Post by Deleted on May 14, 2014 14:50:13 GMT -6
||| STRATUS |||
Credit to Pooryorick (Deviantart page now deleted) for character design and image.
#Name; Stratus
#Age Group ; Adult
#Sex; Male
#Gender ; Male
#Species; Pegasus
#Cutie Mark ; Three blue shields with light blue crosses going through them.
#Occupation ; Co-Captain of the Shadowbolts
#Powers and Abilities ; Stratus is a trained flyer, and although he’s not the most agile or quick, Stratus’ endurance means he can fly for far longer than most Pegasi can, even under extreme stress or pain. It also means he can pull off particularly exhausting stunts that cause strain on his body and still be able to keep going. Stratus is also strong and good at fighting (both unarmed and with a pike, though he hasn’t used the latter in a long time), thanks to his training as a guard.
#Physique ; Freight Train (as in really big, tough, and hard to stop)
#Mane and fur color and style ; Light grey fur, and a jagged, spiky mane/tail that is light blue with a thick Columbia blue outline
#Eye color ; Light green
#Other appearance details (optional) ; There is a scar on the left side of his face that runs vertically from his chin to his muzzle. Similar to Big Mac, Stratus has unshorn fetlocks. He’s also commonly seen wearing the black and purple uniform of the Shadowbolts.
#Personality ;
Stratus is a stallion of few words for the most part, with even fewer expressions. It seems like he has a scowl permanently plastered on his face, and few things can get him to change it. Stratus speaks coldly and can have a bad temper, but only if you give him a reason to. He’s a grump if you annoy him, but otherwise he usually keeps to himself. When talking, Stratus is blunt and gets straight to the point.
Stratus rarely ever expresses positive emotions beyond a nod of approval or slightly smaller scowl. There are many reasons behind this, including being a former guard, past experiences, and just being part of who he is. He seldom talks about his past, partly because he wants to forget, and partly because he believes the burdens of his past are for him to bear alone. He would not want his team to worry about his own personal matters. Being overly affectionate also makes Stratus uncomfortable, and is a quick way to make him get upset. He tends to give mares more leeway, but mainly because he doesn’t understand them as much, having spent a good amount of his life around other colts and stallions. What is normal for them could very well be different than what’s normal for him, he assumes. Thanks to being to being raised by a guard and becoming one himself, Stratus respects the law and greatly dislikes criminals. Despite his shady past though, as a teammate Stratus has been trying to give the Shadowbolt Charger a chance to prove himself to be more than a dirty crook.
Though his expression may fool you, Stratus cares very deeply about his teammates. Trust and loyalty are two of the most important things for Stratus, and anypony he shares them with he will do almost anything to protect them. Even despite how much the other Shadowbolts can annoy him, Stratus would never, ever intentionally betray them or their trust. Also a strong believer of the chain of command, Stratus both expects obedience from the other team members, and greatly respects Nightshade’s authority. Though he can be tough commander (as much as you’d expect an ex-guard to be), he tries to be fair to the other Shadowbolts.
Romance is, to put it simply, something Stratus doesn’t consider. Besides the fact that he assumes no mare would ever love him anyway, Stratus believes it would get in the way of his job. Stratus’ work and his loyalty to his team is more important to him than anything else, and he does not want anything to get in the way of that. If he ever did find love though Stratus would be just as deeply committed to his love as he would his team.
#History ;
Stratus was born in the city of Los Pegasus, and was raised by his father. His mother died when he was very young, though Stratus never asked how, because he didn’t want to know. Stratus’ father, a guard, was strict on Stratus and taught him early on to respect authority. Due to only his father being there to raise him, Stratus would spend many days either alone or spending time with the families of his father’s guard friends. Stratus was a quiet colt, who rarely bothered anypony and thus was rarely bothered himself. It was a doubled edged sword for him; though he did not have many friends, he was not picked on by bullies very often either.
One day, when Stratus was out at recess during school, he noticed a young colt in Stratus’ class being taunted by two older colts. At first, Stratus didn’t pay them much attention and kept walking, until he saw one of the older colts kick the younger colt and knock him down. In that moment, Stratus jumped into action and fought the two colts. Everything happened so fast that Stratus couldn’t fully recall what happened, but by the end both of the older colts were flying away crying while he was left with only one or two bruises. The young colt thanked Stratus for helping him, and then pointed out in surprise that Stratus had a cutie mark. And sure enough, when he turned back, three shields were present on his flank. He eventually ended up getting in trouble for getting in a fight, but Stratus knew he had done the right thing, and more importantly, he now knew what his calling in life was.
The day after he graduated from flight school, Stratus went to enlist with the guards. His upbringing with his father already preparing him somewhat, Stratus had an easier time getting accustomed to boot camp than many of the other cadets. When the drill sergeant gave an order, he did it without question or hesitation. While in boot camp, he began to form bonds with some of the other young stallion cadets. Though none of them were as disciplined as Stratus was, they shared an interest in wanting to protect ponies helped each other out throughout boot camp. With their help, Stratus started to get out of his shell and start to be a bit friendlier. The day all of them completed training and became official guards, Stratus and his friends went to a bar to celebrate.
This was the first time in Stratus’ life that he drank alcohol.
He didn’t remember much about the night, but what he did remember was the horrible splitting headache the next day, and deciding that alcohol wasn’t something he was interested in. Afterwards, Stratus began his work as a guard. Things were often slow, as would be expected in a relatively peaceful country like Equestria, but Los Pegasus had a seedier side to it than most cities thanks to all the casinos. Mainly though Stratus’ work as a guard was commanding drunk mares to stop dancing in the public fountains. When actual important guard work happened though, Stratus proved himself to be a very capable stallion, and because of this he quickly rose through the ranks. With a few years, Stratus was an officer, and his former squad mates became subordinates.
Stratus felt he had found his place in life, and for a while, he was happy. But, that all changed one faithful day a few years ago. Stratus and his squad were sent to a hotel in response to a call that a pony wanted for drug trafficking was hiding out there. The squad split up to search the place for him, but as Stratus was searching the third floor, he heard shouting down the hallway. When he ran to the other end of the hallway, he found an open hotel room, and inside was one of the guards under his command on the ground bleeding out, and an open window which the criminal used to fly away. The guard’s name was Sunny Skies, a new recruit who had told Stratus she wanted to be an officer like him one day. She died on the way to the hospital.
Stratus didn’t speak the rest of the day. Unsure where the criminal went and worried about him, Startus’ CO forced him to go on leave for a few days. Stratus however, did spend that time taking a break. For the next few days Stratus went on a personal crusade, hunting down the stallion who killed Sunny. A few days later, he had tracked him down to an abandoned warehouse outside of Applewood. A pony who saw him entering the warehouse called the guards, knowing he wasn’t supposed to be there.
When Stratus went inside, the criminal was by himself. He dove at Stratus with a dagger, but Stratus dodged, causing the blade to streak across his face, leaving a long cut that eventually turned into the scar on Stratus’ face. After Stratus knocked the criminal down and disarmed him, he surrendered and begged for mercy, swearing he only wanted to escape and he didn’t mean to kill anypony.
Stratus didn’t listen. By the time the guards arrived, Stratus had beaten the criminal to an inch of his life. The criminal was rushed to the hospital, while Stratus was taken to the guard station; not as an officer, but as a criminal. Ultimately, Stratus was not given jail time, but he was dishonorably discharged from the guards, and was told he was lucky he wasn’t serving time for what he did.
Stratus couldn’t fathom how having his entire life shattered before his eyes was ‘lucky’. Stratus had no Plan B, no other idea as to what to do with his life. In one action, he had lost everything. Wanting to escape the memories of the whole incident, with little money and no job, Stratus left Los Pegasus. Eventually, Stratus found himself in Canterlot, in a bar of which its name he cannot remember.
This was the second time in Stratus’ life that he drank alcohol.
And it was this night in a shady bar in Canterlot that Stratus met Nightshade. Stratus spent the night lamenting what he’d lost and angerly spoke about how they didn’t understand what he did. The next day when Stratus woke up in an old hotel room he didn’t remember paying for, he found a slip of paper with Nightshade’s address on it. Stratus went, partly out of curiosity, and partly because he didn’t know what else to do.
And by the end of a day of discussion, Stratus joined the Shadowbolts. It’s been a while since then, and they’ve recruited a few members, but Stratus still serves as Nightshade’s second-in-command, often acting as her right hoof pony and the one who enacts discipline on the team members when they mess up.The Roleplayer's Corner
#Nickname ; Billy Mays
#Age ; OLDER THAN 12
#Sex and Gender ; Male
#How did you find us? ; I talked to myself about getting a job in the mirror, then my third self confirmed I had contamination and mutants in my brain. Then I was here.
#Sample RP ;
Today the Shadowbolts were performing a show as a publicity stunt. Things had been slow for the team recently, and Nightshade hoped showing off for a magazine or two could put them help them find more work. The routine they were performing today was for four ponies though, so Stratus was watching from the sidelines, making sure everything went smoothly. If Nightshade didn’t catch the other bolts messing up while she was busy leading, he would.
From the a cloud high above, Stratus looked down with the eyes of a hawk. As he watched though, he noticed Charger and Blueball Blitz look like they went into a loop too early. The stunt they were currently doing involved the team splitting into two group and doing two mirrored loops next to each other. But, the second group was supposed to go into the stunt a little later to avoid crashing into the first group, since the two loops were so close to each other…
It was just then that Stratus realized what was wrong, but it was already too late. The two groups collided with each other in midair, and all four Shadowbolts began to fall. In one quick motion, Stratus leaped from the cloud and dove, flying after them to try to catch them before they hit the ground. But just as he started to catch up, everything began to move faster and Stratus started to lag behind. He pushed himself more and more, far beyond his normal limits, but no matter how fast he tried to fly, he couldn’t catch up. And then, just as the Shadowbolts were about to collide with the earth…
~~~
Stratus jolted up from his bed in a cold sweat. Looking at the clock, he could see it was still the middle of the night. Damn it, must’ve been that nightmare again… Stratus’ room was simple and very Spartan in nature, with very few items besides what Stratus deemed ‘necessary’. In the open closet on the other side of the room, the only clothes that hung on the rack inside were Stratus’ Shadowbolt uniform, a few spare changes, and some formal clothes in case Stratus somehow ended up somewhere formal attire was necessary; probably due to some plan made up by Nightshade or Stars. He sighed in frustration, knowing he needed as much sleep as he could get so he could be wide awake for the show the Shadowbolts were performing tomorrow. So, Stratus laid back down and attempted to rest. But, vague memories of his dreams kept him awake, no matter how hard he tried to return to sleep.