relationship with Jenni brought him a clarity and happiness Jimmy had never experienced before. Jimmy was quite popular at school, getting on with many of his fellow students. He fitted in best with the jocks at school due to his sportiness and laidback attitude to his studies. He lived and studied happily until a tragedy befell him.

Jimmy collapsed in the middle of a lesson unexpectedly. When he awoke in hospital, he was told that he had suffered an aneurysm rupture, a swollen blood vessel in the brain burst, and Jimmy had incurred some brain damage as a result. The damage manifested itself not as a detriment to his intelligence, but to his memory. Specifically, his long-term and visual memory. Jimmy cannot remember the last 3 years of his life. He forgot about his girlfriend, his friends and most shockingly, his own family. This put a huge strain on Jimmy's personal relationships, his love for Jenni became apathy and confusion, eventually driving the two to break up. The relationship on good terms, the two having agreed that forcing a connection that was no longer there wouldn't work well for either party. He had no recollection of time with his friends and family, straining his relationships with his them to their very limits. His mother and step-father are now distant with Jimmy in spite of both sides trying to recreate some sort of family connection. He and his mother used to be incredibly close, and he had just started to really warm to Rick before his aneurysm, but now his brain damage has set that progress back to square one. His friends lament the loss of Jimmy from their group, but he struggled to fit in with his former friends after the aneurysm, and they tried to understand his need for a new start. The only person he's managed to rebuild a connection with is his step-sister Akira, as she was the only one who was both determined and stubborn enough to get to know Jimmy again.

He can no longer visualise objects mentally without them being directly in his line of sight. This includes people, meaning that Jimmy struggles to recognise new faces, even after meeting them on multiple occasions. Until he sees them regularly and frequently enough to imprint the visual of them in his damaged long-term memory. Doctors believe that Jimmy may be able to restore some of his lost memory functionality, as it is not uncommon in cases such as this, but damage he has already sustained could last forever, even with therapy and brain training to gain as much function back as possible. The truth is that he will never quite have the visual memory function that he once had, and scans showed high risks of another aneurysm developing in his brain and rupturing, potentially causing further damage. As such, he reports to the local hospital for scans to stay up to date with the state of potentially rupturing aneurysms twice a month, and have any non-ruptured swellings treated. While another ruptured aneurysm isn't guaranteed to be fatal for Jimmy, it is certainly possible that another one could indeed kill him.

When Jimmy first heard about Tachibana Academy, he eagerly leapt at the opportunity, no longer wanting to stay in Atlanta. To Jimmy, the fact that they could adequately care for him  was just a bonus to fresh start which he so desparately wanted. While Jimmy was in the hospital, his neurotic mother paid for him to be tutored to keep up with his education. The tutor already taught him most of the content being covered in his classes in his current year, so his attendance in classes is sketchy at best, only showing up when he feels like there's a gap in his knowledge or if he wants to socialize with classmates that are better known for actually getting work done.

PERSONALITY: Jimmy comes off as friendly and laidback, speaking openly about every aspect of his life and his medical condition even to total strangers, provided they ask of course.

His optimism can seem forced at times, because as he opens up to those he considers friends, he exposes a darker and more introspective side to his personality. Jimmy will sometimes "space out" as he says, often just staring into the distance and thinking about both everything and nothing in particular. He loves going outside and walking around or laying on the grass. He has tried to find some more relaxed hobbies, but hasn't really settled on anything in particular. He most simply enjoys walking around and listening to music. He has a passion mostly for rock, metal, punk, and ambient electronic music. He tries out board games and other potential hobbies with anyone willing to let him join them, but he hasn't set his passion on a particular one just yet. The things he engages in during his spare time are mostly related to sports, opting to work out in the gym, play basketball and baseball, or go on long-distance runs. He used to play guitar, but the damage to his visual memory has severely impaired his ability to play as he can no longer memorise sheet music. Any pieces he learns are entirely due to muscle memory from constant and frequent repetition.

He enjoys 'bending' the rules of the school a little, occasionally sneaking alcohol into his dorm and as previously stated, often skipping class. He still has a respect for the teachers and other staff at Tachibana Academy, but he prefers to do as he pleases than to listen to every small rule they enforce. He is a naturally rebellious spirit. Jimmy also has a good sense of humor and tries to be easy to get along with from the beginning, knowing the importance of a good first impression. He has a habit of slipping back into speaking Spanish during conversation due to the sporadic nature of his bilingual household as a child, but is usually quick to correct himself. His Australian accent is very strong, but it has been mixed with elements of a Mexican accent picked up from his mother and grandparents, and a typically Southern Atlanta drawl. This means that people can often tell that he is foreign, but find it rather difficult to place his accent. Jimmy is also extremely casual in speech and has a tendency to use foul language quite often, so more uptight or formal individuals may not get on so well with him. Overall, Jimmy is a fun-loving and laidback student who tries to stay positive and friendly in spite of the problems he has to face, although his mind has a tendency to wander when he is troubled, and he can sometimes be very aloof or unobservant. He also has a bad habit of bottling up, suppressing or ignoring his own feelings, which places a lot of pressure on him, and given his mother's own struggles with her mental health, he can be prone to anxiety when he's under pressure.

Profiles great, well thought out. I like it, but I'd like a little more on his relationships at school along with hobbies and the like. Also, some more detail on the ramifications of his long-term memory loss would be great!!

Looking forward to the updates.

Right, I've updated the backstory and personality a little bit to reflect the changes you were looking for. Hope it's to the level you were wanting.

I'm happy! Welcome to the forum, roleplay away!