Nationality (while alive): Irish

Lifespan: 1895 - 1927

Equipment:

1 Bottle of Boix (Bone fixative cement)

1 pair of Reaper's shears (see his weapon)

His soul coin*

1 red handkerchief

Abilities:

Numskull already dead, so he feels no pain, and can rearrange his bones if need be. If he breaks a bone, it can either be fixed with a small drop of Boix* or he can replace it if he can find a bone small enough to fit in its place.

*Boix is quick setting/quick drying when applied, will only affix bone to bone (to prevent those unhappy accidents). If the bottle is left open, it will remain a liquid.

Weapon:

In the land of the dead, Reapers are a select few that have been given the huge task of ferrying the souls of the living to the afterlife. In their possession is a scythe and a pair of shears; the scythe is used to liberate the soul from their corporeal forms, while the shears are used to travel between the realm of the living and the afterlife.

The pair that Numskull has in his possession was actually lost by a reaper (these will be found during the audition). While he doesn’t exactly know how to use them, he will discover that even though he is not a reaper himself, the shears still have residual energy left upon them that allows for pockets to be cut into reality itself. So, while Numskull can not actually cut through all the way to the land of the living, he can still cut through the very fabric of the afterlife.

If the shears are used correctly, even if by accident, they can catch on the edge of reality & will create a snag that can be used to cut a pocket. The same can be said once someone is in the pocket, they need the shears to be able to get out again because there is no way to know where exactly the original opening is. Likewise, unless you are trained in exactly how to use the shears, there is no way of knowing exactly where you might come out at.

However, the pocket does correspond to the layout of the land of the dead, so if something is placed within the pocket in one location, it will remain in that location just out of reach unless you use a pair of shears to retrieve it.

If you are not a resident of the afterlife, however, the shears are powerless to you.

Personality:

Numskull is a rather kindhearted soul, more willing to lend a helping hand than to cause harm. He rarely curses, and will not curse in front of women due to his more gentlemanly nature. This nature also extends to his demeanor, not raising a hand to a female of any type, but will aid both male & female alike in need if it is a life-threatening or dire situation; So yes, chivalry is not dead, despite the fact Numskull actually is.

Numskull is also rather cheery despite the great loss he has suffered twice thanks to fate, and tends to keep a cool, level head under most situations. This calm, collected mind allows him to think clearly and find a solution in even the most seemingly impossible tasks.

Background:

Numskull has not always been known as such; while in life, he was once a man known by the name of Peter O’fitch, Irish Immigrant at the age of 12 and brought to the Americas by his parents in 1907. This immigration was largely due to the fact Peter’s father had strong ties to the Irish mob, and was moving his family to the states in order to remain anonymous when things started to go south. Despite his father having mob ties, Peter had a relatively normal teen life and met his future wife and soul mate, Elena Pérez, when was 17 and she was a fresh 14.

At first Elena, a first generation Spaniard born in the united states, wanted nothing to do with Peter due to his families deep-rooted mob activity, but he proved to her with his persistence that he was not his father’s son, and wanted nothing to do with the life of a mobster. True, he never told his family of these actions, because blood is thicker than water, and he still cared about his family despite the illegal activity. As he put it ‘it would have crushed his mum’s heart if he tucked tail and ran like a dog’.

It took 3 years for Elena to finally agree to wed Peter, with family approval on both sides of their families, the pair were married in a Catholic church on April 16, 1915. There was much bliss to be had from both families despite their cultural differences and backgrounds, but sadly a grandchild was never born to carry on the union of the two families after the death of the bride and groom.

When Peter’s father began bootlegging whiskey in the early part of 1920, Peter started to break family ties, stating he wanted nothing to do with activities that brought down so many lives in the process. His father, distraught that his only son would turn his back on the family, cast Peter out, and denounced any knowledge of ever having a son in the first place. It was with this denouncing that Peter lost any and all protection provided to his family by the mob.

In the winter of 1925, an accident caused Peter and Elena to be hit by a driver who had lost control on the icy roads, killing Elena and crippling Peter in the process. Peter, unable to take the loss, eventually took his own life two years later on the anniversary of Elena’s death.

It is in the afterlife that Peter was finally able to be reunited with his soul mate, both souls having been altered however by their deaths. Because Elena’s life was taken from her at the age of 29, her soul stood proud and tall, the outer shell removed and the skeleton frame still possessing many of the same qualities she held in life. Peter’s soul, however, remained broken due to both the loss of Elena and the grief that drove him to take his own life. It was this broken soul that did not have enough ‘material’ to show his true qualities that he possessed in life, so his skeleton form is distorted and shrunken.

Once she crossed over, Elena adopted the name ‘Petunia’; one of her favorite flowers as well as Peter’s nickname for her while she was alive. In turn, Peter adopted the silly little name that Elena used many times in jest while they were alive.

As with all souls, eventually they will move beyond the land of the dead, ascending to higher places in the afterlife. Those who led good lives move on only after a brief stay, while those who were rotten were left to rot in the bowels of the underworld. Petunia, due to the nature of her soul and the quality of life that she led, was pulled away from Numskull despite her protesting and pleading. She even tried to bargain part of her own soul away in order to stay with Numskull, but it fell upon deaf ears.

* The soul coin is actually his bartering chip to be in the real world when the need arises. Should he lose this, whoever should happen to find it before he can recover it 'owns' his soul and he is to do their bidding until he can get the coin back. Should it somehow be destroyed, Numskull is sent to the underworld and may not return until he is able to revive said physical manifestation of his soul