app for exmortis

[bildungsromans]

OOC Info
Name: JC
Contact: hewwo
Over 18?: /thumbs up emoji

Character Info
Name: Dick Grayson / Nightwing
Age: Mid-to-late 20's? Comics are vague, unfortunately!
Canon: DC Comics (Pre-52)
AU: N/A
Suitability: Despite his unique position as the linchpin of the DC universe's superhero community, Dick Grayson is not without his demons. As the former protege of Batman, Dick has had to work under pressure against a vast array of harrowing and nightmarish situations (all of which would likely be traumatic for the average person). Though he's less prone to brooding than his mentor, Dick's career as Robin - and later, Nightwing - has inoculated him to some very dark subjects. He'd be a good fit for exmortis as far as he can stomach the conditions of such an afterlife. He's long accepted the risk of death that comes with vigilantism, and it won't take long for him to investigate his surroundings with a level head. The leadership skills he's exercised as a member of the Bat Family, the (Teen) Titans, and the Outsiders will allow him to foster connections with others in service of a higher goal - though whether that goal is to understand the terms of this afterlife or to accept it is going to be a problem.

Again, Dick won't be fazed by the fact that he's dead. But he might wonder why he's found himself in such a place, out of all possible destinations. So even if he might be stuck here forever, he can at least put his prodigious detective skills to good use.

Personality
Key Traits:
+ Compassionate
+ Daring
+ Analytical
+ Charming
+ Strong-willed
- Stubborn
- Blunt/Insensitive
- Confrontational
- Represses his feelings
- Cavalier about danger(s to himself)
+/- Self-sacrificing
+/- Workaholic

Responses:

Your character comes across a deer on the edge of a forest. Its hind legs are broken, but it is clearly alive and aware of its surroundings. What does your character do?

Dick would seek medical attention on the deer's behalf, giving a call to the nearby animal services or wildlife center. If the deer has no greater injury than a pair of broken legs, Dick can afford to keep it company until help arrives. Still, he'll obviously keep his distance in observance of common protocol for injured wildlife situations.

On their deathbed, an estranged family member seeks to reconcile with your character. How do they react?

It depends on the severity of the estrangement. If the family member in question had deeply wronged Dick in the past, Dick would be unafraid to show his resentment - he will likely be harsh, unyielding, and unforgiving to them. He would need time to think through his emotions to judge if that person is worth reconciling with, but he may also need the input of a third party (a close confidante like Barbara or Alfred) before reopening any doors.

In a better mood, Dick might act trusting and appear as if he's willing to hear this person out, but he's always analyzing others' intentions even as he seems to give them the benefit of the doubt. If there's an agenda underneath the relative's attempts to reconcile with Dick, Dick will inevitably figure it out.

Your character is led into a room with a blindfolded man and his captor. The captor hands your character a gun with one bullet chambered, and explains that if your character kills the terrified man two innocent people will be freed. How does your character respond?

Ideally, Dick would simply throw the gun as he would a batarang at his captor. Like Bruce and his other Bat-cohorts, Dick can't permit himself to ever use a gun under any circumstances. If pressed, Dick may consider shooting the captor in a non-vital region, but only as an absolute last resort.

Your character finds a boxed, uneaten cake in the rain. What do they do?

Dick would either ignore it, or - while this is far less likely - find someone to give it to. He might consider that even if the cake is protected from the elements, it's still potentially unsanitary because he knows nothing about how long it's been sitting there. To Dick, it might be better to simply throw it away so it presents a hazard to nobody else.


Death
History: Brace yourself for decades of some Deep Comics Lore. 👀
Time of Death: Nightwing Vol. 2 #152 (please have adblock handy if you decide to give this issue a looksee). Context: Dick somberly reflects on a world without Bruce Wayne after the latter's apparent death in the events of Final Crisis.
Method of Death: In that same issue, Dick is accosted in the Batcave by Ra's Al Ghul's forces, the League of Assassins. Dick handily subdues the deluge of ninjas that have come to attack him, only for Ra's himself to invite Dick to a face-to-face meeting. It turns out Ra's wants to confirm that Bruce is indeed truly dead, and his encounter with Nightwing culminates in a sword-fighting duel.

Though canonically, Dick defeats Ra's rather easily, for the sake of exmortis we can say that Ra's manages to deal a lucky and fatal blow - he slashes Dick's throat with a deft strike, putting a definitive end to Nightwing's career.

Undeath
Undead Type: Liminal
Undead Subtype: The best thing Dick can call himself is a wraith, in the sense that he's a migrant spirit untethered to the corporeal plane. He's more or less a Deadman-like ghost like he becomes in the Injustice canon, but his clothing is like what he wears to a crossover storyline in the Rebirth continuity. In addition to now being a glowing, pale-blue apparition, Dick sustains his fatal injury at the hands of Ra's Al Ghul - Dick's throat is perpetually slit open and bleeding, permanently reminding him of his defeat. The fact that he's incorporeal makes an endlessly exsanguinating throat less of a problem, though, as none of that blood's getting on anything. If he really wants to, Dick can even choose to conceal his neck with the scarf-like cape shown in the second link. Though his outfit differs from the more recognizable Nightwing suit he wore while fighting Ra's Al Ghul, this can be handwaved as Ra's burying Dick in a proper and traditional warrior's outfit - one that still pays homage to the Nightwing suit's design.

Ability-wise, Dick can fly and phase through objects. He can also make himself visible and tangible, but only temporarily (even then, he cannot make all of himself visible and/or all of himself tangible in one go). Doing one, the other, or both consumes more stamina the longer he does it, and as a result, he risks having to recuperate in the immaterial world for an extended period. By becoming tangible, Dick also risks actually bleeding on things until he becomes intangible again. And unlike his Ethereal counterparts, Dick cannot take possession of corporeal beings, but he can nonetheless communicate with them regardless of whether or not he decides to be visible and/or tangible. For Dick, that might mean manifesting as only a spooky disembodied voice sometimes.

Beyond these augmentations he's gained in death, Dick has about as many metahuman abilities as he had in life: none whatsoever. The graver the situation (no pun intended), the more Dick's going to have to rely on his wits, his martial prowess, and his expansive skill set to win the day... even if the rules have changed significantly.

Anything else?: look at him, why is he like this