ISSUE #1: The Squirrel, The Hippo, and The School Bell
Forest Hills ♦ New York
"So, wait, are you a man who got turned into a hippo, or the other way around?"
CRUNCH
Okay, well, the sound of pavement turning to fragments told Doreen that the big hippo man wasn't in a mood for answering questions. As she hastily rolled out of the way of his savage blows, she was seriously starting to wonder what was happening. Not even a month ago, she was just stopping purse-snatchers, and now there was an eight-foot-something hippo standing on hind legs in a wifebeater trying to turn her, and everything else in front of it, into a skidmark. Maybe the news was onto something when it talked about how the country was losing its mind...
She didn't get the luxury to think that over much longer when Squirrel Girl heard a chittering on her shoulder; Tippy-Toe, of course, had kept their head in the game. "Car! CAR!" "Car?!" Doreen snapped back to reality as she watched some poor family's SUV come hurtling at her, though mercifully devoid of passengers. On sheer instinct, she leapt a good 20 feet straight in the air, her entire body frozen stiff mid-air from her narrow dodge as she watched the vehicle skid brutally across the road. Of course, though, she couldn't exactly fly. Soon enough, gravity kicked in and sent her plummeting back down to Earth, though she kicked off it with her tail to set off some of the force, pushing her further down the street and away from the giant brute as she caught her footing. It would've looked impressive from an onlooker's perspective, but for her, it had all been natural reflexes, and rather frayed and panicked ones at that. She was really thankful she was as agile as she was about now.
"Man, is this thing just gonna keep throwing everything not nailed down at us?!"
As if in response, a mailbox was unceremoniously torn from its post and hurled at her like a throwing hammer, to which she ducked under just in time, letting out an 'eep!' in response. "...Okay, scratch that, he's just throwing everything at us!" Her partner in...Well, not crime, but partner nonetheless, spoke up. "I don't think running is solving anything, and if this keeps up, it might try its luck at throwing whole houses. Maybe we could go on the offensive?" Doreen nodded, determined. She was getting tired of being on the backfoot, anyhow. "Yeah! Let's show 'em what Squirrel Girl can do!" Taking up a sham of a martial stance, Squirrel Girl gave the universal signal for "come at me", prodding the raging monster into continuing its assault, and needless to say, it hardly needed encouragement.
The beast let out a roar, and Doreen could now say with confidence that she would pay good money to never see a hippo look this angry again, as it barreled down towards her and lunged at the young girl, as if looking to crush her in its embrace. Moving quick, she practically limbo'd her way past the obvious attack, with only her tail to keep her propped up at her odd angle. Using the chance, though, she leveraged her tail some more to push her body upwards, past the hippo's outstretched arms (the things were as thick as trees, jeez!) and landing a solid kick straight to the jaw! Squirrel Girl gave a confident grin at her direct blow...Only to see the creature had barely budged an inch, and if anything, only got angrier, as its nostrils flared and it wound its hands back, attempting to clap them with her poor leg between to make a nice Squirrel Girl Leg Jam.
Yet again, when her thinking failed her in this moment, her body didn't, at least. Her tail sprung into action, pushing away from the hippo menace as she awkwardly tumbled against the tarmac for a brief moment until she caught herself on all fours. Not her most graceful moment. "Okay, so...It's as tough as it looks. What now? "What now?! I dunno! One minute I'm walking to school, and the next I'm up against a...A four-ton hippo man! It's a little jarring!"
Clik!
Doreen whipped her head backwards to a strange snapping sound behind her. She was pretty sure she'd cleared out all the bystanders earlier, but somehow, more had found their way to the scene, and even worse, they were taking pictures. She was pretty sure one of them was even streaming all of this! It was made all the more upsetting when she took a closer look and realized they seemed about her age; it wouldn't be surprising if they were from Midtown High as well. But hey, that meant she might not be late to her first class! I mean, it was either that, or they were more interested in watching a girl fight for her life against a giant man-hippo than going to school.
...
Okay, she probably needed to pick up the pace. Just to be sure.
Squirrel Girl didn't have much time longer to think on that, though, as she heard the sound of metal being ripped from the earth. Quickly whipping her head back around to face the actual problem, she realized that the big lug had just tore a streetlamp straight out of the ground, and was charging towards her with it headfirst, treating it as some kind of lance. Her first instinct was to dodge, but she froze up when she heard the screams of the assorted teens behind her. If she just moved, then...
One of the students, a shorter girl with a bad case of braces, couldn't help but close her eyes and huddle close to herself, stuck to the spot in fear as the monstrous figure barreled towards her. This was it; they were going to die, run over by a hippo man. It wasn't exactly the most glamorous way to go out, but...
"HRRGH! M-Move! Get outta here!" The head of the lamppost was mere inches from the girl's face, and it wasn't exactly brought to a grinding halt, but...It was stopped. Squirrel Girl was gripped onto the makeshift lance with both arms, and even her tail, just barely keeping pace with the herculean strength of the charging hippo with everything at her disposal; but it had bought the precious time they'd needed, as the teens scattered when they realized the severity of the situation firsthand. Doreen wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but sadly, her adversary had different plans.
Realizing that its sheer brawn wasn't working, it decided to utilize the difference in weight class instead. Squirrel Girl found herself unceremoniously lifted airborne alongside the street light, to which she clung to like her life depended on it; which, for all she knew, it certainly did. Unfortunately, that absolutely wasn't the call. The hippo man, seemingly livid with her desperate grasp on their weapon, let out a bellowing roar...And an actually legible word of the English lexicon.
"OFF! OFF!"
It was like being on the worst tilt-a-whirl ride of your life, as the hippo man shook her violently to and fro while her muscles tensed, knowing her grasp on the lamppost was the the one thing keeping her from flying to a new borough. Eventually, though, her squirrel strength gave way, and as she shakily relinquished her grasp, she went flying straight into the front yard of a lovely looking house on Ingram Street - and subsequently went crashing straight through a tree in said front yard, and crunching into the side of their neighbor's clean white fence. Doreen was seeing stars, and birds, and a few other things you'd expect someone who would definitely be feeling the effects of a concussion in the next few minutes would be seeing. As she wearily blinked at the sun and skies overhead, she faintly heard a voice.
"Doreen....Doreen...! Wake up! Wake..."
"UP!"
Doreen felt something bump against her head again, and it shook her back to consciousness. "Whuh! I'mup! I'm...Ooh, acorn!" Doreen unquestioningly took the acorn from Tippy-Toe as they stood on her chest, unwitting to the fact it had been used as a blunt instrument to try and knock her back into her senses. Which had worked, miraculously. Or maybe she'd just realized there was a nut in front of her and her stomach took the lead. Regardless, she popped it in her mouth and crunched down as she regained her bearings.
"Woof, that was not fun...I think being hit by a car would've actually hurt less. Aw, nuts..." She managed to get herself back to her feet, but she felt off-balance and ached all over. That...Was probably the bare minimum she should've expected after all that. While she staggered to a standing position, though, her foe seemed raring to go, having tossed away their faux polearm and began approaching with a bloodcurdling look in their eyes, cracking their giant knuckles...But both Doreen and the hippo man were both stopped in their tracks by an awful piercing sound, the likes of which she'd never heard. Even Tippy-Toe wasn't spared the terrible noise, quickly darting into Squirrel Girl's jackets to try and cover herself from it.
Between the concussion and the ear-splitting frequency, Squirrel Girl was lucky to still be conscious, but was barely cognizant of anything going on around her. The most she could make out was the thunderous footsteps of the hippo-man, though they led away from her (mercifully). When the horrid noise subsided, Doreen blinked and stumbled around, somehow managing to keep on her feet after all of that. Tippy-Toe popped out of her bomber jacket with a look of concern. "Are you okay, Doreen? That was..." "A lot. Yep, it was. A lot...Uh, what were we doing before all of this, Tip?" Before her squirrel friend could respond, her heightened hearing picked up the distant ring of a...
"A bell? Wait...THE SCHOOL BELL?! Nonono, I can't miss another Chemistry class or mom'll lose it!" Without hesitation, Squirrel Girl leapt to the nearest rooftop, though her landing was...Less than stellar, as she practically planked across the top of the house with a grunt. Clearly her body was still dealing with everything that'd just happened, but she had bigger concerns. As did Tippy-Toe. "You're still dressed up. You do remember that, right?"
Doreen gathered herself on the rooftop and looked down to see she was still definitely Squirrel Girl. She had forgotten - or more accurately, her memory had been dislodged by the nastiest hit she'd taken in her entire (very brief) superhero career. Blinking a few times, she stammered out a response. "O-Of course I knew that! I can, um...I'll find somewhere at the school to change! We don't have time for normal old Doreen to walk three freaking blocks!" With her case having been made, the not-quite-so-Unbeatable Squirrel Girl vaulted her way from house to house in a mad dash to save the most important thing of all...
D O R E E N G R E E N ♦ P E N D I N G ♦ M A N H A T T A N , N E W Y O R K
O R I G I N S:
In a world full of caped crusaders just stepping out into the light, it's nice to have fledglings even among the fledglings, and that's where the "Unbeatable" Squirrel Girl squirrels her way in. While I'll be playing her a bit more straight than her proper iteration (not so unbeatable, and not so...Occasionally meta), it's still the Squirrel Girl we all know and love. A goofy, fun-loving gal who doesn't entirely take things seriously, but always has her heart in the right place. Her backstory will be kept mostly the same as well, with her origins as a mystery mutate (though I might tackle this more later) that never really grew up with problems involving her gift, with just two big differences. Firstly is that she starts her heroics much later in her lifetime, and more importantly, we're picking up with her as a high schooler; junior year. For absolutely not spider-related reasons.
Of course, beyond the intent of having her bounce off other heroes who are more veteran and professional, I also plan to show off just how much of a goof she can really be, especially this new into the superhero-ing stuff. She's fresh off the proverbial presses and fumbling around like a blind chipmunk, but that means we'll see her slowly develop into a truly Unbeatable Squirrel Girl.
....Slowly.
S A M P L E P O S T:
"Doreen, how have you not had your secret identity busted?"
"Easy! Because Squirrel Girl has a tail and I don't. I just have a conspicuously big and awesome butt."
It was another day for Doreen Green. She was getting ready to go to school; another day of learning, like any other. After it, maybe she'd go and pick up some more nuts from a corner store. Probably spend some time in Central Park feeding the squirrels. Or, well...That's how she used to spend her time outside of school. Getting dressed, she couldn't help but side-eye her costume hanging ever-so-conspicuously in her closet. That fur-lined bomber jacket, complete with a utility belt...That was full of nuts. Her mom actually made it for her; she couldn't have hid this side of her even if she had wanted to. Her parents had been well aware of what she was since the beginning, given that she came out as a baby with a bushy little squirrel tail. They'd protected her their whole lives, helping to keep her gift safe. She couldn't help but smile thinking about it. It was a nice change of pace for her to protect someone instead. They were super supportive of her, too...Which, well, was pretty obvious when her own mom made a superhero outfit.
"Still, couldn't you wear...A helmet? Domino mask? Something?"
The one questioning Ms. Green was none other than a squirrel themselves, with fine silvery hair and a pretty bow tied around their neck. To anyone else, it was mindless chittering, but for Doreen, it was perfectly legible...If not a little antagonistic. Doreen pouted into the mirror as she stuffed herself into a set of pants, squeezing her massive tail to form her aforementioned 'conspicuously awesome butt'. "Tippy-Toe, it'll be fine! Even if Doreen Green and Squirrel Girl look the same, the tail's the giveaway. No one'd ever guess it was me!" She was confident in her rather poor disguise, though admittedly, she'd been given at least a bit of a reason to think so. It'd held together this long. Plus... "Aaand there's the headband, too! But no one knows it's a headband; all the news and stuff thinks I actually have squirrel ears, which would be awesome," She says, as if to assuage her dear squirrelfriend that the lack of such a feature wasn't something she was pleased about. "but it makes it even more foolproof! What's Doreen Green not have? Squirrel tail, squirrel ears. Simple as that!"
Tippy-Toe seemed wholly unconvinced, but had given up on trying to convince the persistently optimistic young girl. "Alright, if you say so. But I will say I told you so when someone finds out." "Pfft!" Doreen couldn't help the noise that escaped her mouth. "You won't need to! It's foolproof. No tail, no ears, no Squirrel Girl. Though honestly, if anyone paid any real attention, the teeth'd be the giveaway..." She inspected her mouth in the mirrors, dragging it open to a near comically-large extent, showing off her rather incisor-like two front teeth. They even worked like the real deals, too, always growing and growing...It was a lot easier when they used to be able to shorten themselves on wood, but nowadays, her teeth were even punching through steel. Maybe if they got a wheelsaw or something...?
Her impromptu molar inspection was cut short by a pinging noise at her bedside, to which her tail casually slipped its way free from the confines of her pants and scooped up her cellphone. Almost immediately, her rodent friend called it out. "Doreen. Tail." Doreen blinked a few times before she realized what limb had exactly gotten her cell, and she sheepishly scratched the back of her head. "Oh. Oops! Lemme just, uh..." It was another herculean feat from her to shove the rambunctious third arm of hers back into her bottom, but once it was done, she was free to check what the sound had been about. It was a message from Nancy Whitehead. They'd only met recently in her Computer Science classes, but they'd hit it off pretty well, she'd thought. Definitely considered her a friend. Smiling, she opened the text to something that instantly caused her to take a sharp breath through her teeth.
"Are you Squirrel Girl?"
Tippy-Toe, seeing the shell-shocked expression that hit Doreen's face, hopped onto her shoulders to get a better view, and didn't hesitate to speak her mind. "Told you so."
"....Aw, nuts."
P O S T C A T A L O G:
A list linking to your IC posts as they're created. This can be used for a reference guide to your character or to summarize completed interactions and stories.
As the time of our lord and saviour @Master Bruce approaches with the IC... Other than your own, what concepts/characters are you most excited to see realised?
I mean we got a bunch of really cool sheets here
Have to agree with Unicycle there on Hex Rider, like...So goddamn rad. Beyond that though, I'll admit, I'm always a sucker for Spider-Man, so there's that lmao. The Titans concept from Pacifista also looks really cool; hoping to see that one play out!
D O R E E N G R E E N ♦ P E N D I N G ♦ M A N H A T T A N , N E W Y O R K
O R I G I N S:
In a world full of caped crusaders just stepping out into the light, it's nice to have fledglings even among the fledglings, and that's where the "Unbeatable" Squirrel Girl squirrels her way in. While I'll be playing her a bit more straight than her proper iteration (not so unbeatable, and not so...Occasionally meta), it's still the Squirrel Girl we all know and love. A goofy, fun-loving gal who doesn't entirely take things seriously, but always has her heart in the right place. Her backstory will be kept mostly the same as well, with her origins as a mystery mutate (though I might tackle this more later) that never really grew up with problems involving her gift, with just two big differences. Firstly is that she starts her heroics much later in her lifetime, and more importantly, we're picking up with her as a high schooler; junior year. For absolutely not spider-related reasons.
Of course, beyond the intent of having her bounce off other heroes who are more veteran and professional, I also plan to show off just how much of a goof she can really be, especially this new into the superhero-ing stuff. She's fresh off the proverbial presses and fumbling around like a blind chipmunk, but that means we'll see her slowly develop into a truly Unbeatable Squirrel Girl.
....Slowly.
S A M P L E P O S T:
"Doreen, how have you not had your secret identity busted?"
"Easy! Because Squirrel Girl has a tail and I don't. I just have a conspicuously big and awesome butt."
It was another day for Doreen Green. She was getting ready to go to school; another day of learning, like any other. After it, maybe she'd go and pick up some more nuts from a corner store. Probably spend some time in Central Park feeding the squirrels. Or, well...That's how she used to spend her time outside of school. Getting dressed, she couldn't help but side-eye her costume hanging ever-so-conspicuously in her closet. That fur-lined bomber jacket, complete with a utility belt...That was full of nuts. Her mom actually made it for her; she couldn't have hid this side of her even if she had wanted to. Her parents had been well aware of what she was since the beginning, given that she came out as a baby with a bushy little squirrel tail. They'd protected her their whole lives, helping to keep her gift safe. She couldn't help but smile thinking about it. It was a nice change of pace for her to protect someone instead. They were super supportive of her, too...Which, well, was pretty obvious when her own mom made a superhero outfit.
"Still, couldn't you wear...A helmet? Domino mask? Something?"
The one questioning Ms. Green was none other than a squirrel themselves, with fine silvery hair and a pretty bow tied around their neck. To anyone else, it was mindless chittering, but for Doreen, it was perfectly legible...If not a little antagonistic. Doreen pouted into the mirror as she stuffed herself into a set of pants, squeezing her massive tail to form her aforementioned 'conspicuously awesome butt'. "Tippy-Toe, it'll be fine! Even if Doreen Green and Squirrel Girl look the same, the tail's the giveaway. No one'd ever guess it was me!" She was confident in her rather poor disguise, though admittedly, she'd been given at least a bit of a reason to think so. It'd held together this long. Plus... "Aaand there's the headband, too! But no one knows it's a headband; all the news and stuff thinks I actually have squirrel ears, which would be awesome," She says, as if to assuage her dear squirrelfriend that the lack of such a feature wasn't something she was pleased about. "but it makes it even more foolproof! What's Doreen Green not have? Squirrel tail, squirrel ears. Simple as that!"
Tippy-Toe seemed wholly unconvinced, but had given up on trying to convince the persistently optimistic young girl. "Alright, if you say so. But I will say I told you so when someone finds out." "Pfft!" Doreen couldn't help the noise that escaped her mouth. "You won't need to! It's foolproof. No tail, no ears, no Squirrel Girl. Though honestly, if anyone paid any real attention, the teeth'd be the giveaway..." She inspected her mouth in the mirrors, dragging it open to a near comically-large extent, showing off her rather incisor-like two front teeth. They even worked like the real deals, too, always growing and growing...It was a lot easier when they used to be able to shorten themselves on wood, but nowadays, her teeth were even punching through steel. Maybe if they got a wheelsaw or something...?
Her impromptu molar inspection was cut short by a pinging noise at her bedside, to which her tail casually slipped its way free from the confines of her pants and scooped up her cellphone. Almost immediately, her rodent friend called it out. "Doreen. Tail." Doreen blinked a few times before she realized what limb had exactly gotten her cell, and she sheepishly scratched the back of her head. "Oh. Oops! Lemme just, uh..." It was another herculean feat from her to shove the rambunctious third arm of hers back into her bottom, but once it was done, she was free to check what the sound had been about. It was a message from Nancy Whitehead. They'd only met recently in her Computer Science classes, but they'd hit it off pretty well, she'd thought. Definitely considered her a friend. Smiling, she opened the text to something that instantly caused her to take a sharp breath through her teeth.
"Are you Squirrel Girl?"
Tippy-Toe, seeing the shell-shocked expression that hit Doreen's face, hopped onto her shoulders to get a better view, and didn't hesitate to speak her mind. "Told you so."
"....Aw, nuts."
P O S T C A T A L O G:
A list linking to your IC posts as they're created. This can be used for a reference guide to your character or to summarize completed interactions and stories.
TheMushroomLord,
Ezekiel,
ppppppppp,
Simple Unicycle,
Damycles,
Hitman,
Eviledd1984,
Yankee,
Hound55,
Noctis
