[center][b][h1][color=#3ba3d1]B L U E   B E E T L E[/color][/h1][/b][b]Jaime Reyes[/b], 16 (b. 1952)
[b][sub]Based in New York City, New York[/sub][/b]
[color=gray][sub]Active since approximately December 1967[/sub][/color]

[img]https://comicvine1.cbsistatic.com/uploads/scale_medium/10/100647/5362689-bluereb-1-8-4efae.jpg[/img][/center]
[INDENT][h3]Character Concept[/h3][hr]
[color=999999]Jaime Reyes wasn't an especially unique kid. Firstborn son a pair of hard working immigrant parents, trying their best to live out the American Dream and give their family a better life. A good egg, who kept his nose in the books and feet off the streets so he could pay back all that hard work by making something of himself. The type of kid whose greatest act of rebellion was staying up a little later than usual on Thursday nights to catch the latest episode of 'Trek. Jaime Reyes wasn't all that much different from any goodie-two shoes teenager across the good, god-fearing US of A.

Until he got his hands on that damn scarab, that is. Or rather, the scarab got it's hands on [i]him[/i]. Or mandibles. Whatever.

Times were tough for the Reyes, just like they were for most of the inhabitants of East Harlem. They didn't have much, but what little they did have cost a hell of a lot more than it was worth. Both his parents worked themselves ragged trying to keep a roof over the heads of their children, Jaime among them. Good son that he was, Jaime decided he would help out. He had taken up a summer job waiting at a hotel in the better bits of Manhattan, where the skin tones got lighter and the pocket books, heavier. He had to fight for it, assure them it wouldn't interfere with his studies when classes resumed, that he could crack a book during his breaks and get home in time for lights out no problem. It took him a couple weeks, but eventually they relented, and like most all of his bargains, Jaime made good on his end.

Of course, Manhattan was a big place, and getting from the haves-nots to the haves took one through a number of bad areas. Jaime—for all his squeaky cleanliness—had grown up in Spanish Harlem his whole life. He knew how to keep his head down, to not go looking for trouble. But sooner or later, regardless of whether or not you go looking for it, in those kinds of places, it finds you. Jaime Reyes found himself on the mean end of a .38 on his way to a shift one dreary October evening. It was a typical shake-down, money or your life, and as much as he needed the money, Jaime needed his neck more. The muggers ended up getting a hell of a lot more than they bargained for when a passerby blew them halfway to Hell's Kitchen—with a BB gun of all things.

Turned out, damsels in distress weren't the only types of people who had a caped hero come to their rescue. Although, at the time, the Blue Beetle hadn't been in a cape. Nor did he own a cape, really. But there he was, in the right place at the right time to save the kid's hide. The youth was thankful to say the least, and spent the rest of the walk to the hotel blabbering ol' Blue's ear off. Turned out, Ted Kord was staying at the very hotel Jaime spent his afternoons and evenings toiling at. 

In hindsight, being shot that night might have been the better of the two options.

For whatever reason, Ted must have taken a shine to him. Whenever he finished a shift and the old man was in, Jaime would head up to his room and they'd chat. About anything, the news, old war stories, sci-fi—realistically who else was Jaime gonna talk about [i]Fantastic Voyage[/i] with?—and even the occasional new gizmo Kord was working on. It was good, having someone outside the family to look up to. But all good things came to an end. Without so much as a goodbye, Ted Kord checked out of the hotel one night and never came back. Jaime hadn't found out until the day after, as he was finishing up his shift. It was a sad thing, to lose a friend just as soon as you'd made one, but the old man had at least left him a parting gift; a box, full of little gadgets and souvenirs. A box which also held the very scarab that spawned the Blue Beetle mantle.

A scarab that ended burrowing its way into poor Jaime's spine.[/color]

[center][youtube]https://youtu.be/4l9CGj64r00[/youtube][/center]

Inner conflict is one of the most important vectors for which character development occurs. Some of the most iconic of comic book heroes have long histories of wrestling with their inner demons. Jaime wrestles with an 
actual demon. Or something close enough to one. The struggle between good-hearted Jaime and the destructive urges of the Scarab, and their eventual synchronization and collaboration is a central draw for me when it comes to writing the character. I want to explore how the two of them come to terms with—and befriend—one another through their initially rocky partnership.

It's no secret that collaboration is a theme I'm gunning for in this roleplay in general, and once Jaime has gotten his body's favorite hitchhiker under control, I'd like to have him rub elbows with some like-minded individuals. Young folk with some Justice on their minds, and the power to change Society.

[h3]Key Notes[/h3][hr]
[b][u]Characters of Note[/u][/b]

[hider=The Cast]

[b]Ted Kord[/b]
[color=gray]An eccentric hero and the closest thing to a mentor Jaime has had. The two shared a brief kinship during his two month stay at the hotel Jaime works at in late '67, bonding over a shared love for science fiction and gadgetry. He disappeared as quickly as he appeared, but left Jaime with a few parting trinkets, among them the Scarab that would change the youth's life forever.[/color]

[b]Paco Testas[/b]
[color=gray]Jaime's best friend since kindergarten, and the brawn to his brains. He also counts himself among the few people can even call a friend to begin with, to say nothing of the young Beetle's social skills.[/color]

[b]Brenda Del Vecchio[/b]
[color=gray]Like Paco, but shorter, and angrier, and more ginger. Also female. The second of the short list that is Jaime's social circle, and definitely the one that vexes him most.[/color]

[b]Danielle Garrett[/b]
[color=gray]The granddaughter of the late Dan Garrett, the first Blue Beetle. Not exactly on Jaime's radar as of now, but as his nascent career begins to pick up traction, it's only a matter of time before she comes sniffing around for her [i]inheritance[/i]. Archaeologists aren't exactly known for their willingness to share finds, after all.[/color][/hider]

[hider=The Rogues]
[b]The Reach[/b]
[color=gray]An intergalactic empire of conquerors hellbent on making the universe their own. It was their technology that created the Scarab and sent it to Earth some millennia ago, intent for it to subsume an organic host and bring the planet to its knees ahead of a proper invasion force. A little ancient Egyptian meddling thwarted their initial plans, but now that the Scarab has awoken and secured a host in Jaime Reyes, it's only a matter of time before they come looking to settle a long forgotten score.[/color]

[b]La Dama[/b]
[color=gray]An occultist-turned-gangster, La Dama doesn't have the reputation of a Capone or a Luciano, but she makes up for it by being twice as vicious and a heck of a lot more dangerous, on account of all the magic. Currently expanding her influence through the street-gangs of the Bronx and Spanish Harlem, her expansionism will inevitably pit her burgeoning criminal enterprise against an equally fresh Blue Beetle.[/color]

[b]The Posse[/b]
[color=gray]A group of insular metahuman street-punks trying to make it in a rapidly changing world. They might not be the monologue supervillain type, but Harlem is a dog-eat-dog neighborhood, and they've become increasingly known for flexing their abilities to keep the mutts at bay. How well that tactic will work against a crime-stopping Beetle is to be seen.[/color]
[/hider]

[h3]References / Sample Post[/h3][hr]
[indent][indent]
[url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/177777-my-hero-academia-chaos-age-open/ic#post-4894679]manga[/url]
[url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/179877-saisei-the-crimson-dawn/ic#post-5030797]are comics[/url]
[url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/181627-you-can-become-a-hero/ic#post-5106524]too[/url]
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