Player Information ;
Your Nickname: Mote
OOC Journal:
demotivateUnder 18? nn
Email/IM: IM: Piloten Wie Wir
Characters Played at Singularity: Lain Iwakura and NPCs Lev and Hypatia \o/
Character Information ;
Name: Hanna Falk Cross
Canon/AU/Original: Hanna is Not a Boy's Name (AU)
Reference:
main site with comic archive,
main TVTropes page,
TVTropes character page.
Canon Point: Some time post the
Christmas Fedora StripSetting:
Hanna's world is an urban fantasy/horror take on the modern day major American coastal city. All urban devices and trappings are here, implied by the author if not depicted outright, but the real world coexists alongside the supernatural. So far we've met a zombie, several vampires, a werewolf, a ghost and a half-selkie (and who knows what Hanna is). Knowledge of the occult is esoteric but the circles Hanna moves in are usually just as aware of them as he is; if they aren't, they learn to stop being skeptics soon enough.
Magic among humans is decidedly rare, and not recommended, as it apparently corrupts their blood and causes other ill effects. Hanna shows signs of having literally devoted his body to the craft, to who knows what ultimate price. Even vampires find him creepy and say he stinks of death, and this is a guy who's partners with a zombie.
There's little direct acknowledgement as to the power behind supernatural beings, like, for instance, if zombie still has a soul or how long Conrad will be able to sustain himself on blood packets. A werewolf we meet is unable to fully control her matured form without a pendant and a vampire we encounter early on has been forcibly sealed into bat form until she cons Hanna into freeing her.
It is established that while we don't visit the mundane side of this world very often, it does exist. Hanna sees an express difference between the sphere of his investigation into the paranormal and the police's job of covering more "factual" events like murder. He's more than happy to leave those messy dealings to the actual cops, while moving through the human-occult underworld populated by himself, his (witch-)doctor and several others. In addition to his exciting night life of being savaged by every supernatural creature he encounters, Hanna moondaylights as a department store clerk, a job apparently stable enough to cover his rent and any hats and coats for his zombie.
Personality:
Hanna Cross is what happens when you take a legitimate comic store fanboy, complete with lack of social skills and tendency to completely make up noises for his expressions, and toss in a tragic occult backstory. Far beyond being good at it (since he really isn't), Hanna's investigative work is propelled by a pure nerdiness for his subject matter. He doesn't need to hear a thing about the zombie's credentials before taking him on as a partner; just being a zombie is awesome enough.
He's not just the blissful fanboy, though, particularly when he realizes he's put important people in harm's way (namely, his partner and his client). Hanna can be very candid about expressing his regrets and other emotions, but there's always that threshold. He doesn't like talking about himself, or his past, or what's wrong with him. He will pout, change the subject and force through a veneer of nonchalance as much as necessary to get past the dicy subject of himself, rushing through a hasty explanation of the problem with his blood as though he's confessing to a bad case of acne, and insisting over and over again that he's fine and it's the other person he's worried about.
Hanna has a great capacity for selflessness, mixed with debilitating guilt when he lets someone down in a major way. He still retains a level of optimism, though, opting to work through problems and find solutions, as Machiavellian and potentially morbid as the other person might find them, because the alternative seems too raw to contemplate. Life as a member of the undead is better than death, right? And he will take that liberty with someone, without real consideration for their perspective. He's an idealist like that, unto a romantic in cases like trying to find out his partner's name, though the zombie could not be more apathetic about it. It's not that his own ideas for what people want totally supersede their own; he just doesn't always take the time to carefully weigh their feelings.
In short, he's internally as much as child as he appears outwardly. It's partly a defense mechanism, of course, regressing toward innocence to cover for the loss of it brought on by what happened in his past. And nowhere is he more innocent than when it comes to women and romance. Word of god confirms he's never had a girlfriend, and for how eager he is to flirt until they serve him a restraining order, it's clearly not for lack of trying or interest. That's inherent in his romanticism and immaturity, though: if I had to project based on the material given, I'd say that just like Conrad, Hanna's idealism about relationships is in conflict with reality.
Nevertheless, Hanna's proven to be highly intelligent and serious-minded when the situation calls for it, though he can only keep a pretense of professionalism so long before the stumbling fanboy pokes through again. Hey, at least he's trying.
Abilities and Weaknesses:
"Rotten hollow shell of a boy."
Hanna is able to use magic through a combination of the runes he draws on available surfaces (paper, floor, weapons, himself) and those scarred onto his body. It may also correlate with the major injury seen across his chest, but he's keeping rather mum about that.
Hanna's powers permit him great versatility, from being able to break enchantments over supernatural creatures, cast protective wards, draw minds out a comatose possessed state, exorcise ghosts (in theory), fix magical artifacts (so he claims) and so on.
It comes at a price. Using magic taints his blood and may be shortening his lifespan. It certainly seems to like making him vomit whole gallons of blood, pass out a lot, and become a subject of interest to all resident supernatural entities. Even a werewolf claims she's never met so many supernatural beings as she's seen clustering around him.
He refers to the wounds covering his chest as "a mess" he's been meaning to take care of for a while, implying that something from his past has been left unfinished. Whether it's related to his magic or something that happened as a result of one close shave too many, his nameless zombie sidekick can't seem to let it go as a liability.
While prone to injury and exhaustion, the treatment Hanna receives from Worth keeps him stable for the most part. It's not known how long or how well Hanna will last without the medicine Worth provides.
-Beyond knowledge of The Dresden Files, Hanna is apparently well-read, knowledgable about lore and human culture (but not girls), and the specific needs and weaknesses of occult creatures in particular.
-He totally sucks at being a detective.
-Despite claims that he's completely blind without his glasses, they're actually just for reading and he can see perfectly fine without them.
-Can't talk to women.
-Such a lightweight, he's hollow.
-Really, really can't talk to women.
Inventory:
-Clothes on his back.
-"Office" laptop.
-Magic marker (as in... it really is).
-Hammer.
-"Life talisman" capable of disguising the appearance, scent and other effects of the undead. In this AU, Hanna underwent a dangerous solo op to obtain this for zombie. While worn, the talisman converts a member of the undead into the perfect semblance of a living person. The effects are removed upon dismemberment (temporary) or removal/destruction of the talisman (permanent until rectified).
Appearance:
HE'S NOT A TEENAGER! Despite his unimpressive stature (5'3") and boyish looks, Hanna is a young adult with a stringy lean kind of musculature, pale skin and fiery red curls. He's got the nerdy/slob/preppy look down pretty pat when in conjunction with his glasses, which makes him a good fit for a private investigator in one respect, at least: he doesn't look like a professional so much as someone's younger brother.
In short: is "Jewish moe" a term? Because this kid's got pure Anton Yelchin going on.
Anyway, that's above the collar. His torso and shoulders, though usually hidden, are covered in runic tattoos like the ones he writes on himself for spells, and the skin of his chest has been hideously cut open and stapled back shut again (as seen in
this icon). He probably shouldn't actually be alive, as it's clear whatever's keeping him upright and talking is supernatural, and it probably isn't meant to last either.
Despite "smelling of death" and being a "rotten hollow shell," though, a vampire still makes the express point that Hanna is undoutedly alive, so he can't be classed as the walking dead like his partner. He still bleeds, can eat and drink as he likes (he's totally legal!) and is able to continue a normal lifestyle, provided he doesn't make a habit of coming under spiritual attack when his doctor's not around. Anyone without heightened senses will simply see an ordinary 24-year-old (who looks like a 15-year-old).
Age: teenager TOTALLY 24!
OC/AU Justification ;
If AU, How is Your Version Different From Canon, and How Will That Come Across?
I'm taking him from AU largely to catch him up to the deeper kind of relationship he and zombie seem to share by the Christmas strip. (So, basically, it's set after the Christmas strip, but the intervening events between the current arc and then may be different.) A short time after this point, Hanna picks up some information about a coveted talisman capable of de-undeadening.
(That is so a word, or anyway it's a Hanna word.)
The talisman in question is being fought over between a kelpie and a collective of algae gnomes, so after writing a short note to his partner telling him not to freak out (which he promptly does) Hanna embarks on a quest to retrieve it. He does this in a very Continental Op sort of way, first by getting hired by the kelpie to defend her against the algae gnomes, and then plying both sides against each other until they are so distracted being pitted against one another that they both lose track of the talisman.
Hanna isn't able to make it back scott free, though, and a last encounter with the kelpie leaves him with a serious injury along his arm. He makes it back in relatively one piece anyway, talisman tight in his grip to present to zombie, in the hopes being actually human again might jog memories of at least his name.
This premise is followed up on
here, but Hanna is taken from just before he walks in the door to be greeted by his partner.
Samples ;
Log Sample:
He got the sense about eight hours in that this wasn't, strictly speaking, normal of alien abductions.
"Interesting," the blue hologram said lightly, appearing translucent over a diagnostic display beside his bed. The bed he was strapped to. With more needles stuck in him than an acupuncturist's pin cushion. He tried barely twitching his fingers and then winced, the various waveforms floating over his bed noting his pain response.
The AI's voice had explained previously, while they were scraping his body a slab of moon rock, that complete medical repair came standard here at Sacrosanct. No one could control when that big, uh, room would suddenly spit out a new hapless kidnappee, but the station could at least undo the damage caused by the fall.
Now the little hologram woman was floating over Hanna with arms folded behind her back, beady digital eyes scanning over the mess across his chest. Like she could see right into him. Right through him. Though really, this place was so Tarakovsky sci-fi he probably shouldn't be surprised if magical invisible X-ray machines were taking 3D models of his body right then.
This was so geeky that in any other circumstances he'd have quite liked this place.
But that troubled fricken look on this lady was making everything way too creepy. Like the look you see someone wearing when they see a dead animal. So fucking horrible and you want to just reach down and fix it and yet-- it's almost too fascinating just how it is.
In other words, the kind of people who grossed him out.
"You know, you--" he managed finally, strained grin taking several tries to finally twitch across his expression. "--You don't hafta fix that part."
A wave of virtual relief passed over the little hologram. "Oh, good," Hypatia told him. "It makes you so unique, I thought I'd keep it how it is."
"No problem," Hanna coughed. "So, uh. What's the point to all this?"
"I'm sorry?"
"This place. I mean, we're not supposed to be here. No offense, I'm sure you're preserving humanity for some intergalactic zoo or something, but I really..."
He trailed off, head turning to his side as he felt the edge of something cut into his palm for the first time. That is, the first time he'd noticed. The gem gleamed a brilliant bloody sunset orange under the operation room lights, worn leather cord wrapped around it like a snake.
"...You didn't get a zombie in through this way at all, did you?"
Network Sample:
{ audio ; }
--Malachai?
[ there's a held breath for expectation, and then it's gone. Bitter exhale. If {...} were here he'd've answered from the voice alone.
No, he can't think like that. Persistence! ]
Omar?
Robert?
...Bob. It's Bob, isn't it?
[ ...
SIGH OF DESPONDENCY. And the sound of glasses being pushed up. ]
So... sounds like you guys got a monster.