video | post murderworld thoughts

[fourstars]

So um... I've been thinking about this for a while. Ever since we left Harrub, actually...

[ He grimaced a bit, pausing for a couple of seconds. Glancing off to the side, before taking a breath, and addressing the camera again. ]

But um, after the whole Murderworld thing... it's kind of become clear that some of us aren't... handling things that well... [ He was thinking about Videl specifically, but the anon meme has also made it clear Videl wasn't the only one. ] I know we all took the oath for various reasons, and we probably all expected different things out of becoming a superhero. But um, some of us probably didn't expect this... so...

... With the whole "Legionnaire Legacies" thing coming around the corner, I think we should... [ Another pause, as he tries to figure out how to phrase this. ] ... um... I guess, share our lives with each other? To make sure we're prepared, in case... in case the news digs up stuff about us, and tries to drag us through the mud with it.

[ This is so weird and strange and against everything Gohan knows. He's usually the most secretive person in the world, but... he's kind of had to cope with having an open identity, so might as well go all in. ]

I guess um, I should go first? My name's Gohan, and... if you have any personal questions for me, I'll be happy to answer them...

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[walkingballpit]

Hey, Gohan. I don't think we've had time to talk yet. I'm Robbie.

[ He gives a little wave, but he's not putting as much energy into the greeting as he normally would. Robbie's being friend, and he looks pleasant enough, but Gohan's post has really made him think about the Legacies.

His eyes keep flickering around as he speaks. ]

I'm not going to ask you any questions. If you want to talk, I'll listen. But I'm not going to budge on every Legionnaire's right to draw a hard line in the sand and say "this is my personal life. It has nothing to do with my work here or home."

[fourstars]

W-Well, I mean, if no one wants to share, I can understand that...!

[ He says this as an afterthought, as if the idea just occurred to him. ]

But um... I get the impression the news won't exactly wait for our permission to intrude on our lives...

... Also um, nice to meet you, Robbie!

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[deafleppard]

You're braver than me.

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[fourstars]

You'd be surprised.

[prettycoolguy]

I appreciate what you're trying to do here, Gohan. So.

[ The Chief considers for a moment before he continues. He's steady. Serious. Measured. It's what those that have seen him around have come to expect of him by now. ]

I'm not at liberty to discuss details about my work before I came here, it's mostly classified. That is my objection to what they're doing, and if we're working to stop it I'll do whatever I can.

[ How do you even handle transdimensional espionage? It's beyond him. Stow that for now. This is about the team. ]

But for right now, if it helps everyone's peace of mind: I can tell you that I'm a soldier. I've spent the last twenty years at war with a half dozen alien species working together to wipe out humanity.

Long story. Complicated. I don't tell it well. They failed.

[ That's what passes for humor with him. Its delivery, however, offers no hint. ]

I took the oath before we knew about Chronoblivion, because the Legion represents my best chance to return to my chain of command. Now that we do know, it's fulfilling my primary duty: The protection of humanity against the threat of extinction.

[ ...Not heavy stuff at all, no. There's a beat of silence, then- ]

Is there anything else?

[fourstars]

[ Gohan's not exactly well-verse with how military life works. However, he still knows enough to realize that 'classified' is an actual valid answer. It's enough that he understands the vagueness, even if the information provided was still enough to paint a clearer image of the Chief.

Honestly, the part Gohan couldn't help but hone in on, is how little the heavy stuff actually phased him. ]

Actually, that um... that helps a lot, I think. [ A pause, as he idly scratches his cheek. ] ... What kind of aliens did you fight?

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[goddamngrenades]

I think the worst part, for me, is that we don't know exactly what all they'll be able to see and even then? What all they'll wanna broadcast. Because some shit in particular that I've been through is not only classified, but pretty damn personal and more than a little fucked up.

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[fourstars]

[ He actually doesn't respond immediately at that. If anything, his expression tightens a bit. ]

... If we lived in a perfect world, I wouldn't want anyone's privacy to be invaded, much less broadcasted. But I don't know what they'll do, so...

I'd rather share on my own terms.

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[littlecousin]

I don't have anything that has to stay secret.

[Nita shrugs.]

You think there's a way to volunteer? Take the heat off everyone else? It's not like I want every dramatic thing that ever happened to me broadcast for the galaxy to see, but it wouldn't mess me up or anything.

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[fourstars]

[ On the one hand, Gohan hadn't actually... even considered that option. But on the other, there's something really gross about just letting one of them take the heat for everyone else. ]

... Honestly? I wouldn't feel good just placing that on one person... hard to feel like a team if we just... well, basically scapegoat one of us...

[unrecovered]

Don't do that to yourself.

[Not that Wash wants this particular spotlight on him, but he'll be damned before he lets his teammates throw themselves under the bus to protect him.]

[bachido]

Hi Gohan. My name is Kubo. I'm a storyteller. And my story's too long to tell here, but I plan on telling it in full before someone else looks in on parts of it.

So come to the cafeteria five days from now! I mean ... I'm still happy to meet you before that, but I need those five days to rehearse.

[fourstars]

Oh, um... nice to meet you, Kubo! [ He waves awkwardly, mostly because this was a lot more chipper than he expected. ] What uh... what kind of storyteller are you?

[wherenoonegoes]

Speaking of, I think I'm actually going to take you up on helping me tell mine.

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[mylawn]

No.

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[fourstars]

... Okay then.

[unrecovered]

I appreciate the sentiment, but I'm not going to take you up on it. Nobody knows my full story, and I'm going to try to keep it that way. I'll just...have to figure out a way to avoid the press. Somehow.

[He sighs, because he knows that's not a viable strategy around here.]

Long story short, no matter what part of my life they see, they'll find a way to cut it into some sort of hit piece. After what they did with the Murderworld footage, I'm not expecting anything else. So I'll keep my head down and deal with the consequences if they manage to get anything.

[fourstars]

B-But that's... [ Wash, did you miss the past where we don't really have a lot of control over what the news will show? ] I mean, if you don't wanna share, that's fine, I can understand that. But... we don't know what the news will show, and...

I dunno, I just... thought it'd be a good idea for us to stand up for each other... and be on the same page while doing it...

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[iamresponding]

[Rich is sitting on Obs Deck, his feet dangling over the edge of the platform, his expression thoughtful.]

I've been thinking about that myself. It's not like I've kept certain things a secret from anyone, but out of context, there's a lot I did during the war that'd look terrible.

And a lot from before where I looked like an idiot obsessed with making myself look good. [He shrugs and looks sheepish.] Which I was.

But I grew out of that, and it's the war that'll look the worst.

[He bites the inside of his cheek]

The long and short of it was I became a superhero when I was seventeen. Like a lot of heroes, I did a lot of good, but also screwed up a lot. That's just how it works. I definitely wasn't the worst out there, but I wasn't really anything special, either. [He rolls his eyes slightly, and grins.] There are three of you that I know will probably try to argue that, so let's not and just say we did.

[He loves his friends but they just do not let him wallow in his perceived mediocrity as much as he wants.]

A few years back, the intergalactic police force I was a part of got wiped out during a really terrible intergalactic war. This omnicidal maniac named Annihilus was trying to destroy all life in my home universe. I inherited the power of all the Novas that had died, and somehow -- to this day I'm not even sure how it happened -- I wound up the head general of the resistance against him.

It was a no holds barred, Starship Troopers kinda thing. Billions died. Whole planets were wiped out. And it wasn't exactly the kind of war you could win by following the Geneva conventions. Our side never hurt innocent civilians -- we tried to protect as many worlds as we could -- but when it came to fighting the enemy we did what we had to do.

We didn't take prisoners, and I authorized things that, on Earth, would get a military leader tried for war crimes. But after I saw entire worlds filled with innocent people cut down, I'll be damned if I let anyone tell me it wasn't the right thing to do. You can't win a war like that by following rules of engagement your enemy has no respect for.

So, that's everything, I guess. I'm sure the people of the UP will twist that up, but I checked up on the history here: the UP's never faced a threat quite like that.

And I hope they never do.

The closest they had was the Roboticans, while they were being controlled, and that was still smaller scale.

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[littlecousin]

Crystal told me it nearly wiped out the Skrulls. Even the Kree never managed that.

[And then there was the Cancerverse, which managed to be even worse.]

I thought I was a huge bleeding heart, but this total freakout about killing is weirding even me out. It's like. Evil Mar-Vell-level obsession with life above all else.

[rushing_by]

...in the interests of full disclosure? I've killed two people, and had a fairly big hand in the deaths of two others. I'm not proud of it, and I wish those fights hadn't happened the way they did, but it is what it is.

[unrecovered]

When you say it like that, you're doing their job for them. Full disclosure usually includes context.

[Congrats, Barry, you got the dramatic splash. Now explain it.]

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[leverageintceo]

Don't worry, we're going to steal the past.

[Parker sounds confident that this is a thing that they can do.]

Besides, telling people about my life makes everyone uncomfortable and sad.

[unrecovered]

...how?

[Yeah, that's all he has. That doesn't seem physically possible.]

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[the_civilian]

All things considered, my life isn't all that interesting. I wasn't a super hero or anything before I came here, I was a robotics engineer who was building a healthcare companion robot. My little brother is the wild-eyed genius who apparently gets all my friends to become super heroes after...you know, I die.

[Tadashi grimaces. It's weird to say it out loud here where everyone can see it.]

My parents died when I was eleven. It hurts, but being reminded of it isn't going to psychologically destroy me at this point.

...Also, I promise, Dr. Ryk'rr is really nice, and is a great person to talk to if you're struggling with something. I've had regular appointments with her since I got here, and I showed up pretty early.

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[bachido]

You died?

[well that doesn't make any sense, now does it?]

[notthatjason]

[Jason hadn't thought about trying to prevent the problem in the first place. Also, despite being stuck on MurderWorld with everyone else he had somehow not run into that many other people. But he agrees with Gohan's point.]

Hi Gohan. I don't think that's too bad of an idea. We've probably all have some things that would be better coming from the source. But...we don't really know each other so I'm not exactly sure where to start. I'm Jason though, Jason Grace.

[He looks thoughtful. It's not that he's secretive it's just that back home demigods and humans tend to be fairly separate in their interactions. He's not sure where to start, even though a few people have already heard about Jason's past.]

Aliens seem to be a pretty common theme around here. How do you think people would react to gods and demigods?

[That's the main thing he's worried about, he's seen some pretty bad reactions when people find that out. Then again, he's dealing with a completely different universe where such things might not sound so crazy.]

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[turntex]

its no big deal half my friends back home are gods now
no ones got kids tho so the demigod thing is new
are you a demigod
whos your daddy
or mommy i guess no rule says the literal godparent cant be a goddess i guess

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[notwithoutafight]

This whole "Legacies" thing is ridiculous, but it happens all the time. The media is going to get in your business as deep as they can when you're popular. Either you can fight it and make the whole thing worse or you can just tell them some stupid factoids about your life and get it over with. If you tell them some of your secrets that aren't a big deal, they'll just run with it and not even realize you're keeping something bigger from them. My dad was an expert at that.

[ Videl sighs in exasperation. This is really nothing new to her, media intruding every private aspect of her life; it's just a much larger scale here. ]

Anyway, I guess I'll talk about myself too.

My name's Videl. I'm from the same Earth as Gohan. I really... don't have any big secrets about my life. I'm just a normal human back home. My dad's a really famous martial artist and pretty much everyone on Earth thinks he's save the planet from aliens twice now. [ She sighs. ] He actually didn't; he's just taking credit for what Gohan and his dad did.

[ She shrugs. ] That's basically it for me, I guess.

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[fourstars]

... It doesn't bother me, you know.

[ A pause, before he decides to explain. ]

Your dad taking credit for Cell. It um... it never bothered me. I don't think I ever said that to you.

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[whyarewehere]

...I'm starting to feel like I'm the only person from my corner of the multiverse or whatever without a dark and troubled past. I mean, ominous secrets maybe, but...

[ Grif crunches on some space funyuns and shrugs. ]

I got drafted into a space war to fight aliens, but then instead of aliens they had me fight a bunch of blue guys for a flag. Only it was less "fighting" and more "pretending to fight when my boss managed to make me" and finding good places to nap.

...Then some shit happened with a mercenary and an AI and I don't even know, man, it was weird.

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[fourstars]

I-I mean, that's not a bad thing...? At least that way, the news can't... do anything to you...