Dick Grayson (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
spread_my_wings) wrote2014-12-03 10:29 pm
spread_my_wings) wrote2014-12-03 10:29 pm
City of Ariel App
→ OOC
□ Name: Fuyu
□ Age: 44
□ Contact: fuyu.no.akegata@gmail.com on gmail and hangouts and fuyunoakegata on plurk
□ Journal: fuyunoakegata.dreamwidth.org
□ Do you play anyone in Ariel?: no
□ Is this a re-application of a dropped character? If yes, when was the character dropped?: no
→ IC
□ Name:IC Dick Grayson
Dick is male and approximate age is somewhere between 27 and 30. I'm going with 28. Comics timelines are a special kind of fun :D
□ Journal: spread-my-wings.dreamwidth.org
□ Series: DC Comics: Batman, Detective Comics, Batman and Robin
□ Canon point: after Batman and Robin 26, Batman 713, and Detective Comics 881 and Gates of Gotham, but before the events of Flashpoint and the DCnU reboot
□ History: comics histories are ridiculous, if you aren't familiar with them (and often even if you are), especially when it's a character who's been around since 1939, so I am providing history links since more knowledge might be wanted than just his personal history.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Grayson_(Earth-Two)
and
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Richard_Grayson_(New_Earth)
Please ignore any history under the DCnU or New 52 sections, so that I don't have to tl;dr about the reboot :)
If interested in most relevant canon source material, reference especially Detective Comics #871-881, Batman #713, Batman & Robin #1-26, and Gates of Gotham #1-5
□ Personality:
It would be impossible to explain Dick without making multiple references to Bruce Wayne, the original Batman. Dick is defined by who he is not as much as by who he is. He is not the grim, stoic Dark Knight of Frank Miller’s late 80s comics, but neither is he the campy, goofy 60s Burt Ward sidekick. He is not a Bruce Wayne clone, though the man’s stamp is indelibly printed on him. Bruce took him in at a young age, and because of the circumstances of Dick’s parents’ murder, the majority of his world revolves around Bruce, both as his guardian, father figure, and mentor. They share a familial bond as well as the esprit de corps that comes along with fighting crime side by side, and intended or not, Bruce molded him into who he is today as much as the Graysons ever did. The love and happiness they shared with him before their death, however, tempered the harsher lessons he has learned at the Batman’s knee.
The single most significant events in shaping his life have been his parents’ murder before his eyes, his wardship with Bruce Wayne, and his subsequent vow to fight the evil-doers with him as Robin to Bruce’s Batman. One of the major differences between Bruce and Dick is that while Bruce swore vengeance on his parents’ grave, Dick Grayson has sworn justice.
Batman has always needed a Robin, a cheerful creature of the light to brighten his days and remind him what it is to be human, what it is they are fighting for. Dick is that ray of sunshine for Bruce/Batman and everyone else around him most of the time. He is very much a social person; he craves attention and approval and physical contact like others crave air. He is starting to move beyond an absolute need for Bruce’s approval, but it’s still very much a driving force in his life.
He can brood with the best, though, after all, he learned at the side of the original Batman, the Dark Knight, and he takes any faults or mistakes, real or imagined, to heart, holding guilt inside for far longer than is probably healthy. Despite this, he rarely lets anyone see how it affects him, and he is rarely one to sit and mope. If anything, he will train relentlessly, losing himself in the physical. Other burdens might be shared, but guilt is his alone. He holds himself to impossibly high standards and living up to what he sees as Bruce’s criteria, though even Bruce rarely judges himself as harshly as he does, himself. When a situation is resolved, however, the dark mood lifts, and his innate cheerfulness shines through the black clouds of insecurity. Once it’s over, it’s over. In the Devin Grayson run of Nightwing, Dick allowed a would-be vigilante to shoot and kill a villain who had been targeting anyone and everything Dick cared for. He was extremely distraught over it, though, and threw himself into the mission so totally that he neglected his own well-being. Soon after, he was seriously injured, and was worried what Bruce would think of him. Bruce replied that he could forgive losing sight of the value of the villain's life, but not losing sight of the value of his own.
Dick is something of the ideal big brother, despite originally being an only child. Bruce has managed to build something of a family, dysfunctional though it might at times be. Dick takes his role as eldest son seriously, though he has had more than his share of growing pains as he became his own man apart from Bruce’s rather large and all-encompassing shadow. He has been friend, companion, and mentor of sorts to all the Robins after him, though perhaps even more to Damian, the only non-orphan of the lot, and Bruce’s natural son. Father and son butted heads enough they couldn’t even work together at first, but Dick has been perhaps just what Damian needed to grow and fit into the Batfamily and learn their ideals.
The traditional Batman/Robin dynamic was reversed when Dick took the cowl. He kept something of his light-hearted attitude and spontaneity, while his Robin, Bruce’s son Damian, took on the scowling, badass role - the ultimate good cop, bad cop scenario. Dick brings a looser, more relaxed aspect to the persona of Batman, making it far easier for other members of the Justice League to work with him.
He is a natural leader, better than Bruce, actually, and takes his duties seriously, despite a keen sense of humor somewhat marred by a propensity for bad puns (though nowhere near as bad as Burt Ward’s Robin - Holy hole in a donut, Batman!). He also has a bit of a flair for the dramatic; he was a born entertainer, an aerialist from a young age, part of Haly Circus’ Flying Graysons trapeze act with his mother and father.
He has an innate charisma and appeal that just isn’t learned, one that manages to attract both males and females; it’s more than a sexual aura, though perhaps that’s part of it. Dick is just a likeable guy, and he flirts as easily as he walks, even without consciously turning on the charm.
He is an adopted son of Bruce Wayne, one of Gotham City’s most eligible bachelors. He doesn’t like to call attention to it or rely on the fortune and resources readily available to him. He has his pride and wants to prove he is his own man, not just a circus brat lucky enough to fall into the lap of luxury. He could, and does, generally live a fairly simple personal life, despite his current residence being in the penthouse of the Wayne Foundation Building. During his current tenure as Batman, he has set up his own life apart from Wayne Manor and the BatCave, setting up his base of operations within Gotham itself, in the BatBunker far beneath Wayne Enterprises.
Dick is almost completely selfless. He is a superhero; he has thrown himself in harm’s way more times than he could count, not that he would keep a tally, anyway. It’s just what he does, who he is. He took on the cowl for Bruce a second time, despite knowing it wasn’t his own personal choice all other factors aside, despite a video message from Bruce when they thought he was dead telling him not to. He knew Gotham needed Batman and he was the best choice for the job. The mission doesn’t consume him as it does Bruce, though. Depending on events, that could be either a strength or a weakness.
One of his biggest strengths is his optimism, in being able to see the glass half-full. He has a sense of community and a way of sharing burdens with his friends and teammates that Bruce could never hope to master. This optimism and his empathy draw others to him, inspiring them to greater heights, and increasing his effectiveness as a leader.
As well as being a strength, his empathy and love can also be one of his biggest weaknesses. He’s loyal to a fault. Literally. He gains strength from the very bonds that could potentially cripple him when his loved ones are threatened. That love, if used (im)properly by a villain, has at times brought him to pivotal crossroads. As of yet it has only forged him into something more; someday, it could shatter him instead, because he wears his heart on his sleeve, cares too much. His guilt could hold him captive far more securely than any opponents’ bonds.
In fact, most of Dick’s good characteristics can be taken to extremes and become faults; he rarely does anything halfway. Dick loves easily; despite having seen the worst in humanity, he still has his innate hope and faith in goodness, and he has projected such goodness onto others, even when it would probably be in his best interest not to. He’s a believer, and it hurts him just as much as it helps. Dick has arguably shown a fear of commitment, despite a surprising amount of marriage attempts for someone his age. It’s far easier for Dick to say ‘I love you,’ and even mean it, than it is for him fight to keep the relationship together when the other party has doubts, or say ‘I need you’.
At times, Dick seems unable to take anything seriously, to be a thrillseeker, immature, Peter Pan himself. He looks before he leaps, trusts when no logical reason for such has been shown, lets his heart rule his head. All of these are generally considered, to at least some degree, to be flaws; they might be coping mechanisms or potentially fatal personality quirks or masks to hide his true self, but as with his strengths becoming weaknesses, so too do some of his weaknesses work out to become strengths as well and bring him through to the other side, battered and bloody, but still hoping justice will prevail.
Dick soaked up everything Bruce had to teach him, like a sponge, but whereas Bruce planned compulsively, obsessively, thinking out every single contingent beforehand, Dick’s style is far more fluid and on the go, much like himself. It isn’t flying by the seat of his pants as much as seeing what needs to be done and doing it, then adapting the plan quickly, as necessary.
It usually works, too. Even when it does save the day, though, it can leave him injured. And he isn't the best patient in the world. He doesn’t wait for injuries to heal fully before heading back out into the field unless forced to. He once ripped the same wound open three times in several days, accidentally exposing his dual identity of Officer Dick Grayson, Bludhaven PD and Nightwing to his police partner, causing her to ask him to leave the force because of his moonlight job as a costumed vigilante. He is stubborn, and won’t give up even when he should, sometimes. Sheer willpower and luck have gotten him through as many crises as excellent medical care.
Bruce as Batman would likely sneak into a situation stealthily, tossing in a few flash-bang grenades and leaving just as quietly, a batarang in the wall and shifting shadows instilling fear with the very lack of visible presence. Dick, on the other hand, is a born entertainer, and believes the city needs a visible presence. He provides them with one, with as much flair and finesse as he can gather to him.
Now that he has taken over most of the day to day duties of Batman, it is tempering a little of his normal good humor. He still cracks jokes, and he still smiles and tries to lighten the situation, but there is a hint of grimness, now, a worry that the city of Gotham mutates to match the fears of the current Batman, and surprisingly, Dick’s fears are far stranger and darker than Bruce’s. He’s having to deal with filling Batman’s boots; he no longer thinks Bruce is dead, but now that Bruce has gone public with the concept of funding the Batman enterprise worldwide, he’s left Dick officially in the capacity of Batman of Gotham. He is fully capable of fighting crime, but he isn’t Bruce, and can’t be him. His whole outlook is different, and it is a great concern to him that those differences will cause him to fail in the end. He is strong and capable but merciful and with doubts. His driving force is justice, not vengeance.
□ Appearance:
Height: 5’10” Weight: 175 lbs.
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm173/fuyu_no_akegata/dickgrayson.jpg
Dick has black hair and bright blue eyes. He’s very well-muscled, but with mostly lean, lithe muscles, though his upper body is a bit more developed than average, an acrobat’s build. He is generally acknowledged to be quite attractive, both in his superhero and in his civilian identity. As Batman, he is noticeably shorter and slighter than his Bruce Wayne counterpart, and moves far more gracefully, though most villains don’t get a chance to notice. If they did, they’d notice more of a grinning daredevil than the half-seen demonic countenance Bruce displays when in the cowl.
When he is smiling (which is quite often, though less and less as the stresses of being the Batman build), he generally appears a few years younger than his true age, though he does have a few small laugh lines at the corners of his eyes and the edges of his mouth. He has quite a few scars scattered across his body from spending the great majority of his life fighting crime. . Knife slashes, stab wounds, bullet holes, and reminders of other injuries mar (or accentuate, depending on one's viewpoint) his otherwise magnificent physique.
He is almost always in motion, somehow. He can and will sit still if necessary - he is Batman, and grew up as Robin, so there were times he had to be absolutely still in his superhero persona - but if it isn’t absolutely needed, he will be moving around somehow. In Gotham Knights #20, an old Romani man tracked him down, mistakenly thinking the half-Romani (Gypsy) Dick was his grandson; the phrase the man used about his own son fits Dick as if it were made for him. “So full of laughter, he can’t keep still. Always rushing off again, so full of energy, so full of life.” This is his appearance, as much as his personality. It’s part of him in every way.
When in his civilian persona, for day to day life in Gotham, he usually wears jeans and a t-shirt or khakis and a buttondown. He has a more than adequate selection of formal wear, as well, as befits the adopted son of one of Gotham City’s more favored sons, the playboy billionaire Bruce Wayne.
His superhero wardrobe has thankfully matured through the years. As a young Robin, fighting beside Batman, he wore the familiar and iconic green pixie boots and short pants (often referred to jokingly as scaly green panties). This attire and the first two Nightwing costumes, as well as an eventual mullet and a long rattail, has often led to teasing by his friends in the Teen Titans about his questionable fashion choices. He just shrugs it off with a grin and a joke that none of them can rock the look like he can; they are only jealous that they can’t carry it off as well as him.
The traditional Batsuit generally consists of a gray form-fitting bodysuit with dark briefs worn over the suit. There is a dark, scalloped cape and cowl with the appearance of bat ears, and gauntlets with blade-like scallops. A black bat symbol spreads across the chest, sometimes encircled by a yellow ellipse. All versions of his costume have a yellow utility belt, packed full of the Batman’s trademark high-tech gadgets. Dick’s Batsuit features several changes to allow for his different fighting style. He has a lighter cape than Bruce’s to accommodate his aerial feats and his utility belt features a bat-shaped buckle. He has two scallops on his gauntlets as opposed to Bruce’s usual three. He also developed para-capes for his and his Robin's costumes, stiffening the capes on command, allowing them to glide.
□ Abilities/Powers:Dick was trained almost from birth as an aerialist, a trapeze performer in Haly’s Circus. At twelve, he was one of three people in the world who could turn a quadruple somersault midair, the other two being his parents. Training with Batman only increased his physical prowess. He is a top-level Olympic caliber athlete, at the pinnacle of physical condition in every aspect. He’s mastered multiple martial arts, focusing especially on aikido, judo, and capoeira, and melding them with his acrobatic abilities into a style distinctly his own. He prefers to fight unarmed, but when he does need a weapon, he prefers to use a pair of unbreakable polymer escrima sticks.
He has above average intelligence; he isn’t always the genius Bruce or Tim Drake might be, but overall, he puts his instincts to good use and is second only to Bruce as a detective. Bruce has trained him extensively in criminology, stealth and disguise, escapology, and the various other combat and non-combat disciplines necessary to fight crime in Gotham. He used those skills to his advantage as a policeman in Blüdhaven, and learned about how the non-vigilante side of crime-fighting works.
He is fluent in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Japanese and has a limited knowledge of Romany, the alien language of Tamaran, and American Sign Language. His tutelage included the necessary social niceties such as dancing and etiquette as well as politics and boardroom maneuvering.; in short, everything he needs to move about in the high society world Bruce has brought him into.
He is a brilliant strategist, well able to re-formulate plans mid-crisis, adapting to the current situation quickly and able to use his leadership skills to inspire those around him. As a team leader, he has surpassed even Bruce, using charm as much as leadership and ability to inspire others to rally the fight for the current cause.
Physically, his only real weakness is that he’s human. He’s a superhero, but he has no meta-powers. He isn’t Superman; kryptonite won’t take him down, but a bullet or meeting someone stronger, faster, or more able will. He and Bruce and the rest of the family have gotten to where they are by hard work and willpower, relentless training in everything, helped out with a healthy dose of the Wayne fortune to fund their hi-tech gadgets. So far, it’s mostly managed to work.
□ Personal Items: Items aren't usually very important to Dick, but he will have a Haly's Circus Flying Graysons poster. If possible, he will have a Batman and a Nightwing uniform, with only the escrima sticks for a weapon. He will also have a small photo album and the engagement ring he bought for Barbara Gordon, on a chain.
□ First Person Sample:
The air is almost stiflingly warm this high up in the tent, but I don’t care. I can feel the electricity running through my veins already, the thrill of anticipation, the adrenaline rush that always comes from flying, the excitement of being in the center ring. I live for it. I'm high up in the big top with my mother and father. I'm Dick Grayson, of Haly’s Circus’ Flying Graysons.
I flash my mother a blinding grin and grasp the bar of the trapeze, kicking off and swinging through the air, going higher and higher until I have enough momentum to throw myself free, defying gravity for a long (never long enough) moment, tucking and spinning and reaching blindly for the waiting arms, grasping my father’s strong, calloused hands after a perfectly-executed quad. I spin and flip, a laughing daredevil child, leaping and flying and finally landing back at my mother's side on the small platform. My cheeks are as red as the crimson of my costume, and my eyes sparkle to rival the sequins and rhinestones and the camera flashes in the audience.
They’re far below, a multi-colored blur of color and sound, but I don’t really look at them. I know they’re there and the performance is for them, but I ignore them even as I work the crowd, focusing on my act, on making it flawless, making them laugh and clap and gasp in terror and delight.
Mother is all business as she steps up to grasp the bar, though a bright, beautiful smile is on her face as well. She works higher and higher and a grin splits my face as I watch her, knowing what’s coming up, the new move my parents have perfected, deciding to debut it tonight in Gotham. She swings once more, higher than before, and then she’s arcing through the air, time slowing.
I'm watching her and then I look to father and then I'm frowning, jumping, pointing, waving frantically, screaming out. I see the frayed lines, know it is wrong. The crowd is too loud, though, and my parents too focused on the routine. No one can hear me.
Father must feel it first... I see him grasp tightly onto her arms as the balance shifts and lurches with her added weight. I see him, see the way he deviates from routine, trying to swing her up to the platform behind him. It’s too late, though, the line is raveling, stretching with the extra weight, and then finally snapping free, throwing them both through the air.
There is no net beneath us, not for this show, this act. This is the showstopper in the big city, the act that will make the three of us and Haly’s Circus famous, draw larger and larger crowds to us all. Definitely no one who watches tonight will ever forget.
My eyes are glued to the hurtling figures as time seems to slow, despite the ground rushing towards them. Father is calm and graceful, even though he knows what is happening, making a show of it all and grinning even in the face of certain death. Mother is off balance as she falls headfirst, but she looks up at me, blows me a kiss, doesn’t bother twisting or controlling her fall.
It can’t be happening, and I remember the man from before, can see his face before me now, the way he argued with Pop Haly, the cruel, sneering words. I remember seeing a man near the walls of the tent before the show. A stranger. He shouldn’t have been there. No one should have except the other members of the circus. No one had had time to listen to me, though, not before such a big show, and I'd let it pass as just another lost circus-goer.
I love you...
I’d do anything to save them, to go back and make it all right again.
It doesn’t matter. Father lands first, with a dull thud in the now silent tent. And then the screams begin. She lands but a fraction of a second after, on top of him. I know that part isn’t accident. He changed his trajectory, planned it all out as he fell, breaking her fall. A dull puddle of red seeps beneath him into the sawdust, drawing my eye. It is the same color as my costume.
I am already jumping for a rope, almost falling myself when I misjudge the distance. I can’t wait to climb down the ladder. I know she’s still alive. I have to get there, I have to help, I have to tell them I love them, tell them I'm sorry, I have to...
[Dick wakes, heart pounding, gasping, tears streaming down his cheeks, and he looks around, lost for a moment until he remembers where he is. He looks down into his hands and sees the device clutched tightly, flecked with a few bright drops of blood where his nails dug into his palms during the nightmare.]
I miss you... Still.
[He throws the thing across the room, at the wall, disappointed when there is no satisfying crunch of electronics, and he curls up and shakes, waiting for dawn.]
Re-done from a network post at Kanna.
□ Third Person Sample:
http://theloonybin.dreamwidth.org/26902.html?thread=15426838#cmt15426838
Two defining quotes by/about Dick:
"Whenever someone's asked what power they wish they had, flying is always at the top of the list. But I have to admit. I've learned to love falling too." Dick Grayson. Nightwing #142
"“He likes to free-fall. To him, this is fun. He handles the pressure — the responsibility — all of it, so … effortlessly. I wish I could be so comfortable in my own skin.” - Tim Drake/Red Robin Red Robin #23
□ Name: Fuyu
□ Age: 44
□ Contact: fuyu.no.akegata@gmail.com on gmail and hangouts and fuyunoakegata on plurk
□ Journal: fuyunoakegata.dreamwidth.org
□ Do you play anyone in Ariel?: no
□ Is this a re-application of a dropped character? If yes, when was the character dropped?: no
→ IC
□ Name:IC Dick Grayson
Dick is male and approximate age is somewhere between 27 and 30. I'm going with 28. Comics timelines are a special kind of fun :D
□ Journal: spread-my-wings.dreamwidth.org
□ Series: DC Comics: Batman, Detective Comics, Batman and Robin
□ Canon point: after Batman and Robin 26, Batman 713, and Detective Comics 881 and Gates of Gotham, but before the events of Flashpoint and the DCnU reboot
□ History: comics histories are ridiculous, if you aren't familiar with them (and often even if you are), especially when it's a character who's been around since 1939, so I am providing history links since more knowledge might be wanted than just his personal history.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Grayson_(Earth-Two)
and
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Richard_Grayson_(New_Earth)
Please ignore any history under the DCnU or New 52 sections, so that I don't have to tl;dr about the reboot :)
If interested in most relevant canon source material, reference especially Detective Comics #871-881, Batman #713, Batman & Robin #1-26, and Gates of Gotham #1-5
□ Personality:
It would be impossible to explain Dick without making multiple references to Bruce Wayne, the original Batman. Dick is defined by who he is not as much as by who he is. He is not the grim, stoic Dark Knight of Frank Miller’s late 80s comics, but neither is he the campy, goofy 60s Burt Ward sidekick. He is not a Bruce Wayne clone, though the man’s stamp is indelibly printed on him. Bruce took him in at a young age, and because of the circumstances of Dick’s parents’ murder, the majority of his world revolves around Bruce, both as his guardian, father figure, and mentor. They share a familial bond as well as the esprit de corps that comes along with fighting crime side by side, and intended or not, Bruce molded him into who he is today as much as the Graysons ever did. The love and happiness they shared with him before their death, however, tempered the harsher lessons he has learned at the Batman’s knee.
The single most significant events in shaping his life have been his parents’ murder before his eyes, his wardship with Bruce Wayne, and his subsequent vow to fight the evil-doers with him as Robin to Bruce’s Batman. One of the major differences between Bruce and Dick is that while Bruce swore vengeance on his parents’ grave, Dick Grayson has sworn justice.
Batman has always needed a Robin, a cheerful creature of the light to brighten his days and remind him what it is to be human, what it is they are fighting for. Dick is that ray of sunshine for Bruce/Batman and everyone else around him most of the time. He is very much a social person; he craves attention and approval and physical contact like others crave air. He is starting to move beyond an absolute need for Bruce’s approval, but it’s still very much a driving force in his life.
He can brood with the best, though, after all, he learned at the side of the original Batman, the Dark Knight, and he takes any faults or mistakes, real or imagined, to heart, holding guilt inside for far longer than is probably healthy. Despite this, he rarely lets anyone see how it affects him, and he is rarely one to sit and mope. If anything, he will train relentlessly, losing himself in the physical. Other burdens might be shared, but guilt is his alone. He holds himself to impossibly high standards and living up to what he sees as Bruce’s criteria, though even Bruce rarely judges himself as harshly as he does, himself. When a situation is resolved, however, the dark mood lifts, and his innate cheerfulness shines through the black clouds of insecurity. Once it’s over, it’s over. In the Devin Grayson run of Nightwing, Dick allowed a would-be vigilante to shoot and kill a villain who had been targeting anyone and everything Dick cared for. He was extremely distraught over it, though, and threw himself into the mission so totally that he neglected his own well-being. Soon after, he was seriously injured, and was worried what Bruce would think of him. Bruce replied that he could forgive losing sight of the value of the villain's life, but not losing sight of the value of his own.
Dick is something of the ideal big brother, despite originally being an only child. Bruce has managed to build something of a family, dysfunctional though it might at times be. Dick takes his role as eldest son seriously, though he has had more than his share of growing pains as he became his own man apart from Bruce’s rather large and all-encompassing shadow. He has been friend, companion, and mentor of sorts to all the Robins after him, though perhaps even more to Damian, the only non-orphan of the lot, and Bruce’s natural son. Father and son butted heads enough they couldn’t even work together at first, but Dick has been perhaps just what Damian needed to grow and fit into the Batfamily and learn their ideals.
The traditional Batman/Robin dynamic was reversed when Dick took the cowl. He kept something of his light-hearted attitude and spontaneity, while his Robin, Bruce’s son Damian, took on the scowling, badass role - the ultimate good cop, bad cop scenario. Dick brings a looser, more relaxed aspect to the persona of Batman, making it far easier for other members of the Justice League to work with him.
He is a natural leader, better than Bruce, actually, and takes his duties seriously, despite a keen sense of humor somewhat marred by a propensity for bad puns (though nowhere near as bad as Burt Ward’s Robin - Holy hole in a donut, Batman!). He also has a bit of a flair for the dramatic; he was a born entertainer, an aerialist from a young age, part of Haly Circus’ Flying Graysons trapeze act with his mother and father.
He has an innate charisma and appeal that just isn’t learned, one that manages to attract both males and females; it’s more than a sexual aura, though perhaps that’s part of it. Dick is just a likeable guy, and he flirts as easily as he walks, even without consciously turning on the charm.
He is an adopted son of Bruce Wayne, one of Gotham City’s most eligible bachelors. He doesn’t like to call attention to it or rely on the fortune and resources readily available to him. He has his pride and wants to prove he is his own man, not just a circus brat lucky enough to fall into the lap of luxury. He could, and does, generally live a fairly simple personal life, despite his current residence being in the penthouse of the Wayne Foundation Building. During his current tenure as Batman, he has set up his own life apart from Wayne Manor and the BatCave, setting up his base of operations within Gotham itself, in the BatBunker far beneath Wayne Enterprises.
Dick is almost completely selfless. He is a superhero; he has thrown himself in harm’s way more times than he could count, not that he would keep a tally, anyway. It’s just what he does, who he is. He took on the cowl for Bruce a second time, despite knowing it wasn’t his own personal choice all other factors aside, despite a video message from Bruce when they thought he was dead telling him not to. He knew Gotham needed Batman and he was the best choice for the job. The mission doesn’t consume him as it does Bruce, though. Depending on events, that could be either a strength or a weakness.
One of his biggest strengths is his optimism, in being able to see the glass half-full. He has a sense of community and a way of sharing burdens with his friends and teammates that Bruce could never hope to master. This optimism and his empathy draw others to him, inspiring them to greater heights, and increasing his effectiveness as a leader.
As well as being a strength, his empathy and love can also be one of his biggest weaknesses. He’s loyal to a fault. Literally. He gains strength from the very bonds that could potentially cripple him when his loved ones are threatened. That love, if used (im)properly by a villain, has at times brought him to pivotal crossroads. As of yet it has only forged him into something more; someday, it could shatter him instead, because he wears his heart on his sleeve, cares too much. His guilt could hold him captive far more securely than any opponents’ bonds.
In fact, most of Dick’s good characteristics can be taken to extremes and become faults; he rarely does anything halfway. Dick loves easily; despite having seen the worst in humanity, he still has his innate hope and faith in goodness, and he has projected such goodness onto others, even when it would probably be in his best interest not to. He’s a believer, and it hurts him just as much as it helps. Dick has arguably shown a fear of commitment, despite a surprising amount of marriage attempts for someone his age. It’s far easier for Dick to say ‘I love you,’ and even mean it, than it is for him fight to keep the relationship together when the other party has doubts, or say ‘I need you’.
At times, Dick seems unable to take anything seriously, to be a thrillseeker, immature, Peter Pan himself. He looks before he leaps, trusts when no logical reason for such has been shown, lets his heart rule his head. All of these are generally considered, to at least some degree, to be flaws; they might be coping mechanisms or potentially fatal personality quirks or masks to hide his true self, but as with his strengths becoming weaknesses, so too do some of his weaknesses work out to become strengths as well and bring him through to the other side, battered and bloody, but still hoping justice will prevail.
Dick soaked up everything Bruce had to teach him, like a sponge, but whereas Bruce planned compulsively, obsessively, thinking out every single contingent beforehand, Dick’s style is far more fluid and on the go, much like himself. It isn’t flying by the seat of his pants as much as seeing what needs to be done and doing it, then adapting the plan quickly, as necessary.
It usually works, too. Even when it does save the day, though, it can leave him injured. And he isn't the best patient in the world. He doesn’t wait for injuries to heal fully before heading back out into the field unless forced to. He once ripped the same wound open three times in several days, accidentally exposing his dual identity of Officer Dick Grayson, Bludhaven PD and Nightwing to his police partner, causing her to ask him to leave the force because of his moonlight job as a costumed vigilante. He is stubborn, and won’t give up even when he should, sometimes. Sheer willpower and luck have gotten him through as many crises as excellent medical care.
Bruce as Batman would likely sneak into a situation stealthily, tossing in a few flash-bang grenades and leaving just as quietly, a batarang in the wall and shifting shadows instilling fear with the very lack of visible presence. Dick, on the other hand, is a born entertainer, and believes the city needs a visible presence. He provides them with one, with as much flair and finesse as he can gather to him.
Now that he has taken over most of the day to day duties of Batman, it is tempering a little of his normal good humor. He still cracks jokes, and he still smiles and tries to lighten the situation, but there is a hint of grimness, now, a worry that the city of Gotham mutates to match the fears of the current Batman, and surprisingly, Dick’s fears are far stranger and darker than Bruce’s. He’s having to deal with filling Batman’s boots; he no longer thinks Bruce is dead, but now that Bruce has gone public with the concept of funding the Batman enterprise worldwide, he’s left Dick officially in the capacity of Batman of Gotham. He is fully capable of fighting crime, but he isn’t Bruce, and can’t be him. His whole outlook is different, and it is a great concern to him that those differences will cause him to fail in the end. He is strong and capable but merciful and with doubts. His driving force is justice, not vengeance.
□ Appearance:
Height: 5’10” Weight: 175 lbs.
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm173/fuyu_no_akegata/dickgrayson.jpg
Dick has black hair and bright blue eyes. He’s very well-muscled, but with mostly lean, lithe muscles, though his upper body is a bit more developed than average, an acrobat’s build. He is generally acknowledged to be quite attractive, both in his superhero and in his civilian identity. As Batman, he is noticeably shorter and slighter than his Bruce Wayne counterpart, and moves far more gracefully, though most villains don’t get a chance to notice. If they did, they’d notice more of a grinning daredevil than the half-seen demonic countenance Bruce displays when in the cowl.
When he is smiling (which is quite often, though less and less as the stresses of being the Batman build), he generally appears a few years younger than his true age, though he does have a few small laugh lines at the corners of his eyes and the edges of his mouth. He has quite a few scars scattered across his body from spending the great majority of his life fighting crime. . Knife slashes, stab wounds, bullet holes, and reminders of other injuries mar (or accentuate, depending on one's viewpoint) his otherwise magnificent physique.
He is almost always in motion, somehow. He can and will sit still if necessary - he is Batman, and grew up as Robin, so there were times he had to be absolutely still in his superhero persona - but if it isn’t absolutely needed, he will be moving around somehow. In Gotham Knights #20, an old Romani man tracked him down, mistakenly thinking the half-Romani (Gypsy) Dick was his grandson; the phrase the man used about his own son fits Dick as if it were made for him. “So full of laughter, he can’t keep still. Always rushing off again, so full of energy, so full of life.” This is his appearance, as much as his personality. It’s part of him in every way.
When in his civilian persona, for day to day life in Gotham, he usually wears jeans and a t-shirt or khakis and a buttondown. He has a more than adequate selection of formal wear, as well, as befits the adopted son of one of Gotham City’s more favored sons, the playboy billionaire Bruce Wayne.
His superhero wardrobe has thankfully matured through the years. As a young Robin, fighting beside Batman, he wore the familiar and iconic green pixie boots and short pants (often referred to jokingly as scaly green panties). This attire and the first two Nightwing costumes, as well as an eventual mullet and a long rattail, has often led to teasing by his friends in the Teen Titans about his questionable fashion choices. He just shrugs it off with a grin and a joke that none of them can rock the look like he can; they are only jealous that they can’t carry it off as well as him.
The traditional Batsuit generally consists of a gray form-fitting bodysuit with dark briefs worn over the suit. There is a dark, scalloped cape and cowl with the appearance of bat ears, and gauntlets with blade-like scallops. A black bat symbol spreads across the chest, sometimes encircled by a yellow ellipse. All versions of his costume have a yellow utility belt, packed full of the Batman’s trademark high-tech gadgets. Dick’s Batsuit features several changes to allow for his different fighting style. He has a lighter cape than Bruce’s to accommodate his aerial feats and his utility belt features a bat-shaped buckle. He has two scallops on his gauntlets as opposed to Bruce’s usual three. He also developed para-capes for his and his Robin's costumes, stiffening the capes on command, allowing them to glide.
□ Abilities/Powers:Dick was trained almost from birth as an aerialist, a trapeze performer in Haly’s Circus. At twelve, he was one of three people in the world who could turn a quadruple somersault midair, the other two being his parents. Training with Batman only increased his physical prowess. He is a top-level Olympic caliber athlete, at the pinnacle of physical condition in every aspect. He’s mastered multiple martial arts, focusing especially on aikido, judo, and capoeira, and melding them with his acrobatic abilities into a style distinctly his own. He prefers to fight unarmed, but when he does need a weapon, he prefers to use a pair of unbreakable polymer escrima sticks.
He has above average intelligence; he isn’t always the genius Bruce or Tim Drake might be, but overall, he puts his instincts to good use and is second only to Bruce as a detective. Bruce has trained him extensively in criminology, stealth and disguise, escapology, and the various other combat and non-combat disciplines necessary to fight crime in Gotham. He used those skills to his advantage as a policeman in Blüdhaven, and learned about how the non-vigilante side of crime-fighting works.
He is fluent in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Japanese and has a limited knowledge of Romany, the alien language of Tamaran, and American Sign Language. His tutelage included the necessary social niceties such as dancing and etiquette as well as politics and boardroom maneuvering.; in short, everything he needs to move about in the high society world Bruce has brought him into.
He is a brilliant strategist, well able to re-formulate plans mid-crisis, adapting to the current situation quickly and able to use his leadership skills to inspire those around him. As a team leader, he has surpassed even Bruce, using charm as much as leadership and ability to inspire others to rally the fight for the current cause.
Physically, his only real weakness is that he’s human. He’s a superhero, but he has no meta-powers. He isn’t Superman; kryptonite won’t take him down, but a bullet or meeting someone stronger, faster, or more able will. He and Bruce and the rest of the family have gotten to where they are by hard work and willpower, relentless training in everything, helped out with a healthy dose of the Wayne fortune to fund their hi-tech gadgets. So far, it’s mostly managed to work.
□ Personal Items: Items aren't usually very important to Dick, but he will have a Haly's Circus Flying Graysons poster. If possible, he will have a Batman and a Nightwing uniform, with only the escrima sticks for a weapon. He will also have a small photo album and the engagement ring he bought for Barbara Gordon, on a chain.
□ First Person Sample:
The air is almost stiflingly warm this high up in the tent, but I don’t care. I can feel the electricity running through my veins already, the thrill of anticipation, the adrenaline rush that always comes from flying, the excitement of being in the center ring. I live for it. I'm high up in the big top with my mother and father. I'm Dick Grayson, of Haly’s Circus’ Flying Graysons.
I flash my mother a blinding grin and grasp the bar of the trapeze, kicking off and swinging through the air, going higher and higher until I have enough momentum to throw myself free, defying gravity for a long (never long enough) moment, tucking and spinning and reaching blindly for the waiting arms, grasping my father’s strong, calloused hands after a perfectly-executed quad. I spin and flip, a laughing daredevil child, leaping and flying and finally landing back at my mother's side on the small platform. My cheeks are as red as the crimson of my costume, and my eyes sparkle to rival the sequins and rhinestones and the camera flashes in the audience.
They’re far below, a multi-colored blur of color and sound, but I don’t really look at them. I know they’re there and the performance is for them, but I ignore them even as I work the crowd, focusing on my act, on making it flawless, making them laugh and clap and gasp in terror and delight.
Mother is all business as she steps up to grasp the bar, though a bright, beautiful smile is on her face as well. She works higher and higher and a grin splits my face as I watch her, knowing what’s coming up, the new move my parents have perfected, deciding to debut it tonight in Gotham. She swings once more, higher than before, and then she’s arcing through the air, time slowing.
I'm watching her and then I look to father and then I'm frowning, jumping, pointing, waving frantically, screaming out. I see the frayed lines, know it is wrong. The crowd is too loud, though, and my parents too focused on the routine. No one can hear me.
Father must feel it first... I see him grasp tightly onto her arms as the balance shifts and lurches with her added weight. I see him, see the way he deviates from routine, trying to swing her up to the platform behind him. It’s too late, though, the line is raveling, stretching with the extra weight, and then finally snapping free, throwing them both through the air.
There is no net beneath us, not for this show, this act. This is the showstopper in the big city, the act that will make the three of us and Haly’s Circus famous, draw larger and larger crowds to us all. Definitely no one who watches tonight will ever forget.
My eyes are glued to the hurtling figures as time seems to slow, despite the ground rushing towards them. Father is calm and graceful, even though he knows what is happening, making a show of it all and grinning even in the face of certain death. Mother is off balance as she falls headfirst, but she looks up at me, blows me a kiss, doesn’t bother twisting or controlling her fall.
It can’t be happening, and I remember the man from before, can see his face before me now, the way he argued with Pop Haly, the cruel, sneering words. I remember seeing a man near the walls of the tent before the show. A stranger. He shouldn’t have been there. No one should have except the other members of the circus. No one had had time to listen to me, though, not before such a big show, and I'd let it pass as just another lost circus-goer.
I love you...
I’d do anything to save them, to go back and make it all right again.
It doesn’t matter. Father lands first, with a dull thud in the now silent tent. And then the screams begin. She lands but a fraction of a second after, on top of him. I know that part isn’t accident. He changed his trajectory, planned it all out as he fell, breaking her fall. A dull puddle of red seeps beneath him into the sawdust, drawing my eye. It is the same color as my costume.
I am already jumping for a rope, almost falling myself when I misjudge the distance. I can’t wait to climb down the ladder. I know she’s still alive. I have to get there, I have to help, I have to tell them I love them, tell them I'm sorry, I have to...
[Dick wakes, heart pounding, gasping, tears streaming down his cheeks, and he looks around, lost for a moment until he remembers where he is. He looks down into his hands and sees the device clutched tightly, flecked with a few bright drops of blood where his nails dug into his palms during the nightmare.]
I miss you... Still.
[He throws the thing across the room, at the wall, disappointed when there is no satisfying crunch of electronics, and he curls up and shakes, waiting for dawn.]
Re-done from a network post at Kanna.
□ Third Person Sample:
http://theloonybin.dreamwidth.org/26902.html?thread=15426838#cmt15426838
Two defining quotes by/about Dick:
"Whenever someone's asked what power they wish they had, flying is always at the top of the list. But I have to admit. I've learned to love falling too." Dick Grayson. Nightwing #142
"“He likes to free-fall. To him, this is fun. He handles the pressure — the responsibility — all of it, so … effortlessly. I wish I could be so comfortable in my own skin.” - Tim Drake/Red Robin Red Robin #23