InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "ROCKLOBSTER!"

Clint Barton (antivillain_) wrote,
@ 2018-07-23 13:53:00

Application for AVENGERS

PLAYER
Name: Merg E-mail Address: [redacted] CDJ/Contact Post: yo Best Contact Method: contact post Timezone: EST Availability: varies, tend to check online at least once a day

CHARACTER
Character: Clinton Francis (shut up) Barton Journal Name: antivillain_ Last Canon Point: Post-Infinity War Played By: Jeremy Renner Age/Birthdate: 47/January 7, 1971 Icon For Cast-List: Emoji: 💘 Housing Plans (if any): Nat? Job: Stark? Items From Home: Trick quiver, set of arrows Plans In-Game: (Fail to?) deal with his trauma, help everyone else in the aftermath, spend as little time as possible alone with himself

PERSONALITY
(Two paragraphs, minimum, or a list of 10 things about your character. A general personality overview, what makes them tick, likes/dislikes, etc.) 1. Comes across as the chillest of musclebrained dudes, but actually identifies most with outcasts ("cripples, bastards, and broken things") 2. As a kid, Clint and his little brother Barney tried to do a murder/suicide pact with their abusive dad's rifle, but neither could bring himself to shoot the other. 3. Instead, they literally ran away to join the circus; talking their way into becoming roustabouts. Clint grew up learning archery and other physical feats from mentors like Trick Shot and Swordsman (who had circus acts); while Barney taught himself to read, taught Clint to read, and eventually was accepted to college. 4. Which is why Clint took the fall for him when Barney was involved in a robbery-turned-suicide with Trick Shot and Swordsman and some others; so Barney could go to college and live a normal life. 5. Clint was headhunted by Nick Fury right out of his prison cell. Clint had been burned by false idols like Trick Shot and Swordsman who proved unworthy of the adoration and emulation he'd put on them; seeing Fury made Clint suddenly see what actual power—self-possession, ambition to help others—was. Against all odds and past experience, Clint chose trust, and joined the military arm of SHIELD. 6. The cool dude nature was adopted very deliberately, thanks a lot to Fury and Maria Hill, who gave him all the education he'd never had. Clint has a very sharp mind, which was badly misused by himself and others, and he's now learned to occasionally wipe completely. If he's staring at nothing, he might actually be thinking about nothing. When he comes across as less intellectual than some of the others, that's meditative technique. 7. Hasn't seen Barney since Clint's trial, but occasionally can be seen reading (surprising on its own, when he looks like someone who lives only for the gym) nerdy genre books (more surprising) because it makes him feel close to Barn. (In short: Yes, he knows who Legolas is.) 8. Full normalization happened when he met and married Laura and had kids (he still can have the Dad nature even when he's not actively remembering them) but that was always a completely separate life from his agent self, which he wouldn't give up out of feelings of loyalty and indebtedness to Fury, and love of Natasha. He was also afraid he might stop appreciating "normal" life if he didn't have the contrast. Though it seems strange he would choose to spend so much time away from his family, in a way he was doing it for his family: he never wanted to become his own father to his kids. He was always running away from them as much as he was always fighting to get back to them. And not always sure which side of himself was serving the other. 9. Likes: True/proven friends/allies, a clean fight, productive physical activity, achieving meditative focus 10. Dislikes: traitors, manipulators, bullies, cowards, hypocrites, abusers, moral ambiguity, helplessness, stasis, being brainjacked by Loki, the fact that it didn't feel like being a passenger in his own body but rather like serving Loki's purpose was entirely Clint's own idea

HISTORY
MCU^{[Earth-199999]} Before which: compatible backstory details sneaking in from mainstream comicverse^[Earth-616] (he and his kid brother Barney ran away from an abusive home to literally join the circus) and the Ultimate version^[Earth-1610] (was in prison when Nick Fury recruited him). After which: Headcanon based on SPOILER FOR END OF "INFINITY WAR" When half the Earth's population abruptly disintegrated, that tragically included Clint's wife and sons. He tried to flee with his daughter who then also turned to ash in his arms. The combination of her ashes and Barton's fists hitting the ground seemed to collapse it beneath him, crumbling away as the people had, and he blacked out with grief and fury with a last sensation of falling. He woke up here. What's keeping him basically on his feet and coping is the suspicion nothing is real and he's had a psychotic break, which he might as well make the best of, in the hopes when he comes out of it, his wife and kids will be fine. —Plus actually coming in and out of a psychotic break: he also spent so much time away from them, dissociation/confusion—imagining himself in different times (perhaps before he married Laura or the kids were born thus forgetting them entirely)—is horrifically easy. He'll alternate between his usual self and falling through the fissures. This is true even before consciously remembering the Dusting; the memory is gone but the trauma remains. In short: often he won't remember his wife and kids, even though they did exist, due to trauma from their Dusting.

SPECIAL ABILITIES/POWERS
• enhanced hearing (thanks, S.H.I.E.L.D.; surgical implants more than cured partial deafness) —still semi-fluent in ASL • enhanced vision (ditto; eyes had been hazel before blinded on a mission, woke up with new blue ones that he can sometimes consciously focus like riflescopes). Exceptional detail recognition, distance vision, and motion sensing. • dead reckoning (learned) • master-level archer: exceptional aim, seen "send[ing] an arrow into moving targets with pin point accuracy". Supranormal spacial awareness, split-second calculation and anticipation demonstrated by shooting "an enemy warrior off a fast moving vehicle while looking the other way." ^[199999] His precision is not affected by arrows having different attachments (grappling wire, explosives, etc. from his trick quiver) so he's adaptable; can fire arrows with supranormal rapidity. • hand-to-hand combat, both armed and un-. (He's shown sometimes using his bow as a shortstaff.) He's extremely advanced as he's shown as a formidable opponent to Black Widow. Of course she beats him, but it takes her whole minutes longer to knock him out while she's on her feet than it takes her to pwn a roomful of mafiosos while tied to a chair. • speaking of adaptability and combat: One trick Clint and Tasha have in common is a mastery of situational awareness and being able to use an opponent's surroundings against them. Clint focuses this mainly on an "uncanny knack for using miscellaneous hand-held objects as projectile weapons".^[1610] They may've compared notes (played like a scoring game) on most creative/unexpected/ironic things they've weaponized. • veteran espionage operative, whose training, while (paraphrasing Tasha) not covering gods and magic, probably does include other forms of weaponry and tactics. • can pilot small aircraft. • can draw really well. Not great at making things up but can draw things he's seen very accurately, from floorplans to portraits.

AUDITION
His fingers closed on dirt and ashes. His throat felt raw, which was what made him realize he was screaming. What… why… what was… His fingers were scraping themselves red on concrete. No. Wait. A second ago… he tries to dig in and just presses out blood through his fingertips. Had he been here all along? What happened to… he was just… there was something… He looked up. He was dressed in full gear. He wasn't in a field, of… what… crops? There was no rural house… He was in New York. Back in New York. Ashes and dirt Slowly, so slowly, he stood, looking around. There were no Chitauri in the sky. There was no damage to the surroundings. Have I been here all along? If he was in New York… dressed like… An Avenger? But how far back does this go? Was he still under Loki's control? …No, because that was a thought that would never have occurred to him while it was happening. He hadn't felt controlled. He'd felt like everything he did was entirely his own idea. Which was so much worse. Which he hadn't been able to explain… to… …there was something… I just had it… something's missing… But if he was awake now, perhaps he'd just woken up. And how much had been illusion? He opened his palms and looked down at his hands. He'd just scraped them raw, fingertips oozing blood. Great. He'd just severely handicapped his own ability to fight. Was that the point? Was he about to be attacked? Or was it just some kind of vengeance, a last gasp of malice, before for whatever reason he'd been let go? I won't let go I will not let go Something is missing Something was missing… Barton blinked. He tried pinching his own torn hands. He muttered aloud to hear what his voice sounded like: "Wake up." Then he searched himself until he found his transponder and flipped it to an open channel. "Does anyone read me?"