POV: You were never intended to live in this world. You belong somewhere else.. Heaven, Eden, maybe a Utopia somewhere. If you want to survive, stay sane, you really should.. just leave. But you can't. Because as bad as watching people suffer is, knowing that people are suffering somewhere, and that you are doing nothing, is even worse.
For a long time you thought the best way to help these people was to work in the shadows and make sure that the Strangeness of the world was kept hidden away, valuing keeping the secret even to the point of risking countless human lives (and your own; though you'd never admit that). But now you're up against a foe you're not strong enough to beat. Your sisters, whom you hoped would help cure the world of its pain, have instead abandoned it. And the fate of the world is at stake. You can't take the pressure, not if you accepted all of it; so rather than fall to madness and bringing the world to certain doom, you're changing the rules of the game. After all, sometimes in order to save something, you have to be willing to break it. Fortunately that's what you're best at.
You're just a normal girl (with incredible super-powers), trying to hold back the storm with a careful choice of words. Oh and maybe find serenity and happiness while you're at it. If that's not too much to ask from a world that's done everything it could to destroy you.
Appearance: Buttercup appears to be a short, cute girl of around 16 and wears her black hair in a flip. She prefers olive-green dresses with black sashes and lace, dressing in extremely conservative (yet always modern) styles. Her favorite accessories are hats, veils and sashes, and tends to layer mountains of skirts as she doesn't notice the weight.
Stryck Wiki⚠ (:showhide div=background init=hide:)Humble Beginnings: Glory. Created as heirs to the throne of England, She and her sisters were deemed unacceptable because of their femininity, and Strange powers. Desperate to show the value of his work, their Father formed them into an elite crime-fighting team of superheroes, and engaged them in public work projects for the betterment of the British Empire.
Follies of Youth: Loss. Until their father died. Buttercup took it the hardest; her hopes of finding him died last, and she kept trying to say and do what she thought he would want until finally she was satisfied they had checked every country on Earth and every plane or reality she knew of. Eventually her sisters convinced her they should give up their powers and give Humanity a chance at life unworried by the Strange. They moved into an orphanage which taught her to hide and be ashamed of what she was, and eventually took her sisters from her in a fire. Then she worked in a factory where she lost sight of the goodness of people, her self-worth, and her health.
First Awakenings: Survival. The Burtons rescued her from the streets and inducted her into the ranks of the Kerberos Club where she found kindness in the last people she'd expect; her former enemies. Ashamed at the weakness that had led her to nearly accept Death, she resolved to survive at any cost. It was too painful to imagine life without her sisters, so she waited, and survived by manipulating her reputation to keep other people at a safe distance while taking pleasure in the fighting the Kerberos Club needed her for.
Mysterious Origins: Reunion. Until she was reunited with her sisters once again. Survival is no longer enough; she must LIVE, be a member of society, and have a life that means than fighting and aimless wandering. She thought being reunited with her sisters would mean she could give up fighting and they would help her avoid the mistakes knew she'd make on her own, and at the very least, enter polite society with a better understanding of people and the world. But that isn't going to happen anytime soon, so now she must find a way to move on with her life while being true to herself. She is going to make sure the British Empire is survives, regardless if that means being the greatest hero or worst villain the world has ever known.
Great Failing: An evil streak. She likes to hurt people, do violence, and see the multitude of clever ways people go about obtaining personal power. So crime fighting is perfect for her; she gets to root out those evil plans and (after properly appreciating their genius) go about destroying them and hurting the people that made them. But it also means that she often is cruel and sadistic without meaning to be; after she sees what happens she always regrets what she did, but despite her best efforts to avoid it and make up for it afterwards, she never seems to think to stop while she's DOING it. Trying to stop her generally isn't easy either, as she always rationalizes away whatever pain she is causing for the results she wants (but likely won't get).
⚠ (:showhide div=ruminations init=hide:)Why does Buttercup think she's bad?
When she was younger, it wasn't something she was unhappy about. So she liked violence, destruction, making people cry, killing monsters, exerting power and generally expected people to be stronger and tougher than they were. That's just who she was, and she accepted it.
But time has twisted this. What happened to her was unforgiveable, there was no excuse. Everyone would instantly recognize that it was wrong, and nobody even bothered to warn her. Such a crime against an innocent demanded to be punished.. but to inflict so much pain was unthinkable. To resolve the conflict between her compassion and justice, she could only come to one conclusion.
What they did to her could be forgiven if she deserved it. So she is deserving of everything that happens to her. She is bad, she is hideous, and monsterous. Sometimes she doesn't see it, and begins to question her conclusion so to make herself feel better about what happened to her, she lashes out and does something terrible. Sure, she feels bad for it later, but it reinforces the fact that she's bad so she keeps doing it.
What about Blossom?
Blossom never was bad. Buttercup can't bring herself to think ill of her sisters, so, of course Blossom's actions makes perfect sense. If they did even a part of what happened to her to Blossom, she'd be completely justified in making the entire world pay for what they did. And Buttercup is honor bound to help her. But again, compassion stops her. She can understand making the people alive now suffer terribly, but one day, they will become something better. Damning humanity to eternal torment is just too much.
More importantly, Blossom will never be able to forgive herself for that, and Buttercup doesn't want to see her lose herself in her self-denial when inevitably, innocents who never did anything wrong are the only ones who are suffering. The only way to save Blossom is to prevent her from achieving her despicable goals, so Buttercup must stop her. But going against her sister is going against everything she believes in... the only way she can do so is if she accepts that her actions are evil as well.
Intrinsically Good?
And of course the idea that they are a power of good, so everything they do will have good ends, no matter the means. Buttercup and Blossom can fight all they want and lay waste to entire countries, but somehow, that will only make things better.
And how about Bubbles?
If Buttercup deserved to be punished, probably the easiest thing to point out is how far away she is from the idea of a victorian woman. She is no doe-eyed, meek, submissive, limp-wristed waif. She is driven to do great deeds. Buttercup does her best to restrain herself, but what comes out is still passionate and demanding.
Bubbles on the other hand is graceful, calm, gentle, loving, meek, everything a woman should be. She's the one who was able to give up her past to live her life. Seeing the past come to haunt Bubbles, and watching her put aside living her life for it is unbearable. She considers Bubbles the strongest of them all because she was able to forgive what happened and start a new, happy life. Sure, maybe she was a bit diminished for giving up on the pure ideals they were raised on, but that's nothing compared to watching her destroy her life because Buttercup isn't strong enough to deal with this on her own.
Archetype: Created
Social Class: Upper Class
are
(+4): Corrupt the Wicked (S) (+3): Perfected Body (A), Powerpuff Raiment (S) (+2): Bravado, Perfect Little Angel (E) (+1): My Father's Notebooks, Echo of Nature (+0): Magic Rank Cost: 16 pts Skill Cost: 64 pts Total Cost: 80 pts
Unique and Strange Skills
Her body is physically perfect, a conduit for her spirit and will made manifest through the strange sciences of Chemical X, 10 points
Using an innate understanding of Evil to get people susceptible to it to think and act how she wants, 20 points
Her excessive training grants incredible skill and allows her to overcome any human limitation, 18 points
Studying her father's notebooks, and the often violent dismantling of inventions she comes across gives her a basic understanding of science and strange technology., 4 points
To show no fear, to act and speak as if she were invincible, even in the face of death - and for it to carry her through, 2 points
The skills and manners expected of a member of polite society., 8 points
Embody the elements or take a form of energy, 1 points
Slight of Hand, Misdirection, and Showmanship, 1 points
[Health] ooo oo
(trifling), (trifling), (middling), (grievous)
[Composure] ooo oo
(trifling), (middling), (grievous)
[Reputation] ooo
(trifling), (middling), (grievous)
Starting Refresh: 11 Power Tiers: -9 Weaknesses: +2 Gifts: -2 Adjusted Refresh: 2
A leather cord on which three silver coins hang, which contain black magic like some sort of spiritual acid.