[center][i]"So feelin' the 'aster."[/i][/center][hr][hr][center][img]http://b.vimeocdn.com/ts/263/089/263089587_640.jpg[/img][/center][hr][hr]
[b]| Identity |[/b] 
[INDENT]Richard John Grayson aka Robin[/INDENT]

[b]| Origin & Backstory |[/b] 
[indent]Born of Romani descent, the Graysons are the ancestors of a gypsy family and unbeknownst to them also the descendant of one of Gotham's most deadly legends, a Talon by the name of William Cobb. A Talon being the assassin for the Court of Owls, a feared enforcer in the days of old in Gotham. However in modern times, the Court is often thought to be nothing more than a myth and so Grayson's family history fell into obscurity, lost in a history of circus performers and Romanies. 

As such, Richard John Grayson, was born and raised to the age of twelve in the Haly's Circus. Richard, or Dick as he's commonly known was born on the first day of spring, March 21, to his parents while they had been passing through Gotham. Raised and trained by his parents, Mary and John Grayson, DIck was taught to be an acrobat and began performing at an early age, wowing crowds with his natural prowess on the trapeze. Together with his parents, they were collectively known as the 'Flying Graysons' and were recognized as being one of the biggest shows in the circus business, as well as the biggest draw to the Haly's Circus. The 'Flying Graysons' trade mark was both their feat of performing without a net as well as their signature quadruple somersault, a move that the three Graysons were the only people known capable of performing it. Growing up in the circus, Dick made friends with the children of the other performers such as Jimmy, Zane and his childhood crush Raya Vestri. 

However Dick's world suddenly changed one fateful night. It was one of the biggest shows of the year as Haly's Circus had once again returned to Gotham City to help ring in the New Year. But Gotham wasn't the same place it was twelve years ago, not that it was some shiny metropolis then either, yet the city had managed to become worse. Many blamed the presence of the Batman who drew others to him, others with fractured psyches and sick minds. Individuals like the Joker. It was just before the Flying Graysons were due to perform that the Joker struck, his bombs going off and immediately killing many of the Circus' patrons. However due to the location of the bombs and their blasts, most of the circus staff were spared surviving with only minor injuries in comparison to the patrons who were caught in the blasts and shrapnel. It was only those currently performing who were caught in the destruction as John and Mary rushed Dick away from the scene. As they ran down through the rows of tents, the trio was suddenly knocked to the ground by a man with a gun. Looking up, Dick gazed into the face of Tony Zucco, one of the Circus' other acts. His act wasn't as popular as the Graysons and as such was often cancelled or pushed aside in order for Haly's to save money. This has led to an intense jealousy of the Grayson family as well as a hatred for them, Zucco had even tried to bribe the ringmaster to let him perform to no avail. He had planned to end the Grayson's reign over the circus once and for all by sabotaging their wires but even that planned had failed due to the Joker's attack. Desperate and at the end of his rope, Zucco raised the gun towards the family only for John to rush Zucco. It was to no avail as Zucco didn't even blink, pulling the trigger as John's body fell into the snow lifeless. Dick is still haunted by the sound of Mary's scream as she cried out for her husband only for her too to be silenced by the deafening sound of the revolver issuing another bullet into the cold night air.

Huddling over the bodies of his now deceased parents, Dick looked up defiantly as Zucco turned the gun towards him. His finger hesitated as the tried to pull the trigger only for him to suddenly drop the gun as sharp bat shaped object suddenly lodged itself in his hand. A shadow cast itself upon the small alley between the tents as the Batman himself descended upon the scene. Zucco took one look back for running past Dick in sheer horror. The Batman went to chase Zucco before fully realizing the scene before him and its reflection of a memory of his own. Getting the boy to safety, Batman reluctantly left Dick in the care of the police before continuing his pursuit of the Joker and now Tony Zucco.

Shortly after the tragic death of his parents, Dick was placed in an uncaring juvenile services system, on the grounds that social services was full. Being completely different from the other boys around him, Dick was beaten up by a number of the inmates before he was sent to a Catholic orphanage. Bruce Wayne, haunted by what he had saw the night when he rescued Dick as Batman decided to seek out the boy and adopt him. Dick insisted on only being adopted as his ward, because he did not want to replace his deceased father with the billionaire who he only knew from the tabloids. In fact, Dick originally believed that Bruce only adopted him for the good press and this was further supported by the amount of time that Dick found himself spending alone in the near empty mansion. Frustrated by the lack of attention from his new guardian and the lack of closure due to Tony Zucco continuing to evade capture at the hands of both the Batman and police, Dick began his own investigation using what resources he could find from around the mansion. However while scrounging together his resources, Dick stumbled across Bruce's secret finding out that the billionaire and the Dark Knight were one and the same.

Dick begged Bruce to train him and teach what he knew but Bruce denied the boy not wanting Dick to live a life as burdened as his. As a sort of negotiation however, Bruce allowed Dick the resources of the Batcave to track down Zucco on the condition that he would come to Bruce with any leads he might discover. Bruce also set Dick up with a private tutor to bring his education up to, and well above par. It seemed that circus folk did not in fact have the best educators. 

A few months passed and brought new changes to the Wayne Manor as Bruce adopted another young teenager, this time a girl by the name of Harleen Quinzel. Dick, who had never been shy immediately became smitten with the girl who quickly shot down his advances. As the weeks went by, Dick began to notice the similarities between Harley and Bruce and grew jealous at how quickly he took to her comparing how he spent so many nights away as Batman when he first adopted Dick. It didn't help matters when Bruce actually sat down with Harley to reveal his nightly hobby where as Dick was left to discover it for himself. It was during these few months that Dick began to 'bond' with Alfred feeling that the older man was the only one in the house he could talk to as he felt slightly betrayed by Bruce. Due to this, Dick threw himself more than ever into his studies and his investigation into Zucco as a method of escape. Eventually finding a lead which connected Zucco to a mob boss in Chicago. However it wasn't enough for Bruce to act on, leaving Dick disappointed and once again feeling tossed aside in exchange for Harley. Yet, much to Dick's surprise he was invited down to the Batcave the following night where he was added to Harley's training as Bruce, against Alfred's wishes, began to teach the pair in martial arts and further bestow his crime fighting talents and skills upon the pair.

In the winter of 2012, Bruce presented both Dick and Harley with the option to join his crusade. Though Bruce increased their training further, he continued to neglect bringing his wards on patrol with him which pushed Harley to suck a boiling point that she decided to strike out on her own. Watching her go, Dick stayed in the cave until he couldn't stand it any longer. However as he was about to leave the Dark Knight himself returned to the cave, leading to Dick spilling his guts on everything he knew. Though disappointed, in the end Bruce was impressed by Harley. Finally being allowed to come on patrol, they were granted the honor of picking codenames and given costumes of their own. Harley took up the name Batgirl and a cowl of her own to suit. Dick on the other hand wanted something different, choosing the name 'Robin' in honor of his mother's nickname for him and rescuing that his costume have a lighter motif than the menacing cowls and capes that Harley and Bruce were drawn to. 

Despite this, the pair didn't get a chance to debut until after the New Year when they were brought in by Bruce to help with his battle against the villains Anarky, Firefly and Freeze. Though in Dick's case it was more like dragged in due to Harley's impatience and Bruce being overly cautious. Despite the hiccups, the trio managed to gain what even Bruce refers to as a 'great success.'

With the early months of the year flying by, the rest of the year seemed to drag by as Dick continued his studies in order to prove to Bruce he could attend a school the same as Harley had been doing. Aside from studying, Dick was suiting up every night to go out on patrol, his combat prowess and detective skills growing as he reopened his own case into the location of Tony Zucco, finding out the man had moved up the ladder and seated himself in command of a gang of his own. Deciding to keep this information from Bruce, Dick continued to keep tabs on Zucco as his operations came closer and closer to Gotham. 

During the mid-summer, in July, Dick and Harley accompanied Bruce to Blüdhaven to help one of Bruce's allies, John Law also know as the Tarantula. It seemed Blüdhaven's resident gang leader, Black Mask had gotten a bit out of control and the Tarantula could use a hand putting him down. The Bat-Family were more than happy to oblige and for the first time, Dick finally began to feel a part of something that was truly making a difference. In Gotham it felt like no matter what they did there was another criminal to go after but being called to help a friend meant they must be doing something right after all. This truly helped Dick grow into his Robin persona.
 
In late August, Dick asked Bruce to enroll him in a school, something outside of the mansion. It took some pleading and convincing from both Dick and even Alfred, but in the end Bruce was convinced that Dick's private studies were more than adequate to enroll him in the Gotham Academy for Higher Learning and the Arts. The argument was made that the boy could use a life outside of the mansion and Harley herself had already been attending the school in question meaning she could show Dick the ropes.

The following couple of months proved to be a whirlwind adventure as Dick learned to balance both grade eight and his after-school life as a newly hatched vigilante. But October brought the “Circus of Strange” into Gotham City at the Haly Fairgrounds. That alone was enough to upset Dick as no other circus had set up there since the massacre when he lost his parents. Under the guise of Haly's friendly replacement, those inside the Circus of Strange lured innocents to their show only to inflict unthinkable horrors upon them. These criminals turned out to be Big Top - an extremely obese and bearded, but strong woman, Professor Pyg and Mr. Toad - two freakish men in eponymous animal masks who were obsessed with making the 'perfect' subservient humans by fusing masks to the faces of and lobotomizing their victims. 

Dick in full costume as Robin, soon arrived on the scene along with Batman and Batgirl. Finally revealing themselves for the first time in broad daylight. Taking on the six villains, the trio found Pyg, Toad, and Big Top to be rather easy to defeat. However much to the surprise of the trio, the Joker himself re-emerged, having been hidden behind the scenes pulling the strings with his primary accomplice Killer Croc. As the Bat-family confronted the Joker, he suddenly released Killer Croc on them and in the following chaos Dick was cut off from his partners. While Batman and Batgirl were trapped in grueling combat with Croc, Dick found himself trapped with the Joker; a battle he had feared since Batman first revealed to the him that he suspected the Joker would one day return to Gotham. The battle was long and cruel and Robin tried his best to remain ahead of the clown prince of crime. Eventually defeating the Harlequin of Hate, Robin suffered grievous wounds and was barely able to make it back to the Batcave. Meanwhile a savage and difficult fight raged on between the giant crocodile-man and the two Bat-themed vigilantes. After a grueling battle which left both Batman and Batgirl injured as well, all of the psychopathic murderers were arrested by the GCPD.

Spending several weeks recovering, Dick had Bruce explain his injuries at school as a skiing accident. Upon recovering Dick dedicated more time to his combat training not wanting to be the weak link of the Batfamily anymore. [/indent] 

[b]| Character Notes |[/b] 
[INDENT]
-Currently 14 years old.
-Lived with Bruce for nearly two years at this point
-Been Robin for just over a year. 
-Almost halfway through his freshman year of highschool
-Has a crush on Barbara Gordon, one of Harley's friends much to Harley's annoyance.

-Bruce Wayne: Father figure to Dick, Dick looks up to and admires Bruce despite disagreeing with several of his methods. Though Dick would have rather not have lost his parents, he has also fully embraced his life and despite not legally being Bruce's son, would have no problem with being called such.

-Alfred Pennyworth: Dick sees Alfred as a sort of surrogate Grandfather and Uncle. The 'butler' to Bruce Wayne has a gruff yet eloquent mannerisms which Dick finds both amusing and endearing. Dick often likes to engage Alfred in what Dick deems philosophical discussions and though Alfred goes along with it, Dick can never tell if the older man is doing so willingly or reluctantly.

-Harleen 'Harley' Quinzel: Like Dick, Harleen was adopted by Bruce after the unfortunate death of her parents. Originally Dick had a crush on the blonde girl who continually kicked his butt in sparring matches. However over the last year, he has grown out of the crush and former a brother-sister bond with Harley often leading to mindless bickering especially while out in costume.

-Tony 'Boss' Zucco: Though formerly only a Circus strong-man act, after the murder of the 'Flying Graysons', Zucco fled Gotham relocating to Chicago where he established himself as mob enforcer. Over the last two years, Zucco has moved up the ladder and current rumors have him running his own gang and possibly even back in Gotham.

-William Cobb: Otherwise known as Talon, William Cobb is Dick's great-grandfather and an assassin for the Court of Owls. So far he remains unknown to his great-grandson, but Cobb has but one goal in mind and that is to recruit his last living descendant to Court of Owls.[/INDENT]
 
[B]| Powers & Abilities |[/B]
[INDENT]Dick Grayson is pushing his body to the peak athletic strength and endurance of a man who regularly engages in intensive physical exercise. Under Bruce's tutelage, one day Dick's martial arts skills will rival those of Batman. He is trained in dozens of martial arts disciplines and is being rigorously trained by his mentor in everything from escapology to criminology, fencing, stealth, disguise, and numerous other combat/non-combat disciplines. 

Dick's martial arts disciplines include aikido, savate, judo, and capoeira with an emphasis on aikido, as well as being armed with twin Eskrima sticks made from an unbreakable polymer. He also carries several dozen modified batarangs (called wing-dings) along with de-cel jumplines and gas capsules among other items in his utility as provided and stocked by Batman.

Grayson is a prodigious natural athlete, possessing a great deal of agility and acrobatic skills. If Dick were to continue to hone his skill, he could potentially be the greatest human acrobat. He is the only human on Earth who can do the quadruple somersault (formerly one of three, the other two being his parents). Along with this, Dick learned and became quite proficient in the sport of parkour and art of free running from playing with other kids in the circus. Often racing against trains and then leaping over them and whatever else was around to amuse themselves between shows. Having had the finest education as Bruce Wayne's ward, he fluently speaks in English, as well as Romanian (his first language), and is learning French, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, and American Sign Language. 

Besides his resources as Bruce Wayne's adopted son and heir apparent, Dick's parents also left him a trust fund which Lucius Fox is slowly turning into a small fortune.[/INDENT]

[B]| How is this character different? |[/B]
[INDENT]Like Gowi's Batman, this version of Dick Grayson borrows from a wide range of media to tie his back-story and origins together. This Dick will also have deeper connections and ties to the Court of Owls as well as not just focusing on Dick as Robin but also portraying Dick Grayson the person developing his Casanova status in a high school setting. [/INDENT]
 
[B]| What is your goal with this character? |[/B]
[INDENT][S]To become Batman[/s] No but seriously I am intending to [s]become Nightwing[/s] portray Robin as a teenager struggling with his past, his current identity and his future as well as adapting to Bruce as his new paternal figure and his distant guardian as well as masquerading as a ward for the richest man in Gotham City. All while likely attending some ritzy highschool which cramps Dick's style as he grows into the biggest Casanova in the DC universe. DC totally dropped the ball with 'Gotham High', it should have been based on Dick.[/INDENT]

[B]| Sample Post |[/B]

The night, the darkness, the fresh air. It all made Richard John Grayson feel alive again. The feeling of free falling without a line as his cape fluttered behind him. He wasn't a big fan of the cape, but Bruce had insisted on it, he claimed it helped to hide one's body mass, making it harder for goons to aim their guns at you. Naturally Bruce had been right as the cape had already been patched and remade numerous times as it was shot up and ripped to shreds in their many nightly excursions. Heck, Richard, or rather Dick as he went by, had to have an entire new costume created for him after his battle with the Joker. Launching a line from his grapple, Dick felt the line go taunt as his arm snapped forward, the braces in the suit keeping his shoulder from dislocating as Dick was pulled upwards before pressing the release on the gun and somersaulting through the air. Firing another line, Dick used the momentum to carry himself upwards again, soaring above Gotham's skyline freely, the closest he'd ever come to flying. 

From this height, Gotham almost looked like a nice place to live. But Dick knew the city, not only from above it but also from within it and below it. He couldn't claim to be as intimately attuned to Gotham as Bruce was, but Gotham was part of him. It didn't feel like a coincidence that Haly's just happened to have been in Gotham on the night he was born. No, it was some sort of twisted guiding hand of fate, the same twisted hand which had his parents killed in this damned city. Gently rolling onto a rooftop, he was as silent as the night itself as he looked down at the streets below. Gotham seemed to be having a quiet night but Bruce had always told Dick to never assume anything in Gotham. A shriek of fear from the next block over alerted Dick to the fact that somebody at least could use Robin's assistance tonight. Running towards the edge of the roof, Dick fired his grapple as the claw adhered itself to one of Gotham;s many gargoyles, this one in particular looked like a rather monstrous owl. Dick felt a shiver run down his spine, something about owls had always freaked him out, even as a small child he could remember seeing their piercing eyes watching him from the rafters of the big top. But no other city had owls quite like Gotham. 

Owls and bats, both nocturnal and both seemed to haunt Gotham every night. Diving to the ground, Dick pulled threw a wing ding towards a man who had gun in one hand pressed hard against a woman while another hand was slowly undoing his own pants. The wing ding bit into the man's hand with a razor sharp edge as he cried out, letting go of the gun. Rushing forward, Dick pulled his escrima sticks from the back of his belt as he jumped into the air, bringing himself just above the man's standing height as he delivered one quick blow after another, the first to the man's throat and the other to his shoulder. 

The man dropped to the ground as Dick spun around and delivered a hard kick to his face before pulling a zip tie from his belt and restraining the man's hands. Harley would have been harsher on the man, but Dick wasn't Harley, nor was he Bruce. That said part of him wanted to break every bone in this man's hands but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Instead Dick pantsed the man before using his grapple gun as a pulley and hoisting the man up a nearby flagpole and surrounding him with trash. Whether the police or the garbage truck got to him first, Dick didn't care, all that mattered was he wouldn't be doing anything else any time soon. Hopefully never again.

Then again this was Gotham and in Gotham, criminals never seemed to learn.