more random spider-spark hcs while i'm at it, btw :3
if spider-spark got their own comic, their spider-sense would be stylized as a ring/halo of lightning bolts around their head & a glowing 4-pointed star on the forehead. the stronger the reaction, the bigger, brighter, & more prominent the lightning bolts & star get. out of costume, it's more translucent - signifying how easily hotaru can confuse it for General Autism Shenanigans.
speaking of their suit, hotaru made it themself! ... and with stolen & kitbashed parts from LegionCorp, the company of 404's Green Goblin, Dominus Ghaul. their main suit is comprised of their proprietary nano-mesh interwoven / sandwiched between regular fabric that sits underneath their normal clothes & provides a nice, comfortable layer of compression. ( surprise surprise, the sensory-seeking autistic likes to wear compression-fit stuff. ) when inert, it looks like a regular turtleneck / bodysuit, but when spider-spark activates it with their bioelectricity, the current activates the colors and designs of their suit. the fit's similar to the tasm suit / br.and new day suit - it's a close fit, but it's not exactly skin tight - you can still see the fabric ripple when they move & swing.
the first suit hotaru ever made included a full face mask. after their first outing, hotaru redesigned the mask to expose their hair after learning the hard way that using their powers causes their hair to rapidly grow & expand.... and build a static charge. ( basically: hotaru shocked themself. ) the cut of the mask is reminiscent of pavitr prabhak.ar / spi.der-man india's mask from its.v, with reactive, tinted lenses to protect hotaru's eyes from sensory overload & their own powers.
hotaru's lenses glow! it's a faint, blue glow around the edges of the eyes. that's because when hotaru uses bioelectricity, their eyes go from a soft, honey brown to neon blue & emissive. their eyes return to normal after an hour or so.
hotaru's webs aren't made of web fluid - instead, they come out of their web gears - wrist mounted webshooters that run off of rechargeable 'bio-carts,' small discs that hotaru charges with their bio-electricity to use later. their weblines have the same properties as most spider-people, but hotaru can control them & even charge them up. they can also consume extra cartridges to create bigger hard-light constructs.
outside of the usual spider-abilities, spider-spark's powerset includes construct creation, bioelectricity generation, electrokinesis, & technopathy. they develop these powers over time, & most are subsets of their bioelectric powers.
hotaru has claws & fangs! they can also lace their fangs with bio-electricity later in life, but they most commonly coat their claws, punches, and kicks with electricity if they need extra firepower.
hotaru's biggest limiting factor is that once they run out of stored bioelectricity, their body will straight up burn through any calories hotaru has consumed to make more. it's why spider-spark develops some utility pouches to carry energy bars, & carries cash so they can quickly locate a street vendor and pay for food. their metabolism is functionally similar to your average flash family member.
most locals will leave food out for spider-spark. it's like leaving food out for santa, except it's for the visibly beat up vigilante that carried your grandma's groceries for her last tuesday.
local resturants that are near spider-spark fights also leave out food - specifically the pizza chains, bodegas, and other convenience stores / snack shops / street food vendors / food trucks.
spider-spark insists on helping in return.
it is therefore not an uncommon sight to see spider-spark delivering pizza. if you're lucky, it could be YOUR pizza!
if you're a fan of spider-spark, expect them to get visibly flustered if you mention it. they're a sweetheart and will hug you if you ask. a toasty spider that gently pats your head & will take as many pictures as you want.
hotaru went through a growth spurt post-spider bite! unfortunately, they went from 5'4.75 to 5'10 even. for a while, they have to work to get their body back to the practical buff state it was before the bite & are forced to go through an awkward, gangly String Bean Stage where they're clumsy as shit & not used to the extra height. their joints, thighs, & ribs & ribs have lightning-shaped stretch marks, and their fingertips are noticeably pinker even when their claws are retracted. discolored fingers my beloved claw trope <3
hotaru instictively hooks into things with their claws despite having spider-stickiness. unfortunately, their claws are so comically strong that when the vulture tried to pull them off of a building, they took a chunk of the building with them.
if you are sad in new york, spider-spark will find you and spider-spark will cheer you up. just had a breakup? they'll be absolutely SCANDALIZED as they listen you vent about your shitty ex. someone's messing with you? world's gentlest spider-hug and a shoulder to cry on. if you need to cry or talk, they'll be there.
earth-404 is primarily based on the webbverse - and hotaru's rogues gallery are a mix of regular spidey villains & variants based on destiny 2 villains! most notably & my fave example is the court of kingpins that consist of 'oryx,' 'xivu arath,' and 'savath'un', the latter who left to follow her own aspirations & now goes by her maiden name, dr. savona octavius, aka 404's doc ock. ( also my kingdom for someone to write their occasional guy in the chair, SP/DR, aka the currently depowered spider-man & hotaru's fellow lab assistant/ta for dr. octavius peter parker )
