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controlledvariable) wrote2011-12-29 04:31 pm
controlledvariable) wrote2011-12-29 04:31 pm
Entry tags:
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Out of Character Information
Name: Justine
Username:faile_neume
Are you over the age of eighteen? Yes.
Current characters in Baedal: None
In Character Information
Basics
Character Name: Stephanie Brown/Batgirl
Username:controlledvariable
Fandom: DC comics (pre-reboot)
Played By: n/a
Icon: Default is fine.
Canon Character Section (disregard if applying for an original character)
Physical Description: Steph is a typical blonde haired, blue eyed, American girl. She's of average height, about 5'7" and well muscled due to her training and crime-fighting activities though she does carry a bit of extra weight around hr hips and thighs. She's nineteen, soon to be twenty. When she's dressed, everything appears perfectly normal, but the skin on her torso and legs tells another story. Being tortured with a power drill leaves some nasty scars and along with the regular crop of scars that vigilantes end up with, Steph is a bit of a mess. She tries not to be too self-conscious about it. She tends to dress casually, in jeans, sneakers and layered shirts, and she wears her long hair loose. Her face is very expressive, but she's mostly often seen smiling. She carries herself fairly confidently, and if anyone is good at reading that sort of thing, she moves like a trained fighter.
Sexuality: Steph is canonically straight, having only been showing dating two males, and being attracted to two others. She has a tendency to end up in abusive relationships, most likely stemming from relationship with her dad. They're not necessarily physically abusive, but there's definitely uneven power balances and emotional manipulation - see her relationship with Tim, especially before she knew his real name. Steph could potentially have a more fluid sexuality; she's close to her best friend, Cassandra. She just hasn't given her sexuality a lot of thought, but wouldn't be bothered if she found out she was attracted to people other than men. While she's fairly flirty, she isn't that interested in non-romantic sexual relationships, or casual sex. She's also very careful about using birth control and protection. She doesn't want another unplanned pregnancy. Steph expects monogamy as the default if she's in a relationship with someone and will react badly if her partner cheats on her because she feels it's a betrayal of trust. She 'd be okay with a polygamous relationship, but she'd need to define clear boundaries for her and her significant other(s).
History: Wikipedia biography. Steph is taken almost directly from the end of her canon run, after she wakes from the Black Mercy induced coma. A few pieces of headcanon will be incorporated into her history, mainly concerning her stay in Africa and her recovery from the events of War Games. She was in a coma for the first two months and then had to go through both physical and psychology therapy in order to recover from the ordeal. It was a long, stressful process and Steph frequently considered giving up, but Leslie pressed her to keep trying. Steph was also plagued by guilt for what happened during the gang war, which contributed to the fact that she kept herself secret for almost a year; she wasn't sure how to face the consequences of what she had done. Once she recovered, it seemed easier to just keep going with the lie, and she began working alongside Leslie as a field nurse, helping with immunisation and other medical care that Leslie's travelling clinics could provide. She kept training during this time because she didn't want to forget all the things she learned as Spoiler and Robin, but she mostly kept this secret from Leslie. As well, during the Batgirl run, Steph has stayed in contact with Cass, it just happened off screen through stilted letters and phone conversations.
Powers: Is optimism a power? Otherwise, Steph is a regular human.
Talents/Abilities: She's Bat trained, so she has the usual array of martial art and fighting skills, along with detective training, knowledge in chemistry, biology, physics, geometry, etc. All the sorts of things Bruce Wayne teaches Robin. She was also trained by Dinah Lance in martial arts and boxing, and by Cassandra Cain in martial arts. She's had further training from Barbara Gordon aka Oracle, which was a little more comprehensive when it comes to computers, so Steph can work her way around one. She also has a fair amount of medical training, between what Bruce taught her while she was training to be Robin and what she learned while travelling with Leslie.
Personality:
Stephanie Brown doesn't give up. Everything she does and everything she believes in is based around her refusal to quit, no matter how tough things get. She's been told numerous times that she'll never amount to anything and keeps trying anyway, keeps trying to be better, to get more training and do things right this time. At first, Steph kept being Spoiler, because she wanted to prove people wrong about her, because she enjoyed the thrill of it, and because she wanted vengeance against her dad. But after her dad was in prison, she began to realize other reasons to keep fighting, and the Spoiler became about protecting the people of Gotham and about doing the right thing. Steph recognized a need and she filled it by setting out to stop other kids from having to grow up in a world of crime. This is one of her strongest convictions and it's why she won't quit regardless of anything that stands in her way.
Her stubbornness can be her downfall on occasion, since she doesn't know when to back down, or make a strategic retreat. It can also lead to her making rash decisions and rushing into things just for the sake of doing something, rather than spending the time to work out a good game plan. She's trying to stop doing that as much but it's not as easy as she thought it would be, and sometimes her eagerness, stubbornness and temper get the best of her, and she still makes mistakes on occasion.
On the surface, Steph might come across as a little shallow. Her sense of humour alternates between dry sarcasm, and dorky puns. She uses humour to cover up her feelings, especially fear and nerves. She tries to always keep a cheerful countenance, and when people don't know her very well, this can be seen as her not really caring about anything enough to let it affect her. This is untrue, Steph is cheerful because she wants to be and because she refuses to stay down in the face of all the shit she's been through. Just like she refuses to give up in a fight, she refuses to give up on her spirit and her optimism. Steph is going to enjoy her life, the rest of the world be damned.
She can also be kind of cheeky, with a special fondness for teasing her friends. It works as another aspect of her sense of humour and as a way to test boundaries - she teases to see how much her friends will put up with. Her friendships with both Tim and Cass often featured gentle taunting and mocking, coming from all parties. Steph also felt the humour and teasing was necessary for keeping Tim down to earth, she always worried that he was going to turn into Batman and didn't want that for him. It's one of the things she regrets about letting everyone believe she was dead; she feels like it contributed to pushing Tim towards that end. Sometimes she doesn't even recognize him anymore.
Steph has a hard time making friends, mostly because she has a low tolerance for people who are cruel or false, and a lot of Gotham's seem to fall into that category. She's also had her trust broken enough times that she is wary of people - particularly those in authority positions - and doesn't like giving them power over her through friendship. Despite this, she has a small group of friends among the superhero/vigilante community, Tim Drake, Cass Cain, Kara Zor-El and Wendy Harris. She's been shown to get along with Connor Hawke, Miss Martian, Traci 13 and assorted other Teen Titans, but has never kept in contact with them. As a result, while she's fairly independent and likes doing things her own way, when the situation arises she's willing to call for back up and can work well with others. She's never had a chance to be on a superhero team, but she'd like to give it a shot one day.
When she does manage to make close friends, she has a tendency to idolize them and will often ignore their faults. This is heightened by the fact that at the beginning of her career as a superhero, Steph had a harder time ignoring people's put downs, and felt that she wasn't deserving as friends. It becomes a problem in situations like what happened in regards to Cassandra and Tim, both of whom have frequently treated Stephanie like she's not good enough, and told her so. Sometimes Steph believes them, but even when she managed to stop believing them, she still never called them out for treating her badly because a part of her couldn't completely ignore them and because she doesn't want to risk losing them just for the fact they doubt her. Her friendship with Cass is an intense one, as a result of both their upbringings, their personalities, and the similarities they share. Although it took them a while to trust each other and work together well, Steph and Cass both care deeply for each other and the friendship has helped both of them grow and change. Cass's respect for Steph - earned when Steph refused to quit even after getting beaten down by Cass - helps Steph to respect herself. And although, as mentioned, Cass can be doubtful of Steph, as when she knocked Stephanie out to keep her from a fight, Cass tries to teach Steph how to be better, rather than trying to make her quit. It was a huge moment for Steph when Cass gave her the Batgirl name and costume and one of the main reasons she tries so hard to make Batgirl into something to be proud of. Cass is her best friend and Steph doesn't want to let her down.
She can be quick to anger, especially when someone is threatening children and sometimes she relishes the violence she gets to deal out as a vigilante. It's cathartic, beating up the sort of assholes that remind her of her dad, and she always feels good in knowing that she stopped the bad guy. Her anger can be both personal, and righteous. She's attacked the Riddler because she blamed him for her father's death, she punched her ex-boyfriend for leaving her alone when she was pregnant and she slapped Batman for making her play his games. On the other hand, she's turned her anger towards the cause that she believes in which has led to her rage at the Penguin for exploiting children and at the Calculator for hurting her friends.
There's a ruthlessness in the way she fights, often hitting harder than someone like Batman would deem "necessary". Although sometimes she just likes violence as the first option to solve the problem; it's quick and simple. She's working on trying to find other ways to deal with problems. Steph doesn't kill but that's mostly out of respect for Batman's rules and the legacy of the costume -- it was Cass's costume and Steph knows how she feels about killing. But she's never understood why they have to go out of their way to not kill the bad guys. She figures they should be able to beat them up as much as is required to stop them and if that means potentially killing them, so be it. Canonically, she's wanted to leave the unconscious criminal in a building about to explode, and she still doesn't get why she had to go back and save him when it was his choice to be there in the first place. Some of Batman's issues with Stephanie stem from this, as he doesn't trust her not to use lethal force. When confronted with Zsasz, Steph was ready to kill him to save Batman and any future victims of Zsasz, an act which Batman scolded her for. She believes she did the right thing, despite Batman's insistence otherwise.
That said, she understands that not all criminals commit crime because they want to. Her background gives her enough insight to know that sometimes it's the only option and she tends to be lenient with kids from backgrounds like hers, who get caught up in gangs or drugs, encouraging them to get their life back on track, if that's possible. Similarly, she is critical of Batman's approach to crime fighting, which often focuses on the big crimes and tends to overlook the little people. It's why Stephanie kept being Spoiler, she wanted to stick to the suburbs and the parts of Gotham that Batman doesn't go to.
She's used to dealing with her problems by herself, a symptom of her trust issues and the victim blaming she faced after her dad's friend attempted to rape her. As a result she tries to keep her personal life personal, except from her closest friends, and even then there are topics she doesn't like to talk about. Her child is on that list because she doesn't really like thinking about it; she knows she made the right choice but it doesn't stop her from wondering what could have been. She also doesn't like talking about her mom's addiction, and can get kind of paranoid with regards to her own behaviour, not planning to touch drugs or alcohol for fear she'd get addicted to. She doesn't like to talk, or think, about what happened during the gang wars even though she's trying to make peace with herself about what she did. Sometimes she still blames herself for what happened, but if anyone else tries to blame her, she'll break their nose.
The relationship between Steph and Crystal is a difficult one, complicated by Arthur, Crystal's addiction and Stephanie's crime fighting activities. She became the Spoiler to stop her dad from ever hurting her mom again and Steph loves Crystal, but she can't forget all the times that she's been hurt both by Crystal, and while she stood idly by as Arthur hurt Steph. Sometimes she blames her mom for letting Arthur stay in the house even though she knows Crystal had no choice. Even more often, she blames her for turning to drugs when things got to hard to bear and for leaving Steph, a little girl, alone to deal with Arthur. But Crystal has recognized her mistakes, apologized for them, and done her best to atone for them. With Arthur dead, they're trying to make themselves into a family again with him, and were mostly succeeding until the gang war and Steph's "death", an event that hit Crystal hard. When Steph came back, it was her turn to do the apologizing and she's grateful that her mom wasn't mad at her.
Crystal's opinions on Stephanie's vigilantism has varied through Steph's career; Crystal has encouraged her actions, overlooked them, and told Steph to stop. After Steph's "return from the dead", her mom made her promise to stop being a superhero and Steph said she would. It's been a constant source of guilt for Steph because she hates lying to her mom. In the final issue of Steph's Batgirl run, her mom finds out that she's been operating as Batgirl for a few months, and after a slightly awkward discussion, Crystal tells Steph that she's proud of her. This is an important moment for Steph, and it's taken a lot of weight off her shoulders; she no longer needs to worry about keeping the secret, Crystal is one more person who has started giving Steph the approval that she deserves and it's another step towards making their relationship the mother-daughter relationship it should be.
She's resourceful, mostly because she had to be. She's had to learn to survive with what's available, had to learn to fight with what's available and as a result doesn't rely on the tech and gadgets that other vigilantes tend to. Although she does enjoy having access to all the fancy gadgets that Oracle gets for her, Steph hasn't lost her resourcefulness and she enjoys finding the most interesting uses for the tech she's got.
The most important thing about Steph is that she refuses to be a victim, and that she'll never give up.
Object: No particular object, but Steph would have had her backpack with her when she was pulled into Baedel, and it contains her Batgirl suit. The specifics of her suit are the suit itself, boots, gloves, cowl, a thigh belt, and a utility belt with: a collapsible bo staff, assorted batarangs (including ones that explode), a small grapple gun, injectable antidotes for Joker/Scarecrow/Ivy toxins, along with assorted other devices and weapons. If a definite list of what she carries in her utility belt is needed, I can supply it. Her backpack will also have a jacket, wallet, cellphone, a philosophy textbook and two journals (one personal, one for taking notes).
Her Batgirl costume, preferably in a backpack so she can take it with her easily and if it's okay, also with some batarangs, a grapple gun, her collapsable bo staff, and assorted gadgets tucked into the utility belts.
Reason for playing: I really love Steph, I think she's an incredibly interesting character who deserves more than canon has given her, and RP is a way to do that. I also like playing someone who is generally fun and optimistic, but is more than adept at dealing with shitty situations.
I've played a character adapted from World of Darkness before, which was a really interesting concept and fun to play, so I'm hoping this will be a similar sort of game, at least in terms of the in-depth universe and mythology. And like other Gothamites, Steph has enough experience with horror that while she might be freaked out by things like vampires and Lovecraftian monsters, she won't lose her cool.
I'm mostly looking for CR, for Steph to make some friends and interact with old ones; I know there are already a few Bat characters in the game and I'd enjoy playing Steph off them. And I'd love opportunities for her to get involved in the action and work towards figuring out some of the secrets of Baedal, because Steph is definitely gonna want to know what's going on. She might not be the best detective but she doesn't give up, and any chance to have her kick some butt would be awesome.
Gods: I think Eliandre might be the most likely to notice Steph. Steph is definitely interested in justice, and she's sort of died at one point. Steph also places a lot of importance on equality and fairness. Rundas might also want to keep an eye on her, Steph could always use some extra luck.
Writing Samples
First-Person Network Post:
[The video turns on to reveal a brief glimpse of Steph's room before she comes into frame, the CiD is set up somewhere, so she doesn't have to hold it. Steph is smiling, but it's a little wry; she waves to the camera.]
Hey, everyone. I've got a slight problem and I was hoping someone on the network might be able to help me out.
Thing is, I kind of need a job. I know I could head over to the employment offices, but I figured I could ask around, first. [It's partly the truth, but she also just doesn't trust this place yet] I don't have my resume with me but I hope if I just rattle off a list of things I'm good at, someone might be able to hook me up.
[She holds up her fingers, counting them off as she talks] I'm handy in a fight, I have fair amount of knowledge and practice in first aid, I can sew, I can file and organize documents and stuff, if anyone needs a secretary. [there's a pause as Steph chews her lip, her 'thinking face' clear] I'm good with kids...
[she trails off and shrugs] That's about all I can think of. Hopefully someone can help me out.
First-Person Journal Post:
Dear Diary,
I think the universe might've decided to apologize for all the crap it's made me deal with. Not that being Batgirl is a walk in the park, but it's mine and the only hiccup so far was Babs trying to take it away from me. She didn't quite apologize for being a dick to me, but she did make me a new suit, so I'll take that as the apology. Especially considering how awesome the new suit is, even my Robin costume wasn't this good, though I guess you could chalk that up the fact that techs gotten better in the last few years. I might ask Babs for an ipod dock in the suit.
I don't want to let her down. She yelled at Batman for me, although it was the nice Batman not the scary one, I still think someone yelling at Batman for you means that they like you. It's kind of daunting to have someone trust me. I'm sure she'd deny that if I said it out loud, but Babs is a total control freak and I know she would've found a way to stop me by now if she didn't think I could handle it. She probably would've called my mom, which is something I'm trying my hardest not to think about. Mom doesn't need to know that her only daughter is still swinging around on rooftops and punching bad guys. She doesn't need to worry.
I can handle this.
Third-Person Arrival Post:
At first she thinks she's woken up early because she actually woke up, instead of having to be shaken awake by her mom. Except when she opens her eyes, the walls are green, not blue, and that's all it takes to bring Steph straight out of sleep. She's up and crouched to a defensive position in less than two seconds, one hand going to her ear, the other reaching for her utility belt. Unfortunately, she seems to have neither her comm device or her utility belt, dressed just in the clothes she wore to college, which means she was either taken as Stephanie Brown, perfectly normal if slightly weird college kid, not as Batgirl.
Or she's been unmasked.
She hopes it's the first option; she'll never hear the end of it from Babs if it's the second, and her mom'll be pissed too. She takes stock of the small room as she thinks, almost disappointed to find that there's no one to kick in the head but it's probably for the best.
"Aw, crap." Her backpack is on the floor next to her, and she knows her Batgirl suit was tucked inside - when she picks it up, the weight tells her it's still there - so her secret identity may be blown out of the water.
Backpack aside, there's a door, but it doesn't seem to have a handle, and a small table that's got some sort of device, and a pamphlet on it. She tries the door first, hoping it might push open and let her out but she's unsurprised to find it doesn't. The backpack gets checked second, just in case there's a bomb or something in there.
She knows she should probably check her suit and utility belt to see what she's armed with, but the pamphlet on the table draws her eye. She puts down the backpack and picks up the pamphlet, skim reading the entire thing.
"Double crap."
She doesn't think Babs is gonna be getting her out of this one.
Misc
Other: I don't have a paid account yet, so I've only got the fifteen icons, but if I get accepted I'll upgrade to get more.
Name: Justine
Username:
faile_neumeAre you over the age of eighteen? Yes.
Current characters in Baedal: None
In Character Information
Basics
Character Name: Stephanie Brown/Batgirl
Username:
controlledvariableFandom: DC comics (pre-reboot)
Played By: n/a
Icon: Default is fine.
Canon Character Section (disregard if applying for an original character)
Physical Description: Steph is a typical blonde haired, blue eyed, American girl. She's of average height, about 5'7" and well muscled due to her training and crime-fighting activities though she does carry a bit of extra weight around hr hips and thighs. She's nineteen, soon to be twenty. When she's dressed, everything appears perfectly normal, but the skin on her torso and legs tells another story. Being tortured with a power drill leaves some nasty scars and along with the regular crop of scars that vigilantes end up with, Steph is a bit of a mess. She tries not to be too self-conscious about it. She tends to dress casually, in jeans, sneakers and layered shirts, and she wears her long hair loose. Her face is very expressive, but she's mostly often seen smiling. She carries herself fairly confidently, and if anyone is good at reading that sort of thing, she moves like a trained fighter.
Sexuality: Steph is canonically straight, having only been showing dating two males, and being attracted to two others. She has a tendency to end up in abusive relationships, most likely stemming from relationship with her dad. They're not necessarily physically abusive, but there's definitely uneven power balances and emotional manipulation - see her relationship with Tim, especially before she knew his real name. Steph could potentially have a more fluid sexuality; she's close to her best friend, Cassandra. She just hasn't given her sexuality a lot of thought, but wouldn't be bothered if she found out she was attracted to people other than men. While she's fairly flirty, she isn't that interested in non-romantic sexual relationships, or casual sex. She's also very careful about using birth control and protection. She doesn't want another unplanned pregnancy. Steph expects monogamy as the default if she's in a relationship with someone and will react badly if her partner cheats on her because she feels it's a betrayal of trust. She 'd be okay with a polygamous relationship, but she'd need to define clear boundaries for her and her significant other(s).
History: Wikipedia biography. Steph is taken almost directly from the end of her canon run, after she wakes from the Black Mercy induced coma. A few pieces of headcanon will be incorporated into her history, mainly concerning her stay in Africa and her recovery from the events of War Games. She was in a coma for the first two months and then had to go through both physical and psychology therapy in order to recover from the ordeal. It was a long, stressful process and Steph frequently considered giving up, but Leslie pressed her to keep trying. Steph was also plagued by guilt for what happened during the gang war, which contributed to the fact that she kept herself secret for almost a year; she wasn't sure how to face the consequences of what she had done. Once she recovered, it seemed easier to just keep going with the lie, and she began working alongside Leslie as a field nurse, helping with immunisation and other medical care that Leslie's travelling clinics could provide. She kept training during this time because she didn't want to forget all the things she learned as Spoiler and Robin, but she mostly kept this secret from Leslie. As well, during the Batgirl run, Steph has stayed in contact with Cass, it just happened off screen through stilted letters and phone conversations.
Powers: Is optimism a power? Otherwise, Steph is a regular human.
Talents/Abilities: She's Bat trained, so she has the usual array of martial art and fighting skills, along with detective training, knowledge in chemistry, biology, physics, geometry, etc. All the sorts of things Bruce Wayne teaches Robin. She was also trained by Dinah Lance in martial arts and boxing, and by Cassandra Cain in martial arts. She's had further training from Barbara Gordon aka Oracle, which was a little more comprehensive when it comes to computers, so Steph can work her way around one. She also has a fair amount of medical training, between what Bruce taught her while she was training to be Robin and what she learned while travelling with Leslie.
Personality:
Stephanie Brown doesn't give up. Everything she does and everything she believes in is based around her refusal to quit, no matter how tough things get. She's been told numerous times that she'll never amount to anything and keeps trying anyway, keeps trying to be better, to get more training and do things right this time. At first, Steph kept being Spoiler, because she wanted to prove people wrong about her, because she enjoyed the thrill of it, and because she wanted vengeance against her dad. But after her dad was in prison, she began to realize other reasons to keep fighting, and the Spoiler became about protecting the people of Gotham and about doing the right thing. Steph recognized a need and she filled it by setting out to stop other kids from having to grow up in a world of crime. This is one of her strongest convictions and it's why she won't quit regardless of anything that stands in her way.
Her stubbornness can be her downfall on occasion, since she doesn't know when to back down, or make a strategic retreat. It can also lead to her making rash decisions and rushing into things just for the sake of doing something, rather than spending the time to work out a good game plan. She's trying to stop doing that as much but it's not as easy as she thought it would be, and sometimes her eagerness, stubbornness and temper get the best of her, and she still makes mistakes on occasion.
On the surface, Steph might come across as a little shallow. Her sense of humour alternates between dry sarcasm, and dorky puns. She uses humour to cover up her feelings, especially fear and nerves. She tries to always keep a cheerful countenance, and when people don't know her very well, this can be seen as her not really caring about anything enough to let it affect her. This is untrue, Steph is cheerful because she wants to be and because she refuses to stay down in the face of all the shit she's been through. Just like she refuses to give up in a fight, she refuses to give up on her spirit and her optimism. Steph is going to enjoy her life, the rest of the world be damned.
She can also be kind of cheeky, with a special fondness for teasing her friends. It works as another aspect of her sense of humour and as a way to test boundaries - she teases to see how much her friends will put up with. Her friendships with both Tim and Cass often featured gentle taunting and mocking, coming from all parties. Steph also felt the humour and teasing was necessary for keeping Tim down to earth, she always worried that he was going to turn into Batman and didn't want that for him. It's one of the things she regrets about letting everyone believe she was dead; she feels like it contributed to pushing Tim towards that end. Sometimes she doesn't even recognize him anymore.
Steph has a hard time making friends, mostly because she has a low tolerance for people who are cruel or false, and a lot of Gotham's seem to fall into that category. She's also had her trust broken enough times that she is wary of people - particularly those in authority positions - and doesn't like giving them power over her through friendship. Despite this, she has a small group of friends among the superhero/vigilante community, Tim Drake, Cass Cain, Kara Zor-El and Wendy Harris. She's been shown to get along with Connor Hawke, Miss Martian, Traci 13 and assorted other Teen Titans, but has never kept in contact with them. As a result, while she's fairly independent and likes doing things her own way, when the situation arises she's willing to call for back up and can work well with others. She's never had a chance to be on a superhero team, but she'd like to give it a shot one day.
When she does manage to make close friends, she has a tendency to idolize them and will often ignore their faults. This is heightened by the fact that at the beginning of her career as a superhero, Steph had a harder time ignoring people's put downs, and felt that she wasn't deserving as friends. It becomes a problem in situations like what happened in regards to Cassandra and Tim, both of whom have frequently treated Stephanie like she's not good enough, and told her so. Sometimes Steph believes them, but even when she managed to stop believing them, she still never called them out for treating her badly because a part of her couldn't completely ignore them and because she doesn't want to risk losing them just for the fact they doubt her. Her friendship with Cass is an intense one, as a result of both their upbringings, their personalities, and the similarities they share. Although it took them a while to trust each other and work together well, Steph and Cass both care deeply for each other and the friendship has helped both of them grow and change. Cass's respect for Steph - earned when Steph refused to quit even after getting beaten down by Cass - helps Steph to respect herself. And although, as mentioned, Cass can be doubtful of Steph, as when she knocked Stephanie out to keep her from a fight, Cass tries to teach Steph how to be better, rather than trying to make her quit. It was a huge moment for Steph when Cass gave her the Batgirl name and costume and one of the main reasons she tries so hard to make Batgirl into something to be proud of. Cass is her best friend and Steph doesn't want to let her down.
She can be quick to anger, especially when someone is threatening children and sometimes she relishes the violence she gets to deal out as a vigilante. It's cathartic, beating up the sort of assholes that remind her of her dad, and she always feels good in knowing that she stopped the bad guy. Her anger can be both personal, and righteous. She's attacked the Riddler because she blamed him for her father's death, she punched her ex-boyfriend for leaving her alone when she was pregnant and she slapped Batman for making her play his games. On the other hand, she's turned her anger towards the cause that she believes in which has led to her rage at the Penguin for exploiting children and at the Calculator for hurting her friends.
There's a ruthlessness in the way she fights, often hitting harder than someone like Batman would deem "necessary". Although sometimes she just likes violence as the first option to solve the problem; it's quick and simple. She's working on trying to find other ways to deal with problems. Steph doesn't kill but that's mostly out of respect for Batman's rules and the legacy of the costume -- it was Cass's costume and Steph knows how she feels about killing. But she's never understood why they have to go out of their way to not kill the bad guys. She figures they should be able to beat them up as much as is required to stop them and if that means potentially killing them, so be it. Canonically, she's wanted to leave the unconscious criminal in a building about to explode, and she still doesn't get why she had to go back and save him when it was his choice to be there in the first place. Some of Batman's issues with Stephanie stem from this, as he doesn't trust her not to use lethal force. When confronted with Zsasz, Steph was ready to kill him to save Batman and any future victims of Zsasz, an act which Batman scolded her for. She believes she did the right thing, despite Batman's insistence otherwise.
That said, she understands that not all criminals commit crime because they want to. Her background gives her enough insight to know that sometimes it's the only option and she tends to be lenient with kids from backgrounds like hers, who get caught up in gangs or drugs, encouraging them to get their life back on track, if that's possible. Similarly, she is critical of Batman's approach to crime fighting, which often focuses on the big crimes and tends to overlook the little people. It's why Stephanie kept being Spoiler, she wanted to stick to the suburbs and the parts of Gotham that Batman doesn't go to.
She's used to dealing with her problems by herself, a symptom of her trust issues and the victim blaming she faced after her dad's friend attempted to rape her. As a result she tries to keep her personal life personal, except from her closest friends, and even then there are topics she doesn't like to talk about. Her child is on that list because she doesn't really like thinking about it; she knows she made the right choice but it doesn't stop her from wondering what could have been. She also doesn't like talking about her mom's addiction, and can get kind of paranoid with regards to her own behaviour, not planning to touch drugs or alcohol for fear she'd get addicted to. She doesn't like to talk, or think, about what happened during the gang wars even though she's trying to make peace with herself about what she did. Sometimes she still blames herself for what happened, but if anyone else tries to blame her, she'll break their nose.
The relationship between Steph and Crystal is a difficult one, complicated by Arthur, Crystal's addiction and Stephanie's crime fighting activities. She became the Spoiler to stop her dad from ever hurting her mom again and Steph loves Crystal, but she can't forget all the times that she's been hurt both by Crystal, and while she stood idly by as Arthur hurt Steph. Sometimes she blames her mom for letting Arthur stay in the house even though she knows Crystal had no choice. Even more often, she blames her for turning to drugs when things got to hard to bear and for leaving Steph, a little girl, alone to deal with Arthur. But Crystal has recognized her mistakes, apologized for them, and done her best to atone for them. With Arthur dead, they're trying to make themselves into a family again with him, and were mostly succeeding until the gang war and Steph's "death", an event that hit Crystal hard. When Steph came back, it was her turn to do the apologizing and she's grateful that her mom wasn't mad at her.
Crystal's opinions on Stephanie's vigilantism has varied through Steph's career; Crystal has encouraged her actions, overlooked them, and told Steph to stop. After Steph's "return from the dead", her mom made her promise to stop being a superhero and Steph said she would. It's been a constant source of guilt for Steph because she hates lying to her mom. In the final issue of Steph's Batgirl run, her mom finds out that she's been operating as Batgirl for a few months, and after a slightly awkward discussion, Crystal tells Steph that she's proud of her. This is an important moment for Steph, and it's taken a lot of weight off her shoulders; she no longer needs to worry about keeping the secret, Crystal is one more person who has started giving Steph the approval that she deserves and it's another step towards making their relationship the mother-daughter relationship it should be.
She's resourceful, mostly because she had to be. She's had to learn to survive with what's available, had to learn to fight with what's available and as a result doesn't rely on the tech and gadgets that other vigilantes tend to. Although she does enjoy having access to all the fancy gadgets that Oracle gets for her, Steph hasn't lost her resourcefulness and she enjoys finding the most interesting uses for the tech she's got.
The most important thing about Steph is that she refuses to be a victim, and that she'll never give up.
Object: No particular object, but Steph would have had her backpack with her when she was pulled into Baedel, and it contains her Batgirl suit. The specifics of her suit are the suit itself, boots, gloves, cowl, a thigh belt, and a utility belt with: a collapsible bo staff, assorted batarangs (including ones that explode), a small grapple gun, injectable antidotes for Joker/Scarecrow/Ivy toxins, along with assorted other devices and weapons. If a definite list of what she carries in her utility belt is needed, I can supply it. Her backpack will also have a jacket, wallet, cellphone, a philosophy textbook and two journals (one personal, one for taking notes).
Her Batgirl costume, preferably in a backpack so she can take it with her easily and if it's okay, also with some batarangs, a grapple gun, her collapsable bo staff, and assorted gadgets tucked into the utility belts.
Reason for playing: I really love Steph, I think she's an incredibly interesting character who deserves more than canon has given her, and RP is a way to do that. I also like playing someone who is generally fun and optimistic, but is more than adept at dealing with shitty situations.
I've played a character adapted from World of Darkness before, which was a really interesting concept and fun to play, so I'm hoping this will be a similar sort of game, at least in terms of the in-depth universe and mythology. And like other Gothamites, Steph has enough experience with horror that while she might be freaked out by things like vampires and Lovecraftian monsters, she won't lose her cool.
I'm mostly looking for CR, for Steph to make some friends and interact with old ones; I know there are already a few Bat characters in the game and I'd enjoy playing Steph off them. And I'd love opportunities for her to get involved in the action and work towards figuring out some of the secrets of Baedal, because Steph is definitely gonna want to know what's going on. She might not be the best detective but she doesn't give up, and any chance to have her kick some butt would be awesome.
Gods: I think Eliandre might be the most likely to notice Steph. Steph is definitely interested in justice, and she's sort of died at one point. Steph also places a lot of importance on equality and fairness. Rundas might also want to keep an eye on her, Steph could always use some extra luck.
Writing Samples
First-Person Network Post:
[The video turns on to reveal a brief glimpse of Steph's room before she comes into frame, the CiD is set up somewhere, so she doesn't have to hold it. Steph is smiling, but it's a little wry; she waves to the camera.]
Hey, everyone. I've got a slight problem and I was hoping someone on the network might be able to help me out.
Thing is, I kind of need a job. I know I could head over to the employment offices, but I figured I could ask around, first. [It's partly the truth, but she also just doesn't trust this place yet] I don't have my resume with me but I hope if I just rattle off a list of things I'm good at, someone might be able to hook me up.
[She holds up her fingers, counting them off as she talks] I'm handy in a fight, I have fair amount of knowledge and practice in first aid, I can sew, I can file and organize documents and stuff, if anyone needs a secretary. [there's a pause as Steph chews her lip, her 'thinking face' clear] I'm good with kids...
[she trails off and shrugs] That's about all I can think of. Hopefully someone can help me out.
First-Person Journal Post:
Dear Diary,
I think the universe might've decided to apologize for all the crap it's made me deal with. Not that being Batgirl is a walk in the park, but it's mine and the only hiccup so far was Babs trying to take it away from me. She didn't quite apologize for being a dick to me, but she did make me a new suit, so I'll take that as the apology. Especially considering how awesome the new suit is, even my Robin costume wasn't this good, though I guess you could chalk that up the fact that techs gotten better in the last few years. I might ask Babs for an ipod dock in the suit.
I don't want to let her down. She yelled at Batman for me, although it was the nice Batman not the scary one, I still think someone yelling at Batman for you means that they like you. It's kind of daunting to have someone trust me. I'm sure she'd deny that if I said it out loud, but Babs is a total control freak and I know she would've found a way to stop me by now if she didn't think I could handle it. She probably would've called my mom, which is something I'm trying my hardest not to think about. Mom doesn't need to know that her only daughter is still swinging around on rooftops and punching bad guys. She doesn't need to worry.
I can handle this.
Third-Person Arrival Post:
At first she thinks she's woken up early because she actually woke up, instead of having to be shaken awake by her mom. Except when she opens her eyes, the walls are green, not blue, and that's all it takes to bring Steph straight out of sleep. She's up and crouched to a defensive position in less than two seconds, one hand going to her ear, the other reaching for her utility belt. Unfortunately, she seems to have neither her comm device or her utility belt, dressed just in the clothes she wore to college, which means she was either taken as Stephanie Brown, perfectly normal if slightly weird college kid, not as Batgirl.
Or she's been unmasked.
She hopes it's the first option; she'll never hear the end of it from Babs if it's the second, and her mom'll be pissed too. She takes stock of the small room as she thinks, almost disappointed to find that there's no one to kick in the head but it's probably for the best.
"Aw, crap." Her backpack is on the floor next to her, and she knows her Batgirl suit was tucked inside - when she picks it up, the weight tells her it's still there - so her secret identity may be blown out of the water.
Backpack aside, there's a door, but it doesn't seem to have a handle, and a small table that's got some sort of device, and a pamphlet on it. She tries the door first, hoping it might push open and let her out but she's unsurprised to find it doesn't. The backpack gets checked second, just in case there's a bomb or something in there.
She knows she should probably check her suit and utility belt to see what she's armed with, but the pamphlet on the table draws her eye. She puts down the backpack and picks up the pamphlet, skim reading the entire thing.
"Double crap."
She doesn't think Babs is gonna be getting her out of this one.
Misc
Other: I don't have a paid account yet, so I've only got the fifteen icons, but if I get accepted I'll upgrade to get more.