#i also hc that Billy likes cooking and joined the air force

[jamethinks]

I've mentioned this before but at my core I am a contrarian so I like to think away from the crowd. And so while working on a future fic (canceled) I had to decide what each of the Eden gang would do in school and professionally and how that would aid in the major themes of the story.

For that reason I kind of attached Anya to doing cultural studies even though a more natural progression would be law enforcement. Anya is the child of an immigrant (kinda) and grew in a blended family. Although it's not spoken about in the show itself this does impact Anya's understanding of the world. It starts with an interest in language and linguistics and evolves into a more general interest in culture and cultural preservation. (she's still a spy though lmao)

Similarly for Damian I actually had him doing macroeconomics, his experiences with Anya the Commoner expanding his knowledge and interest in the economy and the long term impact of war on economies. It thrives on his math skills but also relates to his current goal to be a politician as most politicians don't really study politics or political science. Although Economics isn't a very socially conscious discipline Macroecon does to some extent seek to better understand the world and the economic structures that define it.

Becky was a bit more complicated and it plays into her personal conflict between being an ideal Blackbell and doing what she actually loves. Becky loves fashion and art and wanted to go to fashion school but she felt that would be a waste of her skills and brilliance and instead thinks she should follow in her father's foot steps, deciding instead to study business/finance. At the time of the story she had dropped out as she couldn't handle the stress of it all.

The character I really wanted to talk about was Ewen. He wasn't a central figure in the WIP but his career hc was one I had a lot of fun with. Currently he is portrayed as being interested in science and space so astrophysics and engineering may seem like the most likely route but I had a different idea. The 60s and 70s were a big time for the computer science industry as computers were becoming for refined and powerful particularly with the introduction of transistors and eventually microprocessors. It was a new a blossoming science with a lot of potential applications and innovations. It also played a huge role in the Apollo missions and realizing the dreams of space travel. So I thought a more interesting career trajectory would be computer science, specifically CS in space travel and engineering. Again he is still working in space and keeping up with his main interests but now he's working with computers to advance the industry.

Obviously, I personally am interested in computers and midcentury computer development has always been a fascination for me so it is a bit of projection onto him. Like i cannot think of a better time to get into the industry while it was still in it's infantile stage and everyone was just so curious and excited. I also hc that he is into scifi and generic nerdy stuff. Like one storyline i had was them playing an early version of D&D (technically it came out after when the story was set but fuck off), dragging his friends to watch the planet of the ape movies, forcing everyone to do a star trek cosplay, I had a plotline where him and Anya go to Texas to visit the space station. Just making shit up honestly, I don't care he's a nerd now fuck right off.