Name: Andy Jones
Age: 21
Exp Points: 0
From Year: 1980
Home Land: May, Oklahoma
Appearance:
Personality: Often described as the most talkative deaf-mute this side of the Mississippi, Andy is a cheerful, happy person. A soft person with a friendly, amicable exterior, Andy hides his cynicism under a usually truthful good mood. While not a genius, he is a quick thinker, and is quicker on his feet. He sometimes acts before he thinks, and often times gets frustrated.
Andy is somber and compassionate, despite the short end of the stick he was given. Despite his circumstances, he is a perpetual optimist, and incredibly determined. He's no stranger to sorrow and pain, but tries to not be a vengeful person. When he loses his temper, his sarcasm flows freely, or as freely as it can, lacking a voice. Being a handicapped-yet-handicapable young man in Oklahoma obviously leaves plenty of sass.
Biography: Andy was born in Oklahoma City, September 1959, 2 months before he was due. Mr. and Mrs. Jones had been driving on their way to a routine doctor's appointment, when a sudden speeder crashed into their car, leaving it in a tangled mess. Mr. Jones did not survive the accident, and her injuries caused Mrs. Jones to enter premature labor. Whether it was due to the early birth or the wounds sustained in the womb, no one knows. All that was apparent was the sad, shivering, underweight baby, though crying, made no sounds.
After spending most of his infancy in the ICU, it became apparent that Andy was totally deaf as well as mute. He didn't respond to auditory stimuli, and the only sounds he reacted to were more of vibrations than sounds. His muteness was so severe that he couldn't create even an involuntary scream of pain. He was completely isolated from the world. His mother, the bleeding heart that she was, still loved her broken son, cherishing him and patiently doing her best to teach and raise him. Unfortunately, it seemed cars were destined to steal away Andy's parents. His mother was killed by a drunk driver while walking back from work.
With no relatives either available or willing to take in a deaf-mute, Andy was placed in an orphanage, as an "unadoptable". He couldn't speak, couldn't hear, couldn't read or write or sign. At age 6, he was already well aware how cruel other children could be, and how alone and isolated he was in the world.
That was when he met Simon.
Another deaf-mute, Simon was almost 17 when Andy was 7, and took him under his wing. He taught the boy how to read lips, how to write, and most importantly, how to sign and pantomime. Gradually Andy began to open up to the world, making friends that he could now communicate with, through motions and written words. He excelled at lip reading, able to keep up with conversations and catch every word that slipped through another person's mouth. It was a long, difficult, and arduous journey, but one that finally put joy into his heart.
Then, when Andy was 14, Simon left for Africa, to set up communities for the deaf there, as an aid worker. The orphanage where Andy lived began to run out of money, and rather than be bounced around, the boy left at 16. Working as a seasonal farmhand and traveling the Texas-Oklahoma border, Andy found himself becoming a capable young man. As long as work needed to be done, ranchers and farmers were willing to pay. Most were impressed with his sharp mind and responsible way of life. Deaf and dumb didn't mean he was deaf and stupid. Now, in june of 1980, he had been resting in a hobo barn, catching 40 winks before he had to go and roll up barbed wire from the construction of a new fence.
Of course, how was he supposed to know that his duties would remain forever unfinished? And that he would wake up in a new city, like something out of a comic book?
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