Facility Application

[gotthecanary]

Player Information

Name: Catie
Age: old
AIM SN: Catie79
email: dark_jewel79@hotmail.com

Character Information

General
Canon Source: DC Comics, specifically the New Earth version
Canon Format: Comic books
Point in Canon: Gotham City Sirens issue 13
Character's Name: Selina Kyle (Catwoman)
Character's Age: It's never specified, but the assumption is mid-thirties. For the sake of Fac, she will be played as age thirty-three, but if asked, she'll say she's twenty-nine.

Appearance: Selina is a tall, striking woman with short, dark hair and green eyes. She’s built like a runner and is very lean due to her hours of training and roof hopping. She stands about 5’7” in flat feet (but with her taste in heels, she tends to look taller). She typically dresses as a socialite in fashionable, expensive attire.

As Catwoman, she wears a black, skin tight catsuit with a hood that hints at cat ears and red-gold goggles.

Abilities: Selina technically has no super human abilities. She's not considered a meta-human. She is a superb athlete, able to leap from building to building while working in Gotham. She is a very skilled burglar (generally considered the best in Gotham), able to break into homes and museums that have even top of the line security. She is also trained as a hand to hand combatant (strong background in boxing from Wildcat and martial arts from the Armless Master). She does have some lasting side effects from when Hush removed her heart, but she doesn't let that slow her down much. The bullwhip is her weapon of choice and she is particularly skilled with it.

Character History:
Catwoman’s history has been rewritten about a dozen times. This is the version of events that I’ll be using, primarily coming from the New Earth canon but using older canon to fill in the blanks where needed.

Selina Kyle was born to Maria and Brian Kyle. She has a younger sister named Maggie (Magdalene). Maria was not interested in much outside of her cats and committed suicide while Selina was young. Her abusive father resented Selina and drank himself to death soon after. While Maggie went to an orphanage and then to a convent, Selina ran the streets. She turned to thievery to survive until she was caught and placed in Sprang Hall Juvenile Detention Center.

At age 13 she discovered that the administrator of the orphanage was embezzling money. The woman attempted to drown Selina, but the girl survived and blackmailed the woman so that her name was removed from the records. She took off, returning to the streets and her life as a thief. After a burglary goes very wrong, she turns to prostitution with a pimp named Stan. Along with her friend and fellow run-away Holly, Selina decides that prostitution is not the life for them (particularly not for Holly) and gets out of the business. She returns to her roots as a thief, dressing up in a catsuit to disguise her identity. A sighting of Batman solidifies the idea of an alter-ego in her mind and Catwoman is born.

She ends up assisting Batman in her role as Catwoman, along with doing some thievery on the side. Her role shifts back and forth between villain and hero, sometimes Batman’s target and sometimes his ally. She eventually moves to New York City and blackmails her way into the position of CEO of Randolf Industries. Her attempt at a run for mayor is thwarted when her alter-ego is discovered and she returns to Gotham. She is captured during a burglary attempt and sent to prison. While there she basically goes insane and stages a prison break. Her escape is assisted by Harely Quinn. She disappears and it is generally believed that she has been assassinated, but she returns and sets up shop with Holly and Slam Bradley as protectors of Gotham’s East End.

During the fight with Hush, Catwoman and Batman had a romantic interlude. He reveals his secret identity to her, but breaks the relationship off when he believes the relationship is due to Hush’s manipulation. Soon after she is mindwiped by Zatanna. She is reformed from her role as a criminal, and it appears that her feelings for Batman have remained. When she discovers the mindwipe, she starts to question every reaction she has. After Catwoman steals from Black Mask, he kidnaps her sister Maggie and her husband. He tortures Maggie’s husband in front of her and drives her insane. Selina kills Black Mask and saves her sister. Her sister is institutionalized and remains in a catatonic state.

When the story starts again, Selina has a daughter named Helena. She has given up life as Catwoman and lives under an alias. The father isn’t mentioned, but is eventually revealed to be Sam Bradley Jr, the son of her ally Slam Bradley. Holly has taken up the role as Catwoman. Selina does moonlight as Catwoman on occasion and finds herself being dragged back into the lifestyle. Between posing as a criminal and breaking Holly out of jail, she’s not exactly a stay at home mom. After some close calls and an abduction of Helena, she gives her daughter up for adoption and asks Zatanna to wipe her memories as a heroine and a mother, which Zatanna refuses.

Back in Gotham and back on the job, Selina tries to figure out what to do with Bruce. She doesn’t get a chance to make it far, since Hush wants revenge and he kidnaps Selina and takes her heart. Literally. Batman is able to recover it and save her life. He confesses that he loves her while he thinks she is unconscious, but she hears it. The relationship only lasts a couple days. Selina is next seen on vacation on the beach, enjoying some time off. She exacts her revenge on Hush with help, leaving him penniless and injured.

After Batman’s death, Selina is spotted as a part of the Network, supporting the Bat Family. She fought with Jason Todd when he took up a twisted version of the cowl and was put through the roof of a car for her troubles. Her relationship with the Bat Family is a bit complicated, as she’s seen hanging out with Dick Grayson at Christmas, enjoying a drink and talking candidly about their roles, while Damian is terse and insulting while running through the meeting. Secret identities don’t seem to be an issue, with everyone using each other’s first names.

She takes up with Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy as partners in pseudo-crime. Sometimes she’s helping the defenders of justice, other times she’s just giving them headaches. Much of her attention is focused on Hush, who is now masquerading as Bruce Wayne. She’s aware that there is a stand in Batman and does her part to keep the secret, even telling Harley and Ivy that there have been many Batmen over the years (thanks to Talia’s previous work).

During Blackest Night, Black Mask returns as a part of the Black Lantern Corps, attempting to take Maggie again and finish what was started. With some help from Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, Catwoman is able to save her sister but her sister’s insanity sends her on the run. As her insanity progresses, she decides that Selina is possessed by a demon and that she must save her sister. She kills an exorcist nun and steals the woman’s weapons, including what appears to be an angel. Maggie, now Sister Zero, attacks Selina and Harley but the angel loses it’s hold on her when Selina is able to reach her sister. Maggie retreats for the time being, but still intends to drive the demon from her sister.

Link to the extremely complicated history is here: Comicvine article

Character Personality: Selina is, in a word, ambiguous. She is whatever she needs to be to get the job done. She can be both villain and hero in the same night, and sometimes, in the same instant. Her moral code is her own, and she doesn't really bother with trying to line it up with anyone else's. While she has moved more into the role of protector as she's developed, particularly after having her daughter, there is still the willingness to abandon the mundane concepts of 'right and wrong' when she wants to go out for a little thrill. She is a thrill seeker, pursuing dangerous criminals and dangerous men when given the chance. Life is too short to be boring, and she intends to live every day to it's fullest. Selina is very ambitious and never does something half way. If she has a pet project or a goal, she will achieve it through any means necessary. What the goal is determines whether she's acting as a hero or villain in that particular moment. Even her closest companions are never clear on what role she fills, and it seems like they will never get an answer because she simply refuses to choose. Zatanna said that her mind was already moving toward her becoming a hero in her own right, but it's unlikely that she will ever become a pure hero. That's simply too boring and too confining. She is Batman's counterpart, not quite fitting on either side but drifting to a slightly darker shade than him.

As much as she might shift or change as the situation warrants, she always gives the same impression: confident, in charge, and sexy. It doesn't even take effort for Selina, she simply exudes sex appeal (like many strong women in this universe). She can be very flirtatious at times, but it's all talk. Her roots may be rough, but she will keep things classy when it suits her. She's not the type to sleep around. She's perfectly comfortable attending an opera and rubbing elbows with the highest echelons of society, even if she has some comments for the doorman that are a bit out of place. Just as much a mask as her cowl, she doesn't let that persona slip except in rare circumstances. As far as the world is concerned, Selina is completely in control of everything around her at all times. Her comments frequently come off as flippant and she has a very dry sense of humor. The world will come crashing down, and she'll quip about not footing the bill for this one. Insults slide off of her without visible effect. Part of her is proud of how far she's come from her past, and that she can bring the most powerful men in the world to their knees. She is not a lady to be trifled with and believes firmly in evening up the score.

Her protective nature shows up almost constantly through her past. She is very protective of her sister Maggie, even shooting a man to protect her despite her wishes to not kill someone. She takes in Holly as a runaway that she thinks is too young for that lifestyle. With Ivy and Harley, she shows very genuine interest in keeping them safe at a personal level and believes that there is good in them. They may be her partners, but she also considers them to be her friends and people that she wants to protect. That does not mean that she's exactly an open book with them, or that they always get along. Far from it. Selina tends to be emotionally aloof, even with those she considers close. Considering her on again, off again romance with Bruce, that's a behavior that is regularly reinforced. She is very cat like, coming and going as she chooses and answering to no one but herself.

Her hobbies include being an animal rights activist and playing up the part of socialite. She does enjoy the finer things in life and believes in sparing no expense. Thanks to wringing every drop of money she could out of Hush, she has a lot of money to buy herself toys with. She has no need to steal, but she still does it for the thrill.

Writing Samples

First Person Sample

[Audio]

[There's a low moan and the sounds of someone moving.]

That is the last time I let you talk me into going out to check out some new club with you. It feels like a bomb went off in my head. Where did you take us afterward? I don't recognize this place. I thought I knew every inch of Gotham. Just like you to find some random little hole that -- is full of naked people.

Harley, what the hell did you do?

Third Person Sample

She wasn't in Kansas anymore.

Selina lowered her communicator, looking around the room for any indication of where she was. Gotham was her city, she knew every pothole and alleyway and hole in the wall motel, which led to a natural conclusion. She wasn't in Gotham, or any other place she recognized. The air wasn't right for her home town, or even for Metropolis. Why the hell was she naked in some medical center? With a group of random strangers? She had no injuries or any other sign of kidnapping.

Cautiously she slid to her feet, ignoring the fact she had no clothes for the moment. She was not foolish enough to just sit there and wait for whatever came next. She would handle this on her own terms, and then she would hire a taxi or a jet to get her back home. She had plans and they didn't involve wasting time on someone's prank. If this was Harley’s handiwork or Ivy’s idea of a joke? There was going to be hell to pay.