App for Wilderlands

[circusbat]

APPLICATION

Player Name/Handle: Shard
Plurk Handle: litshard Preferred pronouns (optional): She/Her
Player Status: Current Player
Other characters: Remy LeBeau/Gambit`
Invited by: Invited by Korel


Character Name: Richard John "Dick" Grayson/Nightwing
Fandom: DC Comics
Character Journal: circusbat
OU, AU, CRAU, Canon OC, or OC? OU
Canon point: After "Battle of the Cowl" and the redesign of the Batsuit
Age: Late 20s, possibly 30
PB: Comic art

SETTING BACKGROUND

The DC Universe is much like the real world, with the same cities and countries, though a few have been added. Metropolis and Gotham, where Dick grew up, are two of the biggest additions.

While most of the same laws of physics apply, the DC Universe is also the home of superheroes, supervillains, mutants, metahumans, wizards, aliens, mad scientists and the like. Some of these group into teams, either of heroes to save the world or villains to take it over. There are even ways for heroes to testify in the court system without compromising their identities. While there are people who question how much power heroes have and the lack of oversight, most people are welcoming of them. Even teen superheroes are given more latitude than they are allowed in other superhero media/

OC/AU/CRAU REQUIREMENTS

N/A

PERSONALITY

Dick is the outgoing, personable member of the Batfamily. He's the first son, Batman's heir who remembers when the Batman's mission wasn't all about darkness. He grew up learning how to balance Dick Grayson against Robin and managed to find an easy medium for himself. This kept up into his adulthood when he struck out on his own, so that neither is a mask that he wears. He is Dick Grayson and he is Nightwing (or Batman) and entirely comfortable as either.

A former circus brat, Dick's never quite lost the taste for performing. He can't go out in front of a crowd and do the tricks his parents taught him, but it doesn't stop him from showing off just the slightest bit (okay, a lot) when working. He's a genuinely likable guy who believes in justice and doing what is right, but there are lines that the good guys just don't cross. He doesn't shy away from confrontation and is always willing to be there to back up friends and family who need him. And most of his oldest friends ARE part of his family (whether Bruce likes it or not). Dick is probably the most well-liked hero in his world amongst his peers and is one of a very small number that many of them would follow without question.

There are, of course, downsides. Dick tends to care a little too much. He doesn't hold himself apart from others well, which feeds into a tendency to blame himself for things that happen on his watch. He blames himself when people end up hurt under his leadership and he has a bad tendency to either quit or disband groups when it gets to be too much for him to handle. He can never stay away for long, though, because most of the people he's worked with on teams are old, old friends that he would never turn away from. Though that closeness can and has led to him overlooking problems simply because he sees what he expects to see. (That's the only reason I can come up with for Batman's apprentice missing things like Roy being addicted to heroin, at least.) He also has a daredevil streak a mile wide and two miles deep. It gets him in trouble, even though he does tend to think before he acts.

At the moment, Dick is still in mourning after Bruce's death. He is, after all, the second father that Dick has lost in his life and it's been a difficult road, trying to keep the family together and failing. Part of him wishes that he could have put the Batman away for good, because it's never felt right when somebody else was in the suit, but Gotham's criminal element doesn't recognize any others that try to control it. Not as well as they do the Batman, at least. He's also dealing with the way that things have come full circle, with Dick now training Bruce's son as Robin. It's an odd feeling, but he feels that he owes it to Bruce to make certain that Damian grows up and to train him in the ways of the Greatest Detective in the World. If he can manage to knock the massive chip off Damian's shoulder, he'll call that a win, too.

CANON POWERS

Dick has no canon powers. Unless 'dat ass' is considered a power.

POWER SELECTION

POWER TYPE
Roughing It

FREEBIE POWERS

N/A

GAME POWERS

N/A

ABILITIES

Peak human condition

Though there's nothing superhuman about him, Dick is to be the greatest human acrobat in DC and the only person on Earth who can do the quadruple somersault on the trapeze. He has fantastic core and arm strength, agility and hand-eye coordination. His gymnastic and trapeze training started at a very early age, which was only built on by his superhero training with Bruce Wayne.

Martial Arts and weapons training

Dick is a master of various forms of martial arts, including aikido, kung fu, escrima, Capoeira, judo, hapkido, taekwondo, jujitsu, karate, jeet kune do, savate (French kickboxing), sambo (Russian martial art centered on wrestling), ninjutsu, bojutsu, and Western boxing. His primary weapons are escrima sticks, with his current weaponry made of an unbreakable polymer. He is also skilled with thrown weaponry, as evidenced by the use of both his own wingdings as Nightwing and Batarangs as Batman or Robin.

Computer skill and hacking

Though Tim and Barbara are the family computer experts and hackers, Dick is also able to hold his own when necessary. Like Tim, though, they're probably not much use to the game.

Languages

As a combination of his early years in a very multicultural circus as well as the finest education Bruce Wayne could provide, Dick is fluent in Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, and Cantonese. As a result of his time with Kori'ander, he's also fluent in Tamaranian. He's also conversant in American Sign Language, French, Italian, Persian, and Kikuyu (a Bantu language). He also knows bits and pieces of Romany, though he's very out of practice.

Various Bat Skills

Trained by Batman in escapolgy, criminology, fencing, stealth, and disguise. He is shown to have the natural ability to read body motion as Cassandra Cain does. He is able to anticipate and predict a person's actions and tell if somebody is lying. He also possesses a will strong enough to protect himself from telepathic attacks. He's also a master of espionage, though that was put on display more in the later ongoing, Grayson. Dick was once widely accepted as the second greatest detective in the DC world, behind Batman, due to his own fantastic feats of deduction. Now, as Batman, he'd still consider himself the second greatest detective in the world behind Tim.

Non-Bat Skills

As mentioned in the personality section, Dick is the most personable of the Bats. His interpersonal skills are the best in the family and he is the one who keeps the lines of communication open with other heroes. He's been the leader of several iterations of the Titans and was even the leader of the Justice League once. One of his greatest skills, though, is in rallying, unifying and inspiring other heroes, to the point that an alternate Superman even says that it's a great honor to be vouched for by Dick Grayson.

Additional Skills

Sleep? What is sleep? Dick survives on coffee, cereal and whatever Alfred puts in his freezer.

High pain tolerance is just a normal thing for the Bat family. They're all very good at ignoring their own pain in order to help others. Dick can and will make things worse for himself if nobody sits on him.

Between Batman survival training and camping with Roy Harper, Dick's pretty decent at starting a fire, bow hunting, finding or making makeshift shelter, identifying edible plants and the like. Just don't allow him to cook. See what Dick normally survives on.


SETTING/SUITABILITY

N/A. Dick comes from superhero comics. While this kind of world jumping adventure isn't common for him, it's also not that far out of the ordinary. He's also well able to defend himself and others.

SAMPLES
You only have to do 1 sample and it's your choice whether it's log or network, prose or actionspam.

Both a network and log prompt are below so you have a choice but you only have to complete one (or use one of the other options in its place.)

Network Sample

[Dick threads his fingers together, looking through the magic mirror at the young boy of about eight, the weight of the world in those too blue eyes.]

[It's too easy to recognize his eight year old self as his inner child. Probably the last time he'd truly been a child. The desire to reach out and try to tame the boy's hair is strong, but it's not like the boy is actually there. So that helps.]

[Blowing out a breath, his mouth quirks up in a half smile.]

I know what you want to hear. That it didn't really happen. That Mom and Dad are fine and it was all just a bad dream. That nothing is going to change.

[No shock, but a small lip wobble from the young him.]

And I wish I could say that was true, but it's not. It all happened and I'm so sorry that you're going through all that upheaval. I remember how difficult it was, leaving everything you know behind and moving into a brand new everything. It's rough. And it's going to be rough for a while.

But it won't always be rough. He doesn't seem like it now--and sometimes, he won't seem like it later--but B does care about you. He's just not good at showing it. [A long moment of quiet as Dick thinks.] He went through a time this hard when he was young. But in the aftermath, he closed his heart. He went out to learn everything he could, but he was alone. And, at the time, I think he decided at the time that he would always BE alone. He didn't need others.

[The boy raises his head a bit and Dick catches his gaze.]

You're going to have to teach him otherwise. And it may be your toughest performance yet. Where B has closed his heart off, you'll need to keep yours open. You...we're the one that helps keep him connected to others. When we close our heart...that's when the world is roughest for us. When we're tempted to lock out our friends is when we need them the most.

Doesn't stop us, sometimes, but pain does that.

[He pauses a moment, then reaches out and lays his hand against the mirror. After a moment, the very young Dick Grayson does the same.]

There are so many people out there you haven't met yet. So many you will want to offer friendship and love, who will need it and offer it in return. Never forget that, lólodúianchír.

[Robin. His mother's nickname for him which went on to become something more than him.]

It hurts now. And it will always hurt a bit. But your friends and your family can always help you carry any burden. Never forget that, Dick. It'll hold you in good stead.


ADDITIONAL INFO

Dick would have arrived with a magically transformed Batsuit. The magic took the Dark Knight symbolism a bit TOO seriously. While that's been left behind, if he could have his escrima sticks with him along with a small array of items from the belt: grappling hook, smoke and gas pellets, and lockpicks. There's no way to replace the smaller items, so use will be limited.