TheBroker

  Broker: Hey everyone! [waves] Broker aka DerelictPresence here with a very special guest. Wanna say hello?

  Sonya: Hello cuties! What’s shakin?

  Broker: Would it kill you to be more professional?

  Sonya: Probably? Anyway! I heard some of you darlings had some questions! I hope they’re good oo get some out of the way my favorite chip brand is-

  Broker: Sonya! Sorry about that, let’s get started with the AMA!

  Sonya: Boo! Alright alright. The first one is from w on Royal Road! Hey there! [wiggles fingers] ahem! “What were some inspirations for this story?” That’s all you old man.

  Broker: Aren’t you older than me? [huff] Well! I actually have had a lot of inspirations for Broker. The inal version of Sonya was a My Hero Academia OC, actually, I was fasated with the idea that superheroes in that setting could get sponsors and I thought, ‘What if there was a Vilin that sponsored heroes?’ Over time I picked up more inspirations, I read a lot of myths and legends, wuxia, xiania, manhwa and manga. There was definitely some inspiration from Solo Leveling and like stories that went into it all. I love literature aertai in general and take bits and pieces of inspiration from everything I watd read. Hell, you might notice a little Raymond Reddington from Bcklist in some of Sonya’s iions.

  Sonya: [shivers] The inal version was… dark.

  Broker: Yep, definitely lightened you up a whole lot. Far less ied in saving the world thaing riext is from gibberish also on Royal Road! ‘How do you e up with ideas?’

  Sonya: Yes, please, how do you e up with my various torments? [stare]

  Brulp] W-well! A lot of it es from ing media as above. Sometimes I’ll py out different sarios in my head and see what fits well. Often I’ll create a new character and gh several iterations before being satisfied. Often I’ll introduce a side character and just see where it goes. [rubs ] Though my favorite way to brainstorm is to just listen to some good musid experiment in my notes.

  Sonya: [frown] I wonder what you were listening to when you decided to put Mikay through all that.

  Broker: Ha ha! Anyway! Uh… question? Snipoxillo from Royal Road asks; ‘How do you imagihe ending for Sonya and Ishtar? Would it be more positive of an ending, a happy ending sort of? or would it me a somber/bittersweet sort of ending, irely bad? or otherwise?’ [ughs] That’s an excellent question! I usually imagi when I’m w on my notes or adjusting my outline when a new idea occurs to me. I see it pretty clearly in my head! It’s a long way off though.

  Sonya: [stares hard]

  Broker: Something wrong? I told them how I imagi.

  Sonya: [rolls her eyes]

  Broker: Ohhh! Here’s a good one! Got this question from a couple people actually. Dont_like_to_Talk from Royal Road and GigaDotti from Scribblehub ask some variation of ‘Will Sonya and hua work things out a back together?’ [grins at Sonya]. What do you think?

  Sonya: Ahem! [pys with her hair] I certainly wouldn’t be upset if something happened. But, you know, gotta work some stuff out first. [coughs] Did you know she could bench press me? I wonder if she still . I’m a bit heavier now with all the upgrades. Probably? Hopefully? She bench press me right?

  Broker: [shakes his head] Adam Wise from Royal Road asks; ‘What would happen if Sonya gave someone a power they already had?’ That’s actually a really good question, Broker won’t let someone double up abilities like that. She could find something thats pretty much exactly the same with a different name and give it to them and that would work though!

  Sonya: Figures! Tobi131313 - is that a bad luck thing?

  Broker: Sonya! Don’t be rude!

  Sonya: Fine! Fihey ask about refi of the categories of abilities, are there different tiers? Well yes, There’s Low, Middle, High, and Peak categories of each tier. On top of that, some abilities even encroach a little oher tiers because of their funs. The raw elemental abilities like Firestorm are Heroic but they put up a pretty det fight against a miss-matched Mythic! It’s all about who’s using it for other abilities. Amos’ core ability, Genius Level Intellect, affects things he’s good at. That’s why I didn’t suddenly bee an engineer when I merged it in. I’m better at people. [smirk] He was already a genius before, and that ability brought it up to eleven. Even if the ability itself is Heroic, the effects are pretty Mythic if you ask me.

  Broker: Well put! What else do we have? NotYourSaviour asks; ‘How far along do you pn your story?’ I have most of the main story beats all pnned out for the main course of the story and know what order we’re going to be fag certain lurking threats in. As I said before, I also know how it ends. For the meat of it; I’ve got Season 2 pletely storyboarded out and some of Season 3 prepared as well.

  Sonya: He won’t even tell me anything, don’t bother. The guy’s a nutcase. You should see how he treats the guys in the discord. They have memes about his distra tactid pranks.

  Broker: How you see the discord?

  Sonya: [points at head] Teopath? Really? Anyway! Let’s see, Oh! Finally! BIGLARGEFISH from Royal Road asking the real questions: ‘What is the cast's favorite food?’ Well I’m gd you asked; I give you the list from the Inner Circle!

  Sonya: Deluxe Steakburger, all the fixings, with Cheese Fries and a arta: Teriyaki Chi and Noodles, Cucumber Sad, and an IPAAmos: Supreme Pizza and an Energy DrinkBarry: Overloaded New York Style Hotdog and a six pack of cheap BeerBeyol: Instant Noodles cooked with Extra veggies, Sriracha, and a Snack Cake.: Filet Mignon a Loaded Baked Potato and Red WineBroker: You actually went that far?

  Sonya: Food is important! Okay! Uh, one is from xobotun on Royal Road, ‘Why did you make Sonya Russian?’

  Broker: Hoo! That’s an iing question, [rubs ] well, when I inally designed her I wanted her to be from somewhere close to Japan while not being a native resident. That was important at the time. Her name came and I based her appearance around her inal ability. Shock! It wasn’t Broker or Farsight initially! Ultimately when I started to write Broker I decided to keep her as is but made her an Ameri Citizen and decided not to put a lot of focus on her family life. A lot onists base almost their entire personalities around their initial upbringing, I wanted Sonya to be someone who was affected more by her adulthood than her youth. She’s Russian by blood, but that’s really about it.

  Sonya: Frankly I barely remember my birth parent’s names, it just doesn’t matter to me. [shrugs] I feel like I lived more lifetimes after the first fsh than I did iwo plus decades beforehand. Okay, one from sheep-dodger from Royal Road, huh, ‘In the inal timeline, how many dates/weeks did it take until you realized you were dating hua?’ [pys with her hair] Uh… we-well, [clears throat] I gave her a hard time for a while after she basically pulled some strings to have me assigo her squad. She kept ing around trying to apologize after she realized I was mad about it. We saw each other a lot but it wasn’t until she went into the Vegas Duhat I realized I had feelings. Six months or so until we got pretty serious, I’d say.

  Broker: Cute.

  Sonya: Shut up!

  Broker: Heh, Karrakaz from Royal Road asks; ‘Are we most definitely looking at a tragedy here? I ot help but hold out hope for some kind of miraculous feelgood ending.’ ._Loki_. From Royal Road asked something simir.

  Sonya: [squint]

  Broker: Every story has its high and low points, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover before we reach the end. I know the ending, of course, but I think that’s gonna stay up here. [Taps his head] Sorry!

  Sonya: Ugh, of course, Got another one from Royal Road! Questing questioner [snickers] asks: ‘Did Otis pn for the world to end, or was it ‘just’ an ued sequence of the war he started.

  Broker: Definitely his iion. Full stop. Cheesecakegood from Royal Road asks… ‘In the old timeline, did nations’ govers usually stick around for a while or did the supers take them over pretty quickly?’

  Sonya: I got this one, yes and no. The US colpsed pretty quickly after the Times Square disaster started to spread south towards DC. Europe had a simir problem. The Eastern tries got their shit together pretty quick though and the pandora ittee roposed by Japan and the remnant US Gover. It was their st big move.

  Broker: [nods] Yep, it retty bad for a while. The Pandora ittee being formed as early as it was in the current timeline really saved a lot of lives, Unknown Mongrel from Royal road had a couple questions… ‘What is a power you want to add that you haven’t had a good opportunity too?’ Oh that one’s easy, Sonya’s inal power as an OC was a cold radiation ability that had a light application. One day, [sighs].

  Sonya: Could just give it to some rando that I shake hands with.

  Broker: Where’s the fun in that?

  Sonya: [scoffs] They also asked ‘What are some miseous character details that just don’t e up normally?’ Oh, I give you a few. I fet to turn on the lights in rooms I go into. My base ability, Farsight, gives me perfect vision in the dark so I don’t notice when the lights are out. Marta has a peanut allergy, not that it affects her anymore. is really good at sudoku. Oh, oh! And Amos knows every good pizza p New York down to being on a first-name basis with the owners.

  Brood ones! Let’s see, got some from Scribblehub too! Oinkymoo from Scribblehub asks, ‘What is Otis’ real middle name?’

  Sonya: Great question!

  Broker: Who are we talking about?

  Sonya: [squint and sigh] They also asked about Broker’s real name.

  Broker: You might get some hints in season two~

  Sonya: I guess that’s answer enough, Lupenthewolf from Scribblehub asks, ‘When it's all said and done, will you be satisfied? Ohe world is safe from the future you saw, onission is plete, will it be enough?’ Well… I hope so. Only time will tell I guess, [sigh] It’s going to be a long road.

  Broker: Yep, I have a lot pnned, we’ll see where it goes. Michoucast from Scribblehub asks, ‘Will we know the in of Pandora’s Box?’ Yes. Definitely.

  Sonya: That question you answer. [shrug] Let’s see… oh! Look at this!

  Broker: Ahaha! Modality from Scribblehub really went all out! Lightning round?

  Sonya: Lightning round. We’ll do the author one’s first; ‘Are deities real in this world?’

  Broker: Yep, but they’re all dead. No divine final boss for this story!

  Sonya: What inspired you to put this story together?

  Broker: A love of literature and wanting to be a part of it in some way. To be ho, the first couple of chapters were a trial run, after the response and all the ents, it’s you guys that keep me going.

  Sonya: Favorite side character and favorite individual power?

  Broker: I adore Martin. Euclidia’s power is so iing and it goes a lot deeper than you imagine!

  Sonya: How long do you pn for Broker to go on for?

  Broker: Eight if I have my way. Some may be lohan others. Season two is beefy.

  Sonya: What does your average writing session look like? What’s your process?

  Broker: I start off with getting some music going then I make a copy of the previous chapter in google docs. I ost of it except for the st one or twraphs and pick up where I left off. Usually have some research material on the side. Then I copy in the summary for the chapter at the bottom and work through it.

  Sonya: is… questions for the cast! [turns and shouts] Hey! You guys! A few of you have questions!

  Broker: Oh boy.

  Sonya: First a few for me, ‘Sonya, how far did researto Skills go in your first timeline? People certainly figured out a lot about the how, but was there any progress made on the why?’ Well, to be ho we did the best we could. We were trying pretty hard to survive so not a lot of people spent time on the reasons why powers were he way they were or where they really e from. We were getting somewhere as things settled down a few years in, but by then Otis was gearing up for the war.

  Sonya: is… ‘What exactly are you hoping to get out of Detecitve Martin in the long run? Do you be pn to be publicly outed, eventually?’ Well, I expect to pay for my crimes, yes. My hope for Martin is to leverage him where I . I’m fident he’ll sign oted line for awakening, though.

  Broker: one is for… hua!

  hua: [walks in] Good day, sir. [bows]

  Broker: [coughs] They’re asking, ‘How do you feel about your fellow Mythics, and what they represent of the worlds of the world’s power dynamics? How do you feel about the fual inequality it poses on people on an individual level?’

  hua: [crosses arms behind back] There is a certain level of responsibility that es with power, those with powerful abilities, especially dangerous ones, should be reminded of that. Ultimately I have noticed that most of those who are actively awakened are younger and from more ordinary backgrounds save for a few. I imagihe effe the world’s css and power dynamic will be iing but I will have to observe loo give a more definitive answer.

  Broker: Crisp and astute as always.

  hua: Thank you, [leaves]

  Sonya: …god that was hot.

  Broker: Huh?

  Sonya: What? Did you say something? Anyway, Marta!

  Marta: Yes, ma’am?

  Sonya: You got one, let’s see… [snorts and bursts into ughter] Oh no! Hahaha! ‘Marta, how are things going with Kingshark? As a manga and cospy lover, do you think about the fact he use t*ntacles all that much?

  Marta: [clears her throat] It’s going very well, thank you for asking. He’s a good man. [deadpan] Every. Single. Day. [leaves]

  Sonya: [stares] Woah.

  Broker: [clears throat] Kingshark! You’re up man!

  Barry: Yep! I’m here! What’s up?

  Broker: ‘King Shark, just how much power do you feel like yanization has over the USA and over the world at rge now? If you flexed your influen its ey, what do you think you'd be able to aplish?’

  Barry: Eh? I haven’t really thought about it all that much, the boss gives those kinds of orders. If I had to guess I’d cause a good amount of damage, maybe take a state or two if I piled everyone on. The bsted to atoms. My boys ain’t soldiers, they’re street thugs. [leaves]

  Sonya: About what I was expeg. [shrugs] Bluestar dear!

  Bluestar: [peeks in] M-me? Really?

  Sonya: Yes, you, what do you think about your powers and how differently they seem to fun in parison to others we’ve seen? Also, are you dating Bandit?

  Bluestar: Oh! [blushes] I uh.. Well… my abilities might seem u there’s several ‘magic’ users on the Pandora listing. I’m the only color based one I’m aware of, though. It’s a bit odd, perhaps there are other colors out there? [clears throat] Yes, we’re seeing one another. Keeping it simple right now. I hope that’s okay, ma’am?

  Sonya: You’re asking me if I disapprove of fraternizing?

  Bluestar: Point taken. [leaves]

  Sonya: Last one since a certain asshole isn’t around right now. Amos!

  Amos: [slides in] Wassuuuup? [holds out fist]

  Sonya: Wassuuuup? [brofist]

  Amos: Whatcha got for me?

  Sonya: If Sonya never found and rescued you, how do you think your life would have pyed out?

  Amos: [frowns] That’s easy, I was near ground zero for the Times Square dungeon. Probably would have died in the break, if I got away from it, I dunno, start a business or something? [Grins] Immortal Konflict ter?

  Sonya: Hell yes, see you ter.

  Amos: [leaves]

  Sonya: And that’s everything! Thank you guys for joining us!

  Broker: Yep! Thank you all so much for your questions and sharing your love for the story. Like I said, we got a long way to go from here! Season two will start soon! For now… enjoy the trailer!