IKAG Writing Stub 2

Conner goes to a school full of superpowered students. 1/3 of the students are superpowered; Conner's class is an outlier in that it has mostly supers and 4 non-supers [himself, Audrey, Rudy and Hayleigh]. On top of this, Conner has 'recently' been adopted into Rudy and Hayleigh's family; the two siblings are among the most popular students in the entire school, more so even than the rest of the supers in the same class.

From the setup of the comic, Conner clearly has a complex and wants prestige or power of some sort. He forms a rough plan on paper:
⦁	the princess [student council chairwoman Princess Daughter] is the most powerful
⦁	therefore, defeat the princess

Why does Conner want to defeat Princess Daughter? What does the power hierarchy look like? There are the regular students, the club leaders, then the student councillors [followed by the teachers and other adults, but they don't factor in yet - there's still a blind spot in Conner's 'students vs teachers' logic]. Of the councillors, how do they rank in power, and how do they rank in popularity? Running off his assumptions, he decides as thus:
⦁	Popularity -- the secretary > Bucky/Frank/Ella > the princess
⦁	Power -- the secretary > Ella/Bucky > Frank/the princess? [assume the princess is stronger somehow to keep Frank under her]

How does Conner plan to 'defeat' Princess Daughter? Will he overcome her in a feat of strength? Politics? A particular club? All the clubs? Will it be a romantic conquest where they're equal partners, or does her 'defeat' involve making her ask to go out with him? Of the scenarios presented, which one is the most feasible?

Conner decides that, because he's already on thin ice with the councillors, he doesn't want to upset or antagonise them intentionally. Instead he'll work to become more respected. His first goal is to become more popular than 'the secretary'. Conner writes more bullet points:
⦁	creating the suit didn't work [initially left unexplained to the reader]
⦁	popularity -- strength -- Rudy Hayleigh not strong, super popular
⦁	ask other people why they like RH [presumably to improve himself]
⦁	acquire resources people want
⦁	acquire superpowers?
⦁	find ways to go on adventures like the hero kids do

Although the role of the student council is to organise events and help club leaders organise activities, dispense advice to students and reprimand/discipline unruly behavior - the council are also among the highest-ranked students in the school, so there is always trepidation amongst the lower-ranked students in approaching councillors at all, let alone for counsel. Even if Conner wanted to talk to them [and he doesn't], he is amongst the lowest caste. He has to seek other students' perspectives on the councillors to gather any information and slowly gather resources and intel.

Either Conner gets the wrong idea himself from following a train of logic, or he gets the idea from gossip around school. He assumes Amelia, as the secretary of the student council and the least outwardly intimidating/powerful/powerful, must be the weakest of the group. If Conner can't even prove himself superior to her, what chance does he have of outsmarting and overthrowing the other councillors, let alone Princess Daughter? Conner sets up the plan that becomes 'beat Amelia' > 'beat Ella'/'beat Bucky'/'beat Frank' > 'beat Princess Daughter', but eventually has tunnel vision on defeating Amelia to the point of absurdity (present an occasion where Conner defeats PD alongside multiple people in a venue, maybe a cooking match, and he doesn't even care because he still didn't beat Amelia in the same match, it could be a 1st place versus 2nd place deal).

From the start Conner wants validation, but from his limited worldview he frames it as 'wanting to be a hero', then 'wanting to find his dream hobby', to 'wanting to be respected'. Everyone around him has (or appears to be having) adventures and Conner wants to go on adventures of his own. Because everyone seems to be more liked than him and everyone seems to be useful in some capacity, Conner wants to be reliable as well. He refuses most forms of validation because they 'don't count' in some form or another; until Conner can forgive himself as a human being and move on, he cannot move on from this mental hurdle.

Conner has a poor memory unless the event/people involved are vivid, or he's retained the memory through repetition. Often he carries a notepad to write names and dates and events. He has to be 'encouraged' to get a smartphone at one point.

Initially an underdog in the school's social caste system, Conner keeps viewing himself as such even while he acts the braggart [generally around Rudy or his classmates, or people he remembers]. Rudy inflates his accomplishments and spreads the gospel around school, while Hayleigh pokes holes in the inflation and spreads that gossip around school. At the same time, any events that are inconvenient to the student councillors will generally be retconned through revisionist gossip. Eventually through a mixture of lies, luck and actual accomplishments - "he chopped a dragon's foot off", "when he heard about the bartering rule the council set, he brought them a stuffed teddy he traded with all the club leaders", "those rumors about the superhero inheritance were true, he was unfairly DQ'd but gave up the consolation prize anyway" - his reputation reaches a level near-equal to the councillors. Even here Conner considers himself an underdog, someone who has to work harder to meet the 'naturally talented' and doesn't deserve peoples' good graces, and this dissonance starts to alienate others.

Character stories:
⦁	slice-of-life pages, generally a page each unless the narrative can have a continuation
⦁	mundane interactions interspersed with background action, or insight into how the school/society works
⦁	cover different classes [PD's class as well as Rudy/Hayleigh's, and others] as well as insight on the faculty
⦁	can be slotted between Conner stories or vice-versa
⦁	treat some of these stories as an excuse to practice drawing new things (tanks, buildings, archways, etc etc) from the How To Think books

Conner stories:
⦁	creating the suit [initial 'becoming a self-made hero' victory, thwarted]
⦁	transferred to Carous' class, he self-isolates from his new classmates until he has an epiphany
⦁	trading for items ['going on adventures and becoming respected' victory]
⦁	epiphany about people doing what they enjoy, being in clubs, having determination; Conner may be mad about people rubbing their superiority in his face, but concedes said superiority and decides he'd be a hypocrite to decry what he values
⦁	joining clubs [initial 'dream hobby' victory]
⦁	a mixture of clubs and trades, while getting mixed up in other mishaps [school projects]
⦁	the superhero inheritance contest puts a further spring in Conner's step; initially having his wires crossed between 'wanting to deserve to be a hero' and 'wanting to find his dream hobby', he decides that the hobby will come first and determines to find it at Motown High
⦁	Amelia transfers over and puts a wrench in the works? Or is she there from the start juggling work and supervising the students, and only zeroes in on Conner after he's pulled enough stunts? She could be incentivised to give up the secretary position entirely and stay as a 'regular' student
⦁	Conner's attempts to trade are in/advertently thwarted or he has to get creative in ducking the secretary; Conner's attempts to join clubs are either ambushed, or he picks up on a possible interest and practices outside the school to no avail