Congratulations Mateo, your application for the new staff character of Stevie Hunter has been accepted and she has been added to the game! Please review our instructions for new players HERE and let us know if you have any questions, we’re delighted to meet both you and dear Stevie!
“Wagner, Kurt Wagner,” he said. “Professor Frost has asked zat I escort you. Ze gate ist broken, I’m afraid.” “Well, that is a problem,” Stevie said, looking the gate over. The fence was much too high to climb and it seemed the bars were too close together. She’d never squeeze through. “I’m ze solution,” Kurt said, keeping hold of her hand. “Just hold your breath and count to ten.”
Out-Of-Character Information:
NAME: Mateo {he/him}
AGE: 26
TIMEZONE: EST
ACTIVITY: I can be active most weeknights and most weekends with the exception of major holidays. I work 9 AM to 5 PM, Monday-Friday. I have school afterwards, too. I’m usually around to do my replying at 9 PM or 10 PM. I might be able to sneak in replies when work is going especially slow.
EXPERIENCE: I’ve since deleted my (many) old blogs, but I’ve been in a number of different RPs on tumblr and jcink. I’ve also RPed on various forums over the years. I mostly get involved in sci-fi and/or dystopic RPs (cyberpunk cities, space operas, and zombie apocalypses). In terms of Marvel RPs, I most recently played a very different take on Xorn in an X-Men AU RP.
CANON: I’ve been reading the comics since I was a kid and I’ve watched all of the cartoons and live-action films. I’m fairly versed in the canon verse as well as alternate realities outside the 616 continuity. I’m a huge X-geek. I have a number of favorite characters, to name a few: Storm, Nightcrawler, Karma, Iceman, and Kitty.
ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? Since Stevie is something of an under-utilized supporting character who has fallen out of use, I am taking some liberties with her backstory and personality. I’m open to changing anything about my application to better fit with the needs of the RP as a whole or fellow RPers. As it stands, I’m just running with what I have from the Claremont years.
Gameplay Housekeeping:
SUGGESTED BIO: Although she was raised by a loving preacher-father and lived in the company of her beloved sister, Stevie’s life has been no stranger to tragedy. Her mother was murdered when she was five, leaving a void in the Hunter family that Stevie felt obligated to fill. She took on many of the roles of a mother to her little sister and, her friends would say, she was something of a mother to everyone she cared about. Inspired by her mother’s life as an accomplished city muralist, Stevie felt she should live out her own dreams in the arts as well. After school, she’d take her sister to the local dance studio, where they’d learn from a ballerina from the Royal Ballet, Anya Lopatkina, who wowed the previous generation with her performances in Giselle, Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty. At seventeen, Stevie’s talent grew and she made prima ballerina in a New York performance of Ondine. A jealous sujet made sure Stevie’s dreams never became a reality when she clubbed Stevie’s right knee and shattered the girl’s femur. When the authorities asked who had injured her, Stevie let her attacker go free, believing only one person’s dream had to be destroyed that night. She claimed it was an accident, a story she continues to tell, never revealing what really happened that night. After her accident, Stevie’s church pooled enough donations so that she could undergo reparative surgery and walk again. It was her physical therapists that pushed her to take control of her life again and get on the road to recovery. After she was able to walk again, Stevie devoted herself to higher education and becoming a physical therapist in her own right. In her college years, she met Charles Xavier. He was impressed with Stevie’s genuine drive for equality for mutantkind. Sensing her fears of returning to the arts, Xavier sent her a subconcious command not to be afraid of finding new ways to engage in the things that she loved. With that, Stevie began giving private lessons on campus, teaching young people how to dance from classic waltzing to more modern moves. Years later, Stevie was surprised to receive a job opportunity from a familiar name, Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. Though it wasn’t Xavier himself that extended the hand.
ROLE ON STAFF: Dance teacher and physical therapist. Stevie won’t be a member of the X-Men nor would she excel at combat given that she has no experience.
JOINING THE GROUP: I would imagine that Stevie would make a good connection with Kitty given their 616 relationship. It might be interesting to explore a friendship with Storm given their shared experiences with non-mutant forms of discrimination. I can see possible conflict with staff, like Magneto, since Stevie is not homo superior. I can imagine some students might see her as an outsider who needs to prove herself. She might feel a certain pressure because of that atmosphere.
BENEFIT TO THE GAME: I think having a human on staff who seemingly has no personal connection to the mutant community can be an interesting gateway into thinking about things like what it means to be an ally to marginalized people and what intersectionality can be found between different communities.
ARRIVAL TIMELINE: I think being human and a fish out of the water already makes for a lot of pressure. Making her a new staff member only adds to that pressure, which is think makes for more interesting interactions. It’ll be interesting to see how people react to her and how she deals with being among the few homo sapiens on staff.
Character Details:
NAME & CODENAME: Stephanie “Stevie” Hunter
AGE: 28
GENDER & SEXUALITY: Cisgender female heterosexual
FAMILY HISTORY: Stevie and her sister, Anrea, were raised by their father, a kindly reverend at a Methodist church in Newark. Their mother, a muralist, died in a police shooting as a result of what the media called a “case of mistaken identity.” Stevie was only five when her mother was murdered. She always looked out for her little sister and even her father, taking over the reins of mother.
ALUMNI STATUS: Stevie was always pushed to pursue her dreams, but her accident made it impossible for her to become the star ballerina she had the potential to be. Instead, Stevie devoted herself to getting an education, becoming inspired by the therapists that helped her in her recovery. She went to Rutgers University and became a physical therapist.
EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY: Stevie’s not afraid to push kids and bring out a little tough love if she thinks they need it. She doesn’t like to raise her voice, but if students belittle one another in her prescence, then they’d better expect an earful. She likes to teach people one on one and will often make extra time for students who need it, offering private lessons to people who feel too share to dance in front of others. She likes to talk to people on a first name basis, but will throw in full names for problem students so they know they’re in trouble.
POWERS: None; baseline human.
TALENTS: Stevie was an accomplished ballerina before her accident. She is a talented teacher of all forms of modern and traditional dance. She is educated in occupational therapy, specializing in orthopedics, and she holds a physical therapy certification to practice in New York and New Jersey. Aside from dance and medicine, Stevie is well-read on politics and philosophy.
PERSONALITY: Stevie is maternal, often called the “mother hen” among her closest friends and family. She is a strong advocate for other people and their needs, going out of her way to protect others and help them grow as people. She can be brave and confrontational when others are in trouble. However, she doesn’t speak up for herself and will often back down if people speak ill of her. Being a perfectionist, she often takes criticism to heart and she can be easily hurt if someone doesn’t have tact. She is a creative woman with a love for the arts. She feels most at home among other artists. She appreciates anyone who takes pleasure in expressing themselves in positive ways. Stevie has a fear of rejection, especially from people she cares about. While outwardly forgiving, Stevie can hold a serious grudge against people who have fallen from her graces. She believes in the adage of forgiving, but never forgetting.
POLITICAL STANCE: Stevie is a staunch, outspoken supporter of human rights, including the rights of mutants. She is motivated by a strong sense of justice and her Christian faith.
RELATIONSHIP: Xavier: an old friend from her college years. They met when she was protesting for mutant rights. The professor must have kept her name on file. Anrea: Stevie’s sister. They have more of a mother-daughter relationship than one might expect from two siblings. She often keeps up-to-date on her sister’s art career and interjects her sister’s accomplishments into conversations.
PLOTS & PLANS: It would be interesting to have Stevie face off with the Friends of Humanity if they ever cause a problem for the school. It would be make for an interesting dynamic, seeing an ally try to verbally disarm her fellow privileged homo sapiens.
FACECLAIM: Aja Naomi King
WRITING SAMPLE: Stevie didn’t know many mutants, not personally. That was all about to change, it felt all too apparent as she grabbed her bags from the trunk of the taxi. Change was always a scary thing, but she couldn’t be a hypocrite. She’d tell her students to jump in and go with the flow of things. She couldn’t be any different. After she tipped her cabbie and watched him drive off into the distance, she approached a pair of barred gate doors. Through them, she could see the old, colossal mansion she’d be calling home now. “You must be the ze tänzer,” a voice said from above. Stevie looked up to see an older teen covered in blue fur crouched up on the wall, his long pointed tail wrapped around one the gate’s bars. His eyes had peculiar yellow tint. They seemed to glow under the swaying shade of the autumn trees. “Oh! Verzeihung! Meine mütter would ask, vere are my manners?” With a puff of purple smoke and a BAMF! the blue boy disappeared. Stevie gazed up confused only to be startled when he appeared beside her, smelling rather unpleasant. “Sorry to scare you,” the boy said, extending a hand. “I’m not vat I appear, I assure you.” Stevie laughed as she took the boy’s hand. It was then that she realized he only had two fingers and a thumb. “I think it has more to with appearing out of nowhere. What’s your name?” “Wagner, Kurt Wagner,” he said. “Professor Frost has asked zat I escort you. Ze gate ist broken, I’m afraid.” “Well, that is a problem,” Stevie said, looking the gate over. The fence was much too high to climb and it seemed the bars were too close together. She’d never squeeze through. “I’m ze solution,” Kurt said, keeping hold of her hand. “Just hold your breath and count to ten.” Stevie gave him a curious look before taking a deep breath. “Eins, zwei—Zehn!” Kurt said, a mischievous grin on his face as the two of them ripped through a purple haze and into a lake of fire and molten rock before reappearing in another puff of smoke. Stevie gasped, taking in the awful smell once more. They had teleported, from once place to another—on the other side of the gate.