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| Name: | Trev-MUN |
| Personal Journal: | ![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small} ils-trevmun.livejournal.com
|
| Age: | 29 |
| Contact Info: | Mail: irishlightningstudios@gmail.com AIM: Aragan the Acolyte |
| Other Characters Played: | Nobody here! |
Player Information | Character Information | Background | Personality | Abilities | Sample Entries
| Character Name: | David "The Daring Little David" Puskás |
| Character Series: | City of Heroes (MMORPG - Little David is an Original Character) |
| Character Age: | 55 (As of November 2012) |
| Character Gender: | Male |
| World Description: | See the World Description entry. It's way too big to fit here. |
| Canon Point: | November 30, 2012—final day before NCSoft shut it down. |
Player Information | Character Information | Background | Personality | Abilities | Sample Entries
Superheroes can be born of Cinderella-style rags-to-riches stories. Just ask David Puskás. He's lived in Paragon City all his life. When he was born back on November 22, 1957, he didn't exhibit any amazing gifts or talents beyond the baseline. He didn't suddenly develop mutations as he reached puberty or into his adulthood. He didn't have a superhero's physique, being relatively short and squat standing at 5'3" as he did. He was like the millions of others in America's biggest metropolis—just an average human living his life amid the watchful eyes of colorfully costumed caped crusaders.
David wasn't a book smart kind of guy. When he graduated from high school, neither he nor his family had the money or the scholarships to attend college. He wound up landing a job in municipal refuse collection. Hardly a glamorous job, but it payed well enough for him to lead an average middle-class life in the apartments of Kings Row. He married at the age of 27 to Glenda Parker, steadily working his way up to line management positions of Paragon City's sanitation department. Though David was hardly a brilliant scientist or engineer, he enjoyed tinkering and experimenting and would work on various mechanics projects in a rented garage, whether it was fixing up an old car or devising some novelty gadget.
David was 44 when the Rikti War broke upon Primal Earth. The six months that followed were spent moving from one shelter to another, as human forces desperately tried to keep the Rikti from savaging the populace. With the regular military and police dying in droves, there was absolutely no way David could expect to get out there and fight for humanity. Still, using a scavenged assault weapon he found during the chaos, he did volunteer to help provide a citizen's defense for shelters. He recieved some training on how to properly handle and maintain firearms during that time. Luckily for David and Glenda, they both survived that terrifying time. Many of their family, friends, and acquaintances did not.
For David, the years following the war's end were his worst. The city had lost so much, but there was little time to grieve—humanity had to pick up the pieces and carry on. Although he aided reconstruction efforts where he could and continued his work in refuse collection, the job had become far more dangerous as gangs and crime organizations took advantage of the lack of heroes and police to stop them. David filed for a permit to own the assault weapon he'd found during the Rikti War for home defense—even though he knew it wouldn't be much help against the villains exerting their influence on the City of Heroes. For her part, Glenda couldn't take it anymore—every day on her way to work she'd witness gang members openly vandalizing others' vehicles or mercilessly beating and stealing from hapless citizens. She wanted to leave Paragon City, to some other town that wasn't plagued by superpowered criminals. David thought it was pointless—the Rikti War affected the entire world. Paragon couldn't be the only city suffering a crime wave. His arguments with Glenda grew more heated. The breaking point came one day when Glenda was nearly captured by a group of Circle of Thorns mages seeking to take her body as a new vessel. Were it not a fledgling hero's intervention, they would have succeeded. Furious and blaming David's stubbornness for endangering her life, Glenda moved out of the city to upstate New York. After the post-war chaos died down a year or two later, she filed for divorce.
Now living out his mid-life as a lonely bachelor, David tried in vain to bury his feelings of despair over the loss of his loved ones and the state of his beloved city in his work and his hobbies. Life in Paragon City got somewhat better, as more and more heroes stepped up to bat ... but in spite of it all, every day David would see the citizens of the City of Heroes victimized by criminals undeterred by the resurgence of the hero population. What good the new heroes were doing was mitigated when Arachnos began its raids on Zigursky Penitentiary, worsening the rate at which superpowered criminals escaped to menace society once again.
David found himself longing to serve the city in a more direct capacity than just taking out its trash. Every time he saw open and blatant crimes committed on the streets, he'd wish that he had the power to intervene and save the victims. Many times, he considered his options ... but what could he do? He had no particular talent for anything, no natural gifts. He wasn't physically fit—and even if he was, the PPD, Longbow, and the military would not recruit a man his age. David was sure they wouldn't make an exception just because the Rikti left them critically short on manpower.
That's the funny thing—when you live in the City of Heroes, the chance to become a superhero can befall anyone, no matter who you are.
On the 6th of July, 2008, on a routine garbage pickup in Brickstown, David happened across the bodies of Crisis Unit agents from Crey Industries. Their corpses were left to rot in dumpsters. What exactly happened to them, David couldn't discern—Crisis Unit agents wear extremely durable suits of powered armor designed by Crey Industries, such that the suits can easily outlast their wearers, as was the case with these men. Crey had not yet sent a recovery team to retrieve the bodies—perhaps they did not even know the Crisis Unit agents had been killed. He was about to put in a call to the PPD to notify them about the bodies he'd discovered, when he realized that a golden opportunity lay before him. He carefully removed the agents from their suits of armor, took some of their ammunition, then called the PPD to report their bodies.
David used his built-up sick leave and vacation time to spend the next two weeks tinkering with what he'd recovered. Although the "hard" armor layers were uncompromised, the multiple underlayers designed to insulate the wearer from thermal-based attacks and to cushion their bodies from bruising and hydrostatic shock were rendered useless. The motor-assist systems and power supply were also damaged. With minor modifications, the main torso and upper thigh portions of the armor could fit him, as would the helmet if partially disassembled. What he couldn't repair or modify, David replaced with surplus military gear. He bought an assortment of ammunition for his licensed assault weapon—mostly less-lethal ammunition. Figuring that wouldn't be enough, he also came up with a way to mount a taser gun on the back of one of the gauntlets.
David finally had the means to make a difference, but he didn't yet have the image of a superhero to go with it. Most superheroes in recent decades eschewed using their costume and superhero name to conceal their real identities, and David didn't see much point in hiding who he really was. David chose to name himself after one of the largest caliber guns ever built during World War II—the 36-inch American mortar Little David. A relatively short guy taking the name of a massive supergun, itself named for a small young Biblical hero. To complete the image, David repainted his hodgepodge set of equipment to glossy shades of green commonly associated with (but not, as David thought, genuine) military olive drab, accented with dull gold, and with white stars and stripes reminiscent of U.S. Army vehicles from WWII.
Little David officially started his superhero career on July 22, 2008. At first, operating on his own and not yet registered as a superhero by municipal officials, he tested his equipment in confrontations with street thugs in some of the more isolated parts of the city. Then he caught word of a riot in progress in one of the smaller zones of the city—once again, the Rikti had smuggled their mutagenic serums into the black market as part of ongoing efforts to disrupt human society. Crooks and addicts were misled to believe they were a new designer drug, but the mutagen drove those who injected it rabidly insane. PPD officers on the scene requested the help of any nearby heroes, and Little David answered the call. It was his first real test to find out if he truly had what it took to become a hero—and not only did he end up personally containing the riot, he was able to do so without killing any of the rioters.
Little David's career was starting on a high note, and he charged into it with zeal, thrilled that he no longer had to stand as a mute witness to the wanton crime plaguing Paragon City. Becoming a formally licensed and registered superhero by the Federal Bureau for Super-powered Affairs, as a Technology-origin superhero Little David was assigned to work with the FBSA's Department of Advanced Technology Application. Its liaison, the retired superhero Rick "Horatio" Davies, helped Little David cut his teeth with ongoing issues like superpowered street gangs and the Clockwork. His wife, Caitlin Murray-Davies, was also a DATA liaison in the Freedom Corps office in Galaxy City and, as an expert in man-machine interfaces and cybernetic hardware from her career in Exarch Industries, advised Little David on how to refine and upgrade his armor and his gadgets.
As the months went by, Little David moved up from taking on superpowered gangs to more dangerous organizations—but he never forgot about the common citizen's plight. No matter what his mission, whenever he saw criminals harassing, vandalizing,or attempting to steal from Paragon City's citizens, he would always intervene long enough to stop them. Most heroes, once they started getting into the "big time," left the street scene to new heroes coming up through the ranks—but this often meant that a lot of wrongs were being unanswered, and after spending so many years being helpless to stop it, Little David was not about to let any more criminals in his sights escape justice.
This willingness to fight for the common man even when greater crises threatened the city and the world did much to grow Little David's reputation. With reputation came influence—David found himself getting approached for sponsorships and public appearances. The public started using a title in addition to his superhero name, calling him "The Daring Little David." The income he started receiving was more than he'd been paid as a refuse collection supervisor, and David soon made the decision to quit his old job to become a full-time superhero. With his new funds, resources, and connections, by November 2008 Little David was able to replace much of the second-hand military surplus gear with new pieces of armor that interfaced flawlessly with the Crey Crisis Unit armor, built from the same materials. The ruined insulating layers of the Crisis Unit armor pieces were replaced with something marginally better, but the real benefit was the addition of new systems that expanded the breadth and strength of powers that Little David could bring to bear. Once he'd become experienced enough to join Vanguard's ongoing efforts in containing the Rikti (and later the Praetorians), he swapped out the assault rifle he'd been using for a customized Vanguard "Redding" Rifle.
Nearly half a year after his career began, on December 14 2008, Little David's efforts in stopping a time traveling operation from the Fifth Column made him "Entrusted with the Secret" by Ouroboros. This would be the start of Little David's work with the Memders, helping them try and delay or stop the Coming Storm by fighting a shadowy temporal war.
Life as a superhero wasn't what Little David thought it would be, however. Oh, he had no illusions that the life of a superhero would be dangerous, that he could very easily die putting his life on the line for others—and that he'd never be able to save everyone. The Rikti War made those facts absolutely clear. No, Little David's naiveté was his expectation that he would be openly welcomed by other superheroes. Instead, he was met with mixed reactions. While he'd met all kinds of heroes and befriended a good amount of them, an even larger part of the superhero community held a belief that a superhero who used guns was not a superhero.
The reasons were varied; a common one was the belief that superheroes should never kill unless absolutely necessary. These people looked down on anyone who fought with a weapon, but guns drew the bulk of their scorn. To them, a hero with a gun was just a costumed vigilante enjoying a license to kill—an opinion exacerbated by Longbow's almost exclusive use of lethal force to fight crime ... often excessively lethal, as most Longbow squads had at least one flamethrower-toting member whenever news agencies weren't following them. Others saw nothing special about a gun-wielding hero. Those types would ask, "What's so super about guns?"
Little David had to fight an uphill battle to gain the respect of his peers. It helped that, despite his penchant for cocky "action movie hero" theatrics (complete with cigar chomping no less), Little David actually tried to not kill most criminals. He'd used his resources and connections to receive all kinds of bleeding-edge ammunition that gave him more options than just to kill indiscriminately. On the other hand, Little David didn't try to avoid killing at all costs—certain villains (for example, the Clockwork, the Devouring Earth, the Rikti, Malta Group forces, and the Circle of Thorns' summoned spirits, demons, and horrors) just could not be dealt with any other way.
Yet Little David had to deal with more problems than just the opinion of his fellow superheroes. Once he become a name known throughout the entire city, Crey Industries finally realized just what had happened to the powered armor worn by those Crisis Unit agents not so long ago. Little David found himself sued by Crey for theft of corporate property. Although he had enough money to hire a defendant, the judge ruled that Little David had to pay Crey in damages for atealing and modifying the Crey Crisis Unit armor that now served as the core for his costume. This, too, was something Little David was able to pay off thanks to the influence his superhero career brought, but it dashed any hopes David had for moving out of the Kings Row apartment he'd had for decades. Crey Industries wasn't satisfied with this outcome; multiple times over the years, "rogue" Crey agents would ambush and attack Little David whenever he was "on patrol." Even though Countess Crey repeatedly disavowed these attacks as being the work of rogue elements in the company, they spurred Little David into focusing his efforts on helping to expose the company's dark secrets.
By 2010, Little David met up with other up and coming superheroes, mostly of a Science or Technology origin who were coming up through the ranks and were making a name for themselves. Having already established himself by this point, Little David pitched the idea of pooling resources to get themselves registered as a supergroup. They agreed, forming "Little David's Dauntless Division." Outside of fighting crime and villainy, their primary goal was getting a supergroup base established.
When the Primal-Praetorian War erupted in 2011, Little David was there on the front lines. He helped fight off the Imperial Defense Force during the Praetorian Surge, and was one of many heroes awarded the "Defender of Primal Earth" medal for his actions during those battles. He also assisted the U.S. military in holding back the Imperial Defense Force on multiple fronts. While he'd only just begun his journey on the "slow path" to becoming an Incarnate, after Primal Earth's Incarnates took the fight to Praetoria's soil, Little David decided to focus his efforts on working with Portal Corp. Throughout 2012, Little David scouted new dimensions, reported possible threats, and helped to contain known ones. He was, in fact, finishing an assignment in a remote dimension when he was taken to Tower of Animus on November 30, 2012—the Tower stole him away just as he was stepping through the portal to Primal Earth.
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Little David has a gruff Northeasterner's working-class air about him. He has a strong Rhode Islander's accent and speaks plainly and bluntly, without a whole lot of tact when he doesn't think it necessary.
Little David also displays a trait common among Blasters—he's defiant and highly aggressive in a fight. Some of it is theatrics brought on by trying to emulate the bravado of action movie heroes (see below), but a lot of it comes from that natural Rhode Islander's trait to be irritable. Whenever Little David gets taken down by villains and teleported to a hospital in Paragon City (and it does happen, even if he won't readily admit to it) he's liable to come storming back to the fiends' last known location really, really pissed. "Seeing red" is almost a literal thing for him in those cases.
The tendency for Rhode Islanders to be not very agreeable or conscientiousness, however, is tempered by Little David's upbringing in Paragon City. The high-minded ideals of being an ally of justice don't appeal or inspire everyone who lives in Paragon, but they did for David. As a superhero Little David tries to curb that natural inclination to be easily irritated, and put on a friendly, approachable face for both his fellow heroes and the public. He wants people to think of him as being like the cool uncle they never had—adventurous and just a little crazy, but a good and trustworthy guy who does the right thing. Of course, what he wants other people to see of him isn't the same as what he actually gets.
When he's talking with people who aren't criminal scum, Little David likes to talk. He will gladly share stories of his superhero career, the kind of villains he's faced, crises he's averted, and other tales of derring-doo. When in a conversation with others, if there's someone that's stepping on his toes or actively trying to get a rise out of him, Little David will try to be patient with them—but someone who goads him enough will get him angry and cause him to verbally lash out. With villains, though, he generally does not hold his tongue.
Speaking of confronting villains, when on patrol Little David tries to act like a typical action movie hero: wise-crackin', one-liner spewin', cigar chompin' badass. Emphasis on the "act." Even though he never goes out on patrol without having a lit stogie clenched in his mouth, he never really smokes it. His choice of weapons, appearance, and theatrics harkens back to darker times for Paragon City, but he actually means well and isn't an indiscriminate killer. He will kill if he has to, but as a superhero with the ability to take much more punishment than a PPD beat cop, the bar for that personal standard is set pretty high. Certain types of villains don't get a pass (for example, the Rikti, the Clockwork, Malta, Devouring Earth, or the spectral and magical abominations summoned by the Circle of Thorns). Others, specifically gang members, small-time crooks, and people who have been led astray (like the Lost), Little David tries to subdue and apprehend.
This isn't to say that Little David's behavior as a superhero is insincere—he really does want to help people, and he really does want to be a force of righteousness in the world. He is perfectly willing to lay his life on the line to bear any burden, protect innocents, or to bring justice to a villain. He is self-sacrificing, and does not easily believe that sacrifices are senseless or in vain. After all, where would Primal Earth be if all those superheroes and soldiers who died in the Rikti War decided it'd be better to try and save their own skin? No, if he believes there is a chance that putting himself at risk will protect or help others, he will accept the risk.
In fact, Little David has a neurotic streak in him. Rhode Islanders tend to be an anxious and impulsive people, but in David's case it's built up from spending years watching the people of Paragon City suffer from injustice that never saw an answer. He does not want to ignore people in need of help even if he has a more important or time-urgent task.
Starting out as a superhero, David had a problem with being naive about his new line of work. This is even in spite of the horrors of the Rikti War that made it clear that no superhero, not even Statesman himself, can possibly save everyone—and that superheroes can and will die trying to protect people. It wasn't so much that which David was naive about, but rather other aspects of superherodom—how most people regard superheroes, how superheroes regard each other. Over the years as Little David gained more hands-on experience in superherodom, he's grown more accustomed to the kind of things he has to deal with, so his naiveté isn't as bad as it used to be. It's still there, though—he may be more inclined to assume that a person who looks stereotypically villainous is villainous, which has led to some problems between him and certain kinds of heroes (and former villains) who have a vicious or dark slant. It goes the other way, too—an unassuming or even friendly person who isn't overtly villainous might be completely overlooked by Little David until they actually do something that tips him off to their true nature—or when a contact or ally thwacks Little David on the head and points out anything obvious (to them) that he might have missed.
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With the exception of one or two things, technically Little David doesn't have any abilities. As a Technology-origin superhero, the vast majority of Little David's powers come from his equipment. Strip him of his armor, devices, and weapons, and he's just another average, powerless human. The Known Powers and Abilities entry covers all of the major equipment and abilities Little David had at the time he would be taken by the Tower.
What actually comes with him will have to be sorted out; not all of it will fit in the trunk. Assuming his app is approved, here is a proposal for trunk items:
• His power armor suit and helmet (which includes all built-in components),
• His Vanguard "Redding" Assault Rifle, disassembled (he'll have to put it back together),
• His wallet, which contains:
• His Paragon City Hero Registration ID card, which lists his statistics at the time it was issued,
• A few loyalty cards for Paragon City restaurant franchises,
• Assorted US Dollar bills and coins—$37.92 in total,
• Several wallet-sized photos from various times in his life.
• His medical reconstruction device,
• His restocking device,
• A travel cigar case containing three cigars.
The helmet will be rendered incapable of sending or recieving data. He will not have any ammunition for his equipment, starting out.
Player Information | Character Information | Background | Personality | Abilities | Sample Entries
#1
Little David strides across the rooftop of the Southern United Manufacturing Company building, his boots thudding heavily against its tile and steel. As one of the tallest skyscrapers in the Steel Canyon district, the old corporate headquarters offers an excellent view of the entire zone and even some of what lies beyond the War Walls. Night had already fallen over Paragon City, the myriad city lights amid the shimmering blue glow of the War Walls taking the appearance of jewels floating in the ocean.
Or maybe that's how a poet or painter would describe it. Little David isn't so eloquent in his thoughts; to him, the view up here is just beautiful. He'd never get tired of seeing it.
Little David props a foot against the concrete railing cresting the edge on his side of the roof. Fiddling with his utility belt, he takes a fresh cigar out of a pocket case, placing it in his mouth and lighting it. By this point he's gotten used to the taste and smell of cigars—enough that he'd developed a latent urge to go ahead and take a drag on the stogie—but it was easily ignored. He didn't want to get into the habit of actually smoking these things. Health care for superheroes was everything a person could want, especially in the post-Rikti War era, but he'd rather not have to try and kick this habit if it starts.
He leans forward, resting an arm on his propped-up leg as he examines the city streets below. His personal radar and targeting systems aren't good enough to pick up any sign of criminal activity from all the way up here, but Little David knows that somewhere, someone is in trouble. It doesn't take someone like Sister Psyche to figure it out—big cities like Paragon never sleep, and neither do their criminals. How many times had he'd crossed Steel Canyon alone, only to see the Outcasts attempting to snatch purses, mug victims, or breaking public and private property? As much as he wanted to take some time to admire the view, his conscience wouldn't let him.
Yet ... there's nothing saying he couldn't have a little fun getting back into the action.
Standing up, Little David approaches the edge of the rooftop facing Blyde Square and the massive statue of that saluting hero, lit up by spotlights on the ground. Little David's almost sure that statue is actually bigger than Paragon City's most famous one of Atlas in the eponymous Atlas Park ... and he could never really figure out who was commemorated by this one. It looked too much like the one of Matthew "M1" Barnes over in Galaxy City. One of these days he'd have to talk to a historian about it.
Little David turns his eyes to the ground directly below. It's a long way down. If this had been any earlier point in his life, Little David would be shaking in his boots, too afraid to even go near the edge of the skyscraper. Things are different these days, though. He's had quite a bit of time to get acquainted with the power of flight. Enough to feel fairly confident in the stunt he's about to pull.
And if it doesn't work out or if (God forbid) his suit's flight systems glitched out, well—the worst he'll have to suffer is a really sore awakening from the MediCom teleporter at Steel Canyon Hospital and the public embarrassment that would be sure to follow. Still worth the risk even then.
After taking a moment to psyche himself up, Little David kicks off the edge of the rooftop, tumbling forward to the ground below before spreading his arms and legs as if he were skydiving. Which, in a sense, he is—just without a parachute. He spends the first few seconds of his plunge admiring the sensation of feeling weightless. Even with all the superpowers he's seen (and to which he's been subjected), the closest he usually comes to this feeling is on a really fast elevator. The wind whipping at his face makes it quite a job to keep the cigar firmly anchored in his mouth, and he's pretty sure that rushing air has snuffed it out. No matter.
The heads-up display in his helmet constantly feeds him data on his fall as the seconds pass. Halfway down he'll be close to hitting terminal velocity. If he doesn't act by then he'll most certainly eat pavement, if not leave a shallow crater. Just a few seconds more ...
Details in the city streets below become clearer to Little David's eyes—it looks like his stunt has attracted the attention of pedestrians down below. A few stop in their tracks, others appear to be pointing up at him. His helmet can't resolve images well enough from this height to figure out if they're watching in awe or terror, but he doesn't have time to think about it—
—There!
An eyeblink after he drops halfway past the building's height, Little David kicks in the flight system. The thrusters on his back and boots flare to life, bright blue plumes of hot plasma gushing out. Little David throws his legs underneath him to bleed off his airspeed, rapidly pouring more juice into the thrusters rather than going "balls to the wall." A sudden deceleration like that wouldn't have been much more fun than eating the pavement instead.
Little David briefly wonders what this must look like to an observer on the ground—his descent is still rapid. Maybe he still looks like he's falling like a rock. Maybe igniting his thrusters as he did is giving people on the ground a sense that he's trying to correct his freefall in vain. They'll see the truth soon enough—
Once he's a couple of stories from the ground, Little David finally kicks in the "afterburner" mode on the thrusters. Even with the airspeed he'd bled off, the resulting "kick" feels much like he'd taken a full body blow. Uncomfortable, but not too bad. With the thrusters going all-out, he gracefully rolls over and turns his descent into a forward, even flight, speeding over downtown traffic by a dozen feet.
That was fun.
As he speeds past a few blocks, though, his targeting system picks up a pair of Vahzilok thugs in the corner of an upcoming alley. Someone else is with them—someone who's still alive, but very likely a soon-to-be victim of their wanton butchering and organ harvesting.
Little David cuts back on the power output of his flight system as he unclips his assault rifle from the holster attachment on his thigh.
Time to go to work.
#2
It's been a slow day for Peregrine Island's Aquarius Medical Center. Most heroes that fall in battle tend to do so in other dimensions like the Shadow Shard, where they either have teammates on hand that can revive them, or where Portal Corp has its own medical facilities for bringing back the nearly-dead.
Now, though, Aquarius is getting a customer. In the emergency room, one of the MediCom teleporters activates, bringing forth Little David in a flood of sparkling green light. Once the medical reconstruction system releases him, Little David stumbles out of the machine with a groan.
Little David waves off some of the doctors approaching him, holding his other hand to the side of his head as he lumbers over to the emergency room's exit. "Don't mind me, guys, just got in a bad way with da Freakshow. Takin' a tank shell to da head point-blank ... Dat ain't my finest hour for sure—"
He catches himself. The floor feels oddly cold.
... but only to one of his feet.
Little David looks down—only to discover that one of his rocket boots is missing.
"Why dose ... rotten—lil'—punks!" Little David shouts furiously. Not paying attention to the commotion his outburst just caused, Little David burusquely charges out of the emergency room. He's already taking flight with his remaining boot and back-mounted flight systems before he's out of the lobby.
"YOU HEAR ME, YA SERUM-SUCKIN' SCUMBAGS?! YOU AIN'T GONNA BE SAFE NOWHERE!"
Little David is calling in his debt, and somebody's about to pay plenty of interest.
