app @ gargleblasted

[decentdad]

OOC:

Name: Kaley
Are you over 16?: Yes~
Personal DW: perpetuity
Email: inperpetuity.rp at gmail dot com
Timezone: PST
Other contact: Plurk: inperpetuity
Characters already in the game: Sokka | A:TLA
How did you find us?: Koree.


IC:

Character name: Bruce Wayne/Batman
Fandom: Young Justice (Animated)
Timeline: After ep. 26, Auld Acquaintance
Age: 32
~*Magical*~ abilities and strengths: He’s the goddamn Batman. End of story.

His biggest strengths are his determination and his mind. He’s very intelligent, hailed as the World’s Greatest Detective, and is shown to be aware of things that his compatriots are not—such as the fact that their teammate Captain Marvel is a ten-year-old kid. He's quick-witted; upon seeing Captain Marvel in an adults-only world after previously referring to him as 'missing,' he immediately concludes that Billy can travel between the adults-only world and the kids-only world. He and Green Arrow are able to extrapolate from 'arrow shot in Gotham City' to 'archer daughter of villains Huntress and Sportsmaster' when tracking down Artemis.

He’s also shown to be the owner of a prestigious tech firm with secrets worth stealing. Playing to his intelligence, it’s indirectly implied that WayneTech is responsible for a lot of the Justice League’s computer systems. Furthermore, he's not a bad chemist or analyst; when he and Robin are having trouble during their first-ever fight with Clayface, he dispatches the team to track him while he goes back to the Batcave with a microscope and tries to figure out how to neutralize the guy. Takes him less than an afternoon to swoop back on in and save the day.

And he is a ninja. While Robin is shown disappearing and sneaking up on people when they’re not paying attention to him, Batman manages to disappear and sneak up on Robin when he looks away for a split second. Twice. In the middle of a single fight.

Batman is also a world-class martial artist, above average acrobat (possibly learned from Robin, who is an above above average acrobat), master of stealth, very observant, and quite intimidating. He’s a very commanding, no-nonsense leader, and he’s competent enough that the Justice League’s elected him to the position for the present.

How would they use their abilities?: I’m aware that Wayne Enterprises is a thing here, so he’d be using his exec skillz to further those interests, while the detective, leadership skills, and martial arts will be reserved for the defense of the innocent.
Appearance: Tall, well-built Caucasian male with short black hair and dark brown eyes. Usually serious, although he has been known to crack a smile.
Background/Personality: (Note: this does make use of supplemental information provided by the show’s producers.)

The defining moment of Bruce’s life: he witnessed his parents murdered when he was eight. This had a profound effect on him, a great deal of lingering trauma, and it set him on a path to being the very best he could be as far as squashing crime went. Bruce is nothing if not determined to do everything in his power, and quite a bit beyond it, in order to ensure the success of his mission. It borders on, if it doesn’t cross outright into, obsession: he’s willing to sacrifice everything from vast amounts of money to free time to, Robin seems to believe, playing fast and loose with people’s lives.

The actual truth is a bit more complicated on that score: while Batman is a pragmatic tactician, he does seem to be capable of adding the humanity back into the equation later. He’s sacrificing, but he’s self-sacrificing, and he’s aware of how unfulfilling his mission is.

It's noted by the creators that after the death of his parents, Bruce didn't really have much emotional support. His faithful butler felt that parenting him wasn't appropriate to his station and he would be overstepping his bounds if he did so. Bruce was largely left to his own devices to do as he pleased, and this was apparently to stop all crime, ever. So you take a smart, rich kid, and give him a mission... Bruce trained diligently and began his career as Batman when he was 21 years old.

In spite of his scary batness, he gained the respect of world's other superheroes. At some point, he and Superman had a one-off team up. Four years into his superhero career, a race of alien energy beings called Appellaxians invaded Earth. Batman was the second to arrive on the scene, following Superman and followed by Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter. They all had so much fun that they formed a team and decided to do it again next week-- as Batman explains to the team later, the Justice League was founded on the principle that there is no shame in asking for help, and that even the world's greatest heroes can't do everything alone. Batman is not so prideful that he can't see the value of good allies, and he values his colleagues. He appears to be friends with at least Superman, Wonder Woman, Zatara, and Martian Manhunter, and shows respect to the others.

Granted, he's also shown a lack of patience when explaining things to them and is not above annoyed side-glares when they interrupt him or tell their kids about the super-secret spacebase.

The idea of not being alone was probably on his mind three years after the League's formation, when he (for some inexplicable reason...) happened to be at a circus where the acrobat troupe was callously murdered. The orphaned son of two of the performers apparently reminded Bruce of himself, and in lieu of the kid being stuck in the foster care system, Bruce opened his home to the boy and treated him like family.

It probably has something to do with his own childhood trauma, but he takes a profound, sometimes surreptitious, interest in the children associated with the Justice League: he sticks up for Billy Batson when the League questions his maturity; he forces Aqualad to confront his conflicted feelings between his home and his responsibilities; he tries to nudge Superman towards a relationship with Conner while simultaneously offering what support he himself can; he sneaks Artemis a full scholarship to the same private school he sent Robin to; he offers Zatanna a home when she loses her father and parental support when her steadfast belief that she'd get her father back prompted her to decline.

He generally respects their opinions, and he respects their efforts. When he's faced with the ultimatum of "sanction us or we'll fight big crimes without you anyway," he drops his protests and devises a way for the teens to both act autonomously and under the supervision of the League. And despite some early fears and complaints, he doesn't insult the team's intelligence or skills. The missions he assigns are dangerous and require all of their skills. When the Justice League is mind-controlled at the end of the season, what finally clicks it into place for Robin is Batman calling the team "kids," something he's never done before.

He takes the position of general before the team, and is surprisingly understanding of them. While he won't hesitate to criticize them if they need to hear it, he isn't blind to results. He does make a token effort towards scolding them for hacking the League's computers and intercepting an ambush the League was planning to handle themselves, but he's smiling when he says it and commends the team for their good work.

Judging by the origin stories the kids give around the campfire in issues of the tie-in comic, most of the superhero community (and Robin himself, if what he told Black Canary in "Disordered" is any indication) believe that Batman brought Robin into the fold in order to cultivate a successor. It's not entirely unbelievable; both times Batman and Robin refer to "The Mission" you can practically hear the capital letters. Robin's initiation involved a candlelit swearing-in ceremony, and definitely lots of hard training-- Batman's instructed him in martial arts, deductive reasoning, forensics, various languages, computer hacking, vehicle operation, marksmanship... This is a lot of effort to go through, a lot of effort on top of maintaining Gotham City's precarious order and keeping up with and occasionally running the Justice League. Why else would Batman go through all this trouble, if it wasn't from the approaching mid-life crisis that'll have him realizing he can't go on forever?

The truth is actually the complete opposite: Batman's invested so much effort and care into Robin precisely because he doesn't want to watch a smart person like Dick trap himself the way he has. He cultivates Robin not so that he'll have a successor ready to carry on his work after he's gone, but so that Robin can exorcise his demons, move on with his life, and not end up like Bruce himself.

Too bad he never told anyone this.

Batman isn't a complete jerk, but he demonstrates a certain clumsiness when it comes to relating to people. He's pretty blunt and his social graces aren't particularly graceful. His intentions are good. He clearly loves Dick, but he doesn't seem to realize he'll react negatively to emotional stress. At one point, Robin tells his friends "You won't learn emotions from Batman, trust me." This isn't because Batman doesn't have emotions -- Dick's seen him smile on-screen -- but because he's inept at dealing with them. He's not really sensitive to Superman's situation about the whole "go parent your surprise clone" issue, and it takes a little bit of property damage for him to realize that his adopted son might be a little sour or insecure at having to share his adopted parent's attention with the team leader. It's not until Martian Manhunter explains things to him that he really understands how difficult it is for the team to shake off the disastrous, traumatizing events of a mental training exercise where they all ended up dying.

But he does, to his credit, try to correct these mistakes once he's aware of them. He backs off from Superman and instead does what he can to encourage Superboy, he invites Dick outside for "training" (read: basketball), he meekly suggests that the team's trusted combat trainer and apparent psychologist be called to help them cope.

At the risk of getting a little too meta, this is a Batman that has all the social incompetency and jerkass potential as many other interpretations of the character, but also the compassion and self-awareness necessary to not only see this in himself (or, you know, listen to people who point it out to him), but to actively compensate for it and try to prevent it from happening to others. He's rough around the edges, but still a hero. His flaws are many, but he tries not to lose sight of which side he's on.

It's difficult for him-- he's a naturally dark personality. And, possibly aware of his own rocky footing, this darkness fascinates and attracts him. At the same time, the line he can't cross? Is absolute. His "type" is morally ambiguous; he broke off a romance with the daughter of one of his enemies a year and a half ago because she wasn't tipping away from "ambiguous." He loved Talia (and is shown to still care about her opinion in the present day), enough that a midnight makeout at the Bat Signal seemed like a really great idea, but he breaks off the kiss and tells her it's not going to work so long as she doesn't see anything wrong with aiding and abetting her father's terrorism. What attracts him in the first place -- someone who struggles with their own darkness and the possibility of redemption -- is what he absolutely can't allow himself or his partner to be, and he does have the self-control to cut it off where he has to.

Why should that character be in this game: n/a

Why do you want to continue their history here: n/a

For applicants considering an alternate version of a character already in game, please use this as your chance to explain the key differences between your character and the one already in play: n/a

Have you read up on how the game works?: Yes. Flaming Ferret is not Firefox. And money can be obtained via stealing, mooching, or earning it like an adult.

1st person sample:
[Sitting behind a large, ornate mahogany desk is one Bruce Wayne. If you can’t tell by looking at him, look at the gold plaque in front of him.]

I was pleasantly surprised to find an offshoot of my family’s company already established here. It’s been run very competently by Dick and Stephanie in my absence – or rather, the absence of the version of me who must have started it – and I’d like to take this opportunity to reassure any employees of Wayne Enterprises that the new boss will, hopefully, be as workable as the old bosses. I’m looking forward to learning everything I can right alongside you, and have an eye towards expanding on technological research, and efficiency at assimilating everything we can from the various worlds visited by the Thor.

Following that, I’d like to thank them for stepping up to such a task in such an environment. I’m proud of and grateful to you both.

[He leans back in his chair.]

Finally, Wayne Enterprises and its subsidies and affiliates have long believed in mutual advancement. We understand that there’s no limit to what we can produce, but that there is and always will be a limit to what people can buy—unless we take it upon ourselves to advance our fellow man, we have no one to share in our advancements. Let me use this platform to extend the offer of partnership, charity, unity of all kinds, to each and every one of you. My name is Bruce Wayne. Let me know if there’s anything I can do.

3rd person sample:

Stance rigid, expression fathomless, mind reeling.

Pen in hand.

Assessment made, Batman was left to consider the possibilities. He was getting quite a few stares as he filled out paperwork. The day job made that part painfully easy; he'd been filling out pointless forms since he'd been old enough to be CEO. It was as mindless as it was mind-numbing, but Batman had trained himself to not allow his mind to numb itself. To not shut down, even in circumstances as overwhelming and painful as what these alien creatures had explained.

He couldn't stop thinking, and couldn't stop his mind from hitting on words like "overwhelming." He didn't mind Robin's habit of rearranging words; he'd appreciated the critical thinking involved and it didn't hurt anything. But he'd just gotten done listening to a speech about, was absently filling out papers related to, the end of the world. He was already piecing together scenarios of how Robin, Alfred, the team, the League, could have wound up in the same situation he was himself in, scenarios where they could in the future, scenarios where they commandeered a space shuttles to escape, Green Lantern rings, fear gas, nightmares, designer drugs, a dying dream--

He was getting stuck on the idea of altered brain chemistry. Altered brain chemistry was comforting, altered brain chemistry meant that there was no possibility of Robin and his team, of the League, of Alfred or anyone else suffering, and Batman, great hero was he, was supposed to be preventing suffering. Was supposed to be preventing children from losing their families, and while one couldn't always win, the idea of the Earth exploding was such a spectacular loss that his brain would rather believe in the idea that it was irreparably damaged than that idea having even the faintest ring of truth.

Denial was dangerous. That was another word Robin had readjusted to suit his needs.

Batman despised the idea of losing his partner and sidekick as irreversibly as they'd both lost their families. Despised the idea of breaking his promise to Zatara. Of Diana's skepticism over the safety of the team and Captain Marvel being proven correct.

He was at the end of the form. There were still more in the stack.

The costume was conspicuous, but he was used to it. That was the point, when blending into the shadows wasn't. It was intimidating, and he rather liked the idea of people being too intimidated to bother him more than they had to. Gave him room to think.

Finding the bridge would be imperative. Intimidating the captain was-- not imperative, but if it turned out to be necessary, if it turned out to be the difference-maker in getting to the truth of this matter, well, that was something he was good at and something that would be a decent stress reliever.

But they probably wouldn't let him pass before he got to the end of the paperwork.

Questions?: why timeskip, why
Did you put your characters name and fandom in the subject: Will do~