#cgau2

[salty-dracon]

Augh I hate writing. So SECRET Agents right? The story about a bunch of kid superheroes in the year 2060 trying to stop a bad guy and dealing with a lot of childhood trauma in the process, right? I love it.

BUT

I have like three ideas for sequels and none of them QUITE live up to the awesomeness the original was. But they all do something different so I’m not sure what the “official” sequel should be.

1. SECRET Heroes. This is the closest you’ll get to an actual sequel, being a “12 years later” sort of thing where the original main characters return to stop another villain plot. Bridget’s relationship with Angel is further expounded, Allie gets over losing Bridget, etc.. It also focuses around the new cast of teenage Agents, Arthur, Brooke, and Julien. Basically it keeps the hype of the original’s fight scenes while its message is just “humanity is about how awesome our emotions and abilities are, not our ability to become immortal”. So, not exactly “dealing with childhood trauma” material. And frankly most of the scenes I’ve written are just “bridget is a freaking force of nature now” and “get ready for some extremely powerful villains” and “you want some awesome new superpowers? here you go”

2. TMX. This isn’t even a sequel, technically. Sam of all people makes a random appearance, where it’s revealed that yes, his fear of water was grounded in reality because he’s in heaven because he drowned. Instead that story follows Arthur, Brooke, and Julien AGAIN (since I thought Brooke would make a really good protagonist) all at about age 20. This story is basically a massive metaphor for how amatonormativity is bad and a rather terrifying take on the soulmate trope. Also the main character unlearning her ecofascist ideologies and becoming halfway of a good person while reckoning with the realities of the new world she’s in. Because of the setting it’s a weird fusion of medieval fantasy and modern day cityscapes.

3. CGAU2. Taking place in the very far future (about 2110) this story is almost completely detached from any of SECRET Agents besides taking place in the same universe. It follows an entirely new pair of protagonists, about age 21 (Tawny and Mai) and some other characters but I haven’t decided who they are yet. Currently the placeholders are SECRET Agents characters. This will definitely change as time goes on. And they’re trying to overthrow the theocratic government. Most of the emotional stuff is about Tawny dealing with his own childhood trauma and an experience I know many people share where you just suddenly learn that your parents are Trump supporters and aren’t really as nice as you think they are. Basically this one keeps the emotional intensity of SECRET Agents while sacrificing the superpower system (everything is magic now. no i am not kidding) and I’m not really sure how to write fight scenes without them feeling like Jojo.

Thanks for reading. I’m way too invested in my OCs and I needed to get these thoughts out.

[salty-dracon]

Badly describing my stories

SECRET Agents: A bunch of people inject themselves with nanobots instead of getting therapy.

TMX: A misanthropic white lesbian learns that all people are fundamentally good, actually.

Lostgods: Seven leftists get in a fight over their slightly differing ideologies.

[salty-dracon]

I had a massive "oh yeah it's all coming together" moment while working on CGAU2 yesterday, and I have to share it.

Just like SECRET Agents is a story about family, and TMX is a story about love, and SECRET Heroes is a story about humanity...

CGAU2, currently named Aberrant Avatar (may change) is a story about justice.

Every single character has their own form of justice in their minds. In this tumultuous atmosphere, where no one except a select few know the truth, whose justice is correct? And it doesn’t have to be the main character’s. You don’t necessarily have to agree with them. But there’s a reason Tawny came to the conclusion that Sancoline needs to be torn down, owing to his life story.

Adrian believes it’s only just when he is the one on top. Being the son of an influential politician who had these beliefs himself, and the propaganda having literally rotted his mind, not even Sancoline can strip away his malicious and self-centered personality, hence why he believes he’s better than even Lyra, who everyone in the city (including his other subordinates) believe to be a divine force. It’s why he tries to start a coup with the Onyx Vamps- he believes he should be on top, and not Lyra, even if Lyra is a just ruler and above humanity. It’s why, when he’s reduced to a mere toy by Lily, he goes even more insane.

Lily believes in an eye for an eye. Having lost her reputation to radicals and and having been traumatized in an incident involving them, she found it was better to take matters into her own hands than rely on the authorities who wouldn’t be able to help her. Of course, that meant killing four people... but that’s beside the point. She hunts down the people who have escaped from the “confines” of Sancoline- that is, data that Leander picked up with malicious memories inside, like those of human traffickers- and immolates them. She has her own lab where she makes them feel all of the pain they made others suffer in the real world. Her favorite part is hearing them whine about how unfair it is, because in her mind, an eye for an eye is perfectly fair.

Leander believes in making evildoers fear the wrath of justice. This is twofold. As an AI implanted into Sidney’s mind, he is attached to her, and even willing to harm Sancoline’s lambs if it means that she will remain safe. He has no mercy for anyone who threatens to harm her or take her away from him. Second, he is Sancoline’s ambassador to the outside world, known for many murders in which he, using Ten Plagues, kills people who threaten Sancoline’s lambs. This includes anyone who slights the city’s reputation as a haven for the young and weak. In his mind, if they threaten to harm Sancoline’s lambs, they are deserving of death.

Tawny believes in freedom as truth. With his parents gaslighting him as a child, then believing in fake news peddled by a bad administration (i know what you’re thinking, and yes) he wants most desperately for them to stop averting their eyes. The reason he contemplates leaving Sancoline in the first place is because he wants to know if it’s true, what they say about other angel-cities being such cruel/beautiful/strange places- and because he is sick of being virtually trapped in the city. He is not someone who would choose a beautiful lie over a horrifying truth, and fights so that Sancolinians could know the truth about the outside world and don’t remain brainwashed. To that end, he never lies, and tries to remain honest no matter who he is talking to.

Lyra believes in peace above all. Unlike the others listed I’m not quite sure what his backstory will be yet, but his influence is all over the city, keeping everyone focused away from his inconvenient truth using faith as a coverup. He uses mass surveillance systems to protect the populace, whether they consent or not, and is quick to punish or pacify anything that makes the people there unhappy or uncomfortable. He is ultimately the one who decides to seal Adrian away in the underservers, and doesn’t bring him up again until he reveals why Adrian was his lackey in the first place.

Other characters, I don’t really know yet, but they all have different ideas of what justice is. And no matter whose you believe in, they’ll go head to head with some of the others and the reasons they choose the sides they’re on.