an independent RP account for TECHNO HAVOC, an oc set in the concept of
Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys
(with a secondary-main modern verse (& others!) for the uninitiated)
heavily headcanon reliant; not comic compliant. raised out of the dust again & again
by Hannah (she/her, 25+, cst) since 2011.
a story of being swallowed whole but not dying — of refusing to go quietly — of sparks and spite and static and s u r v i v a l.
✩ ✭ ✩ ✭ ✩
main blog to: @havenofseven & @hittheredline
There is a full rules/ooc page on the carrd as well as on the native tumblr theme, but as an important note about triggers:
Despite the candy-colored coating, Danger Days is dark stuff. There's a lot of violence, oppression, violation of personal rights, mass killings, compromised moralities on both sides of the conflict, and other dystopian & wartime themes.
Tech is a survivor of childhood sexual assault and involuntary medical procedures and struggles with c-ptsd symptoms including suicidal ideation, self harm, disordered eating, panic attacks, intrusive thoughts, nightmares and flashbacks all alongside just generally having to fight for her life at every turn. (I don't write SA-themed threads, but it's likely to come up in drabbles and posts about her nightmares and flashbacks, etc. Always tagged.)
There are some elements of the setting's supernatural phenomena which might trigger people who experience paranoia and delusions.
It's also worth noting her aesthetics run on the eye-strain and flashing images side of things.
I will do my best to keep all of these things tagged but the fact is they characterize the overall tone of her canon/this blog, so she might be a miss for you if these themes upset you or unbalance your health. Please take care of you!!!!
hi i swapped meds b/c of side effects from the other one and now i'm Undermedicated among other things going in my life and. ooo boy. ooooooo boy. i lived like this? anyway.
Inspired by the above image, which was accessible on the band's website prior to the album being released and for some time after. This was an interactive image; tuning the knob on the right to different frequencies caused different short videos, the 'transmissions' shorts, to play in the screen of the device. This device does not appear prominently in the music videos (or anywhere else for that matter) though it may be part of the device seen in Na Na Na (here.)
Most of the transmissions have been archived [here]; tw for flashing images. There are no direct scares but some of the audios are loud and/or jarring, and the vibes of several of the shorts can be a little disconcerting.
When it came to fandom, a lot of us started out on twitter (as there were official accounts of characters from the world of Danger Days already found there, run by various members of the band(?) and other creatives responsible for the killjoys universe) and thus in-character posts were restricted to 140 characters. We mostly did dialogue-only interactions and pictures. This, naturally, begged the question – how were the characters communicating this way, through 'voice' and images? We latched onto the transmitter as the obvious answer, and the idea of transmitters and practice of talking-only interactions stuck across the years even as writers moved to other websites and forums in order to do longer writing.
Controlled (and Contraband) Communication
Transmitters are a creation of Better Living Industries. Presented to the common public as a communications device, they were devised and designed as tools for disseminating propaganda, increasing advertisement exposure, and monitoring civilian perception of the company and its opposition. Snowballing off of the wireless accessibility and its uses both socially and as a way to receive news and safety broadcasts, phones and similar were phased out in favor of these devices. In time, it became mandatory for a city household to have at least one transmitter, "in case of emergency."
The problem with radio signals is that they aren’t so easily regulated as BLi would like. There’s a margin of forgiveness in tuning, close is close enough to listen in – and therefore there’s a margin of evasion, and a plethora of back doors. BLind’s opposition took advantage of this early on and have only gotten better at it with time. These days it’s all but impossible for the city to eradicate a rouge signal.
Transmitters aren't strictly necessary in the inner zones, where populations are closer together and news can travel by word of mouth, but are vital in the outer zones to get wind of dangerous weather or animals that might be moving through, as well as to call for help or send word ahead of yourself. Killjoys aren't always the most trusting, not even of each other, but it remains true that the 'joy that tries to lone wolf their way through the zones is likely to be dead sooner rather than later: it's wise to keep connected, even if only to listen
Pirate radio stations are the quickest and safest way to spread words that BL/ind doesn't want anyone saying and, of course, the best way to find a solid wall of music to keep company with. Signals are so loose and most get bounced around until t's hard for BLi to say where any of the chatter is coming from. Radio hosts who have tower setups that reach across multiple zones are well-known and often at least vaguely venerated. Striking down a DJ is a black mark on anyone, and when the city manages to pin them down and take them out entire swathes of the desert go dark. DJs fill the silence with music and conversation, keep you connected in a disjointed desert, and bring word of disasters both natural and of the curated Better Living variety. Anything and everything to help zone runners keep running.
Dr. Death Defying of the WKIL is the most known and celebrated of the DJs, broadcasting from who-knows-where on the regular, guiding the new kids and the Fab Four alike out of the stickiest messes with crow crews and back to the dust bowl called home. Other recognized broadcasters include DJ Hot Chimp, an elusive and eccentric rabblerouser up north, Rockin’ Jay and L-E-N’s both belong to the Web that guards zones 03 and 04, and RKO of a station called The Fence which broadcasts through the night from somewhere near the southeastern edge of the zones.
All the Bells and Whistles
A mutli-tool of the modern age, transmitters can connect to other transmitters, receive public broadcasts and informational text files, and store information. In the simplest possible terms, transmitters are capable of short range radio broadcast and long range radio reception. It might help to think of them as souped-up walkie-talkies that can pick up radio stations and broadcast TV, or smart phones as they might have been imagined by a person in the 70s or 80s (i.e. sans wifi). The biggest difference from, for instance, older cellphones is their limited connection range and lack of smart interfacing. Hence the comparison to walkie-talkies. This idea of them has also informed their design. Though there is no real way to gauge the size of the device from the only official appearance of it, it seems safe to assume most transmitters are roughly palm-width handheld devices.
I've taken to mentally comparing them to Sony's line of “Watchman” devices (1982-2000) in terms of approximate size and range of styles. (Killjoys, of course, tend to paint theirs.)
All transmitters broadcast and receive audio and text. All transmitters are capable of receiving and displaying images and video broadcast, though may not have a camera of their own. Some have typing interfaces, while those that don't often have dictation tech. Voice and text tend to get across a transmitter’s max range relatively undisturbed, but videos and images are known to pick up distortion and sometimes fragment before they get where they’re going. Text and images can be passed device-to-device similar to chain email, though stored locally on the device instead of in an online repository. Most transmitters have some amount of memory or other means for storing messages the owner may have missed out on, similar to a home phone’s message box. Generally speaking they can hold a few minutes of video, a moderate amount of recorded audio, or a lot of text — the specifics, of course, vary by model.
Most also have the ability to trigger recording at any time, so a user could grab a song or a piece of radio talk off the waves and hold the file on their device. Anyone who wanted to keep such things long term would be smart to move the recorded material onto a different device. This can be done by connecting the transmitter to another device via hardline though I expect some have more of a traditional inbox style that requires tapes for the recorded audio. (Or memory and tape capabilities. The combinations get wild!)
A vast majority of transmitters are battery powered, though some rechargeable options exist for unreasonably high prices in Center City. Average battery life is weeks long, and can of course be rationed by turning the device off between uses.
As handheld devices, their broadcast range in incredibly limited. Exact numbers vary from model to model and effectiveness varies by terrain. On average, someone with a mid range transmitter in an open, flat part of the zones can expect to transmit out 5-6 miles, and receiving range depends almost entirely on the broadcaster's setup. Lower end models might only reach 1-3, and anything with a base range any higher would be either expensive or custom, and further would rely on elevation to gain their reach. A transmitter could be equipped with the parts and power to broadcast to the moon, but it wouldn’t matter if the user couldn’t get the physical height to let it cast out. The higher it is and the less obstructed its signal, the wider the signal goes. Savvy killjoys use natural formations, ridges, and hills to boost their signals; with the aid of height a mid-range transmitter might get out to 10 miles or even further every now and then, which may be the thing that saves their life! but it’s going to come down to luck. Antennae are helpful, here.
This is a limitation of the technology’s capabilities and the earth’s curvature, not a question of smarts and power supply.
Radio stations have towers for a reason! and that’s what makes DJs and the Web so important in the zones. Wide broadcast and long range communication are impossible without something really tall to send from. The infrastructure that would allow it simply does not exist and could not be easily created, powered, or supplemented.
Someone in the city with the same device could only expect something like two miles (or less) of clear messaging due to signal obstruction. Roof to roof would get one more distance, but if the message is illicit it puts the broadcaster in a vulnerable position. Messaging trees —where one person passes news to another, person to person until it reaches the intended destination- are incredibly common for both social and underground communication in the city. There are actual phones and phone lines in Center City, though they are mostly found within secure buildings and are typically limited or else entirely closed internal systems. All hard lines, no wireless (which is true of most of Better Living's servers and networks.)
City transmitters are often limited in one or more ways; some have their reach drastically cut down, while others might not be able to call out at all and only receive official BLi broadcasts. Generally, the more privileged the citizen -the closer to “Center City” they are- the more options available to a buyer. This is both a question of cost and a matter of what BLind will permit a person to own and have access to. Citizens of the outer city have to save to get their hands on a decent model, and those in the Neon Slums have the most limited devices, which are commonly bugged for surveillance as well. Some citizens, the killjoy sympathetic and the bold, will take their devices to a servicer who checks for bugs and remove certain software based limitations, ‘lockpicking’ the devices. It’s a risky endeavor. Both owning a lockpicked transmitter and being caught altering them are criminal offenses that can get a person punished or even detained.
Killjoys transmitters vary wildly in their production and capabilities, depending on how much the killjoy in question relies on it. (As mentioned, they’re borderline accessory in the inner zones but a must-have survival tool further out.) Some killjoys are capable of getting their hands on the newest, shiniest works of tech, while others use rejects rescued from BLind’s dumping ground or even patch them together from parts scavenged from burnt out cars and old-world establishments. Unless a killjoy is after a locked one on purpose, it’s safe to assume every killjoy transmitter is lockpicked. Smart killjoys get their stolen and recycled transmitters checked for audio taps and tracking bugs, or learn to spot the signs and clean the devices themselves.
Any zones technician will recommend taking your transmitter to someone who knows what they’re doing. BLind gets creative with their spy tech, changing designs every year and burying betrayal behaviors under necessary functions. It’s a good idea to be safe rather than oh so very dusted.
In years since taking over as the main lane of communication, wily transmitter users have figured out how to make ‘private’ calls between two specific devices. It used to be a very complicated process, as it involves hiding one signal behind another, but became so popular than many lockpicked transmitters have easy to remember shortcuts for it. One or two button presses and a chat becomes harder to hear. As one might guess, though, the entire system being founded on radio the way that it is means that the security of these privatized calls only extends so far. Killjoys mostly rely on distance to keep their conversations away from BLi’s overachieving ears, while those in the city having dangerous talks would be wise to meet in person and whisper, or find a way to obscure the meaning of their words.
A dive into transmitter etiquette is in the works! I will link it here when it's done.
Hi if anyone wants to know a shred of what it was like when this was live, they're doing something really similar (albeit much less complex) on their site right now for the 15th anniversary of the album.
@enchaentales ( Allie ) //> lost the meme & don't feel like finding it
“Wait …! hold still, I want to take a picture.”
“Auugh, Allie,” do you have to? The groan was mostly involuntary, but she can't make herself say all of it. There's just too much sweetness in Allie's enthusiasm. Maddy swipes a stubborn shard of her bangs out of her face. “Alright. Okay, lemme.. lemme tidy.”
The hair, of course, falls right back into place as she turns to her work. There's spare parts and leftover trimmings. She sweeps the area clear, making space at least. As a final note, she dusts a few curled shavings of metal off the nose. Adjusts the ears. Her patchwork shines in the low light, gears polished, wires neat. Clockwork married to electricity in the shape of a smart-eyed, slender little hare.
He is picture-worthy, isn't he? At least in theory. She dusts his nose again, though there's no more mess.
“Okay,” she sighs a little... and she can't help herself. “Y'know I'm not even sure he runs right, yet. We might be jumpin' the gun a little takin' pictures now.”
In return, “Has he?” She doesn’t think she’d miss something direct. She can’t act on hints and whispers, not about this, and she hasn’t gotten anything concrete from him. Plenty of insinuation from those around him, including Tech, but nothing undeniable. Nothing plain.
“My feelings are apparently no secret.” She’d be irritated, if it wasn’t so terrifying. Being known. Being seen. Half a shrug, head tips to the side. “Can’t say I know his opinion on the matter, though. Not with any certainty.” She’s still too afraid of wanting to ask for clarification. There’s a part of her—she’s afraid there will always be a part of her—certain this is all some game at her expense. Hazing, perhaps, making sure she belongs in the desert, or trying to drive her back to the City. She spent ten years doing Better Living’s bidding, conscious of the damage she was doing. She can’t blame anyone who might want to make her pay for that. Hurt her back.
Arm around her ribs pulled tight. Fingers braided. Legs like rope, where she turned in place and spun them together. Twisted, tied up Techie, the tiresome, triumphant tangle. So how is it that Mazie manages to make it all sound so complex?
“Can't?” she asks. Or won't? she wonders. She leans. Pulling her arm tighter around herself. Holding it together. Her head tilts far to the side, considering Mazie from a new angle. Her hair drapes across her face. It's not enough to cover her eyes. “...Why not?” What makes it hard to see?
You know he looks like stone, some part of her points out. Mazie would not be the first person to look on Jack and find a wall, nor the last. Nor, even, the latest. Somehow, that doesn't seem like the doubt at work. But maybe that's biased thinking. She hums, thinking.
“Well. If it makes y'feel better, you'd know for sure if he didn't like you.”
She lies on silver pillows: the sun leans over her. He warms and warms her, kisses and kisses her. There are sparks in her hair and she stirs in laughter.
Katherine Mansfield, from "The Awakening River" in The Complete Poems
@hvndredbattles ( Singh ) //> lost the meme & don't feel like finding it
"Stay awake. You've got a concussion, and I'm not keen t' carrying you over the mountain."
—Mm. Her hum is actually the cut off start of something that slips away before she can find what it is, lost to the next swift pulse of pain. She forces her eyes open -one more than the other- to level him with the best glare she can manage. “Sure. Hate t'put'a.. strain on all five'f'your muscles.”
Decidedly, not her most clever retort. He's not exactly shrimpy. She wobbles in place. “Aren't'cha....” ...She slouches back a little, taking an intentional breath. “..S'posed't'be able t'lift a whole ass man?”
questions taken from [this] post, but instead of reblogging it i'm just going to answer all of them !
tw: mentions of self harm, child abuse
MINDFULLNESS– Do they live in the moment? What keeps them present?
She tries. Oh god, she tries.
But there is a not insignificant part of her that is a worrier. A planner. She gets caught up in thinking about what will come, or what might. She collects things and creates backups and tries to stay one step in front of things she thinks can or could or should or would or consider or even accidentally end up hurting her.
She also gets trapped in past, more regularly than most. This is partly a matter of flashbacks and some regressive tendencies, which are typically beyond her control and conscious influence. It's also partly a inclination to obsess if she's not careful. To examine and reexamine, try to take her experiences and exchanges apart to understand them. It's not always a bad thing - reconsidering things gives her the chance to put mind to them when she's out of higher emotional responses or defensive stances. It's just when it goes unchecked that it becomes a running tally and an impossible complexity that she traps herself in.
By and large, it's her people who keep her from getting lost in either. The codependency of it all can be... problematic, but her brother is typically the best at bringing her around. Lith and Vi are close behind him, as Tech's longest and closest friends. Her cat is a powerful grounding tool as well. He seems uncannily attuned to her moods and even her ahhh neuroses for lack of a better term, and uses his weight, his voice, or sometimes his claws to keep her where she is (this is the reason why she takes him on a vast majority of her solo travels, despite the dangers those travels tend to post to him.) She's been trending away from it, as she opens up to letting people be a grounding force in her life, but she does still lean on self-harm as a grounding tool as well. You can tell she's been struggling with her nightmares, flashbacks, and obsessing when new lines appear on her left thigh, joining all the rest.
SELF-EFFICACY– Does the end justify the means? How to they approach their goals? Do they blame others for their own faults or admit them?
The ends do Not justify the means. (Except when they do.) She does not just do whatever she wants and think that it will all be forgiven or accepted because in the end it led to something good. (Except when she does.) Getting things to turn out doesn't mean it's okay to compromise. (Well-)
—That said, there are lines she won't cross. She's loyal, and while she might do things her people don't like or approve of in the name of trying to look after them, she would never intentionally put them in danger just to get to some end result or another. Most of her crimes are committed in service of her loyalty, really. Her desire to change things for the better and/or protect people. She approaches things determined, and off the wall, and often sharp, but rarely with the intent to cause harm. At least, not to the good guys. (If she ever fully figures out which ones are the good ones, she'll be sure to let you know.)
She will sometimes appear to blame others for her own nature. She certainly has a lot of frustration stored up for the ways that she was failed and abused as a child, but even knowing that many of the things she does are in service of defending herself she's relatively quick to ... if not so verbally admit that she was wrong, to know it. And try to right it.
RESILIENCE– How do they handle loss or failure? What helps them stay resilient and bounce back from loss or failure?
The scale of the loss/failure matters a little, but at the end of the day she gets back up. She crawls out the dirt, finds a way to light the darkness, gets up again. Spits and fights and claws and bites. The day she goes down she certainly won't go easy. Not even taking her apart keeps her down. There is always a what if, a what now, a way to do something. Even if something is just glaring at the thing that aims to kill you, so it knows you'll come back to haunt it if you get the chance. There's always something. It's not always quick or easy to find. Often not obvious, and always has piece to weigh and chances to fall apart. But there's always. Something.
I'm actually... not entirely sure what keeps her like this from the her-psychology standpoint of things? She just Is. It might the curiosity? The spite? The hope? Frankly it might just be the need I had to have a piece of. I guess she's a piece of myself, really? that never ever gave up. She could scream and cry and break things and be awful, she could lay down and fall down and get pushed. Get bloodied. Be broken. But she always gets back up. She always tries again, however long it takes her to build up the courage.
GROWTH– What would it take for them to change their mind or perspective? Do they recognize when new paths open for them, or stick to their preferred paths?
Hard to say. Sometimes it's something as simple as a conversation. Other times, she must be dragged kicking and screaming. I think she's well practiced at seeing all the paths. Spotting all the places where things could change or be changed, where the world or someone else or she might get into the workings and move things around, it's just... the taking of those paths that seems to backfire. More often than not it feels like they send her in circles, and very few of those circles have been kind to her. It's hard to take a new road, sometimes, when you've bled so much on all the others you've tried just to end up more or less where you started. Luckily (or unluckily? she's never sure) she's a question asker, an experimentalist, an again-and-again-and-againer. It just takes a little building up to, sometimes. Reminders, in one shape or another, of who she. Then she'll push to and through and, if needs must, back to the beginning again. It's all a bit circuitous, really.
WISDOM– Are they open to other people’s perspectives? Do they look to history and past mistakes? What kinds of internal dialogue do they have about difficult situations?
Her opinions on other people's perspectives depends almost entirely on how they present them to her. Statements and suggestions from their point, she's all ears. Assertions and commands, you're better off shouting at a wall. Unsolicited advice almost never lands well (except when it does--)
She definitely learns from her past mistakes, though isn't above repeating them if nothing else seems to be working. At least that's an outcome she can predict, push to shove. Her internal (and sometimes... not so internal) dialogues on difficult situations often involve a lot of arguing across points. Trying to understand things like she does engineering projects, cause to effect and which wheel turns another. She asks herself a lot of questions, answers them to the best of her ability, and starts from there when it comes time to deal with others or put plan to action.
CURIOSITY– How thoroughly do they explore new places, things, or ideas? Do they go out of their way to learn new things?
Down to every little piece and bit and part. She loves to explore physical spaces as well as complex ideas, loves to experiment and tinker and discover. She wants to know where things are and how they got they way they are and what might change them. She digs and she builds and she deconstructs to reconstruct. She absolutely goes out of her way to learn new things, every chance she gets. Or really I might even say that going around learning new things and putting them to use however she will is her way, really.
OPEN-MINDEDNESS– How do they deal with disagreement? How do they balance different perspectives?
You might consider arguing a hobby of hers. Sometimes it's with the intent to hear out the talking points, poke and poke until someone has expanded on something enough to give her the clarity she's seeking of it. But sometimes it's just to shout.
Balance is.. not exactly a strong suit of hers. She tends to teeter, really. The nuance is endless and therefore the to-and-fro relentless.
LEARNING– What are they interesting in learning about, if anything? What hobbies and skills do they have? Do they know how to make themselves happy?
Everything everything everything. She loves to learn, to gather information. She's read old textbooks and asks questions about things, the hobbies and skills others display, so that she might understand them in concept if never entirely how to do it all herself. In a kinder world she would be something of a. what I think is no longer acceptable to call a savant(?) but that I lack any other term for. The thing about being, at base, an engineer, is that you simply never know what will turn out to be useful in the aim to build something. Cooking, knitting, astrophysics, verbal storytelling, history, geology, chemistry--- anything could be the thing that offers some of idea of how to realize the mechanics of the dreams that fill her head.
CREATIVITY– How do they go about solving problems? What is something they enjoy doing so much that they can lose themselves for hours doing it?
Well that depends entirely on the problem, now doesn't it? Some of them have to charged at headfirst and others need to be approached from the side, while you're looking the other way and whistling a little tune. Off the wall is a great option for skittish problems, they'll never see it coming. Heavy dark and deep problems benefit greatly from a little bit of light. Obviously. And sharp problems need gloves. No matter what the problem, the important thing is to never let it think it's smarter than you. Even if there's a chance that it is, or a possibility it might grow up to be it, you can't let it know. After all, problems are only unsolvable if you let them be.
There's more than one thing of this nature for her but at the risk of being obvious I think the one that deserves the most attention is probably her tinkering. Whether she's taking something apart or building a strange little bobbling bot or building a transmitter or even weaving together a larger system, she can absorb into the task like little else. Sometimes she multi-tasks, talking to others or running other tasks at the same time, but inevitably whatever else she was doing begins to get neglected or just entirely abandoned as the locks in on the mechanics of whatever she's building — or taking apart to rebuild.
BRAVERY– What kinds of risks do they take? What are they willing to risk to help a stranger? Do they consider the cost-benefit of a risk?
A weird collection of them! She varies on a line of being well though out and very look before she leaps and then just. The most impulsive you've ever seen a person be. Sometimes these risks are calculated, sometimes they're worked out on the fly, sometimes she doesn't even consider anything at all except the end goal she's trying to get to. Risks range from drinking zone swill to, oh, you know, jumping the wall into the city on a regular interval. Which has reached a status she no longer considers especially dangerous, nearly routine, but I promise you it is. It's so risky.
Strangers... it can be hard to say without a specific scenario. Broadly speaking she would like to be the kind of person who looks after others, but the reality is that she lacks the capacity to dole out that much energy and emotional space to others. She has a hard enough time maintaining her own, taking on the responsibility of others just. It's not sustainable. She'll help if she can, most of the time, but whether or not she can will be the roll of a dice with bad odds for the stranger.
She does do risk math but it's not costs in a literal sense. Risk currency in the desert is lives. Your own, your crew, your enemy. The innocent, if you believe they exist. She does risk math. Sometimes she ignores the final tally.
PERSEVERANCE– Do they believe success is based on innate ability, or learning to overcome the obstacle? Do they know when to quit? What are ways they identify their weaknesses and strength?
Porque no los dos? Success can be based on your ability, or your adaptability, but like. It's both. All, even. Learning? Good. Planning? Good. Rolling with the punches? Good. Really honestly success is based on whatever succeeds. Limiting herself to one thing as The answer would be unimaginably stupid, not to mention very boring of her.
I unironically don't think anyone knows when to quit. They just do something or they don't I don't think any of us really know 'when' you 'should'. If that even exist in an objective way. I got a little meta with that one but you can just assume she shares my opinion idk.
Her biggest weaknesses are unavoidable fact: she's slight and won't be getting any bigger or all that much stronger, she's damaged and no matter how much repairing she does she'll never be what she could have been - never be unbroken. Broken things can be fixed! but they cannot be unbroken. Only changed. She also Knows that she is defensive and oppositional, but doesn't necessarily consider either a weakness despite whatever problems they may cause. Her strengths she... struggles with. She knows she can do things with electronics, and knows what she knows, but struggles to call it a strength as opposed to... a choice? And recognizes very little of her social strengths, thinking herself an outsider and someone who doesn't know how to be around people. She thinks of herself as difficult to have around - not necessarily because of her choices. You can fix things, you can't unbreak them.
VITALITY– Are they introverted, extroverted, or ambiverted? Are they more active or passive? What do they do to stay energetic? (NOTE: introvert does NOT mean they don’t like people, it means they need time alone to regain their energy for social situations).
She trends extroverted. There are times when she craves to be left the fuck alone, times when she runs for the hills, but ultimately she gains more, more energy more liveliness more stability and groundedness and peace, from being around other people.
She's definitely more active and often assertive, and deeply dislikes and resists being told what to do in any capacity. She is in fact demand avoidant. (Which is to say some portion of it is voluntary stubbornness, chosen spite, but a great deal of it is also a legitimate fight-or-flight style response that drives her to refute even things you wouldn't traditionally think of as "demands". If she perceives something as having expectations attached, whether those 'expectations' are real or imagined or inflated or or or- it triggers her in a very real and non hyperbolic sense of the term. It makes it very hard to think. Or to commit to things. She works hard to keep it in check; indulging it sometimes actually helps her resist it at more crucial moments.)
As for remaining energetic... she really is hoping to find a way to calm her restlessness, some day.
INTEGRITY– Do they stand firm in their beliefs? Would they lie or refrain from disagreeing to avoid confrontation?
She's willing to compromise a lot of things in the name of her loyalties. Which sounds like a complex and self-contradictory sentence, and that's because it is. She'll tear up her own rulebook in order to stick to her rulebook. Good luck working her rulebook out I've been at it for ten+ years and I'm still not sure I get it in a defineable sense. I only know how it works in a given moment.
To avoid confrontation? Probably not. To bluff or explode or punch her way through one, oh hell yeah. She does refrain from disagreeing, sometimes, usually when she can't tell if she's disagreeing in an authentic and honest way or if it's born of her demand avoidance. Her knee-jerk instinct is nearly always to dig her heels in. Sometimes it's worth shutting up. Just don't try to call her weak for biting her tongue - she'll tear yours out.
AUTHENTICITY– What are sub- and unconscious things that make them who they are? Who can they be themselves with, and who do they wear a mask for? What kinds of social roles do they perform?
She has no notion she's a spark, I fear. No idea how easy it is for her to barrel and bully her way into people's affections. Not one clue how often she has given people back their fire, their will, their light, by touching even the edges of their lives. She just is what she is. This weird little biting-prone engineer who says things like "Broken things can be fixed" and "You (are a)live. Deal with it." alongside the utter nonsense of the noise that she endures. And obviously she knows she does tech work but she does not understand that she is An Engineer. She Understands. She Builds. There's an idealism to her that just. It just.
She can be herself in most places. She's created that space for herself, demanded it. Obtained it. That said she does get to be a more relaxed version of herself around her brother (and, by extension, the rest of the Haven.) Tox encourages similar out of her. Vi and Weasel get more of her feral side, they understand it in a way many of the others don't. And Lith? Lith knows everything. The bond has been stretched, at times, their values pulling them in different directions. But Lith still knows everything. Even a precious few things that Jack doesn't. But he probably doesnt want to hear about [redacted] anyway.
And as for masks I think it's. More like magnifying glasses than masks? She'll highlight or emphasize certain things - play up her confidence, throw more effort in the zones speak she's picked up- but it's not so much a mask as... I almost want to call it sleight of hand? Not something to hide behind (that's what Jack and Midnight are for) but something to wave around, distract with. Look here look here look here. Pay no attention to mad little bug behind the curtain.
And obviously she wears a mask in the city but I think that's a little different. That's not a psychology thing that's a falsified identity so she doesn't get dragged down into detainment thing s;dlkfgj;sldkfgjl;sdkg
HONESTY– What kinds of small lies do they tell others? What lies do they tell themselves? What is the biggest lie they’ve told?
She's not. Hold on bear with me I know this is such a sentence but. She's not dishonest, but she does lie all the time. She fibs and flubs and barks-- pay no attention! to the mad little bug behind the curtain!!!! Only she's nearly always using these lies and little invented things to point to the truth of what she's getting at. The honesty of it all.
She's far too self-argumentative to get away with lying to herself on purpose, I think. Though she is quite convinced she's something (manipulative evil people-user inciting Mayhem for the sake of it) that she is not. But it's not generally something she's telling herself, rather... something she believes. She's had a really hard time shaking it.
And sadly I will not be revealing her biggest lie. That would take all the fun out of everything ♥
SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE– Do they experience emotional empathy (innate ability to feel emotions for other people's feelings, i.e. happiness at success, grief at loss, etc), or cognitive empathy (may not feel grief but has a logical understanding that loss is painful, may not feel happy but has an innate understanding that someone’s success is a celebrated thing)? Are they aware of their own emotions and reactions? How well are they able to manage their emotions?
Fascinated by the positing that one experiences only one or the other of this. Which is to say I think both? And some of it hinges on how close she is to people, or how like her own experiences the thing she bears witness to is. She is aware of her own emotions, in a sense of. Knowing that they rule her decisions sometimes, and can overwhelm her. But that's generally a highsight 20/20 kind of thing.
Because she's not... great at managing her emotions. Make no mistake she's gotten better at it across the years. She was a proper little terror of trauma and teenage hormones for her early stretch of desert years. I'm positive she gave TJ grey hair, and may have gone on to do the same to Jack if he wasn't built different. (I'm sure Colton will see it done.) Nevertheless, all the growing and learning and relearning she's done can't contend with the fact she is a spark. She flashes and burns and jumps and bites. She sparkles and fizzes and flares. Flickers. It's a lot. She does her best. The desert's tendency to wear you down and the city's proclivity for pushing buttons doesn't exactly help. The good news is there's usually some kind of warning she gives before she loses the battle with her emotions. The bad news is they can be really hard to spot, and even harder to understand. Even for her.
i couldn't stop thinking about it but i also didn't have anything new or interesting to say about it other than thinking about some places where my previous design had the potential to be improved(?) so yes i did in fact. do this again
happy tech birthday to anyone who celebrates! i'm chewing on her.
What changes do you think would be made between your muse as they exist in your head vs how they would be treated as part of canon?
What plot points would change due to the inclusion of your character in canon?
What role would your character play in the story? Are they a major player, or a one scene wonder?
If there are multiple adaptions/If they are part of a multi-part franchise, which ones would your character appear in?
Besides your face/voiceclaim, who do you think would be cast as your character?
If your character had a breakout show/film/comic, what would the plot be? Who would be in their supporting cast?
What headcanons/theories do you believe fandom would invent about your character?
FANDOM:
What do you think the fandom for your character would be like? Are they a fan favorite, a love to hate villain, derided for whatever reason, or something else?
What feelings does your character most often instill in their fans? Affection? A desire to protect? Open lust? A love/hate dynamic? Why do you think their fans feel this way?
By contrast, what would their haters dislike about your character? Is it a petty complaint? A mischaracterization of the character or their intentions? Are they just a woman in a largely male-centric series?
What controversies/drama would your character incite in fandom?
What fan-material would exist for your character in fandom?
Is your character the subject of ‘imagines’ or ‘x reader’ style blogs?
Are there any tropes fandom would put upon your character, for better or for worse?
What would be the ‘incorrect but wildly popular’ interpretation of your character in fandom?
What corners of fandom would consider your character blorbo material?
SHIPPING:
What do you imagine the most popular ship(s) for your character would be?
Are there ship wars? Are they a popular character to ship, or the kind of character that gets shuffled off and away from shipping for whatever reason?
How does fandom characterize/mischaracterize your characters ship in fanworks?
If your character isn’t designed for shipping/isn’t interested in shipping, how hard does fandom have to mangle them to make them shipping material/open to a relationship?
Be honest. What song is playing over an AMV/tiktok of scenes between your character and their love interest?
What is the wildest crackship you can imagine for your character, whether in-universe or in crossover?
What is the quote between your character and their love interest/whoever they might be shipped with that their fans would latch onto?
