OOC 1
Hat last attempt at posting this got away from me, and decided to redo it here and delete the other.
Chimp Man Z, also known to the world as Jacob Davidovitch, is the offspring of circus performers, from different aerialist and tumbler families, who originally hail from Pripyat in the Ukraine. When Cernobyl went critical, and everyone was evacuated, their respective families made their way to Isreal. Both of his parents spent two years each in the IDF, then were hired by the second largest travelling circus and sideshow in the US.
The show is known as Benveniste's Travelling Wonders, begun by Jiacomo Beneviste (Italian Jew and showman working in Germany who barely escaped Krystalnacht). Jiacomo made it a habit to hire Jewish refugees in order to get them into the US, at a time the US refused; it is a practice continued by his daughter, and current owner, Katerina Beneviste, who helps refugees from all religious, national, and ethnic backgrounds to find jobs.
When his mother discovered she was pregnant, she left the show, but not her husband, and opened a gymnastics studio in Tampa, Florida, where the show wintered. It was there that Jacob lived a relatively normal life, learning what his mother and her employees had to teach (including one instructor who also taught martial arts). Well, for awhile, anyway.
It was when puberty began, during his seventh grade year, that things began to fundamentally change for Jacob. Rapid and excessive hair growth, slightly malformed feet becoming fully prehensile, and a slightly extended spine/coccyx growing into a prehensile tail. He learned to shave where he would be most visible, kept the tail wrapped about his waist, and wore larger shoes in order to try to continue to fit in. And it worked for awhile.
Then his mother was diagnosed with brain cancer. She had had very few symptoms, and by the time they caught it, it was already stage four and inoperable. Hos father came to stay with them, to take care of his wife and son until the inevitable.
His mother made it through Hannukah and the New Year of his eighth grade year, but not past Presidents' Day. He finished out the school year, then left with his father for the circus.
He actually enjoyed the circus. He learned to be comfortable with his mutations there. Letting his hair grow out, he became not only an accomplished aerialist, but a sideshow attraction. An online contest was conducted for a stage name for the young man, the winner, an eleven year old boy, and his family receiving lifetime passes to the show. And, thus, a star named ChimpMan-Zee was born.
Being homeschooled and working as a part of the show was great fun for Jacob, allowing him and his father to grow closer as they mourned hos.mother and learned to accept her loss. However, he eventually felt the need to move on to new and exciting things. He was accepted to Center City University, first at the school of medicine to be a physical therapist, while teaching gymnastics to help pay tuition. He then became EMT certified, and later, a paramedic, after coming across and accident scene and having a victim die in his arms while waiting for an ambulance delayed by traffic. He trained with firefighters after assisting in the rescue of scientists and workers from a chemical plant fire; he came out shielding the with a piece of metal roofing, his clothes burning off of him, when an explosion blew him through a news truck, and destroyed the rest of his clothing on live TV (he is definitely Jewish...). He moved on to Criminal Justice after helping campus police catch and prosecute a serial rapist.
During all of this, his fame grew outside of the circus, most of his press being positive and most people loving him (especially children, who always seem enamored of anything resembling a monkey). However, he has faced some discrimination and hatred from people. With most of his experiences being positive, he has decided to be an apparently eternal optimist who does not let the negativity get him down.
While he initially intended to allow himself to fade into obscurity, his desire and willingness to help others has put him on the path of the hero....
