DE: Been through the wars

[yakalskovich]

 I had an interview with a recruiter in Frankfurt yesterday, and during that, I told him where I had been and what I had done -- 'I was there when LAMP was being invented, and lived through one take-over, one near-bankruptcy, and another full bankruptcy, and did this, this and this when nobody was doing it yet. And I learner these valuable lessons out of it all. Also, I eat data bases for breakfast.' -- that sort of thing.

So, taking a leaf out of that: what are your characters' war stories? Where have they been when the big it happened, what have they helped invent, and what great cataclysms they have been through, complete with the teachable moments they took away from them?

Comments

[thewidewideworld]

*High five for kicking ass at the interview*

[yakalskovich]

Thank you!! I have a very good feeling about it all.-

[camwyn]

Well, Gordon kinda survived the Black Mesa Incident and then promptly smashed the living crap out of an alien invader central urban control hub and later destroyed an entire alien dimension, and also survived losing an eye, so there's that. Among other things.

Shephard was present at the Black Mesa Incident and survived it despite being abandoned in place. Later he helped destroy the alien industrial complex that had previously been Pittsburgh, assisted in several major intelligence-gathering and resource-denying raids, attained the call sign 'Carrots' because of his habit of throwing up every time he got out of an aircraft, and opened the Doomsday Vault.

Ellen has a lot of stories of Very Significant Events, and as has been noted in narration several times, way more of them end in "but they're all dead now" than one might normally expect for someone her age. Big ones include destroying the Enclave's presence on the East Coast by talking President Eden into explosive suicide, reintroducing mass manufacturing to the DC area, overwhelming an entire battleship's worth of aliens and destroying another alien ship entirely, forcing the official end of slave-taking in the Pitt through robot army and threatened use of orbital death ray, etc....

Stacker Pentecost just gives a Look and suggests rather dryly that people watch the movie.

[bcgphoenix]

...I seem to have a thing for characters that've experienced cataclysmic events requiring significant application of capital letters.

Curtis: The Freeze.
Alistair: The Fifth Blight.
Gaeta: The Fall of the Twelve Colonies.

So, yeah. GOOD TIMES.

[bjornwilde]

Ahsoka: Took part in many of the major battles of the Clone Wars (we won't mention Ryloth though), prevented assassination attempts on Senator Amadala's person, helped train resistance fighters behind Separatist lines, and that's not even mentioning what she will get up to after the Clone Wars. I really need to get her into canon.
ETA: Oh, she also killed an akul (space tiger?) by herself and I am guessing without a lightsaber, before she was older than 14. The whole hunt is a right of passage for her species and the akul's teeth are what make her headdress.

Sabine: Had top marks at the Imperial Academy and was being groomed for the Imperial Security Bureau, the Star Wars equivalent of the KGB. Later, she'll help to build the rebellion against the Empire and, perhaps, inspires their symbol.

Eliot: At present, got into Brakebills University (think magical college/grad school if you've not seen/read the canon) without a high school diploma (granted this is head canon). Is a wizard at fashion and brilliant at mixing drinks.

Sam: Took part in several missions in [classified], particularly [classified]. Proved the viability of the EXO-7 falcon winged suit, though later it was decided the suit was too specialized for continued use. Helped to prevent a HYDRA take over of SHIELD. Ran several PTSD support groups for combat veterans.

Izana: [White text spoilers] Helped to defeat and cleanse the Lem star system of the gauna presence. Helped to establish a colony on the third planet of the Lem star system. [End spoilers.]

[aberration]

By the end of her canon, Asami could talk about being arrested by the Republic City police, having a mecha fight with her father, (… my noir-inspired season 2 AU that involves corporate intrigue and wax cylinders), escaping capture for crimes against the Earth Kingdom and surviving the Si Wong desert by building a sand-sailer from scratch, revamping Republic City and inventing the airbenders' air suits, and helping end Kuvira's invasion of the City. (And not a "war story," but… then walking off into the Spirit World with the Avatar…)

Katara similarly was involved and instrumental in a lot of battles alongside Aang. And did in fact write about them following the end of the Hundred Year War.

Elle has a lot of such stories from working with the Company, and even after it, but as most of the people she interacted with during her life were people who had plenty of similar stories, she doesn't really presume that they'd be of interest to anyone.

Will doesn't really willingly share "war stories."


... and I will probably have one or two by the time I get home. Who walked past a dog gnawing on a decapitated steer's head today? That would be me.

[yinyangwizard]

Seimei has lived through every conflict in Japanese history from the tenth century to the present day. Some notable highlights are:

- Siding with the Minamoto clan in the Genpei War (12th century)
- Getting the mages of Japan organized and connected to Taoist mages in China, to stave off magical attacks by Mongolian mages (13th century)
- Finding the guy who could end the Age of Warring States (i.e., Oda Nobunaga) and secretly supporting him behind the scenes (16th century)
- Sheltering Buddhist mages and protecting Buddhist artifacts during the Meiji Restoration (late 19th to early 20th centuries)
- Covertly supporting Japanese colonial efforts in Manchuria - this one he was ambivalent about, and is not proud of (early to mid 20th century)
- Spearheading resistance against the magic nullifiers (i.e., the Technocracy) and their influence in Japan (mid 20th century to present day)

Some of these things he will happily talk about in the Bar: others he may only discuss with people he trusts, or not at all.

[pierregringoire]

Whooo boy. The second half of the 1400s were Exciting Times in Paris!Gringoire has presumably seen a whole lot of Actual War stories, but the ones canon definitely tells us are The 100 Years War (Siege of Paris), and the end of his own canon.
Lessons Learned:
- sometimes, people you don't know kill everyone you love for reasons you don't understand.
- sometimes, people you do know will everyone you love for reasons you don't understand.
-be small, be unnoticed, don't try to help or fight because you can't; run or hide, give others the chance to run or hide, maybe, but stay unnoticed and survive. You can't save anyone.
-...You can save the goat.

(the others in a bit!)

[ceitfianna]

After only doing the first ones of these, I'm truly trying to stick with the highlights, what changed them but I tend to pick pups from hard canons.

Will: Lived through being a Merry Man including three days of torture and nearly being hung in Nottingham, fought briefly in Marvel's Civil War alongside Kate Bishop, rescued Doc in the American West, so many fights alongside Atton in his Star Wars' verse, lived through his friends being possessed and himself tossed into another world thanks to Amber, the Allpocalypse

Charles: Not that many stories yet other than surviving the Cuba mission, growing up during World War II and as a telepath being surrounded by veterans of WWI and WWII.

Quentin: He's been shot and stopped a Fae serial killer, briefly trapped in a pocket part of Faerie with the bogeyman of the Fae world, helped to free Toby from an iron prison cell and that bogeyman, helped to stop a war by rescuing two boys, fought redcaps and he's not even halfway through his canon

William: Grew up as a boy during the Civil War that his father fought in, helped his brother who had TB since the age of two, been a pioneer in the American West, helped to transport Ben Wade to Yuma, seen his father shot in front of him and his family's barn burned down

Sameth: Fought a necromancer and the Dead, in Milliways took on Blodwen, helped to contain the Destroyer in his own world and Milliways

Moist: So far all the worst things that have happened to him were in Milliways, because that's where he ends up in violent situations, he likes the adventure of almost getting caught and the freedom of the open road

Jane: Her almost engagement to Tom, being bitten by Vlad

Ivan: Almost dying in a part of the drainage system of London, Miles' almost death and all the fallout, being buried in a lab/vault

Demeter: Her family

Tumnus: Being turned into a statue, living through the White Witch's reign

[annalalaith]

Tegid has been through so much crap that I feel pretty bad for him. His world was essentially destroyed and remade. His king was killed, his world corrupted, it was healed for a time, and yet, there was still corruption in the world. This is all still very recent for him. The death and destruction was immense.

Daniel has been fighting against the Goau'ld, the Ori, the government, and the archaeological establishment. He's still a little twitchy about some of it. He's never going to get over his wife's death. Also, he has special feelings for ascended beings and their rules.

Vala, has been fighting all of her life.

Wil will go through some stuff soon.

Naruto... well he's a kid, but he's been fighting with people disliking him because of a demon trapped inside of him. He's not really a bad kid.

[inlovewithwords]

Eriond: ahahaha uh well he lived through the last great decision determining the fate of the universe.

Henry: Will have lived through any number of fairy-tale relate adventures, with the firm lesson that Good Will Win, But It Will Hurt Along The Way. Also about what power is and isn't worth.

Lois: Will end up with a few near-apocalypses and lessons about never giving up and the strength that friends and family and lovers can give each other.

Evelyn: She doesn't have war stories yet. She will. It will involve a lot of learning about how politics works and what freedom is worth and oh yeah that you cannot under any circumstance trust the guy who refuses to discuss his past and knows way too much about everything, especially that which no one else knows, Solas.

Tavi: Well, he survived assassination attempts, a civil war, an invasion, an apocalypse, and a school experience which literally nearly killed him a time or two. He invented a death ray and some fascinating weaponry and strategy and tactics. He's basically been the fulcrum of any number of events for most of his life. His lessons more or less add up to coming to terms with limitations, fighting what is more powerful, the burdens of being responsible for other people's lives, understanding what both marginalization and privilege mean, and bringing all of it to bear in creating a future that he can look himself in the mirror for. Oh, and also not to take his girlfriend for granted.


R2-D2 and Anakin Skywalker: You guys know this story and the lessons.