APPLICATION for ATARAXION

[unfiltrating]

PLAYER INFORMATION
Your Name: Mal
OOC Journal: mustakrakish
Under 18? If yes, what is your age?: Nope
Email + IM:

• EMAIL: deanpants@gmail.com
• AIM: drunkandblogging

Characters Played at Ataraxion: Sherlock Holmes | saidhe

CHARACTER INFORMATION
Name: Richard "Dick" Grayson | Robin
Canon: Young Justice
Original or Alternate Universe: Original
Canon Point: Post #1.18
Number: would 002 (or is it 003) >> 001 be applicable, is that something i'm getting right, i honestly. am so confused on the numbers but it's totally cool if that's not. BEYOND THAT i'm honestly cool with a random number generation!

Setting: Young Justice's Robin wiki

History: The Flying Graysons were the pride and joy of Haly's Circus, back in the day. The act consisted of an entire family of acrobats, who performed daring trapeze stunts. It was very popular, most people around who attended the traveling circus doing so for the Grayson act.

Mob boss Zucco wasn't getting anywhere with his extorting Jack Haly, the circus owner and ringmaster. Haly wanted to run a clean and honest business, but it cost him more than he bargained. Retaliation came in the form of the sabotaging of the trapeze of the most dangerous act the Graysons pulled off, one without the aid of a net. Fortunately, Dick wasn't allowed to participate due to the risk. Less fortunately, the only survivor of the accident was his uncle, who was paralyzed for life in the wake of it. Dick was just nine years old.

He didn't have much time to grieve for the tragedy - he was shortly put in the system thereafter. Since then, he was taken in by Bruce Wayne, both as an adoptive child and as an apprentice. Trained by the very best, Dick made the transformation from successful acrobat to the Robin that he is now, a streamlined fighter and strategist at the aid of Gotham's Batman. The two even brought Zucco to justice together, among a colorful sum of Gotham's other very best and seediest of criminals.

That was the lead-in. The rest is a funny story! Now, Robin (along with a few other sidekicks who really don't like being referred to as sidekicks) was treated to a tour of the Hall of Justice, the faux headquarters of the Justice League. All well and good until Speedy, the Green Arrow's apprentice, begrudgingly informs them of the real headquarters: the Watchtower, an orbiting satellite. He's tired of being treated like a kid and, well, the feeling's contagious. The Justice League is called away for a mission and, when they leave their respective "sidekicks" behind, they take a secondary mission: A fire at Cadmus Labs.

Together with Aqualad and Kid Flash, Robin extinguishes the fire and, based on Batman's long-standing suspicions of the laboratory in general, the trio infiltrate the base, only to discover it really is as super secret as they were suspecting. They discover Project Kr within, and a pod containing a clone of Superman. Bright young things that they are, they decide to let the psychologically unstable clone out of his stasis.

What's lucky is he has a change of heart. Kid Flash, Robin, and Aqualad somehow persuade "Superboy" into letting them free, after the three are held captive (and planned to be cloned accordingly just as he was, by Dr. Desmond). Robin hacks into the Cadmus systems to get them to the top floor, and even thinks to bust the pillars and consequentially collapse the roof on the Blockbuster that Desmond lets loose after them.

The Justice League awaits them outside Cadmus, and though they're very unhappy with their protégés defecting, the group confronts their mentors, complaining about the way they've been treated, and additionally pointing out the good work they've just done, proof of their capability. They want to be treated as partners instead of sidekicks. Batman demands three days to consider the plan, and at the end of it, the League concedes to the idea. With a new addition, their new member Miss Martian, the five are transformed into a covert black-ops offshoot of the Justice League. Red Tornado supervises them (a sort of "den mother" to their group), while Black Canary is in charge of training.

Their first outings are very... humbling. The group quickly begins to discover that they're so accustomed to fighting with their respective mentors, and none of their tactics match up. Working with professionals has gotten them cocky, and they start making mistakes fast. Their first job doesn't even involve the whole group because of an arrogant kind of impatience, and Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Robin even end up getting a woman killed because of their errors. The three additionally help Speedy defeat a baddie, Brick, and ask him to join their team. He refuses.

Back at the base, Red Tornado suggests that the group work on team-building exercises, and they finally reveal their real names - all except for Robin, that is, who's under express orders from Batman to keep his identity from even his friends. The group take a trip out in Miss Martian (M'gann)'s Bio-Ship, and upon investigating the Happy Harbor Power Plant, M'gann leads them astray by assuming that the reason behind the trouble there is Red Tornado testing them, are temporarily defeated. They pull their game together when they begin to actually work as a group, rather than attacking at will.

Batman sends the team to investigate the illegal super steroid Venom, wherein they take out guard teams from both Kobra and one including Bane himself. After comparing notes and agreeing that Kobra must be hoarding Venom, Robin tries to appoint himself leader due to his seniority in the crime-fighting field. There's definite dissent in reply, as he is still the youngest of the group. Bane used the disagreement to offer his help and get them into his old factory.

Therein, Robin hacks into the computers and the group discover Kobra is there to try to combine the Venom and the same formula that was used to create the Blockbuster they'd fought before, creating a new and more powerful Kobra Venom. Robin and Kid Flash abandon the lab when their team is found out, and sabotage the Sportsmaster's helicopter. He finds Kobra, who refuses to fight him, sending Shimmer instead. Aqualad calls for a retreat, and Robin is forced to comply.

Aqualad lectures Robin about his actions. Robin concedes that Aqualad should be leader. Aqualad agrees, but only temporarily; he admits that Robin is born for leadership. With a proper leader instated, the team create a counter attack. Robin would head back. This time around, Shimmer is easily defeated, but not Kobra, who is well out of his league. Robin is defeated, and fast, but Kobra is forced to retreat when his forces are overpowered by the rest of his group. Batman chides the five when they return from their mission, but gives them some rare praise for being able to react to sudden changes.

Their next mission should be pretty straightforward, but it's markedly one of the first things to incite some of Dick's biggest doubts at his Robin job. The team is sent to stop a plutonium robbery, where they come across the superpowered Psycho-Pirate. He uses his Medusa Mask to twist every member's anxieties to an extreme. For Robin who grew up in a family of fearless acrobats, who's Batman's apprentice, he faces his biggest fear: that he's useless, to his family and to Batman for not being brave enough, to his team for not being old enough. His trance breaks when Kid Flash takes away the mask, and they fight Psycho-Pirate's ally, Atomic Skull. They secure the plutonium. Atomic Skull gets away. And Dick never really can shake those fears.

Next, Robin and Superboy are sent to guard a shipment of body parts of Amazo, a robot that can mimic the powers of whoever it comes across. They're attacked by... um, robot monkeys (MONQIs), and though they fight off a fair amount, they still get away with the cargo. Robin tracks the load with GPS, and with Superboy after the MONQIs and the rest of the team too far away in Boston, Robin forges ahead (though joined by Kid Flash soon, who can easily run the distance). They follow the android to Gotham Academy where they find it fighting Superboy, and eventually overcome it, though not without the help of a mysterious archer. It's not Green Arrow's arrow. They suspect Speedy. It's not.

This is where their new teammate Artemis comes in! Supposedly, she's the Green Arrow's niece. Who knew??

Dick joins Bruce for a mission next. Lucius Fox calls the two over to investigate a strange canister with mud inside. Or so it looks like mud - surprise! It's actually Clayface being a stowaway. They quickly change costume and fight him, but Clayface escapes into the sewer. Robin meets up with the young Justice team to track Clayface through the sewers while Batman tries to come up with a solution, and Robin is defeated in the consequential fight. Before Clayface can finish off Aqualad, Batman intervenes.

Batman requests a talk with Aqualad afterwards. Not with anyone else. It... doesn't sit well with Robin. He takes out his anger in a training session, unaware that Bruce is watching on. Though to repair the damage he's inadvertently caused, Bruce and Dick play basketball, aww.

And then there's crazy adventures in amnesia land. But they're really and ultimately irrelevant.

Artemis ends up going to Gotham Academy, the same school Dick attends. He recognizes her, but the feeling isn't mutual. He gets in a few playful jabs later about her being at the Gotham transporter to the Cave rather than the Star City transporter, like where Green Arrow lives. The teasing doesn't last long, when the two are attacked upon entering the base.

While they hide in an air vent, Robin downloads security footage from the Cave, and discovers that their attackers previously met with Superboy, Kid Flash, M'gann, and Aqualad. The cameras are taken out, and they can't tell what's happened to the rest of their team. Still, they pursue, Robin with a clear head and Artemis starting to falter under such a difficult situation. He intends to short out the attackers (more robots) with EMP. His plan to pretend to drown in order to get closer to them fails when he blacks out in the process, and it's left to Artemis. She starts the EMP by firing an arrow into the wiring.

Robin demands answers as to how the base was discovered, consequentially discovering that their leader, Aqualad, had withheld information about a mole from the team. The group is assigned to a new mission just when there starts to be dissent among them, and they split up despite Aqualad's orders. It predictably doesn't go well. Robin and Kid Flash are attacked by vultures enhanced by Kobra Venom, and when they're contacted by Aqualad, the team only has anger for him for not trusting them with the information about the mole. Aqualad offers to put his position as leader up for reassignment, but after the mission.

They reach the hideout where Kid Marvel is being held captive, and after a short fight, win. The Brain retreats and escapes by... turning out the lights for a minute.

Robin asks Aqualad why he kept the secret about the mole in the Bio-Ship later. Aqualad's answer is fantastically mature and awesome like he so is, and so they keep him on as leader.

A week passes. SUDDENLY, PLANTS.

Some of the very greatest of Gotham's underbelly seem to have banded together to make a super-group, a foil to the Justice League, and are launching attacks on cities across the world. Batman assigns the team to destroy the central control system. Robin and M'gann break off when the rest of the team is captured, but are quickly jumped and held similarly captive by Poison Ivy's plants. M'gann uses her Bio-Ship to break out themselves and consequentially their captured teammates. They fight the Injustice League while Robin and M'gann continue on their mission towards central control.

They destroy it with explosives, and the Injustice League starts to close in on the team. Just when they're about to be overpowered, the Justice League shows up to save the day. The Injustice League surrenders.

The team gets another new member! This time it's Zatanna, and Robin immediately has a little bit of a crush maybe that's not really important and let's not talk about that for the time being and move on ahem. In the meantime, the group is left out of the investigation involving Red Tornado, whose "siblings" were the androids who attacked the Cave earlier on. Despite the warnings against going, they do anyway and take Zatanna along, under the guise of giving her a tour of Happy Harbor. They interrogate Professor Ivo, and Zatanna uses her magic to get a location on T.O. Morrow.

There's some shit with a bunch of red robots but that's not really important. The training session to follow, though!

Batman and Martian Manhunter send the kids into a telepathic exercise to see how they would react to a hypothetical situation in which the Justice League are no longer around to save the day. Aliens attack the Earth, and nearly all of the superheroes are either dead or unaccounted for. The problem is that, when Artemis is "killed" in the training, M'gann becomes so upset by the turn of events that her telepathic field starts to overwrite Martian Manhunter's, and the team forgets that the training exercise is an exercise at all - it feels like reality.

Aqualad's "death" follows, and Robin takes over as leader of the group. Shortly after, Superboy sacrifices himself for the mission, and the remaining members head to the power core to plant explosives. He orders M'gann and Martian Manhunter out, leaving him and Kid Flash behind. The two are killed in the explosion as well, and it's only then that Martian Manhunter can seize control of the situation enough to wake M'gann out of the powerful telepathic grip she has on everyone. Everyone is incredibly shaken by the experience, and Black Canary submits them all to ensuing therapy sessions.

It's in here that Robin openly admits that he was traumatized by the events. Being a leader and sending everyone to their deaths shook his foundations and his confidence, and he finally says aloud his worries about his leadership, and not being able to measure up to who Batman is as a hero. He doesn't have that same terrifying drive and cold regard for the job like Batman does, and while he's not sure he ever wants to have those things, he's not sure where that leaves him as a leader.

And so, uh, on that cheery note - save for a bit of fun on Halloween - that's just about where Robin's going to be coming from!

Party town!



Personality: Given his strange upbringing, the tragedy so early in his life, and the extracurricular activities that he consequentially ended up picking up, one would think Robin would be a hell of a lot more like his mentor than he is. He's the complete foil to most of what Batman is, optimistic and cheery where Bruce is sullen and curt. Dick Grayson is a lighthearted, quirky kind of kid, very much still thirteen years old in a lot of ways. He doesn't bother with the serious pretenses that Batman keeps, and is a generally and outwardly charismatic and friendly kind of kid.

Which isn't to say he's an ENTIRELY immature one. His positive demeanor doesn't erase the fact that he's been dealt a pretty rough deal in life. His parents were killed when he was nine years old, and his only surviving relative couldn't care for him, leaving him a ward of the state - luckily, Bruce Wayne was the one to take him in. Robin takes his job incredibly seriously, as he should after four years of working for it. He keeps his "real" identity completely secret for his own safety, even from his best friends. This doesn't mean he tosses the sarcasm totally aside for his missions, but he's straightforward first and foremost and makes sure that he gets done what needs to be done.

There's also nobody harder on himself about the gig than Robin himself. Despite a bit of a jaded outlook on a man he's gotten to know over the years, Dick has a kind of hero worship for Bruce, and strives to be like him, like one of the true heroes. Robin pushes himself hard in jobs and in training as well, and visibly seems to berate himself inwardly for any failures, or when he hasn't earned his heroes' praise or respect. He's openly admitted in a therapy session how worried he is that he doesn't have what it takes to be a hero like Batman is, that he doesn't have that same kind of terrifying drive that Bruce hones. He's not sure he wants it, but he's also not sure if he'll ever really be able to be leader material because of it.

Pretty heavy stuff for a thirteen year old. But it's never too apparent or too overt. More prevalent is Robin's playful exterior, his ability to joke in the light of danger and serious situations in balance with his professionalism regarding his cases and his job, and the devotion that he has to that job (and his subsequent team and friends).


Abilities, Weaknesses and Power Limitations: Though he has no known superpowers, that's not to say that Robin isn't at all experienced - in fact, he's the member of the team who's been fighting crime the longest, for the last four years, and as such is an important asset. He's faster, stronger, and far more agile than most of anyone his age, and has been conditioned to endure plenty of physical stress. His personal strengths make him a capable fighter, and include (but are not limited to):

• Martial arts
• Acrobatics
• Escape artistry
• Stealth
• Marksmanship
• Hacking
• Other ease with electronics
• Deductive reasoning
• Mathematics and other technician abilities

Inventory:

• One (1) Robin costume
  • Black eyemask
  • Black boots
  • Black/red fitted body suit (Kevlar-based)
  • Black cape, yellow piping
  • Black gloves
• One (1) yellow utility belt
• One (1) pair of black sunglasses
• One (1) red hoodie

Appearance: [ robin costume ] [ robin plainclothes ] [ who is this random child i do not even recognize him ]
Dick is a scrawny little thing, very much still thirteen years old physically, though he's definitely way more fit than your average prepubescent boy. He has sharp grey eyes and a shock of black hair, messy and loose when he's assuming his Robin identity, and usually slicked back and neatened for school.

Age: 13

AU Clarification:

SAMPLES
Log Sample: "Again."

He'd been at this for hours. The same robbery, the exact same heist, incredibly difficult to execute. Only seven goons, but all were armed with SAR-21 LMGs and dressed to the nines. Full kevlar. Close contact maintained during the job, all men monitored by their hearts. This was high profile, the simulation, and they weren't going to take any chances - take out one guy, the other guys know within thirty seconds.

The key was to complete the takedowns undetected within that window.

The trick was that they had a hostage.

It must have been thirty, forty times now that he'd heard those same sounds in direct concordance with each other: the click of a monitor's detection, and that sharp hiss of gunfire that cuts off the poor woman's scream for help, too abruptly. Robin's breath rattles angrily in his chest, between his teeth. There's cold sweat plastering his hair to his forehead. Dick Grayson is twelve years old when he shakes out a tremor in his hand, and grips his fingers firmly against the graphically generated carpet beneath his gloves.

"Master Grayson, perhaps it's better if we-"

"Alfred, I said again."

There's the click-swish of the hologram resetting, and after a hard breath, he swings into action again, down to a concise science. Carotid, batarang, batarang, nerve pinch, tricky now with the double takedown, and he just sees the whites of the last man's eyes when the garrote slips around his neck, and twenty-nine seconds in, panicked fingers pull tight on a trigger. The gunshot rings in Robin's ears. "No, no, NO." The image freezes like it always does with a mission failure, and flickers back to show him the stark silence of the simulation room. Robin throws the makeshift garrote into a wall and the device skitters across the tiles, clattering unsatisfactorily onto the floor.

"That's enough, Dick."

Different accent. Different voice. Familiar voice. Robin stands very still, though the back of his wrist digs tiredly into one of his eyes. "Batman," he says very plainly and very stiffly, his own voice fighting to keep level. "If I could just-"

"I said that's enough. For today."

Robin's arms cross, his expression darkened as he shoots a look away from the observation window, where he knows very well what kind of face is going to be very visible now. "We'll do more tomorrow."

"But-"

"Tomorrow."

With a quiet and military sort of regard, Robin's arms drop. He crosses to the discarded device, and carefully starts to ravel the string back in. It's broken. His face is unreadable.

"Yes, sir."


Comms Sample: Whoa, hey, check it out, we're live!

[ SUP, TRANQUILITY, look at this smiling face, and does he sure look ever excited to be HERE. Or possibly confused. It's a pretty mix and match face. Robin presses a knowing finger to his mask as the background flickers past behind him - he seems to be on the move, briskly. ] A localized wide area network with some pretty impressive latency optimization for one this size, y'know, I'm almost impressed. Or I would be if I could order a pizza up in this joint.

[ Little difficult. And he's tried to make out calls. Lots of them. ]

No real phone calls, no internet, what's the deal around these parts, huh? Robin here, and I'd almost offer to be the rescue squad, but. Still trying to figure out.... what the danger is. Other than the whole kidnapping thing or whatever.

[ Beat. ] And then, uh, we'll figure out a game plan.