Status: All-purpose teacher, tutor and learny-type person for CAPOW, from grades six through to college, specialising in ancient history, mythologies, archaelogy and languages.

General Description: Shimaru is six foot three tall. He's also bald as a cue. His entire body is bald, and covered with a browny transluscent 'skin'. Think a full-body fingernail, pockmarked with scars and slashes. Somewhat understandably, he's rather unhappy with his appearance. Meanwhile, the actual _structure_ of his face is rather refined.

Clothes: Generally, he wears battered clothes that cover most of his body (jeans, long-sleeved shirt/skivvy, leather jacket), a pair of wrist-to-elbow bracers, fingerless leather gloves, sunglasses and some kind of head covering, to cover as much skin as possible. This is both because he dislikes his appearance and he is highly sensitive to the sun. He wears either baseball caps or bandannas to cover his head. Around his neck is a set of prayerbeads, regardless of the time or place, or even whatever he's wearing. They're not obvious unless he's wearing his collar down (which he is not prone to doing).

[Attitude]

In General:  A sour, cruel, mean person, Shimaru maintains a staunch front of disinterested disdain with whoever he is dealing. In all cases, he feels a distinct need to point out that however bad the situation is, it was always ____'s fault, and wouldn't have happened if they weren't so stupid/impetuous/emotional/etc. However, he sees the main problem in the world is that people don't _think_. As such, he almost intentionally sets himself up as a strawman, creating his own fatal flaw in an argument, hoping that whoever he's dealing with will note it and exploit it. It's a very quirky way of aiding his fellowmen, but he's got to do it, apparently. He's incredibly subtle, saving for when he DOESN'T want to be annoyed, which can be at any given time, period.

Reactions to...

1. Greetings/smalltalk/etc-- [grunt]. Shimaru doesn't socialise well unless he has a 'victim'. It may be a curiousity to note that this 'victim' need not be someone he dislikes.

2. Hostility/violence/trouble-- Shimaru has a blase attitude to life and death; He can't die for good, so he's totally disconcerned with his own welfare. His first reaction is almost always to agitate the situation to almost the breaking point, then defuse it with minimal fuss. But nonetheless, he's not perfect at defusings - nor does he always _want_ to defuse the situation he's in. It's generally not a good thing to antagonise the man, since he's normally a pretty offensive person at the best of times.

3. Romance-- Shimaru has _no_ capacity for romance. He's a poet and a charming lad, but he's also totally unable to open up recently. His recent escapades and scarrings have made him hard, making him almost totally unable to open up to _ANYBODY_. His trends for interrupting people, correcting them, and just being a general arsehole makes his _own_ opinion of himself very low, and as such, in the romantic arena, he's... not in the romantic arena. Just generally, until such time as his hair regrows and his skin heals, he's more or less choosing to abstain - and he's certain that nobody would come in his direction.

If they did, it would take him more or less completely off-side. Any female in whom he had a previous distrust would garner a nasty remark, and he would withdraw from the situation. In the most incredibly unlikely situation a girl in whom he had a vested trust were to make a pass at him, it would most likely fluster him beyond definition; he'd stop talking in utter disbelief.

Relationships...
Shimaru did do some preliminary research before coming to CAPOW, both by himself, and by his sister. So he knows of people, if not knowing them too well...

-- Joseph Hakubi : Shimaru found out about Joseph by simple observation of the residents of CAPOW in his first short week. But regardless, he's more or less set himself the goal of not only meeting Joseph, but in kicking his proverbial butt at any intellectual forum.

-- Washuu Hakubi : Washuu actually knows Shimaru, being at least semi-set towards a goddess status (unless it isn't OAV Washuu, in which case, she just knows about him because she's a big smartypants). Washuu and Shimaru know of each other, and Washuu can recognise his high intellectual potential. He, on the other hand, knows about the book store, and may very well spend vast amounts of time in there when he's not working.

-- Falora : Shimaru _knows_ about Falora, since she's a goddess. He, quite bluntly, hates her very existance, because he's certain she's, at least functionally, the ears and eyes of Kamisama around CAPOW - and Kamisama is _REALLY_ in Shimaru's sights.

-- Belinda : Achika (Shimaru's sister) did a bit of searching around and believes that Belinda, as a mental rival, would do Shimaru good. Whether she has acted on this (and used her influence on the college) is unknown - and from Shimaru's perspective, unwholesomely unlikely. Achika, has, however, ensured that Shimaru has some things about his person that _scream_ 'loaded' at any given time - his flat is expensively decked out, and in a fairly expensive area, and Shimaru tends towards disregarding money anyway (despite not having _direct_ access to it).

-- Dachend : Shimaru won't even admit it to himself, but knowing that someone else accomodated to a curse almost identical to his garners a degree of his respect. This would almost certainly incarnate itself as an even crueller victimisation as he attempts to unearth whatever secret Dachend has.

Daily Life: Shimaru works at the school or college for ten or more hours of the day, depending on which day of the week it is, commuting between periods, then goes home to either take on whatever tutoring work he has, then, if he's spare time, hangs around in the bookstore or Retreat, usually either away from everyone else (if he's had a bad day) or _really_ in the center of the action (if he's had a good day and wants to annoy people). He gets to bed and sleeps in late, since he can totally trash his body and feels no need to not exploit his hated curse.

Quotes...
"Go. Away." - "Bad Day" Shimaru.

"&*^$ off." - "REALLY Bad Day" Shimaru.

"Congratulations, class. You're all stupid as bricks, the grade average is about thirteen percent, and not one of you pays attention for a stint longer than sixteen seconds. You've fulfilled all my expectations of the lower end of the intelligence curve." -- "Inspirational" Shimaru

"Implements of suicide are handed out at the door. Do be so good as to do the human genome a favour."

[Weapons and powers]
Weapons: None of note. May use them if they come to hand, but he's not skilled in using any.

Powers/Skills:

Resurrection: If Shimaru is killed, he will return to life at the midnight of the day on which his body is destroyed. The damage done to his body up to the point of death will be healed (otherwhise, he'd come back to life from a death from a beating and just die again). Until the sun rises from such a resurrection, his strength and endurance are a lot higher (giving him an opportunity to escape a potentially re-fatal situation).  Any injuries _will_ reflect on his resurrected body, however; any limbs removed will have dislocations, any bullet holes will bruise, and any _really_ major wounds _will_ scar. If his body is ripped apart or separated, the components may be reformed at a site chosen by any one of the local godesses (though, more often than not, he just winds up in the toilets of the Retreat).

Not-quite-omniscience: When dead, Shimaru can, from his vantage point, observe things about people and places independently. This is like having a big honking telescope. Such things as demonic nature or supernatural origins are notable from this perspective.

Resources: He has access to his family's resources, such as their library and home, but no effective money (his bank account was locked off by Achika in the interest of forcing him to take his teaching seriously). There are a handful of stipulations on these resources; he can access it if he gets married (not likely) or has to attend the funeral or wedding of a relative. It can also be accessed to pay bail after a twenty-four waiting period. He cannot access any of his family's resources without a two-day waiting period (he has to courier a request home, then have the object in question couriered back). This library includes a copy of _most_ ancient or modern texts, but only a few _truly_ unique things (he doesn't have the Necromnicon, but he would have a greek manuscript of the Bible, for example).

Strength/Speed: Shimaru's strength is above-to-middling the normal human bracket. He's weaker than Riding Bean but stronger than Rally Vincent. To wit, an emperical example, while Bean caught and flipped a moving two-seater car, Shimaru could possibly flip said car were it still and empty, and had he a second to gather up momentum. Speedwise, Shimaru's below average for a human runner (100m in 2 minutes) but his hand-speed is above average (6 punches a second) (traceable by trained human eyes, not by normal human eyes, and a bit too quick for the untrained to get out of the way). Shimaru has learned some preliminary fighting skills. His endurance _is_ comparable to Riding Bean without his armour.

Obedience: Shimaru has to obey Falora to the letter (though he's good at finding loopholes). He is also not allowed to break any of the ten commandments, saving for special dispensations on the "Shalt Not Kill" in the right situations. Given their loose definitions, though, he can find his ways 'around' some of the stipulations laid down in the Bible (for example, he can break into someone else's house and leave the doors open for someone _else_ to steal something).

Misc: He's an above-average hockey and hackeysack player. He can play a few musical instruments. He is fluent in _many_ languages, and very knowledgeable about ancient cultures and foreign lands and traditions. He has a ludicrously high alcohol tolerance and eats insects regularly (more for effect than enjoyment). He's an above-average driver. He types and writes very quickly and legibly, and can cook quite competently for himself and others in a variety of cultural dishes (although he sucks at traditional Japanese cooking).

Weaknesses:

Regeneration: Shimaru only regenerates once pushed to the point of death, otherwhise, he heals normally. If he actually has a day to spare and is sick or hurt in such a way as to be too inconveneint to tolerate, he has been known to jump in front of the odd bus.

Resurrection: Shimaru's resurrection is tied intimately to his relation with Kami-sama. On normal days, Shimaru returns to life at midnight of each night. However, on certain days - Passover, White Day, Valentine's Day, and Christmas, he will not be resurrected until the following midnight. While dead, Shimaru has to hang around in Kami-sama's office, complete with nasal, dull secretary, boring old magazines, uncomfortable chairs, and that really... odd... smell you get in such places. The company's usually pretty crap at these times. This is part of why he is just so damn pissed off when he comes back to life.

Consciousness: He _can_ be knocked out pretty easily, can black out from pain (often a bigger problem than being killed) and can't shake of sleep indefinitely (Hey, he may be a teacher, but he's going on three hours of sleep for _NOBODY_). A blow to the head from a tireiron from someone of similar strength to himself would poleaxe him.

Magical Weaknesses: Healing magic actually does him damage, unless it's god-ordained magic (the likes of which are used by Falora and Kai). While most forms of magic, generally, do a lot more damage to him than normal, black magic does no _extra_ damage. Shamanistic magics - fireballs, lightning bolts, etc. - do a lot _more_, and the high-powered Astral Magic, such as the Rah Tilt, would kill him (well, for as long as normal).

Observation: Any information he observes from his vantage point in Kami's office can currently only be relayed to Falora, who is gagged from releasing some information by the Goddess Spoiler System. In theory, Kai could receive this information, but it is likely that it would similarly be filtered. IOW, he can only tell you what is currently going on, or offer his opinions and interpretations of events.

Miscellaneous: Weak against sonic attacks; out of practice in hockey, music and hackeysack; seldom _asks_ for help; his teaching methods are questionable. He's unwilling to help people.

Background: Shimaru grew up relatively wild, and became a pretty nice guy regardless. Then, when she was about twenty, he contracted cancer and had to undergo radiotherapy and chemotherapy. He became suicidally depressed as it seemed everything he could have fell out from underneath him, as the treatment disfigured him, proving to be ineffectual to boot. After becoming so thoroughly disgusted with the world in general, he locked himself in the vast family library - not that anybody would have noticed, since his family home was vast, and all the other members of his family (two brothers, sister, both parents) were not even in the damn place half the time.

      Shimaru despaired of being cured, and left home a few weeks before his projected time of death, jetsetting around randomly on his family's money. Upon reaching Israel, he went to Jerusalem, up to the mountains and... did something.

      When he came back to Jerusalem, he was hit by a bus.

      That night, he woke up in the morgue and wondered what the hell had happened, putting the weird dream of Enma Daiou's office and godawful magazines down to fears of death and general tiredness - and collapsing in the street, they'd shoved him into the hospital, as nobody cared. This cast him in a deep well of depression, accentuated by his features.

      Shimaru went home and waited for his death, hoping for the release it would bring. Nothing happened for a month or more, and eventually he went to the doctors to find he was in remission. They couldn't explain the cuts and scars all over his body, but they could prove that not only had his cancer been beaten back, but the tumours themselves were just plain _gone_.

      He became even more depressed as he realised that the death he craved had escaped him, even throwing himself in front of cars, off buildings and into rivers in an attempt to die. After the fifteenth attempt (and having read a six-year-old issue of "Better Holy Cities and Choralists" three times), he pretty much guessed what was wrong with him. He confided in his sister, who set him up with his teaching job and cut him off from the family money.

      Achika has an odd way of cheering people up.

Anime Influences: Tengul (Professor Jones), Yuusuke (Yu*Yu*Hakusho)

Non-Anime Influences: Danielle's neat idea, Kevin (Seiken Densetsu 3)