#superhero characters have so much going on

[l0s3rd0wnt0wn]

Platonic Yandere!Batfam x Weird black neglected!reader

You're a little bit weird—well, not just a little bit, but you're normal compared to your "family," those weirdos running around in masked costumes beating up the mentally ill. At least you have hobbies that don't endanger the public, like spending your time on the Internet spreading misinformation and having online arguments. You enjoy Discord calls with your friends and trolling Discord mods. It's just too fun! Plus, with the Batcomputer, you can dox almost anyone in the country. You spend most of your time in your room; there's no need for family bonding when you have your anime husbands to keep you happy. You're like an enigma in the house; you only appear when your stomach growls and when you need a proper meal that doesn't contain Dr. Pepper and spicy chips that might burn your insides. Your interests go from niche to unknown fandoms—so small that the author lets your self-insert become an actual character. Trickets and buttons from all types of fandoms decorate your bag like a museum. Thank God for Bruce Wayne's money; you wouldn't have half the merch you have now. But at school, you're also unknown—just the weird, geeky kids who hang out with other weird, geeky kids in your small circle of friends. You remember once you tried to invite Damian into the group because you knew he liked manga back when you were hopeful and naive. The little gremlin denied it and called them "childish." He literally reads shoujos, and this was the day you were going to introduce him to Cardcaptor Sakura—that little hater. But ever since then, you have kept your distance. Your brother Tim had the same interest; you tried to bond over My Hero, showing off a plush, only for him to tell you, "That show was mid," and it made you buckle to your knees. You tried to bond over books with Jason; he told you to read real books and that comics were for kids. You wanted to strangle his thick neck. Dick just didn't know anything about anything—he's too old. The girls just didn't care much. Barbara told you to grow up, and Stephanie gave you that. "Wow, that's really cool..." smile. You knew she didn't care, and Cass would rather train than hear you ramble about power ranger crossovers, but then again, how could you relate to them there superheros, And you're just one weirdo it makes you want to rip out your dreads and scream. You try so hard, but you're still an afterthought, just another body in the house and another mouth to feed. At least you can vent about it in your Discord servers or cry about while listening to vocaloid, maybe some Mitski for extra kick. But who were they anyway? You were way too cool for them, and they just don't understand your swagger. But maybe the people at the galas will appreciate your interests; then again, you'd rather not talk to old, rich, white people with laughs that cost 500,000 dollars and 20 cents.

[fallenaphelion]

Sorry in advance, I am a Tony stan. But like, mostly comic Iron Man? Honestly MCU is a bit of a meh point for me, but I did have a period of time where I sought out pretty much every Team Iron Man fic out there (It was copium, I know), and most of it is Team Cap bashing (Again, I prefer comics to the MCU. I pretty much stopped being interested after Age of Ultron, and I haven’t watched anything from after Endgame). I can’t speak for all my fellow Tony stans out there, but for me, it was being unsatisfied with Civil War. It doesn’t go into the Accords at all beyond the basic “Don’t invade foreign nations with your team that basically amounts to a private militia funded by a former war profiteer.” Like, I only recently learned about the registration, tracking, and waiving their rights to a trial, because the movie never mentioned the Accords after the initial introduction. For all the movie does talk about it, it genuinely sounds like a necessary legislation. I just think the Cap hate would be nearly so ridiculous if the movie had actually gone into the inhumane aspects of the thing, which it didn’t because it was too busy with the Bucky plot. They could’ve never mentioned the accords and the movie still would’ve made sense, and Team Cap would be a lot better off for it in the fandom.

Honestly, though, one of the biggest reasons I’ve seen people hating on Cap is because of the whole “Winter Soldier killed Howard and Maria Stark and Steve said nothing about it.” Which, yeah, sucks, but I also don’t think he knew that exactly. He knew Hydra had them killed, sure, but he does explicitly say he didn’t know it was Bucky, so… Still not great?

Take all of this with a grain of salt, considering I’m biased and my all time favorite superhero ever has and probably always will be Iron Man. (Spider Man is a very close second tho)

As for why these fic writers do mental gymnastics trying to make reasons for their favorite characters to side with Tony? Wish fulfillment. That is literally it. It’s just the story they want to tell. You can do the exact same thing, and that’s perfectly fine! The thing to remember about fanfiction is that it’s written by those who do love the source material, in one way or another! It’s also completely free. They don’t get paid to write these stories, so they should be able to write their perfect fantasy. Everyone is allowed that.

My suggestion: Filter, filter, filter. There’s a lot of fics out there that just aren’t going to be your cup of tea, but it’s someone’s, so best to just ignore it and move on to things you actually care about. You’ll want to exclude Team Cap bashing and Team Iron Man, for starters. Honestly, go wild with it. Find your perfect story.

I will continue to read Team Iron Man fics, because I love seeing my favorite hero be the good guy. Doesn’t mean I’m not aware he’s problematic. (I know I said I had a period of time where I sought them out, and I did!! Then I stopped caring for a while! But I’ve circled back around and am now in the trenches again)

I have a question.

Why da fuq do some of these annoying Tony stans think that every character from different stories would be on Team Iron Man and approve on the accords?! It’s bad enough that they make fanfics that twist, bash and warp Team Cap or any other character, and make Tony a victim and always right all the time, but they have to make crossovers where other characters would prop up Tony and bash on Steve and his team.

You got Naruto, My Hero Academia, Dragonball/Z/Super, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Supernatural, Bleach, How to Train your Dragon, Steven Universe, She-Ra, DC comics, Doctor Who, Lucifer, Sonic, even freaking Inside Out, just to name a few.

Not every character will side with the accords. Not every character will side with Tony. Some characters will side with Steve and can have legit reasons. If some of them did their research on the characters, they would know that some of them would be on one side or on neither. But they don’t because they don’t give a damn. These kind of fics keep popping up, and I’m getting sick of it. The Marvel tag on fanfiction is getting ridiculous, I just wanna find some good domestic Avengers fanfics or anything with some good stories. Not ones that bash on Team Cap and have the rest wank on Tony 24/7. Jeez. >_<

[bleh1bleh2]

Batman #411

New Teen Titans v2 #020

[stealingyourbones]

Gotta love when folks write Superman incredibly anti-clone even though he had good reason in the beginning to Not Like Superboy (HES A WINDOW INTO WHAT CLARK WOULD HAVE BEEN WITHOUT THE KENTS) and decide that forever on he’ll be spiteful towards clones even though he literally Does Not Care if you’re a clone unless you’re Superboy.

[zimloaf]

Part 2 of me and @slime-sandwhich-nom’s tawog superhero au! These are the designs I have made for the adults that are actually partaking in this. I have a lot to discuss about these guys

Oleander (Richard): She’s Laserheart's (and The Smooch's) butler, and helper. She's a toxic creature made of plants, always there to defend laserheart and his allies. She’s usually found hanging out with laserheart or "gumball's couch".

Octopod (Holly): Pokerface’s number one assistant. If needed she will always be there for her daughter and her evil deeds. She has impressive robo-technology in which her robo-arms that have a mind of its own! At night, she always finds the time to be with Pokerface’s second assistant, Gray Goblin.

Gray Goblin (Wally): Pokerface’s second assistant. Like Octopod, he is there for her daughter to do evil acts, except he sucks. He doesn’t have any weapons besides a scooter he always trips on. Word goes around that he may be jealous of Oleander because of her looks. Secretly at night, he goes good deeds behind Pokerface’s back in which only Octopod knows about.

Simon: A very greedy supervillain that loves to interrupt Laserheart’s plans. He also has his own pair of henchmen called the Robo-Destroyers (basically just evil robo-servants) that basically listen to whatever he tells them to do. Needless to say everyone knows who he is and they all hate him.

[sciderman]

I swear I have read your big post regarding Peter Parker's neurodivergence and why it is best to avoid labelling him, but he definitely has a weird brain

Can't find it and feel kinda sad about it cuz I deeply related to it

i know exactly which post you're talking about and i can't find it either! i've raked through my archive, and it's just - nowhere to be seen. i think tumblr eated it (it happens.)

really, tumblr's search functionality is so so useless, i don't know what to tell you. there are plenty of keywords i can search to find it that post, but the search functionality actually just does not work!

undiagnosed audhd-addled peter parker, my darling, my light, my life, my everything.

i think peter parker's such an interesting creature to write, because a lot of people will point to a certain behaviour about him and say "this is an autistic thing, right?" but a lot of those behaviours are actually, in my head, tied to certain traumas in peter's life too.

people say "oh, the food thing, peter's a picky eater because he's autistic" and yes, absolutely. but also it's tied to his trauma with his parents.

peter gets overstimulated, and yes, it's an autism thing, but also he was bitten by a radioactive spider and his senses are dialled to 11.

it's a similar case i've found for myself, too – where a lot of friends i have kind of diagnose me because i have autistic traits, but actually - i'm hesitant to claim the label or pursue diagnosis because, actually, i know where these certain behaviours come from, and they come from certain traumas. there are events i can pinpoint in my life and say "yep. that's where this behaviour comes from."

so - i think there's a lot of overlap between trauma and autistic traits. the brain is very complex! i think the reason for that overlap is maybe as simple as the fact that people with autism and people with trauma are both doing the same thing - developing behaviours to protect themselves or soothe themselves. so - i think it's nice to be able to see a character like peter parker, who may or may not be autistic, but recognise behaviours in him and see yourself in him.

people who go undiagnosed for whatever reason - people who are really good at masking - so good, in fact, that they have no idea they might be on the spectrum - everyone and anyone at all can look at peter parker and recognise themselves. because i think we discredit the thought that every single brain does the same thing! develops certain behaviours in order to survive. every brain has that same software - we've just all been faced with different hardships that we need to overcome, and that's were all the differences come in.

autism is a spectrum, i guess - everyone falls into it to some degree. and i think events in your life probably push you along on it. but i don't know, i didn't study brain science. probably what i'm saying is very stupid and uninformed. of course there's brain chemistry involved. but i know people in my life living with autism and certain events in their life have exacerbated certain behaviours or made coping with it a lot more difficult. so maybe trauma is a catalyst.

[dervampireprince]

I just rewatched moonknight and your audios are literally the only thing keeping me alive in that somewhat dead fandom THANK YOU 😭😭🙏

i do feel adrift making moon knight stuff still so thank you

[silverselfshippingchaos]

so there's this character. i always thought he looked kinda stupid and i never found him attractive. but, uh....

... has he always been this handsome?!

[silverwhittlingknife]

hiii! i just wanted to reach out n let you know that i just spent the last few days speed reading all your ao3 work bc i literally couldn't put it down. the way you write dick really just scratches my brain in the best way possible. he's a little (read: very) neurotic and it just. his motivations are so clear in your work, not in the sense that there isn't tension and anxiety but in that his core personality, his drive to help and the anger and trauma that has built him, his need to always be performing and catering to those around him, it comes across sososososos SO well. he was the first character that got me into comics and since then i've kinda stopped reading him bc i have lots of issues w tom taylors run (not the point so i digress) but you have really inspired me to go back and read more of his old stuff so thank you! you have such a clear grasp on his character and its something i admire very much! ur very very talented! and i really appreciate you sharing ur art! hope ur doin well :)

HI THIS IS SUCH A NICE COMPLIMENT???? <3333 This is so nice & sweet & it made my whole day!!! THANK YOU I AM HUGGING YOU ACROSS THE INTERNET AHHHHHH

he's a little (read: very) neurotic and it just. his motivations are so clear in your work, not in the sense that there isn't tension and anxiety but in that his core personality, his drive to help and the anger and trauma that has built him, his need to always be performing and catering to those around him

YEAH IT's HIMMMM i love this description <333

THANK YOU YOU ARE LOVELY & KIND PLS ACCEPT THIS DOG PICTURE AS TOKEN OF MY GRATITUDE

[codecicle]

out of curiosity, how are two of the jrwi characters not human but still white? i don't listen anymore but I saw your spreadsheet (well made, funny) also would love your thoughts on the names of the poc characters

Glad you asked! For most of the non-human characters, they were anthropomorphic animals so they didn't have any skin color for me to chart. However, Rumi and Runt aren't human, but have human qualities to them!

Rumi (left) is a shapeshifter who takes 3 separate forms over the course of the campaign. Not human by dnd standards, and could have any (humanoid/anthropomorphic) form in the entire world! She stays white for all 3 forms though.

Runt (right) is a mousegirl, who comes from an underground city filled with animal-people. One of the other members of the party in that campaign is a literal owl, so she could've been a full animal like him! For some reason though, she's white. Sad!

[consumeroflemoans]

(Click for hq)

Kyuki (久輝)

The result of this create your own monster OC challenge (these were my results)

I wanted to make a more modern take on the kitsune. Like instead of old Japan, what if there was a young kitsune existing in cities?

They’re known for punishing greed and boasting in many stories and I’d like to think they’d continue that legacy, hiding in the shadows of alleyways and slipping hidden through the streets, tricking and humiliating anyone they deem worthy.

They’re still closer to an anti-hero than a true hero. They don’t particularly care who they hurt as long as they gain amusement. The only ones they care for are people who manage to gain their favor (which usually amounts to anyone willing to buy them food. They don’t need to eat but human street food is delicious)

[oldtvandcomics]

I watched X-Men (2000) last evening. Still awesome. But also, it made me think.

Just how much *ehm* point is there in trying to keep bringing these heroes with us forward in time? Wouldn't it be better to leave them as a period piece?

Like, with the Holocaust being such an important part of Magneto's backstory, at least him and Xavier are pretty firmly anchored in time. And of course we can start making up all the excuses about why they are immortal / not ageing, but how much sense does it make? I also seem to be noticing an ongoing trend in newer X-Men media, at least on the big screen, where they aren't allowed to be traditional heroes any more, and instead all the focus is on the genocide. Which, I understand, that is 100% absolutely the direction the story is headed. Also, that post about how with the world being as it is, we can't really pretend any longer that Magneto is not right. So yes, I understand where they are coming from, but also, it isn't fun any more, is it?

Maybe the X-Men would be best as a period piece set somewhere between the 1960's and the early 2000's AT THE LATEST.

[starvinginbelair]

as a criminology student, i would honestly love to read an comics arc about the role of the police in vigilantism because i just think it's under-discussed for such a nuanced and complex topic.

[bleh1bleh2]

Idk why i'm getting into so many long form pieces of media. First of all i am reading superhero comics (from the beginning, most of the time). I've gone through the new teen titans and superboy, and now am trying to get through like 80 issues of batman (late in dicks robin run through jasons death) so i can read tims robin run. So i can read huntress then the outsiders then teen titans 03 then a billion other team-ups. And also steph/cass as batgirl and babs as oracle. And dick grayson nightwing. (And probably a lot more that i am forgetting right now) and i am reading the 80s wonder woman run. I'm also considering getting into Green Lantern and/or the Flash. Also i want to know so much more about Kara supergirl ever since i read Woman Of Tomorrow (i love and adore her). Then with marvel i want to get into spiderman/fantastic 4/daredevil, plus possibly the xmen. I have been reading comics so much this past year and have so much to read before i even get close to my goals of being knowledgeable.

Then i went "yeah, i will start one piece"

[internetgiraffekid1673]

Who's your fave oc at the moment?? Tell me about them!

Hoo boy, here we go. Get ready for BACKSTORY!

The short answer is a pair of girls named CJ and Ren otherwise known as Cleric and Watchdog who are college students in a universe with superheroes and started freelancing for those superheroes as a way to make some extra cash. Have a picture of both their regular identities and their alter egos. Designs are still being workshopped. Also, I've been experimenting with different pens on my drawing app, so the artstyle'a a bit all over the place. I'm also bad at character proportions, but their heights are closest to correct in the alter ego picture.

The long answer? Is long. So I'll put it below a cut. :)

So, I have OCs for specific fandoms, but my current favorite OCs aren't actually attached to anything. They just live in a generic superhero verse that could honestly be anything from DC to Powerpuff girls. It wouldn't change much, but I do have some light worldbuilding around the city they live in.

Chorustown is your pretty par for the course comic book city with superheroes and supervillains and a new upstart team of anti-heroes that are basically violent robin hood (steal from the rich, give to the poor). Suffice it to say that whenever all these factions fight each other, it breaks shit, so renter's insurance ain't cheap. Also, suffice it to say that the heroes involved are constantly getting injured, as well as needing information on the ever-shifting threats.

Enter our protagonists: Serenity "Ren" Summers and Cory "CJ" Jack are a pair of college students with a lot of skills and not a lot of money, who are willing to do some questionable shit for income! Also, they're childhood besties turned girlfriends.

During their sophomore year, CJ and Ren realized that while nobody in the civilian sphere would be willing to hire undergrads and actually PAY them, superheroes must have much more limited options, what with the need to keep their identities secret and not have people ask questions. This is also a 'verse where superheroes aren't on great terms with regular law enforcement, so getting caught doing something illegal, even if it helps a lot of people, is a very real threat. It leaves superheroes without a whole lot of options when they need an expert for something in their superhero work. And CJ and Ren both happen to be notable experts.

Ren is an engineering major with a split focus in software and mechanical engineering, as well as some dabbling into social engineering. She's got tech chops and computer knowledge out the wazoo. She's also lived in Chorustown her whole life and knows the city like the back of her hand. Throw in the fact that she's an avid artist who spent (and still does spend) a lot of time sneaking around to make graffiti murals, and you have someone who is basically a surveillance GOD. She can hack anything she wants, follow people around without them ever noticing, and she's capable of designing tech like trackers and bugs (and posseses the skill to plant those). Ren is also a habitually nosy person who has always kept track of significant going ons, for superheroes and villains, major political players, celebrities, and her personal life. She is so uniquely qualified to gather information on people that it isn't even funny. And it goes both ways. She can help someone hide from surveillance just as easily as she can snoop out a hider because she knows exactly where nobody will look.

CJ is a very, very talented med student. She's been into medicine and biology her whole life, with a particular interest in the physiological differences between superheroes and regular people. This includes aliens, animal based powers, meta-humans, mutants---you name it, and she's probably hyperfixated on its biology for at least a month and retained that information. This means she's also dabbled in a lot of other weird disciplines like vet med and astrobiology (which would absolutely be a scientific discipline in a universe where aliens invade on a monthly basis). Add in her medical skills and her technologically inclined girlfriend, and she's got the skills and the tools to treat anything from a bloody nose to a broken appendage to a physiologically based power defect to a species specific disease for just about anybody.

The two of them decided that if they can't get stable income like normal people, they'll get it from superheroes, who will be forced to come to them because there are no other options! But obviously, they can't just publicly be helping out superheroes. That puts soooo many targets on their backs. They'd have villains, law enforcement, and even other superheroes after them (CJ and Ren don't really make a distinction between heroes and anti-heroes; as long as you're helping people, they're chill with you. That would make the more self-righteous folks of both categories pretty pissed to know that their confidants were helping people on the other side of the debate). So they'll need alter egos, and they'll need to be secretive about their base of operations.

And thus, Watchdog and Cleric were born! But the thing is, these two are REALLY paranoid about getting caught because they don't have supet powers to protect themselves from villains or even social power to protect themselves from the legal system. Remember, these two are broke undergrads who lowkey stole all their equipment from their university (it's technically all available for student use, but not in the quantities or for the purposes they use it for).

So they have a lot of fun measures in place. First off, you probably noticed, but their costumes cover their whole bodies and faces and are loose enough on their frames that you can't really tell anything about their body types beyond their height. Secondly, they're both utilizing voice filters that both pitch their voices low enough to sound like dudes and make them sound somewhat robotic so their tone doesn't come through. The settings on the filter can be adjusted as needed (CJ can turn off the tone modulator if she needs to sound soothing, or Ren can change the pitch if she needs to sound a specific age or gender as a distraction). So nobody knows what they look like or what they sound like, and most people assume they're men. Thirdly, Ren has designed some gadgets that disable trackers or bugs planted on their person. Nobody can follow them either.

Their biggest security measure, though, was how they revealed themselves to the super community. Instead of some big announcement, they just stalked the local Chorustown superheroes until opportunity arose. For Ren, it even functioned as advertising her skills since she's basically selling her stalking capability.

In the first fight that a hero got badly injured, CJ basically popped out of the woodwork in her Cleric getup, dragged them into a safe and hidden spot, delivered immediate and effective field first aid, and left the coordinates of an abandoned apartment complex that they've turned into her clinic, as well as a short letter offering her services.

Ren literally listened in on the resident supers conversations until they expressed frustration at not having a particular piece of information, at which point she helpfully left them an anonymous tip as well as a burner phone number, a ghost email account, and some coords if they ever needed info again. Both instances were basically a free trial, since their letters of introduction also specified that payment in some form would be required for later assistance.

Also, because Ren is a damn good stalker and because CJ will have personally treated many heroes wounds and logged their identifying physical and medical traits, it doesn't take them long before they put together, like, everybody's secret identities. Heroes and villains. With a couple of exceptions on the villainous side, since they don't directly interact with them. But there's basically no hiding from them.

Most people also don't know they exist! Other heroes that the Chorustown protectors interact with do question where they're getting treated for injuries after really big fights, and villains know that SOMEONE keeps giving heroes information that foils their plans, but they don't really come to the conclusion that it's an independent party. They always make incorrect assumptions. Like "Oh, they must have a family member or non-combat teammate that fixes them up after fights!" or "Oh, clearly we have a mole who's being bribed or threatened," or "The Chorustown heroes have more powers than they're letting on." Outside heroes only really learn of these two when the Chorustown regulars talk about them, and only really believe it when Ren and CJ see fit to contact them for whatever reason. It's honestly hilarious.

Everybody who has been contacted by CJ and Ren knows where Watchdog's dropspots are and where Cleric's clinic is, but have no idea what they do otherwise. The clinic and the dropspots are nowhere near the university or where their apartment, so people have no reason to assume it's them. They have ghost emails and burner phones, but they're regularly replaced, and Ren is good at cybersecurity, so there's no tracking it that way.

Most people guess that they're associated in some way, since two freelance vigilantes appearing at similar times operating out of the same city with similar technology would be a bit weird otherwise, but it's also assumed to be strictly professional. Nobody would ever guess that they know each other in their civilian lives, much less that they're girlfriends.

People also realize Watchdog and Cleric know their secret identities (and probably other secret stuff, too) since they've been contacted as civilians, but they also aren't overly threatened by it. The two of them are clearly working for money, but they aren't selling any of the heroes' secrets and are honestly very trustworthy and confidential about it. There was paranoia for the first little bit, but it quickly just became a fact of life.

That's pretty much the whole backstory unless you want to know

Other interesting things about them that don't have a whole lot to do with their whole second job shtick!

Ren:

Ren loves art in all forms, but especially painting. She'll paint on anything she can get her hands on. Her notes, random walls and floors, parts of the school, and any of her possessions. The skirt pictured in her drawing is her own handiwork, and most of her other articles of clothing look similar. Most of their dishes have been custom painted with food safe paint. And as previously mentioned, she's a vandal who puts gorgeous murals and fun zany tags in places that they really shouldn't be.

She's rather anti-social. Ren is aggressively introverted and doesn't have a whole lot of patience for stupid people. She's got a pretty quick temper on her and can be very moody. She recognizes that all traits make her just as unpleasant for other people to be around her as it is for her to be around other people. So she mostly just avoids others. She has like 5 people in her social circle, and she's happy to mooch off CJ if she needs anybody else.

Ren has a lovely voice but has no technical knowledge of music. She just likes to sing.

Ren's a major bookworm, but she mostly reads on her phone. People think she's addicted to social media, but she's usually just reading a book. And she'll read literally anything. With enthusiasm. Sure she can argue classics with the best of them, but she reads so much that she also: can get deep into the mechanics of a 1980s space opera you've never heard of; happily engages in ship wars over the generic YA dystopia that's a disguise for a generic YA love triangle; keeps a running list of every perfectly mapped out hero's journey fantasy story she's read; has consumed an entire encyclopedia and REMEMBERS it; spent one memorable week reading nothing but foreign cookbooks; accidentally befriended her computer science professor over a shared love for tragic westerns; and has a categorized list of historical romances with metrics including historical accuracy, how smutty it is, plot outside the romance, time period, location, and social class of the characters, how healthy the romance is, and how compelling.

Her favorite snacks are plain baby carrots and straight honey. She enjoys traumatizing people at parties by drizzling honey straight into her mouth like whipped cream, and she eats so many carrots that multiple have questioned how she hasn't turned orange.

CJ:

CJ is into fashion, but not like trends or anything. She likes to look good while still having her stuff ethically sourced and affordable. She does a lot of thrift shopping and still manages to dress really good (or at least I think so). Her default and favorite style is punk-inspired bad bitch that, for lack of a better term, is a bit on the slutty side, but she does like to experiment. One of these days I'll probably draw lots of different civilian outfits for both of them.

CJ is the opposite of Ren in that she is a total social butterfly. Not only is she suuuuuper extroverted, she also isn't even a little shy, will strike up a conversation with anybody, and knows basically everyone. This also means she has friends from all walks of life, which gets really useful when Watchdog needs informants. The little old Mexican lady next door, the corner store butcher, the chronic smoker at the homeless shelter, the thrift shop owner they both pretend isn't selling drugs, the local town council member, the perpetually sleep deprived culinary arts student who likes to "experiment" in the school kitchens at 3 a.m., the league of legends nerds who always seem to be online, the manic party girls who keep inviting her to a night on the town---all of them get more information than people would expect, and CJ knows and is on good terms with all of them. And not for an ulterior motive, she just genuinely likes people.

CJ has extreme ADHD. She's lucky Ren has a scary good memory and would never let her forget her Adderall, otherwise she's be in trouble. As it stands, she still is rather hyperactive and has a. . .not short, but definitely jumpy attention span.

She's a plant mom. Their apartment has a ton of plants. She really likes ferns and shrubs, but they also have flowers, succulents, grasses, and literally everything else.

CJ plays the violin, but only in fiddle, bluegrass, and trad contexts, so she can barely read sheet music and learns almost everything by ear.

She hates wearing the color purple but has deliberately bought purple clothing solely for Ren to steal.

Both

Are self-proclaimed socialists who participate in a lot of fundraising, activism, and volunteer work.

Have another childhood best friend named Eli, who is a self-proclaimed anarchist and a business major at their rival university. They still get together all the time. He also knows everything about their double life. There's no secrets in this circle. They're all super close, but they have their favorite ways of hanging out. He and Ren bond by going on vandalism field trips where he puts up politically motivated rants, and she makes it look pretty. He and CJ bond by regularly forsaking civilization and going hiking or camping or just chilling in the woods. They all bond by drinking cheap wine mixed with Dr. Pepper while playing video games and doing their homework and drunkenly going on tirades about rich assholes.

He's also shipped them since middle school when he realized they liked each other, but he didn't want to meddle. He got increasingly frustrated by the mutual pining throughout their high school years and finally engineered a situation at their graduation party where they were locked in a closet together for an hour and warned them that if they didn't confess he was going to drug them and write it in permanent marker on their foreheads. They literally came out of the closet after sharing their first kiss and are willing to kill God for him in thanks.

They're both really messy, but in an organized chaos kind of way. Everything in their home does have a place, it's just not always the place that you'd expect. The place for dirty socks, for example, is "on the living room floor in a haphazard pile," and the place for tissue boxes is "three in every room in easily accessible places at all times."

Both of them can cook but prefer to just eat whatever unprepared food is lying around, and will try any combination if it means they don't have to cook. An average dinner in the Jack-Summers household is a bowl of uncooked pasta dipped in peanut butter like it's nacho cheese with a side of bananas.

They really really like cats. They are both allergic to cats.

They're not practicing any religion, but kind of both passively believe that there's probably a capital-G God and also that other lowercase-g gods exist.