Slim Jimmy

Overview

A former Van Life member and one of Neon Drift’s old contacts, now scraping a living out of the depths of the Switchback. He sells scavenged street junk off a table at a roadside night market and runs a barbecue rig he calls the Rat BQ, cooking sewer rat on a stick.

Called Slim Jimmy despite having been a physically large man — though Neon notes on meeting him again that he’s genuinely deflated since the Van Life days, skin hanging loose on his face, less jovial than he used to be. Jimmy credits his own product: “turns out rat has naturally occurring Wegovy.”

Known Facts

• Was never a driver. He rode copilot for Van Helsing and never earned a van of his own — he admits, a bit shyly, that he was never a full member of Van Life. He couldn’t get the money together, and, in his own words, “I’m a pretty shitty driver.”
• Sold his cyberware after Van Life collapsed to survive — Neon’s attempt to transmit Mara’s photo to him headset-to-headset fails, and Neon has to dig out an ancient tablet that still says Apple on it.
• Knows the Lucky Strike gang well enough to have a kid (Mike) stashed in his back room and to know Lucky by reputation.
• Runs his stall out of a hidey-hole nobody notices until he ducks into it.
• Muktar reads him as a man who took fate into his own hands by leaving the van behind, and tells him so: “It takes much strength to stop living in a van down by the river.”

Relationships

• Neon Drift — old Van Life connection; greets him warmly, is delighted by the “unkillable devil head” mural on Van Buren pulling up. Neon paid for his help with a handful of synth bacon and, ultimately, Van Helsing’s flux capacitor, which Jimmy needed to get the Rat BQ running properly again.
• Van Helsing — his old driver; the two haven’t spoken in years. Neon floated reuniting them as a food-truck operation if he can get Van Helsing back on wheels. Jimmy: “Ooh, now you’re thinking.”
• Mike — a Lucky Strike kid he keeps around; produced him to answer Neon’s questions about Mara Sato.
• Muktar — met in Session 2; the two take an immediate liking to each other. Muktar corrected him on referring to Bullfrog respectfully as “Mr. Bullfrog.”

Open Questions

• Does the flux capacitor actually do anything, or is the Rat BQ joke all the way down?
• What does he still know about the Van Life diaspora that the crew hasn’t asked about?

Appearances

• Session 2 — Neon Drift’s declared contact in the Switchback; connects the crew to Mike, and through him to Mara Sato’s trail into the Tangle.