Headcanon: Hey, I saw your response to an anon about submitting my own non-request writing for approval, and since I’ve been ruminating on some headcanons for the youngest member of Overwatch, I thought I would send them in. I haven’t written in quite a while, actually, and I had fun making this. I hope it’s not too much trouble, since I’ve never done this before and it’s… kind of a lot.
[Guest Writers FAQ]
You didn’t always live on the streets of Hollywood; it’s a development from maybe two or three years ago, after your mother died. You don’t know your father, and as far as you know he never bothered trying to find you. You were lucky enough to make some friends early – they taught you how to survive when no one else bothered to glance your way.
You have no right leg, a birth defect. You’ve worn a prosthetic your entire life, although during life on the streets you’re forced to switch to a scavenged one like Junkrat’s. It gets damaged during your meeting with McCree, and sometime later you receive a much more advanced one.
You don’t get to go on missions unless they’re deemed safe enough, but to avoid feeling cooped up you’re sometimes allowed to accompany the team to various locales so long as you stay far from the action. You get a chaperone during these times, one that rotates depending on who’s on the mission and who hasn’t accompanied you in a while. It doubles as a way to get to know the others, which you suspect is intentional.
You really like pretzels. A vendor was kind enough to give you some while you were homeless, and now you can’t get enough.
Your weapon of choice is a scavenged pistol, one that you’ve learned to modulate using various types of muzzles (and perhaps other parts) to change how it fires; such modes include regular shots, lasers, shotgun blasts, bursts of flame, and so on (were you playable, this would be your weapon and gimmick). You store the modules in a belt you wear, and later in compartments hidden in your prosthetic leg.
Aside from the gun, you wear a vest designed with force-field technology to lessen the impact of blows and shots. You complain sometimes about its plainness, but it’s saved your life before and you’re grateful for it. You’ve had an idea for mines attached to remote-controlled cars (a la Bastion’s old Remote Mine ultimate), but it keeps getting vetoed. Maybe someday.
The older members are firm in keeping you in the dark about a lot of the less savory things of their jobs, and especially about the previous fall of Overwatch. They can’t stop you from looking up the public story, but they’re adamant in withholding the details from you. It takes a while, and perhaps a firmer reprimand than usual, but you learn to let it lie.
You think yourself a very egalitarian person – you attribute it to life on the streets introducing you to a lot of different people who didn’t deserve that fate – and so you’re pretty accepting of most people and quick to clash with those who are not. As such, you are not Torbjorn or Zarya’s biggest fan, although you learn to be civil with them.
You tend toward the cocky side of things, which McCree takes pride in, and you enjoy making people laugh. It’s often the easiest means of cheering them up, and they’re usually more than receptive.
Despite your attitude, however, you dread the possibility that one day you will be unable to make the cut in Overwatch. The others assure you otherwise, but it runs deep. This can be a motivator, but it must be watched closely, lest it tear you apart.
You despise people who take things from others that they don’t need or use. You developed this attitude seeing the wealthy elite of Hollywood buying huge condos and summer homes they barely touch – people like you could use those homes.
If you had one wish, it would be to take all your fellow homeless people in Hollywood (and perhaps beyond) and send them to a mansion where they could live their lives and eat their fill without worry. That you can’t do this genuinely pains you.
Related to the above, you store guilt easily when it comes to not being able to help people. It eats you up inside and you can’t stop it, even if – especially if – you know there was nothing that you could do. It hurts the most when you can’t help one of your fellow Overwatch members, since they’ve all lived hard lives that you feel you can’t begin to understand. You wish you could understand so you could at least empathize with their pain, but the few times you’ve voiced this aloud they’ve dissuaded you from this want, since you’re far too young to have to go through what they have.
Your propensity for guilt and fear of worthlessness are your greatest weaknesses, and like all great weaknesses they may be used in the future to sway you toward an undesirable path. Trust in the family that has taken you in as one of their own – it may save your life one day.
