Name: Benedicta “Benni” N. Thadgetz Personality: Fiery, enthusiastic, emphatic, and practically addicted to hype, Benni is a spirited competitor and friend. She's the sort who never lets setbacks put her down for long, and who sees a lot of value in trying one's hardest. Quick with a joke and able to laugh at herself, she can get along easy even with rough people, only harboring scorn for genuine jerks, criminals, psychos, and those who don't try. Stuff that looks cool carries a lot of water with her, and while she can be a touch insensitive, shallow, or overbearing, most would agree that both her friends and her opponents are in for a good time. Height and weight: 5'7”, 150 lbs Gender: Female Backstory: Born in America, Benni and her family moved to Italy early in her life for the sake of her father's work at a famous wine company. Though the apple of his eye, she did not take after his cool-headed sophistication, but instead the wild vitality and energy of her mother that so captivated her father in the first place. Benni spent most of her childhood playing with the boys, oftentimes outside but inside as well once she discovered her real passion: videogames. Anything competitive got her blood pumping, and it was fairly young that she got a taste for fighting games in particular. Her tenacity and never-say-die attitude carried her far, and she proved to have quite the aptitude. In Benni's eyes few things compared to fun and rush of fighting games, although her rather tame version of thrill-seeking branched out beyond that. With the rather paltry fighting game community in Italy, she relied mostly on her games' online to play and improve, but her teenage years would see her flying abroad to attend events the world over.
She developed something of a reputation, and a few times she even appeared on the main stage. When not pursuing her passion, she worked at her father's company in Florence. Ironically, it was her mother's alcoholism that drove her parents to separate, and Benni chose to stay with her dad. The divorce went poorly for him, however, and tough times beset the family. Various frustrations piled up, and Benni ended up ditching her job to pick up another old pasttime: street fighting. Whether online or in real life, it seemed, Benni had a knack for fighting, but this time her ambitions led to more dire consequences.
Benni ended up running afoul of a certain underground fighting group, infamous for a highly unusual variety of tag-team fighting. She found herself on a dizzying losing streak; even the chumps who could barely throw a punch were humiliating her, and those who knew what they were doing showed no mercy. Benni risked more and more, until one night she reached too far. A rock-hard woman known for her savagery punished one of Benni's careless hooks with a killer blow to the head. It broke something inside of her, but not her body, and not her spirit. For as long as she could remember, Benni had seen that face in her dreams: the one with yellow eyes. Memories of her childhood were hazy, but looking back she couldn't help but recall that elusive friend of hers, always by her side to cheer her on. Over the years its face had gotten dimmer and dimmer, dismissed as a child's imagination, but in that fight, lying on her back in the ring, Benni could see it again. A cold hand picked her up from where she lay, and when Benni opened her eyes, she could see the being that stood at her side just as it had so long ago...and she could see the creature floating behind her foe.
Ultimately Benni still lost that fight, but for the first time in a long time it felt like her eyes were open. A whole new world, standing in invisible parallel alongside the old, stretched out before her. She quit street fighting -though she still practiced- and returned to fighting games alongside her work. It wasn't long, however, before people started to disappear. She decided to find out what was going on, but Diavolo found her first. Appearance:
Stand name: 「Rubberband Man」 Ability: On the end of Rubberband Man's arms are compressible plates, alternatively known as 'thumpers' or 'tenderizers'. When charged and released, which can be done either manually or by striking something, they release a pulse that reconstitutes matter into highly elastic rubber (known here on in as 'made rubber'). The pulses are small and short-range but can be made larger by charging. Made rubber is stretchy but will spring back into shape if stretched and released, potentially at great force. It is also highly resistant to impact damage but easily cut. It is fairly malleable as well. Made rubber will return to its normal state after a brief time, though a charged pulse will keep it rubberized for longer. Stand cry: Neither the stand nor the user vocalize anything specific when attacking, but as Rubberband Man beats on something each impact makes a very distinct twang Height: 6'6” Obtained through: Inherent possession Appearance:
Extra: Benni doesn't have direct control over Rubberband Man, who is a fairly independent stand with his own consciousness. However, Rubberband Man will often try to mimic Benni in lockstep because both think it looks cool. It is capable of simple vocalization through stretching its own rubber to make noises like laughing or grumbling. Those little hands of his can fold back if need be so that it's just punching with its thumpers.
Personality: Phil, generally speaking, is quite a cool guy. He is encouraging to others, in particular seeing to it that everyone works together to bolster one another's strengths and shore up their weaknesses, does everything in his power to make others feel better when they're down, and push people to perform acts of great bravery and valour that they may not otherwise have been able to do. Additionally, he tends to present himself as quite relaxed, giving off the sort of vibe that makes people approachable without being disconnected from how others feel. Humanity, after all, is strongest when it is unified; isolation, therefore, is anathema to human nature itself. So he believes, anyway. This may be because, secretly, he is rather dependent on attention himself. He does genuinely believe people should work together to achieve their goals, but so far as he's involved with them, he also feels that those people should be rallying around him specifically. If he cannot lead the charge, he will do everything in his power to change affairs so that he can; if somebody is feeling down, he has to be the one to make them feel better; if somebody needs training, even himself, he will try to be the one to train them when he can; and when an enemy approaches, he believes it ought to be him who defeats them at the last, him who receives the credit for success. Whilst these two qualities of altruism and narcissistic self-hyping seem quite opposed, it is not so common for them to clash, for the differences are relatively subtle until a crisis point suddenly pits the two values against one another. Of course, most situations can be salvaged and turned in his favour, even if the means to do so may appear contrary to his self-image... but should the two points become irreconcilable, Phil is liable to pick himself over others, if he doesn't simply have a breakdown about it.
Backstory: Philip's early life is not exactly too noteworthy. In so far as they matter, his parents were emotionally neglectful, albeit not particularly abusive in any way - which is to say, they cared about his well-being more than they cared about him as a person. In response, and perhaps because his brain would always have been wired that way, Phil began seeking attention from his fellows on the playground, quickly discovering that he made a lot more friends being nice than being mean. This didn't always work out well, of course, but he came to the conclusion early on that whilst any attention was better than no attention, positive attention generally meant more people wanted to associate with him, and therefore he would gather yet more followers. To that end, he wound up forcing himself to be as multi-capable as possible, but whilst he was certainly not a slouch when it came to his mind, he ultimately decided on a career based in his physique. After all, it was athletes and singers who people rallied around most, right? And despite himself, he never could master the art of singing. Sports it was, then; and after some time, he came to the conclusion that the most attention he could get for being a sportsperson without it being divided amongst other people in a team was in skateboarding, a skill which he promptly mastered at the tender age of nineteen, quickly growing in fame and acquiring tour and tournament deals around the world, not to mention his numerous other physical talents. This, somewhat ironically, is how he eventually came across his Stand. On the way to his most recent tour in Italy, his crew discovered that a traffic accident would delay their trip by several hours; unwilling to keep everybody waiting, they took a diversion that unwittingly had them pass through a Devil's Palm, and ultimately led to the van turning over and crashing rather violently. Phil, inexplicably, survived with minimal injury, but could only drag out one corpse and one living person before the van exploded outright, knocking him on to his back. The crick he felt before it rapidly faded, unbeknownst to him, was the spine from the corpse of a Saint fusing with somebody who appeared worthy of carrying it, as it had fully been his intention to personally pull everybody from the wreckage that he could - it was the right thing to do, and it would have made him the hero of the moment, so to him, it was the only logical course of action. In the end, he and the surviving victim were picked up by a group calling themselves the Speedwagon Foundation, and both were promptly informed of the nature of both Stands and the area they had just passed into - and the fact that it had apparently ceased to be a Devil's Palm after their entrance. Thus, he and the other man were compelled to stay accessible until they could ascertain the cause of this phenomenon, as well as the deeper limitations of their respective Stands. As a compromise, and with the greater control over his own power, Phil agreed to remain in nearby Florence until further notice, deciding to treat it like somewhat of a vacation, given that he couldn't very well go on tour with his touring crew deceased as they were. He didn't know them all that well, mind, but it was still a tragedy and an inconvenience all rolled into one horrid event. Not long after came the day he was struck with a wave of horror far worse than a mere van crash. A cold, lifeless void, leaving him breathless for a long time indeed. And not long after that, the man called Diavolo approached him, telling him of others who had seen the same thing. Perhaps people he could shape into a real team of go-getters, if he can just find them.
Appearance: 「Ten Thousand Fists」 is truly a Stand that stands out from the rest, especially with its short range and high power. Its entire body is composed of tesselating isoceles triangles that reflect and almost amplify the light that lands on them in colours akin to those of the six primary chakras, down to its eyes being a pair of wide triangular sunglasses akin to those of its owner (albeit in magenta rather than black), and its mouth being full of sharp pointed teeth. Whilst it has legs, these tend to be crossed over one another as if in meditation; instead of walking, it hovers over the ground when manifested, and nine arms extend from its body in corresponding colours - an arm from each temple, a pair of regular arms with another pair directly below these, another from a shoulder joint at the solar plexus, and two more three-jointed arms coming round from the lower spine and coccyx. These in fact correspond with nine of the sefirah of the Kaballah, with Keter and Da'at conspicuous for their absence to those who make the connection.
Height: Same as user, though its legs are rarely uncrossed to show its full height.
Obtained through: Devil's Palm (spine)
Destructive Power: A Speed: A Range: E Persistence: B Precision: A Developmental Potential: D
Ability: When 「Ten Thousand Fists」 strikes a surface, be it a tap or a full-blown punch, it can apply force to that surface as often as its user wishes for up to fifteen seconds afterwards or until the user moves more than fifteen meters away from the surface in question. More specifically, impact points are marked with a random chakra lotus, and any given lotus can expulse additional "strikes" into the surface beyond the initial impact, with up to the same frequency and force the Stand could normally manifest, shimmering brightly for a moment when they do so. In practice, this means that every individual punch it makes that finds its mark can be repeated for the next fifteen seconds with incredibly high frequency and force, all focused on one spot and without interrupting the Stand's other attacks, which naturally has its benefits in a fight. However, this does not need to be applied so liberally, and a given impact point can have blows repeated at lower strength to, for instance, direct somebody to move their head or limbs in a certain direction, or indeed apply something akin to ultrasound to an area or a specific point on a living being for a variety of both harmful and therapeutic effects.
Stand Cry: GLIMMER GLIMMER GLIMMER... GLIMMER!
I have a couple of queries before I continue. First off, I've noted that 「Ten Thousand Fists」's vibrations could be used for therapeutic as well as destructive effects; would it be acceptable to suggest that, even if therapeutic ultrasound isn't necessarily viable in the real world, it could be taken as a legitimate source of healing through the Stand via a combination of the user's beliefs about it and Araki's occasionally odd worldbuilding logic?
After Johnny stole the Saint's Corpse post-SBR, it's suggested that it was most likely recovered by government agents and returned to where it had previously been held. For the purposes of this game, would it be acceptable to instead propose that at least one part was lost from the Corpse, and made its way somewhere where it could have been picked up by Phil via a Devil's Palm test? Because dang it, we're in the SBR-verse, and I want to make use of some cool features.
Ok, assuming that I join this game (and likely may because dammit it keeps gnawing at me), I have a proposal. Would anybody be willing to commit to playing the second half of a pair with me? Siblings or friends or the like? I’m not suggesting they need to have similar stands, but I’m interested in playing someone with a close knit relationship with someone.
Some of my stand ideas that I’m having difficulty choosing between:
Be Somebody - traditional high power high speed close range punch ghost that creates holes.
Night Prowler - object bound stand, a large sledgehammer that creates building and structure components on impact.
Alive - wearable armor stand that forces the user and its victims to stay alive through any injury by circumventing the injury without actually healing it (or broken bones are forced into place without fixing fractures, blood loss is made up for by making more blood instead of closing wounds, neural pathways are rewired instead of fixing lost brain matter, etc.).
Enter Sandman - automatic stand the user isn’t even aware of, manifests while user is asleep to protect them from anything it defines as a “threat” (with a very loose definition of what constitutes a threat).
Prisoner of My Eye - close range power stand, uses molecular teleportation (deconstruct objects atomically and reconstruct them elsewhere).
Walk the Line - transports user and objects at super speeds but only along lines on a larger body (street lines, cracks in pavement, grid lines between bricks, etc).
Rag Doll - manipulates all solid matter as though it were cloth.
As you can see, I make a lot of stands that I enjoy. XD I have many many more, but these are the ones that tickle my fancy for a RP setting.
@XoXKieroBombXoX I've added the rest of Sia's information. The Stand's appearance is the only thing left, and I will upload that as soon as I draw it. If everything else is good, can I move her to the character section?
@AmpharosBoy You could always go back and do it! Though I think it's not needed, just fun.
I considered keeping the musical reference in as well, but decided it wasn't completely necessary to keep it. Its your call over whether or not you want to add it at this point.
On another note, what's everyones opinions of each others stands so far?
「 HOLLYWOOD KNIGHT 」is pretty cool, imo. It's got a good concept behind it, the effects are decent enough to grasp and seem to be useful for the user and other people around them. I'm interested to see how it's used IC.
「 UNSHAKEN 」Is basic, but that's not a flaw. 「 NIGHTWISH 」is also a pretty basic Stand. It has a role, and it performs it how only it can. Interactive as well depending on how it's used.
「 Nowhere Man 」Seems like a villain Stand to me. It seems good from a PvE standpoint; could lead to some great beatdown moments after an opponent is dragged down. I'm assuming whoever is dragged down can still use their stand, so it'd be interesting to see someone attempt to counter it after being pulled down. The challenge here is to, of course, activate the ability in the first place: Which I'm interested in seeing how Ciaran handles doing that. I'm terrified to think of what future ACTs will be capable of doing considering what he can manage now. My assumption is that it will either be more defensive or offensive in the manner of getting them into Nowhere Land faster, rather than say, extending the time limit or making things there more absurd. I know this one is the longest by a LONG SHOT but it's also the one I thought the most about looking through them all.
「 Rubberband Man 」is fun. Stretchy punch ghost who seems to be the most sentient Stand here; It's got a cute dynamic with the user.
「 Ten Thousand Fists 」Looks like quite a powerhouse. It'd be cool to see if he does end up with the further abilities suggested that could lead to him being a healer of sorts. Utility is cool.
Accepted stands thus far: HK, US, NW, NM, RM, and TTF. Accepted characters are composed to my standards and can be moved to the CS. I plan to work on my OC tonight and post it, so RP will begin more than likely on Tuesday or Wednesday.
A Jojo RP sounds right up my alley. Just a couple questions: What year does this take place in? Also, I got several ideas for Stand Powers so think you guys can help me narrow them down, please?