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[slayertude]

IN CHARACTER

Character Name: Buffy Summers
Canon: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Canon Point: Season 5, episode 22, "The Gift".
In-Game Tattoo Placement: On her right forearm.
Current Health/Status: She arrives after having sacrificed herself by jumping into a magic portal, so she has just died but is otherwise whole.
Age: 20
Species: Human

Content Warnings: character deaths, graphic violence, assault, self-loathing, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, murder, attempted murder.

History: wiki link

Personality:

Now, we can do this the hard way, or... well, actually there's just the hard way.

The thing about Buffy Summers is that she's tough as nails. Sure, she's still young, but when you think about how long she's been the Slayer and about the things she's seen in that time, well- The path her life took made her grow up quickly and helped toughen her up as well. It wouldn't make sense for the Slayer to be a pushover, after all.

A lot of Buffy's toughness and strength of character and will can be attributed to her Slayer training, but she wouldn't have excelled as well as she did if those qualities weren't already present within her. Her training built on those things, but she possessed them from the start.

Try intimidating Buffy, and you'll just get a lot of sass and stubbornness in return. She doesn't back down easily, and it takes a lot more than a run of the mill vampire to slow her down. The hundred or so vampires that she's staked would attest to that, if they were still around.

Bright, sunny, beautiful. However can we escape this torment?

It goes without saying that being the Slayer is hard and sometimes lonely, but Buffy's response to basically everything in her life is to respond with as much humor and sarcasm as she can manage. And trust me when I say that she can manage it very well. Her constant use of sass and sarcasm is as much a coping mechanism as it is a part of how she is. She's definitely quick with a one-liner and that speaks to a witty mind.

But more importantly, in her line of work, when things get dark, there's usually several ways to respond. She could get weighed down by the gravity of what she's expected to do, or she could compartmentalize it all and go at it like a soldier would. But the bottom line is that even though Buffy has been shown doing both of those things at different times, her go-to will always be responding to any given situation with a little snark and a sassy hair flip. It lightens the mood and makes both herself and her friends laugh. What's not to like about that?

If the apocalypse comes, beep me.

It's interesting to note that even though Buffy's the Slayer and there's a lot of responsibility and pressure weighing on her, one thing she's never forgotten about is that (early on in her career) she's still a teenage girl. As she grows up into adulthood, some of that balances itself out, but hey- when she was 16, she still wanted to think about typical 16-year-old things, to the chagrin of her Watcher.

Even when apocalyptic events were happening, they weren't happening immediately, so Buffy was quick to choose pursuits like school dances and dates over patrolling and standing guard in case the worst happened. And, as she told her Watcher Giles, she was just one pager's beep away if the apocalypse started. Might as well enjoy herself one last time before the world ends, right? Right.

I've got a way around it. I quit.

I don't care! I don't care. Giles, I'm sixteen years old. I don't wanna die.

There's no ignoring the fact that Buffy is incredibly stubborn. It's a good quality to have as a Slayer, because being intractable and solid in one's beliefs and goals is definitely essential to getting things done. It wouldn't do at all to have a malleable, easily persuaded Slayer. They have to be driven and goal-oriented, and to varying levels, Buffy is those things. When a task is put in front of her, as long as it's not something she disagrees with, she gets it done one way or another.

The exception to that is if a task conficts with her own moral compass or if it puts someone she cares about in harm's way. There haven't been too many instances of that, but probably the biggest conflicts of interest that occurred during Buffy's time as the Slayer involved Angel and Dawn. It's easy to understand why Buffy developed a blind spot towards those two: she was in love with the former, and she was the "older sister" to the latter. Still, Buffy did what had to be done concerning Angel, but she
adamantly refused to put Dawn in harm's way.

But getting back to Buffy's stubbornness, she really doesn't put a lot of stock in prophecy. Sure, there's some instances when she does just that, but one key moment in which she puts her foot down and refuses to even consider any other options involves a prophecy that says the Slayer has to die. That's when Buffy's teenage stubbornness manifests itself loud and clear, and no reminders about the prophecy or her Slayer duties help talk
her down.

Threatening to quit isn't a particularly mature action, but when her own life is on the line, she reacts like any ordinary teenager would. She considers choosing to abandon her responsibilities and keep on living rather than dying because a prophecy says that's how it has to be. It's an understandable reaction, and while it might appear selfish at first glance, it's a visceral response, and a fearful one too. Buffy isn't immune to fear, and she certainly isn't the type to just obediently march off to her death because a prophecy says that's what's going to happen. She'd threaten to quit and run away first.

The point is, that even though she's the Slayer, Buffy has moments of fear and cowardice just like anyone in that situation would. The other takeaway is that even though she makes threats about quitting, she actually doesn't and she comes to the conclusion that there is no escaping her destiny and goes off to face her fate anyway.

Impulsive? Do you remember my ex-boyfriend, the vampire? I slept with him, he lost his soul, now my boyfriend's gone forever, and the demon that wears his face is killing my friends. The next impulsive decision I make will involve my choice of dentures.

In Buffy's world, the decisions a person makes and the things they do have long-term consequences. It's a lesson she's learned the hard way, and at great personal cost. But even with that, if she was given the choice of just living like an ordinary teenager with nothing more to worry about than what boy she wanted to date, I'm not so sure she would have accepted that. Yes, she might be prone to moments of wanting a more normal life, to go shopping with her friends or to go on a date, but one thing about Buffy is that she knows she has a job to do, and one way or another, she's going to get it done.

But she's had moments when she's had to decide between jumping in headfirst and taking a more thoughtful approach. The heart wants what it wants, or so the saying goes, but Buffy fell in love with Angel, a vampire. He was unlike most vampires, but he still had a hefty list of kills and crimes he'd committed over his long life. Despite the warnings and disagreement from her friends, Buffy fell head over heels for him and was deeply in love.

Everything changed when Buffy and Angel took their relationship to the next level. Knowing how deeply in love they were with each other, they slept together, and although at first, it was a great experience, unfortunately, the fact that Angel was experiencing such great happiness was the trigger for him losing his soul. It's complicated, but there was a curse involved, and the gist of it was that Angel was cursed with having to live with a soul. But the moment he experienced a moment of pure happiness, the soul he'd been cursed with would be lost, presumably forever.

This experience shook Buffy to the core and it made her doubt herself and her decisions. As a result of this, she came to realize she couldn't always jump in feet first, hang the consequences. Being impulsive, falling in love with Angel, and deciding they were ready to to sleep with each other brought about some rather disastrous events, including the obvious loss of Angel's soul, but also the deaths of some important people in Buffy's inner circle. Actually, anyone dying at all at the hands of vampires like Angel counted as a significant loss in Buffy's book. All life is valuable in her eyes, so she counts any human's death (with some grey areas, of course) as important.

So, from this point on, Buffy's goal was to try and be more thoughtful about how she went about her life. She's not perfect, of course, but she definitely did her best.

I could jam wooden things into monsters but Mom was the strong one.

As the years go by, Buffy becomes more confident in herself and her abilities, but the whole time, she knows that there's varying levels of strength. Sure, she's staked hundreds of vampires and done what a lot of people thought was impossible, but the funny thing about Buffy is that she's really not all that arrogant. She likes her sarcastic quips about how great she is and how vampires better watch out for her, but beneath all that, I think that Buffy has an appreciation for people, ordinary people who don't have to worry about slaying vampires. She may not always express it in so many words, but I believe she does value them.

Take her mother for example; she wasn't perfect, and she made mistakes, but for the most part, she stuck with Buffy until the end. Of course she had her moments of fear, because what sane mother wouldn't, when their daughter is going out every night tracking down and killing vampires?

Buffy learned a lot about strength from her mother, and once she was gone, she really missed that pillar of support. But the important thing is that people like Buffy's mother taught her that there's more to having strength than just being able to dust vampires.

I sacrificed Angel to save the world. I loved him so much, but I knew what was right. I don't have that anymore. I don't understand. I don't know how to live in this world, if these are the choices, if everything just gets stripped away. I don't see the point. I just wish- I just wish my mom was here.

Buffy's not all sunshine, daisies, and sarcastic quips. She has real issues and real doubts and insecurities, and once the losses in her life start to pile up, she begins displaying signs of depression, self-doubt, and some level of regret as well. Of course, she still has the support of her friends, but there's a lot brewing below the surface.

She understands that as a Slayer, she has to make sacrifices, including sacrificing her own personal happiness like she did with Angel. Of course she wanted to be with him, but it was one of those greater good kind of things. She had to send Angel to hell to keep the world turning.

But over time, it began to seem like the more sacrifices she made, the worse things got for her. It got to the point that her moral compass and sense of stability were both rocked. The underlying issues of depression and doubt became more obvious, even though they've been there the entire time. She's just good at putting on the mask and carrying on, and not really letting anything else show until she can't hold things in anymore.

Still, there's been instances of the dam breaking, letting Buffy's true feelings pour out, but those occurrences are pretty rare overall. She can compartmentalize like a pro, but all of her issues are definitely still brewing beneath the surface.

It's pretty easy to forget that Buffy's still young; yes, she's an adult, but she got thrust into adulthood very quickly, and being a Slayer also forced her to grow up faster than most teens her age. Overall, she handles herself well, but she has real issues and she definitely needs real support to keep her going. But, having said that, in the absence of that support, Buffy's still the type who can just soldier on and get the job done. It's kind of an interesting conundrum that she can find the strength of will to carry on even when she feels like she has no foundation.

At the end of the day, Buffy is far from weak, but even she still needs help sometimes.

Abilities/Powers/Weaknesses & Warping:

Buffy has a decent knowledge of the occult, thanks mostly to the influence of her Watcher Giles. Sure, she might not be a walking textbook, but she's retained some of the information he's related to her.

She's decently proficient with the use of a few different weapons, including crossbows and axes, but her preferred weapon of choice remains the standard wooden stake. As far as hand-to-hand combat goes, she's proficient there as well, having had to learn to defend herself as part of her Slayer training. She's in good shape because her job requires her to be, and while her figure tends more towards the slim and trim side, she definitely has a somewhat muscular physique because of the very physical nature of her role as a Slayer.

She also has heightened senses due to being a Slayer. Mainly, this just means she can still fight an opponent even when it's dark out or if her vision is otherwise compromised. Also, should an opponent be invisible, she can detect their location as well. This can be warped to be completely ineffective, or only randomly effective.

Aside from that, she's still very human, so of course she can be hurt and killed, even if being a Slayer means she's a little tougher than the average person. It doesn't mean she's immune to damage, only that she's slightly more resilient but can still be brought down by fatal blows. In canon, she's died twice: once after being bitten and drowned by the Master (a powerful vampire) and the second after sacrificing herself and throwing herself off a tower and into a magical portal that closed once she'd died. She was also shot in the chest and flatlined, but she managed to survive that injury thanks to a magical intervention.

Inventory:

- One wooden stake
- One outfit (a hoodie, a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers)
- Her wallet containing $20, a family picture, and her ID
- One pager (not functioning)
- One flashlight

Writing Samples:

- TDM top level

- 2nd TDM top level (from February)

OUT OF CHARACTER

Player Name: Kelly
Player Age: 30+
Player Contact: starkravinghazelnuts @ Plurk / starkravinghazelnuts#4249 @ discord
Other Characters In Game: N/A.
In-Game Tag If Accepted: Buffy Summers: Kelly

Permissions for Character: Permissions here!

Are you comfortable with prominent elements of fourth-walling?: Yes.

What themes of horror/psychological thrillers do you enjoy the most?: Existential horror, corruption, body horror, mind control, exploration of internalized fears, and personal demons are the main ones.

Is there anything in particular you absolutely need specific content warnings for?: No.

Additional Information: Nothing comes to mind!