FloraWriting

I should be a function member of society, instead I write fanfiction...

[florawriting]

BillyTober: Fragments of Reflection

Hey all!

So, today I stumbled upon an Inktober prompt list for Billy/Captain Marvel/Shazam by @ihavethreetimdrakeblogs and thought: 'Oh, that is fun, too bad I can't draw shit.'

But then I thought about it and figured, frick it, I am going to partake anyway with writing. So that is what I am going to do.

This post is mostly a way for me to archive all of them in order for your (and mine) viewing pleasure.

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Idea behind the "fragments": So basically, we are following Billy who has been given an "assignment" by his JL therapist who gave him prompts to think about and reflect upon. These small fragments are my interpretation on how Billy would reflect on these things based on a timeline that I made a while ago (find here)

For this challange I will say he is about 15/16 ish. He has been in the hero business for quite a while. He has worked and lived with CM jr. for around the same amount of time. Rather recently discovered that Mary is his biological twin sister and currently tries to find a new normal in the Vasquez household, Mary's fosterhome for the last 7 to 8 years.

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Day 1: Coming later

Day 2: Coming later

Day 3: Subway

Day 4: Siblings

Day 5: Zoo

Day 6: Disguise

Day 7: Secrets

Day 8: Coming later due to writers block and college

Day 9: Wizard

[florawriting]

Watched the State of Play yesterday and for some reason my thoughts the day after are constantly going "Damm, wish Shazam had a cool triple A, big budget game like Wolverine and Spider-man."

[florawriting]

This is going to be my most rambling post ever, and I quite certainly don't care. I'm going to look like that pepe silvia meme and I EMBRACE it!

super!Pedro's height and how it may reflect in his personality and his presentation

First off, whatever I am going to say next does not mean I do not like the casting choice of D.J. Cotrona as super!Pedro. He did a great job in both movies and I would not change it for the world. This is just meant as a little character study based on like, two throwaway lines and a smudge of comic lore.

So, we know that the champion form is an amalgamation of how you perceive yourself, the best version of yourself and the people you look up to. This is why Cap is frequently portrayed to look like C.C. Batson (yes, even in New 52/Rebirth). Due to this "rule", we can use the way a champion looks to determine personal traits.

For this Tumblr essay I want to look at Pedro. We know from all kinds of media that Pedro is insecure about himself, mostly the way he looks, but also his failing grades. That, combined with his introverted nature, makes him blend in with the background as he finds it hard to assert himself in a noticeable way.

His champion form in the comics looks like it wants to accomplish the exact opposite. Pedro is the tallest of the Shazamily, looks crazy strong and has a far more noticeable presence. And it makes Pedro a lot more comfortable. He is far more willing to crack a joke or two or show off a bit. It shows that, under the right circumstances, Pedro can be the dependable older brother that he hopes to become one day.

However, when we look at the movie version, the exact opposite is true. Pedro is actually the shortest of the boys. With D.J. Cotrona reportedly being around 176 CM (5' 9"), only being taller then Meagen Good (super!Darla) and Grace Fulton (Mary). His build and the way that he handles himself also makes him seem more compacter, or smaller, then he actually is. Making it so he seems to have a far lesser presence in the Shazamily then comic Pedro.

It is also funny that this "smaller" feeling does not seem to be an exclusively visual thing. Comic Pedro, while still being insecure, is very practical and tries to get things done. Meanwhile Movie Pedro flat out told Billy that he believes that he can not execute the plan during their first actual confrontation with the daughters of Atlas, and the poor kid was proven right (although, it was because of dumb misfortune and Billy's still evolving skills as a planner/leader).

It's honestly so funny to me that such a small (and probably accidental) visual difference between the comic and the adaptation can echo into such a large way of interpreting a character's psyche and personality.

I again have to note that this is NOTHING against D.J. Cotrona. Adam Broody (super!Freddy) isn't much taller and nobody in the production can help it that Ross Butler (super!Eugene) and Zackery Levi are freakishly tall (like seriously are they secretly Dutch or something?). These are just ramblings of a madman. Take them only half seriously

[florawriting]

This was supposed to go up during mothersday, but like my gift for my mother, i forgot where I stored it and gave it to her later that week. Enjoy

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I don’t know why but the mental image of the Shazamily doing the most mundane things with their powers amuses me, maybe even more then when other superheroes do so. It probably is because they can’t use their powers without having to be in full getup.

Like, I can imagine them deciding to clean the entire house for Rosa as a present for mothers day. So they kick Rosa and Victor out, close all the curtains and just, clean the house with their powers in full superhero costume and all because they can’t reach the top shelves without a sizable chance that someone will fall from a ladder or something.

Freddy is just floating in the kitchen cleaning shelves and countertops that haven’t been cleaned in years. Darla is moving around items at superspeed so that Billy can use the vacuum cleaner freely. Mary is cleaning out items in the attic with Pedro, who is hauling the heavy stuff downstairs and Eugene is cleaning and doing maintenance to utility machinery inside the house.

If you walked in it would look very odd, seeing six superheroes in full getup doing chores. Which is probably why the mental image alone cracks me up an unhealthy amount.

(it also somehow helps me clean out my apartment. I just imagine myself cleaning with the most ragtag group of people who you never expect to do a mundane task like cleaning.)

[florawriting]

‘No Shazamming indoors’

It was mend as a funny nod to the absolute insane situation the Vasquez family found itself in and a constant reminder not to fry the fusebox. But of course, like any remotely funny house decoration, it became some sort of an elaborate inside joke.

It all started when Eugene had a friend over, a typical hang-out where the two boys were glued to the screen playing some video game on the TV. Somewhere during the play session the game was playing some licensed music and the boy wanted to know what it was. So, like any curious person, he tried to find the answer.

“I’ll just let Shazam listen to it.”

Like instinct everyone in their vicinity turned their head towards Eugene’s friend, almost expecting lightning to burst through the ceiling and light up the entire room. But, of course, non of that happened.

“Not indoors!” Freddy yelled almost instantly. Causing the boy’s head to turn in startled confusion. It was quiet for a few seconds, until Eugene burst out laughing, the others in the living room soon to follow. The only exception was the poor boy, who was utterly confused.

Eugene afterwards showed him the cross-stitch on the wall, clearly stating ‘No Shazamming indoors’. When the boy asked why it was there Eugene shrugged “We just really hate the app”.

[florawriting]

While this story continues on the ideas in the Billy is a god AU, this is not officially part of my AU. See it as another continuation of FOTG if the rules of magic worked a little differently.

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“What is happening to me?”

Nobody really noticed at first.

After the dome disaster the Vasquez worked hard to gain some sort of normality. They rebuild their house (thank god for the Wayne relieve fund), they went back to school and work and, most importantly of all, their familial bond grew stronger then ever. The accident, and subsequently, Billy’s death and resurrection almost forgotten.

Being so close to each other, it was really hard to notice the subtle changes Billy was undergoing day by day.

It was that feeling when you looked into his eyes and you swore they looked less bright half a year ago, but that that could not be right and maybe you are just misremembering it.

Maybe it was that thing that you could feel it when Billy entered the room, as if his presence called attention. But you rationalized it by thinking: ‘I heard his footsteps, he has a very distinct walk, I probably knew because of that’

Maybe it was the fact that he seemed to look healthier. How even during the toughest of exams and assignments he did not look tired, even if he claimed he needed to chug an energy to stay awake during the test.

It were all small things, stretched over a long period of time, that you only noticed it if you placed an older picture right next to Billy’s face and pointed it out directly. Not even Billy saw anything wrong.

Well until that day that was.

Billy was helping with dinner, cutting up vegetables with a knife while talking to Freddy when he accidentally cut himself. It was small and not that serious, just a bit of running water and a small band-aid and he would go on with his day. Or, he would have done that normally.

As he cleaned the small cut, a slither of blood leaked out, lacking the distinct red colour it was known form.

Billy watched in horror as a small line of blood stained his hand. Not red, but in a yellowish gold. Ichor, the blood of the gods.

He could only turn to Freddy, whose face mirrored Billy’s shock.

“Freddy… What’s happening to me?”

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Fun Fact, in my Billy is a god AU notedoc I distinctly have the rule that both Billy and Cap bleed red. The rule is even older then the notedoc, originating from another post FOTG AU I made in 2023 that never saw the light of day. So, the more you know!

[florawriting]

Little rant post but Why The Hack does the DCEU Fandom wiki state that Freddy’s birthday falls in December?!

If you go to the wiki now it states that Freddy’s date of birth falls in December 2004. I agree with the 2004 part, it is a simple math equation when you realize that the first movie takes place at the tail end of 2018 and Freddy and Billy are both 14. 2018-14 = 2004.

But to get to the December month you have to jump though too many hoops in my opinion. Quick show of my math. Freddy states that he is a month younger than Billy in FOTG. Mary states that Billy is aging out of the system in 5 months. FOTG takes place in May (We know it takes place after April, but it is still spring, which makes it fall into May. Allegedly we also see that it is May on Freddy’s phone, but I haven’t personally found said evidence yet.).

If Billy ages out of the system in 5 months, and it is currently May, then Billy’s birthday falls in October. Meaning that, if Freddy is a month younger, he would fall in November. Not December.

So ether, they have Billy’s birthday wrong and he is from November (which could make sense if FOTG falls in end May), or Freddy’s birthday is wrong as December is clearly two months away from October. That, or Billy’s birthday is actually at the end of October and Freddy says he is a month younger while it is more so a month and a week so he would fall in begin December, which somehow, I find the least likely one of the three.

But I do kinda get it, the third of December is the international day of the disabled people after all. If he was from November, he might have had his birthday on international toilet day or something.

All of this is to say that I still chose the third of December 2004 as the birthdate of Freddy in my file of Tomodatchi life, living the dream. Even if I think it isn’t true. Yes, even I could not ignore the cruel irony.

[florawriting]

Child me was hilarious and I am tired of pretending like I was solely cringe. (#1?)

So, I was going through some old Shazam one-shot's that I had written around 5 years ago (jesus christ, the movie came out six years ago, I am so old). While a few of them should be posted somewhere there are quite a few that never saw the light of day. However, some of these passages are so freaking hilarious that I am just going to share them here.

Warning: These have been written by teen me and have not been updated ever since.

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Context: Eugene just accidently uploaded his conscious to cyberspace and Freddy and Billy have to deal with the aftermath of their brother seemingly dying without reason while also having creepy glowing eyes.

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“Okay, so when I say go you breath in his mouth and I shock his heart and then we hope he wakes up” Billy said while laying down Eugene’s body on the ground. “Dude, I am not going to kiss my brother. That is gross.”

“Your not kissing him, your saving his life!”

“Can’t I shock him? Kiss him yourself!”

“Your not kissing him, besides you have not been able to create more then a few watt! How do you want to preform CPR if you can’t even light a lightbulb!”

“CPR? Dude, you can’t think he is dead right. I mean, people don’t look like that when they die. Oh my god what are we going to tell M and V. We can’t just waltz in with a dead body in our hands and be like, oh yea sorry he died during all of this. By the way we have no idea why he looks like this but will figure it out.”

“And that is exactly why we are preforming CPR you empty brained idiot.”

As the two boys were arguing with each other the ICT guy walked over to the body of Eugene and felt his neck, where he luckily felt a pulse. “Uh guys?” he asked with a soft voice, but the two superhero’s kept arguing if kissing your brother was incest.

“Guys!” he screamed out loud. The two superhero’s turned around with annoyed faces asking “What?” like two annoyed teenagers. “he’s alive” the guy said while pointing to Eugene.

[florawriting]

So this blog (and thus my account) is now two years old...

WHAT THE ACTUAL SHI

[florawriting]

Actually: Philadelphia is the perfect city for Captain Marvel

Look, I adore the mixed magical Fawcett that the fandom has created for Cap. It's cool and unique. It allows for more classical stories that are a bit hard to pull off nowadays. And that's coming from a massive new 52 stan.

But I've also seen some video's of Philadelphians and wooofff, it's chaos on earth. You could introduce maniacal mad scientists, monstrous mind controlling worms and talking anthropomorphic tigers and I believe nobody would bat an eye.

Also, it's funny if Cap could be genuinely scared sometimes of his fellow citizens

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Captain Marvel was already fearing the worst when it became known that Dr. Sivana had crashed a massive football match with his newest robot. That stadium was PACKED with people, he really had to make sure there wouldn't be any  casualties.

As he came closer he started to hear yelling. Only this wasn't the fearful running away yelling. No this sounded like a war has broken out.

Cap flew over the stadium walls to see utter chaos on the field. The robot of Sivana had tipped over and was being ripped to shreds by angry football fans.

Cap quickly came closer to asses the situation

Cap: "Is everything alright here?"

Football Fan: "Oh hi Captain. Everything was fine until this IDIOT showed up and ruined our match!"

The fan let out a battle cry as it tore a piece of metal from the robot. Cap could only watch with a look of mixed horror and awe.

Cap: "So.... your good?"

Football Fan: "Oh, were good."

Cap flew away as fast as possible. If there was one thing the courage of Achilles couldn't help with, then it was angry football fans

(Dr. Sivana was later found somewhere in a ditch)

[florawriting]

I was thinking (yes I know, I shouldn’t do that, but screw off)

There are some universes where Captain Marvel has minor transmutation abilities. Like changing his outfit and such. But what if he had minor transformation abilities as well.

Like, he can’t shapeshift, but he can change very minor stuff like eye color or, for today’s funny Tumblr post, his voice.

He can’t exactly mimic someone else’s voice without specific spells that he doesn’t bother to learn, but there is one voice that is very easy to mimic with his minor transformation abilities: his own. Or more specifically Billy's.

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Captain Marvel is dealing with a simple robber when his phone goes off in his back pocket-dimension. He calls for a time-out, leaving the robbers very confused, before grabbing his phone and gulping.

He vocally coughs a few times before picking up, answering “hi mom” in two octaves higher.

The robbers watch dumbfoundedly as Captain Marvel: champion of magic, hero of Fawcett and high ranking JL member, answers the phone in a seemingly tween boy’s voice having to justify why he is late. Even ending the call with a quick “Yeah, love you too, bye!”

Cap puts the phone back, instantly switching to his normal, lower, voice.

“Sorry guys, gotta go, let’s pack this up quick so I can go home alright?”

[florawriting]

You know, in Shazam! Lightning Strikes we are told that Eugene partakes in bot fights. Basically creating and programming a robot with the sole purpose to duke it out against other robots and destroy them. (it's really fun to watch TBH)

But what if Eugene one day became so fed up by a certain opponent that he decides to use his Champion resources?

Like, he goes to the Gamelands and buys equipment and other stuff that is far beyond earth capabilities. He goes to the JL headquarters and takes some alien metal that is a hundred times stronger then steel and he just, starts building a monstrosity.

Eugene is Victor Frankenstein, his powers his own personal thunderstorm and his creation, his robot, is his monster. A monster on the battlefield, undefeated to this very day.

The arrogant opponent did not stand a chance.

[florawriting]

I can't draw for the life of me, so I guess I have to describe the image in my head

That one time the Shazamily crashed on the couch

It had been a tough battle. The day was saved, everything turned out fine, but the Stamina of Atlas and Courage of Achilles has their limits.

To keep it simple: They were EXHAUSTED

The six of them arrived back home late in the evening (or early in the morning, however you prefer) in the backyard to see if they could transform there or if they had to fly a few blocks over. Billy quickly checked to see if Rosa and Victor were awake in the living room, but didn't find them.

Billy was about to go back out when he heard a thud and a snore behind him. Eugene had practically stumbled on the couch and it was clear he was not coming off until he had some hours in.

Darla was practically sleepwalking. Freddy's unlimited social battery had run out. Mary was swaying and Pedro only stood due to familial pressure.

Billy signed, he himself feeling like a dead man walking, and sat down in the living room as well. Sleep sounded a lot better then a change of clothes currently.

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The following morning Rosa got downstairs to see if there was any sign that her children had come home safely from their mission, only to surprisingly find their still very much adult versions sprawled out over the entire living room.

Eugene laid flat out on the couch, face buried in a cushion in the corner. Darla had somehow, despite being twice her length, been able to curl up at one foot end. With Mary asleep on the other, head resting on the armrest.

Pedro sat slouching on the large chair on the other side, his head hanging backwards on the backrest with his mouth slightly open. Billy had somehow found his way curled up on the ground and was seemingly unbothered by that fact (a sad reminder of his life on the street). Then there was Freddy sprawled out on the backrest of the couch, most likely floating as to not fall on ether his siblings or on the ground.

Rosa had to try hard to not laugh at the display, snapping a quick picture and draping a blanket over the more heavy sleepers before letting them rest just a bit longer.

After all, when do you get the chance to see all your children like that at the same time? And honestly, they can be pretty cute when they're sleeping.

[florawriting]

I am literally mashing multiple thoughts together with this one that might upset someone, but when I have an idea, I want to share it so.

Welcome to a new episode of the Billy is a god AU(?)

I’ll prove it!

The whole Vasquez family has a bit of a weird relationship with religion, because there is no real term for: Believing but not practicing. They are atheistic in mindset, not worshipping, no spiritual practices. I mean, It pretty hard to practice paganism if you have to correct the god’s bad behavior or celebrate his football wins, normal everyday stuff.

But like, they also know that gods do actually exist, multiple, making them technically pagan.

Since their situation is convoluted they also really don’t care about other people’s religions. If their believe makes the other person happy, and they are not actively hurting anyone, the Vasquez certainly won’t care. Mary and Freddy might even have a friendly discussion about it.

But there is the once in a million chance that somebody is very annoying about it and currently, Freddy was having one of those moments.

After a supposedly deep but one time conversation with an evangelical, the guy had made it his life mission to show the flaws in Freddy’s ideology. Even after Freddy explained his reasoning (the Philadelphia dome accident) and his distain for the constant harassment, the guy still tried his shot.

It all cumulated in a fed up Freddy yelling out: “If I can show you that my god is real? Will you then finally leave me alone!”

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The next day at the campus Freddy walked up to the evangelical with the best living proof there was: his foster now adoptive brother Billy Batson. Needless to say the guy was not amused.

Guy: "Well Freddy, I am interested in the proof that you are here to show me. Do you have a holy scripture I can see? Maybe some sort of prayer?"

Freddy *smirking*: "I’ve got something even better, the real deal."

The guy’s face faltered, looking confusingly at Freddy.

Billy: "He’s talking about me"

The guy turned for the first time to Billy, looking him up and down with a frankly disgusted look.

Guy: "Is this some sort of joke? Are you two belittling me? He’s as old as us!"

Billy: "I wish it was a joke, would have left us all with a lot less trauma, but no. Freddy is right, sorry that I’m not like a large powerful man looking down from a throne or something."

Freddy *through fake coughs*: "Not mentally at least"

Billy poked Freddy’s side with his elbow, but seeing that Billy was trying hard to suppress a smile, it was clear that he was also enjoying toying around with the guy.

Billy: "Look, I just don’t like to hear that someone I care about is getting harassed. I really don’t care what you believe, I don’t want any worshippers or something. I just want everyone to get along. So please, leave Freddy alone so I don’t have to smite you or something and make a whole fuss in the pantheon alright?"

With that Billy 'done with everything' Batson just turned around and walked off. Freddy following suit, well after he said to the bewildered guy that he would really appreciate it if the guy would keep his promise now.

And that he did, because Freddy never interacted with the guy again. Also wasn’t approached by any other converters for that matter.

[florawriting]

I looked at the date, and all of a sudden I realized.

"Today is December 8, and this is video proof of authenticity" ~ Freddy (from the Shazam! 2019 movie)

Today, seven years ago, is the date that Billy had gotten his powers in the movie verse.

As for proof: here's the link Shazam! | I'm Bulletproof | Warner Bros. Entertainment

The clip in question starts at 5 minutes.

Also: god I'm getting old, the movie came out almost 7 years ago

[florawriting]

This is more of a storytime thingy, but IDK wanted to share it.

So, self-insert OC's. Everyone's got them, and I made my first Shazam self insert OC when I was like, 15. So peak teen cringe era. I believe the story went that I still had my own nationality but due to a shitty foster system I was "stuck" in the USA instead of being fostered in my country of origin.

However, as I became older and went into my "I'm too cool for all that" era I started poking holes in the story. Surely it wouldn't be possible for an orphan to be taken out of Europe and adopted in a family in America, that would be weird. and I thought that for the longest time till now.

So here I was in the movie club, watching a movie from the 1940's which I will not specify as I will then definitly dox my nationality. (also it was my first black and white film, i'm very proud of myself). And all of a sudden there is this side character whom is an orphan from my country adopted by an american family. They literally said that she originally lived in an orphanage in my countries capital before she starts speaking my national language and says something very specifically to my country!

It is that I am a bit to old to have a self-insert character right now, but I gained a lot of appriciation for 15 year old me and that silly little OC she created. Cause it's quite literally possible that the american foster system is that shitty.

[florawriting]

So I saw Now You See Me: Now You Don’t today in theaters and had a very fun time. I personally really like heist movies with it’s tropes and twists, so to add cool slight of hand magic in the mix is just an awesome cherry on top.

Anyway, you are probably not on this blog to read about movies I saw, you’re here for DC stuff, specifically Shazam stuff. So how can I bridge it somehow in a convoluted way?

Well, my brain was emerging itself in the concept (as it does when it just saw a cool movie, it makes you want to be a magician burglar yourself) I somehow thought: How funny would it be if actual magic came to use? So I just kinda came up with this idea.

Billy BATson: The covert magical operative.

Basically in a Billy BATson AU world (so where Billy get’s adopted by Bruce Wayne AKA Batman) instead of Billy taking the mantel of Robin or staying Captain Marvel full time, Billy does a middle road where he is both Captain Marvel in Fawcett, and a convert operative in Gotham.

Billy isn’t out in the street fighting crime, but when a covert mission rolls around he is the person in the middle of it all. Instead of highly advanced martial arts, Billy delves deeper into the arts of deception, perception and slight of hand, adding actual magic in the mix to make his operative roll even more convincing.

Billy would definitely be the wildcard in these convert or heist situations. He would be able to set the most convoluted plan into motion, or finish it depending on the plan and/or situation.

I can imagine him walking out of the shadow, tossing the artifact with his hand as he explains how the plan went (a big heist movie trope) by stating something ridiculous like: “When Bruce was speaking I was able to create a perfect replica of this briefcase that had a back opening for me to exchange the artifact right after you showed it off at the auction so that you would not be suspicious about the change” or something like that.