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Name: Will Age: 45+ Contact: mythotica#0741 Timezone: est Other Character(s): Kyle Valenti, Caleb Danvers, Adam Parrish |
Name: Richard John "Dick" Grayson Door: tdm pass: submissive Canon: Titans Canon Point: S2E13 just before Donna's death Age: 29 Appearance: here History: here Personality: First and foremost, beyond anything else in his life, Dickās life is guided and shaped by his guilt. It begins with survivorās guilt, sitting there in the precinct, the last moments of his parentsā lives running through his head and knowing that not only was he still here, without them, but then going on to be taken in by one who appears to be the best foster parent a child could imagine. While the world might not know the truth as Dick feels it to be about life with Bruce Wayne, the image of a boy in a mansion with anything he might want and all of the world before him is not exactly the consolation prize he wanted when all he wanted was his parents back. That guilt leads to a hyperfocused behavior that, while it can serve him well, it also becomes a part of the trifecta with aggression and guilt that leads to much of his own troubles, destroying his life time and again. While there are outside influences that have caused many troubles in Dickās life, the biggest downfall he faces is his own self destructive nature. Pushing to prove himself to Bruce, training to become the perfect Robin from the expectation of what he owes the man that took him in, he finds himself driven to be good at what he does so that he can prove himself worthy of being the one that lived on after the loss of his parents. Itās a desire that takes the darkest parts of his personality and hones them into a dangerous weapon who pretends that his goals are as lofty as his desire to prove himself. Itās a goal that he chases and destroys time and again. Beginning with allowing his parentsā killer to be killed before him even when the man pleads with Dick to save him, choosing then and there to allow his desires to outweigh any morality he might have clung to since his youth. It is a cycle he repeats time and again. Acting as if on morality but in the end itās his guilt that is truly in the driverās seat and it shows to everyone but Dick, if only that he is rarely honest with himself. So much of his true pain and guilt Dick attempts to hid from the world, lying deep beneath the surface while he pretends he is focused one way when itās something else entirely. He likes to believe that when heās hidden behind the mask he canāt control the aggressive violence that was part of him and that was what led him to leaving behind Robin and Bruce and his own team, the Titans. Now while itās true he often became out of control when violence started, itās not just violence that leads to him being out of control, and that violence alone isnāt the cause of the true guilt that he lives with. IIt is as much about his training as it is the aggressive nature of the broken young boy that existed after his parents were killed, of a teen driven to become the best at any cost, of a young man trying to work out his pain and how he constantly lets his friends and himself down time and again. Yet it is not only that physical aggression that heās unable to control. There is a drive within Dick that drives him to always accomplish his goals, though always in the way he has set them. At any cost. Combined with his know-it-all need to always have the right answer attitude and need to always be right, Dick loses his team and his friends when he goes against common sense and the desires of his team. That need to win no matter what it takes and who he risks, to be right and to prove that he had the right answer all along, leads to the death of a young boy while trying to avenge the loss of a teammate and the near death of another. Dick shows time and again he is not against being manipulative, using lies and obfuscation to accomplish his goals. He lies to the face of his team, including his dear childhood friend, Donna. From the moment he makes his introduction to Jericho, he is using the boy to get to this father. Even after he learns that Jerichoās muteness is caused by someone else using the boy to try and get to his father, Dick presses on knowing the risks he is causing for the boy and he doesnāt slow down. Instead allowing that aggression to possess him after Deathstroke strikes down his best friend, he leaves her to others to rush in without a second thought of what his actions might do in leaving Donna, or in showing up when Jericho is meeting with his father instead of waiting until it looks as if Jericho led him there. This storyline shows how much Dickās life is an endless cycle of self destruction, rushing in to make things happen the way he wants no matter what the cost, and then finding himself consumed by the guilt from it. While he tries to help Rachel, he lies to her time and again, assuring her heāll be there and acting out in ways that prove those words to be a lie when he makes plans to go off on his own rather than staying with her and helping her. Itās something that happens time and again, showing how he is more likely to focus on his desires and needs, and what he thinks is best for others, than to actually talk things out with his friends and teammates and try and help them. When Gar is the only one to stand there by him, to stay when everyone else leaves due his lies, Dick abandons him with an overpowered ānewbornā who needs help and guidance that Dick is not there to provide, nor is he there to help when things go awry. Instead of accepting his wrong choices and admitting to his mistakes, Dick blames everything but himself. He lies to his team, openly blames Deathstroke, and he leaves it all behind to start a new life. Going so far as to have barely any contact with his oldest and dearest friend, Donna, who is grieving her own loss and could have used a friend. Yet, as always, the guilt that consumes him leads him to running instead of helping as he does time and again. In becoming an officer in Detroit, in trying to leave Rachel behind with Dawn and Hank, and even in planning to leave the country after losing everyone, only to allow his guilt to drive him to punishing himself by assaulting officers and being locked away so he can wallow in that guilt. It all comes back to his self destructive tendencies. He is definitely one that hardly ever learns from the lessons heās been through leading to him donning the suit time and again, repeating the things that have caused him so much trouble in the past. A never ending cycle of needing to feel heās being useful, letting his drive and hyperfocused behaviors push him to act against his own best interests, and more importantly the best interest of others, and ending up in a painful place that heaps more guilt on his shoulders. Itās this same strong willed nature of Dickās that is both a godsend and a danger to himself and others. When drugged Dick has proven himself to be strong enough to break through the poisoning and do what he can to save himself and still be helpful to his team - and even eventually lean into his physical aggression as a means of protecting those he cares about and not merely as a vehicle for his guilt and resentment. Wallowing in these emotions leads to Dick having visions of Bruce, a means of his mind to make him cope with his emotional and mental issues, while not entirely facing how he felt Bruce made him to be or how he feels towards Bruce. It's truly obvious this isn't about his feelings about Bruce - needing him, knowing he owes him, and yet blaming him for so much, but rather about his subconscious trying to make him face his feelings and to be honest about his actions and the duplicitous nature of his past as his guilt takes over. Bruce in this moment is not the truth that Dick is denying but rather a literal manifestation of his own emotions trying to taunt him and drive him to the truth. A truth that doesnāt come out because of the damage his actions have caused Jason, but only from trying to clear his own conscience and be done with the vision that haunts him. Yet working through those visions there is another glimpse of the strong will and ironclad will power that has allowed Dick to overcome so much in his life. The strength to live on without his parents, to train and become Robin and then Nightwing, and to accept he canāt walk away from himself and to start working on accepting who he is by his canon point. Itās those same strengths that lets him overcome when heās been drugged even when they administer more of the drugs heās been given, beyond levels that most had ever been able to handle. Itās not a strength that is always there for him though, something that is yet again influenced by his guilt, as is much of his life. Itās seen when he loses himself in Rachelās fatherās mental world. He accepts his guilt in that moment, unwilling to fight back until Rachel pulls him out of it. She is truly his shoulder angel, his conscience and, more than that, she is the voice of reason. Rachel calls him out on his stupidity, like when he lets his guilt send him running. It is her anger and disappointment that hurts him the most, and while he tries to do better in her eyes, he often fails. Itās something you see as a parallel in his relationship with Donna, and how in their youth he often looked to her the same way. He wasnāt raised with the same empathy and sympathy that Donna and Rachel, and even Gar and Dawn, have been and yet he looks towards them for those emotions and the guidance that comes from it. Sadly he just doesnāt always listen, finding himself caught between the vigilante he was raised to be and the man heās still trying to grow up to be. Powers and Abilities: Physical Performance: Training and hard work since he was a young child, even before he came to be taught combat by Bruce Wayne, has left Dick at the pinnacle of human performance on all levels. Stamina, strength, speed, agility and endurance. He is shown in canon as being able to kick down locked doors and even punch through them, to catch falling objects as well as thrown projectiles, and to hold his own and win in fights against enhanced beings. He is also a well skilled acrobat having trained since he was a young child with his family. Those skills greatly contribute to many of his other skills including flexibility, free running, parkour, and aerial skills that allow him to dodge many attacks, as well as scale buildings, and turn escapes and dodges into attacks. Combat Training: From the time he was taken in by Bruce Wayne, Dick has been training in combat skills. Utilizing his acrobatic skills, heās been honed into a skilled and dangerous weapon capable of fighting on many levels with a combination of many martial art skills that he uses in practical applications smoothly and without hesitation.
Fortitude: Dick has a higher will and fortitude than the average person. Heās able to resist being drugged, to withstand numerous tasings by guards, and even to commit surgery on himself. Tactical intelligence: As a former police detective, Dick is skilled at investigation and evidence, capable of looking over a crime scene and knowing what happened even when itās not obvious. Heās also a capable leader, even if his emotions arenāt always as good as intentions. Inventory: Escrima sticks Retractable bo staff Nightwing suit Samples: Sample 1 | Sample 2 |
