MoM Application
Feb. 23rd, 2017 10:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taraincognita〈 PLAYER INFO 〉
NAME: Erin
AGE: 20
JOURNAL: N/A
IM / EMAIL: N/A
PLURK: Gloomychan @ Plurk
RETURNING: I’m a newbie! :)
〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Tara ‘Terra’ Markov
CHARACTER AGE: 14
SERIES: Teen Titans (DC Animated Universe)
CHRONOLOGY: Post-5x13 (“Things Change”)
CLASS: Anti-Hero / former villain
HOUSING: At her introduction to the universe of the game, Terra will decline government housing and voluntarily become homeless.
BACKGROUND:
It would not be an exaggeration to say that Tara Markov’s early life was, well, rocky. She was born to the king of Markovia--but Tara was no princess. Tara was the product of an affair between her father and an unknown woman; something that would forever separate her from her half-brothers Gregor (the eldest) and Brion (who would later become the superhero Geo-Force).
Markovia, an incredibly poor country which had just escaped from the Soviet Union’s Iron Curtain of influence, was desperate to both make its mark on the world map and protect itself from its larger, more threatening neighbors. Around the same time, it was discovered that the Markovian royal family carried the metahuman gene--which made it far easier for them to successfully receive treatment that would result in superpowers. Not willing to risk a legitimate heir, the King of Markovia first had the treatment given to Tara, who was (at the time) a child. After a long, painful period of experimentation, Tara developed her geokinetic powers--but at a cost. As the guinea pig, Tara found herself unable to control her powers; her sneezing could cause an earthquake, and her oftentimes intense emotional states could do far worse. The treatment, however, was far more successful on Brion, and he received his powers about a year after Tara developed hers. He was exactly the kind of superhero that the king had wanted in his royal family; Tara, however, had worn out her usefulness. Fearing both natural disasters and the shame of an illegitimate daughter’s discovery, the king sent Tara to the United States.
Not much is known about the period of Tara’s life after she is sent to the U.S. and before she meets the Titans. At some point, she begins calling herself Terra, preferring to define herself by her powers than her heritage. It is all but stated that Terra was homeless for an extended period of time prior than meeting the Titans, and is used to doing what it takes to survive. According to Slade’s taunting in the episode “Terra,” she has moved from place to place trying to make a home for herself--only for everything to crumble around her as a result of the natural disasters that she triggers. After first meeting the Titans in a desert within the proximity of Jump City, their base, she is given a place to sleep for the night and practices with them--growing particularly close to Beast Boy, who discovers that she cannot completely control her powers. She is even invited to go on a mission with the Titans to fight Slade, during which she is separated from the team. Slade confronts her, revealing that he is completely aware of her past, and exploits her paranoia and insecurities regarding her budding relationship with the Titans. She later reunites with the team and is offered membership; however, because Robin makes a remark revealing that he is also aware of her difficulties in controlling her own powers, she declines. Terra runs, believing that Beast Boy betrayed her secret--just as Slade had told her he would.
Terra eventually takes Slade up on his offer--he will train her to better control her powers, and she will become his apprentice. Part of this job, unfortunately, is to infiltrate and betray the Teen Titans. After learning to fully control her powers, Terra returns to Titans Tower, significantly more confident and able to handle herself--and intending to join the team. However, the Titans do not immediately allow her to join; and it is only after defeating Slade and helping Raven to save Titans Tower that Terra is welcomed onto the team.
After spending months living with, fighting with, and spying on the Titans, the time for Slade’s plan to come to fruition is near. On the same night his robots are to infiltrate and destroy Titans Tower, however, Beast Boy asks Terra to go out on a date with him. She initially panics and says ‘no’; minutes later changing her mind and inviting him out herself. While she leaves with an unknowing Beast Boy, Slade’s robot army begins its assault on Titans Tower.
However, Terra cannot run from the consequences of her decision for the night; and Slade corners her and Beast Boy at the carnival. After a brief altercation between Slade and Beast Boy, Terra and Beast Boy run into the house of mirrors, where Slade begins to reveal the depths of Terra’s deception. After Terra confirms that it is true, Beast Boy lashes out at her, and goes to rejoin the Titans; distraught and angry, Terra remains at Slade’s side.
When she next returns, her mission is to destroy the Teen Titans--and she attempts to do so with a vengeance. Believing them dead, she and Slade set out to control the entire city, and are very nearly successful. However, when they reappear, they almost beat Terra; terrified, she runs--much to Slade’s disapproval. When she reaches the base, he proceeds to beat her, and reveals that he can completely control her body and her powers. Beast Boy goes off alone to attempt to locate her, only to find Terra--injured, crying, and begging for him to kill her. Slade controls Terra, nearly forcing her to kill Beast Boy; but due to his encouragement, and perhaps the presence of the other Titans, she is able to defy his orders and turn against him. However, her powers trigger a volcano that had been dormant in Slade’s hideout--and after Slade is assumed dead, Terra decides to stay behind and attempt to stop the lava. She succeeds, but seemingly at the cost of her own life; Terra becomes a statue, and the Titans vow to bring her back.
Some time later, Beast Boy spots a girl who looks exactly like Terra in the crowd, watching one of their fights. He follows her, trying to prove that she is, in fact, the former Titan, and also discovers that her statue is missing--and that, therefore, this girl is very likely Terra, either with amnesia or having chosen to pretend that she is no longer Terra. Regardless, she agrees to spend some time with Beast Boy, and even seems to get past some of her initial hostilities. However, ultimately, she sticks to her guns, denying who she is, and Beast Boy leaves to go help the rest of the Titans. Terra remains, for all intents and purposes, a normal high school student.
PERSONALITY:
As a character, Terra is defined largely by her insecurities--and she often responds to such insecurities by running away from them, either figuratively or literally. Throughout her story-arc, Terra wants one primary thing: to be able to have control over her powers. However, I would argue that there is a much deeper motivation to Terra: she has an extremely intense desire to belong somewhere, to have a home. Being able to control her own powers and no longer be a danger to other people is a step towards that; but to Terra, it is by no means the end game.
Terra is, from the start, both paranoid and impulsive. Her paranoia is extremely clear; it stems from a firm belief that once people discover ‘the truth’ about her, they will no longer want her around. Though she had had the closest relationship with Beast Boy of any Titan, she immediately yells at him when Robin mentions Terra’s inability to control her powers, believing that he betrayed her. When Slade mentions the possibility that the Titans will no longer be friends with her once they are aware of the damage that she has caused, Terra shuts down and loses control of her powers completely. It is this paranoia that Slade is able to expertly exploit throughout the arc, and use it to manufacture her into a loyal apprentice. Her paranoia also leads to her shifting perceptions of those around her--she can go from being good friends with you one minute, to deciding that you’ve completely betrayed her friendship and confidence the next.
Her impulsivity is also a driving factor of her character; there is not a decision that Terra makes in any of her appearances that she appears to have thought through. She runs away from the Titans on impulse, and she enters into an apprenticeship with Slade without realizing the emotional impact that having to infiltrate the Titans would have on her. Once with the Titans, she continues with the deception, though it is clear that she continues to have feelings for the other members of the team. Even when she takes Beast Boy on a date the same night Titans Tower is destroyed, it is clear that she isn’t really thinking things through--and even when she appears to acknowledge that something bad is going to happen as a result of her actions, she still does not expect the outcome. The biggest example of this is during “Betrayal,” when Terra asks Beast Boy if he would still like her if she had done something bad--no matter how horrible it was. This also illustrates Terra’s cognitive dissonance regarding her own actions--she is able to constantly trick herself into believing that things will be fine, or that they will all work themselves out in the end.
She is happy to be a Titan, to have a home--but convinces herself that it will also be all right that she’s a traitor. In her own narration, at the opener of Aftershock Part II, she states twice that she has “no regrets,” and yet is shown through flashbacks to be guilty regarding her decisions. This kind of cognitive dissonance is extremely important to Terra’s character, as it helps to explain her actions throughout the series. Under the assumption that Terra was likely lying about her memory loss in “Things Change,” this also illustrates even further her pattern of irrational thinking. Terra appears to believe that everything will be fine--despite the fact that she lives in the same city as the Teen Titans, openly watches the Titans battle a villain, and makes no efforts to change her appearance.
Terra’s ability to lie to herself is only paralleled by her ability to lie to others. Despite Raven’s empathy, she lived with the Titans for months, with none of them the wiser as to her treachery. She is able to make herself appear smooth, confident, and innocent in “Titan Rising,” even though she has come back expressly for the purpose of betraying and destroying the Teen Titans. The only Titan to catch potential wind of her treachery is Raven, though she is easily able to win her over. Terra is openly vulnerable--both in a real sense and the sense that endears her to people on the team. However, she is able to quash the appearance of vulnerability when necessary. Terra is also incredibly capable of reading the emotions of others, although she has a hard time parsing her own emotional state at times. After her betrayal, she is incredibly skilled at turning the Titans’ own insecurities and weaknesses against them, far past the point of being cruel.
Though Terra is conflicted and deeply flawed, she is not necessarily a bad person. Many of her actions were the direct result of her manipulation at the hands of Slade Wilson; the relationship between Slade and Terra showcases Terra’s constant desire for approval. Despite her traitorous actions, her relationship with many of the Titans (and eventual decision to sacrifice herself) show that she is capable of making good decisions and forming positive emotional attachments to other people. Terra is a young girl with a sense of humor, a girl who enjoyed fighting alongside her friends but truly believed that she didn’t deserve to be one of the good guys. Part of the reason that she wanted so desperately to learn to control her powers was because she wanted to stop being a danger to other people; and even during her betrayal, with no benefit to herself, she attempts to save Beast Boy for no other reason than she likes him and enjoys his company. And though she claims to have killed the Titans with “no regrets,” she was ultimately incapable of the task--whether she was consciously holding back or not.
Ultimately, Terra is not the horrific, unrepentant traitor that so many make her out to be; instead, she is a young teenage girl so mired in self-loathing that she can think of no other alternative to the horrific actions that she commits, and has even less of an idea of what to do once they spiral out of control. She is capable of being both crafty and cruel, but she is also an outgoing, fun-loving young girl, who has desperately sought for a sense of belonging since she was a child. Terra does not fit particularly neatly into either the alignment of villain or hero, and only time will tell which side of the tracks she will ultimately fall on.
POWER:
Geokinesis: As her name would suggest, Terra has the ability of geokinesis--that is, she can manipulate earth and related materials. Though she is oftentimes unsure of her own abilities, she grows incredibly capable under Slade’s tutelage, and is able to do things such as create fighters from the ground--and even manipulate lava. This is a canon ability.
Succulent Manipulation: [Non-canon.] The ability to generate and manipulate plants, specifically of the succulent variety. This includes many desert plants, most famously cacti. Not particularly helpful in combat, but necessary for the #aesthetic.
〈 CHARACTER SAMPLES 〉
COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:
[you hear the voice of a young girl. there is no accompanying video. although she seems more than a little nervous, there is a forced casualness to her voice that might fool anyone who isn’t paying close enough attention.]
Uh, so, does anyone know how to get out of here? I think there’s been some kind of mistake.
[she laughs nervously.]
After all, I definitely don’t belong here. I’m supposed to be home studying for a test right now, and I super can’t miss another geometry exam--I was late for the last one, and the teacher didn’t let me make it up. And it’s not like I’m a hero or anything. I mean--I get that the feds or whoever are kidnapping people to turn them into heroes, and like. Whatever works for them, I guess. But I super don’t appreciate it, especially in cases of mistaken identity. Because I’m absolutely not who they think I am, and say I am, and I don’t even have any powers.
[all lies; not that you could tell that from her tone. In fact, she seems more certain in repeating this, as though it’s been well-rehearsed.]
Anyway, I figured that a world full of real superhero type people has to have someone who would know how to get a girl home in time for her exam. Uh, I’d really appreciate it. I guess you can reach me here? Man, this world is weird….
[after some fumbling, the recording ends.]
LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE:
[between being abducted from her universe, forced to retake her old identity, and having to start a new high school, this is probably one of the worst weeks of tara’s life.
...okay. so that’s a lie. if she’s being completely honest with herself, it barely makes the top five. but since when has terra been honest with herself? it’s just not really her style. and even if this week hasn’t exactly been the worst, it’s still been pretty shitty. tara tries to focus on the positive. she’d read in some magazine a few miles outta star city some years ago that that’s what they call a healthy coping mechanism, instead of focusing on the fact that they know her real name, and what powers she has, and that slade is probably behind all of this--
(that isn’t positive, tara.)
--and god, she wants to throw up. instead, she eases into her assigned seat in homeroom, trying to seem as small as possible. it’s not very hard--out of a class of 20-odd freshmen, she easily looks the youngest. the teacher, a youngish woman with brown hair and severe-looking glasses, starts taking attendance.
(okay, okay. think on the bright side.)
she doesn’t have to wear a stupid tie and skirt, like at murakami high; skirts are hard to fight in and therefore a liability, so that’s a good thing. the titans probably aren’t anywhere near here, which means that she won’t have to deal with anymore awkward questions from beast boy, or anyone else, and--]
“Tara Markov?”
[the teacher’s voice stops her train of thought cold. hearing that name again, hearing her name, brings up a whole lot of unpleasant memories; but here, it’s the only name they’ll call her.
she settles for staring neutrally at the teacher while fear rises like bile in her throat even as she struggles to suppress it. the teacher, however, seems patient. the adults here have been remarkably patient; helpful, even. it just makes tara trust this place less. adults, she has learned, rarely ever want to help you. they’re almost universally more interested in what they can get out of you, what parts of you they can use to their advantage. it’s been that way since tara was a kid; no reason for things to get all hunky-dory now that she’s been universe-napped.]
“Tara Markov? Tara, are you here?”
[shit, the teacher is staring at her. and likely with good reason, too; she must be the only new face in the class. she stares back, expression turning defiant, and swallows, willing herself to speak without trembling. finally, she allows herself only the least committal of answers.]
That’s what they’ve been calling me, yeah.
[the teacher smiles and welcomes her to heropa. for some reason, this makes her blood boil even more. but whatever, it’s fine. at least she can continue her education and pretend she’s normal until someone helps her find her way home.
a kid in her class asks her during the break if she’s going to register. says that that’s the best thing for kids to do, because they’ll get free room and board, and even help in controlling their powers.
tara shoves them, drops her books, and leaves before the bell for the start of second period has rung.
silently, she vows not to come back.]
FINAL NOTES: N/A
NAME: Erin
AGE: 20
JOURNAL: N/A
IM / EMAIL: N/A
PLURK: Gloomychan @ Plurk
RETURNING: I’m a newbie! :)
〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Tara ‘Terra’ Markov
CHARACTER AGE: 14
SERIES: Teen Titans (DC Animated Universe)
CHRONOLOGY: Post-5x13 (“Things Change”)
CLASS: Anti-Hero / former villain
HOUSING: At her introduction to the universe of the game, Terra will decline government housing and voluntarily become homeless.
BACKGROUND:
It would not be an exaggeration to say that Tara Markov’s early life was, well, rocky. She was born to the king of Markovia--but Tara was no princess. Tara was the product of an affair between her father and an unknown woman; something that would forever separate her from her half-brothers Gregor (the eldest) and Brion (who would later become the superhero Geo-Force).
Markovia, an incredibly poor country which had just escaped from the Soviet Union’s Iron Curtain of influence, was desperate to both make its mark on the world map and protect itself from its larger, more threatening neighbors. Around the same time, it was discovered that the Markovian royal family carried the metahuman gene--which made it far easier for them to successfully receive treatment that would result in superpowers. Not willing to risk a legitimate heir, the King of Markovia first had the treatment given to Tara, who was (at the time) a child. After a long, painful period of experimentation, Tara developed her geokinetic powers--but at a cost. As the guinea pig, Tara found herself unable to control her powers; her sneezing could cause an earthquake, and her oftentimes intense emotional states could do far worse. The treatment, however, was far more successful on Brion, and he received his powers about a year after Tara developed hers. He was exactly the kind of superhero that the king had wanted in his royal family; Tara, however, had worn out her usefulness. Fearing both natural disasters and the shame of an illegitimate daughter’s discovery, the king sent Tara to the United States.
Not much is known about the period of Tara’s life after she is sent to the U.S. and before she meets the Titans. At some point, she begins calling herself Terra, preferring to define herself by her powers than her heritage. It is all but stated that Terra was homeless for an extended period of time prior than meeting the Titans, and is used to doing what it takes to survive. According to Slade’s taunting in the episode “Terra,” she has moved from place to place trying to make a home for herself--only for everything to crumble around her as a result of the natural disasters that she triggers. After first meeting the Titans in a desert within the proximity of Jump City, their base, she is given a place to sleep for the night and practices with them--growing particularly close to Beast Boy, who discovers that she cannot completely control her powers. She is even invited to go on a mission with the Titans to fight Slade, during which she is separated from the team. Slade confronts her, revealing that he is completely aware of her past, and exploits her paranoia and insecurities regarding her budding relationship with the Titans. She later reunites with the team and is offered membership; however, because Robin makes a remark revealing that he is also aware of her difficulties in controlling her own powers, she declines. Terra runs, believing that Beast Boy betrayed her secret--just as Slade had told her he would.
Terra eventually takes Slade up on his offer--he will train her to better control her powers, and she will become his apprentice. Part of this job, unfortunately, is to infiltrate and betray the Teen Titans. After learning to fully control her powers, Terra returns to Titans Tower, significantly more confident and able to handle herself--and intending to join the team. However, the Titans do not immediately allow her to join; and it is only after defeating Slade and helping Raven to save Titans Tower that Terra is welcomed onto the team.
After spending months living with, fighting with, and spying on the Titans, the time for Slade’s plan to come to fruition is near. On the same night his robots are to infiltrate and destroy Titans Tower, however, Beast Boy asks Terra to go out on a date with him. She initially panics and says ‘no’; minutes later changing her mind and inviting him out herself. While she leaves with an unknowing Beast Boy, Slade’s robot army begins its assault on Titans Tower.
However, Terra cannot run from the consequences of her decision for the night; and Slade corners her and Beast Boy at the carnival. After a brief altercation between Slade and Beast Boy, Terra and Beast Boy run into the house of mirrors, where Slade begins to reveal the depths of Terra’s deception. After Terra confirms that it is true, Beast Boy lashes out at her, and goes to rejoin the Titans; distraught and angry, Terra remains at Slade’s side.
When she next returns, her mission is to destroy the Teen Titans--and she attempts to do so with a vengeance. Believing them dead, she and Slade set out to control the entire city, and are very nearly successful. However, when they reappear, they almost beat Terra; terrified, she runs--much to Slade’s disapproval. When she reaches the base, he proceeds to beat her, and reveals that he can completely control her body and her powers. Beast Boy goes off alone to attempt to locate her, only to find Terra--injured, crying, and begging for him to kill her. Slade controls Terra, nearly forcing her to kill Beast Boy; but due to his encouragement, and perhaps the presence of the other Titans, she is able to defy his orders and turn against him. However, her powers trigger a volcano that had been dormant in Slade’s hideout--and after Slade is assumed dead, Terra decides to stay behind and attempt to stop the lava. She succeeds, but seemingly at the cost of her own life; Terra becomes a statue, and the Titans vow to bring her back.
Some time later, Beast Boy spots a girl who looks exactly like Terra in the crowd, watching one of their fights. He follows her, trying to prove that she is, in fact, the former Titan, and also discovers that her statue is missing--and that, therefore, this girl is very likely Terra, either with amnesia or having chosen to pretend that she is no longer Terra. Regardless, she agrees to spend some time with Beast Boy, and even seems to get past some of her initial hostilities. However, ultimately, she sticks to her guns, denying who she is, and Beast Boy leaves to go help the rest of the Titans. Terra remains, for all intents and purposes, a normal high school student.
PERSONALITY:
As a character, Terra is defined largely by her insecurities--and she often responds to such insecurities by running away from them, either figuratively or literally. Throughout her story-arc, Terra wants one primary thing: to be able to have control over her powers. However, I would argue that there is a much deeper motivation to Terra: she has an extremely intense desire to belong somewhere, to have a home. Being able to control her own powers and no longer be a danger to other people is a step towards that; but to Terra, it is by no means the end game.
Terra is, from the start, both paranoid and impulsive. Her paranoia is extremely clear; it stems from a firm belief that once people discover ‘the truth’ about her, they will no longer want her around. Though she had had the closest relationship with Beast Boy of any Titan, she immediately yells at him when Robin mentions Terra’s inability to control her powers, believing that he betrayed her. When Slade mentions the possibility that the Titans will no longer be friends with her once they are aware of the damage that she has caused, Terra shuts down and loses control of her powers completely. It is this paranoia that Slade is able to expertly exploit throughout the arc, and use it to manufacture her into a loyal apprentice. Her paranoia also leads to her shifting perceptions of those around her--she can go from being good friends with you one minute, to deciding that you’ve completely betrayed her friendship and confidence the next.
Her impulsivity is also a driving factor of her character; there is not a decision that Terra makes in any of her appearances that she appears to have thought through. She runs away from the Titans on impulse, and she enters into an apprenticeship with Slade without realizing the emotional impact that having to infiltrate the Titans would have on her. Once with the Titans, she continues with the deception, though it is clear that she continues to have feelings for the other members of the team. Even when she takes Beast Boy on a date the same night Titans Tower is destroyed, it is clear that she isn’t really thinking things through--and even when she appears to acknowledge that something bad is going to happen as a result of her actions, she still does not expect the outcome. The biggest example of this is during “Betrayal,” when Terra asks Beast Boy if he would still like her if she had done something bad--no matter how horrible it was. This also illustrates Terra’s cognitive dissonance regarding her own actions--she is able to constantly trick herself into believing that things will be fine, or that they will all work themselves out in the end.
She is happy to be a Titan, to have a home--but convinces herself that it will also be all right that she’s a traitor. In her own narration, at the opener of Aftershock Part II, she states twice that she has “no regrets,” and yet is shown through flashbacks to be guilty regarding her decisions. This kind of cognitive dissonance is extremely important to Terra’s character, as it helps to explain her actions throughout the series. Under the assumption that Terra was likely lying about her memory loss in “Things Change,” this also illustrates even further her pattern of irrational thinking. Terra appears to believe that everything will be fine--despite the fact that she lives in the same city as the Teen Titans, openly watches the Titans battle a villain, and makes no efforts to change her appearance.
Terra’s ability to lie to herself is only paralleled by her ability to lie to others. Despite Raven’s empathy, she lived with the Titans for months, with none of them the wiser as to her treachery. She is able to make herself appear smooth, confident, and innocent in “Titan Rising,” even though she has come back expressly for the purpose of betraying and destroying the Teen Titans. The only Titan to catch potential wind of her treachery is Raven, though she is easily able to win her over. Terra is openly vulnerable--both in a real sense and the sense that endears her to people on the team. However, she is able to quash the appearance of vulnerability when necessary. Terra is also incredibly capable of reading the emotions of others, although she has a hard time parsing her own emotional state at times. After her betrayal, she is incredibly skilled at turning the Titans’ own insecurities and weaknesses against them, far past the point of being cruel.
Though Terra is conflicted and deeply flawed, she is not necessarily a bad person. Many of her actions were the direct result of her manipulation at the hands of Slade Wilson; the relationship between Slade and Terra showcases Terra’s constant desire for approval. Despite her traitorous actions, her relationship with many of the Titans (and eventual decision to sacrifice herself) show that she is capable of making good decisions and forming positive emotional attachments to other people. Terra is a young girl with a sense of humor, a girl who enjoyed fighting alongside her friends but truly believed that she didn’t deserve to be one of the good guys. Part of the reason that she wanted so desperately to learn to control her powers was because she wanted to stop being a danger to other people; and even during her betrayal, with no benefit to herself, she attempts to save Beast Boy for no other reason than she likes him and enjoys his company. And though she claims to have killed the Titans with “no regrets,” she was ultimately incapable of the task--whether she was consciously holding back or not.
Ultimately, Terra is not the horrific, unrepentant traitor that so many make her out to be; instead, she is a young teenage girl so mired in self-loathing that she can think of no other alternative to the horrific actions that she commits, and has even less of an idea of what to do once they spiral out of control. She is capable of being both crafty and cruel, but she is also an outgoing, fun-loving young girl, who has desperately sought for a sense of belonging since she was a child. Terra does not fit particularly neatly into either the alignment of villain or hero, and only time will tell which side of the tracks she will ultimately fall on.
POWER:
Geokinesis: As her name would suggest, Terra has the ability of geokinesis--that is, she can manipulate earth and related materials. Though she is oftentimes unsure of her own abilities, she grows incredibly capable under Slade’s tutelage, and is able to do things such as create fighters from the ground--and even manipulate lava. This is a canon ability.
Succulent Manipulation: [Non-canon.] The ability to generate and manipulate plants, specifically of the succulent variety. This includes many desert plants, most famously cacti. Not particularly helpful in combat, but necessary for the #aesthetic.
〈 CHARACTER SAMPLES 〉
COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:
[you hear the voice of a young girl. there is no accompanying video. although she seems more than a little nervous, there is a forced casualness to her voice that might fool anyone who isn’t paying close enough attention.]
Uh, so, does anyone know how to get out of here? I think there’s been some kind of mistake.
[she laughs nervously.]
After all, I definitely don’t belong here. I’m supposed to be home studying for a test right now, and I super can’t miss another geometry exam--I was late for the last one, and the teacher didn’t let me make it up. And it’s not like I’m a hero or anything. I mean--I get that the feds or whoever are kidnapping people to turn them into heroes, and like. Whatever works for them, I guess. But I super don’t appreciate it, especially in cases of mistaken identity. Because I’m absolutely not who they think I am, and say I am, and I don’t even have any powers.
[all lies; not that you could tell that from her tone. In fact, she seems more certain in repeating this, as though it’s been well-rehearsed.]
Anyway, I figured that a world full of real superhero type people has to have someone who would know how to get a girl home in time for her exam. Uh, I’d really appreciate it. I guess you can reach me here? Man, this world is weird….
[after some fumbling, the recording ends.]
LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE:
[between being abducted from her universe, forced to retake her old identity, and having to start a new high school, this is probably one of the worst weeks of tara’s life.
...okay. so that’s a lie. if she’s being completely honest with herself, it barely makes the top five. but since when has terra been honest with herself? it’s just not really her style. and even if this week hasn’t exactly been the worst, it’s still been pretty shitty. tara tries to focus on the positive. she’d read in some magazine a few miles outta star city some years ago that that’s what they call a healthy coping mechanism, instead of focusing on the fact that they know her real name, and what powers she has, and that slade is probably behind all of this--
(that isn’t positive, tara.)
--and god, she wants to throw up. instead, she eases into her assigned seat in homeroom, trying to seem as small as possible. it’s not very hard--out of a class of 20-odd freshmen, she easily looks the youngest. the teacher, a youngish woman with brown hair and severe-looking glasses, starts taking attendance.
(okay, okay. think on the bright side.)
she doesn’t have to wear a stupid tie and skirt, like at murakami high; skirts are hard to fight in and therefore a liability, so that’s a good thing. the titans probably aren’t anywhere near here, which means that she won’t have to deal with anymore awkward questions from beast boy, or anyone else, and--]
“Tara Markov?”
[the teacher’s voice stops her train of thought cold. hearing that name again, hearing her name, brings up a whole lot of unpleasant memories; but here, it’s the only name they’ll call her.
she settles for staring neutrally at the teacher while fear rises like bile in her throat even as she struggles to suppress it. the teacher, however, seems patient. the adults here have been remarkably patient; helpful, even. it just makes tara trust this place less. adults, she has learned, rarely ever want to help you. they’re almost universally more interested in what they can get out of you, what parts of you they can use to their advantage. it’s been that way since tara was a kid; no reason for things to get all hunky-dory now that she’s been universe-napped.]
“Tara Markov? Tara, are you here?”
[shit, the teacher is staring at her. and likely with good reason, too; she must be the only new face in the class. she stares back, expression turning defiant, and swallows, willing herself to speak without trembling. finally, she allows herself only the least committal of answers.]
That’s what they’ve been calling me, yeah.
[the teacher smiles and welcomes her to heropa. for some reason, this makes her blood boil even more. but whatever, it’s fine. at least she can continue her education and pretend she’s normal until someone helps her find her way home.
a kid in her class asks her during the break if she’s going to register. says that that’s the best thing for kids to do, because they’ll get free room and board, and even help in controlling their powers.
tara shoves them, drops her books, and leaves before the bell for the start of second period has rung.
silently, she vows not to come back.]
FINAL NOTES: N/A