slow motion, double vision in rose blush

Introducing Riyo Chuchi!!

Riyo Chuchi is a doctoral candidate in law at Columbia University in New York City, one of the relatively few women to have made it that far in the program. She lives in Hartley Hall with her roommate and close friend Seris VanTessa, which was a pairing that started as a random assignment in 1942 and stuck.

Law school takes up most of her time, but Riyo has always been clear on what the degree is for. She intends to go into politics. A Senate seat is the goal, and treats that as the plan rather than a dream. She votes in every local election, volunteers regularly at food banks around the city, and puts consistent time into advocating for women’s rights. She believes that ordinary participation matters, that everyone has some part to play in making things better, including bringing soldiers home safe.

She met Echo in 1940, during her first year at Columbia. He was finishing his bachelor’s degree, and they shared enough beliefs and values that they’ve been together since. He shipped out in 1941, and she writes to him when she can.

High quality art images, references, and taglist under the cut! ~

Introducing Crosshair!!!

Crosshair grew up in the Bronx, New York, the son of New Zealand immigrants. His family had brought Māori with them (the indigenous Polynesian language of the Māori people) and it was as much a part of the household as English was. He and his three brothers were quadruplets, and they grew up a few streets over from their older cousins Echo and Fives, who were twins. Multiple births seemed to run in the family.

Their parents died while the brothers were still in high school, leaving them to raise their younger sister on their own. In 1942, the draft age dropped from 21 to 18, and all four brothers were conscripted into the Army at once. She was around nine years old when they left. All four brothers listed her as their emergency contact, because there wasn’t anyone else.

They didn’t stay in the general ranks for long. Captain Rex noticed that the brothers each brought something distinct to the table. One handled demolitions. One could work out a technical problem faster than most people could identify it. One kept the other three pointed in the same direction. And Crosshair shot things that needed shooting, at distances that shouldn’t have been possible. They also spoke fluent Te Reo Māori, which was not a language enemy forces were likely to crack. Rex flagged them for the Office of Strategic Services, and the OSS agreed. The four brothers were designated the 99th OSS Operational Group: a small, self-contained unit built around their particular mix of skills. Among themselves, they called it the Bad Batch.

After the war, Crosshair spent a fair amount of time at the Copacabana. He’d found that a billiards table was a reasonable place to make money. This was, of course, enabled by his steady hands, good read on angles, and enough patience to let the other guy think he had a chance. It wasn’t so different from what he’d done during the war. Just quieter, and significantly more lucrative.

High quality art images, references, and taglist under the cut! ~

Introducing Echo!!

Echo grew up in the Bronx, the child of immigrants from New Zealand, and lived a few streets over from his cousins (the quadruplet brothers who would later become the Bad Batch). He and his twin brother Fives had been on their own since college, after they lost their parents, and had managed well enough between the two of them.

He started his bachelor’s degree at Columbia in 1938, the same university where, two years later, he’d meet a first-year student named Riyo Chuchi. She was sharp and certain about many ideals, and they agreed on enough of them that it turned into something more. By the time he graduated in 1941 he was putting her name down as his emergency contact on his draft registration.

When the draft came that same year, Echo and Fives went together. Both were assigned to the 501st Infantry, with Echo as serial number 1409. They shipped out the same way they’d done most things: side by side. While he is away, he writes to Riyo every week without fail.

High quality art images, authors note, references, and taglist below the cut! ~

the book of boba fett | ch. 4: the gathering storm