Sometimes I think about how Vaya and Vamos said they had an action figure of The Girl and how that adds multiple new layers to the "what the fuck? What??" implications of this story. Like they never bring that up again. Was BLi making ACTION FIGURES of notable killjoys??
They're also older than her. Which means people had action figures of her (and presumably her friends) when she was still like 6 years old. Nobody ever mentions this either, but I think about it all the time.
okay REAL. like in my hcs i just kinda ignore that because of how i hc the four's fame to have worked and that doesn't really fit in it but like who's making that????? WAS it bli or are other killjoys somehow making those?? and how did the four get famous exactly like aren't all killjoys rebelling against the city what makes them so special??
and didn't they mention having posters or something too like??? how are they getting pictures of the four even if it is the city making it i know they have like cameras out in the zones but those were kinda lower quality videos right?
rambling beneath the cut but in the simplest terms: it's complicated. the boy he was in the city and being the voice of the zones were such different times its hard to even properly compare them- how would the zones have treated him if he grew up there instead? what would life in the city look like if he'd stayed there instead? both places had good things, but both are also overall awful places. the choice between the city vs the zones wasn't some grand decision to rebel against the company, it was about luck, and what choices had felt the easiest to stomach in the moment.
he had always considered himself lucky. it had always been him, his parents, and his sister in their small house in the city's middle ring. his parents had done everything right, and had created the exact life every good citizen strives for.
and he did everything right, too. he had friends, got good grades, his teachers just adored him- a pleasure to have in class was noted on every report card. perfectly on track to achieve his goals. if he was lucky, if he was smart, he would go to college in the inner city. he would learn to be a doctor. he would make a better life for his family than his parents had been able to make for him
until the second helium war started. there was a draft and, well... just unlucky. it wouldn't have ruined his life- he could've very well still done everything his parents had set him up to do. but he had been afraid.
he had run.
but that version of the story isn't strictly true. that's the story that was extrapolated from the missing persons reports, the interviews with those who'd known him, the articles in the little local newspapers, by citizens concerned for what the war was doing to their young men and those who wanted to make an example of how even the best of us could turn into traitors.
still, there's more truth to it than you might think.
he had run.
he wouldn't hide behind noble intentions- that he couldn't fight for the company whose cruelty he'd seen firsthand. he was simply afraid. and, through the distortions of that fear, it had seemed easier to try to escape. if he got out, he'd be free. and if he'd gotten caught, he'd be locked away. either way, he wouldn't be dying on a battlefield.
but out of the frying pan into the fire, the zones were just as cruel. not cruel from a need for control, but cruel from necessity. or what the men he'd met, most equally cold and distant as those in the city, thought was necessity. he never did forget the first time hearing gunshots after the battle had ended, to see dying men, allies, were being shot dead on the battlefield where they lay. to end their misery, of course. because medical supplies were few and far between, and not to be wasted on those who would likely die anyway.
and that was when he decided he really would study medicine, as much as he could get his hands on information. if only his parents knew he really had followed their dreams.
- I think his DJ name was inspired by a pre-killjoys nickname: Doc, which people still call him cuz that’s how he introduces himself to everyone. Probably given to him by his dad or something.
- Doc was pretty much raised by his only older brother. But he never saw him as a parental figure.
- The radio DJ dream was well underway by the time he was supposed to graduate high school. He wanted to start his own radio station for their small town. Like 13,000 residents small. They didn’t even have a local radio station, and he wanted to at least make stuff interesting and play a lot of rock music if everyone was going to be stuck there for the rest of their lives.
- Obviously he was a total music nerd but I Also think he read a lot of books and poetry to perfect that speaking in riddles thing he always does.
- ^ this is probably the first example of him using escapism to distract himself from the very average, borderline repressed life he lived before the apocalypse. Later it manifests in his radio personality and *literally* living through the end of the world.
- Missed Metallica’s tour with Guns n’ Roses and still thinks about it decades after the world ends.
- Visited family in Mexico a lot, so he’s decent in Spanish although he became less fluent over time due to lack of exposure.
- Probably also liked movies. I can see him being into 80s stuff. Mostly action movies but he’d watch literally anything with Patrick Swayze in it.
- Considered going to college, really wanted to actually. But his brother managed to guilt trip him into not pursuing it to “support the family”. And Doc resented him for a long time after that because he had to suffer from the mess his brother made. Doc was never glad the world ended, but if it hadn’t he’s not sure they’d even still be alive (minus his brother).
- Joined the army out of high school. He didn’t really want to but he had to put food on the table somehow so that was it. Did a tour of eastern europe circa mid-90’s (got his ass kicked) and got back around 2000 with 6 years to spare before Helium 1. And everything went downhill from there 💀
THANK YOUUU i love these so much I would lovee to hear more about his brother and their relationship if you wanna talk about it!!
This is real proof of how long I’ve been hanging around the danger days fandom, because I saw in my notifs that you liked my reblog from the confession account, and then it was immediately followed by a reblog from butchpartypoison and I was immediately sent back in time six years 😭 I don’t know how but I had NO IDEA you were the same person! And you’re one of my first followers too, which is crazy.
I hope it’s not weird to send this, but I just wanted to say I was obsessed with your art back in the day, and I’m so glad you’re still around.
AAHH not weird at all!! thank you so much!! :D
the fact that it's been six years is literally crazy bc my killjoy fixation during the lock down (and a bit before idk time is fuzzy) literally feels like yesterday* to me LOL 😵💫😵💫😵💫
(*well in non hyperbole it feels like maybe a year or two ago not SIX)
but i def still have a soft spot for danger days n have been thinking abt maybe revamping my old fab four designs and like putting em up on artfight or something... maybe.. one day..
anyways thank u for the ask :D im def more of a lurker on tumblr in general now but i still like seein ur posts on my dash :3c
