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Post by Owen Burnett/Puck on Oct 13, 2016 13:20:14 GMT -5
..:: Player Information ::..
Player Name: Chris
Age: 26
Other Characters Played: None
How You Found Us: RPG listing
..:: Character Information ::..
Character Name: Owen Burnett/Puck
Type of Creature: Human/Children of Oberon
Rank: Neutral
Movie/TV Series: Gargoyles
Home Island: Isle of the Statue
Personality:
Owen Burnett is a consummate professional in every way, shape, and form. He is always ready to go above and beyond the call of duty for his employer, Mr. David Xanatos. Under pressure, he is as cool as a cucumber, able to handle tough situations with a grace and dignity that barely seems human. Yet he is no unintelligent stooge, able to question and suggest improvements to Mr. Xanatos’ plans if he feels the comments are warranted. He is unfailingly loyal despite this, and the fact that he is allowed to venture forth such questions is proof of how much his service is valued.
Owen takes great pride and satisfaction in his work, even to the point of having a little fun with it in terms of being able to play his part in Xanatos’ myriad schemes. Everything that applies to his relationship with Xanatos applies to the other parts of their, well, family: Ms. Fox and Alex. He would lay down his life for any of them. His relationship with the Manhattan Clan is a bit more fraught; he has suggested more pragmatic solutions when they have been problems in the past rather than his employer’s approach of seeing them as potential resources. All the same, he does see the value in keeping them alive and abides by Xanatos’ wishes in that regard. He has nothing but the highest respect for Elisa Maza as a detective, even if she can be a rather irritating thorn in their side.
Puck, meanwhile, has all of these things but in somewhat opposite directions. Where Owen is stoic, Puck is bold and brash; where Owen takes a little pleasure, Puck takes all the pleasure. He has a terrific fondness for mortals and their foibles, and delights in messing around with them even when he is being directed by someone else. It takes quite a lot to earn his respect, but it's possible. One must have a good sense of humor, for instance (he enjoyed wreaking havoc on Demona's watch precisely because of this fact). And it generally impresses him if one honors his deals or manages to surprise him in some way via unexpected thinking, which is part of why he grew to respect Goliath and Detective Maza for their resourcefulness. He'd rather have a worthy opponent to face off against than an incompetent one.
Despite this fondness, however, he’s still quite dangerous and can even be cruel in his way, having no hesitation in manipulating people to grant his own desires. Or he will give someone who asks a boon of him exactly what they wished for...in a way they don’t expect, of course. For what is a trickster if not unpredictable?
Powers, Skills, Strengths, and/or Any Other Abilities:
Smooth Operator: As Owen, he's immensely skilled in helping negotiate and serve as an intermediary for Xanatos' various businesses. Often found at the Eyrie Building castle when not serving Xanatos' interests in the work world, he's typically the one who interacts with guests and....interlopers.
Martial Arts: Owen is a black belt and frequently practices judo, much like his employer. He is able to overcome most unarmed mortal opponents with those skills. He's also capable of using most standard and non-standard firearms in these kinds of situations. His stone fist gained in a magical experiment can pack quite a wallop.
Technology: Like his employer, Owen is familiar with and adept at using modern technology to achieve his goals. While he generally doesn't take it as far as Mr. Xanatos in terms of getting inside a power suit, he's able to help repair and program both Mr. Xanatos' suit and robots like the Steel Clan should the need arise.
Magic Man: Puck, meanwhile, is incredibly powerful in regards to magic. He can take disguises, change others' shapes and forms, as well as their memories, and generally distort reality to whatever his whims might be. It should not be underestimated or understated how dangerous this can be, especially if he goes so far as to create entire fantasy worlds to achieve his goals. While Owen lacks these innate magical skills, he is certainly capable of using tools of mortal sorcerers, such as objects or spell tomes. Additionally, every time Puck becomes Owen, he "resets" to the age Owen was when he first made the deal with Xanatos.
Good With People: Both Owen and Puck are quite insightful in terms of dealing with people's psychologies, able to manipulate them into doing what they want simply by knowing their personalities. If a person is "good", they can use that to their advantage, pointing to innocents in danger as a distraction, or attempting to break them psychologically so they'll give something up. If they're "bad", Owen and Puck can appeal to their baser natures and desires, while also having a bit of fun with that.
Weaknesses/Flaws:
Squishy: Owen may be quite skilled, but in that form, he's still quite vulnerable to attacks of any sort, be they physical blows, gunshots, etc. They could hurt and potentially kill him in his current state of being. He can also be affected by magic spells depending on the caster's skill and what the spell's conditions are. Additionally, while the "reset" certainly comes in handy, in that form he could still age and die if he went many years/decades without becoming Puck.
Limitations: Even at his most powerful, Puck is not invincible. He has the same weaknesses as any of the rest of Oberon's Children, such as iron restraints or weapons harming him more than normal ones. He's also not all-powerful; generally, his magic tends to affect those around him in a more localized area. If he is tasked with a larger wish or demand, he must use various conduits of the mortal realm to spread his influence.
Magic Is As Magic Does: While, as noted, quite powerful, Puck is currently even further restricted from using his powers outside of teaching Alex to use his own latent abilities. This can put a damper on situations that may need to involve Puck, but all that's on hand is Owen.
Overconfidence Is Your Weakness: Puck often assumes he has more control over a situation than he actually does; while he's able to manipulate people like Demona with ease given her bad temper, someone like Maza or Goliath are a little trickier. Sure, he can use their goody-two-shoes-ness against them, but they're also more on guard from the get-go against him given his fondness for subterfuge.
Dependant: As Owen, he can have trouble thinking of his own wants and needs. Being so focused on the Xanatos' welfare and prowess will do that to a person. He generally doesn't move forward on a particular action without Xanatos' approval, although he's given enough room to improvise and plan on his own within those parameters. No sense in not letting him enjoy himself a little.
Canon History:
Banished from the isle of Avalon one thousand years ago to “learn humility”, Puck, like the rest of Oberon’s Children, drifted through humanity as the centuries passed. Messing with mortals proved quite enjoyable, and over time, he grew to be quite fond of them in all their flaws and virtues. Eventually, he came to the Americas, finding that his queen, Titania, Oberon’s wife, had taken the form of a human, one Anastasia Renard, married to Halycon Renard of Cyberbiotics Industries.
Intrigued by her dalliance, he decided to follow her lead, but not in a form or role that he had played before. He took a look at Halcyon’s assistant, one Preston Vogel, and found him utterly stiff and boring, humorless, but dedicated to his job. The Puck had never played the straight man, so he modeled his new form, one Owen Burnett, after Vogel, determined to outdo him. Unfortunately, working for the Renards at that point soon bored him, and he turned his attention to one David Xanatos, a human who patterned himself after tricksters like Puck or other members of Oberon's Children like Anansi and Raven. Owen left Renard’s service to enter Xanatos’, quickly revealing his true nature to the man. He offered him a choice: one wish from Puck or a lifetime of dutiful service from Owen. To Puck's surprise, Xanatos chose Owen. And so the agreement was made.
Xanatos soon became interested in the legends and myths surrounding Castle Wyvern in Scotland, believing in the stories of living gargoyles who turned to stone during the daytime. Owen accompanied him when he made an alliance with a living, seemingly immortal gargoyle named Demona, who knew the Wyvern Clan and despised humanity, and to Scotland when Xanatos determined to purchase the castle to see if he could break an alleged curse by putting the castle on top of the Eyrie Building. The curse had turned the gargoyles to stone permanently and would only be broken if the castle rose above the clouds. Astonishingly, once the long process of transporting and purchasing it was done, facilitated by Owen, it worked! The Wyvern Clan was alive once more. Unfortunately, Mr. Xanatos’ plan to have them enter his service after having them steal Cyberbiotics technology that he claimed was his (secretly for his Steel Clan gargoyle-themed robots) ultimately failed; a detective named Elisa Maza befriended the gargoyles and uncovered that what Owen’s employer was doing was not, strictly speaking, legal. The Steel Clan robots, as well as Demona, were ultimately defeated, leaving Owen in the charge of the castle while Mr. Xanatos served prison time for possessing stolen property.
Eventually, Mr. Xanatos was released; while Owen suggested to smash the gargoyles in their sleep to get rid of the problem, his employer preferred to simply remove them, hiring a man named MacBeth who seemed to know quite a bit about these creatures. Eventually, the clan did leave, though not before their leader, Goliath, promised that they would return to the castle someday. And so began a long struggle between Mr. Xanatos, Demona, and the clan over various schemes, which Owen gladly took part in.
On one occasion, he even got to stretch his legs as Puck, being summoned by Demona to try and get rid of Maza, who she believed was developing feelings for Goliath, her own former love. Goliath and his clan beat Demona at her own game and ultimately freed Puck, but in gratitude for the merriment and laughs he'd gained that night, he gave her the ability to move around during the day….by having her transform into a human.
Despite his previous contempt for the gargoyles, Owen came to eventually...tolerate them when circumstances forced them to work together with Mr. Xanatos. These included an event where the Eye of Odin began transforming Ms. Fox, Mr. Xanatos' wife, into a werewolf, as well as battles against common enemies like Demona and Thailog. Owen went through more permanent changes as well, gaining a stone hand in an experiment that would have made Mr. Xanatos immortal from a certain point of view.
The next most important events in Owen and Puck’s life occurred when Oberon decided to host the Gathering again on Avalon. All of Oberon’s Children were required to attend.
Puck, however, wanted to hang around mortals just a little while longer. He attempted to get Goliath to give him the Phoenix Gate, a time traveling totem, as a bribe for Oberon, but his attempt to break him through a horrific vision of a possible future ultimately failed. When the Gathering commenced, he was nowhere to be found, in his Owen disguise once more.
Oberon decided to track him down, finding him and Titania, back in her Anastasia guise, at the celebration of the birth of Mr. Xanatos and Ms. Fox’s son, Alexander. In a panic after “Anastasia” revealed that she had remarried her first husband, and knowing very well who that was, Owen abandoned the party, though not without leaving some contingencies in place. Oberon arrived, discovering the child and declaring it to be his by right due to the mixed blood, wishing to take him back to Avalon to train him in magic.
With the surprising help of the Manhattan Clan, a fierce battle ensued. Eventually, Owen revealed himself as Puck and joined the fray, explaining what he’d been up to over the last millennium. When Oberon had defeated everyone else and attempted to take the child, Ms. Fox blasted him with her own magic, surprising everyone. Goliath observed this and convinced Oberon to let the child stay, which he agreed to….so long as Puck taught him. Puck was agreeable at first, but despaired when he learned that he could not use his magic anymore except to teach Alex. And he was banished from Avalon forever. He accepted this, although not without some amount of agony, beginning to teach Alex as well as continue to serve Mr. Xanatos and Ms. Fox as Owen.
The last measure of an uneasy peace between Mr. Xanatos and the Manhattan Clan came when a group known as the Hunters began to attack the gargoyles, revealing their existence to the public. With their clock tower home destroyed in the crossfire, and after foiling a plan by Demona to wipe out humanity, Xanatos and Owen arrived to help them back to the castle in gratitude for their actions in the fight against Oberon. And so the gargoyles were back in their true home with a new ally….so it seems.
Game Information: Owen continues to help Mr. Xanatos and Ms. Fox with their goals in Rohandor, as well as teaching Alex magic on occasion. He still doesn't have much of a personal life, but that could always change, given the possibilities here. In case I hadn't made it obvious, while I will delight in sharing Owen and Puck with the other Gargoyles characters here, I'd love to see him branch out. Find some of his own interests, make his own plans, that sort of thing. It will be tricky, but I think I'll enjoy the challenge.
Anything Else:
..:: Sample Post ::..
Owen strode through the streets of Manhattan briskly yet carefully after exiting the subway, a suitcase in his hand. Normally, he wouldn’t take such a rudimentary, public means of transportation, but the traffic was currently heinous. It was much quicker to use this. At the moment, he had an appointment that he was very keen to keep on Mr. Xanatos’ behalf; his employer was currently busy with other matters. He had been trusted with this important task. He would not fail.
He strode up to the front door of a building that was impressive, if not as impressive as the Eyrie. A secretary recognized him as he presented his credentials and ushered him into a conference room, where a middle-aged man with a beard and bald spots was barking into a phone. Owen stood, passive, before the man eventually registered his presence. "Blast it, Xanatos’ lapdog is here, I’ll call you later." He clicked it off and scowled. "Burnett. What do you want?"
"Mr. Weisman," Owen greeted, brusque. "My employer has given you a number of extensions on delivering the agreed-upon assets to PackMedia Studios. You have failed to deliver." He set the suitcase down on the table, opening it. A large sheaf of paper was inside, with a pen. "Today is your last chance to set the delivery in motion, or my employer will be forced to pursue legal action for breach of contract."
Weisman scoffed. “Are you kidding me? I’ve got enough problems on my plate without having to worry about Xanatos’ TV toys. You’ll get them when you get them.”
“You misunderstand, Mr. Weisman.” Owen’s voice was ice-cold, but still with that certain politeness. “This is not a request. This is a warning.”
Now he laughed. “Oh? And what are you gonna do, huh? Sue me?” He got in Owen’s face, sneering. “I know all about some of Xanatos’ dirty little secrets. Corporate espionage, blackmail, the works. I even hear rumors he’s in some kinda secret society. You sue, I’ll leak, and maybe this time the charges will stick longer than his last stay in prison.”
A tiny sliver of a smirk edged onto Owen’s face. “Mr. Xanatos is quite accustomed to dealing with threats like yours. I would suggest you not trifle with such serious matters if you did not wish for your...own secrets to come to light. Particularly that little incident in Paraguay.”
Weisman turned white. “You...wouldn’t dare….” But Owen’s face was impassive and pitiless. He held out the pen. Finally, the other man sighed and came over to the table, beginning to sign the many sheets of paper.
Another job well done.
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