Elizabeth Braddock (_dangeroustype) wrote, @ 2014-09-26 15:42:00 |
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Elizabeth Braddock
Psylocke Professor/Operative/Pilot/Weapons Specialist/Martial Artist Badass Basically |
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BASICS
APPEARANCE
The first thing that one notices about Betsy is that she looks deceptively frail. Betsy is lithe and sinewy. She's not that tall, only about 5'5" without shoes, but she seems much taller because of the way that she carries herself as well as because of her slightness. The thinness should not be equated with weaknesses, though. Betsy is all lean muscle and is a powerhouse despite her appearance. She has a relatively short torso, which means that most of her short stature is contained in long legs. Her arms and fingers are also both long and thin. It gives her a slightly intimidating appearance. It's not that she looks powerful in body, even though she is, but she looks indomitable in spirit, which is also true.A former fashion model and business mogul, Betsy knows how to dress for success and high society circles. She doesn't bother most of the time, but when she does it's for a certain effect. This only adds to her powerful grace. Betsy isn't one that people normally approach if they don't know her because she looks kind of scary and mean. That's fine with Elizabeth. It's not completely true. Most of the time. With friends and children, when she's smiling and relaxed, Betsy has a completed different composure, one that is much more approachable. Betsy's ancestry is very discernible in her appearance. She has a long face, high cheekbones, almond shaped dark brown eyes and long, straight dark brown hair that she keeps down most of the time and parted down the middle simply. Her skin tone is slightly olive and fairly flawless. In the right light, her hair looks slightly lighter, which can also be attributed to sun exposure. Betsy is lovely. A lot of people have categorized her as being exotic, which she hates and is quick to cut them down. Verbally. Most of the time. Depending on her facial expression, Betsy can go from stone cold killer to warm and open at a moment's notice. She also knows how to control her face and emotions so most of the time it's extremely difficult to read her based on body language. OUT OF CHARACTER
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“You wanted to know why we are necessary? Here is the reason. People like her, mutants like ourselves, for if we don't stand up to defend them, who will?”
PERSONALITY
There are certain things that are expected of you when you’re the only daughter of a well off, respected British family. From an early age, Betsy proved that she wasn’t very interested in meeting those expectations. It’s not that Betsy can’t play that role, but it is, nevertheless, a role she is playing. All the nuts and bolts of the perceived family business, being the good girl, becoming a wife and a mother never really appealed to her, not even when she was little. Of the twins, Betsy was always the one wanting to run off and have adventures while Brian preferred to read his books quietly. While her twin read, Betsy would be climbing whatever trees she could find on the manor grounds, hopping the fences into the neighbors land to slay dragons (sheep) or chase unicorns (ponies), and also attempting to tag along with Jamie but always getting the brush off from her older brother whose wild side Betsy tried to emulate. From her point of view, Jamie was allowed to run wild and do whatever he wanted while she got fussed over if she came home with a ripped stocking and mud on her face. Nevermind the fact that she had gotten those by managing to get to the top of the stone wall faster than any of the other children in her class and, as such, her parents should be proud of her rather than cross. It wasn’t fair.
As Betsy got older, she learned how to subvert her natural inclinations toward jumping into her adventures or, at least, direct them into other more “safe” activities. None of those “safe” activities ever really seemed to please her, though. She would try something new only to have the thrill of it rub off after a while, leaving her looking for the next thing that would keep her occupied and result in that rush of danger and exhilaration. Over the years this side of her has been in direct opposition to the side that recognizes the very real expectations that are on her to settle down, get married and have children. Despite what she says, despite what she may even sometimes fool herself into believing, Betsy doesn’t want anything safe and secure; she likes standing on the edge and looking down into the well of the unknown. Betsy is not just the wild child running amok, however. The formal trappings of her upbringing cling tightly to her as well. Even though she normally feels like she’s just playing a role when she steps into her prim British shoes, it comes as second nature to her. She gets along with almost everyone as long as they treat her with respect. Betsy has never liked being told what to do or being treated as though she doesn’t know what she’s doing. She has a razor-edged discipline, keen intelligence and the ability to mask words in such a way that you don’t immediately notice how acidic they are. There might not be that many people that Betsy lets get close to her, but she is fiercely protective of those that she considers to be friends. When in control, Betsy is actually quite capable of effective leadership and delegating skills and roles to others. She does not have to do everything herself; she just hates having her own hands tied. As a teacher, Betsy is patient, though she is also demanding. She wants the best from every single one of the students under her tutelage. More than some of the others, Betsy knows that sometimes there is a line that needs to be crossed in order to keep people safe, and she is willing to cross it. It's not something that she likes about herself, but it is necessary. In the wake of Piotr's death, it has become even more apparent that they must be forced to do what needs to be done in order to take care of other mutants. POWERS&SKILLS
Telepathy: First and foremost, Betsy is a telepath. This is the power that she has the most familiarity with and, as a result, relies on most. Her telepathy allows her to read, communicate with and manipulate the minds of others using her own thoughts even over large distances. It is easier for her to locate and communicate with someone whose mind she has already been in contact with if she is forced to employ her abilities remotely. One example of this would be the fact that she can easily telepathically communicate with Brian while she remains in Westchester and he is in England, but if asked to telepathically speak with someone randomly in Trafalgar Square, she would be hard pressed to complete the task. Often when Betsy is in telepathic contact with someone over a distance, a mental projection of a purple butterfly will herald her psychic presence.
Psionic Knife: This is the ability that is Betsy’s telepathic weapon of choice. By channeling and focusing her powers, she is able to generate psychic blades that are composed of pure mental energy. The size and shape of the knife varies depending on the amount of power that Betsy devotes to it; it most commonly appears as a short blade, slightly longer than a dagger and composed of pale purple energy. In certain instances, Betsy has been shown to be able to create a much larger psychic katana as well. The psychic knife, regardless of size, can be used to directly disrupt a target’s mind by plunging the energy manifestation into their head. If used correctly, Betsy is able to kill using this skill though she prefers not to unless absolutely necessary. Other general telepathic abilities that Betsy is able to employ include: astral projection, psionic shielding, mental tracking, mind control, telepathic illusions that can be used to confuse people and change people’s perceptions of her, telepathic scanning in order to scan large areas of land for mental signs of life as well as get a general sense of populated areas, the ability to induce mental and or physical paralysis, amnesia that can be aimed at specific memories or total as well as create psionic blasts which, while they do no physical damage, can cause pain, unconsciousness or even death when they connect with their target. Telekinesis: She is able to manipulate and control aspects of reality using her mind as well as levitate herself and others. Instead of starting with the fine details and working her way up to large actions, Betsy started big. It is much easier for her to perform large scale feats than small, detailed ones, though she has been working on becoming much more adept with her telekinesis over the years. She is now able to take small things apart telekinetically but putting them back together again normally takes a bit longer. Betsy’s telekinetic abilities are nowhere near as developed as her telepathic ones. They require a much greater amount of energy and concentration in order to be able to properly utilize them. It is also much easier for them to spin out of control or be taken advantage of in certain situations. Jobs that require a lot of precision tax her to the limit, but she is capable of completing them as long as she does not have to multi-task too much. Telekinetic Weapons: This is the area where Betsy shines the most with her telekinetic abilities, and it is also an area where her telekinetic and telepathic abilities coalesce. The addition of telekinesis has allowed Betsy to take her psychic knife to a new level. Whereas the psychic knife is only capable of doing mental damage, her telekinetic weapons, especially her telekinetic katana, are capable of both. The telekinetic weapons possess an actual physical form so that they can cut, slash and rend in addition to being able to produce psychic consequences if applied correctly. They can also be used to break telepathic bonds on others. Since the telekinetic weapons glow with the same purple radiance as every other manifestation of her psychic abilities, they can also be used as a makeshift light source. HISTORY
Betsy is the only daughter of Sir James Braddock and his wife, May, who he met during a business trip to Hawaii when he was younger. The Braddocks existed in a world of privilege. Born in London but raised in the family manor in the British countryside. As the children of extremely affluent parents, the Braddock children wanted for nothing as far as material possessions and social advantages went. Despite the amount of time and energy that her parents put into the business and their social lives, Betsy never felt like she wanted for anything emotionally either. The Braddocks were good parents, making time for their children as much as possible, although sometimes they were not as supportive as they could have been when the children strayed from expectations. For one thing, Betsy, her twin brother Brian and their older brother Jamie were all trained from a very young age to take over the family business when the day came, though some of them were more interested than others.
Jamie, for instance, showed no real enthusiasm for the family business and, as such, spent much of his time driving loose women around in fast cars much to the chagrin of both the Braddock parents. Despite his flaws, however, both Brian and Betsy adored their older brother. Jamie had no plans to settle down and have a "proper job" and, despite his nondescript singing voice, set out to become a rock star when the twins where twelve. Brian responded by locking himself in his basement laboratory while Betsy started sneaking out of the house to take martial arts classes in a nearby dojo without informing her parents, managing to coerce the instructors into believing that she had permission, which included foraging her mother's signature, a trick Jamie had taught her when they were little. There would have been no point in asking permission as her mother would never have let her participate into anything so "unladylike" anyway. It was during the stressful time following Jamie's disappearance that Betsy's telepathic powers began to assert themselves. Braddock Manor, being situated quite a ways outside of any of the nearby small towns, was not on any sort of public works water and used springs located in the general vicinity. It had been this way since the manor had been established. At first Betsy didn't think anything of it considering that she and Brian commonly knew each other's thoughts before they had voiced them. Suddenly, however, she was starting to be able to hear the thoughts of other family members and the staff as well. Not to mention the pounding headaches that accompanied each bout of being able to pick up their thoughts. For months, she kept this to herself, assuming that Brian was going to tell her any day that he was also gaining powers. Or that she would pick it up through his thoughts. As the time passed though, she became somewhat astounded that her twin had not developed any powers at all and, rather than upset him, she kept her powers under wraps at great mental stress to herself. Brian turned more towards science while Betsy, under James's tutelage, became adapt at business and finances. When her parents eventually uncovered the fact that Betsy had been sneaking away to martial arts classes, May became upset and she and Betsy got into a fight. James was of the mind that it was good for his daughter, though he did wish that she had kept them informed. May, on the other hand, was convinced that the world of martial arts was no place for her daughter, the heiress of the Braddock family, to be dabbling in. Eventually the fight spiraled into the fact that May wasn't happy with Betsy's involvement in learning about the family business either. As far as she was concerned, that was more the duty for her sons than her daughter. May set out an ultimatum to both her daughter and her husband. Either Betsy stopped both and started behaving like the lady she was supposed to be or May would no longer speak to her. Betsy, who had inherited the iron will of her father, rebelled against her mother's objections and dove headfirst into both training and honing her mind. Life at home became increasingly difficult for the entire family. Brian sunk further into his studies, unable to pick a side. James tried to avoid everything convinced that it would pan out in the end. And Betsy continued doing exactly what she wanted no matter what her mother said or did. May, feeling as though she had no other options, left the family, planning on returning to Hawaii to live with her family there. It was supposed to be a separation while everyone sorted out their feelings and decided how they were going to come back together as a family, but that never happened. May's plane went down during the voyage, and she was killed in the crash. James was devastated by the news and withdrew from his family for several months. Jamie returned for the funeral, drunk or high, and then disappeared during the service. Brian was devastated. Betsy was stoic in the face of everything, prompting a number of family friends to come to the conclusion that she was in a state of shock over it. The truth was that, inside her mind, Betsy was screaming. She was also fighting to keep control of her powers, which had threatened to overwhelm her since the instant that she was told the news of her mother's death. The only way to keep it from exploding out of her was to shut down on the outside to a point. In the months that followed, she spent more and more time alone, which was odd in and of itself as Betsy had always been social. She also poured herself more into her martial arts, though she stopped attending general classes, preferring to work one on one with her instructor. Everyone attributed this to the loss of her mother, but it had more to do with the fact that being around fewer people decreased the strain on her control. She could hear things, much more than she wanted to, but with fewer people around there was less crowding in on her. As it turned out, though, she wasn't being quiet enough. The twins were fourteen when Charles Xavier came calling at Braddock Manor. Betsy instantly took a liking to him, which was partially because things were quieter in his presence. His mind wasn't screaming at her. She wasn't sure why and so she instantly sought him out. She thought that he had come to see their father. People were always coming to see their father, after all, but as it turned out, he had come for her. Charles explained to her that she was a mutant, as he was, and that they had something very special in common. Like her, he was a telepath, and he knew how difficult it could be to live in a world surrounding and crushed by the thoughts of other people. He wanted to help her. He had started a school just for this purpose a few years ago, and he wanted her to come with him. Charles promised he could help. Betsy, stubborn as she was, was still smart enough to recognize a good opportunity and immediately begged her father to allow her to attend. James was reluctant, especially considering that both his wife and his elder son had been lost to him, but after talking more with both Charles and Betsy, after coming to understand the tremendous pressure his daughter was under, he agreed. Betsy became one of the first students at the school. The first focus was to get her telepathic powers under control to the point where she was no longer so strained by trying to shield herself. As they worked on this, they discovered that Betsy was also a telekinetic. Not only that but thanks to her inventive nature, she was adept at using both her telepathic and telekinetic powers in exciting ways. Betsy had always liked thrills. She was like her brother Jamie that way. Her education was well rounded and diverse. Much to everyone's delight, Jamie eventually figured out that he was not going to make it as a rock star and returned home to settle down. James eventually started grooming him to take over the family business, which Betsy was never convinced was a great decision, but she keeps an eye on things from the background. So far her elder brother hasn't managed to botch it. Yet. If he ever does, though, she'll be there to step in. No matter how many other things she had to juggle. That's duty, after all. Over the years, Betsy had proven herself to be one of the pillars of the school. She's been there since almost the very beginning, though she has taken leaves of absence, mostly to complete other schooling or training with masters around the world. As a result, Betsy is a master of several forms of martial art, highly trained in using a large variety of weapons, is a certified pilot and holds a Masters in both European History and Post Modern Literature. As both a professor at the school as well as an operative, Betsy is dedicated to the students under her care. |
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code by wearestardust @ supersuits
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