Two Paths in the woods (hunting plotbunnies)

[neotoma]

I swear, my brain is trying to kill me. I finished the first marveloustales story, to some nice feedback, and have been trying to work on the second.

The prompt is "616 -- Astonishing, genderswap, gen "... pretty simple, right? It's broad enough you can do almost anything, right?

Except my brain wants to do TWO plots, and they are mutually exclusive. In one, I would tackle transgenderism, and actually write Abigail Brand -- who is pretty nifty and would be dealing better with her lover accidentally turning into a woman than he is. In the other, I just write a female version of Beast -- and frankly, Bobby is talking about how he's not phased by meeting a version of his best friend who has always been a woman (in fact, she's kind of hot and he can totally see why the other-him loves her, because he would totally be dating Hank if Hank were a girl) and generally making Scott's head explode from sheer not-phasedness.

I might wind up writing *both* the damned stories. I wonder if that's within the rules.

Hmm, I notice I'm being very mean to Scott. Apparently, I don't think Scott deals well with weirdness, which is ridiculous considering he's been a superhero in the Marvel Universe all his adult life...

Comments

[madripoor-rose.livejournal.com]

Poor Scott. What's worse is that he's a control freak in the Marvel Universe, which makes me just want to smack him and ask, 'what are you, new?'

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

I think the only time I've ever seen Scott not be a control freak was in the Mutant X title, where he was a *space pirate*.

Which suggests you really have to work to get Scott to unwind.

Dude, I'm sketching out the plot for one of these stories, and even *Emma* is mocking him. Only Ororo isn't, but she's giving him those long-suffering look that say "Scott, please pay attention".

[wizefics.livejournal.com]

Oh, please please please write the second one. *begs*

Also, I strongly suspect Scott has a sekrit wild past. He's the sort of uptight that results from personal knowledge of bad decisions.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Oh, can you just imagine Bobby rambling at length in that vein to *Scott*? I bet Scott would completely freak out in that "I want brain-bleach. Emma, can you make me forget the last half-hour? Please?" way.

Scott probably did make a lot of bad decisions, but he's kind of narrow in what he can see as acceptable. He can get annoyed when Hank is weird at him, or Bobby silly, or Logan rude (well, that one makes sense, actually). He's a nice enough guy, but he likes rules and thinks everyone else should like them too.

Frankly, I think a always-was-female Beast would be scary. She'd be a hell of a lot more driven (having to prove herself) and more socialized to be all more guileful and manipulative, since women are told that being powers-behind-the-throne is acceptable, but being personally ambitious is not. And might be more likely to carry weapons -- male supervillians range from dangerous (Magneto) to *vile* (Sabertooth), after all. Also, I think she could have profound disagreements with the Xmen philosophy, and might still be an Avenger.

[wizefics.livejournal.com]

can you just imagine Bobby rambling at length in that vein to *Scott*?

Astonishingly, I can... I think Bobby and Scott have a wierd sort of relationship where if push came to shove, Bobby would talk and Scott would listen. I think Scott might spend the entire conversation wishing for tylenol, though. *amused*

Hank as a woman is a terrifying, yet compelling thought. *continues to cheer you on*

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Scott longing for tylenol, or good old-fashioned alien invasion to take his mind off things.

Hank as a woman is interesting, because there just aren't a lot of female characters in Marvel who aren't pretty -- I think Marrow is the only one every attempted as a 'hero' character in Xmen, for example. It's so much easier to be grotesquely outside the norm if you're male, and I want to explore that.

[wizefics.livejournal.com]

LOL!

Okay, I can see Scott praying for an alien invasion and it made me laugh aloud.

Hank as a woman is interesting, because there just aren't a lot of female characters in Marvel who aren't pretty

This is interesting anyway, because so often Hank isn't depicted as a sexual being. There are times when he's in relationships, but they almost always fail because of his appearance.

I'd love to see how that played out for a woman.

Hehehe. Sorry to keep chattering at you, but I love your Hank so I'm excited to see whatever you decide to do.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

I'm just going to have to bring up that there are only two alternate timelines where Scott is *happy* -- House of M, where he was married to Emma and airline pilot -- and Mutant X, where he was a *space pirate*. Being a superhero is never going to make him happy.

It's odd, Hank during his run on Avengers was depicted as quite the popular fellow -- clubbing and dating and generally being a celebrity (and this was when he was a blue *gorilla*), and he had long fairly steady relationships with Vera and Trish. It's only lately in the last ten years or so that the writers seem to think he can't get a date.

I really need to read a story where part of the fall-out of Hank's little 'I'm gay' stunt is that he keeps getting hit on by men who like bears. Of course, I'll probably have to *write* it to get that out there, and then I'd have to deal with that horrible plot-line again. I don't know that I want to do that, because it generally involves me yelling "how could you be so stupid?!" at a fictional character.

As for the appearance issue if Hank was a woman, I think that's what would make a female Beast an angrier, more driven person -- ie not yet a supervillian, but a *bad* enemy nontheless. She'd have been dismissed as a person a *hell* of a lot more often than 616-Hank. And she would have finally gotten over it, possibly have come out as bi, and generally be very suspicious of men even if she was happily married to her Bobby.

[wizefics.livejournal.com]

even if she was happily married to her Bobby

Awwww. *melts a bit*

I love, love, love the Bobby and Hank friendship.

Okay. Hehehe, in case you hadn't guessed, this fic gets my vote!

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

I am sketching on it. I don't know which story will work out best.

This one will have a lot of fun Bobby and girl-Hank.

The other one will make me deal with AgentBrand/Hank head on, which I need to do eventually; I dislike the pairing as bad for the characters, but it's popular enough, and it's definitely the way the Marvel *writers* are going.

[wizefics.livejournal.com]

Agent Brand/Hank is a very angry relationship in my head.

Of course, I always wanted to see more fall out in Astonishing from Scott and Fury's clash in the beginning. Lots of angry things that didn't get dealt with there...

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

An angry relationship? That's probably a good description. I certainly don't think you can have a happy relationship founded on "I pretty much hate you" and "I want to break you like a pony." Though the Brand in my head keeps calling Hank 'Pony', and that is Just. Not. Good.

Yeah, Whedon's run fizzled spectacularly there at the end, didn't it?

[wizefics.livejournal.com]

Though the Brand in my head keeps calling Hank 'Pony', and that is Just. Not. Good.

OH. Now I kind of want to read this one, too.

So... what were the odds you do them both? *grins*

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

It is kind of fascinating, like a slow motion trainwreck, isn't it?

I've got them both started. We'll see if I get them both finished. I want to do the one where Hank goes on a date with guy, too, but at this rate I'll finish all of my projects around *Easter* next year...

[madame-faust.livejournal.com]

Hey, you don't know me (so I hope this isn't too creepy), but I found your journal via beautifulxbeast and just wanted to say I really like your writing (especially your most recent 1602 fic). And to toss in my two cents, if you're polling for what story you ought to submit this time around...I really like idea number 2. I've actually RPed a fem!Hank twice in the past and she's a nonexistent character near and dear to my heart, so I'd love to see another's take on her. Either way, interacting with a girlified Hank will likely make Scott's head explode and I look forward to reading about it in any case.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Thanks for reminding me about beautifulxbeast; I should put a fic notice up there.

Well, I think it's all Grant Morrison's fault. He had Scott be very dismissive of Hank's behavior (admittedly, Hank was acting like an ass) back in his run, and that just *stuck* in my brain for Scott's characterization.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Btw, where was the RP with a female Hank?

[madame-faust.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's been dead like Illyana Rasputin lately (so hopefully, it'll be resurrected soon).

Yeah, Scott can be...well, incredibly anal, yes, but he also has the uncanny tendency to completely dismiss anyone who isn't falling in line with his idea of how things "should be." I suppose it's an effective way to maintain his sanity since he's so anxiety ridden most of the time, but it can really make him look like an unyielding, uncaring asshole. I just think he has very definite ideas about what is and is not important and if you don't come up as a blip on his radar, then he puts things on the backburner until he feels like he can deal with him. Hence his propensity to really screw up his romantic relationships.

And the fem!Hank RP I was in most recently was geneses (http://www.greatestjournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=geneses) and the other was x_change (http://www.greatestjournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=x_change). Both had everyone in the Marvel Universe genderswapped, but the first one listed was a lot more...polished. Fem!Hank's journal was miss_cellany (http://www.greatestjournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=miss_cellany) in both. She was...considerably fluffier than your character, but then, she was only 17 ;-)