#WALLY AS THE NEW HIRE IS SUCH A CUTE IDEA

[sketchy-tour]

THIS IS SO CUTE THIS IS SO CUTE THIS IS SO CUTE THIS IS SO CUTE THIS IS SO CUUUUUUUUTE!!!!!!!!! AAAA

(Fan Art!)

What if Howdy owned a Pizza Restaurant 🍕!?

At Howdy’s Pizza Place, Howdy is the manager and lead pizza maker, Julie works the front and answers the phone, Eddie delivers the pizzas, and our darling Wally is a new hire! Wish them luck!

[shield-sheafson]

Chapters: 2/? Fandom: Teen Titans (Comics), Teen Titans - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Raven/Tara Markov, past Tara Markov/Slade Wilson, Background Dick Grayson/Koriand'r Characters: Tara Markov, Raven (DCU), Donna Troy, Koriand'r (DCU), Slade Wilson Additional Tags: Fluff and Angst, Romance, Past Underage, Past Abuse, Flirting, Weddings, sexually charged lipstick application, Slade doesn't show up in the present timeline he's just in the flashbacks, Flashbacks Summary:

Even normal things feel like they've been ruined: it's been years, but sometimes Tara feels like she's still with Slade. As everybody prepares for Dick and Kory's wedding, all kinds of miserable feelings begin bubbling up inside of her even as she tries to have fun. To add to the stress, Raven has been acting awfully cute lately...

~~

“I don't even know who to invite,” Donna says.  With one hand she's writing something in her decorated lavender planner and with the other she's keeping Robbie steady as she bounces him on her knee.  Her hair is pulled back into a knotted ponytail and there's an ink smudge on her nose.  “We don't actually have that many girl friends.”

“Hey, you have us,” Tara says, gesturing to Raven.  “Do we not count?”

“I mean friends she doesn't live with,” Donna says.  “Let's see...  Karen is in town, I think, and there's always Lilith...  Cole...”

“Now I'm getting jealous,” Tara says.  “Hey, Raven, Kory likes us better than those chumps, right?”

“We're the darlings of her heart,” Raven says flatly.

“That's what I want to hear.  That's the situation with the bachelorette party, so what have you got planned for the groom?”

“It's easier for Dick,” Donna says.  “Wally is taking care of most of it, I just need to book a place to throw it and make sure we have enough food.”

“You gonna hire strippers?”

“No.”

“Wally gonna hire strippers?”

“I... don't think so?  He's pretty straight-laced.”

“If you hire strippers for Kory's party and not for Dick's, then you're a bad friend,” Tara says.  “Hey, are you gonna open that soda, or can I have it?”

“I'm not hiring any strippers,” Donna says.  Robbie makes a noise that Tara interprets as a grunt of agreement.  “And no, I'm going to drink it.”

“Wait, are we bothering you?” Tara asks, determined to keep bothering.

“Let's go for a walk,” Raven says, grabbing Tara's hand and half-dragging her out of the room.  As they pass the couch, Tara lunges to the side to grab a sweater.  She's able to grab it by the edge of the sleeve before Raven spirits her away.

For some reason, Raven doesn't let go in the elevator.  Tara isn't sure how to bring it up, so she doesn't, and they keep holding hands until they're a couple of floors down and Vic comes in.  At this, Raven quickly pulls away and wipes her hand on her dress as though Tara's left something dirty on it.

“What's up with you two?” Vic asks.

Tara starts making up a lie about seeing a dead body, but Raven interrupts her.

“We've been talking to Donna about the parties.  She's stressed out.”  Raven pauses.  “Tara was harassing her.”

“Hey!  I just wanted to know if she was hiring any strippers.”

“You tried to take her soda.”

“I asked.”

Vic presses his lips together but he can't seem to hide the smile forming.  

“What?” Tara asks.

“Nothing.”

“What's so funny?” Tara puts her hands on her hips.  Vic is obviously suppressing laughter.

The elevator dings for the ground floor.

“Well, I'm headed to the basement.  You two have fun.”  Vic waves as they leave the elevator.  Tara rolls her eyes.

The island is mostly filled with the Tower, so even though it's low tide and there's a ring of beach around them, there's nowhere to walk.  Tara pulls up the chunk of concrete she usually uses (there's a small crater around it from having been plopped abruptly to the ground so many times), scrambles on, and offers Raven a hand.  Raven takes it and Tara pulls her up with relative ease.  She silently lauds herself for working out.  Raven settles down behind her, tucking her skirt under her legs.

They rise into the air and Tara does her best to carry them both more carefully than she carries herself.  She usually doesn't ride with anyone, and she's so aware of Raven's presence at her back.  She's afraid she'll suddenly jerk or something and knock Raven off into the ocean.

“Should you be using your powers without being in costume?” Raven asks.  “That seems like a bad idea.”

“Nah, we'll hop off once we get to the shore.  I know a spot where nobody's ever lurking around, so we'll just land there and walk.”

“So you're carrying me off to a secluded beach?” Raven asks.  “What are your intentions?”

Tara does jerk at that and she feels the rock dropping beneath her for a second.  Raven yelps and wraps her arms around her torso, which is even more shocking, but Tara catches her rock and they both land back on it with a “thump.”

“What are you doing?” Raven exclaims.  “It just fell!”

Tara feels her breath on her ear and is unable to come up with a satisfactory answer, so she says “What do you mean, 'intentions'?  I just want to go for a damn walk!”

They ride along in silent irritation, Raven's arms still wrapped firmly around Tara, presumably to avoid a watery grave.  When they reach the shore, it's rough and uneven.  Tara gently lands on the edge of a large rock pool.  Raven loosens her grip and slides off.  Tara follows suit.

“It's actually really pretty here,” Raven admits.  “Have you ever seen anybody else here?”

“No, it's kind of hard to walk with all the rocks,” Tara says, kicking one for emphasis.  “It's rough on your ankles if you're not used to it.”

“I'm not used to it,” Raven says.

“Want me to carry you?  Piggyback or bridal?”

Raven rolls her eyes.  “Don't push it.”

The rocks closer to the water have been worn small and smooth, so that's where they walk.

Raven gets attacked by a crab.

Tara offers to eat it as revenge.

“It's probably full of pollutants,” Raven says.  “Be my guest if you want to throw up.”

They have a nice time.

---

Staff training. When Vic stops complaining about how getting hit on his metal parts makes his teeth rattle, it's Tara and Raven's turn.  Vic and Kory hand off their staffs off and Dick gives them a thumbs-up.

“Should I go easy on her because she's so clueless?” Tara asks innocently.  Raven shoots her a look.

“Okay, kids, play fair,” Dick says, ignoring the question.

Raven steps back with a look of calm determination on her face and slides her hands into the right position on her staff.

---

Before it started.  She hadn't quite figured it out at that point.

“One palm up, one down.”  His hand folded over hers, easing the fingers down around the staff.

---

“Okay, warm-up spin.  Think windmills,” Dick says.

“Why are you telling us what to do?” Tara asks.  “It's not like any of this is new.”

“I know more about this than you, so I'm allowed to boss you around.  Raven, good job!”

Raven doesn't smile, but Tara sees something like that in her eyes.

“Stance!”

---

“Keep your legs further apart, like this.  No, bend your front leg and keep your back leg straight.” Again, he lightly gripped her hip and pulled her thigh so it was outstretched.

---

“First to land a hit wins!  Nobody's getting beaten black-and-blue today,” Dick says.  He mimes blowing a whistle.

Raven lunges forward.  Her form is a little clumsy, Tara notes.  That's what happens when you spend your time reading instead of training.  Tara blocks easily.

“Watch your knees!” Dick says.  Raven nods and strikes again.  Tara blocks again.  She notices a thin sheen of sweat on the other girl's face-- her dark hair is clinging to her forehead.

Tara advances-- overhead blow, blocked haphazardly.  Step forward, complete the second strike (at the beginning of the motion, the staff must be parallel to the ground).  Raven grits her teeth.  Tara keeps moving forward.  Raven keeps moving backwards.

---  

He always seemed so much bigger up close.

---

“And... Game!” Dick calls, miming another whistle blow.  Tara has Raven's back pressed against the wall, but Raven's staff is lightly resting on Tara's head, on top of what will certainly be a bump the next day.

“Good fight,” Tara says, stepping back.  She lowers her staff and rubs her sore head.  “Next time, avoid the skull.  I don't want a concussion.”

Raven slumps slightly and releases a deep sigh.  “You're tough,” she says. “How did you get so good at this?”

Tara smiles.  “Lots of practice.”

[bendywackyadventures]

The Ink Demonth Day 31

Here we are the final day of Ink Demonth! The Free Day!!!

So for Free Day I decided to work on an idea that’s been playing in my head. What if Allison and Susie ended their hatred and became friends and having a girls day together. I need some wholesome moments where its not just hating on each other or being sad, just some cute sweet wholesome friendship between Allison and Susie!

Well it was fun working on Ink Demonth! Thank you @halfusek for this amazing event!!

It was my role! It was my role!

That’s all Susie Campbell thought since that day, Allison Pendle came to the studio and took her job, her best friend, everything from her. She wished Allison never stepped foot in the studio, never glanced at Joey anything that kept her away from the studio and Alice Angel. Now all Susie does is just complain about her role getting taken, and her on and off relationship with Joey.

Luckily, today was her day of so she could stay in bed all day till the next day; this was her routine ever since her role was taken from her. She only came out of her room if something was needed like meeting up with Joey. What got Susie out of bed was her stomach she hasn’t had any breakfast, and wasn’t going to stay in bed hungry.

The former actress went to her fridge and saw there wasn’t much in the fridge just a pitcher of water, juice a few loaves of bread and a carrot. Susie sighed guess she had to get groceries, but first a quick clean up. Susie took a quick shower, got dressed and headed out the door with a list in hand. All she needed was some groceries and she can head back home in bed with a radio playing some slow tunes.

The bus ride felt like forever as Susie waited for it to stop at the local market. Once it stopped she jumped out of the bus and headed inside the market. Susie looked at her list and read through what she needed. Not too much on her list just food that will fill the fridge for the week. Susie gave a confident smile grabbed a kart and started walking towards the isles.

Susie got a few cans of soup, some produce and a jar of orange juice. She crossed out what she got and went to the next item. “Alright, so I just need eggs and milk. Then back to bed.” Susie stopped, glaring at the girl in the distance.

Allison was doing shopping herself getting some butter from the shelf, probably for a new recipe. Susie sighed and rolled her eyes; out of all the days to go out she had to run into co-workers, especially one she despised. Susie sighed rolling her eyes, this wasn’t the studio Susie just had to look away and walk to another isle. However, Allison turned and spotted Susie walking away.

“Susie!” Allison waved.

“Crap” Susie mumbled. She turned glaring at Allison, she took a deep breath and looked at Allison straight in the eye. She remembered a time when Allison and Susie were like this. It ended with the two girls fighting, punches and hair pulling included. Many of the guys from the Music and Animation department enjoyed it, but many workers like Sammy, Norman and even Wally was horrified seeing how brutal the fight was. Heck, Joey didn’t do anything and it gave the former actress 2ndthoughts about Joey.

To make sure no scene happened Susie tried her best to act calm when in reality she wanted to yell at this girl in front of everyone. However, this wasn’t the studio so she kept it classy. “Hello, Pendle.” Allison gave a small smile at the former Alice Angel voice actress and it made it awkward around people. “Its…nice seeing you here.”

“Yeah. Same here.” Allison replied rubbing the back of her head. She gave a chuckle, “small world huh?”

Susie wasn’t laughing. She grabbed what she needed and walked off to finish her errands so she didn’t have to speak to this role taking backstabbing angel! Susie stopped when she saw a hand grab her kart stopping Susie in her tracks. “Listen Susie. Could we talk?”

“There’s nothing to talk about.” Susie replied. She tried to walk off again, but Allison held firmly on her kart.

“Please Susie. I need to speak to you.” Allison begged. Susie sighed. Allison wasn’t going to stop till Susie spoke to her,  “What do you want?” Susie asked.

“I’m inviting you to lunch at a café I love to go too. I figured it would be a nice place to talk.” Allison concluded. Susie wasn’t sure about where this talk with Allison would lead too. Did Joey send Allison to tell Susie she’s fired and kicked out of the studio like how Joey did with Sammy when he told her that Susie got replaced?

However, Susie’s stomach told her that she’s hungry and needs food as soon as possible. Susie had no other choice, “I guess I’ll come with you.” Susie groaned, even though she didn’t want too.

Allison smiled. “Great! Now,” she took Susie’s list. “Let me help you with your list. I’ve done my shopping already so let me help with yours!” Allison grabbed the end of the kart so she can make Susie’s shopping trip faster. Susie could do her shopping herself, and didn’t need Pendle to help her around the store, Susie knew her way around the store. Allison got what Susie needed and even helped paid for Susie’s groceries, which Susie didn’t need she had her own money, why was Allison being so sweet to her all of a sudden. Something was up.

By the time they were done, Allison dragged Susie to where the café she wanted to chat at. Allison hummed a song while Susie just wanted to jump on to the oncoming traffic and get ran over by any of the passing cars. “Okay here we are!” Allison beamed. Susie looked up and was surprised at the café they were at.

Café Fleur

Susie loved coming to this café, she took Sammy to this café once on a date and even took Wally for his birthday since no one wanted to celebrate. This was one of the places that truly made her happy. “I didn’t know you go here?” Susie asked.

“Yep. I’ve been coming here for a while with Sammy and the rest of the band members. He told me you like this place.” Allison pointed out.

This was the first time since taking her role, but Allison swore she saw Susie give a small smile. “Y-yeah he’s right about that.” She said quietly. Allison took Susie’s hand and they headed inside the café seated at the table.

They both looked at the menu’s seeing what they should order, but first their waiter asked what they wanted to drink. “Vanilla coffee.” Susie and Allison said at the same time. The two actresses stared in shock as their water jotted down their order and left leaving the two girls shocked and confused.

“Okay, this is getting creepy. How do you like the same coffee I like?” Susie asked. “Are you trying hard to be my friend, because I’ve listened to radio shows and movies, I know how this works.” Susie explained.

“I’m not acting or anything, Susie.” Allison replied. Susie glared crossing her arms not batting an eye at Allison. Allison sighed getting quiet. Their coffee came and Susie drank it not looking at Allison.  “Look.” Allison started making Susie look at her, “we got off the wrong foot I want to start over.” She explained. “I felt bad I took your role, when I took the job it was to be part of the band and cater the lunches at the studio. Joey came to me and told me about the job and when I heard you were being replaced I felt bad.” She explained.

Susie listened to Allison and realized what she was saying was the truth. There wasn’t a lie or some form of acting in her voice. “How could Joey just hire you out of the blue like that?” Susie asked.

Allison shrugged. “I don’t know. All I heard from Tom and Norman was that Joey has been acting strange.” Allison looked at Susie, she’s been seeing Joey a lot lately has she seen or hear anything strange? “Does Joey act strange at all too you?” Allison asked.

Now that Allison mentioned it Joey has been talking about “appeasing the gods” and “dreams coming to life” more then recently. Then just yesterday she heard Joey arguing with Grant and his secretary. She mentioned this stuff to Allison, but before they could continue on their talk about Joey they ordered their food, and once they ate they talked more about Joey’s weirdness.

“It’s a funny thing, Joey’s never been like this before. Ever since Henry left.” Susie mentioned.

“Henry?” Allison asked. That name was never familiar to her.

“You weren’t hired, but he was Joey’s best friend, the co-owner or should I say former co-owner of the studio animator and the creator of Bendy, Boris and Alice.” Susie explained.

Allison was intrigued! Joey never mentioned Henry to her nor he was the original creator of the toons. “Joey never told me Henry created Bendy and his friends, how did you-“

“Pendle, when you dated Joey he tells you everything.” Susie mentioned. Allison wasn’t sure to feel angry and betrayed or surprised and confused. Joey kept this all from her.

“What else do you know?” Allison asked with a smile interested over this Henry Stein and what else Joey has been hiding behind her back. Susie smiled excited to tell Allison everything. Maybe starting over wouldn’t be a bad thing after all.

The next morning, Lacie walked into the studio for another day of wild moron workers playing around the Bendyland games. However, to her surprise she saw Allison and Susie talking and laughing. She shook her head hoping this was a dream or Joey put something in her drink a few nights ago because usually Susie and Allison are fighting then laughing.

“Uh what is going on?” Lacie asked.

Susie and Allison looked up at the confused. Bendyland worker. “Oh Lacie! So glad you’re here! I’m just talking with my best friend Alli!”

Alli? Lacie thought to herself. Okay its official Joey put something in her drink.

“We had a great day off yesterday, we ran into each other at the store, went to the café, did shopping and spent the entire day at Susie’s apartment.” Allison explained.

Lacie wasn’t sure what to say, she never had any of these girl talks before and hope she would never be pulled into one. “That’s…great.” She replied giving thumbs up.

“I know!” Susie beamed. She gasped looking at Allison. “Lacie you should join us!”

“No.” Lacie replied before walking away not wanting to deal with this and walking off. Allison and Susie looked at each other and shared a laugh.

[trashboatprince]

…

I have fallen into the small pit that is this ship and I’m not even bothering to get out. So, aside from doing some fanart, I’m writing up a story.

Summery: Finding someone special isn’t as easy as Susie thought, you never know who will steal your heart. Could me a musician, a director, or it could be a little angel, sent from above…

How far will you go to get that special someone into your life?

Warning: implied death/body horror, blood, Joey being a jerk as usual, Susie making a big mistake

Pairing: Susie/Alice (implied, onesided, at this point at least) 

On with the fic!

--

When Susie was a child, she asked her mother when she find herself true love like in the books she read, or like the starlets of the screen. Her mother replied, ‘you’ll know who the right one for you is one day when they make you feel something very special, something you’ve never felt before and it makes you happier than you’ve ever been’.

For years Susie tried to figure out what that ‘special’ was. She dated and flirted with many a boy in high school and college, never went beyond five dates, at the most. She never even slept with any of them, men could be cute and charming, but she never found them… attractive? She wasn’t sure, she did find a few attractive, but not in the way that her friends seemed to find men they dated or married.

When she was hired to work at a little animation studio, Susie seemed to find some of the men there to be… interesting? She wasn’t sure, but she did find that the music director, the one in charge of her voicing characters for their new talky-toons, to be so charming. He had a nice smile, and lovely hair. Susie couldn’t help but to work her magic on the man, and they hit it off!

But not for long. Susie liked his company, but he was so quiet, reserved, and outside of work he was so fidgety and confused. She… decided they’d just stay friends.

Then Joey Drew himself seemed to enjoy speaking with her more, and Susie found that she didn’t mind his company. He was charismatic and seemed to have a big personality. He also liked to leave her little gifts, extra money in her paycheck… was this that special feeling? When a man made a girl feel like a queen?

Susie didn’t mind that at all, but there was something… strange about it. She didn’t feel like it was right, but she wasn’t sure.

Only two months into this business at the studio and already she got promoted to be the voice of the newest character to the batch, a special lady, sent from above!

The man who designed her, Henry, was a former employee who came back to work for a bit. He seemed to be on strange, bitter terms with their boss, but he was sweet. Out of everyone here, Henry seemed to be the nicest man in the studio, his wife was a lucky lady. He had approached her one day, politely asking if she’d like to be the voice of the new character he designed. He even showed her the design he had done.

Something about seeing the sketches and designs of the new character made Susie’s heart skip a beat.

Alice Angel, that was her name, a beautiful angel who fell from heaven. She could sing, she could dance, she was perfect! And then Henry asked her if she was willing to help him develop the character more. Susie remembered her face feeling hot, her heart beating harder in her chest.

Wow, this felt like such an honor! Henry had explained that since she’d be voicing the angel, she might as well have a hand in bringing her to life in other ways.

Susie was quick to agree and helped in developing Alice into the sweet gal she’d end up being when her first cartoon finally debuted. The actress remembered being in the viewing theater and holding back tears when she saw Alice coming down through the moonlit sky, on a little cloud, singing her heart out.

She was quick to take a poster of the short home. And every poster for every short she played in after that. All of them were framed, hung around her small home.

Black became a common color of her wardrobe, including black lipstick. There was just something about wearing these little changes that made Susie think, just maybe… Alice would notice? Oh, such a silly thought! She’s a cartoon character, she can’t see her in real life! But why does that fact make her chest ache?

She did her best to ignore these thoughts, maybe it was just her thinking too much of her perfect character. The actress had other things to focus on, like her developing relationship with Joey! The man had taken her out on a date recently, and he was such a gentleman about it, even paying the check!

During dinner, he called her Alice, and Susie couldn’t believe how happy that made her feel. Just… the idea of being called Alice, it made her so excited. She couldn’t help herself when she got home and told her posters.

Not too long after this, Susie found that Joey wasn’t the gentleman he came off as. She found that Henry had departed, leaving and not planning on returning. Why? No one knew, but Norman had mentioned that they got into a huge fight, but he didn’t know the details himself. After this, Joey became bitter, demanding more and more from the employees, and Susie was no exception.

Long hours were spent in the recording booth and even she was having trouble keeping up with all the voice roles that he kept giving her. But she never tired or became distraught over doing Alice, no, the angel kept Susie going through this difficult time. Until an incident happened, where her voice cracked during a recording for a song.

Joey had screamed at her about it, telling her he had no time for delays, that she was the reason that Alice wasn’t anywhere near as popular as Bendy! Susie was the reason that the merchandise wasn’t selling, or why they weren’t making money off of the Alice shorts! Maybe Alice should never have been created, she had just been a waste of time and money!

Even with a damaged voice, Susie screamed back at him, striking her boss across the face.

How dare he blame her for this! Alice as perfect, Alice was a star, Susie knew that people loved her almost as much as Susie did!

And in that moment, she stopped, eyes wide as she realized something.

No one loved Alice, at least… no one loved her as much as Susie did. Nor in the same way that Susie did…

She had left the studio and didn’t return for three days, Sammy calling her to tell her to rest her voice, they’d continue when she was better.

Susie spent the time at home, looking over her growing collection of Alice Angel merchandise. Much of it was the prototypes that Shawn had made, letting her have them. Many plush toys of the little darling, of different sizes and styles. Posters covered the walls, she had at least five cutouts, even a few cells that Henry had been kind enough to let her have.

Was… Alice really that person who made her feel special?

The actress had never felt anything like this before in her life, all her storybooks from childhood, her romance novels from now, all the things she’s seen in movies made her believe that these things she felt to be true.

But Alice is a character on the screen, beautiful, perfect, a true angel, and someone that the studio didn’t deserve! Especially that horrible Joey Drew, how dare he say all those awful lies about her and Alice!

When she went back to the studio, Susie was ready to give Joey another piece of her mind. But instead, she found Sammy in the recording studio with a girl.

Someone Joey had hired while Susie rested her voice.

To replace her as Alice Angel.

Nothing Joey had said days before compared to the pain Susie felt the moment Sammy told her that she was no longer playing Alice’s voice.

She felt like the man had reached into her chest and pulled her heart out, crushing the beating thing right in front of her face. She left in a daze, finding herself in her private area of the studio, past the toy factory. Susie finally broke down when it hit her like an axe to the side of the head, she had been replaced because she stood up to Joey for her true love.

There’s gotta be a way to fix this! There has to be a way…

--

Susie still worked for the studio, as an understudy for Allison Pendel, and as just another voice actress. Just like those first two months…

She was bitter, furious, she rarely said a word to anyone that wasn’t work related. And nothing was said to the replacement. Mama always said ‘if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all’ and Susie had nothing nice to say to that angel thief!

Recently, Susie had taken notice to strange things in the studio, people vanishing, strange noises, more ink than usual, and something in the vents that banged around and whistled. But she ignored it, probably just Wally up to something, or Joey being an idiot about not getting things fixed around here.

Speaking of the bastard, he had approached her earlier, said he had… an opportunity for her. Alright, Susie figured she’d give him the benefit of the doubt, but if that man thought he could double cross her again…

Oh, he had another thing coming. Alice, and Susie herself, did not like liars…

When he spoke with her in his office, Susie had been surprised at the offer he gave her: help him bring Alice to life, outside of ink and paint, outside of reels and screens.

Joey asked her to help make Alice a living, breathing, creation.

Susie was conflicted, this was playing God, this was dangerous. And yet… this gave her a chance, she could see the one she had fallen for, the one that was right for her, alive and with her…

She said yes.

And regretted it soon after, when she was introduced to Joey’s… other living toons. If they could even be called that. There were strange, living ink blobs that moaned and reached out at her, but he told her not to worry, they were trial and error creations! Nothing like what Alice would become! And then he introduced her to ‘Bendy’.

He was a sight to behold, a strange creature made of ink, wearing the devil’s signature smile. Joey told her that he was a proto-type for the real Bendy, that this ‘Bendy’ was a trial and error copy, it was just missing the proper ingredient.

That worried Susie, but he assured her that what Alice would need was nothing like what Bendy needed to come to life!

A few nights later, Susie found herself in a strange room she had never seen before, standing on a pentagram. There were people in the room with her, hidden in the shadows, but she could make out cardboard masks of the characters of the series, though they were mainly the Butcher Gang and Boris. She wore an Alice one, the only one, on her face.

Looking through the eye holes, she could see the two Bendy’s, one of them was Joey, the other she wasn’t sure. Joey gave her some sorta boring speech about how she was going to help bring Alice to life, to give her the heart and soul she needed to be on the mortal plane. Something about his words filled her with dread and doubt, but she was determined, she had to meet the beautiful angel that made her feel so special…

Then the lights went out, and when they came back on, the room was rumbling, the scent of ink was suddenly strong, something wet fell from a hole in the ceiling, and Joey was behind her. She barely had time to react as he shouted Alice’s name and slit her throat

Susie gagged on the blood that filled her mouth, then it mixed with the ink that suddenly poured from the ceiling and she dropped to the ground. The pentagram glowed brightly under her, gold, then red, then back to gold. Susie tried to scream for help, but all that came out was gargled words of blood and ink. She tried to scream for Wally, Norman, even Henry! But they weren’t here, she had no one in this room. The actress stared up at Joey, was he still talking? She couldn’t tell, but he seemed conflicted, concerned, gesturing to her as the other seemed to panic.

This was a mistake, she didn’t want to die to bring Alice into the world, she was depressed, yes, but she had so much to live for! Why was this happening!? She didn’t want to die, she didn’t want to die!

Susie~!

What?

Was… was that Alice? That voice, saying her name…

With what little strength she had left, Susie opened her eyes, seeing not Joey, not the strange people in masks, but the perfect angel, sent from above. Alice was solid, real, perfect, and smiling right at her as she held out her hand.

Come on, Susie, come with me so we can make you into an angel!

Yes… yes! Susie wanted to be an angel, an angel worthy of being with Alice!

With shaky, bloody fingers, she reached out to grab Alice’s hand, but her strength was gone. All she felt was her fingers brush against Alice’s own, and hearing her beloved gal sigh softly.

Oh dear, were you really not the one?

NO!

No, no, no! Susie was the one for Alice, the only one for her! No one could have Alice, no one! Not Allison, not Joey, not even Henry! Only Susie could have Alice Angel!

Only Susie could be Alice Angel!

With a screech from a voice that should have died moments ago, and with new found energy, Susie launched herself as the cartoon and grabbed her, pulling her close. The ink and blood that coated her seemed to be covering the black and white of the angelic toon as she struggled to escape, the actress’ skin melting like liquid ink all over her perfect form.

Pain erupted for Susie’s head, as if two things were growing from her skull. There was a bright light over her head as she felt Alice fuse with her skin, blood, and ink. Yes, yes, so this is what her mama meant, that she’d find someone who could make her feel so special. It really was Alice all along, she was her special feeling, her true love.

Dreams come true, Susie. Dreams come true.

--

Years of work, of slaughter and stolen hearts, of too many encounters with the Ink Demon and his Dark Puddles had resulted in something close to perfection. A form that was deserving of the title of ‘Alice Angel’.

She smirked as she strolled through the halls of her domain, where she ruled, where the Ink Demon dare not try to stain her walls with his filthy ink. An axe held tight in her grip as she went to check on traps she had set up for rogue Boris clones or mutated Butcher Gang members that wandered her halls, trailing their tainted ink with them.

It didn’t hurt to see if the Projectionist had left any goodies behind, the fool just liked to maim, never really doing much with the prizes inside. Except on rare occasions where he’d take the hearts and hide them away in the Buddy Boris railway shop. Not even the studio’s angel knew why he kept them there, then again, Norman had always been a strange man in life.

‘Alice’ heard struggling coming from a trap, down a hallway that not many really ventured into. Not much there, just a tape of Wally and Thomas’, a Little Miracle Station with a door that never closed right, and a viewing hole to where the Ink Machine could rise and fall into the dark abyss.

It was in this area that ‘Alice’ stumbled upon a sight she never expected. In so many years of wandering these yellowed, rotten floors has a sight like this never appeared, but right before her eyes was a perfect Alice Angel, captured in a simple rope trap.

Flashes in ‘Alice’s’ mind gave her images of a sweet smile, a gentle hand, and harsh words that made her feel like she wasn’t worthy of the angel of the stage. But this was different, this wasn’t a trick, a spell caused by Joey to spare her, to keep her alive, this was the real deal.

Alice was struggling to untie the rope around her ankles when she noticed that she was no longer alone. Large, dark eyes stared into yellowed ones and ‘Alice’ smirked at the look of fear and curiosity of the sweet cherub’s face.

“Look what Heaven left for me, someone to make me feel so special.”

END

--

If you follow my tumblr and/or twitter, you may be aware of the au I have where Alice saves the studio, Henry, and her girlfriend Susie/Malice.

This is a prequel to that.

Thanks for reading! I have another fanfic in the works for this au!

[adobe-outdesign]

Bunch of Susie n’ Alice Angel Headcanons

Long overdue on these, but better late than never, right?

Pre-Ink Machine headcanons are Susie only, post-Ink Machine are Alice with Susie included.

Pre-Ink Machine

28 at the time of her recordings.

Grew up in Arkansas, then moved to New York both to enjoy suburban life and to find career opportunities.

Her favorite food was honeydew melons.

She was originally planning on just being a singer, and she preformed at lots of various bars after moving. It wasn’t until she was hired to do a quick jingle and some voice over work for a commercial that she realized that voice acting might be her true calling.

(She did still enjoy singing however, and she particularly liked voicing Alice because she could do both. Sammy had been pushing her towards a sole music career like she originally intended, though she wasn’t sure if she still wanted to go that route.)

She had a much wider range than one would really expect, and could also hide her accent if the role demanded it.

She was bi. While she hid it for the sake of her career while working, she was quite well known in queer circles.

She had two girlfriends in the past. The first relationship was a bit messy, but she stayed friends with her former second partner.

She was rather attracted to Sammy, but she never made any romantic suggestions as he was seeing someone at the time. After a while those feelings dulled and she ended up dating Joey after a few very nice romantic outings.

She and Joey kept their relationship on the down-low, but word still got around the studio, Reactions tended to range from feeling that she was just using him to get job security and pay raises to thinking that she could do way better.

While she did legitimately love Joey at the time, he loved her more in the way one loves a new possession rather than the same romantic love Susie felt. Susie never really picked up on this until it was too late (not helped by the fact that Joey was 8 years her senior at the time, making it easy for him to manipulate her without her really realizing what was going on).

Got lost in the studio on her first day. Wally found her on Floor 14 twenty minutes after she was supposed to show up for a recording and had to show her the way back up to the music department.

Had black hair and was a bit on the chubby side.

Also had cute little dimples that only showed up when she smiled.

Usually wore patterned dresses with bows. Sometimes she’d accessorize it with a matching hat if appropriate, usually when she was outside.

(She didn’t really care for the whole Flapper movement however, finding it over-the-top and tasteless.)

Probably one of the nicest people in the studio. There’s really no one there she hated, and no one there disliked her to any strong degree either.

(Except for Allison. Susie did not like Allison. Allison wasn’t actually a bad person, and wouldn’t have taken the role if she knew how much it meant to her, but Susie didn’t know that.)

She and Norman also typically avoided each other, as they were both from the South during the segregation era. Susie’s parents were rich white people who probably would’ve owned slaves if they needed them while Norman’s parents actually were slaves, so that made things more than a little uncomfortable for both of them.

After Susie lost the role of Alice Norman accidentally walked in on her crying, and when he asked her if she was okay she unexpectedly started sobbing into his chest. After a brief moment of surprise he gave her a hug, and while she ran off pretty quickly afterward, she started regarding him as a friend after that point - even after Alice found out what happened to him.

Ironically, she had a pretty severe fear of heights. (Alice, however, does not.)

She rented board from a nice older lady, and was roommates with another girl around her age who quickly became close friends. Said roommate was one of the first people to report her missing.

Post Ink Machine

When she was created the second time, Alice and Susie were separate, but instead of fighting they were scared, confused, and exited together.

It wasn’t until Joey started reminding her that she wasn’t perfect that Alice started to turn against Susie, realizing that she was the reason she wasn’t correct.

In turn, Susie pushed back against Alice, realizing that she wasn’t actually the sweet and innocent cartoon character she loved.

The way their dichotomy works is that one consciousness is in control at any given time, and they dictate their speech and actions. The other consciousness is aware of everything (it feels a bit hazy, like a very intense dream), but cannot do anything of their own will until they regain control.

The one in control is aware of the other’s emotions and thoughts. Sometimes these are vivid enough to be a second set of thoughts, while other times they’re more of a nagging feeling in the back of their mind.

Switching control usually happens seamlessly and automatically, with one mind smoothly "waking up” and nudging the other back.

This switch can often (though not always) be triggered by moments of intense emotion, as this is when the mind is less focused.

Susie’s consciousness is due to her soul being present; Alice’s is her actual mind.

There are times when they share the exact same thoughts, which is when both of their voices sync up and they share control of their body as if they were one mind. This usually only lasts a few moments at best, though it was more common when she was first created.

While Alice is appreciative of Susie “donating“ her soul to make her, she considers her presence a nuisance. This is mostly due to Susie’s refusal to do what they need to stay alive, which oftentimes can hinder an attempt at gaining organs or ink.

Susie wants to die properly and pass on, but she knows that’s not possible. She doesn’t want to return to the puddles, but she also doesn’t want to hurt anyone else to keep her body in tact, so she ends up dong nothing. She would’ve already fallen apart if it weren’t for Alice’s “hard work.”

Susie hates the fact that half the time the voice coming out of her body isn’t actually her voice.

Sometimes she’ll accidentally slip and start speaking in her high-pitched Alice voice when she’s in control. Alice hates that.

Alice spends her time doing everything she can to help make herself perfect and keep herself safe - killing off other cartoons that are a threat, gathering organs and ink, etc.

One thing Susie and Alice do share in common is that they both enjoy singing, especially the tunes that Alice performed in the cartoon. Sometimes if you’re lucky you can hear her when she’s having a (relatively) good day.

The Perfect Boris kind of scares Susie. She can barely stand being with Alice - the thought of her becoming Alice to the point where there’s nothing else left is absolutely terrifying to her.

She does feel a lot of sympathy for him, and has on occasion tried to speak to Boris’ host when she was in control. Unfortunately, she never did get a response.

She has sort of an alliance with the Projectionist - he’ll mindlessly kill anything in his light and leave the body where it lies. Alice will then travel down and harvest parts from the corpses, which is much safer than trying to kill things herself. In a weird way, she still considers him a friend - but he’s still a threat, so she’s not going to complain if Henry kills him either.

Alice is way stronger and way faster than you’d expect her to be.

Despite this, she’s very careful about who and what she attacks. She usually prefers sneak attacks and won’t even attempt to fight anything that she feels could outmatch her, as any given attack could send her back to the puddles.

Susie oftentimes listens to (non-Alice-or-Joey related) recordings she made back in the day when she’s in control. They help remind her of happier times.

Alice has, on more than one occasion, regained control while she was listening, only to throw the tape into the ink to ruin it. As far as she’s concerned, those days are long gone, and she needs to focus on being the perfect Alice.

Susie thinks about Heaven a lot when she’s not in control, fantasizing about cutting off her horns and gaining beautiful white wings instead. Of course she knows that’s never going to happen because she’s a damned soul, meaning those thoughts only serve to make her more miserable - yet she can’t stop obsessing over the idea.

Even though it doesn’t seem like it, Alice basically lives in constant fear - of the other cartoons, of the puddles, and, of course, of Bendy.

[desperatelyseekingroleplay]

Roleplay partners wanted!

My name is Rhys. I am 21 years old, she/her, from the CT, love the color magenta, and own two orange tabbies. I’m looking for partners in my conquest to write! While I can't get responses in every day, I am almost always open to chatter and geeking out about all sorts of things.

  I write third person, past/present tense, and paragraph form. I'm a novella-ish writer, and do try to crank out at least four-six paragraphs each time I get a response in. Like previously mentioned, I want to stress that while I can't respond every day, everything I do write is full of TLC! I always want to mention this to partners beforehand, because I know some people would rather do rapid fire responses than one or two a week. My limits are pretty general; toilet stuff is a no-no. I don't like to write out top/bottom stereotypes or "seme/uke" tropes. Beastiality, pedophilia, and the like are icky things I would rather avoid.

  I write for all genders, ethnicity, and orientations! I am open to any pairings, and beyond that, varying genres.

  https://docs.google.com/document/d/18n3iuj4m9X1hBo9P2IezrKdTfkTrSKt0H34ZP6v3hHs

  LIMITS

________

  No unrealistic stereotypes of queer relationships, please. Yaoi, yuri, seme/uke, etc. Can't do that. Characters need to both have versatile roles; switching, so it's fair for everyone. Though, my characters do tend to be a lot more dominating!

  {{Very welcoming of BDSM, dom/sub, but this does not mean someone needs to be penetrated every single time in order for the dom to dominate. Get it? This can also apply to heterosexual relationships. I would literally love to see female characters who top, if you know what I mean. If given the chance, I will definitely have dom!females in bdsm-related situations}}

  Furries; blegh, no thanks. Beastiality, nekos, anything of sexual animal-related nature is a no-go, fam.

  Vore, scat, bathroom stuff, pedophilia. You know the drill! ((I am not opposed to consensual, legal age and non-reproducing incestuous relationships in FICTION! Sex is fine, just no children resulting from it. Reminder; this is fictional.))

  Okay, so despite those few limits, I am actually pretty welcoming of anything else. Smut, of course. Some kink a little out there that you want to suggest? Let's do it, dude. I am open to polyamorous relationships, any queer shit you're willing to throw at me lmao I am super OOC friendly and I am pretty much a garbled mess when I get to know you! I am open to crooked relationships, ones that don't function right, fluff and all cuteness, unconditional love-- my interests fluctuate! I am down, 24/7, guys! Here's a list of fandoms and pairings below.

_________

  **=Craving

  Borderlands

Handsome Jack/Rhys

Handsome Jack/Rhys/Nisha

Rhys/Axton

Handsome Jack/Nisha

Fiona/Athena

Fiona/Vaughn

Rhys/Vaughn

  Until Dawn

Josh Washington/Chris

Chris/Mike

Jess/Mike

Sam/Beth

Matt/Jess

Emily/Matt/Jess

  Life is Strange

Max Caulfield/Chloe Price

Max Caulfield/Kate Marsh/Victoria Chase

Nathan Prescott/Warren Graham

Rachel Amber/Chloe Price**

Rachel Amber/Frank Bowers

Frank Bowers/Damon Merrick**

  DC

Dick Grayson/Jason Todd**

Dick Grayson/Koriand'r

Dick Grayson/Slade Wilson

Dick Grayson/Wally West

Oliver Queen/Dinah Lance

Harley Quinn/Pamela Isley

Bruce Wayne/Clark Kent

  Batman: Telltale Series

Bruce Wayne/John Doe**

Bruce Wayne/Selina Kyle

Bruce Wayne/Jim Gordon

Bruce Wayne/Harvey Dent

Bruce Wayne/Harvey Dent/Selina Kyle

  Marvel

Steve Rogers/Tony Stark

Tony Stark/Bruce Banner

Bucky Barnes/Sam Wilson

Thor/Bruce Banner**

Clint Barton/Pietro Maximoff

Peter Parker/Harry Osborn

Peter Parker/Wade Wilson**

Gwen Stacy/Peter Parker/Harry Osborn

Peter Parker/Wade Wilson/Vanessa Carlysle

  Uncharted

Nathan Drake/Samuel Drake**

Nathan Drake/Harry Flynn**

Chloe Frazer/Nadine Ross

Samuel Drake/Rafe Adler

  Game of Thrones

Arya Stark/Gendry Waters

Sansa Stark/Margaery Tyrell

Daenerys Targaryen/Jon Snow

  TTGOT

Asher Forrester/Gwyn Whitehill

Rodrik Forrester/Arthur Glenmore

Mira Forrester/Margaery Tyrell

Gryff Whitehill/Elaena Glenmore

Gared Tuttle/Finn

Gared Tuttle/Josera Snow

  The Walking Dead

Rick Grimes/Shane Walsh

Rick Grimes/Negan**

Daryl Dixon/Paul “Jesus” Rovia

  TWDG

Luke/Nick

Javier Garcia/David Garcia**

Clementine/Gabriel Garcia

Javier Garcia/Paul “Jesus” Rovia

  The Mortal Instruments

Simon Lewis/Raphael Santiago

Simon Lewis/Jace Lightwood

Isabelle Lightwood/Lydia Branwell

Alec Lightwood/Magnus Bane

  Infamous: Second Son

Delsin Rowe/Reggie Rowe

Delsin Rowe/Eugene Sims

Delsin Rowe/Hank Daughtry

  Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator

Anyone/your dadsona (for the love of god someone give me a good, not cliche john doe dadsona and you will win my heart!! I just want to play a dad lol bring me some great ass ocs)

  Far Cry 3

Jason Brody/Vaas Montenegro

  The Last of Us

Ellie/Riley

  -

  Some basic ideas that I do have pretty big doc ideas for;

  A few marine biologists go to an island off the coast to study the marine life there, which in turn, turns out to be something much bigger. (Mermaid/siren prompt!)

  Soul mates; it can be like some of those AU’s where you don’t see color until you meet them, your tattooed timer counts down until then, or maybe even soulmates continuously reincarnating and one of the two has killed them for centuries in order to be “immortal”. For the first time, the victimized partner gets close enough that the other begins to fall and they start aging, together.

  Character A has an awful time living in the city; alone, and without mom's guidance, completely lost. One day they receive a call about a deceased relative, one they'd never heard of and apparently left their estate and everything in their will to A. With nothing but the clothes on their back, A took a shot and drove out to this presumed "estate", only to find that it's a mansion in a tiny little town with an eerie vibe and populated by the typical small town churchgoers and farm folk. Living in this town was a hell of a challenge; everyone was nice, too nice, and people were missing. Character B is an exceptionally charismatic, charming person and the only mechanic/handyman in town. A and B become friends, partially, when A needs to fix up the piping in their estate. A stumbles upon the attic one day, and for once, they start to get why this whole town reeked to the roots in weird shit-- their deceased relative was tracking something here in this town, having to do with all of the MIA townsfolk. DR has a board of possible suspects, and at the center? B. OSJFODSFHSDJSODFJD!!! Bonus content: B is, in fact, not the murderer, instead a vampire on a mission to track down the monster, same as DR. small towns give me honey moon vibes and I??? am so down for some kinky, albeit eventually fluffy romance between people who are trying to make it work. I actually have a doc for both TBD characters and a location. None of this is set in stone, so please share your thoughts.

  A doesn’t have any memories of their life, only being conscious and staring down at a mutilated body in a ditch. When they meet B, they learn why; welcome to limbo, they say. You just died. A has unfinished business; finding out who murdered them, why, and what else is holding them here. B is a reaper intent on helping lost souls pass over-- they were never born, and A shows them the delights of life before it’s taken. B learns to love A, and A doesn’t want to leave limbo. While A’s soul is clinging between realities, B must make a pivotal decision; squeezing tight on the concept of love, and letting A go. (BONUS!! REINCARNATION; A & B ARE GIVEN THE GIFT OF LIVING AGAIN, TOGETHER.)

  Coming of age story between two childhood friends who are separated by circumstance, and after ten years, reunite and learn that your first love doesn’t have to be the one that got away.

  Two friends drop their whole lives to go on a road trip once they turn thirty-- they elope together, leaving their unhappy lives behind them and in this grand scheme of mental breakdowns and tearful smiles, they find that love may be the only cure to a broken existence.

  In a post-apocalyptic world where a pandemic has killed off most living species, Character A is a lone wolf with little to do with other people that don't benefit him, except for a select few. A is especially rough around the edges, as he's lived through some sick shit and lived to tell the tale. A had once been part of a group dedicated to finding a cure, but things went south, and a lot of people died. A had a close bond with the leader of said group, and coincidentally they were the only survivors.  Their past together, having been deeply demented and twisted, caused them to fall out. Said leader has rebuilt a new group in the ten years since the last time they'd seen A. Character B is the only known immune person alive, and has dedicated their life to being a resource to finding a cure. A and his (current) contact/partner in crime have something taken from them, and are determined to get it back. They do some searching, and are confronted with this group-- they have what they need, but are only willing to give it to them for a favor in return. No one can outrun their past forever. (Last of Us-inspired!)

  An architect/treasure hunter is being funded an expedition to find a lost treasure and they are forced to bring along a reporter in order to receive the funds. the reporter and architect certainly don't get along in the beginning— they bicker, and clash on most fronts. the expedition wasn't meant to be dangerous. what was initially thought to be a simple job turned into something treacherous; bandits, a team of hired hitmen and their leader looking to take the treasure for themselves, and some rather supernatural elements that they both couldn't quite put a finger on. the treasure hunter and the reporter have to work together to get out of this alive, and get to the artifact before someone else does.

..and many more!! Thanks so much! If you've read through, please contact me at dotiscat@gmail.com and mention kiwi somewhere in your email. n_n

Rhys xoxo

[silverstarsheep]

Commission Information  ||  Redbubble || Patreon

And thanks for all the... Fish! So I feel as though this is something that's needed to be said and explained carefully, as I feel as though people would ask me what my next plan is. I would have to explain my reasoning, and it'd be much easier if I have one place to put it all. Spoilers, by the way.

Now that Sheep Songs is finished, I will not be making any more Bendy and the Ink Machine comics. I might not even make any more fanart of it in general, unless I'm commissioned or hired to do so. While I did love BatIM for a while, and while it DID provide me not only with newfound confidence in my comics, but also a number of opportunities and open doors... I feel as though after chapter 3, I had been betrayed. For me, that chapter completely ruined the game in its entirety--I'll go into that in a little bit. To put it in simple terms: Chapter 2 was a bit iffy for me. Sammy put me on the fence with the cult and satanic tones of the game. However he balanced me nicely and gave me a snack. Chapter 3 on the other hand... Alice ripped the snack out of my hands, ate it in my face and shoved me off the fence and right into the mud. To say that Alice ruined literally EVERYTHING is almost an understatement. Alice is a predictable, boring and really dumb villain. I could predict EXACTLY how her character was going to be, just from ONE line of dialogue--when she mentions you being caught in her web. Listen. When I can accurately predict how a character is going to be just from one little line, THAT'S REALLY, REALLY BAD. She completely ruined the experience for me with her stupid, flat """"""""banter""""""", her unsubtle behavior BORED me, and her overall character frustrated me beyond words. I couldn't stand her, and the overly long and tedious fetch quests did NOT help my thoughts on the matter. I KNOW the Meatly fixed the fetch quests and updated things, but I know he didn't, and I know he WON'T, fix the glaring issues with Alice. She could have been great, but the Meatly tossed his super great and creative premise in favor for a predictable and generic femme fatale that doesn't even try for a second to trick you. She's just, "Oh! I'm evil! By the way, did you know that I was evil? I'm SOOOO rotten, but look at me, I'm cute and perfect, tee hee!" ugh. She tries to be GLaDOS but... She fails. She can't even be compared, really. And don't try to tell me that the chapter is good because we got to have a plank of wood--I mean Boris follow us around. If he did more than just standing around, that would have helped, but HONESTLY. The boy is a plank of wood! He hardly emotes! He hardly reacts! But hey! At least he had more character than Alice, AM I RIGHT?! Ahaah.... Okay, there were some things I did like. The design of the building (even though it's stupidly ridiculous), the atmosphere (even though that was RUINED by the fetch quests and the fact that enemies respawn in the same places... Talk about monotonous and boring...), the twisted toons/Butcher Gang, and the Projectionist. And Wally's always good, but this chapter actually forced me to emotionally detach myself from him. Great. ... But in all seriousness. Chapter 3 left me in a depressive state. I couldn't handle how bad it was, it was SUCH a disappointment. Perhaps I was a little too hopeful; I was willing to look past the issues and flaws beforehand because I adored the ideas. The game had me sold on the concept ALONE. The game has such a creative premise, such neat ideas. I LOVE the ideas and the concepts, but the execution is so poor that it gives me emotional unrest. Again, I had to emotionally detach myself from Wally Franks because I was fearful that he'd get a similar treatment in a later chapter, and if that were the case... I'd be left physically ill. On the night I watched chapter 3, I was sick with anxiety because I was so excited for the new chapter, but I was also nervous for what was to come. I had actual, physical relief when I heard Wally's voice come through a tape recorder, that it actually calmed me to the point where I was no longer anxious. I realized in that moment that he was a comfort character... But I can no longer have that. Because I felt so betrayed by chapter 3. It frustrates me to no end. How amazing this concept is, how great the studio looks and how neat the twisted toons are. But the rest... The execution, the antagonists... They're all so flat and poor. For my own mental health, I must move on from BatIM, however I am still open to taking commissions for art of the game. Just don't expect anything else from it out of me. However, I'd like to leave on a higher note, which is why I drew Edgar. He's my favorite of the Butcher Gang, and inspired a new character of mine, Piper the Spider. And despite not making any more Bendy comics, I WILL continue to make comics as a whole! I have a few projects in mind, so please, stick around! You might just like the next thing I work on! Thank you to everyone who stuck with me through the endeavor that was Sheep songs. It was a wonderful adventure that taught me a lot about comic making, and even a bit about myself. I had a wonderful time making it, and I look forward to the next comic I have in store. Despite my current feelings towards Bendy and the Ink Machine, I DO have to thank it for everything that it gave me. It gave me the spark to start making more comics, starting with The Liar Revealed in Ink part 1 and 2. It inspired me to make even more comics beyond that, full 20-page comics at that! It gave me the inspiration needed to get my gears into motion to make more than just one or two pages worth of comic. Not only that, but it's opened the doors to many things; new followers, new friends, new adventures. It allowed me to meet people I never would have met otherwise, and it's allowed not only myself to grow, but it's also helped others grow through itself, and even through me. So... I do have to thank it. I may have left on a sour note, but I'm still grateful for what it gave to me. And to all of you! For sticking by me!

[yesokayiknow]

iridaceae

It isn’t planned, the first time, but she’s tired and hungry and thinking about the way Wally beamed at her over the row of A’s on his high school report card, and the carefully casual way he’d dropped the word college into the conversation, and, well. She’s never even thought of doing something like this, but she has years of dodging the kids of the criminals her dad put away and the pitying stares of the neighbours after her mom overdosed, years of fighting tooth and nail for the foster system to give her custody of Wally after their dad died; it’s almost too easy to lean over and lift the twenty-dollar bill from the pocket of the man on the bus seat next to her.

She keeps waiting for the guilt to hit her, but they both have food that night, for the first time in weeks, and it never comes.

It’s meant to be only that one time, but no one will hire a college dropout with a kid, and Harrison Wells’ slowing growing particle accelerator brings wave after wave of rich academics.

(she spent years listening to her dad tell her that crime doesn’t pay.

she decides that it does)

A purse from an obnoxious tourist, a watch from a man with grabby hands; it gets easier every time. Once, Iris manages to take a whole suitcase from a distracted professor. It’s the first year that they can afford to keep the heating on for the whole of winter.

There’s a voice in her head sometimes, her dad’s voice tinged with disappointment, but then Wally complains about his course load, or tells her haltingly about the cute TA in his class, and it goes silent.

She finally gets a job, part time at the new coffee shop in the middle of the city, and she knows that it’s an out. That she should stop. She doesn’t.

And so it goes. Barista by day and petty thief by… other parts of the day. It’s funny the things you can get used to.

And then the particle accelerator explodes.

She wakes up the next morning to ancient whispers curling in the back of her mind. She breathes, and the grass outside sways as her chest rises. She laughs, and purple irises sprout up from the box on the windowsill.

Oh, she thinks.

She is life itself, and oh, but she could do anything with this. Be anything.

The electric bill arrives the next morning.

Well.

She’s always wanted to see if she could steal something bigger than a suitcase.

(it turns out that she can. is it bad that finds it fun?

she decides that it isn’t)

She doesn’t mean to pick up a partner, has never wanted to drag someone else into this life, but Iris may be a criminal and a thief (and a metahuman? is that what they’re calling it?) but she isn’t a bad neighbour, and so when she realises that she hasn’t seen the quiet doctor from across the road for nearly a week she decides to check in on her.

Caitlin Snow stares at her with wide, hungry eyes, tendrils of frost reaching out from the corner she’s curled into, and this could be a bad idea, but Iris has never been the type of person that could walk away from someone in need of help.

The first time they try to pull off a job together, Iris ends up with a bullet graze across her arm and Caitlin nearly kills a cop. She decides that this is definitely a bad idea.

She goes to tell Caitlin that it isn’t working, and finds her smiling at the snowdrops poking out through the snow underneath her window ledge.

(it’s the first time that iris has ever seen her smile.

she decides that this isn’t a bad idea)

Wally hands her the envelope not long after, something that a lecturer of his gave him before he went on sick leave and that he’d only just found at the bottom of his backpack.

Iris West, it says, in handwriting that seems to change with every letter, please help. 

His name is Cisco Ramon, and he stares at her with wide, unseeing eyes, and tells her that it’s easier in the worlds that they are friends, and this, she thinks, is it. This is the one idea too bad even for her. He has a seizure twenty minutes after she arrives and while she panics, her vines gently curl around him. 

Told you, he says, grinning, when he comes to, told you you could help.

(she takes him to caitlin to see if she can help with his headaches, and he coaxes a smile out of her quicker than anything iris has seen before.

she decides that she’s never letting him leave)

It should feel weird, being part of a team after so many years of working alone, but there is something about these people, about the way Cisco suddenly bursts into song and the way Iris always joins in, purposely out of key, and the surprised way Caitlin laughs every time; about the way that Cisco and Iris learn to carry matches in case Caitlin suddenly has a cold flare, and Iris and Caitlin learn how to ground Cisco when he slides too deep into another world, and Cisco and Caitlin learn to avoid stepping onto plants. It should feel weird, being part of a team, but Iris looks at these people and thinks family, and maybe that’s why it’s not.

It’s Cisco who makes the suits and Caitlin who finds the abandoned warehouse they decide to use as their base, but it’s Iris who picks the name. Rogues.

(it makes caitlin snort, and cisco grin in the way that means he’s smiling at something only he can see.

she decides that it’s perfect)

It’s easier then, with three of them, with Cisco to guide them through the comms with a distracted running commentary and Caitlin to provide increasingly sarcastic backup and Iris to not so gently remind them both to pay attention when you’re robbing the most heavily guarded bank in Central, you idiots.

She’s a real life supervillain, and Wally’s at the top of his classes and Caitlin smiles more easily and Cisco is more present and flowers line every side of her street and, for the first time in very long time, she is happy.

(there are stories, though. stories of a red streak who runs faster than any person ever has, and who catches criminals before they can even finish carrying out the crime

she decides that they aren’t real)

They decide to rob the Central City Museum, because they’re tired of banks and armoured trucks.

Because they’re bored and they want to test out the museum’s new security system. Because they want to take a strike against elitism.

Because some reason that doesn’t matter, because they’ve only just arrived and then she blinks, and there’s a person. Not a particularly tall or wide or imposing person, but a person, where a second ago there was just an empty space, and she didn’t sense him coming.

Every plant in this city is hers. Every blade of grass, every tree, every flower. Nothing happens without her being aware of it. She can tell the second the seasons change, and when the police are on their way, and when a stranger is walking down her street, but she didn’t know that he was coming until he was standing in front of her.

And she can tell by the sudden flash of Caitlin’s eyes and the surprised silence over the comms that they didn’t sense him either.

They only escape because he’s distracted. By their powers, by their suits, by whoever’s on the other end of his earpiece, and the fact that they have someone on the end of theirs. Always talking and always genuinely excited. He’d get on well with Cisco, she thinks, and that’s what’s she’s thinking as she finally manages to trip him up with a well-placed vine.

This is the point where they should stop.

(well? she says, when they arrive back at the base, and caitlin bares her teeth and cisco has already sketched out half a dozen new designs

she decides that they’re not going to stop)

They end up meeting him at nearly every heist they pull after that.

He’s fast, and it feels stupid to still be surprised but she can’t help it. She’s never met anyone that could outrun her vines, or duck Caitlin’s ice spears, or break Cisco’s tech, and she’d never thought to call her previous life boring, but she’s never realised how much she was holding back every time she used her powers.

(at home, wally raves about his new-found idol, and she toys with the idea of telling him that his new hero is being constantly outfoxed by his big sister

she decides that it would be too petty, but it’s a very near thing)

It becomes a game, almost. How long can they stay at a crime scene before he arrives. How fast does he have to run to dodge her vines. How long will this plant’s toxin slow him down for. How many times can she make him blush.

Because oh, but he’s awfully cute, this scarlet speedster.

(bad idea, she thinks, bad, bad idea

she decides that that’s what makes it fun)

@kendrasaunders

[atomi-cat]

Ok. So, to find out when the game itself takes place, you've gotta know when the studio was open. At first, I assumed that Bendy was a rubberhose toon from the height of that style of cartoons. That would put their timeline between 1925 and 1935. Since Sammy recognized Henry but Henry didn't know about the studio extensions in the basement, Henry would have had to leave the studio sometime around 1928. However, Henry also wasn't around for the instillation of the ink machine,… (Mo 1)

(2) which Sammy said was build “over their heads”. So Sammy was either: 1.) downstairs when the ink machine was built, or 2.) the tape recorder was moved downstairs. We also know from Wally’s recordings that Joey had “everyone” donate something from their workstations, so the employees at that time were pretty few. Each item can probably be associated with a specific person; the book is Joey’s the record Sammy’s, and I imagine the doll belinged to the guy who did toys. (Mo)

(3) But based on how small the company was at the time (and modelling it off Disney’s early years) I can’t imagine Henry wasn’t working there at that time; in fact, the inkwell could be his. So where’s the overlap, and how did Joey publish a book if the company was that small? Demonic hijinks definitely accounts for some of it, but the timing is weird. If (basing this assumption off Wally’s first recording) the ink machine was put up very soon after the pedestals, … (Mo)

(4) then it’s possible Henry left between the pedestals and the ink machine. That still doesn’t leave a lot of time for Henry knowing and being super close to all his coworkers, but it works. UNTIL I saw someone notice the “Buy Bonds” mark I hadn’t seen before on one of the episode posters. When I researched, I couldn’t find any examples of cartoon propaganda in WWI. WWII, however, is well known for it. Now we’d have to rework what we already figured out for a new timeperiod. (Mo)

(5) First off, why would this studio still be using rubberhose-style animation long after it had gone out of style? They probably started the studio right before rubberhose went out, and wouldn’t or couldn’t update it. That puts them starting the studio in the 1934-1935 range. That’s good, because it gives plenty of time between the founding to when it went mad. Wally said that the animations weren’t being finished on time anymore, which means they had a time schedule. (Mo)

(6?) A time schedule like that would probably be imposed by a distributer. At this time, probably the studio was doing a lot of work for the government and military and being funded by them (hence “Buy Bonds”). This is probably about the time that Joey really stopped caring about the actual animations. The extensions probably also happened around then. So when did Henry leave the studio? Probably right before the studio was doing animations for the military. (Mo)

(7) At that time, Joey was probably already starting to slip. There were probably already plans for an extension to the studio, and rudimentary plans for the ink machine. This would’ve been about 1940-1941. Henry would have been really familiar with everyone there, maybe to the point of leaving behind a keepsake that could later be used for the pedestals. The extensions are built, the ink machine installed, more employees hired, and the studio went under probably late 40’s. (Mo)

(8; last one, promise!) Whether the studio went under because of money or demonic issues is up for interpretation. So, assuming that demonic stuff means that Henry went back exactly 30 years after he left the studio, the game may take place in 1970 or 1971. All of that is, of course, a guess. I’ve found it fun to try to connect the game to the actuall history of animation. I guess only time and new chapters will reveal what really happened! Thanks for letting me do this. -Mo💚

Dang when you said it was the length of a novel you weren’t kidding.

Anyways, let’s try and go through this one thing at a time.

In your first point, we actually don’t know how much Henry knows or remembers. It’s entirely possible that Henry left the studio before the installation of the ink machine, but where this idea is sort of muddied is the brief image flashes Henry gets at the end of Chapter 1.

(pay no attention to the text at the bottom. I got these screenshots form my twitch playthough)

These images that we see could be something (or someone) implanting memories into Henry’s head, or these could also be repressed memories. It’s far too early to tell for sure.

While I’m of the opinion that Henry left before the ink machine was built, this still doesn’t really answer when the machine was built and when Henry left. Keep in mind that the game takes place 30 years after Henry left, so if Henry left before the Ink machine was installed, then it wouldn’t have been possible for the ink machine to be made during the early years of the company. If Henry left around 1928 as you suggest, then the current setting would take place around the 1950s, which contradicts your theory about the current setting taking place in the 1970s.

“Built over our heads” seems like an accurate thing for Sammy to say, since the rest of the studio seems to have been built underground. Which, I gotta say, feels like an odd decision in hind sight. I’m not too familiar with how animation workshops were built all those decades ago, but I would think that if they were gonna expand the workshop, they would be building upwards (with like a few floors underground for the boiler room or something). For the items, I think I mentioned this during my let’s play, but I kind of think the items on the pedestals are going to foreshadow what the themes for the next few chapters are. The only sour point in this theory is that there’s 6 items, and only 5 chapters. So either this theory is already debunked, or theMeatly has something else up his sleeve that he’s not telling us about.

“how did Joey publish a book if the company was that small?“

The small size of the company doesn’t necessarily mean the cartoons weren’t popular. Remember that Bendy was popular enough to get merchandise made, which was a big deal, even back in the day. As for the book, I’ve been curious about this too. I feel like I still need to look around a little more, but the earliest example I was able to find about a book talking about animation was in a magazine article published in 1968 (saw it over on this website). This is me just thinking out loud, but what if the book in the game was a manuscript or a prototype? Basically the plans for a book that was going to be published but never was. That would explain the different font styles that are used for the title and Joey’s name. Either that or “Illusion of Living” could also be just a journal Joey was writing notes in. Though going with that idea certainly adds even more ambiguity to the title and what it actually means. Another side note, but thinking about how the Bendy plushie looked in the game, Joey got really lucky to find someone who made the plushie look as cute as it did. Have you seen what old vintage toy merchandise looked like? It’s the stuff of nightmares I tell ya. Look up what some of Mickey’s old merch used to look like and I guarantee you’ll never find creepy pasta or SCP stories scary ever again. Anyways, I actually think the pedestals were put up after the ink machine was built. In the very first recording we hear in chapter 1, we first hear complaints about the ink machine, but then we hear about how Joey wanted people to donate things from their desk. Around the time of that recording, it makes it sound as though it was fairly recent event. We can also use this to get a better idea just how far into madness Joey was descending (assuming he didn’t already completely lose it).

Animation was a fairly new thing at the time, and the creation of characters like Felix the cat, and the Out of the Inkwell cartoons came just at the tail-end of WWI (1918), so it makes no sense for there to be propaganda cartoons for a war that ended. WWII happened during a big transition period for a lot of animation companies, not to mention doing propaganda cartoons, or advertising or encouraging the purchase of war bonds meant more cartoons could be funded. From what I understand, propaganda cartoons started being made roughly around 1941, a time when not every cartoon made the transition to color, yet. Here’s another interesting thing of note. Out of the official posters made for BATIM, only one of them has the ‘buy bonds’ thing on the poster. And that poster is “The Dancing Demon”. It’s also a fair note that the posters probably aren’t a good representation of what the actual animation in the cartoons, because for all we know, “the dancing demon” might have been the first Joey Drew cartoon to conform to the style of animation was being used at the time. In fact, knowing about all this now, adds a kind of marketing reason as to why Bendy’s head appears to be missing from the dancing demon poster. If that cartoon was made during the early 1940s, then not showing Bendy’s face may have been for the purpose of a  big face reveal- an introduction to a possible redesign. Mickey’s first redesign was in 1939, and 1940 was the official introduction of Bugs bunny, so I think something like that wouldn’t be too far out of the realm of possibility. Since we don’t know what the rest of the chapters have in store for us, I’m almost willing to bet we’ll see more cartoon posters (especially with the 2nd fanart contest underway). If more posters with the ‘buy bonds’ thing appear, then I think it would better support the idea of the studio being made around the decline of rubber hose animation. As for the time schedule thing, it would actually make less sense if they didn’t have a time schedule. Cartoons not meeting a deadline as always been a concern. That’s in part why cartoons characters had such a simple design, and one of the reasons why doing movie-length animation was such a big risk. I’m not saying this isn’t a clue as to all the problems going on in the studio, but compared to everything else that was going on, this could be seen as a more common problem, and is understandable if it’s been easily dismissed.

Henry leaving before the propaganda cartoons is possible, but then does that mean the ink machine was made in the 40s? Is the 40s when everything started going under? Honestly, the studio going under during the 40s is likely, but that still makes me wonder how long the ink machine was around. Actually this kinda makes me wonder if the ink machine was partially made to try and meet the demands of cartoons, or at the very least it would be a good cover up if it had ulterior purposes. As much as people like to make the comparison to Disney, a lot of BATIM’s Deisgn, and even possibly its timeline kinda takes after from the Fleischer brothers. The pie-shaped eyes, the human-looking female counter part, and even the timeline all feel like things that fit very well with Bendy and the Ink Machine. I’d almost even think the timeline of the Fleischer studios could be a good point of comparison for the game. I can’t get an exact date, but it looks as though Fleischer studio stopped making cartoons around the early 40s, which almost sounds it could be a possibility for when Joey’s studio went under. Still doesn’t exactly answer when the ink machine might have been built, but I think the early 40s might be more of a better guess for when the studio eventually closed down.

If the studio was ultimately done in by all the satanic rituals (which looks to be 99% on the mark), I would think that would either be covered up,or any mention about devil worship would be spoken along the lines of how someone talks about a ghost story or an urban legend. Basically treated as a story made to scare kids, or denture people trying to break into the building.If at some point the cartoons just stopped, all of the worked may have just got up and eventually left. It’s also entirely possible that at some point, the studio was just left to rot, with anyone who could get out, did, and then just never spoke about what happened. 

I think I mentioned this in a different post, but I also think the game taking place during the 1970s is almost confirmable. Not just from everything we talked about here, but because of the tapes that we see throughout the studio. I took some time to look at what old vintage tapes looked like a few decades back, and I noticed that the tape recorders from the 60s and 70s look pretty dang close to the design of the tape recorders we see in the game. 

(tape from the game)

(1960s tape recorder/player)

(1970s tape recorder/player)

You wanna know the spook/funny part about all this? If the game really does take place in the 1970s, that means the recordings had to have come from either the 1930s-40s, and that someone took the time to re-record them on a new device. Just for the purpose of placing them around the studio in the hopes you would find them and listen to them. It feels too deliberate to be coincidence.  The question now is who did all this? 

-phew!- This was a doozy, but this was fun to talk about! And yeah, I’m with you that it was fun to take some times and look into the history of animation to try and figure out. I’m such a sucker for stuff like this. XD Anyways, this was really interesting. Thanks for the discussion. ^^

[pjsblogs-dc]

Absentminded Advice

Nightwing /Dick Grayson x Reader

Based on the Young Justice Nightwing

Warning: This is set after the Young Justice Season 2 finally, Spoilers!

Y/N = Your Name

Y/LN = Last Name

Summary: It is just after the Endgame, and you are sitting at Wayne Manor worrying about the fate of Dick and Bruce, when the two of them come home. Bruce tells you some bad news and Dick is taking hard. You try to comfort him and you absentmindedly made him feel better. He then tells you his feeling about you.

You have seen your fair share of impossible over the last few years working with Bruce Wayne as his personal assistant. You know he is Batman and that was, in fact, the main reason why you were hired.

One day, a few years back, you were kidnapped by the Riddler and were held as a hostage so Batman and Robin would try and save you, and they did, but the Riddler tried to revel who they were. He asked question that stuck in your head. So you decided to follow the trail of the riddles, and that trail lead you to Bruce Wayne’s doorstep.

You were scared at first. It not every day you found out the secret ID of a Justice League Member, let alone Batman’s ID, you didn’t know what he was going to do to you.You thought that he was going to try and kill you or mind wipe you, but he offer you a job instead.

He explain that he need someone in Wayne Industries that knew his secret to help him with the League and to cover for him when he had to slip away and do Batman stuff. You were happy to help.

Working at Bruce’s side, you got to meet Dick Grayson. You had a small crush on Dick since you were a little kid, but as you got to know him, your crush grew. You tried to hide it knowing it was a bad idea to date your boss’s kid. Plus, you knew he never would have feeling towards you, because you were not a superhero,and you doubted he ever noticed you because of that. Especially with all of the problem in the world that need Batman’s and Nightwing’s attention.

The current number one problem: 

The Reach.

But you were not worried about that at the moment, surprisingly, you were worried about Bruce and the other five members who were on trial for their “crimes” against the galaxy. Last thing you hear is that things were not looking good and they were likely going to die. Dick kept saying that you shouldn’t worry about it, but that is all you can do. You where on your way to Wayne Manor to see how things were going, when you hear that the Reach were not welcome on the planet anymore. You knew that they wouldn’t go without a fight and you started to worry even more. Then the “natural disasters” started when you showed you at Wayne Manor. You sat with Alfred in Wayne Manor worry about the fate of the world and Dick, Tim, Barbara, and Bruce and if they were going to come home or not. You and Alfred didn’t turn on the news not knowing what was going on and fearing for the worst.

Hours seemed like days to the two of you, until you hear a knock on the door. You were scared at first. Was it a League member here to tell you that Bruce died or a Team member here to tell you that Dick, Tim, or Barbara had died like Jason on a mission. You followed Alfred to the door to find Bruce standing there with Dick.

You squealed and ran and hugged the two.

“Please don’t do anything that stupid again.” you said, knowing that they would do it again in a heartbeat if it meant saving the world.

“Good to see you, too.” said Bruce laughing. Dick didn’t say anything, he looked sad and pained. As if someone had died. 

Wait. . .

“Where is Tim and Barbara?” you said, worried something bad has happened to the two of them.

“They have a mission to go on.” Bruce said, walking into the manor. He give Alfred a quick hug and headed to his study. You wonder if he was heading to the Batcave so soon after getting back to Earth.

“So Dick-” I started

“Y/N, may I have a word with you?” Bruce said.

You signed and walked into the study. Bruce was sitting in his leather chair, he looked years old. You wonder for a moment what happened at the Trials that took so much out of Bruce.

“Yes, Bruce?”

He looked at me with great pain in his eyes.

“Kid Flash died today.”

You gasped. You knew that Dick and him were best friend, he even was trusted with Dick’s and Bruce’s secret IDs. You had no idea what Dick was feeling. What was it like losing your best friend?

“Dick is going to need time and some comfort, so you know.”

I nodded and left the study.You were deep in thought when you smelled something sweet and followed it to the kitchen, where Alfred was making cookies. He was pulling out a fresh batch out of the oven as you walked in. You were going to try and steal some when Alfred turn his back to you but he said,

“Y/N Y/LN, don’t you touch Master Grayson’s cookies.”

“But-”

“No buts” he said.

“Please!” you said.

Alfred signed.

“You can take the cookies to him, and the cookies must get to him.”

“Yes.” you said as you grab the plate of cookies and ran out of the kitchen.You wander through the Manor for a bit before finding him on the roof. Dick looked like he was in deep thought, and they were not good thoughts.

You cleared your throat and Dick turn his head and looked at you.

“Oh . . .um . .  hi Y/N” he said, he sounded sad and tired, but he looked like he had the weight of the world was on his shoulders, and he did in was.

“Alfred said I had to found you and give you some of the cookies he made.”

He said nothing.You signed and walked over and sat next to him. The two of you sat in silence before you spoke.

“Bruce told me about . . .” you trailed off. You didn’t want to say it not knowing how Dick would react.

Dick said nothing, and you sighed. You looked at the sunset. The sunset looked beautiful.this feels odd that the world can be so beautiful at a time where there is so much pain and lose in the world. That the world can move on when things like the Reach come in and do crazy stuff, and leave a trail of pain and tears in their wake.

“You are so right.” Dick said turning to look at you.

You blushed.

“I said what I was thinking again, wasn’t I.”

Dick smiled, you like that smile. You like how his whole face light up when he smiled and he looked happy for a moment.

“Yes, you did. You do that a lot did you know that right, Y/N.”

You blushed and turned away from Dick, you didn’t know that and you didn’t want to embarrass yourself any more than you have already.

“Y/N?” Dick said.

You turn to face Dick to find the your faces were a few inches apart. You looked into his bright blue eyes and saw all the pain in them. You felt bad for Dick. No one should have that much pain at this young of an age.

“Y/N, when you get so much wisdom?” Dick whispered, a smile on his lips again.

“I’m saying what I think again aren't I,” You sighed and turn away from Dick. “I need to stop doing that.”

“Don’t”

“What?”

You turn to face Dick, he was still very close to you.

“I like that about you. You say what ever is on your mind, even if it is accidentally. I love to hear what you think.”

You blush.

“Really?”

“Really. I like you, Y/N and with everything going on over the last few week I realized I have never told you my feeling. And with Wally’s death. . . .”Dick trailed off and looked away from you as if ashamed of his feeling.

“Dick?”

“Hmm?” he said turning to you.

It was your turn to look away from him.

“I had a crush on you for along time, but I was afraid to tell you because I thought you wouldn’t like me because I was not a superhero. I’m normal and I thought-”

Dick grabbed your hand and with the other lifted your chin so he could look in your eyes.

“Y/N, I love who you are don’t think for a second I want you to change. I love how you worry when we go on a mission, no matter how simple it is. I think it is cute how you threaten me and the team if we get reckless. I love everything about Y/N.”

You were blushing super hard now. Dick cupped your face and pulled you in for a kiss. You were surprised. The kiss was short but it was still full of love and wanting. And as you pulled back, Dick turned red.

“Y/N I’m sorry. It just that. . .You looked so beautiful and-” Dick rambled on a bit before you kissed him. This kiss was better and longer than the last one. As you pulled away, you turned red.

“So much for not showing my feeling towards you.”

Dick laughed.

“Kid Flash always said that you had feeling to me and I didn’t believe him.”

You laughed.

“I didn’t say anything because I knew thought it was a bad idea to date your boss’s kid.”

Dick laughed as he pulled you into a his lap and wrapped his arms around you.

“I doubt Bruce will not mind, as long as you still show up to work and everything.”

You laughed as you lean you head on his shoulder and watch the sunset on Gotham, and part of you felt better knowing that tomorrow was a new day and things would get better for you and Dick.

[eruriku]

fic: would it still be christmas without you

Title: would it still be christmas without you Characters: Wally West/Artemis Crock Word Count: 3,712 Rating: T Summary: How many things can go wrong the day Wally needs to give his Christmas gift to Artemis? Too many. Established relationship. Disclaimer: WE LIVE, WE DIE, WE LIVE AGAIN!! #YJ3 Notes: My super late story for Tumblr user @wallyrudolphtherednosedspeedster for the @yjficexchange! I'm so sorry it's late beyond the original agreed upon deadline but I promised to myself that I'd give you something more than 400 words, it being a Christmas gift and all! The quality of the story below is not to my preferred standards, I think, but a good start to getting back into the grind. Please enjoy and belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all! Here's to Young Justice Season 3!

⚡/AO3

would it still be christmas without you

There’s really nothing worse than losing your girlfriend’s Christmas present a few days before Christmas.

– Actually, no. No, wait.

There is most definitely something worse than losing your girlfriend’s Christmas present (which, by the way, took you an entire two weeks to come up with, and another week and a half to track down) less than a week before Christmas, and that is this: if you do all of the above an hour before you’re meant to give it to her.

Let’s rewind.

•

Wally West is 19 years old and too young to die at the hands of an irate girlfriend.

He zips back and forth, in and out of rooms, up and down the stairs looking for the present, all the while completely ignoring his mother’s rule of Under No Circumstances Are You Permitted To Use Your Superspeed In My House.

“This is so stupid,” Wally mutters in frustration, dashing from his room to the bathroom in the hallway, hoping that the present had somehow managed to make its way from the closet of his room to some hidden corner of the bathroom. Maybe his mom moved it? (Why would she move it to the bathroom?)

“Wally,” he hears his dad’s voice call out from inside his study.

“Are you alright out there?”

“I’m fine, Dad,” Wally leans out of the bathroom to reply to his father before stepping back into the bathroom and scanning the space quickly. “Damn!”

“Language, Wally,” his dad’s voice calls again with little to no bite in his tone. In the back of his mind, Wally rolls his eyes. How many times has he heard his dad swear badly enough to earn himself a timeout on the porch? (So many.)

“Dad, have you seen Artemis’s present?” Wally asks, speeding into his father’s study and completely ignoring the language comment. His dad frowns at him at the mention of the present.

“Have you checked your closet?” he says slowly, and Wally shakes his head in slight annoyance before glancing at his watch.

“Already did, and pretty much scoured the entire house too,” he says, running both of his hands through his hair in irritation before resting them on the back of his neck, his eyes darting all over the place in mild stress.

“Aw, man, what am I gonna do, Artemis is gonna kill me!”

“Artemis isn’t going to ‘kill’ you, kiddo, she’s just going to be … a little disappointed, that’s all,” his dad starts.

“Thanks, Dad, appreciate the pep talk, but she really will kill me, and we both know that she actually can so my best chance of seeing you guys for Christmas this year is finding that dumb d–”

Wally stops talking abruptly at the sound of a series of short, excited barks from the kitchen downstairs. He and his dad look at each other for a split second before Wally zips down to the kitchen, fast enough to rip the hanging photo frames off their hooks to clatter to the floor and leaving a mess in his wake.

His dad sighs and bends down to pick the photo frames up one by one.

“Scoured the entire house, huh?” he mutters to himself, shaking his head in amusement.

•

Wally West is 19 years old and has his last date of the year with his girlfriend in less than 19 minutes. Boy, does he love irony.

He finds her Christmas present prancing around the backyard, poking around the bushes and rustling his mom’s lovingly placed Christmas lights. The little puppy is enjoying the cold and crisp winter air and wagging his tail, panting and running around like he hadn’t seen the sun just a few hours ago. Bless her heart but Wally’s mom wanted to let the dumb dog stretch its legs for a little bit before Wally brought him over to Gotham City to give to Artemis.

He hasn’t name the little guy yet. He’ll leave that for Artemis to decide. (In the meantime, he’s been referring to him as Artemis Jr. He thinks it’s cute. His mom and dad agree that Artemis should probably choose a name.)

Wally carefully puts Artemis Jr into a small dog carrier bag that’s packed with a few select treats his mom probably-definitely snuck in while he wasn’t looking and has a special strap to fix to his back for extra stability during super-speed travel.

Kid Flash has never had a canine sidekick before, so this is a little exciting. Wally’s mind runs away from him for a second and he wonders: if Artemis Jr were Kid Flash’s trusty sidekick, what would he be called? Flash Dog? Dash? Bullet? Speedo? (Definitely not that last one.) Artemis would know what to call him.

He’s ready to sprint to his date to talk to Artemis about this exact topic when his mom’s arm shoots out and blocks the open doorway, forcing him to screech to a halt.  

She asks him to run her an errand and pick up some butter ‘real quick’ (“Ha ha, you’re hilarious, Mom.”) because she knows he can and doesn’t get to use the excuse “I can’t, Mom, I don’t have time!” but he tries it anyway.

“I can’t, Mom, I don’t have time!”

In response, she gives him a loving smile but places her palm on his cheek in a gesture that’s simultaneously gentle and intimidating.

“Sweetheart, if you can break the sound barrier in your sneakers, you can run and get me some butter from the grocery store.” She says this in a tone that’s sweet and patient on the outside but steely and ice-cold underneath. She also has her No Dicking Around Face on (that’s what Wally calls it, not her) so he knows he’s got no say in this.

He refrains from actually telling her this, but Wally really thinks she and Artemis need to stop hanging out so much.

•

He avoids looking at his phone and hopes to God that Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas” (his current ringtone, chosen for the festivities) doesn’t blast from it in the next fifteen minutes. After he gets his mom’s stupid stick of butter, he shrugs Artemis Jr in the dog bag over his shoulders again, straps the bag tightly to his back, and bursts out of the house after calling out a quick “bye!” and beginning his sprint towards Gotham.

Less than a minute of running later, Mariah starts singing.

“Aw, no, now what!”

Wally veers around a suspicious patch of ice on the road and reaches up to tap the side of his goggles to answer his phone.

“You’ve got KF,” he grumbles.

“Are you sure?” the voice on the other end laughs quickly. “‘Cause it sounds more like I’ve got the Grinch.”

“Put a sock in it, Rob, what do you want? This isn’t the best time right now!” Wally says, spotting a crowd of children building snowmen in the distance and detouring around the block to avoid them.

“I know, I know,” Dick says, and he actually sounds a little apologetic. “But you’ve got fourteen minutes left until your thing with Artemis and Artemis Jr, and that’s plenty of time to take care of a crook at the Upper East Side.”

Wally’s silent for about two seconds.

“Dude.”

“Pretty please?”

“No way! I am too young to die at the hands of my own girlfriend,” Wally swerves on the road just in time to avoid a young couple bringing in armloads of what appears to be giant Christmas presents.

“Oh, come on, Wally, don’t be such a drama queen.”

“Rob! Just because Artemis and I are trying out this part-time hero trial thing with the team doesn’t mean we’re automatically put on clean up crew! Come on, man, it’s Christmas!”

“Exactly! It’s Christmas,” Dick agrees wholeheartedly. “So do us a solid for the season and send this guy back home to his mother or something.”

Wally groans but quickly checks his watch, rustling the bag a little bit, eliciting a soft whine from Artemis Jr.

“You’re the closest guy we’ve got right now, Wallman,” Dick says. Wally rolls his eyes. What does it matter? A call from Rob, who’s on-duty at the cave on a Saturday, means a direct order from Batman himself. Even if he were the furthest from the Upper East Side right now, if Batman told him to go catch a crook, Kid Flash would have to go catch the crook.

“I’ll go, jeez,” Wally mumbles, already turning a different corner to circle back towards the Upper East Side of Central City. He’s got about eleven different ways to beat up the criminal but no ideas about what to say to Artemis if he’s late. This guy better be worth it.

•

The crook’s a bit of a loser, to be perfectly honest.

When Wally arrives at the location of the crime, he kind of pauses for a second and wonders who in their right mind would try to rob a shabby, run-down but quirky old guitar store a few days before Christmas. Then he realises no bad guy is ever really in their right mind and dashes in to do his hero thing.

The crook is obviously some poor kid who’s just dropped out of college and is kinda-sorta taking out all of his frustrations on society, the guitar store that wouldn’t hire him, and subconsciously, his mother probably (Wally’s been watching a lot of Criminal Minds and has a lot of theories about the psychological workings of criminals these days but never mind that). To put it simply, Wally’s a little miffed that he was diverted from his journey for this, but it’s easy enough to knock the kid out (he wouldn’t listen!) and drop him off at the police station with a haphazardly written note about the details of the crime and a scrawny Merry Christmas!! -⚡︎ scribbled on the back of a guitar receipt.

He doesn’t have the heart to leave the ransacked store as messed up as it is before taking the college kid to the police station, so Wally takes an extra few seconds to string the lights back up, righten the obscenely rock and roll-themed Christmas tree, and rearrange the abundance of other ornaments and decorations before giving the overwhelmed cashier a salute, wishing her a Merry Christmas, and sprinting out the door.

Job done, he checks his watch as he starts his run.

Eleven minutes.

•

Eleven minutes is more than enough time for someone like Wally to get from one city to another, despite being on the other end of Central City. He should’ve gotten to the pub in under two minutes. What he hadn’t accounted for was little Kevin Yu and his dumb cat.

Right before he crosses the border into Gotham, he catches the faint crying of a little boy and dammit (really, damn his noble and pure heart), of course he has to stop and make sure everything’s alright.

The little Taiwanese boy (Kevin) has this fat gray American Shorthair that’s somehow managed to climb to a high branch of a tree in front of Kevin’s house. Wally doesn’t ask how it got there. He doesn’t need to know. All he knows is that the stupid cat takes about ten minutes to come down from the stupid tree, scares the poor pup in the bag on his back, and the worst part of it all isn’t even that he’s officially late for his date with Artemis. It’s that after ten minutes of pleading and begging and borderline shouting at the damn feline, it finally comes down all on its own the second he gives up and sits down on the ice cold grass.

“Perfect! Problem solved. See ya, kid!” Wally doesn’t spare Kevin Yu and the fat gray American Shorthair another second and disappears from his position on the grass in a burst of cold air and urgency.

•

Artemis Crock is 19 years old and super ready to hit the beach in Vietnam and soak up some sun in Saigon. She is so sick of Gotham winters, but more than that, all she really wants right now is to spend some quality time with her dork faced speedster, wherever he is.

She’s just arrived at her and Wally’s favorite pub and checks her watch. Right on time.

Artemis checks that Wally’s Christmas gift (two tickets to see Yellowcard one last time in San Diego in March) is tucked safely in her bag before pushing the door open and heading for their usual spot (yes, they have a usual spot, they’re that kind of couple). She nods a greeting toward Weird Dave, one of the staff members of the pub who has a pretty obvious and pretty weird crush-slash-obsession with her, but he’s never been anything but extremely polite and kind to her so she’s always tried to be at least civil to him. Wally hates Weird Dave.

He gives me bad vibes.

The thought of Wally makes Artemis snort and she takes a seat, setting her bag next to her. She spends a few moments taking in the Christmas decor of the pub and the cozy atmosphere that she and Wally fell in love with instantly. She recognizes Nat King Cole crooning softly in the background along with a recording of a crackling fireplace. There’s a tree in the corner of the room decorated almost to perfection with a star perched on the top, fake snow and an assortment of ornaments hanging from the branches at appropriate areas. The place looks absolutely amazing for the holiday and Artemis is suddenly immensely glad Wally had insisted on one more date before she and her mom left for Vietnam.

She’s about to choose what she wants to order when she hears a slight commotion from the entrance of the pub. She cranes her neck to get a better look and witnesses Wally of all people stumbling into the pub, followed by an irritated and grumbling Weird Dave, who’s holding a broom looking like he’s ready to practice a few swings on a certain redhead.

“Could you not track dirt into this place every time you come by, West?”

“Shut up, Dave!”

Artemis raises her eyebrows in curiosity and confusion (more confusion) and watches as Wally whisks past Weird Dave and automatically heads to their table, leaving a small trail of dirt and snow behind him. Behind him, Weird Dave mutters a curse but forfeits for the time-being and resumes cleaning up Wally’s mess.  

Meanwhile, Wally starts apologizing before his butt even hits the seat.

“Babe, I’m sorry, you wouldn’t believe the morning I’ve had, I could tell you at least four stories about everything that could’ve gone wrong that did go wrong, like, can you believe Dick had the balls to call me on a Saturday to do a job, like what are we, clean up crew? And wait ’til you hear about Kevin and his stupid fat cat, oh my God, it was all I could do to even get here and now Weird Dave is being weird again just ‘cause you’re looking gorgeous and A+ as usual, honestly, babe, we really need to do something about him–“

“Wally. Just. Stop for a second.”

Wally pauses and blinks.

“Right. Right, you’re right. But I am sorry. I wanted to be here first,” he says, rubbing the side of his face with one hand and reaching over the table and holding onto hers with the other.

“You’re not even a minute late,” Artemis says, smiling slightly. “So don’t worry about it.”

Wally peeks up at her from behind his hand.

“You’re the best, you know that?” Artemis tries to resist the warmth that rises to her cheeks but it still erupts in a soft flush, so she rolls her eyes to counteract it.

“You remind me pretty frequently,” she says, gripping his fingers.

“Not enough,” Wally argues with a slight shake of his head. Artemis swallows at the adoring look in his eyes. They’ve been together for four years and the fact that he’s still so clearly head over heels for her never fails to astound her.

“Alright already, I get it, we love each other, moving on,” she jokes. “Now why is your suit sticking out of your bag?”

“Oh, shit,” Wally reaches behind and gently arranges the yellow and red cloth deeper into the duffel bag.

“Also, what’s up with the bag? It looks new.”

Wally’s silent for a moment, contemplating whether he should bring Artemis Jr out now and reveal the Christmas present or to save it for after or during the date.

“Also, why is the bag whining?” Artemis asks. “Wally, do – do you have an animal in there?”

A slight frown grows on Artemis’s face and now she just looks downright worried.

Wally laughs weakly and decides to just go for it. He brings the bag onto his lap and zips it open, angling the bag so she can see the little guy clearly.

“Merry Christmas?”

Artemis Crock is 19 years old and has wanted a dog for 14 of those years, ever since her first encounter with a perky and friendly golden retriever on her way home from school. Wally’s known this for four years now. He watches her eyes slowly widen and carefully studies her expression change from shock to disbelief to confusion to more disbelief. Her eyes are fixed on Artemis Jr for the longest moment and Wally starts to worry whether he made the right call. Then she turns her eyes towards him and his heart jumps into his throat. She’s tearing up a little.

“Is he–”

“West, is that a dog? Didn’t you read the sign, we don’t allow animals in here!” Weird Dave’s weird voice suddenly pipes in and Wally witnesses something crack in Artemis’s expression before she whirls around and hisses at Weird Dave.

“Shut up, Dave!”

•

There’s nothing better than spending the afternoon at a cute little hole-in-the-wall cafe after getting kicked out of your and your girlfriend’s favorite pub. Obviously it would be better if you weren’t kicked out in the first place, but this cafe’s just as cozy, if not a little smaller, with a tasteful selection of fairy lights and Christmas lights dotting the establishment and an array of snowflakes and other Christmas decorations to add to the small and simple Christmas tree by the front door. The best part is, this place loves animals.

Artemis renames her Christmas present, not even hesitating after Wally introduces the pup to her as Artemis Jr. She doesn’t even blink an eye when Wally questions her name choice.

What the heck kind of name is Brucely?

What the heck kind of name is Wally?

…Touché.

And of course, it would be better if your girlfriend was actually able to spend the Christmas holidays with you, but she and her mom deserve a holiday away from the grey and grim grasp of the city and instead in the glorious warm embrace of Southeast Asia.

“And I’ll be back in no time,” Artemis leans over and plants a firm kiss on Wally’s jaw. “So just hang in there for a week or so.”

“Oh, please, you make it sound like I can’t live without you near me at all times,” Wally says, putting a hand on Artemis’s thigh to keep her from moving away and playing with the concert tickets on the table top. She gives him an unimpressed look.

“Babe, the entire team knows that it’s true,” she says with a slight smirk, and Wally breaks into a grin. He snakes an arm around her waist and tugs her closer, giving her a real kiss and getting a taste of her gingerbread latte. Mixed in with the peppermint in the hot chocolate he ordered, Wally feels like no amount of eggnog or candy canes or gingerbread men will ever come close to tasting as close to Christmas as this.

He mumbles a sweet Merry Christmas into the corner of Artemis’s lips and she kisses him back in response, and they start laughing when Brucely breaks them up, bouncing into Wally’s lap and licking their chins to get a taste of Christmas, too.

•

Wally West and Artemis Crock are 19 years old and too young to start growing up, but old enough to adopt a three month old puppy to love and nourish and spoil. Wally would prefer to spend the holidays with his best girl, but he and Brucely will still be around when she gets back.

Plus. There’s always next Christmas.

fin

[filosofablogger]

‘Twas the Jolly Monday before Christmas, And all ‘round the ‘net, Every creature was stirring, And making me fret.

-Filosofa

Okay, folks, that’s the extent of my poetic talent.  The part about every creature stirring is true … the kitties get restless when there are goings-on afoot, such as present wrapping, packages being carried in, and they have been in rare form tonight … only two fights so far, but Boo has been doing his best to turn the television over trying to get at the kitty he thinks is inside of it.  Young Boo has recently developed a television addiction.  I blame daughter Chris for this, as she plays kitty videos for him when she’s home.  When she’s not home, he’s fine, but the minute she walks through the door in the evening, he jumps up on the table in front of the t.v. and waits for her to turn it on for him!

Since this is the last Jolly Monday before Christmas, naturally Jolly and I have done a bit of festive baking.  (Jolly’s cookies came out a bit burnt, but he worked so hard on them that I hope you’ll eat one anyway, so as not to hurt his feelings)  So, grab a treat and a cuppa, and let’s work on that Christmas spirit, shall we?  Oh, and Hugh … there’s a special treat for you … you’ll know it when you see it!  Cheers!

And for our young friend Benjamin, who is back for the first time in over a month … 

Benjamin’s juice boxes — but he’ll share if you ask nicely!

I found some interesting, fun Christmas-related trivia I think you might enjoy …

Jingle Bells was written for Thanksgiving, not Christmas. The song was written in 1857 by James Lord Pierpont and published under the title One Horse Open Sleigh. It was supposed to be played in the composer’s Sunday school class during Thanksgiving as a way to commemorate the famed Medford sleigh races. Jingle Bells was also the first song to be broadcast from space. Nine days before Christmas in 1965, the two astronauts aboard Gemini 6 suddenly sent an odd report to Mission Control that they saw an “unidentified flying object” about to enter Earth’s atmosphere, traveling in the polar orbit from north to south. They interrupted the tense report with the sound of “Jingle Bells” with Wally Schirra playing a small harmonica and accompanied by Tom Stafford with a handful of small sleigh bells they had smuggled aboard for that very occasion.

Japanese people traditionally eat at KFC for Christmas dinner. Although the percentage of Christian people in Japan is close to zero, every Christmas, kids and grown-ups head to the closest KFC to enjoy some fried chicken – the closest food to turkey that you can get in Japan. It’s all thanks to a successful “Kentucky for Christmas!” marketing campaign in 1947. First aimed at foreigners, KFC offered a “Christmas dinner” that contained chicken and wine – a meal that remotely resembled the food expats and tourists had at home. After a huge success, Kentucky Fried Chicken started promoting this offer every year, until the fast food chain became strongly associated with the holiday season.

Iceland has 13 Santas and an old lady who kidnaps children. Christmas in Iceland is a colorful fusion of religion, fairy tales and folklore. Instead of one Santa, the kids are visited by 13 Yule Lads that either reward children for good behavior or punish them if they were naughty. The holiday period begins 13 days before Christmas and each day one of the 13 Yule Lads comes to houses and fills the shoes that kids leave under the Christmas tree either with sweets and small gifts or rotting potatoes, depending on how that particular child has behaved on the preceding day. The mother of Yule Lads, half-troll, half-beast, horrifying old woman Grýla, kidnaps naughty kids and boils them in her cauldron.

You might want to brew a cup o’ tea when decking your halls this year. The origin of Christmas trees goes all the way back to ancient Egyptians and Romans, who marked the winter solstice with evergreens as a reminder that spring would return soon. But it wasn’t until Prince Albert of Germany introduced the tree to his new wife, Queen Victoria of England, that the tradition really took off. A drawing of the couple in front of a Christmas tree appeared in Illustrated London News way back in 1848 and as we say today, the idea went viral.

According to Coca-Cola, Santa used to look a lot less jolly — even spooky. It wasn’t until the beverage company hired an illustrator named Haddon Sundblom in 1931 to create images of Santa for magazine advertisements that we got the warm and friendly Santa we know today. Now, kids wouldn’t fear interrupting Santa’s nightly work.

According to legend, we hang our stockings by the chimney with care thanks to a poor man who didn’t have the money for his three daughters’ dowries. Generous old St. Nick dropped a bag of gold down their chimney one night, where the girls had hung their stockings to dry by the fire. That’s where the gold ended up, and allegedly how the tradition began.

A few Christmas cartoons …

And of course Jolly Monday must have a cute animal video, and since it is the holiday season …

Friends, I would like to just take this opportunity to let you all know how much you mean to me … and Jolly.  The very best thing about this blog has been the wonderful people I’ve met … I feel as if I’ve actually acquired a whole new family.  A couple of times, in times of extreme angst, I have considered giving up this blog … but the thought never lasts for long, for I would miss you all entirely too much.  Thank you all for being such great friends!  Jolly and I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas.  Love ‘n hugs from Filosofa and Jolly!

A Holly Jolly Monday! ‘Twas the Jolly Monday before Christmas, And all ‘round the ‘net, Every creature was stirring, And making me fret.

[dorkforty]

So it’s time to get back to the funnybooks. After two weeks of talking movies, I’ve got a nice little backlog piling up, including the conclusion of Heroes in Crisis, the beginning of the end for Ed Piskor’s X-Men: Grand Design, and new issues of Stray Bullets and Criminal. But first, the comic I enjoyed most from the last two weeks…

The Green Lantern 8 by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp

Y’know, just about any issue of this book is likely to be filled with ridiculous fun. But this one… Holy crap.

From the cover alone, you know you’re in for a wild ride. This issue is an homage to the classic Denny O’Neil / Neal Adams run of Green Lantern / Green Arrow, complete with Liam Sharp doing his best Adams impersonation throughout. But once you start reading the actual story, you swiftly realize it’s WAY crazier than that.

First, we’re introduced to Hadea Maxima, a (possibly other-dimensional?) hell-planet inhabited by a race of space demons for whom murder is not a crime, but an accepted cultural norm. One of the leaders (I guess?) of this place is a demon space-mobster named Lord Brotorr (!), who’s very very angry that rival demon space-mobster Glorigold DeGrand (!) is cutting in on his profits with a new drug that’s connected in some way to Earth. So Brotorr orders the murder of not just his rival, but also of THE ENTIRE PLANET.

Cut to Earth, where Green Arrow’s dealing with a deadly new street drug that leaves its users in a blank, zombie-like state. Green Lantern shows up to help, and we’re off to the races. Before it’s all done (without getting into too many spoilers), we’ve had twists, turns, psychedelic trips, drug dealers in pointy black hoods, and what may be only the second-ever appearance of Jack Kirby’s Xeen Arrow (the Green Arrow of Dimension Zero, which is of course an other-dimensional world inhabited by telepathic super-giants).

It is complete insanity, a frothy mixture of Silver Age goofiness and 2000 AD attitude that somehow manages to maintain the heroes’ dramatic dignity while still playing things for laughs. It’s a tightrope walk of an approach, and it’s not easy to pull off. Too far one way, and it all gets too cute for its own good. Too far the other way, and you’ve got the idiocy of a Rob Liefeld comic. But when you hit that sweet spot in the middle, you’ve got a potential classic.

And though it’s not perfect… Though sometimes Morrison’s scripts lean so far into dream logic that they don’t quite make sense even as comedy… I’m leaning toward this being a classic.

Immortal Hulk 18 by Al Ewing and Joe Bennett

Another classic in the making is Al Ewing and Joe Bennett’s Immortal Hulk. This one’s been gathering quite a buzz, picking up readers as it goes along, to the point that the early issues (which had low-expectation print runs) are now going for a pretty penny on the collector’s market. I’m sure the prices will eventually level out, but it’s nice to see a comic going for big bucks on the basis of actual reader demand, instead of the usual “it’s worth this because we say it is” reasons for that sort of thing.

The buzz it’s getting is deserved, too. Al Ewing’s horror take on the character has been quite a bit of fun. It dragged a bit during the Hell storyline a few issues back, but otherwise this has been great stuff. Joe Fixit (aka the gray Hulk) recently reappeared, and this issue we discover that he’s been in control of Banner’s body for quite some time. It’s not entirely clear how long, or what he’s been up to, but he’s definitely had time to amass a little money. And grow a mustache.

As the story moves on, we also get a crazy new version of the Abomination WHO HAS A FIST FOR A FACE.

So, yeah. This one’s a lot of fun, too. Not as good. But a lot of fun.

X-Men: Grand Design: X-Tinction 1 by Ed Piskor

My favorite X-Men book since Grant Morrison left in a huff has begun its final chapter here. If you’re not familiar, Grand Design is Ed Piskor’s attempt to cover the history of the X-Men as if it was all one long story that was planned out from the beginning. The first volume covered the original series, and the second covered the first 100 issues or so of Chris Claremont’s long run.

This time around, he’s really got his work cut out for him, because he’s covering what might be the absolute nadir of the Claremont run: the Trial of Magneto through Inferno. This was the period when I started losing interest in the book, and finally stopped reading it entirely. These stories left a bad taste in my mouth that’s still lingering 30 years later, and I found that I didn’t enjoy revisiting them any more than I enjoyed reading them the first time through.

Piskor does his best with them, though, condensing and conflating events in a way that streamlines some of Claremont’s more over-extended plotlines, and completely skips the more forgettable stories in favor of the stuff that continued to have repercussions down the line. His one misstep in that regard, I think, is the short shrift he gives to the Trial of Magneto, which I’ve always though of as the real climax of the first half of Claremont’s run. But I suppose that ultimately had more of an impact on the New Mutants book than it did X-Men proper, so maybe he was right to only mention it in passing. This is really Storm’s issue, and he rightly focuses things on her character arc (which might be the one really interesting thing from this period of the book).

Still. Holy crap. The latter two-thirds of this issue is concerned entirely with demons and Mr. Sinister. And just when you think you’re done with the demons, MORE demons show up. It’s interminable. And there’s only so much even Ed Piskor can do to save it.

Still, though, I have high hopes for the next issue. Because I have no idea whatsoever where X-Men goes next, and I can only think it would have to be better…

Ed Piskor’s Grade for Trying Hard:

Chris Claremont’s Grade for Writing Such Execrable Source Material:

Heroes in Crisis 9 by Tom King and Clay Mann

On the one hand, it’s comforting that this book died the way it lived: telling a story that I liked in some very important ways, but hated in others.

On the other hand… DAMMIT, Tom King! Why do you have to be so good and so bad at the same time?!

I don’t care enough to go into great detail on what I liked and didn’t like in this final issue. So I’ll just hit the highlights. On the down side, King engaged in some time travel shenanigans to change the solution we already saw to his locked-room mystery, and that feels like a cheat.

But on the up side, that cheat gives us an ending that’s messy but life-affirming, rather than neat but tragic. And that ending, unsatisfying as it is from a narrative perspective, feels very real. Because life is often messy and unsatisfying. “Nothing ever ends,” as Alan Moore once told us. But this ending also fits the book better than the neat ending would have. Because the ending we got (Wally West lives) offers a chance at healing and a hope for redemption. Which is what Heroes in Crisis has been about from the outset.

So I suppose I shouldn’t complain.

But I do.

Because, dammit.

Stray Bullets: Sunshine and Roses 41 by David Lapham

With the Lodger side project over, David Lapham gets back to his (or maybe my) first love, Stray Bullets. And, holy crap, things are really getting out of control.

click to embiggen

It would take far more time than I have tonight to explain the vast web of plots that are coming together here. So suffice it to say that the entire huge ensemble cast, which Lapham has spent the last 40 issues meticulously establishing, is finally converging, and I have no idea how any of them are going to survive.

Except that I know most of them do.

Because this entire series essentially takes place between issues seven and eight of the original Stray Bullets series, published more than 20 years ago. And I know what happens afterwards. In most cases, that would take some of the… excitement, I suppose… out of seeing how it’s all going to end. But not here, really. Lapham’s done a sufficiently good job putting this story together that, even though I know that Beth, Orson, Nina, Spanish Scott, and so many other characters will be surviving this bloodbath, I want to know how they’re gonna do it. And then there’s a handful of other characters who seem conspicuously absent from future events, and I’m dreadfully worried about all of them.

Or, if not worried, per se, at least really curious.

Because honestly… Annie probably deserves whatever she’s got coming. Unless, of course, Lapham finds a way to make her fate even worse than I can imagine. He’s good at that…

Criminal 5 by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips

This fifth issue begins what Ed Brubaker has said will probably be the longest Criminal story arc to date. Which is a little weird for a series that he’s also said would feature more short pieces. But Brubaker’s a criminal at heart, as we’ve already learned, so you kind of have to take his proclamations about this book with a grain of salt.

Anyway. This new arc’s called “Cruel Summer.” It’s set in the summer of 1988, and it involves a private detective being hired to find a woman, but getting in a little too deep. Pretty standard noir premise there, and though the story’s well-told, I won’t tell you that Brubaker and Phillips really offer that much in the way of new twists on it. Where things get interesting is at the end, when Our Hero gets whacked on the head with a wrench by none other than Teeg Lawless.

That’s the same Teeg Lawless around whom every story in this current volume of Criminal has in some way revolved. Or if not revolved, INvolved. Even if it’s only in a spectral, influential sort of way. And next issue, we’re told, is all about Teeg. And, I would presume, this mysterious woman we meet this time around.

Which is just a really long-winded way of telling you that this story’s much like all the others in this series: clever, well-constructed, and more complicated than it looks on the surface.

A Walk Through Hell 10 by Garth Ennis and Goran Sudzuka

Garth Ennis’ searing look at the horrors of the Trump era continues, with an issue that calls into question the value of empathy when you’re dealing with people who have none themselves. It is not a cheerful or especially pleasant read. But it is a compelling one. It questions liberal values even as it presents the rich and powerful in a very ugly light. While it’s clear who the biggest monsters are, it doesn’t let anybody off the hook. Which is horribly unfair, but there’s also a grain of truth in it. Maybe more than a grain. Maybe. Probably. Maybe.

It’s into that opening of doubt that Ennis shoves his pry bar, and starts applying pressure. And that’s where the real horror comes from. This is a story about evil men taking advantage of people’s doubts. But they have those doubts for a reason, and sometimes that’s enough to break them.

And that is Hell.

Or at least, that’s my reading of the book at this point. I withhold the right to change my mind in light of future evidence.

And on that cheery note, it is time to bid you adieu.

Xeens and Things: FUNNYBOOKSINREVIEWAREGO!! So it's time to get back to the funnybooks. After two weeks of talking movies, I've got a nice little backlog piling up, including the conclusion of Heroes in Crisis, the beginning of the end for Ed Piskor's X-Men: Grand Design, and new issues of Stray Bullets and Criminal.