Kurt Pinkman (Earth-1)

*"I AM normal. It's the rest of the world that's weird."*

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**Kurt Pinkman** is an NPC in the *Generation X* campaign. He was introduced in *S01E01* and became a main character that same game.

A young member of the Rhoades Institute, Kurt possesses the power of superhuman speed (also known as Hyper Acceleration). Kurt is normally cheerful, enthusiastic and bursting with energy, although he is also seriously impatient, as he views the world in slow-motion and spends most of his time waiting for it to catch up.

## Personality

Kurt is an enthusiastic, affable young man. Generally optimistic with a good sense of humor, Kurt is friendly and an all-around good guy. While he likes people and does his best to be social, Kurt has trouble connecting with people due to his heightened perception of the world due to his speed, and he can sometimes come across as rude or unobservant. When compounded with his tendency to ramble, inability to keep his big mouth shut and general air of impatience, many see Kurt as a jerk. The truth is that Kurt tries his best to listen and be a good friend. The problem is that everybody else is *so damn slow*.

An optimist at heart, Kurt sees the glass as half-full. Despite being ridiculed and despised because of his abilities at home, he tends to see the best in people and is perhaps more trusting of others than he should be. Kurt is a tough kid and while he can be sensative, he usually takes everything is stride. He tries to be friendly and welcoming to new members of the Institute and often tries to comfort people who are scared. He hopes to one day use his abilities to help people, though he is unsure of how to realistically do that. He is brave and rarely loses his cool, though, so it seems that he would make an excellent hero should he decide to pursue that route.

Kurt is, by his own admission, a part of the counter-culture movement. He dislikes comformity and the classic, Atomic Family, "Leave it to Beaver" ideal. He is irreverant to a point and tends to be disrespectful of police calling them "brain dead zombies" and "slaves of the man". He does not reserve such strong feelings for military men, as his father was a WWII veteran. He is a strong supporter of both Women's Rights and Civil Rights.

He loves music and art and movies; though his patience (or lack thereof) makes regular moviegoing a challenge, at best. He also likes to visit museums and art galleries. He loves looking at paintings and photography, as it provides a distraction that almost helps to slow his world down. He can look at art for hours on end without noticing exactly how much time has passed. Music is the same. He has a natural ear for music and possesses perfect pitch. He hoped to start a rock band before his power emerged. Kurt loves dancing recreationally. His record player or radio is always on in his office and he will often dance to pass the time. His flooring thus needs to be repaired or replaced several times a year.

Kurt loves to have fun and almost never stops moving. Starving and desperate for new experiences, Kurt is an avid, voracious reader and a is a self-described "adrenaline junkie". Anything that occupies his time to distract him from the crushing boredom of living in such a slow world is welcome to him. Impatient, he is always tapping his fingers or bouncing his feet, which he does with such force and speed that grooves are worn into his desk and carpeting. He sees his power as a combination of blessing and curse; while he is certain his ability can be used for good, he hates how slow it makes everything else. In his point of view, what's the point of moving faster than everyone else if you have to wait around for everything to catch up?

In all, Kurt is a fun-loving, excitable speedster with a love of life and people.

## History

Kurt was born the oldest son of Chuck and Lenore Pinkman of Lwrence, Kansas. A former United States Marine and World War II veteran, Chuck worked as an advertising executive while his mother served as a stay at home mother. Despite his alcholic tendencies, Chuck was a good father to both Kurt and his brother Neil, and he went out of his way to play with them and teach them lessons about morality and what it meant to be "real men". He would often regale to the boys stories about superheroes like "Superman" or the "Batman", comic books that Chuck read as a boy and even during his time serving in the European theater of WWII. Kurt admired his father greatly.

When he was seven years old, while playing tag with his dad and brother, Kurt started running and next thing he knew, he was two counties over; he had somehow run more than 20 miles in less than a minute. After this incident, Kurt was monitored by his family and spent time at the hospital, undergoing tests. His tests came out clean, although he was later diagnosed with Hyperkinetic Disorder (otherwise known as ADHD) due to his extreme impatience and inabilty to focus.

He spent most of his time wandering around town by himself, often taking trips on his bike out to the forest, where he spent the weekend camping and fishing by himself. He would sometimes take Neil along. Kurt was not allowed to play on sports teams, a point that caused minor strife between Kurt and Chuck several times in his youth because everyone who was anyone played baseball. Except for him.

When he was sixteen, his crush (Heidi Spencer) confessed her attraction to him and kissed him. This caused his body to react strongly. Everything slowed down and it never stopped. Scared, he ran away. Heidi became afraid of him and told her father (a local minister) about what she saw Kurt do.

Over the next few weeks, things became progressively worse. The members of his church grew to fear him, thinking he was possessed by a demon and they blamed him for that year's poor weather and harvests. Kurt was attacked several times, one of which was in the company of his father. His dad was accidentally injured during the assault while trying to defend his son. Kurt ran his father to the hospital, but he wasn't fast enough to save him.

Faced with everything that had happened and afraid for his mother and brother's lives, Kurt left Kansas on his seventeenth birthday, running east and never stopping. He lived as a vagrant for around two years, taking what he needed to survive and hiding in abandoned buildings and the woods.

During this time, he attempted suicide on four different occasions, though each time his ability saved his life.

In late 1966, Kurt was arrested during a Civil Right's rally in Detroit, when he stopped running long enough to save a number of black protester from police brutality. Unfortunately for him, he was the new subject of that brutality and was thrown in lock-up.

After two days, he was approached by Doctor Alexander Rhoades. Rhoades explained to him that he studied extrahuman individuals and that he could help Kurt control his power. Kurt did not initially want to cooperate, but it was that or jailtime.

Since then, Kurt has lived in the Santa Monica house, the roommate of Franklin Dodds. He has come a long way in learning to cope with and control his superspeed.

## Notable Accomplishments

* Member of the Rhoades Institute Field Team

## Relationships with Others

Relationship Stats
 Nicknames

Despite being friendly and easy-going, Kurt has trouble relating to people. Since his superhuman speed causes his brain to process information differently, in his perception, everybody else talks incredibly slow. This causes him to constantly lose focus and/or interest in what other people say, and it requires a great deal of concentration for him to carry on a conversation. He isn't trying to be rude, but it's difficult for him to interact socially.

### Anna Flint

Kurt thinks Anna is awesome. She's smart, she's funny, she's got great taste in music...more than anything, though, he thinks she's got a great heart. She's just a genuine person, something Kurt really digs and he finds that he likes her more and more. Despite how he flirts with her, he'd never pursue anything with her. His power would make him a terrible boyfriend (well, it's one of the things anyway) and she deserves better than him. But he's happy being her friend and he would do anything for her.

### Franklin Dodds

Franklin was Kurt's first roommate at the Institute and for a time, it was only Kurt and Franklin. The two actually know each other very well, despite their difference in age. Kurt initially found it weird to be bunking with someone twice his age, but he was soon comforted by Franklin's Papa-Bear tendencies, though neither ever admitted it. While Kurt playfully teases and antagonizes Franklin, he truly respects him just like he respected his father, and he genuinely cares about him. Surprisingly, Kurt is one of the only people who knows how to talk to and interact with Franklin while the "big guy" is in one of his depressive states, and he's one of the few who can be around him without "setting him off" during such times. Conversely, Franklin is the only team member aside from Anna who can always understand what he says when he talks quickly.

### Alexander Rhoades

Kurt respects Doctor Rhoades immensely. The first person to really understand his power and the only one to really try to help him cope with it since his father's death, Kurt sees Doctor Rhoades almost like a big brother. While he dislikes certain aspects of his therapy, Kurt does grasp the importance of keeping with the program Rhoades has laid out for him. All in all, he finds Rhoades is the only person to help him make any real progress in learning to control his powers.

## Powers and Abilities

Kurt is an extrahuman, which means he possesses superhuman abilities beyond those possible for average humans. He also has some mundane training.

### **Extrahuman Abilities**

#### **Hyper-Acceleration**

The human brain is normally keyed to a 24 hour cycle, called a circadian rhythm. This regulates the cycle of bodily functions, including sleep, metabolism, and aging. Most of this function is centered in the suprachiasmatic nucleus, near the hypothalamus. The nucleus has a set number of neurons available to it. Kurt's nucleus is enlarged, causing him to observe time in a differentiated frame.

**--Enhanced Durability:**His body has adapted to the rigors of superhuman movement, and thus his body recovers at a highly increased rate. He is capable of resisting tremendous impact forces that could easily crush and kill a human without suffering any serious external or internal injuries.

**--Enhanced Perception:**Part of Kurt's mutation is that his perception of time slows relative to his speed. The faster he moves, the slower the world around him seems to be. Falling objects take nearly a minute of his own perception to fall a few feet, and things like rain, bullets or flies move slow enough that he can count the rain drops of how many repetitions of a fly's wings beating. He can disarm or jam weapons before his enemy's notice. His mental abilities are also increased. Simple computations can be done at lightning speeds and his ability to process information matches a computer. He can use this ability to read a book in a matter of minutes (or less) and retain every word, though temporary (see below).

**--Enhanced Strength:**Kurt's superhuman ability to run comes with the added bonus of a superhuman musculature. His body is able to absorb and withstand the repeated impact of sustained running at such high speeds, and the fact that he can propel himself that fast indicates an increased capacity for strength beyond what his size and weight would otherwise indicate. He can lift (press) approximately 350 pounds, which puts him on par with professional weight lifters. He has been recorded by Doctor Rhoades leg pressing more than 1 ton under optimal conditions.

**--Speed Physiology:**Kurt's body is adapted towards the rigors of high-speed running. His cardiovascular and respiratory systems are many times more efficient than those of a normal human being. He metabolizes an estimated 95% of the caloric energy content of foodstuffs (normal humans use about 25%). The chemical processes of Kurt's musculature are so highly enhanced that his body does not generate fatigue poisons, such as lactic acid, the normal by-products of locomotion, which force the body to rest. Rather, his body constantly expels waste products during his accelerated respiration through exhalation. His joints are smoother and lubricated more efficiently than those of a normal human being. His tendons have the tensile strength of spring steel. His bones contain unknown materials significantly more durable than calcium to withstand the dynamic shocks of his feet touching the ground at speeds a human could never achieve or withstand. Kurt's practical reaction time is several times faster than a normal human's and the speed at which his brain processes information is heightened to a level commensurate with his bodily speed, enabling him to perceive his surroundings while traveling at high velocities. His lachrymose is more viscous than normal, thus preventing rapid evaporation and replenishment of surface fluids on his eyeballs under the influence of high wind velocity to occlude his vision.

**--Superhuman Speed:** The most obvious advantage of this ability is his ability to move 10 times faster than the average person, clocking speeds of up to 100 miles per hour on average. He is thought to be able to move even faster; according to Doctor Rhoades, his first burst of speed (running more than 20 miles in less than a single minute) would only be possible if he were running at speeds near Mach 1. He can perform routine tasks much faster than most people, such as tying his shoes, writing, eating or even smoking. He has been seen to be able to run fast enough that he can run on the surface of water for a short distance.

**--Temporary Photographic Memory:**Kurt can force his mind to retain a great amount of information with perfect detail. This comes at a cost, however. He can only perfectly recall the information until he goes to sleep, at which time the information is lost. Additionally, the more he uses this ability, it can have an impact on his short-term memory (see below).

### **Skills and Training**

**--Hand-to-Hand Combat:** Kurt is an able melee combatant, due mostly to his increased brain functions and heightened perception granted by his speed.

**--Musician:** Kurt is a natural musician and possesses perfect pitch. He has the ability to play the drums, though he has not done so since his power surfaced when he was sixteen years old.

**--Survival Skills:** After spending so much time camping and fishing, and after having read so many handbooks and manuals on the subject, Kurt is an expert at surviving in the wilderness. He is an able hunter and forager, and an expert fisherman.

## Paraphernelia

Kurt does not have much gear or equipment. However, there are a few things he is never without.

**--Lighter:**This gold zippo lighter is emblazoned with the logo for Easy Company, the nickname for the 101st Airborne company of marines; the military unit in which his father served during World War II. The lighter is his most treasured possession and he always has it on his person.

**--Pocket Knife:** While not especially intimidating as a weapon, it is very useful as a survival tool. It is capable of cutting branches from trees, whittling wood, cooking, gutting fish and a number of other useful tasks. It comes with a can opener, a compass, a nail file, a cork-screw and three sizes of alan wrench.

**--Sun Glasses:** Kurt always has a pair of sun glassess with him in the field, in case they face an evolved human with a power dependant of eye contact. You never know.

## Weaknesses

**--Accelerated Metabolism:** As his body moves at such an increased speed, Kurt has a metabolism beyond that of an Olympic runner. His body requires approximately 37,500 calories per day; 3 times that of an Olympic swimmer's daily diet. He is constantly snacking and if he goes long enough without eating, his perception becomes fuzzy and his top speed decreases significantly.

**--ADHD:** Kurt has been diagnosed with HKD due to his altered perceptions derived from his increased speed. He has trouble focusing and is easily distracted. He has a problem with inattentiveness, over-activity, and impulsivity.

**--Memory:**Kurt's superhuman ability to retain large amounts of information in a short amount of time comes at a price. Using his temporary photographic memory too much in a short time can result in memory loss. Consuming enough alcohol to make him drunk can do the same thing. While his long-term memory seems unaffected, he can have difficulty making and retaining new memories.

## Trivia

* Kurt loves *Star Trek* and *Flash Gordon,* and is also a closet comic book nerd.
* His favorite band is *The Who*. Other favorites are *The Rolling Stones*, *Creedance Clearwater Revival*, *Simon and Garfunkel, Janis Joplin* and*Jimi Hendrix*.
* Favorite color is red.
* Loves dogs and lizards.
* Favorite television show is *The Twilight Zone*.
* Favorite movie is a tie between *Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb* and *The Good, The Bad* *and the Ugly*. He also loves *Goldfinger* and *The Great Escape*, and has developed a taste for foreign films thanks to Doctor Rhoades. His favorite foreign film is *Yojimbo* or *The Seven Samurai*.