[ ooc ] application to ataraxion

[timeisluck]

P L A Y E R I N F O R M A T I O N
Your Name: Zelly
OOC Journal: dynastessa
Under 18? If yes, what is your age?: Definitely over 18.
Email + IM: gabardine.suits at gmail dot com; teh frodo on AIM + @skyfell on Plurk.
Characters Played at Ataraxion: Gwen will be my first!

C H A R A C T E R I N F O R M A T I O N
Name: Gwen Stacy
Canon: The Amazing Spiderman (movie)
Original or Alternate Universe: Original
Canon Point: Post-The Amazing Spiderman
Number: 033 » 151

Setting: Gwen Stacy comes from an Earth very similar to ours, in a different Marvel canon-line known as Earth-120703, which is basically The Amazing Spiderman Cinematic Universe. She lives in New York City and attends Midtown Science High School, both locations that could plausibly exist in our world but don’t. Science is much more ‘advanced’ in this world, with work being done in cross-genetics and the (mostly accidental) possibility for mutations to create advanced human beings in the form of superheroes and supervillains like Spiderman and The Lizard.

History:
Gwen Stacy is the eldest child and only daughter of the esteemed Captain George Stacy, public face of the NYPD, and Helen Stacy, a successful lawyer. She has three siblings: Philip, Howard and Simon, all younger than she is and in varying ages of elementary and middle school. (It’s never specified just what ages they are.) The family lives in a swanky penthouse apartment in Manhattan and everything is pretty normal as far as family life goes. They also appear to be a middle-class family with enough money never having to worry about wanting for something – but the Stacy’s aren’t by any means one of Manhattan’s Richest (like the Osborns, for example). The Stacy children are treated like regular sons and daughters, scolded when they do something wrong, praised when they reach their achievements, they get good grades, participate in school teams and clubs, and they often sit down for family meals – especially when their father is around.

George Stacy clearly dotes on his only daughter, allowing her to retain her sense of innocence (see: asking her if she’d like a cup of cocoa, fondly reminding her that only a week before Gwen had told him she wanted to live in a chocolate house) and is incredibly protective over her well-being and safety. Gwen appears to have a close relationship with her father, closer than with the rest of her family. She worries over his safety too, what with being a cop (and a high-ranking one at that), having to hope and pray that he comes back home every night from work. She admits this to Peter when he comes into her bedroom, injured, after a fight with The Lizard:

‘I know what this is. Every day for as long as I can remember, my father has left every morning and has put a badge on his chest and strapped a gun to his hip. And every day for as long as I can remember I haven’t known if he was gonna make it home.’

Speaking of Peter ... during the events of The Amazing Spiderman, she and Peter are classmates. She knows Peter by name and face (‘I know, I just wanted to know if you knew,’ she says when she asks Peter for his name), and is certainly aware of his role as the school’s photographer but she only really takes notice of him when he stands up for one of the kids Flash Thompson (also a fellow classmate) is bullying on the school grounds. She tells him later that it was a really brave thing he did but that it was also equally as stupid.

Gwen is an active participant in many of Midtown’s extra-curricular activities such as the debate team, though she doesn't seem to be all that interested in athletics. Nevertheless, her high grades and participation in the school community set her up to be the perfect candidate for valedictorian in The Amazing Spiderman 2. Her grades and activity in school also allow her opportunities such as her internship at Oscorp where she currently works (supposedly after school, in between all of her thousands of other activities) as Chief Intern. She takes her job very seriously and appears to enjoy it greatly, proudly leading potential interns and interested students on tours, for example. The employees, especially Dr Connors, appreciate her hard work and bright mind, going so far as to write her a reference letter so touching it may or may not have brought tears to her father’s eyes. (Which, yes, was probably said with a fair amount of sarcasm but there’s clearly also truth (although albeit humourously exaggerated.))

When she discovers the truth about Peter (he’s Spiderman!) during a family dinner that Gwen invites Peter to (serving branzino – because who doesn't love branzino?), it only starts something serious between them. She is charmed by his awkward manner and shyness, and she takes notice of his incredible intelligence, which she claims is second only to hers. A part of her is exasperated by her father’s reaction to Peter’s opinions on Spiderman when it comes up in conversation, and when she takes Peter up to the roof for some ‘air’, it’s clear she isn’t upset at him. It’s definitely not the dinner she probably had in mind, inviting Peter over, but their first kiss is pretty epic when he webslings her just as she’s about to walk away from him. She’s incredibly grateful and relieved that he would share this secret with her, and clearly the good deeds he’s done and his need to be good and be a hero only makes her like him more (‘Oh, I’m in trouble.’).

And when she learns that her boss, and someone she admires professionally, Dr Connors, is actually out to turn the whole city’s populace into a bunch of regenerating lizard-people, she is in disbelief but doesn’t doubt the truth from her (now) boyfriend. She is quick to bash Connors over the head with a trophy, when he (as a fully grown mutated lizard) pays Midtown Science High School a ‘visit’ through the plumbing, and she doesn’t hesitate to help Spiderman produce an antidote to save the city, though she loses her father in the process during a confrontation between her father, Spiderman and The Lizard. Gwen isn’t around when the fight occurs. Once Gwen reaches ground-zero, antidote in hand, she runs into her father who sends her away for her own safety. He reassures her that she’s got her boyfriend’s back; Gwen realizes at that moment that her father knows who Spiderman really is. She trusts him, leaving the antidote with him. This is the last time Gwen sees her dad.

The death of her father hits Gwen hard, but she isn’t the type to fall into inactivity and depression, choosing instead to keep going and honour her father’s memory that way. She attends the funeral, still in shock at the loss, noticing that the one person who was so important to her and also a witness to her father’s tragic end was missing (even though technically Peter was around, just hidden) from attendance. Very soon after the funeral, Gwen goes to Peter’s house to confront him, only to be told that they ‘can’t do this’, that Peter can’t see her anymore. She is crushed, especially in the wake of her father’s death, but she’s quick enough to realize that while her father was warming to Peter (and Spiderman, when he’d discovered the truth), he still wanted – above all – to guarantee her safety. So long as Peter continued to be Spiderman, he was going to make enemies; there was always a good chance that she’d be in harm’s way.

‘He made you promise, didn’t he?’ she asks him. ‘To stay away from me, so I’d be safe.’

When Peter says nothing, Gwen knows she’s right in her assessment. Losing both her dad and Peter all in one go is difficult on Gwen, but she forces herself to take it in stride and to keep going, concentrating on what she does have control over: her studies. She deliberately ignores Peter and it isn’t until one day in class that Peter arrives late and takes the seat behind Gwen. Their teacher comments on his tardiness and warns him against making promises he can’t keep, to which Peter whispers, ‘Yeah, but those are the best kind.’ She smiles a little to herself, instantly warmed by the quiet confession, implying that she’s willing to give him a second chance.

It is from this point, when Gwen’s life seems like it might start to pick up again … that I am dropping her on to the Tranquility ship. (Sorry, Gwen! Your challenges are not over yet!) While she’s been the strength and stability for other people, I’d like to see her be more of that for herself and to be okay with losing control every now and then. And in addition to that, seeing Peter (and Harry) on a completely foreign and different setting will be interesting, testing the limits of her reactions to new situations that pull her completely out of her normal, human life.

Personality:
During the course of the first film, Gwen quickly becomes Peter’s support and tether to the real dangers and sacrifices of being a superhero. Gwen has experience with something similar already. With her father being a cop, she has had years to worry over his well-being, hoping that he would come home every night and worrying when he’s a little late or when he can’t answer his cell phone, that sort of thing. At the same time, she and the rest of the Stacy family acts as George’s tether, something to keep him fighting for and coming home to.

To make her father proud and to keep him from having to worry too much about her, Gwen did what she could: she did well in school, never got into trouble, and made sure that she could do things on her own. She became very self-sufficient, but happily so. Seeing her dad so proud of her accomplishments (after all, she did share her shining reference letter from Connors with him and what teenager openly shares reference letters with their parents?) gives her joy too. Gwen is admittedly a daddy’s girl.

Her maturity stems from her having to accept her father's role in the city, and being the eldest daughter and sister to three younger boys. Gwen takes 'setting a good example' quite seriously, demonstrating it with the way she acts with her family (and her brothers) and in the workplace as well, being the professional, mature chief intern leading a group tour of students that are likely her own age.

Doing this – getting stellar grades, figuring her life out, concentrating on her love of science and math - was also a way for her to control what she could. She couldn’t control her dad’s fate, just like she can’t control Peter’s as Spiderman, but she does what she can and she does so stubbornly. Gwen is not a half-hearted person. If she does something, she’ll do it with everything she’s got. She’s a little bit of a workaholic, and she’s a high achiever too. She won’t do anything second-rate.

Therefore: Gwen is obviously very bright and she is also incredibly hard working. She is focused. Sometimes this might lead her to forget about other things in life, like fun. She spends a lot of her time doing things for school and work that she plays it a bit cautious. She definitely has the potential for a rebellious streak, or at least one where she will let loose and have fun with a little extra prodding but she prefers what she can keep under control. She does have a good sense of humour, easy to tease Peter with a fair amount of fondness and to come up with things like living in chocolate houses (and probably other similar things). She’s quick to catch on to things like secrets, social cues, and is pretty good at reading people. She is confident in herself and what she knows and is capable of; of course, she may sometimes think she’s capable of much more than her fragile, normal human body can do – but them’s the breaks. Her strength arguably brings the strength out of others because she believes in them. When she likes you, she likes you; she doesn’t hide her feelings terribly well and she’s much quicker to act on them than some. (Peter, if you like her, ask her out. Don’t just bumble your way with half-words and awkward stuttering! … even if it totally worked on her.)

The thing about Gwen is that she’s an absolutely normal teenage girl but these extraordinary things are happening around her, affecting her world and those who mean a lot to her. She seems surprisingly good at taking it all in stride, her exterior showing that she isn’t shaken by it. But the way she processes her emotions and her weaknesses is through her work. The more complicated and crazy a situation gets, the harder Gwen works to do something, anything to distract her mind from it. When everything was getting out of hand and her relationship with Peter seemed tragically over, Gwen went ahead and tried for a place in Oxford University, her top school and a very competitive program to get into. She got it too. She draws strength for herself through doing something about it rather than wallowing. She is, by no means, a flawless character. She is shaken by huge, life-changing events such as her father’s death and the possible loss of Peter.

Overall, Gwen Stacy is the confident, solid, rock-like presence that Peter Parker needed to get him through the changes going on in his own life, from normal human nerd boy to New York City’s masked vigilante hero. Peter telling Gwen his secret was probably the best thing he could have done. He couldn’t have told his secret to anyone better than her. Gwen is incredibly trustworthy, loyal, and keeps a secret under absolute lock and key. She lends him her strength and unwavering trust in him. She doesn’t hold him back from doing what he has to because it is his decision in the end, but she’s the logical voice that asks the questions he may or may not be thinking of, as she does during their conversation on the bleachers.

‘I mean, why?’
[…]
‘I gotta go after it.’
‘But that’s not your job,’ she tells him.
‘Maybe it is.’

And above all, she cares. She’s a warm, approachable person with not a single ill-intentioned bone in her body.

Abilities, Weaknesses and Power Limitations:
The wonderful thing about Gwen is that she is, as far as a protagonist in a superhero franchise goes, quite perfectly ordinary. She has no superpowers to speak of and isn't super strong or can shoot lasers or anything like that. Instead, she relies on her smarts and quick wit to move herself forward in life. She is the top of her class, even beating Peter Parker for the position. She is quick to grasp concepts, and is eager to help – even when the situation really might do better without her there, for her own good.

She has a very strong sense of self; she knows what she wants and once she has set her goal, she will do anything she can to achieve it. She is confident and articulate and she is clearly not afraid of confrontation, although it seems Peter Parker might be her weakness there, as seen during the scene at school when Peter attempts to ask her out and she responds in a similar, flustered nature.

She has a strong impulsive moral compass to do the right thing; as a result she can sometimes put herself in harm’s way for the benefit of the good even if it might blow up in her face later. (Or, you know, kill her. But we don’t get to that at this point of her canon.) This is partly because she is that smart, and she doesn’t doubt that her participation could improve the chances of whatever plan being cooked up working successfully. There’s a ‘nice’ kind of arrogance in Gwen, where her intentions are good and seek to help instead of hinder, and while she really does mean well, it can sometimes get her into trouble.

Inventory:
Clothing: this outfit, this outfit, two sets of shoes (this and this), undergarments, socks
1 bag of makeup essentials: eyeliner, mascara, curling iron, blush, concealers and foundation, lip gloss, hair ties, etc.
1 photograph of her family
1 can of hot cocoa powder
1 notebook filled with her notes from her time in Oscorp

Appearance:
Gwen is a regular teenage girl, very pretty, with a taste for trendy fashionable items: skirts, blazers, colourful patterns, etc. She is blonde-haired (medium-length, often curled) and green-eyed (no glasses to speak of), and stands at 5'6". She has a warm and approachable smile and a bright, intelligent look in her eyes. She looks like (this) and is portrayed by the flawless Emma Stone.
Age: 17

AU Clarification: N/A

S A M P L E S
Log Sample:
There's the flashing of yellow emergency lights in an otherwise dark room. She's not sure where she is, but it feels familiar, like she's been there thousands of times before. She can hear the sound of heavy footsteps - slow and steady, and then suddenly the light is so bright she's blinded for a moment; and it's so hot, too, that she's afraid it'll burn her skin off. There's the sound of a growl, low and gutteral, like something in pain - and then suddenly she can hear her father shouting for her. She doesn't even have the chance to scream, the air in her throat is stolen into a half-strangled gasp --

And suddenly she wakes up.

The room around her is only dimly lit at best, and a different set of memories replace the images from her dream (or really, more like a nightmare, god) so that she remembers choking and slipping on something, her totally naked body covered in something slimy.

She hoists herself from the cold floor where she'd been lying flat on her back (how did she get there again?) and dusts herself off, absent-mindedly straightening the hem of her skirt without even realizing it. It's one of those tics, a thing she does to occupy her hands while her brain tries to hypothesize just what it is that's going on here. Her cheeks are wet with tears and she wipes them dry, the last step in regaining her composure.

Come on, Gwen, stop thinking about Dad. Stop thinking about your dream.

She moves to the bed, sits, and takes a breath, fingers clutching at the sheets under her. There'd been a lot to get used to since her arrival on this ship, least of all knowing she was in space and not anywhere remotely near her Earth. And then there'd been all the conversations and investigations, just Gwen being Gwen, a curious girl trying to gather as much information as she could to solve what she knew was going to be the greatest problem in her life.

(After all, when is she ever going to face anything crazier than being kidnapped on a spaceship, out of nowhere, with no warning, and with a whole bunch of other people in a similar situation and no real answers to speak of?)

The silence ringing in her ears feels unnatural. It's too quiet, that's what it is. But why? Who sent her here? Where is here? How did she even get here without her knowledge? Question after question, like the beginnings of a report, fill her mind, allowing her (thank God) to forget the momentary pounding in her chest and the tightness of breath in her throat.

She will not panic. Gwen Stacy does not panic.

It's just a dream, she thinks. She's not dead, she can still breathe, and okay, fine, her fingers are a little cold - but that's just a momentary circulation issue, her body just responding to her emotional reactions.

She swallows the anxiety down, keeps it pressed into the pit of her stomach, then gets to her feet and walks into the hallway. She needs to focus on the matter at hand because the sooner she figures this out, the sooner she can go home to her mom and her brothers.

And Peter, she thinks. God, I miss Peter.

The thought both calms her and sends another wave of cold fear up the length of her spine. No, she doesn't always think like a scientist. She thinks like a regular human girl, too. And it's that secondary thought that she finds herself holding on to. There's familiarity there. And a human connection. In a place so cold and sterile, and - honestly - lonely, humanity is the most logical thing to keep her grounded.

Okay.

Okay, she's got this.

Once she gathers enough data, something will start to appear. A lead. An answer. And then a method to get home.


Comms Sample:
[ There's a moment of hesitation before Gwen takes a breath and begins to speak into the little communication device with the ease of someone who's got a lot of experience using devices not unlike this one from another world and another time.

She considered using the video-feed but she's not sure who's out there just yet and until she gets a little more information, it's probably best to play it safe. (She isn't stupid.) Text, on the other hand, seemed a little too mechanic. If anyone here was human, like her; and from Earth, like her, a little bit of familiarity in that area couldn't hurt. And maybe it'd appeal to the non-people too. Who knows? ]

Hi.

So I guess I've found myself on this huge ship and - and I have a lot of questions. If anyone out there is willing to give me some answers, it'd be greatly appreciated.

[ There's a slight pause as she considers how to wrap this up in a way that is polite and approachable. Dealing with the unknown, it's probably not a good idea to be rude. So, cheerfully: ] You know where to reach me.

[ And then there's the briefest pause before a hasty: ] My name is Gwen. [ is added on. ]