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[nick / name]: Cella
[personal LJ name]: stereotype_vamp
[other characters currently played]: character name :: series :: username
Arisawa Tatsuki :: BLEACH :: championess
Fuyumine Naoto :: DOGS :: markedbyname
Haruno Sakura :: Naruto :: betterthanthen
Miura Haru :: KHR! :: futuremafiawife
Rockbell Winry :: FMA :: andherwrench
[e-mail]: anonymousdeathgod@gmail.com
[AIM / messenger]:
msn: squidbabies@hotmail.com
y!m: hollowchanges
aim: lifeand1echo
[series]: Runaways
[character]: Gertrude Yorkes
[character history / background]: Gert @ MarvelWiki and Gert @ Comicvine. It’s long, it’s descriptive, and they probable say it way better than I ever could, but I'd like to extend on a few things:
#1. My mommy said I'm special.
Gertrude is a bit complicated, but at the same time, rather normal. Aside from the fact that she’s been actively participating in protests and campaigns against cruelty to animals and whatnot, and that she wanted to be a senator, previous to her realising that adults sucked ass. Aside from that. She has probably the same issues as every adolescent girl: she’s not exactly adored for her beauty or her slender figure, she’s more interested in books than boys (who’ve turned out to be a disappointment), and she’d sooner snap at you than smile. No, really. Totally normal.
Then her parents turned out to be evil time-travellers, of the seriously evil and mysterious kind which gather up once a year to sacrifice young virginal blood to mythological creatures. Gert gets a front row ticket to one of her parents' shows one night, thanks to the sneaky ninja skills of Alex, and is not exactly surprised. Because she felt her parents were evil the moment her pet potbelly pig disappeared when she was young. The kids of the villains run away, but not without making a pitstop at Gert's house to discover her cutest new pet--a dinosaur with which she's telepathically connected, and who listens to her every command, and more pitstops at her friends' houses to find a lot of other things which give them enough power to keep on running.
She's the first to agree on the codenames, adopting the name 'Arsenic', and gives dino-pet the name 'Old Lace', because Gertrude is deep and meaningful and smart like that. Uh-huh. She becomes somewhat of an older sister to Molly (most of the times, much to her chagrin, because Molly's way too young to participate in gung-ho fighting, and someone had to take care of Princess Powerful.), and even though she abuses the 'eyerolling' and the sarcasm-cleverly-disguised-as-a-serious-response-kids-totally-fall-for, it's pretty clear that she loves the little munchkin. Even when she gets all Hulk on them--probably. She was also the mediator in many conflicts, especially of the catty nature: see Karolina and Nico and their bitchfight over some hot vampire dude. She also joins the rest of the Runaways in their attempt to save the world and stop their parents from bringing it down.
#2. Guys will make passes at girls wearing glasses.
One of the important parts of Gertrude's life and her growth as a character is actually Chase. Chase, the empty-headed hottie, who doesn't really pay much attention to Gert aside from the jabs they throw at each other throughout the series; at least not up until he jumps in front of a flame-spewing guardian in the Giborim’s lair, just to save Gertrude. She performs CPR on him, bringing him back to life, after which Chase smooches the hell out of her and calls her the hottest girl he’s ever seen. And then they fight their parents, the Giborim, blah blah and the Avengers come in and be useless adults, and send Gert to a boarding school and take away Old Lace. She hears nothing from Chase in weeks, not one email or one call, which gets her angry enough to make her lash out at him when they meet again. But then he tells her he’s been on the down-low because he’d been looking for her dino-pet all along. Sigh. How sweet. Angry shouting turns into angry kissing, turns into rescue mission, and ends with Gert telling Chase he can call her Gert, and not Arsenic like everyone else. Oh yeah, and they probably skip second base later on, and become a steady couple. Her relationship with Chase shows Gertrude how to be confident that she looks good (“The smartest man alive is the one that knows that I’m the hottest girl and shows it” or something as corny as that.) She’s still sarcastic with him, but it’s that teasing, warmer kind of sarcasm that makes everyone roll their eyes and pray that they’re not calling each other corny names with any other intention than irony.
Then the Gert From The Future comes and warns them all of the Great Danger that is looming in the form of Victor, and dies in Chase’s arms (“I never got to tell you how much I l-“) which causes a big huge drama and general hatred towards the mysterious Victor, from everyone’s side but Gertrude. She’s sceptical about paying respects to the dead future version of herself, and believes in giving Victor a chance, because according to her, he’s the one in charge of his own future. Thankfully, that ends up going rather well. Except for maybe the Chase jealousy-which Gert is sure to show him is rather stupid. It’s clear by now that the two are very much in love. So much in love that Gertrude sacrifices her own life in exchange for Chase’s later in the comic, when they fight against a younger version of Alex’s dad. She dies a very tragic death (skhgdkdsjhgkdsgs) in Chase’s arms, after passing the psychic bond with Old Lace from herself to Chase. Ironically, her last words to him are the same words as her future version’s were.
Her death shows us exactly how important she was in the Runaways group, because everything sort of goes to hell from that point onward. What bias. Shut up.
[character abilities]: If you don’t count that talent for mouthing off and her love for sarcasm, one could say that Gert’s only ability is that she as a big old dinosaur. As a pet. And she shares a psychic bond with it, which enables her to feel pain if Old Lace is in pain, and viceversa-and yes, you might say that this kind of sucks, because she’s not on the athletic side like Chase or …everyone else, really…and she doesn’t fight and she has a dinosaur which is more of a bother than anything, but you wouldn’t say that when you’re faced with them and Gert says the magic words. Mind the teeth, people, mind the teeth. Her weakness is her strong allergy to bee stings, which makes her stand back on one occasion from a fight. And while she’s the chubby, short and angry one, Gertrude is arguably the most intelligent of the group, except maybe Victor. But he’s a weird, hero-worshipping robot. So he doesn’t count.
[character personality]: Gertrude's that angry teen that wears baggy clothes, finds it physically exhausting to smile, and sits back at the corner of the classroom reading Kafka and Nieztsche and whatnot. That's at least the first impression she gives, and while it's almost accurate, there's definitely more to her than that.
For starters, she's very idealistic. She has a very solid morale code in regards to some things, and isn't afraid to stick to it. No matter what. For instance she kidnapped Nico's plastic ponies and hid them in the forest, because animals should not live in captivity. Her love for animals--except bees--is probably a major factor in why her bond with Old Lace is so strong. We're already told that Gert's been organizing protests of the PETA nature since she's been 14, which really tells a lot about her personality. What kind of 14 year old girl starts protests instead of playing with dolls and such?
She's also very smart, but that's easy to see five seconds after you've met her. She's well-read and intelligent, and shows it by loading almost all her words with that type of sarcasm that makes you feel dumb in comparison. And did I mention she's not even 18? Yeah. For all her initial coldness, it turns out that she's just a girl underneath it all. She has her doubts and worries and her teenager standard issues. She's self-conscient, especially when it comes to Chase in Volume 2, not understanding how someone like him could be with someone like her. She's a sucker for Molly's wounded-puppy face, but that's not strange seeing as even robots are weak in front of it.
She does believe in second chances, and in giving people the oportunity to prove that they're not evil incarnated (see: Victor), but if you fool her once, get ready to get mauled (see: Nico). She's like a puzzle, really: one minute you think she's just a misunderstood teen, and the next she acts like the most mature person around (which she probably is).
[point in timeline you're picking your character from]: Volume 2, chapter 18. Sob. But not yet when she's dead.