app for maskormenace

[sideless]

〈 PLAYER INFO 〉
NAME: Will
AGE: 27
JOURNAL: hola
IM / EMAIL: beoluves@gmail.com
PLURK: beoluve
RETURNING: Y

〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Crowley Jones is the last of a long string of aliases.
CHARACTER AGE: 28-ish, she's not entirely sure
CANON ORIGIN: Original Character
CHRONOLOGY: Shortly after stealing the drive.
CLASS: Anti-Villain/Anti-Hero with a dose of Lovable Rogue
HOUSING: RNG!

BACKGROUND:

The year is 2087 and people have been manifesting "abilities" for the better part of the century, causes unknown; genetically speaking they're the same as their powerless peers and the things some can do seem to be completely at odds with the laws of physics themselves. There are some genetic markers that give some idea of the chances someone has to manifest an ability as well as the sort of ability it will be, but this information is well guarded by governments and certain companies.

Given the threat that people with abilities pose there exists international regulations regarding how to handle them. Thanks to these measures there is very little vigilantism and the use of abilities for delictivo activities is severely penalized. Most of the powered population either keeps their abilities under control and try not to be too flashy or use them for the benefit of the many through government assignments, but there is always a careful treatment of the media to not male them look lifelike heroes or whatnot: it's just citizens helping citizens the same way a doctor or a police officer would. Roughly a quarter of the world population has an ability, although most of them manifest nearly useless ones, be it in application or in power.

There are however several powers that have the information, resources and sway to pursue their interests in what could easily be considered human experimentation, as they seek to either control or improve evolution in order to generate better and stronger abilities in a controlled environment. Their reasons range from wanting to improve the world to creating the new generation of private armies to sell to whoever is buying.

Crowley's story begins in one of such circumstances. Hartland, a leading company in genetics from before the appearance of powered individuals had been researching about them ever since they had first appeared. While their public image was that of a group committed to creating better and more affordable food to reach every corner of the world, secretly it had been the ambition of Wesley Hartland and later Wesley Jr. Hartland to create the perfect tool. Away from the public eye, Hartland had always had a hand in human experimentation and employ if powered individuals. Always working through other names and several channels, Hartland had had a hand in the underworld of black ops businesses.

By 2058 they had successfully managed to map the entire genome of several generations of powered individuals, all for the sake of crafting their own subjects. A few batches of failures and two years of further experience were necessary to create what they considered to be a perfect batch of subjects. They were also aged to a pre-teen state of development for easier handling. As per regulations they weren't given names, just a letter + number designation. The intended result of the batch were several specific powers; most of the subjects turned out to be a success and thus were moved to specific training meant to prepare them for their purpose at a later time.

Then there was C6. C6's intended ability had been that of mind reading (a rare skill, as psychics were almost unheard of in the populace), but somehow she had managed to manifest the ability to literally take the abilities of others, rendering them powerless while she gained whatever ability in turn, temporarily. Such an ability had appeared only a couple of times in the entire century; it was decided that C6 was to be handled just like the rest while other plans were crafted for her.

For the next ten years the subjects were extensively trained in several areas; combat, firearms, espionage, assassination. Their blank minds and by design slowed down aging allowed them to perform in an outstanding manner in all of these areas. Slowly but surely some the subjects were molded in efficient and obedient killing machines, prepared to either work in black ops or to be inserted as sleeper agents. Some of them started to exhibit what could only be described as actual human behavior though. Some were found and terminated, but many managed to pretend for long enough to device a plan of escape. Exploiting their abilities, a group of ten subjects managed to escape Hartland's black site, taking C6 alongside, who remained an obedient subject; she was far too important for Hartland's plans to leave behind though. She also served as a deterrent for their pursuers to use lethal force against them.

Once outside, some effective gathering of information placed them in San Francisco of all places. The black site they had escaped from was just another building in the background now, but the threat remained very real. Plans were made to disperse and lie low for a while, gathering information and plan how to both expose and destroy those that were not only toying with them, but also posed a danger to the entire world. Their planning was cut short though, as C6 still carried a tracking device in her clothes. Pinned down from every direction, the escapees had to take desperate measures to get away. One of them was capable of creating explosions and so he would create a distraction (and take down the building they were currently in) so that they could either be written off as dead or at least gain enough time to hide. Before that though, another one of them used their abilities on C6, erasing her memories as a way of protecting her.

---

The first memories of who would become Crowley were of waking up on a ragged, dirty bed somewhere in the slums of Chicago. The couple that had taken her in apparently found her lying half dead in an alleyway. The only reason they had approached her at first was to see if she carried anything valuable, thinking her dead already. Once they noticed she wasn't quite done yet, they decided to help her out. Gustav was a son of immigrants that hadn't done too well, while Maria's family had never done well at all, ever. They both were without abilities, but that hadn't stopped them from making the most of a society where the poor became poorer and the rich richer. They were good people, all in all. They would allow the girl (therefore christened "Jane" by them) to stay if she could pull her weight and help around in whatever was needed.

In order to survive, both of them dedicated some time to teach her the ways of the street, namely how to steal and not be caught, as well as introduce her to their circle to seedy characters. Despite no remembering her training, "Jane" soon discovered she was far too skilled to be just a random amnesiac hobo, but she decided not to think too much about that, specially once she realized how her ability worked. On the following years she slowly made herself a reputation among the delinquents of Chicago (and took on different names depending on who she was dealing with). She became well known as the to go crook to get something taken from anywhere, security be damned.

Crowley herself isn't entirely sure where the name she would become the most related to first appeared, but it probably came from Maria's little circle of wicca crazy girlfriends that liked to crash in and make seances now and then. Whatever the case, the name stuck for longer than usual and while Crowley never stopped using other names she grew strangely comfortable with it.

The next four years or so were a blur of breaking ins, pulling heists (usually alone, but sometimes with others) and slowly working to improve hers and her own's quality of life, one job at a time. It was a difficult thing to do though, since the powered population was always on a short leash. Crowley had to be sure that for most of the world she would remain a myth because the moment she became a visible threat her life would most likely be over. Which was why when one of her usual contacts reached out to let her know a particularly fancy-looking client was willing to pay top dollar for her to sneak into a highly guarded building in San Francisco to steal a revolutionary piece of technology, Crowley initially refused. She had cemented a solid reputation in Chicago and while Crowley did travel around when the pay was good, the risks involved felt bigger than usual.

Some more prodding from her contact convinced her to at least hear the proposal, although the "meeting" was a virtual one, because all parts involved were far too cautious about the whole deal. The client provided extensive planes and information regarding the security of the building. The time constraints and the tightness of the security made it a one man job, but the sheer difficulty of it made even Crowley doubt she would be good enough. Still, the client was ready to play by far the most money Crowley had ever seen in her life; enough to actually buy herself a completely new life. With such incentive there was little else to do but to accept.

Two weeks later, Crowley snuck into the building in the middle of the night with the help of a "colleague" capable of creating portals, although their reach was only enough to get her halfway through the security. Having studied the patrol patterns, Crowley managed to tiptoe her way up to the floor where the piece of technology she needed to take was, but as she was deactivating the alarms around it a group of guards that were completely out of schedule surged into the room. Throwing caution to the wind, Crowley fought her way out, utilizing one of the guard's ability to fly to escape through one of the windows. Rather can calling it a success, Crowley lied low for the next days, beating herself up for being so stupid. She had been set up for some reason. The item she had stolen was a heavily codified drive of sorts, of which she had never seen before. That hardly mattered though; soon enough Crowley would have a lot of heat coming for her. Going back to Chicago was out of the question, as whoever wanted her dead (and wanted the drive for themselves, too) would most likely be looking there; Crowley had to try really hard to not think about Gustav and Maria, but she hoped they were safe. No, she needed to find a way to crack the drive open, figuratively speaking, and use the information within to bargain for her life.

PERSONALITY:

Crowley doesn't show all of herself at once. She instead has layers and walls put in place. They are something of a necessary evil to help her deal with everything that she does and what happens to her without going insane, but at the same time they make her unbalanced and contradictory at times. The most common of those layers and the one she shows up the easiest is that of "the trickster"; the fast-talking, trouble seeking pickpocket that somehow manages to make everything that comes out of her mouth to be mildly offensive every single time she opens it. She's at her friendliest here too, bringing in as much charisma as annoyance, making her equally easier to be mad at and warm up to her, much to the confusion of some people. She's the sort of person you have a good time with but should probably not trust with even the simplest tasks, or money, or earthly possessions. There is loyalty in there, somewhere, but she reserves it for the few she actually considers to be important to her. Crowley here is at her best withing large groups of people, where she blends in without effort and does as she pleases, at least for a while. She's not entirely without merit though; despite her predisposition to take what's not hers and to live life without much apparent concern she does care for those in need. She might not show it or even admit it, but if she can she will go the extra mile to help someone, usually without revealing herself.

There is also the Crowley that's always up for trouble, getting drunk and into bar fights, or just bar fights, or just drunk. She's fun to be around as long as you don't make yourself a target for a beer on your head. Is the version of herself that's the most unhinged and cares the less about consequences. She has lost and made friends over bar fights and while she's well aware of how self-destructive that side of her is, Crowley uses it as a escape valve to most of the feelings she keeps bottled down for way too long.

Then there is the more serious, darker persona. The one that blends with the darkness and sneaks around buildings, opening safes and quietly knocking down guards, or openly fighting several people twice her size without breaking a sweat. Crowley here is best when alone and she rarely let others see this side of her. It's a more contained yet violent part of her, one that puts to use the skills she doesn't know where she got them from. She's both amazed and frightened of how easily she can zero in a given task, everything else fading away but the goal, to the point that hurting others (or worse, although she always tries not to get to that) is well within the acceptable limits. It's not as much as she becomes someone else than Crowley stops pretending to be her more cheery, easy-going self, as if that one was the fake part of her.

Crowley's lack of past haunts her continuously, even if she doesn't show it externally. It's a constant reminder (ironically enough) that she's not just different, but that there is an entire person hiding underneath herself with a history of its own. It also makes her feel like she's a fake altogether, the byproduct of someone losing their memories and having to start from scratch. The thought of recovering her memories and basically "erasing" Crowley gives her the chills, but at the same time it makes her wonder if she wouldn't be better off gone. This is also the part of Crowley that surfaces the least, the one where she actually expresses her distress and insecurities, although she usually recluses herself before doing so. Crowley is bad at opening up to others; she will playfully talk about herself and commiserate, but to truly bare her deepest, darkest secrets she needs to feel safe in ways she almost never does.

POWER:

Power Stealing: Plain and simple, if Crowley touches someone with abilities she can take one. If she knows what ability they have she can take it, but if she doesn't she will end up taking one at random. While she has the power, the person she took it from won't be able to use it. Crowley can keep someone's power for up to four hours, after which she needs to "let it go". It's an instant shift. The ability itself isn't something physical or solid and it seems to move from one character to the other. Crowley can only keep one power at a time; taking another power automatically gives the former one back to its owner.

Upgrade: Crowley can "improve" anything she touches, making it a better version of itself. It basically improves whatever characteristic it has; they hit harder, shoot stronger and more powerfully, ride faster, etc. However, when the effect passes, whatever was augmented usually breaks down, as most mundane materials can't handle it. Crowley can update organic matter, aka living beings, in which case they become positively super human (when they're powerless). In case they have powers, these become several times stronger, to the point they might be difficult to control. Once the effect wear off, same as with objects, the people will suffer from trauma and possibly internal bleeding. It will more often than not be nonlethal, but repeated uses in a short amount of time.

〈 CHARACTER SAMPLES 〉

COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:

Hey so.

[ Crowley's face appears on camera for a moment before she turns it around, displaying the inside of a bar that seems to be in the middle of an epic fight. ]

I left a bottle of vodka in there? And like, half the jocks are kind of looking for me inside so I can't very well sneak back in and grab it, can I? I swear to god, it's like everyone's on a hair trigger around these parts.

[ The camera goes back to Crowley and now people might notice she has a small cut on her left cheek, as well as some glass on her hair. Wait, was that a broken window facing outside the bar? ]

Tell you what, first person that nabs it gets to drink half and I'll buy another one, because I know how to say thanks. Hmm? Any takers?

Also anybody knows any good bars? Asking for a friend.

LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE:

TDM top level and conversation with K-S2O

FINAL NOTES: