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taiblogcomics · 4 years ago

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I Can’t Pet Force You To Read This One, But...

Hey there, high school crushes. Well, it's finally here. Can you believe it? Yes, counting from the original Xanga site (which, yes, still counts. It's like our own Golden Age publication or apocryphia), this is our 10th anniversary of reviewing comics. That's fantastic. I'm excited, can't you tell? I can tell, since I'm writing this preamble a good two months before the actual anniverary~

So, last year we reviewed the absolute pile of dreck that is Heroes in Crisis. And while that was worth ripping into, I'd rather not spend the 10th anniversary hating on something. I'd like to do something actually meaningful to me. I've teased about this one for many years, probably for as long as I've been doing this blog, and I think it's time we stopped pussyfooting around and reviewed some Garfield. But not just any Garfield. It's finally time, my friends. This... is Garfield's Pet Force.

I dunno how many people will remember this one. Maybe you recall the direct-to-DVD movie adaptation from 2009, or at least advertising for it. I never saw it, but apparently it differs a bit. They also appeared a few times in those Garfield comics from back in the day. We even reviewed a couple (some were on the Xanga blog). But what we're looking at here are the original novellas published between 1997 and 1999. So yeah, these really are from my childhood. And since I've long espoused that Garfield was always funnier 20 years ago, this must be actual premium Garfield content, yeah? By golly, I hope so, because we got five whole books here today. So we should probably get into them~

Book 1: The Outrageous Origin

This is a classic sort of superhero cover. Standard team shot of poses, and that's fine for a first volume. In fact, that's great. Later editions of this would replace the lightning-filled gradient background with a pure white one, but I have this original version. We'll get to specifics about these characters in the meat of the story, but let's talk about the costumes for a bit. Very classic early-'90s sort of look, before the Dark Age kicked in. Reminds me a lot of Jim Lee's X-Men designs, actually. Making all your characters visually distinct is important in a team book. The heavy lean into secondary colours is unusual for heroic characters, but not unwelcome.

So we actually start with a cold open in the superhero universe. This is pretty much to introduce us to the characters as soon as possible, and thus I'll do the same for you here.

*Garzooka, team leader, super strong, has a razor-sharp claw, and can shoot radioactive hairballs from his mouth. That's... at least a unique power, I don't think anyone on the Justice League can do that~ *Odious, the dumb muscle with the accent on the "dumb". Possibly even stronger than Garzooka, and possessing a "super-stretchy stun tongue", an elastic tongue that can scramble the minds of whoever it adheres to. *Starlena, the team girl. She can fly, and she has a siren song that can put those who hear it into a hypnotic trance. Garzooka is the only one immune to its effects, for reasons that are never explained. *Abnermal, the kid-appeal character. He has ice powers, forcefields, and an ill-defined "pester power" that means he can annoy people on a greater scale than normal folks. It's pretty much only used for comic relief, but that could be a brilliant power in the right hands. *Compooky, the brains of the operation. Other than flight, his powers are limited to super intelligence, which means he's usually the exposition guy. There's probably a reason they left him out of the movie adaptation~

You got all that? Don't worry, we'll introduce you again later in the book. What actually happens in the intro chapter isn't really important, it's just setting up the universe. In fact, it's all taking place within Pet Force #99, a comic just enjoyed by Nermal. Yes, we quickly cut over to the main Garfield universe ("our universe", the narrator calls it), where Pet Force is just a comic book. The Garfield gang is all outside, enjoying a cookout prepared by Jon Arbuckle. Nermal is extremely enthused by his comic book, and brags about how he has all 98 previous issues sealed and polybagged, and this one will soon join them. Sorry, Nermal, this came out in 1997, the speculator boom already went bust~

Garfield dismisses comic books as stupid because you can't eat them or use them as a blanket, and declares that none of the stuff that happens in the comic could possibly happen in real life. Uh oh, irony! Because these things can happen, and do! It's a parallel universe, baby! This might be one of my earliest introductions to a "parallel worlds" concept. Much like Earths 1 and 2 in pre-Crisis DC, the events of the comic are essentially the real life adventures of their super-powered counterparts in another dimension. Most of the action in these stories will take place there~

So here's the setup: Vetvix (the parallel equivalent to Liz the veternarian) is an evil sorceress and scientist, who essentially wants to experiment on animals in peace, and possibly subjugate the universe while she's at it. You could argue that Liz is an odd choice for villain, since our universe's Liz isn't particularly evil. But then, our universe's Garfield isn't particularly heroic either. She operates out of a deadly space station called the Orbiting Clinic of Chaos, and at present she's waiting for the arrival of her henchman, Space Pie-Rat, who is a six-foot-tall anthropomorphic rat dressed in stereotypical pirate getup. Vetvix has just finished inventing a levitation ray, and she'd like Pie-Rat to go out and use it to steal all the food in the universe. Vetvix doesn't think small, is what I'm saying.

The counter to Vetvix is Emperor Jon, ruler of the planet Polyester. He's kind and benevolent, even if he's a little dippy and his fashion sense atrocious. Having gotten wind of Vetvix's latest plan, he contacts Pet Force in their ship, the Lightspeed Lasagna. Upon learning the problem, Pet Force gives chase to Pie-Rat. They eventually corner him on some desolate planet, landing and entering an abandoned factory. Unfortunately, they're not safe amongst the dangerous machinery, because this turns out to be a trap. Vetvix has been busy as hell, because she's also invented a metal that's impervious to their powers. And that's not all, because she's also basically invented the Phantom Zone, where she traps Pet Force forever. It specifically mentions it doesn’t kill them, because it wouldn't be kosher to murder the heroes in a Garfield book~

The Lightspeed Lasagna has both onboard cameras connected to the heroes' belts as well as automatic return protocols, so within two days, Emperor Jon knows exactly what's happened to Pet Force. He needs help, so he calls upon his most trusted and powerful advisor: Binky the Sorceror. Binky's just as loud and obnoxious as in the main universe, but he's also a powerful magician. He conjures up a spell for Emperor Jon that lets him pierce the veil between universes. It's basically Equestria Girls rules: parallel universes have similar characters between them. So to replace Pet Force, they need the nearest genetic equivalents from another universe. And that's the versions of Garfield, Odie, Arlene, Nermal, and Pooky that we know and love~

Back in the main universe, it's another day entirely. Another cookout is taking place, and Nermal has received his special anniversary issue of Pet Force #100. The cover's really special, dripping with '90s cover gimmicks like glow-in-the-dark and embossing. A rarely used one, though, was "portal to another universe". That was pretty expensive to print, so you won't find many comics like Nermal's. Maybe he had something there with the collecting after all. The cover glows, and while Jon is distracted by the grill, Garfield and Friends disappear~

They reappear in Emperor Jon's wood-paneled throne room, now transformed into Pet Force. Emperor Jon and Sorceror Binky try to explain the situation, but Garfield--now Garzooka--is disbelieving of the whole thing. In fact, even the idea that Jon can now hear him talk absolutely floors him. Since he's about to deliver the exposition for everyone, can we talk about Compooky for a minute? This spell has just granted sapience to Garfield's teddy bear. I don't expect deep philosophy from a children's novella, but the ramifications of this are really under-explored. Like, never mind the whole idea of a teddy bear having the same genetic makeup as an alternate universe equivalent. He goes from inanimate object to fully conscious being, and he just rolls with it.

Anyways, once everybody gets caught up on what's going on and accepts the new reality, a training montage ensues so the group can all learn to use their powers without killing each other. Once at least reasonably trained, the reborn Pet Force is sent out to stop Pie-Rat. He's gotten sloppy in the times with Pet Force dead, so they track him down easily. After a brief scuffle where Garzooka takes his eyepatch, Pie-Rat flees in his ship. They follow Pie-Rat back to the Orbital Clinic of Chaos, but they can't go in the front. That led the original Pet Force into a trap. Finding an unguarded maintenance hatch--standard on any big space station--they enter Vetvix's lair for a final confrontation!

After dealing with the Waiting Room of Doom, which slowly fills with outdated magazines, they enter Vetvix's inner sanctum. Frustrated with Pie-Rat's failure, she uses her magic to turn him into an ordinary mouse. Vetvix then attempts to use her same weapon on this new Pet Force, but thanks to story contrivance, it only works on beings born in this universe. As other dimensional visitors already, they can't be banished to another dimension. She then pulls a Dr. Claw and runs off cursing Pet Force's name while her base self-destructs. Vetvix is a very "discard and draw" sort of villain, it seems. Pet Force, of course, makes a harrowing escape just in the nick of time.

Returning to Emperor Jon, they vow to be ready to return whenever they're called on, since evil never stays dormant for long. Odious even gifts Emperor Jon with the mouse-ified Pie-Rat as proof of their victory. Well, I'm glad they remember that, so they didn't accidentally murder a major villain in their first superhero outing. They're returned to their own universe, and the time differential between them places them back with Jon having not had time to even look up from the grill. Garfield begins to doubt the adventure even happened--until that night, when he finds Pie-Rat's eyepatch still on his person. Ah, definitive proof of... eyepatches, I guess~

Book 2: Pie-Rat's Revenge!

You have to wonder where, in a space-faring superhero setting, Pie-Rat got the inspiration for his classic pirate motif. It's a little incongruous is all I'm saying. And hey, remember when I said earlier that Garzooka's purple-and-green colour scheme was odd for a hero? Well, here he is as a villain! That'll catch your eye. This would be a terrific comic cover, which is what you want in a series like this.

The book opens with a brief recap of the previous story's events, then moves into the new plot. See, Emperor Jon has opted to keep the polymorphed Pie-Rat as his pet. How very Ron Weasley of him. That's pretty apt, actually, because similarly Pie-Rat has maintained his intelligence in his new mousey form. Pie-Rat gets sick of being Emperor Jon's pet and plans a daring escape, exploiting the emperor's dimwitted and loving personality against him. Pie-Rat jams the lock with a food pellet and makes his escape that night.

Once free from his cage, he encounters Binky's cauldron, still left in the throne room from when the sorceror summoned Pet Force from Garfield's universe. Figuring he has nothing to lose, Pie-Rat jumps in the leftover brew. Suddenly he finds himself growing. He returns to his original anthropomorphic state--but with a twist. He's now twice his original height, a staggering twelve feet tall. He scoops up the rest of the remaining potion for later, and sneaks out of the palace as best as a 12-foot rat can sneak. Desiring revenge on both his former employer and his longtime foes, he steals Pet Force's ship and makes his escape from the planet, headed for Vetvix's newest base.

After his guards help Emperor Jon put the pieces of the problem together, they decide they must once again call upon the powers of Pet Force to recover their missing vehicle and stop the newly embiggened Pie-Rat. Fortunately, Garfield and friends have been watching movies all weekend, so Jon doesn't notice when his pets disappear from the living room in a bright flash. Of course, once returned to the alternate universe and the situation explained, they still have a problem: how do they give chase to Pie-Rat when he's got their ship?

And speaking of Pie-Rat in their ship, he's followed the trail of a mysterious energy output, and it's led him right to Vetvix's new base, the Menacing Moon of Mayhem. See, this is why you don't blow up your base: the backup base is never as good. if it was, it wouldn't be the backup. Given that it's such a shoddy base, Pie-Rat is easily able to get inside and get close to Vetvix. She's expecting a technological attack, so she's unprepared when he pulls out that vial of magic potion and sprinkles her with it. And naturally, the potion that made him grow 12 feet tall makes Vetvix shrink to 5 inches. It's magic, we don't have to explain it!

Pie-Rat takes the magic crystal that Vetvix uses to fuel her powers, which of course didn't shrink because magic is just bullshit. See previous paragraph's last sentence. And while Pie-Rat takes over the base and begins plotting a further revenge against Pet Force, we cut over to them. They're at Sorceror Binky's own castle, and it's clear he's a bit of a hoarder. This is to their advantage, though, as they eventually piece together a working spaceship out of old car parts and other things, all patched together between Compooky's know-how and Binky's magic. This seems like the sort of book where I could use that "it's magic" quote every other paragraph. But craft a new--if small--ship they do, and speed off in the newly christened Planetary Pizza.

The rickety little ship does eventually find its way to Pie-Rat's base, saving him the trouble of being proactive as a villain. The magic thing keeps happening, and Pie-Rat basically becomes Discord for a bit while he fights them, doing things like turning Starlena's siren song into actual living music notes. One by one, the members of Pet Force are taken out, with only Garzooka is left. He and Pie-Rat struggle, while Pie-Rat tries to aim the magic crystal at Garzooka. Garzooka uses his claw to rip the crystal from Pie-Rat and defeat him.

Unfortunately, here's where the cover comes in. It seems the moments Pie-Rat was focusing the crystal during the struggle affected Garzooka's mind. He puts the crystal around his own neck. which turns him evil. He helps Pie-Rat to his feet, and the pair escape in the Lightspeed Lasagna. While Pet Force pursues them in their ramshackle ship, the new criminal duo strikes the storage planet of Deli to steal their food. Pet Force manages to catch up as the villains celebrate their spoils, and use a magic blast from the systems Binky installed to short out the Lightspeed Lasagna. This enables them to dock with the ship and climb aboard for a contfrontation.

The group fights, and once again the bearer of a bullshit magic crystal subdues the heroes easily. Annoyed now, Garzooka takes hold of Starlena and prepares to kill her or something. She taps into the one thing she has left: she's not fighting just Garzooka, but Garfield in his body. She drops some heavy put-downs, which resonate with Garfield, and he hesitates long enough for her to cut the crystal off him. The crystal hits the floor and shatters, undoing its evil magics on Garzooka's mind as well as on all his teammates. With Pet Force reunited, Pie-Rat is easily subdued and locked up.

The group waits for the ship to power back up, then speed off to apologise to the planet Deli. Following that, they head back towards Vetvix's moonbase. That night, though, the magic that was making Pie-Rat 12 feet tall wears off, and he escapes from his cell. He steals the remaining shards of the crystal, climbs into the Planetary Pizza, and makes a getaway. As a bonus, he also repeats the power-down spell against the bigger ship, giving him ample time to escape. And he's not the only one. Over on the Menacing Moon of Mayhem, Vetvix also returns to her proper size, and abandons this base as well. And when Pet Force fails to find her, they simply return to their own universe, ready to be called on once again in the future~

Book 3: K-Niner: Dog of Doom!

Another very basic comic book-style cover. K-Niner is a much more typical villain in style. This one's actually a wrap-around, and features the rest of Pet Force reacting to K-Niner on the back cover. Which is good because, other than the first cover, the covers all have a heavy Garzooka focus. Which makes sense for a book series, I suppose, you wanna assure the kiddos that Garfield's gonna be in the book. But as a comic book series, this would be a bad look for a team book~

So after our standard introduction and recap, we start off with Vetvix in yet another new base, the Floating Fortress of Fear. I'm sure it's very intimidating, if she can keep hold of it for more than a single book. She's picking up from the epilogue and putting the last touches on K-Niner, mostly enhancing his intelligence. Now, you look at the cover and tell me what kind of voice you'd expect. Some sort of German or Austrian accent, like the doberman on Road Rovers? Does anyone remember Road Rovers~? Anyways, but no: he speaks with a posh British accent. You know, the "I say, good chaps, looks like we're in a bit of a sticky wicket, eh wot?" type. Trust me, you can tell. But just because he sounds refined doesn't mean he's not evil.

I also love that after the initial "trapped them in the Phantom Zone" bit, the villains just go whole ham. K-Niner here demonstrates that he is indeed evil by threatening to rip out Vetvix's throat. Let your villains be villainous is all I'm saying. She's pleased he's so vicious, but feels he needs to learn his place as well. She force-chokes him until he complies. She then gives him his assignment: she thinks dogs should be liberated. The Boy Mayor of Second Life would approve, and so does K-Niner. Turning pets on their masters is just his style.

K-Niner takes a portable evolution gun, and immediately sets off. He begins on the planet Kennel. Isn't it neat how every planet is named after an English word that describes its function? K-Niner quickly takes over the dog population and turns them against their masters, because boosting their intelligence also makes them evil, of course. They use enslavement collars on their former owners, and within a few days, the dogs now run the planet. We cut over to Emperor Jon on Polyester, where a man has crash-landed a ship. He's an escapee from Kennel, and he's here to report the events so we can get the plot moving and once more summon Pet Force!

And summoned once more they are, Garfield and Friends once more conveniently disappearing in a split second while Jon's back is turned (this time they're outside playing volleyball). And once back in the parallel universe, Emperor Jon fills them all in on K-Niner's dastardly doings. Garzooka, naturally, takes great offense to dogs being in charge, and takes his duties as a hero completely seriously for once. Pet Force takes off for a confrontation with K-Niner in the Lightspeed Lasagna. And speaking of Pet Force's ships...

The Planetary Pizza, piloted by Pie-Rat, plants its pads down on polar planet Glacia. Pie-Rat is here seeking a way to restore his magic crystal and regain his mighty magic powers. He's sought out the home of a legendary evil wizard, who's known by the name of... Barfo. I see why Barfo keeps his location a secret. But anyway, Barfo is the one who made the crystal, so naturally Pie-Rat reasons he can restore it as well. Suprisingly once on Glacia, Barfo's evil lair is pretty easy to find. His manservant, Hobart the Gnome, brings Pie-Rat before the wizard, and within moments the crystal is restored! Pie-Rat turns to thank Hobart, but Hobart suddenly turns into Vetvix!

Yes, Vetvix knew all along that Pie-Rat's quest would lead him here. And as she was once Barfo's student in the ways of evil magic, she knew she could get the old coot to go along with her plan. Barfo returns the crystal to Vetvix, restoring her powers. And so Pie-Rat, a recurring villain in three whole books, is unceremoniously done away with, as Vetvix teleports him inside an asteroid, trapping him in solid rock. Even if the asteroid were hollow or he displaced the interior when he teleported in, no doubt he'll suffocate within moments. That's pretty harsh.

With that over, we rejoin Pet Force as they approach Kennel. K-Niner's battle cruiser spots them incoming, and shoots the ship down, even in spite of Abnermal's forcefields. Pet Force bail out of the ship, and Abnermal uses his powers to make snow to cushion their fall. Upon landing, a contingent of mutant animals attack. The mooks aren't much, but K-Niner himself puts up an impressive fight. However, one of the mooks pulls a gun and points it at Compooky. This is why Compooky usually stays aboard the ship, but that wasn't an option. Rather than let their friend get hurt, Pet Force surrenders.

Pet Force is held prisoner separately from Compooky, with both the cell's technology making it freeze-proof and threats of "don't break out, or we'll shoot your compatriot". Their imprisonment is not long, though, as suddenly the power goes out. Pet Force takes advantage of the situation and make their escape, quickly running into Compooky. K-Niner didn't think the hyper-intelligent teddy bear needed a high security cell, and just locked him in the basement. It was easy for him to then break out and shut down the local power grid. This also has the side effect of turning off the control collars the humans were wearing. How convenient!

With control of the planet now tilted in their favour, Pet Force now has time to both fix their ship and reverse the polarity of the brain-boosting weapons, turning the dog population of Kennel back to their normal selves. Though the experience did change the pet owners of Kennel. Having experienced life in their pets' shoes (so to speak) for a bit, they've resolved to treat their canine companions a bit more equally. More being allowed on the furniture, less stupid tricks for treats. Still, Pet Force can't stay long, and they head off in pursuit of K-Niner's battle cruiser. This is why most superheroes don't have spaceships (Jedis don't count): if your enemy also has one, they can flee way more easily than on foot.

Not willing to let another place go to the dogs, as it were, Pet Force catches up with K-Niner. With his previous success, Vetvix has stepped up the timetable and sent him after Polyester right away. Emperor Jon is in danger! They enter the planet's atmosphere, and are attacked by fighter craft. They fend them off, but their weapons system is damaged in the fight, so they can't simply use the reverse brain-rays and solve it quickly. The team splits up instead: Garzooka and Abnermal will go after K-Niner, while the other three will find the planet's power source and knock out the collars, since that worked so well the last time.

The two heroes quickly make short work of K-Niner's guards, and then turn the battle to deal with the Dog of Doom himself. While the struggle goes on, the rest of Pet Force reach the planet's power grid. Using a clever tactic, Compooky overloads the power and causes and electrical storm that simultaneously undoes the brain-boosting effect and shorts out the enslavement collars. There's only a few pages left, after all, and we have to wrap this up. K-Niner is reverted back into an ordinary dog, and the emperor is reverted to an ordinary non-enslaved person. The day is saved!

And now once again, Pet Force prepares to return to their own universe. However... when the spell clears, the five heroes are still standing there. Something is blocking the passage between dimensions, and Pet Force is trapped. And while Pet Force's adventures have taken place between mere moments in their own universe, they have always returned quickly enough that Jon didn't notice a thing. But this time, as Jon retrieves the volleyball and turns around to his pets, he's surprised to find they've all vanished into thin air...

Book 4: Menace of the Mutanator

This one's very striking because of its more painted look compared to the heavy black outlines the rest of the covers have. Does this one count as having the whole team on the cover? Because, spoilers, that's what the Mutanator is: the rest of Pet Force mashed up into a villain. Again, though, that's definitely a striking image that'd draw in readers to a comic cover. In fact, while Garzooka may be over-used as a cover focus, several of these also show him imperiled in some way, and that's nice for character stuff. That helps balace it a bit~

I wanna say, before we start, that I'm impressed by the continuity for the series as a whole. They could've just written each story as a standalone, but for a series of 100-page children's novellas starring Garfield characters as superheroes, things happen in these books. Like, maybe not sweeping status quo changes, but events affect the plot of each next book down the line. And that's where we pick up! Right where the last book left off, with Pet Force now stuck in the alternate universe, unable to return home to Jon. But if they can't go home to Jon, well, maybe then events will conspire to bring Jon to them~

Yep, because Jon happens to wander into the room where they keep the copy of Pet Force #100 that acts as a portal to their universe, he gets transported into the Pet Force universe. And since Emperor Jon is still an extant entity, there's just two Jons now. Jon, of course, is a bit freaked out, and it takes several pages to explain the whole deal to him, and also have a showcase of all their powers to pad out the book some more. Eventually, they decide to call in Sorceror Binky to examine the problem. When he has a go of it, a sudden tornado emerges from the cauldron and whisks away Pet Force--save for Garzooka, whose prodigious strength keeps him anchored.

Garzooka heads out in the Lightspeed Lasagna to track Pet Force's signature, glad to get away from a double trouble Jon. And while he's searching, the scene cuts to Vetvix's Floating Fortress of Fear. Hey, one of her bases actually lasted more than one book! This is where Pet Force has been transported to, once more in a power-proof cell. Vetvix monologues to the heroes, as she is wont to do, explaining that she's the one who cast the spell to keep them from returning home. And further, she's brought them here to mutate them into her servants.

While Emperor Jon exposits about his backstory (turns out he is not of royal blood, and has about as much legitimate claim to the throne as you or I do), the search continues. Sorceror Binky detects Pet Force, giving them all a view of what happens next. The trapped members of Pet Force are literally broken apart and reassembled: Odious' body, Compooky's brain inserted into the chest, Abnermal's hands, and Starlena's head. She christens this beast "Mutanator", and it is soullessly obedient. I also wanna say, Mutanator's kind of a non-binary icon, aren't they? (The comic uses "it", but it was 1998 and alternative pronouns weren't really a thing yet.) Muscular, masculine body, but confident enough to still wear lipstick. It's a look, is all I'm saying~

Mutanator continues to possess the combined powers of Pet Force as well. Vetvix sends them to attack the planet Armory to gear up before attempting to conquer Polyester. And meanwhile, thanks to the convenience of being able to scan all of Compooky's memories now that his brain is part of Mutanator, Vetvix has the perfect trap to spring on Garzooka--or should she say Garfield. Yes, she really knows the whole origin for Pet Force now, and now she knows all Garfield's weaknesses, likes and dislikes, and probably blood type and other dating profile stats~

Thus, when Garzooka receives the coordinates from Emperor Jon and arrives at the Floating Fortress, he finds himself menaced by giant spiders. Vetvix couldn't think of a way to get Mondays to attack him, so the Giant Spider Invasion will do. Spiders are apparently very formiddable foes, Garzooka's personal fears aside. They can swat gamma hairballs out of the air, they can construct webs as quickly as certain Marvel heroes, and their hairy exoskeletons are resistant to both claw and strength. But despite his fear and Abnermal's running commentary, Garzooka manages to trounce the spiders with a carefully applied flame--taking Vetvix's blueprints with them.

Garzooka heads out once again to track down the Mutanator, leaving his less-than-all-together friends in the safety of their forcefield prison. While he's off, we return to the perspective of his target. Using their combined powers, the Mutanator swiftly conquers the planet Armory and sets their sights on Polyester next. It's not a bad plan, honestly. With the stockpile from Armory, not only will the Mutanator be more powerful, Polyester won't be able to use the planet for backup. Fortunately for the two Jons, though, Garzooka intercepts the Mutanator before they can leave Armory.

The fight's actually pretty good. Very back and forth. But even despite Garzooka's great strength, the Mutanator wins in the end. Thankfully, Vetvix puts her conquest of Polyester on hold to take the time to retrieve Garzooka and add his power to the Mutanator. This, of course will be her undoing--in a completely ridiculous way, of course. For back in the palace, our universe's Jon is watching Pet Force's struggles with the scrying cauldron. And he leans in a bit too close. Sowhile Vetvix is prepping the machine to divide Garzooka's body like she did the rest of Pet Force, Jon suddenly tumbles through the dimensional warp caused by the cauldron and lands on Vetvix, which causes her to put the machine in reverse. A real Jonnus ex cauldrona there, eh?

The Mutanator disappears, their existance as a unique being wiped out as their pieces return to their proper Pet Force owners. With Pet Force reassembled, Garzooka takes out Vetvix with one of his gamma-radiated hairballs while she's distracted by Jon. Pet Force decides that the vile veternarian should have a taste of her own medicine, and stick her in the body-splicing machine with some of her guards. This divides them all up and mixes them into bizarre combinations. It also has the side effect of disabling Vetvix's magic, so they can return to their own universe now.

The book wraps up here. Pet Force first returns to Armory to both return the stolen weapons and also make repairs on the buildings that were damaged in Garzooka's fight with the Mutanator. That's the sort of thing I'd like to see in more superhero stories in general. The two Jons part ways, with the Emperor believing the other Jon's heroism to have been deliberate. And thus are Garfield and friends returned home. And just like the end of their first adventure, where Garfield couldn't be sure if it really happened, so too is Jon's memory fading. Had he really witnessed all that? Only his pets know for sure--and in this universe, they can't talk~

Book 5: Attack of the Lethal Lizards

This one's another wrap-around, showing the rest of Pet Force engaging the remaining Lethal Lizards on the back cover. This is one advantage books have over comics: a front and back cover you can use for your story-telling. The Lizard designs are pretty good for a villain group too. Like Pet Force, they don't adhere to a particular theme, but they do look good individually. Garzooka roasting a hot dog on a stick might be a bit too comedic for a superhero story, though. It sets the tone wrong. How "lethal" can they possibly be if Garzooka is out here roasting hot dogs in the middle of battle?

So here we go, last book. After the usual recap, we open with Jon explaining to Garfield and friends his latest plans: they're going to WackyWorld, a theme park dedicated to Jon's favourite cartoon, The Wackies. Both Garfield and Nermal think the show is lame, and if those two agree on something, you know it must be so. In less lame universes, however, trouble is once more a-brewing. So it turns out Vetvix's Floating Fortress of Fear has been orbiting the swamp planet Reptilius this whole time. And her various experiments in the last two books have been radiating the planet in magical energy...

From that magical power, three reptiles find themselves uplifted in intelligence and granted fantastic powers. Please say hello to our three main villains for this book: Snake, an enormous snake (the only one without an anthro design) with stretching powers; Chameleon, who can shapeshift; and Dragon, a komodo dragon with fire breath and the bad attitude to match. While Snake and Chameleon figure out their powers, Dragon declares himself the leader as he's clearly the smartest, strongest, and most powerful. They name themselves the Lethal Lizards and start plotting how to rule the planet.

After that exciting intro, though, the book kind of slows down. First we get a whole chapter of Emperor Jon also deciding to go on vacation, to planet Funlandia. With Vetvix out of commission for a while, there's no better time. In short, he's out of the castle and Sorceror Binky is in charge. This is followed by a chapter of Jon and his pets at WackyWorld. It's certainly an accommodating amusement park to allow pets on its grounds. Garfield at least gets along with the food, but if you know anything about amusement park food prices, the amount Garfield eats will make your wallet weep. Jon takes his mind off it by dragging the pets along to a ride. Surely they have to be under the height restriction~

Fortunately, we get back to the actual stars of this book, and we see a bit more of their dynamic. Snake is the sort who sucks up to whoever's calling themselves "Boss" at the moment. Dragon is power-hungry, and it's clear he'll sell out his allies at the drop of a hat. Chameleon is Starscream. Anyway, they trek through the jungles of Reptilius until they find a downed spaceship. Reviewing the logs reveals it was a scout ship from Vetvix, and they also learn of Vetvix and her mission. However, they don't know where Emperor Jon lives, so they crowd into the the newly christened Rapacious Reptile and set course for the stars.

The first planet they come across is a world called Klod. Quickly the Lethal Lizards beat up the populace and find the local government. Chameleon shapeshifts into a dignitary, pretending to be an advance entourage for Emperor Jon, schmoozing with the governor until he learns both what Jon looks like and the name of his planet. With this information secure, Chameleon nips out suddenly, and the trio sets forth towards Polyester. Governer Klutz calls up the palace as soon as the reptiles depart, and reports the incident to Sorceror Binky.

Binky wastes no time, and he dials up Pet Force. Since all five are in one place, he's able to pull them through even without them being near the gateway through issue #100's cover. Convenient! Pet Force, however, does waste time, as a lengthy comedy scene eats up several pages before we just get on with it. Eventually, the situation is conveyed, and they figure it's safer to keep Emperor Jon on Funlandia for the time being. Compooky stays behind to help plan some strategies, while the rest of Pet Force boards the Lightspeed Lasagna to intercept the Lethal Lizards before they even arrive.

Pet Force spends the next few minutes both scanning for incoming ships and bickering with each other, so I'm very glad when the Rapacious Reptile appears on their detectors before too long. Dragon threatens the ship, telling them to move or he'll knock them aside. It's a spaceship, dude, you can move in three dimensions. The ships trade shots, and while Chameleon's piloting is actually pretty good due to his independently-rotating eyeballs, eventually both ships crash land on whatever planet is nearby.

Both ships crash right next to each other, which is improbable but less ridiculous than some of the contrivances in these books, so I'm okay with it. Now you'd think what with the enemies being reptiles and Abnermal having freezing powers that this battle would be over really easily, but no. In fact, Garzooka and Dragon are pretty evenly matched. Snake turns out to be immune to Starlena's siren song because snakes don't have external ears. See, now there's a contrivance I find a bit weird. Snake swallows Abnermal whole, and Chameleon and Odious get literally tongue-tied. The Lethal Lizards actually live up to their name pretty well.

As the fight continues, half of both sides are laid out when Compooky comes rushing up, saying he has an urgent message from the emperor. And that's when he sucker-punches the team. It was actually Chameleon in disguise, having gotten knocked away when he and Odious separated. So yeah, round one goes to the Lizards, and they make their escape first. Pet Force regroups, and they give chase. The Lizards have enough head start to really lay siege to Polyester before Pet Force arrives, though. They even get access to the palace using Chameleon's shapeshifting, leading to Sorceror Binky letting slip the real location of the emperor just as Pet Force arrives.

Another fight ensues--see, now it's really a superhero story--and the Lizards leave again 2 and 0. This time Snake uses his venomous fangs to attack Starlena. This leads to the weirdest contrivance yet. Maybe not the worst, but definitely the weirdest. They have only minutes to save Starlena. So how do they do it? Well, they notice that Odious drools quite a lot. It's very "fluid output". So they have Binky magically reverse Odious' drooling, so that he has "fluid input" on his tongue instead. It becomes a big suction sponge and sucks the poison out of Starlena. They then restore the drooling, and he just harmlessly drools out the poison. What.

With their teammate saved, Pet Force pursues the Lethal Lizards to Funlandia. They get there just in time to rescue Emperor Jon from their clutches, with Garzooka and Odious combining their strength to literally rip a kiddie ride out of the ground. Starlena corners Chameleon in a hall of mirrors, turning his own trick against him. Snake is undone by Odious' strength. And Garzooka fights Dragon to a standstill, finally trapping all three on a roller coaster still operating. When the ride comes to an end, Abnermal freezes them all until the authorities can retrieve them.

Naturally, Emperor Jon thinks it's all part of the show (because Jon is dimwitted in any universe). The Lizards are sent to a lizard-proof prison (seriously, it specifies this), and Pet Force returns to their own universe. As usual, Jon didn't notice his pets go missing during the dark amusement park ride. The book concludes on an ominous note, however, as the ship carrying the Lethal Lizards makes its jump to lightspeed just as it passes the Floating Fortress of Fear. The shockwave knocks over some debris that reactivates the combining machine, restoring Vetvix to her full evil might once more!

The end!

No, really. Those five books are all there was. I hear it may have continued into the comics, but I don’t know how accurate that is. I didn’t really look into it.

But boy, what a ride, huh? Let’s dissect the books one at a time, since it only seems fair to take them as individual stories.

The Outrageous Origin: It’s a fairly basic origin story, I’d say. It kind of has to be. I guess my main gripe is that, like Rita Repulsa’s entire run on Power Rangers, the heroes never fight the main villain directly. In fact, there’s barely even an evil plot in this one. You have henchmen and some traps, and that’s about it for the menace.

Pie-Rat’s Revenge: A cautionary tale about why you treat your minions with respect. This one’s pretty good, but the events depicted on the cover make up such a small part of the book. Wouldn’t it have been more fun if Garzooka was turned at the beginning of the story? Book 4 would at least do the reverse of that, so it’s not a major complaint~

K-Niner, Dog of Doom: I think this one’s about as middle of the road as you can get. What a coincidence that it’s also the middle of the series! Like I said in the recap portion, it’s a shame that Pie-Rat’s story ended here. This one definitely feels more “villain of the week” than most.

Menace of the Mutanator: This one might be the best book in the series. Garzooka, alone, battling against the best parts of his team? That’s gripping stuff. I guess the main problem is that the Mutanator isn’t really a character in and of themselves. Like, K-Niner, he may have been a generic rent-a-villain type, but he had a personality. Mutanator is little more than an extention of Vetvix’s will.

Attack of the Lethal Lizards: I’m a bit split on this one. The bits with the titular Lizards are great. They steal the show! But the parts where it focuses on either Jon kind of drag, and Pet Force is a bit too jokey here. Like, I get the point is that they’ve relaxed into their roles now, and there’s not much point of doing it as a Garfield story if they don’t actually use the character personalities, but... I dunno. It’s good, but it could have been better~

And that’s it! Like, I dunno how to wrap this up. Pet Force was neither my first exposure to superheroes nor my first introduction to the Garfield brand (you can thank Saturday morning cartoons for both of those). But for some reason, maybe just the absurdly goofy premise, it always kinda stuck with me. And I think that’s a good enough reason to make it my 10th anniversary review, don’t you~?

#books #reviews #Garfield #Pet Force #Garfield's Pet Force #Taiblog

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howlingmoonrise · 4 years ago

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Thoughts on Petshop of Horrors: Wandering Ark volume 3

(crossposted from dreamwidth)

me realizing a whole-ass 25 pages of the last volume of the papa series are just sensei's travel logs:

what did i do to deserve this, honestly? sensei i love you and all but THERE WERE SO MANY OTHER THINGS TO COVER ABOUT PAPA. AND YOU DIDN'T TOUCH THEM. AT ALL.

To start with, there's only two actual chapters in the volume, keeping in line with the previous volumes. A whooping total of 103 pages out of a 128 page manga - except, a good portion of one of them is pretty much just rehashing the events of the last volume of the original manga, so it's not exactly like they're overflowing with juicy new content. Vesca and Victor fans will be pleased at a new glimpse of them both though, with emphasis on Vesca.

Oh, you wanted an explanation for the ark? For why Papa was going around supposedly through "space and time", with a reason other than "well, I wanted to draw stuff from other eras but I don't want to write a whole new manga with a D from back then"? There's none. N-O-N-E. Zilch. Zip. Nada. Niente. Nothing about his relationship with Sofu (though they do briefly meet on Victor's funeral - and wow, am I surprised Sofu deigned to show considering how much he loves humankind), nothing about D or Papa's relationship with him beyond an outsider's point of view on the events of the last manga, nothing about the D species in general or glimpses at previous Ds that were likely alive before our D came into being.

Another bad point: what the hell was up with the cover art?

The top portion of it is fine, but why does the rest of it look like whoever painted it forgot how to shade things? Look at that belt. Look at those sleeves. That's all I have to say on this subject.

On to the chapters themselves!

First chapter:

Papa D helps with The Bachelor. No, really. It's literally a Bachelor-style show, recorded for TV, with one single man and twenty ladies competing to become his wife. Trigger warning for almost-rape in this chapter.

I'll be honest, I liked the main character for this chapter. She's a go-getter, and a survivalist, and prefers stuffing her face with food instead of flirting away the night. Honestly? Mood. I really liked the butler too. I was going on a "oh, is he going to be the actual love interest?" line of thought since he looked interesting, and then went "nah, they're not focusing on him at all beyond that one (1) scene where they were dancing, guess he's just a side character after all", only for him to actually turn out to be the final love interest. That was. Hm. To say that it was majorly underdeveloped is to put it lightly, but the "prince" wasn't great either. The attempted rape felt as if it was shoved in because they were running out of pages though, since the rest of what we saw from his personality seemed a lot mellower than that.

The ?prostitutes? were an unexpected bright spot, even though they only showed up for a couple of panels, but it was nice that they gave her food (however dismissively) and tried to get the other guy to leave her alone, and that they were simply described as "beautiful" instead of anything else.

OH BUT. Papa hitting the would-be rapist over the head with an oar was great, it actually gave a bit more dimension to him since the Ds are usually so unwilling to dirty their own hands when it comes to violent business: at most they would usually let their pets do the work for them.

Which actually brings me to another question.

I've already said before that Papa is at most a side character on his own series, and that he actually barely gets involved at all apart from a few nudges here and there - but it's kind of jarring that he almost never "sells" a pet in this series. On all volumes including this one, there are only two chapters where he gives away a pet that was already with him and that didn't initially belong to someone else that he was just returning: the dogs from the Austria chapter, and the bird from Empress one (who was actually said to be given by Sofu, but I'm calling bullshit since he had long hair and this is supposedly a time-travelling ark). It's definitely a weird choice for a manga whose title is, quite literally, "Petshop of Horrors".

Also, for a FLYING ark there sure seem to be a lot of water-related incidents.

Thoughts on the family thing down on the general thoughts section. Also, WHY IS IT AN OAR AGAIN? WHERE DID THE BUTLER FIND AN OAR, SINCE IT SEEMED LIKE IT WASN'T PAPA LENDING IT TO HIM? I can't say the penguin thing was a huge twist considering previous chapters, but it makes me wonder that so many of Papa's stories are directly about either humans or animals, but rarely the conjunction of both apart from brief exceptions.

Second chapter: Nice callback to the original PSoH on the first page: I'm extremely fond of that description of the Ds, and it's fitting for a final chapter of a PSoH series.

This chapter is a cameo for Victor (from the Sofu series which I haven't read yet but know some things about), and a full appearance for Vesca. Victor seems to have chosen the same path as Leon, though arguably he'd actually have the money for it since he's a baron. Travelling the world following rumours and sightings, in search of someone they considered to be dear to them? Sign all three of these blonds up, because it seems to be a tradition at this point. The Ds really have a type, huh? Truth be told, from what I heard of Victor I didn't think he'd be the adventure-seeking sort, so this was a bit of a surprise. He looks cute and happy piloting planes and running from rhinos so I guess that's all that matters though.

BUT WHY DID HE HAVE TO DIE POOR. He looks like a huge cinnamon roll so I feel super bad for him, I bet they all resented the money he spent trying to chase Sofu D across the globe once the Great Depression hit :/

And then, bam! Sofu cameo. This is the chapter where EVERYONE gets a cameo, copy-paste of the last chapter of OG PSoH or otherwise. He's cryptic as usual, and I REALLY didn't expect him to remember Victor's name, much less show up to his funeral. Not that he even looks like he's grieving; he pretty much only speaks of Hitler and Eva Braun's kirin, to Papa's seemingly frowning disapproval (I haven't complained about the round art style on this volume's commentary yet so consider this to be it: the only reason why Papa even looks put out is because he has a Very Clear Frowny Line, because otherwise he just looks normal... and round).

And then finally, some actual Papa content! Or, er, Vesca content. Both. Let's go with both. I don't want to make myself sad thinking about how little we saw of Papa on his own series. Here we see once again mentions of extinction and of resurrecting species, and finally a throwback to why the ark is an ark: "Noah's Ark". It took me RNS' translations of OG PSoH to understand the reference back on the original, because on Tokyopop's mangled translation the ark is merely a flying boat.

It's nice to see that Vesca has a strong sense of justice similar to my dear boy Leon Orcot, since it was a bit iffy on the original manga. He's righteous (and right!) about the other Professor using Papa's research, and how Papa should have the benefits of it for himself since he was the one doing the studies. Papa, however, cares little about money or glory: even now his focus is on recovering the blind bird species from their trip to Greece (see: Shin PSoH), and here we see once again his hopeful view that one day he may be able to help them see again. Parallel to his own family much? Honestly, I feel for him.

WHAT IS IT WITH PEOPLE SHOOTING PAPA? At this point he's trying to reach for Leon's record - and failing, because Leon gets shot and mauled a frankly unholy amount of times during the original PSoH, so no one else can ever really compare. What really breaks my heart here is that he actually asks why. Sofu and D would both have simply taken it for granted, but Papa (seemingly, up until this point) doesn't automatically assume the worst of every human being he comes across. That pained why kills me a little bit, here, and soon after he grows cold and allows the more murderous side of that contract to go loose.

That page with Vesca going into the FBI really throws me back to the panels on the original PSoH right before/right when Leon decides to chase after D. Part of the background is blank, the other part a faint image of the city and Chinatown, with a sense of detachment associated with them. I could probably take the time to place them side by side and compare fully, but uh. I may or may not be stretching my workday bedtime a little too much to finish writing this, oops.

Also, an echo to the original PSoH with Papa's death, called back with him nearly being shot in the middle of the forehead. The actual event is brought in shortly after Vesca gets to mind-rant about the Ds and his search for a few pages, and then flashback flashforward time! A whole six pages which are just portions of OG PSoH's last chapter redrawn from another angle. It's implied that Vesca was able to board the ark like Leon did due to a similar scene with lying in the clouds and sighting the ship amidst them, though whether he was able to stay or not is a whole new story. This is where the actual story ends.

Sensei's travel logs: I'm not going to bother going into these. It was nice to see some glimpses of my son (forever a Leon stan here!) and a cameo for Taizuu also showed up a little later on if you're one of the people who liked him (personally, I would trade Taizuu in for a cornchip and a ball of lint). I'm going to make the executive choice of pretending that the D/Leon bits are what's actually happening right now after Leon caught up to D. It's lovely to see them on vacations, and Leon has mellowed out a little bit while D seems extremely comfortable and content with his favourite ex-detective's presence =v=

General thoughts: All the series so far seem to have some sort of theme, which kind of ties into the main character of it and their own arc. The original PSoH, for one, was focused a lot on family and greed and love and desire: our D, similarly, had plenty of unresolved issues surrounding his bloodline and things that he wanted but that he couldn't/was not allowed to have because of that very blood.

You'll have to forgive me if my interpretation of Shin is spotty since I only read around half of it (online scans only went up to volume 6 or so, physical versions of the Tokyopop translations were discontinued, and ruthlessnightsscans started scanlating it after I’d already read the available chapters for Shin), but from what I remember of it it seemed to bring in softer, more loving and lighthearted stories, usually tied around romance and being kept apart from things they want/love. The two non-Leon chapters that immediately spring to mind are the Romeo and Juliet Mafia AU, and the one where the lady got pregnant from her dead husband and was able to live on due to that renewed hope. D himself seems to have turned a new page: he hangs around humans on his leisure time (bless those drag queens), takes a vested interest in happy endings for others even if not for himself, and seems overall less inclined towards gruesome murder.

(You'll have to forgive me, but I actually haven't read the Sofu series at all yet so I can't analyse that one. I wasn't even aware RNS had scanlated it until recently, but then again I hold a lot of rage against that slimy bastard (Sofu, not RNS, RNS are baby) and so I'm putting it off indefinitely. Oops?)

And then there's this one. It's probably no coincidence that so many of the stories are about reproduction and birth and continuing a dying species: this is something that chases Papa all the way from his college days not even considering his childhood, which we don't actually don't know about but can make an educated guess at down to his issues with his son and the faint madness of his last years. Even his death plays into this theme, with it ultimately working as an way to keep the D line alive. It makes me think that Papa being kept from his position as a main character in his own series might actually be somewhat purposeful, though the decaying quality of the latest PSoH mangas makes me think this is not the case. I'll have to read the Sofu series to make a better judgement on this, depending on whether or not Sofu is or is not treated similarly.

Another theme: being haunted by the dead. I think this is actually present on almost every chapter of the Wandering Ark series, though we may disagree on the levels on which it was shown and how easily it is or is not divorced by my previous point. A reader that reads this series on its own will likely find Papa a very bland character and will not grasp onto the nuances of these themes and how they are connected to him, IMO. These conclusions and these hypothesis are drawn by virtue of the first manga alone; it's because of it that we're aware of how Papa himself lives for the species who are long gone, his own kind included. Most of the characters on Wandering Ark push through the suffering and the sorrow of their dead to go beyond their limits and become greater and independent, which is another parallel to Papa since he's the only one of the Ds who has an objective beyond simple (and inefficient) vengeance.

Overall, there's little else I can say that I haven't said already, either here or on my previous post for the first two volumes of the Wandering Ark series. There's a real sense of isolation and detachment on Papa's side (though he seems more benevolent than the other two Ds were), but as I said I'm not sure if it's meant to be purposeful or not, though Sensei's choice to not give him an actual companion thorough his series is also telling. The pacing was also better than in the first chapters of this series, though there was that issue with the ending of the first chapter of this volume. I also still can't say this enough, but it's really strange that Papa is such a side character on his own series??

Final thoughts: we were robbed.

At least Sensei hinted that her journey with the Ds might not be over yet, though if we get another Sofu manga I can and I will riot.

#petshop of horrors #pet shop of horrors #papa d #wandering ark #drifting ark #hyouhaku no hakobune hen #petshop of horrors hyouhaku #psoh wandering ark #psoh #howl rambles a lot

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thedaveandkimmershow · 4 years ago

Photo

That’s a solar usb charger up above, by the way, complete with tiny solar panels and an Oatmeal Bear.

Okay, so...

YESTERDAY EVENING

We’re driving down to Wilsonville, Oregon, from Tualatin. Basically two cities we never heard of before. Like, ever.

We’ve also got the possibility of turning the Rialta around and returning home post haste hanging over us. Ugh.

But whilst we’re tooling alternative roads ‘cause I-5′s a parking lot, Kimmer has a AHA! moment. You see, she’s been googling some of the symptoms we noticed about the Rialta’s performance so far on this trip. She’s researching all the red flags that are causing serious doubt. And the thought that’s come to her out of the blue is this:

Moisture in the gas tank. The symptoms of which include the “hiccups” I experienced our first night. Of course the more exact terminology is “misfires”.

Check, by the way.

Also among the symptoms, an engine that runs rough... sometimes. Check!

Sometimes it’s difficult to start first thing of the day. Check!

And then this: such moisture collected in the fuel tank can be the result of a vehicle parked and unused for long stretches of time. For the Rialta, that would be something on the order of a year and a half. So yeah.

Check!

So now we have a working theory without even reaching the GoodWill Superstore in Wilsonville. Kimmer then gets our mechanic on the phone who confirms she’s got a pretty solid theory that fits the facts so far. He tells her to hit one of the local automotive stores and pick up a bottle (or two) of fuel dryer, an additive that dilutes the effects of moisture in the gas tank. “Dries” it up in its own way. And after pouring it into the gas tank, we'dchase it down with premium gas all the way to the top.

Yessss.

Now... we had a plan.

TODAY

The new plan gave us enough confidence to continue south. Our focus now is whether to do I-5 through the Siskiyous or follow our original plan down the northern California coast.

Aside from that, we’ve got some errands to run here in town. The fuel dyer and premium gas thing, of course. A touch of grocery shopping at Whole Foods. Some ice to refill. The local US Bank branch because one of our credit cards has a chip that’s frizzing out. Also, I’m still on the lookout for a power pack with A/C outlet.

It’s a slow start to our day, but we’ve got time to relax through this a bit.

2PM

In Salem, the massively packed encampments crammed underneath I-5 are called by the Oregon Department of Transportation “Heavy Pedestrian Activity”.

One more time:

Heavy.

Pedestrian.

Activity.

So I learned that today.

3PM

We are totally and comfortably cruising south of Salem under the closest thing we’ve yet experience this year to a summer sun, classic rock rockin’ the Rialta’s sound system.

We are so doing well!

630PM

After a brief stop in Roseburg, Oregon for Dollar Tree supplies, we settled on our route into California: I-5 through the Siskiyous. Now the last time we traveled there was through a snow storm. But I just had a look at the DOT cams and it’s all sunshine and dry roads.

We will, though, have to finish all the fruit we’ve got on board before we get to the check point coming out of the mountains on the other side of the border where they ask whether you’re carrying certain fruits on board.

Hand to God, they actually do this.

Also, Kimmer’s gonna check out the recommendations for staying overnight at that first most northern rest area along that beautiful river and all those trees.

7PM

After a little more thinking about it, we decide to do the Siskiyous tomorrow, settling on that rest area before Ashland as our overnight stopping place.

8PM

We are now officially stranded in Medford, Oregon on the Garden Center side of the Fred Meyer here.

What’s happened is that when we pulled into the Fred Meyer gas station Kimmer noticed the smell of burnt rubber near the rear tires. She immediately got on the phone with her cousin, Derek, who told her to stay put and get help right here in Medford.

So we got on our phones looking for a place to stay or boondock and, since every room in Medford was booked for the night, we determined to boondock at the WalMart Superstore about a mile further down the road.

When I started to drive again, though, there were sounds.

Not good sounds.

Coming from the back of the Rialta.

And that was all she wrote for driving today. Something about the tires. Maybe something about the brakes. Definitely one of the hubcaps appears eaten away around the edges where it hadn’t before. And then those not good sounds. And the feeling of pushing against some kind of weight. Or pulling one.

In conjunction with the sounds... that was straight up it.

So I pull, painfully, into the nearest parking spot, Kimmer gives Fred Meyer’s customer service a head’s up about being stranded the night in their parking lot, and then we plead our case to AAA of Washington over the phone to upgrade our insurance immediately to include towing an RV.

That’s gonna be first thing tomorrow morning, though. Sunday morning. A time when automotive businesses all across the area seem not to be open.

In the meantime, our plans are blown to bits. Big time. No idea what’s gonna happen, what can happen, unless and until we do the first thing first tomorrow morning which is talking to a Firestone rep at 8AM about seeing if they can possibly help us with what’s happened.

For now, we’re settled on the couches, at the table, in back of the Rialta. We’ve got Phineas & Ferb streaming on Disney+ whilst I write and Kimmer sketches.

Call it some very necessary decompression after a tough few hours.

After that, sleep’ll come super easy. As we leave tomorrow...

To tomorrow.

#Rialta #California road trip #Wilsonville #Tualatin #Oregon #moisture in gas tank #fuel dryer #working theory #Siskiyous #Salem #heavy pedestrian activity #Roseburg #stranded #Medford #boondocking #burnt rubber smell #AAA Washington #AAA Oregon #decompressing

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thanksjro · 5 years ago

Text

More Than Meets the Eye #7- Just in Case You Forgot Decepticons Were a Thing

While the Lost Light gets all of Rung’s appointments in order, our narrative is going to take a little shift, so we can get to know some pretty neat dudes.

And by “neat dudes” I mean completely morally and ethically reprehensible bastards.

But first, here’s a brief history of the Phase-Sixer known as Black Shadow.

Very limber, Mr. Shadow. Also, note the abstract sort of Decepticon insignia shape going on with the panel. That’s just neat.

Now, Black Shadow’s kicked a lot of keister in his long, storied career as a ‘Con, which makes his current situation all the more bleak, as he’s in the final throes of a visit with the Decepticon Justice Division.

The guy with the arm-mounted cannon that’s clearly compensating for something is Tarn, the leader of the DJD. His main character trait is he’s sapiosexual, but only for Megatron. He’s so devoted to the Decepticause and its rhetoric, he wears a mask of the insignia at all times.

Behind him are Helex and Tesaurus, who turn into a fondue pot and industrial-sized blender, respectively, and Vos, who turns into a sniper rifle, and was once fired by Megatron himself. I assume he’s only part of the DJD for the clout.

And then there’s Kaon, who turns into a wheelie chair.

Black Shadow’s looking pretty rough, but the boys haven’t killed him yet, and there’s a reason for that; the DJD’s sole reason for existing is to punish any Decepticon who stalls the glory of Megatron’s vision of a better tomorrow coming to fruition, no matter how slight the infraction, and simply killing their victims doesn’t exactly drive the point home, now does it? They’ve got to make an example, you know?

But really it’s so Tarn can pontificate. See, he considers himself a bit of an intellectual, as shown in his quoting of Megatron’s autobiography, Towards Peace.

Ugh, He’s a fanboy. It’s enough to make you want to puke. Which Black Shadow does. It’s mostly blood. Or is it? Hard to tell, energon is everything for these guys.

The DJD have had their fun, so now it’s time for them to say goodbye to Black Shadow. This is where Tarn’s special talent comes into play, and it’s a nasty one.

Tarn has a unique voice, one that, when matching the timbre and frequency of another ‘bot’s spark, can be used to affect said spark, even making it give up the ghost. This is exactly what he does to Black Shadow, but not before making him apologize for selling out the Decepticons for a butt-ton of money.

Speaking of unique voices, Tarn’s characterization is almost completely in his. It makes sense, given his power, that he have a way of speaking that stands out from everyone else. It’s smooth, and cool, and seems well-rehearsed; this is not a guy who stumbles on his words. He sounds like a Bond villain.

Roberts has admitted that he wrote these characters with English accents, and while I can’t say that I buy it for everyone in MTMTE, I certainly do for Tarn.

But maybe that’s just because I’m American, and a lot of the media I consumed growing up had the whole “the villain sounds British/camp gay” thing going on.

Anyway.

Black Shadow explodes, because we haven’t had one of those in a while.

With another tick put on their List, the DJD get ready to move on to their next target. We don’t get any names, but whoever they are, they’re about to have a very bad day.

Then we take a quick jump back to the Lost Light, since things were kind of a massive mess when we last saw everyone.

Rung’s not dead, by the way. I guess Swerve really is just that bad of a shot. Still, he’s not much more than a brain on a rope, and that means that Rung’ll be out of commission for a good while.

Poor Swerve. He feels so awful about this whole thing, even brought Rung one of his little ships to keep him company. The worst part is, now that Swerve’s shot the therapist, who will he talk to so he can work through having shot the therapist?

Speaking of guys who need therapy, Red Alert comes visiting in the dead of night, after visiting hours and in cover of darkness. He tells Rung about the little surprise he found in the basement, and bids him farewell, as he will surely be killed now that he knows about Overlord.

Who the hell programmed that drone to be so menacing?

Red Alert, again showing that this ain’t his first paranoia rodeo, slips a data slug full of Overlord bondage footage into the hole where Rung’s thumb should be- guess it got lost in the helter-skelter when he got shot- then walks out of the medibay, presumably to die.

Anywho, that’s enough of the Autobots for a little while. Let’s see what the Decepticons are up to.

On a planet far from wherever the Lost Light is faffing about, a Decepticon wakes up to a bunch of dudes hovering over him, insulting his looks, and stealing his organs. He reacts accordingly.

This is Fulcrum. No, not the Decepticon medic from Eugenesis, different guy. This Fulcrum’s primary function is probably about as removed from healing as it gets.

The guys trying to harvest him are the Scavengers, and they’re pretty surprised that he’s not dead, because, well…

Yeah.

Misfire- the dude who got kicked in the face a second ago- does both Fulcrum and the reader a solid by introducing all the members of this merry band of assholes, starting with the surliest of their ranks.

Crankcase was first introduced into the IDW run in Stormbringer #3, where he shot at Thunderwing and spouted off a couple lines ripped straight from a porno.

Stormbringer is really just… something else.

Spinister, who can and will shoot anything that meets his unpredictable criteria of being a threat, is the only other Scavenger who isn’t debuting in the comics with this issue. He was in Stormbringer #4, not that he really did anything of note there.

There’s Flywheels, who can’t tell a lie without transforming, and is a born-again evangelical. His character is a removal from his previous iterations, as he’s a triple-changer instead of a Duocon, a robot that only exists if two separate sentient vehicles combine. So, in his case, tank + plane = giant robot. Transformers is weird.

Then there’s the leader of this group, the ever-stressed, glorified babysitter, Krok.

Krok takes the opportunity to save Fulcrum from the verbal barrage, explaining that the Scavengers are expropriation specialists, meaning that they take people’s shit for their own benefit, and that includes bodily fluids. Misfire was supposed to be siphoning energon from the corpses in the area, but accidentally got high on another dude’s supply in the process. Misfire may be hopped up on drugs at the moment, but he’s only a bit more put-together sober, so this really is roughly par for the course with him.

Back on the Lost Light, Chromedome pays a visit to Brainstorm, who is currently hanging from the ceiling. Not in a suicidey way, mind you, just in a Brainstorm way.

He wants to be noticed so badly.

Chromedome’s here because he managed to steal Skid’s weirdly forgettable gun back in issue #4, while Skids was busy harassing that bar drone. He handed it off to Brainstorm to try and figure out what the deal was. Problem is, the gun blew up the moment Brainstorm cracked it open, only allowing him to get a quick look at the internals thanks to his super-futuristic robot eyes. All he can really say is that it looks like something that came from The Institute. Back at it again with the ominous proper nouns.

Getting back to the Scavengers, it looks like the boys have set up a little campfire for the evening. It’s a gorgeous night.

In love with the colors this issue.

We get a very brief history lesson that shows us why reducing your workforce to a spreadsheet instead of living, free-thinking creatures isn’t a super great idea, and then Krok drops the bomb on Fulcrum about the war being over. This is pretty wild to Fulcrum, probably because after 4 million years of that nonsense, you don’t really expect it to ever actually end.

Of course, when the impossible turns out to be possible after all, there’s only one question to really ask: who won?

Now, none of the guys really know how everything ended, only going off of the pulse wave that Vector Sigma shot off during the reformatting of Cybertron. They figure it was probably the Autobots, because they’re at least a little genre savvy. Bummer for them, considering they’re technically part of the bad guys. Just ask the campfire.

You know, I don’t think this is what President Roosevelt had in mind when he started doing fireside chats.

And so our location is finally revealed to us- this is the planet known as Clemency. Hey, wasn’t that the place Tarn said their next target was? Man, that really sucks for these guys. Hope they’ve got their wills in order.

Meanwhile, in the medibay of the Lost Light, Rung has another late-night visitor. This guy takes the data slug from inside his thumb hole, thus removing any hope of Red Alert’s fate being found out. Well dang.

Back on Clemency, the boys have made it through the night, and are using the light of daybreak to start scrounging up parts for their super sweet ship, the Weak Anthropic Principle.

Hold on to your butts, because this one’s a doozy.

The Anthropic Principle is based in the school of philosophy, and states that any and all observations about the universe- or any universe, really- have to be fed through the filter of realizing that said universe is only observable because it allows for sapient life to exist and observe it. There are two flavors of this principle; the strong anthropic principle states that the universe has some sort of compelling force which dictates it be able to house life which can observe it, while the weak anthropic principle basically says that the only reason we’re even considering the strong anthropic principle is because we live in a universe where we can.

Now, why exactly Roberts decided to bring this philosophical idea into the fold completely escapes me, unless he decided to, in a roundabout way, poke fun at the fact that we are currently observing a universe we don’t exist in through the magic of fiction- that theory doesn’t hold water, though, because there are still sapient creatures populating the universe of the IDW comics, and even humans at that. I’m curious where he even learned about this. What an odd, confounding tidbit of information this is.

But enough about that, because Misfire’s just seen a cryptid.

He transforms and blasts past Fulcrum and Krok, interrupting Krok’s explanation of what the device he keeps hidden in his fist is for, trying to catch up to the Necrobot.

The very same, Fulcrum, thank you.

Misfire is a firm believer in the Necrobot, while Krok is firmly not. Misfire’s tried chasing down this guy several times now, but he’s not caught him. The Necrobot is kind of like Bigfoot, if he were also a Catholic priest. This go doesn’t prove any different for poor Misfire, though it’s not all bad.

Flywheels’ only purpose as a character is so that Roberts had a stand-in for the word “fuck” for this issue.

Misfire’s found something very exciting, and he immediately calls Krok to bring everyone over.

Everyone’s super jazzed about finding this thing, and they break out the flashlights and break in to see all the fun stuff that’s inside this obnoxiously large ship.

Of course, this is a Roberts story, and we haven’t yet had any sort of scientifically experimental horrors yet, so we’re honestly a little overdue at this point.

But wait, there’s more!

Aww, it’s nice that Fulcrum and Krok already have each other’s contact info.

Everyone regroups and they weigh their options. Misfire fucking hates this ship, and wants nothing to do with it. Fulcrum however, isn’t so quick to throw this entire nightmare bus off the cliff. Fulcrum’s a little weird, and not just because he looks like he’s got a military pack on and no shirt.

Oh honey, you got a storm coming.

As if on cue, Krok starts hearing music, and asks around for a phone. He picks up a transmission from a familiar masked face. Tarn lets the fellas know that one of them has done a big no-no, and if the others hand the transgressor over, he’ll let them watch, because Tarn assumes that that’s something other people are into. Tarn is bad at people. The transmission ends, leaving the boys to panic, and also wonder where the leader of the DJD learned to count, until they find a very special friend deep within the bowels of the ship. The extra life signal, and the only other living thing on the Worldsweeper- Grimlock.

#transformers #jro #mtmte #issue 7 #maccadam #Hannzreads #text post #long post #incoming analysis #comic script writing

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9uk · 6 years ago

Text

The Stranger I Met On The Bus

⌲ summary : Your life became a mess of colours the day you decided to leave the luxurious comfort of your home and board the same bus a wandering Namjoon was on.

⌲ pairing : namjoon x reader

⌲ word count : 12.6k

⌲ genre: slow burn......fluff, angst, smut, strangers2lovers...? or not. unrequited love but fate does it thing ye

⌲ warnings : rough times man, sexual scenes

a/n: it’s super messy & horrible i know...but i’ve been dying to get this out and i’ve been feeling all sorts of things as of late :’

“Is there something you need?” He starts, after having mulled over the reason behind your incessant gawking for long.

You blinked.

Something you need? Was there something you need? Why was he suddenly questioning you?

How are you going to tell him that he looks so much like somebody you used to know?

The both of you stayed right there, staring at each other with an equal amount of confusion.

You couldn’t take your eyes off him the first time you saw him. It was a brief, yet impactful eye contact shared. The split second his eyes locked with your own had your insides whirring like a washing machine. He looked around your age, perhaps a little older. Obvious dimples and agonisingly familiar mono lids. Something about the way he left your orbs as fast as they landed on them made you feel like something was going on.

It was too quick.

Too fast till it exposed his scheme. The guy had been watching you the whole time, and you had successfully caught him red-handed. Or maybe you were seeing things. Feeling things. Things you could not decipher what were.

Coincidence is a strange occurrence not many have in their lives. Some call it fate, but really you’d like to believe it as just pure luck. It’s baffling how a mere stranger could be the reason behind your insides shimmering with excitement again.

The bus station was bustling with business men rushing off to their destinations, families making their way back home, or even, wandering souls who have lost their sense of direction in life, travelling far away from their abodes to seek comfort in the beauty of escaping. Take you, for example. To sum it up, you were running away from some family matters back at home. Ones that require way more energy and attention than you can handle.

You were just in line to collect your ticket for the entire bus journey. Quite a long and drawn-out ride, you would say. You silently thanked your brain for the abrupt cue to bring your book along just as you stepped out of the house. 11 hours. What on earth were you going to do spending half a day coped up in a long, empty carriage?

“Nothing,” Your lips finally discovered the courage to open up and let a word out. The exchange of weirded out, perplexed faces of expression resumed.

He raises his brows slightly, expecting you to provide the actual cause as a continuation.

It was a millisecond away from him turning his head back into his own business. But a millisecond seems a tad too long for your short fused patience on a Friday morning.

“What? I said nothing.” The last word is shot like a poison dart to the neck—attack acting as the best shield—and the stranger is utterly surprised by the switch in attitude.

He gets the red-light, diverting eyes to the front in an instant and pressing his lips into a firm line. Your feistiness cooled down and regret immediately settled in as your tone replays in your head.

You absolutely hated repeating yourself and towards the man who resembled him too much, you lost all the rationality you contained. It probably looked like you were a temperamental piece of shit who obviously had some serious anger issues, making it tough to convince him otherwise. You want to apologise straight away, you really do. But you find yourself tongue-tied wondering if you should say it with the pronoun or not. By the time you’ve arrived to a decision, it was too late. Apologising a few minutes after the outburst of questionable annoyance would just seem...weird.

Like you have been thinking about him all this while.

Which isn’t true, at all.

A tiny seed of ego sprouted until you were crossing your arms in fumes, mainly irritated at your own cranky behaviour.

You swore to the heavens that you were much nicer than the nasty impression you left on him.

It was just, a slip of the tongue. At an absurdly wrong timing.

Yet, you couldn’t bring yourself to tell him those two words that could clear your name.

Two hours of terrible attempts at falling asleep. The interaction with the handsome lad troubling the entrance of your dreams. The initial road is a bumpy one, the movements of the vehicle not coordinating with your pulse. One hundred and twenty minutes of stressing over the stranger of familiarity just inches away from you. He smelled like Seven thousand and two hundred seconds of—

“Excuse me, I want to get off.”

The lids you have been trying to press shut to let the unconsciousness close in on you flew open. Back jerking straight up, you realise you were in his way of leaving his seat.

The bus was almost empty, randomly splattered with a few passengers who did not need anything outside of this carriage. Vision a blur, you can only make out a big bright red panel that signified a gas station. He is a man patient enough to let you settle out of your trance before making space for his exit.

“Sorry.”

You snatch your purse and decided to get out of the bus as well.

From behind, a giant figure looms over yours and a sense of smallness washes over you.

Was your seat buddy always this tall?

You never noticed.

The mart at this particular gas station sucks. Out of 10, it barely even made pass 4.

You scanned the rows of snacks once more, as if doing just that would bring your cheese rings into existence. Forget about cheese rings, there weren’t even cheese balls available! The staple of snacks, king of crunches—to you, at the very least.

Shoving your hands into the pockets of your hoodie, you sighed in exasperation.

It is then you are suddenly reminded of the encounter with the guy sitting beside you.

It was time you got rid of the perpetual habit of yours to unleash your annoyance on anyone or anything.

After carefully reviewing every item under the snacks section, you ended up furrowing your brows at a bag of sour cream and onion chips. The grumble rolling off your stomach forces you to grab it off the shelf.

The kiosk is filled with people who were in the same bus as you, but yet you find yourself searching for a specific someone. You remember paying him no mind when you made a beeline for the mart, not wanting to waste anymore time from this precious brief stopover. For the familiar face that you still cannot put together the similarities. The uncanny resemblance in both their heights. It’s a funny thing because you always have a thing for guys around 6 feet tall.

The aluminium crinkles in your grasp as you fail to spot him. And there you are, left wondering about where the tall guy had went.

Placing your sole purchase onto the counter, you glanced over the lollipops decorated in a spiral. You absentmindedly stare at the wide array of bright colours with the beeping sound of your chips being scanned into the register.

Your focus seems to drift away, for you don’t seem to notice the cashier announcing the price of your potato chips.

“I’ll have this too,” Snapping out of the sandcastle building, you fish out a five dollar bill to the poor shop assistant who only just began her shift. “Thanks.”

Stepping outside, a fresh breath of wind whooshes past your face and you never felt this alive. Mainly because you’ve also never been up this early for so long and the morning air really hits different. It’s been forever since you actually witnessed the sun in its early form. It’s been also so long since you’ve had breakfast, and it being a bag of chips is fabulous and says a lot about your eating habits.

Most of the passengers are queuing for the public washroom, some are still lingering in the store heating up a grilled cheese or whatever. And so you drive yourself out of the lane and wander around with the remaining time left.

That would be a lie, truth to be told.

You weren’t just basically wandering around.

You were wandering around in hopes of bumping into that man.

Your legs brought your idling form to the corner of the walls of petrol kiosk.

You were not wholly surprised when you saw exactly what your mind pictured; him standing there leaned back against the white bricks and maybe, a cigarette in hand.

Except there was no tobacco or the cap he was wearing earlier on in sight, just him lowering the cellphone from his ear with dejection written all over his face. Did someone just relay a piece of bad news to him? Or did his girlfriend break up with him over the phone?

You stand there, taking in his gorgeous side profile and the cute tip of his nose you want to kiss. His Adam apple bobs as he swallows and tucks the phone back into the pocket of his navy pants. No one else has the ability to wear an outfit so baggy and casual and look like they belong on the runway. It’s like he knows which style suits him best and puts each piece of clothing to their fullest potential. His exposed brown locks fall over his eyes and your fingers itch to run through them and sweep his hair back.

It is in the middle of your not-so-subtle gawking when his gaze rises and falls onto you.

The expression on his face drops even further if possible, and he stumbles for the right words. The following squint of his eyes tells you that he did not thoroughly enjoy your presence. You roll the ball of the sweet in your palm nervously.

“W-Wha—How long have you been standing there?” The doubt flows out of his mouth and a clear displeasure in his tone.

Shorter than he thinks, definitely. You’ve only just arrived.

“A couple of seconds ago.”

The suspicion of you eavesdropping is not completely wiped off his face despite your answer. The despondency from before has somewhat grown into vexation, and he is ready to leave you alone in this alley.

The tension between the two of you is unbearable, like he has nothing to say to you or even annoyed by your existence while your fingers wrap around the lollipop stick even tighter.

“Hey,” You step in his way, but bodies not touching at all.

Gulping, you raise the candy in front of you.

“I-I wanted to apologise for earlier on,” You ignored the stammering and carried on. “I was being plain rude to you for no reason at all. I was having a bad morning and you just look so much like someone I used to know I-” You’re rambling and he cuts you off deadly.

“Is that all?”

Your breath hitches in your throat and you realise there’s nothing else left to say. God, the lollipop in your hand makes you feel so stupid now. He’s trying to dismiss you as quickly as possible while you wish to become acquaintances with him. You were overthinking it. He is saving the embarrassment for you. This man was driving you crazy. Firstly from how scarily similar he looks to him and second from how you wanted to know everything about him now. The impression he left on you is near perfect—patient, understanding and an offbeat sadness adorning his features.

And the impression you left on him is a horrible, distasteful one. A kind of impression you would never want anyone to have of yourself, let alone the guy who looked so ravishing and have been nothing but nice towards you.

Why would someone acting blue be any of your business?

Precisely, because it’s this guy who you caught staring at you in the bus interchange and it’s the same guy who you lashed out at and again, the guy who you are currently offering a goddamned lollipop to.

You wanted to know who he was calling and why he looked so sad. You wanted so badly to wrap him in your arms and tell him that everything’s going to be fine. The important question however, remains untouched. Why were you trying to fix somebody when you were so broken yourself? You have been so deprived of proper love and care that you want him. It’s a rash burst of infatuation for that man.

If this is what the hours at the start of the day did to your buzzed head and racing heart, you finally understand why you constantly slept in till the peace of afternoon came.

All in all, you just needed him to accept the apology and move on.

You painfully muster the courage to avert your eyes from pink ball and look up at him.

“Yeah, that is all.”

A lie, because you have so much more to say to him and is in no position to put the thoughts out like that. There was no other way to explain a peculiar connection you one-sidedly felt with him without sounding creepy as hell.

He simply takes your answer as it is and receives the strawberry lollipop from you.

The way his slender fingers brushes over the back of your hand sends a shiver straight to your spine. He was warm and cold, polite yet dismissive. A walking contradiction, truly. A contrast that has you secretly swooning over him even more.

Nonetheless, you were glad he did not shove a rejection in your face.

Of all things that you could have done, you foolishly got yourself into a predicament with him like this.

Once everyone was comfortably seated, the bus driver hops on and whirs the bulky engine to life once more.

When you returned to your seat, the wrapper had already been ripped off and the lollipop was being savoured in his mouth already. You try to hide the blooming smile on your face.

You were busy plucking the petals of a non-existent flower in your mind, contemplating at maximum whether or not you should strike a conversation with him.

If you did, you played out the different possibilities of responses he could have and how to carry on talking no matter what. It’s been quite some time since you’ve actually tried to talk to a stranger, and it was hard. But the desire to get to know him is diminishing all the worries bubbling inside you. When there’s a will, there’s a way indeed.

Rehearsing your voice in your head, you wait for the perfect timing to start speaking.

He was not doing anything much, still suckling on the ball of sugar and looking out the window.

You can’t help but admire his angelic features for a while. The cosiness of this coach granted the close proximity you had with him, allowing you to be able to catch a whiff of his smell. He didn’t smell like the sharp colognes of business men that flooded office areas, but rather, he had a soft lotion scent that was not too thick for your nose to hurt, yet subtle which has you craving for more.

Topped off with that coldness in his attitude and gentlemanly ways, you really are beginning to develop a tiny crush on him.

Very, tiny.

You have not much time left, it was easy to figure when someone was shamelessly planting their eyes on you.

He had no earpiece on, which was a good sign because you hated it when people tried to interrupt your music. And end up asking something so stupid, like your name.

“I never asked, but what is your name?”

Loud and clear, not wanting any slip-ups. The thread of tension that was initially pulled taut between the two of you seemed to have loosened on your side.

Like mentioned, you’ve actually browsed through all types of replies he could give.

He could have probed about the reason behind you wanting to know, or he could play games with you and not tell you, keeping it as a mystery unsolved so that you wouldn’t stop talking to him about it.

But no, his answer was the most difficult for the continuation of a conversation.

He is deeply distracted by the greenery outside, peeling his line of sight off the window pane and finally directing it to you.

He thinks—for whatever reason in this world you can about your own name—before gently replying.

“Namjoon.”

A blatant response which leaves you with not much options left to venture.

However, it doesn’t stop you from appreciating each syllable of his name. Nam and Joon just goes so well with each other just like how the colour of his cap matches his pants and you are naturally repeating after him, his name leaving your lips in such a blissful way. You are officially going bonkers for this man.

He doesn’t pay any more attention to you, turning to view the scenery that runs past the moving vehicle. The passing trees and blue sky are more interesting to look at than talking to you very apparently.

“That’s a nice name.” You pointed out and he flashes you a faint smile before going back to the window.

You note that he doesn’t ask for yours and an unexpected feeling of hurt thuds at your chest.

You take it as a telltale sign that Namjoon, is not interested in you like the way you are in him. All practice of the conversation gets deleted and thrown into the trash bin like a child’s silly doodling, and you sink back into your seat, trying to not feel all stupid and crestfallen.

Nothing else is said between the both of you until the next rest stop.

This time, you buy a packet of bread and a hotdog bun because it’s lunch.

He is no longer standing at some secluded corner of this new gas station, just shifting on both feet just outside the doors of this e-mart.

From inside, you spot Namjoon at the same place from before. You tear the package of the ready-made bun and observe him for a moment.

Namjoon had been repetitively trying to call someone. Each time the line reaches nowhere, his jaw clenches even harder and he tongues at his cheeks in a disputable infuriation.

Though, that is all you can see. You have yet to fully understand his actual situation.

The bells jingle as you push through the glass doors to exit.

Again, he removes the phone from his ear and angrily taps on the screen as if that would help his call get through.

“Here,” You offer him the bread. Butter flavoured, nothing too much to be disliked by anyone. You haven’t seen Namjoon eat anything from the start of the journey up till now and you are genuinely concerned about his hunger.

“Oh, no thanks. I’m not hungry.” You know that phrase too well. A statement someone would say even when they in fact are hungry, but the loss of appetite is too overwhelming for the empty stomach. The loss of appetite can be caused by several factors—like one being too bothered about something on their mind.

You retract the bread in hand from him, and fall silent.

“Do you want to use mine?”

You considered for a long moment before raising the suggestion.

The rest stop in the middle of nowhere would destroy reception for some phones, but yours could call from almost anywhere. Well, as the line contract promised.

Namjoon looks up and at last, a glint of care swirling in his orbs.

You wonder who he is trying to dial.

“Really?” It’s like he cannot believe the small offer you made, different from the other times you buy him food. You guess Namjoon really did not have a thing for food at gas stations.

“Yeah,” You click your phone to the dialling page.

“Mine should be able to get through.”

He swipes the device off your hand faster than light, not caring about the desperation he is displaying.

“Thanks.” He mumbles as he hastily keys in whoever’s number that was. It is soft, but it could still be heard.

The call seems to really manage to get through and he mouths an ‘excuse me’ before striding off to somewhere more private for the conversation to happen.

Munching away at your hotdog bun, you watch him grow frustrated as the call goes on, Namjoon crossly gesturing with his hands to try to get his point across and the locking of his jaw every time he spat out a word. Then, his eyebrows are knitted in fury, like he had just met with news of anguish. He stomps around, sometimes even yelling into your phone and at some point in time, you were afraid that he would smash your phone into pieces. The vein at his neck visibly pops and you could tell how many emotions he was trying so hard to contain. Emotions like anger, disappointment, confusion—all at once, bombarding poor Namjoon.

The person on the other end likely ended the call, for Namjoon stares ahead at a red stationary motorcycle with emptiness crowding his eyes. His lips were no longer aggressively moving to negotiate whatever that was, his hand turned motionless as well—and the phone lowers, just like the previous times. This time though, with a knowing answer and clarity clouding his glistening eyes.

His hands were tightly balled into fists and your phone almost gets crushed. Even from afar, you can see the rapid rise and falls of his chest and the grief stinging his eyes. You skipped through the hesitation and made your way over to the bull.

“Hey are you alright—”

“Thanks for the call.”

He is quick to shut you off, slamming the device onto your palm and strolls away to probably hide his moment of sorrow.

Namjoon looked more upset than anything you’d imagine. And it broke your heart to see him this unhappy.

“Namjoon!” You yelled after him.

Tracing his footsteps, his back faces you.

You can’t explain the need surging throughout you to just step forward and smooth your hand over the broad expanse of his back, the itch to calm him down and ask what was wrong. But you weren’t really in a position to do so.

The clock ticks a whole silent round before he slowly turns around with a long exhale.

The sight of his tear-stained cheeks and red eyes wrenches hard at your heart.

Strangers had boundaries, and you yearned to cross them with Namjoon.

“Do you��want a hug?” There was much nothing left on your plate that you could offer.

Awkwardly natural, the distance between your two bodies closes.

Everything afterwards happened in a blink; his head sinking heavily onto the blade of your shoulder, his arms wrapped around your body and your face smashing into his well-built chest.

Heaven, that’s the best description you can make of burying yourself into Namjoon arms.

You were supposed to hug him, and not the other way around.

He takes a deep breath, tightening his hold on you and his nose digging into your hair, making you fight back a shiver as you carefully rest your hands on his lower back. The smell of his lotion grows even stronger when you are this close to him, and you wished you could stay like this with him forever.

His breathing was still hard and you could feel his heart frantically hammering onto yours, as if having suffered a major attack.

The hug was quiet but comfortable. Everything with Namjoon felt comfortable if you even make sense.

“I needed this.” He mumbles into your skin, pulling away seconds after, causing you to cling onto every last bit of him.

The two of you returned to the bus straight away, with no words exchanged.

However, you can feel Namjoon beginning to open up to you.

Still, you’d like to take your time to understand him.

Feelings settled and heart at ease, the subject of the call and his breakdown was never broached again.

He was, as usual, peering at the outer layer of the woods along the road. Namjoon observes them with a concentration not to be disregarded.

It almost feels like he was scripting every line and carve on their barks, counting the number of leaves on each branch and watching how mighty they stood tall—which was technically impossible, but with Namjoon, one would never know.

“Ah, by the way,” You try to casually start a conversation, but at the same time you feel bad for interrupting his tree-watching session. “Where are you headed to?”

“Uh,” He hesitates, the area between his eyes scrunching up. “I… actually have no idea.”

He knew where he was going. But it looks like plans got ruined midway.

Was it because of the phone call? You promised yourself not to poke that matter. Not now.

“Huh. Same here. Probably the last stop or something.” You shrugged, nonchalant.

This huge bus was driving from the city to various locations—from small towns to farms and other districts basically.

You didn’t have a place in mind; you just needed to get out of that hellhole.

He widens his eyes at you because it is not all the time you randomly find someone as lost as you are.

Namjoon really has nowhere to go now. The most he could do would be to buy another trip back into the city—but that was the option he’d leave for last. Other than the mortifying decision to backpedal into your old routes, he could only face frontwards and hope for the best. It would be so easy to return to his hometown—which was along the way—where his parents would more than gladly welcome him with open arms, but the last thing he wanted was to become a burden to his family.

“You really don’t know where exactly you are going to?”

Taking in his words, you had to double confirm. Namjoon looked like someone who clearly knew all the directions in his life, knew for sure what to do and what not to do. Looks can be deceiving, after all.

“I wish I did.” His body turns to face you now, away from the window and the sudden attention is making you panic a little.

“Honestly, there aren’t many places I could go to either, so.” He points out, acting more like he was engaged in a conversation with himself rather than you.

At that, you could only smile in relation. Strangely, the both of you were very similar in thoughts but worlds apart in expression.

Namjoon enclosed his heart and mind, choosing the appropriate timing to open them and to specifically who. Meanwhile, you consistently let yourself out there even though you try not to, it just happens without intention. But the outgoing exterior eventually fades as you start becoming comfortable with keeping low and quiet as well. Many people would be shocked upon witnessing a whole 360 change in your demeanour, just as they would with Namjoon turning talkative.

“I wish I did too.” A light chuckle spills past your lips and as well as you are attempting to hide the misery suffocating your lungs, you don’t think you’re doing a great job at it.

Namjoon inspects your expression for a fraction, not adding on to the conversation anymore, before he throws his attention back at the greens.

Somehow, there formed an unspoken agreement between the two of you that the last stop would be your destinations.

As the trip went by, the number of passengers onboard gradually decreases, each and every one of them assured of where to alight and where they must reach. You were slightly envious of, especially the complete families who got down the bus with joy spread across their faces. They must have a home that is like a safe haven to them, one where the members could retreat to after a long day in comfort and bliss.

One you could never afford to have, despite how fortunate you were.

There was never an end to the screams and fights, the smashing of objects and the destroying of furniture like they costed nothing. The amount of terrible sleep you get every passing day, progressively shredding your sleep schedule to uneven strips.

It wasn’t until the start of spring when you arrived at a decision to leave home. School was still ongoing, but a break was urgent. Anymore of the nonsense you receive at both your workplace and home, you’re afraid you might just turn haywire and end up being sent to the mental hospital. Throw your mentally and emotionally unstable ass into the asylum—your parents had every aspect to perfectly do so.

“But miss, you can’t just leave like that.” Jungkook, one of your dad’s most trusted security personnel and chauffeur begs you to stay put in your sickening stuffy room with his undying persistence.

“Yes I can. Watch me.” He refused to open the gate no matter how hard you try to plea him and this was your final resort. Flinging your bag over the barrier, it lands on the other side of freedom with a heavy thud and that’s when Jungkook relents.

“Oh my god, Y/N!” You know he’s pissed when he says your name.

Jungkook was slightly older than you, but the both of you grew up together. The family feuds put him in an uncomfortable situation at times, but he wasn’t to step into matters as such.

Although maintained at a professional distance, it doesn’t stop him from bringing your favourite cake into the bedroom you would always be found hiding under the sheets from all that fighting. After the storm subsides, Jungkook always appeared with a cake and drink in hand to appease your frightened form, the desserts acting as a type of consolation he couldn’t provide. He was a sweet guy, but you never saw him that way. Jungkook was like an older brother to you. And he wasn’t that good at covering up his silly crush on you.

“Fine!” He unlocks the gate in the most passive-aggressive way ever and you only giggle.

You have him wrapped around your finger and it was no doubt an advantage to you could use all the time.

“Stay safe, regardless.”

You hold both his hands in the most dramatic way ever, swaying up to him like a Disney princess.

When you lean in close to his face, Jungkook is rendered speechless, a flushed mess.

“I will and thank you.” You hum sweetly and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

“Byeeeeee!” You sing and happily leave the stifling confines of the house, as well as an embarrassed Jungkook standing rooted to the ground.

Your eyes never leave Namjoon on the third rest stop.

The both of you sat in the convenience store, devouring bowls of instant ramen.

You wonder how one phone call can lead to all of this.

Everything Namjoon did was hurtingly adorable to you. Your heart twisted in a wickedly joyful manner when he furrowed his brows. You swear your eyes were pooling with endearment when his cheeks were stuffed full of noodles. The type of attraction you were having for Namjoon was fascinating, like never before. A kind of flower you’ve never had blooming wildly in your chest for a long time. You wonder how he feels about you. Whether he sees you in the same light or not.

The bowls sitting in front of the two of you are now empty, stomachs filled with content.

You stared at Namjoon and Namjoon stared back at you, your eyes never averting because you feel like you could drown in his pretty brown orbs forever. Namjoon breaks the contact and raises a question before you could.

“Is your shampoo jasmine?” He flickered his gaze to your hair, arms coming up to rest on the small table barely enough for two. His face suddenly grows bigger, featuring becoming clearer as the gap in between is shortened.

“Yeah,” You breathed out when he moving towards you. He was leaning so close to your face, you feel yourself unknowingly reversing a little.

Then, everything vanishes and he relaxes back on the chair again.

“And h-how did you know?”

“Someone I used to know.” His voice comes out quiet.

The both of you grabbed lollipops before returning to the coach.

This was the final stretch before the journey ends, the longest one amongst the rest and the fatigue is starting to consume you whole, eyelids feeling heavy.

You don’t know how or when, but a shoulder is pressed to your cheek as hand lightly shakes you.

“We’re here,” He says, stirring you awake.

The driver is long gone, in the restroom or something.

You jump off the coach, butt and neck feeling sore.

The two of you stood in front of a shredded motel.

“Looks like we’ll have to make do.”

The room was smaller than it could have already been, the ceiling paint flaking like horrid dry skin and the cream wallpapers looked like they were going to crumble into dust by a touch of the finger. The first blow is delivered to the layer of glass, cracks beginning to form in the center. Something smells. There’s a distinct stench lingering in the atmosphere of this room. Your eyes dart over to the bathroom. A dirty sock naps comfortably on the rusty towel rack—no, hibernates—because the navy piece of laundry seems to be having the time of its life stinking up possibly the entire motel with its century-old odour.

You switched your life goal to become as unbothered as that abandoned sock.

A second hit to the fragile material, completely falling apart but still you try your best to hold it together for the sake of Namjoon’s optimism.

“Sure we do.” You mumble, but it is amplified in the tiny space.

The volume of your voice was one thing, but Namjoon feels more gigantic than ever, his large frame towering over yours and unknowingly you shrink. He looked so much bigger than you noticed from before and it is evident that you have definitely been noticing him for quite a bit. It must be the size of the room, and not the rapid blossoming of your attraction for him.

The only bed sandwiched between both your standing forms was yet, another issue to be solved. There wasn’t even a couch to be spared, you had to place your bags on the crusty floor. You can’t even hide the grimace crumpling your features when you spot a black dot faded under the white sheets, crawling its way to the pillow. That sight itself, shattered the already broken glass pane of tolerance into fragments.

“Trust me when I say this isn’t the worst I’ve seen.”

Namjoon chirps in, trying to lift the frown off your disgusted face. “Honestly, for a place beside a gas station, this is-”

“Not okay at all.”

You arrived at a decision. And that is to get the hell out of this trash can before Namjoon’s witty tongue and strong cologne persuades you otherwise.

An idea flashes in your mind.

No one would have guessed that you were the daughter of a pair of millionaire parents.

Dressed humbly in a hoodie and leggings, you passed off as any other normal person. You did not fancy the wealthy status plastered onto you since birth. Instead, you actually wished for a simple, blissful life. It was true that money could solve most problems, but you were seeking for another kind of happiness. A happiness so genuine and pure. The grass is always greener on the other side. You weren’t planning to let Namjoon know about your family background at all, but the circumstances the both of you were caught in left you with no other choice.

As soon as you laid your eyes on the bed bug having the time of its life under the sheets, you boldly grabbed Namjoon’s hand and flew out of the musty motel.

The sun was already diving into the horizon, daylight beginning to feel insufficient.

The haggard old man manning the petrol kiosk watches the two of you exit the rundown building and if your vision did not fail you—he sniggers to himself.

Namjoon seems to have noticed this as well, head still turned to face the disheveled man after the two of you made your way to the grass patch by the main road. You stare at Namjoon looking at the man. He was unpacking some boxes of food, and you wonder what is so intriguing about that that Namjoon can’t peel his eyes off of him.

“It’s not easy,” He finally faces front, upon reaching the road. You tuck your fists into the warm pockets of your hoodie.

“What is?”

“Working at a gas station.” Namjoon mumbles lowly, fallen deep in thought.

You contemplate for a while before choosing to not say anything to that. You don’t know how to reply to that anyway.

The air outside was not the freshest, but it was heaven to your lungs compared to the interior.

Your first instinct was to call Jungkook.

This subconscious behaviour of yours has yet to be eradicated, and you figured it must have to do with the fact that Jungkook was the man who could do anything and everything in your eyes. Plus, he was someone you turned to habitually whenever you were met with a crisis. Major or minor.

“Y/N! You better get your ass home by midnight or else your father will behead me!”

“Woah, chill Jungkook. Can you help me see if there are any decent places nearby to stay at?”

Jungkook could easily track you down, a feature your parents granted him to better watch over you.

“What in the world are you doing there?!”

“Sorry. But please help me?” That is all you can provide. Namjoon raises a brow at your conversation over the phone. Darkness was racing to swallow the sky whole and there was not much time left for you to find shelter. You mentally prepared yourself for a sleepless night ahead.

“You’re kidding. There is literally nothing but dirt on that piece of wasteland. What did you expect? One of your father’s lavish villas to pop out magically in front of your eyes?” Jungkook sounds extremely frustrated with the situation you landed yourself in. What he doesn’t and wouldn’t need to know, is that you have someone by your side.

“However…”

All hope is not lost.

“Tell me more about this fantastic idea of yours.” Namjoon’s incessant questioning sparks an urge in you to just go up to him and shut him up with a kiss. Out of annoyance, of course. Containing the thought, you continue denying him of an answer.

“Just wait and see,”

You can’t believe it slipped your mind that the last stop was on the outlines of this town, which meant that the sea was close.

The beach that barely had any visitors was probably just a few miles away from this polluted gas station. The only staff who worked there was the old man from before reaching seventy, unkempt appearance for wandering spirits in this isolated town to see.

The place was derelict and untidy. Litter scattered across the road and the walls reeked of rotten flesh.

Finally, the sea approaches you and Namjoon. Compared to the gas station, the area wrapping the beach was spotless and your mouth falls open slightly. Walking towards the edge of the small cliff, down below laid the fine sand that reflected the dusty evening glow who’s rays of pink and purple are slowly overshadowing the initial golden.

It was then you realised the sun had never meant to eagerly head to bed, it was instead fighting against time, refusing to fade into the sea line this early.

Namjoon must be as struck as you are by the sight, for he doesn’t say a word, only calmly tracing your steps.

The both of you sat on the short grass, quietly admiring the sunset-tainted coast and watching the waves accumulate strength each time it leaves and arrives.

Legs dangling in the air and bags thrown on the ground, you wonder when a time like this would ever happen again. The orange sky gently toasting your eyes and the prickly sensation on the hamstrings. A guy who resembled your ex-boyfriend sitting by your side. A possible tent in your backpack.

A smile stubbornly grows on your face and you let out a soft giggle at the strange events of today, shaking your head at the foolishness.

“What’re you gleaming about?”

The tranquility is not broken by his voice, only further accentuating it.

“Huh? Oh. Nothing much really, haha…just everything maybe,”

You turn your head to look for his reaction at your contradiction and his eyes capture yours in bewilderment.

“I see. Don’t worry, I understand.” He smiles and the world vanishes, your heartbeat—the only thing you can feel.

“Sometimes the only thing you can do is laugh. When everything’s too painful, when everything’s too joyous, when everything’s going downhill or when everything’s so…serene.”

His fingers clutches onto a random stone and he begins meddling with it.

“Maybe all at once.” You lean back a little, easing into the conversation.

Namjoon chuckles.

“Sometimes though, you gotta vent it out!”

He swings his arm back and throws it forward, catapulting the innocent stone into somewhere in the salty water. It disappears from sight, so you would never know.

When the second-hand hit a quarter to eight, the moon’s motherly appearance persuaded the mischievous yolk to fully drop into the ocean. Nightfall pays a visit.

The possible tent in your backpack.

The only times you have ever slept outside of the neatly painted walls of your enormous room (excluding the walk-in wardrobe), would be sleeping over in the marvellous pink doll house bedroom belonging to your best friend. That counts…right?

There were a few camps here and there in your entire education journey. The thrill of water rafting with the bumpy rocks, the struggles of kayaking and capsizing in the dirty river, the tall grass that crept up your knees and the mud your track shoes sank into. You wish you knew how all of those felt, because every time your class was required to have the time of their lives in a camp site, your teacher would never pass you a consent form for that. Dejected, you already knew the reason behind the disallowing of your participation. It was too harsh for your body and health, they’d always repeat to you and you would stomp to your bedroom and make a mess out of your sheets with piping hot tears.

You hate living a sheltered life. You detested it, even though some may cry for days to have a pampered life like yours. Call it ungrateful, but you would rather live a simple life with simple happiness. Because money may be the manifestation of bliss, but it also creates problems that it itself cannot be able to solve.

However, money helped Jungkook to create this circular object to pop into a tent once you push the button located inside the mechanism.

“Why and how do you have this?” Namjoon sends you a questionable look.

“Don’t ask. I…uh, like to come prepared.”

You lied. Jungkook sneaked this compacted tent into your bag without you even knowing.

But he informed you about it over the phone and it came in handy at the very least.

“Well then, go ahead and press the activation button.”

“Erm…” You hesitated. What if this was some kind of abduction assistance for Jungkook to bring you back home to your fuming parents?

“I’m having second thoughts about this—Wait no!”

Namjoon yanks it out of your hands and slams the button.

The sphere starts beeping, a red light flashing on the top.

Paranoid, you subconsciously grab onto Namjoon’s hand like you always did to Jungkook when your father raised his voice.

A loud noise erupts from the transformation, and you screw your eyes closed in fear.

The round device jumps and explodes harmlessly, the surfaces opens and nylon sheets are spiralled out into the shape of a tent.

“Y/N,” Namjoon squeezes your hand.

“I think it’s done.”

The both of you view the tent, then the interlocked fingers.

Redness graze your cheeks and Namjoon clears his throat.

You quickly let go and step to inspect the inflated tent.

You silently thanked Jungkook as your body plopped onto the clothed base. Lying on the thin material with the cold ground just beneath it, you are able to feel the earthiness seeping through your skin and the softness of the soil as a bedding. The feeling was no match to the fluffiness of your blankets and bouncy mattress.

Namjoon had gone out to grab booze and a couple of ready-made food from the store earlier and you happily agreed. You haven’t got much of a choice actually, but you were grateful for an opportunity like this with him.

A buzz coming from behind interrupts your stargazing session, you pull your sight away from the deep black sky to realise that it was your phone.

Curiosity overruling your judgement, you reached for the phone.

It was a text from an unknown contact.

Your eyes doubled in size at the series of notifications.

Visiting the petrol station again caused a bitterness to rise up his throat.

He wonders if he will end up like the old man behind the counter in the future.

Namjoon was an aspiring producer and lyricist.

He hasn’t shot to fame with his completed works yet, but he has a strong belief that he eventually will, one day. He struggles with the low income the job as a gas pump attendant, taking care of his ill-stricken mother who had been diagnosed with lung cancer as of last year and all hope seemed to be lost.

The news came off as no surprise to him because his mother turned into a heavy smoker after his father abandoned the pair of mother and son for some other woman. The nicotine helped her relieve her stress and depression that consumed her heart, so Namjoon as a young boy couldn’t really say anything to stop his broken mother.

His only parent had insufficient funds to further continue his education after high school so he was left with no options but to work many part-time jobs to support himself.

As time flew by, Namjoon grew into a man that had no direction in life.

He worked in a polluted environment, paid for his mother’s chemotherapy, ate, slept and wished he’d never wake up to see the light of day again.

His apartment was filthy and small, but he was barely keeping up with the rent payments on time. Medical bills placed a huge burden onto his shoulders but he could not give up on his only family who always looked at him with sympathy and hatred.

Hatred because she had told him that life would be much better without her, and Namjoon was stubborn in not willing to let her life end even if it was for good.

His girlfriend did not improve the situation of his life.

If anything, she only worsened it.

She blamed him for being incompetent and unable to bring her happiness as a boyfriend.

She constantly gave degrading remarks and once mentioned that she felt humiliated by him. If anything, she made him feel shittier about his life than he already was.

She was toxic and he knew it but he was still unable to cut ties with someone who loved him back and was willing to stay with him for so long.

He was a man of strong will and he believes that once he succeeds in his ambition, all the problems he was facing at that moment would disappear.

His girlfriend would stop looking at him like he was a loser and his mother would recover faster in a cleaner and better environment.

This week was a turning point in his life.

His mother overdosed and Sunbin cheated on him a few days after.

To think that his own mother gave up on herself and him when he persevered was heart-breaking. Losing his only kin drove him to the point of insanity.

Beyond devastated, he was a step away from falling off the roof of his apartment.

But something about the bright full moon watching over him that night tweaked his decision.

The wind caressed his cheeks as a form of consolation and the stars sang in the gloomy moonlight for him.

Namjoon thinks, that maybe the occurrence of these events was a sign.

Maybe the heavens were trying to tell him something.

He climbed up the wall of his dead end and saw something greater.

His strength was back when he stepped down from the platform.

That is why the morning after he was at the bus station, waiting for the vehicle that will carry him around to clear his thoughts.

Being on a long bus ride relaxed him and for some reason, made his heart feel at ease.

Perhaps it was the trees passing by or the sun that stayed still in position when he was moving, but it filled him with happiness to distance away from the cruel reality for a while in the comfortable seats of a bus. Bus rides were so peaceful and he enjoyed them to the fullest every time without fail.

As he tossed the lollipop stick into the trash bin, his eyes skim across the people at the station, it hooked onto a book he had been wanting to read for a long time.

Jung’s Map Of The Soul: An Introduction was a book that summarises Jung’s vision of psychological and spiritual life.

He hadn’t got the time or money to think about a book, but now that he had seen the actual copy, he was intrigued.

His gaze travel up to the owner of the book, then to the book, then to your face again.

He wasn’t gawking creepily or anything, but your features were rather beautiful. Not that he went up straight to your face and told you that. But he stared for a while, switching between the book and you before minding his own business again.

Looking at you reminded him of his past and only girlfriend. A book in hand, warming her hands over a cup of coffee as he strikes a conversation with her over the book. Later on he found out that she was not into reading at all, and the precious book was a prop in her scheme to get Namjoon to notice her. He didn’t express the wryness he felt tugging at his insides, but he was a little shocked by her deceiving appearance. He wonders just how many more things she was hiding about herself. The only exception with you is that he did not walk towards you.

His girlfriend had just left him.

Sunbin called and he tried his hardest to not care.

It was impossible. He had to hear her out, know what exactly he did wrong, where it all started.

When you lent him your cellphone he keyed in her number like it was the only thing he memorised by heart and frustratedly waited for her answer.

Sunbin was the type to lie in order to achieve whatever result she wanted, but when Namjoon demanded the truth or she was exposed, she would tell him things from the bottom of her heart.

It was after her true explanation behind her abandonment of the relationship that Namjoon lowers the phone in hand and ends the call with a cold farewell.

It wasn’t anything that had to do with her character. It was about the money and status.

That was the time she informed him about how ashamed she was when she introduced Namjoon to her parents or told her friends about her boyfriend.

Namjoon realised that he had nothing to say about that, only silently agreeing and nodding in understanding.

But he wished that his own girlfriend would have a little more faith and pride in his passion and dreams. Not to the point where she’d went out and slept with another man.

His heart broke even more when she confessed that she brought the man home to meet her parents instead of him because he was more capable, as she stated.

Namjoon loved her like she was his everything and yet, she treated him like nothing.

Sunbin made him question his worth and drive all the time. He should be grateful that the poison in his life had been removed.

The third time you try to talk to him, he gave in to your advances.

Namjoon was just going to let whatever happen happen, not purposely going out of way to shut you out or anything.

He was single and available.

He could do anything he wanted now like a man with freedom now.

He’s got nothing to lose.

Namjoon returns with some greasy mac ’n cheese and some bottles of beer.

He finds you inside, full attention on the book that you did not even realise he entered.

The temperature was dropping and the inside of the tent felt as cold as outside.

“Don’t you find it a little cold?”

He ducks and steps inside with bags of food and drinks.

You put your book down.

“Do you want me to set up a fire or something?”

He pauses, fighting back a smile.

Before challenging you.

“Do you even know how to?”

He snickers and takes out the container, allowing the smell of cheese to roam the confined space.

“Right…you have a point.” You pout, the imaginary little campfire bursting like a bubble popped in your head.

Something even better comes to mind.

“Maybe we can… cuddle or something.”

Namjoon freezes, unable to make proper eye contact with you.

“It’s a friendly suggestion.”

You say that, but your eyes glimmer with hope and admiration for him.

After a long awkward moment, Namjoon seems to have set his mind onto something when he finishes his meal.

“We’ll see about that. Here,” He hands you one of the bottles of booze and you gladly accepted it.

The two of you sit at the exact spot from before, this time with the company of the moon and stars.

Namjoon looks at them like he did with the trees and you concluded that this man must carry a deep love for the nature.

“I have a question,” You take a swig of the beer to give yourself alcohol courage.

Should you ask it now? Or are you taking things too fast, considering that you’ve only met this man today and letting him know that you would give him the world?

“Moon or stars?”

You ask quietly, careful to not ruin the placidity of the hushed waves and bristling trees.

“The moon.”

“Why?” You chuckle at how his reply was almost instantaneous.

“The moon, you see. Stars, there are plenty of them. But the moon is the one and only. It may sound quite stupid to you, but I like special things. Especially when people don’t pay much mind to them…little things. Like the moon.”

You watch and listen to him speak attentively.

The moon isn’t exactly little, but you hold back your interruption to let him finish.

“Everybody is so caught up with their business—be it work or play—that they don’t care about the little things that much anymore. One day, if the moon turns slightly yellow, probably five in a hundred people would only notice. The rest don’t take the time to look at the surroundings, the peaceful nature that is with them in life. Which is quite sad actually. Why is stargazing so popular but moongazing isn’t? They come in a package, it’s unfair to exclude her from the word.”

At that, you burst out into laughter.

“That makes sense,” You laugh again. “Stars appear and disappear all the time, that is why. The moon…well, the moon is sort of always just there. People tend to take these things for granted you see.”

Namjoon turns to face you, allured by your explanation.

“Why do you think it’s whale watching and not fish watching?”

You tilt your head at him, providing an analogy.

“Because we don’t see whales all the time…” He mutters, staring into the distance as if he had just got a math equation figured out.

“Precisely. It’s a strange world.”

You were different.

It was silly of Namjoon to automatically assume that you were the same as his ex-girlfriend, because the both of you were total opposites.

She would have just actively dismissed him before he even started on his thoughts on the topic—no, she wouldn’t even ask a question like that.

Namjoon was sure that she did not even know about his love for the moon.

And here he was, with a stranger he met on the bus, pouring out his opinions and questions about stars and moons. He felt like he was on cloud nine to be able to talk to someone so comfortably about something so random. Something that not many would even give two hoots about.

Your fingers drum on the surface of the ground, your hands propping your body to sit upright on the edge of the cliff.

“Then,” You start again.

“Desert or sea.” You point out to the ocean, which was barely even visible under the shade of night.

“Can I choose beach?” Namjoon chortles, placing his hands behind as well to lean back, brushing over yours accidentally.

His fingers graze and land over your smaller ones, his big hand trapping yours in an almost uncertain way.

He didn’t move, you didn’t move. He just let his hand rest near yours, slightly touching but never mentioned.

You shake your head in response, grinning.

Namjoon was just about to answer with the latter but you beat him to it.

“I’d say desert. When you have everything… it could just drown you.”

You say this and bite on your lip, like having everything actually hurt you before.

Namjoon disagrees, a man who tasted the feeling of losing everything.

“Having nothing is just as equal.” He rebuts, washing the sadness stinging in his veins with a full mouth of beer.

Like a man suffering a drought.

A silence of mutual understanding blankets the conversation, staring at the glittery sky and listening to the rushed waves of the sea, and drinking booze.

Unconsciously, you slip nearer to him.

Blame the alcohol, because the feeling of his thigh touching yours was electrifying.

Somewhere into the slow night, you and Namjoon talked about all sorts of stuff without returning to the tent. The night breeze was cooling to the skin and you enjoyed it very much. Still, your thighs were still touching but no one got onto each other’s lap or avoided the skin contact. You placed the last bottle down carelessly, the clanking of it against the hard rock warning you of the close breakage—but honestly you couldn’t care less.

Namjoon was on his third bottle of Soju and you were on the second, but the answer was clear as to who was the lightweight.

“I think lobsters are immortals,” You made a brave statement, puffing out your chest.

“I think the fuck not, Y/N.”

You never liked your name being called by someone this much.

The way it perfectly flows out of his mouth, his thick voice and blank expression. Heat began creeping up to your cheeks—you’re unsure if it’s from the anger of retorting or your name on his lips.

You’re a little tipsy to be thinking coherent thoughts, but screw sobriety.

“Technically, there is evidence—”

“Oh, why don’t you just shut up and own some crabby petties?” You sassed back at him, ignoring his substantial proof of lobsters dying of age.

“And, leave. My. Lobsters. Alone.”

You draw your face closer to his as you tell him that, the realisation of the proximity between both your lips not dawning right on you yet.

You were in the middle of a discussion on crustaceans with him, and suddenly your face was pulled so close to his own.

Namjoon looks you in the eyes, something fiery can be sensed through his brown orbs and you can feel his breath on your cupid’s bow.

His gaze kept flickering between your lips and your eyes, and you dark your tongue out to lick at them, feeling slightly self-conscious.

Then, he makes home at your eyes.

“Did you just make a pun,”

His voice falls an octave, a hint of raspiness hidden behind his throat.

Both your bodies were leaning so close to each other now, arms behind each other’s backs to keep near.

“Yeah I did. So what.” You breathed out shyly yet your words bagged a heavy tut. You were surprised that you even managed to form a response being this close to Namjoon.

You swear your nose was bumping onto the tip of his now, the one you had so badly dreamt of kissing from the gas station earlier on.

You fired the last question.

“Kiss or be kissed,”

And your heart lurches when he steals the period of the sentence away, by dipping his head to snatch your breath away.

He was nothing like the kisser you imagined with those plump lips; rough, urgent and sensual all at the same time. Namjoon slants his lips with yours fervently, hand coming up to hold your neck firmly as he kisses you.

Fluttering your lids shut, your place your hands on his firm chest before smoothing them up to wrap around his neck. The action made him growl lowly before lunging onto your body like a beast starved.

A light whimper leaves your throat as he moves his lips rhythmically against yours, teeth clashing and breaths exchanged. Your moans in his mouth seem to encourage him further, but still his tongue makes no appearance.

He knew how to take things fast and slow at the same time, and you loved every moment of it.

Namjoon gains full control over you by tilting your head the angle he wants to devour you and he melds his lips with yours like you were going to disappear by the second.

He had pushed you onto your back onto the rock platform already, whole body caging yours when he finally breaks away.

You were a panting mess from his rushed kissing, lips swollen from how hard he had bit onto it and hair slightly tousled from his fingers running through it.

“Kiss. I want to kiss you all night.”

Inside you beamed like the brightest star alive and this time, it was you who captures his lips again.

Namjoon tasted like a mixture of bitter and sweet, he was soft in his actions but his mouth was relentless.

It took you a lot of willpower—with his face stuck to yours and hands caressing your jaw— but you succeeded in pushing him away to get inside.

“Namjoon,” You barely pronounce his name right, because he takes your gesture as a sign to continue his ministrations on your jaw.

“Do you wanna go into the tent instead?”

He plants a final kiss onto your lips before standing up and offering you a hand.

The buzz invites itself onto your phone once again and you internally groaned, wishing he’d heard nothing.

“I think that was your phone,” He alerts you, and you pretend to not care.

“It’s nothing important.” You say as you lean in and press your lips against his cheeks.

He shoves you away gently.

“Wait, what if it’s for me?”

“Nam—“

In no time, he let go of your hand and went on his knees to search for the resounding device.

The same cold Unknown flashed on the screen and you tongued at your cheek.

Namjoon stares at the phone for a while, biting the inside of his cheek in contemplation.

“I…I have to take this,” He stammers and it was all you needed.

You reach for his hand and held it calmly.

“Don’t,” You have no idea what you trying to tell him but you knew that he should never pick up.

“You looked so pained whenever you’re on that call…”

His hair reflected a streak of gold under the mini lamp and his features were so dangerously beautiful. He was still, in one way or another, a stranger to you but you were eager to learn about his world and dive into the deepness of his soul.

You could feel it—from the bus station, to the gas pumps and now by the beach with him—that he was so lost and broken, just the way you were.

You wanted to be the light to guide him out of this darkness but he always deemed it impossible by returning to the old ways.

“Then why are you here?” You take a step, decreasing the space between.

“Isn’t the purpose of this whole short escapade to renew and start afresh?”

You released a sigh, not navigating where exactly this was headed towards.

“It’s your life… It’s yours to decide.”

He doesn’t look at you, only thinking about it hard.

That is before he returns the phone to you and mumbles that he’ll head to bed first.

You rarely stopped yourself from asking questions when curiosity consumed you. But when it came to Namjoon however… you stay silent.

You did not want to intrude more than you should, but you also knew that Namjoon, the guy you’ve been crushing on since the start of the bus ride, would never open his mouth unless you asked him to.

Seeing Namjoon being so despondent reminded you of your situation with your family.

Thoughts about your parents, Jungkook, Namjoon…Namjoon.

The way he kissed you a few minutes ago soared you to heaven temporarily.

Was he ever this attracted to you as you were all along?

The more you think, the more things seemed bizarre and did not make any sense at all.

You wonder what sparked the sudden urge to pounce onto you like he did last night when he wouldn’t even spare you a proper glance on the bus.

You did not want this day to end on bad note.

If this was the first and last time with him, you wanted to make it worth while.

“So…you don’t mind cuddling, do you?”

The body beside you stirs awake.

Seems like you were not alone in failing to catch some sleep.

Namjoon doesn’t reply to that, only proceeding to finally wrap his arms firmly around you. You resist the squeak of excitement popping out of your chest as you feel his muscular chest press against your back. He hums in response, the low vibrations travelling down your spine and you fight back a shiver. Namjoon seemed too tired to say anything else.

You keep still, not wanting any small movement to disrupt his rest.

He falls asleep in two seconds while you carry on with your attempts.

You couldn’t sleep despite the fatigue rinsing you and draining your head of any sensibility.

Clamping your lids shut, you try to focus on the rhythm of your breathing instead to ease yourself into a slumber as well. This time, it twitches against your ass and you can no longer close one eye to the situation at hand.

Bucking your hips back into his, he involuntarily lets out a deep groan at the feeling. Whether he was still in his sleep or not, the noises Namjoon made sent your mind spiralling into a pool of lust.

His dick grows even harder, pushing against the material of your shorts.

“Namjoon,” You try to flip over to face him, but failing to do so as he steadies you in place.

“Namjoon,” You whine in protest, the feeling overwhelming and you have to do something about it.

The second call of his name stirs him slightly awake, hand accidentally sliding down the curve of your thigh and a shudder rumbles throughout your body as he touches the sensitive skin. He seems to get the reaction, doing it again, and this time skimming over the inside of your thigh. He’s doing this on purpose, to tease you to the end of your wits and you are not going to lie there and take it.

You swear you were about to throw yourself over and pin his cheeky hands down, but he beats you to it by a step. His lips ghosts over the shell of your ear, grip tightening on your thigh and you let loose completely.

“What is it that you want so badly,” His mouth travels to the exposed skin of your neck, tongue darting out to give you small licks. “That you keep waking me up?”

“W-Why do you have a boner?”

“It happens when I’m tired.”

“Oh,” You blinked, remembering the feel of it against your ass.

Long, thick and heavy. Throbbing, even. You couldn’t register the fact that you were salivating as he crashes his lips onto yours once more, savouring all of you.

“I want you to fuck me so good, Namjoon.”

He shoots his head up from the curve of your neck, expression laced with confused and shock.

“No pressure.” You blurt out to save yourself when he stares at you like you’ve made a bad joke.

“Say that again.”

He startles you by using his fingers to rub circles onto your clothed clit.

You let out a squeak when he applies more pressure onto the sensitive nub, drawling a moan to spill from your lips.

“What do you want?”

He’s getting impatient, shoving your panties to the side and sliding a finger inside of you.

You sighed and held onto his shoulders when he started pumping the digit in and out of your wetness.

“Can you fuck me please?” You look him in the eye as you say this, making him hiss and groan in satisfaction.

“Since you asked so nicely…”

His finger picks up a rapid pace, your juices smeared messily over his hand.

“Fuck baby, you’re so wet already…”

He sticks his tongue out and you oblige by sucking on his wet muscle.

Shortly after, he replaces it with his soaked finger and you take the whole length of his finger into your mouth and swirled your tongue around it.

Namjoon feels more blood rush to his cock if that is even possible, because he is so hard, he doesn’t even know if he can feel his dick.

You slowly let your oversized shirt fall off your shoulders, sliding down to expose your breasts.

Namjoon rips the shirt apart instead and latches his mouth onto a hardened nipple.

He cups the other breast in one hand, passionately massaging it while his other hand runs up and down the slickness of your heat.

“Everything about you…Mmm—so perfect…” He hums and sucks on your breast.

You were going to explode.

He was touching you in so many places at once, his hard length brushing against your torso occasionally and his hands possessively roaming over every inch of your skin.

“Namjoon,” You whined out to him again, wanting more than just touching and kissing.

“Turn around,” He commands deeply and you hurry to his desired position, giving him a full view of your ass.

He slaps it on instinct, before coming up to rub the sting away.

Namjoon doesn’t give you a heads up before sliding his cock into you easily.

Screaming, he starts off rough like his kisses and you can’t help but feel tears pricking at the corner of your eyes.

The pain was forced into pleasure as he continued to piston his hips into you relentlessly, the thickness stretching you out and filling you up so good.

As he slammed into you harder and harder, you felt like you were being used as a sex toy. Like he was only venting in the sex with you.

You hated it, but it still felt impossibly good and irresistible.

“Ah, god. You feel so fucking tight—argh!” He moans and you clench around him even more at the noise he made.

“N-Namjoon,” You repeated his name for as many times as you could, enjoying the way you can call him like that, in this manner.

Namjoon was close. He could feel it just by seeing you sprawled out naked for him, ass up and head smashed onto the pillow. The way your ass jiggled every time his hips smacked onto them, the pretty little noises you made with every thrust.

The way his name sounded falling from your lips.

He came inside of you, right after you climaxed with the help of the rubbing of your clit with your own fingers and the both you plopped down next to each other, beat from the sex.

Moments like these; him lying next to side half-naked and smiling away about nothing at all, and the small giggles that erupt from your lungs, the accidental light grazes of his hand over yours, his dimpled smile that rarely showed up.

When you wake up to the sun that glared fiercely through the nylon sheets of your temporary shelter, Namjoon was watching you.

Jumping back, you grab the blanket as a form of protection.

“What… are you doing here?!”

He looks down, trying to contain his laughter.

“Wait, where am I?”

The memories start running back to you piece by piece and you nod in realisation.

“Ah, right.”

Namjoon flashes the last of his full smile that is equivalent to the sun.

Moments like these, are short-lived.

“Y/N,” He says, tone somehow serious but casual.

“I’m leaving.”

You gather yourself and listen.

“Last night, was spectacular.” He tells you confidently. A shade of coral brushes over your cheeks.

“Not just…that, of course. I really enjoyed every second spent with you and I’m so glad you came into my life. Even if it was just for a night. Or day, whatever.”

Because nothing ever goes smoothly in life.

Even Alice had to leave Wonderland.

“I’m going to find her and get her back.”

Happiness was still something you were going to continue searching for, while Namjoon fights for his own.

“Oh,” It’s all you can reply, your head a pool of thoughts, words, feelings and emotions. But you wouldn’t voice them out. You couldn’t.

“Goodluck. I had a fun time as well.”

Even though you wished for more.

“I hope you’ll be heading wherever you need to be as well?”

Namjoon stretches his hand out and you slap it.

He was inserting all this platonic gestures to not make it feel weirder than it already is.

“Yeah. Will be on my way.”

You can already sense a Jungkook driving his way here to pick you up according to the summon of your father. While Namjoon will look for his lover and seek the clarification he needs.

In fact, the both of you will be on your separate ways now.

This, is where the true journey of a bus ride with him, ends.

It’s been exactly ten weeks since your strange encounter with Namjoon.

An encounter that consisted of almost everything an adventure had in store.

All of this is not a coincidence , you like to believe.

Every single time you were on a bus, you can’t help but wonder if Namjoon would magically pop out and turn your life downside up. Cause the butterflies in your stomach to form again. You want to know what he’s doing. If him and his girlfriend are well now.

Even as of right now, you can’t help but anticipate the next bus ride to happen, rejecting Jungkook’s offer for a ride.

At night, you cannot sleep without thinking about the moonlight that shines in his eyes.

The way your name falls from his lips.

His soft touches and gentle caresses.

His sweet and plump lips with his big hands on your hips.

As much as you’d like to forget, no one has ever brought you to close to euphoria before.

It was considerably the happiest moment in your stagnant life.

Being with Namjoon made you feel like achieved something great. The strong thumping of your heart, the words that flowed so smoothly out of your mouth, your jumbled thoughts coming together perfectly with him around.

It just felt so right.

A tap on your shoulder caused you to remove an ear bud.

“Excuse me, miss. Is this seat taken?”

#btssmutclub #hyunglinenetwork #btsguild #namjoon smut #namjoon angst #namjoon scenarios #namjoon x reader #bts scenarios #namjoon fluff #bts smut #bts angst #namjoon fanfic #jungkook #bts #kim namjoon #namjoon #namjoon x oc #bangtan #bts fanfic

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Future State is the Next Evolution for DC’s Legion of Super-Heroes

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains spoilers for Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #1

Never let it be said that Brian Michael Bendis doesn’t know how to keep busy. The prolific writer has had his hands full since coming to DC in 2018. Arriving with much fanfare on both Superman and Action Comics, Bendis also relaunched Young Justice, co-created a new DC mainstay in Naomi, wrote the excellent Batman: Universe, shepherded the Event Leviathan mini, and more. All of these books introduced new characters, re-tooled existing ones (such as aging up young Jonathan Kent to his mid-teens), and set various wheels in motion throughout the DC Universe.

And in the midst of that he also rebooted the team with the largest roster in all of comics, the one that brings with it the most complex web of continuity, the one that requires the most amount of worldbuilding by virtue of its 31st century setting. I am, of course, talking about the Legion of Super-Heroes.

It’s been a little over a year since the launch of Bendis and Ryan Sook’s ongoing Legion of Super-Heroes book, which kicked off in the Superman titles, brought the now Legion-aged Jon Kent along (any good Legion needs a Superboy…it’s the law), showcased some truly spectacular new character designs in Sook’s art (new costumes and regular redesigns for Legionnaires may as well be the law, too) and established what the 31st century of the current DC Universe looks like these days. In true Legion fashion…well, it’s a lot.

The book seemed to reach a stopping point with its twelfth issue, taking a brief hiatus. But not too brief, because as part of DC’s Future State initiative, which offers tantalizing glimpses of the DC Universe to come across the entire line, Bendis returns to the 31st century with the two-part Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes, this time aided and abetted by Riley Rossmo on art. And like Sook before him, Rossmo followed one of those unspoken Legion laws and gave a bunch of the Legionnaires new looks. Great new looks.

But…isn’t Legion of Super-Heroes by its very nature ALREADY a Future State book? Not exactly, and fans of the recent series will find plenty of surprises even as it picks up on story threads from the main series. Oh, and if the roster wasn’t big enough already, there are some Legionnaires you haven’t seen yet, and some fan favorites everyone has been waiting for. Bendis told us all about it…

(This interview has been edited for length)

Den of Geek: Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #1 kicks off with a time jump from where we last saw the team in Legion of Super-Heroes #12. What can you tell us about that time jump?

Brian Michael Bendis: We were going to do a time jump after the first 12 issues, regardless. That was the plan because it’s in the DNA of Legion where you don’t have to, if you don’t want to, there’s no reason to stay [in one time period]. You don’t have to do monthly, to monthly, to monthly, like you would on Superman or Batman because it’s a shared universe and anything that happens in one book affects all the other books.

Whereas Legion, because it’s a thousand years in the future, you can do five years later. You can jump and bounce around and show the story from different perspectives. So the jump was always on the list of things to do with Legion. And then DC called and said, “Hey, Future State!” And I’m like, “Oh, great. Already in my notes.” It was all already planned. It’s the future, of the future. I liked that, so I leaned into it hard.

The issue isn’t clear about how much of a time jump it is, though.

No. The hint I will give is that it’s not as big of a time jump as people might think, considering the dramatic changes that have happened around them.

Is that time jump, and whatever it is that happened, tied to the “Great Darkness” that was being teased in the latter part of the main run? Or is this a separate event?

It is a separate event, but it doesn’t stop the momentum where they’re headed. They’re concerned that this is The Great Darkness. They’re like, “Oh, this is The Great Darkness. We can deal with it.” And then they go, “Oh, shit. This wasn’t The Great Darkness. This was just a mild case of darkness.” As bad as the event was, there’s something else coming. They live in almost…not fear, but in dread of what this Great Darkness is, how it may manifest itself, and whether they’ll be ready for it when it comes.

It’s funny, when I spoke to you before the launch of the book, I had asked you about the potential to touch on existing Legion stories. At the time, you were like, “No, we don’t want to do that,” and you specifically mentioned The Great Darkness Saga as one where “people know what’s going to happen.” And clearly you’ve found a way around that.

I think when we brought back Secret War or other things at Marvel, you want to find something that fits the label, but elevates. You don’t want to just repeat the beats of something people have already seen. I personally like it when, if you don’t know anything about the history of the Legion, it completely works. But if you know everything about Legion, we’ve got something for you. That’s been my goal from the get go.

You had said that the time jump was already probably going to be baked into the book anyway.

It was. It was like my third note when I was making my notes for Legion. It was like, “oh, and we don’t have to follow a linear timeframe.” We can tell stories from anywhere in this period, even going to prequel stories and then stories that go before they were all gathered as well.

How much of the specifics of that were in place before it became Future State? Was Riley Rossmo on art already on the table? Or did that happen later?

No. I’m very happy to report that Riley was the first name requested, and he immediately said yes. I had worked with Riley on a couple of things. There’s something about his work that very deeply speaks to me. I just was like, I would like to see more Legion with him.

I said, “This is a grand opportunity. Just go nuts.” That’s what you want for someone like Riley, to give him an excuse just to use all his tools and all his imagination. He took it from there.

And the script was really like… sometimes you write scripts, and they’re emotional, and sometimes they almost take on a list of drawing prompts. I was just prompting him to go as crazy as he wanted to go, and I would then take the ideas from there.

How did you settle on which Legionnaires would be part of this? Did Riley have input into that as well?

I 100% said to Riley, “Who do you want to draw?” I do this with anybody I can. If there’s any space in which we can meet. I’m like, “What would you like to draw?” I’ve learned through many years and many collaborations that just asking brings a level of craft and quality to the finished product that everyone gets excited about. When an artist points to something and says, “I want to draw that,” they’re telling you, “I’m going to draw the hell out of it and this is going to be amazing.” So I always try to make it work.

He had a list of characters, some of which I already knew he was going to pick from our past work together. I was able to use most of them. Also, I told him what the hook of the story was, so it was easy to cast. There were some character needs we had, like Saturn Girl, but he had already picked them.

One of my favorite things about the Legion in general, and then particularly about this run of it, it’s always about how the characters evolve and how the costumes get redesigned on a regular basis. This was the first opportunity since Ryan Sook did the designs in the main run for that to happen. Did you discuss any of Riley’s designs beforehand?

I told him “Here’s what’s happened to them, here’s who did it, here’s why, and make your choices. Here’s what’s motivating the character.” And then sometimes he came to me with designs where I went, “Oh, I can write a whole of stuff about that.” So, yeah, it was a nice mix.

It’s nice to see the Duo Damsel change happen.

See, I agree with you and I hated it at the same time. One of my favorite storylines of all time is the Duo Damsel thing. But it’s also like the biggest tragedy in comics to me. It’s like a haunting thing. It’s losing a limb but it’s a whole person. So, I was excited to write it and dreading it at the same time. I knew I would feel it and I knew that Riley would bring a lot to it too.

You’re able to encompass that whole thing in just a couple of panels too. It was really powerful.

Well, if I remember correctly, that’s how they did it back in the day too.

Yeah. It was like, she came back and they’re like, “Wait, you’re alive.” It’s like, “well, kind of…”

Yeah, and no one knows what to say. It’s just so unique, the tragedy.

There’s a lot of characters who appear in this issue. Shadow Lass, Ultra Boy, Brainiac 7, Saturn Girl, Colossal Boy, Chameleon Boy, Cosmic Boy, Timber Wolf, Blok, Duo Damsel, Bouncing Boy, and Element Lad. I rattled off the people that I know for sure because they’re throughout most of the book. And then page eight and nine, there’s this spread and there’s a few Legionnaires that I can’t quite identify. Is that Shrinking Violent and Polar Boy? Who are some of these others?

That’s the Substitute Heroes. Time jumping was number three on my list of Legion notes, but I think the Substitutes was number eight. May I say, hilariously at the announcement of this relaunch of a Legion of Super-Heroes, the first comment was, “Substitute Heroes.” I was like, bring them. We don’t want the Legion, we want the Substitutes. I was excited to bring them in here, and it seemed like a good place. And also, Riley was the right person to infuse them with new energy.

Who’s the guy wearing the Superman crest and the hood?

You will find out next issue. A payoff’s coming.

On page 23, you give Bouncing Boy possibly his most badass moment ever. How long have you been planning that Bouncing Boy moment in your head?

Riley made it the most badass moment ever, I will say. If you really do some pseudo-super-Legion science, he really does add up to be the most powerful Legionnaire. I just thought it was a great way to celebrate that character, which I love.

That panel’s great. I almost want to see it in 3D.

Everyone gets their moment and then every once in a while, just something really special happens in the collaboration and you’re like, yeah, good. I absolutely wanted Bouncing Boy to have that kickass of a moment.

I have one more question about one of the mystery Legionnaires. There’s another great shot, another great spread at the end of the book. There’s a guy who is carrying a laser sword of some kind. I don’t recognize this character.

That’s Ferro Lad and his sword. He has a sword now. I love that design.

There’s one more issue of Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes out in February, but there’s no Legion in DC’s solicitations for March and April.

But there are Legion plans coming. Legion is a hard book to make. There’s 34 lead characters, and we try to shove as many of them on panel as often as possible because that’s one of the best parts of the Legion is the scope of it.

I think you can kind of tell from the jam issues and the fill-ins and the level of quality, attempting to keep it at the highest quality possible, yet still delivering that very special Legion feeling…instead of fill-ins that may not be up to the quality that we were doing, we’ll stop, get a story ready to go, and solicit it when it’s time. There’s more to come.

I know that’s frustrating for some people and some people just want it monthly. I get that, but not all books are created in the same way. It’s art. Even though it’s commercial art, it is art. The pandemic also takes a lot out of the schedule. When we’re ready, we’ll put out more. We’re planning stuff that connects to what’s going on in Justice League as well. Not to connect the two, but that is 100% within what’s happening.

Do you already have your artistic collaborators lined up for the next arc of the book?

Yes.

You’re not going to tell me, are you?

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No. It’s very, very good news. I’m absolutely delighted, but honestly, I don’t want the person stolen. Sometimes that has happened to me. I don’t mean to be vague, but right now, I don’t want to oversell something that is down the line.

One of the cool things you did in the main run of the book was introduce legacy characters that fans don’t usually associate with the Legion, like Dr. Fate and particularly Gold Lantern. I want to know what kind of feedback you got from fans on those.

Well, I was actually quite delighted. I thought the purists were really going to hit us hard on any additive stuff, but most Legion fans know that almost every run of Legion has had the added characters to the roster.

It gets frustrating only because when there’s been a lot of time in between Legion books, so some of these fan-favorite characters from past runs don’t get as much face time because you’ve introduced Gold Lantern and “oh, Gold Lantern is standing in front of Ferro Lad. We want more Ferro Lad!” Which I understand, so you better make sure Gold Lantern is interesting enough that no one feels slighted because it’s not Shadow Lass. I must say the additions, particularly of Gold Lantern and Dr. Fate and Monster Boy, all seem to go over very well and I was grateful for that.

Our biggest pushback was on redesigning the costumes. That comes with every Legion redo as well. So I pointed that out. But part of it is that some of the biggest fans in the world have already dedicated cosplay, and we messed up their cosplay. This happened in the X-Men too when we redid Magneto’s costume. People were screaming at us. We’re like “Oh, because you bought the helmet. Okay. I’m sorry. I get it.”

But I just don’t think they take away from each other. I just know from Legion past and other franchises I’ve worked on that anything you’re earnestly adding to it is good, even if it’s got pushback in the moment. I live in a world with the things I’ve gotten pushed back on the hardest ended up being huge movie moments that everybody applauded 10 years later. “Good job on creating Ronin!” I’m like, “Really? Where were you when it debuted? Because people were ripping my face off.”

So compared to stuff like that, I think the Legion fans have been just really, really generous and cool about where we’re going. I think they can tell we’re real Legion fans and we’re not messing around, and we’re taking it seriously. Even though you may not agree with every choice we’re making, you see we’re making loving choices.

Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #1 is on sale now. We’ll have more from Brian Michael Bendis about his upcoming run on Justice League very soon!

The post Future State is the Next Evolution for DC’s Legion of Super-Heroes appeared first on Den of Geek.

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i-llbedammned · 5 years ago

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Cool Heroes Don’t Look At Explosions

This is for the BuckyNat Secret Santa 2019! This is for @nocek ! I used the prompts “Shenanigans with Alpine and Liho.” and “Cool heros don't look back at explosions.” I hope you enjoy it! Title: Cool Heroes Don’t Look at Explosions Word Count: 2694 Summary:

Fic: “Come back here!” came a loud noise as with a crash a white cat ran straight through the screen door. Fast behind them came a man who would strike terror into most people- The Winter Soldier himself, albeit if he was intending to be on a mission he likely would have went with something a little bit more combat oriented than a black and red flannel and jeans. As it was he was having a time pulling on his boots while trying to catch a very determined white cat who took it upon themselves to begin their ascent up a telephone pole.

Curses mumbled in Russian emerged from Bucky’s mouth as he stared up at his companion before he switched gears, clicking and hissing gently to try and coax the animal down.“Come on Alpine, Come back down.” He crooned, only to be met with a rough “Mow” as Alpine briefly turned around to look at him before continuing on his way.

With a dexterity that is usually reserved for super spies the cat wound his way through trees, always one step ahead of Bucky Barnes. It wasn’t his fault but the cat chose to go through the most narrow passages that were covered with thorns. Every. Time. At least no one was around to see him chasing helplessly after a cat.A rustle in the bushes and he tensed up. This mountain was pretty abandoned, at least in the area he chose to live in.

He reached for the gun at his hip, keeping his eyes on the cat and following. Assassins didn’t care if you just wanted to catch your pet.

Much to his surprise he heard a very familiar voice crooning, “Come on, Liho. You don’t even like the snow.”

A moment later a black cat came dashing through the bushes to collide with Alpine. Fast behind followed Natasha Romanov, the Black Widow dressed in a white sweater and black leather leggings, looking just about as pleased as Bucky was to be out in the snow at the moment. His muscles relaxed and he took his hand off his weapon. If she wanted to kill him, he wouldn’t have seen her so blatantly.Rather than exchanging pleasantries, Bucky instead took the opportunity to lunge for Alpine while he was knocked down. Alas, the cat was a little too quick and instead he nose-dived into the snow.

“That kind of day for you too?” Natasha laughed, extending a hand to him to help him up. Up the sleeves of her fluffy sweater he noticed that there were still lock picks and stun darts and he grinned.

Even a pet emergency could leave you vulnerable and there were few people who could understand that.“The damn cat won’t stop moving.” He replied lightly as they both stalked their respective pets.

Natasha nodded, her red hair failing down past her shoulders as she did so, “Much the same with Liho. She woke up this morning and decided to explore.”

As if signaled by their talks, both cats raced each other to the edge of a hill.

“Great,” grumbled Bucky, “They’re teaming up against us.”

“The monsters. How could they?” dryly replied the Black Widow, watching with bemused eyes as the cats slid gracelessly down a hill in a fur-based snowball.

The sound of metal grinding against metal made them both freeze, smiles stuck halfway on their faces. No one should be out here, even the loggers had shut down for the season. Natasha threw herself to the ground as Bucky hid behind a tree.

With a well-practiced grace she made her way wordlessly forward.The Winter Soldier quirked an eyebrow to ask if it was okay to move forward and she gave him the most subtle of nods before turning her attention back to the situation over the hill. Taking a similar position on the ground, he lay next to her among the snow and brush.

Down the hill, there was a factory of some sort. They scanned around. Soldiers, army transport trucks, chainlink fence topped with barbed wire- all things they were intimately familiar with yet were not fully prepared to see out here.

“Red Skull,” Natasha muttered, pointing her chin towards a sign written in German on the side of the building, “Not sure what it’s for, but that’s his signature.”

“Have I mentioned how much I really hate Nazis?” Bucky replied, feeling a pre-emptive headache begin to form at the thought of how much work this was going to be.

That is if their cats didn’t blow their cover.

Heedless of their deadly predicament, the two animals had recovered from their tumble and were now dashing towards the fence.

“Gotta stop them. If they are spotted, people will know someone is nearby,” Natasha got to a crouch and began her descent down the hill without another word, dashing like a shadow after the cats.

“I would prefer not shoot my way out of my problems today. That’ll be a lot of wetwork,” Bucky sighed, following suit. Not that he couldn’t, but he was honestly having a relaxing vacation other than this incident. It definitely was not because he didn’t want Natasha or the cats to get hurt because soldiers didn’t care about things like that.

There was a hissed curse in Russian as he reached the bottom of hill and the sound of metal being clipped. “What now?” he asked, knowing the answer even before he said it.

“The cats found the one gap in the fence.” She responded, her metal snips working away quickly to widen the hole big enough for her to fit through

.“Gotta stop teaching them the tools of the trade,” He responded, glad that the fence was not electrified.

“Now you tell me,” she jibed, as she slid her way in. Lacking her grace, Bucky instead used his metal arm to tear the hole a bit wider. He didn’t have any intention of leaving this base untouched so the need for stealth was pretty much moot in his eyes.

Luck, for the first time of the day, was on their side. The cats did not run across any soldiers and no one noticed the gap in the fence, at least for now.

However the chances of being unnoticed were less and less as the felines padded their way towards the side of the building. Before they could get caught by the cameras, Bucky flung a knife at them, crushing the electronics.

Liho batted at a vent as the animals reached the bricks. Good, at least now they were stopped.“Got you now.” Natasha grinned, only to be further disappointed as the vent opened just enough for both cats to slide into.

“I can’t go in there,” The Winter Soldier gestured to his arm and broad shoulders.

Natasha looked around, craning her head upwards, “Think you can reach up there?”

Following her gaze he saw there was a high window without bars on it, “Yeah, no problem there.”

“I’ll follow the cats. You catch up with us inside.” Shedding her sweater to reveal a black tank top, the Russian assassin-turned-hero shoved herself into the ventilation system.

He swore she had to have one of those collapsible skeletons like rat from how easy she made it look.Now to deal with his situation. Getting to the window wasn’t a problem, but getting in without shattering the glass might be. Turning his head to either side, he checked for guards but a commotion out front with one of the trucks had them otherwise occupied. With barely an effort, he jumped upwards, digging his metal hand into the stone and using that to fling himself upwards.

For a moment he froze, listening to see if the sound of crunching stone would alert anyone to his presence, but no one immediately cried out. He dug his boots into the hole made by the metal hand before checking the window.

Locked, but that was nothing new. Hitting a button on his arm, a small drill came out of one of his fingers –one of Tony’s improvements to the system made during his brief time with the Avengers.The drill made short work of the lock, allowing the glass panel to pop out of the frame and the Winter Solider to make his way into the factory. For a moment he paused, standing in the white light cast by the snow outside amongst all the blackness around him as his eyes adjusted. Dust motes whirled in the air, pushed by the new wind he had brought in. Slowly the room took shape. Walls of computers took form. Large tanks of something that smelled volatile and acrid. Cameras glowing everywhere.With bold steps he walked forward.

There was no way they didn’t see him on the cameras by now, so he might was well actually learn what Red Skull was doing out in the middle of nowhere. He was sure that any headache that would be caused by his actions would be forgiven if he brought something valuable to S.H.I.E.L.D.

“Bucky, there’s-“ Natasha began, stepping behind him with two cats looking quite sour in her arms. Her tone was all business, but the concern was there.

“Bombs,” he finished as the final piece of data went through, “A lot of bombs.”

“They plan on trying to blow up the UN summit. I was able to grab some documents from their files before they got too close for comfort.”

Despite the circumstances he cast a sideways glance at her, admiration gracing his eyes, “All while making sure the cats stayed safe, I see.”

“I came in here with a mission to get the cats. I wasn’t about to lose sight of the primary objective even with the new threat.” She said, a small grin on her face before it melted away, “We can’t let this stand. Millions will die if we do.”

Bucky nodded. He knew what needed to be done, “Start running, Nat.”

“What are you-“ she began, trying to look over his shoulder at the program he was putting into the system.

“Just run. I’ll catch up.” His hands never stopped working, nor did his gaze look at her but his voice sounded concerned. It wasn’t something everyone would notice, but she had worked with him long enough to hear the subtle way that his voice tensed up when he was actually worried about the person.

She looked like she wanted to argue, but broke off with a sigh, “Don’t do anything stupid. I’ll meet you up the hill at the cabin we liked to visit last time we were in town.”He nodded. She paused, placing a hand on his arm that gently conveyed her worry before she was off, like a shadow racing the sun and time with two cats in her arms.

The cabin was little more than a one room stopover that Nat used when running from people, but during the two months they had spent there a few years back they had made it feel more like home. It had been years since he had thought about it, but he knew where he would find it once he got his bearings.

She had barely been gone a few seconds when the loud sound of footsteps sounded in the halls. Shit, no time. A loud explosion from the direction Natasha had come from and the sound of angry shouts. Bless that woman, setting a bomb that bought him enough time to finish. He pressed the execution button and began to run as the door was opened and shots began to fire around him.

All of his stamina was spent pushing power to his legs.

He had no clue what the blast radius for a bomb factory would be realistically, but he sure didn’t want to find out. Loud sirens went off behind him with the harsh crack of guns. Then there was a loud boom and a good deal of heat that he couldn’t look back to see. The force of the blast sent him sprawling, landing on his back in the snow.

Was he dead? He quiet asked himself. No, not yet at least. There was a loud ringing in his ear.Natasha was standing over him, with two cats wrapped in her white sweater. A red halo of slightly singed hair surrounded her head as she looked down at his prone form.

“Fancy meeting you here,” he mumbled, his eyes staring unfocusedly at her face against the white sky. He knew he should move, but everything felt dizzy and heavy now.

“Figured you couldn’t find the cabin without my help,” She said, bending down and picking him up with a strength that would be unexpected by fools. His feet stumble walked alongside of her, not enough wits about him to come up with a witty comeback or struggle against her help. All he could do was take solace in her strength.

The cabin had changed a bit since he had last been there. There were paintings and a few more blankets along with a bookshelf that was halfway filled and even a small bathroom. They were small details, but they made the place feel less like a halfway house and more like a home.

After they had gotten back, Nat had started a fire in the woodburning stove and slowly the shock had worn off as he sat there.

“Here, take this.” Natasha said, handing him a warm mug that was decorated with cartoon snowmen now wearing her sweater sans cats.

The two aforementioned mischief makers seemed to be tuckered out by their adventures and had curled up together on the opposite end of the couch.

“Coffee,” he said appreciatively, taking a sip and closing his eyes to appreciate it. His eyes slid open, “Has anyone told you that you are utterly beautiful?”

“All the time, but I never get tired of hearing you say it, James,” She said, sliding next to him close enough to where he could feel her warmth. It was nice, a comforting closeness that neither of them regularly allowed other people to take in.

“You’d think they were the spies with how they found the bomb.” He nodded, taking another sip of coffee and slinging his arm across the back of the couch.

“If they are they’re rookies, got scared the first time that they ran across combat.” Nat said, leaning against him, looking at the two cats, ”Good instincts though.” Scrapes that would heal in an hour stood out on her hands. Cool heroes didn’t look at explosions, but that didn’t mean that explosions didn’t hit them the same way. Blessedly, the technology that had birthed them had gifted them with extraordinary healing. It was one of the few severance packages they had taken away from the experiments.

James Barnes laughed, an unfamiliar gesture to him in recent years but with her it came easily enough when they were in private, “Guess we’ll have to train them more then. Gonna teach Alpine how to fire a rifle next.

”Natasha laughed, a warm rich sound, “I’m sure Fury will love that.” She paused, both of them realizing that they would need to deal with S.H.I.E.L.D. sooner rather than later.

“We gotta tell them, but let’s make sure that we leave the part out about the cats.” Bucky grimaced, “I do not want to deal with Steve telling me cat stories for the next few years til we get another mission.”

“A reasonable secret.” She conceded, “But we won’t get a chance to tell him for a few days. Can’t have us escape that factory only to get shot by Red Skull as they comb the area. Best bet is to hide here and wait for everything to pass.”

“Guess we’ll have to make the most of the time that we are forced to spend together then,” He responded, a glint in his eye that made Natasha excited for the idea that was behind it.

That night, the cabin felt a lot warmer and this time it was most assuredly not a place Bucky Barnes or Natasha Romanov would ever forget about.

#buckynat secret santa #buckynat secret santa 2019 #buckynat #natbucky #Winter Soldier #Black Widow #marvel #fanfic

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ampharos-writes · 4 years ago

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Red Eye

Statement #0050204 Author’s Name: Hector Calderon Nature of Incident: Anomalous occurrences during an overnight flight Date and Location: February 4th, 2005, between Seattle, Washington, USA and Phoenix, Arizona, USA

Statement

I’ve never understood people who dislike traveling.

Well, no, I’m not sure that’s entirely true. I can understand disliking public transportation, perhaps. Trains and buses inevitably become messy despite the best efforts of poor overworked city employees, and societal convention seems to break down when you try to pack that many people in that tight a space. I can understand that.

What I [i]don’t[/i] understand is people who claim to dislike driving or flying. There’s something peaceful shared by the both of them, a quiet atmosphere, an isolation that, whether it be simulated on an airplane or very real in your car, can create a sort of inner peace. I’ve never done quite as much good thinking and introspection as I have on long flights, and there’s perhaps nothing quite as relaxing as a drive to nowhere in particular.

Of course, it’s always better to go at night. Daytime in a car runs into traffic, heat from the sunlight constantly bearing its gaze through the not-quite-tinted-enough windows, the smog of the city and the exhaust fumes from your roadmates slowly leaking in through the AC vents and making you gag. Daytime on an airplane is never as cool as you want it to be and ALWAYs more crowded. The false sense of privacy is shattered. There is always a crying baby, and it is always no more than two rows behind you.

It shouldn’t surprise you, then, that I always schedule red eyes when I travel for business. I find they make the actual traveling process much more bearable, and the necessary shifting of my daily schedule to accommodate them is a small price that I’m more than willing to pay (and it’s offset by the even smaller price of the tickets themselves). I’m able to fall asleep fairly easily on airplanes, so if the fatigue overweighs the relaxation, it’s just a short hop on over to dreamland with fairly few lasting effects the following morning.

My wife, of course, both disagrees with and is concerned by my traveling habits. She’s the type of person who can hardly keep her eyes open after 11 PM, and she has a tendency to assume this same quality in those she doesn’t know - this extending, of course, to any other late-night drivers I may encounter, or the pilot of an overnight flight I’m taking. While this does grow occasionally annoying, it’s hard to stay mad, given that I know she only protests out of love and concern. Of course, it doesn’t stop me from moving long distances after the sun goes down.

So really, then, there was nothing particularly unusual about this particular flight. Seattle to LAX, departing at 1 AM. I was off work the following day, being at the tail end of a business trip, so it would be no problem for me to catch up on any lost rest once I got back. I don’t recall there being anything particularly odd about the booking process, or the wait to board, or the plane itself, and for the first 30 minutes or so, things were… normal, I suppose. Quiet, but that was to be expected. A fairly standard late-night/early-morning flight. Having no reason to suspect that otherwise would be the case, I allowed myself to slip from relaxation to dozing, falling into what I assume was a brief nap. If I dreamed, I don’t remember it.

I didn’t notice anything unusual when I first woke up, either. I had never been slow to rise, exactly, but neither was I a particularly light sleeper, and the fact that I had the row to myself delayed the realization of what was happening. It was when I noticed how dehydrated I was and pressed the service button, in hopes of calling an attendant over for some water, that I made my… well, actually, I guess it wasn’t really a mistake, was it? I mean, I was gonna find out what was happening sooner or later. The attendant’s failure to show up after 10 more minutes of pseudo-dozing is what truly roused me from my slumber, and after checking that the seatbelt sign was still disengaged, I rose from my seat, intending to track down my forgotten beverage and perhaps report a broken service light.

What I discovered instead was that the cabin of the plane was completely empty. No attendants. No passengers. Just me. It took a second for the realization to sink in, but once it did it was just so hopelessly, obviously, disturbingly wrong.

Of course there had been people on board before I had fallen asleep.

...hadn’t there?

For a minute, I simply… stood there, looking around blankly, as if expecting someone to pop out from behind a seat at any moment. This had to be a prank, a practical joke, or maybe… a drill of some sort? One I had slept through the announcement for? They certainly hadn’t exited the plane in midair; I wasn’t sure how many parachutes were present on the plane, but I assumed it wasn’t enough for the entire flight, and furthermore I surely would have noticed if someone had opened the door in midair while I was asleep.

Perhaps they were simply… in the cockpit. It was the one place I didn’t have a direct sight line on. It was possible. The “why” wasn’t important to me in that moment, not as much as the “where”. Furthermore, we were still airborne, I could feel that much, so surely there was at least a pilot still on board. If nothing else, I should be able to march in there and get some answers, even if I wasn’t 100% sure of the questions.

Each step I took towards the front of the plane emitted a muffled “thump” that, while quiet, nevertheless reverberated through my skull in the deafening silence of the empty cabin. Everything seemed muted somehow - the AC vents pumping in pressurized air, the distant whine of the engines, the underlying white noise of the outside air whipping past at 500 miles per hour - as if I was listening to it from the other side of a plexiglass barrier. Every action I took felt magnified in its volume and intensity, and I was struck with the immensely powerful feeling that simply my being here was disturbing something, that breaking the perfect stillness of this barren and abandoned place was a crime of immense magnitude. I don’t know how long it took me to make it to the cockpit, but it undoubtedly felt much longer.

With a trembling hand, I opened the door.

Behind it was nothing. The cockpit was empty. No pilot, no copilot. Just the dim glow of the controls and the oppressive matte black of the night.

Numbly, I made my way over to the controls. I’m certainly not an expert on aviation, but the joystick was moving of its own accord, and the altimeter was holding steady, so I assumed some sort of autopilot was engaged, but there was definitely nobody manually running the show. Not knowing what else to do, I slumped into the pilot’s seat. I was alone.

...or was I? I pulled out my mobile phone. No signal. Makes sense. Plan B was still in play, though, as I frantically cast my gaze about the cockpit. After a moment, I spotted it: a small back radio transceiver, sitting calmly on its hook. I was sure that this was against air protocol or whatever, but I was EQUALLY sure that this was an emergency situation, and I wasn’t exactly super interested in the trappings of procedure. I grabbed the transmitter and called out into the night.

“Hello? Is anyone there?”

A burst of static. Then silence.

“Does anyone copy? Hello?”

Nothing.

I wasn’t just the only person on the plane. I was the only person, period. There was no one else.

The transmitter fell from my hand, and for a long time I just… sat there. The plane continued to fly itself in the meantime, its destination at this point no longer important to me, as I was growing increasingly certain that it had no real intention of ever reaching one. The joystick gently drifted through the still air. The altimeter held steady. And I just… sat there.

My thoughts drifted to my wife, and I had the curious thought that perhaps this wouldn’t have happened if I had just listened to her. If I hadn’t been so keen on flying at night, maybe I wouldn’t have fallen asleep, or maybe I would have been able to see outside the plane. Maybe none of this would have happened. It was nonsense, of course, but the thought of her face comforted me. If I was never going to see her again in person, I might as well at least hold her in my mind. The resignation to my fate, to starving to death aboard this gently soaring metal tube, had my stomach dropping.

...or maybe it didn’t. Because as I continued to stare blankly at various different instruments throughout the cockpit, my eyes alighted once more upon the altimeter, and I noticed that ever so slowly, the plane was dropping, and furthermore I became aware for the first time of a slight canting forwards of the floor. It was the first time something had changed since this whole thing started, and I frankly wasn’t sure if I should be ecstatic or terrified.

The decision became much easier when the cant became more pronounced, and the speed with which the altimeter dropped began to increase, and the rushing of the outside air grew from a gentle hum to a deafening roar. Panic began to set in as I rushed to the control panel, looking for anything that might disengage the autopilot and allow me to TRY to slow my descent. It was hopeless, of course - all the controls were unmarked and unlabeled, and as terrified as I was, the thought of making my predicament WORSE tempered any rash action on my part.

Desperate then, I attempted to simply grab the joystick and pull. It didn’t budge - the autopilot, it seemed, was significantly stronger than I was, and our forward descent was locked in place.

I looked at the altimeter.10,000 feet and falling quickly.

NOW I allowed myself to be rash, flicking every switch, hitting every button, kicking the joystick in a frantic attempt to dislodge it. Nothing worked, nothing changed. The plane screamed downward into the night, quite set on its destination and quite unwilling to listen to its lone passenger’s arguments to the contrary. I was going to die, and I was going to do it alone.

5,000 feet now.

I remembered those old duck-and-cover videos from grade school. It seemed like lunacy, but lunacy was all I had left. I retreated to the back of the plane, furthest from the place of impact, and I ducked, and I covered, and I waited.

I thought of my wife again. If things went as poorly as I expected they would, I wanted her to be the last image in my mind.

I don’t remember hitting the ground.

I DO remember waking up in a hospital bed, apparently two days later. The doctors said I had collapsed on the flight and, while I was apparently physically fine, had been completely comatose. There were no injuries, and there was no mention of a plane crash or of any mysterious disappearances. They held me overnight for observation, and I was discharged the next day.

I have another business trip next month. I’ll be taking a 9 AM flight.

Supplementary Comments

Any statement in which the anomalous occurrences begin only after the author has fallen asleep should set off immediate red flags in the mind of any properly skeptical reader. You would be surprised at how many people struggle to distinguish from the waking world and the world of dreams. I note that at no point in his statement did Mr. Calderon ever make an attempt to verify whether or not what he was experiencing was in fact real, and the details would fit with him having been comatose.

Mr. Calderon did provide us with hospital records and a flight stub as corroboration, which is quite refreshing - usually we have to rely on Ara for those sorts of things, and she staunchly refuses to divulge her methods of acquiring them, which is always somewhat concerning. Regardless, Mr. Calderon’s documents both seem to corroborate the more verifiable details of his tale - he was in fact admitted to the hospital after falling comatose on Spirit Airlines flight 271. The cause of this is, according to the records, unknown.

Lissa did manage to spot something I missed that I suppose qualifies as unusual. The flight log for Flight 271 lists the pilot as being one Captain Lucas Janssen - a name that meant nothing to me until some cursory Googling revealed that a pilot by the same name disappeared along with his whole plane somewhere over the pacific in 1998.

-Amy A. Ampharos, Head Archivist April 17th, 2011

#the magnus archives #tma #fanfic #fiction #short story

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evien-stark · 5 years ago

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✧I Need You✧ Chapter 34 [Begin: Interlude]

You had a flight to Switzerland in four days. And a flight to NYC to close papers on property came five more days after that. In the middle of all that you were still cleaning up the Expo, paying out slots in the fund for the people who got hurt, taking pressers and briefings, linking up with the legal department to get started on casework against Justin Hammer. Shelling out cash and vision to fix the damaged house in Malibu.

You’d thought this is what you wanted. But was it?

And, surprise surprise, right in the middle of contemplating that, leaving a boardroom meeting, you found Natasha Romanoff sitting in your office. She’d been mysteriously absent after the Expo violence, but then again, you supposed that was her job. It wasn’t with you. Made all the more clear when she slid a piece of paper your way on the desk once you sat down.

You didn’t even need to look at it to know. “Resigning?”

“Ms. Rushman finds that Stark Industries has grown a little too hectic for her tastes.” Although she was offering you a smile, you couldn’t find it in yourself to return it.

Was this disappointing to you? A strange feeling. Not sure where it was coming from. “I share her thoughts on that.”

The expression on her face shifted to something sharp but neutral. “I’m ending my cover here without provocation. In case I need to use it for something else later.”

Good ol’ super secret spy talk. “I figured. Does that mean I’ll be getting a call for reference at some point?” Trying your best not to be cold to her. Offering just a little joke.

Something she seemed grateful for. “It could happen. You never know. I expect a glowing recommendation.”

“Make sure not to list Tony, then.” You had no reason to fight with her. Especially if you were going to be… coworkers? Was that even the right word? You had no idea.

She nodded with a light laugh as she stood, a brief meeting it seemed. Must have had other things to get to. “SHIELD has a space not too far from here. We’re just setting up.” And the other shoe dropped. “We’d like you to come in for your preliminaries in the next few days.”

Setting your elbows on the desk, you linked your hands together. “I’m going to be out of the country. But I can work it in the 17th, if you’re okay waiting.” Time enough to enjoy Basel, get home and reset. “If not it’s going to have to be after the 20th.” An even longer wait in that case. You couldn’t start letting them order you around.

You had a life. A very busy one. This Avengers SHIELD nonsense was probably important. But so were your own duties. Dropping everything just to attend to this superhero life was a poor play. You’d only just barely convinced Tony of that.

“The 17th is fine. We’ll do your firsts tests then.” As she spoke you tapped the desk a few times to bring the on-screen open so you could add it to your calendar. “Then we’ll do your first round of physical training on the 18th. And your first round of enhanced training on the 19th.”

See?

See? You knew this was going to happen. All those dates and what came with them fell out of her, well prepared. Eager to start you into your new life as a super soldier. Although you circled the dates on the calendar, you glanced up at her with a brow arched. “What’s the difference between physical and enhanced?”

“Physical will be with me- as long as I’m on premises.” Meaning that could change at any moment. Made sense. “Enhanced will be with someone else with more… experience in that field.” Oh. The thing. Right.

You were unable to hold a sigh in. “How long will this take- the sessions, I mean. I’m not expecting to get buff overnight or anything.” Or at all. You were almost certain that was not the point of this.

But it at least eased you when she smiled again. Genuine. You much preferred that. “We’ll start at three hours a day. We know you’re a busy woman.”

Three hours. Three hours every time you committed to this. In a warehouse or a room- some days getting your ass kicked, no doubt. And others… doing whatever it was you were going to be doing to hone the thing. And you knew that would be exhausting, too. And once it was all over you’d have to slink off to a meeting or an interview or paperwork…

“What time on the 17th?” Was this really your life now? How? How had you been indoctrinated into being a superhero? Wasn’t that absolutely insane?

“For testing we’ll start at 8AM. For physical we’ll start at 10AM. I like to sleep in when I can.” Her joking with you wasn’t exactly landing. It was clear she was trying to lighten the mood. Make it easy. Because it seemed like the two of you were going to be working together- again- …

Ah.

Now you understood it.

I’d like it if we continued to get along.

You tried not to dwell on it. Giving her a smile, “Me, too.”

----------------------------------------------------------

No matter how much money you had at your disposal to clean up the house, people could only work as fast as they could work. While some bits were cleaned up, others were cordoned off. The teams had at least gotten walls and windows fixed so there wasn’t an overbearing amount of outside air just trundling in. While it may have been smart to stay at a hotel, still, Tony had wanted to be in the lab. Which had been just lucky enough to keep from being destroyed. Not that it wasn’t used to it.

So that’s where you went when you got home around 11PM that night, two platters from a restaurant, ordered and picked up on the way, in arm. Keying yourself into the lab, you kept quiet.

Tony had a pair of blue tinted glasses on, thick black frames up top and clear around the bottom, squinting at the holo-board with tons of equations all over it. “No, JARVIS, that’s not gonna work for me.”

“Well if you would put in the proper variables, I may be able to help.”

You tried to hide a smile as you set dinner down on the corner of a nearby work station. Turning, Tony moved a wireframe hologram mock up of his newest Iron Man suit around. “Lift- here. I need more stabilization in the back panels.”

“And where would you suggest we reroute the power from, sir?”

“Unbelievable. If I have to do everything myself, why do I even have you?” Extending four small slices of the suit on the back- what looked kind of like wings, sort of- he then lifted the panel out of the back and began pulling makeshift wiring. It was sort of amazing what he could do with all these lights.

“Like I said, sir, if you’d give me the proper-”

“Proper variables- proper variables- I heard you the first time.” Turning half his body, hip propped out, he reached his hand over to the board to start quickly writing out numbers and letters and signs you’d never even begin to process. Tony was way beyond you with this stuff. Always would be.

He was way beyond everyone.

And watching him work was… kind of hot.

“There. Now- simulate- give me about 30MPH of force.” The suit tilted forward, and you propped yourself up on a stool, opening your container to take a few fries in hand and watch. Still quiet. “Up to 40.” Half crossing his arms, he put his free hand under his chin. “Hands out-” Talking to the suit, which obeyed. “Quick stop.” The motion jerked the suit with a dangerous rattle of the helmet. He breathed out an annoyed sigh. “Change this- get rid of this-” Waving numbers off the board and then scribbling in more. “We working with proper variables yet, JARVIS?”

“Getting closer, sir.”

Turning the suit back around, he opened the chest piece, messing with some of the things in there. “I need you to up the leveling… and give me a read on the source… connect this… which should… stabilize…” Mumbling thoughtfully as he worked. “Mm. Yep. That should do it. No thanks to you. Render that out for me.”

“Render time will take approximately one hour.”

“Enough time for you to eat dinner.” You finally spoke up and delighted when he turned to look at you, surprised for only a moment and then breaking into a smile like he hadn’t seen you in days.

“When’d you get here? -wait, actually, come here.” Holding his hands out with a little inward motion.

Getting down off the stool and wiping your hands on your pants you stepped into his work space, opening your arms, thinking he’d been beckoning you into a hug. But he side stepped you and instead put his hands on your arms to hold them further up. “What are we doing?”

“Hold. Like that.” Keeping your arms out and then moving down to readjust your legs in a wide stance. “Great. JARVIS scan.”

Even though logically you knew it was just lights passing over you, you couldn’t hold back a little shiver as a beam came down over you, then up, then down. And when it was finished you put your hands on your hips. “Tony.” It was clear what he was doing.

Reaching up, he cupped the sides of your face in his palms and that softened you, only a little, at least until he held a finger up on the left side of your face, watching your eyes with a little bite of his lip, trailing his finger across the bridge of your nose and to the right side ending at your temple. “Mmhmn… yeah. Okay. I thought so.” Turning away he scrolled through a few pages on the holo-board and when he arrived at a new set of variables, he wrote in some information.

“Tony.” Calling to him again. Not angry, knowing that he was working on exactly what you two had agreed on, but getting just a little agitated because he was so wrapped up in it he was practically using you like a bust form.

Moving around again, he settled behind you, one arm around your shoulders. He then slipped the blue-tinted glasses he was wearing over the bridge of your nose and a flood of light entered your vision. So sharp you tilted your head away- uselessly- with a close of your eyes. “Give it a second. It’s calibrating.” He held you steady, a comforting presence.

When you opened your eyes again you saw… some prototype of a HUD- or was this what he was working with all the time? As your eyes flicked around the room, a tracker kept watch on your iris, seeing the light circle there as it highlighted everything you stayed focused on for more than a few seconds. It picked out objects with detailed readouts in the upper corners, papers by listing lines of text that were on them- “This is a lot.” You could feel a headache coming on.

“Here-” He took hold of one of left hand, still holding you close with his other arm, sliding your finger down the side of the lens. The brightness and information dimmed. “You’ll be able to tell her low mode later. It’s a base prototype so I don’t have voice commands in yet.”

Shifting back to look at him- the glasses zeroed in on his face, giving a read out of not just him but his vitals. “Her?”

He grinned softly. “I don’t want JARVIS to have to play favorites.”

“A terribly difficult decision, I assure you.” JARVIS’ wry wit sounding off.

Tilting your head carefully again, he redirected your attention. “Can you see everything? Everything you want to see?”

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to want to see.” You heard him reaching back to grab something on the desk and he threw a wrench at the far side of the room. The glasses picked up on them, tracking the pattern, the trajectory, speed… “This is what you see? When you’re in Iron Man?” It was so much information. How did he do this constantly? “It makes my head hurt a little.”

“Just about. Well- sort of. This is in casual mode.” You immediately knew what that meant. And you didn’t feel like asking him to expand on what was probably attack mode or something similar.

“Fujikawa is going to be pissed.” They’d been asking for his direction on their own prototype of something very similar to this. The Stark HUD 2020. It was his tech, so he could do whatever he wanted with it. But…

“I told you. They were moving too slow for me. Whatever they end up with won’t be as good anyway. Let them keep going. This is for singular personal use.” Yours, he meant. “I looked at their designs.” He waved a hand in front of your face and you watched the tracker hone in. Finally, he let go of you to walk around and stand in front of you again. “This is nanotech. No one’s even close to this.”

Save him.

Your genius Tony Stark.

But that reminded you, and absently you reached up to touch at an injection site that had long since healed. “Nanotech?”

“You’re getting comfortable with it. And it’s lightweight. The glove is nanobots, too.” The one you’d used to… better not think about it. Easy to do when he continued. “This is just a start. You want something that will conceal your identity. I can do that.” Self satisfied. Tilting back just a little, he scrolled through the holo-board contents again to bring up what your suit specs looked like. Barebones. Filled out only a little more by what you knew was JARVIS’ scan of you moments ago.

And at that you really couldn’t help the smile that blossomed on your lips. “I thought Fury said that was a bunch of nonsense.”

“Fury doesn’t know who he’s dealing with. Clearly.” It seemed Team Stark would not be told no for anything. While you’d learned this was a dangerous behavior, not being able to rein Tony in… on the other side of it, it was nice. And kind of fun.

“Speaking of. Natasha came to my office and gave me some dates.” On the left side of the glasses, your schedule popped up. Something that drew your attention only briefly before looking back at him again. “We’re going to start between Basel and New York.” Activities highlighted themselves as you called them out. Again only briefly glancing at them.

He crossed his arms, propping his hip against a work table. “I can have this done before then.”

“No. It’s alright. They don’t need to know about this right now.” On top of that you really didn’t want him working to the bone to get whatever this was going to look like finished. “It looks like you’re pretty preoccupied with your own suit, anyway.” Leaning up on tiptoe to pointedly look at the holographic Mark VI behind him.

The HUD on the glasses immediately started working through information piece by piece, calling out important details on the new mock up of the latest Iron Man. You let it, interested although not completely sure what you were looking at.

Giving a detailed read out, all happening within brief flashes of moments. Maybe your brain was registering things even if you weren’t really getting it all. Because you saw where he left off- even if you’d heard him talking about it when you’d come in. “You’re working on a way to stabilize flight without your hands, right?” Finally you slipped the glasses off and handed them back to him.

He slipped them in the front pocket of his shirt, giving you a light smile. “I’m trying not to go the whole big vulnerable wing route. Might as well add a cape at that point.”

Reaching up, you wound your arms around his neck. “You already have lift.” No need for wings to take off. A thoughtful hum as you smiled back up at him. “But a cape. Now there’s an idea.”

“Oh. So you want a cape?” His hands slipped over the curves of your hips, pulling you closer.

“Yes, let’s piss off Fury even more. It needs to be sparkly.” Giggles leaked out of you as he leaned in closer, his nose brushing against yours, all smiles. But he swallowed the noise of them soon after as he took you in a careful kiss.

Lasting too short a time before he pulled back. “I’ll add it to the design specs.”

Tugging him close, you gave him just one more kiss and then eased back. “Come eat dinner, please. It’s probably mostly cold by now.”

He slipped his arm around your shoulders as the two of you walked to the front of the lab. “What’d you bring?”

“Burgers.” And fries, of course.

“Have I expressed to you yet how perfect you are?”

Picking up the boxes, you let him lead you further out of the lab and up the steps. “I’m willing to listen to it again.”

#Tony Stark #Tony Stark x Reader #INY Chapter Thirty Four

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mysamcedesmadness · 6 years ago

Text

So, We’re On a Date...

“So I Had a Dream” continued to show what I imagine a date might be like with these two awkward cuties.

Henry and Charlotte were still arm in arm whenever they approached the podium at the Picnic Cafe that Charlotte had suggested. Henry was glad that she hadn’t offered to hold hands, because he was actually pretty nervous, so his were sweatier than usual. The hostess asked them, “Would you like an inside or outside seat?”

They looked at each other and Charlotte shrugged her shoulders, “I’m thinking outside. The weather’s nice and we’ve been walking around and stuff already. Might as well keep the mood outdoorsy.”

“Outside,” Henry answered.

“And do you want a patio table or booth, or would you like to take a blanket to the yard?”

Henry immediately said, “I say we go full corny on this thing and do one of those picnics on the grass!”

Charlotte giggled a little, but abruptly stopped when she realized that she was doing so and Henry was giving her eyes. “Uh, yeah. Let’s be ridiculous like that. Sounds like stupid fun.”

“The full corny picnic on the grass experience, please,” Henry ordered.

The hostess grabbed a blanket and a basket from a wall sized shelf to her right and said, “Feel free to take any place on the grass that isn’t occupied by other guests. There are menus and a number stand in the basket for when you’re ready to order.”

Charlotte was unsure of how she was supposed to sit in that short dress, but Henry offered her his shirt to cover herself, since he had on an undershirt. She felt a little bit better about her outfit now that he was in a smedium tee, studying the menu pretty seriously. “I don’t even know what a benedict is,” he said.

“Usually means poached eggs, an English muffin and probably hollandaise sauce. Which one are you looking at?”

“Turkey, bacon and avocado,” he told her, still looking at the menu, and now, she wondered if he was avoiding looking at her. This was go time. They were ON the date now. It wasn’t the time for him to become shy or elusive! Then again, he could just be really interested in making the right food choice.

She shrugged her shoulders at herself and decided pretty quickly on chicken salad with avocado toast and vanilla chai. She glanced around the yard and saw many people sharing a milkshake, or cuddled up, and a few wrapped in the blanket. Someone had candles. Everyone here looked super lovey-dovey and instead of it being corny, like it usually was whenever she passed the place, she was a little bit jealous. She and Henry were on a date, but neither of them had actually talked about their feelings, or if there even WERE any. They’d had some stupid dreams and he asked her out, seemingly on a whim. She was really feeling like she probably actually liked him and this whole time, he’d still been on the mindset that this date was corny. It was, but she wanted a corny night with a cute guy like the chicks in the sitcoms. She wanted it to actually be a thing, not something to laugh about and if not, she was already over it and ready to go. “Are you almost ready to order?” She wondered.

He glanced at her and shook his head, “How are you already ready? This menu is huge! I just got out of the benedicts.”

She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, “I just picked the thing that was the cheapest that still looked good. Splurged a little on the drink, but the description sounded divine.”

“You don’t have to pick the cheapest thing. Get whatever you want, Char.”

“I know we just got paid, but I’m not made of money.”

Now, for the first time since they sat on the blanket, he actually looked at her, “Wait, are you... Trying to pay for your own meal... At a date?That’s not how this works. I asked you on a date, so I’m already prepared to pay for you... for it! For the date. Not pay for you, but for your food, at least. If we were just going somewhere and paying for our own food, that’d be what we do all of the time. This is supposed to be different. It’s special. So... Order whatever you want. I’m paying.” She nodded and reached for the menu again. This was too weird. Henry had treated her to things before, plenty of times, but for some reason this was different. He noticed her staring at him and wondered, with a smile, “What?”

“Nothing. You’re just... I guess I’m seeing you in a different light today, and I didn’t expect that, not when I started having dreams, and not even when I said yes to this date.”

He furrowed his eyebrows and shut the menu, “Is it a problem?”

She shook her head, “Just new and kinda confusing. You and me, we like each other right? We're not like, you know, just going through the motions because we had some stupid dreams?”

He blushed a little, but admitted, “Yeah, I like you.”

“So now that we've got that out in the open we're going to probably have to discuss how things are going to go down.”

Now Henry snickered and repeated, “Go down?”

She pointed a finger at him, “Stop. I'm being serious. I personally know how your love life usually goes.”

“Right and you also know it's because of” (he leaned forward and whispered) “You know Junk N’ Stuff.”

She leaned forward and whispered too, “Yeah I know. But that doesn't mean that I'm going to let it just ruin the chances of what could be something pretty sweet. I didn't want things to change, but it's obvious that they have.So what we do now with this change is up to the two of us. Are we just having fun testing something out? Or are we trying to make something real happen?”

“Personally I'd like to have fun trying to make something real happen.” he suggested. She smiled at that thought and he reached for the number and the stand, “So, are you ready to order, now?” She was.

The walk home was nice. They didn’t do the arm in arm thing nor hold hands, but Charlotte had taken pretty much the entire container of heart shaped mints, so they were eating them on their way to her house while they talked about whether they were going to act normal when they got to work to just make everyone have to stew in the mystery or if they’d be one of those lovey doveys that they were surrounded by on their picnic. Charlotte definitely was not about bringing their romance into the work space, but agreed to let Henry show affection, if that was what felt natural for him at the moment.

Let’s face it, he’s the more affectionate one. He usually initiated hugs and kisses. He was the one who might want to cuddle for a moment while she was at the control panel. And, she wasn’t going to tear him down for it, but wanted to make it clear that she would not be regularly hugging or anything else. Certainly not straddling him anywhere in the Man Cave.

As her home came into view, the end of the date did as well. Now, they had discussed everything from whether or not they’d change their socmed statuses or share lockers - no to both, at the moment, whether or not they were about PDA - him yes, her no, a compromise on minimal affection when nobody was around and only hands or arms contact in crowded areas, and if they were going to talk to anybody about their personal business - each other before anybody else and others limited to Jasper, Piper, Ray and Schwoz, and with both of their approval to share info... But, now it was time to consider if they were going to do the thing that even got these wheels set in motion from their dreams...

“It's a first date but it's not like it's our first meeting. So, really if we're going to do a kiss thing we should go for it, and not really make a big deal out of it. On the other hand, we've both had dreams so now we both have expectations. and it your dreams apparently I'm some kind of vixen. And in my dreams apparently you're some kind of gentlemanly knight or something. So, we've kind of thought about the kiss part but not really in a realistic way, and yet we both have ideas in her head that may not necessarily meet our expectations. It could possibly be an “Expectations VS Reality” of meme-like proportions…”

Henry silenced her anxious babbling with a kiss. Then, he pulled her closer and kissed her deeper and a little harder. His hands traced her body, collected her is close to himself as he could, and his kiss lingered as he savored the reality. Charlotte was stunned, at first. She stood there with widened eyes wondering if this was really happening and when Henry got more involved in the kiss realized, Oh, Chiz! It actually is! And that she probably had to counter-kiss him or something. He’d done this a few times. More than a few, probably. She honestly hadn’t. But, she had seen it happen enough on TV when ships were forced down her throat, whether or not they made sense or added to the story! She had watched enough things that she could sort of fake it until she figured it out for real. But, by the time she decided how she might respond, Henry pulled back. “You okay?” He asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

“Yeah.”

“Okay. You were kinda non-responsive. I didn’t know if maybe I had totally crossed a boundary or something.”

“I didn’t know what I was supposed to be doing. You seemed like you had it all under control, so I didn’t do the whole you know, Y.A. fanfiction trope of battling your tongue for dominance,” she giggled and looked at her hands, wringing her fingers together.

“Well... Did you like it?” He asked, nervously considering that she very well may not have. She furrowed her eyebrows for a brief second and that was enough to unsettle him. “Oh, God. You didn’t. There I was, thinking that this surpassed even my wildest dreams and you were probably just I don’t know wondering how long before I stopped sucking on your lip!”

“Wait wait wait, you’re getting a little in over your head. I never suggested any of that. I was just wondering what your question meant. Because, I didn’t really get a chance between the shock of the kiss starting and me realizing that I was in the middle of it to really register the feeling, and I have never kissed anybody, so I was already nervous and the fact that it’s my best friend made it even more tense. Then, I didn’t know what to do, so I was stressed about that to, and to be perfectly honest, I don’t know if I liked the kiss because I was so focused on the outer details that I didn’t really get into the moment of it.” Henry laughed. “It’s not funny, that was a very apprehensive minute and a half!”

He smiled and collected her to him again, gently and rested his body onto hers. “I’m sorry. It wasn’t supposed to be stressful. It’s supposed to be a release. I’ve had this tension built up in me and for me, I just had to get that out. I shouldn’t have just sprung it on you. Can I try again, and you promise to try not to overthink it this time?”

“I guess...” She was frozen in place as he leaned towards her.

He noticed, and stopped short of her lips to take his hands and wiggle her a little bit. “Try to relax. It’s nothing painful or even really uncomfortable.” She took a deep breath and nodded, trying to relax. Her hands were stiff on his arm and chest, so he took them and wrapped her arms around his neck, with his face still lined up with hers for the kiss, but taking his time to get there, until she seemed more at ease. “Let your hands rest,” he told her. She rested them and did feel better, with her arms around his neck, her body pressed comfortably against him, his hands on her waist, his eyes looking into hers...”Are you ready?” He asked softly. She nodded and Henry leaned down again to kiss her.

YEAHHHHHHHHHHP! Charlotte definitely enjoyed it this time around. She wasn’t thinking about if her body was doing the right thing, if she should be “kissing him back” or holding onto his shoulders or whatever else. She was just in his arms, being kissed, with their arms around each other and feeling safe, because Henry made sure that she was ready for it this time. (She wasn’t a huge fan of surprises.) But this kissing thing... Yeahp. She was a new fan of this. Henry almost didn’t want to let her go, but he knew that they were nearing her curfew and if one of her parents looked outside and saw them, he didn’t think he knew how to be smooth enough to handle that. “Wow,” she whispered.

“Better?” He asked.

“That was,” she just smiled and nodded her head. “You know, I’ve judged you for kissing strangers, but it seems like that paid off.”

“I haven’t kissed a stranger in a while, and the doctor says I’m totally clean!” He defended. She hugged him tightly and laid her head on his chest. “Between you and me, the reality was WAY better than the expectation. Like, even though my dreams were more exciting, the kiss definitely felt better against my lips,” he confessed.

“Well, that’s probably because whenever you’re dreaming about a kiss, your mind is trying to reconcile physical feelings with the mental image in your head. So, whatever kiss you dream about is either an imagined feeling, a mixture of feeling composed from all of the different kisses that you’ve had trying to fill in the blanks, or the memory of a certain kiss that you’re applying to the mental picture. So, maybe your vision showed you kissing me, but your mind filled in that feeling with other kisses, since you didn’t have mine to catalog...”

He kissed her again and she melted against him, falling into it more naturally this time around, and honestly, probably from now on.. for however long this was gonna go on, at least. She wasn’t unsettled about it, anymore. That much was sure. He smiled against her lips and said, “Sorry. Just trying to catalog the right feeling for my dreams tonight.” She nodded her head, grabbed him and gently pushed him into her front door, how he’d described her dream version to be take charge and sultry. His eyes widened in excitement and she laughed at herself. This wasn’t her, but he appreciated that she was willing to give it a shot. She had to tiptoe to kiss him this time, because she wanted to initiate one, herself. Henry gladly accepted, then hesitantly let go of her.

They had reached her curfew. She chewed the gum he’d given her earlier to change back into her clothes, so that she didn’t have to explain a dress that they knew that they hadn’t bought and had never seen to her folks. She gave Henry’s hand one last squeeze and they simultaneously said, “Sweet dreams,” then both laughed as she went inside and he leaned against the door, smiling. That went well.

#So I Had a Dream #So We're on a Date #chenry #henry danger #henry hart #charlotte page #hd fanfic

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erenthecoordinate · 6 years ago

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Hello. Please share your thoughts about the latest couple of chapters/Zeke's backstory.

Not gonna lie, this probably one of the most emotional chapters I’ve read in a while. I’ve been asking for a Zeke-centric chapter that would explain his motives and we got it in the classical heartbreaking fashion that this series is known to dish out. AND it includes an explosive cliffhanger that Michael Bay would be proud of and make a good portion of the fandom look at a panel at 200% zoom and contrast change for 3 days.

I think the last time I talked about Zeke on this blog, I mentioned that I believe there is a chance Zeke is being genuine with working on Eldia’s side, but it wasn’t yet clear how much he wanted to include Paradis in the fruits of his potential “free the people” plan. Yeah, so, things have changed obviously. But not as drastically as I was led to believe after chapter 112. By ch113, I figured there was more to the story with Zeke, since it seemed that his intentions for escaping was based on a time restraint and the fact he couldn’t trust Levi in the end. Fortunately for his fans and unfortunately for Zeke, Levi’s plot armor saved him this time. Only for fate to be teased once more! Ugh!

I’m going to give a few super brief hot takes that I posted before but Tumblr decided to throw it into the abyss the first time. This is going to be the least analytical and organized list I’ve ever written so be kind:

Finally, a flashback chapter of the most mysterious guy in this series

…AND HE’S CUTE!?

Oh my god.

Grisha and Dina are not the worst parents nor bad people but hell if they aren’t misguided, radical, and negligent of their only son.

This gives me middle school flashbacks.

I didn’t expect Zeke to suck at military training, to be honest. They really did just call him a child prodigy for his miracle abilities and the fact he betrayed his parents.

Which I don’t entirely blame him anymore…if it wasn’t his free decision, he was influenced by a replacement nurturing parental figure to do it. Ouch.

I was mad when these spoilers came out but now it makes sense why this is Zeke’s motive.

I’m pretty confident Eren is double crossing Zeke now.

Zeke is not dead. Levi is not dead. Splash text is clickbait.

I don’t even think Levi lost any arms, but we won’t know until 2 or 3 chapters from now. Hope he knows how to swim!

For wordy rambling, please read on--

As most of the fandom assumed, this chapter was going to be primarily a flashback containing Zeke’s childhood. And it’s a heavy reveal that spirals into his present-day motives. It opens up with another scene that illustrates exactly how mistreated and disrespected Eldians are, the janitor going so far as to question why they are “breeding” for more devils. This is unsurprisingly traumatizing to Zeke and those words are the seeds that flourish the plant of self-hatred soon to wreak havoc. On the other hand, Grisha vents his frustrations and feeds the idea that their only salvation is to be free from their internment. They have barely enough freedom to leave their residence and to do so require legal permission. At this point, we’re familiar enough with how Marley reacts to Eldians both in the past and present day and those views haven’t changed no matter the year. The story makes us aware that other nations prefer the race to be eradicated whereas Marley’s action is to keep them controlled, though of course there are people who support the former option. It’s demeaning enough to be ostracized but threatened with genocidal wishes from the general public induces a lot of paranoia and, in the Restorationists’ case, rage.

Zeke is considerably mellow though. There is no contempt because he’s too busy appeasing his parents. He struggles with his training and falls far too short from the other warrior candidates. But he is nothing but loyal to Grisha and Dina, even lying to his grandparents about how his father lectures him about their history. Zeke uniquely gets two different teachings, but interestingly we don’t see him doubting either of them. He seems to absorb more of what Grisha is saying, but doesn’t confess that to his grandparents, and simply nods and follows along to whatever is being read to him. Most of his anxiety is reaching the expectation of becoming a warrior like his parents wanted.

His parents don’t make it a mystery to Zeke that him becoming a warrior is part of their restoration plan. It’s not out of glory or that they want to best for him, but he is already exposed to the group as the one to save them all, a beacon of hope that the whole of the Eldian race depends on.

Of course, with the pressure on, Zeke cannot make the cut. A mix of physical weakness and mental turmoil has Magath questioning Zeke’s integrity. This brings him trailing behind his comrades, defeated, only to run into one of the current warriors playing catch with himself. This is where we get a first glimpse of Zeke’s hidden pitching talent. Tom Xaver, the current Beast Titan whose main job is a titan science researcher, is impressed and Zeke illuminates.

I know he murdered hundreds in very unkind ways, but it is a canon fact he is adorable.

Afterwards, Grisha, Dina, and their restorationist friend Grice become stressed with the fact Zeke isn’t performing to acceptable standards to even qualify to be a candidate of the warrior program, let alone having the chance to harness one of the titans. Zeke overhears this and is taken back by the urgency. Grisha takes notice and attempts to encourage his son by saying he is special and therefore he can succeed.

Immediately follows probably one of the most depressing, soul-crushing pages that doesn’t include death (unless you count the death of Grisha and Dina’s faith in their son). You don’t have to like Zeke to feel a twinge of relatability when he nearly breaks down from watching his parents turn away in disappointment. It’s the worst kind of rejection because there is no improving something you simply cannot do and don’t truly have a passion for, even if you fight tooth and nail for it.

Xaver comments on Zeke’s atrocious training attempt and Zeke admits that his parents are the reason he has to become a warrior. Xaver loosely describes the “perks” of being a warrior: harness unbelievable power, fight in wars, and die in 13 years by the teeth of your successor. Avoiding that fate doesn’t grant much freedom, but to Zeke, staying alive for as long as possible is good enough. To survive is fine. He doesn’t need to fight to be free.

Naturally, cruel circumstances bombarde Zeke’s world when he overhears that his parents are in serious danger of being discovered. He attempts to vere them to safer options so that they won’t be sent to Paradis, but Grisha and Dina immediately shut him down. Living in an oppressed system is damaging to their self-esteem. Revolution is necessary to change the world. Zeke is their golden ticket. There is a fatal risk to all this, but it is all for the name of their people. For those who died for trying to reach beyond their boundaries. Grisha omits his guilt over his sister’s death, saying what he wanted was simple. Did that deserve punishment? We already know his feelings about that, though.

Zeke on the other hand is convinced that it is all over for his family. The power others have over them is far greater than his parents can overcome. Xaver sees his distress and Zeke is quick to surrender any possibility of a long life, grateful he can hold onto memories of him as he eternally sleeps. Xaver is too fond of Zeke, though, and we learn he is the one who suggests Zeke turn in his parents in order to save himself and his grandparents. Zeke objects, of course, but it doesn’t take too long for Xaver to convince him that his parents cared more about their agenda than their child’s happiness and wellbeing. And then that all happens.

Several years pass, and Zeke has gone from adorable to totally handsome.

Err...and he has become a successor to the Beast Titan. He’s woven a close bond with this man to know progressions concerning his research. A lot of it is information we already know but to them it’s a mix of theory and hearsay. The new bit of information we gather is the theory that the Founding Titan can manipulate Eldian’s genetic makeup based on paths alone. It’s what has saved them from plagues in the past. Zeke recalls the janitor that harassed him and his parents years ago, and laments on the idea that the Founder can also prevent more Eldians from being born.

Xaver reacts somber over this concept. He confesses that he used to have a family under disguise as a Marleyan. It wasn’t until after his wife found out and killed herself and their son out of shame and disgust that he ultimately decided to become a warrior-- so he could die in the most glorified way possible, I guess? In that time, he was dedicated to his research more than anything, but overall expressed he virtually replaced the void in his heart with Zeke’s presence, which explains why he was so important to him. It’s kind of touching that they both found each other to fill in roles that were empty in their lives. Xaver still exhibits a great deal of self-hatred, something that Zeke can relate to. At this point, he declares his motive of taking the Beast Titan, recovering the Founder, and stop the cycle of suffering by effectively ending the existence of Eldians altogether. It’s...certainly a goal, albeit a method of giving in to their circumstances and accepting that they cannot fight against this oppression, so that the best thing to actually do is not exist. Because no matter what they do, to exist is to suffer, and what kind of life is that?

The flashback closes with Levi overhearing Zeke mutter that the only salvation for Eldia is their euthanasia, and that all the deaths he is responsible for was a method of setting them free. Of course, Levi doesn’t buy it and prepares for another round of Chopped. Zeke appears to be only partially lucid when he shouts for his dead mentor to watch his next move.

In a matter of seconds, Zeke jerks the string that pulls the fuse and Levi looks to try to make a quick escape. Zeke risks it all in an explosion that splits his body in parts, though it looks like his neck and head are still intact. Meanwhile, Levi is blown back a distance with some blood trailing from his body due to ambiguous injuries. And there is our cliffhanger of the volume!

I know I basically just summarized the chapter with some flavor additions, but there are a few things that drove me to a pit of emotions and questions during the spoiler drop. Context from the fully translated chapter fixed a lot of my primary thoughts.

The Zekecrets

First big gain from this chapter is Zeke’s motive! Finally, the zekecret is out! And it’s rooted from a traumatic childhood and is buzzing with controversy. I can’t say I agree with Zeke’s idea of ending the Eldian race by sterilizing them and killing those that he can. But I will say that considering his experiences as a child and that discussion with Xaver had inspired this motive and, therefore, makes a lot of sense. We’ve seen Zeke as a kind of chessmaster with many tricks up his sleeve yet was a shroud of mystery. He has killed without mercy, he has betrayed his country, and he has turned that people he claimed to protect into Titans. But to him, these deaths are convenient and align to his ultimate goal.

It’s honestly hard to believe that a character that has convinced people that his empathy level is so low that he barely even forms any attachments (as evidence with his betrayal) started off as an extremely sensitive and emotionally intelligent child. His confidence is constantly challenged because of his blood from both sides. His parents put him on a pedestal because his relation to them is what makes him special and therefore he must succeed. On the other front, he is subjected to harsh ostracization from the general Marleyan public for simply being Eldian. And at training, being the weaker of the child soldiers, he is put down by instructors and his trainee peers. And even so, he still finds a bit of salvation in learning how to pitch while having some close conversation with a kind stranger. Where he can’t find affection and acceptance in one area, he finds it in Xaver.

Still, the reality is that he is given these expectations that he himself simply has no strong drive to achieve nor the physical strength. He presses on for the sake of his parents, but only his success will gain their acceptance and...he is unable to do it. I think the most heartbreaking thing about this is that he accepts that he is somewhat of a tool for their agenda yet he sticks his neck out in hopes that he gets affectionate attention from his parents. The fact he watches a child play ball with their father on his way home show that it’s an attention he craves because he doesn’t receive it often. Even when he knows they are soon to get caught, Zeke’s first instinct is to say his goodbyes and surrender to whatever fate has in store for him. To him, he is useless to carve his own path. He has failed his parents, the Restorationists, the whole Eldian race, and himself.

Parenting Contrast: Grisha&Dina v Carla

I do briefly want to say that I don’t think Grisha and Dina were bad people, they are bad (not worst) parents and were too radicalized in their beliefs to realize that their son was emotionally struggling with self-esteem issues. Anything they knew about Zeke was very on the surface. Their priority was the revolution. They manufactured a child for this due to their ignorance and anger. But I don’t think they didn’t care about Zeke at all. Zeke, to them, was to gain just as much of a positive outcome and life of freedom if he succeeded. They were never aware of the pressure they put on Zeke. Grisha later assumed that their negligence was the reason for Zeke’s betrayal and he never blames him for it.

Ironically, though, Eren is the appropriate child Grisha could have had for his revolution before it rapidly failed. Second time’s the charm? This is likely due to Eren’s lack of responsibility. There were no dire expectations until later in his life. Carla parented opposite of Dina and Grisha, believing that not everyone has to be special to be great. Eren had more options open to him.

Regardless, I don’t think Grisha quite parented the same way as he did with Zeke, but it may have been a bit difficult to keep reactions to certain circumstances subtle. I don’t know if we’ll ever get more insight about why Eren used to be a weird loner kid that followed life through “the strong conquer the weak” system. I just have a sneaking suspicion that it’s due to indirect mimicking of Grisha’s behavior. After all, a real issue in this series are ignorant adults. Or sometimes kids are just weird and easily influenced. Unfortunately, in the end, Grisha does resort back to pressing responsibility on his second son, most likely because of their dire situation and Eren’s willingness to break free. Because Eren is his son, of course.

Bit by bit, however, Zeke seems to be progressively aware of the obsession his parents have over their revolution plan. They spend very little time with him, so he is often spending time with his grandparents, effectively keeping the cover up for his parents. And any time they do spend with him is spent reversing the studies he has learned at school. Zeke accepts the lessons but isn’t enthused. I mentioned that he doesn’t really seem to question which history is correct and which isn’t; he doesn’t cast doubts on either and it’s difficult to say whether Grisha’s teachings were ones he felt were more accurate or that he was just parroting in order to gain approval. A majority of his interactions with his parents are “yes” and nods.

When Xaver comes into the picture and Zeke projects him as a father figure, he becomes more aware of his parents’ actions. Which is why I don’t think it was especially a struggle for Zeke to believe Xaver when he told him that his parents don’t really care about him and that it’ll be worth selling them out if it means he and his grandparents get to live. Zeke is very good at shutting down his emotions at this moment. He is, however, not without heart though, because he continues to nurture that fondness for Xaver, who he is later a successor to. In fact, he is the reason why Zeke entertains the idea that Eldians should stop reproducing.

The Plan and is Eren actually part of this?

This is where things get controversial, of course. On one hand, technically, no longer existing means that they would no longer have to suffer. Zeke says those on Paradis are ignorant to what the world has in store for them. This isn’t to buy more time to properly unite with other nations, it was time to stop reproduction altogether and (probably) eliminate the Eldians on Paradis. To Zeke it’s merciful to end this. But it’s still genocide. And I don’t believe this is the ultimate answer nor do I believe Eren is actually going to end up accepting this plan.

Unlike Zeke, Eren grew up with an everlasting flame that urged him to seek freedom in every format. Freedom of his environment, freedom of his choices, etc. He too gets weighed down by crushing expectations, becoming something of a tool for the military and government to achieve victory, but it is something that he genuinely wants. Included, he still had the compassion of his comrades. He wished them long lives. He believes that people deserve to live simply by being born into the world. Their existence gives them the right to freedom. It gives them a chance to fight. Sterilization is a big surrender. Death and prevention of life, robbing that choice from others, is completely contradicting to anything Eren has ever learned, said, or believed in. And I think his reaction to Willy’s words at the festival is a key indicator that his intention is to keep the Eldians alive. I’m not sure how far ahead Eren is in terms of double crossing his brother, but at the very least, I think that if he knows Zeke’s true intentions, he has found or is finding a way to skirt around that option and use Zeke for his own plans.

I plan to write a progression meta theorizing Eren’s motives that edits and re-publishes with every reveal in each chapter but basically my guess is that Eren does know what Zeke wants and that he has been playing along with Zeke’s orchestrated plan, festival, Warhammer Titan, prisonbreak, etc. to earn loyalty points. Which unfortunately included him killing innocents in the process. But if Zeke really does believe their deaths are their true freedom, then Eren has to convince Zeke that he believe the same too. Doesn’t mean he hasn’t internally struggled as a result. But for now, Eren’s individual thoughts remain an enigma so it’s difficult to pinpoint his exact intentions at the moment.

Explosive (haha) End

Anyway, the other big thing was Zeke’s dramatic escape act which required an enormous explosion and the splitting of his own body. Uh, yuck! But I can’t help but feel a bit tickled that we actually have a panel with Zeke’s detached ass in the air. His torso, including his neck and head, are more or less together, so he can easily pull off the Reiner trick to implant his brain to elsewhere on the nervous system so that he can regenerate from there. So, yeah, Zeke will be fine. And probably pantless if he can’t recover his lower half.

Levi, on the other hand, has no regenerating powers and appears pretty injured if the blood splattering off his body is anything to go by. He wasn’t as close to the explosion, so it’s possible any injuries he sustained are because of the shooting debris and/or his sword, which he still had out in front guarding his body prior to the fuse going off. I remember when the first grainy image of this panel came out and everyone was zooming in and tracing areas to figure out if Levi lost anything. I think it’s consensus now that Levi has both legs intact and at the very least his left arm. The only big question is whether his right arm is there and any other injuries on his torso or face that may exist. If you want my personal visual analysis and theory, I think his injuries are not fatal nor crippling, meaning all his limbs are intact, but he probably has decent sized gashes on his body to have him temporarily side-lined. I think the angle of the drawing and multiple gradients to indicate fast motion and blood direction is meant to give the reader uncertainty but in the end it’ll reveal that nothing was lost. At least, I hope so. It would be absolutely disheartening and irresponsible to put him out of commission for the rest of the series and the rest of his life-- I think out of all the suffering Levi has gone through, he definitely doesn’t deserve to feel completely useless to do anything, Plus it’d be extremely underwhelming to set your strongest and most popular character on the bench before the big climax.

I will say that Levi is definitely not dead, though. None of the notable deaths we’ve seen have been obscured by body angles. They’ve been explicitly shown without debate on their status, Erwin and Sasha especially. I believe the only off-screen deaths the series has had was Moblit and Ymir, and even then the scenes before then leave you no doubt to their inevitable fate. Even Marco eventually got a scene of his death. And neither of these deaths happened as cliffhangers. But false death cliffhangers have always been a thing in the series. Plus, I think Levi is far more deserving of a multi-panel, half chapter death scene if he were to die at all.

I do think he will land in the river and those injuries will prevent him from fighting effectively against the current to stay in his location. I believe the convenient landscape was rather deliberate as it gives Zeke enough time and lonesomeness to recover and seek Eren. Really, the explosion was an excuse to remove Levi from the scene and quickly be transported elsewhere. But I want to bet we won’t find out Levi’s fate for another couple chapters. Because Isayama is just that cruel!

....

Sorry this got extensive. I’m still building up on these thoughts, so nothing is definite or without possibility of change. But to summarize, Zeke’s childhood is sad, his plan is genocide and Eren ain’t about that life, Yeagerbros are dramatic people and forever interesting to me, and Levi is alive and battered but not handicapped.

That said, I would love to hear from everyone else about what they thought of the chapter. Were you sympathetic to Zeke’s backstory? Is he irredeemable? What’s Eren’s role in all this? Does he actually subscribe to Zeke’s scheme of eliminating all Eldians to end their suffering, or does he have other tricks up his sleeve? Is Levi alive? How bad are his injuries? Does he know how to swim?

Will I ever recover from the emotional rollercoaster this chapter has put me though?

Thanks for sending this ask! I haven’t meta’d in a while and this honestly is inspiring to write again!

#zeke yeager #eren yeager #grisha yeager #dina yeager #carla yeager #levi ackerman #tom xaver #meta #analysis #theory #chapter reaction #my post #Anonymous

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