Accepted!Thank you so much for applying!
Teen Titans RPG! is now closed. If you are interested in RPing Teen Titans, please check out this group.
Roleplayer’s name: Josie!
Predicted average weekly activity level: Usually high!
Time zone: GMT (London specifically).
Anything else?: My sleep patterns are way off since so many of my friends are in other countries; so any instant messaging/online meetings I’d be needed for would be a-ok (provided they’re not after 3am GMT)!
Character’s name: Robin (Richard John Grayson).
Character history and bio:
Superhero, villain, undecided, or other (please explain): Non-powered superhero.
Age: 15.
Physical characteristics: Perpetually masked. Carefully-styled gelled hair which pops back into utterly uncool neatness if left unattended for too long. A little below average height for his age; very fit and slender with faded scars scattered here and there from training mishaps and missions which took a turn for the ugly.
Personality traits: Serious and reserved, Robin only truly blossoms into himself when it’s time to be the leader. He obsesses over perfection and uniformity, the tiny little details of things regular people simply brush over, often working himself to and beyond the point of exhaustion when something calls for his undivided attention.
Given the right circumstances Robin is capable of letting loose and having fun. This is usually only in the company of his friends, however, and once alone Robin will frequently return to his borderline neurotic activities.
Special abilities: Complex acrobatics, advanced hand-to-hand combat skills, weapons training and CIA-level hacking knowledge. Robin has also been trained gruellingly to develop excellent detective skills, and the contents of his belt consist of both weapons and items to help with this pursuit.
History: Until he was eight years old, Richard Grayson was the third performer in the acclaimed Haley’s Circus troupe The Flying Graysons - a family of acrobats infamous for winning the hearts of audiences across the world. Gangsters targeted the circus in Gotham City to extort “protection” money, however, sabotaging the Flying Graysons’ trapeze wires with acid as incentive - and in the ensuing horrifying fall taking the lives of both parents, Gotham City became Dick Grayson’s last stop.
Taken under Batman’s wing in the hunt for justice for his parents; Dick took on the mantle of Robin to bring the criminals what they deserved - and, driven by his similarity to Dick and empathy for him, Gothamite billionaire Bruce Wayne decided to adopt the boy too.
Fast forward several years, and Batman and Robin haven’t been getting along so well these days. Robin is growing up and getting rebellious, wanting more freedom and autonomy his partner isn’t willing to give, and is feeling the sidekick label more than ever - so he’s broken away to forge his own path in a city far away from Gotham.
Jump City.
Place of residence: Jump City/Titans Tower; occasionally Gotham City’s Wayne Manor - even if Robin isn’t working in Gotham any more, it’s still Dick Grayson’s home.
Other:
Robin’s borderline neuroticism is directly inherited from his mentor. In the past, Robin had been the lighter, far more happy-go-lucky side of the Gotham crimefighting duo. However, as the leader of the Teen Titans and without someone else to weather the darker waters for him, Robin is sinking deeper and deeper into the brooding obsessiveness he’d always tried to alleviate from his mentor before.
Robin spoke to no one when Jason died. He’d always resented the boy a little bit for taking his place in Gotham so easily, but that only served to fuel the crippling blow felt by the entire Bat-family with the loss of the second Robin. It’s another reason Dick doesn’t ever want to operate in Gotham again - it’s no place for a Robin any more.
Raven can periodically heal new scars and injuries from fights, but Robin has every blemish on his skin mapped out and declines to let her even attempt to fade any scars from his stint in Gotham City. One scar in particular he leaves perfectly untouched - one on his knee that his mother kissed better when he was a child.
Dick knows several languages, both from his training as Robin and from his time in the travelling circus. He himself is Romany on his mother’s side, with tan skin but bright blue eyes.
His small and slender stature is ideal for acrobatics, but not so useful for hand-to-hand combat. Robin puts more effort into this than anything else and practices combat as often as he can.
Robin’s best friends are Wonder Girl, Speedy, Aqualad and Kid Flash - the only heroes who know his name and who have seen him without his mask.
Crushes on redheads pretty hard, for some reason.
In-character writing sample:
The phone picks up on the second ring. It’s quick for most people, but an agonising wait for Robin as he sits down heavily at his desk, the hand which isn’t holding his own cell phone plastered heavily to his face over his eyes.
Pressing on his eyeballs with the ball of his palm fends off a headache very well. He’d figured that out very early on in the hero business.
"Donna." He responds, almost like he’s the one surprised by the call, but everyone who knows Robin knows by now that surprised is often the closest he can sound to pleased. “Can you talk?”
"No, I mean—" He pauses, frowning at a piece of paper slightly out of place in the neat chaos of his desk, taking a moment to nudge it back into place in its pile before continuing. Unmasked blue eyes ache with the desk light, so Robin gets to his feet to retreat from it and and flops on the bed instead - it’s already late anyway. "I mean, can you talk? Just talk. About anything.”
There’s a little tut of recognition from the other end of the line, and Robin knows that it means Wonder Girl recognises what this is. It’s the rare I’m stressed out of my mind, please talk me down from the ceiling call; the elusive time where Robin actually reaches out of his shell for someone - but only, usually, very specific someones.
"Well," She begins, and Robin turns on his side with the phone tucked under his ear as he listens. “Gosh, Dick, I found the cutest dress at the mall the other day with blue stars - you know, just the kind I love! I was thinking of getting some shoes to match because it’s a little darker than usual but I just couldn’t pass it up - but, you know, allowance. I’ve gotta save up; bad quality stuff is cheaper but it never, ever lasts! What if I have to fight in shoes that might fall apart if I kick something too hard?”
She can hear the little sigh as Robin relaxes into just being talked to, mindless chatter from a best friend that Wonder Girl knows he’s not really listening to, but she’s not really listening to herself either. She knows it does matter that it’s her, though - Robin doesn’t reach out very often (and certainly not to his team; to explain all the reasons behind needing that safety net of friends to talk mindlessly to would take far too long to explain to people who didn’t already know), and the fact that this time it’s Donna he wanted means a lot to her.
"…And I was watching Project Airport Runway last night, too, and wow, none of those girls’ dresses stood up to the air currents from the planes! I keep trying to get Cassie to watch with me; she says it’s stupid but I’ve seen her reading Girl Frenzy magazine, I know what she’s into! And anyway…"
Robin smiles into his shoulder, nestling a little more comfortably into the pillow under his head as he listens to his best friend chatter away. He needed this, to hear things going on which weren’t just about work and crime and the Teen Titans - to be reminded that there is another life outside “Robin” waiting for him.
God, he loves Donna - and she’s rattling on about makeup and the latest fashionable hairstyles now in a way that’s so mind-numbing all he can do is let out a soft laugh. By the slight pause and then the little raise in pitch of Donna’s voice, he knows she’s heard and likes it.
Dick really doesn’t know what he’d do without his friends.
