Challenge #01761-D300: Who You Choose to Be
Sometimes an actor takes on a role that leads to consequences. In remembrance of someone most of you have never heard of: William Boyd aka Hopalong Cassidy. Children’s hero of the 1930’s/40’s. He refused to be other than a hero to them. – @knitnan
Albert Dennis was a rogue. Everyone who knew him knew that. He was a renowned philanderer, frequent drunkard, and all-around party boy. He would lie, cheat, and steal his way into whatever he wanted with no regard to the consequences. And he would frequently use his good looks to charm -and sleep- his way out of them.
Until they cast him as Superman.
It was no shock that they did it. He was a well-built and telegenic fellow who looked like he stepped right out of a comic panel. In the suit, he definitely looked the part. Out of the suit… he certainly wasn’t expected to act the part. And that’s what surprised everyone.
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Challenge #01753-D292: Quest’s End
“Are you okay?”
“I may be crying, but I can still kick your ass!” – OohLookShiny
To be heroic, you don’t have to be physically strong. It’s an advantage to have that, but it is not necessary. To be heroic, all one needs to do is continue in your efforts to improve the world despite the torturous circumstances in your way. People even have a term for the sort who can deal a lot of damage, but also end up almost ruined in the process. “Glass Cannon”.
To be heroic, one must be willing to lay everything on the line to right what once was wrong. Even one’s own life. Because the stakes matter that much.
Gin had taken the moniker ‘Glass Cannon’ as a warning to her enemies and her teammates alike. Yes, she could go off. She could knock a great deal of hit points off the bad guy of the week. But she could also end up in a lot of trouble from some relatively low hitters. And now she was here. Facing down the biggest, baddest, big baddie of them all. The one who started this fucking nonsense in the first place.
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Challenge #01727-D266: Special Needs
The concept is fairly vanilla. Not so very long ago historically, say a generation or three, people started occasionally randomly developing superhuman abilities. But the twist was that it was in a world with no assumed behavior of putting on tights and fighting crime. So for the most part, powers are more of an embarrassing social condition, roughly between genital herpes and Tourette’s Syndrome, depending on the ability in question.
But who is to say a new ability will automatically be cool? Or useful? Or even dignified?
Examples from the dream: One person can hear the thoughts of lice within about a fifty yard range. Another can lift immense weights of corn. A third can rip sheet metal with her eyebrows. But only sheet metal. And only with her eyebrows. If one DOES develop a cool sounding power, it is often quickly fatal, or nearly so. Flight is cool. But how much experience do you have with steering your body through the air, or accelerating, or decelerating, or landing, or any of that when you suddenly fling yourself up off the sidewalk at roughly mach 0.5 in a crowded neighborhood ?
Like that.
Thanks. – Bard2dBone
My name is Claire, and I’m a Floater. I’m one of the point one two percent of people afflicted with Floating Syndrome. For me, gravity is optional. I’m grade three, which means I have some control over when and how I float, but… it’s not all the time. People think it is? But, it really isn’t.
Like, they have some control over whether or not they’re an asshole. But they don’t, you know?
People see my warning bracelet and immediately ask a whole bunch of questions. I’ve been thinking of making up some FAQ sheets. Give them all the answers before they can bother to come up with the questions. But I’ve been told by my therapist that that sort of behaviour is hostile and we need all the tolerance we can get. All I can think about is how, not too long ago, Floaters were automatically saints. Now? We just have to have the patience of them.
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Challenge #01714-D253: Discrete Service
The Exclusive Tailors and Modistes, who outfit Super Heroes. And you can send up Mr Humphries of “Are you being served?” here if you like. – @knitnan
The Client had been aiming for a Look. That much was established. They kept asking for the special offers, and turning down the items available to the public. Finally, after fifteen different ensembles, they said, “Maybe… something from the basement?”
Ah. That was why they were taking their time and being so indecisive. “Of course,” Phil said. “Just follow me to Fitting Room Twelve.” The one with the Out Of Order sign on the door and the mock stack of boxes in it to deter civilians from blundering in to realms they ought not know about. “Have you a card?”
“This is all I got,” the Client fished in their back pocket and brought out a grubby post-it note. On it, barely legible, was the address and the inscription: FFS get a better costume!
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Challenge #01675-D214: The Nut at the But
The way we use tools changes us. Anything from Sherlock Holmes to Tennis Elbow. – @knitnan
Shanna hadn’t thought of being a superhero when the alien ship crash landed in the ghetto. She just knew that alien debris was worth big cash and rushed into the burning frame to grab the first thing that looked portable. And then she ran for safety before the Enforcers could get there and arrest everyone who was too slow.
She got away. Far away. Didn’t take the object out of her backpack until she was in a safe place where none of the securicams could see her. It was round, and vaguely sticky, but only when it touched her skin. It would not adhere to anything else. Of course, Shanna tried to make it do things. Alien debris was way more valuable when it could do things.
Something like this could be her ticket out of this dump. She didn’t know how right she was… but how wrong she was about the way it would happen.
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Challenge #01653-D192: Boys’ Club
Female superhero puts her foot down and demands a practical costume. – @knitnan
“Where’s my costume?” asked Major Power, still in her civilian gear.
“It’s in your locker.”
“The only thing in my locker is a g-string bikini and a pair of ballet flats.”
“Yup. That’s your costume. Updated for market appeal.” Mr Mann smiled genially. “It’s for merchandising. The focus group doesn’t lie.”
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Challenge #01648-D187: Person Man
His wardrobe contained among other things, a mask, full body suit that looked like rubber, spandex tights, spandex briefs, lots of spandex. Custom made purple boots and, Well he called it his utility belt but there was no way they were going to touch till the bomb squad And a competent psychiatrist got there. In memory of all those Cheesy Adam West Batman episodes. – @knitnan
Half a building had collapsed, but the good news was that it was condemned and no lives were lost. The better news was the partially-intact meth lab, hydroponic weed garden, and a small opioid factory visible within. And the best news was the captive gang tied up like christmas presents on the sidewalk. All tethered to a handy fire hydrant.
The bad news was the Hero.
He stood between the ambulance and the fire truck with an air of exaggerated patience in the face of outrageous delays. Shifting his weight from foot to foot and sighing in the manner of all people who had been ready ten minutes ago and are now waiting for the other people on the trip to get their metaphorical shit together. But that wasn’t the primary concern.
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Challenge #01636-D175: Just in Case Heroics
Can we please have more of O'Ranges (Uplifted Nufurria large dog/wolf mix). – @knitnan
Ambassador O'Ranges had only one really annoying habit, and that was checking in every box left by the wayside. Even if it was upside-down. Even if it was clearly empty. He would stop in his tracks, check the box, and check the area around the box. He rarely spoke, so finding out what he was looking for took a significant amount of time.
Hitchhiker/Assistant Aelki put up with it. She only wondered internally what O'Ranges was looking for. She had her guesses, since O'Ranges had been left in a box in the negligible hope that he would find a loving home.
Other Ambassadors and their staff… tended to get antsy.
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Challenge #01619-D158: This is the Best Thing
Super person comes to rescue of someone they are really Big Fans of. Marvel, D.C. Whatever.
Brownie points for “OMG! You’re Them!” moment. – @knitnan
Being a Power isn’t as much fun as the comic books would make you believe. For a start, the seemingly endless battles with the Big Bad hardly ever happen. And when they do, it’s not something you want to live through. Most of my life is patrolling the streets and trying to stop trouble before it starts.
My hero name is The Shield. I can make a force field to protect people or contain troublemakers. I also have a helmet and chest-cam to record everything I see and hear. It’s admissible in court, so the people who clearly do wrong can’t claim bias. You would not be surprised how often that happens when it’s a white cop who tried to shoot an unarmed black person and got stopped by a Latina hero.
But that wasn’t what was going on that night. It was a slow night, for a change. It could be so simple to go home and binge on netflix, but I owed the city another hour. And just as I turned a corner, I found a stopped car in an out-of-the-way alley and a mobile dead zone. This was one that wouldn’t need my powers, but the Ready Bag in the boot of my tiny little car.
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Challenge #01615-D154: MWA-HAHAHA!
“You think I’m evil? Well, am I evil just because I want to kill you? Am I evil just because I would rather tear you limb from limb and watch you bleed out one at a time, and I’m genuinely sad I won’t be able to before your friends arrive? Am I evil just because after I’m done here I’m going to go to your town and slaughter everyone you have ever loved out of pure spite?”
“W-what? Yes! Of course you’re evil! All of that is horribly, sickeningly evil!”
“Ah… Well, excellent! I like knowing my place in the world! So few do.” – Anon Guest
I know what I am. People keep telling me. I’m evil, down to the core. I am the terror that stalks in the night. I am the rage in the pit of your heart. I am bent on destroying the world. And I love it.
The world needs heroes, that is true, but it also needs villains. Those for whom the heroes can look heroic against. If it wasn’t for those like me, they’d all be fighting each other to rescue kittens from trees. Can you imagine SupaMegaMan escorting little old ladies across the road? No, of course not. I’m around.
Well. Myself and some of those… lesser villains. They all have egos the size of the moon and minions with the competency level of your average cheese. It’s the way the world works, of course. Easily-duped minions and escapable death traps make it less likely that a hero will out-and-out kill a villain in order to stop the nefarious scheme of the month.