#proper saga business

[metrocentric]

Whigfield con "Saturday night" - Arena Suzuki dai 60 ai 2000 - 27/09/2023

Italy has the third most swiftly ageing demographic in the world, and to hear people talk you’d think that was a bad thing.

[the-fiction-witch]

As Do I

Media - EPIC The Musical Saga Character - Prince Telemachus Of Ithaca Couple - Telemachus X Reader Reader - Princess Y/n of Zakynthos (scared Eye) Rating - 15 Word Count - 1413

Telemachus walked the vast halls of the palace that he called home. The tall walls were carved with intricate works, marble smooth below his feet, arch after arch letting in the sea air and the bright sun. Each arch held a statue of one of the many Olympians adorned with various offerings at their feet. His eyes fell as they often did to the waves crashing far across the horizon, wishing he would see a ship heading home or on the many details of the palace that his mother used to point out for him when he was young, small secrets his father had built into the palace one of the few things that physically remained of his influence.

He had grown tired of watching his mother weave, leaving her to the endless business well guarded by men he trusted, of course. And he had grown sick of the endless crudeness of the suitors lingering in the Palace halls, the jokes at his behest had hit a nerve with him today, and he could not bear to hear a single more bark of ‘Little Wolf’ behind his back.

So he walked, keeping his steps silent in his sandals, his white and blue robes around him comfortably with ever his sword at his side, with his golden laurels sitting in his hair.

But in truth, Telemachus felt alone… more so than he had in a long time.

Suddenly, he perked up. He heard gentle footsteps behind him. Tension bubbled up inside him as he pictured another of the suitors coming to torment him. Without hesitation, he drew his sword and spun around to face the stalker.

However, he was not met by the face of one of his mother’s drunken suitors.

Instead, he was met by the figure of a woman.

She wore dark leather sandals laced up her legs, a long purple skirt with a silver pattern around the hem, and a lavender chiffon held at her shoulders by two silver clasps. She had a silver necklace that hung down her chest and long curls of hair that hid her face.

He was, of course, taken aback by the sight, he was sure he had not seen this maiden before. “Hello?” He raised an eyebrow but did not lower his sword,

“Good Afternoon, Prince Telemachus.” She said, her tone prim and proper. She curtsied low, never raising her head or meeting his eye.

“You know my name?” He asked as he stepped closer,

“Why wouldn’t I know the name of Prince Telemachus, son of Odysseus, Prince of Ithaca.”

His eyes narrowed, and the grip on his blade tightened, “what manner of god or monster are you?” He muttered, “What is your name, Maiden?”

“Princess Y/n, daughter of Pellantos. Princess of Zakynthos.”

Telemachus’ eyes shot open wide as he realised who she was, he had spoken to King Pellantos of Zakynthos many times over diplomatic matters, he didn’t even know he had a daughter! He felt foolish to question her, and immediately, he slid his sword back into his scabbard and dropped to one knee. He took her hand in his and kissed her knuckles softly, “Forgive me, I- I was unaware of your coming. I- I should have been at the docks to meet you. My humblest apologies, Princess.”

She softly giggled, “It is alright. You had no way of knowing it was me.” She said, tugging on his hand to pull him back to his feet.

He smiled back at her, “What brings you here, princess? I had not heard anything from your father that would need urgency.” He asked, “And I assume you are not meetly here to grant me the pleasure of your company,”

“I wish I was,” she said, “But unfortunately not.”

“Then what?”

“I come simply as a guest to your palace.” She said, her tone became uncomfortable, “My brother comes to your palace as a suitor for your mother, it pains me to say.”

His heart briefly stopped, and a sick vile gathered in his throat. For a moment, he could be fooled to believe perhaps she was here to see him. But no… merely accompanying her brother’s lust over his mother’s hand. “I see…” His hands fell to his sides and balled into fists,

“Please… forgive me. I- I didn’t mean to-” She began, “I am sorry, words are not my forte.” She said, “My brother has no desire to be here, but my father insists. My father insists I come with him-”

“You have nothing to apologise for.” He interrupted, “Your brother is not the first, and I am sure not the last to linger here awaiting my mother.” he looked away, “They will wait a long time.”

She nodded, “I know… no man can replace your father in her heart. Even if he was never to return, I know the throne will remain cold at her side.”

“You’re right.” He nodded, “My mother will never give up on my father. Even after twenty years…”

“Understandable… Nor would I.”

“Few of us in this world who would.” he sighed,

“I am sorry… I fear I have only caused you pain -”

“Do not apologise, princess.” he told her, “To tell you the truth… I have grown tired of such conversations.”

“Forgive me-”

“But.” he told her, “I would rather have them with you, than anyone else.”

“As would I.”

“If I may? You have not met my eyes in all the time we have spoken?” He smiled,

“…I- it is not something most people find easy.”

He gently brought a hand to her chin and stroked her skin softly, “And why is that princess? Is it that hard to look at me?” He chuckled, “May I?”

She softly nodded and allowed Telemachus to lift her head, letting her hair fall away and reveal her face. One eye was as bright as the ocean, as if Poseidon himself had bottled a calm and beautiful sea for her eyes, and the other was white like a cloud with a long scar from her eyebrow to her cheek.

His breath left him, his heart raced, and words came tumbling from his lips without thought, “You’re captivating…”

Y/n blushed and tried to look away,

But Telemachus held her in his sight, he felt his body burning as if aphrodite had lit a fire under his ass. And uncontrollably, he leant towards her, “You shouldn’t hide your eyes, princess. Not from me.”

“Why not?”

“Because even in a simple look… I don’t ever want them to look away from me.”

“You mean it?”

“With all my heart.” his hand fell to take her own,

“That is sweet, my prince-”

“Telemachus. Please.” he begged her, “I never want your gaze to leave my own, I want to hear my name upon your lips a thousand times, I… I want my hand to linger in yours until we are nothing but bones.” He explained before he shook himself out, “Forgive me, I-”

“As do I.”

“You- You do!”

She nodded, blushing hard,

“Y/n… may I be… forward, Sweet princess?”

“Yes, Telemachus?”

“May- May I kiss you?”

Y/n gasped in shock, her eyes fluttering a few times before she spoke, “We- I- We shouldn’t.”

A frown fell on his face,

“I want to.” She told him, holding his hand tight, “I want to… so very much. But- But if my brother saw it.”

He sighed and nodded, “I- I understand.” He murmured, “But… I want to kiss you. Truly, I do. More than anything.” he said, wrapping his arms around her waist,

“As do I.” She whispered,

“Tell me… tell me this is what you want,” he begged,

“I do.” She nodded, laying her head on his chest,

“As do I.” he said, “I beg of you… meet me again, somewhere we can be alone,”

“Where? When?”

“… meet me in the gardens near the edge of the palace tonight. Sunset.” He said,

She nodded and slowly stepped out of his arms,

He nodded and stepped back to their hands, the last thing to separate, “Please… do not be late.”

“I won't, I promise.”

“Until then, my darling,” he blew her a kiss,

She giggled, blushing hard and blowing him a small kiss back with her hand,

Which he happily pretended to catch as he watched her go.

Telemachus sighed happily, hands resting on his sword, feeling the blush in his cheeks. He had never imagined he’d get so smitten, let alone so fast, but… he truly felt it. And as he continued his walk, he couldn't help but imagine tonight already making plans for what on earth he would say.

[bobalegsanji]

౨ৎ Zosan duck saga ౨ৎ

Little passion project with my sweet friend @fruityumbrella

After Zoro manages to get lost somewhere on an island (God knows when, where, or for how long) he finds a pond with 6 abandoned ducklings

He's definitely not the most knowledgeable about this, but recalls baby ducks aren't supposed to be on their own- shouldn't their mother feed them or something? To be sure, he scoops them up in his arms to get Chopper to check up on them before dropping them back in the pond (if he ever finds it again. Whatever)

The ducklings are surprisingly calm in his arms???

The moment he returns to the ship Nami first screams at him because ''where the actual fuck have you be- are those ducks???'' ''Yes.'' ''Where did you find them?!?'' ''A pond.'' ''BRING THEM BACK????''

Turns out, ducklings without a mother imprint on the first moving object they find

...

They refuse to leave him alone- putting them down on the ground on the deck for the first time resulted in very loud, unsatisfied chirping. They try to jump back into Zoro's arms (which is wayyy too high for them). The view of a now embarrassed Zoro surrounded by 6 angry ducklings who want nothing but to be back into his arms is so funny everyone (but Zoro) ends up with tears streaming down their face

It's no use trying to get them to leave. Both Chopper and Sanji refuse to leave the ducks on the island (since they've imprinted on Zoro, they'd never return to their mother and ''we'd be killing them,'' according to Chopper). They decide to keep the ducklings for the time being, soon enough they've learned independence and can leave, and it's not like 6 little ducklings are going to cause any trouble among the crew, right???

The ducklings follow Zoro everywhere. Napping on the deck? Ducklings are pushing each other to sleep on top of his chest. Eating dinner? There's now 6 baby ducks under the table, quietly snagging whatever food anyone secretly passes them (no one listens to Sanji's rant about which food is healthy for them and which not, or the dangers about overfeeding). Showering? Ducks sit in front of the door, patiently waiting for Zoro to get out again.

The biggest problem is sleeping. Zoro isn't able to sleep in his hammock anymore. The ducks can't get in and out of it themselves (they get cranky when they don't get their way), but they also refuse to sleep anywhere but on top of Zoro. Their unhappy quacks are so loud both Zoro and his 6 patrons are sent to sleep in the kitchen

Sanji is, at first, wildly unhappy with the new arrangement. He's up the earliest and stays up the latest, spending most of his time in the kitchen. His job description never included 'take care of a big, green swordsman and his 6 pets.'

As it turns out, he doesn't actually mind the ducks. They're definitely not quiet, but he enjoys the company. Zoro usually falls asleep without a care for whatever Sanji is doing, and slowly the ducks start to get more comfortable with Sanji's presence. The first time one of them waggles over to take a closer look at what Sanji's doing, he swears his heart melts.

Problem: with Zoro sleeping, and Sanji busy with cleaning and prepping food, no one has eyes for the 6 brats running loose in the kitchen

''Zoro?'' ''Hmmm, what? I'm trying to sleep and this one wants to climb on top of my fucking he-'' ''ZORO?'' ''WHAT?'' ''WHY IS THERE A DUCK IN MY COOKING POT???''

They'd quickly spend as much time with Sanji as with Zoro. A little ramp is build from floor to counter to make sure the ducklings can get up and have a proper view of whatever it is Sanji's doing (Franky made it for him after finding out about his back pain, most likely resulting from having to pick up or put down a duck every 3 minutes)

Sanji gives the ducks little baths in the kitchen sink, letting them float around for however long they want. He definitely does not sit down and stare at them for 2 hours, cooing at over how cute they are (Neither does Zoro come the kitchen inside 7 times during those 2 hours to check whether they're finally done. He absolutely doesn't miss having his 6 buddies follow him around. Nope.)

They basically end up coparenting. For nap time and outdoor time they're with Zoro, for entertainment and food they're with Sanji.

They still favour Zoro (he's still their mama in their eyes), but Sanji's at least as (if not more) present in their life. He makes sure Zoro takes good care of them when Sanji's busy, makes all of their meals, makes sure Luffy doesn't include them in some stupid game that could hurt them- it's become a fulltime job, but Sanji has started to fall in love with them so much he doesn't even mind

Zoro has no choice but to take them with him when going out in town. He's written their names on his arm in order not to forget (he's dumb and can't keep the ducks apart). Someone's like ''oh what's that?'' and he goes ''it's to not confuse my ducks?? Obviously.'' The person he's talking to is like ''... that doesn't make sense. You wrote their names down, not how to tell them apart?? Are you fucking dumb?''

Zoro gets grumpy and moody all day. Sanji's finally done with his sullen mood in the evening and demands to know what's wrong. Zoro explains, and Sanji can't believe that HE STILL CANNOT KEEP THEM APART??

''Marimo, that is NOT Neko. Neko has a WHITE spot above her left eye.'' ''This one has too!'' ' 'MARIMO, that is her RIGHT FUCKING EYE, you ABSOLUTE IMBECILE''

The ducks are SO clingy. There's constantly one in Sanji's apron pocket, one on his shoulder and at least one on the counter. Any time Zoro goes outside, there's a minimum of 4 ducks in his haramaki and one on top of his head.

Sanji's the biggest hypocrite about their rules. He's always telling Zoro to cuddle with them less, ''they're becoming adults and need to learn to grow independent!'' ''The galley is no place for a duck, take them outside while I'm cooking!'' ''NO ducks on table during dinner time.'' (He never listens to his own rules)

The crew ends up (silently) referring to Zoro as their 'mama' and Sanji as their 'papa'

Sanji has to find out the hard way. He's busy with making lunch- already annoyed at the heat and the chores and having had to make breakfast with Zoro in the fucking kitchen (who's STILL not allowed to return to the sleeping quarters), and then Usopp enters. He's holding 2 ducks, quietly talking to them to try and quiet them down: ''It's okay- shhhht, it's okay... Oh, seems like daddy's busy, lets go find mama hm?''

''Usopp, WHAT did you just say??''

Usopp can barely form a sentence with the way Sanji's glaring at him- ''well um... yknow... since ,.. well since zoros like the mom...and you take care of them too..youre kind of...well yknow...umm...luffy said it first!!''

Sanji's having an existential crisis while still elbow deep gutting fish. '''im not a dad! i wouldnt be. why would you say that? no usopp seriously why would you say that. im like the ducks cool older brother. or like. an uncle. im basically a good friend. yeah were good friends.''

''Sure...?''

Sanji and Zoro end up growing closer through their time in the kitchen (and already having 6 children). Arguments turn into conversations, turn into drinking together, turn into holding hands in the dark of night until they kiss

The kiss is better than they either could've expected, until one of the ducks gets jealous-

''This is YOUR fault, you stupid Marimo!''

''What do you mean my fault? He pecked you!!!''

''Are you fucking deranged, of course it is your fault!!! Look at him, he'd never do me any wrong if you weren't here!!''

''????!!!''

''You really have nothing to say???''

''Are we kissing or what?''

''SHUT THE FUCK UP MARIMO''

Their bickering ends up scaring the ducks. They're scattered around the ship, resulting in Sanji and Zoro quietly bickering & cooing over their lost children, searching for them together while trying not to wake anyone up

Franky sees how happy the ducks are in the kitchen sink and decides to build a pond on the deck for them

The pond ends up being a blessing and a curse. It becomes a hot spot to relax, sometimes the ducks stray over towards Zoro napping next to the pond, or one snuggles up near Robin while she's reading

Luffy also falls into it. More than once.

Zoro does too. Every time, sanji totally losing his shit because zoro emerges from the water with a flower and a duck on his head and he looks like a deranged lilypad

During cold winter nights, Sanji refuses to let the ducks sleep outside. He makes a blanket fort in the kitchen with all blankets and pillows he can find to make sure they're as comfortable as possible ( + he's in the kitchen most of the day and night, so it's always one of the warmest rooms on the Sunny)

Zoro doesn't care about it. He thinks it's useless and a waste of time, but when everyone's sleeping he still goes over to the kitchen to check up on his babies and make sure they're doing fine

He falls asleep next to the cushion fort and forget the walls aren't real. He falls right through it and ruins the fort but the ducks are fine they just climb onto him and go to sleep again

Val & me might be delusional but at least are we CUTE delusional ♡

[undertale-fic-librarby]

Hello,have you had any of classic sans centric? I want to find others book like "Sans Tumbles Through the Multiverse Headfirst" but any classic centric is okay! Preferably no romance and no reader

Howdy, thanks for asking! Here are some fics that might fit what you're looking for!

Dorks in love by Emo_tastical (Not Rated, Incomplete)

9+1 Thing aka, 10 times Classic comforts someone and 1 time everyone comforts him (Nightmare, Dream, Ink, Error, Swap, Killer, Dust, Cross, Horror & Classic)

The Multiverse Solution Center by Scorpion_Factory (Not Rated, Incomplete)

When Classic Sans gets a call from Ink, the last thing he expects is to be teleported to a new multiverse. He sees people he knows well, and some he's never seen before. He wonders why no one seems to know about this place even though it helps everyone This is a completed and work from Wattpad and will be updated to Ao3 every other Wednesday

Papyrus Amazing Spaghetti by orphan_account (Not Rated, Complete)

Sans, who goes as Classic, has had to invite over some friends. His brother did after all find out about them.

it’s raining somewhere else. (hey, here’s an umbrella. i don’t need it right now.) by Cranes_at_Eventide (Mature, Incomplete)

Undertale was the first. Sans Serif may not be a saint with a heart of gold, but there’s an extra room in his shiny new house, and there’s nothing stopping him from lending a well-used umbrella to someone else in need. Especially since it wasn’t raining here anymore. The surface was good for him. Hopefully, it’ll be good for others too. OR Rule number one: Touch Undertale and everyone will be after your sorry, miserable, disgusting ass. Reinfored by a lot of people, and by that I mean everyone. Do your dirty politics wherever, no one will stop you. Involve Undertale, and your ass is done.

in the garden by rhyssands (General Audiences, Complete)

Dropped unceremoniously and without warning into Farmtale, Classic Sans is just trying to keep his mind busy so he doesn't panic. Sticks understands. -- OCT 12: Cornfields

Thanks for the recommendation! The fic being recommended is…

Sans Tumbles Through the Multiverse Headfirst by PapilioVolens (Teen And Up, Incomplete)

Sans has finally managed to fix the reset issue. It only required the deletion of a vital character. The barrier is broken, and time finally begins to move again. Recovery is slow, but Sans finds solace in his dreams. By the time he realizes his dreams of other universes are real, he has already grown attached to their residents. And then he's attacked at home and is thrust into the multiverse proper. He finds things very different from how he expected. His old friends don't recognize him, and some of them appear suspiciously older. It doesn't take long before Sans starts to suspect that he may have a larger role in the multiverse than he predicted. I wanted more Classic adventures through the multiverse, so here's my contribution. And cause I'm me, I can't help but try to make a saga out of it. Features Classic being Classic, strange multiversal mechanics, and a sleep-deprived author who 100% knows what they are doing

[wanderingmind867]

Here's my ideas for a Season 4 of Batman 1966: Season Four would get 70-80 episodes, max. I realize I didn't use Catwoman that much, but it wasn't intentional. So forgive me for that one. I did get a lot of Riddler, Penguin, Joker and Bookworm in here, though.

Episodes 1 and 2: Batman and Robin encounter The Riddler, who's dealing with a severe sense of outrage. A popular gotham city tv show has taken to mocking him lately (treating his laughter and his riddles like a joke), and he is not going to take that kind of talk lying down. He's hijacked the TV station, and he's now planning a dramatic variety show revue.

But all is not merely as simple as a case of airwave piracy. No, The Riddler is also doing a telethon to get people to vote on the fate of the Dynamic Duo. Death by electricity? Death by axe? C'mon people, vote now! And the question on every honest citizen's lips is: how are batman and robin going to escape now!?

Episodes 3 and 4: A story involving The Joker (as played by Cesar Romero). Angry that Batman and Robin managed to catch up to him via their Batmobile, he pulls a fake burglary to trap them and steal their priceless getaway car. He then rebuilds it and modifies it to suit his purposes, letting it become a bonafide Jokermobile! Thankfully, Batman and Robin escape (and have a backup, old model batmobile in their Batcave). So now it's an all out drag race between Joker and Batman!

Episodes 5 and 6: A story featuring The Penguin (Burgess Meredith), this time as he seeks to acquire the proper social standing amongst gotham's elite. This might be the first episode where i'd touch on penguin's backstory (that of the heir to an old money family who lost everything years ago). In his quest to prove himself worthy of idolization and of palatial mansions, he ends up trying to rob from all the other millionaires in Gotham. Naturally this eventually ends up leading him to Wayne Manor, where he almost ends up discovering the batcave.

Episodes 7 and 8: Introducing Signalman to the world of Batman '66! Signalman uses his gimmicks to try and trap Batman and Robin, while stealing as many symbols of good fortune as he possibly can. He eventually tries to tie them to the bat-signal at police headquarters, but they still escape and manage to end his patterns of crime.

Episodes 9 and 10: A Batgirl solo saga, focusing on her and her new partner (who she meets in this episode): Jason Bard. Her and Jason end up on the case of Louie the Lilac, who's running an illegal smuggling ring out of flower shops all across gotham. So while Barbara Gordon and Jason Bard begin dating, Batgirl and Jason end up wrapped in the mystery of Louie the Lilac's smuggling scheme.

Episodes 11 and 12: Batman and Robin are preparing to leave for Ivy Town to go see a research seminar, but they're held up by The Bookworm and his criminal gang, who planned to rob Gotham City of a priceless manuscript stored deep within Gotham City Hall. Only the dynamic duo can stop this marvelous mastermind before it's too late!

Episode 13: While Batman and Robin are busy travelling to Ivy Town, Jason Bard ends up hired to protect Miss Harriet Cooper from danger. She's helping organize a Gotham City Policeman's Ball, and she's afraid that all the attention is putting her in danger.

Meanwhile, Barbara Gordon is investigating the same mystery as Batgirl, trying to make sure that her parents aren't hurt in any way either. Batgirl and Jason end up running into each other again, and they decide to team up to protect the policeman's ball (with Batman and Robin away, consider them gotham's new defenders)!

In the end, these two tough investigators find the real crook behind this scheme: Catwoman! The strangest thing happens, though: since Jason and Barbara split up to search seperate areas of the auditorium, they both saw different Catwomen. Batgirl sees the Eartha Kitt one, while Jason Bard sees the Lee Meriwether one. And since both Catwomen successfully escape, Batgirl and Jason are left even more puzzled than ever. And if you're puzzled too, don't worry: the riddle of the three Catwomen will be answered at some later date.

Episodes 14 and 15: Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson arrive in Ivy Town for the Ivy Town University lecture. It's in this episode that we'd learn about Dick now being in his last year of high school (which is partially why him and bruce have come to visit universities together). At Ivy Town university, Bruce and Dick wind up running into Ray Palmer and Jean Loring (neither of them guessing that Ray Palmer is Batman's fellow JLA member, The Atom).

But at the Ivy Town seminar, the university's clocktower and accompanying bell both go off in a supersonic wave, causing mass hysteria and panic. A panic which some thieves use as cover under which to steal the university's many rare and valuable artifacts.

The people of Ivy Town are quick to blame the supervillian Chronos for this disaster, but it turns out that he's still in the Ivy Town penitentiary. The police check, and he says that he was framed! By who and for what purpose, none can say. But Jean Loring is reluctantly resigned to defending him in court. Meanwhile, Batman and Robin do some investigating of their own. And eventually, the truth comes to light: The true criminal was The Clock King! He sprung himself from jail back in England, and he was all set to make his grand return to supervilliany! How was he to know Batman and Robin would show up again!?

So the Clock King is sent back to jail, and The Atom never had to lift a finger to help Batman and Robin (which is great for the show, since they'd never have had enough effects to make The Atom work). But a scene at the very end of the episode hints at The Clock King working for someone else, and that this isn't the end of the dynamic duo's troubles…

Episode 16: While Batman and Robin are off in Ivy Town, Batgirl and Jason Bard run into Cluemaster (John Astin), a strange new villian who seems to have an odd vendetta against The Riddler. Although The Riddler doesn't actually show up in this episode (beyond maybe a cameo from Frank Gorshin in the last scene of the episode), we learn that Cluemaster is a minor villain who's always held a grudge. He wants to take the title of world's biggest riddle/clue/puzzle themed supervillian away from The Riddler!

They both have different backgrounds: The Riddler was a former GCPD officer who snapped after being constantly bullied for his mental issues and weird habits; while Cluemaster was a game show host who ended up going mocking a contestant on his show to an almost traumatic extent one day, and thus had his show cancelled and his career ruined. But as kids, both these men admired The original master of crime: The Puzzler. And now Cluemaster is trying to prove he's closer to The Puzzler than The Riddler ever was. And now it lies on Batgirl and Jason Bard's shoulders to stop him.

Episodes 17 and 18: Batman and Robin return to Gotham, just in time for a late september scheme hatched by Egghead, that diabolical master of eggs-pert larceny! Batman and Robin need to enlist the end of Batgirl and Jason Bard just to get him to be defeated before he commits the greatest crime of our time and era!

Episodes 19 and 20: Batman and Robin team up with Batgirl to deal with Simon the Pieman (Jonathan Winters), a bizarre criminal with a baking motif who's planning to get vengeance on all the people who criticized his bakery over the years. Can this trio defeat him and his diabolical desserts before it's too late!?

Episodes 21, 22 and 23: This story would be used to address the three catwomen and three mister freezes. The three Mister Freezes are all different men sharing the same name, but they all hate how batman has fouled up their schemes. So they trick Batman, Robin and Batgirl into a devious trap. Catwoman I (Julie Newmar) leads Batman into a trap by Mister Freeze I (George Sanders). Meanwhile, Robin and Batgirl are tricked by Catwoman III (Eartha Kitt) into being trapped by Mister Freeze II (Otto Preminger). And so by the time the three freezes have congregated, they betray the catwomen. And then it's six against three for the last story in our set.

Episodes 24 and 25: In the brisk early October air, False Face steals a new chemical designed to make a human being shapeshift. But one of his men steals it away from him! Matt Hagen (Rich Little), a greedy henchmen of the dastardly False Face, uses the machine and turns himself into a hideous being made of Clay! Remembering the case of an old villian Batman tangled with named Clayface, Matt Hagen decides to embrace his evil side and become Clayface the second!

Episodes 26 and 27: Batman, Robin and Batgirl all end up tangling with The Scarecrow (Anthony Perkins) on Halloween Night! A washed up former psychology teacher with a love for fear, Jonathan Crane has come to haunt Gotham as the one and only Scarecrow!

Episodes 28 and 29: Batman and Robin tangle with Blockbuster (Richard Kiel), a menace who's too mindless to actually mean any harm to anyone or anything. He's being used by his mad scientist brother Roland, but the dynamic duo don't figure that out until it's nearly too late…

Episodes 30 and 31: While hosting a Gotham City Beauty Contest to mark the beginning of November and the subsequent colder season, Batman, Robin and Batgirl tangle with Poison Ivy (Ann Margret), that powerful sorceress of seduction! Using her brilliant botanical wisdom, she snares all three of them inside of a horrible death trap. But they manage to escape, and successfully bring her to Justice.

Episodes 32 and 33: Batman and Robin deal with the Polka Dot Man (Paul Lynde), a bizarre new criminal capable of using polka dots as tools for committing new crimes to bedevil and beguile the people of Gotham City!

Episodes 34 and 35: Marsha, Queen of Diamonds returns to Gotham City, yet again seeking to obtain the Bat-Diamond from the Batcave. This episode would actually show her succeeding, however. Yes, she seemingly manages to steal the Bat-Diamond at the end of part one of this episode. But then she goes to examine it at her headquarters, and she finds out it's actually a fake! An impressively well put together fake, but a fake nonetheless! So once more, the Dynamic Duo have outsmarted the Queen of Diamonds and her witch of an aunt!

Episodes 36 and 37: Batman and Batgirl have to work together to fight off a mad team up of The Penguin and The Riddler. Robin is sick with the flu, so he's unable to help them. So it's up to Batman and Batgirl to save the day this time around!

Episodes 38 and 39: Batman, Robin and Batgirl deal with a counterfeiting ring run by a man named Senor Rekoj. Little do they suspect that Mr. Rekoj is actually Joker in surprise, since he's cunningly convinced the whole city he runs a beautiful charity. And now he's planning the biggest practical joke of the century: he's going to frame the terrific trio and blame them when his counterfeiting scheme comes to light. They still manage to stop him, of course. But he very successfully damages their public perception.

It's also an excuse for me to finally see Cesar Romero star on Batman without his makeup. Because, yes, Senor Rekoj is just Cesar Romero without any of his Joker makeup.

Episodes 40 and 41: A Christmas Special, featuring a series of Christmas Capers pulled off by The Riddler! Batman, Robin, Batgirl and Jason Bard all have to team up to defeat the foe this time. The Riddler is the one leading this scheme, but he's mostly breaking in a new tradition i'd want the show to have: Christmas episodes. And plenty of them. One every year, so we can have as many villians as possible trying to ruin Christmas.

But for this debut christmas special (where our four heroes face off against The Riddler and his men), the Mall Santa who's introduced at the beginning of the episode ends up helping to save the day. And in the end, it's left rather unclear if the mall santa was just a mall santa, or if they were the real santa all along…

Episodes 42, 43 and 44: Batman is challenged by his most dastardly foes yet; a terrible trio of crooks from Gotham's distant past! The Eraser, The Getaway Genius and Killer Moth! Batman hasn't tangled with them in years, not since the days of… Batwoman. Back when Robin was younger (a few years before the show started), Kathy Kane was a rich socialite who teamed up with Batman to fight crime. But she retired after an awful case involving Killer Moth. Yet now, she may be Gotham's only hope for surviving the Triumvirate's terror!

Episodes 45 and 46: Batman was set on edge by the Triumvirate (and by Batwoman's return), so he's gone on a brief vacation to the countryside to try and clear his head. While he's off on vacation, two different teams have to protect Gotham from ill will. Robin and Batwoman are who we're gonna focus on first. While Batman's away, they end up having to deal with Doctor Double-X, a horrible foe from years past, capable of creating duplicates of himself to fight his battles for him!

Episodes 47 and 48: Batgirl and Jason Bard end up having to deal with a new scheme by two of gotham's worst criminals: The Bookworm and Mister Camera (Tony Randall). They've started a dual crime wave, wherein Mister Camera delegitimizes the Gotham City Police Force, allowing Bookworm to run wild and free throughout Gotham. Batgirl insists on taking up this case solo, as it involves people trying to frame her father (something she can't stand for). And Jason Bard is dragged into it because he's been hired to investigate it.

Episode 49 and 50: Batman was off on vacation in the countryside just outside Gotham, when he accidentally ends up getting snared in a trap set by Olga, Queen of the Cossacks! She's moved on from Batman and Egghead, however. Yes, now she's partners with Catman, a big game hunter who lives for the thrill of the hunt. Catman appeals to Olga's warrior nature, and so they make a delightful team.

Catman and Olga prepare a death trap for Batman involving a fight with a massive tiger in a steep pit, but shockingly, Catwoman (Julie Newmar) comes to his rescue. Not for any altruistic reason, but mainly because she has a personal grudge against Catman. All three Catwomen hate him, and he hates them in kind. So this is really just an alliance of mutual benefit. Batman gets to deal with Olga, while Catwoman takes down Catman.

In the end, Olga and Catman are delivered to the authorities, but Catwoman successfully escapes. Which probably means this isn't the last time we'll see her (or one of her other two "partners" before the season is out).

Episodes 51 and 52: Robin and Batwoman team up to fight against Shame and his wife Calamity Jan. They've assembled a giant underground railroad system, and they plan to use it to tunnel into all the banks in Gotham! Can Batwoman and Robin clue in to their scheme in time?

Episodes 53 and 54: Batman comes back to Gotham just in time to learn of a new scheme being hatched by The Penguin, that crooked bird of crime. Frustrated and upset that his schemes on land have all been failing, Penguin has decided to turn to the high seas, running a piracy operation just outside of gotham's territorial waters. Batman, Robin and Batgirl have to stop him, before he can become the world's biggest pirate since Blackbeard or Captain Kidd!

Episodes 55 and 56: The Joker and Simon the Pieman team up to bring bizarre chaos to Gotham City; using elaborate cakes as weapons of destruction. Batman, Robin and Batgirl have to team up to solve the motive behind their mysterious and completely illogical crimes, before it's too late…

Episodes 57 and 58: Batman and Robin end up dealing with a new scheme by The Riddler, that prince of puzzlers himself. He's hatched a new mad scheme, and only Batman and Robin can stop him from bringing it to fruition. It all involves riddles in the form of morse code, to present the dynamic duo with an extra difficult new challenge.

Episodes 59 and 60: Batman, Robin and Batgirl have to handle a new crime wave by Catwoman. She leads our terrific trio on a mad chase all throughout the city, as she's hunting for a hidden cat's eye ruby apparently buried somewhere underneath Gotham City. A harmless enough crime, one would think. But as the hunt for Catwoman continues, it becomes clear she's willing to do anything to get her hands on this statue. Anything.

Episodes 61 and 62: A new TV show is airing in cities across the nation. A show about "The Black Knight", a violent and brooding vigilante who punishes criminals with his sword of darkness. Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson watch it with Aunt Harriet one night, and they're appalled. Bruce and Dick are also shocked though, since the villians of the show appear to be modelled after Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara.

Batman and Robin go to investigate the show, but they're trapped by the criminals behind the whole thing: Clayface and False Face. They were using the show's violent themes to promote a culture of violence citywide, and then they'd use their powers of disguise to instigate riots amongst the people of Gotham. The Black Knight would usurp Gotham's Caped Crusader in popularity, and then the city would be theirs for the taking! But unfortunately Batman and Robin found them out, and now all their schemes have come to naught.

Episodes 63 and 64: Batman, Robin, Batgirl and Jason Bard team up to fight off a gang war between Louie the Lilac and Poison Ivy. It turns out these two have some really personal grudges against each other, and Ivy clearly wants this man off her turf. So this tense standoff has to be resolved by our four heroes, before anything else goes disastrously wrong.

Episodes 65, 66 and 67: Batman has to go up against The Riddler, Cluemaster and The Puzzler, all of whom have gone on the attack against each other. There can only be one king of puzzles/riddles/clues, and they won't stop until one of them has successfully defeated the other!

Episodes 68 and 69: While Batman deals with the three puzzling champions, Batgirl and Robin end up fighting against The Bookworm and Scarecrow, both of whom have teamed up to try and steal some rare manuscripts for old time classic horror novels. It might be in this story that we get the first hints that robin is beginning to feel stifled by batman's authority. He wants to fly somewhat independently. To prove himself to Batman.

Episodes 70 and 71: Batman and Robin have to defeat The Joker, when he decides to challenge them to a game of wits. He commits crimes using the gimmicks of other criminals, and thusly tries to lure them off his trail. It almost works, until Batman and Robin finally get wise to the scheme.

Episodes 72 and 73: Batman and Robin have to deal with the one thing they never expected: The Penguin successfully seduces Aunt Harriet. She falls in love with him, and Penguin begins using this to try and capture a piece of the Wayne fortune. Batman and Robin have to somehow find a way to stop him, but how? When he's so close to their home ground, how can they possibly stop him!?

Episodes 74 and 75: Batman and Robin have to deal with King Tut, who's once again relapsed into his horrible criminal ways. He plans to flood Gotham City with sand, to finally bring the beautiful desert of thebes back to him. A pharaoh needs a home. And by Ra, he will make Gotham his new home!

After this, Season Four ends. Then we'd have the two animated movies (The Return of the Caped Crusaders and Batman vs Two-Face), and we'd also have the third movie which we were promised but which Adam West died before he could film (we were teased a film project with Harley Quinn, according to the Batman vs Two Face wikipedia page). So we'd have the Harley Quinn story (which might also feature Hugo Strange), and then we'd move into Season Five, where we'd introduce the League of Assassins. And after their story, I might consider having Dick Grayson leave for college. Because I want a pre-crisis Jason Todd in this show eventually, and I will reluctantly have Dick Grayson begin taking a more supporting role in order to get to that. But so far, i'm pretty happy with what i have here.

[tgmsunmontue]

WHAT TO WRITE WEEKEND

(27th - 29th September)

THIS IS AN OPEN CASTING CALL. All numbers and letters are free game. Have at it. 1, 2, A through to T - give me up to three (3) and I'll give you a minimum of 250 words on each. Tracking words here.

WRITING GOALS:

To post a minimum of three things. ANY three things. Some things might be short and sweet. Others longer.

Sagas of Solitude 13/21 - IceMav with side Hangster AU - angsty Nepo!Baby (Last updated 22nd September)

Season to Taste 21/? Celebrity Chef Bradley and Naval Aviator Jake Seresin (Last updated 26th September)

A) Upon which our souls touch - 6/? - Hangster Fantasy AU (Last updated 7th September)

B) Never knew I was missing you - 1/? - Hangster AU with Jake a naval aviator and Bradley and A-list Hollywood star. They meet on a dating app. Famous and cat fishing that isn't cat fishing because online relationships are rife but...? (Tumblr idea) (Last updated 21st September)

C) To wake, perchance to dream - 4/? - Jake wakes up in the future, gets a glimpse of what their life could be and then wakes up back right before being called back to Top Gun for the special detachment (e.g. TGM). (Tumblr post and the beginning of the fic) (Last updated 1st September)

D) IceMav with unknown about children because the US Navy is evil and produced offspring because of genetics being a THING. (Tumblr ramblings)

E) Cyclone/Maverick - Cyclone is struggling to deal with being attracted to the most annoying person he's ever met. Why does he like him so much?

F) Olympic AU - Jake and Javy are the Flyboys, a synchronised diving pair. Bradley is a gymnast.

G) Party of 5 AU - Jake raising his younger siblings and trying to run the family business and grieve the life he had started to build at College.

H) From the top 2/? - an Ice/Mav epistolary fic where Jake and Bradley matchmake them, not realising exactly who it is they've matched together. AU divergent ish. (Last updated 23rd July)

I) Bradley runs away and joins the circus. Tumblr ramblings.

J) Barista Jake? Fleshing this out into a proper length fic? (HERE)

K) Caring, Keeping and Collecting Transformers - A Guide - 8/?Transformers cross-over for help me @yeagrave is 110% to blame for me adding this... (related to this post) (Last updated 13th September)

L) Hangster Sports Team AU with Hangster being ex-es and the trade deadline coming in hot and Bradley being traded in and all hell is about to break loose... Ramblings

M) Practical Magic AU (Tumblr ramblings)

N) Two guys in the mines hooking up... (Madness)

O) Long-distance/Zoom D&D players. (Madness)

P) Rooster is a shapeshifter trapped in his animal form? Crackity crack crack. (Madness)

Q) EMPTY SLOT 😱 OR IS IT???

R) IceMav Bingo of the Florist and Undercover agent variety.

S) Jake leaves Bradley at the alter and everyone is heartbroken. Including me.

T) Bradley a mechanic and Jake still an aviator. Hopefully a short little ficlet which is actually short. (Tumblr prompt/idea)

[popculturebuffet]

Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Finale: The Richest Duck in the World "And As Usual, He Was!"

Hello all you happy people and welcome to the finale of my life and times of scrooge mcduck retrospective! It's been a duck blur, from starting this years ago, to a years long hiatus to Kev paying for me to finish it, btu we're finally here. The final chapter of Don Rosa's masterpiece. Coming out the other side of this LIfe and Times is still one of my faviorite comics of all time and I'm glad to finish it. Kinda. There are a ton of bonus chapters Rosa did throughout the rest of his career, as well as an upcoming new chapter from another author entirely, all of which i'm up for covering at some point. There's a few I definitely want to get to in paticuarl: The three goldie stories (one pre life and times two with the label) that help flesh out here and Scrooge's past, the wonderful "Letter From Home" that gives ups Matilda's return and ties up that loose end, and my personal faviorite "Dream of a Lifetime", a one shot tale that goes through just about every chapter of life and times via Scrooge's dreams for one hell of an epilouge. None of these are necssary but they all feel like good companion pieces to the story and i'm glad Rosa did these interquels among others. I also have an itch to cover more duck material in general as while it has the cynical boost of having more viewers than normal for my content, it's also something I forgot HOW much I loved in the content lull after Ducktales end. And as a wise man once said.. there's always another rainbow. What it'll be i'm not sure yet, but you can expect at least one duck adventure next month.

For now though we're finishing the main story and it's while a lot of plans changed or shifted over this 12 issue saga, one thing was always in the cards: he wanted to end the story where Scrooge's story began all those years ago, with the finale taking place the day after the bulk Night on Bear Mountain. For those less familiar, and I wasn't when I started this though i've since covered the story, Night on Bear Mountain is the very FIRST Scrooge story, with Scrooge inviting his nephews for Christmas to scare them but being impressed by the end and thus inviting them for CHristmas Diner. This story shows what happens in between while also explaning the discrepency between the Scrooge we see in that story and who he'd be in the rest of his meaty cagalogue. In night on bear mountain Scrooge is diffrent, wearing a long robe, living in an isolated mansion (Keep in mind comics scrooge just lived at the bin), with him being more myth than actual person Donald just.. visits every day.

This story bridges that gap, explaning how Scrooge got his groove back, shows his first proper adventure with his nephews, and how he went from only a poor old man to the greatest adventuerer who ever lived once again. If this sounds familiar Ducktales 2017 did something similar, having Scrooge having mostly retired after loosing Della and years of searching for her, with the boys and webby reignting that spirit in much the same way, with Donald busy with a job offer that turned out to be an elaborate scheme. I still love they did that and it's a testiment ot how much impact this story had on the reboot: while a lot of Scrooge's past was changed, including his parents still being alive, the comic was, as I belivie I mentioned in the first entry, required reading for staff and stands as an important inspiration for one of the greatest cartoons ever made and quite possibly my faviorite.

So let's dive into the bin one last time as Scrooge rediscovers himself, Huey , Dewey and Louie discover a legend and Donald won't shut the fuck up.

We open with a Citizen Kane Homage as Scrooge whispers goldie while holding a snowglobe. He isn't dead, won't be till the 60's in rosa's eyes. For now though he's become a recluse as a newsreeel overs over his life and how his last public apperance was 17 years ago, when he threw out his family seemingly for good. We get some neat cameos as we see Grandma Duck again, this time in her glory days, who hasn't seen Scrooge since she sold him most of her land bar the farm.. and Gus when he corrects her that the old coot also came by to forclose on the chicken coop. Gus is Donald's cousin. He eats a lot, sleeps more and is somehow lazier than our boy. Which is possible. We also see Gladstone, the bastard and donald who shoves a hand in the camera.

At this point the Bin is just a legend, with no one really knowing if it's actually full of cash, something four familiar fowl talk about as they watch the newscast: Donald and his nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie. After 12 chapters we're to the present day of duckberg and where it all began as they prepare for that christmas dinner I mentioned. The boys wonder if it could be true while Donald dismisses it: no rich person could've EARNED IT and he assumes Scrooge inherited it.. somehow. Which baffles me a bit as while I'm sure Hortense, like 2017 Donald, tried not to bring Scrooge up, she wouldn't of.. not brought up her childhood in scotland or the rest of her family. They didn't throw her out. Granted Donald does have a talent for self delusion and we don't know how young the kids were when she died, so there's wiggle room it just annoys me a little

What Annoys mea lot is Donald who throughout this whole story constantly says everything about Scrooge is fake. That he probably bought it on crusies. It annoys be a bit less this readthrough as having become fed up with most present day billionares.. yeah most do. This just happens to be the one whose a bastard AND worked hard to earn it. But it's still a very one note gag: Donald is up his own ass and dosen't know what we know or has seen what we've seen and thinks his uncle's only a poor old man.

It's not story breaking, but it is repetitive.

Thankfully we move on to the mansion proper as Scrooge's butler Jeeves, and no that's not me goofing up Duckworth was created for the show, ushers them in.. and as Scrooge slowly stirs.. we see him, in a truly awesome panel

I love all the detail here: the bits of stubble, the tired eyes, how sunken he looks in genearl. This is a Scrooge who has given up: he's retired from work to rot in a mansion, having nothing left and is a shell of what he once was and will be again. I also give Rosa credit for using Scrooge's first apperance design still: he had the time for Scrooge to change.. but him not having done so is a symbol of just how deep in the depression hole he is: as someone whose been in them I relate to clearly not having taken care of yourself in some time, just sitting there letting time pass as you feel you have nothing left.

The boys being their usual charming hive minded selves are delighted to meet their great uncle. Though we get a really sad bit as he notes most family he has has.. disappeared. He dosen't know matilda is alive, and he certainly heard what happened to Hortense. The boys do genuinely welcome him in but he balks, figuring their all after inheretiance. Donald claps back that you spent it all on this place ya jackass.

Scrooge insscensed decides the time has come to do something he rarely does but is sacred to the rich: flashing his cash. Specicially he has his butler.. dress him. Okay Scrooge you need either boundries with your butler or a more equal relationship if you want to keep fucking him. Trust me i've hit on the help too. The help was a gorgon's head but I didn't make her dress me.. hades didn't give me that option because their sane.

He takes them to the Bin, which is decayed.. though Scrooge has been keeping the booby traps fresh and keeps the weeds simply because it's good security: if a place LOOKS abandoned and unloved, people will think that. And it mostly has been, Scrooge having retired isn't using it. Still he kept the most important part of it, the cash ocean itself, but our heroes pass the second most important part first

This little tirade, while very in character.. is also very Rosa speaking his piece, as he hated stories (even barks own) where the Dime was implied to be magic. Whlie his old man yells at cloud behavior often has me shaking my head.. I agree on this one. The dime is better as a symbol that motivated scrooge than as a plot device and it cheapens the man's skill to say the Dime is responsible. I don't mind Magica trying to use it for a power source as THAT makes sense: it has a lot of emotional energy from being around scrooge as he got his fortune, the weight of having traveled the world with him for most of his life and being what started a great man on his path. I like the idea that kind of object with that kind of emotoinal baggage has power, kinda like what adventure time did with Hambo and PB's Shirt she got from marcy. It's magical yes but it fits the world better and makes it clear the dime is impressive because of SCROOGE not the other way around. Somehow Lorcana didn't get the memo

The description and image are perfect, as is the fact it's SHOCKINGLY powerful I just don't get why Number One Dime wasn't considered.

One he unveils the bin though it DOES shock his nephew and even DONALD can't say anything for a change

I do like that explination.. it dosen't scan with every Scrooge story as there are countless that say his bin really is the McDuck version of one piece, from the aformentioned Christmas for Shacktown to the very first Scrooge lead story "Only a Poor Old Man". I'm not against this: Rosa had a tendency to pick and choose which parts of Bark's stories to make canon to his stories, wanting a more cohesive universe and while clearly respecting the man to a sometimes stifling degree, recognized not everything from stories not really built to have a continuity was going to stick together. As reverent as he is to barks, to an annoying degree at times like his feeling put out at having to include Fethry despite being an entirely valid character with loads of potetial simply because one man didn't create him (Not saying barks isn't fucking amazing, he is, but it's a petty reason not to use good characters).. I can respect Rosa for knowing what he wanted in his own canon and what to keep as well as having said multiple times his stories dont' stack up to his idols. I disagree on that statment as while Barks IS better in some ways, for all I gripe about the guy sometimes... Rosa is a truly talented writer, one of the best duck writers there ever was and while Time's made me see the cracks in the guy.. ti dosen't make him any less special or any less vital to duck canon. Ther'es a reason most writers either honor his stories or consider them canon alongside barkses. The man has a degree of talent, care and love that's hard to come by and while I may disagree with some of his choices at times... I can't help but love the guy still.

So anyway that suspcious santa might have set you off.. turns out the santas near the bin were beagle boys, scoping out a hesit and lead by Scrooge's old enemy blackheart, whose descendants indeed got to fucking as he hoped.

As is duck story standard they easily capture our heroes despite scrooge being way more badass than all of them combined... Donald too honestly... the boys also. Honestly a paper bag could probably beat the beagle boys and they somehow win when the plot says so, though this time at least theirs a valid excuse; Donald and the boys are new at adventuering, having gone on a few solo adventures pre scrooge while Scrooge has given up on the world and thus surrenders to being thrown.. though he is pissed they once again bring up the lucky dime thing. So before he can snap out of it let's talk about this dperession and self loathing: honestly while he'd never say it, even Ducktales 2017 scrooge both hides what happened with Della from the kids and refuses to apologize to Donald for a decade despite being almost entirely in the wrong, it's clear loosing his sisters did hurt him: he had his money but nothing else and with nothing to really fight for and his lifelong goal achieved he just.. gave up. It dosen't feel like scrooge ... but that's the point: just as his horrible actions in africa weren't really him, not striving, not searching not trying to build his empire simply because he's seemingly won.. isn't him. Without anyone to share it with... his bin is just a pile of coins, memetos of better days.

So the thing that busts him out of his stupor... are his nephews. The boys search furiously for some way out, unlike Donald and Scrooge not ready to give up and find his old mining gear... while Donald.. well Donald inspires him in his own way

I love this and it's something I really hadn't thought about before but think of now, especially since again Woo-Hoo! takes some steps from this, having Louie take Donald's place as the doubting asshole, and have the boys as a whole, like Donald question if Scrooge really was this big or is just some old man, leading him to ragefully prove them wrong.. granted Scrooge's attempts in Woo-Hoo are more laughable as he plans to go diving to prove children wrong, something Beakley lampshades, but he still gets the step of showing them what he cna do by dealing with everything they unleash in his garage, similar to how here the combined menaces of Donald's jerkassery and the Beagle Boys scheme finally awakens the beast. I also love the subtle note of Scrooge taking off his coat, revealing his usual coat underneath. It's something I again hadn' tnoticed before this re-read, but ti's a very ncie touch... Scrooge the doddering old man given up on everything is gone. Scrooge McDuck, Last of the Clan McDuck, Master of the Missippi, Buckaroo of the Badlands, Raider of the Copper Hill, Laird of Castle McDuck, Terror of the Transyval, Dreamtime Duck of Never Never, King of The Klondike, Billionare of Dismal Downs, Invader of Fort Duckburg, Empire Builder from Callisota... THE Richest Duck in the world is back.

And since he's back he decides to go after the beagles, having the boys haul his trunk. I also really like this joke.

Look donald is my boy, and even in a story where he's not on his a game.. he's still Donald. He's bound to have at least one good moment or two.

The two notice scrooge a coming and take off.. but they left an other Sleigh which Scrooge quickly takes, and begins using a cavlcade of his skills. We've seen his mining, now we see his ablility to tame any animal. It's not as impressive as a lion but he dosen't have time to get to the zoo so a horse'll do.

We also get ANOTHER choice gag. While not all of rosa's comedy lands for me.. the guy really nails it a lot of the time and it's a part of his writing talent that dosen't get praised enough.

Honestly this chapter is easily the funniest next to the invader of fort duckberg, likely because with the dramatic part of Scrooge's life mostly worn down, we have more room for some comedy.

Blackheart has them step on it as he realizes he's no longer dealing with a hollowed out shell of a man but the guy whose beat him twice and is ready to abide by rule of three. We get some fun callbacks as scrooge uses his gold pan as a discus to knock out the driver of the beagle boys then takes out the rest, minus blackheart who grabs the dime for leverage, with his boomerang from his time in australia. This also leads to another fucking phenominal gag

Scrooge then ties up the rest of the non blackheart beagles using his roping tricks, with the officers that poor woman called rounding the boys up. All that's left is blackheart who naturally, as our big bad for the chapter, final antagonist of the story and the foe Scrooge has fought the most on this journey, gets the best takedown of all

Such an awesome moment: The same thing that finally brought Scrooge's dream to reality... is what helps cement his return to his truest self: he may be a mean old man.. but he's tougher than the toughies, sharper than the sharpies, smarter than the smarties and he made his money square.

That said the adrenline does wear off slightly.. until...

I had to share the scene in full.. because it's so damn good. After a whole journey, after seeing Scrooge at his lowest.. we see his core. Something that speaks against ageism: your body may age, but your never too old to start over, to have a second chance.. to chase another rainbow. The quality of your lives are what you make of them also really gets me.

IT's also a nice return to form as the bin being public.. dosen't bother them. Let them come: he's fought off worse and he'll fight them again. I also love him kicking donald's butt. He's just enough of a jerk in this story to well deserve it.

So Scrooge is now fully back: he decides to reopen the office, sell the mansion and get back to work.. and take the boys with them. While he dosen't say it being the stubborn old bastard we know and love... he needs these boys. Adventure is nothing if you don't have anyone to share it with.. .and once again he has someone to share it with. Once again he has family.

So he celebrates with a swim, with the boys astounded at his ability btu Donald unable to understand his uncle: all he seems to have is cold metal... but he could be wrong...

This ending gets me... a reminder it's both never too late (Something I need at only 32, which in tumblr years is 90), and that a life well lived is one not lived alone, that the things that make us who we are good and bad.. are the greatest adventure of all.

The Richest Duck in the World is a well done capper, feeling like a lost modern scrooge adventure, that missing piece in the story that Rosa happily filled in for us. Donald again can be a bit much, even in the stories final page he still hasn't quite got the hint, it's not one of his better stories.. but it dosen't take away from this as an ending.. and a beginning. Of a man who lost everything that mattered finding it again. Of an epic story of one man's life, what made him who he was, and what he gained, lost and ultimately found again.

Life and Times.. is one of the best comics of all time,the best duck comics story ever, and only not currently the best duck story PERIOD because ducktales 2017 is so freaking good. And even then while that series beats it over all as an individual story this 12 part epic still trumps it's worthy successor. It's a labor of love that's massive in scope, character work and gorgeous art work. It's a true masterpice that needs to be read again and again and one i was very happy to cover. I found stuff I disliked sure, a chapter or two had pacing issues, some things didn't land.. but ti's hard to deny what a fucking triumph this book is. Only one other comic I can think of comes this close to distilling a characters essence down into 12 issues, and even then All Star Superman, while excellent didn't also have the task of trying to be in continuity. Life and Times is a masterpiece and it was a joy coverinmg it and the dream of a life time finishing this journey> Thank you all for reading.. and see you next rainbow.

[kiddandtheacademyau]

did I make an au based off of one line of dialogue that was mentioned in the Kindergarten 3 matpat demo? Yes. Yes I did <3333

WARNING WARNING SLIGHT SPOILERS FOR KG3 AHEAD!!!

Welcome to the academy that Ted was sent to instead of Felix! This is basically an au where instead of the other school Kidd gets sent here instead, where everyone thinks Ted is Felix, everything is WAY too proper and fancy for Kidd’s liking, and where a day spent here includes smoothies at lunch, a very strict principle with a list of rules longer than the Harry Potter saga, exploding sinks, the periodic table, and many new possible ways to mess up and die. What fun! <33

I just have Kidd’s design for now, but get ready, because there will be a WHOLE lot of new yippy skippy people he’ll get to meet during his time here! Yay! 🥰

RULES FOR THIS BLOG FOR NOW:

-This is mostly just your average ask blog with a silly little story attached to it! Ask the students, teachers, etc (well, once I finish them all lol)

-NO NSFW or inappropriate asks plz!

-Plz try your best not to change the storyline too much! I will let you guys make story altering decisions, but don’t try to change it directly, if that makes any sense

-No rude business, y’know like homophobia racism all that shit don’t do it plzzzz

-If it’s a question for me, please address me directly in the ask! I go by KetchupandPickles, KandP, or just KP if you’d like! :DD

-Possibly more rules in the future, but I’ll update this when they come!

Kidd and Ted will be the first ones open for asks when I post the official post! This is just a concept post for now heehee :3

Hope you enjoyyy! <33

[i-mybrunettelady]

commander week day 4 - elder dragon

like mother, like daughter. set during icebrood saga. commander: alysannyra ainsaph.

It’s cold in the Eye of the North. Cold, sad, lonely; there are people around, Pact and its allies doing their jobs, and Nyra desperately wishes she could join them, organize them. Yet she can’t. Trahearne’s suggestion - and plea, because she doesn’t take orders - at least until the dust after her murder attempt at Phlunt dies down. 

People are scared of her. Part of her is flattered, another terrified of this. She wants to be a figure of inspiration, not fear. There was a time where she wanted to be a role model for the younger people who would want to be heroes. She’s too old and too jaded for the brunt of such fantasies now. She’s seen the reality of this choice of hers too closely to look away. 

She’s also not really in the right headspace. There’s a handy little term for this - mental breakdown, as it were - and the general advice is to just sit back, be useless and a recovering cryptid for a little while before going back into the whole war business. She’s hard pressed to admit this, but as much as she doesn’t know what to do with herself, she does need this break. It lets her go and see her daughter again, perched on her crystalized rock. 

And maybe she’s been a bad mother for actually not being… a mother. Then again, there’s no blueprint for raising an Elder Dragon. 

Aurene’s lost in thought when Nyra comes out of her little, cavernous room carved in the wall. Her clawed paw gently glides over the Scrying Pool in a rhythmic motion. It’s been getting harder and harder to tell whether she’s asleep or not, but Nyra can hazard a guess. 

Aurene, she calls out mentally. Are you awake? 

Aurene’s eyes open wide. “I do not need sleep in the same way I did when I was a hatchling, Nyra.” 

“Yeah,” Nyra says aloud. Her throat feels tight. “You’re not a kid anymore. You are a proper Elder Dragon now.”

“I am,” Aurene echoes. Nyra’s hands drop to her sides. She watches the Pool and the reflection shows her new, pale eyes, devoid of emotion. Yet her heart feels heavy and pulled in so many directions. No wonder people are scared. She pulls the furs tighter around her shoulders. 

“Any news of Jormag?” Nyra asks. “Nobody’s telling me anything, and as the Commander, I should be in the know.” 

“There is none,” Aurene replies serenely. “May I be honest?” 

“Yeah, sure.” 

“Nobody is telling you anything because you are in the know. You know everything they do. You are simply bored and have time to be introspective, which does not seem to suit you nor is something you particularly wish to do at the moment.” 

Nyra lifts her head and frowns. “Stop reading my mind, Aurene. Or I’m sending you to your room. No Elder Dragon friends for a week.” 

Aurene’s laugh echoes in the shrine. “Are you lonely, mother?” 

Mother. That is a rather strange term. And Aurene is using it snarkily. It makes Nyra feel old, somehow. She grumbles and deflates. “I suppose I am,” she says cautiously. “Trahearne is off replacing me and while I am proud to watch him be in charge again, I feel..” She kicks the ground beneath her boot. “I feel left behind.” She spits on the ground. 

“You are not. You are simply taking a breather. You are simply recovering.” 

“I know. Feelings do not make facts.” Nyra walks over to where Aurene is perched and climbs over her tail to reach that one place beneath Aurene’s belly. Her shoulder aches as she settles on a woolen blanket there and she groans. “I hate it here.” Her head hurts and her eyes prickle with tears all of a sudden. “I fucking hate it here, you know?” 

“I know,” Aurene says soothingly, and splashes some water with her giant foot in Nyra’s face. Nyra chokes out a laugh. “You are not crying anymore, Nyra. That is good.” 

“Last thing I need is a fucking cold, Aurene,” Nyra shakes her head. 

“There is something you can dry on. And remember, you are not left behind, you are simply recuperating.” 

Nyra lays down and digs her face in the blanket. It’s going to be a long, long night. 

[randomnameless]

Epilogue wise!

Or the credit roll, where only Alain gets an ending based on who got enough convos (+ a plot gizmo) with him, when the other characters do their thing!

Sure, as a FE player, the lack of paired endings based on the rapport convos was a bit annoying, but to be honest, given how the endings for each character have them at least share a screen with 1 or more other character, it's more... telling than shipping X and Y to see what comes out of it.

I mean, before getting Travis and the Tricorns' ending, we have a scene of them mock fighting/training together in the arena ft Amalia, and it's way more interesting and revealing about their character than some random "Bruno married Yunifi and opened a library in Bastoritza, with Travis visiting from times to times".

Sure Monica doesn't... rekindle in her ending her relationship with Clive (FE15xFE16 crossover?) in the ending, but in the playable epilogue aka where Alain can talk to the characters who are next to others and talk to each other... Clive is asking Monica, without any other thoughts, of course, if, y'know, they can meet her grandpa together but, uh, if she would accept to accompany him just because, uh, reasons.

Some ending background scenes, even if they're not in the textr proper, reference support/rapport convos (Mordon and Jerry drinking or Bertand and Govil chilling together) and I like the Cornian Ossan All Stars team practicing together, with Lex - the childhood friend - popping up in the background to watch them, even if we already got/saw his ending in city 1.1 earlier!

It helped depict this world and the characters as alive and interconnected, Lex is said to travel around the world after the war after all!

I regret not being able to use Sanatio more in the game - but that's the way it is lol - because he's kind of adorbs in his rapports, but maybe it's because he's turned in a butt-monkey who buttmonks in his Melisandre and Ochlys rapports lol (also his class is completely stupid) but yeah, called it, Sanatio being the only one who cared about the Orthodoxy, its people and Albion becomes the new Pope after Scarlett ditches her title to make flower crowns with her friends.

Hm.

IIRC the only pairing we have - regardless of the rapport convos - is Virginia and Gilbert, but tbh, if the "plot mandatory" convos tried to sell it, as I noted during the Drakengard saga post, the optional rapport convos (but not only between the two of them! see Aramis and Virginia's!) and the optional "yay we rebuilt Drakengard! Let's talk about the future of the country but wait Gilbert why are you talking with Virginia who's still basically at that point the Princess of another country and not talk to your retainers or even your totes-not big bro?" so their ending doesn't come off as a surprise, and to hammer it even more, the devs have them standing together in the playable epilogue talking about competing again.

I wouldn't say they're as hamfisted as Scarlett being the supposed canon love interest - because Alain marrying his cousin can throw a wrench in that marriage lol - but, uh, yeah. Random Drakengardian NPC foreshadowed it with his "wow Princess Virginia is so cool she rekt'd Giethe! We admire her a lot!" -> Gilbert's approval/opinion/wishes notwithstanding, Drakengardians NPCs like her even if she's from Cornia.

I also liked how Virginia and Gilbert's son will later be doted on and tutored by Leah, Gilbert's vassal who officialy became Virginia's and I found it was a nice callback to her support with Amalia - Leah wants to become stronger so she'll train everyday to defeat her, maybe she will use those polished skills to teach the future Drakengardian prince, since House Zelchesm is busy Tricorning around?

"And Minerva becomes a nun" -> I feel the execution is better here, because Hilda - who rides a flyin lizard and has a younger cleric sister - wants first and foremost to atone for her role in the "keeping the lockdown tight" during the plague, so if she can help by healing people this time I think it's plausible enough that she takes it, even if it means not being a wyvern knight anymore

(will she pioneer a new type of unit in Fevrith, the flying healer, but instead of being on a pegasi, flying healers would ride wyverns???)

As for the elves...

I liked how Eltrinde, to mirror maybe her rapport with people from each land (save for Drakengard?) is said to have travelled around the continent of Fevrith to finally break Elheim's policy of isolationism.

Rosalinde's last rapport convo with her vassal/knight Ithilion was cute, he was angsting about pursuing his romance with a human and being at her service and wanted to break up with his human, so she fires him for around 100 years, so he can live his romance, and then return to her if he wants - and in the ending BG, Ithilion is with his human :) (even in the cover art of the upcoming artbook!)

I'm not going to replay it so soon - but I'll definitely restart a run before the end of the year, on a higher difficulty to get the memetic fish stew ending or to get the utterly depressing Norbelle one.

(i want to try new shenanigans with units damn it like find a way to optimise Gloucester's damage input, do something so Berengaria doesn't die to a breeze and learns how to use her shield and/or make thematic teams like the "drunkards" with Mordon, Jeremy, Gilbert and Eltrinde)

[dennydraws]

Busy, busy...!!

All FanFyria books claimed!! Thank you so much!! And... 10 out of 20 comic books shipped! :D;; I'm so sorry I'm taking some time with the bonus watercolor pieces. I can only work on them on weekends when I get proper daylight... I will miss summer! T^T;; I think I got better with those.. and I can't wait for folks to start receiving the packages! It always sparks so much joy! But bear with me for they take some time! Shipping to the US tends to take around 3 weeks too ;u; so it may take a while!

Work has been...the usual landslide of events once October starts xD;; It always gets so busy I'm like a ghost once I get home who just wants to dissociate while staring at the ceiling. I've been been listening to spooky games while at work. Silent Hill 2 remake was SO good and I'm lowkey dying I can't find the energy and time to draw something. Is this new Denny Lore? :D;; I very much love the Silent Hill games (1 to 4, the rest don't exist to me) and I'm so happy Konami did so well with this remake! They really made James have such a conflicted confused sad puppy look... which is very, so very fitting! And Maria? -chef kiss- the VA of everyone is way too good! I've inhaled every scene!!

The Suikoden remasters are looking great too and I can't wait to get it next year!! Are we entering the Konami redemption arc timeline!? If they announce Suikoden 3-5 remasters and Suiko 6 I may just have to pinch myself cause what a time to be alive...!!

Romancing SaGa 2 Remake is almost here!! Aaaaa! It ought to heal my aching soul from RS announcing EoS earlier this month :") .... I wanted to try Metaphor too but it's too close to RS2R so it has to wait a bit. Which reminds me, when RS2R is in my hands I may vanish off earth for a bit! It's not that I expect to find spoilers on a remake of a game which I've played, watched The Stage play of and absorbed all lore available of it in RS...but still xD; (I do hope I'm done with the FanFyria book ships by then aaaa) I may not be able to update my comic "The Snake, The Firebrand and The King of All" this month, cause as much as I'd love to, I promised my friends not to strain myself with work (else they will manifest into my walls and scold me!) and the workload and FanFyria book ship has taken a tow on me so far and my hands had started to give in ;n; ... I wish I was stronger ! But comic work is a journey, not a race! At least next chapter is sketched so the actual hard part is done. The line art/shading just takes time and many podcasts! (and free weekends xD)

Okay enough with life update~ Thank you for stopping by!! I hope your day goes wonderfully, dear Web Traveller!

[innercircleminiatures]

Thinking About my Empire of Man Army

All right, I gave in, I bought some of the classic made-to-order Empire miniatures, and now even though I bought all the Bretonnian starter stuff and sent it back they finally got me on this cynical nostalgia cash grab.

Way back in, I want to say 1998, maybe 99, a friend of ours introduced us to Warhammer: Fantasy Battles. He had a large Bretonnian army. As you may imagine it has been unhappiness ever after. My older brother went for Wood Elves. I wanted knights but didn't want to copy the friend and also get Bretonnia so after trying to make it work emotionally with High Elves I finally landed on Empire. Then my younger brother got into 40k and we abandoned WFB for many years, until a friend of mine ca. 2007 or so gave me a pile of Empire minis he had from a starter set plus an Empire Lord on Griffon (the older metal mini they just put up for special order, not the later huge plastic kit). After The Recession hit in 2008 the local comic/hobby store was going out of business and slashed prices to an insane degree and I picked up a few more WFB kits for like 65% off.

(Someone bought the store and turned it around and retained most of the OG staff as far as I could tell, so that was nice)

When I returned to the United States I decided to give WFB a more proper go, got a couple more boxes, and set about putting together a serious army before life interfered again.

Over the course of that saga I started with Talabheim, red and white:

When I returned in 2013 I went for Ostland, black and white, though I would pepper in other colors for variety

Here's one of the spearmen units from that army:

Now that I'm returning to this, I am wondering where to go.

As I see it, the contenders are Talabheim, Ostland, and Nuln, shown below to round this out:

I am not going to bother trying to do some kind of mixed regiment thing as these places are too far apart on the map for it to make sense to me to mix them:

Cool things about Talabheim: the colors, don't really care otherwise.

Cool things about Ostland: from the North, which is the best corner of the map, black and white with red accents are the best possible color scheme, heavily forested area always a massive plus. Stubborn and associated with forests and fighting Chaos like my main 40k faction the Dark Angels, which is a nice overlap. Coolest looking overall, decent banner.

Cool things about Nuln: Black is my favorite color, though admittedly in a Holy Roman Empire of the High Middle Ages verging into Early Modernity analog, the uniforms really should be much more colorful than straight black. But culturally, Nuln as a city-state known for learning, engineering, filth, decline, and decay, stuck in second city (or even third city?) status feels like the best fit for me personally. The high preponderance of cannons and metallurgy has massive appeal. Coolest banner, reminds me of the Venetian flag. Also lions are objectively better than bulls or whatever is going on with the Talabheim flag. Lions are my favorite heraldic animal. Basic? Yes, but I don't care.

The main drawback with Nuln is that I fear they would be monotonous looking in the black. If I painted them carefully with the right accents, though, I could have an army that looks like pints of Guinness.

I feel extremely torn between Ostland and Nuln.

[angel-princess-anna]

DA Movie 3 Cast

(breaking this down so it's easier to figure out)

Confirmations as IN:

From the TV show: Robert, Cora, Mary, Edith, Bertie, Tom, Isobel, Dickie, Carson, Mrs Hughes, Anna, Bates, Thomas, Baxter, Molesley, Mrs Patmore, Andy, Daisy, Harold

From the films: Guy

New additions played by: Joely Richardson, Alessandro Nivola, Simon Russell Beale, Arty Froushan

(We know that Sybbie and George will appear thanks to the child actors' parents posting on Instagram.)

Who is NOT listed:

From the TV show who also appeared in at least one film: Matthew Goode (Henry Talbot), Paul Copley (Mr Mason), Samantha Bond (Rosamund) (and of course Maggie but I don't think Violet is appearing as a ghost)

From the films: Tuppence Middleton (Lucy), Imelda Staunton (Maud - but she already confirmed this)

Gonna be pedantic, but it's actually not quite proper grammatically to say "many other fan favorites" after the "exciting new additions", as it implies that somehow the fan favorites are new additions, but I assume does this mean someone will cameo. But also not like Paul didn't play Harold in the TV show lol.

Tuppence Middleton is filming The Forsyte Saga this summer, so I assume she's too busy to be in the film overall, but maybe Lucy will have a cameo? Don't know what this spells for Henry, but we'll see.

Also not listed is Shirley MacLaine is also not listed as Martha, Cora and Harold's mother in the TV show.

Let the speculations begin!

EDIT: I left off Dr Clarkson! He is not listed.

[spankingwishes2-longerstories]

Lunch with Chelsea

A continuation of the lengthy saga of Camille and Kendall, Chelsea and Jordan… (co-written with @agbbswts)

(Side chapter at The Birthday After-Party)

Our story so far: Camille, wanting to increase the effectiveness of Kendall’s spankings, enlists the help of her friend Chelsea - who takes to it like a duck to water!  After which, Chelsea decides to try it with Jordon, who’s been a bit out of control.  She chooses to fly solo the first time (despite Camille’s offer to help), but still manages to roast Jordan’s bottom as well as a tag-team could have done - and enjoys it immensely!

***

“How have you been?  We need to catch up!  You’ve been so busy lately,” Camille asked Chelsea over a shared taco salad.

“Oh, I know!  And you, too,” Chelsea responded, “your weekends are always booked in the summer.”

“If mine aren’t, Kendall’s are,” the first woman explained, “but things are calming down…”

The conversation fell into the cavalcade of activities they’d been through in recent weeks - seemingly eons between such close friends.

As they drew to a close, Chelsea dropped her voice and asked, “And how are you doing with Kendall’s, ah, behavior?”

“Ohhh - missing your help, I’m afraid!  The busier we are, the busier it keeps me!” Camille complained.  “And you said you’ve been spanking Jordan, as well?”

“Oh my God, yes - I haven’t had a chance to tell you, have I?”

“Spill, girl!”

“Pretty soon after our ‘little get-together’ over Kendall’s bright-red bottom, Jordan came home so late…” Chelsea began.

“No call, I suppose,” Camille commiserated.

“So long past that!  But… I took care of it, ‘good and proper’, as you say.  Positively blistered Jordan’s drunken butt - and demanded a ‘thank-you’ after!”  Dropping her voice again, the proud woman added, “Between my legs, I mean.”

Camille smiled broadly.  “I knew you could!  And how did Jordan take it?  Still on speaking terms?”

“You wouldn’t believe… it’s worked wonders!”

“Better than with Kendall, clearly…” Camille complained as she contemplated a second margarita.

“Not just better… a whole lot differently!  You’re going to laugh…”

“I’m ready… amuse me!” Camille invited.

“She’ll lie around in bed in the morning until I come in and spank her - or threaten to, at least.  Then she won’t come to bed at night… same thing!”

“She wants you to spank her,” Camille concluded.

“Just little ones, I mean… but, so fun!  And at bedtime, since there’s time…”

“Thank-you’s?”

“Well, I reciprocate, of course…”

“I would hope so!”

“And if she wants a bigger spanking, she’ll wait outside in her car - I’ve seen her from the window - until she’s five or ten minutes late…”

“And then she gets it?”

“Well, a little harder…” Chelsea explained.  “But most the time she’s an angel!  Or, would be.”

“Except?”

“I spend a lot of time saying, ‘Unless you want a spanking’ or ‘I’m about to spank you, so you’d better’… and then she skitters off to do what I’ve asked.  And she’s gotten rather clingy - like one of our cats - but I love it!” Chelsea crowed.

“I’m so glad for you!  I suspected it would work - though not as well as all that, honestly.  I guess Jordan just wanted a little firmer hand,” Camille supposed.

“That’s a really good way to put it - though ‘firmer’ is only one thing these hand have been pretty regularly lately,” Chelsea smirked.

“Sounds like you have the situation - and Jordon - well under control, then - and didn’t need my help after all.”

“Oh - well, no, not really.  Are you terribly disappointed?”

“Not at all,” Camille assure her friend.  “I just offered in case you needed it.  My arm’s already falling off, keeping up with Kendall.”

“Yes, I can imagine, from what you’ve said.  But behavior-wise…”

“Still perfect in public and a bit of a total terror when we’re alone!” Camille laughed.

“I know we’d sort of planned…” Chelsea began.

“For you to help out?  Yes, we did - but schedules…”

“And summer…”

“True… so - you might still be interested?  You did a bang-up job on your first try - and I fancied you enjoyed it?” Kendall’s girlfriend asked.

“Oh, I did,” Chelsea agreed, trying to keep her enthusiasm in check.  While smacking Jordan’s cute butt was fun, there was something to be said for royally roasting Kendall’s poor buns as well.  “Like you said, just timing…”

“We should have you over some night this week,” Camille told her.

“Anything on the horizon?”

“Nothing specific, not at the moment, but… Kendall can always use some ‘extra help’,” Camille explained.  “Are you up for providing your half of another ‘substantial’ spanking?”

“Been waiting all summer,” Chelsea said encouragingly.

“We could make it something pretty ‘spectacular’, if you’re willing.  It wouldn’t even have to take that long, if that’s an issue for you.”

“I’m sure it’s not - an ‘extended’ event suits me just fine,” Chelsea chucked.  “Let’s just make sure we provide everything bratty Kendall has coming.”

“Oh, the poor dear,” Camille said, matching Chelsea’s grin.  “Thursday?  Just to be sure we can have a little added, ‘unresolved’ justification?”

“I’ll be there!”

She picked up her phone and called.  Getting voicemail, she simply said, ‘Kendall, darling, I’ve made us plans for Thursday evening - do make sure you can accommodate me.  Love you!’

“And now… the dessert menu!”

[wanderingmind867]

Here's my ideas for a Season 4 of Batman 1966: Season Four would get 70-80 episodes, max. I realize I didn't use Catwoman that much, but it wasn't intentional. So forgive me for that one. I did get a lot of Riddler, Penguin, Joker and Bookworm in here, though.

Episodes 1 and 2: Batman and Robin encounter The Riddler, who's dealing with a severe sense of outrage. A popular gotham city tv show has taken to mocking him lately (treating his laughter and his riddles like a joke), and he is not going to take that kind of talk lying down. He's hijacked the TV station, and he's now planning a dramatic variety show revue.

But all is not merely as simple as a case of airwave piracy. No, The Riddler is also doing a telethon to get people to vote on the fate of the Dynamic Duo. Death by electricity? Death by axe? C'mon people, vote now! And the question on every honest citizen's lips is: how are batman and robin going to escape now!?

Episodes 3 and 4: A story involving The Joker (as played by Cesar Romero). Angry that Batman and Robin managed to catch up to him via their Batmobile, he pulls a fake burglary to trap them and steal their priceless getaway car. He then rebuilds it and modifies it to suit his purposes, letting it become a bonafide Jokermobile! Thankfully, Batman and Robin escape (and have a backup, old model batmobile in their Batcave). So now it's an all out drag race between Joker and Batman!

Episodes 5 and 6: A story featuring The Penguin (Burgess Meredith), this time as he seeks to acquire the proper social standing amongst gotham's elite. This might be the first episode where i'd touch on penguin's backstory (that of the heir to an old money family who lost everything years ago). In his quest to prove himself worthy of idolization and of palatial mansions, he ends up trying to rob from all the other millionaires in Gotham. Naturally this eventually ends up leading him to Wayne Manor, where he almost ends up discovering the batcave.

Episodes 7 and 8: Introducing Signalman to the world of Batman '66! Signalman uses his gimmicks to try and trap Batman and Robin, while stealing as many symbols of good fortune as he possibly can. He eventually tries to tie them to the bat-signal at police headquarters, but they still escape and manage to end his patterns of crime.

Episodes 9 and 10: A Batgirl solo saga, focusing on her and her new partner (who she meets in this episode): Jason Bard. Her and Jason end up on the case of Louie the Lilac, who's running an illegal smuggling ring out of flower shops all across gotham. So while Barbara Gordon and Jason Bard begin dating, Batgirl and Jason end up wrapped in the mystery of Louie the Lilac's smuggling scheme.

Episodes 11 and 12: Batman and Robin are preparing to leave for Ivy Town to go see a research seminar, but they're held up by The Bookworm and his criminal gang, who planned to rob Gotham City of a priceless manuscript stored deep within Gotham City Hall. Only the dynamic duo can stop this marvelous mastermind before it's too late!

Episode 13: While Batman and Robin are busy travelling to Ivy Town, Jason Bard ends up hired to protect Miss Harriet Cooper from danger. She's helping organize a Gotham City Policeman's Ball, and she's afraid that all the attention is putting her in danger.

Meanwhile, Barbara Gordon is investigating the same mystery as Batgirl, trying to make sure that her parents aren't hurt in any way either. Batgirl and Jason end up running into each other again, and they decide to team up to protect the policeman's ball (with Batman and Robin away, consider them gotham's new defenders)!

In the end, these two tough investigators find the real crook behind this scheme: Catwoman! The strangest thing happens, though: since Jason and Barbara split up to search seperate areas of the auditorium, they both saw different Catwomen. Batgirl sees the Eartha Kitt one, while Jason Bard sees the Lee Meriwether one. And since both Catwomen successfully escape, Batgirl and Jason are left even more puzzled than ever. And if you're puzzled too, don't worry: the riddle of the three Catwomen will be answered at some later date.

Episodes 14 and 15: Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson arrive in Ivy Town for the Ivy Town University lecture. It's in this episode that we'd learn about Dick now being in his last year of high school (which is partially why him and bruce have come to visit universities together). At Ivy Town university, Bruce and Dick wind up running into Ray Palmer and Jean Loring (neither of them guessing that Ray Palmer is Batman's fellow JLA member, The Atom).

But at the Ivy Town seminar, the university's clocktower and accompanying bell both go off in a supersonic wave, causing mass hysteria and panic. A panic which some thieves use as cover under which to steal the university's many rare and valuable artifacts.

The people of Ivy Town are quick to blame the supervillian Chronos for this disaster, but it turns out that he's still in the Ivy Town penitentiary. The police check, and he says that he was framed! By who and for what purpose, none can say. But Jean Loring is reluctantly resigned to defending him in court. Meanwhile, Batman and Robin do some investigating of their own. And eventually, the truth comes to light: The true criminal was The Clock King! He sprung himself from jail back in England, and he was all set to make his grand return to supervilliany! How was he to know Batman and Robin would show up again!?

So the Clock King is sent back to jail, and The Atom never had to lift a finger to help Batman and Robin (which is great for the show, since they'd never have had enough effects to make The Atom work). But a scene at the very end of the episode hints at The Clock King working for someone else, and that this isn't the end of the dynamic duo's troubles…

Episode 16: While Batman and Robin are off in Ivy Town, Batgirl and Jason Bard run into Cluemaster (John Astin), a strange new villian who seems to have an odd vendetta against The Riddler. Although The Riddler doesn't actually show up in this episode (beyond maybe a cameo from Frank Gorshin in the last scene of the episode), we learn that Cluemaster is a minor villain who's always held a grudge. He wants to take the title of world's biggest riddle/clue/puzzle themed supervillian away from The Riddler!

They both have different backgrounds: The Riddler was a former GCPD officer who snapped after being constantly bullied for his mental issues and weird habits; while Cluemaster was a game show host who ended up going mocking a contestant on his show to an almost traumatic extent one day, and thus had his show cancelled and his career ruined. But as kids, both these men admired The original master of crime: The Puzzler. And now Cluemaster is trying to prove he's closer to The Puzzler than The Riddler ever was. And now it lies on Batgirl and Jason Bard's shoulders to stop him.

Episodes 17 and 18: Batman and Robin return to Gotham, just in time for a late september scheme hatched by Egghead, that diabolical master of eggs-pert larceny! Batman and Robin need to enlist the end of Batgirl and Jason Bard just to get him to be defeated before he commits the greatest crime of our time and era!

Episodes 19 and 20: Batman and Robin team up with Batgirl to deal with Simon the Pieman (Jonathan Winters), a bizarre criminal with a baking motif who's planning to get vengeance on all the people who criticized his bakery over the years. Can this trio defeat him and his diabolical desserts before it's too late!?

Episodes 21, 22 and 23: This story would be used to address the three catwomen and three mister freezes. The three Mister Freezes are all different men sharing the same name, but they all hate how batman has fouled up their schemes. So they trick Batman, Robin and Batgirl into a devious trap. Catwoman I (Julie Newmar) leads Batman into a trap by Mister Freeze I (George Sanders). Meanwhile, Robin and Batgirl are tricked by Catwoman III (Eartha Kitt) into being trapped by Mister Freeze II (Otto Preminger). And so by the time the three freezes have congregated, they betray the catwomen. And then it's six against three for the last story in our set.

Episodes 24 and 25: In the brisk early October air, False Face steals a new chemical designed to make a human being shapeshift. But one of his men steals it away from him! Matt Hagen (Rich Little), a greedy henchmen of the dastardly False Face, uses the machine and turns himself into a hideous being made of Clay! Remembering the case of an old villian Batman tangled with named Clayface, Matt Hagen decides to embrace his evil side and become Clayface the second!

Episodes 26 and 27: Batman, Robin and Batgirl all end up tangling with The Scarecrow (Anthony Perkins) on Halloween Night! A washed up former psychology teacher with a love for fear, Jonathan Crane has come to haunt Gotham as the one and only Scarecrow!

Episodes 28 and 29: Batman and Robin tangle with Blockbuster (Richard Kiel), a menace who's too mindless to actually mean any harm to anyone or anything. He's being used by his mad scientist brother Roland, but the dynamic duo don't figure that out until it's nearly too late…

Episodes 30 and 31: While hosting a Gotham City Beauty Contest to mark the beginning of November and the subsequent colder season, Batman, Robin and Batgirl tangle with Poison Ivy (Ann Margret), that powerful sorceress of seduction! Using her brilliant botanical wisdom, she snares all three of them inside of a horrible death trap. But they manage to escape, and successfully bring her to Justice.

Episodes 32 and 33: Batman and Robin deal with the Polka Dot Man (Paul Lynde), a bizarre new criminal capable of using polka dots as tools for committing new crimes to bedevil and beguile the people of Gotham City!

Episodes 34 and 35: Marsha, Queen of Diamonds returns to Gotham City, yet again seeking to obtain the Bat-Diamond from the Batcave. This episode would actually show her succeeding, however. Yes, she seemingly manages to steal the Bat-Diamond at the end of part one of this episode. But then she goes to examine it at her headquarters, and she finds out it's actually a fake! An impressively well put together fake, but a fake nonetheless! So once more, the Dynamic Duo have outsmarted the Queen of Diamonds and her witch of an aunt!

Episodes 36 and 37: Batman and Batgirl have to work together to fight off a mad team up of The Penguin and The Riddler. Robin is sick with the flu, so he's unable to help them. So it's up to Batman and Batgirl to save the day this time around!

Episodes 38 and 39: Batman, Robin and Batgirl deal with a counterfeiting ring run by a man named Senor Rekoj. Little do they suspect that Mr. Rekoj is actually Joker in surprise, since he's cunningly convinced the whole city he runs a beautiful charity. And now he's planning the biggest practical joke of the century: he's going to frame the terrific trio and blame them when his counterfeiting scheme comes to light. They still manage to stop him, of course. But he very successfully damages their public perception.

It's also an excuse for me to finally see Cesar Romero star on Batman without his makeup. Because, yes, Senor Rekoj is just Cesar Romero without any of his Joker makeup.

Episodes 40 and 41: A Christmas Special, featuring a series of Christmas Capers pulled off by The Riddler! Batman, Robin, Batgirl and Jason Bard all have to team up to defeat the foe this time. The Riddler is the one leading this scheme, but he's mostly breaking in a new tradition i'd want the show to have: Christmas episodes. And plenty of them. One every year, so we can have as many villians as possible trying to ruin Christmas.

But for this debut christmas special (where our four heroes face off against The Riddler and his men), the Mall Santa who's introduced at the beginning of the episode ends up helping to save the day. And in the end, it's left rather unclear if the mall santa was just a mall santa, or if they were the real santa all along…

Episodes 42, 43 and 44: Batman is challenged by his most dastardly foes yet; a terrible trio of crooks from Gotham's distant past! The Eraser, The Getaway Genius and Killer Moth! Batman hasn't tangled with them in years, not since the days of… Batwoman. Back when Robin was younger (a few years before the show started), Kathy Kane was a rich socialite who teamed up with Batman to fight crime. But she retired after an awful case involving Killer Moth. Yet now, she may be Gotham's only hope for surviving the Triumvirate's terror!

Episodes 45 and 46: Batman was set on edge by the Triumvirate (and by Batwoman's return), so he's gone on a brief vacation to the countryside to try and clear his head. While he's off on vacation, two different teams have to protect Gotham from ill will. Robin and Batwoman are who we're gonna focus on first. While Batman's away, they end up having to deal with Doctor Double-X, a horrible foe from years past, capable of creating duplicates of himself to fight his battles for him!

Episodes 47 and 48: Batgirl and Jason Bard end up having to deal with a new scheme by two of gotham's worst criminals: The Bookworm and Mister Camera (Tony Randall). They've started a dual crime wave, wherein Mister Camera delegitimizes the Gotham City Police Force, allowing Bookworm to run wild and free throughout Gotham. Batgirl insists on taking up this case solo, as it involves people trying to frame her father (something she can't stand for). And Jason Bard is dragged into it because he's been hired to investigate it.

Episode 49 and 50: Batman was off on vacation in the countryside just outside Gotham, when he accidentally ends up getting snared in a trap set by Olga, Queen of the Cossacks! She's moved on from Batman and Egghead, however. Yes, now she's partners with Catman, a big game hunter who lives for the thrill of the hunt. Catman appeals to Olga's warrior nature, and so they make a delightful team.

Catman and Olga prepare a death trap for Batman involving a fight with a massive tiger in a steep pit, but shockingly, Catwoman (Julie Newmar) comes to his rescue. Not for any altruistic reason, but mainly because she has a personal grudge against Catman. All three Catwomen hate him, and he hates them in kind. So this is really just an alliance of mutual benefit. Batman gets to deal with Olga, while Catwoman takes down Catman.

In the end, Olga and Catman are delivered to the authorities, but Catwoman successfully escapes. Which probably means this isn't the last time we'll see her (or one of her other two "partners" before the season is out).

Episodes 51 and 52: Robin and Batwoman team up to fight against Shame and his wife Calamity Jan. They've assembled a giant underground railroad system, and they plan to use it to tunnel into all the banks in Gotham! Can Batwoman and Robin clue in to their scheme in time?

Episodes 53 and 54: Batman comes back to Gotham just in time to learn of a new scheme being hatched by The Penguin, that crooked bird of crime. Frustrated and upset that his schemes on land have all been failing, Penguin has decided to turn to the high seas, running a piracy operation just outside of gotham's territorial waters. Batman, Robin and Batgirl have to stop him, before he can become the world's biggest pirate since Blackbeard or Captain Kidd!

Episodes 55 and 56: The Joker and Simon the Pieman team up to bring bizarre chaos to Gotham City; using elaborate cakes as weapons of destruction. Batman, Robin and Batgirl have to team up to solve the motive behind their mysterious and completely illogical crimes, before it's too late…

Episodes 57 and 58: Batman and Robin end up dealing with a new scheme by The Riddler, that prince of puzzlers himself. He's hatched a new mad scheme, and only Batman and Robin can stop him from bringing it to fruition. It all involves riddles in the form of morse code, to present the dynamic duo with an extra difficult new challenge.

Episodes 59 and 60: Batman, Robin and Batgirl have to handle a new crime wave by Catwoman. She leads our terrific trio on a mad chase all throughout the city, as she's hunting for a hidden cat's eye ruby apparently buried somewhere underneath Gotham City. A harmless enough crime, one would think. But as the hunt for Catwoman continues, it becomes clear she's willing to do anything to get her hands on this statue. Anything.

Episodes 61 and 62: A new TV show is airing in cities across the nation. A show about "The Black Knight", a violent and brooding vigilante who punishes criminals with his sword of darkness. Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson watch it with Aunt Harriet one night, and they're appalled. Bruce and Dick are also shocked though, since the villians of the show appear to be modelled after Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara.

Batman and Robin go to investigate the show, but they're trapped by the criminals behind the whole thing: Clayface and False Face. They were using the show's violent themes to promote a culture of violence citywide, and then they'd use their powers of disguise to instigate riots amongst the people of Gotham. The Black Knight would usurp Gotham's Caped Crusader in popularity, and then the city would be theirs for the taking! But unfortunately Batman and Robin found them out, and now all their schemes have come to naught.

Episodes 63 and 64: Batman, Robin, Batgirl and Jason Bard team up to fight off a gang war between Louie the Lilac and Poison Ivy. It turns out these two have some really personal grudges against each other, and Ivy clearly wants this man off her turf. So this tense standoff has to be resolved by our four heroes, before anything else goes disastrously wrong.

Episodes 65, 66 and 67: Batman has to go up against The Riddler, Cluemaster and The Puzzler, all of whom have gone on the attack against each other. There can only be one king of puzzles/riddles/clues, and they won't stop until one of them has successfully defeated the other!

Episodes 68 and 69: While Batman deals with the three puzzling champions, Batgirl and Robin end up fighting against The Bookworm and Scarecrow, both of whom have teamed up to try and steal some rare manuscripts for old time classic horror novels. It might be in this story that we get the first hints that robin is beginning to feel stifled by batman's authority. He wants to fly somewhat independently. To prove himself to Batman.

Episodes 70 and 71: Batman and Robin have to defeat The Joker, when he decides to challenge them to a game of wits. He commits crimes using the gimmicks of other criminals, and thusly tries to lure them off his trail. It almost works, until Batman and Robin finally get wise to the scheme.

Episodes 72 and 73: Batman and Robin have to deal with the one thing they never expected: The Penguin successfully seduces Aunt Harriet. She falls in love with him, and Penguin begins using this to try and capture a piece of the Wayne fortune. Batman and Robin have to somehow find a way to stop him, but how? When he's so close to their home ground, how can they possibly stop him!?

Episodes 74 and 75: Batman and Robin have to deal with King Tut, who's once again relapsed into his horrible criminal ways. He plans to flood Gotham City with sand, to finally bring the beautiful desert of thebes back to him. A pharaoh needs a home. And by Ra, he will make Gotham his new home!

After this, Season Four ends. Then we'd have the two animated movies (The Return of the Caped Crusaders and Batman vs Two-Face), and we'd also have the third movie which we were promised but which Adam West died before he could film (we were teased a film project with Harley Quinn, according to the Batman vs Two Face wikipedia page). So we'd have the Harley Quinn story (which might also feature Hugo Strange), and then we'd move into Season Five, where we'd introduce the League of Assassins. And after their story, I might consider having Dick Grayson leave for college. Because I want a pre-crisis Jason Todd in this show eventually, and I will reluctantly have Dick Grayson begin taking a more supporting role in order to get to that. But so far, i'm pretty happy with what i have here.

[koskela-knights]

Bury me brother

https://archiveofourown.org/works/53939146

A beautiful mourning to write about Ilmo burying Jaakko in the forest :)

Preview:

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It had almost been comedically easy to sneak out of the station. In fact, Ilmo wasn’t even sneaking. He just took his brother’s covered body and walked out of there. Nobody left alive seemed to be busy keeping an eye on the ex Cult leader because that’s what he was now. Most of the Cult of the Tree had been obliterated. Burnt alive in the worst way possible. Even that FBC lady who had arrested them seemed too busy with other chores no notice Ilmo Koskela leaving the building with a whole body in his arms. Ilmo had told the FBI agent, Saga Anderson who apparently had never lived here and had never been his friend, that he was going to gather the rest of the Cultists. He was going to try, but right now there were more personal matters to attend to. Like giving his brother a proper burial.