Jim Cada (Stellirae)

About

Name: Jim Cada

Age: 28

Gender: Cis Male

Species: Skeleton (Undead Human)

Height: 6'2"

Orientation: ace/aro

Physical Attributes

A cartoony skeleton with no lower jaw. He wears a black suit, with a red tie, a white pocket square, and belt with a red buckle that seems to be able to easily have a wide variety of items clipped onto it.

He is seldom seen without a red spray bottle, and a mop with a grey handle and purple head. The mop is of his own design, with every strand on the head bladed, but sacrificing none of the cleaning efficiency-- making it a potent weapon in his hands, but practically useless for anything other than cleaning in someone not trained with using it.

The spray bottle is just a spray bottle.

Usually, he will carry at least two homemade 'grenades', whose payload isn't shrapnel nor explosives, but compressed suds. They beep loudly when primed, and have a five-second timer. Intended for cleaning large areas at once, in a pinch, Jim usually uses them as a distraction or getaway tool.

After the events of Stellirae, in addition to his old outfit, he wears white gloves, a fluffy orange and winter coat whose color pattern resembles tie-dye, a pair of goggles with light blue lenses around his neck, and two new cufflinks, one with the letters "JC", and the other, "IR".

Personality

Jim, after unable to accept the person he was in life after dying, discarded most of his sense of self, instead tying his entire identity to his occupation as a janitor. It was later revealed that a random act of kindness from a janitor in his childhood not only affected his living counterpart's love of strawberries, but also what Jim decided to do with the remainder of his post-mortem existence.

Ultimately, though, as he tried to connect with other people, he displayed an oddball sense of humor, though he often had a very poor filter. This was contrasted by what seemed to be formality on the surface, making his increasingly ridiculous jokes hit just a little harder.

Selfless, and still hurting from his past, he reached out to others, struggling to reflect on his own past in the process. More than anything, with the time he had left, he wanted to make sure his tragedy never repeated.

On the flip side, in his desire for understanding and sympathy, rather than merely compassion and empathy, he would often try and connect his own experiences to those of others, to mixed results. But, it was ultimately this form of kindness that made him the only one able to connect with the main antagonist before the end.

He becomes an optimist, always looking for the silver lining in even the bleakest of situations, tempered with the ideal that a brighter future needs to be chased after, and waiting around for a 'knight in shining armor' to fix everything is ridiculous, detesting inaction and complacency.

By the end, Jim admits that there's something naive about his desire to see the good in everyone, but adds on that he was a miserable person who brought destruction in the past, there was always a glimmer of good in even the worst of people.

After all, he helped save the world, didn't he?

Backstory

To make a long story made short even shorter. . .

Jim Cada was a major protagonist of the Discord MFRP, Stellirae.

At the start, arriving at the space station Gladiolus, he was crushed by the guilt of the person he was in life, and wracked with survivor's guilt of surviving the destruction of two different universes, one of which he was directly responsible for. Furthermore, the necromantic energies keeping him alive were running low, and the contrived nature of his revival left him under the mistaken belief he had no soul, and with a massive existential crisis. He had long since discarded his past, as whoever he was in life.

Ultimately, with the help of the other Aspirants, (the player character group,) he was able to find the will to carry on, find a way to continue surviving, and was instrumental in protecting the world he came to love.

Though, he stumbled a few times.

First, a mission to save a station representative, Bulrush, went sour. Bulrush was rescued, but some innocent lives were lost, and Jim felt partially responsible for being unable to save them. Looking to the past of the world, he found inspiration to carry on from the station's founder, Gladiolus Titanbeetle, and recalled some happy memories from his life. And a promise to a friend to make the world a better place.

The next morning, tapes were retrieved, left behind by the semi-deceased force behind the main antagonist, a hivemind of decaying meat that seemed to want little more than the destruction of the universe.

A man named Oleander Vikare Buthidae. Jim's initial reaction wasn't disgust, hatred, or anger. But, instead, wondering what drove Oleander down the path he took. Something felt familiar about it. Lonely, almost.

A second time, he stumbled. A fight against another Aspirant, who had been possessed by a malevolent force.

Projecting memories of his painful past onto the situation, Jim was filled with a terrifying anger, and, from his perspective, brutalized him so hard that not even after being revived would he regain consciousness.

Through a private discussion with another Aspirant, Jim ascertained that there was a way to continue living. But, still, he silently wondered if he'd truly changed at all, and if the universe could ever be truly at peace if those memories of hate and anguish still slept in him.

But, as he was told, changing didn't work like that.

Those feelings might always be there, but it wasn't an indicator he hadn't become a better person.

Ultimately, Jim was not only able to accept his past, becoming a vital driving force in the final few plot events, but was the only Aspirant to try and reach out to Oleander.

If there was a glimmer of good in him, back then, that could have blossomed into the person he became, if only someone had shown him sympathy, not empathy. . .

If only that boy back then knew not only compassion, but also was given what he really needed, understanding. . .

. . . He told Oleander that even in death, he wouldn't be alone in the world. There would always be someone to remember him, now.

Carrying on a shared dream, for a brighter future, in the end, Jim promised to make the world a better place.

Abilities

• - Jim's primary ability, though he wasn't aware of it at first, is referred to as 'Emptiness', an ability borne from his magical nature and his prior existential crisis. It allows him to erase things from existence. But, it has a few restrictions.

• After the events of Stellirae, Jim acquired a few abilities from the Ala on Gladiolus called Special Upgrades-- technological, but intended to mimic magic. His choices by the end of Stellirae were as follows. . .

• Jim took Water Manipulation - Stage 2. He can generate and manipulate water freely in a 15 foot radius. Combined with his 'cleaning grenades', this ended up becoming an incredibly potent offensive ability.
• Nature - Stage 1 allows Jim to understand the speech and body language of plants and animals, and vice-versa.
  
• Weapon Empowerment - Stage 2. Applied to two weapons, rather than himself. He selected his mop and his spray bottle. He can never be unwillingly disarmed of the two unless incapacitated, and can teleport either of them to his hand at will. Furthermore, his mop can now create ranged shockwave attacks.
• Healing - Stage 1. Generally, only useful for small injuries like cuts and bruises, or as a painkiller. On an uninjured target, including himself, this ability can also serve as a defense buff.
  

• In the final weeks of Stellirae, Jim spent an extended period in the Fountain of Life, on the planet Manesumur, under the watch of the deity Yves, who he often jokingly asserts 'owed him one'. With his connection to it, he now can sustain his life force on his own with food, recover from injuries like a living person could over time, and can cry again. All of these, especially the last one, have come in to play frequently.

Trivia

• According to Oleander's creator, Jim is canonically the only valid Oleander apologist.
• Jim can play the guitar and sing pretty well. His voice claim, for both speaking and singing, is Chris Remo.
• Jim has no material reason to not believe in Santa Claus.
• He wasn't called Jim when he was alive, but instead took the name of a deceased friend as a way to honor him.
• Jim's favorite food is strawberry banana smoothies.
• Jim's least favorite food is a stick of butter in a hot dog bun.
• One time, Jim silently asserted romance was invented by Hallmark to sell more cardboard.
• After the events of Stellirae, Jim has picked up chess as a hobby. His favorite opening is 'the Bongcloud'.