#writing is hard argakhfjvndsl

[shhroomer]

Which canon character respects your OC most? What gained that respect?

LORE TIME !!! (sorry this took a while to answer too, i've still got the school debuff </3)

going to once again preemptively cut because i ALSO expect this one to be a long one. Also, just a heads up that while I try to be canon-compliant as much possible, a lot of the lore for this AU I have with my oc has some canon rewritten to better fit with my vision of the story/make for better character dynamics !

So I don't think there's necessarily one single character that respects Hanh the most. If I really had to try and narrow it down, it would probably be Kyle. I talk about it more in detail in here but to make a long story short (oh uh let's hope I don't turn like those people in the zipline episode), they're both very responsible, have strong moral compasses, and they're both basically the "moms" of the group. Hanh would specifically be kind of the "last line of defense" and voice of reason if even Kyle ends up falling victim to the whims of South Park shenanigans.

Though in a more general case, there are two events that caused Hanh to gain respect from most of the kids at school.

The first one was when Hanh first moved to South Park and was considered the New Kid. In typical new kid in South Park fashion, she'd probably gain a little bit of attention seeing as no one ever moves there (I'm imagining this takes place before the town becomes super gentrified and a lot of people start moving in). But other than the usual whispers and gossip, nothing really out of the ordinary happens, and life goes on. That is until the M4 get an idea (wuh oh).

Something, something, Cartman finds out that Hanh is Vietnamese (and not actually Chinese) and decides to formulate a plan where they use Hanh to help write their Vietnam War paper (this is actually entirely based Season 2 episode 6, the one where the M4 ask Ned and Jimbo about their experience in the Vietnam War).

So, once again, in typical South Park fashion, the boys go to pester and bother her about questions on the Vietnam War. To which, y'know, the 9 year old has no clue how to answer because she was born in the US and knows nothing about the war, lol.

For the most part, she just politely tells them she doesn't know anything. This of course completely infuriates Cartman, maybe he even goes on to believe it's some kind of conspiracy by the Chinese to stop them from getting an easy A on their report.

It all culminates into one boiling point where Cartman goes to confront her in the middle of the school yard. He starts throwing accusations and racist remarks while Hanh just kind of. Stands there. Not really knowing what to do. Stan and Kenny kind of stand just as awkwardly as her, while Kyle's yelling at Cartman for him to stop.

Up until Cartman decides to grab part of Hanh's hair and pulls on it. For a second, time slows down, and a little voice in the form of her mom rings in Hanh's head: "If anyone ever tries to bother you at this new school, you need to defend yourself. And if that means punching someone, you do it. What do you think we enrolled you in all of those karate classes for?"

And so, she does. She punches Cartman square in the face, practically instinctively, and he stumbles back. A thin line of blood starts streaming down his nose, staining the pristine snow underneath his feet, and Hanh's just about to shit her pants.

She runs off, utterly terrified at what kind of trouble she's going to get into, while the boys and anyone who had the fortune of seeing the scene unfold laugh at Cartman for getting his ass handed to him by a girl. For the rest of the day, Hanh just actively avoids the M4 as much as she could, thinking they're going to beat her up for punching one of their friends. So imagine how funny it is when they finally catch up to her and tell her "Dude, anyone who punches Cartman is cool in our books." To which she responds with "ISN'T HE YOUR FRIEND???"

So yea! It's both the catalyst for Hanh's friendship with the M4 and how she gained their respect (save for maybe Cartman).

The second event is also pretty similar to the first one, which is also based on another episode! Specifically, Season 8 Episode 10, the one with Trent Boyett.

In this one, instead of going to Shelley for protection against Trent Boyett, they go to Hanh (much to Cartman's dismay) because they remember an offhanded comment she made about taking martial arts classes and being a red belt. They were initially going to go ask Shelley first, before remembering she'd probably kill them anyway after protecting them from Trent.

When they come to her begging and pleading to Hanh, she's initially completely against the idea. She's especially appalled at Kyle, considering he's usually the one to take the moral high ground. Though, after a lot of convincing and tearful sobs, she finally concedes, only on the condition that they would own up to their mistake to everyone and give a heartfelt apology to Trent Boyett (in this universe they'd still get Trent sent to juvie, but probably not due to burning Ms. Claridge). Though, before they get the chance to agree to her terms, lo and behold: Trent Boyett shows up.

With nowhere left to go, the M4 hide behind Hanh, which Trent Boyett makes a comment on how of course they'd be cowardly enough to hide behind someone again instead of owning up to their mistake. Hanh (once again, shitting her pants) would try to reason with Trent by telling him the guys have changed and are willing to apologize and make up for everything they did. There's a moment of hesitation from him as he sees Hanh put her arms up, almost as if to shield her friends. But he dismisses this and just goes straight for them.

She uses herself to basically block Trent's way, following his every movement. After a bit of back and forth, he tries to push past her but she just pushes back, until he finally has enough and he just goes for it and beelines to them. This causes him to suffer the same fate as Cartman: with her fist connecting with his teeth. If she wasn't pissing herself before, she certainly is now, LOL

Everyone's reeling back from the shock and realization that Hanh's just punched the meanest, nastiest, cruelest kid in school (and also praying for her soul to rest in peace because only God can help her now), and there's a thick silence in the air. Mr. Mackey thankfully comes in before anything further happens, and seeing Trent Boyett at the scene already makes him think the worst. Mackey starts his spiel on how "fighting's bad, m'kay" and is about to take Trent away to presumably give him another suspension. Before he could do anything though, Hanh speaks up and takes the blame for starting the fight. Pretty much everyone is shocked, especially Trent (and also the M4 because if Hanh gets suspended over this, who's going to protect them now???). She goes on to recount what happened (albeit with a very shaky voice), and explains that she's the one who landed the first punch. Hesitantly, Mackey explains that she would likely have to face some kind of punishment, and maybe even suspension if this turns out to be true. She just nods.

But to everyone's surprise, Trent sighs butts in, retracting Hanh's statement by admitting to Mackey that he was in fact the one that started the fight, and that Hanh's just trying to cover for him. She tries to convince him that this isn't something he needs to do, but he just shrugs and says that "a few days of suspension isn't going to kill me."

Before he gets taken away, however, he turns to the M4 to give them a piece of advice: “You’re lucky you’ve got a good friend. I have no idea why someone like her would hang out with the likes of you, but right now it’s the only thing stopping from beating you guys to a bloody pulp right here and now, so take my advice: don’t fuck this up.” 

(she later gave them a good smack to the head to each boy for putting her in this heart-attack inducing situation)

And that's how Hanh managed to not only gain the respect of Trent Boyett, but also scare pretty much anyone (even her own friends) who ever thought about crossing her!

There's a lot of details and dialogue I omitted from the second part since I was worried I wouldn't be able to convey my thoughts well in writing. I've actually been wanting to make a mini-comic of this scenario someday!! so hopefully once the semester's over and I have some time i can finally put it to paper <3