#I only found this comic referencing it but anyway. good stuff

[lisanees]

Kasumi wrong script

[dizaryswrites]

I have a confession to make!

I don’t know how obvious it is, but I actually haven’t read any comics 😅 I know, I know haha, it’s just I haven’t had the time! Luckily, I mostly follow blogs that I know are comic readers so I know what’s fanon and canon mostly. But since I will have free time in the summer, I was wondering if you have any recommendations on what to read and where to start?

Oh man I WISH I could be one of those blogs who snaps out the long scroll that just rolls down the hallway with a concise cross referenced list of top hits from every era and where to start with each character! But I am a book hoarder with not enough time on my hands so I haven't even read half of what I have, let alone all the back issues 😅

Here's some stuff that I really enjoyed as a new-to-comics-and-DC reader and in general (in mostly chronological order because that's how I arrange my comic books):

Batman: Dark Victory

I really enjoyed the mystery and early Batman days, plus Dick Grayson's debut! He is a delight. I didn't read Long Halloween which comes before this so I missed some context but I picked it up easy enough (also according to some reviews the mystery can be repetitive if you have read Long Halloween sooo win for me ig?)

Robin: Year One

I am determined to read this one soon. I've heard great things about it though so it's being added

Batman: Prodigal

I read this without reading a single page of Knightfall because I was getting interested in Nightwing and this was the earliest book that my library had available (I have given up on a chronological reading order since those early foolish days). I knew nothing and still really enjoyed Dick!Bats and Robin!Tim together. I need to reread this soon

Formerly Known as the Justice League

A limited run, 6 issues I think. Honestly I should just say Justice League International in general but I started with this mini for Booster Gold and Blue Beetle after seeing some funny panels online and I fell in love with that whole cast of losers (affectionate). It's not BatFam but so so fun to read (and JLI has some really poignant moments too)

Young Justice: A League of Their Own

SO FUN. Tim and friends dealing with just ridiculous scenarios LOL I'm only halfway through but it's great

Batman: Hush

I haven't read a lot of just Batman titles but I enjoyed Hush. It had some good character moments for Bruce that helped me understand the way he thinks a little more. I also hear Bruce Wayne: Murder/Fugitive is very very good but I haven't gotten around to it yet (a running theme)

Batgirl: Point Blank

Cass is a treat. This was the first volume I found of her's, haven't read the others yet, but even lacking context I really enjoyed her as the main character and her interactions with Steph, Babs, and Bruce.

Teen Titans (Geoff Johns)

This was one of the first series I started reading and it was a good intro for me, a completely new DC fan. It's Tim and his friends but more serious than YJ. I've read vol 1-2 and part of 3

Under The Red Hood

Classic for good reason. I haven't finished it yet (teehee) but the first half has been entertaining. Jason has had some um... interesting writing in his time. But I really enjoy the way he's written here. It's a good baseline imo. I've heard Lost Days is also good

Nightwing (Tomasi run)

I love Tomasi and this run was a lot of fun. Dick is funny while not losing his serious, capable edge, he interacts with people in his circles, and has some interesting introspection moments. There's a weird part of the plot about midway that definitely uses bad Asian stereotypes which is so disappointing. But after that it gets normal again 😅

Batman & Robin

This comes right after Tomasi's run and it's a mixed bag for me. It's definitely interesting seeing Dick and Damian learning to work together but I was still new to DC with little context for things and was also *so* put off by the art style that I don't remember it well. But I thought I'd add it anyway since it's an iconic moment for Dick!Bats

Batman and Robin (Tomasi)

I adore Bruce and Damian struggling together to discover what being father and son looks like for them. I adore Damian having growth. That's volumes 1-3. 4 is post Damian's death (and damn issue 1 is a well written look at grief), I haven't read 5 or beyond yet.

Nightwing (Rebirth)

The first Nightwing title I read. Looking back, the characterization is a bit weak in some areas, doesn't quite match how he's written in older runs, but it had good moments and kept me entertained. Especially!!! In vol 3 with Humphries's Judge arc

For more current runs, I'm really enjoying World's Finest. Waid's writing is good and Mora's art is just *cartoon heart eyes*. Bats, Supes, and teenage Dick Grayson are a fun trio. Amid other runs that had me tearing my hair out in disappointment or frustration, WF is a breath of fresh air.

Titans United: Bloodpact is a 6 issue limited that was also a really nice read. It's Dick's Titans but Tim is there too and I enjoyed everyone's writing.

The Human Target (Tom King) but honestly I was just losing my mind over Greg Smallwood's art and paneling the entire time. A masterpiece. I want to frame every page. I cheered when he posted inspiration threads on Twitter.

Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen

It's not Batfam but hear me out!!!! This comic had some of the sweetest moments between Supes and Jimmy and I wanted to grab literally anybody by the shoulders and shake them until they looked at the Lois, Clark, & Jimmy in the helicopter panel and GOT IT!!! Also it is so delightfully wacky and funny, I was genuinely laughing out loud. Steve's Lieber's art is the perfect pairing with Matt Fraction's writing.

AND SPEAKING OF!

This isn't DC at all but it's the series that made me (and so many others) really love comics and their storytelling potential. Matt Fraction's Hawkeye run, volumes 1-4. Between his writing and David Aja's artwork and color theory (and Steve Lieber's guest issue that literally gut punched me and changed how I saw later parts of the story, it was never just a filler issue to me, Steve) you get a great story that says so much with so little (in the best way) and is a visual treat as well. Chef's kiss.

Some other non-DC comics I really enjoyed are Die (imagine Jumanji but D&D and novels and oh look the consequence of your actions has grown up), Something is Killing the Children Vol. 1 (I am not a horror girly but I really enjoyed this, in no small part because of Dell'edera's art), Eight Billion Genies (the world population hits 8 billion and now everyone gets a genie, what could go possibly wrong), and Paper Girls which I'm about 2/3 through (picture stranger things but with time travel, spaceships?, and oh shit is future me lying??)

Damn, I guess I really did have a scroll's worth. 😭 Anyway, my recommendation for where to start with this list is...what does your library have available? Don't forget about the Hoopla app too, that's where I read some of these digitally. Or the used bookstore which is where I got 90% of my comics from.

But seriously! Just pick whatever sounds the most fun or has the character(s) you're the most interested in and go from there. Skip around on the timeline or go in chronological order. Whatever floats your boat! I think that's the really unique thing about comics. Plus if you can't figure out the context of what you're missing or what is happening simultaneously (because writers & editorial used to care a little more) you can do a quick google or (and I wish I had this with Batgirl) @cephalog0d has a pinned timeline master list. Incredible.

[mdhwrites]

I know you said on Twitter your least favorite joke in TOH is the joke from Edge of the World about the head Titan hunter being named Bill. My least favorite TOH joke is from Escaping Expulsion, when Gus suggests they cast illusions of "lady guards" to distract the guards and Willow is like "this isn't a cartoon from the 40s!" Firstly because, why would Gus make that suggestion? Who says the guards are heterosexual men? The Boiling Isles feels pretty gender and sexuality neutral so that's a strange assumption on his part. Second of all why is Willow referencing something from Earth that she would have no way of knowing about aside from maybe Luz, except why would Luz tell her about cartoons from the 40s? Third of all, the whole joke is just brimming with this smug aura of 'look everyone, we're so progressive, we're NOT going to do this trope that we COULD do because we're not a cartoon from the 40s!' Like, if you have to pat yourself on the back for not writing something worse then maybe your writing isn't actually that good. You know? IDK, it's such a small moment so it's weird that it bothers me as much as it does but I feel like it's a microcosm of a lot of my issues with TOH's writing. Anyway, any thoughts on that joke or TOH's joke writing in general? 🦎

There is... a lot to be said about the humor of TOH. I actually covered, theoretically, one problem in a blog about the male characters in TOH. That blog is relevant to this because 80% of TOH's comedy is predicated on the misery of some sort of the designated comic relief characters. In S1, this is pretty much entirely male. In S2, Lilith joins these ranks but not as the straight man she was in S1 (the comedy term, not the sexuality) but as just... The same sort of gag character everyone else is.

This designation of comic relief also commonly comes with only being allowed one or two main jokes that will be used over and over again in someway to make the character look like a fool. Now slapstick is fine and I like stuff like Randy Cunningham so I can enjoy it. The problem with TOH's comedy writing is that it's not creative, interesting and kind of eventually gets very obvious. As such, it becomes incredibly boring.

This is almost entirely why I found King to be a boring character for the entirety of S1. He just... isn't a character. He's two jokes that aren't very different from each other. A child trying to be taken seriously or an animal that is trying to have the respect of a human. Both degrade him, both have him acting the fool, both have him looking stupid, etc. like that and because he is the comedic backbone of the main trio in theory, these jokes are repeated somewhere close to a BILLION TIMES.

But... All of those lead to comedy that is for the most part boring. Without the actual interplay of characters, the comedy feels superfluous. It's like anything that relies on its comic relief to be able to claim to be a comedy rather than actually having that comedy weave in and out of the piece naturally. An untold amount of meh animated movies have this exact problem so it's nothing new even if people somehow don't understand that it is a problem.

But let's talk about the other 20% with the two jokes discussed in your ask! Both of them are in line with the fact that when the show isn't using slapstick, it's subversion. Namely, subversion of cartoon and fantasy tropes. The only problem is that it seems to think it's revolutionary for subverting tropes DECADES old... When they've either entirely fallen out of fashion or the sorts of subversion they're doing have been done for... decades as well almost.

Because distracting the guards by dressing in drag isn't something modern cartoons play straight anymore. They'll either see through the disguise, call them ugly, not be of the same species, etc. like that. And all of those are more of a joke than just calling out the fact that it's a trope and then that's it. That's the joke. Which isn't funny or clever. It's just an observation that begs the question of "Okay, and? We weren't treating you as a show from the 40s. Are we supposed to?"

As a tangent though: That whole conversation is a mess. You pointed out all the world building issues with it but let's just talk about who does what. Gus is weirdly the only character IN CHARACTER as they discuss this plan. Top Student Amity wants to go in and FIGHT EVERYONE while Willow, who has never shown any real cleverness with her magic, just overwhelming brute force, is the one to suggest actually being sneaky with a magical solution while also being the one to scold Gus the hardest. Admittedly, I don't agree with people who think Willow suppresses her emotions so her speaking up is in character but how overly mean she is about it feels like it was written for Amity but it was boarded wrong or something.

The other major issue in both jokes though, much more in the one I hate most, is the feeling of smugness. That the show obviously thinks it's incredibly clever for the joke. I mean, just how weird are fantasy names? Balthazar? Magnus? Tarik?

Oh, wait, TOH actually used that last one. And the others are rooted in cultures not in America so treating as entirely fantastical nowadays is just kind of being an asshole. I mean, how many Japanese or Arabic names are going to sound weird to an American, where 'Christopher' is about as complex or interesting as our first names get? So maybe you shouldn't judge so quickly.

But that's not the point anyways. It's that so many OTHER fantasy shows take themselves so seriously with these names or ideas or leaders and look how 'funny' it is when they're named something like Bill! Or they're actually a stoner! Aren't we a riot?

And there's never thought beyond that. Of how it clashes with the narrative which is the REAL reason I DESPISE the Bob joke. Unlike something like the Bile Sacs, something that is used as a subversive joke that fucks up the magic system in some way because they'll never get brought back up again... Bob fucks up his episode.

Theoretically, the tension of the episode is whether or not these people are good and if King should be with them to find out about his culture. The first time "Bill" is uttered out of Tarik's mouth, the show just hard pauses for a second, as if to allow for the snickers to die down, before Luz even straight up asks if it's short for something. They straight up spend 15 seconds of the episode destroying any possible gravitas this character has.

Which is an immediate sign. If these characters were actually meant to be a dilemma from a character standpoint, they'd be taken seriously. They could be silly but their culture would matter. Their leaders would matter. In fifteen seconds, for the sake of a joke they're obviously so proud of, at the ten minute mark so we have half the episode left...

The audience knows the truth. They're grifters or bad men in some way and King and Luz shouldn't trust them. All for fifteen seconds for a bad joke that's not original in the slightest.

And for anyone who thinks we're thinking too hard about these jokes: That's not our problem. Okay, it absolutely is my problem, I overthink most things, but in general, if we're questioning jokes this much... The show has failed. In some way, the joke has broken the suspension of disbelief and now I'm not watching something I'm invested in, I'm instead aware of it being a construct and kid's show. And because of the egotism, it demands higher scrutiny the moment that happens. I've talked about this problem with TOH before. And comedy suffers the most from it because TOH doesn't do rapid fire comedy. It wants its jokes to be gut busters. It's REALLY confident in a lot of them, especially the more ego put into the joke. And... I'm sorry. While TOH does constitute deserving the comedy genre title, it's just not a great comedy. It's fine at best usually but it doesn't have variety and it's usually not clever. Does it sometimes manage a great one? I would hope so since it's literally listed as a comedy. But if you want something unique and that deserves to think of itself as a gut buster, you're going to have look for something that tries harder than this. (and of course as a caveat to ALL of this: I prefer British style of humor and interplay which takes a lot more sarcasm, back and forth, etc. like that so I'm a bit predisposed to not being hit as hard by it as others. Comedy is so subjective though that that's why I tried to stick to kind of the general, structural and presentation issues with the comedy rather than whether the jokes themselves are good or not.) ======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[jaydonsjam]

Morbius II

Here we are again to talk about the first five issues of Vampire Tales specifically the five Morbius stories! I know I keep saying it but these horror comics are enthralling and engrossing in the best way. Plus, following a villain is a lot more interesting than your run-of-the-mill superheroes. I did some research after noticing the non-existent stamp of the Comics Code Authority and found out (thanks Wikipedia) that since Vampire Tales was published as a magazine it didn’t fall under their judgement. Which is why there’s more violence and all around edgier content in VT than most Marvel comics of that era. After reading these five issues, Morbius has definitely jumped up the list of my favorite Spidey villains. Morbius’ struggle for humanity in the face of his endless need to feed on humanity makes him so interesting to me. I love the writing here because they manage to keep Morbius villainous and yet put forth other villains for him to face that make you root for him. The art is all in black-and-white but I think it really suits the horror genre and makes it feel like a 30’s universal horror film. My experience with black-and-white comics are really only with manga or The Walking Dead series.

“Morbius”

Steve Gerber wrote the first Morbius story in Vampire Tales #1 and Pablo Marcos did the art which looked absolutely beautiful with an eerie sinister undertone with a bit of watercolor effects. I love the fact that these comics actually have blood, because seeing the bites happen makes it more horrific. Also Morbius is seriously terrifying to look at. Morbius is searching for his love Martine and meets a girl named Carolyn so she leads him to Madame Laera who might be able to find out her location. They look through a crystal ball and Morbius sees Martine stabbed through the chest and throws the crystal ball shattering it. A demon named Nilrac is freed and fights Morbius but Michael defeats it. He tries to feed on it but finds there’s no blood so he attacks Laera and feeds on her, killing her. Carolyn, a child of Satan, is fascinated by this and takes Morbius to her place. Morbius leaves so that he doesn’t feed on her. I liked the fight with Nilrac but it wasn’t anything special. The best part of this issue was how good of a vehicle it served for Morbius and it even references previous stuff we had seen in Marvel Team-Up with the X-Men. I love how the story opens on an unsuspecting person walking down LA and they look up and just see Morbius pouncing them. Another thing that is referenced several times (and it’s a little unbelievable) is the fact that Morbius looks like a bat faced crazy man and when people ask him why he’s wearing a mask, he always says, it’s not a mask. It’s funny but I don’t buy the fact that people just think it’s a mask. One of the things that make Morbius so interesting is the idea that he doesn’t want to feed on people and when he does, he hates himself for it. He’s got a piece of humanity but he just can’t fight his hunger. He’s of course a monster but there’s something else there too.

“The Blood Sacrifice of Amanda Saint!”

The next Morbius story in Vampire Tales #2 was written by Don McGregor and pencilled by Rich Buckler and inked by Pablo Marcos. I love the title page (pictured above) with a bat serving as the background but at the same time resembling the shape of a human heart. One technical issue I had with this scan on Marvel Unlimited was the fact that some of the lettering was hard to read and there was like a pixelated look to some of the images. I don’t blame the art cause I think it’s just a digital scan issue. Anyways, Morbius decided on his next victim Amanda Saint, who has also been chosen by a satanic cult named Demon-Fire as a sacrifice. Morbius leaps down, feeds on one of her would-be captors and stops the kidnapping, saving his victim from her fate. There’s a cool fight that he has with one of the cloaked figures who’s wields a scythe. Morbius disarms him and then runs away with Amanda. They come to her house and her sister, Catherine is waiting for her. We find out that Amanda is with a man named Justin and he planned for her to get kidnapped and sacrificed but Morbius stopped it. Catherine looks an awful like a female masked figure that we saw earlier in the issue (we find out in a later issue that her sister was that figure). Justin has roommates who are involved in drugs (which comes back later). Morbius feeds on a taxi driver and Amanda gets kidnapped by Demon-Fire. Morbius tries to stop it but is thrown out of a two-story window and is forced to flee.

“Demon Fire”

The third Morbius story was written by Don McGregor and pencilled by Rich Buckler and inked by Klaus Janson. This issue had the same technical problem as the last one where the digital scan made some of the lettering hard to read. Morbius heads to the place where the cult took Amanda and finds a coffin that serves as a secret entrance to an underground lair. We get the Catherine reveal here along with Justin revealing himself to Amanda. At the top of the atrium in this underground lair is a giant demonic spider named Arachne with which they sacrifice people to. It’s quite ironic that Morbius fights a spider in this issue with his superhero nemesis being Spider-Man. I loved how creepy and sinister the black and white art added to the giant spider. It webs Michael and takes a bite but then runs away dying from whatever is in Morbius’ blood. The spider’s death throes cause the whole lair to start falling apart and Morbius escapes with Amanda as the whole cult is crushed except for sweet, silly Justin. We get an epilogue of police brutality. They were trying to hit Justin’s drug dealing friend but instead hit Justin and it ends with the cops dragging his unconscious body out of the apartment. Overall I dug this issue a lot. It’s ironic that Amanda is saved by the vampire who wanted to feed on her. It’s also funny that she didn’t know everyone around her was involved in a cult (including her mother and sister and boyfriend). I really felt bad for the taxi driver who was in the midst of a Watergate rant when he was killed by Michael. It’s also interesting that Amanda has no idea Morbius is a vampire even though he’s leaping and moving with obvious powers and he has a bat face. I just find that unbelievable. I get that she’s often not paying much attention or indisposed every time but I really feel like she should’ve known by the time she actually does find out.

“Lighthouse of the Possessed”

This issue in Vampire Tales #4 was written by Don McGregor and pencilled and inked by Tom Sutton. This issue opens with one of the most brutal kills Morbius does in these issues yet (pictured above). They really do a great job of showing that you’re reading a story about a villain. Morbius with Amanda has started staying at a boarding house. There’s a really weird eugenics mention after Morbius sees two grotesque people living there. I was taken aback but then I remembered that Michael is a murderous psycho so whatever. We also meet two characters one named Brock Kilbride an idealistic politically minded guy and his friend Arlene Randolph who spends both issues trying to make Brock see that the politician, Duke Mannery isn’t what he seems. We also meet another sect of Demon-Fire but this time they are led by a mysterious being called Blood-Tide. We also meet Amanda’s mother who was mentioned before having her husband leave her because she was a member of a cult (Demon-Fire) but there’s a reveal about that later. Amanda is prattling on and on about politics to Morbius but they are interrupted by Oliver barging in trying to cut them with his hook hand. Morbius throws him out of a window and he’s cut by shards of glass. Morbius with his bloodlust taking over feeds on poor Oliver. Amanda sees him and realizes he’s a vampire and freaks out. This is a big reveal but again, it makes Amanda seem kinda dumb for not already figuring it out. She runs out the door right into an axe swing from Mrs. Agnes. They are then mobbed by seafarers who are trying to kill them. At this point they run into Brock and Arlene knocking them over as they are chased by a giant mob of people. Mrs. Agnes catches Morbius still swinging her axe. Morbius flings the axe away and then slams Agnes’ head into the axe. It’s definitely the most brutal death in these five issues for sure. Morbius takes off Mrs. Agnes’ mask and it’s revealed to be Amanda’s mom. Like a true scoundrel, Morbius takes her wedding band and plans on giving it to Amanda someday. Lots of action in this issue and also plenty of dirty deeds done by Morbius. Reading these issues really makes me realize that while they call Man-Thing a monster or Jack Russell a monster, the real monster here is Morbius. You guys know I see him as a tragic figure but he is a murderer who constantly feeds on innocents (also bad people). I also appreciate the idea that is he trying to save Amanda to wipe out the stain of all the evil he’s done as a living vampire? It’s a good question.

“Blood Tide!”

The next Morbius story from Vampire Tales #5 was written by Don McGregor and pencilled by Rich Buckler and inked by Ernie Chua (he was also credited under Ernie Chan in his career). I gotta start off by saying the art is the best in this issue out of the five stories. The scan was fantastic and I had no issues reading this one (same with the last one). Morbius and Amanda see a film and get attacked by Blood-Tide! Brock and Arlene investigate a shadowy figure who works with the politician and it leads them to the same theater. There’s a cool moment where Blood-Tide and Morbius fight behind the screen and he tosses Morbius through the projection. There’s a moment where he’s about to pierce Michael with his staff but Brock kicks him in the head and leads Morbius and Amanda out of the theater. In a conversation with Arlene and Brock we get another moment where Morbius tells them it’s his face that looks like that not a mask. I’m starting to like this throughline joke. They follow The Godfather character to outside the lighthouse and Morbius decides to be stealthy and try to sneak into the lighthouse. There’s a cool fight between Morbius and Blood-Tide!

Blood-Tide has a really cool design with glowing eyes that seem to control people. There seems to be merit because of the mob of people who all want to kill Morbius and Amanda. He uses his gaze to freeze Morbius in place and is about to stab him with his staff when Brock distracts him. Morbius takes advantage of the distraction (he’s also freed from the gaze) by throwing one of the cult members out of the lighthouse window. He takes down Blood-Tide and unmasks him revealing him to be Duke Mannery the politician that Brock believed in. The guy is so taken aback and disgusted that he doesn’t realize that Duke has a pistol. In another gruesome kill, Brock has his brains blown out.

I was shocked by the gore in this moment but we did see Amanda’s mom get axed in the head last ish so maybe I shouldn’t have been so surprised. I actually felt bad for Brock cause he did seem like he had his heart in the right place just supported the wrong guy. I will say that I’m not super into the Scooby Doo type reveals with both Blood-Tide and Mrs. Agnes. I feel like that trope got overused in this story especially in such quick succession. Overall though, Vampire Tales was a fun read and definitely the goriest, bloodiest and darkest Marvel comics I’ve read from this era so far. Marvel does horror really well. Like I said, I’m glad it’s not colored cause the black and white art adds so much to the horror genre. I’d love to read a black and white Man-Thing comic now. Next up we’re back to Adventure Into Fear #17-18! Thanks for reading this whole thing. I hope you enjoyed my moronic thoughts about funny books!

[moonbaby26]

Title: What’s in a Name?

Pairing: Peter Maximoff x Reader

Summary: Continuation from last chapter. You and the others are finally homeward bound, flying back to the U.S. from the events in Egypt and Greece. You get to hear a little more about Peter’s eastern European roots while passing time on the plane together.

Warnings: None, just fluff and Peter being Peter.

Notes: I know where some things I’m referencing don’t match the comics. Blend of comic canon and the movie version going on here.

Chapters: Previous Chapter Here

Taglist: @drikawinchester , @n0obmaster69 , @alexloveskili , @what-a-silver-lining , @bluesprings18 , @weakmoony-stuff , @slytherinsi-mp , @wintwrsoldiwr , @tommy-braccoli , @amourtentiaa , @cringingmemeries , @bi-panicatthe-disco , @himbos-are-my-lifeblood , @simp4mcuwomen

Peter Maximoff x Reader Masterlist

—————————

The morning sun was still low and red on the horizon as you’d stepped back out into the open air of the flight deck. But seagulls were already calling from somewhere up above as men milled around, checking and readying a set of helicopters that you knew would soon be taking you ashore.

You wouldn’t miss this boat itself of course, none of you belonged here after all. But you’d be lying to say it’d been easy to let go of Peter when morning had come. You’d woken up far more tangled than you remembered going to sleep as, chest to chest, his good leg wrapped over you and one of his hands somehow far up the back of your shirt.

The longest part of getting ready had been the procrastination of leaving that bed. After that, it only seemed like minutes before you were all awkwardly standing up here now, waiting on next instructions. It wasn’t as if you’d had anything you could pack after all. Besides that somewhat silly polaroid picture you’d seen Peter carefully stowaway in one pocket of his shorts, you had no possessions to speak of here. Even the shoes they’d given you were some poorly fit military boot. The tops of them scraped against your ankles as you walked and you’d be glad to be rid of them whenever possible.

The Professor and Moira approached after another moment, Moira hurrying a little more as one of the helicopters began to fire up, followed by the other soon after. She had to speak louder over the rising noise of the blades rotating faster and faster.

“Keep these on you!” She called, going to each of you in turn, handing over a U.S. passport with a driver’s license closed separately inside. She only opened them briefly to check that she was matching each to the correct person. “The flight we’ll be taking is just a commercial plane. The government has contracted them and dictated the pickup and landing points, but it’s civilian pilots and flight crew. Normal security still applies, but only those with U.S. citizenship are allowed aboard.”

As she’d gotten to you and Peter, she’d handed both passports to you as you’d had your hand outstretched, and he’d still been holding on to his crutches. You quickly opened one just to see which was yours, so you could pocket only your own. The first one opened was his however, but even in the low light of early sunrise, your brain hitched on something unexpected.

The picture looking back at you was clearly him, albeit a little younger, and with slightly longer hair than the way he wore it currently. But that wasn’t the issue. You reread the name printed in front of you more than once, before glancing up to him as if to confirm.

It said Pietro Django Maximoff.

“Your real name isn’t Peter?” You asked, even over the helicopter noise before you could stop yourself. But the realization was already dawning on you almost before that last word left your mouth that so many people were called one name by friends and family even if their legal name may still be another. You felt a bit stupid then for your reaction, instantly wishing you could take the question back.

But thankfully he only leaned in with a smile, taking his passport and license from you even as he spoke right against your ear. “Define real.” He pocketed them, before continuing. The helicopters were at their full ready now. “But it’s a bit loud here, babe. I’ll tell you all you want to know about my sexy alter ego later, deal?”

—————————

By the time you’d gotten to the airstrip on shore, it was full morning sun now. And just as Moira had said, there was already a large U.S. commercial jet waiting there. You also found out you weren’t alone, as you’d had to join a line of people already waiting to board. They were checking credentials as people moved up one by one onto a mobile stairway that had been rolled up flush with the plane’s open door.

Looking around you, most of the would be passengers still looked like military of various branches though. Army, Navy, Air Force, they still had on their uniforms. But there were others too, likely diplomats being evacuated you thought. Men, women, even a few children as you’d seen the curious eyes peeking out from behind their parents’ legs as you all had also moved through the line.

“It had to be damn stairs,” Peter mumbled as the two of you neared closer to the plane. Without any actual terminal here, boarding straight from the tarmac was the only option.

“If Hank can help carry the Professor up them, wheelchair and all, I’m pretty sure I can handle you.” You responded, only meaning to give him a little grief.

But he just spun things right back on you of course. “Oh, you can handle me any time.”

And when your stare said you didn’t seem to find that quite as funny as he did, he only shrugged, still smiling. “Sorry, you left yourself wide open for that one.”

“I did.” You admitted. “But I still want to hear the story of that driver’s license. And why did you even have one to begin with? Seems a little unecessary.” You said, still moving up every few moments as you neared the bottom of the stairs.

Yet he just kept smirking at you, almost a seeming delight in his eyes then, realizing that you were that curious about it. “Now who’s impatient?” He taunted, just before turning back to flash said documents to one of the workers now checking them.

“Do you have anything to declare?” The woman asked him.

With the way he paused, you knew his brain was churning then to select whatever he would deem the funniest or wittiest response. But as odd of looks as you were all already getting, mostly from Hank and Kurt’s vivid blue skin as usual, it probably would be best not to test the waters any further. You did want to get home after all.

“We don’t,” You answered before he could, relieved when she seemed to want to hurry you all aboard and away from her as much as you did. She handed Peter’s passport back to him, then took your own in quick succession to glance it over as well before seeming satisfied enough as she handed it back to you.

After you were past her, it was the issue of the stairs however. Obviously they expected Peter to just figure it out, but you knew you could lend a hand. The trick was going to be in trying to keep that act of levitation a little more subtle though, still being in mixed company here.

“You should have let me have a little more fun with her,” Peter said, though glancing back with some curiosity as you moved behind him.

“I don’t want to make a scene,” you responded quietly. Really, referring to her just as much as what you were about to attempt. “Pretend you’re going up the stairs anyway. Move a little like you’re walking.”

The person in front of him on the stairs wasn’t looking back, and only more of your friends were directly behind you. With the sidewalls of the stairway also going up about waist high, the people still on the ground couldn’t see the little glow that went around his legs as you willed him to levitate just high enough that his cast didn’t drag the steps as you both continued towards the plane’s door.

“Woah, hey at least give a warning.” He responded, lifting his good leg up enough for it to also miss the now passing steps even as his crutches hit once or twice.”

“I did.” You answered, though still trying to look past him the whole time to make sure no one was looking back from the plane’s doorway. Once you’d gotten nearly to the top, you set him back down to do the last couple steps on his own and enter the plane normally.

Once inside though, the aisle really was too narrow to use his crutches properly. Maybe on a more normal flight more measures would have been taken to assist the disabled, but there sure wasn’t anyone offering anything today.

Kurt was behind you, and offered to take the crutches while Peter put one arm over your shoulders and you both half hobbled, half shimmied awkwardly down the aisle until you reached the first open seating.

Being a larger jet meant for transoceanic travel, there were seats in groups of three on both the left and right side of the plane, but a row of four in the center as well. You ended up in one of the rows of three on the side, letting Peter take the aisle seat to have more room for his leg, while you sat in the middle, and Kurt beside you at the window as he’d laid Peter’s crutches down on the floor underneath the seats.

You finally felt like maybe you could relax a little then, just glancing around a bit. There were some old magazines in the seatback in front of you, but probably not much of anything else any of you could really do now in however many hours it’d take to get stateside. You were pretty sure a passenger jet like this would be a good deal slower than the high tech military one you’d gone to Egypt in.

You were only looking up at the light and air vent controls above your seat next as a sudden movement and curse surprised you as your eyes darted back to the aisle.

“Goddamnit.” A man said.

His soft sided suitcase had just burst open, spilling most of his clothing onto the floor as he then paused to shove it back in as best he could. He struggled with the zipper a moment, but it only slid back and forth uselessly, no longer sealing the bag back. “Cheap ass government issue,” He added, finally just picking up the whole thing and holding it closed against his chest as he walked on.

And that random event would have been nothing more to you, except for the way you saw Peter move his head back then, sucking in a pained breath through his teeth as he gripped the armrest between you.

Kurt noticed too, leaning forward as he asked, “Are you alright, Peter?”

“Yeah, sure,” He grunted.

But as you glanced down to see Peter’s other hand now clutching his broken leg, you also saw a newly materialized pair of sunglasses pressed between his fingertips and the cast. As well as a military jacket now folded messily under his seat.

“That was you.” You spoke abruptly, yet low enough just for the three of you. “You took those out of that man’s suitcase!”

“Well I didn’t think the stupid zipper was going to break when I tried to close it back! He’s right, that was a cheap zipper.” Peter admitted.

“And you hurt yourself trying to get back into the chair didn’t you?” You chided a little more, not quite sure what was worse, the thievery or the recklessness.

“I hit my foot on that damn bracket, and the vibration went through the bone.” He motioned to the metal bracing that bolted the seat in front of him to the floor.

“Thou shalt not steal,” Kurt said, not judgmentally, but just as if this should be an inherent truth as he still looked to Peter with concern.

“Oh man, so I get like twelve hours of flight time to look forward to, trapped next to you two goody two shoes then? Awesome.” He joked back, though already looking back down then at the sunglasses in his hand with a little admiration. They had a mirror finish as he spun them over in his fingers. “And hey, you guys are the ones who burned up my last jacket back in Egypt, remember? I’m not going home empty handed. I’d been wanting one of those army looking deals since we got here. Buzzcut there seemed like he’d have one.”

“Mama look!”

All three of you paused your talk then to see a small boy now standing in the aisle as the movement of people had slowed once more with passengers stopping to put their luggage in the overhead bins. But his mother didn’t seem to be paying him any mind as he continued to point. She was talking to the man in front of her as that man fought with an oversized suitcase.

The boy continued staring though, likely at Kurt. But it wasn’t really a fearful gaze, more excited than anything.

“Guten tag,” Kurt said cheerfully regardless, just waving in return.

And at that the boy’s eyes really went wide. “Sprichst du Deutsch?” The boy stammered a little, yet with the biggest grin.

“Ja, ich komme aus Bayern.” Kurt replied.

And that spontaneous connection over a surprise shared language would have been truly adorable too if Peter wasn’t suddenly leaning right over you to interrupt it.

“Yo, Kurt, ask him if I can borrow some of his markers!” Peter pleaded abruptly.

“What?” You and Kurt both said almost simultaneously.

“The markers, he doesn’t need the whole box. I only need like three colors, tops.” Peter answered, motioning back to the boy. And when still neither you or Kurt seemed to understand this sudden sense of urgency, Peter actually put his hands together like making a little prayer. “You told me you didn’t want me to steal, so I’m trying not to. Come on, at least a red one?”

Kurt really was confused then, but he did lean forward, saying something else in German to the boy.

At that request the boy did look down at the coloring book rolled in one of his hands, and the small pack of markers sticking out of his pocket that evidently Peter had somehow put a target lock on.

But he really did like Kurt apparently as after only a couple moments of thought, the little boy opened the marker box to pull three out.

“Sweet!” Peter said as the child handed over red, black, and blue to him. “I’ll give them back in a bit, right?” Peter added though, smirking at him. “Thanks, little dude.”

And it was all just the oddest thing to you as the boy only happily waved bye to Kurt after, the movement of people starting again as he and his mother continued on to go sit a few rows further back.

“I don’t even know what just happened,” you said after they were gone.

“That was world class negotiating, babe. I mean Kurt literally just smooth talked some colors from a kid with a coloring book in his hand on a twelve hour flight.” Peter responded.

“You are actually going to give them back though aren’t you? You told him you would.” Kurt replied with a little concern.

Peter kind of shrugged, “I mean yeah, I guess so.”

“He’ll give them back,” You added for him. “Or I will.”

“Okay, okay, jeez. Yes, it’s not going to take me hours to do anything. Ever. I’ll have this baby gussied up in no time.” Peter responded, patting his cast gently. “You can’t leave a blank canvas to a guy like me. Especially if I have to stare at this thing for weeks.”

And he was right, you weren’t even in the air yet before he just started doodling away.

————————————

Thankfully the plane only stopped one more time, at an air base in France to pickup more U.S. government evacuees, before at last the wings were over water and you were finally pointed home.

By now Peter’s cast looked more like those advertisements or example sheets on the walls of any tattoo parlor. Yet when you made a comment as such, the sly grin you got in return made you instantly wish you’d thought that through a little better.

“Ah, so you’ve been in a tattoo parlor then?” Oh he was so interested in this topic now. You could see that wolfish look coming into his eyes. “You’ve got some ink somewhere?”

“I don’t.” You’d thought of doing it though, quite a bit actually. But it was such a commitment. You’d probably keep that tidbit to yourself for a while though, lest he try to drag you immediately to a tattoo shop on the drive to D.C.

“I’m not totally sure I believe you.” He answered, though leaning in to whisper in your ear after, “Think you’ll let me check some time?”

The fact that he was still so bold with Kurt literally right beside you, made you wonder if you really should be making sure whatever rental car you ended up with later was just some sort of bucket seat tiny two door thing. If it was a boat like sedan with a full bench back seat, you might actually be in trouble tonight.

“We’ll see,” Is all you answered back though. At least for a moment before you realized now was as good a time as any to flip the conversation back on him.

“So when do I get to hear the Pietro story?” You asked, relaxed into your seat as much as the small space would allow. “Kurt and I have nothing else to do. Let’s hear it.”

“The who?” Peter teased back, just working on giving one of the pin up girls he’d drawn a little better shading.

“Or Django. Either Pietro or Django, they both sound pretty interesting I think.” You replied playfully.

Peter glanced at you, but smiled a little. “You’re just going to be disappointed actually. I was just hyping it up, there’s really nothing to it.”

“Then go on, it’ll be a quick story then.” You still wanted to know more about him of course, and every piece was just another part of the whole picture.

“Django was my grandfather. Mom’s dad back in the old country.” Peter replied, still just finding more and more little details to add to his drawings. “I didn’t really know him. Mom never liked to take us back there much to visit. I mean it makes more sense now of course. She didn’t want my Dad to know where she was. But back then I just figured she thought that place was creepy.”

“What place?” Kurt asked innocently enough. You both were actually equally curious to whatever Peter might say about his family. Like he’d said before, Kurt wasn’t used to having friends his own age. And learning more about each other now was all part of growing those bonds.

“Wundagore Mountain,” Peter replied. “And trust me, as much as it sounds like the newest ride at some amusement park, it’s totally not. I remember being like five and going back there thinking Dracula himself was going to yank me out of that freaking soviet tin can Mom was driving us around in. Wanda still swears she heard voices up there. I mean I don’t know, we stayed with Mom’s aunt one time and she tells us this thing so creatively called Man-Beast was going to come down off the mountain for us if we didn’t behave.”

Peter glanced over to the both of you, further clarifying, “Not like Hank or anything though, it was basically just a werewolf I think. But if it’s a werewolf, call it that you know? What the hell is a Man-Beast? They had so many weird things that could take children. I feel like every story was, oh but don’t do that or Porga will get you. Oops, you talked back to your mother? Guess Tagar is coming tonight. Darn, forgot to brush your teeth? Nice knowing you, kid, Bova’s going to take you to live in the woods forever now.”

You were sort of just staring and listening, but out the corner of your eye you saw Kurt only nodding as if in complete understanding. You would hazard a guess that parts of Bavaria evidently had very similar folklore. Between the two of them, they could likely trade stories like this the whole flight.

But Peter just continued, “But yeah, Django was my gramps, just met him a couple times. And Pietro...well that’s just me. Like I said, nothing special. I was Pietro all the way until Mom started us in kindergarten.” He smirked a little. “Guess she figured the dorky little Jewish kid with the curly brown hair needed all the help he could get fitting in with all the John’s, Mark’s, and Scott’s of the world. And yeah, feel free to tell Summers I said that later.”

So she’d Americanized his name. It wasn’t unheard of with first or second generation immigrants, but still there was something a little sad about that. Yet you smiled softly, that image of the kindergarten age Peter frankly adorable in your mind. “You were a baby brunette?”

“Until the old X-gene flared at 12 or whenever that was yeah,” But he paused, a little surprised, just then realizing what look that was on your face. “Oh stop, you’re picturing it now aren’t you? I was a total dork, don’t do that. Seriously, no! I swear I will never let you find those pictures.”

But you just kept grinning. “No need. I can imagine this forever.”

“Hell, where is Jean?” Peter looked around in a little show of dramatics. “Memory wipe needed on aisle 3, Red.”

It was just too funny though, and honestly it made all the sense in the world. The physical resemblance between Peter and Erik would have been a lot more noticeable had they both still shared similar hair color and texture. Yes, you would bet Peter’s hair had even had that bit of auburn in it too back then.

“But I do have a question,” You spoke then, your tone sincere. “What do you actually want to be called?”

“Sexy?” He answered at once.

But you didn’t let him off the hook that easily, still waiting patiently for the real answer as you just watched him.

Finally he relented, but still seeming a bit non committal. “I mean I’ve heard both for so long, I answer to either. Really, I do. But if the Django comes out though, that’s Defcon 1. It means I’ve done something catastrophically wrong and Mom is about to go full on nuclear on my ass.”

You considered this for a moment, before trying it. “Pietro,” you said, looking for any difference in his expression.

He did grin at you, eyebrows going up a little.

“Peter?” You asked then.

And to that he just continued to smile. “Babe, it’s like you’re trying to pick the name of the new dog.” He raised the pitch of his voice a little, imitating a generic wife you guessed. “Honey, which one does he like better? Did his ears go up at that one?”

“Hey, I’m just trying to figure things out,” you defended. “Guess I’ll just go back to imagining all that curly brown hair now.”

“Noooo.” He whined.

———————————

The three of you had joked and talked for quite a while. But somewhere, maybe about two thirds through the flight, things did quiet back down. Eventually you decided to try and sleep some if you could. You weren’t tired yet, but you knew you would be by the time you landed.

With the difference in timezones, even though you’d left early in the morning Greek time, it would likely only be around lunch time in the U.S. after landing. While you already would have been traveling for almost twelve hours.

It was as if you’d get to repeat the day all over again. You had all that time still ahead of you, including having to convince the Professor to let you drive Peter home.

You closed your eyes for a bit, thinking of all the hypotheticals of what you could say. What you would argue if needed, and what Xavier may say in response. But as you tried to let your thoughts drift further, you realized you’d crossed your arms, little chill bumps on them as you opened your eyes to look up at the air vent above you.

Was it stuck open? You fiddled with it a moment, but felt no difference. Shifting to sit back up a little, you looked at the seatback in front of you again as well, in the pouch there with the old magazines.

“They don’t have any blankets,” Peter said quietly, easily interpreting the reasoning for your search.

You’d thought he’d already been asleep just as Kurt was though. You were surprised as Peter reached out, smoothly laying that jacket over your chest and arms. The one he’d taken earlier.

“See.” He added. “Crime does pay sometimes.”

You gave him a skeptical look still, but the jacket really did make the difference as you leaned back again in the seat, snuggling into it. “Thank you, thief.” You answered softly.

“Any time.” He smiled a little, before reaching down to click the button on the armrest between your seats. He moved the armrest up and out of the way, then running a warm hand under the jacket to find one of your own.

You grasped his hand when they met, intertwining your fingers together.

“Have a nice nap, see you in Jersey.” He said, yet closing his own eyes as well.

“See you in Jersey, Pietro.”

You felt him squeeze your hand more at that, and you couldn’t help but smile.

————————————

(Continued in next chapter here)

[robiinjason]

Hiii, do you have any recs for Robin Jason comics? I'd love to read more about him but I have no clue where to start. Love your art btw it's all adorable <3

Sure thing!!! And omg thank you 🥺🥺 your art is super cute too!!

If I were to rec One Thing as a starting point for Robin Jason, Batman #408-#429 covers Jason’s main run as Robin and his death arc and is the main essential reading I’d recommend. It’s fairly short and a good place to start imo! 

Among others, it includes his post-crisis origin and first outing as Robin, his first meeting with Dick, the Garzonas incident, and his death and its immediate aftermath in the Death in the Family arc. 

While Jason’s time as Robin in post crisis is fairly short and not as hard to get through as other characters with longer runs, i know Reading Comics Hard so I’ll make a shorter list first, with more recs under the cut!

Batman #408-#409 (Jason's origin)

Batman #410-#411 (his first outing as Robin)

Batman #413 (smart boy Jason)

Batman #415 (more good Jason moments)

Batman #416 (his and Dick's first meeting, also Dick and Bruce argue)

Batman Annual #12 (has a solo Jason story set at his school)

Detective Comics #569-#570 (Jason gets to kick the Joker's butt)

Detective Comics #571 (the Scarecrow kidnaps Jason)

Detective Comics #573 (this one’s just cute)

Superman Annual #11 (Bruce, Jason and Wonder Woman visit Superman on his birthday and stuff happens)

Blue Devil #19 (Jason is pen pals with Kid Devil)

Batman: the Cult (a 4-issue pretty dark miniseries where Bruce is kidnapped and brainwashed by a cult. Some great Jason moments)

Batman #424-#425 (The Garzonas storyline, or when Jason may or may not have pushed somebody off a building. Trigger warnings for sexual assault and suicide)

Batman #426-#429 (A Death in The Family, or Jason’s death arc)

I’ll be referencing this Jason reading list, since it’s what I followed when I started reading. It can be checked for a more comprehensive list of his appearances too, since I’m not aiming for a full list! (though I might edit it to include more stuff eventually.)

First things first, Jason got rebooted once during his time as Robin; he was originally a circus kid like Dick in pre-crisis (before the reboot), and later in post-crisis got his more well-known origin as the orphan who stole the tires off the batmobile. I’ll be focusing on post-crisis Robin Jason since I’m still reading his pre-crisis run, but the list I linked has more info on that if you’re interested!

Batman and Robin-focused 

Stories centered on the Dynamic Duo!

Batman #408-#429 - Jason’s post-crisis run as Robin, as mentioned above! The last four issues are the Death in the Family arc. The Batman: Second Chances trade collects a good chunk of these (#408-#416), plus Batman Annual #11 and a couple stories from before Jason’s post-crisis origin.

Detective Comics #568-#582 - Jason’s Robin run in Detective Comics! It’s a fun read and Alan Davis’ art style is very cute imo. (Jason isn’t around from #575 to #578 due to getting hurt in #573)

Batman Annual #10-#12 - More Batman and Robin stories. #12 has a Jason solo story set at his school! 

Batman: the Cult - a 4-issue miniseries where Bruce is kidnapped and brainwashed by a cult. A pretty dark story and one of the last ones from before his death. Jason has some great moments in it!

Dc Retroactive: Batman - The 80s - Story from 2011 written by Mike Barr, who wrote Jason’s 80s Robin stories in Detective Comics!

Robin 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spetacular - One of the stories, More Time, is about Jason and Bruce and goes between the past (with Jason as Robin) and the present (with Jason as Red Hood). Short and very sweet!

Crossovers/Teamups

In which Jason meets or teams up with other characters, with or without Batman!

Blue Devil #19 - Jason is pen pals with Eddie Bloomberg/Kid Devil and teams up with him! 

Action Comics #556 + #594 - Jason meets Superman!

Superman Annual #11 - For The Man Who Has Everything, or where Jason goes with Bruce to Superman’s birthday, first meets Wonder Woman, and Stuff Happens. (Jason gets to be the hero!) 

New Teen Titans V2 (1984) #18-#31 - Jason joins the Teen Titans for a while! It’s fun to see him in a team and his characterization here is really good imo. (this is the span of issues he appears in but he isn’t in all of them)

Legends (six-part miniseries) - A DC crossover event! Jason has short but great appearances (the time where he breaks his leg, but wants to get up and help anyway).

Nightwing Year One #101-#106 - A rewrite of Dick's Nightwing origin with occasional Jason appearances until #106, which is a retelling of their first meeting where they work together to rescue Alfred. While I have Issues with the characterization of Jason in this, it has some cute moments and I’d be remiss to not include the story that introduces Dick’s nickname of “Little Wing” for Jason.

After his Death

Stuff dealing with the aftermath of Jason’s death and the impact it left on others. (Some of the stuff here is just listed for a single page or panel rather than a full story about Jason)

Batman #430-#432 + #496 - Bruce in the aftermath of Jason’s death. 

Batman Annual #13 - Jason appears in a flashback.

The New Titans #55 - Dick and the Titans find out about Jason’s death, and Dick confronts Bruce about it.

Batman: Year Three + A Lonely Place of Dying - While these focus on Dick and Tim respectively, they’re set after Jason’s death and show how Bruce is dealing with it. Year Three is in Batman #436-#439 and A Lonely Place of Dying (Tim’s origin story) is in Batman #440/New Titans #60/Batman #441/New Titans #61/Batman #442, also included in reprints of Death in the Family.

Detective Comics #618 - Has a nice little moment of Tim looking up to Jason.

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #100 - The issue is mainly a Dick origin story, but in the end there’s a sweet and sad story about Jason’s beginning and ending as Robin.

Nightwing Secret Files and Origins - On the first story, Taking Wing, Jason appears to Dick as a dream/hallucination while the latter is having a near-death experience and accompanies him through various of Dick’s memories.

Joker: Last Laugh #6 - The one time when, upon believing Tim was killed and being taunted with Jason’s death, Dick kills the Joker. (the full thing is a six-issue miniseries)

Nightwing (1996) #63 - The aftermath of Dick killing the Joker (though he was revived), but I’m mainly including this for the one panel that shows a picture of Dick and Jason on what seems to be a ski trip.

Batman: Gotham Knights #34 - At the end there’s a story called “The Delusions of Alfred Pennyworth” about Jason’s ghost and Alfred.

Batman: Gotham Knights #43-#45 - Has a flashback to a Barbara and Jason teamup and a recap of Jason’s death as a social worker looks into it and investigates Bruce’s family.

Detective Comics #790 - Bruce talks to Cass about Jason on the day of Jason’s birthday.

Robin V4 #85 - The story itself is about the Joker reflecting on the Robins and Jason only appears briefly, but I think it’s worthwile to include as it’s one of the few times where the involvement of Jason’s mother in his death is acknowledged after Death in the Family. (Also there’s a panel where Jason kicks the joker on the crotch)

Green Arrow V3 (2001) #7 - The one panel where Jason is shown swinging around in heaven :)

Alternate Universes/Other Media

Some stuff that doesn’t fit anywhere else/isn’t quite comics/isn’t really canon, but I think is neat and wanted to include!

Letters - letters from readers sent during when Jason was Robin and after his death. They can be interesting to look through to get a sense of how he was seen by readers at the time (there’s even an eulogy by a clergyman!). The ones I’ve seen can be found in this tag, and this post links to a few too (as well as some other info regarding Jason and the vote that led to his death).

The Batman Files - A book that contains several files over various topics and characters across Batman’s history. Among other things, it has Jason’s death certificate. (mainly including this because early on I spent a while trying to find out how old he was when he died)

Tiny Titans #23, #29, #33, #39, #45, #47 - An adorable alternate universe comic in a kid-friendly setting! Jason’s design in it is very cute.

Batman The Brave and the Bold #13 - Jason and Robins from other points in time team up to save Batman!

Teen Titans Go! season 6, episode 17 (Egg Hunt) - He doesn’t actually appear, but Jason is namedropped and said to be Batman’s favorite Robin.

Batman And The New Robin (unmade cartoon) - An unproduced animated TV series from the late 80s that would have starred Bruce as Batman and Jason as Robin! Unfortunately the project was abandoned and the show was never made, but the full series bible is available to read in its entirety and a link to it can be found here! There’s a page on it on the Lost Media Wiki as well.

[pfreadsandwrites]

九つの命/9 Lives Translation

Hi!! So, @foxy-and-tales asked me to tell her what was going on in the comic mentioned in this post. After skimming through it, I thought it'd be good practice - and it'd be easier to answer her question - if I just went through it and told her what it all meant. I realised by that point I was doing a translation, and since I was going to the trouble anyway, I thought I'd post it publicly.

So, the full comic is here. It's basically a comic that has 7 little stories about Kakashi's ninja hounds and their lives with Kakashi. It's an adorable, heartfelt story and I absolutely love the personalities that the artist gave all the ninja hounds and the depictions of their relationships with Kakashi.

My translation will be this post, follow it as a script. I don't have the skill or knowledge to edit and typeset and change the images myself - and I wouldn't do that anyway, as it would involve reposting the art and changing it without the artist's consent. But I do think that not referring to the pictures as you're reading through the script really harms how sweet this story is, so if you can go through the comic slowly whilst referring to my (amateur) translation of it, I hope you can get a glimpse of that!

WARNINGS: There is a depiction of an already dead dog in part 4 😢, and some (human!) male partial nudity in part 6 (😉)

Tagging: @scaredlittlefoxy @lemony-snickers @backalleykat @whatshernameis @gwedosuns @topsyturvy-dream @ice-icebaby @cosmiclattes

This is also the artist’s note that follows after the comic, that I’m putting here:

(Artist’s note translation)

"This is a story about the daily life of Kakashi and the eight ninken.

The ninja dogs’ personalities etc mightn’t be faithful to the source material.

The dogs live free range in Kakashi’s house.

There is an illustration of a dog dying, though it isn’t any of the ninken. Please take note.

You don’t have to read it, but below this are the dogs’ personalities:

Shiba: Friendly and sensitive

Biscuit: Childish and Selfish

Akino: Calm and cool demeanour

Bull: Timid and Quiet

Urushi: Ladykiller. A little bit dim. (Note: Himbo!)

Guruko: Annoyingly helpful and naggy

Uhei: Pure-hearted and cheerful

Pakkun: Same as in the series"

Some notes and then onwards into the translation under the cut:

Please take heed before continuing:

I’m not a professional translator, in fact I’ve done very little of this, so there’s some guesswork and liberties taken, and I don't claim that that there’ll be no mistakes.

I’ve separated it out by sections and pages, so you should be able to follow the story from following the speech bubbles (right to left) and referencing the lines here by speaker

Each space between a line denotes that it’s the next speech bubble

A new line but no change in speaker will denote that it’s the same character talking, but in the next panel or speech bubble

Italics means the character is thinking or flashbacks. I'll try and make this obvious as I go but the artwork should make that clear too.

Brackets are my additions, or me translating things like signs etc, or brackets will have smaller background dialogue not in speech bubbles. I'll try to make this clear as I go.

Stuff surrounded by * denotes actions or onomatopoeic actions/words in panels

Ask me if there’s any parts that confuse you about the story!! The way I’ve done this isn’t easy to follow but it's the best my dumb brain could come up with

TRANSLATION:

Title page

(p.1)

ここのつのいのち

9 Lives

(p.2)

1. ‘I won’t tell anyone’

(SFX: dogs playing and wagging tails)

Kakashi: Hm? You’re not gonna play, Shiba?

Shiba: …No. …Hey, Kakashi’

Kakashi: Hm? What?’

Shiba: There’s a girl I like’

Kakashi: Ohhh… I won’t tell anybody.

I won’t tell ~ I won’t tell ~

(p. 3)

Shiba: She’s really cute…

Kakashi: That’s great ~

Shiba: But I haven’t even spoken to her once

Kakashi: You should go for it ~

(SFX: *happy dog panting*)

Shiba: I’ll come back as soon as I’ve talked to her!’

Kakashi: Yep!

Shiba: I’ll be right back, definitely!

Kakashi: Ok, ok (lit. Yes yes)

(p.4)

Shiba: She’s already got someone (lit. she’s already in a couple/has a mate)

Kakashi: I see…

Shiba: She said her mate hurt his leg and can’t walk so he's staying at home…

(p.5)

Kakashi: Shiba, you know.. have feet that can walk anywhere…

So maybe you’ll meet an amazing girl again, won’t you?

(*dog cries*)

Kakashi: ...I won’t tell anyone. (*Comforting doggy*)

I won’t say anything. I won’t say anything.

(Kakashi: Aw, Shiba is pretty sweet to me, huh?)

2. Biscuit’s Sausage (note: I know his name is technically Bisuke in Japanese, but Biscuit is his dub name and it’s too adorable so that’s what I’m going with here! Also suits the personality he has in this story. What a biscuithead this boy is)

(p.6)

Biscuit: -You’re so sneaky, Kakashi! I wanted to eat sausages!

*crying dog noises*

(Uhei: Sorry, Kakashi…

Guruko: I told you!!)

Kakashi: You know if you eat sausages, Biscuit, your tummy will get sick, right? I’m boiling cod for you right now

(*tantrum noises, pounding feet and barking*)

Biscuit: *angry puppy noises* I hate fish, you idiot! I said I want to eat sausages! Sausages! Sausages!

Kakashi: *sternly* Biscuit

Biscuit: *whimper*

(p.7)

Biscuit: Kakashi, you IDIOT!

(2. Biscuit’s Sausage)

Biscuit: *sniff*

(Sign says Konoha Pet Food)

Biscuit: This is the store that sells the dog food Kakashi buys! Wow, maybe they have sausages here too!

(p.8)

Biscuit: I wonder if I'll be able to eat as much as I want… *gulp*

But if I did that, Kakashi would get in trouble

No, maybe…

*heart pounding*

Kakashi kept it (this) a secret just from me, because I'll get sick...

(Apron says Konoha Pet Food)

Shop Lady: *shuffles*

Biscuit: I didn't do anything yet!!! * heart pounding*

Shop Lady: Oh my… you really just talked!

Shop lady: You’re Kakashi’s pup, aren’t you?

(p.9)

Shop lady: Kakashi got you to come here, huh?

(Shop lady: you’re a good boy!)

Bisuke: Oh, no-

Shop lady: Though, he shouldn't have made you come pick it up without contacting us, huh? Here, sausages!

Biscuit: Sausages?!

Shop lady: There’s a pup among you guys that can’t have normal sausages, right?

It was a request from Kakashi.

He said he wanted me to make some especially for the puppy who can’t handle meat.

(p.10)

Shop lady: Well, here you go!! You’ll tell Kakashi we’re sorry for making him wait, won’t you?

Biscuit: Oh, um… But I don’t have any money…

Shop lady: It’s fine, because it’s Kakashi!

Whenever he has free time, he comes to pay.

I have a deal with him, you see. And he can't get the food if he's not here...

Next time, come together with Kakashi, okay?

(p. 11)

Kakashi: *casually picks up Bisuke* Thank you! This is for you ~

Shop lady: Thank you, come again!

Biscuit: Kakashi…

Kakashi: Hm?

Biscuit: Sorry…

Kakashi: Yeah…

I’m sorry too. I gave everyone else sausages while keeping it a secret from you.

I thought you’d definitely want some if you saw…

(Kakashi: But I got caught.)

(p. 12)

Kakashi: But…. Everyone’ll want some if they see this, too.

How about stopping by the park and eating it there?

We’ll keep it a secret from everyone 😊

Bisuke: *happy face licking and barking* When we get home, I’ll eat the cod too!!

Kakashi: Uhh… Well, Uhei and Guruko already ate it…

Bisuke: WHAT?!!!

(Flashback, Uhei and Guruko saying ‘Cod! Me too!! Me too! I want to eat some too!’)

3. Kakashi’s smile

(p. 13)

*paws thudding on ground/running away*

Kakashi: …Got you.

Akino: Ack!

It’s always only me that you brush so roughly, Kakashi!

Kakashi: It can’t be helped, can it? You have the thickest fur, Akino

*brushing softly* It’ll be over soon, it’ll be over soon…

Other doggies: That seems nice to me, Akino…

Kakashi: Hey, it’s falling out, it’s falling out ~

Akino: !!!

Kakashi: Look, it’s a mini Akino!! So much fur…

Akino: That’s too much hair off the bottom, Kakashi! Wha…

(p. 14)

*Kakashi continuing to laugh at his mini Akino*

Akino: There are times now where Kakashi summons us, even if he doesn’t have any business for us to take care of…

(Back then) he never ever summoned us outside of missions…

(p. 15)

Akino: He was doing all kinds of things, but he was the kind of person who never had a smile on his face…

Kakashi: If I had more time, I could make an even hairier one, you know

(Other dogs: *laughing* Akino: That’s a lie!)

Akino: Kakashi…. You're having fun?

Kakashi: *genuine smile* Yep, I am!

Akino: *smile* If you feel like it, you can keep going…

Kakashi: Oh?

(Later, Akino notices Kakashi has put sunglasses on the mini Akino)

4. Timid Bull (CW Animal Death)

(p. 16)

Bull: I’m the last ninja hound that came to Kakashi’s home.

Before that, I was living in a training centre for ninja hounds.

(4. Timid Bull)

The dogs I lived together with there… were all adopted when they were puppies.

But I still lived at the training centre, even as I became fully grown.

Ninja Hey, that dog looks tough, doesn’t he?

Centre manager: Yes, but… he’s not all that suited for battling…

Despite how he looks, he’s actually a timid dog.

Bull: I… I’m scared of insects. I’m scared of noises.

I’m scared of blood.

Centre manager: Because he can understand the stories of troubled humans, you see…

Bull: I’m scared of anything other than myself.

(p. 17)

Bull: Nobody would want a dog like me, right?

Kakashi: I found a good boy ~

Bull: *panicking* There’s no manager here!

Kakashi: Hello ~

Bull: …Hello… *heart pounding*

Kakashi: Ah, one that talks, huh…

Would you like to become one of my pups?

(p. 18)

Bull: Me…? Me, really? Quit it… That’s enough joking around.

Kakashi: What do you mean?

Bull: No-one wants me (😢)

Kakashi: No-one?

I want you, though.

Bull: What kind of a strange person would want me, I thought

(p. 19)

Bull: There were lots of dogs at Kakashi’s house

(Happy barking doggy noises)

Uhei: Woah, you’re huge! But among these guys, I have the fastest legs, you know!!!

Guruko: And I have the best nose!!

Biscuit: And I’m whiny!! (Note: lit. ‘I’m selfish!’)

Shiba: I have the sharpest bite!

Pakkun: I am the wisest. (Note: Pakkun I think uses Kansai-dialect Japanese lol so he sounds kinda... distinct. This is hard to convey for me lol)

Urushi: I’m popular with the ladies ;)

(Akino: I’m the fluffiest!)

Bull: I was so confused

You… you’re not scared of me?

I’m huge, and I have a scary face… So no one comes near me.

They all said they weren’t scared.

The reason, they said together, was…

(p. 20)

‘Because Kakashi brought you, Bull!’

Everyone was totally relaxed, as if they had no worries at all.

They all clung to me as if it was completely natural to do so.

I realised that there’d always be someone beside me.

(p. 21)

*sounds of paws scuffling against ground in first two panels*

*jumping to the ground noise in third panel*

Kakashi: …Bull, this way is a dead end.

Bull: …Sorry.

I couldn’t go back to where you were, and I thought so, but -

(p.22)

Bull: *looking at dog* He asked me to stay by his side.

…He was an enemy, but he was already dying.

That’s why, Kakashi….

Kakashi: …Yep.

Let’s give him a send-off together.

(Note: this was a tricky one because Kakashi says 送る, which means send, and is used with mail etc, but can mean to say farewells to the deceased, which is why Bull comments on it on the next page)

(p. 23)

Bull: He wanted to say ‘I want to bury him’

But Kakashi said ‘send-off’.

Lightly, as if his life force was still there

There… there are a lot of things that scare me.

When I was waiting for this dog, I was scared.

But I couldn’t refuse his request.

(p. 24)

Bull: …I’m spineless.

Kakashi: Everyone else has lots of things they’re scared of, you know.

That’s why they all stay by your side, Bull.

If you’re there, everything will be alright. That’s how everyone feels.

If you’re close by, everyone’s able to feel safe.

(p. 25)

Kakashi: ….This puppy, too.

Dying dog: …Please…

Bull: That dog…

Dying dog: Stay with me, until the end…

Kakashi: Because you stayed with him, Bull, he felt at peace, didn’t he?

Bull: I don’t think that dog was happy…

…Kakashi.

He was very thin, and he also smelt like he was sick

To protect themselves, his owner didn’t treasure this [this dog’s] life.

Kakashi, I…

Somehow, I..

I’m very…

(p. 26)

Bull: I wanted to cry out as loud as I could..

Kakashi: Yeah… (I’m not sure who’s saying this line)

Bull: For feeling guilty towards that dog, and for knowing Kakashi…

For my life being here now.

For my life, I wanted to cry it out until the blood came out of my throat.

(p. 27)

Bull: That dog…

I wonder, was that dog ever able to feel like this, even once?

(Flashback) Doggies: Because Kakashi brought you, Bull!

Uhei: Hey!!! Bull!!

Shiba: You’re late!!

I was worried, you know!

Guruko: (to others) Hey, Bull came back!!

Bull: I’m Bull. The dog that Kakashi found.

5. Urushi’s scales

(p.28)

Urushi: I think I’m good looking

(5. Urushi’s scales)

Girl pups: Ahh~ Urushi…~

Urushi: I’m popular with the ladies

(note: he uses メス, which means bitch in the literal sense - a female dog - and all the puppers use it to refer to human women too. So I just left it as ladies, as I don't think the pups mean it to be crass, they just use dog language and apply it to humans as well as themselves)

Sometimes I’m told ‘it’s probably because you’re one of Kakashi’s ninken’, but…

(Background lettering over the other dogs says ‘Unstylish/Uncool/Lame’)

But my other friends aren’t all that popular, really.

Still, I think it’s because I really am good-looking after all.

(Choruses of ‘Urushi~’, ‘Ahh…; and ‘Let’s play together, Urushi)

Urushi: Hehehe…

Being good-looking is a great thing.

Guruko: Hey, Kakashi!

(p. 29)

Guruko: You got hit by a girl again, didn’t you?!

Kakashi: *laughing* No…

Akino: Why were you hit by a girl? Do girls not like you?

Uhei: It looks like it hurts…

Kakashi: Nooo ~

Shiba: You’re so strong, Kakashi, why were you hit?

Biscuit: You couldn’t avoid it?

Guruko: *Steam from nostrils* I’ll fight her for you!

Kakashi: It’s fine, it’s fine ~

What are you saying?

(p. 30.)

Urushi: Kakashi said ‘I took responsibility’.

Sometimes humans say things I don’t understand…

Girl dog: Urushi… pair up with me.

Urushi: If Kakashi’s saying it, it must be important…

Be… Because I’m one of Kakashi’s ninken?

Girl dog: It has nothing to do with that. I like you, Urushi

Urushi: Wow… *heart pounding*

Girl dog: Pair up with me, and…

I want you to leave the ninken. (Lit. Stop being a ninken)

(p. 31)

Girl dog: I love you, Urushi, but what if, on a mission, you…

I can’t stand the thought of that!

Leave the ninken, and… always stay in the village with me?

Urushi: This girl’s a beauty, and has a kind personality…

I think that I might want to be with her…

Should I leave the ninken?

(p. 32)

Urushi: *perplexed*

Kakashi, Bull and Biscuit: *zzz, sleeping sounds*

Urushi: If I said I wanted to leave the ninken…

Kakashi: (in Urushi’s imagination) If that’s what you want, Urushi

It’s fine with me! (Background: It would be a shame, though…)

Urushi: I feel like Kakashi would say something like that…

Do I want to do that…? Not really, but… *sigh*

Hey, Pakkun.

(p. 33)

Pakkun: Something bothering you?

Urushi: Yeah, there is

I have to decide between two things, but it’s difficult…

I want both of them, but I can’t have them.

Pakkun: … Is it a girl problem?

Urushi: Yep ~

Pakkun: That’s just like you, Urushi. (Pakkun’s imagination shows two girl pups arguing:

Urushi!! Which one will you choose, me or her?! *indignant barking*)

When making a decision about something, one needs to think about what’s most.

...important to oneself.

Let’s say you balance both sides on your scales…

Urushi: My scales?

Pakkun: For example….

(p. 34)

It’s not the physical weight, but the weight of what you think is precious and important. It’s the weight of those feelings.

If you think about which is heavier, you’ll find the answer.

Kakashi: You guys are having a kinda complicated conversation, huh…?

Pakkun: Oh, Kakashi, you woke up, did you?

Urushi: *heart pounding*

Kakashi: My scales lean towards sleep, you know..

Let’s eat soon, okay? Please…

Urushi: Kakashi…. Are you happy that I’m here?

(p. 35)

Kakashi: Hm? Yeah, I’m happy!

Urushi, of course I’m happy ~

(Note: the word Kakashi uses is 嬉しい, which is ‘ureshii’ so Kakashi is making a pun with Urushi’s name here.)

Urushi: *blush* Okay!

Pakkun: What we were just talking about… Don’t talk about it in front of Shiba.

Urushi: Huh? Why?

Pakkun: Seems like he recently had his heart broken…

(p. 36)

Urushi: The thing that’s most important and precious to me… isn’t you.

That’s why I can’t be with you.

I can’t be with you, but… you’re a beautiful and amazing lady.

So, let’s meet again one day ~

Biscuit: Kakashi! Kakashiiiii! It’s awful!!

(p. 37)

(*throbbing pain*)

Biscuit: Urushi’s hurt!!

(*dogs barking*)

Guruko: Let’s go fight them!! *steam from nostrils*

Shiba: No way, is it a girl? Kakashi, you better tell him off!!!

Kakashi: Did you get into a fight with a dog from the village?

Urushi: No, it’s not that…

I took responsibility.

I’ve got a manly mark on my face, heh~

Shiba: You better tell him off!! *bark*

Pakkun: That’s it…

6. Kakashi’s Helper Team!

(p. 38)

Kakashi: I’m home~!!!

Guruko: ?!!! Kakashi, you stink!!

Kakashi: *sweetly smiling* Oh, stop it…

I saw Asuma after a long time, and we talked and ended up getting some drinks… It was nice to see him… *flops down on floor*

Guruko: Take a bath!!!

Don’t go to sleep!!

(*soundly sleeping*)

(p. 39.)

Guruko: Uhei! Uheiii!

Uhei: What is it?

Guruko: Let’s clean up Kakashi!

(6. Kakashi’s Helper Team!)

Uhei: Ehh… But if he wakes up, he’ll take a bath himself, won’t he?

(SFX: Heave-ho! Heave-ho!)

Guruko: We can’t leave Kakashi as he is when he’s this stinky! It’s fine, take it off!

Uhei: Uh, this is stuck half way, I can’t take it off

Guruko: Because you haven’t taken off his leg bandages!

(p. 40)

Guruko: Damn, this is stuck half way *pulling*

Uhei: Isn’t that because you haven’t taken off his headband?!

Guruko: This is enough, let’s carry him to the bath like this!

(*dragging noises*)

Uhei: Won’t his clothes get wet?

Guruko: It’s fine, because we’re going to wash them anyway!

Uhei: It’s amazing… Kakashi still hasn’t woken up!

Guruko: Okay, let’s wash him!

Uhei: Isn’t that… the shampoo that we use?

Guruko: It’s totally safe!!

If it’s fine for us to use, it’ll be fine for Kakashi too, right?

Uhei: I guess…

(p. 41)

Uhei: We can wash his body, but what about his clothes?

(SFX: *scrub scrub*)

Guruko: If we wash them together, it’ll be fine! Hey, pour some hot water over here ~

Uhei: Okay!

(SFX: *splash*)

Kakashi: *suddenly yelling* I’m gonna die!!

Guruko: *screaming*

Kakashi: Even with my face covered, if you pour hot water on me, I can’t breathe, you know!! You really can’t do that.

Guruko: You woke up…

(SFX: *heart pounding*)

Uhei: You really scared me…

(p. 42)

Kakashi: You’d started something, and I wondered how far you’d carry on… Ah, I’m drenched.

Guruko: Ah, I’m sorry, Kakashi!!

Kakashi: Well, anyway.. you guys ended up cleaning yourselves pretty good too. You’re all drenched, too.

Guruko: Then I’ll go get some towels!!

Uhei: Kakashi, Kakashi

Guruko acts the way he does, but he really loves looking after you!

Kakashi: I know.

Biscuit: I want to have a bath with Kakashi too ~

Guruko: That’s not it! It’s just all slippery (note: not accurate, but the gist is that Biscuit misunderstands and Guruko puts him straight)

7. I’ll always love you

(p. 43)

(Flashback)

Sakumo: Pakkun…

Pakkun…

I have a favour to ask.

(Present)

Pakkun…

(SFX: Snoring)

Kakashi: Pakkun..

(SFX: Gasp)

Pakkun: Huh?

Kakashi: It’s time to eat.

(p. 44)

Pakkun: Alright.

(Other dogs: Food~ Food ~

Kakashi: Yes ~ Yes ~)

(Flashback)

Sakumo: Pakkun…

Pakkun….

Pakkun..

(p. 45)

Pakkun: Kakashi?

Kakashi: Hm?

Pakkun: For the mission report before… You didn't need me, did you?

Why did you bring me?

Other dogs: We want to come too!!

Kakashi: It’s just Pakkun for today

Kakashi: Hmm…

Hey, let’s relax here for a little while.

Pakkun: What’s this…

Kakashi: Come on…

Well…

(p. 46)

Kakashi: I want to talk about Dad.

…No. Maybe it’s a confession?

Talking about Dad…. Felt like something we couldn’t even broach. Ever.

I think you felt this way too, right, Pakkun?

I couldn’t tell you earlier that ‘it’s all right now’. Even though it was.

It was just a matter of timing, I guess…

Pakkun: But I wasn’t waiting for you to say that… Even if you’d have said it earlier, that’d have been good, but..

Why, out of the blue like this?

A change like that… Just like…

Just like…

(p. 47)

(Flashback)

Sakumo: I have a favour.

(Present)

Kakashi: The day Dad died…

Ever since then, for a long time, now… I became strange.

I’ve been nothing but trouble for you.

Pakkun: Kakashi-

Kakashi: Even though… you were hurting over Dad not being here too.

(p. 48)

Kakashi: Dad was your first master, right?

You really were precious to him.

….The other day, when you were having a nap, I woke you up, didn’t I?

It might have been because of the food, but your nose was twitching.

At first, I thought you were growling.

When I woke you up, you had a really startled expression when you looked at me.

I understood right away.

You were thinking about Dad, right?

(p. 49)

Kakashi: You were having a dream about Dad that time, right?

Thank you for always being considerate towards me…

But it’s alright now.

From now on, I want you to tell me…

The things about Dad that only you know.

(p. 50)

Pakkun: Sakumo…

(Sakumo: Pakkun…)

Pakkun: …really was a loving, kind man.

Kind, and…

(Sakumo: Pakkun…)

Pakkun: Kind, and…

…Kakashi.

I’ll tell you about Sakumo.

The things I’ve always wanted to tell you

I’ll tell you now.

Kakashi: Okay.

(p. 51)

Kakashi: Thank you for telling me about Dad, Pakkun.

Pakkun: …Don’t you dare die.

(Pakkun…)

I’ve had enough now.

Yeah. Enough.

(p. 52)

(Sakumo: I’m asking.…)

Pakkun: Sakumo…

The two of you are exactly alike.

Kakashi: Oh, really?

Pakkun: Everything’s alright now.

(p. 53)

“Kakashi!”

(p. 54)

(No text)

(p. 55)

Kakashi!

(p. 56)

Kakashi

(Note: I think the favour Sakumo asked of Pakkun was to take care of and be mindful of Kakashi always. This isn't outright stated)

[outoftheirdifferences]

🙏 ✨🔥 (Webby, Vanellope, Angry)

Muse talking about the mun

🙏 Do you think the mun would be able to survive in your world?

"I mean, our worlds aren't that much different, right? He'd stand out a bit, being one of those 'human' creatures that we don't have any of in Duckburg - but no more than, say, a moonlander like Penumbra. He'd get along alright.

"Unless you mean on our adventures and everything, too. In which case... yeah, he'd be Louie levels of screwed. He's not exactly the bold and athletic type."

"Whether yer asking about Sugar Rush or Slaughter Race gets very different answers there. Sugar Rush it's practically impossible not to survive unless you're a numbskull an' wander onto the kart track by mistake, an' he's not that dumb.

"Slaughter Race? No chance. He's way too cautious a driver; he'd be scrap in ten seconds flat. Even if he was playin' it as a gamer, not living in the world, he doesn't exactly have the greatest preservation instincts for his character... believe me, I've watched him on racing games before. Kinda a painful experience to be honest."

"Psh. He wouldn't last two days without his internet."

✨ Does the mun read fanfictions and if yes, what is your opinion on them?

"Oh, you know, not usually. Sometimes he'll dabble in reading fan-comics and stuff, which are a kinda fanfiction, but even that's not a frequent thing. I don't actually know most of the fandoms I’ve seen him read stuff for. You could ask Connie though, he's followed at least one AU comic from her fandom for a while."

"I mean, you gotta argue that literally all the Star Wars novels he's ever read ever are basically just glorified fanfiction. Heck, that whole Expanded Universe was basically glorified fanfiction that had the 'official' label slapped on it... an' ran from actually really good, like that Yoda one, to completely unreadable.

"But yeah, online though? He's pretty picky when it comes to the posted fanfic he reads, an' he never goes seeking it out. So it only ever happens if he crosses the path of something he likes by chance an' gets hooked, which is pretty rare."

"...are you guys forgetting that he did that thing just yesterday? He's not even got far into it yet, but he found it through another site and is already getting invested."

"Oh, the one about the Disneyland 50th Anniversary celebration being crashed by Maleficent, that he found through TVTr.opes? Yeah, that one looks pretty neat! Just think of all the Disney history referenced in it!"

“Eh. It’s from before any of us even existed, so it can’t be that great...”

🔥 How would you spend one day with the mun if you could?

“EXPLORING!

“Oh sure, I know he says he’s bored of the local area because he’s already ‘seen everything’, but come on! There’s got to be more to see - there’s always more to see! We could go on a wild ramble around the countryside, find some lost hidden secrets together... then come back for a sleepover later. You can never go wrong with a sleepover!”

“Oh, you know. Just me kicking his butt at every racing game ever. He’s just in it to have fun, so he’d have a good time anyway - but I’m in it to win it, so I’d also have a great time.

“Hey, he might even give me a challenge some of the time! He’s pretty good at the ones he knows well, at least. An’ we’d eat a butt-ton of candy. So, yeah, fun times all around!”

“Tch, I dunno. He’s not terrible, but it’s weird; he’s into all this kid stuff that Red and I left behind years ago. I don’t even know what we’d find in common that we’d both want to do.“

[galacticlamps]

Tagged by @the--highlanders​ ! Thanks!

How many works do you have on AO3?

13

What’s your total AO3 word count?

76,200

(oh what a nice even number - I should try to mess that up as soon as possible, shouldn’t I?)

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Aw man is this intentionally worded to be really hard to answer? I get that it says ‘written’ and not ‘posted’ but then what constitutes a ‘fandom?’ I definitely wrote fics for stuff I was interested in long before I even knew the word ‘fic’ - I did it throughout my childhood, and then in high school, and while I didn’t do it as much in college, it still happened from time to time. So a lot of the books/movies/tv shows/plays/musicals I wrote things for aren’t really fandoms, and frankly, I had to check my old folder just now to even remember some of them existed. I’ll just list the ones that I know for sure had fandoms, since that’s more fun (and embarrassing), right?

Obviously Doctor Who, classic and modern, Torchwood, Sherlock Holmes (ironically more of these seem to be about the books, but yes, I will admit, some for that tv show too), Les Mis, a couple different Marvel comics & movies, Good Omens, hell, I even found a Night Vale fic in there just now.

And I know there are other older things not even in that folder, some of which never made it to a computer at all, so if I had to ballpark a number I’d probably say around 25ish but really, who knows?

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Across the Gap

On the Spot

Expectations

Shards of Memories & Fragments of Glass

Itemized

(this was fun, I’d never noticed Ao3 even had a stats page until now lol)

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try to! Sometimes I take a long time to do so but for the most part, I usually get around to it. The rare exception would be if I first saw the comment when I was super busy/distracted and then felt like way too much time passed before I noticed it again, that it might be awkward if I said something at that point.

I do genuinely enjoy hearing what people think, but I’m also weirdly terrified of making anyone feel like they have to reply to my comments. I know that’s probably a little strange, but it’s actually a large part of why I made this Ao3 account in the first place - my original one, from high school, is followed by some long-time friends of mine who aren’t interested in this fandom, some of whom are involved in art & writing professionally. The thought of anyone like that reading something I wrote out of friendliness or even just curiosity and potentially having to pretend they liked it for the same reasons stressed me tf out, so I like having this virtually anonymous one because I can relax knowing that anyone who reads or interacts with something I wrote has probably done so only because they wanted to, rather than feeling obligated, and there’s no pressure on them to be nice to me about it if anything I write or post annoys them - so I really hope nobody who does just know me as an anonymous blog has ever worried about offending me by not replying to something, trust me, I’m perfectly happy with it!

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I don’t think I’ve really written any angsty endings? I guess the answer would have to be Reckless just because it involves the characters arguing about sad/weighty things and there isn’t really any solution to those issues - but even then I think I ended it with a kind of acceptance that stops it from really qualifying as angst? I also set it in the the same universe as other fics, so maybe that doesn’t even count as an ending? Am I that bad at ending things on angst? Lol

Do you write crossovers? If so what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Obviously none of the fics I’ve posted are crossovers but I’m trying to think now if any of my WIP’s are - I’ve definitely poached setting/premise ideas from other media, but in terms of actual crossovers . . . I’ve got a few cross-era or cross-Doctor, a few involving Torchwood, but that’s already the same universe, so the only thing that’d qualify as a true crossover would be some vague pieces of a fic where Jamie, Zoe, and Two end up on the Enterprise, since I think the 60s series of Star Trek and Dr Who feel kind of compatible, don’t they? In fact, aren’t there like officially licensed crossover comics or something? Or did I make that up? Idk, and the ideas are very loose, so it’s not much of a WIP either

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Nope, never

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I’ve never written smut, but I’m wondering if it’s possible that could change soon. There’s a longish multi-chapter fic I’ve been working on for a frankly embarrassing amount of time, and the plot does call for a sex scene at one point towards the end, but I can’t seem to make up my mind on how - uh, I guess the word is explicit? - it should get. I know I could easily do a fade to black/implication thing, but it’s kind of a source of contention and anxiety for the characters, so to skip over writing the actual scene and just revisit them afterwards rings of “and they slept together and now everything’s fine!” which feels kinda cheap to me - in this context, anyway - and not the right payoff for a long fic that’s otherwise more of an interpersonal drama/slightly a period piece, if I had to place it in a genre. I feel like my aversion to actually writing the scene might just be prudishness I should get over, or maybe just self-doubt, because I know I’d rather have a well-written, funny, character-development-supporting sex scene than nothing at all, but since I’ve never had any interest in writing a scene like that before, I don’t know if I can do it well, and I also don’t want to ruin a fic I’m otherwise proud of by doing it badly... ugh I have to figure this out

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I seriously doubt it

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope

What’s your all time favorite ship?

I mean, it’s gotta be Two & Jamie. I’ve shipped things before with varying levels of investment, but I’ve never been able to use the term ‘otp’ in a literal sense until I came across them, and now it’s already basically gone out of fashion, go figure!

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I’m not sure if I have one? My WIP doc is huge, but I don’t actually intend to get around to finishing everything in it, so I’d like to think that anything I’ve currently singled out to complete can actually get done.

That said, I do have a few AU’s that I don’t really plan to finish, but it might be cool if I could. Two of them are for all the main + some supporting characters of the Second Doctor’s era - one’s a modern day school teachers AU, and the other is a typical fantasy/fairy tale AU. Another is just Two/Jamie, based on Doctor Faustus (specifically the Marlowe play version) but right now there are two different versions of the ending coexisting in my head. I’ve written parts of scenes & some gen. backstory for all of those ideas, but I don’t know if I’ll ever try to finish them, or what form a finished product would even take - a series of one-shots set in the same universe? one long multi-chapter fic with some kind of overarching plot? And the amount of context/worldbuilding a big AU like these would require might not make them very appealing fics for people to read, so maybe it is better if I just keep them to myself, since in my head I already know what’s going on in those worlds lol.

What are your writing strengths?

I honestly don’t know. I haven’t had a creative writing class since middle school, and since then I’ve only ever shown creative writing to others in a fandom context, so it’s been a while since I’ve discussed it or gotten critical feedback. I suppose when I work in other arts or even academic writing contexts, people usually say I’m kind of insightful or at least detail oriented, which might just be another way of saying I overthink things, but I like to imagine I’m decent at finding little points of interest to expand upon.

What are your writing weaknesses?

If you’ve read this far I feel like you must know what I’m about to say: I do not know how to be concise.

Usually when I’m writing a fic, I put down the dialogue first on its own, leaving out the action of the scene and whatever plot/context led there, even if I’ve already figured all of that out. But then when I go to add those things in, they’re always longer than I wanted them to be. I don’t mind writing something long, but I don’t want my fics to be a slog to get through either, and there can be a point at which the stuff I’ve added for context overwhelms the stuff that I wanted the fic to be about in the first place, so it becomes a structural/proportion issue too. I haven’t completely given up on any fics because of this yet, but there’s one I’ve been struggling with for a couple months now - probably because I’m even second-guessing myself on which scenes need to be written out and which can just be referenced like a recap. Hopefully I figure that one out soon.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

((this is karma isn’t it? i posted a fic last week with two words of gaelic in it and was worried about that and now this is karma))

In general, I don’t want to do it. I feel like you’ve gotta have a really good grasp of a language to write dialogue & speech patterns for someone who’s a native speaker, and since I’m far from fluent in any language the characters I write for are, I wouldn’t feel confident writing any significant amount of dialogue in, say, Gaelic.

As a sidenote, though, I kinda love it when other people do it, particularly for Jamie. Irish (Gaeilge) and Scottish (Gàidhlig) are both languages I’ve wanted to learn for a long time, because my family’s fresh out of living speakers of either & I think that’s a shame, but I started with Irish and at the moment I’m still very much learning it. As different as they are, it still helps me understand parts of lyrics or texts that I come across in Gàidhlig fairly frequently, so when it comes up in a fic I get to feel like I’m being responsible and practicing, and it’s great when I can actually understand what’s being said.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I’m gonna go with Harry Potter even though that’s probably not a perfectly accurate answer - it’s almost certainly the first thing that has a fandom that I ever wrote for, but it was in a notebook when I was a kid and never something that I even typed on a computer, much less posted online or shared with other members of a fandom. But even then, I’m sure it wasn’t the first pre-existing fictional universe I ever set an original story in, because I did that a lot when I was a kid, it’s just hard to remember those clearly or on any kind of timeline.

What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written?

I’m very partial to Across the Gap, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that ranked first on the kudos thing above - but I’ve also got a soft spot for So Merrily We’ll Sing. It’s so self-indulgent it feels silly saying ‘it was so easy to write!’ but I guess having a fic that’s already just 100% headcaonons and fluff tied together by a song you really love does prevent it from being much of a labor (I also managed to refrain from making that one unnecessarily long, so that’s another win there)

tagging @terryfphanatics and anyone else who wants to do it - sorry I’m bad at remembering whose tumblr goes with whose Ao3 account, but I really would be interested to read this if anyone else feels like answering them!

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

Okay I was gonna do another SG:WoT post anyway because we’ve got a new King interview but THEN, he released the cover to issue four so you KNOW I gotta geek out about this.

(Sorry that this blog is all SG:WoT, all the time now, but I am just. Insanely excited that Evely is drawing Supergirl. Feel free to block/mute these posts as needed. XD)

Okay, so!

First! The interview!

It’s on (ugh) screenrant so I’m not gonna link, I’m just gonna nab the interesting bits:

On the different direction of the book, and if he wanted to go back to the original Adventure Comics vibes: “So, the idea of this thing was to strip her story down, because Supergirl has a majorly weird history in terms of continuity. At least 13 writers have rewritten her origin over the years. Her dad has 13 origin stories; sometimes he's evil, sometimes he's a robot, sometimes alive, sometimes he's dead. She's changed dramatically in the last 10 years, between coming back to life to the New 52 to Rebirth. She's gone through so much that it's hard to get a hold of her. Not to mention in the '90s, when I was coming up, she was like an ectoplasmic space angel. There's so much there, and I just wanted to take all that stuff off and get to the core of the character; get her out of her normal environments and her normal conflicts. It seems like all our stories are about her dad or her relationship to Superman. Instead, let's see the purity of that character.”

On starting the book the way he did: “...I wanted to start out with a very human moment of a person turning 21 and getting drunk. And a person who is getting drunk because they want to be alone, and they just want to forget about the shit that's happened in their past. That's such a human moment. And the fact that she's Supergirl, so she waits till it's legal - because these super people, they follow the rules. She waited, and now it's legal and she can have this moment. She goes off by herself, with her dog that always follows her, and she has a moment where she can be free. For a lot of people in the US, whether you've been drinking since you were 14 or started that day, your 21st birthday and the day after are days you remember for the rest of your life. It's a day of freedom and consequence, and I wanted to show Supergirl going through that.”

On rising to the challenge of helping Supergirl perform better, sales/popularity-wise: “ When I first got on this book, I called Steve Orlando, who had just written a Supergirl run. And he was the one who opened my eyes to how good the character is. He had such insight into her. He was like, ‘There is a difference between Clark and her, and what she's gone through.’ He just laid it for me.”

On starting the book off with Ruthye’s journey, and gradually building to Kara’s: “ I was like, "Okay, this is going to be from the point of view of someone under Supergirl." And so I switched the point of view to this new brand new character, whose name is Ruthye. And we went from there: we start with Ruthye's story, we see her discover Supergirl, and she's our audience. She's our way in, the way Robin has always been the way into Batman.”

On whether or not other characters will show up, outside of Supergirl and Ruthye: “It's like my Superman: Up in the Sky, where it's a distillation of the character. You'll see other characters, but the focus of every issue will be on Supergirl. And it's something where at the very end, you can be like, "Why is Supergirl great? Why is she important to the DC Universe? What is her future in the DC Universe? Here, read this one trade that can answer all three of those questions at once."So, there will be other characters in the Super universe. But the focus will always be on her; on Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. It's her finding out about herself and her own strength.”

On Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow vs. his other titles: “Supergirl is my first 2021 book, or my first book of the 20s. That wrapped up my books of the teens, and now we're in a new generation. God willing, from the moment I started this book, I was like, ‘I'm gonna take a risk, and I'm gonna write books that are a little brighter.’ I know that's coming from me, and it's not to say we're going to avoid conflict or we're not going to explore the depths of the human soul. All that stuff will be in there. But these books are made from a place of joy, not from a place of anger; from a place of hope, not from a place of despair. It very much contrasts to those other books, in my mind.”

On how he thinks folks will react to the Krypto cliffhanger: “I mean, they're gonna think it's a good cliffhanger. That's how I think they're going to react. They're going to say, ‘I want the next issue.’ That's literally my job as written in my contract. Something where at the end of an issue, someone says, ‘I want more.’ So, that's how I hope they react.”

As mentioned, this is not the full interview; the whole thing can be found on screenrant, and I think Tom King shared a link on his twitter. 

And now, as always, SOME THOUGHTS:

I love that he brings up the fact that so many Supergirl stories focus on Zor-El and Clark, and how he was like, ‘let’s not do that.’

That’s my big gripe with modern Supergirl comics; they are trying so hard to make a statement on why we need both a Supergirl AND a Superman, that they end up spending ALL THEIR TIME talking about Clark, instead of, you know. Telling a fun Supergirl story.

Same thing with Zor-El! I know folks love Rebirth--I like it quite a bit myself--but I think the nostalgia goggles prevent folks from remembering that the whole first arc of that book was re-doing the ‘Cyborg Superman’ garbage from the Nu52. 

Speaking of Rebirth, really like that of all the recent SG writers he coulda talked to, he talked to Steve Orlando.

Like, if ya can’t get Gates on the phone, get Orlando.

(I get the sense that Gates doesn’t like this book, actually, based on a vague tweet. But don’t quote me on that.) 

Looks like Ruthye is gonna be our POV/audience insert character for the whole run. I’m...mmmm. I don’t love it, but I understand the logic here. Especially since he compared it to Batman and Robin--how you use Robin as your entry point for a bat book. 

And you know what? Kara’s supporting cast needs some help, so. Welcome to the Superfam, Ruthye.

I also love the explanation behind the drinking thing, as well as the fact that Kara waited until it was 100% legal for her to drink because OF COURSE SHE WOULD.

I am so worried that Krypto is gonna die b/c of what we saw in Future State. I’m over here with my Pepe Silva board like, ‘Well, what if Kara agrees to help Ruthye because Krem MURDERED HER DOG?!?! WHAT IF THIS IS JOHN WICK IN SPACE?!?!?!’

So I am DISMAYED that King does not reassure us AT ALL.

Thus I am forced to cling to this tidbit here: “ But these books are made from a place of joy, not from a place of anger; from a place of hope, not from a place of despair. It very much contrasts to those other books, in my mind.”

Killing the dog would not be joyful. XD So, like. I’m REALLY HOPIN’ HE’LL BE OKAY.

AND LASTLY, (Except not really)

I have some additional, miscellaneous thoughts unrelated to the interview b/c I’m me and I’m loving having a Supergirl comic back on the shelves, however polarizing it may be.

Something I realized, when details started to come out regarding the book, and that other folks have now noted as well: Kara was 16 when Rebirth launched in 2016; she’s just turned 21 in 2021, making her one of the extremely few comic characters to age in real time.

I don’t think that was planned, but it is cool.

It occurred to me on a re-read that Ruthye never calls Kara Kara in her narration, only Supergirl. And I was a little sad! But then I remembered that Kara wouldn’t necessarily reveal her identity to people she’s helping, she would just be ‘Supergirl’ to them. 

I really do love how, so far, there has been NARY A MENTION of Kara angst-ing over being in Clark’s shadow, or being Superman’s cousin.

It appears that her drinking alone on a remote planet is more related to trying to forget her trauma/grief related to Krypton. MAYBE. We don’t know yet.

The Clark thing could still come up. I hope it doesn’t. 

(Interesting to note! Kara recently appeared in Action Comics, helping Clark and Jon investigate some Kryptonian refugees; IDK how closely these books will necessarily ‘work together’ in terms of continuity, but! It’s possible that the discovery of those mysterious refugees was triggering, thus sending her on her way to her own solo title.)

(Well. That’s gonna be my headcanon, anyway. XD)

AND LASTLY, (for real this time)

ISSUE FOUR COVER!!!!

Okay, some immediate thoughts:

GOOD LORD IT’S STUNNING.

I loooooove the fire motif, reminds me of a part from the Rebirth run, where Kara met the Super-Man of China, and they visually referenced All-Star Superman, having the Kryptonians kind of...become the sun.

Also STAR CHART?!?! PIRATE MAP!?!?!?! 

The VIBES I tell you, the VIIIIIIIBES.

Also I love that it’s just Kara.

Don’t get me wrong! I like Ruthye just fine so far! But yeah, yeah, give me some more solo-Kara focus, even if it’s just in the art.

Just realized that once this thing gets collected as a TBP, we might get some Evely art backmatter. OhHhhHHhhH YESSSS. 

Anyways, the long wait for issue 2 begins! 

[hipparelinda]

I am shooketh that someone made a silhouette mirage iceberg... you are amazing op... and now, I’m gonna talk about it, share my thoughts! Go read op’s comments on it first. I’ll only comment on the points I have thoughts on/know about

Here’s the original post, please check it out!

It’ll be long so I’ll leave a break

Tip: Religious references: Only in the japanese version, mostly names of things that link to christianity and judaism. Shyna Nera Shyna is called Sinner Neutlarva Sinner (sins being a big thing in religion, duh), Bug is Moses, Polly Peepers are called Cupids and Specters are called Devils. A lot of the guardian angels are named after stages of angel hierarchy in judaism. I made a list of all the names in english then japanese

Playable Zohar: They’re playable only in the english version in the credits and the ‘Super Core Fighter 2′ mode (never heard of that one...) perhaps as a bonus for the english version

Censorship: In jp version bunny salesman has a cigarette which was changed to thumbs up and when he wants you to hurry up shows a flaming cross in the background which was changed to a dragon in the localised version

Regional differences: Kinda referenced already with hell bunny and name changes. Also, the reaper and geluve aren’t in the japanese version (which with the latter I was surprised about when I found out)

Delia’s wife is Serah: Before the fight with Deliah, Hal states something like ‘think about Serah’ before he buggers off. I dunno if it’s really implied that they’re married and there’s no other reference of it, even from Delia. Though I believe there is a track in-game called ‘your wife is an angel’ so that could relate to it

Ikaruga: Think I heard about this game while watching a review on sm. Apparently it has the same silhouette and mirage thing with two aspects and facing two different ways when fighting etc etc

The genus of Zohar (their gender): Pfffftt they’re just both, duh, dunno why people get wound up over this... anyways, I just headcanon them as two separate characters..

Shyna and Clod are brothers(means, Clod is Shyna’s brother): I..... always thought Clod was female... -_- after reading up jp stuff about it I think they were male in the og version but changed to female in translation because of the translators not getting their gender. I always thought their voice sounded female in the english version. Nevermind... in the jp version Clod (dumb name) says ‘Goodbye, sister’ before the fight.

Which ending is canon?: Whichever you want... there isn’t a sequel... My chosen one is the restore edo one. I believe everyone is reborn too

Shallows Discarded bosses: Judas, Nebuchadnexxar and Hashmalim04 (+ Geluve in the jp version). Judas was apparently meant to be an ally of Megido. I believe she may have betrayed him though since Judas bible betrayed Jesus bible in the bible tm. Nebu man looks like the stereotypical anime pervert.... I think he’d play a roll in Delia’s tv pad since he looks like a director. Not sad to see you go, sir. Hashmalim04 is, duh, the fourth guardian angel. Looks real cool, probably controlled both silhouette and mirage.

Zohar crying: I’m not aware of this, god, I felt so much for Zohar.... ;-; apparently its during the cypher zohar fight. Went to find it again and it’s kinda barely noticeable.. I must’ve thought it was just flashy particle effects. Though it’s quite sad now looking back on it.

The reaper: English only boss, appears if you haven’t lost all your health at all. Apparently they’re challenging you since you so op. I find them kinda boring... love their horse chariot though..

Merchandise: WHERE CAN I GET IT?! Nowhere probably because they most certainly made barely any

Doujinshi: Damnit these look so cute..! Doujinshi is japanese for fan manga. Not official works

Hal is not that smart: Well it’s more Shyna’s just powerful... I believe that if the angels couldn’t stop her that nothing would’ve stopped her.

The image of adult Shyna: God... I’m not a fan....

The middle bit The age of Shyna and Zohar: I see them as programs/robots so I don’t think they have ages. Op states Shyna is 14 and Zohar is 17 which I think is a good choice.

Ying and Yang: It’s the idea that good and bad must be equal and the other exists a little in the other. I really see this link. Since it’s shown that Silhouette and Mirage need to be in balance - as seen in the ending where Megido goes weird cause Har was killed therefore there was too much mirage. I believe Silhouette and Mirage in the world of the game are perhaps like light and shadow or good and evil.

Geluve’s father is Hal: I believe this one but I don’t think op does. Doesn’t Har distinctively call Geluve ‘daughter’ as she interrupts him...? I do rather believe some of the guardian angels see Har as a father, such as Dynamis calling him ‘daddy’. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Har took the angels in like children after they were abandoned

Pollys and Pumpkins are human: It seems op believes this but I’m not sure if I do. I just don’t see the evidence. Why would the humans be attacking Shyna is she’s going to restore the world for humans??

Bottom of the iceberg Shyna is has (hmm) a bomb: Like, kinda a reset bomb. She isn’t really a bomb as she’s never destroyed - you can see her in the reset ending, alive and well. You could say she was carrying a reset button that turns on automatically once close to Edo, it’s not particularly a bomb.

Shyna needs the player for her to have a purpose: I think that’s a bit deep. Yeah, every game protagonist can only do things if the player controls them. I think this is just thinking a bit too deep.

Hal and Megido are Clod’s personalities: I’m not sure what to think of this. So Clod was an asshole and an asshole? I don’t think Har and Megido are different enough to be ‘separate personalities’. We don’t really know enough about Clod to know this at all.

Depths Was she the messenger of destruction or not?: I think this all comes down to what you believe happens after Edo is restored. If you think everything is reset and all the humans are saved then she’s the messenger of justice. If you believe everyone is killed and new humans are born, perhaps it was destruction after all because everyone died anyway.

Shyna committed human genocide: See above

Silhouette Mirage 2: I wish. Though I think treasure isn’t known for continuing their ips so I don’t think this would ever happen.

The side effects of being subjected to experiments: I suppose this is talking about Clod. I really have no idea what to say about it. As I said before, we really don’t know enough about Clod to tell us what really happened to them during the experimentation.

Geluve represents how Shyna would end up if she turned out to be another failed messenger: Uh, I suppose..? Wouldn’t all the guardian angels be though..?

Bonus! Explaining the images on the iceberg: Tip: Shyna talk sprite Shallows: ‘Adult’ Shyna official(?) art Middle: ? merch perhaps? Bottom: image from a comic about how the Polly Peepers and Specters see Shyna Depths: the real faces of Polly Peepers

[idk-my-aesthetic]

a concept

U know how in the comics Aang starts rebuilding the air nation with ppl who are basically converts to their religion? By like teaching them about the air nomad’s ways and stuff?

What if he gave some of them air bending using energy bending? And they could start re-building the air nation and it’s culture by teaching them everything!! They could even start moving back into the temples now that they could fly and rebuilding

They’d even have the bison!! According to the wiki aang found a living herd after the war !!

Idk just. As a Jewish person genocide stories are really really personal to me. And the thought of being the last of my people is terrifying

I just really want the air nation to have a chance to rebuild in a natural way. And I think that like letting ppl choose to convert and gifting them with air bending would probably be the best way

Ik aang’s kids and grandkids have air bending but trying to rebuild an entire nation from one bloodline is.... not the best idea

And I also know that in lok a bunch of ppl are given air bending, but that whole story really rubs me the wrong way (no hate to lok though!! There are parts I like!!)

Under the cut is basically an explanation as to why I take issue w/ it and find it mildly offensive/an essay about cultural appropriation in general lol. but i don’t wanna kill ppl’s dashes so if you wanna see the explanation check there 

but i really think that aang like.... allowing ppl to convert, and teaching them, and gifting them w/ airbending in the most natural/best way for that story to go and i wanted to share that!! :) 

anyway time for a whole essay because i.... apparently need to explain and justify every single one of my opinions. i’ma blame the adhd. 

I have 2 main issues w/ the new air bender plot. a) the air Nomad religion/culture is pretty explicitly seen as a closed one and b) it’s sort of a cop-out.....

so... first:

 Air bending is pretty explicitly a huge part of the air nomad culture and religion and is extremely spiritual. bc of how religious and spiritual it is the idea of ppl just.... randomly being given it really rubs me the wrong way.

It’s really really hard for me to explain this or come up with an irl example, bc these ppl didn’t ask for air bending, or try to gain it in anyway. So it’s not really their fault. But to me it feels almost like accidental cultural appropriation? If that makes sense

Which like. cultural appropriation is obviously bad. Even in the comic I originally referenced (the promise) Aang is initally really really offended by the people practicing the air Nomad religion when he first finds out!!! Which he should be!!!

There’s a difference between cultural appropriation, culture appreciation, and sharing culture. The first is bad, and the second 2 are good when done correctly.

Ima use an irl example w/ Judaism just bc using this personal experiences is apparently the only way my brain knows how to explain things

Scenario 1: Amanda (who is xtian) decides to research the Jewish holiday of Passover and the traditions behind it just bc she’s interested in it

This is cultural appreciation! She’s just learning about smthn she finds interesting. This is generally ok! although in some cultures there is knowledge that you are not supposed to know or discuss if you are not part of that culture and you should 100% respect that if it is the case 

Scenario 2: Amanda learns about the Passover seder and decides to throw one herself

Dont fucking do this omfg. This is cultural appropriation. Passover is a super important and religions holiday! It’s one of the high holy days and celebrating it on her own isn’t ok! 

Scenario 3: Amanda asks her Jewish freind Alex if she can come to his Passover seder

This is cultural appreciation and cultural sharing!! It’s totally valid!! She respectfully asks to join in and be included! 

it’s diffrent from cultural apropriation for one huge reason. she is joining in, rather than celebrating it on her own with no jewish ppl present 

Scenario 4: Amanda eats gefitlefish just bc she likes it 

this is appreciation! even though there are no jewish ppl involved! bc gefiltefish isn’t a holy/religious/spiritual thing. 

different aspects of different cultures have different levels of importance. as a general rule, if smthn is holy/religious, you should not do anything with it, unless invited by someone of that culture. if it’s not then you can generally do it on ur own (though there is some grey area there. ie, moccasins are smthn that aren’t religious to native americans, but if ur not native you shouldn’t be producing and selling them. if you want moccasins by them from actual natives) 

scenario 5: amanda contacts a rabbi and starts the conversion process 

this is...... just conversion lol. when she is finished with the process (which can take months/years) she’ll no longer be xtian and be jewish!! just as much as anyone who was born into judiasm. she’ll be able to host her own seders and any of her children will be jewish as well :) 

sorry for the really long thing!!  but i felt it was necessary to show the difference between some concepts that seem similar but are actually vastly different!! 

anyway, i hope y’all understand the difference between cultural appropriation/appreciation/sharing. if ur asking urself “ok why does it matter tho” friendly reminder that alot of irl ppl have been murdered for trying to peacefully observe their cultures/religions :) 

including the air nomads! (hey segway...) 

they are literally hunted to extension because they are part of one culture/religion. you could argue it’s a racism thing (which it is) but race, culture, ethnicity and religion are all inherently tied. see: almost every non-xtian religion worldwide 

SO. when you consider that a) the nomads were killed for their religion b) airbending was incredibly significant part of that religion, isn’t it weird that random people who have 0 connection or interest in that religion suddenly have airbending?? 

again it becomes like accidental cultural appropriation. which you can’t really blame the characters for in-world

but, these aren’t real ppl. they’re characters in a situation that was written by real ppl, real ppl who can and should be criticized 

not that i’m trying to call the creators bigoted in anyway! this dosn’t seem like anything that was meant to be offensive. and it’s not really that offensive unless you think about it. to me it just seems like a plot point that wasn’t fully thought through. i don’t bring it up to shame the creators, just as a way to show others why it’s smthn not to be repeated 

and, to show a better way to do a similar story 

the reason i went so in depth w/ the explanation of cultural appropriation vs appreciation vs conversion is bc i wanna show why a different way of approaching a similar story would have been better

the reason i think my whole idea (of ppl basically contacting aang or the air nomads, converting to the religion, and then being gifted air bending through energy bending) is better than ppl being randomly gifted it is bc conversion takes work 

to convert to any culture or religion you a) need a connection to someone in that culture (usually made by reaching out to a religious leader) and b) need to actually be accepted by that group in order to be considered one of them. it takes work and dedication. it’s a literal transfer of culture!! it’s just... ack i’m not good at explaining it 

but dosn’t it make so much more sense that ppl who actually worked to integrate themselves into the culture and become one of them are givin airbending? not because it’s a privilege but bc they need to first become part of the culture in order to have any right or claim to it 

but by just giving it to random non-benders it’s basically the reverse!! yes they later learn the culture and religon, but???? thats not how that works??? wtf??? 

i feel like i’ve been talking in circles and i’m sorry if i’ve bored everyone to death but i hope u understand my point. 

anyway! next thing! (i swear this part will be way shorter) 

by just making a bunch of random ppl airbenders it basically retcons one of the longlasting effects of the 100 yr war and almost just... erases the impact of the air nomad’s genocide 

which. is gross and uncomfortable. genocide stories are touchy subjects and smthn that need to be treated with respect 

just giving random ppl airbending it’s almost like the genocide didn’t matter at all. which i take a huge fucking issue w/ ok and i don’t feel like i need to explain why 

instead of a natural rebuilding of the air nomads it’s just fixed with spirit magic. it’s just... an insult to the really compelling and well written genocide story that was in atla and an insult to the irl ppl who related to that story 

so. yeah.... again i’m not trying to call out the creators, i again think this plotline was more accidentally insulting than purposefully 

i already propsed a better way to do it by allowing converts to gain the ability to airbend. (hell it dosn’t even need to come from energy bending or aang. the air nomads were incredibly spiritual, maybe a spirit gifted it to the ppl who earned it instead of random fucking ppl) 

but the other reason that converts instead of just.... random ppl gaining the ability is better is bc there aren’t gonna be that many ppl to convert!! there’s not gonna be some sudden boom in the airbending population!! theres would still be a story of the nation slowly healing and rebuilfing itself instead of the insulting sudden magic fix

oof. sorry for the long freaking thing. i literally went into this just wanting to share an idea and instead spent over an hour analyzing this stuff lol.... 

i hope this was coherent but if anyone’s got questions about anything i said feel free to @ me or shoot me an ask :) as long as ur polite and stuff i’ll answer to the best of my ability 

[ifeveristoday]

well, that escalated quickly

The first card of the Major Arcana, The Fool is generally a positive card indicating new beginnings. If it appears in your readings it could mean that you are on the verge of an exciting, unexpected new adventure. Your new adventure will bring you along a path which may require you to make a leap of faith but you will grow as a result of this new experience. This new adventure could be a literal new adventure, like travelling to a place you’ve never been before. The change this card can bring will usually be a welcome one. While the Fool is generally a positive card, its appearance in a reading can also indicate that you need to take the time to look before you leap. [x]

Even when reversed, the Fool is an indicator of newness; as well as the purity and open-hearted energy of a child. This is generally considered a positive card, with the caveat that it's important to take time to be sure that you are "looking where you're going." In reversal, The Fool can show that there is a need for a new beginning, but that there is some hesitancy about making it happen. [x] 

When the Fool card is reversed, you are encountering an unfinished side of yourself, a part still caught in the shadows of ignorance or immaturity. An emotional reflex or psychological attitude could be holding you back from responding authentically and naturally.

Release yourself from any dogmas or taboos so your natural truthfulness and instinct for right action can be restored. [x]

Light some incense and find a crushed velvet vest and let’s get to issue 16 of Buffy.

Spoilers, as always underneath the cut. Also long and semi-rambly so if you’re new to this tumblr...yeah. 

Short version: There’s a thing I’m not sure I like yet, the usual layer cake of THEMES and how it all ties together, and good character stuff.

Wow. So they’re really going there with Buffy and Evil! Xander. But it’s not like the comic hasn’t left crumbs of a potential -- something happening between them. Vamp! Xander’s first confrontation with Buffy was a crude sexual come-on, which she rebuffed very quickly, and then when he had his soul, there was an ambiguous hug between them in Hellmouth. Xander’s feelings about Buffy have always been pretty clear. 

And while I’m not thrilled that in the year 2020 we still can’t have a platonic relationship between Buffy and Xander (like, I joke about this being a Point to the reboot that Joss insisted on, but of course that’s just speculation. But come on. He totally would), it’s not like the comic was not giving clues, clunky though some of them may be. Buffy’s Slayer dream of Vamp! Xander and Vamp! Her, Robin’s oddly insistent interrogation of Buffy’s feelings for Xander, the dinosaur gift of Zeppo, and Buffy’s own ambivalence toward Robin as a real potential boyfriend. 

Issue 14 (which I still haven’t written a thorough post about) showcases (not explicitly written as such, but the characteristics are there) a PTSD-afflicted Buffy, who has lost both of her best friends in a matter of weeks. She’s not on good terms with her mother, Giles is still weird after his descent into magically induced MRA-ness and not exactly comforting her, and having to accept the reality of Kendra being a Slayer as well. There’s a lot of anxiety, jealousy, and survivor’s guilt thrown in there as well, and we all know Buffy’s favorite thing to do when she’s going through a lot of pain: ISOLATE HERSELF. 

And then here’s Robin, telling her he’s on her side and is a friendly face and Buffy seizes that emotional life line and decides, well if I can’t like myself (this is referenced in Issue 15), Robin will do it for me. It’s a lonely, but understandable grasp at something normal and not...the reality of her present life.

Except Robin realizes he can’t be Buffy’s emotional support almost-boyfriend, and that Buffy has a martyr complex where she can’t be just the hero but also the villain in her own story - she takes on all of the fault but none of the help and love that does exist in her life.

He tells her that one of her problems is that she just doesn’t like herself.

And it’s a hard truth for Buffy to bear but she admits it.

Issue 16 dips into Buffy’s mixed up feelings re: love and connection and the thread that ties it together is the tarot card Jenny pulls from her spread to read to Dolly, her cat.

Best reveal of the reboot so far, no I won’t take any objections. Her cat! Is named Dolly! Possibly after Dolly Parton, stealth producer of BtVS!

Jenny, lone human adult voice of Reason, pulls the upside down Fool and I’ve included three meanings of it up above. The reason why I think it’s a common thread for this issue is because in Buffy’s slayer dream where she’s riding Zeppo the Symbolism? What Symbolism Dinosaur with Xander (with some terrible punning), Buffy says that they can’t let Zeppo drive, he’s too young and doesn’t know how to get to where they’re going. Xander replies, “Do you even remember where we’re going?”

And prior to this Buffy worries that they’re going too fast and to slow down. 

This could signify a number of things - definitely new beginnings with Evil! Xander and the changed nature of his relationship to Buffy, Buffy’s personal fear that she doesn’t know what’s happening, only that it is too fast, and the fact they’re both so young. And for the moment, Xander will forever be this young. And with his reputation as being the ‘funny’ one, Xander could also be considered a Fool. 

He’s in a state of being unfinished - he’s never going to experience the trials of regular adulthood, the personal milestones a human being has. And Buffy is unfinished in that she’s not done growing up, but she is also the Slayer, which requires a level of sacrifice that other girls her age wouldn’t experience.

Jenny pulling this card - well, there’s the unfinished nature of her relationship with Giles, they’re broken up but still pining over each other, and the fact that she doesn’t seem to have stayed in touch with anyone in the Scoobies? And her only confidante seems to be her cat. Which, no judgement, cats are good listeners.

Dolly is also a good detector of Ye Olde Supernatural Bullshit, as she senses something bad behind Jenny’s all of a sudden visitor, and Hulk! Giles a few issues back.

It is of course, Xander, who is gleefully pleased that it was that easy to trick Jenny into inviting him in.

Fade into black- sort of, as the next step is Xander playing mind games via text.

Right after Buffy has her weird dinosaur dream, she tries to google meanings of it, as well as sending Willow texts in a long chain of non replied thread, updating her about what’s been happening in Sunnydale in her absence. I noticed she used a similar - “I’ll be here for you” in her message to Rose, and I think that’s Buffy’s way of changing. She wants to be there for her people, instead of avoiding them.

And she gets a text (Miss me?) from Xander, which prompts her to run to Giles and Kendra. 

This is a neat(?) reference to how Xander got catfished by Drusilla when she texted him from Buffy’s phone. God, the way this sentence sounds out of context to an TV canon fan.

ANYWAY.

Buffy states that Xander died the night the Hellmouth closed, and they had a candlelight vigil and his parents barely leave the house - which makes me think while Hank Summers is a bastard in every ‘verse, Boom! has a good dad for Robin, Joyce and Eric for Buffy, and apparently good parents for Willow and Xander as well. Yay.

Kendra, who is more objective than Buffy and Giles can be regarding Xander, theorizes that Xander’s disappearance might not be death in a final sense, but rather his soul disappearing. Which causes the question, where has his body been this whole time? Also, I see that I Robot, You Jane easter egg, Jordie.

Setting Jenny’s house on fire, that’s what. Giles gets a similarly upsetting text on his phone, and they run to her house. Buffy and Kendra immediately throw themselves into save the cat (and Jenny!) mode and run into Evil! Xander. Quite literally - Xander grabs Kendra by the neck and throws her out of the window from the second floor - don’t worry, she survives.

We can’t be fridging the POC this early, after all.

Then it’s Xander and Buffy’s first glimpse of each other since Hellmouth, and standard enemy banter ensues - Xander says it’s just them and Buffy snaps that it’s only in his dreams. Then the staircase starts cracking due to the fire’s heat and Buffy’s thisclose to falling off when Xander grabs her, and in his human mask tells her that it could just be them together, if she wants it. Buffy takes Kendra’s advice to stop feeling and just think, and kicks Xander in a jump with both her feet aimed at his chest. Also she says she’d rather die than let that happen, which...I really hope aren’t famous last words.

The fool card flutters down and lands on Buffy’s forehead, reminding her that she’s on a rescue mission for Jenny. Who is nowhere to be found, but Dolly leaps into Buffy’s arms, and she carries her out.

Giles, Kendra and Buffy reconvene at Giles’s and try to figure out why Xander targeted Jenny. 

Giles, who started the issue being a concerned mentor has grown smaller and less confident toward the end as he asks Buffy and Kendra to find Jenny. Buffy vows that they’re going to make Xander pay. Giles sadly agrees and then leaves to show Dolly the garden.

Let me pause a moment to cry about the fact that Giles is showing Jenny’s cat the garden.

Kendra and Buffy bond, sincerely, for the first time since Kendra made her appearance. Sister slayers, fuck yeah! Also, I love Kendra’s characterization and I hope she stays for a long time. And not die.

There’s a thawing there as each switch positions - Kendra tells Buffy it’s okay that she feels the way she feels, as Buffy tells her, no, she’s right, Xander isn’t the boy she knew, and to treat him like he’s just a regular vampire.

Then she admits she’s not sure if she misses Xander, or if it’s something else, to which Kendra replies, “I think when you know, you know.”

And Buffy asks her like her and Rose - and Kendra confirms it.

Just as Kendra’s words end the issue, Willow - who could be OG timeline Willow, or an Alternate Verse Willow, comes into the light and holds Rose’s hand.

DRAAAAMA.

So. Xander and Buffy heading toward something, Kendra/Rose confirmed, Giles has now adopted Dolly, Jenny’s status: Currently Unknown.

And Willow?

Though with the Fool, there’s that meaning of new adventures and travelling to a place you’ve never been before. That sums up Willow’s current journey so far.

[crowned-ladybug]

So I'm relatively new to the jojo fandom but!! I've come across quite a bunch of your stuff on tumblr and I just wanna say that 1. I love your work!! and 2. You've intrigued me so much with your ADHD Joseph headcanons and I would LOVE to hear more! If there's any headcanons you haven't talked about much yet, here's your excuse to talk about them! I'd read a whole book on it tbh. Your posts abt it make me really happy and I'm looking forward to more ahhh :>

The JoJo fandom is scary as hell, pls take care D:

Anyway, thank you!!! So much, you're so sweet

Aaaaa you give me free reign to talk about my hcs and suddenly I feel like such a fuckin neurotypical, what even Is an ADHD. At this point I'm honestly not entirely sure what I've already talked about on here, what I've written or referenced in fics, what I have in the fic I'm currently writing - it's a mess

So, uhh. Have some assorted random hcs I found lying around in my head?? Hopefully none of them are big repeats D: I couldn't come up with anything longer and coherent in all the time I've spent sitting on answering this

He has a weighted blanket back at home which he Loves but when he can't have that, he either piles every blanket he can find on top of himself (cue him waking up all gross and sweaty the next morning from sleeping under four damn blankets) or coaxes Caesar into cuddling with him and lying on him which, to be fair, doesn't tend to take a lot of convincing. They're both like the only ppl ever who can propely take the other's Forceful Cuddling in general so it works out. Hamon training apparently has the great side effect of knowing how to not suffocate when your bf lies on you

Evening routine on the Island always involves everyone who trained that day going to shower Before Dinner bc no one gets to sit at the table all gross and sweaty. Works out v well for Joseph bc the moment he's not Actively Doing Shit he feels gross as fuck after getting all sweaty and it's sensory Hell. Esp if his hair got flat/stuck to his skin, he'd rather scratch his own face off than deal with That

Until he learns to read Lisa Lisa well, she sadly manages to tick off his RSD a lot bc she's v sparing with praise and never looks like she means it (or, well, her signs are v subtle) so Joseph lowkey feels like he's constantly being regarded as a disappointment. (Even when Caesar and Suzi tell him that That's Not It. Then he learns to recognise like One Positive Thing from Lisa Lisa after Caesar points it out to him and he proceeds to overdo everything trying to get that reaction Again, until his friends have to once again reign him in and tell him to Chill bc he's gonna end up hurting himself)

god I honestly don't know if this lines up with canon at all?? Bc guess what I never watched this far bc I got Sad. But my Idea of the Joestar Residence back in New York is a Fancy Big House and it absolutely has like. a small library or a study or two or idk. Some room that's quiet and kind of a sacred magical place when you're a kid and it smells of books. It's Joseph's like. Sensory Safe Spot when something overwhelms him so much even his own room isn't good enough

His two biggest hyperfixations I've got pinned down rn are comic books and motor bikes. Can ramble about either for hours ofc and he learned how to fix/augment his own bike mostly through reading a shitton and then trial-and-erroring his way through it

I Have to have mentioned this before but he paints his nails not just bc it's fun and pretty but also bc he loves how smooth it makes his nails feel and he loves rubbing his thumb over them. If someone else he's used to being close with has their nails painted (like Suzi or Caesar) he'll constantly seek out holding/messing with their hand too just to thumb at their nails

Focuses So Much Better if he's not alone. The other person/people don't even have to be doing the same thing as him, he just Needs People Around Him just Doing Their Thing without being too loud/distracting

[laylacooke]

Better Together || Winn & Layla

timing: tuesday (6/2) midday parties: @packsbeforesnacks & @laylacooke summary: winn and layla have a talk about why he disappeared.

The sun was hanging heavy in the sky and was getting close to dipping below the horizon, but Layla needed to see Winn. She needed to apologize, but she also needed him to know, in person, just how much he had hurt her. As she entered Tower Comics & Music, she made her way to the back of the store where music rooms were. Knocking softly, Layla opened the door finding the room empty. Taking her seat, guitar still back at the trailer, she waited patiently for Winn to finally show his face.

What Layla didn’t know, what may have helped during the previous week’s debacle, was that Winn had reserved their room on a semi-permanent basis. It helped that the room ran cold and Winn didn’t really mind the chill that other customers steered away from. The cashier gave him a short nod as he wandered in, and then nudged his head towards the back. Dang it, Winn had wanted to get here before Layla. He knocked on the door, a short rap, before opening it up and sitting in his usual seat. Winn noticed Layla hadn’t brought her guitar, but he’d been counting on that. No lessons until they cleared the air.

“So…” Winn started, “Has anyone given you the lowdown on how this was all a big misunderstandin’ yet?”

Hearing the door open, Layla looked up from where she sat. She had wondered if he would show up, so when he did, a surge of emotions washed over her. It was the first time she had seen him since he had up and disappeared. The urge to punch him was there, but she restrained herself, and instead let out a heavy sigh, “Uh, no, because I’m baby wolf. Baby wolf is usually the last to know things. But at least Blanche had the common courtesy to tell me you were back in town. Oh, and that you owe me dinner.” She crossed her arms, expression hard. She wanted an explanation. She was owed an explanation, and dammit she was going to get it.

“Uh, doy, I offered you dinner, so I’m gonna getcha dinner, Baby Wolf.” He rolled his eyes, jokingly. “And I’m sorry, I figured with everything goin’ on that night, especially since I asked who howled, that y’all would assume I was back in town. Given that everyone has told me to talk to them once I was ‘back,’ I’m gonna take it as a firm ‘Nah.’ I’m, uh…” Layla had probably heard by now, right? “I’m sorry, about Celeste. Don’t know how close y’all were, but that’s a tough break.” Winn crossed his legs under him, probably looking a bit goofy in the chair, but unable to sit still for the life of him. “So, it’s a stupid story. Really stupid. ‘Cause, I promise, it was just a misunderstandin’, on the whole. But I’ll start with this: I don’t break my promises, not if I can help it. I thought Blanche would remember, but I was always coming back. Always.” He paused, knowing what reaction that had provoked out of Noah, waiting for a swift punch to the face.

“It better be good.” That was more so under her breath and in a pouty tone than anything. Layla had also found the time to cross her arms, showing Winn she wasn’t in the mood for games. “I must have missed that part. It was a long night…” She looked away from him for a second; her eyes falling and her breath hitching. It still hurt thinking about Celeste. No, she hadn’t known her that long, but they had gotten close in a short amount of time. Clearing her throat and looking back up to Winn, she spoke, “Yeah, uh, thanks.” Pushing the grief out of her mind as best she could, the softness to her features turned hard again, “Really? Explain, you poor man’s version of Derek Hale.” The young wolf’s voice was cold as she waited for an explanation from him. While she wasn’t focused on punching him now, there was a strong possibility it would come later.

I could hear that, Winn thought. He kept his mouth shut, though. Layla deserved to be angry at him for what she thought had happened. “No problem. I understand that night must’ve sucked. We can… table it. Table that.” Layla didn’t look ready to talk about it, really, her features flickering to sad and soft for a moment before she turned her anger back to Winn. That cold voice reminded him a little of his mother, regrettably. “Well, I don’t have a clue who Derek Hale is, but I’m not a poor man’s version of anything, Baby Wolf.” He sighed, and then launched into an explanation. He hadn’t quite gotten the hang of reciting it, yet, but he was more animated in his portrayal to Layla. Winn really wanted it to come across that this was dumb, he thought it was dumb, and he was more than willing to win Layla’s trust back the old-fashioned way. “... And, well, that’s it. Uh, well, my explanation for leavin’ anyway. Some other stuff, but I figure it can wait, ‘cause we really haven’t known each other that long.” He grumbled, knowing that it had cheered Blanche up. “I used to be named Winthrop Linton Zhou, if you ever find reason to get mad at me again. You’re in a small pool of folks who get to use it. Guard it with your life.”

As he began to explain what had happened and the way that things went down, Layla’s hard glare started to soften. Even her arms, that were once tightly crossed over her chest, had loosened up a bit giving way to her showing him a little grace. “Why couldn’t you just tell me sooner? It’s not like we live in a time of letters and telegrams. Yes, I’ve seen Titanic. I know what a telegram is. And if you’re as rich as you say you are, which b.t dubs, didn’t cash that check yet, then why didn’t you just buy a new phone or use a payphone or hell, even borrow one?” She still couldn’t figure out why he had just disappeared, but then she stopped herself. She had done the exact same thing to Frankie. Ghosted her hardcore, only to reach out nearly a year later. By then, she looked defeated and ashamed of the way she had treated Winn. Not able to look him in the eyes, she apologized quietly, “I’m...uh...sorry for getting mad at you, when I pretty much did the same thing to Frankie and everyone back in Tennessee.” She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and slumped over. Not even hearing his full name could bring a smile out of her, but it was nice knowing he had offered it up for future use.

“Like I said,” Winn started, “I figured that Blanche would tell y’all where I was. I…” He sighed, leaning back in his chair in exactly the way all his teachers had advised him not to. “Last time my phone was seriously out of commission, only person I really had up here was B. I’m not… I’ve been alone, more or less, for the last five years. It’s takin’ some time for me to get… used to the idea that folks might be worried about me. I know that sounds stupid, but… I don’t know. Even before I knew y’all, when it was only B, maybe a couple others, I didn’t…” He wasn’t quite sure how to explain this in a way that didn’t make him seem like a massive asshole. “Sounds awful, but I was sure no one would miss me if I was gone. Not full It’s a Wonderful Life, I never should have been born, but, like, I think we — I — underestimate how important we are to other people. But we do what we think we have to do. You left Tennessee, I left Virginia, back when. Lucas jokes ‘bout wolves runnin’ away, but I get it. I don’t want other folks to get caught up in my bullshit. And when they do, I want to give them every chance to leave, to get out of it, to make it easy for them. I’m tryin’ to be better about that.” He let the chair fall back forward, settling against the ground. “Layla, you’re allowed to be angry. Feel what you feel, Baby Wolf. You’re allowed to be angry as hell, sad as anything. Just don’t forget that you’re allowed to feel happy, too. You’re allowed to laugh, and love, and your past doesn’t define you. Not forever. I’m not sayin’ it’ll be easy to get past, that’d be hypocritical. But I am sayin’ that… You deserve to, I don’t know, get to be a person.” 

Layla listened to Winn as he explained things. The way he felt. Why he did what he did. And honestly, it had been very similar to her story. She had left Tennessee, because her parents didn’t want her around any longer, which had been apparent in their endgame goals. She was afraid of the beast she had become and what would happen to the one person who cared most for her in her life. And it felt like she had nothing left to live for. So when she had given her heart to Winn, and he left, it had her questioning things all over again as to whether or not staying was the best option for anybody, “I’ll be totes honest and say I don’t know what you’re referencing, but I do get everything else you’re saying, because well that’s me...in a nutshell. And it’s just one problem after another, and when you left it really hurt, because I feel like I can talk to you, and tell you things that I don’t dare tell anyone else, including Frankie.” She looked down ashamed for the way she had treated him. He hadn’t meant no intentional harm, just like she hadn’t but life has a funny way of twisting things around, when you just don’t communicate, and that was a hard lesson she was still learning.

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #448

Top Ten Moments in The Secret of Monkey Island

This week was one of those weeks where I had a list all ready to go, and then I discovered something that made me throw the whole lot in the bin and write something new in a hurry. And the thing that I discovered is that it is, approximately, the 30th birthday of my favourite videogame of all time, The Secret of Monkey Island.

When I was a kid, I’d go round my cousins’ house and play on their Spectrum or their C64. I played the usual 8-bit hits of the era; Dizzy, Ghostbusters, Skool Daze, that really weird and probably insanely offensive Spitting Image beat-em-up… then I got my Amiga around Christmas 1990, and I figured games would be more-or-less the same but with more colours. I was wrong.

I got two games in short succession that utterly changed my appreciation for the medium: Lemmings and Monkey Island. The first was funny, inventive, colourful and characterful; a fiendishly difficult puzzler that nevertheless made you want to come back for more, because you just fell in love with the Lemmings themselves. It was like nothing I’d seen before, and felt impossible. Monkey Island, on the other hand, was not only better, not only more my cup of tea gameplay wise, but just blew the doors of my perception of what games were and what they could do. It was like an interactive movie before that was even a term; a living cartoon where you were the main character. A funny, wordy, witty adventure story, full of gags and references that I didn’t quite get but that I knew were smart and humorous (and there was lots of daft humour in there that I did get, too). It wasn’t just a case of being able to talk to people – I’d done that in stuff like Skool Daze – but the ability to solve problems, to divine solutions; to work out that you can drug dogs by smearing meat with dubious petals. And even when do did something like that, the game was irreverent enough to put a disclaimer on screen assuring you that the dogs were only sleeping. It broke the fourth wall, and I was only just old enough to understand what that meant in narrative terms; this was a game about gaming, about stories and adventures. It was filled with movie references (George Lucas even makes a cameo!). It inspired me to write into Amiga Power for help with a particular puzzle, and they printed my letter, but by the time it came out about three months had passed and I’d solved the puzzle on my own.

Monkey Island was the first game that I loved as much as the cartoons I watched or the comics I read; Guybrush and Elaine and LeChuck and the rest were the first gaming characters that I took to my heart in the same way as Bumblebee, Garfield, or Peter Venkman. I’ve said it before, but I’m not sure I’d love games the same way if I’d never played Monkey Island. It certainly changed the types of games I wanted to play; even though I’ve enjoyed my fair share of platformers, racing games, and shooters, it’s always the slower-paced narrative games that I come back to, the Fables and Mass Effects and Deus Exes of this world (even faster-paced games like Halo, Gears and Half-Life still grab me with their stories, as daft as they may sometimes be). Basically, Monkey Island made me a sucker for a dialogue tree.

Monkey Island was my gateway to a whole host of other LucasArts adventure games; Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Sam & Max Hit the Road, Day of the Tentacle, Grim Fandango… Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer were among the first names of games creators that I ever knew (probably the very first, in all honesty, was Peter Molyneux – I am British after all). It was a window into a much larger world, one filled with choice, consequence, non-sequiturs, and rubber chickens with pullies in the middle.

Anyway, to celebrate Monkey Island, here are my Top Ten moments from the game. See you next year for the Monkey Island 2 list.

How to Get Ahead in Navigating: I’ve gone about it before, but this simple, daft joke – swapping a guide book for an actual navigator’s head – blew my mind as a kid. It forced me to think differently about puzzles and comedy and how to approach the game. For little old me, it was a revelation, and just desperately funny.

How Appropriate, You Fight Like a Cow: a discussion of Monkey can’t be had without talking about the innovative swordfights; a wholly successful attempt to replicate the verbal parrying of a classic Hollywood swordfight, the insult-riposte dynamic also reinforced the puzzle mechanics of the game. Sublime.

Order Hint Book: Monkey Island was the first adventure game I played, so I didn’t realise at the time how innovative its gameplay was, because you could never get hopelessly, game-ruiningly stuck, and nor could you die. Except at one point, when you drown, but even that is a hilarious gag that is easily avoidable. The control verbs changing from things like “Pick Up” to “Decompose” is just tremendous.

Use Staple Remover on Tremendous, Dangerous-Looking Yak: Monkey plays fast and loose with game conventions, sending itself up in the process; the moment when Guybrush enters a room and is hidden from view, undergoing a series of preposterous and expensive-sounding adventures, which you only know about because you can read his actions in the sentence line as if you were still controlling him (“use… gopher repellent… on another gopher…”), is a phenomenal piece of comedy stagecraft, a game parodying games parodying itself, using its own architecture to tell a joke (as well as being a play on the whole “noises off” style of gag in the first place).

Ask Me About Loom: like I say, I’d never played an adventure game before; I’d never heard of any LucasArts (sorry, Lucasfilm Games) titles, apart from maybe Maniac Mansion. So the bloke in the SCUMM Bar with his “Ask me about LOOM” badge, who launches into an intense sales spiel when you speak to him, didn’t make sense at first. But when it clicked, the very idea of a pirate in this game directly referencing another game was fourth-wall-breaking hilarious genius; happening right near the start of the game lets you know what you’re in for.

The Rock: when you get to Monkey Island, there’s a puzzle where you need to use a makeshift seesaw to catapult a boulder onto a tree (or something). If you line it up wrong, you can sink your own ship (and presumably drown your mutinous crew). The first time I played the game, this is what I did; there’s another great gag where castaway Herman Toothrot turns out to have a ship of his own. But the second time I played through, I didn’t sink my ship, and sailed back with my original crew. This blew my mind; whilst obviously not at Warren Spector levels of emergent game design, the fact that you could actually change what happened, to have a different experience to another player, was phenomenal, and another one of those watershed gaming moments for me.

Men of Low Moral Fibre (Pirates): the trio of loitering pirates are funny in and of themselves, with their breath mints and Pieces o’ Eight and minutes from a PTA meeting. But what I always found really funny was that they are literally called “Men of Low Moral Fibre (Pirates)”; that’s what it says in the sentence line when you hover your cursor over them (an aside: Monkey Island and Lemmings probably taught me how to use a mouse). Again it was the game using the structure of a game to tell a joke.

Rescuing Otis: this is what promoted me to write into Amiga Power back in the day: how the heck do you rescue Otis from the jail?! There are delightful red herrings regarding files and whatnot, but the eventual solution – juggling acidic grog from mug to mug as you make your way through the town to eventually pour it on his lock – was a rare moment of fast-paced tension in a relatively slow game. Solving it on my own made me feel so clever at a tender age. And it’s funny! So great!

A Rubber Chicken with a Pulley in the Middle: ah, my beloved rubber chicken. Found early on in the game and used in a couple of puzzles, I don’t think I quite grasped the silly brilliance of it; as a kid you’re just more accepting of the surreal. Why does a rubber chicken have a pulley? It’s basically just so you can zip-line across a chasm; it’s a wholly functional, boring plot device. But it’s also a rubber chicken. It’s sublime comic genius. And then you cook it! Madness!

The Voodoo Root: I’ve not even mentioned The Ghost Pirate LeChuck yet (if I’m honest his best “moments” are in the sequel) but the finale of the game, when you’ve distilled your Voodoo Root and you’re dispatching ghosts left right and centre, brilliantly marries an epic adventure action sequence with the point-and-click structure of the game itself. But then you fight LeChuck and he boots you around the island, until finally you crash land on a soft drinks dispenser, and finally defeat him with… a can of root beer. Cue fireworks and a strangely romantic ending. Is it as good as the ending of Monkey 2? No, but nothing is. Literally nothing, in the history of the universe.

Wow, there we are. I never had room for the dance steps, the recipe, finding the treasure, defeating the Sword Master, or Stan. Stan! I didn’t have room for Stan! See, that’s how good the game is; I barely mentioned one of the greatest gaming villains of all time, and I didn’t even get round to one of the medium’s funniest supporting characters. Blimey.

Man, I love The Secret of Monkey Island. Ron and the rest of you guys: you done good. Thanks for the memories.