Player InformationName: Kevin
Age: 21
AIM SN: dragon8writer
email: dragon8writer.dreamwidth.org
Have you played in an LJ based game before? Yes.
Currently Played Characters: None
Conditional: Activity Check Link: n/a
Conditional: Official Reserve Link: HereCharacter InformationGeneralCanon Source: Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Canon Format: Television (although her backstory comes from Go Ask Malice, a book.)
Character's Name: Faith Lehane
Character's Age: 23
Conditional: If your character is 13 years of age or under, please clarify how they will be played. n/a
What form will your character's NV take? A small black diary with the word “Vampyr” written in gold across the front, clasped with two golden buckles – a mix of the actual slayer handbook, and the diary Faith kept before coming to Sunnydale.
AbilitiesCharacter's Canon Abilities:Visible abilities: Enhanced strength, speed, agility, reflexes, resilience and healing.
At their best, Slayers are known to bend open prison cell bars, dodge bullets, and get hit by trucks only to get up and run off as if nothing had happened at all. Faith in particular once jumped through bullet proof prison glass as if it were made of paper.
Their ability withstand injuries is somewhat limited to things where the force is spread out - punches and trucks phase them little, but a knife or arrow goes through Faith the same as anyone.
Less tangible (and often not mentioned): increased senses (honed with some practice), and the ability to sense nearby demons.
It is worth noting that Faith has had less practice then Buffy, and as such is not always going to be capable of the more advanced slayer tricks, outside of natural instinct.
Dreams - Slayers will occasionally have prophetic dreams (though Faith has never mentioned one of her own), and will often dream of past slayers, particularly their deaths. Some may also appear in each other's dreams - The First Slayer appeared to Buffy several times, as did Faith during her coma.
Hinted-at abilities: Slayers seem to have a natural ability to lead, with others automatically deferring to them. (If this is an ability, it seems strongest for those called naturally, rather than with the scythe - while the scythe-called slayers were able to get along naturally with one another, Buffy and Faith always felt withdrawn. This could just be a side effect of being "chosen" however, or simply confidence in their own powers.)
Slayers grow in strength greatly whenever angry or upset.
Slayers have a better immune system - rarely getting sick - and require less sleep than the average human.
Conditional: If your character has no superhuman canon abilities, what dormant ability will you give them? n/a
Weapons: A stake; as a vampire slayer, Faith generally has at least one of these pointy wooden objects on her at all times (and knows how to make more.)
History/Personality/Plans/etc.Character History: http://buffy.wikia.com/wiki/Faith_Lehane
Point in Canon: At the end of Season 7, right before Season 8 would have begun – she’s helped Buffy save the world, and now she’s living in a rundown apartment doing the jobs too dirty for anyone else to do.
Conditional: Brief summary of previous RP history: n/a
Character Personality: Faith tends toward the wild side, particularly in her fights – she doesn’t like to over think things as a rule. It isn’t that she’s stupid – or that she’s incapable of planning ahead – but she likes to lose herself in whatever she’s doing. To fight with what often comes down to reckless abandon.
This was even more pronounced when she first came to Sunnydale– throwing herself into battles without care of the outcome, just for the rush of winning, and the ability to forget everything else. Her dead alcoholic of a mother, her jailed– more physically abusive father – and of course the brutal death of her watcher, who was literally ripped in half in front of her. But the day she accidentally killed a human being changed things. At first, she tried to tell herself that she felt no guilt – that she was simply a bad person, same as everyone had always told her, and that was all there was to it. That as a slayer, a warrior, no one could stop her anyhow – she was above all of it.
This was a path that had started long before she came to Sunnydale in truth; a rapid succession of events back in Boston had started the path; beginning when she was abandoned by her friend Tommy – who feared she was turning into a violent bully (not knowing her rages were in fact the result of her being possessed by an ancient slayer.) Continuing when her negligent mother turned hooker was revealed to be dead; and when her father – thought to be dead – was revealed not only to be alive, but in jail for murder… and her memories of the man’s abuses re-awoken.
A small series of betrayals by her love interests worked to propel her down a darker path – the kleptomaniac who first suggested she should help herself to stealing; the drummer who was still sleeping with his dead girlfriend, through mental projections, even as he tried to date Faith. What truly started to break Faith, though, was the death of her watcher. The vicious evisceration of the only person who had truly bothered to believe in her – and the feeling that she couldn’t even stick around without being blamed for the murder.
Faith left Boston – though not before punching out the man who had pimped out her mother; it was the look of horror on the face of the woman Faith had tried to save that first made Faith wonder if she was a monster – if people could just look at her, and see it; that – along with Kakistos’s constant chase of her- was what started her down her path. The accidental killing of the deputy mayor, paired with jealousy over Buffy’s seemingly perfect life, were simply what catapulted her over the edge; convinced her that she was a monster, and she should act accordingly
Still, with help from Angel - a practical expert in the quest for redemption - she was eventually able to break through and come to terms with the guilt she honestly felt for what she had done; although not before murdering an innocent, betraying Buffy’s trust entirely, getting put into a coma, and wreaking havoc down the countryside on her way to LA.
Still, with his help, she was able to accepted that that she wasn’t simply bad by nature; that, like any other human being, she was responsible for her actions. And to feel accordingly.
As part of her attempt for redemption, she willingly went to prison for a time, treating it as a stabilizing experience – three square meals a day, only the very occasional (stupid) person trying to kill her… yet when she found out Angel needed her help, she broke free from the prison with ease, proving she could have done so at any time. More than that, she proved herself willing to drop her passive attempts at redemption, and take a more active role – helping Angel to avert the apocalypse (by restoring his soul), and then heading into battle besides Buffy, her old time rival, friend, and occasional arch nemesis - and taking a more direct hand in saving the world.
Since that time, she has paid more attention to her surroundings in a fight – in the comics, she actually stops another girl from making the same mistake she did. She recognizes consequences – as seen by her going to jail – and she tries to make up for things that go wrong on her watch.
Faith is still relatively laid back, preferring a night at the clubs to prowling the streets, but when lives are on the line she won’t run from her responsibilities, or turn her back on those who depend on her. She’s loyal to those who believed in her, and to some extent those she has wronged – again, determined to make up for what she had done and prove that it’s possible to come back.
Her search for repentance sometimes takes her to dark places, however. After fighting the First Evil, Faith started taking it on herself to perform what others wouldn’t touch. When she was asked to take care of children, she leapt to say yes – despite inferior living conditions indicating she was already struggling to make ends meet; and when she found out that those children were vampires, and “take care of” referred to slaying them, she took care of that too. She was angry at the necessity; she seemed angry at the necessity – it undoubtedly brought back fears that there was something simply wrong with her. But she did it, because in her mind someone had to – and no one else would. In this, and in most things, Faith doesn’t hesitate; for all her wildness, she’s has a stubborn streak – she is determined to get things done.
On the other hand, it’s worth noting that she is – as she herself says – all about forgiveness. Faith is repenting, and trying to make up for what she did – and she is willing to accept anyone who is honestly trying to make the same effort. She won’t coddle anyone – she won’t tell them everything is going to be alright, or bother with them if they’re not even going to try. But she won’t give up on anyone she sees a chance for either.
Still, Faith can be somewhat brusque – she has little time for people who get on her nerves. She has something of a temper. And while she’s working towards what’s right, her moral code doesn’t necessarily encompass legalities. She was more than willing to break out of prison when it became an emergency, after all, and she didn’t choose to go back afterwards – preferring to be active in helping others as a slayer, rather than passive in a prison; determined to make things right.
Regardless of that determination, however, Faith tends to lack confidence in herself as a Slayer. Everyone always views Buffy as the real deal – and while they call Faith Slayer still, she’s always the one who went rogue. Later, when there are hundreds if not thousands of Slayers, she still remains apart from all the major groups. She’s too much a general in her own right to fade into Buffy’s army, but without any real followers of her own. On top of that, she has often expressed the fear that she isn’t “strong” enough for the kind of strength that comes with being a slayer – that she can’t handle the responsibility, and the control. She seemed happiest when she had given up her power entirely, or when she was using her status to help those disillusioned of the fighting – rather than actually taking part in any big war. Though somewhat hurt that Buffy is always the “true” slayer, she doesn’t really want that position for herself – she doesn’t want to be responsible for everyone. She just wants someone to believe in her, and her capabilities.
She is however, also scared of that responsibility and belief. When there’s someone else who can take up leadership, she much prefers them to do it – because while she’s learned that she’s capable of taking charge, from a brief stint leading the slayers, she doesn’t really trust herself with that any more than she does with her strength.
Finally, I want to quickly review the basics of what makes Faith Faith – it’s the lack of trust she has in herself, mixed with the determination to prove herself anyway. Her mother was abusive, and her father was a murderer – who Faith grew up thinking had died. Everyone who cared about Faith was quickly killed, and those left ignored her, mistrusted her, or attempted to use her – with the sociopathic mayor being the closest thing she had to a father figure. Since he used her for murder and mayhem, he mostly added to the problems.
The thing about Faith, though, is that she seems determined to prove them wrong – even herself – in order to prove the few people who’ve believed in her correct. Her recklessness is a mixture of upbringing – no one taught her much in the way of responsibility – and the desire to run from her past. Her fear of commitment is the result of being disappointed so many times, and her fear of responsibilities she isn’t sure she can truly handle. But her determination, her struggle to make up for things, and her willingness to help others all work in counterpoint of that, driven by a internal core of strength that emerged when Angel refused to simply kill her as a bad person, which allow her to face up to the responsibilities she can’t afford to flee from. In that struggle is born the nuances of her personality described above.
Conditional: Personality development in previous game: n/a
Character Plans:With the nightmarish monsters about, I’d really like to see what Faith could do in terms of honestly rejoining the good fight – trying to protect people from the darkness, when needed (although she’ll quickly learn that even she isn’t safe out there at night.)
I’d also like to see her experiment as a bounty hunter – she’d be rather picky about what bounties she was willing to take; and it’s quite possible she wouldn’t be able to make a decent living – but Faith has lived in a Spartan environment by default for the last several years, so it wouldn’t bother her much.
Mostly, I’d really like to involve her in the world plots – though she might poke at either organization, she’s more than likely to remain neutral, unwilling to go along with either slavery or human experimentation. She will probably align herself with a small group of friends, and – while she will involve herself in larger affairs – her loyalties will be to them.
Appearance/PB:http://hungryanhorny.dreamwidth.org/icons
Writing SamplesFirst Person Sample[Video]
[The face on the screen might not be easy to recognize; she’s new to this place – and she isn’t happy about it.] Alright. You caught my attention. Wanna tell me what I’m doing here? ‘Cause from where I’m standing, the only thing you’re gonna get from me is your ass whipped.
[She stares at the “book” in her hand – or whatever the hell it really is. Displaying pictures like that; talking. Videos?]
You deficient or something? I asked why I got brought here. You gonna answer? Or am I gonna have to start looking for something corporeal to hit? [‘Cause this? Randomly appearing? Weird tech?
Signs? She wasn’t quite willing to buy it yet.]
‘Cmon; you seriously expecting me to believe you got a slayer by
accident?
Third Person SampleFaith tensed, muscles shifting beneath the skin as she prepped herself for the coming attack. Across from her sat the nightmarish creature – three tentacles writhing about the blob like some sort of drunken carnival ride. T Staying at its side, but not for long. She wasn’t the only one here looking for a fight.
The moment the first tentacle moved out, she launched – hands grasping and tugging, leg driving out. “That the best you got dog? ‘Cause I got to say…”
She ducked the next blow, trying to ignore its unnerving silence. “I’m not that impressed.” Her fist struck something fleshy, feeling it give way – without much impact, unfortunately. The creature still didn’t make a noise.
“You been taking lessons from B or somethin’?” Reaching behind her, she shifted to draw the length of wood from the back of her pants, bringing up the sharp point. Time to put this thing out of its misery. Moving quick, not thinking – not giving it time to react – she ducked beneath the swinging tentacle, grabbing at the next. She used it for leverage when jumping over the third, driving the stake hard into one of the three globular eyes. It dropped, slipping free from the stake with a small sucking noise. She could already hear another, though – coming through the darkness.
This might not have been the best idea after all….
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