#but i also hate the idea of my team of heros being gen controlled by someone so yes im going to make them shady and untrustworthy

[blackout-files]

one of my notes here says "J.U.D.G.E could be the ones behind the blackout files/the black line. the ones covering it up anyway. what's a comic universe w/o a corrupt govt-like entity?" so there's also that

okay so i was talking to my friend about other names i could give the hero team bc JUDGE just was not sitting right in my head, it feels too much like a 'good enough' which i HATE doing with important parts of my stories lol so anyway i asked them for some other ideas and they accidentally gave me 'sentinel' which sent me down a delightful path and now i have "Sentry/Sentinels" as an all around group name and i think i wanna do somethng with 'theatre' (like a military theatre) but i also really really love calling their HQ's the courthouse and the chapel bc there's just Something about it

[casualarsonist]

Postal 2 review

Postal 2 was released right in the middle of what should have been my prime teenage-edgelord years, but while it’s had a resurgence in popularity due to nostalgia, returning to it, the game strikes me now exactly as it did then - a forgettable and borderline broken, amateurish piece of software that was crowded out of all but the most fringe playerbases by other, better, more interesting games.

Postal 2 is Hatred, if Hatred mistakenly thought it was funny - it was a try-hard attempt at outrunning South Park in a race no-one was watching. The irony is that in hindsight South Park turned out to be tedious fence-sitting ‘all sides are equally stupid’ takes from a pair of moron Gen Xers who thought that not having a strong opinion about anything was cool and were also responsible for mass-marketing anti-semitism to an entire generation. It was seen as edgy and provocative in the 2000s, and now it’s laughed at for its rigid, pointed adherence to committing nothing of value to any issue. And in trying to out-do Parker and Stone the developers of Postal 2 shackled themselves to the exact same sinking ship.

The game is…not great. It’s ugly, and poorly put-together. There are constant issues with controls and soundtrack - you can hear the audio clicking repeatedly in the opening minutes of the game because whoever did the sound design stitched together a bunch of stock sound effects and didn’t crossfade the adjoining tracks. The same 3 second soundbite of a bird repeats endlessly - noticeable because it is the only sound playing as you tour through the town. And while there is something to be said for the effort put into programming all the systems that go towards simulating the mundanity of everyday life (and towards your disruption of that mundanity with a can of gasoline and a box of matches), this was an indie game with a certain amount of ambition developed before crowdfunding could turn these games into something worth playing. It’s tedious, but not in the way the developers intended - it’s tedious mechanically, like playing in a small, ugly, sadistic sandbox. The most interesting thing you discover about it is that doing everyday tasks like shopping for milk, and burning everyone in the town alive, are actions that get boring at exactly the same rate as one another.

That said, I think there’s a certain amount of accidental Tom Green-esque avant-garde nihilism in the absurdity of this game. It’s kind of funny to watch the 'Parents For Decency’ whip out pistols and try to murder every member of the Running With Scissors development team because they don’t like their violent games. That’s genuine satire - it actually says something real, and, because the 'think of the children’ groups are usual comprised of wealthy conservatives trying to avoid caring about actual tangible suffering in the world, the commentary kicks upwards at a group that will otherwise avoid any punishment for their hypocrisy. The icing on the cake is that you can then choose to kill them in self-defence, proving that you’re exactly the thing they were protesting. Postal 2 has something to say occasionally. Very occasionally. But then give it a few hours and you’re murdering dozens of shrieking racist stereotypes of Afghanis that all look like Osama Bin Laden.

If you kill 30 people from every type of skin colour you get an achievement called 'Sheriff Arpaio would be proud’. I had to google his name because I thought he he was a mass murderer with some kind of pointedly indiscriminate political agenda. Nope - he was a white Sheriff in Arizona who specifically profile non-white people in one of the most widespread examples of open racism in American law enforcement since segregation was made ‘illegal’. And given recent history, that’s saying something. He alone cost the taxpayers of his one county $140 million dollars via lawsuits brought against him. The fucking U.S. Justice Department sued him. If I hadn’t researched that I wouldn’t have realised he was actually a massive racist asshole who specifically targeted Hispanics and black people, because Running With Scissors made a false equivalence in their throwaway gag that just happens to mislead the player about the racist crimes of the person they’re referencing. 'Sheriff Arpaio would be proud’…because it was a numbers game? Yes, that’s what he liked. Persecuting *everyone* - as many people as possible, and not one very specific demographic of people.

I’m not saying that this stupid joke intentionally whitewashes the racism of its namesake, and I’m not saying that this, coupled with the developers’ portrayal of Middle Eastern people as homogenous terrorists screaming gibberish through the singular face of a mass murderer is in any way an explicit demonstration of their edgelord racist worldview. I’m not saying that, in the same that I’m not saying that a crack-smoking, dog-kicking, wife-abusing, spree-killer living in a trailer in any way reflects their perspective towards the poor, and that this entire game is one big middle-finger to everything the developers personally dislike. I’m saying that there’s a marked difference between forcing players to kill brown people because they’re all terrorists and forcing players to kill white people because they’re vegetarians. Or have red hair. Jesus that was such a 2003 joke wasn’t it?

At the very least, the panel of people who mindmapped the ideas that came together to form the foundational commentary of Postal 2 are dumb as dogshit, and the end result of that is 'whoopsie we’re slaughtering dozens of Muslims ho ho ho the Indian food store has Afghani suicide bombers in it all these people are the same skin colour Sheriff Arpaio did a bad thing to *lots of different people!*’

Isn’t it interesting that a game touted as a free-for-all and remembered for it’s 'all sides are bad’ South Park-esque 'sick of the system’ worldview actually depicts its town exactly from the perspective of one very specific demographic of people - the single most represented demographic in the American population: middle-class straight white male Gen Xers who feel disenfranchised but are also ardently pro-America, hate the poor despite not being wealthy themselves, hate the rich for being richer than them, hate 'rednecks’ for being too uncivilised, hate 'conservatives’ for being too stuck-up, and hate liberals for not fitting into a stuck-up conservative worldview. When you think of yourself as the lone, correct singularity trapped in the centre of a world filled with people who are wrong because they care too much about things you don’t like to think about, literally every other person on the planet becomes a potential threat. Your life is given meaning by the feeling of persecution this constant target on your back brings. And it’s a lot easier to take your anger out on a toothless social group than to comprehend your own lack of identity - to make fun of 'gingers’ and vegetarians like you were born yesterday rather than do anything legitimately rebellious or anti-establishment. Particularly if your specific demographic is the one nearly all media is catered towards. Movies are telling you that you’re the hero, but your miserable job tells you that you’re just a rube. Who’s to blame? Don’t bother thinking about it, because you might end up on a crusade, and you don’t want to be like those losers who keep going on about their problems. Make a game in which you kill all those people instead. That’ll teach em.

Postal 2 is the kind of stand-up comic that gets heckled for telling an offensive joke and then threatens to shoot-up the audience if they won’t stop booing him. It was made - poorly even for the time - by a bunch of clowns playing to the easiest possible audience: white edgelords. It’s a power fantasy for people who don’t have anything meaningful to fight for, so they fight gingers. Y'know, because South Park did it. Nazis are funny, gingers are bad. Everyone is wrong, stick to the middle. The middle of a spectrum. The middle of the road. The middle of a river as it sweeps you out to sea. It’s all the same.

2/10

[bigskydreaming]

Hi! I'm new to your blog but found a few posts that were about a JayTom ship, and I was wondering who Tom was? And also you've mentioned in a couple of posts the idea of Jason having a lineup of Titans in his age range and you talked about the Ray and Damage in one. Do you have a whole lineup in mind for them and if so, is there a post on that somewhere?

LOL man, I really need to start pulling all my posts about JayTom and Jay’s lineup of Titans together for some kind of a masterlist, so thanks for the reminder haha. Like, I saw this ask and thought of various posts to point you towards but ugh, I don’t know where any of them are.

Anyway, so. The Tom of JayTom. Aka my ideal ship for Robin!Jason in the series of one-shots about an AU where Jason doesn’t go to Ethiopia in ADITF and thus never dies, that’s kinda grown out of that of a one-shot I started as a writing commission a couple months ago, if anyone else remembers that….the one that was like ‘what if Jason called Dick after the Garzonas incident and Dick sided with Jason’…that one. 

Which then snowballed into ‘well, then I could give Jason his own lineup of Titans who are in the same age range as like a younger gen learning from Dick’s generations of Titans but still older than Tim’s generation of YJ and then eventual Titans.’

Sigh. Oh, me. Right! So! Anyway! Tom in JayTom is Thomas Bronson, the son of JSA member Ted Grant, aka Wildcat. 

Tom and Jason have never ever interacted in canon as far as I know, as I don’t think Tom’s ever appeared outside of JSA and Jason never appeared in that book either before or after his death. BUT by the magic of winging it and Canon Has Not Definitively Contradicted Me, I think the two of them are feasibly in the same age range, so I’m going with them both being fifteen when they meet here.

Tom’s a scrappy, street smart, attitude throwing teenager with daddy issues of his own, lol, thanks to Ted’s general non-existence in his life, for most of it….and he’s also tiny, like, 5′6″ and 135 lbs even at the end of his teenage years. LMAO, I honestly don’t remember, but I think that might be the whole basis of this ship for me, or where it originated. Like, I happened across Tom’s stats as listed on one of the DC wiki sites, and was like, lol oh, he and Robin!Jason could be pint-sized punks together! And then from there, I had the inevitable thought “okay but now make them gay” and then from there I fell into my usual trap of “oh no, it was supposed to be a joke but now I’m taking it seriously and seriously pondering how it could seriously work.”

And then from there it consumed my brain and devoured my life. I swear, it was Dick/Kyle all over again. Ugh, my brain is so problematic.

So anyway, this is Tom:

He’s a werepanther, he can shapeshift into a panther form to fight, which brings up an interesting facet of his character and something I think could be really fun to play off Jason and his own issues…because Tom hates fighting. HATES it. Will run from a fight at any given opportunity rather than engage….but its not because he’s a coward, or doesn’t have heroic instincts of his own, and its not even because he’s not GOOD at fighting.

Its that he’s scared of himself, and scared of hurting whoever he’s fighting…at least more than he means to. Because he has trouble controlling his shift when in fights. His panther form just comes out in response to his own amped up levels of aggression. The fight or flight response for him is actually more like “flight or turn into a raging whirlwind of clawed and fanged fury that can’t stop won’t stop until he’s definitively won his fight….which by extension, usually means his opponent is currently bleeding out on the ground from a few dozen deep claw marks because Panther!Tom’s claws and fangs are SHARP.”

Now pair this fear of his own power with Tom’s natural belligerence and problems with authority at certain points in his life, AND his desire to follow in his hero father’s footsteps as well as his resentment and giving himself grief every time he realizes he even has that desire, because he doesn’t owe his deadbeat dad shit and can’t stand that he nevertheless admires him in a lot of ways and still feels a desire to prove himself to him…

Then pair him up with Jason during his Robin years, going through similar issues and emotions as well as a comparable dynamic with Bruce as him not dying in Ethiopia nevertheless changes nothing about the two of them likely clashing more and more over their views on how to deal with criminals and the appropriate levels of aggression when dealing with them….

And that right there, IMO, is super strong potential for a dynamic couple with a lot in common and yet occasional clashes of their own due to different opinions on which direction to go in so as to address those shared issues…but who likely would never hesitate for a second before backing each other up and presenting a united front against anyone else who tried to give one or the other shit for any reason whatsoever.

Also, I have vastly amused myself with the thought (and the occasional post here and there) of Ted and Bruce continually glowering at each other and blaming each other’s son for being a bad influence on their son, who has never done anything wrong in their life ever, CLEARLY (even if Bruce had actually just grounded Jason the day before. Whatever. Ted doesn’t need to know that).

Anyway, so that’s the JayTom I reference now and then. I’ve always maintained that Jason could really benefit from having a stronger support system of friends distinct to him and not sharing similar dynamics with any of his siblings, so then I was like, well if Jay doesn’t die, and I have him and Dick closer in this AU than they’re usually written as being, plausibly Jason would spend a lot of time at the Tower to get away from Bruce and his own fights with him. 

With Dick being more than able to relate to trouble dealing with Bruce and thus happy to lend a sympathetic ear….and eventually maybe express to Bruce that it might do them both some good for Jason to make more friends his own age and have some normal routines that took him out of the house and Gotham enough that he and Bruce don’t constantly feel like they’re breathing down each other’s necks and keeping tension a constant thing between them. A little space now and then could benefit them both, give them chances to cool off after their fights and actually MISS each other before readdressing the issues.

So then I could see the Titans kinda sending out invitations/recruiting various teen heroes around Jason’s age that they’d all maybe had their eyes on for awhile as kids who could benefit from the same kind of team unity/group support that helped them so much when they were that age just a few years ago themselves.

Which leads me to where I am now which is….I still haven’t settled on a solid lineup, because I came up with too many choices, lol. Basically, my parameters were I wanted characters who could feasibly be said to be in the same age range as Jason and Tom, and didn’t have super strong associations with any other characters that would create any kind of conflict with them being on a Titans team at this point in the timeline instead. And because I’m all about my thematics, I wanted them all to have certain root issues in common that they could all bond over and actually, y’know, support each other with and through. 

(The same way I think Dick’s generation of Titans actually has certain distinct themes and issues that almost all of them share and can relate to in varying ways, which I think has a lot to do with how quickly and fully they all bonded and why they created such lasting friendships and teams between them. But that’s a whole other post, lol.)

So the central shared issues I decided to focus on for Jason’s age group of Titans were: teen/young heroes from abusive homes or runaways, ones with issues and fears stemming from and regarding their own powers or tempers, etc, and misfits who were regarded warily by other or older heroes and considered potentially able to end up on either side of the hero/villain line in the sand.

Which Dick’s generation of Titans, which of course includes Raven, Kory, etc, would not be in agreement with that last part, and thus be all the more likely to recruit these specific teen heroes and be like nyah, nyah, watch how with our help and oh yeah, SUPPORT, they all become the best damn heroes that ever did heroically hero. Suck it, JLA-holes!

(And then Donna would be like, not you Diana, you know we’re cool, its just I gotta do the team solidarity thing and Dick, Garth and Roy are still being Displeased with their mentors/dads at the moment, and also we’re all kinda ticked you guys stole Wally. Btw, we’re stealing the new Green Lantern kid, because Revenge and stuff. He’s ours now, you snooze, you lose).

 So, Jason’s lineup of Titans will consist of some of the following, I’m just not 100% sure which yet, because I have to whittle down the list.

1) Jason (nominally mentored by Dick, but the latter just calls it an excuse for brother bonding time and neither of them make much reference ever to having any kind of actual mentor/protégé relationship like I see the rest of Jay’s lineup having. Plus, Jason unique from the rest already has a mentor in Bruce anyway, so his situation and reasons for being part of this team aren’t quite the same from the others, especially as one of my reasons for this AU was always addressing the issues I have with Bruce’s parenting before the canon event point of Jason’s death, and like…..so like, Bruce does get better once Dick calls out some of his shit with Jason based on his own experiences with Bruce and then later Jason returns the favor by calling out Bruce for taking Dick for granted and no longer putting in the same effort connecting with his eldest and being an actual PARENT to him like he used to).

2) Tom Bronson/Tomcat (who else would act as his personal mentor other than Gar aka Beast Boy aka Changeling, the shapeshifter extraordinaire?)

3) Grant Emerson/Damage (recruited by Roy and his personal protégéand likely BFFs with Jason IMO, as I think their temperaments are complete opposites but Grant’s the kind of kid who would roll his eyes and dolefully follow his troublemaking best friend Jay into likely danger, because his power to blow things up really comes in handy with the kind of scrapes Jason gets himself into and this in turn is a really handy thing to point out in the aftermath of pulling Jason’s butt out of a scrape and then gloating but in the totally mature and “I’m much too nice to actually be gloating, you must be mistaken about what’s happening here” manner in which I see that going down. And in terms of the parameters I mentioned, Grant grew up bounced around abusive foster homes, is watched like a hawk by various groups and heroes because of the huge catastrophic potential of his powers, which he has his own fears about, and also he has no idea who his parents are either, and I imagine him and Jason going on a ‘find out who our real parents are roadtrip’ after graduation or something).

4) Ray Terrill/The Ray (potentially recruited by Kory and her personal protégé. He was briefly a member of Tim’s Young Justice team, but part of the reason he was never that close with the other members was he was a little bit older, just a couple years or so, but enough to put him squarely in Jason’s age range. Also comes from an abusive home, and spent the majority of his childhood living in complete darkness because his asshole uncle told him he had the same powers as his father which meant sunlight would be harmful to him and make him dangerous to be around. When in reality, like his dad, Ray’s powers are fueled by sunlight and he’s like a living solar battery, keeping him afraid to leave the dark was just meant to keep him passive and powerless. Even knowing his uncle lied now, Ray still has long had fears about his own powers, unable to totally shake the fears his uncle instilled in him).

5) Todd Rice/Obsidian (potentially recruited by Raven and her personal protégé. He and his twin sister Jenny-Lynn Hayden are probably a bit older than the rest of this team, but their ages aren’t definitively linked to any points in the DC timeline, so there’s no real conflict between handwaving them as aged down to be right around the same ages as the others. Todd and Jenny-Lynn are the twin children of original Green Lantern Alan Scott aka Sentinel, and the DC villainness Thorn. They grew up in separate foster homes though with Alan unaware of their existence for most of their childhoods. Todd’s childhood was notoriously rough, with him having several abusive foster parents. He’s canonically gay and mentally ill/neurodivergent, which several of his foster homes targeted him for. In addition, his shadow powers are tied to a dark dimension that’s said to prey on his mental state and led to occasional times where he’s been a villain briefly, and at all times his powers are regarded fearfully by most people and with him shunned and avoided because of them. All of which I think makes Raven an ideal mentor for him).

6) Jenny-Lynn Hayden/Jade (Todd’s twin sister, even though they didn’t grow up together for the most part. Honestly, she doesn’t share in a lot of the issues the rest of the team prospects do, and had a relatively good childhood before her powers developed and she found her brother and they started operating as heroes together. But upon learning who her brother and dad are, she’s always been committed to growing closer with them, so I think anywhere Todd goes in this AU, she’d definitely follow, and its not like the team can’t benefit from a heavy hitter like her, let alone more girls. Not totally sure who I picture as most mentoring her in specific, probably because I don’t see her as being recruited per se, so much as just going with Todd when recruited….but I’m thinking maybe Garth, actually. Garth has a lot of range and versatility with his powers and magic, which makes him ideal for mentoring someone who not only has the same powers as a Green Lantern, limited only by her imagination…..but who also might benefit from being mentored by someone who ISN’T a Green Lantern because she doesn’t share their traditional weaknesses and thus she’d be best off training with someone whose own techniques and instincts aren’t geared around weaknesses that are literally irrelevant to her powerset).

7) Courtney Mason/Anima (A metahuman runaway who was almost sacrificed by a cult before her powers kicked in….she’s also right in the same age range as Ray, Grant and Jason, and has briefly been a member of a couple Titans lineups but never for long and usually only for big event stories. But she fits the runaway/rough home environment parameter as well as fear of her own powers….she absorbs life energy from people and animals and can potentially kill them by draining too much. She also has a separate power that’s basically a connection to an other-dimensional spirit called the Animus that she can summon forth and unleash on her enemies. I’m thinking she’d make a good recruit/protégé for Jericho actually, for a number of reasons).

8) Cynthia Reynolds/Fantasia (? Maybe? Not sure yet. Not her actual codename, but her actual codename is a slur, so I’m def gonna make up a new one, I just haven’t 100% settled on what it is yet. Suck it, DC. She’s most known for being a member of Justice League Detroit along with Steel, Vibe and the Ray, but she’s the right age range to end up recruited to be a Titan here instead, like Ray. Also is a runaway from an abusive home, and often deals with mistrust and suspicion due to her illusion powers. Perfect recruit/protégé for Lilith, IMO).

9) Cisco Ramone/Vibe (Also created as a teenage hero to be part of the Justice League Detroit lineup, which makes him the right age range and he’s another runaway. The nature of his powers makes him a good fit to be a recruit/protégéof Mal Duncan/Herald).

10) Amy Allen/Bombshell (Totally self-indulgent on my part given that I basically would ignore the vast majority of her storylines and writing, which I think suck. She was in the Titans stories revolving around Tim’s generation of the team, but she was always stated to be a few years older than the rest, like in her late teens when the majority were probably sixteen, so I think she’s a good fit for this age range. Also had a crappy home life and parents, and her powers are hugely destructive in certain applications…she basically has the same powerset as Captain Atom, though she’s never had any kind of official mentor or sidekick relationship with him. Also, I think Captain Atom is an asshat and a dillhole and he sucks, but I do like his powers, so reinterpreting Amy as a character who doesn’t suck and playing around with her powers instead is solid decision making on my part and renders Captain Atom irrelevant now. I think I shall kill him. Because I can do that. Anyway, I think she doesn’t need him as a mentor but could make a good recruit/protégé for Leonid/Red Star).

11) Carla Moretti/Cinder (Odd choice, given that she’s only ever really been used as a villainous member of Deathstroke’s anti-Titans team and was easily in her twenties at the time. Pyrokinetic who happily makes bonfires out of her enemies but written with zero attempts at nuance, like a total one note villain framed as having long since abandoned her own humanity….which bugged the crap out of me, as she was given a super angsty backstory of childhood sexual abuse and that’s just ‘why she’s like this’ and I have a deep seeded loathing for asshole writers writing survivors as villains and just blaming their casual homicidal ways on their abuse while serving up said villains to just be punching bags or dominoes for the heroes to knock down on their way to the Boss Fight. So I do have inclinations towards making an actual Titan out of her, like with Amy, because surprise surprise, both these characters being written shittily and one note was the work of the same writer, shocking. So I’d just handwave her down to the right age range and have her recruited/mentored by Donna, probably…more due to me thinking Donna would be the best person to help her deal with stuff because she’s mastered the art of avoiding avoidance via having Dick Grayson as a BFF. So with them its not really because Carla needs mentoring with her powers specifically. Idk, Carla anyway you slice it I think has a lot of rage, and Donna knows what to do with that. Written right, Donna’s not a character who judges or shames a victim or survivor for being angry…she gets angry with them, and helps them find options for what to do with that now.) 

12) Hero Cruz (Lesser known Titan, has a device called the Dial H device that lets him turn into a different hero with different powers depending on the setting he puts it on. Basically Ben 10, but Hero came first. Doesn’t really fit most of the parameters, other than being around the right age range, and not even sure who would make a good mentor for him though I wanna say Vic, but not totally decided yet. Mostly I just like him and think he’s underused, so whatever).

There’s also a few other candidates that I have mostly ruled out but not totally. I thought about using the aged up version of Chris Kent, and just introduce him earlier than he showed up in canon. And then Kara/Supergirl could be his mentor because I kinda handwave her into Dick’s generation of Titans anyway, even though it was the alien Matrix version of Linda Danvers that was the only Supergirl ever on the team. Whatever. She should have been a Titan all along anyway. But also Chris would fit the team well as he had an abusive childhood as well, at his dad General Zod’s hands, and again, I just like the character. 

Thought of including Virgil Hawkins/Static too, even though I think he’s closer to Tim’s age range. And again, just another character I’m a fan of and think is underused, but he would definitely be an odd man out in this group because like….he comes from a happy, healthy, loving home and family, and he loves his powers. So he would constantly be just like nodding his head along while his teammates talk and like ugh that sucks, but 10/10 absolutely can not relate, my parents are awesome.  Same with Natasha Irons/Steel, who really would have to be handwaved to even be in the right age range, and again has a happy loving home environment and a superhero uncle of her own so its not like she needs a Titan mentor…..but I kinda wanna see Karen Beecher/Bumblebee take her under her wing anyway, and have them be science nerds together.

Also pretty much the only reason I ruled out Connor Hawke too, as he doesn’t really match the rest of the team in any of the parameters except for feasibly being right at the upper edge of the same age range. But again, I just love the character. 

So I’m probably gonna end up throwing at least one of these other characters in there anyway, lol. I do know myself).

Anyway. So that’s Jason’s lineup of Titans, or at least the candidates as they exist bouncing around in my head now. Also, they’re pretty much Team “Everyone is Gay Except For When They’re Bi.” Which, granted, is basically how I view Dick’s generation of Titans, but with them I have to be like Make It So, in my brain, whereas with this group like….canon’s actually done the work for me for the most part lol. Ray is gay, Todd Rice is gay, Courtney is bi, Hero is gay. And I can’t actually find anything confirmed Tom was stated to be gay somewhere in canon, but I SWEAR he was, like, ugh this is bugging me.

But anyway. That’s that about all of that.

[365daysofsasuhina]

[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day Two Hundred Fifteen: Short ___ ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: A Light Amongst Shadows ] [ AO3 Link ]

For the longest time, she had no control over it. When she was young, much of her appearance was purely dictated by her father. For the few years, when her mother was given reign over her daughter’s outfits and hairstyles, Hinata was still too young to appreciate them anyway. But after Hanabi’s birth and Hanako’s death...everything concerning their mother was stripped away, too painful a reminder for Hiashi.

So, after a small time spent mourning and being too wrapped up in his own head, he ordered Hinata’s growing hair chopped to a hime cut. The same toned locks his wife had sported was just...too much to take whenever he looked at his eldest daughter. It was bad enough she had the same heart-shaped face and kind set to her eyes. So...the hair was the one thing he could control.

Short hair wasn’t too big a deal to Hinata at first. It made it all the quicker for her branch clan nanny to care for, it didn’t get in her face when running or training...it suited her just fine. So there was never any fuss whenever she was deemed ready for a new haircut. Instead, she wordlessly allowed it every time, seeing no reason to want otherwise.

Once she entered the Academy over a year after losing her mother, Hinata realized that many of the other girls had their hair longer than hers...even if not by much. At first...she was confused. Hiashi had told her that having long hair was a risk: an enemy could grab it, and hurt you! Why would anyone want to have their hair that length? And the older they got, the longer their hair grew, until those like Ino and Sakura had locks down to their back! And all the while, Hinata kept her hime cut, comforted knowing that it wouldn’t ever get in her way, or be a liability.

But then...she finally heard what all the fuss was about.

“Still growing your hair out, Forehead?” Ino asked as they met for the first day of their final year at the Academy. “Still think that just because Sasuke-kun likes long hair, he’ll notice you? He’ll be too distracted by the size of your brow to even see it!”

The rosette simply scowled. “As if Sasuke-kun could ever like someone with an attitude like yours! It stinks so bad, he’ll never get near enough to see all that hair you’ve been growing, Pig!”

“Why you -!”

From there, the conversation devolved into nothing but argument, and Hinata flinched away. Sasuke, of course, was the class heartthrob. Smart, handsome, and that silent, broody type. Apparently all of the girls found it interesting.

...and yet…

Hinata couldn’t understand it. They liked him for his quiet, cold nature...but didn’t they realize why he acted that way? He’d lost...everything. His family, his clan, his home...of course he was going to be hard to approach and distant! And they thought that was...cool, or something? How shallow…!

But at least now she knew why everyone was keeping their hair so long. All to impress a boy. Up until then, Hinata had given very little thought to her own appearance...at least, beyond keeping her outfits rather baggy. Her nanny had declared her an ‘early bloomer’...whatever that meant. But for propriety’s sake, she was encouraged to keep her wardrobe loose and covering. At that age, she really wasn’t sure why. But the notion of altering what one looked like for someone else was...strange. Hiashi had always been so strict about her appearance...was it really not normal?

The thought troubled her...but not enough, at that point, to try to change it.

Besides...she wasn’t one of the girls who chased after Sasuke. Not because she disliked him - she really didn’t have much of an opinion of him to begin with. But mostly...it was because she had her eyes on someone else. Someone who, unlike her, radiated confidence and energy. Uzumaki Naruto was a troublemaker, loudmouth, prank-pulling knucklehead. But Hinata couldn’t help but envy the way he seemed to carve his own path, not care what others thought, and simply did what he wanted to without doubt or hesitation.

So, while most of her class flocked after Sasuke...Hinata instead stared longingly after someone she knew would never notice her.

But after they graduated...things began to change for Hinata. Her team, though at first clumsy and uncoordinated, began to grow...and her along with them. She went from doubting her usefulness to her teammates to letting them bolster her, becoming determined to bloom into someone worthy of being noticed by her hero. For a few months, Hinata - slowly and surely - made progress in her goals.

...and then...Kurenai nominated them for the chūnin exams. The prospect had made her nervous, but her team was confident they would make it. And, until the third exam’s preliminaries, they did rather well for themselves.

But a roll of the dice pitted her against Neji: her branch clan cousin who hated her and her family for his father’s death, and his own sealed fate. Wanting still to progress, she refused to back down.

It almost killed her.

Then, while her heart was still recovering, Konoha was attacked by not just Oto, but Suna as well. Much of the village was left in ruins, many shinobi were killed...and the aftermath saw many of her classmates frustrated. Sasuke, many of his struggles unknown to her, fled the village. Naruto, after the failed retrieval, decided to leave with Jiraiya to train. Sakura and Ino took up apprenticeships under Tsunade.

...and Hinata realized something. She had to get stronger. Her weakness, up to that point, had cost her many things. But she had to do it on her terms. For herself. Not for Naruto, not for her father, not for anyone or anything but herself and her own determination.

So...she took up training under her cousin. And she began to let other things change. No longer did she cut her hair simply because it was expected of her. Instead, she retook the appearance that mirrored her mother so closely. It didn’t matter that Hiashi looked at her so painfully. She loved her mother, too. And she would honor her memory by relishing in how she inherited so many of her features.

By the time Naruto returned, it was nearly to her waist. Straight as an arrow, with a healthy shine. And with her taijutsu so improved, she no longer feared being taken by a grip to her locks.

An enemy would never get close enough to have the chance.

Even during the war, the lengths ran free and long. And after? Though part of her longed for a change...she refused to cut it again. Never would she go back to short hair. Even if it meant nothing to anyone else, having that heirloom of her mother brought her a kind of comfort.

And as the crossing paths of the Hyūga and Uchiha meant spending more and more time with Uchiha Sasuke, she realized...maybe his liking long hair wasn’t so bad.

Especially now, with the two of them having been going steady for several months. In the end, it wasn’t Ino’s beautiful tail of gold, or Sakura’s symbolic chopping of her hair during the exams that caught his eye. True, he saw the rest of her - the who, not the what - long before he paid her appearance any mind. But as it turns out...he really does like long hair.

...sort of.

He’s always finding excuses to run fingers through it, bury his nose in it, or even just idly play with the strands whenever they have quiet, still moments together.

“So...the Academy rumors were true?”

“Hm?”

“About you liking long hair.”

That earns a snort. “In all honesty? I didn’t have a preference. I have no idea where that came from.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“...huh…”

“But,” Sasuke then goes on, fingers threading through amethyst locks. “I do like yours.”

“...may I ask why?”

He goes quiet for a time. “...I think...it’s because it reminds me a bit of my mother’s.”

“...really…?”

“Yeah.”

After a pause, Hinata softens with a smile. “...that’s why I like it. It reminds me of my mother’s.”

“Guess we’ve got that in common. Just...please promise me you won’t ever cut it again.”

“What, you didn’t like my hime cut?”

“No, I just...like it better this way.”

“All right, all right...I promise. No more short hair.”

                                                          .oOo.

     I'm v tired so I'll be brief =w=      Just a lil drabble about Hinata's hair. While I adore her hime cut, I also like her with long hair...aaand I don't like her cut in next gen stuff. So my Hina keeps it long for Sasuke's sake x3      But uh...yeah! That's all for today~ Thanks for reading!

[sixth-light]

Yuletide letter 2018

Dear Yuletide Author,

First of all, thank you for taking the time to read this! Yuletide is one of my fannish highlights of the year and I’m really looking forward to whatever you write for me. If you’re interested in personalizing things a bit more, read on. 

General preferences:

Stuff I really like in fic includes: people being kind to each other, science (and SCIENCE!), mystery plots/casefic, found family, loyalty, women bonding and female friendship, humour, happy endings, the exploration of worldbuilding and its implications (including via AUs), the use of minor canon details, and cracky premises/tropes treated with some seriousness.

Stuff I would really prefer not to see in a Yuletide fic includes: dark interpretations of characters (or darker than canon, where relevant), brooding, angst, endings that feel hopeless, infidelity, noncon/dubcon, explicit or detailed violence, people being humiliated, embarrassment humour, and canon being changed or rewritten Just Because. That said, in general adult elements of all sorts (sex, violence, swearing, discussion of mortgage tax) are fine, especially if appropriate to the canon.

Fandom-specific prompts/notes:

Death in Paradise (Camille Bordey, Humphrey Goodman) I watched the first four seasons of this recently (am working on the rest) while out of internet range and was outraged to discover upon regaining internet that fandom hasn't really stepped into the breach for Camille and Humphrey, who DESERVE A HAPPY ENDING. (I know vaguely what happens with Humphrey's love-life later in the show and I don't care.) 

Camille is my favourite character of the show so far - I love her competence and her ambition and her ability to have fun - and I shipped Camille/Humphrey before it was canon, which led to many high-pitched squeaking noises during the season 3 finale. Ship-wise, I love how much Humphrey openly admires Camille professionally and personally, and while I was very sad she left the show, I actually really liked his temptation mini-arc regarding her paperwork and his confession in the episode where she left. My favourite thing about him as a character is that while people routinely mistake his kindness and absent-mindedness for weakness, in the crunch he understands (and holds) his own and other people's boundaries very well indeed.

What I would PARTICULARLY like for these two is some sort of future fic reunion get-together - not a fix-it but a fresh start, as it were. If the ship is not your cup of tea then I would also love, in any timeframe, gen with them hanging out - murder-solving always welcome, or maybe just exploring cultural differences. If it's during the canon course of their partnership then any of the support cast are welcome additions. Either way, use of ridiculous tropes (There Was Only One Bed In The Inn, etc) is encouraged. 

Please no extensive pining from Humphrey if it's not a resolved ship fic, because canon gave me enough of that. I am open to interpretations where Camille had some idea about his feelings (she's a DETECTIVE) but didn't say anything because [she wasn't interested at the time/he was her boss/she thought if it was real he'd find the courage to speak up/etc].0

 Also please no Camille/Richard or references thereto - not my thing. 

Think of England (Archie Curtis, Daniel da Silva)

I did a re-read recently and remembered how much I enjoy not only the romance in this book but also Archie and Daniel’s complementary spy team abilities. I’d love to see them solve some sort of mystery, from the small-scale to the large. If the mood takes you, I also wouldn’t mind seeing future Archie and Daniel in the WWI or interwar period.

I haven’t specifically requested them, but Fenella and Patricia are more than welcome to make an appearance. Either Daniel or Archie learning a new skill (that’s not in their usual skillset) would be neat if it works with what you want to write. 

While I would enjoy seeing Archie and Daniel thrashing out things within their relationship (and Archie dealing with his newfound conception of himself as queer) it’s also OK to ignore those aspects of the book and in any case, please no angst about it; happy partnership is what I’m here for. Essentially gen fic with background established Archie/Daniel is fine. 

The Daevabad Trilogy (Nahri, Darayavahoush e-Afshin, Alizayd al Qahtani) I read the first book in this series recently and was CRUSHED when I thought it wasn't nominated for Yuletide - until I realised it was there under the series name (phew). I particularly enjoy how more or less everybody’s point of view and motivations are sympathetic despite the radical political/religious differences between them and, er, all the murder. I love the contrast between Nahri, who is still mostly out for her own survival/Learning Cool Medical Stuff and slowly picking up the hero baton, and Dara and Ali, who are both trying to do the right thing for their people (even when they're not necessarily right about what that is) and compromised in it by forces beyond their control. I am also very into Nahri and Ali's immense nerdiness in their particular fields of interest. 

Really all I want is for the three of them to hang out and snark and have adventures and not kill each other...again..., either as an out-take from the first book or in a hypothetical future. Feel free to handwave as much or as little as you want around the potential future plot and unresolved mysteries like Nahri's parentage and Ali's marid(?) superpowers(????). If you're interested in writing something lighter, I would definitely love comic shenanigans involving Ali and Dara having to deal with the human world (where Ali is FASCINATED and Dara hates all of it), guided by Nahri.

Ship-wise, I'm into basically any combination of these three characters, although if you want to try any flavour of Ali/Dara a) I am impressed at your commitment and b) please not in a way that excludes Nahri. Gen is also welcome. Background Muntadhir/Jamshid is also EXTREMELY welcome if relevant.

[crsinclair]

@theunemployedrogue I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE.  Very clever, haha! (This is three and a half pages of text, holy granola-)

A – Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don't have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPS.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.

I'm gonna name three, because why not?

Shance (Voltron) – I have written literal essays about this ship and I will defend their love until my dying breath. I still believe it might be end-game in canon, but if it isn't then that's what fanfic is for!

Dai-Nana-Han | Team 7 (Naruto) – Platonic! Naruto was one of the first anime/manga I got into as a young preteen (though not my first anime/manga by FAR), and while I shipped the hell out of everyone romantically as a scrappy kid, as an adult I see more value in them together as a team – as a family. Being able to find your family of choice at such a young age is such a blessing, and you will absolutely catch me crying in the club while reading a #Team 7 As Family fic, because gosh darn it they are so supportive of each other.

If Kakashi is a part of their family then catch me flooding the club with my tears.

Erasermic/Maizawa (BNHA) – DO I EVEN NEED TO SAY THIS IS ONE OF MY OTPS??? My love for this ship is pouring out of my ears. I have songs, I have poems, I have AUs and headcanons, and goddamnit if canon isn't throwing the ship at me at every turn nowadays.

C – A ship you have never liked and probably never will.

BakuDeku (BNHA) (Is that even the ship name??) - I can see the appeal for most people – childhood friends, former bully falls in love with his victum, the hatesex, ect. I CAN SEE THE APPEAL. For me though, it's a big NO. I was very, very heavily bullied as a kid. My most stalwart bullies' names are seared into my brain and every time I come across a person sharing their name I have a panic attack because what if it's them? What if they remember me and make my life hell again? So I could never pair a character I love with their bully. Just. No. Hard stop. If you ship it yourself, I'm not a hater. Ship what you ship! Just don't expect me to ship it personally.

I – Has tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

Nope! Not a single one. I've had a few pairings that Tumblr got me to stop liking, but a fandom as a whole? Nah. I know when it's a select few being toxic as opposed to a whole group and when it's appropriate to step back from them. My love for fandom is MY love, and no person independent of the fandom will ever make me stop loving.

L – Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn't one of your favs. (Characters you're neutral about are fair game, as are characters you merely dislike. Characters that you absolutely loathe with the fire of ten thousand suns are exempt, as there is no point in giving yourself an aneurysm over a character that you hate.)

Uh. Well, I...I don't have characters that I just passively like/dislike?? I honestly think the closest I've got to that Is Mineta, and that's more hate so I'm not going to bother with him. Um. So...

I think I'll use this part to expand on my opinion of Bakugou! I LOVE HIS CHARACTER. If he was a real person, would I ever be friends with him? HELL NO. I would hate him if he were an actual person. But his character is very well written. He's one of the most intriguing characters of BNHA because he's got so many layers – kinda like a very angry onion – that I can't help but love him.

N – Name 3 things you wish you saw more of in your main fandom (or fandom of choice).

*cracks knuckles* AIGHT HERE WE GO.

Lance (Voltron) – I love him, and because I love him, this is what I'd like to see more of: Lance and the CANON QUALITIES he brings to Voltron. Yes, he's smart. Yes, he's friendly. And yes, he can be a BAMF. But he is NOT secretly a CIA agent with hardcore skills that his teammates just don't see or notice. His smarts come from his adaptability and ability to think outside the box. He's not a tech/engineering wizard – he knows just enough to know what's up and get the right person on it, and MAYBE he can MacGuyver something. But he's not Pidge or Hunk. AND THAT'S OKAY. He's friendly, and that makes him great with Diplomacy – but I wouldn't put him in charge of all negotiations because of that. Lance can be hella abrasive. Just look at his relationship with Keith and Allura. With proper training he'd be a FANTASIC diplomat, but he doesn't have that training yet. AND THAT'S OKAY. Lance is a magnificent shot, his flexibility leaves pole dancers green with envy, and HELLOOO, Paladin of Voltron! He's pretty awesome! But he's not GOD. He's not the second coming of Space Jesus. He's Lance. AND. THAT'S. O. KAY.

We'll see him grow into his own in time, and I'm eagerly awaiting that. In the meantime, please give me Lance with his canon qualities.

Naruto – I would LOVE to see more Dai-Nana-Han | Team 7 As Family fics. Specifically reboots of the series, because tiny Naruto and tiny Sasuke and tiny Sakura are SOOOO CUUUTE.

All Fandoms – PLATONIC LOVE IN GENERAL?? PLEASE????

R – Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

Dai-Nana-Han | Team 7 (Naruto) – Though you guys...probably guessed that one, aha.

Klance (Voltron) – I made a post about this ages ago and honestly that's all I want with Klance. Just platonic love between them.

Uraraka/Izuku (BNHA) – I love the idea of them being platonic besties?? If they ever get together in canon that'd be cute, but – come on. Guys. GUYS. There is so much to be said about two people who validate each other without being romantic. And she's his first friend at UA! FRIENDSHIP! SO YOUTHFUL! (Wait, wrong fandom- )

S – Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts original but encouraged)

HEADCANONS BOY HOWDY I HOPE Y'ALL ARE READY

Pidge (Voltron) – This one hurts but also gives me life. My headcanon for Pidge is that, at a young age, they figured out that were Trans. Told the family, all the Holts were super supportive, and Katie was born. But then the Kerberos mission happened, and Katie realized that she was too well known to infiltrate the Garrison as a female. But...she'd be able to go in as a male. So despite having come out, despite finally having the name and hair and lifestyle she was comfortable and happy with...she cut her hair and went back into the closet to find her family. Which is why Pidge coming out as female to the crew was such a big deal – it was not, “Oh I was born female, I don't actually have a dick, sorry I just want to make sure I don't surprise you guys in the future,” it was, “I am Trans, and these are my pronouns.” People headcanoning Pidge as gender neutral is great, I just personally feel that invalidates her coming out as female to the Voltron crew in the first season. That was a big moment for her, and her pronouns deserve to be respected.

Tokoyami Fumikage (BNHA) – This one is kinda morbid, sorry. Dark Shadow is his twin that died iin the womb. If Dark Shadow had been born, they both would have had the same Quirk – a moving, physical shadow – but more akin to Nara Shikamaru's family jutsu. But now Tokoyami has a living, breathing Quirk that is honestly one of the most badass Quirks in all of BNHA. It also explains why his Quirk has its own personality separate form Tokoyami, why he has some measure of control but not complete control, and maybe why it's so terrifyingly...terrifying.

Aizawa Shouta (BNHA) – These are simple and put my soul at peace. He can't eat spicy foods. Like. At all. His mouth catches fire and honestly the chemical reaction makes his chronic dry eye worse. He's also glutten intolerant. Aizawa failed the Hero Entrance Exam but gained enough Rescue Points to impress the teachers and got told in his acceptance letter to Gen Studies to try again at the Sports Festival for a spot in the Heroes Course. He also excelled at Gymnastics in middle school.

Ash Ketchum (Pokemon) – THIS IS OUT OF LEFT FIELD BUT. I have not watched the anime beyond the Hoenn region, but guys. GUYS. FIRST EPISODE? ASH DIED. “What? No he didn't~!” Okay but listen. LISTEN! That moment when the lightning struck when Pikachu did a Thunder, there were Spearows all around, a bike right next to them Pikachu was in front of Ash – AND YET. AND MOTHER-FECKING YET. When Ash woke up, the bike was fecking CHARRED and lying several meters away, the Spearows were NOWHERE – one can only assume that most of them have been DISINTEGRATED (one of them lived, as evidenced by the end of season one in the episode when Ash was attacked by a Fearow and had to give up his newly evolved Pigeot) – Pikachu is laying next to Ash, and while both of them are banged up and exhausted, they are alive. AND TO TOP IT ALL OFF? HO-OH IS FLYING AWAY IN THE DISTANCE. What is Ho-oh a legendary for? Huh? Go on, say it with me – RESUR-FECKING-RECTION. HE'S THE GODS-DAMNED PHOENIX OF THE POKEMON WORLD. TELL ME TO MY FACE THAT HO-OH DIDN'T BRING ASH BACK FROM THE FECKING DEAD, I DARE YOU. I MOTHER-FECKING TRIPLE DOG FARE YOU-

[floof-ghostie]

My support course OCs because I need to get this out in the open

Okay, so first of all, I just want to say that I hc that U.A’s support course has very few students because the hero, gen ed, and management courses are more popular for application, so there’s probably going to be like five to seven named people in this. 

Second of all, when describing my OCs I’m going to include appearance, quirk things they like, personality, height, their specialty in support, and some extra tidbits!

Hoka Bushida:

Height: 6′3. 

Quirk: Caligraphy (he can mimic any kind of writing just by looking at it. This can also apply to forging people’s handwriting, as long as he has a reference)

Appearance: Tallest guy in the class, very stocky and muscular, shoulder length black hair usually tied away in a bun. Round brown eyes, and tanned skin. Wears the uniform with the waistcoat, and the sleeves rolled up. Often seen wearing flannel shirts, or hoodies out of class. Wears overalls over muscle shirts, and ties a grey bandanna over his hair when in the workshop.

Likes: Anything that has to do with metalworking, or glassblowing. His parents own a forge, and he helped out a lot in early childhood. Likes to visit whenever he can.

Personality: Jovial and kind, but also very loud, and excitable. He often lets out a wild laugh when firing his weapons. He likes Hatsume a lot (not romantically), and tries to keeps her in check somewhat, while joining her in testing support items. He’s basically the dad friend, and makes sure his classmates take care of themselves, and encourages them to see projects through. He’s very stubborn however, and quick to defend his friends. Very good at estimating calculations. Additionally, he’s great at hyping people up, and will never hesitate to hit his friends or even a perfect stranger with support.

Specialty: Metalwork, or Weapons in general. From guns, to tiny blades, he can make it.

Extras: He’s the strongest person in class 1-H. A lot of people are surprised to hear that his quirk has nothing to do with is appearance. He also likes hugs, and cooking. Teams up with Satou to cook, once their classes get more familiar with each other. Loves the company of his classmates, and Power Loader, and Present Mic are his favourite heroes.

Ami Chinen:

Height: 5′3

Quirk: Venom (she can spit a non-lethal venom at others. It only paralyses somebody for two minutes if it hits the skin. She can control whether it’s venom or actual spit)

Appearance: Relatively average height for Japan, petite build, green skin with black spots like a frog, tailbone length black hair tied into a braid, hazel eyes, black sclerae. She wears the school uniform like all the other girls, though with stockings all year round. When out of uniform, she wears lots of frilly shirts and blouses, and she wears the coveralls provided by the school when in the workshop.

Likes: Strawberry anything (cake, the fruit, candy, the pattern on fabrics). It’s her comfort food, as it’s a regular treat she shares with her grandfather!

Personality: She’s the voice of reason in the class. She’s the class rep, and an older sister, so she’s used to being a leader. She’s very literal, so sarcasm and certain jokes, go over her head. She’s not the most creative when coming up with inventions, but she’s great at coming up with plans and strategies. She dislikes using her quirk, but is very competitive so if she has to, she’ll swallow her pride and use it, if it means winning. She’s not mean however, she’s actually good at comforting others. She’s a bit insecure about her skin, so she tends to cover up a lot. She gets along really well with Mina, and Tsuyu, because skin struggles, and quirks. 

Specialty: Analytics, and creating anything that has to do with being able to identify and learn more about your surroundings. She’s the best person in the support course to go to when you need a battle strategy. 

Extra: She was raised by her dad and grandfather, after her parents got divorced. She and her granddad are especially close, and she likes to send him pictures of her inventions and friends at U.A! Also, she really enjoys Studio Ghibli Movies, and watches them with her younger brother who she looks after often. She and Hoka are pretty good friends, and she likes to bounce ideas off of him, while he reminds her to take breaks and not to overwork herself.

Bonnie Tucker: 

Height: 5′7

Quirk: Hair manipulation (her hair follicles are in constant overdrive, so she can grow durable, protective hair at will. Her hair is also prehensile. This uses up a lot of her energy however, so she can only use it in short bursts to conserve her energy)

Appearance: Bonnie is the tallest girl in class 1-H and has shoulder length dark coily hair, dark skin (she’s black), brown eyes, and a strong, athletic build. When she wears the school uniform, it’s usually with the sleeves rolled up, and often (though not always) wears the waistcoat on top, along with black converse sneakers. Out of class she normally wears oversized sweaters and shirts. She has a grunge sense of style. She has three cartilege piercings in her left ear, and one in her right. When in the workshop, she wears baggy faded jeans, and a green “Deep Dope” tank top with a black hoodie tied around her waist.

Likes: Roller skating (her mother taught her when she was younger. She can do lots of tricks, and incorporates that when she has to fight)

Personality: Calm, and quiet. She has a sarcastic, and dry sense of humour, but she’s friendly and emotionally intelligent. She hates being the centre of attention, and is bad with eye contact. Despite this, she is unafraid to call people out on their crap. She comes across as cold, and distant, but she’s actually pretty chill, down to earth, and cool with being friends with anyone. She gets along really well with people from other classes because of this. She’s also something of a daredevil, as she’s constantly trying new skating tricks, and is a natural born problem solver, as well as a quick thinker.

Specialty: Computers, and body extensions. When it comes to computers, she’s good at hacking and coding. Body extensions means that she is good at making thing that act as a part of somebody, i.e prosthetic limbs, gauntlets, clothes that can act as a second skin, special footwear, etc. She studies a lot of quirk theory, so she can advise certain ways that one could use their quirk more effectively. She’s strategy buddies with Ami for that reason.

Extras: Bonnie was born in the States! Los Angeles, California to be exact, and  transferred from her hero school back in L.A to Japan. She was the one who created Shinsou’s artificial vocal chords (they goofed around a lot when testing them). She’s often the one to tell Hatsume to calm down a little, when she gets to close to other people. Bonnie has a lot of hobbies relating to graphic art. She’s also a huge fan of Miruko, and the Wild, Wild Pussycats. 

Yuuto Daguchi: 

Height: 5′8

Quirk: Body portals (he can open holes into his body and store non-living stuff inside of him. However, he gets headaches the more stuff he stores inside of him)

Appearance: Relatively tall. Has black hair, and light brown skin, with black eyes. He wears glasses. Has been referred to as the prettiest boy in class 1-H. Wears the uniform normally, but switches out the school shoes with grey sneakers. Out of class, he has a simple but classy sense of style, as he normally takes to wearing button up shirts, and knitted sweaters. In the workshop, he wears the top of the gym uniform over black jeans.

Likes: Fashion design. His Mother is a model, and his dad is a famous designer, so it’s only natural that he inherited their passion for it!

Personality: The biggest sweetheart ever. Really optimistic, and encouraging. He and Hatsume get into all sorts of trouble with Power Loader. He’s really charming, and is very dramatic (like you could take the last muffin at breakfast, and he’s out here acting like you killed his dog), but gets serious when the situation calls for it. He has the same energy as Aoyama, and to an extent, Monoma. Yuuto loves experimenting with new designs for costumes, and materials, and loves helping others and giving input when asked. He’s also something of a matchmaker, having an eye for romance, and likes talking about love with Aoyama, Setsuna, Mina, and Hagakure, when their classes get closer.

Specialty: Materials and Costume improvements. He’s good at chemistry, and likes making new materials for costumes and support items. He saw a lot of female heroes in his day for photo shoots with his parents, and knew he could create better costumes. Almost passed out when he found out about Hagakure, Ibara, and Yaoyorozu’s costumes. He’s good at improving support items, making them more streamlined, durable, and practical, while still looking cute!

Extras: He was born and raised in London England. His dad is Japanese, but his mom is Pakistani-British. He and Tucker bonded over moving to a new country. Yuuta is also vice representative of class 1-H. He has a tiny crush on Hiryu Rin. He likes his quirk, because he’s basically a human backpack, and can store his stuff inside of him. In his spare time, he likes to design hero merchandise for his classmates, and Bonnie assists! He likes hanging off of Hoka’s arms, because they’re so sturdy and strong!

Reo Hanabusa:

Height: 5′9

Quirk: Bloom (He can cause plants to grow on his skin, and can pick them off with minimal pain)

Appearance: Relatively tall. Reo has Dark red curly hair which he wears in an undercut, tanned skin, and freckles across his nose. His eyes are green, and he has a lanky physique. Regarded as cute by a lot of people from other classes. He wears the uniform without the tie, and the shirt sleeves rolled up. Has a piercing through his right eyebrow. When out of class he has a punk aesthetic (appreciated by Jirou), often wearing blacks, greys, and dark colours in general. In the workshop, Reo wears a black sleeveless shirt, with the coveralls tied around his waist like Hatsume.

Likes: Skateboarding (He joins Bonnie when she goes skating)

Personality: He comes across as apathetic, and rude, and brash. Most of the time, he kind of is. He has no qualms about talking sh*t, and often likes to provoke arguments or suggest a crazy idea to Hatsume for kicks. He comes across as mean spirited, but once he’s made a friend, he’ll be supportive and helpful. Not outright though, he has a reputation to maintain. He’s kind of like the big brother of class 1-H. He isn’t cocky, or self centred however, as he is very open to ideas different than he is, and doesn’t mind letting somebody take the lead. He’s a bit sensitive about his quirk, as he inherited it from his mom and grandmother, both of whom he loves very much, and will chew out anyone who bugs him about it. He roots for underdogs, and underground heroes mainly. Ironically enough, his favourite hero is Kamui Woods

Specialty: Like Hatsume, Reo is a bit of a jack of all trades, designing and creating whatever idea pops into his head. But his main area of expertise is traps and transportation. Nets, capture tools, vehicles, he’ll create both.

Extras: His mom owns and runs a flower shop, and his dad works as a mechanic. He helps out at his mom’s flower shop occasionally, and visits his dad at work when he can. He, along with Kaminari, Sero, Awase, Kaibara, and Bonnie are basically the “roast anyone who deserves it” squad. He calls everyone in his class by their first names, and in return, they call him by his. He’s Black/Asian/Latino (his dad is black, his mom is Japanese/Lantina. Dad took mom’s last name). He got picked on a lot for his quirk at school, as a lot of people referred to it as a “girly and feminine” quirk, so he’s firmly against quirk discrimination of all kinds. Likes teasing Ami, and Yuuta, but admire their skills and trust their judgement. Keeps a lot of plants in his room, and only his classmates know about them. 

[sanjuno]

NRT+SW: That We Answer To Our Stars

Just remember that you people asked for this and if I end up posting a story concept that you love and want to see as a fic? Be well aware that all of these outlines only have one thing in common:

I HAVEN’T WRITTEN A SINGLE SCENE FOR THEM.

Which means I won’t be turning them into fic for a year at least so... *handwaves* Encourage me IRT your favourite WIP of mine, because finishing one of those will clear up space in the docket for a new story to get some attention.

Now, these outlines can get kinda disjointed but at least you’ll get to see a bit of how my brain works when I plot out stories.

THE SCENE!

>Kaguya’s multiverse trip goes wonky b/c best crossover fodder scene

>Uchiha Clan dumped wholesale on Rim World/Wild Space World in SW’verse. All the Uchiha Clan. All the Uchiha since ever.

->World is XL planetoid version of TG44, with added biome options b/c YOLO (unless you’re in the Uchiha Clan I guess b/c then you get to Live All The Times?)

>Indra, Madara, and Sasuke separate ppl w/ wiggy chakra resonance. V disorienting.

->Ninshu gets Dialled Up To Eleven = Force Bonds! Force Bonds everywhere!

-->Entire Clan gets Highlights Reel of Historically Important Memories (also so much purposely induced trauma wow WTF.)

--->Mass Meditation required to untangle/unfuck heads

>Entire Clan now Force Sensitive BTW

->WTF w/ crazy Nature Chakra infesting everyone? Uchiha are Not Pleased.

-->Upside: Force Bonds/Ninshu Super Connection can be used to awaken Sharingan w/out Psyche Destroying Trauma so yay for that

>All Uchiha now have Kaguya’s est. life span. Also nubbin horns and forehead sensory organ b/c aliens are a SW thing I can do this now (don't know if want full-on third eye or just funky Clan Marking thing? Hm...)

THE PLOT THICKENS/ACTUALLY STARTS BEING A THING!

>Sep. forces land on new Uchiha Homeworld b/c shenanigans and The Force Likes To Meddle

->Sasuke introduces said forces to Kirin b/c is reminded of T7 mission to Land of Iron? Or Snow? Dunno which but Naruto’verse says machines = bad juju so Sasuke is 100% justified ok thanks.

>212th follows. Obi-wan is v concerned by the Uchiha

->Entire Pop. of Planet is FS WTF is this nonsense?

-->Clones v impressed at least. Free-range jedi are badass why were they not informed of this being an option? (Clones made for jedi = have a hard time leaving GAR b/c existential dissonance when no jedi for retired soldiers? Also Kamino sucks and slavery sucks more but now the Clones who don’t want to be soldiers or recycled can Take A Third Option! So much Clone chatter about the Uchiha thing wow.)

>Madara is sent to be Senator b/c Jedi are Very Insistent that this Planet be part of the Republic.

->Madara terrifies all the politicians b/c Uchiha Hate Politics (they're too blunt and the see too much) but Madara is best at it v good at lying without saying anything untrue.

-->Madara knows Palpatine is skeevy b/c Uchiha See All The Things and You Can’t Fool Me With Such A Weak Illusion, Foolish Human and now there are clashing manipulators and Your Attachments Make You Weak and this is going to get out of hand so quickly I just know it. 

>Sasuke is apparently still best Prophecy Child Bait and Anakin is Conflicted b/c how can he be attracted to someone not Padme?

->501st would like to adopt b/c last time Anakin fucked off without backup Sasuke came back 5 minutes later with Anakin hogtied over his shoulder and the Seppie base on fire. Sasuke is so unimpressed b/c That’s Not How You Infiltrate Enemy Lines, You Moron

-->Sasuke is still 100% going to seduce Anakin and Padme b/c his life is Not Complete without an Idiot to yell at and a Crazy Berserker who likes to pretend she’s The Sane One to ride herd on.

--->Obi-wan is Done With All Of Them b/c Sasuke isn’t even pretending to try and hide his intentions b/c if they get fired Sasuke can just take them back home for a proper marriage. Mikoto is So Proud of her boy. 

>Madara and Mace have ‘sip and bitch’ IRT Palpatine being an evil fucker

->At some point Madara will wonder out loud what Palpatine is grooming Anakin for? Mace is Concerned by this revelation. Madera is not.

-->Sasuke had Issues IRT not sharing well with other children. BTW Mace Sasuke is planning to steal away Anakin and marry him. Don’t worry he will be returned eventually and so will his wife.

--->Mace thinks Anakin had it coming. WTF was the boy thinking? Did he really think he could hide anything from a temple containing several thousand telempaths? Jedi can get married, it’s just considered polite to ask first and go through the counselling with the Mind Healers beforehand. (Idea! Coruscaunti Jedi treat marriage the same way the Japanese treat Gun Control. Lots of paperwork and regular mandatory psyche evaluations and pervasive low-key terror at the idea of having one.)

->Madara will hear the “too much fear in him” story and cackles

-->Slaves have to please their Masters to survive. Anakin was freed to be a Jedi so if not a Jedi then he’s a slave again? No Fear = Be A Jedi (Not A Slave) and now Anakin is The Hero With No Fear

--->Therefore everything the Council dislikes about how Anakin acts was initialized by the Council. Mace hates Irony so much. Madara is still cackling in his face.

->Madara wants the aged out Initiates who still want to fight (or even just the Initiates who don’t suit the Jedi lifestyle)

-->He has a Clan to maintain! About 25% of the Uchiha never fell in love or fell in love with non-Uchiha so they need Marriage Options. (Uchiha don’t fall out of love easily either so new potential spouses need to be Impressive As Fuck and the jedi know how to be Impressive.)

--->Species doesn’t actually matter Uchiha’s Forest of Death planet has lots of different options despite being mostly Giant Fuck-Off Trees and the higher your Force Sensitivity the higher your chances are for successful cross-species hybrids. (Madara is planning to keep Obito and Itachi away from the aquatic species for a while b/c they have a concerning fondness for fishes.) Hybrids are viable though b/c The Force loves grand babies.

>Izuna is there as Madara’s Security Chief and he’s having Far Too Much Fun getting to be paranoid for a living. Plus all sorts of time to spend with his wife! (Need to pick name and develop Izuna’s wife beyond terrifying DFAB genderfluid interrogation specialist but at least they’re happy together.)

->Izunami (Izuna’s daughter) and Kagami are tiny children again b/c weird cross-dimensional space-time fuckery is like that

-->Shisui is super amused to be ‘older’ than his grandfather.

->Kagami approves mightily of Madara-shishou’s friendship with Mace (reminds him of Tobirama-sensei!)

->Izunami is 100% in favour of actually getting to ‘grow up’ with her Mom and Dad around this time (although she only really listens to Madara b/c he was her Parental Authority Figure and old habits don’t break) Jedi actually find this comforting b/c even if Uchiha crazy about attachments there are familiar bits there in how they arrange instruction even if the three students at a time thing is weird.

-->Both Izunami and Kagami are So Relieved that their Spouse is the same age as them b/c while they would be willing to wait until the other grew up this is much less creepy.

>Speaking of age fuckery Itachi is smol now and just about permanently leashed to Mikoto’s side.

->Sasuke is v amused b/c Aniki deserves this.

-->Mikoto and Fugaku are the first Uchiha couple to make a new baby and it’s Sarada b/c she’s the only good thing about the Next Gen (Except for Snake Fam but they aren’t a part of this fic boo)

>Obito is Madara’s primary assistant b/c some of the Uchiha are Not Over the whole Killing Us All Off thing.

->Obito runs into Quinlan Vos. Results are hilarious.

-->Brainwashing to the Dark Side ep. goes v differently. (Need to re-watch this ep for details but yes) Obito will rampage over everything b/c dude has No Chill

>Shisui is v jealous of his relatives b/c Itachi is too smol to play with and also has been hijacked by Isami (who will hold her death over Itachi for the rest of forever but again Uchiha don’t really fall out of love so she’s also learning Itachi wrangling skills from Mikoto now.)

->Everyone else is finding Jedi favourites and Shisui misses his ANBU team b/c it’s not like he really had time to make any other friends

-->Sulking Shisui trips over Feemor while waiting for Madara. Apparently Uchiha and Yoda’s Lineage have A Type. 

>BIG PLOT POINT: Uchiha Remember

->’Curse of Hatred’ spun by Madara as ‘plague’ caused by ‘non-native invasive plants’ (Blames it all on Zetsu and says plant was toxic to non-Uchiha) Says is why there are no non-Uchiha in TG44′s population despite stories otherwise.

>Uchiha think the Jedi Code is silly but the Clones are the Best Thing. All Clones look different to FS/Sharingan

>Uchiha have a habit of “stealing” spouses.

->BTW Shisui has No Patience

-->Upside: Feemor is v flattered by the attention and TG44 has a v interesting ecosystem. TF is in everything on this planet like WTF how does this work?

->Kagami is So Proud. Look at his Grandson, so proactive.

-->Starts to ‘hint’ that maybe Madara-shishou should think about settling down.

-->Mace has been meditating and consulting with the other Masters of the Order.

--->War changes everyone. Plus certain contracts between the Jedi Order and the Senate have been voided by the drafting of Jedi Generals. (Look up the details of the Ruusan Reformation for more info on disbandment of Jedi Military Powers and what it means when Senate gives them back the right to raise levy forces.)

-->Jedi don’t need to look harmless anymore just need to look less dangerous than the Seppies and the Sith.

>Uchiha Clan FB keep any of them from Falling to the Dark Side.

->Sasuke finally gets his hooks in Anakin and Padme. Notices the ‘nightmare vision’ problem first time he sleeps over.

-->Kidnaps Obi-wan to ‘repair’ the stress fracture in Anakin’s only familial FB b/c having his partner be so alone in his head is creeping Sasuke out and it’d only get worse if the bond to Obi-wan breaks completely.

--->Obi-wan is too tired to even object and now Anakin is freaking out b/c he’d been so focused on Padme maybe-dying in childbirth that he hadn’t even noticed how sick his Master looks.

---->Oh and also there is a Sith Energy Parasite attached to Anakin’s FS and it’s been poisoning his bonds. Sasuke just facepalms while the Jedi have panic attacks and drags in the genjutsu expert hostile deprogramming specialists.

----->Upside: Uchiha now know what Sith Master’s chakra signature is and can hunt him properly. Also help Mind Healers check all Jedi for similar problems, starting with Active Duty Generals. My the Council Chambers look so much Lighter now. 

>Then some stuff happens where Palpatine is exposed as the Sith Master and there are explosions.

>Plot Twist is that Madara and Mace have been banging and rewriting the Jedi Code of conduct since like their third date and no one picked up on it.

->Mace: *stares Anakin in the eyes* And that’s how you hide an affair, Skywalker.

*jazz hands* And this is how my fics look before I start writing them.

[thelittleredheadedmusician]

Family Gatherings

This is pure self indulgent fluff. Also the Phone Fic that I keep bloging about. Can be found here on my ao3! Rating: PG (Mild language) Words: 5,112 Gen

Family gatherings are not words generally associated with the individuals who make up Gotham’s vigilantes. Strategy meetings, subterfuge, infighting, assassin, spy, creepy, know it all. These are terms they are well versed in. This is why the text message that Bruce sent out at 9 am on Saturday was such a surprise.

“I request that all of you come to the manor for a family gathering at 7. Alfred will be serving dinner promptly at 7:30. What the hell is that supposed to mean Tim?!” Dick could practically hear his little brother shrugging on the other end of the phone.

“I dunno. Maybe he wants to go over his will.”

“That’s not funny and you know it.”

“C'mon Dick! Like you have a better explanation?”

Dick sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “No. Do you think everyone will come?”

“I know Steph and Harper will out of pure curiosity. Everyone else,” Tim paused and took a deep breath, releasing the rest of his sentence on the exhale, “who knows.”

Dick nodded, not really caring that he couldn’t be seen as habit was habit. “Ok. Well Damian will be, Cass for sure, Babs is going to be there cause she hates being out of the loop, Jason…” Dick trailed off, looking down at his bare feet. He’d woken to find the text blinking at him from a half dead phone screen. Knowing that he’d have seen it already too Dick immediately called Tim and had been pacing around the apartment in his pajamas with the now nearly dead cell to his ear.

“Yeah,” Tim said empathically.

“Maybe he’ll come for Alfred?” Dick tried.

“You know him better than I do.”

“You’re right. And I don’t even know why he does half the things he does. I’ve gotta charge my phone. I’ll see you later?”

Tim snorted. “Of course you do. Alright, yeah. I’m meeting up with Tam soon anyway. Bye.”

“Bye,” Dick frowned at the phone. Now that the call with Tim had ended it had returned to the group chat Bruce had sent his text in. Not a single person had replied and Bruce likely didn’t expect them to. Just that they showed up. He stuck it on a charger in the living room and went to get a shower. After breakfast Dick collapsed onto the couch. Having wrapped up a case the night before he decided to reward himself with some video games.

Dick started up Call of Duty, grabbing a controller and his headset. He smiled as he saw that both Roy and Wally were currently online. He started a game with them and as soon as he slipped the headset on he could hear Roy swearing already. “What gives, it’s like 7 or something out there. How the hell are both of you awake and playing video games?” He asked once the cursing died down.

Wally snorted as his character took out a sniper on the screen. “Linda and the kids went to visit her parents. I’ve got the house to myself for the weekend and Bart and I have been playing all night. Kid passed out about 2 hours ago.”

Dick shook his head and tried to figure out how many energy drinks the speedster must’ve downed in order to still be awake. Especially taking into account his metabolism.

“How’d you get out of going with?” Roy tossed a grenade into the building on the screen, causing the whole thing to be temporarily covered in cgi flames.

“I’m the Flash. And her parents don’t know. Plus I’m on call for the League.”

“Then how was staying up all night a good idea if you were on call?” Dick punched a complicated series of buttons that Tim had shown him, taking out the three guys on the roof and the two on the ground.

“Clark’s on monitor duty. I’m just the back up. And nobody does anything in the middle of June. It’s like common knowledge.”

The other two made noncommittal sounds of agreement as they continued to play.

“Alright, Roy what’s your excuse?” Dick tried to reload as they were ambushed from above.

“Lian had a nightmare. I just got her back to sleep about a half hour ago and now I can’t sleep. Living on the West Coast has its perks when your gaming buddies don’t get up ‘til noon and live in Jersey.”

“I don’t know which part of that I should be more offended by. The fact you think I don’t get up ‘til noon or the way you said Jersey.”

“Jersey,” the others replied in unison.

Dick scoffed and pouted, not that it did any good as his friends were in Keystone and Star respectively.

“Alright, you’re chattier than usual. What gives?” Roy asked.

“What? What’s that supposed to mean?” Dick sputtered.

Wally paused the game and snorted. “Dude. You’re being nosy. Even for you. Plus you only ever play Call of Duty if stuck on a case or having personal drama. We’ve known you since you were in pixie boots, doesn’t take a detective to know your quirks by this point.”

Dick groaned and put the controller down, scrubbing his hands down his face. “Bruce texted us all this morning that he’s having a ‘family gathering’,” he knew they’d hear the implied air quotes in his tone, “and that we’re all expected to be there.”

“That’s rough,” Wally told him.

“Yeah man. D'you know why?” Roy added.

“No. And I don’t even know if everyone’s gonna bother showing up. He did it in a group chat but there still hasn’t been a response from anyone. I dunno. I honestly think I’d be less stressed if he’d said there was a mass break out at Arkham and we needed to meet for assignments.”

“Ok, that’s depressing. Also the fact that breakouts don’t even phase you anymore? Like? The hell?” Wally said, still obviously on an energy drink high.

“If we start an argument about rogues we’re gonna get so off topic and be here forever,” Dick shot back.

Grumbling could be heard from Wally but Dick was satisfied that his friend wouldn’t say anything.

“Lemme guess. You’re worried about Jason. You think cause Bruce asked you guys to come he’s not gonna bother,” Roy speculated.

“Pretty much,” Dick sighed. “Have you heard from him recently?”

“Sorry man. Last I heard he was running around with that new team of his. I think he’s still a little pissed I rejoined the Titans,” Roy replied.

“Yeah. Ok. Thanks.”

“Not a problem. Whine at us anytime, that’s what friends are for,” Dick could hear the smirk Roy was giving him.

“That and getting drunk at dive bars while listening to crappy cover bands together,” Wally chimed in.

Dick burst out laughing at that. “You can’t even get drunk!”

“So? Doesn’t mean I can’t go with!” Wally sounded wounded but Roy didn’t care about offending the other redhead and Dick knew his friend was about ready to crash and wasn’t going to remember much of this conversation anyway.

“Go to sleep West,” Roy got out between snorts.

“Seriously dude. Way too many red bulls.”

Wally grumbled and finally said, “Fine. Whatever. Text bout what happens,” before signing off.

“So do you think he’ll show?” Roy asked once he caught his breath.

“I honestly don’t know. As far as I’ve heard none of us have done anything to particularly piss him off recently. Not even Bruce. And it was a request, granted he’s going to just expect us all to be there but the text at least made it sound optional. And it said Alfred would be there which is always a plus for Jay.”

“Well good luck and keep me in the loop. I’m always willing to act as an outside opinion on your family’s drama,” Roy told him.

Dick chuckled. “That’s just because it makes your family drama look tame.”

“You bet! We made be loud and extremely dysfunctional but at least we haven’t tried to kill each other.”

“You make that sound like it happens a lot,” Dick whined.

“Dude.”

“Ok, ok. I’ll text you later.” Dick closed the game and pulled his headset off. Tossing it onto the coffee table he laid down on the couch. He was still unsure about what was going to happen later that night but he at least felt better knowing that he had friends who would let him vent afterward.

Dick swung his legs off the couch and stood in one fluid motion. He grabbed his phone, headphones, and keys and decided to go for a jog. It was a nice day, Gotham wasn’t too busy on a Saturday in the early afternoon, maybe he could have a normal jog for once. He returned to his apartment 20 minutes later after avoiding no less than six paparazzi, being cat called about ten times, and literally running into Helena. She had been out for a jog too and while he was trying to lose a particularly insistent cameraman they had both rounded the corner at the same time going in opposite directions. She had not been happy, yelling something about how he should watch where he’s going and “Dammit Grayson! That hurt!” As well as a mix of fairly creative curses in Italian.

Dick had offered to make it up to her but she just waved him off. Saying “You and Barbara are obviously both distracted. Bruce has got you ex sidekicks seriously messed up with these mind games. I’ll just send you Zinda and my next bar tab.” Dick had felt himself visibly pale at that and she had laughed and said not to worry before continuing on her way.

Dick was still pondering over her mention that Babs was distracted too. Obviously Bruce’s text was having some effect on her that Helena had mentioned it. Normally, the Birds were close knit and never talked about personal business with the rest of Gotham’s heroes. Especially not the personal business of Oracle their fearless leader.

Flopping back down on his couch Dick fished his phone out of his pocket. He tapped out a quick text to Babs and hit send, hopping something hadn’t suddenly sprung up that needed her attention. Luckily that wasn’t the case as her response was practically immediate.

~What’s up boy wonder? Helena said you ran into her and that you were super frazzled.

~I was wondering if you had heard anything about what Bruce wants us for tonight.

Her response to that took a bit longer and her words were obviously a bit more measured.

~No, I haven’t heard a thing. Why? Have you?

~No. I talked to Tim this morning and he says that he’s in the dark too. It’s obviously nothing serious but it’s been bugging me all day.

Her response to that was more relaxed. If he had to guess he’d say she had thought he knew something she didn’t, and Dick knew that she hated that.

~Me too! I can’t figure out what it is he could possibly want to talk about that we ALL need to be there. I mean, you boys and Cass yeah. Me, Steph, & Harper? Idk. Have you heard from Damian or Jason at all?

~No. I was going to head over in a bit to bug D though. Nothing on Jay.

~Yeah, same here. I kinda hope he comes at least for Alfred but…

~I was thinking the same thing Babs.

~Oh well. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. I’ll talk to ya later pixie boots.

~You’re one to talk miss go-go.

Her response was simply the eye roll emoji and Dick snorted as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. He let his head fall against the back of the couch and fell into a light doze. He woke from his brief nap and patted his shorts for his phone. There were no new messages from Babs, Bruce, Tim or anyone else. No missed calls or alien invasions either. The time told him he ought to get ready and head to the manor if he wanted to pump Damian for information. As well as just hang out with his youngest brother.

Once dressed in jeans and a clean t-shirt Dick headed to garage that occupied the basement of his apartment building. Shrugging on a leather jacket and fastening his helmet he gave the bike’s engine a good rev before driving up the ramp and onto the streets of Gotham.

Knowing that the cops would definitely try and stop Dick Grayson for speeding he made sure to restrain himself from weaving in and out of traffic, especially because Nightwing would be pushing the motorcycle through its paces soon enough. Sitting in Gotham wasn’t enjoyable but being able to fly up the manor’s long gravel drive sure made up for it. He pulled in next to Steph’s purple Mini Cooper, glad to see the Compact was holding up for her. He cut the engine and took his helmet off, giving his head a shake to undo any helmet hair.

Bounding up the steps he swung the over large front door open with a shout of “Hello? Anybody actually above ground?”

The sound of running feet could be heard coming from somewhere on the second floor as Dick put his jacket and helmet on the coat rack. He turned just as he heard a sharp “-tt-” coming from the balcony at the top of the steps. Damian stood there with his arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed, the twitch of his lips betrayed his annoyed facade. “Must you be so abhorrently loud, Grayson?”

“Must you be using SAT vocab at such a young age?” Dick shot back with a grin.

Damian rolled his eyes but his arms fell to his sides and his mouth finally turned up into a smile. “Brown and Row have coerced Cassandra into assisting in appropriating my room, the extra person on my side would be helpful.”

Dick chuckled, “Whatever you say Dami.” He ran up the stairs and followed Damian down the hall to his room. Sure enough the three girls were spread over the plush carpeting, nail polish bottles and other manicure supplies between them.

Damian crossed the room and sat himself on his bed next to Titus and Alfred the cat. The three watched the teen girls from their perch, Damian with minor annoyance, Titus with amusement, and Alfred with the type of utter nonchalance only achieved by felines. The girls glanced up at Dick who had paused in the doorway. Cass’s face immediately lit up and she fluidly rose to her feet and came over to wrap her arms around his neck. Dick returned the hug as she whispered a warm “Hi” in his ear.

“Hey Cass,” he murmured back. She let go and skipped back to the others. Harper gave him a small, two-fingered salute while Steph waved with a large smile. “How long have you been here?”

“Too long,” Damian instantly grumbled.

Harper snorted and Steph nearly doubled over in a fit of giggles. Cass quirked an eyebrow at her little brother before calmly sticking her tongue out at him. “We came for brunch with Cass as we had originally planned and just stayed since we all received the super mysterious text,” Steph told him once she had recovered from her laughter, which had doubled thanks to Cass’s antics.

Dick nodded in response and sat himself down on the floor next to them. Damian gave a short “-tt- Traitor.” He did however edge closer to the end of the bed where he could participate in their conversation.

Dick picked up a bottle of forest green polish and examined it. Cass held out her left hand to him, the fingers of which had been painted, to show him the color. He nodded and gestured that she let him do her other hand. Cass turned to face him as Dick shook the bottle. “So have you guys heard anything about tonight?”

“I wish,” Harper said with a slight huff. “He just kinda grumbled and bolted when we asked.”

“Seriously. We were having our lovely quasi weekly brunch and chatting with Alfred and chasing away this gremlin,” she waved her bright yellow nails at Damian who furrowed his brows indignantly. “All of a sudden, Mr I-am-the-night-and-cannot-properly-socialize-without-being-forced-by-my-over-energetic-ex-sidekick-or-alien-and-amazon-besties walks in-”

Dick nearly choked as a laugh burst out of his mouth, interrupting Steph.

“Can I help you?” She deadpanned with a raised brow.

“I’m good. Just, that’s a new one. Keep going.”

Steph sniffed and flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder. “As I was saying. Bruce walks in and kinda blinks at all of us sitting in his kitchen. Using his surprise to our advantage Harper courageously seized the moment and asked him what exactly this family gathering will entail tonight. He froze, looking exactly like a cat-sized crime alley rat in the batmobile’s headlights, while Cass jumped up to block his exit. I immediately jumped to add my assistance by asking if this means that Harper, Duke, and myself are technically family too at this point. He just blinked, grabbed a muffin, said something highly unintelligible, and beat a hasty retreat.” Steph gave a sharp nod before turning back to her nails.

Dick had to stop doing Cass’s nails as he was trying too hard on not laughing to keep his hand steady. She swatted at him before rolling her eyes and turning to Damian. “Come,” she said, handing him the nail polish. Damian blinked but skootched to the floor next to Cass and diligently began painting her nails.

Dick wiped at his eyes, trying to remember why he had been so against Steph being Batgirl when the two so easily amused each other. “So we’ve got nothing?” he finally asked.

“Nope,” Cass said, admiring Damian’s handiwork.

Harper tossed a bottle of matte black at the youngest Robin and waved her hand toward Dick. Damian blinked but began shaking the bottle and moved to sit in front of Dick. With a shrug he gave his little brother his hand to be painted. “We tracked down Duke then and asked him what he knew. Nada. Honestly we were kinda hoping you’d bring some info with you,” Harper added.

“I’ve got nothing,” he told them with a shrug. “Neither do Tim or Babs.”

“Have you tried contacting Todd?” Damian looked up from Dick’s hand.

“No. He threatened to have baby ducks imprint on me if I called him again.” Damian nodded sagely at that.

“I’m sorry, what?” Harper’s head and eyebrows had shot up.

“He’s been doing that lately. Something about how ‘we all have a death wish but we’ll take care of cute baby animals’ or something,” Steph said, using a poor imitation of Jason’s voice as she acted out his threat.

“You’re kidding?” Harper obviously didn’t believe them.

Cass just shook her head gravely. “No. And baby ducks? No patrol for months.”

“Plus they’re so darn cute like how could you not want to love them?” Steph said in a rush.

“Brown is correct. Also, it is entirely within Todd’s skill set to get them to imprint on one of us.” Damian looked at Harper seriously before turning back to apply another coat to Dick’s nails.

Harper blinked at them before narrowing her eyes, “If you guys are shitting me right now I swear…”

“Scouts honor!” Dick called and held up the three-finger salute.

Damian batted at his hand. “I swear Grayson if I have to redo this,” he grumbled.

“C’mere,” Steph tugged on Damian’s arm and held up a dark shimmering blue. He nodded and allowed her to begin painting.

“So do we have any ideas at least? I know you guys aren’t the type to just let something go,” Dick watched the others.

Cass shot him a smirk. “Understatement.”

There was a knock on the door frame and they all looked up to see Tim and a rather unsure looking Duke standing there. “Alfred told us that you were all up here. Mind if we come in?”

Damian sniffed, “It’s not like my opinion matters at this point.”

“I’m going to take that as a yes…” Tim walked in and took a seat next to Steph.

She squinted at him before leaning forward to search through the pile of small glass bottles. She found whatever one she was looking for and held it up triumphantly. “Maroon?” She asked Tim, waving it just in front of his nose. Tim shrugged and let her pull his hands towards him.

Duke sat down cautiously next to Dick. “So do they always do your nails or…?”

Dick smiled at him. “We don’t really get a say in the matter. Cass just paints them when you fall asleep if you say no.” The girl in question waggled her brows and grinned.

“What about Bruce’s?” Duke asked as he watched Harper shifting through the pile, holding colors up for Cass to consider.

“Ballet Slipper. Once a month,” Cass showed Duke the light pink color. His eyes widened in disbelief and Dick couldn’t help but laugh. Finally, Harper held up a pale orange that both Cass and Dick nodded at. She crawled towards Duke and pulled his hands onto her lap.

“So ideas regarding our impending doom?” Dick asked.

“Like I told you before, I think it’s a reading of his will. He even texted Kate and with the exception of Damian she’s his only living blood relative,” Tim said, peering over the top of Steph’s head.

“Damn Timbo. Way to be morbid. Also, why would I be here if that were the case seeing a how I am legally deceased.” They all whipped their heads to see Jason leaning in the doorway, a smirk on his lips and a nasty glint in his eye. He sauntered in and plopped himself down between Steph and Cass. “Give me the most obnoxious color you have,” he challenged.

“How bout this?” Harper wiggled her own bright metallic pink at him.

Jason scrunched up his nose with a “nah.”

Dick rummaged around in the pile before pulling out a glitter gold. He threw it to Jason who caught it and beamed. “Why thank you Dickie-bird.”

“So, uh, why did you come then?” Duke asked.

Jason shrugged and began to paint his own nails. “You know what they say. Curiosity killed the cat.”

“But satisfaction brought it back,” Duke finished the expression.

Jason gave the other boy a Cheshire smile. “I knew I liked you.” He then continued to add layers of glitter. They all just stared in shock for a few seconds. Jason looked up and his eyes skipped past them as he smiled. “Hey there Barbie. This Batgirl is free for manicure giving,” he said pointing to Cass.

Dick turned to see Babs just outside the door. Her expression was amused but the set of her mouth was definitely her trying to look annoyed. With an eye roll she wheeled herself into the room. “I thought we were supposed to be here for seven. Why is it that we all managed to get here just under three hours earlier?”

Dick pushed himself back up onto the bed so that he would be eye level with Barbara as the others offered up a jumble of explanations. “Paranoia” “Fear of the unknown” “Intrigue” and “Who the hell knows” were the few Dick could make out.

He mumbled “Slow day at the office” and caused Babs to crack up.

“That it is,” she told him with a smile. Cass held up a dark purple that Babs nodded at and before she could get up Dick grabbed the bottle. He turned to Babs and motioned for her hand. They spent the rest of the time leading up to the big meeting sitting in a circle in Damian’s room with painted nails and the animals now nudging for attention.

That was exactly how Bruce and Kate found them when they went looking for them. Dick had seen them coming up the hall and gave a quick jut of his chin to acknowledge them. They had stopped short of coming in though, Kate wearing a huge smile and Bruce his more subdued but still genuine lip twitch.

They stood there for a few seconds, watching as Steph and Jason fell against each other in a fit of giggles. Cass had taken the tiny hair rubber bands and was using them to give Damian braids. Duke and Tim were engaged in a detailed discussion of Lord of the Rings and Harper was letting Babs style her short blue hair. All in all they looked like an average, happy family.

Bruce cleared his throat and they all turned to see him and Kate. Cass leapt to her feet and hopped over the legs of everyone else to go give Bruce a hug. Dick couldn’t help but smile because the hug was obviously more forceful than the one she had given him. Or Bruce hadn’t been expecting it as he had swayed slightly when she had jumped up to wrap her arms around his neck. Kate laughed and ruffled Cass’s hair.

Once Cass released him Bruce attempted to recover by smoothing out the wrinkles in his polo shirt. Dick and the others simply waited, knowing that he would speak when ready. He looked up and gave another small smile. “Thank you all for coming. Kate has… explained to me that having monthly gatherings might help you all with your stress levels and, ah, work on interpersonal relations.”

Kate rolled her eyes and give him a sharp jab in the side courtesy of her elbow. Bruce shot her a wounded look that Dick had to try very hard not to laugh at but his cousin ignored it. “What the stick in the mud is trying to say is that we’re having a game night because you all need a morale boost. Now c’mon, Alfred’s got dinner ready.”

With that Kate turned on her heel and marched back down the hall. Bruce gave a sharp nod before following her in a hasty retreat. They all looked around at each other in a stunned silence. Dick pinched himself for good measure, this wouldn’t be the weirdest dream he’d ever had but it was still good to rule out the possibility.

“What the actual, ever-loving fuck?” Jason finally said.

“What he said,” Harper pointed at Jason, eyes wide.

“Grayson, you have the most experience with Father and his moods. What could this be about?” Damian looked up at him from the carpet.

Dick shrugged and shook his head. “I’m honestly as lost as you are. Maybe we should go eat and, I don’t know, enjoy it?”

They all looked much too suspicious to actually enjoy anything but Dick dutifully herded them towards the dining room. Tim hung back until he had fallen in step with Dick. “You don’t actually think he wants us to play monopoly with him or something?” The younger man asked.

“I really don’t know Tim. Kate’s been getting him to actually be Bruce rather than Brucie or Batman lately and this is obviously all her.”

Tim snorted, “Ya think?”

Dick ruffled Tim’s hair and gained a rather interesting hand flail and cat like yowling combination in protest. Finger combing his hair back into position Tim sent him a glare. “I think we should trust Kate on this one and see what happens. Also, you either need a haircut or one of those ponytails Cass had.”

Tim’s glare turned up to full on bat and had Dick not known the kid, or been just about anyone else, he probably would’ve run in fear. As it was he could handle a few dirty looks from Tim.

Dinner was delicious, as everything Alfred made was. The conversation was semi-normal too. Steph complaining about classes, Harper talking about her work at the clinic, Dick told them about his run in with Helena that Babs then added the other half of the story to. No one made a single death threat, no food or utensils were thrown, and all insults were good natured teasing. For a second Dick thought he fell into a parallel world.

That feeling only got worse as Alfred chased them to the living room while he cleaned up. Jason stayed to help and the butler begrudgingly let him. The two joined the others soon enough and they began an intense game of Cards Against Humanity. Alfred and Babs soon took the lead, surprising everyone except maybe Alfred himself.

Bruce came in dead last, only earning that position by having a single less card than Damian. Steph and Jason tied for second and in a surprise twist Cass won. Kate was still cackling at some of the combinations that had won and Babs was telling her she could send the security footage to her later. They played well into the night and Barbara contacted the Birds to patrol as Bruce indicated that the assembled vigilantes were not leaving anytime soon. By the wee hours of the morning they had all stumbled upstairs to their respective bedrooms with the exception of Kate, Bruce, Alfred, and Dick himself.

He had stretched out on the floor watching as Kate slowly took over the sofa and Bruce was forced to go claim his recliner. Alfred chuckled from the love seat, a late-night cup of tea in hand.

“So how do you think it went, chum?” Bruce asked him once he had settled.

Dick shrugged, feeling his shoulders push against the carpet. “You had us all really worried. Tim was convinced that you were going to read us your will.”

Bruce snorted, Kate cracked up and sat up to be able to look down at Dick. “You’re kidding,” she accused.

Dick smirked, “I wish.”

They all laughed and once it had died down Alfred said, “Well you do have a tendency to have the whole family over only in the case of emergencies, Master Bruce.”

That received a small “Hnnh.”

“He’s right. I was telling Roy and Wally that I would’ve been less worried if it had been an Arkham breakout.”

Bruce shot him a wounded look before frowning at a point just above the fireplace. “I want to try and change that,” he finally said.

“If it helps I think this was a really good start. Monthly family game nights definitely are a thing normal people do. And I had fun, I think the others did too. Even Jason,” Dick told him candidly. Bruce nodded, a small smile forming. “Just next time don’t call it a family gathering. You scared the crap out of all of us.”

[breezytealy]

Do you have a headcanon for the Super Seven ages in your comics? You're an amazing artist. Love your arts.

Hey nonnie! Oh my gosh thank you for the compliments I’m glad you’re enjoying them ^^Super7/nextGen headcanon was like the BestWorst question you could ask because I have a timeline and notes hahaHAHAHAHAHAaaaaa. Here, have 3,800 words, most is under the cut. Everything I draw/write is in this “Super7″ AU :) (I wish I could write well ;A;)

–

The Earth still isn’t officially part of the federation of planets under the Galactic King’s control. They’ve had a few public alien contacts (that some are convinced are still hoaxes, Buu is just a weird-ass looking guy maybe) but no official Galactic welcome and the Z-team are selfishly keen to leave it that way to prevent what would amount to exposure. The kids would like to balance real jobs and training too thank you very much, they have enough pressure on their shoulders without the entire planet looking to them.

But come 796 it’s all getting a little dicey; there’s civil unrest at the Galactic level with the King under threat and the powers wanting to steal the throne taking a more expansionist approach, fighting amongst themselves in the the power vacuum left by Frieza. This is all putting the Earth in danger as an untapped resource full of biodiversity. The Gods go quiet, leaving it up to the Earthlings to sort themselves out, they see the problem with intervening to save just one planet. The “Super7” take on the challenge to defend alone (the older gen have their own loose team too but are taking a back seat on purpose). As skirmishes had been becoming more frequent and difficult over the years and they start to see the patterns in who’s arriving, Pan and Bra get brought in a little earlier than planned (17 and 16 respectively rather than 18) to prepare for what might end up as a battle for survival. This all coincides with someone after Bulma’s tech (the blue #15 electrofluid used in the time machine she’d recently repurposed as a general high-yield fuel) that they suspect may be an off-worlder, and someone asking extremely pointed questions of acquaintances that makes the group think their relatively anonymous existence as fighters may be coming to an abrupt end at the worst possible time.  

–

In 796 their ages are roughly: Bra 16, Pan 17, Uub 22, Marron 25, Goten 29, Trunks 30, Mai ~30/31(+).

I’ve put a crap tonne of character outlines/headcanons under the cut explaining where this all comes from, but to summarise at 796 -

- Trunks is at CC as vice president to his mother’s president/COO and his grandfather is still CEO. He is looked at as team leader too- Mai is also at CC, although moonlights making ki-based weaponry and defences without the CC logo so she can participate in battle- Goten runs a dessert café in Satan City (food and hospitality! it’s a bit random but makes sense I promise) and uses Nyoibo - both G and T keep up fusion training so Gotenks is around a lot.- Uub is full time Papayaman, taking the traditional superhero role and sense of purpose that brings, he take over from Great Saiyaman and takes credit for saving the world as Mr Satan’s protege- Marron’s way of helping is to uncover corruption as a journalist to stop the incidents Uub deals with happening in the first place, and she’s frantically working to find out who’s trying to uncover their identities- Pan is a little of a crimefighter, though keeps the extent of her abilities on the down-low, a more normal face to Papayaman’s superhero and keeps up the Satan brand, whilst she pushed against it for a while she’s settled into it.- Bra is an social media darling, and is becoming the face of CC to the youth market in particular. She’s extremely calculated in this and does not give any hint at any point she can punch you to the moon. Both her and Pan have just started to learn the fusion dance from Trunks and Goten.

General character outlines and other h/cs under the cut because it’s longgg - 

I’ve shoved a ten hour time difference between West and Satan city (it’s probably closer to 12 but ten gives more overlap in daylight) which is really fun to think about!

Due to Shenanigans in Super, God ki gets banned under pain of erasure by Beerus. Realistically this means they can only use it for universal level threats when Beerus okays it. Only Goku and Vegeta have the ability and they aren’t allowed train with it either. Whis tells the others that hybrids can’t use the technique anyway so not to bother. They suspect it’s a lie as the potential of hybrids is higher so it’s a way to prevent them from overpowering Beerus in the future, but they daren’t risk trying the ritual.

Because there’s seven in the main group they each hide a Dragonball for security, making what they hope is the start of a tradition. Four others in the group know where it’s held, no one knows all seven locations. The idea being - the balls aren’t in the same place to be stolen, they can find them without the dragon radar with two/three of the group left, and they’re nearby so the group will know if anyone’s searching for them. Further any mind-reading techniques would need at least two sets of memories to find them all (Trunks’ idea, he’s extremely careful).

Actually having the power to revert disaster but not use it (saving the wishes for the big events) weighs heavy though so they’re more domestic in helping out in Act of God events like earthquakes than their parents were. Uub takes the lead in these sorties as Papayaman as he’s the traditional hero. Gohan will sometimes tag along as Great Saiyaman, and Goten also has a GS uniform and can pass as GS, though he absolutely hates it. For everyone else (and a pining Goten) Bulma and Mai design pure black “camo�� gear, impossible to get a fix on body shape and untraceable on radar, which frees them to use the full extent of their powers should they need to. Their traditional gis/armours are usually underneath, and they’ll revert to them when they need the freedom of movement in a real fight :’).  

Goten’s attitude is like his dad’s - very zen and open, although he’s massively empathetic and knows how to behave himself. He’s responsible in a fiercely protective way. He’s easy-going to the point people think he’s not smart as he won’t question ideas, but that’s because he’s able to quickly follow people’s logic and doesn’t need to question suggestions, he just gets people. He won’t do something if he can’t see the sense in it though and will dig his heels to the point even Trunks can’t change his mind. He loves people, and his openness and “big-picture” mindset mean relationships are all a big blur to him. He sees his close friendships just as deeply as any romantic relationship would be. He’s always on hookup apps to meet interesting people, but he’d just as happily “hook-up” ::cough:: as going out for dinner. Fun is fun is fun to him :). Goten loved the idea of swords but really struggled focussing his ki to an edge. Goku fetches Nyoibo for him instead, which he finds far easier and he gets proficient in staff forms, using Nyoibo’s extension abilities in battle. Like the real monkey king, Goten shrinks Nyoibo down and keeps it in his ear so he has it ready to go at all times. To everyone else though it looks like an industrial piercing and Chichi flipped out when she first saw it “first the hair, now piercings???”. (and I freaking forgot to add it in when colouring that strip, I kicked myself when I saw it missing!!!)

Goten goes to college, more on his Mum’s insistence that he get furtherly educated with that prize money they put aside for him to use than anything else. Trunks took a gap year so they could “coincidentally” room together too (taking a CC internship in his gap year where he learnt to be Responsible) so he feels pressure to go. Goten picks most of the same courses as Trunks so they can use Gotenks to study quicker freeing up their time, but he does feel a little directionless and languishes. But then, but THEN! As they have to look after themselves (“NO we’ll be INDEPENDENT SAIYANS TYVM”) he gets sick of not having sweet treats (canon his fave food is pocky and strawberry daifuku) so he spends time learning to make pastries/sweet treats/baking to get his fix. Obviously the recipes aren’t great to his amazing smell/taste (that he inherited from his Dad) so he improves them. After seeing how people match wines with savoury dishes he starts flying to remote places to buy rare coffee/teas to test with his recipes. All the while Trunks is just watching like “you’re absolutely mad”, but he keeps it up and starts pairing things and testing them out on friends. He even gets good enough to make flavour profiles for people based on their likes/dislikes to pick /exactly/ the right flavourings, he’s a savant.

People are so pleased and excited it warms his heart that he can make people so directly happy, and making things with his hands feels so natural and grounded. Eventually Trunks just pulls him aside and says “I still think you’re insane but you should do this". So Goten works up a business plan for a desserts cafe in his final year - without getting Trunks’ help - and pitches it to his parents. Chichi’s obviously a little “this is left field”, expecting him to go with the flow as usual and end up at CC, but they agree seeing how excited he is, the last part of the prize money/education pot gets put towards a run-down place in Satan City after graduation instead of a masters degree. There’s not enough money to buy /and/ do up the place, but Mr Satan agrees to put up the rest of the money as long as Goten helps cater (bodyguard at and babysit Buu at in truth) events, so it’s not a handout. At first he hates the idea of more help but reluctantly agrees when Gohan chides him. He calls it Paozu Place, (PP vs CC) and when he starts making a profit (which happens towards the end of the first year as Goten flies around himself to get products saving money, plus the flavour-profile gimmick gets him an early cult following) he sends a portion of the money back home. Chichi is so proud :’) PP and Goten’s flat above is their base in Satan City.

Trunks - is also responsible but like a Prince (“stick to the plan guys”, weight of the world etc), he meticulously plans sorties to the point Goten will actively ruin things if he thinks Trunks is over-thinking things. Public think he’s hot and suave and he has a fanbase but it’s because he freezes in front of the press and, with his severe facial structure, his deer-in-headlights look gets interpreted as “handsome brooding”. In truth he’s a giant, easily flustered dork, happier when in control and enjoys things being “just so”. All throughout college he wore a beanie hat to hide his hair and therefore his identity, but people quickly learnt to look for the kid wearing the wooly hat in summer, nothing saves him from recognition poor guy. Although, due to Trunks’ extremely guarded nature and contrasted with Goten’s social charisma, people quickly bored of him and focussed on “his friend”, which Trunks prefers. He’s not shy per-se, but is used to over-thinking everyone’s intentions and prefers to people-watch. Unlike Goten he has a serious romantic streak, (the one thing his sizeable fanbase /have/ got right) but sucks at expressing it, attaching like a limpet to close friends. He also has a dark sense of humour and is really inventive for stupid shit but he’s usually biting it back. When he’s comfortable a different side comes out and when in free flow puns are quick and his banter is razor sharp. The only time he’s ever actually “cool” or “smooth” is when he’s relaxed and trying not to be, which gets ruined when people point it out - “WOW that pose is so cool” “wait what :|?” “aaaand ya ruined it”.

Combine that in Gotenks you’ve got a guy who’s fiercely loyal with a plan to save everyone, leading from the front, but also has a sick sense of humour with no inhibition to reign it in. “Gotenks no - GOTENKS YES” kinda deal. He’s a massive flirt because he knows it’s inappropriate (also best wingman, texting people on the boys’ behalf) and King prank. He’s more focussed than when he was a kid but the dumbass techniques remain, mostly to embarrass Trunks. They communicate through journals as memories can be a little fuzzy, it all started with a little piece of paper Gotenks carries in the fight against Buu :’)

Gotenks has his own complicated angst regarding Personhood and being a fusion. The Worst Thing you can do is call him “Trunks'n'Goten” or use “they” pronouns. The guys (obvs) understand and respect what autonomy he has, even fusing so he gets some downtime so it’s not all fight-train-fight for him. At first they kept him back, but he was so desperately lonely during the college years, hating living vicariously through Trunks and Goten’s memories, that they let him start talking to Mai, Uub and Marron on texts. When that seemed to go okay they let him hang out with them every now and again. T/G/GT only let Pan and Bra in on Gotenks’ partial social life when they ask to learn fusion without any prompting, (not wanting to influence what is a huge change in life circumstance) and Gotenks is massively excited he gets to properly meet and teach his two favourite people he’d been fussing over from a distance.

Marron is not a fighter (ack sorry Swol!Marron I love you) though is trained in ki use as a form of self defense (of course!) and particularly practises flying; she was adamant to keep up with Goten and Trunks when trailing them on adventures. Good thing too as she was the sneaky little shit eavesdropping on everyone, puzzling out every mystery so the boys didn’t have to. She considers herself the common sense of the outfit, to the point she’ll reach for the alcohol when the Saiyans are being particularly off the wall (“oh my god you’re all so ridiculous and unrelatable let me get drunk and tell you more”). Despite not fighting she does want to help people just like her chief of police dad, eventually settling on investigative journalism as way to help. Her over-ambitious final-year college project led her to make enemies in a mob boss which ended up in kidnapping. She used the time to wrangle more info out of them before being “rescued” by an extremely disgruntled, recently debuted Papayaman (“well they can’t find out that /I/ have superpowers”) that led to the mob leaders’ eventual arrests, and it got her her first job. She keeps an eye out for anyone researching how deep the connections between everyone in the group go and subtly tries to scupper it, so far successfully. In the rare serious fights she work on recon and civ defence with Mai, or if she’s present as a reporter actively supports the “oh it’s totally Mr Satan’s protégée saving us” narrative.

Mai is a complicated one and I could really get into the neurodevelopment of her. Whilst some things remain as-is (skill sets like engineering and weaponry that she uses, some habits and vocabulary) her regrowth means her ability to understand her adult memories isn’t there, they slowly cloud and fall away, becoming this fussy mess of facts-of-things-that-happened rather than a complicated nuance of emotion they would be if she’d aged normally. She dreams less and less of being an adult. She’s also at the mercy of hormones and brain structure at that age, still making the same mistakes she made the first time around. As a result she’s a little maturer than you’d expect for someone her age but not massively, and gets along with Trunks, Goten and Marron fine. She works on a number of ki-based techs like integrating ki-sense onto glass for an improved ki-scouter that can cope with the numbers the gang pump out (yay for logarithms) and display the complicated flow of individual ki signatures through different colours. With enough ki behind them the shield from her barrier seeds can protect cities for a few huge hits, and she can pick off lackeys with the ki gun she developed. None of these have the CC logo however as CC “doesn’t develop weapons.”

RE: shipping - When she’s a teen she rebuffs a clingy Trunks at every turn, (poor dude) hoping to stay just friends. He’s lovely but he’s just a kid! Kiddo can’t understand why she’s being so cold though, surely they’d be great together, they were in the future! Before he goes to college she eventually tells him the truth but of course, Trunks insists he doesn’t care if she’s “old”, she’s not anymore, not really, and besides he’s the real problem. But he’s only nineteen, and she knows that’s not as mature as it feels. She has just enough wherewithal to say no, and whilst he mopes for a little they reframe their friendship around this new information. Of course, they eventually crack when he starts working full time at CC when he’s 24, they have a massive heart-to-heart about her experiences with memory and his own through fusion (because think about how ef’d up that is), they give it a tentative go, and Goten and Gotenks weep with joy they don’t have to put up with his pining anymore. Truten was a Thing at college but didn’t stick, although they are so freaking close you’d probably think they were still in a relationship of sorts anyway.

Uub is great! He is 100% the traditional hero type, taking his training so seriously when he joins the crew it winds up Trunks and Goten enough they pick up the slack again. It takes him a few years to catch up with Pan but soon becomes the complete tank for battles. He looks up to Trunks and Goten and even tried to learn weapons to be part of the cool gang but it just wasn’t his style in the end. He does his training mostly at home, though gets dragged around to Mount Paozu by Goku (Goku-totally-ITs-back-home-you-can’t-convince-me-otherwise) and Satan City, eventually working as Papayaman full-time as “Hercule’s student” to take over from Gohan’s Great Saiyaman. He supports his village, going back home as much as possible to see his little siblings, and his family is mega proud if fussing over his safety in big fights. Papayaman takes the credit for saving the Earth nowadays, and all the news articles cover the walls at home (equally with his other siblings achievements). Uub can 100% ham up the media appearances to be the dashing hero due to Mr Satan’s training, but it’s definitely something he’s only capable of with the mask on and otherwise he’s an eager, polite, caring, but ultimately shy guy.

Pan is fascinating, she’s at an intersection of being known as a publicly talented martial artist, and is well-known in Satan City for being a crimefighter (though not as into it as her Mum was as Papayaman is around now) but is privately a beast. People don’t know she has the same super-strength and flight abilities as Papayaman and she’s very keen to keep it that way. She uses the stage name “Pan Satan” for tournaments and to help maintain her Grandfather’s image. Whilst when young she got frustrated at the lack of recognition the Son side of her family got, the negative reactions a sizeable minority of the public have to the few public alien encounters the Earth’s had and to Papayaman’s “possibly real” superpowers scares her as she gets older. She has on occasion tagged along in disguise after Papayaman and used her powers freely in the background in things like hostage situations to provide barriers and prevent explosions “just to help :3”. The one time she was spotted Papayaman was asked about his friend and he despairingly referred to her as his “little shadow” and the name stuck for the gang when in camo. She has a massive number of teachers - Goku, Gohan, Picco"yo", Roshi, Chichi and Videl, Trunks and Goten (and of course Mr Satan), even advice from Vegeta. With all that her understanding of ki control, particular focuses and intents is terrifying, (maintaining barriers with very little concentration etc) and she’s eager to teach what she’s learnt to the group.

Bra took ballet as a kid, is graceful, a real effortless beauty, great with people, the model socialite … is a freaking scrapper in a fight. She spent so long working out how to guard her “perfect” nails as a kid during daily training (a frivolous challenge Vegeta set her) she can form solid and fast ki fists with an almost impossible momentum behind them given her size. She’s very physical in her attack forms, and takes a “point me in the right direction and I’ll smash them” approach. Like her Dad she can take a hit, acting as off-tank for the group (Trunks had to be convinced to let her participate, so close to danger is her attack style). She’s also calculating as hell, crafting a perfect social media profile to push the capsule corp brand amongst teens and young adults and is a media darling, every photo and hashtag considered and poured over to further her image. She is very, /very/ invested in keeping that intact. Trunks on the other hand just can’t work social media, so doesn’t do media other than official interviews if he has to as COO. Bra keeps pushing him to engage, so he has two posts - “This is my official account, all others are a fraud” and “Hey.” “Hey.” has the third highest number of engagements on the site, which both perplexes and amuses Trunks and really irritates Bra. She has a horrid temper in private and in honour of that, Trunks calls her Giggles. She and Pan are two peas in a pod though, getting into their own brand of trouble at all times and Pan is probably the only person she’ll listen to to get her out of a mood.

I could literally go on forever but I’m going to stop now aaaaaaaaa

[thisiswhatwereupagainst]

“Mutant Empire: Siege” Ch 5 & 6

Okay guys, here's my notes for Chapter Five and Six of “Siege” the first book in the “Mutant Empire” triology! We get some interesting Charles/Erik debate stuff, reflection on the reality of how relationships are basically all sacrified for the X-Men, some Acolytes team dynamics, and MILAN! 

MILAN IS SO ADORABLE OMFG I LOVE HIM SO MUCH especially because the way he acts with Magneto is the way I've always written Anne Marie with Magneto? I want to put him with the first-gen Acolytes so he can fanboy with Anne Marie about THEIR LORD AND SAVIOR MAGNETO and so Delgado can protect him <3 This is SUPER LONG so it’s under a cut

CHAPTER FIVE This chapter is about the X-Men, not the Acolytes, so no Magneto or Milan, but here's a few bits I thought worth noting

“Where Dr. Henry P. McCoy could forget, just for a moment, that he was a member of that elite race known as homo sapiens superior.” Elite race seems a....poor word choice. But this kinda comes back to what I talked to you two about before, about how I think certain forms of bigotry are actually MORE likely among mutants (ableism, scientific racism, etc.) because so much of mutant identity and the way mutants are understood both by society and themselves is based around being the “next step of human evolution” and being able to do things other people can't, etc.

“Finally, Bobby looked over at him, raised eyebrows in place of an actual shrug. His body had filled out from the time he'd joined the X-Men as a teenager. These days he was muscular and fit. But Hank figured that tousled brown hair and open, genuinely handsome features would make him look like a college boy forever.” Is...is Hank kinda gay for Bobby here? I didn't think straight guys thought about other guys bodies filling out with muscle or having handsome features. But then again, straight girls get to straight up compliment other girls on their boobs and it's not gay, so maybe I'm just falling victim to the homophobic mindset that guys can never ever EVER notice anything attractive about another guy or it's TOTALLY HOMO which is not something I support. Normalize bros saying their bros look nice today! You go novel! Anyway, Bobby has pointed out that they're fighting for their future and their children and all that, but the reality is that none of them except Jean and Scott have been able to have a consistent relationship that lasts more than a year, so most likely none of them actually will ever have children. Deep, man. I mean, I guess if you wanted to go all selfless hero you could say “yeah but other children still matter!” but the fact is, they have basically given up their lives for this. Wolverine tells Storm he wants to be on her X-team and not Scott's because Scott at least sort of expects Wolverine to call him boss, whereas being called “boss” surprises Storm every time. Okay, I'm calling bullshit, no way SCOTT would expect LOGAN to call him boss, whereas Storm is THE BOSS OF ALL BOSSES ok, this queen led a team of X-Men at the same time she was leader of the Morlocks at the same time she was White KING of the Hellfire Club. And this is when SHE DIDN'T HAVE HER POWERS. She is THE boss. I am just gonna say Logan is trying to suck up to her. BECAUSE SHE'S THE BOSS! “Attention X-Men. This is Colonel Tomko, United States Army. You are trespassing at a top-secret federal facility. Throw down your weapons and surrender or you will be fired upon.” “Seem a little anxious to shoot a couple mutants, don't they?” Uh, no, Wolverine, I think it's that you're a group of known vigilantes with a history of leaving a whole lot of destruction, trespassing at a top-secret government facility, and carrying A HUGE PLASMA RIFLE. Like I feel like the fact they are giving the X-Men warning here proves they'd rather NOT open fire, because like...look what happens to actual minorities when they encounter racist government authorities while NOT trespassing and NOT carrying weapons and NOT known criminals? Like I feel like this warning would have been just as easily issued to a bunch of humans, especially if said humans were a vigilante group commonly believed to be terrorists by the public and also toting A BIG FUCKING GUN like sell me on this 'feared and hated' thing a bit better please. I...have a hunch this writer might be a white dude, if he thinks this is what constitutes super-obvious out-of-bounds bigotry from government authority towards a minority seen as dangerous.

CHAPTER SIX Ok, here's where we get Magneto and Milan and the Acolytes! It starts out with some stuff about Charles and Erik, and I know you guys are hella down for that, so here's the bigass quote because I love you enough to type it all out: “Xavier would see the light at last. That was important to Magneto. Once, they had been the best of friends, but their divergent dreams tore them apart. Ever the idealist, Charles would argue with him hour after hour, day after day, until finally Magneto realized he must act to make his dream real, rather than simply debate its finer points. The last time they had parted as friends, at peace with one another, the argument had reached new heights. In the heat of the Israeli summer, desert sand flying in the sweltering wind, bodies baking inside uncomfortable clothing as their Jeep bounced on rutted unpaved roads, their already-tattered friendship was torn asunder. Finally, Magneto had insisted that Charles recognized the primary flaw in his philosophy. “And what might that be?” Charles asked, eyes narrowing at this new approach to the debate. “It's so obvious, Charles,” Magneto had answered, “You see it around you every day, in every newspaper, in every city. It's something I learned in war that you have yet to accept. Human society needs someone to hate. There must be a bottom rung on the ladder. Right now, mutants are it, and I don't see anyone else climbing up after us. Therefore, as long as mutant society exists in its current form, humans will hate and fear mutants.” Charles was quiet for a long time after that, his face darkened by the shadow of his consternation. When he met Magneto's gaze again, he seemed unsettled, yet determined. “There are certainly humans who need to hate,” Charles began, “But I do not believe that is true of humanity as a whole. Humans and mutants can live in peace, Magnus. I will never believe otherwise. Never.” That stubborn quality had blinded Charles from the beginning, and Magneto believed that it still did. But not for long. In one day, he would teach Charles Xavier what he not been able to in all the long years since they had first met. Today.” I think this is really interesting for two reason. The minor reason is that the “humans need someone to hate” isn't something I've seen Magneto say before (though that could be because I've read far less of him than you, Hex) Like I feel like he's said things that are CLOSE but not this specific. The bigger thing, though, is that this points out what a lot of people miss in fandom in my opinion, that Charles is as adamant in his stance as Magneto is in his. He gets painted a lot as the soft and yielding one who compromises, but he's NOT. He does NOT compromise with Magneto one little bit, he is NOT open to Magneto's ideas, and you know what, GOOD, he shouldn't be. But I feel like that tends to get forgotten and Magneto is the only one people talk about as being hubristic in his belief he's absolutely right, even though Xavier is doing the same thing. Also, even though I really like this, I have to point out that at this point in the timeline...the claim that mutants are the bottom rung really would not apply? Mutants were NOT really cropping up enough to be noticed by the public at that point in time, Magneto and Xavier were the first of their kind each other had met, the whole “mutants as a persecuted minority” thing didn't start till the 1980s. Magneto's belief back then, if I recall right, is supposed to be that mutants will BECOME treated like other minorities, not that they already ARE. Now on to Milan, my favorite part/person. He's still mentally hooked up to a computer to broadcast a jamming signal so the US military's radios don't work (Magneto and the Acolytes have taken over the military base where the Sentinels are kept) while Magneto's magnetic force shield (MAGNETS ARE MAGIC I GUESS) keeps them out. Milan's consciousness is “completely integrated into the computer core” and the poor baby is totally slumped over like a corpse. We get a POV switch to Amelia Voght. In case you don't know who that is, Jon, she's a mutant woman (a teleporter, precisely) who is not only an Acolyte, but was Xavier's girlfriend when he founded the X-Men. But she considered that to be “asking for trouble” and wanted to live a normal life, so she left him  (and he tried to MIND-CONTROL HER INTO STOPPING) It's not clear exactly what happened in her life later, but apparently she lost her family and everything else to humans, according to her, and she decided that, also according to her, since every decision she made was bad, she'd let someone else do it. But she was always one of the questioning, less hateful Acolytes despite this claim she WANTED someone else to think for her. Oh, and she's the poor lady that Fabian tried to shove in his would-be harem. I would like to note he's still dead at the time this novel takes place, and while I would like to see him, I am glad for Amelia's sake that his skeevy self isn't around. Anyway, we get this infodump on her past, and this interesting bit gets said: “When he began to build the foundations for the X-Men, their relationship became...well, competition was the only word she could think of. If she had wanted to continue her relationship with Xavier, she would have had to throw herself wholly into his dreams for the X-Men.” I guess this is something I technically knew, but never thought about: That anyone romantically involved with Xavier basically has to be involved with his dream too. They're inseparable. I'd say the same is true of Magneto too except he does end up having a tryst or two where that doesn't apply, like with Lee Forrester, but then again I think that was when he wasn't a villain? I can't remember. But I think this also goes back to what Bobby and Beast were talking about, about how they probably won't ever have kids and a family and all. And canon reflects this. Not only do a lot of superhero relationships not last, but if one of the parties is NOT a superhero, they usually DIE. I guess this doesn't really come up in RP a lot because everybody is playing a member of the X-Men or Brotherhood or similar, no civilians, but, yeah. (Or civilians who can just...somehow be buddy-pals with bad guys and never had it affect them or think twice about these people being CRIMINALS >>) Also just because Amelia questions the violence and methods of the anti-human Acolytes, we're reminded she also thinks that the X-Men are “hopeless fools all, seduced by romanticism and wallowing in ignorance” and that she will be “happy to teach them the error of their ways.” Magneto tells Amelia to watch her back in battle around Carmella Unuscione, and Amelia thinks how she expects that from Unuscione but is surprised Magneto would “deign” to mention it. For some reason, this makes her worry he has romantic interest in her. I don't pretend to understand the leap that she's making here. She then wonders if he's trying to manipulate a confrontation between her and Unuscione, which makes slightly more sense at least. Just slightly. As for what Magneto is thinking, we get back to his POV, and it's neither. He is confident that Amelia can handle herself against Carmella, but he believes the women are on a “collision course” for each other's throats and he doesn't want to see their conflict undermine the “Empire Agenda” which is what his plot is called. We never see any sign of this dymanic between Amelia and Carmella in the comics, nor any backstabbing traits from Carmella, which is why I really enjoy these novels---the comics don't have time to give a lot of development to the personalities and team dynamics to the bad guys, it's hard enough working that in with the good guys in a 25-page issue, but the novels frequently take time to develop this stuff even for the baddies that don't usually get it. Milan 'wakes up' to tell Magneto that “We're ready, My Lord” and Magneto thinks he looks like he's dying and he's all sweaty but he seems super pleased at Doing A Good and dgkgksfkg I JUST LOVE HIM SO MUUUUCH and he says all that's needed to reprogram the Sentinels now is to enter Magneto's password. “For a moment, Magneto wished he did not have to disappoint one of his most faithful Acolytes, but there was no avoiding it.” Oh no! What is Magneto about to do?! Magneto: “I'm sorry, Milan, but I must take over from here.” Milan: “My Lord? Have I offended you somehow, Lord? What may I do to salve whatever wrong I have produced. Surely, there must be...” Magneto: “Please, Milan, be still. You have done no wrong.” OH NO, THIS PRECIOUS ANXIOUS NERD HE THINKS HE DID A BAD BECAUSE MAGNETO IS TAKING OVER THE REST OF THE JOB

LOVE HIIIIM Anyway, Mags puts in his password (“Empire”) and identifies himself as “Erik Magnus Lehnsherr, called Magneto, White King of the Hellfire Club” and we learn that Shaw programmed this all in for him while he was with the Hellfire Club in the 1980s. So Magneto not only KNEW that Shaw had Sentinels, Shaw set things up for Magneto to use them! Holy shit, HOW GOOD WAS THE MAGNET DICK, SHAW?! Magneto has to put his fingers down to scan for fingerprints and cut off a swatch of skin for genetic analysis to confirm it's him (smart move, Shaw, that keeps out shapeshifters) and when it does, Magneto winces, and: “My Lord, you are in pain,” Milan said, and Magneto almost laughed at the childlike wonder in the man. Though it was possible devout piety and childlike wonder were too often confused.” OH MY GOD HE -IS- ANNE MARIE ANNE MARIE IS THE GIRL JOCK, MILAN IS THE BOY NERD, THEY ARE THE RULE 63 VERSIONS OF EACH OTHER CLEARLY SRSLY THIS IS JUST LIKE HOW I WRITE ANNE MARIE WITH MAGS AND IT MAKES ME LOVE HIM I WOULD LOVE HIM ANYWAY ALL THE LOVE FOR MILAN

Cut to some government people. Specifically Valerie Cooper and Henry Gyrich. These are long-standing canon characters, and long story short, Cooper is on the side of mutants and Gyrich is not. But bigot though he might be, GYRICH IS CLEARLY SMART because I don't think ANYONE else has thought of this in the X-series before: “Then we can only assume, as I have long believed that Professor Xavier is directly tied to the X-Men.”

GASP! Val Cooper, who knows that's indeed the case, tells Gyrich basically pssh no, we just know that Xavier is friendly with the Beast (whose identity is apparently public? I guess because he was a member of the Avengers and Defenders for awhile) and Beast has been seen with the X-Men before, so probably Xavier passed on such and so info to Beast who passed it on to the X-Men. ...I feel like this is MORE support for Gyrich's guess, not less. But she continues she finds even this idea unlikely because Xavier has too much to lose in terms of support for mutant rights if he did something to make himself so unfavorable to the current administration. Yup, that's Professor Xavier, never puts a toe out of line, perfectly respectable law-abiding human guy! ;)

Surprisingly, Gyrich agrees with her, but now he thinks it's the X-Men who took over the facility (the one Magneto has taken over) Whoops. Back to Milan and beating himself up immediately when Magneto says he needs to take over, this reminds me of when he does that in the comics too. Like when he couldn’t get everything from Moira’s head that they needed all at once when he was trying to digitally reroute her memories on to the computer to get info they needed, he said that he felt like he had failed his brethren. Amazingly, it was FABIAN who comforted him, saying that,“You’ve done nothing wrong, Milan. The task you set yourself up for was monumental. Using your mutant ability to psionically transfer mental impulses into electromagnetic video impulses is difficult to apply under the best of circumstances. Having to fight this human’s formidable will makes it nearly impossible. I am confident that wherever Magnus is, our true lord and master has blessed you for your efforts.” AW, FABIAN Seriously, I really love this moment, not because I think Fabian has a secret soft side or something but because showing him being kind and encouraging to the Acolytes makes his manipulation and control of them more believable. If an abusive person is abusive and awful 24/7 all the time, nobody would get near them, but true abusers know how to balance the carrot with the stick. It’s ESPECIALLY common with cult leaders; they recruit with the carrot, and once you’re deep in and dependent on them, they can bring out the stick over and over, but the carrot still makes an appearance now and then so you have REASON to try and want to please them. Fabian showing that he values and appreciates the gifts and efforts of his Acolytes (or rather, acting like he does) is probably something they needed tremendously in their lives when he first approaches them, as likely no one else saw anything good about them being mutants, and that’s what enabled him to get them to stay around long enough for him to start showing his tyrannical dickbag side. Sure, he might be awful—but if they left him, they would be going to an even worse world, one that was ALWAYS awful to them, unlike Fabian, who, clearly, was not. I also notice that when he’s harsh on the Acolytes, it’s usually only on an individual to individual basis, when he’s alone with just one of them, so they probably don’t realize they’re ALL being abused, versus that they alone are being singled out like they probably think, so they’re less likely to think there’s a chance of uniting against him. But anyway, I’m getting off-topic, this is about MILAN, not Fabian. And Milan clearly wants to be useful SO BAD and he beats himself up over minor things/acts like he failed just because he didn’t 100% flawlessly succeed, and I just AW BABY especially since we see his teammates being jerks to him too. For instance, when the Acolytes were looking for Cable in the comics, Milan said that the base they were searching for him in was jamming his power, so he couldn’t use it to pick up any signs of Cable, and his teammate Javitz said “So you’re even more useless than usual.” SO MEAN, JAVITZ! WE CAN’T ALL BE TEN FEET TALL! So yeah, he gets ribbed, his powers aren’t good for fighting, maybe that’s why he stays buff, so he won’t be the scrawny nerd cliche (yes, I’m reaching to explain 90s-art anatomy, because this dork child is drawn all big and buff like every man in the 1990s) But I would just like to point out that he clearly has other talents! Milan, along with Joanna “Frenzy” Cargill and Carmella Unuscione, were the ones who found Simon “Neophyte” Hall, a young mutant who had holed himself up in a church, and they spent two days talking him out.  This is just a hunch, but given the aggressive, downright mean personalities of Frenzy and Carmella, I suspect that it was Milan who did a lot of the actual coaxing, with the ladies just there to protect him in case this young mutant had dangerous abilities. Likewise, this is also just a hunch, but given how upset Milan was at Neophyte “betraying” the Acolytes later, I also wonder if he didn’t bond with him afterward, maybe feel responsible for him. It would make sense, with Neophyte being younger and someone he had personally brought into the fold at such a vulnerable point in the boy’s life. I like to imagine that Neophyte looked up these three Acolytes, seeing Frenzy and Carmella as the terrifying badasses they are, and Milan more as a kindred spirit cool big brother. Which would also be nice for Milan, since, again, it seems like the more aggressively-powered Acolytes looked down on him. I love Milan guys I love him so much ;A;

[puclpodcast]

Pokemon Catch-Up: Looking Back At Season 1

Welcome to Pokemon Catch-Up and our special post where we look back at season 1. Pokemon Catch-Up is a post series where we look back at only the most important Pokemon episodes and follow Ash along in his journey per the Pokemon Fast Track Viewing List. Today, instead of covering an episode, we’ll jump into covering the entire season and discuss how Ash progressed, pick out the more interesting parts of the season, and what we have to look forward to.

A lot of Pokemon fans hold season 1 with a certain sense of nostalgia. Many revere it and honestly, it’s for a good reason that I’ll get into later on in the article.

One thing I’ll mention before moving forward will be that I’ll cover one more season 1 episode after this article, mainly because the episode is listed as season 2 in some lists and as season 1 in others. To me, this last episode is a great teaser for season 2 and a wonderful “bonus” episode for season 1 so that’s how we’ll treat it.

Without further ado, let’s talk about the season 1

What did Ash do?

Without listing off each episode, let’s jump into what happened in the season as a whole:

Ash received his first-ever Pokemon, a feisty little Pikachu. With this companion, he traveled the Kanto region. Along his journey, Ash met MANY friends, two of whom followed him through most of the journey: Misty and Brock.

Ash also met many new Pokemon, a few of which he caught. Among his closest companions are the three Kanto starters: Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle. Only Charmander evolved along the way.

Upon learning about the Pokemon League, Ash started battling gym leaders. He didn’t win each match the first time but he did beat the eight Kanto gym leaders, granting him the access to the Indigo Plateau Conference. There, Ash battled his best before losing his sixth match.

Every so often, our hero ran into his rival, a trainer by the name of Gary Oak. Gary was a fantastic trainer with a lot of ego but strength to back it up.

And in just about every episode, Ash also ran into the notorious Team Rocket who tried to steal Pokemon for their own evil purposes; however, Ash’s Pikachu blasted them into the next episode almost every single time.

“Exciting” is probably the best word I’d use to describe season 1 to everyone.

Note: we should also mention that the plot of MewTwo Strikes Back took place in season 1.

Ash’s Pokemon

Ash started out with a Pikachu, a Pikachu that hated the trainer and would not go into the ball. Spoiler alert: Pikachu never makes it into the ball. But Pikachu is not the only Pokemon Ash catches.

One thing to really point out here is that Ash has a “pattern” he follows that usually ends with Pokemon trusting him. He often screws something up, endangering the Pokemon along the way, and then he fixes it by sacrificing himself in some way. Let’s sound off real quick on all the Pokemon Ash caught.

Caterpie. Caterpie has the most heart-breaking story in season 1. It’s Ash’s first true catch. Caterpie shares its dream of becoming Butterfree with Pikachu by the moonlight on its first night with the boy. Ash helps Caterpie achieve its dreams by helping it evolve into Metapod and finally, Butterfree. It battles with heart.

However, during the episode “Bye Bye Butterfree“, Ash made the difficult choice of letting Butterfree go. I know that I, as a fan, cried during this scene and waited for Butterfree to return for several seasons before giving up. It was a heart-breaking moment and it demonstrated the deep connections with trainer and Pokemon. It also displayed Caterpie’s desire to be caught and trained.

Pidgeotto. Ash caught Pidgeotto just the next episode. The relationship between the two isn’t fully explored and so I’d say that Pidgeotto was very much a utility Pokemon for Ash. It fought hard, it got Ash out of a few jams, and it put out countless fires.

Bulbasaur. Whilst observing the Hidden Village, Ash befriended Bulbasaur who hated the trainer at first. In fact, the boy had to gain the Pokemon’s trust and even when Bulbasaur desired to accompany the hero, it requested a fair match first. Ash had to prove himself to Bulbasaur and that he would train it well. Bulbasaur was the first of the three Kanto starters that Ash caught.

Charmander. Charmander’s story is a heart-breaking one. Its original trainer abandoned it to die by telling it he’ll come back and making it stay in one place. And yes, to die! Charmander’s story is the first time we confront the idea of Pokemon death in the series. Ash and his friends obviously save it but even then, Charmander is reluctant to join Ash’s party. Again, Ash has to prove that it will take care of this abused Pokemon. The boy does so selflessly, caring less about his own team make-up and more about the Pokemon’s safety.

Charmander is the only Kanto starter that Ash evolves and it evolves all the way into a Charizard. Charizard’s own storyline is a fascinating one. In its case, Ash did not prove himself to be a worthy trainer in season 1. Charizard never follows orders or connects with Ash, even to its own detriment. It doesn’t actively want to leave, it just disrespects Ash. Charmander wasn’t enough for its trainer, and now, Ash is not enough for Charizard. The boy has to train himself harder and become a better trainer in order to gain Charizard’s respect but when will that happen?

Squirtle. Squirtle is a “bad boy” at first but through getting to know Ash, he chooses to follow Ash. In “Here Comes Squirtle Squad“, we learn more about the trainers that abandon their Pokemon. They are not “released” into the wild (in my mind) but they are simply left alone. The boy hero befriends their leader and earns Squirtle’s trust. Squirtle then joins Ash without a fight.We get a small glimpse into the dark side of the Pokemon world again. Charmander’s trainer was cruel, he told Charmander he’ll be back and never came back while Squirtle’s trainer is an unknown individual that left it outright. Ash and Squirtle develop a very close bond.

Krabby. Krabby is Ash’s seventh Pokemon and so it gets automatically transported to Oak’s lab. I think Krabby is a comic relief to some extent as it often shows up unexpectedly when Ash calls the Professor. Oak is very happy to have Krabby as a companion. It eventually evolves into the powerful Kingler during the Indigo League Conference. We don’t see much of it otherwise.

Muk. Muk joins the team somewhat reluctantly but becomes very affectionate quickly. Known for its hugs, Muk plays very well with everyone else and shows its true power during the Indigo League Conference.

A few honorable mentions. Ash had several Pokemon that temporarily joined him on his journey that he let go. I mentioned Butterfree exclusively because of its importance to Ash’s personal journey but its slot never gets permanently filled. Along the way, Ash gets to battle with Haunter and Primeape. He also catches MANY Tauros.

Ash’s Friends

Ash was off to a rough start at the beginning of the show but throughout, he became friends with many people. He gained respect of the Gym leaders, and he proved himself to not only Pokemon but to humans as well. All in all, Ash’s friendships always helped him move forward.

Misty. In the first couple of episodes, he quickly left a negative impression on Misty in particular, destroying her bike very early on. But she stuck with him and together, they became close friends. They traveled together through the entire season and they battled only once when Misty represented the Cerulean City Gym in the Water Flowers of Cerulean City.

If I recall correctly, Ash pretty much beat her before Team Rocket interrupted. And since then, she became more of a coach to Ash, advising him and guiding him through his battles. Misty had her own journey; however, we did not see much of it through the fast track viewing list. There was definitely some chemistry between the two characters but again, nothing really came of it.

Brock. Brock is still around, almost twenty seasons later. Ash and Brock first met when Ash challenged him to a battle at the Pewter City Gym where he lost at first and then Ash had to power through and win against Brock…through a technicality.

Brock’s own journey is an interesting one, too. He went from being a hardcore Gym leader to becoming a Pokemon Breeder. He cooks for the group, their Pokemon and he he heals the Pokemon, too. Just like Misty, he becomes Ash’s coach and helps him get better over time.

The trio became iconic and set up a standard for the rest of the show where Ash is usually flanked by two friends that focus on the Pokemon world without conflicting with Ash’s own journey to becoming a Pokemon master.

And while we rarely ever met other characters that Ash befriended in the Fast Track list, we did one more very important character.

Ritchie. Ritchie showed up for a handful of episodes all the way at the end but he exemplified a more refined version of Ash. A true friendly rival that could push Ash toward becoming a better trainer. Ritchie had his own Pikachu and even a Charmander. He was the perfect counterpart and when they battled, it showed where Ash excelled and where Ritchie did.

You see, Ash had powerful Pokemon including his Charizard but Ritchie had better control over his Pokemon which lead to Ritchie’s victory. Ash used cunning strategy and that’s where the trainers matched evenly.

The Rivalry

I already mentioned Ritchie and I think Ritchie is Ash’s true rival. Looking at later gens, the dual protagonist setup makes much more sense and shows up in Indigo League with Ritchie being the friendly rival whilst Gary being the unfriendly rival

Gary. Gary Oak shows up in the first episode and then pops in and out every so often. While he is very arrogant, he is also strong. I’d say he’s actually a bully but his poking and prodding of Ash gets the boy riled up enough to keep getting better.

Ash and Gary never end up having an all out epic battle you’d expect from other anime. In fact, they rarely ever clash. But Gary is always several steps ahead. When Ash is getting his eight badge, Gary already has ten. While Ash caught less than ten Pokemon, Gary had already caught dozens.

Eventually, we get some semblance of how they measure up against each other when Gary drops out a round prior to Ash at the Indigo League Conference.

Where to next?

We don’t yet know where Ash will head but he’s done with Kanto, there’s nothing left for him to do with the Indigo League Conference being over. But we should see pretty soon!

from Pokemon Catch-Up: Looking Back At Season 1