Player name: Al
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alkapwnd on plurk, ibechibb on AIM or spacepiratecatdude on skype or Alkapwnd87@gmail.com
Other characters currently played: Azula
Character name: Cassandra "Sandy" Marko
Age: 13 (Looks ten)
Canon: Spider-man: Reign Via
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thegames Canonpoint: Taken from a point in Spider-man Reign where the city was under attack by venom symbiotes and rather then die, she had led one into a church of kids hoping the monster would slow down and eat them so she could escape. then she arrived at
thegames and spent three years there.
Background:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man:_Reign
(Pre-note: The Wiki lists her name as "Susie Baker" but in the comic she is never explicitly named. when she encounters her father "The Sandman" he can't remember her name. I opted to name her "Cassandra "Sandy" Marko because 1: Sandy is a punny name for the daughter of the Sandman and 2: His internal dialogue has Sandman guessing her name "What was her name? Sally...Susie...?" So I made the jump to Sandy.
As for why her last name is Marko instead of Baker? That was pure accident. I didn't realize at the time that "Flint Marko" Was an alias and his real name was William Baker. It doesn't really hurt anything though so I just opted that for whatever reason his wife only knew him as Flint Marko and took the last name of Marko.) In Sandy's canon history she is featured throughout the story of Spider-man Reign as a rebellious but cowardly young girl standing up against the totalitarian police state that New York has become, but ultimately running away whenever the time comes to stand her ground.
She knows that a world with strict curfew and corrupt police is wrong, but she's waiting for a hero like the legendary Spider-man to show up and save the day. She is broken hearted when Spider-man does come to fight back and he's easily defeated by the sinister six and runs away as she often has done so far.
When venom symbiotes rain from the sky Sandy makes one last attempt to outrun her problems, leading the monsters chasing her into a church full of children, her instincts telling her if the monsters are busy eating those kids she can escape. It was from this point that she was taken to Thegames.
- Sandy's mind and personality were downloaded by the Gamemakers of Panem into a cloned body to compete in The Hunger Games for District 12.
- In her first arena (The fifth Arena since the beginning of what was known as "The Never Ending Quell") Sandy was given her first taste of survival against the elements only managing to last for a few weeks on a frozen tundra due to the charity of a few other tributes who protected her, fed, shared supplies and offered her advice though some of it was rather dark. She was killed by a mutant with the ability to shape shift who transformed into a hulking beast and ripped her head off.
- In the Capitol Sandy met her "team" in district 12 consisting of mentors Peeta, Katniss and Haymitch, as well as stylist Cinna and escort Effie Trinket. Sandy grew close to these people over the year but one by one they vanished under various circumstances. Effie's loss was the hardest on Sandy as Effie had become a sort of surrogate mother figure to Sandy and the two spent a great deal of time bonding. The last time Sandy saw Effie she was beaten and broken on television for suspected aiding and abetting rebels.
- In her second Arena, Sandy began to develop a rivalry with fellow tribute Pruna, a girl slightly younger then her who was trained as an assassin in service to a dark chaos god. It was...a very lopsided rivalry as Pruna had all the skill and courage and Sandy only had her modern intelligence to go off of. In this arena Sandy tried to hide in a crypt from a fellow tribute who was hunting her and was eaten by a swarm of spiders.
- Back in the Capitol Sandy reunited with Pruna and introduced her to Ice Cream as well as other modern marvels like electricity. Offering her understanding of the modern world in trade, Sandy and Pruna ended their short lived rivelry and became allies instead.
- It was also during this time in the Capitol Sandy was labeled as a rebellious tribute along with several others due to things she had said in the arena. A wrist cuff was attacked to her so she could be monitored. Her developing paranoia began to stress her into fits of anxiety attacks but Pruna and Effie did their best to keep her calm. Sandy began painting the walls of her room to deal with this anxiety.
- The third arena was a garrish nightmare of a candyland. Everything looked edible, the sun was always shining, there was cheerful music playing and on day one Sandy got her leg mangled in a bear trap. Pruna helped to drag her away and even found someone with medical skills to help pry off the bear trap and treat the wound so she wouldn't die. Thankfully sponsors provided them with plenty of medicine. It was at this time Sandy learned of manipulative tactics from the medic Pruna had procured. He claimed to have a relationship with another tribute to earn more sponsors. Sandy decided to do the same and she and Pruna agreed to be "Girlfriends." Pruna helped to drag Sandy through the arena for four weeks before one day Sandy had been left alone while Pruna hunted, and Sandy was attacked by a fellow tribute who was a zombie. Sandy went down swinging but in the end her brains were eaten.
- Back in the Capitol Sandy finally buckled down and started training harder with her mentors. While Haymitch was more or less absent, Katniss, Peeta and even some other tributes helped Sandy build her skills with knives, first aid, traps and even baking. She also took notice of the building stress of various adults like Effie as life became more tense.
- In the fourth arena, Sandy finally found some courage as she and Pruna were being hunted by a raptor on a tropical island. In a fit of insanity/bravery Sandy dropped from a tree onto the beasts back and slit it's throat earning Pruna's respect. Unfortunately their curiosity got the best of them and while exploring a cave for shelter she and Pruna were attacked and eaten by a giant Eel.
- Returned to the Capitol again Sandy was surprised along with all the other tributes with a trip to the Districts they were representing. It was here that Sandy got her first look at District 12 and the crummy situation they lived in. The tours tried to keep Sandy in the nicer parts of the District but she managed to explore a bit and bond with some of the locals who held her in high esteem for her efforts. It made her more determined to actually win and make a difference however small for them.
- The next arena (Her fifth) was designed like a museum. It was in this arena that Sandy made friend with a few people who would be very important to her in the coming months, Jane Shepard who would teach her all manner of survival and combat, Mindy Macready who would also train her to fight and be an on again off again friend/enemy and Homura Akemi who would teach Sandy the importance of not giving up, as well as how to make bombs. Before Homura died protecting Sandy she gave sandy a bag of home made bombs which Sandy would later use in a fight with Mindy. Mindy had killed Pruna and claimed it was to teach Sandy a lesson about relying on her too much. Sandy was infuriated and fought Mindy almost to a standstill. In a last ditch effort to kill Mindy Sandy blew herself up and Mindy limped away to win the arena.
- Back in the Capitol Sandy partially forgave Mindy and continued to train harder with her new allies in the training facility. It was during this break as well Sandy participated in a sponsored event by a company making hover cycles. Sandy won the children's devision race and was given a contract with the company and allowed to keep her hover cycle. She grew to love it.
- The sixth arena she'd participated in was a creepy little town, very silent hill in design. Monsters lurked around every corner. In what had become a tradition for Sandy and Pruna they would attempt to ambush Jane Shepard and see how she could fend them off, however this time the house they were in began to collapse and Shepard made a hard choice to save Sandy over Pruna because Pruna was stronger. Pruna fell into a basement full of monster bugs and died fighting. Sandy spent the next few weeks wandering around in a haze, avoiding monsters as best she could until the arena produced zombie-like clones of their loved ones. Zombie Pruna tried to kill sandy and she fought her off, but when Sandy tried to tend to another ally who seemed to be sick and dying, that ally turned on her and bit her infecting her with the zombie virus. Sandy died soon after and became a zombie.
- Returning to the Capitol Sandy discovered Pruna had not been revived. She was gone...or so it seemed. It was also during this time that Effie Trinket was taken away by the head of Capitol security and tortured. Her broken expression was shown on TV so all could know what happened to those who defied the Capitol. Sandy was overwhelmed with fury and depression and so she joined a small team of rebels who broke into the head of securities house. In the end Sandy was the one to plunge the knife into the vile woman and murder her. Without a clear suspect the Capitol captured and tortured Sandy into madness as well as a large group of random tributes trying to get a confession. Some detective tributes investigated the crime but when they figured out Sandy had to be the culprit, they lied to the capitol and some nameless NPC took the fall eventually.
- Pruna had been revived during this time and along with several other tributes attempted a breakout at the detention center. Sandy was rescued by Pruna for all of three days, during which Pruna had to deal with Sandy's broken mind and at one point near the end Pruna tried to put Sandy out of her misery. They fought and were found and re-captured. Each of them branded with the Capitol's logo on their face as punishment.
- They were not released until the next arena (Sandy's seventh) which was designed to look like a mall. At the very start of this arena Sandy saw one of her childhood heroes "Captain America" Delivering a speech of loyalty and unity trying to bring the tributes together and discourage them from playing the Capitol's game. The Capitol responded by blowing up 25% of the tributes on the spot. Sandy's faith in old heroes was fading fast. On the plus side later she would meet Iron Man and he would teach her how to properly pour scotch.
- Still in the seventh arena, Sandy, Pruna and The Grand Highblood met up in a bookstore. The Grand Highblood had previously trained Sandy and Pruna for combat, but after the breakout in the detention center he had been Avoxed, a term meaning tortured and broken, given a lobotomy so he was a timid and obedient servant of the Capitol. In the bookstore the three of them discovered that the Capitol had mocked up some stories about them, including their past, and their futures. If Sandy's book was correct she was doomed to be gunned down for being a metahuman if she ever returned home.
- Paranoia and anxiety began to set in after Pruna died. Sandy lashed out in fear at an older man trying to help her and accidentally stabbed him through the chest with a sharpened decorative candy cane. It was her first time killing another tribute and even though he eventually forgave her, she still hasn't.
- Even LATER in this seventh arena, as all Sandy's friends died off one by one, Sandy was unaware that Jane Shepard had poisoned the water supply with Drell Venom. Ingesting it slowly fed into Sandy's PTSD and anxiety issues till she began hallucinating. On the final day of the arena Sandy thought she saw the head of Capitol security, back from the dead despite her gaping knife wounds. Sandy panicked and attacked only to be gunned down by another tribute. That tribute eventually went on to win the arena.
- Due to the way things ended in the seventh arena upon returning to the Capitol Sandy discovered that rebels from District 13 had set up a hacked post on the network so tributes could speak with them in secret. Sandy used this opportunity to confess to the murder of the Head of Capitol security and apologize for those who had been punished along with her. Most of them forgave her...however someone didn't.
- It is unknown who tipped off the Capitol, but since they had already punished so many for the murder, the game makers decided a special "Mini Arena" was in order. All tributes under the age of 18 were dressed in video game related costumes and set into an obstacle course of death. Points were awarded per tribute killed or task completed and these points would aid them in the next arena. A special extra large prize was placed on Sandy's head for the tribute who managed to kill her. The Capitol made it very clear she was not to survive this mini-arena. They even placed her in a costume that made it difficult for her to maneuver until she ripped it to shreds. Only through the aid of her various allies and her own desperate speed was she able to make it to the end of the mini-arena. She died when thrown from a go-kart, snapping her neck only inches from the finish line. This was the last time Sandy saw Pruna much to her heart break.
- The next arena (Sandy's eighth) was set in a place built to simulate the moon. Sandy's death in this arena was brutal and horrific as in the first ten minutes of the arena, another girl smashed the visor of her space suit with a rock leaving her to die depressurizing where no one would hear her scream. She was particularly bitter about this death because it seemed like no matter how hard she trained, accidents like this could happen and there was nothing she could do about it.
- Between arenas this time Sandy had it pointed out to her by Tony Stark that she was caught in a cycle of self deprecation and wounded pride. She always tried to tell herself and others she was stronger now then she had been when she started but it was largely to cover up that she still didn't feel strong at all thanks to constantly dying. It was also during this time that she met the timid "Phil Grey" former night watchmen at a demonic, haunted Pizza Parlor. He would prove a valuable friend later.
- The next arena came (Sandy's ninth) and was a brutal ice age. As many of her allies had died and not returned Sandy began making new allies during activities such as running away from angry mutant geese and hunting for shelter. She protected Phil Grey and provided him with vodka as he lay dying, soothing his tormented soul as she promised that he shouldn't feel guilty about having to kill a fellow tribute in self defense. Eventually Sandy was set upon by The Grand Highblood who had been mutated into a monstrous undead version of himself. Sandy tried to kill him and put him out of his misery but he ripped her to shreds instead.
- Inbetween arenas this time, it was decided the tributes under 18 were to begin attending school together. It was the Capitol's combined attempts to brainwash the younger tributes with propaganda and drugged juice boxes. As Sandy had experience in drugged drinks (Thanks Shepard) she quickly grew wise and stuck to drinking water. Despite the propaganda she actually did learn some useful things like math and science, and the school set up pen pals for her in District 12 and the Capitol. Through them Sandy reminded herself part of why she was fighting was so kids like her who had grown up in this world would have a better chance at a fair and less horrible future.
- The next arena (Sandy's tenth) was medieval themed and Sandy unfortunately did not accomplish much. While creeping around a castle at night she was startled by a tribute who looked quite monstrous and she stabbed the tribute to death. The tributes closest friend and ally later tracked Sandy down and murdered her in retaliation in the catacombs beneath the castle, sliced clean in half and fed to rats.
- Shortly after this arena a Mini arena ( Sandy's second Mini arena) was held where Sandy only survived a couple days, making it to a city before she fought and was beaten to death by a tribute known only as "The Batter." Her death drove Phil Grey over the edge to kill the batter and win the mini arena to become one of three victors.
- Sandy's final arena ( The eleventh) Was a mish mash of all the tributes and their worlds put together. She was not off to a spectacular start as on the first day she fought with a tribute over a flame throwing guitar and got half of her body burnt up for her troubles. She spent the next two weeks in near constant pain from the burns until Phil Grey and some other sponsors sent her enough burn cream to keep the pain tolerable. It was also during these first few days Sandy finally met her pen pal from District 12 who was later reported as killed. Sandy would find out later they were secretly saved but at the time it was just another friend she had lost to The Hunger Games.
- During her first couple weeks in the arena Sandy discovered a Pizza Parlor much like the one Phil had told her about. Nightmarish and full of robotic mascot monsters Sandy found a poor tribute being slowly eaten by one of the monsters. Sandy opted to put him out of his misery making him the third tribute she had killed during an arena. She did her best to make it quick and painless.
- As time ticked by in the arena Sandy got her hands on some superhero masks that gave her access to her powers which made her stronger, and made it easier to ignore her burn wounds.The longer she wore the masks however the more accumulated pain she would have to endure later. this came to a head when a dragon attacked her and her newest ally Ermac. Ermac was fine fighting the dragon but Sandy donned a mask to help only to have the mask dissolve and drive her insane from the drugs inside it now melting through her skin. She stabbed Ermac in the back and spent the next few weeks running around being insane until she fought and killed (and was killed) by The Batter (Again)
- It was after this arena that war erupted in Panem. The Hunger Games were suspended and on what was supposed to be another tour of the districts, the train was attacked by rebels and Sandy was taken into Capitol custody. It was here they decided to stamp out her rebellion properly by forcing her to endure extreme brainwashing techniques making her a sleeper agent for the Capitol.
- Capitol forces met with Rebellion forces in District 12 to battle for control of the district. As soon as Sandy was unleashed onto the battle field she lost control of her body and began attacking every rebel she came into contact with. A tribute she had known since her second arena named Wesker saw an opportunity to use her to garner favor with the rebels and led her into the waiting arms of her former ally Ermac. She attacked Ermac who incapacitated her and captured her, taking her back to the Rebel headquarters in District 13 to have her brainwashing undone.
- Finally able to embrace her rebellious desires Sandy joined the Rebels in District 13 eagerly and joined them on other missions to capture more districts from the Capitol. Unfortunately however Sandy was caught once more during an attempt to rescue Jane Shepard from Capitol control. Being taken back to the Capitol Sandy was being prepped for an avoxing when she was approached by Kyubey to make a contract.
Personality: When she began her journey Sandy was a girl with a lot of heart and morals, but also a lot of fear and self preservation. She stuck true to a joke her father used to love to tell about two campers running from a bear. One camper turns to the other and remarks "I just realized, I don't have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun you!"
To that extent, Sandy was perfectly fine going out and defying things she thought were unfair such as curfew, but when it came time to answer for her crime she would always run and abandon those who stood up with her to avoid punishment. She never had a lot of friends due to this as many of them were arrested, beaten or at the very least furious with her for chickening out on them.
Even now after all this time Sandy still gets the urge to run, to hide, to and it's that same feeling that fueled her wish. Though she has shown courage in the past, and has endured all sorts of pain and suffering in Panem everyone has their breaking point. And Sandy's came upon her hard enough to revive the coward in her heart urging her to abandon all her friends and loved ones once more in hopes she could escape the war once and for all.
When she is brave however she is reckless. Running headlong into conflict and trusting on her training to protect her. Sandy is well aware of her weaknesses in size and strength and tries to make up for them by learning as much as she can. Not all of it sticks but with enough practice and paranoia she's managed to pick up some good study habits that she employs to learn practical skills such as first aid, basic plant identification and so on.
She is prone to idol worship as well, finding more seasoned heroes and watching how they cope with the situations they are given. Though she does not always fall quickly for them, if they show they embody enough of what she thinks it means to be a hero Sandy will fall in line behind them and support them as much as she can. To that end however if the hero betrays her or lets her down it hits her hard.
Prone to guilt, Cassandra blames herself for things that are well outside of her control and even acknowledges it. But just because the brain knows that something is right doesn't mean the heart can stop feeling it. An example of this would be the events that took place after she murdered the Capitol's head of security and she indulged in self harm due to the guilt of seeing others punished for her crime. With the support of people she respected such as Jane Shepard, Sandy was able to see that even if she felt like falling apart she couldn't hurt herself like that. The Capitol would hurt her plenty but if she refused to let them see it effecting her then she was still winning.
Despite her age, Sandy's always spoken like someone older then she was. It comes from listening to how grown ups talked while trying to blend in with her surroundings and stay out of trouble. It only become more prominent when she was thrust into the spotlight of Panem. She doesn't particularly like standing in front of crowds but she's learned to tolerate it as need be. The same way she feels about fancy dress clothing and elaborate parties. She prefers function over fashion.
It's funny how after dying twelve times doesn't make it much less scarier really. It's given her a surprising tolerance for pain and once she's in the middle of enduring it she can brace herself, grit her teeth and hold on. But when it comes to actual death she's always torn between being scared that this might be her last time, or being scared that she would be happy to end it. She doesn't want to be the girl who gives up but it's always so tempting.
Despite her desperation to survive, she's also far too generous for her own good. This is because over her many trips into the arena she's worked out that if she relies on her age, what knowledge she can share and a minimum of supplies she can usually win people to her favor. And in return they often supply her with more then she needs, and more then once it's led to allies throwing down their lives for her. It's manipulative, but it's better then being greedy for the sake of survival.
In lighter traits, Sandy is an art lover. Painting, sculpture, music. She loves it and tries to explore it when she has free time. Something that was lacking in her own world was an abundance of easily accessible art, and Panem had more art then it knew what to do with. So between her training and studying Sandy would learn how to play guitar, or would paint the walls of her room as a form of therapy to try and help her cope with the nightmares that were symptomatic with victims of The Hunger Games.
Innately curious, she has more then once gotten herself into trouble by asking too many questions, or exploring dangerous places. Something she learned early on in the Hunger Games was that staying in one place and waiting was a sure way to die. But exploring and getting the lay of the land increases your chances of survival significantly.
Sandy has learned that as much as she wants to say there is good and evil in the world, there are too many shades of gray to make it that clear. Her strongest allies in the last few years have been murderers, thieves, military heroes with extremely questionable issues, and in some cases literal monsters. But all of them were ready and willing to stand up against the oppression and evil of the Capitol. Where is the line that says what is too far when you believe your fighting for the greater good? She's still not sure.
Wish: "I wish I could escape this place."
Sandy's spent most of her life running in one way or another. Running away from danger, running towards it. But she's never been fast enough. When she was running away from her life problems other people always had to suffer so she could escape. When she was running towards a problem to challenge it head on she always got hurt. Despite all her training under various combat experts, despite all of her experience in the arenas eventually something always gets the better of her. She gets hurt, she dies, she starts over.
As she sits in her cozy little jail cell awaiting brainwashing, reprogramming or even a lobotomy she's feeling weak and helpless and scared once more. She's bitter that no matter how hard she steels herself she always gets hurt and no matter how fast she tries to run she always gets caught. Even the times when she's had her stone power the stone never seems strong enough to last and she cracks, breaks and crumbles.
If only she could be faster, stronger. If only she could outpace anyone trying to catch her, or out punch anyone who got in her way. Agile enough to dodge the pain thrown her way or strong enough to brush it off.
She doesn't want to be a coward forever, but whenever she's been brave it's gotten her killed because she wasn't strong enough or fast enough or both. And she knows that unless she goes with Kyuubey there is no way she's going to be tough enough to resist or quick enough to slip past them.
Just as Tony Stark once pointed out to her, she's trapped in her cycle of either telling herself and others she's stronger then she used to be...or moping that she's not strong enough. But maybe if she was just a little stronger and faster she could escape the cycle and escape the Capitol once and for all.
Passive Ability & Active Ability: I made a change from my original choice for her power because I felt like perhaps I was over complicating things. I hope this new choice of a passive ability is acceptable.
Passive Ability: Increased Speed and Reflexes to that of an adult Olympic athlete giving her the average running speed of 100M every ten seconds. Faster then Sandy's ever been able to run, giving her a better chance to avoid getting hurt or caught ever again...though obviously it's going to take some getting used to and there are bound to be some rather painful accidents. While running at full speed she can go for roughly five minutes which would get her vaguely 18 miles away from her original location, however she would be exhausted at that point and need to stop, rest, eat and drink. With speed and agility like that however she might only need five minutes of going top speed to escape the Capitol cell she's trapped in and flee into the city where she could hide and rest until she was ready to continue her escape.
Active Ability: Stone body. Much like the ability she was born with she can turn her entire body to stone including hair, clothes and insides. While this slows down her speed and agility this gives her a major increase to her defensive ability and a minor increase in strength allowing her to endure a much greater amount of pain and punishment then she ever could in her normal human form.
If the Capitol hadn't taken away her powers back in Panem perhaps she could endure their cruel torture more effectively. She knows for a fact she'd be able to fight them longer without being subdued. And there would be no way for them to lobotomize her into an Avox without killing her which...might be the better option.
While her stone skin has always shown to only be able to take so much abuse in the Arenas, with the magical boost of being a magical girl it will prove more durable and sturdy then what she was able to accomplish before. However it is not a perfect defense. She will still crack with enough damage, and even crumble if the damage is too great.
Weapon: A
shovel. That's really all there is to it for now.
Sample: https://souljammed.dreamwidth.org/679.html?thread=98215#cmt98215
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justoutrunyou
