LogFAQs > #968194062

If this was the end of Cheetahs story, shed probably wind up right around where Jaime did as a character who I still find complex and interesting, but that negativity mightve soured her from a top tier placement. But I took some time to cool down and let Cheetah be for a while after that, to focus on other relationships. I felt bad about this though, because even though Scarlet didnt like having to alter Cheetahs characterization for me (and I do get that, which is why I was at least expecting to kind of break off communication when I didunlike what happened with Jaime), I just found her so fascinating, but it seemed like she was a character that no one else in the campaign had any real use for, or reason to visit. I DO feel bad about the characters that I like who dont get as much RP time as the bigger names, after all.

Thankfully, new opportunities arose to bolster Cheetahs story and land her in second place overall. While our last conversation post-Belle Reve may have ended on a sour note, Cheetah had taken notice of Peppers willingness to kill her (Cheetahs) abuser, and the first of endearment sparked in her as a result. She mentioned this to Spirit, while recuperating in the med bay, which at the very least opened that door back up again for a continued relationship between supervillainess and her potential protg. I still dont think Cheetah necessarily considers Pepper even halfway on her levelbut I do feel like theres a certain level of respect there that if perhaps not afforded to others around Zonn Zorr.

It's at this point in the write-up that I want to discuss a few aspects of Cheetahs personality (which tend to be what makes her such an interesting character). She is FIERCELY independent, often to her own detriment, as it leads to instances like getting an arm chopped off (or a later incident that will be discussed soon). Her entire personality AS Cheetah is that she is tough and she is a badass, and she does not need help from ANYONE else to accomplish anything. If you get in her way, or you dont outright give her what she wants, she will find a way to take it for herself. As such, aside from her fixation on Snapper, she doesnt really have a whole lot of interpersonal relationships among the other NPCs (and probably wouldnt have many among the PCs if not for mypersonal feelings for her). Everything about her is self-reliant, because she does not want ANYONE to hold even the slightest hint of control over her.

Supplementary to THIS, I have to mention that Pepper isnt exactly the first person to kind of idolize Cheetah and try to get close to her. During our mission to Brentwood Academy, one of the students that we found was a hyperactive girl in a leopard-print onesie who called herself Kitten. This was an absolute Cheetah fangirl, and she was batshit insane, based on the one time weve interacted with her. But Kittens presence in the campaign is kind of interesting when gauging Cheetahs personality overall. It would be one thing to have Pepper fangirl over Cheetah on her own, but with Kittens existence, suddenly we realize that Cheetah has experienced some degree of fangirling in the past.

But to make matters worse, Kittens fangirling is not particularly useful; shes JUST hyperactive and desperate. With that in mind, I can certainly understand the frostiness and slight contempt Cheetah displayed towards Pepper. Peppers not a warrior or anything like that, so from Cheetahs isolationist perspective, Pepper was just another weak nuisance. It wasnt until Pepper stepped up and did something Kitten could NEVER do (murder one of Cheetahs enemies), that Cheetah finally started viewing Pepper as more than just some leech. I might be reading too much into things and overly analyzing Cheetahs motivations, but just having Kitten as a counterpart to Pepper definitely helps show a distinction between the two girls, and why one has somewhat earned Cheetahs respect, while the other own earns her ire.

With all this in mind, Pepper happened to head back to the med bay at some point just before the Kobra attack, and Cheetah snagged her up. The pair finally had a heart-to-heart after Belle Reve, and for the first time, it was really Cheetah on the offensive. Its cliched to say this, but she was almost predatory, picking up on Peppers various insecurities to make a pitch to her to continue down the path she started back in Belle Reve. Ultimately, Peppers story is that of a girl who never had control in her life, and she wound up breaking the law to take some for herself. But this just led to moment after moment of her being subjected to other peoples whims and not really having her own choices taken into account. When Cheetah started offering the opportunity to make Pepper stronger and more independent like her, Pepper easily fell in line.