#jumping back to draw a comic from earlier in the timeline

[amielot]

Dreams

Hob: "This is probably nothing"

[iamanartichoke]

... All right, let’s do this. 

Under the cut bc there’s SO MANY images, and I’m sorry, and I know the cut is worthless to mobile users but, well, here we are. Please don’t unfollow me for this post specifically. 

^^ I can’t decide if this woman holding the Tesseract is impressive or not bc, I mean, she’s wearing a glove - but, Red Skull probably was, too? Also the TVA are obviously not humans, so “impressive” may be generous. On the other hand, “only beings of enormous power” can wield the Tesseract/infinity stones, so. 

Loki looks pissed. 

“I know what this place is.” I like this, bc it provides us with some narrative evidence that Loki has always known much more about the universe and How Things Work than anyone cared to realize. Loki’s always known what’s going on; that he isn’t ignorant to the existence or inner functions of the TVA feels in-character. 

Inception! 

Lokiception! 

Why does every shot of the TVA’s headquarters look like the inside of a poorly-lit DMV? Though I guess it fits with the “timelessness” of it all as, after all, time ceases to exist or have meaning once you enter the DMV. 

But I digress. 

I’ve already remarked on the “I’m smart” comment, but I do like this shot. 

I really love what Loki’s hair is doing here, I don’t even care. For better or for worse, his hair’s doing it’s own all-natural thing and I dig it. Let it move, let it dance, let it fall into his face and obscure his features as fanfic has allowed so many times. 

I’m not a fan of the exaggerated jump or “wtf” expression along with “this is absurd” but THIS moment? Classic Loki. He looks 500% done and we’re only 51 seconds in. Also, I refuse to believe that stack of papers is everything Loki’s ever said. I know we all complained about the “you love to talk” line but, I mean, certainly he’s said more than approximately the total sum of Ulysses in his 1000 years of existence. 

Here’s what I want to know: 

1. How does Loki taking the Tesseract result in so many new timeline branches? Surely he’s only responsible for one new timeline? I really, really hope they address that this is all the Avengers’ fault. 

2. What timeline is WandaVision and TFatWS taking place in? The main one, I presume? How do we know it’s not one of these alternate ones? 

3. Which timeline is Agents of SHIELD in and will they be addressed? Bc they got up to all kinds of Time Shenanigans in seasons 5, 6, and 7 to the point where I’m pretty sure they split off into their own universe (which is why they weren’t affected by the Snap or that whole thing, or so I’ve heard). If Loki crosses paths with Coulson & crew, I may pee my pants.

4. So where does Jessica Jo - ah, forget it, I’m not even going to ask. 

I wonder what it is about this “unique Loki perspective” that Mobius is interested in recruiting. (Incidentally, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Owen Wilson in, like, a real role - wherein he’s not playing some version of Owen Wilson, that is. He’s got a costume and everything here. Fun to see!) 

This is a bamf shot, okay. The way it’s framed is pretty intimidating. 

“You listen well, brother -” 

“I’m listening.” 

^^ I figured out what kind of energy this moment has, lmao. 

“It’s adorable that you think you can manipulate me.” I mean, do I even have to comment? I am here for narratively validating the ��Loki is ten steps ahead” (heh, and I quote) canon. Here’s another place where I feel like Tom was involved, since I’m pretty sure that somewhere, he’s literally said “Loki’s always ten steps ahead of everyone else.” 

That said, I’m not crazy about the delivery of this line; the over-confident tone of it smacks of “here’s someone about to get knocked the fuck off their pedestal” and I’m not here for that. 

That said, these next scenes - 

- not only show Loki with the upper hand but, also, it’s clear that Loki goes rogue at some point, possibly early on, and I do like that. Drag me if you will, but I want to see Loki scheming and being manipulative, in his own interests. 

I think that Loki being the protagonist will allow them to portray his manipulation in a way that the audience is on his side. I don’t think that the TVA is being framed as the “reliable narrator” through which the audience should view Loki, or “good guys” at all; I think that maybe they’re not evil, but there’s probably a lot of morally-grey shenanigans and goings-on. 

I also think Loki is capable of outwitting them; Loki, being ten steps ahead, has probably figured out something that the TVA has not even thought of yet, so he’s going to fix things his own way, according to his own plan. And I want to see that, because I think that this will give the narrative room to really explore both how Loki thinks and what he does when his plans go awry (as I’m sure they’re bound to do); like, how will he fix it and still remain on top in the end?

So, I mean, I’m pretty intrigued (and still cautiously optimistic). 

Lots of action shots happening, I won’t add even more images to this post, but this magic is still giving me life. 

What is this, a food court? (Speaking of which , what’s up with all the action in the mall earlier?) 

“I’ve studied almost every moment of your life” 

(^^ Missed opportunity)

“and you’ve literally stabbed people in the back like 50 times.” 

Receipts or it didn’t happen, and that’s all I’m gonna say about that line right now. 

Thanks, I hate it. This is all wrong, this whole thing - just awful, scrap it, toss it out. Tom, I love you, but this was the wrong delivery and an all-around bad acting decision. It’s too over-the-top, too earnestly “well I never!”, too comical (as in, feels like it belongs in a comic with a speech bubble as opposed to funny). 

Once more, with feeling. From the top! 

I like that we get to see Loki doing a wardrobe change, as I don’t think we’ve gotten to see that before. He always just shows up in a new outfit or illusions one on. 

That’s one ugly ass outfit, but you make it look passable, Loki. You’re beautiful, in case no one’s told you that today. 

The remaining shots are very visually pleasing and action-y and I dig them, except the volcano one (stop posing with your arms outstretched every five seconds, Loki, it’s kinda cringe. In the above still, it works; in front of a volcano, it’s just tonally off. I say this with love, don’t @ me). 

Overall, I think I maintain my 7/10 rating. I think that the trailer hints at a lot of potential in the story that I will enjoy seeing, and I think that the nature of it being a trailer means that it’s a little tonally hyperbolic (this is kinda the format for Disney shit; show the flashy bits, the funny (”funny”) bits, to draw in the casual viewer. Save the story bits for the show. (Case in point: there’s a lot of great material in TFatWS that happened just before or after the one-liners shown in the trailer.) 

So, yes. Sorry this is such a mammoth post, I just needed to explode my feels. If you think the trailer’s awesome, kudos and I love you. If you’re disappointed and upset, I’m sorry and I love you. If you’re hovering in the middle, still in cautiously optimistic territory, pull up a seat and have some popcorn with me. 

That is all. 

[nonsensical-shitposting]

Petrichor (Seeker fanfic): Chapter 1

Here’s the first chapter of a @seekerquest reader-insert fanfic, the general premise of which is that the reader appears at the beginning of the story and proceeds to try to make things better, only to end up… not doing that. Huge thanks to @the-sans-the-sans-the-sans for cowriting parts of this- they were a massive help with dialogue, planning, and generally everything. The next chapter should be coming soon!

.

You open your eyes, and your first thought is that grass isn’t supposed to be purple.

Your second thought is that somebody’s hesitantly poking your shoulder.

Your third thought is that this feels way too real to be a dream.

You sit up abruptly, ignoring the sudden dizziness filling your head as you look around you. Purple grass, fog lingering over everything, gray cloudy sky…

“Uh. Who are you?”

Your fourth thought is whoever that voice belongs to, they sound kinda like John Mulaney, but female, and then you spin around and where you are suddenly becomes much clearer.

The “person” speaking to you is a small, white bunny with big yellow eyes, who is currently staring at you in confusion- not total, abject confusion, but it’s clear that she doesn’t know what’s going on.

It’s also clear, at least to you, that she is Seeker, the titular protagonist of the webcomic by the same name.

Under any other circumstances, you’d expect yourself to start thinking things like how did this happen and then quickly move on to freaking out over the implications of this, but somehow you’re able to keep your cool as you get to your feet and brush yourself off. Okay, looks like we’re in Pax’s world right now. When is this in the timeline? Seeker isn’t gray yet, so it’s still early- actually, hang on… You tilt your head to look behind Seeker, and sure enough, there’s the pillar/column thing she appeared on. So, probably really early on, then.

“Did you meet Darth Noodlecat yet?” you ask her.

Seeker furrows her brow. “What… does any of that mean? You’re the first person I’ve seen here, if that’s what you’re asking. I turned around and you were just…” She gestures aimlessly. “…lying there on the ground.”

Okay, so probably the very beginning of the comic, then. Great, you think, pressing your palms against your temples as you do your best to stave off the probably-inevitable panic attack looming at the back of your mind. Okay, think. What do you… actually, no, first things first, you need to find somewhere to hide before Impaxter shows up. How…

“Hey!” Seeker snaps her fingers directly in front of your face, causing you to flinch. “Can you hear me?”

“I need to hide.” you say, less to her and more just in general. You have a feeling Impaxter won’t react well if he sees you. Feeling distinctly idiotic, you crouch behind the column, glad it’s large enough to conceal you. “Pretend I’m not here,” you tell her. “I’ll explain as soon as the Impostor finishes his spiel, but I don’t want to find out what’ll happen if he sees me.”

You can tell Seeker’s still confused, but to her credit, she nods and gets back up onto the column. Honestly, you thought she’d be more argumentative. “Who’s-”

You shush her immediately, hunkering down even more behind the column in a desperate attempt to conceal yourself. Dread roils within you as you realize you don’t remember which direction the Impostor came from in the original comic- what if you’re crouching directly in his line of sight?

Fortunately, luck is on your side, and the footsteps you can hear approaching come from the other side of the pillar. You hold your breath and keep as still as you possibly can.

“You are back here.” the Impostor says. His voice “sounds” more like one of your own thoughts than anything else, but… clinging, somehow, as if it’s gradually filling your skull with a rotting, cloying odor until it spills out of your eyes and nose and mouth in horrible spidery tendrils. You’re distantly aware that you’re shaking and pray that he can’t hear you. “That is interesting. You moved, and then you came back to where I put you.”

“What?” Seeker asks. She sounds… scared, at least a little. Then again, given how you acted right before he showed up, you might have something to do with that. Oops.

“You are fearful.” observes the Impostor slowly. “That is also interesting. Why?”

Because you’re a creepy cat-shaped toothpick, that’s why, you think, desperately hoping Seeker doesn’t say something stupid in response.

“I’m not!” Seeker insists before jumping right into interrogating him. “Who are you? Why did you put me up here anyway? And what’s with your ears?” You would laugh at her last question- you almost forgot about that line- but you’re just too terrified to find any amusement in this.

“Ears.” the Impostor repeats.

“Yeah, you’ve got big, long ears. Is there a reason for that, or… are you just gonna keep staring at me?”

Their conversation seems to be back on track to how it was in canon, so you tune it out for now. Your lungs are starting to burn, so carefully, quietly, slowly, you allow yourself to breathe. Luckily, the Impostor doesn’t seem to hear you, which is weird considering how ridiculously large his ears are. (This time, you can feel nigh-hysterical laughter bubbling up in your throat at your internal quip, but you force it down.)

“The Seeker. That is you,” says the Impostor, drawing your attention back to their conversation.

“Is that my name, or my job?” Seeker asks.

“I will wait up there. Return if you find the truth.”

“Woah woah woah, hang on!” Seeker shouts, earning a slight smirk from you despite your fear. There’s the Seeker we all know and love. “What makes you think I’m just gonna do what you say?”

“You have something else to do?” the Impostor asks rhetorically. You hear his footsteps receding, and the creeping feeling of his presence leaves with him.

Once you’re sure he’s out of earshot, you sigh in relief (cliched a thing to do as it is) and sag back against the column, parts of you that you didn’t even know were tensed relaxing. If there was any upside to you being scared out of your mind for the past however many minutes, it’s that the majority of your existential panic over what might have put you in a world that is, as far as you know, supposed to be fictional was rerouted into being afraid of the Impostor.

There’s a sudden fwump noise, and a pair of bright yellow eyes are abruptly staring into yours as two floppy ears sort of swing awkwardly down and smack you in the chest and stomach. All you need to do is glance up to see that Seeker apparently thought it would be a good idea to flip her head upside down and over yours to stare at you, instead of just getting off the pillar and approaching you from the front like a normal person. “Okay, back up a little there, Seeks,” you say, instinctively leaning away from her.

Seeker grumbles but complies, pushing herself down off the column again and flopping inelegantly into a seated position next to you. “So. Talk.” she demands.

You sigh, pinching the bridge of your nose. “Where do I even start?”

Judging by the look she’s giving you, Seeker clearly thinks it should be obvious. “Uh, how about… who are you? What are you? Where’d you come from? What’re all these weird fabric things you’re wearing?”

“I’m a human, and these are clothing. Do you not know what clothing is?”

“Not like that.” Seeker pokes your hoodie. “Why were you hiding from that bossy weirdo- what’d you call him, ‘Darth Noodlecat?’”

You can’t help but laugh a little at that- you almost forgot you called him that in your panic to hide. “No, that’s just… an insulting nickname I came up with for him on the spot. I don’t know if he has an actual name, but I just call him ‘the Impostor’ or ‘Impaxter.’”

“You sound like you know him.” Seeker observes.

You shrug as nonchalantly as you can. “I guess you could say that.” You can’t exactly tell her the truth, after all. Given that she’s probably only a few minutes old at this point, and also that she’s Seeker, she’s probably pretty gullible, but you doubt she’d believe you if you told her she was the main character of a webcomic- though, if she did, you have a feeling it’d result in quite the ego trip. Speaking of which… “You don’t happen to have any stupid voices in your head telling you to do dumb things, do you?”

“Uh. No? Is that something I’m supposed to have?”

“No, it just means things are going to be simultaneously easier and harder for us.” That is strange, though- why did she ask Impaxter the same things as she did in canon without them prompting her? Furthermore, the only reason you can think of why she wouldn’t have the askers telling her what to do is because you’re here, which raises a whole lot of other questions. On the other hand, if it means that Seeker’s going to do what you tell her to as if you were the askers… well, you can figure that out later. Right now, you need to come up with an excuse for why you’re here and then try to make things better. Other than exposing Impaxter earlier, though, you’re not sure there’s much you can do right now with what you know- last time you saw it update, the comic had only gotten up to-

Seeker snaps her fingers in front of your face several times again, bringing you back to reality. (Your new reality, anyway.) “Right, sorry. Uh… do you have any other questions?”

“Why’s that guy an ‘impostor?’” Seeker asks impatiently.

“Long story short, this world belongs to someone called Pax- nice dude, made a lot of cool stuff. Now that guy’s there in his world acting like it belongs to him, and I don’t know where Pax is, hence…” You shrug. “The Impostor. Or Impaxter- y’know, combination of ‘impostor’ and ‘Pax.’”

“Did you know this ‘Pax’ guy?”

“Not really?” While you can be honest, there’s no reason you can’t leave a few things out here and there. She wouldn’t believe the full truth anyway. “I never met him in person, if that’s what you’re asking. I… know some things about this world and the people who’re supposed to be in it, but not a lot, and I can’t say how I know them, either.” Tone is everything, and if yours just so happens to make Seeker interpret “I can’t say” as “I don’t know,” then that’s her problem. “I don’t know how I ended up here, but I don’t think I’m supposed to be here.”

“Yeah, that’s the general feeling I’m getting off of you.” Seeker nods.

“Wait, what? What do you mean by that?”

Seeker’s eyes narrow as she stares at you more closely, simultaneously demonstrating how little she understands the concept of personal space. “I… don’t really know? I dunno how to explain it, it’s just that… just looking at you makes me feel like you shouldn’t exist.”

“Huh.” You don’t have much of anything to say to that. You know what she’s saying is true on some level- you shouldn’t be part of this story- but yet, somehow, you are. “…okay, I have an idea.” you say, shaking your head. “I’ll help you figure out what happened to this world, and in return, you’ll help me figure out why I’m here. Sound like a deal?”

“…I mean, what are you gonna do if I say no?”

You hadn’t thought about that, actually. You should be able to find Fen as long as you get to that pipe thing and wait for him, and if he doesn’t show up, you think you know how to get to the door into the Family’s hallway, but you have no clue what you’d do after that or how you’d convince them to help you out. “I dunno. I guess I’d be kind of screwed.”

Seeker sighs reluctantly. “Alright, fine. I guess if helping you out means that… um, the Impostor has to wait longer to find out what happened to this place, it’s worth it.”

“That’s the spirit!” You try to give her a reassuring grin, but even you can tell it’s shaky. For a moment there, you were genuinely concerned she’d refuse to help you.

“Just, uh, one thing. What’s your name?” Seeker asks. “Do you even have one?”

You’re about to answer, but you realize with a shock that you don’t know what it is. You remember what your life before waking up here was like, you remember your family and friends, you remember every other detail of your however many years of existence- just not your own name. That seems like a very specific and arbitrary thing for whatever (or whoever) brought you here to make you forget, but what with how implausible everything else that’s happened to you in the last few minutes is, you’re inclined to set it aside for now.

“I don’t know.” you answer, brow furrowed. “I… don’t think I remember?”

“Well, how about ‘Speaker,’ then?” Seeker suggests. At your confused look, she adds, “Because you’re a weird… thing speaking to me, and it rhymes with Seeker!”

“Speaker?” You can’t stop a small grin from spreading across your face- somehow, that feels right in a way you can’t quite describe. “Yeah, that works. Alright, ‘Speaker’ it is, then.”

“Okay!” Just like that, Seeker immediately jumps on to a wholly different topic. “You said you know about this world and stuff, right?” At your hesitant nod, she continues, “Alright, so where should we go first?”

“Uh…” You consider. It’d be a good idea to find Fen as soon as possible- he probably has the best chance out of anyone at figuring out what the hell’s going on- but you also don’t think it’d be a good idea if Seeker skipped any of the memory orbs. With your luck, whichever one she missed would probably contain some major plot-relevant information that wouldn’t have become apparent until the end of the comic or something like that. “There’s some ruins in the fog over…” You spin in a circle, trying to figure out which way she would’ve headed originally. “Thataway. It’s probably a good place to start exploring, I think there was some important stuff going on there.”

“Alright,” Seeker nods, and just like that, she’s up and heading towards the ruins, and you hastily follow her, your mind immediately spiraling back into what comes next. At the very least, you can probably predict what’s going to happen in the near future, but everything after that is going to be more difficult to figure out as it diverges from the original comic- just Seeker knowing that the Impostor isn’t Pax is going to change a lot of things right off the bat as soon as the two of you encounter Fen. Furthermore, you think you remember the creator saying that the comic was about halfway done maybe a month ago, so that’s a lot of lore and plot you know nothing about that you’ll have to improvise your way through. While Seeker seems to have bought everything you told her, you have a feeling the Family’s going to be a bit more inquisitive about how you know the things you do know, and you’re not sure what you’re going to do then. You sure as hell can’t tell them they’re fictional characters, that’s for certain, but you don’t know what else you can tell them- pleading ignorance is only going to take you so far, and-

Your thoughts and worries are abruptly cut off by a sudden tug on your hair- not painful, but hard enough to make you flinch. You whip your head to the side and glare at Seeker, who raises her hands and takes a step back, face full of feigned innocence. “Don’t pull my hair.”

“I didn’t know if it was attached to your head!” Seeker protests. “It’s weird.”

You almost want to laugh, but it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to give her the satisfaction. Her antics were a lot funnier when there was a screen separating you, that’s for sure. “Just. Don’t, okay?”

“Okay!” Seeker keeps her hands raised, a slight whining tone entering her voice.

“Okay.” you repeat, shaking your head. I have a lot of work to do.

[iamfitzwilliamdarcy]

Title: from dust, arisen Characters: Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne (also ft. Dick Grayson and Tim Drake) Summary: When Jason is fifteen, he almost dies. Now, he grapples with the life he still has. (Jason Lives AU) (ao3)

I...got tired of opening this periodically from my incomplete Google docs over the past two years so...here we go. Will (maybe, hopefully) turn into a series of vignettes. Timeline is intended to make as much sense as possible but...comics. 

When Jason is fifteen, he almost dies. It takes half a year to recover fully, his breath rattling against broken ribs and raw throat. He was protected, mostly, from the blast and has only minor burns, but his right arm is broken and so is his left leg, his shoulder dislocated, he needs stitches in multiple places, and he’s covered in bruises. He has a concussion, too, but he’s alive, and he almost wasn’t.

He’s confined to his bed for weeks. Bruce and Alfred hover. Dick’s there sometimes too. He feels suffocated, near the end, but mostly he’s too exhausted to care.

When he starts getting bored and antsy, Dick brings over video games and movies and little 5lb weights.

“I can only use my one arm,” Jason tells him mournfully. “The right one is already smaller. I can feel it.”

Dick makes a face at him as he wiggles the fingers on his left hand. Says, “Well it’ll just have some catching up to do when you get that cast off.”

“And 5lbs are for babies,” Jason adds.

“Guess you’re a baby,” Dick says and sticks his tongue out him.

Neither mention he’s still sore enough that he can’t lift even the 5lb weight for very long.

But he can handle a control with his cast, so Dick tosses him one and they race cars and beat up bad guys and aliens and shoot terrorists. Dick even, Jason swears to God, brings him over some dumb as shit Harvest Moon game.

“For when I’m not here,” Dick tells him. Because when he’s not here Jason reads a lot, but there’s only so much you can read, and he alternates between being restless, bored beyond imagining, and, well, kind of depressed.

(Jason beats it and saves his damn stupid farm three times before his bed rest is over; his cows love him.)

Mostly Jason is just glad Dick isn’t looking at him like he might still drop dead at any minute, all furrowed eyebrows and blank faced like Bruce or downturned, concerned lips like Alfred. Dick laughs and jostles Jason’s shoulder, gentler than he would ordinarily, but at least he knows Jason isn’t going to fucking break.

Jason gathers that Dick is staying at the Manor again but he’s still fighting with Bruce. They rarely visit Jason at the same time, and when one comes in, the other gets all tight and excuses himself after a few minutes. Jason suspects they’re fighting about him.

He doesn’t ask. Dick doesn’t say anything.

They don’t talk about what happened.

********

Jason begs Bruce to let him back in the field for a month. He gives it some time, after he’s up and about, goes to his physical therapy when his casts come off, but Bruce still says no. No. Flat. That’s it.

Jason trains harder. He knows he’s not 100%. He knows he’s chubbier, slower, that he’s out of practice.

He knows Bruce doesn’t trust him anymore.  Not after…

It only takes a month for him to get fed up with being left behind. He sits in the Cave as Batman leaves, pretending to look at the notes of the case Bruce has left him. A consolation prize, he rolls his eyes. Something shiny to distract him.

He waits a half an hour, and then gets ready. He realizes, quickly, that he doesn’t actually have a Robin suit anymore. He flinches, thinking about fabric being ripped from deep wounds, from its tattered remains Bruce didn’t know he’d seen.

He shakes his head and regroups. There’s always one of Dick’s old costumes. Jason’s…not sure he’ll fit in any. His weight has fluctuated so much over the past several months, as he weaned himself off pain meds, got his appetite back, sat around unable to do anything, threw himself back into his work-outs as soon as he could, got told off for working too hard when he was still in recovery.

Besides, Dick has always been slender. At fifteen, Jason isn’t done growing, but he’s already almost as tall as Dick and a little broader.

He could always go out in his civvies and a mask, but—

--the Joker can’t take Robin from him.

Batman actually falters when he sees Robin. Almost gets hit in the jaw for it, but recovers in time to duck. Jason jumps. They’re only some low level thugs. Small fry. He could have been helping all along.

He tells Batman so. Batman just looks at him for a long time. Long enough Jason wants to fidget, but he doesn’t. He holds his head up, clenches his jaw. Defiant. He can wait out Bruce.

Batman turns and walks away. But he doesn’t tell Jason to go home. Jason follows.

He guesses it’s a start.

********

“He’s stuck in that moment where he almost didn’t get to you in time,” Dick tells him seriously.

He’s come to Dick’s apartment because Batman is suffocating him. He swoops in when Robin doesn’t need him to, nearly breaks the jaws of thugs who so much as say the wrong thing to Robin, follows him too closely. Jason’s going to go insane.

He’s turning sixteen tomorrow. He almost didn’t make it.

Dick shakes his head. “You know how he doesn’t let go of things. I think part of him is going to live in that moment forever.”

Jason’s learned about watershed events. He wonders if Ethiopia is theirs. His and Bruce’s.

“Why are you packing?” he asks abruptly, because he’s interrupted Dick. “Are you moving back home?”

Dick looks guilty, fiddles with the shirt he’s holding bunched up in his hands. “Not exactly. I’m going back to New York.”

To the Titans.

“Why?”

Dick shrugs. “It’s time,” he says. “And I’m failing anyway. Waste of time to stick it out.”

“You’re smart,” Jason snaps. “Fuck, Dick, you’re a detective. How are you failing?”

Dick gives Jason a look. A little surprised at his venom. Jason is too. Finally, he says, “Not all of us our cut out for the college life, kid. Maybe I’m squandering an opportunity I’m lucky to have. But I can’t sit in class all day and not focus on a case I’m working. Or fall asleep because I was out late the night before and was only able to half-ass my homework in an all-nighter.”

Jason doesn’t say anything, but he won’t look at Dick either.

Dick adds, “Anyway, Bruce is driving me crazy, too. Need some space.”

“You didn’t have to come back,” Jason says hotly. His face feels hot, too, and tight.

Dick reaches out and touches his shoulder. “You know,” he says, thoughtfully, when Jason looks up at him. “It’s not really the Titans if there isn’t a Robin on the team.”

********

Jason turns sixteen and Alfred bakes a cake and Dick comes over because he hasn’t left yet (because he maybe kind of sort of hasn’t told Bruce he’s dropping out yet either) and Bruce is looking at Jason in a way that he never has before (at least not where Jason can see) and Jason feels warm for the first time since Ethiopia.

********

He has to repeat tenth grade. Alfred suggests, gently, homeschooling for the year, but Jason’s missed enough time.

******** “I didn’t die, Bruce!” They’re on opposite sides of the living room from each other and Jason is yelling, his fists clenched, his face splotchy red. 

They’ve been going at it for a while, the room hot and Jason hot, when he finally says it.

Bruce draws up short, and the room chills, and Jason suddenly feels deflated. He clenches his fists, adds quieter, “Stop acting like it.”

Jason doesn’t give him a chance to walk away first. He storms up the stairs to his room. He packs a backpack and leaves through the window. He takes the motorcycle and makes it to New York before morning.

Dick doesn’t ask, but his mouth tightens. He feeds Jason leftover pizza and lets him sleep in his bed. Jason snags a few hours, but he wakes to Dick’s hushed, tense voice speaking into a phone.

“No I don’t—obviously—well, I--,”

He gets up and pads over to where Dick’s hunched over on the couch, throws himself on the ground, leans back on his hands and looks up. Laughs a little to himself at Bruce being the one to do enough talking that Dick can barely get a word in edgewise.

Dick looks up and gives him a stressed little half smile. Mouths Bruce, as if Jason doesn’t know. Jason rolls his eyes to tell him obviously. Dick holds out the phone questioningly, and Jason shakes his head. He doesn’t feel as angry and restless as he did earlier, but he’s not ready to talk to Bruce just yet.

“Sorry, B, he’s still asleep. Yeah, we’ll just hit the City some tomorrow. He’s fine, I promise,” Dick sounds a little annoyed. “Go to bed, I’ll call later.”

Jason kicks Dick’s ankle in thanks and feels a little bad about how exhausted he looks. No one else is here, not even Kory, and Jason wonders if he really interrupted Dick in anything important. A local case or something.

Dick just raises his eyebrows at him. “You wanna talk about it?”

“Fuck, no,” Jason says because he knows Dick won’t reprimand him for his language, like Alfred. And also because he really, really doesn’t.

Dick shrugs. “I’m going to bed then,” he says. He stands up and stretches.  Adds, “You should get some more sleep. I’ll take Kory’s room.”

Dick’s as good as his word to Bruce, and he takes Jason sightseeing in New York. They do the standard tourist things—see the Rockerfeller, the Plaza Hotel, the Brooklyn Bridge. They rent bikes and ride around Central Park. They sit on a bench and eat ice cream and look out at across the water at the Statue of Liberty.

(Jason turns down going to Ellis Island. He’s had enough family history to last a lifetime.)

Dick buys him bagels and pizza and soda and presses cash into the hands of the homeless they pass. He stops and talks sometimes, and Jason watches him. Envies how charming he is, how easy it all seems to come to him. Jason’s sixteen, and he’s not uncool, but he’ll never be Dick Grayson.

They go out into the city that night, as Nightwing and Robin.

The New York skyline is different from Gotham. It’s not their city.

Jason goes back to the Tower early. “So,” Dick says, mid-morning Sunday, over breakfast. Jason’s actually a little impressed with his scrambled eggs; they’re not Alfred level, but they’re pretty decent. “So,” Jason says back because he feels like Dick is evaluating him. Searching him for something. “So,” Dick repeats, rolling his eyes. “You can stay here as long as you want, you know--,” “But,” Jason prompts. “But,” Dick agrees, “I think you should give Bruce a call.” “I’m gonna go back today,” Jason says. He pushes his empty plate away, runs a hand through his hair. “I just needed some space.” Dick smiles sympathetically. “I get it,” he says, Jason tries not to let himself get pissed off because he knows Dick does, knows he and Bruce have spent too many years fighting for Dick to not get it but- -but he didn’t almost die. Because he’s fucking perfect. He didn’t screw up like Jason did. He doesn’t have Bruce breathing down his neck because he can’t trust him. Jason doesn’t say any of that, but somehow, Dick reads it on his face. He leans forward and Jason resists the urge to lean back. “Remember what I said before?” he asks. “About letting go?” Jason nods. Dick’s not helping. “Sometimes, and I know I’m a hypocrite for saying this, but sometimes, you do too.” Jason gets home after Bruce has gone on patrol. He lets Alfred feed him dinner, does a few rounds with a punching bag, showers, and goes to sleep. He wakes up in the dark, red numbers on his clock flashing 4am, a hand brushing the hair out of his face. He almost flinches away, but some part of his brain recognizes that it’s just Bruce and he relaxes. “I didn’t mean to wake you,” Bruce says, his voice a rough whisper. “’Sokay,” Jason says. He shifts, sits up a little, blinks blearily at Bruce. The fight from Friday lays between them. Bruce doesn’t apologize, but he pulls Jason into a  hug, holds him close. Jason doesn’t apologize, but he snakes his arms around Bruce and squeezes back.

********

He notices the Drake kid tailing Batman and Robin, snapping pictures of them, before Bruce does. He doesn’t see the kid every night, but when he does, he makes sure to do an extra special kick or flip just right or pause a little longer. It’s not posing exactly, but it’s nice to be appreciated. (And Jason won’t lie, he likes the attention.) Also  he’s a little curious to see how long it’ll take Batman to notice. Wonders if he already does and is ignoring it for some reason. It’s not like the kid ever lingers for long or isn’t as sneaky as possible, but Batman is, well, Batman. Jason finally gets a chance to talk to him about a month after he first starts noticing him. Jason’s by himself because, after their fight, he and Bruce are trying this new thing where Bruce lets him go off solo. At least a little bit. Because Jason’s sixteen now and not a kid and he’s not going to— The kid is startled when Robin drops down in front of him. He stumbles and Jason has to reach out to keep him from falling. “So what?” Jason asks. “Journalism class? You the next photographer for the Gazette?” The kid flushes and says “Oh my God” and “I’m sorry” and “Do you think he’ll be mad?” He’s stuttering over his words, and Jason finally takes pity. Says, “Chill out, I don’t care.” He sits down, swings his legs over the edge of the building, leans back on his hands and looks up at the kid. “Your parents know you’re out here?” He hesitates, then admits, “They’re out of town.” “Oh,” Jason says. He gets it. “Just for work,” the kid adds defensively. “They’ll be back.” Jason digs around in his belt and offers the kid a granola bar. He hesitates then takes it. After another moment, he sits down too, away from the edge. Jason leans back on his hands and looks at him, appreciates his mask lets him study without coming off as creepy. Kid’s scrawny, shivering in an overpriced jacket, can’t be older than 13, a giant ass camera hanging around his neck. He breaks the granola bar in half and offers the bigger one to Jason, who takes it. “What’s your name?” Jason asks finally. “Tim,” he says back. Glances up quickly, then back down. Back up again and blurts, “I’m glad you’re back. I wasn’t sure you would be.” Jason doesn’t say me too or me neither, but he wants to.   “You look familiar,” Jason says. “Have we saved you before or something? That why you president of the fan club?” “No,” Tim says absently. “But I’ve been to some galas at Wayne Manor.” There’s a pause where Tim’s eyes widen and Jason stiffens. Then Tim scrambles to his feet saying, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” and Jason leaps up and grabs his arm, demanding, “Who are you and what do you know?” They both still and Tim draws in a deep breath. He lets it out and Jason notices he doesn’t look scared. Nervous, maybe, a little, but not scared. He says, “I figured it out. Who Batman is. A few years back. Well,” he backtracks, “I figured out who the first Robin was and then…everything fell into place.” Jason doesn’t admit he’s a little impressed. He lets go of Tim, sure he isn’t a threat and won’t run. Asks, still a little suspicious, “How’d you do that?” Tim gets this little half-smile on his face and he says, “The quadruple somersault.” “Yeah?” Jason asks. “How’d you make the connection?” “I watched two of the only three people who could do it die,” Tim says. Jason does some quick mental math and says, “No way in hell you remember that.” Tim huffs. “Well, I do,” he snaps. “It was one of the best days of my life. I was with my parents and they managed to let me meet up with the Flying Graysons before the show. They took a picture with me. I didn’t forget.” They’re quiet for a long moment. The moon is almost directly overhead, bright and full. “Are you going to tell him?” Tim asks finally. He slides a glance sideways at Jason, who doesn’t know if he means Bruce or Dick. Jason shakes his head. “Not yet, at least.” “I should go home,” Tim says, but he’s looking down, scuffing his toe across the roof, so Jason says, “Yeah, me too.” They start to part ways, but Tim turn again. “I really am glad you’re back,” he tells Jason. “He was…different without you. It was kinda scary. Batman needs Robin.”

******** Jason can’t get that out of his head. “He was different…it was kinda scary.”  He turns the words around in his head over and over again, until he can’t sleep, thinking about it. He asks Alfred about it, after two days of thinking. Sidles up to him while he’s making sandwiches and soup for lunch. Bruce has to go in for a WE Board meeting (“On a Saturday?” Jason asked horrified and Bruce shrugged. “Guess it’s important. And I maybe missed it on Wednesday.” He winked and was gone.) He takes the knife without a word and starts to cut the sandwiches so Alfred can stir the soup. Tomato basil. “How was Bruce,” he asks abruptly, keeping his eyes focused on the sandwiches, “when I was hurt?” Jason hears the spoon stop stirring, can feel Alfred still next to him. A moment later, the spoon picks up again, slowly. It’s another moment before Alfred clears his throat and says, “He took it very hard. We all did.” “Oh,” Jason says. He keeps looking at the sandwiches even though he’s finished cutting them. He looks up when he feels Alfred’s hand on his shoulder. Alfred is looking at him with fondness and sadness and something else Jason doesn’t know what to call but it fills him up so much he feels tears pricking at his eyes. Alfred cups his face and his hands are warm and wrinkled and soft despite all the labor he’s put into this house over the decades. He says, his voice low with purpose, “You are very dear to him. To me. To Master Richard. I hope you know that.” Jason nods and Alfred lets his hand drop. Gives Jason’s shoulder a pat and says briskly, “Now let’s see about lunch.” He doesn’t ask Dick because he thinks Alfred has sugarcoated or lied to him. It’s only that, he has said very little and he loves Bruce differently than Jason does, the same way he loves Jason—they’re not blind spots, per se, but there’s some sense of duty, some sense of needing to protect. Dick is quiet for a long time when Jason asks over the phone. Jason starts to get antsy, wishing he had gone in person to see Dick, to ask. Finally, Dick answers, almost reluctantly, “He was furious. I’ve never seen him like that before. I thought—for sure, I thought he’d—you know.” Jason does know, but it makes him furious Dick won’t even say the Joker’s name, won’t say what Bruce wouldn’t do. “He would have deserved it,” Jason says savagely and is surprised out of his anger when Dick agrees, quietly, “Yeah. He would have.” There’s a long pause and then Dick adds, “But it wasn’t just him. B was…it was to everybody. A petty thief same as the Big Bads. It was like—it was like he really did. Lose you. And I didn’t—I wasn’t enough, then.” “Oh,” Jason says.

********

Jason doesn’t see Tim again for a while, worries he scared the kid off. He stays true to word, doesn’t tell Dick or Bruce, but he does keep an eye out for him.

When he doesn’t see him as Robin, Jason starts looking for Tim in school. He isn’t actually sure they go to the same one, it can’t hurt to keep an eye out. He doesn’t see him around the high school classes, and, remembering how tiny the kid is, Jason slips into Gotham Academy’s lower school during lunch and spots him right away.

Tim flushes when he notices Jason zero in on him, but he keeps walking with his nerd friend, determinedly ignoring Jason. Jason doesn’t like being ignored. He saunters over and slings an arm around the kid’s shoulder.

Tim’s flush deepens, but he says, almost valiantly, “Uh, hi?” He waves his friend off when he looks concerned and then shoves his hands in his pocket, like he’s trying to make his tiny self even smaller. “Can I help you?”

“Just haven’t seen ya around in a while,” Jason says. He tugs Tim outside with him and adds, “Let’s have lunch.”

********

“Why are you spending so much time with the Drake boy?” Bruce asks one night. They’re in the Cave, still in tuxes from some charity thing Bruce has thrown. Alfred will be mad if he knows, but he’s upstairs, cleaning.

Jason shrugs. “Just a friend. He goes to my school. ‘Sides, everyone else at those things is boring.”

“Not me,” Bruce says and Jason yawns extravagantly. “Especially you.”

********

He wants to tell Dick first about Tim because it’s Dick who helped Tim figure it all out. When he calls to see if he can come up for a weekend visit, though, Dick is distracted, sounds off.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Jason finally demands and Dick sighs. Says, “I’m leaving the Titans. I guess I’m moving back to Gotham for a bit.”

It’s good timing, Jason thinks, and immediately feels guilty. He tries not to feel giddy about Dick being back. Tries not to worry about Nightwing, who’s lost teammates and just sounds tired lately.

“To the Manor?” he asks and Dick says, “God no. At least, not permanently. I just…need some time.”

“I have a secret to tell you,” Jason says. “When you get back.”

“I don’t know if I like the sounds of that,” Dick says and actually laughs.

******** Dick takes to Tim right away and Jason tries to squash down any jealousy boiling up in him. It’s not Tim’s fault they’ve come into Dick’s life at different places.

******** Bruce finds out with Dick and Jason both playing mediator, but he seems more impressed than angry, a concerned furrow etching into his brow.

“His parents aren’t home a lot,” Jason tells him, as if Bruce hasn’t noticed the kid sitting in his kitchen, doing homework and eating Alfred’s cookies on a near-daily basis.

******** He watches Tim spar and they way he pores over notes Bruce leaves for him when Batman and Robin go out, and he calls Dick the next day. Asks, “How did you know?” He’s woken Dick up and all he gets is a muffled, “Whu?” “How did you know?” He repeats, more insistently. “How did you know when it was time to move on?” “From what?” Dick asks and Jason lets out a frustrated sigh. “From Robin, asshole,” he snaps. “How did you know?” “Oh,” Dick is quiet for a minute. Then, he says, “I think if you’re asking, you already know.”

********

Jason was fifteen when he almost died. He was fifteen when he took back Robin, sixteen when he and Bruce started figuring each other out again.

Jason is seventeen today, poised on the edge of growing up. He’s seventeen and he is giving Robin away. Tim’s hands tremble when he takes the proffered uniform.

“But it’s your birthday,” he blurts, and then, “Are you sure?”

Jason glances at Bruce, suddenly glad he’s run it by him the night before instead of letting it be a surprise. Bruce doesn’t smile exactly, but there’s something encouraging in his eyes, reassuring, and Jason says, “Sure I’m sure. I’ve been thinking about it for a while. You’re ready.” I’m ready.

“What will you do next?” Tim asks, voice softer, almost reverent as he gathers the Robin uniform close to himself.

Jason shrugs, but he’s grinning. “I have a few ideas.”

He does, too, scribbled down, sketched in a notebook. Because he is seventeen and he did not die and the world is open before him and he is ready for the world.

[mysmashplaythroughs]

Ocarina of Time Link Playthrough

Fighter: Link (Ocarina of Time Incarnation)

Game: The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, Wii U virtual console (N64). First Released on November 21st 1998.

Fighter Bio.

Having drawn the Master Sword from the Pedestal of Time, roughly 9-year-old Link finds himself flung 7 years into the future, now a 16-year-old standing in the Temple of Time. He meets Rauru the Sage of Light who informs him that he had been put into a slumber for the past seven years in order to grow into a state in which he could effectively wield the Master Sword, and that in that time Ganondorf had taken the Triforce of Power and conquered Hyrule. Rauru tells Link that he must now find the other seven sages in order to gain the power needed to defeat Ganondorf and save Hyrule. Stepping out of the Temple of Time Link finds before him a far different Hyrule Castle Town to the one he had left behind, buildings in ruin, Hyrule Castle destroyed and replaced with Ganon’s Tower and Redead Zombies the only residents now in the town square. Link later finds out that most of the surviving citizens of Hyrule Castle Town had escaped to Kakariko Village, with it being a more bustling location than it was seven years before, with many of the shops from the Castle Town now found there.

Link meets many characters he’d met in his childhood once again. With seven years having passed many of the children he’d met such as Malon of Lon Lon Ranch have aged similarly to him. It is on Lon Lon Ranch Link also meets the now grown up foal Epona who he had met seven years earlier. With the help from Malon’s song she had taught Link as a child, he manages to save Epona from being given to Ganon by the new corrupt owner of the Ranch, in the process breaking Ganon’s hold over him and saving the ranch. With Epona now helping Link he can travel across Hyrule faster as well as using her ability to jump over fences to access areas he couldn’t before. During his travels Link often meets a mysterious character called Sheik who teaches him various songs that Link can use to warp to locations related to the sage’s temples. After a long difficult quest Link manages to awaken six of the seven sages before being reunited with the seventh, Princess Zelda who had been in hiding for the past seven years. However, once she reveals herself, Ganondorf locates Zelda and captures her taking her to his Tower where Link must travel to with the help of the sages in order to finally take down Ganon and bring peace back to Hyrule. Following his adventure, Link is sent back to the past, to the moment he left seven years ago and is never seen again in this specific timeline in Hyrule’s history, being regarded as the legendary Hero of Time and passing into myth.

Friends: Link in his travels as a child met many characters throughout Hyrule and following his journey seven years into the future met many of these characters again as an adult. Saria is Link’s oldest friend having lived with him in Kokiri Forest as a child before he left on his adventure, following this Link met Princess Zelda and Impa who helped guide him on his quest. He met Darunia leader of the Gorons, Princess Ruto of the Zora as well as Malon during his travels as a child as well as being reunited with them in the future. Many of these characters with the exception of Malon would turn out to be sages when Link met them again, with Rauru and a Gerudo called Nabooru being the other two sages Link meets and befriends. The sages all help Link during his quest to take down Ganon, using their powers during his journey to and through Ganon’s Tower. Link has two more key friends who help him, Epona the horse who he can ride to travel around Hyrule Field and a couple of other locations such as Lake Hylia and the Gerudo Training Grounds, and Navi his loyal fairy companion who travelled with Link from the very start of his quest. Navi was sent to help Link by the Great Deku Tree, the guardian of the Kokiri Forest where Link grew up and who acted as a parental figure to Link and the Kokiri living there.

Enemies/Rivals: Link’s main enemy is Ganondorf the King of the Gerudo who, in the seven years Link was in stasis, took the Triforce. Due to the imbalance in his heart however, he could not hold the full Triforce and it separated leaving him with only the Triforce of Power. The Triforce of Wisdom went to Princess Zelda and the Triforce of Courage went to Link. As such, Ganondorf seeks Link and Zelda in order to reclaim all three pieces of the Triforce and rule Hyrule without opposition. With the Triforce of Power alone however Ganondorf has already managed to conquer Hyrule when Link arrives, controlling many monsters who have captured the Sages and spread chaos throughout the land. Link battles many of these creatures, from Volvagia the ancient dragon of Death Mountain to humanoid foes such as Phantom Ganon and Twinrova, the twin Gerudo witches. This Link also canonically is the first to encounter and battle Dark Link, a shadowy reflection of himself who appears from his reflection in the Water Temple.

Link also fights the assorted creatures and soldiers making up Ganon’s army such as Octoroks, Stalfos, Moblins and Lizalfos. Link doesn’t make many enemies of the people of Hyrule with mostly his enemies being monsters. The only exceptions to these are the guards in the Gerudo Fortress, who are more attacking him for intruding in their fortress than as enemies and the majority of them will simply throw him in a cell when they catch him, Deku Scrubs who, sometimes when defeated offer to sell Link things (although other variants will fight to the death) and then there are Gorons who can accidentally damage Link if they run into him whilst rolling around their city or down Death Mountain.

Crossovers with other Smash characters: This Link has not specifically crossed over with any other characters outside of Smash Bros unlike his younger incarnation. He has been represented as an alt costume for Link in Hyrule Warriors however, being able to fight against and with other versions of Link, Zelda and Ganondorf from throughout the series. EDIT: And now, this is probably the first post I’ve gone back to alter following a new character being revealed. This is a tenuous connection really overall, but it’s a very notable event in gaming that I’ve finally had a chance to bring up so I decided to at least mention it. With Kazuya Mishima revealed for Super Smash Bros Ultimate from the Tekken series, Link with this specific design has had a connection to Tekken before through another series. In Soul Calibur 2, a decision was made to have an exclusive character to each platform the game was on, Xbox got Spawn the Image Comics character, Playstation got Heihachi Mishima, the father of Kazuya and Gamecube got, as you may have guessed Link in a rare role as a guest character. This was fondly remembered and I believe the Gamecube version of the game actually sold the best possibly due to Link’s inclusion, however Link and Heihachi were mutually exclusive and as such could not directly fight each other. What still makes this worth mentioning however, is that Soul Calibur as a series is related to Tekken, to the point it’s been hinted at if not outright confirmed that the series takes place in the past of Tekken’s world, with Yoshimitsu being a fighter in both series, and the one in Tekken being said to be a successor to the one in Soul Calibur. There is one other link directly between Link and Kazuya, however that one involves another incarnation of the hero, so therefore I will go over that in a later post.

Why this game?

With the first Zelda character I’m covering comes a key factor the main characters of the Zelda series have which makes them somewhat unique from other characters in Smash. Instead of Link and Zelda being characters who appear throughout the Zelda series there are many different versions of them, with the Link in Twilight Princess for example being a different character to the one in Ocarina of Time. They all tend to share various characteristics, the most obvious being their name and in all cases so far Link has been the main playable character in each game. As this covers the Link in Ocarina of Time, a character who has both an adult and child form, the main game to represent this Link therefore is the only canon game this Link appears in as an adult, being Ocarina of Time. Because this is his only appearance the vast majority of equipment and attacks Link uses in Super Smash Bros come from this game as a source. It’s also important to note that this version of Link only appeared as a fighter in the original Super Smash Bros and Super Smash Bros Melee, being replaced in Super Smash Bros Brawl onwards with other versions of Link from later games. I will cover those versions of Link later down the line so for now the Link here is only drawing from his portrayal in Super Smash Bros and Melee.

My past with this game.

So this game is the first example of something I had with a few games back in my childhood and probably is the one that I think of first when it comes to it, which is it wasn’t a game I owned but one which I played at my Cousin’s house when I’d visit. My history before this with the Zelda series actually was rather brief which is funny to me today as it’s definitely one of my top personal series now, still as a child the only game I had was the very original Legend of Zelda on the NES, which I never got very far on. I will go over that game further down the line, but it’s never been one of my particular favourites so it was probably the worst game for me personally to start with. Since my only games really at the time my Cousins had OOT were Super Mario 64 and possibly Mario Kart 64 this game always felt like a lot more of a ‘mature’ game than I was used to, with various dark elements and a world that unlike Peach’s Castle was a bit more hostile. This also brings me onto something I remember from my childhood, which would often happen with games that you don’t get today really, getting a game second hand that had a save file already on it. I wasn’t good at games at this time (I mean, not to say I am now necessarily.) and I was more interested in just running around in the worlds than actually doing the main story and challenges in the game. The save file on my Cousin’s copy of OOT had gotten to the future Hyrule part of the game, which meant we could run around a lot of Hyrule already as well as having access to the past version of Hyrule as Child Link. As such, my earliest memories of this game aren’t really about the story so much as the locations and talking to all the various NPCs. I remember this was probably the first game I played which had things like towns you could go to and talk to random characters in as well as sidequests. It was also the first game I personally played with a day and night system which I found fairly amazing at the time. Finally, this game was also the first I remember playing where music was more than just something in the background, with playing the Ocarina being a big part of the game (it’s in the title afterall) a lot of the tunes even now hold a lot of nostalgia for me, as I’m sure they do for a lot of other people.

After playing the game quite a few times at my Cousins and I believe borrowing the game a couple of times I finally got my own copy, second hand also which similarly had a save file in the Adult Link portion of the game. I did I believe make an attempt to play the game from the start now that I had it, but the furthest I think at this time I got to was Death Mountain where I think I ran for the first time into something I’d like to refer to as the ‘Zelda Pitfall’. I’m sure it has already been given a name as it’s not something unique to me, nor to Zelda games specifically, I’ve just found it happens to me in a lot of them. This is where you get to a point in the game where you just cannot work out how to continue. You’ll explore every area of the dungeon, try out everything you think is ‘obvious’ you can do with the items you have, but you just cannot figure out how to go forward. It’s even worse when you run into this outside of dungeons as then you have the whole world to explore in order to find a solution. The final nail in the coffin that makes this ‘the Zelda Pitfall’ is when the solution turns out to be extremely simple and you were overthinking it the whole time, such as having the item you needed already and you forgot, actually being able to fairly easily proceed because a door you thought you’d checked you actually hadn’t or finally the answer being given to you and you immediately forgot it and started overthinking the solution.

Due to this I didn’t get very far into Ocarina of Time for a while. Gradually other consoles with newer games came out and I didn’t revisit Ocarina of Time as often, but one thing I find interesting is it was somewhat of a constant presence for me. First came the Gamecube and because I was playing it as my main console at the time, I didn’t like to have to plug my N64 in again to play older games. During the Gamecube era however, there was a special release with Ocarina of Time, the new Master Quest mode and Majora’s Mask all on one disk. I got this and played Ocarina of Time again, this time managing to get to the Adult Link part myself rather than using the previous owner of the game’s save file. I did not get any further than the first adult dungeon however, the Forest Temple which is where I left the game off. At this point I had played a few Zelda games, however I had not completed any of them at the time. When the Wii released one of the big selling points to me was the Virtual Console, allowing me to easily play all sorts of older games without having to get those consoles out and setup again. Due to this I was able to download Ocarina of Time on my Wii. At this time, with the launch of the Wii also came Twilight Princess, which I thoroughly enjoyed and became the first 3D Zelda title I’d completed (I believe I possibly beat Minish Cap on GBA before this as my very first completed Zelda game overall.) I would over the next few years return to Ocarina of Time sometimes hoping to complete it, however often as with so many games over the years, there’d be other new games would come out which would take my attention away.

In June 2011, Nintendo in a similar move to their remake for Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo DS came out with a remake of Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 3DS fairly early into it’s run. This version of the game boasted redone models with a lot more details, redone environments and various changes to the item setups making it much faster to equip certain ones than in the original game, which managed to improve upon a largely criticized dungeon I will detail later. There were other changes such as the option to use the gyro sensor when aiming items such as the bow and slingshot which I found a great improvement. With the game portable and it being one of the few big releases at that period of time for the 3DS I finally managed to play through Ocarina of Time from start to finish, I believe beating the final boss whilst on holiday in this case. This remake is one I would highly recommend, it doesn’t make many controversial changes to the original game, looks very nice (Although I have heard the criticism it looks too nice and takes away some of the edge of the original game as it looks too clean.) and in my opinion the gyro controls are a very nice addition for aiming certain items etc. I’ve included in this post a single screenshot I got of OOT3D which you can compare to the other pictures here to see the difference in Link’s model for example. So, finally I had beaten a game I really should have beaten many years earlier, at least, I had beaten the remake. A few years later however, I decided to replay the game for my Smash Bros list. I felt rather than replay the remake even though I thoroughly enjoyed it, I wanted to finally beat the version from my childhood that I should have beaten so many years earlier.

My Smash Playthrough.

So the first thing I want to go into with this game is the introduction that plays when you start a new game. If you read my previous section you’d realise, I’ve started this game from scratch a few times now, and honestly I feel this game has probably one of the most standout openings I can think of. Every time I’ve restarted the game (or watched a person starting a Lets Play of it) the scene with Link sleeping in his home in Kokiri Forest, with the text narration of the Great Deku Tree and the complete lack of any sounds until his nightmare begins has always felt like the start of something special to me. In a sense, given how Ocarina of Time is such a big nexus point for everything that happens in the series (even if it’s not the very beginning of the series canonically) the really understated opening always feels sort of epic for me. Of course, having played this opening many times before, a lot of this specific run doesn’t stick in my head particularly, although I personally find it a nice relaxing start to the game, exploring Kokiri Forest and talking to everyone, taking on the first dungeon and onwards until I reached the Temple of Time and the Master Sword.

Since this post will focus on Adult Link in the game, I believe it’s best to not go too in-depth on the first parts of the game which I will get to in a later post. Reaching this point in the game isn’t too difficult, but it’s still three dungeons in with the last one being a somewhat irritating one so it feels an achievement to reach this point. With the Master Sword in hand it always feels like you’ve had a powerup, beating enemies you had more trouble with in the past somewhat more easily such as Lizalfols. The first Temple as an adult, the Forest Temple I remember gave me a few ‘Zelda Pitfall’ problems. I’ve found when I come across these issues now there are various steps I take which often lead to the solution. The first step is simply to check my map and see which rooms I haven’t visited yet and see if I can enter any of them, if I’ve found the compass also it’s key to track down every chest I can find/reach. The next step is to check my inventory to double check every item I have, it’s important to try and remember all the functionality of them, I’ve had a few times I’ve forgotten some specific additional effect an item has that is required to solve a puzzle that is, due to this, fairly simple. The third is to remember what the most recent item or ability I’ve gained is. Some equipment is always equipped so when checking the item menu won’t show up, it’s important therefore not to forget you’ve already got this equipment and that if you can use it’s ability it might be the key to get through. Next up it’s important to check every room thoroughly, it can be easy to overlook something in some cases as simple as a door that you just assumed for some reason didn’t actually lead where you want to go. You should also test things out, sometimes a texture or object you think your item won’t have any effect on is actually the solution to your situation. Next is taking a break, sometimes you can get so focused on solving something you miss an obvious solution that with a break you realise was right in front of you the whole time. Finally there’s the cheating loser’s way out, which is if all else fails look up a walkthrough, it’s perhaps not honourable, but it’s up to you if you want to lose motivation in a game because you just can’t work something out or take that extra help. I personally tend to nowadays do everything I can to work it out myself until it’s taking almost a week, which luckily for me rarely happens anymore. With this in mind, this doesn’t always work as there have been a few times I’ve found guides that unhelpfully completely gloss over the obvious thing I’ve been making a mistake on the whole time, which is why in these cases I’ll usually check out someone’s video playthrough to see just how they reach the next section.

Following the Forest Temple, I didn’t have many problems until I reached what many consider the worst dungeon in the game, the Water Temple. This is the dungeon I said earlier was improved somewhat in the 3DS remake of OOT. The key issue with it in the N64 version is you having to equip the iron boots, which require pausing, moving to the equipment screen and selecting the iron boots every time you want them on to weigh you down in the water, then doing the same and selecting the Kokiri Boots every time you want to float to the water’s surface, which is required a lot in this dungeon. In the 3DS remake you can instead equip the iron boots as an item, which you can simply press the assigned button to equip and de-equip. With this said, personally I found the Water Temple, after years of hearing just how hated it is to be fairly unremarkable. Honestly, I think I had more trouble with the boss than I did with the actual temple, which I will get to later. Personally, I actually found the mini dungeon which is an Ice Cavern more irritating to get through than the Water Temple. The Ice Cavern has naturally, ice physics, however, it often has sections that require slightly more precise platforming than usual, has ice statue enemies who breath clouds of ice that freeze you if you make contact with them which coupled with the ice physics can make them irritating to get close to to take down, although you can use fire arrows if you’ve found them at this point which cost magic and arrows each time. Then there are the block puzzles which aren’t particularly difficult, but if you mess them up often require you to leave and return to reset. Following this, the only dungeons that stick out as difficult to me were the Gerudo Training Ground, which was more difficult to navigate than particularly tough with it getting slightly confusing working out where you had and hadn’t gone, and the Spirit Temple, the second last dungeon. The Spirit Temple definitely is an interesting place and I didn’t dislike it, however it had a fair few moments where I fell into some ‘Zelda Pitfalls’. Ganon’s Tower has a few tricks but I didn’t find it particularly difficult, however I did like going through it, especially the final ascent of the main tower facing various enemies on each floor as Ganon’s theme plays.

When it comes to the bosses, this is the game that first translated bosses into 3D for the series. As such, it takes a lot of it’s cues from the earlier games, something the series has had a long tradition of to this day. The bosses often will be weak to the item you’ve found in the temple they’re in with them having a weak point of some sort that you have to use the item to expose. After this you’ll move in whilst they’re stunned and slash as much as you can with your sword. Whilst this is the case, the bosses were still fairly big spectacles in each encounter, the first being Phantom Ganon who has a fun battle involving him charging on horseback at you from one of several paintings in the room, Volvagia the dragon of Death Mountain who flies through the air before giving you a game of wack-a-mole. Morpheel, a liquid tentacle with an eyeball floating in it was probably the boss I had the most difficulty with, more than the actual Water Temple itself as I found it difficult to get the hookshot to effectively pull the eye out of the water so I could strike it leading to a long irritating battle from what I remember. Bongo Bongo and Twinrova were also both fun and somewhat challenging battles. With Twinrova even though their tactic was fairly simple to work out (use the mirror shield to reflect their attack back at their twin) it was still challenging to actually pull it off. Before I go onto the Final Boss, the Mini Bosses were in most cases simply strong enemies you’d have to defeat to proceed, there were two standouts however. Dark Link is a fairly iconic fight from the series with him mirroring your every move and in some cases even jumping and standing on top of your sword when you thrust it at him. You have to use somewhat unconventional strategies against him that he cannot replicate, using items such as the Megaton Hammer, Biggorons Sword which is longer than his copy Master Sword, or if you wish to and have the magic energy, Din’s Fire, a magical attack that engulfs the whole room that he cannot counter. The second standout mini boss isn’t iconic so much as one of the creepiest things in the game, a corpselike, blood spattered (except in the 3DS version) bizarre being called Dead Hand. This thing sprouts from the ground along with many hands around the room. The hands will grab Link if he goes near them and hold him in place in order for Dead Hand to shuffle over and take a bite out of him. It’s not a very hard boss but it definitely stuck out in my mind (and nightmares).

The final battle with Ganondorf is fun. This takes the form of something referred to in Phantom Hourglass as “Dead Man’s Volley” where Ganondorf will fire a ball of dark energy at Link, Link will hit the energy with the Master Sword sending it back before Ganondorf with a swipe of his cape sends it back again, it going back and forth until one person misses their strike and gets hit by the energy. If Ganondorf is hit, he’ll fall to the ground stunned, it’s then Link can use the Light Arrows to fully stun him before jumping in to slash away at him with his Master Sword. There are a few variations Ganondorf uses in this fight and Phantom Ganon earlier in the game did a more simple version of this fight but following it Ganondorf is defeated and Link must escape the collapsing tower with Zelda. Once they escape however, from the ruins of the Tower, Ganondorf, now transformed by the Triforce of Power into a beast called simply Ganon has his final battle with Link. This battle can be somewhat challenging as Ganon can hit for a lot of damage, but as long as you know what you’re doing it should be doable without too many problems, leading to the ending. Future Hyrule is freed from Ganon’s grasp at last with him being sealed away and Link is sent back to his own time leading to the Zelda timeline being split forever more… but I won’t go into that too much. The ending has an overview of all the areas around Hyrule. The characters around Hyrule all being shown celebrating together, having a big party on Lon Lon Ranch, although some who were close to the Sages who have left them such as Mido of the Kokiri and Princess Ruto’s Father King Zora are sat together looking sadly at the ground before noticing what seems to be possibly the spirits of the sages flying overhead. The whole time some very nice music is playing with some characters such as Malon and the Carpenter group who appeared in the Gerudo Desert singing along with it. Overall it’s definitely a nice ending and fairly iconic amongst a lot of Nintendo fans.

Seeing this ending again, even if I’d seen it recreated in the 3DS version was still very satisfying for me, having played this game on and off for probably about roughly 15 years by this point and finally properly finishing it was a great feeling which definitely increased the impact of the ending credits for me. Overall the game is fantastic I’d argue even today. I feel this is one of those games that has had so much praise over the years that sadly, people lose perspective of how good it really is choosing to instead focus on its flaws or call it basic. It definitely isn’t perfect, no game is of course, but I disagree personally when I hear it being talked about as a basic generic Zelda game or just A Link to the Past in 3D. A lot of the ideas in the game are fairly unique such as the two different time periods you can travel between, various interesting locations with new races such as the Gorons and Zoras (who have a somewhat complex history with them having a species related to them with the same name who act as regular enemies in other games) having Link playable as both a child and adult as well as just how much lore we get to see take place here with the origin of Ganondorf, the creation of Hyrule being explained (things only really detailed in instruction manuals and dialogue in older games) and other fairly iconic scenes. (A standout scene to me has always been when Link leaves Kokiri Forest for the first time running away after speaking with Saria for what could for all he knows be the last time.) Yes it’s not got a focus on story as such, but I feel people do tend to gloss over what actually is here a lot now. Another big thing to me regarding the game is the atmosphere. I mentioned earlier this was the first game I knew of and played with a day and night system and exploring areas at night in the game is still one of the most atmospheric experiences I personally can think of in games. I think it’s because at night there’s not any music and instead you hear sounds such as crows in some locations, the wind or other background sounds. When I do these articles I tend to play the games again for a little bit just to try and jog my memory about how the controls feel etc, and one thing I remember this time was going to Death Mountain as the sun was setting and looking down at Kakariko Village. Now… yes, it is just a flat texture when it comes down to it off in the background, but I personally just found it nice watching how the lights on the houses came on once the sun had gone down, nothing compared to watching the sun set over a world in modern games, but it still has its own charm to me. I suppose one final personal thing I’d like to mention which I realise is pretty archaic now but I just found fairly charming in a nostalgic way is the areas which are static backgrounds, one of the key ones being Hyrule Castle Town with its back alleys. There’s something about wandering around these static locations that look more like paintings than actual locations that I just like for some reason. It sort of reminds me a little now of some of the old point and click adventure games I’ve seen over the years. Anyway, in conclusion all I can say really at this point was it was great to finally beat this game properly.  

Specific aspects about the game relating to Link in Smash.

When it comes to Link’s portayal in Smash, this is the first character I’ve written an article for who has equipment. With that said his equipment isn’t overly customisable and there are one or two aspects that aren’t possible to replicate from Smash. For his primary equipment, Link has the Master Sword, Hylian Shield and Kokiri Tunic. These can all be swapped out for other equipment with the Biggoron’s Sword, the Mirror Shield and two other tunics available, however this equipment unlike some later and earlier games can still be switched between so there is no point where you cannot equip Link with his gear from Smash Bros. When it comes to items, Link has his Fairy Bow, Hookshot and Bombs available. Despite being from this game however, Adult Link cannot use the Boomerang. Link can also charge up his Master Sword to unleash the spin attack which is replicated in Smash. When it comes to physical appearance, there is a point where Link will gain something which visually changes his outfit for the rest of the game, being the Silver and later Golden Gauntlets. These are received at the Spirit Temple which is one of the very last dungeons in the game, therefore it is possible if for some reason like me you’re doing some sort of weird Smash Bros recreation of Link in the game to make a separate save file just before you acquire them and still have all the other relevant equipment (Sword, Shield, Bow, Hookshot, Bombs etc). Beyond this, I suppose one final thing of note is that Link’s entrance in the original Smash Bros comes specifically from this game, being a recreation of the animation when Link enters and leaves a cave found inside a hole in the ground, with him dropping down from the light beaming from the hole and then ascending back up it when leaving.

Credits.

For information on this game including dates of releases I must give credit to Zelda Wiki.

The screenshots in this post are taken by me using Miiverse before it shut down, the picture for Link in Melee I’m afraid I cannot locate currently.

[comics-patrol]

Review: Wonder Woman Vol 7: War-Torn

Writer: Meredith Finch

Artist: David Finch

Continuity: New 52 (2011 September - 2016 May)

Series status: finished (this is 1 out of 3 volumes by this creative team but it continues on from the previous 6 volumes).

Recommended reading: New 52 WW, New 52 Justice League,

There’s enough exposition for this volume to work as a jumping on point for the Wonder Woman series. Reading Justice League could be useful for background on Diana’s relationship with the League members as they are featured heavily in War-torn. This is definitely recommended as there are many Justice League volumes and I’m not sure how the timelines of the two series sync up. (War-Torn was published between volume 6 and 7 of Justice League but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything for the timelines).

Premise: Diana is torn between responsibilities to her people and to the Justice League, as well as dealing with the fallout of her decisions which altered her life and Paradise Island in major ways.

My thoughts:

Story: 2.5*/5

Art: 3.5/5

Characters: 3/5

* Honestly I would give it a 3 if not for the thing with a certain character but more on that later.  

Review:

Sometimes having low expectations is a good thing? I really wasn’t sure about this volume. Continuing with a series after a creative team change can be daunting. I loved the Azzarello/Chiang run so I took a break after finishing it, which I would recommend doing in general to make the change less jarring. Also, opinions on Meredith Finch’s run are mixed so I wasn’t exactly rushing to read it. (Even though I don’t give too much weight to how well-received a work is, I’m not completely impervious to negative opinions).

Overall it was fine. It’s a standard superhero story, not outstanding, not terrible, The conflict Diana feels was well realised and for the most part, she felt in character. I was a bit confused by her anger issues at the beginning. I have no issue with a female character being allowed to be angry and have flaws but it came out of nowhere (and her almost slicing poor Swamp Thing to bits was maybe a little much).

I have one big exception for the “it was fine” sentiment: the treatment of Donna Troy. She deserves better and I don’t understand the choice to bing her into the New 52 like this. At least her armour looks great?

The depiction of the Amazons and their negative feelings towards Diana were frustrating. I thought this was resolved in the previous story-arc and it wasn’t nuanced at all  I hate when Amazons are portrayed as extremist man-haters, this story was leaning into it. Even if it was only a fraction and not all of them.

I feel torn (!) about the art. On one hand, I love the details and the colours. There are some beautiful panels and pages throughout like the one above. Still, Diana looks jarringly young, probably the youngest I’ve seen in a series that wasn’t about her youth. Sure, this version of Diana is younger due to the New 52 restarting everything but she’s an adult. This portrayal makes her look demure in a way I don’t think fits the character and goes against the story’s depiction of a Wonder Woman who has already been through a lot. Maybe it’s a stylistic choice and David Finch always draws faces like this? Certainly, the characters don’t have a distinct look, many of the faces look similar and kind of weird sometimes.

I was worried about the too common over-sexualization of women before reading War-Torn. Mostly based on the main cover, which depicts Diana in a sexy pose, complete with the unrealistically arched back. Juxtaposed with her looking underage, it’s disquieting to be honest. I would say the covers are the worst of it (hello, issue 38 cover) but there are times when female characters look like they are posing instead of standing or fighting. A couple of panels could have been drawn more tastefully (example below) but on the whole, it’s not bad.

A final thought: it’s great to see Wonder Woman written by a woman. Obviously, that doesn’t mean the volume is going to be (or has to be) an outstanding achievement of feminism or feminist at all, just because the author is female. Honestly, I didn’t notice a change in this aspect compared to the previous volumes. I’ve seen complaints about Brian Azzarello’s run having sexist elements or bad female representation, but I don’t agree. I also heard the same about this run, so far I don’t agree with that either, other than the depiction of the Amazons I mentioned earlier in the review. (To be fair, the previous run had that too.)

Apparently, this is also Meredith Finch’s first time writing superhero comics and it’s good debut. I’ll be continuing on with the next two volumes (and not just because I already have them :D).

[real-life-pine-tree]

Leo Will Never Know: The Sinister Serpent (7/?)

In an alternate timeline, Yugi indirectly prevented the events of Arc-V from ever happening. But how could this small change have an impact on a few selected people? A spin-off of the Arc-V Aftermath series. Based on the hilarious comic by @justanotherotakuandartist​​​​. Co-written with @violetganache42​​​​.

Ray, Jaden, and Jesse remained in the room where the duel against Trapper was held, sitting against the wall and next to the room’s opened doorway. Jesse wanted to find Viper, but Jaden was concerned about his friends. With Ray’s help, they all agreed to stay put so that Jesse could regain some energy and everyone can all confront Viper as a group. Within a few moments, Syrus, Hassleberry, Jim, and Alexis arrived after going on a rather worrisome search for them. Their biggest clue that led them on the right path was the scattered cards that once belonged to Mr. Stein. With everyone converged back into one group, all seven Duelists prepared their confrontation with the mastermind behind the sinister Survival Duels.

Speaking of him, Viper was keeping an eye on the tank that contained the orange liquid-like blob. He stopped watching the cameras earlier because one of them was destroyed by Axel, who was finding a way to escape the trap door and dug a hole from the floor and landed into the artificial jungle. At the same time, Viper knew that the blob needed a bit more energy in order for it to revive, which was why he anticipated Jaden’s upcoming arrival not only because of that, but because it also wanted to see him suffer. Before he could meet up with him, he was interrupted by the presence of Adrian, who was seeking to claim an important card for the Gecko family.

"My apologies, Adrian," Viper said. "I don't know of this card you speak of. Now if you excuse me, I have to prepare for a duel."

"Don't think so," Adrian said. "It's just me and you now. Cancel all your appointments for the day."

Attention. Quarantine procedures have been initiated. Please evacuate the facility immediately. Anyone remaining will be terminated. Have a nice day.

The seven Duelists picked up the pace and started to run a little down the hall as the doors were being sealed behind them. Back in the main office, Viper grew frustrated at what Adrian did. The latter explained how the duel against Jaden will be postponed and he will be dueling against the former. This time, it won’t be an ordinary duel since the Bio-Bands aren’t involved. He took off his headphones and Viper knew what they’ll be doing: fighting. He unbuttoned his jacket and removed his shirt to reveal his muscular figure and Adrian did the similar thing, undoing his belt, unlatching his holster, and taking off his shirt.

With the two now shirtless, they engaged in a fistfight that was reminiscent of a popular shonen martial arts anime, albeit the usage of energy blasts. Viper grabbed Adrian’s leg that was used to kick him and spun him around before throwing him to a nearby wall. Right as he was about to step on his opponent, Adrian dodged the attack, which was enough to give off the impression that he was an elite operative from the Gecko Financial Group. Adrian scowled because Viper was right about that.

Back with Jaden and his friends, they continued running down the hall and only had 30 seconds to evacuate. They made it to a large circular room, but across from them was a closing door, meaning they won’t have enough time to get through. Just then, Axel smashed through the glass ceiling and landed on the bridge; he then threw his grapples to keep the door open with enough space for everyone to get through this one and the next and final door. However, Axel himself ended up trapped in the room he entered through, meaning he might have to find a way out again.

Viper and Adrian continued with their fight, unleashes blows and dodges with the operative’s sole purpose of obtaining that card…or so he thought. The tank housing the blob glowed a bright orange twice: once to materialize a demonic left hand onto Viper that blocked Adrian’s punch and another that pushed the opponent back onto the wall with brute strength. Viper knew that his defeated adversary’s true mission was to find out about the power of the orange blob that was contained inside the tank. He then put on his shirt and jacket and then departed his office to finally face off against Jaden, leaving behind a pinned Adrian and the tank as he walked out with an evil laugh.

Back in the room, Jim detected what could be considered the most powerful electromagnetic wave he received thus far, and before anyone knew it, they all saw an elevator rising up to the top floor. Everyone knew Viper was in there based on the notorious look on his face. He buckled up what looked like equipment and began to laugh evilly again, louder than he did earlier.

"Hello Jaden Yuki," Viper said.

However, Ray stood in front of Jaden. "Don't worry, Jaden," she said, readying her Duel Disk. "I got this."

"How bold of you to make such a move," Viper said. "But I want to duel Jaden, not you."

"Jaden is in no condition to duel," Ray said. "So if you want a duel, you'll have to duel me instead!"

"But Ray..." Jaden started to say.

"Trust me," Ray only said.

The gang had already arrived on the top of the helicopter tower by running as fast as they could on top of a nearby staircase where they caught up with Viper, who was patiently waiting for this duel to occur. Ray wasn’t going let him take on Jaden because she was going to be his opponent. Her companions were initially unsure of why she stepped in, but her stubbornness gave them an idea of what she was going to do in order to thwart Viper’s plan.

"If I remember correctly, you never received a Bio-Band, Ms. Akaba," Viper commented.

"I know," Ray said. "I figured you wanted to use Jaden to activate his Bio-Band for whatever your plan is. But I won't let that happen. So here's my deal: duel me, or you won't get a duel."

"Very well," Viper said, activating his Duel Disk. "I accept your request."

Ray activated her Duel Disk as well while everyone else started to recall on why she was the only one without a Bio-Band. They all remembered her panic attack when she forcibly grabbed by the wrist, which was a trigger linked to her PTSD because she tried really hard to forget about the trauma of getting electrocuted, manipulated, and abused into becoming Sartorius’ vision of “the perfect Duelist”. If anything, what happened during the start of this year actually paid off because neither Ray nor Jaden would lose any of their energy and whatever Viper is doing will be vanquished.

With the starting 4000 life points set up, the duel began. "Ladies first," Viper said.

"Very well," Ray said. "I'll start things of by summoning Hope Dragon Bird!"

A flash of light lit up in one of the monster zones as Bird soared out from it and positioned herself onto the field in attack position. "No one shall bring harm to my mistress!" she exclaimed, even though everyone else could only hear a soft, melodic roar. Upon being summoned, one of Viper's monster zones was rendered unusable, giving Ray an extra 100 life points.

"But it seems my dragon is a bit lonely," Ray added. "So I'll use the Spell card Double Summon to bring out Lord of Dragons."

"Alright!" Jesse cheered. "Just like with Trapper!"

Ray glanced back at her hand. "I'll conclude my turn with some face down cards," she said, setting two cards on her field.

“You’re going down,” Viper proclaimed as he drew a card from his deck. “To start…” He analyzed the six cards in his and picked one to play on the field. “…I’ll summon Venom Snake!”

Venom Snake is a Level 3 EARTH Reptile-Type monster with 1200 ATK, 600 DEF, and an effect that is considered to be poisonous among other monsters.

“Careful of his bite,” Viper stated. “You see, once per round, my snake can strike one of your monsters directly.”

Venom Snake ejected what looked like a blue liquefied version of itself as it lunged forward towards Hope Dragon Bird and dug through her feather-like scales with his fangs. She let out a pained scream. "Help me, mistress!" she exclaimed.

"What did you do to Hope Dragon Bird?" Ray asked, sounding deeply concerned.

"Oh you'll find out soon enough," Viper answered.

Soon enough? What does he even mean? Ray couldn’t stop staring worryingly at Hope Dragon Bird and this weird liquid snake that was implanted on her. Viper’s turn continued as he played two face-downs and activated a Field Spell called Venom Swamp, where a Venom Counter is placed on non-Venom monsters and they will lose 500 ATK for each player’s End Phase; if the ATK reaches 0, that monster is destroyed.

There was no coincidence on how the rest of his turn would play out. Right as his turn ended, another Venom Counter jumped out from the Field Spell’s lake and attached itself onto Hope Dragon Bird. Two Venom Counters meant a 1000 ATK decrease as dark purple venom started to show and spread from where she was bitten, causing her to feel weak.

"I feel...so sleepy..." Hope Dragon Bird muttered.

"Don't you dare fall asleep on me!" Ray exclaimed as she drew a card. "I counter Venom Swamp with my own Field Spell: Hope Sanctuary! And since there can only be one Field Spell out at a time..."

“Not so fast,” Viper interrupted. “I chain your Field Spell card with my Counter Trap: Dark Bribe!” One of his two face-down cards flipped up to reveal the Trap he activated. “The activation of your Hope Sanctuary is now negated and destroyed, meaning you and your Hope Dragon Bird are still stuck in my Venom Swamp.”

Right as the Field Spell was about to change, the Hope Sanctuary card was electrocuted and shattered into pieces, indicating it was sent to the Graveyard, much to Ray’s frustrated dismay.

“But don’t fret,” Viper said. “Due to your Field Spell’s destruction, you get to draw one card from your deck.”

Ray slightly scowled as she drew a card and added it to her hand. That was quite a move Viper made. Was he really that determined to make sure her monsters will suffer the poison of his Venom monsters and his swamp? She looked back at the poisoned Hope Dragon Bird and then back at her hand, trying to figure out the best course of action; if she ends her turn, her monster will lose 500 more ATK, bringing her closer to the Graveyard, but she has to think of something.

"Then it's a good thing I drew the right card," Ray said. "I activate the Equip Spell Lovely Veil! Not only does it protect Hope Dragon Bird from all card effects, but it lets me add one of her sisters from my deck to my hand!"

A white veil materialized onto the field and soared onto Hope Dragon Bird, destroying the Venom Counters and increasing her ATK back to its original amount. At the same time, the veil glowed a bright white light and one of the cards in Ray’s deck started to resonate the same light. Knowing it was one of the other three Hope Dragons, the card slid out so that she could draw it and add it to her hand. Sure enough, it was Hope Dragon Moon.

"Alright Hope Dragon Bird, get rid of that snake!" Ray declared. "Elegant Wind Gust!"

Hope Dragon Bird skyrocketed up in the air and stopped in front of Venom Snake while in the air. She immediately flapped her wings as hard as she could and blasted a breath of a beautiful, dark purple energy from her mouth, creating a powerful gale that wiped Venom Snake off the field and lowering Viper’s Life Points to 3300. Everyone else was thrilled to see Ray getting herself out of this rut with barely any trouble; it was a fine example of how her stubbornness can be a virtue in the face of battle.

"But wait, I'm not done," Ray continued. "Now your field is open for a direct attack! Get him, Lord of Dragons!"

Since Lord of Dragon has a skeletal structure, his skull abruptly burst into flames, promoting him to take it off his body and chuck it towards Viper. The damaging burn to him resulted in 1200 points of damage, leaving him with 2100 Life Points, a little over half of what he originally started with.

"I can see why you are one of the two strongest Duelists in your class," Viper remarked. "You're quite skilled with your deck."

"That's the power of the Hope Dragons," Ray said. "But I'm not quite done. I activate the Continuous Trap card Songbird Assault! As long as I have Hope Dragon Bird on my field, the top card of your deck is removed from play every time I end my turn, which I'll do now!"

The image on the Trap card illuminated white as a songbird appeared out of it and on the field, who then flew to the other side and landed on top of Viper’s deck. It then proceeded to peck at the top card, causing it to disintegrate into the Banished Card Zone. This left him a little frustrated; he figured Ray was a strong Duelist, but he never expected her to counter against his deck, let alone cripple it through banishment and negation. Regardless, he may have a way to get back into the game.

“I play my Snake Whistle!” Viper declared as one of his face-down cards flipped up. “When you attack and destroy a Reptile monster, guess what? This card lets me call upon another on, but I’m not done. Next, I reveal the face-down Trap, Damage = Reptile.” Right as he continued speaking, his second face-down was revealed. “With this in play, I can summon any monster I choose to the field. Of course, its ATK must total the damage I took from Hope Dragon Bird and Lord of Dragons’ attacks.”

“What?” Ray asked.

“That’s right,” Viper responded. “That’s two monsters you have to face. Here’s one: Venom Boa!”

The Continuous Trap’s description states that the special summoned monster must have ATK less than or equal to the battle damage, which was perfect for Viper since he received 1900 damage points. The Field Spell’s pond of venom splashed up to reveal Venom Boa, a Level 5 EARTH Reptile-Type monster with 1600 ATK, 1200 DEF, and an effect that unleashes two Venom Counters at the cost of not attacking the turn it was activated.

“And now the second: Venom Serpent!” Viper continued.

Another portion of venom repeated exactly what it did earlier, only this time it was Venom Serpent. It was a Level 4 DARK Reptile-Type monster with 1000 ATK, 800 DEF, and can place a Venom Counter on one of its opponent’s monsters.

Suddenly, a flash of light appeared briefly next to Viper. Ray's eyes widened. "Michael?" she asked aloud.

"You alright, Ray?" Jaden asked.

"Don't you see it?" Ray asked. She glared at Viper. "What did you do to Michael?!"

"The Magician and Sorcerer Duelist?" Viper asked in response. "I did nothing to that student."

"But it looks like you're holding his spirit hostage!" Ray pointed out.

She wasn’t sure why that flash of light was there, but through her eyes, she could see an orange entity resembling Michael. Why was his spirit forcibly with Viper in the first place? Could that be the reason why he was too exhausted to get out of bed and join the gang? If so, then how did he manage to obtain it so easily? Everyone else was concerned about why Ray was suddenly infuriated with Viper; does he really have Michael’s spirit and has kept it a secret all this time?

"But I'm telling the truth," Viper insisted.

"Then why does that spirit next to you have the same hairstyle he has?!" Ray asked, her angry eyes brimming with tears.

Same hairstyle as Michael’s? What does she mean? Viper knew exactly what Michael’s hair looked like: gray with upward spikes and three divided sections with green streaks in the bangs. Then, his eyes widened and it suddenly started to come together for him as to why Ray would accuse him of capturing Michael’s spirit: he used to have a relative with a similarly matching hairstyle.

"You see Pierce?" Viper asked.

That calmed down Ray a bit. "Who?" she asked.

"My son," Viper explained. "He's the reason why I'm doing all of this. He died from a fatal disease years ago, but I made a deal with an alien demon so he could be revived."

Ray wasn’t certain on how to respond to this revelation, but she knew she couldn’t help but feel bad for Viper. Pierce must have meant everything to him and learning about his mission to bring him back to life proves how strong their familial bond as father and son is. But why specifically use Bio-Bands and Survival Duels? Weren’t there any supernatural ways to try and revive him? Like possibly discovering and searching for seven magical orbs that can grant any wish? Although it was for a good purpose, there was clear evidence about the negative consequences it was having.

"But that's why I have to defeat you," Ray said.

"I beg your pardon?" Viper asked.

"You clearly have a noble reason for your actions," Ray continued. "But it's hurting my friends! So in response to you special summoning your monsters, I activate the Quick-Play Spell Hope's Wish! It'll allow me to summon one of my own monsters: Hope Dragon Moon!"

The monster zone next to Hope Dragon Bird lit up as her lunar sister integrated from below and soared onto the field, getting ready to aid her owner towards victory. With her 2400 ATK, 2000 DEF, and effects to only gain 100 Life Points for blocking a monster zone on the opponent’s field, attack twice during the Battle Phase, and special summon a DARK Beast-Warrior-Type monster, this Level 7 DARK Dragon-Type monster was ready to combat anything that comes in her way.

"Be careful, sister," Hope Dragon Bird told Hope Dragon Moon. "Viper's cards can weaken you and wipe you out in an instant once you lose all of your attack points."

"So that's why Ray equipped you with Lovely Veil," Hope Dragon Moon noted. She glanced over at Ray. "But she only has two other copies of that card. One of us is going to have to sit out."

"It will have to be our sister of wind," Hope Dragon Bird decided. "Our sister of flowers is immune to getting destroyed by card effects. She'll have a better chance of winning."

"Good call, girls," Ray said. "You hear that, Viper? I've got a plan, starting with Hope Dragon Moon using her special ability to block one of your monster zones and give me a life point boost of 100!"

"No matter," Viper said. "Your second dragon is unprotected against Venom Counters."

With Ray’s turn about to end, Venom Swamp splashed out a Venom Counter that lunged itself onto Hope Dragon Moon, draining 500 ATK from her and causing her to wince from the poison. Viper drew a card to signal the start of his turn and began his first Main Phase by activating Venom Boa and Serpent’s effect to place a total of three more Venom Counters on Hope Dragon Moon at the cost of Boa not attacking this turn. The three counters were ejected from the monsters’ mouths and lunged themselves forward and penetrated through her three other legs, leaving her barely hanging on with 400 ATK. Ray and her companions stood and watched the counters inject venom through Hope Dragon Moon’s veins, wondering if this plan the Hope Dragons have will work.

After the effects were done activating, Viper proceeded to send Venom Boa and Venom Serpent to the Graveyard in order to tribute summon Vennominion the King of Poisonous Snakes. He is a Level 8 DARK Reptile-Type monster with 0 ATK and DEF; despite the lack of any strength, everyone knows a monster with no ATK means it has a useful effect. In this case, he gains 500 ATK for every Reptile-Type monster in the Graveyard. He can also be special summoned from the Graveyard after being destroyed by battle by banishing one other destroyed Reptile-Type monster, but he cannot be special summoned by another effect monster's effect. Additionally, he is immune to Venom Swamp’s effects.

There are currently three Reptile-Type monsters in Viper’s Graveyard, so that means Vennominion’s ATK raises up to 1500, which was more than enough to destroy Hope Dragon Moon. He initiated his Battle Phase by declaring his attack on Ray’s lunar dragon.

"Not so fast!" Ray exclaimed. "By attacking a Hope Dragon, you activate my hand trap: Kurihope! This little guy will protect Hope Dragon Moon from harm!"

A flash of light illuminated in front of Hope Dragon Moon and a flower bud rose up from it. The petals opened up and bloomed with arms and legs popping out, revealing the adorable, floral Kurihope, a Level 1 LIGHT Fairy-Type monster with 0 ATK and DEF. Thanks to his effect, he protected Moon by having his card getting discarded, which was represented by forming a force field to block Vennominion’s attack at the expense of getting himself sent to the Graveyard. Everyone witnessing the duel was astonished at this sacrificial yet amazing retaliation, especially Jaden, but that was mainly because he and Yugi aren’t the only ones who use Kuriboh variants.

"But there's more," Ray continued. "Hope Dragon Moon is also immune to getting destroyed by card effects until my turn."

Viper wasn't happy to hear that. "Very well," he said. "You survive for now."

Ray began her turn by drawing a card. "Are you sure this is the right thing to do?" she asked her dragons.

"It's alright," Hope Dragon Moon reassured. "It's the only way to win this duel."

"Very well," Ray said. "I tribute Hope Dragon Moon to bring out her sister! So say hello to Hope Dragon Flower!"

Hope Dragon Moon disintegrated away from the field and made her way to the Graveyard along with the four attached Venom Counters. In her place blossomed her floral sister, Hope Dragon Flower. Harboring 2000 ATK, 1000 DEF, and the ability to gain 100 Life Points when she blocks a monster zone, this Level 6 LIGHT Fairy-Type monster is immune to card effects and attacks, can reduce battle damage to 0 if targeted for an attack, and can special summon a LIGHT Fairy-Type monster from Ray’s deck or hand. Whatever her dragons have planned out, she hoped it’ll work out because it was now time to execute it.

"That's the best you can do?" Viper asked. "That dragon has fewer attack points than your previous one!"

"True, but Hope Dragon Flower has a special ability," Ray said. "She can cast a floral shield on herself to prevent your Venom Counters from reaching her!"

"What?!" Viper asked.

"That's right!" Hope Dragon Flower chimed in. "I'm Ray's strongest defense! Your monsters have no chance against me, and I'll start off by blocking a monster zone to give my mistress 100 life points!"

She blasted a beam of flower petals that covered the chosen monster zone, raising Ray’s Life Points by 100. She then began to cast herself in a shield of the same petals to protect her from damage and card effects; now if a Venom Counter tries to poison her and drain her of her ATK, they’ll instead be destroyed by the energy these flowers possess.

"But there's more," Ray continued. "Thanks to Hope Dragon Bird's special ability, you lose 200 life points for every monster you have on the field. Draining Winds!"

Hope Dragon Bird ascended into the air until she was within a good distance away from Viper. She flapped her wings only once, but it produce an intense gust of wind that brought his Life Points down to 1900.

"And that's enough to take you out," Ray said. "Hope Dragons Bird and Flower, end this duel once and for all!"

The two dragons skyrocketed from their zones and towards the opposite side of the field, with Hope Dragon Flower flapping her wings and opening her mouth to breathe out a energetic blast of flower petals that penetrated through Vennominion and destroying it. Before Viper had time to react, Hope Dragon Bird flew forward and used her wings to bring forth a powerful gale to help deplete his Life Points down to 0. Jaden and his friends all cheered for Ray and her dragons for their victory, knowing having her duel Viper was a smart choice.

"It's over, Viper," Ray said. "Now turn off these Bio-Bands!"

However, Viper actually seemed happy. In fact, he started...glowing? "Thank you, Ms. Akaba," he said.

"For what?" Ray asked.

"For this!" Viper exclaimed, revealing a Bio-Band pendant around his neck. "Thanks to you, I was able to use my own dueling energy!"

Ray immediately took a step back while everyone else stopped celebrating when they heard this sudden twist. Their plan was to have her duel Viper so that Jaden wouldn’t fall victim to the Bio-Band again, even if it meant preventing Pierce’s revival. It had worked like a charm up until this point when he unveiled his Bio-Band pendant, meaning a Duelist was going to lose their energy one way or another, even if that Duelist happened to be the orchestrator of the Survival Duels.

Suddenly, a ghostly image of a young boy with blonde hair appeared. "Pierce?" Viper asked, approaching the ghostly boy.

Pierce's expression twisted into a sinister smirk. "Not quite," he said, revealing a demonic hand.

Pierce opened up the hand and reached it towards Viper’s face, with the fingers getting a firm grip on his skull. Black electricity volted all over the hand and flowed through his victim to shock him, but this was no ordinary electrocution. His entire body suddenly started to glow white, and as it kept expanding, his pained screams grew fainter until they were completely silent. Everyone else saw Viper vanishing from existence and found it hard to believe that “Pierce” most likely killed him; just when things couldn’t get worse, they all saw the same glow enveloping the pillar they were standing on.

Inside the main office, bolts of electricity coated the now malfunctioning tank that once housed the demon and gusts of wind blew both inside and outside of SAL. The strength of the wind and the brightness of the light was becoming too much for the gang to handle. This peculiar oddity even managed to catch the attention of a few members from the Gecko Financial Group.

“Where’s that stream of light coming from?” one of the two soldiers asked.

As the two stared on, a woman joined them to get a look at the light herself. “This can’t be good,” she stated.

She was definitely right about that. The light continued gaining more and more power, brightening the luminescence and blowing the wind at higher gusts. It got to a point where it began to expand even farther than it initially did and it caught the attention of everyone in the Academy, including Bonaparte, Crowler, Dorothy, Jasmine, and Mindy. Back outside, the light was overwhelming Ray, Jaden, and their friends, who were all yelling because of it. The demonic spirit simply stayed put in front of them, hovering a couple inches off the ground as it spoke.

“The power is flowing freely,” the demon said. “Now Jaden will feel my full wrath. Let’s go on a little trip.”

The light grew brighter and brighter as it swallowed all of Duel Academy in its path until everything went white. Were they trapped in a blank slate or in a void where nothing exists? Surprisingly, the answer was neither, which was what everyone would quickly find out when they adjusted their bearings of the unfolding situation.

Meanwhile, back in the Obelisk Blue girls' dorm, Michael had finally woke up. "Morning RayRay," he sleepily muttered. "Did you sleep well?"

However, Michael realized Ray was absent. He chuckled to himself. "She's probably eating breakfast," he guessed. "I'll join her once I freshen up from last night."

He got out of Ray’s bed and grabbed his clothes that were tossed on the floor to wear later. He remembered he brought his Duel Academy-issued gym clothes with him, so he got changed into them so that he would at least have something on in order to head to the bathroom to shower. As he walked down the hallways, part of him had the strangest feeling that it was unusually quiet since there we no female Obelisk Blue students roaming around. He initially assumed not everyone was awake at the moment, so he figured now would be a perfect opportunity to freshen up while he still has the chance.

A few minutes later, he was surprised to see the bathroom wasn’t crowded with the female students because some of them go there to get ready for the day. It was more peculiar about how it was empty, but it didn’t damage the fact he has it all to himself for today and he didn’t want to waste any second of it. He undressed his gym clothes and stepped into what resembled a hot spring; he remembered Ray telling him a few years ago about the hot springs her dorm building has. Being in one for himself was refreshing and relaxing for him, making his experience in here all the worth while.

What isn’t as relaxing is what happened after his bath regimen. Michael had finished getting cleaned up, gotten dressed back into his usual Obelisk Blue uniform, and was heading downstairs to the cafeteria for breakfast. The more he walked, the more he realized something was definitely off. Never in his life has he encountered a silent and empty dorm building other than the Abandoned Dorm. Why is no one around? Where did they all go? Were they already attending classes at the Academy?

However, one look at a nearly clock made Michael realized he overslept waaaaaay too much. "Oh crud!" he exclaimed. He proceeded to rush out of the dorm. "I hope Dr. Crowler doesn't-"

He immediately stopped running to see a sight he never thought he would stumble upon. There was a gigantic crater on the island, located next to the volcano and exactly where Duel Academy was. What happened while he was asleep? Where was everyone? Did something terrible occur to them? …Is Ray okay? Michael called out “RayRay” a couple times, only for the silence to respond to his pleas as he looked around to see if anyone heard him. Unfortunately, no was around to hear him at all. Fearing the worst, he tightly shut his eyes, clenched his hands into fists, and screamed out Ray’s name into the starry night sky.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[dragonydreams]

Finding Where We Belong - BtVS/LoT Crossover 3/5

Title: Finding Where We Belong Fandom: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Rating: Teen Pairings/Characters: Sara Lance/Leonard Snart, Spike/Willow Rosenberg, Dawn Summers, Faith Lehane, Legends Team Summary: Faith, Dawn, Willow and Spike end up in Legends ‘verse when their only chance of survival was to escape through a portal Dawn created. When Gideon senses the portals opening but isn’t sure what to make of it, the Waverider crew goes to investigate and find much more than they bargained for. Timeline: BtVS: post-series (ignores comics), Legends: end of Episode 2.10 The Legion of Doom Disclaimer: I claim no ownership over these characters. I am merely borrowing them from Berlanti Productions, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television and Mutant Enemy, Kuzui Enterprises, Sandollar Television, 20th Century Fox Television. Betas: Thank you to angelskuuipo and shanachie for looking this over for me. Author’s Note: This marks my 15 year anniversary writing fanfiction. I don’t know the exact date that I shared my first Willow/Giles story in a Yahoo Group, but it was definitely in September 2012. This milestone anniversary demanded a story that crossed the first fandom I wrote in with my current fandom obsession.

Start from the beginning

Chapter 3

"How is he?" Sara asked Mick as she entered the med bay and sat on the empty stool Mick must have put out for her.

"Same," Mick answered. "Get the strangers all settled?"

"The team is getting them set up now," Sara answered. "And we think that they accidentally found a copy of Rip's memories lying around back where Rip was being held."

"Yeah? Something going right for a change; that's different," Mick said, perking up a bit.

"I'd say we've got more than one thing going right," Sara said, looking at Leonard. "Gideon, how much longer before he wakes?"

"It should be anytime now," Gideon said. "There is no medical reason I can see that he is still sleeping. Do you know where the smelling salts are?"

"I've got a better idea," Sara said. She glanced at Mick before she warned him, "No teasing about what I'm about to do."

"Lucky for you, I'm not in a teasing mood," Mick said. Smirking, he added, "Go on Princess Charming, do your thing."

Sara glared at him, but rose to her feet and moved to lean over Leonard. As she lowered her face closer to his, she whispered, "Come back to me." Her lips brushed against his softly before she pressed a firmer kiss against his lips.

She was about to pull away when she felt his mouth move against hers, returning her kiss, causing her to pull back in shock.

"Leonard?" Sara asked, cupping his jaw with a hand as her eyes frantically ran over his face.

"Sara," Leonard sighed, his eyes fluttering open and focusing on her.

"You're okay," she exclaimed and reclaimed his mouth, pouring all of her relief and fear and anger into the kiss. Leonard kissed her back just as thoroughly, one hand rising to cup the back of her head, holding her close.

"Uh, guys," Mick interrupted after a minute. He'd known there were unresolved feelings between the two, but he wasn't about to leave without greeting his partner.

Sara blinked as she stood straight, her hand resting on Leonard's chest, the barest hint of color pinkening her cheeks. "Sorry, Mick."

"No, you're not," he said, eyeing Leonard as he sat up.

"No, I'm not," Sara agreed, smugly.

"Neither am I," Mick said, standing and punching Leonard hard in the face.

Leonard spat out a mouthful of blood, then said, "I deserved that."

"Damn straight you did," Mick growled. "Don't you ever do that to me again. To us!"

"I couldn't let you die. Not again," Leonard said. "Not after what the Time Bastards did to you the last time I didn't kill you."

"At least I wouldn't have been leaving anyone behind," Mick snapped. "Except for you, maybe. I had to tell Lisa that her brother was dead."

Leonard sucked in a pained breath at those words and bowed his head. He knew that couldn't have been easy for Mick.

"And Blondie here needed you, too, and you weren't there for her. She had to grieve for two people," Mick continued.

"Enough, Mick," Sara said, reaching across Leonard to lay a hand on Mick's arm.

Mick pulled Leonard into a rough, brief, hug and then shoved him away. "Glad you're back," he said before rushing out of the room.

"He took your death pretty hard," Sara said quietly as she sat down again, scooting closer to Leonard.

"Sounds like he wasn't the only one. What was he talking about? You had to mourn two people?" Leonard asked.

Sara choked back a sob. "I found out my sister, Laurel, was dead a few days after you died destroying the Oculus. Rip took us all back home and I found out that she'd died about a month earlier. He purposely brought us back late to prevent me from stopping it."

Leonard let out a low whistle. "Bastard," he swore. "After everything we were doing to try to save his family and he wouldn't save yours?"

"He said that if I had been there, then my father and I would have died, too," Sara said. "So yeah, I was mourning both my big sister and the man I had really wanted to explore the future with."

"Do you still?" Leonard tentatively asked.

Sara laughed. "Waking you with a kiss didn't answer that question? Unless being trapped where you were changed your mind, I would very much like to see if there's a me and you to be had."

"As would I," Leonard said, leaning in for another kiss. They only separated when his stomach growled loudly. "Sorry, I guess I'm a little hungry, it's been about…"

"Nine months," Sara supplied, causing Leonard's eyebrows to rise in surprise and Sara to nod sadly in confirmation.

"Nine months since I last ate," Leonard finished.

"Then let's get some food in you," Sara said, removing the medical cuff from his wrist.

As he stood, Leonard noticed Rip lying on the other medical chair. "What's he doing in here?"

"Long story," Sara said. "It involves us convincing George Lucas to not give up on making movies, though."

"You met George Lucas?" Leonard asked in surprise.

"And I think we were the inspiration for several scenes in Star Wars," Sara added, proudly.

"Now this is a story that I need to hear," Leonard said as they headed towards the galley.

"I'll fill you in while we eat," Sara promised.

~~*~~

"I think I'm in love with your ship," Dawn gushed as she held an exact replicate of Mr. Gordo to her chest. She had many fond memories of stealing the stuffed pig from Buffy's room as a child. She knew that these memories weren't real, but after everything that had happened lately, she would take comfort from what good memories she had.

"Thank you, Ms. Summers," Gideon said. "I'm afraid that I do not have emotions to return the sentiment."

"It's a figure of speech," Jax said, amused by the youngest arrival's antics. "You want a minute alone with that pig?"

"No, I'm good," Dawn said, relaxing her death grip on the stuffed animal. "It's just, this is Mr. Gordo, he was my sister's favorite toy and it's been a long day."

"You don't need to explain to me," Jax said. Leaning in, he confided, "I may have fabricated one of my ma's embroidered pillows one night soon after coming aboard."

"Will you show me?" Dawn tentatively asked.

"Well, I have seen yours… seems only fair." Jax winked at her.

"Man, I'd kill for a shower," Faith commented, drawing Jax's attention from Dawn.

"I'll show you the bathroom on the way to the room you'll be staying in," Jax offered. "There are two shower stalls in there."

"Dibs," Faith and Dawn said at the same time.

"That'll give us a chance to set up our room," Willow said, arms full with the clothes and other items she'd fabricated for herself.

"If you're all set for now, let's go," Jax said. He led the newcomers through several halls and down a level, gesturing to one door that he said was the bathroom, before leading them into what was clearly a storage compartment.

"Guess we really are cargo," Spike snarked.

"Hush," Willow chastised him. She noted that there were four cots set out, one on each wall, with pillows and bedding piled on them.

Faith immediately claimed the cot closest to the door.

"If y'all need anything, just ask Gideon. If she can't direct you as to how to get it, she'll alert one of us," Jax said. "Good night."

Choruses of "Night" echoed after him as he headed to his own bed.

"Before you grab your showers," Willow jumped to say, "I just want to have a quick team check in."

"We're all standing right here," Spike pointed out.

"Emotional check in," Willow clarified. "How are you all doing with this new place and situation? We're on a freaking time traveling spaceship! I don't know about you, but I'm feeling a little freaked out about it."

"Not to mention the fact that we can't ever go home," Dawn added, clutching Mr. Gordo a little tighter to her chest.

"The way I see it," Faith said, trying to sound more confident that she actually felt, "what we left behind were a bunch of ghosts. Chaos and demons and dead friends. There's no demons here. No more fighting for our lives every single fucking day and night. I say we should be grateful that we're alive and together and can maybe even relax."

"This lot doesn't seem like they are living a fully peaceful life," Spike noted. "Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased as punch to be the only demon in this world, but these are fighters we've landed with."

"Which brings me to my next question: Do we want to stay with them or have them drop us at the first chance they get? Maybe there's a non-Hellmouth-y Sunnydale here," Willow proposed.

"I say we find out more about what they're fighting," Dawn said. "If they're fighting those guys who had Phil tied up, maybe we should help them out."

"I must admit, the nerd in me would love to experience space and time travel," Willow said.

"There's the geek I know and love," Spike said, kissing the top of her head. "This is all your Star Trek and Quantum Leap dreams come to life."

"It kinda is, only without Scott Bakula jumping into people's bodies," Willow agreed.

"Oh, I wonder if we can go to England in the 1800s and see Spike as a human," Dawn suggested, bouncing on her toes.

"No," Spike snapped. "Even if we existed on this Earth, you are never going to see that prat."

"I think that's our cue to get our showers," Faith said, pulling a giggling Dawn out of the room.

"You know she was just trying to get a rise out of you," Willow said, looping her arms around Spike's waist.

"Did a right fine job of it, too," Spike admitted, burying his face in Willow's neck. "Don't want anything to change how she sees me. Or you."

"From what you've told us, I don't think we'd like him all that much. I'm happy with the man you are now. No need to meet the man you were, even if the opportunity presented itself," Willow promised.

"None of us are who we were," Spike pointed out.

"Ain't that the truth," Willow agreed. Lifting her head from Spike's shoulder, she kissed him briefly before letting out a sigh. "C'mon, let's get our beds moved together."

"You think we need to worry about Nibblet and the mechanic?" Spike asked, lifting one of the cots and placing it next to the one across from the door.

"You noticed that, too?" She shrugged. "He seems like a good kid. Earnest. I say we let Dawn make her own choice about him. She hasn't had a nice boyfriend in the longest time. I'm not going to begrudge her that if she finds it here."

They worked in silence for a few minutes, setting up the beds before Willow asked, "What do you make of the Captain?"

Spike sat on the cot and pulled Willow down in his lap. "She's a kindred spirit; I know that much. She's survived more than most of that lot and come out stronger for it."

"She feels like one of us, yeah," Willow said. "Like if she were from our Earth she'd have been a Slayer."

"She'd be a hell of a Slayer," Spike agreed.

"Should I be worried about your head being turned?" Willow teased.

"Never," Spike swore, sealing it with a kiss.

"Ugh, we can't leave you alone for five minutes," Dawn complained as she and Faith returned.

"Would you prefer us to do that while you're here?" Spike countered.

"Never mind," Dawn said, settling on the remaining cot.

"I don't know about you, but I'm ready for some shut eye," Faith said.

Everyone lay down on their cots and tried to get comfortable.

"Faith, can you get the lights?" Willow asked.

"I would if I could find the switch," Faith said, scouring the wall near the door.

"I control the lights, Ms. Lehane," Gideon announced. "Shall I turn them off?"

"Yes, please," Faith said, settling back down as the room was plunged into darkness.

 Chapter 4

[sarcastic-little-muse]

PLL Questions

@welcometorosewood posted this and I would like to answer what I can. I hope this helps. I don’t mean this to be sarcastic I just really wanted to help answer where I could:

 Plot Holes/unanswered questions: 

1. What was the point of the puzzle pieces of the puzzle image meant nothing? The image wasn't necessarily important it was just the code for the augmented reality. Alex just wanted to make it a game to torture the liars. 


2. How was that not related to Archer or Bethany Young’s drawings? See answer to question 1 


3. Speaking of which, how is Bethany not more relevant to this? Because her degrees of separation got bigger meaning Alex had no attachment to her, CeCe hated her and Mona just knew she was involved. She was a mean girl with a big mouth who got in the way.


4. If Bethany isn’t relevant then what does this picture that Marlene posted from the finale mean? Is she just a bad speller? I'm not sure what you are referring to here so unfortunately I can't answer very sorry! 

5. Why impregnate Ali with Emily’s eggs? What was the point of that? It's one of the worse ways of violating somebody. It took the decision to get pregnant out of Alison's hands and forced Emily to watch her friend/girlfriend go through this while thinking it wouldn't have happened if she hadn't donated 


6. Why was a Melissa mask necessary? Here I just believe it was in case any of the girls caught Mona she could run off. 


7. What was the point of holding Ezra captive? Aria getting married breaks up the group. So Ezra running away keeps them all together. Plus he started figuring out Alex wasn't Spencer and if he told Aria, Alex's plan was ruined


8. Why did A.D. favor Aria so much and pull her to the dark side? Aria asked to go to the dark side. This gave Alex so much control over her.


9. Also Alex climbed in bed next to Aria and said she would love her the most. Why did she have such a soft spot for Aria? Probably because she thought they had a bond once Aria joined the dark side 


10. If Wren broke out Mona from Welby, then when was he killed? Didn’t we just see him at the airport? Mona was put in Welby after the events of 7x19 so Alex killed him sometime during the year jump for 7x19 to 7x20
. 

11.Why did Alex kill him? He wasn't being agreeable with the plan any more. So he wasn't worth keeping around. 


12. Was Melissa ever even in this episode or was that Mona? If not, where is she? In the very beginning when she asks Spencer to move out of the barn that's Melissa the Melissa in the hood is Mona


13. What the point of this picture of a burned person? I liked the fan theory better than the actual ending in which Bethany was burned during the Jenna Thing and that gave her more motive. Again I don't know what you are referring to I'm sorry! 

14. What was the purpose of Ali and Bethany being pen pals? Ali saw it as leverage over her mother. Bethany saw it as leverage over them. They were both emotional. 


15. What purpose did Sara Harvey serve and why make her both Red Coat and Black Widow? She is a puppet. Because it's confusing and makes it hard to figure out who is hurting you. 


16. What was the point of Bethany’s drawings? It shows her twisted mindset 


17. What was the relevance of the Carissimi group again? Wasn’t Jason involved somehow? No Jason wasn't involved. The Carissimi group was basically a way for Jessica to get money from her accounts to CeCe. It's like the cover companies crime gangs will make money hard to track


18. And how did Jenna and Noel become involved? They decided that the girls deserved to be punished and got in too deep they were disposable to Alex. Jenna wanted to see so she help
ed Alex for the money did her job, got the money didn’t see and that was it.

19. Why were Alex and Mary Drake both at the blind school in 7x10 but they were playing for opposing sides? Who shot Spencer? 
Alex shot Spencer. They were playing two different games.

20. At what point did Wren and Melissa break up and he met Alex? The timeline seems off.
 Wren and Melissa broke up sometime around CeCe revealing that she was A.

21. What was the point of Lucas’ comic book? Why was this never mentioned again? It’s something they find it shows CeCe’s mindset. It starts the development that maybe CeCe couldn’t be cured. The comic itself didn’t matter just the mindset CeCe was in 


22. What was Ian filming? Who was beach hottie? What was the point of NAT club?
 Which time? I’m not sure which video you are referring to. Beach hottie was Wilden. Marlene mentioned in an interview recently that the NAT club was simply boys who decided to film people without them knowing as a power trip. They grew out of it but when the videos started getting ouot they started getting into trouble i.e. Garrett

23. Why did Jessica DiLaurentis tell Bethany to call her aunt?
 Honestly who know Jessica was super sketchy she may have just been trying to get Bethany to trust her.

24. Why would CeCe dress as Charles in the dollhouse if she’s transgender now? To confuse the girls. They were so sure it was a boy so she played along so she still got her reveal. 


25. How did Cece and Sara Harvey meet?
 It’s never specifically said. I’m assuming that just sometime between Mona losing the game that she met Sara.

26. Who killed Sara Harvey? Noel? Yes Noel killed her it was revealed in 7x12


27. What’s the significance of all the pie references? And pretty eyes?
 The diner was famous for its pie. It’s just something to tell Mona where to meet without giving it away completely. I don’t know what you are refering to with pretty eyes specifically.

28. In a flashback a few seasons ago, Ali comes into Spencer’s house with a bloodied lip and tries to hide it. Who did that to her? In the same interview where she talked about NAT, Marlene mentioned that it was the college students Ali would hang out with. It was to show Ali isn’t as grown up as she thinks


29. What was the purpose of Sydney? How did she and Alex meet? 
Through Jenna, She was just a puppet.

30. Why were so many people wearing yellow tops that night?
 Bethany trying to be Ali Cece also being Ali and and Ali.

31. Who did Spencer hear scream back in the pilot episode?
 Ali when Garrett swung at her with a hockey stick i think but dont forget Spencer is drugged out of her mind .

32. Why is the number 214 constantly brought up? It was several hotel numbers, it was the locker number that Aria used, it’s been seen several times over the course of all the seasons.
 Honestly I didn’t even notice that! (But I watched Bones for years and didn’t notice 445 until the end either). Sorry!

33. How did Alex create this board game? How was she everywhere at once? She very smart apparently or she had help  


34. Why doesn’t she have more motive against Mary Drake who sold her when she was a baby? She wants a family and Mary is family. 


35. Back a few seasons ago, there was a scene where they police had suspects written on a chalkboard. Why was “Dr” Wren in quotations? Is he really a doctor?
 They may have been looking into if he really was a doctor, but as far as we have been told he is in fact a doctor.

36. Why did Bethany have Melissa’s riding helmet?
 Jessica gave it to her.

37. Why did Eddie Lamb recognize Aria in Radley?


38. Was Spaleb real or was that Alex?
 No that was Spencer. Unfortunately (sorry I thought Spaleb was weird)

39. Did Alex kill Yvonne?
 Technically yes since she messed with Toby’s truck and ran them off the road.

40. Who built the dollhouse?
 Charlotte

41. Why was Noel helping with the dollhouse? Because he believed the girls should be punished


42. What was the point of all the Alison masks? Masks are creepy. I really think thats what they were banking on.


43. What did Maya know? She knew Ali was alive


44. What is the exact timeline of the night Ali “died”?
 Alison stoleIan’s NAT videos as leverage after he dumped her at Hilton Head. She came home from where she had been hooking up with Ian after Melissa showed up with NAT videos in tow. The girls separate with plans to meet that night. Ali goes to visit Jenna in the hospital. Ali goes to Emily and gives her the snowglobe with the key to the storage locker. The girls meet for the sleepover. Ali drugs them and goes to meet Toby who thanks her for not releasing the video of him and Jenna. Then Ali visits Ezra tells him he can’t get in trouble because they didn’t have sex and Ezra breaks up with her. Then Ali meets up with Ian. Then Jenna, Garrett and Ian break into Alison’s room for the NAT videos. Jenna and Garrett leave and run into Ali in the yard and Garrett “hits” her with the hockey stick. Then Ali meets Spencer and realizes she is on speed (ADD meds). Then she meets Mr. Montgomery and tries to blackmail him. Then she meets CeCe. Then she gets knocked out and buried, then saved by Grunwald. Then Melissa kills Bethany and buries her where Ali was. Finally Ali tells Mona how not to be loser Mona before running off. Whew! Busy night!

45. What was the relevance of Melissa’s suitcase handle if that wasn’t a murder weapon? A misleading “clue”


46. What was the point of Garrett?
 Part of the whole Ali/CeCe mess

47. Who did Noel push down the stairs at that party and why? At UPenn? if you mean that they never explain why but Noel is like a sociopath so who knows.


48. Who put the blood in Spencer’s bag during her interview at Oxford? CeCe


49. Why were Shana and Jenna afraid of Melissa?
 I’m honestly not sure

50. Who sent Toby the text about his mom?
 CeCe

51. Who drove a car into Emily’s house? CeCe


52. Why was Wren seen coloring a picture of a woman in a red coat?
 It was just a clue that he was part of this whole mess

53. Why would Elliot hold such a grudge against Ali if he knew all along Ali didn’t kill CeCe and that she was trying to help her? 
Because he spent however long hearing what a monster Ali was from CeCe he wanted to punish her

54. Also, doesn’t my theory that Elliot is really Wren make more sense since he stole someone’s identity any way?
 I haven’t read the theory you are referring to so I don’t know

55. Did Elliot and Wren know each other before meeting Charlotte and Alex? If they did it isn’t mentioned


56. What happened to Marco Fury?
 I hope he left the police mess that is Rosewood. 

57. What was the significance of the apple farm where Charles supposedly had a connection to Andrew?


58. Who was Leslie Stone? What was her purpose and why did she have multiple pairs of glasses?


59. Who knows about Twincer? Do Peter and Veronica know? Does Melissa know?
 From the beginning no. I assumed Spencer told them after.

60. How did Jenna regain her vision and then lose it again? Sometimes surgerys like that fail. They work and then over time fade. A lot of surgeries to restore sight right now are experimental and just dont work out


61. Why was Spencer shot if Alex didn’t intend to kill her? I’m not sure.


62. How did they catch Aria on that New Hampshire traffic cam?
 I bet a hacking job from A.D.

63. What did Melissa whisper to Peter when they were being questioned at the police station? We never find out


64. Did we ever find out why Bethany killed Toby’s mom? Nope


65. Who was Varjack? CeCe


66. What was with all the literary references? They just enjoyed them the different ways to play with it.


67. When did Charlotte visit an Amish farm with Archer when she was in Radley? What was the timeline of when she got out of Radley? It’s chaotic and confusing and there isn’t a completely mapped out timeline like with Ali’s disappearance.


68. What happened to the Alison bracelet? Wasn’t Bethany wearing it when she died? Why?
 She may have stole it.

69. Why exactly was Pastor Ted brought back to be Charlotte’s dad? That’s something only the writer can answer.


70. Was the cop in the finale really Mona’s boyfriend in Paris and that’s why she was able to keep them as dolls? I believe so but I have to watch again to really see.


71. Also how was Toby’s mom in the flashback with him and Ali when they were teenagers if she was killed when Charlotte was a kid and Charlotte is older than Toby? PLOT HOLE
. You hit it on the head that was a plot hole.

73. What was Paige’s role in this?
 She got sucked in as Ali’s victim and Emily’s gf

74. What’s with all the piano playing? 


75. How were the Emison twins blue eyed and blonde hair when Emily and Wren are the parents? Honestly I think that is just it is so freaking hard to find specific looking babies for casting. It is rough because some babies are just born with light hair and eyes and they darken as they get older its insane.


76. Will Emison ever know who their baby daddy is?
 They may or they may not care who knows

77. What did the anagram or whatever “Miss Aria you’re a killer and not Ezra’s wife mean”?
 Maya Knew

78. What happened in Cape May?Jason and CeCe dated and Wilden and Ali slept together.


79. What happened to Tippi the bird? It’s probably dead


80. How did they make a mold of Wilden’s face if Wilden has been dead for a while now? They probably had it from the get go but I’m not sure

[jewishaxelwalker]

Axel Walker, as a character, is a real mess. As he was pretty much only written by one person prior to 2011, and that one person was Geoff Johns, it’s no real wonder why. My complaints regarding every book Geoff Johns has ever worked on could fill a book roughly the size of the bible, but that’s neither here nor there right now.

Of all the new villains Johns created during his underwhelming run on the Flash, Axel is the one that’s lasted longest. Hunter Zoloman’s Zoom is a close second, but all bets were off with that guy once Johns was given the go-ahead to bring back Eobard Thawne, who hasn’t gone the hell away since 2009. But despite showing up regularly throughout his Flash run, making an appearance in his Teen Titans run, and just generally existing in Rogues’ Revenge, Blackest Night: The Flash, and the Brightest Day Flash series, Geoff Johns never actually bothered to give this kid a personality. No, really.

Axel has personality traits, most prevalent among them being annoying and young, but seeing as Johns was pushing 30 when he created Axel...the “youth” aspect of the character seemed overly exaggerated. For instance, here’s the panel that gives us the best guess as to how old he is:

“Dropped out of high school a few years ago” is a real shitty timeline. How many years is a few? Did he drop out as a freshman, a junior? Between how damn small he is (DC Encyclopedia cites him as being 5′7″, but I’ll eat my hat if he’s over 5′2″), the rest of the Rogues referring to him as “kid” all the time, and the way he kept being set up as one of Bart’s villains in the short time he was Kid Flash, I feel like we’re supposed to think of Axel as 16 or 17. However, Axel is shown being sent to Iron Heights on multiple occasions. That’s big boy prison, not a juvenile detention facility. So it’s entirely possible he’s 18 or 19. But we will never know.

So okay, back to those character traits. Early on, it was established that in addition to being young and annoying, Axel was also highly inventive, having created a bunch of tricks and gags that James Jesse, his predecessor, hadn’t used. He also utilized modern technology in a way that only someone written by a 30+ year old in 2005 could:

Is this even possible? I know about as much about computers as the next Amish person, that is to say, next to nothing, so I can’t tell you. But it’s possible according to Comic Book Hacking!

Anyway, when he first hit the scene, Axel was working with Blacksmith’s new Rogues. That didn’t last long, and he eventually jumped ship with Mark and Evan, who vouched for him with Len for whatever reason, and then Axel was a true and proper Rogue.

And here’s where it all goes a bit hinky.

During Crossfire (183-188 if you want exact issues), Axel had a glossy sheen of “golly, gee whiz!” about him. He was new to this whole villainy thing, eager to prove himself, and ready and willing to cause some chaos. Chaotic Neutral, if you will. The Identity Crisis tie-in issues (214-217) and Rogue War (220-225) introduced a weird little quirk that hadn’t been present before: sadism, and a need for said sadism to be corrected. 

In 214, Axel obliviously offers to whip up some poison gas to lace the flowers Len wants to send in sympathy to Ralph Dibny. Not knockout gas, or some other harmless gag, poison. We’d already seen that the other Rogues had a habit of insulting Axel in previous issues, but in 216, Len one-punches him to the floor for making fun of Digger when news of his death was reported.

The next panel shows that he is deadass unconscious. 220 gives us another fun panel of weird sadism that comes out of left field:

Now, where did this come from? I like to trace it back to a couple of panels from 188:

-words of advice from Weather Wizard, which are later parroted back in 221:

Again, it has previously been shown that of all the older Rogues, the one Axel is closest to, sees as a sort of mentor even, is Weather Wizard. Which brings me to Rogues’ Revenge.

Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge is possibly my least favorite comic of all time. It’s the one that paved the way for the return of Eobard Thawne (my least favorite villain) and killed off Thad Thawne (my absolute favorite villain)...but it was also the place where my favorite version of Axel was born.

Axel’s part in Rogue War ended when James beat the hell out of him, stole his mask and shoes, and tossed him in a dumpster. Between Rogue War and Rogues’ Revenge, Axel showed up in all of one comic, where he murdered a quartet of college students in the Detective Chimp: Helmet of Fate issue:

It’s one of those comics that really doesn’t make a ton of sense out of Axel’s characterization, what little there was to begin with. When we next see Axel in Rogues’ Revenge #1, he’s put together his own little gang. While his Trickster gang dresses like him, Axel is the only one who actually uses tricks, the other guys use guns. They’re disposed of, and Axel is folded back in with the Rogues. After Len beats him up a bit, of course:

But what else is new, right? After a whole rigamarole about the Rogues going to Gambi’s workshop to give their costumes back, but they find him beat all to hell by a group calling themselves the New Rogues, who’d also kidnapped Len’s father. The Rogues find them. There’s a fight. And then, this:

Followed very closely by this:

And quite literally immediately after, this:

And this is it. This is my favorite version of Axel, born from what might be the shittiest comic of all time. My favorite version of Axel is the underutilized “scared rabbit covering it all up with false bravado” version, which we would now see in everything following this issue, up until the New 52. After Rogues’ Revenge, Axel’s speaking panels were cut to practically nothing. He lurked in the background of scenes, helped out, had a one-liner or two, but did Johns ever again attempt to give him any kind of depth? Nope. All his character development from this point on would come from Scott Kolins:

This page baffled me for the longest time, when it came out. Len has just had Mick kill his father for him. Third panel, Axel’s expression is very neutral, not giving away anything. Fifth panel, peeking out from behind Len, his expression borders on worry, but by panel six right next to it, he’s schooled himself back to neutrality. Then we get this page:

“Us”, Axel says. As if he actually did any murdering of his own. That’s why the past sadistic streak and the Detective Chimp issue never sat well with me. Where did these traits spring from? I know I said earlier that the whole “no conscience” thing might be to blame, but it was never consistent. 

Scroll back up. Look at those facial expressions. Kolins might draw Len craggier than a mountain peak, but his Axel is definitely the most expressive. Look at the page with Mark causing faux-Abra Kadabra to explode. Look at that bottom-right panel. You can literally see him being terrified of the people he’s with, finally understanding exactly what they’re capable of, and realizing that he’s in too deep to get out unharmed. But at the same time…he doesn’t want out, because these guys are all Dad now. He idolizes them and he fears them. So he digs deep for the set of balls that got him into Blacksmith’s circuit, and uses the fact that none of the others have really tried to get to know him to his advantage. Bad jokes, ignorance, bratting it up…hiding his fear. After the page above, Axel spends the rest of Rogues’ Revenge making some of the silliest expressions he ever has in a comic when he’s in focus, but out of focus, he’s all frowns and neutral faces. He does end up aiding in Inertia’s murder...somehow

Seriously, what the hell is he shooting at him, a spring? It’s coiled too loosely to choke him, and though the shot of Thad’s corpse shows it still wrapped around his throat, there’s no bruising there like on his face and body.

The next place Axel, or the Rogues for that matter, show up is in Blackest Night: Flash, another Johns disaster. There, he’s the comedic relief from start to finish. He’s not particularly interested in fighting zombies, so his expressions tend to range from a very fake-looking full-face grin to straight up terror:

And of course, the pit. I’ve got a whole other laundry list of ways comics failed Owen Mercer, but that’s not for here. When the horribly out of character Captain Cold confronts the even more horribly out of character Owen about his actions in trying to bring back his father, it’s bad. But is it “copying every line and forehead wrinkle from Mark’s face onto Axel’s face” bad?

Bam. After Blackest Night, the Rogues would show up only once more before Flashpoint, in a couple of issues of the Brightest Day Flash series. Here, he actually has a few panels of dialogue and is actually shown to be doing things for a change. 

One of his only panels worth mentioning, though, is this one from issue 6:

So...if Axel is a millennial, then that means he was born between 1981 and 1997, making him at most 29 and at least 13 back in 2010. Release this kid’s age, DC. The world wants to know.

So. You’d think a character study on a Trickster would end with a bang, but I don’t really think it can. Axel is honestly a pretty weak character, whose goals and motivations are either bland or entirely nonexistent. We never got a real backstory for him other than a few thoughtboxes in the Flash 1/2 issue, we never got to see how he’d blossom under a competent writer pre-New 52, his entire existence seemed to be one of those famous Johns dropped plots. He feels like he should have a bigger role than he does, and is in fact the legacy Rogue with the least number of pre-New 52 appearances. Which is ironic, because he’s the only legacy Rogue that escaped erasure with the rest of the old universe. His few appearances in the New 52 Flash title, the Rebirth Flash title, and non-canon books like Injustice have given him more of a character than all of his time under Johns, and he’s better off for it. Except for the Injustice universe, where he’s dead.

I guess all I can say is, the kid was interesting enough to deserve better, but it took his old universe being wiped out and replaced for him to get it. Bummer.

[tjmartin45]

Retconciliation Part 3: The Retcon Theory

Hello again!  I hope you’re as excited as I am to continue, cause we should get to the meat of the theory in this part.  Also, as that implies, this is Part 3 of my 4 Part series on the Retcon, so if you haven’t read the last two parts, you can find them here.

To start, a short recap:

So far we’ve failed to prove that the retcon follows the rules set up earlier in the comic.  What John and Dave have suggested as possible answers haven’t held up to scrutiny, and their theories combined didn’t really work either.  So now we need to forge some sort of new path!

We just have to figure out how the fuck to do that.

….

Hmm.

...

Well, we still haven’t answered one question: what about the Ultimate Juju gave John the ability to change things in the first place?  Can we even answer that?

Well, yeah, actually.  But I didn’t answer this one���BKEW did.  The full theory can be found and read here, but for the purpose of this theory, I’ll sum it up and add a few things of my own.  But full credit for this next section goes to BKEW, as it heavily builds off of his theory.

The Ultimate Juju’s Power

First, let’s start with a question: what is the aspect of breath?  Breath is the aspect of distance and detachment.  It’s defined by the stuff between things—think of air itself, for that matter.  Moreover, think of John’s god tier power.  As Heir of Breath, he turns into the air (into the matter between things) and, as the air, moves to a new location.  In other words, his power is to detach from himself—what John does once he’s detached is completely up to him and is not determined by either his aspect or his class (there are other parts of this power as well, but they aren’t pertinent to this post yet).

If we compare this with the Retcon power, the similarities are striking; both powers allow John to move quickly and undetectably to different locations by detaching himself from his physical form (the former through becoming breath, the latter through teleportation).  This being said, there are still some obvious differences.  The first is a difference of time; the Retcon power allows John to time travel.  The second is a difference of space.  While John could already turn into the wind and change locations that way, the Retcon power allows for straight up teleportation.  But, as Homestuck has said many times (ha), Time and Space are linked.  And therefore, location is more than just a place in space; a location is a place in space defined by its time.  If we look at it from that angle, then the two powers are almost identical—they just define location slightly differently.  And therefore, we can tell through observation that John’s Retcon Power is just a supercharged version of his God Tier ability—an ability that allows him to detach himself from his physical form and change location.

However, there’s a problem with this idea: if the Ultimate Juju did supercharge John’s God Tier ability, why wasn’t his windy thing (his ability to blow the wind) affected?  Simply, because the definition above doesn’t go narrow enough.

Based on the evidence above, we know that the Ultimate Juju affected and expanded John’s God Tier power in some way.  If we think about it, there are only two ways it could do this: either by supercharging his aspect or by expanding his class.  Just so we’re on the same page, your aspect is the type of power you have and your class is how you use that power.  So, the Juju could either expand what John’s power is or expand how he uses it.  In this case, it expands John’s aspect (what John’s power is) because it increases how much John can detach—first from only space, then from both space and time.

But the Ultimate Juju goes even a little further than that.  It doesn’t only add time to list of things John can detach from, but it also increases the amount John can detach from space.  Before, John could detach from his physical form, allowing him to travel around the world as the wind, but while traveling as the wind, he was always strictly attached to space itself.  With his Retcon Ability, that is no longer so.  Now, John teleports, detaching himself from space entirely when he travels between locations in space-time.  

In summary, the Ultimate Juju supercharged John’s Aspect, allowing him to detach completely from space and time.  In other words, John’s Retcon Ability is the ability to detach from the timeline—the manifestation of both space and time (because a timeline is more than just a 1-dimensional representation of Time—it’s the 4-dimensional reality of all locations at all times).  This detachment then allows John to bounce around both time and space and change things.

A quick aside: thanks again to BKEW.  I’m going to begin to build off what he wrote now, but his theory is worth the read and can be found here.  

Anyway, before we move on with the rest of the theory, let’s take stock of where we are.

The idea that John is detached from the timeline isn’t new.  I didn’t come up with that idea originally and nor did BKEW.  However, what BKEW did was prove how the Ultimate Juju detached John from the timeline. This is really important because it’s the first thing we’ve found in this whole Retcon mess that’s legal.  I’m not gonna pat myself on my back too much, though, because it was BKEW’s work and there’s a lot of other questions to answer.

Let’s press on.  

It’s great that John’s ability to time travel is legal, but it doesn’t account for the changes he makes when he time travels.  The Overwriting and Time Travel Theories from the last part—they still don’t work; we still need a way to reconcile for these changes.

But while it doesn’t explain the legality of the changes, the Ultimate Juju’s power gives us the key to explaining them.

The theories in Part 2 were wrong because they all chained John to a single timeline.  This wasn’t unreasonable, as, for most of the comic, John was chained to it.  But the Ultimate Juju and John’s Retcon Power broke that chain, allowing John to detach from it completely.  With that chain broken and John free from the timeline, what do we get?  We get: 

The Retcon Theory.

The Retcon Theory states that when John jumps to a new location in space-time, he is using his supercharged aspect of Breath to detach from his current timeline and reattach to a new one.

We’re going to have to do a lot of work to prove this, but first, we must have an incredibly good understanding of three mechanics in Homestuck:

1. Every decision in Homestuck creates both an Alpha and a Doomed timeline.  This is the simplest of the three mechanics and we’ve already talked about it a lot in Part 1, so I’m not going to waste any more time with it here.

2. Because of how time works in Paradox Space, all possible timelines have and always will exist.  This is much more abstract.  Let’s consider the following: Person A makes a decision and, by doing so, creates a Doomed and an Alpha timeline split, like the one shown below:

From the perspective of Person A, the split between the Alpha and the Doomed Timelines didn’t exist before their decision.  And, from their perspective, the perspective of someone in linear time, they’re right.  But, in reality, Person A would be very wrong.  Consider our perspective.  From our perspective, we never saw the split happen—it was always there in the drawing above.  So too in Paradox Space; the split in timelines didn’t suddenly appear, it was there from the beginning.  

Now imagine expanding the above diagram to encompass the entire Alpha timeline and its many doomed offshoots.  We would see that every single possible timeline has already been created.  From this perspective, they all have and always will exist.  This is an important mechanic to understand because it’s the mechanic that causes every single possible decision in Homestuck to be inevitable.  They’re all inevitable because they all already exist from a perspective outside of linear time.  This will be important for this theory, not only because it proves that all of John’s jumps are inevitable, but because it allows John access to every possible timeline in existence (or at least access to every timeline John will inevitably jump to in the comic).  And this is where we introduce a new mechanic:

3. For every location in every timeline John jumps to, there is another timeline in which John never appeared in that location at that time.  Think of it this way: let’s say that John uses his Retcon Power to jump to LOWAS and appears on the planet at 4:13 on 6/12.  When he does this, two timelines are affected.  In one, the “alpha” timeline, John appears on LOWAS at 4:13 on 6/12.  In the other, the “Doomed” timeline, John does not appear at 4:13 on 6/12.  This is because John’s jumps affect what was “supposed” to happen.  The “doomed” timeline continues as if John never got there, the way it was “supposed” to go.  But in the other timeline, John appears, affecting what was “supposed” to happen.  However, John getting there is what was supposed to happen, so it becomes the “alpha” timeline.  

Now, with all of those words out of the way, let’s prove this thing.  How about we start with the scene that killed the three theories from Part 2: 

The John Triple Threat.

Let’s start with a new diagram:

Ah, there we go.  Based on Mechanic 3, it’s easy to assume that there are two major timeline splits in this scenario: one when Current John (CJ) arrives, and one when Future John (FJ) arrives.  At first, this makes logical sense: one offshoot timeline occurs when CJ both does and doesn’t jump to the first point and one occurs when FJ does the same with the second point.  This, however, creates the same problem we saw in Part 2: it splits CJ into two different Johns: CJ and SJ.  This cannot work, as we proved in Part 2, but other than that, our logic seems solid.  What did we do wrong?  

Simply, this time we assumed that John only jumps twice: once to the first point and once to the second.  This, however, is false; he jumps 3 times—twice to the first and once to the second.  

But wait! How is it possible for both Johns to jump to the same point in time without seeing each other?  In time travel, you can’t, but you can in timeline travel.  Time for another graph:

As the graph above shows, in timeline travel, SJ and CJ are not hopping to the same point in time on a single timeline, but instead to the same point in time on two splitting timelines.  Because they both exist in different timelines at that moment, they don’t directly affect each other and no new Johns are created.  This also works with our third mechanic.  The timeline in which SJ doesn’t appear at that moment is CJ’s timeline and vice versa!  

Now, let’s consider FJ.  Just like before, the timeline where FJ appears is CJ’s timeline and the one where he doesn’t is SJ’s.  However, there seems to be a glaring error: no direct split is caused by FJ’s jump.  This is fine because while the split into two timelines at Point 1 is caused originally by SJ’s first jump to that timeline, it is defined by whether or not FJ shows up.  And John, during his adventure, jumps to the beginning of each timeline defined in this way, first as SJ, then as CJ.  Furthermore, an offshoot wouldn’t exist from FJ’s jump due to it fulfilling a timeloop—timeloops do not create offshoot timelines. 

Now, with this logic in place, let’s go through this event chronologically and catch all the little nuances of what happens.

From John’s perspective, SJ happens first.  He jumps from someplace in space-time to the upper, SJ timeline, the one defined by the lack of FJ.  As such, SJ interrupts Dave and Jade’s conversation as we see in Part 2 of this series.  We don’t know what happens to John after this scene in the comic ends, but we do know that at some point in the not too distance future, he jumps again.  This time, he lands on the lower timeline, the one that’s caused by the lack of SJ but is defined by the presence of FJ.  FJ then stops SJ from being an idiot and pushes him to...to...

Actually, where do they go?  A few times we see John jump to background-less places, but where are those places supposed to be?  

They’re outside of the timeline.  Because John is outside of all timelines during these pages, there’s no background.  He’s just on the website!  Ahh, medium breaking...

Anyway, FJ sends CJ to Jane and Jake before going to start the main part of the Retcon event (which we’ll tackle in a bit).  CJ then continues his adventure through [S] Game Over until he finally, as FJ, jumps back to the triple John event.  This jump defines the two split timelines by his presence, and, now there, he sets CJ straight and moves on to save the Alpha timeline.

Finally, we’ve found a theory that works with this moment.  But does it hold up consistently across the comic?  There’s only one way to find out: let’s look!

Jumping Through the Plot

For the rest of John’s jumps, we don’t get to see the timelines where he doesn’t appear because they’re not relevant and they aren’t needed to show how the power works.  The Triple Johns did that on their own.  Because of this, what happens next is pretty simple and easy to follow.  As such, we’re just going to skim it.   

Let’s start with CJ’s forced jump by FJ to Jane and Jake.  After using his windy powers to clear some stuff up, he flies away and finds Roxy.  Not too much later, John jumps to the future Planet Earth in Caliborn’s game session.  Specifically, John jumps into Caliborn’s, let’s say, “art”.  John gets pissed off at Caliborn (and also completely covered in fake Daves) before eventually jumping away to somewhere else.  After a while, he jumps back to Caliborn’s game session right in time for [S] Game Over.  After, let’s say “giving Caliborn a piece of his mind”, he jumps back to his session, which he finds destroyed.  He wonders around, finding Dirk alone and Roxy carrying a dying Rose.  After a very dramatic and sad scene, Rose dies (we are very sad) and John and Roxy converse until they are interrupted by Terezi who bashes John’s face with her head and yells “F1X TH1S!!”  After some talking, Roxy and John go to find their Denizens.  

Before we move on, remember that for every jump John took, there was a timeline in which John didn’t appear.  There’s a timeline where John doesn’t interrupt Caliborn’s art session, one where John doesn’t beat the living shit out of Caliborn, and one where John never returns to the post-Game Over game session.  When you think about it, the stories of the characters from the session where John never appeared are extremely devastating.  While John did save the Alpha timeline, he did so at the cost of many, many timelines.

Anyway, John completes his personal quest, in the process gaining control over his powers.  By the way, this whole scene is one of my personal favorites because it shows that Hussie had this planned the whole time.  John needed his Retcon Power to clear the pipes of oil; if he just blew the oil away, it would have come back and clogged the pipes before he could finish his song.  So, really, well done Hussie!  Also, before you ask, we will come back and explain the oil splotches from this scene, but in the next part.

Now in control of his powers, John brings LOWAS into the area between timelines, where he finds Roxy.  They converse before John leaves to figure out what to do.  After a handful of jumps (including one completing the Retcon Time Loop above), he remembers Terezi’s “there’s no place like home” and manages to jump back to that moment with Terezi.

For the most part, this has been pretty standard, but now we hit something interesting!  When we travel back to Terezi we see a second John!  What’s up with that?

Firstly, let’s quickly agree that this John is a second John.  When John left to find his Denizen, there was no Retcon John that came back.  Therefore, our John, the one that we’ve traveled with this whole time, does not have the memory of him coming back when Terezi does her “There’s no place like home” mind-thing.  But the other John does have that memory and, therefore, is a different John.  So how do we deal with this?

So far, we’ve assumed that John’s Retcon Power stops him from ever becoming a doomed John.  This is not true—even with the Retcon Power, John can become doomed!  It just so happens that in the main scenario we’ve looked at, the Triple John Event, a doomed John couldn’t exist.  This isn’t because a doomed John wasn’t possible, but because, as we proved in Part 2, all the Johns in the Triple John Event were the same John appearing at different times.  But here, we are clearly dealing with two Johns, so the second John must be doomed.

But that leaves a loose end.  The doomed John can also jump timelines, so what’s stopping him from doing that and fucking things up big time?

In a way, nothing is.  But at the same time, the question doesn’t really matter because we know what the doomed John does next.

Right now, our doomed John can only do one thing: see his denizen.  That’s where he was going.  The denizen of the doomed John, also Typheus, knows of Alpha John and, as with the denizen that exploded LOWAS on Jade’s lonely travel to the new session, cannot allow for the existence of multiple “alpha” Johns.  And so John’s denizen kills the doomed John instantly.  

But, just for laughs, let’s assume this doesn’t happen.  What if doomed John goes rogue and decides to solve things on his own without seeing his Denizen?  Even if he does this, he still wouldn’t be able to fuck up the comic.  Everything in Homestuck is inevitable and has already happened from a non-linear perspective.  So if that Doomed John did fuck things up in the true Alpha Timeline, we would have seen it in the comic.  That isn’t to say that he couldn’t fuck things up on other timelines—he can!  It’d actually make a great fanfic, I think.  But he just can’t screw with the main Alpha Timeline.

Anyway, this part is really long, so I’m going to close it here before it gets any more unreasonable than it already is.  The good news is that we’re almost there!  We have a theory which seems to be working now and we’ve shown how it works for a lot of the comic.  But there’s still a lot to do 

However, there’s still a lot to clean up.  In the next part, we’re going to tackle the actual Retcon Event, consider the ink splotches and arms, and also look at how John’s Retcon Power completely reshaped the timeline on a large scale.  We’re not through this yet!  Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you tomorrow!  

I’ll update this with a link to Part 4 tomorrow when it comes out!

I know I’ve said this twice already, but special thanks to @bladekindeyewear for his theory on the Ultimate Juju’s Power.  It really makes understanding this entire mess possible, so thanks again!

If you’d like to go back and reread anything or if this is the first Part you’ve seen, click here to get to the master post!

Do you like music?  Do you like podcasts?  Do you like music podcasts in which at least half of the content has nothing to do with music?  If so, you can find the podcast I do with my brother, the Song Exchange, HERE!  We think it’s pretty ok, and you should check it out!

Thanks again for reading, and see you tomorrow for the exciting conclusion!

[planar-echoes]

Thick-Headed Mage (Unknown Plane) By Matt Cavotta

What are they doing in here? An upscale mage’s emporium is not the place one would expect to see a couple of goblins. Oh, look at them. They’re perusing the wares as if they have a clue as to what any of this is for. I chuckle to myself and continue picking up the components on my list. I give the awful duo no more thought... Until I happen to catch a couple real words among the gibberish they spit and bark to each other. “Echo magic.”

You know, the reason that I understood those words is because goblins have no magic lexicon of their own. They steal our words and, as I suspect, they just steal our spells as well. They can hardly figure out how to use a fork and knife, let alone how to channel and convert mana into magical matter. I guess if they were to stumble upon some arcane secrets, they would end up foolishly buying into echo magic too.

Back at the Institute, we call them “dog spells.” You see, echo magic is like a dog, you feed it once and it keeps coming back for more attention and table scraps. In the long run, it’s a complete mind and mana hog. Of course, in the short term, the spells require very little skill or connection to the land. Now that I think about it, “dog spells” are perfect for goblins – who are just as likely to grovel and bark for table scraps.

You know, there was a time when a goblin mage was a rare thing. These days it seems like they’re running about all over the place, lighting things on fire, pretending to be real wizards. The good thing about goblin mages is that they’re blundering hacks. Since I am pretty sure that goblins have not evolved mentally, I can only assume that magic has evolved, evolved into something much more accessible – too accessible, if you ask me. Then again, with the timeline looking more like a scribble these days, it could just be that many versions of the same two or three goblin wizards keep popping into the now from one of the infinite thens. I don’t think about it too hard; goblin wizards are as unworthy of thought as treefolk sprinters.

But then I walk by the pair and, ugh, the stench. There they are, huddled over the frozen lava beads, stinking up the place. One of them, the one that seems to be the “brains” of the pair, gives the other a sharp smack in the head. I quickly shuffle by with my nose in the air to avoid catching the waft as I pass. You know, if I were to conjure a deathly cloud of noxious gas, it would be because I had made all the proper incantations, traced the proper runes upon the earth beneath my feet, and channeled the power of land and æther to bring forth a controlled plume. All goblins have to do is eat and then wait a few minutes. I am a wizard. Goblins are scum.

As I make my way by, I put them out of my mind. I have work to do and I need not be distracted by their comic wretchedness. Before I can turn to the next aisle, they scurry past me, actually bumping against my leg with their foul, callused skin. What’s worse is that they swipe the last of the diamond powder! I quickly recheck my list. Diamond powder. I feel my muscles begin to clench up and my mind cloud with rage. What could these two jokers need mana powder for? Oh, of course, to “feed the dog.” There is no way I am going to let them foil my plan just to waste the powder on echo spells.

“Excuse me, sirs,” I say, choking back the bile that slithers up my throat upon uttering the words. “I was just about to obtain this diamond powder when you barged into my leg, keeping me from it.”

“Too bad. Too slow,” one replies. Then it whacks the other on the top of the head with the pouch of powder. Take a breath, take a deep breath, I tell myself. Control. Intelligence. Success. Rage is for... well, for their kind. I gather my thoughts.

“I am working on a very important summons for a study at the Institute. Without that powder, I cannot complete it. Please,” (I want to tear my own tongue out). “Please, let me purchase the...”

About the point where I have a vision of myself gripping a hand saw and raking it across my own outstretched tongue I realize that the foul little duo has already slithered away to pay.

“Sir,” I call out to the proprietor. “Please, you must allow me to buy the diamond powder! I will pay double.”

“Sorry, sir. I have already taken payment for the powder.”

Control and intelligence are not bringing me success right now! I pay for what I have already gathered and huff out the door. I see the goblins shambling off down the street. Perhaps control and intelligence did not bring me success here in the mage’s shop... my eyes pinch, my brow furrows...but they would undoubtedly do so in a contest of spellcraft. My eyes widen. Yes. I will take the diamond powder from the lowly goblins once I soundly swat them with the power of high magic. I will teach these dogs a lesson about magic you don’t find in reeking mountain warrens.

I hustle down the steps and out into the street. I don’t want to lose sight of them – they could easily get lost in a crowd of much larger, and less stinking, folk. I take heart in the fact that, should I lose sight of them, I can always follow my nose. The thought was worth a chuckle, but was, ultimately, unnecessary.

They make their way straight out of the center of town and toward the hills in the distance. At this point, I assume that the goblin that keeps smacking the other is the “wizard” and the one with all the scars is the unfortunate pupil. I consider which one I will focus my attention upon once the duel gets heated. In the end, I guess it doesn’t matter. The two of them together do not amount to a single human wizard. I have a little chuckle at the thought of how many goblins brains it would take to equal my own. It would be a pile as big as a wumpus, I bet – and that’s working on the assumption that their brains are the size of tomato seeds.

When I finally walk them down we are a good mile or so out of town. This is good. I do not want to draw any attention to my little revenge duel. It would not go over well with the others at the Institute.

“You, stop where you are!” I bellow. “I will have my diamond powder now. I challenge you!” These words of challenge are common for wizards – real wizards. They are not hostile, but rather just the invitation to a test of skills. The goblins will probably not understand, requiring a little more provocation. Again, I laugh at myself as I treat these animals as if they were actual learned mages. No matter, this duel will be over soon.

Surprisingly, they seem to understand the challenge. I am spared the humiliation of “speaking their language,” the language of rage and savagery. I delight in the fact that they give me this opportunity to show how a noble mage conducts himself in challenge and in victory.

In pure Institute fashion, I make no aggressive move. Instead, I ready a simple unsummons. The Institute teaches, as I have stated earlier, that control and intelligence lead to success. Counterspellmagic, they teach, is the perfect early move. In one simple spell I control the magic on the field and I learn what sort of spells my opponent aims to use against me. Control and intelligence. Still, I ready the unsummons. I feel a little sly, given that I already know what sort of spells these hacks plan to use against me. Dog spells. Ha! A simple unsummons can thwart all the plans of an echo mage. While they are busy minding their mana and the spells they have already cast, I can create threats of my own or just sit back and ready another control spell.

I see the two of them bickering at each other. They keep pointing off in the distance then back at me. Finally, the other one gets a whack in the head and he produces a small stick and some other trinkets from a leather pouch. Then they get to work. As they prepare their “magic,” they keep looking over at me, scowling and growling. I am not worried. I assume that it will take these two wickless candles a long time to get to where I have been since moment one. I am sure they are puzzled by the fact that I have not come out and summoned an attacker – aggression and violence are all they know, after all. Besides, I already have the answer before they even produce the question. Still, I watch in amusement as they labor over a summoning circle. I do cringe at the fact that they immediately use up the diamond powder to draw it upon the ground. Strangely, I do not mind. The powder, as it turns out, is not my quarry after all.

They draw the circle, and then another circle inside of it. Then, here’s the best part, the one starts jumping and bounding about performing the most crude and, quite honestly, embarrassing summoning ritual I have ever seen. The other one stands close by, shouting... something. Encouragement? Ridicule, most likely.

There is a flash within circle. It burns away to reveal...I’ll give you one guess – another goblin. This one is armed with a pointed stick. Ooooh, very frightening. It just goes to show how stupid goblins are. You give them access to magic and the wide world of possibilities it opens and what do they create but the same dumb thing they would be creating on a boring night down in the warrens. I stand tall and show no fear. The new goblin glares at me, then charges as the summoner barks out some buffoonish goblin command. I move not a muscle. I pay the attacker no mind. Instead I watch the mage, waiting for him to jump and bound about again, calling up more mana to feed his attacking dog. Once he does, I will flick my unsummons from the tip of my finger and send it whimpering back to its hole. A-ha, there he goes.

Just for fun, I wait until the goblin gets close enough to really taste its rage. Then, just... when... he... lifts... his... stick. Poof. That was too easy. Maybe I should consider a different tactic for his next spell. Hmmm... What! Another summoning flash takes me by surprise! I turn my attention to the summoning circle and... how? Another goblin materializes from the flame. How did they channel enough mana? How did they feed both dogs? It must be the diamond powder! That powder should have been mine!

I backpedal quickly. This one does not bother to wait for an attack order. I try to come up with a simple spell I can cast on the run – something that could keep this goblin at bay while I get more powerful magic ready. Before I can think of a proper defense, plain old defense is all I can come up with. I quickly recall my first basic summon spell and, against my better judgment – I speak the word and put my hands together, making the trivial little flapping motion. With little fanfare, it appears. I should be safe for a moment while I find a real answer. The contraption manages to click and grind and flap its wings once or twice before the goblin smashes headfirst into it.

The ornithopter shatters and falls to the ground. Almost without thinking I snap off another unsummons, but not before I feel the heat of another summoning flash. Somehow the goblins are accessing enough mana to stay one step ahead of me. I have to look away a moment, to call up another spell. My mind washes and I see the faraway seas. I feel their power and I look into their depths. I do not trust what I see. It is not countermagic. It is not divination. It is not even a formidable denizen of air or sea.

With two more goblins barreling toward me, I question not the vision and begin summoning the a wall of ice. Before I can cast the spell, before I can even begin feeling the humiliation of summoning a wall, I feel upon my face another flash of heat, and then another. Through the ice’s rippling translucence I can see the two goblin forms streaking off to find a way around the wall with two more following closely behind. Then, all too clearly, I see a fifth goblin – a rabid, weathered looking creature wielding a most peculiar implement. I see every detail of the iridescent, multi-lashed scourge it snaps back and forth. I do not fear the creature so much as the fact that my view of it is not diffused by a thick slab of ice. It does not bother to attack me. Why should it, when the other four goblins have just cut straight toward me... now that I am unprotected. I run.

It is a good thing for me that goblins should have such short legs. I outrun them easily. Or maybe they decided to turn to some easier prey, or on each other. Goblins are bullies and cowards like that. Whatever the case, I make it back to town and am clear of danger.

I catch my breath and begin to collect my thoughts. Control. Intelligence. Control. Intelligence. Yes. Yes, I must use what I have learned to take command of my situation. I must take what I have experienced and use it to achieve success. Today I saw the power of echo magic. The others at the Institute will never believe me, not until I can prove it. I will get to that later. For now, I must find some diamond powder. I am sure that it is the key to unlocking this mystery. The goblins stumbled upon something. They bumbled into a discovery. Diamond powder has some natural affinity for echo magic. Of this I am sure.

I will study the relationship between echo magic and the diamond powder. I will find and master the secret upon which the goblins stumbled. Then, amid much fanfare and adulation, I will unveil my discovery to the Institute. But first I will seek out the two stupid goblins and use their own trick against them. They will see how a real mage does his work. They will see how a real mage crushes an opponent. They will see me, a man, do this how a real mage does it – alone. Without some sniveling little sidekick to carry my things and feel the back of my hand.

[obsidianarchives]

AJay Jordan

AJay Jordan, has always been a person who likes to tell a story. She’s always sought to communicate with people in a creative way, having studied vocal performance for 14 years before moving onto film production and screenwriting which brought her back to creative writing. She loves writing magical revenge plots featuring “fantastical dope black girls and boys.” In an effort to make stories centering the experiences of marginalized people, she created The Bookshelf, an online database of 500+ books by underrepresented authors.

Black Girls Create: What do you create?

I am very self conscious about the stuff that I create, and I’m never sure if it’s enough, whether it’s good enough, or enough work, or enough quality. So I feel like I create, and beyond that I stop my brain from going into imposter syndrome mode. I can say I create websites and I create stories, but if I were to get deeper—I don’t know. It’s really hard. I can see everyone else and I can see everyone else’s purpose with their actions and what they create and what they’re trying to do but it’s hard seeing myself.

I hope that I create more space for marginalized people, more specifically brown and Black people, and more specifically Black people, and more specifically Black people with dark complexions because that is what my family reflects and that’s what my children will reflect. And I guess those are the stories I would have wanted to see as a little brown girl, brown Black girl, Black Black girl. When I was creating The Bookshelf I knew right away I wasn’t going to make it just for the age category that I write for. I also wanted to make finding those books accessible for parents finding stories that look like them.

About The Bookshelf

As a writer for the past couple of years I’ve gotten to know this writing community…and through it I found it was hard to find books by people of color. Usually Goodreads is my go to place to look for books, but even then our percentages are so abysmal. I would rather there be a place where I can find a book or even discover new books that are own voices because there are so many tricky people out there who don’t share ethnicity or marginalization with these people. Nothing against them. [I'm] not saying that they can’t do their due diligence, but they’re writing from a place where they’re not experienced and that’s inauthenticity.  I’m sitting here with a book that’s not on the shelf and I’m reading your story that has to do with my culture and you’re profiting from this.

Long story short, I wanted there to be a way to find books easier. I was actually going to hold onto The Bookshelf because that was my filler name for the time being. I was going to change it to something but then Barnes & Noble dropped that bullshit changing all those classic white titles and putting brown faces on the covers and I was like, “Dang, I can’t even hold onto my database anymore and perfect it and make it better before I go live. I just have to do it now because I have to combat this issue with Barnes & Noble," because that is such a slippery slope and a bait and switch. I wasn’t here for it.

BGC: Why do you create?

I think very linearly and I imagine a line being drawn across the paper and you draw the line up, and you draw a line down, and squiggle it or you swirl it—that’s the trajectory of that one person. I feel like if maybe I had a second book as a child, not just the one [with Black representation], that trajectory that I had maybe would have been a little bit off; it may have changed the direction of what I would be today and so I feel like that’s why I do The Bookshelf, too. Because you don’t know what you don’t know and you never know where inspiration or where something will spark some level of interest in a child.

Black people don’t have all of the same experience. For me, I am a Black American and in turn an African American, but I don’t know my lineage enough to be able to connect to my culture. So, when I say things like, “Write stories about Black people even though Black people don’t all share the same experience,” it’s for all of those people like me who don’t know their own history. I’m seeing a little bit more stories feature African fantasies, which is still abysmal in the grand scheme of things, that Black stories are like 3% of publishing as a whole or whatever that percentage was. Although I love [African fantasy] stories, I want to write stories for those who don’t have those connections who would still be able to relate.

BGC: Who is your audience?

Definitely, I want to gear my stories towards Black teens, but I feel like you’re not going to find my book in the Scholastic Book Fair. Maybe some time in the future I'll write a middle-grade and you’ll find that at the book fair (you can get your little book and get your little bookmark to go with it).

I still want to gear toward a Black audience but at the same time I got so much inspiration from watching anime. When I watch it there’s a level of freedom. I want that freedom, but with Black characters. So I’m hoping that my audience would be those who like anime but also those who like to game (because I like to game sometimes and I get some inspiration from that, too). I want people to dress up and go to Comic Con in their costumes of my characters.

BGC: Who or what inspired you to do what you do?

"I want to create experiences but I want to have fun while creating those experiences as well."  -- AJay Jordan

This is a fair question but the gag is I don’t know if I am inspired by anyone. It’s more like a self motivation for me because I want to create something fun for people to experience. I want to create experiences but I want to have fun while creating those experiences as well. You know how in high school people would be like, “Oh this is the person I look up to. I want to be just like them.” That was not me. 

I’ve always been the person to go left when everyone wanted to go right. It’s almost like I was challenging myself to be my own inspiration. I am a competitive person in all things. I will kill you in Uno, Monopoly is my game. I can look up to people but it doesn’t give me the fire to create. It’s the competition with myself or seeing others do something terribly that makes me think, “Hey! I can do that!” 

I want to be better everyday. Every time I do something I try to surpass what I created because I don’t have someone to look up to and gauge myself [by]. I just work hard and hope it works out for the best.

BGC: Why is it important as a Black person to create?

My first answer is representation, because that percentage in publishing is so low that it’s almost like we shouldn’t even exist. Animals will take a higher percentage than a person of color — I think in total, too. On the flip side, those in publishing that share the same marginalization of us querying authors is abysmal, as well. Which is why it’s so hard when agents say things like, “Oh I couldn’t connect.” You couldn’t connect because you don’t share these experiences. Your own biases are getting in the way of stories that are authentic.

Representation will allow those that come after us to feel like they have the ability to do what we do. A Black little boy isn’t going to know he can become a bio-engineer unless he sees one. It’s almost like feeling like it’s OK to be here, you deserve to be here, too.

BGC: Why is it important that folks, but especially marginalized people, have access to these stories?

I think that [The Bookshelf] is a great resource for writers who want to comp their own books because sometimes literary agents ask for two titles to see where your book would sit on an actual bookshelf. I’ve even had editors tell me that they use it as comps for the stories that they’re reading for. 

I’ve had teachers and librarians tell me it helps them build their lists, that they would also maybe have their students come to the website and find new books. I always tell them to do their research before you have them jump on the site because I have books from picture books all the way to adult. 

I’m hoping that it will create baby writers. So those who didn’t think that they would be a writer will see these stories and will be excited to write more. It’s like a virtual hand reaching back to pull up children of color or Black children to write these crazy fantastic stories and become authors. 

But also to up the percentage of reading. Reading has definitely changed my life. I was not a reader when I was a kid. I had that one picture book [that had Black representation]. My godmother even tried to pay me per chapter to read this book. I did not finish the book. It was only because I did not have the right story in my hand. It wasn’t until there was finally a book that I was like, “Wow that was actually a good book.” It was that moment that I found a book I actually liked that it changed the trajectory of my career. I don’t think I would be a writer today, I don’t think The Bookshelf would exist, I don’t think I would be as passionate about representation and trying to make these books accessible to people. None of this would exist if it wasn’t for that one book. This is serious. My life could have been completely different if not for reading that book. If that happened to me, it can happen to someone else. And if it can happen to someone else, it can happen earlier in their timeline for their life and trajectory and change their life for good. I feel like books are good things and we have to uplift them especially Black and brown and marginalized voices.

BGC: How do you balance creating with the rest of your life?

I feel like I’m good but I feel like I’m not. I feel like I’m good because I think very linearly and I will be doing multiple projects at once and I’m like Go-Go Gadget, let’s-get-this-shit-done. Let’s do it and have fun. 

At the same time when I work, sometimes I forget to eat, sometimes I forget to drink water, sometimes I forget to stretch, maybe go out into the sun and get some vitamin D. I don’t exercise because I’m so into my creative work. I’m always doing something and when I’m glued to my screen and I’m just going. I don’t feel like my health deteriorates, but I forget to take care of myself. I have to work on that because I’m not going to stop doing something until I finish X, Y, and Z and that can backfire. I have to learn to stop and be OK with stopping. But I feel like I have to keep going so I can have results.

BGC: Any advice for people who don’t see themselves reflected in the stories around them?

One thing I didn’t get to do growing up was shadow people. I didn’t get to see this job or this art, I didn’t get a chance to see what something was about. I was very much in the dark. I essentially felt along the walls and found a light switch. If you want to skip that, try to shadow someone or even interview someone who does what you want to do. Try to get as close as you can in regards to things you have similar with the person. Whether you’re a little Black girl and you want to speak with a Black woman who is an architect. If you just do the research and find them and reach out and interview them because there’s potential in you having interest in whatever that is then I feel like you will find your path to creating much easier. 

Then, after talking with these people who are doing what you want to do, make sure to keep in contact with them…because if you keep those relationships you never know if it can help you down the line. If it’s a genuine interest in these different things, you never know.

BGC: Any future projects?

I am expanding The Bookshelf. I don’t know if I’m going to keep it under the same name, but it’s definitely moving in the direction of having its own website. And with that, I hope to add some other special things on that website too aside from just books. I am in the literary community and I know that writers struggle in the trenches and just struggle with writing period because writing is hard. So, I hope to add some tidbits on The Bookshelf for that and for those who just started writing and think they may want to write.

I’m drawing more. I can’t say that I’m the best artist but I feel happy with my work art right now, so I’m hoping to start doing some commissions with that but I’m probably going to limit my time on that because in order of importance The Bookshelf and my writing career take precedence.

I’m working very hard to find a literary agent that sees me and would be ecstatic to champion my book and champion my future stories. I’ve tried many different careers in my life and the only thing that has really stuck has been writing.

You can follow AJay on Twitter @AJay_Author and check out The Bookshelf here!

[comicteaparty]

September 6th, 2018 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on September 6th, 2018, from 5PM - 7PM PDT.  The chat focused on MORBIDITY by Charu.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB START!

Good evening, everyone~! This week’s Thursday Book Club is officially beginning! Today we are discussing MORBIDITY by Charu~! (https://tapas.io/series/MORBIDITY)

Remember that Thursday discussions are completely freeform! However, every 30 minutes I will drop in OPTIONAL discussion questions in case you’d like a bit of a prompt. If you miss out on one of these prompts, you can find them pinned for the chat’s duration. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is fun and respectfully appreciating the comic. All that said, let’s begin!

QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?

Superjustinbros

Ello!

RebelVampire

good day, SJ

Superjustinbros

Good day to you as well

RebelVampire

lets see, i think not so much a full scene, but one of my favorite moments is when Yuuto asks Keagan why Keagan let him in if Keagan doesn't recognize him. and keagan just has the best expression while saying he wonders himself. it was such a great insert of comedy in that moment that i couldnt help but laugh. i also think it was kind of a great showcase for keagan's personality as well

Superjustinbros

https://tapas.io/episode/1111726 I dunno why but I got a bit of a chuckle out of this scene

With how... sudden the tone changed

RebelVampire

i do enjoy how confused keagan looks in this part. i like the sense of ominous with that broken piece on the plant though. it screams with beautiful foreshadowing i hope at least.

Superjustinbros

Yeah

RebelVampire

ive also been enjoying how the recent chapter has been going. mostly with how its framed in that we never really get to see who i assume is ryo really. its focused on keagan and i like that it makes ryo seem a tad more mysterious

saetje

My favorite scene is definitely near the end of the content where Ryo starts freaking out/getting corrupted. I think it’s at that point we’re getting a sort of taste for a mood shift that’s going to be happening

Superjustinbros

I couldn't think of a good way to mention that little... episode earlier

but it definitely seems strange(edited)

saetje

I also agree I like that ryo is only seen through Keegan’s eyes right now. Solely focusing on Keegan’s perspective leaves ryo on a pedestal currently. I have a feeling we’re going to learn more about ryo later, but it’s smart to start us off through Kaegan’s eyes

RebelVampire

i like how with the whole mood shift that ryo was super accurate in that he was spoiling the mood. i particularly loved when yuuto caught up to ryo cause at that point just the sheer imagery and what was going on made me feel that the situation was truly dangerous

mathtans

I made it. ^^ Rebel, I liked that same scene, where Yuuto then remarks on how it's good he's trustworthy or whatnot.

Superjustinbros

MATH

mathtans

I didn't even notice the planet, whoa.

Hi all!

Superjustinbros

The end of the chapter looks like the start of some kind of crazy creepypasta(edited)

mathtans

Yuuto's attitude in general is pretty fun in my mind (okay if I play games?) but it definitely took a turn with the reactions towards the end. I think he didn't do his research on Keagan.

RebelVampire

haha it does kind of have a creepypasta vibe. i can picture the reddit thread for r/nosleep now. XD

to be fair to yuuto its been like 16 years so ryo would be a poor source of keagan info and maybe keagan is an internet hermit who doesnt even have facebook

saetje

I think it’s an interesting thought that kaegan’s attachment to Ryo is a little selfish. It seems as though it’s literally tethering Ryo’s ghost from moving on and putting his spirit (and others?) in danger, as well as ruining kaegan’s own relationships and life. Kaegan does seem quite overly obsessed(edited)

mathtans

It's possible. I wonder if Ryo was paying more attention to Keagan for a long time (either of his own volition or not) and only recently got his brother involved... then Yuuto didn't realize how bad things were.

seatje: Agreed. I wonder if maybe he was partly responsible for Ryo's death.

saetje

Oh that’s an interesting thought, math!

RebelVampire

yeah tbh i adore how grey it is. cause you could make an argument equally as valid in saying its selfish for ryo to ask keagan to move on. and i love that cause its what makes the conflict complicated and complex. cause there isnt one right answer cause you just cant make ppl feel things you want to feel at the drop of a hat.

saetje

So true

mathtans

I can't think of another good reason why he'd obsess that much. Even if they were lovers (which is kind of implied), I figure there has to be more to it...?

Yup, humans are a complex mess.

RebelVampire

nah they werent lovers cause huge age diff. i think the summary says it was a one-sided crush.

Superjustinbros

Right they are, math

RebelVampire

so theres def something fishy going on here

mathtans

I'm actually kind of reminded of a serial I wrote on a similar topic, which occurred to me as I was reading too. It's a good theme to build on.

saetje

I’m a little confused by the timeline- was kaegan young and just had a crush on an older ryo or did they get to a point of being consenting lovers?

Oh! Rebel answered

mathtans

Rebel: Ahh, good point, missed that. Guess I jumped to conclusions given the circumstances of when we first heard the name.

RebelVampire

“Nine year old Keagan had a onesided crush on eightteen year old Ryo. Then, Ryo died. Nearly sixteen years later Ryo's little brother Yuuto comes into Keagan's life to tell him to "get over Ryo's death".”

just so everyone can be on the same page

Superjustinbros

Thanks, Rebel.

RebelVampire

i take the implication to be that ryo died when keagan was 9

saetje

Okay, there you go! Thank you

RebelVampire

which man, props to keagan for A+ memory. i barely remember anything from when i was 9 XD

mathtans

Could still have been somewhat responsible though, even if young.

I barely remember things from last week sometimes. O.o

Superjustinbros

I remember a lot of things from my childhood

just saying

I practically remember how all the rooms in my house looked when I was that age

saetje

I was just thinking that, ha. Sixteen years is a long time to hold onto something, especially from childhood in such a strong way. But I guess it was also such a traumatic event for him, which tends to stick more too

Superjustinbros

and how my schools looked at the time I attended.

RebelVampire

yeah i guess if were being fair id have remembered a traumatic death. but it implies super closeness i think that goes beyond a one-sided crush. so theres definitely more to see there

QUESTION 2. While it’s clear that Keagan and Ryo had past history, a lot is left to question. How do you believe Keagan and Ryo met, especially considering their age difference? Why do you think Keagan crushed so hard on Ryo despite the age difference between them? Do you think the attachment to Ryo was born purely out of affection, or do you think there’s more to Keagan’s past that explains the attachment? Do you think the way Ryo died has something to do with why Keagan can’t move forward? Or is it something in general perhaps about Keagan’s past history with Ryo? Lastly, why do you think Keagan remembers Ryo so well but seems completely clueless about Yuuto?

gives self A+ for beautiful segway

mathtans

Or segue, even.

saetje

Oh that’s true- how could he not know yuuto?

mathtans

Maybe Yuuto's a half-brother?

saetje

I have a thought that yuuto may be a trans man? So perhaps he transitioned and presented as a girl on the past?

Superjustinbros

I wonder, if Ryo didn't die, would Keagan find it more easy to move forward?

mathtans

Yuuto's also younger, so maybe Ryo left home at 16 or something and didn't talk about his family.

saetje

Just feels as though the artist is fairly good at drawing anatomy of all sexes, not shying away from lgbt content, and yuuto seems intentionally more slender and androgynous. But it’s just a passing thought/hunch , I could be wrong

mathtans

On the topic of how they met... maybe they met online first? Or through some sort of spiritual connection? That could also explain the difficulty in letting go.

saetje

Yeah it’s also possible he never met Yuuto?

Superjustinbros

What was technology like back when Keagan was younger

I wonder

mathtans

Saeje: Could be, I guess based on some of the Q&A stuff I just see him as a guy with his own style.

Superjustinbros

Cause when I was that age the internet was like, brand new

mathtans

That who never met Yuuto, Keagan or Ryo himself?

saetje

Ah, I tend to skim q&a stuff so it’s possible I missed some key character insights

RebelVampire

dont discount the trans theory. never impossible. and i assume theyre following our time line so internet was probably like it was 16 years ago.

i feel like keagan must of met yuuto tho

just cause yuuto showed up thinking keagan would obviously know him somehow

and if they never met there is no reason for yuuto to assume that

and in all honesty it seems most likely that keagan met ryo through yuuto

just cause yuuto and keagan seem closer in age maybe

mathtans

I guess I just assumed that the "would obviously know" part came from the fact that if you're obsessing over a guy for 15+ years, you'd look into his family. Come to think, maybe they met at the funeral and Keegan simply doesn't recall that.

Assuming that there was a funeral, and it's not a case of Ryo's body vanishing after being murdered by an evil demon that Keagan unleashed upon the world.

saetje

just found this on the 'q&a' section, but might not be canon:(edited)

mathtans

(Oh no, new channel, I can't do my trolling face...)

Superjustinbros

Dawwww!!!

saetje

so I'm probably wrong aaand! I guess they did know each other, but it's just likely Kaegan didn't recognize him right away. I mean his style did change quite a lot

mathtans

Right, I saw that, I guess I didn't immediately think it was an actual photo as much as an artist rendering.

RebelVampire

ah yeah i was just gonna point that image out from the Q&A!

mathtans

Yuuto dyes the hair now.

Superjustinbros

well people do change a lot when they age

mathtans

I wonder if he went into the practice in part because of whatever happened to Ryo.

Maybe it used to be Ryo's thing.

Now gotta pick up the slack in the family.

RebelVampire

yeah to be fair if yuuto and keagan lost contact, of course he probably doesnt recognize yuuto after 16 years old.

Superjustinbros

Exactly

saetje

yeah

RebelVampire

and yuuto is silly in retrospect to expect that. but hard to say what the nature of the relationship was

maybe keagan and yuuto were bestest friends, yuuto introduced keagan to ryo, and then keagan was like "who are you im busy crushing on this cool older fellow"

saetje

It's not improbable they (kaegan and yuuto) were friends first, and Kaegan just crushed real bad on the older brother, which would also make sense why it was so one-sided but they would also be hanging out (as he was probably hanging out with/chaperoning his little brother, and consequently his little brother's friends as well)(edited)

mathtans

Maybe it's something a bit more supernatural. Like, Keagan tried some sort of "forget" spell on Ryo but it backfired so much that he forgot Yuuto instead.

RebelVampire

thatd be tragic, tho would be more likely itd be yuuto doing the spell casting.

albeit to this notion of keagan and yuuto being friends, we dont really see yuuto in the flashbacks so far so its also possible something else was going on. like ryo was keagan's tutor or something

im gonna go out on a limb and suspect that keagan did not have a happy home life

and thus the attachment to ryo cause ryo was an adult who was showing him kindness

mathtans

That's a very good thought.

Interesting how in the bit of flashback we've seen, Ryo is trying to get Keagan to skate on his own, metaphor for life?

Superjustinbros

Oh yea

That would traumatize someone, seeing an adult that they once loved died

RebelVampire

oh ya know what, i wasnt even reading that scene metaphorically. good catch, math~!

metaphorically i certainly is very telling of what keagan is feeling

mathtans

Seems like even back then, before Ryo died, Keagan had issues. Tied in with your unhappy home life thing.

Superjustinbros

^

RebelVampire

but im just taking a stab in the dark tbf. i just feel like theres gotta be more than one-sided crush. and that ryo's death is tied up in personal demons

albeit you could be right that keagan somehow caused ryo's death

mathtans

Keagan introduced the cat, not knowing about the deadly cat allergy.

RebelVampire

has it been stated how ryo died?

mathtans

If so, I missed it.

I just offer up my crazy theories.

RebelVampire

i dont recall either so how ryo died could have a lot to do with things even if keagan didnt cause it

QUESTION 3. The entire plot of the comic is essentially based around one question: will Keagan be able to move on from Ryo? What do you think is holding Keagan back exactly? Is it fear of the future without Ryo, true love, or some sort of inner demon? Do you think Keagan is sincere when he says he has tried to move on, or do you suspect self-sabotage? Even if Keagan gets over Ryo, do you think Ryo will successfully be able to move on? How do you even think Keagan might get over Ryo? Also, what do you think Yuuto and/or Suzy’s role if any might be in helping him move forward? Finally, do you have any theories in general for future events of the comic?

mathtans

I feel like it's one of those things where after you move on, you're worried you'll forget details... which is true enough. But Keagan's got himself so tied up in it that he might forget things about himself. I don't know that it's anything external.

RebelVampire

oh ya know what, i never thought of it from that perspective. that he doesnt want to move on cause hes afraid of all the memories vanishing in the breeze

mathtans

Also, I think Keagan might have tried to move on in the past, but after it didn't work a couple times he just goes through the motions now to appease others around him.

Not just memories of Ryo, but memories of how happy he was back then. Maybe the happiest he'd ever been?

Superjustinbros

Perhaps

Then again it can be hard to move on form something

and even if you do, memories of what happened can still haunt you(edited)

RebelVampire

tbf this makes me reconsider that maybe keagan's attachment is not bred from a bad past, but a lackluster present.

Superjustinbros

That could be the case

RebelVampire

in that maybe keagan has continually had life issues that have made him cling to that happiness

like what does keagan do for a living even O_O maybe he missed out on dat dream job

mathtans

Could be a bit of both.

Maybe he's an insurance salesman.

"Please buy this life insurance... I have this whole story about how sad people will be if you die..."

RebelVampire

spirit insurance. if only yuuto had come to him sooner, yuuto couldve gotten ryo's spirit state ensured. yuuto is gonna miss out on that sweat afterlife policy money now

in regards to keagan's sincerity in trying to move on, i actually think it was subconscious self-sabotage. so in that he was doing everything he was told mentally and physically, but there was that small tiny part of his brain continually whispering how nothing would ever be right again without ryo

mathtans

Which reminds me, I wonder where Yuuto had to go to get the stone.

There probably was some self-sabotage, or at least Ryo seemed keen on calling him on that.

Maybe Yuuto was guided to find the stone by Ryo...? Wait, no, because Ryo didn't even think it would work. We're not sure what any of their day jobs are, are we?

RebelVampire

well yuuto said he was a spirit medium. albeit doesnt mean thats a career technically speaking. idk if being a spirit medium can pay these days without people staring and accusing you of being a fraud. or ya know if you get a reality tv show.

cleary the entire comic is just a tv show hoax so yuuto can become the most prolific spirit medium on tv

mathtans

A spirit medium's rare.

He seems to know what he's doing though. I wonder if Ryo sought him out for that reason, or if it's just a freebie for the family.

Superjustinbros

Now that'd be quite a twist

RebelVampire

that or ryo just had nowhere to go. i mean its like theres much to do as a ghost i imagine

cause you cant touch things or anything

or talk to anyone

you just float around and look at stuff

but considering the cover to chapter 1, i will say that its not just keagan holding ryo back. cause ryo is clearly chained to both yuuto and keagan and i dont think yuuto has quite moved on himself.

mathtans

Oh, that's an interesting point with the visual. Does the chaining work both ways, I wonder, or is it a matter of Yuuto's moved on but is still linked to Ryo out of necessity?

Ghost karaoke might be pretty neat.

Superjustinbros

Poor Ryo :<

For real tho ghost karaoke sounds metal as heck(edited)

mathtans

As far as the future of the comic goes, I figure we'll see the results of a spirit being darkened somehow, either directly or in the history books or something.

RebelVampire

oooooh

did not consider that but i hope thats the case

that we actually get to see a vengeful spirit not ryo

cause i feel like keagan is the type who goes by the mantra seeing is believing

in the sense that yuuto will tell him, keagan will be like "suuuure"

and then vengeful spirit will be seen and keagan will be like "RYO NOOOOOO"

mathtans

"You see this building?" "No." "That's because a ghost KNOCKED IT DOWN." "Ahhhh!" ^.^

Do you think Ryo can see other spirits? Like, would have an idea of what's happening to himself? Or is it not obvious internally?

RebelVampire

idk about seeing other spirits but maybe? i do think ryo has some idea about whats happening to him tho. cause i get the impression that its not so much the spirit ceases to be themselves as it is that they become engulfed in their own emotional vengence and can think of nothing else

mathtans

Ryo: "Look, the ghost of Christmas Future."

RebelVampire

but dont quote me on that, cause theres a lot to be learned about spirits

mathtans

Ooh, emotional vengence is an interesting one... do you think Ryo might hurt Keagan? (And that Keagan would just totally take it?)

RebelVampire

QUESTION 4. Events in the comic come about solely because of the actions of the mysterious Yuuto. Do you believe Yuuto’s motivations are purely to protect his brother’s spirit, or do you think he might be up to something else? How do you think Yuuto wound up becoming a spirit medium? Was it family tradition, a career choice for Yuuto to connect with spirits (and his brother by extension), or was it happenstance? Considering it’s been 16 years, why do you think Yuuto waited so long to come to Keagan? Did Ryo’s spirit only come to Yuuto’s attention recently, or did Yuuto feel no need to take action until Ryo was becoming a vengeful spirit? Additionally, why do you think Ryo has been stable as a spirit over all those years and is only now coming undone? What consequences would there be if Ryo became a vengeful spirit at the end?

RebelVampire

if ryo became of vengful spirit then yes

cause the vengful part implies vengence

and clearly the vengence is gonna be aimed at the ppl not letting you move on

Superjustinbros

Well it's part of the name

mathtans

Could just be aimed at humans in general. Or for that matter, at spirit mediums, maybe that's part of the reason Yuuto's motivated. Doesn't want ghosts messing up his profession.

RebelVampire

could be. it actually would also depend how mindful of vengful spirit is. cause if theyre driven by pure emotion than they might not be consciously able to target their hurt and just lash out at anyone

mathtans

Also, maybe Ryo hasn't been stable as a spirit over all those years? Maybe he was more etherial, and it's only in the last year or so that he's been able to manifest himself to Yuuto.

RebelVampire

that could be

Superjustinbros

Seems like that could be the case, @mathtans

He's never been stable cause he's had someone latching onto him for years

even in death

He can never escape affection

RebelVampire

or ya know, we have no idea how long yuuto has been a medium

maybe yuuto has literally been a medium for all of 2 weeks

and just happens to be smug about it XD

mathtans

He graduated from being a small last year.

Maybe he's not even the most powerful medium in town, just the one most connected? Keagan might seek out others for more information.

I wonder if Ryo can possess people, now that he's levelling up.

saetje

That would be scary

I’m interested to know how like a corrupted ghost like ryo could/will harm those around them

mathtans

Oh! Maybe Keagan is just a prognosticator, because Ryo is going to possess Suzy, and that's why he used the name at the start.

"I have foreseen this."

Superjustinbros

Guess this is gonig further into the idea that this story's gonna get a lot more creepier

mathtans

I think it can still be lighthearted though. In fact, that makes some of the other moments (a la Release Me) all the more eye opening.

Superjustinbros

Yea

good point

RebelVampire

possession would certainly be quite dangerous. though idk how that fulfills vengence. unless the plan is to possess keagan, spend all keagan's money, and then roll out

Superjustinbros

Christ

that's cold

mathtans

"I spent it all on potato chips."

Superjustinbros

I would totally do that

RebelVampire

if im going to assume yuuto is actually also chaining ryo to the mortal plane, i actually want to assume ryo has been around for a while and yuuto himself just didnt want to do anything about it. and was like "nah its fine well get you to move on soon bro lets spend time together." and only now when ryo is going crazy is yuuto like "oops"

but this begs a question suddenly

how the heck did they even know its keagan's fault?

like is there magic ghost senses going on here?

are they just visiting everyone who knew ryo and accusing them?

Superjustinbros

All this time I was thinking "who is this ghost boy just chilling around everyone" until I noticed it's Ryo

mathtans

I suppose I just figured that Ryo would know who was tying him down/thinking of him.

Given the need to have the stone, I don't think they'd be walking around semi-randomly.

I'm also not convinced that Yuuto is tying him down. Maybe he's just acting as an anchor, like, to keep you from getting pulled way over there to the dark places, hold onto a piece of me.

Superjustinbros

I can see that

mathtans

Though it could have morphed into something else over all this time.

Maybe even something neither of them see.

What with both of them wearing glasses.

Superjustinbros

Lol

mathtans

Actually, any comments on art style? I'm very bad for really noticing that stuff. Nice shading though?

Superjustinbros

It's got some good shading, I'll say.

Backgrounds aren't super detailed but that's alright since they're not the focus

https://tapas.io/episode/1089748 Though some of the more trippy ones like these are cool

mathtans

Spirit craziness.

Superjustinbros

Playing with spirits is some really trippy stuff

"What kind of drugs are you taking"

mathtans

That androgynous look that sae brought up is a good point too; I can see it, but Yuuto still comes across as male (and in the genderbend art for q&a as female).

RebelVampire

visually i think the comic stands out most when the tone shifts to the creepy. cause thats when the effects really are A+ and just capture that nice unsettling feel

Superjustinbros

Exactly

saetje

I think the art is pretty good! Artist has a good eye for anatomy, I appreciate the character designs.

I agree the art style is neat when it gets creepy

Superjustinbros

Anatomy especially

Plus the creepy stuff is out of place that it can surprise the viewer when comparing it to the comic's normal art

saetje

Yeah, they vary their body types and really understand anatomy! Very solid character construction

Superjustinbros

Indeed

saetje

Ohh yeah good point Superjustinbros

It sort of gives this vibe of duality

Superjustinbros

Indeed

Like you got a normal world

and a creepy spiritual one

like dimensional rifts between two universes that don 't belong

saetje

Yeah!

mathtans

I liked seeing how some of the character designs shifted in the behind the scenes stuff.

As for my usual shipping thoughts.... hmmm... Suzy and Yuuto? He did feel bad for her. ^.-

saetje

He also seemed to check her out walking up the stairs

RebelVampire

i do hope suzy has a role in this because at the very least i hope she gets her underwear back XD

saetje

Ha! Also bras are expensive so, yeah, definitely.

mathtans

Oh, right! That little whistle.

Superjustinbros

Gotta go for that underwear! XD

saetje

She needs those back

Superjustinbros

Definitely

mathtans

It's interesting that Yuuto has an earring which is an inverted cross too, I think.

Superjustinbros

Well this is the last minute, so I'd like to say good luck to charuchii on continuing the comic.

mathtans

I'm all for more Suzy partly to see if she has some girl friends she talks to as well. Normal people.

Superjustinbros

It was fun chatting~

mathtans

It's a very interesting premise!

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB END!

Sadly, this wraps up this week’s Thursday Book Club chat for now. Thank you so much to everyone for reading and joining us! We want to give a special thank you to Charu, as well, for making MORBIDITY. If you liked the comic, make sure to support Charu’s efforts however you’re able to~!

Read and Comment: https://tapas.io/series/MORBIDITY

Charu’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/charuchii

Comic Tea Party- Thursday Book Club

Next week’s Thursday Book Club will be about Gemini Journey by Tracy MacLauchlan & Yesenia Carrero. For participants, you have the next week to read as much of the comic as you would like~! We hope to see you on Thursday, September 13th, from 5PM to 7PM PDT for the chat in #thursday_bookclub!

Comic’s Main Site: http://geminijourney.com/

Comic’s LINE Webtoon Mirror: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/gemini-journey/list?title_no=111693

[tartareus]

mobile navigation: file

016. vanisher

VANISHER

here’s vanisher’s file. unlike most of my characters, vanisher is open and  lowkey selective. he’s a side muse that draws aspects of the movie and the comics.

fandom: deadpool ; xmcu

preferences: unplotted threads ; starters ; memes

shipping: semi selective

GENERAL INFORMATION.

full name: unknown ; goes by telford porter 

nickname:   vanisher ; ford ( only his friends call him that )

age:  38  \ verse dependent

date of birth: december 18th 1967

date of death:  presumed dead in 2018

place of birth:  unknown ; the USA

zodiac: sagittarius

gender: male

nationality:  american ( possibly with some german ancestry )

religion: none

orientation: closeted bisexual

relationship status: single  \ verse dependent

PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES.

face claim: brad pitt ; alexander dreymon   \ verse dependent

height: 5'11

hair color: dark blonde ; brownish

eye color: blue / greenish

tattoos: a matching couple of tattoos “hugging” his ribs

distinguishing marks:   sharp jawline

clothing style: nothing fancy, practical clothes.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION.

spoken languages: english ; portuguese

financial status: mid to lower class

education level: unknown

occupation: x-force member ; thief ; drug lord and brothel owner ; adventurer

FAMILIAL INFORMATION.

mother:  unknown

father:  unknown

siblings: unknown

children:  none

BIOGRAPHY

he’s not sure when it came back, or if it had started to begin with, but Telford Porter was aware of his powers earlier than most mutants. growing up in an orphanage, he was always good at hiding from the staff - behind the doors, under beds. till the day he vanished.

his earlier life wasn’t stuff for stories, poor young boy goes to the city to try find a way to his life - something that would make him proud to say ‘ yes, i did this.’. but life’s not a fairy tale, and soon he falls into the underworld of crimes. he’s not cut for a life of begging, so he aims higher and higher - so high that his eventual fall is even greater. he was a strong teleporter, unbeatable. until he met The Professor.

Charles wiped Ford’s memories when the boy was twenty something, after a small but brilliant fight against the x men. without his memories, it took him years to realise the extention of his powers. during one of the many revolts at the prison he was in, he found himself in danger, only for something happen. suddenly, the guards couldn’t see him - as if he had vanished in thin air. controlling his breathing was the hardest thing he did, but he eventually manage to walk out of the prison in secret.

one would think his jail time had turned him into something better, but the contrary happened. still with no memories and learning how to control this new found ability, Vanisher took his crime life back picking up where he had left and started to track down his own past. 

he eventually found out the truth, and settled in a small town, waiting - practicing his abilities once again. in two years he becomes a drug lord of some sort and that’s where his story truly begins.

he is getting older but not wiser and, still he craves the same dream he had as a young boy - he wants to do something worth it. so he steals, now from his rivals (the bad guys, as he likes to think of them) to try and make it up for his past mistakes. it does little to no good.

he gets sicker and sicker - maybe it’s an effect of the excessive drinking problem he insists he does not have - and finally returns to the city, in one of his safe houses, well... not exactly a house. his brothel was a little slimy thing, but the girls ( his girls ) were nice and kind enough to help him.

he goes on with his life, more like a ghost than a man, till the day he comes across a sign - deadpool ( that sick fucker in the BDSM red suit that appeared on the tv news ) was pulling together a team of mutants. he doesn’t think much of it but heads inside that room anyway, refusing to show his face at first, just to be sure.

perhaps that one encounter with Xavier had an effect on him, but once he joins the team, he still doesn’t trust them to see him - after all, if they can’t see you, they can’t hurt you, right? he always hated flying and heightes were not his thing, but when Pool tells him to jump, he does it.... only to fall in his death - or so it was thought.

there’s something strange about time, he had to admit, it’s affect was never tangible and yet, it remained fierce and strong. when Red saved Peter, changing the timeline once again, Vanisher teleported himself to the nearest safe corner, barely alive. 

VERSES

as most characters found here, VANISHER is multiverse & multiship ; crossovers & ocs are more than welcomed !!

CANON VERSES

( VERSE 1 ) ---------- permits are for homo sapiens ; a quasi canon compliant from the movie and comics.

( VERSE 2 ) ----------   tba ; tba

( VERSE 3 ) ----------  tba ; tba

AU VERSES

( VERSE 4 ) ----------  tba  ; tba

( VERSE 5 ) ----------  tba  ; tba

( VERSE 6 ) ----------  tba  ; tba

EXTRA INFORMATIONS

as i write him, i’ll dump here some infos \ hcs that are important to know before approaching him.

the reason behind he is almost never seen is both because he is wary around people he doesn’t trust and because being invisible actually makes him spend less energy than being seen. in the end, it requires less energy to force his clothes to become invisible than to make himself visible as a whole.

bitter to no end, he does not care much about looks ( his own included ) or money itself. 

he can teleport up to 11 people with him, and is capable of partial teleportation ( eg: teleporting only his hand ) but in smaller ranges, he still has to practice that, though, as it’s limitations are still unknown to him.

he is proud to be a mutant and, for years, was a supporter to Magneto’s ideas. nowadays, he still is proud but human lives have started to matter to him.

he is a trained marksmen and a amateur technician; 

he possesses avarage strength and fighting skills of a man of his age and build ;  his overall stamina and speed when teleporting are, however, are heightened.

his teletransportation differs from Kurt Wagner’s. Vanisher uses a purely psionic ‘trigger’, that way no smoke or smell is seen. furthermore, he possesses an instinctual extrasensory ability that prevents him from materializing all or part of his body within a solid object, like a wall for example. he is capable of teleporting to any place within his teleportational range, whether he had seen it or not, without danger of harming himself.

Ford is depressed at his core, his favourite copying mechanisms are drinking and having sex - and both have lead him to become sick;

he does not use drugs ( aside from the occasional marijuana cigarette every now and then ), he sold drugs for long enough to see what could happen if he got addicted;

his favourite team member is Domino, she is rather amusing.

he once spent one year in Brazil to learn portuguese.

WARNINGS !

this character is selective. his views \ actions are not the same as the mun. do expect cursing, drug abuse \ mention, violence  and bad behaviour to be mentioned \ played here. as usual, everything will be tagged accordingly so you can blacklist. i will simply delete anon hate.

CREDIT

this character belongs to the marvel  universe and i claim no ownership or affiliation with the character and the faceclaims here listed above. however, i do claim ownership of my personal headcanons written here as well my interpretation of the character. all rights go the actual owners

*VANISHER icon credit: they were made by me ; psd by kingsleigh ( same psd used for all characters in this blog )

[jaredthegreek]

Review- Star Wars Comics (September)

As it turns out between fire, family drama, and health issues I get distracted and forget to post my thoughts on comics based on an old movie franchise.  Honestly, if you think this review is late I finished Thrawn back in May and haven’t written word one on that book.  Not because it’s bad, but because life kept getting in the way.  Anyhow, enjoy my reviews and if you have the chance try to find me at LA Comic Con later this month.

THE REVIEWS:

Captain Phasma #1: The ‘journey to The Last Jedi’ has its comic book tie-in with a series following a character with no personality who only lasted five minutes in her premiere movie.  This comic would be an uphill battled for a seasoned vet in the comic world and in this case it might be a hill that is a little too steep for Kelly Thompson.  The story is told in flashback as Phasma recounts the events after she is dumped in the trash compactor.  The framing device is her making a log of events to hide her involvement with taking down the shield.  This results in her trying to track down Sol Rivas, a soldier who has learned that Phasma took down the shield.  This was a rather dry story, but it does set the stage for the rest of this mini-series so things may pick up once we can move forward with the plot.  The major saving grace of this comic is the art. While it is far from perfect it does have some great moments that are visually appealing.  However, there are some sections were the art is cluttered or disputed by the sound effects.  This isn’t a bad comic per se, it is just weak, but readable.  If you wanted to know more about Phasma then begin with the book, but after that give this comic a read.

Captain Phasma #2: This is a much better issue than the first.  This time we follow Phasma and her Pilot as they continue the search for the ‘traitor’ Rivas.  This leads them to a nearly barren planet where they battle monsters and meet the locals. One of the more interesting parts of this story is that Phasma and the Pilot change out of their armor to attempt to blend in with the locals.  While Phasma does not show her face, the Pilot (now called ‘Pilot’) was revealed to be quite the attractive woman.  The writing is well done with several visual pages to augment the stoic nature of the characters.  Add to that, the beautiful art and this is turning around to become one of the better mini-series.  The hunt for Rivas continues in the next issue and the fate of Pilot will have some fans on the edge of their seats.

Poe Dameron #19: Yet another mixed bag issue of this series, par for the course.  This time we wrap up the ‘War Stories’ arc with Poe breaking out of prison and the other half of the team breaking out of their capture.  It has a big fight scene at the end and the preview for the next issue implies that we will be making it back to the main plot (and conclusion) of this series.  The writing is stale at best and insulting at worst.  Some character decisions are mind boggling and feel really out of character. Especially a minor face-turn for Terex which is completely out of character considering the events of the earlier issues in the series.  On the good side the art has improved with faces showing proper emotions and the action looking exciting.  This wasn’t the worst issue of this series by far, but it is more than obvious that ideas are running out and this series has gone on far longer than it should have.

Star Wars 36: Finally, we return to the loose plot thread about the fate of C-3PO.  This is paced out like one of the droid focused episodes of Clone Wars, but isn’t quite as fun.  R2 seems to be a little overpowered as he takes down several Stormtroopers and breaks C-3PO out of a star destroyer. prison  It isn’t bad, but it just doesn’t feel ‘right’.  There isn’t much dialogue to speak of as the protagonist can’t speak, but there is a monologue that likely comes from the user’s manual for R2-D2 and the fumbling of various Imperial soldiers.  The art contrasts the story by being excellent with good facial designs and energy in the action scenes.  The comic ends with a tease for another Scar Squadron mission that will hopefully lead into a new story arc rather than these stand alone (and very boring) stories.  

Star Wars Annual #3: While the annuals in this series have been mixed this was a refreshing and fun filler adventure.  This time Han and Leia are trapped on a barren world as they battle monsters and bounty hunters.  There is a nice ending that fills in a little bit more on Han reasons for sticking with the rebellion as well.  The dialogue is well done with some good one-liners and the characters behaving in a manner that represents their attitudes in the movies.  The art is well done and the coloring has a throwback, newsprint, style.  It might not appeal to everyone, but it is a nice change from the more common hyper realistic or cartoony style that is featured in most comic in this franchise. This isn’t an imperative comic to read, but it is an enjoyable adventure and somehow much more fun than the previous filler stories from the main series.  

Mace Windu #2: This bad arc of the Clone Wars TV series continues.  This time Windu’s team stumbles across bad guys and fights them. The writing is terrible with no characters having any personality, the battle dialogue is bland, and the Separatist’s plan makes little sense.  Add to that the murky art, bad facial expressions, and lethargic fight scenes. There is little chance of this mini-series improving so skip this unless you need to read everything Star Wars or you are reviewing it for the internet.

Darth Vader #5: The arc comes to an end with Vader taking the final steps toward forging his lightsaber. This is a rather simple comic that is mostly told with visual storytelling rather than clunky dialogue or endless internal monologue.  The visuals paint a strong narrative that makes this a very intense ride.  Vaderr’s body language works well to show his struggle and the contrast of colors makes key moments stand out.  The little dialogue in this book is fine and works well with the often silent Vader.  This book is starting to live up to the previous volume, but if this comic sticks to the visual style it might actually be able to achieve that goal.  The preview for the next issue is intriguing and now we know how Vader got his new lightsaber.  Overall, this was a good first arc despite the weak beginning. The best issues are those with little dialogue that use the art to tell the story.  If you are a fan of the character or have an interest in the early days of the Empire this would be a great series to pick up.

Rogue One #6: The final chapter of the story concludes the battle on Scarif and ends the story of Rogue One.  This is one of the few issues of this comic that is out shined by the movie.  The action works so much better with moving pictures rather than still images, no matter how well drawn.  The major positive about this issue is that there is a little extra dialogue among the team before they die and the final page adds a nice capstone to the story.  The art is still really good with the characters showing more emotion than they do in the movie and the action looks really good.  This is a fast read and it was an enjoyable retelling of the movie. It doesn’t add enough to be a ‘must have’, but it is worth a read if you want to see some of the little things that were omitted from the movie.  If you love the movie then you will enjoy this comic.  If you didn’t like the movie this comic might give you a different opinion on the story.  Overall, I really enjoyed this comic and I hope that all future adaptations are up to this standard of quality.  More importantly, I’d like all Star Wars comics to be up to the standards of this adaption because that would make many of the comics in the EU much more enjoyable.

Doctor Aphra 12: This is easily the best current ongoing Star Wars comic, if not the best of all Star Wars comics thus far.  This issue combines horror, action, comedy, and suspense in a way that should make it a primer to those who want to know how to write and draw a comic book.  The story follows the madness that happens when the Empire arrives at the criminal auction as Aphra tries to find a way to escape. There are some nice twits that come up in this issue that should not be spoiled, but they are building this series into my favorite of the current timeline.  The art is also great with the action looking intense, backgrounds looking creepy, and even the droids somehow have emotion in this unmoving faces.  If you have not jumped into this series, do so, it cannot be stated enough that this is a great book that keeps getting better.