P L A Y E R; NAME: Sage AGE: 24 PLAYER JOURNAL:shobogan TIMEZONE: EST CONTACT: shobogan at plurk OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: N/A
C H A R A C T E R; NAME: Jocelyn Xavier CANON: Marvel 616 AU POINT IN CANON: Several weeks after the flashback in Uncanny X-Men 161. AGE: 30 APPEARANCE: Xavier is currently in her thirties. She has light blue eyes and dark, prominent eyebrows. By the time she was eighteen, she'd gone entirely bald. She's prone to dressing formally; crisp collared shirts, smooth dark vests, sleek tailored trousers. She prefers neutral colours. She may uses a manual wheelchair made in the early sixties. CANON HISTORY: Jocelyn was born to Brian and Sharon Xavier. Brian was, ostensibly, a wealthy nuclear researcher. He was in truth a geneticist, and part of clandestine project that studied mutant children. While Sharon disapproved of the tests, arguing on their young daughter's behalf, Brian was all to willing to use her as an experiment. Otherwise, he largely ignored her.
When Xavier was seven, her father died in an explosion at the nuclear facility the project was based in. His colleague, Kurt Marko, was quick to comfort Sharon. He ultimately convinced her that Xavier needed another father figure; that, largely, is why Sharon married him.
She would soon come to regret it. Marko was abusive towards both her and Jocelyn, and his own son Cain.
When Jocelyn was ten years old, her psychic abilities began to develop. She could feel the suffering of her mother and step-brother as keenly as her own. In time, she gained some measure of control; she'd purposely link her mind to her mother's, in order to share and soothe her pain.
There was only so much help young Jocelyn could give. Sharon had been driven to alcoholism, and it took her life before her daughter reached eleven. Jocelyn was left alone with Marko and Cain. Her brother suffered the brunt of the abuse, and she couldn't help but feel guilty for it.
Still, when she had the opportunity to leave at sixteen in the form of a scholarship to Oxford University, she seized it. She'd always excelled academically, even without the use of her psychic abilities. She decided to pursue the field of genetics herself, hoping to do true good with the knowledge.
When Marko died in a lab explosion, Xavier didn't grieve for him.
She met another genetics student named Moira Kinross. Xavier had long realised she was attracted to women, but this was the first time she dared to act on it. Fortunately, Moira shared the attraction. The two even decided to try living together.
Then, after Xavier had earned five Ph.D.s, Cain was drafted into the army, on the eve of the Korean war. Jocelyn still felt responsible for him, despite their strained relationship. She'd been honing her psychic abilities, and she used them to secure a place in his unit. She learned to pass as conventionally male without use of telepathy.
The war was, to be brief, utter hell for Jocelyn. She couldn't shut out such intense emotions; she experienced all of the hate and terror and suffering around her. She felt the deaths of enemies and allies alike. That was how she learned to construct such rigorous mental shields; it became her only option for survival.
It made it easier, just a bit, to take lives herself.
Eventually, she managed to secure a place in search and rescue missions – focusing on liberation, rather than slaughter – and she learned to use her powers as an alternative. She used them, too, to help counsel and rehabilitate her fellow soldiers.
It wasn't enough.
Receiving a letter from Moira breaking their makeshift engagement only made matters worse. Then, when she attempted to stop Cain from deserting, she thought she saw him die.
The war had taken the love of her life. It had taken her brother. It should have been no surprise, really, when it took her legs as well.
It was to be her last month, after three years in hell. Even Xavier couldn't account for every variable, particularly when she was more focused on rescuing others than protecting herself. The bullet shattered her spine, ruined her spinal cord, and paralysed her for life.
As soon as she was able, she chose to travel the world; she needed to know there was more to it than chaos and bloodshed. In Kirinos, she found those who helped heal her spirit.
The war did give her something, though; the knowledge that she wanted, beyond anything else, to preserve life. To give everyone a chance to shape the future of the world.
That's why, in Cairo, she decided to confront the mutant crime lord controlling the thief's quarter. He was the first fellow telepath she'd ever met, and it became her first psychic battle. It was a struggle – another steep learning curve – but ultimately, she won.
For the first time, she realised just how dangerous her fellow mutants could be. She decided it was imperative to unite humans and mutants against such threats.
Soon after, she received a message from her friend Daniel Shorman, a psychiatrist who'd worked with traumatised soldiers. He was now in Haifa, Israel, running a clinic for Holocaust survivors, and he needed Xavier's help.
That's where Jocelyn met Ada Lehnsherr, currently going by Mara. She was a survivor herself, volunteering at the clinic.
Both of them were amazed when Jocelyn sat down with Gabrielle Haller, Daniel's catatonic patient, and brought her back to consciousness without, apparently, saying a single world. She had, of course, entered Gabrielle's mind, sharing in the woman's trauma before manually dismantling the wall she'd built.
Together, Jocelyn and Ada helped Gaby recover and adjust. The three become very close as they travel Israel. Xavier found a kindred spirit in Mara; she had a keen intellect, a vast appreciation for the wonders of the world, and a passionate drive for change.
But there was a fundamental difference between them. Xavier still believed humans and mutants could live in harmony. Mara, however, had experienced firsthand the atrocities committed to people simply for being different. She considered Xavier a rampant idealist, and believed the only way for mutants to secure their safety was to hold ultimate power.
Their mettle was tested when Baron von Strucker, a Nazi war criminal, kidnapped Gabrielle for the knowledge locked in her mind. Together, Xavier and Mara mounted a rescue. It was then that they finally revealed to each other what both had suspected – that they themselves were mutants.
Mara was utterly ruthless in her assault, while Jocelyn focused largely on rescuing Gaby – just as she'd done in the war. She used her telepathy to set Strucker's Hydra agents against each while Mara battled their leader.
Mara levitates them both out of harm's way, steals Strucker's gold, and murders him. Despite Xavier's protests, she leaves alone.
After spending some time more with Gabrielle, Jocelyn, too, forges her own path. CANON PERSONALITY: Jocelyn likes to think of herself as wise and objective, a mediating force in a frenzied world.
In some ways, this is true. She began as a gentle, thoughtful person, and she strives to remain that way. She tries her utmost to be fair and compassionate, and for the most part it comes easily to her.
However, her past has left its mark on her. Jocelyn knows how it feels to be helpless, unable to protect yourself or the people you care for. She's sworn never to feel that way again, and that vow has formed into an intense need for control.
For better or worse, she has the power to seize it. Along with this comes a certain arrogance, compounded by the sense that she knows what's best for other people.
Always, Jocelyn is a strategist, even in her day to day life. It's simply how her mind works, calculating and analytical; she plays to win. This isn't to say she can't be sincere and compassionate, even fun and silly - but for the most part, it's mind above heart. Occasionally, it can seem that she doesn't have the latter.
She's not above manipulating people, with or without her abilities, to further her goals. It is, after all, for the common good, and she's not truly hurting anyone. She'll avoid that as long as possible; she had to maim and kill in the war, and it sickened her to the core. She felt those people die.
Her ideals were, essentially, forged in blood and fire. They're consequently very hard to deter, and she finds it difficult to compromise. Perhaps, if she was more willing, she and Ada could have come to an accord.
It's something she'll always regard wistfully. There are so many things she regrets, and part of her crusade of protection and unity is making up for her own mistakes, her own inabilities to act. She takes too much responsibility on herself. It is, in part, out of her own arrogance – why shouldn't she be able to control the world around her?
She wonders, in her darkest moments, if that's why Moira broke it off. If her first love saw through all the pretty lies she tells herself. So many people in her life just leave, one way or another – surely it isn't coincidence.
Usually, though, she's stalwart in her own righteousness. She needs to believe in herself, in her dream, if she's going to achieve anything. What is she, without that?
Jocelyn has chosen a difficult path. Many simply won't take a woman seriously, regardless of her credentials. Now, in a wheelchair, people are more likely to pity than respect her.
She won't let that stop her.
POINT OF DEPARTURE: Jocelyn is an AU of Charles Xavier.
Being a woman very much influenced who Jocelyn is. It gave her a perspective the Xavier in canon lacked. She knows what it's like to be dismissed and derided at a glance. She knows what it's like to bear persecution without power. She can hear people objectifying and deprecating her before they ever say a word.
Because of that, she can sympathise more easily with less diplomatic approaches, even if she doesn't agree. She understands enduring distrust and resentment. She won't sacrifice true equality for grudging acceptance.
If anything, her need for control is more pronounced, simply because people were less inclined to give her any, even over herself.
Her home life was also different. She was even closer with her mother. Marko didn't respect her the way he would have a stepson, and Cain didn't resent her as he would a brother. As a result, Marko's abuse was more direct, and the losses of Sharon and Cain were harsher. She's been left a bit more raw and withdrawn.
The second biggest divergence is the way she lost the use of her legs Charles had his legs crushed in a battle against an invading alien; Jocelyn was paralysed in the Korean war. ABILITIES: Jocelyn is a skilled, powerful telepath. She can both read and influence peoples' minds. At this point, she cannot significantly alter them, not permanently, nor can she erase memories.
She's able to access the astral plane, and fight mind-to-mind with other telepaths. She's killed a man this way. (Well. Mostly.)
She has no taste for violence, but she was a soldier for three years, and studied Eastern martial arts afterwards; she can defend herself physically if she needs to. She remembers all too well how to use a gun.
She has experience as a therapist, mostly through working with her fellow soldiers.
She has a Ph.D in genetics, biophysics, psychology, psychiatry and anthropology. INVENTORY; The clothes on her back – a tailored suit, worn but elegant – and her manual wheelchair. ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? Nope!
S A M P L E S; FIRST PERSON: Her first Network Post for Outer Divide. THIRD PERSON: Jocelyn has, as it turns out, absolutely no musical talent whatsoever.
Daniel plays the piano beautiful, fingers flying over the keys in a natural, graceful cadence. It's irritating, when her own attempts remain clumsily mechanical. Reading the music came easily enough; it's putting that knowledge to any use that gives her trouble.
Gabrielle, on the other hand, has been picking it up quickly. Daniel's hands guide hers as she goes, and Jocelyn feels her heart twist in her chest.
It's not fair, really. She hasn't said anything, and it would be a heinous breach of conduct besides. She was Gabby's doctor. And yet, with Ada gone her own way -
“Are you all right?” Most people couldn't tell the difference – she keeps too tight a reign for that - but Gabby is different. Jocelyn musters a smile, and shrugs her shoulders.
“I was merely...daydreaming.”
“Well, that's why you're not learning anything.” Daniel's tone is light, teasing, and Gabby's laughter is soft and kind.
“Surely it's all right for her to be bad at one thing.”
“Of course, but you know it's infuriating her.”
They know her entirely too well. It reminds her of Moira, poking every sore spot with a grin and a wink, shaping her into something softer.
She can't hold on to anyone, can she?
Better, probably, to leave them now, while they can still laugh with her. It's about time she makes progress, anyway; she can't sit here sketching out fantastical machines and distant plans forever.
Gabrielle's gaze remains concerned. She senses, perhaps, that something has changed.
Jocelyn Xavier | Marvel 616 AU
NAME: Sage
AGE: 24
PLAYER JOURNAL:
TIMEZONE: EST
CONTACT: shobogan at plurk
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: N/A
C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Jocelyn Xavier
CANON: Marvel 616 AU
POINT IN CANON: Several weeks after the flashback in Uncanny X-Men 161.
AGE: 30
APPEARANCE: Xavier is currently in her thirties. She has light blue eyes and dark, prominent eyebrows. By the time she was eighteen, she'd gone entirely bald. She's prone to dressing formally; crisp collared shirts, smooth dark vests, sleek tailored trousers. She prefers neutral colours. She may uses a manual wheelchair made in the early sixties.
CANON HISTORY: Jocelyn was born to Brian and Sharon Xavier. Brian was, ostensibly, a wealthy nuclear researcher. He was in truth a geneticist, and part of clandestine project that studied mutant children. While Sharon disapproved of the tests, arguing on their young daughter's behalf, Brian was all to willing to use her as an experiment. Otherwise, he largely ignored her.
When Xavier was seven, her father died in an explosion at the nuclear facility the project was based in. His colleague, Kurt Marko, was quick to comfort Sharon. He ultimately convinced her that Xavier needed another father figure; that, largely, is why Sharon married him.
She would soon come to regret it. Marko was abusive towards both her and Jocelyn, and his own son Cain.
When Jocelyn was ten years old, her psychic abilities began to develop. She could feel the suffering of her mother and step-brother as keenly as her own. In time, she gained some measure of control; she'd purposely link her mind to her mother's, in order to share and soothe her pain.
There was only so much help young Jocelyn could give. Sharon had been driven to alcoholism, and it took her life before her daughter reached eleven. Jocelyn was left alone with Marko and Cain. Her brother suffered the brunt of the abuse, and she couldn't help but feel guilty for it.
Still, when she had the opportunity to leave at sixteen in the form of a scholarship to Oxford University, she seized it. She'd always excelled academically, even without the use of her psychic abilities. She decided to pursue the field of genetics herself, hoping to do true good with the knowledge.
When Marko died in a lab explosion, Xavier didn't grieve for him.
She met another genetics student named Moira Kinross. Xavier had long realised she was attracted to women, but this was the first time she dared to act on it. Fortunately, Moira shared the attraction. The two even decided to try living together.
Then, after Xavier had earned five Ph.D.s, Cain was drafted into the army, on the eve of the Korean war. Jocelyn still felt responsible for him, despite their strained relationship. She'd been honing her psychic abilities, and she used them to secure a place in his unit. She learned to pass as conventionally male without use of telepathy.
The war was, to be brief, utter hell for Jocelyn. She couldn't shut out such intense emotions; she experienced all of the hate and terror and suffering around her. She felt the deaths of enemies and allies alike. That was how she learned to construct such rigorous mental shields; it became her only option for survival.
It made it easier, just a bit, to take lives herself.
Eventually, she managed to secure a place in search and rescue missions – focusing on liberation, rather than slaughter – and she learned to use her powers as an alternative. She used them, too, to help counsel and rehabilitate her fellow soldiers.
It wasn't enough.
Receiving a letter from Moira breaking their makeshift engagement only made matters worse. Then, when she attempted to stop Cain from deserting, she thought she saw him die.
The war had taken the love of her life. It had taken her brother. It should have been no surprise, really, when it took her legs as well.
It was to be her last month, after three years in hell. Even Xavier couldn't account for every variable, particularly when she was more focused on rescuing others than protecting herself. The bullet shattered her spine, ruined her spinal cord, and paralysed her for life.
As soon as she was able, she chose to travel the world; she needed to know there was more to it than chaos and bloodshed. In Kirinos, she found those who helped heal her spirit.
The war did give her something, though; the knowledge that she wanted, beyond anything else, to preserve life. To give everyone a chance to shape the future of the world.
That's why, in Cairo, she decided to confront the mutant crime lord controlling the thief's quarter. He was the first fellow telepath she'd ever met, and it became her first psychic battle. It was a struggle – another steep learning curve – but ultimately, she won.
For the first time, she realised just how dangerous her fellow mutants could be. She decided it was imperative to unite humans and mutants against such threats.
Soon after, she received a message from her friend Daniel Shorman, a psychiatrist who'd worked with traumatised soldiers. He was now in Haifa, Israel, running a clinic for Holocaust survivors, and he needed Xavier's help.
That's where Jocelyn met Ada Lehnsherr, currently going by Mara. She was a survivor herself, volunteering at the clinic.
Both of them were amazed when Jocelyn sat down with Gabrielle Haller, Daniel's catatonic patient, and brought her back to consciousness without, apparently, saying a single world. She had, of course, entered Gabrielle's mind, sharing in the woman's trauma before manually dismantling the wall she'd built.
Together, Jocelyn and Ada helped Gaby recover and adjust. The three become very close as they travel Israel. Xavier found a kindred spirit in Mara; she had a keen intellect, a vast appreciation for the wonders of the world, and a passionate drive for change.
But there was a fundamental difference between them. Xavier still believed humans and mutants could live in harmony. Mara, however, had experienced firsthand the atrocities committed to people simply for being different. She considered Xavier a rampant idealist, and believed the only way for mutants to secure their safety was to hold ultimate power.
Their mettle was tested when Baron von Strucker, a Nazi war criminal, kidnapped Gabrielle for the knowledge locked in her mind. Together, Xavier and Mara mounted a rescue. It was then that they finally revealed to each other what both had suspected – that they themselves were mutants.
Mara was utterly ruthless in her assault, while Jocelyn focused largely on rescuing Gaby – just as she'd done in the war. She used her telepathy to set Strucker's Hydra agents against each while Mara battled their leader.
Mara levitates them both out of harm's way, steals Strucker's gold, and murders him. Despite Xavier's protests, she leaves alone.
After spending some time more with Gabrielle, Jocelyn, too, forges her own path.
CANON PERSONALITY: Jocelyn likes to think of herself as wise and objective, a mediating force in a frenzied world.
In some ways, this is true. She began as a gentle, thoughtful person, and she strives to remain that way. She tries her utmost to be fair and compassionate, and for the most part it comes easily to her.
However, her past has left its mark on her. Jocelyn knows how it feels to be helpless, unable to protect yourself or the people you care for. She's sworn never to feel that way again, and that vow has formed into an intense need for control.
For better or worse, she has the power to seize it. Along with this comes a certain arrogance, compounded by the sense that she knows what's best for other people.
Always, Jocelyn is a strategist, even in her day to day life. It's simply how her mind works, calculating and analytical; she plays to win. This isn't to say she can't be sincere and compassionate, even fun and silly - but for the most part, it's mind above heart. Occasionally, it can seem that she doesn't have the latter.
She's not above manipulating people, with or without her abilities, to further her goals. It is, after all, for the common good, and she's not truly hurting anyone. She'll avoid that as long as possible; she had to maim and kill in the war, and it sickened her to the core. She felt those people die.
Her ideals were, essentially, forged in blood and fire. They're consequently very hard to deter, and she finds it difficult to compromise. Perhaps, if she was more willing, she and Ada could have come to an accord.
It's something she'll always regard wistfully. There are so many things she regrets, and part of her crusade of protection and unity is making up for her own mistakes, her own inabilities to act. She takes too much responsibility on herself. It is, in part, out of her own arrogance – why shouldn't she be able to control the world around her?
She wonders, in her darkest moments, if that's why Moira broke it off. If her first love saw through all the pretty lies she tells herself. So many people in her life just leave, one way or another – surely it isn't coincidence.
Usually, though, she's stalwart in her own righteousness. She needs to believe in herself, in her dream, if she's going to achieve anything. What is she, without that?
Jocelyn has chosen a difficult path. Many simply won't take a woman seriously, regardless of her credentials. Now, in a wheelchair, people are more likely to pity than respect her.
She won't let that stop her.
POINT OF DEPARTURE: Jocelyn is an AU of Charles Xavier.
Being a woman very much influenced who Jocelyn is. It gave her a perspective the Xavier in canon lacked. She knows what it's like to be dismissed and derided at a glance. She knows what it's like to bear persecution without power. She can hear people objectifying and deprecating her before they ever say a word.
Because of that, she can sympathise more easily with less diplomatic approaches, even if she doesn't agree. She understands enduring distrust and resentment. She won't sacrifice true equality for grudging acceptance.
If anything, her need for control is more pronounced, simply because people were less inclined to give her any, even over herself.
Her home life was also different. She was even closer with her mother. Marko didn't respect her the way he would have a stepson, and Cain didn't resent her as he would a brother. As a result, Marko's abuse was more direct, and the losses of Sharon and Cain were harsher. She's been left a bit more raw and withdrawn.
The second biggest divergence is the way she lost the use of her legs Charles had his legs crushed in a battle against an invading alien; Jocelyn was paralysed in the Korean war.
ABILITIES: Jocelyn is a skilled, powerful telepath. She can both read and influence peoples' minds. At this point, she cannot significantly alter them, not permanently, nor can she erase memories.
She's able to access the astral plane, and fight mind-to-mind with other telepaths. She's killed a man this way. (Well. Mostly.)
She has no taste for violence, but she was a soldier for three years, and studied Eastern martial arts afterwards; she can defend herself physically if she needs to. She remembers all too well how to use a gun.
She has experience as a therapist, mostly through working with her fellow soldiers.
She has a Ph.D in genetics, biophysics, psychology, psychiatry and anthropology.
INVENTORY; The clothes on her back – a tailored suit, worn but elegant – and her manual wheelchair.
ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? Nope!
S A M P L E S;
FIRST PERSON: Her first Network Post for Outer Divide.
THIRD PERSON: Jocelyn has, as it turns out, absolutely no musical talent whatsoever.
Daniel plays the piano beautiful, fingers flying over the keys in a natural, graceful cadence. It's irritating, when her own attempts remain clumsily mechanical. Reading the music came easily enough; it's putting that knowledge to any use that gives her trouble.
Gabrielle, on the other hand, has been picking it up quickly. Daniel's hands guide hers as she goes, and Jocelyn feels her heart twist in her chest.
It's not fair, really. She hasn't said anything, and it would be a heinous breach of conduct besides. She was Gabby's doctor. And yet, with Ada gone her own way -
“Are you all right?” Most people couldn't tell the difference – she keeps too tight a reign for that - but Gabby is different. Jocelyn musters a smile, and shrugs her shoulders.
“I was merely...daydreaming.”
“Well, that's why you're not learning anything.” Daniel's tone is light, teasing, and Gabby's laughter is soft and kind.
“Surely it's all right for her to be bad at one thing.”
“Of course, but you know it's infuriating her.”
They know her entirely too well. It reminds her of Moira, poking every sore spot with a grin and a wink, shaping her into something softer.
She can't hold on to anyone, can she?
Better, probably, to leave them now, while they can still laugh with her. It's about time she makes progress, anyway; she can't sit here sketching out fantastical machines and distant plans forever.
Gabrielle's gaze remains concerned. She senses, perhaps, that something has changed.
Jocelyn will leave before she asks again.