Brave New World Application

PLAYER INFO

Name: Eric
Contact Information: AIM (nevolition @ gmail.com) / Plurk ( nevolition )
Time Zone: EST / GMT - 05:00
Characters Played: N/A


CHARACTER INFO

Character Name: Tim Drake
Character Canon: DC Comics

History:

His Batman Wiki and DC Wiki together cover pretty much everything on him!

AU History:

Tim Drake, son of Jack and Janet Drake, was born into the very upper echelons of Union society. Like many, the Drakes claimed they could trace their bloodline back to the Savior, although there are disappointingly few Enlightened counted in their ranks; wealth and legacy still gave them plenty of clout, however.

With their bloodline on the precipice of extinction and the heavy societal lean towards larger families, one might expect the Drakes to boast a fair number of children, having been young and passionate and married early. However, they only had the one son: Timothy Jackson Drake.

Perhaps they realized they weren't cut out for parenthood, despite societal encouragement and expectations. Or maybe their married life simply functioned better outside the home than within it. Whatever the reason, Jack and Janet Drake pursued their interests and careers with more dedication than they pursued maintaining their family. Business entrepreneurs and Historians both, they spent the majority of their time away on their ventures and leaving their young son behind in the hands of other caretakers and, later, a series of boarding schools…

…which he frequently snuck out of, to photograph his idolized Enlightened and their Pokemon in and about the entirety of the city. Not a hard feat at all, once he realized his own abilities as an Enlightened shortly after his twelfth birthday, out of the blue -- something he, surprisingly (or perhaps not) kept a secret from all but a few.

Unfortunately, his youth wasn't without tragedy. A few months shy of his fourteenth birthday, Tim's parents, on one of their expeditions, were attacked in the Old City. His mother's body was recovered, but his father's whereabouts remain a mystery; one that Tim is determined to solve.

It's been decided that, in light of the fact that he has no other family and his parents' will didn't name a new guardian, he will continue to stay at Brentwood Academy, a boarding school for elite young adults, where he spends his time sneaking out and sticking his nose in places where it really doesn't belong. Tim prefers to keep his status as Enlightened a secret for the time being, seeing the ability as a freedom from being "Tim Drake," and has taken a vested interest in investigating the mysteries of the world as a Fletchling Shifter who simply calls himself "Robin."

Canon Personality:

"There are two things you need to realize about Tim. First, he's got an astonishing sense of duty. It drives everything he does. That's why he first became Robin. And even when he quit, he only did it out of a greater obligation to his father's authority. So when he returned to the job for the second time, he made sure he wasn't going behind his father's back to do it. He'll never squander his responsibilities by overreaching. He knows how much he can handle on his own, whether here, or in Blüdhaven, or anywhere else. I have every confidence he'll know when to call for help."

"And the second thing?"

"Hmmm?"

"You mentioned two things one needs to realize about Master Tim."

"Oh, yes. Tim's smart -- smarter than me, and maybe even smarter than you. Take my word, Alfred, we'll end up working for him someday, once he does a bit more growing up."

- - - - - - -

Sense of Duty

"We know we're right. But, what's the point of being right if you aren't willing to fight for it?"

Tim takes his commitment to being a hero seriously. He's amazingly stubborn, and is one of the few heroes that manages to stick to his morals all on his own. Several times during his run as Robin, Tim's been tested in life-or-death situations, and refused, every single time, to kill in order to save his own life, even when the temptation and opportunity were there.

Tim, out of all the Robins, is the only one that Bruce can trust to do what is necessary and to follow the evidence where it leads. When it seemed like Bruce might have gone insane, or been a murderer, it was Tim who was willing to accept that as a possibility, where Dick vehemently refused, and even got angry at Tim for entertaining the idea for even a moment. Or, when Tim was thrust into the future and encountered a Justice Lord version of himself, he was willing to end his own life in order to prevent that future from happening altogether.

This sense of duty goes beyond his own pride. Where Bruce often struggles with reaching out for help, Tim is willing to use every resource he has at his disposal (friends, contacts, even enemy tools) in order to win smart.

The downside, of course, is that other parts of his life can fall to the wayside. Although Tim was popular in school, and had girlfriends, he had difficulty balancing his duties with his social obligations, and several of his relationships fell through; he broke commitments that were lower priority than his job as Robin, and caused his father and step-mother plenty of grief by up and disappearing repeatedly, to the point where his father felt he had to send him away to a boarding school in order to prevent him from getting into any further trouble.

Tim, however, is not a robot; he deeply values his relationships and the people around him, and he is often troubled by how often he ends up lying to others and disappointing them, even if it's for the greater good. Although lying gets a little easier as he settles more into his double life, he still faces the challenge of maintaining his relationships.

Intelligence

Tim is smart, but not in the traditional sense. He struggled in school to keep his A's, didn't really have any interest in hitting the books, but he's perceptive and he's driven. Tim is a problem-solver, a thinker, a detective after Bruce's own heart who was clever enough to connect the dots between Dick Grayson and Robin from careful observation. He learns fast, and voraciously, because he is a survivor. He's cautious and careful, and he's the Robin that thinks things through. He knows he's outgunned and outmuscled in 80% of his fights, so he has to be resourceful.

He does his research. He's the one who learns how to use a one-handed keyboard so he can Google information on the fly when he's out in the field. He's the kid who rapidly picked up computer programming, so that he could design a simulator that could track crime real-time and predict the next major crime waves. Given a five minute window with access to the League of Assassins' databases, he not only memorized the location of all the League holdings in Gotham, but also orchestrated the destruction of their entire database network, while simultaneously planning out an escape that he would later put into play. When Tim has a goal, there is very little that can get in his way.

Empathy

Aside from his sense of duty and his intelligence, Tim is also surprisingly empathetic for a boy who was raised without a lot of social interaction, having been handed off to boarding school after boarding school while his parents were away on their explorations and business ventures.

Tim often offers a shoulder of support to the people around him. He cares and listens when both Ariana and Stephanie tell him about their experiences with sexual assault, assures Conner that he has a soul despite being a clone, and he ends up talking Dick through a lot of his personal conflicts. It was Tim who gave the famous speech about Batman needing a Robin, because he noticed how broken up Bruce was after Jason's death; and when Dick wouldn't go back to being Robin, when no one else stepped in to help Bruce through the darkest time of his life, it was Tim Drake, next-door neighbor and mostly stranger, who volunteered for the job so that Bruce had someone at his side.

However, as much as he's willing to listen and to be there for his friends and family, Tim is reluctant to speak too much about his own troubles, and tends to hold his cards close to his chest, only really confiding in Dick and Alfred -- and even then, not often fully, especially where those troubles coincided with his identity as Robin. Despite that, he's self-aware enough to know when he needs to speak with someone (as much as pulling the facts from him can be like pulling teeth), and after counseling a suicidal citizen about reaching out to others, opted to call Dick for some support in the wake of his own depressive episode.

AU Deviation:

While Tim's core personality -- resourceful, curious, kind-hearted, with a strong sense of right and wrong and a wickedly sarcastic streak -- remains unchanged, in this incarnation he hasn't met and trained under Bruce Wayne in all things crime-fighting and superheroes. He doesn't have a mission or loyalties beyond exploring the world around him and figuring out his place in it, and he doesn't have the same kind of confidence that being Robin in the comics gave him; though it doesn't stop him from going ahead and doing what he believes needs to be done. Civil disobedience is one of his hallmark traits, after all.

He still has the potential to be something great, but he's unhoned, without support or direction to follow beyond his own goals. On the flip side, this means that Tim is a lot more effective at maintaining his social relationships, since he doesn't have superhero activities taking precedence, and he's probably known as a very charming and reliable young man.

Tim (probably) won't be running into murderers and violence like he did in the comics, and this sense of relative safety means he's a little less cautious than he normally might be, hopping into trouble whenever he gets the chance; either out of curiosity, a need to do the right thing, or simple teenage thrill-seeking.

Canon Abilities:

He's a normal human with some specialized skills, which his wiki covers here!

Enlightened Abilities:

While Tim's canon skillset would fit amazingly well as an Analyst (Normal/Flying or Normal/Fighting), or even as Far From Ordinary-Analyst, one of the core components to his personality (affecting his actions and motivations throughout his entire run as Robin and even Red Robin) is the duality of his identity as Robin and Tim Drake. He sees being Robin as freedom from being Tim, and in Brave New World, that desire to escape is only emphasized given the rigid structure of society and his own uncertainty regarding his future -- the tug-of-war between what he wants to be, and what he's expected to be. While Tim can always learn and develop his canon skillset through dedication and training (like he originally did), and eventually might, his technical skills as a superhero aren't as reflective of who he is as a person as they might be for someone else. He can still be his clever, detail-oriented, inquisitive self -- it's just not a Poke-power.

Focusing on that duality, I thought it might be equally as fitting (and interesting to play) him as a Shifter instead, where his dual identities are more clearly and physically defined. And, given the nature of Enlightened to eventually take on more and more of their type's attributes, it would be a fitting parallel to his canon personal storyline involving the eventual merging of his identities.

(Also, Tiny Robin Pokemon. Impossible to resist!)

Shifter (Fletchling)

Moveset at Start (Level 12):
Tackle
Growl
Quick Attack
Peck

Abilities:
Big Pecks
Gale Wings (Hidden)

Tim starts out as a Fletchling, and unlike the tendencies of most Shifters, is normal rather than Shiny. As a Pokemon, he's distinguishable by his blue eyes and the messy splay of feathers atop his head, and by his smaller-than-average size. As a human, he looks remarkably normal, and can easily wave away his traits (yellow marks around his eyes and orange-red highlights to his hair) as the latest fashion trend for Union teenagers. This helps him keep his status quiet, at least until he hits the next stage of his evolution.

As Fletchinder, his tells as a Shifter become a little more difficult to hide. The yellow eye marks become a little more prevalent, and more notably, he grows a small set of wings -- tiny, honestly, and impossible to fly with, and mostly a nuisance trying to keep them hidden under a jacket.

Once he evolves into Talonflame, however, there's no mistaking. By that point, he'll have a full set of wings capable of flight, fingernails turned to claws, with the spotted, and feathers mixed in with his hair -- along with some serious eye shadow game going on.

Starter Pokémon:

Cubone (Temporary Starter from the Breeding Center)
Named: Alvin
Gender: Male
Nature: Adamant
Characteristic: Highly Curious
Egg Move: Iron Head

Tim swore he wasn't going to pick up a Pokemon of his own. He has other things to focus on and worry about, and he's not sure if he'd do that good with a Pokemon anyway since he wasn't raised with one in the household, but, well…his mother died, too. He couldn't leave him alone.

Notes/Special Considerations:

Nothing especially! Tim's main thing is that he gets into trouble -- a lot. Really weird trouble. Later on I'd like to see if I could bring some of those comic storylines over into Brave New World as Player Plots, if that's a possibility! But as far as special powers go, no.

SAMPLES

First-Person: With recuttal  on the Test Drive Meme

Third-Person: Questionnaire Option (Six Questions)

[ He isn't exactly fidgeting, but Tim clearly isn't that comfortable, either. His hands are clasped on his knees, serious, and he's trying to look poised, but he can't maintain eye contact for very long, glancing off to the side. Straightening his cuffs just so.

Careers. Career discussions. They've gone over this before, nothing new, preparing him for adulthood and asking him to think about the bigger picture, but Tim'd rather discuss anything else. Bicycles. Sports. Girls. …--Well, maybe not girls, not since Ariana just broke up with him, and yeah, actually, no, no. Girls lead to talk about families and children. As last of his line and upcoming candidate for Union's Most Eligible Bachelor, Tim hears too much talk about families and children.

He'd rather be anywhere but here. But he respects his Professor too much to say so. ]

What do you feel your role in Union is?

I don't…have a role yet? Besides student, I guess. Or are we talking, like, more in general? Then it'd be, you know…study, get a career, raise a family. Keep society rolling.

[ And all that jazz. Tim's a Drake, there's really only one answer he can give: to do exactly what society expects of him. To be what his parents, gone, need him to be. ]

The gods of old have returned. How would you be judged if you were chosen as a representative of humanity?

[ The boy's eyes widen, taken aback, and he stutters out a laugh in a mix of horror and amusement. ]

Um. Wow. That's, uh, that's some question there. I… I think I'd do okay? Like, kinda--

[ He shrugs, and gestures. Ehhhh. Not good, not bad. ]

They'd maybe be like, 'Timothy, stop sliding down the handrail!'

[ His impression of an old god sounds remarkably like the Professor. ]

…haha, not that I do! Of course not. You and I both know that's very improper behavior. I would never.

[ He would. He has. He will. The chipper, impudent upturn to his lips doesn't flag, even when his Professor gives him a Look. ]

In your eyes, what is absolutely unforgivable?

[ This time, the answer's immediate, no hedging. ]

Hurting innocent people. Killing. In self-defense, maybe it's not unforgivable, but there's always gotta be another way, if you just try hard enough.

[ The uncertain bunch to his brows says he knows this sounds overly optimistic. But it's something he believes in. ]

I'm glad Union isn't like Gigas. I can't imagine what it'd be like to live someplace where war's common.

No Enlightened chooses their abilities - and not all are Enlightened. What type abilities would you most desire to manifest and why?

Well, if I were an Enlightened-- [ Which, as far as anyone here knows, he's not. Tim smiles. ] --I'd like something to help me out with homework, maybe lighten the studying load a little…Sorry, sorry, I'm kidding!

[ Come on, Professor, lighten up! ]

But honestly? I don't think I'd want to be one. I've got enough on my plate just being Tim Drake.

[ He already has what he wants, anyway. A way to escape, and to not be himself. ]

What area do you seek to explore? The peaceful forest, in search of new, previously overlooked discoveries; the uncharted caves, in search of the unknown; or the wildest of mountain terrain, in search of danger, adventure, and thrills?

[ They both know he can't. Not really. Tim has his obligations. However, his Professor knows how much he'd like to. His face brightens, smile coming a little more easily. ]

All of it! There's just so much we don't know. Wherever the questions lead me.

[ He pauses, enthusiasm sobering a hair or two, and rubs one thumb over the other. ]

I think I'd start with Old City, though.

[ Where Jack Drake went, and never came back. ]

So you plunge into the depths of the Old City. What is it that you seek from the past? Treasure, technology, wisdom?

[ His face doesn't give much away. He looks up at the Professor, serious and professional, and folds his hands back on his knee, quiet for a moment. It's a glimpse at the kind of man he'll be one day. ]

Answers.