app for tos

[mister10below]

1. Player Information
Name: Bri
Username: brbsoulnomming
Current characters in ToS: None
Reserve: Here! Though I'd like to change the canon point to the beginning of Days of Future Past, just after Xavier and Magneto share their plan.

2. Canon Character Information
Name: Robert Drake, but he goes by Bobby
PB: Shawn Ashmore
Journal: mister10below
Age: 24
Appearance: Bobby's hair tends to vary from blond to light brown, depending on the amount of sun it gets and the amount of product he puts in it. Currently, it's closer to brown, considering there's not much call for product when on the run, and he sports a beard that's not so much about a fashion statement as it is being fairly difficult to shave regularly. His eyes are really, really blue, especially when he's wearing a darker blue or black shirt. He's about six feet tall, with an athletic build, reasonably broad shoulders, and the physique of someone very well trained and physically fit. There's very often a kind of coiled readiness about him, an obvious sign that he's used to living with a near constant threat of attack. When given the choice, he prefers clothes that are semi-casual but slightly preppy, favoring khakis or slacks and button-up shirts, although he does have a fondness for tee-shirts with random sayings on them and isn't opposed to tanktops and jeans. But of course, his standard mode of dress these days is his X-uniform, made of armored black leather.

History: Bobby grew up in Boston, at first as an only child and then a proud big brother after Ronnie came into the picture. He was popular at school and got along well with his family, which meant he pretty much had a more or less perfect childhood. Sure, there were petty little fights and squabbles, and as Bobby got older he was pretty sure he didn't agree with the views on mutants that his parents showed in their conversations, but his parents obviously loved both him and Ronnie, and Bobby was happy.

When he was 12, his powers manifested. And they decided to do so right after Bobby had finally asked out Judy, this girl he'd had a crush on for a few weeks. They were on their first date when a pair of bullies began harassing them. Bobby fought with them, and ended up icing himself up a bit in addition to icing over part of the path and causing them to slip and end up unconscious. Judy was freaked out. She promised not to tell anyone, but she didn't really want anything to do with him after that, either.

Worried, Bobby waited for the bullies to identify him, but either it was dark and they didn't recognize him or hitting their heads had messed with their memories a bit, because nothing happened. He even went to go see them, in case they were faking, but they had no idea who he was. Bobby was grateful, because he didn’t want anyone to know, especially not his parents. He was still trying to decide what he was going to do about his powers when Charles Xavier showed up at his house and told him about his school, the Xavier Academy for Gifted Youngsters. A safe place for young mutants to learn how to control their powers. Bobby still didn’t want his parents to know he was a mutant, though, so he told them that he’d been accepted into a prestigious prep school. His parents were thrilled and agreed to let him go, which was good, considering Bobby’d already decided he was going.

He settled in quickly, making friends, studying hard, and working on his training. Although he was friends with just about everyone, he mainly hung around with his best friend and roommate, John Allerdyce, and his other closest friends, Kitty Pryde and Peter Rasputin. When Rogue arrived at the school, Bobby was smitten almost immediately, and worked to get her included in everything he did. He was thrilled when he asked her out and she said yes.

His life was going great until Stryker invaded the mansion. He managed to escape along with Rogue, John, and Logan, but things only got worse when they took refuge at his home in Boston. Bobby had to tell his family that he was a mutant, and they took it badly. Especially Ronnie, who ended up calling the cops on them. After Johnny went a little crazy and torched the police cars, as well as half of Bobby’s house, they were forced to flee. And Bobby’s parents stuck by Ronnie, which, yeah. Hurt.

They met up with Magneto and Mystique, who, despite having fought against them in the past, saved them when their jet was crashing. It turned out that Stryker had kidnapped the Professor, and was planning on forcing him to use another version of Cerebro that Stryker had built to kill all existing mutants. Since Magneto obviously wanted to stop that as much as they did, they temporarily teamed up, working out a plan to stop Stryker and get everyone out. Well. Magneto teamed up with the X-men, anyway, since Bobby was left on the jet with Rogue and Johnny. John rebelled and left, though, and when everything was over Bobby found out he’d not only left the jet, he’d completely left them and chosen Magneto’s side. Jean ended up sacrificing herself to save them, which meant Bobby ending up losing his parents, his brother, his best friend, and one of his favorite teachers.

After that, they made a quick stop by the White House to help convince the President to see things reasonably (which, okay, was pretty cool). And then it was back to the mansion to try and sort things out. With Jean gone and Scott in no shape to help keep things going, Bobby, Rogue, Kitty, and Peter were made junior X-men, training with Storm (and occasionally Scott, when he was having a good day, or Logan, when he was there). Bobby found himself being de facto leader for the junior X-men, usually speaking on their behalf.

Sometime after that, Worthington Labs announced that they had developed a way to suppress the mutant gene permanently, called the Cure. Around the same time, Jean returned from the dead and was brought back to the Institute. Unfortunately, this was not the Jean they all knew and loved, but an entity called the Phoenix, dangerous and incredibly powerful, and before they’d found her, she’d already killed Scott. Before Bobby could make sense of this, Jean fled the mansion, and when Professor Xavier went to go find her, she killed him as well and joined up with Magneto. The Professor's death hit everyone hard, and the entire school was in mourning.

Bobby dealt with his own grief partly by trying to ease the pain of the other students, especially Kitty, who'd become pretty much his best friend since Johnny left. He took her ice skating, and they actually managed to have a little bit of fun before a meeting about whether or not the school would stay open. Bobby argued strongly in favor of keeping it open, and Storm agreed with him. The school would still be a safe haven for mutants. When Bobby went to go find Rogue to tell her the good news and ask why she hadn't been at the meeting, he discovered that she'd left. He worried that she'd gone to take the Cure, and went after her. He didn’t find her at the Cure clinic he went to, but he did run into John, and then there was lots of fire.

Logan went to go find Jean and bring her back, and though he was unsuccessful, he did learn what Magneto’s plans were. Because the government had started using the Cure in weapons, the Brotherhood was planning on attacking Alcatraz, the place where Worthington Labs was located, along with the source of the cure, a boy named Jimmy. Magneto had an army, and even with the three remaining junior X-men promoted to full X-men status, there were only six of them. But they went anyway, because they were X-men and that was what they did.

Bobby ended up fighting Pyro, and managed to win. Working together, the X-men managed to take out Magneto by sticking him with the very Cure that he’d been trying to destroy (a decision which wasn’t made lightly). For a moment, it looked like all was over, but then some of the human soldiers there fired the Cure at the only Brotherhood member still standing: Jean. In outrage, the Phoenix began unmaking everything on the island, including people as they tried to flee. Logan managed to kill her before she could completely destroy everything, a bittersweet victory. Those still alive made it safely off the island (including John, who Bobby carted off the island, though this is taken from the novelization of the film, as the movie itself never showed what happened to Pyro after Bobby defeated him). Eventually, the school was re-opened and all of the students started returning. Even Rogue, after having taken the Cure.

But once again, things didn't stay settled for very long. It soon became obvious that the so-called "Cure" was only temporary, as mutants who had taken the Cure - either willingly or not - found their powers returned. Sometime after that, the Sentinel program was officially activated. The program was intended to provide the government with a defense against mutants, since weaponizing the cure had failed - a series of large, powerful robots, built in part using the DNA of a shape-shifting mutant, so they'd be able to adapt and change to the abilities of any mutant they faced. They were programmed to read the genetic difference between humans and mutants, and at first, it worked.

Then they went, well, pretty much out of control. They targeted mutants freely, and didn't stop there - they started targeting humans who'd had a mutant child, or who might one day possibly have mutant descendents. So, basically, no one was safe. Mutants and humans banded together, but it didn't really do much good, at least as far as saving the world went. Cities were destroyed, turned into containment camps or graveyards where bodies were just dumped, to decay in piles. Those who resisted were nearly constantly on the run.

The only good thing in all of this was that Professor Xavier came back to them, apparently not quite as dead as they'd thought. The X-men, as well as some former members of the Brotherhood, teamed up to fight the Sentinels and survive as best as they could. They rescued others, some mutants joining their ranks, but all in all, they lost more people than they saved. Not even Bobby's optimism could keep seeing this as anything other than fighting a losing battle.

Then they discovered a new aspect of Kitty's power - she could send someone's consciousness back in time to their younger body. Just a few days, but it was enough. The next time that the Sentinels found them, the mission was simple: protect Kitty and Bishop as long as possible, so she could send him back before the battle. And it worked, and kept working, at least enough that they stopped losing people every time they encountered a Sentinel. Well, no. Technically, they did, but after Kitty sent Bishop back in time to change things, it didn't matter. Bobby went into a hell of a lot of battles knowing there was a high possibility that he'd die, that he'd died going into this same one before, but that he'd never remember it.

For a while after this, they continued to just kind of survive. It wasn't by any means a good life, but it was more than they had. It might be all they ever had, as depressing as that thought was. And then the Professor and Magneto came up with a plan. They knew what had set the Sentinel program in motion, and they knew how to stop it: all they had to do was have Kitty send someone back in time to stop Mystique from killing someone. It was an absolutely crazy plan, but well. What about this wasn't?

Powers/Talents: Thermokinesis: Bobby is able to manipulate his body temperature. He can lower it drastically, to about -106 degrees Fahrenheit, which makes him virtually immune to cold temperatures. If he lowers his body temperature to a point that's in extreme contrast with the current temperature, the air around him also cools, which means condensation will form and then freeze on him, creating a sheen of ice. To some degree, he can lower the temperature of the moisture in the air around him, enabling him to cool down medium-sized rooms. However, he is also more susceptible to high temperatures. Heat, especially dry heat, bothers him a lot more than normal humans, and spending too long in such a climate can seriously weaken him. Especially if the change in climate is quick, such as stepping off an air conditioned plane into the desert. His solution to this is usually to create lots of ice and hide in it, or keep his body temperature constantly lowered, which also wears him out a lot faster than normal. He can also sense the amount of moisture in the air, as well as the amount of heat given off by people or objects.

Cryokinesis: The ability to create ice, which is Bobby's most used power. He can use the moisture in the air, or a nearby source of water, to create ice in just about any shape he wants. He can create columns of ice that propel him upwards by forming ice under his feet, and once he reaches whatever height he wants, he can then form ramps or slides to propel himself quickly where-ever he wants to go. These are generally very effective methods of dodging attacks, and also really, really fun. Bobby can also make sculptures, both practical and artistic. His limit is the amount of moisture or water nearby. Stick him in the middle of a desert with no water supply, and he can attempt to use the moisture in the air to cool himself down, but the strain of using his mutant power in the heat with a small amount of moisture will leave him unconscious before long. And then probably dead, too.

Ice Form: Bobby can turn his entire body into organic ice, which basically makes him look like a walking ice statue of himself. In this form, he’s more durable and stronger than his human form. When he's in ice form, it's incredibly difficult to injure him, as he can use the moisture in the air, or another supply of water, if the injuries are extensive, to reform any parts of his body. The more parts he has to reform, though, the longer it will take, and while he's reforming he's more or less helpless. He can keep going to get to safety with a missing arm, but take out his legs and he's stuck just lying there until he can get his legs reformed. This can take anywhere between a few seconds for minor injuries with an abundant water supply to hours or days for extensive injuries with scarce water.

Personality: Bobby tries very hard to hide the fact that he’s really kind of a dork. He’ll readily admit to liking video games and math and all those other things, but he does his best to be cool and suave and charming. And sometimes ends up tripping over his own shoelaces and rambling on about nothing at all, but he still does it in a charming way, dang it. He can be a bit of a flirt, though this isn’t always intentional. Above all, he’s incredibly good hearted. He’s very slow to take offense, unless the offense is directed towards someone else. You can insult him all you want, but insult one of his friends and there’s going to be a problem.

He has a great sense of humor, and is always up for a joke or a good laugh, from things like freezing a fireball John’s formed in the middle of class to try and show off and getting John in trouble (back when he could do that, and John would only be amused instead of probably trying to kill him, anyway), to teasing a smile out of his friends. Bobby hides a lot behind his sense of humor and his outward appearance of confidence. He’s worked hard to be the go-to guy, the one who has all the answers, whether it be question number 22 on the math homework, where all the best ice cream is stashed away in the kitchen at the mansion, or ‘hey, where can I get some ice for my drink?’. He's always tried to be friends with everyone, to be useful and helpful and funny and all those other things that people like. This was partly out of genuine desire, and partly to hide that he really was uncertain of himself and his place in the world. He's not necessarily afraid to show strong negative emotions, but he's always been the kind of guy to cope with them by sort of hiding behind smiles and joking - or attempting to tease his friends out of their grief.

That’s not to say he doesn’t know when to be serious, however. With so many of the X-men gone, he became one of the people who had been at the mansion the longest. This lead to him taking a very active part in how things were run, including arguing for keeping the school open during a staff meeting, taking over some teaching, and speaking for the other junior X-men before the final showdown at Alcatraz. This role and Bobby’s responsibilities to the X-men aren’t something he takes lightly, and when he’s on a mission or doing something X-men related, he is completely devoted to it. He’s absolutely not afraid to stand up for what he thinks is right, or make his opinion known, even to someone he respects (and is slightly terrified of) as much as Logan. This serious side of him only became more pronounced after the Sentinels pretty much took over, and life become more about trying to survive.

Bobby's had to grow up quite a bit relatively quickly, in a few different ways. This is mostly due to being in situations where other people's lives, and his own life, depended on him, and the fact that he lost pretty much his entire support structure in not very much time. First, he went from having plenty of friends and family to having to deal with the death of three of his mentors, his parents and brother disowning him, his best friend turning into one of his worst enemies, and his girlfriend leaving in the middle of the night. Still, he was dealing, all of those things making him a little bit more confident in himself as well as a bit jaded, but he generally didn't let it show.

After the Sentinels, it became less "having to grow up quickly" and more "shoving aside everything that wasn't about survival." The world fell apart faster than almost any of them would have thought possible, and whatever small amount of stability Bobby'd known before vanished completely. It's not so much a personality change as a personality put on hold, really, because there isn't much else. Most of Bobby's old goals, wants, fears - they don't really matter in a world that's all about fighting and surviving. It's also made Bobby a little bit more reckless. It was bound to happen, when your method of fighting revolved heavily around knowing that if you die, your time-skipping friend will just go back to a time before you were gone and tell you what you did wrong. It's made him a better fighter, sure, but it means he takes bigger risks than he would have before, without even really thinking about it.

Still, there's moments when Bobby's old self comes through, between battles - when he's with Kitty, when he's finding time to maintain his relationships with Pete, Logan, Storm, and the Professor, and even to form new ones with Magneto and the other mutants on the team after they'd figured out Kitty's powers. The ones who survived, who were likely to keep surviving. Even this had a little bit of roots in survival, since you need to have a good relationship with the people you're fighting with in order to be an effective team. The old balance that Bobby always had to keep between his humorous side and serious side leans pretty heavily in favor of serious, but that doesn't mean the rest of it is gone. In an environment that isn't all about running from and fighting the Sentinels, he might be able to tip it back again. Or at least, that's what he hopes, though by now he knows it won't be as easy as that.

Why would your character be chosen? Bobby might be chosen for his sense of humor, his willingness to do almost anything to protect people and do what he thinks is right, or his ability to survive. Or he might be chosen for his mutant abilities, because honestly, who wouldn't want a mate who can also serve as an instant drink cooler or an air conditioner? Not to mention unlimited snow cones.

How much does your character know about nonhumans? Bobby knows quite a bit about the nonhumans in his world! He's lived at a school for mutants for the majority of his life, being taught to control his abilities by mutants more knowledgeable than him, and then graduating on to teach others. He's learned from, taught, trained with, and battled against more mutants than he can probably count, all with different abilities.

Why this character: Bobby's biggest draw for me has always been balancing his good humor and sillier side with the responsible X-men side, and exploring how this changes in different settings! I played him from an X-Men: United canonpoint for about two years until that game closed, and then in another game from an X-Men: The Last Stand canonpoint for just over a year until that game closed. I've been thinking about sending him to a new game off and on since then, and am looking forward to playing with material from Days of Future past.



4. Samples

First-Person: [Voice]

Right, so. Kitty, if this is some new development of your abilities and/or you picked a really terrible time to start up the practical joking again, I'd like to know. Like, right now, because it's not funny.

[His voice is annoyed, maybe even a little bit desperate. But it softens some with his next comment, an attempt at lightening his tone.]

I'll even promise a lack of retribution.

[There's a resigned sigh, because even if he'd really like to believe this is a joke Kitty's playing on him, he knows she wouldn't do that. Not anymore, not with their new plan at stake.]

I really am stuck here on some immortal, even creepier version of the Bachelor, aren't I? Don't those contestants have to sign a contract or something that says they have nothing more important to do? Because I didn't get one of those.

[And he'd really like to not leave the only family he has left down one soldier, right when they needed it the most.]


Third-Person: 270 word sample, and a link to the thread it's from, for context:

Not very long at all. He blocked a few with his arms, the ice suitable protection to take the stabbing without any further injury.

But he no longer had the energy to maintain the ice around his arms, and it was slowly starting to melt. The ice lost its strength, and Tumnus's next stab broke through, piercing Bobby's already injured arm. He tore it away, but he could no longer block Tumnus's stabbing.

He drew up his legs, trying to get his knees in between them to shove Tumnus off, but he couldn't work up the strength to apply any kind of force. He was breathing heavily, dizzy and light-headed from blood loss, and part of him was irrationally still trying to shift into his ice form. His injuries wouldn't matter, he'd stop bleeding, the pain would stop, everything would just stop-

But he couldn't.

"I'm sorry." He didn't really know what he was apologizing for, or who it was to. To Tumnus for fighting him, for not being able to stop him, because he knew his friend wouldn't want to be the cause of anyone's death, no matter how indirectly, to Aara for stopping her, to Raven, because he wouldn't be meeting her like he'd agreed, to his friends here, to the X-men, to a million more things that flashed through his mind. He should've tried harder, done better.

There was so much he'd miss.

His hands clutched uselessly at the ground, trying and failing to pull himself up. Everything was blurry, distant, fading.

And then there was nothing. He took a last, ragged breath - and was gone.

Third Sample:

Third person thread fighting a zombie dragon!

And a network post/action spam, for good measure.