I’ve been WRITIN so I figured a good exercise while I take a break would be jottin down some random character headcanons so strap in lads,
(Thanks to @platinumbered and @phantomschild for help with these)
Courtney is the BEST hunter in Mushroom Clout, by far. She’s the quietest, tied for the lightest on her feet with Keith, and has surprisingly good aim with a slingshot or spear.
Damien learned leatherwork during his time as a stray and makes all of his own armor! He’ll make pieces to sell occasionally, but only if they have the materials to spare. He can also do some seamster work, so he’s usually the one to go to if people’s clothes need repairs.
Similarly, Wes loves making trinkets and accessories out of random junk they find. Anything from necklaces out of colored glass and shells to belts lined with dead ammunition. For someone with such big hands, he’s strangely good at sewing.
Joven and Olivia are almost always on cooking duty. Olivia was on her own for so long that she had no choice but to cook for herself constantly, and got really good at it. Joven just thinks it’s fun. (He wouldn’t admit it, but he also really likes seeing people enjoy his food.)
Noah loves stars and constellations. It’s not unusual for him to volunteer for night watch, or for others to find him staring up at the sky for hours, memorizing every change and pattern. At some point, he started documenting them, and he keeps his charts and maps hidden by his cot. No one’s sure why he thinks anyone would take or ruin them, but they don’t bring it up.
Lasercorn has the strongest stomach in probably the whole wasteland. Like, no joke, he can eat ANYTHING. Bugs, random plants- he once ate a rock literally just because Keith said he couldn’t. It’s terrifying to witness.
Courtney is constantly decorating the camp. She collects anything she thinks looks cool or pretty when they’re out scavenging and sticks them up everywhere- inside the shelters, on the outside, hanging from the trees they’re set up by. Damien sometimes joins in. Lasercorn argues that it makes them stand out too much, but the others agree that it’s a good morale boost, so they let her have her fun.
Joven collects any glasses he can find and tries them all. Even when he can’t see with them, he keeps the frames- not for any reason in particular, it’s just something to collect. He still hasn’t found a prescription that totally fixes his vision, but he’s holding out hope.
Mari mixes all of their warpaint and loves experimenting with the shades and designs. Joven and Wes once got her a whole pallet of proper hand-made makeup from the market as a present and she cried.
Wes and Olivia make a great team for a lot of things because of their size difference. They also love naming their strategies. “Perch and Eagle” is when Olivia stands on Wes’s shoulders for a lookout, and “Cannonball” is when Wes hurls Olivia at the enemy like a rock. For some reason, that second one is one of the less popular strategies among the rest of the team, though Olivia LOVES it.
Courtney and Damien have a complete weakness for animals. More than once, Lasercorn has had to stop them from sneaking in a furry critter they found at the market or out scavenging.
Mari is Toxicitea’s designated medic. She was originally taught to be specifically a medic in her old pack, so she’s well trained. Shayne also has a bit of training from some events in his time solo, but he’s much less confident in his abilities than Mari so she’s usually the go-to. Most of them actually know enough to get by, so the general rule of thumb is just “Anyone but Joven”.
Keith loves making music, and he finds ways to make instruments out of anything he can. Drums out of tarp scraps and a couple buckets, something adjacent to a guitar out of some branches and twine- they never sound perfect, but he finds a way to make them work anyways, and everybody still has fun. Whenever he makes something new, he’ll play it when they’re gathered at the campfire for the night. Sometimes he’ll even get Courtney and Damien to sing.
Since Monica and Tommy own the tavern and don’t really have sides in the whole pack war, they’re on good terms with pretty much everyone.
Tommy loves knowing everything that’s going on, all the time- if you need any information, from gossip to a lead on a hit, he’s got it. Courtney loves going to the Market just to talk shit with him.
On the other hand, Monica doesn’t want to know anyone’s business. She’s not here to listen to your life story or get involved in some blood feud. She’s got a business to run.
Because of this, she likes to do the legwork of the tavern while Tommy runs hospitality at the bar.
Flitz was a member of Mari’s old pack! He set off on his own before her, and she doesn’t know where he ended up, but she’s sure he’s doing fine.
Ian keeps a small memento from each of the team members in a box with the rest of his belongings. Small things, gifts or items he got from some situation they were involved in. It reminds him of the people he’s trying to make a better life for. It’s also kind of an impulse, which formed after what happened to his old pack.
Despite how being able to bathe is considered a special occasion to most survivors, Toxicitea STILL has to fight with Olivia to get her to take a bath
Courtney and Lasercorn have a very mentor-student type relationship. Lasercorn wants to teach her how to be tougher, emotionally, but the others would agree that her more empathetic influence does him good as well- maybe even more so than the reverse.
Noah and Keith are a good team when fighting because they’re usually on the same wavelength and have each other’s backs. However, they work together TERRIBLY on scavenges and hunts, because they always end up bickering and forgetting their actual goal.
Along with his other craftwork, Wes really likes woodcarving! He usually keeps a small knife on him, partially for defense, but also so he can carve something when he gets bored. (Speaking from experience, it makes a great adhd stim)
Damien does the doctor-work for team Mushroom Clout, but he gets REALLY nervous about it which just makes it stressful for everyone. There’s usually a lot of screaming involved on both ends when he has to deal with anything semi-serious.
Olivia loves crawling into small spaces and hiding. It may be leftover instinct from when she was alone or just because she can or both, but it’s not uncommon to find her folded up into the cavity of a dead car or bombshell just to be there.
Both teams have mounts!!! Mounts are what you call non-violent mutations that are tamed and ridable. There are actually a variety of non-violent mutations, which are called Mixers, but mounts are Usually animals that... Well, they’re kind of like horses, but not quite horses. But also not Not horses. Horse-adjacent, if you will
What makes them not quite horses? It Varies! You probably don’t want to know the extent of that. Trust Me.
Mushroom Clout has three mounts. Beep-beep and Bop-bop (both named by Courtney) and Brunhilda (named by Damien). Beep-beep and Bop-bop are both weirdly tall and have sort of bear-like facial features and ears (they’re twins). Brunhilda looks like a normal horse, kind of, but her muscle structure is just slightly too defined and it’s kinda uncomfortable to look at
Toxicitea has two mounts- Wink, which was found as a baby by Joven. Since he was raised by people, he’s a rare instance of a non-violent mutant that isn’t of typical mount features being tamed and trained. He’s a mix between what looks like a bobcat and a wolf and has one eye scarred over. There’s also... Warlord. Who is mostly a horse but has the facial features of a pig. Mari and Shayne found her and neither can agree on who she belongs to primarily. Ian has tried to tell them that it doesn’t matter since the mounts are communal but they fight about it anyways.
It’s 2 am and Im REELING rn so this may be somewhat incoherent but I don’t care
Okay, so before I can explain how they met, there’s some more terms that I just came up with and need to define.
The Nameless: The blanket term used for a secretive and unidentified group of raiders. They’re much larger, scattered, and professional than any pack, and most consider them more of a small network of several packs, though no one knows for certain how many there are. They’ve been terrorizing packs in the No Man’s Land since a short time after the Smosh pack was formed.
Mutts: The blanket term used for the irradiated, mutated beasts that roam the wastelands. They’re hostile, vicious, and pretty fuckin gross. There are a lot of different types of mutt mutated from different creatures- but it’s pretty hard to care about whether it’s a cow or a goat while it’s trying to tear your throat out.
Lurkers: Mutts that are primarily nocturnal.
Ruins: Any structures that have been abandoned. Not the jungle ruins you may imagine- these are the ruins of modern society; shopping malls, cities, towns, suburbs, etc.
Okay, ONTO THE BACKSTORY
For Toxicitea, it started with Ian. After Smosh was destroyed by the Nameless, he was one of the sole survivors. Not one to take a defeat, he set out to form a new pack and to regain the status he’d lost. It didn’t take him long to find some strays who would join his new pack.
Mari had found Joven when the latter had been trying to raid the same set of ruins as her. At first, they’d been ready to kill each other, but when a group of Mutts suddenly ambushed them, they became allies of circumstance. After Mari saved Joven’s life during the fight, Joven offered to team up with her, as opposed to her killing him. His Guard’s ability is one to give energy to things around it- physical or spiritual- and she decided he seemed useful enough, so they became a duo.
Later on, the three of them had met Wes, who’d found himself injured in a solo battle against a violent handful of fellow strays. Mari and Joven drove the hostiles off and helped Wes recover. Due to a strict code of honor he’d formed in the pack that had raised him, he decided that in order to repay them, he’d join their alliance and protect them moving forward.
Ian found them a short time after Smosh’s destruction. Despite news of the pack’s demise, the group still knew Ian for his impressive reputation and accepted his invite.
Olivia and Courtney had met each other a while back.
Olivia had been a stray for as long as she could remember- the pack that had raised her as a baby was wiped out when she was still young, and she could barely remember them. She’d grown up in the wastelands on her own, and because of this developed eccentricities that prevented her from finding a pack even later on.
Courtney had grown up in a good-sized, tightly knit pack. It wasn’t until she was becoming a young adult that they were killed by the Nameless. Devastated, she struggled on her own- not with survival, but the loneliness. When she met Olivia, stumbling upon her campsite in the dead of night, Olivia had initially viewed her as a threat. But Courtney talked her down, and by the sunrise they’d already decided to become a team.
Unfortunately, it didn’t last forever. A massive, irradiated dust storm hit them one day while they were traveling. They both survived but were separated thoroughly, unable to find each other. Once again, they were on their own.
Olivia was badly injured in the storm. She would have died, if Wes hadn’t found her. Unable to stomach the idea of letting her die, Wes carried her back to the Toxicitea camp, where the group helped her. Olivia’s Guard ability, they discovered, could create fire. While it wasn’t the most amazing ability, it was certainly useful, and she had a great deal of gratitude towards them for saving her. In the end, when she was healthy, she agreed to join the pack.
Meanwhile, Courtney wandered the wasteland aimlessly after the storm. Brokenhearted over the loss of her friend- over never having the opportunity to be more- she felt hopeless. That was when she met Lasercorn.
Lasercorn, like Olivia, had been a stray for most of his life. He had known Ian for a long time- They met while the Smosh pack was still whole. Lasercorn had joined the pack near the end of its lifespan. During the Raid that destroyed the pack, Lasercorn watched Ian turn and leave the camp- while Lasercorn was on the ground, screaming for help after being wounded. Against all odds, he’d survived the attack, but he harbored a burning grudge against Ian for leaving him for dead. He’d decided that the best revenge would be to crush Ian’s hopes of regaining control of No Man’s Land- but to do that, he needed a pack of his own.
When Lasercorn met Courtney, he found her on her own in a small pop-up-inn that had been built out of some ruins. She wasn’t especially well known, but she’d gotten her face around for her impressive Guard, which had the ability to heal others. Lasercorn saw the worth in that, knowing himself and his strategies, and figured she’d be a great asset to a growing pack. Courtney was convinced that Olivia was dead and aching for companionship, so she accepted his offer on the spot. They didn’t have to travel long before they found two more.
Noah and Keith had both ended up in the same pack. Keith had joined a bit earlier, taken interest in for his combat skills and his Guard ability- amplifying or dulling sound waves. Noah came later. He was young and not especially skilled in fighting, but the pack decided he was worth taking for his Guard ability to read the emotions and intentions of others, able to tell in an instant whether someone is lying or not. Keith and Noah were at odds in the beginning, but after some time, began to develop a bond. This grew to the point where they were nearly inseparable. Unfortunately, Noah was always clumsy, and after a while in the pack, he made one too many mistakes for the leaders. The group decided to throw Noah out. However, Keith stepped up to defend him. In the end, they were both run out of the pack but stuck together, even as strays.
They met Courtney by chance. The three of them got trapped in a set of ruins after nightfall when a group of Lurkers was hunting outside. In such a small space, they were forced to interact. Courtney, nothing if not charismatic, got the two to tell her about themselves. After getting to know them and what they’re capable of, Courtney brought them to Lasercorn at sunrise when they escaped. After some convincing, he offered to take them into the pack. With few alternatives, the two agreed.
Later on, they met Damien.
Damien and Shayne were raised in the same pack as children. They grew up together- training, scavenging, traveling by each others’ sides. The destruction of their pack was a mystery. No one knows who did it- only that it ended with their camp in flames. After the destruction, the two of them traveled while looking for answers to their pack’s demise. However, Shayne ended up coming to a conclusion that sent a rift between the two of them. He’d become convinced that it was the pack leader himself who’d aided in the destruction- the pack leader, who happened to be Damien’s blood father. Insulted and unwilling to entertain the idea, Damien lashed out, and Shayne fought him back.
The argument, fueled by misdirected rage that the two of them had pent up throughout their tragedy and the aftermath, got ugly- to the point that Shayne, in a fit of anger, destroyed a pendant that Damien had made for him when they were children, which had been a symbol of their friendship for years. When it was all said and done, Damien left, and the two were separated from then on.
After becoming a lone stray, Damien began to focus entirely on honing his skills. He became a talented marksman, and his name became known in the North of No Man’s Land. Well-versed in the goings-on of the wastelands, Damien recognized Lasercorn’s name when he approached him. When Lasercorn offered an invitation to Damien to join the pack, Damien accepted, seeing it as a fresh start.
Shayne, similarly, focused on his own goals. But while Damien focused on his combat skills, Shayne focused on wielding his Guard. His Guard ability was more volatile than most- being able to increase force. This could apply to anything- his body, his voice, objects he moved. As a child, he’d often lose control of it. He spent his time alone often secluding himself entirely, communicating with his Guard and training his abilities.
He met Olivia one day while training. She had been out to scavenge for resources and found him alone in some ruins. Fascinated by his ability, she approached him. As it was entirely out of the blue, he was defensive at first, but after realizing that she didn’t intend to attack him- at least not immediately- he began to actually talk to her. Well, talk is a strong word. He mostly attempted to get rid of her, but no matter what he did, she followed him like a puppy with a stream of questions and conversation topics as seemingly endless as her energy. Eventually, he relented and asked exactly what she wanted. She replied by taking him to the camp. She explained to Ian what she’d seen, and Ian, intrigued, talked to Shayne. After Shayne demonstrated his skills, Ian decided to ask him if he wanted to join the pack. Shayne was admittedly beginning to grow lonely, and bored with being on his own, so he accepted.
As for Kimmy, well- her story is one that spins into something much, much larger...
Do you have any headcanons on how Toxicitea and Mushroom Clout became a group respectively? Were they all already friends or did they slowly staple together over time?
I actually made a post about this! You can find it here
That post goes into detail with everyone’s bonds and their backstories where they tie into each other, but I’ll summarize here:
Ian, Lasercorn, and Mari were all part of the original Smosh pack. When The Nameless destroyed it, they all survived. Lasercorn thinks Ian betrayed him during that, which is why he wants revenge, and Mari couldn’t find either of them after the fact. Mari met Joven and Wes while she was a stray, and they were all travelling together when Ian found them and invited them to be the first members of his new pack, Toxicitea.
Courtney met Olivia, a stray who had never really had a pack, after losing her own pack to a vicious Mutt attack. The two fell in love formed a bond, but were then separated in a storm, and both survived thinking that the other had died. Olivia was rescued and afterwards recruited by Toxicitea. Courtney was left once again a stray, until she was recruited by Lasercorn when he was first forming Mushroom Clout. She was the one who met Noah and Keith, a pair who had met in their last pack and ran away together when said pack wanted to kick Noah out, and brought them to join Mushroom Clout as well.
Shayne and Damien grew up in the same pack, which was destroyed under mysterious circumstances. They stuck together as strays, until Shayne told Damien about his theory that Damien’s father had something to do with the destruction of the pack. They got into a nasty fight and split up after that. Shayne was later found by Olivia, who brought him to Ian to join Toxicitea, and Damien became a mercenary until Lasercorn recruited him into Mushroom Clout.
