#zarina starts bringing her around and caleb's like ''great now there's two of them''

[garden-of-infinity]

And maybe I'm being irritating with two asks, lol, but I'd love to hear about some of your favorite platonic pairings—and if you're so inclined, some headcanons for said pairings! I'm always a sucker for them and never see enough of them, in my humble opinion. love your writing, by the way. Your ideas are lovely and spark inspiration for me, and they're always so fun to read. Even the ones I don't always expect give me another angle to look at things from, and it's all around a very, very good thing. 💖

You're not being irritating at all! It's always a delight to receive asks from you. And thank you so much! You have no idea how much that means to me. Seriously, thank you. 🖤💖

I have so many platonic pairings I love. It was hard picking who I wanted to include for this, but I decided to go with the ones I have the most ideas for.

The pairings featured blow include Caleb and Zarina, Susie and Joey, and Kate and Jeff.

Caleb and Zarina

I've gone through many different ideas of how I wanted them to start off, but the version I'm sticking with for now is this:

It didn't take long for Zarina to piece together that the Deathslinger was the outlaw she had been researching before she was taken by the fog. Ever since she figured it out, she's been trying to get through to him. The few times she tried to reason with him in trials ended… less than ideally. It was like there was some barrier between them that kept her words from reaching him.

She tried confronting him at Glenvale in between trials, but the only answers she gained from that experience was what happens to a survivor when they die outside of a trial. Zarina was so shaken when she awoke back at the campfire that she almost considered calling it quits, but later as she was digging through her belongings in her tent, she rediscovered the wrench she had found in Caleb's cell and it gave her new idea. 

Zarina headed back to Glenvale for one last attempt. This time, when she was face to face with the Deathslinger, she presented him with his lost wrench. He stared at her for a moment before lowering his gun and snatching the tool out of her hand, inspecting it for his father's initials engraved on the handle. When his gaze had once again settled on Zarina, she noticed his eyes had lost their ghostly glow. 

Caleb didn't understand who she was or where she came from. A moment ago, it had been Bayshore standing before him. Zarina theorized that it was the Entity's doing, and at first Caleb was so enraged by the idea that he nearly forced her out of his realm, but then he realized she was right. He'd been conned yet again. 

Caleb was angry, but he wanted answers. He invited Zarina into the saloon to talk and she explained how her research led her to the realm and what she described as the barrier when she had tried to talk to him before. It was the start of their friendship and many of Caleb's disputes with the Entity. 

I think that in order for the Entity's manipulation to work successfully, the killers need to be either emotionally or mentally vulnerable. This makes them more impressionable and therefore easier to control (sorta like jedi mind tricks? Sorrt but that's the only example of what I'm trying to get at that comes to mind rn). Once a killer gains awareness of the Entity's tricks and learns how to defend against them, it becomes a little harder for the Entity to control them. Caleb's mostly free from the Entity's influence thanks to Zarina, but there are rare moments in trials where his anger gets the best of him the Entity is able to regain its control. This has unfortunately put Zarina on the receiving end of his wrath because he didn't realize it was her and not Bayshore he was hunting. (I have SO MUCH angst in store for them)

They agreed not to let their friendship interfere with trials, but that doesn't mean Caleb feels any less guilty when he spears her or has to hook her. And it doesn't mean Zarina doesn't worry for him when she can tell his leg is giving him trouble and he keeps missing his shots because it's slowing him down. 

These two love to bicker back and forth. They have their own nicknames for each other they like to throw out, too. Zarina frequently calls him "old timer," to which Caleb is quick to quip back with one of the names he keeps in rotation. (Jackass, numbskull, and dimwit are along the lines of what he'd call her)

Caleb asks her a lot about modern day technology and how much the world's changed since he left. The first thing he ever asked about had been her equipment. Zarina was delighted to show him her camera and recorder and answer his questions about their inner workings. Those had both been easy to explain given the fact she had an on hand example. Explaining the internet and how it worked, however, was another story. 

If the killers and survivors ever were to escape the realm, I like to think Zarina would help Caleb adjust to the modern world. The mental image of her teaching him to drive and introducing him to the internet is very funny. I imagine she'd drag him into a cafe too, just because she loves them and wants Caleb to have the experience. He'd end up getting whatever she got because he trusts her judgment, but it would end up being waaaay too sweet for his liking.

More about the wrench thing: The wrench holds a lot of symbolism for me. Caleb's wrench was passed on to him by his dad when he was a young boy, so to me it's a symbol of his youthful innocence and his potential as an inventor. He lost that wrench when he was taken by the Entity, quite literally leaving that part of him behind. BUT Zarina finds that wrench when she goes to his old cell and she gives it back to him in the realm, freeing him from the Entity's manipulation. She's the one who brought back that forgotten piece of him and helped to restore his humanity. 

ANYWAYS, enough with my chains of hate ramblings and on with our regularly scheduled program.

Susie and Joey

These hcs come from my friend @s-b20. I've pitched in with ideas here and there because Joey's my favorite Legion member, but she's the Legion Expert™. So huge thanks to her for letting me include them. <3

Susie and Joey were more friends by association than actual friends, but their younger siblings and being a part of the Legion helped bring them closer together.

Joey's little sister was best friends with Susie's brother, so the two knew each other long before the Legion ever came to be. They often ended up chaperoning their siblings' play dates when their parents were too busy to take them.

Susie helped Joey watch his sister and did all the 'girly' things with her when it was just Joey watching her while his mother worked late into the night. She gave Joey's sister a lot of her old toys from her childhood that she just couldn't bear to part with until then.

Frank and Julie weren't too interested in video games, but Susie played with Joey whenever he asked. She was pretty bad at it, but he appreciated how much she tried for him. Maybe he purposefully lost a few times, or maybe it was because his controller "got jammed" as he liked to claim whenever it happened, but seeing the look on Susie's face when she won was well worth losing his winning streak over her.

Joey agreed to teach Susie to play video games if she'd help him with his art. So when she wasn't learning the different combo moves and how to use them, Susie was leading sketching classes with Joey. She patiently worked through the steps with him and showed him the tricks she learned over the years.

Susie found out why Joey wanted to develop his art skills when he shared his ideas for an original video game with her. He opened up about it after she found him working on a design for one of his characters. She received it so well that he started asking her for feedback on his designs and sharing his ideas with her.

Joey was the one who taught Susie how to scale walls when they would do late night vandalism with Frank and Julie.

Joey helped Susie let loose and come out of her shell. He was much more patient with her than Julie or Frank and made sure to not push her too far too fast.

The first time Joey ever stood up to Frank was when he went too far with Susie. He privately confronted Frank after he made a series of comments over criticizing Susie's style and outfits (most of which she had made by hand, upcycling the clothes herself) and told him to knock it off. They came to blows when Frank put in that Susie was being too sensitive (Joey has a strict "talk shit get hit" policy) that ended with Frank getting his ass handed to him and the two of them not speaking for a few days. But when Joey had finally hyped Susie up enough to wear one of her outfits again, Frank's comment on how nice it looked seemed to resolve things.

While Frank and Julie enjoy the chaos of the realm, the fun of it quickly faded for Susie and Joey. Neither of them could believe it when they found themselves missing Ormond. The bland, boring everyday life of home seemed like paradise compared to the hell they found themselves trapped in.

They're each other's confidants in the realm. Both of them harbor the same resentment towards Frank for being trapped in the Entity's realm (they realize they played their part as well, but it's easier to hate him than have to reflect on their own actions). It's a frequent topic in their venting sessions, as well as their regrets over how things played out and everything they took for granted back home.

Me and her are super excited for the upcoming Legion comcis! I might end up adding onto these in a other post with more hcs later once we've read them. (BHVR PLEASE LET US KNOW JOEY'S LAST NAME I BEG)

Kate and Jeff

Their desire to help their fellow survivors is what brought Kate and Jeff together. They coordinate all kinds of activities outside of trials like story nights, impromptu concerts, and painting classes to help take everyone's minds off the stress of the realm.

Although they have opposing tastes, they both share a deep passion for music and love sharing songs with each other. They could talk about their lyrical interpretations of their favorite songs for hours.

In addition to music, they both love tattoos! They've shown off their tattoos to each other and explained the meanings behind them (which vary from sentimental value to aesthetic reasons, or, in one of Jeff's cases, losing a bet). Jeff's been working on the designs for the matching ones they plan to get when they make it out of the realm.

Kate still writes songs during her free time between trials. Some of her newer ones have taken on a darker tone as she writes to help process her experiences in the realm, and others carry a sense of nostalgia as she reflects on the life she left behind, but hope is still a recurring theme in most of her lyrics. When she needs help finishing a song, she'll pitch it to Jeff and they'll bounce ideas off of each other until Kate's finished composing. (Her darker themed songs stay private. Not even Jeff has heard or read them).

While they're a shining beacon of hope among the survivors, it would be a lie to say that their light doesn't flicker from time to time. When they find their own hope is running low or the pressure of keeping the teams' spirits high becomes too much, that's when they turn to each other for comfort. They're all each other has since they feel compelled to put on a strong face for everyone else.

Kate promised Jeff that when they get out of the realm she would commission him to do the cover art of her next album.