#blackberry bushes superhero au

[fictionadventurer]

AU asks, for all eleven of the AUs you mentioned in your tags (including the Blackberry Bushes one because why not!), mix and match for whichever one you like: 2, 5, 9, 10, 11, 13, 17, 18, 20, 21, 24

2. Summarize this au in 5 sentences.

Psmith Star Wars AU: Mike Jackson is a cadet at an Outer Rim Imperial Academy whose dreams of flying an X-Wing for the Empire shatter when he learns of the Empire's atrocities. When his brother defects to the Rebellion, Mike and some of his fellow cadets decide to leave the Academy and join the rebel cause. The boys are nearly captured during their escape attempt, but they're saved by Mike's eccentric roommate, Psmith, who turns out to be a former Jedi youngling who's been hiding from the Empire. After they make their escape, Mike and his fellow cadets have to decide whether they can trust this sly, arrogant boy with these unnatural powers, and they need to find a way to find and help the Rebellion.

5. What is something you kept the same?

Lord Peter Wimsey Telepath AU: I've kept the setting and situations as close to the originals as possible. It's still 1930s England. Harriet's still accused of murdering her lover. Lord Peter's still an aristocrat. The only difference is that various superpowers are a known and accepted part of society, and Peter's ability to literally know Harriet's thoughts adds a whole new and more difficult dimension to the power imbalance between them.

9. Is there a scene you wish you could've included, but couldn't? Why?

Sherlock Holmes Pushing Daisies Crossover AU: I wish I could have figured out what the actual mystery was for the first snippet I wrote for this AU. Unfortunately, my mystery-writing skills don't extend that far.

10. Is there a character you wish you could've included, but couldn't? Why?

Queen's Thief AU of Psmith: It would be really fun to have Queen's Thief versions of Billy Windsor and Bat Jarvis, but I can't think of a great way to fit them into the story that I've outlined--as I've laid it out, Psmith takes Attolia's throne mostly through his cunning and convenient connections.

11. Is there any relationship that's different in this au than in the source material?

Supergirl "Kara raised by the Kents" AU: Since Kara's actually raised by the Kents in this AU, she's got a much deeper and more complicated relationship with them. Her relationship with Martha is rocky, because she sees Martha as competition for her role as Kal's primary caretaker. Taking care of Kal is the only purpose Kara has left in life, and it takes a lot for her to let other people into that relationship.

13. Write a lil snippet set in this verse.

From Powers and Prejudice:

"Lizzie, Jane's on TV!" Lydia shouted. Lizzie rushed into the living room, where her sisters were gathered around the set. Headlines blared BREAKING NEWS beneath live footage of a supervillain attack downtown. The Blur was already on the scene, speeding innocent victims away from danger. The Archer--outside of Pemberley--was even lending a hand. And among them in pink spandex was unmistakably-- "Jane?" Lizzie shouted. "What's she doing there?" Mom was so excited that sparks crackled around her hair. "She did so well the other night that I couldn't let the Blur fight this one alone. It was my duty to send Jane to help." Lizzie was horrified. That had been a skirmish, easily dealt with. This was turning into a battle. One of the criminals had some type of fire manipulation ability, and flames filled most of the screen. To see Jane among that-- "Are you nuts?" Lizzie shouted. "She could die out there!" Lydia rolled her eyes. "What are you so worried about? It's not like she can get hurt." Not externally. Jane's skin was invulnerable, and there was nothing that could overpower her strength. But her respiratory system was as delicate as anyone's, and there was a lot of smoke out there. Jane acquitted herself well, but eventually, Lizzie's fears were realized. Just as the last of the criminals was neutralized, Jane collapsed to the pavement. The Blur, in bright blue, was at her side in an instant. He checked over Jane and gathered her into his arms, a look of panic on his masked face. In less than a second, they disappeared from the scene. While her mother and sisters exclaimed over the scene--did you see the way he looked at her?--Lizzie headed toward the door. Mom asked, "Lizzie, where are you going?" "I don't know if you noticed, but your daughter is injured. I'm going to help her. "She's in the care of one of Netherfield's Defenders! She's perfectly safe." "I'll believe that when I see it." Kitty, fretful, said, "The Blur's so fast. They're miles away by now. Hidden away in his secret headquarters." Lizzie shrugged. "Then I'll find his secret headquarters." Ignoring their protests, she went out the door.

17. What important events have you 'translated' from canon to make sense into this au, if any?

Milo Murphy's Law Star Wars AU: Murphy's Law makes a lot of sense as an out-of-control connection to the Force. And I've turned Diogee into a droid (DO-G) because there don't seem to be many dogs in Star Wars.

18. Is there any theme or motif in this au that isn't in the original work?

Politically-realistic Princess Diaries 2 AU: There's a much stronger exploration of the theme of duty vs. love, because we have multiple characters who have dealt with this conflict. There's also a thread exploring religion, because Mia's priest uncle is a prominent character.

20. Share THREE headcanons! But about different characters.

American Hallmark Royal Romances:

The princess of California was a candidate for an arranged marriage with the crown prince of Maine until a Spunky Commoner came along and stole his heart. She was actually rather hurt by this, until it sparked her own romance story.

The Spunky Commoner met the crown prince of Maine while working on some artistic endeavor for his family. She was rather baffled by this whole royalty thing, until her relationship with the prince provided some cultural background.

Sam, the crown prince of Texas, is a bit ashamed of his nation and especially the over-the-top Texas-ness of his father. He's an excellent code-switcher, and has a bit of trouble straddling the cultural expectations of Texas and the outside world.

21. What makes you most excited about this fic?

Lord Peter Wimsey Star Wars AU: What's there not to get excited about? The Scarlet-Pimpernel-ness of Peter as a double agent within the Empire! The drama of Peter dealing with Force-visions of the future. Force-sensitive Dowager Duchess. Peter having Thrawn as both an art-and-culture buddy and an increasingly-suspicious-of-him nemesis. He's just such a fun character to throw into the structure of this universe.

24. Ramble about something you haven't gotten to talk about yet.

Blackberry Bushes Superhero AU: It says to ramble, so I'll ramble. First off, I feel guilty even claiming this an an AU, since this was really your idea and I just added some stuff to it. But it's such a fun concept and it comes to mind as an AU quite a bit because there are so many fun ways this story warps the typical superhero plots. The Superman character marries a former villain who has good reason to fear him and be suspicious of his fellow heroes. The former supervillain dictatorship is undergoing reform, and it's a legitimate thing, and we get to see the politics of that and see the ruler's children growing up in this system. Delclis' father used to be one of the great heroes, but his memory is tarnished because of the collateral damage his extreme powers caused, and now Declis has to deal with getting the same powers. Antavia's plotline of walking away from the throne become her walking away from her superpowers and inadvertently leading to the creation of her best friend's most dangerous nemeses. They're stories you couldn't come up with under the usual superhero tropes, but combining it with this very different type of story creates new and interesting angles that wouldn't ordinarily come to mind, and that's so fun.

[isfjmel-phleg]

Would you ever write a superhero short story?

I confess I have messaged a friend a few times with remarks to the effect of "I'm not a fic writer but what if [premise]" Maybe some day I'll get up the nerve to try it, but I don't know if I could do with my own original characters and setting--unless it were an AU for my Blackberry Bushes cast.

[fictionadventurer]

I’m so glad you approve! This is so much fun to adapt to this setting, and since you’ve brought up even more interesting stuff, I’ll add even more thoughts. 

Since there isn’t a real war in this setting, Tietra and Etriat’s marriage couldn’t be arranged, so they had to have some interactions beforehand. I’m glad you like it; it’s nice that they get the chance to get to know each other a bit more beforehand in this AU, especially since Etriat is objectively more terrifying when superpowers are in the mix.

Since Tietra’s powers were artificially induced, it’s possible the League would require her to reverse the process and give up her powers (it seems like the kind of procedure they would have developed when fighting against her father’s forces). Which could be a parallel to the “giving up her name” thing. But I could also see the League reluctantly agreeing that she has to have some kind of powers if she’s going to raise Rietta and letting her keep them. Perhaps they try to reverse the process, and when it doesn’t work, they have even more reasons to suspect her, so she makes an agreement not to use her powers. I’m not sure which direction would work best for this; there are a lot of possible nuances.

There are so many wonderful comic book plot possibilities around Andras’ disappearance, which was a big factor in its favor. Though it would make Bethira’s remarriage really awkward if he turned out not to be dead.

Oh my. Talfrin convincing Elystan that Bethira’s causing his condition is so perfect and so terrible. My stomach sank at the idea. Wow.

I had actually thought about Delclis getting “with great power” lectures, and forgot to mention it, so thank you for bringing it up.

Delclis unexpectedly developing his father’s speed powers is an intriguing possibility, and is making me consider an alternate path for his story. Maybe instead of the “Green Lantern” thing, it’s like this: Delclis is doing experiments on his telekinesis, and suddenly realizes that what feels like hours of work passes in a few minutes. Bethira recognizes this as the sped-up time perception that comes with superspeed, and while Delclis tries to dismiss this theory (he’s not exactly eager to have his controversial father’s powers), he soon finds that he’s able to run faster than the speed of sound, and getting faster by the day. After what happened with Andras’ powers, the League insists upon intervening. They have to keep a close eye on this boy and train him very carefully to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself. (And with his other powers in the mix, things could get very messy.) Before long, some of Andras’ speedster nemeses come back on the scene with a nefarious world-destroying plot, and Delclis is forced to be trained as a hero because he will be the only one fast enough to stop them. Bethira is heavily involved in this training, because she became an expert in speed powers after being married to Andras. Delclis resents her help, thinking that she can’t possibly understand what it’s like (no matter how many times she explains that she’s a telepath, so she knows very well what the mindset of a speedster is like). And there’s all sorts of emotion and drama as he’s dragged into this new hero role with his father’s and stepfather’s legacies hanging over him. Not sure how well superspeed and organic telekinesis mix. Maybe developing superspeed overrides his other powers--his organic telekinesis is diminishing as his speed powers increase, and Delclis does not like having his (to his mind) much better powers erased while his controversial father’s powers are forced upon him. (Which gives us a parallel to “being king gives me less time for plants”.)

Ooh, I hadn’t considered Antavia. Definitely a partner/sidekick for Andras (she thinks she’s a partner, he treats her like a sidekick) who got overwhelmed with hero work and left the life. Would she leave for a civilian life or turn villain? Maybe we could combine both? She’s another speedster, the only person who can keep up with Andras, so they’re very close, but when she decides she’s had enough and tries to retire, Andras gives her so many “with great power comes great responsibility” lectures that she decides, “Alright, I’m not going to have great power anymore.” So she seeks out Tietra’s dad, who has developed a process to drain superpowers, and becomes a normal human. Unfortunately, working with Antavia allows Tietra’s father to develop ways to give other people superspeed, and he creates the speedster villains who become Andras’ archnemeses. Thus causing a lot of suffering and making Andras’ life a lot harder, so he thoroughly resents Antavia and thinks of her as little better than a supervillain.

(And when Delclis is training, maybe Antavia could come back on the scene. She has personal experience with superspeed, and can give him tips, while warning him away from the life, while also teaching Delclis about what can happen if you refuse to take up responsibility for your powers.)

The reason for Amarantha losing the scholarship translates well to this AU? I am intrigued.

Elystan as tiny supervillain is an excellent reason to create an AU.

Hollock?? HOLLOCK??? Involved with Talfrin?? I need to take a moment to process this shocking revelation.

Okay, back to the AU.

The idea of little supervillain Elystan meeting other budding supervillains at the place that’s supposed to prevent him from becoming a supervillain. Oh, the drama!

I wasn’t sure how exactly to translate Ayra’s inability to ascend the throne to a superhero universe until I remembered her health problem that keeps her from being used for marriage alliances. In this AU, the problem is likely more physical and visible (maybe some type of paralysis), that’s more noticeable by the public, and lets her invent Iron Man type tech to circumvent it. (Now that I’ve mentioned Iron Man, the problem that the tech solves could be something like heart trouble, too.) Maybe part of her service to Lienne involves some type of Iron Man-like superhero identity. (She may or may not have a secret identity. Hero work could just be part of her royal image, or it could be something she works on in secret, paralleling her secret involvement in her father’s plans in canon).

Ateva summoning butterflies came from me looking up info on her mother and seeing insects in the photoset. I figured that butterfly-related powers could be a nod to that and seem all light and fluffy and useless. But it probably eventually turns out that she’s able to communicate with all types of insects, which could make her formidable. (She could be the one helping to keep the royal palace free of insects. And perhaps bond with Tamett over a secret interest in bugs. Though that may mess with her canon characterization too much.)

Strong emotion triggering Josiah’s shifts is very fitting. Ties in with how he’s always struggling to be in control, and how he struggles to find healthy ways to deal with emotions. A Hulk-like character arc would be a great way to translate his canon issues.

And poor Tamett would be in the unenviable position of having to bear the brunt of his outbursts. I found the idea of Super Normal power nullification amusing, too, and you’re right that it adds layers to his dynamic with Josiah. Tamett needs to be on-hand to help with Josiah’s outbursts, but Josiah hates that he’s weak enough to need help, and he hates that being around Tamett literally makes his brain slower. (I don’t think the power nullification has a very wide range--he'd have to be very close or touching Josiah, so it’s not like being around Tamett always nullifies his powers--but Josiah still dislikes his presence on principle).

Ayra probably likes Tamett because of his powers. Her brain is moving so fast all the time that being in his presence and slowing down to normal speeds is probably very relaxing. (And Tamett shares a bit of interest in engineering, so they can bond over that.)

With multiple superhero-related WIPs/AUs among my friends lately, I’ve idly wondered what such an AU would look like for my OCs. Not that I would (or could) write it. Just playing with the idea.

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