#come here closer‚ love hasn't worked out for us until now.. different stories‚ similar endings[...]'

[maulfucker]

I looove listening to the most pop-ish pop songs and thinking about obimaul

[kozutenshi]

FLOWERS & PEARLS—KEIJI AKAASHI

keiji akaashi x f!reader

collab: spring formal with hqhangout!

what: 1.3k of fluffy mutual pining in two different lives with a hint of hanahaki and angst.

Spring was around the corner, but the war hadn't ended unlike the cold days of winter.

The man with gunmetal green eyes held his lover close to his chest, giving them a shell, somehow like a telephone, with a pearl attached to its point.

His lover remembers the parting smile he gave before he went on to war with tough spirits, carrying the other of the pair of shells.

From afar, through the distances, he called and talked until his voice disappeared, swallowed by the pearl that had grown bigger overtime.

Three, four years later, his voice had disappeared and it was spring again. Believing that he will come back to his lover waiting for him, he visited the cherry blossom trees near his home everyday until the cherry blossoms grew in his body, with the sight of his beloved in another's arms, her voice restored.

Swallowing the pearl by himself to reclaim his voice, he cried and grieved about his lost love until he coughed up flowers, familiar white and pink petals covered in blood, and felt his heart stop.

Akaashi closed the book in his hands. He didn't know the reason why he even opened the book in the first place. The cover was a bit torn, the pages sure to become brittle soon and the golden letters that spelled "The Tale of Hanahaki" were barely visible.

But he felt drawn to it, as if the book was beckoning him to pick it up.

He sighed, wondering if it was real since science had not found an answer to Hanahaki's source yet. Even he knew that in every story, there is an inkling of truth.

He had watched people lose their voice, the first symptom, and recover shortly after they "confessed" to the people they liked and learn that they reciprocate those feelings. He watched some advance to the next stage of the disease with bloody petals in their hands.

Rationally, he couldn't believe it, but it was real, and the only cause they knew for the Hanahaki disease was unrequited love.

He had read books under the genre of romance, had seen movies, and even witnessed it in real life as he crossed paths with different people on the street insignificantly and held the significant ones close.

Is love real, or is it just a construct?

Finished, he made his way out of the library, on his way to his work to bump into you.

He recognized you as one of the workers in a cafe he frequently went to. Apologizing, the both of you walked towards the train station, you on your way to work while he's on his way to grab a cup before work. The cherry blossoms weren't growing yet, but the wind told him that spring was in a few weeks.

He didn't know that learning your name, and the small encounters whenever he goes to the cafe was a big deal until the reality hit him when he found him staring at you more, getting flustered, and feeling more than what friends feel. He wondered, in this early spring day, with the almost melted snow and budding blooms, do you feel this way too?

Was this what love truly is?

His feelings for you were no secret to his friends, nor was it to your coworkers. Maybe, you were just as dense as a brick to not notice them, or you were too focused trying to stop your own feelings from growing every time you meet his gunmetal eyes, when a smile creeps up his lips, and his protective stance whenever you two rode the train.

You didn't notice, until he came with you to the cafe, failing miserably in hiding his sickly pale complexion, and with trembling hands.

At first you couldn't convince yourself that his situation was real. After all, he seemed healthy the previous days. Yet, reflecting, you remember how he excused himself a lot whenever you're around, how he comes back with a smile that was trying to coax you to believe that he was okay, that his disease didn't exist.

And the same goes to him.

Years, months, days; he tried so hard not to fall in the same situation. Yet, here he was, trying to catch your attention with an order of a cup of coffee and playful, short banters. Here he was, falling down the rabbit hole of unrequited love like all those victims of the disease.

Why, of all the better timings, did it choose to come now?

"Let's go find a good spot and reserve it."

His voice was hushed trying to shield the fact that his voice was disappearing. You know it, with the way he shoots a short reassuring smile when he coughs, or when you just simply look at his direction.

Always so reassuring, ever reliable Keiji Akaashi.

Watching the cherry blossoms in full bloom was, yearly, your tradition. You used to stay only for a few minutes, visiting them alone and praying to famed gods for prosperity and happiness. Having him beside you, a picnic basket on hand, was new.

But you, oh you, could definitely get used to this.

With a nod, you followed him. The sun hasn't risen yet, but the moments before it were already fulfilling. Unpacking breakfast and eating it silently, laughing at the silliest arguments, and just being together in silence.

Akaashi smiled, bittersweetness flowing through his aura, as he re-reads the Tale of Hanahaki. Now, he feels how sad the tale was. Seeing their lover gone from their arms, growing flowers that he didn't desire to see anymore; the whole tale was just too unfortunate. He notices the similarities of the war veteran in the tale, and him, a simple human overworking himself with a cup of coffee on his table.

Would it end the same for him: alone, returning to nature through becoming one of the cherry blossoms you'll visit every year after he passed?

The sun started to rise, yet he found himself inching closer to you. His touch was tentative as he interlaced his fingers in yours, bringing them to his lips.

The slight touch of his lips on your knuckles made you feel warm, cozy, as he took you in his arms, pulling you closer to his chest. You watched the sunrise together, oddly familiar with his warmth, his smell, and overall presence. Butterflies swarmed in you, fluttering rapidly as you felt him press a kiss on your temple. Your heart raced as he whispered his next words, a sentence that you've waited on for so long, one that you would've said if he hadn't:

"I love you, I'm sorry."

"You don't have to answer, nor do I need it. I—" you shushed him with a tight squeeze on his hand. It was warm and sweaty, trembling from weakness and nerves. The hand you held was his, and he held yours.

"I love you too."

For a second, he couldn't process what you had said. After all, it wasn't what he was expecting. Have you known about it for a while? Was this your own way to console his stupidity in falling in love?

He didn't know, but he did know the genuine happiness, and the tears of relief that bubbled up your eyes.

And suddenly his chest wasn't so heavy.

There are a few things a human can do compared to their gods. Decide fates, create universes, and show how beautiful their creations are. It was a sad fact, but on that spring day, the only thing in his mind was the flutter of his heart almost like the delicate flower petals floating, taken by the wind and your mesmerized eyes as he holds you in his arms.

And he, oh he, could definitely get used to this.

footer: there's something so romantic abt the tradition of flower viewing for me :") i wish i can watch cherry blossoms soon too *dreamy sigh* reblogs are appreciated!

tags; @rendezvoi join the taglist if ur interested!

[jazminebrightxx]

Like magic

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SHOW: teen wolf

CHAPTER ONE: “oh how mature”

EPISODE: takes place after 3x01 “tattoo”

KAITLIN JONES always had a soft spot for perfect entrances, she was a swimmer, she dived head first and didn't look back. That was until now... as she stood by her blue Mini Cooper, her heart hammered in her chest. First day back. After four years, she was finally back to the town she'd always call home

Kaitlin was born and raised in beacon hills until she was twelve, and her dad moved her whole family to Boston for work. Things were good at the start, but the tide soon came in and the water crashed against the rocks, knocking down everything in its path, including her family. A lot of things can change in five years...

She sighed, shaking her head slightly as she prepared herself for her new title "new girl" god, she dreaded it but it had to happen, it happened before. everyone's new once in their life. Her hand clasped around the necklace that fell from her neck, giving it a little twirl as the triangle glistened in the sunlight. Okay, no more stalling, Kaitlin. She shut the door of her car, swinging her bag around her shoulder and locking the small vehicle. She stared at the school ahead, pulling her phone out and looking for her locker number, she had it saved in her notes...254.

She didn't hesitate in ploughing forward, her stance and strut confident as her bag swayed with her hips, a few unfamiliar glances made her way, she ignored them. Pushing open the doors, she took in the scenery, students calmly made their way through the halls, conversing and commuting. She kept her pace, her eyes scanning the lockers for her number.

This school was a lot different than the ones in Boston. It was calmer, not to say the halls weren't busy, there was quite a few teens roaming the halls but this school was nothing compared to Fenway. Once she found the locker with her number on it, she unlocked it, pulling a few of her books from her bag out and shoving them neatly in the metal locker.

She pulls out her schedule, using a small packet of Blu-tack and sticking the paper to her locker just Incase, she had a spare on her phone anyway.

The distant sound of heels grabs Kaitlin's attention, she finishes shoving the books in, glancing to her side, knowing who would be standing next to her.

"Kaitlin freaking Jones" the strawberry blonde beams at the small brunette, who smiles widely. Her heart hammering once again

"Lydia freaking Martin" kaitlin repeats Lydia's tone before she's pulled into a bone crushing hug. When the two pull away, Lydia checks Kaitlin over, squeezing her in her arms. "Oh my god, look at you!" Kaitlin giggled, Lydia sounded like a mother "oh shush, it hasn't been that long"

Lydia gave Kaitlin a indescribable look, her brows furrowed together and her lips pursed "Kate, it's been four years"

The brunette laughed "and that's four too many" the pair of friends laugh, Kaitlin noticing the brunette that stood awkwardly beside Lydia. The strawberry blonde jumped, a lightbulb going off

"Oh, Kaitlin, this is Alison Argent, Alison this is my childhood bestie Kaitlin Jones"

"Nice to meet you" Alison greets when taking to Kaitlin who smiles "likewise" Lydia holds onto Alison's arm, returning back to her little conversation and catch up with Kaitlin

"So, since when are you back in town?"

"Only a few days, today's my first day of school"

"You've gotta tell me everything...tell us everything that happened. But now" the bell went, huh, great timing "we've gotta get to class, what do you have now?"

"Uhm" she checked inside the locker "French"

"Ms Morrell?" Kaitlin nodded, the name made her ears perk up. Alison smiling widely "Me too, let us walk you to class" She suggests to the brunette, who shuts her locker

"Lead the way"

***

Kaitlin strolled through the halls of beacon hills high school, a hall pass in her hand as she made her way to the bathroom. Her first class was going better than expected, people here were super nice and welcoming and Alison had helped her around a-lot. Turning a corner, she stops, seeing two tall brunette boys stood at a locker, they huddled together, looking as if they were spilling secrets.

She smirks, knowing exactly who they were, Stiles still wore flannels and moved skittishly while Scott listened as he ranted. The two boys looked tense, it's surprising that Kaitlin couldn't hear every word the two were sharing. She sneaks up behind Stiles, his back to her as she hid from Scott

"I don't know. Maybe I'm being a little over dramatic" Kaitlin sees her opportunity and takes it immediately, coming out from behind the pale boy and resting her elbow on his shoulder "a little? I could see you popping a vein from the bathroom"

Stiles jumps at the sudden voice, letting out a startled Yelp as his eyes go wide, Scott stands shocked, recognizing the girl immediately

"Kaitlin?!" He stares at the brunette, who grins like a fool. Scott lets out a surprised laugh as he pulls the girl into a hug, squeezing tight,

"Hey Scotty" she greets him using the nickname she had given him when they were six. When Scott pulls away, Stiles gets a good look at her face, recognizing her, she still had slightly tanned skin, with freckles dashed around her face, the same little scar the sat on her chin, she'd had it years, the story behind it foggy. He goes red, remembering who she was and how he knew her

"Oh my god, Katie" Kaitlin's heart jumps at the nickname stiles had given her when she was young, it had stuck and was only reserved to people she cared for. Kaitlin stares at Stiles, a huge grin on her face "Stilinski!" She laughs, pulling him into a hug, she lets out a startled laugh when she's pulled off her feet as he lifts her to his height.

The boys were a lot taller now, they'd always had a height difference to Kaitlin but now they towered over her easily, so it wasn't hard for Stiles to lift her. When the two pull apart she stares at the two boys for a second before sighing. Scott and Stiles had been her best friends since she could remember, her mother was friends with Claudia Stilinski and Melissa McCall, so the three were friends from a young age, she hated when she had to leave them, it hurt her and hit her hard. But she never forgot them, four years and they still  held that same spot in her heart, nobody could replace them, she made friends in Boston, but it wasn't the same. "You have no idea how much I've missed you guys" she tells the boys, Scott nods in agreement, the smile not leaving his face.

"Are you back home?" Scott questions her quietly, Kaitlin nods happily "You're stuck with me" she laughs, the two boys joining her

"How's Kodin and Tyler?" Scott questions again, shoving his hands into his pockets, Stiles crossed his arms over his chest, a large smile on his lips. Kaitlin's smile fades slightly at his words, letting out a sigh.

"Uh Kodin's good, he's not coming to school 'till tomorrow, it's his first day as a trainee nurse" Scott's eyebrows raise in surprise, Kaitlin gives him a look "I know"

"And Tyler...well, actually, Tyler passed...two years ago, he had cancer" Scott stops, his smile fading, Stiles hands fall from his chest, Guilt radiated from Scott "Kate, I'm so sorry"

She waves him off "it's ok Scott you couldn't of known" Tyler fought long, and very hard against the cancer, he'd been diagnosed a few months after they left beacon hills, it was in a bad stage and things didn't look good, when he died, a piece of Kaitlin died with him, he was her big brother, the death struck the family hard, but it inevitably brought them closer.

"I'm really sorry katie" Stiles says, reaching a hand to her arm, a solemn expression on his face.

She shakes off the emotion that built "Nows not the time for that, how have you guys been, what's been going on" she changed the subject, even though she'd be likely to know the answer. Her uncle deaton kept her updated on the news in beacon hills, everything including the supernatural, she knew everything, but now wasn't the time to tell them...not yet.

***

Later Kaitlin had arrived back home and was sitting in her kitchen waiting for the food she was making to be done

The sound of the front door opening and closing was heard through the house, Kaitlin turns her attention to Natalie Jones, her mother who drops her jacket onto the coat hanger beside the door

she walks into the kitchen "ohh something smells good"she rubs her hands together, taking a seat at the table

Kaitlin smiles "i made your favorite"

"Carbonara?" The youngest nods and her mothers smile grows wider. things had been hard on the family since Kaitlin's father had left, her mother had been drowning in medical bills from Tyler and had been really stressed. luckily enough she had Kaitlin and Kodin who had been a massive help to her, Kaitlin took up a few shifts at a local diner called Joe's and cooked dinner for her mother and brother, who was a trainee Nurse at the hospital with his mom and helped his mother a lot

“I love you, you know that, right?”

***

a little while later and Kaitlin's sitting at the table with her mother, the two about to dig into their dinners when a loud bang is heard "Kodin's home" Kaitlin whispers. Natalie gives her daughter a look "how do you know"

the front door swings open, the loudness of the bang sounding through the house, a tall brunette walks in, his face was similar to Kaitlin's, freckles dashed his cheeks and his eyes were a similar colour.

"I'M HOME!"

Kaitlin gives her mother a look, Natalie laughing lightly, the twins had a special bond, they annoyed the absolute crap out of each other, but at the end of the day, Kaitlin would die for Kodin and vice versa.

"No one cares"

Kodin comes strolling into the kitchen, not looking at his sister but with a smug smirk playing on his lips. Kaitlin eyes go to his hand

His arm is held in the air beside his head, and he's... flipping her off. Kaitlin rolls her eyes, dropping her spoon "Oh how mature, Kodin "

"Oh stop, you two" Natalie hushes her two children playfully as all three are now smiling

Kodin takes his seat at the table after he grabs his bowl and a spoon and fork "so how was your first day back guys?"

"Well I met up with a few of my old friends and ran into Scott and Stiles today" Kodin states as he digs into his food, he takes a glance at Kaitlin. Kodin was also apart of the Scott, Stiles and Kaitlin group, he also had his own group of friends that he was close with, but the four were inseparable when they were young

"Yeah I saw them two, and Lydia, she introduced me to a new girl she was really nice" Kaitlin cuts in, and Kodin head snaps to her "Lydia as in like Lydia Martin?" Kodin questions a bit to quickly, Kaitlin's now the one with the smug smirk playing on her lips

"Aww Kodin are you blushinggg" She mocks her twin brother who kicks her from under the table , which only makes her burst out laughing, her mother smiling.

"I'm kidding kody calm down" her laughter dies down after a bit and the small family catch up on their day so far. Once there finished their food Kaitlin gets a text from an unknown number, eyeing it curiously she opens the message

Unknown

Hey do you wanna go for coffee?,  joes is still open and their donuts are to die for

Kaitlin's eyes narrowed at the message, confusingly she sends a quick reply back

Kaitlin

Who is this?

Unknown

Oh shoot sorry should have told you who it was, ahah it's Alison.

Kaitlin

How did you get my number?

Alison

Lydia

Kaitlin

Ah I see, uhm sure who's coming?

Alison

Myself, Lydia and our two friends, Scott and Stiles we can introduce you to them

Kaitlin smirks at the message, deciding to have a little fun she texts back

Kaitlin

Sure! It'll be fun meeting new people what time?

Alison

In about an hour? We can pick you up the guys are meeting us there

Kaitlin

Okay cool see you then x

The brunette runs up the stairs and throws on a new pair of light blue denim jeans and a grey hoodie pulling her hair into a messy ponytail and grabbing her phone, she runs down stairs and jumps onto the sofa, turning on the latest episode of greys anatomy. After about half and hour kodin makes his way down the stairs. Loudly as usual

"Do you have to be so damn loud?" She calls to the brunette who ignores her

"I'm going out, you need anything?" He doesn't look at her, looking at the tv.

"Nah I'm going out soon anyway"

"Ok cool see you later" he nods and walks out the door slamming it , Kaitlin rolls her eyes and continues watching the tv until she hears a car horn.

She jumps from the couch looking out and seeing Alison's car outside her house. She turns the tv off and runs into the kitchen

"I'm going out with Lydia" she quickly tells her mom, while grabbing her keys and phone, her mother smiles and nods

"Okay have fun, don't be too late" Kaitlin gives her mom a kiss on her head and walk for the door

"Love you!" She opens the door hearing her mom say the same and walks to the car. She jumps in the back, Lydia occupying the passenger seat and giving her a warm smile

"Hey girls" she warmly greets as the girls greet her back "So how was your first day back?" Lydia questions as they drive to joes.

"Eh it's school, but I got to catch up with some old friends" she smiles at Lydia knowingly and she returns the gesture. After a few minutes they arrive at the nice little corner cafe called joes. Alison finds a parking spot and they jump out of the small car, and into the building.

The trio walk up through the isle of booths, she sees Stiles, Scott and another boy not facing the girls. As they grow closer and closer to the booth Kaitlin starts to recognize the person, oh she definitely recognizes him.

"Kodin?" She questions as the three boys including her brother turn to look at her

"Kaitlin?"

"What the hell are you doing here?" Confusion laces through her voice as Alison looks at the two curiously

"You two know each other?" She questions genuinely confused

"He's my twin brother" Kaitlin explains as she slides into the booth beside Scott and Stiles as Lydia slides in beside Kodin who smiles along with Alison "Oh, well anyway this is Scott and stiles" the brunette continues to introduce the two boys to the girl who smiles. Scott and stiles both have confused expressions on their face but Kaitlin give them a look as if to say "just go with it". The two boys stay quiet and Scott catches on sticking out his hand, trying his best to hide his grin

"Hi Kaitlin, I'm Scott and this is my best friend Stiles" he says, stiles stares between the two oddly along with kodin

"What the hell is going on?" He questions and stiles doesn't take his eyes off the pairs clasped hands oddly "You just took the words out of my mouth" he says, his eyes confused

"Dude you guys know each other, why are you doing that?" Kodin questions and Kaitlin glares at him

"Wait you guys know each other too?" Alison questions, more confused than ever. Kaitlin and Scott laugh, and Stiles... well he's just given up trying to understand his two childhood best friends.

"Kaitlin, Kodin, Stiles and I grew up together." Scott explains to his ex girlfriend, after his laughter dies down

"Wait why didn't you tell me this?" The huntress questions Kaitlin curiously

"I don't know, wanted to have a mess I suppose" she smiles and Kodin rolls his eyes at his sister before a girl approaches the booth, notepad in hand

"Hi my names jade, what can I get you guys today-" the waitress locks gazes with Kaitlin and smiles "Oh hey Jones, you not working today?" Kaitlin smiles at jade and shakes her head "nah only Thursday to Saturday"

"Oh lucky, anyway what'll it be" the group begin to order their food, Kaitlin only ordering a shake and fries. "

When jade walks away, all eyes turn to Kaitlin and she sighs "I took up a few part time shifts here, to help my mom" She quickly explains, eyeing her brother who's eyes soften

"How come?" Alison pushes, Lydia kicks her heel and Alison gasps, glaring at Lydia "shut up" Kaitlin smiles at the two "No Lydia, it's okay really" she takes a quick glance at her brother who slightly nods to her

"My oldest brother Tyler passed a few years ago, and my moms been up to her eyeballs with bills so myself and Kodin help take care of a few things around the house" she quickly explains, Alison's eyes soften but she remains silent

"Yeah, I'm a trainee nurse at the hospital with my mom" Scott's gaze goes to Kaitlin

"Kate, Kodin told us, my moms his trainer" Kaitlin's brows raise, glancing at her brother "why didn't you tell me?" Kodin shrugs.     

"I forgot" Kaitlin rolls her eyes, lightly kicking him in the shins "ow, jeez I'm sorry" the group around them laugh. A little while later the groups food arrives and they catch up, Alison getting to know more about the Jones twins.

Kaitlin looks around her at the people she surrounded herself with. Alison and Lydia laughing at something Kodin had said. While Stiles, Scott and herself had been reminiscing over they're childhood. For the first time in a while she was calm and happy. Maybe things would be smooth sailing...

Oh how wrong she was.

——~——

JAZMINE SPEAKS

Oh god. This chapter isn’t my favorite but it’s the first of many. Might take me a while to get the rest out because you can’t just copy and paste onto here which is quite annoying😫 anyway. I hope you enjoyed and come back for more!!!

[davidmann95]

On one level hasn't Byrne's Superman been a smashing success? What other DC character has survived intact since 1986?

Well…I mean, this dude’s done pretty well for himself since 1986 too, I’d say.

I’d say considerably better, given that it was right around when Byrne revamped Superman that this guy beat him in the public eye now and forever, and people were generally satisfied enough with how he turned out that he’s stayed pretty much the same ever since with only a few tweaks - even the full reboot of the New 52 left him close enough to alone that it had to be retroactively established with Zero Year that anything of substance had been changed about him. Superman meanwhile went in the wake of Byrne’s reimagining from striding across the industry as a colossus, the undisputed most popular and lucrative superhero (and I’d say the most artistically successful as well up to that point other than Swamp Thing, the Spirit, and maybe Daredevil, between Moore’s work and Maggin’s novels), to a wistful kitsch afterthought at best, at worst a ‘mistake’ WB has spent decades and hundreds of millions of dollars trying to correct. Obviously there’s much more to what went wrong there than Byrne’s work - I’ve written about it before - but dispensing with politeness for a second for the sake of directness? I 100% think John Byrne bears the blame for Superman’s diminished state over the years as much as any other one person alive. At minimum, he is the closest there is to an embodiment of the most destructive era for the character.

It’s a funny thing; Man of Steel was actually one of my first comics as a kid, and for years I really did love it. Superman was my favorite between picture books, the animated series and the Flesicher shorts my dad had on tape, and I guess that was the closest I had to a big, weighty story with him (it probably didn’t hurt either that my first version of his origin as a kid, The True Story of Superman, was based on it). Batman and Spider-Man eventually took the lead though, and when I really got into Superman again as a teenager and he really became my favorite character, and I reread that in light of what I had come to appreciate about him? It just left me cold. The middle chunk is still a solid little run of superhero adventure comics - even if they get a little checklist-ey - and they’re absolutely gorgeous between Byrne, Giordano, and Ziuko, but the beginning and end, how they establish him as a character, built a foundation I am absolutely willing to say has just not worked, even aside from Superman’s entire journey to heroism turning out to be “boy, I sure did ignore your moral lessons for the first 17 years of my life, mom and dad. I suddenly am The Best Person now though, so I’ll be Superman in arbitrarily-presented secrecy until I reveal myself to the world in plain streetclothes”.

I’ve talked plenty in chunks before about a lot of what didn’t work for me here, but hitting the high points:

* Streamlining the Superman/Clark divide to the point of near-nonexistence with a more ‘normal’ Clark makes sense in the abstract as a way of making him more down-to-earth and understandable, but in practice it removes an indescribable degree of character tension and definition, and also makes Clark relatively boring because he’s exactly like Superman but not doing Superman stuff.

* In an attempt at incorporating Christopher Reeve’s charming, all-loving take, one that hadn’t really been seen in the comics up to that point, Byrne settled on a guy with a decidedly limited emotional scope. While trimming out some of the neuroticism of the Silver Age version was probably a good move, what we ended up with was a Superman who, pleasant as he may have been, didn’t have much range to him beyond calm beneficence, affection, determined seriousness, and the odd moment of sadness/shock where appropriate. He may not have been outright stiff, but he definitely came off less as Your Cool Dad so much as just The Dad. Nice, but not really charming. He’s got a sense of humor, but he’s not exactly down with The Kids™ either. Great coworker, standup Joe, but you couldn’t exactly imagine having much of a conversation with the guy.

* It scaled his world to exactly the wrong degree for an ongoing comics version of the character. I may be onboard with a cosmic Superman, but bringing him closer to square one for a total overhaul makes sense. But instead of taking the logical step of bringing him all the way back to near the Golden Age and having him fight ‘realistic’ threats again, he fought the same array of supervillains as ever. So you got neither the catharsis of a champion of the oppressed battling real-world ills or the awe of a godlike superbeing battling unimaginable perils from beyond the stars; instead he was a very strong (but not too strong, that’d be silly) guy in a generic city who fought bad guys and won, and never struggled too hard in that because again, he’s the clean-cut Superman, so you can never show anything getting too intense. Not that it’s impossible to tell satisfying stories with that setup, Mark Millar did great stuff on a similar scale in Superman Adventures with clever adventure stories, but in practice most writers took the easy out of regular villain brawls - an inevitability for something as long-running as comics with creators not being forced to push themselves in one direction or another - and it ended up a worst-of-all-worlds mix in that regard.

* The soap opera approach of those years led to a ton of what’s commonly regarded as the dumbest stuff for the character, and I think led pretty directly to the neverending crossover setup that’s done so much to hobble him over the last decade. And when that approach ostensibly driven by emotional drama was paired with the reduction of internal conflict in Clark himself, I think the attempts at forcing that necessary conflict again while staying in line with how Byrne had established things ultimately led to a lot of the hand-wringing “What does it truly mean…for me to be…a…Superman?” moping of the last twenty years.

* Much like its years-later namesake, this version of Superman pushes a fairly hardline assimilation take on his relationship with his heritage where the place he came from was bad and wrong, and the climax of what emotional journey he has is embracing his status as a real human/American, which cuts out a lot of the idea of him as an alienated figure showing us to accept the strange and different. It also hasn’t particularly aged well in how blatant it is as an 80s Cold War metaphor: there sure is a lot of talk about how the Kents imagined the cold, isolationist, inhuman, deservedly-doomed-to-die place Clark came from might have been Russia.

* It’s the first set of Superman comics to start to internalize in a big way the idea that Superman, or at least most of the mythology of his world, is silly and dumb and need to be fixed, even as creators wanted to bring all the fun old stuff back, squaring that circle by way of making everything either tremendously more boring or infinitely dumber. A square world is stupid, Bizarro’s just a sad grunting Frankenstein who dies in his first appearance now. Invulnerable? That makes no physical sense, so he’s got a forcefield, that somehow totally explains it all. He’s gotta truly be the sole survivor of Krypton now, that’s heavy and realistic, but what about Supergirl? Well, she’s, ah, a fire-angel protoplasmic clone of Lana Lang from a pocket universe. Sure. Also Brainiac’s a carny possessed by/possibly hallucinating the classic villain. And later on, following in those footsteps, Krypto’s from a fake Phantom Zone Krypton, and Kandor has no Kryptonians, and there were no other Kryptonian survivors because of genetic manipulation by a nationalist Kryptonian supercomputer, and the Supermen Red and Blue were electric energy beings brought about to fight the Millennium Giants, and Toyman’s a pedophilic serial killer, and Zod’s a mutant dictator in power armor who absorbs red sunlight and may be in telepathic communion with the original character. Yes, all that’s dribbling fucking idiocy removing every ounce of charm from the basic concepts with almost surgical precision, but at least it’s all quite serious.

I know Byrne’s era has a ton of support - it’s an 80s soap opera comic, those tended to accumulate die-hard fans. I understand it was better from a craft perspective than its immediate predecessors, since the Superman titles had been intentionally kept in a holding pattern (except for Moore’s work) of simple adventure stories as introductory stuff for kids. I imagine the focus on his personal relationships did a lot for people, it introduced a handful of genuinely good ideas (Wolfman’s corporate baron Luthor ended up meshing well with the best of the established take, and him drinking in solar radiation over time to explain his changing powers was inspired, for instance), and this particular brand of smoothed-out clean-cut pleasant superheroism is easy to look back on as a brighter, lighter time. But it was a creative dead zone - just about every major beloved Superman story either came before this period, or after its influence notably started to wane. And boy did it wane: people have been trying to reboot away from this thing constantly, over and over again, restoring every old element Byrne and company discarded. There have been three major origin reboots in the last decade-and-a-half, each farther away from the last, with Mark Waid (one of Byrne’s loudest critics for decades) bringing back the conceptual baseline stuff Byrne had missed in Birthright, Geoff Johns bringing back all the Silver Age mythology he could, and Grant Morrison (who while appreciative of aspects of Byrne’s take, also commented it had a “whiff of prefab plastic smugness”) pulling things all the way back to the Golden Age. And, with absolutely no caveats, Waid and Morrison’s word on Superman carries more weight than Byrne’s ever will. DC’s finally tried going back to Byrne’s version lately to grab on nostalgia dollars, and they’re even rebooting away from that next month less than a year after it began in earnest.

Obviously, Superman’s comics can only have so much impact on his public profile at this point. But Byrne’s ‘clean slate’ constricted possibilities and character, deadened the titles creatively for years, threw the line into a constant state of chaotic push-pull between creators who love essentially two different characters calling themselves Superman, and judging by how Superman’s lagged behind in other media since then, failed to inspire much in those charged with bringing his adventures to a larger audience, poisoning the brand far beyond the people still picking up his regular printed adventures. The film that did bring major aspects of Byrne’s vision to a larger audience in Man of Steel was…well, it was Man of Steel. Love it or hate it, there’s no argument to be made that the world broadly accepted it as an iconic, recognizable take on the character.

And that’s why, petty as it may be, I’ll always smile when I remember that Dick Giordano once pulled Byrne aside to explain to him "You have to realize there are now two Supermen – the one you do and the one we license.“ Still damn good art though.

[icharchivist]

With Lavi having a tragic fate (though that doesn't mean it'll be 100% depressing). I feel like when you compare Allen's story to Lavi's fears/own goals you can get the impression Allen is meant to be a role model to him. Most of the cast admires Allen, but Lavi always gets special focus it seems. Just like how Lavi's character development has probably been impacted the most by Allen. There's also the fact that Allen and Lavi are among the few who have a goal that's a mystery, hasn't been-

2 been achieved yet, many obstacles being presented in the way, tied heavily to the fate of humanity and both are/will struggle just how they want to accomplish their end goal when important figures (mentors) tell them otherwise. All we and they know about their goals are the basic. Allen: save humanity/akuma. Lavi: be Bookman. Other characters have goals too but none as complex or overreaching as their goals have been in the plot. Lenalee's is protect my world. Kanda's is find person then-

3 repay life debt to Allen. Pretty straightforward and personal. A lot of Lavi's fears have been addressed but not settled (except acknowledging he has a heart and will use it). His big fears have been not being good enough to be a bookman. Leaving behind people he cares about, having them judge him badly for it and having those closest to him die. Around the same time Allen was starting to feel stressed/misplaced in the Order. Lavi was getting secretly heartbroken over possibly leaving the -

4 Order and his friends behind. Now look at what's happened: Allen's been branded a traitor and is judged badly by most of the Order he risked his life for. All for following his beliefs. Allen left all his friendships behind to follow his sense of duty. Allen has already lost extremely important loved ones (Cross and Tim) and also thinks others close to him are dead (Link and Lavi). Been told by his mentor to give up his vow. Basically a lot of what Allen has gone through is what Lavi is most-

5 most afraid of happening to him. Allen told Cross in Nea's dream world that he would keep his vow until the end. Even if Nea takes him over completely then maybe Allen's determination will have inspired someone else (my ♡). That someone in particular might be Lavi. We don't know what the bookman purpose is. Only that it's tied to humanity's fate. It's possible Lavi will be forced to go through what no other Bookman has gone through before him. Since Allen is the Destroyer of Time it makes -

7 Lavi will most likely at least one of the ones to accompany Allen to the very end of his journey. It's what Bookman thought was the most important record to make and Lavi will have to succeed him in recording Allen. Afterall you could even see the 14th reveal as Bookman giving Lavi the responsibility of being Allen's main watcher (even Lavi seemed surprised Bookman wanted him to record Allen alone despite not having any idea about the 14th yet). All in all I feel like Lavi is definitely being-

8 set for a lot of suffering himself over his burdens. Allen is going to be his inspiration to keep moving forward (even leaving his friends behind) and define his own path while never swaying from his original goal. It just might be his ultimate test is watching Allen die for his vow (which I guess inside his mind world was the thing that broke him) but staying true to his own vow by recording history as it should. This being Allen's hope his death would at least inspire someone to not give -

9 up when they need it the most comes full circle. It'd be a neat sign of growth for Lavi to experience Allen's death. But instead of pretending he's fine or breaking down completely. Lavi would take courage and inspiration on how Allen lived and apply that to himself (of course I would be sad if Allen died. Would the fandom survive. I just don't know. =,(* )

Allen+ Lavi: Oh yeah another thing I forgot to mention. Both of them used to dislike humanity. Lavi because of all horrors he saw from all the wars. Allen because of how people abused him. The difference is that Lavi used his status as a way to feel above and better than humanity. Allen had nothing and still took inspiration from a kind dog and later Mana to latch onto any love no matter how bleak things were. To learn Allen chose love over hate even when he sees the akumas true selves was a -

2 big inspiration to care about people for Lavi. I guess before Allen, Lavi always assumed he had it worst and knew better. But then that became his first wake up call. Ecspecially when Allen used his pain to encourage others.

!!!!! oh boy. So one step at a time.

All of the development of the parallelism works perfectly. allen and Lavi had always had some elements of parallelisms and you’re completely right that those elements often served for Lavi to be inspired by Allen in a very distinct way.

Especially with now Allen’s situation now that we know Lavi’s storyline is coming.Like you say, just Allen’s situation as of now would cause a lot of burden for Lavi, and would the parallels continue, Lavi would have even more reasons to suffer. 

I honestly always thought Lavi’s “tragedy” would happen while fullifying his duty. I’ve always kinda thought Lavi will live on to see his friends die and be doomed to record their history, and I tend to believe that Allen might die in the end of the manga. Not that I want to though, ultimately i want Allen to survive, and there would be still way for Lavi to suffer from seeing Allen’s suffering. But it’s not something i’m excluding. If life or death is supposed to happen to the main four i’m really more inclined to believe Lavi will live and Allen will die. I just. Hope not.

(and no the fandom wouldn’t survive, or well, i would be crying for ever and never recover for certain)

That said, while Allen did indeed move forward to leave his friends behind, as his friends proved, they were ready to go out of lines and orders to support Allen. Part of Allen’s new journey is to finally accept the help he had been refusing the whole manga. And that’s a huge part of Allen’s character growth. We do focus a lot on his own determination and how it carries him forward but the story (and Hoshino by the by) often calls him out for being an hypocrite for taking everyone’s weight on his shoulders but never allowing anyone to help him.

The fact next chapter will be Allen finally opening up to Kanda in the purpose of allowing Kanda to help is huge. Allen may have given up everything but now he’s at a point whe’re he’s realizing that he cannot just pretend to handle everything alone and that his friends are here to back him up. 

If Allen’s determination is something inspiring to carry him forward, latest chapters had shown that he cannot do it on will alone. He had to cling to the thought of his friends and Johnny had to call him to ground him back in reality. Determination is all fine and good but it would all make it harder would Allen continue Alone. And I think that’s why the current arc is calling “A Search/A Call for Allen Walker” (the word used in Japanese can be used in both those terms, as a spiritual search and a calling, of people grabbing and looking for him). The Arc is about Calling Allen Back with the love of the people around him while he got lost to his own isolation. 

Even if Allen’s determination remains admirable even within the frame of the story, the story refuses the cynism of letting him deal with it completely alone. It is a flaw from Allen to keep pushing people away. And it’s why this arc is specifically about people “calling for him” to remind him that he’s not going through all of this alone and cannot expect to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders.

If parallelisms with Lavi continue i don’t think Lavi will therefore cut out everyone to carry on his goal, because Allen is the proof of finally letting people in after for ever to focus still on his own goal. That the plot had been Condemning Allen for doing exactly that. 

Hoshino had always said that what she wanted to explore within DGM was how she viewed Love. From the themes of compassions and understanding, as well as her calling Allen a hypocrite, I don’t see her go for something as cynical as Lavi sacrificing his bounds with others in order to move forward.

I believe Lavi’s tragedy would just work also by allowing the Story he lives to hurt him and to stop thinking he can live free of hurt as long as he doesn’t care. To quote wtnv “Are we living a life that is safe from harm? Of course not. We never are. But that’s not the right question. The question is are we living a life that is worth the harm?”Lavi is convinced that if he doesn’t feel for people, there will be no harm coming from it. Therefore he’s taken aback and panicking when he realizes he’s getting harmed by it because he has never learnt how to handle it. Lavi’s journey would be imo to embrace that this harm is meant to happen. That he isn’t “living free of it” as long as he ignores those bounds. And that would be tragic enough for his own character arc.

I believe there are more growth possible for Lavi’s tragedy than doing just that, that pretending to live on too. 

So while i see what you propose as a possibility i truly believe that Allen isn’t a rolemodel for how much he is isolating himself for his goal, and would Lavi see it as such, he would only get more suffering from it. 

Besides if Allen is currently learning he cannot handle everything alone for ever now before seeing back Lavi, it might prepare Allen to handle Lavi in a similar crisis and manage to walk him out of it, with a side of “I’ve done the same, pushing people away thinking it’ll bring me closer to my goal, but it only caused more harm. Lavi, don’t do that to yourself either”. 

Allen had been Lavi’s inspiration to feel emotions again.  Not just in term of his goal, even if the parallelisms are there, but in term of profound emotions and compassion. And I doubt Lavi would overlook that in a character development arc.

and you are entierely right on the other parallelism about them hating humanity, but it’s also fuel on what i’m meaning too, of learning to let the emotions in and compassion toward humanity and others - and this compassion as Allen is learning, isn’t something that can only be one-sided, whenever he wants it or not, and that rejecting it when it comes to yourself isn’t healthy.

To me... Allen had always been about how much he pushed himself to help everything and everyone to the point of neglecting his issue until they started to blow up of proportion, and instead of reaching for help, Allen rushed out of it and isolated himself to not impose it on others, to not hurt them in the process. And Allen is currently learning that he should actually let people in, let people help him. And to me it’s one of the strongest message that plays off Allen’s greatest flaw of handling everything on his own.

I just can’t see this message go into deaf ears when it comes to others characters looking up to Allen.

Idk if it makes sense...? Hope it does.

Take care!