INTEREST CHECK GROUP RP PLOTTING The Heroes' Secret

[Lore Magus]

Hi, I'm interested in playing the heroine character, and maybe the gang leader.

For the heroine, I'm thinking a flashy, mercurial gyaru type to contrast with Hien's more serious demeanour. To add to the gap hilarity, her power is unbreakability (不破, Fuwa) combined with enhanced speed, agility, and strength, but no fighting skill whatsoever, so she's both a polar opposite and a hard counter to Hien. Also, fuwafuwa (ふわふわ) is the sound effect for "fluffy". She's brash, overconfident, and comes across as a total airhead, although that hides a razor wit. She will also flirt madly with An Ling/Li Fu regardless of gender - she's super open minded and tends not to let on that she's already sussed out the entire situation, so nobody knows what she's thinking or if she's thinking at all.

The gang leader is a yanki/bosozoku (biker) who's cool, ruthless, and deeply broken. She's also got a power - super-computation, which allows her to "predict" what her opponents are about to do by calculating the probability of every possible move. It's very short ranged, a few seconds at most, but it gives her a huge edge in combat, especially when she's fighting someone that she has seen in action before.

On the note of the heroine, by unbreakability, how tough do you mean her to be? If she's literally impervious to harm, then I fear it being too OP for the setting and interferes with the intended plot hook, but if it's more that she's just tougher than average, or resistant to a specific type of harm then that could conversely work greatly in favor of the plot hook. As for her flirtatiousness with An Ling/Li Fu, are we talking after the plot hook where he tends to her at his place and she finds out his secrets, or was your intent that they already knew each other in their daily lives but hadn't confirmed each other's vigilante identities until the plot hook? Both ideas could work, I just want to make sure I'm on the same page.

I would also like to clarify that the gender swap happens only once a month, and lasts for a day to a couple days at most, and also that An Ling is in his mid-20s and works an entry level job during the day; something to the effect of either a grocery store, convenience store, cafe, or some other type of customer-service job. He also grew up oversees, so his connections would generally be through his work and vigilante heroism, and when I say he has a disciplined personality I do mean less militaristic and more trained martial artist, and I could see him being a bit aloof/ inexperienced with girls as well, which could interact well with the heroine's flirtatiousness. I hope this doesn't make things overly restrictive. As a concept, I do like the idea of the heroine being a drastic polar opposite to An Ling as it sounds like they'll bounce off each other really well and in a hilarious way, I just also want to make sure certain plot details are compatible between our images of things.

The yankee gang leader also seems super interesting; like someone constantly fighting on the edge due to how her ability works, I could see her partially being in it for the thrills and adrenaline. She also gives that vibe of being a theoretical counter to both Hien and the heroine, but also someone that Hien could overcome once they figure out the trick to her foresight, which in turn would lead her to have to adapt now to a ranged fighter XD

For the rival character, I'm thinking of giving him a strict and calculating type. For his power, I'm thinking of giving him an ability where he can slow down time, but it only works with his eyes closed. Because of this, he's gotten really good at fighting with his eyes closed.
He doesn't have a very strong sense of justice. Instead, he fights to improve his skills, which could cause him to make some reckless decisions. I think this would clash great with Hien's strong sense of justice.
He also has a very short temper. Because his ability works when his eyes close, it affects him even when he blinks and sleeps. Because of this, days go by so much longer for him than regular people, which is why he has a lack of patience for other people.

I'm also trying to think up a second character, but don't have anything yet.

So rather than that he can slow down time, it's more like it just does? Ngl, having someone who fights blindly yet skillfully sounds pretty badass! Given that he has a short temper with people due to his ability, how do you picture interactions between him and An Ling/Hien? Like, what would compell them to interact on a regular basis outside of difference in ideology?

 

[CoffeeCake]

Glad to have more players. Looks like this'll be a fun anime throwback.

For the rival character, I'm thinking of giving him a strict and calculating type. For his power, I'm thinking of giving him an ability where he can slow down time, but it only works with his eyes closed. Because of this, he's gotten really good at fighting with his eyes closed.
He doesn't have a very strong sense of justice. Instead, he fights to improve his skills, which could cause him to make some reckless decisions. I think this would clash great with Hien's strong sense of justice.
He also has a very short temper. Because his ability works when his eyes close, it affects him even when he blinks and sleeps. Because of this, days go by so much longer for him than regular people, which is why he has a lack of patience for other people.

I'm also trying to think up a second character, but don't have anything yet.

I only mean this to be constructive, but I can't turn off the fridge logic that shouldn't reflexively experiencing slowed time whenever one's eyes close be more likely to make him less of a powder keg? Like, a lot of times when people do or say the wrong thing and regret it, there's an element of "maybe if I had just stopped to cool off, taken a walk, slept on it, or let some time pass, I would have made a better decision."

This is just a suggestion, but what if he's super smart and level-headed because of his powers. He could be someone who requires relatively little sleep compared to everyone else. He gets his full "eight hours" in a fraction of the time as everyone else. A "power nap" might be extra refreshing for him. When you tick him off, he might want to kick your butt, but then he blinks and he's had time to re-evaluate. Maybe he'll still want to fight you afterward, or maybe he won't. Even if he does, trying to rile him up to get him to make mistakes would be a bit nerfed by the fact that he's involuntarily getting "breaks to cool off or re-evaluate" every time he blinks. He could be really tactical as a result.

Now I understand that could sound like I'm negating the drawbacks of his power. Not necessarily. A couple of additional suggestions. One, he might just naturally be a short tempered person who would almost be dysfunctional if not for his powers balancing him out. Maybe he used to raise a lot more hell back then and sort of mellowed out once his powers awakened. Two... I forgot, and I'm running out of time.

I just thought I'd offer some constructive criticism. Feel free to do the same for me. Sometimes I don't see alternatives or possibilities when I write until after the fact, I admit. Especially when life is hectic.

hm, while the second pitch has that strong "well known info broker" vibe, I do like the storyline in the first pitch a lot. It could also be interesting to see her pop up where An Ling works every now and then and once or twice try to ask him personal questions on account of him looking familiar (he wears a mask when parading around as Hien, but he also has distinctly silverish grey hair, which is uncommon for a guy in his mid-20s). Additionally, if you factor in that the whole vigilante superhero wave is relatively new (think around 3-5 years since Hien first started beating up bad guys), it would make sense for the market of reliable, trustworthy info brokers to also be a fletchling one, so I think the first pitch would fit really well! Plus, having a character that occasionally provides some comic relief from time to time fits the image of the "day cycle" I have for this RP perfectly!

Three to five years? That's good to know.

Say, how common are powers in the setting? Trying to imagine how many other competing info brokers my character might be dealing or competing with.

 

[Ariel]

On the note of the heroine, by unbreakability, how tough do you mean her to be? If she's literally impervious to harm, then I fear it being too OP for the setting and interferes with the intended plot hook, but if it's more that she's just tougher than average, or resistant to a specific type of harm then that could conversely work greatly in favor of the plot hook. As for her flirtatiousness with An Ling/Li Fu, are we talking after the plot hook where he tends to her at his place and she finds out his secrets, or was your intent that they already knew each other in their daily lives but hadn't confirmed each other's vigilante identities until the plot hook? Both ideas could work, I just want to make sure I'm on the same page.

I would also like to clarify that the gender swap happens only once a month, and lasts for a day to a couple days at most, and also that An Ling is in his mid-20s and works an entry level job during the day; something to the effect of either a grocery store, convenience store, cafe, or some other type of customer-service job. He also grew up oversees, so his connections would generally be through his work and vigilante heroism, and when I say he has a disciplined personality I do mean less militaristic and more trained martial artist, and I could see him being a bit aloof/ inexperienced with girls as well, which could interact well with the heroine's flirtatiousness. I hope this doesn't make things overly restrictive. As a concept, I do like the idea of the heroine being a drastic polar opposite to An Ling as it sounds like they'll bounce off each other really well and in a hilarious way, I just also want to make sure certain plot details are compatible between our images of things.

The yankee gang leader also seems super interesting; like someone constantly fighting on the edge due to how her ability works, I could see her partially being in it for the thrills and adrenaline. She also gives that vibe of being a theoretical counter to both Hien and the heroine, but also someone that Hien could overcome once they figure out the trick to her foresight, which in turn would lead her to have to adapt now to a ranged fighter XD

She's not literally unbreakable, of course - that would create odd situations. Let's say that she's particularly resistant to kinetic energy, and her power behaves kind of like a non-Newtonian fluid does - if the force acts slowly, it can affect her somewhat, though not to the extent that it would cause damage. So for example you can beat her normally in arm wrestling, but if you tried to wrench her wrist at the same time it just wouldn't bend that far. And she might be able to wade through normal gunfire, but she'd feel it if you shot her with a tank cannon.

She'd be somewhat resistant to other sorts of energy but not as much, so a regular fire might be uncomfortable but cause only light singeing, say.

We could scale the power up or down as you see fit, of course. And it might change over the course of the story..

As for her relationship with An Ling, the two of them might actually be colleagues at the konbini? She's a high school student who's working part time and they're senpai/kouhai at work, but she shows zero respect and sense of personal space, and is constantly teasing him. Neither of them knew about the other's powers or superheroic identity until The Incident - maybe he's fighting some supervillain near the konbini and the villain pulls some kind of optic blast or whatever and she steps in to tank the attack despite not knowing whether her power will work against it. Thankfully it does, enough for her to survive at least, and that gives Hien the chance to take the villain down, but of course he thinks that she must be badly hurt and that's why he pulls her out of the line of fire.

And yeah, she'd be really complementary to him. She'd take it as her mission to break through his aloofness and get him to loosen up a bit and enjoy the ride more, constantly trying to take him to places he's never been and would never think of going to, like amusement parks or zoos. Also because she's hyper sociable, she actually has a decent network of people who think well of her and would be willing to help out or do her a favour. I hope that meshes with your ideas?

For the yankee, I agree that she'd be in it for the high that a good fight gives her. It might be the only thing that gets her to feel anything, so she's constantly chasing after people who can challenge her. (It also means that she can fend off the yakuza enough to keep her gang independent.) She'd love fighting Hien, but the heroine not so much because it's incredibly frustrating - she basically wins every exchange but because her opponent can just tank anything she can do, she can never actually defeat her.

I can see her also developing a beef with the rival because their powers achieve similar effects through very different mechanisms. Their fights would be super subtle and involve a lot of positioning and feinting. It would look like they're not doing much at all... kind of like old school samurai movies.

 

[Lore Magus]

Say, how common are powers in the setting? Trying to imagine how many other competing info brokers my character might be dealing or competing with.

Fairly uncommon, but it could be possible that there's a competitor with some kind of ability that let's them spy on people better or have like super calculating abilities for like hacking and/or tech building; would that be something you'd like me to play as a side character for your character to bounce off of, or was it more of a background competition in relation to main character interaction that you were looking for?

She's not literally unbreakable, of course - that would create odd situations. Let's say that she's particularly resistant to kinetic energy, and her power behaves kind of like a non-Newtonian fluid does - if the force acts slowly, it can affect her somewhat, though not to the extent that it would cause damage. So for example you can beat her normally in arm wrestling, but if you tried to wrench her wrist at the same time it just wouldn't bend that far. And she might be able to wade through normal gunfire, but she'd feel it if you shot her with a tank cannon.

She'd be somewhat resistant to other sorts of energy but not as much, so a regular fire might be uncomfortable but cause only light singeing, say.

Okay, gotcha! Kinda sounds like the protective tech they have in Dune, the way you've described it, which certainly makes dealing with her something that requires creativity on the part of antagonists.

We could scale the power up or down as you see fit, of course. And it might change over the course of the story..

I do feel like, especially for the beginning, it should be scaled down just a bit; maybe she still feels the attacks but they don't pierce the skin, like gunfire probably feels more like paintball guns or airsoft as far as pain tolerance goes, but she'd still have that resistance to sudden kinetic energy, just not on the same level as, say, Accelerator from the To Aru franchise. As for the heightened speed, strength, & agility, she could definitely be a lot more capable than her build suggests, like she could probably lift and throw a dumpster with only a little strain, and other similar scaled feats, but not on the level of say ripping streetlamps out of concrete with ease (Shizuo Heiwajima, Durarara) or moving so fast that she just looks like a blur (The Flash, DC). Sorta like a sampler spread-type super power with room for growth that already makes her a tough cookie to deal with, does that sound good?

As for her relationship with An Ling, the two of them might actually be colleagues at the konbini? She's a high school student who's working part time and they're senpai/kouhai at work, but she shows zero respect and sense of personal space, and is constantly teasing him. Neither of them knew about the other's powers or superheroic identity until The Incident - maybe he's fighting some supervillain near the konbini and the villain pulls some kind of optic blast or whatever and she steps in to tank the attack despite not knowing whether her power will work against it. Thankfully it does, enough for her to survive at least, and that gives Hien the chance to take the villain down, but of course he thinks that she must be badly hurt and that's why he pulls her out of the line of fire.

And yeah, she'd be really complementary to him. She'd take it as her mission to break through his aloofness and get him to loosen up a bit and enjoy the ride more, constantly trying to take him to places he's never been and would never think of going to, like amusement parks or zoos. Also because she's hyper sociable, she actually has a decent network of people who think well of her and would be willing to help out or do her a favour. I hope that meshes with your ideas?

This definitely sounds like a fun dynamic between them; maybe there would be moments where his discipline & seriousness also makes her heart flutter? Like maybe him teaching her to take better care of her health, or helping get rid of guys harassing her trying to pick her up. As for her being a high schooler tho, since An Ling is in his mid-20s, I'd like to request that she at least be 18 in her senior year, since we're still talking about a romance plotline between the two; I hope that's okay with you?

With how hyper-social she is, do we think it'd make more sense for the heroine to be the one connected with the info broker, and maybe she introduces Hien to her? Just a thought, not a requirement if y'all were thinking differently

 

[Ariel]

Okay, gotcha! Kinda sounds like the protective tech they have in Dune, the way you've described it, which certainly makes dealing with her something that requires creativity on the part of antagonists.

Kinda-sorta? Basically I want to make it so that she can be moved, thrown around, grappled, or otherwise manipulated, but not hurt - or at least not easily. So for example she wouldn't be able to do the thing where you stand in front of a car and stop it by pushing against it, but she could make herself a crash barrier to save someone who's about to be crushed between the car and a wall. It would look pretty scary, but she'd walk it off.

Also, I'm gonna call it that her hero name is Fuwa 不破 /Unbreakable, and her civilian name is Ishiwatari Fuwa 石渡 芙和. Her social handle is ふわふわ Fuwafuwa, onomatopoeia for "Fluffy".

(Yes, I like kanji wordplay)

We could scale the power up or down as you see fit, of course. And it might change over the course of the story..

I do feel like, especially for the beginning, it should be scaled down just a bit; maybe she still feels the attacks but they don't pierce the skin, like gunfire probably feels more like paintball guns or airsoft as far as pain tolerance goes, but she'd still have that resistance to sudden kinetic energy, just not on the same level as, say, Accelerator from the To Aru franchise. As for the heightened speed, strength, & agility, she could definitely be a lot more capable than her build suggests, like she could probably lift and throw a dumpster with only a little strain, and other similar scaled feats, but not on the level of say ripping streetlamps out of concrete with ease (Shizuo Heiwajima, Durarara) or moving so fast that she just looks like a blur (The Flash, DC). Sorta like a sampler spread-type super power with room for growth that already makes her a tough cookie to deal with, does that sound good?

Yeah, that all sounds about right. Accelerator is wayyy powerful so yeah, definitely not on that level. I'm thinking her strength would be kind of Spider-man level or so? And as you say, a lot of room for growth, maybe not so much in terms of raw power but in her skill with using it. Like how weightlifting isn't just about big muscles but also how you recruit the right muscles when you do your lift so you use them efficiently. Or well, in martial arts knowing how to hit well means you can hit as hard as someone who's a lot bigger and stronger but doesn't know how to hit.

As for her relationship with An Ling, the two of them might actually be colleagues at the konbini? She's a high school student who's working part time and they're senpai/kouhai at work, but she shows zero respect and sense of personal space, and is constantly teasing him. Neither of them knew about the other's powers or superheroic identity until The Incident - maybe he's fighting some supervillain near the konbini and the villain pulls some kind of optic blast or whatever and she steps in to tank the attack despite not knowing whether her power will work against it. Thankfully it does, enough for her to survive at least, and that gives Hien the chance to take the villain down, but of course he thinks that she must be badly hurt and that's why he pulls her out of the line of fire.

And yeah, she'd be really complementary to him. She'd take it as her mission to break through his aloofness and get him to loosen up a bit and enjoy the ride more, constantly trying to take him to places he's never been and would never think of going to, like amusement parks or zoos. Also because she's hyper sociable, she actually has a decent network of people who think well of her and would be willing to help out or do her a favour. I hope that meshes with your ideas?

This definitely sounds like a fun dynamic between them; maybe there would be moments where his discipline & seriousness also makes her heart flutter? Like maybe him teaching her to take better care of her health, or helping get rid of guys harassing her trying to pick her up. As for her being a high schooler tho, since An Ling is in his mid-20s, I'd like to request that she at least be 18 in her senior year, since we're still talking about a romance plotline between the two; I hope that's okay with you?

Yeah, there's the possibility of a bit of a spark between them for sure. She's irreverent but not foolishly so - she'll show respect where it counts, although she's also very much her own person, so she's never going to live her life according to somebody else's precepts, and she can take very good care of herself tyvm. Count on An Ling getting a lot of "baka"s thrown his way.

And yeah, 18 sounds all right. So at some point she's going to get busy with college entrance exams too, kek.

With how hyper-social she is, do we think it'd make more sense for the heroine to be the one connected with the info broker, and maybe she introduces Hien to her? Just a thought, not a requirement if y'all were thinking differently

That works for me if it works for @CoffeeCake. They might even have a closer shared background than that. Kouhai-senpai? Sisters? Exes? Lots of possibilities.

 

[Lore Magus]

Kinda-sorta? Basically I want to make it so that she can be moved, thrown around, grappled, or otherwise manipulated, but not hurt - or at least not easily. So for example she wouldn't be able to do the thing where you stand in front of a car and stop it by pushing against it, but she could make herself a crash barrier to save someone who's about to be crushed between the car and a wall. It would look pretty scary, but she'd walk it off.

Okay, good to know where your picture of her capabilities stands (takes mental notes)

Also, I'm gonna call it that her hero name is Fuwa 不破 /Unbreakable, and her civilian name is Ishiwatari Fuwa 石渡 芙和. Her social handle is ふわふわ Fuwafuwa, onomatopoeia for "Fluffy".

(Yes, I like kanji wordplay)

honestly, I was kinda thinking of suggesting it be her hero name as well XD as someone who also likes wordplay and who has a very rudimentary comprehension of the Japanese language, I'm all about it and felt like it seemed to be appropriate. That aside, it's kinda hard to be an otaku my age and not at least know about fuwa fuwa, considering the K-ON anime released back when I was in middle-high school XD (yes, I am old lol)

on that note, I believe An Ling's hero name would be characterized as 火円 but pronounced as Hien; it's a very on-the-nose title

Yeah, that all sounds about right. Accelerator is wayyy powerful so yeah, definitely not on that level. I'm thinking her strength would be kind of Spider-man level or so? And as you say, a lot of room for growth, maybe not so much in terms of raw power but in her skill with using it. Like how weightlifting isn't just about big muscles but also how you recruit the right muscles when you do your lift so you use them efficiently. Or well, in martial arts knowing how to hit well means you can hit as hard as someone who's a lot bigger and stronger but doesn't know how to hit.

honestly, Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man is kinda the most accurate model for the vibe I've been picturing for how the RP would balance the civilian/hero lifestyle, so it's ironic to me that that's the character you'd use as a comparison, but regardless of which Spider-Man you had in mind I feel like they're all at a reasonably similar level, and it definitely feels like a good level for characters to be at in this RP; considerably capable, but not omnipotent and perfectly susceptible to flaws of character and/or limits of their power. Honestly, that was part of what made Spider-Man my favorite super hero growing up.

Yeah, there's the possibility of a bit of a spark between them for sure. She's irreverent but not foolishly so - she'll show respect where it counts, although she's also very much her own person, so she's never going to live her life according to somebody else's precepts, and she can take very good care of herself tyvm. Count on An Ling getting a lot of "baka"s thrown his way.

And yeah, 18 sounds all right. So at some point she's going to get busy with college entrance exams too, kek.

XD oh yes, her being slightly rebellious and independent is in no way a hindrance to my intent, and An Ling's "lectures" or what have you would only be when something glaring comes up, and it would be his show of genuine concern for her, which was how I intended that to come out when I initially mentioned the example. Less "I can't believe you don't know how to do this; what a failure" and more "I'm concerned how you get by like this and worried for your health/happiness; let me teach you how to do a couple things you may not have been taught that should greatly improve your QOL"

oh yeah, since Fuwa-chan's a Gyaru, maybe studying for college could be one of those things she struggles with, since that's a common trope. Of course, being that An Ling was raised in China until his late-teens, he'd be useless for anything requiring a lot of skillful Japanese Literacy, but he can help in other fields like math & science

 

[Ariel]

Oh yeah, I'm already picking faceclaims.

Fuwa, demonstrating why An Ling is concerned for her wealth.

And our resident yanki girl.

 

[Lore Magus]

@Myth you still around? I want to make sure we iron out the details of your character before I set up the OOC

love the FCs btw, Ariel

 

[Myth]

@Myth you still around? I want to make sure we iron out the details of your character before I set up the OOC

love the FCs btw, Ariel

Yes I am! Sorry, I've been busy these past few days.

 

[Lore Magus]

Yes I am! Sorry, I've been busy these past few days.

Gotcha gotcha; makes sense! Any thoughts on the questions we had for your character?

 

[Lore Magus]

hey Myth, I don't mean to come off as rude or impatient, but are you gonna be able to engage in this regularly given what seems to be a busy lifestyle you have right now? I only ask because, based on your activity, it would seem like you are reading this channel but not responding to questions or constructive comments concerning your character when we need those details squared before I can feel confident in setting us up with this group.

 

[Myth]

hey Myth, I don't mean to come off as rude or impatient, but are you gonna be able to engage in this regularly given what seems to be a busy lifestyle you have right now? I only ask because, based on your activity, it would seem like you are reading this channel but not responding to questions or constructive comments concerning your character when we need those details squared before I can feel confident in setting us up with this group.

Sorry, I don't think I'll be super active for a bit so I'll step down from joining this rp.

 

[Lore Magus]

Sorry, I don't think I'll be super active for a bit so I'll step down from joining this rp.

Okay, thanks for getting back to me on it. I appreciate your initial interest nonetheless, and hope things go well for you down the line.

With that, we're back to needing another person, so I will ask some friends of mine since it seems unlikely to find an interested party naturally this late into the IC

 

[CoffeeCake]

I've got replies in mind. work demands will keep me busy until next Tuesday, I think. There's a slim possibility I could get some free time Friday or Saturday.

Short version:

Sorry to see you go, Myth. I understand though.

Ariel, I think I like the idea of senpai/kouhai or sisters.

Thinking of toning down my brokers' tech savvy to some degree. It could be more interesting to have her be above average still reliant on some of her contacts for some specialized scenarios.

LM, I was kicking around the idea that there was this other mysterious info/power broker with a lot more resources and skill that acted as a sometimes-antagonist-sometimes-mentor that would run circles around her, helping and hindering her. Someone that seems like they could be trying to test her mettle, trying to get her to grow in skill, trying to use her as an unwitting distraction in their schemes, or even just trolling her sometimes just because.

 

[Lore Magus]

Okay, so a friend I've RPed with here in the past has said that the position interests them, but that they will get back to me about it over the weekend (I assume due to work) so for now it seems as tho we're in the clear, tho I'll wait until we can crank out some more details with my friend before I set us up with full threads.

That said, I can assure that Ariel and the friend will be able to bounce off each other well, as they also love using a bunch of Japanese wordplay ^-^