#also like!!! the way the red bleeds into the page in the second comic

[balcon1es]

You are not supposed to be here. You don’t belong here. Get out get out get out GET OUT-

fanart for chapter 4 of take little bites by @bigdvmnhero​

Keep reading

[reve-writes]

—you bury me; leon kennedy.

ʚ leon kennedy x reader | resident evil | 1,1k words. ʚ leon and reader finishes a mission. | can be read as a continuation of rotten work. ʚ injuries; zombies and stuff; fluff (no one dies dw). ʚ a/n more of my attempt to write slightly flirty banters between reader and leon. i learned the phrase "you bury me" aka "ya'aburnee" and my life has never been the same.

There are times when you think Leon is invincible, like he has come alive straight out of the pages of a comic book. He barrels through the undead like a machine—all tough exterior and deadly shooting accuracy that has your jaw dropping with awe.

And then, there are times when you are reminded he isn't. He is no untouchable otherworldly alien born with diamond-hard skin and superhuman strength. He's just flesh and bone knitted together and he bleeds. Despite his might, he's just one bad day away from an infection just as everyone else.

“Fuck,” he curses, face all red and chest heaving. “Goddamnit. Fuck.”

Your hands are trembling as you reload your magazine. The scene replays over and over in your mind: rotten jaw unhinging so close to his neck, teeth within biting distance and you think your entire world is coming to a halt.

Leon swivels out of the way just in time.

You're not a religious person, but for that one split second he avoids the death sentence, you think you should sing praises and grateful prayers.

“Are you okay?” You ask over guns blazing. Your magazine finally clicks in and you start opening fire to the growing hoard of zombies around you.

“Never been better,” he replies through gritted teeth. It was a dumb question to ask. You know he's not faring well—he is limping across the field, left foot practically being dragged behind him. He uses one hand to shoot, the other has an open gash through his short-fingered glove down his palm. His sweat-slicked forehead is also red with blood from a cut just over his eyebrow.

“Lean on me,” you tell him, moving to hoop his left arm around your shoulder. He's not a small man—what with trained muscles over his bones and a figure that slightly towers over you. “Let me help you, Leon.”

He tries to shake himself off of you. “Just get to the extraction point.”

“We'll get there quicker if you would—”

“Just run!”

“And what? Leave you here to be their dinner?” You protest, forcefully pushing yourself under his arm. “No way. I haven't even gotten a taste.”

Leon—even with the miserable situation you are in—chuckles. “Really? Is this the right time?”

He relents and lets you hobble him along. The field stretches long—somewhere off of a rural village whose residents are now nothing more than grotesque-looking undead. You've made it two-thirds of the way.

Bullets fly left and right, both from you and Leon. “Shut up, Leon. Walk faster.”

“Told you to run, didn't I?”

Your breathing is laboured from the Sisyphean effort. “Out of the question. I can't have your death on my conscience.”

“Not dying that easily, don't worry.”

He better not.

The helicopter engine roars in your ears as you step closer, dusty air stinging your eyes. You hear gunshots from your rescuer, covering you from nearby zombies. Your whole body is burning when you're finally hauled into the chopper with Leon. You finally let your muscles loosen, tension melting away as the engine roars to life under you.

The rest occurs in quick motion blurs. The usual mission reports and check-ups and then you're walking out the door with a patched-up, healthier-looking Leon by your side.

“Shouldn't they keep you on bedrest?” You ask. “Can't have anything happen to their golden boy.”

“They tried to.” He shrugs. “I'm fine, though.”

You stare at him, disbelief apparent in your wide-eyed expression. “Fine? How are you fine?”

You gesture to the walking stick he tucks under his arm and his splined foot. He waves a hand dismissively. “I've had worse.”

“You were so close to getting bit.”

The words echo into a drawn-out silence as the meaning truly sinks into him. It is strange, the numbness he has developed to the thought of dying. Constant exposure to mortal peril has desensitised him, he supposes.

“I watched it almost happen and for a terrible moment I thought that you were going turn into... into—”

“I didn't.”

He's right. You find comfort in knowing that he is still standing, that he's not going down so easily, but even Leon Kennedy is merely human.

“You know, if things ever go to shit, I hope I... go before you do.”

He's not following. Not exactly. “How come?”

“Don't worry about it.” You don't elaborate, but you know you mean it. A world without Leon Kennedy sounds like a world you don't want to be a part of. As much as he makes you want to tear your hair out, he's the only person who understands and shares your burdens.

He hums thoughtfully, frowning, but ends up chalking it up to your usual rambling. “Okay, then. I'll catch you later.”

He starts walking to the car they've provided for him—chauffeur and all. Must be nice to be the golden boy. Before he has even walked three steps away, you grab his wrist with a slight tug and he halts.

“Go home,” you request. “You better not go and get wasted in some bar. Rest, Leon. You deserve it.”

“I wasn't going to.”

The look in his eyes says that he is most definitely going to drink his sorrows away.

“You're so unbelievably stubborn.”

“Look who's talking.” He holds up his wrist that you're still grabbing, wriggling it out of your grasp to press his palm on yours, fingers interlocking. “Also, if you wanted to hold hands, you could've just asked.”

“You—”

“I seem to also recall you saying something along the lines of wanting to have a taste—”

“Leon,” you interrupt immediately, not wanting to drag out the embarrassment that he's oh-so-generously giving you. “I mean it. Get some rest.”

“What are you? My parent?”

You narrow your eyes at him. “You need to recover well. The world needs saving and I need my mission partner.”

His hand is still warm over on yours, now hanging low by your side and the two of you look almost normal. Just two people holding hands waiting for their ride.

“You're cute when you worry about me.”

That has an involuntary smile to bloom on your face as you've used the same line on him before.

“Only when I worry?”

“And on other occasions.” This has you dizzy.

“Well.” He drops your hand and it twitches, already missing the spaces between his fingers. “I better get going.”

He gestures at the impatient-looking driver who has been sitting there the entire time. You shake your head at him. “Poor guy.”

“I'll call.” He gets into the passenger seat. You're standing just a step away from the rolled-down window.

“I might pick up.”

Before he has a chance to retort, you gesture the driver to go ahead and the car speeds off at once, leaving you to spend the rest of the day constantly checking if your phone has rung.

[ ]

[river-bottom-nightmare]

Nightwing #81 Review

i swear i actually thought no one was interested so i didn’t write one but a grand total of two (2) people said they wanted to read it, so here it is. honestly, my opinion’s been going a bit downhill, but the art is really cool and there are some decent parts so. holding out i guess? i really hope taylor has an end goal or at least a cohesive plan, otherwise i don’t see this series going anywhere i’ll particularly enjoy

the cover is very straightforward in its imagery, this villain has nightwing in the palm of his hand, easily manipulated, easily controlled no matter the action dick thinks he’ll take. 

what i find interesting is the colour: both previously and heavily in this issue, the colourist has chosen to make pink this villain’s main colour, with different shades of pink as accents. so why the red in the cover? possibly to just make it more eye-grabbing, though one could argue that pink is even more eye-catching than red. maybe to convey a sense of dread or fear that pink won’t fully get across. either way, it’s definitely a decision i’m curious about.

so melinda zucco is in a high enough political position within bludhaven that she is next in line to become the mayor after the previous mayor died and dick just,,,,didn’t have any idea she existed? dick didn’t know anything about her? forget dick’s own brilliant detective skills, forget his doggedness at anything zucco related, you’re telling me bruce never found her and told dick about her? maybe he wouldn’t have now, but back when dick was a young kid, he definitely would have at least made dick aware of her existence, to let dick know and ask if he wanted to interfere with her life or anything.

i have a thought about zucco’s facial expressions. she is very much stone-cold poker face throughout the entire issue. the only time i see her pull a different expression is near the end when dick corners her against a wall with an arm around her throat. 

this is most certainly intentional, what with the varied and intense expressions we see on other characters, dick most prominently. i’m wondering what exactly is the creative team’s reasoning behind this. in these panels, zucco is meeting with the most dangerous, powerful, near-bloodthirsty man in all of bludhaven and becoming the mayor of the city respectfully. in both of these panels, there is barely a hint of emotion in her face: no fear, no determination, no satisfaction. it’s just odd, considering the circumstances she’s in, regardless of any training recieved.

just spitballing here but. like. from what i’ve read so far, dick doesn’t really seem like bludhaven’s guardian angel. more like when peter parker first put on spandex and blindly stepped out into new york.

dick, how exactly can you underestimate someone from one move. so he caught your escrima. anyone with enhanced reflexes can do that. you still don’t know how he can actually fight, and this is shown in the next set of panels. 

i just don’t like the wording here. dick’s “underestimated” him, but beats him up easy in the next page. in addition, i don’t know much about combat, but i would assume it would take more than one move to determine exactly what an opponent’s skill level is, made even more complex when you add physical enhancements and metahumans and aliens into the mixture.

idk my first thought when i saw that he caught the stick was “ah ok he’s enhanced” because obviously he couldn’t have reacted fast enough if he wasn’t (as there are few people trained enough to catch it on human reflexes alone.) then the wording in the next panel, i’ve underestimated him, made me think “oh no ok so he’s not enhanced, he’s just a really good fighter and can give dick a run for his money in a fight.” then, it turns out my first assumption was proven correct in the next panel. it just comes across as misleading to me.

(also sidenote but his curls are cute.)

have i praised the art enough in this series? no, i have not.

i adore the way this is laid out and illustrated. without even having to read the text, the action sequence is visually engaging and intense, and easily followable from one panel to the next. dick’s physical expertise comes through quite efficiently, and i love the special attention shown to draw our attention to dick’s escrima in the bottom right corner.

also that move in the middle row leftmost panel that’s the mcu black widow move to get up off the ground it was the first thing i noticed and it made me laugh; thought it was worth noting

i’m really loving dick’s escrima sticks in this run. they’re just so multipurpose, it’s hilarious and exhilarating. kinda reminds me of bruce’s belt, the way the button in the middle does eevveeerrryyytthhiinngg. 

got a problem? don’t worry! dick’s installed a feature into his escrima that can fix that! (i like thinking dick helped make them it makes me happy and makes my engineer!dick side satisfied)

yawn. your big heart is your one true weakness yadda yadda the fact that you care will be used against you blah blah we get it. jesus can the villains please find a different weakness to exploit, this is getting old.

i need dick’s capacity to empathize and care and love to stop being a weakness that villains sneer about. bonus points if dick saves everyone anyway, either because of or despite his great big heart and the villain is surprised by the goodness of mankind or some shit like that.

i need it to be a strength, right from the get-go. the fact that he cares so incredibly much should be an asset that dick has and will use. he’s a very complex character with years of background, it can’t possibly be that hard to find another weakness of his. 

ooooh this is cool, gosh i absolutely love this.

because what exactly is the reader doing? we are seeing the fear in dick’s face, just as this villain intended. even better, we’re seeing the reflection of it from the villain’s glossy mask, telling us exactly what we’re seeing and exactly what he likes so much about it.

dick’s standing up straight, shoulders drawn back, looking up at this villain’s face with determination and resolve, but his suit is tattered. one eye looks to be swollen. his hair is falling limply around his eyes, as opposed to the curls from earlier. his escrima aren’t even part of the main focus, instead blending into the side of the mask in the outer corners of the mask’s eyes, which tells you exactly how big of a threat they are to this villain.

poor bitewing’s quite alarmed.

also on second thought why would you bring your puppy out like this, when you know you’re gonna end up fighting someone in the suit. a) how many grey three-legged adorable little puppies live in the bludhaven area dick? and how easy will it be to connect the doggo running around with nightwing with the doggo that dick grayson owns? and 2) is this puppers trained? does she have fighting experience? how exactly can you ensure she will survive this highly stressful situation?

dick take better care of your dog 

you know what? i was with tim on this one. why exactly is dick so optimistic and trusting about the people of bludhaven? bludhaven, which has been described as gotham’s smaller, smellier, more corrupt sister city once or twice. it’s not just the corrupt people in power, the entire system needs to change and people need to have faith and hope in order for them to come together, espcially if they’ve been living in conditions like how bludhaven has been described. from how clueless dick is about his own goddamn city, i can tell he hasn’t been here long.

it was a nice moment of hope, i’ll admit. but it was a tad unrealistic for me.

also it was in a weird place in the comic. this sort of confrontation and big get-together of the people to rejuvenate hope in each other feels like it should come near the end of a run, if not the end of an issue. certainly not in the first third of an issue. the pacing’s a bit off to me.

loyal little puppy patiently waiting for her human to wake up. i love her so much.

no it’s not. it’s bitewing.

living for this t-shirt honestly. do comics of dc characters exist in the dc universe? they must if the mug and the shirt are any indication

(now i’m imagining the first batman movie that came out in the dc universe and bruce just. being so offended at who they chose to play him.)

well, yes. but when a group of people are put through hellish conditions over and over again, they soon become desensitized to the pain and terror of their everyday lives in order to both stay sane and keep their life relatively stable, and part of that becomes ignoring or blocking out anything that isn’t directly important to you or your loved ones. having a bleeding heart will most likely get you killed in a city like bludhaven if you don’t have the same skills that vigilantes have.

and of course, people are more than capable of coming together and rallying under their city’s vigilante after seeing the good they’ve done and how they’ve helped the people, but that sort of trust takes time and effort to build. dick also had the whole ric arc and was gone for a while, which has been referenced several times in this particular issue in fact. that’s not going to make bludhaven’s citizens any more likely to trust him.

maybe i’m being a bit harsh but this comic is comic off as a bit too idealistic for the amount of change nightwing can do in a city given the present and past circumstances as well as nightwing’s own abilities. even dick grayson can’t pull off everything.

ok seriously this needs to stop this needs to stop.

right now, dick reminds me of oliver queen in the few episodes of the cw’s arrow i watched. he does the punchy-kicky-fighty and occasionally has smart insights due to the skills he gained from his past that he certainly definitely totally has but only ever exhibits once, while his team does all of the background research and information gathering and actual work.

this is dick’s city. if he has the same intelligence, worth ethic, and stubbornness in this run that he’s been shown to possess all his life, then he knows this city inside out. he’ll have meticulous notes organized in a ridiculously efficient system, he’ll have scouted out zucco long before this started, he’ll have known when anything big happened in the bludhaven political landscape in an instant.

i’m really not liking exactly how much dick’s relying on babs and tim in this series. sure, he loves them and cares for them and likes working cases with them. but he always pulls his own weight, has always been a mentor figure to tim instead of what’s weirdly becoming the other way around, and takes point on the cases in his own damn city.

what kind of weak-ass oracle is this?? redacted fbi files are child’s play. babs used to hack into the fbi for fun. this one particular picture is so out of character i want to laugh.

reading this series has unfortunately made me confront that, despite the tiny fluid acrobat dick that lives in my head 24/7, canon dick is impossibly 5′10 and muscular at that.

mmm. titties.

tim said hydrate or die-drate bitch

love how dick’s doing all this intense brooding and stuff meanwhile bitewing is curled up in a soft comfy post having the time of her life.

you don’t understand i would legitimately kill myself for her.

also the lighting in this one scene is cool. the blue tones come off so well.

they’re just. so multipurpose!! they can become a bo staff. they can cut glass. they can become a grapple hook/line. they can electrify someone. they’re a funky colour. i’m becoming really attached to these things. absolute solid choice in weaponry.

if you’re gonna write up every rookie mistake dick has made during this series to head trauma, then dick shouldn’t be out and about at all, much less in costume.

see this? this is just straight up wrong. dick most definitely should have spotted her, and would have immediately moved to take her down.

scratch that, dick would have done a full check of the building, because he knows not to break into places uninformed, especially if the owner of the apartment was raised by the maroni family. someone as highly trained, experienced, and competent as dick wouldn’t have done this.

and if you chalk it up to head injury, (which is probably true), than his ~love interest~ and his little brother should have done a much better job making sure he stays in his house.

zucco looks so awkward it’s fucking hilarious

are those shadows that mimic a domino mask, to both reflect and hide the fact that his mask is missing? are those bruises around his eyes, to show how, despite what good he’s doing, being nightwing is hurting dick right now? 

(isn’t his domino mask supposed to have an electrifying feature that keeps people from removing them?)

it’s a little odd how the three known villains of this series are all coloured in warm shades, more specifically pink. meanwhile, in earlier issues, dick’s fondest memories were in pink, memories of him and alfred in particular. why has the colour pink changed from signifying something benevolent to something malicious? idk i hope this gets explained later.

this i did like. either it’s just a display of brute force in anger, or dick slipped the ties and pulled them off once untied. both ways, it’s an unintentional display of power, and i think that’s kinda cool.

again. dick is,,,tall? sort of? weirdddd

i’m so glad most readers are unified in the notion that this was the absolute dumbest fucking thing.

i’m hoping this gets disproved or something soon. and i hope dick doesn’t fall for it, because he definitely knows better than to take something as important as this at face value.

what exactly is taylor trying to accomplish here? why is he trying to go back on what we all knew was a happy, loving childhood and throw strife and disharmony and (what i’m assuming will be) infidelity? this will not end well at all.

---

,,,,,this review got way longer than expected lol. and i realize most of it just became me ranting. i guess i didn’t realize how ticked off i was originally. fingers crossed it gets better.

tag list: @woahjaybird @birdy-bat-writes @anothertimdrakestan @subtleappreciation @screennamealreadyused @bikoncon @pricetagofficial @catxsnow @thatsthewhump @xatanna-troy @red-hood-redemption @capricorn-stark @batshit-birds​ @comics-observer

[fanfiction-funtime]

Self insert oc: Alexander Vodka

AKA: Eis Cay'zar

Author of fate

A writer from Schneznaya who was driven from his home for his anti-Tsaritsa paper.

_____________________

Physical description:

A chubby fellow in a 1950's style noir trenchcoat and hat, some would even say he looks like he jumped right out of a noir comic book and into reality. He has brown hair and green eyes, a cowboy mustache, and a pointed beard like some kind of comic book supervillain genius.

He often acts confidently and even a bit egotistical when in places he's recognized and famous in, however in newer places he often seems distant and shys away from almost all contact.

Noone knows where his vision is, but they know he has one because of the cold aura that surrounds him.

At night he'll often trade his outfit for one more reminiscent of demons or vampires.

_____________________

Abilities:

Weapon type: Catalyst

Basic attack-truth: uses his catalyst to shoot a short burst of up to 3 ice shards, can attack in fast succession.

"Truth hurts, especially in bursts"

Charged attack-Bifrost: Alexander quickly makes an ice clone behind the enemy and fires 6 shots, this can increase to 3 clones if charged enough(times: 1 for 1 second, 2 for 2 seconds, and 3 for 2.5 seconds)

"I hate crowds, best company has always been myself"

Elemental ability-ice wall: creates an aura of sheer cold around himself that will damage enemies the more they stay in it, and apply the normal sheer cold to them. Does not affect party.

"My therapist said I put up walls because of trauma, but I couldn't hear them through the wall I had just built"

Elemental burst-a story to be told: Alexander takes out his book and opens to a random page, then randomly summons ice sculptures of one of 8 beings:

"Aster": this summon looks like the flatwoods monster, it surrounds the party in a swirl of ice blades that deal 2X damage as the character for 10 seconds.

"Who needs brawn, when you got brain"

"Ultimate foe": a demonic, pointy being of shadow. Will independently deal 25000 damage to three random foes.

"Meet my penultimate friend"

"Beethoven": a sculpture reminiscent of a ww1 zombie general, calls down a barrage of ice bombs that deal 5000 damage to enemies hit for 7 seconds.

"Good scifi doesn't predict, it prevents"

"Sorrows Joy": an angelic, faceless, robot like humanoid that spawns 25 angel shaped traps that freeze enemies around the character.

"With any luck, you're the only real one I've made"

"Death rider and the magic prince": two statues, one of a mummy like Schneznayan mystic of ancient barbarian times and the other an elven cavalry knight from the myths of mondstadt. The knight gives the party a 45% boost to speed and attack while moving, and the Schneznayan gives +10% damage bonus to elemental skills and +55% damage bonus to Catalyst.

"Feel the wrath of honor long passed"

"Zero point and Lion queen": a knightly man of spiked armor and a golden ottoman warrior woman whose golden chain completely obscures her head. Your enemies become inflicted with pyro and you are surrounded by thorn bushes that deal continuous damage of 1000 for 10 seconds.

"Walk down the way on a moonlit day"

The traveler: a child in a red straight jacket, his binds become undone after 4 seconds at which point all enemies take 10,000 X Alexander's level of damage.

"I uh,wont have to pay any copyrights will I?"

"Giota": a child in pyjamas who looks ready to sleep, this summon is very rare. It fully restores all party members and gives a 200% boost to both defense and damage of your characters.

"This fella's been with me since I was a kid"

"If it is a soldier's duty to escape the confines of a prison, is it not every person's duty to escape reality if even for a moment? A wise man said that, pray that I may one day be like him."

Passive-part the wasteland: Alexander is immune to sheer elements, and Grant's 50% resistance when in the party to all members.

_____________________

Story

Abandoning a dream

As a kid, Alexander was always put down when he said he wanted to write fiction, "there's no money in it" they all said.

He couldn't get into any art schools without support so he focused his mind elsewhere, a place he could hopefully use his writing to do just as much good: the first newspaper in Schneznaya.

Horrible truth

He didn't start as a trouble maker, but the more he sought out the truth the more he couldn't stand back and watch. He published numerous papers about the Tsarista's wrongdoings and the crimes of the fatui, how they would harass merchants in other nations, the unfair taxes many shipping businesses had to keep quiet about, all the way up to the war crimes the Tsarista had done in direct contradiction to her own laws.

Sadly, not many believed him even with evidence, but some got his message.

Those who fight

One day Alexander was approached by a man who claimed to have formed a resistance against the fatui. Alexander had inspired many people to disrupt the organization, and have even begun working with those outside Schneznaya.

With their help he didn't just publish some crimes, he published them all, he even got information that turned the general public against the fatui even if just a little.

In a way h had achieved his dream of helping others with his writing, even if it wasn't how he wanted.

Stop the presses

When the Tsarista started her big move of taking gnosis, she brought the hammer down on dissent like a boulder on a ten year old's wrist. One day a squad of thirty fatui stormed Alexander's home and business to silence him, and while they shut down his business they couldn't catch him.

Alexander fled into the wastelands of ice and snow and wasn't seen for several weeks.

Deus ex Vodka

One day Alexander showed up in Inazuma, a nation that had been oppressed for some time now and had recently reached it's height, yet no resistance had formed.

That was until Alexander came along.

Alexander published numerous books, spreading them throughout Inazuma. All of them spoke of freedom, of bravery, of rising up to achieve your ambitions.

And with those stories he inspired countless to take up arms, and in turn inspired countless to join the resistance.

And with mere fiction he had brought about hope,

And with mere fiction he shall do it again, in every form, and in every nation.

Vision: cold hearted

While wondering the waste Alexander fell down and looked to the skies.

He did not ask celestia why, he did not grieve or blame that he did not do more, instead Alexander did something he hadn't done in a long time:

He imagined.

And after he imagined he took out his notebook and wrote. In the freezing cold for seventeen days he wrote stories of hope and freedom.

For seventeen days the cold did not so much as cause him to flinch as he wrote tales of bravery.

For seventeen days Alexander Vodka lived how he wanted to live.

And at the end, he lied down to die.

Then a light shown, and when he opened his eyes to look he saw that the storm parted around him, and in his hand was an ice blue gem.

But Alexander was too paranoid from years of abuse from his peers as a child to wear it loosely, and far to extra to just get a lock. So instead Alexander shouted to celestia "if I shall have this Vision for my art, then it shall not kill me no matter what I do!"

He then shoved the vision into his heart and fell down.

Before he could bleed out however, a woman appeared.

"Hey Tsari, how ya doin." Alexander said as blood poured out his mouth.

"You dramatic fool," the Tsarista sighed as she put a hand on his chest, "you have my element, do you know how bad it'll look for me if you die by shoving your vision into your heart?"

"Why do you care? We hate eachother, in case you forgot."

The archon sighed, "you're just rebelling against what you see as unjust, just as I am. To be honest I feel a sort of rivalry with you, so it'd be a shame if you just died. Also," she painfully shoved the vision all the way in, painfully, "if your going to die it better be because of me, got it?"

Then Alexander sat up, and the god was gone. Along with the hole in his chest.

"Rival of a god eh?" He sat up, putting his gat back on his head, "I like the sound of that."

_____________________

How is this an insert?

Well his story can't be the exact same as mine, so I took my life and goals and made predictions, then fictionalized those predictions and expanded.

His appearance is pretty close to how I'll likely look based on my current appearance, and his dramatic attitude is exactly how I wanna act.

Him being shy in new places with strangers is me exactly as I am now really, however I do believe I'd act confidently if I were famous so he does as well.

Him being Catalyst is because I'm not athletic at all, and I figured a dps Catalyst would be cool. His main ability and resistance/immunity to sheer cold is based on how I wrap up in warm blankets when it's cold, and his ultimate is made up of characters I've made.

_____________________

Tagging: @genshin-obsessed, @golden-wingseos, @storytravelled, and @love-psxlm

[beebubb]

William grossman: becoming a pasta

(also i mention my OC amari here but they're just friends and roommates here. No romantic things)(also this might be kinda long and I mention some stuff about my creepypasta AU so if you don't wanna be confused you can check it out!)

Like I mentioned in an old post, will and LJ went on a lot of self discovery adventures for Will.

It was always will's dream to become a popular killer like Jeff but sense he couldn't actually bring himself to kill someone, he would doubt himself a lot and would sometimes just be so upset or angry at himself

Will: maybe coming to the underworld was a mistake.. I shouldn't have come here...

LJ: come on bud! There's gotta be something here you're good at!

They had literally tried many things.

Will worked for a surgeon for literally a day before he got fired. He couldn't bring himself to dissect someone. Yes he had seen dead bodies before out on the street but he couldn't bring himself to be the one to actually commit to doing it

He also tried to be a bounty hunter/hitman but, ended up quitting immediately after he was told to kill a family

He even worked at a black market that was hiring someone to just care for the oragans they sold. It was going pretty well but, lets say it was will's first time seeing an actual beating human heart

Will: what else could I be good at?!? Everything here involves killing! And I can't even kill someone if it depended on my damn life...

LJ: you could still try for your dream of being a slender proxy!

Will: but being a proxy involves killing! Maybe I should just go back to the human world... I don't even have my mark! I didn't get a permanent smile like Jeff or red bleeding eyes like ben!

Amari: I don't have any cool marks either!

Will: but atleast you got skulls shapes on your eyes! I didn't get anything! Maybe I just wasn't meant to be here...

Amari hated seeing will so upset. She knew his dream was to work for slenderman, and obviously, she wanted him to achieve it. She got lucky and worked for him from time to time, so she was sure she could talk to slender and see if will had a chance.

How he met slenderman

Amari went to see her boss a few days later. AKA slenderman. She explained to him his situation and, he actually wanted to meet him!

Slenderman isn't judgemental like many in the underworld think he is. He can see potential in someone even at their lowest.

She obviously went to the apartment to tell will the good news

Amari: will! You aren't going to believe this but i talked to slenderman about you and....he wants to see you!

Will: what?!? Are you serious?!

Amari: yep!

Will: holy shit!! Let me take a quick shower then!

Will took a shower and once he was ready he followed amari to the slender mansion.

Once they got there, masky did the regular check for weapons on him (it's normal for them to check new people that go into slenderman's meeting room just to make sure of any weapons or suspicious items)

Will was calm but was holding in his inner fanboy.

"I can't believe I'm seeing slender's most valuable proxy!!! Holy shit!!!"

LJ wasn't all that excited sense he already knew pretty much every pasta and knew what it was like living in the mansion/manor.

LJ: "what a hassle...."

LJ wasn't really aware of all the dangers the proxies tried to prevent. He just saw it as a way to show off their wealth and to think they were better than others

Once they were clear, masky took them to the meeting room

Even if will wasn't sure if he could get a chance working with slenderman, there was one thing he was definetly certain of.

Get their autographs

No way he was gonna waste his visit to the slender mansion and NOT get their autographs.

Masky: you may go inside

Will: um....could i get your autograph please?

Masky: oh, yes

Will: yes!! *takes out a scrapbook he made* here!

Masky: *signs in* there

Will: thank you so much!!!

LJ: come on! You look like a dork!

Will: ok ok! And I'm not gonna waste my visit and not get their autographs *goes into the meeting room*

Once they got in they were immediately greeted by slenderman

"Glad you came here william, please, take a seat"

William was so excited by seeing slenderman in person but was also terrified about what he would think of him.

Will became really shy and nervous while talking

Slenderman: so i heard you were interested in working with me later on but you had a few doubts on your own abilities, could you tell me more?

Will: i um....*fidgeting with his fingers*

LJ: he wants to be a proxy but he has trouble actually killing someone. So we wanna know his chances of actually becoming one

Slenderman: ah I see, well I'll have to look at some other assets, do you have any school documents?

Will: *nods and takes out a folder with his school papers*

These kind of meetings were actually pretty common so slenderman already knew what to look for in school documents

Will's grades weren't that good tbh

He had many subjects he struggled with. On his report cards, pretty much every subject had D's and C's, and the occasional F's. Only is P. E he had a B.

Slenderman usually looked for atleast a B average

Though the only straight A's that will got, were in chemistry

Slenderman: I see you're proficient in chemistry, how come that's the only subject you get A's in?

Will: well um.... It's pretty much the only subject that I like....

Slenderman: may I ask what your under realm mark you for when you arrived here?

Will: i didn't get anything...

Slender seemed kinda surprised at his answer.

He opened up a locked drawer on his desk and took out a heavy book and went through the pages and stopped at one with a picture of a hand with lines

Slenderman: may I see your hand?

Will: uh... Sure? *shows him his hand*

Slenderman seemed really intrigued with will's hand.

LJ and Amari were extremely confused.

Amari knew pretty much the process of these type of meetings but when she was applying as an apprentice for slenderman, slender didn't ask to see her hand like he did with will

Once slender was done checking will's hand, he looked through more of his records

LJ: um.... So what do you think? He has a bit of potential right?

Slenderman seemed lost in though for a second but replied

"William, have you ever took any.... Magic classes or considered taking one?"

The three of them were surprised.

Like, magic? They knew that magic existed in the underworld but why would he think will would Want to study it?

Magic is a really complicated subject and depending on what element you were granted or want to control, it takes a lot of discipline and training and it is rarely recommended to the top students at the institution sense it was pretty much college level

LJ: why do you ask that?

Will: yeah I mean... I'm barely passing and I don't know if my grades are even good enough for me to graduate this year.

Slenderman: well i don't know how you didn't see this before but, look

Slenderman turned the book to their direction

LJ and amari were shocked

LJ: will you?!?

Will: *looking at the book and at his hand* wait....holy shi-i mean oh my god! I have powers?!

Slenderman: i looked through your records and i see you're part of the grossman family.

LJ: uh yeah he had a great grandpa but how does that explain this? He never had any sort of contact with magic

Slenderman: maybe not him exactly but, she did

Slenderman pulled out a picture from isaac's record folder (all demons and rulers from hell and the under realm have a record of their citizens) and pulled out the picture of a woman

Slenderman: she's ida grossman. Isaac grossman's great grandmother. She was killed for practising witchcraft. It would explain why will was granted magic here in the under realm.

LJ: sense he has this power, how come i never saw it before? I've been with him ever sense he was born!

Slenderman: well his power is still undeveloped sense he never had any proper training or took any classes. He has the mark on his hand but if he wants to actually use his abilities, he'll need to start practicing.

LJ now understood, and was happy for will

LJ: how can he start?

Slenderman: well,i have a proxy named sherry that knows about this, she could be will's tutor. Also I have been really interested in getting an apprentice with magical abilities but it has been difficult finding one, but if will wants to work with me then..

Slenderman took out an apprentice application

Slenderman: I could take him in as my personal sorcerer

LJ: well, what do ya say bud? Do you wan-

Will: yes!!!!!

Will didn't even think twice on his answer. Of course he wanted to work as slenderman's apprentice in magic.

He felt like his life had literally no direction but now everything was changing. He felt more confident than ever

LJ: do these classes have a price or somethin'?

Slenderman: it's usually 50 per class in a normal school but it depends if my proxy wants to charge for them or not sense she teaches them individually.

Will: oh....

Amari: ah don't worry i can pay for them!

Will: you don't gotta do that!

Amari: it's fine! You're my friend, we should help each other out

Slenderman: so I'm guessing that it's settled then?

Will: yeah!

Slenderman: alright then, I'll just need a signature of your parent or guardian on the application

LJ gave his signature

Slenderman: thank you. Well you're ready to go. All you need to do now is finish your last month at the institution and once you're done, I'll have amari bring you here again to start your training.

Will: yes! Thank you! Um one more thing, could I get your autograph sir?

Slenderman: oh yes of course!

Once slenderman signed his notebook they thanked him and were free to go

Who knew that will was more special than many thought he was.

I hope you guys liked this! I'll be making more parts!

Also i know will wasn't really developed in the Creeps comic so I kinda let myself create his character more.

Also this was inspired by a headcanon I saw where will was granted powers so I wanted to include that into his character.

[afni-fics]

Elder Scrolls DC - A Reluctant Dragonborn: Chapter 30: Campfire Conversations - Dragonborn and Thalmor

Elder Scrolls DC - A Reluctant Dragonborn: Chapter 30: Campfire Conversations - Dragonborn and Thalmor (38503 words) by C_R_Scott Chapters: 30/? Fandom: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Red Robin (Comics), DCU (Comics), Batman (Comics) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Characters: Tim Drake, Lucien Flavius Additional Tags: Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Skyrim/DCU crossover, Reluctant Dovahkiin | Dragonborn, Not Beta Read, Alternate Universe - Skyrim Fusion, Modded Skyrim, Skyrim Spoilers, Tim Drake is Dragonborn | Dovahkiin, Tim Drake-centric, Trope: It sucks to be the chosen one, Trope: Trapped in another world, Trope: Kidnapped by the Call

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Summary:

Lucien and Tim set up camp for the night after their first day away from Whiterun. Their campfire conversation leans into discussion about the Dragonborn and the Thalmor.

After taking care of the bandits at the two towers, the rest of the ride to the crossroads went fairly smoothly. Lucien taught Tim a couple more useful novice spells, including a lesser ward for protection against enemy magic spells and a wild healing spell that would heal both himself another nearby person. Unfortunately he didn't have enough Magicka to learn how to use the healing hands spell yet, but with enough practice and time Tim knew he would.

By the time the afternoon had grown quite late, their carriage had reached the crossroads and it was time to disembark. 

"Thanks again for the help with the bandits and getting my money back from them," Bjorlam said from the carriage as Tim and Lucien disembarked. "I really wish I could take you directly to Ivarstead. Next time we cross paths, if you need a lift, I'll take you wherever you want free of charge." Then, with a wave, the horse and carriage were heading up the northbound path.

"So," Lucien started as he glanced at the signpost in front of them and zeroed in on the one pointing the direction of Ivarstead. "Shall we put in an hour or two of walking before setting up camp for the night?"

Tim studied the sky. Now that they had replaced wide open fields for more heavily wooded mountainous terrain it was harder to gauge the time and to see how close the sun was to the horizon. "I don't think so," he mused aloud. "I think it's actually pretty late in the afternoon, and we should use what's left of the daylight to find a safe spot to set up camp before it gets dark."

The pair of them ultimately set up camp just a little ways off the main road closer to the river's edge. By the time the sun had set, their tent was set up, a stew made of dried meats and vegetables was simmering in a pot by the fire, and both Tim and Lucien were reading and discussing a book that the Court Wizard Farengar had gifted to Tim before they left Whiterun.

The black leather-bound tome was called "The Book of the Dragonborn" and had been written sometime in the Third Era. It had a fair bit of information about the term "Dragonborn" and it's history both with the Emperors of Cyrodiil as well as with the Nords of Skyrim.

"So once upon a time all the Emperors of your homeland used to be Dragonborn?" Tim asked curiously as he gave the pot one final stir.

"That was always thought to be one of the hard requirements to be a true legitimate emperor of Cyrodiil," Lucien replied as he watched Tim place some of stew into a bowl. "St. Alessia's descendants were the first Dragonborn Dynasty. Once her line died off, then a new Dragonborn named Reman Cyrodiil rose up, became Emperor, and started his own Reman Dynasty. After that, during the Third Era, it was Tiber Septim, known as Talos Stormcrown by the Nords, who was identified as Dragonborn and started the Septim Dynasty, before that line too died off during the Oblivion Crisis. There hasn't been a Dragonborn identified since then... well... not until possibly you." He took the bowl Tim offered with a grin. "Who knows, I could be here dining under the stars with the next future Emperor of Cyrodiil?"

Tim had just grasped his own bowl, but froze the moment those words left Lucien's mouth. He stared at the scholar wide-eyed before shaking his head slightly. "Don't even joke about something like that," he said uneasily. "I can't be... No... Just no." After taking a seat next to Lucien, Tim glanced at open book that had been resting on a flat stone between them and flipped a few pages over until he was past the portions about Cyrodilic Emperors. The very thought of something like that happening made Tim's skin crawl.

Thankfully, Lucien didn't press the subject and instead started eating. As he ate, he read over the page Tim had flipped to and raised his eyebrows curiously. "Hm. That's interesting."

"What is?"

"There appears to be mention of some sort of prophecy regarding someone referred to as the 'Last Dragonborn'." Lucien pointed with his spoon at the passage that caught his eyes. 

Tim placed his own bowl down and picked up the book to angle it better to read in the firelight. He read the passage out loud.

"When misrule takes its place at the eight corners of the world

"When the Brass Tower walks and Time is reshaped

"When the thrice-blessed fail and the Red Tower trembles

"When the Dragonborn ruler loses his throne, and the White Tower falls

"When the Snow Tower lies sundered, kingless, bleeding

"The World-Eater wakes, and the Wheel turns upon the Last Dragonborn."

Tim looked up to Lucien. "Does any of that make any sense to you?"

"Maybe?" Lucien said hesitantly. "If we were at the museum I could probably figure out most of those references. However, the fourth line about the Dragonborn ruler losing their throne has to be about the end of the Septim line in the third era. And the bit about the White Tower falling... That's obvious enough to me because it's talking about the end of the Great War that happened in Cyrodiil about twenty-five years ago. The Imperial City was sacked by armies from the Aldmeri Dominion, which is led by an Elven Supremacist faction called the Thalmor. The White Tower must be referring to the White-Gold Tower, which served as the royal palace and was damaged during the war." At the mention of the Thalmor, Lucien grimaced. 

"What are the Thalmor?"

"They're a faction of elves, primarily Altmer from the Summerset Isles, who believe that the races of Mer have supremacy over the races of Men. The faction had been expanding their influence through invasion of other lands for years. The Great War is when they attempted to do the same with Cyrodiil and the Empire." 

Then Lucien sighed. "The Great War only ended with what is called the White-Gold Concordat. It was a 'peace treaty' that allowed the Empire to continue overall rule and ended the war, but essentially ceded a great deal of money, land, and influence over the government to the Thalmor and the Aldmeri Dominion."

Tim absorbed all this with a grim expression. "We had something like this happen in my own world's history," he admitted. "Two world wars that took place in the last century, instigated by racial supremacists." He shook his head. 

"Were they victorious or were they defeated?" Lucien asked curiously.

"Oh they were defeated, but the costs of the wars, especially the second one, were very, very high."

The pair were quiet for a long moment. Then Lucien broke the silence. "Timothy... I know you are a good young man and hate to see any injustice. But please promise me that you won't throw yourself into any conflicts with the Thalmor."

When Tim looked like he wanted to argue, Lucien raised his hand. "The Thalmor's forces are not like bandits. They're not like the soldiers of the Legion or the Stormcloaks either. Even their lowest ranked foot soldiers are made of elves who wield powerful spells as well as blades, and you have no defense against magic. If you fight them, in your current state, they will kill you or worse."

Tim opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it without uttering a word for a moment. Then he sighed with a resigned expression. "So what should i look out for? What do they look like so I know who to avoid?"

"Their rank and file soldiers wear a light armor made of a gold colored metal. Their more powerful higher ranked wizards wear black hooded robes with silver or gold trim."

Tim nodded. Then he looked at Lucien. "Y'know, while we're on the topic, who are the other races of men and 'mer' I should know about?"

Lucien smiled a little, obviously happier to leave the topic of the Thalmor behind them. "Well, let's start off with one I know you haven't met yet called the Khajiit. They are quite a fascinating people..."

NOTE: You can read the entire text from "The Book of the Dragonborn" here: https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/The_Book_of_the_Dragonborn

It is an actual in-game book that can be found at the start of the playthrough in Helgen.

Also, the tent and campfire were all provided by the lovely "Campfire - Complete Camping System" mod found here: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/667

#elder scrolls dc#fanfiction#tim drake#skyrim fanfiction#red robin#batfam#crossover#lucien flavius#wip#afewnovelideas

[tessatechaitea]

Justice League Annual #1 (1987)

Martian Manhunter has five thousand different super powers compared with the one super power of the rest of the team (Black Canary's sonic scream. The other "super powers" are just technological accessory based).

If this comic book isn't about Martian Manhunter's addiction to Oreo cookies then what am I even doing with my life? The only reason I love Martian Manhunter is that he loves Oreo cookies and I view him as the father I never had. Whenever I had a problem growing up, I would think, "What advice would Martian Manhunter give me?" And that's why I was so fat in Junior High School because the answer was always "Eat more Oreos." I know Martian Manhunter's eventual addiction is to "Choco's" but fuck Choco's. Fuck them like every other off-brand Oreo cookie. They fucking suck. Speaking of things that suck, this dick isn't going to suck itself. Now picture me pointing at the comic book because I need to read it. That's how I begin reading all of my comic books. And I say it loudly so the neighbors will think, "Oh boy! That guy next door isn't a nerd at all! Total sex maniac!" The "Hunting the Manhunter" blurb on this cover reminds me that Millennium is coming up and I think I hated that? No, no. I'm sure I loved it! There are two things I couldn't get enough of in my teen years and comic books was the second one of them. Kord Industries has bought some property in the middle of Ultra-Nowhere, South America, and some of its employees have gone off to scout the location.

Wasn't that the episode with the shape-changing hottie who loves sucking the salt out of men? You know what I'm talking about. Also she was probably a male monster posing as a female monster. Proof of that theory is that every single episode of the first season of the original Star Trek could also have been the name of a gay bar.

Inside the abandoned research facility, the Kord employees encounter pretty much the same thing Kirk, Spock, and the other one encountered:

Vampire John Travolta! It's possible I'm misremembering the Star Trek episode.

While on monitor duty, Guy Gardner discovers that large groups of people on four different continents seem to be under the control of a single will and Batman asks Martian Manhunter, "Do you think this is League business?" What the fuck else would be, Bat-Turd?! A new Internet fad like planking or the Harlem Shuffle? I mean, it totally could be that except that the Internet doesn't really exist during this story. I mean if you want to be a pedant about it, I suppose the teenage Internet across college campuses. But nobody likes a pedant so just shut the fuck up and live in my reality while you're reading my stupid comic book review. Just take the fucking Red Pill and relax! Except don't do that because the idea of The Matrix Red Pill has been co-opted by the worst of humanity who think they're somehow the most logical and philosophical people on the planet when they're really just awful monsters rationalizing all of their mean desires.

How did people come away from reading this comic book hating Guy Gardner and not also despising Batman?

The Justice League splits up into teams of two to cover the mass hypnosis issues in Paris, Tokyo, Sydney, and Los Angeles. I'm not sure Batman knows how to balance teams because he sends Doctor Fate and Martian Manhunter together while leaving Mister Miracle with Blue Beetle. Here are my teams: Guy Gardner with Blue Beetle because Blue Beetle is effectively worthless and Guy Gardner has the most powerful weapon in the universe. Batman would go with Black Canary because her sonic scream is sort of like a bat's echo location. Martian Manhunter would go with Scott Free because they're both aliens. And Booster Gold would team up with Doctor Fate because their outfits match. Blue Beetle and Mister Miracle head to L.A. with some, um, problematic dialogue? I think?

This is an "anal sex/everybody in Hollywood is gay" joke, right?

With newer comic books, a scan of 620 pixels (basically the width of the main column of the blog (although I think the width changed when I added the Goodreads app. I should probably fix it so the 620 pixel pictures stop bleeding off into the right-hand frame (if you're reading this on Tumblr, just ignore it. Just ignore everything since Tumblr fucked up their code and now I can't even center pictures or get the captions to sit snugly right up underneath the scans))) was usually enough to read the dialogue clearly. But with these old comics on newsprint, they're fuzzier and the font seems much smaller. Sorry about that but I won't betray my artistic integrity by scanning less than the full panel! At least not in this case is my defense against the pedants who can easily find many examples of me doing exactly that. First Black Canary is treated like shit by Batman and now she teams up with Booster Gold who can't stop hitting on her until she reminds him she's a competent limb-breaker. This must be the kind of comics Comicsgaters wish we could return to! "Remember when women were treated as sexual objects and not one member of the Justice League was Black and constantly said, 'Booyah!'? What great times!" Black Canary and Booster Gold become John Travolta Vampire slaves almost immediately because Batman chose the improper team pairings. It's bad enough that Batman would fail at making proper pairings but it's extra bad when Batman is being written by a writer and the writer made that choice. I mean, how do you pass up the opportunity to team Booster Gold with Doctor Fate?! They would look so fucking good together! Batman and Guy Gardner (you know how you can tell Hal Jordan is the real Green Lantern? Because people will say "Green Lantern" when discussing him instead of "Hal Jordan") wind up in Tokyo where Doctor Light is all, "Hello, boys! I'm a vampire now!" Then she blinds the fuck out of them because Batman forgot to put on his Bat-sunglasses.

Batman steals this move from Doctor Light in the next regular issue.

Doctor Light kisses Batman and he's all, "Yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay. I get it. Being a vampire is pretty awesome. No wonder writers write vampire versions of me every other year or so."

I don't think the editors briefed Willingham on what Beetle's Bug can and can't do.

Beetle lands at Kord West and is immediately swamped by John Travolta Vampire's thralls. So he does the thing he does in nearly every comic book except the one where Maxwell Lord shoots him in the head: he runs away. But he doesn't run fast enough and winds up possessed aboard the Bug with Mister Miracle. The story hints that Miracle gets possessed just after the scene changes but he's Scott Free, the world's greatest escape artist! I would guess he'd be the one to save everybody else but judging from the cover, it's Martian Manhunter who keeps from getting possessed. In Australia, Doctor Fate wades into a group of infected people because he's a gigantic arrogant prick. He's all, "I'm a frickin' Lord of Order, assholes! I know a spell that can get to the root of this problem!" And then the Vampire John Travolta is all, "I'll kill Kent Nelson if you don't leave his body." And Doctor Fate is all, "Well, J'onn, I've gotta go! Nice hanging out with you! Ta ta!" Which leaves Martian Manhunter as the only person left on Earth who isn't infected (or at least the only person left who is in this story). I bet that's pretty lonely. But Martian Manhunter is used to being lonely. I wonder if he's capable of making his right hand into a female martian so he can fuck it? Martian Manhunter has no idea what he's dealing with so he puts on Doctor Fate's helmet to gain all of the other powers that he didn't already have without it. But only for a few seconds because Superman would never be able to get an erection again if he found out Martian Manhunter had all of his powers and could also do magic. J'onn wears the helmet just long enough to learn what Doctor Fate learned about the contagion: it's a sentient cell! It's smart cancer! And I guess Vampire John Travolta was Patient Zero. Now J'onn just has to figure out how to fight Smart Cancer. I don't even know how he'll defeat it because I just looked up Smart Cancer in the Who's Who to read about its weaknesses and wouldn't you know it? There's no entry for Smart Cancer! Maybe it was in an update that I don't own. Like that version of Who's Who that was just loose pages to stick in a binder! I have that one too but it's possible I just didn't buy all of the expansion packs. Martian Manhunter heads to the source of the contagion to meet Smart Cancer head on. What he finds is a boss from Castlevania.

When you have thousands of people at your disposal, is the most effective way to use them shoving them together into one giant person?

The first thing Smart Cancer's Granfaloon does is try to smash J'onn with its people fist. In effect, it's smashing a dozen people head first into the ground so that dirt sprays up all over the place. So I guess a dozen or so people are now dead, right? It's not like Smart Cancer gave them invulnerability to massive head wounds.

I think this panel is the one where all the Justice League editors through their hands up in resignation and sighed, "I guess the Justice League is ridiculous now."

Martian Manhunter realizes, like me, how fucking stupid Smart Cancer is to put all of its people in one gigantic people-shaped basket. Since all the minds are linked, he realizes he can throw the Fate helmet on one of the people and Doctor Fate can possess Smart Cancer. It works but only for a limited amount of time. Doctor Fate can't hold that many people under his sway. But Doctor Fate does know who can control Smart Cancer: the martian! He can shapeshift his cells into some kind of prison or something. I don't know. It was explained in the most basic medical and scientific terms but they were still beyond my attention span. In the end, Martian Manhunter contained the Smart Cancer in him and that's where it lives now? Oh, and speaking of "the end," check out this clever and titillating final panel:

"Why's it gotta be the ass of the only woman on the team?" I say while pulling my pants down.

Justice League Annual #1 Rating: What?! I don't rate annuals! I mean, maybe sometimes I rate annuals. This one was okay. It was sort of interesting but I was disappointed that Vampire John Travolta wasn't the actual enemy. I hope Smart Cancer fights its way out of J'onn and makes another appearance later.

[zen3to5]

J/H 3-22: Eric’s Drunken Tattoo

Another episode, another all-new "B" story, this time following up on the new material from the last ep and pushing the Zen along.

(NOTE: While I said from the outset that I wasn't out to "correct" anything in the show as it is, I did decide here that, in this rewrite, the show stays in 1977 until somewhere in Season 5. It doesn't really make anything about T7S's timeline make more sense, but it does at least correspond to when junior/sophomore year for the gang should've ended and senior/junior year begun.)

FF.Net AO3

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SHOW TITLE   INT. DONNA’S ROOM - DAY   The afternoon sun shines in through the window. DONNA lies across her bed, writing in her JOURNAL. “Freak Out” by Chic plays on the radio. The door opens, and ERIC enters.   Eric: Hi.   DONNA: Hey.   ERIC: Whatcha doing?   Donna sits up.   DONNA: Oh, just writing in my journal.   ERIC: Like in Star Trek?   He jumps onto the bed and holds his hand up to his mouth as though it were a microphone.   ERIC (cont’d): (doing Shatner) “Captain’s log – star date 1977. God, I’m so hot. My beautiful red hair and giant jugs seem to drive all life forms wild.”   DONNA: Oh, my God, Eric. That’s exactly what I was writing.   Eric pulls a wowed face. Donna laughs and stands, setting her journal down on her writing desk.   DONNA (cont’d): I’m gonna go make some popcorn and get some sodas.   She moves toward the door. Eric watches her, still miming his microphone.   ERIC: (doing Shatner) “My beautifully sculpted hindquarters flounce downstairs to procure nourishment.”   DONNA: Shut up.   ERIC: (doing Shatner) “Okay.”   Donna exits. Eric stays on the bed and looks around the room. His eyes pass over Donna’s journal.   MYSTERIOUS VOICE (v.o.): Eric... Eric...   Eric looks down at Donna’s journal. It’s clear now that the voice is his own imagination at work.   ERIC: Yes, Donna’s journal?   JOURNAL (v.o.): I am the book of secrets, Eric. Don’t you want to know what she really thinks about you? Read me... read me...   ERIC: You know, I really shouldn’t.   JOURNAL (v.o.): Suit yourself.   The voice of the journal sings nonsense lyrics innocently. Eric considers for a second, then climbs off the bed and steps toward the writing desk.   JOURNAL (v.o., cont’d): But beware: what you learn here cannot be unlearned.   ERIC: Okay, do you want me to read you or not?   JOURNAL (v.o.): Sorry.   Eric picks up the journal and opens it. We hear Donna’s voice reciting each passage that Eric reads.   DONNA (v.o.): Eric and I went to second base tonight. He was hilarious... The prom is gonna be magical. I think tonight I’m finally gonna sleep with Eric... Which is like Woodstock, but for vans. Anyway, I think I’m finally gonna sleep with Eric... I love him so much. Tonight, I’m finally gonna sleep with Eric...   ERIC: Okay, let’s just skip to the last page...   He flips ahead.   DONNA (v.o.): I had the weirdest dream about Eric last night. He was Eric, but he was also Steven Tyler from Aerosmith, and he looked really wicked and dangerous...   Eric looks up from the journal, very pleased.   ERIC: Yeah! “Wicked dangerous!”   He looks back down to continue reading.   DONNA (v.o.): Which is so not Eric. Sometimes I wish he were like that.   All the pride in Eric’s face falls away.   Footsteps sound off-screen.   JOURNAL (v.o.): Quick! Put me down! Someone’s coming!   Eric sets the journal back down just as Donna returns with Jiffy Pop and two soda bottles. Eric snaps upright in attention.   ERIC: Hi! Hello. How are you? I didn’t do anything. You look pretty.   Donna looks around, confused. Eric takes one of the sodas from her hand and takes a big gulp.   ERIC (cont’d): (burps) I have to go now.   He hurries past her and out the door. Donna looks from the doorway to her journal and back. Her eyes narrow.

MAIN CREDITS   BUMPER   INT. FORMAN BASEMENT - DAY   It’s almost a normal afternoon in the basement; HYDE’s there. But instead of sitting in his chair, he lies face-down on the couch, his head buried under his arm. Soda cans and chip bags litter the floor nearby. He snores softly, deep in sleep.   JACKIE sits in Hyde’s chair and watches him with a long face. KELSO paces up and down behind the couch. FEZ sits in the lawn chair, reading a comic. He has on a ridiculous pair of X-RAY GLASSES.   KELSO: All right. No one’s gonna say it, I’ll say it. (to Fez) Fez, what is with the glasses?   FEZ: (looks up) Well, the ad in the Richie Rich comic said they would let me see through a lady’s clothes. (beat) I have been swindled again.   Jackie shakes her head, but not at their stupidity.   JACKIE: Poor Steven. Abandoned again. See, this is why Daddy doesn’t believe in giving money to poor people. Because they don’t know how to handle it, and then stuff like this happens.   Kelso nods sagely, while Fez turns back to his comic.   JACKIE (cont’d): I wish there was something we could do for him.   Kelso thinks for a second, then snaps his fingers.   KELSO: I got it. We need some whipped cream and a feather. We put the whipped cream on Hyde’s hands, and tickle his nose with the feather, so when he goes to scratch it, he gets a face full of whipped cream.   He and Fez giggle silently.   JACKIE: How would that make Steven feel better?   KELSO: (beat) Well, he’ll have fun beating Fez up if we tell him he did it.   Fez glares up at Kelso, incredulous. Jackie shakes her head and stands, crossing to Kelso.   JACKIE: No, Michael. Look, this is a horrible thing Steven’s going through. We should... we should get him a present or something, to cheer him up. Something thoughtful and personal. And I know just where to find it. Let’s get down to the mall!   She hurries out the door, Kelso in tow. He pulls the door shut hard behind him, which wakes Hyde up. His sunglasses are missing. He looks around, sees Fez looking at him with the X-Ray glasses.   HYDE: Get a good look there, Richie?   Fez slowly sinks down in his chair and raises his comic up to cover the glasses.   CUT TO:   INT. FORMAN KITCHEN - DAY   Also an almost normal afternoon. KITTY works on a salad bowl on the stovetop. RED enters through the patio door, holding his right thumb.   RED: Kitty, where’s the Band-Aids? I cut my thumb with a hacksaw.   Kitty tuts and retrieves a Band-Aid from a cabinet drawer.   KITTY: Oh, Red, you know those things are dangerous.   RED: Well, I tried cutting the metal pipe with a flower, but it was real slow going.   Kitty frowns at him and starts applying the Band-Aid.   KITTY: Well, seeing as how you’re being all snarky anyway, I may as well tell you: Pastor Dave is coming to dinner tonight.   Red moans and pulls away.   RED: Not tonight! There’s a Packer report on tonight. They’re doing a tribute to Vince Lombardi.   KITTY: Red, you know I’m trying to get more involved in the church, so he is coming.   RED: Kitty, if Pastor Dave comes over, we’ll never get rid of him. He’ll just go on and on about how great God is.   Kitty gives him a long look.   KITTY: Well, He is.   What can Red say to that? He sighs and shakes his head.   CUT TO:   INT. MALL - DAY   The Point Place mall, not terribly busy for a Saturday. Jackie and Donna stroll through the courtyard side by side.   DONNA: And then he says “I have to go now” and runs off with that guilty look he gets whenever he does something stupid. I’m telling you, Jackie, I think Eric read my private journal.   JACKIE: Oh... is this about the dream where you wished Eric was Steven Tyler?   Donna glares at Jackie. She looks back, not seeing the problem. Donna pinches her arm, hard. Jackie shrieks and slaps Donna’s hand down.   JACKIE: Don’t pinch me, you lumberjack!   Kelso runs up to them, his arms full of hair products.   KELSO: Check it out! The salon’s having a sale on everything. Look at this! Shampoo, conditioner – they’ve even got the Remington Mist-Air Hot Comb!   He holds up the comb box. Jackie beams and claps.   JACKIE: Oh, my God, Michael, that’s perfect! Steven would look fabulous with straight hair.   KELSO: (beat) Right! Hyde’s present...   He chuckles nervously, then cradles his collection of items more tightly, as if loathe to part with them.   Donna shakes her head and leans over Jackie’s shoulder.   DONNA: You do remember you’re here for Hyde, right? I’m pretty sure he’s not gonna use a hot comb. As a matter of fact, I’m not sure he uses a comb. Or shampoo.   Jackie looks disgusted and shudders.   JACKIE: Eww!   CUT TO:   INT. FORMAN DINING ROOM – EVENING   Kitty got her way: PASTOR DAVE is over for dinner. He sits between the Formans as they all work on their salad.   DAVE: Hey, do you know who I love?   RED: Jesus.   DAVE: (beat) Well, yes. But I was going to say Vince Lombardi.   Red looks up.   RED: You’re a Packer man?   DAVE: Are you kidding? I bleed cheese.   Red grins. Suddenly, he’s enjoying this dinner.   RED: Well, I’m not sure, but I think there may be a Packer report on tonight.   DAVE: Red, I think you may be right. And I think it could start in eight-and-a-half minutes.   RED: Then what do you say we choke our dinners down, get our asses on the couch?   DAVE: Amen!   They go to work on the salads. Kitty, not amused, stands.   KITTY: Red, can you help me in the kitchen, please?   He doesn’t get up.   KITTY (cont’d): Right now, please?   She goes into the kitchen. Red follows, patting Dave on the back as he passes into:   INT. FORMAN KITCHEN – EVENING   Kitty is at the stovetop, spooning the main course onto plates. Red hurries over to her.   KITTY: Red, this night is not about football. This night is about company.   RED:  And our company wants to watch the Packer report. He spends his life doing the Lord’s work, and if you would deny this holy little man that simple pleasure... well, God have mercy on your soul.   KITTY:  Just can it, Red.   She pushes a plate into Red’s hands.   KITTY (cont’d): Bring him his food.   Red takes the plate and hurries back to the:   INT. FORMAN DINING ROOM – EVENING   Red drops the plate in front of Dave and takes the salad plate.   RED: You got six minutes.   DAVE: (mouth full) I’m eating.   Red returns to:   INT. FORMAN KITCHEN – EVENING   Red brings Kitty the empty salad plate. She looks down and notices his thumb is bare.   KITTY: Red, where is your Band-Aid?   RED: Oh, I don’t know. I had it on a second ago. Must’ve come off while I was serving the -   It hits him and Kitty at the same time. They share a look of shock, then race back into:   INT. FORMAN DINING ROOM – EVENING   Pastor Dave is scarfing down dinner as fast as he can. By the time Red and Kitty reach him, it’s too late; he finishes his last bite and throws his hands up in the touchdown signal.   DAVE: Done!   Red and Kitty shift on their feet, neither prepared to say anything.   BUMPER   INT. LEO’S HOUSE – EVENING   A modestly-sized apartment, somewhat shabby but tastefully decorated in a Japanese style. “Werewolves of London” by Warren Zevon plays on the radio. Hyde (sunglasses back), LEO, Eric, and Fez (still wearing his X-Ray glasses) all sit around a low table. LEO has a sake set laid out.   ERIC: Hey, Leo, thanks for letting us hang out here. I just – I didn’t want to see Donna after what she wrote.   HYDE: Forman, no one cares.   LEO:  (to Eric) That’s true, man. (to everyone) Listen, you guys know I don’t allow alcohol in my house, so you’re just gonna have to drink sake instead.   The guys look amongst themselves; they all know the score on sake.   FEZ: “Sake” it to me, Leo. (laughs)   HYDE: Don’t start with the sake jokes, Fez.   FEZ: Oh, put a “sake” in it. (laughs)   Leo pours and passes out the cups. Eric takes his and holds it near his mouth.   ERIC: Well, this would be fun if I wasn’t so miserable.   HYDE: Look, Forman, we’re willing to sit here and drink these tiny, allegedly alcoholic drinks, but we don’t wanna hear you bitch about Donna all night.   ERIC: Oh, don’t worry, Hyde. I don’t feel like talking about Donna.   He downs his sake and sets the glass upside down on the table.   CUT TO:   Moments later. Eric has a pyramid of cups stacked, and he’s well into drunk.   ERIC: You see, the thing about Donna is...   HYDE: Here we go.   ERIC: She acts like everything’s all cool, okay? And then, all of a sudden I’m no Steven Tyler. (scoffs)   FEZ: Oh, Eric, give it up, for heaven’s “sake.”   He laughs at his own pun again, and this time Leo joins in.   LEO: (to Fez) You’re still the king, man.   ERIC: Man, I thought were past the phase where we had to impress each other.   HYDE: You are. Now you’re in the “she dumps you for a biker with a wicked tattoo” phase. The most entertaining of all phases.   Eric stands, almost gracefully.   ERIC: Oh, my God... oh, my God, Hyde, that’s it! A tattoo’s dangerous! There’s a place next to the liquor store. I could go get one right now!   Leo stands, and we cut to:   ERIC’S POV. Sake has him seeing three of Leo, overlapping and waving against the wall, and each of them talk.   LEO: No way, man! We’re not gonna let you go to some sleazy tattoo parlor and spend money for something you’ll regret for the rest of your life. I’ll tattoo you for free, man. I’m pretty sure I used to do this for a living.   FADE TO BLACK   COMMERCIAL   BUMPER   INT. LEO’S HOUSE – EVENING   A short time later. Eric, still drunk, leans on a cabinet, his pants pulled down. Hyde and Fez hold his hands while Leo sits on a stool in the back, working on a tattoo on Eric’s ass.   ERIC: How cool am I? A tattoo of my girlfriend’s name – how’s that for dangerous?   LEO: Yeah, I think Debbie’s really gonna like this.   ERIC: (beat) Wait. Debbie? No, Donna.   LEO: (beat) Right. Okay, no problem. I can fix it.   ERIC: Fix what?   LEO: Relax. Debbie will never notice it.   Eric looks back toward Leo.   ERIC: It’s Donna.   LEO: See, now you moved, man! It’s okay. I can make that into a flower.   He goes back to work, and Eric looks forward, much less sure about this.   FEZ: (to Eric) Oh, you know what you should get? Boobs. Big boobs on your butt.   HYDE: That’s classy.   LEO: Hey, I can turn the “Bs” into boobs.   ERIC: (beat) Wait, what “Bs?”   LEO: Like in “Debbie,” your girlfriend?   ERIC: It’s “Donna!”   LEO: Oh, right. (beat) Oh, I can fix that.   CUT TO:   INT. MALL - EVENING   The shopping continues. A promotional table for WFPP is set up against the wall, a phone and microphone set up. Donna chats with the ATTENDANT while Jackie looks around at the different stores.   DONNA: (to attendant) So has the call-in contest started yet?   ATTENDANT: No, but we start taking calls any minute. Hey, did you ask Max about tickets for you and your boyfriend?   DONNA: No, he said he needed me to work that night. And I think Eric read my journal, so not getting him in to see Zeppelin seems like a good punishment.   The attendant shrugs and nods.   Something in a shop window catches Jackie’s eye, and she tugs on Donna’s sleeve as she points with the other hand.   JACKIE: Donna, look! Baby blue bell bottoms. See, if Steven wore things like that, no one would know he was poor.   Donna smiles in pity.   DONNA: Yeah, um... no.   Jackie groans and stomps her foot.   JACKIE: Donna, you haven’t liked any of my ideas. The mall’s closing soon and we haven’t found anything for Steven.   DONNA: Look, Jackie, it’s nice that you want to do something for Hyde, but shopping is not that thing. Hyde doesn’t care about bell bottoms or leisure suits or hair, and I’m pretty sure the only thing he’d do with a Pet Rock is break a window with it.   Jackie sighs and throws up her hands.   JACKIE: Steven’s just so complicated. I’ve never had this much trouble finding a gift for Michael.   Kelso runs up to them. His hair care products from before are stuffed in a large salon bag worn on one arm, a white sport jacket is draped over the other, two clothing boxes are balanced between both arms, and the box for Sorry! is balanced on top. He’s grinning ear to ear.   KELSO: Is everything in this mall on sale or what? This is awesome!   Donna shakes her head and Jackie scowls at Kelso.   JACKIE: Michael, you’re supposed to be helping us find something to cheer Steven up.   KELSO: Jackie, Hyde’s not a “cheer up” kind of guy. That’s not how he gets over stuff. He gets over stuff by punching people, rockin’ out to bitchin’ tunes, and dipping into his stash.   DONNA: Wow, Kelso, that was actually pretty insightful.   KELSO: Yeah, well...   (beat, to Jackie) I can still get all this stuff, right? I mean, just ‘cause we didn’t find anything for Hyde, that’s no reason to waste all these sweet deals.   Donna puts a hand to her forehead. Jackie steps up to the radio table and starts chatting with the attendant as we fade to:   INT. FORMAN LIVING ROOM – EVENING   Now it’s Red turn to have his way: he, Kitty, and Dave are on the couch, the Packer report playing on TV. Kitty is clearly unhappy. Not that the men notice; Red has a diagram worked out on the coffee table with peanuts.   RED: And then Bart Starr fakes a hand-off to Anderson and finds Dowler in the endzone for the winning touchdown!   DAVE: Wow! On TV it seemed confusing, but with peanuts, it’s all so clear!   Kitty taps Red on the arm.   KITTY: Red, um, can I see you in the kitchen for a minute, please?   RED: Yeah, just one second.   He and Kitty stand. Red pats Dave on the back.   RED (cont’d): You go ahead and set ‘em up again, and I’ll show you how the Packers won the Ice Bowl.   DAVE: All right!   He eagerly starts rearranging the peanuts as Red and Kitty step into:   INT. FORMAN KITCHEN – EVENING   Red and Kitty stand by the stove. Red looks happy; Kitty is decidedly not.   KITTY: Okay, Red, don’t you think it’s time your little friend went home?   RED: Kitty, I’m just being sociable, like you asked. Just being a good host.   KITTY: Oh, sure. All good hosts feed their guests Band-Aids.   RED: Band-Aid, Kitty. Don’t exaggerate.   From the living room, Dave lets out a pained moan. Red and Kitty move back into:   INT. FORMAN LIVING ROOM – EVENING   Dave is curled up on the couch in a fetal position, clutching at his stomach as he moans. Kitty’s jaw drops as she looks up at Red.   KITTY: Oh, my God!   Dave looks up piteously at his hosts.   DAVE: Hospital, please.   CUT TO:   INT. FORMAN BASEMENT - NIGHT   Much later, probably near 2 or 3 in the morning. Hyde is in his chair, his feet propped up on the coffee table as he sleeps. Eric is also asleep, on the couch. He has no pants, and his shorts are pulled down just enough for the ice pack on his ass to cover his tattoo. We slowly zoom in on his face as we cut to:   INT. DONNA’S ROOM – DAY   DREAM SEQUENCE. Donna lies on her bed, writing away in her journal. She pauses and chews her pen in thought.   Her door is kicked open. With a burst of smoke, Eric dances into the room as Steven Tyler, with a microphone at the ready.   ERIC (lip-sync): Walk this way! Walk this way! Walk this way! Walk this way! Just give me a kiss...   He performs some of Tyler’s finest moves as he sings. On “give me a kiss,” he leans in close to Donna, only to pull back just before their lips meet.   ERIC (lip-sync): Like this!   He wraps up his routine with a burst of pyrotechnics. Donna leaps off the bed and starts making out with him. She pulls back, breathless, and looks him over hungrily.   DONNA: Eric, how did you get so hot?   ERIC: (proudly) I got a tattoo.   Beaming, Donna rips out the last page of her journal and scribbles in a new entry.   DONNA: “Eric’s perfect.”   She looks back up at Eric as he makes Steven Tyler lips.   CUT TO:   INT. FORMAN BASEMENT – NIGHT   Back to reality. Eric grins in his sleep. His eyes slowly open.   ERIC: Oh, yeah.   His smile slips, and he puts a hand to his head.   ERIC (cont’d): Ow.   He adjusts the ice pack on his ass.   ERIC (cont’d): Ow.   He looks down toward the ice pack and remembers why it’s there. The grin returns.   ERIC (cont’d): Oh, yeah.   He adjusts his arm under his head and drifts back to sleep.   BUMPER   INT. FORMAN KITCHEN – DAY   The next morning. Pastor Dave, looking the worse for wear, sits between an uncomfortable Red and Kitty at the kitchen table.   DAVE: So, are you telling me that you fed me a Band-Aid?   KITTY: Well... um, to be honest – Red fed you the Band-Aid.   Dave looks to Red, who rolls his eyes.   DAVE: How did this happen?   KITTY: Red, why don’t you diagram it for him with peanuts?   Red frowns at Kitty, then turns toward Dave.   RED: Look, Dave, I’m real sorry. I didn’t realize how sick a Band-Aid would make you.   DAVE: Well, thank you for your belated honesty, but the doctor said I had food poisoning from an undercooked sausage.   RED: Food poisoning? That’s Kitty’s department.   Dave looks to a stunned Kitty.   KITTY: I have never undercooked a sausage in my life. I have a system. It’s foolproof.   RED: Hey, Kitty – it’s okay. We all make mistakes.   Kitty glares at both men.   KITTY: I... Vince Lombardi is overrated. That’s right. He is overrated!   Red and Dave recoil in horror. Red puts a bracing hand on Dave’s arm.   RED: Ignore her. She’s hysterical!   CUT TO:   INT. FORMAN BASEMENT - DAY   Hyde is still in his chair, still asleep. He hasn’t moved since last night. Not until the door bursting open stirs him awake. A beaming Jackie hurries to stand over him. Her hand is clasped tight around a small, thin envelope.   JACKIE: Good, Steven, you’re up! Your hair’s clean, right?   Hyde gives her a funny look. Jackie shakes off any unpleasant thoughts of unwashed hair and presents the envelope.   JACKIE (cont’d): Surprise!   With a skeptical look, Hyde takes the envelope and starts to open it.   HYDE: Jackie, if you’re trying to get me to roller disco again, you can just – HOLY HELL!   Hyde leaps to his feet. Even through his sunglasses, his eyes bug out as he stares at the two slips from the envelope in his hand.   HYDE (cont’d): Zeppelin? You scored Zeppelin tickets, center row, tonight?   JACKIE: Yeah! Donna’s radio station was giving them away. They were supposed to go to the seventh caller or something, but I’m rich and cute, so they’re mine now!   Hyde looks up at her, his eyes still wide.   HYDE: And you’re just giving them to me?   Jackie nods. Hyde looks down at the tickets, then back to her.   HYDE: Jackie... I don’t know what to say, man. Why’d you do this?   Jackie wrinkles her nose up; she’s confused by the question.   JACKIE: For you. Steven, you don’t deserve what your parents did to you again. You’re a really great guy. (Hyde scoffs) Yes, you are! I know, okay? I mean, everything you’ve done for me, even when we didn’t get along – taking me to the prom, helping me stand up to Laurie, going to jail...   HYDE: That reminds me, I think I slept past my probation meeting this week.   JACKIE: And, when you and Donna told me I should take some time to be alone, I didn’t want you to be right. But I feel like I’ve really grown a lot with that time, and I was finally able to forgive Michael, which I wouldn’t have. So you were right. And that was a nice way to make sure I didn’t slip back into that crazy crush I had on you.   Hyde’s face starts to slip. Jackie doesn’t notice.   JACKIE (cont’d): Remember how I got so worked up, I really thought you were the one who felt something after that kiss?   She giggles. Hyde gives a very small, guarded smile.   JACKIE (cont’d): So I wanted to say “thank you,” for being such a good friend. And I wanted you to have something nice... something where no one got punched and you wouldn’t forget once you came down.   HYDE: Jackie...   He gives her a long look. There’s something he wants to say, but it won’t come. Jackie leans in, attentive.   HYDE (cont’d): (beat) Thank you.   Jackie holds her arms open. Hyde shrugs, lets her give him a big hug; he settles for wrapping one arm loose around her shoulders. When they break, he looks back down at the tickets.   HYDE (cont’d): So, what time should we head out?   JACKIE: Oh, no, Steven, I can’t go. Michael asked me to help him set up his new hot comb and... well, let’s just say after the last time he tried using one, I don’t think he should be left alone with it.   HYDE: Then what do I do with the other ticket?   Fez enters through the basement door, still wearing X-Ray glasses.   Hyde lets out a long sigh and holds up the tickets.   HYDE (cont’d): Fez, man, Zeppelin! You in?   Fez beams and clasps his hands together. He hurries over to them.   FEZ: Oh, Hyde, that would be wonderful. Just you and me – for old times’ “sake.”   He and Jackie both laugh at the pun while Hyde frowns.   CUT TO:   INT. HALLWAY – DAY   The upstairs hall of the Pinciotti house. Eric strolls confidently up to Donna’s door. He tries to kick it open, but instead pushes himself back against the far wall and falls flat on his ass, leaving a giant footprint on the door.   Donna opens the door, sees Eric sprawled out.   DONNA: Eric, what the hell? Did you just kick my door?   ERIC: (beat) No.   He stands, and they both enter:   INT. DONNA’S BEDROOM - DAY   Eric, regaining some of his mojo after the fall, loosens his belt.   ERIC: But I got a surprise. I got a tattoo. Guess where? On my butt!   DONNA: (beat) Why?   ERIC: Why? Because I’m dangerous, lady!   Donna frowns at Eric. She passes him and retrieves her journal from her bed, holding it between them.   DONNA: Eric, I want you to be honest with me, and I promise I won’t get mad. Did you read my journal?   ERIC: Um... yeah.   DONNA: You sneaky little dillhole!   She whacks him in the arm with her journal. Eric recoils and juts a finger out at her.   ERIC: No! You know who’s sneaky? People who go around writing their feelings in their journals and not telling their boyfriends what they feel. So, you know what? I’m not sorry. (beat) I’m so sorry.   DONNA: You want to know how I feel? Fine. I’ll tell you how I feel!   She opens her journal and flips to the last page.   DONNA (cont’d): (reading) “Today at lunch I was looking at Eric when he didn’t know it, and I just couldn’t believe how much I love him and how lucky I am to be with him.” (looks up) Why couldn’t you read that page?   ERIC: Because you came back. (beat) Look, Donna – look, I’m really sorry, but... you know, it’s just sometimes I get worried, you know?   DONNA: Well, you know what? Suck it up.   She puts her journal away in her writing desk.   DONNA (cont’d): Eric, these are my private thoughts, and I’m allowed to have them. You have to stop trying to be what you think I want you to be and just, like, be yourself.   ERIC: Okay. I think I’m gonna go.   He turns to leave.   DONNA: Well, wait. Take off your pants.   Eric’s eyes light up.   ERIC: Really? All right!   Donna laughs.   DONNA: No. To show me your tattoo.   ERIC: I knew that, yeah. I knew that. I think you’re really gonna like it. Just... don’t be mad if it says “Debbie.”   Eric turns around, drops his pants, and lifts his shirt up to expose his ass. Donna takes a look and chokes down a laugh.   DONNA: Woodstock.   ERIC: It says “Woodstock?”   DONNA: No, it’s a picture of Snoopy’s friend Woodstock. You have a little yellow bird on your ass!   She finally cracks as Eric considers all the regrets now tied into this tattoo.   FADE TO BLACK   CREDITS   INT. DONNA’S BEDROOM - NIGHT   DREAM SEQUENCE. Donna and Jackie sit on the bed, rocking out, while the boys perform “Walk this Way” – Eric as Steven Tyler, Hyde as Joe Perry, Kelso as Tom Hamilton, Fez (still wearing the X-Ray glasses) as Brad Whitford, and Leo as Joey Kramer. Eric flirts with Donna as they perform, while Hyde and Kelso do the same with Jackie.   ERIC (lip-sync): So I took a big chance at the high school dance With a missy who was ready to play Was it me she was foolin’? ‘Cause she knew what she was doin’ Taught me how to walk this way She told me to   ERIC & HYDE (lip-sync): Walk this way! Walk this way! Walk this way! Walk this way!   END.

[thelittlestcheshire]

Hello! I’m Katie, and this is my muse Ches. If any of you were in Luxor over the summer, you know this pain in the ass so I’m probably gonna do a quick “here’s where this brat was” recap at the bottom, along with anything I’ve changed between that Ches and this Ches! I’m really excited to be back, and I’m really looking forward to roleplaying with everyone.

I also have the habit of writing crazy long bios when I do bother to write them so there’s a tl;dr for that, also some wanted connections at the bottom. I love plotting so if you ever have any ideas, feel free to come excited scream with me here or on Discord! So without further ado ♥

TWs:  Gun Violence / Murder / Death (not by Ches), Blood, Abuse (Relationship), Cheating, Mental Illnesses, Drugs/Alcohol, Overdoses (also not by Ches / did not result in death)

Is that HAILEY CHESHIRE “CHES” ELSWOOD? Wow, they do look a lot like KATHERINE MCNAMARA. I hear SHE is a SEVENTEEN EIGHTEEN year old SENIOR who originally attended CARNIFEX Academy. Word is they are an ARISTOCRAT student. You should watch out because they can be IMPULSIVE and STUBBORN, but on the bright side they can also be ENERGENIC and LOYAL. Ultimately, you’ll get to see it all for yourself. [KATIE, 23, EST, SHE/HERS]

Last Edit: 8/26/2020

♥ basics; Full Name: Hailey Cheshire “Ches” Elswood Preferred Name: Ches Elswood Age: 18 Birthday: July 19th, 2002 at 03:22 am Sexual Orientation: Biromantic bisexual Relationship Status: It’s complicated ( @ Elliot ) Occupation: Student Nationality: American [with French dual citizenship] Ches’s Car

♥ classes;

Anthropology

Shakespearean Studies

Linguistics

Latin

Music

Advanced Sociology

Advanced Psychology

World History

♥ extracurriculars;

National Honor Society

Theater Club (Actor)

Concert Band (Piano)

♥ background; Place of Birth: Paris, France Hometown: Manhattan, New York, New York Health Issues: Borderline Personality Disorder and PTSD, not that she likes to admit to it, however. She’s also highly allergic to the Perciformes family of fish (tuna, mackrel, perch , and bass). While she’s okay with the  salmoniformes (Salmon and Trout), she really doesn’t touch fish outside of... literally salmon she makes herself since that’s all she trusts ok. ((Shellfish is fine though) Traumas: Watching her mother die (mugging gone wrong/shot to death)

♥ physical; Face Claim: Katherine McNamara Eye Color: Green Hair Color: Red Height: 5′3 ½” (not at fc height quick side note) Weight: 115 lbs Tattoos, Birthmarks, Scars, etc: Mole above her belly button, a few moles on her thighs, freckles and face moles. (Face Ref 1, Face Ref 2,  Body Ref 1, Body Ref 2) . She also has a tattoo now.

♥ zodiac;

Tropical

Sun: Cancer Moon: Scorpio Mercury: Cancer Venus: Virgo Mars: Leo Jupiter: Cancer Saturn: Gemini Uranus:  Aquarius Neptune: Aquarius Pluto: Sagittarius Lilith: Aries N Node: Gemini

Placidus Orb

I ASC: Gemini II: Cancer III: Cancer IV: Leo V: Virgo VI: Libra VII: Sagittarius VIII:  Capricorn IX: Capricorn X MC: Aquarius XI: Pisces XII: Aries

♥ relatives;

Father’s Full Name: Edward Valentine Elswood Father’s Status: Alive Father’s Occupation: CEO/Owner of a multi-billion dollar luxury goods conglomerate  (net worth of 50+ Billion in fact - in turn, Elswood kids do NOT bat an eyelash at prices) Mother’s Full Name: Julia Andrieux Elswood Mother’s Status: Deceased [shot by a mugger on the twin’s 8th birthday] Future Step-Mother: Rebekah Carroll (soon to be Elswood, watch this space lol) Step-Mother’s Occupation:  Siblings: 6 brothers and sisters (family page here) Elswood-Carroll Children Oldest to Youngest:

Logan Elswood (24)

Jamie Elswood (22)

Emmett Elswood (19)

Cade Carroll (19)

Jonah / Ches Elswood (TWINS)

Flynn Carroll (16)

Effie Elswood (14)

Ella Elswood (10)

She also has a niece named Isabella (Belle) who’s now almost 8 months (DOB: 07/10/2019). Belle belongs to her oldest brother, Logan (and Belle’s mother isn’t in the picture).

This is a link to the Elswood family page if you’d like to know more about her family.

♥ relationships; Ex-Significant Other(s): Probably a handful of people tbh, hit me up if you want this as a WC Reason for Separation: Stuff not working out, Ches getting bored before she got attached, so on - she’s a flirt tbh, it takes her wanting to get invested for her to stay Current Significant Other: N/A

♥ misc;

Hobbies and Talents: Ches’s main hobbies are playing piano and archery (she forever misses her bow and arrow while she’s at school), as these are also the two things that are best at calming her down. She has an intense love for acting, so it’s not uncommon for her to be one of the first people to sign up for auditions, and she tends to sing a lot so musicals are truly her shit. It’s not uncommon to see her in the library, reading a book late a night.

However, a talent she doesn’t exactly own up to often is her talent for forgeries and lockpicking. While she doesn’t use these skills as they’re intended for often, she does tend to practice them a lot, so she’s not rusty for when they are actually useful.

Pinterest Section // Musings Tag // Playlist (it’s an in general Ches playlist tho)

Ches speaks English and French fluently, her mother was born and raised in Paris so she learnt them both at the same time

DO NOT CALL HER HAILEY unless you really want to end up on her shit list, it’s her biggest pet peeve, she will glare at you for hours.

She’s the mom friend if your mom friend also goes “I HAVE THE BEST IDEA” and drags you into trouble. Literally, the one who frets over you and proceeds to get you into trouble.

This muse does what she wants, I just write it down I apologize always for her

Doesn’t really... seriously date too much because of past situations (Her older brother slept with the first person she truly loved) and she tries to avoid falling in love

That being said platonic I love yous are her shit, she loves her friends a LOT

Ches is very serious about her studying (and wanting to be among the best of the best because - this girl has Ivy league college dreams and she has no intents on fucking those up), so like expect her to do shit like read an entire textbook at the start of school and study at midnight when her insomnia is kicking her ass.

She’s a bit of a closet nerd - if you look under her bed she has a chest of comic books, she’ll just lie if you ask her about them

Ches left Luxor due to a family emergency in October, it was a really hard decision (and it was a really hard decision to come back). She is just now coming back to school.

She got her tattoo while she was away from school, using a forged note of parental consent in New Jersey.

♥ bio;

TWs: Gun Violence, Murder, Death, Blood, Abuse (Relationship), Cheating, Mental Illnesses

Growing up as an Elswood means two things, you have a lot of siblings and a lot of money. Her parents had decided to raise their children in Manhattan, New York, where they could keep a close eye on their multi-billion dollar conglomerate. Her mother, Julia, would take them on trips constantly too - when she wanted to get the children away from the hustle and bustle of the city they’d go to their vacation home upstate, or their private island, or even to visit their family in Paris. At that point in life, Ches was happy. She had a solid group of friends, she had the best friend she could ever imagine having in the form of her twin brother, she had a loving and warm family, and she had a parent who would tell her no.

When she thinks back to her life before the incident, it feels like a completely different story. A fairytale even, perfect and happy in every way compared to her life now. However, it wouldn’t last, after all, fairy tales didn’t exist and reality was a much crueler mistress. One could say Lin-Manuel Miranda described it best; “life doesn't discriminate between the sinners and the saints. It takes and it takes and it takes.”

Everything changed on her eighth birthday when her mother took her out shopping to get a present for twin brother Jonah at Palisades Mall. A man came up with a gun while they were in the parking lot and asked for all of their money. Julia Elswood compiled but she made one mistake, the simple utterance of “Cours, Ches” as she gave the man her purse.

Ches might have gotten out of the event alive, but not she was not unscathed. Julia Elswood was pronounced dead when medics finally arrived on the scene, her blood coating her daughter’s hands and clothing from Ches’s attempts to stop the bleeding. She might have survived the event without physical harm but she was never the same child she was before after that.

One day she had an intact family, the next day the Elswoods were in ruin. Her father completely shut himself out from the family, only coming out for birthdays and holidays. Her oldest brother stepped up as their parental figure, first starting out with homeschooling before he eventually dropped out to ensure his siblings were getting as much of his time as they possibly could. He tried his hardest to make the loss of their mother easier on the younger girls especially, given how young they were at the time. She helped him with the girls as much as she could (and overtime she slowly started filling the role as their second parent). Because of how busy the younger Elswood children kept him, sometimes Logan didn’t have the time to comfort Ches when she woke up in the middle of the night, haunted by their mother.

That was when Emmett stepped in. It wasn’t uncommon for him to sleep on her floor so he’d be there when she woke up terrified out of her mind, and he was there when she just eventually stopped sleeping like people tended to. Over time she realized that Jonah and her weren’t truly two peas in a pod the way they used to be, that Emmett was the only Elswood who truly got her. He wasn’t perfectly normal either, his thoughts and feelings were flawed like hers.

In a family that made her feel so broken at times, Emmett was a saving grace - a reminder she wasn’t alone.

Going to school in Carnifex was an easy decision when you felt so alone at home, at school she found a close group of people she loved and cared about - she felt less alone and less like her family were judging her, and when the feeling came up - she could always toss herself back into her schoolwork and pretend that maybe, just maybe, she was just a normal kid living a normal boring life. Family issues easily bred vulnerability though, and it was that vulnerability that was exploited not long before she was set to start Carnifex.

Long-distance relationships weren't’ supposed to be easy, but when she fell in love for the first time. At the time, she had thought she was as fucked up as she could ever be, that at this point she was just focused on healing the wounds her mother’s death had left in therapy and after that, everything would be fine. James Ruth quickly showed her how mistaken she had been, even now she doesn’t like thinking about everything he had done to her. She doesn’t discuss everything he had put her through in the time they were together nor does she have any intentions on truly discussing the worst of the abuse she endured while dating him and she was home - even in therapy. It did, however, have an effect on her, it made her terrified of truly falling in love with somebody again.  (Note: James is also a massive reason why she doesn't get along with her brother Jamie, the two Elswood siblings never recovered from Jamie sleeping with Ches’s boyfriend. It causes a good deal of tension in the Elswood home but Ches can’t just forgive him, her brother never even apologized for his actions, she wasn’t going to pretend he didn’t hurt her because her father wanted them to get along for his own sake. They were on the rocks before this and afterward, the tension just got a whole lot worse.)

Going back to Carnifex her sophomore year was a key factor in helping Ches get away from her relationship, and it became as much of a home for her than her actual home was the longer she attended. Sure, she still misses her younger sisters, she misses Emmett and Camellia, and she misses her friends in the city. She also dislikes just how restricted she truly is when it comes to Instagram and trying to grow her influence while she attends Carnifex. Networking had to wait until she was home and sometimes she questions why she decided boarding school was a good idea. And then Ches looks at her friends, at the education she’s receiving, and all the fond memories she’s developing. Carnifex, and now Luxor, was well worth the fear of missing out she feels. 

If you had asked her at the start of this school year, she would have told you nothing could have gotten her to leave school for any amount of time her senior year, she had spent the whole summer at Luxor (even after hearing about her baby niece, that meant a lot) - she finally settled in, she couldn’t imagine anything happening that would cause her to leave the academy. And then, on October 16th at two am in the morning, she got a phone call from Ella. Their oldest brother, Logan, had overdosed. While his drug addiction had never been a secret to the family, his relapse had been a surprise to Ches. Her brother had sworn up and down he was fine, that everything at home was okay. Going back to New York was a no brainer, her family needed her - and she needed them.

Logan, who’d been the closest thing to a parent she had since her mother died, almost died - she almost lost all the parental figures she ever knew. It was hard, getting adjusted back to New York City, she threw herself into her school work and did her best to fill the shoes Logan left open as he went through rehab, and then, adjusted back to being home. While she stayed in touch with the people she had at Luxor, she wouldn’t come back until her brother way okay - until she felt safe about leaving him with his daughter and their siblings without her as a backup. Coming back to school this time was really hard on her, the homesickness is worse than ever and she’s constantly trying to check in on her siblings (because mom!Ches is truly in full force and she’s trying to get it back down) but she’s glad to be back. She’s missed being at Luxor, a lot, so she’s glad to be back.

TLDR / quick important notes bio recap for rereads:

Ches’s mother was murdered on her 8th birthday in front of her

She was raised by her oldest brother, Logan, and is NOT close to her father really. She also helped raise her younger sisters and is very protective of them.

The Elswood she is closest to is Emmett, Jonah and her grew apart after her mother’s death.

Ches’s first real love was James (an NPC), they dated (entire)Freshman-(mid)Sophomore years, it was abusive (much more than Ches will ever discuss unless she gets majorly close to someone and they HAVE to know (cough still hasn’t happened though cough)) and Ches is now terrified of falling in love again. Her messy as fuck relationships & exes all start after this point.

Ches’s history at Luxor is pretty much in-tact, changes will be below in another section!

Ches left Luxor because of her oldest brother, Logan, overdosing. He is alive but she stayed in NYC until he was out of rehab / stabilized in order to take care of her younger siblings and her niece, Belle.

Notable Luxor Notes:

Anything relating to Thomas (for those of you who know what I mean) really hasn’t occurred, so if you mention it she’ll just be like “who?” This seems like the easiest course of action given how things were left off

Other muses of note I’m not going to account for are: Asher (more will be added as needed).

Ches isn’t a member of the Churchill Circle (I’m leaning towards was never one either just because the reasons she joined are no longer a factor so... she probably wouldn’t have ever joined)

If anyone wants to change history and/or keep it intact, feel free to dm me to let me know and I’ll update this accordingly. 

Wanted Connections:

Exes (when Ches dates it’s not for long, but she’s definitely the type to be like “I’ll go out with you” if asked and then... dump you if she thinks she’s getting too attached. So her exes are either on good terms, neutral terms, or they probably dislike her a lot)

Former friends with benefits - while Ches is no longer taking on new ones because of Elliot (and is starting to wean off her current ones), I’m always willing to headcanon past things!

FRIENDSHIPS  (I am weak af for a good friendship plot, never be afraid to be like “hey can our muses be friends” the answer is legit always yes)

Enemies (Ches can... be a lot so it’s not unlikely she’s pissed people off ok)

[myfeetkeepdancing]

Polaroid  | Peter Parker x Male!Reader

Pairing: Peter Parker x Male!Reader

Warning: Cuteness

Word count: 3189

His Spider-Man duty had called earlier that day. Peter assured he'd be back soon. Easily enough you dozed off while waiting for Peter to come home. That wasn't particularly difficult, ever since Peter trusted you with his secret. You've been at the ready, taking care of him. Whenever. Wherever. He healed faster than a normal human being, but that didn't mean his wounds needed tending afterward. And all the while Peter was being the hero you simply managed to doze off in that lovely afternoon sun shining through the window. You dart back up from the desk as soon as you feel the touch of a hand on your shoulder. With the page of a comic book stuck to your cheek, you jump back up from the desk. "(Y/N)?" Peter groaned standing beside you, bare chest and one hand clenched to his side. "C-Can… you h-help?" Through your sleepy eyes, you look on as Peter limps back to the bathroom. Your eyes catch sight of the red-stained gauge pressed against his side. Approaching the door, you feel the damp and moist air rolling over you. Indicating that the shower must have run for quite a while. Peter stood there, hunched over the sink. Pressing the gauge into his side. His curly hair cast down his face.

The blood now awakening you from your daydream. The sink beside him, as well as the tub, had watered down blood running down. The whole scene more or less like a crime scene after the murderer tried to cover up his act. "Sit down…" You command him. Trying to let the calmness sound through your voice. Peter took place on the edge of the tub. His back covered in bruises and small cuts. Dried blood sticking to his skin. Wrapping one hand in the washcloth from the sink and with some running hot water. You slowly start washing his back. You can't help but let your eyes run across his muscled body. Those broad shoulders and muscular arms. Your hand runs over the muscles on his back where the dried blood stuck to his skin. Peter felt a bit nervous at first. You could feel it in his muscles, all tensed up. Rapid breathing. But admittedly, you were in the same boat.

 You could feel the muscles in Peter's back relax at the second wipe. You hear him release a couple slow sighs as he releases the tension in his shoulders, as they slowly lower. Inspecting cuts and bruises across this back. Ending up at the gauze. Running your fingers between his, taking over the gauze. As you hear him groan a little as you remove the gauze from the wound. Some tissue still stuck to the gauze. On his side ran a reasonable cut of around two inches running sideways. Putting his finger beside, if it wasn’t clear already.

 “Something is… stinging… in there. I dunno know…" Peter's voice was ragged. His breathing hampered, groaning at every movement he made. You weren't a doctor, but at first sight, the wound didn't look deep. The cuts weren't serious, nor were the bruises. You have seen worse in the last months. But the wound kept bleeding, drips of blood ran along the cut trailing down his back. As you push the new gauze against the cut. "Looks like it hurts... How long has thi-…” You feel the air crop up in your throat. Your eyes spot the hole in his flesh. Unable to finish your sentence… Your stomach turns upside down as the cluttered blood and tissue poor down this back. Something pierced right through his flesh. As you press the gauze against the cut, again blood poured out from the gaping hole. Peter’s words wake you from your frightened gaze. “I… guess an hour or so. Felt a sharp sting. Came home and saw all the blood. Tried to stop the bleeding but couldn’t.”

 "Y-You should go to a hospital." You feel your stomach acting up. The sight of so much blood almost made you throw up your guts. Releasing a small burp in the process. You could smell the stench in your breath. This wasn't your thing.

 “What?! You know I can’t!” Peter panics.

 “Peter… I-I… I-” You stammer. “-think y-you got hit by a b-bullet…”

 “No-No-No-No! You have to get it out! If I go to the hospital, May will found out. And she will freak out and…" Peter's rambling falls against deaf ears as try to focus on the bullet wound. You can feel the lights headedness creep into you. As your hands feel disconnected from your brain. Your legs turning to jelly and your fingers trembling slightly as you take the pincers from the first aid. "I-I will t-try…" This wasn't anything like the movies. Pulling it straight out like some sort of child's game. Then it hit you.

 Booze. You stumble back onto your legs as you recall where May left her booze. Peter just looks at you with questionable eyes as you run off to the cabinets in the living room. Returning with a brown liquorish bottle. With a pop, you open up the bottle. The strong scent of alcohol teasing your nostrils. "Take a swig." Holding the bottle up to Peter.

 “We shouldn’t! We’re only-“ Peter protested. But instead, the stinging pain in his side makes him stop yammering. Peter was right. You were too young to drink.  

 “It’s gonna hurt. Bad… Really bad." You take a small nip from the bottle. The liquor burned its way down your throat. The high percentage of alcohol sending a shiver down your body. Deep down, you feel your stomach protesting. On the plus side, you could feel your nerves calming down bit by bit.

 “We’re doing it my way, or we’ll go to the hospital.” Holding it up to Peter. Silence falls in-between you as Peter overthinks the situation. Eventually grabbing the bottle and taking a large swig. He gags and hunches forward, his body shivering all over. “Gaaah… Tastes horrible.” The regret painting across his face.

 "I'm sorry for what comes next…" You apologies with a heavy heart. You've seen it in the movies. But nothing comes close to the real deal. You pour the liquor down the wound. Cleaning it bit by bit. Peter's body quivering and shaking in the process. Surprisingly your hands shacked less than before. You steady yourself against the side of the tub. With the small torch clenched between your teeth, you work the pincers into the flesh. You felt your heart pounding in your chest as you poke the pincers further in. You had no clue how far the piece of metal worked itself in. That awful feeling crept up in you. You guts twisted and turned at the sight of blood and torn tissue. The sides of your cheeks filling with saliva. You breathing turning rapid and shallow. A small metal glitter appeared through the red cluster of blood and tissue. "Sit tight." Your voice skips a little as the nerves get the better of your body once again. You try to swallow the saliva away. You try to postpone the enviable.

 The pincers hardly hold onto the metal splinter as you try to get a hold onto it. Your sweaty fingers slipping more and more in the gloves. Almost letting go of the pincers as you try to wiggle it free. You feel another burp coming up. You turn away momentarily as you feel it coming up again. Your throat felt like it was on fire.  Peter groaned more and more as the metal splinter moved through the tissue. “Got it.” You try to assure him. Slowly pulling the splinter out.

 A small ping sounded through the bathroom as the splinter hit the sink. You quickly take the thread and needle from the first aid. But the needle keeps slipping from your trembling fingers. Blood on the gloves not helping one bit. What a grueling business. You shouldn't be doing any of this stuff on this age. You shouldn't need to remove bullets from somebody's flesh. This was far from ordinary. Stitching him up as quickly as you can. Every time you push the needle through his skin, you hear Peter hiss for a second. It looked like shit. No denying on that. The stitching all crisscrossed. But it did the job. You finish it off with a fresh bandage. The second you push the bandage onto the wound. You push past Peter, towards the toilet bowl. Crouched on your knees and hunched forward you stick your head into the bowl. You push the entire contents of your stomach and intestines out. No holding back. The grueling stench filling the bathroom. Wave after wave splatter through the bowl. You try flushing the toilet with one hand but are met with another hand. Peter stumbling towards you.

 “Heeeeey-Hey… that's the… eh…" With watery eyes, you glance at Peter. His eyes half-closed and a cheeky smile on his face. Pointing a finger into the toilet bowl. "sand-…wich you ate earlier!” He giggles to himself. “Heh… Smells kinda funny.” You’d never seen Peter react to alcohol. You also were at an age you shouldn’t be drinking anyway. But this was new. And the alcohol definitely hit his system now. “I… feel funny…” Looking at his fingers.

 Rinsing the foul taste with mouth water, you take Peter and help him back into his room. His legs barely holding his own weight. “Let's get you to your bed.”

 Peter just sat there, hunched against the wall on the lower level of his bunk bed, munching and licking his lips. His half-open eyes looking around the room. "My mouth tasted weird." He mumbles on.

 "I'll get you something. Stay here." From the kitchen, you grab a glass of water. Occasionally peaking back into the room to make sure Peter didn't do anything stupid. You wouldn't be surprised if he just wandered off onto the fire exit near his window. You quickly throw in a powdered aspirin. Taking one yourself as well.

 “Yay! There's my best buddy again.” Throwing his arms up in the air. His legs struggling to get the sweatpants on.

 "Here, drink this." With both hands, he clamps onto the glass of water. Chucking it down in a matter of seconds. Meanwhile, you help him get into his sweatpants. "Psst…” Peter leans forward, almost falling over. His face close to yours. “Don’t tell Peter we’re best buddies.”  

 “But-...” You have trouble keeping your laughter contained. “-but who am I talking to now?”

 “Spider-Man!” Peter shoots at you. “Sshht...! Don’t tell anybody!” Raising a finger to his lips.

 "Right... Okay." You try controlling your laughter as you pull Peter back against the wall. Afraid he'd otherwise fall over from the bed. Instead, his intoxicated body just slides down onto the sheets. You can't help but laugh at his behavior. Peter laying there mumbling things to himself. His fingers playing with the edges of his shirt. "I'll be in the bathroom for a moment. Call me when you need anything." Peter only responded with a small nod. His eyes fixated at the top mattress of the bunk bed.

 With the sponge, you scrub away the many stains and trails of blood covering the bathtub, sink, and floor. The towels, washcloths and other bloodied rags went straight into the washing machine for a spin. Hoping May would be home late from work. For dinner, you had to go online for a moment to check what to eat best after a hangover. At least that's what you thought Peter was going to have rather sooner than later. You'd just order something online. But you weren't sure what to order. You can't leave the house. Not with Peter like this. After searching for some local restaurants online and taking advice from the internet, you'd order something healthy. For now, it would be best to keep an eye on Peter before the food gets here.

 You crawl onto the bed, legs crossed and resting your head against the wall as you ‘look’ over Peter. He barely noticed you climbing over you. Your eyelids slowly becoming heavier. You notice the shift in the mattress. You see him crawling closer to you, snapping you out your daydream.

 “Can you make my bed stop… like… moving?” Pressing his finger repeatedly into your cheek.

 “I-I… don’t know…

“I just... feel like… like… A ship just... floating on the sea.”

“W-... What?”

“Makes my tummy hurt…”

“I’ll get someth-“ With the intention of grabbing a bucket, just in case. And maybe some aspirin. You try moving from the bed. But halfway on the mattress, you feel Peter’s arm slide around your back. His fingers gripping tight onto your shirt. Before you can react, let alone shoot a glance his way. A strong pull launches you back flat onto the mattress.

“Lemme hold onto you.” He mutters calmly. Snuggling close to you. Intertwining his legs with yours. Holding onto you tight. As he cradles his head onto your chest. “This is good…” He sighs dreamily.

    That moment was burnt into your memory forever. You can’t help but smile over the polaroid picture. May took it after she came home. Finding both of you fallen asleep. Peter curled up against your chest. Your arms wrapped around him. Underneath the picture was Peter’s handwriting, after all this time barely recognizable, saying: My hero.

That day had changed things in your friendship with Peter. Like a barrier was torn down. Something had shifted. You felt it. You became closer. Shared time together more and more. You had already fallen in love with Peter a long time ago. You didn’t know it back then. You liked him, and Peter liked you. He even said it once. Cheeks colored red and shaking hands. Those butterflies swarming. They tickled. But over the last months, things became more serious. The butterflies began to hurt. In a good way. Back then, you could recall every moment when Peter was close to you. When he touched your leg. Or lay his hand on your shoulder. Rarely a hug. It was something to dream about back then. Now you couldn’t recall a day without physical contact with him. A morning hug at the locker was routine. Surprise hugs from behind during lunch. Hugs at the bus. You couldn’t stop. Neither did he. You didn’t want it to stop.

Your heart skips a beat as the door opens in front of you. You put the shabby looking polaroid back into your jacket. It remained there for months. Close to you. The edges curled up, rough borders, the colors began to fade more and more. Trying to dry the thing time and time again after you got it soaking wet, didn’t help either. You had run the sentences a thousand times through your head. Trained in front of the mirror a dozen times. But the nerves couldn't be contained. Front behind the door, May appeared. “(Y/N)!” Her emotions ran from happiness seeing you, to surprise, into content. She understood why you were here. You could tell from the caring look she gave you.

"Pete! Someone's at the door for you!" She yells across the room. Nodding at you, and giving a wink. Before returning into the living room. "Coming!"

The apartment wasn't anything but large. A small living room with a kitchen. Directly adjacent to it was Peter's bedroom. Just a few meters away. But the footsteps coming from the other side of the apartment seemed like to take forever getting here. Your knuckles turning white as the grip on the flowers stalks increase. Feeling them break one by one. The sweat pouring from underneath your armpits.

“Hey (Y/N)-“ Peter excitingly speaks out before cutting out, as he realizes what’s happening. His eyes wide open, frozen to the spot. You try to swallow the lump in your throat. As you try to remember the words you were going to say. With trembling hands, you try handing over the flowers.

“I-… I…” You stammer. “W-wou…” Nothing more follows. As the flower hang defeated from your hand. Every stalk crushed by your grip. The wrapping barely holding the flowers together. You feel your heart hammering against your ribcage. Drowning in those innocent looking brown eyes of Peter for a moment.

Peter’s lips move. You could see them moving. But nothing audible came out. “N-n-n...ice." Rolled from his lips with a shaking voice. His hand moving towards the flowers. The brush of his fingers against yours make you jump for a moment. Making Peter hesitant for a second. Awaiting your next movement. The heat in your body rising to immeasurable heights.

“P-Peter…” You avert eye contact as you try to get the words out. Biting and licking your lips in such rapid succession you have difficulty to get the words out. Your eyes dart across everything except Peter. “Willyougooutwithme?" The word spill from your lips so quickly, you weren’t even sure even he heard it. Afraid for his answer. You keep your eyes to the floor. Then it catches your eye. From under your boot sticks out a familiar looking piece of paper. You feel the tears welling in the corner of your eyes. Clenched between your fingers, you bring the picture up. The polaroid was horribly scratched and torn from your nerves tapping and turning on your heel.

“Y-You kept it…?” Peter’s trembling voice wakes you. “A-All this time?”

The picture now damaged beyond repair slips from your fingers as you notice Peter’s tears running down his cheeks. “I carried it everywhere…” Wiping the tears from your eyes with the back of your palm. “It meant everything… to me.”

“Yes...” Peter shoots out. Wiping the tears from his eyes with this sweater. “I love to go out with you.”  

Time stood still. Like everything stopped moving. The nerves in your body turned into pure excitement and happiness. A sense of relief coursed through your body. You had imagined a thousand other ways to do it. But this wasn’t one of them. Either way, smiles appeared across each other’s faces. It all led up to this. And it felt good.

“Kiss him!” May chanted from across the room. Peter looked back for a second. Before taking a step closer. The boy you fell in love a long time ago was just inches away from you. You could feel his nerves hampered breath against your skin. That cheesy smile you loved and dreamed off, now adorned by his soft sweet lips. Which were soon to be pressed against yours. Your bodies draw closer together. The flowers hit the floor as you caress your arms around his neck. His arms pull your body firmly against his. Your mouths reach closer and closer together, as you feel his soft and tender lips press against yours. For only to be interrupted by a white flash of the May’s camera. Followed by May storming past you, waving her new polaroid picture. Only God knows what she’ll be doing with it.

At least you got the apartment to yourself…

As Peter grinned from ear to ear.

[daresplaining]

Could you maybe make a post with some of the most inspiring Daredevil pages? Stuff like him overcoming the Purple Man making him more depressed and hopeless in Waid's run, or the "I am Daredevil, and I am not Afraid." page from Soule's run. Those kind of pages always help me when I'm feeling down, it would be cool to see more in that vein.

    I love this request, and yes, I can definitely do that! I draw a lot of inspiration from Daredevil too (and superhero comics in general; that’s one of the purposes of the genre, in my experience), and refusing to give up when everything is falling apart is one of Matt’s trademark moves. Here are a few of my favorite moments– and I’m including the ones you mentioned, since I love them and want to make sure other people have seen them too. 

[ID: The Kingpin is brutally beating up Matt, who is in civvies. Matt falls on his back, his face bloody.]

Matt: “Never give up– never–”

Let’s start with a classic: 

[ID: Daredevil is fighting Namor. He tries electrocuting him, but the blast knocks him to the ground. As Namor walks away, Daredevil reaches out and grabs his ankle before passing out.]

Namor: “This is madness!! Does your own life mean nothing to you!?? Have you no sense of fear??”

Matt: “Sure! But I seem to have carelessly misplaced it somewhere! Now, just stand there for a second, fella– I want to try something!”

Caption: “Taking one last desperate gamble, Daredevil joins the two live wires, hoping to stagger his super-human foe! […] But, once again, the power of the Sub-Mariner is greater than any could suppose, and it is he who recovers first– while the Man Without Fear, despite his insulated gloves– lies weak, and dazed, and helpless…! Yet, how can one measure the limitless courage of a fellow human? Although on the brink of unconsciousness– although racked with pain and fatigue– still the sightless crusader reaches out–!”

Matt: “Come back! You– you mustn’t fight the others–! They’re innocent– mustn’t be harmed– mustn’t–!”

Namor: “[…] I have fought the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and other super-powered humans, but none has been more courageous than he, the most vulnerable of all! And out of respect to the courage of Daredevil, I shall not injure any humans! I shall fly above the waiting armed forces– and return to the sea where I am supreme!”

Daredevil vol. 1 #7 by Stan Lee and Wally Wood

    The issue that introduced the red Daredevil costume also crafted one of the first memorable depictions of Matt’s boundless resilience. Namor the Sub-Mariner comes ashore to sue the human race, and hires Nelson and Murdock to represent him. When the situation goes awry, Namor becomes violent, and Matt tries to subdue him. While he gets thoroughly thrashed in this fight, Matt’s persistence impresses Namor enough to make him leave the human race alone (for now). That image of a nearly-unconscious Daredevil clinging to Namor’s ankle is fairly iconic, with– I feel– good reason. 

[ID: The Hulk backhands Daredevil a good distance, where he crashes into some trash cans. He is injured and bleeding, but he struggles back to his feet as the Hulk stands over him, deciding whether or not to finish him off.]

Hulk: “NO! Banner made the Hulk a monster and Hulk will find him, even if it takes forever!”

Matt: “Hulk… *koff*… you won’t find Banner… *koff*… this way. You can’t… *koff*… find Banner this way. The police… the authorities.. I-I want to help them understand… *koff*… and… *koff* … I want to help you. …But you’ll have to trust me.”

Daredevil vol. 1 #163 by Roger McKenzie, Frank Miller, and Glynis Wein

    This is, thematically, a very similar situation to the first scene. The Hulk goes on a rampage and Matt tries to stop him. Just as in the Namor situation, Matt loses this fight– he is nearly beaten to death, and is confined to a hospital bed for quite a while afterward– but his courage breaks through the Hulk’s rage enough to calm him down. This is a recurring theme in their friendship. Matt first meets Bruce Banner when he is hired to represent the Hulk in court, and from the beginning, Matt has been vocal in his support of Bruce and sympathy for the Hulk. Despite the danger, Matt never hesitates to put himself within smashing distance of the Hulk for the sake of helping him. 

[ID: A taxi is resting at the bottom of a river with its hood bashed in. Matt Murdock is unconscious in the front seat. We see a close-up of his eyes as they open in a defiant glare. The next few panels show the Kingpin standing at a window looking out, and photos of the cab after it has been pulled out of the river.]

Caption: “Unconscious but living, Murdock is placed in a stolen checker cab… The cab is driven off Pier 41 into the East River. Its safety belt and doors are corroded shut by a chemical process that is identical to rust. Murdock is drenched in whiskey. A bottle, open, is laid in his lap. The owner of the cab is beaten to death by Murdock’s stolen billy club. Days pass into weeks. Still Murdock is never far from the crimelord’s thoughts. He imagines one last, terrible moment of realization… of Murdock thrashing wildly, desperately, hatefully… screaming soundlessly into the poisoned water… The Kingpin shudders at the thought, in pleasure… The world seems flooded with sunlight. Daily business becomes a joyous, childlike game. He has disgraced, destroyed and murdered the only good man he has ever known. This is his triumph of the spirit.

“At last the cab is discovered. There is blood, and bloody evidence of a struggle. There is a shattered windshield… a safety belt, severed by the windshield’s glass and what must have been a hideous effort of will. There is no corpse.”

Daredevil vol. 1 #228 by Frank Miller, David Mazzucchelli, and R. Lewis

    This is, of course, from the famous “Born Again” arc, and I had a hard time choosing a scene, since the whole story is essentially a seven-issue-long depiction of Matt being knocked down and then standing back up. (I highly recommend reading it if anyone hasn’t, and I also summarized it here. I also cheated by including another scene at the beginning of this post…). However, the scene above is a turning point and possibly my favorite moment in the whole story. At this point Matt has lost it all: his friends, his career, his reputation, his money, and his home. In a fit of desperate, delirious anger, he attacks the Kingpin, who beats him unconscious and then– in the scene above– tries to kill him once and for all. The above issue starts with Matt curled up on a bed in a hotel room, unable to force himself to even move. He seems thoroughly beaten, and the Kingpin assumes the same, which is why he decides to stop toying with his victim and just finish the job. But in spite of all of this, Matt freaking Murdock refuses to die, and he somehow finds the strength to physically fight his way out of this seemingly unsurvivable situation. The fact that we don’t see him do it– that we only get the Kingpin’s reaction and that panel of Matt’s defiant glare after regaining consciousness– makes this act of resilience all the more powerful.       

[ID: Daredevil is fighting the Vulture (the Spider-Man villain). Daredevil pins him to the ground and starts punching him in the face.]

Matt: “A while ago, you said I secretly wanted to die. You were wrong. Cowards want to die. I’m no coward. I’m proving it– to you and to myself– by beating you… you– and everything you represent… the death and decay that eat away at a man until he surrenders… the horror that pulls you down into the pit! Well, I’m not the surrendering kind, mister! Got that? I never give up!”

Daredevil vol. 1 #225 by Denny O’Neil, David Mazzucchelli, and Ken Feduniewicz

    Matt is not at all a suicidal person (I’ve seen some fans claim otherwise, but he really isn’t), and this scene comes from a rare issue that covers that topic. It takes place shortly after Heather Glenn’s suicide, and it explores how the spectre of her death haunts Matt and Foggy’s lives afterward. In this story, the concept of death is represented by the Vulture, who Matt discovers trying to rob Heather’s grave. Later, he appears at the offices of Nelson and Murdock, which have just gone bankrupt. Upset by this loss, Foggy wanders up to the roof and contemplates his life, at which point he encounters the Vulture. Matt, fearing that Foggy might kill himself, goes up after him in costume and tries to fight the Vulture off. For a moment, during the fight, Matt contemplates whether he actually wants to lose, before returning to his senses and defeating both the Vulture and his own dark thoughts. 

[ID: Daredevil is fighting a huge crowd of grotesque-looking demons while carrying a lit torch. He holds up the torch and the demons scatter.] 

Matt: “My whole life, endless fighting. What a fate. I wonder, could I change that fate? No matter how many I kill, they keep on coming.”

Mephisto: “Ha ha ha ha ha! I love it! That’s it, you big hero. Keep fighting. Fight till you drop that torch.”

Matt: “What if… what if I just stopped? If I just stopped fighting. If you stop fighting, isn’t the fight over? Yes. Yes, yes, yes. They can’t touch me. Okay, Mephisto. I’m coming for you. You made a mistake. You believe your evil breaks a man. Sometimes it does. But when it doesn’t break a man– it makes him even stronger.”

Daredevil vol. 1 #281 by Ann Nocenti, John Romita Jr., and Christie Scheele

    This is from Matt’s literal trip to Hell in Nocenti’s run (Hell is a cosmic setting in the Marvel universe, and Mephisto is a recurring antagonist, so this isn’t quite as bizarre as it sounds…). While trapped in a seemingly endless wasteland and attacked by hoards of demons, Matt musters enough free will and spirit (as represented by the fire he’s carrying) to not only survive, but to actually challenge Mephisto. It’s great. 

[ID: Matt is crouched on the side of a building at night, in the rain. He is wearing the Daredevil suit but has taken the mask off. He puts his hand to his face in emotional anguish.] 

Matt: “I’ve got to pull myself together. My world is falling apart and I am helping it every single step of the way. I have to focus. Focus. Foggy is right. My entire life– everything is up for grabs. Everything I’ve built– everything I am– can be taken away from me. Have to center my energies. Have to think. Focus. Center and focus. Center and focus. Don’t listen to their camera motors and their cell phones. Don’t listen to them. The phone calls. All I hear is my name over and over: Murdock. Murdock, Murdock. That name is not theirs to say. It’s not theirs! It’s mine. They’re stealing it from me. No! Stop it. Center and focus. Center and focus. Center and–”

Mugging victim (off-panel): Noooo!”

Matt: “Focus.”

Daredevil vol. 2 #35 by Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev, and Matt Hollingsworth

    I love this little moment from Bendis’s run. It’s small and subdued, but highly moving in the context of what Matt is dealing with in this story. His identity has been made public, there are crowds of reporters camped outside his home, his entire life is at risk of falling apart, but he takes this second to pause, think, and regain some sense of control.  

[ID: Matt stands up and prepares to fight. He is armed with two tonfa, and is wearing black clothes reminiscent of his Man Without Fear costume, but without a mask. His head is bandaged.]

Matt: “You think you can… turn me into a blubbering wreck… by preying on my fears… but I’ve already faced them– and come out the other side! You understand me, Calavera? I know what I am… who I am… and I am not afraid!”

Daredevil: Reborn #4 by Andy Diggle, Davide Gianfelice, and Matt Hollingsworth

    The Reborn mini-series follows Matt’s attempt at emotional recovery in the aftermath of “Shadowland”. Having quite literally lost his identity and had his spirit broken by getting possessed by a demon, he goes out west and, through helping right some wrongs in a small town in New Mexico, he reaffirms his sense of self.  

[ID: A stormy winter night. Ferry pilots (Sid and Ronnie, off-panel) are waiting for Daredevil to resurface from the river. As their ferry moves away, Daredevil hauls himself out of the freezing water and onto a dock.]

Sid: “It’s been a while, Ronnie– think he’s still down there?”

Ronnie: “Sid– you a moron? Where else would he be?”

Sid: “Beats me. Just askin’. It’s too bad– looks like he went back down there for nothin’. ‘Cept maybe to die.”

Ronnie: “Well, I’m not givin’ up just yet.”

Sid: “No? Why not?”

Ronnie: “’Cause I don’t think he would.”

Daredevil: Dark Nights #2 by Lee Weeks and Lee Loughridge

    The first Dark Nights story is a celebration of Matt’s willpower, as he travels through a blizzard to deliver a heart transplant to a dying little girl. I particularly love this scene, in which Matt dives into the river to rescue the heart and the pilots transporting it from their crashed helicopter, and despite the cold and his exhaustion, he powers through and survives the experience.

[ID: Daredevil is bleeding and horribly injured, and crouched in the mud under a bridge. The Purple Man is standing above him, about to hit him with a plank of wood.]

Purple Man: “Shouldn’t you be angry? Shouldn’t you put up a struggle?”

Matt (caption): “But that’s how far down the pit I’ve fallen. I can’t even respond to his orders. 

Purple Man: “Come on. This is too easy. Don’t rob me of a victory I’ve waited years for.”

Matt (caption): “All I can do is sink into the blackness. I can’t feel pain. I can’t  move because I have nothing to push against. Nothing.”

Purple Man: “Show me some fear.”

[ID: Daredevil kicks the Purple Man, then falls back to his knees. ]

Matt (caption): “That. That, I know how to fight. Get up. You have momentum now. Don’t lose it. Don’t let the shadows pull you back in. Inertia is the enemy. Do something. Move. Move, Matthew.”

Daredevil vol. 4 #10 by Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, and Matt Wilson

    I’m glad you mentioned this scene because it’s one of my favorites too, as is this story arc as a whole. Waid’s depiction of depression is visceral and heartrending because it’s something he himself suffers from, and that realism makes Matt’s struggle to move forward and fight against his despair all the more impactful.  

    As an extension of the above moment, Matt’s decision to talk with Kirsten at the end of the issue (which I discussed at length here) is also breathtaking.  

[ID: A black page with a red heart monitor readout at the bottom. It flatlines, then spikes once.]

Matt (caption): “I cannot see the light. So I will be the light. I am Daredevil. And I am not afraid.”

Daredevil vol. 5 #612 by Charles Soule and Phil Noto

    And this moment– there’s nothing more badass than Matt literally willing himself back to life! “I am Daredevil. And I am not afraid” is a refrain that is repeated throughout Soule’s run, which is a neat way of tying his run together and emphasizing Matt’s relentless determination. 

[ID: Matt is alone in a gym, struggling to walk between two parallel bars. He falls, then, with a huge effort, pulls himself back up.]

Jack (off-panel): “Fear’s of no use to us, Matt. We have to live with it, but it’s not for anything. But pain? What’s pain for, Matt? What’s pain for?”

Matt: “Pain keeps us going.”

Man Without Fear vol. 2 #5 by Jed MacKay, Danilo Beyruth, and Andres Mossa

    The new Man Without Fear was another great recovery story, and gave us this really great moment when Matt, after suffering through the physical and emotional destruction of being hit by a truck, finally regains his fighting spirit.

    I also wanted to include a few scenes of other people being inspired by Matt’s courage and resilience, because there are some great ones. Here’s one of my favorites, from Waid’s run:

[ID: Foggy is sitting in a circle with a group of fellow cancer patients. They are all wearing Daredevil shirts.]

Foggy: “Ah, excellent. You all dressed for the occasion. I’ll be straight up with you folks. I have a friend. He’s probably the bravest man I’ve ever met. And no matter how much I beg him to teach me to be like him… in the whole time I’ve known him, I’ve learned only one thing about fearlessness: it’s contagious.”

Daredevil vol. 3 #31 by Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, and Javier Rodriguez

    I love this aspect of Foggy’s cancer plotline– the fact that Foggy uses Matt as a source of inspiration for facing his own fear. These two have always been emotional anchors for each other, providing moral support and guidance in difficult times, and that’s part of what makes their friendship so powerful. Here, Foggy is largely on his own. Matt can’t punch cancer, and Foggy doesn’t even tell him about the symptoms at first. But from the very beginning, Foggy latches onto Matt’s fearlessness as a way of fending off his own terror about the diagnosis. As I said at the beginning of the post, part of the purpose of superhero stories is to serve as inspiration for their readers to be kind and courageous in their own lives, and it’s wonderful when characters within those stories are impacted in that same way by the superheroes around them. To take this concept one meta step further, Foggy’s cancer story– the whole thing, including his drawing strength from his best friend– is in itself a hero story for readers who may be going through similar experiences. 

[ID: Flashback panels colored in black and white with hints of red. Matt (in civvies) is attacked by a group of ninjas on a city street. He fights them while Foggy runs and hides around a corner.]

Foggy (caption): “When you were around, it was different. The fear wasn’t so real. I was still freaked whenever anything happened… my nerves were a car wreck… but even as I was sweating bullets, I somehow knew I was safe. Because of you.”

Daredevil vol. 2 #88 by Ed Brubaker, Michael Lark, David Aja, and Frank D’Armata

    …And another great Foggy and Matt scene, this one from “The Secret Life of Foggy Nelson”, one of my favorite issues of Brubaker’s run. Foggy has been separated from Matt against his will, and in his isolation and fear, he reflects on their friendship and draws strength from Matt’s example. 

[ID: Luke Cage is sitting comfortably in a chair, legs crossed, directly addressing the reader.]

Luke: “Daredevil. I know him pretty well, actually. Well, as well as he lets anyone know him. End of the day, without question, he’s one of the best. Ever. I’m not going to get into who he is and how he became who he became. And I know there are a lot of people who think they know all there is to know about Daredevil and all of his secrets. But I can tell you from personal experience that the information that’s out there about him is pretty much crap. Let’s just leave it at that. All you need to know about Daredevil is that this man has sacrificed everything to try to make this city safer. He has lost more and suffered more for his dedication to you than, well, anybody I know. And I know some people who’ve suffered and lost. He ain’t the strongest of us, and he ain’t the flashiest… but Daredevil cannot be brought down. It cannot happen.”

New Avengers vol. 2 #16 by Brian Michael Bendis, Mike Deodato, and Rain Beredo

    And last but not least, here an excerpt from a great speech Luke Cage gives after Matt joins the Avengers. Even other superheroes– all of whom tend toward superhuman resilience– are impressed by Matt.  

[99katarina99]

Robot Nightmare

I said I’m a wannabe writer so here’s a short story I came up with. Nothing that is written here is true. 100% fictional. Enjoy this horror where a simple comic book can destroy a family.

That night, I thought I was going to die. After 20 years, I came back to my old house. I was only 7 when it happened. It was the day where my childhood was ruined. What I’m about to tell you is going to surprise you. You’ll be surpirsed to hear that it was the comic book’s fault that it happened. 

I was in my bed, ready to read the new comic book I had bought that same day. It was about robots destroying humanity. I think it was a horror of some sort. I opened it up. The comic flashed at me like watching a city get nuked. It made me blind for a few seconds.

After I came to my senses, I looked around my bedroom to see what happened. Everything was normal. I found the comic lying on my blanket. I wanted to read it, but something was different from when I first opened it. The pages of the comic were completely blank. No pictures at all.

I got up from my bed and went to ask my dad why the pages of the comic book were blank. Suddenly, I heard metal thudding coming from the hallway. I opened my bedroom door. And for the first time in my life, I saw a live robot. It was of dark grey metal color and had blue eyes that glow in the dark. I approached him, tried to communicate with him. I said “Hello”, but he didn’t respond. He just looked at me, like he shut down and is standing still. I asked “Are you a real robot?”.He still wasn’t responding. And then he moved his right arm, which was behind his back. He held a kitchen knife. His eyes turned red and he screamed “KILL!”.

I screamed and ran to the living room, where my dad was watching TV. My heart was pounding. I was faster than him, because he was just walking. I arrived to the living room, only to find it empty and no dad around. My dad also left his phone behind on the coffee table. It rang.

I picked it up and screamed for help, without asking who is on the phone. It was the comic book store owner on the line, who called me about the comic book that I had bought. I ran to the kitchen as the grey robot got to the living room, holding my dad’s phone. I hid myself in kitchen cupboard. I was little back then so I could have fitted inside. The comic book owner carefully explained to me why is there a robot in my house. 

The robots, as he said, came out of the comic book that I had bought. He said that this comic book is some sort of curse. If anybody opens that thing, it will release the robots from it. He said “robots”, so I was supposed to expect a few more of them. What I needed to do was to bring them back to the comic, as he explained. I told the comic book store owner that I was only a little boy and that I didn’t know how to bring them back to the comic. He adviced me to find my dad as soon as possible. And that the only way to bring the robots back to the comic was to destroy their leader. And it was supposed to be like in the comic, the comic book owner said, but I couldn’t know how it ends since all the pages became blank. I needed to find the main robot, but which one is it?

I heard the window breaking from the living room, as if somebody just broke into our house. I didn’t see who it was since I was still in the kitchen, hiding in a cupboard. Suddenly, the phone line got disconnected and I couldn’t hear anymore details from the comic book owner. It was at that moment I knew, I was on my own. I heard metal thudding sound coming closer to me. Somebody was in the kitchen. I slowly peaked through to see where that robot who chased me earlier was. 

Something was different. As I was peaking through, I noticed that there was a second robot that came out of a comic. This one was different from the first one I encountered. He was of dark red color and with green eyes, pixelated on his face. On his right hand, instead of a kitchen knife like the first robot, he had a sawblade attached to it. Clearly, he was more dangerous than the first one. I closed the cupboard doors so he doesn’t see me. My heart was pounding as I heard the metal thudding become louder. I took a few deep breaths and said to myself “Don’t be scared.” 

I slowly opened the cupboard doors, checking both sides. There’s was nobody nearby and I couldn’t hear any more metal thudding. It was safe. I couldn’t do all of this alone, since I was only 7 back then. I needed to find my dad. I went back upstairs to his bedroom, hoping he was sleeping in his bed.

I came at my dad’s bedroom door without alerting the robots. Actually, there were no robots nearby. Like they had vanished into thin air. I slowly opened the door, just to be sure no robots entered in. I looked around and noticed that nobody was there. My dad’s bedroom didn’t look like it was used after I opened the comic. He wasn’t in the room. The room was empty, so I left.

As I was leaving, I heard the metal thudding again. The robots are back. I closed and locked the room so that they don’t get me. I thought I was going to be safe, but suddenly, the red robot was using his sawblade to break the door down. I panicked and hid myself under my dad’s bed. It was a bed for couples, so there was enough room beneath it.

The red robot sawed the door into few pieces and he went inside the bedroom. He turned off his sawblade and looked around the room. He then started to talk, and he made sense. “You can run, but you can’t hide” he said coldly. First one just said “Kill!”. This one could actually talk, so I assumed he was the leader. And I also thought “How many robots are supposed to be here?” But I remembered that a comic cover had three robots drawn on the cover. So three of them are supposed to be inside? And I wondered “Where is the third robot?” and “How does he look like? What kind of weapon he has?”.

The red robot was still searching for me. He couldn’t find me, so he got bored. Well, I thought he got bored. Out of his chest, the small hole opened and it had revealed some holographic lines, like he is scanning for something. Before I could react, he went to check bed and put his head down beneath the bed.

I screamed and then he put his sawblade beneath the bed and turned it on. I rolled quickly to avoid him. I pushed the robot onto my dad’s bed to slow him down. I ran back to the living room, but I didn’t noticed that the grey robot was down there. He came from the kitchen. The red robot came back down the stairs. 

At that moment, I couldn’t go anywhere. I was cornered. The two robots were slowly approaching me, holding their weapons. I sat down next to the walls of the corner and covered my eyes and hoped that everything will be okay. 

One of the robots shut down after I opened my eyes. He had some sort of pole going through his chest. The grey robot was down and behind the red robot, my dad was there. He removed from the red robot something that looked like a large battery. He shut down both of the robots before they could get me. 

My dad saved my life. He was truly the best father in the world. I hugged him with all my heart and was happy to see him. I asked where he was and he said that he had gone to his basement to figure out how to shut down the robots. The comic book store owner told him first about the cursed comic some time before I had opened it. So, following the instructions he gave him, my dad found out that the only way to shut them down was to remove batteries out of the hatches from their backs.  At least, that’s what I thought it was since the comic book store owner told me that the only way to bring them back to the comic was to shut down their leader. Then I noticed that there were only two robots in our house, but the comic book cover had three robots on it, so where did the third robot go?

My dad told me that the two robots in our living room aren’t 100% dead. They can be reactivated by putting the batteries back and fixing them. These kind of batteries are produced by the third robot. He is some sort of a mechanic, my dad told me and the comic book store owner told him that same thing. That must be why he is their leader. He supplies himself and others with batteries to stay active. He also has tools upgraded inside of him so he can fix them. When a battery gets removed, even when it’s fully charged, it wil delay and the battery will be already dead. 

A loud screaming came from the front door, just right of where I’m facing. It was the third robot. He was taller than two of the robots in our living room and was of dark purple color. He had red eyes. He rushed towards me like Usain Bolt. My dad rushed in front of me and the robot stabbed him with his sharp fingers. He stabbed my dad into stomach. As he was lifting my dad into air, I snuck past the robot and removed the battery. The robot shut down and disappeared. And the other two robots disappeared from the living room. They must have gone back to the comic.

But I wasn’t happy about it. My dad was bleeding from his stomach. He grabbed slowly my head and kissed me goodbye. He said “ I love you with all my heart.  Find the person who did this and avenge me.”. Those were his last words.

I cryed so much that my head hurt. I hugged my dad again as he was dying and ran outside to call for help. I screamed “Help! Someone help!”. “Anybody?”. I broke into tears.

I became an orphan. I didn’t have a mother. My mother left my dad when I was 5. She travelled to Australia. I didn’t have anybody left.

20 years later, I came back to that same house. I wanted to find out who wrote that comic book. The house burned down two weeks after my father was killed. The comic book owner, who is now 51 and doesn’t sell comic books anymore (his store was shut down after the incident), told me that it wasn’t his fault that the robots emerged. It was the person who wrote it in the first place. After he told me that, I travelled to that same house to find evidence that police missed 20 years ago. Whoever he is, he must pay for what he did. He killed my father. He destroyed my life and the love for comic books (I never read comic books again after the incident). He will pay, even if I have to resort to murder. No mercy will be shown. He will rot in hell!

Thank your for reading my short story. I hope you liked it. And I apologies for not posting frequently after my first post here. 

-By  99katarina99

[gotatext]

claws my way out of the dirt like the goblin i am ..... hello thots, its nora, once again bringing you a revamped version of a muse i played yonks ago n some of u may have even written against... here is her pinterest.....

this is margaret greta, she’s a whole can of trauma spaghetti plastered over with a toothy grin and a lot of dad jokes. the only reason she’s in gifford really is bcos shes been put there as part of a witness protection program cos lots of police r monitoring livingstone so its deemed relatively safe.... haha... anyway she changes major all the time. she started off doing fine art but since then she’s done modules in architecture, film, bio-chemistry and is now dabbling in medicine. 

CIS-FEMALE — ever hear people say GRETA O’DRISCOLL looks a lot like DIANA SILVERS? I think SHE is about 21, so it doesn’t really work. The MEDICINE major is a SOPHOMORE that is from DEADWOOD, SOUTH DAKOTA. They can be +CHARMING, but they can also be -EVASIVE. I think GEE might be SHEEP. They are living in YATES. ( nora. 23. gmt. she/her )

this bitch is the most restless creature u ever seen. before she came to livingstone, she’d lived in 8 different cities in 3 years. 

was adopted as an infant. had two foster moms and two older sisters so always surrounded by women. lived in a boarding house, very much like the one in 20th century women, with lodgers coming in and out all the time, mostly artsy young women because her gay moms were both high school teachers trying to set up their own arts collective. one of her moms left when she was 4, n she doesn’t really remember her.

while living with entirely women made her super into catlin moran and the guilty feminist, as a teenager she often let boys walk all over her bc she just craved male attention jst bcos she’d never really experienced it. saw it as something aspirational, like sitting in the back of chad’s second-hand truck while he drove you to macdonalds and offered you and his five friends with identical haircuts weed was the height of being cool to greta, she wanted to be their dream girl, even if it meant compromising her beliefs

bubbly bitch but also massive snake. metaphorically and literally, always shedding her skin. loyal to few, ruled by none, out for herself, babey!! every place she goes, she becomes a new character, someone who’s a figment of her imagination, as if each city is repertory theatre and she’s a character actress, so as a result som ppl think she’s called rita, some ppl know her as margot, she just flicks through identities like nobodies business.

goes through phases of being intensely feminist and tweeting “men are trash i don’t need them” before flipping into being lonely and needy n wanting male attention again. tends to gravitate towards men who are just pieces of shit tbh like her friends are always like hun.... pick a nice boy..... but no.... she’ll go for the boxer with several arrest records for gbh or the small-town drug dealer just trying to hook her onto pills for a little extra cash, or the reformed sinner who thinks he’s being protective by reading all her texts and always knowing where she is..... n she always finds a way to spin it so that they Just Care About Her and aren’t a p.o.s 

left school at 18 n didn’t go to uni, moved in w her boyfriend of the time instead, but soon got bored, n then went backpacking around the states making money in the casinos by being a shot girl (yeehaw) and trying to make it as a mysterious 1920s widow with a smoky voice, a dark secret n a heart of gold, looking for love in the big city. all she found was producers and acting agents who’d promise her stardom n actually just fuck her in a motel n then ignore her calls.

TW domestic violence, TW gun, her watershed moment came when she met luke in sioux falls while she was playing bass for a country n blues band. he was a few years older and had a car, and they kind of went from seeing each other to being that super intense couple who are just necking all the time. 

they got engaged like 3 months after they met n rented a flat together, much to her family’s annoyance but she was 19 so there wasn’t much they could do. their relationship was super super intense though, often really heightened and when they fought it could become quite violent, but she’d pass it off as just him being really passionate. 

one of their fights got really heated and greta threatened him with the gun he kept in the glove box of his vauxhall corsa, but the safety was off and she accidentally shot him. she pleaded self defence in the trial n cos of the amount of times she’d been hospitalised for various concussions n things like ‘fallling down the stairs’ the police were like yea... pretty watertight evidence that he was a bastard who [chicago voice] had it coming..... also this happened in 2017, he was mixed race and greta is white so naturally the police totally took her side. she’s now under witness protection, rehoused in livingstone as a sports-scholarship student, due to the amount of police involvement in the area, it would mean should one of luke’s family members try to track her down, she’d be relatively safe

 massive sports fanatic. plays tennis. on the cheer team. was a track superstar in her high school. honestly just that sporty bitch, you’ll see her doing lines at a party at half four and then on your way to your 9am lecture you see her running across the park like a fresh fucking daisy who is this bitch

pretty easy to get along with (provided you don’t anger, provoke or question her too much) because she WANTS your character to be enthralled by her and will do whatever it takes to win them over. she wants everyone to love her

is That Girl who always knows where the parties are, and is always there, on the sofa, talking about institutionalised racism and trying to coerce you into a game of beer pong that she’ll definitely win. doesn’t really have one solid group of friends, just kind of on good terms with everyone and social butterflies about

has changed her major so many times. decision? who is she. currently studying medicine, but doesn’t rlly enjoy it. she’s very unmotivated and lazy and probably wouldn’t ahve bothered going to uni if she hadn’t been placed in one by a witness protection program. will probably change on to history or gender studies soon n just make up the extra credits by volunteering

 massive feminist. low key quite scared of powerful men bcos of her ex. wants to start a female only lesbian commune bc she misses her childhood in a south dakota boarding house and has endless support for women. honestly annoyed that she is attracted to men, would so be 100% gay if it was a choice. cuffs her jeans and can’t drive. is That bisexual. skateboards. wears backwards caps.  i hate her

plays bass guitar, has a teal green fender and it is her BABY. it’s covered in stickers about saving the planet and ending fracking and going vegan. she’s in an all-female punk band w agnes (n mayb jade i think) n they play gigs every now n then in grotty club basements full of druggy sweaty college kids

PERSONALITY: easy-going, sociable, observant, blunt, amiable, nihilistic, self-serving, laid back, independent, unmotivated, charming, lazy, impulsive, alluring. ESTP and a leo

LIKES: art, music, john wayne movies, black mirror, philosophy,  cowboy chic culture, DC comics, arcade games, candyfloss, deep red lipstick, marijuana, dogs, karaoke, Kate Moss, late-night strolls, zip-lining, chemistry, suspenders, cigarettes, herbal tea, gallows humour, cold coffee, long showers, brown eyes, tchaikovsky, dr. seuss, boiler house DJ sets, magnolias, decorative lamps, worn-out furniture, twangy electric guitars.

DISLIKES: bananas, coffee, Woody Allen, mental mathematics, children, Trump, institutionalised misogyny, the imaginary future, french literature, Wes Anderson films, spoken word poetry, the general mentality of cheerleading squads (despite being on one)

aesthetics:

a bubble of pink gum on chapped lips, mom jeans, a beaten up pair of adidas, denim jackets, strawberry laces, knee-highs, chapped lips, peeling sticky plasters, split knuckles, bruises you try to cover with concealer, stick and poke tattoos, hot coffee, sleep caught in your eyes on a lazy afternoon, kissing girls, cigarette smoke shrouding you like a veil, alien conspiracy theories and sci-fi paperbacks, doc martens with fraying laces, the red string of a thong peaking out purposely from jeans, leonine arch of your back and that stellar smile that says ‘you have no idea who you’re dealing with’, a rucksack permanently packed for the move, a streak of red across your lips, roller blades, cut knees, not eating your greens, smiling with a mouthful of blood, and piercing your own ears with a safety pin when your mom wouldn’t take you, kate moss posters lining the walls of a teenage bedroom, his name scrawled in rage across the pages of a diary, thumb holes poked through the cuffs of your sleeves, a tennis racket you punched through in a fit of temper, feet pounding the earth until your soles bleed crimson, sleeping in a cherry lip balm and scrunchies to keep the wild locks from your eyes. 

wanted plots: since greta literally can’t differentiate between romantic and platonic love, she’s got off with so many of her mates, so i want awkward friendships where they nearly dated, or exes that have now just turned into weird friendships, and girls from the cheer team who she’s like, weirdly intimate with like the shower together but its not a Thing cos the other girls straight, and I want like, fellow medicine students who are like?? how is this bitch still passing?? i swear she goes out every night?? she works part time at a fast food restaurant, i want a mate that just goes and sits in there talking to her until her manager gets angry. ppl she did a few modules with before changing course and somehow sort of remaining in touch with, like she did a few art modules, a bit of film, n some architecture before switching to medicine, though she’ll probs switch course again soon. ppl who she runs track with. someone she’s trying to make a zine with. here’s a list of plots on her old blog if u want any of them w her.

would love plots of any type, throw them all at me please, i cnt wait to interact w all of u. like this if u want me to message you about connections / plots! xo

full biography if u can be bothered

trigger warnings: drugs, domestic abuse, gun.

you never meant for it to happen. you’d heard the stories, of girls who let their man walk all over them, and thought to yourself “i’ll never be one of those girls…” the kind that eat low-fat yoghurt and drink slim fast to shred a few extra pounds because he said she was getting round in the tummy, or the ones who spent their evenings tied to a kitchen sink drinking wine while him and the boys played poker, wishing god, if only I could get out of here. not you, not you raised by strong women, four bright shining beacons. single mother with her hard-as-nails attitude and her stony glares, elder sisters (twins) one ginger, one blonde, one doctor, one lawyer, both determined to take a bullet to the brain and a hammer to the patriarchy before they let a man touch them without asking. you were always so inferior, so insecure and small, like a bird (like a sparrow) with blonde plaits down your back sucking tropicana whilst your busom buds sucked dick, their lips permanently ripe with stories of their sexual exploits, fake tan and glittered nails whilst you sat in the unbroken egg of virginity wondering what it was like to be loved. one day you found out.

lily milligan’s parents gone and a free house for the night, bottles of ouzo and tequila swiped from your mother’s liquor cabinet thinking she wouldn’t know (she always knew) your legs, hardened from pep squad, slut dropping on a kitchen table because the boys thought it would be fun to get the quiet girl drunk. you’d never had a sip before that night. band t-shirts, denim shorts and the split soles of rotten converse that you refuse to let go of, you still clutched with both hands to your youth, but in a tube top now (borrowed from alice carmichael who had a sister in college) and a short tennis skirt, your feet not in trainers but in thigh-high boots. uncomfy as hell but lily said you needed to look sexy. you didn’t know if you wanted to be sexy. you didn’t know what kind of girl you were, if you were even a girl at all. but robbie looked at you like he knew exactly who you were, like he knew you better than you knew yourself, and his lips had the pink cupid’s bow of a movie star, and his hair was dark locks, curling like a mane. his hands were soft, and suddenly on your waist, and after three more shots his lips were on yours and his name was the only sound in your head and on your lips as you lost it in lily’s college sister’s bedroom beneath the glare of a T-Pain poster. you bled for what seemed like hours, his hand still in yours, kissing on the sofa as truth tellers and dare devils continued to spin a bottle of unprecedented youth. you thought it was love. robbie was the one. he loved you, you knew it, how else could someone be so soft? but soon he grew bored, scrunched up your paper heart and set it alight. then came the tears, the hatred, the ‘fuck robbie, in fact, fuck all boys.’ and that you did.

you were known for being easy. any boy could be yours for a night, as long as he promised to love you for those few short breaths and pants before you cried yourself to sleep. you felt poisoned, but poisonous as well, as if by ensnaring these young boys you were gaining power over them, and not the other way around. soon it started to work. they’d want more, but you’d deny them it, sick of sucking off silly schoolboys, they’d call you a tease, a vixen. maybe you were, but you couldn’t help but want older men. you got the history teacher first time, him bending you over his desk to sneak a hand up your tennis skirt as the after-school clubs carried on next door, unawares. love didn’t exist, not for you. it was nothing but a game for pretty young girls to play, bubble gum in their canines and a hand tugging at the hem of their cheer skirt.

there was so much anger inside of your small body, ‘beware of boys and their hook-like words’. hockey helped. there was something formidable about the feeling of a stick like a weapon in your hands and the thwack it made against thighs in the heat of a scrum - “slipped, sorry!” - you’d utter with a snakeskin smile, millicent quinn knowing that you’d hit her on purpose because she shagged robbie at that party last week. she couldn’t prove it, cobbled acne on her forehead turning green with disgust. ben came into your life like a car crash. two years your senior, with a baseball jacket and shoulders like a god. he became your personal hero. on the pitch, he was lethal. together, you could bring anyone to their ruin. each day after last period he’d be waiting in his car. you’d leap into his arms like a girl-half starved, love me, love me, love me, your heated kisses the envy of every junior girl. he was yours for three blissful years, utterly yours, and you were his, his star-spangled girl, and he was your knight - you were both the same, playing games, always difficult to predict. it was a shock to all when he proposed, high-school sweethearts find love in south dakota.

the engagement was a bittersweet affair; three months – you barely out of your gingham print skirts and into a graduation gown, him, a surly quarterback towering above your sisters, cigarette at his lips and a scowl like a fart in a lift. they hated him. so did you. but you were eighteen and in love, and he fitted the cookie cutter mould. everyone wanted him, and you had him. you had him and you were happy, happy, happy, and he loved you. he said he’d give you the world, anything you wanted hand-picked and given to you. instead, he gave you a jack russell terrier and a flat you couldn’t swing a cat in, wallpaper peeling like the rotten bits inside of you, the bits that only he knew. and you got tireder and tireder of the sad excuse of a life he’d picked out for you, him out doing god knows what to pay the bills, and you dancing on tables to pave your way to stardom, and this was love, this was real, until the shine wore off and your fresh-faced, dimple-cheeked cheerleader facade faded and the ugliness started to reveal itself, the whining, the petulance, the sharp-tempered cruelty, the mind games, the need to always win, win, win. he was dull, he was boring, he was nothing like the boy the girls had said he was and no chiselled six pack could hide his lack of anything remotely interesting, your patience wearing thin until it snapped like rubber, a rucksack on your back, running shoes on your feet and the joint bank account emptied into your eighth grade birthday wallet.

you built your small fortunes working the casinos of sioux falls, a crimson dress and an attitude to match. bookish archie with his little dipper freckles was fun for a month, before he became just as dull and dreary as the rest. a three hour bus and you were in minneapolis, bright eyed and bushy tailed, fresh meat ready for the pickings. a hostel here, a friendly co-worker’s sofa there as you made what you could by taking off your clothes and shaking your ass like you were back in pep squad, doing what you did best. you met your fair share of creeps, and soon it was back on the road to escape a wide-eyed stalker and a restless itch for more. milwaukee, chicago, you made the roads your own. log cabins and lodgings, and the occasional motel, a beaten up pick up truck purchased at a scrap merchants – you got a few miles out of it before it bit the dust, and when you finally set it alight after nights spent lounging across the driver’s seat, a parka tucked over you as a duvet, you were sad to see it go. you’re nomadic by fault, never attaching to place, people or things, creating a new personality in every place you go like a character actress; each town is a different repertory theatre, and you’re the star. a compulsive liar, you even fib about your own name, to some you’re ellen, nineteen, bookish, a law student who likes smoking and cosmos. to someone else you’re rita, you’re twenty five and look young for your age, like smoking, comics and fucking in public places.

in the bright lights of michigan, you found charlie, sweet charlie, too good for you, though you let him spoil you while he thought you were the small town girl of his dreams. next came abigail, who was fun until the jealously kicked in, and then luke, gorgeous luke, dangerous, exciting, who despite his temper, despite the fights, despite bruises down your spine and your teeth marks on his arms, loved you with the strength of a wild fire. there was destruction in your wishbones, a savageness from the field, from the pitch and now somehow in his arms, you were godly. he was cruel, he was careless, and he refused to fall at your feet like so many other boys had, which only you made you want him all the more. you were rage incarnate. you hated him so fiercely you thought you might kill him, so he played the only card you wouldn’t predict; proposed.

the house you shared was a backstreet flat in detroit, you making your name as a downtown singer while he footed the bill with pills. they had a drug for anything these days, to dull the senses, to pick them up, to drive you to insanity or pull you out of the madness hole. the two of you lived like criminals on the run (you never told him that you were, living out your days as the enigma he wanted you to be), you with your voice like caramel and fishnet legs. you were his and his alone until his hand was at your throat and the gun was in your hands screaming at him to stop, stop, stop, until a bullet stoppered his brain, crimson staining linoleum as you cast yourself out like lucifer. self defence was decreed the moment they saw your violet neck, black tears and headlight eyes and mind screaming red, red, red like the pom-poms you shook so willingly in school and the insides of his skull. you were gone, and “you” was born, renamed “greta”, boxed, shipped-out, and next-day delivered to livingstone where under witness protection you were a student, blank slate, fresh-faced in a place where no one knew your name, doing what you always did and starting again.

[zjarondinelli]

Szymon Kudranski’s Framing Rhetoric & Panel Design in “Punisher #1”

One of the more intriguing elements of Kudranski’s art in Punisher #1 (2018) stems from the way that he is able to take the formalistic functions of the comics medium and make them work as a narrative device. In fact, we’re primed for this type of usage from the very first page:

This page is deceptive in its design because of how Kudranski utilizes panel insets (a panel inset is any panel that is superimposed over top of another panel). Here, we see that this page is really one large splash page to the bleed where (for the most part) it is “broken up” only by the inclusion of thick white frames strategically placed over “important” images. These first three panels draw our attention to three elements of the visual rhetoric that Kudranski is identifying as important; the narrative caption provides for us a sense of time and place, while the two boats that are focused on in panels two and three are clearly of importance, possibly even linking back to the text captioned in the first panel (“Why the bloody hell have the engines stopped?!”). Kudranski sets up for us the expectation that panels and page layout are going to be as important to the communicative power of the issue as the panel content is.

The first time that we see the panel frame actually act as “character” though is when we arrive at the Roxxon job in Staten Island:

Here, the thick frames that Kudranski has been utilizing for the majority of the issue prior are replaced by jagged, violent, sharp, blood coloured red frames that mimic the trauma/violence occurring within the panel content, just like a video game might shake and tint the screen red when taking damage. This is far from the only time Kudranski uses this element either! One of the more memorable usages of this framing rhetoric takes place during and elevator ride:

With this page, Kudranski is able to juxtapose the calm, serene frameless moments when the doors are closed and the elevator is in motion, with the violent POV moments as the baddies open the door and are put down by Frank. Each time the elevator arrives at a new floor, the panels take on the jagged shape tinged orange (to imitate the elevator light perhaps?) and we become the men killed by Frank through perspective.

The juxtaposition or parallelism that is witnessed here with the white/orange frames is also a go-to communicative device for Kudranski. We see it again moments before the issues climactic ending:

This page is particularly interesting in its use of parallelism and juxtaposition. Notice how during the moments where the Mandarin’s words are the primary focus, we are presented with white framed panels. These are non-representational and are overwhelmingly normal and traditional in their presentation. However, the second set of vertical panels are frameless and exist as an intermediary space in between the Mandarin (Frank’s target) and the placing of the bullet into the gun/pulling the trigger (the assassin gets his kill). The final two vertical panels are representative, again, of Frank and, as a result, we immediately know that the man pulling the trigger is the Punisher. By utilizing the frames that we have begun to associate with his character, Frank’s face does not need to be depicted for us to recognize the narrative events; we associate these panel frames with his particular type of violence at this point.

The last point to be made about Kudranski’s layouts is his use of iconic substitution. This occurs for the first time when he replaces the gutter separating two panels with a streaking rocket from a rocket launcher.

This simple substitution replaces the traditional process (called closure) that occurs as we read two images and violently inserts the rocket. What should be a simple reading process from one to the other is hijacked by the realization that this rocket is about to cause the catastrophe below (French theorist Theory Groensteen would call this archeological function). It mimics for the reader the violence and chaos that is being depicted on the page and makes the reading experience almost representative of that chaos.

Finally, Kudranksi does something similar in what might be my favourite single page of the comic:

Here, Kudranski substitutes a panel for the reflection of the biker’s helmet. We witness, through the visor glass, Frank killing the last of the bad guys. The final panel then acts as a unique panel-within-a-panel device, whereby the helmet becomes the vehicle to progress the story. It also keeps the reader detached from the event; we do not see Frank kill the man from the perspective of the biker, but rather have it mediated through the glass. In this way, we are able to see the Punisher in silhouette which emphasizes the iconic skull on his chest.

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 22 July 2019

Quick Bits:

A Walk Through Hell #12 concludes what has been an excellent horror tale from Garth Ennis, Goran Sudžuka, Ive Svorcina, and Rob Steen with another trip into existential terror as we’re given a glimpse of what this is all about and what’s coming.

| Published by AfterShock

Action Comics #1013 keeps a lot of plates spinning as it works through elements of “Year of the Villain”, Event Leviathan, the ongoing Invisible Mafia story thread, and the Rose and Thorn revival. It’s kind of impressive as to how it remains entertaining and engrossing with as much going on.

| Published by DC Comics

Age of Conan: Bêlit #5 is another ending this week, as we finish off Bêlit’s coming of age origin story, as she confronts the Stygian priest and lays claim to her title of Queen of the Black Coast. Great art from Kate Niemczyk, Scott Hanna, Andrea Di Vito, and Jason Keith.

| Published by Marvel

Amazing Spider-Man #26 introduces us to the new Sinister Syndicate fully as they plan an attack on Boomerang. It’s kind of funny to see him still getting into trouble even now that he’s trying to stay legit. Great art from Kev Walker and Laura Martin.

| Published by Marvel

Ascender #4 gives us a few surprises in the fight between the vampires and the resistance. The grey washes, with mixes of red, from Dustin Nguyen on the vampire’s throneworld is very impressive.

| Published by Image

Batgirl #37 launches the new creative team of Cecil Castellucci, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Jordie Bellaire, and AndWorld Design with part one of “Oracle Rising”. There’s a nice battle with Killer Moth, emphasizing what some villains are doing in order to try to get noticed by Luthor to receive the offer, while playing up the expense that goes into crimefighting. Also, the Terrible Trio unleash something probably not too good.

| Published by DC Comics

Dark Red #5 concludes the first arc as Chip and Evie try to fight off an army of Nazi vampires. It’s good, with some nice funny moments. Great art from Corin Howell and Mark Englert.

| Published by AfterShock

Detective Comics #1008 is a straight-forward single issue story of Batman and Joker at the circus from Peter J. Tomasi, Doug Mahnke, Jaime Mendoza, Dave Baron, and Rob Leigh. It’s a refreshing change of pace from the extended arcs, even as it sets up a new threat in the “Year of the Villain” offering.

| Published by DC Comics

Dial H for Hero #5 gets a little meta as we dive into the Multiverse, the Heroverse, and the Bleed from Sam Humphries, Joe Quinones, Scott Hanna, Jordan Gibson, and Dave Sharpe. The use of breaking through panels, reproductions of old comics scenes, and a variation of styles just deliver phenomenal storytelling.

| Published by DC Comics / Wonder Comics

Dungeons & Dragons: A Darkened Wish #2 continues to fill in the backstory of the adventurers’ time with the White Sails, introducing us to the pitfalls that harried them, before giving more hints in the present of the nightmare that tore them apart. B. Dave Walters, Tess Fowler, Jay Fotos, and Neil Uyetake are delivering an entertaining fantasy tale here.

| Published by IDW

Fearless #1 is a new three-issue anthology mini-series spotlighting a number of the women of Marvel, both characters and creative talent. This first issue leads off with a continuing lead feature from Seanan McGuire, Claire Roe, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Janice Chiang, as Sue Richards, Carol Danvers, and Storm prepare to visit a girls camp as motivational speakers. There’s also an entertaining Mille the Model back-up from Leah Williams, Nina Vakueva, Rosenberg, and Chiang. And a very funny Jessica Jones story from the Captain Marvel team of Kelly Thompson, Carmen Carnero, Tamra Bonvillain, with Chiang. Though short, that last story is pretty much worth the price of the issue alone.

| Published by Marvel

Five Years #3 sees Tambi meet with Ivy and Julie to discuss that various nations around the world are dangerously developing Phi-alloy technology. Also a surprise appearance of people we thought were out. Great art as always from Terry Moore.

| Published by Abstract Studio

The Flash #75 delivers three stories for this extra-sized anniversary issue. The lead concludes the “Year One” arc. This is some of the best art that I have ever seen from Howard Porter, he and Hi-Fi just deliver amazing artwork here. There are also two back-ups, one hinting at things to come in the future for Barry and the other tying in to “Year of the Villain” as Captain Cold receives Luthor’s offer.

| Published by DC Comics

Guardians of the Galaxy #7 begins the second arc, “Faithless”, from Donny Cates, Cory Smith, David Curiel, and Cory Petit. It really introduces us to the new Universal Church of Truth as they take out an entire squadron of the Nova Corps and then worse things happen as the Guardians go off to investigate. I love the name for the Guardians’ new ship and that final page is one hell of a shock.

| Published by Marvel

History of the Marvel Universe #1 is an interesting project from Mark Waid, Javier Rodríguez, Álvaro López, and Joe Caramagna. It’s framed as Galactus telling Franklin Richards (at least I think that’s Franklin Richards) the history of the universe before it dies and the next is reborn. As expected, it’s dry facts, but it’s fascinating in how it’s comprehensively presented and the artwork from Rodríguez and López is jaw-dropping gorgeous. There are also annotations in the back to show where these events come from. It’s well put together and I highly recommended it to die-hard Marvel fans.

| Published by Marvel

Invisible Kingdom #5 concludes the first arc with an almost entirely one-sided battle between the Sun Dog and a Lux battleship. G. Willow Wilson, Christian Ward, and Sal Cipriano elevate the tension nicely through this issue and give a few surprises when everything seems grim and it looks like the end.

| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books

Killer Groove #3 wonderfully showcases one of Jackie’s cases as it intertwines with the music scene and criminal underworld. Ollie Masters, Eoin Marron, Jordie Bellaire, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou are doing a nice job with this series of crafting one larger story out of many separate smaller tales.

| Published by AfterShock

Lazarus: Risen #2 is another dense read. The series has always been hefty, but this new format has elevated things further, doubling up comics content and adding a prose short story, the letters pages, and extra content like gaming material and the usual in-world advertisements. I’m loving it. Greg Rucka, Michael Lark, Tyler Boss, Santi Arcas, Simon Bowland, Adam Christopher, and Crystal Frasier are definitely giving you your money’s worth and more here. Excellent comics content as the war between Carlyle and Morray/D’Souza heats up.

| Published by Image

Livewire #8 pits Amanda versus Jada for a final round. It’s still interesting how practically everyone is trying to portray Amanda’s actions as harmful and villainous. Great art from Kano.

| Published by Valiant

Martian Manhunter #7 sees J’onn and Diane uncover some of the results of the experiments that have been going on with the kidnapped and missing people, it’s horrifying. Incredible and haunting artwork in this one from Riley Rossmo and Ivan Plascencia. 

| Published by DC Comics

Marvels: Epilogue is a short, but sweet, coda to the Marvels series from Kurt Busiek, Alex Ross, John Roshell, and Richard Starkings. It spotlights events from X-Men #98 through the eyes of Phil Sheldon and his daughters, capturing some of the awe, wonder, and terror that Sheldon experienced during the main series. The book is filled out with an interview with Busiek and Ross on their experience with the series and what it’s like to look back on it 25 years later, as well as interviews with the editors who worked on the book.

| Published by Marvel

Middlewest #9 sets out a new quest for Abel as he comes across the Nowak people. Skottie Young, Jorge Corona, Jean-Francois Beaulieu, and Nate Piekos are continuing to make magic with this series. The art is beautiful and the story is endlessly captivating.

| Published by Image

Psi-Lords #2 continues to investigate these four captives, changed for whatever reason by the Psi-Lords, and the habitat of their prison. An interesting jail hierarchy of gangs is revealed and a bit of a memory of the four’s lives before being captured. Gorgeous art from Renato Guedes.

| Published by Valiant

Star Pig #1 is weird. Very weird. Delilah S. Dawson, Francesco Gaston, Sebastian Cheng, and Shawn Lee give us the story of a kid on her way to space camp whose ship is struck and destroyed by an asteroid, saved by a space pig and a scavenger energy ball. It’s probably one of the more unique tales I’ve seen in a while.

| Published by IDW

Sword Master #1, like Aero before it, features two stories. In the first, Greg Pak adapts into English a tale from Shuizhu and Gunji of the titular hero, Lin Lie, and his quest to find his missing father. It’s an interesting start and the artwork from Gunji is gorgeous. The back up original story pairs Shang-Chi up with Lin in a story from Greg Pak, Ario Anindito, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Travis Lanham. It follows up on their appearance in the New Agents of Atlas tie-in to “War of the Realms” and presents an interesting antagonist on their trail.

| Published by Marvel

Valkyrie #1 is a wonderful debut from Jason Aaron, Al Ewing, CAFU, Jesus Aburtov, and Joe Sabino. We get some continued supporting cast from Jane Foster’s time as Thor, although with a new status quo, and an interesting hook in trying to track down Dragonfang, the former Valkyrie’s sword. The art from CAFU and Aburtov is beautiful.

| Published by Marvel

Warlord of Mars Attacks #2 continues this crossover of John Carter and Mars Attacks. It’s interesting how it incorporates Edgar Rice Burroughs’ stories as actual things in this world and explains how Mars as a dead planet and one as teeming with life as Barsoom could exist simultaneously.

| Published by Dynamite

The Weatherman Vol. 2 #2 gives us more of a look at the nightmare that has consumed Earth as the crew attempt to find the doctor who might be able to fix everything. It goes about as well as could be expected. The monster designs and execution from Nathan Fox and Moreno Dinisio are incredible.

| Published by Image

Web of Venom: Funeral Pyre #1 is another one-shot catching up on the wider world of Venom as we barrel headlong into Absolute Carnage. Cullen Bunn, Joshua Cassara, Alberto Alburquerque, Jay David Ramos, and Clayton Cowles give us a great story checking in with Andi Benton, the former Mania and occasional sidekick to Flash Thompson’s Venom.

| Published by Marvel

Wonder Woman #75 continues “Return of the Amazons” from G. Willow Wilson, Xermanico, Jesus Merino, Vicente Cifuentes, Romulo Fajardo Jr., and Pat Brosseau. This arc basically brings Wilson’s run around full circle to deal with some of the elements that kicked off her first issue as Diana faces off against Grail. Some really nice double page spreads with border art from Xermanico.

| Published by DC Comics

Other Highlights: Archie #706, Archie vs. Predator 2 #1, Bone Parish #11, Books of Magic #10, Clue: Candlestick #3, Curse Words #23, Doctor Strange #16, Farmhand #10, Freedom Fighters #7, Grumble #8, House of X #1, Justice League Dark #13, Lumberjanes #64, Magic: The Gathering - Chandra #3, Magnificent Ms. Marvel #5, Marvel Action: Avengers #6, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #41, Night Moves #5, Redneck #22, Secret Warps: Arachknight Annual #1, Shuri #10, Star Trek: The Q Conflict #6, Star Wars #69, TMNT: The Rise of the TMNT - Sound Off #1, Tony Stark: Iron Man #14, The Wicked + The Divine #44

Recommended Collections: Black Panther - Book 7: The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda Part 2, Go-Bots - Volume 1, Harrow County: Library Edition - Volume 3, House of Whispers - Volume 1: The Power Divided, James Bond: Origin - Volume 1, Lodger - Volume 1, Lumberjanes - Volume 12, Savage Sword of Conan - Volume 1: The Cult of Koga Thun, Self/Made, Star Wars Adventures - Volume 6: The Flight of the Falcon, Thor of Realms, William Gibson’s Alien 3

d. emerson eddy might well be a space lord.

[comicteaparty]

September 9th-September 15th, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from September 9th, 2019 to September 15th, 2019.  The chat focused on Ghost Junk Sickness by Kristen Lee and Laura Lee.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Week Long Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Ghost Junk Sickness by Kristen Lee and Laura Lee~! (http://www.ghostjunksickness.com/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Remember, though, that while we allow constructive criticism, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic. Below you will find four questions to get you started on the discussion. However, a new question will be posted and pinned everyday (between 12:01AM and 6AM PDT), so keep checking back for more! You have until September 15th to tell us all your wonderful thoughts! With that established, let’s get going on the reading and the chatting!

QUESTION 1. What has been your favorite scene in the comic so far? What specifically did you like about it?

QUESTION 2. What reason, if any, do you think is behind Vahn’s red eyes and strange tattoos? For that matter, why do you think Vahn’s health is in such shambles and their tattoos constantly bleed? What does all this have to do with Vahn’s lack of memories and nightmares?

Capitania do Azar

1. My favourite scene is Boggs introduction, which I think it's super well executed (actually, that entire chapter is just ), I mean http://www.ghostjunksickness.com/comic/4-11 ? Good content right here

2. I figure those things are all related, yes, and I'm dying to know in which way and why. However, if I were to make an educated guess, I'd go and say Vahn was in a cult (highly unliky, but IMAGINE that) or at least implicated on something of the sort. Vahn's character is one of the big mysteries that makes this comic so interesting, in my opinion. Trigger hardly reacts to those tattoos and their bleeding, so figures that if he doesn't know how they came to be or what they mean, he knows something.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 3. At the moment, who is your favorite character? What about that character earns them this favor?

QUESTION 4. Do you believe that June 7 can be saved, or is Fiachra right in that everyone should leave? If it can be saved, what do you think it will take? Further, do you believe Nyr and Alberich even get the chance to do so?(edited)

RebelVampire

QUESTION 5. What has been your favorite illustration in the comic so far? What specifically about it do you like?

QUESTION 6. What do you think exactly caused June 7 to be destroyed? Do you think this ties into current events? If so, how? If not, do you think the characters will ever figure out the cause behind the catastrophe?

Capitania do Azar

3. Favourite Character is a very tough one. Everyone's got a lot of personality here, so it's very hard for me to pick.. But I'm gonna go with Boggs, because she seems to be the most grounded. For all her flaws, she seems to have at least some sort of stability around her, especially if compared to Trigger and Vahn. PS: Trigger is a mess and I love him, even tho the first time I read this comic I really disliked like 90% of what he did. A second read made me softer on my views, but that boy still a mess PPS: Vahn

4. I think from a political standpoint, maybe it's not salvageable... But people have been and will keep on living on it, so does it really need saving? A lot of things have detrioriated, yes, but people are still living on it and it's not getting worse as far as I can see it, so.... But it could be deemed a project hard to back, and maybe it's easier to just call quits and leave, but I personally don't see that happening.

Capitania do Azar

5. Oh, do I have to pick just one? Because I could easily pick all the chapter covers!! The interior arts are also getting progressively better as the story goes, and the choice of halftones is But I love this page, it gives me them feels http://www.ghostjunksickness.com/comic/10-34

6. I can go full-on crazy theorist on this and say that it looks like Vahn has something to do with it, even if they don't really realize or remember it and I'm also gonna say that I got the feeling The Ghost is up there somewhere also participating in this business. Also yes, I think it's gonna come into play eventually and our main characters are gonna have to deal with some harshness on that front (no way something like that could be pretty or easy to deal with).

RebelVampire

1) My favorite scene is probably when Trigger panics about Vahn getting kidnapped and rushing after Vahn to try and save them. Trigger...Trigger is a very flawed character. Boggs is not wrong for calling Trigger out, and Trigger is real shit at expressing emotions. But in that moment? Man, Trigger was ripped raw and we finally got to see that nah, he really, really, really does care. He's just a screwed up individual with a lot of demons in the closet. It was a beautiful moment of character growth if short lived. 2) Honestly, I'm kind of on the same page as @Capitania do Azar in thinking that there's cult stuff going on. Maybe Vahn was meant to be some sacrifice to Vivian or something. Only because Vahn wasnt sacrificed but was fully prepped for it, they're stuck with the bleeding tattoos cause that tattoos really want them sacrifices to be happening. As for the nightmares and lack of memories, I assume Vahn's escape from whoever had them before was not a peaceful and mutual lets go our separate ways sort of thing.

3) My favorite character is ambassador Nyr because Nyr is tiny and wise and very adorable. And like, how can you not like Nyr? Just wants everybody to be happy and careful. 4) I think June 7 can be "saved" but that depends on your definition of saved. Like, the phrase "Rome wasn't built in a day" comes to mind. It will never be what it was, and I think for people like Fiachra, that means it's trash. But I think everyone could get the planet to a place where there's less crime and shortages. That being said, I am skeptical Nyr and Alberich will get a chance to do so. I'm pretty sure this is gonna end with the planet getting more messed up cause some politicians think they know what's best despite not even really being around much.

5) My fave illustration is definitely the first panel on this page http://www.ghostjunksickness.com/comic/10-32. There's a great blend between detail, atmsophere, particles, and blurs in the distance. It makes for a really ethereal view that makes you go, "Yup, Boggmouth was right." 6) Once again, cult stuff. Probably the same cult stuff Vahn was in. Maybe because Vahn wasn't sacrificed to Vivian right everything went haywire and the phenomenon happened cause there was excess energy just released into the world. Or something like that. But I definitely think regardless of the answer, the characters will find out. I would be surprised if there was nothing to it given things we've learnt about it through Andrew.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 7. Which characters do you enjoy seeing interact the most? What about their dynamic interests you?

QUESTION 8. Who do you think the Ghost is, and what is the source of their mysterious appearance and abilities? How does this tie into Vahn given the Ghost had a picture of Vahn? Given material found, how might this also tie into the Crane woman?

Capitania do Azar

6) @RebelVampire oh I like your sacrificial takes, I didn't think of that

Capitania do Azar

7. Interactions between Trigger and Vahn are super interesting and they leave me wondering about so many things, as there's clearly something unstated going on there. Then, Trigger and Boggmouths' are the best because they're so wild no context is needed, ever ahah

8. I think Vahn and Ghost are related somehow, maybe deeper than we know... The Ghost sure is happy to have found them!! And that implies some sort of connection. Figures that should be connected to Vahn's past that we don't know off, their uncharacteristic abilities and maybe even to the destructive events on the planet. And also people did mention that there were some physical similarities, which also make me wonder very much about exactly what kind of connection could there be between the two! (who knows, maybe they were on the same cult)

RebelVampire

QUESTION 9. What sorts of art or story details have you noticed in the way the comic is crafted that you think deserves attention?

QUESTION 10. Why do you think Trigger is declaring he’s in trouble after saving Vahn? What do you think caused him to get into trouble? Further, why do you think Trigger is pushing Vahn away? Is it anger, or is there something else going on? Will he get out of trouble?

RebelVampire

7) I definitely like seeing Vahn and Trigger interact the most. Their relationship exists in this weird place between warm and tumultuous, which makes each interaction between them kind of fascinating. I also kind of feel they bring out the worst and best each other at the same time, which is not something you usually see. Like the only real way I have to describe their relationship is "It's a mess." XD 8) I think perhaps the Ghost is one of the few survivors from the catastrophe, and that whatever happened, the Ghost got mysterious powers from it. Perhaps the Ghost was a cult member if I continue to go with the cult theory. And going with the cult theory, I assume that's how the Ghost knows Vahn, maybe even helped kidnap Vahn from wherever Vahn is from. And the Ghost wants Vahn cause Vahn's sacrifice be needed or something like that. O_O I'm just spitballing mostly.

9) Honestly, the backgrounds. Like those are some nice details on the buildings, random objects, etc. There's a lot of world character going on, and the characters definitely feel integrated into their own world because of it. I feel this comic goes past even what makes for a passable background and takes it a step beyond,, which is always admirable. 10) Honestly, I think Trigger got himself marked for death because he made a deal with the devil to save Vahn's life. And Trigger is pushing Vahn away both out of hurt because Vahn almost got themselves killed, but also cause Trigger doesn't want Vahn to get caught up in whatever his trouble is.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 11. What do you think are this particular comic’s strengths? What do you think makes this comic unique? Please elaborate.

QUESTION 12. What do you think happened to Andrew during the June 7 catastrophe, and what might this have to do with the death of others around him? Further, what do you make of Andrew’s promise to someone named Roderick?

Capitania do Azar

9. Concerning the art (and tbh, storywise a little bit too), I like it that the influences the authors pulled from are clear, but the work still screams very personal and unique. I love the care with which the backgrounds are populated, weather with characters or items that make everything feel very alive. I also really like how we are slowly knowing more about the characters, and how even the silly moments build up on them!

10. If I have not mentioned this before, I am under the suspicion that Trigger knows more than he lets on, particularly about Vahn. There's something about the way he treats them that goes beyond "oh I really care about them", you know? So figures there must be something else that that Trigger knows and we don't (and possible, not even Vahn). Now, I don't think Trigger is pushing Vahn away, at least not on purpose. I just think he's not good at dealing with emotions, his or otherwise, and that anger is a safer bet to make sure he's heard. As for getting out of trouble, I don't think so. Trigger getting in trouble is what this comic has been all about, aha

I assume that's how the Ghost knows Vahn, maybe even helped kidnap Vahn from wherever Vahn is from

@RebelVampire they're from space Scotland, obviously

11. Character Design, for once: all characters are instantly recognizable and even tho they're all so different from each other, they all somehow make sense in the context of the story and none of them seems out of place. There's some really good character design craft in there. I like the balance between goofy/fun advantures and darkness/complicated relationships. It's easier to fall into either extremely problematic relationships with no redeeming features that make you wonder why even the characters are together, to relationships where nothing goes wrong. Between Trigger and Vahn you can see there are good things and bad things, and that's really fresh. Other relationships in the comic are also portrayed very well and are interesting to follow.

12. Honestly, the Andrew plotline gets me a little confused, but I gotta admit it's because I wasn't following it so attentively as I was Trigger and Vahn. So that's my fault in there. But I'm really anxious to find out in which way it's gonna merge with the other plotlines, and how it'll relate to The Ghost's case, ehe

RebelVampire

QUESTION 13. What are you most looking forward to in the comic? Also, do you have any final thoughts to share overall?

QUESTION 14. Why do you think Trigger avoided Boggmouth after abandoning Boggmouth so many years ago? Was it shame, or is there something else going on with Trigger? What consequences do you think there will be for Vahn finding out this past history?

RebelVampire

11) For me, the comic's strengths is probably the world-building and illustration. I've mentioned this before, I believe, but there's just so much detail in regards to how the world is portrayed. From the character designs, the ship designs, to how the society functions and has its own command structure. It's a really fleshed out world that has its own character, so that makes it just as interesting as the character. Thus, any exposition never feels dull, cause it feels just like learning some key development info about a person. 12) Given some of the pieces, right now I think that the catastrophe drove Andrew insane, possibly some of the others, and he started killing people around him. And someone he wound up being the last one standing. With this Roderick dude perhaps being one of the last people Andrew offed or something. And the kid in the picture looks like Vahn, so I'm gonna assume Roderick told Andrew to look out for Vahn or something. Although timeline wise Roderick couldve died much earlier in life. IDK. I definitely think Andrew murdered some people and lives with regret though.

RebelVampire

13) I'm looking forward to getting back to Trigger cause I'm interested to see wtf is even going on with Trigger anymore. He's such an emotional wreck right now, and I want to find out why he's such an emotional wreck. 14) Honestly, I think Trigger avoided Boggmouth both out of self loathing and unsureness about how to approach it. Apologizing isn't easy at all. Even assuming you can let go of your pride regarding it, there's a decent chance the other party either won't accept your apology or will sometimes make you feel even worse, possibly for the rest of your life. And being sincerely sorry but never forgiven is frankly an awful feeling. And I kind of feel this is kind of Trigger's thought process. He feels bad, but how could he reasonably accept Boggmouth to forgive him? So instead of apologizing, he just doesn't deal with the problem because even if he does apologize, it won't fix anything. It probably won't even make him or Boggmouth feel better about it. So thus he stubbornly backs his own bullshit up because he's just not able to emotionally cope with accepting any of that. As for consequences regarding Vahn, I think very little. I think Vahn might confront Trigger about Trigger being mysterious and not sharing stuff like that. But Vahn seems pretty loyal to Trigger so I don't think they'll ditch Trigger for something like that.

Capitania do Azar

13. Right now, looking forward to see Trigger again and what would come off a confrontation between him and Vahn, now that Vahn knows about His Past™. I also can't wait to know more about arm-swapping cults that include planet-destroying ghosts and space Scotland.

14. I think Trigger was a coward, but I don't blame him. It was a very difficult situation, and he was under a lot of stress and didn't know what to do, and his bad side won. I think shame and an unwilling to confront himself is mostly what's behind him avoiding Boggs for so long. But the past does have a way to find you, so he can't expect to stay hidden forever. Ahahah! As for Vahn finding out, I'm a big with @RebelVampire here. I think they may feel hurt and distrustful of Trigger for a while, but at the same time, they have already endured a lot on that relationship and they probably understand it wasn't exactly a conscious decision. Vahn doesn't look like the type to hold grudges anyway

mariah currey

So I didn't read enough of Ghost Junk Sickness to really answer any of the questions I don't think, but I did want to say that I really enjoyed what I did read of it. I got like 20 pages in when the Comment Storm was going on and meant to go back and read more, but life's been crazy. Anyway, I think the main characters and their dynamic were cute/fun and I'm planning to just back into it at some point when I have more time. Also, I really liked big hammer lady! (I even left a comment saying so XD) I feel like she probably isn't important but I thought she was rad.

FeatherNotes

These are all such good and wholesome comments/answers, thank you all for enjoying Ghost Junk!!i especially loved reading the theories the most!!

spacerocketbunny

Thank you so much for all the theories and feedback, it's been a treat to read through all if it!! Thank you so much for lending your time to our comic, I really aporeciate it!!

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Ghost Junk Sickness this week! Please also give a special thank you to Kristen Lee and Laura Lee for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Ghost Junk Sickness, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: http://www.ghostjunksickness.com/

Ghost Junk Sickness’ Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/ghostjunksickness

Ghost Junk Sickness’ Store: https://hivemill.com/collections/ghost-junk-sickness

Ghost Junk Sickness’ Twitter: https://twitter.com/gjsickness?lang=en