Post by Edward Nygma on Mar 20, 2009 1:46:15 GMT
Approved!
Full Name: Garfield Lynns
Alias: The Firefly
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Occupation: Visual effects and pyrotechnics expert
Affiliations: Himself
Personality: Garfield Lynns is a paranoid schizophrenic, who realises there is a connection between himself and Firefly, but doesn't yet realise to what extent. Completely delusional, he becomes distracted by fire, and is convinced the flames speak to him.
He is prone to violent mood swings and forgetfulness, and can sometimes be seen talking to himself, whether alone or not.
As Firefly, he is in complete control; the flames are his servants, and the voices obey only him. Quick to anger, and dangerously out of control, he believes that the quickest solution to his problems is to watch them go up in smoke.
Unique Traits/Skills: Having worked on the sets of many action movies, Garfield Lynns has befriended many choreographers and martial arts experts. In his spare time, he often enjoyed learning with these people, and his favourite passtime quickly became the art of kickboxing. After his mind snapped, Firefly began to use these skills for personal gain.
It is often obvious when Firefly has been involved in a crime; his pyromania is out of control, and anything he decides must burn, will burn.
Appearance: As Firefly, he wears a termalised kevlar bodysuit, coated in titanium. As a result of the extreme heat generated by his weapons of choice, parts of the suit occasionally glow red.
His helmet is also thermalised, sporting a visor, and after pouring his entire life's savings into the technology for it, is equipped with the ability to switch between thermal and night-vision, as well as normal imaging.
Strapped to his back is a state of the art jetpack, part custom built, part stolen. The jetpack uses three methods of flight; kerosene-powered propulsion jets, extendable glider wings for prolonged 'flight', and in-built turbines for hovering.
Celebrity name: Edward Norton
History: Garfield Lynns was, for all intents and purposes, successful at his job. On occasion, he would engineer the visual effects at theatres in Gotham City where he lived. His forté, however, was pyrotechnics in mainstream movies. Most action packed movies with spectacular explosions or raging fires were sure to have his name in the credits.
But one day, everything went wrong. One of his fires lost control, killing cast and crew members alike in one of the biggest freak accidents of the film industry's history. Lynns suspected sabotage; he just couldn't prove who would do such a thing, or why.
Returning to Gotham, he was forced to take up theatre production work, as no film studio would accept him, citing him as 'too great a risk' or 'hazardous to the company image'. Slipping into depression, his work began to lose its quality, and as a result, Gotham's theatres began suffering as theatre-goers preferred travelling out of town for a much better show.
After a heated argument with his boss, Garfield became angry, and began smashing objects around the room, leading to the words that changed his life; "You're fired!".
Deflated, Garfield Lynns began the sightly trek through the Narrows to return to his run-down apartment; he'd left his luxury loft conversion after his first sacking, to conserve his money.
It was that night which saw the attack on Gotham by the League of Shadows. The Narrows suffered the most; as Crane's fear toxin became airborne, people panicked, and rioted, and experienced all manners of delusional insanity. Lynns was unfortunate enough to be among them.
Returning to the theatre, crying and laughing and talking to himself, he broke into his former boss's office, and proclaimed him fired.
That night, the same theatre burned to the ground.
Over time, Garfield began to feel the effects of the fear toxin less and less, though his fascination with fire seemed to be developing. He'd heard of the arson attack against his former workplace, and was thankful he'd left shortly before.
During the next weeks, he heard tales of other arson attacks around the city, relatively small but important enough to garner interest in the 'other news' sections of Gotham's newspapers.
The fire continued to mesmerise him. In his dreams, he had visions of shimmering, flickering figures, telling him to unleash his fury. Bright, burning figures, commanding him, torturing him. He slipped deeper into depression, and became a jittery, paranoid, temper-prone schizophrenic, almost fully unaware of his other personality.
The Firefly poured all of Garfield's acquired money into his plight for vengeance. Somewhere, there was someone responsible for this whole mess. Someone who had sabotaged the fire on-set that day.
He bribed a former military expert into acquiring him a suit of armour that could withstand heat, along with special-ops technology for his helmet. Ontop of that, the military man - Ted Carson - provided the contacts necessary to construct a working jetpack, comprised of fuel, turbine, and glider technology.
In the meantime, Ted began to provide for Garfield, helping to control his mood swings. Secretly, Ted saw something almost God-like in the Firefly, and cultivated Garfield's dangerous personality until the Firefly became the dominant side. Garfield was aware of a connection between himself and Firefly, but thanks to Ted's manipulation, was unable to realise they were one and the same.
Firefly has been able to operate in secrecy, due largely to the nature of his crimes; thus far, he has had no goal other than arson, and the Gotham authorities and media have attributed it to anarchists seeking to make a statement in the wake of the Joker's crime wave. But Firefly does have motives, and is prepared to make himself known.
Sample Post:
"You have to get back on the ball, Garfield".
Garfield was barely listening. Thrown on the floor were various newpapers from the past week, each open at a page reporting arson attacks. Head in his hands and legs crossed, Garfield rocked back and forth, clawing at his own skull.
"Hey, stop that" Ted admonished, guiding - or rather, picking - Garfield up and setting him down in a chair. The man hadn't eaten again. It was beginning to show.
"There's something... something in these reports" Garfield said through gritted teeth. "Places I've been, places I've dreamed of... they all burn" he murmered. Ted could see he was on the verge of a mental break-down; piecing together clues as though they were some sort of conspiracy was starting to wear out his brain.
"Garfield, son, I want you to listen to me real good. It's just a coincidence. You're an innocent man with a few health problems, not some... arsonist" he laughed, patting him on the shoulder.
"Can I have a cigarette?" Garfield asked. It was his own home, but Ted had been more than a father figure to him over the past year; the man cared for him like no doctor could. Therefore, he asked permission.
"Yes. Yes, I think you can" Ted replied, passing Garfield the lighter from the other side of the table.
Garfield fumbled with the carton, then withdrew a cigarette, putting the filter in his mouth. He flipped the lid on the lighter, sparked it, and inhaled long and hard on the cigarette.
He didn't close the lighter. Instead, the flame caught his eye, dancing in his hand. He saw a pretty woman, twisting and gyrating, the fire both hurting her and fuelling her.
He didn't want her to go.
You know what you are Garfield, and what you want. Don't be afraid of a few guilty pleasures in your life. Did the woman say that?
"Garfield?" Ted asked. He was too mesmerised to reply. He brought the flame closer, studying her curves, the way she flowed with the fire.
"Garfield..." Ted said, a little more foreceful this time. He reached forward and snapped the lighter closed.
"Firefly?" Ted asked in a small voice, and Firefly leaped, slamming Ted to the ground.
"You took her away!" he roared, flicking the lighter and holding the flame close to Ted's cheek. "Never take her away!"
"Hey, hey, it's me! It's Ted!"
"Ted?" Firefly asked, lowering the lighter closer to the old man's face. All he could see was orange glow. A face perhaps, that looked like Ted...
It was Ted. Firefly let him go.
"Go find her, boy" Ted said, coughing. Firefly realised he'd pinned the man by his throat. "Burn the sky if you have to. Go find her".
Firefly intended to do just that; whoever, whatever he saw in the flames, it had a message for him, some truth or reckoning that he had yet to hear. But above the roar and crackle of fire he would hear her. He would.