Xandrya

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

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"Her presentation was amazing."

"Can you top that?"

"Remember, you hate being the center of attention."

"You're going to fail this project."

The multiple whispers in her head were suddenly interrupted when the professor called her up to make her presentation. "Rachel, dear, we're closing with you."

The young student cleared her throat. She did not enjoy getting up in front of her peers, not with her ability to tap into their minds and make some sense of their thoughts. The temptation was strong, but more often than not she knew better than to explore such territory while engaging in public speaking. As she walked up to the front of the class, Rachel did her best to organize the mess within her head. Her face was devoid of emotion, as was the usual, and no one was the wiser.

"The floor is all yours," Professor McCann smiled from behind the desk.

Rachel simply nodded. "My research is on suicide notes. These notes area viewed as providing insights into the psychodynamics of a suicidal person. To contrast the idea, I am proposing that some suicidal individuals—" She stopped for a moment, looking up from her paper and focusing on Octavia, one of her classmates whom she'd worked with in the past. Octavia was shifting uncomfortably in her seat, and even though she shouldn't have probed, the moment Rachel violated the girl's privacy, she came across a great deal of anguish. Slightly perplexed, Rachel quickly apologized to the class. "Um, some individuals use their suicide notes to present a picture of themselves that they want others to remember." Rachel then turned her back on the class to write on the board. As she was reaching for a marker, she heard a slight commotion from the crowd. Rachel turned around to see Octavia rushing toward the door.

"I'm sorry, I need to..." Rachel didn't waste time explaining herself to Professor McCann. Instead, she rushed after Octavia, pleading the girl to stop. "Octavia! Wait!" Once Rachel was outside the classroom, she wasn't too far behind Octavia. In fact, her classmate turned around to face her.

"You're right about one thing, Rachel. My suicide note is how I want others to remember me by."

As she spoke those last words, the girl brandished a handgun from her backpack and aimed it at her right temple. "Goodbye."

The next few moments felt like an eternity. Rachel ran over to Octavia's body, kneeling down beside her and only hearing her irregular breathing. She instinctively grabbed the gun to prevent further harm when Professor McCann called out to her.

"Put it down, Rachel!" Her voice was distant at first, but then it got clearer as she continued to communicate. "Put the gun down!"

"Professor McCann, I didn't..." Rachel placed the weapon on the ground then stood up, circling around to face her instructor. "She had—"

"Let me see your hands!" Another voice, that of a man. Rachel turned to look at a campus safety officer tactically come around the corner with his weapon aimed at her. "Get down on the ground!"

"She has a weapon officer!"

"Ma'am, get inside the classroom, now!"

With her hands raised adjacent to either side of her head, Rachel slowly sank to her knees. She was facing Octavia who was lying in a small pool of blood, and unexpectedly, her familiar voice played in Rachel's head.

Help me, please.

"Octavia?"

Rachel, help me.

There was a lack of regard to her actions as Rachel started to get up to help her classmate, but she was subsequently pushed down to the ground. "Don't fucking move!" The officer was on top of her, one knee digging into her back and a hand pushing her neck into the ground with such force that the experience turned painful rather quickly. "This is Officer Costello, we need Police and EMS outside of Lerner Hall. One victim possibly dead, shooter currently in custody."

Shooter? It took a moment for her to make sense of what had occurred in the last minute or so. Rachel simply stared at her dead classmate not too far from her position. She went with the motions when the handcuffs were placed on her, and again when she was ordered to stand as she was roughly pulled to her feet. Her sight never left Octavia, not even when sirens were heard in the distance.

Project Griffin

A file dropped on the table in front of her, and Cássia looked up at her lieutenant, Damien Cyrus, circling around to take the empty seat across from her spot. He was stripped of most of his gear save for his department-issued handgun, that which was secured in his thigh holster. Cássia kept her eyes trained on him and waited until he made himself comfortable enough to talk.

"Care to explain that?" he motioned towards the file, leaning back on the chair and crossing his arms. Cássia didn't need to look at the images inside to know what he was referring to.

"I'm not a Griffin--"

"Don't fucking lie!" He suddenly stood and slapped the table with both hands, startling Cássia as a result. "We've audited your tracker and you were in the same locales where their ranks are suspected to have been." Damien leaned forward, looking her in the eye. "When command gets a hold of this information, no one or nothing is saving you."

Cássia remained quiet, knowing that at best, she would be imprisoned for life. Her hands were handcuffed behind her back, and her gun and badge were located in a safe on the far side of the room. "You're at the mercy of myself and everyone else in this department, you heard me? Now get up, we have to begin the process." He walked over to her and Cássia got to her feet, allowing herself to be escorted from the interrogation room. She thought of the numerous times she's had to do the same with anyone that was brought in, and it seemed that the bitter pill to swallow that was karma had finally made its way to her.

"May I use the restroom before we go?" She suddenly had an idea, one that would either get her killed or make her a traitorous fugitive.

Project Griffin

Sparrow

Name: Cássia Senek

Country of origin: Brazil

Class (AKA Specialty): Commando

Appearance:

Portrait

Uniformed

Bio: Born and raised in São Paulo to a small family living in poverty, Cássia's dreams and aspirations as a little girl mirrored that of her friends': to get the hell out of there. At the young age of 9, her father managed to move to the United States thanks to a somewhat distant relative who was able to pull some strings. From that moment on, Cássia and her parents were able to enjoy a higher quality of life, and the young girl pursued her dreams to become a cop.

Eventually, her acceptance into the police academy occurred more or less around the same time as the rise of the Emergence Entity. She was slightly apprehensive about the whole thing, but up to that point, she had prepared herself for such career path and she didn't have it in her to start over from scratch.

One evening, Cássia was out on patrol when she witnessed an incident she shouldn't have. It involved a few of her coworkers abusing a protestor over a verbal disagreement. She didn't break up the commotion, but instead, she remained behind the wall and listened to their interaction. From then on, Cássia was torn beyond words. She obviously knew of Griffin, and it didn't take long for her to make up her mind and join their ranks while still being employed as an officer, a move which could prove extremely very dangerous if either side were to find out.

Personality: A bit quiet, although loud and verbal when she needs to be thanks to her job. Cássia is not one for drama, preferring instead to get straight to the point without sugarcoating anything. She has a soft side that some people think doesn't work in certain situations, but Cássia hasn't forgotten where she came from. The young woman is very much so in touch with her roots and will gladly correct someone when her actions are questioned. With that said, she does enjoy good company and drinks as much as the next person, and whenever she loosens up, she becomes the life of the party.

Skills:

• Hand-to-hand/close quarters combat
• Stealth
• Computer specialist
• Bilingual

Project Griffin

@Ubermensch

Personality bit updated.

Project Griffin

Be gentle, I've been drinking

Name: Cássia Senek

Country of origin: Brazil

Class (AKA Specialty): Commando

Appearance:

Portrait

Uniformed

Bio: Born and raised in São Paulo to a small family living in poverty, Cássia's dreams and aspirations as a little girl mirrored that of her friends': to get the hell out of there. At the young age of 9, her father managed to move to the United States thanks to a somewhat distant relative who was able to pull some strings. From that moment on, Cássia and her parents were able to enjoy a higher quality of life, and the young girl pursued her dreams to become a cop.

Eventually, her acceptance into the police academy occurred more or less around the same time as the rise of the Emergence Entity. She was slightly apprehensive about the whole thing, but up to that point, she had prepared herself for such career path and she didn't have it in her to start over from scratch.

One evening, Cássia was out on patrol when she witnessed an incident she shouldn't have. It involved a few of her coworkers abusing a protestor over a verbal disagreement. She didn't break up the commotion, but instead, she remained behind the wall and listened to their interaction. From then on, Cássia was torn beyond words. She obviously knew of Griffin, and it didn't take long for her to make up her mind and join their ranks while still being employed as an officer, a move which could prove extremely very dangerous if either side were to find out.

Personality: A bit quiet, although loud and verbal when she needs to be thanks to her job. Cássia is not one for drama, preferring instead to get straight to the point without sugarcoating anything. She has a soft side that some people think doesn't work in certain situations, but Cássia hasn't forgotten where she came from. The young woman is very much so in touch with her roots and will gladly correct someone when her actions are questioned. With that said, she does enjoy good company and drinks as much as the next person, and whenever she loosens up, she becomes the life of the party.

Skills:

• Hand-to-hand/close quarters combat
• Stealth
• Computer specialist
• Bilingual

So her current status as like a double agent will come to an end within my first post. I wanted to type out the scene instead of condensing into a paragraph in the bio. I hope that's okay.

Post a random fact about yourself.

If I had a navy pamphlet in my closet, I would rip that one up. ;)

My son has spoken of trying to get into the Naval Academy at Annapolis after High School. I will support him only because he intends on being a Marine rather than a Naval officer.

@Gunther

I was Navy...

Project Griffin

Room for one more?

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

@DocTachyon

Can't say I have one character I'm excited most about over another, but I am looking forward to see how relationships develop and all that jazz.

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

Raven

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L

R A V E N

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^{_{R A C H E L R O T H ♦ U N I V E R S I T Y S T U D E N T ♦ J E R S E Y C I T Y ♦ I N D E P E N D E N T}}

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:

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^{"I've never felt comfortable around anyone. Even myself."}

This tale of a young Rachel Roth picks up some time after her fallout with members of the Titans. Up until their separation, she lived with the group in South Brother Island within the East River in New York. Their facility is disguised as a research center, but once you step inside, it's obvious that the location serves as a base of operations. Raven's separation from the Titans was a slow process, one which began with small, sporadic arguments and snowballed into fights up until they couldn't take any more of her and she couldn't take any more of them. The Titans clashed over a number of issues; primarily their emerging roles as young adults. The Titans' primary focus was shifting, and each individual member had their own goals and ambitions as well. With Raven's unstable emotions threatening to make her fall prey to the hold her father has on her, she thought it best to leave South Brother Island and never return.

Roughly a few days after her departure, Raven got in touch with her former colleagues. They reached an understanding and although their relationship isn't rock solid, there isn't any animosity among one another.

C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:

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Rachel Roth is currently attending Columbia University seeking her PhD in Clinical Psychology. She hopes to get away from manipulating the emotions of others and instead, concentrate on working them through their problems, in turn finding a way to better cope with her own. Rachel has stepped back from the limelight since then, knowing that her father is locked away in another dimension and therefore she doesn't feel responsible for saving anymore lives.

My plan is to have Trigon escape, eventually forcing Raven to reach out to the Titans all the meanwhile struggling with the decision to rejoin them as a member once more and be at their mercy, or take a step back and only help out as needed. She will struggle with school, her finances, and possibly get in trouble with the law.

C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:

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The current members of the Titans do not include Robin, Starfire, etc.

S A M P L E P O S T:

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Rachel closed her eyes, and a cucumber was gently placed over each lid. She was face-up on the message table, a couple of white towels covering her chest and the area from just below her abdomen down to her thighs. The background music was extremely soothing, the playlist ranging from earthy, natural sounds such as rain and thunder to full instrumental pieces. She was lying there for a while before being startled by strong hands kneading the sole of her foot. Rachel heard a soft chuckle, obviously from the masseur down by the end of the table. She didn't pay him any mind, and instead she allowed herself to drift away.

"I'm sorry," he eventually said, switching to her other foot. Rachel became a tad annoyed, but she simply shrugged it off and told him not to worry.

"No, you don't understand, Raven. I'm sorry." His voice changed mid-statement, and on instinct Rachel clutched the towel and shot up, seeing her father towering over her within arm's reach. Rachel was speechless, but before she could react she was forced back down, arms by her side and a feeling of heavy weight on her chest as if she were being buried alive.

"You're not--"

Rachel was gasping for breath and couldn't get the words out in time. She was launched against the wall before painfully falling to the floor. It took her a moment to recover, but she eventually realized that she was in her bedroom, the scenery much different from the one a second ago. Rachel slowly sat up, the cold floor beneath her a sure sign she was in the right place. Her cat, Cody, slowly walked up to her more than likely seeking a good belly rub. She could have very well been mysteriously murdered in her own bedroom and them damn furball wouldn't have flinched.

"Do you even care about me?" Rachel said in a dry tone, petting Cody behind the ear. The cat purred for a moment before deciding to walk away. His temperament sure was a hard one to crack.

Rachel sat in silence for a moment, the scene replaying in her mind as if it were on a loop. It was the second time she had been through something similar, and her guess as to the meaning behind these "encounters" disturbed her far more than she was willing to admit. But Rachel had had enough for one night. She got up off the ground and returned to bed, deciding that she did not want to be sleep-deprived for another morning lecture.

P O S T C A T A L O G:

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Coming soon.

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

@Lord Wraith

No further edits needed.