Thinking about how, at some point, Cabba's idolization of Vegeta is going to hit a snag. He's going to start hearing stories about Vegeta's past escapades. He already got the "we were conquerors in the past, but we moved past that" when they first met and he's fine with that, he doesn't know the full capacity of how much he was involved in that. Until Goku or maybe someone blabs, "oh wait until you hear about the part where he let the big bad power up and threaten the entire world so he could fight him at full strength, or when he got mind controlled... and the tournament? Yikes."
And it's supposed to be his big "even the bad have the capacity for growth and change" moment, maybe to help him get over his unease about Frost, but it has the opposite effect because he instead starts panicking that this might be an inherent Saiyan thing (probably because he got some of the Goku examples too) and he's next.
((To celebrate Across the Spiderverse releasing on Blu-Ray- and me patiently awaiting my copy in the mail- I've decided to finally pop out the notes for a mini Dragon Ball/Spiderverse cross AU that I've been jotting down over time between projects since I saw it in the theater!))
SETTING/WORLD-BUILDING
Also known as Dimension DBU6 in multiverse codes. The AU is set in a more New York-esque, in true Spiderverse fashion, Planet Sadala in an equivalent Manhattan, "Sadalhattan" if you will. While the planet's population is not 100% Saiyan, a few species immigrating there, the Saiyans are still the original inhabitants and dominant demographic. Numbers wise, the population comes closer to a highly populous state versus a full-scale Earth's worth.
Ki is either non-existent or a rare and discreet skill, so there's less focus on it. The Sadalan Defense Force becomes more traditional soldier combat focused similarly to the real world rather than a pure ki-CQC combination. They recruit similarly to the army/marines at about 18.
Bonus note: Dimension DBU6 has an equivalent Dimension DBU7 in which Goku receives the radioactive spider bite, taking on the Spider-Man name due to not yet knowing his heritage.
CHARACTERS:
THE HERO
Cabba
aka Spider-Saiyan
"My name is Cabba. I was bitten by a radioactive spider and for the past (x amount of time), I've been Planet Sadala's one and only Spider-Saiyan."
Rather than being the Sadalan Defense Force's prodigy fighter, Cabba lives a more domestic lifestyle as a high school student, planning to enlist in the SSDF post-graduation or at least pursue criminal justice- at least until the spider event occurs. Cabba is the type to go into hyper-anxiety, so he's desperately trying to disinfect and treat the spider bite, all while Googling his symptoms and being none the wiser on the "radioactive" part.
He's trained in jiujitsu and is very limber and agility-focused. He also has an interest in tactile and textile skills, so his Spidey-Suit is handmade.
Design: Similarly to AtSV's Pavitr Prabhakar, his iconic Saiyan spikes stick out of the top of the spider cowl. While the peaks end up slicked down into a waved side part, his front bang remains distinctive. In terms of the coloration, the suit's color scheme reverses the color distributions in the palette, prioritizing shades of blue over reds, and adds some gold accents, particularly on the spider symbol. There is a red headband pattern along the brow resembling Bardock's bandanna. Additions to the design incorporate elements from the main canon's SSDF uniform, including a reddish x-crossed double belt, the four lavender skirt tails (unintentionally completing the "eight legs" spider theme), and ankle boots in black rather than purple.
THE GAL PALS
Caulifla and Kale
Caulifla and Kale serves as this AU's equivalents to Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson respectively. Close to Cabba's age and grade in high school if not in the same year. Since Cauli is the Gwen Stacy equivalent, there is an alternate DBU6B where she receives the spider bite instead of Cabba.
Having this pair in play explores the fun what-if of Gwen and MJ getting together in the end. As a result, this means that Cabba doesn't get either end-game gal and he doesn't have a problem with that- love is love.
It's debatable whether Cauli will suffer the same fate as your average Gwen Stacy- she seems the type to be able to take care of herself.
THE POLICE CAPTAIN
Captain Renso
"Sadalhattan"'s resident police chief and Caulifla's older brother and caretaker due to their absentee parents. Unfortunately, if you've been picking up on the Spiderverse patterns, he ends up being Spider-Saiyan's canon event and loses his life.
Caulifla, who is normally apathetic about her brother, starts to become even more hostile and spiteful against the world. She acts particularly distrusting and vengeful towards Spider-Saiyan, putting him to blame and believing it was negligence on his part that got her brother killed.
If she's not gone completely moodily silent, Cauli will rant on and on to Cabba and Kale about her plans to bring Spider-Saiyan to justice- and Cabba just has to nod along.
Spider-Saiyan is bound to encounter typical street thugs, generic evildoers, villains of the week but...
THIS ONE
The Lizard
Villains of the week and your standard commonplace criminals come to pass but Cabba's recurring villain by moonlight manifests in the form of a scaly creature known simply as The Lizard. It only appears at night and resembles a draconic reptilian with sharp horns yet is oddly humanoid in build. It's colored in shades of blue, dons a mask over its mouth, and has piercing red eyes that glow in the dark. It communicates in mainly hisses and grumbles and is rarely verbal.
The Lizard always manages to elude capture and vanishes into the night.
Who knows where this creature disappears to once morning breaks? Perhaps there is another side to the beast.
THE CLOSEST COMPANION
Frost
In this AU, Frost has a more humanoid appearance, practically a human AU design. He has blue hair and pronouns tied up in a messy bun and green and hazel heterochromatic eyes, though there's reason to suspect they're contacts.
He's not a Saiyan, obviously, but he's from an immigrant species family, somewhat of an Ellis Island type situation, about second or third generation. His family lives in an area of the city similar to Chinatown.
Frost has been described as "cool as cucumbers and gay as sunshine". He's one of Cabba's closest friends and they share a high level of trust. They occasionally have talks after school, usually while Frost is working part time in his family's small-business cafe.
"Do you think if you ever had to keep a secret... about who you are... you'd ever just want to tell someone just to ease a bit of weight from your shoulder?" Cabba's hand tenses on the strap of his bag, lightweight and flowy yet heavy with problems, fingers self conscious about whether the zipper is shut to hide the Spider-Suit he quickly stashed inside.
"An oddly specific hypothetical, my dear Cabba," Frost simply chuckles a bit, yet there's an odd twinge in his throat. "Even so, there is quite the risk in doing so... could you even do it without causing yourself more stress? Putting yourself in more danger?" There's a beat of silence, Frost still smirking but the corner of his lip still twitching. "But I digress, drink that tea you ordered before it gets cold~"
However...
Due to a mysterious experimental contamination, Frost experiences almost werewolf-like transformations into The Lizard by night- though these occurrences seem to worsen as of late, triggering more frequently and at less convenient times, making it harder to track the timing. It's a wonder it hasn't happened earlier in the day- or worst of all, in public or at school. His memory of what he does as The Lizard has grown less and less hazy of late.
Frost hasn't been up for sleepovers in ages, and adverse after effects lead people to believe this kid needs serious amounts of lotion on his hands.
Further down the road, these two discover each other's identities in the least pleasant of circumstances- with events leading to Cabba catching his friend with his face half-shapeshifted...
Do you do any multishipping? As in any characters you have multiple ships for?
I do have multiple ships for Frost- I ship both Frabba (Frost x Cabba) and Frit (Frost x Hit), the latter of which I had shelved for awhile before looking back on it. I obviously ship them separately in different fic contexts, so when content building for one ship, the other is reduced to mild or background if present at all; Frit has their classic banter and Frabba may be reduced to a soft Cabba-sided crush and/or playful teasing on Frost's end.
Surprisingly, Frabba is actually kind of tricky to do outside of my main fic "Shattered Ice" and it's more of a plot driven ship. Frit is seemingly more open to drabblings.
With Frit shipping, I occasionally slate Frost as being somewhat older versus the lower range young adult in SI contexts to make things more open to implications of "heavier" forms of affection, so to speak- well, as much as my confused little ace brain can string together, always implied never described so to speak. In terms of affection, Frabba is always soft and more tender in actions, not really going that far, although they can be rather rigid with a bit of firm bitterness and desperate clinginess, while Frit can stray a bit further (if it needs to). However, both ships can be calmer and domesticated. I really enjoy Frit banter.
I've written content/headcanons on both so you can see more of how I write each.
In addition to these two ships, there's another Frost ship that I've somewhat looked into content for but I'm not sure how willing I'd be on shipping/writing it myself (no shame if you ship it)- Frieza x Frost. Their development seems mainly like Frieza stringing Frost along, the latter being so hopelessly clingy/desperate and affection starved that his love makes him blind to the manipulation. It presents many an angst opportunity and it's hard to see much Frieza reciprocity that isn't part of his manipulation act. It's more Frost-sided and his touch-starved desperation makes him continue to play the fool and pine post-betrayal (masochism even?). Very angsty- most I've thought about them in terms of a mini vibe playlist would be "Cake" by Melanie Martinez. I've read some good Friest content that depict a Frost-sided relationship and/or Frieza manipulation and, while both-sided genuine Friest I don't see as much, I won't shame on you if you ship it that way- I may investigate if I'm curious but I rely on "don't like, don't read" so I'll simply leave it be without comment if I'm not up for it.
SIDE A: FROST
Liar boy, once the heroic apple of everyone's eye. A bit of spunky.
Ghost Rule - DECO*27 (Hatsune Miku)
Oh No! - MARINA
Bubblegum B!tch - MARINA
Eighth Wonder - Lemon Demon
Michelle - Sir Chloe
Suck It Up - MARETU (Hatsune Miku)
Goodbye, My Danish Sweetheart - Mitski
(A/N: Honestly there was a lot in the MARINA discography that could work for him. "Toxic" would be too predictable, but don't think it wasn't considered. The Mitski at the end is a bit soft comparatively for his vibes, but oomph it was too good to leave out.)
SIDE B: CABBA
Playing hero prodigy isn't the easy road, especially when your heart gets toyed with along the way. Burnt out protagonist syndrome.
despair - leo.
Sweet Hibiscus Tea - Penelope Scott
Hey Kids - Molina
Turn Off the Lights - Panic! At The Disco
Rose-Colored Boy - Paramore
Juliet - Cavetown
Stay Soft - Mitski
(A/N: "Stay Soft" was one I was iffy on including. I know the intended implications of the lyrics, but, aside from the one line near the beginning, I felt I could use a secondary interpretation for this sort of context. Now that I'm thinking about it, it could work for Kale too.)
PART TWO: FRABBA
Hearts have been stomped on, but why do they still beat for each other?
Never Ever Getting Rid of Me - Waitress soundtrack (Christopher Fitzgerald and Kimiko Glenn)
House of Memories - Panic! At The Disco
Lies - MARINA
Judas (80s Version) - Gemyni (original by Lady Gaga)
Duvet - bôa
Masterpiece - Motionless in White (thanks anon!)
Mary On A Cross - Ghost
Fairytale - Alexander Rybak
(A/N: I've had many variants of the good old Frabba jams, but this is the current combo I've been vibing with lately. Got a lot of other stray songs in my playlist that hit the vibe to different extents, sparking animatics/edits in my brain. Might share later. However, I will give you that All That Matters from RWBY Volume 5 goes with their reunion in "Shattered Ice".)
For pride month! Sexualities of your characters plz!!
Ooh, I've been playing around with how to headcanon them for awhile, but here's what I've settled on.
Frost - MLM/Gay
Being surrounded by his father's concubines most of his life, he starts to lose the taste for women. Guys, however, are new and fascinating, almost captivatingly so. Notably, Frost is often very clingy and, once someone catches his fancy, it takes a lot for him to change his trajectory to another target and show any interest in someone new, even if the previous companion has moved on from him. He will 'play-flirt' with fangirls for publicity, but there is no real charge behind it. During his fake-hero phase, there were a few 'Does Bruno Mars Is Gay?'-esque rumors.
Cabba - Bi
Frost was a young Cabba's 'oh shoot I might be gay' moment. He's only out to a select few people, but anyone who had seen Cabba around Frost in any given space had somewhat of an inkling. After the debacle with the truth being revealed, he tries to play more straight-leaning in an attempt to distance himself from any prior feelings for the lizard.
Caulifla - Lesbian
Obvious. Caulifla doesn't really have a taste for dudes; in fact, she believes a good chunk of them to be total wusses. She has her bandit pack doing her bidding, but she doesn't really care about them outside of the job. While she values strength, she doesn't care about that in a girlfriend and is more than willing to be the protective type. Butch Lesbian.
Kale - Demi/Lesbian
Kale has been hurt by people in the past, leaving her trust shaky. Once she knows for sure she is safe in someone's arms and won't be harmed, then she can let herself become emotionally attached- then romantically. She's not a 'love at first sight' type, on account of a defense mechanism, and trust needs to be developed first. Only once have her feelings developed into attraction, and that was with Caulifla.
Hit - Panromantic Ace
The assassin's ideal in a person is a near or complete compeer in skill, basically someone who can make him budge. It's not always strength, it can be tactic or wit. He doesn't consider gender as a deciding factor. He opts not to act physically on his attractions, however, and forming relationships becomes somewhat difficult with the threat of blackmail, so he keeps any sort of romantic bond he manages rather hush-hush and private.
Frieza - Aroace (Aroaceflux)
Frieza considers attractions to be a triviality and, while his words are often flirtatiously toned, there is often no actual feelings behind it. This isn't to say he's entirely immune- there have been few in the universe that have been able to take the emperor's fancy in this way, but it is quite a rarity. Getting the emperor attracted to you is an accomplishment in itself; if you get him to admit it, you've won.
I’ve finally overcome my writer’s block and I’m happy to announce that I’m finally posting the first six chapters of my fic, Shattered Ice, on my AO3! If it sounds familiar, that’s because the first chapter was a quick one-shot I posted here as a rewrite of one of my old scrapped fic drafts.
But, now it’s a full fledged fic following the redemption of Frost. Plus, this will be my first fic with Frabba (Frost x Cabba) as the primary ship, but I’ve still kept some classic Frit banter, even though it isn’t the ship at hand.
You can find the fic here (with a slightly expanded Chapter 1!) and I’ll be sure to post new chapter updates when I have them.
I did a brief little practice draft of writing for my old Frabba Hanahaki Disease mini AU, basically just to help me get back into the groove of things. I also experimented a bit with writing non-red blood for the lizards.
Here's the AU's context to read first. This is set directly after the Destroyers Tournament. Usual Hanahaki triggers, such as blood and emetophobia, apply.
Cabba had already since left, insisting on being dropped straight off on Sadala- complaints of not feeling well- by the time Frost finally woke up sputtering. The moment his eyes started to crack open, they soon flew fully alert, a wheeze and hacking seizing his throat. He was doubled over, clawing at the floor as he choked a mouthful of blue blood out, splattering in bumpy little clots.
"What- the hell did you do to me, assassin?" He managed to rasp out. His tensed hands scraped apart the puddles, revealing individual blood-soaked grains.
The once meditating Hit quickly tuned back in, cocking his head. "I deliberately avoided striking your vital organs."
"Liar!" Frost responded through a few more coughs. "You must have done… something." He put a palm over his mouth to suppress a sense of vomit, feeling a scratch climb up his trachea. His efforts were in vain as fresh navy dribbled past his fingers, drawing his hand back to reveal a small sprig of a bloody snapdragon sticking to his palm.
"Wh-what is this?" His hand was shaking at the sight. Hit briefly flinched at seeing the flower as well, but he quickly composed himself, having the blunt answer for it.
"The Hanahaki Disease." He sighed. "Textbook case of floral blood and vomit amidst unrequited love."
"Don't make jokes with me! You know that's a myth!"
"I hate to break it to you, but it's real. Believe it or not, this isn't the first time I've seen such a phenomenon today."
Still shaking, Frost's gaze traveled around the hexahedron, locking eyes with everyone else individually. He skipped Magetta, who had no lungs, Botamo gave a shrug as if he didn't know what the hell he was talking about...
The final tour back to Hit, met with a stern and quiet nod of 'no', caused the realization to drop in his already sickened gut. "C-Cabba?! But… how? He seemed fine, who hurt him?"
"Think long and hard about this one, Frost. What the hell do you think?" There was an oddly sharp hostility in his grumble, one that hadn't even shown when he had been cornered trying to make off with the treasure.
"Me? But- I never rejected him. I thought he already knew! I thought he knew that I-" Frost's racing tone eventually caught on another cough, more blooms trying to spring out of his mouth.
"That's not the story I was told. At the very least, you don't have to worry about his condition anymore. He's out of flowers to cough up for you."
Frost's gasp of realization shifted quickly into an asthmatic wheeze, the ensuing fit to bring up the next bloodied blossom almost hiding the assassin's next mutter: "Now, it's your turn."
When the lizard regained his shallow breath, eyes teary and lips stained with still-dripping brutal blue, he looked horrified into his own hand to find a full spear of a flower worthy of a murderer's bouquet.
