learnedtosmile | Application: ataraxion

PLAYER INFORMATION
Your Name: Froda
OOC Journal:

froda_baggins
Under 18? If yes, what is your age?: I am over the age of 18.
Email + IM: frodabaggins [at] gmail [dot] com; frodabaggins03 on AIM
Characters Played at Ataraxion: N/A

CHARACTER INFORMATION
Name: John Blake
Canon: Batman (Nolanverse)
Original or Alternate Universe: OU
Canon Point: On the bridge, when the bomb goes off.
Number: RNG, please.

Setting: The Dark Knight Rises

History: Born Robin John Blake to working-class parents in Gotham City, Blake's mother was killed in a car accident when he was a small child, and a few years later his father was gunned down over a gambling debt, leaving Blake an orphan with no other family. He got shuffled around the foster care system for a while, but he was a "difficult" child - angry, sullen, and unable or unwilling to move on from his parents' deaths. When the last of a string of foster families gave up on him, Blake ended up at St Swithin's, a home for orphaned and wayward boys run by Father Reilly, who became a mentor to Blake. Around this time, he stopped using his given name and began using his middle name, John.

Blake managed to graduate high school, went to a community college then directly into the police academy, where he distinguished himself with his investigative abilities. He continued to distinguish himself as a beat cop with the Gotham PD, though he occasionally had problems with authority and being judgmental with other cops who didn't live up to his own high expectations.

Commissioner Gordon, with the help of the Dent Act, had managed to make organized crime in Gotham largely a thing of the past, but you wouldn't know that to look at him, and Blake had always been an observant guy. One night, while working the kidnapping of a Congressman, Gordon pursued a suspect into the sewers, and shots were fired. The police were unable to follow him, after an explosion in the tunnel, but Blake knew where the runoff got dumped - he pulled Gordon from the water, shot and half-drowned, but still alive. The story he told of what he'd seen below the city - of a masked man building an army - wasn't taken seriously by anyone. Except Blake. And Blake knew exactly who to turn to.

Bruce Wayne.

Blake didn't pull any punches - he threatened to get a warrant when Alfred tried to prevent him from seeing Mr. Wayne. And when he finally had a chance to speak to the reclusive billionaire, he got right to the point, explaining what had happened to Gordon, and that no one else on the force believed his story. "He needs you," he told Wayne. "He needs the Batman."

Wayne was caught off-guard by this admission, and Blake explained: when he was a kid, Wayne had paid a visit to the boys' home he lived in. One look at his fellow orphan, and Blake had found a kindred spirit of sorts. He recognized the same feelings in Wayne that he had inside himself. And he knew immediately that Bruce Wayne was the Batman.

He'd kept the information to himself all these years, never losing his faith in Gotham's masked vigilante, and now he was confiding in Wayne, hoping he was correct, hoping the older man would see what he saw: something big was brewing in Gotham's sewers, and Batman was needed once again.

As it turned out, Blake was right, and soon Bane revealed himself, breaking into Gotham's stock exchange, taking several hostages and leading the police on a merry chase - until the Batman showed up, distracting the police force from Bane's thugs as they attempted to chase down the infamous Bat.

Batman managed to elude the police, as did Bane and most of his men. Those who were arrested, refused to talk, and they were no closer to understanding who Bane was, or why he was in Gotham. Blake continued to investigate the goings-on in the sewers, when Gordon promoted him to detective, but the investigation of the sewer was stalled when Bruce Wayne disappeared. By chance, Blake spotted a young woman he'd seen the night they recovered the kidnapped Congressman, and on a hunch, he brought her in for questioning. The woman turned out to be Selina Kyle, and Blake's hunch was correct - she knew of Bane, and she knew that Bruce Wayne was no longer in Gotham. But she didn't know if he was alive or dead.

Bane's takeover of Gotham was quick and efficient, and Blake soon found himself part of a small underground resistance of sorts, headed up by Gordon. He helped track the trucks carrying the bomb through the streets of the city, and also kept in contact with his partner, one of the thousands of police officers trapped in the sewers for months. But their ability to take action was severely limited. When Gordon was captured by Bane's men, Blake set about trying to free the trapped police force on his own, but was caught and nearly killed. Fortunately, Batman intervened, helped him get the police out of the tunnels, and explained his plan to Blake - to disarm the bomb and take the city back. He asked Blake to lead an exodus across the single remaining bridge off the island, in case the plan failed, to try and save as many lives as possible.

Blake did as Batman asked, but the bridge was blockaded by a number of police officers, who threatened to blow the bridge if anyone tried to cross. He attempted to explain that the circumstances had changed, that the bomb was set to go off regardless, but the men on the other side refused to listen and blew the bridge anyway. As time was running out, Blake believed Batman had failed, and tried to prepare the boys from St Swithin's as best he could, to prevent them from panicking.

It was then that Batman was spotted above the city - he flew the bomb out over the bay in the Bat, where it detonated over the water, saving the lives of millions of people, and presumably killing Batman himself.

This is the point at which Blake will arrive on the Tranquility.

Personality: First and foremost, John Blake is a stand-up guy, and a good citizen. He's highly-principled, with a strong moral compass, he's a good cop - and he even volunteers at the boys' home in his spare time. He values honesty, independent thinking, and helping those who are less fortunate. In short - he has very high ideals, some of which may come crashing down around him someday.

Blake is also capable of being judgmental when the people around him fall short of those ideals. For instance, his relationship with Gordon hit a low point when he discovered the truth of what happened the night Harvey Dent died. When Gordon protested that it was for the best, that he was at least grateful to have a friend willing to get his hands dirty so Gordon wouldn't have to, Blake replied that Gordon's hands looked "plenty filthy to me."

Similarly, he chastised Bruce Wayne himself for not paying enough attention, being unaware that the Wayne foundation had stopped funding boys' homes in the city. In Blake's opinion, someone with so much money and influence should be using it for good, in whatever way they can.

Blake speaks of being angry, but he's clearly learned to master it and turn it towards productive activities. Foley calls him "hotheaded" a couple of times, but that seems to be much more indicative of his tenacity and his willingness to question authority in order to get at the truth of things, than it does of any temper he might exhibit. And not everyone shares Foley's feelings: his "hotheadedness" - his unwillingness to take orders without question, his relentless pursuit of the truth - is something Commissioner Gordon appreciates, and earns him a promotion to detective.

Still, when backed into a corner, Blake can and does get angry. When the police blow the bridge instead of listening to him, he rails at them, yelling and cursing. In that moment, he's helpless, so the only thing he can think of to do is lash out at the people he blames.

Blake isn't very forthcoming, preferring to keep his private information to himself, as well as his feelings for the most part. He doesn't even use his birth name anymore, preferring to go by his middle name, John. His partner on the force isn't aware that he grew up in a boys' home - when they discover the body of one of the boys who lived there, John emphasizes that he volunteers there, not that he grew up there. The only person he seems willing to confide in is Bruce Wayne - and that's only because they have very similar backgrounds, both being orphans and having lost parents to violence as young children. Blake thinks it's better all around if he doesn't let himself get too close to anyone.

Which is not to say that he doesn't care - he has a lot of compassion, and he clearly cares a lot, particularly for children in a situation like the one he grew up with. He volunteers at the boys' home and is clearly concerned for their well-being - he discusses funding for the home with Father Reilly, and he's pleased when he learns that Bruce Wayne bequeathed Wayne Manor to the city for the purpose of creating a larger, better home for orphaned children.

Abilities, Weaknesses and Power Limitations: Blake is a regular human being, with no enhanced or supernatural powers. He has police training, so he can handle himself in a fight (though he's not very physically imposing) and he knows how to use firearms.

Otherwise, most of his abilities lie in his powers of observation, his eye for spotting patterns and putting bits of information together like the pieces of a puzzle. He's good at watching and listening and working things out from the background.

Inventory: - 1 pair of dark slacks
- 1 black leather belt
- 1 pair of black socks
- 1 pair of black shoes
- 1 pair of dark blue boxers
- 1 undershirt
- 1 dark blue button-down shirt
- 1 dark blue sweater vest
- 1 black winter coat
- his sidearm, loaded
- a leather holster
- his police badge
- his cell phone
- his wallet
(containing:)
- his police ID
- his driver's license
- an ATM card for Gotham National Bank
- a wallet-sized photo of a group of boys, clearly a basketball team, with Blake as their coach
- a blood donor card
- $33 in cash
- .68 cents in change

Appearance:

Blake is portrayed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He's about 5'10", average weight and somewhat lanky of build, dark brown hair and brown eyes, with a couple of small scars on his body. Generally, he's unremarkable in appearance.

Age: Mid- to late-twenties.

SAMPLES
Log Sample: John Blake is used to keeping his head down, blending in and observing. It's how he learned to survive as a scrawny kid with a big mouth in the neighborhood of St Swithins, which was always one of the rougher parts of Gotham.

He still knows that neighborhood like the back of his hand - every back alley dumpster and fire escape, places to duck and cover when bigger kids came along looking for entertainment he didn't feel like providing.

In some ways, this place is like returning to those days - a new place, strange and (maybe literally) alien. He has to learn it, if he's going to be here long, because no doubt there are people here who are bigger, stronger and scarier than him. It's a fact of life he's accepted over the years, and if he wants to be any help at all, he needs to know things.

Knowledge has always been his weapon of choice, despite the gun tucked inside his jacket. And some of that knowledge comes from talking to people. The common areas of the ship are big - too big, from what he can tell of the number of people around. They feel about as desolate as the rest of the ship, but at least there's life here. People. Presumably, people from Earth.

"Hi," he says, giving a little nod to the person he passes on his way to the kitchen. "I don't suppose there's a coffee maker I'd know how to use? Twenty-first century?" he adds helpfully.

Comms Sample:[He's had surprisingly little trouble with the communication device - it's not difficult to operate, even though he figures it might be centuries advanced from what he's used to.

But he hasn't been eager to use it except to read the network for the past few days. It's not really in Blake's nature to be forthcoming to a bunch of strangers, not all at once. But he does have a request, so he types it out. No point showing everyone his face, just yet.]

Hi. My name is John.

[Best way to get information, in his experience, is to provide a little. And be polite about it.]

I'm new here, and I'm just wondering if there's been any kind of record-keeping on board, aside from this network? Logs, of some kind? I guess I'm just curious about where this ship came from, and what its purpose is.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.