asongwithin | Duplicity App II

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Name: Sage
Age: 31
Contact: shobogan @ plurk
Timezone: EST
Other Character(s): The Twelfth Doctor (Doctor Who)

« « « IC INFORMATION

Name: Jean Grey
Door: Dominant Re-Application

Canon: Marvel Comics
Canon Point: Her death in New X-Men 150 + her former stay in Duplicity

Age: Physically, early thirties. Mentally, over a decade older than that.
Appearance: Here

History: Here. (Discounting the Time Displacement because she doesn’t currently remember that.)

Once in Duplicity, she immediately ran into Scott (the traumatized husband who was cheating on her) and Logan (the other man she’d been quietly in love with for years). To Scott, she’d been dead for years and he and Logan were at odds; to Logan, she was very much alive and the three of them were in a relationship.

All three of them were Dominants.

Basically thrown in the deep end, it was a relief to find a Submissive fairly quickly; her relationship with Buffy was entirely platonic but incredibly trusting and understanding. They’d both been shouldering immense pressure from a young age.

As she did her best to bide her time and adjust to the city, Jean did what she does best: made connections with people, both from home and entirely new universes. It was a silver lining, at least, having this stolen time with people she loved and people she’d never have met otherwise. She made a lot of progress in those older relationships – though some of that progress got them a Citation. (Hashtag No Regrets.)
Jean spent a lot of time juggling deepening those connections, exploring her sexuality, experimenting with subtle rebellion, learning about Duplicity and its people, and stabilizing her own mind through meditation and exertion.

A lot of this work was thoroughly wrecked when she and so many others were abducted, and she was still putting the pieces back together when she disappeared.

Personality:

Compassionate

One thing that has always come easily to Jean is kindness, towards friends and enemies and everything between. As a child, love for her best friend drove her to cling to Annie – both physically and mentally – through an agonizing death that almost cost her own life, and deeply traumatized her. Those scars never quite healed, and often manifest in how desperately, ferociously she tries to protect her friends and family.

When Wolverine first joined the X-Men, he was didn’t even trust himself; Jean both accepted and defended him, even against lifelong friends. Many years later, when he confessed that his regained memories painted a picture that disgusted and horrified him, she insisted that what matters is who he is today: a hero, a friend, and someone she’ll always love and trust.

When her friendship with Ororo was still new, Jean accidentally discovered her claustrophobia, apologized for it in the face of Ororo’s fury, and helped her through it. Years later, when Ororo was injured to the point of near death, Jean stepped into her best friend’s soul and risked her own to bring it back.

At age 23, Jean chose to die for her friends, piloting a shuttle through cosmic radiation because she was the only one who could survive long enough to land it. Her transformation into Phoenix heightened everything, for better or worse; she later risked her life again to save the entire universe. After becoming Dark Phoenix and destroying a world, she chose to sacrifice herself rather than risk doing so again.

Upon her revival, she eventually learned that Scott had moved on with his life and married someone else. Despite being upset that he lied to her, and grappling with very conflicted feelings about that fact, she lambasted him for abandoning his wife and child. Later, she insisted on helping him find his son, and later still she did her best to save Madelyne Summers – a clone of herself, as it turns out – when she was warped by demonic power.

Her first response to Emma Frost in the ruins of Genosha, someone she’s had a deeply fraught and traumatic history with, was “She’s one of us”. After finding out her husband cheated on her with Emma and having an incandescently furious reaction, she used that same power to piece Emma back together after she was nearly murdered, using the words “Scott needs you”.

It would perhaps be more practical to harden her heart in a place like Duplicity, but Jean has never been good at that; she felt deeply for both LIErs and the native population, and desperately wanted to protect both. It made her stressed and frustrated pretty consistently, which didn’t help with quota.

Explosive

Jean’s temper has always had a short fuse, and simply trying to ignore or stifle it hasn’t done her much good. After her brutal confrontation with Emma she admits, “I run around the world preaching peace and brotherhood, and when I come home the first thing I do is fight.”

Long before that, on a mission to save Moira from the Acolytes, Jean admitted that her worst nightmare wasn’t about Phoenix, or Madelyne, or even Marvel Girl; just herself, cutting loose completely. She gave her opponent a taste of that power, and it would have killed him if he didn’t happen to be indestructible.

For several reasons, after taking a few sabbaticals over the years, she and Scott were ready to leave the on a more permanent basis. Before they did, Charles asked them to fight one last time, because they were part of a prophecy to defeat Apocalypse. When Scott sacrificed himself in the process, Jean lashed out at her beloved mentor, blaming him both for giving up on saving him and pulling him back to the X-Men in the first place.

Even as a teenager, this was a problem; annoyed at being fought over like a trophy, she blasted two of her fellow X-Men so hard they were almost severely injured. Many years later, upon learning the rest of the original five X-Men have largely retired, she was so furious that she blasted a hole through her hotel room.

When her own students were threatened by a group called the U-Men who dissected mutants to graft powers onto themselves, Jean tapped deep into the Phoenix Force, battering, disarming and humiliating all of them. “I don’t want you to get hurt, but you have to understand...the more you annoy me the more I can’t help but think about deconstructing you, molecule by molecule, memory by memory...until there’s nothing left but screaming, traumatized atoms.”

Most of the time, Jean’s rage is entirely valid, or at least deeply understandable; she just has a problem regulating it, and that’s a big issue when you can disintegrate matter with your mind. (And when you’re trying to be the moral pillar of a hated and feared community.)

Duplicity only exacerbated this; she endured helplessness, humiliation and violation, and worse saw it inflicted on people she loved. She managed to retain control, aside from some shattered windows, but that won’t last forever. It was brought to a breaking point before she left, when people were abducted; if her powers returned before the guards were defeated and everyone needed to escape very quickly, things would have become very ugly.

Manipulative

For all her genuine kindness and good intentions, Jean is still content to use people. She wouldn’t put it that way, but that’s what it comes down to; it’s one of the darker ways in which she takes after Professor Xavier.

One of the earliest examples of this happened while she was still a teenager; Xavier faked his death to focus on an alien invasion, and only Jean knew it. She hated keeping it from her fellow X-Men, crying in relief when it was finally revealed, but she never wavered in the months between.

As Phoenix, Jean was abducted with her sister Sara, and it revealed the terrifying extent of her abilities and how she was willing to use them. Sara was disturbed both by her sister’s transformation and the future of her own children as potential mutants; instead of dealing with this together over time, Jean took the memories away from her. (When she was transforming into Dark Phoenix, an early sign was wiping minds purely for quick convenience, with no fig leaf of compassion or concern.)

Later, Phoenix orchestrated her own death on the moon. Shielding her intent from her telepathic link with Scott, she learned what ancient weapons were hidden there, used her battles to drain herself of just enough energy, and stepped into the path of a laser canon that disintegrated her. She used her loved ones as chess pieces, as weapons against herself, knowing the emotional cost it would have on them but believing she had no better choice.

After she came back, she and Warren concocted an elaborate scheme that would take advantage of the public’s anti-mutant sentiments: a front-facing team called the X-Terminators who had a hot line to deal with rogue mutants. It was, to say the least, arrogant to think they could wrangle all of that violent bigotry in their favor.

When she was hunted down by the last survivor of D’Bari – the world that Dark Phoenix had destroyed – she realised she couldn’t convince him to stop or fight him off. Instead, she crafted a telepathic illusion in which he killed Phoenix, avenging his people.

Even as she died (again), Jean influenced the course of history. Her future self, knowing how brutal and desolate the world would become without the X-Men, reached back in time to nudge Scott into staying with the team and moving on with Emma.

This more subtle weapon definitely came in handy in Duplicity; she managed to peacefully defend Submissives even as her temper flared. Fairly early on, she decided it was a skill she needed to hone
as much as she could, both to deflect SIN Guards and temper her friends and family. None of them were ready for open rebellion.

Controlling

Jean’s need – and inconsistent ability – to control herself is very much projected onto other people. There are times when this is entirely appropriate – as a mentor, as a leader, as a parent – but she can take it too far, or act the same way towards her peers.

She basically guilt-tripped her oldest friends into resuming their lives as a hated and feared vigilantes. She also hid her resurrection from her human family and friends, deciding herself that it was both kinder and safer that they keep moving on with their lives without her. (Eventually, she did realize that this wasn’t her call to make.)

Her need to protect the people she loves is a significant factor. When she was still Marvel Girl, her fear for her friends and need to be their hero manifested as psionic manifestations attacking the team. Trying to let go of that responsibility, and facing the root of it – Annie’s death – put a stop to the extremity of it, but she’s never entirely learned to stop.

When Ororo was leading her own team, Jean insisted she rejoin the X-Men, having even designed uniforms for the lot of them. She ultimately accepted that her friend was forging her own separate path, but only reluctantly, and it wasn’t the last time she tried.

Whenever Jean is tempted by villains – Magneto, Mephisto, Onslaught, and more – it’s with the promise of power. It was an ally, Prosh, who pointed out that Jean’s acceptance of the Phoenix Force wasn’t entirely selfless; her main goal was saving Scott and the X-Men, but she wanted to evolve, to become something more.

This definitely translates to the bedroom, which Jean was never quite comfortable enough with to explore fully. In Duplicity she was gradually coming to terms with those fantasies, and how they didn’t need to be cold or cruel.

Powers and Abilities: Here. If she tries anything that could significantly damage that city her power will just hit a wall. The Phoenix is a part of her, but she can’t access the full spectrum of its abilities and senses.

Inventory: This portrait, Nathan’s psimitar, and her sewing kit.

Samples:

Thinks:

She is dying – shock, fury, agony, regret, peace – and then she is not. She’s upright, blood drying on her face instead of pouring from her eyes and nose and mouth, and the blinding light has faded into – walls and doors? For a moment, she wonders if this is the White Hot Room, but no; no, she would feel that, would know that her soul was home.

It’s only once she picks a door at random and steps through that she remembers what it means.

This time, she doesn’t need to repress the urge to lash out as she’s processed; instead, she’s left in a daze at the onslaught of memories, months in moments, horror and laughter and passion and fury. She doesn’t bother to question why the building doesn’t tremble along with her.

Duplicity. Scott and Nate and Logan, Buffy and John and Barry and – god, Ororo? Ororo was here, and bleak, almost manic laughter tumbles from Jean’s lips as she realises she left her best friend behind again.

Her breathing slowly evens out as they – medics or scientists or possibly neither – wash the blood away. (No line on her throat, still; now there's a double-edged sword.) Jean already knows that questioning them is a dead end, so she’ll just have to check the network and reach out.

Hopefully she hasn’t been gone for years.

Communicates:

[ It’s been a few days since she came back. Readjusting has been...a bit surreal, but it’s not like that’s a new hurdle. Fortunately, it sounds like there haven’t been any majorly traumatic incidents since she disappeared, though once again she has to wonder if her scale is broken.

No time like the present to reintroduce herself properly, though, especially since she has a job now.

When she turns the camera on, she’s in a Christmas sweater that’s both brimming with technique and utterly ridiculous. She went the extra mile and got more or less matching sweatpants. ]

Hey there!

[ There’s a wry edge to that cheer, even to the way she waves. ]

This is Jean Grey. If you knew me before, don’t worry, I remember you. Duplicity decided to put me in time out, I guess. Honestly, probably one of their smarter moves.

[ She knows how dumb that probably sounds when she’s dressed like this, that’s part of the appeal. ]

I know Laura told you that the Community Center will be holding some events for the holidays. I figured I’d host something last-minute; it’s called an ugly sweater party.

[ She just...gestures at the monstrosity she’s currently modeling. ]

I’m planning to start an actual class on mending and making clothes, but this isn’t a bad way to get your feet wet; whatever happens, we can pretend it was on purpose. Whoever creates the most hideous fashion crime gets a prize.

[ Her expression turns tenderly earnest. ]

It’s very silly, and it’s always been a nice distraction when things were rough. Everyone is welcome.

[ Then her smile broadens, showing teeth. ]

If you cause any trouble I will throw you out on your ass.