My brain hates me...

[neotoma]

considering it woke me up yesterday with "Hey, you could write that girl!Hank/Bobby fic! It'd be a great First Class fic! Or an Astonishing fic!"

Possibly I'm going to be writing *two* girl!Hank stories... my brain really hates me.

So, for those of you who are sporty types, what women's sport is closest to the rough and tumble of American football... soccer? women's rugby? lacrosse? I really have no idea...

Comments

[ellid.livejournal.com]

The rugby club at Smith used to wear t-shirts that said "My body is a finely tuned instrument of destruction." They were also the biggest, toughest, strongest girls on campus. One of them later skiied to the South Pole, then rowed across the Atlantic Ocean for fun....

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Okay, that works. Hank was a football star in high school before he went to Xavier's -- it's part of his character that he's still quite a sports buff and rather deadly in the pick-up games the Xmen play occasionally.

Not that I know anything about rugby, but I bet I can fake it with a little research...

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

I'd definitely say rugby.

*feeds the bunny*

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking that being female would make for a lot more vocal feminism, more anger, and possibly more simmering aggression, since if Hank weren't a mutant he'd have a pretty easy life as a well-educated white man. A well-educated white woman who had that level of brains and what would generally be considered awful looks would get really tired of talked down and ignored to by her peers, not to mention her intellectual inferiors.

Once she turned blue and furry, things would get really terrible.

Can I get away with writing a really terrible break-up with Trish Tilby in this? Lots of angst, and then Kitty walking into the kitchen one morning to find Bobby looking foolish as he keeps mumbling "Wow, smart girls are *hot*" into his coffee. (Yes, totally stealing from Buffy:tV there...)

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's a really interesting way to think about it!

I'm also wondering what girl-Hank's relationship with Jean would be like. (Jean being the one character that it's basically impossible to gender-swap, because she's defined by being 'the girl.')

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Hank is really lucky to be male, because men are not pushed to be 'beautiful' the same way women are; they're usually considered sufficient attractive if they're well-groomed and well-dressed, which Hank is.

His general appearance as a young man (tall, freakishly muscular, broad-shouldered) would translate onto a young woman as unattractive. Turning blue and furry would just compound matters, and possibly bring out the fetishists. Turning cat-like would *definitely* bring out the fetishists, since cat-girls are a huge anime trope.

No, I wouldn't gender-swap anyone else, Jean especially. I'm not sure how Jean would be. Based on her First Class characterization, there might be some bonding and a lot of rivalry. I'd expect Jean to make a lot out of being 'the pretty one', which can turn into a poisonous dynamic all too easily. I do think that girl!Hank would find the Scott-Jean-Warren tedious while at the same time envying the attention.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Heh, Jean is rather fortunate in not having had to deal with being "the pretty one" since one of the rules of comics is "all girls are hot!!"

[rabidfangurl.livejournal.com]

Female!Hank? Goes to Bryn Mawr and plays for the Horned Toads (third in Division II this year). Those are ruggers.

Blood makes the grass grow! Kill kill kill!

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

I may have created a monster...everyone like girl!Hank the rugby player.

I'm not sure how Hank's academic career went in canon, but he's a medical doctor (from Columbia, I think) as well as a geneticist and biophysicist (at least two PhDs), plus loves his rockets and planes (aerospace engineering, picked up in his copious free time?). I swear, part of his mutation must be less need for *sleep*, considering how much stuff he's done, and he's barely in his 30s...

Does Byrn Mawr encourage double or even triple majors?

[rabidfangurl.livejournal.com]

AHAHAHAHAHAHA. Yes.

...there's a reason my icon is what it is. If there is a gold-standard for female overachievers, it's Bryn Mawr. Which has excellent biology, chemistry, and physics departments, btw.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

How old is the rugby club? Were the black and green jersey the uniform 10-15 years ago? What about the owl (is that the mascot for all the other sports?)

Girl!Hank goes to Bryn Mawr, comes out too smart and scary for her own good. Turns herself blue and furry during research (but not by something so stupid as to drink the serum to go fight crime. That was just *hubris*.) Possibly gives up on dating men when all she gets attention from are the fetishist (I am so totally writing girl!Hank as bi and out about it); definitely has to squelch Tony *and* Simon early in her career as as an Avenger...

[rabidfangurl.livejournal.com]

I don't know the history of the club, but I can ask my rugger friends about it. The team is *not* the Owls; since it is a BiCo (Bryn Mawr-Haverford) team, it's the Horned Toads. All the other Bryn Mawr sports have the owl as a mascot.