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makeste · 4 years ago

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BnHA Chapter 302: As the Todoroki Turns

Previously on BnHA:

Today on BnHA: We have a very fun chapter in which (1) Shouto grows up lonely on account of his parents being worried that his siblings will literally try to kill him, (2) Natsu and Fuyu grow up neglected on account of not being special and/or self-destructive enough to attract attention, (3) we get to revisit all of that exciting spousal abuse from chapter 39, and (4) Touya burns to death right on cue, pretty much exactly like we expected it to happen. Thankfully since this is a shounen manga, Horikoshi finds some hope in all this misery as the Todoroki family rallies together, with Shouto getting his long-overdue credit for being a perfect sweet angel who put up with all of this shit for sixteen years and somehow came out of it strong and kind and empathetic and determined. Anyway, so that flashback was a barrel of laughs. But now that it’s over, we can put all of that angst behind us, and move on to... well I guess, probably, more angst. Look, we’re short on variety at the moment. Bear with it.

ouch. we knew this was coming, but still

A+ parenting move there. “ho boy, our eldest just tried to murder our youngest, now what? hmm how about we isolate our youngest from all human contact”

though in their defense, we probably shouldn’t have expected this rabidly strength-obsessed fire man and his wife who was groomed since childhood to obey her family’s whims to have any idea of how to raise stable, well-adjusted offspring

SERIOUSLY YOU GUYS

this is a perfect example of Enji’s tragically self-revolving viewpoint right here. just because being a hero is your entire world doesn’t mean you can just excuse yourself from anything outside of that and act like it’s out of your control. “alas, all I care about is hero stuff and my son can’t be a hero, we are doomed to inhabit two different worlds” no you jackass, it’s called having more than one hobby?? figuring out how to spend some time with your son that doesn’t involve training?? the same exact thing you were telling him to do last week, while ignoring that you’ve never done that yourself in your life??

that said, yet again we have that complexity though because it’s obvious that Enji at least on some level is aware of his own flaws, even though he seems unwilling or unable to confront them. honestly, from what we’ve seen so far, Enji’s obsession with surpassing All Might might be more accurately called an addiction. he literally can’t let go of it even though he’s fully aware of how it’s slowly destroying his life. and so in the same way that a lifelong smoker or alcoholic might tell their child to stay away from cigarettes and booze, Enji tells Touya not to follow down the same path as him, even though he himself doesn’t know how to leave that path. so yes, it’s hypocritical as fuck, but there’s also an element of helplessness there as well because Enji literally doesn’t know how not to be like this

though all the same he sure could stand to put in more than just a token effort. but it is what it is, and we already know how much he’ll come to regret it

and meanwhile Baby Shouto has frozen his sleep bubble with his quirk lmao. so I guess his quirk did come in early. that’s a recipe for chaos right there

once again Shouto is ruining every single dramatic panel in this flashback

this was so dark and intense... and then I spotted the lil bubs in the corner. Horikoshi please control yourself

“some hero you are, running away” and then all of a sudden, “FIVE YEARS LATER” lol what. OKAY THEN

(ETA: love the confirmation that eight-year-old Natsu comes from the Iida school of puberty and is basically a fully grown man, and meanwhile Touya comes from the hobbit school of puberty and has been perpetually eight for the past five years.)

“HEY BIG BRO WANNA COME RECREATE AN ICONIC FLASHBACK SCENE WITH US. WE’VE GOT THE SOCCER BALL RIGHT HERE, BUT HURRY UP OR WE’LL BE TOO LATE FOR SHOUTO TO WALK ON BY AND STOP TO LOOK”

lol and that’s literally the next three panels. but Horikoshi did add this extra bit after Endeavor starts to drag Shouto away

seriously Enji what the hell did you expect was going to happen here. “Touya went nuts and tried to kill his little brother out of jealousy, so let’s make it clearer than ever that Shouto is the important child and all the other children are just rejects. this will definitely not make the problem 100x worse, and will surely lead to Touya giving up and living a happy life, having been emotionally abandoned by the person he admired more than anyone.” good for you pal you figured it all out. no need for that plan b, “we all just go to therapy”

anyway so he’s telling Shouto he can’t play because he needs more endurance training. and meanwhile Touya’s patented Todoroki Drama Genes are going through puberty as well

definitely the face of a happy, emotionally stable child who’s not still plotting to murder his younger brother in his sleep

“WELL ACTUALLY MAKESTE” lol I stand corrected??

apparently during the five year interim Touya actually stopped blaming Shouto and realized Enji was the one at fault. good for him! a bit inconsistent, given what we know happens later, but I assume we’ll get to that in good time

anyway. “yeah man I agree that dad sucks, but it’s the middle of the night and I��m only eight and you’ve been monologuing for the past two hours bro”

LMAO

the manga is making my jokes for me, only better. fine then

looks like someone’s still miffed about that disagreement he had with his baby sister back when she was like four

“Fuyu doesn’t get properly riled up like I want her to so ranting to her is annoying.” okay but having been in Fuyu’s shoes, it really is just a different way of coping, and I can guarantee she’s not as fine with the whole situation as Touya might think. but making your peace with something is often a decision that’s made for emotional self-preservation reasons. and I sure as hell don’t fault her for trying to shut out a situation that she had no control over, and trying to make the best of it, and scrape together as normal a childhood as she could manage

and now in Touya’s defense as well, that is of course easier said than done, and I’m sure if there was a “push this button and instantly get over all of the trauma in your life” switch readily available for Touya then he would have pushed it too. unfortunately it’s not always that simple

so now Rei is pleading with Touya not to go train up on his little emo hill again, but it doesn’t seem like much has changed since he was eight

I don’t think he gives two figs about being a hero; he just wants his father to look at him again with pride. fucking hell, stop doing this to me you damn Todorokis

guh, they keep telling him the same thing over and over again

even if we hadn’t already known he was gonna go melt his jawbone off soon, I wouldn’t have expected a line like that to go over well

yep. fuck

that Todoroki puberty angst, though. nothing else quite like it

“you have a part in this too, Mom” ooooooh man

okay but look, he’s not entirely wrong. like, I’m not saying any of this is Rei’s fault at all! she’s in an impossible situation where she’s afraid to stand up to Enji (who by this point has shown that he’s willing to physically attack her if things get too heated, which is terrifying), and doesn’t really have anywhere to turn for support. her parents aren’t helping much if at all, and Japan in general is just a terrible country to be in when you’re in a domestic abuse situation. everyone’s expected to put on a brave face and deal with their problems all on their own in private. Rei is basically completely isolated at this point, and she doesn’t know what else to do, and so she’s just trying to keep the situation as stable as possible for the kids

but on the other hand, ��for the kids” is also where that argument starts to break down a bit, because at this point Shouto is also being physically abused by his father, and the other kids are continuing to be neglected (emotionally if not physically), as they have been for years. so the situation really isn’t stable at all for them. and as a kid, what you end up learning in that type of situation is that you can’t rely on either parent. not the abusive one, certainly, but also not the other one who can’t protect you from any of it. even if they love you and they’re trying, they’re just as helpless as you. Rei is struggling to deal with all of this with one hand tied behind her back, and I get it, and I’m not blaming her at all. but all the same, particularly given that she’s (understandably) putting almost all her focus on Shouto, the end result is that the other kids have basically been left to fend for themselves

so yeah! a shitty situation all around. and one of those cases where it’s not really anyone’s fault (aside from Enji’s), but I can understand the resentment Touya is feeling all the same. and I’m so glad Horikoshi is acknowledging this, because it’s something I probably would have been too uncomfortable to bring up otherwise. as it is it’s still an incredibly heavy subject, and one that I probably have too many personal feelings about

anyway, so once again the whole “we’ll try talking to him and then just shrug our shoulders when it doesn’t work” parenting strategy doesn’t really pan out for the Todoroki fam

sob this boy is Anakin Skywalkering before our very eyes. all that’s missing is AFO to come and start whispering in his ear. any minute now...

“anyway so then he got taller and his fire changed from red to blue”

guess we’re getting pretty close then huh. this is the part of the flashback that I really don’t want to see, but also unfortunately the part that I’m most curious about :/

oh for fuck’s --

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN IGNORING HIM FOR FIVE YEARS DIDN’T ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM” sob. back to the drawing board I guess

I thought he got taller, why is he still only like a third of Enji’s height here

oh fuck me these are armor-piercing feels. this is the heavy artillery right here

ENJI I’M BEGGING YOU PLEASE STOP AND THINK FOR ONE MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE BEFORE DOING SOMETHING YOU’LL REGRET FOR THE REST OF ALL TIME. your child just told you that he still thinks beating All Might is the only thing you care about, and that he believes his existence is a mistake unless he finds some way of doing that for you. please stop for a moment to contemplate that and choose your next words with care and grace and oh who the hell am I kidding

-- OR WE COULD JUST BLAME REI

go on and blame everyone but yourself then!! that’s a great solution!! jesus christ man I know this is Endeavor at his literal worst but still this is fucking hard to watch

POOR BABY SHOUTO IS YELLING AT HIS DAD NOT TO HIT HIS MOMMY THIS LITTLE BRAVE BOY NEEDS SO MANY HUGS OH MY GOD

AND MEANWHILE THE OTHERS ARE HUDDLED IN THE NEXT ROOM TRYING NOT TO CRY AH FUCK

(ETA: Fuyu covering Natsu’s ears cuts RIGHT TO THE CORE OF ME. Horikoshi if you’re really not gonna get these kids some therapy then at least consider giving your readers some. what is this.)

you know it’s bad when you’re starting to think the part where the kid burns to death might actually be a less traumatic thing to cut to right now

holy shit, actual Rei thoughts

“I was the one who ultimately made that choice” well there we go, wonder if that’ll put that whole argument to bed at last. I doubt it, but you never know. actually who am I kidding it’s not gonna settle jack shit lol

oh thank god, they decided it was getting too intense and cut away back to the present to narrate this next (final?) part

get ready to cue up that Alicia Keys. THIS BOY IS ON FIREEEEEEE

yeah I think that’s one thing we can mostly all agree on. neither of them had any clue what the fuck they were doing pretty much at any point. though I will say that the hypocrisy of him being all “WHY DIDN’T YOU STOP HIM” followed by him IMMEDIATELY DOING THE EXACT SAME THING is a bit rich

(ETA: and he still has this problem, doesn’t he? he froze up when Ending snatched Natsuo, and again when Dabi was attacking Shouto. he’s so afraid of doing the wrong thing that he ends up not doing anything, which of course is exactly what led to Touya’s death. damn Enji I guess you’ve still got some additional character development to unlock.)

and of course neither of them could possibly have known how badly it was going to turn out. like, the consequences here were WAY disproportionate even for the shittiest of parenting. no one expects “I didn’t know how to talk to my son” to snowball into “my son burned to death and then somehow came back as a villain and murdered thirty people”

ohhhhhhhh fuck me

LITERALLY INCINERATED THE ENTIRE HILLSIDE. fuck. and I am so not ready for the scene of Enji finding the remains of his jawbone afterwards. at least we were spared anything super-graphic (for now at least)

I feel like the timeline here is off, btw?? wasn’t Touya’s death supposed to happen after Rei got hospitalized? this might be the first actual retcon of the entire flashback. although I think it makes more sense this way tbh

I do appreciate that ten years later Enji is finally reflecting on the fact that if he’d just given up his stupid obsession he could have stopped his family from crumbling apart. that probably sounds sarcastic as fuck, but it’s not. there are countless jerks out there who would have still managed to find a way to blame literally everyone and everything under the sun except for themselves. at least he finally figured out how to take responsibility, even if it came too late to stop his son from dying and being radicalized into a villain terrorist organization

and speaking of, it seems to me we’re missing a third and final part to this little tale of woe, and one which only Touya himself will be able to shed any light on. so we’ll see how that goes

oh man seeing the other kids blaming themselves even though none of it was their fault hits hard af. Rei wasn’t kidding when she said they’d been bearing that burden of guilt far longer than Enji

SHOUTO I SWEAR TO GOD IF THE NEXT PANEL IS YOU APOLOGIZING FOR BEING BORN, I WILL... WELL I’LL BE VERY SAD, I GUESS. SO DON’T DO IT

oh good he’s just being quiet. good. it absolutely is not your fault lil bean. it’s not theirs either, but feeling guilty about things that aren’t your fault is a time-honored shounen tradition

goddammit I braced myself for the angsty Shouto panel a page too early. gotta do it all over again now lol. okay here goes

;_;

well well well would you look at that

imagine that. talking things out with your child before they make a rash decision. looks like the Todorokis’ parenting skills are finally leveling up

OH MY GOD

holy shit. this is the most quintessential moment of father/son Todoroki bonding in the entire series. for me it even tops the “nice scar” scene lol. Enji sobbing at the fact that he still has a chance to set things right. and Shouto offering his hand in what is actually the most mature and selfless gesture I’ve ever seen, and being all “we’ll stop him together” to his dad who he hates, but also doesn’t really entirely hate anymore. and all of that is incredibly moving... BUT ALSO HE STILL REFUSES TO MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH HIM AND HE WOULD LIKE HIM TO STOP BEING SO FUCKING DRAMATIC ALREADY IF YOU DON’T MIND. “WHEN YOU’RE DONE CRYING...” fkjldsk

OH MY FUCKING LORD

(ETA: wouldn’t be a Todoroki drama fest if there wasn’t somebody listening in on the whole thing in secret just around the corner lmao.)

“you think we should have waited somewhere else?” “yeah, probably.” “are you feeling a lot of secondhand embarrassment too?” “god, you have no idea.” STFU HAWKS IT’S NOT EMBARASSING TO BE MOVED TO TEARS BY YOUR FAMILY ALL COMING TOGETHER IN YOUR DARKEST HOUR TO GIVE YOU HOPE THAT YOU PROBABLY DON’T DESERVE BUT ARE NONETHELESS INDESCRIBABLY GRATEFUL FOR

and anyway you chose these guys as your found family, bucko. too late to back out now. next time go get yourself adopted by the Iidas then

AND MEANWHILE NO WORD ON THE WHOLE “HOW DID A THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD SURVIVE A FIRE THAT COVERED HIS BODY WITH HORRIFIC SCARS AND MELTED HIS JAW OFF, AND HOW DID HE SOMEHOW THEN MANAGE TO GO INTO HIDING FOR TEN WHOLE YEARS, AND WHAT HAPPENED IN THAT INTERIM TO CHANGE HIS GOAL FROM ‘SURPASS ALL MIGHT TO IMPRESS MY DAD’ TO ‘KILL ALL HEROES TO MAKE MY DAD SUFFER’.” as if we don’t know the answer to that. but still, would it kill Horikoshi to just confirm AFO’s involvement in all of this already. at this point it’s basically just a formality

so here’s hoping next week we’ll either get that, or more Hawks action, or (DARE I EVEN SUGGEST, I’M AFRAID TO JINX IT) finally cut back to Bakugou and Deku and All Might omg. either way I’m hyped

#bnha 302 #todoroki touya #dabi #todoroki enji #endeavor #todoroki rei #todoroki shouto #todoroki natsuo #todoroki fuyumi #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #my sincerest apologies for this absurdly long recap which is barely funny at all!#THERE WAS VERY LITTLE HUMOROUS CONTENT IN THIS CHAPTER #congratulations horikoshi you win this round

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crispyjenkins · 4 years ago

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Secretly married obiwan x quinlan

(thank you all so much for your patience on this one! still figuring out my routine around my family and who i am as a person, but prompts are back to sunday and monday uploads!

i guess i just like the idea of quinlan and obi-wan gettin’ hitched really young? it certainly sounds like smth quinlan would do. HOWEVER can you just imagine them not getting into a relationship until the clone wars? (ノ*´◡`) maybe they’ve been dancing around it since they were padawans and finally decide to just say fuck it like anidala.

that is not this story.)

The greatest injustice of it all is that Quinlan and Master Tholme had just left the Temple when the council had sent him and Qui-Gon to Melida/Daan, just as Quinlan had not been there when Obi-Wan had been sent to the Agricorp. Quinlan had almost strangled him for that, when he’d shown back up from Bandomeer trailing behind his new master, and, honestly, Obi-Wan hadn’t blamed him.

When the contingent of Jedi and their padawans arrive in the capital city of Zehava to help negotiate with Neild and the Young, Quinlan hugs him instead.

And Obi-Wan hasn’t eaten properly in weeks, he’s been sleeping in the sewers, and Cerasi’s blood is still caked under his fingernails, and Quinlan nearly knocks him over with the force of their collision. He wraps Obi-Wan up so tight it almost feels like they’d never even left the créche — he’s always felt more like home than the Temple, anyways.

“Let’s not do that again,” Quinlan says, surprisingly in control of his voice for how wrecked he’d sounded after Bandomeer.

With shaking hands, Obi-Wan hugs him back, twisting his fingers into the back of Quinlan’s robes until he can’t feel them anymore. “I’ll say goodbye properly, next time,” he promises hoarsely, feeling Master Qui-Gon prod at his mind in concern before Master Tholme leads him away.

Quinlan makes a distressed noise and hugs him tighter. “Or you could stop kriffing almost getting killed every mission, yeah? I swear by the Maker that if Master Yoda has to sit me down one more time to ‘break the news’ to me that you've gone awol, I’m going to throw you into a sarlacc.”

Obi-Wan does suppose it’s a little unfair to do this to his friends nearly every time he leaves the Temple, but with a galaxy so big and so full of need, he knows he can’t promise that.

So he presses his forehead into Quinlan’s collarbone, releasing his hands just long enough to tuck himself into Quinlan’s robes instead, and nods against him anyways. “You’d have to find a sarlacc first, Quin,” he says, like making a joke of it will excuse that he’d almost gone and left Quinlan alone again.

“Don’t worry, I’ll just stick you on a desert planet, and with your luck, the sarlacc will find you.”

The greatest injustice of it all is that Obi-Wan knows before Qui-Gon even opens his mouth what he’s going to say. No one ever looks at someone like that with good news.

They excuse him from his last lesson so he can find a private meditation room to process, but Obi-Wan goes to Master Tholme’s apartment instead. He leaves the bedroom doors closed, the quartermaster will send someone to sort through their belongings later, and he settles on Quinlan’s meditation stool in the main room. He knows Quinlan has more belongings than is typically appropriate of a Jedi, but Tholme keeps the living spaces clean and bare, neutral colours blurring together until the white walls stare back at Obi-Wan in accusation.

He should have known he wouldn’t be able to meditate, anyways.

After Qui-Gon goes to bed, leaving Obi-Wan with murmured words of assurance and a ruffle of his hair, Obi-Wan slips out of their quarters in his darkest robes. He meets Luminara and Bant in the Room of a Thousand Fountains, and they know it’s impossible that their little escapade has gone completely unnoticed, but no one stops them from winding through the different fountains until they reach the one modeled to resemble a spring on Kiffu. None of them had ever been to Quinlan’s home planet, but Obi-Wan had come here often with him even in their créche days, and dropping to sit in the yellow dirt doesn’t hurt as much as he thought it would.

Luminara sets a simple clay incense burner on the edge of the fountain wall, lighting it as Bant lays out a small offering plate with Quinlan’s favourite sweetcake; they don’t make Obi-Wan help as they go about fixing an altar with little bits from all their cultures, the water-filled quiet between them heavier so heavy it reminds him of those nights on Melida/Daan.

“Did—” Obi-Wan swallows even though his mouth is dry. “Did you all do this for me, before?”

His friends exchange a look before nodding. “Both times,” Bant says softly, lighting the last candle before joining him on the ground and for once not worrying about laying out a blanket first.

“Quinlan almost didn’t come to the second one,” Luminara admits, standing over the altar with her eyes closed as she breathes in the incense.

Obi-Wan simply nods, because that does sound like Quinlan, and he feels horrid all over again for making Quinlan go through this, twice. Inhaling a sigh, Obi-Wan finds the holodisk hidden away in his robes and sets it next to the incense.

None of them can bear to turn it on.

The greatest injustice of it all is that, for some reason, Master Tholme did not contact the Temple before hitching a ride back from the moon where the unhappy locals had bombed their ship. And Obi-Wan knows Master Tholme didn’t tell the council they were in fact alive, because then the council would have told Obi-Wan.

He feels it the moment their ship docks, Quinlan’s presence flooding his mind until his fingers tingle with it, and he shoots to his feet.

The class of senior padawans stare at him in surprise, and Master Prweex stops mid-lecture, chirping in concer. “Is everything alright, Padawan Kenobi?”

Breath caught somewhere in his throat, Obi-Wan doesn’t answer, and instead scrambles from the classroom, opening the door with the Force before he can slam into it.

Despite popular superstition, Jedi cannot teleport, but Obi-Wan honestly couldn’t say how he made it from the lesson halls to one of the main hangars, where a small group of Jedi masters stand next to a shamble of a ship that spews smoke from several panels. And, there, Master Tholme looking ragged and tired, robes still stained from the explosion and with a cast on his right arm, but Obi-Wan’s eyes snap immediately to the padawan on his side.

Quinlan is a little worse for wear, and his braids hang around his shoulders instead of pulled up, not that Obi-Wan cares as he sprints the last few yards and launches himself at his friend. The masters step cleanly out of the way, likely having sensed his approach from a few hallways away, but Quinlan clearly hadn’t, yelping as he stumbles to catch him. It isn’t until then that Obi-Wan can accept that, yes, he had mourned him, but for some reason the Force had decided “not yet”.

“Obes?” Quinlan asks softly when Obi-Wan doesn’t pull his head away from his chest.

“Hmm,” Master Rancisis chuckles, the sound edged in saddness. “Perhaps Kenobi needs a moment, Padawan Vos; it has been a long few weeks in your absence.”

And Obi-Wan is more than content to stay there the rest of the day, even though Quinlan smells like he hasn’t bathed in a week – and he probably hadn’t. Quinlan still hugs him back and bleeds worry into the Force, as Master Tholme gently runs a hand over the back of Obi-Wan’s head and sighs.

“I know what Melida/Daan did to my padawan, so I can imagine what you’ve been through the last few weeks.” When Obi-Wan still doesn’t pull away, he continues, “You know, now that I think about it, during their clan wars the Stewjoni had a special marriage rite, when one thought dead returned to them.”

“Master?” Quinlan asks in confusion, but Obi-Wan grips his robes tighter. He does remember Master Nu mentioning something...

Master Tholme laughs, only a little rough, and steps away to join the other masters who have started slowly making their way from the hangar. “I suppose I thought it funny, padawan,” he says, “that, if I recall the ceremony correctly, you’re both halfway there already. You will meet me in the Halls of Healing when you’re ready? I’d like to get the cut of yours looked at.”

“Of course, master. Gimme a few minutes.”

“Of course, padawan.”

Tholme sometimes did that, dropped little bits of trivia any time something jogged his memory, and he didn’t often mean anything by it; even with this in mind, Obi-Wan can’t help but hope.

Quinlan waits until the masters’ footsteps recede, before gently tugging on Obi-Wan’s nerftail until he looks up. “I’ve got an idea,” he says with a roguish grin, and Obi-Wan is young and stupid and scared, and knows exactly what he’s planning.

“You ready?”

“This is probably illegal, Quinlan.”

“Not according to Master Nu, it isn’t.”

“Well, I’m probably going to Stewjoni hell anyways, I guess.”

“Before we do this, I need you to promise me something, Obi-Wan.”

“...”

“We can’t let this get in the way, we can’t... We’re almost knights, Obi, we’ve worked too hard to lose that now. We’ll always have to come second to the Order, you understand that, right?”

“Quinlan Vos, are you backing out on me? This was your idea.”

“And you agreed! Stop laughing, I’m serious.”

“I know you are, Quin. I’m somehow more ready now than I was ten minutes ago.”

“Good. Because you know I would follow you anywhere.”

“And I would follow you into this.”

“Good. Now shut up and light the candle.”

It’s Kit that brings Obi-Wan the datapad with all the forms for his induction onto the council, along with advice and a smile that makes Obi-Wan think maybe accepting the position had not been a mistake.

Unlike either his master or his own padawan, Obi-Wan is efficient with his paperwork, he knows the quicker he gets it done, the more time he can spend not doing paperwork, just as he knows that to be thorough the first time is to avoid having to do it a second.

Only one question on the forms gives him pause:

Is the inductee married in any culture(s)’s customs, accidental or not?

Well, it had been fifteen years since Quinlan had knotted a scrap of his own robes around Obi-Wan’s wrist, as Obi-Wan had done the same, and the Jedi Order is not made of fools, so he checkmarks the Yes box and adds Stewjoni below it, because he can’t imagine that at least the masters haven’t noticed by now.

(He would come to find that, no, they had not.)

i got a little carried away with this one, and didn’t entirely follow the prompt oops

#quinobi #quinlan/obi wan #prequel trilogy #au #secretly married au #i don't.... hate how this came out #obi wan kenobi #quinlan vos #tholme #qui gon jinn #crispy writes #fanfiction #prompt #prompt fill #ask #anon #ask box is always open!#angst with a happy ending #obiquin

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bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture · 4 years ago

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Hmm, still thinking about character profiles… might try and do something with that after this arc, since I didn’t do it before the USJ arc. Or maybe I should wait until after the Sports Festival? I suppose I’ll have to wait and see if I have enough material…

Still, it does feel weird to try and do character profiles when there are other ones out there that are so much more detailed and really dig into things. I mean, it can’t necessarily hurt for me to do, but it’d also push back the chapters even further when I just want to get caught up, so… bleh.

Anyways, chapter.

[No. 16 - Know Your Enemies]

First off, Mineta, why. Just. Sigh.

Our first panel has izuku and Tsuyu wading towards the edge of the water, Izuku cradling his broken finger while Tsuyu drags Mineta along. Long and short, Mineta says the villains will be stuck together all day. Izuku is muttering about how lucky they were, because that move was a real gamble, and if the villains had been smart, a few of them would have been hidden under the water. He can guess they weren’t thinking ahead, but they still need to be careful…

Tsuyu tells him to stop, since what he’s muttering about is scary. She then asks him what they should do now. Izuku determines that their top priority is calling for help, and that if possible, they should follow the shoreline and make for the exit, avoiding the plaza altogether. (Meanwhile, Tsuyu asks if Izuku’s okay, which he confirms even while wincing over his injury.) Izuku’s narration recounts that their first battle ended in a win, but that he’d made a deadly wrong assumption.

Huh. Izuku is using his elbow pad as a temporary compress for his broken finger. Interesting.

Tsuyu accepts Izuku’s plan, and then notes that Aizawa is drawing a large number of villains to the plaza. Izuku is worried about their teacher, noting that there’s too many enemies. Of course, Eraserhead is holding his own out there, but it’s too much for him, and that he had to know that, but jumped in to protect the class anyways.

Mineta think Izuku is planning something stupid (which I mean, rude but fair) while Tsuyu gives a neutral ribbit. Izuku clarifies that he isn’t saying they should dive right into the fight - just that they watch for an opening and do what they can to lighten their teacher’s load. The narration from above finishes with an ominous statement - thinking that they stood a chance against those enemies was a grave miscalculation.

Then we get an overview of the USJ and where everyone was sent, serving as the ‘cover page’ for the chapter.

Interestingly, neither Aoyama or Hagakure have a confirmed location, though I am aware that Hagakure later states she was in the same zone as Shouto. And Shouji… oh, poor Shouji…

Can’t believe my good hugs boy was slandered like this… damn you Viz…

Not to mention the disrespect to our goddess Yaomomo… when will it end...

Next up, we get to see Shouto being casually intimidating. He exhales a chilled breath as his shoulder starts to steam, musing about the villains’ divide and conquer strategy. He then notes with a half-hearted preemptive apology that it’s hard to see the villains who were in the landslide zone as any more than thugs with quirks they can’t even handle.

Jesus christ where does his ice end.

Shouto approaches the closest villain - perhaps the leader of that squad - his boots crunching in the ice as his left side continues to steam. The squad leader(?) calls him a bastard and complains how he reacted the second he was warped there, as well as wonders if he’s really just a kid before complaining about the pain from the frostbite of the ice.

Shouto briefly flashes back to Shigaraki mentioning how they brought along so many playmates (which I guess confirms that Jirou and/or Shouji forwarded some of what the villains were saying down in the plaza because otherwise there’s no way they should have heard from that distance.) He thinks about how the villains want to kill All Might, and and first, they’d all seemed elite, so they could use their numbers to overwhelm him. But taking a closer look, the pawns are only there for the kids, nothing but a gang of low-level cannon fodder. As far as he can tell, there are only about four or five really dangerous individuals there.

He then sits down(!!!) as he gets the villains’ attention, noting that at the rate they’re going, their skin will rot away from frostbite. The villains are alarm, but Shouto continues on, explaining that he’s trying to become a hero, and that heroes don’t do such horrible things. As he thinks about what he needs to do next, he asks the villains what makes them think they can kill All Might, and to tell him their plan.

Shouto, my man, that is a power move and a half right there, I cannot believe he actually sits down and makes them talk to him like an unruly class of students or sommat. Just, fucking hell, I don’t even know if he realizes how effectively he just asserted his dominance.

Our next scene shift (and the last for this post) is over to Yaomomo, Jirou, and Kaminari in the mountain zone, surrounded by enemies.

Pick your fighter. I’m Birb Dude.

A lot of those enemies have weapons of zome kind and are overall fairly intimidating, though there’s also this one fucker-

I’m sorry I just cannot take this one seriously, what the FUCK is that. There’s certainly some other questionable villains in this mess, but that one just. What.

Anyways. Kaminari just dodges a heavy punch from the big villain with the weird helmet on. He yelps as he gets closer to the girls and gets into formation (back to back to back), complaining about his whole life flashing before his eyes and asking who the hell those guys are and what they’re doing there. Jirou tells him to worry about that later, with Yaomomo stating they need to figure out how to get away from that mob.

Jirou asks Kaminari to confirm he’s a ‘lightning guy’, and then tells him to just fry them all to a crisp. While she’s holding a presumably metal sword. Yeah no, I can’t see anything wrong with that plan. Kaminari is offended because why wasn’t she paying attention when were partners during the battle training?

He then goes on to explain that he can only cover himself in electricity (so he wants a weapon), then goes on to say that he can discharge it, but he can’t control it - he’d hit them as well! Kind of like Todoroki’s power. He also states that he’s still trying to call for help, but his special transceiver is being jammed. He then finishes with the statement that they can’t rely on him, so he’s relying on them, giving a thumbs up with a bit of zap coming off of it.

Jirou grumbles about how he blabs a lot for a guy, then turns and kicks him into the crowd of villains, telling him to be a human stun gun. Kaminari yelps in disbelief at the betrayal, smacking right into the huge villain who almost punched him before and giving the guy a real good zap. Jirou is unimpressed as Kaminari realizes that the adhoc plan actually worked, and that the two can in fact rely on him after all. Jirou notes that that was easy.

Two other villains move to go after Kaminari, who is STILL somehow zapping the guy (how is that villain not dead yet??), with the rock fisted guy aiming a massive bouldery fist at a scared Kaminari. However, right before it hits, it gets cracked open by some kind of soundsave, leaving the villain’s unprotected fist to land right in Kaminari’s face and get them brutally zapped as well.

The boar-masked villain with knives tries to leap in, but a net shot from seemingly nowhere catches him mid-air and sends him falling to the ground caught up in it. We see right after that it was shot from Yaomomo’s right forearm / elbow, all while she’s blocking another strike from a different villain with her staff. She tells Jirou and Kaminari to get serious, with Jirou apologizing as she lifts her short sword again.

Jirou unplugs her ear jack from the speaker in her right boot, the jack retracting to normal length as she notes that she had a good plan, but Kaminari… (something? IDK. I guess he’s in the way? Or she wasn’t expecting his quirk limitations?)

We get her full name - Jirou Kyoka - and a description of her quirk, Earphone Jack.

We also get to see her use her quirk without the speakers, directing one of those amplified heartbeats as a direct attack at some of the villains, who hold their hears as they shout from the pain. Jirou blocks another up-close sword attack with her own short sword, nothing that in her costume request, she asked for a way to focus her sound in one direction.

A question about her costume, like. Why are the speakers in her boots? I mean, I know her costume needed speakers to direct her quirk, but why not go for something like Present Mic’s costume where she could have the speakers on her shoulders and so a lot closer to her quirk???

Yeah, I need to try and keep remembering that these are first draft costumes made by fifteen year olds and not meant to be used in the field / against villains yet. Sometimes I am a dumb. Thank you discord for knocking my head straight.

Moving on, we get Yaomomo kicking another villain back as she states that ‘it’s ready’, which confuses Jirou and I guess the villains as well. The villain she kicked stumbles back as Yaomomo crouches over, her back starting to bulge as she notes that it took some time, what with it being a larger object. The back of her costume tears open in a fairly gruesome-seeming image, only for the next panel to reveal it’s some kind of huge sheet that shoot out over her and Jirou’s heads before coming down to completely cover them both.

The villains are confused about the sheet, asking if the kids are trying to shield themselves. Meanwhile, Kaminari seems done shocking the other villains, stumbling as others start to run at him with their weapons or hands poised to strike. Momo clarifies that the sheet is a 100 mm thick insulation sheet, then tells Kaminari ‘now.’ Kaminari, nose bloody, realizes her plan and let her know that. He lifts his arms, telling the villains that he’s actually super strong before bringing them down and fully unleashing his quirk, zapping all of them at once.

Pikachu, use Thunder!

As the quirk wears off, we see all the villains are in no condition to keep fighting. Smoke rises from the insulated sheet as Yaomomo lifts the edge, noting that now that that is handled, she’s worried about the others, so they need to hurry up and regroup. Jirou is flustered as she points out Yaomomo’s wardrobe malfunction (which I will not be sharing here), while Yaomomo calmly replies she can make more clothes. We also get a blurb on Yaomomo’s quirk:

As well as probably one of the most important things that Bones cut out for some stupid reason: belly rolls!

Yes, Yaomomo actually has a healthy weight in the manga. I mean, all the girls do, but still. Why do animes just ruin this stuff.

Anyways, our last two panels of the page and this half of the chapter show Kaminari totally brain dead as he cheers, with another blurb about his quirk:

Behind all three of them, we see a fist smashing up out of the ground, showing that someone managed to dodge that super-attack after all…

Anyways, that’s a wrap for now. Next time is all Aizawa and Shigaraki, and that’s gonna be… messy. See y’all then!

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lets-play-gwent · 4 years ago

Text

Some Canary

Well, here it is! Thanks so much @chaotic-bard for the lovely prompt. I changed it just a smidge, but I think you’ll enjoy the final product. I plan on continuing this fic for at least a couple more chapters, that is, if people are interested :) Complete story under the cut, soon to be on ao3. If you enjoyed it, please reblog!

Chicago, 1932-- High profile mob families run almost every joint in the city, speakeasies launder money and sell bathtub gin through prohibition. Geralt Rivi is a lowly footsoldier for one of the most powerful bosses around: Tommy Morano himself. What is Geralt to do when he swoons for the son of rival gang leader Frank Pankratz?

The routine was so remarkably monotonous that the two men could almost rely on muscle memory alone. Approach the target, sit leaning slightly forward with hands clasped on top of the table. Do not remove hats or coats—this isn’t a permanent conversation. Keep eye contact with the target. Allow them to break the silence, subtly reminding them who has the power. The less chinning, the better. Let the reputation, and fists if necessary, do the talking. Once the target gets the picture, settle up or square up—no negotiating under any circumstances. Leave that to the big guys up top.

It was simple. A well-trained hound could do it. Why should tonight be any different? Geralt, none the wiser, was about to find out just how much his world could change in a night. His only warning? A few words from the night’s host and bandmaster.

“Ladies, gentlemen, and friends, now comes the time in the evening you’ve been waiting for. Without further ado, put your hands together for the lovely, the gorgeous, the sensational, Buttercup!”

It’s raining too hard for a cigarette, Geralt thinks to himself, reaching for the plain case in his pocket and carefully rolling a strip of tobacco and paper into a slender white cylinder. The paper dampened and drooped. Dammit. Turning up his collar against the wind, he walked towards the nearest dry patch of pavement he could find, a drugstore two blocks down. Ducking under the overhang, he lit his cigarette and took several long drags.

“Hey! Bum! Get outta ‘ere!” A short and rather lanky man was leaning out of the doorframe of the drugstore, shaking a broom and shouting. “We don’t want any trouble with the likes of yous!”

Geralt straightened his shoulders and grimaced hard at him. Despite the darkness of an autumn Chicago night, he could see the blood rush out of the man’s face, who quickly stammered an apology and slammed the door shut.

A rickety Ford pulled up to the curb. Geralt threw a quick glance up and down the street, stamped his cigarette butt into the gutter and climbed in.

“Where to tonight, boss?” His voice was gruff, hardened by years of smoking and a churly demeanor.

“The Passiflora. There’s a little fuckin prick there trying to weasel out of another payment. Collect 160 or take him out back and break his thumbs. Got it?”

Geralt gave a grunt and a curt nod in affirmation. He focused his gaze on the raindrops pattering against the window, toning out the superficial chatter of the three other men in the car. He hated the way they preened and boasted relentlessly at each other, always about some new broad or bar fight, sometimes both. He couldn’t stand the men he usually took shifts with, could barely keep their names straight, except for Lambert. Currently he was engrossed in recounting his latest run-in with cops—complete with obscene gestures and impressions—but when separated from the rest, Geralt found him tolerable, even funny at times. Yet, no matter how irritated he was, or how clever his jokes could be, Geralt knew never to rag on one of the Captains. Bottom-of-the-rung soldiers like him only needed to make that mistake once, and he had the scar on his jaw to prove it.

The brakes screeched in protest as the car slowed to a halt in front of an imposing brick warehouse. Lambert and Geralt climbed out, easily slipping into the ‘intimidating’ demeanor they carried for jobs like this. Lambert rapped on the door and waited. A small panel at eye level opened with a sharp crack, and a surly woman with a cigar and frizzy hair glared at the two men from behind the door.

“Who sent ya?” she said, puffing rank smoke directly into Geralt’s face. He cringed and turned away.

“Fat Sammy Morano and his cat,” Lambert replied, equally surly. The panel slammed shut, and almost simultaneously the door to their left creaked open a few inches.

Inside, Geralt’s eyes watered as his senses were assaulted with the bitter stench of bathtub gin. “I hate these fuckin places,” He rolled another cigarette. “Whose our guy?”

“The chrome dome with the green vest up by the stage. Let’s just get this over with and then we’ll get some grub, yeah?”

“Hmm,”

They wove through the tables together, trench coats occasionally brushing against a patron or chair. An irascible-looking waiter stopped them with a snide remark about wearing hats inside, and tried to seat them, but apparently one look from Lambert was enough to convey ‘don’t fuck with us’ because he quickly turned on his heel and attended to a nearby booth.

The curtain rose to reveal a lean man in a dazzling pigeon gray pinstripe suit. Humbly waving down the audience’s raucous applause, Buttercup began to pluck at the delicate strings of his guitar. His voice—silvery and saccharine, yet somehow still mellow—rang clearly through the now silent room.

Stars shining bright above you

Night breezes seem to whisper ‘I love you’

Birds singing in the sycamore tree

Dream a little dream of me

Geralt was suddenly thankful for the chair next to him and quickly sat, trying to catch his breath. Years later, every time he told this story, he insisted that his Buttercup stole the air right out of his chest.

Say ‘nighty-night’ and kiss me

Just hold me tight and tell me you’ll miss me

While I’m alone and blue as can be

Dream a little dream of me

Gone was his sour expression, gone was the rank smell of moonshine. The scratched wooden floor and sticky tables of the speakeasy seemed to fall away, leaving only two men, one guitar, one spotlight, and a long-forgotten smoldering cigarette.

Stars fading, but I linger on dear

Was it Geralt’s imagination, or was the singer… looking at him…?

Still craving your kiss

His hair, slicked back and shining underneath the stage lights, reminded Geralt of a Clark Gable movie poster he once saw. Had he ever noticed someone’s hair before?

I’m longing to linger ‘till dawn dear

His eyes, his face, his hands, were the most beautiful Geralt had seen in his life. Those lips, soft and pink, shaped so delicately around the words of the song, he found himself staring at them, wondering how they’d feel…

Just saying thi-is…

A sharp smack upside the back of his head brought him sailing down from the stars back to the speakeasy. Back to the job, where Lambert and the target were staring at him, the former’s face covered in bewildered rage, the latter’s face still shaken, albeit slightly confused.

“As we were saying—” Lambert emphasized the last two syllable’s in Geralt’s face, who cleared his throat and straightened his shoulders once more.

“You can se—ttle up now, or we’ll take it out back,” All three men at the table tried desperately to ignore the voice crack that took every drop of intimidation out of his words.

Nevertheless, the target fell into the familiar routine, terrified of Lambert if nothing else. “Aw jeez come on boys, you know I always come through, I just need a little more time is all, just until next week I pro—” he was suddenly on top of the table, Lambert’s fist pulling his shirt collar far too forward for comfort.

“Out back it is,”

The two men stood and strode quickly towards the side door, the target scrambling to keep up with the fist still clutching his shirt. Geralt took one last glance back at Buttercup, who to his utter surprise, was glaring at the group as they left the hall.

…

A dull crack echoed down the alley as Lambert’s fist left the target’s face. He groaned and stumbled to the side, bracing himself against damp bricks. “Pl—please, my wife—”

“I don’t want to hear it. 160 today, or we come back and fuck you up for real,” He dealt another blow, this time aiming for the target’s stomach. Two more hits and he was coughing and sputtering.

Geralt stood to the side, keeping watch on the street for any unlucky passersby. Keep your cool, focus on the job, he thought to himself, rolling another cigarette, thankful that the rain finally let up. The rattle of a doorknob and sudden burst of light, however, startled the paper and tobacco right out of his hands.

“Why good evening fells, waiting at the stage door for me? My my, a bit forward isn’t it?” Buttercup draped himself carefully against the doorframe, but his smirk faltered as he took in the blood dripping down the bald man’s face and the imposing nature of the trench coat cornering him against the wall. “Is there some sort of problem here?”

“Scram, kid, this doesn’t concern you,”

“Why, sir, don’t be so shy! I’m sure we can come to an… understanding…” he winked at the two bewildered racketeers and sauntered gracefully down the stairs. “I’m Julian. Aren’t you two a coupla tall glasses of trouble? Might have my hands full tonight,” Geralt carefully controlled his expression, trying to ignore Julian’s intoxicating smile and the fluttering in his chest. “What’s your name, hon?” He was addressing the target now.

“Eu—Eugene” A quite preoccupied Eugene held his bleeding nose in one hand and wrapped an arm around his midsection. “P-please—mister, I don’t-t have it all now, j-just just give me until next week, hey? N-n-next week, I promise, sound reasonable fellas?”

“Shut up!” Lambert barked.

“Now now! That’s no way to treat a faithful patron of the Passiflora, now is it? Eugene here is a friend of mine—” Julian strode over to the wall where Lambert was towering over the target and nudged his way between the two men. “Tips well and brings friends in whenever he can. Lord knows I owe him some money, why don’t I settle up?”

Lambert’s face darkened. Straightening his shoulders and looking down, he towered over the performer. “Don’t make me say it again, kid. This doesn’t concern you. Go back to your dressing room.”

Julian only laughed, seemingly impervious to the serious threat levied against him. The sound—so musical, even gentle—made Geralt’s breath catch in his chest.

Shock, confusion, and then comprehension quickly flashed across Lamberts face as he found himself with a fistful of cash. Counting it quickly, he grabbed Geralt’s arm and pulled him towards the street. “Let’s get out of here, before I do something stupid,”

“Toodeloo, sweethearts!” Julian called after them, helping Eugene stagger back into the building.

…

The car was quiet except for the rumble of the engine.

“Some canary, huh?”

“SOME CANARY? SOME?? CANARY??” Lambert’s voice was shrill with fury. “YOU FALL HEAD OVER GODDAMN HEELS FOR THE SON OF MORANO’S WORST FUCKING ENEMY, AND ALL YOU CAN SAY IS SOME? FUCKING? CANARY? JESUS CHRIST GERALT WHERE THE FUCK IS YOUR HEAD?”

“You mean that’s—”

“You guessed, it bub. That’s Julian Pankratz, of the Pankratz crime family. You know, those German pricks who’ve been trying to take down Morano for the past FIFTEEN YEARS??”

Geralt coughed out a nervous chuckle. “Yeah, some canary…”

************

I hope you liked it as much as I enjoyed writing it!! Here’s a link to the song jaskier sings :))

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writingithink · 4 years ago

Text

Tangled Timelines Chapter 3 Rated: T Chapter Word Count: 5,010 Chapter Summary: The Doctor and Rose try to track down some ghosts. Notes: Hey look! It's an update!! Hopefully they'll be happening more regularly now. I'm semi doing NaNoWriMo, and by that I mean that I'm attempting to write 50,000 words this month spread across any project (including this one). I'm starting to find my groove with this fic, so *fingers crossed*

As always, many hugs and thanks for @hey-there-juliet , my lovely beta. && all mistakes are mine.

READ IT ON AO3 [copy/paste link]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26686090/chapters/67268401

<-- Ch2

Ch 4 -->

As soon as he entered his ship, the Doctor collapsed onto the jumpseat and stared blankly at the time rotor for a few moments. And then he glared at it.

“I somehow manage to happen upon the exact coordinates for the beginning of an invasion, and for some reason you’ve put me smack dab in the middle of it?!”

The answering hum was … frustrated.

He furrowed his brows, frowning. It would be exceedingly bad, incredibly bad, astonishingly bad bad bad if something else was influencing the TARDIS. The Doctor sprang to his feet and immediately sonicked open the grating, taking a moment to place a temporary barrier around his panic before he could worry Rose.

Back at the flat, she was having tea with her mother. She’d only just managed to get Jackie to stop complaining about his apparent need to ‘make everything about aliens’, and they were now talking about the wedding. Apparently she’d found a baker who said they’d make up cake samples that all somehow incorporated bananas. Best news he’d heard (well, technically) all day, and he couldn’t properly appreciate the sentiment when he desperately needed to check his ship and parse out exactly what he was going to do about these ‘ghosts’.

First things first, he needed to make sure that the TARDIS was physically fine. That she was healthy. And actually, it wasn’t so bad. There were some minor repairs he should take care of before they next left Earth, but nothing he couldn’t leave until after they’d saved the planet. The Doctor pulled himself out from under the console and bounced over to the navigational matrix, pulling a screen with him as he went.

His mouth dropped as he looked at the recording of their last flight path. A time track seemed to just- just pop into existence, pushing them months away. His ship had immediately landed due to the unexpected error. It literally looked like a glitch in the Vortex - but there were no such thing as glitches in the Time Vortex. A whole dimension doesn’t glitch - not without some outside force acting on it.

And any outside force meddling with time was even more dangerous than whatever these ‘ghosts’ were.

One bloody thing at a time, though.

The Doctor pushed himself away from the console and began pacing.

Ghosts ghosts ghosts ghosts ghosts.

Not really ghosts. Getting stronger from the psychic energy of the entire human race. Incredibly unpleasant when one walks through you - really do feel dead. Worse than dead. Likely nothing good, and all over the world.

But they appear in shifts. There’s shifts.

So someone had to be in charge of that. Probably multiple someones. But still, there would be a central location connected to them, giving them whatever help they need to press themselves onto the Earth from wherever they really are. To do that, all around the world, they would have to have an incredibly strong signal.

An incredibly strong, traceable signal.

“Alright then!”

Headfirst into danger was just what it was going to have to be.

The Doctor sonicked open a different panel and began rummaging around for the equipment he’d need. It wasn’t long before he heard the TARDIS' door open.

“According to the paper,” his wife announced, “they’ve elected a ghost as MP for Leeds. Now tell me about this plan you’re tryin’ so hard to keep secret.”

He popped out of the grating with a backpack full of equipment.

“Who you gonna call?” he joked.

“Ghostbusters!” Rose laughed, more amused by the voice he was using than his shockingly similar looking technology.

“I ain’t afraid of no ghosts,” the Doctor finished with a little jig before dashing out of the TARDIS.

“My mum’s on her way down,” she informed him as he looked around the playground for the best area to set up the cones. Actually, should do nicely right where they were.

“Oh?” He turned on his heel and went back into their ship, pleased that she’d seen fit to set out the rest of the equipment they would need. “Let’s get these outside.”

“Doctor,” his bondmate huffed, even as she took a cone. I don’t think we should tell her yet. About the lifespan thing. Not until after we’ve gotten rid of the ghosts. Like, way after. Next trip back.

That’s fine, he agreed as he sat down his roll of wire and cone and began plugging everything in.

“We’ll still have to stay for awhile, though. Because we said we would.”

The Doctor paused what he was doing, dramatically raising his eyes skyward. It was quite a nice day, really. You’d think, with London having nice weather for once, that he’d be able to enjoy it. He opened his mouth, planning to vocalize his many complaints, but as soon as he turned back towards Rose, he saw Jackie walking up.

After the ghosts, yes. Sometime during this trip, though, please .

He wasn’t ashamed to beg. Well … a little ashamed.

“Why’d you park all the way over here?” Jackie asked as he began plugging the wires into the cone Rose had placed.

“Got tired of the alley. Bit dingy,” he quipped. It was a lie, but better than telling his mother-in-law that not only had the flight gone wrong time-wise, but also slightly by location.

His wife shot him a worried look as she caught the thought.

Later, he promised, rushing back into the TARDIS for the final cone. He would worry about all of that later - they had important things to do.

“When’s the next shift?” he asked as he sat the cone down.

“Quarter to,” Jackie answered, “but don’t go causing trouble. What’s that lot do?”

“Triangulates their point of origin.”

“I don’t suppose it’s the Gelth?” Rose asked, visions of their spectral forms playing across their bond for a moment.

“Nah,” the Doctor responded, and she quickly shrugged off the idea. “They were just coming through one little rift. This lot are transposing themselves over the whole planet. Like tracing paper.”

With the final cone plugged in, he ran over to make sure they were all in the proper position.

“You’re always doing this,” Jackie complained. “Reducing it to science. Why can’t it be real? Just think of it, though. All the people we’ve lost. Our families coming back home. Don’t you think it’s beautiful?”

He paused to give his mother-in-law an honest answer.

“I think it’s horrific.”

And then the Doctor bounced back into motion, unrolling the cable that would connect the triangulation devices to the TARDIS console. They were on a time crunch, after all. “Rose, give us a hand, love.”

His bondmate sighed before following him into the ship.

She’s so upset.

The Doctor remained silent, aware that the thought wasn’t really meant for him and even more aware that there wasn’t anything he could say that would help. He plugged in the cable and turned to Rose, aware that her mother had followed them inside. This is how they could help.

“As soon as the cones activate,” he explained quickly, pointing to the monitor, “if that line goes red, press that button there. If it doesn’t stop,” he continued, reaching into his jacket to pull out the sonic screwdriver, “setting 15-B. Hold it against the port, eight seconds and stop.”

“15-B, eight seconds,” she confirmed.

“If it goes into the blue, activate the deep scan on the left.”

“Uhm … oh!” His wife leaned over the console, which he found much more provocative than the situation really called for. “This button there?”

“Hmm close.”

And he’d really, sincerely intended to send her a mental image of the correct button, but some wires must have gotten crossed there. Instead what he sent was a memory of their return to the TARDIS right after the Rhibelini festival. Eh. Oops?

“That one?” Rose smirked, pointing to another button that was definitely not close, while sending some very, uhm, creative suggestions that, unfortunately, weren’t actually feasible.

“Eehh, now you’ve just killed us,” the Doctor told her with a theatrical grimace.

With the button, or- ?

They both laughed, but only for a moment.

“Er, that one.” She confidently pointed to the correct button, telepathically informing him that she knew the whole time.

“Yeah!” he smiled before turning to Jackie. “Now, what’ve we got? Two minutes to go?”

Jackie looked down at her watch, and the Doctor was glad that she didn’t realize that he was just trying to make her feel needed. That he was a Time Lord and didn’t need her help to check the time. Because his wife had to be right - there’s no way her mum actually enjoys the act of doing laundry. She enjoys being a mum.

You like her, Rose teased over the bond.

Shush.

He gave her a peck on the cheek before exiting the ship to do the final prep work on the triangulation cones. It was go time. The Doctor raced around, calibrating each one.

“What’s the line doing?” he shouted through the door.

“It’s alright,” came his wife’s answering shout, though she really didn’t need to with his superior hearing. She could whisper and he’d be able to hear her from this short of a distance. “It’s holding!”

“You even look like him,” Jackie said to Rose, and he could hear her just fine. Not that he understood what that was supposed to mean.

“How do you mean? I suppose I do, yeah,” his wife responded, sounding pleased, though he still didn’t know what it meant. Rose didn’t look at all like him. What a strange thing to say. He tried to refocus on the triangulation equipment.

“You’ve changed so much,” Jackie sighed. “All grown up and married to an alien, living in a spaceship.”

The Doctor almost said something to Rose about her mother acknowledging that they were, in fact, already married, but then caught himself. If she didn’t already know that he was eavesdropping, no need to make it obvious. Not that it would matter either way. He wasn’t going to stuff cotton in his ears just because the humans in his life couldn’t be bothered to remember all of his biological differences.

“For the better,” his wife replied with confidence. “We have an amazing life, and we’re in love.”

“I suppose. It’s just barmy. Seeing you two like this in this box of his. Makes it hard to pretend everything’s even a little normal.”

He wondered what exactly Jackie imagined their life was like when they weren’t around. Things had actually gotten shockingly domestic lately, though it would still probably be too alien for his mother-in-law.

“Mum, I used to work in a shop.”

“I’ve worked in shops. What’s wrong with that?”

“No, I didn’t mean that,” Rose sighed.

Once again the Doctor made himself refocus on the task at hand, all the while hoping that they weren’t about to have a row.

“I know what you meant. What happens when I’m gone?”

“Don’t talk like that,” Rose ordered, distress flooding their connection, making it nearly impossible for him to pay attention to the cones.

How exactly was he supposed to save the Earth with these working conditions?

There was a smug voice in his head, with a distinct Northern accent, very pleased to point out how they were right about avoiding domestics.

“No, but really. When I’m dead and buried, you won’t have any reason to come back home. What happens then?” Jackie asked her.

“I don’t know,” Rose mumbled, as she tried and failed to imagine their future life without her mother in it.

The Doctor frowned, realizing that he couldn’t quite picture it either.

“Do you think you’ll ever settle down?” her mother continued.

Their connection was now awash with all sorts of negative emotions, and he could tell that his bondmate was near tears, which was completely unacceptable. He turned away from the cones, ready to march back on board before stopping himself.

“The Doctor never will, so I can’t,” Rose told her. “Wouldn’t want to. We’ll just keep traveling.”

“And you’ll keep on changing. And in forty years time, fifty, there’ll be this woman, this strange woman, walking through the marketplace on some planet a billion miles from Earth. But she’s not Rose Tyler. Not anymore. She’s not even human.”

Their bond somehow managed to pulse mauve.

It’s going to be okay, love, he tried to comfort her, fighting to send soothing, positive thoughts over their connection just as he finished up the calibrations. A distraction, that’s what she needed! It was certainly what he needed.

“Here we go!” he shouted.

“The scanner’s working!” Rose called out. “It says Delta-One-Six!”

“Come on then, you beauty!” the Doctor laughed, firmly resolved on drowning out all of the pain present in their shared mental space with adrenaline fueled glee. After all, he had always wanted to use these cones - they were state of the art!

He watched with wide eyes as the cones connected, immediately trapping one of the so-called ‘ghosts’ within their quasi-electric field. And then he reached into his pocket, carefully blocking their bond as he pulled out and put on a pair of 3D glasses - this was the part of his speculations that he really would rather not worry his bondmate with. At least, not yet. Not until he absolutely had to.

The ghost … thing he’d just trapped was absolutely riddled with Void particles. Completely covered, blurry head to blurry toe. Blimey.

The Doctor knelt down, adjusting the controls in order to get a more accurate read. If he was lucky, he would be able to figure out which parallel world these creatures were trying to come from. Likely a parallel Earth, but which one?

It began writhing, though nothing about the triangulation device should cause a living thing pain.

“Don’t like that much, do you?” he couldn’t help commenting. “Who are you? Where are you coming from? Woah!” He jumped back as the ‘ghost’ attempted to break out of the containment field. “That’s more like it! Not so friendly now, are you?”

He looked on as the creature faded away and the cones deactivated. While some more time would have been helpful, the Doctor had enough information to get started. After quickly picking up all of the cones, he ran back inside. Once he’d dumped them all out of the way, he raced up to the console, shrugging out of his coat and tossing it onto the railing.

“I said so!” he exclaimed. “Those ghosts have been forced into existence from one specific point, and I can track down the source. Allons-y!”

With that, he slammed the dematerialization lever, the coordinates having been inputted by the triangulation device. So handy! Finally got to use it.

The TARDIS shook violently.

Well, maybe he could make some improvements ... if he ever got the chance to use it again. The Doctor sprung to his feet and stabilized the flight.

Things seemed abnormally silent in the console room and over their bond. He was uncertain as to why, but still gave over to his natural inclination to fill the silence.

“I like that,” he told his wife as he moved around the console. “Allons-y. I should say allons-y more often. Allons-y. Watch out, Rose Tyler. Allons-y. And then, it would be really brilliant if I met someone called Alonso, because then I could say, ‘Allons-y Alonso’ every time.” He finally reached Rose and wrapped his arms around her before pausing. “You’re staring at me.”

“My mum’s still on board,” she whispered, squeezing his arms.

The Doctor looked up to see Jackie Tyler sitting on one of the platforms.

It was terrifying.

“If we end up on Mars, I’m going to kill you.”

Absolutely, bone-chillingly terrifying.

Stop being a drama queen, his bondmate chastised.

Oh, the domestics of it all! Worse than living in a house! Traveling with his mother-in-law?!

You’ll be fine, it’s hardly traveling . We’re in the same city, in the same time, Rose reassured him, rolling her eyes before giving him a proper hug.

What was he supposed to do now, though?! Bring Jackie with them? Leave her in the TARDIS? It would likely be dangerous wherever they ended up, invasion and all. The alternative was having her stay in their home to snoop around and get up to who knows what. There was no winning!

“Welcome aboard, Jackie!” he said with a wave, his smile showing a bit too much teeth.

“Where exactly are we going, anyway?” her mother asked.

“Come down, mum. You can watch the landing on the view screen with us,” Rose encouraged, releasing him so that she could meet her halfway. “We’re gonna land at wherever they’re controlling the ghosts. Are you fine to stay on board? There’s a pool, you could have a nice swim. Or watch telly in the media room. We’ll be back before you know it.”

“I’m just supposed to hang out in this weird ship of his while you’re off trying to get yourselves killed?”

“We do stuff like this all the time,” the Doctor piped in, trying to reassure her. “Only this time you’re on the TARDIS instead of at home in your flat. Which, really, is much better, when you think about it. Best ship in the Universe.”

Jackie still didn’t look thrilled as they all gathered around the view screen. She looked even less thrilled as they watched the TARDIS land in a hanger before immediately being surrounded by armed gunmen.

“Oh, well, there goes the advantage of surprise,” he sighed. “Still, cuts to the chase.”

Now he was going to have to deal with soldiers. Really, every time he thought that the day couldn’t possibly get worse. The Doctor turned to his mother-in-law as he made his way around the console.

“Jackie, stay inside. Doors shut. They can’t get in.”

“I’m not staying here! Take me home!”

“It’s too late for that,” he told her. “Shouldn’t have come aboard if you didn’t fancy a trip.”

“I was kidnapped!”

He rolled his eyes, deciding not to dignify that with a response as he took Rose’s hand. She pulled him to a stop before they reached the door.

“Doctor, they’ve got guns.”

The Doctor mentally reminded his wife that they’d been surrounded by much, much worse. Daleks couldn’t help but come to mind. 21 st century Earth guns were really the least of his concerns at the moment. Jackie Tyler accidentally breaking his precious timeship was more of a worry than guns. Whatever these creatures had planned, definitely more of a worry than guns.

“And we haven’t,” he delightfully informed her. “Which makes us the better people, don’t you think? They can shoot us dead, but the moral high ground is ours.”

With that, he tugged her out of the TARDIS behind him and closed the door as casually as he could manage.

Honestly, with all of the emergency programs he had installed, why couldn’t he have made one to deal with this scenario? A program that would immediately take Jackie home and then bring the TARDIS right back - now that would be nifty.

They barely had a chance to look around before the soldiers surrounding them cocked their guns. He and Rose quickly raised their hands to prove they were unarmed.

Y’know what this reminds me of?, his wife casually asked across their connection.

What?

Utah, 2012.

The Doctor’s eyes swept the area as much as he could without moving his head. He could see her point.

Do you think they’d fire if I knocked on wood right now?, he asked her, just as a blonde woman in a suit rushed into the hanger.

“Oh! Oh, how marvelous!” she exclaimed, clapping.

I think she may’ve gone ‘round the bend, Rose laughed in his head as she fought back a confused smile.

The soldiers slowly began to lower their weapons as they joined in on the … clapping? Really, why were they clapping?

“Oh, very good. Superb. Happy day!”

Really, the Doctor felt inclined to agree with his bondmate on this one. Still, now that guns weren’t being pointed at them he was inclined to just go with it.

“Uhm, thanks. Nice to meet you,” he greeted. “I’m the Doctor, and this is my-”

Probably not the time to introduce me as your wife.

“- this is Rose.”

“Hello,” his wife waved with a wide grin that didn’t reach her eyes.

“Oh, I should say! Hurray!”

And there they went again with the clapping. Honestly, what the bloody hell was going on?

Think you’ve got more fans, Rose teased.

“You- you’ve heard of me, then?”

Really, where had his ship landed them?

“Well of course we have,” the overly enthusiastic woman replied. “And I have to say, if it wasn’t for you, none of us would be here! The Doctor and the TARDIS.”

Everyone started clapping yet again. He was starting to get used to it, actually. It was kind of nice.

“And his companion, of course,” the woman continued.

Okay, not as nice. Then again, Rose was the one who didn’t want him to say she was his wife. Which was probably the smart thing to do, mid-invasion, but still. Just … didn’t feel right. As it was, she had had to cover her mouth with her hands in order to keep herself from laughing - out loud. Their bond was awash with her amusement. The Doctor found himself fighting the urge himself as he tried to politely make them stop.

“And- and- and you are?” he asked as the noise died down.

“Oh, plenty of time for that,” she evaded. Huh.

I think she thinks she’s the boss of you, his bondmate informed him.

She also thinks that I’m the boss ofyou, the Doctor couldn’t help but point out.

Bless.

“Aaaaaaanyway lead on, allons-y. Will there be nibbles?”

He fought the urge to take Rose’s hand as they followed the woman away from the TARDIS, surrounded by armed guards, stuffing his fists into his pockets. A moment later she tugged on his sleeve. The Doctor glanced over, taking out his hand when she rolled her eyes. Their fingers slotted together, perfect fit, as always.

We’ve been holding hands since the moment we met, she mentally chastised. Memories played across their bond.

She certainly wasn’t wrong.

Sorry, he told her, squeezing her hand. Not sure how to pretend to not be married, I guess.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Rose smirk.

Well, I took off my ring. Think all we’ve got to do now is not say it outright.

Before he could properly respond, something on the tip of his tongue (or whatever the telepathic equivalent of that idiom might be) about how he could do a much better job than that, the mystery woman started talking.

“It was only a matter of time until you found us, and at last you’ve made it,” she said. “I’d like to welcome you, Doctor. Welcome to Torchwood.”

With that, she flung open the doors and they entered a massive warehouse. A massive warehouse that was full of alien technology. And since this definitely wasn’t UNIT, this was very, very not good.

Blimey , he told his wife, you’re right. This really is frighteningly similar to that bunker in Utah.

Gonna nip over to that crate and knock on wood?, Rose asked, only partially teasing.

He really was considering it, actually, but … (he peeked behind him at the armed soldiers following uncomfortably close) better not. Instead he focused on the spacecraft in front of them.

“That’s a Jathar Sunglider,” he realized.

“Came down to Earth off the Shetland Islands ten years ago,” the woman explained.

“What, did it crash?”

“No, we shot it down,” she stated. “It violated our airspace. Then we stripped it bare.”

Oh, this was really not good. The Doctor tried to sense the timelines, but they were all still so jumbled and wrong that he couldn’t make out the consequences of it, this technology that Earth really shouldn’t have right now. Not yet.

“The weapon that destroyed the Sycorax on Christmas day?” the woman continued with pride, “That was us. Now, if you’d like to come with me.”

That’s what Harriet said, Rose realized, replaying the memory over the bond, Torchwood. I didn’t even think about it, though.

No, me either, he agreed as they were led further into the warehouse. Why hadn’t he noticed anything off before? He should have felt it. On Christmas, maybe not - he’d just regenerated. But apparently this organization has been active for at least a decade, if not longer.

“The Torchwood Institute has a motto - ‘If it’s alien, it’s ours’,” their ‘captor’ slash ‘tour guide’ explained. “Anything that comes from the sky, we strip it down and we use it for the good of the British Empire.”

“Excuse me, the what?” Rose interrupted.

“The British Empire,” the woman repeated, turning around and looking his bondmate up and down, sizing her up.

“There hasn’t been a British Empire in ages,” Rose informed her, and she wasn’t wrong.

“We’ll see,” their hostess replied, a little too condescending for his liking. “Ah, excuse me,” she continued as a soldier handed her a particle gun?! “Now if you wouldn’t mind. Do you recognize this, Doctor?”

“That’s a particle gun.”

Now that he was here, now that this had his full attention, the Doctor could feel the strain on the timelines. This whole building was a threat to the entire causal nexus. His wife held his hand tighter when he showed her just a smidge of it over their connection.

“Good, isn’t it?” the woman smiled, unaware of the impending disaster that he wasn’t yet sure how to fix. “Took us eight years to get it to work.”

“It’s the 21st century,” he calmly tried to explain. “You can’t have particle guns.”

“We must defend our border against the alien,” she replied, as if that somehow gave them a free pass.

The Doctor didn’t know what to say to that, which apparently was fine, as their guide wasn’t really paying attention anyway as she handed back the gun.

“Thank you, Sebastian, isn’t it?”

I think it’s best if we just, you know, let her talk, he told Rose, studiously not looking directly at her - and really, there was a lot to take in, the warehouse was packed with advanced tech. Much too advanced.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Think she’ll give us an evil monologue?

Well, I don’t think she’s evil, he admitted. I think she’s … some sort of, I don’t know, business woman? I think she truly believes that what they’re doing here is good . Which makes them even more dangerous.

It would also make stopping them even more difficult.

“Thank you, Sebastian.”

He refocused as she turned back to them.

“I think it’s very important to know everyone by name,” she said. “Torchwood is a very modern organization. People skills. That’s what it’s all about these days. I’m a people person.”

Well that’s … nice?, Rose commented across the bond as she gave the woman a very forced grin.

“Have you got anyone called Alonso?” he couldn’t help but ask.

“No, I don’t think so. Is that important?”

Eh, oh well. It was kind of nice, though, having her asking a question for once.

“No, I suppose not,” the Doctor replied, just as he noticed a crate of Magnaclamps. He’d always wanted some, hadn’t gotten around to it, though. “What was your name?”

“Yvonne,” she told them (finally). “Yvonne Hartman.”

He let go of his wife’s hand, giving into the urge to inspect a clamp.

“Ah, yes,” Yvonne said with a smile. “Now, we’re very fond of these. The Magnaclamp. Found in a spaceship buried at the base of Mount Snowdon. Attach this to an object and it cancels the mass,” she explained, as if he didn’t already know. “I could use it to lift two tonnes of weight with a single hand. That’s an imperial ton, by the way. Torchwood refuses to go metric.”

Of course they do, Rose scoffed over the bond. British Empire, I mean really.

“Well, that’s handy,” is what she said aloud as he tossed the clamp back into the crate, wandering away to try to get a better idea of all of the other alien technology they’d managed to scavenge, commandeer or steal. His wife wandered in the opposite direction, giving him a second set of eyes even if she didn’t know what everything was. It really was a devastating amount, and the Doctor had to assume that this wasn’t all of it.

Really, it was about time they got back on track.

“So, what about the ghosts?” he asked.

“Ah, yes, the ghosts. They’re, er, what you might call a side effect,” Yvonne admitted.

“Of what?”

“All in good time, Doctor. There is an itinerary, trust me.”

Ugh, of all the things to add to this no-good-very-bad-day, he was stuck on a tour. With an itinerary.

It was his personal hell, really.

And to make it even worse, there went the TARDIS on the back of a lorry.

“An itinerary?” Rose scoffed. “And what are you lot doing with the TARDIS?!” My mum’s in there!

Oh, seriously?! He’d just managed to forget that they’d left Jackie Tyler unsupervised on the ship. Really, truly, worst day ever.

Seriously? Could you just grow up and get some perspective?, his wife snarled over their connection.

“If it’s alien, it’s ours,” Yvonne replied confidently.

“You’ll never get inside it,” he told her with just as much confidence, if not more.

“Hmm, et cetera.”

Once she turned away, they both glanced back at their ship to see Rose’s mum peek out through the doors - which he distinctly remembered telling her to keep shut.

Really, why did no one ever listen? He didn’t understand it.

With a sigh, and all of his unflattering thoughts about his mother-in-law safely behind a barrier, the Doctor turned away to continue their ‘tour’. At least the ghosts were on the itinerary. So this day had to turn ‘round at some point … right?

#ten x rose #tenrose #time petals #ficandchips #dw fanfiction #fandom: doctor who #pairing: rose x doctor #fic: tangled timelines #my fic

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helloalycia · 6 years ago

Text

too much love [one] // kara danvers

summary: Kara is under the influence of Red Kryptonite, and this impacts your relationship with her, seeing as you don't know that she is supergirl.

warning/s: verbal abuse.

part two

"Are you sure you don't want a ride to work? I'm sure it would be much quicker than getting the bus," I offered for the millionth time now, an amused smile on my lips.

I had spent the night at Kara's apartment last night because I fell asleep during our movie marathon; now the two of us were about to head out to work. I insisted that she got a ride from me to work, because I had a car and she didn't, but she was adamant on taking the bus for some odd reason.

Kara chuckled and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose adorably. "Honestly, Y/N, I'm good. I have to grab coffee for Cat anyway. I would only make you late."

I understood how true her words were, seeing as I began earlier than her, yet I still scrunched up my face with fake disgust. "But... the bus."

She laughed melodiously, it echoing around her apartment and sending butterflies to fly a storm in my stomach. "Let's just say that taking the bus is a..." she paused for a moment, before biting her lower lip to contain her amusement, "...a breeze for me."

I furrowed my eyebrows with confusion, not understanding her joke, but whatever it was seemed to humour her, which was enough to make me smile because she was happy. I smiled and pressed a gentle kiss against her cheek. Even though we'd been together for almost a year now, she still flushed an obvious shade of pink whenever I was affectionate to her. It was so cute.

"Come on, weirdo, before you get late and make your boss angry, or whatever she-devils get when their coffee isn't with them on time," I teased, grabbing her hand and pulling her to the front door.

Quickly grabbing her bag from the kitchen counter, she allowed me to pull her along, nudging me in the shoulder in the process, probably for my comment about her boss, Cat.

"She isn't even that bad, Y/N," she defended the successful business woman. "I don't get why you don't like her. Especially when you've never met her."

As we locked her apartment door and headed to the elevator, I explained. "She doesn't treat you as well as she should, and from the sound of it, she doesn't give you any opportunity for growth in your career. You deserve so much better." I gave her a knowing look as she purposely stayed silent. "You know I'm right, Kara. She doesn't even remember your name for crying out loud."

She moved her mouth, searching for a response, before sighing with exasperation, earning laughter from myself. Pouting adorably, she crossed her arms over her chest. I laughed even more, stepping into the elevator as I watched her stay on the other side of the doors.

"Before you explode, you might want to check the time and step in here with me. You're gonna be late, love," I informed her a little too enthusiastically for her liking.

Seeing the time on her wristwatch, her eyes widened, and she decided that racing into the elevator and punching almost every button on the panel was the right thing to do. The doors closed and she started to tap her foot impatiently, making me bite my lip as I watched with amusement.

"Sure you don't want that ride?" I offered once again, finding her current state extremely entertaining.

"Mhm," she hummed, glancing at me before looking straight ahead. "Absolutely."

I shook my head, unable to contain my giggles. I loved her to pieces, but she was so going to be late to work. Honestly. Who did she think she was? Supergirl?

***

"Y/N, this is absolutely amazing!" my boss gushed, his expression showing how impressed he was. It was surprising to see him this excited seeing as he only ever expressed three emotions: anger, annoyance, and hunger. The latter indeed isn't an emotion, but never say that to him or you'll get your own first-hand experience of his anger and annoyance combined.

Despite his implied difficulty as a boss, he was talented at what he did and recognised talent, too. This was another reason I was surprised. He thought I was talented.

"Wow, thank you, sir," I said appreciatively. "That means a lot to me."

And it also took me a whole month to plan and draw, I wanted to add, but didn't dare.

Maybe I should have said by now that I was an architect, and I had been working on a design for a while now. Finally completing it today, I built up the courage to show my boss, and unexpectedly, he was impressed with it.

"I'm gonna look at this in more detail tonight," he told me, shaking the papers in his hand before setting them on his desk. "Is this you done for the day then?"

I glanced at the clock on his wall, it reading almost seven in the evening. "Yeah, if that's okay with you."

Actually smiling at me, he nodded and motioned to the door. "Have a good evening, Y/L/N, you've earned it."

I returned the smile. "Thank you."

Excited to finally be done for the day, I packed up my things and made my rounds before deciding to ring Kara. She rang me earlier, but I was unfortunately too busy to talk for more than five minutes, and all I wanted to do right now was hear her lovely voice.

"Hello?"

"Hey, love," I spoke, a smile subconsciously forming on my lips when I heard her voice. "How was your day?"

"Uhhh...," she seemed unsure of her answer, making me confused. "Good. How was yours?"

Deciding to ignore the confusion, I answered, suddenly feeling all excited because I could share the news with her. "Awesome! The boss man approved of my designs!"

"Y/N, that's amazing!" she exclaimed, and it made me feel even better to know that she was happy for me. It made it feel that extra bit worth it. "I'm so pr-" She was cut off abruptly by a faint 'thud', and I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Kara?"

I heard her groans through the phone, making me stop in my tracks. "Kara? What is it? What was that noise? Are you okay?"

She hummed through the phone, before saying, "Hmm, yeah, sorry..."

"Kara, what the heck was that noise?" I questioned, still not feeling reassured with her answer.

It took her a few seconds to answer. "Oh, I walked into the door. Sorry, I'm just feeling a little dizzy right now. Can I call you later?"

"Of course," I said, though my worry was still evident in my tone of voice. "Kara, shall I come over? Are you feeling okay?"

"No!" she was quick to respond, only furthering my confusion. "Uh, Alex is here with me. I'm okay, Y/N. I think I'm gonna get some rest. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

I didn't feel good knowing she was feeling unwell, but knowing Alex was there eased that feeling just a little bit. "Okay... I love you, Kara. Get some rest."

Her voice was soft and kind, and I could imagine the matching beautiful smile that graced her lips as she said, "I love you, too. Goodnight."

I hung up and tried to ignore the uncertain feeling inside of me. She would be okay. She was probably just tired. Right?

***

Finishing earlier than usual on Fridays was definitely something that got me through the day, but it was different today. Kara hadn't called me this morning, or earlier on, and now it was lunch time and she still hadn't checked in. I had texted her a few times, and gave her a few missed calls, but no response. I was worrying too much, and now that it was lunch time and I was finished for the day, I worried even more.

I attempted to call Alex, several times in fact, but she wasn't responding. I had no idea what could possibly be keeping her busy, but it wasn't making me feel better. Next, I tried visiting Kara's apartment, hoping that maybe she was just sleeping the day away or something. But she wasn't there, and I didn't know what to do. All I could do was wait in my own apartment, hoping to hear something back from either of the Danver sisters.

So, that's where I found myself next.

I pushed open my apartment door and slammed it shut, needing to express my frustration somehow. Sighing heavily, I headed to the fridge in my kitchen, deciding food would potentially make me feel better. However, as my head was dug in the fridge's shelves, searching for something that wasn't out of date, a loud noise made me jump and hit my head on the shelf above.

Pulling myself out of the fridge, I rubbed the top of my head and turned around, wondering what that noise was, but I immediately grinned when I saw Kara standing there.

"Kara!" I raced towards her, only for her to do something unexplainable. She ran? I think? To the other side of the room? But it happened so fast that I barely registered it happening. Only one person could do that...

As I paid closer attention to her, I saw that she was wearing some sort of jumpsuit, with a small 'S' logo printed on it. She wasn't wearing her glasses, and she looked kind of like...

"You're– you're–"

"Supergirl?" she suggested, though her voice was nothing like usual; it was harsh, teasing, mean.

Eyes widened and eyebrows raised, I found myself staring at the girl before me with disbelief. Kara Danvers was Supergirl. But how? She couldn't be. Kara... the cute and clumsy journalist, the girl who couldn't even open the jar of pickles when I asked her to, the girl who grew flustered with the smallest of kisses.

Supergirl performed every action with confidence, and Kara was the complete opposite, stuttering over her words and being her clumsy yet adorable self. They were completely different. But here she was right now. As Supergirl.

"When did this– how did this– huh?" I was practically speechless. I didn't know whether to be amazed that she had all of these powers, or upset that she didn't trust me enough to tell me.

A devious smirk was on her lips as she looked me up and down. "Wow. If I knew you were going to react like this, I would've told you sooner."

I cocked my head to the side. She wasn't acting like Supergirl. She seemed more... malicious. Something wasn't right.

"Kara–"

"Yeah, don't call me that," she interrupted, pursing her lips and beginning to walk in circles around me.

I knitted my eyebrows together, wondering why she was acting how she was. Watching her, I asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"

She laughed, though it was dry and humourless. "Why would I tell you? So you can treat me like a child even more? Tell me what and what not to do? How to act? Who to be?"

I frowned as she stopped walking and paused in front of me, her eyes darkened with anger as she glared at me. The fact that she was radiating a strange red aura was freaking me out. This wasn't Kara, let alone Supergirl.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, searching her eyes for any sign of the loving, caring girl I had met a year ago, but she wasn't there.

Sensing my mood, her lips curled into an evil smile. "You're pathetic, Y/N. Constantly worrying over me all the time? Whether I'll be safe taking the bus to work? Whether my boss will be mean to me? Ha! Do you know amusing it was to watch you stress about all of these little things? Watching you deem me incapable of looking after myself?"

"Kara, I–"

"Oh, no," she stopped, laughing at my expression. "I'm not done, sweet Y/N. You were treating me like a child, like I couldn't care for myself, when all this time, I had more power in my little finger than you'll ever have in your life. The irony is hilarious, don't you think?"

As I watched her throw her head back in laughter, I couldn't help but feel my throat close up. I knew there was something wrong. This wasn't her. This wasn't my Kara. Yet, the harsh words that were coming from her mouth weren't making me feel any better. She wouldn't say all of this if she didn't mean it. And whether it was really her or not saying these things, they were coming out of her mouth at this very moment, and hearing the woman I love say all of these hurtful things pained me inside.

She stepped forward and rested her hand against my cheek. For a moment, I thought I saw Kara looking back at me. I thought she would tell me that this was a joke. That she didn't mean any of it, but she didn't. Because after patting my cheek slowly, she plastered a sly grin on her lips all over again.

Faking a pout, she said, "It sucks to be you right now, doesn't it?"

My lip quivered as I tried to hide that I was affected by her words, but she obviously knew, and was humoured by the situation.

"You're not Supergirl," I said, my voice wavering nervously. "I don't know what's happened to you, Kara, but you're not yourself. I know you don't mean all of those things."

Once again, she laughed at my words. She laughed so hard that she had to clutch her stomach to keep herself from crying with laughter. She looked like her old self, laughing at a terrible joke or something, but I knew she wasn't. She was laughing at me.

Walking slowly towards me again, her face was inches away from mine, and her eyes were cloudy and blue, murky with an evilness I never imagined she would possess.

"I don't need to be like this to admit how I really feel about you," she spat, and a wicked grin was on her lips. "I'm powerful. I'm smart. I can do anything I please, whenever I want. Why would I want you to hold me back?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. My eyes were filling up with tears, and I felt a sharp pain in my heart when I saw her staring at me like I was nothing in her life. She seemed satisfied with herself.

Stepping back, she began to walk to the window, and I saw as she glanced outside before facing me again. Winking, she said, "I'll see you around, Y/N."

Before she could leave, I extended my arm, about to make a move towards her, before deciding against it. Instead, I said, "Kara, wait!"

With amusement, she turned to meet my glassy eyes. "Oh?"

I sucked up a deep breath and tried to hold back the tears. "This isn't you, Kara. Please, tell me what's happened."

Sighing over-dramatically, she placed her hands on her hips. "This is very much me. But maybe you're not used to me having so much power, right? Being able to look after myself?" I didn't know how to respond, and she smirked. "Well, Y/N, here's my answer to that."

She blew a kiss my way before using her heat vision to blow up my toaster, making me duck immediately. My heart was racing as I turned around, only to see my toaster in flames. Quickly rushing over to put out the fire with my fire blanket, I tried not to think about the fact that Kara had almost killed me!

Once I sorted out the toaster, I looked back to Kara, only to see her winking at me once before flying away. As I watched her go, I felt my heart ache.

Kara was Supergirl. She thought I was too possessive and treated her like a kid. She hated me. I had just lost my girlfriend, and Supergirl had gone mad.

This realisation made the tears finally fall, and I soon found myself sitting on the kitchen floor, leaning against my drawer, sobbing. I missed Kara. The real Kara. I wanted her here with me. But I was sure she was gone. For good.

#kara danvers imagine #kara danvers x reader #kara danvers #supergirl x reader #supergirl imagine #supergirl #melissa benoist

190 notes · View notes

chippokenabokura · 5 years ago

Text

World Trigger Ch180 ‘Satomi Kazuma’ & Ch181 ‘Yuba Takuma’ Translation

Well, that ended up being a much longer gap than I intended. But I’m finally feeling all better...more or less...I only coughed like a few times today so I’ll take it!

Anyway, this post is mainly to confirm that I’m still alive to anyone who’s still keeping tabs on me on this site, but also to post the last two chapters because I’d been working on them on and off during the last few weeks and I didn’t want to waste all that effort and not post it.

Panel 1

Midorikawa: Good work, guuuuys

Panel 2

Midorikawa: So, in the end, Mikumo-sempai’s coming too?

Osamu: Yeah

Panel 3

Osamu: Actually, instead of Yuba-san Osamu: It’s your sempai I want an introduction to, Midorikawa

Midorikawa: Huh, really? Midorikawa: That’s fine

Panel 4

Yuuma: What kind of person is this sempai of Midorikawa’s that I’m meeting tomorrow?

Panel 1

Konami: If it’s for connections to Yuba squad then it’s probably Satomi

Konami: Yuba-chan’s disciple and a Ninomiya-san worshipper

Panel 2

Osamu: Ninomiya-san worshipper…!?

Yuuma: Yuba-chan

Panel 3

Midorikawa: Kazuma-sempaaaaai

Satomi: Oh Satomi: Good woooork

Panel 4

Satomi: Hiiii, hiiii, nice to meet you!

Satomi: I’m the Gunner of Kusakabe squad, Satomi Kazuma!

A-rank No.4 Kusakabe Squad Gunner Satomi Kazuma (17)

Panel 1

Satomi: Thank you for playing with Shun

Satomi: While we weren’t here~~!

Panel 2

Yuuma: Hi, hi, I’m Kuga Yuuma of Tamakoma Second

Yuuma: This is my captain…

Osamu: I’m Mikumo Osamu: Thank you for meeting us today

Satomi: Yeah, yeah!

Panel 3

Satomi: I already ran it by Yuba-san!

Satomi: He said he’d be in his squad room by 3

Panel 4

Satomi: So just keep an eye on the timing and you’ll be OK!

Satomi: That person is the punctual type

Panel 1

Midorikawa: If it’s until 3 then we have time to have a few matches, don’t we?

Yuuma: No, no, it’s bad to be late, right

Panel 2

Yuuma: Hey Yuuma: Yuba-san is your mentor, right, Kazuma-sempai?

Panel 3

Yuuma: From your point of view, Kazuma-sempai

Yuuma: What kind of person is Yuba-san?

Panel 4

Satomi: Hmm? Satomi: You mean personality-wise? Satomi: Or skills-wise?

Yuuma: Skills-wise

Panel 5

Satomi: I guess…

Panel 1

Satomi: In a phrase…

Satomi: Strongest in one-on-one

Panel 2

Osamu: …!

Panel 3

Satomi: Well, that’s just how I personally see it!

Satomi: But I think Yuba-san’s strength in a one-on-one Satomi: Is top class

Panel 4

Yuuma: Stronger than Kage-sempai?

Satomi: Ahhh! Kageura-san, oh yeah! Satomi: Because he’s got that! That’s right!

Panel 5

Satomi: But actually, Yuba-san Satomi: Matched up well against people like Tachikawa-san…

Panel 1

Satomi: People like Kazuma-san, Ninomiya-san, Kou-san

Satomi: Are ‘people who don’t fight in solo matches that much but have a lot of wins so they rank high’ Satomi: Unlike them

Panel 2

Satomi: He has a high rank accumulated from thousands, tens of thousands of matches against tough fighters

Satomi: So I end up empathising with that more~

Panel 3

Satomi: Well, this season he’s concentrating on team matches

Satomi: And doesn’t seem like he’s doing solo matches much Satomi: Did you hear about that?

Panel 4

Osamu: Ah, yes Osamu: I’ve heard a little about it

Panel 5

Yuuma: Yuba squad Yuuma: Had another member until December

Panel 1

Konami: Yeah, Kanda-san

Konami: That’s right Konami: He quit because of university exams

Panel 2

Osamu: Exams… Osamu: Aren’t they right after December?

Konami: Because he’s always been smart Konami: And his mock exam results were all really good apparently

Panel 3

Konami: But in the end he wanted to concentrate on the exams

Konami: So he did the rank matches right until the last possible moment and then quit

Panel 4

Osamu: Then Osamu: Yuba squad dropping in rankings this season is because…

Konami: The gap Kanda-san left behind was a big one

Panel 5

Satomi: That’s right!

Satomi: Kanda-san wasn’t flashy, but he was really skilled

Panel 1

Satomi: While Yuba-san is dealing with his one-on-one

Satomi: Kanda-san takes command and deals with the other enemies! Satomi: This style Yuba squad had was really cool!

Panel 2

Satomi: If you’re interested, you should watch the logs from the last season!

Yuuma: Hm, sounds fun

Panel 3

Yuuma: Ah, it’s almost time

Panel 4

Midorikawa: Then we’ll be off

Midorikawa: Mikumo-sempai apparently has business with you, Kazuma-sempai, so please look after him

Yuuma: See you later, Osamu

Panel 5

Satomi: Eh?

Satomi: Well, bye

Panel 2

Satomi: And? And?

Satomi: You have business with me, Mikumo-kun?

Osamu: Ah, yes

Panel 3

Osamu: Satomi-sempai, I heard that you…

Osamu: Respect Ninomiya-san…

Panel 4

Satomi: That’s right! Satomi: No one’s as much a Ninomiya worshipper as me!

Osamu: He admits he’s a worshipper…

Panel 5

Osamu: From your point of view, Satomi-sempai

Osamu: What’s Ninomiya-san’s strong point?

Panel 1

Satomi: In a phrase…

Satomi: Strongest in one-on-one

Panel 2

Osamu: …!?

Panel 3

Osamu: …that Osamu: Didn’t you say that about Yuba-san too?

*nahahaha*

Satomi: I did

Panel 4

Satomi: In fact, my fighting style

*sip*

Satomi: Is kind of like copying Ninomiya-san’s style with Yuba-san’s technique

Panel 5

Osamu: …! Osamu: Ninomiya-san’s style…!?

Satomi: That’s right, that’s right

Panel 1

Satomi: Ninomiya-san has this super strong tactic for one-on-one

Satomi: Well, it’s simple when you explain it

Panel 2

Satomi: Bullets that are divided finely with the focus on ‘numbers’ and

Satomi: Bullets that are divided coarsely with the focus on ‘might’

Satomi: He uses Fullattack with these two types according to the situation

Panel 3

Satomi: Use fine bullets and when the opponent spreads out their Shield

Satomi: Use big bullets to crush it

Panel 4

Satomi: Or in contrast, use big bullets to lure out concentrated Shields

Satomi: And then using fine bullets to grind you down

Panel 5

Satomi: Combining Ninomiya-san’s skill and trion amount

Satomi: And this simple way to unsettle someone becomes really really strong

Panel 1

Osamu: … Osamu: Um…

Panel 2

Osamu: We’re going to be facing Ninomiya squad in the next match Osamu: Is it okay to show Ninomiya-san’s cards?

Satomi: Completely okay~ Satomi: Everyone knows about it

Panel 3

Satomi: Because they can’t defend against it even though they know

*nahaha*

Panel 4

Satomi: It’s better to think of it as if he catches you you’ll be erased Satomi: Seriously

Osamu: …

Panel 5

Satomi: In fact, in the current B-rank rank wars

Satomi: Instead of how to defeat that tactic…

Panel 1

Satomi: All the countermeasures are aiming at

Satomi: Not getting into a one-on-one with Ninomiya-san in the first place

Panel 2

Yuzuru: You should hurry, Zoe-san

Yuzuru: …J probably can’t buy you much time

Satomi: If you slip up and get caught in Ninomiya-san’s sights

Satomi: Either concentrate completely on running and try to buy time

Panel 3

Satomi: Throw it all away for a sacrifice play

Panel 4

Satomi: Or consider yourself dead and get some work done…something like that

Kitazoe: Oh of course~

Panel 5

Satomi: Well, even in his A-rank era, only Izumi was able to face him properly

Satomi: So I think it can’t be helped if you come to that kind of decision

Panel 1

Satomi: Personally

Satomi: I want to see Ninomiya-san actively exchanging shots though!

Panel 2

Satomi: On that point…

Panel 3

Satomi: That new guy from your place, Mikumo-kun

Satomi: It looks like his skills and trion wouldn’t lose to Ninomiya-san

Panel 4

Satomi: So I’m looking forward to a rare exciting exchanging of shots~

Osamu: You’re right, if there’s a chance…

Panel 5

Osamu: …um

Osamu: A simple question

Panel 6

Osamu: If the two ‘strongest at one-on-one’ were to fight

Osamu: Which would be stronger?

Panel 1

Satomi: Fighting normally

Satomi: It’d be Ninomiya-san in the end

Panel 2

Satomi: Ninomiya-san’s trion ability is higher

Yuba Takuma Parameter Trion 7 Attack 10 Defence/Support 5 Mobility 7 Skill 9 Range 2.5 Command 5 Special Tactics 2

Panel 3

Satomi: So his range is that much longer and he has a wider range for his fighting style Satomi: …but

Panel 4

Satomi: In complicated terrain Satomi: If Yuba-san can get him within his range

Satomi: I feel like Yuba-san might have the advantage

Osamu: …!

Panel 1

Satomi: A Shooter’s attack involves Satomi: ‘Manifesting the cube’, ‘dividing the cube’, ‘aim’, ‘fire’ Satomi: And each action takes a bit of time

Panel 2

Satomi: But a Gunner is just Satomi: ‘Aim’, ‘fire’ Satomi: The more you practice, the faster the movements you make before the attack

Panel 3

Satomi: If he gets him within his range and goes ‘bang’ Satomi: I think a close-range Gunner like Yuba-san has a chance Satomi: Though I think someone else might have a different opinion

Osamu: I see Osamu: You have a point…

Panel 4

Osamu: So, Satomi-sempai, you are a gunner

Osamu: Based on that superiority

Panel 5

Satomi: No, no!

Satomi: I’m not that smart!

Panel 1

Satomi: I’m simply not suited for the Shooter style

Satomi: When I panic my bullets fly in weird directions…

Panel 2

Satomi: On that point, the Gunner style

Satomi: Let’s you shoot on reflex as long as you drill the moves into your body Satomi: It fits my disposition

Panel 3

Satomi: I can’t make traps by leaving bullets around like Shooters

Satomi: But the feeling of it becoming more and more like a part of my body the more I use it is really fun! Satomi: Gunner triggers!

Panel 4

Satomi: If you ever feel interested just let me know, Mikumo-kun! Satomi: I’ll give you a lecture!

Osamu: Ah, yes, thank you

Panel 1

Osamu: …I’m glad I got to listen to you today Osamu: Please let me thank you somehow in the near future

Satomi: No, no, something like this isn’t that big a deal!

Panel 2

Kusakabe squad: Kazumaa~

Satomi: Oh Satomi: Yoo~

Panel 3

Satomi: Now then, Mikumo-san

Satomi: See you!

Osamu: Yes Osamu: Thank you for your time

Panel 5

Jin: Oh, Four Eyes-kun

Panel 1

Osamu: Jin-san

Jin: Good work today

Panel 2

Jin: You gathering information for the final match?

Panel 3

Osamu: Yes Osamu: I had Midorikawa introduce me Osamu: And asked about Ninomiya-san

Jin: Yeah, yeah, I see Jin: Aren’t connections with your peers great

Panel 4

Jin: But still

Jin: Hearing about No.1 from a No.1 Jin: That’s pretty extravagant

Panel 5

Osamu: …eh? Osamu: No.1…!?

Jin: That’s right

Panel 1

Jin: No.1 Gunner Satomi Kazuma

Jin: The current top of all agents who use Gunner triggers

Panel 3

Doesn’t know his own ranking

Panel 4

Yuuma: Will we make it on time?

Panel 5

Midorikawa: It’ll be fine, we’re here

Panel 1

Midorikawa: Huh

Midorikawa: The door’s open

Panel 2

Midorikawa: ‘Ello~…

Panel 1

Midorikawa: Ah Midorikawa: Yuba-san

Panel 2

Yuba: …You finally made it

Yuba: Kugaa

Temporary B-rank No.7 Yuba Squad Captain Gunner Yuba Takuma (19)

Panel 3

Yuuma: Hi, hi

*beam*

Yuuma: Nice to meet you

Panel 1

Yuba: …you finally made it

Yuba: Kugaa

Panel 2

Yuuma: Hi, hi, nice to meet you

Panel 3

*breathe*

Panel 4

Yuba: Obishimaa!

*peak out*

Obishima: Yeah!

Panel 1

Obishima: Ah…

Panel 2

Midorikawa: Yooo

Panel 3

Yuba: They’re guests Yuba: Greet them

Obishima: Ye- yes

Panel 4

Obishima: H-hi…

Yuuma: Hi, hi

Panel 5

Yuba: Obishimaa…

*flinch*

Panel 6

Yuba: ARE YOU TREMBLING Yuba: STRAIGHTEN UP HEY!

Obishima: …yeah!

Panel 1

*breathe in*

*breathe out*

Panel 2

Obishima: I AM YUBA SQUAD ALLROUNDER OBISHIMA!

Obishima: I RESPECT KUGA-SEMPAI’S KEEN JUDGEMENT! FLEXIBLE WAY OF THINKING! ABILITY TO COME OUT ON TOP!

Panel 3

Obishima: PLEASED TO MEET YOU!

Yuuma: Hm?

Panel 4

Yuba: …this guy saw your match

Yuba: And got all excited ‘parently

Panel 1

Yuba: Play nice

Yuuma: Oooh, oooh

Panel 2

Yuuma: Now that is an honour Yuuma: Let us both do our best, young man

Obishima: Ah…

Obishima: Yes, thank you

Panel 3

*pop*

Panel 4

Yuba: Oi, hey, Kugaa…

*rumble*

Yuuma: Huh?

Panel 5

Midorikawa: Obishima-chan is a girl

*whisper*

Yuuma: …eh?

Panel 6

Obishima: …ah Obishima: Yes

Obishima: I actually am a girl

Panel 2

Yuuma: Please

Yuuma: Excuse my rudeness

Panel 3

Yuuma: I humbly present my apologies

Obishima: Eh, no, that’s

Panel 4

Obishima: I normally get mistaken quite often

Obishima: Please don’t mind

Yuba Squad Allrounder Obishima Yukari (14)

Panel 1

Midorikawa: Yeah, yeah, you don’t have to go that far to apologise

Midorikawa: Aren’t you exaggerating too much?

Yuuma: No, no, no

Panel 2

Yuuma: I have prior experience of mistaking someone for a man

Yuuma: And having it leave a lasting effect…

Midorikawa: Prior experience?

Panel 3

Yuba: Prostrating yourself immediate, I like your attitude, Kugaa

Yuba: While you’re apologising Yuba: Have a training match with our Obishima

Panel 4

Yuuma: Oh?

Panel 5

Obishima: Ah Obishima: I’d be glad if you could!

Yuuma: I see Yuuma: In that case…

Panel 1

*bam*

Panel 2

*bang*

Panel 3

*wham*

Panel 4

*pop pop*

Panel 1

Yuba: Oi, you, Kugaa…

Panel 2

Yuba: Don’t go easy on her so obviously, hey!

Yuuma: No, no, not at all

Panel 3

Yuuma: Obishima-chan’s talent shines very brightly

Midorikawa: No, you were obviously going easy on her

Panel 4

Yuba: I know you’re more than this

Yuba: Take this seriously, hey, I mean it

Panel 1

Yuuma: Then

Yuuma: You be my opponent, Yuba-san

Panel 2

Midorikawa: Oh

Panel 4

Yuba: …I refuse

Yuba: Is anyone dumb enough to show their cards to their upcoming enemy?

Panel 5

Yuuma: If you say that, aren’t I also in that position…?

Yuba: You messed up with Obishima, didn’t you Yuba: Pay her back properly

Panel 1

Midorikawa: Why don’t you show them a new technique or something?

Midorikawa: You might not be allowed to leave if you don’t, you know?

Yuuma: You look like you’re having fun…

Panel 2

Obishima: Putting aside a new technique

Obishima: I want to fight you seriously, Kuga-sempai!

Panel 3

Yuuma: Hm…?

Yuuma: …then, just once

Panel 4

Midorikawa: Alright then

Midorikawa: Ready…

Panel 5

Midorikawa: Start!

*rumble*

Panel 1

*whoosh*

*clang clang clang clang*

Panel 2

*throw*

Panel 3

Obishima: !

Obishima: He threw it!

Panel 4

*slice*

*startle*

Panel 1

*rumble*

Panel 2

Obishima: It’s coming!

Obishima: Left hand is a feint Obishima: The right!

Panel 4

*stab*

Panel 1

Midorikawa: !

Panel 2

Yuba: !

Panel 3

Obishima: …!?

Obishima: The one he just threw…?

*ting*

Computer: Trion supply mechanism destroyed

Panel 4

*rumble*

Panel 5

*rumble*

Panel 6

Yuba: ‘Mole claw’…?

Yuba: No…

Panel 1

Yuuma: I transformed the one I threw earlier

Yuuma: By connecting it to my Scorpion from under the ground

Panel 2

Yuuma: It’s a variation of Kage-sempai’s ‘Mantis’

Panel 3

Obishima: …!

Midorikawa: Ooooh, I see! Midorikawa: Interesting~!

Panel 4

Obishima: I had no idea what he did to me…

Obishima: This is Kuga-sempai’s technique…!

Panel 5

Yuuma: …is this okay for the new technique?

Yuuma: Then I’ll take my leave…

Yuba: …wait, hey

Panel 6

Yuuma: ?

Panel 1

Yuba: …you’ve overpaid, Kugaa

*ting*

Yuba: This is your change Yuba: I’ll fight you just once

Panel 3

Yuuma: …oh

Yuuma: Much appreciated

Panel 4

Midorikawa: Yes, yes, okay?

*rumble*

Midorikawa: Alright then Midorikawa: Ready…

Panel 5

*bam*

Midorikawa: Start!

Panel 1

*bang bang bang bang bang*

Panel 2

Yuuma: !

Panel 6

Computer: Combat body active limit reached

*bam bam*

Panel 7

Yuba: …my bad, but the next one’s the last match for us too

Yuba: Getting to stay in the upper tier or not is on the line for us

*ting*

Panel 1

*rustle*

Yuba: This is as much as I’m gonna show you

Panel 2

Yuuma: I see…

Panel 3

Yuuma: It really is

Yuuma: Much faster than what I saw in the logs

Panel 4

Obishima: …thank you for today, Kuga-sempai Obishima: I learned a lot!

Yuuma: No, no, I should be saying that

Panel 5

Yuuma: Thank you too, Yuba-san, for being my opponent

Yuuma: Please allow me to get my revenge in the match

Yuba: Just you try, if you can

Panel 3

Yuba: …tsk Yuba: That’s not an opponent I wanna face straight on…

Obishima: Yes…!

Panel 4

Yuuma: I’m looking forward to the next match now

Midorikawa: I know right

Once again I'm putting off comments since this was released so long ago, though I just want to point out how amazing it is that a dude like Yuba gets a cutesy nickname like -chan, by people younger than him like Konami. Also, yay, we finally get no.1 Gunner! Satomi having more points than Yuba is amazing too, even if it's because Yuba has been concentrating on his team (congrats to everyone who guessed right that Yuba squad dropped in the rankings because they lost a person).

And while on the subject of Yuba, I'm glad we got his stats, but there are so many newly introduced characters I want stats for...we don't even have a profile for Kanda!! Also, my apologies for how I couldn't find a good way to translate how gangster Yuba talks without making it cringy, I could barely keep in the way he elongates names to sound intimidating (he does it with other words too). I couldn't even find a good translation for 'kora'...what is a really rude and kind of admonishing way of saying 'hey'... (there's also Obishima and her youth culture '-ssu'...)

In conclusion, fingers crossed I’ll be able to post the last of the volume 20 extras before the new chapters come out on Saturday.

#world trigger #chapter 180 #chapter 181 #translations

27 notes · View notes

comicteaparty · 6 years ago

Text

March 14th, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on March 14th, 2019, from 5PM - 7PM PDT. The chat focused on Sketch Dump by Aleks Stock.

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 Sketch Dump by Aleks Stock~! (https://sketchdump.org/)

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?

one scene i particularly enjoyed was the scene where its revealed clear as day, no holds bar that Iladyl is a slave. https://sketchdump.org/post/179755402309/sketch-dump-c02p06-i-wanna-hug-iladyl-qaq the way its revealed is so straight forward but so simple really works i think. cause its just treated as a fact of life and that is indeed how it would be for the world.

i also loved the animated shattered screen effect because its both grounded in familiarity yet the way its illustrated kind of gives it that scifi fantasy tech feel that lets you know that nope, definitely not from earth

i also find the scene where Brogod meets Jen to be kind of fascinating. mostly cause i think Brogod is an interesting character since his first inclination is to make contact and help. meanwhile in the "real" world, cause i get the impression of simulation, his brain seems to be kind of exploding. but mostly i like it for the interactions cause its not the first reaction you really expect when meeting some crazy alien entity in a weirdo simulation world of sorts.

khkddn

im not done reading through the archive but i really like the scene in the beginning where the lights are flickering, it looks so cool

RebelVampire

yes i think the lighting effects are pretty cool. especially cause of how its animated because the animation kind of feels like the world is glitching. which fits with the whole world we see jenna in later

ezzy

i also like the beginning scene with the séance. just nice to see the characters fucking around. it really gives you the sense that they've known each other for a while

khkddn

it's a great artstyle overall, love it

ezzy

same!

khkddn

yeah i liked seeing the characters interacting too during the seance, some good moments there(edited)

ezzy

i love any sort of multimedia webcomic but the use of animations is rly good

it makes the world a little more vibrant

RebelVampire

yeah i agree it is really great to see the characters kind of just being them. no life threatening quest. no world to save. just a silly seance thing as an excuse to get together, hang out, maybe get some food later. i think it was a good way to introduce them since it gave more breather time to get to know them.

ezzy

i like the little hints that there's more to the characters, like that dudes scar

RebelVampire

yes or some of the subtle looks passed between certain individuals. it was interesting to see a little back history at play that we dont get to know about yet

ezzy

it really makes you want to read more

khkddn

all caught up now! definitely agree w @RebelVampire about the scene revealing Iladyl is a slave. a few pages prior to that i think lyral says something to the effect of "i stole you" which i didn't understand at first but once it got to that page i was like ohhhh

RebelVampire

haha i kind of suspected from that line but it was one of those lines that makes you go "hmm maybe not"

and then the story said nope, it was the worst thing you could expect

khkddn

harsh, harsh reality

RebelVampire

although im really curious about what gave it away. like i assume the horns or something, but im not sure what about them announced "slave over here everybody"

khkddn

i think it was the horns, since there is a panel focusing on them when those people say to leave the slave alone

maybe the hair color too but idk

RebelVampire

QUESTION 2. At the start of the comic, we’re introduced to a slew of colorful characters. Which of the characters shown so far caught your eye the most? What about that character in particular interests you? Further, which of the character dynamics intrigued you the most? From what has been shown so far, especially of the human cast, what do you make of everyone’s relationship with each other? How do you think this devil summoning ritual began, and why is everyone simultaneously showing up and being grumpy about showing up? What do you make of every character’s choice of sins, and in what ways do you think that might come into play later?

ezzy

i like jake and jen a lot, mostly based off their designs

RebelVampire

while brogod definitely interests me, i think the character who caught my eye the most was Jake. Of all the humans he seemed the most down to earth and cool. that and of all the characters jack couldve called at the beginning, he calls jake. and that really makes me want to know their past relationship history cause who you choose ot call first is pretty revealing.

ezzy

i think there's a lot of things being set up for the future and i'm rly interested in seeing where it's going

obviously these are characters who've known each other for a good while and have their own rituals and inter-relationships

the devil summoning is being done for the sake of ritual rather than anyone (besides jackson) caring about the results

so i guess it will be interesting to see why it worked this time and how it will shake up their relationships now that its worked

RebelVampire

yes, definitely. cause if this doesnt test their friendships, nothing will XD

there definitely is a lot of character stuff being set up though

i think from the opening scene the character im most worried about sin wise is allen. cause allen chose sloth and life and while jake played it off as him just being a millenial, umm, yeah. i mean you dont pick life as a sin for nothing

which since allen is the one with the scar

maybe hes got a serious case of survivors guilt

and survived something horrific

khkddn

im really curious about that scar, since it seems like he makes a bigger deal of it than anyone else

RebelVampire

yeah especially when it really isnt that bad of a scar

so theres gotta be emotional ties to it

and not just vanity

since vanity is a sin and was not the one he picked

ezzy

oooh i didn't make the connection between the scar and the sin he picked

khkddn

if there is a connection, it could go multiple ways. maybe it was a situation where he got the scar through inaction, or maybe something happened to him that made him a more passive person

RebelVampire

that could be too

that would combine it well with sloth

the character dynamic i think i want to know most about is blake and ana. cause of this page https://sketchdump.org/tagged/comic/chrono/page/13

there are so many ways to read that conversation and that look

khkddn

oh that's true, i didn't notice that the first time reading through

ezzy

(can i just say i really like the composition of that page)

RebelVampire

yes, i love the visual flow on this page, the slight animation, and all the shot choices. it was a really good build up for that look

ill also point out blake wrote love as his sin

so that is a blush

khkddn

the was blake is in the second panel vs the last panel are super different. if it's related to why he picked love, then i wonder why he and ana haven't haven't seen each other in a while (based on the "long time no see")

RebelVampire

ok wait. im rereading this and the papers are sin and sacrifice. so love isnt the implied sin but what blake wants to sacrifice

so is it like...ana is his ex hes still in love with but he wants to move on?

khkddn

hm that would explain them not seeing each other

RebelVampire

yes and the awkward response from blake

ezzy

oooh

RebelVampire

if life is allen's sacrifice, then thats even worse tho and stands to reason that hes probably guilty of inaction

QUESTION 3. Within the comic, an “innocent” devil summoning seems to go horrifically wrong. What do you think exactly happened to everyone involved? Why did this summoning go so awry, and why did none of the other attempts before have the same results? How does all this tie into what Brogod was doing regarding summoning and translating? Did Brogod somehow cause what happened to the human gang, or were both sides victims? Also, why was Brogod found unconscious and barely breathing after making contact with Jen? What’s even going on with Jen? Lastly, do you think Brogod is okay and, if so, will Brogod try to make contact again?

I do think Brogod was responsible for why everything went awry. Cause its like he was trying to summon the summoner which probably created an extreme magical paradox

ezzy

my guess is that the two "summonings" happening at the same time is what caused everything to go all whoopsy-fucky

khkddn

i think the previous seances never worked because each time, there wasn't someone like brogod on the other end doing their own seance

it's weird that brogod got all messed up but the humans didn't. maybe it's because there was one of him and seven of them?

RebelVampire

i assume brogod got messed up more from making contact with jen

rather than the seance itself causing it

like had he bailed and said "no lets not talk to this person" he mightve been fine?

ezzy

i think the thing with jen is like... either happenning in his head or he's like projecting his conscious to another plane and thats why he's fountaining blood

RebelVampire

yeah

i got the simulation impression

like brogod was tapping into another world

another world i would not be surprised was purgatory or something

whereas the humans got physically transported

simulation world also cause last i checked human eyes dont glow blue like that

unless jen was secretly a cyborg all along

khkddn

im trying to figure out what jen is saying in the non-translated parts.... too hard >_>

RebelVampire

by process of elimination i believe jen was the one who chose to sacrifice limb, so i hope that thing brogod put on her doesnt have long term consequences

khkddn

sacrificing limb sounds pretty straightforward in terms of making it literal, wouldn't want to pick that one

the only non-translated part i think i understand is the one on this page https://sketchdump.org/tagged/comic/chrono/page/32

p sure she's saying something about his tail

RebelVampire

makes sense

i can read "That's a

but the rest i cant figure out

im really curious why brogod seemed to have all those translation bug things as the thematic colors we keep seeing to represent each character

khkddn

they also flew away into the void (i think they did, he tried to catch them) so im wondering where those lil things went

RebelVampire

i mean the most likely conclusion is to the other characters

considering in the latest page we can confirm emily made contact

and clearly the language barrier would still apply without help

ezzy

yeah, it would be silly to have the characters run around without being able to speak the language

so thats a neat solution

RebelVampire

also interesting. cause magic shenanigans must be at work

i do think brogod is gonna be fine and be back again to figure out wtf is going on. cause i think after he wakes up he might realize he had something to do with it. or hell make contact with jen and gleam info about their situation and go "whoops"

ezzy

im really curious about what's gonna happen lmao

RebelVampire

QUESTION 4. As the comic has only gotten so far, there’s a lot of speculation to be had about the future. Do you think the human gang will ultimately get back to their homes? At the very least, do you think they’ll at least be able to find each other given they all seem to be quite separated? How do you think Iladyl will be involved with the plot considering his friend seemed to have located Emily? Why is the friend interested in involving Iladyl in the first place? Do you think everyone else has made contact with someone like Emily and Jen? On a different note, what about the world interests you the most right now? Finally, in general, what sorts of conflicts, events, or anything else are you hoping to see or think might happen?

so in line with the topic of sin and sacrifice earlier, im really concerned ana is gonna die. cause thats one way to sacrifice love

ezzy

i feel like they'll be separated for a long time and will have to deal with their relationships while being apart and thrust into a new and foreign situation

you know, like college

RebelVampire

yeah i dont think theyll find each other anytime soon. although the characters who know them may find them. like maybe brogod will find Iladyl's friend and they can chat about their alien friends. but i assume the humans are kind of like in pockets where they cant make contact with each other until theyre out in the actual physical world where there isnt a white void everywhere.

ezzy

they'll probably have to reevaluate their relationships under duress and will be different people by the time they see each other again

RebelVampire

yes, definitely. i mean not even their relationships. theyre gonna have to evaluate themselves cause they all seem to be early 20s or younger with exception to jake who seems to be working at a hospital

tho exception in the sense that im not sure what his job is there

ezzy

the description does say 2 teens and a number of young adults

i wanna say five but i cant fucking count

RebelVampire

i assume most of them are around jack's age

again minus jake

cause it really depends on what jake does

cause if hes a nurse or doctor or something hed be a lot older cause med school takes a long ass time

ezzy

if hes a nurse he might be younger i think(edited)

because nursing school doesnt take as long

RebelVampire

true. but tbf jake could also be some sort of genius and did the whole college thing at 10. hes mostly just the wildcard i wont put eggs into the basket

on a different topic, i bet the others are not having as great as time as jenna or emily. cause i will be surprised if they all manage to meet someone who legitimately wants to help them

ezzy

my guess is that theyre all within 4 years of each other

it will be interesting to see if they all have like... a demon counterpart to play off of

RebelVampire

i think thats plausible, just all their demon counterparts might not be the best of ppl. like knowing slaves are a thing in this world makes me think one of them is kind of destined for it

ezzy

yep

RebelVampire

the bit of world im most intrigued by is from this page https://sketchdump.org/post/174655505354/sketch-dump-c01p24-minor-seizure where brogod gets mad about almost damaging the most priceless artifact in the palace. cause i cant decide what hes talking about, although i assume its the lighter. and if so, wtf happened in the world that its the most priceless artifact

alternative could be talking about the computer, but considering technology seems rampant idk

khkddn

it does look like an ordinary lighter, but who knows

(ordinary lighter w blue fire, that is)

ezzy

hmm the computer says something about a gift and lyddal(?) also mentioned a soul gift

maybe its a soul lighter

lladyl lmao

RebelVampire

hmm that could be

but now that tells me why the friend probably wanted to get Iladyl involved

maybe Iladyl's soul gift is something that will help

with emily

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 Aleks Stock, as well, for making Sketch Dump. If you liked the comic, make sure to support Aleks Stock’s efforts however you’re able to~!

Read and Comment: https://sketchdump.org/

Aleks Stock’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sketchdump

Sketch Dump’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/sketchdumpcomic

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juliehamill · 8 years ago

Text

15 minutes with Richard Boon, inventor of indie, manager of Buzzcocks and production manager at Rough Trade

I wear a tie to meet Richard Boon. Firstly, he always wore ties in the punk/indie era, and, secondly, because, I’m not worthy. This person, who is so enormously significant in the history of punk, indie and Rough Trade, never shouts about his contribution. You might see him every now and then in a documentary, or rarely on a panel, but these days he prefers to work happily and quietly in Stoke Newington, as a librarian.

Mr Boon is a sharp-dresser from his Crombie coat right down to his quirky white socks, and he talks in a very considered, knowledgeable and professor-like fashion, with lots… of… important… pauses. He reminds me of a lecturer, someone who is used to being listened to; one who is steeped in literature. In fact, it’s only his one black earring that nods to a clue from his past: that a younger radical, riotous pioneer lives inside him, one that speeded through punk with the Buzzcocks, exploded the world of indie music, shaped a career at Rough Trade, and, most goldenly, made Smiths records.

For him, a real involvement in music all started after the second Sex Pistols gig in Manchester, 1976, where groups of artistic individuals hung around town wondering what to do next. Some of them were at university, some on the dole, some still at school; but all were drawn to doing something in music because of what they had just witnessed. In amongst the different ‘factions’ were Howard Trafford, Linder Sterling, Steven Morrissey and Richard Boon.

Impelled by the rush of the Sex Pistols, Mr Boon’s immediate next step was to book them for his own student union bar at Reading, where they played to a small student crowd. His equally impassioned pal, Howard, formed Buzzcocks and changed his name to Devoto. They made an EP Spiral Scratch. Frustrated that the music industry was dominated by large corporates, DIY-Richard came up with his own independent label, New Hormones, fell into the role of band manager, found a way to custom press the EP through the back door of Polydor, and took orders from record shops on his home phone. Spiral Scratch was born, as the first, self released record in history, and thus, Richard Boon invented indie.

A few years later, in the early eighties, Steven Morrissey approached him to ask what he could do with his songs. Richard explained that as his label was on its last legs, Morrissey should approach Rough Trade distribution. Shortly afterwards, Richard joined the Rough Trade label team as production manager, and worked with The Smiths throughout their entire career.

He is an accomplished chef and would prepare a red pepper soup starter if Morrissey came for dinner (plus ‘pud’). He is most animated and smiley when he talks about his family, especially his wife, Deborah, of thirty years, to whom, I’d say, he owes everything.

J: Please say your full name.

R: I don’t use the first name. Hello I’m Richard Boon! Richard is the middle name. My first name is James.

J: Why don’t you use ‘James’?

R: Because I never have. Ever since I was a very small child. My father was called James and after christening me my mum thought, ‘there’s going to be some confusion ahead’, so I’ve always been Richard. Sometimes shortened, but not by me to Rich. Rick!

J: Do people call you ‘Boon’ or ‘Boonie’?

R: When I was little I used to get called, ‘Boonie’.

J: Can you describe yourself in a sentence?

R: Hmm. I didn’t come to counseling… this has just thrown me.

J: Morrissey described you in Autobiography as a ‘whirlpool of words’.

R: I did read that, yes. Lovely. Some people describe me as the person that started independent music, some people describe me as the world’s coolest librarian. Do you want to know how much I weigh and how tall I am?

J: Yes of course! Who gave you the name ‘the world’s coolest librarian’?

R: The Stoke Newington Literary Festival. With whom I’m deeply involved and have an annual event called Juke Box Fury for music writers to talk about the tune that they allege inspired them to write and then the panel decide if it’s hit or miss. It’s just a joke, and I badly channel David Jacobs, as if you didn’t know, you were there, on my panel!

J: Yes, it was brilliant. Except for that one scary woman in the audience who got a bit angry.

R: Ah. She has an argumentative history over decades with one of your co-panellists, but we won’t go there.

J: Growing up, what music were you interested in?

R: My brother and I used to pool our pocket money for Beatles EP’s. It was better value than the single. He was seven or eight years older than I was and he started buying albums. The first album he bought was Reach Out by The Four Tops, which is a peerless record. It’s just got everything you want and it’s beautifully sequenced. Apart from the title track! Brilliant record. My father played piano and then he bought a stereo and we just used to listen to the reel-to-reel tape recorder and tape Pick of the Pops. With Fluff - Alan Freeman. Music has always been around me. My brother used to buy Melody Maker and I was buying The NME. There were only two record stores: Boots and downstairs at Valances white goods shop.

J: Where did you grow up?

R: I grew up in Leeds. I went to Leeds Grammar School and it was a direct grant so that I could get in. Like a scholarship bursary kind of thing so even poor kids can get in. When I was a teenager I used to hang out with Howard Trafford, my friend, who became Devoto, and we we’d go to the gigs in Leeds Town Hall together. There wasn’t much happening so we just started talking to a bass player called Dave and a clarinet player called Charlie. We used to meet up and try to write songs together and tape them. After this I went to Reading University.

J: When did you move to Manchester?

R: After graduation at Reading in 1976, a lot of my art school cohort went to London, but I went to Manchester to help Howard and Peter, who were determined to make a band.

J: Do you remember much about the music scene Manchester before The Smiths got started?

R: In Manchester at that time there was a really small and rebellious group of people, like a village within a village or a city within a city… Hamlet! Everybody knew one another but there were factions. People got involved from the consequences of the Pistols playing the Lesser Free Trade Hall. People were doing fanzines too. There was a loose connected identity. When it came to Morrissey everybody knew he was going to be something. He was waiting in the wings for his moment.

J: How did you first meet Morrissey?

R: I knew him from that crowd. We were all kind of a gang in the town but we wanted more bands to start up and get a sense of community going. We used to hang out in the Virgin store and read Melody Maker and read adverts like ‘I’m Rick and I’m looking for a drummer’. This was in 1976. John Maher spotted that Rick ad and I, and possibly Pete Shelley, went to the Portland Hotel with Rick, is it ‘Elby’? who brought his friend, Steven. That’s when we first met. He was very shy and retiring.

J: What was he wearing, what did he look like?

R: He hadn’t got… let’s just say you could call him ‘Steven’ then. He hadn’t got his look together.

J: You mentioned there that, ‘Everybody knew that he was going to be something.’ How could you tell?

R: Generally, he was just so engaging and witty. As things began to develop in Manchester he was always kind of around and paying attention to what was going on and wanting to get involved. He sent me a cassette which is just ‘Steven singing’. It was ‘Reel Around The Fountain’ and a version of a Bessie Smith song called ‘Wake Up Johnny’. On the tape he said, ‘It’s a very quiet recording because my mum is in the next room!’ He had even written two books when he was on the dole. He was a quiet figure waiting to become a big figure.

J: Do you still have the tape?

R: Well I may have but I don’t know where it is! The house is full of stuff! Another one lost in history! I’ve got boxes in the cellar. It might be in there. As if I could ever find it!

J: How old were you then?

R: I was twenty-three and Morrissey was eighteen. For a long period we were friends. We began as a casual connection and then we became acquaintances and then friends. Through all that after-effect of The Sex Pistols playing Manchester and Buzzcocks playing there was this whole group of people who would meet. It was through that group that Morrissey met Linder. We were all at the second Sex Pistols gig. It was after that people started to talk to one another about what to do next.

J: How did you become Buzzcocks manager?

R: I lived in a shared house with Howard Devoto. We had a landline! I just fell into booking a rehearsal space, hustling for gigs, hiring the van to get to the gig and it just turned into Buzzcocks management, although these days I prefer ‘mis-management.’

J: Tell me about Spiral Scratch.

After the Pistols’ Anarchy tour - where as far as we were concerned punk kind of stopped and became a cliché/cartoon - Howard was thinking about going back to college. We wanted to document a moment, and this moment became Buzzcocks Spiral Scratch and it was just a thing to do. We borrowed money from friends and family just to make it happen. An early form of Kickstarter without the advantages. Anyway that became a completely separate thing somehow. Howard wanted to leave, Pete wanted to continue. We hustled for more gigs and bits of music business. A&R interest started to come along, especially after The Clash’s White Riot tour. John Maher was only sixteen - just left school - and I had to check it all with his dad, who’d ask me, ‘Is there going to be any money in this for him?’

J: Is that how your record label, New Hormones happened?

R: Yes, in a way. There was no real infrastructure for independent labels then. Rough Trade began some distribution which became The Cartel, but the independent label support just wasn’t there, we had to develop it. We wanted to support people around us too, hence Linder’s design of the ‘Orgasm Addict’ cover. Then she started dabbling with music. She’s another person who was doing something but didn’t know what it was going to work out as, a bit of music, a bit of performance art, collages. Young people were trying to explore a direction by 1977.

J: Why the name, ‘New Hormones’?

R: I think it was Howard that chose it. There was a discovery around that time in 1976 of a ‘new hormone’ – I can’t remember it’s name, something scientific. It just sounded, like, yeah! Pretty cool.

J: How did you just decide, right, let’s press records on this label? How did you go about it?

R: We wanted a souvenir of what we had done during 1976. It was just research. I found that pressing plants had spare capacity and would take small amounts to keep the presses running. Polydor had a little department that did custom pressing, so having found that out, they recommended a sleeve printer and it all just worked. Records always seem to be magical things. They appeared in an occult fashion in the racks. It is actually interesting to think about, ‘How did they get there?’

With Spiral Scratch it was mail order with an address and a phone number. Jon Webster at Virgin Records in Lever Street took some. Record store managers had autonomy then. It wasn’t just central buying. Then he told his mates in the other stores, ‘Try a box of twenty five and see what happens!’ And then it happened. The phone started ringing. And generously, all the press reviews gave the address. And the phone number leaked out. It was the phone number of mine and Howard’s house!

Geoff Travis had just recently started the Rough Trade shop and he was like, ‘I’ll take fifty.’ Two days later it was, ‘Can I have two hundred more?’ It just ‘spiraled’ out control! It stimulated and inspired other people to make their own records. Desperate Bicycles formed just to make a record. ‘Spiral Scratch’ had recording information on it. Desperate Bicycles moved that on a bit further. New Hormones was demystifying something that seemed mysterious.

J: Did you ever want to be in the band?

R: No I just wanted to help. I was signing on. They formed the band.

J: Where does the name come from?

R: The name comes from our mythical lost weekend with The Sex Pistols. We picked up a copy of Time Out then which had a review about a girl group and the headline for the feature was, ‘IT’S THE BUZZ, COCKS!’ about a TV series, ‘Rock Follies, about a girl band featuring Julie Covington. It all goes back to that.

J: What happened on the lost weekend?

R: We’d read Neil Spencer’s NME review of the Pistols at The Marquee and were equally enthused and intrigued. Pete hired a car from Bolton student’s union. Howard and Peter McNeish (later Shelley) and I went off in February 1976, to ‘Sex’ to find Malcolm McLaren, who told us the Pistols were playing that weekend at High Wycombe and Welwyn Garden City. Howard, Peter and I got in the car and we drove straight to the venue. The Sex Pistols were really intrigued that we had come so far. They were opening for Screaming Lord Sutch on one of the nights.

Pete Shelley is great on this memory – he has a Rolodex in his head. It was a student audience. All we did that weekend was gig on the Friday, back to Reading to stay, then back for the Pistols Saturday night, then back home, buzzing with ideas. The weekend wasn’t lost, it was found.

J: Do you remember much about the gigs?

R: The Sex Pistols were ramshackle. It was Johnny, he was extraordinary. He didn’t give a toss about anything. He was obviously speeding. It was hot clothes, fast drugs. Johnny seemed to hate the audience. He was provocative and he dismissed us. But that didn’t matter. The first night a bunch of lads sat just under the stage making ‘Rubbish!’ gestures to their pals at the back. Johnny ran along and tousled their hair! They ran forward, picked him up and threw him on the floor. Neil Stephenson who was their loosely termed road manager joined in… and the band kept playing in the background. It was like a cartoon scrum in Tom and Jerry. Eventually Johnny crawled out from underneath and scrambled back on stage. He went:

‘WELL! THAT WAS NO FUN!’

…which was the tune they were playing. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was shocking, extraordinary, exciting.

J: Have you seen anything like it since?

R: Anything with that power? Patti Smith at Manchester Apollo doing James Brown’s ‘It’s a Man’s Man’s World.’ She nailed it! She came right to the front of the stage and that closeness and immediacy, that strength. She had a knock out moment. Whatever year it was. She actually did fall off the stage somewhere and hurt her neck. In my experience it’s rare to see that magic moment. Gifted performers.

J: Did you book the Sex Pistols for Reading Uni?

R: Yes, it was part of me being an ‘art student’! Did mainly black and white ‘things’. I had a very sympathetic tutor and once I’d seen the Sex Pistols I was determined to get them to play. The art department had a little club subsidised by the student union and I persuaded them, ‘We have to get this band!’ There was an annual event called Art Exchange. I wanted this band – they were really cheap!

[I find this ticket online and ask Richard about it: ‘I think this is fake - we just took money on the door - and it wasn’t in the Students Union; rather in a painting studio in the Art Department; there was no ‘ROCK DISCO’ – as if! Support was a performance artist, one of The Kipper Kids’].

I did all the flyering and stuff and of course as happened then, only about twenty people came. My tutor was very sympathetic when it came to my finals and included the gig booking and promotion as work I’d done. I graduated with a 2:1. Tutor Tom said, ‘The external examiners will want more evidence of drawing ability.’ I got an A1 piece of paper and pencil and just drew vertical lines as close together as I could, for about eight hours. He said, ‘I think that’s enough drawing ability!’ I was just doing black and white things, I wasn’t really doing drawings, as such.

J: Did you hang out with the band?

R: I remember having to get them out of the bar just to go on stage. Johnny liked Red Stripe. He was my favourite Sex Pistol. It went: Johnny, Glen, Paul, Steve. Malcolm was always difficult. But we didn’t really talk to them. Malcolm McLaren dominated the conversation. He’d be giving out his manifesto, like he had this tape loop, over and over again. The band didn’t really socialise much.

On the Anarchy Tour in Manchester we went to Tommy Ducks which was a legendary pub. It had ladies underwear across the ceiling and Johnny tried to pull it down. That week Johnny, Joe Strummer and Pete Shelley had all gone blonde. They were stood at the bar talking about hair products. ‘What colour did you use?’

J: Did you ever see the Pistols with Sid?

R: I saw them twice with Sid. They had become the caricature of themselves that the media set them up to become. Really. It wasn’t fun and it didn’t have the magic.

J: How did you come to work at Rough Trade?

R: Two things happened within weeks of each other. My label, New Hormones was rapidly failing. It never had any money. I had got some records out by a group called Dislocation Dance. I couldn’t do any more. They had some new tracks that I sent to Geoff Travis. I used to send promo cassettes and biogs to Pete Walmsley who did licencing. I had put out a single called ‘Rosemary’ which got picked up in Europe.

Geoff didn’t get back to me for a month and a half and then he said, ‘oh I like this can you arrange a meeting? Then, possibly just a bit later, Morrissey, Johnny and Joe Moss pitched up in my office with a tape of ‘Hand In Glove’ and ‘Handsome Devil’, which I loved! They were like, ‘Can you do anything?’ and I said, ‘Well I can’t do anything. What do you want to do?’ and they said, ‘Well we just want to put it out. Maybe we’ll do it ourselves.’ I said, ‘If you want to do it yourselves, I’ll put you in touch with Simon Edwards, who is in Rough Trade Distribution if that’s what you want to do.’ Versions of this story vary, but I phoned Simon and put him onto Joe Moss. I set up the meeting. Johnny went. They stayed at Matt Johnson’s. Anyway that’s the famous story: Simon took the tape and said, ‘No, this is worth more than a DIY release. Geoff needs to hear it.’

Geoff was always in meetings. Rough Trade was famous for meetings. Everybody was in a meeting. Later there was a meeting room but in Bleinheim Crescent you just couldn’t get hold of people. ‘Just say I’m in a meeting!’ There were an awful lot of meetings. Johnny just came around and waited until Geoff came out of his meetings and said, ‘Simon says you’ve got to hear this NOW!’ and he made an impact. Rough Trade said it would do a one-off single on the label and Scott Piering would do the promotion. Peel and Kid Jensen sessions were happening almost every other week, as a result. Mike Hinc was the booking agent and started getting them gigs and then bigger gigs.

I went down with Dislocation Dance and had a meeting with Geoff, and I said, ‘Why did it take you a month and a half to hear about this?’ and he was like, ‘I’m just so busy! I can’t keep up with stuff! Actually I think I’m going to America for two months and I might need someone here. Would you cover?’ So I thought, yes, because everything I’m doing in Manchester has run out of steam and my wife and I were getting tired of a commuting relationship because she was in London already at the BBC. The stars were in the right place. Geoff ended up not going to America.

Rough Trade had a wonderful, endless, financial crisis. I moved into the Production Manager job. It was a very hectic summer in 1983, given the amount of interest in The Smiths which just bounced: more gigs, more records, more media. Everybody at the label side was like, ‘Let’s do more! Build a relationship long term!’

This was the principle of all the early indies: 4AD, Rough Trade, Mute, Factory, they all used to have principles. To have a hit act to subsidise what they wanted to do. Daniel Miller of Mute had Depeche Mode, Factory had Joy Division and Ivo had the Cocteau Twins. Rough Trade had tried to do that with Scritti Politti, but it cost an awful lot and there were a lot of resources put into trying make Green a popstar. The money was all sloshing around A Joy Division album would have paid the debts for a Depeche Mode album.

It kind of worked, but for Rough Trade Scritti didn’t deliver in the same way as the other label-groups had, and Rough Trade was looking for someone to build on. As soon as ‘This Charming Man’ came out it was a given, it was going to be The Smiths.

J: What was the production manager’s job, day to day, at Rough Trade?

R: Get the tapes to the mastering room. Get the white labels. Make sure everybody’s happy. Commission designers. Get the sleeve proofs. Make sure everybody’s happy. Start phoning people up. See how many thousands are needed. A lot of Rough Trade’s business was only a couple of thousand. Then get the sleeves printed. Try to manage all the ingredients. Juggle. If you get a sleeve proof and that colour isn’t working… artists had a lot of control over the look and design.

Morrissey was always great. He would send photocopies of images he wanted and eventually we gave him a Pantone colour book and he could say ‘I want background pantone 132…’ Morrissey always knew what he wanted. He had a great sense of palette. Usually his things were fairly manageable. Things got complicated after Hatful of Hollow! As the Smiths built, it got ridiculous. ‘I want a hundred and fifty thousand gatefold sleeves, by last week!’

Actually, There was one problem with the inner sleeve to Hatful of Hollow. It had been mastered, the artwork was done, the lyrics were in order, it had all been done. I had already started printing the inner bags and Morrissey phoned and said, ‘Change the running order.’ Ha ha! I was like, ‘Stop printing those!’ But 30,000 had been printed already. He was like, ‘No. I want them in the right order.’ We had 30,000 inner bags to deal with. Rough Trade Germany’s production was behind ours so they got 30,000 inner sleeves with the lyrics in the wrong order! Collectors items! I don’t know which way round it had been before the current listing. But that was an awkward moment and generally, personally, Morrissey and I didn’t have awkward moments.

J: You seemed to do a lot of jobs. Were you working for the label side or the distribution side?

R: I worked for the label, initially. I started at Rough Trade in 1983 when it was in one of its regularly-occurring financial crisis. Everyone was like, ‘We can’t go on like this! We need an admin!’ So we found, probably through the Cricket Team, ‘The White Swans’ – not a Rough Trade cricket team, just people who worked at Rough Trade who were members of a cricket team - this guy Richard Powell who had turned around a Watchmakers in Clerkenwell. There was a series of meetings with him and he tidied up the mess. I’m sure the accounts department did their best but there were no clear lines of demarcation. It became this incredible structure where the wholesale department had a board that would meet about their issues. Then someone on the distribution board, then someone on the record company board, then the main board, they had meetings and the money just became a trough.

If the phone rang at Rough Trade we had two answers, ‘I’ll just find them’, or, ‘They’re in a meeting.’ Take a message! There was finally a switchboard but the receptionist would eternally say, ‘So and so is on the phone’ and we’d shout ‘I’m in a meeting!’

Then I moved to Rough Trade Distribution. Distribution had been publishing a magazine called ‘The Catalogue’ which was a funny mix of trade and consumer content. It was losing money. Editor Brenda Kelly and Pete O’Fowler were setting up a production company Snub TV. Brenda was getting ready to leave and I was asked to take over the Catalogue and ‘turn it around’. So I switched from working for the label to working for distribution. Then I turned it round by offering consumer incentives like flexidiscs! I must find a copy of the magazine! We had longer features – a lead feature every month and if you were on the cover there was the interview. It made us put in more consumer focused content other than trade news or new releases. Nick Kent reviewed ‘Rank’. I’ll see if I have that. He loved The Smiths. There was a track from Rank, it was a flexi disc, with Morrissey writing on the back. I can get you one of those if you haven’t got it. If I can find them I’ve got a box, perhaps, somewhere.

J: That would be amazing, thank you. What was Geoff’s involvement?

R: He’d probably listen to a test pressing. He wasn’t interested in the artwork - I was - I enjoyed that aspect. When we found Caryn Gough - through Malcolm Garrett - who had a studio and did graphics, we had someone who could look at Morrissey’s doodles and photocopies and turn them into what he wanted. Caryn was slightly rockabilly. She had the jeans and the chain. Caryn and Morrissey just hit it off. It was a joy to witness. Talking on the same wavelength. Caryn and Morrissey were good because he thought well, if I send this picture and the pantone number to her then she does it, and he’d say, ‘That’s just what I want!’

J: So at the label, The Smiths became the priority?

R: Yes, around the label The Smiths became the priority. Loads of attention was focused on it. The Raincoats had an album to deliver, but they kind of got slightly overlooked. They were a great band. It was a great year for music, 1983. Until The Smiths stabilised the whole operation, money was leaking everywhere in Rough Trade. There was no fiscal control. It was slack.

This was also just before we were moving out of Blenheim Crescent to Collier Street in Kings Cross. There was a huge amount to do and there was only a couple of narrow corridors. All the corridors were just filling with boxes and boxes and boxes of records of the debut album. Just before the move, all those corridors were empty! Now there was a warehouse storage space that was full of boxes and boxes.

J: Tell me about the band at that time.

R: Johnny and Morrissey were really driven and had a clear sense of purpose. They knew exactly what they wanted. They shared a vision. It was those two that pushed it forward. The other two were the rhythm section, nice as they were. For Johnny and Morrissey it really wasn’t about work. It was their passion. For the rhythm section it was work. They referred to it as work. I felt that Andy and Mike were slightly overwhelmed when The Smiths took off. It was very fast. They weren’t ready for it in the way that Johnny and Morrissey were. This was like their dream come true. No-one was really ready for it but Morrissey and Johnny had dreamt of it for a really long time.

We didn’t get any arguments from the band. Morrissey and Johnny could be awkward, deliberately so, sometimes. Johnny was overloaded and Morrissey was beautifully whimsical and could change his mind. But everybody was younger. Some of it is really about age.

I wish they had made more videos. I don’t know why they didn’t. The Derek Jarman work fitted a sort of camp sensibility with a slight radical edge, that worked well.

J: It was an exciting time to be a Smiths fan when those Jarman films came out.

R: A pretty boy on London Bridge!

J: I liked the hand in ‘Panic’.

R: It was all Super 8. It was shown all over the place. In arthouses, on TV. I don’t know why it took that long for them to make videos. Those were brilliant!

J: Did you go to a lot of gigs?

R: Yes. I went to a lot of Smiths gigs. When they did ‘This Charming Man’ on Top Of The Pops the crew that Morrissey liked were all there. Me, Geoff, Scott Piering, Martha Defoe. We were all there saying ‘Yes! Yes!’ That was a magic moment. It was incredible. We were in the wings, off camera where we could watch. It was really exciting. We just watched them soar!

I always enjoyed the band in smaller venues. I do remember London Palladium. It was one of Morrissey’s greatest desires to do the London Palladium. They brought on Pete Burns for the encore. It was exciting to see bands that you’re involved in move forward from an audience of twenty people to having an audience of two hundred to having an audience of two thousand. I’m going to use that word I hate – it’s the ‘journey’. Ha ha!

J: Tell me your recollection of the ‘I Don’t Owe You Anything’ moment at the Hacienda.

R: We all went up to the Hacienda because it was on my birthday – July the sixth. Don’t forget to send me a card! It was very nice that Morrissey acknowledged my birthday. The Rough Trade workforce was there – and some old Manchester people. It felt like a homecoming gig. It was a very different night from when The Hacienda had only twenty people in it. It was my thirtieth birthday. Then he went into ‘I Don’t Owe You Anything’, which, was kind of cheeky, I thought. It was playful. I liked it. I was like everybody’s favourite neighbour, that’s what Morrissey said.

J: I get the impression that you and Morrissey had a good rapport.

R: Yes, we had a good rapport. I could banter with him and James Maker. It was just banter, and a bit of polari! James wore beads and high heels. Johnny wore beads too. I think it was the influence of sixties girl groups. It was subversive. It was never any surprise to me that Morrissey became the front man of probably the most subversive group of the time.

J: Have you read Autobiography?

R: I’ve read Morrissey’s book, yes. I really enjoyed the stories of his upbringing - very evocative. I came out of it very well! Me and Morrissey both did, ha ha!

The only bit I read of Johnny’s was in my local bookshop and he had written something inaccurate about somebody else – and it was me! It was the bit about The Smiths tape with Matt Johnson. But it was me!

J: Do you follow Morrissey’s solo work?

R: Yes. The last time I saw him was at the Albert Hall for You Are The Quarry with my daughter. We were in a box with Boz Boorer’s family. Linder was there in the next box. We went backstage. Morrissey went up to Rachel, my daughter and said, ‘You’re supposed to be a baby!’ It was Rachel’s first big concert. We got smuggled in. Listed by Mike Hinc. I haven’t seen Johnny for a really long time.

J: What is it about The Smiths that makes them so enduring?

R: It’s the songs, really. They stand the test of time. I saw Buzzcocks at the Roundhouse two weeks ago and that was kids of all ages - including their grandparents. It all goes back to the songs. What I always find funny about Morrissey is that football terrace mob; how he excited Millwall fans. Holding banners that they love him. It goes back to the songs.

J: If Morrissey walked in here right now and said, ‘All right, Richard?’ what would you say?

R: Oh. That’s wicked. I’d say, ‘All right, Morrissey?’ Or maybe I would call him ‘Steven’. I called him that before he was Morrissey. Steven. I might say,

‘This isn’t the Morrissey that I used to know.’ Ha ha! I’d also possibly give him a man hug and say ‘It’s about time you made another record.’ Hang on, I’m not sure about the hugging thing.

J: You weren’t big huggers in the eighties?

R: No. I’ve never hugged Morrissey. I need a badge that says that. Wait - maybe it should be, ‘Morrissey never hugged me.’

J: There’s still time.

R: Oh, stop it!

J: If Morrissey was coming to your house, what snacks would you put out for him?

R: In the name of God! Right. Avocado dip. Or hummus.

J: Do you make that avocado dip yourself?

R: Yes. Quite often. Everybody gets this question?

J: Yes.

R: Okay. Dips. Starters. That’s just nibbles you see. Dips. Followed by… Now you’re really asking what I like cooking. Roasted red pepper soup. Main: I’ve recently been doing a lot of stuff with celeriac, so something around celeriac, but I’m not sure what. And then… I suppose you want pud, don’t you?

J: If you’re giving it.

R: Honestly! Oh I think, an ice cream. You want flavour? Ridiculous! For Christmas every year I make Christmas pudding ice cream. Basically vanilla ice cream with pudding in it. Why are you looking like that? I don’t let the pudding sit for a year I make it the year before. It’s frozen! Ice cream is frozen, Julie. There’s always Christmas pudding left isn’t there? Everybody likes Christmas pudding. I like Christmas pudding. Do you?

J: Oh no, I really don’t. Too stodgy. Tell me about your one earring.

R: My earring? Ha ha! I have other studs. I like this black one. I got my ear pierced in 1978. It was probably at Lewis’s in Manchester because they did ear piercing. I think it was my wife’s suggestion. Why only one? Because of William Shakespeare!

J: So it has nothing to do with punk? You never put a safety pin in it or anything like that?

R: No.

J: What did you dress like back in the Rough Trade days?

R: I had jackets. Ties. I liked ties. I always made a point when I worked at Rough Trade amidst all the punks, hippies and goths to wear a tie. It was my gag. But my earring - nobody ever asks me about that.

J: I noticed as it’s the only one. Like, ‘I’m a librarian by day but I’m secretly very punk, you know.’

R: Yes, maybe! I think I just wore a sleeper for a long time. I get most of my stuff from Metal Crumble.

J: What’s your favourite crisp flavour?

R: Salt and Vinegar. If I were to eat crisps I’d probably eat them straight from the bag.

J: What’s your favourite pizza topping?

R: Wow. Right. Topping. Let’s see. You’ve got your tomato base. Olives. Rocket. Maybe some mozzarella.

J: Favourite Buzzcocks song?

R: Ah. ‘What Do You know?’ The one with the horn section. Tail end of Buzzcocks career.

J: Favourite Sex Pistols song?

R: ‘Bodies’. Johnny’s Catholicism comes out. It’s an anti-abortion song. As Simon Reynolds’ says, it’s his favourite because Johnny says ‘F*ck’ a lot. I think because we were so familiar with the Pistols’ repertoire the only thing that was new and distinctly different was ‘Bodies’ so it stood out. Although I disagree with its sentiment.

J: What’s your favourite Smiths song?

R: Wow. Ah. That’s hard. There’s so many. Oh blimey. It’s really hard. ‘Handsome Devil.’ I love it. And I love ‘I Know It’s Over.’ But I still love ‘Handsome Devil’ it’s them as they’re really starting out. It’s got an edge, they got more polished. I like a rough diamond.

J: What’s your favourite Smiths album?

R: Strangeways.

J: The most polished.

R: The most overlooked! The Queen Is Dead is seen as their peak. Otherwise, Hatful Of Hollow. At the Peel sessions they were live and more immediate. Which is yours?

J: The Smiths. The first album. I love all the records but this is what first turned my head so it’s special to me.

R: That reminds me. Geoff and I went to a Peel session and they did ‘This Charming Man’. We ran out into the corridor and said, ‘That song! That has to be the single.’ The first time we heard it. Live. We were in the control room and had to nip out of the studio to talk about it. For Rough Trade, ‘Hand In Glove’ was a one-off deal. We never went in for standard contracts, but we decided to with The Smiths. During that summer we got into contracted discussions. We said, ‘If they’re going to sign, this has to be the single.’

J: Favourite Morrissey song?

R: ‘Every Day Is Like Sunday.’ It’ encapsulates boredom in a more serious way than Buzzcocks did. And Vini’s playing is great.

J: Favourite Morrissey album?

R: ‘Your Arsenal’. I like that one. I like the cover.

J: Do you have a lyric that you love?

R: ‘There’s more to life that books you know, but not much more.’ That’s a great line!

J: How did you end up as a librarian?

R: After the big Rough Trade collapse in 1991 a couple of people and I tried to revive The Catalogue. And failed. We tried and we failed. Then my son was born and I was ‘house husband’. In a parent-run cooperative crèche. Then my son went to primary school and my wife said, ‘Right. Get a job. Here’s an advert you should reply to!’

J: So you got your ear pierced because of your wife, and a job, because of your wife.

R: I moved to London because of my wife. She is my everything.

J: I see that! What’s your favourite thing that she says?

R: ‘Do some f*cking tidying up! Clear some of these books! Get rid of that! Why is this in the living room?’

J: Of course. She’s still with you.

R: Yes. We are blessed. We got married when she was pregnant with our daughter, Rachel, who was twenty-eight yesterday.

J: Who is your favourite actor?

R: Marlon Brando. On The Waterfront.

J: What’s your favourite book?

R: Book? That’s a big ask.

J: Favourite song to dance to?

R: Anything ska or northern soul. I like that one, oh, what’s it called, ‘Give Me Just A Little More Time’ by Chairmen of the Board. Kylie covered it. I love that. See it’s easy to dance. It’s just like this, [stands up, begins walking through the steps]. ‘One-two-three-four. One-two-three-four. Just repeat.’

J: What’s your favourite childhood toy?

R: Toy? Tough call. Mainly, I recall happy hours playing and building on my own as a small boy with Lego bricks, decades before they became so themed.

J: Where is your favourite place to eat?

R: Place to eat? I can do place to eat. Home! I’ve done note to mum – tick.

J: Thank you. Do people phone you to check facts from years ago?

R: Yes. And some of the time I can remember them.

Follow Richard Boon on Twitter @booniepops. Don’t phone, he’s in a meeting.

15 Minutes With You by Julie Hamill is available now from all good book shops.

Punk loose on Oxford Street

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eyedelater · 8 years ago

Text

my hero academia chapter 125 post

i haven't made a chapter post in a while, but the chapters have been quite good lately. i especially enjoy new characters such as noclip mickey mouse and snake boy who faces the wall. iida tenya has been the ura-star of the last few chapters too, bless him

at the end of the last chapter in particular, there were a FEW things i could comment on, so let's go back in time really quick:

all might's former sidekick, Sir, in his plainclothes outfit, looks like he should be some kind of Best ____ist. either that or the seme of an extremely generic yaoi manga (the kind with yaoi hands)

oh yeah, i remember this recently introduced villain, it's the lead singer of Plague Doctor and the Plague Doctors

tomura's outfit change signifies that he has exited the "also shops at pac sun" phase of hot topic shoppers and graduated to the "probably also shops at online bondage retailers" phase of hot topic shoppers.

and i thought "tomura, why are you smiling, what do you have to smile about after getting your ass kicked so thoroughly last time we saw you?" but i must concede that his smile does look significantly less cocky. as far as i can tell with that hand in the way.

anyway, chapter 125

(beginning of the first page) hmm i see the villains have moved their base out of the most populous city in the entire world. probably a good move

(beginning of the second page) looks like they're sorely missing their old array of barstools, though. also tomura is standing all chill against the wall there as if he's hiding from view that one pair of supernumerary hands that specifically clutches his bosom, like he wants to save that reveal for a dramatic moment later on

actually, ok, i've read the rest of the chapter without comment, and i've also noticed that the two scanlation groups that both work on heroaca (without collaborating, in a way that some might call redundant) have both released their versions on the same day this week...!!! the first version i read was the f*llen angels (which i'll abbreviate as FA) translation, and now i'm reading the mang*stream (which i'll abbreviate as MS) version. because that's what you do when there's two scanlations available. so let's compare~

color page: MS wins. their fonts, and the color effects thereof, are amazing compared to the cheesy comic book font choices made by the other version. both translations are fine, though i guess i'd give FA at least a bonus point for avoiding a line break by using "thrives" instead of "prospers."

first page: MS wins this one too, because FA did the "emphasize certain words with bold or italics" thing (which always messes with my head and is generally unnecessary and annoying) to get the punchline across, but MS totally nailed it with twice's "no worries. the folks inside are especially sick." and although i haven't seen the raws, it seems more likely that plague mask here would be speaking politely (as in the MS tl) than mouthing off (as in the FA tl).

second page: looks like MS got the better scan on this one, at least, but we're gonna have to go by panel here. first panel: i'm not sure which translation is more accurate, so i'm gonna ignore that first sentence in the first speech bubble, but i have to give it to FA for the second sentence. it's just better. second panel: MS wins. third panel: we've got "the so-called yakuza, the young leader of the eight precepts of death" versus "they call him a gangster. the capo of the 'eightfold cleansers.'" now, i'm 98% sure that "eightfold/eight precepts" part is some buddhist phrase, but i gotta say, "eightfold cleansers" works better with plague doctor's apparent fear of contagion. and i'm also 98% sure it literally says "capo" transliterated into katakana, so i'd prefer that version. HOWEVER. i can't give the full victory to FA, because although they say "they call him a gangster" in this panel, they proceed to translate it as "yakuza" for the rest of the chapter. they should've just used "yakuza" to begin with.

third page: MS earns no bonus points for translating the SFX in the first panel, but they win for the translation overall. it's just much better than FA's. however, both versions tanked the last line on the page.

fourth page: this one is really a mixed bag. i'd give panels 1, 4, and 5 to MS, but panels 3 and 6 go to FA because the word "kingpin" is quite good.

fuck i'm getting carried away. the fifth page, all i can do is offer an alternate script cobbled together from both, like "and so the question is... who will be the next kingpin?" "You ask that despite claiming to know who my sensei is... Do you mean to provoke me?" "The next kingpin / will be me." and then MS gets the rest of that page.

sixth page: there's a huge discrepancy in tone between the two versions (with MS having both tomura and plague doctor speak more eloquently, while FA gives them the jabbing, mouthy banter of american comic books) and i honestly can't know which is more accurate without reading the raws. but i will say that "pipe dream" is better than "delusion," "glee killer" is better than "hedonistic murderer," and "twice... next time, confirm their intentions before bringing anyone here" is better than "twice... next time you bring someone, make sure you have your head straight first." (that last one especially, i love the slightly exasperated but somehow forgiving tone of that tomura line)

seventh page: again i can't tell whether jaunty or serious is the actual tone of this guy, but forget all that and forget all your troubles as you stare into the gleaming gaze of bright eyes here. dude's inspired. bright eyes it is

eighth page: FA unequivocally wins this one for their translation that just feels way better. although i think MS got it right that the "shy and timid" in the last panel is referring to the girl and not to magne.

ninth page: i think FA did a better job with the first line, but MS did a better job linking the first line to the second line. third line goes to FA, fourth line goes to MS. and for the record, the sound effect for bright eyes interacting with magne's arm is "kari" = "scratch"

tenth page: did magic man change his mask? and it seems himiko is the last one to realize what has happened...

eleventh page: bright eyes’s sound effects as he complains about the filth: drip drip, wipe wipe wipe

twelfth page: both translations are fine. the real question is, is that a projectile in the second panel? oh, did one of bright eyes's allies send that flying in from the shadows to keep compress from compressing him? and then, in the fifth panel, the sound effects "bua" = "freaking out" (approximately) and "putsu putsu putsu" = "bubbling up" seem to indicate that bright eyes is breaking out in hives from pure panic.

thirteenth page: there's a pretty big difference between "AAAAHHHHH!?!" and "M-M-MY ARMM!!" does he say "ude ga" or not? anyway i love all the tomuras on this page. sprightly dash

fourteenth page: there's a pretty big difference between "things would have been clearer if you just did that from the start" and "it was fairly simple to foresee you'd do this from the start." my money's on the former tbh. and i'm pretty sure when bright eyes says something like "you were slow" in the penultimate panel, that ought to be translated as "you're late."

fifteenth page: MS misused the word "casualty," which does not mean "fatality" but rather refers to deaths OR injuries, such that the villain alliance team actually has one more casualty than team plague doctor. thus, the FA version wins that line for the sake of accuracy in translating it as "we each have one dead." as for the rest of the page... tomura-kun is looking awfully fucking wrinkly as all hell, isn't he. and bright eyes is tossing away his business card in that panel, not opening the door, so MS got that sfx translation wrong.

sixteenth page: thank god we got an unadulterated shot of pure tomura ankle in this chapter. bright eyes is like ":* call me" he can't help going easy on a fellow smizer***

seventeenth page: nap room... all might was the one napping? at first i thought both boys had settled down for a good nap before consulting all might. i like having deku stand next to someone with a properly tied tie so that you're forced to realize that no, it's not some abnormally small tie he's wearing, it's just a normal tie that's been wrapped around one too many times during the tying process.

well this post turned into a bit of a wreck, but it's... something...? i know it’s gonna be near-meaningless to someone who doesn’t have both translations in front of them, but so it goes

***smizer, noun, “one who smizes.” for more on smizing, consult tyra banks

#note: not a very good post #heroaca spoilers #BOKU NO HERO MY ACADEMANIA

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