#i guess now it works as an advanced comic for this year too

[yizhanfanart]

summer island treasure hunt (part 1)

Art by -木鬼- on Weibo

Translated by YizhanFanart

Source: https://weibo.com/2917062503/4953088542904229

-Please do not remove the credits-

[atlafan]

This is the teacher that kids either love or hate, there’s no in between. Mr. Styles has his quirks, and according to your niece, you either get him or you don’t. The annoying thing is, Mr. Styles teaches all of the science electives like astronomy, astrophysics, forensic science, marine science, zoology, and meteorology. These aren’t required courses, but they’re only a semester long. After completing biology, students can either take a full year of chemistry and a full year of physics, or they can do a full year of chemistry or physics, and two science electives. Or they can do four science electives.

Mr. Styles also is the only AP Chemistry and AP Physics teacher. There’s really no avoiding him. Some students accept this, and others continue to live in denial.

Many students know their strengths and passions. They were made to be scientists. Your niece, who loves science, is taking as many courses as possible to help herself out for college later on. She’s in AP Chemistry with Mr. Styles, as well as forensic science. Your niece loved Mr. Styles until he gave her an F for missing an exam. She had been out sick. She had a note from her doctor and everything! Your niece blubbered to you about it.

You know Mr. Styles. You work at the same school as Mr. Styles. You’re the music teacher. You typically avoid Mr. Styles. You’re in a completely different area of the school. Many students complain about him, but just as many praise him. But this time it’s personal. He made your niece cry, at school! You told her she could stay in your office for a bit to calm down. You were marching your way to Mr. Styles’ classroom. You didn’t care if he was teaching. You were going to barge in.

When you get to his door, you see him sitting at his desk through the little window. It’s a prep period. When you giggle the handle of the door, it doesn’t turn. So, you pound on the door with your fist while Mr. Styles takes his sweet time coming to open it.

“Miss-“

“Don’t even address me right now, I’m too mad.”

“I don’t think I know you well enough for you to be venting to me about something.” He says as he closes the door. “But I guess I can listen since I have time.”

“I’m here because you’re being an asshole to my niece. She missed school because she was sick and you wouldn’t let her makeup a test. That’s against school policy.”

“Not with AP courses.” He crosses his arms over his chest. You can’t help but feel frazzled at his attire. The dichotomy of him wearing a Disney shirt about love while he’s scowling is is almost comical. “If a student is sick on the day of the exam, then that’s it. They fail. They don’t get to try again.”

“How is she going to get into a good school if she has an F on her transcript?!”

“She’s not going to fail the class. She knew I had a strict policy. Also, I put out exam dates well in advance. She knew what day it was going to be.”

“She was sick!”

“Was she vomiting uncontrollably? Was she coughing up blood? Was she bed ridden? If the answer is no to any of those, then she could have come in to take the exam.”

“Right, so then she could get all of the other kids sick?”

“Masks are a thing. Plenty of students still wear them in the classroom. She could have come in for the exam and then left afterwards. Why do you care so much? You’re not her legal guardian. Her parents haven’t emailed or called to complain. At the mandatory parents meeting I run at the beginning of the school, I make it clear to the parents that I am strict for a reason.”

“My sister and brother-in-law haven’t called to complain because they don’t know about any of this. She came crying to me because she has no idea how to tell them because she knows she’s going to be asked if she knew it was an exam day. Which she completely forgot because she was sick and her brain was foggy.”

“She’ll have opportunities to make up her grade. Her participation counts for a lot and she’s always participating.”

“You don’t understand mental instability these overachievers have. I’ve seen that girl cry over an A-. Shooting her in the stomach would hurt less than getting a bad grade. Do you get off on being a dick?”

“You know what? This is my prep period, and I was busy.”

“Yeah, your door was locked.” You scoff.

“I always lock it. I don’t like when people filter in and out during my prep.”

“What if a student had an emergency and needed you?! Why are you even a teacher if you don’t care about students?! Do you have any idea how hard these kids have it? They don’t even teach them how to use computers anymore! No one knows how to touch type! Everyone assumes they have it easy, but they don’t. A lot of kids come to school because it’s better than being at home. You making it worse for them is a real turn off. I know you have students that adore you, but you also have students that would love the opportunity to spit in your food.”

“Are you done?”

“That depends, do you understand the points I’ve made?”

“Yes. You were very clear.”

“Are you going to take what I said into consideration as you’re teaching?”

“No.”

“You’re a fucking prick.”

“And you’re…” His eyes go up and down, checking her out. “It’s a good thing your room is on the other side of the school.” He shakes his head.

“Why? Afraid I’ll spit in your food?”

“No, in fact, I’d welcome your spit. I’d like it preferably in my mouth, but beggars can’t be choosers.” He shrugs and sits down at his desk.

Your mouth is agape. Did he really just say that to you?

“Are you serious?”

“Very.” He stands back up and saunters over to her. “If you’d like to cuss me out some more, could we do it over dinner?”

“I…”

“You never gave me a chance to take you out a few years ago. Remember that night we were both at that bar?”

“I do.” You nod as you blush. “But that was a mistake. I had a boyfriend…”

“Do you still?”

“No.”

“Alright, well, I would love to be in your presence again while you’re all fired up. Are you free Saturday night?”

“Pick me up at seven.”

“I’ll make a reservation somewhere I know we’ll be secluded so you can yell at me some more.”

“Stop talking before I change my mind.” You say and storm out of his classroom.

While you were teaching your sixth period choral class, Harry was teaching his forensic science class. Your niece got there a few minutes early to talk to Mr. Styles as he stood outside the class to greet the other students coming in.

“So…did it work?” She asked quietly.

“Like a charm.”

“She said yes?!”

“Mhm.” He grinned. “You must have put on quite the performance. She was really angry.”

“If you thought that made her angry, wait until she inevitably finds out that we worked together to trick her.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

[dragonflight203]

So, a slight change of plans: I made it to the big second hand bookstore and picked up several more comics, including a copy of Batman: Under the Red Hood.

As this is the story that resurrects Jason Todd, it’s obviously core to the mythos and is the next one I tackled.

Comic

Title: Batman: Under the Red Hood

Author: Judd Winick

Artist: Doug Mahnke, Paul Lee, Shane Davis, Eric Battle

Year: 2003-2006

Overall Opinion

-A good story! I enjoyed reading it and recommend it to others.

There are random diversions that don’t advance the plot and characters dropping in and out of narrative, but that seems to be standard in comics. The nature of the medium makes it hard to tell a tight story.

Art

-A solid style. Another one I’d be happy to read more comics in.

There are some panels that make Black Mask look like an angry wet cat, which I’m rather fond of.

General

-Jason’s good, but he still gets Bruce’s cowl off very easily in the fight on the rooftop.

My guess is Batman let him do it because he suspected this is Jason and gambled that if Jason removed Bruce’s cowl, he might reveal his own identity.

(Although, they landed on a public street. What, no one peeked at the fight and saw Bruce’s face?)

-Is it supposed to be implied that Black Mask was prepping to face the Justice League?

He’d ordered Amazo and the kryptonite. What else could he need those for?

-The comic keeps referencing that Oracle is no longer an available resource but never explains why.

I finally looked it up and apparently her base was destroyed? How hard would that have been to work into the comic itself? And why can’t she work out of the batcave until her base is rebuilt?

-In Hush, Batman was very critical of Jason’s fighting skills. He says Jason was never as good as his opponent at the time (Clayface, later retconned to be Jason himself.)

Batman, in Hush: “My opponent is counting on Jason’s appearance to affect my abilities. Play on whatever guilt I harbor for Jason’s death. His coordination. His speed. The acrobatics. It’s all… too familiar. Bottom line… Jason was never that good.”

In Under the Red Hood, it’s implied that Batman realized the Red Hood was Jason after fighting him.

Dick: “The Red Hood split as well. He’s very good.”

Bruce: “Yes. He’s very good.”

There’s something going on there. Batman recognized Jason and that his fighting skills had improved? Batman downplayed Jason’s abilities in Hush as a coping mechanism?

-What is Bruce’s beef with Zatara?

“I needed someone I could trust. But I had to settle for you.”

-Why the hell is there a business with a mainframe in Metropolis?

This story as written from 2003-2006. Who still had mainframes?

And why it is assumed that destroying the mainframe and taking the hard drives means the company no longer has the data? Have the writers never heard of offsite backups?

-Scarecrow’s a common enough foe that Batman’s suit has built in resistances to his fear toxin. Eye shields, ear plugs.

I find that funny and suspect Scarecrow would take it as a compliment. How many other villains recur frequently enough that Batman has to make special adjustments to his suits just for them?

-Jason says he’ll do better than Batman. He’ll be who Batman should be because he’ll kill. “You. I’ll be you. The you you’re supposed to be.”

Interestingly, the criminals reject that. Apparently they expect the heroes to not engage in the same activities they do.

David, one of Black Mask’s men: “He’s hitting all the drug buys. We expected trouble in the areas that he deems his ‘territory’… ...But now he seems to be expanding. And whereas before he was enlisting anyone under our province to work for him… ...Now he seems to just be dispatching them.”

Black Mask: “Oh, so now we’ve got another Batman? One who doesn’t mind the blood?”

David,: “No, sir. The Red Hood is still taking huge cuts from all avenues of business. Drugs, racketeering, prostitution… Now… It looks like he’s eliminating the competition.”

The criminals might fear Red Hood, but not because he opposes them. He’s just another rival out for their turf.

-There’s an interesting thread contrasting Jason and Black Mask through the story.

They’re both crime lords in Gotham. They are both attempting to rule through fear and violence.

However, Black Mask is well aware he’s a villain and revels in it. He leans into his own awfulness.

Jason insists that he’s being a force of good in the city… While engaging in similar and/or identical actions as Black Mask.

The result is I like Black Mask much more. At least he’s not pretending to be better than he is.

-I find it notable what’s not shows in the comic.

We don’t see the reaction to Red Hood from the GCPD or regular citizens. Only from the Bat family in Gotham (Bruce, Alfred, Onyx) and criminals.

Do the GCPD and regular citizens consider Red Hood a vigilante or another crime lord?

-We also don’t see Jason helping people. He established himself as drug lord and forbade selling drugs to kids, yes.

But we don’t see him protecting people as walk through his territory. We don’t see him distributing funds or food to those who need it.

We know he takes cuts from prostitutes – does he forbid underage prostitution? If so, does he make sure the ones who would engage have alternative means to make money?

Jason says he’s going to do better than Batman, but this comic doesn’t show it.

Plot

-I’m never fond of starting stories in media res and then backtracking to the start. Just start from the beginning and go from there.

-Wayne Enterprise’s R&D department is bought out and Bruce is removed from the board of directors.

This reminds me of how Bruce is removed as the CEO in the TellTale games.

How often are variants of this story told? Seems an easy method to create drama.

It also has very little impact on the story – Bruce mentions that it means his gadgets will be made available to the public, but we never see that occur.

We also don’t see Bruce make any efforts to get the department back, which you think would be a priority.

-Batman and Nightwing take down Amazo, an android designed to destroy the Justice League. It has the abilities of seven members.

They do with no warning or prep time. While impressive, it also makes Amazo look very weak – it’s supposed to take down the entire Justice League and it’s stopped by two men with no superpowers?

The only reason I can think for this fight is that it’s to make Red Hood look better, since he nearly accomplishes what Amazo failed at.

-Why was Joker at the Fairgrounds Jason found him at? Why wasn’t he in his standard costume? Why was Jason able to take him down so easily?

Joker didn’t even try to fight back.

-Jason’s face is revealed at the end of chapter 4. Who actually recognized him?

The follow up chapters have Batman researching ways someone can return from the dead, so I think it was assumed readers knew it was Jason.

-Chapter 8 reviews Jason’s tenure as Robin and how his start of darkness began then.

I’d like to get a hold of Jason’s run as Robin and read through it. I’m curious how much of this is retconned.

-Chapter 8 also includes some victim blaming.

These words are over panels depicting Jason’s death. The “it” refers to armor: “And it wasn’t strong enough for Jason. Willful Jason, who ignored danger… Who spat at risk. Who was never frightened enough.”

These feel like a deliberately negative interpretation of Jason’s motivations. It could alternatively be said that he had courage and would not be swayed from his goals by personal risk.

(If “armor” is taken as plot armor, it could also be said that Jason didn’t have enough plot armor to survive. And that was not his fault.)

-Jason’s also retconned as facing Batman in Hush when Clay took Jason’s form.

I call bullshit. This is just to retroactively add some foreshadowing of Jason’s revival and add more drama. It doesn’t work as the story is told in Hush itself.

-Black Mask figures out Red Hood is a former Bat because he and Batman refer to him the say way!

It shows how even though they’ve taken different paths they’re still very similar.

Red Hood: “You can call yourself whatever you like… You can play dress-up… You can surround yourself with any myth you like… …But at the end of the day… You’re just another gangster!”

Batman: “You crossed the line and someone besides just me came down on you. But at the very end of the day, Mask, you’re not special. You’re just another gangster…”

Black Mask: “That’s exactly what he said. It was by some damned radio address stuck inside that mook’s helmet, but it was him talking… The Red Hood said the same thing.

“Oh, ho… You don’t just know him, you know him.

“This is one of your people who’s stepped off the reservation and traded in handcuffs for flatlines…”

-Jason dressed Joker up in his normal clothes for the confrontation with Bruce. He didn’t have the standard top when Jason found him.

This has to be intentional. Joker looked rather pathetic in their first meeting and in the confrontation with Batman he looks his regular self.

Did Jason want Joker to look as “normal” as possible to make it easier for Batman to accept his death?

-Joker’s running commentary in the final confrontation is great. He’s clearly having the time of his life as Jason and Bruce have a gut-wrenching heart to heart interspersed with violence.

-Near the end Bruce puts a batarang in Jason’s neck to stop him from killing the Joker.

I assumed this was non-lethal if Batman got him help in time.

It surprised me to learn that many take this as Batman killing him. That’s never explicitly stated – Joker actually says Batman somehow managed to win, despite everyone losing.

-The comic ends with Joker blowing the building up, because it’s the Joker.

I dislike this ending. It prevents there from being any real closure to the story, which feels like a cop out after so much buildup.

-The comic itself never explains how Jason returned. That’s covered in a side story.

-In the main comic, Batman supposedly sealed all the Lazarus pits.

In The Return of Jason Todd, we see Ra’s and Jason use one.

So, continuity error? Did Batman seal them after Ra’s and Jason used one? Is that a pit Batman missed?

Characters

Bat Family

-Alfred considers his life deeply intertwined with Bruce. He repeatedly speaks of them as one unit.

Watching Bruce retrieve Jason’s coffin: “This life… this life of OURS… it has had so few moments of contentment… and those memories are being tainted.”

Reflecting on how collecting first editions brought Bruce joy after his parents deaths: “Even today, despite the vast change in direction our lives have taken, we still collect first editions. He and I.”

-Dick and Jason know Bruce collects first editions. Why doesn’t Tim?

-Batman mentions that it’s hard to be around Nightwing because he misses the days they worked together.

Bittersweet – Bruce cares deeply about Dick but has a terrible time verbalizing it.

-Bruce says he won’t kill the Joker because if he does he won’t come back.

I think he means mentally. Killing someone would push Bruce over the edge. He’s already only just clinging to sanity; if he kills, he’ll topple head first into insanity and he’s terrified of what he’ll do.

Not killing the Joker isn’t not caring about Jason. It’s about preventing the collateral damage Bruce believes would result.

But Jason’s demonstrated thoroughly in this comic that he doesn’t give a damn about collateral damage, so of course he doesn’t accept that.

-Dick and Jason both still idealize Batman’s skills.

Dick watching Batman fight: “By the time I think ‘Think is bad’… He’s already airbone and on the attack. Even after all these years, I’m still amazed by him.”

Jason to Batman as Batman attempts to dismantle a bomb Jason set: “I never get tired of watching you work.”

Jason to himself after watching Batman escape a building he blew up: “I just love to watch you work.”

-Jason killed the drug dealers’ lieutenants and tossed their heads at them to inform they work for Jason now. He orders them not to sell drugs to kids.

And he thinks that makes everything okay?

Because clearly parents that are strung out on drugs are great with their children. They never fail to feed them because they spent all their money on drugs, neglect them because they’re high, hit them because they’re not in the right mind…

And how many kids did he orphan by killing the lieutenants? How many households just lost the primary breadwinner? Is he going to follow up with their families and make sure they’re okay?

Just, Jason’s orders to keep kids out of it sounds good but is overly simplistic. His actions directly and indirectly impact others, including kids. He seems to think any indirect harm that occurs because of his actions isn’t his responsibility, and that’s not the case.

-Jason not only tried to insist his dealers sell more drugs, he also wouldn’t let them stop selling drugs.

Certainly the actions of a man out to clean up Gotham.

-However, Jason does not seem to not consider himself a criminal:

To Onyx: “…I seem to have made myself an enemy of all the bad guys.”

To Onyx, after killing a bunch of people: “Welcome to Planet Earth, baby! These dead sacks of meat on the floor made their living by beating, raping, and devouring! Fear isn’t the answer!”

To Batman: “No. I’ve killed, not murdered.”

Jason’s dehumanized criminals so thoroughly that he doesn’t consider them people anymore. It’s not murder if it’s not a person, right?

-And he gives a classic villain speech to Batman: “Death will come to those who deserve death. And death may come to those who stand in my way of doing what’s right.

“All of your adult life you’ve fought to save Gotham. Save her from herself. But you never, ever have understood her.

“She’s evil. And you have to fight her where she lives. I live there. I’ll be the one who finally brings peace.”

Ah, yes, peace by murdering (excuse me, killing people) at your discretion. I’m sure none of their loved ones will seek revenge. Or does he just plan to kill everyone until the city is empty?

-Jason expected Bruce to save him against Captain Nazi and the Hyena. He said he was stalling for time until (implicitly) Batman showed up.

All this time, after all he’s done, and he still believes Batman will come for him.

-Jason: “Just be happy I only killed the Nazi!”

Jason knows damn well that Bruce doesn’t want him to kill anyone.

I think it’s very intentional that it’s Captain Nazi that Jason killed – it’s generally agreed that Nazis are evil and stopping them is necessary. Many people make exceptions to rules about violence and death when it involves Nazis.

But Bruce doesn’t. Bruce won’t kill and he won’t make exceptions to that rule. No ifs, no buts. That’s why Jason is so angry – if Bruce won’t make an exception for a Nazi, he won’t make one for the Joker.

-Jason has contempt for the costumed criminals as both Robin and Red Hood. He says they’re playing dress-up.

Rather ridiculous when he’s wearing his own costume. The narrative seems to agree with this hypocrisy; Black Mask calls him out on it too.

-Bludhaven is nuked and Jason won’t let Batman leave to check on it. Or Dick.

He finally has Batman to himself and he’s not about to share his attention. He’s put too much work into the confrontation to diverge for it, even if he should.

None of this is about what’s right. It’s about what Jason wants.

-The ending makes it come off as the entire comic is Jason throwing a massive tantrum because Bruce didn’t avenge his death.

He’s obviously deeply traumatized. That also doesn’t excuse any of what he’s done.

Rogues

-David, to his employer that has a back mask burned onto his face about Freeze: “I’m not thrilled about employing psychotics.”

And what does he consider Black Mask…?

-Black Mask has amazing lines. I love him. He’s so unashamedly awful.

Speaking to Red Hood who just stole one of his shipments: “Yeah, well, I have anger management issues. I abate the urge by murdering people who annoy me.”

To David, about Red Hood being insane to demand 50 million dollars for a crate of kryptonite: “No, the insane ones would make a suit of the rock and march into Metropolis and play king of the mountain. This one knows what he’s doing.”

-What’s with Freeze in this continuity?

His bio makes no mention of Nora and he seems to enjoy killing for the sake of killing. And why did he need Black Mask to provide him a suit?

-Lol, even the backstreet doctors won’t take on the Joker.

Red Hood: “Those guys were veterinarians. I couldn’t pay the mafia medics enough to touch you.”

Edit: Added Comic section

[littlestpersimmon]

Even if I get paid by my industry job tomorrow I would still need to have three jobs bc my contract states that if the comic I'm working for ends up not getting published, I would have to return every single penny I make, yes even the advance, even if I have the story 100% drawn already. I was so taken aback I had to ask for clarification *twice*. They said this rarely happened, so I asked my two other friends who worked in the same industry if this was normal, and one of them was from Europe and the other was American (all three of us worked for the same American company) and they both said yes, this was in their contract too. So I guess it's not cuz I'm from the global south. Okay well guess what, both of those friends had comics they were working on, and it got dropped later this year, Literally whilst they were midway working and they didn't make a single cent lol. Why is everyone acting like I am crazy for thinking these kinds of contract are like. Absurd and predatory. I'm going crazy bc I'm always overworked and dying of poverty and anxiety bcos now I have to be an artist, an influencer or whatever, like I have to both work and work and then stay relevant when all I want is to just not starve to death and draw my gay little guys. This is so crazy. I don't want to exist like this forever. I don't want to continuously depend on the grace of my friends and my followers I just want to live!!

[dysfunctional-doodle]

I hope this works -

Hello Everyone Who Has Found Their Way Here!

Or accidentally clicked on my blog I guess

Welcome to my blog, you can find links to comics and stuff below.

ASKS: Always Open!

COMMISSIONS: Open! (3/8) (longer wait times over assignment season, estimated ~ 2 weeks)

(More details below)

~

STICKER SHOP:

I sell goofy stickers now! I will be creating a small graphic to condense this but check out my shop for turtle tots and more!

⭐️ -> SHOP LINK <- ⭐️

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COMMISSIONS:

OPEN! All can be done on my Kofi, but I will create a detailed post later. All prices ARE NOT FIXED, so if you would like to ask me about lowering them feel free and I will see what I can offer :)

-> KOFI COMISSIONS LINK <-

Otherwise, feel free to message me on tumblr. I only take PayPal, I’m afraid. Prices are:

ROUGH SKETCHES: £4 +

INCLUDED: 3 - 5 Sketches of any character/request, face and half body.

ADD-ONS: Colour (£1)

FULL DRAWING: £12 +

INCLUDED: Up to 4 characters on a page. These can be any ‘shot’, ranging from face to full body. A basic background (such as a solid colour or shapes) can also be requested.

ADD-ONS: Lighting (£2), Background (£5), Additional Characters (£2 per character).

CHARACTER SHEETS: £10+

INCLUDED: Refined drawings (up to torso) of a character of your choice. Each sheet will have 4 - 5 drawings on, and can include colour and lighting with add ons. The base does not include advanced colour, but usually a chosen block colour (see examples for reference).

ADD-ONS: Lighting (£2), Full Colour (£2), Additional Pose/Expression (up to 3 maximum, £3 each)

SHORT COMIC: £15 +

INCLUDED: Up to 4 - 5 pages of a comic of whatever scenario (SFW) given with any characters. The base does not include coloured illustrations, but does include dialogue and shading.

**If the comic is only a couple of pages there can be a price reduction **

ADD-ONS: Full Colour (£10), Additional Pages (£2 per page), Full Backgrounds (£15)

Feel free to DM me with questions :)

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TIPS:

If anyone can afford it I would appreciate donations so I can attempt to not be a student in debt and try and get professional equipment (not a 7+ year old iPad and a dream) for my art!

-> KOFI: https://ko-fi.com/dysfunctionaldoodle <-

Thank you for any help, this money means a lot even if it’s a penny - but please don’t donate if you can’t afford it, thank you :)

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SOCIALS:

Besides tumblr I don’t have much, but -

AO3: DysfunctionalRequest

Twitter: @defunct_request

Kofi: DysfunctionalDoodle

Deviantart: Dysfunctionaldoodle

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REPOSTING/COMIC DUBS

Lately there has been issues with people reposting my art. So, I shall reiterate in big letters:

NO REPOSTING WITHOUT CREDITS!!!

(So I don’t mind reblogs and reposts, but please please please don’t grab an image of mine and post it on your blog without credits - this is much more of an issue on devianart but I’m putting it here too).

Regarding comic dubs:

I have also seen people on YouTube dubbing my comics, which is great! However, please either:

Drop me a DM/message telling me you are doing this. I like to see this stuff for my own fun mostly, and also for reasons in point 2:

Please give credit to me. I’m sorry, but “credit to the artist” is not enough, my social links are literally right here on this blog. I’ve seen a YouTuber in particular do this - it’s great you like my comics but proper credit should be given, if that’s okay.

That’s all :)

[dervampireprince]

Hello!

Correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s my understanding that most (or all) of your original characters exist in roughly the same universe. Do you have a timeline laid out or just a general idea for where everyone fits in that you could share? /genq

Your world feels so big and real and i’d love to have a better handle on the timeline.

Thanks so much in advance and for all of your lovely stories <3

yes all my audio ocs so far (apart from sorrow since he's a marvel oc) exist in the same earth.

i don't have any sort of timeline. honestly like... i worry people think more world building and plot exists than there actually is. i was just making asmr videos, i wasn't thinking there needed to be a world or a story. and yes some characters are connected, but the plot thats going on right now with ambrose and arden and johann was only something i've been planning since december. there was never any plans before that to have a bigger story for them. like if i think about it too long then i worry i've messed it all up because lucien and lysander and cassius live in made-up kingdoms, but ambrose lives in germany and england which are real places. i don't know how to reconcile those things and have both be true. i guess you can think about it like our earth with an alternate history and monsters but i don't really want people thinking about it too hard because this isn't some sort of actual story, like there was no planned world or planned world building and when people try and work things out it makes me feel bad because i didn't plan for that, there is no greater world lore. or maybe i change things and have lysander, lucien and cassius exist in a separate world. i don't know.

i was just making random characters with no backstory or plans for asmr audios and then some people liked them enough that i gave a couple of them a backstory, that's it.

i can't give you any sort of proper timeline but i can say that lucien, lysander, cassius, hawthorn, ellis and dmitri's audios take place before the 1900s, there's no internet or cars or modern technology in their audio settings. johann's take place in the 1700s. and everyone else in in the modern, present day.

but that's all i got. there's no years for them, i don't know if hawthorn and ellis exist at the same time or hundreds of years apart.

i'm sorry if the audios give the impression that there's more going on, but i think most asmr audio channels are just making up characters and not really planning lord of the rings style worlds. i know some do, some do have planned backstories and kingdoms and languages. but i think most of us just make characters and not so much worlds.

when people ask questions about ocs like this i just feel bad. i don't have the answers you want. because none exist. i've just been making characters for asmr audios, i wasn't trying to plan a fantasy novel series or anything. i improvise my audios, i don't script them, i can't remember what i've said the moment i finish recording, there's no way for me to have amazing consistency with the audios and world building. this backstory series with ambrose and arden is the first time i've scripted things because i wanted to get things right and it to be a proper story, but i don't want to always be making audios like that.

i think if i spent too much time agonising over making up cities and languages that i would stop enjoying these characters, that it would get too stressful. i already have a fantasy story i've been doing that with since i was 12 and it's honestly stressful thinking that you can't share a character with people until you have tolkien level world building. i'd like to introduce those characters from my fantasy story to you one day as audio ocs. instead of agonising over trying to write books or comics which i'm not suited for, allowing myself to tell parts of the story through getting to know the characters first hand and hope that it's an enjoyable way to get to know them.

oh this got long. i guess i just felt bad you said the world feels big and real when really there isn't really a world there in my opinion. i mean there's one god, and i've struggled to think of any others, and if different characters mention the same things is good enough for people to enjoy those connections then okay. i just don't personally don't feel i've done enough, but i also wasn't supposed too or at elast... i didn't know i was supposed too. idk maybe every other asmrist does plan out massive stories first, if they do i didn't know that, i thought what i was doing was okay, i didn't mean to make anyone feel tricked into thinking there's more planning here than there is.

[chaos-spectre]

Sonic Timeline (?)

Okay guys.. help me with this. Is THIS the current canon timeline for the main-line games? I really wanna figure out some sort of standard main-line canon, so feel free to pitch your two cents in comments & reblogs.

Read below the cut to see the timeline I put together, based on what I'm pretty sure might be the official canon timeline we're in right now.

HEAVY SONIC SPOILERS WARNING

> Ancient times,

before humans or animal-folk existed: The "Ancients" (shown in sonic frontiers) have their planet destroyed, and escape to Sonic's world to rebuild, but are destroyed again. We do not know who destroyed them either times, but their cyber-world containing their memories are left behind along with the chaos emeralds.

>In Sonic Riders, they establish the "Babylonians," or "Children of Babylon." They are another ancient alien race with advanced technology, although Sonic's world was not their home, they just got trapped there by accident. They built the Babylon Garden, a floating island that was originally their space ship, but eventually it was all destroyed as a "punishment from the Gods." The Babylonians did not go extinct, but it seems that they evolved into the bird-like species that Jet, Storm, and Wave are.

> 4,000 years before the 1950s:

"The Fourth Great Civilization" existed and were able to harness chaos energy. They built a gizoid capable of destroying the world, which Sonic would later name Emerl. This Gizoid became too powerful and ended up destroying the civilization that built it.

> "Thousands of years" before Sonic Adventure

(unknown how many thousands): The last Ancient maybe evolved into Chaos? The echidna tribes exist now and live in harmony with Chaos and the little chaos, but one tribe becomes power hungry for the master emerald and Chaos transforms into his monster-form and wipes out the power hungry tribe to protect the emeralds (I believe that tribe he wiped out was the largest echidna tribe but not all of them). Tikal seals herself and Chaos within the Master Emerald. Also, when they were alive the echidnas painted a mural based on a prophecy of someone using the chaos emeralds to go super in the future.

> 1950's, or 50 years before SA2

(Assuming SA2 takes place in the year of its release date, 2001, and then subtract 50 years because Shadow said thats how long he was asleep.) Ok, 1950s: Gerald Robotnik's niece/granddaughter Maria becomes terminally ill with NIDs. He seeks government funding to find a cure but they only agree on the terms that he also builds a weapon for them. He agrees, and lives on space colony ARK with Maria to work on his creation. He researches the ancient echidna tribes and the chaos emerald, as proven by the structures he built on the ARK that are identical to the structures the echidnas left behind. Its also believed that he was inspired by the mural the echidnas painted of that prophecy that depicts Sonic's super form, and that's why Shadow looks like Sonic, especially with the red eyes and upturned quills that Sonic's super form has. The mural can be found in Sonic 3.

>Gerald makes contact with the black arms aliens race and strikes a deal. If they let him use their alien DNA, then he'll let them use Shadow to take over the world when their comet comes by again. He makes the lazer on the ARK to explode the aliens' comet when they come by again so that they can't actually use Shadow, then combines the black arms DNA and the chaos emeralds to make Shadow (and also adds part of Maria's soul somehow I guess). If you like to keep parts of the Archie comics, then it's implied Gerald personally raised Shadow himself alongside Maria, as he calls him son in the Archie comics.

>Gerald also finds the old gizoid I mentioned earlier. Upon learning of its powers, he fears what could happen if it's left unchecked and tries to build safety measures into it so that nobody can use it to destroy the world. Yknow, since it wiped out an entire civilization 4,000 years ago. Relations with G.U.N are rocky as they're beginning to fear Project Shadow, and to make things worse, Gerald loses control of the gizoid and it destroys part of the space colony. In order to fix relations with G.U.N and protect everyone from the gizoid, he tries to destroy its core but is unable to, so as a last ditch effort he puts part of Maria's soul in it. Seriously... how is he doing that??

>G.U.N fears the weapons Gerald is building (bio-lizard, emerl the gizoid, and Shadow) and decides to shut it all down. As they rush the space colony ARK, Maria is killed by a G.U.N soldier as she tries to help Shadow escape. Gerald is sent to prison island with an unconscious Shadow. He is allowed to continue working on Shadow under supervision in prison island but ends up augmenting Shadow's memory to make him believe Maria wants him to destroy the world, so he can get his revenge. G.U.N finds out hes double crossing them somehow and he is executed, and Shadow is locked away deep within prison island. The gizoid is also sealed away.

> 1990's, "classic" era

Young Sonic begins his adventures saving flickies from eggman bots. It's assumed Knuckles was also born at a similar time as Sonic, and that by now the echidna species has slowly dwindled down over time to just Knuckles. I assume that since echidnas lay eggs, that Knuckles wasnt able to meet his parents because they died before he hatched, or when he was super super young and had no memory. But also... let's not think about that too hard. Anyway, Tikal is still sealed inside the Master Emerald with Chaos, and the little chaos and flickies are on Angel Island too, so hes not entirely alone.

>Sonic happens to run by and save Tails from some bullies, and Tails decides to follow him and become his side-kick. On a solo adventure, Sonic then faces off with Eggman and his new robot Metal-Sonic, who are holding Amy hostage. Amy's fortune telling tarot cards told her she'd meet her hero in that location, and since Sonic saves her there, she decides to follow him too. Sonic then meets Knuckles, who has been deceived by Eggman. Eggman lied and said Sonic is trying to steal the Master Emerald, so Sonic and Knuckles fight, but when Eggman's lie is revealed Knuckles teams up with Sonic to defeat him. They all become friends and everyday heroes, going on adventures together, as well as Tails having his solo adventures and Knuckles has an adventure with Team Chaotix and Mighty the armadillo. (Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic CD, Sonic Drift, Sonic 3, Sonic Mania, Sonic Drift 2, Knuckles' Chaotix, Tails' Adventure, Sonic R, and Sonic Origins.)

> 1999, Sonic Adventure 1:

Eggman unleashes Chaos from the Master Emerald to take over the world, but Sonic defeats him. Tikal's spirit was also released from the Master Emerald when eggman shattered it, and so she commits to taking care of Chaos after Sonic defeats it, and Knuckles restores the Master Emerald. Sonic's growing up into his teens and becoming a hero on a bigger scale now (he is 15 at this point). Knuckles, Tails, and Amy seem comfortable working as a team now too.

> 2001, Sonic Adventure 2:

Eggman discovers Gerald's diary and wakes up Shadow 50 years after the ARK massacre so he can use Shadow to take over the world. Shadow double crosses him to completely destroy the world, killing everyone including himself and eggman, but after a heart to heart with Amy (who happens to say something similar to Shadow's key-phrase, Maria's last words), he regains his true memories and saves the world at the last minute through self sacrifice. Rouge also joins in this game, at first as a double spy working for the government, but throughout the game she begins to care about Shadow as she uncovers his past, and in the end she allies with Sonic team, at least on neutral terms.

> Sonic Advance 1 & 2:

In Sonic Advance 1, Sonic, Amy, Tails, and Knuckles all go on a classic adventure beating up eggman's bots in the familiar Greenhill zones. In Sonic Advance 2, Cream the rabbit is introduced and Team Sonic help save her mother Vanilla the rabbit from eggman.

> Sonic Heroes:

Shadow turns out to have survived his fall from space, and eggman has sealed him within his base with a guard robot named Omega. Rouge finds him and takes him under her wing along with Omega, forming Team Dark, although shes unsure if its the real Shadow or one of the robot replicas that eggman built. Neo-metal sonic is the big bad guy of this game but everyone defeats him together (team chaotix, team rose, team dark, and team sonic).

> Shadow The Hedgehog (the game):

The black arms return just like they said they would but Sonic crew defeats them with Shadow, who regains his memories with his friends' help. It's a good thing Gerald made so many video messages and diaries for people to find in the future lol

> Sonic Battle:

Eggman uncovers Emerl the gizoid, an ancient robot his grandfather Gerald discovered before him in the 1950s and gave a part of Maria's soul. Emerl is unresponsive though, so Eggman abandons him. Sonic finds him and brings him to Tails to fix up. Shadow attempts to destroy Emerl, saying something along the lines that Sonic (and bio-weapon creators) don't understand what its like to be a living weapon, that it's a life not worth living, and that he won't allow Emerl to exist knowing he has the capability to destroy the world, and also that no one else should have to live through what he has. Sonic protects Emerl and is adamant that every life has value and that he'll keep Eggman from using Emerl for evil.

>Everyone except Shadow decides to collect all the chaos emeralds so that Emerl can be reset through a key-phrase Rouge found, but there's also a chance he'll default to destroying the world if he's overwhelmed with power. Shadow refuses to give the last emerald in fear of Emerl losing control, but Rouge explains that Gerald gave Shadow and Emerl souls, so that even if someone tried to force them to destroy the world, their souls would prevent them from being able to do it. Deciding to trust Rouge and his shared soul with Emerl, Shadow gives up the last emerald and says the key-phrase (Maria's last words, which is also Shadow's key-phrase). It works and Emerl gains free will, but after a while Eggman captures him again and overwhelms him with power, which causes Emerl to lose control and attempt to destroy the world, forcing Sonic to fight him. Emerl self destructs as Gerald's last safety measure for if he is weaponized, ending his story there. Also, side note, Chaos is mentioned by Knuckles, meaning its still alive on Angel Island.

> Sonic Advance 3:

Eggman creates a new robot named Gemerl made out of the leftover data he could scavenge from what was left of Emerl after he self destructed. He then uses chaos control to break the world into seven pockets of reality so he can conquer it all and turn it into the Dr. Eggman Empire. Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Amy, and Cream all group up to fight the eggman bots, Gemerl, and collect the chaos emeralds. Once they have all the chaos emeralds, Gemerl betrays Eggman and steals the emeralds for himself to become 'Ultimate Gemerl.' Sonic becomes super and teams up with Eggman to defeat Gemerl, who explodes.

>Later on, while Cream and her mother are at the beach, they find Gemerl's damaged body on the shore and bring it to Tails. Tails repairs Gemerl and reprograms him to be friendly and non-violent. From then on, Gemerl lives a peaceful life with Cream and Vanilla in their cottage, and becomes Cream's protector. In a way, Emerl was able to be reborn into Gemerl and have another chance at life.

> Sonic Rush 1 & 2:

Blaze the cat is introduced when her dimension collides with Sonic's. Unlike the chaos emeralds, princess Blaze needs the sol emeralds to stay together or else her islands will drop into the ocean. Blaze, Sonic, and Tails fight the Eggman of her dimension to save their worlds. In the second game, Marine is added and they go on a pirate adventure when Sonic and Tails end up in Blaze's dimension. Later on in The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog, it is revealed that Blaze is able to open a portal whenever she likes so she can cross into Sonic's dimension to visit or help in bigger adventures.

> Sonic Riders:

I honestly haven't looked into the story yet, I think these bird people are like... the descendents of aliens or something?? Why are there so many ancient aliens in sonic lore. Well anyway, the Babylon rogues are introduced with Jet, Wave, and Storm. Also hoverboards exist.

> Sonic The Hedgehog 2006:

Okay so... Silver is definitely canon and still needs to exist because he's in the IDW comics, but... Is anything besides him still canon in this timeline? I mean, even if Elise is out there somewhere, do any of the characters remember her?

> Sonic Lost World, Sonic Colors, Sonic and The Black Knight, and Sonic and The Secret Rings:

Lost World introduces the Zeti aliens, and Colors introduces wisps. The storybook games further support/imply the existence of other timelines and dimensions, or maybe Sonic was just dreaming.

>I don't think it really matters exactly what order these games happen in, including Sonic Unleashed, as long as they happen before the events of Generations. By release date though, it's Secret Rings > Unleashed > Black Knight > Colors > Lost World. HOWEVER, release dates don't always matter, because writers have said before that release dates dont always line up with the story. For example: Sonic Battle actually takes place before Sonic Heroes, even though Sonic Heroes came out first.

> Sonic Unleashed:

Since the beginning of time, a god-like being named Dark Gaia has been sleeping within the core of the world and wakes up to shatter the world at a certain time every however many years, and each time Light Gaia would put it back together. I wonder if this is what keeps wiping out the ancient alien civilizations? Clearly the Ancients in Sonic Frontiers, the aliens from Sonic Riders, and "The Fourth Civilization" from Sonic Battle each had time to build up their civilizations to amazingly advanced technological landscapes, but would then get wiped out and the next civilization would have to restart.

>Eggman learns how to drain the chaos emeralds' of their power, and condenses their power into a lazer that he uses to shatter the world's crust in order for Dark Gaia to escape (but couldn't he already do that with the ARK's lazer?) He also drained Sonic of his super form, which turned him into a werewolf with stretchy arms for some reason, but only at night. Since Light Gaia was taken from the Earth's core prematurely, he is in a weakened state with amnesia, and follows Sonic around until he remembers his true purpose.

>The Dark Gaia absorbs whatever power was inside of Sonic that caused him to turn into a werehog, curing him of his curse, and then Light Gaia weakens Dark Gaia so that Sonic can defeat it in his super form. Light Gaia, or Chip, then helps Sonic return to the Earth's surface, and seals himself within the core once again.

> Sonic Generations:

Sonic is celebrating his birthday!! Which proves that he and everyone else have been slowly aging throughout their adventures. Suddenly, the "Time Eater" attacks, and scatters all the birthday party guests all across space and time. Sonic and Tails meet their younger selves from the past, and they all race through all of the adventures Sonic's been on to restore the timeline. They defeat the Time Eater, which is being piloted by eggman and eggman from the past, with the help of their friends and their past selves. Afterward Sonic and his friends return to the present, with the Sonic and Tails from the past. Sonic tells his younger self that he's going to have a great future, before sending him and the young past Tails off to their correct time through the remaining time portal. Current Eggman tells Past Eggman that he's yet to defeat Sonic, and Past Eggman considers getting a teaching degree instead like he had wanted. It's unclear if Past-Sonic will then go through all the same adventures, or if his time-travel hijinks opened up a new timeline, maybe even one where Eggman becomes a teacher instead! But probably not, lol. At the very least, it opens up a timeline where that Sonic gets deja-vu in all his future adventures leading up to the Time-Eater's attack.

> 2017, Sonic Forces:

Sonic is captured by Infinite and they have to open up a portal into a different timeline/the past to get Classic Sonic to help them save our Sonic.

> IDW comics:

Everyone fights neo-metal and the zeti aliens again, eggman lost his memory but then regained it, the whole zombot arc happened, and now Surge and Kit are on the rise. To those who have not read, I highly recommend at least reading up to issue #29.

> 2022, Sonic Frontiers:

Sonic Frontiers happens somewhere on this timeline... Maybe sometime after Sonic Forces but in the middle of the IDW comics. Sonic crew learn about the Ancients (mentioned first on the timeline), who supposedly are the ones who brought the chaos emeralds to Sonic's world in the first place. Also, the characters are all clearly growing older, as their voices are much more mature, and they each decide to commit to independent adventures to prove their growth. It's honestly really sweet watching Amy and Tails start out with literal child voice-actors, then seeing them grow into their new older voices. I assume Sonic is going from 15 (his last recorded age in SA2) to his 20s, which will probably mean we'll get more lore-focused games that hold space for an older audience while still keeping it kid-friendly.

...I think that's everything? Someone please fill in the gaps on Sonic Riders, I know there's 3 games for that series. I think the details on their alien race might be important if we want to try and piece together the first four ancient civilizations.

Also, someone please share what happens in Sonic Rivals (2006) because I'm not willing to watch like over eight hours of game play yet, but I know it has a big story that most fans aren't familiar with.

[inkfamy]

Issue 1 of Void Rivals was super fun, and in the time honoured tradition of following a comic as it releases I'm going to make some wild extrapolation predictions and hopes for the upcoming new Transformers continuity (focussing mostly on the Transformers, because of course, but also I really enjoyed this issue and I'm excited for the continuing non-Transformers story)

spoilers for Void Rivals #1 below the cut

First up wow, the art style and design in this issue is so pretty, I love how soft the colours are (I'll talk about the Rivals later)

I love that so far we have a nice reworking of the Fire In The Sky story: Jetfire is a scientist, and he managed to (presumably) crash and get stranded and stasis locked for millions of years. I like that he's very much in his G1 characterisation too, he's immediately very gentle and reassuring to Darak and Solila.

(also, moment of appreciation for this nice characterisation; science mind comes to the fore as he studies his own wear and tear and guesses that he's been down for millennia)

(additional moment to hoot in amusement as he immediately forgets about the little people and dashes off)

So making some extrapolations and guesses based on the tiny bit of info we glean here:

Jetfire is a scientist, and he crashed millennia ago, so

if we're borrowing the Fire In The Sky premise, is Starscream going to be an ex scientist again? Please let Starscream be a scientist again

The war between the Autobots and Decepticons has presumably been waging for millions of years, as per most other continuities

It would be neat to get an introduction to Cybertron as it is now and its state of affairs through Jetfire's frantic return (or attempt to return)

Darak and Solila are able to jump start(??) Jetfire with their tech which is fun and interesting (I am always a fan of "non-TF squishies can use their automobile/mechanical/science knowhow to do stuff to Cybertronians) BUT

(extreme leap) Darak specifically is inspired by Jetfire's abilitiy to transform and starts working on a way to use his and Solila's flight suits to repair their ships. Given how advanced their tech seems to be (and Handroid apparently being some kind of robo AI), does this mean we might be looking at a headmasters plot in the future?

We also got a nice author's note at the end of the issue from Robert Kirkman, which was an interesting peek at his own thoughts on the series. It was particularly interesting that he specifically mentions the 86 movie and Optimus Prime's death as both a key point in his experience as a Transformers fan, and as a lesson he took forward as a storyteller. (extremely tenuous extrapolation) While Kirkman isn't the main writer in the upcoming Transformers run, I wonder if this means we can possibly look forward to (dread?) some big character deaths and plot twists (not unusual for a comic series of course but also I am vibrating at high frequency). He also says that the Agorrians and Zertonians will be part of the EU, so super interesting to see how this is woven in with the TF story.

Moment after all this leaping to wild conclusions to appreciate Jetfire's design and his little kitty ears

So, Jetfire was there for all of 3 pages and then promptly dipped. I was expecting them to find him wrecked, but tbh I thought it would be at the end of the issue as a cliffhanger. It does sort of feel like he was just shoved in there (maybe to make TF fans buy into Void Rivals if I'm being affectionately cynical) very briefly, but I don't find myself minding too much since we're getting a new Transformers ongoing later this year (I don't mind when comics have a little thing that doesn't get explained until another series), but since the poster for Void Rivals shows Jetfire a) with an Autobot insignia [he doesn't have one in the issue #1 panels] and b) holding Darak and Solila, I am curious (but not holding my breath) that he might turn up again somewhere between now and October.

I feel like this post is getting overly long so I'm just going to bullet point some thoughts about Darak and Solila, their deal, and the things this issue seems to be setting up for the Void Rivals story:

I love Handroid so much, I don't care if it's the active tool of a Nefarious Regime

Neat parallel between the Agorrians and Zertonians and their apparently generational war, and the Cybertronians and their *waves hand*

Obviously someone(s) for some reason(s) have a vested interest in keeping the Agorrians and Zertonians at war, not learning about one another, and not getting a moment to even think about not killing each other

(another extreme leap) please give me Quintessons mixed up in the wars of multiple species across the universe

Mild disappointment that both aliens are just "slightly different coloured humans" in design but the moment they took off their helmets and looked at each other and saw they were the same was so lovely that I forgive it

I was expecting to be fairly disinterested in the non-Transformers plot, especially because GI Joe has really never called to me, but this issue really felt like a nice introduction, I'm definitely curious about what's going on between the Agorrians and Zertonians, what's going to happen when Darak and Solila inevitably manage to escape and are now known by both their factions to have worked with The Enemy, and also dying for more Handroid. Also I am shoving Jetfire content into my mouth and chewing frantically before anyone can take it away.

[ufonaut]

Hi! Been trying to calculate the birthyears of the OG JSAers for reference during my comic reading. While there's estimates, have you ran across any canon birth years for any of them? So far I've calculated Jay G. (1918), Alan S. (1916), Al Pratt (1920), and Johnny T. (1917). I know Wes & Charles are a little older than the others while Kent's aging was thrown off by Nabu (aged up in 1940) but the exact years are harder to pin down, though I imagine most were probably born between 1915 - 1921.

HEY NOW THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I'M HERE FOR!! this made me very happy to read, it's exactly the kinda thing i spend ages thinking about all the time and i think you're only off by a couple years!

as far as i'm aware, the only jsaer with an exact birth date/year stated during the actual golden age is johnny thunder (07/07/1917) in flash comics 1940 #1, although he's later written as much younger and the majority of his stories treat him as a teenager. that being said, it's equally easy to make an educated guess about kent nelson's birth year -- his origin story in more fun comics 1936 #67 begins in 1920 and the doctor fate 1987 miniseries later states he was twelve at the time, which would make him born in 1908 (the same mini also states that nabu has kept him and inza frozen at twenty-one years old until his rapid ageing during the events of the story).

al pratt is a sophomore in college so i'd personally place him around 1921, while jay graduates in 1940 and that presumably places him around 1919. mcnider has to be at least 30, he's a well-established doctor by the time he's blinded so it's probably something like 1910 or earlier. i'd guess wes is somewhere around there too and rex is probably a couple years younger in his mid-to-late twenties as he's a college graduate and he's been working at banner chemicals for a decent amount of time by his first appearance in adventure comics 1938 #48. similarly, carter is a complete mystery but presumably in his mid-to-late twenties too since flash comics #1 calls him a 'collector and research scientist'. on the other hand, the spectre 1992 series has jim corrigan lying about his age to enlist in the first world war so if he's 17 in 1917 then that makes him born in 1900 and dead at 40.

as for alan, most of his golden age stories do emphasize his youth to the point that i believe we're meant to understand that his career -- and especially the very fast advancement of it -- is extremely uncommon for his age. we know nothing concrete about his past but we do know doiby dickles was in wwi and must be somewhere in his forties, we also know that alan is young enough to be his son so i generally see alan as born in 1918 and twenty-one at the time of the train crash in 1939 (the exact year of the train crash is also subject to some debate, i prefer this particular version that roy thomas suggests in the all-star companion because it gives him a decent chunk of time as a solo hero before the jsa but doomsday clock places it in 1940 as per cover date rather than volume date of aac #16).

i think the absolute best possible resource for the jsaer's ages is paul levitz's 'aging the all-stars' article from the amazing world of dc comics #16, this is as close as we've ever gotten to explicit canon confirmation of any of this and it makes for some easy math with 1976 as the present year he's using to determine all this. more to the point, he has alan as born in 1919 if he's 57 in 1976 so he's on board with the 20-21 age range for the train crash too.

hope this helped!

[laf-outloud]

To clarify, when I said Jensen is not a producer, I didn't mean he didn't hold the title or the job. He was given the title and the job, sure. But he has absolutely zero idea how to do it and (going by what I've seen) very little interest, humility, curiosity, or care to actually learn. Never mind the backstabbing part, keeping the idea from Jared was INSANELY stupid from a business perspective. Jared would've helped because he's incredibly generous. Of the two, it's Jared who is the producer. I remember at 2015 Comic Con when Jared was asked if he'd like to direct besides acting he said no, if he was going to do sth else it would be producing. All the way back in 2015 and he already knew what he could do. He's smart & self-aware enough to know his strengths and put effort into cultivating them. Jensen is a passable director who is better than passable when the camera is on Jared, maybe due to what seems like his own weird proprietary-ish obsessive love-hate, admiration-jealousy mess when it comes to Jared. He really should stick to acting & directing. He can make money and minions out of those. Friends, however? Not so much, but he doesn't seem interested in the ONE real friendship we've watched him benefit from over the years, so I'm guessing he's not worried abt friends. He's happy to play up for hellers then sulk when they fall for what is clearly an act, and he's never spoken up abt the hate Jared gets from vocal fans of Jensen. And how many vocal Jared haters has Jensen employed so far? Even creativity isn't his forte: Unlike Jared, Jensen never reads scripts in advance despite complaining (read: throwing ppl under the bus) later and for YEARS abt SPN plots & dialogue. He needs to shut up, stop thinking, accept directing and acting jobs that pay, and bask in the gross horny lies, er, "flattery" from his loon fans. As for Jared, I hope his sympathy, generosity, and kindness don't mean he ends up giving Jensen work on Walker or any other project Jared helms, and I hope Jared never feels he owes it to Jensen to help out by appearing on any fiasco Jensen decides to make. I'm so grateful Jared was never on The Boys or TW. He has ample sense not to, but we've seen how his kindness makes him continue to support Stands to help out. Jared's caption on the latest Instagram post was poignant. Slide through life with people who love you. Not "with good buddies" or "good friends" or even any indication to the bond he and Anson have after surviving that horrible crash. No. He chose to say "people who love you". It's sad that he now knows that there are others who don't and were only ever using him. Remember the cryptic Instagram post a few years ago on his birthday, when he said (paraphrasing here) that it was awful and some people were working against him? I thought it about someone behind the scenes. Now I think it must've been about Jensen. He wouldn't have sounded so hurt if it had been anyone else. Imagine rooming with your costar, discovering you have so much in common, building a beautiful cult show together, starting families and doting on each other's kids, all of it for FIFTEEN years, only to discover the dude you had to create boundaries with wasn't simply too controlling or obsessive because you were his most precious best friend, oh no. It was because he never had any friendship or love for you in the first place. God. I'm so glad he has his family and Gen and his kids and people like Anson. Thank you for allowing me to send you all this. You're a wonderful blogger with a good head on your shoulders and a heart in the right place. I respect you a lot because you keep your criticism where it counts. You don't make fun of people's looks (ppl we hate, like Dmitri, Danneel, etc), for instance. I love your blog. Have a good day or evening, laf-outloud.

Thanks for clarifying the producer part! I totally agree. Obviously, there were issues from even before the announcement, but the fact that Jensen admitted to sitting in his car while everything supposedly ran smoothly on set (and later finding out they had to do a bunch of reshoots), told me all I needed to know about his producing 'skills' early on. And if Jensen decides to continue directing, I hope he takes advantage of some of the directing programs studios offer so he can improve his skills.

I'm truly grateful that Jared's been able to experience a much healthier and loving environment around his family, his true friends, and his coworkers. Every time I see photos of him, he just looks healthier and happier than he seemed to be on the SPN set.

Thank you for sharing everything else, I really have nothing to add because you've said it so much better than I ever could, and especially, thank you for your very kind words! I may get salty sometimes, and don't always get things right, but I do try and stay fair, and I'm glad that you, and hopefully others, see that. Sending love back to you and best wishes for a wonderful weekend!

[quailfence]

Description of first comic

Description of previous comic

[Image Description: An Ace Attorney fancomic, done mostly in grayscale/sepia with bits of color. A teen Metis Cykes scrawls away at a blue blueprint. Gregory fiddles with his suspender strap as he watches her. She is surrounded by yellow sparks and a yellow lightbulb. Gregory says, " Y'know… I have to ask…" Metis, looking up: "Yes?"

Gregory: "Who exactly is funding this?" He scratches his head. "Because I'm not reeeally in the best, uh, financial situation at the moment." Metis: "Oh, just my research lab. It's not super important but we get grants we can use on pretty mush anything so long as we're making advancements in robotics." She holds up the blueprints, showing that they're for a robot version of kid Miles. Metis: "And this will definitely be an advancement"

Gregory squints at her and says, "You're 15 and work at a research lab." He crosses his arms and continues, "Your card says you're a doctor and lists you as a psychologist and a roboticist." He puts his arms on his hips and finishes, "How?!" Metis smiles and replies in a yellow speech bubble, "I'm a prodigy!" Gregory says, "That doesn't negate the fact that you're still just a kid."

Metis replies in a normal speech bubble, "I don't know what to tell you, Mr. Edgeworth. Some people are just really good at what they do. Who knows?" There's a drawing of Franziska in blue. Metis narrates over in yellow, "Maybe one day, there'll be a 13 year old prosecutor!" There's a drawing of Trucy in red. Metis: "or an 8 year old stage magician!"

Back to the present. Gregory fiddles with his hair and suspenders. he says, "well… I guess either way, you know more about this than I do…（sigh)". Metis looks up at him and says forcefully in yellow, "Smile." Gregory, startled, asks "What?"

Metis continues cheerfully in yellow, "Smile! It's not going to solve your problems - but it'll make you feel better!" She winks and finishes, "It's Psychology!" Gregory replies in blue, "I guess it can't hurt to try." He smiles

Metis clasps her hands and says in yellow, "There we go!" She raises a finger and says in a normal bubble, "There was also this theatre-y kid I used to go to school with who would say a bunch of dramatically poetic stuff. I think he drank too much coffee. And that's saying something coming from me!"

Metis continues, becoming more serious, "But he'd say things like how we have to smile during the worst times. And that always stuck with me…" Gregory stares at her, an ellipsis next to him. Metis looks to the side, nervous and sad. "You said you were trying to not cry so much." She smiles and says in yellow, "I'd suggest looking towards the bright side."

She grins and holds up a bunch of blueprints. "like how the updated plans are finished! Now we can start the actual work on Miles!" We see a grinning Metis with her shirt and bow colored yellow. Then Kid Miles with the same expression, wearing a red shirt and blur bow tie. Gregory stares forwards, then grins. End description.]

Description of next post

@aa-described @aceattorney-described

Part 7

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[taiblogcomics]

This Old Treehouse

Hey there, wet bag of mayonnaise. Well, our backlog pile is dwindling! I know I said we'll have MLP comics to last into the new year, but this is the last of the main series that I've got for now! Everything else is gonna be one-shots and spinoffs! I hope that's okay! If it's not, too bad, that's just how it is! Deal with it!

Here's the cover!

Hey, it's more Izzy! You guys like Izzy, right? She's the best thing out of G5. That's why we're giving her two issues in a row! In fact, both are about her crafting tendancies as well. Once again, that's really all there is to say about it! I like MLP and all, but a lot of the time, the covers don't give me a lot to work with. Basically it boils down to "Is your favourite character on the cover? Maybe buy this issue!" And I mean, I guess that works for consumers, but us critics need more material than that~

We open in Bridlewood, which is a rare sight in one of these comics. Just like FiM starting in Ponyville, you kind of expect G5 comics to start in Maretime Bay. So I guess Izzy is keeping a second home in Bridlewood, even though she also lives at the Brighthouse. Like, I expect Zipp and Pipp to be second-home-owning bougies, but Izzy literally lives in a tree. Maybe the Brighthouse is her second home, but either way the point stands. Speaking of second houses, though, the string decoration she's trying to hang snaps, and goes flying into an abandoned treehouse nearby.

Man, that string must've had some serious tension, because it launches, like, a hundred feet or more. Maybe her magic increased the elasticity or something. Either way, she mad, and she goes to try and retrieve it. She gets a big spook inside the abandoned treehouse by a huge shadowy figure, but of course it turns out to be a bunch of animals. The animals flee once revealed, but them smashing through the boarded-up window gives her the opportunity to examine her surroundings. Clearly Izzy is not satisfied with how much property she owns, and promptly decides to fix this place up for her friends as well.

And I do mean "for", not "with". She intends the whole treehouse to be a surprise, scavenging some items from the alleys of Maretime Bay, narrowly avoiding Zipp in the process. She spends all day on it, until she even falls asleep in the treehouse. The animals watch her all night, like adorable voyeurs. She wakes up marveling at how nice the place looks, and invites her friends to come over and see. And in spite of the rainy weather, they drop whatever they were doing and come all the way out to Bridlewood to see her surprise.

It turns into a surprise for her as well, as when she opens the door to the treehouse again, all the cushions and decorations have been ripped up and smashed. Just general devastation. Perhaps these adorable animals running around the place are to blame? Izzy's in tears, big disappointed that forest critters would be so hateful to her art. Well, Hitch is here now, so why doesn't he just… ask them? You know, use that special power that apparently only he has for whatever reason? Yeah, let's do that! That should advance the plot!

So, as you might expect, this place isn't abandoned, at least on a technical level. Nope, these animals live here. Figures a property-acquiring pony like Izzy would disregard their squatter's rights. She sadly turns to leave, having been driven off by small animals, when Hitch tells her to wait. A few more lines from the squirrel and they agree the treehouse does need some work. So why not get some free labour out of these home invaders~? And then we'll totally "share" the space when it's done! Yeah, that's the ticket!

So then we get a big montage of all the ponies fixing up the treehouse. Like, the animals don't even pitch in, they just sit on the ponies and supervise. What do you think this is, a Disney film~? Zipp fixes some shelves, Pipp figures a windowsill would make a good mini-karaoke stage, and so on. Hitch, meanwhile, actually turns some shelves into animal beds. Clearly the only one putting some thought into who actually is going to be living here. And so the comic ends with the ponies and animals sharing the same space in peace--for now…

All the coloniser and landlord stuff is mostly jokes for my amusement, but still. I don't think this is a great issue. Oh, sure, it's a cute story about ponies, but they do barge their way into someone else's living space and proceed to make it their own. Like, even when purportedly working together, the ponies do all the work and continue to cater it to their tastes. Like, that "mini karaoke stage" Pipp builds? It's mini to her scale, she's the one using it in the end. Animals don't care about karaoke, Pipp! Only Hitch had the right spirit here. Like, you only need a slight rewrite to tweak this one. If they fixed up the place in the animals' favour and decided it wasn't their place to butt in, I think that would've been a much better story.

[johannwolfgangvongoethe]

Further Umineko-ing. Again

episode 1, part 3

whenever battler is unavailable, kumasawa has taken the up the role of exposition and comic relief, which is nice. i like granny characters and id be interested to hear more from her perspective, since she is sly and nosy. being a maid really exposes you to a lot of dirty laundry.

a new plot point came up. i didnt initially take this one seriously bc of how stupid it sounds. apparently there is a SECRET FAMILY TREASURE OF GOLD hidden on the island somewhere. really not a direction i expected but suuuuure. physical 10t of gold somewhere. there is something deeply funny about the headship and possibly the pact with beatrice being tied to a little private family paperchase. fact of the matter is, kinzo is WAY too serious about being chuuni to lie about this. as unrealistic as having 10t of gold just sitting around somewhere is. its an almost cute touch that beatrice is the family's personal boogyman - an entity children get warned about so they dont stray too deep into the forest and stay out after dark. except shes real i GUESS.

well, thats ominous.

maria once again exhibits a scary amount of sincereness towards the topic, which on its own isnt that weird, since shes nine years old. she mentions she wants to grow up to be a witch as well. another thing to put a pin into.

(looks at krauss' hair colour) uh oh sisters

at the same time, the same discussion is happening between kinzos children. since it seems clear krauss has in the past misappropriated his fathers funds, his siblings are - loving as they are -, offering him a way out. they will not investigate further, should he meet the following conditions:

right, hideyoshi is there too. btw.

at this point its perfect to mention that eva's va, ito miki, is doing an amazing job. every word eva says drips with poison. and hideyoshi has a way of being extremely unyielding, while keeping a kind and sincere face and voice. probably explains while george is like that

worringly, krauss just accepts it instantly but remarks hes too poor to pay the 10% in advance. everyone hated that!!!! however, krauss did his homework too. evas husband is plagued by shareholders that want to dispossess him. rudolf somehow got himself in front of court, without the knowledge of his wife nonetheless. no idea what rosas problem is, aside from the fact that her siblings talked her into the contract and she has yet to make it. as it turns out. everyone is neckdeep in trouble and NEEDS MONEY RIGHT NOW!!!! (the game spells this out in caps) except for krauss. funnily enough. he would only need instant money, should he sign the contract.

so there is no upper hand to be gained or control to be had. they are ALL cringe.

(this is where hideyoshi finally cracks. he does not lose his temper but is visibly uncomfortable.)

the contract remains unsigned. also they got spied on. it turns out kinzo also tolerates kanon around him, if its to spy on conversations his children had. needless to say he finds this hilarious and he has other worries anyway. hes trying to resurrect beatrice with black magic fuelled by the risks hes taking in life.

this truly is like world's shittiest family get together over the holidays. except way more money is one the line. but the emotional exhausting and toxicity is very true to life. rich people probably live like this. horrid.

magic in this vn is built up on risks taken and wagers made. the smaller the possibility of success, the better. which is why kinzo encourages the gold hunt in the first place. the more people look for it, the more powerful he becomes. and then he can ??!??!? resurrect beatrice. im just accepting that. necessary plot device to keep moving.

nanjo has the kindest reading on the gold paperchase: kinzo might have put it together to force his children to work together in solving it, thus mending their relationships and becoming a happy peaceful family.

yeeeeeeaaahhhh no................. at least thats not his prime motive. it could still be a side effect though.

the riddle to get there is as follows:

KILLLLLLLL !!!!!!!! REND! MAIM!

so here we are. "my beloved home of old" might already be the island. or maybe its more metaphorical than that. it is currently october 4th in the game and i have read up to the afternoon. that COULD theoretically mean the a "first twilight" could happen soon. if that part of the riddle is already relevant at all. welp lets see

[ssamie]

10 things i hate about you

includes: oikawa tooru x reader, seijoh boys in some parts

— fluff, angst?, this was inspired by that one episode of "our beloved summer" lol, im gonna make u kind of like yeonsu which is the character from the drama and use a few scenes from it as well 🤝

— don't mind the random dates, i just had to put them for a certain part later on in the story. there might be some mistakes here and there, im sorry in advance.

— gender neutral pronouns, 6k+words

hq masterlist.        gen masterlist.         navi.

iwaizumi sighed for the umpteenth time as oikawa spiked yet another ball to the poor wall, which had to receive all the hits mixed with oikawa’s curses.

"hey" iwaizumi scoffed as he hit the brunette's head with his fist.

"agh" oikawa groaned as he dropped the volleyball he was holding and pushed iwaizumi's hand away.

"the hell's wrong with you?" iwaizumi snarled at him. "youre acting like you've lost your mind just cus you saw y/n again"

oikawa groaned in exasperation and annoyingly waved his hands around. "don't even say that name okay?" he said, making iwaizumi roll his eyes

"stop being immature. you're not in highschool anymore." iwaizumi said as he patted the boy's back

"immature.." oikawa muttered with a huff "y/n always said i was immature. god i don't even wanna think about them" he clicked his tongue

iwaizumi watched silently as his friend continues to mutter under his breath, stomping his feet unreasonably loud as he harshly throws his things into his bag.

"well, they were right." iwaizumi said, making oikawa snap his head towards his best friend with a comical look of betrayal.

"you're a grown man, huffing and sulking like a child because you saw your ex again." iwaizumi spoke with a sharp glare. "y/n's working with your team's sponsor so you either have to deal with it or get lost"

oikawa huffed at his friend's awfully blunt but unfortunately truthful words. "whatever. you're just like them, iwa." he rolled his eyes

"plus, aren't you my best friend?! you're supposed to side with me not y/n!" he said the name with such distaste

though it wasn't too hard for iwaizumi to notice his eyes softening into something more solemn despite his act.

"im not siding with anyone." iwaizumi said. "but seriously, it's been 5 years since you broke up. i know it affected you but you're doing much better now, right?"

"jeez, back in highschool, you two used to be all over each other that it honestly made me sick" iwaizumi chuckled

"you used to ramble to me how much you love them like the maniac you are. so the way you're acting now is a bit..." iwaizumi trailed off

oikawa frowned. "psh, who said i loved them? i don't love them.. i hate y/n.." he said, his voice growing smaller and smaller

"i hate y/n l/n so much" oikawa exclaimed with a puffed chest, but the waver in his voice completely gave him away

"in fact, i'll give you 10 reasons why. right now."

iwaizumi rolled his eyes "i'd rather not hear it" oikawa simply ignored him and closed his eyes, reminiscing on the past years he'd spent with them.

"okay! gosh, where do i even start.."

"reason #1 : y/n l/n is selfish."

iwaizumi didn't even bat an eye at this. "yeah, i guess they had their moments" he said with a shrug

"not just moments, iwa!" oikawa exclaimed. "they were like that all the time! jeez at that rate, i think they may have been born with it!"

oikawa chuckles sourly "do you remember that one time in highschool? gosh i can't forget it even if i wanted to"

03-05-XX - 7 Days Before Exams 

 you break away from your conversation with oikawa, looking back to meet eyes with one of your classmates sheepishly smiling at you.

"y/n-san?"

"what?" you responded, sounding a bit indifferent as you could practically hear the favor about to spill from her lips before she could even say it.

"well...you know those notes we needed for the test next week?" she asked as she pointed at the notebook on your desk, which ad the said notes in the open for her to see. "can you lend this to me? please! me and my friends will just take a picture and you can have it back!" she pleaded

you look at her and pick up the notebook, making the girl smile in triumph, holding her hand out expecting to receive it.

though what she didn't expect was for you to rip the page, crumpling it, and tearing it to small and unsalvageable pieces.

"there." you said. "you can take a picture of it if you want. though im sure there's no use for that anymore."

"if you wanna pass the test, then study and do your work like everyone else"

the girl scoffed at you, giving you a dirty glare before stomping away, muttering under her breath loud enough for you to hear, "gosh, i knew they were stuck up but i didn't know they were just a plain bitch. i have no idea why oikawa-kun hangs out with them"

you paid no mind as you gathered the torn up paper and place it in between you notebook pages.

"hmm" oikawa hummed, leaning on his desk as he stares at you with narrowed eyes. "what?" you asked, looking him in the eye as you cross your arms. "spit it out, stop being annoying" you mutter

"why did you do that?" oikawa asked with furrowed brows "she just wanted to see your notes"

"she wouldn't have to see mine if she had written her own, oikawa-san" you replied blandly as you pull out a book to read

oikawa huffs "well... you're right" he shrugged

"but don't go doing that again, kay?" he playfully scolds you, "what would they say when they find out that the oikawa tooru is dating someone that doesn't even share their notes?!" he shrieked in horror

"hm, then i guess you can date someone else that does" you said, briefly glancing at him as you flip a page in your book

immediately, his act fails, and he's linking your arms together and giggling cutely while he whines. "im joking!" he exclaimed. "but then.. if im the one who needs your notes, would you let me borrow them?" he asked

"cus i actually need them" he admitted with a cutesy grin "i didn't take any notes so.."

"no. you won't get any special treatment from me" you immediately turned him down

"geez" oikawa pouts. "you're quite selfish, aren't you?" he sighs

"that's why they never get along with anyone" oikawa tsks as he shakes his head. "i mean, who would want to be friends with someone with an attitude like that?!"

iwaizumi hums, "i mean, you dated them didn't you?"

oikawa paused, fumbling over his words as he tries to stay cool. "well, that's.. different.."

"they never got along with anyone, and they never ate with anyone before we dated and before they met the team, everyone would stray away from them.. " he listed out

"and its all because of one thing!" oikawa exclaimed. "it's the next reason on my list"

iwaizumi sighed in annoyance "are you really gonna list 10 things down? you're such a loser"

—

"reason #2: they have absolutely no social skills!"

oikawa laughed "gosh, compared to me, our social levels are just in such different heights" he sneered

"uhuh" iwaizumi muttered dryly, he was honestly considering just blocking his friend's voice out

"yeah! remember that one time after we won a match?"

06-14-XX - Match Celebration Night 

 "oikawa-san, i told you" you sighed "you can just celebrate with your team tonight, and i'll treat you to something else tomorrow" you offered

"y/n-chan~~ please just come with me!" oikawa pleaded, he almost considered getting on his knees but he was feeling way too proud after just winning a match to do that

oikawa frowned, feeling a bit hurt that you had no interest in celebrating his win despite knowing how hard he's worked for it. "why won't you come with me, y/n?" he asked with a disheartened tone in his voice

"it's just.." you mumble "it's not like im close with your teammates anyways. if i go with you, i'll be out of place. so just go without me, okay?" you said

you sighed as his frown didn't seem to fade away no matter what convincing you'd do.

"im really proud of you" you said, taking his hands in yours as you graze your thumbs over his slightly calloused skin.

"really? i couldn't tell" oikawa mutters

"i'll make it up to you" you promised. though he seemed a it unconvinced, he nodded anyways.

"okay." he muttered

although iwaizumi had thought of blocking him out, he couldn't help but be intrigued by oikawa’s stories "they were a bit unapproachable at first, i'd agree" iwaizumi nods.

"right?" oikawa scoffs. "and, that not the only thing i hate!"

iwaizumi sighs "oh, who would have thought?"

—

"reason #3: they try to win at everything. they have a useless competitive spirit." 

 oikawa clicks his tongue. "that trait of theirs was such a drag"

iwaizumi raised a brow at him. "aren't you practically the same?" he asked

oikawa scoffs in disbelief "no way! my competitive spirit comes in handy when im playing a match!" he defended

"but y/n..." he chuckled as he remembered a certain memory "they use it in stupid things."

08-23-XX - Anniversary Date 

"oh, i'll finish that for you if you want" he said, gesturing to your beer as he gulps down his in one go 

 you raise a brow at this "why?" you asked "you think i can't finish it?"

oikawa blinks at you "well.. you've already had a few, so i'll finish it for you incase you might have drank too much"

you pout at him "i can finish it though. i have a pretty good tolerance, you know? plus we're celebrating aren't we? we've been together for 2 years, so i'll drink about 2 more of this"

oikawa groaned "but babe-"

"nope" you cut him off "plus i bet i can drink more than you" you teased him

"this is our anniversary date, not a drinking contest" oikawa chuckled

"it could be if we want" you shrugged

"i really don't want a drinking contest though" oikawa says, biting back a smug grin as he peers at you "you might go crying if you lose" he teases you

you blink at his words and scoff. "we'll see about that" you said

"wait, i was just joking—"

oikawa shakes his head, chuckling lowly as he does so. "maybe that's why people hated them back then as well." he said 

 " 'as well' ? so you hated y/n even back then? is that what you're saying" iwaizumi side eyes him

oikawa scoffs with a smirk "ofcourse!"

"i think you're lying" iwaizumi says.

"im not! iwa-chan, stop making dumb assumptions. i still have more to list down"

—

"reason #4: they pick fights with everyone!"

"and reason #5: they're stubborn."

oikawa huffed at this, "gosh it's not like they can fight anyways" he said, waving his hands around for emphasis

"they're all talk! always getting hotheaded when they get into the smallest banter with someone"

oikawa scoffs "i mean, can't they see that they could get hurt from that?!" he exclaimed in distress

"then who'll have to take care of them? me!"

iwaizumi stayed quiet, his eyes followed oikawa, who was pacing around while muttering under his breath, way too distracted to follow up his reason with a story to reminisce on.

"just what would i do if they get into something even i couldn't handle? i mean obviously, i'd call you, iwa-chan, to punch whoever they are for me but you'd probably think im messing with you before you'd even believe i actually needed your help—"

iwaizumi cleared his throat, raising a row at oikawa, who was frozen in spot, looking a bit embarrassed.

"i-i mean.. sorry" oikawa sheepishly walked back to his seat beside iwaizumi. "was i rambling?"

it didn't take long for him to get over it though, "anyways, where was i?" he clicked his tongue.

"ah, the next reason"

—

"reason #6: they're self centered and likes to do anything they want!"

"there's many events to back this up, but this one time.. this one time!" oikawa gritted his teeth, an irked expression etching itself on his face

"gosh, i won't forget it. they were so confusing and inconsiderate." he said "and so unbelievably pushy."

09-12-XX - Break Up Trip

"stand there and smile" you said as you drag him infront of a nice scenery, holding up a camera as you gesture for him to stop frowning

"wait-" oikawa stammered out

"im taking it." you said as you clicked the camera, a subtle flash soon erupting from it. "don't blame me if you don't like it"

"is this really our last trip together?" oikawa asked, hurt and confused as you drag him away once again.

"what are you doing, hurry up we have to take more pictures" you said "then after that, we have to get some food, and take the train back."

oikawa blinked dumbfoundedly. "wait.." he called out, letting you drag him by his arm towards a smoothie stand

"is this really our last trip before you break up with me?" he asked once again

"here, we'll share a straw." you said, completely ignoring him as you placed the smoothie on the table. "we'll drink this, then eat something else. then maybe we can walk around before going to the station." you said with a hum, nodding to yourself as you go over your plans.

"y/n, are you really breaking up with me?" oikawa asked for the nth time that day. he was way too stunned and confused to even think of anything else or process the whole 'trip' you two abruptly went on.

"ah, the sun set way too fast" you pouted. "i guess we have to go to the station now"

oikawa jumped in distraught "then you'll break up with me?!" he exclaimed with dread

"oikawa-san." you stopped to face him, making feel atleast a little bit hopeful that you'd reassure him he's wrong.

"for an athlete, you sure are slow." you deadpanned. "walk faster please."

"so... are you breaking up with me?"

iwaizumi let out a hum of realization "ah, is that why you two suddenly disappeared that time?" he said

"yeah! they showed up unannounced after our argument and took me to a very solemn and infuriating trip, if you can even call it that!" oikawa whined

"but that's not all..you know what else i hate?"

iwaizumi closed his eyes and leaned back. at this point, he had already accepted having to listen to oikawa’s crazy stories. "jeez, how many are left?" he asked

—

"reason #7: they have no sense of romance."

oikawa's chest heaved as a frown was etched onto his face again. "i wondered how a person could lack so much romance in their life."

"i mean, haven't they atleast watched any dramas or read books other than textbook before?" he whined

"i remember that day exactly... oh how could i forget?"

04-01-XX - Cherry Blossom Festival

"aw, y/n-chan! cmon~" oikawa whined, clinging onto your waist while you simply shelve the books in peace

"it's the last day to see the cherry blossoms! it'll rain tomorrow, you know? and i didn't even come to see them once cus i wanted to only do it with you!" he exclaimed

you look back to see him pouting and batting his eyelashes at you, waiting patiently for your sweet yes.

"im working" he sighed dejectedly as he watched you pick up another stack of books to put in the shelves

"plus why would you wanna go anyways?" you asked "they're just useless flowers with bunched up petals that have no scent"

oikawa mockingly mimicked you "they're just a bunch of flowers with no scent!" he scoffed. "they're pretty flowers that your dear boyfriend wants to see!" he said

you turn to him, smiling as you giving him a light pat on his cheek "we can go next year" you said before walking away

oikawa huffed, watching your retreating figure with a glare. he punched the books in annoyance, but fixed them anyways as he heard you scold him from afar.

"you said that last year.." he muttered

iwaizumi chuckled as oikawa had a nasty expression upon reminiscing on the memory. "you could've asked me to go with you" he said

oikawa turned to him. "yeah, then you would've told me to get lost" he said

oikawa sighed, "how many do i have left?" he asked himself

—

"reason #8: they always have things to do and they only think about their self ."

10-14-XX - Regional Matches

the boys looked at each other, silently asking why their captain was muttering lowly to himself at the corner, seeming to be in such a bad mood despite having half the stadium cheering his and his team's name.

oikawa clicked his tongue in distaste, his glaring eyes were boring through his phone, straight at your caller id as he waits for you to pick up.

it was sixth call in the last thirty minutes, and you haven't answered even once.

"hey" iwaizumi nudged him. "you look like you're about to kill someone" he said

"hey, we're about to start so keep your head in the game, capt!" matsukawa chimed in as he gave oikawa a hard slap on his back

oikawa winced and put his phone away with a frown. "whatever." he said. "my head is in the game by the way"

"doesn't seem like it" iwaizumi said as he handed the brunette a water bottle. "ah, it's y/n-san isn't it?" hanamaki chimes with a smirk

"are you pissed cus they're not here to cheer you on?" he asked, making oikawa scoff. "ah, so you are" matsukawa chuckled

"dude, there's girls and boys here that are screaming their lungs out for you, don't get too hung up on y/n" matsukawa said

"maybe y/n-san is busy studying or working, as always. i mean they made it a pretty usual thing already. i thought you'd be used to them not attending most of your matches" hanamaki said

iwaizumi hit the both of them "shut up, will you?" he said

oikawa glared at them, throwing his bottle at the two, making them yelp. "don't talk about y/n-chan like that!" he scolded them

"sorry sorry~" the two chimed with a smile

oikawa frowned, "you don't know anything..."

oikawa dragged out a sigh, making iwaizumi eye him curiously. "what is it?" iwaizumi asked.

"if this is hard for you, then you don't really have to talk about it" he said to the brunette. "not like i asked you to, anyway" he added

oikawa meekly shook his head "no, im fine"

—

"reason #9: another thing i hate.."

oikawa trailed off, he was looking far away. iwaizumi wasn't sure where, to him, his friend just looked like his mind had completely wandered off.

oikawa scoffed to himself, a sad smile ghosting his lips as he muttered the following words,

"..is that only know a side of y/n which nobody else knows, and i can't help but fall in love"

03-06-XX - 6 Days Before Exams

"here." oikawa jumped at the sudden sound of your voice. he blinked dumbfoundedly as you stood before him, holding a piece of paper with tape plastered in almost every inch of it.

"um, what is it?" he asked as he took it from you. suddenly, he chuckled, smirking smugly as he pulled you down to sit with him.

"aw, y/n-chan! don't tell me it's a love letter! —"

you cut him off by snatching it and turning to walk away. "wait wait wait-" oikawa grinned as he pulled you back down to the seat "im just messing with you" he said

you rolled your eyes, smiling as you hit his shoulder. "youre so childish" you laughed

"this is the notes for the test" you said. oikawa looked at you in surprise and confusion "but i thought you got rid of it?"

"well, you said you needed it so.." you trailed off, averting your eyes out of embarrassment

"i tried to tape it back together last night but it might be too crumpled to be read, so i'll help you if you need me to"

you glance at him after not getting a response, fully expecting him to tease you. but instead, you saw him staring at you with a soft look in his eyes. he was smiling brightly, his cheeks blushing in a soft pink color.

"stop smiling like that, you look dumb" you mutter

oikawa grinned even more, watching you with a fond look as you pulled out your books, settling to study with him.

"i knew you couldn't resist me~" he cooed teasingly, inching closer to you to press a kiss on your cheek

you scoffed "no, i was just worried you'd cry if you fail. you're always like that"

oikawa hummed, not minding your harsh words as he pecked your cheek again. "that's the same thing~" he cooed

"don't worry y/n-chan, i know you love me. you don't have to say it"

"you're delusional"

"how mean!"

—

06-15-XX - The Day After The Match Celebration 

"oh! what's this?"

the boys huddled around a bench, aweing at the cake decorated with their team colors with a message written in the middle

"congratulations, seijoh" kindaichi read. "is it from coach?" he asked

"ooh!! there's drinks too!" matsukawa exclaimed "soda? nice" he said as he popped a can open and immediately drank from it

"senpai, it might be poisoned" kindaichi warned him. "if it is, then just let him be" hanamaki sneered

"what's happening?" oikawa asked as he entered the gym with iwaizumi. "hey, just cus we won doesn't mean you can slack off as much as you want" iwaizumi said as he picked up a ball to throw at hanamaki and matsukawa

"hey, it's not our fault someone left a cake for us! it just means we gotta celebrate more"

"it's probably from shittykawa's fangirls-" iwaizumi paused upon reading the name on the folded note by the cake "ah nevermind, it's from y/n" he said

oikawa perked up from the sound of your name. "y/n?" he asked

"yeah, the note says 'congrats. from, y/n'...yeah, thats all it says" matsukawa chuckled. "y/n-san sure is reserved, aren't they?" he mused

"anyways, tell y/n-san we said thank you" iwaizumi said as he took a slice of cake "tell them to come see us next time, as well"

the boys cheered in agreement, and the thought of his team wanting to hang out you almost made oikawa smile like a lovesick idiot, but obviously he couldn't do that or he'll never hear the end of it.

"hey, start practice without me. i'll come by later" oikawa said before running out the gym

he tried to rack his brain on where he could possibly find you, but it seems he didn't need to think to much as he spotted you seated on a bench under the shade

"y/n-chan!" oikawa called out as he ran towards you. "y/n-" he cut himself off as you wordlessly place a bag in his hands

"a gift?" he mused as he sat next to you, chuckling as he catches you discreetly taking glances to see his reaction to the gift

"oooh~ knee pads! how'd you know i needed them?" oikawa grinned as he pressed a kiss on your temple. "thank you, baby"

you smile shyly at the nickname "your old ones were a bit worn out.." you said. "but, i kind of messed up and somehow got mismatched ones" you said with a frown

oikawa just then took a clearer look at the gift. he hadn't even noticed that it was in black and white because of how happy he was to receive a gift from you.

"i guess i shouldn't have ordered online" you said with a look of distaste.

oikawa laughed, a light blush on his cheeks as he slung his arm around you. "don't worry about it!" he said

"shouldn't i exchange it? tell me honestly, i wouldn't even be offended!" you exclaimed. oikawa simply shook his head and slipped them on before you could take them back

"so, you gave my team a cake, huh?" he teasingly nudged you. "well.." you stammered in embarrassment

"you seemed upset that i didn't celebrate with them.. just take this as me celebrating with your team, kay?" you said

oikawa pouted "just with them?" he whined "what about me?"

you smiled at him before placing your hands over his eyes. "i didn't forget about you, of course" you said

you stare at him, admiring his beautiful features and the smile on his lips. "what? is there something on my face?" oikawa asked with furrowed brows

you lean closer to kiss him, pressing your lips on his as your hand reaches for his. he smiles as you pull away, tightening his hold on your hand.

"congratulations" you mumble "did i make it up to you?"

"mhm" oikawa hummed, his smile growing bigger and bigger by the second

"that's good." you sigh "now get back to the gym and practice. your teammates must've eaten the cake by now, i hope you atleast took a bite" you said

"oh, i didn't get to eat but that's fine" oikawa shrugged

"really? i made that though. too bad"

he froze at the new found information. "huh? you-you made it yourself?" he asked with a lifeless smile

"uh yeah?"

"i gotta go i love you thanks for your gift you're so cute for making that cake yourself see you later mwuah mwuah love you bye!"

it was amazing how much he could say in one breath, but you blink in confusion as he ran towards the gym, shouting at his teammates to 'leave him a slice or else he'll leave team and cry'.

oikawa didn't get to eat the cake that day.

—

08-23-XX - Anniversary Date

"stop swaying" you whine as you struggle to keep him standing on his feet. his arm was slung over your shoulder while the rest of his body weight is dragging you down, making you stumble around

"y/n-chan!! i love you~" oikawa drunkenly giggled as he leaned forward, puckering his lips for a kiss

this however, didn't go as planned, seeing as you two fell on the ground with a thud. thankfully the impact wasn't too bad

"geez" you sighed as oikawa continues to nuzzle into you as if you two weren't laying on the street like a couple of maniacs

you look down at him, smiling as you catch sight of his flushed face. "i love you too" you whispered

"you love me?!" oikawa excitedly exclaimed "wah! i only hear that from you like thrice every two months" he babbled through a series of hiccups

you roll your eyes at him, a smile of amusement grazing your lips as you caress his cheeks.

"you know what else?" you cooed, gently combing his hair out of his eyes

"hm?" he hummed groggily

"i totally won that drinking contest" you giggled as he whined "i let you win!" he says

"mhm, sure you did" you played along. you pulled him up to his feet, having to carry him on your back while he drunkenly rambles away

"let's go home, tooru. i'll take care of you"

—

11-06-XX

oikawa sighs as he caught sight of you standing infront a group of guys, a different team who had just played and lost against them.

"what are they doing now?" oikawa shakes his head as he quickly runs towards you, trying to pull you away before anything gets worse

"what's happening here?" he cooed in a 'friendly' tone, despite sending a glare at the boys before you

"ah so it's true, they really are dating you" one of the boys said, gesturing to oikawa. "hey oikawa-san, tell your s/o to behave. they're crazy" the boys snickered

oikawa glared at them, staring them down as he tries to bite back the curses itching to leave his mouth.

"who do you think you are?!" you snarl at them, much to their surprise "don't go around badmouthing oikawa and his team if you can't even win a match against them"

oikawa blinked dumbfoundedly, we're you really fighting because of him and his teammates? he felt a bit touched but still concerned, given that its only the two of you against a whole team of guys.

"learn to match your confidence with the skills you have. and given the results of the match just now, you don't have much skill in you anyway" you sneered

oikawa bites back a laugh at the sight of their dumbfounded and offended expression.

"okay, let's go y/n" he whispers to you with a chuckle. you glance at him and nod, taking his outstretched hand.

"don't talk like that about tooru again" you said to them "if you do, i'll have have to show you how crazy i get"

as you two walk away, oikawa looks back to send them a cheeky grin, matching it with a peace sign. "you heard them! it was a good game, see you around~" he cooed tauntingly

when you two get far enough, oikawa lightly punches your shoulder. "don't do that again, okay?" he says

you huff "i couldn't help it" you said. oikawa smiles as he ruffles your hair "but thank you anyway. you got in a fight cus of us, or me" he cooed

"i'll always defend you, tooru"

—

04-01-XX - Cherry Blossom Festival

oikawa had a grim look on his face as he watched you approach him. he'd been sitting outside a convenience store near your house for atleast an hour now, waiting for you to get home.

"how long have you been sitting there?" you asked with an amused smile as you simply stares back at you

"why are you smiling?" he sulked "was working and missing a cherry blossom date with your boyfriend that fun?"

you chuckle at the adorable pout he had, glaring at you as he crossed his arms to emphasize that he was upset.

"why are you so upset about missing one cherry blossom festival, hm?" you mused

oikawa scoffed "it's not just one.." he muttered. "were you really counting? you're so petty" you laughed

"did you just call me petty?" he scowled at you, sulking even more.

you smile fondly at him, fiddling with the hidden petals in your pocket before throwing them up in the air, letting them fall upon the two of you.

"we saw the cherry blossoms" you said

oikawa couldn't respond. he was too busy staring up at you with sparkling eyes. you looked so beautiful like that, having the pink petals fall all around you. it was magical, or atleast to him.

"next time we can see them fall from the trees, but you'll have to make do with that for now" you said

oikawa chuckled breathlessly "i think i prefer seeing them like this"

—

10-14-XX - Regional Matches

you pant heavily as you make a sharp turn along the halls, almost tumbling as you try to arrive before the match ends

"agh, why is this stadium so huge? where are they playing?" you groan, pulling out your phone and getting even more frustrated as you see the number of calls and texts your boyfriend had left you in the past hour

you abruptly stop as you catch sight of their white and teal uniforms on the court. you quickly rush inside, panting and trying to catch your breath after all the running.

just then coach nobuteru called you over, urging you to sit by him. "y/n-san did you just arrive?" he asked

"yes sir, im sorry" you bowed to him "i clocked out of work as soon as i can but i think i was still late anyways"

"it's fine, don't worry about it. it's only the first game" he chuckled as he patted your shoulder reassuringly. "oikawa-san had been in a bad mood since the start, so im gonna need you to cheer for him. we're gonna need him to focus if we wanna win" he said

you smile sheepishly as your eyes fall on him, he had such a deep scowl on his face. he looks so on edge as the rest of the team eyes him nervously.

"um.. how do i.." you mutter. coach nobuteru laughed "just scream, cheer, call out to him. any thing, really" he said

you nod, clearing your throat. "tooru!" you shouted, your face heating up in embarrassment as his head whipped towards your direction, followed by his teammates who simultaneously sighed in relief.

"this is so embarrassing" you mutter as you try to hide behind coach nobuteru, only for him to laugh and wave his hand to the boys, urging them to get back to the game.

oikawa locked eyes with you for a moment longer, failing to bite back a smile as you mouth a 'good luck' to him with a bright grin.

after the match, oikawa rushed to you, smiling brightly as you wipe away his sweat, mindlessly rambling about the game and even nagging him about the times he missed a hit.

"you came" he said with a happy hum "y/n-chan, im starting to think you enjoy playing hard to get" he teased

"hey!" you hit his chest "don't tease me! i messed up cus your schedule doesn't match with mine"

he chuckled "mhm" he pressed a kiss to your cheek. "stop that, you're all sweaty" you say as you push him away, trying to keep a straight face but oikawa could clearly see the corners of your lips twitching into a smile.

"thanks to you, we won!" oikawa cheered. "i didn't even play" you said in confusion. "you're my lucky charm! you didn't need to play, you just had to be here with me" he said

"so always be by my side, okay?" he nudged you

"of course, tooru"

—

09-12-XX - Break Up Trip

the spontaneous trip had come to its end as you both reach the station, and oikawa was still hung up and on edge about the possible break up conspiracy he had somehow thought of. “y/n-chan, is this really how we end?” he asked 

“hm, i shouldve taken more photos” you said, ignoring him once again as you looked through the photos youve taken throughout the day. “hey, stop ignoring me” oikawa whined 

you sighed, finally acknowledging his whining with an unamused look on your face. “oikawa tooru, are you an idiot or what?” you said. 

oikawa looked at you in surprise “...is..is that a yes? are you actually leaving me?” he asked warily 

you rolled your eyes, flicking him in the forehead as he winced. “you idiot.” you hit him lightly “why would we break up?” you asked, frowning at the thought

oikawa gulped, ”well, its just... this trip felt really ‘heavy’, if that makes sense.” he said. “it feels ‘heavy’ to be with me?” you asked with a frown. of course, he was quick to reassure you. 

“no thats not it! its just, we argued pretty badly before this so i thought you were just letting me enjoy before leaving for good” he explained. “ never know exactly what goes on in your head so it made me assume the worst.”

“so are we okay?” he asked

“you idiot” you huff as you take his face in your hands. “of course we’re okay.” 

“why would we break up, tooru? thats not gonna happen.” you said. you smiled at him, gently caressing his cheeks as he leans on your hands with a sigh of content.

“if it gets to that point, all you have to do is come to me. dont let me go. after all, i already told you right?” you said to him. 

“i’ll always be by your side, tooru.”

—

"reason #10: they throw me away so easily, while it's so hard for me to even let go."

iwaizumi gulped at the sudden confession. he didn't know what to say or do, understandably so.

oikawa looked down at the ring on his finger, a heavy feeling filling his chest as he fiddles with the silver band.

"i hate y/n l/n so much."

iwaizumi sighs, seeing oikawa’s eyes filled with such sadness despite his straight face.

"that's enough. go home" iwaizumi said as he grabbed oikawa's bag and threw it at him. "stop thinking about them. just go home and get some sleep"

oikawa sighed with a nod. "okay" he said with a meek wave of goodbye

"hey" iwaizumi called out just before he could leave the gym. "need me to drive you?" he asked, only for oikawa to refuse

"no, i'll walk" he said. "see you, iwa-chan"

oikawa left with his head hung low and his lips quivering. "oikawa tooru, you're such an idiot" he whispered to himself

he sighed again, dragging his fingers through his hair in distress as he tries to clear his head.

he decided to stop by a vending machine, getting himself a cold drink and gulping it at once. he mindlessly threw the can away and looked up at the sky. it had turned dark already, and the sky was littered with stars.

he couldn't help but feel grim as he came to a realization. he scoffed at himself, a bittersweet smile grazing his lips as he whispered to the night sky,

"i love y/n l/n so much"

[letarasstuff]

Unbreakable Bond

(A/N): This is based on this post and this tiktok

Summary: A big age gap between Aaron's children doesn't have to mean that they are unable to form a strong bond

Warnings: Mentions of Haley's death and failed relationships

Wordcount: 1.8k

✨Masterlist✨

_________________________________

His life took turns Aaron never expected. It’s not the “Oh, mh, well that was unexpected”-type of turns, I talk about the “God played Cards Against Humanity with angels and decided to make it happen for someone”-type. But looking back he would not want to change a thing.

After Haley and Beth he was convinced that God, the Universe, something out there shared the opinion that romantic love isn’t the right thing for him and Aaron accepted that fact. Even more when he and Jack went into witness protection. I mean, when you are worried about the life of your family being in danger because of a stalker, you don’t think about the beautiful neighbor, who lives next door, right? Right?

Well, without going into too much detail, Hotch did think about her and she about him and vice versa. Everything went good until Aaron received the message that the team found the stalker and that it was safe to come back. He decided to come clean to his girlfriend. They talked about the possibility of moving back to Quantico.

In the end they decided in favor of the move, the final argument was the surprising announcement of her being pregnant. Hotch wants to raise their youngest where his and Jack’s roots are located. But he decides against taking a position at the BAU, instead taking a desk job in order to be more at home. He also has the opportunity to work from home after little (Y/N) was born and continues to do so until she is old enough to go to Kindergarten. Even then he takes two days the week where he stays home. Aaron learned from his decisions and mistakes he made in the past and wants to live up to them and be a better father and husband than before.

And Hotch keeps it to this day, six years later. It’s (Y/N)’s first day of school, while Jack just graduated high school and goes off to college in a few weeks. Even though they have an age gap from twelve and a half years, their parents are sure there are no other siblings with such a strong bond.

Ever since his baby sister’s birth Jack is her biggest supporter, protector and friend. Her first word was his name, though it was more of a “ACK!”, but that’s the best nickname he ever got. As soon as (Y/N) was old enough to comprehend the concept of movies, he introduced her to Star Wars. Since then lightsaber wars out of cardboard pipes are not uncommon. Last Halloween they even dressed up as Chewbakka and Han Solo. You get three guesses on who was who.

“JACK!” (Y/N) runs into her big brother’s room with an excited expression on her face. “Daddy promised to buy me a real lightsaber after I read ten books! With lights and sounds and all! Isn’t that cool?” Jack smiles. Aaron did a similar thing with him. For a certain amount of books he got a reward they discussed beforehand. This way he felt motivated to read and improved writing and reading skills.

“This is awesome. I think that means we have to go book shopping together, what do you think?” (Y/N) is not only the cool kid that has an older brother, she is also the cool kid, whose older brother has a drivers license, a car and a part time job. She nods with big eyes, speechless, because the offer sounds like heaven to her. Getting books and one on one time with Jack after he was really busy with school for weeks? This has to be heaven.

“Ok, then you put your outside clothes on and I’ll tell Dad about our plan.” At that the little girl rushes to her room, not wanting to waste any more time. Jack makes his way down to the kitchen, where Aaron wipes the table from lunch down.

“Dad, I take (Y/N) to this bookstore in DC and we’ll probably go eat ice cream after that. Is that alright?” Hotch looks up at his son. It still feels like yesterday as he told Haley that Gideon is a big no as a baby name. Now he is all grown up and just a few weeks away from the next big chapter in his life.

“Of course, just let me get my wall-” Jack cuts him off. “No need, I want to use this as a kind of goodbye thing. At least until Thanksgiving.” Aaron knows what he means. It’s his last day before he goes off to college and just a couple more until the first classes begin. The family still hasn’t told their youngest exactly what’s going on. Else she would refuse to go to school and go on with her day, insisting on using all the time they have until Jack drives off.

Two hours later the siblings leave the bookstore, both of them having a bag in their hands. Of course Jack's heavier, but both he and the cashier assured (Y/N) that they lift the same amount of weight.

“Uncle Spence will be excited when I tell him that I read Harry Potter, he told me so many good things about it”, the girl gushes. Jack nods, indicating that he is listening. Of course they also picked books that are not that advanced. Still, no sister of his shall grow up without knowing the beauty of the wizarding world. Also, secretly he is hoping for her to turn out as nerdy as he is so they get more things to talk about. His next step is superheroes, especially the Marvel ones.

They converse until they get to an ice cream parlor and order both their usuals. “Do you think you are ready for me to tell you something important?” The older one asks after they sit down at a table. (Y/N) nods, confusion taking over her face.

“Uhm, you know how I graduated from high school? I’m done with school, but I want to get a degree, but for that I have to go to college. It’s pretty far away so I can’t come home for a few months. But I’m back home when Thanksgiving is and also for Christmas.” It doesn’t matter what Jack says, a sad frown has formed on the little one’s face. “Oh. And after Christmas, will you leave again?” He nods and explains when he is off from college and when not.

“We can always skype and write letters. How does that sound? And when you get your first phone, we can even text.” That (Y/N) lights up a bit. For her first year of school she got a stationary set and is eager to use it to this day.

“I’m going to miss you so much”, she says hugging her big brother. Jack pats her back. “I’ll miss you, too.”

The goodbye the next day is a heartfelt matter. Everybody cries, especially (Y/N). She can’t fathom a scenario where her brother isn’t there for her all the time.

The following weeks are also hard for the family. The youngest refuses to sleep alone for the first three days after Jack’s leave. She is more closed off and mainly just does her school work or reads the books he bought for her. By the time Thanksgiving is only away for another two weeks, (Y/N) has read through all of them at least two times.

Her father already ordered the lightsaber he promised her. Unfortunately shipping takes several months, so the little girl still has to wait patiently for her reward to arrive. In the meantime she works on getting the next and she is already pretty close to the comic book collection she wants.

“Sweetheart, can you set the table, please? Your Mom will be here soon from grocery shopping and she will need help getting them from the car into the house”, Hotch calls for his daughter while stirring in a pot.

The little girl nods, putting her stationary set and pens aside to do as her father asked. She is in the middle of answering her brother’s last letter, telling him that she is now the one that usually has to read aloud for the class because of her advanced skill for a first grader.

Just as she sets the last piece of silverware down the doorbell rings. “Sweetie, can you please open it? This should be your mother.” Happily (Y/N) runs up and turns the door knob. Over the last few months she hit a small growing spurt and is finally tall enough to reach it without standing on her tippy toes.

“Mo-” She nearly chokes on her own saliva. The one at the door is definitely not her mother. “JACK!” (Y/N) runs up to him and jumps onto his leg. “Hey Princess. I thought now that you read your books, we need to hold the most amazing lightsaber fight in history.” With a mischievous smile he pulls two from his back, giving one to his baby sister.

It is the most epic fight in history between an elementary schooler and a college boy. They can only be stopped by their parents announcing that it is a tie between both of them and that they have to sit down, else the food gets cold.

The following weeks mostly consist of (Y/N)’s joyous laughs and cuddling with her big brother. She even insists on him sleeping with her in her much smaller bed. On his last night before going back to college, the little girl turns to him in the middle of watching her favorite movie in the living room.

“Do you promise not to forget me when you are away? Because I alway think about you and tell my friends so much about you. I told them you are a hero, my hero, just like Daddy. They wanna meet you because of that.” Jack has to hold back tears at her statement.

“I also think of you so much. All of my friends at college are pretty jealous of me having such a sweet baby sister. Maybe one time you can visit me and I can introduce you to them.” The thought of that makes (Y/N) smile and is a little consolation to the thought of her brother leaving again.

Aaron watches the interaction going down, happy to see the strong bond between his children, despite their age gap. This is nothing like he and Sean were and that is a relief for him and the worries he had in the beginning. It is a sign that he did do some things right as a father.

Taglist:

All works:

@dindjarinsspouse @big-galaxy-chaos @jswessie187

Criminal Minds:

@averyhotchner @mggsprettygirl @herecomesthewriterwitch @ash19871962 @ellyhotchner

[gynandromorph]

i guess it’s time for a new year retrospective thing since it’s almost a new year

this year sucked and not even in like a notably bad way, it’s just one big haze of nothing where nothing matters and nothing has any meaning because there’s literally no break in between all the stress. groceries are as expensive as ever and they’re just gonna stay that way forever while the cost of living limit for welfare stays the same so now i’m stuck between being unable to afford food AND having no healthcare. mawkish continues to get older and she has more health issues. it takes up an unspeakable amount of my time and money, but she’s happy and not declining right now. every time she skips physical therapy for her arthritis due to a cancellation i can see how it affects her, though, so i don’t know if i’ll be able to cut costs there. a lot of this is about money, huh? i just feel like i can’t even DO anything without it. i can just Be At Home which just makes me feel like a wild animal pacing in a cage. i’ve been single for a while now and i’m REALLY feeling it and i know it’s partially my fault for not wanting covid more than not wanting to be lonely but like what the fuck would i do if i put myself out there huh? tell some girl i don’t have enough money to buy lunch or a coffee so we’ll have to just sit outside at a park? yeah i’ve sat outside at parks to meet and chat with people but as like a first impression it’s not great!!!

and my art has gotten worse, of course. it’s stiffer, and i feel on edge because my hand is either always on the cusp of hurting again or it IS hurting again. i’ve gotten it back to normal again, and then i slack off on my exercises and we’re back to square 3 (i haven’t gotten so bad that i go back to square 1) because the exercises themselves are wildly time-consuming and god knows if there’s anything i don’t have enough of it’s time. i hate the tablet i’m using and i can’t even find the old ones i brought with me because of the move, but even then they’re very small and that’s why i like them and it’s also why i hurt my hand in the first place. still, the curves this tablet makes are just not the same, there’s tons of issues with it that aren’t technically issues but certainly things that impact how the art comes out and how much i enjoy making it. not really related but about a week into the new year i’ll be getting a new computer, also, and a new desk chair, since both of those are fucking falling apart. i want to do other things that i’m not going to say here because if there’s one way to make sure you never ever do a project it’s just announcing it publicly before you’ve done literally any of the work. still, we’ll see if anything changes. it feels like it won’t simply because my brain is too depressed to do anything anymore and even when i do do the thing it turns out like shit or i don’t retain it at all. these are at least things that will not require the intense use of my dominant hand.

oh and the last huge negative is i just have like functionally no religious community now because this friend i made at my last synagogue was a great friend!!!!! super friendly!!!!!!!!!!! too friendly in fact!!!!!!!!!!! and i tried reasserting that i was not interested in a relationship multiple times, i tried tolerating advances i wasn’t going to reciprocate and it just kept getting more physical, eventually i decided to get my rabbi there involved and i gotta say the response i got was disappointing at best!!!!!! this was maybe like november 2021 but it’s literally functionally cut me off from that community altogether here because i wasn’t thrilled about the drop in covid protocols and i’m certainly not more enthusiastic now that i’ve been sexually harassed just to have it brushed under the rug knowing this is an all too common reaction for jewish authorities to have!!! i literally feel like i can’t say anymore about it besides that but hey it kinda sucks!!!!!!!

that’s it dude, that’s all, i started a new comic way later than i should have but i did start it, and i’m living somewhere that kind of sucks the soul out of me but i won’t be investing a lot of time and money into a move this year not only because it’s tolerably under my sister and her husband’s roof instead of my mom’s but because rent is too fucking high for me to jump ship too. sure hope 2023 is a great year cuz it’s the last one i’ll have as a 20-something and the bar is certainly low after this one, i can’t even be more thoughtful or humble about this retrospective, i’m so tired of feeling like shit and having functionally no way to fix most of these problems