Rasgo, you say? I'm intrigued. Can I get any headcanons?
Sure! ;3 It contains the beginnings of the ship, a special thanks goes to @blackiraven who helped me a lot with these hcs <33 ^^ (since I’m really bad at keeping things short, here’s a cut)
- Hugo and Ra's found each other during the months before Arkham City.
- Ra's was impressed by the strength of will Hugo represented, the fact that he had dared to get in contact with his assassins and face the Demon Head himself. The doctor had managed to find out his whereabouts despite all security precautions and strict secrecy. A difficult task considering how many hideouts he owns all over the world.
- The second fact, Ras recognized Hugo's potential as a worthy successor. Enormous strength, bravery and energy are usually his demands on his potential replacement. And well, Hugo has already proven all this. He has strength and bravery (because he came to him, even at the risk of losing his life and also because he is not afraid to act against people who wants to bring him down, manipulate him or wants to exploid him for their own purposes). Hugo had the energy to withstand this over several years. He kept getting up after a defeat. Furthermore, Hugo has already come close to death and has survived again and again; he did not owe his resurrection to doctors or a lazerus pit, it was his own willpower. And who would be better to inherit the legacy of immortality than someone who has conquered death once, even several times?
- Ra’s tends to analyze all the people who join him, in Hugo's case, he didn't have the time he normally would have. When entering into an alliance with someone, he need to make sure that he can trust his partner (and potential successor). At anytime. So he has one or the other conversation with Hugo outside of their plans and due to the fact that such a cooperation requires a perfect strategic interaction, both work together for a while on the implementation, which in turn means that Hugo stays with the League for quite a bit time.
- The members themselves are loyal to Ra’s and obedient to the death, but there was an incident...
- An adept was too fixated on seeing his destiny in the succession as a leader, the overzealousness seized him. Strange was a potential threat, a shadow that hung over them like the sword of Damocles. It was surely only a matter of time before he betrayed them. After all, this man was so nervous the whole time, as if he had something big to hide... So, in a cloak-and-dagger operation, he decided that he didn't want to jeopardize his future. -> Hugo had been working all day untill late night and decided to give his mind a few hours of rest. All this time he was in the library, reading books on psychology and hypnosis, mind control, studying old maps of Gotham, and so on. When he finished and was about to leave for his room, he heard a strange noise... Then the assassin attacked him out of the darkness.
At first, he managed to dodge and fend off the sword with the book he was holding. Hugo immediately realized that he would not be able to defeat a professional assassin, so he decided to neutralize him with the help of the environment. He lured the assassin to the bookcases (and had to put up with a deep vertical sword wound on his stomach) that allowed Hugo to knock over one of the bookshelves with the last of his strength and to escape the library. And then, as he struggled down the corridor and left a trail of blood behind himself, a sudden large shadow appears. It's Ra's who was drawn to the noise. Hugo first thought is that he came to finish him off and tries anxiously to come up with arguments and not flinch when his opponent carefully moves towards him. Contrary to his expectations, Ra's assures him that he had not command anything like this and that he would like to help... if he lets him.
- After he had been pached up by Ra's after a long night, his trust was of course shaken. Sure, Ra's assured that it had nothing to do with him... he even had said assassin executed to make a statement and a memorial. And yet there was still a doubt. But especially the tension in this new surroundings made it difficult for him to concentrate on nearly... everything. He knew that he was being watched from the shadows. The whole time. And he had no guarantee that Ra's deterrent method had worked... Ra's in turn could already feel when Hugo entered the room. The tension was palpable. If this working relationship, which was also a relationship of trust, had to work, he had to get Hugo to talk to him. But since he didn't seem to wanna face it with words - maybe out of fear of showing weakness - Ra's decides to invite him to a game of chess and puts him under zugzwang, so to speak. In his opinion, chess finally enables both subjectivity and a sense of identity to be expressed with its ideal of unity and authenticity, as well as conveying a clear picture of the private flow of emotions and thoughts, the as a direct self-expression, truth and authenticity guaranteed.
Tied to the basics of intersubjective reason, to a linguistic system of norms that meets the criteria of general comprehensibility
the possibilities of what a person can say and experience in an individually authentic way seem extremely narrow - but if he can let actions speak for themselves... the whole thing looks completely different.
And it actually worked. Hugo's concerns were expressed whether intentionally or unintentionally through his moves and Ra’s responded to them with forbearance and understanding.
At some point Hugo even completely forgot that it was not just a conversation, but also a game and made wrong, more aggressive moves, which in turn made Ra's smile. The mischief that flashed in his eyes as he gradually took Hugo's pawns out of the game made his counterpart realize how counterproductive his behavior was, but also surprised him with this new... playfulness?
That was what finally convinced him to rebuild his trust and to watch the game much more relaxed and pleasant.
- The game is also reflected in their behavior towards each other afterwards. They slowly opened up to each other, exchanging views on medicine and research (when the time allowed), and even talked about family relationships; like, for example, about Hugo's son. A bond of trust slowly weaved around them, laying the foundations for... something more.
Rasgo: Un viaggio poetico nell’esistenza femminile
Rasgo: Uma viagem poética na existência feminina
Créditos: ‘Elsa’, Oriol Maspons, 1966.
Il recente volume di liriche di Margarida Maria Rocha, intitolato Rasgo e pubblicato nel 2024 per i tipi della casa editrice portoghese Musa Impassível, si presenta con una peculiare veste editoriale. Degna di nota risulta la singolare concezione grafica…
