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Have another Comic Sans PowerPoint! This time, it’s for Fish Food!
Oh, no, Tumblr wouldn’t let me add the last slide as a photo boo. Let me know if you can’t read it and I’ll try to fix it.
I also removed this one because it was redundant:
[Tag List and WIP Info under the cut!]
ALSO gosh I haven't participated in STS in forever so: If your characters were to have a picnic/potluck, what would everyone bring? (For any wip you'd like~)
Storyteller Saturday!
OH MAN me either!
Heck yes, @quilloftheclouds. Let’s do it for Fish Food, since I vaguely recall answering something similar for H2H and it was so much fun.
Make the superheroes cook, I say!
Will brings a casserole. It’s 100% something someone else gave him a few days ago for some reason or another, and there’s a 75% chance it’s green bean.
Depending on the time of year, Ryan either brings homemade raisin challah (it’s amazing), sangria, or some type of fried thing. And yes, he totally makes a fryer to test his mechanical skills. And yes, he totally burns himself a little. Everyone is Concerned. But he’s fine.
If it were the villain pot luck, however, he would try to be fancy and bring fried desserts. It… would not go well. Instead, he would be a last-minute sign up for cutlery and plates.
Stephanie bakes a big ‘ole blueberry pie. With the COH logo on it. And she insists on cutting it with the biggest knife she can find. It’s Symbolic ™. Also, blueberry is Andy’s (aka Babylon’s) favorite and they hate that they love Steph’s baking so much. She also supplies several 6 packs from the bar.
Andy brings store bought frosted cookies. You can expect to find them at any workplace social function. It’s only a coincidence that most people enjoy them.
If Jamie (aka Sparkplug) were still with the COH and was invited, she would make a huge pot of gumbo. It’s her favorite.
Nightmare would be the unfortunate organizer of the pot luck and would feel obligated to bring something impressive. Then she’d think about it and realize that as the best villain, she doesn’t have to do anything. She’d bring something with watermelon in it, though.
Ferro would make trail mix. He’s not creative. And he hates cooking. If he felt like making an effort, he might make dairy free rice krispy treats using his powers. Does this have any weird effects on the people who eat them? Who knows. It’s now a science experiment.
Battalion would bring kebabs. Meat, fruit, and veggie ones. Is this purely for the swords and stabby pun? Yes. Yes it is.
Storyteller Saturday! 💖 (I'm sending another because why the heck not!) Do any of your characters have phobias or unusual fears? What are their reactions like?
Storyteller Saturday!
More Monday answers! NO RULES!!! My friend, send all the asks you want. I love them and I love you.
Phobias!
I’ve talked about Babylon’s fear of bugs and creepy crawlies before. They have a very “nopenopenope” reaction and will leave the room before attempting to burn it down.
Gemma is a bit freaked out by deep water. She hates that she can’t see the bottom and has no idea what’s under her. Once she can see, like with very clear water, she’s fine. But dark, deep water will scare her pretty badly. Good thing she totally doesn’t live near a big ‘ole lake that’s significant to the plot or anything!
To get a little angsty, Mel is afraid of being alone for long periods of time. Meaning, like, weeks. She starts to get twitchy, paranoid, and a little spooked. Like, the opposite of stir crazy.
Overseer isn’t a fan of heights. He’s one of the “freeze” fear reaction people, too. Practically turns into a cardboard cutout of himself. People have to physically move him out of the way.
Mary doesn’t like heights either! I think I mentioned this somewhere else a long time ago, and I’m surprised I even remember this, but her fear of heights isn’t really for herself. It’s when she sees other people on roofs or mountain climbing or on other high places. That’s what freaks her out.
Will has PTS. Not sure it classifies as a fear, but he’s triggered by very large things looming over him. Not like buildings, but like, approaching things. It’s hard to explain. Another trigger is the smell of gas. Not like car gas, but natural gas, like a gas leak. If he notices it, his body reflexively goes into battle mode.
Storyteller Saturday! 💖 Good vibes good vibes! What is everyone's fave hot drink? What about cold drink? Who would love a beach day and what would they be found doing?
Storyteller Saturday!
Er… Sunday!
Well. It’s Tuesday now and time is meaningless.
Aaaand now it’s Friday again. Oh, the ceaseless march of time. Thanks, midterms.
Heck yeah good vibes!!
I’ll answer these with a hodgepodge of characters:
Hot Drinks:
Will - Green Tea
Ryan - Coffee and chai
Stephanie - Mulled Wine
Babylon - Hot Chocolate
Mel - Peppermint Tea
Gemma - Ginger Tea
Fred - Hot Cocoa (does soup count? I feel like soup is his favorite.)
Oz - Black Coffee (that’s a lie his favorite is a hot toddy)
Cold Drinks:
Will - Ginger Ale
Ryan - Lemonade
Stephanie - Apple Cider (because I love apple cider)
Babylon - Water (NOT sparkling)
Mel - Apple Juice
Gemma - Arnold Palmer
Fred - Sprite
Oz - Pepsi or Coke. He can’t tell the difference.
Beach Day!!
Will - He’d volunteer to drive. He’d also be in charge of making sure everyone brought everything they needed/wanted. It’s not the first thing that comes to mind as a day off activity, but he has fun watching kids marvel at his near-indestructible sand castles.
Ryan - Not even remotely a beach goer. He’ll go if everyone else is, though. He respects the sun for its vitamin D content, but that’s about it. He’s a little paranoid about sunburns, so he would sit under the umbrella on a comfy beach chair and read a book like a nerd.
Stephanie - Sunbathing until she’s lobster-red. No doubt. Or sneaking up on Babylon and dropping kelp over their shoulders to freak them out. They’re never freaked out. Steph is not deterred.
Babylon - Surprise surprise, Andy knows how to skimboard! So they’d be tearing up those crashing waves all afternoon.
Mel - Would probably find some crabs in the sand and poke at them. Also, her bathing suit is the cutest. She brings some crabs over to Gemma and they poke at them together and then Mel puts them back where she found them.
Gemma - After spending 20mins harvesting kelp bulbs, she’d swim out just past where the waves form, get a little spooked, and swim back to shore. She’d do this about 5 times before Mel points out the pattern and then she stops and has a snow cone about it.
Fred - Fred brings a book and reads. But he forgets to put sunscreen on. Which means he gets very sunburned. Woops. He had fun, though, so it’s fine! Gemma can help him out with some aloe or something.
Oz - Not a beach guy. He’s more of a snow and mountain lodge and ski trip kinda guy. If he got dragged to the beach (which, honestly, is exactly how he would get there anyway), he’d probably act as the group’s lifeguard. Like, telling Jill not to throw sand at people, or keeping Harry from burying him in the sand while he isn’t paying attention (she totally manages it and everyone is impressed). #beachdad
OC Lyric Challenge - Babylon
After the third alarm went off, Babylon decided that they’d had enough.
“Give me the headset.”
The poor agent jumped in his seat and spun around to face them. He certainly was not expecting the head Hero of the Intelligence Division to snipe at him over his shoulder. It’s rare they they interfere at all outside of pointed glares and signed memos from the higher ups about inefficient job performance.
“Y-yes, sir.”
Babylon narrowed their eyes at the honorific and pulled the headset off the agent’s head.
Lower comms agents always got skittish when the hero was nearby. That’s why they tended to watch from the observation deck. However, this mission was too important to remain in the background.
Babylon didn’t even bother adjusting the microphone placement before shooting off orders.
“Jen, get me security on channel 4. Agent Kittering, rotate the cameras in section 2 fifteen degrees to the left and hold until our agent is free from LOF.” A quick survey of the monitors showed no visible activity from their hero in the field.
Finally.
“That should give you enough maneuvering room, Flora. Buzz in for confirmation,” they said into the mic.
“Roger dodger,” Flora Fauna responded, voice crackling over the connection. The line went quiet.
“Kittering, bring them back nice and smooth and bow out of their system.”
Babylon slipped the headset off and let it clatter to the agent’s desk.
“There. Was that so hard?”
The agent didn’t even get to reply before they were out of the room.
Lithium was leaning against the wall on the other side of the door, smirking and drinking a soda from the mess hall.
The bubbly liquid slurped loudly through the thin straw.
She snickered.
“I’ll be sure to mention your stellar team building skills in our next meeting.”
“Jump off a building.”
“Aye aye, cap’n,” she said, and threw Babylon a sloppy salute.
“Christ,” Babylon muttered, and stalked off toward the observation deck.
Great. Just what they needed. Glib comments and incompetence.
It’s gonna be a long day.
Oh baby I’m just a man on the moon
I keep spinning in circles around you
‘Cause I been living where the black meets the blue
And it’s all I ever known how to do
“Man on the Moon” - POWERS
[Tag List and WIP Info under the cut:]
Tell me about your favourite character?
Oh, gosh, like, ever?
Hot diggity, that’s a lot of fiction to sort through. Please excuse the vagueness I throw around to avoid the juiciest spoilers.
The ones that spring to mind immediately:
Araris Valerian (The Codex Alera) - He’s just so interesting! Knowing the whole story, going back to reading the first book is so much fun because of all the very clever choices you see him make when literally no one else notices. This is a character I love for his choices. He didn’t have to do anything, but he made some huge sacrifices that saved the right people and continued to make choices that might not have been the best for him, but were necessary for someone else. Also he is surprisingly cheeky and I love that.
Othello (Othello) - Honestly, he might only be here because I re-read the play today, but I really do like him as a character. Othello is the pawn in the play, but he is steadfast in his morals, even though his mind is twisted by Iago’s lies and wild speculation. He is unerring in his elocution and even when he’s driven to the brink of insanity, he tries to make sure his wife prays before he kills her so her soul isn’t damned forever. He is careful and measured until he is forced not to be. His downfall is enthralling to watch. (Also his “It is the cause” soliloquy is one of my favorites to see/hear performed.)
Crowley (Good Omens) - What’s cooler than a demon who wants people to think he’s really cool when he super isn’t? And has a hard time expressing positive emotion so he does it via acts of service and small demonstrations of considerate kindness? And is supposed to be something he never wanted in the first place and pretends to be good at that, too, even though there’s only one person he ever really feels himself with when he isn’t pretending? And whose imagination defies the powers that be? Nothing, that’s what.
Wonder Woman aka Diana Prince - I had the benefit of taking a class about female action heroes and we read the entire run of daily WW comics from 1944-45. I like OG Diana, DCCU Diana, Bombshells Diana (oh gosh that scene in the first issue with Steve in the soldiers’ camp? DUDE.), all of ‘em. She is unwavering in her values and refuses to be pushed aside or conquered. She will stand for what she believes is right no matter what. And she’s a huge badass.
Lucretia (TAZ: Balance) - Goddamn I love Lucretia so much. I don’t wanna say too much because the spoilers for her arc are so good but her development? Over the whole timeline of the Balance arc? Is so amazing? What I really love about her is that she’s a person who stepped up when she felt no one else could and did the unthinkable so the people she loved could be happy. Yeah, she might not have made the right call, but she made a call that she saw as the best and only option to save her friends and possibly the world. I want my own character arc to look a little bit like hers during The Stolen Century.
But if we’re talking my own characters, Gemma and Babylon are my favorites right now.
I’ve talked a lot about Gemma, but what I like most about her is that even though she’s been kicked in the pants by the universe a few times, she still has that drive to help others when they get kicked, too. She’s the kind of person who asks how you’re feeling after you came in two weeks ago to grab an decongestant when you thought you had the sniffles, even if she barely remembers your name and you ran into each other spontaneously on the street.
Babylon is a ruthless kind of person that I rarely ever write. They’re strict and sharp and pointy. They’re short with people who annoy them and dismissive of people who don’t live up to their standards. But what I love about them is their brutal efficiency. Whatever it takes, they’ll do it, and if someone is in their way, they had better move. They’re crafty when they need to be, even though they’d prefer not to have to be. They make friends in the most unlikely places.
Fish Food Character Introductions!
I thought I’d throw these out before I start posting the scenes so we know who’s who!
(Click the images for higher resolution 😊)
Here we have the main crew: three heroes and two villains.
Iron Will and Overseer are our main protagonists.
Lithium and Babylon are two supporting cast members who don’t get along.
Nightmare is our main antagonist. (Or are they???)
Also seen in the story are Sparkplug, a hero-for-hire who explodes things, Hydrophase, a rarely-mentioned former sidekick, and a few more villains!
[I used this website to make the character images!]
[Tag list and WIP info under the cut!]
Mate, I heckin' love question 29 so I'm requesting you answer this for... whoever you like? It'd be cool to have multiple to compare, but that's up to you!
[Send me some numbers!]
OOooooo! @quilloftheclouds, I love this one, too! As a big video game nerd, I’m gonna have too much fun with this one.
Let’s get super carried away (ha, see what I did there?) and do it for all the Fish Food folks!
29. If your oc was in a video game, what would their idle animation be? (When the player stays still for too long, the animation that plays.)
For the sake of my imaginings, I pictured each of them idling in the lobby of their respective HQs or out in the middle of the city in full uniform. Both so they could use their powers at will and so I could pretend I made a video game for a hot second.
Iron Will would be standing with his arms crossed looking all official, then sneak a peek around, close his eyes, breathe deep, and let his hero posture drop completely. Then he’d jerk back into reality and quickly gather his hero-facade and nod at the nearest PC or NPC very official-like.
Overseer has this fancy schmancy console strapped to his wrist that’s like a very high tech Apple watch crossed with a Pip Boy. His idle would be poking around on the screen, then it shoots out a couple sparks and he flinches and smacks it until it works again. Then he’d glance around and hope nobody saw that.
Lithium would probably hop backwards in a trust fall, land on the ground hard, and immediately bounce back up a little too high before landing on her feet with a slight wobble. Like people do on those big trampolines in gyms. But with concrete.
Babylon would pull a dossier out from somewhere, flip through it, sigh in a very put-upon manner, check their watch, and put the dossier away. This is, of course, accompanied by their signature Foot Tap of Impatience and Lost Efficiency.
Sparkplug would probably ignite a small fire in her hand and pretend to eat it to freak people out. Or play with a swirly ball of fire Jareth the Goblin King style (by which I mean contact juggling).
Nightmare would glance at the player over her shoulder and wink before turning back around like nothing happened.
Battalion (super special character I haven’t introduced yet!) would adjust the straps on her gauntlets, unsheathe her sword, do a couple flippy tricks with it, and put it back.
PRE-ORDER EXCLUSIVE IDLE ANIMATIONS - Other Powers
Iron Will: Pulls a soda can from somewhere and crushes it between his hands, then pulls his hands apart, revealing a fully intact soda can. Basically, an aluminum accordion. The item sometimes changes from a soda can to a small steel rod.
Lithium: Pulls a lighter out of her pocket, snaps it on, focuses on it until it shoots a HUGE flame jet into the air, clicks it off, and tucks it back into her pocket.
Overseer: Drone Buddy flies in and spins a circle around his head before zooming off. Overseer is overjoyed.
Nightmare: Turns to face the player, the screen goes dark at the edges and shaky for a moment, turns back around, and the effect fades.
