- Reverse! -

Ah, okay–after the last ask, and a comment from someone else, I thought that might be the case, but had no way of being certain. Thank you for being candid with me on that! 

To at least give some idea of my irl background to contextualize my thoughts, I’m mixed race–my dad’s a white American, and my mom’s a black South African, specifically Swazi. Though I’ve lived in the US the last few years, I grew up in South Africa, around my mom and her side of the family, and while issues respecting race are also very fraught there, they are nevertheless different, in some ways a lot, and some ways not much.

So I guess, writing as someone who was raised mostly around black people in a majority black country, it’s not always my first instinct to put narrative choices respecting black people into an American context. Additionally, (and this has more to do with me as a writer than anything in my background), I love the idea of children who are too good and try everything in their power to do right, and I love the idea of evil children who are terrifying and you must fight tooth and nail to salvage, and I love the idea of troubled children who are still learning, and making wrong choices, and in desperate need of understanding and guidance–the whole complex moral gamut is so appealing to me, especially within the framework of growing out of things and into things and around things, and since Efi falls pretty squarely on one side in canon, I thought it might be interesting for her to land somewhere else along the spectrum instead–but I can see the choice troubled a number of people, and was tone deaf, and for that I apologize! 

I hadn’t previously considered this but I guess he would, holy cow haha! 

She’s not like a head honcho or anything haha--nor does she actively engage in whatever agenda it is they push. They approached her after getting wind of some of her projects, and offered to financially back her research, any and all of it, so long as they got their pick of the results, within reason--hence, ‘Talon affiliated’ rather than ‘a part of Talon’.She doesn’t particularly like or trust Talon, but she’s smart enough to know that no else will give her the same ‘creative freedom’ that Talon will--and is still too young to know when something is too good to be true. Which is something she isn’t particularly cognizant of, but Talon definitely is. 

But as an aside! You have to remember that the reverse au is just based on the premise of roles and choices being switched, and so I just go with what I think sounds the most fun at the time of writing, within some fairly narrow parameters. Which is why my answers change so often--it’s entirely based off how I feel at any given moment haha! Using doomfist as the basis for the reversal, the idea of Efi being a pre-teen super genius with underworld ties appeals to me, so that’s what I went with. 

I’ll be the first to admit that since it’s just for fun, some of my decisions are going to be half-baked, and may fall apart under close scrutiny. Which is okay! I always tell people that my word is far from the law of this verse. Some of my ideas are not gonna be interesting or good to anyone but me, which is why I’m always interested in other people’s thoughts, as they are frequently better than mine (r!zen’s entire concept was based on the offhand suggestion of someone who ended up becoming a good friend of mine, and he’s basically the most popular character in the au lol) So rather than tell me how you dislike something, tell me your ideas, what direction you’d take it, what you’d change, what you’d keep the same--I can only think like myself, so hearing the takes of others gives me a way to look at things from perspectives I would never have considered otherwise, which is absolutely invaluable to me! 

Back to the question at hand, I took Efi and Orisa as a unit for the au, but since only Orisa is actually part of the roster, if you wanted, you could leave Efi the same as in canon, and Orisa be, maybe, damaged in an attack, or stolen, reprogrammed, etc, to be more criminal/destructive, and Efi trying to save her and get her back. I’ve considered that on and off, but ultimately I decided I wanted there to be a degree of personal responsibility for how everybody turned out in this au. 

I think I mentioned it somewhere, but yeah, Akande is a legit philanthropist and Efi is morally dubious at best. Along with Zenyatta, Akande and Efi make up some of the most influential powers in Numbani. I don’t know how in depth I got before, but here’s my take as of right this instant. 

Efi is Talon affiliated, but this is not commonly known. Most people know her as an eccentric and a recluse, and she’s often holed up working on projects, usually interacting with the outside world by using hollowed out omnics as drones which she controls remotely. Orisa will do things on her behalf when she’s too busy to pilot a drone. There are very few people who know her directly–Akande’s only spoken to her drones, and Zenyatta is merely aware of her existence. Despite being a Numbani native, Efi regards omnics as tools and weapons. Orisa, as an impressionable ‘youth’ who looks up to and admires her creator, parrots this stance, and looks down on omnics that seek an existence not dependant on humans. Numbani should be anathema, but it’s her home and base of operations, so Efi hopes to correct the perceived imbalance of power (ie it’s too equal). Talon likes her ambition.

(As an aside, I like the idea of her constantly tweaking Orisa’s AI and giving her new bodies to suit her needs, not feeling any particular attachment to Orisa’s appearance or personality)

Meanwhile, Akande is, by and large, an investor and businessman, backing any number of philanthropic endeavors–he knows how to fight, but doesn’t often need to. He and Zenyatta run in many of the same circles. Though Akande is in possession of the gauntlet, the Doomfist moniker is kind of a tongue-in-cheek nickname–the only time he ever uses the gauntlet is to do some cutesy pr thing, like leveling a building for a new construction site for so-and-so benevolent project, or like, playing some really absurd cricket haha. At least, that’s been the case in the past. 

it’s a ~mystery~

Not a ton! He’s got a tag you can check out for older thoughts, but my current feelings are as follows:

Was trained by Vishkar from a young age, coming into contact with them due to his father’s work for them.

Presently uses the sound tech that his dad made for Vishkar in order to smooth things over with locals whenever Vishkar buys things up and builds it out-- which is to say, he uses some lowkey mind control. He’s the best at utilizing the tech’s ‘soothing’ properties to convince people that Vishkar only wants what’s best for them, his natural affinity for sound and for people making him a valuable asset.

Has a lot of loyalty to Vishkar, and will defend it tooth and nail, though outside of that context he is usually a nice person who wants to do the right thing. Doesn’t change he’s been known to bring down the hammer in the right circumstances, and is willing to hurt people on Vishkar’s behalf if it seems like it’s ‘the only way’.