thelegion | ☄ voice

Since we've all been getting to know each other lately, I thought I would pose a question of my own. Have you put any thought into what you'll do once you leave here?

I haven't been here very long, myself, but already, this world is quite different from my own. As far as we know, things like "superheroes" are nonexistent where I'm from. Maybe someday, it will be possible to give people the kinds of abilities that many of us here have now, but even then, I can't imagine the organization I work for taking very well to it. Even if my current responsibilities would allow for it, it would be quite difficult to manage both, to say the least.

I suppose questioning whether or not I'd continue life as a superhero is a bit too whimsical, all things considered. Perhaps a better question would be this: Do you think your experiences here have changed you? How do you think it would impact your future?

The truth is, while I'm very intrigued by this opportunity, I'm not sure what to make of it as a whole. I'm more than happy to do good for the sake of good, yet at the moment, it still feels very much like a detour in life. [Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing, to be able to take a break from one's own reality. But as someone who rarely did things without purpose, it was a foreign concept.] Ultimately, I'm curious about how you think you'll look back on your time here.

I appreciate you taking the time to indulge a rookie's thoughts.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He's thought about this a lot, but this is the first time he's actually admitted this to himself aloud. It's the first time a part of him has actually stood up to the other part of him that keeps going "eeeeeee, I'm a superhero and I'm going to be one forever because being a superhero is awesome...and also evil exists and I have control issues" and said, "Sorry to bust your bubble, but...nah."]

[The words are very slow and he has a little trouble getting them out because of everything that's behind them all.]

I'm probably going back home. To go to high school.

...And then graduating high school with a high GPA so I can get accepted to a good technical college with a photography and media production minor to start my own ghost hunting show.

Or...well, that used to be a the plan. Other than the high GPA part, I don't...really know about all the rest.

[He's very confused about the future now and doesn't have it preplanned all the way through his college years. Partly because he's very confused about himself. He's had to do a lot more soul-searching and self-reflection to get through all this than most teens his age ever have to do, and he's hit the "who am I???" search for identity pretty early.]

Hopefully Brainiac can arrange a way for us to visit each other's worlds or something? So I can still see people. And if we get to keep our powers, I'll still help during the really bad stuff if - if people need it.

But otherwise, high school.[A little shrug, and he looks almost ashamed of admitting it, like he thinks he should want to superhero more. But...he doesn't. It's not...it's not as fun as he imagined it would be. In the beginning.] And then... [An even bigger shrug.]

Edited 2017-10-21 17:01 (UTC)

If Mr. Brainy won't do it, I can. Interuniversal travel is more or less a solved problem.

[There's a dimensional portal to the Negative Zone in her house, because child endangerment is the Fantastic Four way of life.]

That's kind of a relief. I want to be able to still see my friends here, especially since I'm pretty sure I'm not going to -

[He just stops mid-sentence. It's not really a thought track he wants to share with anyone, the longstanding fear that he'll go back and be too changed and too strange to make any new friends in his world beyond the ones he made in Gravity Falls.]

[It's the same fear the Faceless capitalized on during the Silent Horizon mission, to mentally wear him down. He'd shown him visions of a possible future where he was too broken to be a superhero, but too changed by superheroing and the supernatural to fit in with normal kids.]

[The thing is, Dipper never actually stopped believing that vision would come true. He knows he'll probably be the school weirdo that sits alone in a corner. He knows he'll even feel isolated from Mabel, because she loves him but won't understand what he's been through, not really. It's just instead of denying that he'll probably be a weirdo social outcast, he's just decided to focus on the possibility of keeping all his superhero friends instead.]

It's just...really good to know.

[He can tell that this is a kid who's probably been through some things. It isn't just the fact that he opts for the more "realistic" course of action, but the apparent hesitation and uncertainty, too. It's definitely not an unfamiliar feeling.]

Completely understandable. It would be nice to still be able to see and help people, here or otherwise, I agree. My hands would be too full, but I wouldn't mind if the opportunity was there. I can't even begin to imagine everything that's out there.

[Maybe if things didn't work out back home, he could just go somewhere else. This world was already better off in a lot of ways compared to his own, for example. He wouldn't just abandon everything, but it's nice to have options.]

Even though we may not be here by choice, the work we're doing is important. But even so, it may not necessarily suit everyone. And I believe your own path is just as important.

[Val, who is superficially an unremarkable three-year-old girl, albeit one wearing a super-suit, is sitting in a chair that's too big for her with a very sci-fi laboratory as a backdrop.]

This universe isn't that different from mine. Resolving the Chronoblivion issue might or might not fix the problems we were facing right before I got here, but that's something to deal with when the time comes.

[She shrugs.]

There's always something. Problems don't go away permanently. They just come back in new forms.

[McGillis had never been one to not take kids seriously... But admittedly, even for him, the way this girl talks for her age comes as a bit of a surprise. He has no problem rolling with it, though, just as he does everything else.]

True enough. There will always be a need for people that do the things we do here. A superhero's work is never done, I imagine.

[Then again, that probably went for anyone trying to make a difference, didn't it?]

Being pulled into a world that works similarly to your own must have been a bit of a relief, though.

As opposed to some sword and sorcery junk? Yeah.

[She objects to getting burned as a witch or whatever.]

What's it like where you're from?

[Superheroes and bullshit science are normal, okay. Tell her of your strange homeland.]

There are a few similarities. For example, I'm not unused to space travel, as human beings have been living in space for quite some time now. While we don't have anything quite as expansive as Legion World, the space colonies are created in a fashion similar to the biomes. It's all synthetic, of course, but they're able to simulate what life on Earth would be like. Many people wouldn't even be able to tell the difference.

[Especially considering space travel wasn't a luxury that many could afford. Many would never know what it was like to be able to eat naturally-grown foods, or stick their feet in real dirt. More often than not, living anywhere besides Earth wasn't exactly pleasant, but Earth had its problems, too.]

The biggest difference between the two is the apparent lack of mobile weaponry, as far as I've seen. But then again, I suppose such things are unneeded in a place where seemingly ordinary people can have the power to surpass their strength. [Who needs Gundam when you have Superman, tbh.] The technology here is also much more advanced, and the amount of planets that appear to live independently of each other here is quite impressive.

I had intended to go back to my universe and finish something I had started before I came here, but the more distance I've gotten from my universe, the more going back seems pointless.

I may stay here. If I'm permitted to.

Oh? [This answer... is actually especially intriguing. All of this had just been a "thinking out loud" sort of thing for him, but this one genuinely piques his curiosity.] Not to pry, but is there a reason it seems pointless to you now?

[All McGillis could think about was going back and finishing things he'd started. He'd put it lightly, but being here seemed pointless when it couldn't benefit his future plans at all.

There was nothing that could make him change his mind about his future, so he's curious about what could make someone else change theirs.]

Staying here doesn't seem like a bad choice. Personally, intergalactic threats aside, I think there are a lot of good things about this place.

☄ voice

video

video

no subject

video

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

text

text