I'm already brainstorming what musical reference I want for my character.
Nice! Although, kek… I do already have a bunch of Stands premade and ready to be used by enemies and ally NPCs. I should honestly perhaps consider releasing a list of those so no-one else cross-pollinates.
I would say I actually drew a lot of them from this one DS guitar hero game, so that number includes the likes of [Tarantula], [Volcano Girls], [Smashing Pumpkins], [Remedy], and [You Give Love a Bad Name]. And I’ll probably draw even more Stands from that game, as I still have it lying around and playable.
Of the stuff from outside that game, so far, that includes [Senbonzakura], [Die Young], [Barbie Girl], [Camel by Camel], [Take Me Home, Country Roads], [Super Psycho Love], [Fantasy Act 3], [Witch Doctor], [Paper Planes], [Florida Man], [Crazy Kids], [Sugar Rush] and [Alien Ant Farm].
Tossing in my interest, been wanting some Jojoing these days!
Mmm, yeessss, my first victim~ I kid, I kid! ^v^
But to get more to business, what kind of character concept are you tossing around currently (if any)? Or are you still in the “brainstorming an unfinished thought” stage?
Location: Underground complex, Stritzel's Estate, Western Kindeance.
Veronica could hear Cedar's words echoing off the halls down towards her, as she sprinted back into the barracks. If she actually had blood flowing through her veins, it would have been metaphorically boiling, as her expression darkened further. Those fools... Her teeth clenched tightly, as she metal compass in one of her pouches suddenly came to life, Jazdia's voice ringing into the area.
Veronica's pace slowed, as she was forced to readjust her grip on Widernia back to being one-armed to pull out the communication device with her other hand. "Move," she snapped without prevarication. Biting back a snarl, Veronica didn't even acknowledge Varya's words and didn't have the time to address Solomon's, as she stepped around the blue elf, shouldering him aside none too gently with undead strength if need be.
Jazdia's words of success were a cold comfort, as Veronica swallowed the bitter shame of a mission in tatters, even with all the advantages on their side. To have their success sabotaged by their own team members? She could think of little more humiliating. As she stepped into the hall leading up to the mansion, she activated the device and grit out, "I wish I could say the same. Cedar is free, but he and his sisters have gone rogue. They're aiming to aid the larger bear we spotted before. That bear -it turns out- is no prisoner. He's an utter monster of a fighter and an ally of Stritzel to boot. We could barely do anything but make him angrier, and Cedar is planning to heal away our progress!" That last bit escaped her in nothing less than an openly infuriated hiss.
There was a delay before Jazdia asked with an astonished tone. "A bear fighter? It all makes sense now. But heal away the progress...? Where the hell is that stupid bear now?" But the vampire was too occupied to immediately respond.
Not for the first time, having already lost sight of Cedar again, Veronica considered dropping Widernia to better help her catch up... and leave her unburdened for what she might need to do. Instead, for the moment, she bellowed up the stairs, certain Cedar would hear her no matter how far ahead he was due to the acoustics, "Cedar, get the hell away from that bear! Stritzel is a traitor, and he is her ally! Aiding them is treason against the crown! If you do this, I-!" She paused, struggling to contain her fury and regret at the position she was being put in. "Whatever you think you're doing, it's not worth it!"
I am currently tossing around the concept of starting a Jojo RP. It's something I've had a hankering for for a while. Things are still in the workshopping stage, so nothing plot-related is necessarily set in stone, but I'm looking to gage interest, even if it's unlikely to start anything up during the holidays. But I tend to be a more ponderous mover in RP-ing, so there's no particular rush for anything anyway.
For those unfamiliar with Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, a decent broad premise is that the series largely follows the generational adventures of the Joestar family, which start out as righteous battles against vampires and Aztec gods using the power of sunlight breathing bullshit... before evolving into using manifestations of one's fighting spirit and soul, called Stands, to fight other people wielding the same soul bullshit. Characters in the series have a reputation for being muscular, eccentrically dressed or both, along with being rather "extra" in behavior and often posing for no good reason but flexing. I could try to explain Stands here, but it's honestly easier to just link the wiki, here for now.
Plot/Pitch: The RP will most likely be set in either a full AU or a post-Part 6 AU, given how that ending made just about anything technically viable; I haven't settled on the primary locale for the plot to either start or be centralized. Right now, the primary direction I'm leaning in (and it's difficult to decide what is or isn't going to be spoilers) is that the central -or perhaps overarching- conflict of the RP will be a battle over possession of one of the Stand Arrows. I haven't entirely ruled out the inclusion of vampires/pillar men or the holy corpse parts, but I don't have any plans for them to be overtly relevant either. Maybe the former end up as side/warm up enemies. Who knows.
The cast will consist of OCs. I'm planning for the focus to be on Stands (obviously enough, since the central conflict is one of the Arrows), but I'm open to allowing Hamon or the Spin as primary or supplementary powersets. On the matter of Stands, I only plan to include original Stands. Canon Stands will only be granted to canon characters, and I've no plans to allow canon characters to be played. Since Stands are unique to the soul and individual, that holds true here; so there won't be any canon Stands appearing in the hands of OCs. That goes for PCs and NPCs alike, so expect enemies to have generally unique Stands as well.
Stands: I intend to possibly make some slight RP-specific alterations to how Stands will function in this RP. For one, I want to more solidly define Range, as that is one of the most confusing stats in the entire series. Secondly, I intend for the Stand Stat system to largely entirely represent the Stand's physical capabilities (with understandable exceptions like Developmental Potential). A Stand's Power being E, for example would solely address their physical strength and not (for example) the ability to shoot lava from their hands; unique Stand abilities will largely be entirely self-contained from the rest of the Stand's stats. If necessary, I may institute a "sub-stat" system, where there are extra stats in parenthesis to indicate the Stand's unique abilities. As for what powers I'll allow to Stands, I sadly can't say "anything goes", as some abilities are either just inherently broken, narratively difficult to play with or both. I want to be as flexible as I can, but any form of time/fate manipulation or resurrection -just to start- are completely off the table.
On nonhuman PCs: Vampires -for those that consider them- are unfortunately completely out of the question; all evidence in canon suggests that they are inherently maliciously evil due to the way the Stone Mask rewires their brains, and the act of becoming a vampire would be likely considered equivalent to character death, turning them into an NPC. They are villains, not protagonists. Pillar men are also not allowed. Well, I suppose it would be clearer to say "only humans" are allowed as characters, but that's not entirely true. Multiple times in Jojo, animals with enough sentience to develop a Stand have been featured prominently, so I'm willing to consider allowing them.
On canon relevance: I am waffling heavily on the allowance of any relation to notable canon elements, like playing a Joestar or Brando, despite being an OC. I'm leaning towards "no" for the time being, as I'd prefer all the OCs and their backgrounds to be entirely self-contained. So, no star-shaped mark of destiny for anyone, if only so no-one is basically rocking a "main character" indicator.
[center]Image/faceclaim.[/center]
[b]Name[/b]: [b]Species[/b]: Human or animal. If animal, specify. Animals must be Stand Users and cannot start with Hamon or Spin. [b]Age[/b]: No particular preferences here. Though, species might limit certain options. [b]Appearance[/b]: A worded physical description.
[b]Personality[/b]: Who the character is as a person. This doesn't necessarily need to get too in-depth, but at least be sure to convey their vibe. If you like, maybe consider including a "bizarre quirk" or talent, like the tendency to always use so much pepper on food that they sneeze or that they attack anyone who steps on their shadow (Esidisi did not ever explain this, did he, lmao).
[b]Traits[/b]: This section should encompass solely mundane skills, attributes and abilities in the character's arsenal, including notable intellectual specialties or physical prowess. If you're playing a nonhuman/animal, this should also include their physiology as well. This section is also for including any particularly notable [i]disadvantages[/i] the character possesses, like an animal being unable to speak or a human having a long-standing injury that can physically impede them.
[b]Hamon or Spin[/b]: Optional. You can only choose one or the other, and your backstory will have to incorporate a reasonable amount of justification for their present skill level, including details about how and when they were first introduced to their chosen art. This section will include any current or future abilities they have in their chosen art.
Stand: We will only be using original Stands here. No canon Stands or copy-pasted powersets allowed. [hider=Name] [b]Name:[/b] Should be a song or band reference. Double check you aren't using a canon Stand name. Also include the specific namesake you're referencing.
[b]Physical Description:[/b] Only a physical description is necessary, but an image is always useful anyway. Stands can come in nearly any shape or size, so feel free to largely go nuts and use whatever you like (within a certain reason).
[b]Personality:[/b] How does the Stand behave? Passively? Aggressively? What kind of Stand Cry does it shout (if it shouts one at all)? Is the Stand sentient or not? Does it behave a certain way regardless? The vast majority of Stands are not sentient and are merely unthinkingly obedient extensions of the user's will and desires, so I will enforce a cap on sentient Stands if necessary to preserve that rarity.
Stats: [list] [*][b]Power:[/b] A measure of pure physical strength. [*][b]Speed:[/b] A measure of speed and reactions. [*][b]Range:[/b] How far away from the user the Stand can move. (E (0-1 meters), D (2-3), C (4-15), B (multiple of 100 feet), A (measured in miles, even city-wide)) [*][b]Persistence:[/b] A measure of durability and stamina. [*][b]Precision:[/b] A measure of accuracy and skill. Usually inverse strength to Range. [*][b]Developmental Potential:[/b] A measure of what more there is to discover. [/list]
[b]Abilities:[/b] The Stand's unique abilities. Also make sure to mention any of the universal abilities the User is proficient in; however, know those will also cost you Developmental Potential. As far as unique abilities, generally speaking, I'll try to allow most things. However, time or Fate manipulation abilities are complete no-goes unless you can [i]really[/i] sell me on it not being inherently broken or disruptive; it's perhaps telling that those abilities seem to have never ended up in the hands of anyone but enemies, and when they ended up with protagonists (Jotaro), they were heavily contextually nerfed some way or another. Additionally, any form of genuine resurrection is completely forbidden; though seemingly arbitrary, this is a hard canon restriction of Stands, and they cannot bring the dead back to life, not truly. Beyond that, I can't honestly list off every possible thing that won't be an option until/unless it comes up, but hopefully, I won't have to shoot anything down too hard.
When it comes to building a unique Stand ability, it might sound daunting, but you can honestly feel free to start as simple or as complicated as you like. Stands actively grow stronger and evolve over time (especially in combat), provided they have the Developmental Potential to spare. So, if you aren't sure where you want to take things, you can start simple and grow the Stand through experience. As for the ability in question, no matter what you pick, there need to be limits or weaknesses to what it can do, even if it's something as simple as "touch range" or arbitrary limits like "doesn't work on Stands" or "is weak to [insert mundane element here]". It doesn't matter what you choose, just as long as it's not something so niche that no-one could ever possibly exploit it, because a long-standing theme of Jojo abilities is that any power can be defeated simply by outthinking it. "Outsmarting the enemy's outsmarting", as it were. Many Stands even have incredibly niche utilizations that require them to prep a battlefield in their favor beforehand to even compete in combat. [/hider]
[b]Background[/b]: Pretty straightforward stuff. Tell us where they come from, and if they are meant to start with any supernatural abilities (Stand, Hamon, etc), tell us how it went down and how that might have changed their life for the [i]bizarre[/i]. If you'd like them to gain their Stand or other supernatural assets ICly after the RP starts, I'm also perfectly willing to help make that happen, and you can then consider the IC itself to encompass that part of their "origin story".
「Insert Stand Name Here」: The special Japanese brackets that Stand names usually use in canon. If you actually feel like going to the trouble of using brackets at all, this particular kind can be inconvenient to find an offhand copy/paste for, so I'll make one here. You can just insert your Stand's name, and you're done, an easy access to an alternative of the default western brackets.
ゴゴゴゴ : A staple trope of Jojo that roughly translates to either "menacing" or "rumble", meant to evoke the idea that "things are getting tense". Commonly shows up in the intro of some new enemy or threat. I do plan to use this as a tone enhancer when I remember to. :)
I am currently tossing around the concept of starting a Jojo RP. It's something I've had a hankering for for a while. Things are still in the workshopping stage, so nothing plot-related is necessarily set in stone, but I'm looking to gage interest, even if it's unlikely to start anything up during the holidays. But I tend to be a more ponderous mover in RP-ing, so there's no particular rush for anything anyway.
For those unfamiliar with Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, a decent broad premise is that the series largely follows the generation adventures of the Joestar family, which start out as righteous battles against vampires and aztec gods using the power of sunlight breathing bullshit... before evolving into using manifestations of one's fighting spirit and soul, called Stands, to fight other people wielding the same soul bullshit. Characters in the series have a reputation for being muscular, eccentrically dressed or both, along with being rather "extra" in behavior and often posing for no good reason but flexing. I could try to explain Stands, but it's honestly easier to just link the wiki, here.
Plot/Pitch: The RP will most likely be set in either a full AU or a post-Part 6 AU, given how that ended making just about anything technically viable; I haven't settled on the primary locale for the plot to either start or be centralized. Right now, the primary direction I'm leaning in (and it's difficult to decide what is or isn't going to be spoilers) is that the central -or perhaps overarching- conflict of the RP will be a battle over possession of one of the Stand Arrows. I haven't entirely ruled out the inclusion of vampires/pillar men or the holy corpse parts, but I don't have any plans for them to be overtly relevant either. Maybe the former end up as side/warm up enemies. Who knows.
Basic Character Creation: The cast will consist of OCs. I'm planning for the focus to be on Stands (obviously enough, since the central conflict is one of the Arrows), but I'm open to allowing Hamon or the Spin as powersets. On the matter of Stands, I only plan to have original Stands. Canon Stands will only be granted to canon characters, and I've no plans to allow canon characters to be played. Since Stands are unique to the soul and individual, that holds true here; so there won't be any canon Stands appearing in the hands of OCs. That goes for PCs and NPCs alike, so expect enemies to have generally unique Stands as well.
Stands: I intend to possibly make some slight RP-specific alterations to how Stands will function in this RP. For one, I want to more solidly define Range, as that is one of the most confusing stats in the entire series. Secondly, I intend for the Stand Stat system to largely entirely represent the Stand's physical capabilities (with understandable exceptions like Developmental Potential). A Stand's Power being E, for example would solely address their physical strength and not (for example) the ability to shoot lava from their hands; unique Stand abilities will largely be entirely self-contained from the rest of the Stand's stats. If necessary, I may institute a "sub-stat" system, where there are extra stats in parenthesis to indicate the Stand's unique ability(ies). As for what powers I'll allow to Stands, I sadly can't say "anything goes", as some abilities are either just inherently broken, narratively difficult to play with or both. I want to be as flexible as I can, but any form of time/fate manipulation or resurrection -just to start- are completely off the table.
On nonhuman PCs: Vampires -for those that consider them- are unfortunately completely out of the question; all evidence in canon suggests that they are inherently maliciously evil due to the way the Stone Mask rewires their brains, and the act of becoming a vampire would be likely considered equivalent to character death, turning them into an NPC. They are villains, not protagonists. Pillar men are also not allowed. Well, I suppose it would be clearer to say "only humans" are allowed as characters, but that's not entirely true. Multiple times in Jojo, animals with enough sentience to develop a Stand have been featured prominently, so I'm willing to consider allowing them.
On canon relevance: I am waffling heavily on the allowance of any relation to notable canon elements, like playing a Joestar or Brando, despite being an OC. I'm leaning towards "no" for the time being, as I'd prefer all the OCs and their backgrounds to be entirely self-contained. So, no star-shaped mark of destiny for anyone, if only so no-one is basically rocking a "main character" indicator.
Got room for maybe one more? I've got an idea for an anxious telepath with trouble separating his own memories and feelings from the ones he snoops on that might actually be fun with this setting and gang. But I also see that you're starting to get full up, so like, if not, I completely understand.
There's a discord link in the OOCOP if you'd like to potentially discuss this concept more efficiently. Although, fair warning, unvarnished telepathy is actually rather specifically not a thing in Worm. There's evidence that it could technically happen, but there's reasons it simply doesn't. So, you might want to consider a different powerset. On the other hand empaths and memory reading/manipulation (specifically that, not telepathy of active, current thoughts) are definitely a thing multiple times over, so you could possibly build off that angle.
Location: Underground complex, Lab area, Stritzel's Estate, Western Kindeance.
At the sibilant whisper of Widernia's words in her ears, Veronica had to admit, the suggestions was not one she hadn't considered. She could have moved much faster were she not burdened like this. Even so... was it really so much trouble to save a life if she had the ability? What was a bit of temporary pain in the face of an immortal soul? "His fate will be the same as ours," she bit out equally quietly, resisting the urge to grind her teeth as the persistent smell of still fresh blood wafting around her. Now that they were out of the immediate lab area, the powerful scent of chemicals and smoke wasn't fully concealing it as greatly, and her thirst all but swooned at the temptation. "But please, do continue to tempt me to relinquish my oath. I don't such things lightly, but they are by no means ironclad in the face of necessity." The redheaded mage's words were certainly doing her no favors, but despite the vampire's thinly veiled threat, a deal was a deal. She would keep Widernia alive by hook or crook and ensure she faced the justice of the land for her crimes.
And then Cedar's bellowed words echoed off the tunnel walls and reached her ears, accompanied by the distant comprehension of the words of the rest of the team, causing Veronica to skid to a stop, eyes wide, before her expression swiftly transformed into an ugly thing of fury. After all this effort, again, those motherfucking bears were going to do something completely-! And Varya was helping him-!
"Damnation!"
Her oath to Widernia warred with her priorities, both personal and that of the mission, as she released the unconscious guard to let him slump bodily to the floor in the middle of the hallway. The impulse to drop Widernia as well was far from small, but her promise stayed her hand. In the absolute worst case, having Widernia on-hand would be better than not.
Turning on her heel, she sprinted back the way she'd come. The dull ache of her legs was less irritating than the slight uptick of her hunger, as even more of her precious blood reserves went into repairing the micro-fractures. The urge to use her strength explosively to cover the return distance was not small either, but again, she resisted, wary of not having the option at a more critical moment, to say nothing of her hunger rising further. Instead, teeth clenched tightly, she ran back as fast as she could while burdened, hoping she wasn't about to be too late to avert something truly catastrophic. Yet, even as the entrance of the barracks swept back into sight, she could already hear the crash of what must have been Bartholmew hitting the floor, hear his warning that Cedar was free to throw his life away.
PRT Headquarters, 8:37AM June 19, 2021 "Thanks. See you later"
Jen didn't hear her father's response, as she suddenly entered freefall, her momentum carrying her almost weightlessly over the surface of the road. She was already invisible long before she phased through the side of the moving car, had been the entire ride over, a caution she felt was warranted by the fact that she'd been asked to arrive in full costume. It would be rather embarrassing to be outed just because someone caught sight of her inside the car and managed to link her to the driver through one means or another.
And she had no intention of walking that far, so she'd asked her father to casually drive her past the building and simply keep going inconspicuously. She would handle the rest.
The world cast in the watery filter of her power, Jen's feet skipped over the surface of the road, as she slowly bounded to a stop outside the PRT Headquarters, one building away from her destination. All around her, the slightly distorted figures of a large crowd of reporters and journalists gathered and clamored, all of them barraging Director Foster with questions about the new Wards team. Vultures, of course, the entire lot of them. Jen had little love for the press, but unfortunately, they were creatures she now had to contend with and humor, as influential as they were in today's day and age with their gossip rags and rumor mongering, always slavering for the newest, juiciest bit of drama.
Humming to herself, Jen enjoyed a private little smirk, as she sauntered through the crowd intangibly, a ghost amongst their ranks, up to where the Director was standing. Idly checking the time on her Wards phone, Jen chuckled and put it away. Of course, she was well-aware this wasn't the place she was told to meet, but it was a rather convincing little illusion the Director was spinning. Surely, she could spare a moment to help sell it all the better? It would be she and the Director's little secret.
She waited until an awkward lull in the conversation was presented, the result of a particularly insensitive question regarding Confessor's rampage. The mood in the area had palpably dipped and grown somber, not quite able to truly recover even when the Director gave her assuaging rebuttal. On what was supposed to be a momentous day, the reestablishment of the decimated Wards team, such a thing was hardly ideal, right? Surely, this was a situation that deserved a little bit of levity?
Not that Jen particularly cared, but it was Wattson's job now to reassure the public.
It cost her nothing but time, so why not?
The blue-clad Ward, Wattson, slowly faded into existence, a deliberate affection for show, as Jen allowed herself to reappear ever so slightly behind the PRT Director but well within sight of most of the cameras, one finger on her right forearm, pressed against one of the false buttons on her suit, a design choice meant to mislead -at least for now- that her power was Tinker-derived. Grinning unseen behind her full-face mask, Wattson's left hand rose in a silent shushing motion, one finger pressed against the lower half of the smooth expanse of her mask. Her armored bodysuit gleamed, glowing accents further accentuating her chosen cyberpunk aesthetic.
Her left hand lowered to her right wrist again, making a show of pressing the false button again, as she made a half-turn on her heel. She deliberately made her power fade her from sight slightly less quickly than she could have, leaving her time to take a single step towards the deeper reaches of the PRT HQ and shoot the journalists a cheeky, jaunty two-fingered salute, before she faded from detection mid-motion. If all went well, the implication of her heading deeper into the building would further sell the Director's narrative, and the carefree body language of a youth -unworried enough to "prank" their superior- would help further smooth over those proposed "child soldier" concerns. As far as the public was concerned, in this moment at least, Wattson was just another kid having a good time, her fate and happiness safe in the PRT's arms as one of the Wards.
Jen was already gone long before she could observe the results of her actions, bounding away in swift moon hops to her true destination. She was already cutting her timing rather close, and if she wanted to see the results of her little bit of PR wrangling, all she'd need to do is browse the internet later to gauge public perception. For now though, she had a schedule to keep. Protectorate Headquarters, 8:40AM The temptation to ignore the security checkpoints with her power, just to make a point and be a little bit petty, was not insignificant, but Jen felt she made the overwhelmingly mature decision by weathering them. As much as she was hardly enthused to be here, there was no sense starting things off on the wrong foot and making her life harder in the future. It cost her nothing but time to do things the right way, and it was just one more way she could better her reputation with her new coworkers in order to grease the wheels of leniency in areas she was far less willing to compromise on.
Besides, protocol existed for a reason. Forgoing it was liable to lower trust between both parties, and it would further compromise the PRT's ability to counter a Stranger in the infinitesimal circumstance that someone wanted to, say, impersonate her. The better she established a pattern that was risky to replicate, the less likely even that small eventuality came to pass. And really, that was just the first of the reasonings Jen was able to throw together for why protocol wasn't an ugly concept in this situation. And the better she justified it to herself, the less it would remain an ongoing source of otherwise unnecessary irritation.
Yes, all was right with the world, and first impressions were important at any new job.
In the end, the whole process didn't even take that much time. First was a highly guarded security gate, nothing a bit of identification with her special access credentials couldn't fix. Past that, she wasn't at too much liberty to admire the expansive architecture of the heavily fortified complex, keeping her pace to a politely swift stride down a long hallway to take an elevator up to a central area on the second floor. A final security check beyond that awaited her, and Wattson dutifully jumped through the required metaphorical hoops, checking the time once more and tucking her phone back away to enter the PRTHQ's central meeting room. Protectorate Headquarters, 8:44AM It seemed she was the first to arrive. And fashionably right on time to boot.
"Seems I'm the first," Wattson said as much with a note of humor in her voice, as she raised an unseen brow at the welcome crew: Nightstalker, Axiom and the Protectorate's leader himself, Grandmaster.
She supposed nothing but the best would do for such an occasion, right?
Eyeing the accommodations of the spacious room, Jen briefly considered taking a seat for the wait on the rest of the team, but she decided it would be in somewhat poor taste to leave her hosts standing there looking all official and shit. It would be so stiff and awkward. Stowing her annoyance at the inconvenience of social niceties, Wattson strode up to the lined-up heroes and reached out her right hand with the courteous offer to shake each of theirs in turn.
"Wattson," she introduced herself succinctly and -she gathered- ultimately unnecessarily. "But I'm sure you all knew that, of course. It seems we'll be working together from now on. I'll be in your care." She almost uttered "pleased to meet you", but she preferred not to lie outright. The last thing she was interested in was being here right now, surrounded by other parahumans in stupid costumes, but she'd tolerate it for the time being. Still, again, she reminded herself that it cost her nothing but a bit of irritation to swallow her displeasure and be courteous and professional.
First impressions, Jen, first impressions. You can relax later.
Name: Jennifer Isabelle Mackens (or "Jen", as she usually prefers) Cape Codename: Wattson Age: 17 Appearance: A 5'8", 140 lb. charcoal-black-haired, brown-eyed, athletic, caucasian young woman with a lean, conditioned build. Prefers blue jeans and wide variety of dark cotton shirts or hoodies. Typically prefers solid colors and stuff without brand names plastered all over it. She lives in Bridgewater, Maine, which is -to say the least- cold, so she also favors warm jackets, preferably with hoods for when the chill is especially biting. She dresses practical and for comfort. Style is a secondary thought at best, but she has a basic sense of color coordination and so at least doesn't come across as a visual disaster.
In a word, Jen can be described as “average”, the sort of face you can almost lose in a crowd. Her appearance seems to strike no particularly notable extremes at any given moment. While she is certainly athletic and built like a martial artist -if an obviously shapely female one, it’s almost impossible to tell beneath her baggy favored hoodies and jeans. She doesn’t bother to wash her face, but her skin is naturally clear for the most part due to healthy living. Her shoulder-length hair is hardly anything to write home about, seemingly combed to the bare minimum required to be presentable and only washed enough to not appear oily. The most notable thing about her would be her relative lack of smell one way or the other, apparently a result of unscented soaps. In outward demeanor, she is fairly mild; she doesn’t hunch, nor does she walk with her head held high, merely coasting by on the middle ground.
A cyberpunk-themed and (mostly cosmetically) armored bodysuit with glowing accents (that have no functional purpose but to look really damn cool), surprisingly breathable while also being warm and flexible enough to allow a full-range of unhindered movement. Courtesy of Fashionista, it is deceptively durable and generally bulletproof to small arms fire, along with stopping non-Cape-based physical assaults. Granted, the protection against firearms isn't perfect, and getting peppered by them would still leave her winded and likely bruised, despite it warding off penetration and keeping her insides inside. The overall purpose of her costume is to make her able to fake being a Tinker, and it has multiple easily accessed buttons underneath a bit of casing on the forearms. Most of them don't actually do anything, though one of them on each arm is a panic button if pressed in a special sequence. Other functional ones activate headlights of adjustable brightness along the jawline of the suit's helmet. The sides of the helmet have concealed buttons for comms, and the helmet has a "silenced" mode that seals it off aside from some oxygen vents to allow her speech to be carried solely to her comms and not any potential listeners. The helmet can also be switched to "fully sealed" mode for hazardous environments, preserving the inside from outside gasses or liquids. All the technological portions of this costume are completely mundane in nature at Jen's request and can be technically maintained without a Tinker; though Tinker assistance certainly helps with part production.
Beyond that, a pouch at the small of her back has space to contain pepper spray, zip-tie restraints, a small flashlight, a taser, an extendable baton, some first aid utilities and her Wards phone.
Jen currently has a couple requests for upgrades that were unable to be made due to a combination of Bridgewater's current resources and it still being rather early in her Ward's tenure. Said upgrades are in the works and would replace the presently mostly cosmetic armor: a layer of shock-absorbing gel to blunt kinetic energy further, allowing her to whether the physical blows of even some Capes. And actually functional armor that, despite being so slim, is deceptively durable, provides protection equivalent to much thicker armor, and doesn't compromise any of her current costume's flexibility.
Personality:
An antisocial girl that prefers to observe from the sidelines, she's that person at family gatherings who spends most of the time on her phone with earphones in. Despite this, she is capable of social intrigue and is fairly manipulative when she's of a mind to be. If she doesn’t care to put on a show, however, she comes across as far more sardonic, noncommittal and snippy, and at times, she can display a callous honesty and opinionated bluntness. Though she does have lines in the sand, Jen's sense of justice is extremely vigilante-esce, believing that the best way to handle threats is to eliminate them such that “there is not even the possibility of them being a threat again”.
Her morality is further counterbalanced by selfishness. Jen has no interest in heroics, seeing it as a literal dead-end job. If she had her way, she would live a quiet, undisturbed civilian life, using her powers solely for her own gain, to protect her personal interests. In a sense, Jen treats being a hero like a "punch-clock" job. She's there to get her hours in, do her duty, get her pay and clock out, nothing more and nothing less. Her pride and sense of completionism at least compel her to make an effort to give the most rationally sufficient "service" possible according to her job's standards, but otherwise, she is not really the type to go above and beyond the call of duty unless she has no other option.
While often outwardly cordial, Jen is actually aggressively nonconformist and prideful. She knows what she wants, and anyone that tries to obstruct or alter her chosen path is simply incorrect or the enemy. She has a powerful demand for respect for her choices, and she heaps immense resentment and spite upon any anyone that infringes on her free will and right to live as she pleases. She has not even slightly humored the idea of PRT therapy, and the mere insinuation that it would be useful is met only with derision, dismissiveness and -to the more pushy- outright hostility, with a zero-tolerance policy. She sees therapy or any attempt at manipulating her mindset as a personal attack. There's nothing wrong with her that she'll allow anyone but herself to address, and no-one is getting a free peep into her head again if she ever has anything to say about it.
That being said, she does make some effort to conceal her "conventionally negative" aspects. She has no interest in antagonizing others for no reason, and she finds it's much easier to catch flies with honey. Her obsession with freedom is as much a virtue as it is a vice, as it is one of the few genuine heroic passions she possesses, able to motivate her to fight for the freedom of others. Of course, on the whole, she has no intention of making heroics a lasting career and has every intent of quitting as soon as she's in an advantageous position for it, but there's no good reason to give prior warning. At some point, one might wonder, is this level of selfishness normal? Perhaps it's a power-induced psychosis, an emotional separation to go with the physical separation. Regardless, Jen seems quite capable of acting in a manner outwardly divorced from her drives when needed.
Power Classification: Breaker 9(Stranger 7/Trump 2/Mover 2)/Thinker 2
Power Description:
Out of Phase: Jen's power is selective tangibility that moves her into what she perceives as a parallel "world", completely identical to the real one but empty of life. Her power is always active to some degree, leaving her ever so slightly "out of phase" with the world, despite her appearing completely normal to mundane means and senses. As a result of being "dimensionally divergent", she is immune to effects that would alter the level of "Shard energy" flowing through her to alter, neutralize or supplement her present powerset, whether positive or negative, and her mind is always fully out of phase, leaving her immune to abilities that would directly manipulate her mind or control of her body and making Thinker powers tend to be unreliable when targeting her.
Beyond her passive state, she can actively push her dimensional divergence further, resulting in varying physical tangibility until she chooses to adjust the degree or undo it. By default, she phases away from everything that she doesn't consider "her" or that she isn’t wearing or carrying, resulting in her becoming completely undetectable and intangible due to not actually physically remaining in her "world", shedding most outside power effects currently lingering upon her. In her phased state, she doesn't need oxygen, food or water, and she has an altered sense of gravity, allowing her to move like she's in space. While phased, she experiences the world as if through a watery filter, the normal world perfectly perceptible to her even if it would otherwise not be, and despite being able to still perceive the world, she is not vulnerable to indirect harm, like blinding lights or deafening sounds, all such things muted by the watery "filter".
Controlling the degree of her tangibility, Jen can choose what aspects of herself remain in interaction with the world and can alter them on the fly. For example, she can allow herself to be heard even without allowing herself to be detected by other senses. She can allow herself to be seen and yet remain intangible. She can attack and physically interact with the world while otherwise remaining undetectable. However, this selective tangibility is "all or nothing" in a sense. While Jen can choose which aspects of herself interact with the world, those aspects she allows are fully vulnerable in return. If she wants to be seen, that means allowing light to hit her, which means being vulnerable to flashbangs. If she wants to strike someone or otherwise physically move something, her entire body will in turn be vulnerable to kinetic harm in general, even if she is otherwise undetectable. While she can choose what she is affected by, those choices apply to her whole body, not just individual parts of it. As such, on an offense level, she cannot, for example, partially phase through the surface of a target, living or not, and strike the interior alone, disregarding the exterior/armor/skin/etc.
There is a small caveat to this "all or nothing" selectiveness in that, by default, her power doesn't phase her through the surface she is grounded on unless she chooses to, and she is capable of walking -or climbing- on normally harmful surfaces while phased without being threatened by them, despite the pseudo-physical contact.
Jen cannot bring other living beings with her into her phased state, and even nonliving targets have limits. If it individually has a greater weight than her own body, she can't bring it; though she can still bring multiple items that altogether surpass that range, so long as they each individually fall below it. That being said, what Jen's power considers to be "wearing or carrying" in terms of her possession is rather lenient. So long as Jen can physically take hold of a target, whether or not it is being worn or carried by someone else, she can then phase away with what she has grabbed, stealing it from the original owner. In this way, she is able to easily disarm opponents or otherwise render them unarmored, presuming her target is within her weight limit. Jen's phased state/realm doesn't allow her to use it like a makeshift "storage", it should be noted, as anything that leaves her personal space/possession while she is phased immediately becomes unphased again. Unphasing an object inside another object doesn't get around this either, as anything she releases that doesn't have an immediate place to go in automatically shunted into the nearest viable open space, avoiding such things as "telefragging".
Threat Sense: Any time Jen would be endangered in her immediate future (that is, the next 1-2 seconds), she is immediately aware that she will be in the form of a buzzing sensation. She has no prescient awareness of exactly what the danger will be, only that she, personally, will be endangered by it. On its own, this power is fairly useless, but for Jen, it allows her enough time to fully enter her Breaker state to avoid threats. At the same time, it can act as an early warning that removing the protection of her Breaker state in a particular area will be a danger to her. This power does account for degree of threat, however, and the buzzing sensation will intensify based on how trivial or life-threatening the impending threat is. It also scales at least partially by what Jen personally considers threatening, not just on objective physical harm, which means it will intensely respond to even non-lethal things like tranquilizers of drugs, due to her fear of being trapped, imprisoned or mentally influenced.
Strengths:
Martial Artist: Even before becoming a cape, from a young age, she took Muay Thai martial arts and reached a level where she could actually put what she knew into practice beyond spars. Her style is a brutal boxing one using knees and elbows as much as fists and feet, but she's been known to "ad lib" things or forgo form entirely to be more unpredictable. This gives her a certain awareness of where it's safe to strike the human body to incapacitate foes relatively harmlessly... or where she needs to aim to do the most damage. Along the way, she has necessarily developed a fairly high pain tolerance and willpower.
Athleticism: Thanks to her martial training and having an otherwise active lifestyle, she is a highly athletic and agile individual with abundant stamina, even being a strong enough swimmer that she could tow someone with her.
Rational: Jen has a very solid grasp of her own psychology. This lends her to being highly self-aware and having an abnormal amount of control over her emotions. She is a rational and analytical sort, who is often able to talk herself out of unwise actions long before anyone else can try to. She is aware of her own flaws as a person and has the capacity to act against them if she takes the chance to center herself. This by no means says she doesn't still fall prey to her own vices at times, but she is no slave to them.
Fucking Batman: Jen is extremely observant. Of herself, of her surroundings, of most everything. She has an eye for detail, often to the point of being overly critical. She follows in her father's footsteps as a detective, experienced in sifting through information and even a bit of coding. She's also, thanks to her power, an even stealthier little shit than she ever was before. While the frontline brays, in the backline, she plays, an able infiltrator, investigator and "rogue" in the team.
Weaknesses:
Paranoia: Jen's cautious and observant nature sometimes takes her too far, to the point of hesitation or unwillingness to take risks. Even when she theoretically has all the advantages, she cannot seem to help but reach for more. On the other hand, this can lead her to bouts of impulsiveness, acting alone if she perceives there being "no time to explain" or that the situation is time-critical enough that an unfavorable resolution is more likely with hesitance. Even with a power that protects her from almost anything, Jen cannot seem to help but agonize with worry over the idea of running into an exception.
Unempathetic: While Jen has an objective capacity to understand others, she maintains an emotional disconnect. In a broader sense, Jen can be considered callous to the point of dismissive cruelty, especially when it concerns something that doesn't affect her "peaceful" life. She willingly closes her heart to the misfortunes of others and actually takes personal offense at attempts to appeal to her "better nature", seeing it only as attempts at manipulation.
Master Hater: Jen has a pathological hatred of human Masters, fueled by a combination of what genuine moral lines she has and her own Trigger event. It doesn't matter that she's immune to them or that she might outwardly display cordiality; inwardly, she still despises them passionately and would give genuine consideration to killing a teammate with such powers through simple inaction, to say nothing of what she will actively do to an enemy given even the slightest excuse. In her mind, the only acceptable use of such powers is to not use them at all.
History: Raised in a good life, there is no doubt that Jen Mackens was spoiled. She knew it and, more importantly, took advantage of it. To be sure, her life was a mostly average one, middle class at best, but she never really experienced hardship. Or, at least, nothing she would refer to as hardship. Born to the joining of a police officer and a private investigator, Jen grew up exposed to two sides of law enforcement... and wanted nothing to do with them. Oh sure, learning her father's tricks and tips was neat, but they just made it easier to solve daily annoyances. Sure, practicing martial arts for self-defense was only practical and kept her in shape, but it was only a fun hobby. One she was fairly passionate about, sure, but not anything she wanted to dedicate her life to.
Though caring, her mother could be overbearing, her standards high and disappointment in Jen's lack of ambition palpable, but Jen simply chose avoidance in response. School seemed pointless to her. Exposed to her father's often cynical words and worldview, she knew what was actually useful in the real world, that being very little of what she was tested on. Never the sort to enjoy wasting her time, her grades plummeted to just enough to get by rather than excelling, despite her objective intelligence. Scrabbling to decide what to do with her life and trying to look ahead, Jen hit a mental roadblock trying to decide where to invest her energy and where not to, trying to discern a life path that she'd never tire of. Despite pressure from her mother and the encouragement of her father as senior year dawned, Jen found herself completely unmotivated and discouraged. She came to the conclusion to settle for what she might already be good at, martial arts and potentially following her father's footsteps... to her mother’s chagrin.
Tensions were rising until, suddenly, they were cut down for a tension of an entirely different kind. Her mother had disappeared on the job. That was apparent after she didn't come home for a whole week. By the third day, Jen's father was already engaging in his own investigation, and by the fifth, Jen had managed to wring shocking answers from him. As it turned out, her mother was a Cape, a hero outside her normal work, and Jen was far from enthused. Already, she had developed a certain level of disdain for "costumed crusaders", seeing them as net drains on society, whether heroic or villainous. It wasn't necessarily that she cared about society itself, however, as she merely did how much Cape activities might impact her simple life.
Apparently, her mother had been investigating some sort of smuggling ring when she disappeared. While that hadn't actually been conveyed to her father, he had managed to figure it out on his own. One part of Jen wanted to help with her father's investigation. A part of her that loved both parents, regardless of any tensions, wanted to do her part to make sure everyone was okay. A crueler, spiteful part of her that hated being deceived briefly considered that this was as much as her mother deserved for her hypocrisy, for engaging in such a profession and expecting anything but an unfortunate end.
But it was the practical part of her that eventually convinced Jen to disregard emotional drives and approach the situation with realistic cynicism, and as such, she decided to leave well enough alone, to leave it to the professional that was her father and get on with her life. If the situation was really serious, surely the Guardians could be called in. Jen was just a schoolgirl, a normal person in a world of titans. There was no rational place for her in getting involved with something that was too dangerous for a Cape like her mother. So, she would get on with her life, hope for the best and be ready for the worst. It wasn't her business.
As someone surely sensible once said, "she missed the part where it was her problem".
And so proceeded a series of very unfortunate events.
As it turned out, the "smuggling" ring her mother was investigating was outright human trafficking, and her father's own investigations had earned him attention and enemies. As it also unfortunately happened, the gang had capes, notably a human Master and a power-nullifying Trump, the latter being the reason for Hen's mother's disappearance. Looking for leverage against her father, Jen was kidnapped and Mastered, a prisoner in her own body and hostage used as bait to lure her father into a trap.
And her took it.
Lured by his daughter, her father was beaten, not just by the thugs but the Mastered Jen as well, and Jen was used to kill her still captive mother in front of her father's eyes, dealing him a severe psychological blow that make him more vulnerable in the ensuing struggle. She was then forced to aid in nearly killing her father and would have been made to deal the final blow if she hadn't Triggered right then. With post-Trigger disorientation in play on the nearby capes, Jen had a moment to breathe and grasp the basic concept that her power let her not be touched.
And yet, even with a primarily defensive/evasive power, the situation required offense. Armed with that, Jen proceeded to be a ghostly wolf among sheep, managing to make the situation untenable enough to force the criminals to retreat from the warehouse they'd lured her father to. Immediately thereafter, Jen would use her father's phone to call for help and get them both to a hospital, a fire of rage kindling inside her.
Heart stoked with a truly deep and abiding hatred, Jen would use her then hospitalized father's teachings and her new powers to go on a one-woman crusade against the criminal organization, ruthlessly brutalizing them and their operations, not for justice but personal vengeance. The capes, in particular, were disappeared, never to be heard from again. While the nature of her power ensured that actual proof of her involvement was pretty much impossible to acquire, reasonable detective work in regard to the incident would see Jen eventually meeting the PRT. Jen, of course, played coy without relent, admitting to nothing, but in being effectively "outed" by the government, she wasn't in a good position to refuse their recruitment offer. And while she couldn't technically be threatened with actionable legalities, she knew the PRT could ensure her life was a lot more difficult... and potentially find something they could actually hold over her if she put them in a position to dig further.
With her father made aware of the danger their family was potentially in, even with the destruction and overall dismantling of the organization responsible by Jen and the PRT follow-up, that would be the final nail in the coffin to Jen's enrollment in the Wards.
Name: Jennifer Isabelle Mackens (or "Jen", as she usually prefers) Cape Codename: Wattson Age: 17 Appearance: A 5'8", 140 lb. charcoal-black-haired, brown-eyed, athletic, caucasian young woman with a lean, conditioned build. Prefers blue jeans and wide variety of dark cotton shirts or hoodies. Typically prefers solid colors and stuff without brand names plastered all over it. She lives in Bridgewater, Maine, which is -to say the least- cold, so she also favors warm jackets, preferably with hoods for when the chill is especially biting. She dresses practical and for comfort. Style is a secondary thought at best, but she has a basic sense of color coordination and so at least doesn't come across as a visual disaster.
In a word, Jen can be described as “average”, the sort of face you can almost lose in a crowd. Her appearance seems to strike no particularly notable extremes at any given moment. While she is certainly athletic and built like a martial artist -if an obviously shapely female one, it’s almost impossible to tell beneath her baggy favored hoodies and jeans. She doesn’t bother to wash her face, but her skin is naturally clear for the most part due to healthy living. Her shoulder-length hair is hardly anything to write home about, seemingly combed to the bare minimum required to be presentable and only washed enough to not appear oily. The most notable thing about her would be her relative lack of smell one way or the other, apparently a result of unscented soaps. In outward demeanor, she is fairly mild; she doesn’t hunch, nor does she walk with her head held high, merely coasting by on the middle ground.
A cyberpunk-themed and (mostly cosmetically) armored bodysuit with glowing accents (that have no functional purpose but to look really damn cool), surprisingly breathable while also being warm and flexible enough to allow a full-range of unhindered movement. Courtesy of Fashionista, it is deceptively durable and generally bulletproof to small arms fire, along with stopping non-Cape-based physical assaults. Granted, the protection against firearms isn't perfect, and getting peppered by them would still leave her winded and likely bruised, despite it warding off penetration and keeping her insides inside. The overall purpose of her costume is to make her able to fake being a Tinker, and it has multiple easily accessed buttons underneath a bit of casing on the forearms. Most of them don't actually do anything, though one of them on each arm is a panic button if pressed in a special sequence. Other functional ones activate headlights of adjustable brightness along the jawline of the suit's helmet. The sides of the helmet have concealed buttons for comms, and the helmet has a "silenced" mode that seals it off aside from some oxygen vents to allow her speech to be carried solely to her comms and not any potential listeners. The helmet can also be switched to "fully sealed" mode for hazardous environments, preserving the inside from outside gasses or liquids. All the technological portions of this costume are completely mundane in nature at Jen's request and can be technically maintained without a Tinker; though Tinker assistance certainly helps with part production.
Beyond that, a pouch at the small of her back has space to contain pepper spray, zip-tie restraints, a small flashlight, a taser, an extendable baton, some first aid utilities and her Wards phone.
Jen currently has a couple requests for upgrades that were unable to be made due to a combination of Bridgewater's current resources and it still being rather early in her Ward's tenure. Said upgrades are in the works and would replace the presently mostly cosmetic armor: a layer of shock-absorbing gel to blunt kinetic energy further, allowing her to whether the physical blows of even some Capes. And actually functional armor that, despite being so slim, is deceptively durable, provides protection equivalent to much thicker armor, and doesn't compromise any of her current costume's flexibility.
Personality:
An antisocial girl that prefers to observe from the sidelines, she's that person at family gatherings who spends most of the time on her phone with earphones in. Despite this, she is capable of social intrigue and is fairly manipulative when she's of a mind to be. If she doesn’t care to put on a show, however, she comes across as far more sardonic, noncommittal and snippy, and at times, she can display a callous honesty and opinionated bluntness. Though she does have lines in the sand, Jen's sense of justice is extremely vigilante-esce, believing that the best way to handle threats is to eliminate them such that “there is not even the possibility of them being a threat again”.
Her morality is further counterbalanced by selfishness. Jen has no interest in heroics, seeing it as a literal dead-end job. If she had her way, she would live a quiet, undisturbed civilian life, using her powers solely for her own gain, to protect her personal interests. In a sense, Jen treats being a hero like a "punch-clock" job. She's there to get her hours in, do her duty, get her pay and clock out, nothing more and nothing less. Her pride and sense of completionism at least compel her to make an effort to give the most rationally sufficient "service" possible according to her job's standards, but otherwise, she is not really the type to go above and beyond the call of duty unless she has no other option.
While often outwardly cordial, Jen is actually aggressively nonconformist and prideful. She knows what she wants, and anyone that tries to obstruct or alter her chosen path is simply incorrect or the enemy. She has a powerful demand for respect for her choices, and she heaps immense resentment and spite upon any anyone that infringes on her free will and right to live as she pleases. She has not even slightly humored the idea of PRT therapy, and the mere insinuation that it would be useful is met only with derision, dismissiveness and -to the more pushy- outright hostility, with a zero-tolerance policy. She sees therapy or any attempt at manipulating her mindset as a personal attack. There's nothing wrong with her that she'll allow anyone but herself to address, and no-one is getting a free peep into her head again if she ever has anything to say about it.
That being said, she does make some effort to conceal her "conventionally negative" aspects. She has no interest in antagonizing others for no reason, and she finds it's much easier to catch flies with honey. Her obsession with freedom is as much a virtue as it is a vice, as it is one of the few genuine heroic passions she possesses, able to motivate her to fight for the freedom of others. Of course, on the whole, she has no intention of making heroics a lasting career and has every intent of quitting as soon as she's in an advantageous position for it, but there's no good reason to give prior warning. At some point, one might wonder, is this level of selfishness normal? Perhaps it's a power-induced psychosis, an emotional separation to go with the physical separation. Regardless, Jen seems quite capable of acting in a manner outwardly divorced from her drives when needed.
Power Classification: Breaker 9(Stranger 7/Trump 2/Mover 2)/Thinker 2
Power Description:
Out of Phase: Jen's power is selective tangibility that moves her into what she perceives as a parallel "world", completely identical to the real one but empty of life. Her power is always active to some degree, leaving her ever so slightly "out of phase" with the world, despite her appearing completely normal to mundane means and senses. As a result of being "dimensionally divergent", she is immune to effects that would alter the level of "Shard energy" flowing through her to alter, neutralize or supplement her present powerset, whether positive or negative, and her mind is always fully out of phase, leaving her immune to abilities that would directly manipulate her mind or control of her body and making Thinker powers tend to be unreliable when targeting her.
Beyond her passive state, she can actively push her dimensional divergence further, resulting in varying physical tangibility until she chooses to adjust the degree or undo it. By default, she phases away from everything that she doesn't consider "her" or that she isn’t wearing or carrying, resulting in her becoming completely undetectable and intangible due to not actually physically remaining in her "world", shedding most outside power effects currently lingering upon her. In her phased state, she doesn't need oxygen, food or water, and she has an altered sense of gravity, allowing her to move like she's in space. While phased, she experiences the world as if through a watery filter, the normal world perfectly perceptible to her even if it would otherwise not be, and despite being able to still perceive the world, she is not vulnerable to indirect harm, like blinding lights or deafening sounds, all such things muted by the watery "filter".
Controlling the degree of her tangibility, Jen can choose what aspects of herself remain in interaction with the world and can alter them on the fly. For example, she can allow herself to be heard even without allowing herself to be detected by other senses. She can allow herself to be seen and yet remain intangible. She can attack and physically interact with the world while otherwise remaining undetectable. However, this selective tangibility is "all or nothing" in a sense. While Jen can choose which aspects of herself interact with the world, those aspects she allows are fully vulnerable in return. If she wants to be seen, that means allowing light to hit her, which means being vulnerable to flashbangs. If she wants to strike someone or otherwise physically move something, her entire body will in turn be vulnerable to kinetic harm in general, even if she is otherwise undetectable. While she can choose what she is affected by, those choices apply to her whole body, not just individual parts of it. As such, on an offense level, she cannot, for example, partially phase through the surface of a target, living or not, and strike the interior alone, disregarding the exterior/armor/skin/etc.
There is a small caveat to this "all or nothing" selectiveness in that, by default, her power doesn't phase her through the surface she is grounded on unless she chooses to, and she is capable of walking -or climbing- on normally harmful surfaces while phased without being threatened by them, despite the pseudo-physical contact.
Jen cannot bring other living beings with her into her phased state, and even nonliving targets have limits. If it individually has a greater weight than her own body, she can't bring it; though she can still bring multiple items that altogether surpass that range, so long as they each individually fall below it. That being said, what Jen's power considers to be "wearing or carrying" in terms of her possession is rather lenient. So long as Jen can physically take hold of a target, whether or not it is being worn or carried by someone else, she can then phase away with what she has grabbed, stealing it from the original owner. In this way, she is able to easily disarm opponents or otherwise render them unarmored, presuming her target is within her weight limit. Jen's phased state/realm doesn't allow her to use it like a makeshift "storage", it should be noted, as anything that leaves her personal space/possession while she is phased immediately becomes unphased again. Unphasing an object inside another object doesn't get around this either, as anything she releases that doesn't have an immediate place to go in automatically shunted into the nearest viable open space, avoiding such things as "telefragging".
Threat Sense: Any time Jen would be endangered in her immediate future (that is, the next 1-2 seconds), she is immediately aware that she will be in the form of a buzzing sensation. She has no prescient awareness of exactly what the danger will be, only that she, personally, will be endangered by it. On its own, this power is fairly useless, but for Jen, it allows her enough time to fully enter her Breaker state to avoid threats. At the same time, it can act as an early warning that removing the protection of her Breaker state in a particular area will be a danger to her. This power does account for degree of threat, however, and the buzzing sensation will intensify based on how trivial or life-threatening the impending threat is. It also scales at least partially by what Jen personally considers threatening, not just on objective physical harm, which means it will intensely respond to even non-lethal things like tranquilizers of drugs, due to her fear of being trapped, imprisoned or mentally influenced.
Strengths:
Martial Artist: Even before becoming a cape, from a young age, she took Muay Thai martial arts and reached a level where she could actually put what she knew into practice beyond spars. Her style is a brutal boxing one using knees and elbows as much as fists and feet, but she's been known to "ad lib" things or forgo form entirely to be more unpredictable. This gives her a certain awareness of where it's safe to strike the human body to incapacitate foes relatively harmlessly... or where she needs to aim to do the most damage. Along the way, she has necessarily developed a fairly high pain tolerance and willpower.
Athleticism: Thanks to her martial training and having an otherwise active lifestyle, she is a highly athletic and agile individual with abundant stamina, even being a strong enough swimmer that she could tow someone with her.
Rational: Jen has a very solid grasp of her own psychology. This lends her to being highly self-aware and having an abnormal amount of control over her emotions. She is a rational and analytical sort, who is often able to talk herself out of unwise actions long before anyone else can try to. She is aware of her own flaws as a person and has the capacity to act against them if she takes the chance to center herself. This by no means says she doesn't still fall prey to her own vices at times, but she is no slave to them.
Fucking Batman: Jen is extremely observant. Of herself, of her surroundings, of most everything. She has an eye for detail, often to the point of being overly critical. She follows in her father's footsteps as a detective, experienced in sifting through information and even a bit of coding. She's also, thanks to her power, an even stealthier little shit than she ever was before. While the frontline brays, in the backline, she plays, an able infiltrator, investigator and "rogue" in the team.
Weaknesses:
Paranoia: Jen's cautious and observant nature sometimes takes her too far, to the point of hesitation or unwillingness to take risks. Even when she theoretically has all the advantages, she cannot seem to help but reach for more. On the other hand, this can lead her to bouts of impulsiveness, acting alone if she perceives there being "no time to explain" or that the situation is time-critical enough that an unfavorable resolution is more likely with hesitance. Even with a power that protects her from almost anything, Jen cannot seem to help but agonize with worry over the idea of running into an exception.
Unempathetic: While Jen has an objective capacity to understand others, she maintains an emotional disconnect. In a broader sense, Jen can be considered callous to the point of dismissive cruelty, especially when it concerns something that doesn't affect her "peaceful" life. She willingly closes her heart to the misfortunes of others and actually takes personal offense at attempts to appeal to her "better nature", seeing it only as attempts at manipulation.
Master Hater: Jen has a pathological hatred of human Masters, fueled by a combination of what genuine moral lines she has and her own Trigger event. It doesn't matter that she's immune to them or that she might outwardly display cordiality; inwardly, she still despises them passionately and would give genuine consideration to killing a teammate with such powers through simple inaction, to say nothing of what she will actively do to an enemy given even the slightest excuse. In her mind, the only acceptable use of such powers is to not use them at all.
History: Raised in a good life, there is no doubt that Jen Mackens was spoiled. She knew it and, more importantly, took advantage of it. To be sure, her life was a mostly average one, middle class at best, but she never really experienced hardship. Or, at least, nothing she would refer to as hardship. Born to the joining of a police officer and a private investigator, Jen grew up exposed to two sides of law enforcement... and wanted nothing to do with them. Oh sure, learning her father's tricks and tips was neat, but they just made it easier to solve daily annoyances. Sure, practicing martial arts for self-defense was only practical and kept her in shape, but it was only a fun hobby. One she was fairly passionate about, sure, but not anything she wanted to dedicate her life to.
Though caring, her mother could be overbearing, her standards high and disappointment in Jen's lack of ambition palpable, but Jen simply chose avoidance in response. School seemed pointless to her. Exposed to her father's often cynical words and worldview, she knew what was actually useful in the real world, that being very little of what she was tested on. Never the sort to enjoy wasting her time, her grades plummeted to just enough to get by rather than excelling, despite her objective intelligence. Scrabbling to decide what to do with her life and trying to look ahead, Jen hit a mental roadblock trying to decide where to invest her energy and where not to, trying to discern a life path that she'd never tire of. Despite pressure from her mother and the encouragement of her father as senior year dawned, Jen found herself completely unmotivated and discouraged. She came to the conclusion to settle for what she might already be good at, martial arts and potentially following her father's footsteps... to her mother’s chagrin.
Tensions were rising until, suddenly, they were cut down for a tension of an entirely different kind. Her mother had disappeared on the job. That was apparent after she didn't come home for a whole week. By the third day, Jen's father was already engaging in his own investigation, and by the fifth, Jen had managed to wring shocking answers from him. As it turned out, her mother was a Cape, a hero outside her normal work, and Jen was far from enthused. Already, she had developed a certain level of disdain for "costumed crusaders", seeing them as net drains on society, whether heroic or villainous. It wasn't necessarily that she cared about society itself, however, as she merely did how much Cape activities might impact her simple life.
Apparently, her mother had been investigating some sort of smuggling ring when she disappeared. While that hadn't actually been conveyed to her father, he had managed to figure it out on his own. One part of Jen wanted to help with her father's investigation. A part of her that loved both parents, regardless of any tensions, wanted to do her part to make sure everyone was okay. A crueler, spiteful part of her that hated being deceived briefly considered that this was as much as her mother deserved for her hypocrisy, for engaging in such a profession and expecting anything but an unfortunate end.
But it was the practical part of her that eventually convinced Jen to disregard emotional drives and approach the situation with realistic cynicism, and as such, she decided to leave well enough alone, to leave it to the professional that was her father and get on with her life. If the situation was really serious, surely the Guardians could be called in. Jen was just a schoolgirl, a normal person in a world of titans. There was no rational place for her in getting involved with something that was too dangerous for a Cape like her mother. So, she would get on with her life, hope for the best and be ready for the worst. It wasn't her business.
As someone surely sensible once said, "she missed the part where it was her problem".
And so proceeded a series of very unfortunate events.
As it turned out, the "smuggling" ring her mother was investigating was outright human trafficking, and her father's own investigations had earned him attention and enemies. As it also unfortunately happened, the gang had capes, notably a human Master and a power-nullifying Trump, the latter being the reason for Hen's mother's disappearance. Looking for leverage against her father, Jen was kidnapped and Mastered, a prisoner in her own body and hostage used as bait to lure her father into a trap.
And her took it.
Lured by his daughter, her father was beaten, not just by the thugs but the Mastered Jen as well, and Jen was used to kill her still captive mother in front of her father's eyes, dealing him a severe psychological blow that make him more vulnerable in the ensuing struggle. She was then forced to aid in nearly killing her father and would have been made to deal the final blow if she hadn't Triggered right then. With post-Trigger disorientation in play on the nearby capes, Jen had a moment to breathe and grasp the basic concept that her power let her not be touched.
And yet, even with a primarily defensive/evasive power, the situation required offense. Armed with that, Jen proceeded to be a ghostly wolf among sheep, managing to make the situation untenable enough to force the criminals to retreat from the warehouse they'd lured her father to. Immediately thereafter, Jen would use her father's phone to call for help and get them both to a hospital, a fire of rage kindling inside her.
Heart stoked with a truly deep and abiding hatred, Jen would use her then hospitalized father's teachings and her new powers to go on a one-woman crusade against the criminal organization, ruthlessly brutalizing them and their operations, not for justice but personal vengeance. The capes, in particular, were disappeared, never to be heard from again. While the nature of her power ensured that actual proof of her involvement was pretty much impossible to acquire, reasonable detective work in regard to the incident would see Jen eventually meeting the PRT. Jen, of course, played coy without relent, admitting to nothing, but in being effectively "outed" by the government, she wasn't in a good position to refuse their recruitment offer. And while she couldn't technically be threatened with actionable legalities, she knew the PRT could ensure her life was a lot more difficult... and potentially find something they could actually hold over her if she put them in a position to dig further.
With her father made aware of the danger their family was potentially in, even with the destruction and overall dismantling of the organization responsible by Jen and the PRT follow-up, that would be the final nail in the coffin to Jen's enrollment in the Wards.
Aku the Samurai
Izurich
Otreas
Auz
Urizen
rexgn
Thayr
FernStone
