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[sinningsaint]

OOC Information:

Name: Haley

Are you over 15? Yep!

Contact: On plurk at brightblueink, or feel free to PM me on my character’s account!


IC Information:

Name: Joshua Christopher // Joshua Christopher “J.C.” Simmons

Canon: Chrono Crusade (manga version)

Age: Canon covers parts of his life from the ages of 4-23 (or thereabouts) but mostly focuses on when he’s 15. In-game, he’s 15.

Preincarnation Appearance: http://i.imgur.com/rTSSQwc.jpg I know the coloring is a little weird in this picture, but he has blond hair, blue eyes and a pale, Caucasian skin tone.

Any differences: He won’t have those horns on his head, obviously. Also in canon he can sometimes manifest angelic-looking wings, and he won’t have that power either, until he receives an echo for it. Otherwise he’ll look more or less the same, with one difference—in canon it’s hinted that he’s VERY skinny, possibly underweight (when his sister first sees him after a long time apart, she worriedly asks him if he’s been eating well). His reincarnation will be a bit scrawny but at a healthy weight for his height.

Preincarnated History: Here’s a wiki link, although it’s not particularly substantial and mixes manga and anime canon together: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrono_Crusade#Sinners
There’s also a fansite here, which is somewhat better, although doesn’t cover everything important: http://www.chrno-crusade.com/AC_Characters_Josh.htm

Since both of those sources are a little weak, I’ll try to (as briefly as I can) summarize all of the important events that happen to him in canon not covered by those sources!

First of all, Wiki’s wrong about the promise Joshua made to Rosette in front of his father’s grave—he didn’t promise “not to grow old” but to grow old together with Rosette. He also promised to himself that he would grow as strong as he could as quickly as possible so that he could support Rosette.

Joshua and Rosette found Chrono in a tomb located near their orphanage, and quickly became friends with him. Chrono would often tell them stories—including a story about the astral line, where the souls of all life both originated from and returned after their death. Joshua loved this story and decided that his sister and he would go there as part of their dream to be explorers, and that he would write a book about it.

When Joshua accepted Chrono’s horns from Aion, the insanity they caused motivated him to freeze the time of everyone in the orphanage he lived in, Seventh Bell. The only two who were spared were Rosette and Chrono, since they happened to be just outside of the orphanage when it happened.

After the attack at the orphanage Aion took Joshua to his home base, Eden. There, as Joshua wandered the halls in a confused state, he stumbled upon a room where the shell of a girl was hooked up to a machine to supply magic summoning jewels for Aion’s plan. In his confusion, Joshua called her “sister”, which awakened the memories of the girl she’d once been and allowed her to have consciousness again. Aion apparently decided that the connection the two had would be useful to him—perhaps to keep Joshua in line—so he named the new “doll” Fiore, and made her Joshua’s maid.

After four years of searching, the Magdalene Order managed to find evidence of Joshua’s location. Aion used the opportunity to manipulate Joshua’s sister and Chrono to come to them using the information the Order had gathered, partially because he hoped that Rosette would have a limiting effect on Joshua’s steadily eroding sanity (since his vulnerability to Pandaemonium was, in part, because of not having a strong sense of self). However, when Joshua saw Rosette again, he completely failed to even recognize her. To top it off, Chrono’s presence had a bad effect on the horns, causing Joshua to shoot and nearly kill him to stop the “screaming” from them. In the ensuing chaos, Joshua was able to kidnap his sister’s companion, Azmaria, who was the final “Apostle” Aion needed for his plains, a child with holy powers like Joshua.

With the final Apostle gathered, Aion launched into his final plan--the Apostles would sing an oratorio led by Joshua on an organ tuned to his powers. With this song they would be able to use their powers to tap into the astral line, and through the horns on Joshua’s head he would then be able to use this power to tap into the demon’s home world, Pandaemonium, which was really a fish-like mothership that had sunk under the Atlantic ocean thousands of years before. This would also cast a geas on all demons that had horns (mostly those still loyal to Pandaemonium) that would mutate them into mindless monsters. This plan succeeded, although in the process a tidal wave was created that destroyed New York City.

After the Oratorio was performed, Joshua was separated from Fiore and her spiritual energy suddenly disappeared from his senses. Desperate, Joshua sought out Rosette, who had made it onto Eden in the middle of the Oratorio and had tried to get his attention during it. Before she’d left him, Fiore had convinced Joshua that he should try to talk to Rosette to discern if she was really his sister, so that’s what he did. Although he at first accepted her as his true sister, when she told him he should take off the horns he decided that she must be an imposter (since he’d grown dependent on their power and thought that his sister would never be “mean” enough to suggest he should give them back). He attacked her, but during their battle she managed to shoot off one of the horns. This gave him enough sanity that he was able to recall the promise he’d made to Rosette as a child and realize that he’d been using the horns as a crutch. With this new information, he chose to rip out the remaining horn himself, restoring his sanity and unfreezing everything that he had stopped with Chrono’s powers, including the children of Seventh Bell.

With his sanity restored, Joshua joined Rosette in trying to find Chrono, whom she’d been separated from when Joshua had caught up with her. They found him badly wounded, being attacked by the mutant demons. When Rosette rushed to reach Chrono, she collapsed in front of him and appeared to die. This was when Joshua found out that his sister had made a contract with Chrono to supply him astral energy from her own soul so that Chrono could use his powers in place of the horns Aion had taken from him years before. Joshua’s response was to beat Chrono until his knuckles were bloodied and to curse at him, calling him a “monster”—although when Aion talked to Joshua after this he was quick to point out that Rosette made the contract in order to save Joshua, which calmed his anger toward Chrono down.

After an argument with Aion through one of Pandaemonium’s communication screens, Chrono replaced his horns on his head (which should have mutated him like the other demons, but he was able to use his self-control to keep his body under his control). He was about to rush off to stop Aion when Azmaria suddenly appeared and explained to him and Joshua that Rosette wasn’t actually dead, but that her soul had left her body. Although both Joshua and Chrono at first responded with relief, Azmaria revealed that this was actually bad news—Aion was on his way to kill the demon’s Queen, and when he did the soul of the Queen would seek out a new body to possess—and Rosette’s was the perfect empty shell. Chrono ran off to try to stop Aion, and Joshua took Rosette’s body and Azmaria back to the astral organ to attempt to use it to call her soul back to her body with their powers.

They almost managed to locate Rosette’s soul when Aion burst into the room and rushed at Rosette, attempting to kill her. However, Chrono was hot on his heels and struggled against Aion to keep him away from Rosette. That was when Azmaria realized that Rosette’s soul must actually be in the watch that Rosette used to seal Chrono’s powers. Chrono unsealed the watch and called Rosette’s soul back just as Pandaemonium attempted to possess her body. Her return to her body forced Pandaemonium out, and she then shot at Aion, destroying his sword, badly wounding him and causing him to retreat.

As Pandaemonium’s soul dissipated, the Apostles, Rosette and Chrono were granted a vision that detailed the history of the demons, revealing the reasons behind Aion’s desperate attempts to reform the world to destroy the “systems” he hated. Aion planned to use the corrupted legion (sort of like demon cells) of Pandaemonium to force the cultural systems of everything to reboot, creating a new world order that Aion hoped would grant the Sinners freedom. When the Apostles realized that Pandaemonium was still collapsing and that Aion’s plan would succeed, Rosette and Chrono volunteered to chase Aion to the core of Pandaemonium and find a way to stop it, while the Apostles could use their powers to hold Pandaemonium together for as long as possible to help Chrono and Rosette succeed.

After the Apostles did all they could, they went to the outer part of Eden to discover Rosette sitting alone—Chrono had forced her to stay behind because he’d been afraid he wouldn’t be able to protect her and ran off to face Aion alone. Although Azmaria feared that Rosette would die before Chrono made it back, Rosette swore that she would wait for Chrono as long as it took.

Some time after this Pandaemonium was destroyed and became a visible ring around the Earth. The fates of Chrono, Aion, and Fiore were unknown to Joshua for the rest of his life. Joshua also decided to join the Magdalene Order and devote himself to aiding the rebuilding effort in New York in order to atone for his part in Aion’s plans. The Apostles' powers also disappeared after the destruction of Pandaemonium, presumably because they were no longer needed.

Rosette left the Magdalene Order to work at Seventh Bell, and died in 1932 at the age of 24--sad, but much longer than Azmaria had feared after Rosette's near-death. Around this same time, Joshua and Azmaria are implied to have gotten married. They appear to have had at least one child together. Nothing else is known about Joshua's life after this point, although his wife went on to found the Hendrich Foundation, which he may have had a part in.


Reincarnated History Joshua Christopher Simmons—sometimes called “J.C.” for short--is the only child of Glen and Matilda Simmons. His parents are childhood sweethearts who grew up together in church, and his father pastors a decent-sized evangelical church in Locke City.

Glen and Matilda struggled to conceive a child for several years until Joshua was born. Because of this, and because he was born on Good Friday in 1998 (April 10th), his parents cheerfully called him their “miracle child.” His father in particular had a quirky sense of humor, which is how their son got the name “Joshua Christopher” in the first place.

Growing up, Joshua felt pressure due to being the "pastor's kid." He was expected to be a good example to the other children and in general, he felt like he had a lot of people watching him, waiting for him to screw up. This, along with a somewhat awkward personality, caused him to struggle with school and with making friends.

Things got even worse when at the age of 9 he was suspended from school when he got into a fist fight with a boy that had been bulling him. Hoping to give her son a chance to learn in school without worrying about bullies, his mother decided to pull him from school and home school him instead. This helped his grades quite a bit, but did nothing to solve his issues with socializing, since he didn’t much get along with the kids from his church or the home school support group, either.

To combat his increasing loneliness, Joshua turned to escapism. He became an avid reader and video gamer, pretty much diving in to any source of media that you could consider “geeky.” He’s also found that he has an easier time making friends online, since they don't even have to know his background unless he tells them.

About a year ago, Joshua's mother decided that she'd like to get back into the workforce. Since this made it harder for her to teach Joshua, and since his parents also hoped that now that he was older he'd be able to handle himself better in school, it was decided by his parents that he should start attending public school again, so he started attending Locke High in 2012 for his freshman year of high school. He’s made a few friends, although he still is occasionally bullied (and in particular, teased for being “The pastor’s kid”). Most of the friends that he HAS made are the geeky kids at school.

First Echo: Joshua got taken to the art gallery by his mother (who has an artistic bent) while Proud's statues were on display. The statues set off his first Echo, a small piece of his former powers as an Apostle that were granted to him from the Astral Lines. He can now manifest a soft glowing energy from his hands that can heal minor scrapes and cuts and temporarily soothe some minor symptoms of illnesses (headaches, sinus irritation, perhaps soothing a fever, that sort of thing), although it’s not strong enough to help against more serious or life-threatening wounds and illnesses. If he uses it too much, he’ll also begin to receive some small symptoms of his own—mostly headaches and an occasional irritating coughing spell.

Preincarnation Personality: [As a quick note—I originally wrote this personality section when I was apping Joshua post-manga but before the epilogue. Because of this, it tends to write Joshua as he is after losing the horns in the present tense and any personality tidbits from the epilogue when he’s in his 20s as future tense. However, since we see very little of him in the epilogue, we don’t get too much information on any personality differences he has as an adult with his child self, so I believe that this will be pretty sufficient in explaining what he was like in his previous life!]

Joshua can be a tough nut to crack because in canon we see three sides to Joshua: what he was like as a child, how the power of Chrono’s horns twists his mind and personality, and a little bit of him as a teenager without the horns (but under a very stressful, intense situation). However, when you combine the whole of canon together, Joshua’s true personality and how he’s grown up and been affected by what he’s been through and the people in his life paint a full picture of his personality. Joshua is a warm, loyal teenager who’s been battered by life and made some horrible mistakes, but he’s determined to learn from what has happened to him so that he can become a better person and make sure that his sister’s sacrifice for him was not in vain.

Despite the hardships Joshua has had in his life, he’s naturally a cheerful person. As an ill child, Joshua wanted little more than to just spend time with his sister outside and have fun with her, rather than worry over his illness or strange powers. He doesn’t particularly WANT to dwell on his problems (even though he often does), he wants to just enjoy life and have fun. So even when he’s under a lot of stress, he tends to manage to make jokes, have fun discussions with the people he cares about and engage in playful banter.

Of course, sometimes that “playful banter” of his can take a snarky, argumentative, and even downright childish tone. As a kid, he mocks his older sister because her chest is “as flat as a pancake.” He gets into extended arguments with Fiore because he hates carrots and she wants him to eat healthily. He apparently has a toy gun even as a 15-year-old. He mocks and eggs on opponents in a fight. (“Hah! That wasn’t even close! You DO know how to shoot, don’t you?”) We don’t see him engage with this after he loses his horns, so it’s possible that he “grows out of” this trait later on, but it’s also just as likely that the situations we see him in afterward simply don’t call for it.

His ‘childish’ side also manifests in a more positive way, in that Joshua is very imaginative and creative. As a child trapped indoors most of the time because of his illness, he became very attached to books. Most of the stuff he read were dime novels and pulp fiction, with a particular interest in adventure, sci-fi, westerns and the occult. (Honestly, a lot of his interests are downright geeky, particularly when you realize that dime novels are a precursor to comic books.)

He loves consuming stories and is fascinated by people of different cultures and ideas, and idolizes larger-than-life heroes. He also channels this creative energy into music—he’s shown singing “Israfel” the first time we see him as a teenager, and we later learn that he focuses his powers through music (particularly through a pipe organ made specifically for his use).

As a child, his love of stories and of the strange and unusual is part of what drew him closer to Chrono. He was fascinated at first by Chrono’s claim of being a demon, asking him if “witches and fairies [were] real, too?” and not showing a hint of fear. When Chrono begins to tell them stories and legends he’s amazed and inspired by them, particularly Chrono explaining the “astral lines” where the souls of the dead are said to go. As a child he decided that he and Rosette were going to become explorers and find the astral lines (and he’d write a book about it, of course!) Even as a sane teenager, he can’t help but point out to Rosette that their dreams have come true, since when she saves him they ARE surrounded by the astral line.

In general Joshua is bold, dreams big, and enjoys taking on new challenges. His idealized version of himself is like the heroes that he’s so fascinated by—for example, when he heals Rosette with his powers and she thanks him, he tells her that she shouldn’t thank him until he saves her from a group of bandits with only a rifle. He has a fascination with guns (probably from all those books he reads), to the point where he sometimes fights with guns despite the fact that the horns allow him to tear apart demons with his bare hands.

He very, very rarely backs down from a challenge, and only seems to when ordered to or convinced otherwise. When a group of demon Pursuers come to Aion’s home and demand to see the Sinner, Joshua warns them not to underestimate him (probably just to rile them up) and then kills them all with nothing but his powers and bare hands. Later, when he starts to question whether Rosette really is his sister as she says she is, Fiore encourages him to seek out the truth—so he does, going to her directly and asking her point-blank “You really are my sister Rosette, aren’t you?” Even after he loses his horns and is back to being frail due to his powers, he not once but TWICE jumps between Rosette and an enemy, determined to protect her.

In fact, as a child he promised himself on his father’s grave that he would grow up as strong as he could to be able to protect Rosette, which is one of the reasons why he despises his illness so much. He’s VERY bothered that Rosette “acts just like a boy” and is the one being strong and protecting him, instead of the other way around. He seems to only half-remember the promise he made, but it greatly affects how he sees himself. He knew that because of his illness, he wasn’t as strong as he wanted to be, and he was upset by it. In an interview in the English volume 2 of the manga, the writer of the series mentions that Joshua has a “childhood dilemma of [a] gap between the person he wants to be and the person he actually is,” which I think is a good way of summing up how Joshua feels about himself.

Because of his high expectations, he HATES being pitied and patronized. As a child he knew that caring for him was tiring, and both felt guilty for being a bother and resented people pitying and coddling him because of his illness. He also gets very upset by Rosette wanting to be a doctor so she can take care of him (even though she thinks she’s “too stupid” for it), which is even hinted to be a motivating factor in him taking the horns. To him, being reminded that he’s ill and weak is insulting, and later in life, when he has great power because of the horns, he goes out of his way to show it off as if to prove a point.

He seems to place a high expectation on others, as well as himself, and is disappointed when they fail to match his expectations. On the flip side, when someone exceeds his expectations he’s quick to applaud them for it. For example, when Chrono snaps out of a rage-fueled frenzy during a fight and is stabbed by Aion because of it, Joshua expresses disappointment in how the fight ended, since he knows Chrono is a powerful demon. Later on, when Azmaria shows quick-thinking and uses her Apostle powers in an unconventional way to call Rosette’s soul back to her body, he’s visibly impressed with her.

His love of larger-than-life heroes, the occult, and admiration for the powerful is probably why he was so attached to Aion when he was part of the Sinners. From Joshua’s viewpoint, Aion was always calm, collected, and in control. He was powerful, and he knew it. To a boy driven insane by the “noise” he was hearing Aion must have seemed one of the few steady, in control things in the universe. He greatly looked up to Aion, and Aion in turn expected much of him and included him in his plans. Joshua was proud of his work with Aion.

Even after he lost the horns, he stops and listens when Aion speaks to him, tries to reason with Aion rather than considering him as an enemy, and even seems concerned for him (after he makes sure his sister is all right). Of course, he doesn’t make excuses for Aion either, and is silent when Chrono and Rosette decide to face him a final time. He doesn’t argue that they shouldn’t fight Aion. He just warns Chrono to keep Rosette safe.

Speaking of Rosette and Aion, Joshua tends to be very loyal to those that he comes to care about. In general he’s rather friendly, but distant. He doesn’t seem to have had many friends in the orphanage—particularly once he got his powers, which frightened them. But the few people that he gets truly close to? He can be fanatically devoted to.

I’ve already mentioned that as a kid he promised himself he would be there for Rosette. If you asked him who the most important person in his life was, he would pick Rosette with little hesitation. She’s the only family he has left, and even though they sometimes fight or tease each other, he cares for her deeply. When he was sick, he hated feeling like he was holding her back, which was another thing that drove him to take Chrono’s horns from Aion.

After he got the horns, his memories of Rosette started to become faded and corrupted. It got bad enough that he couldn’t even remember her face. Unable to tell the difference between dreams and reality, he constructed a false Rosette in his mind out of scattered memories and wishful thinking, imagining her as a pure, kind-hearted girl who would never disagree with him and support his quest for power. He became obsessed with the false sister he created in his mind, and that image became something he clung to when the noise or his illness became too much of a strain. In his mind, all the pain would be worth it once he was with his sister in Aion’s newly remade world.

Meeting the real Rosette again was a shock, particularly when she dared to do something like—GASP—tell him to give back the horns! It was so out of line with his false memories that he attacked her, but she had none of that and shot a horn off, enabling him just enough sanity that he could remember his promise to be strong for her and choose to tear out the other horn. The rest of the manga, he spends time with her and, after she collapses and nearly dies, desperately works with the other characters to save her life. He’s a very devoted, doting brother without the horns, and the knowledge that her life is shortened because of his actions tends to send him into solemn contemplation when he thinks about it. Still, he’s bound and determined to protect her for as long as she lives, but on his OWN strength, now, instead of Chrono’s.

Despite how attached he is to Rosette, she’s not the only one he loves. His loyalty to Aion I covered earlier, and although the horns caused him to be selfish around her, it’s very clear that he also cares deeply for Fiore. (In fact, in a flash-forward set eight years after the main storyline, he’s STILL missing Fiore and hoping he’ll be able to see her again so he can thank her for all she did for him.)

However, despite how loving he can be to those he trusts, he has a bad habit of thinking of himself first, and others second. Rosette never asked to be protected by Joshua, but he was bound and determined to do it, even if it meant making a deal with the devil.

Loyal as he is to Aion, he seems to only somewhat care about Aion’s needs and ideals—as much as Aion used him, with the horns he was happy to play along for the power given to him and the promise of a new world he could share with his sister. He’ll directly disobey Aion’s orders if it’s frustrating or inconvenient for him, like when he decides to attack Chrono to make the horns stop their “screaming.”

And while I do think he cares about Fiore, he’s definitely much more interested in what she can do for HIM while he has the horns. While with Fiore he tends to be clingy, concerned with his problems and frankly pretty whiny. He constantly goes to her for advice and emotional support without offering much in return. Part of it is just how their relationship works—she’s his maid, after all—but he definitely doesn’t mind having her around to serve him hand and foot, and even seems to actively enjoy it. (He gets a kick out of asking her if she was worried about him after a fight and even offers his cut-up hand to her so she can lick the blood from the wound. …It’s a weird moment.)

He gets much better about this behavior after he loses the horns, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still a part of his personality—he’s just got a much better control over it when he’s not all crazy. He still shows signs of being a little demanding even without the horns, particularly when it comes to Chrono’s treatment of Rosette (…and her body). And particularly since this was a trait of his even before the horns, it’s likely that’s just the way he is—his guilt is just stamping out his selfishness when he’s not flying off the handle emotionally.

Oh, right, his emotions. He’s not very good at controlling them. He seems calm in comparison to Rosette, but that’s just because Rosette’s EVEN WORSE than he is. It’s at its worst when he has the horns, of course. He has very little impulse control with them, which is where most of his chaotic nature with the horns comes from. But even without the horns he has a tendency to switch emotions at the drop of a hat. As a kid, while being generally cheerful, he was often depressed by his powers, and he also played a pretty mean prank on Rosette as revenge for her ruining a book. (Plus, he yells at her when she offers food to Chrono because HE’D been hungry earlier—oh, yeah, there’s the selfish side again.)

Even without the horns, perhaps even because of the trauma from the horns, he is pretty volatile emotionally. This manifests the most when he’s under a lot of stress. As things start to go worse and worse for him and Rosette, he gets more and more unpredictable when it comes to his mood swings. He’s not a stoic guy by any stretch of the imagination.

Chrono seems the most likely character to set him off throughout canon. When he has the horns, it’s partially because he thinks of Chrono as an enemy (for wanting to take the horns from him) and partially because when he’s around Chrono the horns are noooot happy and make the noise even worse. He shoots Chrono on impulse because of this, and came very, very close to killing him because of it.

Once the horns are gone, things still aren’t great between him and Chrono, mostly because of how devoted and overprotective he is of his sister. When he finds out about the contract Chrono had with Rosette, he flies into a rage and beats Chrono until his knuckles are bloodied. (Also Chrono was already missing an arm and an eye before Joshua decided to beat him up more.)

Aion comes around eventually to point out that Rosette made the contract to save Joshua, but even then that doesn’t quite calm him down about it. He yells at Chrono when Chrono’s about to leave Rosette(‘s body) behind, and when Rosette and Chrono decide they have to face Aion together, Joshua gives Chrono a veeeeeery reluctant blessing. It’s not that he hates Chrono—far from it, he even seems to think of Chrono as a friend and expresses concern for him at one point. It’s just that when emotions are running high, it’s easy for him to pick a target to lash out at—plus, he’s the stereotypical overprotective brother. He’s glad that Rosette cares about Chrono, but he’s going to make VERY SURE that Chrono takes good care of her.

But really, despite all of his hang-ups, chaotic emotions and selfishness? By the end of the manga, Joshua is determined to become a better person. We might not get to see much of him without the horns, but baring his outbursts over Chrono’s contract with Rosette, every single thing he does after he loses the horns is directed at helping other people.

When it’s revealed that there’s a chance to save Rosette’s life, he immediately offers to help and races with Azmaria to the ‘Astral Organ’—a pipe organ made specifically for him to use. He uses it to help Azmaria call Rosette’s soul back to her body, despite the fact that he’s using his Apostle powers and once again causing himself to become ill (to the point where he starts to cough up blood). Despite his tense moments with Chrono, he doesn’t let him go without apologizing for being harsh toward him. The last thing we see him do in the main manga timeline is comfort Azmaria when she begins to cry. And in the epilogue, we learn that he eventually joins the Order to atone for the harm he’s caused.

This isn’t actually all that surprising—although he can be selfish, as a child we’re never given any reason to think he ever refused to heal someone with his powers, despite resenting his ill health and despite his powers and illness making him an outcast in his orphanage. In fact, considering that his powers are what causes his illness in the first place? It’s pretty clear that he’s been using his powers a lot, considering how sick he is by the time he gets the horns.

So in conclusion? Joshua is a screwed-up kid that can be self-centered and argumentative, clingy and prone to mood swings. He’s also compassionate, a devoted brother, curious and creative, and by the end of the manga is on his way to becoming someone who lives his life helping others.

Any differences: Without a figure like Fiore in his life to be his confidant, he’s a bit more cynical and bitter than his canon counterpart. He still cares about others but he’s at times hesitant to reach out to them for fear of being hurt. He’s also gotten to where he self-identifies as being “weird” and something of an outcast. He tells himself that it’s freeing, because he “doesn’t care what people think of him” but that’s not really true—he’s just more resigned to it than his preincarnation was.

Also, despite being a kid with holy powers and a connection to the supernatural, his preincarnation didn’t show many signs of being particularly religious until he joined the Magdalene Order. In his reincarnated life, however, Joshua is MUCH more religious. As the son of a pastor he’s grown up surrounded by scripture, and his parents’ denomination’s interpretation of scripture and their religion, and Christian culture at large. He knows what’s expected of him as a young Christian and a pastor’s son in particular. He can be a little snobby and overbearing about his beliefs at times, and can be outspoken when he thinks something disagrees with his religion. Sometimes he’s just parroting what he’s heard from his parents, but other times it’s his own genuine conclusions. He doesn’t believe everything his parents do—he’s a teenager, after all, it’s his job to question his parents and rebel a little—but for the most part he keeps “on the straight and narrow.” At least, that's the appearance he likes to present to people.

That being said, instead of preincarnation!Joshua’s issues with not being strong enough (because of his illness/possible insecurity in his masculinity) and his anxiety over being treated as a “freak” because of his powers, his insecurities are now more related to his difficulties fitting in, and the pressure he gets because of his parents’ strong focus on their religion (and in particular the pressure of being a pastor’s kid and being held up as an example to other people). Although his parents have never, ever told him he needs to be perfect, he’s picked up on that from his peers, and he KNOWS he reflects poorly on his parents when he gets in trouble, so he does his best to come across as having his shit together.


Abilities:
Abilites related to his powers as an Apostle:
-The ability to make angelic wings appear and disappear from his back. Besides just looking cool, he can also use them to fly.
-The ability to heal others with astral energy when he places hise hands over them. (This includes a pretty glow from his hands.)
-An ability to tap into the Astral Line, the source of spiritual energy in his world, and (particularly if he works with the other Apostles) some ability to control it. This also includes some ability to manipulate spiritual energy in general (as shown when he’s able to break the seal on the door of Mary Magdalene’s tomb).
-A general ability to sense spiritual things. (Never explicitly stated, but although Rosette at first doesn’t believe Chrono’s claims to be a demon he IMMEDIATELY shows signs of knowing that Chrono’s not exactly human, and he also can tell when Fiore’s been sealed in crystal despite being several rooms away.)
-Possibly can psychically communicate with other Apostles. (He appears in a dream of Azmaria’s at one point and speaks to her directly—however, it’s unclear if he’s purposefully reaching out to her, or if she’s possibly having a prophetic dream instead.)
-Can serve as a medium for the dead. (Never shown in canon, but the other Apostles describe themselves as “emissaries of the dead” and serve as vessels for the souls in the Astral Line to speak through, and Azmaria looks through the souls of the dead to try to locate Rosette’s soul while he helps her boost her powers. He also DOES receive a vision of Pandaemonium’s ancestral memories at one point, too.)

Abilities taken from Chrono’s horns:
-The ability to “stop the time” of a person, object or body part, freezing it in place and making it appear to be made out of stone.
-The appearance of being super-fast. (Actually Joshua using his time-freeze powers in short bursts to allow him to SEEM to be going fast.)
-Strength beyond what’s natural for his body.
-A connection to Pandaemonium. Although this is used for Aion’s plans in canon, this is almost more of a weakness in a lot of ways, since it means he (according to Rizel) can be “easily absorbed by it.”

Unclear if it’s an Apostle power, or one of Chrono’s powers:
-An ability to read the minds of those around him. (This might be a power of his that’s merely amplified by the horns to a dangerous degree, OR it’s one of Chrono’s powers. Either way, he can’t control it easily, so it’s difficult for him to use it properly.)

Natural abilities and learned skills
-Above-average intelligence, but not on a genius level. (He’s generally shown as being pretty clever and observant—he picks up on things Rosette doesn’t, out-maneuvers demon soldiers, analyzes a battle between Chrono and Aion and also expounds on Azmaria’s use of her powers, etc. Some of this is due to knowledge learned from Aion or his powers, but he’s at least particularly good on acting on the knowledge he has.)
-Knows how to fire and maintain a gun. (Up to technology invented in the 1920s.)
-Can play a pipe organ. (Possibly a piano, as well.)
-Has a limited ability to read, write, speak and understand the demon’s language, but not on the level you would consider fluency.

Items:
-Steals one of Rosette’s guns during a battle and uses it as a weapon later on. Although it can be used as a regular gun, it comes with bullets specifically meant to harm demons and other supernatural entities.
-Chrono’s horns attached to his head.
-The “astral organ” that he uses to channel his powers through during the Oratorio. (I believe I read once that in supplementary, Japanese-only content it was mentioned that it was made SPECIFICALLY for him and attuned to his powers, buuuut I can’t find that reference anywhere, so I’m calling that headcanon.)


Roleplay Sample – Third Person:
"So...is it all right if I eat in my room for lunch today?" Joshua asked hopefully. He did his best not to fidget as his parents exchanged a look between the two of them in the front of the car.

"Why?"

"Well, see, my guild has been hoping to take down this boss for WEEKS now, but just last night one of the healers had to quit because they got sick. I know Sunday lunch is one of our "family time" meals but my friends really need me, so--please? I promise this won't become a habit!"

And that was how Joshua actually managed to weasel his way out of Sunday lunch. He grinned triumphantly as he pulled off his tie and untucked his dress shirt from his pants. If he had more time, he would've switched to a pair of jeans, but he was already running a little late as he was.

Fate decided to smile on him that day and gave him a quick connection onto his server. He put on his headset as he teleported his character to the meeting place.

"Sorry I'm a little late! Church went long today."

"No problem, JC," one of the guild mods responded. "Thanks for subbing on such short notice."

"You know me! Always here to help the guild."

Joshua took a deep breath to prepare himself as his group went down into the valley and headed toward the waterfall cave that marked the entrance to the dungeon. The graphics in this game were beautiful, which was part of the reason he started to play it. He loved exploring the world and seeing all of the little details the developers had put into it. Sometimes, the world felt so alive that he could almost smell the ocean breeze as he wandered to the edge of an island, or feel the cold snow against his face as he climbed up a mountain.

If he could find a world like that, he'd never want to leave.

Once they entered the dungeon, it didn't take long for the battles to start, so he was forced to stop taking in the atmosphere and instead keep a close eye on everyone's health. Healer hadn't been his first choice of a focus--he WANTED to be DPS, but almost everyone did. Once his Guild's number of healers dropped to an all time low he decided to roll a healer and discovered he was actually good at the class. He still would rather be a fighter with flashy skills, but there was something nice about being a healer, too. People needed him and depended on him. It required a lot of concentration and skill, but the rush as he saved a teammate that was near death was almost always worth it. Besides, he could still play a heavy-hitter in other types of games, so it wasn't all bad.

A grin spread across his face as they reached the boss. The huge golem towered over their characters. He had a really damaging AOE attack and a ton of hit points. But he wasn't invincible. The guild had studied strategies, and he himself had watched videos so he could be ready to dodge when he saw the enemy's tells for his attacks. They were going to beat it, and he was going to keep them alive so they could do so.

"Let's do this! Shout out to me when you need to be healed!"


Roleplay Sample - Network:
['JC' discovered the Network a week or so ago, so he's been caught up on the general happenings with the current invasion. It's almost hard to believe--he's almost SURE he read a book like this once--but deep down inside part of him is a little excited about this. He feels like he was chosen, like this is some sort of calling or purpose in his life. He was excited at the idea that he could have a chance to do something that really MATTERED, to fight to protect everything.

Which is part of the reason why he looks so dejected now as he stares into the web cam.]

Remember how I admitted that I can make my hands glow? Someone suggested to me that it might do something else, and...I figured out what it is.

[His shoulders slump.]

I can heal minor injuries.

[SIGH] I was okay with being stuck as a healer in the MMO I play because it's just a game. I can play damage-dealers in single player RPGs, or maybe if I switch to a new game, or I can focus on heavy damage in a shooter or something. But now I'm stuck as a healer in REAL LIFE, too?

And to top it off, it's MINOR injuries and illnesses only. Hey fever? Fine. Scraped knees? Okay. But a bad fever? Nope, doesn't work. It helps a little but I'm about as useful as a glass of Theraflu.

Ugh, I'm so mad about it my head is pounding. I think I'm going to go lay down.
Any Questions?
What is your favorite color?