application for tushanshu

[langsyne]

Player Information:
Name: Val
Age: 23
Contact: PM to this journal
Game Cast: n/a

Character Information:
Name: Scott Harris Lang, aka the second Ant-Man
Canon: Marvel 616
Canon Point: End of FF #7
Age: Around 40
* No exact age is ever given, but he had a teenage daughter and refers to himself as "middle-aged" in Marvel Now Point One #1.
Reference:

Marvel 616 @ Marvel Wikia
Scott Lang @ Marvel Wikia
Future Foundation @ Marvel Wikia

Setting:

Right. So. There's this Earth - it doesn't really have a fancy name or number like some of those other Earths out there but for all intents and purposes, it's Earth - and it's floating out there in space and has pretty much everything our Earth has: seven continents, corrupt politicians, laptops and phones and Fourth of July barbecues, those jerkass bus drivers that always pass your stop on the days you're late for work, all those things.

Aaaaand then there's a little extra.

Like fancy advanced tech that sounds like it's been pulled straight from a science fiction novel and lets assholes named Norman Osborn to turn themselves into freaky green supervillains and high-profile superhero groups like the Fantastic Four to ricochet themselves past the confines of Earth and explore all of space-time.

Wait, what's all that about supervillains and superheroes and more importantly do they have clothing lines and toys named after them?

(Spoilers: Yes, yes they do.)

That's something else this particular Earth has that we don't. Superheroes and their supervillain counterparts are quite prominent in the Marvel universe. It's all very normal and many superheroes rank equal - if not higher than - your average movie star, guest-starring in shows and signing autographs and so on so forth. At least, that applies to high-profile groups such as the Avengers and the Fantastic Four.

The Fantastic Four, based in the Baxter Building in New York, is comprised of four (but recently more) superpowered family members: Reed Richards, Susan Richards, Johnny Storm, Ben Grimm, and now Reed and Susan's kids Franklin and Valeria. They focus less on protecting the world as the Avengers do and more on making advancements and discoveries all in the good name of SCIENCE. Then there's the Avengers, the most elite group of superheroes in the United States - and pretty much the entire world, with nearly every major superhero having had membership to the Avengers at some point or another in their life. Scott was part of the Avengers until he died on the front lawn of Avengers mansion in an explosion caused by another member of the Avengers, Jack of Hearts. That led to a whole mess with the Avengers in which a bunch of people died and more people got hurt and resulted in the Avengers disbanding.

(They got back together again later but Scott never saw any of it given that he was kind of dead.)

Of course, there are other independent hero groups (such as Heroes for Hire) but they don't get quite so lucky in terms of publicity, and if you happen to be a lone vigilante superhero trying to keep your corner of New York safe (Spider-Man, anyone?) you can forget about any positive press coming your way.

Oh right, there are also mutants, people born with an 'x-gene' that grants them superhuman abilities, such as the ability to run and talk really fast or the ability to create duplicates of themselves. It's pretty handy and pretty cool, except that the rest of the world doesn't quite see it that way. Which is why they tend to band together and form their own groups, the largest of which is the X-Men, and keep to themselves for the most part. For the most part. But sometimes they collide with other groups, like the Avengers, and that's pretty much when things go to hell in a handbasket. See Exhibit A: the Children's Crusade, wherein a bunch of kids go on a quest to find the Scarlet Witch, one of the original Avengers and the person actually responsible for the Avengers falling apart. Sounds pretty straightforward, but along the way they accidentally bring Scott Lang back from the dead, find the Scarlet Witch and transfer the her powers to Victor von Doom, initiate a brief (but violent) battle between the X-Men and the Avengers, and watch two of their members (Cassie and the Vision) die and a third (Iron Lad) run off into the timestream.

Needless to say everyone is pretty shaken after that day, most of all Scott Lang.

There's not much to say about what happens afterwards. Scott drinks himself into a stupor for about half a year, and then slowly starts to pull himself back together with a little help from Reed Richards, who asks Scott to serve as interim leader of the Future Foundation while the Richards family goes on a vacation in uncharted time-space. The Future Foundation, by the way, is a group of some of the world's most talented children of all races and species and ages, brought together by Reed Richards and raised and educated in New York.

Unsurprisingly (given the recent events of his daughter dying) Scott says no. Unsurprisingly (given who he is as leader of the FF and kind of a douchebag) Reed gently manipulates Scott into saying yes, assuaging the younger man that it'll only be for four minutes and then the Fantastic Four will come swooping back as though nothing ever happened.

It has now been over a week and the Fantastic Four are still not back. Scott is only panicking a little. And by a little we mean a lot.

Personality:

A few years ago, Scott Lang was one of the happiest men on the planet. Despite having spent time in jail, despite his wife having divorced him, he had a steady job, a good home, and a daughter named Cassandra (Cassie for short) who was the center of his world. He was an honest guy who was always looking out for other people and, despite being a fully grown man, had no problems installing simulators on his computer so he could play video games during his lunch break like a five year old boy. And, in his spare time, he fought crime as the costumed superhero Ant-Man and got a taste of the action and adventure he'd always dreamed of (albeit on a slightly smaller scale than the rest of the superhero community).

And then Cassie died and everything went to shit.

Cassie's death led to a shift in Scott's personality, away from the always optimistic, outgoing man he used to be to a depressed ex-father who would rather deny and push away his problems than face them head on. He responds to Reed's offer to lead the Future Foundation (FF) with outright refusal because the thought of having to spend time with a group of kids after he's just lost his own is downright nauseating. He doesn't want to see another kid again, which is good because Scott doesn't deal with them well anymore. He snaps at one of the FF kids when the boy brings up the subject of Cassie's death, and then freaks out a day later when said kid goes missing. Scott wants to do right by them but he's so scared of something happening to them like it did with Cassie that he becomes overbearing and overprotective.

A lot of this is due to him figuring out where he belongs now that his main identity's been taken away from him. Scott Lang is unique in that he's the only superhero whose role has been defined by his relationship to someone else instead of his own background and history. Even his superhero origins are tied directly to his daughter - he steals Hank Pym's old Ant-Man suit so he can save his daughter's life. Honestly, that's how Scott has only ever seen himself. He is Cassie's father first and foremost, and an Avenger/member of the Fantastic Four/superhero second and everything in his life has been arranged around her. Cassie always brought out the best in him - the doting father who saved up to buy advance passes to Pocahontas and risked indigestion on the daily so he could eat her extremely questionable meals of marshmallow casserole and banana bread made with beets instead of bananas. (In her defense, they were out of bananas.)

Now that she's gone, he doesn't know what to do with himself.

Still, the core of the man he used to be is there, and Scott's slowly crawling through layers of grief to re-find who that person is. He's witty and quippy still, even if his wry and self-deprecating humor is used more as a shield and a defense mechanism now than a means to start conversation. That said, he's not an introvert by any means and feels perfectly comfortable both starting and continuing conversation if the situation calls for it or if he's around people he's comfortable with. (Just don't talk about Cassie's death. There's no faster way to redirect the conversation than to bring up Doctor Doom killing Cassie.) He's smart, but he doesn't lord his knowledge over others and rarely even uses specialized terminology unless he's talking to someone he knows will understand it. Casual and easy-going is more his style and even with all that's happened he still gravitates towards being naturally friendly and kind to people (unless they're jerks, in which case screw them).

He worries about and watches over people he cares about and will go out of his way to make sure they're safe and happy. Sometimes this results in him being too overbearing and strict but he means well. And he's still got some of his original childishness, electing to desecrate a portrait of Doctor Doom on display at a Latverian art show instead of going after the man personally. Admittedly, some of that is pragmatism (how is a nobody like him going to eliminate a high profile villain like Doctor Doom, really) but most of it is just pure Scott Lang.

All Scott really needs is a push out of his shell, a reminder that life isn't as shitty as he thinks it is. Reed Richards gave him that first push and hopefully the turtle will add to that too, not that he'll really expect it to after arriving.

After all the weird shit that's happened to him after spending time with the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, being told he's on the back of a giant turtle probably won't weird him out too much. Being told that there's no way back however.... Scott's finally reached the point where he's kind of okay with being around kids and being in charge of kids and having them suddenly taken away from him is not going to be easy for him to deal with, even after finding out that time has stopped back home. (The Fantastic Four were only supposed to be gone for four minutes and look what happened there.) Scott takes a lot of personal responsibility for them, and until he gets proof that time's actually been stopped, he's going to be constantly worrying over those kids. They're pretty much his life now.

Appearance:

Scott is six feet tall, around 190 lbs, with blue eyes and strawberry blond hair that's juuust long enough for him to run his hands through when he's frustrated. He's pretty physically fit for a fourty year old and fairly good-looking, and when he's not in his Fantastic Four outfit he tends to dress in more casual clothes that don't keep up with the height of fashion. (He's pretty sure he doesn't even know what the height of fashion is nowadays anyway.)


See Scott put his cereal bowl away.

Abilities:

By himself, Scott possesses no special powers or abilities, save for maybe a higher level of knowledge in the area of electronics and technology than the average man. (Though that's not to say his skill is merely above average - it was good enough to land him jobs with both Stark Industries and the Fantastic Four.) He is an inventor and an engineer and is quite adept at modifying and using various pieces of technology.

When he puts on his superhero costume and becomes Ant-Man, Scott gains a small (no pun intended) arsenal of abilities, all of which are afforded to him by external paraphernalia. The trait for which Ant-Man is most known for is his ability to shrink to the size of an ant (and sometimes even to subatomic size) due to the effects of a type of subatomic size-changing particle known as Pym particles, named after the man who discovered them - Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym and the first to carry the title of Ant-Man. These Pym particles can shrink and enlarge both organic and inorganic matter, and Scott uses them to primarily shrink himself - and on occasion other people - during battle.

Scott can also communicate with insects and sway them to do his bidding via a cybernetic helmet, which telepathically transmits his brainwaves to any insect within a 1 mile range. There seems to be no limit as to how many insects he can control in this way, and the helmet seems to work on any creature that bears some physical resemblance to insect life found on Earth.

Inventory:

- one (1) Fantastic Four outfit that he will be wearing, which includes:
.... one skintight spandex outfit
.... four canisters of gas-suspended Pym particles
.... one cybernetic Ant-Man helmet
- one (1) iPhone-knockoff cell phone that's only half-charged

Suite:

Being the little electronics-lover that he is, Scott would no doubt feel most comfortable in the Metal sector, where he'd be able to hole himself up and tinker away to his heart's content. He'd only need one floor though - despite having lived with both the Fantastic Four and the Avengers he's never needed much personal space, and most of the floor will be turned into a makeshift lab anyhow.

In-Character Samples:
Third Person:

The kids aren't here and Scott doesn't know what to do with himself.

It's 2:05 in the afternoon and the only thing Scott's managed to do all day is make a mess of his living room table. He'd wanted to upgrade the toaster in his kitchen so it would butter his toast automatically. He'd actually managed to only singe his eyebrows and nothing else. Blame it on the fact that he'd spent more time staring blankly at the wall than at the gadgets in his hands.

With a low frustrated groan, Scott drops the screwdriver in his hands (it bounces onto the table and knocks the toaster dial onto the ground) and then drops his head into his hands.

It's funny, all the things considered. Three weeks ago, this would have been everything he wanted: a room to himself, a job that only required him to work a few hours a day, and then free time the rest of the day so he could do whatever the hell he wanted. No kids, no teammates, no people to watch over him and worry that he would fall apart like a mass of green jello. And now he can't imagine a life that doesn't include constantly being driven out of his mind by a group of kids more mismatched than the objects in the front window of a pawn shop.

He sucks in a breath, blows it out, and then slides off the couch in order to crawl around on the ground and collect everything that's fallen off the table. It could be worse, he supposes. They could be here with him, all ten of them, and then he'd be even more panicked than he is now. Not because he can't handle them (well, no, he knows he can't handle them) but mostly because he's not stupid. He scrolled through the console, and the conversations that had been had. This place isn't exactly safe for anyone, kids least of all. Sure, they're talented kids, so talented, but at the end of the day they're still kids.

Kids he now realizes he misses a lot.

Network:

[right. okay.

he's on the back of a giant turtle in the middle of he doesn't even know where, apparently he's neither dead nor alive, and for the first time in weeks, there is not a single small child scurrying past him with a spoon in one hand and an unidentified plastic object in the other.

and it's stressing him out.]

So.

[the console flicks on to an older man's face, pretty casual looking, but a look at the tightness around his mouth reveal that he's a lot more worried than his light voice lets on.]

I have nothing against cruises on the back of giant turtles or whatever, but now isn't exactly the best time. Not because I have a world to save but because I'm currently babysitting ten of the smartest kids in the solar system and if their parents and guardians find out I let them choke on their breakfast cereal due to neglect, I won't even be able to see a turtle by the time they're done with me, much less vacation on one.

[here he pauses, sighs, and a moment looks every single one of his fourty years.]

I just--I got the whole "time stops don't worry!" spiel but things happen. A lot of things can happen and I would really like to make sure that they don't happen to those kids.

[he's already lost one kid, two if he counts alex. he's not gonna let himself lose any more.]