[This was originally posted to my Patreon as an early access thing for the $5 tier. It wasn't meant to be 1 year, 3 months, and 24 days early, but I've been kind of crap about moving stuff here, especially the things I intended to polish before posting here.]
[Aspirant and Dee previously appeared in Evil has standards, which happens to be the story of how this particular villian and hero (respectively) ended up on good terms with each other.]
"What is it?" Aspirant asked.
"Nothing," Dee said.
"Ok, that idea that all villains are socially inept is totally untrue," Aspirant said. "I can read people just fine, thank you very much." He paused. "Mind you there's a sizable contingent who think that makes me weird, so there may be a kernel of distorted truth behind the idea.
"Anyway, I can tell something is wrong," Aspirant said.
"I lost again," Dee said.
"As well you should have," Aspirant said. "I'm older, wiser, bigger, and stronger.
"Strength we can work on, I've no doubt that by the time you're my age the wisdom gap will have long since closed, getting older will happen whether you want it to or not, so the only thing that's a real concern is 'bigger'.
"I think you're growth spurted out, kid," Aspirant said, "so unlike the other things you'll never be my equal on that one. It just means you need to have a fighting style that takes into account some opponents having a longer reach.
"You're already fast, and that's good. It'll help you quickly move through the area where I can hit you but you can't hit me, thus leaving less time your size puts you at a disadvantage."
Dee nodded, though she didn't seem to really believe it.
"Think about it like how you got hits in on the regular henchpeople. Not only did most of them have a longer reach than you empty handed, they were using staves that increased their reach even more. It's never been a problem for you there.
"Also, it's not like you lose every time. Far from it. So, are you ready for more practice?"
Dee nodded again, this time it seemed completely serious.
I need to figure out who Dee's villains will be, because she'll be staying on friendly terms with Doctor Galvah's lair (plus if she routinely fought them she'd run into Kelley more than preferable) but she will also be sticking with the hero lifestyle.
This does not present a conflict of interest because she's not trying to thwart Doctor Galvah, and any other villains she does thwart are effectively the Doctor's competition.
I really like the idea of a hero (part of the reason Aspirant is training Dee is so she can step out of the sidekick role without being overwhelmed) who is friends with a group of villains, spends significant time hanging out in their lair, gets mentored by them, and never wavers from being a hero.
It helps that Galvah wants to take over the world for essentially altruistic reasons. Dee disagrees that that's the correct way to go about enacting sweeping policy changes, but she doesn't disagree with the policy changes themselves.
Some policy changes proposed when Galvah rules the world:
No one goes hungry, college is free for everyone, healthcare, including dental, is free for everyone, everyone receives a food card that refills with money on a monthly basis (the money is 10% more than what is determined to be necessary to eat well for that month), housing for all, unless they don't want it [some people are homeless by choice], protection to all regardless of race / religion / gender (including non-cis gender identity) / sexuality / ethnicity / nationality (nations will still exist as local governments, elected of course) / language / accent / fetish / so forth.
More stuff like that. Basically raising the floor from "rock bottom" to "A decent standard of living, if nothing spectacular, and then giving individuals access to what they need to leave that status if they so desire
Added since Patreon:
I've actually thought up a couple more events for the relationship between Aspirant and Dee.
Given how much of my super-person stuff so far has involved romantic relationships or the possibility thereof it seems strangely necessary to point out that the relationship between them is purely a friendship one (friendship which has a bit of Aspirant as mentor figure mixed in.)
Neither would even consider viewing the other romantically, and if anyone brought it up to one, the possibility would be quickly dismissed.
Anyway, other events. Both involve Aspirant giving equipment to Dee.
Aspirant fights with his hands and the magic he can call up to encase them, but he does actually have an Enochian-magic infused staff like the henchpeople. It's been sitting in the back of a closet gathering dust for years, but it's there and it works.
At some point in her hero career, Dee is going to have difficulties of a sort that cause Aspirant to conclude Dee would be helped a great deal if she adopted some kind of weapon (not necessarily as a primary thing, but always brought along in case the situation called for it.)
When he attempts to describe what kind of weapon would best fill this role and complement Dee's style, he's going to make it as far as, "Something like--" before getting the idea and running off to dig his old magic staff out of whatever closet it's been collecting dust in.
The other thing is actually planned in advance and is more of a gift from the whole lair that Aspirant happened to be the one to present. It's a pair of shoes.
When walls are available Dee makes use of them in her fighting & running away style. What she can do, however, was limited by the less than stellar grip provided by the outsoles of her old shoes. While the gift-shoes in question will have spectacular grip, they'll come with the warning "They're not parkour shoes. If you assume they're parkour shoes you'll get hurt. Maybe break something."
The specific way they differ is in the arches, which are made of hard composite material that is as low friction as possible. Their purpose is to allow Dee to grind/slide on edges, pipes, or rails and thus increase her movement possibilities. (To do this she needs to be facing perpendicular to the thing being grinded on, otherwise the non-arch parts would touch and their stellar grip would cause Dee's feet to stop while the rest of her kept going.)
If Dee ever gives to any of the people in the lair it won't be stuff they can use to further "take over the world" plots. Not thwarting Dr. Galvah doesn't go against being a hero because no hero thwarts every single person with a "take over the world" plot.* Helping said plots, however, would. The villainous side doesn't have that problem because in her hero-life Dee is taking on and taking down their competition.
* Dee is simply prioritizing the thwarting of villains who aren't her friends and hanging out with friends in her non-hero downtime.
Also, even if she hadn't made connections with those at the lair, Dee would still prioritize many other villains over Dr. Galvah given that she now knows that Galvah's intended ends are, you know, cuddly. Dee disagrees with the means, and plenty of non-Galvah villains have roughly equivalent means in mind while their intended ends are a good deal less appealing.
[Aspirant and Dee previously appeared in Evil has standards, which happens to be the story of how this particular villian and hero (respectively) ended up on good terms with each other.]
"What is it?" Aspirant asked.
"Nothing," Dee said.
"Ok, that idea that all villains are socially inept is totally untrue," Aspirant said. "I can read people just fine, thank you very much." He paused. "Mind you there's a sizable contingent who think that makes me weird, so there may be a kernel of distorted truth behind the idea.
"Anyway, I can tell something is wrong," Aspirant said.
"I lost again," Dee said.
"As well you should have," Aspirant said. "I'm older, wiser, bigger, and stronger.
"Strength we can work on, I've no doubt that by the time you're my age the wisdom gap will have long since closed, getting older will happen whether you want it to or not, so the only thing that's a real concern is 'bigger'.
"I think you're growth spurted out, kid," Aspirant said, "so unlike the other things you'll never be my equal on that one. It just means you need to have a fighting style that takes into account some opponents having a longer reach.
"You're already fast, and that's good. It'll help you quickly move through the area where I can hit you but you can't hit me, thus leaving less time your size puts you at a disadvantage."
Dee nodded, though she didn't seem to really believe it.
"Think about it like how you got hits in on the regular henchpeople. Not only did most of them have a longer reach than you empty handed, they were using staves that increased their reach even more. It's never been a problem for you there.
"Also, it's not like you lose every time. Far from it. So, are you ready for more practice?"
Dee nodded again, this time it seemed completely serious.
⁂
I need to figure out who Dee's villains will be, because she'll be staying on friendly terms with Doctor Galvah's lair (plus if she routinely fought them she'd run into Kelley more than preferable) but she will also be sticking with the hero lifestyle.
This does not present a conflict of interest because she's not trying to thwart Doctor Galvah, and any other villains she does thwart are effectively the Doctor's competition.
I really like the idea of a hero (part of the reason Aspirant is training Dee is so she can step out of the sidekick role without being overwhelmed) who is friends with a group of villains, spends significant time hanging out in their lair, gets mentored by them, and never wavers from being a hero.
It helps that Galvah wants to take over the world for essentially altruistic reasons. Dee disagrees that that's the correct way to go about enacting sweeping policy changes, but she doesn't disagree with the policy changes themselves.
Some policy changes proposed when Galvah rules the world:
No one goes hungry, college is free for everyone, healthcare, including dental, is free for everyone, everyone receives a food card that refills with money on a monthly basis (the money is 10% more than what is determined to be necessary to eat well for that month), housing for all, unless they don't want it [some people are homeless by choice], protection to all regardless of race / religion / gender (including non-cis gender identity) / sexuality / ethnicity / nationality (nations will still exist as local governments, elected of course) / language / accent / fetish / so forth.
More stuff like that. Basically raising the floor from "rock bottom" to "A decent standard of living, if nothing spectacular, and then giving individuals access to what they need to leave that status if they so desire
⁂
Added since Patreon:
I've actually thought up a couple more events for the relationship between Aspirant and Dee.
Given how much of my super-person stuff so far has involved romantic relationships or the possibility thereof it seems strangely necessary to point out that the relationship between them is purely a friendship one (friendship which has a bit of Aspirant as mentor figure mixed in.)
Neither would even consider viewing the other romantically, and if anyone brought it up to one, the possibility would be quickly dismissed.
Anyway, other events. Both involve Aspirant giving equipment to Dee.
Aspirant fights with his hands and the magic he can call up to encase them, but he does actually have an Enochian-magic infused staff like the henchpeople. It's been sitting in the back of a closet gathering dust for years, but it's there and it works.
At some point in her hero career, Dee is going to have difficulties of a sort that cause Aspirant to conclude Dee would be helped a great deal if she adopted some kind of weapon (not necessarily as a primary thing, but always brought along in case the situation called for it.)
When he attempts to describe what kind of weapon would best fill this role and complement Dee's style, he's going to make it as far as, "Something like--" before getting the idea and running off to dig his old magic staff out of whatever closet it's been collecting dust in.
The other thing is actually planned in advance and is more of a gift from the whole lair that Aspirant happened to be the one to present. It's a pair of shoes.
When walls are available Dee makes use of them in her fighting & running away style. What she can do, however, was limited by the less than stellar grip provided by the outsoles of her old shoes. While the gift-shoes in question will have spectacular grip, they'll come with the warning "They're not parkour shoes. If you assume they're parkour shoes you'll get hurt. Maybe break something."
The specific way they differ is in the arches, which are made of hard composite material that is as low friction as possible. Their purpose is to allow Dee to grind/slide on edges, pipes, or rails and thus increase her movement possibilities. (To do this she needs to be facing perpendicular to the thing being grinded on, otherwise the non-arch parts would touch and their stellar grip would cause Dee's feet to stop while the rest of her kept going.)
If Dee ever gives to any of the people in the lair it won't be stuff they can use to further "take over the world" plots. Not thwarting Dr. Galvah doesn't go against being a hero because no hero thwarts every single person with a "take over the world" plot.* Helping said plots, however, would. The villainous side doesn't have that problem because in her hero-life Dee is taking on and taking down their competition.
~
* Dee is simply prioritizing the thwarting of villains who aren't her friends and hanging out with friends in her non-hero downtime.
Also, even if she hadn't made connections with those at the lair, Dee would still prioritize many other villains over Dr. Galvah given that she now knows that Galvah's intended ends are, you know, cuddly. Dee disagrees with the means, and plenty of non-Galvah villains have roughly equivalent means in mind while their intended ends are a good deal less appealing.
Read. Sorry for not having anything to say - right now my own superhero fandom is the only thing I'm capable or willing to talk/scream/cry/wax poetic/complain bitterly about. So - a bit of a one-track mind here.
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Thanks for letting me know you are reading (and not just talking about this post.) It helps.
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