Post by macmacmac on Sept 21, 2006 19:48:47 GMT -5
Name: Jean-Paul Martin (formerly and eventually Beaubier)
Codename(s): Northstar
Affiliation: X-Men
Age: 25
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 185 lbs
Hair Color: Black, streaked with silver
Eye Color: Blue
Appearance: Northstar has straight black hair, kept fashionably short and threaded heavily with natural silver streaks; bright blue eyes; and a fair complexion. He's naturally lanky and built slender, but between his love for skiing and his activities as a mutant, he's developed an athletic muscle tone.
All in all, Northstar looks a lot like his twin, except, thank goodness, more male. He's good looking, but too boyish to be "pretty." His looks are one of the few things he is genuinely confident about, and therefore one of the few things he doesn't feel the need to overcompensate for; he takes the time to look nice, when he has it, but he doesn't preen. (He also does not have a lisp or limp wrists. He does not carry around rainbow flags. His jumpsuit is not pink. He just wants everyone to be aware of that.)
He dresses smartly, both because he likes the style and because it makes good business sense to do so. He owns exactly three t-shirts, which are the plain gray, comes-in-a-bag sort, to wear when he's planning on sweating; otherwise, he won't be found without a collar, and often times a sports jacket as well.
Though it's not a matter of appearance, he speaks with a French Canadian accent. He has spent enough time in America and seen enough American film and television that he can hide it if he wants, and it usually fades a little once he's been away from home for a while, but he'll still break into Quebec French if he's overly angry or distraught or feels like confusing people.
Personality: First and most importantly, Jean-Paul is pretty normal, at least as far as mutants go. He doesn't have an extreme personality in any direction; "arrogant" means "mildly arrogant," not "extremely arrogant," and "inferiorty complex" means "mild inferiority complex," not "raging bucket of self-loathing and overcompensation." However, the word "mild" gets tiring, so consider this a handy, blanket disclaimer.
That out of the way, Northstar is arrogant and has an inferiority complex. Or he has an inferiority complex and is therefore arrogant, if we want to be causal about it. He overcompensates, and almost always has, for being a mutant, being gay, being an orphan, being Canadian (joke, joke, it's a joke; he's actually very proud of Quebec) -- the list just goes on and on.
He's a fundamentally decent person, but he is not above a spot of cheating or fighting dirty if that's what it takes. Some of his youthful resentment of authority still lingers, though he's not nearly so destructively angry as he used to be. For someone so in need of tolerance from other people, Northstar is also, hypocritically, judgemental and stubborn. He is fast to make up his mind about things and slow to change it once he has. His first impressions of people stick, hard.
He's not a genius and doesn't care much for books, but he's smart enough to carry on intelligent conversation and has a head for money and business. He's responsible, not to the point of being a leader in a crowd, but enough that others can depend on him to do what he says he'll do. He appreciates humor, though he doesn't tell many jokes himself. He gets along with people best when it's impersonal; he becomes more sarcastic and distant if they try to get personal, and doesn't make real friends as easily as he makes acquaintances, but he's never poked anyone's eye out with a stick or anything.
He's easily swayed into Believing In Things; use words like "freedom" and "equality," or pictures of hungry children, and he'll likely help. Unfortunately, his tendency to Believe In Things, coupled with the aforementioned judging, anger, stubbornness and overcompensation, can lead him to do utterly stupid things, such as joining a terrorist cell. (He does feel guilty for that particular thing in hindsight, but that doesn't mean he won't do something slightly different but equally stupid in the future.)
Northstar is relatively comfortable with his homosexuality: secure enough to tell the truth if someone asks, but insecure enough to get into fights with people who bother him about it. Few things make him angrier than a homophobic mutant, and he is a little worried that in the press for mutant rights, gay rights will be forgotten.
Powers and Abilities: Northstar can propel himself at superhuman speed in any direction, whether across the ground or through the air, by refocusing the random kinetic energy in his molecules in the direction of a unified force. At all times, though especially when he is using the above ability, his cells are more durable in regards to extreme temperatures or forces.
His ability to harness molecular energy may also allow him to create blinding bursts of light, but he has not discovered this potential yet.
Weaknesses: Ability-wise, Northstar cannot travel at the speed of light; in fact, it's only safe for him to travel at the speed of his own mind. His reflexes, though good, do not grow any faster through his mutation, so he can only go as fast as he can dodge oncoming objects. He has never measured exactly how fast he can go, however, because after a certain point his entire body begins to hurt -- and he's never gone any faster than that, knowing that he could potentially kill himself. It's also physically taxing, though it takes a while to completely exhaust him.
Otherwise, he's certainly a flawed person: stubborn, a bit arrogant, judgemental, etc. He also has to deal with prejudice on two fronts instead of just one, and has committed acts of questionable legality and morality in the past that could cause him plenty of trouble if ever drug into light.
History: Jean-Paul and his twin sister Jeanne-Marie were separated as infants after their parents died in an automobile accident. Jean-Paul was adopted by the Martins, cousins of his birth mother, but they couldn't afford to keep Jeanne-Marie as well, and Jean-Paul was never informed that he had a sister. In a stroke of terrible luck, the Martins also died about five years later, and Jean-Paul entered into the custody of the Canadian government at the age of six.
He didn't begin as a troublesome child, but after being shifted from temporary home to temporary home, he became one. In school, he swang wildly between being quiet and shy, and getting into playground fights. The situation only worsened when he reached puberty, at which point his hair began growing in silver and he started to realize that he was gay.
By the age of 13, Jean-Paul had stopped attending school whenever he could get away with it, merely to avoid his classmates. When he was in the classroom he was aloof and condescending, often without any cause to be. When he wasn't, he ran loose in the streets of Montreal, shoplifting and generally being a ruffian. It only went on for a few months, however, before a shopkeeper named Raymonde Belmonde caught him trying to steal.
The two ended up bonding. Belmonde was neither gay nor a mutant, but he liked Jean-Paul and helped him to accept both about himself. Belmonde also taught him how to ski, and Jean-Paul learned to control his abilities while on the slopes. He was good at it, obviously, and tried skiing competitively; he was a favorite among judges until he was outed as a mutant, accused of cheating (not entirely incorrectly) and forced to quit.
Unfortunately, the incident caused him to backslide somewhat into his previous anger, and his resentment found an outlet when a few shady men approached him regarding the Front de Libertation du Quebec. Despite only being 15 years old, Jean-Paul was soon running messages for them with his superhuman speed. He continued for nearly a year, also getting mixed up with the radical Cell Combattre, until he learned that they had planted a bomb on a bus -- and that he had helped.
Jean-Paul decided he wanted out, and admitted to Belmonde what he had been doing. The man decided the best thing for him would be a new environment and sent Jean-Paul to the Xavier Institute in New York. He did much better there than he ever had in his previous schools, even if he did get saddled with the very un-Quebecan name of "Northstar." (He got over it.)
Northstar was on track for eventually joining the X-Men when, at the age of 20, he found out that Belmonde was ill. A few rapid adjustments to his plans, and Northstar was back in Montreal, attending university there for business and economics and helping Belmonde run his shop until the man passed away, leaving Northstar about half of what he owned, including the business. (The rest went to charities and a distant cousin.)
Jean-Paul thought that he would be content staying in Quebec and running Belmonde's store. He was surprisingly good at it, he liked being back in Quebec, and he was able to go skiing nearly every weekend. If he hadn't been banned from competitive skiing, he might have stayed for the rest of his life. He was banned, however, and after a few years he started to get restless. There was only so much excitement and competitiveness to be found in selling used books.
He was vaguely contemplating going back to the United States when he was approached with a few offers to buy his business. He negotiated, instead, to hand off the management and most of the profit, while still technically owning it -- leaving him with enough of an income to live off of, though not luxuriously. Then, since he no longer had a real reason to stay, he headed back to the United States, hoping (or assuming) he would be of some use in the continuing conflict.
Sample post:Jean-Paul rolled down his window and stuck his head out, craning to the side to look down the long line of break lights -- 15-minute border stop, his ass. He hadn't moved an inch in twenty.
Life would have been so much easier if his luggage could take the same pressure as his body. And if he could carry his car. He could have been in New York hours ago, assuming the U.S.A.F. didn't try to shoot him down, which actually wouldn't have surprised him very much.
But life still would have been easier.
"Pardon me," he said, in his best I'm-an-adult-so-come-here sort of voice. It worked about halfway; the girl had obviously been warned about strange men and didn't come any closer, but she did stop walking. "Do you know what's --" Jean-Paul gestured toward the front of the line.
"Drug bust, or something," she said, cracking her gum and shrugging. "Should have flown."
"Yeah," Northstar said, and waited until she had started walking again to lean his seat back and begin making himself comfortable. "No kidding."
Screenname(s): This one, so far.
Email: mackenzie_meador@mac.com
IMs: chipsi390 (on AIM); mackenzie_meador@yahoo.com (Y!); chispi390@hotmail.com (MSN). Whichever you prefer.
RP Experience: AOL Rhy'din chat room for a few unfortunate years, beginning at age 12; a handful of fantasy boards after that -- Obsidian Night, I think one was called, and then something with vampires and people much more mature than I was; years upon years at Midnight College (though not currently playing there); private IM RPGs for just as long, though they sucked something awful; a couple Harry Potter boards, including the scary elitist one I currently run with Charlotte et mes autres amies. And now this one? *puppy eyes*
Codename(s): Northstar
Affiliation: X-Men
Age: 25
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 185 lbs
Hair Color: Black, streaked with silver
Eye Color: Blue
Appearance: Northstar has straight black hair, kept fashionably short and threaded heavily with natural silver streaks; bright blue eyes; and a fair complexion. He's naturally lanky and built slender, but between his love for skiing and his activities as a mutant, he's developed an athletic muscle tone.
All in all, Northstar looks a lot like his twin, except, thank goodness, more male. He's good looking, but too boyish to be "pretty." His looks are one of the few things he is genuinely confident about, and therefore one of the few things he doesn't feel the need to overcompensate for; he takes the time to look nice, when he has it, but he doesn't preen. (He also does not have a lisp or limp wrists. He does not carry around rainbow flags. His jumpsuit is not pink. He just wants everyone to be aware of that.)
He dresses smartly, both because he likes the style and because it makes good business sense to do so. He owns exactly three t-shirts, which are the plain gray, comes-in-a-bag sort, to wear when he's planning on sweating; otherwise, he won't be found without a collar, and often times a sports jacket as well.
Though it's not a matter of appearance, he speaks with a French Canadian accent. He has spent enough time in America and seen enough American film and television that he can hide it if he wants, and it usually fades a little once he's been away from home for a while, but he'll still break into Quebec French if he's overly angry or distraught or feels like confusing people.
Personality: First and most importantly, Jean-Paul is pretty normal, at least as far as mutants go. He doesn't have an extreme personality in any direction; "arrogant" means "mildly arrogant," not "extremely arrogant," and "inferiorty complex" means "mild inferiority complex," not "raging bucket of self-loathing and overcompensation." However, the word "mild" gets tiring, so consider this a handy, blanket disclaimer.
That out of the way, Northstar is arrogant and has an inferiority complex. Or he has an inferiority complex and is therefore arrogant, if we want to be causal about it. He overcompensates, and almost always has, for being a mutant, being gay, being an orphan, being Canadian (joke, joke, it's a joke; he's actually very proud of Quebec) -- the list just goes on and on.
He's a fundamentally decent person, but he is not above a spot of cheating or fighting dirty if that's what it takes. Some of his youthful resentment of authority still lingers, though he's not nearly so destructively angry as he used to be. For someone so in need of tolerance from other people, Northstar is also, hypocritically, judgemental and stubborn. He is fast to make up his mind about things and slow to change it once he has. His first impressions of people stick, hard.
He's not a genius and doesn't care much for books, but he's smart enough to carry on intelligent conversation and has a head for money and business. He's responsible, not to the point of being a leader in a crowd, but enough that others can depend on him to do what he says he'll do. He appreciates humor, though he doesn't tell many jokes himself. He gets along with people best when it's impersonal; he becomes more sarcastic and distant if they try to get personal, and doesn't make real friends as easily as he makes acquaintances, but he's never poked anyone's eye out with a stick or anything.
He's easily swayed into Believing In Things; use words like "freedom" and "equality," or pictures of hungry children, and he'll likely help. Unfortunately, his tendency to Believe In Things, coupled with the aforementioned judging, anger, stubbornness and overcompensation, can lead him to do utterly stupid things, such as joining a terrorist cell. (He does feel guilty for that particular thing in hindsight, but that doesn't mean he won't do something slightly different but equally stupid in the future.)
Northstar is relatively comfortable with his homosexuality: secure enough to tell the truth if someone asks, but insecure enough to get into fights with people who bother him about it. Few things make him angrier than a homophobic mutant, and he is a little worried that in the press for mutant rights, gay rights will be forgotten.
Powers and Abilities: Northstar can propel himself at superhuman speed in any direction, whether across the ground or through the air, by refocusing the random kinetic energy in his molecules in the direction of a unified force. At all times, though especially when he is using the above ability, his cells are more durable in regards to extreme temperatures or forces.
His ability to harness molecular energy may also allow him to create blinding bursts of light, but he has not discovered this potential yet.
Weaknesses: Ability-wise, Northstar cannot travel at the speed of light; in fact, it's only safe for him to travel at the speed of his own mind. His reflexes, though good, do not grow any faster through his mutation, so he can only go as fast as he can dodge oncoming objects. He has never measured exactly how fast he can go, however, because after a certain point his entire body begins to hurt -- and he's never gone any faster than that, knowing that he could potentially kill himself. It's also physically taxing, though it takes a while to completely exhaust him.
Otherwise, he's certainly a flawed person: stubborn, a bit arrogant, judgemental, etc. He also has to deal with prejudice on two fronts instead of just one, and has committed acts of questionable legality and morality in the past that could cause him plenty of trouble if ever drug into light.
History: Jean-Paul and his twin sister Jeanne-Marie were separated as infants after their parents died in an automobile accident. Jean-Paul was adopted by the Martins, cousins of his birth mother, but they couldn't afford to keep Jeanne-Marie as well, and Jean-Paul was never informed that he had a sister. In a stroke of terrible luck, the Martins also died about five years later, and Jean-Paul entered into the custody of the Canadian government at the age of six.
He didn't begin as a troublesome child, but after being shifted from temporary home to temporary home, he became one. In school, he swang wildly between being quiet and shy, and getting into playground fights. The situation only worsened when he reached puberty, at which point his hair began growing in silver and he started to realize that he was gay.
By the age of 13, Jean-Paul had stopped attending school whenever he could get away with it, merely to avoid his classmates. When he was in the classroom he was aloof and condescending, often without any cause to be. When he wasn't, he ran loose in the streets of Montreal, shoplifting and generally being a ruffian. It only went on for a few months, however, before a shopkeeper named Raymonde Belmonde caught him trying to steal.
The two ended up bonding. Belmonde was neither gay nor a mutant, but he liked Jean-Paul and helped him to accept both about himself. Belmonde also taught him how to ski, and Jean-Paul learned to control his abilities while on the slopes. He was good at it, obviously, and tried skiing competitively; he was a favorite among judges until he was outed as a mutant, accused of cheating (not entirely incorrectly) and forced to quit.
Unfortunately, the incident caused him to backslide somewhat into his previous anger, and his resentment found an outlet when a few shady men approached him regarding the Front de Libertation du Quebec. Despite only being 15 years old, Jean-Paul was soon running messages for them with his superhuman speed. He continued for nearly a year, also getting mixed up with the radical Cell Combattre, until he learned that they had planted a bomb on a bus -- and that he had helped.
Jean-Paul decided he wanted out, and admitted to Belmonde what he had been doing. The man decided the best thing for him would be a new environment and sent Jean-Paul to the Xavier Institute in New York. He did much better there than he ever had in his previous schools, even if he did get saddled with the very un-Quebecan name of "Northstar." (He got over it.)
Northstar was on track for eventually joining the X-Men when, at the age of 20, he found out that Belmonde was ill. A few rapid adjustments to his plans, and Northstar was back in Montreal, attending university there for business and economics and helping Belmonde run his shop until the man passed away, leaving Northstar about half of what he owned, including the business. (The rest went to charities and a distant cousin.)
Jean-Paul thought that he would be content staying in Quebec and running Belmonde's store. He was surprisingly good at it, he liked being back in Quebec, and he was able to go skiing nearly every weekend. If he hadn't been banned from competitive skiing, he might have stayed for the rest of his life. He was banned, however, and after a few years he started to get restless. There was only so much excitement and competitiveness to be found in selling used books.
He was vaguely contemplating going back to the United States when he was approached with a few offers to buy his business. He negotiated, instead, to hand off the management and most of the profit, while still technically owning it -- leaving him with enough of an income to live off of, though not luxuriously. Then, since he no longer had a real reason to stay, he headed back to the United States, hoping (or assuming) he would be of some use in the continuing conflict.
Sample post:Jean-Paul rolled down his window and stuck his head out, craning to the side to look down the long line of break lights -- 15-minute border stop, his ass. He hadn't moved an inch in twenty.
Life would have been so much easier if his luggage could take the same pressure as his body. And if he could carry his car. He could have been in New York hours ago, assuming the U.S.A.F. didn't try to shoot him down, which actually wouldn't have surprised him very much.
But life still would have been easier.
"Pardon me," he said, in his best I'm-an-adult-so-come-here sort of voice. It worked about halfway; the girl had obviously been warned about strange men and didn't come any closer, but she did stop walking. "Do you know what's --" Jean-Paul gestured toward the front of the line.
"Drug bust, or something," she said, cracking her gum and shrugging. "Should have flown."
"Yeah," Northstar said, and waited until she had started walking again to lean his seat back and begin making himself comfortable. "No kidding."
Screenname(s): This one, so far.
Email: mackenzie_meador@mac.com
IMs: chipsi390 (on AIM); mackenzie_meador@yahoo.com (Y!); chispi390@hotmail.com (MSN). Whichever you prefer.
RP Experience: AOL Rhy'din chat room for a few unfortunate years, beginning at age 12; a handful of fantasy boards after that -- Obsidian Night, I think one was called, and then something with vampires and people much more mature than I was; years upon years at Midnight College (though not currently playing there); private IM RPGs for just as long, though they sucked something awful; a couple Harry Potter boards, including the scary elitist one I currently run with Charlotte et mes autres amies. And now this one? *puppy eyes*
Just not so old that I feel pervy on Northstar's behalf if he likes a 20-year-old, yeah?
